COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC PROPERTY AND PUBLIC WORKS - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, April 16, 2009 2:40 p.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE, CHAIR COUNCILMAN WILLIAM GREENLEE COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO BILL 090268 - An ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property, on behalf of the City, to enter into an agreement to lease the Lincoln Financial Mural Arts Center at the Thomas Eakins House located at 1729 Mt. Vernon Street to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development... - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2
Good afternoon. This is the Committee on Public Property and Public Works. We have established a quorum: Councilman Rizzo, Councilman Greenlee and Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller. Mr. Carter, please read the title of the bill.
Bill No. 090267, an ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property, on behalf of the City, to enter into an agreement to lease the Lincoln Financial Mural Arts Center at the Thomas Eakins House located at 1729 Mt. Vernon Street to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development for further sublease by PAID to the Mural Arts Advocates, for use by the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, all under certain terms and conditions.
3 4/16/09 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 090268 Mr. Herzins, please proceed. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HERZINS: Good afternoon, Chairman Clarke and members of the Committee on Public Property and Public Works. My name is John Herzins and I am the Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Public Property here on behalf of the Commissioner today to testify in support of Bill No. 090268, an ordinance 12 authorizing the Commissioner, on behalf of the City, to enter into an agreement to lease the Lincoln Financial Mural Arts Center at the Thomas Eakins House located at 1729 Mt. Vernon Street to PAID for further sublease by PAID to the Mural Arts Advocates, for use by the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, all under certain terms and conditions. This ordinance will provide for a ten-year lease with two renewal options. This long-term tenancy will enable the Mural Arts Advocates to leverage state and other funding for 4 4/16/09 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 090268 their operations. The Mural Arts Advocates will continue to be the caretakers for the property, while the City will assume the utility cost. The Department supports this measure and, accordingly, I respectfully ask that Council approve Bill No. 090268 and also request a suspension of the rules to allow first reading at the next session of Council. Thank you, and I'll be happy to answer any questions. And with me today is Thora Jacobson, the Chief Operating Officer, who is here to provide testimony also.
Good afternoon, Chairman Clarke and members of Council. I serve as the Chief Operating Officer for the Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocates and the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. I apologize that our Director, 5 4/16/09 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 090268 Jane Golden, could not be here today, because it is through her personal extraordinary efforts that the Mural Arts Program has transformed the home and studio of Thomas Eakins into an extraordinarily creative and educational hub. I want to thank you, Councilman Clarke, for introducing this ordinance, because it is a piece of legislation that assures the home for Mural Arts for years to come, recognizes our considerable investment in the property and makes it more easily understandable by auditors, funders and others. Mural Arts moved into the Thomas Eakins House in 2001 after it had been turned back to the City by the Philadelphia Museum of Art that had occupied the building for a community-based arts program when it was deeded over to the City in the mid '70s. The building had been given to the City with the expressed condition that it be 6 4/16/09 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 090268 used for art education or as a museum in memory of our City's best known painter. With Mural Arts' move to the Eakins House, the City once again had a tenant that had fulfilled the requirements of the will and offered real promise of service to the community. Mural Arts immediately began to use the space for after-school classes, and the growth of the program made it clear by 2004 that both buildings, both 1727, the home of the caretaker, and 1729 Mt. Vernon, needed to be renovated. 4 million to outfit the building for a growing staff of teaching artists and muralists and created a home for both its Mural Corps and Big Picture classes, both to teach sequential art skills to middle school, high school students and dropouts, paint mural sections on parachute cloth, and teach the new technologies that support mural making in the 21st century. Today, MAP holds 7 4/16/09 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 090268 classes for youth, adjudicated youth, reentry workers and neophyte muralists, averaging between 100 and 150 students, four to five days a week year-round. It also houses a growing staff of project managers, a mural operations crew, a staff of teaching artists and program developers, tour guides to our growing collection and an administrative staff. Mural Arts currently houses 50 full-time staff members and welcomes hundreds more to lectures, exhibition openings, workshops and trainings over the course of the year. This unique combination of office and studio space afforded by the landmark building brings both color and structure to our operations and is critical to the ability of the Mural Arts to fulfill its organizational mission and its levels of service to both the City itself, completing 116 mural projects in Fiscal 2008 and 2,000-plus youth served through its art education programs 8 4/16/09 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 090268 annually. 478 million and continue to raise funds to maintain its structural integrity, security and operational efficiency. It is worth noting that as a non-profit, we also -- when we ask private funders to invest in a building that doesn't belong to us, they have some concerns. They want to know that in making capital gifts to us, they can be assured that Mural Arts has a home over the long haul. It is for that reason, as we are about to launch a second capital project to replace window frames, flashings, upgrade HVAC and security equipment, that we come to Council to permit Public Property to negotiate a lease with the Mural Arts Advocates that will provide us a home base for at least the next 10 to 20 years. It will bring additional resources to maintain and 9 4/16/09 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 090268 upgrade an important City asset.
And in closing, I would simply say that we continue to be grateful to Public Property for their ongoing efforts to support our operations, and we want to continue to be both effective and respectful tenants.
Yes. Very quick, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Jacobson, not only is this building in the 5th Councilmanic District, but also in the 15th Ward of the 5th Councilmanic District, which I hold near and dear to me. I've been to a number of events at the site, and you've been a tremendous addition to that block, and not just for what you do for the City, but also for that area. So I'm very happy to support what you're doing there.
Thank you, Councilman. I'm glad to know that. 10 4/16/09 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 090268
Thank you, Councilman. Any other questions by members of the Committee of these witnesses? (No response.)
There being none, thank you very much for your testimony. Anyone else to testify on this bill? (No response.)
There being none, this concludes the public hearing on the Committee of Public Property and Public Works. We will now go into a public meeting. Councilman Greenlee, please give me a motion on Bill No. 090268.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that Bill No. 22 090268 be reported out of this Committee with a favorable recommendation and move further that the rules of Council be suspended to allow for first reading at 11 4/16/09 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 090268 our next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
The ayes have it. Bill No. 090268 is reported out of Committee with a favorable recommendation, with a rules suspension as to allow reading at the next session of Council. Thank you very much. This concludes the public meeting on the Committee of Public Property and Public Works. Thank you. (Committee on Public Property and Public Works concluded at 2:45 p.m.) - - - 12 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on April 16, 2009, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)