COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, April 27, 2005, 10:50 a.m. BILL 050235 - An Ordinance repealing an Ordinance, approved by the Mayor on January 25, 2005 (Bill No. 041041), entitled "An Ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property and the Director of Commerce, on behalf of the City of Philadelphia.... PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILMAN JUAN F. RAMOS COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILMAN FRANK DI CICCO COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY COUNCILMAN BRIAN J. O'NEILL V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
Good morning, everyone I regret the delay. We now have a quorum, so this will be the public hearing of Committee of the Whole regarding Bill No. 050235, and I would ask Mr. McPherson to please read the title of the bill. MR. McPHERSON: Bill No. 9 050235, an Ordinance repealing an Ordinance 10 approved by the Mayor on January 25, 2005, Bill No. 041041.
Thank you. I would ask the Administration to come forward. It is my understanding that we do have witnesses here who are under a time constraint. I don't know who they are. So I would suggest you call those witnesses, if you so desire, at this point in time.
Good morning, President Verna and members of the Committee. 3 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole My name is Stephanie Naidoff and I am Philadelphia's City representative and Director of Commerce. I'm here today with my colleagues from the Free Library and the Finance Department to provide testimony regarding the proposed bill to repeal the Ordinance approved January 25, 2005 that supports improvements and renovations to the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The expansion and renovation of the Central Library is the last phase of a decade-long effort to improve library facilities throughout the City. Rather than start the library renovation project at the Central Library, which I might add is what most other major cities in America have done, Philadelphia began its renovations with the 53 neighborhood branches. It is only now that we're turning to improvements at the Central Library. When the Central Library opened almost 80 years ago, there were no computers. There was no Internet. There were no CDs and 4 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole DVDs. 2 million items. Today the collection at the Central Library alone is 7 million items, all housed in a building designed for a City-wide collection of 1 million. Some of these 7 million items make up the Central Library special collections. Although these items are housed in the Central Library, they are among the world-class resources the library provides to all City residents. The Rare Book collection contains ancient cuneiform tablets and illuminated manuscripts, some of which have been displayed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Automobile Collection is the largest automobile reference collection in the world outside of Detroit. The Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music is the world's largest lending library of orchestral performance material. These are just some of the 5 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole collections that have attracted the interest of people from all over the world and they are housed at the Central Library for the enjoyment of everyone. An expanded Central Library will help to provide improved access to these materials and provide space for these collections to grow. The building has not been renovated since it was opened and is in dire need of improvements. Some of these improvements include updating the life safety systems, creating 160,000 additional square feet of space for reading and learning, and improvements to support an increase in the number of public access computers from 80 to 300. At a time when the Administration is working to implement the wireless Philadelphia initiative, the Free Library system is already the largest provider of technology and free Internet access in Philadelphia. The Central Library alone receives more than 1,000 requests per day to use the public access computers, and cannot add more computers to 6 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole meet these requests until they have a facility to house them properly. These improvements are necessary to make a building from 1927 meet the 21st century needs of City residents, job seekers, children, students, researchers, businesses and visitors. The expansion of the Central Library is the cornerstone of the Administration's efforts to promote economic development, increase tourism and provide 21st century facilities for all of our City residents. For this reason, the expansion project is highlighted in the Administration's Economic Development Blueprint. The Benjamin Franklin Parkway is the heart of the City's arts and culture community and is the focus of a number of the Administration's economic development initiatives. 6 million annually in economic activity. 7 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole An expanded Central Library building designed by the world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie will be an important civic anchor for other proposed developments, including the additions of the Barnes Collection and the Calder Museum, to the Parkway.
The library expansion also includes plans for a Parkway Pavilion with a cafe, complementing the recent efforts of the Moore College of Art and Design to create a sidewalk cafe and outdoor sculpture garden on the Parkway. These are the types of enhancements we are seeking to better engage the visitors who come to the Parkway. Approximately one-third of the expended library site will be open green space for community use. As it has for Salt Like City and Seattle, the expansion of the Central Library represents the City's investment in its own facilities within the context of the larger economic development picture. A nationwide study has shown that usage of public libraries increases in difficult economic times. As such, an 8 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole upgraded facility for the Central Library will be available to assist the 4,300 job seekers that visit the library annually and use the computers to create resumes and search for employment. At story hours in the Children's Department, as many as 70 children and adults routinely squeeze into a basement space designed for 30. The creation of a Teen Center and plans to take the Children's Room 12 out of the basement and double its size support City efforts to promote early literacy and instill in our children a life-long interest in learning. More space means the library can increase its collection with updated materials to support these goals. Other organizations, including the Annenberg Foundation, the Independence Foundation and the William Penn Foundation recognize the value of an expanded library and have already made significant pledges to this project. With the generous support of these and other institutions, we will maximize the City's investment in this project. 9 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole It is expected that 75 percent of the cost of the renovation and the expansion of the building will come from non-City public funds and other private investment. This public-private partnership is unique to Philadelphia and is a testament to our civic generosity. With almost $18 million in hand, the partnership has created momentum for the capital campaign, something that would be lost if the project was halted now. " While the Administration understands the frustration that comes with hard economic choices for public institutions, the project before the Committee today is a project that we strongly support for current development because we recognize the enormous benefits it can have for City residents. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this important issue, and I will certainly be happy to answer any questions.
I 10 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole believe you indicated that there were other witnesses who had time constraints, so if you want to call them up now, and we can ask questions of you afterward, would be fine.
Good morning. Thank you, Council President Verna and members of City Council, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today. I'm here because I'm supposed to represent the voice of business, so I'm going to dispose of my notes that were prepared for me and just cover a few quick key points so we can get along our way. From a businessman's perspective --
Excuse me, sir. Please identify yourself for the record.
Oh, I'm sorry. Ron Wilson. I'm the President of Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company and I'm also on the 11 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Board of the Free Public Library, and when Stephanie took the position as City Commerce Director, I also assumed the position of Chairman of the Development and Campaign Committee. Thank you, Stephanie.
I would ask the President, in addition to when the witnesses come up to testify, in addition to supplying their name, would they also give us the county in which they reside.
I don't want to limit anybody's testimony or to do anything to stop anybody from speaking, but I don't think anything that Stephanie Naidoff 12 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole said or that these witnesses are going to say, that anyone in this room disagrees with. We don't disagree that the library needs tremendous renovations and expansion. Our whole argument from day one has been the method of financing, whether we borrow the money and pay a couple hundred million dollars over the next 30 years or whether we take it from available funds that we've identified that are available now, without having to go into debt to do it. I mean, all the things that Stephanie explained and talked about, we're all in favor of, and we think it's necessary. However, the Administration just won't budge on its desire to borrow this money as opposed to taking it from available funds at PICA and other places that are readily usable. I mean, certainly your testimony, we want to hear it, but I thought this discussion was about alternative financing, not whether or not the project was worthwhile.
Again, this is not my area of expertise. 13 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
But I do live in Montgomery County, but we're one of the few exceptions in this country in terms of businesses. We bought this business in December of '85. We took our facilities from outside the City, put them in here, created a 750,000-square-foot facility. It's the largest in North America for a soft drink facility. We added about 500 jobs to Philadelphia. So our constituency really does represent a lot of folks from Philadelphia. So we do wear a Philadelphia hat quite a bit. Philadelphia is about percent of 17 our business, and yet we are very 18 Philly-centric in a lot of our charity and civic activities, things like that.
No. That was Frank's. But from a business point of view, I have the task of raising money for this 14 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole endeavor, and I think the dialogue you all created here is good for us, because people have a passion about libraries. I grew up in the inner city. My parents didn't graduate high school. I walked by a library in the first grade and that got me hooked on books, and that's where I'm at today because of libraries, and I bet you a lot of people in this room are the same way. They are important. We don't do a great job quantifying how important they are, so I'm here kind of to represent from the business point of view. If you look at a lot of job growth and creation in the City, it's small business people. It's all over the place. But they need help, and the best thing about the Free Public Library is, it's free. So a lot of these folks go in there and they find ways to get small business loans, they find ways to find employees, they find ways to do D&B analysis on things. Those are all good things, and I guess we're all on the same page there, but in 15 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole terms of how do you find alternative funds? This should not be a zero sum game. This dialogue should create a sense of urgency that people can find a way, within democracy to find a win-win solution here. Delay of the project is my major concern, because it's $5 million a year each year we wait, and if you look at construction costs, cement and steel, things like that, it's a killer. This price tag can be so great, there won't be one. Secondly, we need sales persons for this. I need help. I'm going around everywhere asking people for money and a lot of money, and I personally put in money, and the first dollar I ever put into the library system was to put the wiring and computers in two branch libraries about ten years ago. So we're all on the same page, but we need people to help us in this endeavor and we need people in Council to help us go pitch people and say, How do we get money for this? Because as a business person, getting the facility worth over a hundred million dollars 16 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole and only provide 30 million, it's the best deal in America. As Stephanie said, every single major city has had a major new central library renovation, addition, whatever, and 100 percent was paid by City taxpayer funds. That is not the case here. So we're trying to find ways to find a win-win here. My job is to get money from a lot of folks out there, and I really need your help, and this dialogue could be good if we can find a win-win out there. If it's not, it's going to be really tough on me and other members of the Board to get that money.
Thank you, Madam President, and thank you, Mr. Wilson, and I do appreciate the role your company has played in the economic development of this City and the fact that you chose to stay in Philadelphia and created all those jobs. In your testimony, I think I heard you say that you went to a branch library 17 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole as --
As a kid. I group up in Paterson, New Jersey, inner city environment, and I've been here since '84.
And you said something to the effect that when you passed by that library, you use that library?
I suspect that a majority of the people who work at your plant -- is that the one up on Erie Avenue, is it?
Erie Avenue. -- (continued) are local Philadelphia residents, for the most part?
I'd say it's a mix. I'm not sure exactly, but it's pretty big. 18 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
Would you agree that the majority of those Philadelphia residents who work at your plant probably have either never used the Central Library or, more likely, will not use the Central Library and are more relying on their local branch, as you did probably when you were a kid?
I don't know the answer. I use both, so that's the only experience I have, but it's probably a good guess on your part.
It's somewhat of a guess, but it's more of a reality when you represent neighborhoods, as each of us do, especially the District Council people. We have very diverse neighborhoods. The district I represent runs from Oregon Avenue in South Philadelphia up through the River wards to the lower end of Oxford Circle. Port Richmond, Kensington, Northern Liberties, you name it, I represent those districts, and 19 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole I can tell you from my experience, that the majority of the people in those neighborhoods don't use the Central Library. Now, as Councilman Kenney said, there is no one in this Council who does not believe that the project, the expansion, would be a great thing for the City, a great thing for the Free Library. We passed the legislation back in December unanimously, but we passed it at a time when we were being told that it would not be at the expense of branch libraries. You as a business person make decisions. We're a business here. We have to make decisions. Do we put a huge investment, which will take somewhere from two and a half to three and a half million dollars a year to pay for the debt service to do the upgrades and the expansions for the Central Library, or do we use that money, which would be earmarked for that expansion, to keep neighborhood branch libraries open full time, fully staffed with librarians year in and year out? That's the decision, the business decision, that we 20 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole need to make. Because, in my opinion, the overall population -- and I think it was in the Commerce Director's testimony where she said that the Free Library system -- the question before this Committee today is, "How important is the library to the City's residents and how does this bill help them?" Well, I take that to mean all of the City residents, not just people who either live in close proximity to the Central Library or students who go to the universities, which are important, they're important, who probably are the bulk of the clientele who use that Central Library. For me, when I hear City residents, for me that means Kensington, Port Richmond, North Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, Southwest Philadelphia. So that's the business -- (Applause.)
Elliot, I wish you were just as quick on responses when we gave you -- your testimony, by the way, I don't know if my colleagues -- we just got the 21 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole responses on Elliot Shelkrot's testimony this morning from April 6th. It came into my office at 9:15 a.m. But anyway -- and you can respond on what Elliot is telling you. City residents are across this City, from one end of City Line Avenue to the deep end of South Philadelphia, to Northeast Philadelphia, out to the airport, all our boundaries. Those are the people that we have to make that business decision on. If the Administration would have told us in December that the branch libraries may have a cut in services, that librarians, certified librarians, their hours would either be reduced or they were going to be laid off, it may have been a different business decision on behalf of this Council, and maybe, and maybe, we may have been able to work with the Administration to get the best of both worlds, but we're not in that situation today. (Applause.)
I'm kind of the outside person looking in on this. 22 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
And I'm not being critical of you, because you're a good guy. You come here, you're putting your money where your mouth is, you're doing all the great things, but your decision of whether you stay in Philadelphia, leave Philadelphia is primarily based on a lot of things, moral issues, as well as financial. It's a moral obligation for me to keep branch libraries open in my district. (Applause.)
And I guess a challenge to everybody is, again, how do you all work together to find a win-win solution here? I think in a world where we have less folks, you have to do some reengineering out there. What's the best solution? I wasn't involved in that. All I can say is that there's probably more people go to Central Library than go see professional football games here. More people in America go to libraries than go to all professional sports combined. Eight hundred thousand people go to the Central Library. 23 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole A friend of mine is the Coke bottler out in Salt Lake. They built a library there. They tripled the attendance there. People from the neighborhood started to go there. It got to be a great place. The arts are out in the Parkway now. They're going to explore more of this City when you have this grand facility there. There will be a great cultural benefit to the neighborhoods by having the new magnet out there.
No 14 question. No question. I'm not going to belabor that point, but the schools who are in close proximity to some of the 20 branch libraries that are having hours reduced, the librarians are being replaced by -- I even forgot the title of the people that are replacing them. They don't have the ability to use the Central Library as frequently as they do by walking a block or two from the school. They just don't have that. (Applause.)
I'm 24 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole certain that all of us, all of my colleagues, get requests from schools -- I get them constantly -- asking for some contribution to help pay for a bus so they can take the kids to the zoo for the day or to the Central Library. We can do the best we can. By the way, that money comes out of our campaign accounts, and that's okay, because I don't have a problem and I know none of us have a problem doing that, but you can't do it every week for every school. The economics don't work. We can never raise all that kind of money to do that and everything else we need to do. But you used the statement that it's a great thing, and we agree. As Councilman Kenney said, none of us disagree that the Central Library, renovations and expansions, are proper, they are important and should be done, but not at the expense of the neighborhood libraries. That's the bottom line. (Applause.)
So then to me the 25 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole challenge would be how do we get all the key parties representing business -- I'm not in politics, but how do we get everybody to say, Look, this is a pretty important issue, the Central Library, the branches. How do we find a solution that would satisfy the communities and the general public? That's the challenge you all have.
The general public is the key, I think, to this whole -- the general public, in my mind, speaks to neighborhoods, as well as the Central branch. And how do we get the general public in every single neighborhood, give them the best opportunity, the maximum amount of hours and the best staffing that we could provide for them, is paramount, in my mind, to this whole issue, but, again, not at the expense of those issues for the Central Library. And I don't think this is that big of a deal for us to figure out. If the private sector is going to be raising $80 million, whatever it is, towards the expansion, in the scheme of things, if we 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole can convince the Governor, who sometimes I'm concerned about being part of that party that he supposedly represents, and the Mayor, who claims to be a neighborhood Mayor, who is closing libraries and closing fire stations, can figure out how to raise $5 million annually, in the scheme of things, it's not a big deal. We shouldn't even be here today. (Applause.)
And, Councilman, we have offered the Administration to look at alternate financing. Mr. Wilson, I think there are a number of Council people that would like to be recognized. And, Councilman Kenney, I assume that you will talk about the alternate options.
I have a question, business question, for this person. I'd like to get his view.
Thank you, Madam President. 27 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole First of all, I want to apologize that you have to go through this. I mean, Councilman DiCicco is doing his job and sometimes it looks as if we're not appreciative of the business community and their efforts, and the fact that you're from Montgomery County doesn't bother me at all, because I view this library as a regional asset for everyone in the region. But I guess we have a solution at our fingertips. We have two available sources of dollars. One is $10 million that we could access from Act 71 monies that are sitting in an account. Act 71 was reimbursement from the state for prison construction. What a wonderfully symbolic gesture that would be to use money that was used to build prisons to renovate or help renovate and expand our library. That would be a wonderful symbolic gesture. The other is money that's available from PICA proceeds that's available for the improvement of public buildings that exist in Philadelphia for life safety and other issues. 28 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole So the existing building of the Free Library, Central Library, is a perfect opportunity to use those proceeds to upgrade the life safety and health systems of that building. Would you, as a business person, think it prudent for us to borrow, to finance, $30 million and to pay the debt service over 30 years when we have two available sources of money right now at our fingertips that could be used to provide the $30 million that you need and that the library needs to expand and to renovate and be able to set aside the debt service we'd be paying for the borrowing to keep the neighborhood branches open and fully staffed? To me, as a business person, it seems insane to borrow $30 million, pay it off over 30 years when we have $30 million at our fingertips ready to be used for this important project. Would you borrow 30 million and pay it over 30 years?
Again, this is not my turf, so -- 29 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
-- if there was a choice between free and interest, you know the answer, but I don't know are those real options. Again, you folks are going to deal with the Administration on that.
What I would appreciate the business community doing in an effort to get this moving and to get us all enthusiastically behind it is to say, Mayor, perhaps you should look at those two sources of money. Wouldn't it be nice to pay for some of the library expansion out of funds set aside to build prisons? Wouldn't it be nice to improve the health and safety of the existing library systems by using PICA money that's sitting in an account somewhere doing nothing for no one? And maybe we shouldn't borrow the money and pay it back over 30 years at an exorbitant rate when we have the money available. That would be a help for us, because I believe, frankly, that the cuts that we're 30 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole experiencing now or being proposed now, libraries, rec centers, fire houses and the like, were done in a way to make people angry because the Mayor is angry about what we did with tax cuts last year. So he figured this budget, let me send something over that's going to really stir them up over there and give them some grief. We'll deal with that. And that's the way this Administration works, and that's fine. I don't think it gets us anywhere in a progressive way. There are other areas in this government to cut besides libraries, rec centers and fire houses, but that's his decision and we'll fight that battle. But you could help us by going to the Administration and saying, Why don't you really seriously look at this method of funding, maybe we don't have to borrow 30 million and pay it back over 30 years. That would be a help, if you could. And, again, I want to thank you for all -- I'm sorry. I apologize, because I'm speaking through someone's back. I do want to thank you for your 31 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole efforts, your continued efforts. Again, I believe this is a regional asset. I think it could be a tourist attraction. When I go to New York, I stop by to see the Rose Room, the New York City Library. I mean, it's a kind of a place that you want to bring tourists and people to. And we want to do it. We just don't want to do it at the expense of borrowing money in an insane effort which results in the closure of facilities that we all think are important also. So you could be helpful in helping us get that message across.
I'll help that, and then when you guys resolve that issue, will you help me get some contributions from marketplace? That would be great.
And help us with some tax reform. That would be another step in the right direction. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman 32 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Cohen.
Unfortunately, I have to leave for a short period of time, but I wanted to say --
-- in the interest of business, the libraries would have been better for us and for the City of Philadelphia if your emphasis were on the importance of libraries, the young children in the neighborhoods. That's where we're expecting growth in the future. That's where we're expecting the real strength and power of a strong Philadelphia. It's important for business, but it's much more important for the neighborhoods. And to us, it seems clear, neighborhoods are being sacrificed, they're being told while education is important, it's 33 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole not as important as making sure the big people, the influential people, can get to the main library and get what they need, you will have to suffer until sometime in the future. And that's the part that's disappointing about what you said. In your statement, you did not speak to the needs of the neighborhoods, of the people that are going to be the future Philadelphians that chart the course for the City. (Applause.)
And my vote, if there is a vote, Madam, unless there is some action that develops from this meeting to indicate that there's going to be an emphasis to get this thing straight on the libraries, putting children and neighborhoods first and then all other needs second, unless there's steps taken in that direction, I will be supporting and my vote should be cast for Councilman DiCicco's ordinance. (Applause.)
Council 34 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole President?
Yes, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kelly.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Wilson, I just want to congratulate you for your efforts and all of the interest that you're showing for our libraries in Philadelphia. I think it's very commendable. I think your efforts are, I think, well deserved, but I have a problem and I have a -- probably my question is to Mr. Shelkrot. I think that what we have to do -- and I think Councilman DiCicco addressed this situation. It was more or less, the state has been cutting back on the libraries for the last few years, and I would like to know what you have been doing or what your associates have been doing to try to convince the Governor, the legislators, or whoever, to try to restore as much of that funding as possible. 35 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Because, again, with Councilman DiCicco, if we could restore the funding that the state has been cutting and this Administration can restore the cuts that the City has made or plans to make, I think that we wouldn't be sitting here today, because you would have full funding, you wouldn't be laying off any librarians, you would have full staffing and you would have libraries open at their normal times, as they should be. In fact, I am one that would prefer the libraries to be open staying longer -- or open longer than what they are. So I just want to know what efforts have been made, especially to our state government.
There have been -- that's a very good question, because there's no question that part of this problem has to do with the reduction in state money for libraries, and it was two and a half years ago when the proposal in Harrisburg was to cut library support in half. After a great deal of effort from 36 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole communities all over the state and a very strong effort from the Friends, the staff in leadership roles here in Philadelphia, contacts were made with all of the legislators, meetings were held with the legislators from Philadelphia. There were bus loads of people who went to join the rest of the state when they met in Harrisburg to push for this money, and thousands of letters and communications were received by the legislators and the Governor. As a matter of fact, to the point where some of our state senators said they've never seen so many letters on any single issue. That resulted in a slight increase from that 50 percent cut that was proposed. We are now seeing another slight increase in the Governor's budget, which is being challenged to make it more.
Okay. The slight increase is -- I'm just trying to find that number. 37 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole It's a two and a half percent increase, which only pushes us up from about 4 million from the state, just two and a half 5 percent up from that, when the state's budget 6 three years ago was over $9 million for libraries.
So you're saying it's $6 million, would be the total --
-- for 2006? So it's still under $3 million than what it was three years ago?
That's correct. I think the exact numbers were two and a half million dollars.
Well, this is the problem that I have with it, is that the City Administration is asked, of course, to do all that we can to restore not only the cuts in Administration but to put you back in probably financially a much better position than you are today. In other words, I think somewhere along the line, the state is cutting you, 38 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole we're asked to restore those cuts by the City. In other words, it's the City that's making up the loss here, and I think the state is sort of just not doing much at all. And I don't think it's fair to ask us in this Council to do all we can to restore the cuts so you could operate the libraries as efficiently as you have been and just letting the state do whatever they want to do. And I think that's one of the things that I would like to see, that if we're going to do something, I think that the state also has a responsibility to contribute and to make sure that our libraries in Philadelphia are staying open the way they should stay open and being staffed the way they should be staffed. In going along with Councilman DiCicco, I think he's made a good point, that somehow or other that -- and I think Councilman Kenney has an excellent suggestion, that if there's better ways of financing or actually obtaining the money rather than borrowing the money, I think that three and a half million dollars could go a long way in 39 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole restoring those cuts.
We have a gentleman here who has a time constraint. We'd like for him to make his remarks so that he can leave and then the Council members will come back to have questions for you. Yes. Would you identify yourself for the record, please.
Yes. My name is Alec Kerr. Good morning and thank you very much for altering the schedule to allow me to testify. I'm here today as the immediate past Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Free Library and a current member of the Board, and for the benefit of Councilman DiCicco, I live in Philadelphia. I've lived here for more than 30 years. I'm in the Northwest part of the City. I've raised my family here and I've been using public libraries for a long time.
And the Central Library. I use both. 40 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole And what I think one of the key factors we have to focus on -- and I'm going to try not to stray from my prepared remarks too much -- is that there is an inevitable inner connection between the Central Library project that is before this City Council and the neighborhood branches. This City, this library system did a wonderful thing starting ten years ago, very different from many other cities, which went and did the Central Library first and paid no 13 attention to the branches. The wisdom of a lot of people brighter than I am, but I got some credit because I was Chair of the Board during most of the branch renovation project. We went out and did the branches first. It was a unique public-private partnership throughout the country. People came and studied it, because we raised $35 million from the citizens, from the corporations, from the foundations of this region, and this Council and City put in $25 million, and together we made a difference and changed lives. 41 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole I visited every branch library before the renovations and after the renovations. I got to see all of your districts in a way that I never had before, and it was a true privilege. I got to see branch librarians at work in their neighborhoods. And, yes, I believe branch librarians make a difference. They're extraordinary public servants and they are -- (Applause.)
-- vital to our system, but there is a direct connection with the Central Library. The Central Library project is at the hub of the system. It's the keystone, if you will. We have already started some momentum, and this Council -- I will not go -- I have about two pages of remarks here that go to exactly what Councilman Kenney and Secretary Naidoff and everybody said, and I won't burden the record with that, other than we need it, it's critical. The collections, some of the ones that she didn't mention, like the Theatre 42 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Collection, the Children's Collection -- I'm sorry Councilman Cohen isn't here -- that Central Library has the finest Children's Collection of books outside of the Library of Congress. It's truly extraordinary. And you can't get around in the Central Library. It's so antiquated. It's so -- you know, if you go back and look at what Lehigh Library was before the renovations, well, Central Library is just as bad. It's overcrowded. You can't use it. The systems don't work, and we need to do this project. And how you finance it, I'm not a financing expert, but what I do know is that if this bill is passed and the City withdraws its support, we're not going to be able to do any of the fund-raising. What is key to our progress is that the City is in the game. Your $30 million is on the table, and that's what allows us to go out and start this public-private partnership all over again. And we want to do it, and this City needs it. And if you withdraw that funding now, we're 43 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole dead. It's not going to happen, and that's what's the tragedy here. Now, there's got to be some way to get the branches open longer, to have people doing their jobs and all the rest of it, but if you stop this project, you're not going to have effective branch libraries without a Central Library that works. It is key to the system, and that's what the point that I think maybe we're missing. I want to extend -- have my remarks been submitted? What I was going to say is, I apologize on behalf of our current Board Chair, Former Mayor W. Wilson Goode, Sr. He was unable to be here today. He very much wanted to be here. I have a quote that I'm supposed to read from him. I don't know if it's part of the record before or not, but out of deference to him, I'm going to at least read it so that somebody can say I did what I was supposed to do. And this is a quote that I think was in some of his recent remarks, perhaps to this 44 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Council. "A great City needs a great Central Library. And great doesn't mean bigger. Great doesn't mean only repairing the broken windows, fallen plaster and adding more shelving for material. It means recognizing that Central Libraries today reflect the best aspiration of a city. They are vehicles for civic engagement, for breaking down barriers between cultures. "They have become virtual town halls with discussions, lectures, meetings. City after city has invested in their Central Library. "They have become the heartbeat of their cities, a focus for intellectual, civic and economic growth. For us the New Central Library will be the People's Place on a revitalized Ben Franklin Parkway," close quote. So my plea to this Council is, find a way to do both, but we cannot abandon this Central Library project. And my concern is, if you take the $30 million off the table, 45 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole that's the end. Thank you for your courtesy in listening to me and for allowing me to go before some of the others here today. I really appreciate the opportunity, and it's been a privilege, I have to say, for the last years to be on the Board of this great 9 library and to have served as Chair. 10
And 11 we certainly appreciate all the work that you 12 have done. 13 The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Before Mr. Kerr leaves, I would ask you, similar to what I've asked the last witness, is to perhaps attempt to make a forceful argument, as you've made here to us, to the Administration on the desire that this body has to find the money for your needs somewhere else other than financing it over 30 years, which creates, as you can hear from the testimony here, the need to pay debt service, which could be applied to keeping the branches 46 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole open and staffed fully.
I've been pretty consistent in my views. I will tell you one of the reasons I went to law school is, I was promised there was no math. So financing is -- I'm a litigator. I'm not a finance expert, and I don't know -- I can't tell you how to do it. I just know we have to do both. If we abandon one in favor of the other, we have a problem.
We can do both, but, again, our calls to this Administration to look at this have gone totally -- have been totally ignored. Perhaps the business community and the activists who want to get this done can get through to them, because we certainly can't.
Yes. 47 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Good morning, Elliot. I just want to ask you a question. I know that you were lobbying with the library association across the state for funding for libraries.
Have you sought to creatively lobby solely for Philadelphia? Because while our state representatives here in Philadelphia might be prone to support trying to fund and help Philadelphia's library, they may not be -- and I can't speak for them. I don't know the politics of Harrisburg -- be so inclined to go really strongly for state-wide funding or across-the-state funding. What have you done to reach out to our local legislators to say to them, Philadelphia needs funding?
There is not a legislator in the City that I have not talked with. Well, there may be some that I tried to 48 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole get a meeting with and it didn't work out, but all of the leadership from Philadelphia and many, many more who are from Philadelphia, I have talked with. Board members have talked with or sent letters and communications to. The challenge, they -- it is difficult. There is a formula the way it's divided up among different parts of the state. We do get between 10 and percent of the 11 state-wide allocation. Of course, that's 12 approximately our population as a percentage. They have offered support in the way of legislative initiative grants, one-time grants each year, and those have been helpful for many things, but you can't hire staff based on one-time legislative initiative grants, because they are not the kind of things that are permanent and continue to come forward. And besides, the total amount was nothing like -- came nowhere near the amount of the overall cut in state money. But specifically, we have worked with our state legislators very closely and, you know, Dwight Evans, Senator Fumo and many, 49 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole many more, and they have helped. I believe that some of the increases that were applied were a result of their hard work, and we continue to do that.
You're welcome. I think we went off course. Mr. Jannetti, are you going to testify and then we will have questions and answers?
Thank you, Madam President. I want to excuse myself from this very important hearing. I have cancelled a very important meeting with the great people of the Great Northeast and I have to run up there, because I can't cancel them twice. They might get mad at me. But I wanted to just state for the record -- can you permit me, Madam? 50 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
I commend my colleague and friend, Councilman DiCicco, for bringing this issue up, because I think we're all very disheartened after we voted. All 11 members of this Council voted to go on ahead 12 and float the bond and get this new library 13 going, but we were disheartened by some of the 14 statements we heard from the Library Director 15 and other folks. It seems like things were 16 not -- we're not in sync, especially because we have neighborhood libraries that need to be kept open. However, I am not ready to go down the path of eliminating this project. We need both. We need this library to go up and we also need for our local branches to be kept open, and I have gone on record in my Committee of Labor and Civil Service public hearings that we will be fighting very, very, 51 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole very hard here to make sure that these library branches are kept open. So in that regard, I'm very glad that Councilman DiCicco has brought this at this level where we cannot permit a new library with all this money that we're going to be having to pay back to be done at the expense of our local libraries. Nevertheless, I believe that we need to proceed with the ordinance that we did approve on January the 25th. So I want you at this time, Madam President -- I hope this is more of a leverage for us to make sure that this library continues to go as it was approved by this Council, but also that our neighborhood libraries will be kept open. So I'll be voting no in this Committee in regards to the appeal. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. I'm sorry. Mr. Jannetti, are you next to testify? 52 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
I have said repeatedly, Councilman Ramos, that if the Administration would abandon this plan to reduce the number of hours and laying off librarians, that I would withdraw this bill. I've said that at least on two or three occasions over the last two, three weeks, whenever I introduced the bill in the first place, and I've not received any response back from the Administration. And I appreciate your understanding of the situation and the fact that you do have an opinion, but I think the worst thing we can do is use the leverage -- you used leverage in your statement. If you vote no and it's off the table, there is no leverage. So I just wanted to make that known to you, that I did publicly announce that I would withdraw this bill if we get guarantees that libraries will be restored back to where they were and librarians who either have been laid off or 53 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole are planned to be laid off were not laid off. Let's go back to where we were and I'll withdraw the bill.
And we have never been informed as to why the alternative funding sources are not feasible.
That is the big issue. Mr. Jannetti, who is going to testify next?
Let me testify briefly and then Mr. Jannetti will have responses. The testimony that I submitted goes through a lot of the facts pointing out how the children of Philadelphia, as well as the adults of Philadelphia use the Central Library extensively. I'm not going to review that. You can read that. I don't need to review it in oral testimony, because it is understood. I do want to say that we're all in favor, and I know Council is in favor, of this project. They have voted for it. And I want 54 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole to say also that we all believe in the branch libraries. We want branch libraries that are fully staffed, and we share your commitment. We will work to make that happen, but this is in a difficult time. We will work to make that happen in the future, but let's not take the Central Library and make it into a scapegoat. It can't be. It can't be a sacrificial lamb, more to the point. It's vital for the well-being of the City. It's vital for the well-being of the branches. And you've all been involved in fund-raising, and this is what was said before, and you know that once a momentum has been created, you can't stop. And as others have said many times, other projects for this City were built during times of economic stress, and indeed we're one of the last cities to get a Central Library moving. I know we're all in favor of the Central Library, and I just urge us to stay the course and fulfill this vision for Philadelphia. Thank you.
I 55 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole know that Councilman Rizzo is next, but I could just tell that Councilman DiCicco wants to respond to some of your comments.
Thank you, Madam President. I actually reach a point in hearings, not only this hearing, where I get tired of hearing myself, but I don't want people to think that I'm playing up to the media, grandstanding, but the only way we can get our message across is to continually hammer out these issues. I do have a number of questions, which I'll hold later, but to suggest that this Council and this legislation is in some way holding the Central Library or making it a scapegoat I think is an insult. I think the -- (Applause.)
I think, if anything, it's the neighborhoods and their branches that are being used as the scapegoats, because it's all about -- (Applause.) 56 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
It's all about this so-called economic development. And I can go on for hours. You want to talk about economic development? No disrespect to the library system or the Central Library, they're cutting money to the Art Museum, but I know every dollar we invest in the Art Museum gives us $4 back in return. So if you want to talk business, we don't get that return in dollars from the library system, although we all want the library. So don't come in here, Elliot, and say -- Mr. Shelkrot, and say to us that we're using the library -- we're being used as scapegoats, because the Mayor, as Councilman Kenney said, doesn't want tax reform. He wants an increase in the parking tax. Some of us have sent the signal to him that we're willing to at least talk about it, and all we get is the same stuff, cut fire stations, cut libraries, no more interest in neighborhoods, because he's not running again. We're all running again. I know I'm going to run again. Does that limit me to my 57 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole contributions now that I announced? But we're not using this as a scapegoat. We didn't create this problem. We supported it in December wholeheartedly. There were glowing remarks about it, but we got it stuck to us when we find out that branch libraries are getting their hours reduced and librarians are going out the door. Mr. Kerr, who I think has left, said he was part of this whole plan ten years ago for the renovations to branch libraries, and that's a wonderful thing. I would ask him, if this plan goes forward and the reduction in the librarians, to visit some of those libraries, if they're open when he gets there. He won't see those librarians. So all that money and all that time and effort was put into something that we're not going to use anymore. (Applause.)
It doesn't make sense. And I'll get into your testimony. I appreciate the opportunity to comment, because you're right, I was ready to 58 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole jump out of my skin on that one. And I'll come back with some other comments. Thank you.
Very well. Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Shelkrot, can you provide to the Chair any official communications to the state government, either from yourself or the President of the Board? I've talked to some state legislators that told me that you indicated when the budget cuts were presented to you, that you could live with them.
You never said that you thought that you could live with the reduction in the state budget?
Other than 59 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole some visits, what do you have in writing to protest the budget cuts?
I absolutely wrote to the Governor, many times. And I asked Board members in my role as leadership, I asked Board members and many others. I encouraged the Friends in their efforts. We were very concerned about the state cuts and we were very active, not only with the state association but individually on those. I mean, I myself and others at the library.
Well, 60 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole there's a feeling out there among some of the members in Harrisburg that the library thought that they could work themselves through the budget cuts. And I don't want to name names, but we'll get to that point. I'm just curious what the effort was, and it would be interesting to have some exhibits for our record what was done to object to any potential or rumored of -- you knew that there were going to be cuts, so I would be curious how quickly we reacted to those cuts. And then when you got the restored -- then you got some of that money restored, was that for Philadelphia, was that state-wide and you just got restored on a percentage of the rest of the state? How did that work?
Okay. No. We got our percentage through the various formulas. There are about five different formulas that include us, and we got -- you know, the appropriation is distributed according to the law and we got the distribution that is according to the law, which meant the increases that we got. 61 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole But I'm dumbfounded that anybody could say that we were not active, extremely active, in getting that money restored.
I'd like to go back to those individuals and prove them wrong, so help me and provide me with some documents that you have expressing to the Governor, to the leadership in Harrisburg, to the Budget Director, whoever that you communicated with, to say, Hey, look, we can't live with this. Because, again, I've been told that the objection was very, very quiet.
You should ask Senator Kitchen how quiet was. I mean, you should ask Senator Fumo how quiet was. You should ask Senator Stack. I can go through name after name after name.
I'm not suggesting I'm right. Show me what you did in writing to protest that.
I will. A lot of that kind of work goes on one to one, but I will get all the documentation I can find --
Well, I 62 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole think something significant.
-- in writing as well as calendar -- whatever we can find, we will provide.
I'm not looking for any private conversations. I'm just saying that something this significant would have warranted a letter to the Governor.
I will be happy to provide you with all of the documentation I did.
By the way, that's Councilman DiCicco. I'm Rizzo. And Councilman DiCicco did not answer these questions that are on this report that you provided today about the number of computers. So if you could get that record straight.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, 63 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Madam Chair. I'll be brief. Good morning, Mr. Shelkrot. If I'm referring to the same document that Councilman Rizzo was just talking about, the report dated April 26, 2005, I think we received just somewhere in the past hours, I need to ask 8 you just a couple questions about that 9 document. Do you have a copy? 10
, I 12 believe I did ask the question with regard to, 13 and other members did as well, with regard to 14 alternative plans. I was left with the 15 impression during the regular budget hearing 16 when you were here a couple weeks ago when we 17 asked about how to get service back to the 18 level where it was in January, I thought the 19 response was $1.5 million. In the report 20 here, we're now reading it says 1.5 million 21 plus $450,000 in benefits. 22 So, first, can you tell me what has 23 changed over the past couple weeks and why is 24 there a discrepancy?
Well, the 64 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole discrepancy is quite simple. What I was referring to is the amount of money that needs to be applied to our budget, but in the process of submitting our responses and in the administrative review that went on, it was decided that we should add on the amount that it cost in other parts of the City's budget, which means the 450 for benefits. But the addition to our line item is still that one and a half.
Okay. Well, we don't have to have that argument at the moment, but I guess if I ask you how much it costs to get back to a certain point, obviously public employees get benefits, so I would only ask if we could get a clear answer that encompasses what it takes to bring service levels back to a certain point, it would just be helpful that the response is full, because it's not just about salaries. I mean, of course the public employees are going to get benefits. I mean, did you not understand the question at the time?
Yes. No; I 65 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole understand the question. I understand what you're saying now. We will be happy to. I mean, you know in the budget that we submit, however, I don't believe the fringe benefits are part of our line item. But if you would like that in the future, I can make sure that happens.
I believe the Managing Director would like to respond to that. Please identify yourself for the record.
Good morning, President Verna. I'm Pedro Ramos. I'm Managing Director. And I think, Councilman Nutter, that we can probably provide you that answer now, if you permit Mr. Shelkrot and I to just walk you through what the layers are from the number that you heard before, the 1.5, what that represents and I think step you through without a whole lot of talking, step you through up to what -- at least close to what I think the number that I think you're asking 66 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole for.
Well, under any other circumstance, I would love to do that, and if I have the opportunity, I'd like to do that at another point in time. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to leave in a few minutes.
Well, if I may, because you did ask the question and we're prepared to answer.
Let me finish. But part of the issue here is, in this process, I think if we ask someone what it costs to bring a service back to a certain level, then the answer shouldn't change and the answer should encompass what the real number is. So for months, the answer has been $1.5 million. Now we get a report that says, well, it's 1.5, plus close to half a mill on benefits.
Councilman Nutter, I think that what Mr. Shelkrot is saying is that when he answered that question, he 67 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole answered the impact on his budget. He did not answer what the cost to the City would be, since the fringe benefits for the library are carried elsewhere, not in his budget but in the general -- elsewhere in the General Fund. So that in fact the $1.5 million in the library budget in fact represents a third more when you factor in the fringe benefits. So that there is -- that restoring the 1.5 really is restoring 1.9 million, and that also assumes that the two branch libraries and the regional branch library that are currently closed for renovations wouldn't reopen. So that I would just say that that number --
If they're closed for renovations, you're planning to reopen them anyway.
They're not 68 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole a function of the $1.5 million.
This number did not reflect the cost. I'm just trying to clarify what the number meant.
But that question has nothing to do with those, because if they were closed for renovation, I think a reasonable person would assume that they're going to reopen, regardless of express branches or anything else. They have nothing to do with this conversation.
Well, I believe that that's why I want to make it clear. I don't want that -- I don't want there to be miscommunication. The 1.5 number you heard --
I think it's 1.9 plus 1.3. 3.2 to do -- to restore the 1.5 with benefits, and if you were to open the three libraries that are currently closed, that number is 3.2 to the City even though it's a -- 69 1 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
On the low numbers, I'm really good at the math. So I understand 1.9 and 1.3 is 3.2. I got that. Let's forget about the 1.5 discussion for the moment.
Were you planning to reopen the branches that were closed as a result of renovations or not? Yes or no?
Under the plan that was submitted by the library and the Administration, those libraries would have -- those buildings would have opened and would have been staffed. All 49 branch libraries would have been open. Twenty of them would have been open shorter days.
I understand that. So all I'm suggesting to you is, it does provide confusion to the record to add in a couple branches that are presently closed for renovations to now bring them up in the context of if we add back the 1.5 or now 1.9, you have to add in the other two, because 70 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole you were going to do that anyway by your own statement.
They were going to be done in the library's plan and the Administration's submission through the reallocation of resources that are part of that plan.
Fine. Mr. Shelkrot, when you move into , you now have No. 2, which is 2.7 million plus $800,000 in benefits. That's your second option?
In order to get the branches and everything back to where we were in January --
I'm on No. 2 now. 71 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
Okay. Then if we are going to put the staff in the two libraries, two branches, and regionals, which we want to do, that costs additional money, 2.7 plus benefits.
These are the two branches that have been closed for repairs? Are we still talking about those?
Councilman Nutter, if you'd look at it as cost to the City, as you're trying to do, compare apples to apples, the next step here is 3 --
But the problem with this discussion is, it's not an apples-to-apples discussion, because you want to talk about places that are presently closed for other reasons and now add them into discussion. That's my problem with this discussion. It's not an apples-to-apples 72 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole discussion, because those branches are affected by other things that have nothing to do with the current conversation, zero.
The budget submitted included those branches and that regional library opening. What has confused the discussion is the singling out of the earlier answer about the $1.5 million impact to the library budget, which was --
Well, I didn't make up the figure. The figure was given in open testimony. I asked the question, how much does it cost to take us back to where we were in January. Answer, 1.5.
And now we're trying to bring clarity to what the answer is for the whole City, and the answer for the whole City is --
Well, didn't you think my question was about the whole City? The library system is a part of the City of Philadelphia. I have not bifurcated it from the rest of the City in 73 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole some manner that would suggest that it's an independent entity that somehow gets its benefits from one place but its personnel from another place. I mean, what in the hell kind of response is that? (Applause.)
Councilman, I suspect that at the time that Mr. Shelkrot answered it, it was an answer to the question he heard as he understood it as compared to the current --
The question was, how do you bring people back to where we were. Of course we know people get benefits.
Excuse me. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney for a point of information.
I would assume that when that question was asked, 74 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole there was someone from the Finance Department that was sitting in the audience, because I see them here every hearing. Don't you think it would have been appropriate for someone from the Finance Department to get up and say, Excuse me, Mr. Shelkrot, you're misspeaking here, it's not 1.5, it's 1.9? What's the sense of having them here if they can't correct the record as they're here? (Applause.)
Let's go to No. 2, where we were. So here the real answer is 3.5?
And where are those 11 branches? 75 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
Those are the branches -- I can get the list for that. I don't have it off the top of my head, but those are the branches that were open and have been open all this year. We were trying to get back to January --
What are they? It's only of them. Which ones are 10 they? 11
I don't have that. We can get that for you shortly. I did not know that we were going in-depth on this testimony. I brought material here related to the Central Library. I didn't --
No. I'm not playing either. The only reason I don't have it with me is because I did not --
You sent this document somewhere in the last hours 23 from a hearing on April 6th. Now, you sent it 24 over here because you knew that these issues would come up today. Do not play with me. 76 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole You knew these issues would come up today. That's why the memo came over today and has the details in it. So you did not think that somehow some way that a bill that is about repealing the money for the expansion of Central inextricably tied to money for branches, that somehow a branch discussion was not going to come up and that if you put in the document that 11 branches are going to be open for six days a week, that somebody in this chamber is not going to ask you which 11 they are? Did you really think that?
I want an answer from Mr. Shelkrot. Did you really think that?
We have it. My staff brought the information and they're digging it up.
I'm glad you came here today. Mr. Shelkrot, will you answer my 77 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole question, please?
Your question was put in a negative, so I'm trying to figure whether I say yes or no. 6
I framed the question the way I wanted to frame it. Did you think that someone wasn't going to ask you what branches were going to be open 10 based on your document? 11
It's awful hard for me to say why, why I didn't think it. If I had thought of why I didn't think it, I would have thought of it. I don't know how to answer that. It was not something I did deliberately.
You can answer it any way you want, but you've been around for a little while. You didn't just get this gig. You've been in many City Council public hearings. This is an issue of great concern to members. 78 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Somehow some way, whether yourself or somebody in the operation had to think if we tell them branches are going to be open, 5 the next natural question is which ones are 6 they. So whether you have them or the 7 Managing Director has them. We can move on. 8 I don't know why you thought what 9 you thought or didn't think or how you thought 10 it, or whatever the case may be, but you 11 didn't think about it, which may be indicative of why we are where we are in the first place. What are the 11 branches?
Councilman Nutter, if you indulge us a few more minutes, we'll pull the list and we'll share it with you as it's produced, in a matter of minutes.
All right. So then if we go to No. 3, the real number for No. 3 is 3.5 plus 625. Is that the answer to that one?
Okay. So at the end of the road, the number is 79 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole 4,125,000?
4.1 million with all 49 branches open at least four hours on Saturdays compared to the option above it, which is the --
I do have a list here of the branches that are open on Saturdays as of January 11th.
The Andorra branch, the Bustleton branch, the Drexel branch, the Overbrook branch, South Philadelphia branch, Walnut West branch, Welsh Road branch, West Oak Lane branch, the newest branch, the Widener branch, and the Chestnut Hill branch.
Please submit that in writing to the Chair. 80 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
It had -- well, Kevin, would you like to... How were the 11 branches determined for being open on Saturday?
Good afternoon. My name is Kevin Vaughan. I'm the Associate Director of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The Director of Public Services has responsibility for assigning Saturday service to branches, and the Director of Public Services for the Free Library of Philadelphia looked at all of the City and tried to spread out across the City a variety of afternoon branches so that in each area of the City people had the chance to get afternoon service in addition to getting it at the regional 81 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole libraries and at Central. So how they selected them were for geographic diversity and making sure that everyone had the opportunity to get to an afternoon branch, Saturday afternoon branch.
-- showing those branches, I would appreciate it. My last question is, given the financial situation both for your budget as well as it relates to fringe benefits for the City, what efforts were made prior to the implementation or the proposed implementation of the savaging of the branches to four 18 hours a day, what efforts were made with 19 regard to volunteer or community recruitment 20 to supplement efforts at those libraries in an effort to not require such a drastic negative effect on services?
We have a very, very extensive volunteer program throughout the library, and one of our concerns is to 82 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole make sure that that volunteer effort does not go down. There are 92,000 hours a year of volunteer effort. To have volunteers open libraries, to have keys distributed among volunteers, to --
So we looked at that. We did not make an effort to recruit more volunteers, but we looked closely at what we could do with staff that would not affect the payroll, as well as with existing staff to see how that could be done.
Did you look at any opportunities to reach out to the Friends groups or the volunteer network about reallocation of what in some instances I'm sure is an abundance of volunteer activity in some places and possibly a shortage in others? Did you look at how you might try to encourage some redistribution of volunteers across the City to help prevent going to four hours a day? Did you do any of that before you put together the 20-hour plan? 83 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
We considered that, and we decided that that was not the wise thing to do. It was not good for the branch --
It was wiser to just cut the hours to four hours a day? That was wiser?
Because of the kind of training, the kind of experience, the kind of --
You think that denying people in Philadelphia, whether they are young or slightly older or somewhere in between, you think that denying them access to a library in the morning or in the late afternoon or early evening is better than to try to figure out some way through citizen effort, volunteer effort, Friends groups and 84 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole the like to extend those hours as much as possible?
I understand you considered it, and then you decided it was wiser to do what you've now proposed to do.
Yes. Based on the judgment of the senior staff and working closely with the Administration, that was not a feasible thing to do.
The Administration, but not the people who work in the libraries?
The Administration, but not the people who actually work in the libraries? Because you've already testified a couple weeks ago that you didn't work with them, right? I want an answer.
Did we work with 85 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole them? No, we did not work with the members of the unions who would be affected by it.
You thought that was a part of the wise plan? That was wiser?
We were under the very strict advice, if not orders, from the City's Labor Relations department to not discuss the possibility or not discuss the number of layoffs and the impact that it would have with --
Well, maybe your initial conversation would not have been about layoffs. Maybe your initial conversations would have been, We have a situation, we're trying to figure it out, we need your best ideas and suggestions and proposals in order to avoid layoffs and cutbacks in services and the disruption to the network throughout the City and the denial of library services from real librarians in these places, we need a partnership here that says this is where we are, this is where we're trying to stay. 86 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole (Applause.)
That would have been wiser. That would have been wiser, not what you did. Do you have anything else you want to tell me?
Councilman, in regards to volunteers, we do use 92,000 volunteer hours a year and we have talked to our Volunteer Services office about increasing the use of volunteers to assist the staff, but volunteers -- and I think the staff would agree with me -- volunteers are no replacement for professional staff, be they library assistants or librarians, in terms of trying to provide services for the public. There are public safety issues that would be involved. There are training issues that would be involved.
Mr. Vaughan, I appreciate that, and you'd probably 87 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole agree that with every respect to our library assistants and other public employees, they're not necessarily a replacement for a full, certified librarian, right?
Okay. Managing Director, do you have anything you want to tell me?
Only, Councilman, that as we have this discussion, we keep one thing in mind, too, which is that the current -- that before this plan, this reorganization of the library and the library hours, you do currently have a system that needs some reallocation of resources regardless of -- as you were pointing out before. You have three additional libraries to put back on line.
You have a number of -- I believe only 11 libraries are currently open six days a week. 88 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
And the plan tries to move it to 49. So I think to give credit, I mean, just to somebody new coming in, to give credit to -- I think the library has come up with a very sophisticated and equitable plan for using the resources available to try to maximize the resources that they have --
I got you. Two last things to say and then I'm going leave. One, I think, with every respect to you, I think that what they propose is rudimentary and is an insult to the citizens of this City. That's first. Second, if this -- (Applause.)
Now I'm asking you in your capacity as Managing Director. If the City Council through the 89 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole rest of this process, because obviously we're not done the budget process, if through the rest of this process the Council restores any of the proposed cuts to the library system, is the City Administration going to spend the money?
We have a system now where because of staff vacancies and the current allocation of resources, we've had 180 days of emergency closings. The Administration, as you know --
We got a plan here. We got a 1.9, a 3.5 and a 4.1. My question is, whatever gets put back, is it going to be spent? Yes or no?
As you know and as indicated by the discussion on the benefits, you can't talk about the City budget in isolation. We'd like to talk about pieces of the City budget in isolation, but you can't talk about expenses without revenues, you 90 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole can't talk about adding to one department without considering taking away from another department. And the Administration, through the Mayor, is charged at any given time with making spending decisions. I believe that --
-- the question you're asking, the type of commitment that you're looking for isn't one within our purview as people running the government. That's a political discussion between this legislative body and the Mayor.
Well, I'm sure it's an interesting political discussion. It's also a legal discussion, because at whatever level we've been relegated to in the minds of the rest of the Administration, we are the legislative body and we will make some decisions about the City budget. Again, the question is --
-- if we 91 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole put forward a plan that is balanced -- I didn't hear what you said because you wanted to talk over me. If we put forward a plan -- libraries are among the highest concerns, but it is not the sole concern. If we put forward a plan that is balanced and shows how it is paid for, again, based on our most recent experience with the library, if dollars are put back, will they be spent? That's the question.
Assume the library will operate according to its budget and the financial constraints upon it and upon the City at any given time. Certainly we want --
Unlike the system we have now, which advertises some hours and can't deliver on those hours, I think our responsibility is to put forth a plan as -- you don't like the plan that was put forth, but it's a plan that the library was prepared to commit to with the resources represented. And, similarly, as long -- if they have a plan, I'm confident that they'll live to that plan. What they can't do is live to an unreasonable plan, just as the City can't continue to experience revenue reductions and demands for status quo as the needs of the City change.
So what you're saying at the moment is, you're not prepared to say yes or no, right?
Excuse me a minute, please. I believe Councilman Kenney has a point of information.
What revenue reductions? What revenue reductions 93 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole have we experienced? What revenue reductions have we experienced? I thought our tax collections were up.
We're going probably on our tenth year of continued -- of, I should have said, tax reductions.
Collections are up. We were budgeting on a five-year timetable. At the federal level, money is being cut.
No. We're just saying that this is all one organism. You can't say if you fix -- if you fix the arm but 94 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole aren't taking care of the lungs, you promise that the arm will work.
And when you factor these elements in, when you talk about what the feds do or don't do and what the state does or doesn't do, it's intriguing that you don't mention what the City does. The City unilaterally decided to give up $18 million from PGW, correct? Correct?
I'm not having an asset discussion. The City unilaterally decided to forego an $18 million payment from PGW; yes or no?
I didn't 95 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole ask the purpose.
Did you forego $18 million from PGW and made that decision on your own; yes or no?
What was the impact on the City budget by foregoing $18 million?
What would be the impact on the City and the ratepayers if the City hadn't done that, on PGW and the ratepayers if we hadn't done that?
Don't confuse the question. What was the effect on the City budget? What was the impact --
-- on the City budget by deciding to forego $18 million? There was a fiscal impact to the City, wasn't there?
It was needed by PGW, as you know, and it was going to come one way or the other. Just as if you put it here, you got to take it there. You can't take all of these things --
Just be honest in your response. If you want to complain about --
I have responded, but you just don't want to hear the explanation.
If you want to complain about what the state does, then at least acknowledge your own actions; that's all.
And the actions, which I did acknowledge and which I described as fiscally prudent, but every time I say that, you talk over me.
And then 97 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole try to confuse the public that somehow a tax reduction program has led to a decrease in revenues, which you know not to be true.
I said you can't -- PGW was in a position where it required 7 million -- it required us, the City, to forego 8 that payment and, in fact, in subsequent 9 years, starting with '05, has forgiven the 10 payment through the City budget and ordinance 11 process and the City submitted -- the 12 Administration submitted and went against the 13 Council to forgive that. 14
If you want 15 to complain about what the feds do, 16 acknowledge -- 17
-- because some folks have responsibility for running the government as a whole on a day-to-day basis and you can't -- if you wanted -- and the way one would obfuscate that issue is to pick it 98 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole apart single issue by single issue, but it's not a single issue. Taxes are connected to spending. There's a limited pot. You can't put it --
We should probably talk about spending. Are you sure you want to get into a spending conversation with me?
Are you sure you want to get into a spending conversation with me? You think about that.
-- about whether to spend $30 million in borrowed money, the first ten -- actually, we're talking about whether to go back on a commitment to do that, leveraged by $90 million of private money, and we're pulling that at a time that this entire City, this entire government -- 99 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
Mr. Managing Director, have I asked you one question about the funding of the expansion of the Free Library?
Okay. So then we don't need to have that conversation. I've asked about the branch libraries.
I think we were told earlier this year that there was no 23 connection between the expansion of the Central Library and the impact on the branches. 100 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole (Applause.)
I think that's what we were told. I think I can go down to the Chief Clerk's office and pull out a transcript when this City Council was told there was no connection between those two.
-- it's easy to mischaracterize conversations, answers, if you want to pick, interrupt, speak over and then not -- and refuse to acknowledge the context of the answer. My answer -- I've attempted to answer in a single answer and you've tried to pull me into different directions. We're talking about the City's overall budget.
That's what all my questions have been about. 101 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
We're at a hearing on the repeal of the authorization of a financing for the Central Library.
About which you have not asked me any questions. You have asked about the question in the context of -- that's been stated earlier, that how do we have --
No. I asked you a question about a document that I got based on a question that I asked two weeks ago. That's what I asked about.
-- I'm going to try not to interrupt you, but I'm also going to try to answer your questions.
The more you pile on the questions, the more likely I am to fail at that, because I'm not going to keep track of all the questions. 102 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
No. You're much better than that. That's okay. Fortunately for you, I have to go.
When I said it's all connected -- and I think I understand your response, but if I could explain it, because --
-- sometimes it takes me a while to get to my point, as you 103 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole know.
I'm a recovering lawyer. The discussion today about the repeal of the authorization has been put in the context of the unfortunate coincidence in timing that this is coming up at the same time that in the budget we're on the operating budget having to grapple with these different choices, and the length is not a length that we've been made -- that the Administration has made --
-- by the proposed ordinance. And so you can't talk about what happens in this unless you're also prepared to talk about what happens some place else, and I know that you appreciate that. That's the only point I've been trying to make.
I got it. We're good. Thank you. 104 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Thank you, Madam Chair. Councilman Kenney, I apologize.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm not surprised at the discussion between Councilman Nutter and now Managing Director, because not too long ago we passed a bill unanimously in this Council, to 14 nothing, the Mayor vetoed it, we overrode the 15 veto 16 to nothing, and with all due respect 16 to the Managing Director, who was City Solicitor then, advised a City agency to basically ignore a duly enacted ordinance. I mean, we've gotten to the point in this government where Council is not only irrelevant, it's just ignored. And we will fight that fight as we've done with condo trash, as we will do with this issue on disability offsets, but I find it strange that an appointed official of the government could 105 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole tell a City agency that you should ignore an ordinance which was passed and a veto overridden and still advise them and never send the opinion to the sponsor of the bill or any other member of this Council, and when the Pension Board met last time, they had in their hands a copy of an opinion that we're not even privy to. And I think that is another issue for another day, but that's basically disgraceful, as far as I'm concerned, that this legislative body would basically be -- that an appointed official would tell a City agency to ignore the legislative body and what they've done. I mean, that's the road we're going down. It's really a terrible road. So my question for the library is, how big is the library going to be after it's expanded? How much bigger?
Have you estimated your staffing requirements for such a largely expanded building?
Have we 106 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole estimated what?
We have estimated, and I've presented to Council before, the estimate of the maintenance staff. We're in the process of a specific thing on design, so that in terms of the other staff, we don't have that until we have --
Are we going to need more people or less people? The building is getting 160,000 square foot bigger. Are we going to need more people or less people?
We will be able to run this library with eight more people in the maintenance area.
With librarians, we are looking at that. We have not -- we are in the process of defining the spaces and what goes where.
What's your 107 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole guess? More or less?
If the circulation of library and use of the library remains the same, if the use of the library remains the same --
How could it remain the same if we're expanding -- the whole purpose of this is to not only upgrade the current library but to expand it to the point where we'll have many more people utilizing the Central Library. I understood that to be the testimony. Will we need more librarians or less?
Okay. Do you have a commitment on the level of staffing -- when is the library opening, hopefully, if we get this all done?
The current schedule would have the library open in late '08, early '09.
So what 108 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole impact, considering our fiscal condition and the fact that we're cutting back on librarians and library hours, where are they coming from? Where are the additional librarians coming from to staff the fully expanded Central Library? Are they coming from more branches that were going to be closed down and will that have an effect on the neighborhood?
Well, Elliot, with all due respect, your intent has nothing to do with this. The issue is is that are we going to have a situation where we're hiring new librarians or are we going to have a situation where we're going to reallocate resources, which is a wonderful word I've been hearing for the last few weeks, reallocate resources to staff the Central Library, which is going to need additional staffing, and are those people ultimately going to come out of a neighborhood library, creating more express lanes or whatever you call them, express libraries, drive-by libraries or whatever 109 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole you're doing? How have you planned for that? You haven't gotten any commitment from the Administration that they're going to be able to bring more people on. As a matter of fact, we're laying people off.
I can tell you that with the additional approximately third of the space, we will not need an additional one-third in the staff.
Because we're using a variety of technology that we are experimenting with, we will need an increase, but we have not been able to, as of yet because of the detail work that's going on in the drawings and the design, we have not been able to come up with a fixed figure to say this is exactly what the staffing would be.
How about security? What's your security needs? Will it increase?
That is part of the additional staff that we will -- 110 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
How is that going to impact on the neighborhood library system?
Elliot, intent, that's not my question. No one intends to lay off anybody. No one wants to do any of this. No one wants to shut down the library hours and curtail hours. That was never your intent. It's what happened. Now, the question is, even though it's not your intent, what do you believe the effect is going to be on neighborhood libraries that's not that far away?
Well, I can't tell you right now what the exact budget and City allocations will be five years from now.
Well, considering the doom and gloom we've been painted here, it doesn't seem like we're going to be in any much better condition financially than we are now, maybe even a worse situation than we are now. Therefore, requiring a 111 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole reallocation of resources, personnel, to the Central Library away from neighborhood libraries, is it a potential? Is it a potential?
There are a lot of possibilities. I do not think it is likely.
Of course, it's possible. There are a lot of things that are --
-- possible. The economy could really take a dive. That's possible, too.
Councilman, I could also try to reduce the many points that have been made down to a couple. I think that Mr. Shelkrot saying increased space with the 112 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole increased program, does that create the potential need -- an increased program, does that create the potential for increased staff. Yes. I mean, for starters, you have more -- that is a possibility, given the square footage that you have. But you also heard him mention technology with respect to security, with respect to building maintenance, and as you do a new plant, it's conceivable, as you know, that technology can -- a better technology in a physical plant, systems could in some cases reduce staffing. You also heard earlier about the Central Library as a central nervous system to the entire system, including the branch libraries. And I believe that when you asked the question what's the impact on the branches, you were looking for the type of answer Mr. Shelkrot gave, which is what is the potential expense. There's also a potential benefit, because if the Central Library can maintain itself and strengthen itself as a -- in its capacity as a hub, in a capacity as a 113 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole resource that's drawn upon by the entire system, that that has a benefit to the branches as well.
The possibility exists based on what we know about the government and its fiscal condition now, the possibility exists we'll need more staff at the Central Library and have the same amount of money to spend that we're talking about now. The possibility exists. We may be stuck in a situation where we have to staff the Central Library that's been expanded and not have enough money to bring new people on and need to reallocate resources. The possibility exists.
The possibility with the possible mitigation, too, by technology and better design and all that.
I understand. Let me ask you a question about the financing, and this is for Mr. Ramos. Why would we not at least explore the possibility of Act 71 money and PICA proceeds that can be 114 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole used to improve health and life safety issues in public buildings in Philadelphia instead of borrowing $30 million and paying it back over 30 years?
Councilman, the Act 71 money -- I'm sorry. I'm Vince Jannetti, Acting Director of Finance for the City. Good morning, everyone -- good afternoon. The Act 71 money, Councilman, is -- there's approximately $24 million in those funds. Twenty-two million of those are budgeted in the capital budget for the Juvenile Justice Center. So those funds are spoken for, tied up.
Is 115 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole that for the Youth Study Center?
Yes. I'm sorry. Juvenile Justice Center, Youth Study Center.
And aren't they looking at alternative ways of funding that project?
And what other alternative means are they looking at?
Is there sufficient funds in the capital budget? I didn't see anything for '06.
Yes. What is it going to cost? Is it in the budget? How much is it going to cost?
In the capital budget -- are you asking in the capital budget or in the operating budget?
I'm 116 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole asking how much it will cost to do the project.
80. And how much of the 80 has been approved to date?
So you can't use that and build it because there's nothing in the '06 budget, is there?
Wasn't alternate funding under Act 48? I know Mr. McPherson had attended a meeting about the alternate financing and I believe he indicated to me that there were monies under Act 48 and they were going to be using that instead.
The Act 48 funds 117 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole are reimbursement funds. We have to build the facility -- municipal authority is going to build the facility and we're going to lease it from them. The lease payments will be -- part of the lease payments will be reimbursed to us.
I wanted to ask Mr. McPherson to come up to the table, because I think there has to be a little bit of discussion here. I was not at that meeting that Mr. McPherson attended. I don't want to do this to him, but I think the record has to be made clear once and for all. MR. McPHERSON: My name is Charles McPherson. I'm City Council Chief Financial Officer. Back in a prior capital budget, it is accurate to state that Act 71 funds in approximately $20 million was budgeted for the Youth Study Center. However, I've been to a couple of meetings where the 20 million that was approved in the prior capital budget is 118 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole not sufficient to build the new facilities. There has been some meetings that I was invited to, that they wanted to restructure the financing through PMA, as Mr. Jannetti just said, where they wanted to go for reimbursements out of Act 148, or whatever the act is, which is approximately 80 percent state money, percent City money. 10 Again, I don't know how you could 11 possibly use $20 million that was approved in 12 a prior capital budget to build a portion of 13 the facility if you're going to fund it 14 through PMA, and the only way I know of that 15 you can fund it through PMA is, you're going 16 to have some form of a lease where the City 17 would be obligated to pay the bonds that are 18 ever issued against that while the facility is 19 outstanding. 20 So while I understand they're saying that in the prior budget the Act 71 money was budgeted, I am not aware of an intent to use it for that purpose.
Mr. Jannetti, would you care to respond to 119 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Mr. McPherson's statement?
The City is in the midst of designing the facility. There is funds being spent for architects. Those funds are -- the Act 71 funds are being used to pay for that. It is our intention at some point, when we know what the actual building is going to be, to at that point do the bonds to pay for them, at which point we would be reimbursing the Act 71 funds. However, the reimbursements from the state are in question as to the amount. We're not really clear on where that's going to be, and we're really looking at alternatives on these funds to try and minimize the effect, the cost, to the General Fund, which would be left over after reimbursement from the state. MR. McPHERSON: Well, again, I would make the argument that while you're analyzing what the alternatives are, here currently is an alternative that you could go forward with utilizing $10 million of it that would stop an immediate bond issue, that you 120 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole would then have immediate cost of avoidance. To the extent you can't come up with any other type of alternative and you had to look at some form of a financing, then it wouldn't matter whether you use the Act 71 money for the proposed library expansion or for the Youth Study Center.
I think it's odd that we're having a discussion over spending Act 71 money on a library or prison, one or the other. I think the library is probably a better use, considering the ability to get the money from other governments down the road. Could you explain to me why we can't use some of the PICA proceeds to do the life, health and safety issues related to the existing library and utilize that in an innovative way? Because I think we've gotten some indication from PICA unofficially that 121 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole that would be something that they would look kindly on.
Because we really can't do it formally. It has to be the Mayor.
Yes, sir. Our issue with that is that those funds are for emergencies, and we're not quite sure that this is an emergency.
What kind of emergency would have to rise to the level of an emergency to be used? Have we asked for it before? Have we asked for any money from that fund before?
What, for 122 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole example? How long has the fund been in existence?
And how many times has there been a request to utilize it?
We have never made a formal request to use any of that $30 million.
So we never had an emergency -- 123 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
We've never had an emergency whereby we had to use any portion of that money; is that what I understand? Is that what we're being told?
I'm told that we've been using the original bond proceeds, the original PICA money, but we have not used any of the interest earnings.
Right. That's what we're talking about. But isn't health safety issues at the library and the possibility of the collections being damaged even further than they are because of lack of appropriate storage space and other things in the existing library, isn't that a little bit of an emergency?
And may I just say that Ms. Naidoff's testimony on 124 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole talks about the building has not been renovated since it was opened and is in dire need of improvements, and she goes on to talk about updating the life safety systems, creating 160,000 additional square feet. Isn't that what some of the interest monies for PICA could be used for?
But right now the library is spending money on designing the expansion, and the money, at least the $10 million that we'd be putting up, is for that.
The design involves retooling the life safety issues. Part of the design of the building is not only the expansion but the design of the existing space, and that requires design of sprinkler 125 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole systems, of fire alarms, of staircases, of life safety issues. Why can't we be creative here instead of just piling more debt on top of this debt-ridden City to begin with? Does it make sense to pay off -- (Applause.)
-- a $30 million borrowing over 30 years? It doesn't make any sense. It's not fiscally responsible. I mean, maybe we can't do a bond deal and that's part of the reason why we're going this way, but other than that, I don't see why it makes sense to borrow 30 -- what's the cost of that money over 30 years at current rates? What's the cumulative cost of 30 million over 30 years at current rates?
The interest rate on that would be about five and a quarter, five and a half percent.
A quick estimate on what that would cost over 30 years.
Does 126 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole 98 --
Whoa. Wait a minute. MR. McPHERSON: You get 30 for 20? You borrow 30 and you only pay back 20?
No. What's the overall cost? When we finally pay off this 30-year --
-- debt, what is the cost? And why wouldn't we want to do something as innovative as we could to try to keep that debt from having been incurred?
It would be about -- the total debt service, the way it's estimated right now, would be $52 million.
And we have $30 million sitting that we could use of, 7 probably everyone agrees that it probably 8 would be eligible, and unofficially PICA has 9 indicated, staff has indicated, that it 10 probably will be eligible, but we don't want to do that. We want to incur $52 million worth of debt so we can do a borrowing. I just don't understand it. I really don't. We can argue the Act 71 money. All right. Maybe you got a legitimate argument there, but you could grab 10 or 20, you can grab 10 out of the other proceeds and save us a whale of money. I don't know why we wouldn't want to do it. Thanks.
Thank you, 128 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Madam President. Just to follow up on the comments from the Council President and Councilman Kenney regarding safety issues. Mr. Shelkrot, could you just tell us some of the problems you have in the building today, heating systems, air conditioning systems, plumbing, lighting?
Yeah. There are definitely -- the plumbing in the Central Library is constantly in need of repair. There are leaks from pipes that threaten to damage collections and often there are buckets and plastic sheets put over various places. The lighting problems are inadequate in many areas. There are collections that are stored on balconies that were not really intended to have that much weight. There are certainly ADA issues in the building that need to be addressed. During a renovation, we will create the appropriate kind of fire stairs that need to be done, as well as modern electrical and HVAC systems to make the building more safe. 129 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
Thank you. So, again, following up on the Council President and Councilman Kenney's questions relating to could we not use the PICA money, you're stating, it sounds to me, that the building is in a very serious state today, both from a physical and use aspect, because it's not primarily ADA -- it doesn't meet the codes of the ADA, balconies are storing books and you don't know if the weight load of the books is too much for those balconies. So the bottom line is that the building is in serious enough bad shape that it would meet the requirements that we would need to use the PICA money for. I mean, we talked about the library and the artifacts that are in there and the importance of those, and in your testimony, Shelkrot, you're saying you have plastic or tarps covering those same materials that we're concerned about losing. So that's just the physical stuff, but plumbing leaks and structural issues are -- in the interest of public safety, one 130 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole would think that that would at least bring up the conversation -- and I don't mean this to be critical of you -- between yourself and the Administration about getting that PICA badly needed dollars into the facility today, not even taking into consideration the expansion issue. We got a serious problem already. I assume that's why some of the emergency money was used in this building, and it's still being used in this building. So we should be doing the same thing at the library, putting the expansion issue aside. But that would be used as a way of doing the financing that we need for the expansion and not having to borrow the money. Now I wish Mr. Wilson was here, because he's the business guy, and I think if he heard some of this stuff, in a business person's mind, I think he would say, Let's go to PICA, let's see if we can't take that 22 million, start the renovations, work on expansion and keep everything else the status quo, keep the neighborhood libraries, we can do it. 131 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole See, I think we can do it. I think what we're talking about right now proves to us that we can do it. There's enough money out there to do this without having to go borrow it.
Good afternoon. I'm Dianne Reed, Budget Director. I'm hoping I can clarify this a little bit. The Administration examined both the PICA opportunity and the Act 71. The reason we did not pursue PICA was that emergencies, as defined in the Court mandate, is a threat to public safety or conditions that if go uncorrected will cause the operation to cease, which is a pretty severe standard, and the Administration in discussion concluded that the library building was not in such severe condition. We'll have to address that --
You don't think that what he's describing fits the category of endangerment to public health and the operation? I mean, if pipes are leaking on books and materials that people go to the library to use, the operation of the library is in jeopardy. The Central Library seems to be in jeopardy.
Right, but unfortunately, it is not a public safety kind of issue. That was the decision. I can't --
It depends on how you want to look at this thing. I think someone sitting down reading a book with water leaking on them and could possibly cause the structural integrity of the plaster above it to fall apart, I mean, there's -- look, if you got an adjuster in that building, they would probably shut it down, telling you all the things that -- it depends on who wants to walk through that building and make those decisions. If the balconies that Mr. Shelkrot described that are currently being used for 133 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole the storage of books were not built for storage but were built as walkways for people to across over, it sounds to me like there's a public safety issue.
The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney for a point of information.
No. We did not bring the concept forward to PICA after discussion. The thing about the borrowing for the entire library is that that would include renovation to the existing Central Library building. The PICA money really can only be used for a building that was in existence at the time of legislation in 1992.
134 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole That's what we're talking about.
It sounds to me that the conditions that Mr. Shelkrot described -- and I'm not an engineer, but I've done some construction work in my time. I actually was an inspector on I-95 many, many years ago. If construction of the expansion were to begin, you're going to punch out a part of the wall of the existing building.
Let me finish. There's going to be major construction for the purpose of the expansion, jack hammers, maybe pilings. I don't know the extent of it, but there's going to be major construction going on that will have in it a negative impact on the structural integrity of the existing building. It's just the nature of construction when you're doing something on the same site or adjacent to it. So the vibrations from pilings, jack hammers, from expanding the building and punching out the wall as part of the expansion -- I'm looking 135 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole for the right word here. When you breach a wall, the breaching of the walls, tying in plumbing from existing plumbing to new plumbing. I know in my house, my old house, when I went to put a new piece of copper tubing in because I was redoing the bathroom, all the other pipes behind it started breaking, because the pressures change. I mean, I don't want to give you a lecture in construction engineering issues, but for me, it's a very simple thing to understand, that when you do something in one area of an old building, you're only going to exaggerate the problems that that building has. And I think that's going to lead to the public safety issue, and I know it certainly will interfere with the operation, which fits into the criteria that you described.
Well, that would be addressed when the entire bond issue goes forward.
If the entire bond issue goes forward. 136 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
That's the whole reason we're here. We want to keep the libraries in the neighborhoods open.
Yes. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney for a point of information.
Would you be willing to allow the fire marshal to inspect the building and see whether or not there's any safety issues, or L&I?
We may have a lot more librarians to put out in the branches after that.
All I'm saying is, you concluded based on what investigation?
I didn't actually do the assessment. I would have to find out for you who did the assessment, but I do think the building is regularly assessed for safety.
I mean, when was the last inspection? 137 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
Does the fire marshal go in there regularly and check it out?
The fire marshal has been there several times. Risk Management has been there several times.
I would have to check the record, but I know it occurs more than once a year.
Have we asked L&I to take a look at some of the code issues to see whether we can build a case on the condition of the building and its potential use of those proceeds to improve that condition? I mean, why haven't we just asked PICA what they think?
Not only that, but what you read, was that interpretation or criteria for the issuance of 138 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole the bond or is it for the interest earnings?
I have the actual citation from the Act of what any of that PICA money can be used for, but, actually, I don't have it with me. It's for PICA money, yeah. I was reading from the PICA -- the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority Agreement.
Was it for the issuance of the bond or the interest?
The interest I understand is a totally different standard than the bonds themselves.
Because we don't want to try to find a way to do this differently, that's why. It's the same thing all the time. We're not going to do it this 139 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole way and we're going to stand in the way of trying to do it no matter what it takes, no 4 matter how much it costs because we're right and everybody else is wrong because this is what we've decided. And that's what it comes down to. Michael Nutter asked if you're going to spend the money if you put it back. The answer is no. We could stand on our head and put back fire companies, libraries, you name it, and the second floor is going to say no, because that's the way they want it, and that's what we've come to. Instead of trying to have some cooperation and figure out some innovative way to do it, we're going to find a lawyer who is going to give us an opinion that we want, and that's all you do. So continue to pile up the debt, it's a lot of fun, because our kids will be paying for it by the time this Administration is gone. We'll be paying for the debt incurred by this Administration for generations to come. So try to figure out some more ways to say no, we'll be here. 140 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
Well, legal counsel did say that the standard is the same for the interest earnings and the original bond.
You can't figure out a way to make a case that that library is in danger, that that library and the people that go in it are in danger and we could use the million to fix it? That's a 10 really far-fetched argument, isn't it? Because we don't want to do it. We're not doing it. We don't want to do it, and we're going to find out ways to keep from doing it, because that's the way we say it is, and that's why this process is a waste. The budget process is a waste, because nobody follows the budget. We'll just spend police overtime on Operation Safe Streets, it was never budgeted, which puts us in the condition we're in now. That's okay, don't worry about it, we'll do what we want to do.
Well, I also wanted to speak, if I may, to the borrowing, why the borrowing seemed like a good solution. We did also look carefully at the Act 71 alternative. 141 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
You know, honest to God, no disrespect, I withdraw the question. It's just like this is a waste of time, because there's no interest in fixing it. So we should just vote on the bill 8 and get it over with.
I just have a very simple question. Why would you not have been in touch with PICA to inquire if we could do what counsel is proposing?
The Administration is still exploring ways to try to use that money for an emergency purpose. This was not the --
Well, we haven't used the money in how many years? How many years have we not used it for an emergency? I mean, what emergency are we expecting that will suddenly come up in the next year that we're going to be using the money, when it hasn't been used in how many 142 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole years?
Well, it hasn't been used since the interest earnings have been accumulating.
And we never had an emergency so that we could use a portion of that money?
So my question is, why couldn't we use a portion of that money for what we're intending to do?
Because the Administration in discussion decided that this was not a sufficient emergency to use the funding for this purpose, and we are exploring 143 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole other uses, and we have had other opportunities that have also been rejected. So we continue to explore ways, because PICA, yes, would like to see this money used.
Well, did you read Ms. Naidoff's testimony at all? You heard her testify. She did talk about the building has not been renovated since it opened and the dire need of improvements. Some of these improvements include updating the life safety systems. That's not an emergency?
Well, that is an update, which is in the planned borrowing. I mean, that is part of the plan, to upgrade the existing building.
I can't talk to her. 144 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Councilwoman Tasco -- my patience isn't what it should be. Councilwoman Tasco, your light is on.
Well, you all can stay on this issue. Mine goes back to a question --
Well, my question goes to Mr. Shelkrot. It goes back to an earlier statement he made about the staffing when we were discussing the staffing, and I don't want to change the discussion if you're on this money. I can come back if someone else wants to question.
Well, I would ask Councilman O'Neill and Councilman DiCicco if there are financing questions, your lights are on. Is that what you were going to ask, financing questions?
I think it's a financing question. I mean, the whole bill is about financing. And I don't think I've ever had the opportunity to vote on a 145 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole bill to rescind a bond issue. So for me -- and I've heard all the testimony and there's a lot of issues involved here with the library and with how the Administration deals with Council, and I haven't heard too many statements that weren't accurate. But there's only one issue for me as an individual Council member, and that is -- and, Mr. Shelkrot, I just want you to comment on this, because you were here when the original bill was passed. The issue for me is, how would I have voted on the original bill if I knew then what I know now? I don't know if that's ten words or whatever, but to me, that's the beginning and end of this hearing. I would not have voted for the original bill, and I rarely get an opportunity to correct a mistake that I would have corrected at the time had I had the information that I have now. And I don't think many members would have voted for this financing had they known what you already knew. I'm sorry; what you and the 146 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Administration already knew but weren't forthcoming with. I don't see this as a complicated decision. It is something I wouldn't have done, and I don't believe that nine of us would have done it. So I'm prepared to vote for the bill, because I would never have voted for the other bill. (Applause.)
It's just a pretty cut-and-dry situation for me. Thank you.
My final comment is related to financing, and maybe, maybe we're being too hard on the Administration, just maybe. Ms. Reed, you testified that at the time different avenues of financing were being discussed, are still being discussed, no one looked at the library situation as being an emergency, but based on the testimony of Mr. Shelkrot on the conditions of the Central 147 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Library today, don't you think it's a prudent thing for you and the other folks to go back and talk about the state of the condition of the Central Library and how it relates to an issue of public safety? Because maybe they didn't know. Maybe they didn't know. I mean, we've had a number of discussions, Mr. Shelkrot and I. This is the first time I even thought about asking that question, and it was only because I listened to you, Ms. Reed, describe the criteria for us being able to use the money and then looking at Ms. Naidoff's testimony about life safety systems, is where it all started coming together. And I'm prepared to ask for this bill to be moved today, but in the interim, as I said in the past, I certainly have no 20 problem withdrawing it if we can make the other things that we have to discuss, the neighborhood branch libraries go away -- not go away, but restored. Excuse me. But in the interim, I think the life safety issues, the emergency issues, in my 148 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole mind, are things that I think need to be brought to the attention of the Administration.
I see that Councilman Kelly's light went on. Is this regarding the financial?
It's more or less -- I just wanted to address Mr. Shelkrot, that this bill that we have today, you mentioned in your testimony earlier about leverage, and I think this bill, believe it or not, is in your best interest for the simple reason it's giving us the leverage to deal with this Administration so that you can get the proper funding to run this library system of yours in a much more efficient and productive way. That's all this is about, and I think I, for one, am going to vote for this bill, because I think it's absolutely necessary. (Applause.)
And it's helping you. This is in no way discriminatory against you or anyone else in your 149 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole organization, but what we're trying to do is to give you the funding so that you can run this library system the way it should be run. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair now recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
During your testimony about the staffing of the expanded facility, you had really no notion about what kind of staff or the amount of staff you would need. My question goes to, is there a plan for the branches as to when they will come back on full operation at some point in time? I mean, what is the plan to bring them back to full operation as they were in January? I mean, has that been given any discussion as a thought?
Well, the operating budget is debated on every year, and I am hopeful that in the future we will be 150 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole able to open those libraries to the schedule that they were before. That's specifically why we did not want to close any branch library, because then it becomes virtually impossible once it is closed. But I don't know the issues. I'm not involved in the issues of looking at the future operating budgets. I only know that at this time, the money was not provided in our budget to allow that to happen.
But the same thing rests with the expansion and having to staff the new facility. That's also based on the operating budget, and if you build it, will you have people to run it?
And what we will be doing is making that argument each year and to have those discussions within the Administration, and then the discussion goes to, once the Administration proposes a budget, then it goes to Council.
Well, it's very interesting. It's not your issue, but the Administration always tells us that we 151 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole can't propose the creation or expansion of a new rec center because they don't have the staff to staff it, so they don't want to approve the expansion of any facility because based on the budget, they don't have the staffing, but this seems not to be an issue with this project.
I just don't know. We will be proposing -- we would like to have all of our libraries open and we'd like to have the staff required for an expanded and much more heavily used Central Library, and those discussions go on each year in the budget process. I cannot be specific about the staff required in the expanded Central Library because there are still details to be worked out. We know that it will require more than we have today, and we will -- as those drawings become more detailed as we approach those years, we will be having those discussions and present the requirements and the case for that staffing.
Ms. Reed, 152 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole based on the philosophy of the Administration about recreation facilities and not constructing them a building because there's no staff, how does that fit into this philosophy of building this site?
All of these areas are part of the five-year plan. We have the locked-in tax reduction plan that the Administration agrees with, and in order to be able to live within our means, we've had to ask departments across the General Fund and also independent elected officials to take roughly the equivalent of a five percent cut in their total expenses, most of which was accommodated through positions, because that is the largest spending area. And the final borrowing in the five-year plan for the library doesn't occur until fiscal '08, and that would take a year or two to complete. So we're getting outside this sphere of the current five-year plan, and it's kind of a situation that to know exactly what that would be, especially since the Library Director is saying they're still trying to see 153 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole how all of that works out in terms of planning, because they may have the same number of people spread out over a larger area since their space is cramped, it's kind of you need to know about that when the time comes. But overall, we need to work toward honestly a smaller work force, because one of the other effects that we have here that drives our overall expenses is that our total benefits package is moving in the direction of 55 percent of our salaries. So the more employees that we have, the more that drives up that side of the cost, huge pension fund increases, $400 million and more than we knew about a couple years ago. So we have to think about having creative ways that we can still manage and, as the Director said, keep library branches open, keep the service to the public while managing the work force to try to keep our overall costs down.
Are 154 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole there any other questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, I would ask all of you to wait until the hearings are over, please. I would ask Mr. McPherson to please call our first witness. MR. McPHERSON: Allen Merry.
Good afternoon. Thank you all so very much for coming in and we appreciate your patience. Kindly identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Hi. My name is Allen Merry. I also submitted a written testimony from a librarian named Karen Schwartz, who works in the Art Department at the Central Library, and she has some very serious concerns about the weeding that's being done in the Art Department and it's going to have a negative effect on the valuable collection they have, so I wanted everyone in Council to see her testimony. 155 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
And we will make that part of the record. We'll make sure that the stenographer receives a copy of it.
Okay. And before I begin my testimony, too, I want to address some of the questions that were being asked about is it an emergency situation at the Central Library right now. Just a few weeks ago, I came into work in the Business Science and Industry department a few Sundays ago. The security guard met me at the door and he said, you know, Please be careful if you're going into the Business Science and Industry department, we've had plaster falling after a heavy rain and it's dangerous. In previous times when I've been in my department, too, when they had heavy rains, I've seen pieces of plaster fall down, that if they had hit someone, it possibly could have caused an injury. So I think that should be on the record in City Council, too.
Thank 156 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole you.
My name is Allen Merry. I've been a librarian in the Free Library system for more than ten years and currently work in the Business Science and Industry department of the Central Library. I'm also a member of the Executive Board of Local 2187 AFSCME. As a union representative, I sometimes have an adversarial relationship with the library administration, but despite the disagreements we sometimes have, I am proud to work for such a prestigious institution and I support the library's mission. Because I feel this way, I made a point to be in the lobby of the Free Library in December when Mayor John Street signed the $30 million bond issue for the extension of the Central Library. " A few weeks after that happy day in December, though, the Free Library administration delivered layoff notices to 17 157 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole employees and also announced that they would be transforming neighborhood branches into 4 express branches with reduced hours and no 5 librarians. I and many of my colleagues felt 6 betrayed, misled and disrespected. Many of 7 you on City Council also felt this way, which 8 is why you are considering the bill proposed 9 by Councilman Frank DiCicco. 10 Now, your unhappiness with the Free 11 Library administration is a recent phenomenon. 12 Those of us who work at the library, however, 13 are all too familiar with their shortcomings. 14 In June of 2003, a 16-year-old 15 female employee observed a man named Brian 16 McCutchen exposing himself and masturbating in 17 front of a library computer. A few days later 18 when I asked a member of the Administration 19 about this incident, he told me that the 20 police had not been contacted, but he did say Mr. McCutchen had been banned from the Central Library and that ban would likely extend to the neighborhood branches. Well, we all know that that system-wide ban never happened. McCutchen 158 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole became a regular customer at the Independence branch and sexually assaulted and almost killed a young girl in February of 2004. We also know that Free Library Director Elliot Shelkrot tried to mislead the public by claiming that McCutchen had been banned from Central for simply viewing pornography rather than exposing himself and masturbating. Now, prior to and after the Independence branch incident, my union and many library employees had been clamoring for policies that would ban people like McCutchen from the system before they moved on to something more dangerous and violent. The Administration always said it could not be done. In the minutes of the March 2, 2004 meeting of the Security Task Force that was formed after the McCutchen attack, Associate Director Kevin Vaughan told task force members that the City Solicitor's office had told him the library had no authority as an institution to ban someone from all of its agencies. He said it would be a violation of their civil 159 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole rights. So this created an absurd situation where if you had an overdue book in one library, you weren't allowed to borrow another book from another library, but let's say you were kicked out of a library for public masturbation, you were free to walk a few blocks down the street and use another branch. Now, in January of 2005, however, almost a year after the tragedy at the Independence branch, the Free Library finally released an expulsion policy which did in fact allow system-wide bans in certain cases, something that the Administration had insisted for years it could not do. Even with the new expulsion policy, however, we are still getting excuses rather than action. Just this past Saturday, a homeless man was caught exposing himself and masturbating in the Fishtown branch, which is an express branch, by the way. The police were not contacted that day, and an administrator told me yesterday that she didn't think the library had the right to ban 160 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole this person system-wide.
Another potential Brian McCutchen is lurking in the neighborhoods of Philadelphia and the Free Library refuses to take it seriously. Now, the Free Library administration's handling of security issues has been deplorable and disingenuous, and that type of behavior has also been all too apparent during their attempts to reorganize the Free Library. At a January 18th Labor/Management meeting, the union asked the Administration if other world-class cities were running their libraries without librarians. Their response was that San Jose, California might be doing it. I contacted a member of the San Jose Public Library administration. He informed me that in fact they were not doing that. Later, in a letter sent to the union on February 10th, Kevin Vaughan cited a Library Journal article that described two branches in King County, Washington that operated without librarians. I read the article. These two libraries are located in 161 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole shopping malls, contain no reference material and very little non-fiction. According to a King County administrator in this article, the branches are not meant to take the place of traditional libraries. Under questioning by my union's attorney at the injunction hearing presided over by Judge Matthew Carrafiello, Mr. Vaughan stated that he wasn't aware that the two libraries were located in malls. So either Mr. Vaughan was lying in court or maybe he didn't actually write his own letter on February 10th. Just a little additional information about this matter, I talked to two union officials in King County and they were appalled that the Free Library administration was using these two branches as justification for turning 20 real libraries into express branches. The two mall libraries in King County are merely tools for outreach that try to give people a sample of what their full-service libraries have to offer. And now even though I believe the 162 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole extension of the Central Library is a worthwhile project, the Administration has not been completely honest with the people of Philadelphia about what the extension is going to mean for the City. Many people probably have the impression that the extension will provide more room for a growing book collection. This could not be further from the truth. Most Central subject departments have been instructed to withdraw percent of 12 their collection. 13 One of my colleagues will be 14 speaking a little bit later about this more, 15 but I also have submitted a written testimony, 16 which I told about, by Dr. Karen Schwartz in 17 the Art Department. 18 To be fair, some departments haven't 19 been conducting regular weeding of their 20 collections, and that is necessary. Also, 21 quite a few of the items that will be 22 discarded are bound in microfilmed journals 23 that are now available from the library on 24 on-line databases. Still, when you remove 25 25 percent of the library's collection, you 163 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole cannot help but avoid discarding material that still has value. When I talked to fellow librarians about the weeding of the Central collections, many of them are almost driven to tears. A few think it's necessary as we move into the future. But wherever you stand on this issue, there will be significantly fewer books at the Central Library once the extension is built. The Administration has not made any attempt to let City Council or the public know about this, and that makes me feel uncomfortable. The Free Library administration has made a concerted effort over the years to hide important information from the public, staff and members of City Council. Because of that, very important decisions are being made for the whole City by a handful of people at the top of the library in secret. I think that's undemocratic and also leads to bad policies, such as the ridiculous and destructive express branch idea that the Administration still insists on trying to implement.
I hope everyone in City Council will 164 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole think long and hard about the past and current behavior of the library administration as they consider the merits of Councilman DiCicco's bill. I know I speak for many librarians when I say I admire the stand he has taken. I also think Councilman Michael Nutter spoke for many of us when he told Elliot Shelkrot on April 6th that he owed the people of Philadelphia an apology. I would only add to that that Mr. Shelkrot owes his staff an apology. That's because of the dishonesty and disdain he has continually flung in our faces over the years. Thank you for allowing me to speak. )
Thank you very much. Mr. Shelkrot, can you come up to the witness table, please? You've been very good. Thank you.
I just find this testimony so appalling. Can 165 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole you tell me why if somebody is caught in the library doing a sex act that the police would not be called? Would you have your daughter go to that library after you heard something like that occurred? And why wouldn't the police be called?
The directive of the policies are clear. When an illegal act is committed, the police are to be called. The action described is illegal. The police should have been called. They have by now. They should have been called immediately.
But didn't you indicate in January there was an incident and the police were not called? Did I hear you that say?
Actually, that was in June of 2003, Brian McCutchen was caught masturbating and -- well, he was observed masturbating and exposing himself at a 166 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole computer by a 16-year-old library worker. That was in June of 2003.
I talked to a member of the Administration. Investigating the incident, I asked, Well, why weren't the police called? And he said that it was because the girl wasn't willing to talk to the police about it and file charges. But he did tell me that McCutchen was going to be banned from the Central Library and he also said that he believed that the ban would extend to the whole system, but then February of 2004, I'm watching my TV on a Sunday afternoon and I see the police have caught Brian McCutchen after he committed this crime at the Independence branch. So obviously the branches weren't notified to keep him out.
Thank 167 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole you. I just find this so appalling. I really do. And I can't imagine a parent wanting to send a child to the library after an incident like this and the police are not called. What safety do they have and then where are your security people? Was it reported to anybody?
Yes. The security person on Saturday was there. As I said, the rules say that the police should be called.
Were they called for McCutchen, or whatever his name is, the first time around? The answer is no. 18
That is correct, because the police have told us many times --
And if it happens once, it's once too many, and I think it's something that you have to look into immediately, whether we have expresses or whatever you want to call it.
Of course. That 168 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole has nothing to do with it.
You're right. What kind of branch it is has nothing to do with it.
Okay. Thank you. I believe we have someone else to testify.
Good afternoon, Councilwoman Verna. My name is Catherine Scott. I'm President of Local 2187 AFSCME. I don't have prepared testimony this afternoon, but I would like to respond to a couple of issues that have been raised by the Administration in their presentation. The union has been very concerned about the cutbacks, especially the state cutbacks, for the library over the past few years. We also lobbied at the state level. I notice that Mr. Shelkrot left that out when he talked about who was up there trying to get additional funding from the state. And we 169 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole continue to try to reach out to state legislators, especially Babbette Josephs, who has introduced legislation to try to amend the present budget by Governor Rendell to include additional funding for the state. We believe very strongly that the money that was used to renovate the neighborhood branches, the Pugh Foundation and William Penn Foundation that did most of that funding, if they had known that the plan was to take librarians out of libraries, we believe that there would not have been the funding to do exactly what the library is now doing. We also have serious concerns, and our members have raised the staffing at Central as you are raising now, because we believe that there is not in the plan for the expansion of Central to have adequate librarians and other staff, including security staff, to properly fund that expansion. So that we think that the questions that are being asked today, not just about the building and the funding in the building but also what 170 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole plan does the Administration have to properly staff, are important questions that need to be answered, especially in light of the bill that Councilman DiCicco has put forth here. We are very concerned that the plan is to take more librarians out of the neighborhood libraries to use them to staff Central if there is a need for additional staff there, and we think that it is important that the Administration be forced to give the plan for staffing for the branches, as well as Central before any expansion of Central can be considered. We think that what has happened, they have not been forthcoming. To sit here and listen to Mr. Shelkrot talk about being under direction by the Mayor's office of Labor Relations not to discuss the fact that we were going to lose librarians through layoff is appalling. I think that it speaks to the contempt that's being expressed by this Administration to people who are attempting to provide good service to the citizens of Philadelphia. 171 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
Thank you. MR. McPHERSON: The next witness is T. Kim Robinson.
Good afternoon. Thank you for your patience. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Yes. My name is T. Kim Robinson and I am a librarian at the Paschalville branch library, I believe in your district.
I want to thank Council for the opportunity to testify here today and I want to thank Council for weighing to me something that is very serious, and we need to have a public discussion about where our priorities are. As a librarian who has had the 172 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole privilege of serving the children of Southwest Philadelphia, I am here today to state that the children of Paschalville will receive little, if any, benefit from the expansion of the Central Library. The enlarged Children's Section, new computers and cafe at Central are not readily accessible to the children of Kingsessing, Kensington, Lawncrest or any of the other far-flung neighborhoods that are being settled with limited-service express branches. While it has been said that a great City needs a great library, I have to ask how can a library be great while offering lattes to the people of Center City and neglecting to offer basic services, like access to trained librarians, to the people in 40 percent of the neighborhoods? (Applause.)
Funding the expansion of the Central Library while our branch libraries are withering and gasping for breath gives a clear message to our neighborhood citizens that they don't count as 173 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole much as the people downtown. That's a message that I'm not willing to convey to the children that I serve. Recently our Director testified before Council that he would choose funding Central over the neighborhood libraries. Are his priorities so wrong that he would sacrifice basic services to poor and working-class neighborhoods while Center City gets a shiny new building? Has the Free Library's mission to provide informational services to all the people of this City been forgotten? Andrew Carnegie said that there is no such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration. Allocating millions of dollars to funding of the Central Library while offering less than basic services to our neighborhoods is an erosion of the democratic values that we hold so dear. I believe that public officials who are willing to accept less than full and 174 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole equal access to information to all Philadelphians do not deserve paychecks from the taxpayers. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. Thank you. Our next witness? MR. McPHERSON: Susan Rigsby.
Good afternoon. Welcome. Please identify yourself for the record.
My name is Susan Rigsby. I'm the Branch Manager at the Wyoming Avenue branch of the Free Library, and that's located in the Feltonville section. Thank you, once again, for this opportunity to come before you and speak about the funding for the Free Library of Philadelphia. Thanks to Judge Carrafiello, I am still the librarian at the Wyoming Avenue library. I would also like to thank each of you for your interest in the state of the Free Library and I especially appreciate Councilman 175 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole DiCicco's analogy when he compared the dilemma to fully fund the branch libraries or to fund the expansion of the Central Library to a family's dilemma to renovate their kitchen or spend money on their children. Both, fully staffing neighborhood libraries and expanding the Central Library, are good things, but in tight budget times, a responsible person must choose which good thing to fund today and what needs to wait for another time. On September 30, 2004, Elliot Shelkrot held a president's forum to present to the staff the plans for the renovation and expansion of the Central Library. I attended that forum with great enthusiasm. I have loved the Central Library since I started going there to work on research papers when I was in high school. My husband is a librarian in one of the departments there and he's told me on several occasions of the upheaval in his department caused by rain pouring in because of the building's leaky roof. This sort of 176 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole problem is devastating in a building that houses archival material. Being a great fan of historic architecture, I also appreciate the beauty of the Central Library and would like to see it preserved and restored. The Central Library is a great treasure trove filled with resources that are its gems and is itself an architectural treasure. But as I sat at the president's forum, my enthusiasm quickly became tempered by the reality that I heard coming through the questions raised by my colleagues who work at Central. I heard staff members say things like, The staff is spread so thin, it's hard to get a security guard up to a department to deal with a problem as it is. If the building is made larger, how much harder will it be for security to get on the scene of a problem in a hurry? And I also heard, There's hardly enough staff to cover some of the departments now. If the building enlarges and becomes more busy, how can the present staff handle 177 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole all the extra demand? And, unfortunately, the response given to those concerns was that the staff would have to make due at present levels. There were no plans to have an increase in staff. And those were September's staffing levels, before the January layoffs, before more retirements and before the Free Library announced a target staffing level of 630 full-time positions. Looking back over the conversations I've had with my husband after work, it has been only on several occasions where he's told me that his department was dealing with building problems, but he's told me many, many times about problems caused by staff shortage. So I came to the realization that on any given day, the staff shortage at Central is as bad, if not worse, than the staff shortage in the branches. But you don't see departments at Central having emergency closings and you don't hear talk of turning parts of Central into express departments. In fiscal year 2002 and 2003, the 178 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole Free Library set records for circulation of materials topping million items two years in 4 a row. In fiscal year 2004, there was record 5 participation in the summer reading game. 4 percent of library users are satisfied with the assistance they received during library visits. The positive statistics about the Free Library go on and on, clearly indicating that library staff have made every effort to accomplish more and more with less and less.
And credit must be given where it is due. It is the staff that has accomplished all of these laudable results. Over 3 million reference questions do not answer themselves. Picture books do not fly off the shelves and read themselves to children. Great books do not recommend themselves as the next thing that patrons should read. Persnickety computers do not reboot themselves. Complex databases do not search themselves, and great programs do not schedule themselves and then go out into the community to promote 179 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole themselves. Oh, and the building doesn't do it either. So, to me, the conclusion seems straightforward. Funding the expansion and renovation of the Central Library would be a good thing to do, but it would literally amount to an empty gesture without the staff to make the building a great place. Just as neighborhood branches without librarians are book warehouses, a Central Library without sufficient staff is an edifice to ego. Buildings are grand, lasting things, but they only become the stuff of memories when they are inhabited by people who make them living. Thank you. ) MR. McPHERSON: The next witness, please.
Yes. My name is Michael Walsh. I'm President of AFSCME Local 2186, District Council 47. I'd like to thank Council President Verna and City Council today for the opportunity to come here today and support the bill that Councilman DiCicco 180 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole introduced, which will help us preserve our neighborhood libraries. I'd like to thank Councilman DiCicco for standing up and introducing this bill and preserving a community institution, our neighborhood libraries. I don't have any prepared remarks today. I was just here as part of the 2186 team that's here to speak on this issue. We are in support for this bill. We believe that the Central Library should not be expanded and the project should stop until our neighborhood libraries are preserved. I find especially troubling Executive Director Shelkrot's attempt to confuse issues by pretending not to know the answer to questions, by throwing out different numbers and also saying that they couldn't speak to the union because of labor relations. He's ignoring the history that we've had with the library where we've had numerous Labor/Management meetings where we've held out our hands and tried to preserve the great institution of the library. But instead we 181 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole wind up with this surprise where this information goes, and it's been done to protect the interest of the Central Library over the community neighborhood libraries. Thank you.
Hello. My name is Rita Urwitz. I am Vice-President and Business Agent of 2186. Like Mike, I do not have any prepared testimony. I would just like to thank this body for considering the importance of services to the community. I also find it troubling that an Administration that brags of its neighborhood initiatives would consider developing something in downtown Philadelphia that would be available mainly to those of us who are privileged to work in downtown, be around downtown or live in downtown Philadelphia and would not be available to the community that so widely needs the services in order to grow and continue in school and gain employment and move on, progress in life. So thank you on behalf of all of my members. Thank you for considering this, and 182 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole we strongly support Councilman DiCicco's bill, and thank you all Council people for coming forward.
Thank you so much. We appreciate your coming in to testify and certainly your patience. (Applause.)
Our next witness? MR. McPHERSON: The next witness is Kate Pourshariati.
Same to you. I'm so honored to be able to be here and speak and be a part of this democratic process. It's nice to see it democratizes in a way. I don't know if I really have time to read from my testimony --
Just identify yourself for the record and perhaps you could spell your name for the 183 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole stenographer, please.
I'm sorry. It's Kate Pourshariati. It's P-O-U-R-S-H-A-R-I-A-T-I. Soft phonetic, but it's a long version.
Right now I'm an adult-teen adult reference librarian at the Independence branch, which is at 7th and Market. So I have a lot of personal familiarity with the issues we were talking about before. I think there's like only one or two things that I'm not sure were understood that Allen said earlier that I just wanted to focus on. The one thing is that my feeling about the expansion that's a problem is that it creates less space rather than more space for books. I don't think everyone understands that. The librarians in the subject areas at Central have been asked to weed between like 25 and up to 50 percent of the 184 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole collections, and those collections are all of the research collections for Philadelphia. So it's not as if we have a great art collection at some other branch somewhere. No. If they cut out up to half of the art books, they're gone. And there are millions and millions of dollars worth of books we're talking about. Secondly, some of the librarians have come up with an interesting idea, which I just thought I'd toss out, which is, do you know that the Family Court building next door to the main library is going empty? So the Family Courthouse building, which is the twin-sister building to the main library next door to it, also designed by Abele, I believe, the architect of the main library, is going empty, and so instead of taking a design which provides less space for books, it might be really interesting to try to renovate the Courthouse building and make more space for books and meeting rooms and auditoriums and things like that. And we are thinking it might be interesting to have a sky walkway in between the two so that you would have these 185 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole twin buildings. I don't know -- I understand that renovating buildings can be more expensive than building new ones, but it's something to consider, since this whole thing is a little bit still up in the air, before we commit ourselves, because this is a disaster for Philadelphia, to lose so many books that are of importance for people that love to read and need to research. It's the people's university, you know.
That's fine. We will have that made part of the record. MR. McPHERSON: The next witness is Amy Dougherty.
My name is Sharon Brown. I am a school teacher at Russell Byers Charter School, which is within walking distance to the Central Library, and I was asked to come here today by the Children's Department staff at Central. And I honestly walked in here a little ignorant of what this was all about, but I have pieced it together as I've been sitting here. So I primarily came to just speak in support of the use of the library and the libraries around the City. I guess I view myself as a representative of public school teachers and all school teachers in the City who use the library, as well as myself personally as a citizen. Just to explain a little bit of how it's very useful to me as a teacher and to the other teachers in my school and those I know around the City, I've taught in the City now for three years. I would say I probably go to the library at least every other week, often 187 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole more frequently. I make frequent use of books and videos in my classroom and the CD collection especially. I find things there that are really unique and very special and really contribute to my curriculum that I don't have the money to pay for on my own or the school isn't able to provide for whatever reason. So it's a very useful place for that. And, of course, being so close to the library right now, I'm able to actually take my students there. My school currently has no library, so we go to do research and we also have the children get library cards. And right now we're going weekly, and the children check out two books a week and they're able to have something to read and they bring it to the school. We take care of the back and forth returns and renewals and all of that, because often parents aren't able to get to that on their own during the week. So it's very well used. There's a chance I might be in a different school in a different area of the City next year and just hearing the discussion 188 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole about the branch staffing, I would want, wherever I am, I'd want to be able to make use of whatever branch was close to me for these same purposes. So I guess I -- oh, the other thing is, I have students who also use the after-school LEAP program, the homework help. So on those levels, I just want to speak in support of keeping the libraries staffed across the City. Thank you.
We don't have any other witnesses on our list. Is there anyone else who would like to testify whose name is not on the list? (No response.)
Madam President, I apologize. I'm on a conference call. I'm giving my votes to the Convention Center. I do have another question for Mr. Shelkrot as soon as I'm done. 189 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
Very well. (Public hearing adjourned at 1:55 p.m.) - - - 190 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on April 27, 2005, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.) 191 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC MEETING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, April 27, 2005, 2:40 p.m. BILL 050235 - An Ordinance repealing an Ordinance, approved by the Mayor on January 25, 2005 (Bill No. 041041), entitled "An Ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property and the Director of Commerce, on behalf of the City of Philadelphia.... PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILMAN FRANK DI CICCO COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY COUNCILMAN BRIAN J. O'NEILL V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 192 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole
This concludes the public hearing, since we have no 4 further witnesses, on Bill No. 050235. We will now go into our public meeting, and the Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, prior to us taking a vote on this particular bill, I just wanted to make a couple of statements, if I can.
First, obviously as the sponsor of this bill, in my understanding in recent history, there has not been a repeal in the City Council of Philadelphia. So for that matter alone, I obviously will not be voting for this bill, but there are a number of other issues as it relates to this bill. I want to go back a little bit when we did the original three bills. There was some levels of concern and, to some degree, a high level of concern about this particular 193 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole proposal as it related to the financing mechanism, the parking issues, some of the other construction-related issues, and at that time, I myself raised some of the same issues. As a result of that discussion and a result of conversations with some members of City Council, I agreed to hold one of the bills and it was the bill that essentially would allow the construction of the facility, although, to some degree, it was somewhat minor as it related to what it would do, but the reality is, you couldn't construct the building without the change in lines and grades and the movement of streets and the striking of streets and some of the other technical aspects of construction. So as a result of that, I held that bill at that time to talk about the possibility of providing an appropriate parking plan for this particular development, assuming that the Barnes and the expansion of the library would already add to a somewhat difficult parking environment. Additionally, there was discussion about other parts, other opportunities for 194 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole financing this particular development, either as an alternative to a bond initiative or some combination of both, and I thought that was the appropriate discussion to have and the appropriate thing for me to do to hold that. Saying that, I agree with a substantial amount of what was said today, but I want to say that I will not be voting for this bill. Oh, and I want to add one more thing. We are in the middle of budget deliberations and I understand that the particular branch library issue is on the table, and I am as adamant as just about any other Council member in terms of ensuring that we have appropriate hours of operation at branch libraries, but I won't be voting for this because I don't think that this particular issue, as it stands today, should preclude us from getting an opportunity to get reasonable restorations to our branch library. So I just wanted to say for the record both the holding of the bill, that will prohibit construction and understanding that 195 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole there needs to be some further discussion as it related to alternative financing, and I'm on board with that.
Thank you. Councilman DiCicco, your light was on. Did you want to be recognized?
Okay. Are there any other statements by members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, I would recognize the sponsor of the bill for a motion.
Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, I move that Bill No. 050235 be reported out of this Committee with a favorable recommendation.
It has been moved and seconded that Bill No. 24 050235 be reported out of Committee with a favorable recommendation. 196 4/27/05 - Bill No. 050235 - Whole All in favor will signify by saying aye. COUNCIL MEMBERS: Aye.
Councilman Clarke is voting no. And Councilman Ramos left his "no" vote. Therefore, the motion carries. I thank you all very much for your patience and time, and I thank people on the other side of the rail for coming in, testifying and being so patient. Thank you very much. (Public meeting adjourned at 2:45 p.m.) - - - 197 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on April 27, 2005, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)