Councilman Kenney is voting aye. Councilwoman Krajewski?
Aye. The ayes are 17, the nays are 0. A majority of all Members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. The next bill to be called for consideration is Bill No. 000117.
An ordinance amending Section 2 of an ordinance (Bill No. 980617) approved December 15, 1998, entitled "An ordinance authorizing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No. 295 by SECOND READING - BILL 000017 striking from the City Plan and vacating Codorus Road from Hendren Street to Spring Lane."
I would like to be recorded as voting aye on Bill No. 000013.
Thank you. This bill, Bill No. 000117, having been read on two different days, the question now is, shall the bill pass finally? The Clerk will please call the roll.
Councilman Kenney SECOND READING - BILL 000017 is voting aye. Councilwoman Krajewski?
Aye. The ayes are 17, the nays are 0 a majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. The ayes are 17, the nays are 0. A majority of all members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. The next bill to be called for consideration is Bill No. 000118.
An ordinance amending Section 2 of an ordinance (Bill No. 980803) approved January 5, 1999 entitled, "An ordinance authorizing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No. 27-S by striking from the City Plan and vacating the legally open portion of Dilworth Street."
This bill having been read on two different occasions, the SECOND READING - BILL 000018 question now is, shall the bill pass finally. The Clerk will please call the roll.
Councilman Kenney is voting aye. Councilwoman Krajewski?
Aye. The ayes are 17, the nays are 0. A majority of all Members of Council having voted in SECOND READING - BILL 000019 the affirmative, the bill passes. The next bill to be called for consideration is Bill No. 000119.
An ordinance amending Section 2 of an ordinance (Bill No. 950316) approved July 24, 1995, entitled, "An ordinance authorizing the striking from City Plan No. 58 and vacating Shamokin Street from Eleventh Street to Ridge Avenue."
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is, shall the bill pass finally? The Clerk will call the roll.
Councilman Kenney is voting aye. Councilwoman Krajewski?
Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown? SECOND READING - BILL 000019
Aye. The ayes are 17, the nays are 0. A majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. The last bill to be called for consideration is Bill No. 000120.
An ordinance amending Section 2 of an ordinance (Bill No. 980897) approved January 5, 1999, entitled, "An ordinance authorizing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No. 307 by relocating a portion of the northerly curbline of Clover Street."
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is, shall the bill pass finally? SECOND READING - BILL 000120 The Clerk will please call the roll.
Councilman Kenney is voting aye. Councilwoman Krajewski?
Aye. The ayes are 17, the nays are 0. A majority of all members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. INTRODUCTION - RES. 000002 Resolution No. 000002 will be read and voted on today.
Resolution No. 000002, a resolution providing for the approval of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of a revised Five-Year Financial Plan for the City of Philadelphia covering Fiscal Years 2001 through 2005, and incorporating proposed changes with respect to Fiscal Year 2000, which is to be submitted by the Mayor to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Cohen.
Thank you, Madam President. Resolution 2, which deals with the Five-Year Plan, continues to include reference to the Economic Stimulus Fund. And while I'm going to vote for the resolution because it's important to meet the time requirements of PICA, I want to point out several things that I think are very important. One is that although PICA itself has gone along year after year approving this INTRODUCTION - RES. 000002 Five-Year Plan of the City's, which contains references of the Economic Stimulus Fund, the PICA issued several days ago a report putting it to question what has come from the Economic Stimulus Fund, what has happened to the more than $1 billion that the Rendell Administration over the eight years invested in this so-called Economic Stimulus Fund? What has been accomplished? PICA's report indicates that there is serious doubt as to whether the Economic Stimulus Fund accomplished very much, and certainly nothing like a billion dollars investment would have called for. In view of that -- and incidently, what is so strange is, we've been spending in the Council formally and informally much time about the needs of firefighters in connection with hepatitis C, and the City Administration has been going very slowly, very carefully over the items needed by the firefighters for their health, even to the extent of separating a $150,000 payment from a balance of the $3 million promise by Mayor Street some time ago. And the City has been so very, very careful, demanding documentation, INTRODUCTION - RES. 000002 demanding proof of every penny spent. And one wonders how a government can be so careful, watching every single penny apparently spent for the care for the firefighters on the one hand, yet so easily and quickly spend more than a billion dollars of City funds from the Economic Stimulus Program without anybody being able to find much evidence of whatever that billion dollars investment is supposed to have produced. So, therefore, I'm going to be reintroducing in this session a resolution that I had introduced before -- it will be updated -dealing with and calling for a full hearing and an attempt to determine what in fact has been accomplished by the Economic Stimulus Fund, what is the scope of the jobs produced and the businesses brought back into the City. Because, certainly, it's very urgent for us to find out what happened to that $1 billion and what evidence exists today of any accomplishments from that program. So I just wanted to note that because the current program of the City still includes reference to continuing this great Economic INTRODUCTION - RES. 000002 Stimulus Fund. Let's find out what it's all about. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you, Councilman Cohen. The Chair recognizes Councilman Ortiz.
Thank you, Madam President. Councilman Cohen just gave a speech that I was going to give after we finish our business. But as an addendum to what he said, PICA I think pointed out the high cost per job that we're investing and also pointed out the lack of factual information about how the money is spent, different from what other cities have done. And as the Daily News story pointed out the other day, there are other cities that have spent money in developing their inner core, their center cities with taxpayers' money. But in those other cities, the accountability for each dollar spent is very clearly made and very clearly substantiated. What is absent in the last eight years and what is absent in our spending of the money is INTRODUCTION - RES. 000002 the substantiation for the expenditure that we are making, and we just seem to be giving monies to developers without questioning the end result of all of that money, what is that money bringing us to the City and to the taxpayers. So that's a small addendum, and I concur with Councilman Cohen, and I think we should question much more closely any more monies, any taxpayers' money that we continue to give developers to spend without asking for any accountability.
Councilwoman Blackwell? (Councilwoman Blackwell not present at this time.).
Councilman Kenney is voting aye. Councilwoman Krajewski?