COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING AND PUBLIC MEETING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON STREETS AND SERVICES - - - Room 400 City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, April 26, 2000 3:30 p.m. - - - BILL 000121 - Held at request of the sponsor. BILL 000146 - Authorizing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No. 128 of an area bounded by Cambria Street, 19th Street, Indiana Street, and 17th Street. . . BILL 000148 - Regulating the parking of motorcycles at metered parking spaces. . . BILL 000161 - Authorizing Anthony Lucidoni, owner of the property 39 Oregon Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to construct and maintain a sidewalk cafe awning, electric sign, and seasonal enclosure. . . BILL 000162 - Prohibiting sidewalk sales at various locations within the area bounded by Reed Street, 21st Street, Morris Street, and 25th Street. . . BILL 000166 - Amending Chapter 9-200 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "Commercial Activities on Streets," by adding a new section regulating the location, size, operation, and maintenance of newsstands. . . PRESENT: COUNCILMAN FRANK DICICCO, Chairman COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN, Vice Chair COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN W. WILSON GOODE, JR. COUNCILMAN ANGEL L. ORTIZ COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES I N D E X Bill 000146 * Paul Lonie, Survey Bureau Manager, Streets Bill 000161 * Nancy Sen, Engineering Supervisor, Streets Bill 000162 Otis Haigler, Manager Regulatory Affairs, L&I Bill 000148 D. Ostrander, South Street Headhouse District John Foy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bill 000166 * Nancy Sen, Engineering Supervisor, Streets 11 Tom Chapman, City Planning Commission. . . . . 39 * Paul Levy, Center City District. . . . . . . Debora Russo, Managing Director's Office . . . 46 J. Beller, Esq., Counsel for Newsstand Assoc. 51 George Claflen, Claflen Associates. . . . . . 53 Architects & Planners Barry Hossack, Capital Manufacturing. . . . . 58 Earl Rogers, Newsstand Association Member. . . 73 Douglas Watts, Ad Shell Street Furniture . . . 83 Advertising Specialty Company Steve Peershine, USA Today . . . . . . . . . . 105 Mary Tracy, President, SCRUB . . . . . . . . . 145 Judith Eden, Center City Residents Assoc. . . 157 * Peter Hecht, Vice President, Philly Walks. . 171 (* - Indicates also submitted written testimony.) Submitted Written Testimony Only (Bill 000166) Timothy Lidiak, Assistant Director Avenue of the Arts 3 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000146 P R O C E E D I N G S
Good afternoon, good afternoon, everyone. The Committee on Streets and Services is now in session. We have a quorum. With me today are my colleagues Councilmember Cohen, Councilmember Ortiz, and Councilmember Goode. The newsstands legislation hearings, which we reconvened to today will be held till the end. There are only three others bills before that, I expect that that will take the most amount of time, but there are a couple other bills that we'll get through quickly. As soon as Robin gets back, she'll read the title of the bill.
Bill No. 000121 is being held at the request of the sponsor. It will be rescheduled. Bill No. 000146, an ordinance amending Section 2 of an ordinance (Bill No. 980717) approved March 23, 1999, entitled "An ordinance 22 authorizing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No. 128 of an area bounded by Cambria Street, 19th Street, Indiana Street, and 17th Street by striking from the City Plan and 4 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000146 vacating 18th Street from Cambria Street to Indiana Avenue, and reserving and placing on the City Plan a certain right-of-way for drainage purposes and water main purposes, under certain terms and conditions."
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My name is Paul Lonie, Survey Bureau Manager with the Department of Streets, and the Department of Streets would like to offer the following testimony on Bill No. Bill 000146. This is not an administration ordinance 14 but an ordinance requested by Mr. Larry L. Anthonsen, President of Concord Products Company, Inc., 1951 South Broadway, Camden, New Jersey, 08104. The purpose of this ordinance is to extend the time period of an ordinance approved March 23, 1999. The purpose of that ordinance was to acquire a safe, secure parking area for the proposed new manufacturing location of Concord Products and hence attract employs to the Philadelphia area.
Thank you. Are there any other questions for this 5 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000161 witness from the committee? (No questions.)
Is there anyone else here who wishes to testify on this bill? (No response.)
Hearing none, the clerk will read the title of the next bill.
Bill No. 000161, an ordinance authorizing Anthony Lucidoni, owner of the property 39 Oregon Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19148, to construct and maintain a sidewalk cafe awning, electric sign, and seasonal enclosure onto and over the north footway of Oregon Avenue adjacent to the property 39 Oregon Avenue, all under certain terms and conditions.
Is there anyone here to testify? Mr. Tayoun? Is there anyone from the Streets Department here to testify? Nancy, here you are. I apologize. (Witness comes forward.)
Good afternoon. My name is Nancy Sen, I'm an engineering supervisor with the Streets Department. I'm here to testify on Bill 6 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000161 No. 000161 an ordinance authorizing Anthony Lucidoni, owner of the property 39 Oregon Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19148, to construct and maintain a sidewalk cafe awning, electric sign, and seasonal enclosure onto and over the north footway of 38 Oregon Avenue, adjacent to the property 39 Oregon Avenue, all under certain terms and conditions. The Streets Department has no objection to the passage of this bill.
Any questions for this witness from the Committee? (No questions.)
Is there anyone else here who wishes to testify for or against this bill? (No response.)
Tony, you can continue to make those fantastic roast beef sandwiches with broccoli rabe and chicken cutlets and everything else. Jimmy, we'll do a suspension of the rules, okay? Thank you, thanks for coming. 7 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000162
Bill No. 000162, an ordinance amending Section 9-205 of Philadelphia Code, entitled "Sidewalk Sales," by prohibiting sidewalk sales at various locations within the area bonded by Reed Street, 21st Street, Morris Street, and 25th Street, under certain terms and conditions.
Good afternoon. Please state your name for the record.
My name is Otis Haigler Jr., and I'm the Legislative Regulatory Affairs Manager for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. With respect to Bill No. 000162, amending Section 9-2035 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "Sidewalk Sales," by prohibiting sidewalk sales at various locations within the area bounded by Reed Street, 21st Street, Morris Street, and 25th Street, under certain terms and conditions, the Department of Licenses and Inspections has no 23 objections to the enactment of this bill.
Thank you. Are there any other questions for this 8 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000148 witness from the committee? (No questions.)
Is there anyone else here who wishes to testify for or against the bill? (No response.)
Hearing none, the clerk will read the title of the next bill.
Bill No. 000148, an ordinance amending Title of the Philadelphia 12 Code, entitled "Traffic Code," by adding provisions regulating the parking of motorcycles at metered parking spaces within certain portions of the area generally bounded by Front Street, Pine Street, 11th Street, and Bainbridge Street, and by providing civil penalties for violations of such provisions to be imposed, pursuant to Chapter 19 12-2800, entitled "Administrative Adjudication of Parking Violations," all under certain terms and conditions.
Thank you. Is there anyone here who wishes to testify? Mr. Ostrander, Mr. Foy, please come up to the witness table. 9 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000148 (Witnesses come forward.)
Good afternoon. Please state your name and identify yourself for the record.
Thank you very much. I am Dick Ostrander, the Executive Director of the South Street Headhouse District, and Bill No. 9 000148 essentially describes the district and changes the parking regulations within that district for motorcycles. I am here to say that we have considered motorcycle problems on the street in many ways, and we do feel that this proposed ordinance would be helpful. And that essentially is all I do have to say. I think there is no 17 disadvantages to the street in that no parking spaces are lost; it simply changes the confirmation of the vehicles. When the motorcycles park -- angle-park six, eight, ten sometimes to a parking space, it gets very difficult, and it is not conducive to the business climate of the street. John, do you have anything?
Thank you, Mr. 10 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000148 Foy?
From Brigitte Foy's, 'cause I don't want you to think that I took preference with Mr. Tony Luke, so John Foy of Brigitte Foy's is here. Great food as well.
Thank you. Also I'm the Chair of the South Street Headhouse District Public Safety Committee, and the motorcycles have just become very problematic over the last several years, particularly on the weekends, and have been very intimidating, with loud engines and so forth and setting off car alarms and scaring the Dickens out of kids walking down the street eating ice-cream cones.
I understand. I remember in New Hope, they had a very similar problem, and at a recent visit a couple months ago or whatever, I noticed the one-vehicle-per-space sign, which gave me the idea to run it by the South Street Headhouse District and thought it was something we may want to try and see if it works for us in Philadelphia as well. Thank you for coming here today and 11 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 thank you for your testimony.
Is there anyone else here who wishes to testify? The Parking Authority has no. . . Thank you for coming, Mr. Dixon. Blame her. And let the record reflect that Councilmember Clarke is now in attendance. The clerk will read the title of the next bill.
This is the bill that was continued from April 11th, Bill No. 000166, an ordinance amending Chapter 9-200 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "Commercial Activities on Streets," by adding a new section regulating the location size, operation, and maintenance of newsstands on the public sidewalk and by making conforming amendments to other sections of the chapter, all under certain terms and conditions. (Witnesses come forward.)
Good afternoon. I'm sorry. Please identify yourself for the record. 12 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166
I'm Nancy Sen, Engineering Supervisor with the Streets Department.
Do any of you have testimony right now? 'Cause I'm trying to refresh my memory on where we left off. I know the last time we left off, the next speaker was Mr. Levy, and I apologize 'cause earlier I told here him he would be the first speaker. You want to wait, Paul? Okay, continue. And Councilmember Rizzo is also here now. Thank you.
With regard to Bill No. 166, the following is offered as follow-up to our testimony of April 11th. Our previous testimony included the proposal of six amendments to the bill. To recap, these amendments were proposed to clarify that when the newsstand is in operation, a minimum of 6 feet of clear footway and 18 inches of curb 13 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 setback should be maintained at all times. The amendments particularly address that these clearances shall be maintained for any temporary or permanent extension of the basic footprint of the newsstand. As a result of issues discussed in the testimonies of April 11th and subsequent interdepartmental meetings, a new set of amendments have been jointly drafted, thereby superseding our previous document. We believe these amendments address all Streets Department original concerns for maintaining the public footway. Additionally, a language for such features as advertising appurtenances, color, paint finish, and security gate housing have been added to address concerns raised by the Planning Commission and the Art Commission. Therefore, the Streets Department has no objection to the passage of this bill, with the addition of the following technical amendments. We trust that the addition of these amendments will produce legislation that compasses thorough guidelines for the design, placement, operation, and maintenance of both functional and attractive 14 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 newsstands in the right-of-way. Amendment No. 1: Delete the second sentence of Subsection 9-212(4)(a) and add the sentence, "For purposes of this subsection, a block face shall mean the street segment encompassing an odd or even hundred-block address range, as defined by the Department of Streets Geographic Information System Center Line File. As so amended, Subsection 9-212(4)(a) reads as follows: "(a) There shall be no more than one newsstand on any corner, no more than two newsstands at any intersection, and no more than two newsstands on one side of a block face. " Amendment No. " Amendment No. " Amendment No. 5) The unit which houses the gate must be think totally concealed within the newsstand. " Amendment No. 4), and provided that all racks, shelves, and shields are removed when the newsstand is not in use. 1) Two shelves immediately adjacent to the window opening shall be permitted, provided that no shelf shall project beyond the permitted 10-foot length of the newsstand, and no shelf shall project more than 12 inches from the facade of the newsstand on the sidewalk side. 2) One rack shall be permitted on each side of the window opening for the display of newspapers, magazines, and/or periodicals, provided that each rack is installed on the front of the stand and parallel to the front of the stand and no rack is hung from the roof of the 17 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 stand, and provided the rack does not exceed 24 inches in width, projects no more than inches from the facade of the newsstand on the sidewalk side, and does not exceed feet in height. " 12 Amendment No. 4). 1) Advertising may include a band on the four sides of the newsstand, not to exceed 6 inches in height, located at least 6-feet-4- 18 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 inches above the sidewalk. The band on the sidewalk side may be illuminated; the bands on the remaining three sides may not be illuminated. 2) One advertisement may appear on each of three sides of the newsstand, excluding the sidewalk side as follows: Advertising on the street side of the newsstand may be a maximum of 7 feet wide by 2 feet high and may be illuminated. Advertising on each short side of the newsstand may be a maximum of 18 inches wide by 36 inches high and may be illuminated. 3) Security gates may include a graphic logo identifying the owner or sponsor of the newsstand. The proposed design must be submitted to the Art Commission for approval. " Amendment No.
7: Add a new Subsection 9-212(5)(g) to read as follows: "(g) All newsstands shall be painted in consistent colors approved by the Art Commission. The Art Commission shall consult with any special services district whose jurisdiction includes a newsstand location before approving paint colors. " Amendment No. " And Amendment No. 4). And that's the conclusion of the amendments that the Streets Department proposes for this legislation.
Thank you. I have several simple questions. On of your testimony, number 5, the amendment to number 5, where you speak about the racks and shelves and shields. I know that on the new newsstand, the ones that we're hoping that most people will take advantage of, there's a -- the way these things are built, the air-conditioning systems are built so that they're inside and 20 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 there's no overhang. Is this enough -- is this tight enough, this legislation, that it would prohibit any modification of the newsstand at a later date, that would make certain that they could not put in an air-conditioning system or a heating system that would hang out beyond the -- I'm just wondering. I mean, I don't see any reason for that, but you never know, people do become a little creative at times. And I want to make sure don't wind up with new newsstands and have a similar situation that exists on some of the existing stands where, for comfort reasons -- and I understand why -- they've added an air- conditioning system in but, you know, the unit is sticking out 8, 10, 12, maybe 16 inches beyond the dimensions of the box.
I guess, just being familiar with the legislation, I know we covered the curbside in one of the paragraphs, but we don't address the other three -- the other three sides are addressed by particulars having to do with roof overhangs. 21 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166
And in most cases, it's either end side is where the air-conditioning system, on the current boxes, are put into place. And, again, the new one has it built in so we don't have to deal with that, and that was the intention of the Association and all of the people that we worked with over the last year and a half, to have something more uniform and more clean looking on the outside and address some of those problems so -- I just don't want to make a federal case out of it, but I just want to make sure that we have as much in this as we possibly can have.
The other thing is, on the sidewalk side, when you take away the space allocated for shelving and the opening for making the sales, there's probably not much room there to have air-conditioning. So like you said, I can see it only being design-wise on the two short sides.
If they did it on the side where there's no door -- on one side in 22 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 the new newsstand, there's a door, and on the other side, there's no door, then they would actually interfere with the advertisement. So, again I don't -- I shouldn't say I don't whatever happened, 'cause I've seen some of these boxes out there and it's amazing what happens.
Excuse me, sorry. The other thing is that if any other design comes down the pike, there is, you know, specified in the original ordinance that it has to be approved by the Art Commission. So I guess that's our, you know, stopgap measure if anything else comes up.
Okay, a question from Councilmember Clarke and then Councilmember Rizzo.
As a second -- you know, once this legislation is passed, there is a need to 23 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 rewrite the regulations, and that will be jointly written by Streets -- by L&I and the Streets Department. And so if there's any concern, we would certainly, working together with L&I, make sure, as we did with these amendments, that any concern from the other departments or yourselves would be addressed there.
Thank you. The Streets Department. I have a question with respect to the content of the advertisement on newsstands versus bus shelters. Can you give me some clarity on that, as to what's allowed in the newsstands and what's allowed in the bus shelters?
Moy name is Otis Haigler, and I'm the Legislative Regulatory Affairs Manager for L&I. The newsstand ordinance, the proposed newsstand ordinance will only allow for newspapers and magazines and periodicals that are sold from the newsstand as well as advertisements for the Pennsylvania Lottery. Those are the only types the advertisement that will be allowed for the newsstands.
Yes, yes. Periodicals and newspapers that are sold at the newsstand as well the Pennsylvania Lottery.
Okay. And the bus shelters right now primarily have what, anything else?
I think Mr. Levy might be able to help us with that also when he comes up to testify.
Okay, that's pretty 25 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 much answers what I need and eliminates my second question.
Thank you. Just to follow up on that, if, down the road, the Newsstand Association would want to increase or change the parameters that you just described for advertising, they would have to do what?
Another ordinance would have to be addressed or amend this one once it's in place.
Okay. My question is, are the newsstands entitled to any services from the Streets Department, such as trash pickup?
No. They're -- the only input the Streets Department has really is in the very beginning, when an applicant comes and proposes a location on the footway. And, certainly at that time, there's certain things that they have to prepare -- certain plans showing all of the other furniture that's in the area 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 where they propose. The Streets Department looks at the proposed location to make sure they're not interfering with anything else and make sure that the location abides, you know, to the ordinance. So that's really where we enter. And the only other time we enter in is if your eyes or ears are out on the street doing other jobs and seeing that there might be something that has to be cited, and then working to together with L&I, we might --
So all newsstands must have - they're dependent on a private trash collector to pick up their trash?
So you should never see a situation where there's trash cans on trash day out next to the newsstand.
I believe the intention is to have storage inside for -- I don't know if there's anything addressed in the ordinance about you're allowed to have a trash receptacle. 27 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166
I think they're required by ordinance, and I think Councilman DiCicco just mentioned that there's a requirement to have a trash receptacle for the patrons to discard wrappers and things like that. But I'm talking about the magazine wrappers and the boxes that are used to deliver their product. If they put it out -- they're a business and if they wanted to put a trash can out on trash day with recyclables and also other trash, would the Streets Department be required to pick it up?
I believe they would have to because it's -- it's left in the right-of-way.
No, no, I'm not suggesting that they just pick it up because it's short-dumping. Is a newsstand entitled to City services?
City services. Um, I think -- I'm not -- I believe they would, but I think I should get back to you on that question. I don't -- I am not particularly --
Because if they take advantage of those services, then they've got on 28 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 trash day another piece of a barrel, trash cans, or whatever a business is limited to on the sidewalk.
I do know that there's a sentence in here about when they're closed, they have to leave the sidewalk clean and free of debris. So that would mean -- I mean, you could surmise from that that they can't leave anything out there until next Friday, you know, the subsequent trash day for that area. I think that might cover --
Well, I think it's something that needs to be determined because if these businessmen and women are entitled to City services, they should get it like any other business and not have to be dependent on a private contractor, and if they are entitled to it, they should understand the parameters that they are required to follow to take advantage of that. And if after -- if on the day of trash collection, they're allowed to put out their trash, you need to be able to deal with that because that's another obstacle on the sidewalk that I don't think you've anticipated at least one 29 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 day, or whatever the cycle is, a week.
No, we haven't. I don't believe we have them in the schedule. And other than them being responsible for keeping the site clean at the finish of business day, I don't think it's the intention for us to have to --
The question that I would like answered to the Chair is, are these business people entitled to trash collection like any other business in the City of Philadelphia? because I believe all businesses are entitled to a minimum pickup of certain numbers of containers.
I rather doubt that if they requested, you know, to know what date, you know, the route is --
Okay. I think that's important because they should, for their taxes, get the same services as any other business, but they also have to do it in an orderly, proper way.
If I may interrupt, I think when the Newsstand Association 30 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 gets up to testify, maybe they could speak to some of the ways in which they have their trash removed. And I'm sure there are cases where people maybe abuse that, as in any situation, but maybe we can ask them that question and get it direct from them.
Fine. I'd appreciate knowing what the policy is. If I had a newsstand and I asked you, can the City pick it up? I'd like to know through the Chair.
To the gentlemen from Licenses and Inspections, did you define before the limits on the content of the advertising? And if so, if your answer's yes, then would you be good enough to repeat it?
Yes, sir. Councilman Cohen, I am, again, Otis Haigler, and what I stated before was that the types of advertising that would be permitted at the newsstands would be periodicals, magazines, and newspapers that are sold from the newsstand, as well as advertising for the Pennsylvania 31 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 Lottery. Those are the only two types of advertising that's permitted by the ordinance with the newsstands now.
In other words, if a casino from Atlantic City wanted to advertise, they would not be permitted.
Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember Rizzo wants to know if you could put up like a "DiCicco for Council" or a "Cohen for Council" on them?
Only "Cohen for 32 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 Council" -- he's at large, that's why at large.
"Landslide Clarke," that's right. A question about the placement of newsstands -- I just need a little clarity on that. Is there any difference in terms of the placement of the regulations associated with the placement of newsstands in commercial areas versus residential areas, or is it just one guideline for the entire city?
The -- it's -- there is no 17 difference between what is -- what is at the property line or the right-of-way line. The regulations just get into what is in the footway, and that there should be no interference with, say, for instance, fire hydrants or any other furniture in the footway. But, certainly, when someone comes to us with a proposed location and we might think we might feel just, by common sense, that it's 33 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 proposed at a location that might be frowned upon, we might -- we make a policy of, you know, maybe talking to the commercial entity or whatever, you know, they're going to sit in front of and --
And the other thing about these -- with the intention of these to roll out prototypes, you know, that would come into the city and have advertising on them illuminated, there is a need for electrification and phone hookups for these future newsstands, and there is stipulation that would have to be okayed by an ordinance. So that would be an avenue for all the interested parties to know up front before something is, you know, is put in front of their property, because any of these newsstands that need electrification -- which all of, you know, anything that's going to have illuminating lighting added would have -- there's an avenue that the public and any property owner near there 34 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 would certainly know about it through the procedures that we have to go through to get the ordinance passed.
Okay. I guess -- okay, my concern lends more towards the residential neighborhood. I have happen to have -- I know this is somewhat unrelated to what we're discussing today, but I've happened to have instances where individuals had just essentially put newsstands in front of a person's home and were granted permission by the Streets Department, I was just concerned about the policy related to that, but it sounds to me like it's at the discretion of the Streets Department and their interaction with --
We would try to work with the property owner, because part of the procedure is to go out and do maybe a cursory survey of it and make sure that there's nothing in the way, or make sure that the plans that someone brings in are complete. And I can't speak that there might have been some instances where that wasn't, you know, that was -- there was an oversight on our part, but we do try to look at the location and make 35 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 sure it's not going to be, you know, a problem later on down the line because, truly, the Streets Department is -- it's going do boomerang back into our laps, so we would rather, you know, try to deal with it at the onset.
First to the witness that just spoke. I wish you were right, but the Broad and Olney corner, for example, a newsstand was built -- it doesn't have to do with respect to this bill, but a newsstand got built and I guess the owner decided he'd worry later about coming before City Council. There was much community opposition and the Newsstand Association is trying to resolve the matter and are trying to be very helpful 'cause the community is up -- very upset about it, not knowing. But first, to get an approval, there has to be an application made to Licenses and 36 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 Inspections?
And then a permit -- what do you call it that's issued, permitting it, a permit?
A permit. And part of the process is L&I checks certain things and the Streets Department checks the location. So it's a joint effort before, you know, that proposed location would come across our desk, and we would check it before we, you know --
I believe in this case, the facts were that L&I rejected the application and then the proposed owner of the newsstand filed an appeal with the L&I Board of Review, and they granted it, despite the opposition of the Licenses Department, and the matter's now in court and we don't know what the final outcome will be. But is that the board it goes to on appeal if somebody --
Yes, Councilman Cohen. If somebody's denied a license or their license has been revoked, they do have the right to go 37 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 before the L&I Review Board in order to appeal that revocation or that denial. That's required in the Charter, that's a provision of the Charter that they're allowed to do that.
Okay, and then. . . and another question. We'll let the courts wind up deciding the existing problems. How much footway now is required between -- on the inside, not the curbside, but between, say, the face of the stand and the building property?
Six feet. And as a matter of fact, the amendments cleared up some maybe gaps so that that's very clearly stated, that they should be maintained at all times with any shelf or whatever the newsstand has extending from it to operate it during the day.
Yes. Once this legislation goes into effect, they will -- as I might have 38 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 stated in the previous testimony that there will probably have to be a reeducation of the inspection staff that's responsible for looking into these things, both the Streets Department and L&I, and we would anticipate that there would probably be quite a few locations cited, and we will have to deal with them, you know, to try to find a better location on the footway so that they can still operate their business but that the City would be, you know, satisfied with the location so that pedestrians can get by.
So this legislation will apply to all newsstands, no matter how long they've been in existence?
And do the newsstand operators, are they fully informed about that?
I believe through the Newsstand Association, they've been, you know, educated through their membership and networking with each other that this was coming on board.
If I just may interject for a minute. The Newsstand Association -- and I won't go through all the details of how 39 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 we got here, but they were from day one a part of this whole process to help craft this legislation, in addition to all of the other departments -- Streets Department, L&I, and others. So they're fully aware of what this legislation means to them, and they'll be up to testify later, but I'm sure that they'll testify that they support this.
Anybody else up there testifying or -- are you testifying?
Good afternoon again. For the record, my name is Tom Chapman from the City Planning Commission. Mr. Chairman, I would just testify that the staff of the City Planning Commission has been involved in the meetings where the amendments that were read into the record today were discussed, and we would support the passage of the bill with these amendments.
See what two weeks 40 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 does?
Everybody has to take two weeks off to breathe. (Laughter.)
Are you testifying? No? Thank you, I thank all of you. Mr. Levy, in the order that we left off an April 11th. I apologize. (Paul Levy comes forward.)
No problem. Thank you very much. I have copies of my testimony here too as well. Councilman DiCicco, Councilman Clarke, Councilman Cohen, and Councilman Rizzo, thank you very much for the opportunity to testify. My name is Paul Levy and I'm the Executive Director of the Center City District. I first want to thank Councilman DiCicco for his leadership in developing this legislation to improve the design of newsstands in Philadelphia. The Newsstand Association, I think, also deserves a great deal of credit for their 41 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 willingness to work cooperatively with the City government and particularly for the decision to retain the services of a professional architect to develop a much improved facility. As you know, the Center City District has supported this effort by contributing financially to the design of the improved newsstands, and we're eager to see this prototype installed throughout Center City and the rest of the City. I do want to note that we are supportive of the legislation, as it was originally introduced by the Councilman, and of the amendments that the Planning Commission and L&I introduced. However, I do want to urge that the Newsstand Association withdraw the amendments it made on the last hearing, on April 11th. Those are the amendments that then proposed to move from a situation where we had simply advertising that advertised what was within the newsstand to licensing full commercial advertising. And I just want to comment why I think those amendments that they introduced should be withdrawn. I think first, the City of Philadelphia 42 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 has authorized the placement of commercial advertising on transit shelters throughout the City as a means of providing an important public amenity, without having to spend scarce City resources. The City competitively bid a concession agreement, which a private outdoor advertising company finances the construction, installation, and maintenance of transit shelters in return for the right to place commercial advertising on shelters. The City in that case bears none of the cost of construction of maintenance but gets to share in the revenues from those shelters. I think the concession agreement that the City also has a specific schedule in which the transit shelter builders are obligated to clean and maintain those shelters and has a specific set of provisions in the event of default. I think the situation with the newsstands appears to be somewhat different. First, the Association, in its proposed amendments, seems to be proposing to enter into an agreement with an outdoor advertising company without the benefit of competitive bidding. I 43 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 think the City should at least, in its own interest, consider whether the placement of additional commercial advertising on the public right-of-way will diminish the revenue that the City currently receives from its own outdoor advertising agreement with the transit shelters. I think, secondly, any newsstands that are placed on the streets should be coordinated with honor boxes on the street. And, third, I do want to suggest that while the Newsstand Association did verbally indicate in their testimony that funds from commercial advertising would be used to finance the construction and maintenance of these facilities, their proposed amendments contain no 17 schedule or requirements that they actually do so. I think you will find language in the transit shelter agreement that does require the provider to maintain those facilities. Again, if the Newsstand Association withdraws those amendments on commercial advertising, most of my comments here are a moot point because they specifically address those proposed amendments. But if they do want to 44 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 propose that, I think that they ought to propose that the City might share in the revenue, as it does with the transit shelter.
And then my final point on that point is, again, this is addressed not to the current ordinance as it was drafted by the Councilman, nor to the amendments proposed by the Planning Commission and L&I, but to the amendments that were introduced on April 11th. There is a real issue of precedent here. If you do authorize commercial advertising on newsstands as a means to finance the improvements, I would ask, why could not fruit vendors and food vendors in Center City come in with exactly the same proposal and say, Let us put commercial advertising on our fruit stands, and we will now finance improvements to those. I think that would set a precedent that I think we would not want to see. In general, I think we have an opportunity as we go forward to do something that the City has discussed at various times, which is, as it considers placing newsstands, honor boxes, transit shelters on the street, it look to 45 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 coordinate those in a way that can best facilitate the public environment. So, again, so that I'm very, very clear, I support the legislation as originally presented by Councilman DiCicco, I support the amendments that were introduced by the Planning Commission and L&I, but I urge the Newsstand Association to withdraw those proposed amendments that it introduced on, I believe it was, April 11th. Thank you very much for this opportunity to testify.
Thank you, Mr. Leave. Any questions for Mr. Levy from this committee? (No questions.)
Okay, very good. Thank you very much. Robin, who's next on the list of witnesses? I don't have an agenda in front of me, I apologize. Debora, Miss Russo? (Witness comes forward.)
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of City Council. My name is Debora Russo here, and I'm here on behalf of the Managing Director's Office. I'd like to say that for the past month, we have been meeting with members of the Newsstand Association, their architects, L&I, the Streets Department, City Planning, and the Art Commission to bring about some of these proposed 47 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 amendments and changes, and I think that you'll find that everyone is very satisfied with the proposed amendments and with this legislation. Now, with respect to the commercial advertising, the issue of accessible advertising versus non-accessible advertising, I think Mr. Levy brought up a lot of the points that I was going to address. The City Planning Commission, through Barbara Kaplan, Joe Martz, the Managing Director, that it was her vision to see a comprehensive streetscape with respect to advertising. There was a decision made by the City operating departments that were involved in this particular piece of legislation that with respect to the non-accessible advertising, that we would take a task force together, probably including Mr. Levy with his expertise, and to make some recommendations as to whether or not the City should, you know, enforce this type of legislation or whether or not it should be something that should be left alone with accessory advertising only. But I could tell you that we will have 48 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 a working group and we're going to explore the possibilities also with our Law Department, because there's legal issues that impact newsstands differently than bus and transit shelters.
It's probably my mistake, but I'm not sure what that effect of your testimony is. I couldn't determine whether you were saying that Mr. Levy was right or the Newsstand Association was right or something in between.
No. Mr. Levy raised a lot of interesting points with respect to whether or not the City should allow non-accessory commercial advertising on its streetscape. The purpose of my testimony here today is that the City operating departments who were involved in this particular piece of legislation, that we will be probably next week exploring the possibility of whether or not we should allow this type of advertising on the streetscape. However, due to the complexity 49 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 of the issues, because of the bus shelters, honor boxes, and also there's some legal issues that are involved, because the City does not own the newsstands. We do have a quasi-ownership in the bus shelters. So we will be exploring that possibility, and that's the purpose of my testimony.
Well, let me ask you again. You heard the representative from the L&I. In response to a question I raised, he described for the second time during the hearing the limit of advertising permitted by this ordinance.
Now, is that -- do you find any fault with that, or does that fit within your description of accessory advertising?
Yes, that does. Accessory advertising -- my understanding is that you're allowed to advertise for any articles that are sold within the newsstand itself, like the Inquirer, New York Times, those type of articles. That's what accessory advertising is, a limited form of advertising. 50 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166
And that was what the gentleman from the L&I was describing?
Yes, that's what the Department of L&I was describing, yes.
-- is ongoing to see whether there ought to be other aspects of advertising --
We're going to explore those possibilities, but because of the complexities involved, we would like to have a large working group working in accordance with our Law Department to explore the possibility of allowing that.
And in addition, the lottery's allowed, lottery advertising -- Pennsylvania gambling only, no Atlantic City 51 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 gambling.
Thank you. Thank you, Miss Russo. I'm sorry, are there any other questions for Miss Russo from the committee? (No further questions.)
Mr. Chairman and members of City Council, Joseph Beller, attorney for the Newsstand Owners Association. I'd like to say, first of all, that 52 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 we're delighted with the fact that Miss Russo has indicated that there will be a full task force for studying non-accessory, because without going into all of the testimony I heard before, obviously, what drives the engine here -- that is, what builds the stand and what maintains the stand -- is advertising. And we are advised by advertisers that if it's only accessory, we'll have a problem. I'm leaving that sit now that Miss Russo has said the City is going to go ahead and look at it and study it, I think that the result will be to everyone's liking and will, in fact, make this project, which we've all worked hard on and for which I thank you, Councilman DiCicco and City Council, all of the constituent departments, I've never seen as much cooperation. I've been practicing law for 40 years and I've never seen that much help in any one project in all these years. And we are very grateful for this. And we're not here to rock the boat; we're here to say thank you, let's get started, let's get ahead with this thing. We have already discovered, just as an 53 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 aside, that when you build the prototypes, that you have somebody staying in them and working 8, hours a day, you begin to find little glitches, 5 little problems. We will probably bring those to 6 you in the future that may be an inch here or an 7 inch there or a cutoff here or a cutoff there, but 8 that's --we're learning that as we go. We're not 9 going to try to overburden you today. 10 And Mr. Claflen, who has designed it, just wants to go over one or two of the aspects of testimony you've heard today. George? (Witness comes forward.)
George, could we have that, 'cause some of the Councilmembers haven't had an opportunity to see this.
My name is George Claflen and I'm a resident of the 5th Councilmatic District. (Laughter.)
With regard to the technical aspects of this project, I want to reiterate what Mr. Beller said in terms of the cooperation that we have had from every City 54 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 agency that has been involved with this. And we have only two issues. We are in favor of the bill, as written, and we can work with it. There are two relatively small issues that I would like to comment upon. One is the wording on materials. The current wording says "No newsstand shall be constructed of any material other than aluminum, steel, fiberglass, or other durable, nonflammable material." And the way we read that, it could be a wedge to let fire-retardant wood be used as an exterior material, and we think that is not the original intent of either departments or Council. And also, we would like to point out that there are two kinds of fiberglass. There's fire-retardant fiberglass and non-fire-retardant fiberglass, so we propose the following wording: "No newsstand shall be constructed of any structural or exterior material other than aluminum, steel, or fire-retardant fiberglass. Fire-retardant wood may be used on the interior of newsstands." That's what the prototype has and we fully agree that these newsstands should be fire-retardant and nonflammable. 55 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 The other modification is in response to the air conditioner that was brought up earlier, and we've just had a little miniature consultation with Debora Russo of the Managing Director's Office and members of the City Planning Commission and Art Commission staff. And what we would propose in Section 5, that a Section g be added, that simply states that "No projections beyond those described above are permitted" or other wording to that effect. In other words, a sentence or statement that simply closes the door for unauthorized projections that haven't been otherwise described. If I might --
I appreciate what you're referring to, and Mr. Auerbach pointed out to me earlier, when I raised that question, that the legislation already provides for a certain dimension of the newsstand, and anything beyond that would be in violation. I think we're covered on that. As to the first request for an amendment -- I think Mr. Haigler's still here -- it might be easier for us to just do that by way 56 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 of way of regulation 'cause I think the intent is already in the bill. And by regulation, we can accomplish that rather than doing it in an amendment, okay. But if, again, going forward, we see there's any problems, we can always come back and do that, but I think regulations would -- do you agree, Mr. Beller?
John Rocco is the President of the Newsstand Association and asked me to acknowledge many of the news dealers who are here today to participate in these hearings. I wonder if I could ask them -- sir, is it all right if I ask them to raise their hands or stand up?
Could I ask the news dealers to stand, please. And we also have today representatives of the New York Times and USA Today.
Thank you, thank 57 4/26/00 STREETS & SERVICES - BILL 000166 you all for coming.