COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARING AND PUBLIC MEETING BEFORE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC PROPERTY AND PUBLIC WORKS - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, December 10, 1998 10:50 a.m. - - - Bill No. 980847 - An ordinance renewing the cable TV franchise held by Greater Philadelphia Cable Vision, Inc., also known as "Greater Media," under certain terms and conditions. PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN AUGUSTA CLARK, Chairwoman COUNCILWOMAN JOAN KRAJEWSKI COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 PUBLIC PROPERTY & PUBLIC WORKS I N D E X Former City Councilman Edward Schwartz. . . . 3 12/10/98 PUBLIC PROPERTY & PUBLIC WORKS - Bill 980847 P R O C E E D I N G S
Good morning. The Committee on Public Property and Public Works is now in session. Present in the room for purposes of a quorum are Councilwoman Donna Miller, myself -- Councilwoman Clark, Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, and Councilman Michael Nutter. Are there any persons present in the room who wish to be heard with respect to the continuation of the hearing on Bill No. 980847? This is an ordinance renewing the Area One cable TV franchise held by Greater Philadelphia Cable Vision, Inc., also known as "Greater Media," under certain terms and conditions. Will persons presently in the room 17 please come to the witness table? For purposes of this continued hearing, I'm going to ask people from Public Property and the City Solicitor's Office to come inside the rail. Ladies and gentlemen who were not here last week, this hearing was convened and testimony was taken. On a suggestion of the parties, the bill was held for a week to permit some greater 4 12/10/98 PUBLIC PROPERTY & PUBLIC WORKS - Bill 980847 negotiations between Greater Media and members of the bargaining units. It is my understanding that those meetings were held and that they were at least not unsatisfactory. I want to be as nonjudgmental of those as possible. And now before us is an opportunity for one additional person to speak, and that person is former Councilmember Edward Schwartz. Please come forward. (Former Councilman Edward Schwartz comes forward.)
Good morning, Councilwoman Clark. I have a basic summary for you, if the sergeant-at-arms could give them to you. And I'm going to be uncharacteristically brief here.
Oh, okay. Thank 5 12/10/98 PUBLIC PROPERTY & PUBLIC WORKS - Bill 980847 you.
So I'm acknowledging my reputation before it's brought to my attention.
I want to thank you for this opportunity. I'm here, having voted some years ago on all of the franchises, including this one that you're looking at. In the course of last summer, as a tenant in room -- in 1218 Chestnut Street, I discovered that it was virtually impossible for our building and others like it to get cable access for people and companies inside; that the cable company was basically -- in this case, Greater Media -- imposing the charge for wiring the building on the landlord. And if there was no 19 building nearby, that charge became prohibitive. And there was nothing really that I could do about it. So when I saw this hearing reported in the papers, I figured we'd come down. I've discovered since then, in looking into this, the one great lapse in the original ordinance and in this one is that the cable 6 12/10/98 PUBLIC PROPERTY & PUBLIC WORKS - Bill 980847 company has no responsible institutionally for infrastructure for the commercial sector -- it's all for residential building -- so that they can set the terms of the commercial buildings. Now, this has not been a problem over the years because most commercial buildings really have had no demand for cable. And as you, Councilwoman Clark, pointed out when we discussed this, it's never really come up. I'm happy to say, thanks to your intervention, that we have, over the last day or so, worked out with Greater Media some conversation here about how to deal with the problem of 1218 Chestnut Street. The deeper problem I'm just calling to your attention as a way of moving forward. If this has not been an issue the last 15 years, it will be a big issue in the next 15 years because, as the technologies for cable, telephone, and computers become one, and cable modems and cable access become an important part of doing video conferencing and doing business, this becomes part of the economic development life and economic life of the City. 7 12/10/98 PUBLIC PROPERTY & PUBLIC WORKS - Bill 980847 And the City's economic development agencies have well-developed strategies for land use and residential stuff and tax financing, but we need a strategy to manage the development of technology in Center City and in all of our business districts and to work collaboratively with the companies to do this. That's not the time to set it up here. It's merely my voice in this hearing, as this franchise moves forward, to say that this is the next step that we all need to work together on to achieve. And I'm pleased to say that the leadership of Greater Media has in its plans fiber optic wiring and a willingness to work with us in all of that. So this never came up years ago. I had no idea that the commercial districts weren't included until just yesterday. I want to call this to your attention. I think it is a very, very important priority for the City in the future given the changes -- radical changes that are being made technologically and economically. And I look forward to working with you on trying to solve the more basic problem as we 8 12/10/98 PUBLIC PROPERTY & PUBLIC WORKS - Bill 980847 deal with this more specific one.
Thank you. It is my understanding that with the advent of fiber optics that this problem gets addressed, but I feel very certain that if does not, that the commercial district and the Chamber of Commerce and other people who have a direct interest will bring it to the attention and be addressed. But I appreciate your putting it on this record, albeit somewhat late.
But it is a problem that we might encounter in the future.
Parking is something that this Council and the City has dealt with in terms of the management of cars in Center City as a matter of course, and I sat here while we had to wrestle with that. And I just think there needed to be a place for, let's say, me and other business owners to go when we were having this problem with Greater Media, to get some kind of public -- 9 12/10/98 PUBLIC PROPERTY & PUBLIC WORKS - Bill 980847
Always bring your problems to us, Mr. Schwartz, and we'll do our best to fix 'em.
Thank you. Okay, that ends the testimony on the Greater Media renewal. We've had very extensive testimony. I see we're being joined at the table. New wisdom? UNIDENTIFIED INDIVIDUAL: No, ma'am.
In that case, I'll entertain a motion that this meeting be -- any questions?
No, I don't have any questions. (No questions.) - - - 10 12/10/98 PUBLIC PROPERTY & PUBLIC WORKS - Public Meeting
Madame Chairwoman, I move that Bill No. 980847 be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation, as amended, and with a suspension of rules as to permit first reading at our next session of Council.
All in favor? Opposes? Therefore, Bill No. 980847 will be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation, as amended, and that the rules of Council will be suspended so as to permit first reading at the next stated meeting of Council. Thank you very much.
This committee is now adjourned. (Adjourned at 10:58 a.m.) - - - 11 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Thursday, December 10, 1998, were reported and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC PROPERTY AND PUBLIC WORKS BILL NO. 980847 __________________________________, JOSEPHINE CARDILLO, Registered Professional Reporter