COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, April 21, 2010 10:40 a.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO COUNCILMAN BILL GREEN COUNCILMAN WILLIAM GREENLEE COUNCILMAN CURTIS JONES, JR. COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILWOMAN MARIA QUINONES-SANCHEZ COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO BILLS 100115, 100116, 100117, 100118, 100131 and RESOLUTION 100141 - - - 2
Good morning, everyone. This is a continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole. The first department to testify this morning will be the City Representative. (Witness approached witness table.)
Good morning. Kindly identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good morning, President Verna and members of City Council. I am here to present testimony on behalf of the Office of the City Representative's FY11 Operating Budget request of 945,591 is. This budget request will fund seven staff positions 3 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. and pay for core department operations in FY11. The Office of the City Representative is responsible for developing and promoting events to attract commerce, visitors and new residents to Philadelphia and improving the quality of life for the people who live here. Our office also works with various agencies to market Philadelphia to a worldwide audience. The Office of the City Representative handles marketing, promotions and branding internally and externally; international protocol; special events; ceremonial events; ceremonial documents and ceremonial gifts; public relations; photographic services; presentations and also oversees the Fund for Philadelphia. We also produce the Wawa Welcome America celebration and the Philadelphia Marathon, as well as other events such as the Mayor's Centenarian celebration, Police and Fire Memorial, 4 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. City Hall Tree Lighting Ceremony, among others. The office is also one of the liaison offices for special events produced by non-City entities, such as the Army/Navy football game, the TD Pro-cycling Race, the Dad Vail Regatta, the Mummers Parade and the World Cup bid, among others. We also had the pleasure of producing the 2008 Phillies Championship Parade, and we hope to do it in 2010. The Office of the City Representative has been able to carry out some important accomplishments in FY10. Some examples are: We unveiled the Life, Liberty and You logo and brand system that was created pro bono by the Star Group. It is being rolled out as needed so as not to incur any new costs. The Division of Technology, for example, has adopted it in their new website development that each City department is receiving. 5 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. In our ongoing efforts to promote the City, we have developed several similar but unique retail discount programs in conjunction with our events. The "Patriot Pass" and the "Fan Pass" were both created for visitors and residents during Welcome America and the Philadelphia Marathon weekend respectively as incentives to increase their shopping and exploration of our neighborhood businesses. We created and coordinated the Spread the Love discount program in conjunction with a number of partners at the request of the Mayor during the 2010 winter snowstorms that kept people home. This program also included SEPTA and the Philadelphia Parking Authority as partners to provide additional incentives for residents and visitors to come into the City despite the snowy roads. The Spread the Love Program evolved into the current Philly in Bloom Program, which features the daily essay contest "Why I 6 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Love Philadelphia," with prizes ranging from a $100 gift certificate to Lagos Jewelers to a weekly SEPTA pass or a free dinner at a Philadelphia restaurant, all donated items, all to promote Philadelphia businesses. We partnered with the Center City District, the PCVB, GPTMC, PIDC and other stakeholders to create the Philadelphia Retail Marketing Alliance, with a goal of promoting the City's many retailers and attracting new ones. This was initiated by the CCD. A website and marketing campaign named "Be In On It" features local retail success stories. This was created at no cost to the City and links to the Commerce Department's Business Services Portal to facilitate new business creation. Ongoing engagement of the Philadelphia Executive Marketing Council, a think tank of senior-level marketing professionals who help find marketing communication solutions for various City 7 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
department challenges in an effort to enhance the City's image, from crime to education to business services and everything in between. The Office of the City Representative's budget appropriations request of 945,591 represents a net increase of 108,100 over last year's allocation. The net increase of 127,250 in Class 200 is due to various line item changes in this class, the most significant being restoration of funding to the Greater Philadelphia Film Office. In efforts to consolidate and better support information technology and telecommunication activities, Class 400 funds have been transferred to the Division of Technology pursuant to the Mayor's Executive Order. The Office of the City Representative is committed to supporting the Administration's goal of percent 24 minority, women and disabled-owned 25 business participation in City 8 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. contracting. However, the Office of the City Representative will have no FY11 participation goal based on no available contracting dollars. However, we have a number of contracts through the Philadelphia Marathon and Wawa Welcome America with minority contractors that at this time the City does not capture, but will endeavor to do so as they move forward. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you, and I am happy to answer any questions.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Greenlee.
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, Ms. Johnson.
Just a quick question, and maybe the Commerce 9 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Department is a better one to ask this, but with all the various initiatives you have, obviously to promote Philadelphia and bring people in here, is there a goal that you have as far as how much money that would translate into?
I don't have a goal in terms of numbers, but we look at everything. With the retail thing that we're doing, we're hoping with the fashion event that we're working with with CCD and a number of different avenues will bring people in from outside to hit the hotels. So we're always looking for the economic impact as well as revenue that can help contain the department's efforts.
How about last year; is there any number that you can provide -- and, again, maybe the Commerce Department is the better one to 10 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. ask this -- of how much the effort has brought in? And I know it's sort of an estimate, because you don't always know what brought people in for everything, but --
Are you asking for specific events or overall? For instance, the Philadelphia Marathon, would you like to know the economic impact of that?
I would say both. If you could give me the big hits, if you will, and then maybe an overall number.
Well, for the Philadelphia Marathon, we filled 5,000 hotel rooms. The economic impact on the City of Philadelphia is estimated at about $9 million, but we are looking to see, working with GPTMC, whether we can get some actual numbers. They're looking at not just the Philadelphia Marathon, but what Welcome America does, as well as some outside entities. 11 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Yes. But that won't be available for a while, because we have to go through each event in order to gather that information. It is something that we actually have been discussing.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, Ms. Johnson. How are you?
One of the 12 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. things I think I should do is thank you for saving a number -- or being a part of a team that saved a number of events in spite of a recession, and I understand the daunting task of trying to make a dollar out of 50 cents, but I would like to, on that note, ask you what is the net impact of sponsorships to these festivals and/or parades and what percentage of decreases since the recession.
Well, actually, I would say it's getting better. 2009 was incredibly difficult to find anybody to give out any kind of funding, but things are opening up a little more this year.
Do you have exact figures as to what that level of giving was prior and then --
No, I don't have an overall number. We did manage to sign 13 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Wawa Welcome America for three years for about $3 million, money plus services and products. As Dad Vail Regatta, they did a six-figure deal with the Dad Vail from Aberdeen Asset Management.
You don't have to have that figure now, but it might be good to share with this Council so that we get to see if indeed corporate America is getting healthy, that should reflect in the sponsorships and see what the trend is, upwards or downwards, that would be helpful.
Sure. I can give you some of that information, but not the Dad Vail Regatta, as they're a private entity. I don't have that number, but everything else I can probably find for you.
-- would be helpful. 14 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. By way of the recession as well, have we kept track of tourism? Is it up? Is it down? Are more groups -- and can you quantify that for me?
I think you've seen a little increase this year. GPTMC keeps track of those numbers, and I believe in 2009 that there may have been anywhere from three to nine percent increase over the course of the year.
Could you also provide that to this body, but also broken down by region of the world, and in that, is there a direct correlation of marketing to that region and if we're down and people coming from Southeast Asia or South of France, it doesn't matter to me. If there is a campaign to try to attract them, what is the rationale as to why we place a media by one region of the world versus another, and is there a correlation and benefit to travel?
I will talk with 15 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. international. PCVB actually does international, but they have a very small budget. So I will find out what their marketing goals are for the coming year.
All right. You mentioned the revenues generated from the World Series and other events. What is the model by which we determine what a profitable event is versus something that is going to cost us? What is the formula that we take into account to determine that?
There's not a specific formula, but mostly it's the economic impact on the overall businesses and the tourism industry within Philadelphia.
I'm pretty sure that by the time you get around to Ms. Sanchez, she's going to ask that. We might in the future try to a little more 16 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. hone what those true costs are versus what the true benefit is to figure out if indeed we're breaking even so we can keep track of that as a whole.
Are you asking specifically for City events or outside events?
Both. To the degree that you can get -- you mention in the Dad Vail's case, that you can't kind of get into their books to find out, but if indeed we can get an estimate, that would be helpful, and I would look at it with an eye towards knowing the difference between the Thanksgiving Day Parade and what the benefit is to the City versus one of my neighborhood festivals and what the advertising or hotel stay revenue would be from that. So knowing that in general and classifying that in general gives us a better idea how to predict what the costs will be.
Just may I ask a 17 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. few questions so I can be clear?
Most of the events that you just named don't receive City funding, so what we're doing with GPTMC is trying to find out specifically what the economic impact is of each of these to get a number, and we use that formula as to the hotel rooms, the number of hotel rooms, how many people have come in. Do you want more than just that number?
Well, kind of sort of -- what I'm moving towards -- and that's a good inquiry. What I'm moving towards is, when I met with the General Manager of Channel 6, which is the sponsor of the Thanksgiving Day Parade, he was kind enough to tell me where his profit streams were coming from and why it made sense to him. My thought to you as our City Rep would be to know that in your head gives you better leverage as to know what the tipping 18 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. point might be versus somebody threatening to walk away versus the numbers suggesting that they should walk away.
So knowing that kind of counterintelligence, if you would, gives you a better hand. And I know you negotiate these. You're famous for your negotiations, but knowing their cards in their hand gives you a better way to strategize as to what this is worth to that entity.
No problem. I'm going to pass and I'll have some more questions on the second round, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez.
Thank 19 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. you. Good morning.
I wanted to talk -- as you know, we've been in discussions with the Administration quite some time around these festivals, and I wanted to ask, because one of the discussions have been the ability to raise money through the Philadelphia -- the Fund for Philadelphia. Can you tell me who is on the Board of the Philadelphia Fund and how much money we have on hand and how do we currently use it?
The Fund for Philadelphia is an entity whereas City departments may go out to corporations, foundations or grantees to request funds for a project. So, for instance, say DHS went to William Penn to get money for a project that they were doing. The Fund for Philadelphia serves as a depository 20 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. for those funds, and they administer those funds on the behalf -- on behalf of DHS. So that money belongs specifically to DHS for that reason. The Fund in the past has also been used for any initiatives that the Administration may have. For instance, when they were talking about raising money for pools, they considered using the Fund as a way for people to put money in as a private citizen or through corporate sponsorships or foundations. That money is not used by anyone other than the intended person who deposited that funding in there.
I can give you a list. It's four people, and we're in the process of looking at some other people to add to the Board.
And how much money do they currently have on hand? 21 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
I don't know that specifically, but I would say the deposits overall probably don't exceed $6 million.
About $6 million. Can you share that with the Chair. And you said there's currently four people on the Board and you're looking to add people?
Yes, we are. We're looking at revamping the number of people that we have, adding a non-profit lawyer, someone that is versed in the non-profit law, as they have changed in the number -- the last couple of years, 22 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. and we want someone who is up on that.
So if we were to use this as a vehicle to deal with some of the parade situation, who is the person that we would have to talk to? We're going to have hearings on this coming up and I want to know -- I want to have an idea prior to that hearing.
Actually, as the Chair would be me, as well as the Executive Director, Karen Leslie Henry.
The Executive Director is Karen Leslie Henry. A parade fund could absolutely be started, and private citizens can actually donate money to that parade fund, and that money would then be kept in that parade fund and administered. There would have to be someone who was the point person for that fund and how the fund -- the money got distributed, because we don't make those decisions for 23 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the individual deposits.
Okay. And then Karen Leslie Henry, does she work for you?
She is not. She is paid through the Fund for Philadelphia as a 501(c)(3) employee. She's not a City employee.
And update -- if you could provide us with an update with the Welcome America, where we are since Sunoco is no longer funding it.
Wawa is our title sponsor. 24 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Any updates on that as it relates to it? I know it's one of our signature events.
Well, one of the things that over the years we worked really hard in tying in Welcome America to the different communities in the neighborhood, including a Latino part of it. Is that still going to happen this year?
We have the Party on the Parkway on the 4th. We usually have a multi-cultural stage. Last year our Go Forth and Learn did three events. One was at Penn University Museum and the other one was at the library in Chinatown. So we try and do a cultural Go Forth and Learn, and the one that we have on the Parkway is always very diverse, and we always have booths from different organizations to provide information so that we're hitting all of 25 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the diverse communities in the City. At least we try to do that. So, yes, we're still looking at that, and it's continuing to grow as long as we have the funding to add more things.
I understand the multi-cultural piece, but there was like a whole Latino-focused initiative. You're saying that that's getting merged into everything else?
That initiative was funded in 2007 by Goya, who is no 15 longer a funder, and it was a salsa contest that they had put together, I think you're talking about. No, that wasn't part of it since we came back in 2008. So we've done other things to add the Latino community, but we don't have the funding for that piece that we had before.
Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Miller.
Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, Ms. Johnson.
I have a couple of questions here, and I don't think -- I don't know whether this is your office, the Managing Director's Office or Public Property, but does your office have anything to do with community special events?
It depends on in what way you're asking. We do -- we are the liaison for some of the events if they come through, but primarily we sit on the task force for permitting. Someone in my office represents our office for that. 27 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
What about the rental of equipment, special events equipment, such as stage, sound, the dropping of wires?
We don't really have a lot of equipment anymore for that, and Public Property doesn't do as many special events.
Well, last year some of the groups that have historically put on festivals, et cetera, in my district were not able to get stages or any of the equipment that they normally would rent from the City. Would you happen to know -- and this really should have been a question for Public Property, but I actually forgot to ask. Would you happen to know -- last year I don't think the City rented out any of that equipment. Do you know 28 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. if they're doing it this year?
I think that -- and I don't want to speak for the Commissioner, but I believe that based on some of the cuts that department has received, they no longer have the staff to provide some of the services that they did in the past, which could possibly mean that the staging and the equipment that they have are no longer available for rental. But I'm not sure.
Okay. I'll find that out. Thank you. Also I'd like to ask you about the ceremonial gifts. In the first of your testimony you say that you've given out -- or 3,500 have been presented annually. What are those gifts?
We have a number of different ones. One is the large Liberty Bell. The other is a small Liberty Bell. We have key chains. We have books on Philadelphia, books on the history of City Hall. We're in the 29 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. process of putting together some prints of City Hall that we received that we actually found when we were doing some archiving of our records. We have lapel pins. Some are the round pins that show the City seal and some are in the shape of the Liberty Bell. We also have pins that have the new brand on it, Life, Liberty and You. That's pretty much what I can remember. Oh, we have the brag book that we were in partnership with GPTMC to produce. So we have some of those, and they basically show what Philadelphia has to brag about.
How do Council offices access some of those gifts to give to our constituents? Traditionally -- I've been here 17 years, and traditionally people call us and ask us for Liberty Bells, et cetera. What is the process?
I haven't 30 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. been able to get any of those for the last two years.
Unfortunately, I don't recall seeing anything from your office, but I will say that we usually get a form. Most Councilpeople send me an e-mail and request it, and we go from there.
And I did not get one. And I don't -- you and I could probably talk about it. I'll set up an appointment to talk to you.
But there does seem to be some difficulty. I have another question regarding -- on the second page of your testimony, in your partnership with Center City District and PCVB, it's the second bullet point, and it talks about promoting the City's many retailers and 31 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. attracting new ones. Is this initiative solely for Center City or is it for neighborhood commercial corridors?
It's for everything. Basically we're trying to put an event together that would be able to highlight the different fashion retailers in the different areas, depending on who is producing the show. So basically the website promotes primarily at this point Center City because it was just launched through CCD, but they're hoping to expand that as it gets bigger.
Okay. I guess the best way for us to follow this and get updated is just to go on the website?
Yes, or we can provide you with some information depending on what it is you need.
Well, one of the things that some of the commercial corridors -- I know certainly the ones in 32 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. my district -- need are retailers. Many of the stores are empty, and that's a need, and I'm probably sure that -- I know in the Northwest part of town, we have empty buildings, from Chestnut Hill on down to 22nd Street. So that's what I'm looking for. I'm looking for retailers that want to take up some of this space.
Well, we've been working with some of the different districts to see how we can pull them in. It's not something that has happened immediately, because we just got this. This just launched probably at the end of last year. So as we're moving forward, we'll probably be reaching out more to the different districts in the neighborhoods to see how we can link up.
But I will try and get you some information on when that will actually happen.
Okay. 33 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. And can you talk a little bit about the third bullet point, the Philadelphia Executive Marketing Council and the types of activities that they'll be engaged in.
Absolutely. When we first came into office in 2008, I reached out to a number of different businesses to ask if they would be interested in sitting on this Council, and one of the first things we did was just kind of get to know what some of the work they were doing, so that everybody would be basically in the know. So what we've done in the past, we have had this group talk to different departments. We have speakers come in. Kevin Dow came in one day and talked about what was going on with the Business Services Portal and could we give him any information on how we might market that. We talked to Public Service Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison came in. So we sit down, we talk about that, what some of their goals are and 34 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. how marketing can help them do what they're doing. We also did it for education and we did it for, by conference call, on the flash mobs to come up with some ideas on some of the ways we could outreach to not only media, but maybe to the School District and try and see whether we can get this to stop. So that's some of the ways that they've actually been able to offer services for us.
Good morning, 35 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Councilwoman.
Let's start off with some old business; namely, a status and an update on the tour guide legislation, bill, law, lawsuit.
Well, basically we won, but there is an appeal process going through. And I don't know if you can categorize it as an actual win. What the judge said is that there was no way with the funding that we didn't have to actually initiate this, so until that time when the funding became available to actually get the program up and running, there was no point in saying yes or no. 17 So it was kind of a draw. The defendants -- I'm sorry; the plaintiffs in the case basically didn't agree with that and decided they were going to do an appeal. So right now the appeal process is going through the courts, and that's basically where we are. It could probably take another six months if the judge decides to hear the 36 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. appeal and see what happens.
Very well. So with that said, we should remember that Temple University School of Hospitality offered their savvy skill-set, resources to help craft that document for your office. So whether or not there's nothing in the City's budget in your department for it, Temple University is prepared to step in and make that happen for us.
So your office not having the funds should not be an impediment; would you agree?
Yes and no. 18 There are a number of different people involved, not just Temple University, and if it's a City-structured event, the City has to have someone who is going to be able to put it out there, and the City -- there has to be a test, and that means incorporating L&I and having someone -- and setting up the test so people can 37 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. come in. There's also a cost to that for people in setting that cost. So we can gather the information. There are any number of different organizations. They actually started one that includes Temple University, get the actual test done, but after that, you have to have --
Exactly. So I think it will eventually happen. I just don't know when.
But I'll look into talking with Temple again and give you an update.
We'll continue to follow that in the press as well. Let's move to MBE, WBE activity. On the last page of your testimony, you state, and I quote, the 38 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. last paragraph --
About the contracts with Philadelphia Marathon and Welcome America?
What provisions, stipulations or requirements exist for ensuring that Wawa and anyone else are honoring the Mayor's Strategic Plan with regards to MBE, WBE activity?
Well, both of those organizations, Philadelphia Marathon and Wawa Welcome America, are actually 501(c)(3)'s and, as such, aren't really part of the Mayor's initiative to increase that, but because they reside in my office, we try to follow that. So I try and make sure that we do have minority vendors when we work.
And for 39 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the record, that is the same hurdle or brick wall we're now facing with DHS. Being a 501(c)(3) soon will not exempt you from being a part of this mandate that the Mayor has made exceedingly clear.
We don't want to do that at all. That's why we do reach out and make sure we have it. Absolutely.
Thank you. Why do you believe that non-profits are exempt?
I didn't say they were exempt. I'm saying that that was not something that was part of things that were done in the past, but since I've been there, we have managed to have an increase in the minority vendors that we use since 2008 for both Welcome 40 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. America --
I don't have goals set yet. We're still working with OEO in order to set those for outside. They're doing internally, but until they get to us, which we hope is very soon, we've set our own goals just to make sure that we have those minority participation.
I'd like to have at least percent. I think I've 17 managed to get at least ten percent for 18 minority vendors. 19
It's not formalized. It never existed before. It's something that I'm trying to do now.
Every other department has come here and given 41 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. testimony, has formalized their goals and have told us what those goals were. You chose not to put it in your testimony, act as if it was some exercise for future years. There should be goals presented with the budget testimony.
I agree. I haven't had dollars in the General Fund money in order to have those contracts, which is why it doesn't exist in my budget, because I don't have it yet. But I brought forth information for Welcome America and the Philadelphia Marathon so that you would see that we do actually have contracts with minority vendors in my office even though it's not General Fund funding.
I'm not sure, whether it's General Fund funding or not, it makes a difference.
I understand, which is why, Councilman, we do have minority vendors for these events. I agree with you. 42 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
I don't have the goals yet because we didn't have the funding for it.
So you do anticipate funding for Fiscal Year '11 or you don't?
I anticipate increasing the numbers for the Philadelphia Marathon and Welcome America.
Okay. On June 19th, 2008, -- well, let's go to this first. In your budget detail, 43 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. , there's no restoration of funding for the Avenue of the Arts.
They're not in my budget anymore. They reside in the Office of Culture.
Okay. So I'll wait until that office comes before us. On June 19th, 2008, my office introduced a resolution for the City to include the flag of Bangladesh in the display of flags on Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
The resolution did pass with the support of my colleagues. Update us on where that is.
We're working with Center City District to try and 44 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. increase the number of poles and determine the amount of money that may need to be raised to have flags. At this point, there weren't any -- the only place we identified to put them on the Parkway was Logan Square. So we're trying to find out what the cost of that would be and if we can work with individual groups who want the poles so that we can increase and how that would work, since they're all in alphabetical order. So we actually started that process and hope to have an answer very soon.
And the process is collaborating with the area organizations on the Parkway to ID the dollars to make that real?
That completes my testimony, and I'll wait to hear Councilman Goode's additional questions around MBE, WBE activity.
Thank you, 45 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Councilwoman.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
See, now normally this is the part where I yield to my colleague because he's chomping at the bit, but I'm going to give you some breathing room in between --
-- and ask my questions. One of the things that I'm interested in kind of pursuing both with you and others involved in the marketing of the City of Philadelphia is to what degree are we making efforts to get into neighborhoods by way of tourism, by way of marketing. In my district and like many of the other districts around here, we have hidden treasures. If you go into my district, starting right on the border with Councilwoman Blackwell is the Zoo. 46 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. If you continue on, you hit the Please Touch Museum. If you continue on, Japanese House, Ohio House, Horticultural Center, ending up at the Mann Museum. Wholesome family entertainment. So if you're at the Marriott for a convention, if you want to sin, you go towards the waterfront, but if you want to kind of have Disney-type entertainment, you move west. To what degree do we market that? How are we using our synergy to get that out there that there's more to do than just hit the Liberty Bell, in neighborhoods specifically?
Right. We basically work with all of those organizations that you just talked about. We just finished the Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival that incorporated the Horticultural Center, Please Touch Museum, as well as the Fairmount Park area where there was a big festival. We basically market those areas through the 47 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Fan Pass that I talked about and the Patriot Pass for Welcome America and the Philadelphia Marathon. We also work with GPTMC through their website to make sure that attractions in Philadelphia are part of their website. And that's basically how we do that.
One of the things I do whenever I get a chance to travel, which doesn't happen anymore, is the local hotel will show what things there are to do, and to what degree can we negotiate. Comcast did a really good thing on one part of my district, in Manayunk. They just marketed for about a four-minute vignette on getting local under Comcast that I think you could replicate that for Chestnut Hill, South Street, other areas around Philadelphia, kind of saying if you're into jazz, here's where this exists.
They did a 48 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. local vignette marketing the neighborhood of Manayunk. It's about four minutes, go and get local. You can get down to that. But if we did that for about ten to 6 neighborhoods around the City, we market 7 ourselves internally as a city of 8 neighborhoods. 9
I think GPTMC 10 does that with "You Wish You Knew" on the 11 website, and the City is actually in the 12 process now of trying to get the leisure 13 site up. We don't want to replicate 14 exactly what GPTMC is doing, but that 15 could be an avenue in which we might be able to do something along those lines.
But, again, I agree that's the right direction. To the hotels, to Comcast, because they have a wider audience than just the website, and in so doing, if you're a visitor, you can get local, as it is called on the icons, and actually pick a neighborhood that may -- if you're from South Philly and you want to experience where Rocky 49 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. ran and the Italian Market, then it markets the restaurants, entertainment venues in that region for you. We had a group of physician assistants association come in town and they wanted to not just do downtown. So we gave them some instructions on how to get to Councilman DiCicco's district. I think it was Spasso's that we marketed. And I could have just as easily done Maria's district or 5th Street. So we could have done any of the districts like that, but I want to spend more of our attention not just on Center City restaurants, because that's how our restaurants in neighborhoods stay open, and if we could do a little bit to move the needle, as Blondell would say, in that direction, I think the district people would see benefit from the citywide marketing effort in their respective business strips.
I absolutely agree. We do that with the Fan Pass, 50 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. which I will make sure that each one of you has. We do citywide, so that there is marketing not just in Center City but in Germantown and West Philadelphia, anybody who is actually interested, and we do the big reach out, and we're increasing that --
Just make sure you hit the Seventh District as well, please.
Yes. I won't forget that. And we also do it now with the Philly in Bloom, which is on the website. It started out as Spread the Love because of the snow and it turned into Philly in Bloom. It goes until the 31st of May, and we're hoping to actually move that forward. But we have all numbers of stores citywide who have given donations for people in this contest. So those are two initiatives that actually touch on exactly what you were saying, and we're looking for more as well.
One last 51 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. comment on that. If you look at the mansions in Fairmount Park, if you go from the Playhouse, Smith's Playground up to the first frisbee park in the nation, up to Benedict Arnold's Mansion straight up to the Rittenhouse where the first paper mill, where they actually let you make paper out of wood pulp, if we market those kinds of things in a strategic manner towards groups that are coming in that may be architects and historians, we can really get a lot of second-tier money into neighborhoods, and I just want it interconnected with cable and interconnected with the hotel site so that it's not just on one site that if you're expert you can find, but to mass market it in ways that that kind of draws attention to neighborhoods. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Councilman. 52 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Just a couple of quick ones. The Parkway, prior to this year the Parkway management as it relates to events was primarily done by the Fairmount Park Commission, and since the merger, the Fairmount Park Commission is essentially taken out of operations. Well, the new Parks and Recs Commission has been taken out of operation. My assumption is that that now falls within your level of responsibility?
Do you have 53 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. any relationship with any of the events; i.e., parades, relating to the Parkway?
So that's essentially what I'm talking about in terms of events.
Not every single one, no. Usually we'll sit down with someone represented from the MDO's Office, Fairmount Park and my office to discuss how pricing is done and what we can do. That's what we've done in the last year and moving forward. We hope to come up with a formula that suits what everyone has been talking about so that the events can actually go on. But I basically serve as the liaison and try and negotiate really good deals so that the events that have happened in the past actually continue to happen.
More 54 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. specifically, who deals with the Welcome America activities as it relates to the Parkway?
I should have started with that question. In terms of Welcome America, how many of those days during that -- what is it, like seven days or ten days?
This year it will be from the 25th through the 4th of July. So I think it's almost ten days.
How many activities are targeted for the Parkway for the Welcome America timeframe?
Prior to 55 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. this year, were there any other activities targeted for the Parkway?
When we first got here in 2008, there were two days prior to the 4th of July that were on the Parkway. There was what we called Party on the Parkway. So actually -- I'm sorry. Forgive me. It was actually the day before the 4th of July and the 4th of July, which we called Party on the Parkway where there were activities. In 2009 and again in 2010, it's only the July 4th day.
What time do you -- I guess it's probably the day before. What time do you set up for the 4th of July event on the Parkway?
We usually start a week in advance because we have to build the stage.
I don't want to tell you -- I don't want to get into the real reason why I'm asking you these questions in public. 56 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
In terms of the actual costs associated with the 4th of July day itself, do you have those figures broken out? You don't have to give them to me now.
Okay. I'd like to get that if you can, and I need to -- is there any additional, during that event, any additional workforce used for the Parkway during that event because of informal usage, because there are more people on the Parkway? Is there any reassignment of police, because we do tend to have a significant amount of people coming from out of town for the various institutions along the Parkway.
I think I understand your question. This year it being on a Sunday, yes. It depends on the day that it falls on, but last year 57 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. because it was such -- it depends on the day it falls on and the weather and actually who the talent is as to how it draws. Last year we had over 600,000 people there during the height, but a million people probably came. So, yes, there is a lot of police presence on the Parkway during July 4th.
In terms of usage for the Parkway on the 4th, what time do you actually shut the Parkway down to all vehicular and pedestrian traffic?
Pretty much early that morning, because the festival starts at 11 o'clock. So pretty much probably around 8 o'clock at the latest.
I'll send them to 58 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. you today.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, Ms. Johnson. In your testimony you said as Councilwoman Brown was reading, However, we have a number of contracts for the Philadelphia Marathon and Wawa Welcome America with minority contractors that at this time the City does not capture, but will endeavor to do so as they move forward. Can you explain that statement?
Well, there's no 23 current legislation that requires participation from non-profits. However, as I said earlier -- 59 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
There is legislation -- are you actually that familiar with the legislation?
I was just given some information that there is no current legislation.
Can OEO come to the table. (Witness approached witness table.)
Do you want me to finish? The City is working on including and capturing that information.
Your answer is actually just wrong. Ms. Dowd-Burton, are you familiar with the Article 6-109 of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter?
I'm sorry. Before you answer the question, would you identify yourself for the record. 60 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
My name is Angela Dowd-Burton. I am Executive Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. And I'm afraid, Councilman, I do not have the Charter in front of me.
That is the section of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter that deals with disadvantaged businesses.
That is the section of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter that requires annual participation goals. That's the section 20 of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter that also allows Council to establish within The Philadelphia Code how those annual participation goals are set. Are you familiar with Section 25 17-1503 of The Philadelphia Code? 61 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Yes, if that's regarding the participation of minority and female-owned businesses.
Does that section of the Code require annual participation goals with regard to non-profits?
I do not have that section in front of me and I cannot refer to it.
Section 13 17-1503(1)(b) states, City contract participation goals for DBEs in not-for-profit City contracts related to for-profit subcontracting opportunities. Does that refresh your memory?
So the Charter requires annual participation goals. The Charter allows City Council to establish how those goals should be set. City Council through ordinance has established that there should be goals 62 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. for not-for-profits as it relates to subcontracting opportunities. Is that the law or not?
Ms. Johnson, would you like to answer the question now?
I don't have those goals because I didn't know that that was part of it, and no one asked for those goals for the Marathon nor for Welcome America, but I brought the information that I had.
Ms. Dowd-Burton, do you think that it's appropriate that there be goals for disadvantaged businesses for the Philadelphia Marathon and Wawa Welcome America if they are City contracts?
Thank you, Madam President. 63 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. I just want to follow up on the questions I was asking you earlier. In terms of the promotions -- this is directed at Ms. Johnson. In terms of the promotions relating to the Welcome America event, who is responsible for it? Primarily your office or is it the other tourist related --
It's my office. We run the entire event. We do have partnerships with other tourism organizations, though, to help that.
Given the nature of the event, the name of the event, is there a reason why we don't ask or require the other tourism-related entities to be involved in the promotion 64 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. of that event since that is allegedly their primary function? Because this is an event, just based on my cursory review of being around and happen to represent those areas, a significant amount of areas, that people come. I'm assuming that's probably the highest volume of tourists to come through the City of Philadelphia at any point in time during the year, so my question is, why wouldn't they be a part of that process?
I just asked you and you said that you were responsible.
My office produces the event, but we have partnerships with the outside organizations, and GPTMC is absolutely one of them.
GPTMC provides us 65 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. with national promotion, partners. We meet with them regularly. They have a seat on the Board of Directors.
So they're very much involved, as is PCVB, Chamber of Commerce. We work with all of them so that we can get it out just as you were saying. We get that information out as much as we can.
So if there was a particular day that we wanted to promote for the Parkway that dealt with American in every sense of the way as it relates to all of the ethnic and social groups in America, that's something that they could play a significant role and a supportive role with your organization?
Are you saying in conjunction with Welcome or creating something new?
In conjunction with the week of Welcome 66 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. America, not necessarily on the 4th of July.
I'm not to speak for them, but, yes, they look at every event that happens in the City and how they can promote that. So I would assume that that would absolutely be something that they would embrace, yes.
Okay. There's an obvious follow-up after the hearings. I know you're probably saying, what is he trying to get at.
I will give you a call, as well as everyone that asked for some information.
Are there any other questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
67 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Seeing no one --
Given the fact that my colleague Councilman Goode has put on the record regarding the non-profit requirement, requirements for non-profit, and reflecting on the testimony from the Department of Health and DHS, my question to Angela Dowd-Burton is, what has been or will be the expectations for DHS given their numbers in this area?
Councilwoman, thank you for that question. We're working with Econsult to develop a process for measuring and managing the participation of non-profits and their role in terms of contributing to the economic development of businesses.
So working with Econsult, define that. What does 68 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. that mean?
Well, one of the things that the consultant has done is looked at various municipalities across the country to see what best in class practices there are for tracking participation with non-profit contracts, and what they found is, there really isn't any concentrated effort by municipalities. Some do it better than others, some not at all. What we're going to be doing in Philadelphia is looking at a way to track the leadership of a non-profit; for example, at the Board level, then at the executive level, look at the constituents that those organizations serve and even explore -- because we do ask right now in our contract language for them to identify the diversity strategies that they have as it relates to suppliers. So we're going to be looking at doing a more vigilant job of capturing that information and finding out really where 69 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. we are in driving economic development throughout the contracts that we pay.
Will that process or will those discussions also include stipulations and requirements for non-profits to do better when it comes to the procurement and subcontracting of their services?
And next year at this time you'll be able to tell us where you are with that and what those new stipulations are?
So you're telling me that there is a year window that Econsult has to come up with recommendations on how to --
No. I'm saying that their recommendations are expected out by the end of April, and we're expecting to put a process in place by July 1st as it relates to non-profit. So that next year this time you'll be 70 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. able to see some results and hear some success stories, probably some challenges as well, in terms of what we're attempting to do with non-profits.
Okay. But we can also expect to no longer hear that non-profits of any type are exempt from the Mayor's Strategic Plan?
Thank you for your testimony. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. Ms. Dowd-Burton, I understand the Administration's plan to try to classify non-profits in terms of counting them in terms of disadvantaged business participation. That actually is not 71 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. really the issue. The issue is for-profit subcontracting opportunities that already exist. So it's not whether you count the non-profit contract in terms of minority participation or disadvantaged business participation. The issue is whether you identify subcontracting opportunities that come through that contract and set goals for them.
So we don't have to wait for Econsult to look at Welcome America or to look at the Marathon to identify subcontracting opportunities to see that they should be available for disadvantaged businesses and set goals for them right now.
Are there any further questions? 72 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Councilwoman Brown.
Yes, Madam President. An afterthought. The summer festival that we see on City Hall Courtyard during the summer, who's responsible for that? Where do those opportunities happen for those vendors on the courtyard? What agency is responsible for that?
It was the winter festival where you had the different vendors set up selling winter paraphernalia, wine --
They come in. They're a private company that contracts with the City to have that village. They just rent the space. They do all the contracting with the vendors, and they do have the goals for minority vendors and 73 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. disabled vendors.
They get a contract with my office, Office of the City Representative, as well as permitting from MDO.
But they are the ones that actually do the vendors, but they do follow the rules for minority vendors and disabled vendors.
And once the event is over, is there a back-end assessment, evaluation, look-see to actually verify that they have indeed followed the MBE, WBE requirements?
I think that's done up front, but I don't have the information. But I think that's part of the contract that we do with them, that they have to follow that. So I'll look that up for you.
There's a 74 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. disconnect. I'm missing something.
I think it's done up front. I think that they tell us the vendors that they have that are going to be on the Dilworth Plaza prior. So that information exists before the end of the month that they're out there, but I don't know if there's any follow-up at the end. I think it's part of the contracting.
That's my question. Putting it in writing is one thing and then seeing it is another. Making a determination on what you see is actually consistent or congruent with what you saw in writing is another. So the question is, on the back end is there some evaluation to verify that what was put in writing actually happened?
Before the contract is signed, they have to show 75 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. that they have reached the minority goals in their contracts. So that's why it wouldn't have been done after, because up front they have to show that they have this number, they reached this participating goal before they actually set up. But I can go back and make sure that I get that information to you. There's nothing at the end of that, no. 11
I would appreciate you submitting that to the Chair for my own look-see.
Thank you very much. Thank you both for your testimony. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. Any further questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, thank you. 76 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
I appreciate your testimony. MR. McPHERSON: Our next department is the Department of Commerce and OEO. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good morning. Welcome. Please I'd identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good morning, Council President. I'm Alan Greenberger, the Acting Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development and the Director of Commerce. Madam President, I have a rather lengthy testimony and I can read parts of it, summarize details or I can read the whole thing, at your discretion.
I don't think you have to read the whole 77 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. thing. We'll give a copy to the stenographer. It will be transcribed in full. So if you would abbreviate.
I will abbreviate it somewhat. Thank you. I appreciate that. I thought that might help you as well.
Here with me today are Kevin Dow, Acting Chief Operating Officer for the Commerce Department; Duane Bumb, the Senior Deputy Director of Commerce; Folasade Olanipekun-Lewis, our Deputy Commerce Director; and Angela Dowd-Burton, Executive Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. In addition, several of our senior staff members are here from the Commerce Department as well. I am here to present testimony on behalf of the Department of Commerce's Fiscal Year 2011 Operating Budget request 78 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. 032 million over Fiscal Year 2010 obligations. 613 million to the Community Development Fund. As I understand, on April 13th, Mark Gale, the Aviation Director, testified to the Division of Aviation's portion of the budget request, and, therefore, today I will speak only to the Commerce Department's appropriations request. The mission of the Department of Commerce is to help businesses retain and expand jobs in the City by creating an environment in which businesses, both for-profit and not-for-profit, can thrive. We do this in partnership with numerous other development entities such 79 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. as those departments and agencies that support economic development, including such agencies as the Planning Commission, the Office of Housing and Community Development, the Redevelopment Authority, the Mayor's Office of Sustainability, L&I, Office of Arts and Culture, and Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation. We're guided in these endeavors by several core principles: To position Philadelphia as a sustainable and globally competitive city in the 21st century; to invest in areas where Philadelphia has a competitive advantage - existing growth sectors, quality of life amenities, vibrant neighborhoods and exceptional transportation infrastructure; to support job creation in the short term but also position the City for sustained economic growth in the long term; to support job growth across income and educational spectrums so that opportunities are 80 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. provided for all Philadelphians; and, lastly, to ensure that our business community and its workforce reflect the diversity of the City as a whole. We recognize that Philadelphia is not often seen as a business-friendly city. We do hear that from businesses. And we seek to improve that image by reducing the regulatory and financial barriers for business growth and operations by attracting new businesses and retaining and growing existing businesses and by demonstrating government support for businesses through increased direct contact and public relations. We also recognize that many businesses today are mobile and are capable of relocating some or all of their operations outside of Philadelphia. Factors such as the integrity of government, the transparency and processing of regulations, public health and safety, direct business services and 81 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the quality of life in the City in general, all in addition to the tax environment, contribute greatly to the perception of the City as a place to do business. The programs and partnerships that are actively pursued by the Department of Commerce are intended to result in improvements to that perception and ultimately to a more robust business climate that produces decent jobs for its citizens. In the next section I'm going to go over the budget summary. 214 million. This is exclusive of the Aviation Fund, and it is summarized in the chart that is in the material that you have with you. A few details on this. The General Fund budget for the Department of Commerce reflects many of the 82 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Administration's priorities. The increase in Class 100 by $260,000-plus is due to restoring the funding for two positions - the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development and the Office of Economic Opportunity Executive Director.
639 million is due to various line item changes in this class, the largest being the reclassification of an annual payment the City makes to the Pennsylvania Convention Center of $15 million. In Fiscal Year 2011, this amount will be transferred from Class 900, which is actually in the chart before you, which pursuant to a funding agreement will be reduced from million 19 to 15 million and reclassified as a lease 20 payment, hence the reclassification from 21 900 to 200. In Class 500, expenditures 22 from the Hotel Tax are accounted for in 23 each fiscal year. Collections are 24 estimated to be about $3 million higher 25 in FY10 than FY09 because pursuant to 83 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. 2 percent. 8 percent increase over FY10 estimated receipts. On to the Department and its reorganization. The Commerce Department's Fiscal Year 2011 request will fund General Fund staff 12 positions. In October 2009 and with the 13 support of Mayor Nutter, the Commerce 14 Department reorganized into three 15 divisions - Development Initiatives, 16 Neighborhood and Business Services, and 17 Finance and Administration. 18 In the proposed Fiscal Year 19 2011, which represents the second fiscal 20 year in which OEO is fully integrated, 21 the Commerce Department will have a 22 workforce that is approximately 11 23 percent smaller than Fiscal Year 2009, 24 when you account for the full staff 25 complement; that is to say, from all 84 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. funding sources, of 70 people. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Department reorganization is allowing us to operate more strategically, ensuring that the Department of Commerce will continue to deliver business constituent services in an effective and efficient manner. The Development Initiatives Division handles policy development, real estate development, and business attraction and retention. The Neighborhood and Business Services Division includes the Office of Business Services, which is formerly known as MBAT, the Office of Neighborhood Economic Development and the Office of Economic Opportunity, in that case formerly known as MBEC, which worked together to develop a business-friendly environment that encourages companies to locate and grow in the City. The Finance and Administration Division handles fiscal and accounting issues, contracts 85 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. execution and management, and payroll of human resources matters. I would also like to take this moment to talk about the Office of Economic Opportunity. In October 2009, the Mayor signed an Executive Order abolishing the Minority Business Economic Council and in its stead created the Office of Economic Opportunity, OEO. The same order also moved the separation of OEO from the Department of Finance to the Commerce Department. The Economic Opportunity Strategic Plan, which was released on February 8th, 2010, envisions several operational changes for the office. These include streamlining the certification process, taking a more proactive approach in enforcement, establishing a process for capturing participation on non-profit contracts, what we were just talking about, and capturing actual payments to subcontractors. Leveraging the resources of the Commerce Department, both 86 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. financial and intellectual, OEO will more aggressively execute the "Inclusion Works Strategic Plan," including the success of ready, willing and able M/W/DSBE business community and building a more diverse and work-ready labor force. OEO is committed to working with the City operating departments to achieve a percent 10 increase in companies registered to do 11 business with the City and to achieve a 12 25 percent goal of participation on City 13 contracts. 14 I'm going to, with your 15 permission, skip down to the rest and 16 give you a very quick summary of some of 17 the initiatives -- or rather the 18 accomplishments in 2010 and a few of the 19 initiatives in 2011.
I've already talked 20 about OEO. 0. The 23 Commerce Department launched a new online 24 Business Services Center, which is a 25 web-based home for all business-related 87 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. information. Since its launch, the website has seen its traffic increase from 11,000-plus visits per month to approximately 16,000 visits per month, a 41 percent increase. Last summer we completed the consolidation of the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation, referred to as PCDC, into the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, resulting in improved services for small business and a more robust effort to provide access to capital. I'll be happy to answer questions about details of that later. We've also launched over $70 million in small business support programs, including new gap financing and loan guarantee programs, an enhanced Employer-Assisted Housing Program, facade and commercial corridor grants, all of which provide local stimulus to spur permanent job growth. 88 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. And lastly in this summary on business outreach initiatives, we contacted over 40,000 businesses in the City through a number of initiatives, including a direct outreach on behalf of the Mayor, five outreach sessions in conjunction with the federal Recovery Act, neighborhood corridor walks, and technical assistance and business education programs with our external partners. Lastly -- and we will provide members of Council with this document -- in February 2009, in partnership with PIDC, we launched something called Smart City, Smart Growth, which is a corporate attraction campaign. We jointly produced a collateral piece that we have copies of for you that will allow the City to proactively solicit companies by sector to consider locating in Philadelphia. This campaign will continue throughout FY11. In FY11, we're envisioning 89 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. several key initiatives. I just want to mention three of them. We intend to launch what we call Phase 2 of the Business Services Center, which is currently in development. It has two goals for the next release scheduled this spring - the development of something called a "decision wizard" and business registration. The decision wizard will guide businesses through answering a series of questions to help them determine the forms they need. Results will be listed in what you might think of as a dashboard format that registered users can save by project name. Further releases will allow -- this is Phase 3 -- will allow businesses to use the dashboard to submit their business licenses and permit forms online and hopefully pay for them online. I've mentioned the Economic Opportunity Strategic Plan. I'm sure we'll be talking more about that. Business Technical Assistance 90 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Program: Because of the integration of PCDC, Commerce has increased its ability to provide small business technical assistance and capacity building. In addition to longstanding partnerships with established providers, Commerce plans to increase the number of service providers in order to reach more areas and more businesses, including immigrant-owned businesses. Let me talk about participation levels for a moment and then I'll draw this to a conclusion and we can answer questions. The Commerce Department is committed to support the Administration's goal of percent minority, women and 19 disabled-owned business participation in 20 City contracting. The projected 21 participation is 25 percent. In FY11, 22 the Commerce Department has one 23 for-profit contract budgeted at $75,000. 24 Commerce, however, serves -- and this, by 25 the way, is the contract I think that was 91 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. referred to previously with Econsult. Commerce, however, serves as a fiscal agent for a variety of entities, and the funds reported under the operating budget are funneled through the City.
Commerce has been leveraging our relationships to increase participation of M/W/DSBEs, and to cite one example that I'm personally involved with, the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation is in the process of designing and developing the Central Delaware River Waterfront Master Plan. That's approximately a $1 million contract. We have contracted with an entity that has committed to a percent M/W/DSBE 18 participation, and that is excluding the 19 participation of the Greater Philadelphia 20 Urban Affairs Coalition, and I wanted to 21 cite that because it's a good example of 22 some of the things that Councilman Goode and other members of Council have been talking about. We have under that master plan 92 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. program initiated an investigation of how to increase minority, women and disabled participation in development opportunities, real estate development opportunities. GPUAC is going to handle that for us. They're a non-profit. We need to find ways that Angela Dowd-Burton was talking about earlier to have them certified, which we're confident they will be. When that happens, the participation rate on that contract will be at 30 percent. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. We're happy to answer questions.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, Mr. Greenberger.
On 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. your testimony, you say in October 2009, the Mayor signed an Executive Order abolishing the Minority Business Enterprise Council, MBEC, and in its stead created the Office of Economic Opportunity, OEO. Are you familiar with the expression "that dog don't hunt"?
Are you familiar with the expression "that dog don't hunt"?
My name is Kevin Dow. I'm the Acting Chief Operating Officer for the Department of Commerce. And one way in which we've restructured the office is to integrate it into the Department of Commerce. In 94 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the past and previous to the change from the Mayor, it was in the Finance Department.
I didn't ask how it was restructured. I didn't ask about the Strategic Plan. I'm asking in terms of actual impact. I used the expression "that dog don't hunt." How is OEO any more effective than MBEC today? What has it produced? Tell me something tangible, concrete that it has produced that shows that it's a new agency.
The one concrete thing, which is one of the biggest concerns that we've had out of the organization, has been the certification process, that OEO's efforts and resources there were focused too much on that. So the first thing that we did was eliminate the, quote/unquote, Philadelphia certification process and created a registry whereby we would be able to more effectively gather minority, women and disabled-owned companies into our 95 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. registry.
Have you closed out the certification? Are you still doing certification this week?
I'm going to ask Angela to come on up so that she can directly answer that specific question.
So OEO is not out of the certification business. So that's not one example how concretely you have shifted human resources from certification to a goal-setting process, to a goal-achievement process, because you haven't. You still have human resources dedicated to certification.
And I'd like to explain that statement. Yes, we are still in certification. As of the end of --
If you're still doing certification, that's what MBEC did, I don't want to hear about it.
What we had at the end of -- as of February, we had applications within our system, the backlog, and because those applications came in prior to the changeover, we are now working through that backlog, and Angela can talk to you about that. So from that perspective, we are completing the old applications because we have to -- they came in under the old system.
And what does the Strategic Plan say with regard 97 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. to that?
What it says specifically on of the Strategic Plan, it says, Firms that are currently certified by the OEO and might migrate to the OEO registry of certified firms, any firms, any firms, whose OEO certification is going to expire between now and March 1st, 2010 will have their certifications automatically extended to December 31st, 2010. Is that what's happening?
So why are you doing certification if those certifications are extended to December 31st?
These are brand new applications, brand new applications that came into the system prior to the changeover. We have 11 of them left.
You said 98 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. they were backlogged.
That's on backlog. So at the time of the switchover, when we announced that plan, there were 60 names that were in our backlog. We cut it off at that point in time. Going forward, anyone else could come in under the new system.
So those people who are working on certification are not focused on the goal-achievement process or goal-setting process?
You've sat through budget hearings for most, if not all, departments. You have watched departments come in and say they don't know how the goal was arrived in terms of disadvantaged participation. You have watched departments say that the goal was wrong. You've watched departments say that OEO gave us the goal and we would have set a higher goal. Do you believe that it's time to actually move forward in terms of the Strategic Plan and that it was in fact wasted time continuing to do certification when there's actually a need to focus on the goal-setting and goal-achievement process?
Well, Councilman, I agree with you, it is time to move forward. I also recognize that there were companies that were counting on us when they walked through the door and gave us their documents to be evaluated for certification prior to our 100 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Strategic Plan being launched, and so we wanted to do due diligence to them. We've driven down that backlog, expedited that process. We have left, and we 6 will be out of the business completely. 7 In the meantime, in addition to those 8 certification activities -- 9
Let me move forward in my question in terms of how different OEO is than MBEC. What should the overall DBE participation rate be for Fiscal Year '11?
It was determined by OEO consulting with the operating departments, evaluating the contracts that they were projecting for 101 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Fiscal Year '11, looking at the availability of companies within the OEO database and now registry to see if there was a level of participation that could be achieved. The Strategic Plan, looking at the availability in the marketplace, proposed a percent and that was 9 approved by the Economic Opportunity 10 Cabinet, and that's the direction that 11 we're headed in for Fiscal Year '11. 12
The disparity 15 study looked at the utilization rates of 16 the companies that we had in the 17 Philadelphia area, the metropolitan area 18 and the greater region, and when we look 19 at what we can do versus what we have 20 done, we're looking at an opportunity to 21 at least achieve 25 percent 22 participation. 23
The question 24 is, are the annual participation goals 25 set based upon the disparity study? 102 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
They're set upon the Strategic Plan, which the disparity study contributed to.
When you look at the availability of companies that could in fact participate on City contracts, if they were given the opportunity to do so, those --
Do the participation goals have to be based upon the disparity study?
According to Article 6-109 of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter, they do.
Councilman, would you agree that if we could achieve higher than the disparity study would 103 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. allow, that we could pursue that goal?
But my question to you was, do the goals have to be based upon the disparity study.
And your answer was no. According to the Home Rule Charter, it does.
Thank you, sir. I was trying to be a little more optimistic.
A dog barks, but it still doesn't hunt. Optimism is not what we're trying to do here. What we're trying to do is take a data-driven approach that is based upon work done by Econsult and based upon what actual capacity and availability is, set goals that are reasonable. If we want to set a 104 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. range that goes beyond what the capacity and availability is, then we can. I don't believe that there's a need to set anything other than a realistic goal and know what that goal is and we actually achieve that realistic goal. The disparity study has said for years that the capacity exists, the availability of minority, women and disabled businesses exist to obtain a to 28 percent level 12 of participation. Why under this 13 Administration has that level of 14 participation not been achieved if the 15 disparity study says that it can be? 16
Well, 17 Councilman, all I can do is focus on 18 moving forward and -- 19
No. You can 20 answer the question. The question is, 21 why in this Administration that level of 22 participation has not been achieved. If 23 the disparity study suggests that it 24 could be achieved, if the Philadelphia 25 Home Rule Charter mandates that there has 105 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. to be a disparity study, that there have to be annual participation goals based upon the disparity study and Econsult, a reputable firm, said that the capacity and availability exists among minority, women and disabled businesses to achieve at least to 28 percent, it's a fair 9 question to ask why that level has not 10 been achieved if there is actually a 11 difference between OEO and MBEC. That's 12 a fair question. 13
The only 17 answer that I could give that I think is 18 relevant is the fact that if you move the 19 mission of OEO from certifying companies 20 in a way that's passive to being an 21 advocate for companies, which is where we 22 are today based on our Strategic Plan -- 23
You mean if 24 you move away from certification into the 25 goal-achievement process? 106 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Okay. Let's move forward. What is OEO's role in achieving the level of participation as it relates to departmental goals and how are departmental goals determined?
OEO is focused on generating a broader spectrum of companies participating in our registry, which will be available for operating departments to use or contract with on City contracts.
The question is more specifically, how are departmental goals set?
They're based on the availability of companies to meet 107 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. their needs.
Are the departmental goals based upon the disparity study?
How are those based upon the disparity study? In other words, are the goals that are set for departments the same goals that are set in the disparity study?
Okay. What was the goal set for Licenses and Inspections?
No. That was set by the joint conversation between OEO 108 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. and the department.
So it was 4.63 percent. It is now percent. Do 10 either of those numbers come from your 11 technical consultant? Were either of 12 those numbers set in the disparity study? 13
The question 16 is whether those numbers came from the 17 disparity study. Because first you said 18 they did, then you said they were two 19 different numbers. So one of them didn't 20 come from the disparity study and/or both 21 of them didn't come from the disparity 22 study. 23
A specific 109 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. goal for Licenses and Inspections was set at percent? 4
A specific 5 goal for Licenses and Inspections was set 6 by the Commissioner during her testimony 7 for 25 percent. 8
Was a 9 specific goal of 25 percent set for 10 Licenses and Inspections within the 11 disparity study? 12
So the 15 departmental goal was not set by the 16 disparity study? 17
The 18 departmental goal was set by the 19 overarching goal for the City. 20
The 21 departmental goal was set by the general 22 goal. 23
So each 25 department has a goal of 25 percent? 110 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Each department, we're going to strive for 4 percent or more participation. 5
My whole 6 question is whether this is data driven 7 based upon the disparity study or not, 8 and we've already proved there's no 9 difference yet between OEO and MBEC, 10 because you just make numbers up. So the 11 first question was whether the annual 12 participation goals are set by the 13 disparity study. That answer is somewhat 14 no. The next question is whether the 15 departmental goals are set by the 16 disparity study. That answer is somewhat 17 no, if not no. The next question is how 18 are RFP goals set? 19
As determined 24 by the operating departments and OEO. 25
Not by the 111 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. disparity study?
Historically it has not been driven by the disparity study. In the future it will be driven by the disparity study.
I'm almost finished, because I don't think we're going to reach much consensus here today. In reality, we actually have to look at Fiscal Year '11 in terms of whether you actually implement the plan or not, whether you actually are in compliance with the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter and The Philadelphia Code, which it appears that you are actually out of compliance with the Home Rule Charter. But my last question -- and none of this is based upon Executive Order or Strategic Plan. It's based upon the Home Rule Charter and the license we have to create an ordinance within The Philadelphia Code. If OEO was eliminated, how would the level of participation change 112 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. in Fiscal Year '11?
Well, I would look at historically the trend, that if you look at 2005, participation was at 21.9 percent, 2006 it was at 21.3. The following years after that it was 17.7, 17.8. Today it's -- well, Fiscal Year 2009 it was 17.6.
My expectation is that we would drive that level of participation up, because we would be advocating on behalf of the minority, female business community to enter a registry in a way that demonstrates their opportunities to do business with the City. Not only to do business in the public sector but build alliances so that they could expand 113 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. their --
Well, MBEC was focused on certification and we're going to be more focused on outreach and engagement in the business community.
So before you took the job and took on this mission, I'm assuming you read the Strategic Plan?
Then how can you compare OEO's plan to MBEC's plan if you don't have MBEC's --
What I'm 114 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. looking at is the Strategic Plan and saying that I'm pursuing the goals of the Strategic Plan, which are to increase the number of companies based on availability who are interested in doing business with the City of Philadelphia and growing from there to doing business also in the private sector and with non-profits. We need to build capacity.
Okay. What did it say and how is it different than OEO's Strategic Plan?
Again, I think -- and it has been some time, over a few years since we did that -- since I read that. I think where you would see the most significant difference is that it was focusing on the certification process. It focused on --
The last 115 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. MBEC action plan says nothing about certification.
Again, I'm at a disadvantage. I haven't read it in a few years, so if that's the case, then I take your word for it.
Mr. Greenberger, have you reviewed MBEC's last action plan?
Then how do you know that OEO's Strategic Plan is more effective than MBEC's last action plan?
The OEO Strategic Plan is a relatively new plan and its effectiveness has to be measured this year. What the plan, however, is about is thoroughly embedding as 116 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. completely routine behavior the setting of appropriate goals, and the attempt here is to direct staff time away from certification and towards working with every single department to make those goals right.
I don't know what MBEC's last action plan says. (Councilman Goode handed Mr. Greenberger MBEC's last action plan.)
Does that look strikingly familiar to OEO's Strategic Plan even though it's one page?
Well, to be honest, I'm reading very fast. It in general does. I have not read every word of it. I can't read that fast. But whether it says it or not, we're focused on how to move OEO forward and how to make these participation goals part of the routine normal business of every single department in the City, all 117 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. contracting.
-- was based upon the fact that during my legislative tenure, MBEC was a dog that didn't hunt. Before MBEC became OEO, it set out a Strategic Plan. OEO has not implemented its Strategic Plan. My original question was, is OEO really different than MBEC today.
Let me also add -- and, again, just quickly reading this summary, the inclusion work Strategic Plan not only captures an interest in growing the availability of minority and female and disadvantaged or disabled companies, but it is also focused on the workforce and driving the inclusion of diversity on construction projects, 32 percent for minority, seven percent for women, the journey and the 118 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. apprentice levels. So it's a, from my vantage point -- and, granted, I have not read in earnest all of the MBEC's action plan, but this is a more -- the OEO Strategic Plan appears to me to be more inclusive and more comprehensive.
You said it includes workforce diversity, but as it relates to business diversity, is there a different plan or strategy?
I said aside from workforce diversity, is there actually a separate plan or strategy for business diversity than was identified within MBEC's last action plan?
Reading this over quickly, I can't really say and do an analysis of it, but I will tell you that there is a focal point that I have on breathing life into the inclusion work strategy for OEO, and my commitment to the business community as well as to the 119 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. operating departments driving inclusion across the City is, I guess, the biggest difference for me.
Is that what you said the difference was going to be last year and the year before?
Was there a difference over the last couple years in terms of the level of participation?
The level of 120 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. participation has been relatively stable around that percent, 17 and a half, 18 4 percent. 5
So there's 6 been no difference in the level of 7 participation? 8
We haven't calculated 9 the current level of participation. 10 We're in that right now. So the 11 leadership is doing the work now, so -- 12
For the last few years. 121 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
That includes part of the Administration, the Street -- I think that's over a two- or three-year period we're talking about and so --
In the last full year of the Street Administration, what was the participation rate?
So it's been lower than the Street Administration, the level of participation?
So is OEO really different than MBEC? The answer 122 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. is not yet. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
I yield to my colleague Blondell Reynolds Brown, but wish to be recognized thereafter.
Thank you, Councilman Jones. Quick follow-up to Councilman Goode's line of questioning. With regards to your statement growing the availability of MBE, WBEs, in instances like Wawa and Philly Marathon, the awareness of those opportunities with those two non-profits rests with the non-profits making it known that they're looking for MBE, WBEs. Where is the City in that mix? For example, do those 123 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. opportunities go on the City's website so that those MBE, WBEs currently within the OEO system are also made aware of this opportunity coming down the pike? Is that a -- I don't want to answer the question. Where is the connect?
I don't think that's a standard protocol, but that will be a standard.
And, Councilwoman, if I would add, we're building very strong relationships with the African American Chamber, the Hispanic Chamber, the Asian Chamber and the Women's Business Enterprise Center to make sure when opportunities present 124 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. themselves, that they are --
-- shared across those networks as well as others that we create.
If I could also add to that, Councilwoman, the other issue that we're aware of that we are working on is that there are firms out there -- and I couldn't tell you how many -- there are firms out there, both minority owned and women owned, who are in nobody's system.
I just met one the other night, African American-owned investment firm. Actually, they buy businesses. I asked them, Are you registered as a minority firm, and the fellow said to me, We don't think of ourselves as a minority firm, we're just a firm. He's registered with nobody. 125 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. I said, Well, I think you ought to be registered and we're prepared to help you do that. So we also need to be -- we know firms out there. We don't know all of them, but we know of firms out there that are recognized nowhere officially. We need to do that, make sure opportunities are known to them and get them over that hump, the bureaucratic hump as well as the psychological one.
Agreed. And then, lastly, Councilman Goode shared with us during the DHS hearings a contract that had, and I state the quote, best-faith efforts, and the insult of that was that it was a childcare contract. In instances where we hear often, We confer with OEO to establish the contract goals, who ultimately is responsible when that agency either, A, doesn't meet the goals or, B, puts in language like "good-faith efforts"? Where should the accountability end? 126 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. With the agency head or with OEO?
Well, one of the things that we're working on is ensuring that there are no "good-faith efforts" put in future contracts.
So you're saying for the record no longer again ever in the future going forward where we hear the phrase "good-faith efforts"?
I hate to say absolutely, because there are instances where we're dealing --
Where we know we don't have the captured pool of MBE, disadvantaged businesses to meet that particular skill-set.
Anything 127 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. else -- one of you wanted to add to that? I cut you off.
Oh, I was just going to say the good-faith effort piece was one that required the solicitation, a documented solicitation, and commitment by the company who was actually pursuing minority and female businesses. So when it was originally designed, it was not around a blanket statement that you're off the hook. The companies have to document who did they call, which newspapers did they advertise in, which companies came in to visit or what kinds of information did they provide those companies in terms of describing the project that they wanted them to work on. So it wasn't a blank check, but what we found is the perception is that you're off the hook and you don't have to generate participation, and so that's why we want to minimize the use of that "good-faith effort" at all. 128 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Councilwoman, if I may just add one thing, and just into the accountability factor, yes. The answer is yes, the agency heads are accountable to their minority participation.
Thank you. We need to hear that, because too often we hear, We conferred with OEO and that's how we received -- that's how we achieved the goal.
And I think what you're hearing here is an intent by the Administration to build a different culture around this that is invested totally in the departments, with OEO acting as both a technical assistance and an advisor on things that the departments themselves may or may not be expert in.
And if I could also add, as a part of the actions coming out of the Mayor's Economic Opportunity Cabinet meeting just yesterday, each of the operating departments are going to be required to 129 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. identify an OEO officer or liaison who will take ownership for their inclusion goals within the department and working with the Office of Economic Opportunity.
My only closing comment to that is, that's a very tangible management, new practice that moves us towards better moving this needle.
Thank you for your testimony. Thank you very, very much, Councilman Jones.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
I do remember, but he relinquished his time. Councilman Clarke.
I defer to 130 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Councilman Jones.
Listen, we're learning. Thank you, Councilman Clarke. On the lines of -- in a different vein, but on the lines of the question raised by my colleague Wilson Goode what is different, let me go back to a little more ancient history. In your experience in another life as Procurement Commissioner working with MBEC, what were the differences, salient differences then? Did the Director of what was MBEC and now the morphed OEO have contract signing authority on all procurement contracts?
Absolutely not. MBEC and now OEO do in fact operate 131 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. as facilitators of making sure operating departments gain participation on their contracts, but they do not sign those contracts. They do not --
Which the former MBEC had. So you could stop a contract if there was not a good faith -- I mean, your counterpart could.
No, I do not recall the budget. You're talking about 20 years ago?
Yes. I'm sorry to put you out there that you were around then, but you were. It was a little over a million dollars. It might have been -- what is 132 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. your current budget?
Right now the current contract or budget is around 600,000.
Twenty-seven. I'll help you out there. Your memory might be fading. How many employees do you have?
So there are some very big differences between now and then. And on the lines of my colleague, hopefully we will be moving the needle, 133 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. as my colleague Blondell Reynolds Brown would say, in the right direction so that the dog can hunt. How do you plan -- I like that. I want to know in your mind how do you right this ship? What are some of the plans you have? Are you meeting with the stakeholders, for example, that care about what you do? And tell me what that is.
Absolutely. We have met, from an introductory standpoint, with each of the members who lead the chambers, African American Chamber, Asian Chamber, the Hispanic Chamber and the Women's Business Enterprise Council. We've met with members of the Enterprise Center. We've met with the School District and SEPTA. And our goal is to continue to do outreach with those stakeholders, who are peer advocates for small businesses, and to work with them to drive home the need for information, the need for technical 134 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. support, the need for financial support. And actually I'm leveraging the relationships that we have now internally with the Commerce Department to ensure that the companies who do business and who are members of these affinity groups are interested and willing and able to do business with the City of Philadelphia.
On the lines of questioning what is different from recent history, the OEO -- MBEC and then OEO, if I -- I'm going to give you the exact same question I asked six months and a year ago. If you had to point out a signature type of example of who is doing well in City contracts, name me three.
You might. 135 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. I don't have a clock. We're on Wilson Goode time now.
These are just a few companies that I've come across and that my team has come across who are success stories within the doing business with the City. One is Intelligent Business Solutions, IBS. The owner of that company is Darryl Boozer, and he is a technology systems integrator. He was one of the companies that received a subcontract for installation and repair of the security cameras for the City. His largest contract, $1.5 million. And this is a minority-owned business. He employs 15 people, and he is a stellar representative in the African American business community. We have Alpha Supply, largest contract -- and he works in collaboration with Staples -- contract $5 million, hires and employs 55 employees, many of them ethnic. 136 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
I sure hope your third example is a woman, because Blondell is going to --
Being very much engaged now with the economic opportunity plans for major projects around the City, I am very proud of the work that the Temple Group does, and that is operated by Dr. Lorraine Brown, and she has been in the construction industry for decades. She is now responsible as the contract manager for the Youth Study Center. 137 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Now I need three departments that you think are the gold standard that get it right.
Absolutely. And so she is one company, but I have a few other names of MBEs and WBEs who have in fact demonstrated that they can do business with the City, engineers who have done great work with the Water Department and continue to expand their business. One company, Berner Construction, a WBE and DBE, has $1.6 million contract with the Water Department for Wise Mill Run and Cathedral Run streams. We got Cortrol --
-- list to the body, because I could see Wilson's finger itching towards to push -- oh, you pushed it. Okay. So the difference for me 138 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. is that at least you know some examples of people who are in fact engaged in contracts with the City. I asked that question six months ago. It drew a blank. No disrespect to anyone else, but you are supposed to know, document, memorialize and advocate for that at greater levels. So that is at least one difference.
With that being said, 82 percent of contract dollars went to businesses owned by white men; is that true?
It was the 139 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. same the year before?
So there's no need to compare OEO to OEO. And in the comparison between OEO and MBEC, I'm quite sure my colleague was not trying to suggest that he didn't do all the things that you plan on doing now when he was MBEC Director. I'm quite sure he was suggesting that he did all of those things, which means that there is not necessarily a difference between OEO and MBEC, because he did all those things back then. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good point, Councilman. But let me say this, that those are different times. It's post Crowson, which was a lawsuit that was filed by the general contractors. We had teeth. They filed some of your dogs' teeth down. Now you have to do what you can do to get that participation, and I just wanted to 140 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. put that on the record. But I am encouraged by the fact -- I have some operational efficiencies. If you are going to move away from certification eventually, as my colleague points out, how will you redeploy that manpower? And if I understand your department's function, field compliances help to incentivize people to do the right thing contractually. How are you going to take those 11 people, and if I understand the volume of contracts from now and then, it is higher now.
Absolutely. Councilman, you're absolutely right. With the stimulus dollars moving through the operating departments, the volume of contracts where goals are to be set, volume of bids that come in that have to be reviewed for compliance, and then ultimately the contracts that are awarded, there is a requirement for -- or I should say, there is an interest in 141 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. measuring the compliance more vigilantly than we have in the past, because we just need to have a presence out in the field to ensure that the workforce is in place and that companies are in fact delivering. And the goal would be to leverage the Bureau of Labor Standards and the people who are already out in the field with our operation to make sure that we have a presence out there and we're looking for the right things.
I'm sorry. Department of Labor Standards are looking for employment compliance, correct?
So you're talking about two field trips combined into one?
Potentially, yes. I'm talking about the absence of a field trip versus the one who makes the 142 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. field trip looking for two additional pieces of information. So we're not only confirming that people are paid right from a standard, wage standard, but also that the faces of the people on the job demonstrate the diversity that we're trying to find for our projects.
I would only beg the Administration one other. If that is the plan of the Administration to do that, that is a sound plan coming from, as my colleague outed me, as a former Director of --
No, I wasn't going to do that. But anyway, I think that combining those two functions is an efficiency. And if you use technology, you probably could fit in a third, which is the license for the contractors and subcontractors that we're talking about putting on the trucks, I believe it is. 143 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. You could go right down the list and do maybe three compliance checks in the field versus everyone doing one, sending another person. So if that is indeed what the Administration is going to do, I think that's a step both in the right direction to get increased participation but also maybe even do what we'd like to see is cut some costs in doing so. And I'm wondering, is that -- I hear you saying that. Do I hear the Commerce Department and Deputy for Economic Development saying that's the plan?
Yes, that's the plan. I would also, Councilman, like to add one other piece of this story, and, that is, basically having the willpower to at the contracting phase, not at the field phase, to turn back proposals that are non-compliant. We've turned back two of them in the last month and a half. They were -- one of them was 144 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. a relatively small contract, one was a very sizable contract, and the difference between the non -- I should say the difference between the non-compliant firm and the next lowest bid in one case was rather significant. We turned it back anyway. They were kind of egregiously non-compliant.
Well, that's for sure different from the last -- and God help us if you ever de-certify or, what is that, de-bar someone in recent history. That would be a signal sent that we are serious about your mission.
I do -- I'm not going to name names, but in the one case where there was a significant difference between the first and second bidders, it almost felt like the low bidder was daring us to deal with it.
And we dealt with it. We said, no, sorry. 145 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Well, Mr. Chairman, I think I hear my clock ringing and so I'll stop the questioning. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. I'll use the power of the Chair to be next. Actually, no, no. Actually, I was already in line to be next.
I was wondering if you were going to do that. Thank you.
Good afternoon again. Mr. Greenberger, a quick question about casinos. And looking at your testimony, you referenced your involvement in the SugarHouse Casino as one of the FY10 initiatives. A part of the process has been from the Administration -- and I want to thank Mr. Gillison as it relates to the portion of his involvement relating primarily to public safety, operational issues 146 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. associated with the actual casino once it's up and running and leading up to that. A little late, but better late than never. And they laid out what I think is a reasonable plan and interacting with the surrounding community and the leadership in the community, and they've started that process that I think ultimately will work, working with Councilman DiCicco and myself. In terms of the SugarHouse Casino, once it's up and running, I think the belief is by most people that it will have some level of a stimulative effect on the surrounding area as it relates to opportunities beyond the casino, the physical casino itself. I'm hearing that there's also speculative activity as it relates to purchasing properties around the perimeter. Is there an effort, separate from Mr. Gillison and the public safety people, from the Commerce side to 147 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. aggressively work with any potential property owner to develop a business that will be supportive or will feed off of the casino operation?
Well, I don't -- nobody has come forward to us yet with a specific proposal that would, the way you characterize it, would feed off of that. We expect that those will happen.
Real quick, the response to that particular statement. Do you think that because your department's responsibility is to promote that, that we should simply be a reactive government as opposed to proactive? Because I can talk to pretty much any person over there who is in leadership in the community and they can tell you who just bought that building 148 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. and who just bought that building.
So don't you think we should have a more proactive approach as opposed to waiting until someone comes in?
Yeah, I agree with you. And exactly how to do that, I didn't come prepared to talk about it, but I can at least give you an opinion about it.
You put SugarHouse Casino as one of your accomplishments, so be prepared --
I'm not complaining. It's fine. There's two ways to approach it. One is that through the waterfront master plan, we need to be able to identify the sites and the sort of, you might say, the logic stream behind development opportunities that make sense, let's say, in conjunction with the 149 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. casino. The same thing is true for other parts of the waterfront where that may or may not be appropriate. So that's in process right now. That's going to lead to very specific public policy initiatives that will probably take the form of things that will come across your desk and Councilman DiCicco's by way of zoning changes. I fully expect that to happen. In the process of doing the master plan, we are talking to every property owner along the waterfront to try to get an assessment of what they're thinking about, if they're thinking about anything. The thing that I want to distinguish is --
Who is -- I apologize for cutting in. Who is responsible for that specifically?
The master plan team is doing that on behalf of the Waterfront Corporation, but that feeds very positively into my world, because I 150 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. participate strongly in that both as a representative of Commerce and a representative of Planning.
Who is the master plan waterfront team? Because they don't necessarily interact with me, so I don't know.
That's the firm of Cooper Robertson and their larger team.
They don't have a contract directly with the City, but they obviously coordinate with us. So the thing I wanted to distinguish between is that there are property owners and there are developers, and they're not necessarily the same thing, as you know. There's a lot of 151 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. people who own property along the waterfront that I would not characterize as developers. They're going to need developers. And so part of our job through this master plan needs to start pairing people off or at least creating, saying you need to talk to this fellow over here because he has an idea, and I'll give you an example of one. Because these are way before -- these are in financial negotiations, so I can't really name the names, although I'll be happy to share with you privately. There's an opportunity that we're aware of for the evolution of what sounds like it could be a pretty nice brewpub tavern that has some historical connection both to the waterfront and to certain things that happened on the waterfront. We're actively taking a proposal from them, and we're encouraging another entity who happens to own property in the area who has expressed, let's say, general interest in the same 152 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. facility to also give us a proposal on that. So we are -- in selective instances, we're aware of things that are out there. We're encouraging people to give us letters that indicate what they're thinking about as a way of starting to evaluate how to move some of these properties. We're trying to do it in a strategic way.
So in terms of the proactive approach, we're primarily depending on the Waterfront Corporation?
It is being filtered through the Waterfront Corporation, that's correct, but as I said, because of my position on both their Board but, more importantly, on the Planning Committee and the need to integrate this with the efforts of both Planning and Commerce, I am personally a very active participant in this entire master plan. 153 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Okay. And I must tell you -- and thank you for those responses -- I'm a little concerned, because having been there for probably more years than some people would have wished, I've seen situations where sometimes a plan doesn't necessarily meet the reality of today's world and today's market and particularly from a private sector, and that in some instances actually impedes our ability to have a very aggressive development approach. So I would ask that we not lean too heavily on the Penn Praxis plan, because that plan was more of a conceptual nature about what we'd like to see, although it was significant participation from the community. The reality is that we need to be in a position to create jobs whenever there's an opportunity, and if we have to be somewhat flexible in our plan, we need to be in a position to do that given today's economy. 154 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
I appreciate your saying that, and I think you know from working with me and I think it's a particular benefit that I have of sort of seeing both the planning side and the implementation side, we are very, very interested in making things happen. But I appreciate your comments. I think they're correct.
Okay. The Foxwood Casino, my understanding is that we have built the revenue on the Foxwood Casino in the out years, maybe Year 13, 12 or 13?
Given the uncertainty of it now, one, from a revenue side -- and I guess I should ask Mr. Agostini.
Mr. Agostini is behind the pole over there. 155 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
All right. And he actually doesn't have to respond. I guess my concern is, as we all are concerned, not necessarily about the location, but the thought that in Harrisburg there's actually an attempt -- but I don't know what the status is -- to actually move the awarding of the license to the City of Philadelphia to another location within the State. If that were to happen, the worst-case scenario, depending on how you feel about casinos, is that we will lose that opportunity for the revenue, and maybe the best-case scenario, that it still happens in whatever location, but it happens in a much later date; therefore, affecting our out years' projections on revenue. My question is, what level is the City involved, both your department and I guess from the budget perspective, in ensuring, one, that we don't lose the 156 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. license to the City of Philadelphia and, two, facilitating -- and I understand the limits as relates to the Gaming Reform Commission and the fact that it's a Harrisburg-driven process. What level of involvement do we have to ensure that we don't lose that potential revenue source?
Well, first let me say that we don't want to lose the potential revenue source. We think that's important to the City, both from the perspective of revenues but also from the perspective of a very significant number of jobs. As you know, the SugarHouse Casino I think is now because of table games is up to projecting 700 jobs. Presumably the second one is equivalent to that, if not better. So that's a serious job count. We don't want to lose it. And as you point out, we are somewhat at the mercy of the State Gaming Control Board. Right now we need to let that 157 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. process play out, which is going to play out in probably ten days' time. We're going to have a sense from them about where they think they're going with this thing. Once we have that sense -- so we may after their process, we may find out that Foxwoods' investors are given another chance at finding somebody else and that this is still based where it is based. And we've indicated both to the Gaming Board and to Foxwood investors that we are ready to work with them any time. We've been doing that for a year and a half, and we meet actually as a kind of interagency working group weekly on this subject. We still meet weekly even when nothing is happening to make sure that we are on top of all the issues that are out there. As to the budget implications, this is your chance, because I can't answer for this one. (Witness approached witness 158 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. table.)
Well, I'll answer for you if you like, but you may not like what I say.
Councilman, as you know, in the out years, starting in 2012, we start to realize or at least we anticipate realizing the revenue from both of the facilities. If either of those are delayed, particularly the one that you've been describing here, then we'll have to reassess where we are with the revenue streams. We anticipated that one of them would open a little sooner than had been projected in the prior two Five Year Plans that this Administration has presented to Council, which is why we have a $4 million number in 2011, but, 159 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. again, if there are alterations in that in 2012, we'll have some changes we'll have to make and have to consider. But given the information we have now and the uncertainty surrounding, it's really hard to determine exactly what to estimate what to put into the budget.
And to be more specific in terms of our efforts to ensure that we don't lose the opportunity, what exactly are we doing from a lobbying perspective?
Not a lot of love up there in Harrisburg for Philadelphia.
Well, that's true. At this very moment, all we are doing is waiting to see what the Gaming -- which direction the Gaming Control Board thinks it's taking.
This is in 160 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. ten days?
Yeah. It's probably ten days away that we'll have some indication. They've given us no 6 indication thus far or even hints of how this might go, and as you know, I mean, as of, what was it, a week and a half ago, we were totally convinced with visits by Mr. Wynn that he was quite enthusiastic, excited and appeared to us to be ready to move. That's where we were ten days ago. Now we have to see what they're going to do. I think once we see that and understand how they think this process is moving forward, I would expect us to develop a plan that I can talk more sensibly about with you. Right now it's just not out there, because it's speculation against the unknown.
Okay. Thank you on that one. Let me get another question in. Actually, Mr. Agostini, thank 161 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. you. With respect to the Commerce Director's role, and I know depending on the Administration, the role changes to a degree. Just generally the structure and the flow of the government changes depending on the Administration, but one of the things that I have a little concern about, because at the end of the day the Commerce Director should be ultimately primarily focused on creating jobs regardless of where they are, and as you know, the City has been very dependent on the construction trade in past years and actually for a long time based on the -- during the housing boom the fact that we were getting substantial revenues from the transfer tax, that's basically what kept us alive, which obviously we're now suffering as a result of the inability to collect that in an aggressive level. What level of involvement does Commerce have with the side of the 162 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. government, if there is such a side, that focuses on the construction of residential units, both subsidized, non-subsidized, partially subsidized, getting a handle on the market to ensure that we as aggressively as possible, if the banks are finally forced to put money on the street as a result of the federal government's attempt to both legally and legislatively change that whole nature of the financial market?
There's probably two parts in answer. One, obviously, as you know, there are housing agencies in the City, multiple housing agencies, both OHCD, Philadelphia Housing Authority and, to an extent, the Redevelopment Authority, and at least on the affordable housing side and the moving of land to make that possible, those are the agencies that take the lead. They coordinate with Commerce, but they don't -- we don't run their agencies. 163 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. However, on the other side, there are people who want to build --
Because I think that those agencies -- and they do a good job. Not to be critical of any one or any worker in those agencies. They tend to be more responsive to NOFAs, notices of the funding opportunities, as opposed to proactively coming up with strategies to increase the amount of revenue, whereas Commerce and Planning tend to be more --
-- aggressive as it relates to plans and possibilities, and that's why I'm trying to get a sense of the interaction between those agencies.
I think you've characterized that correctly. We 164 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. often wind up dealing with the very same subject, whether it's a project or an initiative, but you're right. This is not exclusively the case, because people are capable of thinking more than one thing, but they are generally focused on getting the housing done, getting the land reckoned with. Our focus is more on, in a certain sense, at least in Commerce, getting the business activity generated. So, for example, there's a project that we are on the verge of making happen, a pretty substantial residential development in the center of the City. It would be the first speculative development since the recession began. We're down to, we hope, crossing T's here. That's something that has been very much an engagement for both me as Planning side, because they had entitlement issues to deal with, but also as Commerce side and getting a deal done so that we can make this thing happen. 165 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. And we involve ourselves with those kind of projects all the time, specifically from the perspective of, in the case of development, make development happen, make the construction jobs, make the permanent jobs that go with it. And that's very much a focus of Commerce.
Who within your shop has that responsibility of overseeing that operation?
That is led by our Senior Deputy Director Duane Bumb, who is right there.
You know him. I thought so. What was the last comment? I missed it.
There was too much laughter. I didn't hear it. 166 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Marginally, and we can talk further, but there are a number of other members, so I'll defer to them at this time. Councilman Green.
Good to see you all. I certainly enjoyed working with you and your leadership on the Zoning Code Commission. That's been a great way to get to see you in action, building consensus and other things, and I want to thank you for your work there and for stepping up to the plate. I do want to ask you about that.
As you probably know, there's in the Commerce Department's budget a 185,000 per year Deputy Mayor for Economic Development position. And your salary -- I can't remember exactly what it is.
130, 140, 150. It's not that. And you're doing both jobs.
So we're getting this terrific bargain now. Why would we change that?
Hey, listen, you can give me more money. It would be okay.
How about we just give you half of what the other 168 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. position is and eliminate it.
Well -- I'm going to let you ask a question, or did you ask a question there? It was put there -- the story behind it is that back last summer when we were in the worst of the budget crisis and I had been just appointed as Acting Deputy Mayor, we also had an Acting Director of OEO. We had a choice. We could either choose to save that money as a matter of FY10 or we could lay off a bunch of people who were actually doing things. So we chose not to lay them off. We chose to keep those staff because we want to keep doing the work. However, it's shown as a restored budget, first of all, because now we've hired Angela, and so part of the money was needed for that. And the placeholder for a Deputy Mayor I think is appropriate because it gives the Mayor the opportunity to think through what he wants to do long term with this. 169 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Okay. So every department I've been going through vacancies. So in Economic Development Division, Section 36, , there was an unfilled accountant position as of November. Has that position been filled?
Good afternoon, Council. My name is Folasade Olanipekun-Lewis. Currently that accounting position is indeed vacant and the responsibilities are being shared amongst the current staff, three staff to be specific, the head accountant for our 170 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. department, a Fiscal Analyst, as well as our Information Specialist who supports OEO. We're doing that currently with the hopes to fill that position. They're taking on the added responsibilities to make sure that we comply with all of the citywide procedures to make sure that we carry through our fiscal responsibility.
We are. We are by having those three staff people carry out those duties, but it is not their responsibility at this point.
For one of my staff it is. The other two, not so much.
Is there overtime that we're paying associated with this?
We don't pay overtime and there's none reflected 171 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. in our department, but this specific staff person is clearly overwhelmed.
So if we were to reduce funding to the department by the amount of that position, you would still be able to get the job done?
We would, but I'd probably burn out that particular staff person.
Okay. There's also an $85,000 per year Industrial Development Manager position.
172 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Councilman Green, one of the things --
One of the things that -- Commerce is a very unique department in that not only do we have multiple funding sources, we have staff that sit in different areas within the City, and for purposes of transparency in this Fiscal Year FY11 budget, we wanted to demonstrate exactly who the staff are and where they -- and their funding source. So what you're seeing in this particular budget is the staff person reflected in this department. Last year -- rather, in this current year's fiscal year budget, you would see a lump sum amount that's a transfer from the MDO's Office. In this proposed FY11 budget, there are no 22 transfers from the MDO's budget. We're reflecting the true staffing costs and the staff positions. So what you're seeing is -- 173 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Okay. So have you reduced the MDO's budget by this amount?
No, sir. We make a payment to the MDO to fund these staff.
Okay. Just out of curiosity, what does that position do?
Well, he's involved with our industrial -- he's involved in our real estate services initiatives group. So he works in our industrial areas.
Okay. I think that's all I have with respect to 174 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. positions. I want to pick up on a line of questioning that Councilman Clarke started, and this leads to a discussion we had several weeks ago in my office, which is how many people in the department -- obviously Mr. Greenberger who is wearing hats doesn't have a lot 9 of time for this. How many people other 10 than Mr. Bumb and Ms. Randall are focused 11 on job creation through getting deals 12 done, attracting businesses to the City? 13 What kind of external outreach are we 14 even capable of doing with the staff we 15 have?
The ones you mentioned are the primary ones. However, there's another piece that we didn't talk about when we met a few weeks ago, and that is through the Office of Business Services. I mean, if you want to -- if we want to think about job creation, we're thinking about several things. We're thinking about attracting businesses to Philadelphia, which is 175 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. arguably the high profile, that's kind of the good sexy stuff, happens probably the least in a certain way. The second one is to retain businesses that are here, and that's probably the least interesting in some way, but is probably the most --
But is probably the most powerful engine -- interesting in the sense of profile, but I think is probably the most powerful engine we have. And that's not only done through that side, the folks you mention, but that also happens through our Office of Business Services and the people that we have out in contact with businesses throughout the neighborhoods.
So back to one of Councilman Clarke's questions. With respect to that office, how proactive is it compared to reactive?
In the Office of Business Services we have six individuals 176 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. there that are aligned around the City, each with a respective geography. They're engaged with working with the business associations, the chambers, all of those -- community development corporations there in the communities, along the commercial corridors.
How do they identify businesses that you're trying to save or prevent from moving out of the City or keep interested in making investment here?
As they understand their geographies, for lack of a better description, their territories, they understand the businesses that are there. They're interacting with them. Those businesses are telling them, Hey, I'm trying to move. So through that --
No. We go to them. We go out there, we walk the corridors, we get involved with the chambers, we get 177 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. involved with the business associations.
I'm talking about serious -- I understand on commercial corridors there's businesses that you can easily identify, but what about manufacturing facilities, which are still percent of our economy? Is 9 there a schedule, a requirement that 10 these people meet with a certain number 11 of businesses of this kind of type, of 12 this kind of revenue stream every month and enter that data into a database?
I won't say it's a schedule, but that's what they're being held accountable to.
Do you know 178 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. how many businesses in the City of Philadelphia have total taxes paid to the City of above $500,000?
It's 11,000. Above a million dollars taxes paid to the City, do you know how many?
It's about 6,000. So you've got 6,000 businesses who are our highest taxpayers. Above five million you're only looking at 2,000 businesses. What are we doing to specifically make sure that those businesses, the ones where we get most of our revenue, are happy with us? What specific plan is in place? Is there one?
Well, okay. So what I'd like to see is a written plan to do that. I'd be happy to sit down and help you with it, because I think --
-- we can clearly target people through direct mail, through other things, because we know who pays a lot of taxes and we know who have paying points.
One of the things, if I could point out, that the Mayor has done -- and I've gone on several of these visits with him -- is to take some of those at that very top of that food chain and on a regular basis, meaning at least once yearly, go out and talk to them, talk to their CEOs, find out how things are going.
I understand, but I want to know what the 180 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. six people who are on the ground every day are doing.
That's fine, yeah. And just to -- I don't know whether this clarifies it or confuses it, but I'll offer it up anyway. The tendency is that the larger operations, particularly the ones that either need to grow or are making noises about where they intend to locate or relocate, tend to come in through Duane Bumb's side of the Commerce Department. That's where we really actively want to pursue them on a very individual basis. They are also the businesses -- I know you know this, but --
Yeah, and they are -- it is reactive, that's right, but they do come to us, because inevitably they are also businesses that are looking for some level of assistance. COUNCILMAN Green: I 181 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. understand.
But we don't have a proactive plan to deal with this that I can see, and I really think it's job retention -- a job we already have is far easier to save than a job we need to create.
That's right. And fortunately, speaking as somebody who ran a business for years in the City, 14 didn't really need the City very much and 15 most businesses don't need the City's 16 assistance, but then there comes the 17 moment when either you could have used 18 something -- I can now from this 19 position, I now see that there were at 20 least two instances in those 22 years 21 when actually the City could have been 22 helpful. Didn't know.
And this is where Office of Business Services is 182 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. critical to start getting the word out there. My business is, I guess, characterized as a mid-sized business, 20-something people. The other part of it, though, that I want to bring up -- and I'm happy to work with you on this --
Are two people sufficient to be reactive to all the demands we get?
With the help that we get part time from people like me and others, the answer so far has been yes. But if you're asking the question will more generate more, the answer to that might also be yes. There are certain things, for instance, that I would like to see us do that we don't have resources to do, and I think I may have mentioned this to you when I met with you that time. We should be doing more trade missions.
If they'll save or create jobs, then let's put 183 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. together a business plan and do it.
There's also if I -- what I wanted to also add is that there is a very big side to businesses and why they stay in a place that are outside the pure business models, and they have to do with quality of life, they have to do with public safety, all those things.
Yup. I agree. Okay. Well, I look forward to continuing that conversation.
I have two quick points to make. In 2008, I brought the then-Commerce Director, who was unaware, an idea from a successful real estate person in the City of Philadelphia who is a former marine and --
I know what you're asking about. We're working on that one.
But you cited that as one of the proactive things 184 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. and that walked in the door and has been a project that's been trying to get done for some time. In fact, they had all the engineering drawings done for Pier, I think it's, under the bridge and were 7 willing to pay to redo that pier, to have 8 open park space and to put the project 9 there, and it seemed like the left hand 10 didn't know what the right hand was doing 11 when we said we were just going to make that parkland and we were going to spend $2 million of the City's money rather than have a private sector -- I know it was grant money, but we could have used the grant money elsewhere -- rather than having some other not-for-profit put that there. Is there any thought or ability to shift that grant funding to elsewhere on the riverfront and allow them to go to that site that they originally wanted?
No. I think we're committed to developing Pier 11, or Race Street Pier, as we had proposed, but 185 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. I know who you're talking about and we are actively engaged with them in a conversation about another property --
It's a property that we identified for them that's empty at the moment and you could literally put another building right inside it, I believe.
It's a really good idea. We're real interested in it and we're talking to them.
Okay. And the other thing is just the companies that you mentioned that were the top three to Councilman Jones, can you tell me how long they've been City contractors?
I will certainly look that up for you and I'll be happy to provide that, along with the 186 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. list of other companies.
You just cited them sort of as success stories and I wondered whether they were MBEC success stories or OEO success stories.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez.
Thank you. I'm going to be brief, but I wanted to follow the line of questioning of Councilman Clarke, as it was a conversation that we had. How do we create gateway opportunities for Allegheny and Lehigh, as I've tried to say, for business opportunities that lead up to the casinos? And I guess the ask is going to 187 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. be -- because last week I had a meeting with different developers who called 4 me to the table and said, We're doing a 5 lot of investment in and around the 6 corridor, in and around -- many of them 7 own a lot of the tract of land leading up 8 on Lehigh and Allegheny, and one of the 9 things that they asked me was the ability 10 to get in front of Commerce, RDA and 11 others so that you could see the private 12 stuff that they were doing and how you could build that into a plan. So going back to Councilman Clarke's point, I think we need to be a little bit more proactive on some of these. And obviously I'll set it up, but I think that there is a lot of people that are already investing in those areas, doing a lot of mixed development stuff, and I think we need the Planning Commission in particular, but Commerce as it relates to job creation and commercial opportunities needs to create some forms for some of these folks, because I think 188 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. part of what we'll see is, they're going to do this investment anyway. The issue is how do we get some skin in the game by facilitating some of that and then shaping it so that it meets some of the other plans. So I think there are a lot of great people out there, and I am going to schedule that, and I know you'll be gracious enough to sit through it, but I found some very interesting small guys who have been doing a lot of good stuff really just out of the radar.
We want to know. I mean, Councilmembers are part 17 of the extended business development plan, and so we're very interested in hearing about it.
Absolutely. And I think that if we could be a little bit more proactive and facilitate just like we do with anything, any developments that we feel are going to help us leverage that casino 189 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. development, we should be looking at that. And for me, that I'm on the other side of it, I've tried to encourage folks to look at Allegheny and Lehigh as gateways and what does that look like and what do we need to do to support that. So I'll follow up with that. I wanted to talk a little bit -- unlike the other departments, in your details you provide no distribution for your Hotel Tax and all of the different places where you do purchase of services, and I want to request that that be submitted to the Chair. We have $41 million in Hotel Tax. How does that get distributed? Who does it get distributed to? In your Neighborhood Services Division, 4.1 million. In Commerce there's 17 million and then 10 million, and even our purchase of services to PIDC. I think it's important. I think that helps us capture the type of work that you're doing and with who you're doing it and -- 190 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
I'd be happy to provide that. I should point out that the Hotel Tax is a pure passthrough. We're simply a financial agent to pass money through to other organizations.
In the budget detail it says "entities." So my understanding it was always GPTMC, but on here you put "entities." So that says to me there might be somebody else that I'm unaware of that's getting some of the Hotel Tax number.
And then it would be an interesting exercise of all of those purchase of services that we're doing, who are we contracting and how do they fall into the scope of our MBE, WBE goals, because that's quite a bit of money. In your department alone, it's close to a hundred million dollars in passthrough.
So on 191 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the one hand, you say you don't have a lot of contracted services. On another you're a fiscal agent, so a hundred million dollars in purchasing powers. So I'd be interested to see how that plays out. And then on the business model perspective, how are we doing -- and I've asked this of other departments. How are we doing on our ability to get contracts out on a timely basis, conform them? I know that last year we were like on from a January 1st to a September. Are we going to be doing better this year? What is our expected --
We are doing better in terms of turning around our number of contracts. We have a much better handle on what we did last year this time. We clearly know where they are in the queue. We know who is accountable for what. And that's Sade's responsibility. She's done a wonderful, wonderful job there, and I can assure you that we're very much 192 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. moving those contracts forward.
So what's going to be our goal this year? Last year we were like on 90, 120 days. Where are we now?
I just think if we're going to set a business model and we're engaging in the business market, that we also practice some good business.
It's an important point and it's one of the kinds of things that deters a lot of firms from wanting to do business with the City.
Right. Absolutely. That's all. Thank you, Madam Chair.
193 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. I have one more OEO question, then I have two other Commerce Department questions, and this question is actually the most important. How often will we receive updates on the level of participation?
We are required to provide you with the third quarter year-to-date participation report by, I guess it's, June 1st. And so we will be providing you with that information. And we're working with the Finance Department and the Procurement Department, along with the Department of Technology, to see if we can't put systems in place that will enable us to get information in a more timely fashion that clearly reflects what's happening in terms of participation in contracts that 194 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. we execute for the City.
She said annually and we're going to try to, through the use of technology, make it more than annually, but she did not say quarterly.
I'm sorry, Councilman Goode. I think I need to clarify. What I was talking about was the third quarter report that I wanted to provide to you by June 1st. That does not mean that I'm only going to provide an annual report. We will be reporting on a quarterly basis and more frequently, if possible.
Okay. So we have a commitment for at least quarterly 195 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. reporting?
Through Council -- well, we'll have conversations with individual Councilmembers, but we would typically give that through Council leadership, is how we typically give reporting. We are open to any which way you want us to deliver that information.
Because you also said in previous testimony that you would post it on your website, Mr. Dow.
Absolutely. I mean, that's almost assumed for us in that regard.
Okay. Fine. 196 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Two other Commerce Department questions. Mr. Greenberger, can you provide an update on the market of the Job Creation Tax Credit for 2010, 2011 and how businesses are made aware the credit has increased to $3,000 for those two years?
Yeah. I can't give you the update on how it's gone. I actually don't know. I'd be happy to do the research and get back to you on that. As to the --
Just kindly send that in a written response through the Chair. Also add to that whether it's being marketed in conjunction with the Obama job tax credit, and if not, why. The second question is, can you provide an update on the marketing of the Small Business Loan Guarantee Program, how we're making businesses aware that we actually have a loan guarantee program.
One of the 197 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. ways -- and you tell me if I'm misinterpreting the question. A lot of the loan programs that were to small businesses happened originally through PCDC. That has now been folded into PIDC. They have another name for it. Eventually the PCDC name won't stick to it anymore, but --
Mr. Greenberger, there's a specific program, the Emerging Business Guarantee Program, which is a loan guarantee program that I pushed for. I'm specifically talking about that local loan guarantee program. Are people aware of it, how are we making people aware of it and how is it being marketed?
In all of our -- through the Office of Business Services primarily, but also through all the activities that we do in our Business Attraction Outreach Office, we include what we essentially call Tool Chest. These are the things that are available 198 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. to us. We have new marketing materials that list all -- not specifically, but where they access the financing opportunities, which includes that. New Business Portal, which we've just recently launched over the last few months, that also is a vehicle that we're now utilizing to drive people to the Internet in that regard. When PIDC goes out and does its individual outreach sessions, it's done a number of them particularly around the tax credit programs, tax amnesty.
I guess my question is for businesses that are truly hurting, still recovering from the economic recession, are there particular products that we should be highlighting, like an enhanced job creation tax credit, which only exists for two years, and a loan guarantee program, which in many cases may be the only way they can have access to capital and credit?
And whether there is any specific marketing plan for that loan guarantee program.
I would say not at this time there's no specific one for that marketing program. I would say what we have now is a general marketing direction that we do for all of our initiatives so that we could get everything out there, because we have a number of programs that offer opportunities and assistance for small business and it's inclusive of that.
But for businesses that might specifically require a loan guarantee, how many might be unaware not only because your general business information is not reaching them, but because they assume that there has never been a local loan guarantee program, that a local loan guarantee program would not exist?
And so -- you're absolutely right. So, I mean, what we 200 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. find that we have to do in order to achieve that is to educate a lot more. So working with our chambers, we tell them that we have this product when we sit and meet with them. We tell them that this is out there. Again, at this point, it would be remiss of me to say specifically about that program. We can begin to do that in the areas that we influence, particularly with the Office of Economic Opportunity, where we are now engaged in their world that much more often, in our outreach sessions there, begin to highlight those particular projects.
I could go through the exercise of saying how many people have applied for the loan guarantee, but instead of saying that, I just simply say that anyone who would be looking for a loan guarantee or the number of people who will be looking for a loan guarantee, if they were aware of it, they would jump at it. 201 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. I'll try and be brief, although I got a bunch of questions. Maybe we'll get you on callbacks. In the first -- I guess FY10, there were a number of references in terms of accomplishments, and I believe a significant number of them are overlaps from the prior Administration.
The $70 million in Small Business Support Program, what is that? Where is the 70 million coming from?
That's a combination 202 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. of a number of different programs that we support and we put through the Commerce Department. So you have the Retail Incentive Grant Program, Storefront Improvement Program. These are all -- the Restore Targeted Facade Programs that we have, gap financing, which is something that we created in this Administration, the Greenworks Program.
How much of that 70 million are new dollars and not reoccurring dollars that come from prior programs or prior opportunities?
I think most of that is new. I mean, when you say "reoccurring," we go and through our --
I'm saying reoccurring, I mean, is this new money identified from other sources or is it money that was out there that was given a different name?
No. I hear what you're saying. So the Facade Program, that's a program that's been around for a 203 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. while. The Targeted Neighborhood Corridor Management Technical Assistance, that's been around for a little while. But if you look at the gap financing, that's new.
One of my staff was just doing a quick summary. About 30 million of it is new money, new money.
For example, $13 million is a relatively new program, Recovery Zone Facility bonds. I think that was announced maybe two months ago.
Recovery Zone Facility bonds, that's a federal program. 204 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. It's federal money.
All right. How much of the 30 are stimulus-related dollars?
So this is stuff that came from the Obama Administration?
Somewhat formula driven. Different states and cities got money.
And of the commercial corridor dollars, I'm assuming that's pretty much dollars that were made available as a result of the commercial corridor bond?
A combination. So we have commercial corridor, we have the bond program, yes. We have the Commercial Corridor Managers Program, which is an annual basis where we reallocate --
Let me tell you where I'm going with this. And I understand if you come in the office, you got the money, you spend it, you take credit for it, because you want to take credit -- you want to take the blame for 206 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. stuff that happened from prior Administrations. I understand all of that. My concern is that, particularly as it relates to the commercial corridor bond financing, a number of -- and I can speak for my district, but my assumption is that it could be in other Council districts where there were varying degrees of funding and a lot of it had to do with planning of different stages, and when we were getting into that program, while we were laying out plans -- I take Fairmount Avenue as an example. We went through an extensive process with community participation and laying out a plan, but at the end of that, there's no 18 dollars to implement the plan. And my question is, as it relates to this Administration as we move to FY11 initiatives, I don't really see any money associated with most of the initiatives. Are we looking at -- and I understand we have a financial problem at this point, budget driven, but are we looking at 207 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. possibly coming up with some new initiatives that will actually put more real money, dollars, be it through a bond initiative or be it through some other sort of long-term substantial funding, to continue these programs? Because what happens, if you don't institutionalize a lot of these programs, when the new Administration comes in, that program goes away, but at the end of the day, there were a lot of things in place that people participated in and I got to now, based on what I see, tell the people on Fairmount Avenue and a couple of the other commercial corridors that, Well, we had a nice planning process, but there's really no money to implement what the plan called for. So my question is, from a policy perspective, is the Administration's -- I guess the Administration's proposal or strategy to ultimately look at an aggressive substantial dollars to implement either 208 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. these programs or new programs of a similar nature? And if Councilwoman Blackwell was here, she would ask you are we going to do an NTI 2. I mean, I know that's -- so that's the kind of thing. I mean, we've kind of gotten people used to being aggressive, and people love the new sidewalks and the businesspeople and lighting, but then it just stops. So I guess from a policy perspective, will you be recommending in out years --
Obviously to the extent that money can be made available. Yeah, you're looking over in the right direction as well, but he's not looking up.
I see the man over there. He zoned out of that conversation.
But do we want to do that? Absolutely. Obviously we're limited by our ability to go into the bond market and to get resources. But one of the things we have been fairly 209 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. successful at -- it doesn't answer the specific question about Fairmount Avenue.
Well, let me add to that, because in the Five Year Plan -- this is based on the current budget proposal -- I see that there is an aggressive push to go back to tax reduction programs. So I put that caveat in there also. You do project that you will have money in out years.
Right, and obviously the Five Year Plan, it is a PICA requirement, so we have to show what we're doing, but obviously the Plan every year has to be revisited and reconsidered based on how the economy is doing. What I wanted to say is, there are grants being gotten, and those aren't coming by formula. Some of those are coming by competitive process. I think I can say this, because it should have happened already. Nine o'clock this morning we were awarded -- the City of Philadelphia was awarded a $25 million 210 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Department of Energy grant through both the Mayor's Office of Sustainability and through my office, Deputy Mayor's Office, to really -- and it was a competitive grant offered, I think, to cities to 7 basically do both large- and small-scale 8 energy retrofits of buildings. 9 Now, my only point in saying 10 it, aside that it's good news, is that it 11 was a competitive process. 12
I 13 understand that, and that's the 14 traditional way where we respond to 15 NOFAs. 16
My question 18 is, are we going, "we" the City of 19 Philadelphia, going to aggressively go 20 out with a strategy to get money from 21 whatever source, if it requires borrowing 22 or some other creative financing tool, to 23 continue what you're saying was good 24 things as relates to commercial corridors 25 and other activity? 211 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
To the extent that we can -- and that guy over there needs to look up again, but it's obviously a function of what is the City's capacity to do that, which we don't control obviously. But do we want to do it? Absolutely we want to do it.
May I add, one key way that we could do that right now is through the Consolidated Plan and Community Development Block Grant funding. We allocate additional resources to the economic development side of the ledger there that will allow us to continue those programs like you've mentioned on Fairmount Avenue and Germantown Avenue.
All right. I'm not going to belabor it, because I know we have to go to break. That's -- and I don't mean to be critical, but that's a traditional style of thinking, a little here, a little there, and I guess I'm somewhat spoiled because we decided 212 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. to get aggressive on development in neighborhoods and we went out and as opposed to doing some other things, we said we're going to get real money for these neighborhoods, and that's the approach I would like to see us talk about, at a minimum talk about. If we're going to talk about it in an uptick in the economy, do we talk about continuing to invest in our communities? Because I believe that, one, obviously that's where people live. Two, I believe that's what really grows the City. Because if you look at the demographics associated with the people that are leaving the City, the people that are leaving the City live in these outlying neighborhoods. It's not an aggressive abandonment approach from the Center City areas. The population in Center City is actually increasing. So we're losing people out in these neighborhoods. So that's kind of where I'm going, if we continue the neighborhood 213 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. approach in terms of maintaining and enhancing our population base in the City of Philadelphia.
It's also why those neighborhoods I think need particular attention, because they -- I mean, the move -- you can track the movement patterns, and to the extent that -- for example, if you track the foreclosure patterns, you see it very clearly in the neighborhoods that people from the most inner part moved a little further out, bought bigger houses, got under, and that's where the foreclosures are in the City, by and large.
Exactly. That's the kind of direction. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Yes, Madam 214 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. President. Thank you. I was looking for more detailed testimony regarding PIDC and the work that they are doing down at the Naval Shipyard, particularly again around the MBE, WBE. So can we be given a brief update on the work going on down at the Naval Shipyard, please, from the leadership?
Yeah. If I can, let me get back to you on that. I don't have that at my fingertips, but I'll be happy to get you a report on that.
PIDC is here, if you would want them to respond.
I apologize. 215 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. I saw him walk out. I didn't see him walk back in.
That's fine. (Witness approached witness table.)
Good afternoon. Peter Longstreth, the President of Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation. I'm happy to be here. I'll give just a very quick summary of the sort of status of the Navy Yard and then maybe focus on the MBE, WBE experience at PIDC, which is largely at the Navy Yard. As I trust you're all recollecting, with the downsize in the military in the late '90s, the 1,000-acre Navy Yard and a number of other properties in South Philadelphia were conveyed to the City of Philadelphia, really technically to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development on 216 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. behalf of the City, and PIDC was given responsibility for essentially redeveloping those assets. As it related to the Navy Yard, our initial focus was on some of the industrial assets and the infrastructure. We developed a master plan that was rolled out about 2004 that envisions essentially as many as 30,000 new jobs, $2 or $3 billion of investment. And in the first ten years of ownership, in fact a hundred million dollars of investment in infrastructure has leveraged about $400 million of private investment, which includes 70 or 80 companies, about 7,000 employees and three specific areas of investment, one in the industrial side where the Aker Shipyard, the Navy itself, most recently Tastykake, are all very active in growing. On the office side, Liberty Property Trust developing its own corporate center there with, on the other side, renovation of many of the beautiful historic buildings by the likes of Urban 217 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Outfitters, which when they moved down there two years ago had 500 jobs. They now have about 1,100. And then finally a research and development sector development, which is being led in part by the Ben Franklin Technology Partners. So a whole lot of activity at the Navy Yard right now, and I'm pleased that I had the opportunity to comment on that. In terms of PIDC's MBE and WBE activity, I would sort of say that we've had a very useful and productive partnership with OEO and with MBEC before that and have been able to achieve some very satisfactory numbers. More specifically on the MBE side, about 18 percent during 2009 and on the WBE side, 19 about 14 percent. So they're really very 20 satisfactory numbers. Once again, the Navy Yard represents the majority of the contracting activity at PIDC.
Okay. Well, that's what I wanted to hear, the numbers, so that they're on the record, 218 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. and it suggests -- it's evidence that when the leadership pushes the needle, things happen. So I simply needed to have that on the record.
And I just would really emphasize that this is a partnership with OEO and everything we do is with their participation and their guidance, and I think that's been part of the recipe for success.
Lastly, speak to the -- update us on the Smart City, Smart Choice initiative.
It's the brochure that you're talking about? We worked with PIDC, a number of our different partners, through our Business Attraction Unit. We had never had a particular piece of marketing material for our own development, for our own that talked about specifically for Philadelphia. So through the partnership there, we created this brochure. It's very nice, very, very well descriptive of what the City of 219 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Philadelphia has to offer. We developed it initially as a business attraction piece and now use it as a business retention tool. So we have -- if you've seen it, we can put inserts inside of it. So we developed our own inserts that will allow us to talk about the various programs as we want to begin to market and increase the usage of those particular initiatives and products.
That's okay. We will make sure that every Councilmember gets a copy of this thing. It's really a very handsome document.
And I 220 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. don't recall reading this in the testimony. It's not to suggest it's not here. Do we now have a one-stop shop for a business where they can come to one place and from A to Z learn all the fees that are attached to that, et cetera, that move them to becoming a bona fide for-profit?
Absolutely. It's called the Office of Business Services. We have multiple channels for interaction, but definitely have that in place now. Multiple channels of interaction, which is the Portal. They can interact with us through the Internet. They can come through and ask questions that way. We also have a service line, which is directly related to businesses who want to talk to somebody live. We have that. We divide up the geography of the City of Philadelphia into six different areas. If you are in 19131 out in West Philadelphia and you look up there, you 221 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. call up, we would assign somebody who is assigned to that geography there.
Okay, then. Thank you all for your testimony. Thank you, Madam President.
Seeing none, thank you all so very much. You've been extremely patient.
Thank you. The Committee will stand in recess until 2:15, at which time we will then hear from the Office of Arts and Culture. Thank you very much. (Short luncheon recess.)
Good afternoon. The Committee of the Whole is 222 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. now back in session. We will now hear from the Office of Arts and Culture. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good afternoon, President Verna. Would you like me to read the testimony or try and summarize it?
I'm just getting a copy of it. I'd like to see how much of a book it is. No. I will give a copy of your testimony to the stenographer. It will be transcribed in full. If you would abbreviate your testimony, we'd appreciate it. Thank you. And I'm sure you were here earlier. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting and I thank you for your patience.
I understand. It's my job. I'm the Chief Cultural Officer, Gary Steuer, and Director of the Office 223 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, and I'm here today to present testimony on the Office and its proposed Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2011, and I'm joined by Deputy Cultural Officer Moira Baylson. The Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy adopted its own budget last year in Fiscal 2010 after consolidating programs and services from multiple departments. The mission of the Office is to improve access to the arts for both residents and visitors, expand arts education, oversee all the City's arts programs, support growth and development of the City's arts, culture and creative economy sector. Our FY10 accomplishments, I'd like to speak a bit to those. After being re-established in October 2008, the Office has successfully consolidated the Public Art Program, Art in City Hall, and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and 224 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. cultural development and creative economy efforts into one office. We're actually very near to completing an office renovation in Room 116 in City Hall, where all seven staff members would relocate, and this space would also house, in addition to our administrative offices, a brand new Art Gallery in City Hall, a public space that will serve both as an exhibition space and a space to highlight arts and culture events in the City, a true extension of what's happening here. Approximately $30,000 of private funding was secured to pay for the renovations of that space. So no 17 City money went to that. And we also look to keep it as green as possible.
I'm sorry. What room number did you say that was?
Room 116. It's where the Mayor's Action Center used to be, right on the first floor, on the same hallway as the Education Office. So 225 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. we're excited about that synergy with our education partners.
You're welcome. 9 million, 87 percent of the funding went out in the form of grants to the cultural sector. The Office's administrative costs, approximately half a million dollars, is essentially spent on personnel. Very few of the programs and initiatives operating out of the Office are funded with General Fund dollars. We are committed to leveraging the City's investment in the arts with other public and private sources. In Fiscal Year 2010, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund will distribute a little over $3 million to 238 Philadelphia cultural organizations, and as part of that, in partnership with the Office, a new grant program has been created in 2010 called the Youth 226 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Enrichment Program that will distribute $350,000 in grants to existing Cultural Fund recipients who have exemplary youth arts programs. This is essentially our attempt to help ensure that this program addresses the City's significant challenges with youth. The Office was involved with two American Recovery and Reinvestment Act initiatives in Fiscal Year 2010. With the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, we jointly applied for and received $250,000 in NEA Recovery funding for the retentions of jobs in the arts, and we distributed grants of $15,000 and $25,000 to ten diverse Philadelphia arts organizations. And through a partnership with the Office of Housing and Community Development and the Department of Commerce, we created a $500,000 grant program for the creative sector from the City's $14 million allocation of CDBG Recovery funds. In March, these Creative 227 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Industry Workforce grants ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 were awarded to eight creative businesses for the construction or renovation of affordable artist workspaces and multi-tenant spaces and performance space. These grants for capital improvements will stimulate temporary construction jobs, but the projects were also selected based on their capacity to create permanent jobs serving low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. And this exciting new program is actually already serving as a model for the use of CDBG funds for looking at the arts and how they can affect neighborhoods. On our Public Art Program, with the collection of over a thousand pieces, we commissioned new works of permanent public art through the City's Percent for Art ordinance, which was established in 1959 by this body and oversees preservation and maintenance of the City's public art collection. 228 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Currently, there are eight Percent for Art projects in various stages of development. These include site-specific paintings for the Philadelphia Youth Study Center in West Philadelphia and hand-carved polished granite seating elements for the Venice Island Recreation Center in Manayunk. And I want to note also that actually just installed today is the newly restored, stabilized and regilded 120-year-old Fairmount Park landmark the Joan of Arc statue at 25th Street and Kelly Drive. That will be actually dedicated tomorrow, and that was funded by City capital dollars and a grant from the French Heritage Society. We also actually in implementing the findings of a study that was recently completed on our Public Art Program and actually the City's entire public art system, we have launched new tours of the public art collection. That's a partnership with the Mural Arts 229 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Program, where we will be having tours that combine both murals and the City's public art collection. Now on to Art in City Hall. Since 1992, this program has presented exhibitions that showcase contemporary artwork by professional and emerging Philadelphia visual artists. These cover a wide array of mediums and techniques, and the program really strives to link visual artists to the larger community to provide the public with greater knowledge and appreciation of artistic achievements.
Emerging artists include art from Philadelphia public schools, community non-profits and other City agencies, and it actually includes an exhibition highlighting art from City of Philadelphia employees and their families. The program does about eight shows a year. It features many partnerships. One example is, last year Fairmount Park and Moore College of Art teamed up to present a juried exhibition 230 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. inspired by the five historic homes in Fairmount Park. And the Art in City Hall Program is supported by an independent Art Advisory Council, and support for the entire exhibition's budget for Art in City Hall is made up of private donations. For our FY11 initiatives, we anticipate the official opening of the Art Gallery in City Hall in late spring to be accompanied by announcement of six planned exhibitions for the new space. This summer the Office will issue a report funded by the William Penn Foundation on the health and vitality of the creative economy with a new tool called the Creative Vitality Index, known as CVI, and this is really a framework for looking at the health of the City's creative economy and will also allow us to track change over time, which is very, very important, so we can measure our results. We also plan to launch an 231 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. annual version of the Creative Industry Workforce Grant Program previously funded through the Recovery CDBG as part of the City's Consolidated Plan and will provide details of this program with our partners, OHCD and Commerce, at the Consolidated Plan hearing. This summer, the Art in City Hall Program with the Mural Arts Program will bring art by self-taught artists from SCI Graterford, the Philadelphia Prison System and ex-offenders to City Hall. This is something we're very excited about. And also planned for 2011 is a School District student exhibition. Also, I wanted to note that a Percent for Art project incorporating artist-designed streetscapes will occur on the Delaware Waterfront between 2nd Street and the new Race Street Pier Park as a way of connecting the City to this new park, which is a really important part of how we will draw people to the park. And also, Engine 38, a new fire 232 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. station planned for the Disston Park, and the Philadelphia Water Department's plan, 61st Street maintenance facility, will both feature green artwork and themes of environmental sustainability and ecological restoration. Some details on our FY11 budget. The budget includes administrative funds for salaries for five of the six full-time staff and one contracted staff, and while the majority of our funding remains static from last fiscal year, there are several changes. Funding in the amount of $80,000 for Avenue of the Arts has actually been redirected to the budget of the Department of Commerce. And it's important to note that mid-year 2010, we moved the $230,688 grant to the African American Museum internally from Class 200 to Class 500 to reflect more accurately the nature of this funding from a Class 200 fee for service to a Class 500 grant. Funding in the amount of 233 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. $28,000 for the administration of the Percent for Art Program was previously funded out of the City's Capital Budget as part of the City's Percent for Art requirements, but was added to Class 200 for Fiscal Year 2011. And to account for the opening of the new Office, some modest sums in Class 200 and 300 were added for services, materials and supplies for the Office. We had previously received supplies and services from the departments where employees were housed, which was Commerce, Public Property and the Mayor's Office. 2 million budget for the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and also level funding for the African American Museum.
On FY11 participation levels, the Office is committed to supporting the Administration's goal of percent 23 minority, women and disabled-owned 24 business participation in City 25 contracting. This is largely done or 234 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. exclusively done through the Percent for Art Program, which is funded from the City's Capital Budget, and we are committed to these goals. For projects currently underway and that occurred in the last three years -- and it's hard to peg them to specific years because the process covers often multiple years -- 75 percent are M/WBE firms, six out of eight projects. Additionally, OEO staff were represented at all stages of the Creative Industry Workforce Grant Program to ensure best and good-faith efforts to give our grantees the tools to achieve these goals. And moreover, in all of the Office's many non-contracting activities, including selecting juries and panels and our many grant-making activities, we are committed to meeting these goals. Should any Councilmember wish to engage in further discussion of any of these matters, my staff and I are happy to meet with Councilmembers and to answer questions now. 235 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Thank you very much. In your budget I see in Class 200 you have a decrease of $51,000. Can you elaborate on that, please?
Hi, Councilwoman. Moira Baylson. The decrease basically is a decrease of $80,000 from the Avenue of the Arts grant that transferred to Commerce, and then it includes an increase of $28,000 for the Percent for Art funds to equal 51 -- or 29. I'm sorry.
But the appropriation for the Avenue of the Arts has been transferred?
That's correct. It's represented in the Commerce Department's budget.
So it's still in the FY11 budget, but it's in the Commerce Department. After conversations with them and with Commerce, the decision was 236 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. collectively made by all of us that Commerce was a better fit for their funding.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you for the statement of the many accomplishments that have taken place under your leadership. I do have a few questions. On of your testimony, you state your office will release a report on the health and vitality of the creative economy. Please provide details on why you decided to take on the report and how do you expect to inform office activities going forward.
Sure. The reason 237 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. for taking this on was that in looking at the existing research, particularly the Portfolio study that has been done by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, it is a great tool and also some of the research done in past years by Innovation Philadelphia, it seemed to us that there was a gap. There was a whole array of activity that was really not being looked at. The Innovation Philadelphia study looked at, I think, an 11-county region and looked at things like biotech, and I was really looking at the specific arts-related creative industries, and the Portfolio study didn't really look at that. So there was, from my perspective, a kind of information gap. The Creative Vitality Index is an existing tool, so it gives us the opportunity to benchmark ourselves against other cities and regions around the country. It was developed by the Western States Arts Federation, which is 238 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. one of the NEA regional foundations, and the data is now being used or the process is now being used by many other communities all over the country. So it gives us the opportunity to get some data here. It's very cost effective, because the tool already exists. And we will be -- right now we have the raw data and we will be looking to sort of flesh that out with some additional case studies and additional research. We'll then be producing a report that will be disseminated widely to Council, to the field, and we will be having public meetings as well in order to talk about the implications of the results.
I would invite you to inform us at least of the public meetings so that those of us whose schedule permit might like to be there. Will there be a role for the Mayor's Arts and Cultural Advisory Council in that process?
Absolutely. And 239 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. they've been an active advisor to me and, in fact, we have formed recently a specific creative economy working group within the Mayor's Cultural Advisory Council that is guiding our efforts in this area.
Okay. You also discuss on of your testimony the official Art Gallery in City Hall, and you state that there will be branding and marketing initiatives. Talk about that more, and will you be working with the City Rep's Office on that branding and marketing initiative or no? And if not, then who?
Absolutely. We will be working with the City Rep's Office in terms of making sure that whatever work we do fits within the City's overall branding effort. We will be working with our Department of Technology on the website. A large part of that, frankly, is technology. The Office really doesn't have an appropriate 240 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. website at this point and we have been waiting for the branding effort to be completed and a lot of the infrastructure put in place for DOT to have the capacity to do our website. And so that infrastructure is in place now and we're working with their staff on the design of a new website. In this day and age, that's really a primary vehicle for how we get messages out about what we're doing. We also need the capacity, for example, to be able to have an e-newsletter and get information out that way.
So that's going to be part of that as well. So whatever look and feel we come up with for the website in keeping with the City's new brand, that will carry through into all other communications as well.
So one should assume by your testimony that that effort will all be happening in-house? 241 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Correct. We might make use of some donated services. We've had, because of all our work in the creative economy, we've had offers of donated services from web design companies, for example, and one of the things that we're looking at is could one of those firms work with the City staff at Department of Technology to make sure that it's in keeping with all the systems that are now in place, but will allow us perhaps to do something with a little extra flare, thanks to donated services.
Sure. Creatively, of course. What is the connection, relationship with the Philadelphia School District Art Department as it stands today and/or the Archdiocese and/or the charter schools?
Well, a lot of our work has been focused on obviously working with the Chief Education Officer, Lori Shorr, and her staff and partnering 242 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. with them. I've been on the advisory committee for this new effort called Arts Rising that is an attempt to work very closely with the School District to create a systemic solution to how we make the arts a part of the life of every young person, every child in this City. It's going to be a long-term process, but I'm very excited about that initiative and I'm putting my full support behind it. That involves the School District. It involves many members of the cultural sector, many leaders in the arts education sector, working with schools. Five middle schools have been chosen for the pilot phase. And so there will be five middle schools that will begin this program, and the idea is really to use those schools as a hub to work with the principals, the teachers in those schools, the School District, but then also the arts providers, the neighborhood-based arts organizations, 243 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. our large citywide arts education organizations, like the Art Museum, the Orchestra that have programs that can be brought into those communities, and then to begin to, in effect, roll that out both geographically to other communities as well as downward into lower grades and upward into upper grades. So it's a process that's actually based on a very successful model from Dallas called Big Thought, and we're basically looking to replicate that here. Some of the other things that we're looking at are using this new gallery space and through Art in City Hall as a way of -- you may be very familiar with the School District's Big Show, the exhibit that they do, and what I'd love to see is to have a process whereby we can select the best work from that show and then exhibit it in City Hall to really highlight the extraordinary work that's being done by the School District. 244 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. I'm also involved in an effort with PAFFA to work with the Convention Center to ensure that there is a program for the Convention Center that highlights the work of our great School District artists actually in the Convention Center in an ongoing way, so that it would be rotating exhibits, perhaps more semi-permanent exhibits as well. Those are just a few examples.
Excuse me. Are the parochial schools also included?
The idea with the Arts Rising Program is to -- it was starting with the School District, but the idea is to eventually expand it to include all children in those schools as well and actually eventually to expand the program to become regional and go out into the counties.
To eventually -- 245 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. and this probably won't happen for many years, but the vision is to eventually take this model and ensure that it's adopted in the surrounding counties as well. So it's not just the City of Philadelphia, but also out into the surrounding counties.
I don't know off the top of my head, but we can get you that information.
I am very familiar with Arts Rising and have read about the model and look forward to that being replicated citywide, recognizing it is a process, and I was actually headed 246 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. towards exactly where you ended up, and, that is, using the works of young people in our schools, with the Art Gallery being another showcase opportunity. And to hear that you're now looking at the Convention Center is huge, because they have a huge inventory of art that we know doesn't get the long exhibit life we would like it to have. So keep us posted on the Convention Center opportunity.
your testimony, for the record, further explain the reason for moving the African American Museum from Class 200 to Class 500. And by way of full disclosure, I am on that Board.
Sure. Class 500 actually facilitates getting their funds a bit faster. We had some challenges with them this year because they had some serious cash flow issues and partly as a result of the budget challenges and the delay from Harrisburg and having the 247 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. resources that we needed. There was a freeze, and it was considered a contract fee for service. So the payment to them was frozen as part of that process and we couldn't get them their money, which was a real challenge for them. And, in effect, what we are doing is giving them a grant. So we felt, after discussion with Budget, that it made more sense to have them in Class 500 rather than Class 200 so that they will be -- their funds would be provided to them as a grant as opposed to a fee for service, which is a more complex process that requires approval of the contract and identifying what services the City is getting for the fee that we're paying. And since historically, from looking at it, what we're doing is really giving them a grant as a City-owned institution for the good work that they do in total, that seemed to be a more appropriate way, which also helps us get the money to them faster, which helps them as well. 248 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Thank you. Are there any further questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
And I look forward to your sending me that information, please.
We will now hear from Community College. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good afternoon. We thank you for your courtesy and your patience. I would ask 249 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. at this time for you to identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony. We have a copy of your written testimony. If you would like to abbreviate it, we will give a copy of the testimony to the stenographer and it will be transcribed in full. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm Steve Curtis, President of the Community College of Philadelphia. I'm not going to read the testimony, but we'd like to have a few remarks from our Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees, Varsovia Fernandez. I'll make a few summary remarks about the testimony, and then we brought two students with us to make very brief comments today as well.
Good afternoon, President Verna and members of City Council. It is truly a pleasure to be here in front of you. My name is 250 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Varsovia Fernandez and I am Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees for Community College of Philadelphia. With me today are Board members Lydia Hernandez and Sallie Glickman. We are all members of a 15-member Board and we're all appointed by the Mayor of the City. My Board colleagues and I are civic and business leaders who represent a cross section of Philadelphia. Each of us gives our time because we recognize the importance of Community College of Philadelphia, which provides affordable access and quality education for many residents who might otherwise be unable to earn a college degree or even consider continuing their education. The Board of Trustees thanks Mayor Nutter and City Council for their continued support of our students, faculty members, administrators and staff. During these turbulent economic times, the City's support is especially important if we are to continue to help 251 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the growing number of workers who need new skills to remain employable and the many students who seek to transfer from the college to many other universities and colleges. Despite our budget challenges, we have made quality education and student-centered services our top priority, but much of our future hinges on what is done during this critical budgetary period. We ask that you consider the growing demand for our programs and the City's critical need for a more educated workforce. The City's financial support is vital if we are to continue successfully meeting our students' educational needs and the demands of the City for education. Thank you again for your support.
Again, Steve 252 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Curtis, President of Community College. Thank you, President Verna and City Council, for this opportunity. I will not read the submitted remarks, but I will summarize and say there are basically three points in our written testimony. The first, we are supporting the Mayor's recommendation for the 2010-2011 budget. He has recommended a flat allocation, the same allocation in the coming year as in the present budget year. We are supporting that. We understand the situation in which the City finds itself. We have appreciated the consistent support of City Council, of the Mayor in these and previous times. We are certainly asking you to keep that amount whole in the coming budget for reasons that are the second thing in my written testimony, which is that in these particularly tough economic times, when we believe the residents of our City need the programs and services that we offer the very most, we have 253 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. tried to maintain and in fact expand what we do for the residents of the City, and we've given a number of examples in the written testimony. There are many more beyond that. One example is that while in ordinary tough economic times we expect our enrollments to increase, in these times, the enrollments are going through the roof, as you probably know or expect. The number we quote in the written testimony both this past fall and in the current spring semester are credit students, which is the bulk of our students, degree-seeking students. The enrollments rose by 12 percent over a year ago. That's a little less than 2,000 more students right now than we had a year ago. And we're absorbing them. There was no new money from the State this year, no new money from the City. So we're absorbing that into our infrastructure. Unlike some states, particularly on the West Coast or 254 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Florida, some in the South, we are not turning students away. There are states where the public support is so dire that in fact the public university and community college systems are basically closing the doors. We've made sure that we're not doing that now. That's one thing I think needs telling. We do believe that we must help the residents of this City in these tough times. A second example we give is around retention and movement toward the Mayor's goal of doubling the number of residents in the City who hold a college degree. We undertake many retention efforts. I won't take the time now to go through them all, but we have benchmarks that we've set for ourselves over five years where our goal is to increase the number of graduates by at least a third. And, again, I think we quote in the written testimony that in year one of that five-year period -- that's last summer when we hit our graduation 255 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. point -- we were up percent. I don't know that we'll do 12 percent every year, but over that five-year period, if we can get up by a full third and keep it up, we believe we're moving toward the goal that the Mayor has set. We've tried to take full advantage of programs that are particularly relevant to the current state of unemployment, lost jobs, et cetera, that exist in the City. An example that we have spoken to you about over time is our program for displaced workers. We call it Opportunity Now. For almost a decade now, we have offered any Philadelphia resident who is laid off from full-time employment and can document that with a letter from the company, we offer one tuition-free semester. The student still has to buy books, pay some fees, but there is no 23 tuition charge. We have no pot of money for this. We think it's the right thing to do. 256 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
I point that out because in, I think, as recently as a year ago, the number of people per semester that were taking advantage of that was in the two digits, but by this year, we were up to over 250. So, again, we're trying to make sure that things that we offer, programs and services, particularly as they relate to this economic environment, we're getting the word out and helping individuals in the City to take advantage of that. A word or two about some of the training opportunities as they relate to stimulus funding. Those are opportunities that we wanted to take advantage of, again, for Philadelphia and Philadelphians, and the two instances cited in the written document, one is a relatively small program affecting about 75 Philadelphians in three different areas - medical coding and billing, human services assistant, and network -- computer network specialist or 257 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. administrator, I guess it is. In each case, Philadelphians will be able to 4 get the training for free, get employment 5 in entry-level positions, but in every 6 case, that training comes with college 7 credit. So they can then use that 8 college credit and apply it toward a full 9 Associate Degree. 10 The other example we give, the 11 so-called Job Ready Training Program, 12 which is not yet kicked off. It's in the 13 planning stage now, now that we have 14 approval of the funding. 18 15 million program that focuses on 16 particular neighborhoods within the City 17 where the unemployment rate is among the 18 highest anywhere in the City, and the 19 goal there is to get 250 residents from 20 these neighborhoods into entry-level 21 positions in green manufacturing, 22 construction, weatherization. The 23 difference here, it's not meant to be a 24 citywide so that you're helping 25 individuals. It's also meant to help 258 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. communities, because it's focused on particular communities. There are many more examples, but I think we're just trying to suggest to you that in addition to what we ordinarily do, we're trying to be sensitive to what we believe the priorities are for the City right now and, in whatever way we can, help assist in addressing those priorities. The third and last point of the written testimony is a reminder, not so much for the coming year but for the years following, that 2010-2011 will be the second year in a row where there will be no additional dollars coming from the City, also the State. The Governor has recommended no increase as well. There is a limit to how many years we can do that. At this point, the City's support in terms of percentage of our operating budget is 17 percent. With no 24 increase -- and, again, we're supporting that for next year, but that means the 259 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. percentage will go even lower, or percent. So as the City stabilizes -- I have faith it will -- we will be looking for help from the City and the State, to be candid. It's not just the City's issue. But there will be a limit to how much enrollment we can continue to absorb. We're used to tightening our belt. We're going to be tightening again next year, but if we're going to maintain the kinds of services and programs with the results -- I mean, we don't want to just take students in. We want them to graduate. We want to increase those graduation numbers, et cetera -- then as we get past next year, it will be important to look at the level of support the City is providing. Those, I think, are the three main points of our document. And now to finish, I'd like you to hear briefly from two students, both of whom are balancing the challenges of raising children, 260 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
trying to improve their scholarship, achieve their academic, personal and career, goals, being very active in their communities, and we were very fortunate to have them as two of our stellar representatives in Harrisburg a week or two ago, because they received significant recognition, which they'll talk about, that has resulted in scholarships and other opportunities as well. So we'll begin. I guess we'll start to my left. I should mention both their names. I'll just let them go in order. Fraidel Phelps and Shameka Sawyer, and I'll ask them each to say just a brief word.
Before I begin describing my admiration for Community College of Philadelphia and the impact it has had on my life, I would like to 261 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. briefly introduce myself. My name is Fraidel Phelps. I am 34 years old and live with my husband and six young children in the Rhawnhurst section of Northeast Philadelphia. Two years ago, after my husband was laid off from his job, I made the difficult decision to return to college to pursue a degree in elementary education. Due to the difficult economic times we are facing, I felt that it was the right time to take this important step. However, it was not an easy decision to come to, specifically because of the difficulty today in making ends meet. What enabled me to return to school was the relatively low cost and convenient location of Community College of Philadelphia's Northeast Regional Center. Although location and cost were my original motivators in choosing the College, now that I have attended Community College, there are other aspects of the school that I've come to 262 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. admire. Specifically, I greatly appreciate the small class sizes and the many support services that CCP offers. Community College of Philadelphia faculty members really go out of their way to help their students succeed. In addition, there are many student activities and clubs available for students to participate in. I am grateful that I was invited into Community College of Philadelphia's Rho Upsilon Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society. It is through my involvement in Phi Theta Kappa that I became aware of the All-Pennsylvania, All-USA Scholarship and was fortunate enough to be nominated for the All Pennsylvania Academic Team, as well as to be awarded a $1,000 scholarship for being recognized as a Coca-Cola national finalist. Thanks to my placement to the All-Pennsylvania Team, I will be able to continue my studies at West Chester University of Pennsylvania on a 263 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. full-tuition scholarship. Because I grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Cornell Elementary School, Woodrow Wilson Junior High and Northeast High School, I wish to devote myself to the youth in this community. I aim to receive my Master's in Education and do my best to provide an excellent education to Philadelphia public school children.
Good afternoon. My name is Shameka Sawyer. I am 32 years old, a single mom of three children and I live in Mount Airy. I chose to attend Community College of Philadelphia because it is affordable, diverse and accessible. The teachers at the College are experts in their field of study, so I am able to receive a quality education at a fraction of the cost I would pay to attend a four-year university. As a single mom, I 264 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. would not have been able to afford to attend a university. Once I became a student at the College, I decided to get involved with student clubs and organizations on campus. I began my involvement by joining the Rho Upsilon Chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society as Vice-President of Service. I am now the Co-President of the Chapter. Being involved with Phi Theta Kappa enabled me to gain invaluable volunteer and leadership experience, which ultimately helped me to win several scholarships. As an All-USA Academic Team nominee, I received a full-tuition transfer scholarship to West Chester University of Pennsylvania. I also won the Coca-Cola Gold National Scholarship, which will help to pay for books and other college fees at West Chester University. The opportunities that I was able to take advantage of at Community College of Philadelphia will help me to 265 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. achieve my future goal of becoming a public relations professional and eventually opening my own public relations firm in Philadelphia. I feel that attending Community College of Philadelphia was the best decision I could have made for me and my family. This experience is leading me on the path to possibilities.
Thank you, Madam President. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, young ladies, for your testimony. It's encouraging to know the next generation of leadership is in the pipeline. I wish you well. 266 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Mr. President, let me thank you also for a number of the programs I see that are new in the pipeline there at Community. One of which I'm particularly excited about and want to hear more about is the program focused on African American men, the Center for Male Engagement. Is this the first year for that initiative?
It is. Over time we have tried what I would describe as many small efforts. By that I mean not necessarily engaging every male in the institution. We've had for some time an African American Men's Book Club. We've had other initiatives at the College, but I think for a while we have felt we need to do something at far greater scale. And the impetus for the Center for Male Engagement was the possibility of getting a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. We qualify as a predominantly black institution. So as you've correctly said, 267 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. this is our first year of actual implementation for the Center. The Center works with any male on campus, but by virtue of the parameters of the grant, we are also working with, as I think it says in here, a group of 300 first-time full-time African American male students. And we're changing some of the approaches that we've done in the past, including the hiring of full-time, what we call, coaches that are available to work with our male students during the course of the academic year.
So this is a program that is optional for currently enrolled college students?
It's available to any college student. It certainly focuses on males. We would not turn away women either, but we have 300 specifically that we have identified for purposes of the grant part of it that we're working with every -- I was going to say every day. That may not be 268 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. literally true, but on a regular basis all year long. I guess that's voluntary too, but it's a cohort that we're actually working with all through the year.
To improve the success rates of males, specifically African American and Latino males, but all males. Remember, our campus is not atypical of community college campuses these days. Two-thirds of our students are women, and within our demographic data, we know that particularly African American men and Latino men do not persist or graduate at the same rate, so we're trying to address that. We want a far more -- a sense of parity of outcomes across all groups. That's the goal.
Is there a, I believe it's called, reciprocal agreement with schools, like any one of the other 88 in the region, so that when 269 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. they complete Community College, they can persist to complete a Bachelor Degree?
Absolutely. We have that in place. We have more than 100 such agreements based on disciplines, you know, liberal arts, business, et cetera. We have nine agreements that we call dual-admission agreements that cover a range of programs. So there are many formal agreements that would support what you've just described.
Let me just mention for the record and commend you also on your attention to STEM programs, science, technology, engineering and math, and how in that area too some might -- American students, period but, in particular, students of color are not persisting in those careers in a way we would like.
Correct. Again, 270 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. we have a number of initiatives. I'll mention in a moment the new one that we have here. But we work with area universities in an alliance called the Alliance for Minority Participation. We are the two-year school working with Temple, Drexel, others to facilitate early experience for the two-year student around research, et cetera, and then to facilitate the transfer into the STEM programs that you've talked about at the baccalaureate level. We have another program called Bridges to the Baccalaureate, does very similar things. So there's a whole set, again, of fairly formal programs, many of which involve the relationship with the receiving institution, because it's not good enough just to get through the Associate Degree in this case. We also want many of them to get into the baccalaureate and beyond, exactly what you talked about. One of the newer tactics that 271 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. we've tried at the College is to take what we believe are some of the stronger areas of the College and to establish centers. Unlike a four-year university where a center is often research oriented, our centers are meant to build additional experiences for students, in some cases could be research oriented, additional connections to the community. That's often important for our programs and our students, and ultimately also to engage in professional development for professionals in those fields. So our latest center -- and that's the one that's noted here -- is the Center for Science and Engineering Education. We believe that we do have a strong set of science, math, technology, engineering programs. We want to encourage not only greater diversity, but larger numbers in general, I think, because those are career paths that are wonderful for our students. And, again, we have the tracks in place to facilitate their movement 272 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. onward.
Before I get to my second line of questioning, let me also acknowledge the University's commitment to move towards being green and how that is certainly consistent with the Mayor's citywide goal to grow a green city. So that needs to be acknowledged as well.
Let's move now to the business side of the equation and the operation of the institution. Please now give me composition of your Board in terms of cultural diversity.
Fifteen. I actually have to stop and kind of count. I guess -- somebody want to help me add this up?
I can help you 273 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. by first saying that we do have two Hispanics, and we're both here today. That's Lydia Hernandez and myself.
I'm sorry. This is Varsovia Fernandez. We have two Hispanics, Latinas, Lydia Hernandez, who is here today with us today, and myself, Varsovia Fernandez. We have --
I believe we have six women. We have Stacy Holland, Ellen Cunningham, Varsovia Fernandez, Lydia Hernandez, Sallie Glickman, Dorothy Sumners Rush. So that is six of us. I'm sorry. Rhonda Cohen.
It's about half the Board are women. 274 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
At least half the Board is of color and specifically African American. So you have Dorothy Sumners Rush. We have Jeremiah White. We have Jim Roebuck. We have Stacy Holland. Am I missing somebody?
We are. That's why I couldn't think fast enough to go through them.
-- in many ways looks like Philadelphia and the population that it serves?
What role does the Board play with regards to activities around MBE, WBE participation, 275 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. if any?
The Board has charged the College with pursuing that kind of goal in very specific ways. I'll give you a very tangible example. At least one of the documents that you received as part of the testimony outlines our current progress in major construction projects. This is new, something that wouldn't have been available to you last year, we began this year. And the Board saw the equal opportunity plan that the staff developed. This is prior to going out for any bids either for construction or for furnishings, whatever. Was apprised of the efforts, because the Board has asked to be aware of what we're doing in response to their charge. The outreach that we made to the various ethnic-based chambers of commerce, working with the City, working with GPUAC. I've probably left out others. Oh, we ran a minority vendors fair specifically in anticipation 276 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. of these major construction projects. We built in the opportunity language into the RFP. There's a whole set of things that were documented. The Board gave us the initial charge for that. The Board -- we report to the Board on a regular basis how we're doing, and the document -- specifically the page that refers to the construction projects -- is a set of indicators that we report on a regular basis to the Board. That one is not complete yet, because it's still in progress, but I think that's the answer to the question.
Talk to me more about the minority vendors fair. How does that happen?
We again worked with many of the same entities that I listed a couple of moments ago. For some of our minority vendors fairs, we also partner with other institutions, the City but also other educational institutions, so that there's a bigger pool of 277 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. potential --
Right. We do that at least every other year on a regular basis. As I say, in this case, knowing that we had a lot of construction dollars coming up, we held one specifically in anticipation of that.
I would ask that you please forward to the Chair future opportunities so that Councilmembers can be made aware of those vendor fairs as well and reach to or send to the network we try to keep in the pipeline of information.
If we can now look to the last page of your testimony, which talks about spending on capital purchases, professional services, supplies, services and other categories. And if you do a close analysis of this, it states that FY07 the total number of 278 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. non-minority women-owned is 14.93 percent. Accurate? And then FY07 it goes to percent and FY08, percent. 5 Additionally, it shows that total 6 minority-owned purchases were 3.4 percent 7 for minority-owned in '06; in FY07, 9 8 percent and in FY08, 6 percent. 9 What role, if any, does the 10 Board play in setting goals, if you will, 11 in these areas? Is there that type of 12 discussion at Board level on goals with 13 regards to MBE, WBE? 14
I don't think 15 there's a specific goal for these. There 16 were benchmarks for the construction 17 projects. We've, again, tried to work 18 with the City benchmarks on that. 19 The Board has made it clear, I 20 think, that these are areas where we need 21 to make progress. What I described to 22 you earlier about the outreach that we 23 make is the kind of outreach we make even 24 for these dollars. These are fewer 25 dollars than the big construction 279 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. projects.
Absolutely. That's why I say. So the outreach is the same. That's why I told you we do the minority vendor fair on a regular basis, not just when we have a big construction project coming up. So, again, we are working with the various chambers. We're working with many entities that we hope are going to spread the word, get people into our pipeline. At the end of the day, I will have to say to you that it is a bidding process and we are still bound to take the lowest responsible bid. Some of these, it may depend on the actual service or goods whether we have them in a given year. Sometimes once you get a contract, it doesn't come up again, in other words, for three or four years because it's a multi-year contract. And 280 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. you'll see even the spending potential changes. It's not always the same.
Indeed. Let me ask a question before I get to -- 17.1 percent is from the City of Community College budget. What does that equal in terms of hard dollars?
Okay. And so is it fair to say on your list showing capital purchases, professional services, supplies, services and other categories, that of the percent total MBE, WBE, 14 16 percent would be white women? 17
And in FY07, of the 29 percent total MBE, WBE, 20 percent would be white women and nine percent people of color?
And FY08, of the 32 percent, percent would be 25 white women and six percent people of 281 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. color?
Could you please provide to the Chair what you have here, capital purchases, professional services, supplies, services and other categories, and please break those numbers down into those categories. Because the continuing interest and really in many ways expectations for those of us here on City Council for those entities in the City that benefit from the receipt of City dollars, we really want to see more and more those agencies becoming in alignment with the Mayor's Strategic Plan around MBE, WBE, DBE opportunity. And if we look at this, for Blondell Reynolds Brown, it would raise some concern.
I understand. Again, I can only tell you that we absolutely have this as a goal. I would urge you, however, not to just separate this sheet out. The opportunities for a 282 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. few years now are far greater than this. That's why you also need to look at both sheets.
Dr. Curtis, by "both sheets," you mean the construction and --
It's obvious that you're not going to be doing construction every year --
-- into eternity. So at some point, construction ends and that is a limited opportunity. So in terms of non-construction contracting, I guess the issue is, what 283 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. is the specific policy that has been set in terms of business diversity?
And, again, I'll restate what I said before. There's a clear expectation that we need to grow that --
At the end of the day, who is responsible for business diversity at Community College?
May I just check on the policy question? First the policy question, I don't think there's a written policy. We have specific practices. As an example, for any bid, we will always try to source one or more minority vendors before we 284 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. would act on --
The question is, do you believe there should be a written policy?
Okay. The next question is, you said you were somewhat hampered by the requirement of accepting the lowest responsible bidder. Where does that requirement come from?
Are you aware that City government has the same requirement through the Home Rule Charter?
So lowest responsible bidder does not actually mean lowest bidder. It means lowest responsible bidder, and you can define what "responsible" is.
It does not 285 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. automatically mean the lowest bid, I agree.
I have to think -- we define up front, I think, what the expectations are in the RFP.
So, in other words, if you set business diversity goals within the RFP and the people who bid are not responsive to those goals within the RFP, then they are not a responsible bidder?
If you establish a written policy and are more aggressive and put those goals within the RFP, then once again you are not hampered by having to take the lowest bidder, but those bidders will know that you expect business diversity and they will, in order to be responsible, have to assure business diversity in their 286 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. subcontracting. Because at the end of the day, to suggest that less than 90 percent of contract dollars should go to businesses owned by people of color when you already defined within your testimony that you have received funding as a majority black institution, it doesn't make any sense unless you can prove the capacity is not there, and clearly the capacity is there to exceed single digits for businesses owned by people of color. So there needs to be a more aggressive approach and quite possibly a written policy, and I would charge the Board with that.
My only follow-up would be to state again that I would ask that the breakdown of these numbers are broken down by the categories stipulated at the top - capital purchases, professional services, 287 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. supplies, services and other categories. And if you would submit that to the Chair.
And what's reasonable in terms of us receiving that? 30 days, 60 days, what?
Thank you very much for your testimony. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know we're behind. First of all, good afternoon, everybody, and congratulations to the two students. 288 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. After seeing what you all have to juggle, I guess I can't complain I'm busy a lot. I don't know. Dr. Curtis, on the Job Ready Training Program, just a couple of quick questions. It sounds like a great program. The 250 residents, how are they selected? Do they apply?
Do you go through some of these other organizations?
Yes. Some of those organizations are going to help us with recruitment. The National Comprehensive Center for Fathers would be an example. But we're going to run every applicant through the Career Links in the City. As often as we can, we try to make connections with the City's infrastructure, and in this case, we think they can also help us on the other end. We have, as you'll see here, I 289 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. think, a number of employers that are part of this, because there are supposed to be jobs at the end of this, but we believe there are services that the Career Link can provide that will also be helpful. That was part of the answer to your question. It will all be run through the Career Link.
And that was going to be my next question. There are jobs hopefully available for these folks?
Because of the source of the funding, we had to up front identify potential employers, and I believe we had -- maybe I didn't say it here. We have 28 employers. That's where -- I'm looking at what we've got here. The Urban Industry Initiative and others are going to help us get to those employers.
Great. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. President Curtis, this is my third time hearing your testimony, and I just wanted to start out by saying that as I review your numbers, they are good. They are progressive. They are in the direction the needle should be moving. But as important as that, I wanted to thank you publicly for your institution's role in what -- I better knock on wood -- the recovery effort from this recession. You guys took a proactive stance on your tuition, on allowing people who had been adversely impacted by job loss to be able to have free tuition. You took on the idea of retooling people and uniquely -- I think "uniquely" is the word -- 291 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. positioned your institution to be the first rung on that recovery by way of an increased knowledge base and education. So on behalf of the body, I want to thank you and the institution.
Now, onto greater challenges and goals. One of the things that I think might be helpful is that as I believe my colleague Mr. Greenlee talked about is that the white collar end of Philadelphia's retooling is really strong. The green collar end of our retooling could use some work. The blue collar end of our retooling definitely could use an institution like yours. As we meet challenges of trying to get the unions to be able to participate more diversely in the workforce, I view your institution as a pivotal player in that regard, and also want to encourage you to kind of seek out 292 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. and think outside of the box, if you would, to position yourselves more clearly to do that, going from our high schools to your institution and to those union jobs, both green and blue. So I wanted to hear a little bit more articulation on that possibility.
Well, I'll give you some examples. On the green question, one of the things that we've done is to start adapting our various curricula, because it almost doesn't matter what area we're looking at. It's going to change because of the so-called green issue. So just in terms of our own internal workings, we're trying to make sure that the programs that we take our students through are going to leave them prepared for what you're describing. I was asked earlier about relationships that we have as students leave us to go for a baccalaureate, but we also have relationships with the high schools. For many of our applied 293 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. programs, we're creating more ladder opportunities. By that I mean instead of just going full blast for a two-year Associate Degree, we have recently introduced at least two dozen new short-term certificates, all with college credit, all in what I would classify as high-priority areas.
Sure. They range from allied health-related programs, to IT related, to culinary, to other technical programs. I think I mentioned three earlier - medical coding and billing, network administrator, and human services assistant, because human services is a big area in the City. And these shorter-term certificates mean you can stop and get a credential early in the game, in less than a year, so that at least you have some education and training that will help you with an entry-level job, and then you can apply 294 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. every one of those credits toward the fuller Associate Degree. For some students, that's going to be a help, and I also think helps with that continuum that you were describing of high school to our college and beyond. The definition of the high-priority programs is established by the State and our local Workforce Investment Board. So, again, these two dozen are aligned with the areas that they have identified. We want them to be in areas before they have the best chance on a --
By way of working with our City departments -- and I'm going to name two in particular. Well, one is a quasi. The Philadelphia Gas Works and the Philadelphia Water Department both have actually expressed a concern that their knowledge base is aging out of the workforce and that semi-skilled to skilled labor is something that they want to be 295 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. competitive with the private sector for. In so doing, you're not going to get your person that might have come out of Drexel, which is another fine institution, but you may be able to get a two-year turnaround at Community that would then put them at the price point for the City's salary that they pay, and I wanted to know if you're working with that. Particularly, the Water Department is getting ready to do thousands of what are called rain gardens, which are bio-retention basins. They take on masonry, plumbing and some botany, and I was wondering if there's been that connect to departments like that.
We've worked with the Water Department for years. It's one of the areas with which we've had the most success, I would say, in terms of City departments. Gas Works more recently. I would say the Gas Works example is not as comprehensive a one as I think you were trying to describe, but 296 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. we've been pleased that in the last year to year and a half, for the first time or the first time in a long time -- they may have done things before I came, I don't know -- we are building a relationship I think to do the kinds of things that you are describing. So in any given year, we're working with three or four or five departments in the City on a regular basis. We do reach out on a regular basis, but not every department always responds in the same way.
Well, we have in the Philadelphia school system -- and I believe I talked about this last year -- a number of trade schools that have aging infrastructure, not enough participation of skilled teachers that are in the shops, and I was wondering have you met with Dr. Ackerman to talk about that specific blue collar end with them and making that connect?
Not that specific 297 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. one. We focus whatever we do around those programs that we believe we can deliver, and we do not have every technical program. Specifically, we don't have all the trades that you're referring to. At this point in our history, to add those kinds of programs requires space that we don't always have, equipment that we don't always have, expertise that we don't always have. So they are -- if we were to add HVAC, as an example, that becomes so expensive it is difficult to do at this point, to be candid with you.
May I further that thought and offer this as a requesting challenge to all of us, to meet with Chairman Archie, Dr. Ackerman, also to look at our elected officials to look at exploring those opportunities by way of resources from the federal government, State government to match what you're doing to try to create that link, because I believe that what you 298 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. would be doing is saving lives. There are a lot of young men -- and I looked at the Water Department's personnel -- that I grew up with, and if you want to classically define Webster's definition of high risk, they were high risk, and what happened was through the CEDA program, a lot of them got their first opportunity at gainful employment, and it took them on a whole other life path. They're now contributing taxpayers. I'm still scared of most of them, but at least not for those reasons. And I want to encourage that replication, because I believe everyone is not bound for the white-collar, even green-collar world, but they can dig a ditch, solder a pipe with the best of them, and that is meaningful work and dignified work. So I'd like to facilitate a meeting to that end. And one other ask, as my colleague Blondell Reynolds Brown talks about, is that we did a wonderful MBE, 299 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. WBE outreach last year with the utility companies, Water Department, Gas Works. We want to do this year with eds and meds, educational institutions and medical facilities, to try to highlight contract opportunities both in professional services, supplies and also construction, and ask that your institution work with our offices to do that.
You're welcome, Councilman. Councilman Goode, you were on the list earlier. Did you have any additional questions?
All right. Thank you. Good afternoon. Real briefly, Doctor, is there -- currently you have a number of satellite colleges around the 300 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. City of Philadelphia. That's my understanding.
One at Broad and Godfrey, which is the old College of Optometry site, one up in the Far Northeast and one in West Philadelphia, 48th and Chestnut.
Don't worry, Doctor. I'm not going to ask you to put one in another location. I see the look on your face like, Oh, my God, here we go.
What I am going to ask you, though, would there be opportunities in the event that we have organizations that are involved in 301 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. educational opportunities for adults -- and I kind of know the answer to it, because one of my organizations has actually talked to you about some possibilities -- where there's some sort of adult educational component or job preparation component that's sponsored by the organization and may ask for assistance from the College in providing a professor or a teacher on an ongoing basis. Is that something that the College has gotten involved with or could potentially be involved with?
In addition to our four campuses, we are in at least 30 other sites across the City of Philadelphia. Some of those are high schools at night, some are community-based agencies, some are businesses. We're still out at the Airport at the UPS facility offering a degree program for UPS employees. So you'll find us in lots of scenarios similar to what you've just described. 302 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. So the general answer is, yes, we're always open to those discussions. I would add that there are criteria. We try to be sure, A, that there's a sufficient pool, whether it's literacy-based programs, which I think you were referencing a little bit, or credit courses, whatever it might be, to be candid, to make it worth providing professors for. Secondly, that we're sure of the quality that we can provide and the oversight that we can provide. So that I guess I'm trying to say to you, we don't say yes to everything, but obviously because I said we're in 30 different places, we do say yes and we do try to work with constituencies all over the City. If I may retreat at the end, though, to the last statement I made about my written testimony, all of that costs money, no matter whether we're collaborating or not. And we're being 303 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. careful. I'd rather do 30 things well and know that we're impacting in a very positive way as many of those 30 things as we can do rather than 40 things and not do them equally well, because we just don't have the resources. So we are being careful. It's not an automatic yes to everything. And I do mean what I said earlier at the end of my written testimony, there's a limit to how much we can do on some of these things without eventually some level of public support. And that's not just a City comment, that's a State comment as well. But in spirit, what you're asking I think we try to undertake at least semi-frequently.
Is there any established criteria associated with your involvement --
-- or is it 304 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. on a case-by-case basis?
Yeah, but I've tried to give you a couple of examples of things that are absolutely a normal part of the questions that we would ask and part of the criteria for decision-making.
We also look sometimes where it is. If it's near one of our regional centers, then why not use the regional center space. You see what I'm saying?
Right. Okay. I'm just -- well, you know where I'm going with it. We have some locations. We're actually trying to get aggressively involved in both GED programs and college preparatory types of courses, because we know our workforce needs to be enhanced, and to take advantage of whatever job opportunities 305 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. may come our way, we want to make sure we are available.
Yes. One final comment, Mr. President. Regarding the business side of the equation, you should know that we, members of Council, have made it clear with City department heads that we're looking forward to those numbers every year, especially now that Mayor Nutter has made it clear that the Strategic Plan is a real organic document where he's looking for compliance and participation. And so for those entities that are receiving any City dollars, we're also looking for those numbers every single year from all entities receiving City dollars as it relates to providing opportunity, access to any and all MBE, WBE participation opportunities. So I say that for the record, thanking 306 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. you this year for those numbers, but understanding that going forward, we would look to see those numbers every year thereafter.
We expect that. We were not asked for it this year. We voluntarily added those.
And that's why I'm putting it on the record. We appreciate your understanding that that was a good thing to do, and we look forward to that --
Well, we've been asked in previous years, so we assumed that is being looked at.
Okay, then. Thank you again. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Councilwoman. No other questions. I want to thank you very much. I'm sorry. Councilman Jones.
Point of 307 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. information on your satellite schools. For the record, there is none in the Fourth Councilmanic District. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Duly noted. Well, we actually have the larger facility in the Fifth Council District, so I guess I can't complain about not having a satellite. Thank you so much for your testimony. Have a good day.
Next up we have SEPTA. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good afternoon, Councilman Clarke and members of City 308 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Council. My name is Joe Casey. I'm General Manager for SEPTA. I'm pleased to be here to speak to City Council today on the Authority's $65.8 million 2011 Operating Budget request, as well as our achievements over the last past year. The current downturn in the nation's economy created many challenges for our region, but I'm encouraged by SEPTA's efforts to improve transportation and specifically customer service and partner with the City to advance sustainability initiatives during a difficult year. Our vehicle fleet is defined to be environmentally friendly --
Excuse me, Mr. Casey. We're having a little difficulty hearing. Thank you. I'm sorry. Please proceed.
Our vehicle fleet is designed to be environmentally 309 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. friendly and provide enhanced service efficiency. In 2010, we will add 120 new hybrid buses, and by the end of 2011, more than one-third of our bus fleet will be these energy-saving hybrids. Just last week, we introduced to the public the first of our new Silverliner V rail cars. These ADA-accessible cars are being assembled right here in Philadelphia and will provide the latest in operation technology, efficiency and customer comfort. Technology has also been an important customer communication and information tool for SEPTA. Using our redesigned website as a platform, we now offer enhanced realtime information, Google transit schedule and trip planning, and online chat with our Customer Service Division. Our Customer Service Program continues to find innovative ways to speak to our riders and introduce non-riders and visitors to SEPTA. 310 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. SEPTA's progress rebuilding our aging infrastructure and completing state-of-good-repair projects was enhanced by the receipt of $191 million in federal stimulus funds. We are presently advancing 32 shovel-ready projects, including major Philadelphia initiatives, including the Girard and Spring Garden stations on the Broad Street Line, improvements at seven Chestnut Hill East and seven Chestnut Hill West stations and the Fox Chase station, and replacement of the Fern Rock Yard at the end of the Broad Street Line. However, the recent Federal Highway Administration's decision rejecting Interstate 80 tolling application has devastating news for SEPTA and will have a significant impact on our capital investment program. Without this funding, our capital budget will be reduced by percent, or more 24 than $110 million, and this will place 25 major projects at risk. The State's 311 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. funding program is not just for transit but is also for highway investment. All of these projects will bring much-needed jobs into the community while rebuilding transit infrastructure, and we support the Governor's call for a special session in Harrisburg to find a funding solution. Earlier this week, a public hearing was held in Philadelphia for our 2011 operating budget and proposed fare increase. The proposal is modest, retaining the current $2 cash fare and approximately six percent increases for most other instruments and is keeping with the Governor's 2007 Transportation Funding and Reform Commission report recommending periodic fare increases. Regional partnership is important to us, and we're pleased again to be part of the PHLASH Visitor loop summer service. I'm also proud to say SEPTA was the largest corporate volunteer at the third annual Philly Spring Clean-Up, and we were working again with 312 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Philabundance on our 2010 drive to fight hunger in the region. As an integral part of the community, SEPTA is committed to improving the quality of life for Philadelphia by providing transportation and other services. I appreciate the City Council's continued support of public transit, and I'll be happy to answer any questions the members might have.
Thank you. Mr. Casey, with respect to your capital projects issue as it relates to the inability to get the toll 80 issue resolved in a positive way, in terms of SEPTA -- and I'm not quite sure if you operate under the same capacity as the City whereas the City has the ability to use operating funds to support capital-related projects, we don't have the ability to use capital dollars for operational related. Do you have the ability to use operating dollars in the 313 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. event --
We do have some flexibility on preventive maintenance, but, unfortunately, our operating dollars are also slim at this point.
Okay. So even if you -- okay. You do have the ability?
No. This is critical for us. It has an immediate effect on the capital and a long-range effect on our operating budget.
Okay. I actually have a question about the fare increase, but I have a feeling that one of my colleagues wanted to get in-depth.
You know what I'm going to do, I'm going to 314 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. actually defer to my colleagues, because I did have some questions and it may come up. I don't want to take advantage of being the Chair. As you can see, I'm relatively new at this. So I'm actually going to call on Councilman Greenlee, and I anticipate coming back for some further questions on some of the other issues.
We would never accuse you of taking advantage, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, everyone.
I have to always, as SEPTA comes in, thank Ms. Jones for many years of providing the service to us. Thank you very much.
Just a real general question first, ridership. Where is it these days? Up, down?
It's approximately four percent less than where it was last year, although we did have a positive 315 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. month in March, so we're hoping the trend is reversing itself.
Is that kind of -- are the downturns in any particular area as far as rail or buses or any of that?
It's really across the board, and we attribute it to the loss of jobs in the region.
But I guess sometimes could that work -- I shouldn't say in your favor, but the fact that maybe some people just can't afford cars and might take public transportation?
You also have to realize the price of gasoline has also dropped in the last couple years from where it was.
Okay. One other question. You mention some of 316 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the rehabilitations you're doing. City Hall station, does that come under you guys?
Yes, it does, and that was in our capital program and it's one of the projects that we were unable to advance.
I think I had read about that, yeah. Because that's -- and how much is that? How much would that be?
We estimate it about a hundred million dollars at this time before it's really fully engineered, but it's a significant project and to me it's one of my priorities.
When was the last time -- I guess it's been quite a while --
Wow. Okay. That's all I have, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. Mr. Casey, first let me thank you and congratulate you for the great work that you and your staff has done on the American Recovery Act-related projects. I had the occasion of attending one of the groundbreakings, above groundbreaking, so to speak, at the Broad and Spring Garden station, and you guys have been doing a good job and you've proven to be a model of how to identify shovel-ready projects and actually get people to work.
So you've really done a good job on that. I wanted to ask you a question about the fare increase. First, I'd like 318 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. to know what is the -- you say maintain a current base while raising most fare instruments. What is that? What is a fare instrument?
So my question is, in terms of usage, what do you think the breakdown in usage is with the, quote/unquote, fare instruments as it relates to the base amount between these City division and the regional divisions? And my question is, who would probably be the most impacted by the increases as it relates to the --
As far as the numbers, we think it's across the board. For City transit division, approximately 42 percent use passes. So they will be affected, but it's approximately six percent. Tokens, percent of the 23 people use tokens on the system. And the 24 cash is approximately 13 percent. So 25 it's a relatively smaller portion, but we 319 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. really think that the way we have the structure, we're trying to move more people into passes and to use the system more frequently, and they get a bigger discount by going into either monthly or weekly passes.
What are the -- I don't know if you call them the regional divisions. What's the --
They use a much higher percentage on passes. It's approximately 60 percent on passes. But they have increases across the board, but we're also eliminating some off-peak hours. During the midday we're requiring a peak fare during those periods. So there are some -- there are other changes 320 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. in addition to the increase on the price of the passes.
Okay. With respect to -- and this is more of a local nature. With respect to the Route 7 trolley, I understand that there will be 8 a diversion for a period of time on the 9 eastern end? 10
Can you 12 tell me approximately how long that will 13 be and, as it relates to the 14 reconstruction of the ramps, how all 15 that's going to factor in? Because my concern is that October there'll probably be an opening of the casino.
I don't want to give you any wrong information, so I'd really like to turn it over to Jeff Knueppel, SEPTA's Chief --
There's some real concern about what's going to happen down on that end.
Jeff Knueppel, 321 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. SEPTA's Chief Engineer. In and around Labor Day, we start on construction that we've coordinated with the City to create a turn-back for our trolleys that will actually come down near the new casino at Delaware Avenue, but it's all been coordinated when we should do our construction, because there's a lot of things going on in the area with utilities and road work and other things. So we've been involved in a series of meetings, and that's our time slot to go in. And I would imagine -- I don't have the information with me, but I think PennDOT will be working on that area for several years. But we'll be able to bring the Route 15 and spin it right around and bring it over to Delaware Avenue and bring it back and then run it back.
It will take 322 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. you, yes, all the way to right near the casino.
I'm not trying to promote people going to the casino, but the reality is there are going to be people interested in traveling there, if nothing else, to see what's going on. In terms of your interaction with the City, are you aware -- because one of the reasons I ask the question, we had a casino-related meeting recently basically to talk about public safety and some of the impact of the casino. So we had the Police there and Planning Commissioner and we talked about some of the fire service, but there was really nobody there to talk about the public transportation aspect, and then this question about the ramps and how that played into the opening time as associated with the casino. And I guess my question is, do you know or are you leaving it to the City to interact with 323 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the general public as it relates to the potential impact as it relates to public transit?
We will do bussing, because we won't be able to run the trolley to Cumberland -- no; Madison loop. We will not be able to go to that loop, so we will have to institute bussing all the way to the end of the Route 15, and that will be announced and put out there and --
Who is taking the lead on that? I guess I just want to make sure that --
So you guys will take the primary responsibility of having community notification?
Councilman, I believe also the casino will run a shuttle to Spring Garden station, and 324 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. that will be heavily promoted.
Frances Jones, Assistant General Manager of Government Affairs. Prior to the work being started or as we get into the work, we will have community meetings. We will advise the Council, each councilmanic district that's impacted, advise them of when we start, what we're doing and how long we anticipate it taking, as well as having community meetings, which is what we normally do.
Okay. It might be beneficial if you guys contacted Everett Gillison's Office, Deputy Mayor, because they actually have a series of meetings planned to talk about all the nuances of the operations. So you can just kind of piggyback on that instead of 325 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. having your own.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On the 15, that runs, I believe, through the Seventh, the Fifth, the Third and the Fourth. So you'll hit a lot of land and Councilpeople. So those Councilpeople probably should be brought into that process.
Mr. Casey, I got a chance to work with you up close and personal before, but more intensely during the work outage, and I wanted to say that I saw you to be a gentleman, a professional, and thank you for quickly, as quickly as quickly could come, resolving this matter, and the riding public is better off because of it. And I think all things considered, it was the 326 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. best outcome that could be achieved, and I got a chance to appreciate you. You kept me informed, even when it was bad news at times, and let me be a part of that process. So I thank you.
Thank you. I appreciate it. And one of the goals that we had going into it was to get a longer-term contract, and we achieved that with the five-year contract, so we're happy with that.
I'd like to switch gears a bit and put on my Moby Dick/Captain Ahab hat on bridges. I have had a heck of a time dealing with Amtrak on this issue, but I wanted to take this opportunity while you were here to ask, how many of your rails, your lines, which lines come across the 52nd and Jefferson bridge?
And some information on the frequency. 327 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
And approximately how many cars -- and I do mean cars, not just trains -- go across that bridge daily and then annually? A rough estimate. I won't hold you to the exact number.
I will tell you the R-5 Paoli is our largest line from a 328 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. frequency of service.
There are actually several bridges there. It's kind of a difficult situation. All of them, though, that cross 52nd Street, as I understand it, are supposed to be maintained by Amtrak.
Okay. In that -- and you may or may not know this. 329 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. There's no wrong answer, just trying to establish something here. Whose responsibility is it to inspect those bridges?
If you do, do you know offhand -- and if you don't, could you provide that to both this body but also the Committee on Transportation -- what your findings were when you went across that bridge, when you inspected that bridge?
Okay. There were more -- they were informally inspections. When the issue came up, we did send people to take a look, and we did spot one problem on the bridge that carries the Cynwyd line inbound and we actually made the repairs.
Say that 330 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. again, please, for the record.
We looked at the inbound Cynwyd line bridge, and in one area SEPTA discussed it with Amtrak and made the repairs.
Do you have an in-depth, detailed report on what you found on that bridge?
No. We did more informal. We then talked over what we saw with Amtrak, and it was really only the one structure that I believe we found of serious concern. Otherwise, they are responsible for inspecting and maintaining.
Clearly, culpability has been established. We understand that it's their responsibility, but it is all of our responsibilities to hold people accountable for things that have a safety aspect to them.
Excuse me, Councilman. 331 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Jeff, is it possible for us to get a copy of Amtrak's detailed report?
We can get a copy of the detailed report that Amtrak performs and get you a copy.
The only problem with that Amtrak report, it is a self-report and it's like asking the mice to guard the cheese and them tell you, trust me. What I would hope is that Amtrak would do a detailed report because of the use of their infrastructure and come back to this body with what you find, because we had a near miss during that work outage where one of your rails, by no sabotage, for the record, accidentally caught fire. It was about a thousand yards from that very bridge. Kudos to the emergency management team that responded to that. All of the passengers got off safely. The first 332 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. responders had easy access, a couple of steps. Deputy Mayor Gillison, myself, the Mayor, all of us were out there. But had that train had to glide to a stop on that bridge, there might have been quite a different outcome, because access is denied from the lower level. You have to traverse woods and structures in order to get there. The pedestrians or commuters would have had a harder time. So my point to you is, that bridge's safety is all of our concerns. It may not be liabilities, may not be contractual responsibility, but it should be our concerns, and I'd like you to take a look at that, and in so doing, I would be interested in sharing with the Council how many bridges are used by your body that are owned by Amtrak, and if there are similar reports, that they be provided to the City of Philadelphia. I'm moving towards my conclusion here, which is that I believe based on both the Inquirer reports but 333 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. also internal documents to Amtrak, that we have a serious problem. It does not take an engineering degree to look up and see rusted rails. It does not take an engineering degree to see that the concrete footing is inch-wide cracked and that -- they tell you that that doesn't matter, but they were put there by some designer, some architect for a reason. And I don't claim to know what that reason is, but I'm sure if they could have saved the money on that concrete, he would have. So that is my Ahab issue. And I will tell you that there is also debris that falls from that bridge, no 18 responsibility of yours, but a concern of all of ours, and that at some point after we politely send letters, Mr. Chairman, as we politely make phone calls, as we do the dance of meetings, which is almost like a mating ritual of government, and so we'll do all of those dances to comply with what the process should be, but at 334 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. some point in time, I will, this body will, lose its patience. And if, God forbid, a child that walks under there, because a number of pedestrians take that route, are injured, we will not be kind to those responsible, and I need your help to make sure that the safety of all of the commuters and all of the residents of that area and the City at large -- because there's a bigger bridge problem. It was chronicled, 300 bridges, most of whom, the majority of whom, Mr. Chairman, were in the state of poor, and that is written by their own hand. Amtrak wrote their own report and said they're poor. So I don't want to frighten the public or frighten you, but I am concerned, and that concern will take a form of an action, even if it means shutting down that bridge if it causes any damage to a pedestrian. So forewarned is forearmed. I would yield if there is anyone else who has any questions, but if 335 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. not, I wanted to go on a different track.
Thank you. On the note of capital improvements, you're coming to the end of your two-year commitment under Act 44 funds. I believe that to be true. And also you're probably in the second year of your stimulus capital projects. Can you give us an indication of how that's going to impact your capital plan?
Well, the stimulus projects, we had an aggressive plan. Within, I guess, eight months, we had 90 percent of the contracts awarded. Within the year, we had a hundred percent notice to proceed to all the contractors. So that's going very well. The contractors are out there. They're working. And we -- people have mentioned about DBE percentage. We achieved a 13 percent DBE goal on the stimulus. That enabled us to do a lot of 336 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. contracts that -- or a lot of construction projects that were on the shelf, but ready to go. So we were really pleased with that, but now with the Act 44, with the I-80 tolling being denied, Act 44 is really in question, and it really affects our capital program. And a lot of the things that weren't ready to go, City Hall station, for instance, the Smart Card project and many others, simply we cannot afford in the capital program until the Act 44 is resolved.
Are you aware of any discussions at the federal or State level that there might be some light at the end of the tunnel?
Well, there's two things. I was in DC last week and joined together with some of the older cities, Chicago, New York, Boston, Washington, DC, trying to get the federal government to support our position for the older cities, that we need to bring these 337 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. systems up to a state of good repair. The FTA did a report identifying the seven largest cities requiring $50 billion collectively. To us it was about $4 to $5 billion just to bring our systems up to state of good repair. So we were doing that lobbying. On the Act 44 from the statewide level, we were also in Harrisburg last week talking to the Highway Coalition, talking to PennDOT, and the Governor has requested a session, a joint session, and I believe it's May 4th will take place to specifically address this issue. And, again, it not only affects transit, it affects highway. Highway even has a bigger effect.
So are you optimistic that there might be -- cautiously optimistic?
The Governor certainly has a will to get this accomplished before he leaves office, but, again, they have difficult budget 338 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. issues in Harrisburg and no one wants to implement new taxes in an election year. But it's critical needs. It's jobs. It's jobs in the region. It's jobs in the Commonwealth. And it's critical infrastructure needs. So I'm ever optimistic for something to happen.
By way of Public Property and SEPTA, I understand we have a hold in place, kind of keep-it-as-it-was relationship by way of compensation for City-owned property; is that correct?
Are there any plans -- you mention City Hall. Could you elaborate what we could anticipate if funding is there by way of renovation of that, as well as are there any plans along with Public Property for the concourse?
That's been a subject of some of the discussions on the lease-leaseback. That's now in the 339 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. month-to-month, and we've had many discussions with Rina Cutler to discuss those issues. My feeling is on that, people think that it's part of the transit system. If Act 44 is resolved and we have financial, we will take that burden on to repair that. But, again, that's part of the whole agreement with the lease-leaseback, which we're not there yet.
Well, as you develop that, it would be good if you would provide that information on how we can be helpful with this body. I believe that we have -- and it's not the first Administration that has looked at that concourse as a source of additional revenue by way of commerce and are looking forward to whatever ideas that we can pursue, push, champion for you at the State or federal level to get that done, because I think we almost -- one-tenth of the space could be possibly used for 340 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. expansion of the retail aspect of that.
Finally, the tragic death of the commuter that happened a couple of weeks ago, all I want to know is lessons learned. Anything that we are going to do different? And I'd like you to elaborate on that.
Let me just say that safety for our passengers and our employees are our number one priority. The general process and procedure is when someone is sick on a bus is to notify the Control Center, I have a sick passenger. The bus is immediately stopped. We dispatch the police. We dispatch the emergency medical help. In this instance, there wasn't -- and a report that someone was sick. There was a non-responsive person on the bus. Both the operator and the supervisor did not observe any medical 341 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. need there. And then subsequently we all know what happened. It's a tragedy for their family, certainly upsetting to our employees and to me personally. With that said, I asked for a full investigation, with the intention to implement procedures so something like this does not happen again.
Not to micromanage or to preempt whatever your findings are, but it seems to me that you have two conflicting priorities. You have to -- the train must be on time, but we have to be responsive to non-responsive folk, and I guess as we evaluate the policy, how do we either train personnel to be able to tell the difference between someone who worked the late shift and has sleep apnea --
Well, that's something we have to work out. You know, I guess fortunately we haven't had a lot of experience in this because it doesn't 342 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. happen too frequently, but we do issue emergency medical. So far this year, from January 1st, we've had medical calls 145 times that we sent out emergency rescue to rescue someone from a vehicle. That's about one a day. So we do stop the vehicle. Again, if someone is in emergency, we're going to make sure they get the help they need. Unfortunately, in this instance, it wasn't necessarily conveyed to the Control Center that it was any type of medical need, and it was dealt with under that assumption.
Listen, and it's an unfortunate thing, and every aspect of what we do as a government, that we have to look at the possibility of fatality. The only thing we can do is to learn from it.
And then hopefully adjust our policies so that does not happen again. Finally, I don't know if -- is 343 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. there any coordination between you and law enforcement on the analyzation of flash mobs by way of the means of transportation to the scene of the, quote, crimes? And are there -- if there is any data that could be shared with us, is that happening? I'm thinking that if all the sudden there's this huge surge at one of the -- and I'm looking for not only that, Here they come, oh my goodness, but also indeed where they come from. If they're coming from the suburbs to the City, that's one piece of information that might be vital for its prevention. If they're urban youth and kind of coming from every way and everywhere, that's another set of data that might be useful to law enforcement, and I guess my question is, are we at least talking?
We are working with the City of Philadelphia, and the Controller is also interested in this issue. We've had numerous meetings with 344 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the Controller, the Police Commissioner and also the School District to address this issue, and we're still looking at procedures and determining the best fit. But one of the things that we told our people is to be on the lookout for groups of children and young adults entering the system all at once. But it's extremely difficult to determine that, because these flash -- they aren't necessarily using the school passes to get where they're going. Some of it happens during the weekend when the school passes aren't -- they're not able to use the school passes during those periods of time. So there's no rhyme or reason to how they're getting there, so it's a difficult issue, but we're working with the City, the Police Commissioner.
Well, we appreciate that, because I don't believe they're all carpooling down there, so they're getting there and they're going away somehow, and if we could have an 345 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. advanced warning, it at least allows us to respond to it by way of where they're going. I don't want to violate anybody's rights to freedom of assembly, but --
It's a concern of ours also, because it does -- if they are using our system, it is impacting our other customers.
Finally, I'd like to commend you on your MBE, WBE numbers. I had a conversation at the state level where they were talking about stimulus dollars, and I was able to point to you guys as a gold standard. I think you use that quote in your annual report. This is what I heard. I called you that, so I'll repeat it so that people know that it is valid. You are one of the agencies that we actually are trying to get our City departments to take a look at what you're doing. So kudos to you.
Thank you. It is a federal requirement on a lot of the capital projects and we, especially with 346 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the stimulus, we went out front and we have semi-annual get-togethers with the DBE community, let them know what projects will be coming up in the next six months, and also it's a networking opportunity for both the DBEs and primes.
So the greatest respect I can give to you and your department is to not call you up and ask you a ton of questions. And I'll yield and say thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your kind indulgence.
Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Greenlee.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One question that just came up, and I know this has gotten some media attention, the whole issue of the gender identification on TransPasses. Have you looked any more at that to see if that is, I guess the word is, necessary given 347 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the concerns that some individuals have raised about it?
We've looked at it. We think it could potentially have a significant financial effect on the pass system with people sharing passes. That said, with the Smart Card project, we think that we eliminate the M/F stickers to avoid this situation in the future. Unfortunately, the Smart Card project is also tied into the Act 44.
The money issue. And how much is it that the Smart Card would cost?
I think there's ranges and it depends on exactly what you do. I know other --
That's what I mean. It really depends on what you do, whether you outfit each and every station, especially on the regional rail, but 348 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. estimates are right now it's over a hundred million dollars, probably in the $120, $130 million range. It's not insignificant.
And not to belabor the point of the gender identification, but, I mean, obviously men can switch the card with men and females with females.
You say you have a feeling that it would cost money. Any study on that?
Because obviously -- and it's not maybe a large number of individuals, but there are individuals that are concerned about that.
We do have people that do share passes. I mean, there's no 23 question. We have male to male. And just looking at the numbers, we have specific passes that are used upwards to 349 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. a hundred times a week. So we do know the sharing goes on, but we just don't want it to escalate. And we do have an end in sight. And I met with the Rage community, the Rage representatives, and I told them, I said, if you have specific issues where someone is giving you a hard time, call this person or that person, because if they're giving you a hard time, chances are they're giving someone else a hard time, and we need to bring them in and reinstruct them on how to deal with our customers, regardless of who you are. And that's the best I could do at this point, and they haven't taken advantage of that at this point.
Thank you, Councilman. There being no other questions, I want to thank you so much for your testimony. 350 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
You're welcome. Next up we have the Human Relations Commission. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good afternoon, Councilman Clarke and members of City Council. My name is Rue Landau and I'm the Executive Director of the Commission on Human Relations. I'm here with Angela DeShields, who is our Budget Officer. The Philadelphia Commission on 351 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Human Relations is a City agency that enforces the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance, Chapter 9-1100 of The Philadelphia Code, which prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, use of public accommodations and the delivery of City services. We also process the applications of same-sex couples who wish to register their life partnerships with the City. Our Community Relations staff works with community leaders, neighborhood organizations, local businesses, schools and the police to resolve disputes and conflicts within Philadelphia's diverse communities. Finally, the PCHR staffs the Fair Housing Commission, which is charged with enforcing the Fair Housing Ordinance, Chapter 9-800 of The Philadelphia Code. The Fair Housing Commission addresses unfair rental practices in housing and other landlord-tenant disputes. 352 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. The PCHR's budget consists of 97 percent Class 100, two percent Class 200 and one percent Class 300 and 400. We currently have a staff of 33, down from 34 in 2008 but significantly lower than the 44 staff we had in 2004. While our staff is split between three units or divisions - Compliance, Community Relations and Fair Housing - we do not delineate expenses for them. They are included in one departmental budget for the program. In FY11, $68,323 was taken from Class 100; $11,031 was taken from Class 200; and $5,700 was taken from Classes 300 and 400 for the DOT consolidation. Even with our small staff, we have continued to work efficiently and effectively. We have focused on streamlining our work to maximize our capacity. We have also raised outside funds to support some of our work. In January 2010, the PCHR launched a series of public hearings on 353 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. intergroup conflict and school violence. The hearings are being held throughout the City and will run through November 2010. At the conclusion of the hearings, we will issue a report with findings to the School District that will include benchmarks for implementation and methods for monitoring. Since we do not have money to support these hearings in our budget, we have been raising private funds. Historically, the PCHR had two -- this is captured under another efficiency, but historically the PCHR had two Human Relations Representative 2's -- it's a job title -- doing intake for the agency. Those employees earned as much as $57,842 a year. In April 2009, one of the intake staff members retired. In FY11, we plan to reorganize the way our agency does intake to increase revenue. We want to transfer the remaining Human Relations Representative 2 who is doing intake to our Compliance Division to work 354 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. on discrimination cases. Through the PCHR's work-sharing agreement with the federal Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, we are paid $550 for each case we close. That money goes directly to the General Fund. In FY09, the PCHR received $105,050 for the cases we closed, which is slightly less than usual because the EEOC cut back on their funding to the State and local agencies, although we anticipate it to be funded at a hundred percent of our level this year. If we're able to move the remaining Human Relations Rep 2 into the Compliance Division, we expect to generate an additional $12,000 the first year and $20,000 each year thereafter. In addition, we plan to hire at least one person with the title of Human Relations Technician at $29,580 to replace the intake employee who retired. For service improvements, we've been focusing on our internal operations to maximize our efficiency with our small 355 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. staff.
In May 2009, our Community Relations Division reassigned its staff throughout the City for the first time in ten years. The transfer of territories has reinvigorated the staff, and they have quickly gotten to know their new communities, police districts, businesses and neighborhood organizations. With this change, the CRD's caseload has remained steady. In addition, the staff has been doing a great deal of outreach for our public hearings on intergroup conflict and school violence. For FY11, the CRD will continue to refine its work so that they can be even more effective in resolving disputes and conflicts throughout the City. Both the Compliance Division and the Fair Housing Commission are continuing to streamline their internal operations as well for maximum efficiency. In Compliance, in FY11 we will institute a new case prioritization system and case closing system that will 356 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. allow us to close more cases. Due to our work-sharing agreement with the EEOC, the more cases we close, the more revenue we generate. The Fair Housing Commission has continued to streamline its internal operating procedures in FY11. It will implement new case management systems that will create greater efficiency. In addition, the staff will do additional outreach next year. For all of our divisions, we're also continuing to work with the staff at 3-1-1 to ensure that the maximum number of cases are being referred to our agency for services. As the only civil rights agency in the City, a significant budget cut or any budget cut would have a direct impact on the citizens of Philadelphia. Since our budget is 97 percent Class 100 and since the work of the Compliance and Fair Housing Divisions are mandated in The Philadelphia Code, any staff decreases 357 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. outside of administrative reductions must occur in the Community Relations Division. The CRD deals with neighbor disputes and all matters of intergroup conflict throughout the City. The staff has a high success rate for resolving neighborhood conflicts before they increase to violence. They also work to raise cultural understanding and reduce prejudice throughout the City. Should any Councilmember wish to discuss any of these matters further, my staff and I would be happy to meet with you at your convenience.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Quickly, because I know it's been a long day, you've been sitting back there. The Community Relations Division, have you seen any changes either in the number of complaints that have come into that or the nature of them since you have 358 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. been there?
We saw a slight increase in the basic neighbor disputes in 2009 and through our Dispute Resolution Program. I don't know what to attribute that to. You would think that maybe there was more people out of work and more people home. But I did -- we created maps for you again this year so you can see the changes by district, and I can get them out to you.
But most of our case levels for the Community Relations Division remained pretty steady, especially considering people were learning their new territories. It was interesting to see what cases were coming in where.
And what was the reason you shifted the territories? Was it just on volume of complaints or you wanted different 359 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. people --
Just to get people into different areas and getting to know different things and to also make sure that we're using our language capabilities in the right areas as well.
And that same division, is that the one that's dealing with the school issue?
And I know you said the hearings run through November, so maybe you don't want to comment on this yet, but is there anything that sort of jumps out or sticks out about that so far?
We've been having some really interesting and great testimony. It's come in from students and parents, principals of the schools. The School District is asking their principals in areas to come and testify in front of us, a lot of community-based organizations as well. 360 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. We've been seeing some interesting themes. It's very -- we've been hearing from some great principals, and it's very clear to us that a strong principal with strong leadership and team-building skills really can transform a school. We've heard from many principals in fact who have turned schools around and to hear about some of the systems that they've used. And we've heard some sad stories from students and parents as well. So we're still trying to feel it out, but there are some themes that are already rising to the top.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 361 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. I'm overdue for coming over there and actually spending a little quality time with you guys. You were kind enough in my freshman year to make that offer, and I am determined, and I just told my staff that we're going to make a note to get over there. A couple of quick questions. I get confused with the federal OEO and you guys, how you guys intersect. Could you kind of explain that?
Sure. First of all, for our City local fair practices ordinance, it's a City law, and we cover employment, housing, public accommodations and City services. I think you're talking about the EEOC, right, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission?
So you don't deal with that? 362 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
We do, and if you file in our office, you're dual filing with the EEOC. They don't cover every base that we cover. They don't cover sexual orientation and gender identity, so you have to file in our office. That's not covered by the State or the feds. That comes to our office. But when you're filing with us, you're also filing with the EEOC. Sadly --
So if I file 13 a complaint with you, it hits the State and federal?
The Pennsylvania Commission also has a work-sharing agreement with them as well. The EEOC has been seeing over the years tremendous staffing cuts, and they are very overwhelmed with the amount of work they have. In fact, they'll clearly tell anybody that their case is sitting in a holding bank when they come in and they 363 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. don't get to process them as fast as they'd like, so they send as many cases as possible to us.
I'm fascinated by conflict resolution among neighbors. Can you give us some examples of how that works out with you and what your authorities are to mediate good neighbors? Help me to understand that.
Sure. Well, one way to get to a successful mediation is you have to have both parties willing to participate, and that sometimes is our block in our getting to a resolution. The great thing is, first of all, we have a very well-trained staff in all mediation skills, and sometimes it takes a long time to get there, but these start with conversations and often will lead to a successful mediation in the end. But, again, it comes down to willingness of people wanting to resolve it. We also have a whole lot of other kind of skills that we use in the 364 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. process. Sometimes it's impossible to formally mediate a case, but there could be other resources that we can give to people where they can help to resolve their issues. But we get a lot of neighbor calls, and sometimes they're on little issues and sometimes they're large and sometimes they are masking a much larger issue or a much different issue than what was --
I saw the darnedest thing dropping a staff person off in my district. Two young teenagers, one seemingly from one side of the block and another from the other side of the block, and they, as teenage girls sometimes do, started fighting in the middle of the street. It escalated. It went from zero to 60. And I was parking the car, and I was hoping that an adult would come and intervene, and all of the sudden, when they did, they joined in. I called the police, because, you know, my job description is somewhat limited in 365 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. that regard, and I'm glad that you handle that. But it went from the kids to the mothers to fathers, seemingly fathers or older brothers, about to go to blows about a kid's fight. And that can cause tension over the summer, particularly because not enough recreation and positive outlets. In a case like that, is it appropriate?
That's also not in our job description. The real violence, we call the police for those as well. But we have a great relationship with all the community relations officers in the Police Department and make sure we're keeping up with the captains in the districts at all times. Each of our staff -- our staff people are --
So for an example, give me a description that does fall within your purview.
When there's neighbors who are -- it could be as simple as people throwing trash on each 366 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. other's lawns to as large as people yelling racial slurs at each other and having cultural misunderstandings. We've had --
So it's not the violence, but the next level that could lead --
Oh, absolutely. And they do -- again, there are other levels of this. They rise -- what started as something small could end up being something where the racial slurs are being yelled and that there is going to be physical violence. But there's sometimes people with mental health issues involved and we have to incorporate some other agencies as well.
So follow that scenario out. In a case like that, the person doesn't seem to have all of their faculties or from time to time episodes. What is your authority to intervene? What remedies for a situation like that do you have? 367 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Again, it's a case-by-case basis, but in general, again, it depends -- it would definitely depend on the person we're dealing with and whether or not that person is capable of sitting down and trying to resolve the issue through a mediation or otherwise with the complaining neighbors. If the person is not willing or not able to do that, we can try to make some referrals to some outside agencies and bring other people into it, including other City departments. But sometimes it is just as easy to bring all sides together and sit down and talk about it, and we have to have everybody recognize the limitations of the person who is having some trouble.
I won't take up this body's time to orientate myself to you. I will take advantage of your gracious invitation this year --
-- and get 368 4/21/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. over to your shop, and you can spend some time giving me the tools to be able to offer that to my constituents. So thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your indulgence. It's so wonderful when we don't have a clock.
You're welcome, Councilman. Any other questions? (No response.)
There being no one else to testify, we stand in recess until Tuesday, April 27th at 10:00 a.m. (Committee of the Whole recessed at 4:50 p.m.) - - - 369 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on April 21, 2010, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)