Yes. You'll see in the materials that we put up on your desk there that one of the plan-of- development drawings shows bike racks that will be provided for the public along the public promenade at the 106 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 river's edge.
Right, we'll be encouraging the employees, and we certainly have plenty of room to put bike racks in our parking areas, and that will be a part of the operations program once we get underway.
Okay. Well, thank you all for your testimony. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (Council President Verna resumes chairing of the committee.)
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Getting back to your statement about the availability of minority contractors, do you know how many are certified right now? 107 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08
Not with the State right now. The State got into this part of the process?
Yet you felt comfortable coming before this 108 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 committee and just anecdotally throwing out there that some minorities might have issues with the paperwork and bureaucracy.
No, this has been our experience in gaming -- and it's been small business, not minorities, but small business.
I thought I said both, and the reality is that we're trying to find a way so that the bureaucracy doesn't, in effect, frustrate that.
But you have no idea how many businesses are certified?
I don't know if any are yet. The two casinos have yet to be developed.
There are businesses that are licensed and certified by the gaming (indiscernible) 109 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 so our gaming operation's open.
So you don't know whether you have a problem yet in terms of contract inclusion.
Yeah, I've heard from the gaming professionals that it's a problem nationally, and I know the concern that City Council has -- (Indiscernible; parties talking over each other.)
But you have not heard yet that there's any problem locally in terms of contract inclusion.
No, no. 23 Actually, he made the statement, and I'm asking him the question.
I guess what 110 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 Jim's saying is that in Chester, they're having a problem, so we're trying to anticipate the problem so we don't have it in Philadelphia. We want to do better than Chester.
When Harrah's in Chester was under construction, T.M. Ward was the general contractor, who was also the general contractor for Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia. The Gaming Board started the licensing process after the construction had already started. A lot of the companies were not willing to move forward to get license. T.M. Ward brought that issue to us when we hired them, so now it's going to be a potential issue. That's one of the reasons why, when we held the construction fair and we invited -- and about 200 companies showed up, we asked the Gaming Board 111 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 representatives to come in to be able to explain to the vendors and the business people what was required. The Gaming Board has been very understanding, willing to attend any of the seminars that we've asked them to attend so that they can then teach and show the people the correct process for getting vendorized.
Explain to me again what the specific problem was in Chester.
When the smaller companies were asked to become a license, there was a variety of applications that needed to be completed. A lot of companies bulked at completing the applications --
I would ask -- 112 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 maybe I can have somebody from T.M. Ward could give you specifics about the companies, but they were companies from this area that I'm aware of, sir.
You don't know whether they from Philadelphia, you don't know if they were from the Greater Philadelphia area. Other than Chester, you don't necessarily -- you don't definitively know anything other than, anecdotally, there seemed to be a problem there, and so you want to make sure there's not a problem here --
But you don't know that there is a problem here yet; is that correct?
Well, sir, the vendor fair that we had, there were a lot of companies from the Philadelphia area that were raising questions about how the process worked.
So I think 113 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 there are some concerns out there.
The statement that was made on the record -- and this is actually for clarity on the record. The presumption was made that small minority businesses would have problems with the bureaucracy, would not want to fill out the paperwork, that there needs to be some partnership with City Council to make sure that happens so that there is an available pool of small minority businesses. That's all based upon something anecdotally that happened in Chester but not based upon anything here that we should be seriously considering at this time. And every time you do something like that related to the discussion of economic opportunity plan, not only will I call you on it, but it's going to take away from your credibility, okay? 114 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 Thank you.
Didn't mean to offend. We're trying to be helpful, and I'm sorry if I offended you in any way.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And good morning again -- it is still morning. I just want to stay on this employment issue just for a brief moment. You stat that the construction will be done by the trades. Will you be allowing your employees to unionize?
They will have that option? At anytime, would Foxwoods attempt to claim tribal land to avoid certain prevailing-wage laws?
Absolutely not, 115 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 sir.
I'm not an attorney but I need to establish a record. The development plan that we have today, the current one, is that different than the one that was presented to the Gaming Board; and if so, how is it different?
No, sir. I think it's identical, the plan that was submitted. There may have been some tweaks as we have gone through the process, specifically when it comes to some of the traffic mitigation plans. Some of those issues have been tweaked a little bit as we worked with the Streets Department and the Penn Department -- or PennDOT rather, excuse me.
But I think the plan is identical to -- or similar to what we submitted. I don't think there was any major differences between the plans.
Would you please check on that? And if you don't have an answer today, could you bring that back to the next meeting? I sense that there may be some significant changes, but I'll rely on your testimony at the next hearing.
There are rumors that PEDP is considering purchasing neighboring properties -- Sheet Metal, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Comcast property. Is there any truth to that?
Well, sir, we're always looking at opportunities, but at this point, I would say there's nothing of substance that we're moving forward on. 117 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08
You know that there are challenges to this site, and we've always understood that, traffic being a major ones.
Has there ever been any consideration to look to move?
Yes, Councilman, we have. I believe we talked about looking at a couple different sites, but we, at the end of the day, still believe this is the most ideal site for Foxwoods Casino.
And why is that? Give me some of the reasons why you thought that it makes more sense to continue to try to develop at this site as opposed to other sites?
Sir, the site has been designated as a potential 118 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 casino for a number of years. It was optioned by Bally's back in '80s as a potential site for riverboat gaming. We believe the location, with the traffic -- with the mitigation factors that we're going to bring to the table, will make this an ideal site for a casino.
I don't believe, sir, that those sites brought the same demographics to the table and gave us the same access that we needed.
Fair enough, although I do disagree that when, back in the '80s -- and I've said this at a number of meetings and probably here as well -- Columbus Boulevard, Delaware Avenue was a totally different environment 20 years ago than it is today. We didn't have -- and the traffic mitigation, 119 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 obviously, is the big issue, but we didn't have Home Depot, Lowe's, Ikea, all those big places. So it's certainly a different corridor than it was years ago. And I don't know if 7 we'd be having this -- we may be having 8 this, but we may not be having such a 9 major debate had this been proposed 20 10 years ago. 11 Will you participate in the 12 City tax abatement program? And/or 13 would you consider waiving the 14 abatement one hundred percent? 15
No. We have a 18 plan of development that addresses 19 that, that was signed, and that's a 20 public record that talks about the participation in the abatement program and givebacks and all of that. That was something negotiated, I guess, with the administration.
The prior 120 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 administration.
Do you remember when that was consummated, approximately?
It took about six months of work, but it was probably consummated --
January 4, '08, three days before the new administration, or three days before the old administration left, right?
Well, I think they were trying to finish up a year's worth of work.
Oh, they absolutely were, and they succeeded, they succeeded. Thank you.
121 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 Mr. Dougherty, you've stated that you've hosted -- you, your organization, your company has hosted a number of meetings, somewhere around a hundred different meetings. Could you tell me, like, where those meetings -- who they've been with? Aside From City agencies and State agencies.
Local organizations from South Philadelphia, the churches, the --
Groups like SEEP, which are located down in South Philadelphia; a number of individual business owners; some individual residents of South Philadelphia; a number of the different business groups such as the Washington Avenue Business Association, the East Passyunk group. I could provide a list to the Council, if you'd like, of all the different groups that we've met with. 122 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08
Do you have a list of the civic associations or their representatives that you've met with?
I could put that together -- we can get that together for you, Councilman, yes.
I do have a couple of more questions. There was a flyer form, I think. It may have been in the form of a flyer, Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia, and it says, "City Council introduces CED legislation." Are you familiar with that?
I believe so, Councilman. 123 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08
Yeah, and it's also in your testimony. You speak to the eight conditions that the bill 8 that Foxwoods must satisfy in order for zoning to go into effect, and you talk about the conditions that were laid out in their benefits agreement improvements to public safety, traffic, et cetera. And then it says (reading from flyer) that the proposed ordinances are highly unusual. There has never been a case where conditions have been attached to other zoning legislation, including those transmitted for the casino sites last year. I'm not -- I think Mr. Primavera probably can -- we have -- this is not unusual, when a development project is presented where either the City and/or the communities 124 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 who will be impacted have entered into conditions; is that not correct?
I mean, I think we've had a number of projects that you and I have dealt with.
Absolutely. And I think, of everyone on City Council, you're obviously probably most affiliated with what I would call "pro-business, pro-development." I think our concern here -- and we have a letter we've sent to the City Solicitor as to the legal form. The conditions are conditions precedent to the effective date. The original CED legislation that this Council prepared set up the standards for casino and entertainment districts and basically said that we'll remap it, and then we'll hear about the plan of development after it's been approved by the Planning Commission. The plan of development, 125 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 in effect, is the guarantees that all of the traffic and all of the important zoning issues have been addressed. So we think by having our plan of development approved by the Planning Commission that basically we've done community from a zoning viewpoint. Now, if there are other issues, like community benefits agreements or things of that nature or a Special Services District, we're always willing to talk about that. But in terms of pure zoning the CED legislation created zoning for casinos, we have a license we paid $50 million for from the State, and now we have a plan of development that the Planning Commission, at a public hearing, approved, and you're going to hear that plan today, so we don't believe that, from a zoning perspective, there's any more open issues. 126 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 That doesn't mean we won't continue to meet with community groups and negotiate benefit packages and employment packages, but on pure zoning, we do think that this ordinance is different than what we've seen in the past.
Well, I'm not going to attempt to debate you; you're an attorney and I'm not. But I do think that we've had opportunities in the past, and experience has shown that although we may have some things in place, when we hear what the community has to say and we listen to them and we try to cooperate, we have made changes, and I think we may have made changes in zoning laws, I mean, as we go through these processes on development, because things are constantly changing. What was good 20 years ago in terms of housing in one neighborhood may not be appropriate 127 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 today.
And we have to change those things, and we do those in a collaborative way.
And I was just going to say, we -- there's not an issue that we won't work with Council, the community in a collaborative way. We think a lot of them, as you will hear, have been addressed, or a lot of them come at a later phase in the process. We think the eight issues in the ordinance are all important talking points; we just don't think that the timing, as set in that ordinance, is appropriate. But there's nothing on any list of legitimate issues and talking points that we won't address in detail and in good faith. In that regard, we're in agreement; we just think that 128 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 we've accomplished a lot of these things already, and hopefully we'll convince Council, through these hearings, that we have accomplished them.
I think -- Mr. Dougherty, I think you mentioned something that, when I asked a question of who you had met with, what groups organizations, did you mention something about the parishioners of certain various parishes? Or no. 14
We met with the group SEEP, and I believe that they had some of their meetings at the Annunciation parish. I believe it's Tenth and Wharton.
No other meetings with Sacred Heart, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel?
Yes. Some of our representatives have met with Mount Carmel.
Who did 129 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 they meet with?
Offhand, I don't remember, sir. I know we had a combination of meetings, but I don't remember offhand who set those meetings up.
So if you can provide us with the name, or names, of the folks who scheduled those meetings, I'd appreciate it, and forward that to the chair. Thank you.
I did miss some of your testimony, but do you have a particular staff person or unit 130 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 that will handle the diversity issues around employment, contracting, vendors? Who would one call? And do you plan on having another job fair and the construction fair? Would that be this T.M. Ward.
Well, T.M. Ward is the general contractor, ma'am. If we have a construction fair for the vendors and businesses that handle construction-related services, T.M. Ward would be involved with that. The current contact would be myself for any questions anyone else, but we have agreed that we will designate a senior executive on the committee -- on our team to handle all of the diversity issues and be responsible for implementing that throughout the company.
No, ma'am, we do not. 131 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08
Okay. And what will your hiring priorities be? Will you be looking at a particular percentage of people from within certain zip codes that live around this area in South Philadelphia?
We've looked at a number of the local organizations down in South Philadelphia. And at the end of the day, ma'am, I'm looking to hire the best employees that I can, so I'm willing and able to work with a lot of different groups and associations down in South Philadelphia and in Philadelphia that provide training, and I'm going to use them as a win/win. In other words, they get the opportunity to bring some business in, and I'm able to get some good employees.
Okay. What local training groups have you talked to?
We've met with the group SEEP in South Philadelphia, 132 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 OIC, Congreso, CSI which works with people with disabilities are the groups offhand that I know we've all talked to, and we've had some very good discussions with each of those groups moving forward.
In the casino material, it says that for Phase I, we'll have 950 jobs, and we've committed 65 percent to be filled by City residents.
Okay, City residents, okay. I know with some of the other casinos, they gave priority to folk that, you know, the Bud site was actually a part -- I was a part of the negotiations there. And at that point, we sort of came up with a percentage of hiring people from the local zip codes and then go to citywide. So I was just wondering, had 133 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 you done the same thing?
Okay. And are you going to have any additional job fairs and construction fairs?
And you notify people how about those? Because I don't think I've ever received anything in my office that talked about a job fair or a construction fair.
Well, for the one job fair, ma'am, we only did a local advertisement in the South Philadelphia Review. A couple of groups in South Philly had asked us if we'd have more of an educational fair 'cause it really wasn't a job fair at that point; we weren't -- we're not accepting applications.
Okay. Yeah, I know it does have to be an 134 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 information and educational fair 'cause certainly this business, this industry is new to Philadelphia, and so --
Going forward, ma'am, I would be using all of the various chambers that exist. We've had chats with them and we've put them on our mailing lists and they can get the information out to their respective members.
And it may be helpful to send information to the Council Districts as well so that --
They have networks that they can give the information out, absolutely.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green. 135 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08
Thank you for being here today. I just have a few short questions. You said it took six months to negotiate the development agreement with the City of Philadelphia?
We started in February of '06 and have continually updated the study to this day.
Uh... It -- it -- it was... No, to the extent that there's going to be a series of comment letters that we'll be receiving shortly 136 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 and we'll have to respond to them and update the traffic study.
Just so I'm clear, you're asking for a zoning change from this body without a complete traffic study done.
There was a completed traffic study done for April of 2006 -- I believe it was 2006 -- and that was a complete study for the Gaming Board, and that's the study that we believe is complete for zoning purposes. Since that time, we've worked on expanding and modifying the design. So, yes, there is a completed traffic study. The traffic --
That's all I have on that. Do you think it's appropriate for a body to be asked to make a zoning change to study the impact, economic, quality of life and otherwise on the ports and neighborhoods surrounding the casinos? Do you think it's appropriate for us to study the economic impact or the impact on quality of life in the neighborhoods and the ports surrounding the casinos as part of a zoning-change request?
Well, I would say this, that I think it's always good to study and share. It's not a part of a zoning process that I would think is appropriate for a zoning ordinance. We do have a report from the Econsult; it does talk about jobs. But I don't think that you can talk about commercial impact every time you go to build something, because, to 138 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 some extent, that's really not zoning power. The zoning is getting everything in its place, but it's --
Excuse me, Mr. Primavera. Have you ever been before this body before on a zoning matter?
And were questions raised by this body about the quality of life of the people who are surrounding the prospective development that you propose to --
So you're saying it's unusual for us to ask about the quality of life in the neighborhoods surrounding this Foxwoods Casino?
No, no. I just said -- I thought the question really is the question about -- 139 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08
I asked the question, and the question was: Is it appropriate for us to look at the impact on the quality of life in the neighborhoods surrounding the casino as part of a zoning change matter?
It is, okay. Did your traffic study look at the impact on the quality of life of the surrounding -- of the neighborhoods surrounding the casino through studying increased traffic, et cetera?
I'm sorry. I thought we had testimony earlier from your traffic engineer that he did not go past Front Street --
As a 140 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 professional, he used standards in the industry, because to some extent, you have to define the area of interest, so he followed engineering standards, and basically the standards that he followed indicated that traffic will benefit when we open for business because of our infrastructure improvement.
Traffic in the area studied. Okay, I'm suggesting that it's appropriate for us to ask for a study that looks at the impact on the economic activity in the port and the effect on the surrounding neighborhoods prior to us making a determination on a zoning change request. (Applause.)
And we think that's legitimate, it's absolutely legitimate. And when you hear the plan of development, under the CED ordinance, which is currently on the books, the guarantee that City Council 141 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 is satisfying its obligation to the public is that it will receive from the Planning Commission and the applicant the plan of development. As you will hear from the Planning Commission and as you'll hear from us when we do into the details --
You can, you know... So how long would it take you to provide us with the information about the economic activity at the port and the effect on the neighborhoods around Foxwoods? I think you said your original study was from February '06 to when?
Is this the 142 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 traffic study?
It's an organic study, and I think what Jeff said was, we continue to go and test it and improve it. We have a traffic study that's been approved. The Streets Department has approved it, PennDOT, the Planning Commission has approved it. But, again, we will constantly measure and test, because, as has been suggested, there's always changes in real time, something opens, something closes, so it's never done. It's an organic document.
I understand. I'm not a member of this committee, but I would certainly respectfully suggest that we ask them to deliver a study that looks at the economic impact on the ports and on the quality of life in the neighborhoods as a result of the increased traffic as 143 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08 part of the consideration of this zoning change. (Applause.)
I believe that this hearing will be continued to a date certain, and at that time, we will be addressing those issues.
I just -- thank you, Madam President. I just had a few more questions. You mentioned that the 42 percent of the equity that is going into charitable contributions would be worth approximately $200 million a year; is that correct?
No, Councilman. It would be over a ten-year period. We've estimated it would be over about $200 million. 144 BILLS 080027, 28 - RULES - 2/25/08
Over a ten-year period, so was that a statement of the amount of money that the foundations are going to invest in charitable endeavors, or was it a statement about the amount of money that will be made by that 42 percent of equity over a ten-year period?
That's the amount of money we believe the charities will have available to them that they can use as they see to help underprivileged children.