Let me ask you a question relative to potential savings. I live on the route -- used to be trolley, now the bus 20 line. From my second-floor bedroom window any 21 time after 9 o'clock, when that bus route goes by, 22 that bus is generally -- and I will say generally 23 90 percent of the time -- empty or near-empty. Maybe one or two people ride on it, and it's not filled until maybe the 5 o'clock, 6 o'clock in the 1811 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE morning rush hour in the evening. What are we doing relative to the acquisition of buses and/or large vans and/or Philly Phlash style buses that can get us the savings associated with operations on gas and other things that may give us some of these savings we could put into other service.
Councilman, there's a good-news story here. We have -- today we have purchased 50 small buses for the SEPTA organization.
And we have 50 more on order. And we were able to play around and the region did do just what you're talking about. On off-peaks, late nights, weekends, the idea is to utilize smaller buses rather than the bigger buses and achieve that kind of savings.
My wife has refused to open her front windows on 11th Street since we've lived there because by the time the bus stops near the corner, when the bus begins its start-up, there's this spew of stuff that winds up 1812 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE all over the place, and I think that those kind of maneuvers, those kinds of strategies will also help both the environment and your costs.
I want to come back to a couple other questions, but I just want to say one word of compliment about a lot of things your guys are doing well. I started in politics in government back in 1978 as a volunteer for Senator Fumo and worked there for about years. I've been here 14 for seven and have worked through three governors' administrations, two mayoral administrations, and have worked with lots of legislative liaisons from almost every department in the State government and City government. And I have not found anyone who is more competent than Frances Jones. (Applause.)
She not only takes the information and tries her best to be innovative but truly cares and gets back to you in amazing time, I mean in amazing time, on issues from the smallest, pettiest things that annoy 1813 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE people or annoy us to the larger issues. And, I'm telling you, whatever you've got to do to keep her there, you better do it because I mean, private industry-wise or government-wise, she could go anywhere tomorrow, and I think she's one of the best I've ever dealt with in my years involved in government. 9
Well, 12 Frances, it's time to ask for a raise. 13
Thank you. 20 The Chair recognizes Blackwell. 21
Thank you, Madam President. I heard you ask SEPTA what the State subsidy was, and I wrote down $176,500,000. What was that subsidy for? 1814 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE (Mr. Leary confers off mike with other SEPTA reps.) UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: That's the base operating subsidy.
Well, how does that react to the math we have, total operating subsidies?
That includes a combination of many other items. In addition to base operating, it includes asset maintenance that we use to maintain our assets of about $40 million.
And then you said the City -- or I saw someplace that the City was $763,389,000 so I don't know what your verbal figures are versus this chart.
Excuse me, if I can answer your first question. The 288 million for State includes the base operating subsidy of approximately $176.5 million. It also includes 1815 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE approximately $40 million of asset maintenance. The source of the asset maintenance is Act 4 Funds, which is the dedicated funds for SEPTA. 5 In addition to those dollars, there is 6 also supported through Act 26 our debt service 7 items to support bond issues, etc. that fund our 8 asset acquisition programs. 9
Well, what's 10 763,389,000? What is that figure? Maybe I saw it 11 or maybe I heard it. 12
Okay. So in 15 other words, so the -- so the City's total share 16 is what, then? 17
Okay, so 19 58.1 million is what we -- is what your budget is 20 from the City for the next fiscal year; is that 21 right? 22
Okay. With 24 regard to welfare-to-work and the new SEPTA 25 routes, which we applaud you on that, does this 1816 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE schedule, How To Ride, reflect that? And if it doesn't, could you give us something that indicates what the bus routes are for welfare-to-work folks that we can give out.
Because this is really good. Or some kind of flyer.
We have those brochures for the entire region, and we will get them to you, little packages.
Thank you. I'd like to have them, maybe 2000 if I could get them, the flyers. Or I'll Xerox it if need be so we can get that out.
Thank you. Now, with regard to this whole contract matter -- in fact, that's been news as of recent days. Now how does that affect -- how does that affect the West Philadelphia project? You may or may not know. We tried to meet with all entities to get them to come together to do one proposal. We couldn't get it, obviously, because of this Mayor's race, and one of the people involved would 1817 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE not consider doing that. In fact, the winner of the contract who for -- my opinion is that due the mayor's race, he made other political decision. Now, I don't know how that affects the project, how they work with us. It's affected our regular meetings. And in fact, we requested -- and Frances didn't want to do it -- that that last meeting be called off because of that, because of all of this had seeped into, because the people in the meetings were manipulated by one of the persons applying for the contract so that we had a big muddled mess and we couldn't move forward. How does this impact on the meetings in Philadelphia, and where do we go from here?
Councilwoman, I think all of that, the entire procurement process is behind us. I mean, the competition among the firms is one thing. I think the SEPTA procurement process has produced a very strong team to provide all of the community outreach needed to support this project over the next three to five years. I think we have a good team now, I think we're now ready to go into the community and begin the community participation project to support this 1818 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE construction activity. This should begin within the next 30 days.
How does that affect, for example, the partnership? CDC did a proposal. You have the Transit Task Force who had some concerns like neighborhood office. You had various concerns. We had several community meetings where people talked about jobs and minority participation, they talked about relocation of businesses. They brought all of these issues to be revolved at community meetings with you folks there. Or are these issues to be discussed within a framework of the winners of this contract?
Councilwoman, the community relations and the communications outreach of the program is contained in that contract. We are very optimistic that we have a proposal for a contractor on board now that can handle the issues in the community. And, in fact, because there has been -- their time has lapsed in the meeting with the community, we have tentatively scheduled a meeting for the 25th of March, at the Kirkbride Center where we will introduce the new consultant 1819 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE to the community. As far as affirmative action side of it and the contracts for businesses, that's contained in another contract, our affirmative action contract. However, we will be working -- those constants will be working very closely together to ensure that we're all on the same page, we're communicating, and will work very closely with my office also. So we've looked at the full scope of the contract and the outreach aspect of it and we've put together hopefully two contracts that will address your needs, the needs of the community, in addition to the Urban Mass Transit Task Force that has been assembled as an oversight committee. So we're optimistic that we're moving in the right direction.
May I suggest that we, at least the elected officials -- who naturally wouldn't know what the contract called for because we wouldn't be involved in that whole process -- be apprised of who does what, who's responsible, to whom we address questions; 1820 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE otherwise, the community meetings will be crazy and out of control, and we don't know where to direct them. I think that all of the questions that pretty much can be asked have been asked. And I think it is now time for us now to respond. We can't start that process all over again, and we're going to have bedlam in our community meetings. So it's out there; it's just, who's supposed to respond, how do we give the community the answers. I think that at this point, we have to respond to some of the issues they have raised over the various meetings in West Philadelphia or we're going to have more problems. And that's too, too difficult.
Councilwoman, as you know, I have been deeply, probably more immersed than I wanted to be in this process.
And what I ask is that everybody just hold on a little bit longer until we can get this West Philadelphia office open. 1821 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE And at that time, we can then direct questions through that office and through this contractor and then begin to set up the process for filtering through all of the various things. For example, Mr. Leary talked about the new contract designs, which is another piece of this. The community has actually not had a chance to respond to designs on the stations in a specific way that would make an impact. This -- all of this will be done through this community service office and this contract. So as soon as the office gets open and set up, we will then be able to direct all of these kind of questions, including the job questions, through this office. So we ask you to hold on a little bit longer because that's the direction in which this will go.
I think we can hold on if you hold on. In other words, you can't call a community meeting with none of this worked out. I won't go to that kind of meeting 'cause I can't killed and I can't get beat up when I have no information.
It's easier to make that information publicly known, all of that. I don't think you should tell somebody in an office, working in an office something about the design; you've got to have those discussions in a big meeting, in a community meeting, and then field questions after an office is opened. So that's all I'm saying -- let's not, you know, you can't have a blind community meeting scheduled that doesn't react to when things are in place or when these parts are in place, who does what for this contract or whatever else happens at your level so that we don't have problems.
But what I'm saying is, nobody knows that but you. We don't know -- I wouldn't know it as an elected official 'cause I didn't submit an RFP to do it. So what I'm saying is, you need to let me know what happens where, whether -- Frances just said one part of the contract calls for something and another part of it -- or contract or another something calls for something else -- and 1823 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE then not have any community meetings until things are in place so that -- if we call the meeting, I also suggest that, for example, that a meeting is called for a specific purpose. This meeting is discuss the design or something, so that we have something organized. We've had as many general meetings as I think are productive. If you have more general meetings, informational meeting, you're going to have a problem. We know have to focus in on the other end. We've done the first half; now we've got to focus in on the other end to specifically deal with specific issues with people who can resolve questions. We can't just go out there and open up again.
We can begin now, Council Lady, to develop a fact sheet for you and people like you in your office so that you will be able to answer these questions as this process develops.
But you 1824 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE understand what I'm saying about calling these meetings.
And my last question is to Mr. Leary. On this West Philadelphia on the Move, you know we want to try to do things and we need to follow up with you. I think I wrote you a letter -- maybe I didn't, but I would like for us to follow up. It may not be able appropriate here, but on what we're trying to do with 52nd Street, for example, in lots, getting a parking lot to alleviate some of the --
We met with you and Mr. Stoddard (ph.) From the West Philadelphia Partnership. I think you gave us a proposal on Philadelphia on the Move.
Right. All 1825 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE right, so we don't have to follow up now but I would like to follow up so we know where we are with those things. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you, Madam President. Mr. Leary, I would appreciate it if could you look into transporting the school students from the school system more so than you do now this -- token arrangement, $20 million. I think we had this conversation before, where you suggested that you would like to because it would work well for the way the system -- 3 o'clock and around that time, it would be something that you would be interested in. Could you get into a serious conversation with the Board of Education to see if could you work something out and start working together on some mutual assistance in doing that? You told me that that was something that you would be interested in doing. It would be beneficial to 1826 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE you, it would be beneficial to the taxpayers.
It's clearly something that a dialogue needs to begin and to focus on this issue. I'm not sure what the solution is, but the entire issue of student fares needs to be -- needs to be studied.
Most of these young people are out of school at 2:30, 3 o'clock. And you indicated to me that you would be very interested in doing some of that transport rather than these yellow school buss that we have running around.
Yes, okay, I know what you're talking about. The issue of the public transit system providing school bus transportation. As you know, there's a conflict in the law that prohibits the public transportation system from providing exclusive school bus service. That's something that needs to be looked at. Very often you see going down the street a transit bus that's half full and a school bus half right behind it that's half full, and it's just a waste of resource.
It's not efficient. 1827 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
It's not efficient and I think it's all a part of this dialogue that needs to take place as to providing transformation for the schools.
Could we get into some really serious conversations to see if there are --
I have another question. Today it was brought to my attention that many of the facilities at SEPTA aren't working. Point: those escalators at Broad and Lehigh. Why aren't things -- is there a problem? Do you know exactly what works, what doesn't work? Because some of the seniors, especially those steps are quite a chore for them. And if you have a critical location like Broad and Lehigh and the escalators don't work, that's a problem. Do you know, does anyone in your organization keep track of that? 1828 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
Yes, we do. Every day, as a matter of fact, we get a report on which escalators are working and which escalators are not working. And I will share with you, it's a real problem because many of them are very, very old and they're very difficult to keep working and very difficult to get replacement parts for.
I think that would be a priority because of the fact that many of your customers are really dependent on those.
Yes, sir. It's a critical issue among all our station modernization projects, and every chance get, as we invest in the stations, we invest in a new escalator.
Councilman, the FTA has funded the Liveable Communities Grant. Two of them in Pennsylvania, two -- one at the Chester Transportation Center and one at Broad and Lehigh. There will be a complete overhaul of that station within the next two to three years.
I thank you for telling me that, but I don't think we can go without escalator service for two or three years, 1829 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE waiting for that project.
My final question is, could you explain to me what public rest rooms are available to SEPTA passengers? I've heard complaints that some of the conditions of some of the facilities is not good -- specifically and I don't know what's available, to tell you the truth, at many of the locations.
But the ones that are available I hear are horrible. That was how it was described to me.
Well, the ones that are available should be maintained and should be kept better, at a reasonably decent standard. If you could let me know which ones, you're talking about, I will about reinforce that with our folks.
The one -- I don't have it on the tip of my tongue right now, but I was told that 69th Street, many people coming into the city to work on occasion need to use the 1830 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE facility, and I was told that -- this one particular lady that made contact with me said that she decided not to use it; it was that bad.
I'll check on that. That should not be the case at 69th Street.
A broader question, a broader question. What public facilities are available to folks that use the system?
Councilman, we have very, very few facilities open to the public.
That's been the standard policy for a lot of years, as I understand it.
Is that standard throughout -- do most transportation systems not provide public facilities for their passengers? I mean, if you're stuck on the platform and have a need, that could be -- I'm not suggesting that we start building facilities, but the ones that -- we have some and if they're not presentable, we need to take care of them.
Well, it's a very difficult question. I can tell you that in both of my previous worlds, Boston and St. Louis, the policy 1831 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE was made in both places not to provide rest rooms for the public because of the inherent difficulty that that brings in a number of areas. Even in the new system we built in St. Louis, we did not provide rest rooms as part of the facilities that were being built. And I believe that that's been the policy here at SEPTA as well.
I can understand the problem, but if you do have them, there should be and effort to make them presentable.
If we do have them, that is very true. And I'm very surprised about the 69th Street facility. That's one of our major facilities, and I will check on that today.
You're welcome. Councilman DiCicco, did you want to be recognized again? Okay, thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll be brief. 1832 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE First let me say that I think that Councilman Kenney actually laid an excellent framework for the discussion going forward on the tokens. Mr. Leary, the only thing that I would ask you to follow up on is, your earlier statement to me was you had some familiarity with other transit systems in other locales and that in many of those areas, there is more State support for the transit system as it relates to tokens and school kids. As a part of this discussion, or it sounds like maybe you're going to set up a working group, if you could compile any information on how other primarily major urban environments, what goes on in New York, what goes on in Boston, what goes on in Atlanta, Chicago, Washington D.C., Baltimore, those systems? What goes on this those places? What is the funding formula for those cities and the nature of their relationship, you know, whatever the name of the transit system is with the State or the Commonwealth of the particular area? And how those funding formulas match up or exceed or under-perform as it relate 1833 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE to Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I think that information would be very helpful. If we're going to make an argument to someone that ours is not right or could be better, then I think we have to demonstrate that other people are doing other things in a different fashion and try to get some commonality between systems.
Councilman, I will do that. And I just don't want to mislead you. The relationship is typically between the State and the School Department covering student transportation --
I understand that. MR. LEARY -- with the transit authority.
Just whatever your knowledge base is, if you can share that with us through the Chair, compile some information. I think I clearly heard the Councilman -- and if I didn't communicate it clearly enough, I don't 1834 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE think we look at this as just a SEPTA problem. You're in the transportation business; you're not necessarily in the education business. But somewhere between SEPTA, the Commonwealth, the School District, and the City Council, if we're going to have that dialogue then I think we also just need to know the facts and be able to compare and analyze between the various systems so -- I mean, we're not expecting you to solve this problem by yourself. I do have one, I guess, kind of jurisdiction question, although it does not involve rest rooms, but it involves a place that is often used in that capacity. If you come of City Hall on the northwest corner, which I believe is the Dilworth Plaza area, you go down the steps and into that concourse. You can either go straight across and you end up in that hallway that leads to where the Post Office is and the SEPTA station that used to be enclosed and now is wide open -- and let me commend you on the little trains and all the other things that you sell over there. Invariably, I'm sure I'm going to have to buy one for Olivia. 1835 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE But that concourse area, is that part of your responsibility or is it the City's responsibility? There's an open area and then there's a covered area. Many people don't walk in the covered area because any last breath you have, you really don't want that one to be the last one that you take. Who is responsible for that area?
Denise Goren, you're responsible? Thank you very much. (Laughter.)
And the answer really is, It depends. One of the issues that we have --
In the entire concourse area is a phenomenon that if it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium. Believe it or not, every time you walk in or out and the floor changes, a different entity is responsible for the 1836 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE maintenance of that area. It's one of the reasons that the City and SEPTA is working on creating a concourse maintenance organization to centralize control of the maintenance because it could be on half of that hallway, a private building owner, SEPTA, the City. It's nuts.
Why don't you color-code the various blocks as you walk along, and then --
The area that you're talking about before you get to the Post Office.
In that corridor, if it's the linoleum part of the floor, it's SEPTA's. If it's concrete, it's the City's.
What about the circular area that's actually covered? Which is 1837 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE probably the most offensive part of the trip down there.
At the top of the stairs, it goes down to the subway surface, and it's literally a gray area.
Yeah, it pretty gray. All right, thank you very much. I'm finished. Thank you.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As you know there's a boom of economic development in Center City: Disney's coming; we're building hotels; the waterfront's ready to get started on the Simon project; in North 1838 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Philadelphia, you have the Apollo, which is completed and up and running; the North Philadelphia Avenue of the Arts; our own Avenue of the Arts on the southern part of Broad Street; two stadiums. So there's lots the economic development on the table in the next three, five, seven years. What long-range planning is going on now in an effort to maximize our opportunities public transportation-wise to maximize our opportunities transportation-wise as a result of all this ongoing development?
Councilman, this is a terrific opportunity -- not only for City but for SEPTA, and that is the focal point for our five-year strategic plan for change, to position ourselves so we can provide the best possible transportation and the best possible support mechanism for all of these investments in the City. As you know, we're modernizing our fleet, we're buying new buses, new trains, we're modernizing our stations, we're talking about extensions. All of this is part of trying to make 1839 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE SEPTA more relevant and to be a contributing partner to the growth and economic vitality that's going on in this community.
I have read letters in the newspaper written by from people out of town, people from Europe.
I think there's a repeat story that one of our -- I think it was the Daily News or Inquirer that did it about this couple from Germany, and the guy -- with the bus, and it was a terrible situation. And they went on and on and on and on about how wonderful our public transportation system is. What is it about our own natives that we have trouble getting through that it's a good system. (Laughter.)
I mean, people come from German -- and I have never been to Germany, but everything I read about it is that it's a model of efficiency and cleanliness. So why would a couple from Germany go on and on about how wonderful our system is, and when you talk to the 1840 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE average Philadelphian, they think it's terrible?
Well, Councilman, I'm starting to think of myself as a Philadelphian now that I've been here almost three years -- or going on three years. But I can tell you, it's sort of -- when you arrive in this community, you get the sense that Philadelphians are very hard on themselves in terms of what they have in this city. There's a lot of wonderful things in this city that I think are appreciated more by people from outside the city than inside the city.
Yeah. We booed Mike Schmidt, and he's probably the best third base man that ever played the game. And so it is a very difficult, kind of negative attitude. As a native Philadelphian, I can say that. What do we do to change that? Besides what you're doing already to change that attitude? I mean, for example -- and I don't want to pick on the drivers 'cause your drivers, far and away, are terrific people, but there's still this general attitude that relates to the relationship between passenger and driver that's similar to what people feel about City employees 1841 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE -- or used to feel City employees; that somehow, you know, that there's not the courtesy, there's not the intent to be helpful. When I rode buses in high school and college, there were bus drivers who almost had their own talk shows, you know, and had their loyal following of riders and, you know, and birthdays. And people would -- and granted, they're extraordinary too, and the average bus driver is a courteous and decent person. How do we become more customer-friendly and --
You know, we're in the business that in one sense we're fortunate in that we get to see every one of our customers twice a day -- most businesses don't have that luxury.
But the person driving the bus, the person in the cashier booth in the station is the kind of -- that's where we meet our customer and that's, you know, how our customer thinks of us. And we have a long way to go. We're a very, very old transit property with tons of tradition, and that transition, to some extent, 1842 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE is a handicap because the world has changed and the expectation has changed. And the ways you deal with people today are much different than just a few years ago. We're putting a lot of emphasis today on training inside the organization. We're bringing every single bus driver in to the headquarters to -- and we don't call it "training" anymore; we call it "partnering" because we need to empower our employees to do a good job and do it the right way. Many of our employees are very, very skill heavy-equipment operators, but the training that's needed is the interface with the customers and how you deal with customers and how you deal with problems that they face every day. Some of our employees meet thousands of our customers every day, and it's a difficult job. And all I can tell you is we're working very hard at it and we're going to continue very intensive training program.
Have we tried to partner with any existing public service businesses in Philadelphia? For example, when we 1843 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE had our problem with 911, we had the City coupled with Independence Blue Cross and dealt with some training issues -- we actually had ongoing training issues in dealing with customers. So have we looked for local resources to help partner with our transit agency?
Yes. I'll tell you what we've done right along those lines with Mara Levitz (ph.) and the tourism bureau. We have worked out an arrangement with those folks where they come in and actually participate in the training of our employees, trying to introduce the whole idea of hospitality training into our employees. And, conversely, we're using some of our resources to provide some of the things that they need to market the City. I mean, we have facilities to print things build things and build things and so forth for them. So we've started this partnership with those folks. We have to do more of it. But, yes, that's the way that this is going to change, and it has to change.
In the issue of 1844 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE security, there's a pilot program that you guys introduced at the request of Councilmembers Verna DiCicco and myself as it related to security cameras in the Tasker-Morris Street Broad Street line. I got -- I have not heard much complaint about continuing violence or robberies or any of that that was going about even six, eight months or a year ago. A lot of that is due to the terrific job that SEPTA police, the transit police do. But I think a lot of it may have to do, especially at that stop, with the existence of that video cameras at various locations. As you know, the older subway systems often have these labyrinth of hallways and exits and entrances that make it easier for someone to lurk in the darkness or lurk in the area and do crime. I don't think there's been any major incident there since the cameras have been installed. And what are we doing in --
What are we doing in the future to try to provide that safety for 1845 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE those -- for ultimately all of our stops, but those that at least have had crime.
You know, a little demonstration we put together at Tasker and Morris has turned out to be sort of the forerunner of something bigger and better. We have adopted a policy now inside the organization -- all our stations, all our new stations, as they get modernized, they're going to get -- they're going to have closed-circuit television included in them. I mean, you're correct. There have been no incidents down at Tasker and Morris. And we are moving forward to expand it. We're picking out a few other stations. Hopefully, next year, we'll have Broad and Erie and Allegheny and a couple of others up and running, but it will take us a few years. I mean, this is not something that gets done overnight. But our goal is to have every single station, both on the subway station and in the regional rail, monitored by closed-circuit television at our control center and by both our operations folks and operations controllers and 1846 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE our police.
Have we also thought about the possibility of providing signage, even in stations that aren't monitored? I think one of the things that we suggested was that, you know, we monitor some; and while we're moving to monitor them all, we also use some signage to discourage those who think they're not being watched, that they are in fact being watched I mean, is that --
That's an idea. I will take that back. I should also tell you, too, that we have now approximately 50 buses that have closed-circuit television in the buses, and we're moving to put some closed-circuit television in the trains as well. So this idea of monitoring our customers, monitoring what's going on, the experience that they're feeling.
One of the final questions I have is and one of the regular security complaints I receive about bus routes is that when an incident -- or if an incident occurs on a bus, sometimes the driver will either ignore 1847 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE it or refuse to become involved or refuse to raise their voice to stop it. I get a lot of times with children coming and going from school when, for example, there may be two different schools on the same route and there's that natural -- used to be natural rivalry, now it's a natural rivalry that sometimes turns to violence, that the driver is kind of oblivious to what's going on, where if a deranged person, a mentally ill person, you know, gets on or if someone intoxicated gets on and is harassing customers, sometimes it just seems not to be something even mentioned by the driver. And what are we doing to get our people to --
Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that because it is the driver's responsibility. The driver has two-way radio communication with our control center, a direct connection to our police department. It is their responsibility if any of your constituents --
Yeah. And if they encounter that, I'd welcome a report on that. 1848 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
One final question in trying to understand the budget. My question is, if were put in our language, which is "operating and capital budget," could you give me a figure? I mean, I know we see operating subsidies, operating revenues, operating expenses. Then we see fringe benefits. And, you know, I'm just trying to get a general -- trying to get a better handle on this budget stuff. And is that possible for you to tell us generally in our language --.
In your language, the allocation for the City's allocation for the Operating Budget is $58.1 million.
Okay. Is that -- that's for operating; now, about capital? 1849 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
I could have asked those folks back there doing 5, huh?
Are there any other questions or comments from members of the committee? (No further questions at this time.)
The City Controller will testify next. (David Volpe comes forward.)
It is my understanding that the City Controller had a very important prior commitment and that Mr. Volpe is here and will testify very briefly. 1850 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE We do have a copy of the City Controller's testimony, which will be made a part of the record in its complete form. I would suggest, if you will, if you would simply abbreviate the Controller's testimony.
Surely, Madame President. My name is David Volpe. I'm the First Deputy City Controller. Today I will be presenting the Controller's FY 2000 Operating Budget testimony. To be very brief, the Controller's FY 2000 Operating Budget proposal, as proposed by the Mayor in an amount we can accept, is $6,913,444. That's a 2.3 percent increase over FY 1999's appropriation. That is what the Mayor proposed. We have agreed that we can live within that amount for this year -- I can't say what will be next years in terms of FY 2001, but in FY 2000, we have agreed that we will live within that amount based on internal savings. There are basically no changes within the budget other than funding negotiated wage increases for our employees. That's basically the long and the short 1851 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE of it.
I wish everybody's testimony were the same. Are there any questions by members of the committee? (No questions.).
Thank you very much. Community College is next to testify. (Community College panel members come forward.)
Good morning, Madam President and members of City Council. My name is Emanuel Ortiz. You know and met Mr. Schreger (ph.), Isadore Schreger. And to my right is Dr. Ronald A. Williams. I am the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Community College of Philadelphia, and I'm honored to have as colleagues on the Board a group of dedicated civic and business leaders in Philadelphia who recognize the importance of the Community College of Philadelphia to our great city. With your permission, Madam President, 1852 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE I would like to introduce those present today. I'll ask them to stand as I recognize them: (Following names spelled phonetically.) Delores Brisbonne, Christine James Brown, Bruce Caswell, Rhonda Cohen, Marcine Mattleman (I believe she had to leave. Allen Skimmle, the Honorable James Roebuck. I should note that we have well over a quorum of our Board here at present.
Let me first express our appreciation to the Mayor for recognizing the excellent work of our faculty, administrators, staff, and students, some of whom are in the audience today. By recommending a significant capital allocation to the budget this year, we are most appreciative of this investment into the educational future of our city. Community College of Philadelphia was founded in 1965 and opened with an enrollment of 700 full-time and part-time student. Today your city college is one of the ten largest community colleges in the nation, with over 1,000 full- and 1853 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE part-time faculty and more than 41,000 credit and noncredit students enrolled in programs throughout the city. We are proud to be the third largest degree-granting institution in the City of Philadelphia. As you know, the college and the city lost a great leader last year with the untimely passing away of our president, Dr. Fredrick W. Capshaw. The Community College Board has put in motion a national search for the fifth president of the college to advance the institution and its students successfully into the 21st century. Late last year, we established a 15-member search committee, including trustees, staff, faculty, administrators, a student, an alumnus, and a representative from the business community. We anticipate having a new president by the end of this school year. In the interim, our board is appreciative and feels fortunate that since Fred's death, Dr. Ronald A. Williams has been leading the college as acting president. He is here with me this morning and will provide the primary budget testimony on behalf of the Board and 1854 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE administration. We understand the great potential of the college to be a dynamic force for the city's economic development into the next century but are candidly concerned that under the current climate, restricted funding will limit that potential. At this time, with your permission, President Verna, I would like to ask Dr. Williams to comment on what the college can do at the current level of funding and what the limitations are we are facing at this level of funding.
Thank you very much, Mr. Ortiz, and good morning, Council President Verna and members of City Council. I'm Ron Williams, as Mr. Ortiz has explained, the acting president of the Community College of Philadelphia. And I'm honored to testify on the college's 1999 2,000 Operating and Capital Budgets. Allow me first to congratulate you, President Verna on your election.
And to extend thanks to 1855 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE all members of the Council for the support that each of you has provided over the past year. This Council has historically been supportive of the Community College of Philadelphia, and many of you have frequently indicated to me your pride in the college. We are very much appreciative of that support. You have received from us written testimony of the history of success of the college in both aspects of its mission, one of which is to provide education which allows students to transfer from our college to four-year institutions; and the second, which is the place them directly into jobs. The Ford Foundation identified the Community College of Philadelphia about few years ago as one of the top transfer colleges in the country, and students' success in transfer is demonstrated in the chart which I have sent to you. The college has also been successful in providing career education. Thousands of students are working in the Philadelphia workforce who have been trained and educated for jobs at the 1856 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Community College of Philadelphia. The average starting salary of our occupational graduates is $27,000. Again, our written testimony identifies those successes for you. Also, the college is a major resource for the economic development of Philadelphia. We are where the action is. We have developed a number of exciting relationships with companies like CSX, Kvaerner, and PNC. Everything we do is designed to assist in the building of the human resources necessary to support the city's economic growth, and we have been demonstrably successful at this protect. That success is the product of our board, administration, faculty, staff, and students all cooperating with the city's leadership to advance the economic development of the city. Community colleges are the colleges of the future. And President Clinton, Governor Ridge, Mayor Rendell and members of this Council have all emphasized the role that community colleges are playing and will continue to play in economic development in the years ahead. Now, let's talk a little bit about this 1857 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE year's budget. 9 million deficit. In the years since then, we've gradually reduced that deficit to the point where, last year, we were able to balance the budget through some good fortune as well as good sense. In 1998 and 1999, we're also projecting that we will have a balanced budget. However, that balanced budget is very slim. We've got something like that a $7,000 variance in our budget, which means that even a minor emergency can cause us to slip into deficit again. Reducing the budget from a $3 million deficit to be in balance in five years has caused some erosion in basic services of the college. The college suffers seriously from deferred maintenance. Key components of the college's main campus buildings, which were completed in 1982, have reached their life expectancy. We need to invest in new hallway flooring, building caulking, rest room restorations, mechanical systems, and so on. The college has delayed public space and classroom painting, replacement of faculty and office furnishings, elevator overhauls, and other 1858 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE facility expenses in an effort to preserve academic programs and student services. 7 million in deferred maintenance remains. Each year that the college fails to address these facilities-maintenance issues, it escalates the cost of addressing them in the future. We've held back on discretionary and other important spending. Last year, we completed negotiations and provided a modest increase for our hard-working faculty and staff. 6 million this year. In addition, we will be occupying the old Pennsylvania College Optometry building this coming fall. The opening of that building will cost an additional $800,000 in new money.
This year, over the last year, we've seen a modest growth in credit enrollment, and our noncredit enrollment continues to grow dramatically. This year, therefore, we've got the largest enrollment that we've ever had in the 1859 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE college's history. 4 million inflationary factor in our budget. Now, the college has only three ways to raise funds. We can get additional dollars from the State, we can get additional dollars from the City -- or, as a last resort, we can get additional dollars from students, meaning we raise tuition. The State has indicated that community colleges this year will get a 3 percent increase. That represents about $700,000 in our operating budget. 8 million in capital dollars to complete the purchase as well as the outfitting of the new building in the northwest. We are very, very grateful for this. However, the pressure on our operating budget continues. Without additional funds for that budget, we will be forced to raise tuition. This would be the second year in a row that we would be raising tuition and fees. However, if we receive no further assistance for our operating budget, the increase will be necessary simply to provide 1860 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE the basic services at the college. This is never a good idea. The impact on the students is always great. And since so many of our students have so little disposable income, even a $2 or $3 increase can have profound effects on them. And yet, at the same time, we have to worry about quality of the services that we provide the City. For your investment, I think you get quite a lot. We've got some 41,000 students at the college right now -- and that operates on a $76 million budget. For that amount of money, about $25 million of which is the City's contribution, you get significant workforce development, a sound transfer in career education. You get increased training to businesses and industry, and that has increased dramatically in the last couple of years. You get GED, literacy, ESL instruction -- very important to the City at this point. In addition to which, we provide greater access to technology for the students who are at the college. Currently, we have no plans to cut 1861 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE personnel. What we would like to do is to continue the progress that we've made over the last few years in reaching out to the community in a variety of ways. We have some sites in 6 addition to the main campus and the three regional 7 centers around the City where we're providing 8 instruction, and we'd like aggressively to reach 9 out into the communities to continue that kind of 10 service. 11 We'd like to maintain the customer 12 services on campus as well. We don't want to 13 create long lines because we don't people to 14 respond to the student' needs there and so on 15 during registration. 16 We face a number of issues on campus 17 because of the lack of funds. I think our 18 services have become less effective in the last 19 four years as we've had to cut. The place, 20 because we've had to cut services is dirtier that 21 it used to be. The lines are longer, and there's 22 more grumbling among students about having to wait 23 in line for different sorts of things. 24 I'd like to conclude, however, by 25 saying that think you've got a wonderful group of 1862 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE employees at the college. They're loyal to what they do and dedicated to the task of educating the citizens of this city. I think you're getting a pretty good deal, as a matter of fact, for $3600 per head. I am tremendously optimistic about the future of this college. I think we've done some wonderful things in the place, and there are many more to come. We need and we desperately want to be a part of the City's efforts to improve itself. We appreciate that these are tough times all around, but we sincerely hope that you can find a way of helping us to improve our operating budget.
That way, we can avoid the increase in tuition. I thank you very much for your time and attention, and I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have.
Thank you, Doctor. On of our testimony, you state that the Community College is one of four colleges nationwide selected by CSX to produce and train 1863 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE 1500 crew members this year.
How are potential candidate selected for this program? And is the program still ongoing?
Yes, it is -- the last question first. We started it immediately after CSX took over Conrail, and we were aware that one of the issues that they faced at the time was they were going to move people out of Philadelphia. One of the things that they offered to do originally was to give us a grant of some -- I think it was $60,000 for our foundation, or something like that. We pointed out that that would be minuscule and that it would be more useful if we could get involved in providing training for the people. As a result of those conversations, we developed a program where we are one of four colleges around the country now providing training for CSX in certain sectors of the country. Community College of Philadelphia right now operates their training program from as far south 1864 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE as Richmond and as far north as New York -- that full corridor. The students are selected by our people. Largely, they tell us the areas where they will be hiring. We bring the people -- we advertise in the area, bring the people to Philadelphia, provide the instruction, and then they hire them.
Thank you. Doctor, what are you projecting your reserve balance to be at the end of your current Fiscal Year 1998-99?
Are you expecting to have to use some of your reserve funds in the school year 1999-2000? And if so, how much?
We're hoping actually that we can find a way of balancing our budget without tapping into our reserves. That reserve fund was 17 million four years ago. And as a result of the deficits that we've incurred, we've had to spend it down -- I think we got as low as 1865 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE million or maybe 10.5 million a couple years ago. We are trying to build that back right now. It's the only mechanism that we have, by the way, for responding to any major emergencies that might come up. It seems like a lot of money, but on the base of a $76 million budget, there are any number of things that can happen at any time where you would need to tap into dollars that you don't have in your immediate budget. So we've tried to keep that very liquid so that we have a mechanism by which we can respond to major emergencies.
Thank you. In your testimony, you state that the college continues to operate under serious financial constraints and urgently needs additional City support for the 1999-2000 year. Does the Mayor's proposed operating budget reflect the Community College's budget request for FY 2000? If not, what was your original request, and do you know why they chose not to grant it?
Okay. The original 1866 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE request is $1.5 million. We were provided $600,000 in capital. The 1.5 would have been in the operating budget. I can only speculate that the provision of capital funds is a one-time provision; whereas operating funds carry through to the next year.
Thank you Madam President. I wanted to certainly just thank Community College and certainly give special kudos to my good friend Mr. Isadore Schreger and all of the Board members who work hard to bring our school forward. Thank you.
On behalf of the whole northwest community of Philadelphia, we wanted to welcome Community College to its new location in the old Optometry College. We think you're going to be a tremendous asset to the community there, and we're just very happy that 1867 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE you're coming. I wanted to go back to a question raised by President Verna; I'm not sure I got the answer. What was the original request for operating funds?