COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON PARKS, RECREATION AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, March 8, 2007 1:05 p.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN, CHAIR COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO COUNCILMAN W. WILSON GOODE, JR. COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILMAN DARRELL CLARKE COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN TASCO BILL 070077 - An ordinance authorizing the President of the Fairmount Park Commission and the Executive Director of Fairmount Park to enter into a lease agreement between the City of Philadelphia as landlord and the Center City District as tenant for a certain parcel of land bounded by 16th Street, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Cherry Street, commonly referred to as Three Parkway Plaza, under certain terms and conditions. - - - 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 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077
Good afternoon, everyone. The City Council Committee on Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs is called to order, and we're now in a public hearing to hear testimony on Bill No. 070077. Joining us at this Council Committee hearing are, to my extreme left, Councilman Frank Rizzo, joined by Councilman Jack Kelly, joined by Councilmember Frank DiCicco and Vice-Chair of this Committee, Councilman W. Wilson Goode. We will please ask the Clerk to read the title of the bill.
Ordinance 070077, an ordinance authorizing the President of the Fairmount Park Commission and the Executive Director of Fairmount Park to enter into a lease agreement between the City of Philadelphia as landlord and the Center City District as tenant for a certain parcel of land bounded by 16th Street, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and 3 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077 Cherry Street, commonly referred to as Three Parkway Plaza, under certain terms and conditions.
Thank you very, very much. May I please ask the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Fairmount Park to come forward, Mark A. Focht. Good afternoon.
Please state your full name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Mark Alan Focht, Executive Director of Fairmount Park. Again, good afternoon, Councilwoman and members of the Committee. I'm Mark Focht, Executive Director of Fairmount Park, and I am pleased to provide testimony today in support of Bill No. 070077. This bill authorizes the President of the Fairmount Park Commission and the Executive Director of 4 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077 Fairmount Park to enter into a lease agreement between the City of Philadelphia as the landlord and the Center City District as tenant for a certain parcel of land bounded by 16th Street, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Cherry Street, commonly referred to as Three Parkway Plaza, under certain terms and conditions. As a bit of background, the staff and commissioners of Fairmount Park have been working with the Center City District for several years to improve the public environment of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. As you know, the Parkway is one of the leading cultural corridors in the City and serves as a "green" connection between Fairmount Park and Center City. Since 2005, one of the areas that we have focused on jointly is Three Parkway Plaza located at 16th Street at the entrance of the Parkway. An innovative three-way partnership 5 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077 involving the City, the Center City District and the owners of the adjacent Three Parkway office building have allowed for significant capital improvements to the park. These Phase I improvements included new paving, benches, trash receptacles, plantings and an irrigation system. The park is currently maintained through a partnership between Fairmount Park and the Center City District. Fairmount Park provides services such as turf maintenance, tree pruning, irrigation maintenance, snow removal and the installation and maintenance of seasonal plantings. These planting areas are done by contractors managed by the Park but funded by the Center City District. The District in turn empties the trash receptacles, removes graffiti from the park, power washes the sidewalks and maintains the light fixtures. The improvements have been well received by the public since they were 6 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077 completed a little over a year ago, and the maintenance partnership is working very well. The bill before you today will allow Fairmount Park, acting on behalf of the City, to enter into a lease with the Center City District for further development and maintenance of Three Parkway Plaza. The second and final phase of these improvements include further landscape enhancements to the park and, most significantly, the design and construction of an information and cafe pavilion. This 1,200-square-foot, architecturally distinctive pavilion will activate the gateway to the Parkway and provide amenities for residents, visitors and employees of Center City. The pavilion will include a cafe operation and information displays about Fairmount Park and the Parkway institutions. Information will be made available through the use of brochure racks and flat-panel monitors, which will provide 7 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077 current information about Parkway institutions or exhibits and programs, such as the King Tut exhibit currently at the Franklin Institute. The cafe will be run by a third-party operator under contract to the Center City District. It is envisioned that the cafe will be open year round for business, offering light fare for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Revenues derived by the Center City District from the cafe operation will be dedicated to ongoing maintenance of Three Parkway Plaza and other park and streetscape amenities along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Execution of the proposed lease and implementation of these further improvements to Three Parkway Plaza fulfills several of the goals and strategies contained in the Park's Strategic Plan, A Bridge to the Future, which was completed in 2004.
Specifically, this project will result in 8 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077 a facility which will offer information, services and amenities to park users and offer a higher level of landscape maintenance for the Parkway's public environments. In conclusion, I request this Committee and the Council's full support of this bill, and I am pleased to answer any questions. Thank you.
The record should reflect that Councilwoman Marian Tasco has joined us for this bill and the sponsor of this bill, Councilman Darrell Clarke, has joined us as well. Councilman Frank DiCicco. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Madam Chair, and good afternoon. Councilman Kelly and I were doing a little sidebar. Is this that piece of land, that little grassy area where traditionally the homeless people line up, wait to be -- Trevor's Friends or whatever comes out and feeds them? 9 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077
It is the triangle piece of land used to be referred to as Pennwalt Plaza when Pennwalt was in the Three Parkway building, yes. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Okay. I just wanted to make sure we're talking about the same piece. Thank you.
This isn't directly about this project, but it's an observation, and I don't know if Mr. Levy can take care of it or the Department of Public Property, but the center island, which is just a hash-marked area on the Parkway -- I think it's between 15th and 16th -- has become a parking lot for City vehicles. You can do all of these good things on the Parkway. Some of those vehicles are even left there overnight. So I really believe that something has to be done if you want to make that an attractive area. It is now 10 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077 a parking area.
Any other questions, observations for this witness? (No response.)
We would like to please invite Paul Levy, the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Center City District, to the table. Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds. Thank you for this opportunity, members of Council. I will be very brief in my testimony. I brought a longer copy of it along here, but I think Mark Focht has covered a great deal, so let me just briefly add to that. My name is Paul Levy. I'm the President of the Center City District and I, too, am here to testify in support of 11 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077 Council Bill 070077. I simply want to add to what Mark Focht indicated, that the improvements to the park that have been made to date, including the creation of the cafe that we will be building, are being done at no expense to the City of Philadelphia. Through a competitive selection process, we have selected a woman-owned business who will operate the cafe. And the cafe has been closely and carefully designed in conjunction with the Fairmount Park Commission and the Art Commission to complement the Parkway. But as Mark indicated, best of all, the revenues that will be paid in rent by the cafe operator will be pledged to the maintenance not only of Three Parkway, but as they increase, we will be able to work with the Park Commission on enhanced maintenance of other portions of the Parkway. If the Councilman wants to buy me some tow trucks, I would take that 12 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077 issue on, but I'll take a pass on that. What I've attached here very simply are three letters of support, one from the Friends Select School, who is immediately adjacent to this park, indicating their support; secondly, a letter from the Parkway Council Foundation representing all the Parkway institutions and some of the apartment buildings; and then, third, from the Convention and Visitors Bureau, talking about the importance of the visitor services. So I will stop there really and just see if you have any questions in any fashion on this.
We thank you. Councilman Frank DiCicco. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, Mr. Levy. Could you describe what this cafe will have? Is it indoor seating? Is it walk 13 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077 up to the counter?
I will. I meant to bring pictures of this, which I will get to people, but it will be both indoor and outdoor. The way it will work is, there will be indoor seating. No food will be cooked on the site, so there will be no 9 exhaust. It will be pre-prepared food. And there will be indoor seating, but it will be designed like a lot of those cafes you see where in the warmer months the doors can go up. There will also be outdoor seating that will surround this in the plaza area that surrounds it, which we will maintain, as will the cafe operator. So in cold months, you'll be able to go inside, it will be heated. In warm months, the doors will be open and you'll be able to sit outside. And when it's really hot, the air conditioning will be functioning inside. So it will be -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: And there will be toilet facilities? 14 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077
There is a toilet facility within the building itself, that's correct. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Great. Sounds like we're following Europe's lead in using our parks for the public use. Thank you. Great idea. Thanks.
Mr. McNally (ph), would you like to offer testimony? MR. McNALLY: No. I'm just here as special counsel.
Very well. Any other questions for this witness? (No response.)
Anyone else to testify on this -- there's some anxious enthusiasm up here in wanting to know when the ground-breaking is.
Absolutely. Subject to this approval, we hope to get the ground-breaking for this by the spring and look to be open in the fall. So we 15 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077 will coordinate with your calendar, Councilman Clarke, for sure. MR. McNALLY: Councilwoman, we would ask that you suspend the rules to permit first reading if you vote it out of committee.
Very well. We'll be guided by that request. Please, Councilman Jack Kelly.
Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to make this comment, that I feel the utmost confidence in Mr. Levy and Mr. McNally taking over this responsibility. I think it's going to be a plus really for the City and for everything else. You do such a great job, especially in Center City. I wholeheartedly support your endeavor here. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to underscore that and just state for the record that Mr. Paul Levy's good 16 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077 works were actually started in West Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania many years ago when I served as the Executive Director of the West Philadelphia Partnership. So we're glad to see that you're having other parts of the City benefit from your expertise.
Thank you very much. I just want to emphasize, too, that we've enjoyed a really good, close working relationship with Mark Focht and the Fairmount Park Commission. This has really been a partnership effort together.
Very well. This concludes our public hearing. We will now move into our public meeting. I would like to ask Councilman Goode to please provide a motion on Bill 22 No. 070077.
And 17 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077 forgive me. The motion should take into account suspension of the rules.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 070077 be reported out of Committee with a favorable recommendation and that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading at our next Council session. (Duly seconded.)
The bill 13 has been seconded by Councilwoman Marian Tasco. Bill No. 070077 has been moved and properly seconded. All in favor will say aye. (Aye.)
Therefore, Bill No. 070077 will be reported out of Committee with a favorable recommendation and further moved that the rules be suspended so as to permit first reading 18 3/8/07 - PARKS - BILL 070077 at the next scheduled session of the Philadelphia City Council. This concludes the meeting of the Committee on Recreation, Parks and Cultural Affairs. We thank you all for your interest and your attendance. (Committee on Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs adjourned at 1:20 p.m.) - - - 19 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 March 8, 2007, 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.)