Title
1
2 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA
3 STATED MEETING
4
5
6 The Met Philadelphia
858 North Broad Street
7 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
January 6, 2020
8 10:02 a.m.
9
10 PRESENT:
COUNCIL PRESIDENT DARRELL L. CLARKE
11 COUNCILWOMAN CINDY BASS
COUNCILWOMAN KENDRA BROOKS
12 COUNCILMAN ALLAN DOMB
COUNCILWOMAN JAMIE GAUTHIER
13 COUNCILWOMAN KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON
COUNCILMAN DEREK S. GREEN
14 COUNCILWOMAN HELEN GYM
COUNCILMAN BOBBY HENON
15 COUNCILMAN KENYATTA JOHNSON
COUNCILMAN CURTIS JONES, JR.
16 COUNCILMAN DAVID OH
COUNCILMAN BRIAN J. O'NEILL
17 COUNCILWOMAN CHERELLE L. PARKER
COUNCILWOMAN MARIA D. QUINONES-SANCHEZ
18 COUNCILMAN MARK SQUILLA
COUNCILMAN ISAIAH THOMAS
19
20
MICHAEL A. DECKER, CHIEF CLERK
21
22 - - -
23
24
25
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 MR. TALIAFERRO: Ladies and
3 gentlemen, please be seated. Welcome to
4 the investiture of members of Council,
5 the organization of the City Council, the
6 inauguration of the Honorable James F.
7 Kenney as Mayor, and the investiture of
8 members of the Judiciary, City
9 Commissioners, Sheriff, and Register of
10 Wills.
11 We ask that you please silence
12 all digital communicative devices, all
13 cell phones for the remainder of the
14 ceremony. Thank you.
15 Ladies and gentlemen, please
16 rise and bow your heads for the
17 invocation given by Monsignor Daniel
18 Sullivan from the Archdiocese of
19 Philadelphia.
20 MONSIGNOR SULLIVAN: Let us
21 pray.
22 Mighty and eternal God, you
23 have revealed your glory to all the
24 nations. God of power and might, wisdom
25 and justice, through you authority is
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 rightly administered, laws are enacted,
3 and judgment is decreed.
4 We pray today for James Kenney,
5 Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. We
6 pray for our City Council, the judges,
7 and all elected officials who are
8 entrusted to guard our welfare. May they
9 be enabled by your powerful protection to
10 discharge their duties with honesty and
11 ability.
12 May they all seek to preserve
13 peace, promote the common good, continue
14 to bring us the blessings of liberty and
15 equality.
16 We likewise remember in prayer
17 all of those who support the cause of our
18 common good. We pray for our police
19 officers, firefighters, and first
20 responders, whose sole mission is to make
21 Philadelphia our home, a place where all
22 of us can enjoy and share the many
23 blessings with which you have gifted us.
24 Today also we commend to your
25 powerful mercy all the citizens of the
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 United States. May we be preserved in
3 union and in peace and gratefully share
4 these blessings with all of our sisters
5 and brothers throughout the world.
6 Be with us, Lord, today and
7 always.
8 Amen.
9 (Amen.)
10 MR. TALIAFERRO: Ladies and
11 gentlemen, please remain standing as the
12 Philadelphia Police and Fire Departments
13 and the Prison System guards present the
14 colors, while the Philadelphia Boys Choir
15 and Chorale lead us in singing the
16 National Anthem.
17 (Colors are presented and the
18 National Anthem sung.)
19 MR. TALIAFERRO: Ladies and
20 gentlemen, you may now be seated.
21 And now citizens and friends,
22 please welcome City Council President,
23 the Honorable Darrell L. Clarke, to the
24 podium.
25 (Applause.)
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: Good
3 morning.
4 (Good morning.)
5 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: We
6 can do better than that. I know there's
7 a little Eagles hangover, but it's all
8 good. They'll be back next year.
9 So I'd just like to thank
10 everybody so much for being here today to
11 welcome you to the inaugural proceedings
12 for the investiture of City Council, the
13 inauguration of the Mayor, and the
14 induction of the Judiciary and other
15 elected officials.
16 Our special guests joining us
17 today are Monsignor Daniel Sullivan, the
18 Reverend John Roberts, Reverend Martini
19 Shaw, Imam Muhammad Abdul-Aleem, Reverend
20 Naomi Washington-Leapheart, Rabbi Jill
21 Maderer, former Mayor John Street, my
22 mentor, former Mayor Bill Green, former
23 Mayor W. Wilson Goode, Congressman
24 Brendan Boyle, former Congressman Robert
25 Brady, the Honorable Rosalyn Robinson,
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 and the Honorable Kevin Dougherty and the
3 Honorable Patrick Dugan and the Honorable
4 Carolyn Nichols.
5 I also wish to acknowledge the
6 elected officials joining us in the
7 audience today as well as members of the
8 Honorary Inaugural Committee.
9 This being the day fixed by the
10 Philadelphia Home Rule Charter for the
11 organization of the Council of the City
12 of Philadelphia, the hour has arrived,
13 and we will now proceed with the
14 organization of Council and the
15 investiture of Councilmembers.
16 The first order of business
17 will be the election of a temporary
18 chairperson. Nominations are now in
19 order, and the Chair recognizes
20 Councilman Henon.
21 COUNCILMAN HENON: Thank you,
22 Mr. President. I nominate Councilwoman
23 Cherelle Parker.
24 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: The
25 Chair now recognizes Councilman Squilla.
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 COUNCILMAN SQUILLA:
3 Mr. President, I second the nomination.
4 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: Are
5 there any other further nominations?
6 (No response.)
7 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
8 Hearing none, the Chair recognizes
9 Councilman Domb.
10 COUNCILMAN DOMB:
11 Mr. President, I move the nominations be
12 closed.
13 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: The
14 Chair thanks the gentleman.
15 The Chair now recognizes
16 Councilman Green.
17 COUNCILMAN GREEN: Mr.
18 President, I second that motion.
19 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: All
20 in favor of the motion say aye.
21 (Aye.)
22 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
23 Those opposed, nay.
24 (No response.)
25 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: The
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 ayes have it, and the nominations are
3 closed. There being no further
4 nominations, all in favor of the election
5 of Councilwoman Parker will say aye.
6 (Aye.)
7 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
8 Those opposed?
9 (No response.)
10 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: The
11 ayes have it, and Councilwoman Parker has
12 been duly elected temporary Chairperson.
13 Councilwoman.
14 (Applause.)
15 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: Thank
16 you. Thank you, Councilman Clarke.
17 As the first order of business,
18 I appoint Mr. Michael Decker temporary
19 Clerk.
20 I will also at this time remind
21 all Bible holders to please follow the
22 program and make your way to the stage at
23 the appropriate time.
24 The next order of business is
25 the filing of the certificates of
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 election. The Clerk will call the roll.
3 I direct the Clerk to call the roll
4 beginning with the
5 Councilpersons-at-large in alphabetical
6 order and then to proceed with the
7 District Councilpersons in order of their
8 district, beginning with the First
9 District.
10 CHIEF CLERK: Ms. Kendra
11 Brooks.
12 COUNCILWOMAN BROOKS: Present.
13 CHIEF CLERK: Mr. Allan Domb.
14 COUNCILMAN DOMB: Present.
15 CHIEF CLERK: Ms. Katherine
16 Gilmore Richardson.
17 COUNCILWOMAN RICHARDSON:
18 Present.
19 CHIEF CLERK: Mr. Derek Green.
20 COUNCILMAN GREEN: Present.
21 CHIEF CLERK: Ms. Helen Gym.
22 COUNCILWOMAN GYM: Present.
23 CHIEF CLERK: Mr. David Oh.
24 COUNCILMAN OH: Present.
25 CHIEF CLERK: Mr. Isaiah
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 Thomas.
3 COUNCILMAN THOMAS: Present.
4 CHIEF CLERK: Mr. Mark Squilla.
5 COUNCILMAN SQUILLA: Present.
6 CHIEF CLERK: Mr. Kenyatta
7 Johnson.
8 COUNCILMAN JOHNSON: Present.
9 CHIEF CLERK: Ms. Jamie
10 Gauthier.
11 COUNCILWOMAN GAUTHIER:
12 Present.
13 CHIEF CLERK: Mr. Curtis Jones,
14 Jr.
15 COUNCILMAN JONES: Present.
16 CHIEF CLERK: Mr. Darrell
17 Clarke.
18 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
19 Present.
20 CHIEF CLERK: Mr. Bobby Henon.
21 COUNCILMAN HENON: Present.
22 CHIEF CLERK: Ms. Maria
23 Quinones-Sanchez.
24 COUNCILWOMAN SANCHEZ:
25 Presente.
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 CHIEF CLERK: Ms. Cindy Bass.
3 COUNCILWOMAN BASS: Present.
4 CHIEF CLERK: Ms. Cherelle
5 Parker.
6 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: Present.
7 CHIEF CLERK: Mr. Brian
8 O'Neill.
9 COUNCILMAN O'NEILL: Present.
10 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman
11 Parker, a quorum of the members-elect is
12 present, and I have in my possession
13 certificates of election from the County
14 Board of Elections in Philadelphia
15 indicating their election on November
16 5th, 2019 for a term of four years,
17 commencing the first Monday of January
18 2020.
19 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: Thank
20 you.
21 The investiture of members of
22 Council will now proceed. The
23 members-elect will rise to take the oath
24 of office, which will be administered by
25 the Honorable Kevin Dougherty, Justice of
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
3 (Applause.)
4 JUSTICE DOUGHERTY: Will each
5 member please rise. Place your left hand
6 on the Bible, raise your right hand, and
7 repeat after me.
8 (Oath of office administered.)
9 JUSTICE DOUGHERTY:
10 Congratulations.
11 (Applause.)
12 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: The next
13 order of business is the election of a
14 President of the City Council for
15 Philadelphia to serve for four years,
16 commencing January 6th, 2020.
17 Nominations are now in order,
18 and the Chair recognizes Councilwoman
19 Gilmore Richardson.
20 COUNCILWOMAN RICHARDSON: I
21 proudly and with great honor nominate
22 Darrell L. Clarke.
23 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: Y'all can
24 clap.
25 (Applause.)
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: Thank
3 you.
4 At this time, the Chair
5 recognizes Councilman Thomas.
6 COUNCILMAN THOMAS: Madam
7 Chair, I second the nomination.
8 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: Are there
9 any further nominations?
10 (No response.)
11 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: Hearing
12 none, the Chair recognizes Councilwoman
13 Gauthier.
14 COUNCILWOMAN GAUTHIER: Madam
15 Chair, I move the nominations be closed.
16 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: The Chair
17 recognizes Councilwoman Brooks.
18 COUNCILWOMAN BROOKS: Madam
19 Chair, I second that motion.
20 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: All in
21 favor will say aye.
22 (Aye.)
23 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: Those
24 opposed, nay.
25 (No response.)
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: There
3 being no further nominations, all those
4 in favor of the election of the Honorable
5 Darrell L. Clarke as President of the
6 City Council of Philadelphia will say
7 aye.
8 (Aye.)
9 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: Those
10 opposed, nay.
11 (No response.)
12 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: The ayes
13 have it. However, the temporary Clerk
14 will call the roll.
15 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman
16 Bass.
17 COUNCILWOMAN BASS: Aye.
18 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman
19 Brooks.
20 COUNCILWOMAN BROOKS: Aye.
21 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman Domb.
22 COUNCILMAN DOMB: Aye.
23 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman
24 Gauthier.
25 COUNCILWOMAN GAUTHIER: Aye.
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman
3 Gilmore Richardson.
4 COUNCILWOMAN RICHARDSON: Aye.
5 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman Green.
6 COUNCILMAN GREEN: Aye.
7 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman Gym.
8 COUNCILWOMAN GYM: Aye.
9 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman Henon.
10 COUNCILMAN HENON: Aye.
11 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman
12 Johnson.
13 COUNCILMAN JOHNSON: Aye.
14 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman Jones.
15 COUNCILMAN JONES: Aye.
16 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman
17 O'Neill.
18 COUNCILMAN O'NEILL: Aye.
19 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman Oh.
20 COUNCILMAN OH: Aye.
21 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman
22 Parker.
23 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: Aye.
24 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman
25 Quinones-Sanchez.
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 COUNCILWOMAN SANCHEZ: Aye.
3 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman
4 Squilla.
5 COUNCILMAN SQUILLA: Aye.
6 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman
7 Thomas.
8 COUNCILMAN THOMAS: Aye.
9 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman
10 Clarke.
11 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: Aye.
12 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: The ayes
13 are 17 and the nays are zero. Councilman
14 Clarke, having been unanimously chosen by
15 the members of Council, I declare that
16 Councilman Clarke is the duly elected
17 President of this body.
18 Let's give our President a
19 round of applause.
20 (Applause.)
21 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: I appoint
22 Councilwoman Gym, Councilman Jones,
23 Councilman Johnson, and Councilwoman Bass
24 to escort Council President Clarke to the
25 rostrum. And joining Council President
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 at the rostrum will be Nita Wroten.
3 The oath of office will be
4 administered by the Honorable Rosalyn
5 Robinson, Judge of the Court of Common
6 Pleas.
7 (Applause.)
8 JUDGE ROBINSON: Place your
9 left hand on the Bible and raise your
10 right hand and repeat after me.
11 (Oath of office administered.)
12 JUDGE ROBINSON:
13 Congratulations.
14 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
15 Thank you.
16 (Applause.)
17 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: It is my
18 honor and my privilege to present to each
19 of you President of the City Council of
20 Philadelphia, the Honorable Darrell L.
21 Clarke.
22 (Applause.)
23 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: Good
24 morning.
25 (Good morning.)
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: It's
3 an exciting day, and this will be an
4 exciting year.
5 I want to thank everybody who
6 has come here today for the investiture
7 and the organization of City Council.
8 This is truly democracy in action, and I
9 hope that you find today not only a
10 pleasurable one but an interesting one,
11 and it will be that.
12 We are proud to bring this
13 inauguration to The Met Philadelphia for
14 the first time and celebrate the
15 continuation of the North Broad Street
16 Renaissance.
17 (Applause.)
18 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: Its
19 Chair, Ken Scott, sitting right in front
20 of me.
21 They strategically placed you,
22 Ken. I asked that to be done.
23 So before we begin, I just want
24 to take one moment to express my sincere
25 gratitude and appreciation to four very
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 special people not only to me but of all
3 of us, Councilmembers who are concluding
4 their term. They leave a legacy that
5 will be truly written in stone -
6 Councilman Bill Greenlee, Councilwoman
7 Blondell Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Al
8 Taubenberger, and Council Lady Jannie
9 Blackwell.
10 Let's give them a hand.
11 (Applause.)
12 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: They
13 were awesome.
14 And to the newest members, you
15 got some pretty big shoes to fill. So I
16 want to acknowledge the four newly
17 elected members being sworn in today -
18 Councilwoman Kathy Gilmore Richardson.
19 (Applause.)
20 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
21 Councilwoman Kendra Brooks.
22 (Applause.)
23 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
24 Councilwoman, I see you brought the crowd
25 that you had at your inauguration party
20
1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 Saturday night.
3 And Councilwoman Jamie
4 Gauthier.
5 (Applause.)
6 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: And
7 probably the only person that I can't
8 beat in basketball on the stage,
9 Councilman Isaiah Thomas.
10 (Applause.)
11 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
12 Lastly, I just want to say it is truly an
13 honor to have allowed me and a privilege
14 to have served as your Council President
15 for the last four years. I want to thank
16 my members for again giving me this
17 awesome opportunity. You guys, thank you
18 all so much. We look forward to
19 continuing some very good things for the
20 City of Philadelphia. So to all of you,
21 thank you so much.
22 (Applause.)
23 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: Now
24 the work begins.
25 So four years ago, I stood on
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 stage at the last inauguration and I made
3 a number of pledges as we sought new ways
4 to grow our city's economy while helping
5 more Philadelphians participate in that
6 growth, and we made some progress.
7 I said we would unveil a
8 comprehensive energy strategy to help
9 homeowners, businesses, City government
10 increase efficiencies, reduce costs, and
11 create 10,000 jobs over the next decade.
12 And I got kicked three, four times by my
13 staff that said, Darrell, what in the
14 world are you saying.
15 But I meant it. No, we didn't
16 get 10,000 new jobs yet, but I'm happy to
17 say that with the Philadelphia Energy
18 Authority and the Office of
19 Sustainability of Philadelphia, we have
20 more than 1,000 new jobs in the very,
21 very awesome energy-efficient projects
22 coming on board.
23 (Applause.)
24 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: More
25 Philadelphians have actually installed
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 solar systems in their homes, and over
3 $100 million has been invested by
4 companies and government agencies to
5 retrofit their buildings to become more
6 energy efficient.
7 Our comprehensive energy
8 strategy is saving energy, reducing
9 utility costs and, more importantly,
10 creating jobs.
11 We promise to continue our
12 efforts to ensure equitable growth
13 throughout Philadelphia and make sure
14 every neighborhood is a community of
15 choice. That is very important.
16 And while we have made much
17 progress, we still have much more work to
18 do.
19 Our Philly First Home
20 initiative -- this was really, really a
21 special program, which provides one-time
22 grants to help first-time homebuyers
23 afford the down payment and closing costs
24 of their home -- is working extremely
25 well. And if anybody bought a home
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 recently, you understand what a challenge
3 that is.
4 So as a result of that, in six
5 months, this program has helped nearly
6 900 homebuyers achieve their dream of the
7 most significant investment in one's
8 lifetime, buying a home in the City of
9 Philadelphia.
10 (Applause.)
11 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: This
12 program is also helping to stabilize our
13 middle neighborhoods and returning money
14 to the City.
15 Now, frequently we spend money,
16 and it doesn't necessarily come back. In
17 this program, in return of 8 million in
18 grants, the City actually realized $4.5
19 million to the City in real estate
20 transfer tax. That's nearly a 60 percent
21 return on investment. That's a win-win
22 for everybody.
23 But this is no time to rest on
24 our laurels. We must build on all of the
25 positive momentum happening in
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2 Philadelphia, particularly in our
3 downtown area. From the Comcast
4 Technology Center to the FMC Tower in
5 West Philly, our skyline is growing, our
6 economy is booming. Look out, New York,
7 we're coming for you.
8 (Applause.)
9 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: Our
10 world-class academic institutions -
11 Temple, Penn, Drexel, La Salle, and St.
12 Joe's - are producing thousands of
13 college graduates, ready to take on the
14 world, and increasingly these graduates
15 are staying in Philly, drawn to our
16 neighborhoods, our affordability, our
17 vibrant arts and culture, and restaurant
18 scene that continues to grow.
19 That momentum is real, and we
20 should take a moment to celebrate it.
21 But this is not the only story
22 happening in the City of Philadelphia.
23 We also are home to 400,000 people living
24 in poverty. I want you to take that in
25 for a moment. That's one in every four
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 person in the City that's living at or
3 below the poverty rate that is hovering
4 around 24 percent.
5 That's unacceptable to me, and
6 I assume that it's unacceptable to all of
7 you in this room.
8 So City Council took its first
9 steps to address the significant problem.
10 Council released a report. It's called
11 Narrowing the Gap. You can go to
12 phlcouncil.com, a shameless plug, to look
13 at that document, and it talks about
14 strategies aimed at alleviating poverty
15 in the City, and it utilizes best
16 practices from around the country and
17 around the globe.
18 Next, Council created a Special
19 Committee on Poverty Reduction and
20 Prevention, and we put top people in
21 charge - Councilmember Quinones-Sanchez,
22 Eva Gladstein of the Kenney
23 Administration, Sharmain Matlock Turner
24 of the Urban Affairs Coalition, and my
25 good friend, Mel Wells of One Day At A
26
1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 Time.
3 This past fall, the Special
4 Committee met at City Hall and in
5 neighborhoods around Philadelphia,
6 hundreds of citizens and stakeholders
7 participating, lending their best ideas
8 to create jobs and develop additional
9 strategies.
10 I want you to get this next
11 one. Philadelphians are currently
12 eligible for over $450 million in federal
13 and state benefits. That's $450 million.
14 But for various reasons, they're not
15 receiving those benefits. We're working
16 with experts to develop an actionable,
17 and I say actionable plan, to get these
18 benefits to eligible Philadelphians.
19 Can you imagine the impact on
20 poverty when we obtain several hundred
21 million dollars in benefits for
22 Philadelphians? It will be significant.
23 Soon the Special Committee will
24 meet again to issue a complete set of
25 actionable recommendations for the City
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 to help lift 100,000 people out of
3 poverty by 2024, and we believe in
4 setting goals.
5 As I like to say, in the
6 1960s -- and I'm not sure I was around
7 then. Somebody told me about it. I know
8 folks will be on that Twitter trying to
9 figure out how old is this guy.
10 Our country, we rallied
11 together to send a man to the moon, and
12 everyone - academics, engineers,
13 political leaders, everybody - worked
14 together and America achieved its
15 moonshot.
16 This is our city's moonshot.
17 We must resolve this very, very troubling
18 problem.
19 So I'm calling on everyone -
20 the business community, our top
21 universities, colleges, non-profit
22 organizations, City government, and all
23 of our citizens - to work together to
24 achieve this goal. That's an effort
25 worthy of a world-class city.
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 And that is just the beginning
3 of what we can do and must do working
4 together.
5 So last year much attention was
6 paid to the City's effort to attract
7 Amazon to Philadelphia. And we didn't
8 win; they made a mistake. But we did
9 learn what happens when the business
10 community and local government works
11 together. Philadelphia and Pennsylvania
12 put together a very competitive bid for
13 Amazon. And you know what? We didn't
14 get it, but it taught us a lot.
15 We need to keep working
16 collaboratively - the Mayor's Office, the
17 City Council, the business community, the
18 Chamber of Commerce, our academic and
19 non-profit leaders - to attract more
20 companies and jobs to the City of
21 Philadelphia.
22 And we may not have gotten
23 Amazon, actually No. 5 on the Fortune 500
24 list, but why can't we work together and
25 attract companies from the Fortune 1,000
29
1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 list? That will be a goal.
3 (Applause.)
4 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: And
5 one good example is our growing
6 healthcare sector. Companies like
7 Independence Blue Cross, Penn Medicine,
8 Temple Health all employ thousands of
9 people in Philadelphia. But what about
10 all of the other companies emerging in
11 the biosciences and life sciences field?
12 This is what we need to do, go
13 aggressively. As aggressively as we went
14 after Amazon, we should go aggressively
15 after those particular fields.
16 So we need to work together,
17 and it means jobs and opportunity for all
18 of our citizens.
19 So while we're talking about
20 collaboration, I want to do this. Let's
21 put to rest once and for all any notion
22 that City Council is somehow
23 anti-business.
24 City Council represents a wide
25 array of constituencies, from domestic
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 workers to the largest corporations in
3 the City. Every constituency deserves
4 equity and fairness under the law, and
5 Council works to balance those interests
6 every day in each bill or piece of
7 legislation that we introduce. That is
8 our job.
9 We are for workers and we are
10 for job-creating companies and for equity
11 and opportunity for every individual and
12 industry in the City.
13 So when we work together, we
14 achieve these goals. When we stand
15 divided, we achieve none of them.
16 Our recent reform to the City's
17 tax abatement is a good example. And I
18 had to bring up something controversial
19 today, because it's in my nature.
20 So some stakeholders wanted us
21 to take no action to reform the abatement
22 program, and it's credited with helping
23 to ignite a building boom in the last
24 decade in the City of Philadelphia that
25 was unprecedented. And other
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 stakeholders wanted us to do away with it
3 in its entirety.
4 But what Council did was get to
5 work. Our staff carefully studied the
6 history and the impact of the abatement,
7 and in the end, we altered the abatement
8 for new residential construction over the
9 next decade, and we project that it will
10 generate over $300 million in additional
11 revenues for our public school and
12 essential City services. We kept the
13 abatement in place for commercial
14 activity, because that creates jobs.
15 So we did the appropriate
16 balancing act and we made sure that we
17 continue to be competitive. So that's
18 what we do when we work together.
19 So as we focus on an economic
20 agenda that creates good-paying jobs for
21 everyone in our City, we must also pay
22 attention to a growing gap between the
23 jobs created by our technology economy
24 and the skills possessed by our adults in
25 our city.
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 This skills gap is one of the
3 many issues associated with income
4 inequality in Philadelphia, and we must
5 narrow that skills gap.
6 We need more adult education
7 classes and curriculum for citizens
8 across our city. The Community College
9 of Philadelphia is playing a role, but we
10 need more access to classrooms for adults
11 who want to work but need to learn the
12 skills to get the technology and
13 healthcare jobs of today.
14 On a recent trip to Baltimore,
15 I met with Mayor Young and I learned what
16 they're doing on this particular issue.
17 By the end of the year, 75 percent of
18 Baltimore's public schools will be
19 community schools, and over half of them
20 offer robust financial literacy, job
21 training, and workforce development for
22 adults living in that neighborhood.
23 That's important.
24 Our expansion of community
25 schools in Philadelphia is encouraging,
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 and I want to thank the Mayor.
3 Mayor, thank you so much, from
4 that time we rode on that little
5 rickety -- I don't know what you call it,
6 on that river in Cincinnati when we saw
7 the first community school and we were
8 holding our breath. Thank you for
9 keeping your commitment for this
10 community school initiative. We really
11 appreciate that.
12 (Applause.)
13 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: And
14 another issue that arises from a lack of
15 economic opportunity is crime. And
16 although violent crime declined slightly
17 in Philadelphia last year, unfortunately
18 shootings and homicides did not.
19 More than 100 people, 100
20 people younger than the age of 18, were
21 shot in 2019. We're talking toddlers,
22 we're talking children, we're talking
23 infants. That is totally unacceptable.
24 So Council has done a few
25 things, but we're going to need all of
34
1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 you. Council has taken action to protect
3 our citizens, prohibiting guns at
4 playgrounds, making it more difficult to
5 allow individuals who have protection
6 orders to get weapons. We funded, with
7 the Administration, a significant amount,
8 millions of dollars, to ensure that we
9 have violence prevention programs in the
10 City of Philadelphia, meaningful
11 programs. And, most importantly, in
12 2020, we will support our new police
13 commissioner, Danielle Outlaw.
14 (Applause.)
15 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: But
16 as she said herself last week, she cannot
17 do this alone. She needs all of our
18 help. We need all of your help. So
19 together we can make our neighborhoods
20 safer, but we must work together.
21 These issues all intersect with
22 each other, 400,000 people living in
23 poverty, a growing skills gap for people
24 who want to work but they lack the skills
25 needed in today's economy, a lack of
35
1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 hope, too many guns on our street, too
3 many people willing to use them.
4 So to every citizen out there
5 watching this inauguration who might
6 think cynically that nothing will ever
7 change, I simply say this: There is
8 nothing we cannot achieve if we work
9 together.
10 Working together, we can lift
11 100,000 people out of poverty.
12 Working together, we can create
13 access to adult education that narrows
14 the skills gap and helps individuals get
15 on track to find jobs paying a living
16 wage.
17 Working together, we can
18 support our new police commissioner and
19 her efforts to reform our criminal system
20 and make all of our neighborhoods safer
21 for all our citizens.
22 Let that be our moonshot.
23 Now, I'm not suggesting the
24 challenges that lie ahead are easy. I am
25 saying that solving these problems is
36
1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 essential to our future as a city that
3 serves every citizen in the City of
4 Philadelphia.
5 President Obama said this --
6 man, do I miss him, I'm telling you.
7 (Applause.)
8 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: I'm
9 talking about changing something to allow
10 a third term. Oh, my God.
11 I'm sorry. I'm going off
12 script. I couldn't help it.
13 So when you think about the
14 challenges we face -- this is what
15 President Obama said -- these are
16 challenges that require us to look
17 forward, not backwards. That's
18 important. You got to look forward.
19 So let's look forward and craft
20 solutions that make Philadelphia a more
21 thriving, inclusive, and a safer city for
22 everyone.
23 So today I want to thank
24 everyone who has come to The Met
25 Philadelphia, North Broad Street, right
37
1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 in the heart of North Philadelphia for
3 this awesome inauguration, and I want to
4 thank all of you for continuing to love
5 our City of Philadelphia.
6 God bless you all. Thank you
7 so much.
8 (Applause.)
9 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
10 Thank you. Thank you. Now back to
11 business.
12 The next order of business is
13 the election of the Chief Clerk of the
14 Council of the City of Philadelphia.
15 Nominations are now in order, and the
16 Chair recognizes Councilman O'Neill.
17 COUNCILMAN O'NEILL: Thank you,
18 Mr. President. I nominate Mr. Michael
19 Decker.
20 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: The
21 Chair thanks the Councilman.
22 And the Chair recognizes
23 Councilwoman Gym.
24 COUNCILWOMAN GYM:
25 Mr. President, I second that nomination.
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
3 Thank you, Councilwoman.
4 Are there any further
5 nominations?
6 (No response.)
7 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
8 Hearing none, the Chair recognizes
9 Councilman Johnson.
10 COUNCILMAN JOHNSON:
11 Mr. President, I move that the
12 nominations be closed.
13 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
14 Thank you, Councilman.
15 The Chair recognizes
16 Councilwoman Bass.
17 COUNCILWOMAN BASS:
18 Mr. President, I second the motion.
19 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
20 Thank you, Councilwoman.
21 It's been moved and properly
22 seconded that the nominations be closed.
23 All those in favor of that
24 motion will say aye.
25 (Aye.)
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
3 Those opposed?
4 (No response.)
5 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: The
6 ayes have it, and the motion is carried.
7 There being no further nominations, all
8 in favor of the election of Mr. Decker as
9 Chief Clerk of the Council will say aye.
10 (Aye.)
11 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
12 Those opposed?
13 (No response.)
14 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: The
15 ayes have it. However, the Chief Clerk
16 will call the roll.
17 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman
18 Bass.
19 COUNCILWOMAN BASS: Aye.
20 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman
21 Brooks.
22 COUNCILWOMAN BROOKS: Aye.
23 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman Domb.
24 COUNCILMAN DOMB: Aye.
25 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 Gauthier.
3 COUNCILWOMAN GAUTHIER: Aye.
4 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman
5 Gilmore Richardson.
6 COUNCILWOMAN RICHARDSON: Aye.
7 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman Green.
8 COUNCILMAN GREEN: Aye.
9 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman Gym.
10 COUNCILWOMAN GYM: Aye.
11 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman Henon.
12 COUNCILMAN HENON: Aye.
13 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman
14 Johnson.
15 COUNCILMAN JOHNSON: Aye.
16 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman Jones.
17 COUNCILMAN JONES: Aye.
18 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman
19 O'Neill.
20 COUNCILMAN O'NEILL: Aye.
21 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman Oh.
22 COUNCILMAN OH: Aye.
23 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman
24 Parker.
25 COUNCILWOMAN PARKER: Aye.
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 CHIEF CLERK: Councilwoman
3 Quinones-Sanchez.
4 COUNCILWOMAN SANCHEZ: Aye.
5 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman
6 Squilla.
7 COUNCILMAN SQUILLA: Aye.
8 CHIEF CLERK: Councilman
9 Thomas.
10 COUNCILMAN THOMAS: Aye.
11 CHIEF CLERK: Council President
12 Clarke.
13 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: Aye.
14 The ayes are 17; the nays are
15 zero. Mr. Decker, having received a
16 unanimous vote of the members of Council,
17 I now declare Mr. Michael Decker duly
18 elected Chief Clerk of the City Council
19 of Philadelphia.
20 (Applause.)
21 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
22 Councilman Squilla and Councilman Oh will
23 please escort Mr. Decker to the rostrum.
24 The Honorable Judge Dougherty will
25 administer the oath of office to
42
1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 Mr. Decker.
3 JUSTICE DOUGHERTY: Mr. Decker,
4 place your left hand on your Bible, raise
5 your right hand, repeat after me.
6 (Oath of office administered.)
7 JUSTICE DOUGHERTY:
8 Congratulations, sir.
9 (Applause.)
10 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
11 Thank you.
12 Mr. Decker, I see you were a
13 little slow on the draw. You got all
14 choked up from that nomination. It's all
15 good.
16 Mr. Decker is an awesome
17 fixture in the City Council of
18 Philadelphia.
19 (Applause.)
20 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: At
21 this time, I will name the officers of
22 the City Council. Please be advised that
23 by a vote of the democratic members of
24 Council, the Honorable Cherelle Parker
25 was elected Majority Leader, the
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 Honorable Curtis Jones, Jr. was elected
3 Majority Whip, and the Honorable Mark
4 Squilla was elected Majority Deputy Whip
5 of the Council.
6 (Applause.)
7 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
8 Thank you.
9 The next order of business is
10 the introduction of a resolution
11 concerning the rules of government of the
12 Council of the City of Philadelphia, and
13 the Chair recognizes Councilwoman
14 Quinones-Sanchez.
15 COUNCILWOMAN SANCHEZ: Thank
16 you, Mr. President. I offer the
17 following resolution.
18 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: The
19 Chief Clerk will read the title of the
20 resolution.
21 CHIEF CLERK: A resolution to
22 provide rules for the government of the
23 Council of the City of Philadelphia.
24 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: The
25 Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 COUNCILMAN JONES: Thank you,
3 Mr. President. I move that the rules, as
4 set forth in this resolution, be adopted
5 the temporary rules of the Council of the
6 City of Philadelphia until the permanent
7 rules are adopted.
8 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
9 Thank you. The Chair thanks the
10 Councilman.
11 The Chair recognizes Councilman
12 Henon.
13 COUNCILMAN HENON: Thank you,
14 Mr. President. I second that motion.
15 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: All
16 in favor of the motion will say aye.
17 (Aye.)
18 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
19 Those opposed?
20 (No response.)
21 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: The
22 ayes have it, and the motion is carried
23 and the rules contained in this
24 resolution have been adopted temporarily.
25 The resolution will be placed on the
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 Final Passage Calendar for consideration
3 at our next session of Council.
4 The organization of the Council
5 of the City of Philadelphia and the
6 investiture of the City Council members
7 are complete, in accordance with the
8 provisions of the Home Rule Charter.
9 The Council is honored by the
10 presence of the Reverend John Roberts. I
11 ask you all please to rise, and I invite
12 Reverend Roberts to lead us in prayer, my
13 minister, Reverend Roberts.
14 REVEREND ROBERTS: The Bible
15 says any two touching in the green asking
16 anything in his name, that he would do
17 it.
18 I want to ask that you will
19 take your neighbor by the hand.
20 Our Heavenly Father, we thank
21 you again for not only did you wake us
22 up, but you helped us to get up. You
23 gave us a portion of health and strength
24 where we were able to bathe ourselves and
25 put our own clothes on without any
46
1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 assistance. And you brought us safely to
3 this place on today.
4 I ask now that you would bless
5 everyone under the sound of my voice.
6 Thank you for our President of City
7 Council, my brother and friend, Darrell
8 Clarke, for those that will be working
9 along with him in City Council.
10 I pray now even for the great
11 Mayor of this city and all the elected
12 officials that I know. Thank you so much
13 for bringing us together.
14 You are a God who cares about
15 all of us, because all lives matter to
16 you.
17 Now, if you bless us, we'll be
18 blessed. If you help us, we'll be
19 helped. If you touch us, we'll be
20 healed.
21 Bless this day and make us a
22 blessing to the day, for you said in your
23 word how good and how pleasant it is for
24 brethren to dwell together in unity. For
25 united we stand, but divided we fall.
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 Now we ask, oh God, that you
3 would bless all of us today. Give us
4 wisdom and knowledge and understanding,
5 these great leaders of this city. You
6 said in your word that when the righteous
7 are in authority, the people rejoice, but
8 when the wicked rule, the people mourn.
9 Wipe the tears away. Put
10 rejoicing down in our hearts and in our
11 souls for these great leaders of this
12 great City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly
13 Affection.
14 I ask that you would do this,
15 bind us together, make us one in the
16 spirit.
17 We ask this in Jesus' name.
18 And as always, Lord, thank you for
19 listening.
20 Amen.
21 (Amen.)
22 (Applause.)
23 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
24 Thank you, Reverend Roberts.
25 At this time, I invite the
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 Saint Thomas Gospel Choir to perform
3 "This is the Day." The choir is directed
4 by Walt Blocker.
5 Saint Thomas Choir.
6 (Saint Thomas Gospel Choir
7 performs.)
8 (Applause.)
9 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: All
10 right. That's right. I heard that.
11 So today we are also honored by
12 the presence of the Reverend Martini
13 Shaw. Before we proceed with the
14 induction of the Mayor of the City of
15 Philadelphia, I invite Reverend Shaw to
16 lead us in prayer.
17 REVEREND SHAW: Let us pray.
18 Almighty and eternal God, the
19 God of Abraham, Isaac, Rebecca, Sarah,
20 Muhammad, and Jesus, this morning, oh
21 Lord, we give you thanks, we give you
22 praise, we give you honor as we lift in
23 prayer our beloved and diverse City of
24 Philadelphia, a city founded and grounded
25 in both brotherly love and sisterly
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 affection.
3 As we begin this new year of
4 2020, we pray for unity where there is
5 division and separation. We pray for
6 peace where there is discord and turmoil.
7 We pray for love where there is hatred
8 and antipathy. We pray for light where
9 there is darkness and uncertainty. We
10 pray for order where there is disorder
11 and chaos. We pray for justice where
12 there is injustice and inequality. We
13 pray for healing where there is sickness,
14 pain, and suffering. We pray for joy
15 where there is sadness and despair. We
16 pray for the eradication of all forms of
17 racism and sexism and ageism. We pray
18 for an end to xenophobia, homophobia, and
19 all other phobias that divide and plague
20 our city and poison our nation.
21 We pray that we may strive for
22 justice and peace among all people and
23 respect the dignity of every human being.
24 Unite us, oh Lord, that we may be more
25 loving and compassionate, more giving and
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 welcoming, that we may be a haven of your
3 blessings.
4 And, oh Lord, bless our Mayor,
5 bless our City Council, bless all those
6 elected to public office that they may
7 serve with integrity, dignity, and
8 faithfulness.
9 May the spirit of brotherly
10 love and sisterly affection always guide
11 our thoughts and inform our actions.
12 In the name of the omnificent,
13 omniscient, and omnipresent God who is
14 able to do exceedingly and abundantly
15 above all that we can ask or imagine,
16 Lord, hear our prayer.
17 Amen.
18 (Amen.)
19 (Applause.)
20 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
21 Thank you so much, Reverend.
22 We will now proceed with the
23 induction of the Mayor of the City of
24 Philadelphia. The Chair appoints
25 Councilman Green, Councilman O'Neill,
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 Councilwoman Quinones-Sanchez, and
3 Councilman Oh to escort the Honorable
4 James F. Kenney, Mayor of the City of
5 Philadelphia, to the rostrum. The Chair
6 also invites Mrs. Barbara Kenney to join
7 him at the podium.
8 The Chief Clerk will read the
9 certificate of election of the Honorable
10 James F. Kenney as the Mayor of the City
11 of Philadelphia.
12 CHIEF CLERK: Jim Kenney, at an
13 election held November 5, 2019, you were
14 duly elected Mayor of the City of
15 Philadelphia for a four-year term,
16 commencing the first Monday of January
17 2020.
18 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: The
19 Honorable Kevin Dougherty, Justice of the
20 Pennsylvania Supreme Court, will
21 administer the oath of office to the
22 Mayor.
23 JUSTICE DOUGHERTY: Place your
24 left hand on the Bible, raise your right
25 hand.
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 (Oath of office administered.)
3 JUSTICE DOUGHERTY:
4 Congratulations, Mr. Mayor.
5 (Standing ovation.)
6 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
7 Thank you.
8 The members of City Council,
9 reverend clergy, elected officials,
10 distinguished guests, ladies and
11 gentlemen, I have the distinct honor to
12 present to you His Honor, the Mayor of
13 the City of Philadelphia, the Honorable
14 James F. Kenney.
15 (Applause.)
16 MAYOR KENNEY: Good morning.
17 (Good morning.)
18 MAYOR KENNEY: I want to begin
19 by thanking my family for their support,
20 especially my mother, Barbara.
21 I want to take a moment to
22 honor my father who is no longer with us,
23 but is still by my side today and every
24 day.
25 (Applause.)
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 MAYOR KENNEY: I want to thank
3 Council President Clarke and my friends
4 in City Council for having me, as after
5 all, this is your Council session.
6 I want to specifically
7 congratulate the new members of City
8 Council. This new generation of
9 thoughtful, conscientious leaders will
10 help make this city a better place for
11 decades to come.
12 I congratulate our
13 distinguished judges, our City
14 Commissioners, Sheriff Bilal, and
15 Register of Wills Gordon on taking their
16 oaths of office today.
17 I want to acknowledge former
18 Mayor Goode and Mayor Green, also Mayor
19 Street, Congressman Boyle, Councilman
20 Evans, also Councilman Brady, and I want
21 to recognize the members of our
22 Administration who are here and the many
23 more who are working throughout the City
24 right now. Whether they're sanitation
25 workers out in the cold making sure our
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 streets are clean or police officers and
3 firefighters racing to save someone's
4 lives, it's these individuals who make
5 this city run, and we owe them all of our
6 thanks.
7 (Applause.)
8 MAYOR KENNEY: It has been a
9 real honor to serve as your Mayor these
10 last four years, and I'm very grateful to
11 have earned another term to build on that
12 progress that we've made together.
13 In 2016, we embarked on a
14 mission to tackle some of Philadelphia's
15 biggest challenges - a struggling public
16 education system, an inequitable criminal
17 justice system, intergenerational
18 poverty, record-setting public health
19 crises, and much more.
20 Our goal was clear - to
21 increase equity and opportunity so all
22 Philadelphians, regardless of their zip
23 code, can reach their potential and lead
24 fulfilling lives.
25 We've been driven by our
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 guiding principles of courage,
3 compassion, and collaboration.
4 Courage to do what is hard,
5 compassion to always put our most needy
6 people first, and collaboration because
7 we know that making real impact is only
8 possible when we work alongside residents
9 and have partnerships that span the
10 public, private, and non-profit sectors
11 of our city.
12 Over the last four years, we
13 have made significant progress.
14 Philadelphia is a dynamic, diverse city
15 with a strong economy. Our job growth
16 outpaces the national average.
17 Unemployment and poverty are at their
18 lowest rates in a decade. Our reputation
19 as a welcoming city fuels population
20 growth, and overall our neighborhood
21 schools are improving.
22 Think for a second about how
23 just several years ago few could have
24 imagined us gathered here today in this
25 century-old, brilliant, ornate building
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 which was held together for years only
3 through the valiant work of the Holy
4 Ghost Church community. And I thank them
5 for saving this building.
6 (Applause.)
7 MAYOR KENNEY: Now this venue
8 serves as an anchor of the renaissance
9 underway here on North Broad Street. And
10 it's symbolic of the renewed energy that
11 is happening on many of our commercial
12 corridors.
13 Yet despite this progress, we
14 know that huge challenges remain. These
15 challenges are grounded in economic and
16 racial inequality that have been building
17 for decades.
18 We must continue to confront
19 our greatest challenges and capitalize on
20 new opportunities with the courage,
21 conviction, and resilience that we as
22 Philadelphians possess.
23 I know it's possible because I
24 have seen it firsthand. I've seen it
25 through the eyes of our three- and
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2 four-year-old children who are
3 experiencing a nurturing and rigorous
4 learning environment of our City-funded
5 pre-K programs.
6 I've seen it in the faces of
7 families whose lives have been changed
8 forever because we were able to help them
9 buy their first home.
10 And over the past four years,
11 I've seen it at countless community
12 meetings, rallies, marches, and festivals
13 where residents from diverse backgrounds
14 and neighborhoods gather to voice
15 concerns, fight for causes, enjoy our
16 amenities, and celebrate all that makes
17 Philadelphia unique.
18 Today we'll release a report
19 that outlines our renewed priorities for
20 this next term. There are five key areas
21 where we plan to focus our energies.
22 First, and let me be very
23 clear, nothing is more important to our
24 Administration than creating a safer and
25 more just city for all of us.
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2 It's no secret that the hardest
3 part of this job for me has been
4 addressing the senseless and unspeakable
5 violence that happens on our streets
6 every day.
7 Talking to moms and dads,
8 brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles of
9 the young men and women cut down on the
10 streets of Philadelphia has left deep
11 scars on our communities and, frankly, on
12 me personally also.
13 These young people, like little
14 Nikolette Rivera, who was murdered in her
15 living room this past October as she was
16 held in her mother's arms, will never
17 meet their potential, a loss that impacts
18 all of us in this room and every single
19 Philadelphian.
20 And it will take all of us
21 working together to make the progress we
22 know is possible.
23 Our Administration will deploy
24 every tool and resource at our disposal
25 to make sure more families do not suffer
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2 the same fate.
3 We are committed to reducing
4 shootings and homicides and fighting for
5 commonsense gun control so these
6 tragedies can end once and for all.
7 (Applause.)
8 MAYOR KENNEY: Along with our
9 new Police Commissioner, Danielle Outlaw,
10 we will transform community relations and
11 make the reforms necessary to restore
12 trust and accountability between the
13 Department and its residents, especially
14 in black and brown communities.
15 (Applause.)
16 MAYOR KENNEY: While most
17 police officers perform their duties with
18 compassion and integrity, those who fail
19 to meet the standards of professional
20 conduct or demonstrate racist or sexist
21 behaviors must and will be held
22 accountable.
23 (Applause.)
24 MAYOR KENNEY: All the while,
25 we will implement with urgency our
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1 1/6/20 - STATED MEETING
2 violence prevention strategy, the
3 Philadelphia Roadmap to Safer
4 Communities, which combines proven
5 data-driven and community-informed
6 approaches that have successfully reduced
7 violence in other major cities.
8 And we'll continue to partner
9 with grassroots community groups each
10 step of the way, because those closest to
11 the challenges often have the best
12 solutions.
13 Since 2015, we have been taking
14 a comprehensive approach to criminal
15 justice reform to safely reduce our
16 prison population and to close the House
17 of Correction.
18 (Applause.)
19 MAYOR KENNEY: A century-old
20 dungeon that was a constant reminder of
21 what mass incarceration really looks
22 like.
23 As a result, 3,000 fewer
24 Philadelphians are behind bars. And we
25 closed that prison ahead of schedule.
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2 (Applause.)
3 MAYOR KENNEY: We will continue
4 this work to reduce our jail population,
5 focusing on reducing racial and ethnic
6 disparities that persist in our system.
7 (Applause.)
8 MAYOR KENNEY: Next, to ensure
9 our young people reach their full
10 potential, we must follow the rest of the
11 civilized world and make the investments
12 necessary to improve the quality of
13 education available to all of our kids.
14 (Applause.)
15 MAYOR KENNEY: This isn't just
16 the right thing to do. Our city's future
17 depends on it.
18 For years, we watched as the
19 School District of Philadelphia was cut
20 to the bone, with significant capital
21 investments trimmed, nurses, counselors,
22 and librarians let go, and barely enough
23 money to keep the lights on.
24 But it's a new era, and we will
25 not fail another generation of our
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2 children.
3 (Applause.)
4 MAYOR KENNEY: Together we
5 regained control of our schools by
6 establishing a local Board of Education,
7 and we matched it with more, along with
8 Council, with more than a billion dollars
9 in City funding.
10 Now is the time to deliver on
11 the promise of local control. This means
12 working with the District and Harrisburg
13 to prioritize investments to ensure all
14 our kids and school staff have safe and
15 welcoming facilities equipped with modern
16 technology.
17 It means that all students are
18 exposed to career-connected activities so
19 they're actually prepared for college and
20 careers.
21 (Applause.)
22 MAYOR KENNEY: It means our
23 dynamic teachers are properly supported
24 so they can set high standards for
25 student success.
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2 And fulfilling the promise of
3 local control means greater access to
4 quality supportive services so children
5 and families' social, behavioral, and
6 health needs are met.
7 Over the next four years, we'll
8 continue growing our City-led PHLpreK,
9 community schools, and out of school time
10 initiatives that have become lifelines
11 for students and their families.
12 We'll drastically expand
13 behavioral health supports across all
14 schools.
15 (Applause.)
16 MAYOR KENNEY: Building on this
17 success, we will create a new Office of
18 Children and Families and a Children and
19 Families Cabinet charged with working
20 across City departments to ensure that
21 all policies, resources, and services for
22 children and families are aligned,
23 coordinated, and developed in close
24 partnership with the School District of
25 Philadelphia.
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2 (Applause.)
3 MAYOR KENNEY: In the second
4 term, we will also tackle new education
5 priorities like working with the
6 Community College of Philadelphia to help
7 more high school students transition to
8 college and allow for more to attend CCP
9 tuition free so they can successfully
10 graduate.
11 (Applause.)
12 MAYOR KENNEY: In Philadelphia
13 and across the nation, the rising cost of
14 higher education and childcare as well as
15 food insecurity and spiraling student
16 debt is harming too many students'
17 ability to graduate. And I know this
18 keeps many parents and students awake at
19 night.
20 Yet if Philadelphia is to be a
21 talent magnet for new companies and serve
22 the rapidly changing needs of our labor
23 market, we must do more to help residents
24 gain a credential or post-secondary
25 degree.
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2 That is why our Administration
3 will be focused on creating a more
4 accessible and affordable Community
5 College for Philadelphians.
6 (Applause.)
7 MAYOR KENNEY: Last year we
8 asked City residents to rate our services
9 and tell us their priorities.
10 Overwhelmingly people were most concerned
11 with the condition of our streets. So
12 let me say that we've heard you loud and
13 clear, and making our streets safer and
14 cleaner will be another major priority.
15 (Applause.)
16 MAYOR KENNEY: You're welcome.
17 We've made tremendous progress
18 with a $200 million capital investment
19 for repaving, and we've more than doubled
20 the miles of streets paved since the year
21 2015. But we still have a long way to
22 go.
23 This term we will return our
24 roads to a state of good repair and
25 ensure that all users of our roadways are
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2 safer by adding 40 miles of protected
3 bike lanes.
4 (Applause.)
5 MAYOR KENNEY: And we will
6 support SEPTA's ambitious redesign of the
7 bus network so that Philadelphians can
8 more quickly and efficiently get to their
9 jobs and other places.
10 (Applause.)
11 MAYOR KENNEY: And for cleaner
12 streets, we will continue to ramp up
13 illegal dumping enforcement and build on
14 our successful street sweeping pilot
15 program by expanding street cleaning to
16 every neighborhood and commercial
17 corridor by the year 2023.
18 (Applause.)
19 MAYOR KENNEY: Yes, you heard
20 that right, every neighborhood, which
21 will even require folks to move their
22 cars.
23 (Applause.)
24 MAYOR KENNEY: While we're
25 improving the condition of streets, we
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2 will also remain focused on creating
3 inclusive and resilient neighborhoods and
4 making sure that our economic growth
5 extends far beyond Center City.
6 We'll continue our historic
7 investments in housing affordability,
8 homeless services, and homeownership.
9 This will help stabilize Philadelphians
10 struggling amid poverty and grow our
11 middle class.
12 To gain quality jobs, we'll
13 increase entrepreneurial support for
14 businesses owned by people of color,
15 women, and immigrants.
16 (Applause.)
17 MAYOR KENNEY: And implement a
18 robust business and job growth strategy.
19 And we'll continue our
20 extensive efforts to save more lives from
21 the opioid overdose and help
22 neighborhoods like Kensington recover
23 from the traumatic toll the opioid crisis
24 has inflicted on our communities.
25 (Applause.)
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2 MAYOR KENNEY: The opioid
3 crisis is a national epidemic, but it's
4 clear to me that cities like ours are on
5 the front line of this battle. We must
6 step up to solve it, as we've been doing
7 the past few years.
8 While some in Harrisburg and
9 those working at the behest of the
10 President are more concerned about
11 scoring political points, we are focused
12 on saving the souls suffering from
13 addiction.
14 (Applause.)
15 MAYOR KENNEY: And, yes, that
16 means supporting the creation of overdose
17 prevention sites to save lives and give
18 more people an entry point to treatment.
19 (Applause.)
20 MAYOR KENNEY: And that's not
21 the only thing our city needs to lead on.
22 We will continue doing everything we can
23 to address the climate crisis by
24 delivering on the Paris Climate Agreement
25 and meeting our own ambitious climate
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2 goals.
3 (Applause.)
4 MAYOR KENNEY: Finally, to
5 restore equity to our neighborhoods,
6 we'll continue the phenomenal progress of
7 Rebuild by revitalizing 72 parks,
8 recreation centers, playgrounds, and
9 libraries.
10 (Applause.)
11 MAYOR KENNEY: After decades of
12 disinvestment, these public spaces are
13 finally getting the attention our
14 residents, especially our kids, deserve.
15 (Applause.)
16 MAYOR KENNEY: I'm extremely
17 grateful to everyone involved in Rebuild,
18 from the staff, non-profit partners,
19 diverse businesses, and apprentices who
20 are on their way to building careers in
21 the trades.
22 I also want to thank the
23 community members who participate in the
24 design process, funders like the fabulous
25 William Penn Foundation -- thank you so
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2 much -- and City Council for enacting the
3 beverage tax.
4 (Applause.)
5 MAYOR KENNEY: Got a hand for
6 the beverage tax.
7 And our last major priority
8 this term is grounded in our work to make
9 a more diverse, efficient, and effective
10 government that delivers better customer
11 service to residents and businesses.
12 We plan to look at every policy
13 and program through a racial equity lens
14 so we can better address the racial
15 disparities that have plagued communities
16 of color for far too long.
17 (Applause.)
18 MAYOR KENNEY: For example,
19 we'll reform burdensome fines and fees
20 and bring fairness to more residents, and
21 we'll provide more support to returning
22 citizens so they can contribute to our
23 society in a meaningful way.
24 (Applause.)
25 MAYOR KENNEY: We also plan to
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2 embed data, evaluation, and
3 human-centered design in more City
4 operations.
5 These are among the top
6 priorities for this term, and everything
7 we do, every policy, every program, aims
8 to lift at least 100,000 Philadelphians
9 out of poverty.
10 (Applause.)
11 MAYOR KENNEY: Our approach to
12 reducing poverty focuses on providing
13 support to those in need now, helping
14 Philadelphians raise their incomes, and
15 enacting policies and investments that
16 will break the cycle of intergenerational
17 poverty for good.
18 I want to again thank the
19 incredibly talented and dedicated members
20 of the cabinet and staff who have been
21 instrumental in pushing forward our
22 progressive agenda these past four years.
23 City government would not run
24 without the 30,000-plus public servants
25 who work on behalf of residents every
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2 day. No words can adequately express my
3 appreciation for all of you. Thank you
4 for showing up and doing the work with
5 compassion and integrity.
6 And thank you to the residents
7 of our great city who continue to voice
8 their opinions and concerns and tell us
9 what they want to see. We hear you.
10 As Mayor, I recognize that
11 thousands of Philadelphia children are
12 kept awake at night by difficult concerns
13 that no child should bear - a parent
14 losing a job, an empty stomach,
15 overcrowded classrooms, or gunfire right
16 outside their window. It should not be
17 that way.
18 I want all Philadelphia
19 children to sleep soundly at night and
20 wake in the morning with the desire and a
21 quality education to go out and conquer
22 the world.
23 (Applause.)
24 MAYOR KENNEY: More than
25 anything else, that is the goal that will
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2 drive our Administration over the next
3 four years. And with your help, I'm
4 confident we can achieve it.
5 Thank you, God bless you, and
6 Happy New Year.
7 (Standing ovation.)
8 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
9 Thank you. Again, Mr. Mayor,
10 congratulations.
11 I now invite the Imam Muhammad
12 Abdul-Aleem to offer a prayer for the
13 City.
14 (Applause.)
15 IMAM ABDUL-ALEEM: Peace be
16 upon you and with God's name, the
17 merciful benefactor, the merciful
18 redeemer.
19 I'd like to begin this prayer
20 for the City. I want to make first a
21 comment that when I was given this
22 beautiful and very humbling opportunity,
23 I thought of a prayer that was given by
24 the great prophet Ibrahim, where he
25 prayed to God for a city of safety and
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2 security. So God willing, I want to
3 share with you some of the things that we
4 have written about in relationship to
5 those verses in the Quran, and I hope
6 that the invitation given by Council
7 President and our Mayor and City Council
8 that we will honor you giving us this
9 opportunity.
10 So this prayer is, our merciful
11 benefactor, our redeemer who opens for
12 all people a way to good conscience and a
13 good life.
14 Grant to the City that it may
15 continue to be a prosperous city and as
16 the people of faith taking pride in human
17 dignity, industry, and service.
18 Let us pray that this great
19 city pursuing liberty and justice in the
20 face of injustice be an inspiration to
21 other cities and to this nation to move
22 towards social and economic justice for
23 all.
24 Grant that this city always
25 have a heart for charity, compassion,
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2 repentance, and mercy for the weak and
3 the less fortunate among us.
4 Grant that we as human beings
5 always have more hope than trouble and
6 ever-growing goodness and in wisdom.
7 Bless us to always cherish our
8 freedom and the noble essence of our
9 common human essence.
10 Grant that we, the citizens of
11 this city, understand better our brothers
12 and sisters in the City and around the
13 world, and reject unsuitable racism for a
14 global community of brotherhood and
15 peace.
16 Bring all our citizens,
17 government, and members of all the
18 branches of government together, those of
19 great means and small means, to
20 appreciate more our city's pledge of
21 liberty, peace, and justice for all.
22 Bless all citizens. Share in
23 the responsibility to make our city work
24 for all of us.
25 Bless our homes and our
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2 schools. Bless the parish and our
3 troubled youth, our burdened
4 neighborhoods to never be without hope or
5 direction.
6 Bless marriage and family life
7 in our city. Bless us as citizens of
8 this great city to keep the best of our
9 ways. Bless us as citizens to live up to
10 the noble name of the City of Brotherly
11 Love and Sisterly Affection.
12 Bless us with the spirit of
13 love and unity as we work together to
14 make our city a shared freedom space.
15 Bless us in our neighborhoods
16 to return the neighbor back to the hood.
17 Bless us to establish the City
18 as the city of safety and security for
19 all citizens.
20 Bless us to have more pride in
21 industry and self-reliance.
22 Bless the workers of our city,
23 those in uniform and those not in
24 uniform.
25 Bless the efforts of this
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2 leadership body and all efforts to make
3 progress for jobs and more opportunity
4 for us in this great city for us.
5 Bless us to understand this
6 great time in which we live, the time of
7 the human being. Bless us to wake up to
8 human life and stop the senseless
9 violence that goes on in our
10 neighborhoods.
11 Bless us to better appreciate
12 the environment and our relationship to
13 Mother Earth.
14 Bless our leaders with the
15 patience and the wisdom to lead us in
16 these challenging times. Increase our
17 elected officials - our Mayor, our City
18 Council President, every member of the
19 City Council, City Commissioners, the
20 Sheriff, the Register of Wills, and every
21 member of the justice system - with the
22 excellence of the human spirit and the
23 excellence of intellect of statesmen that
24 we may build a better world for us all.
25 Bless us to learn to live
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2 together as human beings in service to
3 God.
4 Ameen.
5 (Applause.)
6 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: So
7 to celebrate the inauguration of Mayor
8 James F. Kenney, the Saint Thomas Gospel
9 Choir will perform "Total Praise." The
10 choir again is directed by Walt Blocker.
11 (Saint Thomas Gospel Choir
12 performs.)
13 (Applause.)
14 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: I
15 know this event was free today, but that
16 was worth the price of admission.
17 (Applause.)
18 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
19 Thank you.
20 I now invite the Reverend Naomi
21 Washington-Leapheart to offer a reading
22 in celebration of the inauguration of
23 Mayor James F. Kenney.
24 (Applause.)
25 REVEREND WASHINGTON-LEAPHEART:
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2 Good morning.
3 (Good morning.)
4 REVEREND WASHINGTON-LEAPHEART:
5 It is my joy to serve the City as the
6 Director for Faith-Based and Interfaith
7 Affairs in the Mayor's Office of Public
8 Engagement, and it's my honor to this
9 morning offer a word of encouragement to
10 all of you as you begin this new term of
11 leadership and of service.
12 As I prepared for today, I
13 couldn't help but think about how this
14 date, January 6th, happens to connect to
15 another important celebration on my
16 religious calendar. Today many
17 Christians observe the holiday of
18 Epiphany. We call it Epiphany because
19 the word is derived from the Greek word
20 that means appearance.
21 On this day, we celebrates the
22 first time the divine presence physically
23 appeared to human beings.
24 According to our sacred text,
25 the clue that revealed the location of
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2 this divine presence was a star in the
3 night sky. In other words, an ordinary
4 light led the people to an extraordinary
5 light.
6 One of my spiritual practices
7 for Epiphany is to have someone else
8 choose for me something called a star
9 word. A star word is something that can
10 operate like a guiding light in my life
11 throughout the year, and my task is to
12 make sense of this word, this mysterious
13 word.
14 So I ask questions like what
15 does this word mean to me, how can it
16 reveal my direction, how can it reveal
17 what I'm supposed to do and be.
18 Well, I asked the same person
19 who chose my star word last year to send
20 me a list of star words, and this morning
21 I selected a star word for you, all of
22 you who are making a commitment to
23 leadership. Your star word is craft.
24 Craft.
25 Now, I don't know how this word
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2 will show up for you over and over this
3 year. I don't know how it will be a
4 guiding light to you. I don't know what
5 it might personally mean for you, but I
6 offer it to you today, craft.
7 Perhaps this word is inviting
8 you to approach your role or your
9 position or your task like a wood worker
10 approaches the delicate precise work of
11 making something out of a shapeless block
12 of wood.
13 Perhaps the word is inviting
14 you to let your imagination run free,
15 like a child who can take two and a half
16 crayons and some old-school Elmer's glue
17 and some orange M&Ms and create something
18 beautiful that you want to hang on your
19 refrigerator.
20 Perhaps this word is inviting
21 you to, like a chef, craft new recipes
22 for justice and wellness and wholeness
23 for the residents of this city, using
24 whatever we got in our cupboards to make
25 something good, something that will fill
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2 us up, something that won't leave us
3 hungry.
4 Perhaps this word is inviting
5 you to carve out of your schedules and
6 your workload time to rest, time to
7 refresh, time to be a full human being, a
8 partner, a parent, a family member, a
9 friend.
10 May you craft what you need to
11 be well.
12 Now, crafting is not easy, but
13 it is in some ways an element of the work
14 that you're vowing to do today. You are
15 crafting and creating all the time.
16 Leadership, as Nayyirah Waheed
17 would say, is flower work. She writes
18 this: Flower work is not easy.
19 Remaining soft in the fire takes time.
20 And so I leave you with the
21 word "craft." May it be your light. May
22 you know that sometimes leadership is
23 art, just like it's science. It is
24 always creating.
25 May leadership be for you a
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2 work of art, and may this word "craft"
3 reveal to you what you need for this term
4 of service.
5 And remember, lastly, that
6 sometimes you will be someone else's
7 star. So lead them to the light.
8 Congratulations to you all and
9 God bless you.
10 (Applause.)
11 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
12 Thank you. Thank you so much, Reverend.
13 At this time, the Chair invites
14 the newly elected officials to take the
15 oath of office in the presence of the
16 Council, the Mayor, and other
17 dignitaries. Would the retention judges
18 of the Common Pleas Court please rise and
19 take the oath of office. The Clerk will
20 read the certificates of election for the
21 retention judges of the Court of Common
22 Pleas.
23 CHIEF CLERK: Ida Chen, Roxanne
24 E. Covington, Glynnis D. Hill, Karen
25 Shreeves-Johns, Diane R. Thompson, Donna
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2 M. Woelpper, and Sheila Woods-Skipper, at
3 an election held November 5, 2019, you
4 were duly retained Judge of the Court of
5 Common Pleas of Philadelphia County for a
6 ten-year term, commencing the first
7 Monday of January 2020.
8 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
9 Thank you.
10 The Honorable Judge Dougherty
11 will administer the oath of office.
12 JUSTICE DOUGHERTY: To my
13 colleagues and friends, please put your
14 left hand on the Bible and raise your
15 right hand.
16 (Oath of office administered.)
17 JUSTICE DOUGHERTY:
18 Congratulations.
19 (Applause.)
20 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: The
21 Chair now invites the newly elected
22 judges of the Common Pleas Court to
23 please rise and take the oath of office.
24 The Clerk will read the certificates of
25 election for the newly elected judges of
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2 the Court of Common Pleas.
3 CHIEF CLERK: Carmella
4 Jacquinto, Crystal B. Powell, at an
5 election held November 5, 2019, you were
6 duly elected Judge of the Court of Common
7 Pleas of Philadelphia County for a
8 ten-year term, commencing the first
9 Monday of January 2020.
10 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: And
11 Judge Dougherty will --
12 JUSTICE DOUGHERTY: Welcome to
13 the First Judicial District.
14 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
15 Judge, please administer the oath of
16 office.
17 JUSTICE DOUGHERTY: Would you
18 please place your left hand on the Bible
19 and raise your right hand.
20 (Oath of office administered.)
21 JUSTICE DOUGHERTY:
22 Congratulations, Your Honors.
23 (Applause.)
24 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
25 Thank you.
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2 The Chair now invites the
3 retention judges of the Municipal Court
4 of Philadelphia to stand and take the
5 oath of office. The Clerk will please
6 read the certificates of election for the
7 retention judges of the Municipal Court
8 of Philadelphia.
9 CHIEF CLERK: Martin S.
10 Coleman, Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde, at an
11 election held November 5, 2019, you were
12 duly retained Judge of the Municipal
13 Court of Philadelphia County for a
14 six-year term, commencing the first
15 Monday of January 2020.
16 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
17 Thank you.
18 The Honorable Patrick Dugan,
19 President Judge of the Philadelphia
20 Municipal Court, will administer the oath
21 of office.
22 JUDGE DUGAN: Please take your
23 Bibles in your left hands, raise your
24 right hands, and repeat after me.
25 (Oath of office administered.)
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2 JUDGE DUGAN: Congratulations,
3 judges. Congratulations.
4 (Applause.)
5 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: The
6 Chair now invites the City Commissioners
7 to stand as their names are called. They
8 are Lisa Deeley, Omar Sabir, and Al
9 Schmidt. The Chief Clerk will now read
10 the certificates of election for the City
11 Commissioners.
12 CHIEF CLERK: Lisa Deeley, Omar
13 Sabir, and Al Schmidt, at an election
14 held November 5, 2019, you were duly
15 elected City Commissioners of
16 Philadelphia County for a term of four
17 years, commencing the first Monday of
18 January 2020.
19 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
20 Thank you.
21 The Honorable Carolyn Nichols,
22 Judge of the Pennsylvania Superior Court,
23 will administer the oath of office.
24 JUDGE NICHOLS: Please take
25 your Bible in your left hand and raise
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2 your right hand and repeat after me.
3 (Oath of office administered.)
4 JUDGE NICHOLS:
5 Congratulations.
6 (Applause.)
7 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
8 Congratulations.
9 The Chair invites the newly
10 elected Sheriff of Philadelphia, Rochelle
11 Bilal, to stand and take the oath of
12 office. The Clerk will please read the
13 certificate of election for the Sheriff
14 of Philadelphia.
15 CHIEF CLERK: Rochelle Bilal,
16 at an election held November 5, 2019, you
17 were duly elected Sheriff of the City of
18 Philadelphia for a four-year term,
19 commencing the first Monday of January
20 2020.
21 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
22 Judge Carolyn Nichols will also
23 administer the oath of office.
24 JUDGE NICHOLS: All right.
25 Please place your left hand on the Bible
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2 and raise your right hand and repeat
3 after me.
4 (Oath of office administered.)
5 JUDGE NICHOLS:
6 Congratulations.
7 (Applause.)
8 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
9 Congratulations.
10 The Chair now invites Tracey
11 Gordon, Register of Wills, to stand to
12 take her oath of office. The Chief Clerk
13 will read the certificate of election for
14 the Register of Wills.
15 CHIEF CLERK: Tracey Gordon, at
16 an election held November 5, 2019, you
17 were duly elected Register of Wills of
18 the City of Philadelphia for a four-year
19 term, commencing the first Monday of
20 January 2020.
21 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
22 Judge Nichols will please administer the
23 oath of office.
24 JUDGE NICHOLS: Please place
25 your left hand on the Bible and raise
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2 your right hand, repeat after me.
3 (Oath of office administered.)
4 JUDGE NICHOLS:
5 Congratulations.
6 (Applause.)
7 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
8 Congratulations.
9 For our final musical selection
10 today, the Girard Academic Music Program
11 Concert Choir will perform "This is Me."
12 The choir is directed by Christina
13 Blankenship.
14 (Girard Academic Music Program
15 Concert Choir performs.)
16 (Applause.)
17 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE: That
18 was truly lovely.
19 As we conclude the ceremony
20 today -- before I say that, I'm not
21 supposed to say this, that after the
22 session today, there will be a lot of
23 activities in City Hall, third, fourth,
24 and fifth floor. The Councilmembers will
25 be doing their thing.
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2 The reason why I wasn't
3 supposed to announce it, because we only
4 bought enough food for so many people.
5 So it's first come, first served.
6 Also, I believe the Mayor has a
7 concert tonight. Tickets are probably
8 gone, but I'm saying it anyway.
9 So I want to thank the
10 Inaugural Committee for their hard work
11 for today's ceremony. I also want to
12 thank our clergy members for being with
13 us and offering their prayers for us and
14 for our city.
15 The Chair now invites Rabbi
16 Jill Maderer to give a final benediction,
17 and I ask that all members and guests
18 please stand for the benediction.
19 RABBI MADERER: Today, we who
20 call God many different names and we who
21 choose not to call to God at all, we
22 Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and
23 Buddhist Philadelphians of diverse
24 neighborhoods, races, sexual
25 orientations, genders, countries of
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2 origin, and languages, today we honor
3 democracy, and we rededicate ourselves to
4 the preservation of democracy, our
5 democracy which is threatened with every
6 act of hate, every system of inequity,
7 every disrespect of difference.
8 This Hanukkah, heeding my
9 tradition's mandate to be public with my
10 faith, to be visible with my Judaism by
11 displaying the lights of the holiday, I
12 set my hanukkiah, my Hanukkah Menorah, in
13 the window just a few blocks from here.
14 Even amid a week of
15 anti-Semitic attacks, I had faith in my
16 neighbors and in their solidarity.
17 It is for all of us to create a
18 city where we have faith in one another,
19 where we stand with each other,
20 especially with our most vulnerable
21 populations, where we do not only defend
22 our own particular group but where we
23 stand with each other in solidarity.
24 Holy one of blessing, be with
25 our city's elected officials that they
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2 may stand with us. Give them the
3 strength, vision, and courage to
4 demonstrate again and again that the
5 people can count on them. And give us
6 the strength to demonstrate that our
7 leaders can count on their citizens, that
8 they can count on us.
9 God, be with us and inspire us
10 to be with each other.
11 Amen.
12 (Amen.)
13 (Applause.)
14 COUNCIL PRESIDENT CLARKE:
15 Thank you, Rabbi Maderer.
16 Would the visitors and guests
17 kindly be seated for the conclusion of
18 the session.
19 The Chair now recognizes
20 Councilman Jones.
21 COUNCILMAN JONES: Thank you,
22 Mr. President. I move that the Council
23 stand adjourned until Thursday, January
24 23rd, 10:00 a.m.
25 (Duly seconded.)
End