Okay. All right. Now, I just have one more question and I'll be done, and I'll take advantage that the President is not here. I talked to Jazelle, and we're going to meet for one of the most frustrating issues that I get ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 66 from my constituents: The whole new policy around block parties and blocking the street. Last year, a lady rang my bell. She was very frustrated, there Stenton Avenue was blocked off a whole day -- two days of block parties, and she can't do her one block and there -- there doesn't seem to be any consistent response or answer to how the decision is made on what blocks can be closed and what blocks can't be closed, and then the rational that I've gotten just doesn't make sense. And I'm not saying I talked to Jazelle about it. I -- she e-mailed me, and I told her we were going to meet, but there has to be something that -- because the neighbors are very frustrated. It's very few things that people do in the summertime and that block parties are a Philadelphia institution, and that's what they use to clean up the block, ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 67 develop relationships with their neighbors, apply for -- provide for a place for their children to be in the street, not to worry about a bus or a car, but we need to be very clear on what the policies is going to be, and you need to tell the people up front. We didn't know that there was a change in how you gave out permits for block parties, so we couldn't answer. And I don't know if there is still an answer. I'll meet with Jazelle and she'll tell me, but it has to be clear in terms of what's happening. Could you answer that or respond actually?
Good ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 68 morning.
As it relates to block party permits, I don't personally handle them. They are done by the Streets Department. I do know that they take certain streets into favor as it relates to the major arteries. They have a computer software system, and as they get addresses or applicants that want to close a block they make sure they gridlock the neighborhoods and communities. I can't specifically answer why one street versus the other, but I will absolutely talk with Clorena --
-- and we can get an answer. We're going to meet, and I'll make sure that someone from Streets comes here.
Thank you very much. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 69
Thank you. I think that's all of my questions right now. It's not a lot. That pretty much serviced the 9th district. Thank you.
Good morning. Thanks for being here this morning as well. First I'll start off by the commending the folks from the PhillyRise Program for coming to South Philadelphia. I've been a community organizer in South Philadelphia since I got out of college in 1995, so I have seen administrations come and go as young community organizer and working from a ground level with community groups. And so, you know, I ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 70 was inspired when the program came to Point Breeze to not so much create -- I want to make I put this the proper context. I was inspired when PhillyRise came to partner and build on some of the things that we were already doing but really enhancing and brought city government out to the community, so I do commend you on that. And we had a good time working with you guys on cleaning up Woodland Avenue, and I want to follow up on that one. I want to start oft with public safety. Of course, I want to the stay on top of the crimes prevention initiative that the Mayor is unveiling. It's going to be a million dollars geared toward community groups that want to focus on new-found initiatives. I want to get an idea of how that's going to be rolled out, how those organizations ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 71 actually qualify, is it performance based, and so I really want to get an idea how that's going to be rolled out. And separate from the million dollars I also have another question regarding there's $200,000 that's going to be geared toward witness relocation which I think is great. My question is: Why would it go through the Managing Director's office, and why not -- and why wouldn't this be something that would go toward the District Attorney's office? So somebody can answer those two questions.
Sure. First on the million dollars and the -- the violence prevention.
We're going to start with the Mayor's community dialogue which City Council will be a ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 72 part of.
What we hope to do during that meeting is bring the state collars together who are actively involved in anti-violence work around the city. What we want to stop is the day when dollars were given out and contracts were given out without an ability to not only coordinate and be strategic around where we're spending those dollars but measuring the performance and the success of those programs in a tangible way. So whether it's through partners such as Cease Fire or the Interrupter's Model which is something that has drawn a lot attention recently or whether it's the Deputy David Kennedy approach, you know, we want to have a conversation around what are the best practices, who is doing the best work in this area, how do we coordinate because ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 73 there are some great groups doing a lot of great work in some neighbors that may or may not be the most violent, right. So part of this is getting the right folks in the room 7 and having a conversation around best practices, making sure that we're coordinating them in a strategic fashion, and then developing some performance-based matrix around how we know those groups are making a difference to impact public safety you know in a real tangible way. So that's where we hope to go, and that's where -- and we hope the RFP will definitely reflect that and that intention and that will be at the end of the month.
Have you reached out to the Philadelphia Antidrug Antiviolence Network which is an organization that's around since the '70s under the old Crisis ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 74 Intervention Network and has been doing outreach throughout the city as a whole? Are they a part -- have they been a part of this conversation?
Yeah. I don't know whether they have been reached out to specifically, but I know that Everett and Mike and my office has been working to identify as many folks as possible.
I do want to recommend them for them, you know, for the record primarily because they already have a track record. I'm quite sure they have performance or measurement data on the actual youth violence list that have been doing. So I want to make sure as we roll out these initiatives we don't overlook those organizations who have a proven track record and address the issue of youth violence. But the $200,000 for witness relocation, how did you that play into ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 75 the Managing Director's Office under public safety and not the District Attorney's Office?
We're certainly in an administrative function there to manage that money. It's not unusual for our office to serve in an administrative function for other departments, and that's really what it is.
Yeah. All right. Cool. Something I also will follow-up on is also -- I know I have to taste my gums on youth and gun violence initiative, and thank you for their support. My chairman, Councilman Curtis Jones, I want to take a look at --this was under the prior administration's Managing director's office. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 76 We had curfews, and I guess depending on who is providing the data, some would say they were successful or there were some questions around, but I know for a fact the 17th Police District, we had a strong partnership with the 17th District Police Officers, DHS and the community group. The community kind of rallied around getting young people off the street, and then DHS came and did the behavioral service -- behavioral health component seemed to me to be very successful. So I'm going to put that out there as a model that you might want to take a look at because I think when you focus on getting our babies off the street and really give them the actual social service support that they actually need that goes a long way to reduce the issue of youth violence. So those two things I wanted to actually put out there put ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 77 from a violence standpoint. And the question I'm asking you are things that we talked about offline, so it's no need to, you know, try to, you know, come at you sideways while I have you in front of me.
Sure. COOUNCILMAN JOHNSON: The CLIP program. I'm going to be hosting hearings coming up on litter enforcement and short dumping and really enforcing some of the laws that are actually on the book. When we came out and we cleaned up Woodland Avenue, what had dawned on me when I got finished cleaning up Woodland Avenue -- and thank all of you for coming out as well -- was that we just cleaned up a business corridor of private private owners. And so I'm like, that didn't really make sense. And so what the hearings are going to do is now we can be supported ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 78 in ramping up the effort to keep our, one, business corridors clean and then, two, go after those who illegally short dump. And I know y'all helped out cleaning up the tires off of 71st and Woodland Avenue. So I want to see how can we be supportive as the Council to help ramp up the issue of keeping Philadelphia clean by specifically enforcing what's already on the book?
Yeah. I think it's a couple of things we can do there. We talked -- on the short dumping issue, we've talked about some of the things we can do which we hope to accomplish in that area which is obviously also a PhillyRising area. The other thing I think we can do which we need your help on is one of the efforts that we did that day was, and the days preceding that event, was reaching out to those business owners door to door to get as ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 79 many of them to cooperate and participate as possible. Quite frankly, the community came out. The business owners did not. And which is, I agree with you, is odd because they have a vested interest in that business corridor and having it -- having it do well. You know, I think we need a concerted effort both from my office and through Council to get some of those folks to understand that whether it's tying into the Safe Cam issue with cameras for public safety reason or with helping us with around the quality of life around their buildings and their business it's really in their best interest, and we need their help.
I just want to make sure that's stated for the record because sometimes take the carrot and stick approach but, you know, at this particular point in time, you know, I'm with the stick ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 80 approach just primarily because it doesn't take much to pay a young man to come clean up in front of your business, and at the same time, you receive most of your funding, your bottom line, from the neighborhood in which reside in. A lot of business owners don't even live in the neighborhood and so they probably feel as though we leave, we go home, we don't have a vested interest. But I believe that if you provide a business in the community they help you meet your bottom line, and you need to be a partner in keeping that business corridor clean. The illegal short dumping component, elaborate on your efforts in terms of aggressively going after those who illegal short dump. I think part of the research we did from the hearing that we have coming up there's like a hotline. I don't know if the ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 81 greater public knows about the hotline. Before we decide to increase the funds, we wanted to see how -- I mean, the fines, we want to see how do we enforce what's already on the books. Just elaborate and let's see how we can help the system addressing that issue.
Yeah. I think there's a couple of things we can do, and we've talked about some of this. And Councilwoman Tasco and I had this conversation where we targeted some specific short dumping area in -- around Logan last year. We had the ability with some limited funds, but we do very effectively whenever we do it. And Tommy really is -- Tommy Conway is really the champion of this effort to set up mobile cameras to capture folks -- pretty good resolution. We capture people's license plates and set up ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 82 shop there sometimes under well-lit areas. If it's not well-let, we'll put a light on there temporarily to get -- to get some pictures, and Tommy has had some success. He's walked into my offices and showed me pictures of some of the vehicles that we've -- that we've tracked down during the short dumping, and then we track those people down and start enforcement proceedings. But more importantly, we clean everything up and try to keep that going on on an ongoing basis. Those are some of the things I think we can do. Obviously, it's a resources issue. The more resources we have the more ability that we have to coordinate with you, the more affective we can be around those issues.
And you have my support. And the last question: In ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 83 regards to the cleaning up the abandoned lots, now, at one time in the City of Philadelphia we -- the City provided gates. If you tear down a property, you put up a gate rather it be wooden or rather it be a tall fence, but you didn't just put tear down property and leave a vacant lot. How do we address that issue from a public safety standpoint? People get high in these lots. The drug dealers run through the lots. Prostitution takes place in the lots. And when I'm out in the community and I'm addressing these issues, they say how come we can't have a fence, so there's like a discrepancy. Some people say it's because it's fire hazard, the police -- you know, firemen can't get back there, we don't have the funding anymore. At one time, I think it was the Fairmount Park Commission provided the wooden fences, and then some areas ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 84 you'd go in you have wooden fences and some areas you don't. How can we address that from a public safety standpoint.
The Horticultural Society still does put up wooden fences they can see through, and they're spotted fences. There is a significant public safety concern if you do put up a fence. You -- to your point, folks are going to do the unsavory things in vacant lots. If we can't see, them we can't stop them. And it provides a public safety risk to our police officers and to our fire fighters.
Councilman, do you mind if I take the time to put that on the record.
Sure. One last one, all right, Mr. President? We got him sworn in, and ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 85 he said he would be hard working like John Street and fair like Ann Verna. Just give me one last one. All right. I just definitely want to see how we can follow up on the gate component, and I'd also like to acknowledge the great work of the Commissioner that helps us put together our community festival, Ms. Jazelle. For the record, as a State, she's always made sure we had a great community day in South Philadelphia. I'd like just to tell her and her team to keep up the good work. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. Councilman, real quick, in response to the termination fences that used to be put up, first cyclone, and subsequently they were wooden, and now -- it was basically as a result of cost. The cyclone floats were quite expensive, ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 86 and the City made a decision to basically stop doing them because we couldn't continue to pay for them. That's the real reason.
I would like to respond because if comes down to an issue cost, I think we need to be revisit it as a city because it's definitely a public safety. How do we allocate the transfer of $960,000 from one department to the Department of Parks and Recreation for tree free removals? I think this is -- this probably warrants more of a priority than removing the trees. That's just what I think from the constituents in South Philadelphia and Southwest Philadelphia, so I will respond with that for the record if it's an issue of cost and not public policy.
ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 87 Well, I remember when it was eliminated --
-- and I think I had a little better connection with the people that made that decision --
Let me echo the koodoos offered by the colleagues around the team building ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 88 that was clearly evident in the handling of Occupy Philly --
-- and the leadership that had to be in place that comes with that. I want to move to the grants portion of your budget, the 3 million dollar grants that come to your department based on testimony if I read that correctly. What would you say as the leader of your operations department, what are the benefits or advantages that come with getting grants?
I think the general benefits are obvious, right? It's additional money often around an important issue that we are trying to make progress on. So I think if you look at the grants that we receive, whether it's through our public safety initiatives, there are things that we care about that are high priorities ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 89 and it's money that's outside of the general funds, operating funds, that allows us to do -- to do more.
And what would be the benefits or advantages on the staff level when it comes to the recruitment, the hiring, identification of professionals? It's a leading question.
I guess certainly we're able to provide -- to increase our staff based on the grants. Our Office of Emergency Management, for example was almost --
I'm sorry. The Office of Emergency Management, for example, is almost entirely grant funded. The Mayor's Office of Sustainability at one time had significant grant funding that was -- allowed us to bring on significant staff to provide those -- those core ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 90 services, and then finding ways to maintain those staff going forward. I'm not sure if that's getting to the gist of your question.
Okay. Having done what you do, once programs is based on grants, you really do get the flexibility to ensure that you have a staff that is richly diverse, and in this legislative body it's no secret that there are many of us who care about NEB, WBE and DBE participation at all levels including staff levels. We also, as far as the leadership, making it clear and making it plain that is it what you call, Mr. Managing Director, a core value. And so when you look at those departments that have largely grant funding, the rhetorical question is, do they look like Philadelphia when you have the flexibility to hire professionals that ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 91 come from richly diverse mixed backgrounds. That's the rhetorical question. To the Office of Sustainability, that is now a part of government, meaning it funded out of the general funds and not grants.
There's a mix. Some positions are funded out of the general fund and some are funded out of the grants fund.
Now, let preface by saying that my office is working very very closely with the Office of Sustainability and have around a number of environmental sustainability measures. That is separate from having an agency that looks like Philly and so give me -- give me the breakdown of the Office of Sustainability.
Alex Dews, Policy and Program Manager, the Office of Sustainability. Our current staffing is Katherine Gajewski, Director of the Office of Sustainability; myself, I'm the policy and program manager; Adam Agalloco, who is the energy conservation coordinator; Sarah Wu who is the outreach and policy coordinator; and Theresa Driscol who is the assistant to the director who is the cyst.
And currently, they're all funded positions or general funds positions.
As of this year, they're all general funds. The director's position is part of the Mayor's office where the remaining positions are part of the general -- ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 93 the MOD's budget.
Then you know that this is not the first time I've raised this question with the Office of Sustainability?
And so the ask is, as we look to next year across government where you have grants, I believe, it is -- it behooves the leadership to make it clear and make it plain: My department should look like Philadelphia for women and people of color because if the leadership doesn't make it plain it's not going to happen.
Understood. And I'd be happy to provide details on all of our contracting that we've done with the grant funding --
-- in support of that. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 94
We've talked about animal care and control. Councilman Goode has spoken to the Office of Procurement. So the bell has rung, and I will honor it. Thank you for your testimony.
The Chair thanks the councilwoman and now recognizes Councilman Greenlee.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just one more questions I had. Could you provide a little bit more detail about the function of the Facilities Management Task Force and kind of what the goals are and that kind of thing?
Sure. I'll ask Bridget Collins Greenwald who chairs that and knows it far better than I do ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 95 to respond.
Good morning. Bridget Collins Greenwald, Managing Deputy Director. Good morning to everyone.
The Facilities Task Force kicked off -- the Mayor signed an executive order in August of last year. So we kicked off with our first meeting in January, and Tom Knox is the chair of that committee as I think you're aware. What we're doing is we have have a three-prong commission. We are looking at the utility bills in the city and how we pay them for noncity agencies. We're developing a more transparent policy on when and when we do not pay for those bills. And we're actually in the -- in conjunction with that developing working with the ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 96 Mayor's Office of Sustainability on actually some -- some -- like kind of reining in on our facility costs and things of that nature. That's one prong. The second is we are looking at our facilities, and we're actually studying whether there's room for consolidating some facilities, merging some, actually expanding some of what we need. We've been working with -- the Planning Commission has been heavily involved in that. And the third prong is looking at our leases. We're looking at some of our current leases and looking to see if we're -- if we can get our savings in renegotiating. That's it in a nutshell what we're doing. We meet once a month. And on the off times when we're not meeting all of the people on the committee are actually doing work behind the scenes and working on all ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 97 of three different areas, and then what we do is we meet monthly and figure out our next action step. So what we hope to accomplish by the end of the 18-month period I think we have about left now is, to come up with a transparent policy on the utility -- that will actually be done before the months -- come up with a real 10 consolidation plan for our facilities, 11 and then renegotiate some of our 12 leases, and that's actually going on 13 right now. 14
The 17 the EO expires August of 2013. I 18 might be off by one month but.
Just one more follow-up. What you said about utility bills, you said what we pay and what we don't pay. I don't --
We pay utility bills for noncity ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 98 agencies. For example, some Boys and Girls Clubs which in theory sounds like a good thing, but if we didn't for the utility bills that they'd go away, and then what do those kids do.
Exactly. So -- but what we're doing is actually looking at everything we do in that nature because there are some that we're not exactly sure why we entered into some of these agreements, what good they still are doing for the community, and things like that. So we're just looking at that and what we're developing is in the policy. It will be transparent. So if you meet those criteria, yes. It makes sense for the City to step in and help you out. If you don't, then you're kind of on your own.
And ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 99 some of those recommendations coming out, are they all going to come out August 2013?
No. 5 I think the utilities piece will come out before that, and the leasing piece is ongoing. So as we're renegotiating leases we're actually -- like 1101 Market is a good example. We're renegotiating that lease. It -- we're starting conversations about that now, so this Facilities Task Force will serve as something like an arm of support for us actually as we're going through that process.
Because I think a lot of the Council members would be very interested in some of those issues.
Absolutely. Councilwoman Sanchez and Councilman Kenney sit on that committee, and Councilman Henon as sent his staff to that committee, too, ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 100 so.
And we'd also be willing I think at some point once we're in -- a few months into this to do a council briefing and kind of let everybody know where we are which --
Yes. We can give you a progress update. Absolutely.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair now recognizes recognizes Councilman Henon.
Thank ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 101 you, Leader, Chairman. Gentlemen, thank you for coming in.
You're welcome. COUNCILMAN HENON I believe you started off with PhillyRising because I got a better understanding of -- of what kind of resources are put together in addressing the quality of life issues and safety issues collaborative with other departments in the neighborhoods. If your testimony, Mr. Negrin, it states that PhillyRising will be expanding to neighborhoods 16 by the end of FY12. Can you please 17 forward to the chair the twenty 18 neighborhoods and what budget -- 19 operating budget costs that are 20 associated with that?
Sure. I'd be happy to do that, recognizing that whenever we do that it's a snapshot in time. So one of the ways that we ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 102 decide where we go next is heavily dependent on what's happening in terms of the crime data and in terms of the quality of life issues in those neighborhoods. So we don't just have a concrete etched-in-stone list today. We look at that list anew every single time we make a decision of where we're going. So there's a list as it stands today. That will be a snapshot of the time as to where in one of those neighborhoods that we can go 14 into right now, but it will evolve 15 slowly over time. 16
It slowed 17 down a bit, and I expect it will 18 especially with the way that the 19 police department with it's force and 20 operations. I do have CLIP predominately in my district which I'm proud of and want to give a shout out to Tom Conway and his group. Good job. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 103 You know, CLIP is, if I'm not under -- I may be wrong, but is CLIP -- it appears to be city-wide on certain -- in certain aspects of his functions and more, I would say, district specific or more, you know, specific in geography; is that correct?
Yeah. I mean, it's needs specific. So CLIP is just not going to be in areas where their services are nonrendered or needed. So they look at where the need is, and they try to apply their services consistent with that.
And the quality of life is the end result for every citizen in the City of Philadelphia where, you know, they feel safe and to be ridden of blight and a lot of other quality of life issues, the short dumping and, as Councilman Jones had mentioned, you know, the bandit signs, you know, just to add to it a little ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 104 bit. Is there -- is there additional resources that CLIP could have that would supplement some of -- of the issues that PhillyRising is dealing with that would help address some of the safety issues in some of the priority areas or some area that may be experiencing in little spike in crime and blight and some of life quality issues that we -- that we deal with --
I'll let Tommy answer that question more specifically, but I know one of the great parts about CLIP is how well it partners with PhillyRising. So, I mean, the two -- the two organizations are almost, you know, unrecognizable from each other -- separate from each ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 105 other. So -- and I think we also, you know, took into consideration when we developed the budget for this year with the fact that that was going to continue and that CLIP was going to be an important partner of everything we were doing around PhillyRising, but I'll -- I'll let Tommy --
-- prioritize that climate of a successful program or adding to another program that is in coordination with other -- with -- well, I'll say CLIP?
My name is Thomas Conway, Deputy Managing Director. And yes. I would like more money. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 106
Was that a surprise? Okay. We can go home. Was that a surprise to anyone?
With regard to resources, obviously, the economy is bad and all that kind of stuff, but we -- what we're trying to do is realign the resources for different areas. For instance, like Councilman Clarke -- Council President said, vacant lots are a big issue in his area, so that's what we focus on in his area. It's more quality of life issues in yours with regards to exterior property maintenance issues. We have graffiti issues in different other areas of the city -- actually, city wide. So what we do is just try to make them -- you know, make them basically result oriented for the different neighbors.
Well, you take into consideration that the -- you know, budget allocation, you know, per area like to help supplement. So ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 107 you're going to spend more resources in cleaning up vacant lots and short dumping than you would -- let's just say, I don't know how many inspectors you have for the entire Northeast --
-- but I'm sure that priority -- you know, prioritizing inspections is much more effective as a result; is that right?
Basically, with regard to our funding, the Vacate Lot Program takes the biggest share of the budget, and then it would be the Anti-Graffiti Network; Bankfoot would be the third, and then the Community Services Program and Community Partnership after that. There's roughly about 2 -- we'll say, 2.5 inspectors assigned to the Northeast, and then there's right now -- well, one just resigned, and we're looking to replace her. There will be three inspectors for the ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 108 Vacant Lot Program.
All right. Hurry up. You know, we've got some summary coming. I think there's going to be a lot more --
It's going to be a lot more activity. I have one final question, Mr. Chair, for this round here. It's in regards to the Facilities Task Force. I absolutely agree that there needs to be a mechanism where properties and the data is centralized. I'm a little confused on -- and I'm glad we're taking the steps to do so. I'm a little confused, or are you collaborating and coordinating with other departments in the City because, you know, you have the Office of Sustainability that seems to be doing it, there's a new department in the Finance Department ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 109 that's doing it, Public Property doing it and several other departments seem to be spending a lot of OIT resources in trying to do the same thing. Are we trying to get -- are we all working in conjunction to get to the same end as far as shared data on our public property and resources?
Yes. Actually, we are. We're working -- the Planning Commission is taking the lead. We have Public Property on the committee, the Mayor's Office of Sustainability, Finance is on there, Budget, the Streets Department, the Water Department, someone from the airport is on there. Almost everybody that's -- that has an operating function and deals with Public Property is part of the committee. What we're actually doing right now -- it's very interesting that you brought that up -- is we realize that Finance has a database, ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 110 Public Property has a database, Fairmount Park has a database, all completely separate on what types of facilities we owned and what data is in. So Planning is taking the lead on consolidating all of that data. Actually, we have a meeting tomorrow, I believe, to go over everything that we found. And what we're collecting is things like current use, square footage, occupancy of the building, the number of floors believe it or not. Some of that information we don't really have at our fingertips, so we're actually -- it is a very consolidated effort, so we're not doing double work. I know what you're saying. Like, we all --
Let's do ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 111 duplicity and the multitude of vacancies that are eventually -- you know, when we're trying to consolidate our resources, you know, and be a little more efficient on the cost, cost savings, you know, benefit. You know, I'm hoping that somebody is in charge of coordinating with the different departments.
And so I look forward to have -- well, obviously, you know, having a stamp there, but look forward to, you know, getting an update on the Planning Commission's meeting tomorrow as things --
Yeah. You -- and you're coming to one of our upcoming meetings on --
-- ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 112 on that, too, so you'll -- yeah. And I'll definitely be in touch with office --
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Good morning. I think it's still morning. Let's see. Yes, eight minutes let. I do have questions that I'm not going to ask today that I'll ask when Records and Public Property and other people are in here about the commercial off-the-shelf database that has been promised to me for three years that would list all properties that the City owns, what it uses, that would start a list of maintenance ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 113 needs in each single property and stuff like that. I mean, I -- for years I've been told that's coming and thought it existed today, so just to give you a heads up about that. With respect to the PhillyStat, the PhillyRising collaborative and Global Philadelphia, what are the problematic cost of these programs?
Roughly 750. I can get the -- get the specific break down. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 114
750,000 staff dollars in the Managing Director's budget?
Okay. That's not my question. My question is: What are the problematic cost of PhillyRising? So, by that I mean, you apply additional police resources to an area and you apply additional L and I resources to an area, you apply additional Streets resources to an area. What are the problematic cost of all City dollars spent with respect to PhillyRising? That's the question.
We don't have those numbers with us today, Councilman. We will do our best to make an estimate. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 115
Okay. How do you judge how effective the program is on a cost versus benefit analysis if you don't know the cost?
Well, I can answer that a couple of ways. First and foremost, one of the great things about PhillyRising is it's a doing things smarter coordinating strategic effort that should not drive up substantial cost so that the -- that's the first answer. So we can figure out and try to broke out some of those cost specific to the PhillyRising neighbors, but these are things we're already doing. So when you -- when you look at the police for example, the police -- there are no additional police officers, and therefore, additional cost as a result of PhillyRising coming into an area. What happens is there's better coordination, and police are in ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 116 the community and changing the model on the approach on how they deal with folks which is -- it's a coordinated strategic effort, not an increase value resource finance cost issue.
Well, I would say that -- that you don't -- that if you're not measuring the cost, certainly there's no cost that you have to report. But of course, there are lots of costs. There are police overtime cost. I have no idea whether or not L & I overtime cost, et cetera. I have no idea whether or not the additional resources required for PhillyRising results in cost in other departments that aren't on your books. For one example, you've got -- I think PhillyRising is a great program. I just think we ought to know the problematic cost so we can --
Yeah. And I think the answer to that is that it's primarily cost neutral which is one of ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 117 the great things about the program. So the cost that Mr. Abernathy just mentioned are really around staffing and the coordination within my office. The -- the -- the cost are that are there, there's no additional overtime being spent as a result with respect to PhillyRising.
Well, we don't know that because we know resources are applied to PhillyRising neighborhoods, and we don't know what decisions are made in the police department to cover where the police are not otherwise that day because they're dedicated to the PhillyRising neighborhood; in other words, there's certainly an opportunity cost for every other neighborhood that's not a PhillyRising neighborhood in terms of resources not being available to enforce the laws there whether it's L & L or Streets or police, et cetera, because you've dedicated resources to ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 118 ten neighborhoods.
I just think we ought to understand that, and I would just ask you to provide in writing to the Chair the resources from each department dedicated that are applied to a PhillyRising neighborhood, and you can take the 10 that are already in affect, and provide that detail for those 10 to the Chair.
Yeah. We can certainly try to do that, but I can tell you it's one of the beauties of the model where when we have decisions and recommendations in terms of where go that are made by the police, it's the police telling us this is a priority based on part one crimes, based on shootings and where we need to be. So the police are already going to be expending those resources ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 119 in terms of how they distribute police officers into that area.
Great. I'm not arguing with the program. I just want to know what the cost are. So if you could just provide that to the Chair I'd appreciate it.
To follow-up on your other questions, Councilman, about PhillyStat, there's no 14 additional problematic cost. It's a management tool. And then for Global Philadelphia there are problematic cost through contracts, and I'll get you a break down of those contracts.
Councilman Green, it was one of my pleasures up here to be able to call you on five minutes, but you adhered ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 120 to the time. You didn't make it any fun.
Just a couple of questions I had. The first is on, as we discussed, public safety, and it says the budget contains a -- contains funding to maintain programs of the Office of Reintergration Services providing ex-offenders an opportunity to learn job skills, et cetera, et cetera. Can you talk about those ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 121 programs? What are those programs?
Sure. I'm going to ask Mike Resnick -- Ruth Resnick to answer those questions.
But look, obviously, this is a situation that Everett and I talk about on a regular basis. It's something that's near and dear to your heart. I'll let Mike talk about the details, but we believe that these programs are not only incredibly necessary but that'll -- it's part of our plan to help folks turn around their lives while also utilizing them. We use Rise folks. I've had folks in my office who have been turned -- in my office from many of those programs who have come in and done a fantastic job. You know, I think if you look at our administrations commitment across the board, whether it's Ban ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 122 the Box or -- or -- or how we utilize many -- many of our former offenders, which is a term I don't like because they're no longer offenders, is -- is -- is -- is -- is -- is the goal. But you know, it's -- it's -- there's an ongoing commitment at the highest levels in our administration to not only keep these programs going but utilize them in a way that makes everything we do in the city better so.
I'm Mike Resnick, Director of Public Safety. Rise, the reintergration for ex-offenders, the Mayor's Office for Reintergration for Ex-offenders, runs a -- a -- now I'm drawing a blank. I ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 123 can't think of the name. But we manage our partners who perform reintergration services for the folks who are enrolled in the program. So we start behind the walls developing what are called soft skills for individuals who may have never had a job before. We work with the Center for Literacy, we work with the Philadelphia prison system in obtaining GED's or high school diplomas for the folks that are currently incarcerated. We utilize the same computer software that they do inside the jails as we do at the Rise office at 34 South 11th Street. So if an individual is working on a GED or improving their literacy, when they leave, they can come to the Rise office and pick up where they left off on the same -- same equipment, the same software, the same programs. And then what the Rise office does is they have case managers ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 124 who will do an intense intake. They will evaluate a person's needs, do an assessment, determine whether or not they need to continue with their education, whether they need drug or alcohol training, whether they need to develop more soft skills or whether they just need just work force placement, and they will attempt to provide those individuals with those sources. We don't provide direct services, but we have partners who provide those services, and we will make those connections, the -- and then we will monitor them as they go through the program. And as they are completing one, we'll determine with their assessments are, what their needs are, and provide them with the opportunities to develop those skills at other locations. And then we have job placement and job development services.
Okay. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 125 And can you talk about the job place services, how much of your budget goes to that, how successful has it been, does it -- you know, what additional resources may be needed?
We have a job developer on staff. He's salary. I don't know off the top of my head his salary. I can provide that for you. That would be our cost. We do have a grant with -- I think it's winding down -- it was three years -- with Good Will. So we have individuals who are placed at Good Will to learn warehousing skills, forklift operation. They get certified in that. There was a contract that Good Will had with Comcast to reservice remotes, remote controls. We provide people with training in cabling for, you know, running cable, computer cable and television cable. They work at Comcast. They work at other entities ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 126 that run those cables. We have -- we just placed close -- close to 100 individuals with a contract that does janitorial and cleaning services down at the -- at the stadiums. We did place close to that -- that number with Comcast, and the exact jobs were varied. So I -- I can provide you with a list of those as well.
And I can get you the list of them, the last couple of years, of all the individuals we placed, the retentions, and jobs that they've had.
That's great. Can you break that down by council district so that other members could --
-- just to give us an idea -- ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 127
-- of how effective it's been? And what's the total overall budget would you say that's allocated towards reentry and --
The bulk of the Rise budget comes from the Philadelphia Prison System. That's about 1.2 million dollars. There's about half a million in grants and other subsidies that the office gets, and they're consistently applying for grant opportunities.
So it's about 1.2 million plus about a half million --
-- in grants? Okay. And -- okay. Any other details on reentry or anything else that you think could be helpful to us? You know, in my obviously life, I worked in ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 128 constituent services, and I remember one day someone coming into my office -- actually not that long ago, last year -- someone coming into my offices and saying, two gentlemen, that they had just been released from incarceration consider and they needed a job or else they were were going to go back. And so how do you, you know, address that? How do you -- you know, short of being able to hire them on the spot, which obviously I'm not able to do, you know, it becomes a very difficult situation because, you know, you want to make sure that people have an opportunity to better their lives and have an opportunity to be productive citizens in society, and so I think that this program is just really critical. When we talk about crime and all the issues that you're having in Philadelphia, this is something that I ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 129 think, you know, a 1.2 million dollar budget, you know, it doesn't -- in my opinion, it doesn't speak to the need of what's happening in our streets.
I think the -- the biggest impediment we face, public attitudes and public perceptions, not just the -- you know, folks on the streets, but also employers. So if we -- and we try with Ban the Box and we try with some other tax incentives to change the mind set of employers but, you know, if an individual has committed themselves to coming to the Rise office and going through all the programs that we have available in terms of education and developing soft skills and job training, that individual has made an obvious commitment of time to turn their life around and that individual should be given another opportunity. The important thing to realize is that, that these aren't folks that are just ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 130 coming to them called off the street. They've already come through the programs that we provide. They've been supervised --
-- they've been case managed, and they're, you know, ready and willing to work, so they should be given a chance.
Councilman, to give you one anecdotal story that I thought --
-- talks about changing the attitudes in the community, when we first decided through our Philly Rising Program that we were going to utilize some folks who were currently incarcerated to clean up some neighborhoods there was some resistance by some folks, and we made a decision that it was something ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 131 that was -- we thought was worthwhile; that it was about dignity for us. I want to share a story of an incident that I saw that was both inspiring, but I think helps to -- to move the needle in that regard. We were in the Swampoodle of Philadelphia doing a massive clean up. There were a number of offenders wearing their orange jumpsuits cleaning with us all day long doing a great job, interacting with the community in a very positive way. I think those types of events go a long way when you see the enthusiasm, when you see the difference that those folks made that day. There was a moment where we were talking, we were winding down at the end of the day, where those folks got back on the bus, and they were going to go back to a facility that evening.
Right. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 132