City Council finally passed a controversial zoning bill yesterday, leaving several community groups very upset, but not particularly shocked.
Bill 629, sponsored by Councilman Frank DiCicco and Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, passed by a vote of 9 to 8.
The bill is an amendment to the City Zoning Code that would limit the right to appeal land-use decisions to those living in areas adjacent to the property in question. Many city groups opposed the measure because it would allow landfills and billboards to be constructed without neighborhood input.
"I'm disappointed, but I'm not surprised," said Bernice Sikora, president of the Greater Bustleton Civic Association. "Money won out. This wasn't anything but power for people who are business people."
"As far as I know, every community group... was against this bill," West Philadelphia resident Roger Harmon said.
DiCicco did not return repeated calls for comment.
"I think it's very unfortunate," Lenora Berson, president of the Center City Residents Association said of the bill. "The heart of any neighborhood organization is the ability to defend yourself against zoning."
Activists were surprised with the way certain Council members voted.
"I don't think she really wanted to vote for it," said Harmon, who is also president of the Cedar Park Neighborhood Association, of West Philadelphia representative Jannie Blackwell.
"I'm very reluctant to criticize Blackwell," Harmon added. "I really think she votes her conscience, but she was mistaken on this one."
Blackwell was one of the nine who voted to pass the bill.
"I'm very, very surprised with Councilwoman Krajewski," Sikora said. "Rizzo was her mentor, and he's the godfather of community organizations. But I know her to be a person of her word, and she gave it to DiCicco."
"We are seeking to get the mayor to veto it," Berson said.
Also at yesterday's Council meeting, Mayor John Street shot down a redistricting bill passed on Sept. 20.
Bill 010523 sought to redraw the city's 10 Council districts, and would take part of the Center City district under Councilman Darrell Clarke's control and give it to Council President Anna Verna.
Clarke would have then lost a large portion of his Latino constituency to Verna.
Verna spokesman Dan Fee said the president will have to "start all over again" with the redistricting legislation -- a process which will take at least three weeks.
"But I can safely say that she would like [the new bill] to look a whole lot like the last one," Fee said.
Clarke "was actually saddened that the request by the majority to try and work things out was actually rejected... and that it had to come to this," Clarke spokesman Robert Brown said. "But he is looking forward for a better bill to come out that will... maintain the core of our district."
The vote to override the veto was 10 to 7, but a total of 12 votes were needed.
The action was also controversial because it was considered a sign of tension between Verna and Street, the former Council president.
But Street outlined a long list of reasons why he did not approve of the bill.
"The bill does not equalize the populations of the districts or promote the principle of `one person, one vote' as closely as it should and can," Street said in his letter to City Council.
