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Hall Monitor: Will Councilman James Kenney withstand a challenge to his Soul Train dancing claims? Will Council create a land bank to dispose of vacant properties? These questions and more answered.
Hall Monitor: Will Councilman James Kenney withstand a challenge to his Soul Train dancing claims? Will Council create a land bank to dispose of vacant properties? These questions and more answered.
Philadelphia’s City Council met for its second session of the new year today. Here’s what you missed.
Probably the most significant legislation introduced today was a bill sponsored by Councilmembers Maria Quinones-Sanchez and Bill Green that would create a “land bank,” — an entity which would theoretically become the main vehicle for vacant land sales in the city. It’s been about a year and counting since the Nutter administration promised to create its own comprehensive vacant land policy; this measure, as well as an idea put forth by Council President Darrell Clarke to create special “Redevelopment Districts,” with discounts on city-owned property, show Council moving forward with reforms on its own.
The session saw the passage of a number of resolutions, including:
— A resolution introduced by Sanchez and Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr. stating Council’s opposition to HB2029, a bill circulating Harrisburg that would ban “foreign” forms of law — and clearly mimicking similar “anti-Sharia” bills elsewhere in the United States.
— A resolution, introduced by Council members Jones, Kenyatta Johnson, Sanchez, and Blondell Reynolds Brown, urging the state to reconsider the Corbett administration's proposed “asset test” for individuals to receive Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) aid. Several Council members spoke forcefully against the asset test, including Councilman James Kenney who addressed Harrisburg directly from his desk: “If you don’t want to help us, can you just leave us alone?”
And speaking of Kenney … the At-Large Councilman used his concluding remarks to praise the late Don Cornelius, creator of TV dance show Soul Train, from whom, Kenney said, “I learned how to dance.”
Kenney would soon eat his words: In her motion to adjourn the Council sessions, Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown moved that Council adjourn in a line lead by alleged Soul dancer Kenney. When the latter began to balk, Council President Clarke intervened on Reynolds Brown’s behalf:
“The motion,” he said, “has been moved and seconded.”
Kenney was finally able to wriggle out by pointing out he had no music by which to dance.
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