COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106 Tuesday, February 18, 2025 1:10 p.m. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN ISAIAH THOMAS, CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN RUE LANDAU, VICE-CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN QUETCY M. LOZADA COUNCILMAN ANTHONY PHILLIPS COUNCILMAN MARK SQUILLA COUNCILMAN JEFFREY YOUNG, JR. RESOLUTION: 240700 - - -
Good afternoon, everybody. Today is Tuesday, February 18, 2025. This is the Committee on Legislative Oversight. I want to welcome everybody to Philadelphia City Council and the Committee on Legislative Oversight. I note that the hour has come. Before we get started, I just want to take a moment of privilege to say thank you to the Clerk for today, Mr. Ben Wilcox. If you don't know, Ben is somebody who is a strong advocate for issues related to Vision Zero, and he helped lead this effort in my office. And so, I want to publicly thank him and let him know I also appreciate him clerking today's hearing. So with that being said, Mr. Wilcox, will you please call the roll to take attendance.
Present. A quorum is not present at today's hearing, but for the record we do not need a quorum present to start today's hearing because we will not be taking a vote on any legislation today. So with that being said, as the Chair of the Committee I now note that the hearing has started. This is the public hearing of the Committee of Legislative Oversight on Resolution No. 240700. Mr. Wilcox, will you please read the title of the hearing resolution to be heard today.
Resolution 14 No. 240700, authorizing the Committee on Legislative Oversight to hold hearings investigating the City's progress towards achieving its Vision Zero goals, and examining opportunities to increase safety measures for pedestrians and cyclists.
Thank you. I'm not going to make any comments before the start of the hearing. Colleagues wouldn't like to make any comments as well either. So with that being said, we look forward to a robust and important dialogue. This is a series of conversations that we've had since I've been on City Council. As it relates to Vision Zero, we've seen some level of improvement but we still have more work to do. And so, today's conversation is about figuring out exactly what that work is and how we make Philadelphia a safer place for all. Mr. Wilcox, will you please call the first panel to come testify before us today.
Yes, Mr. Chair. First, we'll hear from Chris Puchalsky, Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives in the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems. After that, we'll hear from Rich Lazer, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Parking Authority. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Good afternoon to you both. I'll ask that you please -- of course you guys are professional. State your name for the record and proceed with your testimony. We will not ask any questions until the entire panel is finished. And that'll be our instruction for today. We'll allow each panel to testify. And after the panel was complete, we'll open it up for questions for members of the Committee.
Great. Good afternoon, Chair Thomas, Vice- Chair Landau, Councilmember Lozada and other members of the Legislative Oversight Committee. Thank you for inviting me to testify regarding Resolution 4 240700. My name is Christopher Puchalsky. I'm the Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives at OTIS. That's the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems. I'm here today to offer testimony on the City's progress on the Vision Zero initiative, which aims to eliminate traffic deaths in the city of Philadelphia. In March of '24, Mayor Parker issued an executive order recommending recommitting Philadelphia to achieve zero deaths on our roads. The order introduced key initiatives that the City will pursue over the next five years, including programming safety improvements on every mile of the High Injury Network by 2030, ensuring that every capital project is designated, designed to improve safety for all road users, ensuring that every child is taught about traffic safety in the classroom and issuing a new five-year action plan by October 31, 2025. The executive order directs the Vision Zero Task Force and the Office of Multimodal Planning to carry out these initiatives in the first year of the Parker Administration. Vision Zero secured key wins on a number of fronts, including partnering with City Council to expand automated enforcement to Broad Street and Route 13, with additional corridors and school zones yet to be determined coming soon. Advancing proven safety countermeasures through roadway projects like Penrose Roundabout, a proven safety countermeasure. We expect to see an 80 percent reduction in injured crashes at the previously dangerous intersection of 20th Penrose, Moyamensing and Packer. Partnering with City Council to pass the no stopping in the bike lane bill, continuing to work towards Vision Zero through our Complete Streets project, which redesigned high crash roadways with safety and access as top priorities. On roads where we finished Complete Streets projects, we've seen an average of a 16 percent decrease in injury crashes 17 compared to trends in the High 18 Injury Network. 19 We also look to new 20 technologies to achieve Vision Zero. The Philadelphia Police Department Crash Investigation Division has started to utilize data from cell phone towers and automatic license plate readers to solve hit-and-run cases. We welcome these new methods and are optimistic they'll help us curb crashes in Philadelphia. And I want to thank all members of Council for your critical support of these and many other bills over the last year. And just note in my testimony, I said Vision Zero. Vision Zero is an all-of-government approach. That includes both OTIS but also the Streets Department and many other departments and partners like the Parking Authority here with me today. Despite our progress, traffic deaths in Philadelphia remain high. Since 2020, the City has experienced over 120 traffic deaths each year, a rate that's significantly higher than the City's pre-COVID average. To deviate just slightly from my written remarks, those aren't just numbers. Those are people. And I see here in front of us, there's posters of people, you know, names like Jayana and Pablo and Jorge. Every number that we're talking about here is an actual person, an actual family that's been impacted. Though traffic deaths have increased nationwide since the onset of the COVID pandemic, we 13 still see more annual deaths in our 14 peer cities with a rate of 8 15 traffic deaths per 100,000 16 citizens. That rate is higher than 17 Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, 18 and nearly triple the rate of New 19 York. The burden of traffic death does not weigh evenly on everyone in our city. From 2019 to 2023, hospitalization rates for Black Philadelphians who experience a crash was 59 percent higher than their White neighbors. For Black motorists, the hospitalization rate was 104 percent higher according to research from the Department of Public Health.
OTIS is hard at work developing the next five-year plan to address these challenges. The state system approach is a federally-recommended framework for (inaudible) to address severe crashes by aligning seemingly disparate areas of government around the shared goal of eliminating traffic deaths. Using this approach, OTIS is working with departments across City government and key outside agencies like PennDOT, the Philadelphia Parking Authority and the School District to craft action items that focus our resources on Vision Zero goals identified by the Mayor in her executive order. Community feedback will inform the next action plan. OTIS has a robust plan for the action plan, including an online phone bank and inperson surveys tabling at community events and targeted outreach efforts through stipend- paid Vision Zero ambassadors. OTIS is also holding focus group-style roundtables with community groups around the city. com and fill out the interest form. We are also expanding our Complete Streets projects to ensure that our city's infrastructure supports safe behaviors. The Office of Multimodal Planning has nearly 100 projects in various stages of development throughout the city. Continuing to ramp up this work is how we will meet the Mayor's directive to program safety on every mile of the High Injury Network by 2030. Vision Zero must be a citywide effort. To be successful, we need the support of leaders representing every corner of the city to bring Philadelphia together around the goal of making travel safe for everyone. So please, please tell your constituents about the opportunity to be part of this work. Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you today. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.
Good afternoon. Let me say for the record before you start that Councilmember Rue Landau and Councilmember Anthony Phillips are present.
Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Thomas and other members of the Committee. My name is Rich Lazer, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Parking Authority. I want to thank you all for allowing me this opportunity to talk today about the PPA's new more proactive Vision Zero-based approach to partnering with the Parker administration, City Council and advocates on a number of public safety initiatives and neighborhood quality-of-life issues. I've been the Executive Director for a little over two years now. And during that time, I've seen firsthand how hard our employees work and how dedicated they are to serving the people of our great city. I'm very proud of our workers and honored to join them in trying to do the best job we can for the people of Philadelphia. Over the past two years, the PPA has enhanced and expanded some of our existing public safety programs. Working closely with City Council and the Mayor's Office and OTIS, we are embracing new technologies to help us save lives and improve the quality of life in Philadelphia. In the coming months we will be implementing several new lifesaving and quality-of-life initiatives. We're set to begin our Bustling Camera Enforcement program in late spring or early summer, along with utilizing new smart loading zone enforcement technology to help alleviate congestion in our downtown commercial districts. We will also be expanding our lifesaving Automated Speed Camera Enforcement program to Broad Street with cameras stretching from the Navy Yard to the Boulevard. Our speed cameras along Roosevelt Boulevard have reduced speeding by a dramatic 93 percent and reduced crashes by 36 percent. We're hoping for similar results on Broad Street. Between 2018 and 2022 we tragically lost 165 lives due to speeding. Our Red Light Camera program has been reducing accidents and saving lives throughout the city since 2005. We've reduced red light- running by 43 percent and reduced repeat red light offenders by 80 percent. We've also expanded our bike lane enforcement with the creation of our new Bike Lane Enforcement Unit, where we have officers riding bikes throughout the city. With that group, we've issued over 10,000 violations since the unit hit the streets back in March of 2023. We're continuing to implement our ADA Mobility Access Initiative to help eliminate onstreet barriers that impede the ability of our disabled community to navigate our city. Our ADA Initiative is a dual public education and onstreet enforcement component aimed at reducing illegal parking on sidewalks and blocking curb cuts and crosswalks, all of which create dangerous situations that block access and the free movement of pedestrians and people with disabilities. Since initiating this program, we have issued over 140,000 mobility-related violations and are noticeably changing behavior, issuing fewer tickets for parking on sidewalks. Enforcing neighborhood quality-of-life issues is now one of our top priorities. Working with Mayor Parker and the Office of Clean and Green, we've towed over 870 ghost vehicles and over 4000 unregistered nuisance vehicles from city streets. We removed another 1000 trucks and tractor trailers as well. The Philadelphia Parking Authority stands ready to continue helping where and when needed. We will continue to do our part working with this Administration and City Council to improve the quality of life in Philadelphia and help save lives. Thank you for this opportunity to talk on behalf of the Authority, and I'll have any questions I can answer at this time.
Thank you both for your testimony. Thank you for being here today. Before I open up the questions for members of the Committee, when the Mayor and the executive team decided to sign the executive order as it relates to Vision Zero, the vision was moved from 2030 to 2050. Does that sound correct?
I think we moved our goal from -- so it's the regional goal that's 2050. It was moved back. There was a 2030 goal which now we have the goal to at least program improvements on every mile of the High Injury Network by 2030.
So help us understand that timeline. Like how do we get to the point -- because I thought we were on a trajectory to meet our 2030 goals so why are we now pushing it back?
Yeah. We were not on a trajectory to meet our 2030 goals. If we look at the crash trends, we were not, definitely not. Even before the pandemic, we were not on a trajectory to meet the 2030 goals. In hindsight, that was probably an overly ambitious goal to try to get zero fatalities by 2030. There's no time other than today that is the right time to stop traffic fatalities. But if we're talking about a goal and trying to set targets against it, being able to program every mile off the High Injury Network, that's something that we can definitely control.
So you're saying that the goal was pushed back because we weren't on a trajectory to reach the goal and we needed to add another 20 years to put us in a position to feel like we're on the right timeline?
Yeah. I don't think I'm saying that 2030 was probably never a realistic goal to eliminate traffic fatalities --
So is 2050 a realistic goal or are we just throwing numbers out?
Yeah, I think it's impossible to make significant improvements to the High Injury Network and to reduce traffic fatalities. I think if we -- I don't think it's an easy goal by any stretch of the imagination. I think it will be a challenging goal to get to zero by 2050 or to get meaningfully close to zero by 2050. So I think it takes all of our working together to meet that goal, both to make engineering improvements to roads, to continue to work on equitable enforcement like automated speed enforcement and to make educational improvements such as educating our kids on how to walk, bike, drive and take transit safely.
How many fatalities did we have the last couple years? So we know that in 2020 we spiked to an all-time record high --
-- as it relates to fatalities. What have we done since 2020 over the last five years?
Yeah. We've been flat for the last two to three years at about 120 fatalities.
Before the last two to three years, help the listening audience understand where we were.
Before the pandemic, we were at 80 to 90 fatalities a year. I think it went to something like 150-ish during the pandemic per year. And then it went down to 120, but it stayed at around 120 for the last several years.
So why haven't we seen a decrease over the last several years? What has happened over the last several years that's made us become flat, specifically on this issue of hit-and-runs -- or I shouldn't even say hit-and-runs, or fatalities involving a vehicle?
You know, I think a few things are happening, Councilmember, that we've seen all across the country, but particularly here in Philadelphia. I think there was great social dislocation that happened during the pandemic and that there was a decreased adherence to certain social norms, like driving in a respectful way. During the height of the pandemic when there was a lot of stay-at-home orders and there wasn't a lot of people on the street, folks got used to driving in an uncongested environment as fast as they can. And unfortunately, it's, you know, putting that genie back in the bottle where people respect social norms is difficult. When I was walking from MSB to this hearing today, I nearly saw two pedestrians getting hit crossing the Penn Square here by motorists that was just driving completely irresponsibly. So I think re-establishing those social norms is going to be a huge part of getting a handle on those traffic fatalities. I think the other part is making engineering improvements on our streets. Like I mentioned, we've got over 100 projects that are in some state of development, capital improvements on our roadway. I think the work that the Streets Department has done in installing speed cushions around schools, around rec centers and other places in the city, I think that is going to have an enormous impact in slowing people down. And I think the work that the Parking Authority and that the Philadelphia Police Department are doing, you know, it's been impactful and needs to continue if we're going to get back on a downward trajectory.
So there was a time when I sat in a similar chair, had a similar hearing. And in that hearing I vividly remember Captain Overwise talking about investment in infrastructure. Captain Overwise told us that 80 percent of the car accidents happen on percent of 11 the roads, which is what we call a 12 High Injury Network, and we're 13 pretty much hearing the same thing 14 today. 15 So over the last couple 16 years when we're talking about 17 capital investment in 18 infrastructure, why haven't we seen 19 capital investment in 20 infrastructure, specifically looking at the 20 percent of the roads that produce 80 percent of the car accidents? Out of that 20 percent of those roads that we talked about, we've been talking about for years, what infrastructure investment have we seen? Have we gone from percent to 15 percent? 6 Can we identify specific areas in 7 the city of Philadelphia where it 8 was a High Injury Network but 9 because of capital investment, 10 that's no longer the case? Can you 11 help us with that one? 12
Yeah, we 13 can get you that analysis. We can 14 get you those facilities. But as I 15 mentioned in my testimony, we've 16 got a project right now underway in 17 South Philly, the 18 Penrose/Moyamensing/20th Street 19 roundabout that the Streets 20 Department is working on, completing a project like that's going to make an enormous difference. We saw that where we were able to make capital improvements, we saw a percent decrease in serious injury crashes on those facilities. So where we are able to make capital improvements, we are definitely seeing a difference and where we are able to put in automated enforcement, we are seeing a difference at those locations.
So 12 we agree 100 percent. I think the 13 concern is that that is not 14 happening fast enough, right. So 15 when we're talking about using 16 technology, we had a whole hearing 17 around using technology to improve 18 traffic safety, traffic conditions. 19 When you talk about advocacy around 20 speed cameras and things of that, red light cameras, I mean we fought for all of that stuff. So we're fans of it. I think the concern that we have from the legislative branch is why the needle is moving so slow when we recognize that we have tools that work but we flatlined ourselves at around 120 fatalities a year. Do you think that if we seen expedited investment in some of the solutions that you've communicated today, those numbers would drop?
I mean, more improvements are going to make, you know, more of the things that work, that we know work will make more of a difference. We know that for sure. Capital improvements do have a lifetime. There's community engagement that needs to happen. And we talked to you and your colleagues all the time about what community engagement do you want to see. It does sometimes take a while to get everybody on board in the neighborhood to decide what individual improvements we want to make. So we don't want to short-change that process and that does take a while. And then the engineering and construction that needs to happen afterwards, you know, that doesn't happen overnight. So we do see, let's say, a three-to-five-year time frame for any capital project is pretty typical to allow all those important activities to happen. But, yeah, if we do more of what works, we'll see more of a difference.
So a couple more things. Then I want to open it up to my colleagues. I want to acknowledge the presence of our Council President, Council President Johnson, as well as Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke. The irony of Council President Johnson walking in, Council President Johnson recently passed a bill that looks at bike lanes and encouraging vehicles not to be parked in bike lanes, and this is for either one. Where are we as it relates to enforcement of that legislation? And is there any intention to look at this from an infrastructure issue as it relates to where we have loading zones, if they're in the right place and things of that capacity, so the loading zones directly correlated to people wanting to park in the bike lanes because the loading zones don't exist. I'm wondering where we are as it relates to enforcement around the new legislation and how can we look at what's going on with loading zones, double parking, things of that capacity, so we can make sure that it's not happening in the bike lanes and people are following the law that City Council passed?
Yeah. Since that law was passed on, I'd like to thank Council President for his leadership on this issue, for passing that legislation. It's been enormously, you know, even though it hasn't been fully implemented yet, because of that legislation we're able to set wheels in motion that I think are going to have a significant impact. And so, I appreciate your leadership. We've been working since it was passed to talk to residents, to community members along the streets where they'd like to see loading zones. So we have been working on it. And I'll pass it to Richie to say more.
Thank you. So we're working with the City now. Where the signs are ordered, the change will happen probably by the spring. Once the loading zones are installed and then this signage will be changed. We are enforcing it now as in when our bike patrols are out there, we're moving people along and if the car is in no 11 parking and unattended for 20 minutes, we're then ticketing it. But once the signs are changed, they will be ticketed on the spot unless there's somebody in the car. And then the officer will tell that vehicle they have to move out of the lane. But we are changing all the signs on Pine and Spruce. The rest of the signs citywide for bike enforcement is already at no stopping, so they're being enforced on the spot currently.
As you begin to modify things, can you please make sure that you notify my office, other members of City Council, so that we can make sure constituents are aware of where we are as it relates to the progress of this legislation and future enforcement that they can anticipate happening? That'll definitely be very beneficial. Mr. Lazer, while I have you a little bit about the fake tags issue. Where are we at with the fake tags? What progress are we making? Then how can we be even more effective at enforcement on a lot of those vehicles?
Definitely. So as I said, the ghost vehicle enforcement has drastically dropped. That was where -- it's not a fake tag issue but it's where people were taking their plates off totally and covering the VIN. The complaints for those have dropped dramatically because we've heavily enforced on that and taken the car, towed right on the street. We have been working with L&I and the police department to do these PPL, Parking Authority police and license inspection, going out in neighborhoods where there's these vehicles with temp tags, fake tags, no tags, busted-up vehicles, and we've been handling those issues and tackling those 50-, 60-plus cars at a time. The one thing that we're having issues with is every state handles tags differently. So Delaware handles their tags differently, New Jersey. And when we have to run them, there's different processes to run tags depending on the state and what VIN it is. So we are working with police and trying to work with our states, Delaware and Jersey, because a lot of them are coming from Delaware and New Jersey where the temp tags are. So we're trying to work together and try to figure out a way to better attack that issue. But I think by us going after illegal body shops with L&I and police by taking a lot of these vehicles off the street that we're seeing in neighborhoods, we're doing a lot of sweeps in the 7th. We're doing a lot of sweeps in the 2nd in Southwest and in West Philly as well, and it's been really helpful. Neighbors love it, and it's like a concentrated effort. So I think by continuing to do those, that's been cutting down on it as well.
Thank you for the update. We appreciate it. Did you want to add anything?
Okay. Thank you. Council President, did you -- okay. So as I close out, one of the things that has been really popular as it relates to advocacy is protected bike lanes, not just bike lanes but protected bike lanes. What is the appetite of the Admin for protected bike lanes specifically? Is there an appetite to essentially look at some bike lanes that already exist and provide those protected barriers or is there only an appetite to provide the barriers for future bike lanes?
No. We've continued -- as those 100 projects, a lot of them are looking at adding protected bike lanes where possible. So it's --
How 6 do you prioritize what 7 neighborhoods get the protected 8 bike lanes compared to which ones 9 that don't? 10
Yeah. 11 First of all, we look at the 12 PennDOT paving list so we see what 13 projects are going to get repaved 14 this year by PennDOT and what 15 streets are going to get repaved 16 this year by the Streets 17 Department. And then we look to 18 see can we put a protected bike 19 lane in on those streets. 20 And, you know, we've 21 been talking to some of your 22 colleagues such as Councilmember 23 Young introducing legislation 24 recently on some bike lanes. But the first thing we do that the City actually put out by the Planning Commission, has a bike and pedestrian plan where we set the long-term vision for bike lanes throughout the city with the goal of having every community, every resident, no more than a quarter mile away from a high quality bike lane. We've recently been doing work -- we know that not every street can fit a protected bike lane. A lot of really small neighborhood streets are only wide enough for one travel lane for cars. So in those neighborhoods, we say how can we slow down traffic enough so that, you know, people from 8 to 80 would feel comfortable riding a bike then. So we've been recently working with neighbors in Germantown and in Fishtown to see where we can put neighborhood bikeways, you know, sitting down around a table with neighbors looking at them and saying, you tell us what you think are the good streets for cyclists to come.
The protected bike lanes, how much do they cost compared to regular bike lanes?
On average. I know it's going to be different compared to the street and all that. But on average?
Yeah. It can -- I'm not going to say a number off the top my head and be wrong. But --
When we get ready for budget, can you prepare that number for Council President? Would that be good for us?
Yes, absolutely. There's a wide range from a flex post, those plastic posts that, you know, those are the cheapest option. They also probably have the most maintenance issues. The highest quality option are concrete, and you can easily be over $1 million a mile for actually concrete curb separated.
When we go into budget, can you give us the entire menu --
-- so we can see exactly what the options are, what we're entertaining and fiscally what it will cost us to do something different moving forward. I'll stop right there. Council President, did you want to be recognized? Chair recognizes Council President. Then after that, I will recognize Councilmember Phillips.
Thank you, Chairman Thomas. And I applaud you for your leadership to really elevate the issue of traffic violence here in the city of Philadelphia and really taking a leadership role and educating people around the issue of traffic violence in the city of Philadelphia. And I also want to acknowledge Councilmember Phillips for also advocating around making sure that we have speed bumps around our schools all throughout the city of Philadelphia protecting our young people. And so, I want to thank my members for always being on the forefront of making sure we address this for traffic violence and safety as well. I'll also acknowledge you, Chris and Richie Lazer, for working with me and my team regarding what we call No Stopping in the Bike Lane legislation that's not only in the 2nd Councilmanic District, but it's all throughout the city of Philadelphia. And I thank all my colleagues who are District members for signing on to make this a citywide policy. And so, I do thank you. I just had a couple questions. In terms of -- well, let me back up. First, I was up New York this past weekend. And I look at the New York infrastructure, right. Their blocks are like three times the size of our blocks, right. And you'll have a protected bike lane and then you'll still have three additional lanes going in one direction. But one thing I did see that was very, very interesting was there was a traffic light that was red, yellow and it was a spot for a bicycle, right. Why don't we have those in the city of Philadelphia? And I actually was like okay. And what happens is if you're in this lane and you're making a left, right, it makes the bicyclist aware when you're looking at the traffic light that there's a specific light dedicated to bicyclists. Have we ever --
-- thought about implementing those in the city of Philadelphia?
Yes, sir, we have looked at implementing them. In fact, we do have several bike signals in the city of Philadelphia. We have one at 16th and Market here to signal when it is time for the cyclist to take a straight or left movement versus that left-hand turn that happens from Market onto 16th, and we have them at a number of other locations --
Are we going to scale because I haven't seen them in South Philly or the Southwest Philadelphia part of my District, so I just was wondering if we're going to be on the cusp of technology when it comes to bicycle safety? Would that be something we consider taking to scale?
Yes, sir. We've not yet looked at putting them at every single intersection where a bike lane exists. Normally, the cyclists follow the regular green light. They're particularly useful and in some cases even required by the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for whenever there's a conflicting movement between cyclists and the motorists. So that's where you see them the most, is when we don't want to get cyclists and motorists confused when there's a conflicting movement.
Okay. And then also just following up on what Councilmember Thomas talked about, I know there is a movement for support for concrete bike barriers as opposed to the flex posts. And just give me an idea -- I know my team are working with you and your team regarding Spruce and Pine Streets in working and engaging with the community. Where are we in terms of concrete barrier proposals?
Yeah. So we had a public meeting last year where we put several different proposals to the public. We had several 100 people attend that meeting. We recently published a post showing the results from the surveys we did at that meeting that did show support, overall support, for the concrete separation. At this point, we're continuing to work with the neighborhood RCOs and advocate groups. We want everybody to bring their ideas to the table. As you know, there's some advocacy groups that have recently emerged to oppose the concrete separation on Spruce and Pine. So we're trying to get everybody to the table to talk through their issues, everybody bring them, and hopefully come up with a consensus solution for the configuration on Spruce and Pine.
Right. And the last question and, one, I want to acknowledge the advocacy work of the Bicycle Coalition, Philly Bike Action and the Pediatric Advocates for Transportation and Health for Barbara, who was one of my constituents that passed away as it relates to traffic violence. In terms of your upcoming budget proposal, are you requesting -- and I'm not going to say if we're requesting as a legislative branch -- are you requesting the $5 million to be restored to Vision Zero as a part of your budget proposal to the Administration?
I'm going to defer that budget question to the Mayor's Office and Finance.
Okay. I just wanted to go on the record. Let me reframe it. (Applause.)
I'm just asking a frank question. So with the additional $5 million restored to Vision Zero, what would that be used for? As you being the head over there working with Michael Carroll, what would it be used for in terms of expanding Vision Zero?
I can tell you what $5 million could pay for. So $5 million could pay for two neighborhood slow zones. It could pay for, you know, I don't know the specific number, but a lot of speed cushions. It could fund, you know, continued concrete separation or maintenance of existing bike lanes. So we don't have a spending plan for $5 million at this point. But that's --
Let me ask you this: If you don't have a spending plan, right, help me out. All right. Every department, Streets, L&I, Parks & Rec, they will submit a budget to members of Council and we will legislate that budget, right, process. So you're not going to ask for the 5 million? You're going to wait until the Administration says this is how much you're allowed to ask for? I don't know. I'm trying to figure out how that works.
Yeah. Thanks, Council President. I mean, we're following the normal budget process where all the departments submit requests up through the Administration.
And I mean, it's like every department. You know, I'm sure every department can do more with more money in the city, and it's you guys and the Mayor who are balancing that out.
No, we're just trying to go through the process. And Leader Thomas has also asked the question. I wanted to follow up on it because it's something we've been reviewing ourselves on our end, but we also want to get the sentiments of OTIS and the work that you're doing as we continue to make this a priority. And for me, it's really about just changing the culture in our city in terms of just slowing down but also respecting individuals in general. And one way we can do that is also making sure that our budgetary priorities, we're putting them forward to show that it's a priority in the city. So that's all I have. And again, I commend Councilmember Thomas for stepping up and making sure this is a priority. And again, Chris, we've worked together. So thank you for your leadership. And to the good gentleman from South Philadelphia, Richie Lazer who has taken probably one of the most hated institutions or organizations and flipped it to become the beloved Parking Authority, we appreciate you for your leadership, Richie, for really flipping it and really making sure the Parking Authority is something that's not just focused on giving people tickets but really in all seriousness taking a comprehensive approach and integrating it. And you play a lead role around the issue of bicycle safety, right, and making sure that individuals are safe. So thank you, Richie. You keep up the good work. That's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Council President. I'm going to recognize Councilmember Phillips in a second. Let me just follow up and just put something on the record. Chris, first of all, this is your second hearing today, right? I'm told this is your second one.
Okay. All right. You're doing an excellent job. We appreciate you. And I know it's a little taxing to be able to have to answer these questions and not necessarily be able to make all the decisions. But let me just put something on the record real quick. So in last year's budget, one of the things that we advocated for was more funding for Vision Zero, right. This Council President, this leadership team, that was a real thing we advocated for. That advocacy was not necessarily met with open arms. Now, we're in a different position because we've seen a number of catastrophes. We've all been doing this for a year right now. And on top of that, you've just testified on the record that things have flatlined, right. So I think what we want to do is just put on the record that we are challenging and pushing to see more funding, specifically for Vision Zero. We put in 50 million for street paving. So clearly, we have an appetite to do things as it relates to the infrastructure and infrastructure-related issues in the city of Philadelphia. I think overall the goal is to make sure that the Admin understand that we really want to see a different appetite in this year's budget specifically related to funding for Vision Zero. And I just want to put that on the record because I heard everything Council President said. I agree with everything that was said. And I was one of the members who advocated, along with the Council President, for funding for Vision Zero, and that advocacy was not met with welcomed arms. With that being said, Chair recognizes Councilmember Phillips. (Applause.)
I'm sorry. I have to also acknowledge Councilmember Mark Squilla and Councilmember Jeffrey Young have joined today's hearing. Chair recognizes Councilmember Phillips.
Thank you, Chairman. I just want to say thank you for putting this hearing together. It is very important to our city. I'm still taken aback by the tragic death that took place on Kelly Drive this past summer with a gentleman who was in an Uber. And it still bothers me today so I can see the importance of this. Just a quick follow-up question to what Chairman Thomas said about the execution of division. Chris, you mentioned that it's going to take three to five years to engineer, I believe, cameras. And then you also said it takes a while to do community meetings. I'm more interested in learning do you have a detailed timeline on when all of these goals that the Administration says that they're going to be implementing, from program safety improvements, capital projects, traffic safety in classroom, is it laid out so we could be a little bit more in a goal like every single month, which I was appreciative of Rich, Rich Lazer, because he's only been doing this for about a year or so now, couple years at this point. And immediately, we already got a bus lane camera program happening in the spring. So I'm trying to figure out why they move so quickly compared to your office?
Yeah. So it takes three to five years to move a capital project. It doesn't take three years to do cameras. And I will say that our office working with the Parking Authority and SEPTA is the one who drove that camera-aided bus lane bill through Council. We appreciate Councilmember Mark Squilla in sponsoring that bill, but it was our office who led the push. We probably had worked for five years to get that bill passed and we are really grateful for City Council to pass it at the end of 2023, but we did provide the leadership for that bus lane bill that you mentioned.
Okay. Thanks for clarifying that. And as the person who's also the Vice-Chair working along with Chairman Thomas of Education, I'm interested in the Child Safety program in the classroom, the Traffic Safety program that's going to be taught in classrooms, how is that going to be implemented and when do we see that beginning?
Yeah. It's now. It has been. So we work with the schools and the School District to get the curriculum. We've developed modules that are on our website. We work with educators to try to get them into classroom. We have an elementary school curriculum. We're now working on a middle school curriculum and we've got a curriculum for high school students. So that's ongoing. There's I think over -- yeah, there's over 20 schools that we have regularly engaged with. And whether that's leading walking, school buses or just making sure they're using the curriculum in the classroom so kids can learn to walk and bike to school safely.
Is this a part of a regular class safety pro -- is this like a traditional classroom? Is it part of an English class? Is it something that's just an add-on and when is it going to be at every school? And what grades is it going to start at?
I'd like to call Marco Gorini who's our Vision Zero Program Manager to come up and answer your question.
Okay. So, Marco, just a reminder we're just asking when is it going to be at every school? What grades is it? And currently -- yeah, I'm just curious about that.
Sure. Yeah. So Safe Routes Philly is our Safe Routes to School program. And we have curriculum for kindergarten through 5th grade. Like Chris was saying, we're working on 6th through 8th. And right now it's -- well, it's based on a train-to- trainer model. So we go to schools. We work with sort of traffic safety champions at each school. Often it's through a health class or PE and we set them up to be able to run this program at the school itself. There is a challenge there where schools are stretched thin. There's only so much capacity. So some schools are able to really take this on and adopt it. Other schools, it's more of a challenge. They need a little bit more support so -
So we do a lot of outreach to inform schools about this opportunity. You know, schools come to us different ways. Sometimes they're requesting some help from the Streets Department and they get connected to us or otherwise looking just for where are our safe routes, kind of resources available. And then we also do a lot of kind of independent outreach. We try to identify schools that we know could benefit the most, right, because we're seeing higher rates of child pedestrian crashes nearby and things like that.
So I say that because if you're trying to ensure that every child is taught about traffic and safety in the classroom, that goes back to what I was talking to Chris about, like where is the detailed timeline to actually achieve that goal within five years? It seems like you're just pitching it as opposed to making it a formal program that's going to be here to stay. And I think it's a great goal, but I just want to see how we're going to make sure it's achievable. So I think -- because it sounds great and it's good that you're making some -- but I need, you know, is there details about the impact? Are things changing? These are important things because it is important to change the future. Because, you know, my grandmother used to say, look at the stop sign. That was important. But this generation is not there so we got to do some innovative stuff, right. Their grandmothers are not there like our grandmothers. So can we get a more detailed timeline on how we're going to implement it for every kid?
Yeah. I think we can provide you definitely some more information about sort of how we see this rolling out. A lot of it does kind of rely on sort of taking the groundwork that we've done in developing those lesson plans and sort of doing some proof of concept and then trying to identify kind of how does this scale up to get to that goal of 2030. But, yeah, we can definitely --
And I just have one more question and then I'm going return it to my colleagues. It's not for you. I just want to make sure that for the Bus Lane Camera Enforcement program in late spring, Rich, will this be every bus lane in the city of Philadelphia?
It'll be all trolley lanes. It'll be all trolleys in the city. And then there's a box in the legislation that creates where the bus enforcement will be.
Okay. And then how does the new smart loading zone work for enforcement technology? Is it using the cameras in every loading zone in the city of Philadelphia?
Yeah. So we looked at -- we worked with OTIS back about a year or so ago on a different smart loading zone pilot that was not camera-enforced. Now, we're working with a camera- enforced program. There's 24 loading zones. Most of them are Walnut, Spruce, Chestnut, from probably 8th to probably somewhere around Rittenhouse. There's 4 total, probably 80 cameras. 5 What it is, it's almost 6 like an E-ZPass type system. 7 Vehicle pulls into the loading zone 8 and then the camera -- after three 9 minutes the camera will then start 10 to charge $0.10 a minute on the 11 plate. A majority of the fleets 12 that use the loading zone, the 13 UPSes, Amazons, they're already in 14 the PPA fleet program, but there'll 15 be a wide roll-out. There'll be a 16 grace period and there'll be an 17 education outreach for those 18 loading zones. 19
Because most 22 loading zones are done. These will 23 be charge loading zones. Majority 24 loading zones are not charged.
Okay. I got it. All right. Well, thank you so much, Rich. Again, Rich Lazer has done a phenomenal job and we're looking forward to continue working with you. But I am concerned about that school program so hopefully we can get some serious work on it. It looks cute, but it needs to be top notch.
Mr. Chair, I just wanted to reiterate something. So with all the enforcement programs, red light, speed, bus camera, it really is a collaborative effort with the Philadelphia Park Authority, Streets Department and the Office of Transportation and PennDOT. There's a lot of meetings that go in. We do walkthroughs with staff on all the different groups and a lot of data is given. So it really is a very indepth look at where these cameras go, and it's a team effort amongst all the parties involved to really lay out the program to make sure that it works effectively and efficient and the goal to lower traffic deaths.
Thank you. I just also don't think the community meeting process should be that long either. We all can put on quick community meetings to get it together, so I don't know why that was a big deal about putting community meetings together.
Chair recognizes Councilmember Landau. Before Councilmember Landau goes, I just want to acknowledge all of the high school students who are working in City Council. If you don't know, high school students in a lot of schools across the city of Philadelphia are required to do an internship to graduate from the City of Philadelphia, actually in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And myself and my colleagues, we always open our doors to the high school students who need an internship requirement. So I just want to take a moment to give them a round of applause and thank them for being here today. (Applause.)
Chair recognizes Councilmember Landau followed by Councilmember Squilla.
Thank you so much, and thank you for being here and for your testimony. I had a couple of follow-up questions and sorry if you answered my first one already. Got started very promptly. We're only a couple minutes behind coming from a different meeting. But I am deeply concerned about the fact that our traffic fatality rate has remained constant for so many years and I feel the urgency of us here and what we can do to remedy this. So my first question is my concern that the rate of traffic deaths in Philadelphia is so much higher than in Chicago, D.C., LA, and nearly three times as high as New York. What are they doing differently than what we're doing here where we can implement something to reduce our rate quickly?
Yeah, I think there's a few things. The one in New York they've -- and especially in D.C., they've had much larger automated enforcement programs for a much longer amount of time. So it's tremendous that the state authorized us to expand our automated speed enforcement, but I think we're still limited to the Boulevard five corridors and five school zones. I think New York is school zone citywide. So that's a big change. Another barrier that we have is it's very hard to reduce speed limits in the city of Philadelphia or anywhere in the Commonwealth. There's a very onerous process. And so, we would like to work with City Council and members of the local delegation to work on legislative or other solutions for us to be able to bring speed limits down. Because right now, the state Motor Vehicle Code essentially says you have to do a speed study and set it at the 85th percentile, so that encourages speeding. It makes it very hard if you have speeding on a road to reduce the speed limit and then put an engineering solutions so that the street is engineered or designed for that lower speed. And the others, you know, there's been significant investments in those other cities on infrastructure.
Not everybody who faces violence by cars dies. Have you done a full study on these crashes in general to see what is it? Is it speeding? Is it not following traffic signs? Is it, you know, not having a bike lane in a certain area? Have you really granularly dug down to find out exactly what is happening and not just about fatalities?
Yeah. I think speed is the number one thing. So controlling speed is the number one thing that we can do to reduce traffic fatalities and actually even to reduce serious injury crashes. Speed not only determines how deadly a crash will be, but in some ways it even determines how likely a crash is to happen. Because if two vehicles or a vehicle and a pedestrian, if the vehicle is traveling at a slower speed, that's more reaction time for the motorist to identify the issue and then take corrective action. So speed is the number one thing that we want to control. It's not the only thing. Certainly we want to -- distracted driving or intoxicated driving, reducing the number of conflict points where two different movements can conflict with each other, improving visibility so that motorists and pedestrians and cyclists, all road users can see each other. Those are all important, but the number one thing is reducing speed.
And would this $5 million investment we're talking about assist you in increasing speed zones in the city?
I'll just say that the infrastructure, almost every infrastructure project that we do has some way of controlling speed. Whether it's reducing the number of lanes, which is often contentious, which is why the community engagement process takes a while and why the institutional engagement is important or if there's -- sometimes there's parking in order to make a street safer such as in order to bump out the sidewalk at the corner. Speed bumps, speed cushions, those devices all reduce speeding, narrowing the -- even if it's the same number of lanes, often narrowing the lanes can have an effect on reducing speed. There's a long list of interventions that we can use. Improving the visibility of traffic signals, which is why we're always looking for more funding also to improve our traffic signals around the city. Tying in the traffic signals to the Traffic and Control Center so that we can monitor and adjust the synchronization of the signal so that we can have a progression that is safe so that the signal timing tends to induce driving at a safe speed. These are all things that we can do with investments to improve traffic safety outcomes.
Thank you. And another area of questioning I want to just ask about is basic maintenance of our streets. I'm a big proponent of people with disabilities and also making sure all of our streets are easily accessible. So each year City Council has asked for more money for the paving budget and a third paving crew. And even with an increase in funds, the City is still paving only 60 miles a year and the goal is 131. The City has not yet hired this third paving crew that we talked about; am I right? And why not?
I think my colleague Michelle Brisbon from the Streets Department is here.
I'm Michelle Brisbon. I'm the Chief of Staff for the Streets Department. Can you repeat the question, Councilperson?
The question is about the third paving crew, whether or not the City is still only paving 60 miles and the goal was 131 miles? And has the City hired a third paving crew? And if not, why not?
So, no, we have not hired a third paving crew. This past season we just finished hiring fully for the second paving crew. And so, we're looking to start hiring for the third paving crew this spring.
Are there any administrative barriers to making this happen?
Several. So the pool of candidates for the asphalt paving machine, the roller operator, the asphalt rakers and then the drivers as well.
Okay. And the paving is done inhouse, correct, with the City of Philadelphia?
So we have paving crews that do it inhouse, but then we also contract out some.
So the milling is contracted out. We don't have the resources to do that.
Point of information while the Councilmember is taking a breath. Why is it that -- so I'm listening to this paving crew and I'm thinking about some of the workforce development stuff that we've encouraged to happen. I'm specifically thinking about Mural Arts. I'm on the Board of Mural Arts. One of the things that we asked is there to be a pipeline between programs like Mural Arts and people being able to house these jobs. Why is that not still happening? To listen to the type of jobs that you're telling us is vacant, to me -- and looking at the text messages I get in my phone of people saying that they need a job, how does this disconnect still exist?
So paving is a skilled job that they have to at least come in with six months of general laboring experience and then we train them. But the candidates that we're getting, we've opened up the exams I would say at least three times over the last three years and we may get 9 candidates on each list. 10
So 11 why don't we create a direct 12 pipeline between programs like 13 Mural Arts? I just listened to the 14 folks at the Same Day Pay program, 15 right. If someone's in the Same 16 Day Pay program, how can we create 17 a pipeline between people who are 18 in the Same Day Pay program so that 19 they could be put in a position to 20 be able to have some type of apprenticeship program so they can take these jobs? My thing is, and then I'm going to pass it back to the Councilmember, the appetite for people to work is clearly there. And the type of jobs that you're saying need to be filled, we have the demographic who could fill them. What are we doing to connect the jobs? I think that's what I'm asking.
So I'm not familiar with the Mural Arts. Streets Department, we work with the Future Track Program and we funnel the Future Track Program into the paving program.
Same concept. Sorry, Councilwoman. Go ahead. I apologize.
No, it's similar -- I'm about to get to a really similar question. Why doesn't the City have the six-month apprenticeship program, so when people pass the apprenticeship program they can get right into the City job?
Well, you -- I'm sorry. You said someone has to come with six months of experience.
So normally the six months semi- skilled experience or general laboring experience.
Someone else isn't going to take folks on -- the City of Philadelphia has historically been the place that fills the gap for people who need a job. This is basic workforce development. A private company is likely not going to take anybody with no experience also. They're going to say you need six months of experience. And you've got people walking around the city who can't get the six months experience but want the job. Why doesn't the City just start an apprenticeship workforce program that puts people through a six-month apprenticeship and then they're prepared for the job? They've got the experience.
Well, we can definitely talk with Central personnel to see what we would have to do to be able to look into that program.
Thank you. And I have another one too. I want to ultimately also talk about bringing milling inhouse. We wait for the outside contractors to do the milling and then we're doing the paving on top. And if we could do all of these parts of the project, we could get our streets paved faster and I think more efficiently. Has there been any thought of bringing milling inhouse?
So years ago and under previous administrations they looked into it. And part of the issue was with air quality and being -- where we would sort of, I guess, house that operation at. But we haven't looked at it in recent years. But that was part of the issue, was the air quality.
Thank you. I would love to look into that more with you. And then the final question, because this is another workforce development thing that I believe we contract out and I believe we could do inhouse quicker, faster, easier, is the tactile paving when we do the curb cut. When a curb is rebuilt, there's tactile paving that's supposed to be installed to help people with vision impairment cross the street safely. How do we install those now and are those done inhouse or by a City contract?
Has there been any discussion of bringing that inhouse?
Yes, we have had that discussion and we're continuing to have those discussions.
Okay. I'm coming back to you guys with all of this when it comes to budget. I want this inhouse. These are great workforce development opportunities. It would make it so much faster and streamline everything that we're doing in the city. And most importantly just to be clear, we won't have the process where an outside company did the milling. There's now a 3-inch drop or 4- or 5-inch drop from the curb. That is very dangerous to people for a whole lot of levels. While we're waiting for the paving because we've got two different entities trying to coordinate, we can do this all inhouse. I believe it can happen. Thank you so much.
Thank you, colleague. I appreciate that line of questioning. I think it's extremely important. And thank you for taking the time to answer the questions to the best of your ability. We definitely appreciate it. Chair recognizes Councilmember Mark Squilla followed by Councilmember Jeffrey Jay Young.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, Chris, we talked about the money for Vision Zero. And the Vision Zero budget for, I guess, operations, what would be the budget for Vision Zero operations without money that we know we need for the actual work that would be done as far as speed cushions, daylighting, bike lanes infrastructure and stuff like that?
Can you repeat the question, Councilmember? I don't think I quite grasp what you're asking.
Per capita -- I think -- well, as I understand -- sorry. Go ahead.
What is the operating cost to keep the office of Vision Zero moving?
Yeah. So let me try to answer what I think you're asking me. Right now we're working on a study. We hope to finish it this calendar year on the life cycle cost of certain elements like a speed cushion or like one of those white flex posts because we know they're an enormous maintenance issue to be able to maintain them. The durability hasn't always been what we would have hoped or what the manufacturers have promised it would be. So we are working on a full-like life cycle cost analysis for certain traffic safety improvements that we do hope to have completed this year.
All right. Staffing for Vision Zero. I know it's under OTIS, right. Is it all the OTIS folks working on Vision Zero or do you have certain folks that work just on the Vision Zero planning process?
Yeah. So we house a lot of the planning and programmatic management for Vision Zero, but the Streets Department has staff who are working on traffic safety improvements every day, whether it's installing speed cushions or maintaining traffic signals.
The reason why I'm asking is because when we have a budget request for Vision Zero, it seems to get convoluted or where's the money going? Is it Vision Zero itself that the money goes in the Vision Zero? It doesn't go for the construction part. That goes to the Streets Department to implement the Vision Zero plan.
So is there a request to keep Vision Zero planning process, to keep the employees that are -- their goal is to put the Vision Zero plan together. Is it just under OTIS? Because a lot of the constituent questions we get is that we're not funding Vision Zero, right.
And so, do we have dedicated people? You're saying it's under OTIS and there's Streets Department folks that are working on the capital side of it. But what is the vision for the city as far as operating costs for Vision Zero, employees, somebody working on the plan, putting our plan together to make sure that then there's a capital ask beside that, right, that would go to the Streets Department. But it seems like it gets lost. When we say all right, we're putting $5 million to Vision Zero, does that just go to OTIS?
Yes, thank you for that. So the Vision Zero capital line is within the Streets Department budget as is the separate speed cushion line that was created by Mayor Parker last year. So that's, you know, Mayor Parker has been insistent that the Vision Zero budget was not cut. Even though one line item changed, there was an increase in speed cushions. But beyond the capital funds, there are dedicated staff. Marco has an entire team doing both programmatic planning work and all the engagement in schools. Then the Office of Multimodal Planning has four districts. In each of those districts, there's a dedicated Vision Zero staffer who works on the infrastructure side trying to make -- working on developing some of those 100 projects that I mentioned during my testimony that we have in the pipeline doing the early planning and concept work. In each of those four districts, there's a dedicated community engagement person who works on the community meetings. And then there's all the great staff in the Department of Streets, in the Design Division who help take the planning level concepts and put them into specific plans. So as you can see I'm not trying to be evasive, Councilmember, not giving a straight answer but it is --
It's po -- it sounds like I'm talking to a politician.
It is in a number of different departments in a number of different functions, because Vision Zero takes a lot of different parts of government coming together just to deliver an infrastructure project, let alone deliver automated enforcement systems or increased education for our kids. I think if we could try to put together a list of all the different folks who work on Vision Zero, if that's what you're asking for.
Yes, because when we hear from the advocacy crowd, our residents or people talking about public safety, they believe that there should be a budgetary item for Vision Zero, right. And so again, if we put million in here, million there, 500,000 there, it doesn't look like we're putting a plan together to address Vision Zero.
Yeah. Every time we've been asked how much have you spent on Vision Zero, it's always a difficult process because it's part of so many people's jobs in so many different departments, whether it's OTIS, Streets, MDO, Purchasing, you know, Finance. All the folks that work on Vision Zero are much greater. And I remember years ago, you know, it was not just like the -- back maybe four or five years ago the Vision Zero line item, the capital line item was somewhere around $1 million. But when we looked at all the Vision Zero spending, it was somewhere of $30 million, $40 million when you looked at all the improvements we did with other line items, let alone the outside funding, like the ARLE and ASE funding that we got or federal funding that we got that, that we then used for Vision Zero improvements.
All right. I mean, I'll ask if we could give something to the Chair that would have a breakdown of what the request is for Vision Zero and the upcoming budget as far as operating costs as far as planning cost, and then what is the capital ask for Vision Zero. Because even we as Council have made some demands on Vision Zero as far as speed cushions around schools, playgrounds and senior centers, right. We know that's going to take several years to fund and build out from capital cost, but we have to know how much that is, where that money is going to and then who's responsible for it. So then at the end of the year we could say, did we spend it. Right now we have no 2 idea how much is spent on Vision Zero. And all we hear is that we took money out of Vision Zero. So I think if you could make that clear for us and for the Chair so they could share with us, and then we have a better idea of what we're doing, how we're doing it and who's in charge of making sure that that gets spent in the proper way.
Yeah. I can work with our colleagues in Streets and Finance to try to put together a little bit more comprehensive picture of spending on Vision Zero. And I know we've done that in the past and we can try to replicate that for this current budget.
Thanks, Chairman Thomas. I just want to do a quick point information for Mark Squilla, Councilmember Mark Squilla. Would it be easier or would it be better to make this more effective if Vision Zero had its own department of engineers and Streets people and everything as opposed to you having to go through four or five different departments to get things done? If you had your own people, would that make it easier to get things done?
Yeah. I appreciate the sentiment, Councilmember Phillips. But I think that would make it more difficult. I think Vision Zero will be most effective when everybody inside of city government thinks it's part of their job.
Yeah. That's the part -- and we've committed -- one of the parts of the executive order was to ensure that every capital project that touches the street is designed to improve safety. So there's a lot of projects. We don't necessarily think of it as a traffic safety project, but it's an opportunity to increase the safety of the street. And that's the culture change that's been happening over the time that I've been in city government where lots of people who didn't think their job was Vision Zero now know and we have people who their title isn't Vision Zero. Their title might be Engineer 2 or something like that or Construction Engineer 3, but they know that improving traffic safety is part of their mission. I was at a conference in Penn State in December where I heard three Streets Department construction engineers talking about the work on that roundabout that I mentioned in South Philly and how they're improving traffic safety even though construction engineers is their title.
Thank you. I just wanted to find a way to get through anything that's bureaucratic that might be holding up the process for it to get done. And I feel like sometimes if one department is not as invested in it, it just becomes a -- goes to the wayside. So I just want to make sure everybody's invested in this in a very efficient way, but thank you.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. First, I just want to acknowledge the young people over there. Again, I started out as a high school intern right in these very chambers so you never know where your future is going to take you. So just keep at it, have goals and have the vision. Back to Vision Zero. You mentioned to us that there was a -- you have a community engagement person in the office that goes out and talks to the communities. Can you talk to us about what your engagement efforts are in certain communities where, to be honest, Vision Zero is not a priority for them, right. It's not a goal for them. So what do you do? How do you connect with those people? I can tell you it's a lot of folks in my District, right, where Vision Zero is just not, it's not a priority. I'm not saying they don't care about it, right, but it's just not at the top of their list of things to put their attention to when it comes to safety in this city. So how do you -- what is your message to those communities? How do you reach out to those communities?
Yeah. Thank you, Councilmember, for that question. I think one of the first things that we do when we're looking to make improvements, we reach out to the local Council District. And I know you've been extremely helpful in saying, here are the community groups that you should talk to in a particular district. And I know we've got for each of the Councilmember's District, Councilmembers in this office whether it's Councilmember -- or in this room, Lozada or Phillips or Squilla, we try to work through your offices to get a sense of what are the community groups that we should work with when we're trying to do a project so at least we're not making sure that we're inadvertently excluding someone just because we didn't know the lay of the land as well as you do. Often we can only move at the speed of trust, so that takes -- in order to build that trust it takes a lot of different forms. The Vision Zero ambassadors are one way. So having paid safety ambassadors where we work with people to try to get the message out and usually then those people and then the people that they interact with are a great way to make sure that we're reaching a broader set of community members, especially if that community has concerns that are significant such as gun violence or the opioid crisis or economic prosperity. So that's one way we try to break through to have meaningful conversations about traffic violence. We've certainly been there in communities where we show up and we say, hey, we'd like to improve your neighborhood. And, A, they don't believe us, you know, we're from the government. There's a lot of distrust in government those days. And so, it's up to us to move at a speed and communicate in a way that builds a partnership. And I think we've been successful in doing that in a lot of neighborhoods. The other thing that we've been trying to do, and my colleague Lily Reynolds in the office of -- the Infrastructure Solutions team is trying to build more workforce measures into projects, because a lot of time we've shown up at community meetings and like, well, that's great that you're doing that, but what I'd really like is a job for my grandson or my neighbor is needing a job. And so, trying to increase our workforce participation so that whether that's improving the performance, the DBE performance on federally- funded work or putting in initiatives like geographic and economic hiring preferences or working with the trades in order to have more apprenticeship classes, these are all things that don't necessarily seem directly connected with Vision Zero but help to build trust and help to meet other community needs. The other thing we did, and I've got to give credit to my colleague Waffiyyah Murray, who runs our Indigo system, so a program that she has is mini grants so she gives out really small grants I think twice a year to community groups. And it's not for traffic safety work directly. It's maybe buying turkeys, frozen turkeys at Thanksgiving for that community group. And what that does is showing up and saying to the community, listen, we care about what you care about so that when we show up to say, hey, can we talk about traffic safety, they know that they have a partner there who's going to, you know, we're not just here to knock them over and tell them what you need. We're here to listen and work together to solve problems.
Now, what can you tell me or advise me as a District Councilmember when I go to certain communities and they think that any, you know, you mentioned this is to help improve the community, improve their neighborhoods. But how can you help me put that message out here that a lot of folks see that these improvements mean gentrification, mean that their neighborhood is changing, right, meaning that it's not for them, right. So what is that message? How can you help me deliver that message to those constituents who believe that these improvements are to eventually move them out of their community?
Yeah. I think one of the first things we did is we wanted to make sure that bike lanes, for example, were not causing gentrification. So we worked with a national group called the Better Bike Share Partnership to fund high-quality research to try to get an impartial answer on do bike lanes have a gentrifying effect on neighborhoods. And the results is -- and we can share this with the whole Committee -- that bike lanes do not have a gentrifying effect on neighborhoods. So first of all, we really wanted to go to the substance of the fear that if we build safer transportation infrastructure, is that going to displace me from my neighborhood. And I think the answer was conclusively no. 23 The second thing then is to build partners and champions in those communities. So we say, hey, this infrastructure is for me. That's why when we're doing expansion work with our Indigo system we're funding ambassadors in those neighborhoods that work with the community, try to say this is how you can use this new asset in your system so that this is for you, whether you might not want to ride a bike every day in all kinds of weather, but maybe this is for you for recreation, to try to do health classes. We also tried to bridge the digital divide, so we had a class we were running called Digital Skills and Bicycle Thrills where we paired digital literacy training with learn-to-ride classes so that people could sign up for Indigo. They knew how to sign up for Indigo. And then once they were signed up, they knew how to safely cycle maybe if they had never done it or hadn't done it in a while.
Thank you. And that question came from an idea, conversation I had with Stephanie Ridgeway at Indigo who's in my community who deals with these type of questions all the time from neighborhood folks who say that this creates gentrification. We just want information to give them to show that, no, they're just trying to improve your safety in your neighborhood, not move you out, not displace you from your neighborhood. But sometimes perception is a reality for a lot of folks as they see only in certain places these measures are being in place, and then at the same time come behind that they see the neighborhood changing, right. And so, we have to figure out in what neighborhoods are these like -- let's say solid minority neighborhoods where we know that gentrification isn't happening right now, are these improvements still happening there as well, right. I think that's what the community wants to see, that it's being placed all over and not just in certain areas where they think in their mind that it's being done to just push them out.
Yeah. I think the sad fact though is that the traffic fatality statistics tell a story that traffic fatalities don't discriminate. They do discriminate in the fact that traffic fatalities hit residents of color worse than White residents. So it's critical that we make these improvements all throughout the city. And when I look at the faces and the names on these graphics in front of me, I see African American residents, I see Hispanic residents in front of me that were unfortunately the victim of traffic violence. So being able to -- I think what's really, really critical is when the advocacy that the families of these members have exhibited over the years where they can tell the story much better than a bureaucrat and with much more trust with the community, that this is why we're making these improvements so a different family doesn't have to go through the same suffering that these families went through.
Thank you for that. And one thing I've noticed is to be honest for me my own recollection is that people nowadays just don't know how to drive, right. They just seem like they forgot the rules of the road. Just the other day with all the wind the traffic lights were out and people were zooming through lights and signals that weren't working. And I'm just like, you don't know that's supposed to be a stop sign. So what is the City doing I guess to educate and inform people on the rules of the road to make it a little bit safer for everyone traveling?
Yeah. So as part of -- I'll give you an example. As part of rolling out automated speed enforcement on Broad Street, we've put ads all up and down Broad Street, on buses and on bus shelters. We've also reached out to every single community group along North Broad Street to make sure, hey, can we come talk to you, we want to let you know that this is coming, these are the rules of the road, this is how you can avoid getting a ticket. Because what we're really going for is behavior change. The way that we're going right now is part of the reason why we have the fatality levels we have. Part of that behavior change is redesigning the streets to encourage and reinforce safe driving factors. But the other is the numerous education work we have, whether it's with kids or with adults, to try to get the message out that this is how we all stay safe. This is how we all get home at the end of the day.
Thank you. Yeah, again that was just my own this past weekend anecdote just seeing that people just ignore or just don't know what certain signs are, what certain rules are. Another question that I have is regarding bikers. And again, it's informing people of certain changes because in certain neighborhoods adding these bike lanes is new, and it's a new I guess it would be -- someone's looking right now to look for a biker coming where they never had to before, right. So what can we do to kind of ease folks into these changes for the instincts, right, to kick in to say we always have to look right now when before that was never a part of your driving instincts. We never had to do it when we took our driving exams and things like that. So what can we do to reinforce some of those newer instincts that are needed now, now that the roads are structured a little differently?
Yeah. What we try to do when we put in a new piece of infrastructure in the neighborhood that maybe hasn't seen it before, isn't accustomed to it, is we try to do an education campaign. So that's putting like these signs on the infrastructure sometimes saying, you know, this is a protected bike lane, this is how it works, this is where you should park, this is where you shouldn't park. Then we try to do leaflets in those neighborhoods to let everybody know what the rules of the road are. And I think engagement doesn't end with the agreement or the Council ordinance. Education and engagement need to continue all the way through and past construction. I think in some ways that's the most important engagement to do is after the thing is built to listen to people and to see what's working, what's not working. That's why when the Washington Avenue Project happened, part of the enabling ordinance that Councilmember Squilla passed was that we come and do that several years' worth of after reports and make adjustments as we're going through that project to see what's working, what's not working, is it having an effect. We try to do a high- quality before-and-after study for every single infrastructure, major infrastructure project that we do to see what effect it has. And that's how we have the plethora now of data after a few years to say that projects we've done have had on average a percent reduction in serious injury crashes.
Thank 5 you. And, Mr. Chair, I have one 6 more question for Ms. Brisbon. If 7 you can come back up to the table 8 as well. 9 Just a question, just a 10 follow-up regarding the paving and 11 milling and what we're doing as a 12 city to attract people to those 13 particular jobs. You said over 14 three years the exam went out. Can 15 you describe to us or tell us what 16 the exam looks like? 17 And I guess if we're not 18 finding enough qualified people, 19 then what can we do as a Council, 20 as a city, to make sure that the people who are applying for these jobs understand what this exam really is and what it's really catering toward? Because six months of labor experience -- I mean to be a laborer, people can do that work, right, but they may not necessarily have the other skills necessary to pass an exam, right. So can you tell us what that exam looks like and what is needed?
Okay. So the three times that we've offered it, one of the times we didn't even have a physical exam. We just did submit it, if you qualify, you were put on the list. The other two times is a performance exam and you're just coming in and just being familiar with the tools that we're using and being able to follow these instructions. And we offered some training prior to the exam was even given.
Were they successful in finding qualified applicants? Were those exams successful?
Again, I think we maybe had candidates that was successful on each of those lists. We may have had 80 candidates.
We hired 9 all of them that were interested. 10 Everybody that we interviewed we 11 hired. 12
Let 15 me -- yep. 16 Councilmember Lozada 17 wants to make a comment. 18 Councilmember Landau has a 19 question. 20 Let me just make sure that we all know our homework assignments so we're on the same page when we come back for budget season. Councilmember Squilla requested and the Council President also echoed that we have specific items related to Vision Zero as it relates to what money you want on the operating side as well as what money you want on the capital side. We want to hear from your department as it relates to issues related to hiring. From the seats that we sit in, we don't understand how these type of skilled jobs, we're not able to fill those positions but yet 14 percent of our city is living in 15 poverty. So there's a disconnect 16 there and we need to improve that 17 pipeline very fast. 18 The third thing, and I'm 19 going to add this to the list, in 20 February of 2021 we had our first hearing when I was on Council as it relates to Vision Zero, as it relates to the hit-and-run crisis. Captain Overwise, didn't sit in that seat because we were virtual, told us -- and happy retirement to him -- that infrastructure investment was the best way to fix the issues that we were seeing at that time. When we come back to budget, this body would like to see all of the capital projects that have taken place in the city of Philadelphia, specifically around Vision Zero in the hit-and-run crisis from the first time we were told that in 2021 to the spring of 2025. So over four years what have we done to address the hit-and-run crisis, to address the High Injury Network and how have we improved the percent of the 20 roads that produce 80 percent of the car accidents. That's our homework so we're all clear. So when we revisit this conversation in budget, there's no surprises. No one will tell us that they have to get back to us with more information. We'll all have that information readily available because we're asking for it in February. Young people, I hope y'all heard that. Adults get homework too. It's not just for y'all, right. Homework goals even after high school. Chair recognizes Councilmember Landau, then Councilmember Loz -- oh, Councilmember Lozada, then Councilmember Landau. And then we're going to close out this panel because we have two more panels left before we open up for public comment. Councilmember Lozada.
23 Yeah. I just want to recognize the 24 work that I've been able to do in the 7th Council District as a result of the partnership that I have with the Parking Authority. They've actually helped us remove a lot of these vehicles that have been problematic on our streets, either whether they were double parked and have been there for years or they've been vandalized and have been there for years and have been parked in some of our handicapped spaces and folks have reported for a long time and have not been able to get them removed. I just want to recognize their work because we've been in multiple parts of the District and we've been able to remove hundreds of vehicles as a result of that. So wanted to make sure that I put that on the record. But I also wanted to comment on or follow up on Councilmember Young's question and concern as it relates to some of our bike lanes, right, and the outreach when we're looking at those bike lanes or when we're trying to talk to residents about these bike lanes. A lot of community residents associate bike lanes with justification or displacement. And so, I think we need to look at the outreach that we're doing and what is the language. What is the -- how are we communicating with some of these community residents that don't understand or don't speak the English language as it relates to the work that we're doing around Vision Zero. You know, how do I go back into my community to talk to them about, listen, these bike lanes are for your safety as well, right, the work that we're doing as it relates to cameras is for your safety as well. We need to do better at sharing that information around the work of Vision Zero in other languages. I have multiple communities in my District that don't speak English, that don't speak Spanish, right, that are Cambodian or that speak a different dialect of the Asian community. We just need to make sure that we are out in these communities when we're having these meetings, that we're offering the information, the outreach information, in languages that are not just in English. We need to do better at that. I'm happy to help with some of that work, but we need to do better when we're out in the community. We're talking about the importance of the work that Vision Zero is offering in our communities.
Thank you, Councilmember. Chair recognizes Councilmember Landau.
Thank you. I will be quick, but I wanted to follow up on what Councilmember Young was saying about the rules and the norms of the road. It's kind of terrifying to me just now to think that people would go up to an intersection where all the lights are out and the thought that goes through your mind isn't wait, I should slow down, who's going first versus, oh, I could just fly through this. It's a new way of thinking. As somebody who is currently teaching my son to drive, you want to talk about terrifying, that is crazy, especially post- pandemic. While he's practicing, you're teaching him the rules. And then someone does something that completely violates the rules and you have to ex -- he says, well, why did they do that. And it's like, well, you're not allowed to do that. So you're spending your time explaining what the person was supposed to do, what they shouldn't do. And this brings me back to my question. I've talked to a lot of the trades who are very interested in putting driver's ed. back in our schools. Is the city a part of that conversation at all pushing to make sure that we have driver's ed. in our schools so that all of the kids can learn? Thank you.
So we'll call that another homework assignment, right. I actually had that on my notepad as well too. Do we think teaching driver's ed. to high school students will help deal with the High Injury Network. So, Chris and Rich, we want to say thank you both for taking the time to be here today. Please add that to the homework assignments when we come back and revisit this conversation come budget. These four items will be things that's a part of your comments and your advocacy as it relates to more money. So thank you both and thank you for all you do. We're going to change the agenda a little bit. We know that there are a number of people here for public comment. As you can tell, the members of City Council feel like Vision Zero is a huge part of our job. That's why we're here. That's why we're asking questions. That's why we're advocating. So we apologize if we're a little behind. But in order to help move us along and make sure that we get to public comment, we're going to ask the next two panels to combine. So, Mr. Clerk, if you could call the four members of this next panel, we're going to ask those two members to -- these two panels to combine, and then we're going to save Nicole from the Bicycle Coalition for the last panel. Mr. Clerk.
Yes, Mr. Chair. Could we hear from Erick Guerra, Nora Dowd-Eisenhower --
We can't hear you. We can hear you right here but everybody can't hear you.
Apologies. Can we hear from Erick Guerra, Nora Dowd-Eisenhower, Jessie Amadio and Norena Lewis. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
We're going to allow this entire panel to testify like we did the last panel. So you guys can, you know, rock, paper, scissors, however you want. Whoever wants to go first, we just ask that you state your name for the record and then begin with your testimony. And then after you finish, whoever's in proximity, whoever's next to you, allow that person to go immediately after you. So however you want to start, it's up to you.
Good afternoon. My name is Noreena Lewis, and thank you for the opportunity to offer a few words with respect to the critical topic before us. I work at the Children's Hospital Philadelphia in our residency program, and I had the absolute pleasure of knowing Dr. Barbara Freides, our beloved Chief resident who was killed by a speeding drunk driver while riding her bike home in the evening of July 17th this past summer. She was doing everything right. She was traveling in the bike lane. She was wearing her helmet and obeying all the traffic laws. The driver hit her, pummeling over the plastic bike lane barriers and he kept going because those barriers were not enough to stop the car. Barbara was my colleague and my friend and brought light into every room she entered. She was a brilliant pediatrician, a dedicated friend and a compassionate colleague. Barbara had a special way of bringing people together and making those around her feel noticed and important. We miss her every day and often reflect together that she did not have to die the way that she did. If that bike lane had been truly protected, she might be alive today. In the aftermath of her death, many of her colleagues, friends and community members came together to ensure that not only is she always remembered but to try to prevent tragic deaths like these from continuing to happen. We formed a group calling ourselves PATHS, Pediatric Advocates for Transportation Health for Barbara. We are dedicated to advocacy and the promotion of evidence-based principles that ultimately reduce injuries and fatalities, resulting from traffic violence and preventable crashes. Our work is grounded in principles of violence prevention. We strive to create meaningful change that results in zero pedestrian and cyclist deaths and serious injuries in Philadelphia. We're committed to creating this change through, one, partnering with our institutions, relevant governmental agencies and appropriate stakeholders to implement evidence-based changes that promote the safety of people who walk and people who bike. Two, advocating for child bike safety, including promoting helmet safety and education through policies endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and by distributing helmets in CHOPS pediatric primary care centers. And, three, encouraging cycling is a viable commuting option by supporting policies that incentivize safe bike use. One of the main ways we believe this change can be accomplished is by the endorsement and financial support of Vision Zero by the City of Philadelphia. In so doing, we can honor Barbara's memory and ensure a safe, more vibrant community for everybody. It's so appropriate that even though Barbara is not physically here with us today, just as she brought people together so easily when she was alive, she is still continuing to do it in her absence. Thank you. (Applause.)
Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Erick Guerra and I'm a professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania where I teach courses in transportation planning and quantitative methods. My research and teaching focus on relationships between urban forum, transportation systems, travel behavior and transportation-related outcomes such as traffic safety, household spending and the cost effectiveness of public transit. Over my career I've written two books on service transportation and published around 50 peer-reviewed articles in transportation, public health and city planning journals. As Associate Dean for Research at Penn's Weitzman School of Design, I help oversee funded research on a wide range of topics. I'm also an active consortium member of Safety 21, the U.S. Department of Transportation's National University Transportation Center for Safety. Around a third of my work focuses specifically on traffic safety. Much of it's based in the Philadelphia region. For example, I've studied the effectiveness of Philadelphia's bike lanes in reducing bicycle collisions with colleagues from public health, and I'm currently working on a project looking at weather and to what extent curb extensions have reduced traffic crashes as a part of Philadelphia's green infrastructure stormwater management program, recent findings from a study on the effects of speed cameras on traffic safety on Roosevelt Boulevard. I've featured in policy reports, newspaper articles and public commentary on the expansion of automated enforcement to other corridors in Philadelphia. And related to this research, I've also provided expert witness testimony on the effectiveness of automated enforcement in other large cities. Lastly, I've lived in Philadelphia for years and I walk on 5 Philadelphia streets daily and 6 regularly drive, bike and take 7 SEPTA. 8
9 Good afternoon, Chairperson Thomas, 10 Councilmembers, all of you and 11 Vice-Chair Landau. My name is Nora 12 Dowd-Eisenhower. I'm the Volunteer 13 State President for AARP. We've 14 submitted written comments, and I 15 know that some of you have been 16 looking at them. I'm going to try to shorten mine to a few minutes, but everything we have put in here we've put in carefully for you to review. First of all, I want you to know that AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan social impact organization dedicated to empowering America's 50-plus on how they choose to live as they age. Our membership includes nearly 38 million people nationwide, almost 2 million people in Pennsylvania and nearly 300,000 people in Philadelphia. We advocate on issues that matter most to older adults. We hear from them, we talk to them, their families and we have a focus on health security, financial resilience and livable communities. We really appreciate the offer from Council to come here and speak today. Thank you, Members. For AARP, Vision Zero holds that as a society we have an ethical responsibility to do all we can to ensure that people are safe as they move about their communities, whether driving to a doctor's appointment, walking to school or a senior center or bicycling to work. The benefits of Vision Zero are numerous. We've heard about that already today and we're going to continue to hear about it. But we want to note some additional facts for you here today. As we age, our reflexes and reaction times slow down. I hate to admit it, but the data is very clear, making us more vulnerable to harm. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, adults 65-plus have the highest rate of pedestrian fatalities compared to the other age groups. Philadelphia joined the World Health Organization's Global Network of Age-friendly Cities in 2012. It's now called the AARP Network of Age-friendly States and Communities. The common thread among those enrolled in the Age-friendly Network is the belief that communities are more livable and better able to support people of all ages when local leaders commit to improving the quality of life for the very young, the very old and in between. For over years, AARP 9 has worked with Philadelphia 10 officials in the administrations, in partner organizations, in Council and local leaders to devise an age-friendly action plan that targets three things: Housing, transportation and outdoor space. In response to the realization that Philadelphia had the highest traffic fatality rate in the country, the Philadelphia Vision Zero Task Force was created in 2016 with a goal to end traffic fatalities in 2030. I know that date's been changed and it was discussed earlier in the hearing. As a member of the Vision Zero Task Force's Safe People Steering Committee, we've gained momentum as everyone wants to keep themselves and their loved ones safe. We have seen notable progress in the city's bringing greater attention and urgency and action to safety priorities, especially for vulnerable road users. We've supported the City's Vision Zero Action Plan, which aims for zero traffic fatalities. For example, our Vision Zero efforts led us to support the initial installation, maintenance and subsequent expansion of speed cameras along Roosevelt Boulevard, which has been effective as we've heard from many, and I just hear from you, across lowering speeding violations, fewer fatal serious injuries and fewer crashes involving people walking. Additionally through 2019 before the pandemic, AARP partnered with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia to hold listening sessions in neighborhoods in the High Injury Network, which only make up about percent of our streets and 10 account for 50 percent of our 11 fatalities.
12 Moreover, AARP's key component of our Vision Zero strategy is to perform walk audits, which it's a simple activity which an individual or a team of people can conduct in their own neighborhood to evaluate the walkability of a location and to document it. We recently collaborated with community partners, residents, City Councilmembers and the City's Office of Multimodal Planning and the Transportation and Infrastructure System to conduct walk audits in several districts in the city. I offer the walk audit tool for you. It's available online. We're happy to work with you to do walk audits in your districts. I have six final points to make. I'll make them as briefly as I can. They are recommendations. Lower speed limits in key areas. Speed kills. We've heard it again and again. There are other things we can do, but we think that reducing speed limits in neighborhoods with high pedestrian traffic, especially near schools, senior centers, medical facilities and public transit hubs can help reduce the severity of accidents which is crucial for older adults. Improve pedestrian infrastructure, make crosswalks safer with better lighting, clear signage and more time for pedestrians to cross. Enhanced public transportation access: Increase the availability and coordination of public transportation, especially for older adults in our neighborhoods and improve coverage in underserved areas. Age-friendly pedestrian design: Create streets that are accessible for people with mobility challenges by adding curb ramps, benches and safe spaces for waiting. Designate pedestrian-only zones in high-density areas where older adults live, work and play, such as near senior housing, community parks and health care centers. And finally my final recommendation, safe routes to senior centers and health facilities: Improve specific routes to senior centers. People in the neighborhood walk to senior centers, health facilities and transit stations to ensure safe access. At its core, Vision Zero puts forth the notion that traffic fatalities are unacceptable on our streets and preventable if we plan and work together. We can and we must reach zero traffic deaths in Philadelphia. Thank you. )
Good afternoon, Councilmembers. First of all, I just want to thank you for the excellent discussion that has already happened at this hearing. It's been very informative, so thank you for your time. My name is Jessie Amadio. I'm a member of Philly Bike Action. Philly Bike Action is a volunteer organization. Our mission is to make Philly a place where anybody of any age, race, income or ability can ride a bike in this city without fear of being hurt or killed by a driver. It's a mission that's intrinsically linked with Vision Zero. I think whether you walk or bike, our roads just feel kind of crazy. We've talked about that a lot today. It's just crazy out there and it's not just vibes. In the city every week 10 people are seriously killed or injured. Philly Bike Action advocates on the same principles that our friends at OTIS do, the City's kind of Complete Streets method. This is designing streets that protect the most vulnerable, so that's people walking. And the streets become inherently safer for people who are biking or driving. And we're not just talking speed bumps. We're talking intersection daylighting, curb extensions, raised crosswalks, traffic diverters, road diets and protected bike lanes. These are part of a broad toolkit of traffic calming that Vision Zero projects can offer. Unlike enforcement, these physical features can keep people safe hours a day no 14 matter how they're getting around. 15 These are capital investments. 16 This is the infrastructure that we 17 believe is like the quickest, best 18 way to change the way that our 19 roads are operating. 20 Good design accounts for 21 the fact that humans are imperfect. 22 It's really hard to change a 23 culture, but you can change a road. 24 And so, designs -- so if we have a road where people are getting hit again and again and again in the same spot, you have a design problem. And that's Philly's High Injury Network, right. So the Mayor's executive order specifically commits the City to implementing safety measures along the entire High Injury Network by 2030. So the High Injury Network is 300 miles long. And 2030 is five years away. All right. And unfortunately, I think that the City has missed opportunities to keep this commitment. For example, North 5th Street between Girard and Lehigh is on the High Injury Network. It was repaved last year with no major alterations. There's a few speed cushions there, but there's no 23 intersection daylighting, no lane rebalancing, no protective bike lane. It's sort of a wasted opportunity to fix a road that's not going to be repaved again for at least more years. 5 Failures to address the 6 High Injury Network as fast as 7 possible do have real world 8 consequences. Just last November, 9 Dominique Jones was killed while 10 riding his bicycle at the 11 intersection of two High Injury 12 Network roads in Strawberry Mansion. And we've talked already about how traffic violence is correlated to lower-income neighborhoods and how Philadelphians who are Black or Latino are more impacted, actually twice as likely to be hospitalized or killed. So there's no doubt in my mind that City Council, people at City Hall and MSB care deeply about this issue. It's very obvious to me that people do really take this seriously. The Mayor has committed to the City's Vision Zero goals. The staff at OTIS do excellent work with the resources that they have. And City Council has introduced a lot of important bills, especially ones that rectify policy, remove administrative barriers and authorize new projects. But I think we've sort of established that the demand to change the way our streets work is rapidly outpacing the budget to actually get it done fast enough to save people's lives. So pardon the pun here, but how can we move with the speed that this issue demands, right. What can we do, how do we set these milestones that Councilmember Landau is talking about or Councilmember Thomas.
Philly Bike Action would like to make some recommendations: First and most importantly, and I thank many of you for bringing this up today, we need to increase the budget for Vision Zero capital spending. Without adequate resources put forward to sort of rapidly roll out these infrastructure projects, people- focused streets and a protected bike network, the City is never going to be able to deliver on the promise of reducing traffic fatalities or meet constituent demand for traffic calming. There's thousands of traffic calming requests in 311 right now. Number two, mandate safety improvements for every street when it's repaved, especially the High Injury Network. The posters that are in front of me just show the High Injury Network overlaid with roads that are going to be repaved in the next five years. Do not let these roads get repaved exactly the way that they are now. When a road is getting repaved, make it safer. Install physical corner clearances at every intersection. It's the easiest way to ensure intersection visibility, and this daylighting method as Hoboken was able to achieve zero traffic deaths for seven years straight. That's how they did it, intersection visibility. And it's an affordable option of all of the things in our toolkit. Number three, increase coordination with PennDOT. You'll realize if you start looking at this map that a lot of the roads on the High Injury Network are also state-owned roads, so the City has to work with PennDOT to work on them. The City should ask PennDOT to publish for every project the impact of vehicle miles traveled and how the project is going to impact the City's Vision Zero goals. Projects without sufficient safety improvements or that increase vehicle miles traveled should be opposed. And I think that the elected officials here have a role where they could lend their voice to support OTIS in the negotiations that are happening with PennDOT. I know that OTIS often has plans that we would consider to be a safer, a better plan, but they have to work with the state agency which can be hard. So I implore elected officials to do what they can to support OTIS when we're pushing for safer designs. Number four, repeal the 2012 law that requires Council ordinance to add a bike lane where our travel or parking lane would be changed. I just think that we should be empowering OTIS to make evidence-based design decisions without political red tape that jeopardizes the safety of people who walk and bike. The professionals at OTIS conduct community input, they coordinate with stakeholders and they prioritize high-impact projects. I believe that they're doing a great job and we should put these decisions in the hands of experts who are working with communities. Requiring legislative amendments to the traffic code just to make data-driven changes delays our progress and our mobility goals. And it's frankly fairly unique. There are not -- maybe Chicago is the only other city in the states that have a rule like this on the books. Lastly, I just want to say I think -- and actually I feel like I've witnessed it today already. The Mayor and all members of City Council must become advocates for safety. Look proactively at dangerous roads in your district and say what can I do to fix this. See a paving coming up and say is something getting done, let me make sure it happens. Champion the City's plans like the pedestrian and bike plan that was mentioned that would bring a bike lane within a certain number of feet to every resident in Philadelphia. That's 400 miles of bike lane. And I think we're presently around 100, so there's a lot more to go just on that one plan or the Vision Zero Capital Plan which OTIS has put together a wonderful toolkit of 10 priority intersections, 10 priority of High Injury Network roads with the cost of exactly what it would take to bring these safety changes. By my count, only of 6 the 10 intersections -- no, I take 7 that back, only 2.
So there are 8 8 intersections that have no progress as far as the public can see or on the ground. So that's been out for a few years, since 2020 I think. So my point is -- I'm kind of off-script now. So I'm just going to wrap up. There is a lot of awesome projects and OTIS is working on a lot of awesome projects, but we can't do them without the money to buy the materials and pay the labor and put it in the ground basically. You want to put the concrete on the ground and it's going to take a while, but it is proven to be possible. Hoboken has done it. It doesn't have to take decades, and it's entirely within the power of our local government to get it done. So I really do believe that we can do this if we all prioritize Vision Zero. Thank you. )
I want to say thank you to this amazing panel. First of all, thank you for taking the time to even come down here, listen to what was discussed between members of this Committee and the Administration, and then of course offering your expertise. It is very much appreciated. I do want to allow members of the Committee to ask questions so I'm going to be brief. One thing that was discussed was the work around curbside extensions. So what are the merits of daylighting and other interventions that can increase intersection visibility? Anybody on the panel that wants to answer, that would be appreciated.
Sure. Happy to respond to that. Thank you for the question, Councilman Thomas. Main things that daylighting do, they increase visibility. So extending the curbs, generally preventing a car from blocking at the end of a block. That also reduces the turn radius of a car so they go slower when they take a right or left turn and then it's a shorter crossing distance for pedestrians. That said, just to kind of add another point, another layer about the intersection between infrastructure and enforcement, they don't work if people park on them, and you'll frequently see in Philadelphia some of them that the City has invested quite a bit of money into putting the curb extensions in place will be regularly parked on. So it's not just the infrastructure, a combination infrastructure and keeping them clear of vehicles.
I'd just love to add a quick point. That's a really, really good thing to bring up. Some cities have had a lot of success just plopping a large crash-rated planter in the middle of the daylighted bump-out, if it's just painted so that it's a lot harder to pull a car in where a flex post or a low curb could be driven on top of.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just one question. I guess it's more aimed toward Ms. Dowd-Eisenhower of AARP. Do you know if the City takes the consideration, I guess the timing that it takes for the average senior to cross the street when they have their signal timing and things like that? Do you know what factors are taken into consideration with that?
I don't. I don't know what the City takes into account. I do know that when we've talked to officials here and around the state about changing timing of lights, we've been advised that it's not always just a simple thing. Not all lights are computerized and can be changed easily. But we do know that if we extend the time to cross the street and a crosswalk, it's safer for older pedestrians, and I would also argue it's safer for people with a stroller, someone who might have a disability, and it slows them down. So I'm happy to get you more information on that, how long should the crossing be. What we know now is that there's not enough time to cross the street for most people to do it safely, particularly older people.
Chair recognizes Councilmember Phillips, followed by Councilmember Landau.
I just want to say thank you so much for all your testimonies today. I did learn something from each of you. And I'm really touched by the testimony about Dr. Barbara. And I just think about the fact that how is it possible for someone to drive over a bike lane with things that are literally and -- that bottles is dropping on the sidewalk in my mind, like you just decided to just do whatever you want to do. But just want to say thank you and wishing you all Godspeed as we go forward here. All right. Thank you.
Thank you, colleague. Chair recognizes Councilmember Landau.
Yeah. I wanted to echo the thanks for all of you as well, especially telling us Dr. Barbara's story is awful. We should not have people who are getting repeated DUIs continuing to drive, so we should also say that. I have a question. I have another idea I'd like to throw out to any one of you guys who would like to pick it up. But to Professor Erick Guerra, you talked a lot about your background and your testimony but not as much about solutions. So can you talk about any infrastructure improvements that you would recommend, including any low-hanging fruit that the City could do quickly and easily?
Sure. I'd be very, very happy to discuss. One of the areas where I think the City is doing a good job is on automated enforcement that has the added benefit of raising revenues. I wish all of it went to Philadelphia, but adding revenues that can be used to invest in safety infrastructure. I think curb extensions, daylighting, that's a terrific investment. I think another area where the City could really improve and make safety a priority is in keeping sidewalks clear. It doesn't matter how many sidewalks you have if they're closed for construction, whether it's the City, SEPTA, a resident. It's really common to even see both sides of sidewalks closed on a number of streets. Parking on crosswalks, particularly dangerous and difficult for people with strollers or in chairs. And I think that's an area where really targeted enforcement can play a role in keeping those clear, and ideally fund some of the types of investments that can be made to improve other infrastructures. But as was said earlier, a city that's safe for pedestrians is safer for everyone. Most fatalities in Philadelphia are drivers followed by pedestrians, and you keep the most vulnerable road users safe and you keep everyone safe. So I certainly recommend prioritizing sidewalk clearances, where possible narrowing infrastructure. Speed is always -- almost always a factor in a fatality. There are instances where a vehicle is large enough and can pull someone into the tire. But for the most part, most traffic fatalities and serious injuries involve speed. And so, think about Roosevelt Boulevard. The speed cameras go off on parts of it at 55 miles per hour. Your chances of surviving a crash at 50 miles, 55 miles per hour as a pedestrian are almost 0. And if you're older or a young child, particularly if you're lower, your center of gravity is lower, your probability of surviving that crash is extremely low. So trying to keep speeds below 30 miles per hour, miles 5 per hour in more parts of the city 6 and keeping sidewalks clear are two 7 of the things that I think the City 8 could focus on more. 9
10 Can I add something to that. I 11 think all those recommendations are 12 great. I think everything 13 everybody has said today is great. 14 But I think the one point that you 15 started with was the speed cameras 16 and fines. We need to find a way 17 to pay for this. We met with 18 Councilmember Squilla the other 19 day, and he reminded us how are you 20 going to pay for it, have a 21 dedicated source. Is there a way 22 to look at the revenues raised at 23 the speed camera point to use that 24 for some Vision Zero work. I don't know the answer to that, but I just want to put that out there.
Let me jump in because this has turned a different way. We're supposed to ask you all the questions, but let me just provide a little bit of clarity. So based on the advocacy work that we've done for some time, one of the things that we felt like did have a significant impact on traffic calming was the cameras on Roosevelt Boulevard. So in the midst of recognizing that being something that worked, you would want to replicate it. The reality is that state law does not allow local municipalities and counties to determine when and where you can have speed cameras. The new speed cameras that's coming to the city of Philadelphia is based on legislation that came out of Harrisburg that gave us an acting ability to identify -- how many roads?
Five roads that we could pick in the city of Philadelphia where we can now add speed cameras. I know one is Broad Street. I don't think we've identified all five of them yet. But in order to put it -- Councilmember, you want to --
Point of information. So they have identified a few. So Broad Street, Route 611, Route 13 and I believe it's one more they've identified.
Yep. If you want to come on up, that will help us. And we're not following the traditional structure. So I want to go ahead and apologize to the Tech team and anybody else in Legal that might be mad at me for this. But it's important that people recognize that we do want to see more technology be used for traffic calming. But as our own local county, our own municipality, we're limited in what we are allowed to do or not do. We have to get permission from the state. Another thing that we've been advocating for -- because we fought to get those cameras. Another thing we've been fighting for is the technology to be able to assess speeding tickets right away. Not the cameras, right. But I'm bad with the technology stuff, but there's technology out there that allows you to catch someone speeding right when they ride by you. Technically, we're not allowed to use that in local roads. You can only use it for state police and state highway. I'll allow you to clean up some of the mess I just made.
No, no, that was all very accurate. And Councilmember Young also, the exact two that have been approved are Route and Broad Street. We have 12 a report out that we put out, I 13 think, in June of last year that listed Route 216 which is Allegheny as well as Route 3 which is Chestnut and Walnut and Route 291 which is kind of Bartram over the Penrose Bridge into South Philly. Those were the next three that kind of ranked the highest on that evaluation. We are looking at additional data. So while we're still kind of rolling the cameras out on those first two corridors, we want to make sure that since we only have five, that we've definitely got the top five going forward. The only other thing I wanted to quickly add is that the state legislation does dictate that all revenue from that program, after paying just basic expenses, goes to a state transportation fund that you have to apply for, but it is dedicated to traffic safety projects.
Thank you. I'm going down a different path now. So can you stay with us? State your name for the record again one more time.
Chair recognizes Councilmember -- we were on Councilmember Landau. So let's go back to Councilmember Landau.
I'm going to hold my -- I'm good. We'll talk offline about my idea. It's going to be good.
We know it. You can see the energy. Chair recognizes Councilmember Phillips.
And I just want to say that we're going to need all of your help to help residents in the city of Philadelphia who, one, they do understand that we need to do something with the traffic and the speed, but there is also a large contingency of residents who are concerned about, well, how is it going to impact traffic, and in their mind it's going to create congestion. And I don't know if -- I haven't heard from any of your testimonies, right, about how this doesn't create congestion. And I think that narrative needs to be told as well, because right now you're telling us how to save lives, which is the most important thing, but then also we need to be able to be informed enough to tell our residents that this also won't cause traffic as well.
I would actually, yeah. I think that that's a great point. I didn't want to talk about it because I'm sure that the professionals at Vision Zero know the studies better. But I know Philly Bike Action would love to work with all of your offices to find those talking points. Because the thing is there's lots of studies, international studies, local studies, Philadelphia studies that show that these things that we're talking about don't impact congestion and can actually improve it in certain cases and also parking demand, like all the stuff that people complain about, a lot of these things can actually address. But it's hard to prove it to people if it doesn't exist in your city yet and it's a study or a statistic. And so, that's always going to be hard to convey numbers to people in a way that's meaningful. But I totally agree that working together with community groups that you already know in your neighborhoods to try to find the trusted messengers to share that story, I think we could do a lot of education in that way.
Thank you, Councilmember, and thank you for the gesture. And I would ask that everybody who's a part of today's conversation, even the folks who haven't had the opportunity to speak who clearly care about this issue, we ask that you continue to work in coordination with the members of Council. Clearly, we have an appetite for it. But at the end of the day, it's no point in doing all that research and having all these experts and lived experiences and not share that information with us because you all are the people we work for and you drive our agendas, and you're the folks who we are fighting for and advocating for. So thank you, Councilmember Phillips, for that spirit. Councilmember Landau, thank you so much for your line of questioning and your advocacy overall. I know this is an issue that you truly care about and I appreciate this panel. Mr. Clerk is going to call our last panel. After this panel, we're going to open it up for public comment. Colleagues, I'm going to ask that we don't ask this panel any questions unless it's a dying issue -- I shouldn't use that word. I'm sorry. Don't ask this panel any questions unless it's an issue that you feel like is really pressing that must be presented to this panel because I want to allow this panel to communicate the stories that they want us to hear. And then I want to open it up to public comment and allow the people who've been waiting for over an hour, some two hours, to be able to have their platform to advocate for what they want to advocate for. Mr. Clerk, can you take it away.
Yes, Mr. Chair. Could we hear from Nicole Brunet, Policy Director for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia; Reverend Stephanie Evans and Ms. Narita Jones-Pugh. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
So just so you know what we're asking is we want to set it up so for those of us that's in here we can see it, but this is livestream. So when you livestream it, putting it over there or putting it on the floor. People who aren't here right now, somebody might look at this two weeks or two years from now and we want them to be able to see all the esthetics that's coming with your testimony. So just give us a couple seconds to be able to figure out how can we put something there to allow the images to be a part of your testimony. Also for those who signed up for public comment, immediately following this panel we're going to open it up for public comment. We're going to ask that you kind of be as efficient as possible as it relates to your comments during public comment. We don't want to really put it -- we don't really want to limit what people have to say. But at the same time, we want to respect the time constraints and respect the tech staff who's been working this hearing. So just give us a minute or so and we'll be able to put them up. All right. You may state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony. Yep, it's in the shot. You're good to go. We'll fix it. Fix that for her. Go ahead. You can start your testimony. State your name for the record.
My name is Reverend Stephanie Evans. I want to thank Chairman Thomas, Vice-Chair Landau and Councilmembers Lozada, Phillips, Squilla and Young of the Legislation Oversight Committee for scheduling this hearing on the Vision Zero program. I'm here because I am the mother of Robert Evans, III and a member of Families of Safe Streets and the Bicycle Coalition. This is my fifth year coming before City Council in reference to safe streets. Today, I really want you to see my pain, hear my pain, listen to my pain and change my pain. The Vision Zero program is important because my son Robert is one of the thousands killed since 2016. m. outside of the 35th Police District at Broad and Champlost Streets. It's been five years since that crash and I am still going to court. The next court date is March 21, 2025. Robert stepped out of his vehicle to get something to eat. Unfortunately, Tyree Evans, not related, happened to be speeding down Broad Street under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Robert went feet in the air. And 4 when he landed, he died instantly. 5 After the crash, Tyree 6 had the audacity to Google vehicular homicide while sitting in his car on Vernon Road. The police confiscated the vehicle within a week. He has been out on bail since 2020 on $250,000. Profoundly, I do understand it's a constitutional right to the best defense, in this case lawyer Michael Coard. However, Tyree is guilty of murdering my son Robert by vehicular homicide. The detectives went to arrest Tyree, but he was informed that they had to prove he was driving the vehicle. Undeniable evidence has emerged. Now unbeknownst to us, Robert was taken to the morgue because his remains were damaged beyond repair. The mortician wanted to close the casket. However, I refused. I wanted everyone to see and feel what vehicular homicide looked like. To add insult to injury, the City morgue was so crowded they didn't have time to look for my son's remains. We located my son's body several days later after going to different hospitals within the community. Robert was a son, a brother, a uncle, a friend who worked diligently to provide for his family. He had just asked his fiancรฉe to marry him that Thursday and he died that Sunday. He was not a hockey player, he was not a state trooper, but he was my son and he was somebody. My prayer and hope are that no other mother will have to experience the fatality of losing a child to vehicular homicide. And I keep saying vehicular homicide because people say it's an accident. There's no accident when you get behind the wheel of a car and you're under the influence. It's not an accident. It's a crash. And the audacity not to stop to see if he was still alive. I'm here to advocate today to appeal to your civic duties. And I want to remind you I got involved through -- God bless Captain Mark Overwise who got me involved in this. Because when my son died, I've investigated like what happened with the lights, the infrastructure was outdated. I'm appealing to City Council once again to increase funding for traffic calming, speed bumps, daylighting, bicycle lanes and better roads and also to address the issues of the -- I don't know if you all have any power over the court system, but all the postponements for five years doesn't make sense to me. Every time I go to court I have to revisit the pain. Every time I've come before City Council I have to revisit the pain. Every time I go to Harrisburg I have to revisit the pain. Every time I go to Washington I have to revisit the pain because I don't have closure on the court system. I also want to see you improve the light and speed cameras. And I want to thank you all for just advocating and improving what you have thus far. I know this is a journey and I understand that it's a lot of bureaucracy, it's a lot of meetings. However, I still believe in a sister and brotherly love and sisterly affection.
I want to advocate for protecting bike lanes on a state level, legalize adding safe bike lanes to more state roads. We need crossing guards, longer pedestrian crossings, traffic cops to slow everything down. And I'm coming to a close. I still believe in the democracy of the city of Philadelphia. Let us work together and continue to create love and legislation to prevent more fatalities. Philadelphia is the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection. Let us continue to work together for safer streets. After all we're better together, whether it's City Council, community, PennDOT, the Streets Department, the Parking Authority, the Bicycle Coalition, Families for Safe Streets and so many more. I want a special thank you to Mark Overwise and his staff. I want a special thank you to Mayor Cherelle Parker and City Council for signing legislation thus far. 's Office. I want to thank Councilman Isaiah Thomas, who when this first happened he began to advocate for safer streets and also Vision Zero. So that's my story. I pray that you hear my pain and listen to my pain and that you see it. I pray that no one else has to experience this. Thank you for the speed bumps and the lights and the cameras on Broad Street. I live off of Roosevelt Boulevard. The last five years I've seen five accidents personally myself where three trucks actually flipped over. I believe that it is working, but we have to work together because I do believe we're better together. )
Good afternoon, and actually right now good evening. And I appreciate Council seeing us and listening to us and allowing us to be here. My name is Narita Jones-Pugh and my family has been impacted by traffic violence. My son Nyier Cunningham, this is my son right here, was 28 years old when he was struck and killed by a tow truck driver while riding his bike. Nyier was two blocks away from home. I live off of 52nd Street. He got killed on 52nd and Wyalusing. I'm on Thompson. That's right near there. The date was July 22, 2022. He was left to die while the driver fled the scene. Nyier was a musician. He was a martial artist who was also an instructor of both of those. He was a father of two, he was a son, a brother and a friend who was well-loved by many here in Philadelphia and beyond. He was amazing to a lot of people in the community. He was unique. He was thoughtful and gracious to many people. My opinion is terrible as everybody else's. I won't see my son again. It's sad to keep hearing every time you turn on the news somebody keeps getting hit. It almost seems like we can't go a week. And I don't think that I'm exaggerating. So that's all my sad stuff because it's many, it's a lot. But my ask for Vision Zero and Council and the City is for resource-sharing and exposure that many people have asked today. When we came last -- when was that, September, August when we met with Council President -- we talked about messaging, signage. I'm not all over the city so I don't know if it's begun somewhere else and it's changed. But when we do put new traffic patterns up, some signage and messaging would be helpful. Again, I live in West Philly. A couple years ago by the School of the Future off of Parkside and Belmont, new infrastructure was set up for bicycles, a new circle that kind of goes around where the Please Touch Museum and all of that stuff is. Awesome sauce. However, not one notice to the people who drive. I drive. Not any notice to the people -- I don't know because I don't live specifically in that neighborhood but of course, I come out of the park off of Sweet Briar off the Drive, off Girard, off of all of those spots. You come there and you drive -- I'm a person who drives out of habit, which probably a lot of people in the city do. I didn't expect that to be there, that new infrastructure. If it's an evening, I can't see that. It needs to be yellow. To me yellow stands out. Yellow is annoying. Like Cobb's Creek, Cobb's Creek threw up the stuff, the orange and the yellow, and it's like you can't go a couple of feet without those speed bumps coming so you have to slow down. All of those things matter. They are very annoying to people because they're flying, but they are useful, very helpful. And if we could get some of -- not some, a lot of that around the city letting us know that, hey, there's a project coming up. Stop telling -- not stop. Maybe not let people know something one time. People have short attention spans here which we all know. If it's not online, they don't know about it. If you don't come out into the neighborhoods and tell people, we definitely won't know. So when you go to -- the Vision Zero's program is listed on the City of Philadelphia's website. It's listed under programs and then under the Office of Transportation Infrastructure Systems, which I'm going to assume is OTIS, to those who are familiar with the numerous departments of our city government and how they work, it makes perfect sense. But to the average layman, it's a hidden program and unfamiliar department. If it's possible, even a limited time, the top banner on the front page of the City's website, it would be excellent exposure to guide interested individuals to Vision Zero's goals, their work and their objectives, especially in such annual moments like the World Day of Remembrance. It could be really highlighting that. And on that same note, a temporary front page tab or spotlight piece for those times as well would be helpful.
If we could just -- don't know how much that cost, what that takes to put out there but it is helpful because it's so tiny, the little hyperlinks. If you're not savvy with the Internet, you're messed up. I'd also like to ask is there any way to engage the public more. I'd like to see more flooding of info to all households. The same way that the alerts are sent out to all residents over our phones and also in the magnitude and urgencies as the flyers and leaflets that assail our homes when anybody's running for election, can't get away from those, but I can't get one piece of information about Vision Zero or any projects that's coming up, what the City has going on, any opportunities. Like you're asking people about the employment and all that, it's hard to know those things if nobody's telling you. Everybody's not on their phone all day. Everybody's not on the Internet. I'm asking lastly if we could advise neighborhoods where there are community centers -- and I know this was brought up, I believe Councilmember Young made mention somewhat to it -- but if they could advise neighborhoods where our community centers or rec centers and the parks about the urgency and the mission of Vision Zero. The neighbors sometimes feel like they have no say and what may be happening in their neighborhoods. Before folks converge to assemble for meetings, people get upset -- when we just did the World Day of Remembrance, we were at Carroll Park. Nice meeting, you know, a couple Councilmembers were there. Jamie and Representative Cephas and several other folks. There was a gentleman that was there walking his dog in the park. He was tripping. He was very upset that there was a large group in his park, in his neighborhood. To him, there had been no traffic fatalities. So we're there. You know, we got a group. Some of us have our shirts on. You know, we're mourning, we're healing. He was so upset that he just kept walking through the crowd back and forth to try to disrupt it because he was like, why are these people here, who are these people in our neighborhood. And just to keep it real, who are these people who don't live in our neighborhood, why are they here, why do they come to our neighborhoods when there's something going on and they don't tell anybody anything. They do something and then they're out. He was so upset that it was like he was about to be violent. I had to call my husband, a couple people -- like somebody up here tripping. The police was there, one cop sitting over on the side. He didn't really engage him because he didn't notice him. State Rep talked to him, and she got him down, brought him on down. State Rep -- Senator Williams was there also. But Senator Cephas, she talked him on down and then he went on home. He went and sat to the side and he's just sitting there like, you know, I don't know if he had some mental health issues, whatever. But the point was he was very upset. Something so minor as, hey, on Sunday there's going to be a thing here in the park. Even if nobody in this neighborhood died, we're still part of the city and we want to blah, blah, blah. He was like, this isn't -- that should be Morris Park, not Carroll Park. What difference does that make what park we're at when we're all here trying to honor people and trying to advise people to slow down and care about other people's family members. So that's what I got. Thank you.
Hello and good afternoon, everyone. I just want to shout out Chairperson Thomas. I see your J-Alert button. Jasmine and Ayesha couldn't be here today, but I know they sent some testimony. But I just appreciate you continuing to be a strong advocate for helping to reduce hit-and-runs. So thank you and also thank you to all the other Councilmembers that are here and Vice-Chair Landau. My name is Nicole Burnet. I'm the Policy Director for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, and I work with these amazing women right here with Families for Safe Streets. In 2015 we went to the candidate at the time, Jim Kenney, and requested his support of creating a Vision Zero program in Philadelphia. In 2016 after he was elected, he signed an executive order to make Philadelphia a Vision Zero city. As we've talked about, that executive order included a goal of reaching zero fatalities by 2030 and setting a goal of 40 miles of high-quality bike lanes by the end of his term. Since the creation of the program, the City has created a robust Office of Transportation planners and bicycle pedestrian coordinators and expanded their work on Complete Streets and now has an Office of Multimodal Planning. Throughout Mayor Kenney's two terms, he advocated for a dedicated budget from the City for Vision Zero. Other budget lines came from automated speed and red light cameras. He also advocated for parking, protected bike lanes and more high-quality bike lanes that separate vehicles from bicycles with physical separation and slow streets that protect all road users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, people waiting for public transportation and drivers alike. 5. 5 to 1 million with other money being put elsewhere. Part of our recommendations have included basic road maintenance. I know this was already talked about so I'll go quickly. It's in the testimony you should have received. But the Streets Department has historically said that a state of good repair for our roads is to pave at least 131 miles each year. As Vice-Chair Landau mentioned, we've consistently been paving around 60 since 2019. We did hit 84, but it has gone down. But for more information, we haven't hit 131 miles since 2002, which can give you a sense of the state of repair of our roads. I say all this because basic road maintenance is a crucial part of road safety. It is crucial to make sure that there is equitable share of maintenance across all neighborhoods in the city. According to Councilmember Gauthier's Just Services Campaign, there's a clear correlation between road safety, gun violence and other quality-of-life concerns. And we often get emails, phone calls and complaints from neighbors outside of Center City, from North Philly, Southwest, West Philly not only complaining that they don't have traffic calming, but that they don't have lines on the roads. They don't have crosswalks. I have been working with Heritage CDC after Dominique Jones was killed at 25th and Diamond, and they had applied for a slow zone that would include that section of Strawberry Mansion, and they didn't get it. So when we talk about adding $5 million to this one budget line, that could have added a slow zone in that area. Mayor Parker's executive order set a goal of improvements on every mile of the High Injury Network. This has been mentioned as well. I want to know what those improvements look like. I want to know if they will put the safety of vulnerable road users over the speed of vehicles. And I ask that Council continue to advocate for the importance of increased funding for paving alongside, not instead of, Vision Zero budget so that improvements can be made as the roads are being paved and all in order to not only save on cost but to save lives. Another thing we can do is to empower the Streets Department and OTIS to repeal the Bike Lane ordinance passed in 2012 that added additional administrative barriers to building out the bike lane network.
I see this is very similar to Councilmember Phillips -- kudos to him for his bill -- that put the school traffic-calming bill to allow for more speed bumps around schools without having an ordinance 2 passed by Council. It gave Streets and OTIS the power to use the data they had and work directly with the communities and to build out the bike network. So it makes sense for the City, and it's not piecemeal which is another complaint we hear from people who ride bikes but also people who don't ride bikes. And something that is often lost in the conversation about traffic calming, we talk a lot about speed bumps. It's like one of the number one requests that the Streets Department receives from people all over the city. But bike lanes themselves are traffic calming. They shrink the size of the road which makes people go slower. You can add things like curb protection or planters and help with the turning radius and all the things that we just talked about. But being able to say bike lanes in the same conversation as speed bumps is important to educating our neighbors and showing them that these aren't -- these are solutions to our problems. And it's important when we're talking about changing drivers' behavior. Like I said, we're often met with this argument that bicyclists don't deserve protected spaces because they themselves don't observe the rules of the road. Despite countless examples of drivers running red lights, stop signs, making illegal right turns, speeding, passing bicyclists illegally, bicyclists continue to be made the bad guy. There are a set of infrastructure solutions that Council could advocate for to improve both bicyclists and driver behavior. And the number one solution is protected and separated bike lanes. When there is a safe place to ride, people ride there. When it's unsafe on the road, the cyclist will move illegally through cars to get in front of vehicles in order to make themselves visible. As someone who frequently rides throughout the city, I deal with constant harassment from drivers who don't abide by the law themselves. For example, in Pennsylvania bicyclists over the age of 12 have to ride on the road. If there is no bike lane or adequate shoulder, the cyclist has the right to ride in the middle of the street. There is also a 4-foot passing law. If there is not at least 4 feet of space between the driver and the bicyclist, the driver cannot pass. Many drivers will speed up or cut me off and less than a foot to spare while yelling at me to get off the road or get on the sidewalk. This is all being said -- like every person in this room I am also a pedestrian. I understand the frustrations of encountering people riding bikes on the sidewalks. If this is a concern of yours too, I implore you to support creating a new goal of building an additional 40 miles of bike lanes. Create a goal of daylighting intersections around the High Injury Network and help to advocate for legalization of parking protected bike lanes on state roads, something that is only allowed in a restrictive pilot in which we've already met the cap of. As you know, PennDOT owns state roads and ultimately decides how they will be improved. Consistently, state roads are some of the most dangerous in the city with more than 60 percent of all traffic fatalities occurring on them. Too often we are told that we can't make these roads safer. I've been in so many meetings where people have said we can't make Broad Street safer because people need to drive where they need to go, and these roads go through neighborhoods. They're not just roads to get onto highways. They run through our commercial corridors. And yet we're just supposed to get people through them. And it's incredibly frustrating to just hear over and over again that we can't do this. Like Parkside -- like 52nd Street, I think, is a state road. Also, there's so many -- like, yeah, there's so many roads. I was just out -- so Jayanna Powell's picture is up here.
We put out a memorial plaque last week. It's at the corner of 63rd and Lansdowne. These are two state roads. There's a school two blocks away. There's no crossing guard. There's a daycare center. It's impossible for me to get across the street by the time that the light changes. There's so much that PennDOT is not doing to improve our roads, and I want our Councilmembers to have conversations with them and advocate to make your District safer. I went a little off-script there. These run, like I said, through our districts, around our schools, rec centers, shopping corridors and more and they create serious hazards to residents, but specifically for residents in underserved neighborhoods who again don't have line striping, don't have basic sidewalks. This Vision Zero program can work and it has worked in cities all across the country, all across the world, but they won't work unless the City and state work together to seriously prioritize them through funding, community engagement and updated administrative processes. Thank you. )
Thank you for your testimony. We're going to move on to public comment so we can allow for other folks who have been waiting to communicate their story. Mr. Clerk, can you please call the -- Councilmember, did you --
I just have a quick comment. I'm sorry. I just want to agree with some of the panelists particularly on Parkside Avenue. We put the nice roundabouts in. You know, it slows traffic down. But when you look at those roundabouts, you see tire marks through the roundabouts because people don't know they're there, right, particularly at nighttime. And so, I do think signage as we are putting in place this new infrastructure changes, we have to make sure that the public knows that these changes are happening and occurring because everyone doesn't drive on those streets every single day so they just need to have notice. But Parkside Avenue, particularly through the park is where I drive every day because my son goes to school out there. So I see the changes that the roundabouts have created. It does slow traffic down. But if you're not aware of what's going on, you're going to roll right through it and cause even more damage.
And to those of you who shared the loss of your loved ones, we are so sorry. May their loss, may their memories be a blessing and a catalyst of change.
Thank you, colleagues, and I couldn't agree with you both any more. Mr. Wilcox, can you please call the first person to testify for public comment.
Yes, Mr. Chair. Could Steven Wigrizer. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
So while Steven is coming up, I do want to take a moment to commend similar to what Councilmember Landau said to the last panel. But I especially want to let folks know that I remember when Dr. Evans, Reverend Evans, went through what she went through. And when we talk about the success that we've had as it relates to technology, specifically a new truck that we were able to get for the police department, that is directly related to Reverend Evans, her advocacy, her persistence and her agreeing to be vulnerable and share her story with everybody. So for the folks who don't understand the importance of this, it is very important. It moves the needle. People's lived experiences often dictate how members advocate. And understand when you come down here, you testify, you share your story. It does matter. And Reverend Evans is a great example of how City dollars were able to be moved because she was willing to be vulnerable and fight the good fight. So with that being said, can you move on to the next person to testify. And thank you, Reverend Evans, and thank you as well. Thank you both. Thank all three of you for sharing your story and for being vulnerable. It does make a difference. I promise you it does. Who's next to testify?
Seeing that Steven Wigrizer is not here, could we hear from Rich Herskowitz -- oh, sorry. And could also Rich Herskowitz and Kim Williams go to the stand. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
So we're going to try to -- if you can try to -- yep. Thank you. Thank you. You got to start by stating your name for the record.
I will. Let me just make sure the microphone works. Thank you. My name is Steven Wigrizer. And this is Kim Williams; is that correct?
Okay, and Richard Herskowitz. Let me just briefly introduce myself. I'm a lifelong Philadelphian. I was born and raised in this city. I own a home on Pine Street west of Broad. I am a Board member on a nonprofit known as Friends of Pine and Spruce. I don't know if Council is familiar with this nonprofit. Along with the many people who have spoken here today, we are very concerned about public safety, including the safety of pedestrians and motorists and cyclists and motorcyclists. We are also focused on the rights of individuals who are homeowners along the Pine and Spruce Street corridors that run from river to river. And I am here today to comment upon some of the things that I've heard and some of the goals of our organization. Very interesting to me in listening to the comments of individuals who have expressed their views and told you about what their organizations and advocacy groups are doing. There has been reference to interaction between and among the various advocacy groups. There's been reference to interaction with City Council. There's been a lot of reference to interaction. But what you have not heard at all is interaction with the residents of the streets where protective measures are sought to be placed, along with the budget request to make that a financial possibility. And that is precisely why this nonprofit was started several months ago because the residents, the homeowners, those who have chosen to invest in the city of Philadelphia and who provide at least a part of the funding for programs like Vision Zero -- and I understand that there are federal funds available as well -- have felt ignored, have felt to be not part of this process. And we believe that all of the stakeholders need to be heard. And so, we ask that going forward we have a seat at the table, that our concerns be heard. Let me tell you what we have been told in the past. Many of our members were homeowners long before anyone knew what a bike lane was, right. When bike lanes were introduced, we were told that we would still be able to access our properties. We'd be able to pull over in the bike lanes. And some of you may remember the promise made by the two previous administrations that if we had our flashers on, we would be able to pull over in the bike lane, by the curb so that we could drop off our children or pick up our children. We could offload groceries and other supplies, right. We could pick up senior citizens, and we ourselves as senior citizens could easily go into our homes, and those of us who are disabled would have the ability to get into a car and exit a car in a safe manner, right, without having to stop in the middle of the street. These were promises made to us, which we have relied upon for a number of years, which is one reason that we have been relatively quiet until now. Those promises respectfully in our view were breached when this body passed an ordinance prohibiting stopping in bike zones. No exceptions, signed into law by our Mayor, right. We look at that as a very serious breach of trust. We look at that as a broken promise, right. And it impacts us every day. I went out on Pine Street where I live to get a sense as to who is stopping in the bike zones. And I submit to you that this ordinance is absolutely nonenforceable. And what it's going to do is lead to additional injuries and additional problems from all of the stakeholders. What do I mean by that? When I took a survey, I saw postal service trucks stopped in the bike zone. Are you going to ticket the federal government? Is that going to have any effect? I don't know that you can even do that under the Supremacy Clause, right, but I submit that creates problems. FedEx trucks every day parked in the bike zones. UPS trucks and City agencies. PGW, I had a gas leak in my house, right. Their truck needs to be at the curb right in the bike zone. I'm on the north side of Pine Street, right. They need access to the truck.
PECO trucks are there routinely, Water Department trucks. I've seen a vehicle from Licenses & Inspections and delivery trucks. We have businesses and we have restaurants and bodegas up and down spruce and Pine Street, right. They need supplies, right. And every once in a while a truck arrives and then leaves and another truck comes. But typically they come in mass, right. And they have to park in the bike zone, right.
Mr. Wigrizer, are the other members of the -- are you all going to sign up for public testimony as well? Are you speaking or are you speaking on behalf of everybody here?
I am speaking on my own behalf and as a Board member of FOPS, Friends of Pine and Spruce.
So at some point we're going to have to ask you to wrap up your testimony to allow us to give a platform to the other members of the board so they can have a couple minutes to speak --
You know what, let me point to one very important thing, right. When you advocate on behalf of a single interest, sometimes the proposals don't benefit from the input that was available by consultation with all stakeholders like the residents. Case in point, we've heard a number of people advocate for concrete barriers along the bike lanes. Now, I live on the west side of Pine Street, right. I'm not sure that Council is aware there are a number of homes on the -- I'm sorry, the north side of the block, right. There are a number of homes with garages, right. In order to access those garages, you have to travel east on Pine Street and then you have to turn left across the bike lane to get into those garages right now. I have been practicing law for 45 years. And by the way, I've been representing individuals who have been hurt and killed in the kinds of accidents that we have heard about today, and we are very sympathetic to their cause, right. And I think that the no-stopping zone issue creates significant Americans with Disability concerns and issues. But more importantly, it's clear to me that if you deny somebody access to their garage, that constitutes an unconstitutional and illegal taking of property, right. Bottom line is this: We have not been consulted by many of the advocacy groups here. Our opinion has not been heard, right. We don't want to see this resolved in the courts. We believe City Council has traditionally been a forum where differences of opinions can be heard, negotiations and discussions can take place. And we would certainly be amenable to discussions that foster a resolution of some of our issues under the guidance and auspices of this chamber. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to ask that you all limit your comments to about two minutes. Public comment is only supposed to be about two minutes. I understand that your organization didn't get an opportunity to communicate some of the concerns so I allowed you to go a little bit longer. And I understand and I hear your concerns and we will be committed to working together to figure out how we find some common ground around some of the solutions that you made. But let me just put one thing on the record for the public. We would not build a bike lane that prevents someone from getting in their home. That's not a thing. We're not going to do that so we don't have to really worry about that. All right. So that's not a problem. If you can state your name for the record, begin with your testimony and we still have to get to another couple people as well too.
So good afternoon. My name is Kim Williams. I'm also a supporter of Friends of Pine and Spruce, better known as FOPS. FOPS is a 501(c)(4) organization representing hundreds of residents who are outraged about what the City is doing and proposing for Pine and Spruce Streets. My wife and I have been residents of Center City for over years and we currently live in 9 Society Hill. I am a retired CEO 10 of a not-for-profit organization 11 that develops, owns and operates 12 senior living communities in the 13 Philadelphia area. FOPS supports 14 the concept of Vision Zero, but we 15 believe that the City has strayed 16 from its actual mission, and City 17 Council oversight is greatly 18 needed. 19 Please allow me to 20 explain. In the City's publications about Vision Zero over the years, the City has consistently stated its policy of focusing its resources on the High Injury Network or the percent of streets in Philadelphia that account for 80 percent of the traffic-related deaths and serious injuries. As the City states in its Vision Zero 2024 annual report on .1 and I quote, "Focus should be on the High Injury Network where safety improvements are most needed. If you want to save the most people, you go to where most of the harm is occurring." And FOPS strongly supports that policy. But it is wrong, and I repeat wrong, to spend City resources on Pine and Spruce in Society Hill. In my neighborhood Society Hill, there is no part of any street that is on the High Injury Network. Yet the City spends a great amount of resources there, and that is wrong. That is not saving any lives, let alone the most lives. And it is making safety in Philadelphia less equitable. For the City to spend its finite resources on blocks that are not on the High Injury Network, on blocks like ours in Society Hills that are relatively safe, means that you're depriving the communities who actually have the most dangerous streets. You're denying the areas that need the resources the most. This misallocation of resources causes harm. By diverting money away from the most dangerous streets, you are allowing unnecessary deaths and serious injuries on those streets. City Council should provide oversight on this and we, therefore, support the pending resolution. We implore you to have OTIS follow the City's stated policies. Thank you.
Members of Council and staff, thank you for allowing us to speak today. And also, I've learned a lot from the other people who have spoken before us and I see that we have much more in common than separate us, and I think you see it also. And I was very happy to hear you, Councilman Thomas, say that you're not trying to take away our access. Because as of now, in my opinion, it's illegal for the City to remove the access to my --
I'm sorry. I thought you were going to do it. You got to state your name for the record.
Oh, I'm sorry. Richard Herskowitz. I'm an architect and a planner in Philadelphia, okay, also a member of FOPS. The result of the no-stopping and proposed barriers when elderly people like myself, my wife was handicapped, the young family up the street who need to load their baby, my access to Uber, the unloading of groceries right in front of my house, all which make it unsafe or impossible if they were not allowed to stop there, especially if they put in more barriers -- especially if they put in concrete barriers it'll be impossible. The streets will be gridlocked, et cetera, et cetera, so he said it all. Mayor Nutter promised in writing that we would have 20-minute loading. That was in 2009. In 2018 they shifted the bike lane to the south side of Spruce, and that promise was repeated by Mayor Kenney's administration and by Councilman Squilla, who's not here right now, okay, and it was in writing. It's not legal for you to break those mandates. And I think almost you're saying you agree that we should be able to have access there. We're not trying to take the street over, but we don't want other people to take our street away from us, period. It's time to give a little bit more priority to the safety of the residents because we're the residents, and we have a hard time getting to where we need to get to. That's all. We can't put a wheelchair in. We can't get a wheelchair out if we're in the middle of the street and there's a bike lane there. We agree. And let me just say, as an architect it's a 26-foot street. That's from curb to curb. That's one parking lane, one driving lane, a protection lane and a bike lane. There's not enough room to do it all. Mike Carroll agrees we can't have it. We need feet more. 4 And for 342 years, we haven't had 5 that extra 10 feet. It's the Old 6 City that we're dealing with, and 7 that's what we have. 8 There are other options 9 which we have not talked about, one 10 of which is a very important one, which is that City Council, Mayor Parker, Mr. Carroll who is very (inaudible) to this, could create more public awareness by demanding that the main TV stations start a public advocacy campaign for all of what we're talking about today. In other words, how do you control these cars. They want to do it with physical barriers. You want to do it with lights, you want to do it with that. But you could do it in another way, which is to say get them together and utilize the media, show what's wrong today, how it could be improved and how the improvement works. For instance, that accident on Frankford Avenue where a poor man was killed, a bicyclist was killed by somebody at night on a rainy night. It turned out that he didn't have his lights on. It would be nice if the stations would be saying, what happened in that accident, what was the reason for it and how we could improve it. That kind of public activity, it doesn't cost the thing for the city. It takes a certain attitude by the Council and by the Mayor and by OTIS to get with the TV stations and give them a job to teach and educate. Education will work. Okay. The city is -- he's already said the High Injury. Okay. So the other piece of this is that Council should mandate safe operating equipment for the pedal bikes, ebikes and escooters. There is no legislation for these things in the state or the city. We need more of that. There is no reason these vehicles are not licensed and required to have front and rear lights, bells, rearview mirrors and side reflectors and follow traffic laws. I've done that. I rode for 40 years in the city. I had all those things. I was never hit. I never had an accident. I think that's important. The other thing is I met with the City Streets Department about lighting. There is a need, a great need, for lighting at intersections. You heard it by all these other people. It's $10,000 a pole. They're trying wherever they can with the 5G network antennas that they're putting at corners to get them to put lights in.
But we need more light at intersections. We need to have pedestrians lit there. And I think that's it. The other one piece is that the City really has no traffic plan for the increased gridlock that a lot of these bike lanes can create, and we need comprehensive planning. I'm old enough to remember when we had comprehensive planning, and we don't have it today. Thank you very much.
Thank you. We appreciate it, and we'll be sure to follow up with the organization as we go into budget negotiations so we can hear your concerns. No one should come before City Council and say nobody talked to us. That's 100 percent not right. So we'll make sure that we follow up and have that dialogue and continue to talk about what we need to do to make sure that Philadelphians are safe. So thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, can you please call the next panel to come testify -- I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Mr. Clerk, please call the next witness to come provide public comment.
Yes. Could Jay Borowski, Matthew Jones, Peter Furth and Jonathan Kraus, please come to the stand. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
So if everybody can try your best to condense your public comment today. You all are the last four people, so we want to try to be as efficient as possible and have a little sensitivity for our Tech team as well as our Chief Clerk -- I mean, our Chief Clerks and our Sergeant-at-Arms. Whoever wants to go first, just start with your name and proceed with your testimony.
Sure. Some of my thunder was stolen by one of the prior speakers so that'll shorten my bit.
Oh, I was saying somebody stole my thunder and much of what I was going to say, so you're lucky on the time issue.
Thank you, Councilmembers, for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Jay Borowski. I am a long- time resident of Society Hill and also a bicycle commuter on Spruce and Pine for over years. I'm here to express my deep concern regarding OTIS, either recent or soon-to-be planned proposal to seek an additional $5 million to install a physical barrier on Spruce and Pine through Center City. This expenditure strays from the core principles and values of the Vision Zero plan and disregards the voices of the local community. Without going into too much detail, OTIS without any participation from the neighbors affected on Spruce and Pine decided that they were going to recommend the installation of a physical barrier throughout Center City on Spruce and Pine. The current proposal, because it diverges from going after the High Injury Network, because as it was already stated the roads in Society Hill are not on the High Injury Network. They never have been to date. And what I'd like to introduce on the record, if possible, is a letter from Jim Kenney that was written during his tenure to the then head of the Bicycle Coalition, because I think the principles that he espoused in there when referencing their request for a protected bike lane, strikes the core of what's going on here with respect to Society Hill.
Sir, I'm sorry. You're not going to read the whole letter, are you?
Just snippets, but I would like to at least introduce it in the record.
He said in terms of responding to the Bicycle Coalition, too often residents are pitted against bike lane supporters. That's precisely what's happened here with OTIS. They came to the community saying that they're going to recommend the installation of a physical barrier on Spruce and Pine without any input whatsoever from the neighbors, anyone who's affected by this. Only now they're engaging with the neighbors, but they've already made up their mind. There's been no dialogue here. There's no imposition of other viewpoints. For example, I'm a bicyclist. I actually think that installing on those particular roads a physical barrier creates greater dangers for me as a bicyclist than not having one at all. But they are not listening to anyone else's perspective and they're not welcoming it. In addition to that, this, the installation here almost assures that money is going to be diverted that should be spent in the High Injury Network. I happen to agree with what was said by the Bicycle Coalition as well as the Philly Bike advocacy when they were testifying earlier, money should be spent on the High Injury Network. Yet OTIS has decided on its own violating the tenets of the High Injury Network and the Vision Zero program to divert money that they're going to be requesting to be spent in areas that are not on the High Injury Network and don't pose a danger to the community, and as a result that will be millions of dollars that could be otherwise spent on the High Injury Network preventing deaths, known deaths, because the whole point of the High Injury Network was to identify those areas that are likely to lead to injury and potential death. What I'm requesting here is that this Committee in its oversight capacity review what's going on with OTIS and why they're deviating from the responsibilities, the priorities of the High Injury Network and the Vision Zero program to install physical barriers in areas of the city that are not on the High Injury Network. And --
So what we'll do -- we hear you on public comment. We'll get a statement from OTIS to explain why did they choose this area and what the thought process was behind it, and we'll be sure to share with the community, the organizations and the District Councilperson who is Councilmember Squilla and Council President Johnson. Is that good enough?
Thank you very much. We'll get that to you as soon as possible. Can you just leave your name and information and we'll get that, we'll make sure you get that. State your name for the record.
My name is Jonathan Kraus. I live in South Philadelphia in Councilmember Squilla's District. People don't need a bike or a car or a bus. People simply need a mode of transportation. And our design environment dictates how people choose to get around. People deserve to choose their mode of transportation and not fear for their safety. Vision Zero funds infrastructure that saves lives, making narrow streets where people inherently drive slowly, adding bump-outs to shorten pedestrian crossing distances, adding concrete to bike lanes to protect vulnerable road users. Vision Zero understands that people are people and we make mistakes. But the program drives us to design an environment where when people do make mistakes, they are not fatal. A safe network doesn't let people die because someone is driving while tired or distracted or drunk. My safety and mortality should not depend on the politeness, the attentiveness or the sobriety of others. It should be guaranteed by the infrastructure that we choose to design. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments. Thank you for your testimony and thank you for your patience, sir. Very much appreciated.
Well, first I'd like to say very well said. I love your speech, absolutely. So my name is Matthew Jones. I am a resident of City Council District 5, specifically on Arch Street and Broad Street, so making me your neighbors, neighbors of the City Council itself. I'm also a frequent user of the Spruce, Pine and 13th Street bike lanes. I use them all the time because a bicycle, particularly an ebike or scooter, depending on what I'm feeling like, are my main mode of transportation. I sold my car when I moved to the city last March of last year as a method of reaching my financial goals, of paying off my student loans and buying my first property, which I plan to buy in the city of Philadelphia. I am a future Philadelphia homeowner. And so, being able to get around the city without having to spend thousands of dollars on a car has granted me more financial security than I have had since the beginning of the pandemic. On top of the financial benefits, swapping my car for an ebike has saved me enormous amount of time getting around the city. Due to Philadelphia's layout and density, it is far more convenient to get around the city, get groceries, do whatever I need to do on an ebike or a scooter or a cargo bike, which can load groceries just as well as any car. Unless you plan to bulldoze the entire city, which tragically happened to so many American cities, that's why I love Philadelphia because it's one of the few cities that largely survives in this pre-war state, it's never going to be more convenient to use a car than it would be a scooter or just simply walk or use public transportation. People often times have a misconception that biking is just a hobby or a form of exercise when it's so much more than that. It's a practical way to get around density and can be a great financial relief for many of our low-income residents. But just because it's the most convenient way doesn't mean it's the most safe currently, as I found out last Wednesday when I was hit by a car on 15th and JFK. Now, luckily the car stopped just in time leaving me only with a very bad bruise and a bad cut on my right leg. But if he had not stopped and hit the brakes just one or two seconds later, I'd be either in the hospital or dead or on one of those signs in front of your desk. And so, that is what made me come here because it made me realize how badly the City needs to design safe infrastructure. We cannot rely, as the previous speaker said, on the politeness of drivers. Because if they can get away with it, they will. And that's why I'm asking the City Council to fully invest in Vision Zero, the full $5 million project. And not only to add concrete barriers to the Spruce and Pine Streets, but to add more of those concrete barriers. I was just in Washington, D.C. last week, and I am envious of how much they have done. It doesn't even have to be very something very obstructive. It can be just little concrete pillars or if the residents are concerned with their access to their garage, we can build a little gap for them to access that. And just having those two pillars there not blocking their garage would do so much to block cars if there's a drunk driver on the road or anything like that. So that's really all I have to say, and thank you for letting me speak.
Thank you for your advocacy and thank you for your patience. Very much appreciate it.
Last but not least hopefully. Hi. My name is Peter Furth. I am a resident of Councilman Squilla's District. In 1983 I was a young engineer working for a chemical company in Southeastern Pennsylvania in the Corporate Safety Department. And my job was to calculate the probabilities of an uncontrolled release better known as an explosion, and not only that but what the probability of that explosion or those explosions had or what the probabilities were that they would potentially kill somebody. And then on top of that, we layered in if the probability was too high what could we engineer into the system to reduce that probability. And on top of that was the financial aspect of it, was that a good financial return. So if the remediation cost more than saving a life, they wouldn't necessarily do it. They would try to figure out a different way to do that. So in order to do that, I had to ask my boss back then what's the value of a human life. In order to do this calculation, I have to know what am I calculating against. And he said, oh, our number is $6.7 million. This was 1983. So anyway, the important thing is if you take that $6.7 million in 1983 and adjust it for inflation, that's about $20 million today. I don't think any of the families of the loved ones that we see here would trade $20 million for their loved one. But if we take the numbers that we heard today, that 120 people are killed in Philadelphia every year, we have 100 projects in the pipelines to make things safer and we just bumped out the goal of having zero fatalities of 2050, why are we only talking about $5 million in this. We should be talking about a whole lot more. The return on investment to our society for every life we save is at least $20 million. That's all I have to say. Thank you. (Applause.)
If you don't mind me saying, well worth the wait, sir. Thank you very much. Very much appreciate it. There being no further questions from members of the Committee and no other witnesses to testify, I ask is there anyone else present in the hearing whose name we failed to call and that wishes to offer some type of comment on today's resolution being considered? (No response.)
Hearing none, I want to say thank you to all of you for taking the time. Thank you for your patience. Thank you to every panel. Thank you to all the families who made themselves vulnerable by telling their stories and using their platform as a way to advocate for what we know we need to do to keep Philadelphia safe. We value your opinions, and this concludes the business of the Committee. We will now recess the hearing to the call of the Chair. Have a good evening, everybody. Thank you so much. (Committee on Legislative Oversight concluded at 4:26 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