COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE FY26 BUDGET City Hall, Room 400 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, April 15, 2025 10:00 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT KENYATTA JOHNSON COUNCILWOMAN KENDRA BROOKS COUNCILWOMAN JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILWOMAN KATHERINE GILMORE-RICHARDSON COUNCILWOMAN QUETCY M. LOZADA COUNCILWOMAN CINDY BASS COUNCILMAN MICHAEL DRISCOLL COUNCILMAN CURTIS J. JONES, JR. COUNCILMAN NICOLAS O'ROURKE COUNCILMAN JEFFREY J. YOUNG, JR. COUNCILMAN ANTHONY PHILLIPS HELEN LOUGHEAD, CLERK - - -
Good morning, everyone. Good morning, everyone. This is the public hearing and public meeting of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bill Nos. 250-195, 250-196, 250-197, 250-198, 250-199, 250-200, 250-201, 250-202, 250-210, 250-211, 250-212, and Resolution No. 250-214. Ms. Loughead, would you please call the roll to take attendance?
Councilmember Ahmad. Councilmember Landau. Councilmember Brooks. Councilmember O'Rourke.
Present. A quorum of the committee is present and this hearing is now officially called to order. Ms. Loughead, will you please read the title of the resolutions?
Bill No. 250-195, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-1500 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Wage and Net Profits Tax, by revising certain tax rates under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250-196, an ordinance adopting the operating budget for fiscal year 2026. Bill No. 250-197, an ordinance to adopt a fiscal 2026 capital budget. Bill No. 250-198, an ordinance to adopt a capital program for the six fiscal years 2026 through 2031, inclusive. Bill No. 250-199, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-2600 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Business Income and Receipts Taxes, to revise tax rates and end certain exclusions from the tax on receipts, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250-200, an ordinance amending Chapter 12-1000 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Traffic Code to revise the fee for the use of parking meters, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250-201, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-1800 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled School Tax Authorization, to provide for an increase in the tax of the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia as authorized to impose on real estate. And amending Chapter 15 19-1300 entitled Real Estate Taxes, to establish an equivalent reduction in the tax rate for the city real estate tax, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250-202, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-1806 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Authorization of Realty Use and Occupancy Tax, to eliminate certain exemptions, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250-210, an ordinance amending Section 10-1001 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Fees of Commissioner of Records, to increase the portion of fees for the recording of deeds and mortgages and relating documents to be used for housing trust fund purposes, under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250-211, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-1400 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Realty Transfer Tax by revising the rate of the tax, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250-212, an ordinance to amend Chapter 19-4400 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Development Impact Tax, to end the imposition of the tax, under certain terms and conditions. Resolution No. 250-214, resolution providing for the approval by the Council of the city of Philadelphia of a revised five- year financial plan for the city of Philadelphia, covering fiscal years 2026 through 2030, and incorporating revisions with respect to fiscal year 2025, which is to be submitted by the Mayor to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority pursuant to an intergovernmental cooperation agreement by and between the city and the authority.
Thank you very much. Today, we continue the public hearing of the Committee of the Whole to consider the bills read by the clerk that constitute proposed operating capital spending measures for fiscal year 2026, a capital program and forward-looking capital plan for fiscal year 2026 through fiscal year 2031. We have scheduled testimony from the Department of Planning and Development, as well as Department of Commerce. This afternoon we have scheduled testimony from the Department of Public Property and the Department of Fleet Services. Before we call the first panel for testimony, I want to acknowledge the presence of Councilmember Jeffrey J. Young, Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad, Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke and Councilmember Kendra Brooks. Ms. Loughead, can you please call the first panel?
Alba Martinez, Director of the Department of Commerce. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Good morning, President Johnson and members of Council. My name is Alba Martinez, and I am the City's Director of Commerce. I'm here this morning, joined by members of our leadership team, to provide testimony on the Commerce Department's fiscal year 2026 operating budget. The Commerce Department exists to grow a competitive economy that delivers opportunity to every neighborhood and every Philadelphian. Under Mayor Parker's leadership, we are focused, organized, and in motion. We are implementing a strategy we call Grow Philly, to make it easier and more attractive to start, operate and grow a business in Philadelphia. With investments that improve our services to businesses, expand access to education, support and capital, boost commercial corridor economic activity, and promote our city as a great place to do business. A few of our fiscal year 2025 highlights include the following: Commerce expanded and redesigned the Mayor's business action team to enhance customer service and make government more business-friendly as mandated by the Mayor's Open for Business executive order. Our business service managers have helped over 5,000 businesses this year. Four hundred of those cases were handled by our new MBAT navigators who specialize in resolving complex issues businesses face with the city. MBAT also launched Coffee and Commerce, which will be delivered in every council district on an ongoing basis. We are expanding online tools for businesses like the Permit Navigator, and next month we will launch the Philly Biz Hub, a new website designed for small businesses to provide streamlined 24/7 access to permits, licensing, education, and access to capital resources. Our incentive grant through the Philadelphia Business Lending Network has helped over 100 businesses secure loans from 30 lending partners, 70 percent were first time borrowers. We invested 500,000 in emergency funding, including 264,000 for businesses impacted by the 17 Northeast plane crash. 18 The commercial real estate 19 acquisition loan program helped four 20 entrepreneurs purchase properties 21 like Perfect Place Real Estate on 22 52nd Street and Next Level 23 Barbershop on Germantown Avenue. 24 We expanded our neighborhood economic development grant program to support projects like a Weaver's Way Co-op at Chelten and Morris, and the Olney Community Collaborative's new home and future retail incubator. 4 million in grants to 9 businesses that created 288 quality 10 jobs, full-time roles with living 11 wages and benefits like those 12 created by Attentive Care Service in 13 the 4th District. 14 In February, we announced a 15 5 million small business Catalyst 16 Fund to provide capital and support 17 to businesses ready to grow, 18 particularly those facing systemic 19 barriers. The catalyst includes 20 dedicated funding for life sciences, 21 manufacturing, the nighttime and 22 creative economies, and for 23 businesses purchasing a commercial 24 corridor property. The catalyst will also pilot our new single application process, an essential step towards simplifying access to support. The catalyst expression of interest form launches this week. To continue strengthening neighborhood commercial corridors, we expanded the taking care of business program from 10 million to 24 million, growing cleaning areas, vacant lot maintenance and tree planting across the city. TCB employs now 324 cleaning ambassadors across 39 non-profits and black- owned businesses. We'll soon expand to 52 partner organizations employing over 400 ambassadors. Just yesterday, applications closed for 500,000 in corridor enhancement grants to support non-profits leading creative projects that foster safety, vibrancy and foot traffic. We continue to invest in street scape projects like Broad, Germantown, and Erie.
We also developed an investment strategy to beautify and activate corridors for 2026, including Point Breeze and Ridge Avenue. We implemented our $1 million Kensington Corridor investment to clean and beautify commercial areas, complementing broader city stabilization efforts. Our business development team continues to attract new employers, retain key firms, and support the expansion of local businesses. For example, DeVal Lifecycle Support, a Department of Defense manufacturer in the 10th District is expanding operations. Famous 4th Street Cookies is growing to reach international markets. FS Investments is expanding and remaining in Philadelphia. To expand and build on these efforts, we've launched a new Philly Business Brand Marketing Initiative to promote Philadelphia both domestically and internationally as a premier destination for business investment. Bottom line, we're making it easier for businesses to start, stay, and grow right here in Philadelphia by building a city where every entrepreneur can access the capital support and opportunity they need to succeed. Setting aside the 15 million for the convention center, the proposed fiscal year 2026 general fund budget totals $94,978,715, an increase of $44,396,900 over fiscal year 2025 estimated obligation levels. This increase supports targeted investments that advance our strategy to grow an inclusive and competitive economy, including 29 million for the Jumpstart Small Business Initiative to expand capital education and business services. 5 million to expand taking care of business and clean more commercial areas. Continued investment in PHL Open for Business to reduce cost and complexity for business services. Funding for an incentive study and market eat analysis -- Market East analysis. Support for projects that beautify brand and enhanced destination corridors ahead of 2026. Finally, the important work of our Workforce Solutions team will continue within the Chief Administrative Office in close partnership with commerce to support employers and deliver on key initiatives. The Department of Commerce looks forward to continue working with all members of Council to drive inclusive economic opportunity across Philadelphia. Philly is open for business. Thank you, and we welcome your questions.
Thank you very much, Ms. Martinez. Well, first and foremost, I want to thank you for your service, no matter how brief it was. We know that you has -- you have been an outstanding public servant to the city of Philadelphia, and I thought that's why it was prudent for the Mayor to bring you into her administration. So thank you for setting up -- setting the tone for the Department of Commerce. And so I just want to personally just thank you for your service and I wish you the best in your next endeavors. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you, Mr. President. It's an honor to serve.
I have a couple questions before I turn it over to my members. And so part of the budget process, we are considering removing the exemption for the first 100,000 receipts for the business income and receipts tax, which is BIRT, and the use of occupancy tax due to the legal constraints that we're dealing with right now. And so for me, we're budgeting $150 million over the next five years, which is $30 million a year. And we know that this is going to be a significant change of terms -- in terms of how small businesses operate here in the city of Philadelphia in the event that we move forward. And so I'm concerned about the amount. And so give me an idea about your perspective and sort of how much we are investing because 150 over 30 -- 150 million over five years, we want to make sure it's more than enough to support those small businesses. But also most importantly, what are we doing to staff up to be prepared? And most critically, right now with you making the transition, who's the number two that's going to make sure that any event that this proposal does pass and members of council do say we are on board and supporting the exemption, we want to be reassured, especially with this transition going on, you being at the helm and then someone else is coming in, have to pick up and keep running. So who's the No. 2 that we should be talking to today to make sure small businesses are supported in the event that we move forward and take away this exemption based upon legal constraints for the record? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: So thank you. So I -- it's a -- I believe it's a two part question. One is how do we feel about the investment and the size of the investment?
And how do y'all come up with the number? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: In response to the BIRT -- to the BIRT change, right, and the impact on businesses, and then continuity in the department. So I'll start by saying that the 30 million, just to round up, of -- in the Jumpstart Program is an unprecedented investment by our city, by Council and the Mayor in the -- in well- being and the growth of businesses. Every single investment in that Jumpstart Program is tied to a program that is high functioning within the department has proven to be successful with businesses. And in the case of the Catalyst is a very innovative program where we are testing a new way of doing business and accelerating growth for our businesses. So I do believe that $30 million is a large amount of money to absorb within the department. And what we want to do is be able to execute on that quickly. So I'll speak about two things. First of all, the choices about what those investments are, were thoughtfully developed by the commerce team based on programs that work, No. 1. Number two, the education component of the business community is just as important. And so we are going to have an equally passionate investment in a comprehensive education and marketing strategy. And this really applies to any program that we talk about today from outreach, right, which is different than marketing. And now we have a marketing capability that we did not have before. We now have an email which I guess is called direct marketing, an email that goes to over 20,000 businesses. And when we sent a notice about the Catalyst, 40 percent opened that email. So we did not have that before, right? So we have new communication channels, we have an outreach function, we have marketing investments, and we intend to continue to hit the street, if you will, at multiple levels. In so -- so I'll leave it -- I'll leave that answer there. In terms of continuity, I will say that I am really going to miss commerce because of the caliber of the people who work there. I am really going to miss commerce and commerce will not miss a beat. We have a strategy, it's called Grow Philly. It is written down. We have a portfolio where we can identify every spend we have, who's in charge of it, how much money it is, and the outcomes on it. And if any of those three things are missing, we -- you know, we would redeploy that investment. So I would say that your point of contact would be Heloise Jettison as our chief of staff. And from a budgetary standpoint, Frank Nasir, our finance director, but every single leader in the department is here to serve. There is no wrong door.
My other part of the question is how do we track the small businesses that need to be targeted that would really have to take advantage of this 30 million? Because they're the ones who are used to not having to file any paperwork, right? So is there any way for us to track and is there, like, go after those individuals who need this actual type of support as opposed to sending out a blind email of or 30,000 individuals? 13 DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: I just 14 asked Yvonne if she wants to take it 15 and she said, no, you do it. I'm 16 like, thanks a lot. I'm just 17 joking. 18
19 Come on, Yvonne. 20 DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: I'm -- no, seriously, it's -- so I believe that, you know -- first of all with revenue, we're working with the revenue department together on a strategy here because when businesses win and grow, we win, right?
Mm-hmm. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: And we recognize that this could be seen as, you know, cutting against the grain of open for business, right? We understand that we are facing a reputational challenge and some confusion. So this is -- this is going to be an education effort with revenue.
It's going to be a sticker shock for some people. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: For some people --
For those small businesses that have never -- DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Right.
-- had to file. Right? And normally they know that first $100,000 is forgiven. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: That's correct.
Now they have a bill and so -- DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: That's correct.
-- they have to do their due diligence, we have to do our due diligence to make sure they take advantage of the 150 million -- DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: That's correct.
-- over five years. And so that's -- DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: That's correct.
-- that's members' concern in terms of how we get the money directly into the hands of those individuals. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: So here's the plan. First of all, there's coordination with revenue. Second of all, there's an outreach and marketing phase that begins immediately that, you know, I'll be involved in, the Mayor will be. We will all be involved in educating the business community around this. And then third of all, we will have lots of opportunities for businesses to self-identify and tell us, Hey, we want information, we want help. And we will 100 percent all the time respond to that. And so, you know, I can provide more detail, but for example, our business hub that comes out next week, I mean, we are going to have any relevant information that a business person needs right there on that web. Plus, the MBAT is a phone call away for any business in Philadelphia. As I mentioned, they've served 5,000 businesses this year. And with Jumpstart, we're expanding that staff so that they can serve almost double the amount of businesses in our city.
And then -- DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: No one should -- no one should feel lost or confused and not have a person to call either directly at Commerce or one of our partners. No one.
Okay. Awesome. All right. I am going to turn over to members. I also want to acknowledge also the presence of Councilmember Curtis Jones, Jr. And obviously when we do the marketing plan and get the word out, we would do it on diverse platforms, making sure information is provided in all different diverse languages for the demographics that represents the city of Philadelphia. Because again, small businesses expands across all different diverse spectrums and demographics of people. And we just want to make sure everybody take advantage of in the event that we move forward with this proposal that the individual's most impacted will take advantage of it. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you.
So, okay. That being said, The Chair recognizes Councilmember Dr. Anthony Phillips. And I'm just going to state that if individuals could be direct with their questions, you can be direct with your responses so we can get two rounds in as we move forward in this process. With that being said, Councilmember Dr. Anthony Phillips.
Thank you, Council President. I just want to briefly say, Alba, we wishing you much success and thank you for the contributions you made to our 9th District. I also want to thank Salim Wilson and all the others who have done a lot of great work in for our district. He's been a really good person working with us. Number -- DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you.
Thank you. So one of the questions I have is about the April 14th deadline. Recently, there was a commercial corridor grant that was extended to neighborhoods. The deadline was April 14th. I did receive a lot of calls and neighbor emails about this grant. However, a lot of them were kind of nervous about applying, right? What can Commerce do in the future for some of these grants for commercial corridors that are really helpful to our businesses? Not just for the grant that we just did yesterday, but for all of the grants to come into neighborhoods and maybe do, you know, workshops or something to help people feel more at ease with, like, envisioning what they can do with a grant of that sort. Maybe past examples, because oftentimes people in more --
Oh, yeah. So that's it. He did say that and I did it anyway. Thank you. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you.
Yeah. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: That's an excellent question. You know, we all win when more individuals and organizations apply and compete for the funding. So I'm going to ask Deputy Director Boye to help answer what we are doing and what more we can do.
Good morning, Yvonne Boye, Deputy Commerce Director. I lead the Office of Neighborhood Economic Development. That's a really great question. We actually had 140 applications for half a million dollars. So yes, it's an investment that community groups really look forward to. First and foremost, we do have a briefing where we invite everybody who's interested in applying to attend this briefing so that we explain the expectations. And the application, I think is the shortest application that we have in the Commerce Department. It is a single page, is who you are, what you're going to do, and what you're going to use the money for. But your point is well taken. We have commercial corridor managers that we can actually give this information to, to assist any organization in those areas, to assist them in applying. Again, Alba talked about the marketing that we are beginning to ramp up. We've never really done that kind of outreach, and it's something that we are looking to, and we can include that so that people know where to go. And the Biz Hub, we should have one place where anybody can go to connect with someone to help them. And it's coming up. Thank you.
Thank you. I took up too much of my time, but I just want to say thanks. And hopefully the commercial corridor managers can go out and proactively let every association know about it. I'm not sure they do that already, but that's something I do.
All right. Thank you. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you, Yvonne.
I have just one more question, and it was about the 9th -- just in general, that we know that there are -- there are court -- commercial corridors that are impacted by the -- basically they need a uplift, they need an anchor business, right? How are you helping each district get an anchor business so we could turn it from the traditional, you know, mom and pop stores to something not more sustainable? How are we doing work for that? Yeah. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: So the activation of corridor economic activity is one of the core strategies for the Commerce Department Growth Philly plan. So it's a -- it's a multi-faceted approach. One of the new things we're doing, which I'm excited about and we are all excited about, is that the Catalyst Fund offers a -- amount of funds. I believe it's a million dollars right now for businesses that want to buy and occupy a property in a corridor, right? So we are going to help them, we're going to provide them some funding substantial, at least 50,000, might even be more. We're still working out the details, but we have to invest and incentivize people to want to be in the corridors. And that Catalyst Fund is going to do that. And because that fund is really looking for businesses ready to grow, there's going to be a high vetting of those businesses to make sure that they're growth ready, councilman, because what that will do is it will increase the chance of success for that business to become an anchor.
Thank you. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: So that's one example of the things we're doing. And we are looking at other programs where we could further incentivize the elimination of vacancy in important corridors.
Thank you. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Plus for 2026, we're going to put millions of dollars into a number of targeted corridors to boost their attractiveness. And last but not least, we are investing in a tool like Placer.ai. It may not be Placer.ai, but a tool like that. We have not had it before where we can actually measure the impact of our investments in a corridor, because that allows us to measure foot traffic. So we are about to invest in that, and we will be able to share that data with every corridor in the city so that they don't each have to buy it themselves because it's cost prohibitive.
Thank you for that response. I just -- seconds, I 4 just wanted to say my only -- my 5 only suggestion is that if we can -- 6 if you all can help identify those 7 businesses for us -- 8 DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Sure. 9
10 -- and make a strategic 11 plan to bring them to our corridors 12 and present it as a possibility to 13 be an anchor business, that could 14 change a lot of our -- 15 DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Dr. Phillips. Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Got you. Good morning, Director Martinez. Thank you for all your service to the city. It's been good working with you. Last September, Lancaster Avenue saw a mass shooting in front of a local business, Oxygen Deli, a business we've had many other issues with over time. Since then, our office has been partnering with the local Police Department, Commerce Department, the Office of Clean and Green, LA21, and many other non-profits and agencies to improve the environment of the Lancaster Avenue Business Corridor. I want to give a special shout out to the Commerce Department team, Michelle Price and Shanshan Ma for attending several after hours meetings, getting us cameras for the business corridor, and so much more. Your partnership is making a notable difference for that area. My questions, looking ahead, can you speak to commerce's plans for the Lancaster business corridor? What additional resources can you invest to make improvements along the corridor? For example, is it possible to do a set of storefront improvements focused on the 4,000 and 4,100 blocks of Lancaster Avenue? Or could we see a greater investment in LA21, which manages the corridor and supports local businesses? We're trying to invest in a way that can drive away some of the significant violence that we've seen. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you -- thank you for the question. I will invite Deputy Director Boye to answer momentarily. But what I do want to say is that, you know, my experience with LA21 is that it's an extraordinarily valuable partner. And we are grateful for their support. And anything that Commerce can do to support a partner that's already pulling an enormous amount of weight in a community that needs so much, we will go out of our way to support them. Not just them, but any other organization like them in the city. So, Yvonne, I'll turn it over to you.
I think Alba really answered your questions, which is yes and yes.
Okay. That was easy. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you, Yvonne.
We look forward to working with you on that targeted strategy. Thank you so much. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you.
Thank you. Staying on the subject of business support organizations, our office has been working with the Enterprise Center to help them create and implement a plan for Enterprise Heights. This is a large set of parcels that they own at 46 and Market, and they've been trying to come up with a strategy for it for some time. Are there resources that the Commerce Department can offer to support the enterprise centers in our offices' efforts? And just to give you just a little more context, Enterprise Heights is directly across the street from the West Park renovation that will bring a thousand units to the area, it's near to where we're building the forensics lab. So it's a prime opportunity to develop this land in a way that's good for the community. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: It's an incredibly important area. And I'm not going to give an opportunity to Yvonne to just say yes and yes, Yvonne.
Enterprise Heights makes me remember how long I've been working with the city. And so the Commerce Department already invested when it started. So we are not going to leave it in the middle of the road, right? We are going to work closely with the Enterprise Center to make sure that they are able to fulfill the dream and they're able to provide the community with what it needs. So yes, we are -- we are all in. Thank you.
We -- my office looks forward to working with you on that, and I'm sure the Enterprise Center will be very excited.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Councilmember Majority Gilmore- Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you very, very much, Council President. And thank you very much, Alba, for your service in the Commerce Department, and just also your overall service with city government. I wanted to, you know, zero in on workforce development. If you all could just talk about the workforce development solutions grant programs. How many grants have been given out thus far this year? To which organizations? And I'll start there. And I will say, and I want to say this for the record, that I just received, like literally as we've been sitting here, the follow- up memo regarding my concern around the Office of Workforce Development under Commerce, the unit. I should say under Commerce. And I wanted to thank the Administration for the ongoing conversations that we've been having over the last week regarding that matter. I am not fully prepared to speak to that because I literally just got the memo after I sat down in my chair. So what I want to focus on, one is, you know, be thankful for the continued commitment around workforce development, but two, talk about the specific work that you all have been undertaking around workforce development this year. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you very much. The workforce solutions division within commerce has been critical to being able to meet the needs and expectations of employers and to be competitive in the business development space. Right? Because one of the questions that businesses always have is, how's the talent? Am I going to be able to find the talent? So that is an absolutely critical function for us. I want to address the issue briefly of the movement of workforce solutions, because my understanding of it is that it's fundamentally aimed at maximizing impact for all of us. And so, therefore, it is something that will only positively affect the Commerce Department because it is important to underscore that all of the support that the Workforce Solutions Unit provides right now in partnership with Commerce. Because it's always done in partnership with Dawn Summerville and biz-dev is going to continue. But the reality is that the city is not being as efficient as it could be.
I heard the bell. I'm so sorry. I heard the bell and I got to get this in there. And I agree with you. I want to underscore that you know that we agree on the end goal, right? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Yes. Okay.
The end goal is what we all agree on. The challenge I think that I was initially having was that we just did a charter change in 2023. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Understood.
And it really felt as if that charter change was not being taken into consideration, you know, after it had been voted on by the voters. And we've, you know, sort of had a process in place. My question is: Based on this proposal, what is changing from a staffing perspective? Because I need this for the record. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Sure.
If you could walk through really quickly of -- this is who's under Commerce now. This is who's under workforce solutions or under the workforce development unit. This is who will move and, you know, even if it's just position or name. Because we're familiar with everybody, Heloise, who we do nothing without. Gianna, Karen, Yvonne, Dawn, Frank, everybody at Commerce, Celine, everyone. We appreciate each and every one, and particularly that workforce development unit. Because when the previous administration eliminated that department, we had nothing and they had to stand that unit up from the ground. And so I deeply appreciated and I'm grateful for the work that they have done over these last several years. But I need to hear, on the record, what's going to change? Right now it's X, Y and Z positions under Commerce. And now this is what will go under CAO, and this is the Class 100 impact. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: And we appreciate your leadership in this space to be very, very clear. While I invite my colleague, Camille Duchaussee to come up and help me answer that question, I will speak to you as a stakeholder, as a partner and as a customer. We can't do our work without a workforce solutions partnership. And so from my perspective, nothing will change in relation to what Commerce needs to get the work done. So I will -- I will turn this over to Camille.
Good morning. My name is Camille Duchaussee. I am the chief administrative officer. Thank you, Majority Leader, for the question. And we appreciate it because we feel similarly to you that the work of the Workforce Solutions Unit is substantial and it's necessary for us to meet our goals as a city. And in direct answer to your question, nothing is changing other than the leadership structure to ensure that we have synergy between -- continued synergy between the work of OWD and the work of CCME and workforce planning. So specifically --
Yeah. Walk me through -- and you understand what the question is?
Walk me through what that means? So would it be that everyone who's already in workforce will stay put, but that the leadership reporting structure is changing?
Like, meaning -- walk me through if there's any Class 100 movement from CAO to kind of -- like, walk me through that whole process.
Right. So currently there are three positions that are filled within Commerce in Class 100. The leadership of that unit is under Gianna Grossmann. Those three positions are very specifically moving into the CAO Class 100. There were two vacant positions within Commerce. Those two vacant positions have also moved within OWD, are also being moved to CAO. And then within CAO, we have increased our position allocation by two additional staff to support, again, both the internal and external work of these two units.
Okay. And if you all could just prepare that for us in writing and for the President --
-- and then for dissemination to members. And like I said, I'm not, you know, going to pretend that I am prepared to adequately speak to this issue because I have not had a chance to fully read the memo and digest the information that's shared to double back and read back the provisions of the charter that have been referenced in this memo. And I don't want to speak out of turn because I just received this information. So if you could give that information to the president, I'll review that along with the memo, do the follow-up meetings with the administration, and we'll go from there.
We look forward to having that conversation with you. Absolutely.
Okay. All right. Thank you very, very much.
Okay. Yes, thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from the great Northeast, Councilmember Jim Harrity.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you for your service. Just to get it out of the way so I can stick to the timeline. I -- like -- too, Council President, I have concerns about the taking of the 100,000 away. Commerce indicates that 30 million will be allocated to help out small businesses now affected by the change to the BIRT exemption. How many businesses will this affect, for one? Because so many of these smaller mom and pop shops, you know, I still remember COVID, and I remember that in my neighborhood, if it wasn't for the Dominican Grocers and the Asian takeout stores, we would've been in some bad shape. So very concerned about that going away because I understand that that's important to businesses. And the other thing is the grants that are going to be there. I toured in Councilman Jones' district, the Container Village. That is an unbelievably fantastic idea. I mean, what a way to get small businesses started. And I understand that a few have already jumped into -- to actual storefronts after being in there to get started. So what are we doing to spur programs like that? Because we have vacant lots all over the city that could be turned into these little villages. I mean, I don't know if you've been over there but it's really something. They actually even had a place to pray during Ramadan. They have a stage, they have a TV screen to do stuff, and they got stuff going on, videos and little commercials for the businesses. It's really great. So just want to make sure that the businesses like that will also be able to apply for these grants as well as -- do you -- how many businesses are going to be affected, and is this 30 million a year going to be enough? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Yeah. Councilman, I'm going to very quickly turn this over to Yvonne. But what I will say is that, again, that 30 million is an unprecedented opportunity and investment. We take it very, very seriously. And it is just as important to put quality programs, whether they're education, service, technical assistance, quality programs that actually work for businesses along with capital programs. It's important to put those into the marketplace along with a really robust marketing and outreach strategy that truly creates transparency for businesses in Philadelphia. Because I do believe we can do better to make sure that every business in every corner of Philadelphia has the chance to compete. If you don't have the chance to compete, that's not inclusion. So, Yvonne, why don't you talk about numbers?
You know, I'm just trying to get to the bottom of, if this 30 million is going to add up. How many businesses? It's just simple numbers. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: We'll talk about that.
How many businesses are going to lose this 100 million -- DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Let's do it.
-- deduction? And how many businesses are we going to be able to help? Because I just don't see it adding up.
Yeah. So, that is a good question. And it's unfortunate that, you know, we -- it has come to this. But I think we have about 75,000 businesses who previously did not have to file for the BIRT who now will have to file.
-- businesses. So we have about 56,000, right, who are not real estate businesses who will now begin to file BIRTs that did not have to do that before. And based on the programs that we've decided to deploy the $30 million in, we will serve about 11,000 -- a little more than 11,000 businesses in the first year. Does that answer your question?
I'm just trying to do a little math here. And, you know, we got 70 --
Point of information. Councilmember Majority Leader Gilmore-Richardson.
Thank you so much, Council President. To follow-up on Councilmember Harrity's question, I know I asked previously for a breakdown of the 75,000 businesses by council district. Is that something that you all could provide to us today for our district colleagues, particularly? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: I don't believe we have that data today. However, I will make sure that we continue to work with the revenue department to provide as much detail as possible about where those businesses are and who they are.
We have a point of information for Councilmember Brooks.
So did you say -- did you say -- 11,000. What was that 11,000 number for? Is that the number of anticipated business that you'll be able to support out of the 56?
Yes, per year. Right. So per year, based on the 30 million that we have, the programs that we're going to put in,
And then, out of that, 11,000 are the number that we can give grants for?
Per year. As the -- first of all, yes, it doesn't add up in numbers.
But don't every business have to file 21 taxes every year?
Yes. But the average -- the average small business makes about $50,000. And that works out to about $300 of taxes that they have to pay. That is really what it is that they have to do.
Yeah, because 30 million would only be about $400 per business.
Yeah. But we are not doing it on a one-to-one reimbursement. What we are doing, we are putting it into programs that will help the businesses grow, provide capital to businesses that will also help them grow. And --
What happens to the rest of those businesses. So we lose them?
Well, some of these businesses are going to be in some bad trouble if they lose that 100,000. That first 100,000 write off.
No, they're not losing 100,000. They're paying taxes of an average of $300. So that is not -- that is what it is. What they are actually losing is an average of $300 based on the average of the BIRT that the small businesses pay. So they're not losing 100,000. Absolutely not. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Can I just --
Yes. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: So, Councilman, the other thing I just want to clarify is that the 11,000 is direct service. Like, you know, the value of each of those services is more than $300. In some cases, much more, right? We're talking about grants, helping businesses purchase properties on the corridors, you know, tax assistance, helping them go into compliance. So it's like really top quality services. Many, many more businesses will be reached with education and awareness and support, you know, and MBAT services than those 11,000. I think that what we're saying is $30 million is going to enable us to provide really high quality deep services to 11,000 businesses, which is, you know, frankly, a substantial number of businesses within the overall ecosystem. And that number will repeat every year. So every year it'll be a different 11,000. But in the meantime, we're educating the entire community and answering everybody's questions. So it's not like we're going to ignore everybody else. We will be of -- there will be no wrong door. And we will have to try to find ways to make it as easy as possible for people to file, right? That's work that we are just going to have to, you know, do and we will do it.
Commissioner, just a real quick question. So we have the confidence that y'all want to do an excellent job getting the word out. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Yes.
Excellent job getting the word out. Is there a concern that our system would be flooded with individuals coming, putting in requests for support, and that 30 million would be gone within the first month because we did an outstanding job getting the word out? And then that first 30 million -- is that -- just wanted to ask that question. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Unfortunately, it's not as easy for businesses to take the time to apply for something as we want it to be in the future. So I don't think that literally we'll run out of, you know, resources in a month. However, if we build efficient systems, which we are looking to build, you know, it would be a good problem to have, you know, and it's good and it's not good. If we are so effective at getting resources into the hands of businesses --
It's a good thing. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: -- and be able to measure the impact of those, and we run out of money, we should be able to measure the impact that that has on job creation and wages. And then we should be able to come back, you know, and talk about what additional investment is required. But the reality is, we need to make it as easy as possible for businesses to access the resources we have already. And that's the bar that we need to set for ourselves. Make it really easy and see how quickly actually we can get these resources into the hands of people. That would be a great thing.
I apologize, Council President. I raise a question for the privilege of the House. What I'd like to ask is, if you could break down the $30 million and what it would go towards? Because I think there's a misconception as a part of this conversation right now, that the entire $30 million is being allocated to grants for businesses. And that is not the case based on the proposal that we initially received. So this is not a point of clarification. This is really a question for the privilege of the House. Thank you.
Ten million of the 30 million is going to go to the tax prep, bookkeeping, and business assistance programs that we'd mentioned. The remaining million 19 is what is going to go into the direct capital to businesses. The remaining million will go to staffing to help us to run these programs.
The Chair -- we're moving along, too. The Chair now recognizes Dr. Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Council President. I had a quick question about the Liberty Bell -- oh, there we go. The Liberty Bell Safe Certification Program. And how will this be featured in our 2026 plans in terms of really making sure we have all our, you know, our commerce being ready to receive all these guests? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you for the question. I invite Deputy Commerce Director Summerville to help answer. Nighttime Economy has been reporting to her.
Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Councilmember Ahmad. Thank you for the question. The Liberty Bell Safe Certification Program runs out of the Nighttime Economy, which is led by Raheem Manning. It's been a wonderful program. We had our first cohort of over businesses that 9 are in -- that operate within the 10 night economy -- participate. And 11 they participate on this space of 12 understanding how for conflict 13 resolution, harm reduction, 14 interaction, how to diffuse things 15 that are happening within 16 establishments, right, that can 17 cause a nuisance business or draw 18 attention to that business. 19 We began that program with 20 in mind for 2026, but I like to say 21 2026 and beyond. Because the city 22 is not just preparing for 2026, we're preparing to be a global city. So we are marketing that effort along with Visit Philly to identify these establishments of safe places to go and enjoy as visitors and residents that are here in the city of Philadelphia. The marketing behind that is to give the concept, if you're looking for somewhere to go, you understand that folks have been trained in these establishments to diffuse any harm that may come to patrons there. So we are excited for the first cohort that has went through.
So thank you for that. Do we expect to increase that number from 2022, I gather, you said? And the second piece which perked my ears was nuisance businesses. In the process of doing this, is Commerce sort of connected and understanding how many nuisance businesses are popping up and how we can feed that information to make sure we are addressing the issues? Particularly around those smoke shops and things that are popping up and selling to minors.
So, the Night Economy, again, the -- that division, they're not doing this alone. We are in partnership with the police department, license and inspection. We're getting support from our legal team as well. And yes, they are also working with the Nuisance Task Force for those discussions as well. This, again, as I stated, is the first cohort. There will be additional. The goal is to have everyone participate in this effort.
Thank you. And I just wanted to quickly say thank you to Alba for her service. We will miss you, but you're not going to be very far. And hopefully we -- the creative economy will benefit from your participation, and we can have the city to be the global city that we all desire to be. So thank you all. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you so much. Thank you, Dawn.
Thank you. And also, just want to acknowledge also the hard work of Raheem Manning, like we call him the night Mayor. And I understand my colleague, Councilman Thomas, like, worked to create the position. But he is actually doing a good job helping us manage with a lot of businesses, particularly in the Rittenhouse Square area and, you know, the late night hour, people hanging out. But as a person who's able to bring us together to kind of resolve the quality of life issues and actually advocate on behalf of the businesses. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you.
So I do want to go on the record and thank Raheem Manning for his hard work. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Raheem is an excellent emissary for this issue for Philadelphia, and is sought after nationally to speak about this issue. So we're very, very proud of Raheem and his work.
Good. Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nicholas O'Rourke, and then Councilman Jeffrey J. Young.
Thank you, Mr. President. Alba, you're leaving us. But in more respect, Director Martinez, I believe that you might have been the first director or the first person that I spoke to in the first, I guess, couple months of this gig. And so to see your arc and all that you've provided to the city really is a blessing. Thank you for your service. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you so much.
2025, to those that care, and to the United Nations, as well as more relevantly to the city of Philadelphia, is the year of the cooperatives. 2025 is also the year that the Commerce Department is significantly expanding their small business and grant offerings with millions more in grants and technical assistance, which is a big milestone, even with all our questions about it, commendations on that front. This administration has stated, though, that their goal with this funding is to make sure that all Philadelphians have access to economic growth and opportunity. What we also know, as a point of fact, is that cooperatives have higher business success rates than traditional businesses. That they have higher pay rates, that they have lower turnover, that they consistently provide more reliable opportunities for generational wealth building. And finally, they're much more likely to be owned by women and people of color. Given these facts, the Philadelphia Area Cooperative of Alliance in my office are advocating for $1 million dedicated grant fund and 300,000 in technical support dollars specifically set aside for cooperative business growth and development. So I want to ask, would you support a dedicated line of funding specifically for growing and developing cooperative businesses? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Cooperatives are, I have to agree, incredibly important in an economic ecosystem. At this point, I can't make a financial commitment to a specific line of funding because that's a collective effort budget-making. In the Parker administration is a collective effort. But I will say that I agree with you of the significance of cooperatives and that the Commerce Department, you know, specific line item or not, is in the business of supporting cooperatives that are in the business of helping grow the economy. So we will support cooperatives with everything we can, regardless of whether it sits in the budget or not.
Thank you for answering the question. Just taking a moment to say that I do believe that the more that we shine the light on cooperatives and elevate them up for what they provide for those at the grass roots, for those who might be outside of the typical business track, I think the better. And I think the more we will actually be able to realize economic growth and opportunity for all. Thank you so much. Yes, ma'am.
I just wanted to add that we already support the cooperatives. The area cooperatives, we already fund them through our technical assistance program. And we've changed some of our programs to now -- we've changed some of our programs to now include cooperatives where before, you know, it was a business with one or two owners. We've expanded it. So we are on the right track.
Thank you, Member O'Rourke. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jeffrey J. Young, then Councilmember Brooks. Then we will officially go into round two. Oh, sorry. Councilmember Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. And good morning. My first question is around the Catalyst Fund. So most non-profits in our city and in our commonwealth are corporations technically, right? So what opportunities exist for our non-profit partners to access funds from this Catalyst Fund to get the technical assistance that they need to help scale their business, essentially or not? Because non-profits, you know, believe it or not, are corporations, are businesses. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: So Councilman, the Catalyst Fund is envisioned as very targeted and focused on businesses, whether they're micro businesses or small businesses that are a private, not non-profit, that are growth ready, but who lack the kind of love capital that you don't have when you don't come from money, right? So it's truly focused on businesses and giving them love in the form of capital and support in the form of technical assistance and capacity building.
So I guess -- so my question would be why are non-profits excluded from this? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Because non-profits don't have -- I mean, it's just really a design choice. It's about focusing and targeting our effort. However, there are other programs within Commerce that can support non-profits. So this is -- this is just one product, if you will, within a product line. And there are other product lines that would support non-profits in their growth and development, recognizing that they also are economic engines in the community. So under no circumstance is it a diminishment of non-profits. It's simply saying there is a fund for businesses that are taking risk, right, and that are profit-making businesses. And we want to help those business owners to achieve the greatest chance of economic success. And yes, make profit because when they make profit, we win.
Can you tell -- I guess this is something for my own personal information. But if you could provide us with who in the Commerce Department we can talk to about those opportunities for the non-profit organizations, I think that'll be helpful. We have a lot of non-profits in our city that are providing services and programs and they actually, you know, hire people too, right? My second question is regarding the Ridge Avenue corridor. You mentioned Ridge Avenue in your statement. There's a lot of people on Ridge Avenue with great ideas, but there are a lot of vacant and blighted properties. So what strategy does Commerce have to help property owners stabilize commercial corridors like this, so the ideas aren't -- just don't go by the wayside.
Thank you, Councilman. We're working closely right now with Lower North to figure out the best way to reactivate that corridor. We're working with them collaboratively with PHA. We also have all our resources that we have for businesses available to them. But we are not doing it in a hands-off manner. We are working very closely with Lower North, as I said, to make sure that they get what they need, they get the assistance that they need. And we are actually in the process of helping them hire a project manager who will be out there and who will -- who will figure out what the market conditions are and help us collectively figure out what is the best way or the best businesses to move into Ridge Avenue.
So one solution I have is allowing -- providing some funding for some of these non-profits to file Act 135 conservatorships on these vacant and blighted properties. Those are the entities that I believe that law was made for. And for -- you know, and for the city to provide that support for these non-profits, I think, will be helpful on these commercial corridors as neighborhoods continue to gentrify. Thank you, Mr. President. I'll come back in round two.
Thank you. And just for comment, you know, there's a lot of conversation regarding the revitalization of corridors, right? I know for a fact, I've heard three members specifically talk about it. And do yourself some service and talk about the model you did in Point Breeze, right? Where we worked with PIDC, right? We work with the Point Breeze Business Association, right? We came up with a master plan, right? Had everybody at the table. We had the non-profit there, right? We had the business owners from Point Breeze Avenue there. We had old residents, new residents. PIDC is part of the conversation, right? And the corridor managers came up with a plan to turn and move forward. So, tell your story.
Thank you, Council President. And the funding actually came from you for us to be able to --
Yes. So the funding came from you for us to be able to move forward with that. But that is really our model in most corridors. I can point to a North 5th where we started with a plan, right? We -- it's difficult for us to move forward without a plan. And we do provide a limited amount of funding for organizations and corridors to actually undertake plans. And again, yes, it's multifaceted, just as you mentioned. So we have the cleaning that TCB is taking care of. We have the corridor management, right, working with the businesses and making sure that they are present there. But the beginning of it is all a plan. And, again, I appreciate you for providing the funding. But point is worth taking.
You can -- with Jeffrey Young and get your team maybe talk about that same model. Part of his budget request for his district may be creating that overall vision so he can incorporate exactly what he wants to have accomplished.
And we are working with Lower North towards that. Do you want to add to that? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: I just want to a address briefly the issue of activation of corridors and vacant properties that has been mentioned a couple times and is, you know, one of the issues I would say that I lose sleep over, right? Because the idea that we have these assets and they're dormant, and everybody agrees it's an issue, and how do we work efficiently to stimulate that in a targeted manner? And the Mayor has made very clear to the Commerce Department that she wants to see a strategy. And we are working on a strategy right now that would be, you know, in support of businesses that want to step up, right? Growth ready businesses, corridor ready, businesses that want to step up and be in the corridor, right? And help fill a vacancy. How can we support them? And we believe that the time has come for us to develop a program to address that. We are working on it quietly right now to make sure we have a model that we can feel proud of. But the Mayor has made very clear, she wants Commerce to step into that issue and provide some leadership.
And I would just -- I think that's great. And we're all on board. It's how we work in partnership together. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Absolutely.
But also, just making sure that part of that strategy overall, when it's rolled out, it's in consultation with the district councilmembers -- DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: A hundred percent.
-- for rolling out and making sure there's buy-in from the community. And I think that's that synergy that I know we can all do to move the city of Philadelphia forward. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Council President, a strategy like that would only work in tight coordination with the district council people.
And the last part, something I deal with in Point Breeze, that we're balancing also is making sure -- and I know Jeffrey is sensitive to this, because I used to come passed Ridge Avenue when I was a young guy from South Philly hanging in North Philly. The Ridge Avenue today is not the Ridge Avenue in the early 2000s, right? And a diverse neighborhood is a strong neighborhood. But we also want to make sure that the neighborhood reflects those -- the long-term residents who live there and maintain the cultural fabric of the neighborhood. And also making sure that we don't have 10 coffee shops on the corridor, right? We can mix it up a little bit. Maybe some Aldis and some Dollar Generals and some CVSs, and not just all, you know -- and I go to Sprouts and stuff like that and Whole Foods, but at the end of the day, I grew up at ACME, and I get it. So we have to make sure that the businesses that do come in reflect the demographics of the neighborhood. But also, from an economic standpoint, like when you have the changing of Girard Avenue, where I can go to the corner store -- can I say the Poppie store and get me a a cheese steak? Well, I don't eat meat anymore. But a platter might cost $2.50, and then that new store comes with that same platter that's $15. And so, you know, it creates a different market inside the neighborhood. So those are things we have to be very, very thoughtful about, in terms of when we -- when we're looking at our corridors and we're making sure that, you know, it's a corridor for everybody. But I know we are on the same page with that. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Council President, that's absolutely right. It's not just throwing money at a problem, which is why I'm saying the commitment is there, the requirement from the Mayor is there, and we are currently working on a model that we will then obviously work in collaboration with Council to vet and make sure that it is something that we can all feel proud of.
Looking forward to the plan. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you.
Thank you very much. Councilmember Brooks, then Councilmember Jones. Bass, I don't see your light on. Squilla, I don't see a light on. Are you okay? Okay. Then Councilmember Bass. So it's Brooks, Jones, Bass.
Thank you, Council President. My question is for Planning and Development. Are you going to -- they're not here?
They're here. They have not come up and given their presentation just yet.
My questions were kind of connected with Harrity's stuff.
So Councilmember Jones, then Councilmember Bass.
Thank you so much, Mr. President. And I join the course that we'll miss your transition from the Commerce Department, but wish you success. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you.
And thank you, thank you, thank you for your team that has meant so much to my district. Couple of things. Number one, I'm looking forward to the tour with your department with the Mayor on Main Street, April 24th, to take a walking tour, ride-around tour about the eclectic nature of Main Street. If Chestnut Hill and South Street had a baby, it would be Main Street because neither one of them have the water that we have in the canal. So we want to get the Mayor up there to share her vision. I'm going to take you back to before your tenure when we had social uprising and some -- and some risings that didn't look real good in the corridors. You represent about 103 corridors. They took a hit when we had that unrest. And many of those corridors still, to this day, have not recovered fully. One of the things that came out of that was we wanted to kind of create a AMBER Alert warning system. When these peaceful protests evolved into something nefarious on our commercial corridors. I'll never forget me and Member Gauthier sharing phone calls about 52nd Street when one of the police -- she was --
Oh, my question is: Where are we with a AMBER Alert warning system that kind of checks in, when we have a peaceful protest that falls into the evening? That we work with the business corridors, the police departments to secure our vulnerable corridors and how to protect them?
And for the record, I do want to acknowledge the work of Curtis Jones, Jr., when George Floyd hit, sound the alarm when they were looting and ravishing Shop Rite. And the key plans in his district at 52nd and Parkside is the impetus of this question. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Yes. First, I want to thank you for your leadership around the blueprint. And in preparing for this -- for this testimony, I reflected upon all of the things that we've implemented, aligned with the blueprint report. And I'm proud to say that a lot of that work is underway. I've invited Deputy Director Fegely to answer your question specifically about that tool.
Deputy Commerce Director. Yeah, thank you so much, Councilman, for the blueprint and for your question. We've been through too many emergencies, right? And over the last five years or so, what that has caused us to do is -- well, Commerce has learned a lot. And through those -- through those early days with the civil unrest, we have created internally an emergency -- business emergency playbook that we activate. We have some simple things. We use our teams chat. As soon as any one of us hears about something that might, you know, whether we're hearing a rumor, social media or officially through OEM or the police, we sort of activate internally. We decide what the impact is going to be. If it's going to be something that warrants, like, a big response, we assign a point person. Now it's -- I know you're speaking about the civil unrest. We use this for other things. The latest was the plane crash, of course. Celine Wilson, you know, stepped up and was on point for that. We ensure that we're working closely with the police department, with Office of Emergency Management and any other department to make sure we're bringing resources to the businesses. We also have some tips. We get out, you know, tips for protecting your business. We try to do some early alerts, like you said, AMBER Alert, to the businesses in that we identify what the areas are, figure out how we can reach, you know, we count a lot on the intermediaries, the CDCs, business associations, civic associations. So we get -especially get the word out right to them so they can distribute it. But we also go directly to the businesses as much as possible.
I don't want to scare us at all, but history tends to repeat itself and we need to have almost, like, a fire drill, if you would, on how that communications chain would happen. I remember Katherine Gilmore-Richardson out there -- I'm going to leave it there. She's braver than --
I think Jamie was near a tank or something. Was it a tank out there with tear gas?
That's all I'll say. But I just want us to be able to coordinate with the district police, coordinate with the private security offered by some of the malls. I remember what -- the Lady Meatball calling in air strikes -- here's where we getting ready to go loot next -- kind of thing. That we have to get ahead of those things and be prepared to protect particularly in the neighborhood corridors that they don't get big insurance. But for some people, Mr. President, it was like a clearance sale. The insurance covered every bit of their losses. They were able to, next week, get back on board. Others in 52nd Street and in my district weren't so lucky. So we have to help them to be prepared for the, you know, those kinds of occasions. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Member Jones. Councilmember Cindy Bass.
Mr. President, thank you. Good morning. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Good morning.
How are you? So Alba, as everyone else has stated, thank you for your service. Although, I have to say, we go so far back to being Democratic Committee people in the -- in the 22nd Ward in 1990-something. I don't even want to say what year. And, you know, you've always just been a class act, in my opinion. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you so much.
And so I just really want to thank you again for your service. And -- but I also feel very confident as we both sort of moved around that we'll be seeing each other again, I'm sure somewhere down the line. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Hundred percent.
You know, who knows? Who knows? But best of wishes to you. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you.
And so, now just a couple of questions regarding some of the -- well, actually just going to one of the questions that my colleague Nicholas O'Rourke asked earlier. As he and I have been working on co-ops and we heard you say that they were important, but it was kind of, like, that was it. If they're important, then they should be reflected somewhere in the plans for Commerce. And I don't see that anywhere. Can we have some more detail on that? What's the plan? You know, if it's not planned for, if it's not measured, if there's no goal for it, you know, it's just not going to happen. And so we'd like some conversation around that. And also, I also want to take a second and just acknowledge Karen and Yvonne and Dennis, who I work with on a regular basis, and just say, thank you so much to all of them for their work and -- really to the entire Commerce Department for all of their hard work. But can you talk about co-ops briefly? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you for your question. Yvonne.
Yes. Thank you, Councilperson. It's been a pleasure working with you as well.
And, yes, co-ops are really now on our radar. As Councilman O'Rourke said, they really could be the way of small business in the future because you spread the risk.
So we do fund the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance already. We give them 100,000 a year. So we are doing that.
We fund the organization itself so that they are out there to help businesses that want to form co-ops. We -- did you have --
We support the organization, which does work on behalf of --
Right. So I got you. So we support the organization, which -- with a $100,000 per year that does work on behalf of 40 different organizations.
Yes. And, I mean, that's a -- that's a good average for the way in which our work goes. We have other technical assistance providers, which we give them 100 -- 150 and the support upwards of 200 businesses. So I -- yes, I do get your point. But it's -- yes, we'll look and see how we can adjust it. We had a training with them just last week to explain better programs and how our programs can be accessed by their members. We've also changed their programs to make it easier for cooperatives to access the funding that we provide.
So we will -- yes, as -- oh, no. We will look at it moving in the future and see how best we can support them more.
It doesn't feel like robust programming for co-ops. And as you said, if you think that this is something significant for the future, it doesn't feel that there's a robust commitment by the Commerce Department. It feels like it's a -- there's a drop here and there's a drop there. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Your feedback is well taken, and we will take it back and have a conversation before I leave about this issue of supporting co-ops and how we can take it to the next level. Thank you for the feedback.
Okay. One other question. 2026, what is Commerce doing around -- particularly around small minority businesses in the neighborhoods around 2026? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: So we're very excited about our investment in the 2026 activities because our primary focus is on the corridors, right? Selecting in partnership with Council and the administration, and also looking at, you know, which are the right corridors for this moment, activating and investing in up to 10 corridors to ensure that they become 11 active participants in this economic 12 opportunity, this unprecedented 13 economic opportunity. 14 Those investments which, 15 you know, roughly will amount to 16 about $4 million targeted to this 17 initiative will include physical 18 beautification as well as investment 19 in activating those corridors and 20 the surrounding areas with cultural activities and events that will draw people. Layered into that will be other investments in storefront beautification, right, to make sure that businesses can compete and participate. And last but not least, something that I talk about a lot is the marketing of those corridors. We have an investment and a commitment to invest in the marketing of those corridors that we want to showcase for 2026. And that investment in marketing our corridors needs to be enduring because it is not reasonable to expect individual corridors and individual businesses to be able to market themselves and do so efficiently. So Councilwoman, I will tell you that we are doubling down on investing in businesses within those corridors. In addition to that, there's going to be, and there already is, a really deep commitment to making sure that every business in the city, whether they're on those corridors or not, knows how to tap into opportunities. Hey, where are the opportunities? How do I apply? Who is eligible? What are the requirements? And we work collectively with Michael Newmuis, and others on all of these issues. And so creating an access portal for small businesses that want to participate is really crucial. And that portal really is going to have to be available very soon. And we're taking steps towards that.
So how are we to do that? I'm sorry, Mr. President. How are we going to do that? How are we going to make sure every business in the city is aware of how to tap into the programs, the services, the resources that are offered by the Commerce Department? That sounds like a massive undertaking, unless we already have, you know, all of this in place. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Well, there's -- I would want to defer on the details of that initiative to Michael. However, I will say generally speaking, that there is a lot of communication every week. The leaders across internally in the city and outside of the city in terms of our partners are continuously speaking about a number of work streams. And access to opportunity is one of the work streams that gets talked about on a continuous basis. And so, the component parts are obviously inventorying what the opportunities are. And obviously we're in a position to do that because we're connected into, you know, every investment, right? It's -- we have the power. The government has the power to get information fairly easily. And then second of all, loading it up in some sort of platform that will allow people easy access. And thirdly, to market it. So while it is a lift, it is not, you know, what I'll say rocket science. We could absolutely do it if we have the commitment and the will. And so it is -- it is on the top of the agenda. And I do believe that there is serious commitment to making it happen.
I hear what you're saying. We're almost midway in the 2025. So we're at that moment now. So, you know, I don't know how it's going to be rushed, and -- DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: I'll get you the details. I'm going to get you the details about where we are on that specific project, right?
Okay. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Because it's -- there is work done on the project. I just don't have the actual status here. So I would like to follow-up with you on what are the -- what steps are we taking to ensure access to information?
Okay. Because we -- you know, it -- to me, it should be happening right now already. We're all -- DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: And it is.
It late because 2026 is, you know, seven months away. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you.
I want to also add a point of information as well, just to add to the conversation. And so, Commissioner, could you have your team sit down with Member Bass, and I think any other members, regarding what Michael Newmuis is doing regarding ramping up the strategy and the execution for the inclusivity of small businesses to participate? The corridor enhancement presentation that I received yesterday, which is very, very informative, but I think it would be more prudent if members, as a whole, would be able to sit down and see where we're at and where we're going. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Yes, sir.
Because there's also different -- there's information that you're not actually saying that I've actually seen, the other members probably need to see, so everybody's on the same page. Like the portal that's going to be rolled out. Like the Corridor program, specifically around infrastructure that's going to be rolled out. And so I would like for you to follow-up with Michael Newmuis and Jazelle Jones, but to roll out what that looks like. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Duly noted. We will provide a briefing specifically on those issues. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to take a matter of discretion at this moment. Ask Planning to come up. Because there's some members who didn't get a chance to have questions in the first round who want to ask questions regarding planning. And then we'll just integrate the two as we end out this next hour. And I'll do the discretion that you go even longer as we wrap up. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Do you want me to stay?
You can stay and just have Jessie and John Mondlak stay up here as well. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Absolutely.
And as questions come up for Commerce, you can call individuals up. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Sure, absolutely.
Is that okay, members? Good with that? Okay. Jessie, just state your name for the record, go into your testimony. I think we read it already, but we'll be prepared to ask questions immediately. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Good morning, everybody. Jessie Lawrence, Director of Planning and Development. Read the testimony? Apologies. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Council President. Good morning, City Councilmembers. I am Jessie Lawrence. I'm the Director of Planning and Development for the city of Philadelphia. I'm joined here today by our senior leadership team, including representatives from PHDC and the Land Bank. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you here today to present our Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal and discuss the important work ahead. The Department of Planning and Development partners with Philadelphia's communities to promote, plan, preserve, and develop neighborhoods that are safe, clean, and green. Focusing on the built environment, we strive to foster thriving communities with accessible housing, a dynamic public sphere, and a resilient economy. Our mission is rooted in ensuring every neighborhood contributes to making Philadelphia the safest, cleanest, greenest big city in America. For Fiscal Year 2026, DPDs work will span comprehensive planning, housing creation and preservation, land management, economic development, all of which are guided by research, data, and deep intentional stakeholder engagement. E. initiative to create and preserve 30,000 housing units. The work here includes cross departmental collaboration pursuant to the Mayor's executive order No. 3 325, which tasked DPD with identifying and implementing recommendations for reducing unnecessary delays and costs, encouraging timely development of much needed residential projects, and bringing affordable luxury to affordable housing across the board. We look forward to exploring home in depth more on April 23rd when this body holds a day of hearings dedicated to the initiative. Today, we're honored to be sharing with -- today, we're honored to be sharing our other ambitious plans for Fiscal Year 2026. These include the coordinated planning for the revitalization of the Market East Corridor, in collaboration with business, civic, and community stakeholders. We'll begin that public engagement effort for updates with these -- so for updates to the city comprehensive plan, including resident led tours, community workshops, in-person hubs, surveys and laying the groundwork for a collective vision of Philadelphia's future. At the same time, we'll expand Treasure Philly, a program piloted by the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Treasure Philly explores a concept of preservation that goes beyond structures to encompass meaningful local cultural resources, traditions, and histories. We're also prioritizing the strategic use of public land by the Philadelphia Land Bank. This will include scaling Turn The Key, a program that makes home ownership opportunities available and builds intergenerational wealth. Monthly mortgage payments under the Turn The Key program are less than what many Turn The Key home buyers were paying in rent. We will also develop and implement a strategic plan for the acquisition, maintenance, and disposition the properties by the Land Bank, and looking at ways to advance curb appeal, also increasing transparency through new reporting tools. In addition, our Division of Housing and Community Development, most of which know as DHCD will continue to support effective cleaning and greening programs such as land care. Studies have found that an increase of nearly 13 percent in homes, home values over the six years near stabilized lots, a 29 percent decrease in gun violence, 22 percent fewer burglaries, and 30 percent decrease in illegal dumping, and a 41 percent decrease in feelings of depression amongst residents.
We will continue key programs supporting home ownership, foreclosure expansion -- for foreclosure prevention and eviction diversion. With our partners at PHDC, we will enhance the Shallow Rent Program for rent burden households, and we will implement new training and outreach initiatives to make home appraisals more equitable. Our department is committed to improving internal operations and service delivery. We will, for example, enhance performance management processes within the zoning board of adjustments to improve accessibility, reduce processing times, and increase transparency. In conclusion, the Department of Planning and Development remains a steadfast in its commitment to building safe, equitable, and vibrant communities throughout Philadelphia. The Fiscal Yeah '26 budget proposal reflects the resources necessary to advance this mission, and I'm grateful for City Council's ongoing partnership and support. Thank you for your time and I'll welcome your questions.
Thank you, Jessie. I'm going to let my members delve right into it. I just had one comment I just want to make. I just want to acknowledge from the Turn The Key program, how many houses have we built -- have we built to date? How many trees under MBI have we removed to date? How many driveways have we completed to date? And -- DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: We have built a total of --
Speak into the microphone. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Sorry, I'm looking for the information. No, I'm sorry. Sorry, I'm trying to get to the information, because I just didn't have it. One second, Councilmember -- Council President. Okay. I don't believe we have those exact numbers. We've approved -- I do have that we've approved an average of 227 units for Turn The Key per year of each bond. Additionally, MPI is the largest source of funding for any preservation and production for affordable housing. And we look to fill those gaps as we keep going. For further details, I do believe Ryan is here and if you have those numbers, would you mind coming up? Or if we don't have those numbers, we can get those exact numbers to you. Yeah.
Okay. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: We'll get those numbers to you.
I know the numbers I want to go on the record, but I want to take a moment to acknowledge part of my team, right? I'm going to make them stand and put them on the spot, right? Jenaye Munford, stand up. Ashley Gilmore to stand up. Because they go hard on this particular initiative, right? Obviously, we have the leadership on working in partnership with Brian and Dave Thomas. Give them a round of applause on administration side. And so I just want to acknowledge them for their hard work. And I know I'm going to save a lot of my questions regarding the H.O.M.E. initiative when we have the actual day to do a deeper dive on it. But MPI is a critical program to members of City Council, right, all members of City Council. And I know they work diligently day in and day out to make sure that program is very successful. So I just want to acknowledge them and put the actual work that we are doing on the record, just to show that we're being effective and being prudent by the taxpayers in terms of addressing the issue of housing inequality here in the city of Philadelphia. I'm looking forward to doing a deeper dive on the H.O.M.E. Initiative, as we move the city of Philadelphia for addressing housing inequality. So with that being said, I'm going turn it over to first Councilmember Brooks, then to Majority Gilmore-Richardson, Jamie Gauthier, and then Councilmember Jim Harrity in that order.
Thank you, Council President. And good morning. My question is around community gardens, which you guys know, that's one of my soft spots. So for the last two decades we've lost a third of community gardens in Philly under the threat and we wanted to take some action. So City Council has secured funding for 90 plots from the U.S. Bank liens that had been transformed into community gardens. We passed a legislation fixing the priority bid so that the Land Bank can acquire these properties. And now, there is an MOU with the Sheriff's Department to facilitate the sale. What is the process and timeline for the acquisition of the U.S. Bank lien for garden properties? And when would the gardens be in the hands of the gardeners? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: So what I can provide, before I call my colleague Angel Rodriguez up, who's much more versed in the Land Bank and the ability to acquire. You know, we are happy that sheriff sales have started back up. My understanding is that these next few months will be a series of board approvals that will allow for them to acquire again. But I'd like to call up Angel Rodriguez to talk more about that when it comes to the Land Bank and the ability to acquire.
And I don't want to leave Angel out. Thank you, Angel, for your hard work around Turn The Key and making sure the land has moved forward in our councilmanic districts, as we address the issue of housing inequality in the city of Philadelphia. Good morning, Angel.
He's also held to the 2nd Councilmanic District of South Philly.
Yes, I am. Good morning, Council President, Councilmembers. Angel Rodriguez, executive director of the Land Bank. I just want to just clarify for the first question you had asked. We've approved 800 properties for Turn The Key, 400 are under construction, 235 have been completed, and over 200 have been sold, 75 of those are to city employees. So I just want to -- and we have about $13.1 million engaged in Turn The Key dollars for those secondary mortgages. And about 1.3 million for Philly First Home as well, all part of MPI.
No problem. To the question about the U.S. Bank liens. So on the 23rd, we had a special session with the Land Bank. We approved -- the Land Bank Board. We did approve the MOU, it was executed that day. It went into effect on the 24th. So the plan right now is that we are meeting with Linebarger, who is the servicing agent for U.S. Bank, the city on larger U.S. Bank liens. We also have a meeting scheduled for -- with the city. The city actually purchased back the liens, so we are working with all three servicers, that's GRB, Linebarger, and the city, in terms of setting up Land Bank's first sheriff sale on the bid for assets platform, which will be in June. All three sheriff sales. It's important to note because of the legislation, we do have a noticing requirement. So we do have to send out in a timely fashion a notice to everybody that has an interest on that property. They then have the option, as is outlined in the legislation, that would allow them to opt out of the priority bid that the Land Bank has and go to a regular sheriff sale. So we hope to acquire those properties by June. It should be a fairly simple situation, but I do have to work out the detail with the Revenue Department. I'm not going to speak for that department. They're taxed as well, you know, as everybody -- every other department and it does take quite a bit of legal work to get that to sheriff sale.
All right. Thank you. Could I have like four follow-ups and he can just answer those? It's just like, kind of one sentences.
So one is: Will the -- will the Land Bank website list clear requirements for gardeners to acquire? Because most of these folks are volunteers who don't really have the capacity to do a lot of paperwork. So I'm really concerned about how the next steps will happen once we get past this. The other one is: What will be the cost to the gardeners to acquire these properties? Will there be a streamlined application that's geared to these particular gardens? When will the applications for the gardeners be open? And what supports will be given to community garden groups, which are mostly volunteer organizations to acquire these properties?
I know. A point of clarification, though, under the ordinance and under the methods and disposition, you have to be a non-profit to be qualified for garden disposition. We are working with NGT, and most people do partner with NGT. I just recently at the last board meeting had a brief conversation. We're going to -- I'm going to follow-up with Jenny Greenberg. She does have some, you know, edits to our -- our garden application. It is a specialized application. There are certain issues that we do have to deal with. We cannot sell something we do not own. So there's a concern about the timing of the application so we can actually approve them for disposition, if I don't own it. So there's going to be a bit of an issue where -- and we're working with the Sheriff's Department where they -- we go to the sheriff's sale, they have a certain timeline under the MOU they've agreed to convey those titles and deeds to us, we record them, and then we should be able to dispose of them, but there is a process. Since we will be doing it in June, Council was not in session. So any future dispositions for gardens will not happen until the fall because Council resolution is required for disposition.
Okay. Thank you for mapping that out. I want to thank you also for working closely with Jenny Greenberg and NGT and moving this forward. This has been a long time coming.
I think we've been working on this for five, almost six years now, just me personally, and whatever work Councilmember Sanchez and other folks did well before I got here. So I want to thank you for moving that forward. And I just want to do another thank you and shout out for Turn The Key, too. I have two staff members that just came to Turn The Key.
So I really do appreciate the work that has been put beyond that because we are offering opportunities for folks that never had an opportunity or have thought they could be homeowners to do so. So thank you so much for that work.
Thank you. Good job. And I still give the Mayor shout out for moving on those vacant green lots for the people. Because I remember that was one of her priorities and I think she was being supportive, gave you that bill to be supportive of that. And I also saw some money in the budget, so I just wanted to say, acknowledged that for the record. Majority Leader Gilmore- Richardson, Councilmember Jim Harrity, Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. President. And thank you, Jessie, and to the entire team at planning. Thank you for being on the call that we had with our MPI team here in Council with Jenaye Munford, and the legal service organizations and the Register of Wills office. And thank you, Angel, for your support with all of the Land Bank work. I also want to thank you for Turn The Key. I also have a staff for Councilmember Brooks that is coming through the program as well and just opening up a world of opportunity around home ownership. So thank you very much. Very quickly, I have a number of questions that I need to get on the record. And I also will in advance come back for the second round. What is the short term plan to sustain the MPI operations as we discussed the proposed home plan particularly around Tangled Titles, Neighborhood Infrastructure, and BSRP and the other programs? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: So those programs, they're the programs that will continue and expand -- invest and expand. Tangled Title is one of them. We are also looking to make sure that we maintain some funding for neighborhood improvements, such as driveways and alleyways as well.
Excellent. So what I would ask is if you all could give us something in writing that notates the additional short-term sort of plan, the overall short-term plan for the MPI operations as you know it to be currently, so that we have that as of today. And then also, how much remaining bond dollars are there from MPI? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: 50 million, I believe it is.
50 million. Okay. And so the question is: Can you confirm whether or not you plan to roll over any remaining bond dollars from MPI into the new home plan? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: So there will be a bridging of the gap of sorts until programs are stood up, until programs are actually, you know --
To get. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Yeah, exactly. The programs that we're looking to maintain in the home bond, in the H.O.M.E. initiative, there is a series of them. I mean, a number of them have to be stood up, right? A number of them have to be expanded or will be expanded. And for those that we are in collaboration with, you all on the councilmanic side and looking to make sure we bridge that, that's what we believe that 30 -- that 50 million will be dedicated to.
So if you could give us a list -- a breakdown -- DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Yes.
-- of that information, because the Tangled Title support and investment that we achieved out of MPI was one of the very first investments from MPI. But you know that we have a number of other investments that we want to continue to make across neighborhoods. And so if we could get a breakdown of how you all intend to deal with that additional or the -- not additional, but the last 50 million from MPI that would be helpful for us to understand what's happening here. And particularly, if it's going to roll over into a new bond initiative or how that will work. Okay. And if it changes from a tax -- if there's a taxable bond versus a tax exempt bond, and if you roll over, then what type of bond it would go into at that point? I did hear the bell. I just want to get one more question on the record for this round, and then I'll come back on the second round, because I have additional questions from the detail in particular. But we recognize that costs are increasing for our Tangled Title cases. You know that there was a change at the PA Department of Revenue regarding how they are no 5 longer exempting transfer tax from certain properties. And you know that that's increasing cost from $3,000 to $5,000. It could be up to $8,000 depending on the type of property you're talking about in the property value. So how many families has the Tangled Title Fund been able to assist so far this fiscal year? How does this differ from last year? How much do you think we need in the fund to fully cover the costs of all the applicants? And are you anticipating the revenue from the new fee will go into the fund? And if so, will that raise enough revenue to meet the goals? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: So I'd like to call up our deputy director for Housing and Community Development Mark Dodds to take those questions.
Okay. And is that -- let me ask you a question, who's the new Melissa? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Mark Dodds.
Okay. That -- that's -- because we work really closely with Melissa. I don't think I've known for a year-and-a-half who the new Melissa is. No slight at all, I just didn't know exactly who it is. But we really need a break -- a full breakdown of the whole Tangled Title piece. Like at the point when someone starts with our system and then goes through the Tangle Title, that's what I'm asking. But specifically around that revenue change up at the state and where our numbers have been year-over-year? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Interim Director Dodds can walk you through that process.
Yes. Good afternoon. Interim Director, Mark Dodds, Division of Housing and Community Development. So first of all, in order to be eligible for the program, you have to meet certain requirements. Income has to be at/or below 80 percent AMI. You have to live in the home or intend to live in the home. And your net assets, I believe have to be at/or below $10,000. And then we also work with a variety of legal aid organizations to implement the program, that includes VIP, CLS, PLA, and senior law. Referrals can come through our neighborhood advisory committees or individuals can go directly to those legal aid providers for those services. And we are aware of what you cited some increases in the transfer tax. That's something we're actively communicating with our partners on, especially VIP. We do anticipate receiving somewhere in the neighborhood of $300,000 in FY26 as the increase in recording fees, which I believe you cited as well. And we're hoping, you know, these discussions are ongoing, that some of that funding can help mitigate the higher transfer taxes that you alluded to.
Okay. And -- but the other question, and my apologies, Madam Chair, how many families has the Tangled Title Fund been able to assist so far this fiscal year and how that differs from last year?
I don't have those figures in front of me. The fund covers costs up to $4,000 right now, but we can get you a breakdown.
Thank you very much. And I just want to put on the record, and I'm going to bring this up again when we hear from the Register of Wills Office as well, and I've spoken with our Register as late as Friday evening about this issue. That I do have some concern about sort of the inner mechanics of the Tangled Title Fund and how families have been able to interact with our fund, not from more so from the city administration side, but just from how it touches the administration, the legal service aid organizations, and the Register of Wills Office, and our ability to work cohesively together to get a family to resolution. And so, you know, that I've been on the meetings, Director Lawrence. You know I've been intimately involved with this issue from day one. This is one of my babies. And so we are just seeking to help as many families as possible. So I just want to put it on the record related to MPI, but also the Tangled Title Fund around what we will need from you all moving forward, recognizing all these changes and coming to the end of MPI. Okay? Thank you very much. Thank you Madam Chair. MADAM CHAIR BASS: Thank you. Thank you, Council Lady. Next, Councilwoman Gauthier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. My questions are about the Land Bank. If I'm reading your budget proposal correctly, there isn't any budget increase for Land Bank operations. At the same time, I know that we're planning to build thousands of new units on Land Bank lands, and we know that it currently takes over a year at best to get a property out the door. I think we can all agree that the Land Bank needs more lawyers, more project managers, and more property maintenance dollars now that the priority bid is back, but I don't see any of that in the budget. So first, why not? Second, how much of the Land Bank's FY26 acquisition budget is going to come from the general fund? And how much of it will come from the home bonds? And then now that the Land Bank is acquiring properties, again, how many parcels are on its priority list? And will its projected FY26 budget be enough to acquire them all? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: So I can start off by letting you know that the Land Bank secured $5 million in acquisitions for sheriff sales to resume. The money is an escrow. And there will be at an additional 1.5 for the U.S. Bank lien, I believe. But I can allow for Mr. Rodriguez to talk about that a little bit more in depth.
So you're saying there's 5 million in the budget for acquisition?
We already have the 5 million. So it's 3.5 million for regular acquisitions with which on average gets us about 325 properties. And then we have the 90 that have been already identified where the city has already expended about 1.2 million to acquire the U.S. Bank liens. So then there's 1.5 that did -- that the Land Bank has to go to Sheriff's sale and acquire those dollars. So it's 5 million total that is not part of the budget, because that's already been expended in previous fiscal years.
Thank you. Can you talk about the Land Bank operations issue? And being that the Land Bank is such a crucial part of our housing strategy, why doesn't the proposed budget include more for operations?
Do you? Well -- DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Well, I mean, I think it also has to deal with the fact that there are some positions that currently need to be filled at the Land Bank. And Angel can talk about what exactly those positions are, but right now, there are openings for positions that will allow for the Land Bank to keep on going and actually respond to the task at hand when it comes to the home plan.
So we have two vacancies: we have a real estate director position, and we have one project manager position.
I seem to remember, I mean, we had a hearing not too long ago, and you were pretty clear about the additional capacity that we -- that we need.
And I seem to see that here. And while we're on the topic of the hearing, we had this hearing back in the fall, we received testimony from almost 60 stakeholders. After the hearing, Councilmember Lozada, and I emailed you a summary of the top 10 recommendations, and we sent that, like, six weeks ago. So can you first speak to the request for additional staff and how it matches to our discussion during the hearing? And next, can we expect to receive a response from you and to meet with you as requested during this budget cycle on the recommendations?
So since that hearing, we have brought on an extra attorney. The position, there's still a vacancy in project management, and there's still a real estate director position that's open. Property management is obviously an ongoing issue, and previously what I had spoken about were issues that were related to lawsuits that we had for conservatorship cases, which were unexpected costs to the Land Bank in excess of $300,000. That includes demolition costs, settlement fees, outside legal fees. So those all impacted the FY25 budget. As it relates to the letter that you had sent, I had shared it with the administration. I'll be more than happy to meet with you and Councilwoman Lozada.
Thank you. We look forward to that. And I want to continue to have a discussion about the capacity we need at the Land Bank as we continue this budget process. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. MADAM CHAIR BASS: Thank you, Council Lady. And I also want to just add onto that because, you know, when the Land Bank first came to fruition, there -- it was with great fanfare and there was a lot of, you know, sort of hope and ideas in terms of what it was going to do to whittle down the, you know, tens of thousands of city-owned government owned properties here in the city of Philadelphia. And so can you give us an idea as to how many -- from its inception to now, how many properties has actually come through the Land Bank? How much property have you actually disposed of through the Land Bank?
Give me one second, I can tell you. MADAM CHAIR BASS: Okay.
So in total, we have disposed over 1,017 properties, MADAM CHAIR BASS: One thousand?
Seventeen. Each year we have increased our capacity and disposition, obviously with the advent of MPI that those numbers started to increase exponentially. MADAM CHAIR BASS: So what's the total universe of properties? What's the total number of properties?
Right now, we have about 6,000 properties across all agencies. That's a public -- that's department of public property, that's the cityowned properties, the Redevelopment Authority, the Land Bank, and PHDC. MADAM CHAIR BASS: So in my -- you know, my humble opinion, the Land Bank should be working its way out of business?
Correct. MADAM CHAIR BASS: Because if the idea is to get rid of these properties, and so at 325 properties this year?
That's proposed for acquisition for this year. Right now and currently, what we have identified for disposition is more along the lines of 583 properties. MADAM CHAIR BASS: So 500 properties roughly?
580, it's closer to 600. MADAM CHAIR BASS: So is that on average per year?
That's an increased average, yeah. MADAM CHAIR BASS: That's an increased average?
Uh-huh. MADAM CHAIR BASS: Okay. And so you don't see that as going down, do you?
No. I think as we look -- work closely with Council, we've started conversations with various councilmembers about issuing RFPs. Once we have that pipeline going, the issue is to keep it going. It does take a while to get dispositions moving through the approval phase, and then all of a sudden the entitlement phase. I will say that we were working closely with Planning and Development, and we have a working team with them. We're working with SEPTA, we're working with PHA, all in an effort to really streamline that regulatory environment, and see where we can actually fast track. MADAM CHAIR BASS: We're also considering items where maybe the Land Bank will do certain things to make disposition easier and development easier by --
It could be consolidating a lot, asking for change in zoning, like we've asked certain districts to go from RSA-5 to RSA-6 to really address what we actually have in the inventory. So all of those items have been happening and we are moving forward with a higher level of coordination. But I can't stress enough that, because development takes a while to maintain that pipeline. MADAM CHAIR BASS: Sure. So -- and one last question, which is: What was the original? Do you -- do you know what the original universe was when we first started the Land Bank? And I think that was like 2014.
Anecdotally, it was 8,000. MADAM CHAIR BASS: It was 8,000?
Yeah. We've done a lot of work to really refine that number. A significant portion of that, the 6,000 is part of sales, but also refining that we do manage land that will not be disposed of, because we don't have a viable partner to dispose of. A lot of that to Councilmember Brooks and Gauthier's concerns about gardeners, we do have a lot of neighborhood gardeners that are actively utilizing a space. We know they're not in a position to actually take on the title -MADAM CHAIR BASS: Sure.
-- and responsibilities, so those are owned and managed properties. So we've done a lot of work to do that. Certain properties just won't be disposed of, or others are not developable because they're too small. MADAM CHAIR BASS: Got you. So -- and I'm just going to say this because I know we have other folks who have questions, but we went from a universe of 8,000 properties, and say, I think it was 2014?
I'd give you a heart attack. MADAM CHAIR BASS: But I do think it was higher than 8,000. I thought it was a lot higher than 8,000, so I'm surprised to hear that number.
So I think what you -- when we started the Land Bank, just so we're aware, there's a report out that says there are 40,000 vacant lots -- MADAM CHAIR BASS: That's the number I was thinking, yeah.
-- throughout the city. The city has percent of that at the beginning 13 of the Land Bank. And when I came 14 on by 2017, that was an inventory of 15 8,000. So now we have 6,000. 16 MADAM CHAIR BASS: So that 17 40,000 is what? 18
That's 19 privately held properties. 20 MADAM CHAIR BASS: Oh, so -- oh, so that's not city owned, that's privately owned property?
Correct. MADAM CHAIR BASS: Okay. Okay. But I just want to say this, to go from 8,000 over years to 6,000, and how much -- what kind of budget we've had for the Land Bank for the last years to years? 6
It's been 7 level funded at 3 million. 8 MADAM CHAIR BASS: You 9 know, it doesn't feel very efficient 10 or effective. And I know that y'all are working hard on it, but I'm just saying, you know, like anybody, if this, you know, like if this was a business, if I was in the business of managing this and I went from 8,000, my goal is to get as close to zero as possible, and over 11 years I go from 8,000 to 6,000, you know, I'd be out of business probably. So just a thought, just my thought. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Council, if I may add. If I may add? MADAM CHAIR BASS: Sure. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: You know, it -- we recognize the power of the Land Bank and the optimal kind of pace it should be operating at, right? But we also recognize that there are some other factors external to it in other departments as well. Knowing that, one, you know, when developers do get to a point where they have received all approvals necessary. You know, we need to be able to get them to a point where they can get through the entitlements process faster. And I think as a city, what we end up doing when we do that, we make it a better place to do business. And I think there's a, you know, bit of a stigma in doing business with the Land Bank when it comes to the purchasing of publicly owned and because of that timeline you've described. So making sure that we're making a comprehensive effort to attack it and make sure that we are, you know, eliminating time tax, not just at the Land Bank, but the, the external departments that have a part in the role of development here in the city of Philadelphia, that's important to us too under DPD.
Well, you know, I don't want to belabor the point, but I -- but I get what you're saying and I don't want to -- you to feel it as if I'm blaming you because y'all weren't there from the beginning. But I'm just saying that in 11 years, if we know that there's a problem with the timeline and the efficiency in working with other departments, I just don't see how it is that we haven't figured that out yet so, but I want to recognize Councilmember Harrity.
Thank you, Councilwoman. How are you? Everybody's going good today? Just a quick one. The preferred budget includes around 2 million in increase for positions and consulting related to the H.O.M.E. Initiative. I know we're not actually talking about the home, I just want to know about the contracts and the positions. Are these increases part of the Mayor's proposed 2 billion? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: So the increase in staffing that you see are, yes. They are a part of the H.O.M.E. Initiative to be able to staff up and respond to the anticipated amount of work that will come as a result of that home plan. Does that answer your question?
Part of it. How many positions are you planning to hire and how many consultants are you planning on hiring with the $2 million? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: So the positions that are going to be up under DPDs, that's about 32 positions, I believe, right. The consultants will be funded through an extent of being able to get us to a point of where we are going to implement. I mean, they were brought on earlier this year -- late last year, to be able to assist us with looking at ways of doing things not just differently, but efficiently and creatively thinking about a lot of the work that they've done in other places along the lines of helping other places with their housing plans, bringing that knowledge into us, into our world here in Philadelphia, helping us understand what works here, and what can work here from other places as well. But the consultants will be funded not from the bond plan, but the remainder of -- the remainder of their work will be funded through the FY26 budget.
Okay. So 32 positions is what you're saying that you're going to hire with the $2 million? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: That is what we will -- won't be -- it will be for the $2 million effort. It will be for the house, excuse me, $2 billion. Did you say 2 million or 2 billion? I'm sorry.
2 million. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Oh, okay, yes. Well, I -- we say 2 billion talking about the plan.
Yeah, because that 32 positions at 2 million, that doesn't sound like we're paying them much, but, you know, like they're -- DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Well, I mean, there -- it's program management, it's clerical, it's project management as well. It's, you know, HR, it's Comms. It's a combination of different kind of productive roles that need to really allow for things that, you know, the production of the implementation carrying out, you know, HR, because if we're going to be bringing people in --
Are they civil service positions or union positions? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: They're civil service.
Civil service and union or -- DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: I believe they're union as well, but we can get you the breakdown of what those positions are as well.
Oh, please. And then just real quick, I heard the bell, but Ms. Martinez, I just -- and this is a yes or no, I just didn't catch the container village part. Are they going to be able to apply for some of that grant funding also, just like the regular -- DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: The businesses themselves?
Yes. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Sure. They should, yeah. Yes.
Oh, okay. All right, good. Yeah, I'd like to get some more information about that. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Sure.
So that I can pass it on. I'm sure Curtis, Councilman Jones would like you to. That's it. Thank you. Thank you very much. MADAM CHAIR BASS: Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Young.
Thank you. My question -- my first question, I guess is for Alba talking about the Nighttime Economy. I know Commerce just released a report saying Nighttime Economy, you know, can generate up to $15 billion in our city. What -- can you tell us what is going on with the Fishtown Food Truck and other initiatives that are happening to spur this nighttime economy in our city? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Yes, thank you for the question. The Food Truck project is still of great interest to the Commerce Department. It has not been implemented because, you know, I'll own it, I made a decision that I did not want to approve a program that was not in compliance with the law. I thought that we were taking on too much risk, and there was a, you know, a desire to have this program run past the hours that the law currently allows us to operate. And so we're now in the process of ensuring that we can get that type of legal support in order to launch this pilot. However, it is an idea that we support and we hope that this will be the year where we can actually execute it. We were -- we were disappointed by the delay, but, you know, sometimes you have to make tough decisions in my role. And I had to make the unfortunate decision to slow that project down.
Was this the city law or state law that you felt you were not in compliance with? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: The city -- the city regulations don't allow food trucks to operate past a certain amount of time during the night. And if we were to allow that, you know, there was some conversations about, well, maybe the city can allow non-enforcement, but I can tell you that as a lawyer, if something goes wrong, I don't think that that holds water. So we just need the, you know, the regulation to match the pilot. And we have spoken to Councilman Squilla about supporting us in terms of coming to council requesting authorization to run a pilot that will extend past midnight.
Well, if that's an issue, you can cross Girard Avenue and come to the fifth council district, and I'll be more than happy to introduce legislation to increase those particular hours. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Well, thank you so much for that. There will be room. I think this is a really great program and needed, and I think that there should and will be room for more of these across council districts. Thank you so much for that opportunity.
Thank you. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Anything you want to add? MADAM CHAIR BASS: Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Phillips.
Thank you, Chairwoman. Just a question for the Department of Public Planning -- the department of Planning and Development, excuse me. You have mentioned earlier that, you know, you're going to be focused on, you know, some quality of life issues. How does the department of -- department plan to use this budget to enhance public green spaces that involve vacant land? So could DPD provide an update on how funding will be used to continue to, or expand programs like LandCare to improve curb appeal, landscaping, and overall neighborhood aesthetics? Also, you have a timeline for execution. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Sure. I'd like to call up Deputy Director Mark Dodds about -- to talk about our LandCare program and how DHCD works with that.
Good afternoon, Councilperson. Last year during the FY25 budget process, there was a substantial increase to funding that goes towards the PHS LandCare program. That funding through general fund comes across three different organizations, and DHCD holds the contract. Annually, this city cleans and greens over 12,000 lots, but a big difference that happened through a mid-year transfer this year is that an additional 1.7 million was added to the budget to allow for the year-round cleaning of vacant lots. So there have been significant investments last year, and we expect those to continue this year.
So yes, you clean them, but the part I'm trying to say is like adding to the landscaping part, which is, you know, gardening as well as other appeals to make sure that it looks like a welcoming community. So like flowers, signs, things of the sort that would help the curb appeal of the space, additional trees, that type of situation.
Yes, so the program also does include some tree planting, it also includes that hallmark white picket fence that you see to kind of delineate that this lot is in fact cleaned by the LandCare program and it receives maintenance multiple times a month to keep debris off those lots.
Well, we have a couple of lots that haven't received in our own district, and I'm sure I've also driven by other people's districts in the city that probably could utilize some landscaping, not just cutting, but more like some actually planting the flowers as well as other signs, paint, all that and more around medians and so forth. I just don't know if you all are actively looking at those public properties, or we have to tell you, because I think we know where all of the medians are that the city owns, and a lots that the city owns, but I just don't know if you're actively working to do the curb appeal without someone telling you that, Hey, we need flowers here and we need other things.
Yeah. There is a -- there's a stabilization process in the fall and spring in which new lots are added to the inventory. We get -- we solicit input from a range of partners, but we'd be interested, you know, if there are specific lots or areas that you'd like us to target, we'd certainly be open to hearing what they are, or where they are. Also, we try and coordinate around specific initiatives, whether they're, you know, if we're looking to combat crime or something like that, we might choose to focus on areas that have high crime, for instance.
Got you. All right. Thank you. And is there a general timeline of when this takes place?
Yeah. In this -- so right now we're gearing up, we we're coordinating with PHS for the fall stabilization. So we're about two seasons behind in a cyclical way.
Okay. Thank you, Chairwoman Bass. MADAM CHAIR BASS: Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman O'Rourke. Oh, not here, sorry. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Kathy Gilmore- Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. I wanted to just get a couple of additional questions on the record specifically from your Department of Planning and Development detail. I'll start with -- it's in Section 56, , under housing development, rental assistance, homeless, we have in the FY '26 proposed budget $108,000. And then under housing counseling, $3,392,000. Does that housing counseling line item include the housing counseling agencies that also work with the Tangled Title Fund? And then additionally, because I just -- I know we're in the second round, I want to get all of this in here. But there's also under Section 56, , under the Homelessness Prevention Program, $1 million includes an array of shelter diversion and homeless prevention activities. This includes emergency assistance when eviction or mortgage foreclosure is imminent. And finally, under section 6 -- finally under Section 56, 82, again for housing counseling, counseling services for low and moderate income residents facing mortgage, foreclosure, tenant- landlord conflicts, and housing related problems. Could you just detail those allocations for me? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Are we able to -- we can get that information for you.
I'll go back. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: It's pretty extensive information.
Okay. And I'm just -- so is that general fund only or is that across all funding sources that you're looking at?
Right. So as an example for , it's under the Community Development Fund. For , it's under Housing Trust. And then, again, under 82, Housing Trust.
Got it. Okay. Thank you. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: I think it'd be important for us to put that all on one page for you, so you see how that stacks together.
Okay. That'll be great, because really what I was concerned about was understanding the line items for the legal service and aid organizations and the housing counseling organizations, as well as the homelessness prevention eviction diversion and mortgage foreclosure assistance dollars in particular. Because one of those line items, I think it was around the -- around the foreclosure prevention or housing counseling for families potentially facing homelessness has changed from the FY24 actual obligation has actually gone down. That's particular -- in particular for shelter diversion and homelessness prevention when eviction and more closure -- and mortgage foreclosure is imminent. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: We can get you that detail.
Okay. Thank you very, very much. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Majority Leader. Just real quick, Jessie, and I will do a follow-up. And we -- and we'll go over it all offline. And so that 50 million, right, that came from the MPI? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Yes.
That won't be a part of the eight -- part of the $800 million plan? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Not at all. Not at all. Those are two separate numbers.
That 50 million is already agreed upon to fund. I think it's three separate initiatives, which is the alleyways, driveways -- DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Prevention and preservation as well.
Because right now that basic system repairs eating up, Mr. Thomas over there is spending all our money, but doing a great job of rehabbing individual homes, and so I just want to make sure there's a level of clarity regarding that particular 50 million. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Yeah, we certainly don't want to say that, you know, that 50 million is baked into the 800 million. I think that we're understanding that there is something left and there is a series of programs that we also would like to see going on.
Yes. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: And if there's a thought about where those programs live now and where they live in the home plan, we wanted to be clear about that detail between the two.
Oh, yeah, that's cool. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Yeah.
But I just want to be clear that that 50 is already committed to three particular areas, which I'm already actually briefing my members on as we speak, based upon their priorities. And so may we talk offline and make sure we all on the same page about that particular 50. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: That's fine. I didn't want to imply otherwise.
Council President, if I may? John Mondlak, Deputy Director for Planning and Development. You had asked earlier about driveways, you just brought it up again and I just wanted to -- we could follow-up with writing for sure, but I just wanted to put on the record that there have been 139 driveways completed.
Speak up a little louder. 139 driveways completed?
139 driveways completed. We expect to complete 50 to 60 more, and there's been 720 trees addressed.
I see the gentleman from the 9th Councilmatic District in the Northwest would like to be recognized regarding them driveways.
All right. Thank you. Just really quickly, I just want to address a few things. I know it's very difficult. The driving program is going well, people love it. However, the process could be stronger. And I just wanted to see if you can work with our MPI team to really strengthen the process. We need to have, as district councilmembers, it has to be a level of a timeline. I know people are told immediately that they're qualified for the driveway if they're eligible, but they -- and they said whether permitting this is what will happen, but if we can give them a sense of -- a better sense of like, by what month, by what time they should reach out again if they don't hear something as opposed --
Is that a point of information, Phillips, you asked another question?
So the question is, are you all working on with the MPI team strengthening the process to deliver the driveways, as well as the other programs such as the alleyways and so forth to make sure that process is a lot more transparent and clear to residents going forward as funding is still limited? Thank you. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Yeah. The answer to your question is yes, we are.
Thank you, Dr. Phillips. I know you have a very strong interest with the Northwest regarding them driveways, but good job, sir. I appreciate that. We got driveways in the South, too, though, in the Girard estate area. They have them down in Girard estate. That's a she-she neighborhood, though, but, you know, it's all good. I support everybody. The Chair recognizes Member Bass, then Dr. Nina Ahmad, then Councilmember Jeffrey J. Young, then Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, and we have some driveways in the 8th District too.
You got some driveways in the 8th District as well, yeah.
So question for you around Act 135, the Conservatorship rule law. And I noticed, I saw David Thomas over there in the cut. It looks like he's hiding, I don't know why. So I didn't know if this was -- it was his specialty, but I wanted to get a sense of Act 135 and the impact that it's had on funding for agency, particularly PHDC and the like. And what has been the impact, and what has been the cost to the city because -- and maybe you could go through and further explain that once someone applies for a property through the Conservatorship Act that there are debts and obligations that are required from the city if that -- if that transaction doesn't go through. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: So we see Angel Rodriguez up here to pretty much answer that question in the depth that I think you're looking at.
Okay. So the two agencies that have been impacted by it are the Land Bank and the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority. The issue with the Act 135, and first I want to just note, really appreciative of the work that Councilmember Young is doing on this issue. I think it really does need to be raised and brought to the forefront. The problem with Act 135, with the changes that were done a couple of years ago, is that it doesn't require a notice. So as soon as someone files a conservatorship, if you are the owner of that property, irrespective of whether you're an authority or a Land Bank, you are now in the legal process, you are now a defendant, and you then are subject to at best a settlement. So the question is, is the property blighted?
So the petitioner files it. Once you're in there, if you're the owner of that subject property, you then have to prove that it is not blighted or a blighted element, you then -- and the question at hand for the judge is really, do they award conservatorship, which entitles to the conservator to even more actually control of the property. They can rehab the property, sell it, and take a portion of the -- of the revenue from the sales. It's an -- it's extremely problematic for chartered agencies like the Redevelopment Authority, which is chartered to eliminate blight throughout the city and follows a public process. It's subject to Sunshine laws, as well as the Land Bank, which the city and the state have chartered to operate on -- much on the same way. What this does, it circumvents the disposition process and there is no public discourse. It then becomes a legal action. The impact to the agencies has been that we are now defending a situation. It costs us between the two agencies close to $700,000. And this is not, you know, budgeted funds, especially now for the Land Bank and definitely not for the Redevelopment Authority.
Over what period of time has that $700,000 cost been?
That -this started -- we started getting filings in earnest in '23 and through '24.
Wait, time out. Excuse me. Let's go on the record on this one. Somebody sits on your board, goes after city of Philadelphia parcel property, isn't that a conflict of interest? That's like the fox in the -- in the --
The person in question was not on the Land Bank board or PRA.
It's not a representative, while PHDC has an agreement with the Land Bank and with the PRA to provide staffing, PHDC does not control the Land Bank or the PRA, so.
Understood. So how are board members appointed to the PHDC?
That would -- that's not -- I couldn't tell you, that would be --
PHDC is a 501(c)3. It's in essence the city's non-profit. A lot of the services and quality of life --
And so they dispose of property for the city -- or they --
They manage all of the quality of life programming, they handle LIHTC financing, Low Income Housing Tax Credit Financing. They do the Adaptive Modification Program, Basic Systems Repair Program, Shallow Rent, RRR, I forget what that stands. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Restore, repair, renew.
So they're -- I guess what I'm trying to say here is that they are very intricately involved --
-- in what happens in real estate in the city of Philadelphia and in other areas as well, but would you say that they are intricately involved --
In which there was a board chairman who --for PHDC, who sued for conservative or filed for conservatorship --
Okay. It sounds kind of weird to me. I'm just saying -- you, I don't know if it's just me.
If you're asking me for a determination, I am not an IG --
You know, I think people can -- you know, listen, the facts speak for themselves.
So I'm not asking you to dive into that. Just very interesting. But so as the conservatorship has drained vital resources from you all?
Even though, you know, even with the board chairman who knows how difficult it is to get these resources, has the city of Philadelphia, has PRA, you know, taken any legal action to try to figure out in Commonwealth Court or wherever, to try to figure out how do we put, you know -- you know, how do we stop the bleeding on this? Because as I understand it, you know, it's becoming more and more popular to do, to make a buck this way off of the city and people can do it, it's a hustle.
So what I can tell you is that we have -- this is a problem across the Commonwealth for other redevelopment authorities and Land Bank. I know personally that Pittsburgh has been really hurt badly by it. We have offered and testified for -- to the Urban Affairs Committee at the state level about proposed amendments to the legislation that was several years ago. That legislation has not come out of committee. So this is really a state issue to change the Act 135.
Understood. But is there any -- you know, I feel like we're kind of like sitting ducks. Like, we're not proactively looking at what proactively can we do to get out of the line of fire with this hustle that is taking resources, taking properties from people in our neighborhoods who really can't afford to fight back. If you file a conservatorship against a property in which you, you know, you've got, you know, some little old lady who can't afford to fix up her property right now, but it's her property. And so the idea that someone can come in and she's got to defend herself against -- that property's gone. They basically have taken that property from her. And so what are we doing to proactively say, you know, like, what can we do? Like, there's got to be something that we can do legally to start to get in front of this with the courts. If we can't get the legislature to do anything, how do we stop this from continuing to happen?
So I can't speak for the general public. I do appreciate the situation having been involved with several lawsuits in this matter. I know for the agencies we have done what we've been able to do, the unintended consequences for both the Land Bank and the Redevelopment Authority is that we've been assessing our structures. And if the structures are unsafe, we've moved towards demolishing them so that we can preclude any cases against conservatorship. It's highly unlikely to see conservatorship cases against vacant land. But that's also been an impact in what's going on with the inventory. I can only -- you know, I feel for private citizens that deal with that, but really that is something that I think the state legislature has to address.
One last question. Who appoints the PHDC chair? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: The city of Philadelphia does.
Who in the city? I don't -- DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Well, it -- the city of Philadelphia appoint members, but the member -- The Chair is elected by those members.
And the members of the board are selected by who? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: By the city -- by the administration.
Rue Landau was our representative. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: A combination of the both, right?
Yeah. Yeah. We have one -- we have appointee. Rue Landau represents us on the PHDC board and said, chair member isn't chair member. She's not a member anymore.
But it was still odd that a sitting chair would actually file 14 Act 135, while they're still part of a city supported with members appointed by the city. So, you know, just want one to put that out there, but that chair is no longer there. But still, we have to be mindful when we see these types of acts because it doesn't look ethical to me, to be quite frank with you, so.
Mr. President, it feels like insider trading. And as we said before, if any one of us, I mean, this is something -- it's just basically a hustle to still property for poor people. That's what it is. And so we have to -- like, we have to protect our people. We have to do more, we have to do better, and we have to be proactive about this because otherwise it's just the hustle that's going to keep on going and until, you know, we basically push people out who are on the margins who own property in the city. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. And I do want to just be fair and give a little reprieve. Angel, he does run the Land Bank, and he does -- he is over top of the Land. But with all due respect, the person that runs PHDC who's over top of him that he has to report to, that we'll probably bring up next time when we have a significant amount of questions regarding PHDC, happens to be Dave Thomas.
I just wanted to be -- I just wanted to be fair in terms of us putting you in a hot spot. But at the end of the day, he reports to Dave. And so Dave, you'll be joining us at some point in time as a follow-up regarding the process as we move forward. Just being fair in terms of how we're addressing this. But thank you for addressing it based upon your experience around what Act 135. And I'm sure under the leadership of Councilmember Jeffrey J. Young, and the special committee, and the members who will be appointed will do a deeper dive and work with our state partners to protect our most vulnerable people. And no matter what anybody says, I've seen it in my own area of Point Breeze, where again, folks will organize and strategize to go after properties, the individuals having -- the individuals have been owning for years, but as the neighborhood change, I may not have that same income as you to fix the property up in a timely manner as you, right? And then it's an assault on taking the property away from the individual. So it is something that I've seen with my own eyes as a practice. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jeffrey J. Young for a point of information.
Yes, sir. Just a point of information to Councilmember Bass's point on what we can do. So the city gets notified of every Act 135 petition that is filed. The Redevelopment Authority and/or the Land Bank is considered a party of interest. And so if the city wanted to file a petition or a response in each and every Act 135 claim that is filed, the city can try to at least become the conservator of those properties. The city has that right through the Land Bank or the Redevelopment Authority. So that is something that we can do now. We have the authority to do that now under the Act 135 law.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Dr. Nina Ahmad, Councilman Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you, Council President. I have a quick question for Commerce about --
Excuse me one second, Dr. Ahmad. Point of information, Councilmember Lozada?
Point of information, is there a way for each council person to receive a list of those properties that have been considered for conservatorship? Is there a way to find that information so that -- DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Yes.
-- we can see if there's a pattern or if there's a specific entity that is targeting specific neighborhoods? Can we see that? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Yes. Yeah.
Can you provide that information, Jessie, to the Chair and the members, please? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: We can provide information on a council district basis.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Council President. A quick question, what is the position of Commerce on the proliferation of unregulated skill games? It has been a deeply troubling issue. And I know my colleague, Councilmember Curtis Jones, has worked on it. And I just wanted to know, I know there's an appeal process going on to the ruling that was made, and I wondered where Commerce was on this? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: I'm going to invite Deputy Commerce Director Fegely to join me and provide some insights on that question.
Thank you. Karen Fegely. Yeah. We -- I mean, we are supporting the bill, we're trying to make sure that, you know, businesses are informed and that it's being enacted. I'm sorry, I don't have a whole lot more to say on it. I know that nuisance businesses continue to be an issue, you know, throughout our neighborhoods.
So the bill has not been challenged yet, the Philadelphia bill?
I'm actually -- I'm not -- I'm not prepared to answer the question. I know there's been a few different bills and they are being looked at legally, so I don't want to say more.
So if you could -- if you could please get the Chair --
We can absolutely get back to you on that. It's an important issue.
-- your position, the status, and what we are doing.
Because this is about safeguarding our communities. These are popping up everywhere and there's no regulation whatsoever, unlike our casinos and others who have to follow rules and regulations. So I would appreciate that. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Absolutely.
My next question is to Mr. Lawrence. A quick question about, I know we are all very excited about the H.O.M.E. Initiative, and I wanted to just go on the record to ask about the process for zoning board. And I had brought this up to you in a meeting we had about streamlining the process and separating potentially projects that are, you know, of a certain size as separate from smaller projects to expedite this, because this is a very ambitious goal, and I wanted to see what your thoughts were on that. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Well, I mean, we certainly want to look at the ability to eliminate choke points or time taxing that isn't necessary, but we also see value in, you know -- we see value in -- we see value in by-right zoning, we see value in community input and the zoning code that triggers any ZBA process. But, you know, what we want to do here is make sure that we are, you know, issuing something that is historically longer to receive as far as like notices -- decisions and stuff like that. We are working to shrink that time right now.
Okay. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: I think that we -- the next step would be figuring out what actually is worth going to zoning, and what's not worth going to zoning. However, we don't want to jump too fast into making those types of determinations.
I appreciate that, but, you know, this has been an ongoing problem, not new. So I think we need to expedite how we are doing this in order for us to reach these ambitious goals, because this has been a question that has been ongoing for many councils. And so I just wanted to put it on the record that we need some action on from your part to identify how this might be done, and whether it needs, you know, legislative work or it can be done within the department, we would love to get an update from you as to what that process would look like and what is the timeline for that.
Thank you, Councilman -- Councilwoman. John Mondlak, Deputy Director of Planning and Development. You've raised a very good point. We are very focused on right now three big areas related to zoning board of adjustments. The time it takes to get in and get a hearing, the time it takes to get to that hearing, because we have a lot of continuances, and then the time it takes from that hearing to when you get your notice of decision, which is when you could actually do something with it. The significant delays are not primarily in the front end, but we're looking at the front end too, because we want to streamline that. And timeline, I would say that by the summer, we expect to be able to shrink a lot of those, or at least be in the middle one where you're waiting and you have continuances, I think is going to take a little bit of a culture shift about how we deal with continuances. But the notice of decisions, there's a mix of technology, and there's a mix of labor that we're starting to sort through. And so I would say that by summertime, we expect to see changes in that. And if we don't have changes in the fall, then -- so we should be talking somewhat regularly. But maybe in the fall, if we identify legislative fixes that might be helpful in that process, we would absolutely take you up on that offer to have those conversations.
Well, thank you. I appreciate that. And I just want to say, housing is such a fundamental need in our city. Anything that we can do without obviously trampling on rights of people to understand the process is critical, because, you know, we're working with things like child separation in the Department of Human Services. Part of it is because there's lack of housing and families aren't able to cope with being a family because of that, so we have a lot of really troubling issues that are intersecting with the ZBA, even though the ZBA might not see that, but it does make a difference. So I would really appreciate anything you can do to expedite the process so we can get these housing units done.
Absolutely, Council. And we do have a new executive director that is hyper- focused on the data and how do we make those changes. So thank you. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: And just want to recognize that, you know, looking at ourselves, you know, we have this executive order out and it's tasking different 18 departments throughout the city to 19 look at themselves as far as process 20 refinement. And we're certainly one 21 of them, I just want to be clear 22 about that. The Department of 23 Planning and Development is looking 24 at itself in terms of process refinement.
Thank you. And so we're going to be wrapping up soon, but let me get these last individuals on the record. Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, Councilman Jeffrey J. Young, and we will finish and wrap up after Majority Leader Richardson, then we will go into our break. We know we have Streets and Fleet for the afternoon session.
Thank you, Council President. My questions are for Commerce. One interest of this body has been trying to find ways to support our extensive network of community development corporations, whom the city relies on to implement and promote many of its housing and economic development programs. Last week, I, with the majority of my colleagues, introduced and co-sponsored a bill 8 to mandate that commerce offered either an annual grant program or expand the CDC tax credit program to provide consistent operational support that isn't tied to a specific program or contract to CDCs. And just to give a bit more context, we're doing this because although the housing crisis is grave, and although gentrification is growing, the support for CDCs philanthropic and otherwise has decreased greatly from a few decades ago. So what do you think of the -- of that idea, and is that something that commerce would be willing to support? And then next, another big need for our CDCs is a quick strike acquisition fund. This would be money that is flexible and easily accessible for CDCs and small businesses who want to compete against for-profit speculators, of which there are many to acquire property on neighborhood commercial corridors and in-communities before it's too late and the fast-moving market takes over. So what do you think of that idea, and is that in the budget?
All right. Thanks, Councilwoman. To the first point -- DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Introduce yourself.
Oh, Karen Fegely, Deputy Commerce Director. To the first point, we strongly believe in the importance of CDCs. We rely on them. I mean, the city relies on these community organizations to really carry out work in our communities as I know that district councilmembers do, too. And so we recognize also the need for operating dollars, right? It's really hard for non-profits to just exist, sort of like grant -- based on grants for specific projects. That said, we partner with the revenue department to administer the existing CDC tax credit program. That plus the CDC Economic Development Support grant that is governed by the existing legislation, we provide operating funds to 47 CDCs on an annual basis at $100,000 a year. So it's really important, we feel really good about that being able to get out to that many organizations. I just read your bill and I know it asks for additional -- to raise that level and also to raise the number of organizations, and also increase the types of organizations that would qualify. And so it's something I think we're, you know, we'll be meeting with you about and PACDC, I think we will pull in DPD, because it's -- if it's really -- it's going beyond economic development to organizations that do housing counseling and community organizing and so forth, so I think that's a little bit out of Commerce's realm. But so we'll be talking about it.
We would love to talk more to you about that. I just want to note that although we love the existing tax credit program, that amount has not grown with inflation, it's been a $100,000 for a really long time.
And I think this new idea would pair greatly with what we're trying to do with housing. Thank you.
Okay. And to your second question about acquisition, again, totally agree, this is an issue. One of the things commerce is always trying to do is build community wealth, is to create tools and vehicles for locally owned businesses as well as community organizations to buy property, right, that gets to a lot of the discussions that have come up here today. We have a couple of programs doing that right now. The -- our CREAL, Commercial Real Estate Acquisition Loan Fund and our Neighborhood Economic Development grants, they're not as fast as the market is, I get that. And so, yes, we are looking at different ways. We are exploring something to use our Philadelphia Business Lending Network and sort of a combination with the Catalyst Fund, to do something where we would be able to do something quicker, we're hoping in partnership with banks. That's a concept. I'd love to talk to you about it, but it's not -- it's not ready to roll out yet.
We'd love to talk more. Thank you so much, Mr. President.
Thank you. Member Young, then Majority Leader Richardson.
Thank you. So I'm not going to belabor the Act 135 stuff, you know, we're going to get to that in a future date. But I do have a question about the Shallow Rent Program. Can you talk to us about, I guess the over the years, the decrease in that -- in the Shallow Rent Program, and the future of that program and where those funding will be coming from? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: So as Mark Dodds, Deputy Director for DHCD walks up, I do want to indicate that Shallow Rent intends to live in the Home plan. We do plan on continuing and investing in that program, so we do see a lot of value in that, but Mark can talk more about the specifics when it comes to current funding.
Yeah. We're -- good afternoon. We heard a lot at a recent council hearing around the need for increased funding around Shallow Rent. We've also conducted a study in collaboration with PHDC that speaks to the benefits of the program. Historically, we've funded it with Housing Trust Fund, I believe, over the last four years or so. And, you know, we -- this is a program that seems to be working very well, and we look to support it with additional funding through the home bond.
So is this additional funds or is it basically a reallocation from the traditional housing trust fund money, and now we're -- instead of using Housing Trust Fund, we're going to be using money that we have to pay interest on?
It would be in addition to the current housing trust fund funding that supports the program.
And I guess we'll get into this at the home hearing or the housing hearing, essentially, because I'm just looking at the numbers, it's about 2.6 million is allocated for FY -- that was in FY25. And I'm just trying to make sure that we -- I mean, I actually, I think that program is something needs to be increased, particularly, you know, it helps the most -- the users of that program are centered in North Philadelphia for the most part. Rather than the 5th District, 7th, 8th, north Philly uses that program. So I just want to make sure that that's a program that the constituents know how to access that program, right? Because Housing Trust Fund is a fund that typically all these programs are ran out of, but with this new H.O.M.E Initiatives, you know, we just want to make sure it doesn't get caught up in the bureaucratic process, and, you know, in the red tape of trying to access, you know, money to allow folks to stay in their communities.
Thank you. Yeah. And Jessie in -- when the event that we get to the borrowing component and, you know, we come to an agreement, we want to get this money out as quickly as possible. DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Absolutely.
And to as many hands as possible. And so I echo and I concur with Councilmember Young is saying. And I'm quite sure that's the administration's mission as well. It's much money on people hands to ramp up addressing the housing crisis here in the city of Philadelphia. Some folks say, well, it's not a housing crisis, it's affordability crisis. I say, we need to grow jobs, right, and also used to growing of the jobs to address the housing crisis, because I know day in and day out in my office upstairs in the 2nd Councilmatic District, and we are addressing the issue, we've always -- I'm getting a text message from a lady -- a young lady right now, can I get a response back? Because I need housing, right? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Yeah.
A gentleman last week with his kids, I need housing, right? DIRECTOR LAWRENCE: Yeah.
And it's not -- and it's all spectrums. And so -- but when you have the chance to have that house that's built new from the ground up and become that first time home buyer, right, that also has built generational wealth. And so we can do both, but we definitely have a housing crisis here in the city of Philadelphia. And so I state that for the record, and I want to stand on that. With that being said, I'm going to let -- I'm going to let my Majority Leader -- how you say a moment of privilege for the House? I'm going to acknowledge my Majority Leader wrap us up.
Thank you. Thank you, Council President. I knew there was some level of consternation and discomfort among the members, so that was one option for that instance. So at any rate, thank you very, very much for this opportunity. I wanted to just go back to two things for Commerce. First, I wanted to just notate for the record that for Section 20, of your detail under the Department of Commerce, there's a one-time only workforce development line item under the General Fund, Class 200 for $10 million. So I just wanted to notate that if we could get a response there. And then secondly, you all know that we had a hearing that was attended by 10 members of City Council regarding these stores that we are dealing with around drug paraphernalia. And it's an issue that I know Councilmember Bass and both Councilmember Phillips have been continuing to work on. And it's an issue that I deeply care about and have introduced legislation and passed legislation on. But we are inundated with these stores selling nothing but drug paraphernalia, and have worked closely with the Nuisance Business Task Force with Health and Law and L&I and with Commerce, you all were out on the tours as well. But I wanted to talk about not only your interaction with the Nuisance Business Task Force, but the proliferation of these skill game machines, and how you all are thinking about what's next around that topic. We have grave concern around the drug paraphernalia stores, but now we know that also the skill games conversation is continuing at the commonwealth level. You know, there was a memo sent out by a top senate leadership in the Commonwealth on Republican side of the house regarding the taxation of skill games and how that would relate to increased funding for a number of line items for cities and towns across the Commonwealth. So if you could just speak to the drug paraphernalia issue and the skill games issue. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Well, thank you for the question. I'll invite any of my colleagues from Commerce that want to join me to speak about it from a, you know, legislative perspective. But I will speak to it from how we think about, you know, what I'll -- what I'll say is a business that is additive and a business that is subtractive, right? And so the Commerce Department is committed to helping any business that wants to grow to do so. However, there are some businesses that are extracting value from neighborhoods. And so in that context, our commitment is to work very actively with L&I. We have a very, very close partnership with L&I, boots on the ground, as well as with the police department to go after any business that crosses a line where we believe, you know, frankly, they don't deserve to be doing business in the city of Philadelphia. So when it comes to, you know, action, boots on the ground in partnership with L&I, Commerce is working hand-in-hand to solve problems because we do get complaints from other businesses and we get complaints from residents about businesses. And so I'll mention that. And, Karen, not sure if you want to speak to it from a more legislative perspective.
Sure. I'll jump in. Karen Fegely, actually, and thank you, Councilman Gilmore- Richardson. You've sort of helped correct my last answer to Councilman Ahmad about the -- that the state -- I was notified, the state did -- the Skilled Games Bill was overturned by the Commonwealth Court. But the state is considering regulating it and taxing it as you've spoken to. And so I think that's something we need to pay attention to. You know, as Director Martinez said, we do work closely with our partners on the ground, the corridor managers, our own staff, and other city departments. There's a nuisance business committee. We -- our Mayor's business action team goes out for like, sort of the education sweeps along with the L&I quality of life. And we really -- I feel like one of our strongest tools is thanks to this council with the nuisance business law that allows the police in coordination with all those partners to kind of, you know, to give these notices, it really lets a business -- because some of these businesses are victims of their location and they do right. So it gives them a opportunity to try to do the right thing, but when they don't do the right thing, we can shut them down. And so I think that's something that, yeah, we're really happy that the police are working on and we're supporting. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Do you want to talk about the meeting we just had with L&I about data and analytics?
You can. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: So a project that we are discussing with the commissioner of L&I is the utilization of data and analytics, and targeting businesses more efficiently. There is -- there is a -- I think there is an opportunity for us to organize data in a way that allows us to pinpoint where the, you know, hottest issues are. And so in addition to working together and leveraging information that comes to us through the traditional channels, I do believe that there's an opportunity for us to be smarter. And I mean, to use data in a smarter way to target businesses proactively. And so I'm really hopeful that Commerce will continue that conversation with L&I. And Commerce is willing to invest resources in a consultant to make that happen because it is a growth generator, right? By getting rid of businesses that are destructive, we actually help other businesses right on that corridor grow. So we're prepared to continue that conversation and invest in using data in a smarter manner.
Thank you. Thank you very, very much, and I look forward to working with you all on the package of bills that we're preparing as a result of that hearing.
And thank you. As we wrap up, I just want to follow-up on Majority Richardson's statement as well as Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad, and especially Cindy Bass. We want to be partners in this mission, and I hope that my advocates who are advocating will be partners with us to really go after the bad actors who I believe are preying on black and brown communities. These are individuals that sell death and destruction to our communities. And folks sit back, you know, with a blind eye. At the end of the day you got smoke shops, you got people buying crack vials -- I mean, crack, smoke pipes, you got fake guns, where one young man was just shot inside my neighborhood for carrying a fake gun by a police officer. And so we want to be partners with you along those efforts, and hopefully those who advocate for social justice will participate in going after the bad actors that prey on our community. So I just want to just say that. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you, yes.
So we'll want to partner with you. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: We're 100 percent aligned.
But we won't see you anymore. And so we'll see you in another capacity, but could we give Commissioner Alba Martinez a round of applause, please? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
We thank you for your advocacy. We thank you for your work. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You will see me. Philadelphia and serving Philadelphia is a passion regardless of the seat. So I'm --
Thank you. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: -- I'm very honored to serve. And thank you, all of you, for your extraordinary leadership. I'm very proud to be a Philadelphian.
Thank you for your service. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you.
You're one of the special kind, Dawn Summerville as well, helped me with my Keystone -- Keystone zoning work that we've been doing throughout this Councilmatic District. And so thank you to Commerce Department. Thank you for Planning, Jessie, you and your team for being here as well. We will recess until 2:15. (Council at recess.)
Good afternoon. We will now continue our budget hearing. And the afternoon will consist of testimony from the Department of Public and the Department of Fleet Services. Ms. Loughead, will you please call on the next panel?
Joseph Brasky, Commissioner for the Department of Public Property, and we'll also have Joseph Rosati, Commissioner for the Department of Fleet Services come up as well. So before we get started, Joe Brasky, I want to say congratulations on officially being appointed as the Commissioner of Public Property. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Thank you, Council President.
It always warms my heart when we see the elevation of individual who comes from that great part of Philadelphia known as South Philly. We also have Commissioner Del Rossi as well from South Philly, Commissioner of Streets, correct? Okay. Also, Commissioner DHS Kimberly Ali from South Philly. So it's always good to see some homegrown talent in City Council. And also to Mr. Joseph Rosati, Commissioner of Fleet Services, I want to thank you for always working in partnership with City Council, just to make sure that we're doing everything that we can do to have smooth operations in terms of fleet services and just keeping us abreast of all the things that we need to do for our operations to work efficiently for my members here in City Council. I just want to publicly just thank you and acknowledge you for your hard work and congratulate you, Joe. And so state your name for the record and please begin your testimony. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Thank you, Council President. My name is Joe Brasky, Commissioner Department of the Public Property. Good afternoon, Council President members of City Council, I am Joseph Brasky, Commissioner of Public Property. I want to thank Mayor Parker for naming me to the permanent position of commissioner last month. Thank you, Mayor Parker. It is a pleasure to appear before City Council today in support of public property's FY26 budget request. I would like to thank Council President Johnson and members of Council for their support -- for the support that they provide throughout the year being that voice for the communities that we provide services for, so I thank you. As you have our written testimony which highlights the many accomplishments and plans of the department, I would only like to add one thing that is not in the written testimony, and it is about my team. The Department of Public Property has many outstanding employees that tend to fly under the radar and I would like to acknowledge them publicly for their commitment to public service. I am very proud to be a part of a team that shows so much care and commitment to their professions while continuing to support our mission of responsibly serving our city's workforce and community by providing quality facilities and workspaces of which we are proud. The DPP team performed flawlessly during the change of leadership in the department. It was nothing less than I expected from such a dedicated team. So I thank you for indulging me. I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have.
And thank you very much. And so the space that I'm going to ask you questions on I'm really going to pivot and allow Councilmember Dr. Ahmad really to take the lead, but I want to set the tone. Where are we when it comes to building the infrastructure for EV vehicles, right, in the city of Philadelphia? So expanding more EV vehicles and also the charging stations as we focus on a more climate sustainable -- a more sustainable climate as it relates to us addressing pollution in our city. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Sure. Yeah, I'd be happy to answer that.
I was trying to say the reduction of us using gas power. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: No, I got you. So I'm glad to have Joe Rosati here, Commissioner of fleet Services. He's been working on some stuff and he'll talk more about that. But we are partnering with him with the EV charging also.
I'm moving too fast. Joe, go ahead and do your testimony first. Excuse me. COMMISSIONER ROSATI: Good afternoon, Council President Johnson and distinguished members of City Council, I'm Joseph Rosati, Commissioner for the Department of Fleet Services. Joining me today are Dr. Kay Wilson, Deputy Commissioner for Administration and John De Leo, Deputy Commissioner for Operations. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on the Department of Fleet Services fiscal year 2026 operating budget. The Department of Fleet Services FY26 general fund budget request is $77.85-million which is 7.48-million less than FY25 estimated obligations. FY26 operating budget request includes 22.97-million in class 100, 7.53-million in class 200 and 47.35-million in class 3 and 400. The Department of Fleet Services has 343 dedicated employees who work diligently to provide safe and reliable vehicles and equipment for the operating departments to work toward the Mayor's vision of a safer, cleaner, greener Philadelphia with economic opportunity for all. You have my detailed written testimony, I would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Commissioner. And so I'll direct that question to you regarding EV charging stations and also expanding our EV car fleet. So give us an update on where we're at. COMMISSIONER ROSATI: So where we're at right now we have about 400 battery electric vehicles in the fleet. We have 400 -- as far as alternative fuels go, I might as well give it give -- it give it all to you there's 1,201 alternative fuel vehicles out of 6,800 vehicles there's 400 battery electric vehicles, 34 compressed natural gas trash compactors and 767 hybrid electric vehicles HEVs. A major -- large majority of those are police vehicles. As far as the electric vehicle infrastructure goes and our plans, our goal is to have about a thousand battery electric vehicles in service by the end of the Parker Administration. In order to do that we got to build a a fast charging infrastructure. We currently have one fast charger uh at 26th and Master and we plan to build four more. That'll give us the ability to charge a thousand plus electric vehicles. So as that infrastructure gets built, we can expand the EVs to our goal to a 1,000.
Okay. Thank you very much. Commissioner Joe Brasky, just a brief question and I'll turn it over to my members. Public -- the Public Property Department is planning to on board -- you have a high school CTE program, CCME to work to transition trades to trainee. Give me an idea of that particular plan and the status of it. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Thank you, Council President. Yes, we've already have initiated that in the past years. Probably ten years, ago we started the program with the School District of Philadelphia. We have at least three to five accomplishments that they were handed off to us from when they were 16-years-old. Mothers dropped them off to here in City Hall and we took them under our wing. And we let them work for us. They worked one day a week during the winter and then and through the summer, they work full-time to work with us. And we didn't specifically hand them a trade, we let them work with different people and different trades throughout our facilities so they get a grasp of what they want to do and not just say here you're doing plumbing or carpentry. So just for one success story we had, he started with us out of Edison, came across, didn't know what he wanted to do. Worked with us, now he's 23-years-old, he's HVAC II, working for the city of Philadelphia. We paid for his -- the city paid for his schooling to help him with his trades. So we're all for bringing people in and we also have a few in our field locations that work with trades and, you know, just develop them to see what they want to do in life and see how -- and also be like a father figure to them kind of, you know, teach them the right way to do things, save money for lunch, stuff like that. So yeah, we're all for it and we're looking to expand it. And then with the Mayor's initiative with the Community College of Philadelphia, we're trying to build off of that because we need good young bodies to join the trades field.
That's exactly what I was going to ask you about the Municipal College. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Yep.
And so there will be obviously there's a partnership for some synergy correct. We're going to you -- we're going to use everything that's available to us to bring trades people in. It seems the younger generation not saying they don't want to do it, but I don't think they're aware of it. So I feel that's what we have to do to go out and get them and show them what's involved. You can make good money, make a good career especially with the city of Philadelphia, so that's our recruitment effort and we'll do we'll use any available avenue that we have.
Total number of participants to date? COMMISSIONER BRASKY: For us, I would say just through the School District of Philadelphia we have probably -- we probably had eight to ten.
Okay. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: And it's all dependent on the recruitment effort of it and we do the job fairs. And so we are -- and I think now that with the Community College involved, I think we'll get better feeders, so we're looking to double that, if we can.
What's the current partnership with the School District to expand that number even totally separate from the Community College to go from to 50? 4 COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Oh, 5 sure, I would love to -- I would 6 love to do that. And any way that 7 Council could help us, that would be 8 awesome. Our HR department is 9 actively in communication with the 10 School District of Philadelphia, and we told them send as many as we can get because we have the trades to handle it. I mean, we can, you know, groom them. So I'm more than willing to expand as much as we can.
And last question. How do we deal with our inventory and I see that we have a significant amount of vacant inventory that's public property-wise, right, at least of the data that's given to me right here. But I want to get an idea of let's say we have a quasi city agency that we fund, right, and we use our budget to fund their operation at a site that's technically own -- it's owned by a private entity, but we pretty much still funding them to pay us back our own individual money, if that makes sense, right? I give you Public Defenders so to speak. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Okay.
All right. They get funding from the city, but a significant amount of money goes toward their rent and also paying taxes. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Okay.
So we have these vacancies, why not let them come in one of our publicly owned parcels, right, properties, rehab a building, right, that the city owns, and we can actually save that money. That's basically what I'm getting at. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: We can. I don't -- I mean, I'd have to find out more information the details of, you know, the funding involved of, you know, supporting them, and then bringing them in. So we would have to really work on that I had to really get back to you on that answer, as far as give you a full round fool proof answer, than just throwing something out there and saying something we can't commit to.
Well, that I appreciate. It's just something I observed and just said: Okay, well if we're funding an organization that's doing a city that's doing a city service, but they also paying the same -- they're paying rent to a landlord, right? Which is basically to me, if we have public land, we should build in-house. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Sure.
Save that money because we wind up having to pay the taxes. Now, how are we using our own money to pay the taxes -- COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Right.
For a quasi city agency, which basically we're paying to pay ourselves back. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Sure. Sure.
That's basically what I'm getting at. Like, well, why are we -- it just doesn't make sense to me. So I really want to do a deeper dive. And not just the PD, the Public Defenders office, that's just an example. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Sure example.
But I'm sure we have other agencies that we're actually funding -- COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Sure.
And then when they, you know, fall back in their taxes, we're actually paying to pay ourselves. But we have these vacancies, which means if we do an analysis of our inventory, then maybe we can start moving individuals off private developers on property and being in-house, and I think that would probably save us a considerable amount of money. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: I agree. There's a lot of plans that we're trying to develop it's just -- but I'll get you the information and we'll get back to you.
It's something to consider under your regime. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad, then I'm gonna go to Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier, then Councilmember Richardson. All right.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you so much for being here. Music to my ears, a thousand EVs. Do we have a time frame for that, for getting to a thousand EVs for our fleet? COMMISSIONER ROSATI: Well, yeah, the time frame is our -- well, we're building the infrastructure. So by the end of June, we should have another fast charging station in Southwest Philly. And in FY26, we hope to have the other three built. And once the once that infrastructure is built, then it's a matter of funding and getting the vehicles ordered.
And are these Level 3 chargers you're looking at? COMMISSIONER ROSATI: Yes.
For some reason I thought we had three Level 3 chargers or maybe it was one with two already in the works. COMMISSIONER ROSATI: Well, I call them fast chargers, we have one fast charger that is -- that is operational right now. That's being used at 26th and Master, that's our Municipal fast charger. We also have a vendor that we're using for fast charging as well until we can get our other sites up and running, and then we'll wean ourselves off the vendor.
I just wanted to kind of get a sense of how many and maybe, you know, this answer. How many fast Level 3 chargers we have in the entire city; would you know that number? COMMISSIONER ROSATI: I wouldn't know the private companies. I could find out.
Okay. Only because that has been an impediment for people to, you know, use EVs. One of our biggest issues has been maintenance and availability of these things. So in your experience I remember there was a time where there were long lines of city cars waiting to get charged. Hoping that has changed. I wanted to kind of get your feedback on what issues have you faced? And in terms of getting to Level 3 charges, I know there's a -- we have to talk to the Fire Department we have to talk to PECO. Can you just kind of tell us a little bit of the landscape you're facing trying to ramp up to Level 3. COMMISSIONER ROSATI: Yeah, it's -- it's a challenge because if they have to drop -- if we have to get PECO to drop a line. In a perfect situation we use the power from the facility. So we were able to do that with the one at 26th and Master and we were able to get that one up and running quickly. But it was also an issue with parts as well. It seemed like at one point you couldn't get any parts to build the fast charging station. The parts were on order for a long time. So it -- that's kind of -- that's the parts issue kind of -- kind of, went away. But yeah, there's challenges with permits and whether or not like in Southwest Philly at on Norwood Drive at our body shop where we're going to have another fast charger, PECO has to drop a line for us.
So the hold up is getting a permit, you said? COMMISSIONER ROSATI: Permits and then --
That would be L&I? COMMISSIONER ROSATI: Permits, yeah, through L&I. And also getting -- getting the electricity necessary to run the machine.
And the reason why I ask you all this is for lessons learned for the rest of our communities who are not -- who don't work for the city because the goal is to democratize EVs, right, so that people who live in row homes don't have access to all this and look to work with, you know, gas stations to have availability like everybody else just goes to the gas station to fill up. So I would love for you to be a partner along with the Department of Transportation and Sustainability. I wanted to know what sort of engagement your department has with Office of Sustainability? COMMISSIONER ROSATI: We work with the Office of Sustainability to get grants and we provide data on the electric vehicles and all our CNG vehicles, as well.
And are we phasing out the CNGs or we're holding on to them 'til -- COMMISSIONER ROSATI: We're -- we're it's -- it's an alternative fuel.
Yeah, much cleaner. COMMISSIONER ROSATI: It's much cleaner than running diesel. So we're going to continue on until we fill that site. We can we can put up to 70 trucks at that site. Currently we have, I believe it's 34 trucks.
So just wanted to say thank you for being at the forefront of doing this. We will look to you as a template for the rest of the city because if we're going to reduce our carbon footprint, we have no other choice, but to go this way. So thank you so much for all the work and I look forward to working with your -- both your departments to look at infrastructure needs for the rest of the city. Thank you. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you. The chair recognized Councilman Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you, Council President. Good afternoon to both of you. My first questions are for Public Property. Even though the Land Bank gets a lot of attention Public Property is still the largest owner of public vacant land and, frankly, our office finds that if we're trying to achieve an activation or a disposition for a property owned by Public Property response times can be very long and more protracted than if we're working with just a Land Bank. So as a new commissioner, can you tell us of your vision and strategy for the surplus land that the city owns? And what can be done to make sure that these processes work smoother for DPP owned vacant properties? COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Thank you, Councilmember. Yes, we did come up with an initiative through Philly Stat 360 for the vacant lots or our surplus vacant lots. We heard from Councilmembers of the certain problems or issues they have overgrown weeds, fencing, concrete. I hear you. So I do hear you. That was news to me when I first came in as the interim position. So I do recognize it and we and we made that one of our goals just for that reason. Just to help improve the looks of the vacant properties, make sure they're secure so they're not dumping. So that is one of our properties. As far as the Land Bank uh, we can work with them to do that --
But that's not what I'm asking. I'm not asking about the Land Bank, just surplus vacant. I'm asking about your surplus properties and how we can both better secure them within our neighborhoods and how we can improve the process for dispositions and cut down on the timing. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Totally understand.
And it what are what's what are your goals as a new commissioner around those items? COMMISSIONER BRASKY: The goals I have we set forth are just making sure we have the exact numbers of vacant lands and if you look on different sites, it's different numbers. So we want to know what sites are ours, we want to know which district, councilmatic district they are in. And, kind of, map that to the councilmatic district, so we have more of a hands-on type feel of what's going on. And like I said then, once we go from there through funding and working with councilmembers to see what we could do, see what we can help. Do they want gardening, do they want, you know, for kids to do little activities. There's endless possibilities for vacant land and it cost us money to fund to upkeep the land so what we could put it to use. And then so we're able to help with you guys as far as making it safe and secure and not a bad sore to the eyes.
That sounds great. Do you have a projected timeline on those plans? COMMISSIONER BRASKY: We started last year just from noticing the calls we get from the Councilmembers and different districts. So we did -- we did maybe five. I mean, I'm not going to say it's an overwhelming amount, but that was concrete pavements that we did because it was, you know, elderly was trying to walk, so we took care of all that. Fencing, we cut trees, overgrown trees. So we're looking to expand and we're also look looking to hire a GIS analyst so that could work and put all them numbers together to, you know, format our plan.
I guess I'm asking -- it's good that you're starting on that, but you talked about wanting to get more of a handle on what the inventory is, where it is, what the needs are, what is your timing for that type of strategy? COMMISSIONER BRASKY: I would say give us -- I would say through the year. Give us a year to build it out and so we get a full handle. I mean, basically we have to go district to district to verify these lots still exist because some may be developed on already. So we need the right numbers to secure it, and then we can start building it out. So I'm hoping within a year we make an effort because we're being held accountable by Philly 360 also.
Thank you. We look forward to partnering with you on that. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you very much. The chair recognizes Councilman Majority Jamie -- excuse me, Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore-Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Council President. And thank you for putting the question on the record regarding the high school internship program and the young people. I wanted to put a question on the record for Councilmember Landau for Public Property, and then I'll go to my questions. Councilmember Landau would like to know, "During the committee on legislative oversight hearing in February, the Councilmember asked about why there is an apprenticeship or a pipeline to paving and milling streets? So those things are done in-house as opposed to having contractors which delay the process. She says, "One of the Department of Public Property goals for FY26 is to recruit high school students from CTE and CCME programs to enter trades trainee positions." So for the Department of Public from Councilmember Landau, will you commit to creating this program in fiscal year '26, and what funding is needed for an initial cohort? COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Thank you, Councilmember. As far as just the milling of streets and all, that would be a Streets department trade, I guess or job duty. But we have been committed to working with the School District to bring interns in and since we are short on trades, which I just, you know, which I explained to Council President, we are fully committed to bring on school kids to train them to make them -- I would love for you to meet some of the kids that we had dealings with. I mean, it's unbelievable the turnaround and it just makes us feel good as a department to make sure to see these kids 23-years-old making good money at a good job. So we're fully committed through the CTE, anything that's possible for us to bring young talent in. We have -- we have experienced guys to train them.
That'll be great and then I just ask that you follow with Councilmember Landau. I wanted to make sure I got that on the record for her this week. For me I wanted to start with Department of Public Property Commissioner Brasky, you know, I have a special affinity for you guys. You all have done just a yeoman's job for us internally here in City Council. And you know that I have to put Raheem Stoner, may he continue to rest in peace on the record, for all of the work he did on our behalf. We lost him at the onset of COVID, but I remember he redid our entire office one summer in 581. And so I just want to always uplift his name and appreciate the work that he did and the work that all of you continue to do for us, particularly in City Hall. I wanted to add in we're still missing our poster. We Mr. Guy. So I just wanted to put that on the record because we miss Mr. Guy. He was the best at making drapes and helping with our furniture very. Quickly though, and this will be for both of you and for Fleet, Commissioner Rosati, I just want to thank you all so much. And Martin, who we call all the time and Robert from your department and all the guys in Fleet. But particularly Martin, who I call a whole bunch. We thank you so much for your work with the city vehicles in particular. And I have to put on the record that I'm just so appreciative of what you all did on my behalf when I had the unfortunate incident when the person broke into the city vehicle and stole all of my belongings. You all were just there and really, really helpful to us and I also wanted to again put this on the record for DPP, Rick. Is Rick here? Because I didn't see him today. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Yeah Rick's here.
Oh, I can't see you past the chair. I'm sorry. Thank you so much for all of your work and everything you do on our behalf. So really quickly for both departments, how many career and technical education graduates have you hired in your department? I know we visited some students at Mastbaum that are now working in Fleet Management. But particularly students who have taken advantage of the five-point preference to receive city employment, both in fleet and in DPP. COMMISSIONER ROSATI: Last -- last fiscal year we brought in 30 high school interns and they do the two-year program, and then eventually they'll get a civil service job as an automotive apprentice.
Okay. COMMISSIONER ROSATI: And this year we plan to do the same another 30.
Okay. Excellent. And then I guess they could take advantage of the CTE point preference when they apply for city service, correct? But I think we changed the specs previously with HR so that it lines up directly with the experience they get while they're there for the internship. COMMISSIONER ROSATI: These particular kids as long as they do well in school and get the correct grades they need and they pass our criteria at the shop level, they automatically get the civil service job.
Right. Right. Okay. Okay. I just wanted to make sure. And then for DPP because I know we have a real dire particularly in the skill trades. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Yes. So with inception as I was saying, it was like 8 to 10 people that we had graduate through. So we try to -- like you said, they work one day a week through the school year, summer months they become full-time. And then as we go through, they begin to grow, they begin to hone in on their trade that they feel like. We give them a choice of everything. They can do whatever they want. Painter, upholstery, upholstery is a dying breed. But I mean, the plumbers, HVAC, they look for making the money, too, so I mean -- which I can't fault them. But and then once they become comfortable, they go with -- they get into the trade they like and they enjoy. And then through high school they work, repeat the process, once they graduate they become a trades helper. And then once they become a trades helper, we start getting them a little bit more involved and just being mentored from the trades people of, you know, certain specific trades. And then we -- and then they just continue to develop, and then they transition to a trades helper, and then we pay for them to go to school. They can go to Orleans or they get reimbursed, and they become what -- they determine what they want to be. So yeah, then they got full-time employment.
Okay. And then the other thing I wanted to ask particularly for DPP is how we connect them with the trade so that they have, you know, say for instance, they have like a union card so they could be a part of. But is it that they're part of DC -- COMMISSIONER BRASKY: They're part of DC33.
DC33. Got it. Okay. Okay. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Yeah we don't have specific trade card holders, it's just DC33 encompasses all our trade workers.
Okay. Okay. Received. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: So they're automatically in, you know, once they get in their union benefits, the whole deal, like a regular city employee, civil service job. Yeah, and then it's up to them to continue their -- what they want to be. Sure.
Right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very, very much both of you. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: No 12 problem. Thank you for the kind words for Raheem, too.
Oh my gosh, listen -- COMMISSIONER BRASKY: He's missed. I remember clearly working in your office back in the day. Yep.
Yeah, that was a fun summer so thank you all so much. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Yup. Yup. No problem. Anytime.
Thank you. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Jim Harrity, then Councilmember Kendra Brooks.
Thank you, Council President. Hello, Joe and Joe. What are you's doing, brothers? Thank you for your service. Always like seeing you two because I know you all both came up through the ranks. Especially Joe, I remember you back in the day when I was in the managing director's office over at the shop coming to see you on the way. Yeah, yeah, you guys do good. And thank you for everything you do. And Ricky is always wonderful, man, to deal with. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Yup. Yes, he is.
He's good people. So I thank you. My -- my questions I -- I have two and real quick just trying to figure some stuff out. And they're basically both the same question for both of you, just a little different spin. Your testimony indicates. Public Property, that the city has a goal of 37% of the contract dollars to go towards minority disabled and women owned businesses, but some of the biggest contracts from FY25, like Elliot Lewis's million 16 contract to maintain the Kensington 17 Wellness Center, and that's just an 18 example, has had a 0% participation 19 rate. Can you explain that discrepancy? And then Fleet Management, the same thing your testimony indicates Fleet Management has a 10% requirement for minority women and disability goal, but the largest professional services contracts this year had a zero participation rate can you explain these discrepancies? COMMISSIONER BRASKY: The Elliott Lewis one, Councilmember, thank you for the question. That was the new one for the River Riverview Wellness Center, is that the one you're questioning?
Yeah, that's -- that -- I'm not questioning that, that was just an example. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: No, that's fine.
I'm just trying to get where we have that we're trying to get to a 37% goal for the year and it's -- right now -- COMMISSIONER BRASKY: No, I think we'll get to that point. I think it's just the contract's fairly new. It's only been since January and they're filling the staff actually. And I think it's going to take time to get the first quarter numbers, if that makes sense, and then we'll have data for that. And I could send that data over to you as we get more numbers of their participation rates and stuff like that.
Yeah, I was just curious because I know like that the Black Doctor's Consortium is there. They are minority and women, you know, so that's -- COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Yes. Yes.
Yeah, you know, what I'm saying. I'm just trying to figure out the rest of the services and, you know, making sure that we hit a goals. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: No, that's incomplete for us.
It's -- you know what I'm saying. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Sure. No, I got you. It's incomplete data and as you can see for PPSB the uh police headquarters. Elliott Lewis is also the vendor over there and their participation numbers are up to queue and above average. So once we have that data it will reflect our first quarter numbers. It's just a new contract and we're trying to -- they're trying to build out and get their contractors on board. And so we'll have that data when we submit our numbers.
And you're confident that they'll hit those numbers, 37% doesn't seem too -- too grandiose. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Confident, yes. Them numbers have been consistent since they had the contract for police headquarters the past four or five years.
Beautiful. Thank you. COMMISSIONER ROSATI: Yeah. Fleet has always had trouble with our OEO participation. We -- we just don't get the -- the vendors that that will bid on our contracts to sell us parts, to sell us vehicles, but we keep trying. We're work -- we work with OEO to try and do better with that.
Yeah, I -- yeah, I guess I get it. It's a specialized kind of thing because it actually is vehicles. COMMISSIONER ROSATI: A lot of the -- a lot of the automotive vendors that that bid on our vehicles, they're -- in the automotive industry it's a territorial thing.
Right. COMMISSIONER ROSATI: So, you know, only a certain Ford dealership will bid on our stuff.
Yeah, because they have a deal with the -- I get it. Yeah, it's part of their contract. COMMISSIONER ROSATI: And nobody else can bid on their territory so it's that, too, that makes I think it difficult for the participation that we're looking for.
To make it -- yeah, because the -- I get it. All right. Okay. All right. And maybe we need to start training some of these young people that you guys got over there to do some of these businesses, too. That might be another avenue, you know what I mean, to make them entrepreneurs as well. But I love the work you guys are doing and I love the participation with the CTE training and all, man, that's -- that's big stuff. For somebody to get like you said a job that's a head of household job, you can raise a family on. That's -- that's big stuff so thank you guys. Thank you.
Thank you, Member Harrity. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Brooks, then Councilmember Young.
Thank you, Council President. This question is for Public Property. The Mayor has proposed $2 billion housing initiatives that include billion in Philadelphia property that the city hopes to transfer to private developers to facilitate the HOME initiative. Can you provide us with a list of current properties under consideration for inclusion in the HOME initiative? COMMISSIONER BRASKY: At this time I am not aware of the properties. That would be a question for the HOME project. I'm just the signature of the, you know, the property, so I'm not aware and I haven't provided any information yet.
Okay. So my other question is about the Chinatown Development Corporation. Other community groups have singled out the Roundhouse, the former police administrative building, as a key opportunity to develop affordable housing on publicly owned property. Can you tell us about your department's involvement in this effort and how it would impact or be impacted by that development? COMMISSIONER BRASKY: That would be a question for Planning. That's a bigger commercial project and I'm not sure what's included in project HOME yet or HOME, so I'm not sure -- I can't speak on. I'm not -- I don't have the right information to give you at this time.
Okay. This is another property question. It might be the same thing so. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Go ahead.
So the Philly HOME at 2100 Girard was conducted as a state property and it formerly housed tuberculosis ward, meaning that is air conditioning constantly filters outdoor air inside. And it has scored remarkably low rating on environmental tests as a result. And I understand that the lease on Philly HOME will expire soon, meaning that the city can either purchase a property from the Commonwealth, modify the lease or move from the site. Is the city planning on purchasing this property from the Commonwealth, and if so, what would be the anticipated cost for a purchase or a renovation? COMMISSIONER BRASKY: And then we're talking about Philly HOME at Girard, right?
Yes. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Yes. We actually just took over maintenance for it, that was included in the wellness program. So we're -- we're doing improvements now to get everything up-to-date and -- but as far as there's not been no conversations of purchasing the building yet. I think that's a bigger conversation with, like you said, Planning. And we will look at options to see what our options are, but at this time there has been no talks about it.
So are there any plans in place to consider the structural environmental concerns of this building to ensure that it's safe for inhabitants before we figure out what the next steps are? I know you guys are using a portion of the building, but if we're on the entire -- COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Sure. I mean, we could do an evaluation of it. We just actually I'm -- I'm learning about the building myself because we just took it over in January, we're officially in February. So we're really digging deep into Philly at Girard. I mean, we're learning a lot about the building. And that's one of our standards to get the facility up-to- date make sure it's safe and clean for residents.
Okay. One other question. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Go ahead.
So in the past year we've seen a significant number of major buildings and institutions closed down. For example, the University of Art closures and some other a major buildings and building makeovers was that put a historically significant -- I'm sorry, I'm jumping around. Let me get the question. Is Public Property engaged in any effort to purchase some of these properties or evaluate the economic opportunity or efficiency of doing so? And if not, how is the Public Property working with private investors to ensure that at risk publicly significant architecture in Philadelphia is being meaningfully steward over? So like the Art Institute down that end and the Wanamaker building and so many buildings that are -- COMMISSIONER BRASKY: And I think that's bigger than Public Property. Like I said, it goes back to the Planning Commission, the administration. But we'd work together as a team to determine what our options are. If, say we wanted to buy the Wanamaker building, we'd have to you know talk with finance, we'd have to view our options and really it would be more of a Planning Commission-type decision. But we would work closely with them. As you could see there's probably buildings that are going to be up for sale like you mentioned. We would just have to really generate and bring up the opportunity, and see how the Administration and Planning feel about it.
Thank you so much. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: No 13 problem. Thank you.
Thank you, Member Brooks. The chair recognizes Councilmember Jeffrey J. Young, North Philly.
Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to say thank you to both of you. Your departments touch literally every single city department, so I just want to say thank you for the work that you're doing, you know, because the city wouldn't run without your departments. So the one question I have for Public Property, I mean it's a very minute question, but City Hall is in the 5th Council District. And, you know, just looking at some things in City Hall, I noticed when visitors come in, they always, you know, look -- they try to get hand sanitizer, it's never anything there, right? So --
Time out, time out, time out. Did you just pull a rank? Did you just pull a rank and said City Hall is in the 5th Councilmatic District?
That was -- that's like heavy rank. Okay, sir. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Young. Love it.
And I just noticed that again when visitors come in, you know -- you know, this is the -- we want to give them a great impression of this of this building of our city and something as small as hand sanitizer can -- COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Sure.
You know kind of discourage that. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Right.
So if we can figure out -- I know it's post COVID and all, but people still got used to that, so can we, you know, kind of fill the hand sanitizers up, that would be very appreciated.
You got it. We'll take -- we'll keep track. I know it's hit or miss with the hand sanitizers. We look at keeping up, you know, safe conditions for visitors. I know visitors coming and going like to use it. That's totally fine. We as you walk around there's some automated ones that we keep, but we'll make a conscious effort to make sure -- I'll talk to our cleaning vendor to make sure everything's upkeep --
Yeah. And also with the restrooms I'd like to, you know, thank you for expanding that opportunity for our visitors to use our restrooms here in City Hall because public restrooms are limited in Center City. And so if we can, you know, make sure that we stay on top of that, that'll be helpful as well. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Note taken. Yup. I appreciate it.
Thank you, Member Young. Are there any other questions from members of the committee? Okay. Chair recognizes Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad.
Just piggybacking on my colleague here about hand sanitizer. Slightly bigger question about Looking at our City Hall, I was just talking to my colleague Jamie Gauthier about this at lunch. And we would love to uh spruce up City Hall. It's an iconic building. And the lighting when we enter the -- I was ready to say power wash the stairs. This is -- this is a historic and a tourist site. And I just wondered where would this lay in terms of improving our look? COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Thank you, Councilmember. Thank you Councilmember for that. I don't know if any of you know my background. I was -- years ago I 6 started in City Hall. City Hall is 7 my pride and joy. I take -- nobody 8 can really talk about City Hall and 9 I kind of get a little offended. 10 We've done a lot of 11 renovations over the years, needed 12 renovations, new drop ceilings, new 13 high hats, LED lights. The money 14 only goes so far. So we have a long 15 time -- 16
17 Pause. Now when you say the money 18 only goes so far, we're at a budget hearing to discuss closely, what is it, $7 billion budget. And so we're talking about the budget regarding that money going even further. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: I totally agree. No, we taking -- we try to take care of the more structural things, the more things that we need new wiring, new lighting. So some of the cosmetics kind of go away, but we have painting in here every year, we have painters we -- constantly through the hallways painting. So we're constantly updating trying to upkeep the bathrooms. We do our best to, you know, and it's also we don't want to modernize it too much either because it is a historical building. So we could work with the cleaning vendors to power wash the steps. I also went as far as looking into trying to re shine the brass rails and stuff like that, just to bring back the feel of the old building.
Yeah. So I would highly recommend working making this a public/private partnership. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Sure.
Working with our historical societies and nonprofit -- you know, philanthropic nonprofits to come up with sort of a plan which retains the historical nature and does not destroy that, but at the same time updates like our HVAC systems or, you know, we have terrible issues with our heating and cooling in our offices. But more than that, I think if we update what we look like and the pride we need to take in our City Hall as an iconic structure in the city, I think it'll pay for itself. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Sure.
Right. So I would love to -- COMMISSIONER BRASKY: I totally agree.
You know I am the vice chair of the global opportunities and innovative economy, I would love to take this as a project to work with you. Thank you so much. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: I appreciate it. Thank you.
And I appreciate your passion for City Hall. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Thank you.
Well, thank you. Any other questions from members of the committee? Hearing none, we want to thank the two of you for your testimony. I want to also just reiterate just one last aspect, any way we could be supportive as you refurbish, revitalize the building and obviously you're taking care of the structural things first, and then deal then with the cosmetics. Probably additional lighting will be helpful as well. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Sure.
And I'm a big fan of getting those drop ceilings like the panels. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: I know.
Especially on the 5th floor south in my office. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: That was one of our questions we were just talking with the building manager about updating.
And the last thing also so and you know some new members like took me to task on this, more so for them more so than I, for us guys. Like I would overhaul all the bathrooms, right? All of them. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Beautiful.
Because you have, you know, young ladies go and use the room -- use the bathrooms. And I know that's been a big request from day one. And everybody can't get a bathroom in their office at the moment. And so I just think that would be like a great upgrade and an amenity just in terms of the quality of life for those who work in City Hall, I think that would just be something great to take a look at. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: I'm all for it.
And then we will advocate from a budgetary standpoint to make sure something like that has -- that's like the bare minimum in terms of the baseline. Just like super upgrading -- make the bathroom an experience. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: I got you, yeah. You want to meet -- I totally agree. And then if any Councilmember does have a problem, please reach out to me personally. If there's any questions or updates that you do need, we're here. Just reach out to us, we're willing to do it. But I agree with the bathroom experience.
Just make it an experience, like -- COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Yeah.
You know, go to Tokyo -- COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Go to Tokyo -- COMMISSIONER BRASKY: We'll do the hand towels.
Yeah. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Quetcy Lozada.
I clicked in earlier, but my colleague asked the same question. I just want to, for the record, say thank you. Thank you to you and your team for always being very responsive to me and my office. Nothing more. Grateful.
Well, congratulations on kicking off your tenure as Public Property Commissioner. COMMISSIONER BRASKY: Appreciate it.
So expect more of this because this is, you know, how this process work, but we know -- we know where your heart at and your commitment in terms of your job. And thank you, Commissioner Joe, for making sure -- John, for making sure that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing in terms of our fleet. With that being said, the Chair recognizes Councilmember Gilmore-Richardson for a motion that the public hearing meeting on the bills and resolutions before the committee today stand in recess until Wednesday, April 16th, 2025, at 10:00 a.m in room 400.
It has been moved and properly seconded that the public hearing and meeting on the bills and resolution before the committee today stand in recess until Wednesday, April 16th, 2025, at 10:00 a.m in room 400. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Those opposed? The ayes have it and this motion carries. The committee will stand in recess until Wednesday, April 16th at 10:00 a.m. Thank you everyone for your service. (Public hearing and meeting on bills and resolutions concluded at 3:25 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence are contained fully and accurately in the notes taken by me of the above case, and this copy is a correct transcript of the same. _______________ Samanda J. Rios