Authorizing City Council's Legislative Oversight Committee to hold public hearings on the legislative acts of City Council that developed the City's historical preservation code, its enforcement and its budgetary expenditures.

WHEREAS, Section 15-2007 of The Philadelphia Code, regarding “Historic Buildings, Structures, Sites, Objects, and Districts,” created a Historical Commission to oversee the preservation of historic sites in Philadelphia, and was created by City Council ordinance in 1955, and greatly expanded in scope by another ordinance of Council in 1984; and

WHEREAS, Almost fifty years later, the preservation movement in Philadelphia stands at a crossroads, as the Historical Commission now oversees nearly eleven thousand historically certified properties and nine historic districts, and there are many thousands of historic properties throughout Philadelphia still in need of attention and preservation; and

WHEREAS, Pursuant to Section III (1) of Resolution #040001, the Rules of City Council, Council's Legislative Oversight Committee has been “directed to address all matters related to the legislative acts of Council; it is to check with the Executive and Judicial branches on the enforcement of laws passed by Council, on the carrying out of projects voted by the Council, the budgetary expenditures as allowed in the various budget funds” ; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That authority be given to City Council's Legislative Oversight Committee to hold public hearings on the legislative acts of City Council that developed the City's historical preservation code, its enforcement and its budgetary expenditures.

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