Committee Hearing, April 7, 2003

Our fiscal division and 126 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole the Dell East management division is responsible for that and I will receive that, sir.

Do you have a ballpark figure on what the gross sales were last year or the year before? That goes back to 2001, right?

I don't want to speculate. I would rather give you the answer for the information that I receive. I don't have any ballpark figure at this point in time.

Because according to the contract the concessionaire is required to keep those records and that they be available for the City for inspection at all times; is that correct?

That's correct, sir.

And you made the request when?

I made the request directly after that hearing when the question was asked.

I think that was March 3.

Yes, sir.

What's today, April 127 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole 7?

Yes, sir.

And in a month you have not received that information?

I have not received that information yet, sir.

When do you expect to receive it?

I will put another request in and submit a deadline for that. I will make sure that I will try to get it within two weeks, sir.

And you will forward that as a part of the information and you will do it during the course of this budget process?

Yes, sir.

Last question. Commissioner, there was a listing of facilities in one of these attachments you may recall. Oh, very interesting we have solved the mystery of comestibles. In an intense Web site search by Councilman Rizzo the Merriam Webster's dictionary lists comestible. It is food. We're selling food out at the Dell now and comestibles. 128 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole It's food. Councilman, thank you very much. It is the magic of the Web.

Thank you, Councilman Rizzo.

Who says City Council doesn't know how to get along with each other? I think it's Attachment 4 that we received as a part of the package. District 8, this is a listing of facilities. Can you tell me why the John Anderson Cultural Center is not listed as a facility for the Recreation Department?

Councilman, for the last years John Anderson has had a unique relationship 17 with us. As you know, they basically operate the 18 place on their own with the help of the community 19 association and all we have done over the years is 20 provide seasonal staff people in the summertime and the maintenance division handles the maintenance work orders for the facility. Other than that, for the most part they have been very independent and it has never been the site where they really -- the community never really wanted one of our supervisors 129 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole in that facility. And I know when I worked out there years ago we used to just oversee it. We 4 probably should have listed it and we will list it 5 as a site, but it never was in the, I guess you 6 would call it, the norm of the other operating sites 7 where we have a leader, an assistant, that type of 8 thing. 9

What I would like to 10 ask, Deputy Commissioner, is that after 20 years a 11 lot of things change and given the fact that the 12 Wynnefield community is one of the few communities 13 in the City that does not have a large or even a 14 small outdoor recreational facility and I do greatly 15 appreciate the relationship the Recreation 16 Department has had. There has been an increase 17 growth in youth population and an increased need for 18 facilities and I'm sure you heard earlier that there 19 is an effort underway to provide an additional 20 recreational facility in the Wynnefield community. In the meantime I would like to explore -- and we can add this to the list for Monday -- not only additional seasonal employees but also a regular full-time person. The community view on this issue is shifting and we need to make sure that 130 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole there is regular service with a program out at the Wynnefield Recreation Center or the John C. Anderson Cultural Center that is full time in regularity. Okay?

I know over the years I always liked John Anderson to be part of our regular department, so if the community now is amenable to coming in in a regular operating fashion, we can work with that. In fact, maybe that could be one of our recommendations for possible down the road after school licensing.

Exactly.

So we could work on that.

Thank you, commissioner. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for your help, Mr. Councilman.

Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Cohen.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Is recreation still in charge of the Veterans Stadium? 131 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole

Yes, sir.

Do you have anything to do with collections of monies from the Eagles or the Phillies or payments to them, or is that done by a different department?

It is handled through finance and revenue. The stuff comes to us. Most of the payments come through our staff there and they make the deposits, but it's all monitored through finance, revenue.

When we approved the Veterans Department, there was an agreement that with respect to what were called super boxes that beginning with 2001 we were told the City would begin receiving revenue from the super boxes. From what I have been able to discover, no such revenue has come from either team, the Phillies or the Eagles. Do you know or does Mr. Dubow, who I see has approached the table too, whether that's so?

That is so. We have an ongoing dispute with the Eagles and the Phillies about their payments to the City and one of the issues is the sky box flip revenue. We sent them letters saying they owe us the money. We have not 132 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole received it yet.

Since you sent them the letters, has there been any occasion when the City has sent the money or paid any bills for the new stadiums?

I would have to check. I'm not sure that there has been, but I would have to check.

Even new lawyers know that if they are suing somebody for nonpayment to their client their client doesn't make payments to either side. That's one way you begin to enforce your rights. I would like if you could bring to us an up-to-date list of payments to and from Eagles, Phillies and the City of Philadelphia and/or any agency that may be representing the City of Philadelphia like PAID, any payments by PAID to the teams or any payments received by PAID as well as the City of Philadelphia and any other agencies that the City may use and that would receive or make payments to the teams. I'm concerned because that's one of the problems of being a long-term member is you might remember that the only reason the Vet Stadium was 133 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole ever approved by this City Council originally some 30-odd years ago was because of assurances made to the Council by the then Mayor, Mayor Goode, that we may have to wait a long time but sooner or later real money is going to come into the City from the super boxes, and that was the decisive vote that finally received the support of City Council in the financing of the original Vet Stadium. And I think if the promises of those who deal with the City and the promises of the City when they sweet talk us when they are seeking money or approval, I think the credibility of both the teams and the City is at stake, so I would appreciate, Mr. Dubow, if you could make that information available to us. They are all public records.

I understand what you want and we will get it to you and just for the record we share your concerns.

Right. Very good. That means we will get it, and I don't mean just a writing, at a time when we can question you about it.

I understand what you want. We'll get it to you in a timely fashion. 134 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole

Now to Commissioner Richard. I'm interested in updating stories on two recreation centers. One is Belfield, which waited many, many years for rehab and finally got rehab, at least in part, and I would like to know the story on that, and the other one is on the Morris Estate, which I think has never had any rehab. I would like to know if there are any plans for that.

Belfield is still in great shape, Mr. Councilman, and I thank you for your leadership on the Belfield piece. To my knowledge right now there is no other plans to do any physical plant structure. I know we are about to make some management changes and Deputy Commissioner Carapucci can talk about that piece.

The president/supervisor there is on the DROP plan and he will be using up his time. He will be retiring sometime in early June, so we have identified someone that we are going to put there. His name is Denny Williams.

Could I ask, are you in touch with the community organization that is involved with their --

Absolutely. 135 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole

We would like to avoid a problem of somebody coming in that there has been a history with that is not satisfactory and we would like to avoid that.

We addressed that about two weeks ago and that is why the gentleman who is coming is who is coming. Thank you.

Good. And with respect to Morris Estate, a quiet, sleeping recreation center that has never demanded much. It once was the pride of West Oak Lane. It had an outdoor amphitheater which is in a state of disrepair and hasn't been used in many years and the insides have not seen any rehab work for many, many a year. Do you have any report on Morris Estate?

The capital improvements to Morris Estate was directly related to the play area, Councilman. We did make some improvements in 2001 to the play area. The building itself, I agree with you, does need some support in that area. It is a relatively old building and it needs to be addressed. We met with several members of the community about the conditions of that facility and the usage and some of the activities that were 136 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole occurring at night during off hours and we have tried to address them by working with the community, with the police department and also providing more support maintenancewise to that facility, but we have not done any capital improvements to the building itself or the structure.

The capital improvements that have been made since I have been here -- I know last year the basketball facility on top was reblacktopped and some other stuff. We did some minor floor repairs on the interior of the building. The biggest concern right now on the facility that I would like to see get done was issues relative to the gutters and the drainage system around the perimeter and also the windows so we can make the facility structure tight and then go from inside. Last year we also cleaned up the inside, threw a lot of stuff away and I want to say one or two rooms had new vinyl flooring put in, but my biggest concern right now would be the exterior piece, the gutters and the windows, so we can prevent more water damage and go from there, sir.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Chair. 137 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole

Commissioner, you said that you have four teen centers. Where are they other than Kingsessing and Myers? Where are the other two?

Rivera at 5th and Allegheny and McVeigh at D and Ontario and that was number one and two in that order.

So that I will go on the record, I have the same concerns that Councilman Nutter has in terms of the 9th Councilmatic District. I think we had this discussion in my office about that.

I appreciate it. Thank you.

I won't go through with the same discussion you had with him, but I will say ditto on everything.

Thank you. I will go back to Mr. Dubow and the managing director. Thank you.

It seems that we represent districts that are taxpayers, voters, but we never get placed on the map. We have to just continue to fight for every little thing for these people in their community and I agree with the 138 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole councilman that we can't wait until it's broke to fix it. We have prevention and that's the message we have tried to send throughout this Council, not just in Recreation but in infrastructure throughout the City of Philadelphia. So I strongly echo his concerns. Are there any other questions by Members of Council to the commissioner?

Madam Chair.

You have the managing director here.

Yes.

And I have other questions of the managing director that don't necessarily relate to the Rec Department so I would like for you to stay and answer those questions.

Councilwoman Tasco, while I have the mike, if you don't mind, one of the facilities that we are talking over is Fisher Park in your Councilmatic district. I want to say tomorrow at 2:00 or 3:00, and I don't have my calendar with me, I will make the first visit as well. I will also be seeking to meet with you so I make sure that I make contact with the proper 139 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole community groups as well when we make that transfer as well.

Would you, please? Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. Would you identify yourself for the record?

Phil Goldsmith, managing director.

Councilman Nutter.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Goldsmith, thank you for coming over on such short notice. Madam Chair, if I could also have Commissioner Martinez. As I understand, she is also one of the key decision-makers in this particular issue. If she could be at the table as well, I would appreciate it.

The Chair calls Commissioner Alva Martinez.

Mr. Managing Director, I'm sure you have gotten an update, but, for the record, there has been an ongoing discussion which started not just on budget day for recreation 140 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole but actually last year in a general way about an additional teen center. There are six of them; is that correct?

Four.

I'm sorry. I was confusing them with the after-school programs, of which there are six. There are four of these teen centers throughout the City. The issue has arisen with regard to the placement of a center in the northwestern section of the city. It is my understanding that a variety of criteria are considered including crime statistics, I'm assuming number of youth, access to other facilities, quality of facilities and the like. This discussion has been ongoing for some time. West Philadelphia north of Market, which is covered by the 19th police district, I'm sure if you talk to Police Commissioner Johnson, he will tell you of some of the issues out in that district, and I mean I fully support the placement of these facilities where they are presently. I'm sure they are serving an at-risk and greatly in-need population, but part of the discussion earlier was also on the prevention side, notwithstanding 141 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole troubled areas of the city, but that all of our young people need a certain variety of services to the extent that we can spread them out geographically to try to serve as many people as possible, and what I'm left with in today's discussion is apparently but for a hundred to 125,000 dollars we could have one of these centers in West Philadelphia. We have identified, we believe, a location, a very large Class A size recreation center, and what I have asked the commissioner, the two commissioners and the budget director, and we wanted you here because you are listed as naturally a decision-maker in this process, is we find the necessary funds through a variety of funding sources which we have heard about in the course of this budget season that provide after-school programs and grants, juvenile justice grants and this grant and that grant and the other grant. I need a decision on this particular issue in the course of this budget season. I need a commitment from the four of you at the table that a decision, hopefully positive, will be made in the course of this budget season, a date certain by which the necessary work, 142 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole if any work was left to be done, would start and when the citizens out in West Philadelphia would start to receive the benefit of this kind of facility that other people are receiving in other neighborhoods but would come soon to this community with the full complement of resources that are available at these centers in other parts of the City. This is a very serious issue to me. I would like to have it resolved in the course of this budget season. I will not give you the same extended, somewhat agitated speech that I made earlier, but the same level of passion and commitment is here for your appearance as was about a half hour ago.

Councilman Nutter, we will have that decision for you.

I appreciate that, Mr. Managing Director. It is a very serious issue --

I understand.

-- and I'm committed to making this happen.

And I think the fact 143 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole that we have started those teen centers shows that we believe in them and we would like to have as many as possible and we will look at where we can get the money and look at the other priorities and have a decision for you as soon as we can and we will explain to you why we made that decision, whether it be positive or contrary.

I appreciate that, Mr. Managing Director. Lastly, and I'm sure you will get this update as well, all I can ask -- and you're relatively new in the current position and fresh eyes can bring a different perspective. I need to ask that as we plan out these proposals, as good as they are, that consideration and some amount of discussion take place, even if we are only going to do a couple, that someone ask the question what about the rest of the City and when will we have on-line the similar facilities in other places, recognizing that either logistically or financially we cannot always start eight, nine or ten things at the same time. I understand that. But I think we owe our citizens and certainly this Council is owed some amount of scheduling and thought that goes into 144 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole these programs or proposals that says we can only do three. We have plans to do whatever and over the next few years we have identified the sites and the funding for these activities so that you at least have a notion that something is going to happen in a relatively short period of time as opposed to at times these either frantic or explosive situations under these circumstances, which are not necessarily the best way to set public policy, but that come out of the frustration of watching things happen and knowing what you have or what you don't have.

I agree with that. I think that's a reasonable request.

I'm not used to anybody saying that any of my requests are reasonable and by the time you reappear, you may have changed your mind, but for the moment --

You just said I had a fresh set of eyes and I truly believe and I think one thing we all know that serving public life that our problems far outstrip the resources --

I understand.

-- and we can't do everything at once so I think it is important that 145 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole we set criteria, that we understand why we are doing things where and try to give some sense of time so that it not look like our decisions are capricious or arbitrary and that's the way I prefer to manage, so I agree with what you are asking for. I think it is reasonable.

Thank you, Mr. Managing Director. Madam Chair, I know you said you had questions for the managing director. I have some as well, but my request was for him to be here for the recreation part and I will defer.

Mine are not related to recreation. Do you have questions of Miss Martinez relative to the Recreation Department?

Only to ask, since I didn't get a chance to ask her directly, for her involvement in this process and her at least potential advocacy to have such a center and that the resources available to the department of human services may be looked upon as one source of funding.

Good afternoon. Alva Martinez from the Department of Human Services. 146 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole Councilman, we were not involved in the decisions about the location of the previously established teen centers, but I will participate in this decision-making process as required by the managing director.

Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Any other questions for the Recreation Department? There being none, Mr. Williams, you will certainly get the information that was requested by the councilman on the financial situation or in terms of the contract?

Yes.

Thank you. I would note that information has to be presented to this committee before decisions are made on this budget. Just for clarification, Mr. Goldsmith, we got an amendment this morning and I guess this information was available to us in our capital budget book, but it sort of stands out for me here on of the amended budget for the capital, 2030 -- 30003. I notice that in the managing director's office you have funding for citywide 147 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole facilities and in addition to that green light upgrading. I mean how does all of that fall into your -- the green light lighting upgrades? Let me ask that question.

I'm sorry. What are you on?

.

That comes out of the municipal energy office.

The green lights? I'm asking about the green lights.

The green lighting upgrades, it is a more efficient way to do lighting and the municipal energy office reports to the managing director so it falls into the managing director's office budget.

Say that again.

I was too fast, wasn't I?

My ears can't hear that quickly.

No, I went too quickly. It's a project of the municipal energy office. It is an energy efficiency project and the municipal energy office reports to the managing 148 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole director, so it falls into the managing director's office budget in the capital program.

They put up green lights, the traffic lights?

No, it is not that type of green lighting. The green lighting I think in this case means that they are energy efficient, so it is not streetlights.

Is that the thing with the star?

That's a different one. It is the same kind of idea.

We will get you a description of it. It is not traffic lights.

Thank you because I'm having such a hard time getting a turning light at Adams Avenue and Rising Sun. I don't understand when you have a corner with a traffic jam, the state has improved the -- has widened the street, that we cannot get a green turn light there. For those people who are traveling that intersection, it would certainly be very good. That's why I was looking at that.

It's a different issue, 149 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole but I would be delighted to talk to you about the issue that you are concerned about and see what the reasons are and what we may be able to do.

Madam Chair, I can only recommend to you that you may want to pursue legislative response to that. There has been a plethora of legislation around the issue of stop signs and traffic signals and the like and you may want to pursue the left turn arrow from a legislative standpoint.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Thank you very much. Any other questions of the managing director? Thank you for coming over.

Thank you.

Madam Chair, are you finished with the managing director?

Yes, that was all I had.

Mr. Managing Director, we had talked back in late February about a plan for citywide deployment of the CLIP program. At the time the response was you anticipated having 150 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole a plan in 30 days and that conversation took place back on February 26. Do you have a sense of where this is right now?

I have reviewed an initial proposal and we need at least another meeting to kick it around, but we are looking at it and seeing how we can take that districtwide in particular parts of each district depending on what the criteria are, so we are working on that right now.

We also talked back at that time about the issue of homeowners receiving violation notices regarding failed retaining walls and the complications that some homeowners face with regard to having received the notice of violation, although the actual violation may not be at their home, but it attaches to the entire wall and the negative impact that that might have on their ability to either sell their home or get a mortgage or refinance, those kinds of issues. Any update on that?

No, I owe you a response on that.

The sinking hole 151 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole issue in the 400 block of North Daggett Street I have been concerned about for some time. Do we have a game plan on how we deal with the homes that were vacated as a result of City intervention as well as the remaining 75 percent of the homeowners who are still on the block?

I owe you a response.

Lastly, you have been involved or your office has been involved in discussion about zero tolerance policy regarding nuisance activities, specifically Haverford Avenue, Lansdowne Avenue and Main Street. Do you have any information on how we are going to implement zero tolerance policy on behavioral issues in those primarily commercial corridors that are surrounded by residential neighborhoods?

No, I do not. I have not been privy to those conversations, but I will followup on those. I have been involved in some conversations in Manayunk I think on slightly different issues.

Right. I think Fran from your office, she and I were in a meeting together. 152 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole Lastly, I think it is still called the First Union, but maybe now it is just generally referred to as the bike race and the need for extra coordination with the neighborhoods that the bike race traverses through. The race itself is fine. It is the after race activities that are leading to a deterioration in the neighborhood appreciation for the bike race, similar to your office's efforts -- and I'm sure you have been involved more recently in how we calmed things down, for instance, on South Street in a post Mardis Gras situation. We need some of that same kind of attention to a major event that does come through the neighborhoods. As I said, the daytime activities are fine. It is the post bike race activities that are destroying the reputation and the good will built up by the bike race in those areas that it is traveling through.

Okay. We will bring together the same group that we had.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Are there any other questions from Members of the Council for the 153 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole managing director? Thank you very much. Are there any questions for the Department of Human Services?

Yes, Madam Chair.

Department of Human Services.

Good afternoon. Alva Martinez, the commissioner of the Department of Human Services, and joining me are Cheryl Ransom, deputy commissioner, David Fair, director of community-based prevention.

Excuse me for a moment. Could we get about a five-minute break? The stenographer needs a break.

Absolutely. (Short recess.)

The Committee is back in session. Thank you. At this time the Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Commissioner Martinez, from your responses in a letter dated March 25, 2003 there 154 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole were a number of attachments based on information requests. One of them was a request to provide a list of after-school programs funded by DHS and their locations of operation. Also, please note if there is any overlap on the after-school programs administered through the Recreation Department, Philadelphia Safe and Sound or DHS. That was a request I made at the time. Your response I believe is captured by Attachment D in the materials; is that correct?

Yes, sir.

Commissioner, I looked at this document and spent some time with it last night. First, I think there is one error. If you would go to -- the pages are not numbered, but if you would go to the Fourth District.

Councilman, they are attachments C and D. So you are looking at Attachment D?

I'm looking at D.

Okay.

In the letter the response indicated that Attachment D was responsive to that question. C seemed to be -- C was provide a 155 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole map of DHS providers for prevention services and also provide the number of people serviced by each provider and their location. That was Attachment C.

This is David Fair, director of prevention services. Attachment D refers to the after-school and Beacon programs that are funded through the Children's Investment Strategy project. There are a number of other providers that we had to do after school on these development programs that are listed on the regular contract list. That is Attachment C.

Listed on the what?

Attachment C, the list of providers.

We will get to that. Thank you. Commissioner, if I could direct your attention to -- as I said, the pages are not numbered, but if you go to the Fourth District.

Yes, I have it, Councilman.

That West Kensington Boys and Girls Club, I'm going to assume that that was an error and that probably goes potentially with 156 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole the Seventh District, potentially.

We will check on that. I believe you might actually be correct on that.

Even with our most recent protracted and slightly convoluted round of redistricting I think I did not capture West Kensington.

What I'm wondering is whether there is another program that replaces this one, so we will clarify that.

I appreciate that. For our purposes at least in terms of the statistical analysis, I did move West Kensington over into the Seventh District. You'll rework it and we will figure it out.

Yes.

When I looked at the sites and I characterized them as you did and split them out into three categories, you have the after-school existing, you have the after-school new, and then you have the Beacon and the family center, some of which are new and some of which are expansions, but I kept those three categories basically together. And for the three categories 157 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole you have number of slots, you have total dollars associated with those slots, and then I did some total totals and some percentage analyses based on all of this information. It is literally just on a notepad here, but I would be glad to share the information with you. The first question I guess is for all of the new or expanded, for instance, why don't we just take the first page and looking at the first district, you have a new Beacon and what appear to be two new family centers. In the slots category you have NA, which I guess is not applicable at the moment. Does that mean that these programs will not have, quote/unquote, slots? Is that why that category -- is that why it is listed that way or you haven't figured out the number of slots?

For the Beacon program at the time this list was developed awards had just been made, so they hadn't been determined yet. For the family centers, the reason it is listed that way, I think, is they don't just do after school, but they also do parenting and case management and I think when Safe and Sound did this list, they just didn't have that information available to them. But they 158 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole are not new family centers. What they are is -- Caring People's Alliance is a new provider of a family center.

Say that again.

Caring People's Alliance --

I understand. I don't need to get into the particulars in the different districts because you have repeated that same methodology throughout the documents, so I am just taking that as an example. All of them have NA in that particular area. The after-school existing and the after-school new do list the number of slots, and so I want to talk about the number of slots. You have broken out the document by Councilmatic district, so I would like to stay in that format. One, is there any particular average cost associated with these slots, or is it more a function of who is providing the service and the location involved?

In almost every case the school year programs are funded at the level of $1,500 per slot. If there is a summer program involved, it goes up to about $2,000. 159 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole

And you are here for the earlier discussion with regard to recreation, and some of the -- I guess in the concept of how we provide a certain level of balanced service throughout the City and making sure that to the greatest extent possible more and more of our children can avail themselves and their parents naturally of these services. So I would like to get a better understanding and I'm just going to run through these numbers as they are laid out in your charts, and so this is number of slots by Councilmatic district and these are totals by district. In the first it is 672, in the second 680, in the third 777, in the fourth 243, in the fifth 1197, in the sixth it's 62, in the seventh it is 1033, in the eighth it is 860, in the ninth it is 374 and in the tenth it's zero. Most districts seem to be up in the 6, 700 range and then we have a couple that are over a thousand and then we have some that are significantly less. Can you tell me what the thinking was here or how we ended up with some of these numbers?

As I mentioned earlier, 160 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole Councilman, the goal of the Children's Investment Strategy is to target those neighborhoods where there are the highest rates of abuse and neglect. It is the same conversation we have had several times. The funding is targeted to the areas of the City where according to existing data there are either the highest numbers of underserved kids or the lowest number of quality programs available for those kids, but the resources that are available --

Now, what's going on at these locations? What are the services that are being provided?

The basic after-school program includes an academic assistance component, a physical recreational component, some kind of community service or community activity and some cultural activities and that's basically the big outline of what they do. The Beacons have a little bit more intense services. They also will be eventually offering parenting programs and various community education programming.

Wouldn't most children benefit from these children programs 161 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole regardless of whether they are abused or not?

Absolutely, but the data indicates that there are a hundred thousand children in Philadelphia who after school have literally no 6 place to go where there is an adult. So the target for the Children's Investment Strategy has been to fill that particular gap. In some areas of the City the gap is greater than in others. In terms of the funding source, the money that is used primarily for this, at least as far as DHS is concerned, our requirement under the state and federal guidelines is to target the constituency that we are responsible for, which is the constituency of kids and families whose risk of involvement in the abuse and neglect in the child protection and juvenile justice system is highest.

So you're telling me either one of two things, that either children in the fourth, six, ninth and tenth districts either, one, have an incredible number of after-school programs and activities available to them such that they don't need any of these services or, two, that the statistical data seems to indicate that there is no need for these services? 162 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole

Neither of those statements is accurate. The gap is greater in those neighborhoods. No neighborhood in the City has sufficient resources for all kids to be safe after school. Some neighborhoods in the City have fewer resources available than others and that has been the priority for this investment.

Councilman, if I may add.

I guess then my only response to that is given what you said, is there any minimum level that all of the areas or in this instance you have broken out the data by Councilmatic district which again naturally, one, thank you, makes it a lot easier for all of us to be oriented to the data. I mean, should we have a system that says we will serve a minimum number of children in each area and then either as need or statistics indicate or as abuse or unfortunate circumstances arise we will serve even more? This is all new to me so I'm trying to understand the strategy here.

The Children's Investment Strategy itself is actually based on that kind of understanding. There is a basic level of service 163 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole available in the neighborhood and the idea was to make sure that all neighborhoods in the City have a level of service that was at least roughly equivalent to what the community needs. We are not even close to that. We have only gotten about a third of the way toward the capacity that we are trying to build in terms of after-school and youth development programs, but in certain areas of the City there are not publicly funded perhaps, but there are programs for children or the likelihood that there will be a parent at home after school so that the child can go home, that they are not latch-key children. All of those factors were taken into account. And so in some neighborhoods of the City you have much greater challenges for children, but you also have resources available for those children. In many areas of the city you have very great challenges to the children and no resources. In some sections of the city the challenges are not that great and there seem to be, based on that analysis which was conducted with the Robert Wood Johnson grant a few years ago, based on that analysis there is adequate opportunity, out-of-school-time opportunity for those kids. 164 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole In addition to those programs that are listed here as part of the Children's Investment Strategy, we do have other programs that are targeting kids with special needs. We have an intensive delinquency prevention -- two intensive delinquency prevention programs in the Fourth Councilmatic District and we have a variety of parenting programs, again, not at the level that we have in some other areas of the city where the need is greater, but it sort of depends on what the service is that we are trying to provide and how intense and how broadly shaped it is.

I wanted to add that the Department of Human Services receives funding from the state to prioritize the most vulnerable kids and families in the City. It does not mean that those resources cannot be applied to meet the basic needs of children all across the city and, in fact, as you will see, we are making new investments in every district, and I certainly understand your concern -- I have heard it repeatedly today -- about investing in a higher level in the Fourth District. That being said, from my standpoint it is still early in our re-engineering of the 165 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole Department of Human Services and we have drawn down a significant amount of TANF money through DHS into the City and the state, at the time they granted that to us, made it pretty clear that they wanted us to use that money to target the most vulnerable communities. Now we have done that. We have made that commitment and we have continued to follow the data that tells us where the abuse, neglect and delinquency is in the City and at the same time we are creating systems of social services, Councilman, that will meet the needs of kids anywhere where they may live. It's a challenge when you have such a large city to take what I consider a little bit of money given our needs and make it work for everyone in the same way, but I guess what I want to say is we have been data driven. We have been data driven and really looking at where the gaps were in relation to where the highest level of abuse, neglect and delinquency comes from, but we are not ignoring the needs of the City as a whole. In fact, as David Fair says, the Children's Investment Strategy has as a goal raising money that will help us provide services to 100,000 166 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole kids throughout the City and we are on our way to that goal, but we have not met it yet.

Where does the money come from? I mean what I added up on this document was a little over $27 million. Where does that money come from?

I don't know where all of it comes from. Most of it comes from TANF funding that's awarded by the Office of Children, Youth and Families in Harrisburg to DHS for this purpose. There is other money that the Children's Investment Strategy gets for its investments including human services development fund money, some Work Force Investment Act funding. I don't know how that money gets allocated.

Let me make one comment based on the response from the commissioner, and in any of my passion about this let me try to assure you that it is not singly directed at just the district that I represent, although I am a very passionate advocate for the district, but, as I mentioned, there are four districts that stand out rather significantly in this analysis, not just the Fourth, but also the Sixth, the Ninth and the Tenth. 167 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole Now, as Councilwoman Tasco mentioned when she was in the Chair a little while ago, and we have seen this in a couple other situations, I think by anyone's estimation some of these areas, and there are many others, but some of these districts seem to at a certain level suffer from decency of either reputation or census tract analysis that would indicate either above average incomes or house values and the like and often in some instances -- well, I will just leave it at maybe inadvertently are often looked upon as neighborhoods that don't necessarily need some of these services or a higher level of attention. This is not directed at DHS. This is at times throughout the government and it can be found in a variety of government services by departments. I don't want to be in a situation where -- again, you heard this in the earlier discussion -- we spend a tremendous amount of resource, which is appropriate, in certain parts of the city and basically tell the other parts, well, you are doing fairly well and you guys just have to fend for yourselves and when you start having problems though, give us a call and we will be glad to get a 168 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole good program going for you as well. I think we have to change -- I mean I just basically reject that mind set. I'm not going to allow myself to get caught in the debate between the haves and the have nots as opposed to a discussion that says everyone gets a certain baseline level of support and then we look at our statistical analyses and risk factors and the like and build on that base. But when you look at this, I have to believe that there are more than 243 -- I'm assuming a slot represents a child?

More or less, yes.

I have to believe there are more than 243 kids in the entire district that have a need or that only 62 kids in the Sixth District, no children in the Tenth and little more than what is happening over in the Fourth at 374 in the Ninth. Do we have a variety of recreational centers and other activities that may not be reflected on here? Sure. I'm not debating that or discounting that either, but Gompers Grade School in the Wynnefield community can serve a whole host of kids, but you have Mann right down the street as well or Beeber. There are a number of schools in 169 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole West Philadelphia, Overbrook High being one and a variety of others. There are things going on in those neighborhoods that are not at times the most positive, so sure I'm going to be a passionate advocate for the district and I would like to see the numbers up in certain ways, but some of this is just public policy.

Let me just say that your approach to doing an analysis that has kind of a baseline service level for every district is one that I actually favor. I think it's a really good idea and I'm going to encourage us to go back and work with our partners to come up with a model that would be satisfactory. I just want to emphasize that we are still aggressively in the process of raising -- making more resources available toward the Children's Investment Strategy goal, number one; number two, that other services in all of these districts are not reflected in this document and perhaps had we had more time and we would have thought about this, we would have mapped that because it is important to recognize that there are other sources of investments, many, many, services 170 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole in the district that have an impact on children.

Right, and at the same time I don't want to ignore any of them, so if I'm only working from the one document that doesn't reflect everything else that is out there, then --

Well, I think your point is taken that --

-- I'm willing to revisit that.

-- the document doesn't lie. It says what it says and it certainly shows that these resources are invested more heavily in districts where we mapped out and see some higher levels of abuse and neglect. That being said, it would be narrow-minded for the department to wait for kids to get hurt in order to start investing. Let me just be very clear that that's why I created a prevention division, so I take your recommendations to heart and, as I said, three years is a long time; however, we have been doing some major restructuring and I will take that as a challenge and opportunity to not back away from our commitment to invest in the high-risk areas where kids are getting hurt but to do it in a way, to 171 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole enhance our analysis in a way, that is more satisfactory to all Council people even if you are blessed with a district with lower negative outcomes, which I think is something that we should all be happy for.

True. Two last questions: One, I am aware that Daroff I believe was identified a couple years ago or at least a year or so ago as a Beacon location, although I don't see it on the chart here and maybe it's in a different category or a different program. Secondly, I would like to better understand I guess the connection or the relationship here between Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation/LIFE, which I'm sure is some wonderful acronym, and the two schools involved, Bluford and Gompers, which also have stars next to them or an asterisk, but I could not figure out from the document what the asterisk meant.

I don't know what the asterisk means. I think I can find that out for you. I think that PCDC is the conduit for the organization which is LIFE, where they -- how they get their cash because they must not have their own 172 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole 501-C-3, but I will have to check that out. I don't have the details on that.

Thank you, and if you would find out what LIFE stands for as well, I would appreciate that.

I'll do that as well. I know that the Daroff Beacon was moved to another school because of some issue around the school building itself, but I would have to go back and find out why that happened.

When was that decision made?

This was the first round of Beacon funding. I remember there was some discussion about the fact that we had to find another site, but I don't remember what it is, so I will have to get back to you on that one as well.

If you could let me know about that, I would appreciate it. I will put this analysis in a more readable fashion so you don't have to drive yourself crazy trying to figure out my notes, but let's talk about Attachment E, which is in response to a question regarding your communication strategy. 173 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole This was actually a question raised both by Councilwoman Tasco and myself. I took a look at Attachment E by the fiscal years that you have laid out. On the letter itself it makes reference to the printers and who the media person is and the like. Do you see that page? The question was "Provide the names of subcontractors used by Keel Communications in its work for the department. Indicate if they are a Philadelphia based, minority owned, and/or women owned. That was Councilwoman Tasco's question. And then I asked about the issue of double payment for vendors regarding Keel Communications and the placement of radio ads and for management concession. Your response is in terms of printers the two printers are Americor Press located in Bensalem, PA, and Consolidated Drake which you have listed as a woman co-owned business. Do you know who the principals are of Americor Press?

I do not have that information at this moment, but I will get it to you.

And who decided to use that particular vendor? 174 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole

I am not sure if our communications director participated in that decision or whether it was Frank who made the decision. I'm not sure. I can find that out.

With regard to Consolidated Drake, which is over on Parkside Avenue and is actually in the Fourth District, you should also know that there is a minority male who has a printing operation located within the premises of Consolidated Drake and so if work is going over there, you may have an opportunity to help a minority vendor as well as a female at that location.

Thank you. We will follow up on that lead.

Thank you. With regard to -- is it Harmaline Media?

Yes.

Who made the decision to utilize Harmaline, which is located in Bala Cynwyd?

Again, I would need to confirm whether our communications director was part of making that decision or whether that came 175 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole recommended and chosen by Keel Communications and I will find that specific answer out for you and let you know.

And the funding for these items -- I'm not moving to Attachment E. You have given us three fiscal years, Commissioner, and if I could ask for fiscal year 2000 data with the same printout. I know you were distracted. You have given us 2001, 2002 and 2003. If you could also provide us with 2000, fiscal year 2000, with the same data here, I would appreciate it.

Okay.

The funding for these items, is that from your general fund expenditures, or is this also primarily the funding that you get from either the state or federal government?

It is funding that comes from the state, federal and City, and it falls under the category of administrative expenses that the department incurs. And they are reimbursable by those funding streams.

In one of your 176 4/7/03 - Committee of the Whole responses -- I don't know whether it is in the letter or somewhere -- you indicated that you have 75 different vendors that you utilize in the DHS communications strategy. It is in the letter.