Also this issue:

Repeat Offender?
Despite complaints, the city has rehired Prison Health Services to run its inmate health care.
-Gwen Shaffer

Allah Behind Bars
Even La Cosa Nostra members fear the Nation of Islam in jail.
-Brendan McGarvey

Putting the Fish Behind You
-Mary F. Patel

The Bell Curve
City Paper's weekly gauge of Philly's Quality of Life

November 7-13, 2002

hall monitor

Miracle on Market Street

by Daniel Brook

In a surprise move, the normally punctual Councilman Frank DiCicco marched into the Oct. 31 Council session late, pushing a dolly filled with huge bags of mail marked “USPS.” When recognized by the chair, DiCicco angrily dumped one bag of mail out on his desk. As a flurry of letters fell to the floor, the Councilman called for a vote on a pair of bills that would freeze property tax increases until the assessment system is revamped.

DiCicco explained that the letters he was tossing around had been returned to his office after the postal service failed to deliver them. Using addresses provided by the Board of Revision of Taxes (BRT), DiCicco said, his office had sent out letters to all 31,000 households in his district that had received tax increases. But about 10 percent of the letters ended up back at his office, since the name or the address was wrong. DiCicco presented this as proof that the BRT is disorganized, and hence a reason to pass his freeze bills ASAP. With that, he called for a vote on the first of his bills.

But his fellow Councilpeople weren't all on board despite Councilman Jim Kenney's warning that "everyone's running for election next time," and it would be wise to get this issue out of the way quickly. Other members of Council, led by Darrell Clarke, said they were worried that freezing the reassessments would be too costly to the city and school district budgets. After deriding DiCicco's presentation as "a surprise... a comedy act [and] a show," Councilman Rick Mariano moved to table the bill. Mariano's resolution passed 9-7, backed by majority leader Jannie Blackwell and an assortment of Councilpeople who are closely aligned with the mayor.

Four days after the meeting, DiCicco said he was surprised that opponents were able to table the bill. DiCicco said Councilman Frank Rizzo Jr. had told him on the floor of Council that he would back the measure, but then voted with Mariano to table it. Had Rizzo voted the other way, the motion would have failed in an 8-8 tie. A motion needs a majority to pass; a tie doesn't cut it. DiCicco also thought more at-large Councilpeople would have sided with him.

Rizzo denies having promised DiCicco anything and says he voted against the bill because of how it was presented more than what it said. Rizzo claims he voted to table "because there was no communication from the sponsor of the bill. It was a surprise." Rizzo vowed that he personally would never surprise his colleagues with a piece of legislation.

BRT chair David Glancey has his own take on DiCicco's letter-dumping. "It was a Miracle on 34th Street imitation," he says. "It was very theatrical [but] it's not based on any data," he says. According to Glancey, of the over 250,000 letters the BRT has sent out to the entire city, just over 4 percent were returned. Glancey faults DiCicco for requesting the addresses of every property in his Councilmanic district, rather than a list of addresses with the vacant lots filtered out. "He probably mailed to every address in that district which would include vacant lots because they have to have an address. When we send out notices, we cleanse it. We don't send to vacant lots," Glancey says.

DiCicco says it ain't so. "I asked for [the address of] any property that received an increase in my district. They [the BRT] said that 31,000 homeowners received an increase in property taxes. That's what I took. There was no talk about vacant buildings or empty lots."

You Say You Want A Resolution

Each City Council session begins with a series of resolutions honoring various notable people, from William Penn to a retiring ward leader. Most pass unanimously as Councilpeople chat with their neighbors, only pausing to say “aye,” when asked if all are in favor. The Oct. 31 session was notable for two resolutions that captured the attention and respect of the entire Council, as well as the public in the gallery and even the surly reporters in the press gallery. First, Councilman Angel Ortiz proposed a resolution honoring Senator Paul Wellstone, the liberal Democrat from Minnesota who died in a plane crash a week earlier. Rather than ask for “ayes,” Council President Anna Verna asked those voting in favor to stand. The entire Council stood in unison and held a moment of silence that ended with the pounding of Verna’s gavel.

Then, Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell called up Erica Pratt, the abducted Southwest Philly girl who escaped her captors over the summer, to be honored. While Pratt was too shy to speak, she was given a standing ovation by all present.