This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk will please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 17; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. The last bill to be called for consideration is Bill No. 090670.
An ordinance amending Chapter 10-700 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Refuse and Littering," by providing for additional penalties and consequences for short dumping.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk will please 10/29/09 - STATED - 2ND READING call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 17; the nays are 10/29/09 - STATED - 2ND READING zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. That completes our Calendar for today. Are there speeches on the part of the minority? (No response.)
Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, the bill that I spoke about earlier is now here and I would like to go out of sequence and be allowed to introduce the bill.
The Chief Clerk will please read the title of the bill.
An ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property, on behalf of the City, to accept from the School District of Philadelphia conveyance of title to a portion of the land bounded by Susquehanna Avenue, North 15th Street, Diamond Street, and North 16th Street.
This bill will be referred to the appropriate committee. Again, I would ask, are there any speeches on the part of the minority? (No response.)
Are there speeches on the part of the majority? The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you, Madam President. President, some time ago, the Pennsylvania State Legislature --
Some time ago, the State Legislature passed enabling legislation to allow local counties to use collection agencies to collect real estate taxes. Last year a bill was sent to us by the Administration to allow us to pass enabling legislation. Even though the state passed the enabling legislation, each county has to vote whether or not they will use collection agencies to collect real estate taxes. That bill came before the Finance Committee. We had a hearing, and the bill is still in committee. Recently, an RFP was issued for the collection of our real estate taxes, and we had one company who had already do this from the inception of this program, the tax lien program that we have, and I'm not getting into all of the who and where for art thou. But subsequently to that contract, another contract was put out to allow another company, which another company obtained, to collect real estate taxes, delinquent real estate taxes. But the -I need to go back. When we had the hearing in the Finance Committee relative to this request, there was a company that was identified, Xpand, which is a New Jersey tax collection agency, and that was the company that was going to be contracted with to do the collection of the real estate taxes. We held the bill in committee, and it's still in committee, but subsequently the second RFP was put out for additional companies to apply to collect the delinquent taxes. A local law firm received the contract, but they are subcontracting with Xpand in New So, therefore, since we have not passed the enabling legislation in Philadelphia, I want to know why we're doing business with a tax collection agency collecting city real estate taxes for the City and the School District that is in New Jersey. One of the companies that was doing business and had been doing business with the City of Philadelphia in collecting these taxes had to let nine people go, nine Philadelphians go, so that a company in New Jersey could collect -- perform this -- I am so angry, I can hardly speak. I am furious. So I want to know from our City Solicitor how this transaction was allowed and if it is legal, because Xpand does not have the right, or any other collection agency, to collect real estate taxes from citizens in the City of Philadelphia. And I want to know what is going on. In this age of transparency, I very transparent about this transaction. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I rise for two purposes. One is, of course, to let my colleagues know that the Partnership for Prescription Assistance table is outside again to allow your constituents to get free prescription assistance. The other thing I sadly rise to inform Council of the passing of Lester Brown. Two days ago at approximately 3:20 in the afternoon, Lester Brown passed. As many of you know, he was my Chief of Staff and he worked for Lucien Blackwell prior to -- we hired him when Lu was in office prior to working for me. We have no funeral arrangements. His people are from out of town, so we don't know if we'll get any, but we certainly hope that and know that so many of you knew him. He was also Ward Leader of the 24th Ward in Mantua and part of Powelton. And so we are very, very sorry to hear it and ask that you keep his family in prayer. Thank you, Madam President.
We are too. And, Councilwoman, would you send out a memorandum -
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. I want to defer to my other colleagues first.
Thank you, Madam President. I wanted to publicly thank my colleague Councilman Clarke for holding the hearings yesterday to talk about the stimulus package and publicly thank you for allowing us to bring in a third-party person to help us review this process. Notwithstanding Councilman Clarke's call for an oversight committee, one of the things that was clear to me at the session yesterday was that leading up to the reporting of October 10th to the feds and in preparation for our hearings that allow the Administration to really put its hands around a process so that we don't drop the ball on what could be millions of dollars that will be invested Philadelphia, what was still not answered yesterday was what would be Council's role. An oversight committee is the end of the process, and I'm calling on the Administration and our Council leadership to define that so that we don't miss opportunities to leverage what could be potential, as was stipulated yesterday, job creation and community development in our neighborhoods. It has been publicly said that the 7th Councilmanic District has the largest number of vacant land, undeveloped land, and it's clear that there is a lot -- there's a huge allocation in NTI, and the combination of all of these things could lead to a long-term redevelopment strategy in the 7th. And I hope -- and I left yesterday's hearing feeling somewhat hopeful -- that we are all going to get together to move forward the neighborhoods. I have often said that in unison if the 7th Councilmanic District and its challenges move forward. So thank you.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam President. I rise initially for two, but now four points, and I will be succinct. First, but for Lester Brown, who gave me an opportunity 30 years ago when he appointed me Committee Person in the 24th Ward, Third Division, I might not be here. So I am eternally grateful for those persons in the democratic party who gave me a chance, and he was certainly one of them. Secondly, in response to Councilwoman Tasco's comments, it's clear to me after testimony this week in another hearing that there remains deep body when we see opportunities for Philadelphia citizens, who want to pay taxes, watch those opportunities go across the borders. So it's a woeful reminder that we have to remain forever vigilant and paying close attention when proposals come before any committee. I'm a member of the Finance Committee and clearly remember the questioning from members of the Committee to the witnesses that, fast forward X number of months later, the very thing we did not want to happen has happened. So our work and mission and voice and advocacy on behalf of Philadelphia residents, not local residents but Philadelphia residents, and I always say, and particularly women and people of color, the level field is still not fair or even when it comes to business opportunities for us. So, Councilwoman Tasco, our mission continues. the arts in Philly, Philly has the first or had the first Percent for Art Program, most of that art being in the 1st Councilmanic District, but it was 50 years ago that this measure was introduced. And fast forward 50 years later, Philadelphia probably has more public art in the country than any other municipality, now ranking with 600 works of public art that have been commissioned through the Redevelopment Authority. So we would be remiss not to celebrate and acknowledge this unprecedented arts program here in our city. And, lastly, on a sadder note, Madam President, I join the many in our city, in Philadelphia, that had to watch, hear about, listen and read about the loss of another child to an appalling story of abuse. Charlenni Ferreira we all know died on Wednesday, October 21 after years of physical and sexual torture from her family. report, we know that this young girl was seen by school nurses, a psychiatrist, a therapist, multiple doctors and was in service of five months of services from DHS. So I join the DHS Commissioner Ambrose in trying to get my arms around and racking my brain in what she said, What could we have done differently. The saddest element of this story is that friends and neighbors are now coming forward after the fact, sadly, to talk about the abuse. Regrettably, many parents tell their children to, quote, mind their business, but with this attitude, we need to be reminded of facts. Last year in Philadelphia there were 4,000-plus reports of child abuse. However, only 1,000 were substantiated. Last year in Philadelphia, out of every 1,000 children, there were 13 reports of abuse. Only two out of every 1,000 were substantiated. This tells us that there are thousands of reported cases of abuse that cannot be proven. Because they cannot be proven does not mean they do not exist. Because they cannot be proven does not mean that community members, neighbors, family members, the village, whoever you are, have a responsibility. If more among us would use our voices to look out for, voice, advocate and protect young people, we can hope to prevent the next Danielle Kelly story or the next Charlenni Ferreira story. Clearly, there's much more to learn about this case as we continue to read about it in the papers, but I am confident that all involved will again work seriously to find out where the, quote, gaps are in our service delivery.
Let us seize this moment to tell our children, encourage our friends, mention to our neighbor and family members whenever we suspect or know about abuse, abuse are encouraged to contact the state Child Abuse Hotline. Confidentiality is guaranteed. And that number is 800-932-0313. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you, Madam President. Today I speak to two good pieces of legislative process and work in cooperation with the Administration. The first one was pushed by my good colleague Councilman Green in reference to the BRT, where we began to delve into fixing a process that needs work. We looked at issues of governance. We looked at issues of checks and balances. We looked at issues of senses of cooperation between this legislative body, the School Board and the Administration, and we began a process of fixing something that was broken. I want to thank my colleague for his work and his good staff that helped contribute to that. The second piece of work I want to talk about is in fact similar to what my colleague Sanchez talked about, the stimulus hearings, where we spent a lot of time going into, fixing and working on a process that needs a lot of work. Today I rode in a different direction. Yesterday I talked about going through particular economically depressed parts of my district where there were no hard hats going to work on any stimulus process. Today I went through 27th and Chalmers still looking for those hard hats, and we haven't found them yet. But I'm confident based on the work of Councilman Clarke and Steve Agostini that we didn't create yesterday a "gotcha" moment, but we created "we got it" moment, and we're beginning to fix a process, so that on the next round of stimulus, we may get a better competitive package other than the 41 million in competitive grants that we got. We may double, triple that, and eventually see some blue-collar opportunities in the inner city. So I want to thank my colleagues in cooperation with this government to create a "we got it" moment, and I hope we build upon that and are ready for the second round of the stimulus. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman O'Neill.
Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, I'd like to speak briefly on the issue raised by Councilwoman Tasco. I sat in that few months ago, and the collection agency issue was discussed in great length. Council was unaware that it was coming. No one had been briefed on it. There were four or five members that specifically asked to meet with the Administration, to be told what was different about this collection agency that we should go into this area, that Linebarger, the attorneys -- I believe they're out of New Mexico. They're all over the country. They're professionals. They open offices in the different cities. We've had them from day one when we started using attorneys for this, and from what I understand in each of the districts of City Council, the offices, Linebarger is very professional, treats people very well and is paid fairly for their work. I don't understand myself why a collection agency would be preferable to a law firm that has malpractice insurance, that has to be ready for code of ethics and everything else to live with, and one with a reputation for abiding by all that. But to try to do something indirectly through a subcontract with attorneys that you can't do directly without City Council legislation to me is really, really serious. I would ask that when we leave this Chamber, if you would allow Council leadership to meet with you briefly to see if we can't get an answer by this afternoon from the City Solicitor as to how this happened and why it happened. I just want to put a big exclamation point on that.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Yes. In anger, I forgot two points. What set me off was the fact I had a letter from a constituent who already has an agreement with Linebarger. They got a letter from this law firm telling them they owe taxes and to contact them. Now, as I understand it under the contract, those individuals who have agreements with Linebarger are to stay with Linebarger and this company should be getting new clients. So that's a problem. But the one point I also forgot, because you know I'm very much concerned about predatory lending, the company Xpand not only collects the taxes, but another part of their business is to offer you financing to pay the taxes. I had forgotten that. So I wrote that down here. So I'm very troubled by this. Our people in Philadelphia have suffered enough with predatory lenders. We want taxes. As I understand it, the collection process was going on. And I agree with Brian, I want to know why, and why from day one this company, this Xpand company in New Jersey, was the favorite company to do -why not open it up to all collection agencies, why was this contract set up to deal with this company. Thank you very much.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam Chair -- or Madam President, in your role today. I wanted to speak briefly about the oversight hearing yesterday on the stimulus. I had to leave for a long-scheduled lunch and missed a majority of that meeting, although I think it is one of the most important things happening in the City of Philadelphia and the country today. disappointment, some upset in the colloquy with the Administration with respect to the fact that Council was conducting oversight hearings, that we had done our own research and that we had failed to, quote/unquote, share it with them prior to the hearing. Frankly, Council, it is our job to conduct oversight of the Administration and to hold them accountable. That's why people elect us. Oversight is necessarily backward-looking. Unless we can pass laws to tell them what to do in the future, we are going to look back and we are going to say, Okay, you did this right, you did this wrong, and hopefully everybody can learn from that process. But it is troubling to me that the Administration in their testimony yesterday seemed to be upset with us for conducting that hearing or at least not having shared all of our information with them in advance. It is especially not shared any of their information with us in advance, including what grants were being applied for, et cetera, et cetera. This is especially true in light of the fact that during Everett Gillison's testimony before this body when we talked about stimulus grants before, we specifically on the record said that the Byrne JAG grant required City Council approval prior to its submission to the federal government. They said they would come back and check with us prior to filing for that grant. They did not do so. They violated federal law. And I just wanted to make sure that that's clear and on the record. They need to check with us when the law requires it. We don't need to check with them when we're conducting oversight hearings, and I was a bit surprised by that attitude. Also, we talked a lot about the quantity of grants yesterday that have for, and I'm very pleased that on an objective basis there is a large number of dollars that we're going after. I don't think it's as a percentage, compared to our population, equal or as good as our peer cities or as good as it should or could be. However, I note that of our broadband stimulus grants, the state was asked to rank the grants from around the state and then make recommendations to the federal government. Not one of our grants was actually recommended for funding. One got an honorable mention, which means it won't get funded, but they, I guess, were impressed with it. So the quality of our grants does not seem to be up to snuff, and it was a conversation not had yesterday. And the proof will be in the pudding when the total number of competitive grant dollars are finally granted, and I think that Philadelphians will be disappointed in the results because of the quality of the grants that just wanted to get that on the record, Madam President. Thank you.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. On a much lighter note, yesterday I found out that my older sister will be paying a visit to Philadelphia to do some volunteer work. Ordinarily that would not be something I would share publicly, except for it came in the form of a press release from the New York City Law Department. The press release read, "Inspired by their respective mayors, New York City Corporation Counsel Michael A. Cardozo and Philadelphia City Solicitor Shelley R. Smith make a friendly wager on the 2009 World Series. "Specifically, the legal the following: Whichever team loses, the chief legal official from the losing city will travel to the other city, along with a team of leading attorneys and staff," which includes my sister. "The friendly exchange will take place before June 2010. Members of the visiting legal team will volunteer to ensure their presence is appreciated by the entire city and their inspiration is widespread. The volunteer efforts will include moot court/mock trial events, as well as career chats with school children by the losing city's legal team, including the losing city's chief legal officer. The visiting team will don the winning city's sports jerseys during the visit." I look forward to the Phils winning, the Yankees losing, my sister visiting, and I will even purchase her jersey for her. Thank you, Madam President. Go Phils. (Laughter.)
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Did I mention that Macy's is having a -- no, no. (Laughter.)
Are there any further comments or speeches? (No response.)
Seeing none, the Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke for a motion to adjourn.
Thank you, Madam President. First, I'd like to say that I would like to thank all of the members that participated, both prior to the hearing, because I know a number of staff members from various Council offices participated in formulating the process for the stimulus hearing, want to thank them very much. I want to thank all of the members that attended. Those that could not, I understand you were looking at it on TV. And, most importantly -- folks, if I could have your attention for one second, please. I think that one of the most --
Councilman, just a moment, please. We're still in session. (Pause.)
Thank you, Madam President. One of the most significant things that came out of yesterday's hearings was that we need to improve our ability to communicate and to work together, because at the end of the day, this is about the citizens of the City of Philadelphia and not the author of a of a particular grant. It's about making sure that we maximize our efforts to bring the bacon home to the City of Philadelphia so our citizens can get to work. Out of that discussion yesterday, there were several points that were brought up, and it was actually Councilmembers, along with the City Council in general, offered whatever support that was necessary to ensure that we enhance our ability to do that. So I would like to say under your leadership, we would hope that we would pull together some sort of a working group along with the Administration to make sure that we maximize our opportunities. Thank you again for your support.
And with that, I now will allow you all to leave. Madam Chair, I move that Council stand Thursday, November 12th -
I'm sorry. November 5th, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, November 5th at 10:00 a.m. All in favor will say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. The motion carries. Thank you all very much. (Stated Meeting adjourned at 11:40 a.m.) CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on October 29, 2009, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)