Sure. And it always kind of amazed me, because I know in New York City -- Councilman Green mentioned New York before -- that's been, I think, the process for years and people know on Mondays and Wednesdays they move the car to the other side of the street and all like that now. I guess their streets on the whole are bigger, so it's a little maybe easier to do that, but -- wider, so they have parking on both sides. But I've been kind of surprised sometimes with the reluctance of people to want to move their cars. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah.
And then they complain about all the trash in the street. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Absolutely.
You can't 284 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. please everybody. Thank you. MR. McPHERSON: Councilman Jones.
Thank you. Two quick questions. One question and a statement. One, who produces our street signs and how much is that contract, roughly? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Are you talking traffic, stop signs?
All of the above. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Our Traffic Division does that.
Do they do it internally or do they contract out? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: They do that internally. It depends. What they do is, they'll get blanks. It depends on the type of sign and so forth. So there's -- we look for the most efficient way of producing those signs.
And, 285 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. finally, I want to put on the record for you guys to follow up on, Councilwoman Sanchez and Councilman Green agreed to volunteer to be sanitation workers for a day, and I just don't want them to forget that commitment to you and the City of Philadelphia. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We accept that. Thank you.
All right. Thank you. MR. McPHERSON: Councilwoman Sanchez.
I got to remind you that Commissioner Tolson has a lot more experience than us. I was happy she wasn't here to control it. One thing, I didn't notice if you submitted your MBE, your contracting pieces, as been required by the other departments in terms of who you contract out with and how are they meeting... DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Yes. We actually submitted -- in the 286 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. slide presentation, there was a slide that addressed that. And if you need more detail, we can certainly do that. It was just a general slide giving our overall rates as to where we were.
I'll have to look for it because I didn't have it in mine. Okay. Question, going back to the trash cans. And, again, we're going to have to do a lot of educating and re-training people in the 7th Councilmanic District who have gotten no 15 enforcement. So as you're aware, recently when the trash inspectors went out and starting writing tickets, I started getting all the complaints, and I proudly told people it's a new day and you're going to have to cooperate. But thankfully you guys got out there and put some recycling bins to give it to them. But the trash cans on the porch, what's the policy on that? Because I have sections of the City where 287 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. for whatever reason if people have pets and they have them in the back, so they put their trash cans on the porch. I personally have an issue with it, but what's our policy on that? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, Councilwoman. I met with the SWEEP officers about six months ago on this very issue so we can have consistency. The trash can can't create a nuisance, and that's the biggest concern. And so we ask that the trash cans that are on porches are tucked away -- not on the curb, but are tucked away in alleys where they're still visible be covered with a sealed containable lid. This reduces the amount of litter that will actually occur if the trash is accidentally tipped over, if cats go into the bags and try to rip open. Those are some of the things that create litter conditions that we're trying to prevent. Some of our residents don't put those containers on and it's overflowing 288 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. with trash, creates odors and foul smells. So we ask the residents to place a container if it's out against their property, because some of our smaller streets and our smaller communities, they don't have the space to put it out back, that they have a lid with a container on it, a sealed container, which it doesn't create a problematic situation.
So you'll issue warnings and then come back and do enforcement in those cases? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, we will.
So we'll work with -- hopefully this spring we're going to do a lot of talking to neighbors around some of these issues, because I'm a particular trash buff, and that's one thing I share with the Mayor. But it is something that is rampant all over, and part of it is because we don't have the public trash cans that you talked about. But if we do both things at the same 289 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. time, we can come up with a plan to sustain it. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, ma'am.
So we'll work on that. In terms of illegal dump sites, we've had some historical -- as the Councilwoman mentioned, like the 4900 block of Palethorp that she talked about. We've had some historical short dumping sites. Have we considered coming up with some sort of camera program that can be mobile? My assumption is these are the same people coming back time after time. Having been involved for many years on the constituent services side, 2nd Street from Hunting Park to Erie, I mean, there's just some historical sites. What are we doing and what are we looking at to alleviate some of those? Because it's costing us money to clean it up. I just think that if we did some 290 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. aggressive policing, we can track down some of these folks and they know we're on top of it. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mr. Steve Jurash, who works with the Commerce Department, was head of the Urban Industry Initiative, is currently working -- has worked with our department, along with the DA's Office to try to come up with a program using mobile cameras. I believe that there's a meeting within the next couple of weeks to discuss strategically placing mobile cameras so we can try to catch illegal dumpers. Last year we did a piece with Jeff Cole on Fox explaining the difficulty in trying to catch them. One of the things that will help out hopefully this program that is a pilot program will help us be able to identify the offender and then prosecute, because there are laws on the books that allows us to pay stiff penalties and fines for those who illegally dump in our 291 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. City. I think the fine is up to $5,000 and confiscation of their vehicle if they're caught in the act of illegally dumping in our City. And so I think that's one of the things that we should pay close attention to to see if we can make an effort, because that is very costly to our department and our City in terms of collection.
Well, I'd be interested in having a staff person sit in on that and serving as a pilot in areas. Like anything else, once we start doing enforcement where we haven't really done it, people start getting antsy. So if we can be involved from the ground as we do some of this enforcement, I'd like to be there telling people, Hey, it's a new day, you can't do this stuff, because it's just -- it's a mess. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would be great. 292 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc.
I have a lot of train tracks, something that Councilman Jones and I talked about. We have to come up with a long-term solution around some of these railways, especially the ones that are unused. But all of those lend themselves for the short dumping that's kind of been historical, and as the summer comes and you have the smell, you have all these other issues. So please let me know. We'd like to work with you on that. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Absolutely. Yes.
Thank you. Two quick questions. You mentioned that you give tickets out, which I forgot. How many people do you have in sort of your enforcement division? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 293 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Right now we have budgeted for 36 officers.
Thirty-six? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. Two of them are supervisors, so they supervise the operation. So on the street each day there's 33 to 34 officers.
And how are they deployed? Based on complaints or just do they patrol streets? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They patrol streets. We respond to a lot of complaint-driven inquiries. Again, when a lot of people complain about trash cans being set out on sidewalks or litter conditions or properties not well maintained, we respond and follow up.
Okay. And do they all have cars? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. Some have bikes and others do foot patrol throughout the streets mainly.
Do they 294 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. write paper tickets? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes.
As part of the whole process, evaluation, design, I'd recommend that you look at a system similar to the Parking Authority, although I wouldn't go to a proprietary system like that. I'd look at using iPhones with Bluetooth technology that can print tickets out for a lap thing, et cetera. There's now STKs available for that, and I think it would -- then somebody doesn't have to input the ticket. The information is right there. You can have a more specific check-the-box complaint item, like Councilman Jones was requesting or I think Councilman Greenlee was requesting, so that people knew with more specificity what their complaint was and perhaps save some time on the back end in terms of collection and data entry and, et cetera. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 295 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Yes, sir.
The other question I have is, one of the things I hear consistently from Special Services District or even from citizens is that the street containers that you mentioned are overflowing sometimes with refuse from private homes in the street trash containers, that they'll call and complain that they've been picked up -- that they haven't been picked up in a week, and the Streets Department will say, That's absolutely not true, they were there last Tuesday, and the Street Department's way of verifying that is, the supervisor of the trash truck that's supposed to pick it up said they were there. There's no other -- if they said they were there, as far as the Street Department is concerned, they were there. And that's what I understand is often the response. And I just wondered what the cost of putting GPS on all of your vehicles would be so it would be clear 296 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. where every single vehicle in your fleet was and is at any given time during the day. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. We certainly can look at that. I know we experimented with it with our mechanical brooms a year ago, and one of the things, it does exactly what you said, is that we're able to track the date and the time or the location of the vehicle and to be able to verify whether the vehicle was in that area and to track the complaint versus what the supervisor said to justify the complaint and who is right and who is wrong.
And I think you'd also find it's a pretty good management tool in terms of accountability for people, where they are all day, et cetera. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Absolutely, yes.
And may return the investment very quickly in 297 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. terms of the efficiencies you'll gain in additional productivity as a result of people knowing that you know where the vehicles are. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's certainly worth investigating, yes, sir.
If you do investigate it, could you please provide the Chair with information and say how much that would cost and potential productivity savings as a result of that? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir.
Thank you. Are there any further questions? (No response.)
There being none, thank you so much for your testimony. This hearing is adjourned until Monday, April 7th at 10:00 a.m. 298 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. (Committee of the Whole adjourned at 3:40 p.m.) - - - 299 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on April 2, 2008, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)