Can you give us an idea in writing, could you provide to the Chair, to the Council President, where those 27 sites are, just all members? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Definitely. Would you like me to name them or would you like me to present it?
If you can do it briefly. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Herron, Sacks, Cibotti, Guerin, Stinger Square -- oh goodness, Wharton Square, Laura Sims Ice Rink, 39th and Olive Playground, Gustine Rec Center, Hillside Rec Center, John C. Anderson Cultural Center, Shuler Playground, Amos Playground, Francisville Playground, Holme Playground, Holmesburg Playground, Monkiewicz Playground, Mullin Playground, Ramp Playground, Carmella Playground, Cruz Rec Center, Gambrel Rec Center, McPherson Square and Ramblers Rec Center.
Okay. All right. Thank you for the list. Appreciate that. Pools, I heard you say pools were going to be opening on time? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Yes.
Is that the total number? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: The total number is 70. Some of them are still part of the Rebuild. Some of them maintenance needs to be done. But 63 of our pools will be open this summer.
Okay. Will they be open -- will the other pools be open at all this summer or they're offline this summer? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: They're offline this summer.
Okay. Can you give us a list of where they are? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: I don't have that in front of me, but I can make sure that I send that information in.
Okay. Overall I do want to say that you all have done a fantastic job of working with us, keeping the pools open, having the pools open. For a lot of kids, they're not going to the shore. They're not leaving the neighborhood. So pools are incredibly important. And how are we doing with improvements to the pool sites? One of the things that we noticed when we've been out doing tours is that the pool, you know, you either have to be in the pool or out of the pool because of lack of pool furniture. Pool furniture is really not a luxury. It really is a requirement. Because the concrete surrounding the pool is so incredibly hot, on a day in July, you know, it'll just burn your feet. So I know at some pools you've added furniture and umbrellas that protect from shading, the sun is so hot. And these are not -- again, I don't want people to think these are luxury items. These are really necessities to be able to use the pool. Are we online for those kind of improvements this summer as well with some of our pools? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: We have some funding for pools, but that's not -- we don't have funding specifically for pools for us to ensure that there's equipment at all of our sites, we do not.
Are we working towards a plan? Could we work towards a plan to get there? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Yes. And it is important, because to go into one community and see that it's furnished --
Yeah, Quetcy got it nice. Linden(ph) Park, you ride up that jawn. That jawn's nice. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Yeah, to see that one facility is furnished and other facilities are not, it is a challenge. It just shows the disparity in our system that we are working on.
Right. So Pleasant Playground, which is completely fitted out, and just a few miles down I have Awbury, which has nothing and it's quite a stark contrast. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Yeah. There was a fundraiser and this was before I came back, and somebody can share this information, there was a specific fundraiser. It was Tiny WPA. They raised funds to make sure that pools had the furniture to go around the pools and not just the furniture. And so, that was something that was done separate from the budget.
We shouldn't have to raise funds. We shouldn't have a public-private partnership, and this is just about priorities. We have a $7 billion budget. And so, the reality is it's just a matter of priority. But I think you're probably going to hear from some members that -- and I just want to be frank -- in the event that we were to allocate appropriations to Parks & Rec to address some of these issues, would you be able to use it or would the Administration frown upon it and ask you to give it back and you can't spend it? I'm just being transparent, because we've tried to help a lot of departments before in the past and they say, that's not in the context of what we can do. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Council President Johnson, we will find a way to --
Spend the money? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Spend the money.
Okay. All right. That's all I wanted to hear. Point of information. Councilmember Young.
Thank you, Mr. President. Along those same lines, if we allocate money and your executive branch is the ones who spend it but Council has a pocket of funds as well through our ITEF, are we able to use our ITEF to purchase these types of equipment if our pools need -- COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Your ITEF serves only for capital. And that's $15,000 or more, sir. And it has to be something that's in place, that's not movable, immobile.
Thank you. And I only bring that up because again, these are measures that Council has in place, but we're handcuffed, I mean, providing those types of services that our pools would like to see so because we don't have -- that's our funding ability, so we can't fund those type of things and our communities are asking for it, then what can we do to really to get that implemented? Thank you, Mr. President. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Council President Johnson, Marissa Washington, First Deputy, just mentioned that there are four sites that will be equipped and 12 more sites will be refurbished.
Thank you, Mr. President. So I was told that the improvements to Pleasant were around the range of 25,000 or so. Is that about average? Did you say 15? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: No, that's for -- the that I was 9 I was responding to was using ITEF 10 funding. It has to be $15,000 or 11 more and it has to be capital. 12
13 Okay. Two things real quick. One, 14 as a mother of a 16-year-old, I 15 want to thank you and applaud you for the program for young girls. So thank you very much for your work around the issues surrounding growing into adulthood for young women today. So I just wanted to thank you for that. And the last question I had was actually for the Library. Kelly, Mr. Director, I just had a question for you. Digital literacy classes in libraries, is that happening? And are we using AI in any way in those classes? Are we teaching AI or can we just do that?
Sorry. We've not really moved forward with teaching AI at this particular time. It's something that we want to do. We have digital resource specialists that work in of our 17 libraries. They do provide support 18 and help for any patron or anyone who comes into the buildings who wants some special support. And some of them may have some expertise in that particular area, but it hasn't been something that we have moved forward on, concerted, I mean, as a, you know, from the senior level on down. But it's a direction we want to go in. Our biggest focus has been trying to build up our staff and keep these buildings open and continue to provide the basic level library service. But it's an area we want to move into.
I just want to encourage the use of AI as much as we possibly can, because our young people are getting left behind. Look, our old people are getting left. Everybody's getting left behind. I just think as a city we have to step it up. So thank you so much, and thank you all for the work that you all do.
Thank you, sir. And thank you, Member Bass. Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue Landau, then Councilmember Quetcy Lozada --
I'm sorry, Jay. You must have pressed the button and it went down to the bottom. Councilmember Jeffrey Jay Young, then Councilmember Rue Landau, then Councilmember Quetcy Lozada.
Thank you, Mr. President. I want to start with I want to say thank you to Parks & Rec and the Library. I think that you two are probably literally the most important departments to our families and our communities because we rely on you to kind of fill those gaps and voids in our communities. I want to start with Parks & Rec first. It was mentioned today about combat sports, and particularly boxing in our rec centers. But I want to note just for the record that the fastest growing high school sport is girls wrestling. So just keep that in mind when we're talking about combat sports. I really think that combat sports is a way for our communities to kind of channel some of that energy that we have. When I was growing up and I was a youth, I went to wrestling practice at MLK Rec Center. Sometimes I had wrestling practice at the Blackhawks Field at times. So I do think that having more combat sports in our communities, in our rec centers is a positive for our communities because it gives us a way to learn discipline, to channel that energy, to channel that frustration in a more positive way. So anything that we can do to improve or to invest in those types of activities, I'm all for it. I want to also commend Parks & Rec for partnering with the police department in the 22nd District for the Summer Nightlife Series. There are activities every single day at two recreation centers in the 22nd District, at Winchester and at Penrose. And those community members have said, although there were activities happening every single day at the rec center, that's the quietest their neighborhoods have ever been, right. And so, we want to continue to invest in these types of programs, these types of positive programs that go to uplift our communities, provide our young people and our residents in general with things to do during the summer months that are positive, get us away from a certain mindset of what the past has been, because our kids, our communities deserve this type of investment. The one question I do have is regarding lifeguards and lifeguard training every year. It seems like we have a shortage of lifeguards. We're opening up 60-plus pools. That's great. But it seems like we have a shortage of lifeguards every year. So what proactive measures is the department taking to ensure that we have enough trained lifeguards? And this is going to be a good summer job, right. You mentioned that the Parks & Rec is already hiring 1100 C2L kids to work at Parks & Rec. What else are we doing to encourage our teenagers specifically to become lifeguards? And I'll say there's an indoor pool in my district at Hartranft that's owned by the Housing Authority that can be used all year-round to train our residents to become lifeguards. So what types of things are you at Parks & Rec doing proactively to train and hire more lifeguards? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you for that question, Councilmember Young. Well, the first thing that we're doing, I think it's one of the biggest incentives that we're offering to young people, that additional $1,000 if they sign up by -- that's just how much we're trying to make sure we have lifeguards in time at our pools. If you sign up by April 15th, you get an additional $1,000. Because the struggle was real and we just did not have young people -- and it doesn't have to be young people to be lifeguards. It doesn't matter how old you are. And on top of that, if you didn't make the April 15th deadline, there's an additional $500 if you make May 15th. And you don't have to pay for the certification. That certification is $400. It's free. We're doing a ton of social media. Our leaders are putting the information out. And I actually go on radio and on TV pushing the need for lifeguards. And so, it's there and we're going to continue to do what we can with the incentives, with the social media, me going on radio, going on television, having flyers in the community.
If you have something else that you'd like to suggest, we'd be happy to hear.
Thank you. I do think that some of the critical life safety jobs for our kids, they seem to be underfunded, but we're not underfunded. But we have a hard time hiring for lifeguards and crossing guards, right. I mean, those things should be the easiest, I think, that we should fill for our communities. Maybe we should start cross- marketing and say, hey, you're a crossing guard during the school year, schools close during the summertime and we'll train you to be a lifeguard now, right. That's something that those folks can continue working all yearlong. I mean, just some other ideas that we can have to be more creative when we have these lows when we seem like we can't find certain people for jobs. So I just think that we can be a little more creative. Mr. President, I do have one question for the Library as well. Capital improvements to our library I think is very critical. I have my staff do some of the math. It looks like per unique visit, the City of Philadelphia is spending $1.08 per unique visit on capital expenditures while we are spending $2.50 per unique visit for our Art Museum, right, for capital improvements. And so, can you talk to us about essentially the need for more capital funding for our libraries? What are our actual goals? I know many branches face recurring closures, reduced hours, patron discomfort because of HVAC, plumbing, electrical and accessibility issues. What do we really need to resolve this issue and what's the timeline to resolve these issues that face our libraries all across our city?
Councilman, that is a very good question. I am extremely excited about this particular budget the Mayor is proposing. I'm also really excited at what has taken place the last couple of years. In '25, I believe it was like 49 million spent on deferred maintenance. I think this year we're headed toward about 28 million. From my understanding, this has been something that has not happened in the history of the Library district. So we are moving in the right trajectory to deal with the impact of our deferred maintenance issues at the Library. We are a system that's very historic, beautiful buildings. We are experiencing the consequences of global warming and experiencing the consequences of the success of hiring staff and our buildings opening more hours than they have been in decades, which is impacting some of the older systems that we have in our building, from some of the air-conditioning or HVAC units that were installed in the '60s. So to answer your question, I think we're moving in the right path right now and it's been happening the last few years. We just need to continue to do this as we circle around the system, working on and fixing the infrastructure. We are now -- last year we went out and did 10 building condition assessments, which gives us a strategic guideline on what areas of the building are in critical need of health safety issues or immediate closing, and it puts those in a hierarchy to where we can follow that particular plan. We've did 10. It took a long time to get that process done and we're going to do some more this year. But that doesn't stop us from using our own skill set, working with the Library's team and the Capital Project Office -- Aparna's team, sorry -- and utilizing our own strategies to determine what needs, health, safety needs or immediate closure, because that's the one most important thing, is the building going to close immediately and what can we do to stop that. So good question. I think we're moving in a trajectory to deal with longstanding deferred maintenance in a way that we have not done before. And every day we're improving in that process as our team is learning some of these needs, working with other city departments to develop that strategy as we're utilizing consultants to help us develop a more strategic strategy.
I know that there are libraries in my Council, the 5th Council District, that any day now some of the systems can just go, right. I'm sure it's like that throughout the city. Can you provide us with a number of libraries where the systems, any type of system that's there it's past its useful life, right, so we can get an idea of what this problem really is?
We can give you a number based on the date that some of these systems went in, which would kind of give you a better idea. I don't have that, but that's something we can provide you. I've got it all broken up. But I think we could put something like that in the spreadsheet to be able to help you. But just know it's just not HVAC, it's sewer lines --
That's why I said systems. I didn't just say HVAC. All the systems in general, right. Our buildings are old. I mean, I say this often. The Cecil B. Moore Library was built in 1961. So someone in her 70s today used to use that library when she was 8 or 9 years old. So 8 or 9 years old today, my son and other Councilmembers' kids who are that age, right, why are we using the same facilities, right, the same systems that were being used back in the '60s, right. The world is a very different world today. And I think that we really have to take a look at really investing in what the real issue is. We need newer facilities. We need updated facilities. We have to stop piecemealing together the solution for some of these projects and realize that it can be cheaper in the long run to just build anew, right, and figure out what we can do elsewhere. So thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you very much. Chair recognizes Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, then Councilmember -- did I miss somebody, Rue? Oh, you know what, when you pressed the button, it went off the screen. So it's Rue Landau, then Quetcy Lozada, then Mike Driscoll, then Brooks.
Thank you. Thank you guys so much for being here and for what you provide to our communities every single day. I'm just going to repeat what my colleague said, you are the backbones, the lifebloods of our communities. And if my one vote was the answer to all of this, I would give you much more money than what is being allocated now. Because the fact that we come here every single year talking about what piecemeal little things we're going to do to make our institutions and our functions stronger and better, it doesn't make any sense to me. I think my colleague Councilmember Young just said it perfectly, he had a community tell him it's never been so quiet and the kids have never had so much to do. When you provide facilities programming and whatnot, that's what we need. It's just so simple. It's illogical to do anything but that. I wanted to stay with the Library for a little bit. We have had -- Commissioner, we've had a talk. I've talked to your staff, I've talked to you a little bit about this facilities plan. And we were told there was going to be this big facilities plan. I'm At-Large and I get complaints about library closures due to HVAC systems and whatnot. And you said, we finally hired someone, they're going to do a full plan. And I think you just said they've looked at 10 libraries. This was in the fall. If the person's job is to just go in and assess the building and the actual operating functions of the facilities, I don't understand why it's not fully done now? So I start by asking you that. And then wondering if the amount of money that you're asking for could possibly fix these problems. I'm so torn when we talk all the time and you hear about the pools, either you get a rec center or a library that has everything and then other rec centers and libraries that have nothing. We come to this part of the road and we have two choices. Everybody gets a little or we do it the way that we're doing it, everything or nothing. And it's just insane for me. We've got to just invest in all of them and then we will not have this problem, that you drive a mile down the road and you've got nothing. I am literally sitting here thinking, oh, we could move some pool chairs from this pool over to that -- that's just crazy. So I want to ask you, we know that there are problems with HVAC systems. And I wanted to know how many libraries are closed because of it? What is the closure rate? How are we going to fix them, it's already getting warm now, to make sure that this happens throughout the summer? And what do we actually need? I really want to know what the plan is. And I'll start right there.
Thank you, Councilperson. Appreciate that. Right now we're focusing in on what would immediately close, health safety issues, equity, and then we're looking across Councilmanic Districts. So we have went out and did building condition assessments. But that doesn't stop us because we only can do so many of those a year, but we still are evaluating and looking at each one of the systems as far as from an HVAC issue, but then there are some of them that just fail and that may supersede some that were on the list that had not failed yet. To talk more about the building condition assessment and what they are, if you want to know a little bit more about that and more detail, we can submit some information to you or I can have my Property Management Deputy Director come up and talk a little bit more in detail about that.
I just want to be clear on something. Did you hire somebody whose full- time job it was to come up with this plan and was the plan done? I think I'm calling it something different than you are. So let's just call it what you call it.
The building condition assessments are per building and it breaks down the issues related to HVAC to any of the mechanical issues with the building. So each building has its own strategy in plan. It isn't one overall strategy.
No. At this particular time, we've only did it for library branches and 7 we're going to go out again for 8 another number of branches, I 9 believe. We're in the process of 10 going out with an RFP to do another tier.
So I have to ask this: If you're thinking about buying a house and you get a housing inspector who comes in and does a full assessment top to bottom of the house, it takes about three hours or four hours. Why is it that you've only done 10 buildings?
Because these are very big buildings, they're very old and you have experts -- this is my property management. He'll give you probably a little bit more detail than what you want, but he'll talk to you about it.
Good afternoon, Mr. President. My name is Ty Dupass, the Property Management Director, the Deputy Director for the Free Library of Philadelphia. When I first arrived two and a half years ago, there was no building condition assessment. So basically we're working in triage. So what I did, I have an internal assessment where I evaluate the buildings. So basically that involved me driving around going from building to building, trying to get some sense about what I should be attacking first. This is what Mr. Richards hired me to do. And one of the first things I wanted to ask for was a total comprehensive assessment by someone more professional, capable of doing it. Because we want to move the library forward, so I have a document that I use that evaluates all of the buildings. And part of the strategy on the capital side, working with the capital program office, we meet every month. We're strategizing from the 10 that we already did, the highest -- within that building condition assessment, we have what you call a facilities condition index. So based on the current value of the building, and we estimate all the stuff that you need to do in the building, if that number exceeds the current value to building, we have to have a serious conversation whether we're going to keep that building or demolish it and build something else.
I hear you. I must admit I'm fully confused. I was told by more than one person that you were hiring somebody who just got hired in the fall whose entire job was to create this plan. You can't get a full picture of your portfolio until you do an assessment of the full portfolio. I understand that you might get some outliers while you're doing the assessment, wait, we have serious problems in this building, maybe we might need to demolish this building. But you got to do the whole thing. We don't know that. And it's a big city. We should know what's going on in our libraries throughout the city.
Well, the first 10 buildings that we did, along with the capital program office, we hired a group of architects and engineers to perform these assessments. From the time we started to the time we ended, they wrote up the information we needed. That took several months. So out of the -- in a perfect 7 world, I would like to do all 55 8 libraries, but it's just a lot of 9 information to take in. 10
I'm at the point now I'd really love to ask you how much we've spent on architects and all of these other folks in order to have a basic assessment --
Excuse me just for a second. So I'm going to have our Commissioner Sue Slawson, I'm going to dismiss her at the moment because we're dealing with a major issue at the moment. Do you have someone you want to sit in on your behalf to answer any questions or we can do it in follow-up?
Thank you, Council President Johnson. Marissa Washington, First Deputy Commissioner, she'll sit.
Okay. thank you. Please join us at the table, Ms. Washington. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you. I really think for Council we would really appreciate you submitting the findings of the 10 buildings, a plan of when the other 45 will be done. And also, how much we've spent to assess these 10 buildings up until now because what we need to do is spend the money on the buildings, right. If you don't have that number now, that is fine. I think the hour is running late and you can submit at a later date.
The problem is this comes down to closures and staffing and all of the other issues, right. So we have to crack the first nut first, but we really need to know when these buildings are being closed for issues like HVAC, staffing issues associated with it and when these can be fixed.
Good afternoon, Councilmember. I'd just like to give a very brief overview of how the sites were selected and why we started with 10. So over the past decade or so, there's been a number of different initiatives that have led to investment in libraries. Rebuild, for example, has already touched a certain number of libraries. will be addressed in total. Beyond that, there's been other initiatives that have improved certain facilities. So we're not looking at the whole portfolio because a certain number of them have already received improvements. Beyond that, there has been a certain number of HVAC upgrades and building upgrades. So one-by-one, based on the category of improvements, we narrowed down the number of sites. The other issue with doing an assessment of all the sites at once, a holistic investment, is that those assessments tend to get dated by the time you actually get to the point of addressing them. 10 libraries alone, if you were to look at the estimate that came back for what those need, it's tens of millions I'll say, and we're happy to provide those numbers. So we are looking at it strategically to be able to assess a certain number and be able to react in future years based on capital budget allocation. That doesn't mean that the Library along with our office is not actively looking at certain infrastructure systems that could fail in the near term. So, for example, last year we had done about 10 HVAC projects, HVAC system upgrades. This coming year we are planning to do another 8 to 10, knowing those that are sort of in danger of closing, those branches that are in danger of closing. So it's not that we are not looking at those systems. It's that we're not doing holistic assessments for every library at one time.
Yeah, I find this frustrating. This should be raised to the emergency level that it is. I find it frustrating, I've just got to tell you. I know my time is up. I had one tiny follow-up question that might or might not be able to be answered by Rec, please. We talked about your cameras failing at the rec centers and that you would need to maintain those cameras. I'm the Chair of the Tech Committee and I've been asking questions about centralizing some of this. We've got cameras at rec centers. We've got cameras on street corners. And why do we not have one part of the city that's maintaining all of our cameras? Why would you have to pay for this out of your budget?
Point of information. We do. It's called the DVIC Center in South Philadelphia at 20th and Oregon. I don't know if Parks & Rec is tied into it, but it's our central hub that monitors pretty much every major camera we have in the City of Philadelphia, including SEPTA as well.
So good afternoon. My name is Marissa Washington, First Deputy Commissioner, Parks and Recreation. The cameras that we have in our facilities, they are not monitored by a company. So they kind of record -- like sometimes in your home, your home cameras, they record, the recordings stay there for 30 days, and if we need to pull something as far as the recordings to use for some situation or incident that may have happened. But most of the cameras in our facilities are not monitored by a company. I do believe we have some of those cameras are monitored for some of our parks, especially those that are hotspots for dumping and other kind of activity that we need to monitor in conjunction with the police department. So that's kind of an overview of the cameras at Parks and Recreation.
Okay. So I understand, it's like you're a small business, your own camera for your own space?
Okay. I still would like somebody else to pay for the maintenance so you can pay for the pool equipment, but thank you.
Thank you very much. Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, then Councilmember Brooks.
Thank you, Council President. I want to follow -- I want to kind of continue along the lines of Councilmember Landau as it relates to assessments in some of our libraries. I want to really focus on the library at McPherson Square. We know that we are doing some improvements in that space, but I'm trying to figure out, you know, have assessments been done in all of our libraries, right. And using McPherson as an example, what is the role of the Library's Foundation to be able to invest in some of these spaces to be able to make these improvements possible, right? Because I feel like in the McPherson Library project, there should be more support on the Foundation side if we're going to earmark some of these spaces as historical spaces. And what's the investment in order to protect those historical spaces from the Foundation?
Thank you. Thank you, Councilperson, for the question. I will say this about foundations and how they work with the Library, especially the Free Library Foundation, which has been a significant supporter to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars for the Free Library. It is utilized or we utilize the Foundation as a way to go and get grants from nonprofit institutions or other foundations for capital projects and for library programming. There are also possibilities through the Foundation, from some of the members in the Foundation or Board members or adjacent groups. There may be individuals who want to donate to individual libraries and that's not unusual, that happens. It's just a matter of, lack of a better word, curating or finding those people who have an interest. Sometimes it's an interest in just specific locations or branches or neighborhood libraries rather than an initiative that the Library wants to do. So it really varies. But we have a strong team of people over at the Foundation who's always looking for opportunities or funding that may support the Library in a variety of different ways. Sometimes we're very fortunate and find people or grants and sometimes we're not. Over the years, there have been initiatives spearheaded by the Foundation to support the Library to the tune of millions of dollars to help at some of our neighborhood libraries. It is something we're thinking about. And I may have more information later, but it is an opportunity and it is something that is possible.
Can you share with us or with the Chair a list of which of your libraries have had these assessments and in which cases any improvements have been made to the Library, the support that they've received from the Foundation and what that support is? Can you share that?
Yes, we can. We can look through our history and see what libraries have been supported by donors over the years and which neighborhood libraries have had building condition assessments. We can get that information.
Thank you. I also would like to thank the team over at PP&R, Sue, Anthony, Frank, Aparna, all of them, Commissioner, thank you all for your support. You all have made working with the department so much easier because you all are kind of rowing in the same direction. I do have multiple projects that are going on in the district. They've been going on for many, many years. I go into neighborhoods and community residents, they're like when is my part going to get done. And considering that the cost in materials and construction and all of that is rising, when do you all believe you will be able to complete all of those projects that were in the pipeline that were at one time considered Rebuild?
Thank you for that question, Councilmember Lozada. They're on different sort of schedules, each project. As you know, for example, McPherson Library and Park was stalled for a period of time and now has been restarted. The roof work was completed last year and the building envelope. The next phase we are continuing through design and construction will begin shortly this year on that overall building project and site work. McVeigh is another site, a Rebuild site, in your district. We had to change the model of delivery at that particular site, so we have fortunately been able to find an alternate delivery method and we are restarting that. The design will be revisited and construction is expected to probably start late this year or early next year. So both are moving. They'll be on different timelines. They anticipate, because of the scale of both projects it will take about 8 months of construction for both of 9 those. 10
15 Thank you for that. And then the 16 Commissioner mentioned 27 sites, 17 $1.25 million, 2000 cameras. We 18 were having a conversation with another panel about cameras that have been installed in different places. And it's great that we have the cameras, but what good are the cameras if no one is monitoring them? And so, can you tell us or can you give us a list, that list that you ran off very quickly to Councilmember Bass, can you submit that list to the Council President's office by district? And can you also share with us other locations that you believe are very problematic that you recommend we get cameras and what would it cost us because I know that I have multiple centers that could use some of those cameras? But there's a conversation about budget, right. So I want to know where do I focus my priorities on in the future in order to better work with you and the community. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you for that, Councilmember. Lozada. Yes, we will ensure that we will submit that. I do want to share something else because of some of the recent advances in equipment. We're able to install cameras at sites without buildings now and house the recording equipment in a box, because some of our parks there are no buildings. And so, we're able to now install cameras, which I think is another benefit that assists us in dealing with some of our crimes, dealing with some of the, you know, it's warm outside, some of our young people, that's something else also that will be helping us throughout the summer.
Thank you. And lastly, I want to just reiterate the importance of partnerships. I've had the opportunity to work with the Tacony Creek Watershed folks, and I've seen the impact that they've had along the trail from Whitaker Avenue right up into Friends Hospital. I can't tell you how important it is to strengthen that relationship. I think a lot of the things that they are doing are helping to take the pressure off of us as a department and I think they're willing, they have community support. And so, I'd like to figure out a way of better strengthening that relationship and growing that partnership so that we can respond to making sure that the community can benefit from that trail the way that they do in other neighborhoods. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you, Councilmember Lozada. That's really important because these partnerships are important. We can't do anything that we do without the community. And Parks and Recreation functions because of the people and we rely on our public spaces and the learning from people, the physical activity. And one of the things that I'm doing is I'm going to have a strategic engagement unit that will just expound on our success. Everything that we do is public- facing, and this is a way to elevate our commitment to making our public spaces more accessible. And so, this person will work directly with as opposed to them trying to figure out who they can connect with. And so, we're going to have a strategic engagement person who will have a couple of people under them so we can ensure that we're hearing what's happening in communities, because a rec leader is only going to hear what's happening at that rec center. But we're trying to make sure we're hearing all the voices. So thank you for that and we will work at being a better partner, not just in that area but throughout the city.
Thank you very much. Chair recognizes Councilmember Kendra Brooks.
Thank you, Council President. I have a few quick questions. One is about the Carousel House. So it's been an important home for the disability community in Philadelphia since the '80s. I spent a lot of time at the Carousel House. My previous position was a recreation therapist, so I did a lot of work within that community. And I was wondering it's been closed since 2020. Can you give us an update on the status of the construction along with a timeline for completion? And Part 2 of that is since they have been closed, we also know that we don't want there to only be one accessible supportive recreation center for the 17% of Philadelphians who are a part of the disability community. What does the disability program and accessibility look like at other rec centers? And what level of funding is provided for that to happen?
And also, additional point of information. Can you give us the timeline for the rehabilitation or the rehabbing of the Carousel House? And also, where are the individuals who would normally tend to Carousel House that are disabled, where they spending their time at now? And I'm only passionate about this issue because around the issue with gun violence, I have several friends who play basketball there who are in wheelchairs. That's like their safe haven. So they have reached out to me before in the past. And also, before your response, I just want to ask for us to aggressively, you know, I-95 in the Northeast, the bridge fell apart and the Governor found out a way to get it put back together in 10 days. And the reason why I say this is because the disabled community, separate from Minority Leader Brooks, right, they don't have a big-time lobbyist coming down here advocating on their behalf. They don't have people walking the halls of power saying, this is the agenda. So if it's not us inside this room speaking on their behalf, then it probably won't be a super priority. Not saying it's not, but at the end of the day, I know how sometimes things can work if you're not being aggressive about advocating for it. (Applause.)
Thank you, Council President. Thank you, Councilmember Brooks. So fortunately, we have been very aggressive with that project. I know it was closed in 2020 because of existing structural issues. It was a Rebuild project. The challenges early on, on that project was to be able to accommodate the program that that community needed, we needed more funding. So there was a period of time in which additional funding was being gathered to be able to move forward on that project. I'm very happy to sit here today and say over the past year the funding was confirmed. We were able to deliver. It's going to be the largest Rebuild project. Actually it's about $40 million in construction value alone. It will have all the amenities that the community had requested through many, many programming sessions with the community. We have been keeping the community abreast of the status of the project. We've been very active and proactive in holding several community meetings. We do a monthly update. We have members of our team who have been going out into the community to provide updates. It's currently in construction. We actually -- I'm sorry. It's currently in design. We're getting final documents within this month, early next month. And it will be bid and go into construction this year. And we are doing everything in our power to make that as fast as possible. It is a very large facility. We'll have a very large gym with a walking loop to house, you know, exactly that, the wheelchair basketball tournaments. It will have -- and other communities are going to get mad -- but two pools, one that's a lap pool, that's something to help train lifeguards, and then a very special pool, zero entry, so folks that are in wheelchairs have an easy access to the pool. So it is a very large facility. I want to say that to be able to provide in the construction timeline, we will do our best to move at I-95 speed. It will take about 18 to months. So in 2028 24 it will likely open.
And what about the programming for folks now? What's happening at other rec centers to accommodate some of the programs that were at Carousel House? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you for that question, Councilmember Brooks. The programs that were happening at the Carousel House were moved immediately to Gustine Lake, which is accessible. And I think with the new Rebuild facilities it is so important because I think Council President Johnson's question is key. Because when these facilities were built years ago, they weren't built with handicap in mind. So now, with these new facilities coming online, we have more sites -- well, all of these sites, they have to be handicapped accessible. And on top of that, we had a position and I am in the process now of hiring an accessibility manager because we need to make sure that we are mindful of people that might need some special attention. And so, we'll have an accessibility manager that we can identify those basketball players, especially along with our engagement director, we can identify those people that need specific needs and we can direct them now to facilities that they can actually get in and play basketball. And so, we are working on that.
Just a point of clarification. So will the accessibility manager be checking accessibility needs at all Parks and Recreation centers? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Absolutely, not just one location. They're being hired to take an overlook at the entire system.
Thank you for that. That's really important because it came up at our Accessibility hearing around voting, because some of the Rebuild projects were built and it was an accessibility issue for folks to get in, which is illegal. But I digress from that. So thank you so much for hiring someone to make sure that all of our Parks and Recreation centers are accessible. What about programming? Because I know right now that Carousel -- well, not right now. Carousel was the hub. However, people with various abilities live all over the city. What type of program is available in other communities? As you know, the population continues to grow from gun violence or just aging, what programs are available for folks? And I ask this every year, will all the wheelchair lifts at the pools around the city be open this summer? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Well, the 63 pools that we plan to open, Frank Fabey has been working to ensure that we have the pool lifts because there is a major need. And so, yes, we will have those lifts at the pools, Councilmember Brooks. As far as the programming, I cannot say -- oh, I'm going to ask for Deputy Commissioner Rob Jackson.
So to that point, as they talk about the accessibility manager, even if it's not a specific program, is it someone available to help a program be adapted to accommodate a child with special needs because it doesn't always have to be a whole new program? It could also be just a few tweaks that are made for the children to be able to enjoy what everyone else is enjoying and we need to take that in consideration. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: You can tell that this was your field because one of the questions that we had for the person that we were interviewing, that was pretty much the question. So I mean, if you think about accessibility, it's a lot broader than people recognize. And so, we're not just looking at one piece of accessibility. We're looking at the totality, and we're bringing someone on that has had some skill and some background and not just in one area of it being an accessible facility or an accessible pool.
And also, just from a point of information standpoint, something that I saw the Department of Parks and Recreation do that was a little different than I saw in the past was I refurbished all my playgrounds, right. And I like bright colors. That's my thing. I like the bright reds, the bright yellows, the bright greens. You know, I said, wait a minute, Mr. Johnson, our new standard is making sure we adapt to children who have autism, right. So we have a different type of standard regarding the playground equipment that we are utilizing to make sure we are meeting the needs of young people who have autism. And so, you hiring an accessibility manager I think puts us in a new direction in terms of making sure we be more accommodating to those who have disabilities. And I even saw some playground equipment also making sure we take in consideration our senior population as well, which is a different conversation, but it also is more inclusive of everyone who want to enjoy our parks and our recreational facilities. But I just want to -- again, I think it's great having the accessibility manager and also, whatever we can do to make sure that the disability community is a key priority as we move forward. I think it's great. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Can I call --
You can respond. You sure can. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Okay.
Good afternoon. Rob Jackson, Program Deputy Commissioner, Parks & Rec. To answer your question, we have -- gosh, I would say more programs than I could say our name now, so we can provide a full list. But we have tons of basketball programs. All of our gyms that have accessibility entry are available for basketball. We hosted the youth basketball wheelchair tournament at Mayfair Rec Center this year, the Katie Kirlin Tournament. That went off as a huge success. We have quite a few facilities with sensory corners that take that into account. Our summer camp directors adjust their activities to accommodate all special populations. And we've been working countlessly with our colleagues in capital to make sure that that's reflected in any new construction. And at Champions Park, we have Joey's Place, which is an inclusive playground for special populations. So for a full list, I'll make sure that I get that information over to you after the hearing or to Council President.
-- for the Library. This is a quick question. So one significant use of the Free Library is printing. So as folks come in to get their printing needs, we've heard from constituents that the library does not take electronic credit card or debit payments for printing. What types of payments are accepted and when will electronic payments be accepted or readily able to use at the library?
Thank you for the question. I believe my IT Manager is here. Jen, why don't you come up and explain it. I don't want to give you my explanation. I want to go to the source.
And this will be the last follow-up, everyone. Today is Passover so we're going to be respectful. Individuals need to get home as well. Is that all right?
I'm Jen Maguire-Wright, Director of Performance Management and Technology here at the Library. The equipment that we use is leased equipment and that is something we will look into. It is not yet up for renewal, but we will look into that when it's up for renewal. It's ancient coin-operated machines at the moment, so we hear you and that is something we'll put on our list.
I need to check when that lease is up for renewal. I don't have it off the top of my head.
And, Councilperson, I just wanted to say this, for us to even be able to look into it is showing the trajectory of the resources that you have given the Library. Because Jen said it's coin-operated and she said it was ancient, it's beyond that. And as we are going through and modernizing the Library and modernizing how we provide service to our community, this is one of those areas where we're going to be making a change. But I wanted her to explain it because I'm always asking for something.
Thank you very much. And last, Member Phillips, are you going to put on the record --
I have a question from Member Driscoll, but just want to put on the record I'll send you the rest of my questions for in writing, particularly around potential municipal guards and camera maintenance and also some staffing questions that I didn't get a chance to ask that I wanted to do in the second round. But Member Driscoll, as many of you know we just recently learned unfortunately that there was a small plane crash in the Northeast section of Philadelphia and we're going to recess very quickly. But on his behalf, he couldn't be here, he had this question for the record: PPR sustainability work and illegal dumping efforts, particularly around the cleanup efforts in Pennypack Park, can you just talk about sustainability work and illegal dumping efforts in Pennypack Park on behalf of Member Driscoll, who just had to step out to deal with the recent circumstances?
Thank you, Councilman, for that question. My Sustainability Director Natalie Walker and I have been working with Clean and Green, the Office of Clean and Green, meeting weekly as part of the Illegal Dumping Task Force. And this is really a true example of One Philly. We have PPD there. We have Sanitation. We have Streets, PWD. And we have William Penn funding for four Park ambassadors. And these Park ambassadors we'll be hiring probably within the next month. I think we're in the process of doing interviews. They'll be working with the community in certain areas to educate, inform and get out there. And they are able to write CVNs along with our rangers. So the specific illegal dumping in the Pennypack is similar to the one that was in Councilwoman -- I'm sorry, was it Tacony? Sorry. Last year, so we've identified this, and it's really where we all come together and put our resources. It's tons of construction debris, house clean-outs. You name it, we can find it in the Pennypack, right, and probably a lot of other parks. But this material is getting into our waterways, right, and it's so unsafe. So we are coordinating these efforts to clean them out, restore them, grade them, seed and then, right, that's not enough. You have to add barriers, whether it's fence, bollards, boulders, signage, cameras, lighting, right, so it doesn't keep recurring at these locations. So our next stop is Cobbs Creek and Whitby. I think, Councilwoman, your team has reached out to us about that, so we're going down there. And we look at it from a holistic approach how we can resolve this and stop it from happening in our parkland.
And just to follow up on that particular part, what is the vacancy rate for programming staff that can help out with things like that, do you know, programming staff in Parks & Rec?
Oh, watershed, I'm sorry. But just in -- well, I still want that question answered for our programming staff. What's the vacancy rate for that? And how many in our programming, is it 25? I saw rec leader trainees. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you for that question. We don't have that broken down. We have an overall, but we can get you that information, Councilmember Phillips.
All right. Thank you again. I wish I could ask the other questions, but I'll submit it for the record since we were out of time together. Thank you so much, Commissioner, for your work.
I did. I just wanted to ask for the record in what ways can municipal guards support public safety? As we know, some of the staff members have been talking about how they are quasi, they have to do work, security sometimes at our rec centers. In what ways from your perspective could the municipal guards that we see at our libraries be supportive of public safety? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you for that question, Councilmember Phillips. I think there's several positive reasons to have them inside the rec centers and outside of the rec centers. Municipal guards could provide valuable support to the community. They could deter potential criminal activity, providing a safer environment. Guards can possibly respond quickly, address disturbances or medical emergencies or unauthorized activities, minimizing potential harm. Guards can support staff in managing large crowds or organized events, allowing activity to run smoothly. But, you know, along with the pros, there are always some cons. There are some concerns about municipal guards being present at recreation centers. Also, perception of safety. The presence of guards might create a perception that the area or the facility is unsafe, which could deter visitors or some individuals making them feel uncomfortable. Some community members, especially young people, might feel intimidated by guards affecting their willingness to use the facilities. Funding and resources needed for staffing guards could be a challenge. Diverting some of the resources that we need for other staff inside the facility will be taken away to go towards guards. Managing community relations and addressing concerns regarding the need for guards requires sensitivity and transparency. So I think there are pros and cons.
Point of information. Excuse me one second. Councilmember Jeffrey Jay Young.
Thank you, Mr. President. I just have a point of information for Mr. Richards. Our libraries have municipal guards and you hear some of the concerns that our Rec Commissioner is outlining. Are these concerns that patrons have when having municipal guards at our libraries as well?
Well, what I would say, Councilman Young, is in our libraries we have multiple floors, we have basements, restrooms in multiple parts of the building. Our buildings are utilized by everyone at any time of the day, and our forward-facing staff who are in our libraries are always distracted with helping patrons, working with children, working with everyone, and that municipal guard is necessary in our buildings to walk through the buildings, to keep an eye on what's going on, to walk outside to keep an eye on what's going on. Because of the nature of the services that our staff are providing, they don't have the opportunity, for lack of better words, to watch their own back. They need someone there looking out for what's going on all day.
Just on that line of questioning, the questioning is, is there a proposal for you to hire municipal guards? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: I do not have a proposal to hire municipal guards.
Is the question should we get municipal guards?
I'm wrapping up though, but is that the question?
I agree that we should have municipal guards, right. And I heard all the responses, public perception, should feel safe. I did a roundtable on gun violence here in the city of Philadelphia. You know what the babies said at the roundtable? We want armed guards at our rec centers, particularly the basketball courts because the guys are doing the shootings. They come over there, they're not playing basketball and then they start shooting at everybody and we have nothing to do with it and we don't feel safe. I know it's not the whole city, right. I think it's some parts. And I know when we talked about this before, Commissioner, I remember you said, well, maybe also we'll partner with community groups, right. But until we get to the point where maybe Parks & Rec do a contract with organizations like PAAN that's intervention, groups that could be on the ground or Philadelphia Ceasefire or we hire boots-on-the- ground organizations to be there, I'm still an advocate of the presence of somebody official will give some of these young people an opportunity to think twice. Sometimes the presence of a uniform just slows things down. The classic example, and I have to wrap up because several members have to leave -- we can have a longer conversation if y'all want to do a callback -- but even in University City, right, University City District has the bicycle patrols that ride through the neighborhoods, right. They don't have any guns on them, but the fact that they ride down the street at 2:30 in the morning, keeping their eyes on who's trying to go inside people's cars is just a presence. So I do think it's something as a city we might want to be forward-thinking about in the near future, because I believe the investment will outweigh any offsetting, I'm not going to say negative consequences, but if somebody feels like, oh, I don't want to go over there because there's a guard and because it feels more safe or -- I don't ever want to talk about resources because it's just that important from a public safety standpoint. Just something to think about. That's all. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Can I ask a question, Council President Johnson?
A very brief one because then I'm calling for adjournment. But, yes. And y'all can talk. He's the Chair and y'all can have a personal conversation. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: I didn't know we were talking about armed guards because --
No, we weren't talking about armed. I'm not talking about armed. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Okay. Because armed guards is something totally different.
Yeah, I'm not talking about armed. You're talking about armed?
No, I wasn't talking about -- we were just talking about the same guards at the Library. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Okay.
Just the presence. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you.
Listen, we thank all of you for your testimony. I thank my members though because we were supposed to be done at 4:00, but this shows that we're committed to doing a deeper dive and addressing these issues. And thank you very much for being here today. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Isaiah Thomas for a motion to adjourn.
It has been moved and properly seconded that the public hearing and meeting on the bills and resolution before the committee today stand in recess until Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. All those in favor signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the motion passes. This committee stands in recess. Happy Easter and Resurrection Sunday. (Committee of the Whole concluded at 4:45 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. ________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL