What yours is, okay. People tell me all kinds of stuff. Your staff level, the budget book is showing you had 225 or you were at 225 last year and now going to 218?
And are you losing 1038 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget any people as a result of budget cutbacks?
I think we are taking the DROP and not rehiring for the position that begins in October of '03.
How does that number match up with other park systems either in an urban environment or of a comparable size in terms of employees, whatever the measurement is going to be, employee per acre, size of budget?
I can't give you an exact number, but I will say we are -- and the strategic plan will confirm this -- we are in the lower end -- hold on a second. Let me correct the budget question. The funding is for 219, so it will be -- so even if they are dropped, our funding will still be for 219.
210. So getting back to the question at hand -- 1039 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget
Let's stay back there for a moment. You are going to be in FY '04 --
Madam President, if Rob Dubow comes up to the table, you are guaranteed that the testimony is going to be confusing. That's his job. That's his responsibility to confuse the record.
And it is our job to clarify, so that's what I'm attempting to do. Is the 210 less those who are being transferred to the Recreation Department? And then we have those who are on the DROP program. Spell it out if you will, please.
They are budgeted for 219 positions. They'll lose 9 people through the DROP, but they have funding to get up to 219 positions, so even though there will be some point in the year 1040 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget when they have lost employees through the DROP, they will be able to replace them all and to fund 219 positions. The transfer of --
Are those people going to be caught up in the freeze?
No, they have funding in their budget for the 219. As long as they can meet their budget and they have funding for it, they won't be caught up in the freeze. So they have funding for the 219. The transfer of employees for the rec centers and pools is not reflected in the budget anywhere, so if those people move over, they will have fewer employees, but they will have fewer responsibilities also. And the Recreation Department would have more employees because those employees are moved over to Recreation.
I never mind when the president takes my time because I always get it back.
I just feel it has not been made very clear. I think you have 1041 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget attempted to do that now, Mr. Dubow, and hopefully by the time we get written responses on this and there is going to have to be a transfer, maybe we will all understand what's going on.
Right. And I think part of the reason that it is not reflected in here and part of the reason there is some confusion is we don't have all the details worked out yet and so we can't answer all the questions and that's why it is not reflected in the budget.
But don't you think when you come here, you come with a budget, shouldn't you be prepared to tell us what's going to be occurring?
That's why it is not in the budget because we are not a hundred percent sure what is going to occur, and when we are, we will come back with a transfer that will lay it out. That's why we are not asking for any movement of money at this point.
Why is it in the testimony? Well, let's not beat a dead horse, please, because we have people waiting to testify. Councilman Nutter, thank you for your 1042 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget courtesy. Please proceed.
No problem. Thank you, Madam President. On that last issue, do we have a sense of when we will have all of these details? And it would be exceedingly helpful to us, as we go through this process, if we can keep it all together and in a certain context as opposed to doing one part now and the subsequent parts possibly months after we have generally forgotten all of this discussion and then we are trying to recapture the particular moments. We have a bunch of different elements here moving at different points in time and I think it's going to be helpful to the entire government and certainly members of Council if we can keep all of this information together and in a context.
Phil Goldsmith, managing director. As I indicated, we will get that information as we go through the planning process.
Let's talk about the strategic plan on of the testimony. Now, is that the amount of the actual contract, $646,000?
The contract is done in two 1043 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget phases, the first phase or the money that is funded is the $300,000 piece and the additional 342,000 is the money we are attempting to raise and/or will be funded by the City.
And the first phase of the contract is for what and will tell us what?
The first part is -- two major components. The first part is to get input from stakeholders about what they see the issues of the park to be, what they are looking for and so forth, and that is being done in several different categories. One is individual interviews with people, the focus groups that President Nix referred to before. There is also going to be forums in each park district where the community can come in to testify and express themselves. There will also be a questionnaire in terms of usage and so forth and so on. So Part is really what's a user, what's a stakeholder looking for in a park system. Part 2 of Phase will be an operational 23 review, which will really be looking at the 24 operations of Fairmount Park of how we are going 25 about doing our business, are there ways that we can 1044 1 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget be doing it more efficiently and getting to some of the issues that you were getting to, how many employees do we have versus other like-sized parks, et cetera, and that process will be going on between now and June.
So when can we anticipate receiving a report, a final document, and what is that document going to tell us?
I think by June, and I think it will tell us, number one, exactly what people are looking for in their park systems in their viewpoints and also the recommendations as to what the park can be doing better, if anything, and I presume they will find some stuff, how we are organized, how we go about maintaining the park better and so forth. If, in fact, we get the funds, they will start with the second phase of the process, which will be more in terms of what type of investment decision should we be making, what do we want to invest in the park, what don't we. You will get 1045 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget into some of the governance issues such as some of the ones that we are talking about now with the Recreation Department and so forth, and that would take another six months to do.
Do you expect to use Part 1 or Phase 1 of this strategic plan to then influence funding decisions that will start to be made in November and December of 2003 in anticipation of the preparation of the FY '05 budget?
I would hope so. Certainly when it comes to the operational review, we should be the beneficiaries of that then, if not sooner.
Well, I think the consultants, frankly, would like it now so they can do their planning and I would like to be able to get it as soon as possible. I did put in a request to state government for a grant request and the conservancies also said they would try to raise funds, but I think the sooner, the better. It allows the people working on this plan to really get 1046 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget their work schedule in place.
going into 3 of the testimony, the new street tree information management system, is that also -- I thought I saw a line item on one of these pages for such a system. Is that Line Item 251 on -35? Are these the same items?
They did the study for the program and they are the consultant we hired to do the study and the implementation.
Was this an RFP or a professional services contract? How did we find them and how did we determine to hire them?
Professional services 1047 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget contract.
I think -- and correct me -- that the Forestry Service has used them as well as several other park systems throughout the country.
Wonderful. Now, is this system going to assist us in developing the type of system that if one of us or our constituents were to call and ask about either a tree removal or trimming generally for the whole block -- I know we don't come out and provide individual homeowner service -- would we actually be able to tell someone within some reasonable range when we may be out as opposed to soon or sometime in the future?
We would hope that the program would take the mystery out of the program, yes.
As well as provide Council members with the type of information that you need. It allows us to slice and dice things a lot better and so forth.
Okay. And Fairmount 1048 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget Park is taking full responsibility for street trees at this point in time as opposed to there was a period of time where there was --
-- some split activity between Fairmount Park and the managing director's office. Who is in charge of street trees today?
Fairmount Park. There may be an exception with I think maybe Streets Department or some other department on some emergency trees I think, but by and large it is Fairmount Park, yes.
I'm stretching my time here, but I would like to move into one last year. On of the testimony, this rest room 19 management program, it says park staff will provide maintenance and inspection. This is the 25 fixed rest room facilities. Do we actually have a list of these or a map to show where they are?
The park staff will 1049 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget provide maintenance and inspection of these rest rooms twice weekly.
So you know, as a clarification, that is not just on the week, it is both days on the weekend as well.
The twice a week and Saturday and Sunday as well. So, in essence, it is four times a week.
I can appreciate that. Actually in my notes when I read this last night, I circled it and wrote in the column "What is the prospect of daily checking?" I mean a bathroom in an isolated -- I don't know that they are all isolated, but they can get pretty nasty in a relatively short period of time.
Let me, if I may, try to put these programs in context. I think what we were trying to do is saying we only have X amount of dollars for Fairmount Park and we have enormous needs and what we were trying to do is prioritize how we are going to spend that money and what the priorities are and I think one of the issues that has been raised from time to time is the number and 1050 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget adequacy of the rest rooms, so we basically are saying the rest room management program is something that we need; it's what users expect from us. We have the hard surface trails. They should be the first things that get cleaned. That is where the vast majority of the people are using for roller-blading or bicycling and whatever, and the playground is obviously one that involves the safety and health of children. So from a priority point of view this is what we were going to do before we spend any other money for the most part. We would love to be able to do bathrooms each and every day, but right now it is really not feasible. So this is a start. It is a start of getting more bathrooms on a regular, consistent basis for their cleaning, which has not been done.
I understand that and again I'm deeply appreciative and sensitive to the issue. Again, if we are going to promote these and encourage people to use them, I think we want to, especially at the start, be able to encourage people not only to use them but that they might potentially return. If they are dirty, smelly, 1051 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget nasty at the beginning, they are not going to be used and they are just going to be further abused. It would seem to me that at a minimum someone in the course of their day getting from Point A to Point C could somewhere along the line stop for a moment and at least check on the place to make sure that it is either stocked or it is not on fire or it doesn't have some other issues going on and that we know what's going on with our facilities. I mean if you plan out your route and your course of activities in the day, at least somebody walking by to see what the place looks like might be helpful.
Mr. Donaghy reminds me that the rangers as part of their responsibility in opening and closing bathrooms every day would perform that perfunctory responsibility.
Okay. Lastly, with regard to the safe playground program, I would only mention the same issue. You have 40 playgrounds that are going to be inspected and cleaned and maintained on a biweekly basis. Playgrounds take a lot of activity, a lot of kids, a lot of stuff. Again, this kind of checking and regular sense of 1052 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget maintenance, I'm not saying we are going to go out and hire a whole bunch of people to do this, but as folks run around doing what they are doing, just to be able to check on it might be helpful. Madam Chair, I can come back unless --
Thank you. There are other members that would like to be recognized. Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown.
Thank you, Madam President. First I need to watch my manners and formally welcome you in your new capacity at Fairmount Park.
Forgive me for that. And, secondly, I need to acknowledge and commend friends of Fairmount Park for being before us today, the next generation of leadership with the parks. I'm sorry I did not acknowledge those young people before their departure, so I need to put that on the record as well. 1053 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget I want to move back to questions posed by my colleague, Councilman Nutter, around contracts. You mentioned that all of your tree-pruning or tree-cutting is done by Philadelphia Fairmount Park, correct? Is that accurate?
The tree pruning work in the city, 99 percent of it is performed by the Fairmount Park Commission through contractors. The only other department that does a little bit of work on tree-pruning would be the Streets Department. They do some clearance for streetlights, which is maybe, I think, a thousand trees a year that they do some pruning on and it is strictly to clear for street lighting. All the other pruning work that is done is done by the Fairmount Park Commission.
So to ask that question differently, no City employees do tree-pruning or tree-cutting? You said 99 percent is done by contractors.
City employees do provide emergency services, be it pruning or removal on street trees and at times they also do some clearance for traffic signals, traffic control devices. 1054 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget
Is the Philadelphia Fairmount Park Commission subject to MBEC procurement guidelines?
Yes, it is. All the contracts for street tree work are administered by the Procurement Department of Philadelphia.
I would suspect this sentiment was prevalent amongst my colleagues prior to my arrival, but in recent weeks it certainly resonates that we have a strong concern in Philadelphia residents, them getting a fair opportunity, if you will, at contracts. So I would be curious to know of the contractors that the Philadelphia Fairmount Park Commission has dealt with over the past three years since my arrival here, I would be curious to know how many are Philadelphia based and how many of those are women and how many are minority. And if you could forward that to the Chair so that all members could review that information, that would be, I'm sure, instructive.
I believe our rec commissioner has been a pioneer in this area 1055 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget when it comes to safety of our children on playgrounds and I'm pleased to see in your testimony on that you give some discussion to safe playground program. Update us on where you are with that. Is it in place? Are you about to roll it out? How many playgrounds are now meeting the standards, et cetera?
About a year ago the Fairmount Park Commission had initiated our safe playground program and put together a plan. We have completed a safety audit, which is a one-time audit of all of our facilities, and we have removed or repaired the equipment that was in a hazardous condition. Some of it was beyond repair, so we did have to remove that. We are currently putting together a program where we will do a biweekly inspection and maintenance of our playground. We have 40 facilities throughout the system. And then on a monthly basis we will have a certified playground safety inspector conduct an inspection of the facilities and identify any hazards that may exist.
So the execution of that plan you would suspect would begin 1056 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget when?
Yes, of this year. And the managing director reminded me that also during the past months we have done a safety pruning at 9 all of the playground facilities in the Fairmount 10 Park Commission for all the trees and we continue to 11 monitor that and our safety inspector, when he goes 12 out on a monthly basis, is also a certified arborist, so they will also be continuing to look at these items at the trees and will take care of those issues as they arise.
Ready, Willing & Able, that is not a social service; it is a function of the managing director's office. I should say it was and it may very well still be -- I don't know the status of it -- but they were magnificent with regards to providing services to Poplar Playground. Are they still being used, period, and, if they are, where as relates to Fairmount Park?
Yes, they are being used. 1057 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget We have two crews, total of about to people depending on their staffing situation, and they are used along the river drives and also along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the Vine Street Expressway corridor, so they are doing some custodial work, doing some minor pruning. We have also had them do some work up in the northwest section and, as you said, they had been to Poplar Playground, but their focus to date has been along the river drives and we have used them occasionally to do a cleanup in some of our neighborhood parks.
How long 14 is that contract and the followup question is are we 15 preparing ourselves to reapply so that we can 16 hopefully win the contract again to continue the 17 services they are doing? 18
I can't answer about the 19 term of the contract, but I do know that Fairmount 20 Park is one of the focus areas for their staff or 21 their clients to provide some job training. We have 22 worked with the Ready, Willing & Able Association to 23 do some horticultural training as the staff comes 24 out to the park. So we have a very good 25 relationship and the feeling that I have is that 1058 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget they intend to continue working with the park.
When you provide the information on the contracts, could you also include the professional contracts as well, professional services contract as well?
Thank you, Madam President. Thank you for your testimony.
Thank you, Madam President. My daughter spends seven days a week in Fairmount Park at the stables, Shamoney Stables. She comes home and she has to take off these boots and we don't allow her to enter the house the way she comes in. I asked her, I said, "How come you go to Fairmount Park and you clean stables and you can't clean your room?" It is an incredible situation, but she has become obviously a fanatic of the park. She rides the horses. And she told me, she said that I have to begin looking at the horse trails and where they go and so I have to ask these 1059 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget things because she asked me, she said, "What are we doing for the horses? What are we doing for the kids who use Shamoney and the other stables? What are we doing to maintain this?" They have a great 4-H club and I told her about when I was growing up and when I was in college we saw these little clubs sort of in a political orientation that was not too positive, but she is into it. What are we doing for these young people that want to do these things?
What are we doing, for instance, with the riding trails or programs?
What are the trails because she asked me the trails need conditioning and taking care of. She worries about the horses as they go up these trails and they are not in good condition, and she was asking me about that.
We do have a master plan on trails that is prepared and that is the trails throughout the park. Quite frankly, honestly, we can't possibly fund the whole plan, but some of the things we are doing is, for instance, in East Park where the Brewery Town western development is taking place, part of that contractor or developer's plan is to work on where they are bidding the back of the 1060 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget stable back over there to do some trail work that leads up around Hatfield House and in the East Park and so what we are trying to do is as we increase the destination into the park, we would hope that those people could come in and would include the horse trails as part of those things that we would like to have done.
Could you let us see that and see what needs to be done and what, if anything, we can do to begin helping along those lines?
The one question, you say that you have plans for a $2 million restaurant to be located at the Engine House. Can you tell me about that, if that has not been asked? If it has been asked, I will read the record.
That's a good question. There is a process done and there is a restaurant selected to operate out of the Engine House at the Waterworks.
We have a restaurant selected. 1061 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget
Catelli's, C-A-T-E-L-L-I apostrophe S. It's a New Jersey-based company. It is in Voorhees, I believe, right across the bridge, not far.
Why was that selected? Don't we have restaurants in Philadelphia?
They were the successful respondent on an RFP done four or five years ago now. The one, I guess, linchpin on the project now is they would like to add an enclosure for more seating and we are looking very closely at, one, can we do that under the RFP and, two, does the enclosure compromise the historical setting, but that process will probably be resolved in the next 10 to 14 days.
There was an original contract done for the Waterworks project. It was with J.J. 1062 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget DeLuca and that was done through the Procurement Department. And we put the same guidelines in because of the economy of scale. If they are going to build the restaurant and DeLuca's is already there, DeLuca would take on that contract with the same participation criteria.
But the MBEC numbers we have found are not real. We have had testimony during the last two weeks in which the MBEC numbers are not realistic numbers in which they have never been met and no one can give us details as to that.
On that project I'm told the numbers are with minority and female to 17 percent. 18
I like to see the 19 names of the companies, the minority contractors 20 that have been hired are part of the contract, what is the level -- you know, all the details in terms of performance.
Memorial Hall and the Please Touch Museum. The Please Touch Museum is a 1063 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget very dear part of my family because my kids grew up around that. What's the relationship? Are they going to be, are they not? Are they part of this in terms of requests for expression of restoration improvement and adaptation of Memorial Hall and is the adaptation including a projection of housing the Please Touch Museum within it?
The Please Touch Museum, as I guess everybody knows, is one of the most interested participants and we expect --
Yes. We receive the expressions of interest I think 3 o'clock today and we would expect that the Please Touch Museum would be one of those respondents.
My staff, we work with different community organizations around the city. The Tabor Rams, the heating system is so old PGW service says that turning it on to work on will be the result of a cracked system, which can then 1064 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget flood the facility with tons of water. The estimate that they have been given is somewhere between to 4 $5,000, which they don't have. 5
Tabor Rams. Is that part of the system? That is part of the system. That is part of the system.
It seems that the systems are so deteriorated that doing it or even trying to operate it will cost --
As I'm told, it is a capital project that we haven't had funded yet. I know it was in -- I'm pretty sure it was put in.
They run quite an extensive program out of there both in terms of football, basketball, baseball, and so on. It is an integral part of the community. Let me give you some idea. The demographics of that neighborhood have changed over the years. It has turned from one that it was white ethnic in which they never had problems funding it to one in which there is more Puerto Rican, Latino, and African-Americans, but the demographics definitely have changed and it seems 1065 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget that the level of service has changed also with the demographics. And it is not a good picture.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have three last questions. There was testimony a few minutes ago about a one-time or once-a-year safety check of play facilities. Did I get that right?
No, there was a one-time safety audit. When you start a program, you do a safety audit, which is a very detailed inspection. There will be monthly safety inspections performed on the playground.
What about all the other park facilities or structures, buildings; how often are they checked for safety?
They are checked. I can't give you a number, but they are checked on a regular basis and they're cataloged and kept on a schedule of dangerous, imminently dangerous, no problem, so 1066 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget they are all monitored.
How many would you say are in the dangerous category at the moment? If part of the reason is you're trying to figure out who is going to deign to come up to the table --
I understand that. Not many volunteers in this Army. One of the reasons I ask the question is because of the true life experience we have, for instance, with the Hermitage Mansion, and if we were checking our facilities on a regular basis, it would seem to me there is no way in the world that a park facility could end up in such a decrepit and deteriorated condition. Now, again, much of that is funding. Much of it is staff, but if we have systems in place, I would like to think that we at least catch these situations at a much earlier time such that we then don't have to invest an inordinate amount of dollars to fix them.
Councilman, I can say we met with the managing director and the executive director ten days ago, less than that, a week ago, 1067 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget because we are implementing a property management system plan to update what we do. I'm not saying we don't monitor it now, but that system would actually list and schedule almost like the street tree program what is imminently dangerous, what is dangerous, what we need to work on right away.
You don't necessarily want to use the street tree program, the present one, as a model.
The street tree program going forward. So we have a program that we would at least be able to have an eye on those that were most serious.
I think what we have done over the past several months is put together our database so we know by property leases, what is supposed to be done and so forth, so it is a starting place where we now have to really get to and that has been accomplished.
Let's go back one last time to the transfer issue. We talked about staffing levels at the park, the 219 that you are going to at least be funded for, the 210 that you actually have, and the assurance that the nine won't 1068 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget get caught up in the freeze. How many employees do you actually anticipate transferring from the park to recreation as a part of the facilities transfer?
I don't know that number offhand. Whatever that -- and maybe Mr. Nice knows the numbers. Whatever that number is, eight, eight, whatever that number is, would be transferred. So the way I would look at it is if the City has -- rather than looking at Fairmount Park and the Recreation Department separately, if you look at the City of Philadelphia and the number of swimming pools we have, I forget what rec has, I think it is 80 plus 3, so it would be 83 swimming pools. The goal right now, when this transfer is complete, you will have the same staffing level with those 83 pools as you did before. The same thing with the rec centers. If you looked at it from a City of Philadelphia perspective as opposed to divisional, whatever that staffing level is, whether that staffing level is appropriate going forward are the things that we have to determine, but to get this transfer off the ground, we have to say whatever the staffing is now is what we are going forward with and see what the 1069 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget needs are.
What is your sense -- and I know you obviously have this Phase 1/Phase 2 study going on, but I would like your opinion on this particular matter. Is the Fairmount Park system adequately staffed to provide the level of service that citizens are certainly asking for? And when you add in park utilization both by Philadelphians and our friends and neighbors in the counties as well as -- and you know, certainly Mr. Nix knows and Miss Borski and possibly you, Mr. Goldsmith. I believe that the Fairmount Park system is no way, shape or form, at least from my perspective, utilized at a level and promoted at a level as a part of any larger hospitality and tourism strategy here in the city and in the region as compared to some other well-known park systems whether it is Central Park in New York or what they are doing in Baltimore or Chicago and some of the great work that Mayor Daly has done out there. How do we look people in the eye and tell them that we have a top-notch park system that can be utilized by Philadelphians, Pennsylvanians, if not people across the country, given our present staffing levels? Are 1070 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget they adequate?
I think like every City department we could use more people. We use what we have. What we are trying to do is bring what I would think are draws into the park, whatever that is. If the Please Touch Museum or some other such entity is in Memorial Hall, that will bring another district into the park, which will bring people in, which won't require us to be the modus operandi for it.
I understand that, but let me also, I guess, say for the record, see, I think that Fairmount Park is as important at least as two new ball fields down in the sports complex, and they were going to get done and there was never a question at any moment in time did we have the money, did we have the resources, did we have the need, did we have the interest, could we pay for it, was anybody going to come. It never came up in the course of the year. It was going to happen because there was the will to make it happen. Now, I don't know how many people are going to end up down at those facilities. I don't necessarily know that anyone is coming to 1071 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget Philadelphia to go to either of those facilities because you can go to a new ball field almost anywhere in the country, but you can't get a Fairmount Park experience anywhere in the United States of America. (Applause.)
So we always find the resources for the things that we want. Our trouble often is finding the resources for the things that we need. I think we need a well-functioning Fairmount Park system and I think it should not just be subject to all the other departments are suffering so it should suffer.
It is a very different entity. Police, Fire, EMS, Health, Records, all of the departments are important. They provide essential services, but if you want to talk about a world-class operation with all due respect to the architects and the designers, I was supportive of the stadiums, wonderful, but you are not going to get anything else like a Fairmount Park experience and the river running through it and a 1072 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget whole host of other things, and the park should not be left literally out there on the sidewalk with a tin cup trying to figure out when is the next time we are going to be able to clean our bathrooms. I can assure you -- (Applause.)
I can assure you that the bathrooms at Lincoln and whatever the Phillies are going to call their stadium, I can assure you that they are going to be clean.
Sure. Councilman, in response, what I'm hoping to get is a strategic plan that is going to tell me that. What I can't tell you is exactly how many people we need for what. Hopefully the strategic plan will give me the base to go back and plead my case if you will.
Let me go to of the testimony and then I will be done. I want to talk a little bit about -- we heard this new -- we have the new program Operation Meadow. So I want to talk about the acres cut by park employees and this whole meadow concept going from 3200 to 1600. Can you tell us where the cutbacks on cutting are going to take place? 1073 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget
Councilman Nutter, the type of land that we are looking at is that which has minimal or no use where we are cutting grass. We have identified some acreage across the City and we are working our list down to about 125 acres and that we think that we can convert this year. At the same time, as I said, we are going to be working with our friends groups so that everyone is on board. We don't want to create problems for anyone. We certainly don't want to create problems for ourselves, but we think that this would be the best use for that particular land because there is not a picnic site there, there is not baseball fields there. The land may be on such an incline that it is not really usable for a function.
I understand. If you can get us a map with whatever color scheme you want to use? I mean about 60 percent of the park system is in the 4th District, so I'm figuring it is going to be a little tough for you to avoid doing something that doesn't affect the 4th and the rest of the City would certainly like to know as well, so if you can get us a color-coded map and show us what you were doing this year, what you won't be doing 1074 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget next year, so that we can visually see the difference, I would appreciate it. On the same item, number of ball fields maintained, FY '03 you are at 530 and FY '04 you are at 398. Can you tell me what ball fields are not going to be maintained next year that are being maintained this year?
As well as the next item, which is number of ball fields renovated, going from 160 in the current fiscal year to 80 in the next fiscal year? I would like to know what ball fields are not going to be renovated as a part of this game plan.
At this time the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown.
Please forgive my redundancy on this question around the community environmental education centers. I need to be sure what I heard is correct. Each center 1075 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget will be staffed by at least one staff person; is that so?
And the staff person there is chiefly responsible just for that center or do their duties involve oversight of other Fairmount Park related --
Right now the people are designated per center depending on how we go. We may try to coordinate it where there is a central kind of program, but right now people are designated to a particular center.
Those centers that may have more than one staff person, decisions like that are happening because of what kind of criteria?
I think part of the reasoning is that some of the centers have friends groups that staff it or some private dollars supporting it. I think from the City end, for the most part most of the City employees are one per center.
I believe there is one City 1076 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget employee per center and then the additional would be privately funded depending on the friends groups who support those centers.
That explains it. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam President. I'm finished.
Are there any other questions from members of the committee? Seeing none, thank you very much.
But Mr. Dubow definitely has to. The Art Museum is next. Kindly identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon, Madam President, members of City Council. I'm Anne D'Harnoncourt, director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, here with my colleagues today. 1077 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget
Anne, just a moment, please. Council members do have a copy of your testimony. We would appreciate your summarizing it and we will make certain that the stenographer has a copy and will transcribe it in full. (See attached testimony of Ms. D'Harnoncourt.)
Thank you, Madam President. I'm here with my colleagues, Bob Morrone, director of facilities and operations; Gail Harrity, chief operating officer; and Cheryl McClenney-Brooker, director of external affairs, and we are here asking the Council's blessing and to renew your investment in the museum on behalf of over 700,000 visitors a year, over 70,000 of whom are school children and who come not only from Philadelphia and its outlining counties but from around the world. I can report, which is not in my testimony, that to date the wonderful Degas and the Dance exhibition, which is going to be celebrated later this week by a citation here sponsored by 1078 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown for its dance alliance program with over 60 dance organizations, the Degas exhibition has had over a hundred thousand tickets sold to date in 40 states and Puerto Rico and France, by the way. The French never seem to get enough of their own art. And we are really striving to make the museum and its collections and the great exhibitions we do both accessible and exciting for all of our visitors. We feel that there are three very important impacts the museum has: As a creative impact, Mayor Street talked about the creative class of Philadelphia citizens and how much we need to do to grow that creative class; educational impact. I will say that the over 270 school groups have signed up to come to Degas and that is on eight Mondays which are open for school groups and that is in addition or it is aside from the kids who come year in and year out to see our galleries and then, of course, the economic impact on Philadelphia and its region. I will say that even our great exhibition program like Degas and the Dance this year, wonderful show for the fall of a great 1079 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget clothing designer, Elsa Schiaparelli, which should inspire all the young designers in Philadelphia to do their great work, next spring Manet and the Sea, all of these great exhibitions cost between 3 and $5 million a year to the museum. We try to make a great deal of money. We don't always make our goals there, but the economic impact of those shows is far, far-reaching on the City. I will say it's much greater on the City than it is on the museum itself, ranging anywhere itself from to $35 million or 12 more as in the case of the great Cezanne exhibition. 13 We know these are tough times for the 14 City. We feel that the museum is -- we are deeply 15 committed to not only our educational mission, not 16 only to the mission of increasing the well-being of 17 all citizens of Philadelphia, building the permanent 18 collection. 19 Last year in our anniversary year we had 20 over 400 gifts to the collections ranging from works 21 of art from Asia, from Europe, Africa, the Americas, 22 from Monet to Jacob Lawrence, an amazing cornucopia 23 of works which will enrich this museum for the next 24 generations. 25 There are tough times. We realize that 1080 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget the City is in those times itself. I can't help saying that the funding for which we are pleading, the $2,250,000, has been flat for the last eight years. It's approximately six percent of our operating budget, but it is a crucial part of that budget because it supports the security and maintenance operations of the museum which have only expanded due to just normal cost increases, and this is half of what the City's share -- of the actual dollars of what the City's share was in the early 1990's. So we really count on that support. We are grateful for the administration and City Council's support of the museum over the years and we hope we will continue to serve you better and better in the years to come.
Thank you. We all feel that the Art Museum is certainly the jewel of our city and I want to applaud all of you for doing such a fabulous job. You really do.
A marvelous, marvelous job. You mention in your testimony that the 1081 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget operating support you receive from the City does not cover your costs. What has the shortfall been over the last two years and what are you projecting for your FY '04 deficiency to be?
I would ask Robert Morrone, our head of building and facilities, to answer that question.
I could certainly get to you with more definitive numbers. I can give you a good range of what they are. They have been in the neighborhood of about $4 million in each of the last few fiscal years. That's just with respect to security and building maintenance costs.
Have you been able to raise this money privately? That's quite a deficiency.
It is fair to say, Madam President, the museum has been facing substantial fiscal challenges, that we are raising money for exhibitions and educational programs. It is a lot easier to raise that kind of funding than it is for very fundamental museum operations. We 1082 3/3/03 - Continuing FY '04 Operating Budget are facing a really tough economic year for ourselves next year and we are very, very eager not to have to cut back on the exhibitions and programming. We have been carrying deficits for the last couple of years. This is not something that our trustees want to see us do going forward and we know that to be responsible we should narrow the gap as much as we possibly can. The City's help is absolutely invaluable to make sure that those deficits do not grow larger.
We project about two and a half million unless there is something that can be done.
What did you request from the administration in your original FY '04 budget submission and what was their reaction to your request?