COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, June 22, 1999 10:30 a.m. - - - Resolution 990264 - Authorizing the Committee on Public Safety and Education to conduct a hearing to come access to current need for additional crossing guards throughout the City of Philadelphia. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN ANGEL L. ORTIZ, Chair COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN FRANK DICICCO COUNCILMAN RICHARD T. MARIANO COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 2 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 I N D E X Audrey Correll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AOP* Parent Team Leader Delores Shaw, AOP Parent . . . . . . . . . . . A.K. McClure Elementary School Carmen Vasquez, AOP Leader . . . . . . . . . . 8 Inspector Anthony DiLacqua . . . . . . . . . . 20 Executive Officer, Patrol Bureau Sergeant David Thompson. . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Crossing Guard Headquarters Kenneth Moragne, AOP Parent Team Member. . . . 51 Todd Porter, AOP (in place of Myron Reddy) . . 62 Kit Mullen, AOP Parent Team Member . . . . . . 62 Betty McDonald, President. . . . . . . . . . . 68 Crossing Guard Union, Local 1956 (*AOP = Alliance Organizing Project) 3 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 P R O C E E D I N G S
Will the Councilpeople for Public Safety please come down so we could start the meeting. We will begin the hearing on Resolution 7 990264. Councilman Frank DiCicco is just about to turn the corner and come in.
Oh, he is already here. Okay. Resolution 990264, authorizing the Committee on Public Safety and Education to conduct a hearing to come access to current need for additional crossing guards throughout the City of Philadelphia. Could I have Audrey Correll, Delores Shaw and Carmen Vasquez, please. (Witnesses come forward.)
Put the microphone close to you, and state your name for the record, please.
Good morning. My name is 4 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 Delores Shaw.
I will start. Again, my name is Audrey Correll, and I have four children. I'm a leader in the AOP Parent Team -- or one of the leaders, I should say in the AOP at Cook Wissahickon School. I come to you also as co-chair for the citywide AOP, and AOP is Alliance Organizing Project. Basically we're coming, of course, on the crossing guard issue. And first off, Alliance Organizing Project is an organization of parents with children in the School District of Philadelphia, and we work both in the local level as well as on the citywide level to actually work towards having effective and improved public education. In October 1998, parents across the city came together, and we came together to identify the issues that were of most concern to us and to our children. Safety was one of the 5 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 those identified, and we actually feel that with the crossing-guard issue, that's one of many safety issues. We're concerned about the crossing guards on the corners around our school, and identified eight AOP schools that were in need of crossing guards. Since then, we as parents have been waging a citywide campaign to get these crossing guards. We have had several research meetings with police captains crossing guards and, of course, with you, Councilmembers. We've surveyed our corners, we've counted the number of children and cars crossing the intersections. We've gathered about 1500 signatures on petitions and we built a partnership with the crossing guard union and our crossing guard union president, Betty McDonald, whom you will hear from later. On April 7th at the John Welsh Elementary School, we met with, of course, Councilmembers Mariano and Councilman Ortiz, and three of the police districts, the president of the crossing guard union, and representatives from crossing guard headquarters were also on hand to respond to our concerns. 6 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 Some of the clippings you have in your handouts. And from that action, we had some results. We've actually gotten two of our AOP corners with crossing guards. We'd also like to say, Councilman Ortiz and Miller, we appreciate for introducing this resolution for the public hearings on this issue, and we're very appreciative of the crossing guards. However, you know, we still have a lot of work to do as far as getting those other corners supplied with crossing guards. You know, when we look at --
We're actually talking about more than eight corners. We are asking for 7 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 those eight corners immediately to be done by September school opening, but there are hundreds of corners as well that we are asking to be surveyed.
It's in your packet, some of the corners are in your packet, and that are still some corners that are not yet identified. To wrap up, what I have to say, again, there are dozens, even hundreds, of corners across the city that need crossing guards in order for our children to get to school safely. And three things we're for asking for here today: one, to have those crossing guards hired and ready to work by September school opening, and we're talking about eight priority corners first, but definitely, all of those --
Have you spoken with the commissioner? He's the one who can --
We have definitely spoken to the commissioner. Again, I'm going to outline three of the things we're asking for today, if I may. 8 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
Thank you. Number one, we'd like to have crossing guards hired; number two, we're asking the Police Department to do a needs assessment of the additional 32 corners that are outlined in your packet and listed on the facts sheet itself, and we're definitely going to ask City Council to hold other public hearings. Today is the last day of school, many of our staff as well as parents are involved in the ceremonies and end of the school year activities happening. As you can see, some Councilmembers aren't here today. We definitely want other public hearings, and we're asking for one in September. And with that said, we're going to actually ask some of our local leaders to share with you some of their efforts, and we'll start with Delores Shaw from McClure School.
Good morning. My name is Delores Shaw and I'm an AOP mother of three children. I am here representing the A.K. McClure Elementary School at Sixth Street and Hunting Park Avenue. The A.K. McClure School is a K-through-4, 9 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 with an enrollment of approximately 650 schools. McClure is currently without crossing guard at the corner of Seventh Street and Hunting Park Avenue. Coverage of this corner is considered a priority to us as parents for the following reasons: The large volumes of both commercial and passenger traffic along this stretch of Hunting Park Avenue, between Sixth and Seventh Street. The dangerous speed at which some vehicles move have been known to travel along this route; The location of two annex classrooms in the Church of Praise and Worship at the corner of Seventh and Hunting Park Avenue; The large number of our children who travel this often dangerous route to come to school. As parents, both the education and safety of our children to and from school is our priority. The immediate funding for our priority corners is why we are here today. Our efforts will continue until all of our corners are fully staffed and all our children are safe both to and 10 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 from school.
And I'd like to do now Miss Carmen Vasquez from the Welsh Elementary School.
My name is Carmen Vasquez. I am an AOP leader, and I have a grandchild at John Welsh Elementary School. Crossing guard is the first issue we want to work on at Welsh. We have 850 kids at Welsh. We used to have three crossing guards; now we only have one. For some reason, we lost two guards and now we want to know why. And we are not alone today. I represent four schools in the 26th Police District: Welsh, Hunter, McKinley, and Hartranft. In our first meeting with Captain Asher, he told us that there used to be 75 crossing guards in our district; now we only have 11 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 42. This is critical. Children have been hit. One little girl at John Welsh was put in a body cast. We have kids at John Welsh volunteering to be Welsh cadets. They are doing the job of a crossing guard. That should tell you how bad the situation is. We cannot let this continue. How many children need to get hurt before the City and the police gives us more crossing guards. Please do something about this now. Make sure our eight AOP priority corners have crossing guards by September and make sure that the other 32 corners are covered by the end of September. Thank you.
Have you had meetings with -- 'cause this is funded. We in City Council have funded this. And we had a hearing here more than a year ago in which we had a big attendance of crossing guards and some parents. So I've gone through this. We had some conflicts with the mayor's office and with the commissioner. The commissioner was not listening; and, in fact, was at one point told not to attend hearings. 12 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 At that time, there were around 175 corners, I think, that were not covered. Since that time, I've been assured that over 993 corners are presently staffed. There are a thousand positions that are budgeted for. During -- ever since those hearings, we have had Miss McConnell's here, so it's. . . Betty, we have had very good compliance by the City. Now, are the eight corners that you're mentioning here included in the thousand positions that are open, or are they extra and beyond the thousand? Have they already been budgeted for and are not covered?
I can only answer that they are not yet covered. As far as the budget aspect of that, I cannot answer that.
But you don't know whether they're included in the process. These are all elementary schools, right?
So they should be because, supposedly, crossing guards are only for elementary schools, so all elementary schools 13 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 should be covered.
If we go by the math alone, you said there were 993 corners presently staffed, and you said there were a thousand positions budgeted for. At least one of our corners may not actually have been budgeted for 'cause we're asking for eight. And then if you consider the 32, that's --
If you look at one of your handouts, it actually lists the corners that are --
Yeah, but we don't know which one you're talking about.
We definitely have one of those at Kelly. Hartranft is definitely one of those. If you look at your priority corners list, it's one of the eight, at least. And then if you look at the 32, there's -- you know, I mean, just, 14 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 there's more to be done.
Is one of the corners you're referring to at 18th and Wallace?
Same thing, right That corner, ma'am, according to the Police commissioner's testimony -- and he'll be here to read this into the record later -- has already been -- the funds have been allocated and that corner will be --
18th and Wallace -- or 18th and Fairmount. That has already been taken care of.
Okay, so that's one that's done. 15 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 Now, you know, as far as the funding, we can't really answer that totally at this time. There's still more research to be done, you know, and as we've also said, there's more work to be done on our part, but we're definitely asking City Council for more. And that's why we sit here today.
As a parent, some of this information has been a little bit slow being forthcoming. We know that there were studies done earlier and that there were some corners that were designated that are not being staffed at the moment. At Seventh and Hunting Park, we recently had a relationship with the District Commander there, and he agreed to temporarily staff that corner, but that's still presenting a problem because that's not a permanently-assigned area, so you don't always get coverage there.
Yes, it is. It's a 16 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 K-through-4 school.
Yes, it should, but it does not. The long-range problems with this is, at McClure, like I said, we will have another kindergarten class, and we'll have an increase in enrollment, and there's been an increase in the traffic patterns around the school. And I think one of the important things that the Council should also keep in mind is the fact that crossing guards provide an extra element of safety in communities where there are high crime and drug raids. And, you know, this is very important for parents which --
I think we at Council, like I said, we've had hearings on this. We understand fully the necessity and the role that crossing guards play. I have a 9-year-old daughter that goes to public school, and she has to go through with the crossing guards and so on. So we understand that. What we want -- we got the commissioner 17 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 and the mayor to fund a thousand positions, one. The only thing we can do here in City Council is to maintain that and make sure that those thousand positions are fully staffed. If there is another need for beyond a thousand positions, then you have to tell us what that need is and where they are. Money currently budgeted for this year -- for this year -- and this year's budget has already been approved; it was approved in March of this year. The City Council and the mayor signed the budget for a thousand positions, and those are the positions that are budgeted currently. If AOP and a coalition of parents is saying that they need more crossing guards above the thousand, that's what this hearing is for. If you're saying that you need more than a thousand, 'cause I think all of these corners here are current, the 32 corners. Now, you're telling me, Well, they may not be covered but they're all elementary schools, right?
They may not have -- 18 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 the Elkin School has probably one crossing guard and it may need another one. Is this what we're talking about, right? Does the Elkin School need another crossing guard plus the crossing guard that they now have? Do they need to cover different corners and so on? This is what has to be made very clear: we cannot do that. The information has to come from the parents, from the school organizations. So if we're talking and if we're saying that we have a thousand that are budgeted but we need 1,032 budgeted, then you have to understand that either we've got to enter -- parents have to enter into negotiations with the mayor and the commissioner because the budgeted -- the budgeted amount is 1,000 crossing guards, not 1,032, 1,000 crossing guards. If the amount is bigger than 32, then you have to bring here a map of the corners, the schools, and the rationale of why it's needed. We will get the commissioner here, we will get the Police Department, and we will begin that dialogue.
With all due respect, 19 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 these are additional corners.
Well, what I am saying to you is that the budget for this year -- that means beginning July 1st to June 30th of the year 2000 budget -- has been approved and it has budgeted for a thousand crossing guards. What we need to begin discussing and putting the record forward is that there's need for more than a thousand crossing guards.
And then we have to begin the process of sitting down with the mayor and the commissioner to see where that money is going to come from to hire those crossing guards. It isn't just -- I mean, the money that has been allocated at this point in time is for a thousand crossing guards, okay? Thank you.
Well, you know that the 20 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 welfare system have taken parents to put to work and they have little ones going to school, so you have to worry about that too.
We understand that. We've been talking about those things. Do you have a question, Fran?
Okay, chief Inspector Anthony DiLacqua. (Inspector Anthony DiLacqua and Sergeant David Thompson come forward.) INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Good morning. That's a little misprint on the paper according to my rank. It's just inspector. Maybe some day it will be chief inspector, but right now, it's just Inspector Anthony DiLacqua.
Just inspector? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: I'm assigned as the as executive officer to our patrol bureau.
Well, you can tell them that Council promoted you, so it's. . . INSPECTOR DILACQUA: This is Sergeant David Thompson, the commanding officer of our school crossing guard headquarters. 21 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
All right. Inspector, you can begin whenever, and bring the microphone closer to you, because it's. . . INSPECTOR DILACQUA: At full staffing, the Philadelphia Police Department employes 1,000 crossing guards. This number has been fairly consistent over the last ten years. That number of a thousand guards has been consistent pretty much over the last ten years, since 1990. For example: In June of '90, we had 1040 guards; In '91, 978; In '92, 1,043; In '93, we had 958; In June of '94, 976; In '95, we had 968; June of '96, we had 971; Then up to 988 in June of '97; In June of '98, 988; And presently, June of 1999, we have 993. There are a thousand corners for which the Police Department has authorized funds to staff. Of these 1,000 budgeted positions, there 22 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 are 993 school crossing guards employed, and there are vacancies. The Police Department does 4 intend to fill these vacancies. 5
Excuse me, 6 Inspector, do you know where those vacancies are? 7 INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Do you have that listing? SERGEANT THOMPSON: No. These are just recently retirees in the last month.
I'm sorry. Sergeant David Thompson, Crossing Guard Headquarters.
Okay, continue, go ahead. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Again, as I said, we do intend to fill those vacancies. Although at times in the past, there were 1,228 corners identified as crossings, many of these corners were not covered, as evidenced by the number of guards previously mentioned. There were more school crossing guard corners listed than this were the budgeted number of guards. Currently, 1,000 guards are budgeted for 1,000 23 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 corners. They cover crossings for 175 public and 96 parochial elementary schools. In the past, district captains were asked to prioritize the school crossings in their districts. The current crossings have been determined to be the most crucial based on the number of students crossing, the volume of traffic, the size of the street, etc. Using this list as a template, the most critical corners can be staffed by reassigning guards when vacancies occur at higher-priority corners. Another change in policy that will better enable our department to efficiently staff identified school crossings, instead of hiring school crossing guards for a specific corner, employing them by police district will allow the department greater flexibility in assigning them. If a vacancy occurs, a senior guard will have the opportunity to move into the vacant corner if he or she so desires. The department, however, shall also have the ability to reassign guards to meet changes in school population, traffic, and so on. The Police Department is committed to staffing all presently funded corners. Of the 28 24 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 corners for which the department has recently received requests for guards, only one was a funded corner -- at 18th and Wallace. I am happy to report that the department has already also filled this vacancy.
Do you have a list of all of the corners that are funded for? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Yes, sir. We can supply that to you.
Could you supply that to us, please. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Yes, sir. Of the 27 corners that were requested, of the 27 corners remaining, studies have been completed for of them. We've identified 16 of 17 these corners for which a guard may be utilized if 18 funding was allocated to increase the number of 19 guards in our employ. The assignment guards at the other three corners is thought to be not justified. As stated earlier, although the number of crossings may have at one time numbered 1,228, the number of guards did not exceed 1,043. That was the watermark. The present staffing and 25 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 deployment is consistent with the number of funded school crossing corners and the fiscal year budget allocation.
You said, going back, that the assignment of guards at three corners is thought not to be justified. What is the criteria that you use to decide whether a corner is justifiable for a crossing guard or not? And do you have that -- is that something that you have in writing, and is that something that has been, you know, put to empirical sort of test and so on? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Admittedly, sir, it's somewhat subjective. It is based on the age of the kids crossing, the number of children crossing, the size of the street, the volume of the traffic, and just generally the vehicle conditions, parking problems. It is somewhat subjective. It is difficult to develop some sort of a quotient where we have x-number of children and divide it by the number of cars in the area, multiplied by the width of the street, and come up with some sort of magic number of 0.45, and 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 anytime a corner meets that quotient, a guard will be assigned. It's difficult to do that for a number of reasons, one of which is, it is feasible under a system such as that that one particular school may have no guards assigned because none of them reach that cutoff number. And, certainly, that would be creating a hazardous environment.
But you said, again, it's subjective. And what about -- did you take into consideration the parents and the home and school, the desires in terms of crossing guards? And what value do you give to that vis-a-vis other criteria? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: We give that a great deal of value, sir. And, in fact, we respond to any request for a new corner to be identified as deserving a guard, whether that comes from City Council, the mayor's office, a parent group, a home and school association. We give those all our utmost attention. We certainly don't shun parent groups in favor of other groups. We get out there as quick as we can to conduct a survey. 27 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
For instance, the Hunter School doesn't have a very wide street, but the Hunter School has very dangerous corners. They are -- there is shooting galleries around there, there are points of drug dealings and so on around there. Are these the type of issues that you take into consideration? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Hunter School is on York Street, I believe?
It's at Dauphin and Second. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: We do, in effect. In a recent meeting with members of AOP, this was discussed, and actually, I was going to talk to you on that later in my testimony. There are some conditions where -- and I'll give you a for-example 'cause it may be easier. Where we have some illegal drug sales, some open drug sales out on the corner, the shooting galleries you referred to, there are certain corners where vehicle traffic is a big problem because of people parking illegally, obstructing the view of other traffic, maybe disregarding red signals and stoplights and things 28 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 of that nature. In those situations, it is our belief that the use of a police officer on directed patrol, motorized police officer enforcing current laws, vehicle laws, and chasing disorderly crowds and making drug arrests and generally just having a presence in that area may be more effective in producing a safe environment for school children than the use of a school crossing guard that is not able to enforce motor vehicle laws, for example, or the right to put parking tickets onto the cars that are blocking the view. So we do use directed patrol, using our patrol force earmarked to certain corners where we know we have dangerous conditions.
We have just been joined by Councilman Rick Mariano. Franny?
Thank you. Inspector, Sergeant, nothing replaces, in my opinion, a school crossing guard. But what I would like to know is, has the Police Department been working with the Streets Department? And I want to go into the area of 29 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 technology for a minute. We've -- we're installing and are continuing to install speed control devices at most of our schools. What I would like to know, and I would like to ask both of you if we haven't, to get with the Streets Department to see if there is any technology that could help make this job as a school crossing guard even safer for the employees and also the students. It appears to me that we haven't done much to make that environment a safer place, using technology, giving the school crossing guards the ability to patrol traffic signals. I know that's kind of like a sanctuary for the Streets Department to even suggest that anyone would have the ability to stop traffic in all four directions while students cross. But I would appreciate the Police Department, the Streets Department getting together to look to see if there's any technology out there, even for areas where we agree that school crossing guards don't meet that equation that you've developed, that possibly there's technology in conjunction with the existing 30 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 15-mile-an-hour speed limit signs that we have. And, by the way, somebody should think about shutting those things off after the school season 'cause it's, you know, not necessary to have them flashing, in my opinion, in July and August. But I would like to see something in that area to try to make this safer for where we don't have school crossing guards; and where we do, make it safer for the guards and also the pupils. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Yes, sir, we will do that. And that's one of the many things we try to do with our patrol forces, and certainly, we will be in contact with the Streets Department to see what we can coordinate.
You can continue. I don't want to interrupt you. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: That's okay. All right, as I've stated earlier, the number of crossings may have at one time numbered 1,228, but the number of guards never exceeded 1,043 -- that was our watermark high. The present staffing and deployment consistent with the number of funded crossings and the fiscal year budget 31 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 allowance. The elimination of non-funded corners occurred when school crossings were prioritized. Corners that were not staffed were either eliminated or staffed by the reassignment of guards from the lowest-priority corners. By doing this, the Police Department developed a list of corners needing guards that was consistent with the number of guards in our employ. The number of school crossing guards in our employ was not reduced. In response to requests for new school crossing corners, the Police Department will conduct a survey of a proposed corner to determine the need for a guard based upon the aforementioned criteria. This study will also consider the proposed corner and priority ranking along with established funded corners. If the proposed corner is determined to be a higher priority than another established corner, then the Police Department may consider reassigning a guard from the lowest-priority corner. Meeting the demands for service in this manner will allow the Police Department to continue to effectively operate 32 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 within our allocated budget. The addition of newly hired guards would mean additional spending. This would then necessitate an increase in the Police Department's authorized budget. The addition of one new school crossing guard would cost an additional $10,571 for his or her first year of service. Please bear in mind that in addition to the annual salary, the Police Department must also bear the additional clothing allowance cost of $647 per guard for the first year and $300 for each subsequent year. The cost of a new guard is broken down as follows: The salary is $41.46 per day, and for 200 days, it's $8,292. And just a point to note: this is a newly-hired position. The initial uniform allowance is $647. Leave, which is -- guards receive 10 vacation days, 12 holidays, administrative days, and emergency days per year. Again, just a note: they also are granted 10 sick days that have not been factored into the cost of the annual leave. But the annual leave, vacation and holiday and so on and so forth is another $1,202 a year. 33 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 So the total Police Department expense, then, is $10,141. There's also a benefit package. This benefit package is not paid through the Police Department budget but it is a cost that the City must bear, and that's an additional $430, again, bringing our total to $10,571 for the addition of one guard in his or her first year of service. In subsequent years, the annual salary increase is through increments. And, again, the clothing allowance is an additional 300 per year. Presently, the Police Department up until I was saying in this list anyway, the Police Department had been requested to consider 27 additional crossings. Unless guards are reassigned from other crossings, this would mean an increase of spending of $285,417 for the first year of service of newly hired guards. As stated earlier, although the number of corners was 1,228 at one time, there were not that many guards. To employ 228 more guards than budgeted would create a deficit of $2,410,188.
Instead of saying "deficit," why don't you say that to employee 220 34 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 more guards than are currently budgeted, we would need $2,410,000. And. . . why don't you put it that way instead of the other way? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Okay. And, again, so it's a --
In addition to the budget. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: We would need it certainly in addition to the budget.
I mean, we're not trying to create a deficit in the Police Department, okay? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Very good, sir.
Go ahead. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: We would need, then, an additional $2,410,188. In addition to these costs, there are other administrative costs incurred anytime the Police Department surveys an intersection or hires a guard. A study to determine the need for a guard takes approximately four hours. The school crossing guard unit is also charged with administratively processing and training new guards. The training program consists of four hours of training. The time 35 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 expended in this process is a cost in personnel hours. As of this date, the school crossing guard unit has a list of 28 corners being studied. This will cost the Police Department approximately 112 personnel hours spread over a period of about one month.
I would like a list of those 28 corners. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Yes, sir.
Go ahead. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: We'll get that to you, sir. Additional hours would then be expended for each guard hired. Of course, the safety of our school children is a worthwhile expense. Fortunately, our records indicate that no children were struck by autos at corners covered by school crossing guards. It is also a noteworthy that in the last full school year -- September of '97 to June of '98 -- there were no school children struck by autos at any of the locations for which the Alliance Organizing Project has requested guards. 36 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 A similar survey is being conducted for the school year ending this month, June of '99. It may be inferred, however, that the Police Department's employment has been successful by effectively utilizing the authorized number of guards presently employed. In addition to employing school crossing guards, the Police Department provides a safe environment for school children through the directed patrol of our police officers. As I stated earlier, at some corners, vehicle traffic -- that is unsafe driving -- is the major condition affecting pedestrian safety. In these situations, it is more productive to have a police officer assigned to motorized patrol concentrate his or her efforts to enforce applicable vehicle code statutes. A school crossing guard has little if any impact on controlling people's errant driving. When poor driving habits create a hazardous environment, a police officer writing traffic citations for dangerous moving violations should alleviate conditions. At a recent meeting with members of 37 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 AOP, corners at Fourth and York as well as Fifth and York were discussed. The Alliance Organizing Project reports that illegal parking, unsafe driving, and illegal drug sales create a dangerous situation for the children traversing to school. Situations such as this should and will be combatted by directed police patrol.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, Inspector. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Good morning, sir.
In your testimony, we speak to corners. It is not necessary that these corners we refer to are actually intersections directly around the perimeter of the school. These can be corners that can be a block or two blocks away from the school, I assume. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Yes, sir.
Okay. So in your study of the 28 locations, these are -- some of them could be -- unless you happen to know this morning -- locations that are not directly outside of the perimeter of the school or directly at 38 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 those intersections; is that correct? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: That is possible. I'd have to look at the list to tell you exactly which were --
So what I'm getting at basically is that some of the schools may have a crossing guard or crossing guards at the intersections around the perimeter of the school, but they may not have a guard or guards a block or two blocks away. 'Cause I know of a school -- actually, a couple of schools in the southern part of my district where there are crossing guards that are -- one in particular, she's about two and a half blocks away from the actual school facility. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: That is correct.
So that can change, I assume, the dynamics of the survey in terms of how many more children -- naturally, outside the school, you're going to have a lot more kids coming out of the building than there are maybe going east two and a half blocks away. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Certainly.
So that also is a 39 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 determination. And that probably, I would assume, is where you establish your priority list? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Absolutely.
Okay. And then of the $2.4 million we speak to in the Police Department's budget that would have to be absorbed to hire an additional 228 crossing guards, how many more police would we be able to hire for that same amount of money? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: I haven't done that math, but think it's roughly, with the benefit package, somewhere around $55,000 a year in salary and benefits.
So if it was 60, we're talking about 40, 40 more police officers? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Give or take.
Okay. I have no 19 further questions at this time. Thank you.
Inspector, the issue, you say, is that you prioritize corners. And then accordingly, you move crossing guards to those corners that have a higher priority. And then those corners that don't -- you moved a crossing guard from the lower priority to the 40 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 higher priority and you leave that corner with the lower priority uncovered. I think that doesn't -- that may be not sit well with parents. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Now, we would utilize police personnel to cover absences, and we do that routinely. And the number of guards we have is -- and we spoke of 993 today, and that may change tomorrow. Because of retirement, that's an ever-changing number. So those lower-priority corners are not abandoned. They are -- we absorb the absences at the lower-priority corners until we can hire replacement guards.
But we never get to the point of the 1,000 that we budgeted, and that's disturbing. I mean, we budgeted for a thousand, we expect to see a thousand, and we never get to that thousand number. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: There were a couple of years, sir, in '90 and '92, for example, where we were actually over a thousand guards. Again, there are seven vacancies now and there is a movement under foot to replacement guards for those seven positions. 41 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
Those 28 corners that you mentioned, are they ones that are included in the AOP package here? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: This sheet is the first I've seen this, this sheet. We have other lists from AOP dated a little bit earlier. Some of those 28 corners were from AOP -- I think or 9 13 were from AOP. And then we have other requests 10 from other concerned parents and from people in 11 City Council and various offices throughout the 12 City that we also certainly entertain those requests and consider them.
Are there any other questions? Do you understand that the proposed -- and the reasons for these hearings is because there is a obviously an overt need, as expressed by parents from across the city, and the schools come from every area of the city, for a greater number of crossing guards in terms of -- beyond the 1,000. And I think that the department, you -- and your title is what? As inspector you're in charge of. . . ? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: I'm assigned as 42 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 the executive officer to our patrol bureau. We have all the numbered districts under our command and certainly all the school crossing guards.
Are you the person then that's in control and in charge of determining the need in terms of crossing guards? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Not me personally. Sergeant Dave Thompson conducts the surveys and he also coordinates his efforts along with the district captains.
But in the final analysis, it is you and the sergeant who then make a final recommendation to the commissioner, who then goes to the mayor and says, Mr. Mayor, we need $2,400,000 more in order to hire 228 more crossing guards. Is that the way it -- INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Yes, sir.
Is that the way the hierarchy is structured? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Yes, sir.
So you would be the one recommending to Timoney, and Timoney then to the mayor, and then the mayor putting that in the budget and coming here. 43 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Yes, sir.
And then you sit down with groups of parents across the city to make a determination as to what budget numbers you're going to recommend for the -- obviously, the current year is already done. But, however, they have expressed a need for at least eight more in terms of September, which will have to be done if it is done through a transfer ordinance. That means the police will have to take money from somewhere that you have currently budgeted and send to Council a request for eight more crossing guard positions. Is that something that you're contemplating doing in terms of guards and a transfer ordinance for covering the year beginning in September? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Not at this point in time. The Police Department is not planning to ask for additional funding or a transfer ordinance 22 at this time. That's not to preclude that it doesn't happen sometime in the future. We're still studying some of the corners that were submitted to us. And certainly, that would have 44 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 to be a decision that's made by our Police Commissioner John Timoney. At this time, there's no immediate plans to ask for a transfer ordinance.
I would like you to submit your studies to this committee as soon as you -- how much time do you need to conduct these studies to determine the need for corners? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: The actual time spent on the corners, about four hours. We split that up in both morning and afternoon dismissal. Now, certainly, it's impossible to do a study now 'cause the school's not in session. So once school goes back into session in September, we could go out and --
But you said that you had 28 corners that you were currently studying. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Yes. We've completed 19 of them, I believe it was, and I can give you that information.
Can you give us those determinations? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Yes, sir. 45 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
Okay. And when can I expect that so I can hand that out to the committee? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: We can fax that to you if you'd like. It would just be a question of us getting back to our headquarters and doing some typing and photocopying.
Inspector, is there a way to identify -- in the report that you will submit to us on the survey of the or so 12 corners, could you give us a description as to the 13 location of that corner in relationship to the 14 school, whether it's two or three blocks away. I 15 think for me, that would help me a great deal. I 16 mean, obviously, if it's something outside the 17 school immediately, that would be a higher 18 priority. So I don't know if that's in your 19 report. SERGEANT THOMPSON: No, it's not in our report. Basically, when it comes down to prioritizing, a corner could be four blocks away, but if it's a lot of kids, over a hundred kids going away, even though it's far from the school, a school don't determine the need. 46 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
So the number of children crossing would be -- SERGEANT THOMPSON: I think more so the children and traffic than the school.
Inspector, let me say to you that there are two issues really that almost create a greater degree of phone calls and complaints to District Councilpeople's offices, to At-Large Councilpeople's offices, and that is abandoned cars and the lack of crossing guards, two issues that go beyond the Kvaerner deal or whether Bill Giles is going to put the stadium at Broad and Spring Garden. And they create and are more important to people than any of those issues. And we take 'em very seriously, obviously. So I would like to get that report as soon as possible. I'd like to see the listing of all the corners, and I think you gave 'em to us already? SERGEANT THOMPSON: I gave you a thousand corners throughout the city.
Okay, a thousand 47 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 corners that are here. So that we can begin to determine how we're going to operate and what we are going to be doing. Because if the commissioner and the mayor do not come down with certain budget changes, then we as a Council may have to look to see how we can make those budget changes happen from Council's side. Councilman, do you have a question?
Inspector, you indicated that you can't do these surveys during the off-season. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Yes.
Based on -- it seems that all this time that we have here some preliminary work to be done, do we work with the 48 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 principal of the school, determining where these young people live, whether go to their home, whether they go to grandmom's, to aunt's, to uncle's? I mean, it amazes me that we're actually physically dependent on watching a particular intersection to determine the number of young people crossing that particular -- and I see a lot of the school crossing guards helping our seniors too, so the kids aren't the only ones that are getting help from the school crossing guards. But I'd like to talk about that survey. Who physically does that, the sergeant? SERGEANT THOMPSON: Yes, or my officer, yes.
Have you been trained on how to conduct these surveys that you determine need or -- SERGEANT THOMPSON: Well, I was trained by the previous supervisor who was there for over, I think, ten, twelve years, who had been trained by another lieutenant who was there in that unit since 19 -- I think -- 72.
Inspector, are you 49 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 confident -- with no disrespect to the process that you use, have you ever possibly discussed with the traffic engineering people a way to do this maybe more efficiently or with more accuracy? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Certainly we're always interested in revisiting the process to make it more effective. And, in fact, something that wasn't touched on, we actually look at every corner. Out of all 1,000 funded corners, every year at the end of the school year, each district captain is required to submit a report that's forwarded to school crossing headquarters listing the number of children, if conditions change. For example, this year, we expect some changes. We're going to have -- a couple of the parochial schools in South Philadelphia are going to merge. I think one's closing and a couple are merging, and certainly that will impact on the pedestrian traffic on school children crossing. So those kind of changes are revisited every year.
Councilman, the experience I have is that every time you ask traffic engineering, the Streets Department, they 50 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 usually say no. They take the studies, they do 'em, and they come back and say something like, "You don't need a traffic light."
I'm not suggesting that they make a decision as to whether we need school crossing guard or not but what I'm suggesting is that we make sure -- and, again, with no disrespect to the sergeant or his officer -- that we're using -- maybe there's a better way to do it, maybe there's an easier way to do it, maybe there's some technology again out there that could help calculate the number of people that actually cross at intersections. Using the data from the school, you could do this during summer months, at least preliminarily, so. . .
The criteria should be -- and I think crossing guards should be at every elementary school, period, no discussion. Those are kids from kindergarten to sixth grade. They need some assistance, they need some help, they need to be taken care of. Everything else is like (Spanish phrase), you know, like smoke going 51 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 up. And that should be the criteria -- the safety of that age of children. And if you are not meeting it and we do not have police or crossing guards in those corners, then we have to look at what it is that we need to do to make sure that those corners are covered. Thank you very much, Inspector. Could I have Kenneth Moragne, Myron Reddy, and Betty McDonald. (Above-named witnesses come forward.)
Yes. My name is Kenneth Moragne. I'm a member of the AOP Parent Team, and I'm also the chairperson of John B. Kelly Elementary School Safe Corridors Program. I'm also a lifelong Philadelphian, a grandfather and a father, and my children have graduated from the public school system in Philadelphia.
I'm here in support of the requests coming out of AOP for the immediate implementation of crossing guards at those 52 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 priority corners, of which one of those corners, by the way, I myself personally stand over and see that the children cross safely every day for a period of two years. So I'm not coming from a third-person point of view; I know what goes on at those corners.
This corner happens to be Coulter Street and Pulaski Avenue. And the John B. Kelly Elementary School Annex is housed in the Wissahickon Boys and Girls Club, which is located on Coulter and Morris Street. They have four classes there -- two kindergartens and two 1st-grades. The main school is at Pulaski and Hansbury. Of course, I don't know if you're aware, but we're talking about 1200 elementary- school students.
I think that's the issue that Councilman DiCicco was talking about.
Yes. But one of the things I heard, I understand that the parameter of the school is important, and I would agree with that. But also, since the mayor and City Council 53 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 found it expedient to remove traffic lights from other intersections in this particular corridor -- and I'm speaking about one of those intersections, which is Pulaski and Coulter Street. Now my question is, and has been all the time, before you did that, City Council and the mayor, did you have this survey?
No, no. City Council did not eliminate any traffic lights.
That's a decision made, an administrative decision made by the executive branch of government.
Okay, I'm glad you clarified that because my question would be, and this is part of my testimony that --
I don't think any District Councilperson would go out and approve the elimination of a traffic light.
Well, I'm very pleased to 54 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 hear that, I'm very pleased that you gave me the clarity on that because as far as I see it, as a safe corridors person and being on those corners, this particular corner had a traffic light, and elementary-school students crossed this intersection. When the traffic light was there, that did supplement the crossing guards down on Hansbury so that we did have some safety factor there for the children to cross that intersection. But when you took that traffic light away, those elementary-school students, those middle-school students that go to Pickett School still had to cross this highway. And I call it a highway because you have at least 300 to 500 automobiles, buses, tractor-trailers going through this because it's a fairway to the expressway using Midvale Avenue. So to have taken the traffic light away and not to have put a crossing guard or made that a funded corner is a travesty to me, whoever did it. That's where the survey should have been done as far as I'm concerned, but that's over and that's happened. 55 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 So what happened is, being a safe corridor individual and being a grandfather and having raised children in the Philadelphia public school system, I know our city rests upon the fact that our children grow up healthy and become the leaders of this great city. And that all begins education-wise in elementary school. So I just happen to be a safe corridor person who's dealing with elementary-school students. And my heart bleeds many times at the things I see that have been done by the city, by this great city, to me seemingly disregarding what this city is all about, the growth of our young people to come up to fill in your leadership seats. Getting back to the issue, I heard it said this morning -- someone said some of the corners that we've requested, there have been no 20 accidents -- I guess no children killed or maimed or hurt. Well, we parents, we believe in prevention. And I don't know if the survey has been made as to how many close calls there were at these particular sites, but we as parents are concerned about the safety of our children 56 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 crossing highways that are hazardous, whether there have been accidents.
I don't think the inspector meant to say that they were waiting until somebody got really hurt to decide about that and make that a part of the --
So that's what I'm saying. So my main premise is that there is no 14 question in my mind, being out there on the corner, on this particular corner, and as a safe corridor person, and my personnel, we are to be patroling these corridors that our children travel from home to school and to home again. That's our job, that's what safe corridors is about. However, the issue is the safety and welfare of our children. And so when we saw -- when we saw what our children had to go through in order to get from home to school, I was shocked, and I immediately said, Well, why isn't there a crossing guard here? Well, there used to be a 57 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 traffic light here. I said but the traffic light is gone, why isn't there something here? Well, I don't know. I was amazed, nobody knows. You paying attention there, Councilperson?
The gentleman in the audience is a friend who waved, and I waved back.
If I wasn't paying attention, I wouldn't be here, sir.
All right, thank you, Councilperson. But anyway, I found out that the person who was in charge of crossing guards is the district captain, so we immediately went to District Captain Nestel, and we began to inquire about the crossing guard situation. And when we asked him about it, that's when we first started hearing about funded and unfunded corners, which we had no awareness of this. But we asked him, Well, what can you do 58 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 immediately to facilitate a crossing guard being on that corner? He said, Well, we can go out and look at the corner and see if it merits a crossing guard. So he did, and I was out there with the surveyor when he was out there and he surveyed. And then I learned that there was a certain number of children that should be going across the highway and a certain amount of traffic. This is how I learned about the survey. And I said, You mean to tell me if it's children and you see there's about 300 buses 13 and cars going on, if it's 25 children that have 14 to cross here, that doesn't meet the criteria for 15 a crossing guard? He said, Well, it's -- you 16 know, it's a toss-up and other things come into 17 play. Of course, I didn't know what those other 18 things were. 19 But, of course, you know, me standing 20 here and watching this situation, I'm disturbed 21 about this right away 'cause I'm seeing little 22 children going across, and if 25 and all these 23 buses and tractor-trailers and -- 24
The issue is 25 priorities. That's what they want, and obviously, 59 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 this is not and has not been a priority.
All right, with the City, it's not a priority. But I'm here to say as a parent that it will become a priority with the City because the City represent the parents, the parents and the people of the city. So if the people say, Well, this is got to be a priority, Commissioner Timoney, this has to be a priority, Mayor Rendell, then Mayor Rendell and Commissioner Timoney --
Well, he's in now and it all depends on whether we approach him while he's in or the new mayor when he comes in. That's all I'm saying. See, this issue is important to the parents and important enough to approach all of you. We're here today, and you don't see many back here, but we have a petition with over 500, 600, and we can have a thousand people here in 60 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 these chambers if need be. And that's a promise that I will see that that happens if I have to. So because this is a real issue, whether you want to -- it's not a budget issue with the parents; it's a child safety issue with the parents. So that's what we want to designate to you. Don't -- it's a budget issue to you. Well, that's why we elected you, so you can make that budget fit this safety issue for us. And that's why I'm here. So we're not looking at a budget issue; we're looking at a little children going to elementary school and middle school or even high school, getting from home to school safely. That's the issue. Not a stadium. I heard a figure of $2.5 million. What's that? What you going to spend for a stadium? What are you going to spend for a football field? That's what --
That's what I'm saying, that's what I'm saying. So. The issue is not budget with us; it's the safety of our children. And that issue should be an issue with every Councilperson and 61 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 every mayor and every commissioner, everyone. Their issue should be the welfare and the safety of the children and the people of Philadelphia. That's our issue. Our issue is the safety of our children as they go from home to school. And prayerfully, gentlemen, that is your issue also. Because if it isn't, it will be, it will be, gentlemen. And I'm speaking firsthand because I'm out there every day. So all of this jargon I'm hearing, I don't -- I hear it but I know what's going on, and I thank God that I've been out there. And I know that this is a real issue. And it's not about dollars and cents; it's about the safety and welfare of the children of Philadelphia. That's what this issue is. And I hope all the parents are hearing this because that's what this issue is; it's not a budget issue. It's a safety issue for our children and that should be the primary issue of the councilmen, the mayor, whoever is in office. And if that's not your issue, you don't need to be there. And that's what I have to say. 62 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
Okay, I was here to speak for someone else, but Todd Porter will be doing the testimony of another parent.
Good morning. I'm going to be reading Myron Reddy's testimony. He couldn't be here this morning, so I'm going to be reading his testimony in his absence.
Yes. My name is Todd Porter, and I work with the Alliance Organizing Project. And I'm also a member of the John B. Kelly Safe Corridors Team. Myron Reddy is a parent of a five-year-old who attends Waring Elementary School. He also has many nieces and nephews that also attend Waring. He would be here today 63 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 representing over 350 parents and community members who signed the petition to increase the number of crossing guards in their district.
They've already -- will be assigning someone to that intersection.
Well, they have a number of intersections that they've identified in the area.
In case you didn't hear earlier that that already has been addressed.
Well, no, it hasn't. One corner has been addressed, but as I mentioned, they have other corners in their district that they've identified.
They're very concerned about the fact that the children have to cross busy highways such as 17th and 18th and Fairmount. They became concerned with the issue and even took it upon themselves, as did we in the Germantown area, to do surveys at these intersections, 64 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 counted the number of children and the number of cars that cross the intersection. To this date, they were able to get a guard placed at the intersection of 18th and Wallace, which was mentioned. And they have also identified eight people who are willing to actually work as crossing guards. In closing -- and this is not a part of Myron's comments -- what we have essentially done here, and this is after having meetings with Councilman Ortiz and others, we have took it upon ourselves to go out and we were asked to actually identify 200 corners because that was the original request. But we have took it upon ourselves to go out and identify intersections across the city that need crossing guards. And as you can see in our list of corners here, we've identified 40 intersections, 40 intersections. What I want to do is just simply read and state the requests. We are not asking for 200 crossing guards. And I know in Inspector DiLacqua's comments, he had mentioned 228 crossing guards that were needed. But what we're asking for is 40 crossing guards. We're 65 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 asking that of them, which in fact, the survey has already been done to determine the need for crossing guards, be supplied by September. Now, back to Inspector DiLacqua's comment. He said that corners had already been 7 identified as needing crossing guards. Again, 8 what we're asking for is 8 intersections be staffed by September.
Exactly, exactly. And for the additional number to be surveyed by October. And as he stated again in his comments, that would not be unrealistic because it wouldn't take more than 30 days to survey those additional 32 corners.
Exactly. In fact, he said that just one of them was considered a funded corner.
So you would need actually money for at least 32 more corners.
Well, in fact, we are asking for a budget increase -- make no mistake about that, we're asking for a budget increase. So, yes, we would be asking for that money be earmarked for an additional 32 crossing guards. So what I want to do is just make the request real clear: we want these eight corners staffed by September. And I'd like, if I could, put the question to Inspector DiLacqua, is that if a transfer ordinance has not been submitted in the police budget, then why not, based on the fact that parents have made this request across the city -- this was a bad day for parents to come out today because, as we know, this is graduation day. And when can we expect this transfer ordinance to be placed in the city's budget or the police budget?
That's a request that has to come from the mayor's office. I think, as we said, the inspector would say to you 67 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 the commissioner, This is what is needed. The commissioner would then propose that, and then that would come down to City Council for discussion and approval. If that is not done, City Council can take it up to itself to put a transfer ordinance in. However, with a caveat. If we approve transfer ordinance in which an agreement has not been reached with the Administration according to the Charter and the mayor's -- and not only this mayor, but other mayors, they can decide to use or not use the money that we approve. And let me tell you something, there is no way that this Council can -- or there are ways, there are ways that this Council can make that money be used. But in the last seven years, we haven't done it and -- but there are ways of us imposing our will in terms of certain things that we consider priorities. We just have to have the political will to be able to do it and the challenge. And that's the way the process works. So as I told you, if the need is there for these 40 or 38 or 32 more, the process has to work along those lines. And then if, as 68 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 Mr. Moragne said, if we get a couple of thousand parents in here, you would see how the will of this Council increases, especially as it gets closer to election time in November. But it does happen. So that is the process. And like I said, there are some of us here who are more than willing, but I have put transfer ordinances to change the budget in the last seven years, and I can tell you that we have not been that successful. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman, for coming. Thanks for having me. I think we're discussing the same things we discussed in December of '96.
But we just can't talk about it every few years. 69 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
I wanted to bring you a list. The first two schools of eight that they have --
The first two schools the AOP has asked for on this sheet were, in fact, crossings in 1997.
I'm asking you, do 70 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 you know?
Well, when was the last time there was a crossing guard at those intersections?
Some of these questions, I will not be able to answer. Number 31 on the list of the 32, D and Clearfield, I know that's right outside of Elkin School. I know the crossing guard there had a hard time when she was there with the parents double-parking their cars, the children all coming 71 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 out.
And I don't know why the -- the last crossing guard I know of was there in 1995.
I've been there many times in that school and I've seen it. When kids are coming out, I've seen the lines of parents that were --
-- double-parked on the avenue, on Allegheny and so on, and it's hectic. Go ahead, Betty.
What this group is asking for is not unreasonable. I don't know whoever took the 223 and made them unfunded. I would like to have a list of those thousand funded corners.
'Cause I think you're the one person that really knows the subject better than anybody else that I know. And like I said, you and I have been through this many times, and I think we're going to go through it in the next few years a few more times. I would really hope not, but knowing -- knowing mayors and knowing administrations, I'm sure that we're going to be here discussing this in 2001 and 2002. If we are currently funded for a thousand --
-- what is, in your estimation, the current need for crossing guards? And I know that this does not include middle schools. Although, if you go to Roberto Clemente School at Second and Erie, you know that there's needs for crossing guards all over the place over there, and that's a middle school. And according -- or they keep on telling me that they don't qualify for crossing guards. And we already had a grandparent and a child killed in that area. But in your estimation, what is the true need that we have in terms of the current 73 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 schools?
The true need? Todd has surveyed the corners. He can better tell you than I can, to be honest with you. And as far as the middle schools, the elementary schools only go to the fifth grade now. There are many of those babies that should not even be going to a middle school, and they do need someone to cross them. They are ill-equipped to go to a middle school, 5th grade, no. 12
But would you say that there are around 200 corners that are currently unfunded and that there might be need for crossing guards?
Oh, absolutely. We'll take the 40 extra they hired in 1990 just to start with. When you are crossing a child, you do not talk about $2 million. If we save one child's life, it's worth that $2 million.
Well, okay, yes, absolutely. We cannot speak of money when it comes to our children. 74 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
Could you please describe the process that presently exists where if an intersection, a school crossing location becomes -- a person's sick, heart attack, could you describe the relationship, the support that the Philadelphia Police Department gives a community, gives you in covering those locations? I hear it's, for lack of a better word, there's room for improvement?
Well, when I came on in 1973, Councilman Rizzo, a policeman was on the corner if I was out, okay. They can't do that. They don't have the staffing to do that, and even if they put someone on the corner, if they get a call, they must leave that corner.
It's the wrong use of a policewoman or policeman. We've been trying to put civil servants in different jobs at the round house because we want our uniformed police 75 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 out on the streets. I think crossing guards is one of the best things we've done. That we haven't done 'em on every corner that's needed, that's another matter. But I would like to really get to the point where we can establish -- and the inspector is still here -- where we can establish what the true need is. And I would like to begin the discussion about middle schools because Clemente and Julio de Gorgos that is coming up now at Fourth and Elkins and other schools down the line are schools that really need caution at different levels at different sites. Councilman DiCicco, I know, can identify a whole series of other schools along the same lines. I would like to really get a handle on what is the need that we have currently in the city, because we don't want to come back here after the fact, after the accident, after the injury. We don't want to come back here and say, Well, we shall have had a crossing guard at that corner before that 7-, 8-, 9-year-old got hit by that truck. So, Inspector, you know, if you're 76 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 listening to me, really, we have a universe of a thousand that are funded, but we know that during the last ten years, our school system has grown incredibly. The number of students coming into the public school system is growing, it is not going down, and it will not be going down for the foreseeable future. So that means we are going to have a bigger population of kids out on the street, and we need to begin finding out what is the universe that we need to be looking at in order to realistically and properly do a job that these kids can feel safe and the parents can feel safe that they're sending their kids to school. And that includes me because I have a 9-year-old going to public school and I'll have a 6-year-old going to public school next year. So it is imperative that we have that. Betty, do you have anything else?
Just to say that the need is there. We can't wait every three years and go through the same thing over 'cause we're not solving anything.
No. We were here before and we're here again. 77 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 Mr. Moragne, one closing word?
Yes. Councilman Ortiz, our main objective here is to find out when we leave -- before we leave here, we have priority corners that we asked to be staffed by September. Now --
We have eight corners here that we're asking to be staffed by September.
The inspector, we asked the inspector that. They cannot answer that either. The inspector's here. He testified. We have seven vacancies.
Hopefully, those 78 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 seven vacancies will be filled by September '99,, and at least seven of these eight corners will be staffed.
Okay? Am I right? The one at 18th and Fairmount has already been staffed. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Yes, sir.
Could I just follow back on that question I asked a minute ago. Inspector, could you please come back to the table. (Inspector DiLacqua returns to the witness table.)
Inspector, what I think would drive this vacancy issue, could you describe -- and, again, I heard Mrs. McDonald say that the resources aren't there for a police officer in service to cover an intersection, especially a crossing that is high-volume, lots of traffic, lots of kids, lots of pedestrians. 79 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 Could you tell me from the Police Department's position in covering those locations, even though I agree with Councilman Ortiz, this is not the best use of uniformed patrol police, but could tell me the policy and how it's carried out in the event that there is a long-term illness at a high-volume intersection, the police, will they -- would you explain how it works. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: When we're aware of a vacancy, for example, a school crossing guard calls out sick, that information is given to the shift supervisor, the platoon lieutenant or sergeant who will assign a police officer to cover that crossing. And the problem Ms. McDonald spoke about is just because a police officer is at that corner where there's a vacancy, it does not ensure that he or she will be able to remain there for the duration of the crossing, based on other needs for service.
We're all talking about -- and I agree with -- how important this is to protect the life and safety of children. Could that policy be revisited that on very, very busy locations that that car be out of service? 80 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 INSPECTOR DILACQUA: There have been in the past some crossings that were considered -- where the officer is considered to be held out of service. But in the harsh reality in some of the busier areas of the district, even though that is a priority out-of-service corner, there may be a hospital case pending, a shooting pending, and --
You cannot ask that, you cannot ask that a policeman not answer a call. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Exactly.
That said, Councilman, if I may, if I may, okay? You know, this is not about -- this is about crossing guards. Let us keep the perspective on the crossing guards, and that's where it should be.
Where I'm heading is the fact that if your policy required you to commit a police officer, that would drive your management to fill these vacancies, I think, a 81 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 little bit quicker. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Well, we are committed to filling all vacancies. As I said earlier, the seven vacancies we have will be filled by the start of the school year. Obviously, we're not going to hire someone in June, the end of June here, but by September, those vacancies will be filled. The numbers I had talked about --
The eight vacancies here will be filled by September. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Yes, sir.
There's only seven now. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Seven vacancies.
Mr. Moragne, you got your answer, the other vacancies will be filled.
Excuse me. He only states that the seven vacancies will be filled; he is not stating that those seven vacancies will take at least seven of the corners that we are requesting, and that's what we're asking right here, right now, to fill those seven vacancies. 82 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
Let us clarify this, okay? Now, listen, five of these seven vacancies that are left are in my Council district. They're five of the ten that I've been pushing, and I think I have an understanding with the mayor's office to have these five taken care of. The guy's just a man, he's just trying to do a job. If he says the wrong thing, he's walking the corner of Front and west Moreland tomorrow.
Now, you got to let me finish, that's how it works; you talk, I talk. Inspector, let me say this to you, that way there's no misunderstanding. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Certainly.
These seven corners -- Fifth and York, Fifth and Susquehannah, Hancock and Dauphin, Seventh and Hunting Park, Westmoreland and Glenwood, Pulaski and Coulter, and Seventh and Cumberland -- will be filled in 83 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 September with permanent crossing guards. Is that a yes or no, Inspector? (Inspector DiLacqua confers with Sergeant Thompson.)
Inspector, you got to answer me 'cause I'm a councilman, he's a sergeant. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: I was just trying to get the information to give you the correct answer, sir.
I'm trying to throw you a softball here. Either say yes or no. 14 If you say no, we'll go somewhere else. These seven corners that I mentioned will be filled with permanent crossing guards. No 17 games, no -- INSPECTOR DILACQUA: If they are funded corners. And if they're not funded corners, and I am being told they're not funded corners, they won't be filled by September.
Hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it. Hold it, hold it.
We need to fund those corners. 84 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 INSPECTOR DILACQUA: Yes, sir.
Now, these are not funded corners? INSPECTOR DILACQUA: That's the information I was getting.
They're all elementary schools. All seven of these aren't funded, Sergeant? Sergeant, why don't you step up here. INSPECTOR DILACQUA: They're not funded corners.
So they cannot -- you cannot promise that you will have those corners filled in September. 85 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
Because they're not funded. Go ahead. SERGEANT THOMPSON: The seven vacancies right now are currently -- the seven out of a thousand, they just retired in the last month. These corners are already -- those seven positions are already dedicated.
These seven I just spoke of? SERGEANT THOMPSON: No. Those are new from this group AOP that came to you to that City Council meeting with me, and you were there, those are newly requests.
Okay. SERGEANT THOMPSON: These new requests will go over 1,000. There will be 1,008 if that's what they want, and we don't have 8 positions 'cause we don't have 8 budgeted.
You don't have 80,000 -- what is it? SERGEANT THOMPSON: I could tell you this: if you want me to get -- I have seven vacancies. Now, the seven vacancies, we'll go to those eight, and then we got the other problem, 86 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 the seven that we didn't fund in the previous administration.
Yeah, well that's taking -- SERGEANT THOMPSON: It's taking from Peter and adding to Paul.
Yeah, right. You're taking 'em from Donna Miller's district and putting 'em in my district.
So what you're saying to me is that you need 83-something thousand dollars. SERGEANT THOMPSON: If you want to add those eight AOP organizations, yes.
What we got to do is sell some more of them Rendell hoagies and we'll get it.
Well, my question initially was the same one that we're just raising here. I was wondering if those seven vacancies 87 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 were the AOP priority corner. I thought that they were different. SERGEANT THOMPSON: No. We just gave you a rundown. We have a thousand positions, we had a thousand, close to a thousand this year.
And seven vacancies? SERGEANT THOMPSON: Currently funded positions.
I have a question. Miss McDonald, you said you would take the 40 that you had in 1990. Well, if -- can you explain a little further, is it 40 plus 1,000 or is it --
Yes, Councilwoman. The inspector had said that in 1990, we had 1,040 crossing guards. We'll take them back. It would solve that. But the first two names on that AOP list were at one time funded. 88 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
So somebody else robbed Peter to pay Paul earlier; we wanna rob 'em back.
Excuse me, Councilman. The first two corners were at one time funded from the 26th District.
I cannot answer that. I do not know who unfunded them. We now have funded and unfunded.
I can tell you what happened. What happened is that we were in an economic situation during the late period of 1989, '90, '91. And what happened is that, again, this -- administration after administration did not put this as a priority. So when they needed money, when they needed staffing, when they needed money to pay some other personnel, they took it from the lower rung of employees. That's what happened. That's what 89 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 happened. That's why you see it in 1990, '91 and then you don't see it in 19926789. That's the beginning of David L. Cohen, Ed, and so on, because they needed -- they were coming in in a period of time in which they prioritized different services. And this is a service that was not organized in terms of constituency. As Mr. Moragne said, the constituency was not organized, was not there to be able to be advocates for the positions. And so they decided where is -- where can we take money and there can be very little complaining about it. There were complaints here and there, but none of the complaints were organized. And that's where the money came from.
The money that was taken, we would like to have back to protect the children of this city.
Well, didn't we at one time have 1200 funded corners? 90 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
As the economic conditions of the City became lower and worse, cuts happened. And, again, the -- what is it, the squeaky wheel gets the oil?
And there were no 10 squeaks coming from parents at that time in terms of crossing guards.
But what we are seeing here is, those 223 corners are not being considered again because someone has unfunded them. The number one and number two that AOP is asking for were at one time fund. The 26th District had 75 crossing guards; they now have about 46.
Okay. Are there any other questions? Any other statements?
State your name 91 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 again, please.
My name is Kit Mullen, and I'm the mother of four children in the public school system, three of which are in elementary. I'm also a member of the AOP and organizing around our schools. And I'd like to also say that we are still waiting for our copies of the 1,000 funded schools. And it's not like we just asked casually at a hearing; we actually wrote a formal written request, and we're still waiting.
You give your address to Wanda, and we'll mail you a copy of this, okay?
Okay. We would also like copies of the 19 of the 28 corners studied by the police inspector. While you're getting those copies, we would like copies IF you could copy 'em for us if we don't get 'em from the police.
We'll send 'em, we'll mail 'em. You give us your address, you know, and we'll send 'em. 92 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
Okay. And the other thing is, we are quite familiar with how bureaucracy works. I'm learning more and more every day. And you had said in the beginning of these hearings that yes, this is the start, this is the beginning. We still have the mayor, we still have Timoney, we still have the Streets Department.
Actually, this is not the beginning. I think, like Betty McDonald said, we were here in '96, I was here screaming at the commissioner.
Because while people were stealing our crossing guards, you know, we would have been squeaky wheels if somebody had said, Look, we're going to take your crossing guards away from your children and fund something else. I think parents would have come together then if they had known, but it was pulled out from under them little by little, trickle by trickle, without them knowing. And, of course, more and more people are driving, so it's becoming imperative 93 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 that these things are taken care of. And we're not going to stop squeaking, so you might as well just pass that on to everybody. But we would like another Council hearing in September. We want to keep up to date and we will not go away. So this is a proceeding and this is how we would like to --
Personally, I don't want you to go away; I want you to keep on squeaking as much as you can. And we will try to do -- and like I said, this Council will act hopefully -- the will of this Council will be nourished and made strong as we see the will organized and grouping of parents that come before us.
So you're saying you're with us, huh? City Council is going to be with us on --
And I can only speak for myself, but I've been there, and we have been there, but we cannot force the administration 94 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 unless parents are organized.
Where would the additional funding come from then that we need to --
That is a subject for discussion. First you put it up to the administration, and then we then we have to act. If the administration doesn't move forward, then we as a body have to begin determining where it is that we can take money from to do this type of --
Yes, Sergeant? SERGEANT THOMPSON: Just one more word. If you had a thousand narrowed down to nine positions, again, a lot of guards are retiring or just quitting, so we have nine vacancies as of today, and the list is coming over through fax.
Yours certainly won't be done until the end of September.
Well, they have a survey done for 19 of the positions, right? But 95 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 for the entire list, your survey will not be done until after school begins in September.
And the survey would be -- SERGEANT THOMPSON: Probably a month.
Well, in the meantime, why don't you listen to the parents that have done the work for you?
It will be done by October 1st. SERGEANT THOMPSON: Okay.
My suggestion is that maybe we wait until the survey is completed to meet because I don't want to have to meet and then come back two weeks later again.
There are going to be more vacancies because at this time of the year, 96 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264 the crossing guards do retire, those that want to. They're still not going to cover those corners.
We understand that. That has been made very clear. These corners are not funded.
These are not part of the thousand funded corners, the eight corners that are here. So if they told Councilman Mariano that his six corners that are here -- or five, they are not funded, they don't have the money for that. So they either have to come up with a transfer ordinance the first week of September in order to fund those corners and -- or then we're going to have to look at it ourselves and try to do something along those lines. But, Mr. Moragne, I would like to see a thousand parents here.
Okay. Is there any other witness? (No response.) 97 6/22/99 PUBLIC SAFETY & ED. - RES. 990264
Seeing none, the Council Committee on Public Safety on Resolution 4 990264 stands in recess. Thank you. (Adjourned at 12:05 p.m.) - - - 98 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Tuesday, June 22, 1999, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY RESOLUTION NO. 990264 __________________________________, JOSEPHINE CARDILLO, Registered Professional Reporter