But we didn't have any snow removal this year to speak of. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: We actually had -- it's amazing, snow is a funny thing. Even though you don't get a lot on the street, I think we had 199 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. something like events. So there was a number of events.
You 5 had 13 what? 6 DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: 7 Events. So just the threat of snow 8 requires us to mobilize. So we did incur 9 costs related to weather events and snow 10 activities. Obviously not as much as you 11 would if you have a 12-inch storm or, God 12 forbid, a 32-inch storm. 13
So what was your overtime in '08? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: I'd have to get that number for you. I don't know that right off the top of my head. What I did was, I looked at that as compared to each division, and I believe it was close to about $200,000 to $300,000 difference, not a significant difference, but I'd have to get that for you, Council President.
I believe it was $8.8 million. 200 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: You're looking at the estimated obligations from the Council-approved budget. Our current estimate for the end of the year is different than that.
Why is that? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: It's just that's -- I believe it's a systemic issue.
Is it more? Is it less? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: No. It's going to be less. Our projected overtime for the end of the year will be less.
Also, how are you able to reduce street lighting electric costs by $5.1 million in FY09? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: We're actually not reducing that. That's also part of the realignment. So what we're doing is, as opposed to paying 201 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. street lighting costs out of the General Fund, we will be paying that out of the special gas tax. So it kind of looks strange within the budget, that it looks like it's a reduction, but there's an increase on the other side.
And when we talk about street lighting, is there any money at all for new street lighting? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Well, part of that we're identifying to support the Safe Streets, so that we're identifying certain funding that will be going to add new lighting in those neighborhoods that have been identified as high-crime areas.
Is that shown in the budget? Where is that shown in the budget? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: That's actually a capital item, so it would not be here.
I 202 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. don't think that showed up in the capital. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: We're using carry-forward money from the previous years that had gone unspent.
For street lighting? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Yes.
Because every time we get a request for street lighting, we're told that it's impossible to fulfill that request because there is no money. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: This was money that was originally identified for matching federal dollars, but we don't believe that's going to occur, so this is something that's just recently been done or recently evaluated, I should say. There's always opportunity to reevaluate what our plans are. But we had funding from some previous years that we were trying to get some federal 203 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. matching funds for. That doesn't look like it's going to happen, so we're going to take those funds instead of letting them sit there and go --
But it did happen last year or in '07? Did it happen in '07 where you got the matching? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: No. We have not gotten any matching funds for street lighting. We haven't gotten any matching funds for street lighting.
I'm sure that every Councilmember sitting here must get requests for street lighting. Where are we on street lighting other than what you testified to? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: We're continuing to improve the system, continuing to replace old luminaries that need to be replaced, because if we don't do that, maintenance costs, it increase. 204 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. We're also continuing to replace, where we can, aluminum poles with fiberglass poles. (Witness approached witness table.) DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: That's part of what we're also doing. And, as I said, this identification of re-targeting those funds, this pretty much just came about within the last few months, if that.
Joe Doyle, next time I write a letter requesting an additional street light, I don't want to hear that we don't have money.
Madam President, Steve Agostini, Budget Director. In the Capital Plan on Page -- I don't know that you have this here and I'll give you my copy here. On for street lighting improvements, what was just stated is there are prior year funding amounts available that we are 205 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. looking to spend in '09, and those prior year funding amounts are from 8, 7, and 4 5. What has been allocated for new 5 money, as I understand this, is 6 approximately 250,000 in 2012.
So how many new street lights could be obtained?
I don't have that in front of me, but we should get that --
I think Joe probably knows off the top of his head. Joe, do you? (Witness approached witness table.)
So the Streets Department will be programming where the street lights would be installed and not consider where a Councilperson would like to have a street light installed? Is that true?
Good afternoon, 206 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Council President.
Joseph Doyle, Chief Street Lighting Engineer. The money that has become available in the prior capital years was intended to do two things. One, it was intended to match with federal funds to provide a three-to-one ratio of matching funds. We would provide one-quarter of the funds, and the matching funds would provide the remaining amount. So for the $250,000 that was budgeted, we intended to have a million dollars in federal funds matching with that. Unfortunately, that match never occurred. The money was never programmed, and the City money was basically unspent as against that match. However, the intention of that money was improvements, not additional lighting. The intention of that money was to utilize it on federal ed corridors 207 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. where we were eligible to spend that money and replace the existing obsolete lighting and obsolete aluminum poles and install fiberglass poles. It was not intended as an additional lighting program in the large scale that would be -- what would have been in years past capital funded. The types of lighting that we do install at the request of City Council are basically done through our Operating Fund budget where we are, number one, able to mount a light on an existing utility or PECO wood pole where it's practical, there's no other obstructions on the pole to use, and, therefore, it would satisfy most of the requests, particularly in the neighborhoods and on the narrow streets where a utility pole line exists. We have not, however, installed new underground fed lighting that would require a very extensive cost and PECO service. We have not done that as part 208 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. of our Operating Budget. We have only done the request. So with your office and most of the Council offices, most of those requests we do try to honor where there's an existing wood pole, where it's a very limited scope. For example, a resident has a request. There's a utility pole immediately adjacent. We install the light, and we do that out of our operating funds with our own forces. That's a very limited program. We do it only on a request basis from each of the Councilpersons when we get that request. The money that we're discussing that relates to the police crime prevention is a thousand additional street lights, and we are using some of the carry-forward money to purchase the material for it, but all of the work would be done by City forces. So it is not really a large-scale capital project per se. It's an extension of what we've been doing on a one-for-one basis for the 209 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Council by installing lights that the police request. We will still continue to honor your requests. Where we can install a light, where there is no prohibition from installing the light on a wood pole, we'll continue to do that.
Thank you very much. I have the greatest respect for you. I know how hard you work, and you've always been very cooperative and very understanding, and I truly, truly appreciate working with you. Thank you very much, Joe.
We did hear about $10 million for resurfacing. That will come from the parking tax? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: That is my understanding, yes.
Okay. And if the parking tax is not passed, we will not get resurfacing? 210 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Okay, Steve. Your turn. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: I'll defer that one.
Thank you, Madam President. Yes. It was our intent in putting together this budget that if the million is not made available in 9 resources from the parking tax, that we 10 would then look to remove that expenditure in order to keep a balanced plan.
I wanted the record to reflect that very clearly. Thank you.
Just once again for the record so that we don't get confused, the money that goes to the 211 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Streets Department, where does that come from, what fund?
So whether or not we increase the parking tax, there's sufficient funds in the General Fund to do the pay-as-you-go financing just simply by bringing the fund balance down by $10 million a year.
I would say that to do that, it would require a $10 million reduction. If you were to reduce the fund balance by the 10 million, we will have a plan that's in deficit by 2013.
Assuming we gain no efficiencies in the operation of government between now and 2013. Because as I understand it, the Five-Year Plan doesn't have efficiencies reflected from going paperless or other changes that are going to benefit the City as a result of 3-1-1 and PhillyStat.
Councilmember, I would be reluctant to recommend to you, the Mayor or any other member that we would move forward on a plan that anticipates any large savings in efficiencies. In years' experience of 17 doing budgeting, I would say that we 18 would be at some risk, because if the 19 efficiencies don't show up, we have a 20 plan in deficit.
Right. But we could do it for one year while we write business plans to get there and then zero it out in the out years so that we're talking about $10 million, and then 213 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. work together to find the money through efficiencies that we gain through going paperless and other measures that we can put in place over the next year.
I would say that, yes, your approach to that would be the right approach. The one piece I would change is that rather than budgeting for it, I would say let's put a placeholder. If it shows up, let's put it into fund balance. We can recognize it in a subsequent year, but let's not budget on the assumption it's going to show up, because, as you know, it's going to be hard to do.
Well, let's not. So let's have the tree planting and have the other things in year one. That will lower the fund balance by $14 million roughly at the end of the Five-Year Plan, which would leave us with 15 roughly million in the fund balance, and then if we don't have business plans that effectively show that we'll realize 214 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. savings, we'll have to make a decision on the parking tax next year. That would be my suggestion.
I just want to say it's not -- the choice is a false choice.
And there we have a difference, and we've agreed to disagree. For the record, our view is that absent the million, you now have 13 a plan that is $80 million short of 14 revenue -- 15
Assuming you 16 put the spending in the out four years.
Which you don't have to do as part of the Five-Year Plan until we know the savings are there or until we introduce a parking tax next year.
I think we're agreeing. You're saying we should cut the expenditures out, and if you're 215 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. saying we should cut out the million for --
I would say that 7 if we were to do that, then you have a 8 plan that will be out of balance -- it 9 will have a $19 million fund balance in 10 2013, and I know that the PICA people are watching this every day and I would say to the PICA people, before we move there, we'd have to walk through what that impact is, because I'm sure after this hearing, I'm going to get a call from PICA that says, Well, where do you think you're going to be on the parking tax and where are you going to be on the expenditures.
Thank you, Madam Chair. 216 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Good afternoon. A couple of questions, one on resurfacing. The crews that actually do the resurfacing, are they private contractors? Are they City employees, Police Department employees? Is it some of both? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Primarily we do conventional resurfacing with our own people.
And they're also the ones that mill? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: No. We do not do the milling. The milling is contracted out.
The reason I bring that up is, often we receive complaints now and then -- now I'm getting them from my own neighbors because it's in my neighborhood -- a street is milled and it sometimes seems like it's a number of weeks before they get to the resurfacing, and obviously in that time frame, it's rough driving, it's a little noisier, that kind of thing. 217 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Is there a target time you like to try to get, once the street is milled, to try to actually get the street resurfaced? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Yes, and we're always trying to improve that time frame. Because we know that that's -- it's not quality work for the citizens, and it certainly impacts the quality of streets. Industry standard is four and our target has been two.
Okay. And I know sometimes weather factors in. I understand you can't do it when it's pouring rain or something like that, but this particular one, if you're taking notes, Poplar Street between 30th and 25th. Maybe they're there today. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: I'm sure somebody will be taking notes so we can check that.
It's been a few weeks now. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: 218 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. If there are things that you're getting back that seems inordinately long, call us, and we'll certainly look into that.
I appreciate that. The other question I had, and maybe Mr. Doyle answers this. It's about alley lights. I know it seems when there's repairs called in for street lights, they're done pretty quickly, unless there's some kind of wiring problem. I know sometimes that takes longer. But I think we've been told that the alley lights can be quite a while once a complaint is made. First, is that true? Is there a reason why it takes so much longer for alley lights?
Councilman, it basically depends on the nature of the repair. Our system for responding to requests for service for alley lighting is initially to send that request to a maintenance contractor, who is bound to investigate the site and make the repair, 219 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. if possible, under the terms of his contract. And that contract includes replacement of the lamp and the photocell, basically kind of first-line maintenance on it. If he is unable to make the light work -- and 90 percent of the time that's the type, it's simply a lamp failure. However, if the failure is a service wire or the luminaire itself or the connection back to PECO, then that type of work is not able to be completed by the contractor. They prepare a work order and it's sent back to City forces, and our own crews go out and make that repair.
But if it's just a bulb now, the bulb just plain burned out.
On average, it should be on the order of about two weeks. It kind of depends when you -- if you call in and you've just missed the batch that goes over, it's a little bit 220 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. longer. And that's the time frame that we're working with.
It seems like it's been longer, but maybe it just seems that way. Maybe there's a different problem.
Well, when people are waiting for service, it often seems that way, but, in fact, that's a pretty quick turn-around for alley lighting if it's the only repair. Now, one of the other problems that arises is access to the alley, and that can sometimes be a locked gate or trash-strewn alleys where we can't even get to the light.
Yes. And that obviously is frustrating both to the 221 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. public and to the contractor because we cannot get to the light. In that case, the resident may not even be aware that there's a locked gate at the end of the alley, calls back several times wanting to know why it hasn't been fixed, when it's simply we can't get access to it. So there's a lot of other things that interfere with that, but in a perfect world, if they're able to get in there, about two weeks should be about the time frame.
And you said the difference between the contractor and the City. On regular street lights, who does that? That's the contractor, right, that does that?
Yes. It's actually kind of a parallel service. The types of repairs that the contractor makes to street lights, which is the nighttime repair and services, is identical to the daytime repair of alley lights. All other kinds of repairs are referred back 222 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. to City shops for repair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Good afternoon.
Could you describe for me the process that exists when the Water Department, a plumber, digs up -- I can deal with naturally created potholes, but I don't think I hit many of those. The ones that I hit are the ones that the Water Department left behind, a plumber left behind, a contractor left behind. And I understand that the process to get it permanently repaired and the management -- I've been talking about this, I think, since I've 223 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. come to Council, and I know the utility company, gas company, PECO, they all get together on street openings, but I don't think we do a good job in requiring contractors to make temporary repair to the excavation that they create. In many cases, they'll just throw back the materials that they've cut out. You get a bad rainstorm, next thing you know you've got people disabled all over, blowouts, wheel covers all over the place. It's really an embarrassment to see some of our City streets the way contractors are allowed to leave them. Could you describe how the process works and why it takes so long, A? The contractor should be doing a better job, because there is a lengthy time between the excavation occurring and it being permanently repaired. Tell me how it works, because I think my colleagues need to hear it. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: We're continually working on that 224 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. process. We meet regularly with the Water Department. But just so we can give you a more detailed description, I'm going to ask our Chief Highway Engineer to come to the table and explain that.
Good afternoon. My name is Kevin Koch. I'm the Chief Highway Engineer. Good afternoon, Councilman. Mike had mentioned in the testimony the efforts we've been making with the Smooth Streets initiative. With regards to the plumber and the water ditches, as you know, we cannot make permanent restorations in the wintertime because of the weather. You can't pour concrete. The ground is frozen, et cetera. But we've been very aggressive over the last year and a half, since the inception of Smooth Streets, in inspecting these locations as soon as 225 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. we're made aware of them. The way the current regulations are given to any of the utilities, whether it's the Water Department or a private plumber or PECO, PGW, they're required to keep those locations safe until a permanent restoration can be scheduled. One of our problems is, we don't have enough enforcement. We'll go to as many locations as we can, but the ones that we are responsible for, as soon as we're notified, a crew chief or a supervisor will visit that site. If a plumber had left it in a state of disarray and we make it safe for him, we will send him a bill, and he has to pay the City for our time, because they're required to keep that safe until we can restore it. With our Operation Smooth Streets, by the middle of summer of 2007, we only had two or three locations. Our target is to have it done within the one-month window that they're responsible 226 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. and liable for that location. We were doing the restorations within that one-month window. We continually meet with the outside utility companies, and that's a harder issue for me right now, is to have them come on board more with us with the time frames that we're shooting for. But if there are any specific locations that are causing you concerns, then call them in.
Kevin, the problem is what you just described, and I want to make sure my colleagues heard that. Thirty days, one month, from the date that the opening is made, especially if that opening after it was made by PGW -- they do a pretty good job. PECO does a pretty good job. After the opening, there's 30 days, and if that temporary repair wasn't done properly, that location has hell to pay. I mean, you know that some of these locations are left -- after an emergency 227 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. repair, Water Department comes out, they do a fairly good job, but then the minute the weather starts to rain hard, temporary repair deteriorates and you've got a hole five, six inches deep. You hit that doing 35, 40 miles an hour, either you have accidents, rear-end collisions. It's just chaos. Thirty days is too long. And I don't agree -- you know, you're the professional, but I believe that you can, with new technologies and new concrete mixes, do more work. I mean, this was a pretty mild winter. I can't imagine that you couldn't this winter have kept up with the repair to some of these plumbers' ditches. (Bell rung.)
We did do restorations because of the mild winter. The last step of the permanent restoration is putting hot asphalt mix on any of the cuts, whether Water, plumber, any of the utility cuts. The plant is 228 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. shut in the wintertime to retool. We don't have access. The reason that we make temporary restorations in December, January and February is, the only thing that we have access to is that cold mix, and it's the cold mix that you're talking about that --
I'm not even talking about that. And I know the buzzer went off. I'm talking about when a plumber leaves East Chestnut Hill Avenue in the Northwest and his temporary repair was to put the material back and run the dump truck over it across the whole two lanes of the highway to compress it, two days later it rained hard and that material was washed entirely away within just a few hours and you had a ditch going across two lanes of the roadway six, eight inches deep. And their temporary repair was just throwing the material that they cut out back in the excavation. No cold blacktop, nothing. Just pieces of material of 229 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. asphalt. That was the temporary repair. I think it's so inconsiderate that a plumber, the Water Department, PGW, PECO, any of those entities, could leave a City street in the County of Philadelphia in that condition and take 30 days to fix it. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, Commissioner Carlton Williams -- Deputy Commissioner Carlton Williams has been a great level of assistance going out to community meetings with me and answering a whole plethora of questions that residents of the 4th District had. So I want to thank you for that. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're welcome, sir.
I had a 230 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. couple of questions. One, the increased cost of asphalt based on -- it's a gas byproduct. Is that factored into your budgeting? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Yes. That is a continuing challenge for us from the standpoint of doing any type of road surface repairs.
And you've factored that in? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Yes. There's been an increase, I believe, of about 70 percent since 2006.
In the cost of asphalt? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Yes.
Are we looking at substitutes at all? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: 231 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. We're always looking for new technology as to what we can do. Our Hot-in-Place is one of the things that we do that tries to reduce our costs when it comes to resurfacing streets. It's an excellent process from the standpoint that it is recycling the current asphalt that is there.
Thank you. What is our Streets Department electric bill for street lighting annually? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: I'm sorry. I didn't hear.
What is our electric bill for street lighting annually? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: It's about 14 million for our street light system.
What rate do we as a municipality pay versus, let's say, a large commercial customer? Is it a big differential? 232 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: There is a different standard, but I'll ask Joe Doyle to come back to the table to talk about the actual... (Witness approached witness table.)
Joseph Doyle, Chief Street Lighting Engineer. The rate that the City pays for its street lighting is a separate tariff with PECO Energy called Rate SLP. It actually only applies to the City of Philadelphia for its street lighting system. It's structured in a somewhat different way than the other commercial rates as you compare. It's relatively high. We actually pay --
-- a high 233 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. connection fee, but a relatively low energy fee. But each street light is considered a separate customer. So we have 100,000 customers with 100,000 street lights, and, therefore, the cost is accordingly high.
Is there any way to negotiate that rate as a large user, consumer of electrical power?
Councilman, that's rather difficult. The rates are structured by the Public Utility Commission. Over the vast number of years that I've been here, that's been discussed several different times with rate increases, with no success. It is a very difficult chore to try to negotiate with a utility that has a structured rate system. The tariff is well defined of what its use is and the charges there.
Competition breeds excellence. Have we considered alternate forms of lighting our street lights, such as solar? 234 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc.
We've looked into that. As the Deputy Commissioner mentioned, we're always looking at new technologies. Our lighting system, though, is on the cutting edge of technology. It's all high pressure sodium lighting system. Other types of lamps are available, but they do not have the light output that we currently have. There's a variety of them, but truthfully, they are rather limited to smaller pathway-type lighting or perhaps parking lot lighting. One of the things that we consider very strongly is reliability. While you might be able to provide an alternate solar-powered light that might work 75 percent of the time because of the sun, accumulating sun, sunlight, if that percent outage happens to be in 22 front of your house, it might not be 23 considered such a great alternative. And 24 so what we try to think about is how that 25 would work on an individual basis and on 235 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. a system-wide basis. But we do look at these technologies. They are developing. Some of them are very expensive on the initial cost. Solar is very expensive as an up-front cost, and it has a lot of limitations on it. But we are looking at that.
I think we should look to some subsidy from the federal or state government to do -- if we don't start somewhere, we're going to be stuck like this a decade from now, and we need to look at some alternatives. My next question is on your Engineering and Design and Survey Division. I don't see an increase in expense there. Was it your division that found the crack on I-95? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: No. That was PennDOT.
So we don't cover that stretch of land? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: 236 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. I-95 is a PennDOT limited-access highway. They're responsible for that.
How about -- DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: We were involved with helping with street closures and so forth.
If I seem rushed, it's only because of the timer. But what about bridges? (Bell rung.)
What about bridges? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: There are a number of bridges that we maintain and there are also bridges throughout the City that are also the responsibility of PennDOT.
Can you elaborate on the condition and number? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: I don't have the numbers off the top of my head as to -- I'm assuming you're referring to what's structurally deficient? 237 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc.
Yes. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: As with the state, the City also has challenges with infrastructure for bridges. It's not just with us. It's with the state and it's with the entire country. So it is a focus that we have, and Deputy Mayor Rina Cutler, who was with the state, is also assisting us in really looking at that and coming up with some strategies as to how to attack that in some creative ways, because it is a challenge that every municipality in the state has when it comes to bridges.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam Chair. To follow up on what Councilman Rizzo was asking about, repairing of 238 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. streets and the way private contractors are leaving our streets for us to then fix or taking the deposits from citizens, et cetera, required and then not spending it on fixing the streets, et cetera, as they charge that in their bill of having to repair streets. I understand a lot of times they take the money from citizens and then don't actually use it to fix the street when they're replacing water mains and things like that, or something the homeowner is responsible for. Can you come back to us or come back to the Chair with some legislation or something? The problem is well defined and it's gone on for years. Can you give us recommendations to try to solve the problem in terms of legislation or other actions we can take? Not right now, but report back to the Chair. Because if we can, if you can think of something we can do creative, we'll try to do it. To follow up on Councilman 239 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Jones' question, are you familiar with -- there are companies, small companies, start-up companies, springing up all over the country -- I'm sure there are some in this region -- whose sole purpose is to negotiate electric rates with utilities by combining their entire purchase at different facilities within a region from a utility and taking that entire volume, even though it's many customers, and negotiating lower rates, and they do it charging you a percentage of what they save you. So you don't even have to pay if they don't get you savings. But I don't know why if a commercial enterprise can do that we can't do that. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: It's certainly something we can look at. I know -- and I would call Mr. Doyle back if you want some additional detail, but it is certainly something we can look at.
No, I don't. If you would report back to the Chair whether or not you've ever looked at that 240 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. and whether or not you think it's something you can look at. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Okay.
And if you need more additional information from my office about local companies that do that, I'd be happy to provide it to you. Does the Department have a computerized work order management system to track two things, everything that is in a street that you're aware of that needs repair and then when it's repaired? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: We do have a work order system. It is not throughout our entire department. For example, with our potholes and ditches, we do have a work order system that tracks that. We track how long they're open for. That's one of the reasons why we know what our performance measures are and what we can do about that, yes. So for all potholes and ditches, that is all done by a work order 241 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. system within our Highway Division.
What about everything else you do? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: With our resurfacing, we're also looking at a pavement management system. We are proceeding with that, and we hope to have that by the end of the year. So that would also look at conditions of streets, street resurfacing and that type of work.
So that would sort of be like a facilities assessment for streets? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Yes.
For all of the streets of Philadelphia? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Correct.
That's correct. Do you know what the total deferred maintenance is on our streets, whether it's serious maintenance that 242 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. needs to be done or capital improvements? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: We have been looking at that actually over the last two weeks. I probably don't have enough numbers to really talk about it here now, but we do have some good data that we think we can share at a later date with you from the standpoint of what the cost is -- in fact, we had met with the Budget Director on this -- of what the cost is for deferred maintenance.
He thought this question might come up? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: One thing I will say is, as we were looking at some of the information; for example, on a ten-year street, after five years -- it's a rating of one to 100, with 100 being the best that we use. It's at about 92. After about ten years, it drops to between 70 and 75. And then after ten years, it drops even further. So there's additional costs that are 243 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. incurred with, as I understand it -- and I'm certainly not an engineer -- with repairing the base of the street if we are not providing the adequate maintenance on the surface area.
Okay. Great. Well, if you could provide the Chair with a number for the backlog in deferred maintenance and capital projects. And then it sounds like what you're putting together is a business plan that will change the way you operate to, once you've taken care of that backlog, reduce any cap ex in the future and rely on maintenance. Is that a fair description of what -- DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Yes. We have a good understanding of what the backlog is. The thing that we need is to have a system whereby we can 244 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. better manage the entire process, and we think we're on the road to beginning that, with no pun intended.
Do you collect follow-up data about the number of staff hours it takes to resolve a -- not time in line, but the number of staff hours once you're on site or the number of hours and costs of the Department once you're on site of the time it takes to resolve a particular problem in your work order management system or elsewhere? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: We do have in some areas of the work order management system, such as in Sanitation, where they do very good costing methodology on what it costs for various services. (Bell rung.) DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Something that we do need to expand on also.
The Chair 245 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you very much. Good afternoon. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Good afternoon.
I'd certainly like to thank the entire department for all the work they do and their availability. Carlton Williams, we know we call you seven days a week, hours a 14 day. We thank you -- 15 DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 16 You're welcome. 17
-- for 18 always responding. 19 When I was coming in, when I 20 was in my office, I heard some dialogue 21 with regard to alley lighting, and I 22 think that -- I don't know whether to ask 23 Mr. Doyle if a request should be 24 forwarded to him, because I got a request back from him for a block in my district 246 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. saying that there was no funding for new alley lighting. Now -- well, that's why we're here. We're on budget time. So I wanted to raise the question to see if we're talking until July 1 or where we are on alley light funding. Maybe I missed the whole answer. I was in another meeting. And forgive me if you did respond in detail.
Joseph Doyle, Chief Street Lighting Engineer. Good afternoon, Councilwoman.
The request that you had sent over to our office related to, if I'm correct by my response, was the installation of new alley lighting.
We have no program for installing new alley lighting. We repair defective lighting that is in existence. But the program that was initiated, I guess, over ten years ago to replace the entire alley lighting system 247 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. in Philadelphia was a one-time capital improvement, and currently there are no 4 plans or requests for adding alley lighting. However, I might add that when we did that original program in the mid '90s, we redesigned the lighting in the alleys to sort of avoid that. In other words, we spaced the lighting better than had been there before. So if the alley itself had lighting in it before and might have only had two or three alley light poles, when we redesigned it, it could have, say, five, and those were spaced in a way that should provide adequate lighting. And the reason for that was to avoid the need to kind of revisit the location to add more alley lights. However, if it's in an area of the City that never had alley lighting and those driveways that are existing, there is no program to install new lighting in that type of situation. 248 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc.
So I will quote you. "Please be advised that we are unable to install any additional alley lights at this location because we presently have no funding for any new alley lighting." So what does that mean? Does that mean, then, that at this location there was none? It's on Springfield Avenue.
I'd have to go back and check the individual location, but I'm assuming that there were no lights there before and that's why your request would be for a new lighting system in the alley, and we're saying we are not honoring those requests because they're not funded in any way, either this year or next year. This is not a fiscal year question. It's entirely non-funded.
I do remember when we had that and I do remember when we were trying to get them in before it ended. 249 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Are there plans in the future to redo this? I mean, do you get a lot of requests for this citywide?
Not really. The majority, the vast majority, of our requests are for lamps out or existing lights out of service, but not requests for new or additional alley lighting.
Okay. Now they're asking for a lamp pole, same thing, same area, same block. Okay. So you're saying you don't really get a lot of requests for this, so you're not --
That's correct. We get very few. Up until now, we have not gotten very many requests for new lighting.
Is it possible for -- I guess it depends on where the alley light ends. If it 250 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. somehow is adjacent to a street, maybe there's something.
I mean, we're always willing to look at a particular situation, but, as I said, when we originally designed the system, it was to properly light the entire alley from one end of the block to the other. So unless something else has changed here that I am not aware of, that would be our answer.
All right. Maybe I'll submit another request from them and yours to me, and maybe you can call me or write me back?
Don't leave, Mr. Doyle. I have a request for -- not for lighting. On Ashdale Street that abuts my district and Councilman Clarke's district at Palethorp and 4th Street behind the Portuguese 251 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Center and the Cousin's Grocery Store, the lighting is very poor there. We need brighter lights, because we got a lot of dumping. So it's costing us money, because we have to send someone out there to clean up the trash, the tires, remove abandoned cars, because it's dark on that street. It's on Ashdale Street between Mascher and 4th Street.
Okay. We'll go and review that request and we'll see what the situation is there.
The other comment I want to make, I'm getting calls from a state rep, a ward leader and constituents about the paving of Tabor Road from Adams to Rising Sun. So I'd like for you to check into that. And also there are reports in the 9th District that the strodes that were paved 252 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. with recycling material, those roads are crumbling. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: We will check that.
Have you had that problem in other parts of the City with recyclable materials? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: No. My understanding is that that program has been working very well from the standpoint of the quality. There were some right in the beginning of the program when we first started it that we had to go back, do some changes, but since that time, we believe that program has been working well. But we certainly will look into this situation.
I'll have my staff person send you the specific streets, without you going through the entire district, where we're having problems, but we would look for you to look at Tabor Road. We've put that request in a long time ago. 253 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Okay.
July 1st. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: We'll try to do them all.
Okay. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones -- no; Sanchez -- Jones. Don't take her off.
Thank you. You cited in your testimony on that you are going to implement a litter prevention strategy. I understood how it was going to benefit Center City. Can you elaborate how it benefits neighborhoods and what you're going to do specifically? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Yeah. I'll ask Deputy Commissioner Williams to do that, but our program is focused on many different areas. 254 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good afternoon, Councilman. My name is Deputy Commissioner Carlton Williams. I'm the Deputy Streets Commissioner over the Sanitation Division. First of all, I want to thank you for all your support. Our litter prevention strategy has begun, and one of the biggest campaigns that we kicked off was a citywide clean-up. This is not just a citywide clean-up that focuses on a one-day event designed to end on April 5th, but it's an ongoing program that we want to establish partnerships within communities that are stressed with litter. We have a litter index that we are working with the Managing Director's Office and our Deputy Mayor to focus on those problematic areas where we will target services to remove problems or there's high concentrations of litter and illegal dumping, and I think it's been very effective when we partner with the 255 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. community, because the long-term goal is to talk about prevention and to get them to get involved with their neighborhoods, to start removing and stop letting it become problematic in the first place, is what we're trying to do. And we think that these partnerships would allow us to establish relationships that we can actually make impacts for it, not just cleaning it up, but actually from happening in the first place.
Sustainability. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir.
I just want to encourage you to consider the 7th Councilmanic District for my colleague. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Absolutely.
I just want you to consider that. A couple other questions. When are we going to have a permanent 256 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. coordinator for recycling? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right now we're working with, again, the Deputy Mayor, Ms. Rina Cutler, and our office, because Scott McGrath, who is doing an outstanding job as the Acting Recycling Coordinator, has been filling the shoes since the absence of Ms. Joan Hicken back in early September. We want to make sure that we select the right person and to have the best person for the job. Scott certainly has done a tremendous job in helping us implement single-stream recycling. Our recycling tonnage is higher than it's ever been in the history of the program, and he certainly is going to be encouraged to apply, but we want to make sure that we do a comprehensive search.
And the Recycling Advisory Committee, can you describe what role it will play? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. The RAC is Recycling Advisory 257 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Committee. They are an outside volunteer group of members who give us -- are made up of many members of the waste industry, the recycling industry, Clean Air, Clean Water Council and various members who have a vested interest in taking care of the environment. Their role and responsibility is to oversee and to give us advice on programs that they believe could work in the City of Philadelphia to give us a fair evaluation of how we're doing in recycling and we exchange ideas to try to come up with the best possible practices for the City.
At one of my community's meetings, NOAA, there was a big outcry about young people and learning the importance -- I mean, back when I was growing up, they had the Litter Bug campaigns and things like that. Are we outreaching to the schools to educate our young people about the fast-food wrappers that we find throughout our City and how important it 258 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. is to do the responsible thing by putting it in the trash? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Absolutely. We reestablished Keep Philadelphia Beautiful last year, and the purpose of that partnership was to begin to start focusing on programming, educational program, particularly with our young people. We started litter-free school zones, and the litter-free school zones that were established not to just say that they were just -- the schools should be litter free, the whole entire City should be litter free, but to focus on our young people to get them involved in active community services, civic responsibility at its core roots, which is litter. You see along some of our schools and our play areas that there is a lot of trash-strewn conditions. Well, we want our young people to start getting involved with taking responsibility, and part of that is to have them actively 259 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. involved in service. So we're happy to say a lot of them are participating on this clean-up as well.
You're welcome. We have to go back to the Litter Bug campaign years ago. Thank you. Councilwoman Sanchez.
Thank you. Along the lines as my colleague recognizes the challenges in the 7th Councilmanic District, I do want to thank the Department, because it has been one of the departments that has worked with our office, and we're new at this in terms of coming up with systems and quickly responding to this. I recently received a map that I asked the Department to draw up for me around street sweeping and public trash 260 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. cans, and I want to know, in light of the alarming visual of the map, I have 50 public trash cans, only 30 of them which are in the Frankford corridor line, and I have ten El stops in my district. What are the plans in terms of really committed to sustainability, keeping the City clean? What are we going to do with challenged areas like, for instance, in the 7th Council? If you want to show you're doing an improvement, you got to come into the 7th and help me do this. And what are our plans at revisiting and increasing our street sweeping, particularly in high concentrated areas and commercial corridors? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How you doing, Councilwoman? One of the plans again is, we are taking a look at our mechanical sweeping program. That is an issue of cost in terms of expanding our capability to do a multi-variety of streets. Right now we focus our mechanical brooming on 261 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. commercial corridors and some select streets throughout various districts, but we need a consistent program. We also need to look at our trash cans and the way they're placed. We have over 1,800 trash cans throughout the City of Philadelphia --
Excuse me. Can you repeat that? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Eighteen hundred trash cans.
I have 50. How did that happen? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Again, we have to take a look at your district, and it is something that we really need to take a look at. The issue with trash cans, we want to make sure that they're not used as dumping grounds. A lot of the times they become not just used for litter, but they become used for illegal dumping. A lot of people know that we're going to come on a consistent and routine basis to 262 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. try to remove and constantly replace the liners and all of the sudden, household trash becomes on our corners and household trash becomes overflowing out of those baskets. So we definitely want to look at where we are with our baskets, particularly in your district, and we also want to educate people about the use of those baskets and what they're intended for.
One of the things as we do that -- and it's a conversation that I had with the Commissioner and we continue to have -- is around appropriately educating folks around bulk trash and some of these other things, because I think that has been the historical problem. I'm hopeful that under our new Deputy Mayor, as you look at the coordination -- for instance, one of the conversations I had with SEPTA is that their stops. We may need to revisit all the stops SEPTA has, because, for 263 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. instance, in some cases, from 2nd Street to Front Street, I'll have three bus stops and trash at three bus stops that really -- even if we're talking about creating safety corridors, there's a reason to relook at do you need to stop at every stop, and then it helps with several different things. So I want to encourage you to do that. One of my issues around creating safe and clean corridors, especially as we look at restoring our commercial corridors, we're going to get ready to spend several million dollars in the district, and one of the conversations we've been having is around lighting and fixtures, and I want to, for the record, state that it is a priority for me that when we make this investment in this lighting, my understanding that up to now is we've only entertained two different types of fixtures, and the El because of the way it's situated requires special attention. 264 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. So I'd like the Department to work with me so that we can create a lighting system that is affordable and sustainable, because the fixtures that we've used in the past along the El haven't been effective. So that's a priority for me, because we're going to spend all this money, let's do it right. I understand that you're in the middle of looking at your whole lighting system and your fixtures, but in the meantime, we have until 2009 to do this right. So I think it's a priority. So I just want to put that on the record, that I need someone from the Streets Department to work with me and my restore piece so that we get the appropriate fixture on the El. I want to reiterate, I got ten stops on the El that we're taking care of and looking at creating safe corridors. So that's important. So I'll be looking for you guys to help out with that. And it has to be something out of the box and 265 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. I think it warrants that, because we're leveraging some other state money and some other monies along some of those corridors. So that's important. The other issue for me is the coordination of new developments and how they're built. One of the challenges that I have in the Northeast is, we've built buildings and then strip malls, but we haven't created walkways that connect them. And in particular, in my senior housing where we've built strip malls across the street from them, but they literally have to walk almost a mile to go to the corner to be able to cross the street. Who coordinates that and what are we going to be doing as we move forward with all the development that's happening? I have some existing issues that we're going to have to resolve, but just moving forward. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: That certainly goes beyond just our 266 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. department. We're certainly a piece of that from the standpoint of our survey. I'll ask Dave Perri. But I think what we need to do is look at that and look as we go out to see how we do a better job of coordination if those issues that are arising form the standpoint of development. (Bell rung.)
Good afternoon. My name is Dave Perri. I'm the Chief Engineer for Surveys and Design. Recently we've been meeting regularly with the Planning Commission. They have a committee that's composed of Planning Commission, Streets Department, Water Department and other agencies to look at developments in their early stages so that we can come up with a plan that serves a larger and more broader purpose. This is the first time the City has been doing this, and I believe it's going to be very successful. So we are 267 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. looking at the larger issues.
What are we doing with existing problems? I mean, who do I track my existing problems to as it relates to those?
Well, it would depend on the specificity of the problem. It could be something that the developer didn't build into the development within their own site. It could be something that impacts on the streetscape. Maybe there's a crossing that's needed. Each particular case would have to be looked at individually so we can see which agency would be responsible or which entity would be responsible for making changes.
Okay. I'll be forwarding Gloria Dei so my seniors at Gloria Dei can finally access their mall across the street. We can look at it. Part of my problem is that both of those streets are wide streets. So it's a very dangerous situation, and 268 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. there's no light in the middle there. And so there is a problem there. So I'll submit it formally for review. I just wanted to know as we move forward, because I have so much development going in the area, that we're coordinating this better.
We are trying to make a conscious effort to look at those exact type issues, and wherever possible, we try to make the developer pay for upgrades to the immediately surrounding infrastructure to provide those type of amenities that are needed. There's only so far we can go in that direction before we start discouraging development. So we look to have a good balance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, I just want to, 269 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. on behalf of my constituent service people, Marita Crawford and Vernice Bradley and Scott Mulvey and other people in my office who deal with your office regularly, say that the service they get is tremendous. We've had tremendous help, from engineering and streets and lighting and signage, et cetera. You look at things quickly. You get back to us. And from that perspective, my office couldn't be happier with our interaction so far with the Streets Department. So I wanted to share the feelings of the people from my office who deal with you every day. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Thank you for that.
How many people in the Streets Department are -- can you describe a typical situation, whether someone is calling for a street repair or signs that have been taken down or, I don't know, a light that's out? What is the process when someone comes in 270 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. to the Streets Department? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: We have a central customer service number that people call. We also have, depending upon what the situation is -- for example, if our Smooth Streets, we have a website. So people have different points of access to the Department, but it all sort of filters into our customer service, who then forwards that to the appropriate division so that the action can be taken.
And what happens when they answer the phone? Where do they put that information? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: We have a system that tracks that information.
So right now the first instance is going into your system electronically? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Yes.
That's 271 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. terrific. Then I won't ask more questions about that at the moment. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: That's good.
So there really is no paper reporting going on in your department; is that correct? So we can't look for efficiencies there? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: I'll never say there's no paperwork going on, but most of that is electronic. The challenge with any type of paperless system is really getting people to pay attention to the paperless part of the system. I've seen many studies where paperless systems were going to eliminate paper and actually what, in essence, it's done is increased paper with an organization. So we are conscious about that, especially from the standpoint of the Department being focused on recycling and so forth. So it is something that I'm sure that we all in the City can improve 272 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. upon, though.
The people who have testified who have actually gone paperless, sort of everything related to a particular project, whether it's contracts with contractors or agreements with third parties, et cetera, are in an electronic database and they get it there through scanning and then they have an OCR system. The Pension Board has done it. The people responsible for keeping charge of that paperwork, files, et cetera, they've basically been able to gain 50 percent efficiencies. We just had a department testify that going to a system like that, they actually eliminated two-thirds of the positions associated with that. So the evidence so far among departments that have begun this process is that it's extremely successful. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: As I said, I think we're in a good spot with that, especially from a customer 273 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. service standpoint. I don't think we have in excess of that. I'm sure there's some place people printing stuff out that they may not be able -- not supposed to, but for the most part, that's a seamless system for us.
I wanted to ask about a few things. Your testimony states, "The Department is currently conducting a review of our street lighting system, especially in areas highlighted by the City of Philadelphia Police Crime Plan." I understand that New York City, rather than installing multiple street lights on a block, sometimes illuminates streetscapes and sidewalks by using fewer roof-mounted lights by getting permission from, say, private property owners in the area, because it will increase safety on their block or in theory, to use roof-mounted lights at a higher level that require less electricity and power than multiple 274 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. lights and cover a broader area. Is that something the City of Philadelphia has looked at? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Let me ask Joe to address that for you to see whether or not that is something that we have looked at.
Joseph Doyle, Chief Street Lighting Engineer. Good afternoon, Councilman. Temple University has kind of a roof-mounted lighting system where they illuminate Broad Street and the campus area, but from my understanding on it, that's their own property, their own buildings. They control that completely. I'm kind of not familiar with what New York City has done, but I would assume that there may be some advantages, but it sounds complicated from a legal maintenance type situation. We'd have to look at that. The property owner would obviously have to grant some waivers to the City for access 275 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. to that. One of the other issues too is kind of just glare. There's a strong movement throughout the United States and urban areas to reduce glare and upward light. So you have to be very conscious that high-powered lights like you'll see around a stadium area or a ball field are often very glary and they just illuminate light in all directions. So we would want to be very conscious to direct whatever light we have. Our present system is kind of mounted on the utility poles where it's relatively easy for maintenance. I'm not sure how difficult or accessible rooftops would be. As I said, you'd have City employees walking on private property. There's a lot of issues. I think the Law Department would have to be brought into that. (Bell rung.)
So we need to look at that. But our current system of 276 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. mounting them on the light poles that we have works, I think, pretty efficiently and illuminates the streets quite well. However, if we can make an improvement on that, we'll look at that.
If you could look at New York City, what New York is doing with this program, and report back to the Chair on whether or not you think it's something we should pursue.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess this is for Mr. Williams. The SWEEP Unit, the code enforcement officers that go out, they're under Streets Department, right? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 277 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Yes, sir.
I think they've been very effective lots of ways in getting people not to put their trash out whenever they felt like it and that kind of thing. A lot of those violations have done that. But one of the complaints I hear sometimes is -- I guess you call it the specificity of the violations when they're written. Some you'll see they're written and they'll actually say "three trash bags out on Tuesday, your trash day is Thursday," something like that. But often times the violation is just written in a general way. It will say "sidewalk not litter free." And the complaint we get is people don't know what they supposedly did wrong or if they got the wrong address. They don't know what to fight, because that's such a sort of vague term. Are the people instructed to be more specific in their violations? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 278 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Yes, especially over the last year. We understand that, Councilman. We definitely receive the same type of complaints regarding people saying that they don't understand what the violation was, especially with trash cans being set out in front of their property and they received a "sidewalk not litter free" violation for that. One of the things that we try to ask our SWEEP officers is to be very specific and not be general in regards to the regulations. "Sidewalk not litter free" is actually one of the code violations, but it actually does not describe the situation, and we will work with our SWEEP officers to be more descriptive of what the issues are. Another part of our SWEEP Unit's responsibility is not just enforcement but they're also education officers, and we are placing a stronger emphasis on getting them out to community groups and to meet with the community so 279 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. people will understand what the laws actually are so they understand how they can comply, because that's been a lot of the concerns.
You mentioned the trash cans out on the street. I know some blocks they keep them out there sort of as their own block trash can or whatever. Technically, you can't do that, right? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, the law states that trash cans must be set out. There's two issues. One is that they can't set it out before trash day, and I think you're talking about the ones that just want to sit it out next to their property. It's not on the street. It's not set out for trash, but some may put it out with litter. The problem is that the officer has to determine whether it's out for litter or it's out for personal trash, and we kind of have a lot of flexibility with the rule in that. We want people to 280 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. have it neatly contained and up against their property where it's not visible, because if the container is either open or it's left to be overflowing, it exuberates smells and other problematic conditions. And when it gets to that point, we issue citations or warnings in respect to that. Some residents also put it out to try to help out the community with litter.
Right. That's what I was getting at. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We'd rather them go through our Adopt a Block Program where they can get a trash can from the City and they make certain commitments to maintaining that trash can, which is it won't be used for household trash, it will be -- the liner will be replaced when the Streets Department -- because we'll pick it up once a week, but sometimes it may be overflowing prior to us getting there, 281 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. and we just ask that there be a certain level of accountability within a resident that requests it. We would much rather have that type of program as opposed to people putting their trash can out.
I understand. Dumpsters, is that the same unit? Do they inspect those? I think particularly some of our Center City streets. The small streets have become basically dumpster alley. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir.
And I know a lot of that has got to be violation. Is that the same unit or is there a different unit? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. That's part of our unit as well, I believe. There's other officers who have the capability to enforce that in other departments, but predominantly that's 282 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. under our unit as well.
To the best of your knowledge, has there been a lot of violations written for that? Because it seems like there's a lot out there. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Last year we wrote over 5,000 violations for dumpsters. Sixteen hundred of them were for construction dumpsters. The majority of them were for food waste dumpsters.
Last question. The mechanical broom issue that you raised before, if my memory is right, isn't one of the problems with having that on residential streets the reluctance, often times strong reluctance, of residents to move their cars? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That is probably the number one most problem that we get, because the brooms aren't effective if they can't get to the 283 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. curbs.