A Rush On Legislation As Philadelphia City Council Prepares For The End Of The Current Term
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia City Council is in a rush to complete legislation before the end of the current term.
Committee hearings this week have advanced some 70 bills for council to vote on before it adjourns December 10.
Anything not out of committee by this week's regular Thursday meeting will die and have to be re-introduced next year, so some committees have held hearings on dozens of bills in a single sitting, sometimes making hurried changes or passing bills they admitted weren't perfect. A bill to create an overlay district in Roxborough to retain the neighborhood's small-town feel, for instance, passed after sponsor Curtis Jones pulled out a restriction on front-loading garages.
"We may revisit it in January but we want enough time to talk about the differences and subtleties of the restriction," said Jones.
Also passing in time for a vote, a bill requiring wiring for electric charging stations in all new garages and a bill that would prohibit student rentals in the 2000 block of Rittenhouse Square.
