I know, but the whole environment is not. I mean, you're just lined up on metal chairs that are bolted to the floor. I mean, it's not exactly conducive to wanting to do business with the city.
You're right, Councilman. And it's -- it's an suggestion that is duly noted, and we'll move forward with that. I know in the past, in the last couple of years, we have done some things relative to the flow of how we streamline the flow of individuals access counters and things to that extent, but we'll go back and address this with Revenue and L & I.
This is not your fault. I mean, this -- that place has been in that -- in that ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 173 configuration for as long as I've been in government and probably before I was -- before I was here. But it just seems to me that that would be a welcome change to people's experience with their city government. I've got a question on public property relative to the Verizon building --
Before you go off of that, for the record, you're not suggesting we have a little libation while we're doing down there?
Anything is possible. Starbucks, you know, or a little something; a bunch of treadmills, and people could workout with TV's and stuff. Public property, relative to this pace of the Verizon cable contract build out, do we -- do we have any information relative to the percentage of build out that they've ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 174 accomplished and where they are and what neighborhoods they're building out in? And I've been -- I've been asked to -- to issue some questions relative to where they are in their whole process. Does any know or could you find out --
Yeah. We could answer that now with Adel. I think it's in the realm where we -- you can do that this afternoon with him.
We'll -- we'll need to get back to you on that. We -- the -- Innovation and Technology will get back to you.
Okay. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 175 Fine. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Oh. He did it on time? Are you serious? Good job. Good job. We're on our second round. We're down to three minutes. Everyone has had a turn, correct? (Yes.)
Okay. I'm going to forgo my turn, and I don't see Councilman Johnson either, so it goes to Councilman Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm happy to restrict my questioning to two minutes as long as it's two minutes of my time asking questions and not dependent upon the length of answers from the administration. At any rate, so just with respect to PhillyRising, I think the reason it's important, and any ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 176 program, the reason it's important to know the cost is, assuming it's true and, of course, I think things have cost and it's impossible for it to be absolutely cost free, I don't think taxpayers -- I don't think that's a true statement -- but assuming that was true, eventually, if go to 9 neighborhoods or 50 neighborhoods or 10 70 neighborhoods because it's 11 determined that the program is really 12 working well and we want to expand, 13 it's having a huge impact on crime, on 14 other things, to expand it we have to 15 know what resources are required from 16 each department because there wouldn't 17 be the resources to put in from the 18 departments in 50 neighborhoods. And 19 so understanding that it's very 20 important, and that's why I ask the question. Can you just tell me how much this -- PhillyRising, I remember the Reform Initiative under Dr. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 177 Barnett basically had police service areas, and they were going to try to coordinate departmental responses, assign departmental people to specific PSA's, have them focus on that area, whether it be one or two or three PSA's per L & I person or per Streets, depending upon the resources available and what's needed for that PSA. Is PhillyRising sort of an extension of that initiative that came out the reform plans?
You know, it is. It started with looking at the good work and really a small handful of PSA's and in -- we started to ask ourselves, some the PSA boundaries are much larger than P -- than PhillyRising neighborhoods, so we talked about having -- in order to have a sustainable model is having smaller neighborhood divisions which -- which I thought made more sense. So the strategy was really ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 178 around -- and I can have John Farrell some of this as well -- but the idea grew out of that effort. That effort was incredibly successful, the PSA effort, but we don't want to mix up PhillyRising neighborhoods with PSA's. We still have PSA's across the city. The difference is the PSA's are primarily a police-driven effort on-site with some City intervention. The difference here is the City is not just an equal partner but is -- it is driving many of the major initiatives inside of our PhillyRising neighborhoods.
But -- so the question really was: To what extent have -- have we -- have we abandoned to philosophy of assigning people via PSA's so that there's the same, sort of like, community court?
The same ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 179 DA is dealing with the same neighborhood, the same L & I official is dealing -- via people or whatever measurement or method you want to use, to what extent has that as a policy of the departments you manage --
Yeah. The PSA's are the still in effect. That model is still working across the city.
Okay. Could you -- and are you measuring the effectiveness of that compared to the previous? ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 180
No, but we can get you that. I mean, L and I I'm sure is doing that as an as-is, the other departments who are involved and the PSA effort. My focus is really on the PhillyRising component.
Okay. I'll save that for the departmental questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The Chair thanks the gentleman. And now, on the record, I don't see Councilman Johnson, so we'll go to Councilman Henon.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question for the Mayor's Office of Sustainability.
Alex, good afternoon. Thank you. The Greenworks Philadelphia initiative that the office is ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 181 managing, how do you coordinate with the other departments, one, being the Water Department? And how do you tie in specifically to prioritize the greening of certain areas in conjunction with the stormwater runoff?
It's a question that we have ongoing with the City because I've heard from many, and I say, many businesses, that has been put out in a report from your -- from the CSA report that states there is -- that recognizes there's a thousand losers. So how do we mitigate around those thousand losers, so to speak, as far as the additional cost and increase of their stormwater management with your program?
Sure. So the first question is about coordination ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 182 with other departments. And just generally speaking, in 2009 the Sustainability Working Group was established which is coordinated through our office. I coordinate that, and that has representatives from City departments, all City departments. Anyone who wants to be at the table to discuss the initiatives that are in Greenworks, that's part of the way that the Greenworks plan was developed, was through input from departments on what they were already doing that we could further leverage into the plan. Specifically, on stormwater management, target eight of the plan is to be in compliance with the Clean Water Act. And as I'm sure you know, part of the effort with CSO, Combined Sewer Overflow, with the water department is to get us to compliance so that we don't continue to pay the hefty fines that go along with ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 183 violating the Clean Water Act. So in order to support the parcel-based billing efforts the water department is phasing in over five years. One thing that has been set up already is through a partnership with the Water department and PIDC, the Stormwater Management Incentives Program, which provides financing to those large property owners who are negatively effected with the increased stormwater billing. The flip side of that is that there are a number of properties that are also going to see reduced stormwater cost because they're a larger building on a smaller footprint.
Well, I think that you, in your statement, you say, or we're going to have to pay. You mean, you know, the businesses and the residents are going to have to pay, in the most part, because of -- ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 184
So under the scenario and parcel-based billing, instead of paying a stormwater fee that's based on the size of your water inlet, you pay it based on how much stormwater you actually generate.
Well, I just think, you know, and I'll end with this, providing low interest loans or a no interest rate loans from PIDC or -- you know, or the Commerce Department, or the Water Department more specifically, someone -- you mean they're paying. So I hope there's better coordination with, you know, some of the folks that are going to be impacted the most with -- you know, which I think is a good initiative. I think that Greenworks is a great initiative, and I understand, you ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 185 know, it's end goal, and I believe we're going to achieve it. I just hope -- I'd like to see that we're prioritizing where we're greening and have a lesser impact on those who are going to be paying more for stormwater vacation.
Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Johnson is next, and then Councilman Kenney. We're going to have Procurement which is next, and then we're going to break.
Thank you, Mr. Leader. I just to go back. I had a couple of small questions as ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 186 well. I'm echoing my colleague, part of the gang of six, Ms. Cindy Bass, regarding the Rise Program over single ex-offenders and the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership. I think I can get the answers to the Rise program totally separate, but just elaborate on where we're at with the the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership, and also are there any numbers? Are there any type of statistical numbers in terms of the performance of the Rise program like benchmarks, how many people have been trained, how many people have been employed, job readiness, GED, simply stuff, birth certificate, ID's.
All that -- the Rise has all of that information because that's part the intake. So they do an extensive intake for any client --
Can I get a copy of that report if you don't ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 187 mind --
Along with what I think is probably the most important stat, which is the recidivism rate for the folks who participated in that program.
That will be provided along with the information that Councilman Bass requested.
All right. Thank you. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 188 The Youth Violence Reduction Partnership?
The YVRP, Councilman, is operating in several police districts. Obviously, the -- the -- the ability to expand that program into more districts is -- is hampered by the amount of funding, and it's -- it's a partnership between -- the YVRP, the pants, the street workers, the Juvenile Probation and Parol, the District Attorney's Office of course, and its intense supervision of individuals who have been identified as -- based upon their -- their offense and the -- the probation office who is supervising the individuals who are likely to commit a violence offense or who have committed a violent offense in the past. So those individuals are placed on the -- this case load. They're supervised intensively. They have street workers ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 189 who go out and visit them, visit them in their homes, will visit with their families. They go with police officers who also make the visits. They're, you know, encouraged to continue with their education, look for employment, continue with their -- their GED if they're not in school. So that is essentially why the YVRP. The YVRP is also being currently analyzed by PPV, Public Pilot -- Public Private Ventures, who is taking a look at the efficacy of the program and going to make recommendations to us as to what aspects of the program are working and worthwhile, what aspects of the program maybe not so much and might need to be altered, and we anticipate that within the next couple of -- couple of months I believe.
There's a juvenile enforcement team under Family Court. Is part that a part of ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 190 this partnership where you actually provide intensive case management for those who are on probation who are --
It's part of the team. Okay. Awesome. Okay. All right. And 3-1-1, just a couple of questions regarding 3-1-1.
Before you ask -- the representative from 3-1-1 comes up, one of the things that we are doing under public safety is having -- reestablishing our monthly meetings on the weekend. Council can bring that up in that time so that those reports are centralized and they're distributed to respective Council Members on statistics that are important, whether it's crime instances or prevention efforts or rises. We want to codify it, and ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 191 we'll send it out to the members, Council.
And that's the point of those as you know those meetings. So whatever the committee members are interested in we can have that information available for you at the meeting.
We're going to have before you leave here one of our staffers schedule that date day and make available to all the members.
We want to thank publicly Councilman Green for his efforts in CJEV that preceded me being on Public Property. I want to thank him publicly for that.
Great. 3-1-1 -- ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 192
-- just real quick, the Citizens Engagement Academy, just elaborate on that. I have been invited to come a lot of times to actually actually visit 3-1-1. Unfortunately, I haven't, but -- so I don't believe in trying to come at you from the mind side when you invited to see the 3-1-1 program. But a couple of specifies I do want to see and do want to ask is the Citizens Engagement Academy, and also the coordination between the Philadelphia Police Department and the application where they can actually refer to data, quality of life data to 3-1-1. Can you just focus on those two components of 3-1-1 for me?
And I see it's in the 26th so, of course, I'm advocating for the 17th and the 1st as a part of this conversation. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 193
Okay. Good afternoon. I'm Cheryl Johnson, Operations Manageer for 3-1-1. So in reference to the Citizens Engagement Academy, that's actually part of PhillyRising, so they can -- they can speak better to that. In reference to the Mobile Data Computer Project, it's actually now expanded beyond District 26. And we used that district as a pilot and it was successful, and so now we are in the process of training the entire police department and expect that by the end of 2012 that approximately 3000 will be trained.
Yeah. There are currently -- they're currently 1000 officers. It started off as a pilot in PhillyRising neighborhoods, but that's going to city wide. So the officer will have the ability on their mobile data terminals inside of their ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 194 cars to directly submit 3-1-1 requests not only from citizens they see in the street who will want to do that, but themselves on a daily basis. So as they are our eyes and ears out there on the street they can submit reports for graffiti, and likewise, abandoned cars. To answer the question around the Engagement Academy, it's really an effort in conjunction with Philly to create and knowledge inside of the neighborhood so it shows up, and we have a commitment from the part of the leaders in the city. So you'll have, whether it's the District Attorney's Office present, their Nuisance Task Force, Beth Grossman will be present, the U.S. Attorney's Office and their community efforts will come in because basically I think it's a -- is it seven weeks now? I know it was six at one point. I think it grow an extra week. It -- ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 195
It's eight now? It's an eight-week program. We're on a weekly basis inside of those neighborhoods. We basically take folks to school, and it's the City of Philadelphia 101 where we educate them on how our departments work and how they can best utilize City services in an effort to kind of get educated. Folks enjoy that program. They see it as -- you know, as an academic setting either in a community group or a library. They get a certificate upon completion. They coordinate really well with -- with 3-1-1. They learn how to use the City services in a manner that works. They get a certificate at the end. They actually had a graduation ceremony at the end that helps develop pride
That's it. Thank you very much. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 196
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is for Procurement and Sustainability. Has anyone in either Procurement or Sustainability examined the potential use of concrete for paving of city streets versus asphalt, petroleum-based asphalt, on a couple of different levels? Number one, the environmental level, you no longer have the leach aide of petroleum product every time it rains into the stormwater system. You get a longer lasting paving. It's easier to access for utility work. You get a better lumin's value for your nighttime overhead street lights system. And the information I understand as to why we don't to it or why we haven't moved ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 197 in that direction is because there's an initial increased cost. But do we do lifetime life cycle analysis processes that we do to see whether or not, in fact, it is worth it? I know every time you open a street for utility work and you pave it back, between the weather changes, that street wides up being pot marked and pot holed. And the other issue on the Sustainability side is impervious concrete. Would that -- it's not -- it doesn't have the PSI needed for streets, for trucks and cars, but it is okay for pedestrians, would that help some of these businesses that need to come up to our stormwater standards by having concrete that is able to take the water out of the sewer -- out of the stormwater. So I attend that hearing at some point in time during the year, but I wanted to get your initial ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 198 reaction both from Sustainability and Procurement. They also could make the concrete any color you'd like. So if you want to have a special color street you can do that, too, but that's a minor issue.
Let's speak first on the sidewalks, and I -- I'm going to defer that question to Streets. I know that's something that they've been looking. They've been looking at all kinds of alternatives.
And also the leach aid from the petroleum product. That's the environment side, too.
I know that they've already implemented a pervious street. It's our first curb-to-curb end-to-end street that's entirely pervious.
It -- it's ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 199 pavement, yeah. It's not concrete.
It's actually an alleyway. It's a very small street. I was -- yeah.
Correct. It was the -- it's the pilot, but it's -- it's been proven to be very effective at managing stormwater. And your other question was whether or not pervious paving or concrete can offset stormwater cost. And, yes. Absolutely. That is one way to earn stormwater credits.
Right. But we -- have we given that information to business people that they know when they've been -- they've ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 200 been sticker shocked with that water treatment? And we -- do we -- can we move towards requiring it and promoting as opposed to just knowing about it?
As far as reaching out to the business owners on it, the Water Department does have a manual for how to achieve stormwater credits and staff available to -- to walk business owners through that process.
And is there anything in response from Procurement on using it as opposed to asphalt because I don't -- we can very much lose to take care of -- update -- the cost of petroleum now is -- is going through the roof obviously so.
I understand what you're saying. For the record, Hugh Ortman, Procurement Commissioner. Councilman, we -- we can buy ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 201 whatever Streets wants us to buy. We can't tell Streets what they have to abide by the laws that we're governed -- for which we're governed. So they will tell us we want concrete, and we can pay for the concrete. We will do -- and we'll get specs from that and go out and bid it to the public or bid it to the vendors or contractors, and we will get the lowest response -- responsible price for what they have spent out.
Councilman, are you asking is it cost effective? I thought --
I'm asking if we do life cycle analysis when comparing the cost of one product to another. So, for example, on the face of it, asphalt, petroleum asphalt, may be cheaper, but on a life cycle of it how many times it's ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 202 replaced in a ten-year period as opposed to concrete --
I understand. I understand the question. I think it's a fair question. I think when the Streets Department comes up I think it's more appropriate. We'll make sure they're ready.
So Procurement's position is, if you tell us to buy it, we'll buy it?
Yeah. I think Procurement is going to take the direction from the experts in the area which is -- which is -- which should be the department in this case.
Good question, Council. The Chair recognizes ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 203 Councilman Squilla.
I just wanted -- thank you, Chairman. I just wanted to piggyback on Councilman Johnson when he spoke about the enforcing of littering and short dumping and stuff like that. Do we as a department look at different ways to enforce littering? I mean, I don't know of anybody that I've seen or many people never had a ticket for throwing trash in the street or even picking up after their dog, and these are big quality of life issues that we face. Is there something that the Department is looking at to try to enforce these issues?
Sweep officers actually are in charge of enforcing littering. We can -- I would certainly make sure that Streets ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 204 is prepared to answer that question when they come.
All right. I understand Streets -- I mean, Sweeps does that type of enforcement, but I'm -- like, the individuals that you see throwing trash around, if we have some type of enforcement, you're not going to have a Sweeps officer walk up to a guy and say here's a ticket for throwing the trash. Do they do that?
The short answer is, no. They don't -- don't currently do that, and your point is taken.
Thank you. Councilman Kenny, your light is lit. Are you --
Yeah. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 205
Oh. Wait a minute. I'm sorry. Councilman Green. Out of order.
Thank you. I think I'd like to see a -- find out the cost of paving our streets in gold again like the good old days and see how that goes. So your testimony indicates that 3-1-1 launched a pilot program in the 26th Police District to give officers real-time access to the 3-1-1 system through their mobile data computers. Have you been tracking the referrals made by police officers?
Yeah. That's certainly -- we -- we were tracking the number, the number that were received, but that's being expanded as we speak. So we're in the early phases of extending that city-wide. I'll let Cheryl Johnson talk to the details, but the -- the answer is ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 206 that's exactly what we hope to do. We hope to not only be able to track activity of the part of the police officers but also measure the progress we're making in those areas over time.
So, at this point, we have the input of approximately 2000 service requests since we launched the program.
Yes, for the officers that have been trained and certified by us.
We can get you that information. I don't have that ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 207 here.
Okay. And I -- I assume there's plans to expand that to our -- all of our on-the-street work force, L and I, Sweeps officers, et cetera? Are there plans to expand that?
And I think it's -- it's really two questions. The police have a technology that we saw inside of their vehicles in order to do that directly. The hope would be with the rest of our city employees that they understand how the system works and they're able to do those things, whether that's calling 3-1-1 directly or putting in service requests themselves either online. One of things that we're talking about, and Adel Ebeid has been working on this since he arrived, is doing a 3-1-1 mobile app that as we develop the plan for technology and ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 208 have the new CRM for 3-1-1, we're going to have the ability to utilize the mobile app both in terms of our city employees and our citizens eventually to have the ability to do just that, Councilman, to be able to -- to see things, put in service requests, and actually directly impact the quality of life.
Well, that's good because you went where I was going because for three years I've been asking at every budget hearing --
-- for citizens directly to be able to put this information and in --
Yeah. So how long do you think that that will ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 209 take? I mean, there are -- there are -- many cities have that. There are third-party service providers that do it. With an RFP and $15,00, we could have an app for every citizen today.
And so when are you going to release an RFP for that. Just introduce yourself.
Sure. Adel Ebeid, CIO. Councilman Green, the request was put out roughly six weeks ago. Four vendors have responded. We're in the process right now of short listing the two vendors, and I'm confident that we'll make a selection by the end of April.
That's awesome. That's great news. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 210 I'll -- I know other people have questions. I will come back.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that. Managing Director, does your office -- I know this may be a Procurement department issue -- deal with communications with police and fire vehicles? Is that under your bellywick or that more department-by-department issue?
It's more department by department, but to the extent it falls under public safety, Mike Resnick can address it
One of the things we've been finding is that since the police department has done total NDT communication with auto accidents that it's cut down on the police side from the road towers that are endangering our citizens and ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 211 racing to the scene to tow somebody's car. They are now using fire radio to response to calls for rescue squads to vehicles. Is there some way to go in that same direction in eliminating this information coming out over -- over the air and being done in a rescue squad between 9-1-1 digitally because I'm still trying to figure out ways to box these guys in and kind them out of --
Mike Resnick, Director of Public Safety. As you know, Council, and that's the reason why we started to dispatch over the NDT's so that the towers wouldn't be intercepting the radio communications and wreck chasing to the scenes, and that has cut down on that issue. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 212 The problem is that not all of the Fire Rescue vehicles are equipped -- are similarly equipped. So those calls where the accident is severe enough it requires a medic have to go out on the radio, and that's where they're intercepted. So the plan is then to place NDT terminals into the Fire Rescue vehicles, and then they will be similarly dispatched.
Okay. And the other issue relative to 3-1-1 is the criticism, and I'm not as critical as some relative to the resources that have been provided. The issue of advertising and making people aware of it, have we looked into various alternative forms like -- like billboards? Maybe we can ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 213 do public service billboards, things of that nature, that are -- that are lower in cost but still get a pretty good -- I mean, at our sports complexes on Panavision, on wherever it's possible to get gratis advertising, have we looked at those possibilities.
We've been walking a very fine line with the awareness of around 3-1-1 and our capacity to deal with volume. So when you look at the fact that we've gotten 4 million calls faster than any other major city, the technology system we're utilizing for 3-1-1 is the phase one in the infant -- the infancy phase system. If we were to make everybody in the entire city aware of 3-1-1 and have them all utilize it to the maximum capacity right now, it would crash our system.
Well, ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 214 that's probably not possible. I mean, hypothetically, yes, but we need --
If we were to substantially increase our calls, that would create a problem in terms of our ability to provide service. So what we hope to do is over the next -- to answer your question sustinctly, the answer is, yes. We're looking at not only ways to do some cheat advertising but also how to partner with private partners and public private partnerships to try to get the folks like the Comcasts of the world and like some of the other folks who are out there and have air time, some of the radio stations, to actually do some public service and emphasize 3-1-1. We're having those meetings and conversations now. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 215
What -- how much can you increase participation or use of the -- use of the program and still maintain your ability to service?
I -- you know, I think we can do two things walking side by side, so the plan for the new CRM in our capital budget is there this year. We've engaged the project around having a new CRM and hope to have that long along the way by the end of this fiscal year, you know, leading into the next fiscal. So I think as we -- as we -- as we do both of those walking hand in hand we'll be better positioned by the end of this physical year to -- to do that kind of advertising in a way that think we can handle it from a capacity standpoint.
Thank you. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 216 I'm going to ask a couple of questions, and I'll end up with you guys. I'll kind of let you guys go in a little bit, but I wanted to talk about very briefly something that -- my staff has sent out letters to both you, the Police Commissioner and others in reference to my role as Chair or the Public Safety Committee, and what we wanted to take a look at is the location or geography of criminal acts and to take a look at it with fresh eyes to say, in or around a rec center how many felonies, acts of crimes, have happened in where -- in or around a school? How many arrests and/or assaults have happened within a block or so or on the premises of; how many acts of violence, crimes, committed, whether it's cellphones being stolen or what type of crime happens on or in SEPTA facilities; how many act of crimes at universities, you know, if there's a problem. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 217 There was one university that was a couple of years back it might have even have been a decade ago, that was -- there was one corner singled out as the number one crime corner in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Now these were smaller crimes, you know, robberies purse snatchings those kinds of things, but we were able to take a look at that and do a creative coalition addressing it so what I'd like to do, and I've sent out letters to this affect, and as we get down to the brass taxes of the departments have them address this issue. So I wanted to foreworn you that that letter as gone out and that we are anticipating a response to that. And the reason why is not to have got you moment but closer to we get it moment where if we're deploying resources that's one thing about the Philadelphia, but if we can coordinate ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 218 better with the university police, we can coordinate the SEPTA police, then we need to take a conserted effort and divide that information up among the district council. So I just want to give you ahead up about that and I think that that's an important part. And I wanted to then flip to some of our grants that you are receiving and kind of give me a sense of -- I thought it was about a half dozen of them -- just the source and use of those grants and with an eye towards when then expire and if we are -- if they are worthwhile activities are we planning to reapply, those kinds of things. There was a section that your department went after. Was that you?
There is a Davis Bacon wage monitoring grant for $435,000, PHA Reimburse -- ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 219
And what is -- wait a minute. Before you go, what is that?
Councilman, the Davis Bacon Grant is a -- we have a staff of seven that goes out and monitors city-funded contracts to make certain --
I'm familiar with Davis Bacon, but what's the source of the grant?
I want to know the source and use of the grant and a brief description so that the members might know and what's the ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 220 longivity? Are we going to get it again is it something one time that kind of codification of the funding.
The Davis Bacon Grant is a reoccurring -- well, I should put it this way. It's a reocuring grant from the housing Authority, the Philadelphia Authority. So this is work that our -- that we do to monitor the certified payrolls for projects that go on in the Philadelphia Housing Program.
There's a -- similarly, there's an ARA Prevailing Wage Compliance Monitoring Grant, also federal, in the amount of 50,00. There is a Office of Leadership and Investment which is a local grant for -- ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 221
Councilman, because of the number of grants in our -- in our budged it may -- with your permission, if we can get back to the Chair --
What I would expect, it's not so much -- I mean, just to give us a better sense --
Of whether or not they are recurring grants, is this something that we can anticipate in the five-year plan or is this something that like the stimulus money that is coming to an end --
-- and is that activity worth continuing. And ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 222 if so, how do we plan to replace those funds.
The strateging -- the strategic marketing fees initiative which was related to street furniture I think was projected to generate 1.4 this fiscal year. The operating budget in brief indicates that it's not expected to generate -- it's expected to now generate 0. And this a 0 and next which is disappointing. Can you give us an update on this project.
The Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities will respond.
Good afternoon, Councilman. Andrew Stoffer from the ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 223 Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities in Consultation with the Budget Director that was actually moved we believe the the Public Property's budget. We did very well this, in fact, on our street furniture we brought in for the calendar 1.1 million dollars more than doubling what we had earned in the previous year. We did that by rebidding out -- rebidding that contract bring on a much more agressive contractor who in addition to almost doubling the revenue the City brought in has substantially improved the maintenance of the shelters.
We believe so. But I can tell you that we earned 1.1 million dollars for the calendar year. We can get it for -- the fiscal year is obviously is not complete yet. ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 224
Okay. So in the operating budget, in brief, on , that's incorrect, that's going to be 0 this year in FY13?
Councilman, there's just a reclassification of where we showed that. So you're saying on -- I think we left a line there because that was in the original '12 budget, so that's why it's -- it's not -- it was there in the original so we didn't want to completely not show it.
Right. But I think that it's been moved. I have to double-check on where it's been.
It's in Public Property in something called -- I'm sorry. We can't find it in Public Property. There's something called refunds in property which is 1.1 million, but that was already budgeted ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES 225 also and so we're wondering where this revenue shows up.
Yeah. Let me double-check on that. I do remember that we moved it because we thought it was improperly coded but I can easily check on that and get back to you.