City Council Committee OKs Hate Crimes Bill
Among those testifying in favor of the legislation was a transgender woman who says she was repeatedly victimized in Philadelphia.
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Among those testifying in favor of the legislation was a transgender woman who says she was repeatedly victimized in Philadelphia.
In Philadelphia City Council, lawmakers impose restrictions on what the public can say at its weekly meetings. One speaker this past week made his displeasure with the rules quite evident.
Joseph Schulle, head of the firefighters' union Local 22, has no faith in the CDC standards and believes that hazmat suits are needed for the paramedics should they have to respond to a potential Ebola outbreak.
City Council president Darrell Clarke calls them "entrepreneurs," those folks who set up a folding table on a sidewalk to sell everything from handbags to CDs to incense.
Has peace broken out at Philadelphia City Hall? Seven months after City Council announced an ambitious plan to boost affordable housing in Philadelphia, the effort is finally moving forward with the cooperation of the Nutter Administration.
Council president Darrell Clarke, who represents the area around Temple University, says neighbors face public drunkenness and related issues on a regular basis.
The city's Department of Licenses & Inspections says street vendor spots are assigned by a neutral lottery, not by a neighborhood group, and L&I would have no way to control what could be subsequent chaos.
Members of Philadelphia's disabled community turned out in City Council this past week in hopes of prodding state lawmakers to put more handicapped accessible taxis on city streets.
Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez wants to change Philadelphia's Home Rule Charter so that every agency and department would be required to have a plan for working with residents who don't speak English well.
A consultant hired by Philadelphia City Council to analyze the proposed sale of PGW finds several big concerns with the deal, including the possibility that the buyer could simply flip PGW to another buyer.
A print ad sponsored by UIL Holdings, the Connecticut-based firm that wants to buy PGW from the city, claims the city's gas infrastructure is "dangerously outdated."
A City Council committee has signed off on a measure to provide $30 million in temprary funding to the cash-starved Philadelphia school district.
Council today approved that ballot question, but it was not immediately clear if the mayor will sign it in time for it to appear on the November ballot.
The measure, which passed 14-2, embodies the compromise announced last week by Mayor Nutter and the bill's sponsor, councilman Jim Kenney.
The lawmakers heard promises of improvements from local officials, and tales of bureaucratic bungling from veterans.
Philadelphia City Council plans to take a look at one of the longest-running issues facing the city: short dumping -- the illegal dumping of trash on vacant lots or even sidewalks.
Council president Darrell Clarke has introduced a bill giving the Philadelphia Fire Department responsibility for inspecting propane tanks used on curbside food trucks.
Philadelphia City Council opened its fall session today with one controversial matter front and center: whether to put more teeth into the civilian panel that studies cases of police misconduct.
"We've gotten to a place where it is out of the criminal realm," says the Kenney said today.
It was back in June that the pot decriminalization bill passed City Council in a straight party line vote, 13-3. Because Council then went into recess, Mayor Nutter has until Thursday to sign or veto it, or let it become law without his signature.
Neilson said he waited three months to be sworn in, in order to remain in the state House should his vote be needed on school funding.
Environmentalists and activists gathered today at Boathouse Row to tout the importance of new rules clarifying the reach and control of the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Army Corps of Engineers over major waterways and the streams and creeks that flow into them.
The measure passed by City Council makes possession of about an ounce of pot punishable by only a $25 fine.
City Council President Darrell Clarke and his colleagues are pushing a CSI "to make every neighborhood a community of choice."
The head of the PICA board told the mayor's finance director that he'd like to see the city do more belt-tightening in order to start a rainy day fund.
