3180 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET - - - - Room 696, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, April 13, 2005 2:40 p.m. - - - - BILLS 040767, 040789, 050001, 050002, 050003, 050007, 050008. RESOLUTION 050022. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN JUAN RAMOS COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO - - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 3181 I N D E X WITNESS STAN SHAPIRO 3184 KATHY SCOTT 3185 DIANE REED 3190 GREG LEROY 3192 SHARON WARD 3197 JONATHAN STEIN 3203 RASHON GOODIN 3210 ESTHER MCCREA 3212 BRITTANEY BARKSDALE 3216 MUSTAPHA BRADPHER 3218 IRENE RUSSELL 3223 JIM HELMAN 3226 MIKE MCREA 3232 PEGGY AMSTERDAM 3238 AMIR JOSHUA 3244 DONNA BROWN 3245 NANCY GOLDENBERG 3248 ARLENE VASCOLA 3265 ASIA LESLIE 3270 JESSE CORTEZ 3272 CATHERINE SEE 3274 CINDY BLANK 3276 PATRICIA WENT 3279 MICHELLE DUBRAUSH 3283 BILL GOLDERER 3285 CHRIS RAUL 3288 BETH OUNSWORTH 3293 MIKE GROMAN 3298 BILL LEFEVERE 3301 PHILIP LORD 3304 GALEN TYLER 3311 HABEEBAH ALI 3314 ELIZABETH SEGARRA 3318 GEORGE GOULD 3320 DAVID SENG 3323 KAKI SJOGREN 3326 STACY MOORE 3329 NANCY SALANDRA 3330 DAVID SCHULTZ 3331 CHERYL WEISS 3335 LIZ ROBINSON 3337 3182 I N D E X (continued) WITNESS HERMAN WOODEN 3341 JOHN MEYERSON 3341 ALICE FOLEY 3349 TIM DALWIN 3353 RAMONA RISCOE-BENSON 3355 JOHN GALLERY 3362 AMY DOUGHERTY 3366 ANN COHEN 3371 JOHN BRAXTON 3378 LINDA EVANS 3384 FRANK CERVONE 3386 OURANIA PAPADEMETRIOU 3387 LORRAINE BRILL 3392 LEDDY THALL 3397 FRED MAUER 3400 PAULINE BORKIN 3403 WILLIAM BORKIN 3405 ANDRE BUTLER 3407 3183 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET
Good afternoon, everyone. This is the continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bill Nos. 050001, 050002, 050003, 040789, 040767, 050007 and 050008. Also Resolution No. 050022. I would ask the witnesses that are here, if you want to make certain that your name is on the witness list, I would suggest that you see Sharon Ortiz, the gal that's to my left here. A member of the staff that received the calls is in the hospital and is out sick, so Sharon has been trying to do her best in getting the list of witnesses in the order that you called. We will have some guidelines, and I'm asking everyone to please try to abide by them because we do have a very, very lengthy list of witnesses. Each panel will be allotted 15 minutes and individuals will be allotted five minutes to testify. I would really appreciate everybody abiding by those guidelines. I would ask Mr. McPherson to please 3184 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET call up our first witness.
Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here again. We do have a panel representing One Philadelphia, which is a group that was organized several months ago to look at the extent to which tax cuts are good for the City of Philadelphia, particularly the elimination of the Business Privilege Tax. We have a few people with us, including one expert who's traveled here from Washington, D.C., who will be the third person to testify. I'll be the last. We also have representatives from District Council 47 who will also be testifying. I'd like the first witness to be Kathy Scott from District Council 47.
Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony. 3185 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET
Good afternoon, President Verna and Members of City Council. My name is Kathy Scott. I am president of AFCSME Local 2187. With me is Michael Walsh, president of Local 2186. Our union has testified in three previous hearings having to do with proposed tax reduction of the Business Privilege Tax, City-wide layoffs and library layoffs. I will not repeat that testimony. In the last two budget years, Philadelphia's recreation centers and libraries have suffered large program and staffing losses which has hurt the City's neighborhoods at a time when violence has risen and handgun violence is a mounting problem. Recreation centers and libraries are frequently the only refuge for children and teenagers to go to avoid negative influences in their life. To reduce or eliminate recreation centers and libraries does a disservice to all of the City's citizens. Today our union would like to focus on funding and expenditures in four different 3186 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET budget areas: The Free Library of Philadelphia, The Youth Study Center, the Philadelphia Prisons and no bid personal services contracts. We recognize that change can be positive and enhance the services provided to the public. However, any change must be purposeful, planned and engage the public in the serious policy discussions and decisions which a budget carries out, since a budget is the tool to implement the taxing and spending priorities of the City. The projected staffing level for the Free Library of Philadelphia is 653 positions, and it is inadequate to provide the necessary services to have all branch libraries open and adequately staffed. In previous testimony we proposed restoring 29 libraries for the Fiscal Year 2005 budget and adding 17 librarians for the Fiscal Year 2006 budget. Recently we have been asked for an alternative plan to properly staff the libraries. We continue to offer a redesigning government initiative to accomplish that goal. There are outside resources to assist in such a process. 3187 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET For example, Dr. Bill McKinney of the City University of New York studied five specific communities and branch libraries in Philadelphia between 1997 and 2001. I believe the following points which he makes are relevant to the developing of a plan to address the current library situation. One, the library is part of the community and should be measured as such. To understand value you must look at public space, condition of school libraries, availability of computers in schools and availability of literacy material. The role of the library should be defined by the community and rewarded for meeting those needs as defined. The role of the neighborhood library should not be entirely defined by the central administration, but by the, quote, public in public library. The measurement tools utilized by the library presently are antiquated and idealized. There are different use patterns that are not measured by turnstile counts and circulation figures. He suggests an 3188 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET assessment of a library using a negotiated set of measurement tools that take all community use patterns into account with all concerned parties developing a strategy to accomplish this. The City proposes to spend $7 million to move the Youth Study Center from the Parkway to 17th and Cambria for one year as a temporary facility in order to accommodate the Barnes Museum move to the City. This is an ill-conceived plan and a waste of $7 million. The Cambria Correctional Center presently houses adult offenders. Even with the renovations the facility will be too small for the Youth Study Center residents. For example, parents will not be able to visit their children at the renovated facility, creating a problematic situation for juveniles in custody. Also, close attention should be paid to the owners of Cambria facilities. Are they union? City Council should reject this proposal.
Staffing cuts and layoffs at the Philadelphia Prisons has eliminated the 3189 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET dietician program and reduced the inmate computer-based education program. One prison has no psychologist. There is one recreation center for the entire inmate population. The well-regarded Sex Offender Program has been disbanded. The staffing levels have jeopardized the safety of our members. We are rapidly returning to the program staffing levels which existed prior to the state and federal court cases which required additional staff. This proposed budget projects an increase of $31 million in no bid personal services contracts. Why is this category growth unchecked? The City Charter requires that the Administration obtain Council approval for multi-year contracts. Most of these contracts fall into that category. However, they are written as one-year contracts with multiple year extensions as a way to avoid Council oversight. The budget is replete with examples of these kinds of contracts. We would welcome an aggressive approach by City Council to reign in this 3190 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET issue. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Thank you, Ms. Scott. I would just like to ask you a question, if I may. We have been informed of the move of the Youth Study Center from the Parkway to 17th and Cambria. May I ask where you got the figure of $7 million?
That's the figure that we were quoted by the Department of Human Services for the amount that it would cost.
Because we were never given the figure and I was wondering.
That's what the architectural renovations would cost, we were told.
Thank you. I don't know if Ms. Reed is in the room. Can you substantiate that, Ms. Reed?
I think you ought to take the microphone so that I can hear you, the stenographer can hear you and people in the audience can hear what your answer is. Good afternoon.
Good afternoon. Diane Reed, Budget Director. Yes, that is the correct ballpark number. Part of that is actually operations. About $2 million of it is operating. Part of it is for renovating the space and the rest of it is for rent.
Thank you. Because we had never heard of the figure and we just wanted to confirm. Thank you very much. Stan, do you want to call your next witness, please?
Greg Leroy is our next witness. He heads up an organization called Good Jobs First in Washington and is consultant to a number of governments and labor organizations about alternative models 3192 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET of producing economic growth in cities and states which focus on employee benefits, good jobs and basically good living conditions, and will offer some testimony about his analysis of the situation that Philadelphia faces and what to do about it. Mr. Leroy.
You're welcome. Please identify yourself for the record. May I suggest you pull the microphone closer to you? Thank you.
Yes, ma'am. Greg Leroy, L-E-R-O-Y. C. focussing on best practices in state and local economic development. It's important to keep in mind when looking at trying to grow good jobs in the City and the region, to look at the world from the company's side of the desk, to think about how they decide where to expand or relocate. 3193 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET By every credible measure, every report for people who actually make their living telling companies where to go to make the most profit, taxes are always a distant last on the checklist of factors considered by companies when they determine where to expand or relocate. They focus on the business basics: Supply of skilled laborers, proximity to customers, proximity to markets, adequate infrastructure, and then key inputs, whatever those key inputs are, based on the nature of the product or the service. 8 percent. So they're really dwarfed by the business basics. I think it's important to look at the situation in Philadelphia. You can't look at it in isolation from the region. As was documented a year and a half ago by the study done by the Brookings Institution in its big report that came out in December 2003 called Return to Prosperity, the state economic situation is quite stagnant. 3194 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET The region's economic situation is stagnant and so is the City's. But the situation is not unique to Philadelphia at all. Certainly one of the factors identified in the thinning development patterns, in the increasingly inefficient development patterns of land use in the state by Brookings and by the Keystone Research Center, which assisted Brookings in their analysis, is a sprawling bias in the state's infrastructure spending and in its economic development dollars. Keystone Research Center, under subcontract to Brookings, demonstrated in the study that sprawling ex-urban areas of this region received substantially more dollars per capita from economic development programs from three of the state's biggest economic development programs than do older established areas, and that has a sprawling effect on job migration. When considering tax cuts or any other form of spending for economic development, it's really important to isolate 3195 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET cause and effect and to know that what you're doing is affecting what has been determined to be a cause and effect relationship. But if the region and the state are both stagnant, then it suggests to me that there are issues aside from a particular City tax that could be at issue. You have to consider the consequences of reducing the quality of public services. If revenues go down, only two things can happen; either other taxes have to go up to sustain the same level of public service or the quality of services has to go down. Usually it's a little bit of both, obviously because of resistance to tax increases. The quality of public services are an important site location factor for companies. Education and infrastructure consistently rank as top public services, public goods, if you will, in determining an attractiveness of a region for an employer to locate. So to the extent that revenue losses reduce the quality of education or 3196 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET infrastructure especially, and public services in general, they could harm the ability of the City to compete for economic development. Finally, I know that the City is doing a lot to try to revitalize itself and to bring back certain neighborhoods and to encourage more people to move back into the City, as well as employers. And there's vibrant literature out there and lots of good practices to look at from other cities. There's certainly a back to the city movement evident in many other major metro areas. Philadelphia has been lagging in that trend nationally. But it's not about big tax breaks that's really driving those trends in most places.
It's promoting successful mixed use developments in which people can live near where they work. It's promoting a diverse new housing base, both of market rate as well as more affordable income housing rates. And, frankly, it's promoting transit oriented development. You have this jewel, SEPTA and the City transit system, with great opportunities 3197 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET to build terrific development around this wonderful historical investment you have in public transportation which could in turn produce a great revenue and job tax base. So those are my thoughts.
Good afternoon. Nice to see you. I'm Sharon Ward. I'm a co-chair of One Philadelphia, and I'm here today representing PCCY, which is a member of the One Philadelphia coalition. I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak on the budget for Fiscal Year '06. I wanted to talk to you about the City budget and City services from the perspective of their impact on children and just offer a few comments. First, much of Council's attention this year has been focused -- and we think rightly -- on the cuts in the library 3198 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET services, including the movement of almost half the library branches to part-time hours and the removal of certified librarians. We have opposed those cuts and support Council's work to restore library hours and library staffing to the levels at which we began the year. But we also want to bring to your attention what we fear is the quiet erosion of services in other departments and the impact of proposed federal and state budget cuts on City services. When the dust settles on the library discussion, we believe the City will still be left with reduced services and little ability to weather the coming storm. Much of the testimony you've heard from City Departments during the past few months is about how they can do more with less. But we fear that the day has come when we simply will be doing less with less. The proposed budget includes new cuts in four departments that provide vital services to children and families in the City; Fairmount Park, the Free library, the 3199 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Department of Public Health and the Recreation Department. The cumulative cuts in these programs make it impossible to provide anywhere near the level of services that our communities demand, that they deserve. We've seen a reduction in City employment by 2,500 positions since Fiscal Year 2004. If this budget is enacted, in only two years Fairmount Park will have had a percent reduction in 12 staff. The Free Library, a 12 percent 13 reduction. The Health and Recreation 14 Departments will have lost more than 18 15 percent of their staffing compliment. It's often been argued by some that Philadelphia can afford to reduce staff as its population has declined. But we certainly haven't lost 18 percent of our population in two years. What we are losing is our ability to provide our citizenry with adequate service or to improve the quality of life in our communities to the degree that people want to move here or that they want to stay here. These policies are not only shortsighted, they 3200 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET end up costing more in the long run. We're really concerned over the impacts of cuts to the Health Department. There's already an unacceptable waiting list for an appointment. We've learned that pregnant women have to wait for months for prenatal care, making it all but impossible to ensure that they get appointments in the first trimester of pregnancy. We know that non-emergency care visits are taking longer and longer to secure. Again, these are shortsighted policies that cost money in the long-term. As we have in previous years, we urge that cuts in the Recreation Department be restored so that our swimming pools remain swimming pools, not ornamental fountains. The summers are long and hot. Children need exercise and they need to learn how to swim for their own safety. Closing the pools robs our children of the simple pleasures and the necessary skills that other children have. Let me move now to the One Philadelphia focus, which is taxes. 3201 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Philadelphia has had the luxury of reducing business taxes and retaining the millage on property taxes for a long time now. It is a luxury that we can no longer afford. Municipalities across the state are able to raise their school taxes and property taxes to pay for the rising cost of services.
Philadelphia, on the other hand, has reduced our gross receipts tax on businesses by 50 percent and the total tax liability of Philadelphia businesses has dropped by 13 percent. We asked the Council oppose further 14 reductions to the City's Business Privilege 15 Tax at this time. 16 While there is not a consensus on 17 much in our local economy, there is a 18 consensus that tax cuts that result in service 19 cuts undermine the City and the well-being of 20 residents. The service cuts have already begun. We cannot afford further tax reductions that will further erode services. We can't invest in services if we don't have the dollars. With less from the federal and state levels we don't believe it will be 3202 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET responsible to take more money out of the public purse. As we know, and as SUPA has pointed out, less public money usually means less services for the public. Cities like Dallas, Houston and Phoenix have low tax rates, but their per capita expenditures on libraries are also the lowest among comparison cities. The moral of the story is simple. You can have low taxes, you can have well funded libraries, but you can't have both. We believe that you need to invest in schools, playgrounds, libraries and arts. That's what helps cities thrive. We urge you to do what you can now to restore the proposed service cuts, to reject further cuts. As the federal government is now appealing to our most selfish interests in cutting programs to the most vulnerable and passing along their deficits to local governments, we urge you to hold firm. Thank you.
Two more brief witnesses. I also do have testimony from Linda 3203 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Rhym, who's the vice president of District Council 47. We'd just like to hand this up.
That will be given to the stenographer to be transcribed in full.
Good afternoon, Council President Verna and other Councilpeople. I speak here as general counsel at Community Legal Services, but also as a former member of the Tax Reform Commission. My concern is that you'll hear today, I think validly so, from most people who will speak about the need for increased funding for services in the City, and I think what's really important to know is that we're not really talking about cuts this year. We're talking about an erosion of services that's been going on for a number of years. Right now before any more cuts, it could take up to three months for a woman with suspected breast cancer to have an examination 3204 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET at a City health district. That's the waiting time for City health districts. For someone with a roof falling in in a building, it could take up to two or three months for L&I to have a building inspector come to determine whether there's a threat to life and safety from a building hazard. That's present day Philadelphia. It's not with further cuts in services, with more tax cuts that we know will further erode services. Abbreviating my testimony, I wanted to just focus on one factor which you may not hear a lot from other people today, and that's the effect of federal and state budget cuts on the City. I don't have to go down the list -- it's a very long list -- of President Bush's proposed cuts that the US House is about to adopt. But at the state level, attention hasn't been given to some things in Governor Rendell's budget. In his budget is a proposed $400 million cut in the state Medicaid program, the health safety net program that supports all people of low income and the uninsured in 3205 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Philadelphia. In his proposals, people will be limited to just one hospitalization or two in an entire year. Three prescriptions would be paid for by Medicaid, or six for some others. One ambulance ride a year. Limited doctors visits. This will have enormous impact on the true health and lives of people, but also, since this is a budget hearing, on the City budget. The City Health Department will not be getting Medicaid revenues that are being relied on in this budget to balance the budget. They're not going to get Medicaid revenues from prescriptions because they simply won't be prescriptions that will be covered under the Medicaid program. People who won't get into hospitals or into doctors will go to free care at health districts, which will burden the City Health Department even more. I just mention this as one example. There are many others in the federal budget, some in the state budget, that are going to be coming down the pike. I'm saying this really 3206 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET in the context of those -- and it's maybe a minority voice in today's hearing -- those who still say, let's cut City taxes. Let's end forever over time the Business Privilege Tax. Whatever merit that had at one point -- and I don't think it really had much merit -- and I speak as a member of the Tax Reform Commission who sat there day after day after day, asking some tough questions which were never answered about the beneficial impacts of these proposed cuts -- I say the record has not been made to show that these tax cuts will bring us the nirvana of jobs that have been promised. In fact, the very people who proposed the tax cuts -- and some of them are pretty mainstream economists -- said, when those tax cuts impinge on City public services, you're not going to get any of the benefits that we're hypothetically predicting. I think we're at that brink today where we're seeing how essential City services' infrastructure is being hurt by the finances of the City. I think we have to just pull in and say, tax cuts may be great, but it's for 3207 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET another day. It's not for today. With those, I conclude my remarks. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Stein. Our next witness?
I want you to know you are well past your time. If you give us your testimony, it will be circulated to the Councilmembers and a copy will be given to the stenographer. It will be transcribed in full, so I would ask that you summarize your testimony, if you will. Thank you.
Basically I'm not an expert on programs. I'm not an economist. I do know something about the City Charter. Fundamentally the issue for Council is whether or not it wants to take a great theoretical leap into a future which it doesn't have any control over. If Council does in fact eliminate revenues from the City, under the Charter, unfortunately, it's up to 3208 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET the Mayor -- notwithstanding Judge Carafiello's decision -- hopefully it will be withheld. But the Charter pretty much makes clear that the Mayor can withhold spending. He can overspend in certain departments. He can under spend. He can do any number of things, which Mr. McPherson is very familiar with, that pretty much direct the way in which programs are going to be cut or not cut, increased or not increased. So the problem is that if Council has a vision of how it would like the City to be run without these extra revenues, it can't ensure that those priorities are in fact going to be implemented. I think that's wrong. I think that the body that decides how to raise revenue also is the body, in American government, as this is the case, it's also the Body that decides how revenues are going to be spent. If you reduce revenues and you know that there's a way to share that pain or eliminate pain you ought to be able to enact that kind of budget. 3209 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET What I'm suggesting is that, particularly given all the cuts that have been made, all of the strains on the City budget, all the difficulty facing the future, if and when Council chooses to cut revenue, it also needs to put in front of the voters the notion that we should have a fully empowered legislative body that can enact a full agenda for the City, subject to mayoral input, of course. Not a Council dictatorship. Not a strong Council form of government, but a traditional American form of government in which Council decides what the revenues are and Council decides how monies are going to be spent. Unfortunately, we don't have that now. In the absence of that, I think it really is fiscally irresponsible to be cutting taxes at a time when services are under such substantial strain and going to the breaking point, as previous witnesses have said. That's what I wanted to bring to Council today.
Thank you very much. We appreciate your coming in to 3210 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET testify. Thank you all. Our next witnesses will be?
The next group, Rashon Goodin, Jermaine King, Mustafa Bradpher, Irene Russell, Jim Helman, Mike McCrea.
Mr. McPherson, who is going to testify first? Kindly identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
My name is Rashon Goodin. Good afternoon, President Verna and Members of City Council. My name is Rashon Goodin. I am years old and a student at 17 Saint John Neuman and Saint Marie Goretti High School. I live in Point Breeze. I'm here on behalf of public recreation. I feel as though public recreation is important to the community because it makes a difference in a child's life. I think without public recreation there will be nothing for kids to do except to do things that are not right. 3211 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Public recreation helps to make me what I am today. I'm a young black man living in a diverse community with everyday hardships and temptations. There have been a lot of drug-related shootings around my neighborhood, but public recreation is what kept me away from all of that. My neighborhood's recreation center is Vare Recreation Center. They have a lot of programs there to keep me occupied and away from street violence. Now I can take an example from those who have helped me, and I am giving back to the community. This summer will be the second that I will work at Vare as a lifeguard. The staff at Vare helped me to get that job because they believed in me. No 18 matter what I did, the staff understood and helped me get through it. Last summer I organized the basketball league for teenagers aged 18 and under. We set up teams and picked our referees and made the schedules for games. I did this with the help of Vare staff and community leaders. They were there when no 3212 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET one else was, and for that we all are grateful. This summer we will start our second annual league, and we know the Vare staff will be there again. I really believe in public recreation because they believed in me first. I know I will want my children to be a part of public recreation. Our City needs more public recreation, not less. Please help us keep public recreation open. Thank you.
Thank you, Rashon. I notice that tomorrow we're going to be recognizing your basketball team from school, their big win. And I'm so glad to see that there is some communication between the two schools now. That's great. Are you enjoying the coed?
Good afternoon, President Verna, and Members of City Council. My name is Esther McCrea. I am 15 years old 3213 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET and a resident of the Feltonville section of Northeast Philadelphia. Both the Feltonville Recreation Center and the Wyoming Library are within walking distance from my house. Therefore, I use both very frequently. Also, I am currently a TLA, teen library aide, at the Wyoming Library and will be a summer camp counselor for the second time at the Feltonville Recreation Center over the summer. So as you can see, I am one of those people who will be affected if the budget cuts are approved. The following are some of the many reasons why these budget cuts are a bad thing: First, as a TLA, my one main job is to help the kids, and personally I enjoy doing it. Helping kids with homework or typing a report on the computer is something that makes me feel important. If the budget cuts are approved, I won't have as much time to help the children, especially the ones who are in the extended day program at the schools directly across the street from the Wyoming 3214 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Library, Barton Elementary and Central East Middle School. These children go to a program after school that helps them with math and reading. The children don't get out until 4:30. A half hour is not enough time to do homework or projects, is it? I don't think so. Also, many of the children come to the library to use the computers because they don't have computers at home. The children in the extended day program will not get computer time because they get out 4:30, and by then there will be no more computer times left. I don't think that's fair to the children. Secondly, as a person who travels around to various parts of the City, I have seen the positive influences recreation centers have made in very violent neighborhoods, but I also see how bad the communities that don't have a recreation center are. The recreation centers provide a place for kids and teens to go to get away from whatever is bothering them. And they can just have fun. 3215 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET I personally like to go and sit in the park beside the recreation center and listen to the sounds that come out. Yeah, you hear all the normal sounds of a work place, phones ringing, people talking, et cetera. But amid all that I hear something that just warms my heart, and that sound is laughter. Someone laughing at a joke their friend told them, kids laughing as they play in the gym. It is that sound that I would miss if these budget cuts are approved and rec centers are closed. Yeah, I will hear kids laughing again, but never as much as I hear echoing out of the recreation centers. So in conclusion the only thing I really have left to say is this: If the budget cuts are approved, you are taking away the hearts of many communities. The children, you are destroying the biggest save havens for kids in the City. Therefore, you are taking away from the children because there will be no place to protect them from the violence in the City of Philadelphia.
Thank you. 3216 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET (Applause.)
Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon, Council President Verna and Members of the Council. My name is Brittaney Barksdale. I am years old and attend Benjamin Franklin 10 High School, also in the 10th grade. 11 Before D. Finnegan Recreation Center 12 was open, I didn't really have a place to hang 13 out or meet new people in the neighborhood. 14 Most of the time I was getting into fights and 15 running the streets. I was bored and there just wasn't a lot to do in our neighborhood. Being involved in the programs at Finnegan gave me the chance to get to know a lot of people in the neighborhood. I began volunteering and helping the center to look better, as well as the neighborhood around the center. I was given the task of maintaining the Peace Players across the street from the playground. Soon my friends started helping me to keep it 3217 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET clean. Because of my involvement, I attended the Teen Summit that was held at Vare Recreation Center last year. I've also gone on trips and had a lot of fun with all the activities that are now going on at the center. On April 21st, 2005 I will receive the Youth Volunteer Award at the Philadelphia Recreation Center Advisory Council banquet. My whole family has benefited from having this center open. My dad started volunteering and now has a maintenance position at the site and is the president of D. Finnegan Advisory Council. My little sister is proud of what I do now and she also helps out and performs with the drill team. I came here today to tell you my story of how public recreation has helped me to become a better person, to urge you to continue to support recreation centers and programs. There are many children who could tell you their stories, but I am glad and proud that I got the chance to tell you mine. Thank you. That it is all. 3218 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET (Applause.)
Thank you. Congratulations on your award. I know you're referring to the Donald Finnegan Rec Center, are you not?
The record will so reflect that, please. Do we have any other witnesses to testify in this panel? I just would like to let you know that you are really great for all of you taking the time out of your very busy days to come and to testify so that we truly understand how the general public feels. Thank you so much for coming in. Our next witness?
Good afternoon, City Council, Honorable Anna Verna and City Councilmembers. My name is Mustafa Bradpher. I am the interim president for Smith Playground. I greet City Council today with hopes of a new beginning with the reorganized 3219 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Smith Playground Advisory Council. We are excited to be a part of the fine history of recreation services to the residents of the City of Philadelphia, particularly South Philadelphia and the Point Breeze and Wilson Park community. Our youth today are at risk and headed toward troubled times if it was not for the vision and commitment of the honorable Councilmembers who realize that if we abandon our recreation centers, we also abandon our youth. I am here today to thank City Council for their insight and leadership and support towards recreation in the City of Philadelphia, recreation that nurtures the aspirations of our children, as well as the emotional and physical health that allows our youth to explore their limits within the spirit of competition through sports. The challenge of providing youth with recreational programming that enriches their lives and provides steps towards a healthier Philadelphia is the most important 3220 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET endeavor that you as City Councilmembers are able to provide us with; summer camps, sports leagues, after school programs and the best alternatives to youth falling pray to the streets. The advisory council at Smith Playground is excited to serve the residents, children and youth in our community. We are prepared to take active responsibility in the revitalization of Smith Playground to make the playground a safe and healthy environment for children and youth to play, to learn, to be inspired to greater endeavors. Our council believes in the shared vision and responsibility to create innovation in recreational and health initiatives that benefits children and youth and the residents of the Point Breeze and Wilson community. Innovations will be the key to the revitalization of the playground. Imagine the concept of inter-generational focussed activities that promote healthy behaviors, healthy environments, fitness utilizing sports and 3221 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET intervention/prevention activities that include residents utilizing the facility. Our need to increase physical activity is identified and evident through the reports of the Department of Health, Steps to a Healthier Philadelphia. Our children and youth and adults suffer greatly from health disparities of asthma, diabetes and obesity. Philadelphia children and youth lead the nation through the burden of chronic disease suffered by families living in Philadelphia today. The Smith Playground Advisory Council feels we have a great opportunity to make an impact to reduce the causes of asthma, diabetes and obesity through creating innovative programming and recreational and health initiatives. The Smith Playground Advisory Council hopes to demonstrate this concept collectively through collective works creating a new service model that supports recreation with new initiatives, co-op through the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services. 3222 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Through the sharing of resources collectively, SPAC believes the Philadelphia Recreational Department has the capacity to provide tangible services to address the issues of recreation and health and human services to provide our children and youth with quality of life and success for the future. We, the executive board, are asking for your consideration and assistance with this concept of collaborative works between agencies that we are prepared to initiate. We are asking City Council's support. Those of us who grew up as children know what a resource of pride and joy Smith Playground provided.
Let us once again provide the same experiences for our children who desperately need recreational activities as a means for development with a clean and safe environment so that our youth can strive. The vision of inter-generational programming linked with promoting healthy behaviors and environments at Smith Playground is innovative in concept that may be 3223 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET duplicated throughout the City of Philadelphia, customized to the needs of area residents. The Smith Playground Community Advisory Council offers to provide this plan as a working model with the coordination of allocations of resources between the Department of Recreation, the Department of Public Health, partnering with residents consisting of a unique opportunity to make an impact on the children and youth and working families utilizing needed innovations and recreation programming. On behalf of the residents, children and youth of South Philadelphia, Point Breeze and Wilson Park communities, I thank you.
Good afternoon, Council President Verna, Councilmembers and citizens. My name is Irene Russell, president of the Friends of Stinger Square and artists at Donald Finnegan playground, also a member of the Grays Ferry partnership. Each year I come to this table to 3224 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET extol the need for our recreation areas and our parks to remain open and supported. In the past I've come weeping and wailing for help with Stinger Square Park in Donald Finnegan Playground. This year I come boldly and with optimism. Stinger Square and Donald Finnegan are now thriving hubs of activity in our community, attracting swelling crowds and giving children a safe haven in an area plagued by guns and violence. Last year when I sat here, Finnegan was on the chopping block and things looked bleak for the facility. This year Finnegan boasts a computer center, an after school program with 57 children registered, a Phillies rookie baseball league hosted by our site and many other programs, including summer camp. Stinger Square actually had 13 concerts last summer, due to the fact that every act we booked came back and did a free concert as their way of giving back to our community. Last year there was an epidemic of violence in Grays Ferry, but none of it came to either of these sites. These places have 3225 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET gained the respect within the community, even from those who commit acts of violence. There are now two active advisory councils working hard to enhance the programming that already exists and to find new ways of bringing children and adults to take advantage of what we offer. We are fostering the desire to read among children and it's working. Finnegan has partnered with the Free Philadelphia Branch after holding its second Read-a-Thon in March. Children were awarded gift certificates for the most books read 14 and best book reports. The results showed us 15 that children are reading more and writing 16 better reports than the last time. This is an 17 encouraging development because it shows us 18 what we're doing here is working for the 19 children who come to our programs. 20 Volunteerism is up and parental involvement is 21 increasing. 22 I've come here today to say we've 23 done our part. I've come here today to ask 24 you to try to do your part by continuing to 25 support quality programming in our public 3226 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET recreation facilities in our communities. The Department of Recreation mandated by the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter has been diligently serving our youth for over 50 years. It is solidly in place and totally accountable to the taxpayers of this City. It is a resource to the children and families throughout Philadelphia. With all of the changes happening in our City, this is one thing we can't afford to change.
Thank you. Thank you for all the wonderful work that you do. Thank you. (Applause.)
Good afternoon, Members of City Council. My name is Jim Helman. I'm a resident of Grays Ferry, where I am very active on matters that affect my community. I'd like to take just a moment to talk with our 2nd District Members of City Council. President Verna, the Advisory Councils at Smith Playground, Chew Playground, Wharton Square Park, Vare Recreation Center, Finnegan Playground and Stinger Square Park 3227 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET and the Grays Ferry Partnership, consisting of the Committee of Concerned Citizens, Forgotten Bottom Neighborhood Association, Friends of Stinger Square, Grays Ferry Community Council, Martin Luther King's Village Community Association and the South Philadelphia Rainbow Committee, along with South Philadelphia H.O.M.E.S., Incorporated, the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition, and the Point Breeze Avenue Business Association have all authorized me to tell you that in Point Breeze and Grays Ferry, we recognize and very much appreciate your continued strong support for public recreation in our communities, and we want to thank you for your support.
I am an advocate for public recreation in Philadelphia. I'm privileged to serve as secretary treasurer of Vare Recreation Center where I was recently elected by my community to a third two-year term. I also participate on four other public recreation advisory councils in South 3228 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Philadelphia. I am active in and support the City-wide Philadelphia Recreation Advisory Council, or PRAC, where I serve as chairman of the PRAC legal committee, member of the PRAC budget committee and editor of the PRAC newsletter. President Verna, every year I come to City Council and testify in support of public recreation in Philadelphia, and every year for the last five years, the Street Administration has found a way to damage public recreation in our City, either with budget cuts or with staffing cuts because of a hiring freeze or by providing funding for private programs, but not for public recreation programs and a whole variety of other things. To be honest with you, I thought about my testimony this year, and I decided that I was going to leave all the niceties at home. I just don't want to sit here and recite facts and figures anymore. I want to tell it the way I see it from the streets of South Philadelphia and from the streets of 3229 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET many other communities in our City. I'm going to do that even at the risk of becoming maybe slightly more controversial than I already am. Public recreation was once strong in our City, but lately it's become quite a pity. With a Mayor who don't care, there's no 8 funding he'll share. While his cronies are talking about cuts and Council balking, it's almost too much for our programs to bear. Right size and cut this and cut that, close this, even if it's not fat. The need today is much greater, and we'll pay for this later with services that are totally flat. The Mayor's wife, whose name is Ms. Post, thinks she is smarter than most. Some kids they did fund. Many others got none. Public rec was excluded because they're deluded. Private programs can't benefit everyone. Privatize is the word from the boss. Public funding has faced quite a loss. Most figures now show that our kids take the blow. Give us funding, we say. But it's not pay to 3230 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET play, so the Mayor acts like he doesn't know. Private funding has not shown much reward. Their own figures are not above board. All that money is gone with a wing and a song. So much time has gone by. Negative figures don't lie. Crime is up and violence is rolling, while CIS keeps on extolling the same stuff that experience will deny. Well, let's keep that playground open. We can use it just as a token. Then they'll sit around laughing because they won't provide staffing. We'll just twist in the breeze of their hiring freeze. Simply put their attitude is baffling. A hearing was called to address. The state of our kids is a mess. Reynolds Brown was not very endearing. Public rec didn't get a fair hearing. She says the glass is half full, but we know that's a whole lot of bull. She claims to be a mentor, but acted more like a sensor. The official line she'll repeat, for her buddy, Mayor Street. Lately there's been so much killing. All the blood that's been spilling. Our 3231 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET children are dying. Families are crying. Violence in the school. The gun is the rule. We need programs and actions with less political factions. We must face up to the truth. We must do for our youth. For over 50 years public rec's been in the mix. We don't claim to have every fix. But we've been around a long while and we've adapted our style. We've done what we could. There's so much more that we should do, to contribute to every neighborhood. One day Mayor Street's term will be through and the bill for his follies will come due. There will be some sensation with the new mayor's creation.
There might be some disgrace, even egg on the face, because the answer has been public recreation. Thank you. )
Who is our next witness? Thank you. If you will just leave a copy of your testimony and simply summarize, we would 3232 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET really appreciate it.
I can do that. I just appreciate you giving time to the kids. We brought the kids here because I thought that was a perspective that everybody needed to hear. We get a chance to do it every year, but we thought it would be nice for the kids to get a chance. I appreciate that. Attached to my testimony you will see at the end -- I just wanted to give everybody a chance -- there are facilities 13 that the Recreation Department does not have 14 at least a minimum staffing level, and five of 15 those it looks like we won't be able to staff 16 at all unless they reduce their hiring freeze. 17 Two of those five are facilities 18 that are being rehabbed right now. Emmanuel was opening in June, and right now we have nobody to staff that facility. Gustine Lake will open sometime in the fall, September, October, and that has two spots available we still can't fill. I believe the last I looked at our numbers, our staffing numbers at programs were 3233 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET about 216 or 217. Last year's budget figures, we were budgeted for 234. This coming proposed budget we're at 225, so we're already way below that already. We just can't even minimally staff the facilities that are there. So I think that's going to be my message, along with everything else that I put out. Again, I appreciate you giving the kids some time. Thank you.
I just want to understand what you're saying. On the list that you've provided us, it is your understanding that the facilities with the asterisks will not be staffed at all?
At this present moment, we can't without un-staffing another facility. That's correct.
Thank you. Thank you all very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco.
Thank you, Madam President. 3234 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Good afternoon, everyone. I think, Mr. McCrea, you may have been here a week or two ago when we heard testimony from the Department of Recreation.
You may have been here at the same hearing when we had an individual who is a Department of Rec employee. I don't remember what his exact title was, but he's affiliated with Camp William Penn.
He testified, if I recall correctly, that during the off season, the 48 weeks a year or 47 weeks a year that no one is using Camp William Penn, that part of his job description requires him or brings him into the City of Philadelphia to go to various rec centers and maybe schools in the City of Philadelphia to talk about programs at Camp William Penn. Are any of these centers or these districts that you have in your testimony, do 3235 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET you know of any time when that individual or any other individual who works at Camp William Penn has ever been engaged in any activities within the City of Philadelphia at any of our rec centers?
I'm not aware. But then again, I don't work for the Department, so I don't know that firsthand. But I'm not aware of it, no. 11
But within your position, involvement, with the Department of Recreation Advisory Council, are you aware of any of those rec centers throughout the City that have benefited by the expertise or whatever that gentleman does for Camp William Penn and how it may relate to neighborhood recreation centers?
How long have you been with the advisory council now?
I've been with my advisory council for about 16 years. I've been a volunteer probably about 20. 3236 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET
Did you ever see that individual who was here a couple of weeks ago?
At different department functions and at meetings and things. But not at a facility. I'll grant you that. I don't believe he's been at a facility. I don't believe so.
Do you know of any of the kids who -- and I'm sure that there are some because testimony indicates that there's 400 or 500 children from Philadelphia who go to Camp William Penn over a three to four week period. Do you know of any of the kids in any of these centers that are on your list that may attend Camp William Penn?
I believe there are probably quite a few. In most of those neighborhoods we have kids that attend. It's 3237 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET done by district, not by facility. All told, I guarantee you there's children in every one of those facilities that go to Camp William Penn.
In the scheme of things, there are about 500 children, and that's what's been testified to for the last couple of years, somewhere between 400 and 500 kids that go to Camp William Penn. But in the scheme of things, that's a very small number in the scheme of things when you look at all the departments and the other programs that go on throughout the year. You know where I'm going with this, right?
Camp William Penn, I'm sure, is a great thing for 500 kids four weeks a year, but we're concerned about 52 weeks a year and providing programs and not having two people sit in a mountain retreat for 48 weeks a year, being paid by the citizens of this City. So I have a real 3238 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET problem with that, and that's why I'm trying to find out if you knew anything about that program.
The next panel, Nancy Goldenberg, Peggy Amsterdam, Harriet Lessy, Donna Brown and Amir Joshua.
Good afternoon, Council President Verna and esteemed Members of City Council. We have some testimony that we're passing around. My name is Peggy Amsterdam, and as president of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, a membership organization representing over 300 arts and cultural institutions in the region, I'm here to testify in support of a continued public investment in arts and culture in the City's 3239 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Fiscal Year 2006 Operating Budget and Five-Year Plan. I'm going to summarize a bit to make sure we have time for everyone to testify. I want to also alert you that Harriet Lessy was not able to be here today, but we are submitting her testimony also for the record.
Thank you. That will be given to the stenographer.
Thank you. Today I strongly urge you to continue City support to our cultural agencies. A great City like ours needs to set the example for public investment in arts and culture. The sustainability of our cultural assets requires a delicate balance of funding that starts with leadership from the City. This investment in arts and culture agencies and institutions such as the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Atwater Kent Museum, to name a few, is an economic strategy that produces notable results. 8 million more 6 visitors in 2004 than all four major athletic 7 teams combined. This shows that people care 8 about arts and culture, and this care includes 9 business people and residents, as well as 10 tourists. 11 Students involved in arts and 12 culture score higher on their SAT scores. 13 Since 91 percent of City schools offer no 14 instrumental music classes and 17 percent 15 offer no vocal music classes, parents must 16 rely on the 229 non-profit cultural 17 organizations that offer these and other arts 18 courses and services to our City's children. 19 These programs are often combined with after 20 school care and youth development programs 21 that assist families with a wide array of 22 child service needs. 23 Our cultural organizations would not 24 be the incredible assets that they are if 25 their reputations diminish. A loss of 3241 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET operating support jeopardizes not only programs, but facilities' needs, such as security systems and collections storage. Shortages in these areas jeopardize the ability of a museum to achieve the necessary national accreditation. For institutions such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art, accreditation signifies the credibility of a museum and its ability to attract donations, as well as the ability to attract national and international blockbuster exhibits, like Dali, that have a high economic impact on other businesses, including hotels, restaurants, shops, taxis, et cetera. Public support for arts and culture is essential. A City's art and culture illustrates and documents the way its residents live. It advances the way we think and interact. It is our present and our legacy, and without it we are lost. It is this City's leadership in supporting arts and culture that will help to attract corporate and individual contributions. 3242 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET I am heartened that the Mayor recognizes and publicly acknowledged that we must raise an endowment or other permanent funding stream to support the arts and culture of our City. But cutting the budgets every year is absolutely the wrong way to go. We all know that the public support shown here is the stimulus that encourages foundation and benefactors to contribute. On behalf of the cultural representatives here today and the many who could not join us, I thank Council for their past support and ask that you value your previous investments by continuing to invest. I also want to congratulate you on your past support of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. Support to the cultural fund and its 224 grantees has significant results. 190 kids in North Philadelphia receive arts-based after school and summer day care. In South Philadelphia 3,373 people take tuition-free art classes at Fleischer Art Memorial. Of the students involved in arts programming at Point Breeze Performing Arts 3243 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Center, 80 percent go on to college. The cultural community needs your help. We need the leadership here in this room, and we and many others who have given generously of their time and money stand by to help. If we want to see our economy grow, our neighbors vibrant, our kids educated for the demands of the 20th century workforce, we need your help in finding a solution. I can tell you the solution will not be cutting our budgets and phasing out City support.
I thank you for the opportunity to be here before you today and hope that your completed budget includes funding for the arts. I also want to take one minute to thank Carol Finkel for making sure that these hearings have been sign interpreted for our deaf attendees, and as she makes sure all the time, that our performances are interpreted as well. Thank you very much. )
Thank you. 3244 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record.
Hello. My name is Amir Joshua. I'm with Art Sanctuary, a community organization in North Philadelphia. I just wanted to say that Art Sanctuary recognizes the importance of government funding for organizations like Art Sanctuary. This is no more evident than the assistance we have received from Philadelphia County black elected officials who assisted us with this past year's celebration of Black Writing festival, as well as the support received from Councilpersons Darrell Clarke, Blondell Reynolds Brown, Jannie Blackwell and Mayor Ms. Naomi Street. Our organization is a member of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, headed by Ms. Peggy Amsterdam here. For me, it's pretty simple. The arts is the foundation of civilization. When I look at the community I work with in North Philadelphia and the children and the options and the things that they have, it's evident 3245 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET the impact that arts have in their life as a positive, transformative experience for them. So as policy makers we just hope to continue the funding, to continue the support, and we urge that strongly, sincerely and without reservation. Thank you.
Good afternoon, President Verna and Members of City Council. My name is Donna Brown, and I'm the director of Point Breeze Performing Arts Center in the Point Breeze neighborhood of South Philadelphia. I'm here today to implore that the City's cultural fund budget not be cut. Art and culture is always the first cut to be made to any budget because it is viewed as a frivolous expenditure, when in fact most artists and art administrators work in small to med-sized arts organizations. I know at Point Breeze our payroll is over $750,000 a year. It makes a significant impact in the terms of what we pay in taxes. Not only do we make an impact on our 3246 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET community, but the City in general. And our impact is significant. We serve our youth and we're open seven days a week serving at-risk, very under-served populations. The Philadelphia Cultural Fund allows us to keep our fees reasonable and our lights on and to provide a myriad of services that, in addition to arts training, also include homework help, counseling, computer access, SAT prep and college assistance. Most of the students who attend our program pay little or no fees for participation. A majority of the youth in our area do not leave the area for arts and culture or recreation. Consequently, when there are no activities, they turn to the streets, which is a powerful motivator. We serve over a thousand youth in our program. We have a zero percent pregnancy rate, a zero percent young fatherhood rate. If the students stay three years of high school, 90 percent of them go on to college. We have a truly success story. A young man came through the doors 3247 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET in 1992, and he was just aimless. He went on to become a truly great artist. He went to Alvin Ailey. He was the youngest member to ever go with them at years old. He stayed 6 for five years and now he's touring with 7 Beyonce and he's only 24 years old. He is 8 truly a remarkable success story. If it had 9 not been for Point Breeze he would be probably 10 the local drug dealer. 11 So I implore you, please. General 12 operating funds are difficult to come by. 13 Everybody wants you to do a sexy program when 14 what you really need is to be able to keep the 15 doors open and pay your people. 16
Thank you, 17 Donna. I know of your program and, believe me, I want to publicly thank you for all the work that you and Al do for the entire community. It's really been a dream come true, but it's not gone the full way. We will see it. Councilman Cohen.
I wanted to know what was the budget for the Cultural Fund? 3248 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET What's the figure for the Cultural Fund?
How come? How come there's not a certain sum of money coming from outside sources?
My name is Nancy Goldenberg. I'm the president of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. Would you like me to give my testimony first?
Historically for the past 12 years, our funding has come exclusively from the City of Philadelphia. That is the mission of the Cultural Fund. That's where our funding comes from. We on occasion do get outside grants for special projects or studies that we undertake, but the general operating dollars that go to the 224 organizations come from the City of Philadelphia. 3249 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET
Why is that? Why don't you go out and raise funds from the public? Philadelphia is a great supporter of the cultural arts. It seems to me that you have a great program and you ought to be supported by the people of Philadelphia, not just through tax money, but through individual contributions. I agree with your position that there ought to be much more money going for cultural purposes. I can't understand why no 13 effort is being made to raise funds, as all other groups generally do, from the public, as well as from the City. Generally we regard City funds as supplemental to efforts made to collect money from outside sources. We don't regard City money as money which is the basis of these cultural programs. We want to give it to show support by the government. But particularly at this point in time when the City is so pressed for money, it would seem to me the most desirable way would be to go out and have a budget request for double your regular 3250 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET budget to come from the outside sources. Why not?
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund was set up for the purpose of distributing City funding, and that's what we do. We do not want to compete with other organizations and funding sources that those groups who receive our grants also seek funding from. We're very careful not to be seen as competitive. Again, the mission and reason the Cultural Fund was set up in 1991 was to disperse City funding.
That's not the reason the Cultural Fund was set up. The Cultural Fund was set up when a perfectly fine program ran into political hurdles. It used to be a program that was administered by City Council. It was felt that Council was not doing the right things. So this program was substituted. I never once heard it ever mentioned anywhere in Council that this fund was to only live on City money. It was always our feeling that City money shows City support, but it's 3251 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET only to be a small portion of money. It seems to me that the big arts groups and cultural groups must be involved in this somehow or other and must be attempting to clean out the competition by keeping your groups from competing for funds. It seems to me it's much more important for City people to strengthen the efforts of neighborhood groups, small groups, groups just starting out on initiatives to get support than it is for them to support the well-established groups. I'd like to ask your board to reconsider that position. I don't think Councilmembers understood that sole support came from the City or ever were given a reason for doing that.
I will certainly take your request to the board. You are a board member yourself, so we'd welcome you to come to that meeting and participate.
Does any board member remember a time when that was explained to City Council? 3252 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET
I believe that Councilwoman Tasco has a point of information.
Councilman Cohen, we have had that discussion in the board meeting of the Cultural Fund. I sort of repeat and support -- and we may differ on this issue -- the organizations who receive funding from the Cultural Fund also raise money from other sources. So if we're raising money, they're raising money, they're donors will say, we're giving to the Cultural Fund, and we're not going to give to you. It's a competition for the limited dollars that are there for the Cultural Fund to go out and raise money and compete with Point Breeze or any of the other groups that also raise money from the broader public. They have fund-raisers. They go to corporate community to raise dollars. And if we're doing the same thing, then it becomes an either, or. It's not usually where people will give to both. 3253 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET
The model of business generally is that competition is good for everybody.
Well, having been on the board of an art institution that was constantly trying to find funding, we do run into the problem of competition.
I would like to see, Councilwoman, this issue revisited.
Councilman Cohen, let me just say this to you: The issue was revisited with the board. The board took a vote, and I think their vote determined what the policy of the board is going to do.
I said the board had this discussion. The board took a vote on what policy it would follow. And I think once we took that vote it was 99 percent unanimous, and so I think the board has taken a position on that.
Thank you, Councilwoman. 3254 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET
If you're indicating that the board has reached a decision to depend solely on City funds, then you raise a very serious question as to whether or not the City should continue to support such a fund.
It seems to me that the real support for small groups is not really here, and that somehow the big groups are using the Cultural Fund for the purpose of erasing competition and not for the interest of what the Cultural Fund really exists for, and that's the development in our neighborhoods of new outbursts of artistic growth.
Well, we should have that discussion. Not at this time.
I agree. Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kelly.
Thank you, Madam 3255 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Chair. I just want to go on the record to say that I agree with the decision that the board made, along with Councilwoman Tasco. I think that the large institutions, large cultural institutions, that we have bring in a lot of revenue for this. In fact, it's a great investment because any dollar that we give, we get back three-fold from those institutions. And I think that very revenue is going to support the smaller institutions so that they're enabled to do something for the City of Philadelphia. Again, it was the right decision and I think they're going in the right direction. I support that decision. Thank you, Madam President. (Applause.)
Thank you. Good afternoon. Nice seeing you again.
Thank you. I do have copies of my testimony. Good afternoon. 3256 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET My name is Nancy Goldenberg.
Nancy, we will distribute the testimony. A copy will be given to the stenographer. It will be transcribed in full, so I will ask you to please try to abbreviate.
Sure. I have the honor of serving as president of the Cultural Fund. The fund was established, as you know, by Council and the Mayor in 1991 to support and enhance the cultural life and vitality of the City of Philadelphia and its residents to promote arts and culture as engines of social, educational and economic development in the region. We're among the few funding organizations in the region that provide much needed general operating dollars to Philadelphia-based arts and cultural organizations. Joining me is June O'Neill, who is our fund manager. Of our 18 members, let me note that four are City Councilmembers, and I'd like to take the opportunity to thank them for their work; Blondell Reynolds Brown, David 3257 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Cohen, Marian Tasco and Jack Kelly and their staffs. In many ways I know I'm preaching to the choir. Your $2 million investment in the Cultural Fund this year has funded 224 organizations throughout the City. This year's pool of grantees represents a 65 percent increase over the number of grantees years ago when we began. But we believe 11 we've only touched the surface of arts and 12 cultural organizations that serve our communities, and this year we intend to conduct extensive outreach throughout the entire City, and we hope we can count on your assistance to help spread the word. This year our grants range from $750 to $14,500. With the help of a professional consultant we adjusted our funding formula to mirror that of the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts and the Five County Arts Fund. As a result, applicants with small budgets saw a significant increase in their grant amounts, while larger groups experienced decreases. We believe this adjustment was long overdue, that 3258 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET it helps ensure a more efficient and equitable distribution of funds, and that it reflects a mutual desire to support and develop small and emerging arts and cultural organizations so as to achieve diversity, innovation and texture in the City's arts and cultural offerings. Clearly, though, as our success mounts, so does our need for increased funding. In 2003 our board unanimously voted to endorse a long range financial goal for the fund of $5 million in City-supported funds in five years, a recommendation that was based on comparable cities and on the Mayor's own Arts and Culture Transition Committee of 2000. If you do the math, we have $3 million to go in two years. But we recognize and appreciate the City's current financial challenges and do not feel it responsible to ask for an increase this year. However, I have to say parenthetically if in your deliberations you feel so moved, we would greatly accept. If Philadelphia is to remain competitive with other cities, our appropriation must grow. 3259 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Arts and culture play a major role in our City's economy. It attracts and retains students and helps bring hundreds of thousands of tourists to our City each year. But perhaps the most important aspect is that it improves the lives of the resident of Philadelphia. Our grantees educate and keep our youth off the streets, as you have heard. For example, in 1990 the Settlement Music School began operating a unique early childhood program called Kaleidoscope to provide high quality learning environments which use all the expressive arts to intervene with high risk preschool children. Evaluations of this and other arts-based discovery programs, as Peggy mentioned, have enhanced cognitive ability, language development and perceptual and problem solving skills over the more traditional academic learning settings. Our grantees revitalize commercial corridors. If you just take the Sedgewick Arts Center on Germantown Avenue in Mount Airy, Betty and David Felner took a leap of 3260 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET faith nine years ago and purchased this old theater. Today, the corridor is thriving.
Five restaurants are about to open on this three block corridor. Arts and crafts stores opened, as did two gift galleries. Existing landlords are investing in their properties as they never have before and people are no 9 longer asking, is it safe to go there. Our grantees help increase property values. They bring families and neighbors together in ways that lift spirits and establish good will. One of our smallest recipients, the Chinese Opera, reaches over 46,000 people each year. AMLA, the Association of Latin American Musicians, which employs 300 musicians, reaches 85,000 people. The Clay Studio operates a clay mobile that travels from school to school and community center to community center. It reaches 50,000 people per year and engages 3,000 artists in their program. Before closing we'd like to demonstrate the impact of your dollars. First on your desk you will find a clay tile, 3261 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET courtesy of students from the Village of Arts and Humanities. They want you to put this on your desk in your office and think of the Cultural Fund every time you look at it. Next I'd like to introduce two brief performances. The first is an acappella piece by 15-year-old Christa Kasen (ph) of the Georgia E. Gregory Interdenominational School of Music, one of our smallest grantees. Located in North Philadelphia, the school trains in sacred music in the tradition of African-American churches. Her short performance will be followed by a group of teens from the Asian Arts Initiative, a community-based arts center located near Chinatown. The students include Rocky Kev (ph), Leon Young, Sunny Yi (ph), Tyreck Taylor (ph), Linda Cerone, Chris Maja (ph) and teaching artist, Rodney Kamarsi (ph). " Thank you. ) UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank for this opportunity to speak. First, we wanted to say that we are also representatives of our communities. It is a powerful thing to see communities come together and form coalitions in the name of something that they're representing. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: We also wanted to say that another way communities can get their voices heard is through art and making art as important to our communities as possible. (Performance by various speakers:) Art is transformation. Art is healing. Art is a vehicle for change. Art is teaching through transgress. Art is imagining another world is possible. Art has meaning. It means becoming. It means I knock before I come in. I see an old used paint brush and it looks like it would taste like crayons I ate as a kid. 3263 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET I hear the paint brush dying of old age, but I see experience all over it. It looks to me like it has all the artists' souls in it. I see an old dirty, used paint brush that has been used over and over without rest. Toxic smell, body art. Dampness. Messy colors. Sticks. Titanic. Metal. Murals. Old brush with history. The lines are lines. A new note pad that sits on the table. It's white clean bothers me because I want a note pad just like that. Me writing in history class. Me passing notes in history class. The sounds of pens and pencils writing on paper, turning pages to a book. I can hear my youth coming to life as a child. A box of markers with its different colors poking out of the box. Kindergarten, drawing pictures the colors of the rainbow. Skittles and Starburst. Green, pink, green, green, purple, brown, pink, yellow, orange, orange. These 3264 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET are the colors of the Crayola box. I can see art as a weapon and it makes me want to speak my mind. Find my voice. Make it work and be powerful. I see people. I see different races join together as one. Peace, perfection, experience. I can hear the crowd join together. A bunch of trees during the fall. A whole lot of colors. The smell of sesame chicken. Just like them. Lots of paint sticks, it looks like. I want to throw them at people. I want to taste the paint, old paint brushes.
Art matters because art is of the heart, and with art it's a whole lot more than words. Art expresses the best of you. Art matters because it's a form of human expression. If you don't have art you have no soul. Our mind tends to wander, and in that wandering we envision things. With art we try to put that vision on paper. 3265 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Art matters, because art is freedom and freedom is art. Art is not completely defined because art is user specific. It has no 6 agreement on its definition. It's art trying to define a person's life, but it feels good. Experience the orgasm of mind, body and spirit. Feel the euphoria of art work. Feel it. I challenge you. Art matters. )
Ms. Brown, please don't leave. I want to see you a minute. Thank you. That was wonderful. I appreciate you having them come in. I thought they were very good. Our next witness.
Good afternoon, everyone. Art does matter. I loved hearing that, and we're going to reinforce that fact. My name is Arlene Vascola (ph), and I am here with a group of volunteers, 3266 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET membership volunteers, teen docents, many people from the Art Museum who are volunteers who are going to reinforce that. I volunteered for years at the 6 Philadelphia Museum of Art and loved every 7 minute of it. I was a teacher in the public 8 school system. 9 I want to talk a little bit about 10 our education program, but before I do I'd 11 like everybody to look around this room very 12 quickly. I want you to look at what you're 13 wearing, your jewelry, your clothes. I want 14 you to look at the architecture of this room. 15 I want you to look at the chair you're sitting 16 on. Everything in this room, everything you 17 can see, everything you can touch has been 18 designed by an artist, by a designer or an 19 architect. So art does matter. 20 Now, let me share a little bit of 21 what we do in the education department. We 22 serve the tri-state area. We serve 70,000 23 children a year who come through the Art 24 Museum, whose spirits are lifted, whose minds 25 are opened. I hope to open your mind also. 3267 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET We also serve teachers, 2000 teachers who do in-service programs. Let me share a little of what we do. If, for instance, you are in the inner City or in the suburbs, it does not matter. Let's say you have some disabilities, we welcome everyone. We accommodate it. I have done tours for the not sighed, for the blind. We do them at the Rodin Museums, touch tours. We do all manner of things. Let's say, for example, last week I was doing a 7th grade tour, a lesson on the Revolution. It was called, From Colony to Nation. So these children were learning about George Washington and the Revolution. It's wonderful to learn in school. They came in the museum and we showed them everything. We showed them furniture that George Washington would have had, the kinds of things he would have had. We showed them paintings that Charles Wilson Peel did. We showed them every little artifact that had to do with that time frame. I wonder if everyone here knows that 3268 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET the silversmith, Paul Revere, he did silver. We have that collection also. I'm sure everybody here knows that also. So there's so much to open their minds. We have children come in who are studying the Renaissance or the Middle Ages. How many of you have tried on chain mail? Do you know the weight of mail, which is armor? Have you put on a gauntlet that a knight would wear? Have you put on a helmet? This makes art come alive. We just don't do lip service. We add to the curriculum of all the school districts. We open their minds. You know what I'd like to do actually? I want to hold up our teacher program guide. Every teacher gets this. They get to choose what kind of lesson they want with an experienced guide. It's usually an hour or an hour and a half in-depth lesson. I have received many letters from children that absolutely are wonderful and they all end the same way. They end with the idea that they want to come back and they will bring their family back. We encourage them to 3269 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET come on Sundays when it is a donation. We have these children who have never been in an institution like this whose eyes are opened. Their spirits are lifted. Art does matter. I don't have a lot of time and I don't want to take time from other people, but I want to read just one or two lines from letters that I've received. "I personally like the Saint Francis Assisi painting. It was a great painting, but you made it that much better with your explanation of it. Thank you so much. " I mean, just that from a 7th grader is enough to make me do it for another years, if I'm lucky enough to live that 17 long. 18 "I learned many things.
" Now, what a 21 lovely thing for someone to say. " 23 I have loved every minute of it. I 24 could go on and on, but I must give people the 25 opportunity to speak. I thank you so much for 3270 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET listening. I'm going to introduce our teen docent right now.
Good afternoon. My name is Asia Monique Leslie. I'm a sophomore student at Franklin Learning Center and a family greeter every Sunday at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I'm here to speak in support of the City of Philadelphia's continued funding of the Art Museum, one of the City's greatest treasures. A decision by the City to continue its funding of the Art Museum is a commitment to continue investing in students and young people who live within its borders. I stand before you as an example of a young Philadelphian whose family has been affected by the City's investment in the museum. For me and other Philadelphia public school students, the Art Museum is a classroom outside of the traditional school settings. Through the wondrous works housed inside of its picturesque walls, the Art Museum has taught me history, science, politics and, of 3271 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET course, the arts. It has given life to lessons otherwise conveyed through textbooks and blackboards. It has exposed me to possibilities and dreams. By continuing its funding of the Art Museum, the City of Philadelphia will send a loud and clear message: We want our students and young people to be the most learned, the most cultured and the most well rounded of all the world. Together, the City and the museum have already worked successfully towards this goal through a partnership which has enabled students like me to work at the museum as greeters. Through my work as a greeter I have learned valuable lessons about the importance of presentation and communication with others. Every day I meet new and different people from Philadelphia and all parts of the world. I'm given an opportunity to teach others what the museum has taught me. My relationship with the museum has given rise to some of the most rewarding and educational experiences I have ever had. 3272 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Members of City Council, the Philadelphia Museum of Art has made me a better student and a better citizen of this great City. In each of these capacities, I ask you to continue providing financial support for the museum. By doing so, you will be acting to ensure that the museum continues to have the valuable impact on the young people of Philadelphia that it has had on me. Thank you for allowing me the honor of addressing you today.
Could we have your attention, please? Those of you who are having side conversations, we would appreciate it if you would take them to the corridor. You are a distraction to the people who are testifying. Thank you. Go ahead, please.
Hello to all of the City Council Members. My name is Jesse Cortez. I am currently a senior at Saint Joseph's Prep. For the past two years I've been a teen docent at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 3273 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET The Teen Docent Program has afforded me the opportunity to interact with the museum visitors from Philadelphia and around the world in demonstrating art techniques we have represented in our galleries. To be part of one of the programs the museum has to offer to teens from the Philadelphia area has helped me to grow as a Philadelphian, learning to further appreciate the City's great strengths in the arts and also as a student, making me a stronger independent researcher, a better public speaker and expanding my overall knowledge of world culture. By far, though, the most important part of the program to me is the opportunity to enrich the experience of hundreds of museum visitors, along with my fellow teen docents on a weekly basis. The ability to make a child smile, their families excited about exploring art together and the satisfaction that I feel at the end of the day is something that I wish everyone could experience. On behalf of my fellow teen docents, 3274 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET I thank the City Council for their time and hope that you decide to continue funding the Philadelphia Museum of Art and its pursuit of education and awareness through the experience of art. I'd be glad to invite each of you to come to the museum this Sunday when my fellow docents and I are working. I'd also like to welcome the opportunity to further explain my experiences and responsibilities if you have any questions.
Good afternoon. I'm Catherine See (ph), a retired teacher. It's a pleasure for me to address City Council in support of the museum's award winning education programs and to urge full funding. I speak as an advocate for teachers, youth and children, especially those in Philadelphia. For 34 years I was a teacher in the School District of Philadelphia. During that time, I participated in teacher training 3275 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET programs and appreciated being able to bring my students to the museum for gallery lessons. For my students, there was no more popular or effective curriculum than experiences with art. That's more than an opinion. There is convincing data that when students interact with a work of art, they are developing a wide range of higher order thinking skills. I represent just one of hundreds of teachers who have learned strategies for incorporating art into their curriculum. This year there are 13 workshops offered, including a nine day summer course. I'm one of hundreds of teachers who enrich their teaching with materials given by the museum. For example, the reproductions that you see are from sets of posters and resource materials produced by the division of education. There are samples from African-American artists, arts of Asia, the Middle Ages, impressionism, women artists, Mexican art. Each set is given to every public and parochial school in Philadelphia free of charge. 3276 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET As you finalize your budget and the museum's allocation, please consider everyone who will benefit from full funding, among them teachers, and especially children. Thank you.
My name Cindy Blank, and I'm one of the volunteer guides from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I testified here last year and I'm back again this year to talk to you a little bit about what we do at the museum. One of the things that we're all terribly excited about these days is the Dali exhibition. I'm sure that you can't be unaware of the banners and the posters. I know that all of you have been provided with the economic impact statements and projections about the importance of the Dali exhibition. It's a world class exhibition that's been brought to our museum. We're the only American venue, and that's, as I say, very exciting. The galleries are filled every day. 3277 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET And as I say, you know the economic impact of all of that. Let me try to put a face on some of the folks that are in those galleries. In fact, I saw one of them here not too long ago, Councilman Rizzo. I had the pleasure of taking him through the galleries with his beautiful fiancee not too long ago. And so that you should not feel left out, I would invite each and every one of you Councilmen and Councilwomen to come back and schedule a tour to come to the museum, schedule a tour and come see the Dali exhibition with us. It's very, very exciting. Let's talk about some of the other folks that come into those galleries. There's lots of people from other states, from out of town. Last week I took a group from Newark, New Jersey. It's not so far away, but the point is they were coming to see Dali. They were staying in town for lunch and they were headed in the afternoon off to the Balch Institute. So they were spending the day in Philadelphia. 3278 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET How about the young couple that I spoke with last week? They were from Michigan. They said they always wanted to come to Philadelphia, but the Dali exhibition was the perfect excuse for them to come and make a three-day weekend of it with their small child. As well, I should mention that not just the folks that come through the front door are able to see this world class exhibition. We have an extraordinary outreach program at the museum. It is ongoing for the permanent collection at all times. But during a special exhibition such as our current exhibition, we make slides, and these are taken by guides into skilled nursing facilities and retirement homes, and they are shown to people who otherwise might not get a chance to see them. I should also mention that there's an active art talk program. The museum produces a booklet of pictures of a current exhibition, or again, of the permanent collection. These are sent into the homes of 3279 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET people who cannot for one reason or another come to the museum, shut-ins. And then a call, a conference call is organized by a guide and the phone company, and these folks at home are able to participate in a group discussion and tour of whatever the pictures they're looking at. It's a very exciting way to bring the art to all, to make it accessible to all. As well, the guides are involved in providing tours for the unsighted or partially sighted. We do visual description tours in the galleries, and I must say that's very challenging with an artist like Salvador Dali, but it is ever so much fun for us to provide that service to a community that otherwise might not be able to enjoy this first class exhibition. I'm going to pass the mike now over to my colleague, Pat Went (ph), who will tell you a little bit more about the museum.
Thank you very much, Cindy. My name is Patricia Went, and I 3280 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET represent another branch of the guiding system at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I'm a park house guide. What is our mission? Our job is to bring history alive, and our job is to present the overall campus of the museum that does not just include the main building of the Philadelphia Art Museum itself. How do we make history come alive? One of the ways that we do it is guide the historic houses in the park. In Fairmount Park there are seven historic buildings. The Philadelphia Art Museum administers Mount Pleasant, which is currently undergoing a major renovation. It is seen in every significant architectural book in the nation. Also, Cedar Grove. At Cedar Grove we have an extensive education program that serves City students and suburban students, and their ages go from kindergarten through adults returning to school students. The City students attend this program with no charge. The program covers things like exploring the times. We make history come alive by letting them try on children's 3281 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET clothes at the time. Children did wear stays in those days. It was kind of uncomfortable. They play games that were played in colonial times. We talk about food. They look at how showers were taken. They're taught about how laundry was done. Did you know that a gallon of water weighs seven pounds? That makes laundry very difficult in colonial times. We also have something called the Schuylkill Stroll. We start at the Art Museum and we go all the way to the end of Boat House Row. We talk about the outside of the building. We talk about the Water Works. People are astonished to learn that the Water Works in Philadelphia was second only to Niagara Falls. Those were the two places that they wanted to come in the 1850s when they were visiting the City of Philadelphia. We then continue on down Boat House Row. We have rowing in the City because the Water Works built a dam and harnessed the river. Otherwise, we wouldn't have the boating clubs that we've got because the Schuylkill was not navigable at that time. 3282 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET We also will be guiding in the future the Pearlman Building, which will have a state of the art education resource center that will benefit the whole entire City. The Rodin is another part of the extensive system, and park house guides five days a week get on the trolley tours with the City trolley company and we guide historic houses in the park along with the drivers. I want to close with one just brief story, because we actually have City Hall to thank us for the final building of the Art Museum. I have a show and tell. We always have documentation for our facts. This is the Art Museum in 1925. You'll notice that someone had the genius to decide to build the two wings first. So what happens if you build the two wings to the building and you run out of money? Someone helped us out. So we do have you to thank for that. Right now we have absolutely superior management at the Art Museum. But like you didn't leave a hole in our program 3283 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET before, please don't leave any holes in it now. We are trying to reach the entire population of the City in one way or another. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
City of Philadelphia, my name is Michelle DuBraush. I am currently a student member of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and have been for the past three and a half years. I will be graduating from the undergraduate program of the University of Pennsylvania this May. I'm an architectural major and an art history minor. Without the use of the PMA's extensive and precious collections, my experience here in this City and at Penn would have been remarkably different. Our university's art history department relies heavily on the works in the PMA and uses its collection as an indispensable teaching tool. I have not had a single art history course at Penn that does 3284 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET not make at least one trip to the museum during class time. It is not uncommon to find a group of university students walking around the museum and debating the art. Another familiar scene is a student tucked away in a corner, staring intently at a painting, furrowing their brows and vigorously jotting notes down for a paper. Without this close up and hands-on knowledge of the works, the art history department would lose its wonderful and unique ability to provide this one-on-one relationship with these famous pieces of art. As any art student knows, seeing a piece in person is an entirely different experience than viewing it in a book. The ability to visit the PMA and look upon Van Gogh's brush strokes with one's own eyes is a truly moving and unforgettable experience. It's this close relationship with the arts that PMA can provide students such as myself and departments such as those at the University of Pennsylvania. Our professors all promote the 3285 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET museum and encourage us to make these regular trips and become familiar with the collections. Richard Wesley, the architecture department chair, has mentioned that the museum, quote, is a critical resource for the education of future artists, architects and art historians into the teaching mission at Penn, end quote. I have personally been to the museum on so many occasions for classes alone that I can navigate the entire building without the use of a map. The PMA is a comfortable, beautiful and educational place for students and teachers alike. I cannot imagine an art curriculum at Penn without this close relationship with the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Please give this wonderful teaching tool the funding it needs to continue its great works and allow the rest of us who enjoy learning to benefit from the many gifts it has to offer us all.
Good afternoon. My name is Bill Golderer. I'm a presbyterian minister charged with opening the presbyterian 3286 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET church that's long been dormant on South Broad Street across from two great institutions, the University of the Arts and the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts. That exercise of bringing life where there is no life is a way to kind of contain my comments about the Art Museum. I appreciate City Council's challenges with trying to sort out budget priorities. So my experience is that of a newcomer. I moved here with my wife one year ago and we've entered into a brief, but torrid love affair with this City. We intend to raise our first child here, who will born in August. A place that we feel like it's an extension of our home is the Art Museum. If there is one institution I can point to that has helped me to integrate into the City of Philadelphia, it's the people who are part of the Philadelphia Art museum. There's a parallel relationship, I believe, between the way people look at religious buildings, particularly churches and 3287 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET institutions like the Art Museum. They're big, imposing structures. And yet what makes them come alive, as we've heard in this eloquent testimony so far today, it's the people. I've entered into a dynamic web of relationships, my wife and I, that have helped us really sink our teeth into the City of Philadelphia and see how to make it a better place. It goes without saying what prize collections the Philadelphia Art Museum has. I'm not in a position to testify as to everything that's in there, but I can testify to the people who are in there. I think that, as I talked around, not just out of my experience, but the students who are at the University of the Arts across the street, people all throughout Center City who I have made friendships with, in North Philadelphia and South Philadelphia, in my brief period of time here, when I shared with them what it was I was going to come here to do today and talked about the erosion of 3288 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET support that's on the table for the Philadelphia Art Museum, they all came away with my impression also, that it's a real head scratcher. My wife and I intend to stay here and commit to the City of Philadelphia, and yet I think what we're looking at here is one more extension of what the difference is between a good City and a great City. A great City commits to cultural institutions. A great City commits to affordable housing for people who can't afford it. (Applause.)
And a great City, when it's on a roll, does not back away from institutions that help to make it into a good City in the first place. I thank you for your time and for your ear. (Applause.)
Good afternoon. I'll summarize our feelings today. My name is Chris Raul, and I'm a weekend guide at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 3289 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Speaking from my own personal experience from being a guide at the museum on the weekends, it's been an enlightening experience for me, not just to understand the treasures that are held within the walls of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but also the treasures that the City has with regard to its diverse cultural backgrounds that visit the museum on the weekends. I've had the pleasure to give tours to that diverse background of people. It's something that I hold dear to my heart, mainly for the fact that it's allowing me to impart some of the information I've learned there with the museum being an educational institution. To summarize the main points that we wanted to illustrate today is that the Philadelphia Museum of Art is by any stretch of the imagination, an educational institution providing support to the City of Philadelphia, its educational institutions and also a strong cultural and economic anchor to the City. We also provide a tremendous amount of community 3290 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET support. That being said, we would first like to thank you for the opportunity to testify today at the hearings and to reconsider the notion of reducing the funding to the museum in the future. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kelly.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to take this opportunity to, of course, thank all of the speakers in speaking on behalf of the Art Museum. I think more important than your testimony today, I think I want to commend you on the efforts and hard work that you're doing to make that institution the great institution it is, and I think it's well worthy of the support that the City gives, and I hope the City Council does. Thank you very much.
The Chair 3291 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
I'd like to also acknowledge the people that work at the Art Museum. I've been to the Art Museum many times. I've never had the opportunity to have a guide, and what great experience it was to have someone that really understood and was able to explain things that you can't get from the audio, that you can't get in any other way, other than being able to go with a person that you can ask a question of. I appreciate that. That was just a wonderful opportunity and its such a value. I would just hope that that program would continue and grow and other people will take advantage of being able to actually understand better. Again, you refer to the treasures that we have in that building. It was great to see part of the exhibition for Salvador Dali. It was even some of the things that live -- as I learned the word -- at the Art Museum. It was just a great experience for 3292 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET me, and I thank you all very much. If I have a spare couple of hours I'd love to learn to be a guide.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would be remiss not to add and underscore the sentiments expressed by my colleagues. All of us fully understand and are keenly aware of the tremendous value that the Art Museum brings to our City. Most importantly, we recognize the impact that the Art Museum's programs have on the children and youth in the City. So we get it and we expect to figure it out on how we keep the Art Museum whole.
Thank you. I'd like to say that, having been a former employee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art many years ago, it's a great place to work. I learned an awful lot. Actually, when I took my graduate 3293 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET record exam when I was graduating from Temple, I scored the highest on the arts and culture because of the exposure I had at the museum. I'm real proud to see the museum has come a long way in its outreach to the community and has broadened the programs and they're very diverse, and that is something I'm glad to see. Also, I want to thank all of you who are volunteers, because if the museum had to pay for all the services that you provide, we would really be up a creek. We thank you for your time and support of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on the afternoons, on Saturdays and Sundays or whatever time you work there or serve there. We appreciate that service. Thank you all very much for your time. Thank you. (Applause.) Beth Ounsworth.
Good afternoon, Members of City Council. I am Beth Ounsworth, president of Philadelphia Parks Alliance. I'm joined today by Mike Groman, director of 3294 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Philadelphia Green Program of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, and Bill Lefevere, who is the director of Bartram's Gardens. We're here to testify on behalf of the parks under the jurisdiction of Fairmount Park Commission and the Department of Recreation.
Just one moment please. Those of you who are leaving, would you please do so quietly? Thank you. Proceed.
Here are 500 letters that our concerned citizens have written to you and to Mayor Street, and they've been faxed over the last several months. The folks who wrote these letters live and work in neighborhoods across Philadelphia. They have asked you for three initiatives that I will testify about today. The first issue is one that is often spoken of in the Chambers of City Council, and that is street trees. We are asking you to guarantee the continued funding of $3.7 million for street tree pruning, removal and 3295 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET planting, as well as the development and implementation of a street tree management plan and inventory management system. A system of this kind will enable the park staff to more efficiently track, compile and compute information from the field. Currently, the time frame for dealing with problem trees is to months. Prior 10 to the $1 million budget line item from City 11 Council in 1997 and Mayor Street's support of 12 the program, the wait was five years. 13 Philadelphia cannot afford to lapse back to 14 the five year wait. 15 The management system as recommended 16 in the strategic plan for Fairmount Park is a 17 new and proactive approach that will protect 18 our investment and improve productivity. The second issue of concern for our citizens is the preservation of 34 seasonal maintenance employees for the Department of Recreation parks. They are called SMAs. We're asking that you fund a 35-hour week for all SMAs across the board. In the existing program, hours range from 20 to 35 hours a 3296 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET week with a pay of $6.00 an hour. With minimum investment, this program has changed the quality of life in many of the parks and neighborhoods. SMAs work side by side with dedicated park volunteers who know that without diligent care, their parks can revert to their previous state of neglect and disrepair in a matter of months. SMA's provide a consistent and welcome presence in neighborhood parks from the 1st of May until the end of October. Their presence indicates to potentially negative influences that parks are well cared for, patrolled and lovingly protected because they are valued. The third initiative citizens have been writing to you about is the revenue generated by the Fairmount Park Commission. The Commission annually raises about 10 percent of its annual operating budget. In Fiscal Year 2005, the Commission's operating budget was $13.7 million. The park in turn raised $1.4 million in rent, golf, parking and 3297 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET other concessions, all of which reverted back to the City's General Fund. Again, as recommended in the new strategic plan for Fairmount Park, our constituents have asked that 50 percent of the revenue generated in the park remain in the park budget, thus creating initiatives for new and innovative revenue enhancement opportunities, such as public/private partnerships, concessions and fees. In order for Philadelphia's parks to reach their potential and fulfill their role, new resources must supplement existing or even increasing budget allocations. It makes sense to carefully use park assets to increase the revenue generated in our parks in support of our parks. Philadelphia's extraordinary parks are not a burden. The revitalization and preservation of these remarkable assets is an investment in Philadelphia's economic stabilization and vitality, and therefore its future. Thriving parks attract businesses, 3298 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET residents, knowledge workers and tourism. They are the backyard, the athletic field, the vacation spot, science classroom and meditation garden for many of our City's children and adults. Philadelphia's park land is an enviable treasure. Thank you.
If you could summarize. It will go into the record fully presented.
Thank you very much. Again, my name is Mike Groman. I am the senior director of the Pennsylvania Green Program at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Just to support some of these positions today that Beth has made, I'd just like to talk a little bit about Philadelphia Green's role in supporting parks throughout 3299 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET the City. Philadelphia Green's park revitalization project has been a partnership between the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Fairmount Park, the Department of Recreation and the Friends of Parks across the City. We've been doing a lot of work since 1993, covering 50 parks which cover almost every Councilmanic district across the City of Philadelphia. We worked with over 10,000 volunteers and also helped to leverage the funding the City provides to the parks to attract over $3 million of support from private organizations, not only in the City, but also across the country, which includes New York City through the Reader's Digest Fund. I think the main question in front of us here is why to continue to invest in neighborhood parks. And what we've seen throughout our research is that there's a growing body of evidence that convinces us that urban greening efforts have a 3300 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET considerable economic benefit to the urban environment. The real estate market consistently demonstrates that many people are willing to pay large amounts of money for properties that are located adjacent to well-attended parks and open spaces. Other documented economic benefits include increased tourism, more profitable shopping districts and enhanced economic activity in and around parks and other well-tended green spaces. At a recent meeting of business leaders who were discussing the impact of well-tended parks on the City, they came to the conclusion that ugly is bad for business, so in the future we can't afford ugly anymore. We petitioned City Council to avoid significant budget cuts to the City's Department of Recreation and Fairmount Park. Let's not halt the progress made over the past decade of rebuilding our neighborhoods through our parks, but continue to invest in our parks and in the future of the City. Thank you very much. 3301 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET
Good afternoon. I'm Bill Lefevere, executive director of the John Bartram Association. We administer Bartram's Garden for and in partnership with the Fairmount Park Commission. Bartam's Garden is comprised of 45 incredibly green and beautiful acres fronting the Schuylkill River in Southwest Philadelphia, including America's oldest botanic garden, the national historic landmark, Bartram House, and arguably the best view of Center City, Philadelphia. As revitalization on the lower Schuylkill continues, what was once our largest obstacle to visitation, our location, is becoming our biggest asset. In partnership with the City and the Schuylkill River Development Cooperation, we will instruct the first in a series of public docks on the river later this year. The Schuylkill River Trail will reach the garden in 2008. My fellow park advocates speak of funding issues such as the expansion of the SMA program, Fairmount Park's retention of 3302 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET earned income and support of the Fairmount Park strategic plan. They are right. We should do that, and more. The men and women I've had the pleasure to work with at the Fairmount Park Commission and the Philadelphia Department of Recreation are masters at the art of making do with less, and includes some of our best and most dedicated public servants. But our parks system continues to suffer and decline, despite their best efforts. Over the past decade the John Bartram Association's investment in the preservation and interpretation of Bartram's Garden amounts to over $8 million, with more than 90 percent of that coming from the private sector. Our 2005 operating budget of $670,000 equates to an investment of just under $15,000 per acre. If our investment were applied to the entire 9,100 acres of Fairmount Park, the operating budget for Fairmount Park would be nearly $136 million per year, a 10-fold increase over the park's present $13.6 million budget. 3303 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET I'm not suggesting that the City can or should increase the Fairmount Park Commission's budget by such a factor, but we can do much more. It's not just our parks that need increased funding. If we do not make appropriate investments in our schools, libraries and other arts and cultural institutions, we will never realize the vision so many of us share for Philadelphia's future. But to do this, we must all think outside the box. Be willing to color outside the lines. Be bold, selfless and innovative, even sacrifice a little. We can have clean streets, green parks, safe schools, affordable housing and public art even in these trying times if we set our minds to it. We need to come together and focus our energy for the benefit of all and get our priorities straight. So I'm asking you and City Council to provide the bold, selfless and visionary leadership required to move this City forward. There are no easy answers here, but a worthy 3304 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET challenge for what was once the political, economic and cultural capital of the new world. Thank you for your attention and for your dedicated public service on behalf of Philadelphia. To the Council President, whose district we happen to be in, two days early, but happy birthday.
Thank you. Thank you all so very much. Our next witness?
Good afternoon. Kindly identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon, President Verna and Councilpersons. My name is Phillip Lord, and I'm the executive director of the Tenants Action Group of Philadelphia. We're here as a member of the Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition. You can see members of the coalition standing behind me. 3305 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET We've decided to expedite things by testifying as a group. So I will lead off and others will come, not in the order you may have in front of you, but will testify as well. We're here because we're deeply concerned about the Philadelphia Homelessness Prevention Program. This program has been de-funded this year. This program is not slated to be refunded next year. We're very concerned about that. It was inadequately funded last year, and we think programs like this, and this program in particular, is essential to the vitality of the City. TAG is an organization that advocates on behalf of tenants and educates tenants to promote housing as a human right. The Philadelphia Homelessness Prevention Program, or PHPP, is designed to help people who are in danger of becoming homeless. It provides back rent. It provides utilities. It provides money for mortgages that are in arrears. It provides money for security deposits. We're concerned that there is no 3306 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET program in the City right now that actually attempts to prevent homelessness in the City. We're devoting all of our money to shelters, and that's a very important thing to do. But what is more important, we believe, is to try to make sure people don't wind up at the shelter door in the first place. The program we're talking about was in place for years. During those 12 years 11 it served about 2,000 people every year in 12 terms of providing grants. It provided educational assistance and guidance and counseling and referrals to another 5,000 people. So the program was very cost effective and affected a large range of folks in the City of Philadelphia. About half of the low income people in the Philadelphia area are renters. From TAG's experience, we know that renters are facing a very serious situation right now. It's worse than it's been in recent times. We know, for example, that a couple years ago the City cut back on the heat abatement program, which enabled the City to 3307 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET fix heaters for tenants and bill the landlord. Now, tenants who don't have any heat are forced to leave their properties or do dangerous things to keep the heat on. We also know that the Philadelphia Housing Authority has seriously cut back on the availability of Section 8 certificates and public housing in general. We're concerned about how that impacts on low income people. We know utility companies have passed new rules and regulations that enable them to have draconian kinds of methods of collecting bills and making it virtually impossible for low income people who have defaulted to get their utilities restored. We also know that in Harrisburg, once again, after several years of trying, the legislators are trying to have a quick eviction bill again. That bill would cut back the eviction time from 21 days to just 11 days after a hearing in court, which means people will be put on the street before they have a chance to collect their thoughts. With all of the things going on, we 3308 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET think the Homelessness Prevention Program is critical. It prevents homeowners who are behind in their payments from losing their houses. It prevents abused women who are in need of a place to stay and don't have any money, it helps them to find a place quickly to stay. It helps people who are falling behind on their utility bills from becoming default and therefore not being able to get them restored. Some of the concerns that we've heard regarding the program are that there are other programs that do this. There are two programs, the FIMA program and the HAP program.
The FIMA program provides only one month of assistance, and that's very minimal. Most people who come to our doors are already more than that in terms of being behind. The HAP program provides up to $750. That's also typically inadequate for someone who's facing a real crisis. In our experience, the Philadelphia Homelessness Prevention Program, which was funded at the level of $2 million in the past, 3309 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET was critical to supplement these programs and help people who are seriously behind with their problems and keep them from becoming homeless. I think the position of many is that the program has to identifiably be able to keep people out of shelter in order to be justified of being funded. We on the other hand recognize that any evictions or any kind of involuntary, forcible removal from a person's home results in impact not only on them, but on the community. It's causing distress. It's causing crime to rise. It's causing health problems. It's causing educational problems for the children and making life very difficult for everybody involved. We pay a very high price for not trying to prevent homelessness in the first place. We believe preventing homelessness is a solution. But because the City is not allocating any money for that purpose, we're really we're concerned. We believe that housing is not a business to be exploited or 3310 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET an act of charity to be withheld. We believe that safe, decent accessible and affordable housing is a human right, and we need the Philadelphia Homelessness Prevention Program restored and funded at the level of $5 million, and we need this to be done now. Thank you. )
Excuse me, sir. Did I understand you to say that in the past $2 million has been appropriated?
That was through OESS, the Office of Emergency Shelter and Services, in the past. And that was up until year and a half ago, two years ago that was the standard funding. It was only this last year and a half that it's been de-funded completely. Now as we understand it, there is no 3311 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET program from the City, as opposed to these other two little programs that we talked about, that will be able to help people. This program in particular ran out of money every year, as well as every other one. So the need greatly exceeded even that $2 million, and that's why we're asking for even more money to meet this need. We think it's going to help improve the quality of life in the City.
Good afternoon, President Verna, and good afternoon to all Councilmembers, concerned Philadelphians and especially to the people who are here or who could not be here that wake up every day with the fear of not having safe, decent, accessible, integrated affordable housing. (Applause.)
My name is Galen Tyler, and I'm the new director of the Kids to Welfare Rights Union and one the co-chairs of 3312 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET the Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition. I come before you as a formerly homeless father that got housing through the Kensington Welfare Rights Union. I speak for thousands that live here in Philadelphia, men, women and children that are facing this housing crisis that we all know about. My testimony is not to convince you of something that we all know about, but to talk about how we as a City can take steps to solve a problem that is in the best interests of all Philadelphians. The Kensington Welfare Rights Union is built on commitment, not compensation. Commitment to ending homelessness and all forms of poverty. Two weeks ago we witnessed the praising of the City in this same room on the works being done in regard to homelessness. I'm no rocket scientist, but I know when you talk about doubling the shelter beds for women of domestic violence from 40 to 50 to 100 when we've got cities like New York that have over a thousand beds for domestic violence, that 3313 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET means that women are put in unsafe shelter conditions every day in this City. We in the Kids of Welfare Rights Union are housing people that are dying of AIDS, that remain on a waiting list for housing. Where? In the City of Brotherly Love. We are housing families that are wanting to stay together and are -- excuse me. I'm trying to read it kind of quickly and fast because of the situation that we're dealing with, with these families behind me. They come here and support to ensure that the cuts that prevent homelessness in the first place is what we're here to address. My main point today is that a City that praises itself for dealing with the homelessness question and doesn't regularly evaluate its progress by not only how quickly and how many families are being moved into safe, decent, accessible, integrated, affordable housing has to change. Especially because it's wiser to spend $1,100 on average to prevent one family from becoming homeless, compared to spending $22,000 on average to 3314 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET keep the same family in a shelter. We at the Kensington Welfare Rights Union and the Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition have an interest in ending homelessness, not managing it or dressing it up. When we live in a City that can slap up units of housing for people overnight for people with higher incomes, we can do better for Philadelphia homeless and people who make less than $20,000 a year. We know that it is and see it is for what it is. Let's make Philadelphia a place that values all human beings. I have made copies of papers given to the organization, American States, in Washington, D.C. The Kensington Welfare Rights Union is responsible for holding the first ever hearing on a right to housing. We are preparing for union observers to come in and see the situation themselves here in Philadelphia. Thank you. (Applause.)
Good afternoon, Council 3315 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET President Verna. I'm sorry. I see your light. Did you want to say something?
No. I was going to ask you to identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Yes, ma'am. My name is Habeebah Ali. I am a housing activist. I am a formerly homeless mother. I am proud to say I am the founder of a non-profit organization, Raise of Hope, Incorporated, who is a member of the Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition. I want to thank all of City Councilmembers who are here and those who are listening in Chambers for the support letters, with particular emphasis on Councilwoman Miller for assisting Raise of Hope for the first time in our history to be able to build some units in Germantown for large families who are stuck in the homeless shelter system. I want to say that we are not here to pivot organization against organization. The arts and culture are a beautiful thing. I'm so very happy I had a chance while 3316 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET attending public school to visit the Art Museum for the first time in my life. I am glad to have been able to go to a free library, which seems to be something that my grandchildren may not have the privilege to attend. It breaks my heart to see the sign on library in Germantown, closed for renovations, but yet we can't see any renovation going on. We are not here to say that any of these programs are not needed. They are all needed, but my children and your children cannot go to the library, the swimming pool, the recreation center, the Art Museum or anywhere else if they don't have a warm, decent, affordable house over their head. While OESS is doing a superb job, had I known we could perform, I would have asked Mr. Hess to get some of the homeless families to lay here on the floor so that they can show you how they will lay in the street if this money is not put back. We can easily go and lay homeless families without the Homeless Prevention money on the steps of the Art Museum, and perhaps 3317 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET that will get some attention. Art and culture is fine, but not at the point that it supercedes decent, affordable housing. For years the Homeless Prevention 6 Fund in this City has served thousands of 7 families. If we are able to build a house and 8 we can take a large family out of the shelter 9 system, and it's a mother who's going through 10 welfare reform and she has savings in her OESS 11 account, but she doesn't have enough money to 12 pay her down payment and a month's security and her utilities, is she to stay in the shelter because there's no homeless prevention money? I lived in the shelter. I slept on shelter floors. It was the most horrific experience I have had in my life here in the City of Philadelphia. And I was employed working in the Department of Revenue at the time. I was not a bum. I am not a bum. Homeless people are not bums. We have talents. We have families. We have feelings. Since the performance went over very well, I'd like to perform a little bit for 3318 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET you. (Singing: "We need housing now.") (Applause.)
Hello, City Councilmembers and President Anna Verna. My name is Elizabeth Segarra. I'm here to represent the Community Leadership Institute, which has 250 active members. We are a community base of non-profit organization who focus leadership and development for residents in North Philadelphia. I also am a member of the City-wide coalition to Saving Our Home that advocates with residents that want to stay in their home and face off the City that's taking their home through eminent domain of use law to give the land to other projects. I am also a member of the Affordable Housing Coalition. I want to talk about the crisis caused by the lack of the funding of homeless prevention. I want to tell you a special problem that I know very well. I am very concerned about this homelessness everywhere, not only because I know what it does to the victim, but because I know what it does to all the people 3319 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET around it. I am especially worried about homelessness in the Latino community because this is widespread problem. It's invisible to the City and very poorly addressed by the City agency responsible for helping to solve this budget. Budget cuts to the Homeless Prevention Program have severe effects on our community and stands to hurt us even more seriously in the future. Unless the programs are reinstated, when hard time hits, our relatives and our family can't pay the rent or their utility bills, are living without utilities or loses their home to foreclosure. And there is no help anywhere. The typical Latino family will double up, triple up, even have four families in a space where only one family should live. Because of the survival and our cultural ways of life, we won't see Latinos represented in the shelter system at the same rate as our low income levels of numbers in population would suggest. This might seem like a good, cheap 3320 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET stop, grab solution for the City, but the problems come when the stress of this severe overcrowding condition explodes. Then you will see numbers climbing in terms of youth, poor educations, child and spouse abuse, substance abuse, broken family, several physical and mental health problems among many members of extended families and in higher incidents of crime and jail time. This translates into high dollar costs on other parts of the City budget, such as education, mental, physical healthcare, crime control. Neighborhood decay and reduced qualities of life across the board. We need. Please help us solve this problem. Put at least $5 million in our budget for the homeless prevention in our neighborhood.
Thank you very much. (Applause.) Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record.
Good afternoon, Council 3321 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET President Verna. My name is George Gould. I am the managing attorney of the Housing and Energy Unit at Community Legal Services here in Philadelphia. Each year our office sees thousands of our clients who are facing mortgage foreclosures, evictions and utility shut offs. And the problem has only gotten worse in the last 10 years. There was a little bit of discussion of how bad things are, and let me just sort of almost reemphasis that. Sheriff's sales in this City are at an all time high. They were so bad that last year Judge Rizzo entered a moratorium on numerous Sheriff's sales mortgage foreclosures because of the problem. Evictions continue to run rampant in this City, and every day tenants are put out. The supply of public housing has diminished substantially, from almost losing half of their units, which are now available for low income housing, very low income tenants. Section 8, the vouchers at the federal level and the local level have been dwindling, and 3322 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET it's very difficult, if not impossible, for someone to get a Section 8 voucher. Last year the Legislature passed Act 201, which now allows PGW to dramatically increase the number of utility shut offs that can take place in this City. So if we look around we see at every avenue that the problems facing very low income families in the City are just going to get worse. It's almost amazing that at a time like this, we end up losing the one very helpful program, the Homeless Prevention Program. Not only does that program need to be reinstated, but it needs to be increased because it deals with all of these problems, which are pressing. The alternatives to not having the program are people going into the shelters. The costs are obvious. The problems faced with people living in shelters are obvious. And it just makes so much sense that instead of putting the tremendous amount of money into shelters is to preventing homelessness and restoring the program. 3323 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Thank you. (Applause.)
Good afternoon, Council President and Councilmembers. My name is David Seng. I am the director of operations at United Community Southeast of Philadelphia. United Community provides a variety of services east of Broad Street, south of South, City Council District 1. United Community has been pleased to be a part of Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition for the last several years, and as an organization strongly recommends that the homeless prevention program be funded in this year's budget. As the director of operation I supervise the housing and energy departments at United Community. Each year we see thousands of people who are a result of economic disruption, at least of losing their homes. This is sometimes the result of not being able to afford rising utility costs, loss of employment and the fact that they are spending 50 percent or more of their income on 3324 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET housing costs. This experience serves to point to the affordable housing crisis being experienced in Philadelphia. Our recommendation is that eviction and homelessness can be impacted by a one time $1,100 grant that could be made available through homeless prevention programs. This would reduce the burden placed on Philadelphia in paying for other more expensive services for these low income families who very much believe in their right of affordable housing. In many instances, these are families who are living in the neighborhood will be severely impacted if they must abandon their home to live with their friends or relatives, in their cars, on the street or enter the shelter care system. All of these scenarios end up being more to the City from health, safety and economic standpoints of Philadelphia. The Affordable Housing Coalition feels positive about the response that the City Council has given to the issue that impacts low income Philadelphians related to 3325 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET affordable housing in the past several years. The challenge at this time is to evaluate the City budget to fund the Homelessness Prevention Program to preserve our neighborhoods, keep families safe and together and, in the long run, save the City millions of dollars in other expenses. I stand before you today as an advocate for United Community constituency that continues to see changes in our neighborhood and want to preserve the valuable housing stock of our neighborhood. The program that offers $1,100 to preserve housing and family is a small investment that will enhance the quality of life for low income Philadelphians. I thank you on behalf of United Community Southeast Philadelphia and Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition for addressing this vital need for low income Philadelphians who are often overlooked in the budget process. Thank you. (Applause.) 3326 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET
Good afternoon. I'm Kaki Sjogren, a co-chair of the Affordable Housing Coalition here representing the Coalition and New Jerusalem Laura, which is a drug and alcohol recovery community in North Philadelphia. Some things are unforgettable, right? Like, we hope that the image of us having been here all afternoon and finally getting a chance to express ourselves is something you won't forget. Sometimes it's the image that's memorable. Sometimes it's just that things just plain make sense. Right? There's an old saying that makes a whole lot of sense. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of treatment. We're saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of shelters. In case you're not already convinced, remember the Brookings Institute report that came out last month. It said that Pennsylvania has not one, but two economies. The folks we're concerned about are at the 3327 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET lower end. These are the folks that have to pay a premium just to stay alive. It's about paying more for food. It's about paying check cashing charges in order to manage money. It's about paying unreasonable rates to predatory lenders. So economic distress is part of our economy. There are people at the high end, like some of the folks in this room, who can't even begin to imagine what it's like to be at the low end. We're here today to help that to happen. Again, in case you're not convinced, there was a recent University of Pennsylvania study that said we needed 60,000 more units of affordable housing in this City. You all on City Council have been helping by working on establishing a Philadelphia Housing Trust Fund. We hope that bill will be passed very shortly. But pouring funds into the housing market through this trust fund will not make sense if we don't plug up the holes. It's like pouring precious ointment into a sieve. We need the prevention. 3328 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET OESS has been administering this homelessness prevention program up until two years ago when they began de-funding it. What they didn't recognize is that people who they thought did not need this program are doubling and tripling up in other homes, shifting from one home to another, and the symptoms of their economic distress show up. They show up in terms of the activation of addiction, domestic violence and other crimes. It makes great sense to spend $1,100 on a family to stabilize them in their own home through the Homelessness Prevention Program, keeping us from spending more than $20,000 in shelter costs, health care costs and law enforcement costs. And then there's the reduced productivity costs. I am urging this Council to make happen what needs to happen to shift budget priorities and reinstate the Homelessness Prevention Program. We need a minimum of $5 million in order to plug up those holes in the sieve that our money is going into. Thank you very much. 3329 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET (Applause.)
Good afternoon. My name is Stacy Moore. I am co-chair at Women's Community Revitalization Project. I'm also a volunteer for them as well at the Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition. To Council President Verna and present City Council, I feel the need to stray from WCRP's testimony to thank those of you who thought it important to hear us out. As a low income resident, it is disappointing and frustrating to give of my time to speak on a very important issue, which is the restoring of the Philadelphia Homelessness Program, when, in my opinion, all of City Council should be here, especially when the City seems to be hell bent on market rate housing at the expense of the low income and working class. A lot of good people are being forced out of their neighborhoods and not enough truly affordable housing is being made to satisfy the need. This is why the Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition is here. This is why WCRP, as a member of the 3330 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Coalition, is here to address the refunding of a much needed program. The message is simple. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of shelters. Restore the Philadelphia Homelessness Prevention Program funding at the $5 million in the Fiscal Year of 2006 budget so that the City may respond to the growing eviction, utility termination and foreclosures happening in the City of Philadelphia. Thank you. (Applause.)
Good afternoon. I'm Nancy Salandra from Disabled in Action, a grass roots organization that has been in existence for 32 years and has a member base of 450 disabled individuals. We are proud members of the Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition. What I want to say about the Homelessness Prevention Program is, did you know that 70 to 75 of shelter admissions are within a year utility termination, and 50 percent within nine months of utility 3331 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET termination? And there's still no prevention program. Did you know that this occurs in every Councilmanic district? Every single district has this problem. We are here today to say that the foreclosure rate is one of the highest in the country. For home buyers it is over 6,000 in the City of Philadelphia. 35,000 households had their heating service terminated this year. It will only get worse next year. We urge you to have a $5 million prevention program. It only makes common sense. Thank you. (Applause.)
Councilwoman Verna, I'm David Schultz with the Energy Coordinating Agency. Each year the Energy Coordinating Agency addresses the energy problems of nearly 30,000 low income households in Philadelphia through our network of ten neighborhood energy centers. They're community-based 3332 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET organizations providing energy counseling and education and bill payment assistance. Now, four of those neighborhood energy centers partnered with ECA to help establish the Homelessness Prevention Program in 1996. This program continued until last year under a contract with the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Services and Shelter to prevent evictions, foreclosures and utility shut offs, as you've learned. The program diverted imminently homeless individuals and families from emergency shelters by working intensely with them for up to six months. It also assisted homeless families that were camped in abandoned buildings and living without central heat. ECA administered half of the Homeless Prevention Program. When fully funded with $1 million in the 2001/2002 fiscal year, ECA prevented homelessness for more than 1,100 households, providing them with debt resolution and housing transition counseling, and either rental, mortgage or utility payment 3333 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET assistance. HP centers leveraged another $5 million in federal and privately funded utility bill payment assistance and other services for homeless prevention clients through this program. Lack of funding for the homeless prevention system is one major factor driving up admissions in Philadelphia's shelter system, which were reported to have risen 11 percent last year. Changes in consumer 12 protections are also driving people out of 13 their homes. Last year, Philadelphians experienced a record increase in gas service shut offs, numbering more than 35,000. This was an increase of 53 percent over the previous year. Homeowner foreclosures, as some people have mentioned, have also increased by percent, due in part to an 20 increase in predatory lending. Sheriff's 21 sales numbered more than 6,200 last year. 22 In addition, the passage of Act 201 23 by Pennsylvania Legislature threatens to increase the number of wintertime shut offs. The Act severely restricts the number of 3334 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET households that can afford to resolve their debt, pay penalties and deposits and restore their utility services. At the end of last year, PGW reported that more than 20,000 of the customers that their heat shut off had still not gotten their service reserved. Of these, more than 6,000 were heating their homes with kerosene heaters. Makeshift heating systems like theses are risky, causing house fires and carbon monoxide poisoning. The Office of Emergency Services and Shelter phased out the Homelessness Prevention Program in the very same year in which thousands of additional households were being driven out of their homes. Now that OESS is considering restoration of the Homelessness Prevention Program, it must be rebuilt at the scale that can address the growing needs and allow year-round operation for all the truly needy threatened with homelessness. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. 3335 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Please identify yourself for the record.
I'm Cheryl Weiss, executive director of the First Five Community Services. Good afternoon, President Verna and Members of Council. For more than a decade, my organization, through its community center known as Dixon House in Point Breeze has been part of a City-wide network of neighborhood energy centers. These centers provide easy access for income eligible households to receive emergency energy, housing assistance and other supportive services. Last year Dixon House helped nearly a thousand households maintain and restore their basic utility service by processing applications worth in excess of a million dollars, most of which benefited PGW. The Office of Housing and Community Development has proposed a 5 percent reduction in funding for these neighborhood energy centers. These centers, including my own, exceed our contractual requirement. We serve 3336 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET twice the number of consumers than we're required to. We do so because of our social mission and because those seeking help are our neighbors. However, we are already stretched, such that a modest cut will reduce our ability to serve the same number of residents. More importantly, maintaining basic utility service helps people to remain in their own homes, which in my view contributes to preventing homelessness and housing abandonment. The second point really is an echo of those who have preceded me, and that concerns the curtailment of the City's homeless prevention funding. Just by way of example, before the program ended, we prevented 450 people from eviction, foreclosure or utility termination. Well, I don't want to say that all 450 households would have wound up in the City shelter system, but surely at least some of them would have. As my colleagues have said before, an ounce of prevention is a fiscally sound strategy. As you well know better than I, the 3337 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET cost of maintaining a family in the City shelter system is over $20,000 a year. For $1,100 we can keep people in their own homes, and equally important, prevent them from suffering the emotional wreckage that people do in shelters. Thank you. (Applause.)
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Council, for hearing all of that. I'm Liz Robinson. I direct the Energy Coordinating Agency of Philadelphia. I'm not going to repeat the statistics that you've heard. You've heard at least a dozen people draw the link between high utility costs, rising energy costs, rising utility terminations and homelessness. As you all are more than painfully aware, energy costs, particularly gas rates in this City, have more than doubled in the last four years. We are on a trajectory now of rising energy costs that will not settle down. Energy costs cannot be expected to 3338 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET decline and they cannot expected to stabilize. This is something that's far beyond the City's control, but it is absolutely critical for the City of Philadelphia to begin to understand the rising impacts of energy costs. They will drive people out of their homes. They will drive people into the streets. Rising energy costs are going to be a force to be reckoned with. In addition to de-funding the Homelessness Prevention Program, another program that the City has set leadership for the state in is also in jeopardy at this time. In 1994, Philadelphia became the first municipality of any size to develop energy efficiency standards for affordable housing. That program has been administered and enforced by the Energy Coordinating Agency for the last six years. That program is now in jeopardy. This is a program that's funded at a miniscule level of $75,000 a year. This program is the first Energy Star Homes Program in the State of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia is being looked to as a 3339 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET leader in this area by the rest of the state, and it is very sad irony that this program is now in jeopardy. So I urge you to take a very close look at the CDBG budget and to restore full funding for the Energy Star Homes Program. This is a program which ensures that affordable housing is truly affordable. Not just that the interest rate on the mortgage is low, but that the ongoing operating cost in the dwellings are truly affordable. One of the mechanisms that I urge City Council to look at is beginning to tie the property tax waiver. Council has seen fit to award a property tax waiver for 10 years to developers to come into the City. Now that the City's real estate market is frankly booming, it would be very appropriate to tie that waiver, that property tax waiver, to energy efficient standards, whether it's affordable housing or market rate housing. So this is a tool that deserves more careful use, and it is time to demand something in return from the developers who are getting a property tax waiver. 3340 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET ECA is working very hard toward a state law, which would require that all affordable housing in the State of Pennsylvania be built to Energy Star standards or higher. This is something that New Jersey did three years ago to great advantage. We are also working with state agencies to develop a state-wide Energy Star Homes Program. So I urge Council to consider energy efficiency. If you want to avoid costs down the road, build homes, require that all affordable housing in the City of Philadelphia be built to a decent standard of energy efficiency. Without that, frankly, people will not be able to stay in their homes. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. We are going to ask if we can let Mr. Herman Wooden -- and those of you who want to testify can feel free to -- but we have a gentleman who is ill and we have to let him go. Then you can come back. Mr. Wooden. 3341 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET And then you can come back and testify. We're happy to have you. You can sit right inside the gates and then you come right back as soon as he leaves. But he's ill and we have to let him go. Thank you all. Thank you for your understanding and patience. Please identify yourself for the record and begin.
Thank you, Councilwoman Blackwell. My name is Herman Wooden. I'm secretary treasurer of the United Food Commercial Workers Local 1776, and with me today is John Meyerson, our political and legislative director, and Don McGrogen. John will read a brief statement. He can read it as fast as he can summarize it. Then we'll available for any questions.
Thank you, Herman. Thank you, Members of Council. The City of Philadelphia, like many other cities and even states, is facing 3342 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET massive budget problems. We understand the challenges that face this Council with decreasing revenues and increasing costs at every turn. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776 represents about 9,000 members who live within the City limits. These members have good paying jobs, provide much needed tax revenue to the City's coffers, have benefits that allow them to advance their careers, including child care, education and physical well-being programs. Benefits and jobs like these family sustaining jobs provide a ripple effect into the City's economy and provide more and more dollars in the communities where they are most needed. Everyone knows the old saying of doctors. First, do no harm. It's time to apply the same kind of simple logic to the City's budgeting process. Instituting across the board tax cuts would do more harm to the City's revenue situation and cost residents more vital services. We understand the desire to cut taxes just as much as Members of this 3343 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Council, and understand that logic. However, in the light of library closings, forced layoffs of City workers and other budgetary problems, now is not the time to seriously be considering further decreasing the amount of money available to the City. Further, it's important when looking at tax breaks that would be more limited in scope and would not cause the cut backs in services, that these tax breaks be given to the kind of companies that provide the City, that will benefit the City and its residents. Giving more taxpayer money to employers that end up costing the City money will continue to drive the City's revenues into the red. We need to look to employers that pay good wages and give good benefits, and just as importantly, provide the means for the City's residents to lift themselves up. I'm encouraged by the support that has been given so far to Councilman David Cohen's Bill, No. 050216, to limit predatory super stores within the City limits. It's far seen legislation like this that will help the 3344 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET City's tax base begin to recover. If we keep pouring money into massive retail operations that provide substandard wages and force City residents into state and local welfare programs, we won't be able to move out of this budget crisis. Lifting up all residents of the City of Philadelphia will take the efforts of all of us working together, from political leaders, to residents, from employers to workers and everyone in between. The City should join with employers that provide good wages and good benefits for the simple reason that in the long run those are the kind of jobs that can and will help the City's tax base. Local 1776's experience with these kids of mega retailers goes back decades. French super store, Carrefour, was one store in Philadelphia in the late 1980s. Within a short time, as many as seven union grocery stores nearby were forced to close, pulling these higher paid individuals out of the City's tax base and in some cases forcing them 3345 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET to apply for public services that they would not have otherwise needed. This kind of double whammy to the City's finances cannot be and should not be tolerated. After Carrefour forced the closure of some of these smaller stores and the loss of subsequent tax revenues, they found that they were unable to continue to operate in the region and closed down their stores. Again, people who were contributing something to the City's coffers were forced to draw from them. Bill 050216 simply has retailers file a statement showing what kind of impact they would have on the neighborhood's economy.
The impact statement's purpose is to allow the Council and zoning boards to have the information about the positive impacts a new retail outlet will have on the city before voting on variances and other economic inducements. This allows political leaders to seriously and intelligently consider zoning changes and other City money being spent, and whether or not there will be a return on the City's investment. It's the same kind of 3346 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET research any investor would do, but it's been missing from the City process. Today's communities are facing massive challenges from companies that rival and in some cases exceed the national economy. It is certain that even with a City the size of Philadelphia, some of these giant companies would be able to overwhelm the resources at its disposal. Tax reform may very well be needed, but the City and its leaders can begin to make other steps to help the increasingly tenuous state of Philadelphia's finances. I would also urge the Council not to sacrifice the needs of the City's residents to the idea that just one more project, one more retail shop, the next thing, whatever it may be, will be the one to do the trick and turn the City into the first class home that it can and should be. Please, I encourage the Council not to make this problem worse. Don't cut off vitally needed City services just to see what happens down the road. Take the time before 3347 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET spending the City's limited money to find out if a project will benefit or hurt its residents. As Philadelphia faces another year of growing costs, shrinking revenues and cuts to vital services, planning to add to this problem is not the best path to take. The prudent, responsible and even visionary thing to do is to ensure that future development projects that are undertaken or even assisted in any way by the City will be a good investment. We have copies here that we will leave for distribution.
Let me say one thing. Our president is out of town. That's why he's not here to testify on the future of our union in this country. He had to make that conference out of town. We're available for any questions if you have any.
Excuse me. 3348 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET You know, we have other people that are on the list before you, and I think -- did that woman waive?
Council President, the Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition was asked to stop and step down because the gentleman was ill.
But when you called or whoever called, we were told that you would be extremely brief. We never expected as many people to come up to testify, as were here. We long, long exceeded the allotted time. Now, we do have other people who were on the list before you, and I think it's really not fair that they have to sit here and not be listened to either.
I beg your pardon. We were all on the list individually and we came collectively.
You were on the list, spread throughout the entire list. Had you said that you had 15 or 20 people and you were all coming up as a panel, 3349 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET that would have presented an entirely different picture. I will have you speak with the proviso that you be extremely brief. I think we have heard just how the group feels and we understand. So if you will identify yourself and be extremely brief we would appreciate it.
Thank you, Council President. My name is Alice Foley. I represent Liberty Resources and am a person with a disability. Liberty Resources, Incorporated is a center for independent living for the Philadelphia area that advocates for and works with persons with disabilities to ensure their civil rights and equal access to all aspects of life in our community. It is a non-profit consumer controlled organization serving over 3,000 people with disabilities annually. Presently 27 percent of the City's disabled population is living below the poverty line and lacks the necessary resources to gain access to housing. Providing resources to these vulnerable adults to aid 3350 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET them in finding an affordable, accessible and integrated permanent home is critical to Liberty Resource's mission. Once a home is found it is just as critical to provide the support needed to maintain it. This is often difficult for disabled persons living on a fixed income of about $600 a month. Due to evictions, foreclosures and utility shut offs, disabled people are losing their homes at crisis rates. We'd like to give you two examples. Liberty sees people every day who are being evicted from their homes. One consumer that we met with recently was being evicted from an apartment she'd lived in for the past year with her three-year-old son. She was able to afford the $700 a month rent without much difficulty because she was working full time. Beginning in October she had to take medical leave from her job, began the process of applying for disability for herself and her son, also disabled. But disability payments did not come through until March, and her 3351 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET savings ran out in February. This consumer found herself trying to survive on no income and make her rent each month. Her landlord evicted her, and now she must begin the process of finding affordable and accessible housing with the blemish of an eviction on her rental history. Had you been able to access emergency rental assistance to help with her rent for the month of February this consumer would not be now homeless with a three-year-old son. Foreclosure is another problem facing homeowners across the City at a high rate. In Philadelphia the number of Sheriff's sales have been increasing from 300 to 400 per month to more than 1,000. A social worker from a hospital called Liberty and requested assistance for a patient she was working with, a 45-year-old woman on dialysis. She was living with her son in a second story apartment that she could barely afford on her disability income. Her son had to carry her down the stairs each day for her dialysis appointment because they 3352 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET could not afford a first floor apartment that allowed her to get in and out using her wheelchair. Her electric was shut off over the summer because she could not afford an overdue balance of $700 from the previous winter. She was ineligible for LIHEAP because she does not have service currently in her name, so she has continued to live in the apartment without electricity. This has driven her gas bill up to well over $1,200 and she had never heard of the Utility Customer Assistance Program. Had this consumer been able to access an emergency fund to prevent utility shut off, she wouldn't be force to live with a life-threatening illness in an apartment without disability. Studies have also demonstrated the correlation between homelessness and utility terminations. On behalf of Liberty Resources, we would like to urge the $5 million for the Homeless Prevention Program.
Thank you very much. (Applause.) 3353 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET
Yes. Thank you. My name is Tim Dalwin (ph). I'll be extremely brief. I'm coming before you today as a concerned Philadelphian. I'm a native of West Philadelphia and a graduate of the Philadelphia Performing Arts High School, CAPA. I fortunately never experienced homelessness as child, but ironically have experienced it as an adult. I'm going through a housing crisis right now. I am also an artist, a starving artist. I'm an actor. This is a film, Winter Solstice, by Paramount Classics that has just been released in New York City and Los Angeles. It's starring my best friend, Mark Weber, who I grew up with, and he did have homelessness throughout his childhood. Some of you may be familiar with him. He's in this movie and I'm in this movie. It's being featured at the Philadelphia Film Festival. I also was able to go to the 3354 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET libraries and swim in the pools and do all of these great things that I heard us talk about all day today, and those are very important things that we need. But without a house, it's totally irrelevant. I came here with a bunch of homeless people that don't have anywhere to sleep tonight. We're talking about millions of dollars here for arts and culture, which I'm all for, but we need to put first things first and create affordable housing in Philadelphia now. Thank you. (Applause.)
Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Excuse me. Before you start, I'm trying to have everyone be given an opportunity to testify. A copy of 3355 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET your testimony will be given to the stenographer. It will be transcribed in full, and I would really appreciate it if you would simply make your brief remarks.
I will do that. Thank you very much for this opportunity, Council President Verna and distinguished members of City Council. My name is Ramona Riscoe-Benson, and I am the interim president of the African-American Museum in Philadelphia. I certainly appreciate the opportunity to be here with you this evening. This is my first appearance before you in this capacity, and I'm happy to be here. I should also add that our board chairman wanted to be here, Don Scott. Unfortunately he had to undergo surgery and so he will not be able to be with us today. This is an exciting time in the museum's history, and our organization appreciates the opportunity to thank our many supporters. I want to first acknowledge our museum board members, Councilman Frank Rizzo 3356 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET and Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, as well as acknowledge the support we have received, particularly over the last year, from Councilpersons Tasco, DiCicco and Blackwell. I want to acknowledge and give special thanks to the Commerce Director, Stephanie Naidoff, and also the Recreation Commissioner, Vic Richard, and his staff for currently providing a much needed facelift to the museum. In the spring of 2004, the museum's fiscal picture was bleak and the possibility that it could not remain in existence loomed large. In less than a year, incredible strides have been made and we are cautiously optimistic that the threat has been, if not eliminated, at least held in check while we vigorously pursue other avenues and make necessary changes. It was during the summer of last year that the board of directors took on a more involved role in the management of the museum. This enabled the board to put in 3357 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET place an interim structure that allowed it the time and flexibility to review the entire financial picture, identify areas of concern and engage a consultant to develop a short-term recovery plan that would address and resolve most issues. Implementation of the recovery plan is now underway. Subsequently the Board of Directors was reconstituted. Already the museum has completed audits for Fiscal Year 2003 and is finalizing its Fiscal Year 2004 audit, paving the way for expanded foundation and government support. We have also renewed past relationships with various stakeholders and initiated new ones. We have had a marked increased in individual and family organization memberships. The last four months have also seen an increase in the number of groups and organizations requesting space for meetings and events. We are also very excited that the museum was selected to co-host the state's Black History Conference, which Philadelphia will host April 21st 3358 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET through the 23rd. Through all of this we have not lost track of our primary mission, and that is to interpret and showcase the history and culture of African Americans and other people of African decent. Today art collections total over 750,000 objects, including the Jack Franklin collection of photographic images. In the next Fiscal Year we will celebrate our 30th anniversary, and we are looking forward to showcasing dynamic exhibitions of both national and regional interest. The museum is committed to restoring its previous partnership with the School District and helping public education implement its policy to provide a well rounded program in African American studies as an integral part of its total school experience. Currently we are able to accomplish this through school tours filled with story telling, gallery games and hands-on activities that incorporate an introduction to African American heritage, past and present.
3359 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET The African American Museum of Philadelphia is the region's single largest source of information and understanding of African-American history, culture and art, and is the only African American heritage institution open to the public six days per week, 52 weeks a day. The museum fills an important void in the arts community and we do so with a limited staff. They too represent a museum treasure, consistently offering their time and talent to keep the momentum going and remain competitive with other arts and historical organizations with far greater resources. We ask that the current level of City support be maintained in the new Fiscal Year. During the past 29 years, the museum has outgrown its space and much of the building has become outdated and insufficient. The lighting and HVAC systems do not meet museum standards and in the long run will be damaging to our artifacts and images. The museum's ability to develop and adhere to a sound business plan is impacted by the 3360 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET consistency of its funding allocation. It is crucial to AAMP's well-being that our funding from the City of Philadelphia remain. 8 percent of visitors to the City are African-Americans, and of those visitors, 54 percent have visited the African-American Museum. We should also note that 60 percent of our current visitors are school groups, with 40 percent coming from the Philadelphia School District. The endorsement of the museum and its offerings is staggering when you realize that our attendance is achieved with little to no marketing or promotional dollars for the past three years. We hope to increase our summer attendance through a small grant that we have received through GPTMC. For decades the Philadelphia community has depended on the African-American Museum in Philadelphia to showcase the value and beauty of a rich cultural heritage, while producing engaging, interactive ways to 3361 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET encourage all publics to learn to celebrate the arts and to discover the contributions of diversity. The museum has successfully met this mandate and many have been benefited. Annually the museum attracts visitors from across the Delaware Valley, the nation and internationally. Please visit our current events. We are highlighting the 30th anniversary commemoration of Odunda, Memories Go Round, which is an exhibition of Jack Franklin, Pieces and Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, which is our national exhibition. This museum has relevance, and with increased dedicated support it has the opportunity to become even more of a part of the City's future product vitality. The African American Museum in Philadelphia is a heritage treasure that deserves to be a 21st century museum for all visitors from within and to the City. Thank you for this opportunity to provide this testimony.
Thank you very much The Chair recognizes Councilwoman 3362 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Brown.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As a member of the board, I certainly want to welcome Ms. Ramona Riscoe to these Chambers, and to let you know I'm sure Councilman Rizzo will echo my remarks that have been registered a number of times over my years here our interest in seeing the Afro-American Museum sustain itself. So trust that we'll do what we can to ensure the City's responsibility toward that end.
Thank you very much. If I take longer than four minutes I authorize you to cut me off. Council President, Members of Council who are here -- by the way, however, I 3363 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET would advise you not to time me by the clock behind me. It's an hour slow. I've waited three hours to make a very modest request. I would like to ask you to increase the budget of the Philadelphia Historical Commission by $125,000. That may seem like a minuscule amount of money to have waited three hours to testify about, and it is a miniscule amount of money in the size of the City budget. So why is it so important? This year Philadelphia will have a unique opportunity in historic preservation. For the first time in 30 years the Historical Commission will appoint a new executive director. Historic preservation has changed a lot in the last 30 years. As all of you know, it's a vital part of the economic development in the City. Hotels like the Ritz Carlton, the Lowes, all of the housing we see going on in Center City is a result of the adaptation of historic buildings to contemporary uses. Thousands of units of low and moderate income housing have been built using the Historic 3364 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Preservation tax credits. Preservation is really economic development. It's just not about keeping pretty buildings. In order to get an executive director of the Commission who both knows preservation, but understands economic development to be able to work with developers, to be able to work with community groups, we need to get a first class person. The current budget suggests that the salary for the executive director will be lowered by $12,000. It's currently inadequate. The salary should be in the range of at least $100,000. So I'm asking you to increase the personnel budget of the Commission by $50,000 in order that we may attract a truly first class, highly experienced executive director. Secondly, when that executive director comes in, he or she will have a great many things to attend to. Many of these could be easily done by part-time contract services, not by necessarily having to add additional staff. Therefore, I'm asking you to add 3365 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET $75,000 to the budget for contract services. Let me give you just two quick examples. The Commission is totally antiquated in the use of technology. By the way, I did sit in the balcony while I was waiting, and the TV monitors work very well. But the Commission could use GIS, could use a great amount of computer technology that would enormously simplify its work. Secondly, the Commission now has four historic districts that have been nominated by homeowners who want to invest in their neighborhoods, about which the Commission is doing absolutely nothing. One of these districts has been nominated for two years. The Commission has done nothing to process this nomination. There are two others that have been submitted and two others that have made inquiries. A great deal of the Commission's work with these nominations could be done by part-time consulting staff that would expedite 3366 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET the Commission's work, and that's the reason why I'm asking you to increase the budget for contract services that would allow them to do this. $125,000 invested in the Commission will return an enormous amount of investment in Philadelphia through the way that historic buildings and historic neighborhoods are contributing to our City. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak.
Amy Dougherty and Judge John Younge for the Free Library of Philadelphia.
Good evening, President Verna and City Council. My name is Amy Dougherty. I'm the director of the Friends of the Free Library of Philadelphia. I appreciate the opportunity to come before you once again on behalf of the library friends, members and patrons from across the 3367 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET City. As you are aware, the Friends of the Free Library's mission is to support the Free Library of Philadelphia through our affiliate branch friends groups who are volunteers promoting and raising funds for their library branch. Currently we have 38 active friends groups, about 10,000 members, and our 2005-2010 strategic plan outlines plans for a friends group at all 53 library branches by 2010. We want to thank City Council for the $1 million increase to the 2005 library budget for staff so that all branches could be open on Saturdays, although we understand that these funds never found their way to the library coffers. We also want to thank you for holding hearings on the library issue on March 17th in response to the large public outcry to reduction of library services in the neighborhoods. As the voice of library users, we are keenly aware of the role that library services play in the quality of life for our 3368 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET individuals and communities and in the ability of children, adults and neighborhoods to reach their full potential. We all know the only way we can be successful in life is we begin by reading. I want to briefly review some of the activities of library friends groups and supporters since the introduction of, quote/unquote, express libraries in January, and thank those of you who attended or assisted in these events. On February 12th we had our first large Love Your Library rally at Central Library, which attracted over 350 people and many area lawmakers. The beginning of March we had two Love your Library rallies, one at Wyoming Branch Library and one at Holmesburg Library, also attracting more than 400 people. We had testimony here on March 17th, and we filled the room to capacity. We presented City Council with 20,000 signatures on petitions asking for full six day per week service with accredited librarians at each branch. Hundred of letters, faxes and e-mails 3369 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET to Managing Director Phil Goldsmith, Mayor Street, City Council and to neighborhoods and City-wide media have gone out. We've held emergency meetings of friends groups to strategize how to make sure that the library is adequately funded. We want to guarantee that all Philadelphians have equal access to full service libraries with librarians, and are not left out of the opportunities available to others, including those families on the wrong side of the digital divide or children who attend under-performing public schools with no 15 libraries. For this reason, we are asking for an increase to the 2006 library budget by $5.5 million, for a total of $4.5 million for the library's General Fund. This will bring the library staff numbers back to the 2002 level of 660. It will open all branches for full day's service, six days per week, with accredited librarians. We believe that all citizens deserve this. In addition, we will be asking our state lawmakers to increase the state aid to 3370 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET libraries back to the $75 million level of 2002, which represents about $9 million for the Philadelphia system. We are also requesting that you let us know how we can help you to make sure that when you restore money to the library line item, the library will be able to spend these funds. Thank you for all of your efforts to keep library services, information and education accessible to everybody. We really appreciate the attention and the interest. That's all City Council has paid to this library issue.
Thank you so much. Let me say you're the first witness who made mention of the fact that the state lawmakers should also be increasing their funding to the libraries. For the last two years, as you know, the state did cut their funding. And I think it would be a wonderful partnership if the City and the state would both contribute to the loss of what we've seen. But I urge you 3371 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET to please keep up the fight with the state people.
Thanks so much. We do this every year and the state has increased -- since the 2002 cut has inched up state aid to libraries each year. So we're getting somewhere.
But they're still quite short, what, about $2 million?
Right. It's still short. I'm not saying that it's not. It's still short, so we're going to be speaking with them and have already begun to speak with them.
Certainly. President Verna and distinguished Members of City Council, good evening. My name is Ann Cohen 3372 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET and I am president of AFCSME Local 1637. With me tonight is business agent Fred Cummings. Local 1637 represents civilian employees of the Police and Fire Departments, the Department of Public Property, the District Attorney's Office, the Philadelphia Parking Authority and the Capital Program Office. We come here today in the aftermath of layoffs in the departments where we represent people and to comment on the proposed FY 2006 budget. In January the Police Department reduced its civilian workforce by 34 positions. The department cut 10 clerk typists, 14 police communications dispatchers, eight corrections officers, a storage worker and an automotive driver. Many of these employees have hired by other City departments and some have been recalled by the Police Department. In other departments where we represent employees we lost an additional 10 workers. As City Council proceeds with its budget deliberations, we ask that City Council 3373 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET take a long, hard look at the alleged savings of these layoffs, the real cost to the City in replacing these employees, and finally look at a long range plan that can actually save taxpayers money. Let's start with the Police Department. Of the clerk typists who were 9 laid off, seven served as CORAs, civilian 10 operation room assistants, civilian employees assigned to every police district in the City. These employees are responsible for preparing a variety of reports and processing critical paperwork related to daily police activities. Each and every time a CORA is not in a police district, he or she is replaced by a uniformed officer. By removing these seven CORAs, the City has assured that 1,820 times over the next year in various districts a patrol officer will be assigned to perform paperwork, instead of performing police work. With the City's uniformed workforce at its lowest level in decades, it makes no 24 sense economically or operationally to pay an officer to perform functions that could be 3374 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET more efficiently performed by civilian employees. Working side by side and performing identical functions, each uniformed officer receives between $10,000 and $20,000 a year more than a civilian to answer the phone, complete paperwork and maintain computer records. If this Administration is serious about saving money, rather than making a public display of cost cutting, it would restore the CORA positions and further civilianize operations rooms. 2 million each year. Clearly layoffs of these lower paid clerical employees has not saved the taxpayers a single dime. During the past years Local 1637 20 has come before this body many times to make 21 our cost savings civilianization proposals. 22 We hope that you're not tired of hearing us 23 sing the same old song. This year, as we have 24 seen the first layoffs in decades, and as the 25 financial future of the City remains unclear, 3375 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET the song sounds just a little sweeter. At a time when fire companies are being closed and library services are being dramatically cut back, can we afford to allow the City to proceed down the same money wasting path? City Council must join us in demanding that the City Administration take civilianization and civilian staffing seriously. We need to question the Administration on its planning and analysis. Having watched the budget process for many years, it appears to us that critical thinking and review has been glaringly absent this year. The layoff of police dispatchers is a good example. The department cut 14 dispatchers in late January. Of those, eight went to other departments after the Police Department had spent 15 weeks training them to work in 911. By March, the department realized it could not operate effectively and its reduced numbers of dispatchers.
The employees who were not placed in other departments were recalled. Currently, the 3376 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Police Department is in the process of hiring and training new dispatchers. 4 While we applaud the department for 5 this decision, which will go a long way in 6 assuring the safety of the public and the 7 officers on the street, we ask you again, did 8 the taxpayers save any money? The answer is 9 no. 10 Ultimately the taxpayers will spend more to address a policy decision that was lacking in critical analysis. Other civilianization possibilities abound. Each and every one will result in significant savings for taxpayers. We have cited these examples for years. Briefly they include computer help desk functions, clerical supervision, radio room and police detention units supervision, and further civilianization of the Crime Scene Unit. But the Police Department was not the only department affected by layoffs. In the Fire Department, two clerical employees remain laid off, their duties reassigned to fire fighters and to other less senior 3377 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET employees. The rest of my testimony will stand as written. Except I'd like to just read the last two paragraphs. Finally, we must publicly decry the layoff of automotive interns and apprentices in the City's Office of Fleet Management. As we all struggle to provide viable career alternatives to the young people of Philadelphia, what lessons have we given to the high school students and recent graduates who got their pink slips in January? The union would like City Council to ask Mayor Street, as we have, how is it that you can hire summer law school interns and fire high school automotive interns? We appreciate the opportunity to testify before you today. We hope that City Council will take a real lead in researching and investigating the cost savings that can be achieved by comprehensive civilianization. We welcome the opportunity to be part of such a process. Thank you very much. 3378 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET
Ms. Cohen, how much was in the budget for the school automotive interns?
I know that you asked the Office of Fleet Management to produce that for you. I have not seen that. I know that the automotive interns who work hours a 9 week during the school year are paid $7.00 an 10 hour. How much can that be? 11
The next witnesses 14 are John Braxton and Linda Evans. 15
Good 16 evening and welcome. Thank you for your 17 patience. Please identify yourself for the 18 record and proceed with your testimony. 19
My name is John 20 Braxton. I'm the co-president of the Faculty and Staff Federation, representing 1,400 employees at Community College of Philadelphia. With me is Linda Evans, who is a part-timer adjunct faculty member of our union there. And thank you for all your 3379 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET patience. It has been a long day. We've been able to hear a lot of eloquent testimony ourselves. We're going to be brief. We have written testimony which we will be glad to have entered into the record.
We think it's pretty eloquent testimony, but we're hoping it will be even more eloquent if we just summarize it for you.
I will also just point out that during the few hours that we've been here, we've actually been able to get some grading of our lab reports and our homework done for our students, so in addition to hearing eloquent testimony, it hasn't been time wasted. We would like to make two or three basic points. We do appreciate the Councilmembers who have stayed this long. We recognize, and especially being here today, we 3380 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET recognize all the different constraints that are put on the budget here and on all the different very valuable functions that the City Budget has to take into consideration. We simply want to point out to you a few things about the Community College of Philadelphia situation with the funding. One is that it's our 40th anniversary, and that's cause for great celebration. But it's also cause for anxiety this year because for the first time Community College of Philadelphia students are being turned away. They're being turned away in part because their tuitions are rising so fast that they can't afford it, and they're also being turned away because college administrators are, as a result of the funding crisis, deciding not to open more sections of classes because those classes might not be completely filled. Therefore, students that want to take certain classes can't take them. And some of them are very basic classes. For example, people in nursing programs that want to get into nursing 3381 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET programs that have to take what I teach, biology, can't get into biology classes because they're all filled, and that delays their program for a long time. Linda teaches English, and the same thing is happening in English classes. So we would like you to just be aware that the affordability is providing an access problem that we have for decades been proud of being a full access college where anybody could come to the college and get a college education, and that's changing right now. We noted your comments about the library funding situation, and you appreciated that the person who spoke said that there was more state funding needed, and we want you to know that we're going to the state with this same set of issues. And we believe that some motion has occurred there. So we are hoping that this year or in the future, if not this year, that some more motion will occur from the City as well. So there's the affordability and access issues. Those are two issues really. 3382 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET And the third one that we want to remind you is the issue of poor pay for part-time faculty. So that we have a situation where 40 percent of all the credit sections at Community College of Philadelphia are taught by part-time faculty who are paid on the average well less than half of what full-time faculty would be paid to teach the same course. In fact, Linda has a flyer that's being distributed that says if the faculty are being treated badly, how does this reflect on the students? The problem is not that the part-time faculty are not highly qualified. The problem is that if they're running from one part-time job to another, they can't give it the same degree of attention. When Dr. Curtis testified, I know last year -- I wasn't able to be here this year -- he actually said part-time faculty are not paid to do office hours. Well, if they're not paid to do office hours, then students aren't getting that service. We realize that just for you to give 3383 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET the same amount of money this year as you did last year is a difficult thing, and we appreciate the fact that we're not hear saying restore the money that you're cutting. So we recognize that. But we also want to point out that when it's flat funded, what happens is that you actually have the City paying a lower percentage of the budget than it did last year because, of course, costs are going up for us. And that means that students are paying more.
So we appreciate your attention to this issue and we hope that in the future, if not in this year, it will be possible to provide more money for funding the college in general, and specifically, earmarked money for increasing part-time faculty salaries, which will benefit not only part-time faculty, but also ultimately the students as well, and that's what we're here for.
I don't remember the exact number, but I believe it's something 3384 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET like $97 a credit. We've had the highest tuition raises in history in each of the last two years.
I think Dr. Curtis indicated that and said that he fears that it may have to go up even more.
Yes. We're sorry to see that. One of the things that he indicated was that any help that can come will go directly to try to alleviate those increases. We really are all here to try to help out the students.
Thank you very much. Are there any comments or questions from Members of the Committee of the witnesses? (No response.)
No. No, thank you. John has said it. Help. We need money and we do a good job and we're just under served. We 3385 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET just need you to put this as a priority. Move it up on your list. I'm pleased to report that Senator Kuhl, who is the chairperson of the Senate Education Committee, and Representative Jesse Stairs, who's the Chair of the House Education Committee in Harrisburg, are very interested in our issue. We've been having meetings and hearings with them. We're continuing to make this happen. We just hope that Philadelphia City Council, don't be too far behind. It would be so nice if you would come out and take the leadership. Don't wait until the Pennsylvania House takes leadership on this, in which they do currently. So that's what I'll say to you. This community college is here in the City. It's not up in Harrisburg. Okay? As the Senator told me, he's from Schuylkill County. Senator Rose told me last week their local government does not even sponsor a community college, and that their students there need one. It's unheard of the fact that our City government does not fund it 3386 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET to its level. Oh, by the way, Senator Rose, he's a republican.
Good evening. You have been extremely patient. Thank you so much for waiting.
Good evening. Madam President and Members of Council. It's good to be back with you again. It's good to see you and to engage in this process where you hear the concerns and priorities of your people. I'm Frank Cervone, and I serve as director of the Support Center for Child Advocates. We're the volunteer lawyers program for abused children in Philadelphia. With me is Ourania Papademetriou from Women Against Abuse, and Ourania will be talking in just a moment. Ourania Papademetriou 3387 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Tonight we represent the victim service agencies who serve this community of crime victims, and we seek your support to continue funding at the current level of $640,000 in Class 200 funding. This funding supports courtroom accompaniment and advocacy to more than 40,000 victims of crime. We received word from the District Attorney's Office, who is the conduit for this funding, that this funding stream will be cut by 5 percent, and we are troubled. Our programs are troubled to face these cuts. They would severely exacerbate the reductions in public and private funding we're already facing, and our clients and staff simply cannot sustain more reductions in programs and services. We ask you simply to maintain the current level of that funding this year. Ms. Papademetriou is going to talk about a client case that she's been involved with.
Just very briefly. As you know, last year there were 3388 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET almost 15,000 protection from abuse actions filed here in Philadelphia. That number is huge. But when you think about it, 15,000 petitions filed. That means each one of those people that came to court to look for service, to look for help, to look for safety, needed someone to stand beside them, to help give them the courage to move forward. Our agency, as the other agencies that come before you today, are there to help these victims. Someone who in the middle of the night is in fear for their safety and looks for help from the court, from the criminal justice system, from all of us need someone to stand beside them. Women Against Abuse provides this service. We have advocates in the courtrooms, each courtroom where there's a domestic violence case that's being heard. We are there to help the victims. We ask you to continue providing the funding that has been provided in the past so that we can continue to provide that service. Thank you.
Thank you. 3389 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET We are all very well aware of the wonderful work that do you. I guess the appropriations for this is in the District Attorney's budget, is it not.
That's correct. And we have communicated with them. Our intention to come before you and ask that the cut not be made, and Ms. Abraham has no problem with us making that request of you.
We haven't seen that, Your Honor. They put it back to us, Madam President.
In fact, Mr. McPherson is reminding that when she testified, she did ask for the restoration.
I'm thrilled to hear that. Thank you for informing us. We're a group of private agencies performing what is essentially a public function. When the City gets to privatize it gets to save money. What we would urge you 3390 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET not to do is to take advantage of us. Our staffs are working at below market wage. Our benefits are expensive to our agencies. We are reliant largely on volunteer support for much of our effort.
It's really a shame that an agency such as yours has to come in every year and almost beg, plead, implore for the funding. I remember years ago that we actually had people coming in on gurneys. Do you remember that? I don't if you were here. Do you recall that?
Yes, I do. We come every year. A board member of mine calls it the high dive into the shallow pool, that every year to get to the end of the Fiscal Year we have to struggle. All private agencies suffer this. But these victim service agencies have no natural constituency. Folks move on. Ourania's population, my population, these are poor people. Kids don't have money to give. The women who have been moved from their homes by violence, they're barely making it. 3391 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET They're barely making it. You've heard from many fine causes today and we certainly would not discourage any of them. We are a City of wealth and we are a City of need. We're a City rocked by gun violence. Those victims will be our clients. Your offices call us. Your clients and constituents are ours. We want to continue to serve. We will continue to serve. It gets increasingly hard each year.
We'll help in whatever way we can, I assure you. I want to publicly thank you for all the wonderful work that you do. Thank you so much. (Applause.)
Ms. Brill, 3392 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET good evening. For as long as I can remember you have come to just about every budget hearing. How many years has it been?
I don't know. A lot. And there are so many things that I could talk about because I'm involved in so many things in the City and have been a librarian with the City for many years. I'm just torn a million ways. But today I'm here to speak on behalf of the Northeast Philadelphia civic groups and Town Watches that are very concerned about the loss of the Municipal Services Center in Northeast Philadelphia at 9215-27 Roosevelt Boulevard. Last week we were here. We distributed letters to the Mayor and to City Council Members, and petitions have been distributed by many civic groups, and they've written to the Mayor, and we really have not gotten much response. So I'd like to just point out a few things that is in the letter that's being distributed. The genesis for this mini City Hall 3393 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET has served of the taxpayers of Northeast Philadelphia and citizens of the entire City well for more than years. 5 By the way, there's another 6 Municipal Service Center at 22nd and Somerset. 7 I believe they are also asking for the 8 continuation of their service. 9 The genesis for this service 10 occurred during the initial months of the 11 Administration of Mayor W. Wilson Goode. 12 There was a large community meeting at the 13 Northeast Regional Library. I was there. 14 Many other civic leaders were there. He said 15 he wanted to give us something that could be 16 done quickly and not be very costly. So 17 everybody said, gee, we could use a mini City 18 Hall here in the Northeast so that we didn't 19 have to travel 20 miles into Center City. For 20 many senior citizens that was hard to do. Well, that was accomplished in a very short time frame, and it has been going all these years. And over these past many years literally hundreds of thousands of our fellow Philadelphians have used the center. 3394 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET They've paid millions of dollars in City water and tax revenue bills and fees. In addition, many more thousands have received one or more of the services provided there, which includes the added benefit of permit issuance for local contractors and businesses that saves all day trips to Center City. Many of our seniors use this site and would find it difficult to travel to Center City to pay bills. The current site, which is in a shopping center, has from its inception been handicap accessible, centrally located, and has ample parking in the adjacent shopping center. If our information is correct, as we understand it, the current $50,000 expense for the lease comes from the budget of the Mayor's Office. Now, what we're asking, since the Mayor has cut this, is that we hope that other City departments such as Revenue or Licenses and Inspections, which receive revenue from the center, may pick up the cost. Other revenue enhancing ideas can and should be 3395 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET developed to keep this facility open. There are also other monetary benefits that accrue to the City. Individual stores in the shopping center where it's located have many customers who use their services from people who visit the mini City Hall. City wage tax for employees and receipts from the City portion of the sales tax are certainly tangible fiscal benefits. Also there's a location there of a City library, supermarket, restaurants and it makes it a very convenient site. As I said, we've been in touch with our state people. We've been in touch with other groups. Many petitions have been submitted and we're hoping you can get the $50,000 to keep it open. Since the announcement that it was going to be closing, the only service that's left is the cashiers. They've taken out the L&I services and the register of wills services. It's really hard for the people because they're not getting the benefit they've had for 20 years, and we're hoping you 3396 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET can find the money to bring it back.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Miller.
Thank you for coming in and bringing up the mini station. The 22nd Street station mini City Hall is actually in my district, and Councilman Clarke is just a block down. That's also a service that we've been fighting to try to keep open for many of the same reasons. It's in a business strip and it brings 500 people at least a day to those stores. So it's an intricate part of keeping that business strip alive. We've got many petitions and we've also requested the Mayor not to shut it down and to stop the diminishing services at this point.
We also surveyed the businesses in the shopping center. They're very upset because they really get a lot of people. They make a day of it. They come and pay the bills and then they go for lunch or something like that. It's a convenience for 3397 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET them too. We'd be losing all that. So we hope you can do that.
We will be looking into it. It was so nice seeing you, Ms. Brill. Thank you.
I am Leddy Thall, and I am here for the Maternity Care Coalition for Joanne Fisher, who unfortunately had a prior engagement this evening. I want to say I appreciate all of the Council people who are still here. You have had a long day. We want to take this opportunity to ask for money for next year, not this year, and to tell you a little bit about what has happened. We want to congratulate the City for taking seriously the problem of the dangers with safe sleep. With the leadership of the Managing Director, Social Services Director, the Department of Public Health and Human Services, the City has really responded in a direct and creative way. We've created a 3398 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET nationally significant public education effort. As a result of the advertising campaign that was developed jointly with DHS, we have seen how to develop culturally sensitive, literacy appropriate educational materials. Attached to everybody's testimony is in Spanish and in English brochures about safe sleep. We have responded to 3,000 phone calls this year and distributed over 1,800 cribs to needy families. But now, what do we do with this information as we have distributed and educated the community? As Commissioner Domzalski has noted, the City is conducting some real time death reviews when babies die within a co-sleeping context. So we can determine risk factors and prevention strategies. DHS also responded immediately by seeking our assistance, and in six months we have given 150 DHS involved families safe sleep education and cribs. But what about the families that 3399 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET aren't involved with DHS? What happens to them? Sadly, we do not have resources to adequately assess each family's needs and offer the support needed to prevent a new DHS case. As you may recall last year, with major City and federal funding cuts, Joanne Fisher was here saying that we would have to -- and unfortunately we did -- have to close both the Strawberry Mansion and Germantown Mom Mobiles. We're stretched thin asking when this crib crisis came along. We now have a waiting list of 175 seeking the Mom Mobile services. And this is without the cribs. About 124 of them are from the neighborhoods that the Germantown and Strawberry Mansion Mom Mobiles had served. So we want to just leave with questions, which is how do we get our City to see pregnant women and families of infants in urgent need of services? We've got a nine-month window. When we have waiting lists, whether they're for prenatal care or delivery, what do we do? 3400 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET We are just very pleased. We have a track record working with the Department of Public Health and Human Services. And when we learned that babies were dying, the City responded. And now that we can see an extent beyond a crib, we hope to work with everyone to solve it and let you know next year. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Thank you for your patience and your testimony. Our next witness?
Good evening, Mr. Mauer. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good evening. My name is Fred Mauer, and I represent the Friends of Tacony Creek Park, one of our five waterway parks that serves a tenth of the City's population. It is located in three Councilmanic districts. Our friends helped to rescue this park 15 years ago after the City 3401 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET budget was cut. The last capital project that we had for Tacony Creek Park was done 29 years ago to go to replace recreation facilities in the north section of the park. That was when Councilman Kelly was the advocate for us. Few pieces of the bicentennial equipment remain today because of benches being stolen and tables, and now the bicycle path is crumbling away. The 1976 plan installed three steel pedestrian bridges so that park users could use both sides of the park. In the 1987 park master plan, they recommended replacing a fourth bridge, which was never funded. This time, when Fairmount Park got the William Penn Grant for money and education, they actually spent money on demolition of equipment and actually the parking spaces. Two years ago, a non-employee of Fairmount Park, the natural lands manager, removed one of the pedestrian bridges without conferring with the Commission staff and with no public notice. That bridge had a capital 3402 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET life of 100 years, and it was the only way to cross over into a dead area of the park that is dead ended by the Amtrak railroad. It was never declared unsafe and it was not taken off the capital plan. It was a stupid manager's action of neglect. We appealed to the Park Commission and a bridge replacement was put in the City Planning Commission budget and approved in Fiscal Year '03-'04. Now, look, the Capital Budget this year has ended and the bridge has not been replaced. In fact, in this year the park removed the only public playground that was in our community. It was done without notice to the community or to the friends. They even trashed two new play horses that the friends had replaced as part of our work to make this park save and useable. Before Fairmount Park gives you some bull story that it was unsafe, I want to observe that they decided that they wanted no 23 playground. It was their choice and it was not supported by any study and it was not supported by any discussions with anyone else. 3403 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET They just took it out without notice to us. In this next Fiscal Year of '05 and '06 I see the budget to place a new playground but there's no mention of the bridge replacement. I think they're making a bait and switch game with us. The Planning Commission authorized the replacement bridge, and it had priority over all new plans. Yes, we do need a playground. Removal of the past one made it an emergency. I believe Tacony Creek Park is not getting reasonable care in the operations management or in its park assets. I ask City Council to take notice and have Fairmount Park fulfill its duty to replace the missing bridge and the playground. Thank you.
Thank you very much, sir. We appreciate your testimony. Our next witness?
Good evening. I'm Pauline Borkin, a West Philadelphia resident 3404 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET and a patient at Health Center 3, as well as the Health Center's Community Advisory Board. As such, I represent the over 30,000 patients who received healthcare last year at Health Center 3. Mr. Domzalski, the current Health Commissioner, requests $185.5 million for FY '06 to operate the Health Department. I'm asking that this amount be doubled to $360 million, and that a special committee be established to reallocate funds from other City departments in order to accomplish this goal. General Fund monies are being unfairly distributed to the detriment of the Health Department. Human services are certainly important, but is it six times more important than public health? Is the category, all others, three times as important as public health? I further ask that the 70 plus positions that were taken from the Health Department in November of 2004 be restored. It's especially concerning that at least 20 of 3405 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET these positions were front line care providers. For example, registered nurses. There are over 165,000 uninsured residents in Philadelphia. For the most part, these voters are employed contributors to the tax base who work in jobs where medical insurance is not provided. The healthcare centers of the Department of Public Health provide care for all Philadelphians who need it, without regard to the ability to pay for that service. I ask that the budget for the Health Department be increased to improve the care given to the uninsured. I also ask that a set percentage of the planned casino revenues be set aside to be spent on public health. Thank you.
Good evening. I'm William Borkin, a member of the community advisory board at District Health Center 3, as well as a patient of the health center. Health Center 3 serves the West Philadelphia community through filling over 400 3406 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET prescriptions a day and through its pediatric, adult, emergency walk-in, dental and specialty services and sees over 300 patients a day, over 30,000 patients a year. For some time this patient load has been performed by medical staff functioning at less than 50 percent. The healthcare staff, especially the nurses and nurse practitioners, are maintaining the patient level despite being less than 50 percent staffed. Each one is doing two to three positions' work. This causes staff burn out, increased retention problems, high turnover rates and, most critically, medical accidents and errors. I'm here to request that the over 70 healthcare professional positions removed from the health district in November 2004 be restored for a full staffing compliment. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you very much for testifying. Do we have anyone in the audience whose name has not been called who would like to testify? 3407 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Will you please approach the witness table? Good evening, sir. Please identify yourself for the record.
Good evening, Council President Verna. My name is Andre Butler. My name was missed on the list somehow. I represent the Philadelphia Unemployment Project. The Philadelphia Unemployment Project, first of all, we help people, as the name says, in the City and the region that need help getting jobs, whatever the job may be, whatever the income level is. We also see most of the foreclosure evidence in the City whom are foreclosed and we help them either get back on their feet, whether it be a lost litigation or whatever it is. I was here because I was an occasional member of Stan Shapiro's One Philadelphia Coalition. I'm here just to say a few words in opposition of the recommendation on the possibility of reduction of the Business Privilege Tax. 3408 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET As you've heard before I spoke, and as Stan Shapiro and Sharon Ward so eloquently stated earlier, and has been said up until now, there's an awful lot of services that the City residents need, and to be thinking about a reduction of Business Privilege Tax, of which businesses pay barely 8 percent of their income, I think is a bit financially irresponsible. Remember that we are now the sixth largest City in the country. We were fifth until Phoenix, Arizona passed us last year in May. We're losing our base of residents because they're moving. So if we're thinking about reducing a tax or eliminating a tax when our resident tax basis is not what it used to be, then that sounds a bit financially irresponsible. First let me also thank Councilman Ramos for being here. He supports our position and he helped us to get our other time at the podium last month. And Councilman Cohen, who also supports our position, who's unfortunately not here, but he made an 3409 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET eloquent speech the last time we were here, that this debate needs to be put out enough that people understand both sides of the issue. If the Business Privilege Tax is reduced, you're going to have an increase in property taxes. In simple words, we're raising taxes just to raise revenues. Not so much that the properties are worth more, but just to raise revenues. And in doing that you're still going to be increasing the possibility of foreclosures. As you heard, we have a thousand foreclosures a month, and some of those are because people cannot pay the property taxes. Those issues need to thought about when you're thinking about reducing Business Privilege Tax. I'll end by saying this. Councilman Clarke, I believe it was, when we were last here asked Brett Mandel, if we reduce the Business Privilege Tax, what should we do to help the City out? How do we make up the difference? Well, they are the wrong people 3410 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET to ask. Because the business people and the ones that are of the higher echelon in this City, they can afford to either live outside the City or they can afford to join health clubs. If the pools aren't open, they can join a health club. If the schools aren't the best, they can send their children to private school. If the police and firemen are reduced in rank and file, they can afford to pay for the best fire and police prevention for their home and businesses. So they are the wrong ones to ask. The ones to ask are the people that need the help. And the ones that need the help, as you've heard, are all the programs today that are being cut or might be cut or need help. We need to take a good look at understanding if we're going to reduce the Business Privilege Tax, which is barely, as I said, 8 percent of the businesses' income. Thank you, Council.
Thank you very much sir. Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like 3411 04/13/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET to testify? (No response.)
Seeing no 5 one, I thank you all very much. This Committee will stand in recess until April the 21st at 9:30. Thank you very much. (Council adjourned at 6:55 p.m.) - - - - 3412 C E R T I F I C A T I O N I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Wednesday, April 13, 2005, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. RE: COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE _________________________ Lisa C. Bradley, RPR