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 fiancée 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