Committee Hearing, March 22, 2005

1090 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET - - - - Room 696, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, March 22, 2005 10:28 a.m. - - - - BILLS 040767, 040789, 050001, 050002, 050003, 050007, 050008. RESOLUTION 050022. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN COUNCILMAN FRANK J. DICICCO COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILMAN RICHARD T. MARIANO COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO - - - - 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 1091 I N D E X WITNESS KAREN LLOYD BORSKI 1092 CHRIS PALMER 1105 ROBERT NICKS 1152 DENNIS WALLER 1180 MARK FOCHT 1182 VICTOR RICHARD 1206 BILL CARAPUCCI 1216 MARY PLATT-COLES 1224 JEFF CARDWELL 1225 TOM FOX 1237 LEO DIGNAM 1245 CARLTON WILLIAMS 1246 DIANE REED 1256 JIM DONAGHY 1259 MICHAEL SHELTON 1295 LINDA HOWARD 1349 CHRIS DAVIS 1364 DAVID RASNER 1373 ANN D'HARNOCOURT 1378 GERRY LENFEST 1379 GAIL HARRITY 1385 1092 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

Good morning, everyone. This is the continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bill Nos. 050001, 050002, 050003, 040789, 040767, 050007, 050008, and Resolution 7 No. 050022. Before we call our first witness, I would like to acknowledge that we have students from the Discovery Charter School in Fairmount. I believe that they are up in the balcony. If they would stand we would like to recognize you. (Applause.)

Welcome. Our first department to testify today will be the Fairmount Park Commission. May I ask the witnesses to please come to the table, identify yourself and proceed with your testimony?

Good morning. Thank you for having us.

Good morning and welcome. I see that your testimony is rather lengthy. We will give the 1093 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET stenographer a copy of your testimony. It will be transcribed in full.

Good morning, Council President Verna and Members of City Council. My name is Karen Lloyd Borski and I am the Interim Executive Director of the Fairmount Park Commission. 2 million operating budget for Fiscal Year 2006. 1 million in all classes and an additional $96,000 in Grants Revenue Fund. The Class 100 request of $8,917,919 is $615,259 below Fiscal Year '05's estimated obligations due to personnel reductions implemented in January, bringing our full-time staff level to 180. Our Class 200, 300 and 400 requests are for $2,742,509, $534,657 and $83,964 respectively. While our commitment to care for the City's green spaces continues to be our primary focus, there are several exciting 1094 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET partnerships that the Commission is involved in that will enhance the Fairmount Park experience for users and visitors alike. Just last month the lease was signed with the Please Touch Museum, the Commission and the City of Philadelphia for the museum's occupancy of Memorial Hall. This project will not only expand a popular children's activity destination, but also invest millions of dollars into the restoration and stabilization of one of Philadelphia's most treasured land marks. Scheduled to open in 2007, the museum will greatly enhance the public's ability to visit and learn about Memorial Hall. Together with the zoo, the Mann Center for the Performing Arts and neighborhood development in the Park Side area, this will breathe new life into West Fairmount Park as plans are being made to create a centennial district among these cultural institutions on the very same grounds where our country celebrated its centennial anniversary in 1876. Last fall ground was broken on two 1095 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET significant partnership projects in Fairmount Park. 5 acre campus in West Fairmount Park. We look forward to this development fostering a tremendous environment for advanced learning and enhancing the Park Side and West Philadelphia communities. , has begun work on its new indoor/outdoor tennis center on the site of the former Gustine Recreation Center. This development will not only create an ultra-modern indoor and outdoor tennis facility, but also replace the existing 40-year-old rec center with a building with enhanced athletic and community spaces. Savings of approximately $20,000 will also be realized in annual exterior maintenances costs as the tennis center will become responsible for the entire Gustine site. Also notable is the potential partnership with the Fox Chase Cancer Center 1096 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET for an expansion of its campus into Burholme Park. Discussions continue which would allow this world-renowned institution to develop additional hospital and research facilities in Burholme Park while providing funds for the future care and improvement of the park and the Rider's Museum. The mission of Fairmount Park is to preserve and protect and maintain the open space, street trees, natural and cultural resources of Philadelphia's parks for the recreation and enjoyment of visitors and residents. Further, our mission is to educate the public on the environment, history and use of the park system and promote, celebrate and enhance the uniqueness and value of the Fairmount Park System and its economic impact to the City, region and state. Our responsibilities of woodlands, watersheds, landscapes and physical infrastructure of some 469 buildings and almost 200 sculptures are throughout the 9,200 acres. The park system provides 1097 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Philadelphia's citizens and visitors with opportunities for both passive and active recreation, with more than 60 parks managed by the Commission, comprising one of the largest municipally-operated landscaped park systems in the US. Each of these parks falls into one of different classifications outlined in 9 our strategic plan.

10 Our major accomplishments in Fiscal 11 '05 include the completion of the strategic plan. As a result of the completion of the Fairmount Park strategic plan, the Commission has begun to initiate a variety of changes. Many of these changes seek to improve efficiencies by reducing duplicity of tasks with the Department of Recreation and concentrating on the core strengths of each organization. Fairmount Park is focused on self-directed recreation and has strengths in maintenance, environmental education and historic preservation. The Department of Recreation provides more active recreational opportunities with an emphasis on programmed 1098 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET activities and facilities. Implementation strategies of the plan which have already been initiated include the following: Our administrative offices have moved from Memorial Hall to One Parkway and are now located on the same floor as the Rec Department. Fairmount Park has brought together the volunteer services and environmental education functions into one division; environments, stewardship and education. Fairmount Park is likewise developing better business management strategies for our concession services. Steps in this direction include rewriting and rebidding contracts to better serve park users. Our trust funds are being evaluated and a more streamlined, systematic business approach is being developed in order to enhance the effectiveness of these funds and reduce our administrative costs. A special event policy has been developed to improve the delivery of services and provide a mechanism to recover costs 1099 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET associated with events. As mentioned earlier, the implementation of the plan has spawned the realignment of Fairmount Park staff, both physically and organizationally. Along with moving our offices in July, at the end of the William Penn Grant for the Natural Restoration and Environmental Education Program brought into being the creation of the Environment, Stewardship and Education Division. The focus of this unit is to provide a better managed volunteer experience as well as quality environmental educational opportunities. Most recently, the Operations and Landscape Management Division has been retooled from six geographic districts to four and has increased its emphasis on managing street tree planning, removal and pruning contracts. These changes will allow for greater efficiencies within the division and a streamlined management approach to caring for the 9,200 acres of the park system. Our initiatives for Fiscal '05 were to continue to expand the Growing Neighborhood 1100 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Program. In '04 the Commission and the Fairmount Park Conservancy announced the launch of the Growing Neighborhood Program. This initiative is designed to work with community members to select and implement privately funded improvements in neighborhood parks throughout the system. The program is currently funded at a level of $300,000 through $100,000 grants from William Penn Foundation, ACINA (ph) and Novacare Rehabilitation. In the first year of the program Commission staff completed projects with friends, groups and interested citizens in Palmer, Kimball and Fernhill Parks. In FY '05, $75,000 is being spent for similar improvement projects at Clover, Lee and Fisher Parks. In the first two years of the program an additional $400,000 has been leveraged to compliment the investment in these community parks. The program is scheduled to run through 2007 and will involve new parks each year through a competitive 1101 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET selection process and will utilize additional funds raised by the conservancy from the Philadelphia business community.

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the School District of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Commission have teamed up in a public/private partnership to restore the tree cover in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs called Tree Vitalize. This $8 million program targets neighborhoods and cities and townships where the tree cover is less than 14 percent. 15 Tree Vitalize is designed to 16 revitalize older communities and improve the 17 air and water quality in those communities, 18 enhancing the quality of life for citizens 19 living in urbanized areas. Ultimately, this 20 program will plant more than 20,000 shade 21 trees and create 1,000 acres of forested 22 buffers in the five county Philadelphia 23 region. 24 Thank you for this opportunity to 25 appear before you today to discuss the 1102 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET present, but more importantly the future of the Fairmount Park System. That future will be guided by the recently completed strategic plan which clearly indicates the challenges that lie ahead. The plan also confirms, however, that our volunteer resources are among our strongest assets and we owe tremendous gratitude to those citizens who love their parks and continue to support them year after year, as well as support us as we appear before Council yearly. I'd also like to acknowledge the commissioners that have come to support the Commission today and our testimony. Thank you. )

Thank you very much. Commissioner, can you tell us the number of positions that were eliminated from your FY '05 budget?

Going into '06 our staffing level will be 180. 1103 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

I know that. What was it in FY '05?

They're saying I came down from 195 positions.

However, from the detailed budget it appears as though you were budgeted for 204.

Right.

So you were not allowed to fill those positions?

Correct. We were not allowed to fill positions, and staff reductions further eliminated classifications.

You also mentioned that you had to reduce your personnel level in January. How was this accomplished and why were you required to do this?

It was driven by the economic needs of the City. We looked at staff reductions that looked at classifications of employees that perhaps Fairmount Park could continue its core services without those classifications. It 1104 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET was a difficult decision across the board, but like most departments in City government, we were asked to look hard --

Can you tell us what is the operational impact of these reductions?

We tried very hard to have very little service impact wherever possible, and are absolutely committed to achieving that goal. The truth is, it is much more difficult to do things with less people. So we are reorganizing. I mentioned in my testimony that we've streamlined our Operations and Landscape Management Division from six to four districts. That, for instance, is an effort to do more with less.

The Managing Director's budget reflects an expenditure transfer of $380,000 to your department for the Vacant Lot Program. Do you in fact receive this funding from the MDO?

I'm going to let Chris Palmer, our Director of Operations and 1105 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Landscaping, address that.

Good morning. The $380,000 is money in the MDO's budget and we ask for a transfer every month for the money for CLIP and NTI work.

So who controls how the funds are spent, the MDO or Fairmount Park?

Fairmount Park manages the staff that maintains the CLIP and NTI programs as far as street trees and lots and alley trees go.

Do you know why they are budgeted to the MDO and not directly to your office?

I do not know.

Neither do we. The Managing Director's Office has approximately $2.5 million budgeted for tree pruning, planting and removal. Does your office oversee the expenditure of these funds?

Yes, we do. We manage the tree removals, tree prunings and tree 1106 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET planning contracts.

Again, I ask why is that money not budgeted to your department? And you can't answer.

I do not know.

I have several other questions. However, there are a number of Councilmembers that want to be recognized. So each Councilmember will be given five minutes for questioning on the first go around. Before I recognize my colleague, I would just like to recognize someone we all know and respect. Mrs. Longstreth, who is here, and certainly has been a strong supporter. (Applause.)

She has always been a very strong, strong supporter of the Fairmount Park. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.

Thank you, Madam Chair. 1107 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Director Borski, first of all, let me start off by telling you it that amazes me that you're even able to keep up with the workload that you have, because I remember when, I believe, we had close to a thousand people before both of our times to do the work to maintain the park. I'm concerned about the infrastructure of the park. I got a call just as I'm leaving for this hearing talking about the condition of some of the roadways. An example, I was told that Forbidden Drive in the area of Alley Green is just deplorable, that it's in such bad condition that it's hard to even drive at two or three miles an hour through there. Again, I'm not saying that it's your fault. I guess it's very difficult to keep up with the magnitude of work that you have, to keep it looking like it should, especially in one of the prime areas of the park, probably one of the hotter spots around in Fairmount Park. How do you plan to, with this limited budget and the limited number of 1108 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET people, how do you plan to not let it slip away any further? I understand in the spring there's always the clean up, fix up. Bells Mill and the stretch between Germantown Avenue and Ridge Avenue, it looks like a dump with all the debris on the side of the road. I don't know whether that's Streets Department. But I know Park had a gadget called the Brush Hog. They went in there and cleaned it up and it looked good for a while. I'm just concerned that it's going to get away from us. I'd like to hear from you or your colleagues to assure me that that's not going to happen.

Well, thank you for noticing. You know this past year we were hit with the impossible number of 100 year storms, and for noticing the damage to the infrastructure is critical to us because Fairmount Park did take an extraordinary hit. We've been working closely with agencies like FIMA and PIMA (ph) to see if there were ways to recoup some damage dollars for some of these real infrastructure needs. 1109 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET They are not as forthcoming as we would like them to be. But we're still investigating every possible scenario for that. In the meantime, yes. In the course of doing more with less, we do try to strategically work with our crews to do whatever repairs we can do. And I think that you will find throughout the park system that we are trying to target areas where we really can fix them up. You talk about Forbidden Drive. We don't want you driving faster than that anyhow on Forbidden Drive in front of Alley Green.

But they're not manmade speed bumps.

No. The truth is that the area was very, very hard hit by the floods. We are working on it. We are actually also working with the Friends of the Wissahickon on a major sort of infrastructure improvement project in that area, trying to accommodate parking, trying to get landscape back up to the point that it should be. It is an icon of our park system. 1110 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

I know I only probably have a minute or so left, so I'll run the clock out with this question. Another example of the infrastructure concern -- and I know I've talked to your staff about this -- is the water run-off both on Lincoln Drive and Kelly Drive. A very dangerous situation. Again, I'm starting to realize that there might be some turf issues here. There's a few inlets, that the area around the water inlets, the macadam has been totally broken away and there are big, gaping holes. If someone hits them, they're going to have significant damage to their vehicle. You send the request in to the Streets Department, the request system, and weeks go by and nothing happens. So I don't know whether you're coordinated with them or not, but the water run-off there, especially a few weeks ago when the temperatures are high during the week, and you come down and you see a wreck at Rittenhouse, cars all over the place because someone hit a patch of ice. I know that the drains were cleared at one time 1111 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET to allow the water to drain off. But it is such a bad situation on Kelly and Lincoln Drive. Up where Forbidden Drive is at Lincoln, the road there is broken away. It's terrible because the water-run off has deteriorated the roadway. Here's some person coming from working midnight to 8:00 or coming home late at night, the temperatures have fallen and there's a terrible accident as a result of a freeze up that occurred overnight. The infrastructure is so important. I see it as a person that grew up in that park and loved it, just seeing it slip away. Again, with how many people?

180.

So I don't know whether we've got to drag the Streets Department in. I understand there's some issues with Philadelphia College, that the water is cascading down from miles away onto the drive. It is just a bad situation and it needs to get addressed.

Absolutely. We have 1112 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET paid so much more attention to things like storm water run off in the past, recent past. This is the sort of thing that's going to move us into a new era of how we deal with parks and rec issues, particularly since we're major byways for traffic coming through. Lincoln Drive always comes up as a point of reference, an example of this. Collaborative efforts with both Streets and Water are moving forward. It's also a PennDOT issue. The state highway is involved in this. We are working to bring everyone to the table, including Philadelphia University, to come to the solution to this problem, and it will get applied again and again throughout park. That is our hope.

Thank you. I'll speak with you again in the next round. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.

Thank you, Madam President. 1113 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Good morning.

Good morning.

On your testimony you talk about a number of exciting, unprecedented developments in the West Park Side area. The one I think that many of us may be most unfamiliar with is the Centennial District. Can you just for the record give us a brief description of the Centennial District, what it is supposed to do and the timetable for the roll out?

Yes. A wonderful study has been underway for about the last 12 months, maybe a little longer, for an area called the Centennial District, which would stretch essentially from behind the Art Museum and cross over the river and encompass from the zoo to the Mann Center for Performing Arts. In that footprint already would be the Please Touch Museum coming into Memorial Hall and the School of the Future as well. It is a very exciting plan to take this area, call it a district, call it a zone and try to make it have revenue generating 1114 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET capabilities as well as become a tourist destination in and of itself for both citizens and visitors to the region. The roll out is ongoing right now. We presented it to a lot of interested parties. It does need to come back to the Commission one more time to be looked at in its entirety. But it's a plan that has immediate pieces that can be put into place and others that are very long term, sort of dream issues of how Belmont Avenue might look in the future. But the whole goal is to sort of regenerate and revitalize interest, not only in the West Park Side community, but in the park as it sits right there.

At what approximate date do you anticipate it will come back to the Commission?

Very soon. But certainly before we break in June.

Before June?

Yes.

Is that document available for distribution to review? 1115 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

It will be. The Commissioners saw it informally. They need to have a formal presentation and then it will roll out to the world. The Daily News has been good about covering it and very involved in the sort of study of the area.

I'm sure other Members of this Body will look forward to reviewing that. So at whatever juncture, you'll let President Verna know. One project that you mentioned on of your testimony is the Fox Chase Cancer Center. It's my understanding that the project has now been approved by the Commission. However, it's my understanding there may be or is a court challenge. What is the status of the project with regards to the court case?

There is a court challenge which I believe is going to be heard in perhaps the first week in April. There is also another challenge before Fox Chase Cancer Center, which is to bring this issue before Orphans Court. So the process is ongoing. 1116 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

I see. Will Council approval be necessary for this to move forward at some juncture?

Ultimately, yes.

Okay. You do discuss in your testimony the strategic plan, and I'm sure you remember that I introduced a resolutions calling for hearings on the progress of the park's strategic plan. So at this point, I'll table that question. I would like to, Madam President, be on the next round because I have several more questions.

That's fine. The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco.

Thank you, Madam President. Good morning.

Good morning.

I'm very interested in the tree revitalization program. How soon do you expect that program to take 1117 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET effect? There's $8 million based on your testimony. The Fairmount Park Commission will not be getting the full $8 million. Do you have any sense what portion, how much of that $8 million we will be receiving?

Tree Vitalize Program starts this spring. We are planting 316 trees at elementary schools throughout the City. 10 We also will be planting another hundred in 11 the park system in various parks. It's 12 anticipated that over a million dollars will 13 come to the City of Philadelphia to increase 14 the street tree cover. 15

So the tree 16 plantings are for sites, locations that 17 Fairmount Park Commission has made a decision 18 on. Will there been any trees planted in the 19 neighborhoods as a result of requests by 20 Councilmembers? 21 One of the problems we have -- and 22 it's not to be critical -- is that we make a 23 request, and I know of instances where it's 24 two, three years before the tree gets planted. 25 Can you explain why it takes so long? 1118 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

With the Tree Vitalize Program we can market different areas of the City. We're hoping to plant more neighborhoods versus individual trees. So if it's driven by one person on each block, that's probably not the program that's going to help them. We're concentrating more on tens and twenties and thirties type numbers in neighborhoods. As far as individual trees such as the concerns that you're mentioning, we try to plant as many trees as possible with the funding available. It's a first come, first serve basis.

How much funding do you normally have available for those cases where it's an individual tree, maybe one or two on a specific block as opposed to the entire block? In that category how much do you have?

This year we anticipate spending $334,000 planting almost 1,000 trees.

We've been trying to nick away at that backlog.

Where I'm going 1119 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET with this is, following up on the Council President's question of the $2.5 million that is dedicated for Fairmount Park for -- was it for tree planting?

The $2.6 million is for removal and pruning. We do not earmark any of that for planting. We are trying to reduce the amount of potential liability for the citizens of Philadelphia.

I understand that. Maybe I misunderstood. When the Council President was asking the question as to why the $2.5 million is being controlled basically by the Managing Director and not being transferred over to the Fairmount Park Commission, if you had that $2.5 million, conceivably I guess you would be able to do more plantings.

Once again our primary purpose is to reduce the amount of liabilities on the streets of Philadelphia. Pruning and removal.

But you still don't have that $2.5 million. 1120 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

We control the $2.5 million through the management of the contracts. We make the decision on what trees are removed, what trees are pruned. The Managing Director allocates the money to us for that.

Can I have a point of information, please? Looking at your matrix, actually you're going to be planting less trees in '06, am I correct, then your targeted projection was for FY '05?

That's correct.

In FY '05 your projection was 1,500 trees to be planted. And for '06, I think it's 800?

Yes.

Then on of your testimony you're reducing the number of street trees removed from 4,300 in FY '05 to 3,200 in FY '06. I believe that's a decrease of 25.5 percent. I think we need some explanation.

With the planting 1121 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET contract, that is capital funding. That capital funding was frozen until the latter part of last Calendar year. We were unable to spend any money from that during that period of time. Normally we have two planting seasons, the fall and the spring. Because of that we were only able plant this spring, which we are doing now. We anticipate planting 958 trees this spring. We will have a carry over of $209,000 to the fall. Because we were not able to plant this past fall, we felt it was prudent to do that so we weren't planting trees in the heat of the summer. The end of our spring planting system is the beginning of June.

So I think we can now go back to Councilman DiCicco's question. How many of the street trees are in neighborhoods that are being planted? Of the 950 that will be planted this spring or were planted this spring, how many of them are in the neighborhoods?

Every one of them are 1122 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET in the neighborhoods. They're street trees. They are located in front of people's properties.

Those are requested by individuals or through Council offices?

That's correct. They're requested either by individuals or on behalf of individuals.

I would love to have a list that have been planted in my district, and I'm sure every district Councilperson would also like to see. So if you can get that information to us.

We can get that to you.

I would agree. Maybe what would be a little more helpful to us, when we make requests, often times I'm not certain if the requests have been fulfilled unless I drive by the location and see the trees planted. If you can give us something, a report, in anticipation of the plantings, if you're going to do plantings in April, maybe in March, say, of the list that was requested, 1123 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET these trees at these particular locations will be planted in the spring. That way we can follow up on that.

Part of our reorganization that we mentioned, with the Operation and Landscape Management Division, is bringing our tree staff, the staff that goes out there and services our customers, bring them into one unit to better manage and provide more efficiencies. So if we anticipate what you are asking for, we'll have the better ability to do that at the time.

That will be helpful. I don't know if I spoke with you, Ms. Borski, or not about this. I know I spoke to Rick Tustin of the Capital Office. I might get in trouble with my colleagues, especially the district Councilpeople. Again, the frustration of not being able to fulfill the request for tree plantings on our part and your part obviously because of funding, in our individual capital expenditures that district Councilpeople get, 1124 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET I thought of an idea and it may be helpful to get plantings done more quickly. Individual Councilpeople could set aside whatever portion of that capital dollars that we have for the purpose of getting trees planted in respective districts. I would put $20,000 in annually or whatever portion I decided to with the understanding -- just a way in which we can get more trees planted on a much more timely basis than we have been in the past -- with the understanding, though, if we allocate from our individual capital dollars, that these are done in a much more timely fashion than historically we've been able to do that. Have you had any further discussion? I dropped it on Rick and I think I may have discussed it with you.

You did. Actually, Rick and I have had some significant discussion on it. Where Chris is going with his discussion on the whole street tree management system is we are truly looking at a tree management system. And your suggestion 1125 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET is a big piece of that, to be able to be responsive to both Councilpersons and individual customers, it would be hugely helpful to us. So we're looking at a system where -- and we will actually come to talk to you about this -- where maybe some dollars should be thrown initially into the idea of funding a major software system which would then let us be able to break down by Councilmanic district, which we can't do now. We can do zip codes, but we can't do actual Councilmanic districts, I think. Right, Chris?

I have another way to do it where I can.

Okay. But we can look at being more responsive and also being able to target where street trees can be planted.

How much do you think that hardware or software would cost?

It's about a $300 to $400,000 system.

I think the 1126 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Redevelopment Authority or the Housing Authority, some other authority has a system in place already that breaks the districts down geographically, street by street, zip code by zip code.

We've been working with both MOIS and some of the organizations, RDA for instance, to put some dollars into the appropriate computer platforms. That's why the cost of this program might come down substantially. We're trying to coordinate efforts so that we're not reinventing the wheel, using what's already out there and coming up with a program that will work for us.

I just recently, through the Vacant Property Review Board, asked for a break-out of City-owned properties in my district. They broke it out across the entire Councilmanic district, which runs from South Philadelphia all the way up to the Oxford circle. It was able to identify specific streets, blocks, within the district. So I think much of that software is out there 1127 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET already.

Right. We just need to sort of customize it for Fairmount Park. In all honesty we looked seriously at maybe lowering service levels in order to put this program into effect because ultimately it would help our response time. So we actually think we'll come around and visit some Councilmembers.

I do have other questions. I'll wait for my next go around.

Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.

Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, all. We are really concerned about the issue of neighborhoods and the issue of maintenance, not only planting of trees, as my colleague mentioned, in a timely manner, but tree maintenance and tree removal. They become increasingly difficult issues and therefore more difficult each year. I wonder if you could comment a little on that. 1128 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

Yes. We are always trying to address this and make it better. We have come before you before to say that we are trying slowly but surely to cut down the backlog for the time that it takes, especially to get to dead and dangerous trees. Chris has done a lot of work with him, the Operations and Landscape Division, to try and address this. We're looking actually to study our numbers to see how effectively we are getting out there and turning around the turn around time. We know we're not there yet, but we've made it a priority to get there. We try to be as responsive as we can to calls to the office on that front.

As you know, years ago they used to remove trees. Then they started cutting them halfway down. Now they cut them a little lower. But we know the issues with the infrastructure and getting pipes and all of that. It's such a problem. We even have neighbors who are willing to get together and try to do something, even in the 1129 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET rear. For example, there are neighbors in my area who can't get cable because of the trees and that sort of thing. So I think that people are willing to do their part and share in what they can, but trees are such a big area that it's hard to get volunteers because you don't know what you're dealing with. And it's very, very difficult certainly without additional help. So I would appreciate that. You can get back to the Chair and she'll get back to the rest of us.

Of course.

Thank you, Madam President.

You're welcome. Councilwoman Brown.

While Councilman Nutter goes to his desk, I have a point of information related to Councilman DiCicco's question regarding the Tree Vitalize Program. Can I seize the moment and just do that real quick? 1130 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET You mentioned that you were in elementary schools. What is the criteria for those schools that were the lucky schools to win that kind of opportunity?

We do feel the schools 7 are lucky because now they'll have an 8 opportunity to have some beautiful trees 9 around the school. There was several ways we 10 developed this. We wanted to choose schools 11 that would have support from a program from 12 the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society called 13 the Tree Tenders. Tree Tenders are volunteers 14 that are trained to assist us with street tree 15 work. 16

They do great 17 work. 18

They do wonderful work. 19 So we wanted to partner with either a Tree 20 Vitalize group from a neighborhood or Earth 21 Force, which is another program through the 22 school system that teaches more about the 23 environment, because the School District does 24 not have the capacity to maintain all of the 25 trees to the standard we would like. So the 1131 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Tree Tenders are those that help out. So we first chose the areas that had support. Then we looked at our map and wanted to make sure that each neighborhood was being represented, so we made a decision to bring the program into every neighborhood.

Can I trouble you to please forward that list of schools and/or the map to President Verna?

Certainly.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam President.

You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.

Good morning.

Good morning. I know we were just in the world of street trees, so I think I'll stay there for a moment, although that was not my plan. If you answered this question already, you'll just tell me, because I was on the other side of 1132 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET the room. From time to time, we've had the discussion or I've talked with your staff about plantings, and it is unfortunately sometimes a somewhat torturous process. I have one in the 400 block of Martin Street. We've been, based on commitments from the staff since the summer of '03, trying to get the tree planted. What's the main issue that causes us to be in some of these situations where a planting just drags on and on? What is the problem?

It is unfortunate. Some of the issues that we've talked about with your office and others also center around the idea that you can't really take a tree down and then instantly plant one. Chris made mention the fact that there are planting cycles, and we try to do it in the spring and the fall. This year we missed the fall planting cycle. So that may have had some impact on a tree from '03.

Why did we miss the fall planting cycle? 1133 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

Planting dollars, our capital dollars and the Capital Budget was frozen for awhile this year. Ultimately it was freed up and we are on a roll over cycle playing catch up to do as many plantings as we can. I think ultimately by fall we will have spent those capital dollars and gotten as many plantings in the ground as we can.

Was the freeze as a result of the, quote/unquote, delay in the approval of either last year's budget or from the bond ordinance?

The loan authorization was not approved in time for the spring ballot, which is what caused the freeze in our funding.

Did you have no 19 capital dollars at that time?

For planting we had none, no. 22

Whenever you get off the witness stand I'd like to talk to you about a couple others.

Yes, absolutely. 1134 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

Let's go back to the strategic plan on of your testimony. Who is in charge of the strategic plan?

The strategic plan was run out of the Managing Director's Office, but ultimately it is a plan for Fairmount Park, so in terms of implementation it falls to us.

Let me ask again. Who is specifically in charge of implementing the strategic plan?

The Fairmount Park Commission.

It's not going to be the individual commissioners, right? Isn't it going to be the staff?

No. It will be staff, sure.

Which individual is responsible for the implementation of the strategic plan?

Currently the strategic plan's recommendations asked us, the Commission staff, to set up work groups and 1135 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET for those work groups to try and tackle some of the recommendations of the plan. That is the status of the situation right now. We have our senior staff overseeing a variety of work groups to try to see which elements of the plan we can move forward on.

Okay. Is there any one individual at the Fairmount Park Commission on staff who has the responsibility for making sure that the elements of the strategic plan are implemented?

While the plan was in the study stages Chris Palmer served in that function. Now Barry Bessler, Chief of Staff, serves in that function. He is not with us day.

So Barry Bessler is the person in charge of the implementation of the strategic plan; is that what you're saying?

Yes.

Quickly, what are its major recommendations and when do you expect to implement them? 1136 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

There were a variety of them. We made mention in our testimony to reduce redundancies with the Department and Recreation. We are moving forward on that all the time and looking for other ways to do that. I talked to Commissioner Richard just the other day about whether or not we should be looking at our special events policies and trying to coordinate efforts more with both our permitting fields and special event opportunities. That's one of the things that's most recently on the plate. We've already moved into the space with Rec. We've talked about turf and maintenance issues again and again.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll come back.

Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke. Before he gets to his desk, as far as the tree planting, I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I have requests that are two 1137 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET and three years old for tree planting. If the trees had been planted, I would love to know where they were planted in my district and what type of backlog we have. I think that every district Councilperson would like to know the same thing.

Right.

The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.

Thank you, Madam President. Good morning.

Good morning.

I'd like to talk about the concessions program. Since I've been absent from the Fairmount Park Commission, I don't really have a sense of what's going on out there. That was one of the issues that I was interested in when I sat on the Commission. Where are we at with the concessions program? I know at one point there was discussion about the operation, particularly of some of the mobile units on the drive. I 1138 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET think the Nylons (ph) had it at the time. I believe there was some changeovers. Additionally, if you can give me a sense of where we are with the Water Works?

We are trying to retool our concession agreements. We had in place something called a park wide concessionaire, but was a model that ultimately did not work as well for us as we would have liked. There's just too many different places in the park. Everything from the hot dog cart along the drives to our major facilities like the Hort Center and handling those two types of concessions really probably needs to be looked at separately. That is pretty much where we are right now trying to address those needs.

So the master concessionaire process did not work?

It did not work.

As you retool your thinking as it relates to letting the concessions programs, what's your thought on how we're going to do this? I know one of the issues when we 1139 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET were involved in the process that we wanted to have levels of inclusion, we were looking at getting minorities involved. I know a number of the people that came that made presentations had teams that were very inclusive of women and minorities. Will we take a similar approach as we move ahead on concessions?

Absolutely. I think the park has always been sensitive to that sort of involvement, speaking from this chair, and I think that we will certainly continue that. What is out there is how we will pursue this process. To get back to even what Councilman Nutter was saying. One of the things in the strategic plan is to try to look at the park as zones. We talked about the Centennial District as a zone. Do we put out RFP's for concession agreements in that zone or do we try and put out RFPs based on what the concession is, from a hot dog/ice cream vendors as opposed to a major catering hall. They're the kinds of issues that we're dealing 1140 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET with right now in trying to decide which way to go. But in any of the those circumstances we're going to look for participation.

Who's responsible for the concessions now, both the stands, the permanent stands and the mobile stands?

Fairmount Park Commission. It's back in-house right now because the concession agreement with the park-wide concessionaires ceased.

What's your time line on having a new program?

In all honesty I think we're spending this year moving forward. As a result of that concession agreement ending, we are continuing our agreements with most of the vendors that were in place for this year as we go forward because we still want to be able to offer the services in the park as we try to figure out a model that works better for us.

Who will be involved in that process in determining what model we will use as we move ahead, just the 1141 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET park staff, commissioners?

Yes. Commissioners and staff. Although people are certainly welcome.

People like Councilmembers?

People like Councilmembers.

Because it was a pretty open process before when we were looking at massive concessions. It's unfortunate that it didn't work.

Even as we've talked, we've had this sort of really nice and comprehensive study done at West Park, and a similar one for East Park is something that I think the park system and the neighborhood would really benefit from. We're pursuing that as well.

Real briefly before my time runs out, can you get me up to snuff on Water Works? And one last question, the Boxer's Trail. Where are we at with phase two of that?

Moving on both fronts. 1142 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET There are negotiations underway for the restaurant to be in place in the Engine House. The proverbial lawyers are meeting now to draft an agreement. While I hesitate to put a time line on it, things are moving along quickly. The RFP for the restauranteur was very comprehensive, so hopefully that means negotiations will be fairly compact and they really will begin to fit out that building. Similarly with the Boxers Trail, things are moving along nicely. Let me just turn to Mark Focht for one second. We have a major grant request in to DCNR for about $340,000, which we should hear on very shortly. With our fingers crossed we'll use that to complete that part of the project.

From where? I'm sorry.

From the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources of Pennsylvania State Grant.

From our friend Mike DiGrevenous (ph)? 1143 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

Our mutual friend, Mike, yes.

I'm not familiar with the specifics of how that phase two will be laid out. Can you send me something?

Absolutely.

I know we had conversations a couple years back on how it was when I was strong enough to run back there.

The layout of the trail is certainly available. We'll send over the design plans to you.

I'll be interested in it.

Sure. We'd like that to have a big splash. That's a wonderful, wonderful trail system.

I'll come back. I have a couple other questions.

Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.

Thank you, Madam 1144 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Chair. I don't like normally to talk about rumors, but I would like to know if it's more than a rumor. There's been some conversations that the 92nd Police District will be eliminated and that there will be no coverage by the Philadelphia Police Department from midnight to 8:00 in the morning in the park. Can you confirm that there is a conversation about that going on and have you been communicated with about that?

Yes. Anything that would impact the 92nd would be very important to us. I can say that a few months ago I had heard similar rumblings, and we have absolutely and immediately registered our concern that that be the case. We have also received assurances that the 92nd will stay in place. So that's extremely important to the park, especially going into the spring and summer season where we have so many visitors.

So what I hear, for the record, is that you heard what I heard. You asked the Police Commissioner? 1145 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

I spoke with the Managing Director's Office.

You asked the Managing Director's Office if what we heard, that the 92nd District would shut down the midnight to 8:00 shift, and that would be covered by the districts that would normally cover the park and you were told, no, that that's not going to happen?

Actually it wasn't just in reference to the midnight to 8:00 shift. But my understanding from the captain is that that is not the case, that there will be coverage, 24-hour coverage.

And the 92nd District that's located on Lincoln Drive is going to stay?

That is our understanding.

That is our understanding, yes.

Okay. The other question that I have. A week ago we learned that there's going to be a 1146 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET major Water Department job that will affect Kelly Drive in the area of the City Line Avenue area. Are you aware of this project, and from your perspective what will the impact be?

The project is known as the Dobson's Run project. I believe that's the one you're referring to. That's been studied and been looked at for a couple of seasons now. We actually thought that it might have gotten implemented last year and was pulled, I think. From Fairmount Park's perspective, we are very much involved in the project, both from the water channeling and also from the impact on traffic on Kelly Drive. So we have been working with the Water Department and the Streets Department on this to make sure there is as minimal impact as possible. But this is a big project and there will definitely be an impact on traffic flow on Kelly Drive. In fact, I think one of the reasons it was delayed was another look at the impact of traffic at the time. 1147 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

Would you address it, Mr. Palmer?

There are several impacts that will occur, including traffic and construction that will occur. We did negotiate with the Philadelphia Water Department to bring some benefits to park users, one of them being resurfacing the parking lot at the Strawberry Mansion Canoe Club. The second one being an overlook near Hunting Park Avenue over the river that we would provide an opportunity for users of the park to be right over the water. The third one, at least temporarily, a traffic light at Fountain Green Drive so people can not only turn off of it in their car, but can cross the street by foot.

So it's agreed that this will be an, I understand, a $20 million project that will have significant impact on traffic on Kelly Drive, correct?

There has been discussion about the traffic, the effect that 1148 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET will occur there. The Water Department is working to keep that to a minimum. But at the area where the construction will occur, there's likelihood that it will be reduced either from four to three lanes or four to two lanes, at least for part of the project.

Thank you. I'm pleased to hear that you're in the loop, because you know the area best. The Water Department is doing the project, but I think we hope that you'll have significant input on how they commence and do this construction.

We've met with them several times. They've been very positive about our requests.

Good. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco.

Thank you, Madam President. Good morning again. 1149 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET In the last year I've become an advocate of the game of golf. Some days I wonder why I took the game up. But I'm kind of hooked on it. As a result of that I occasionally go down to Council President Verna's district to FDR Park to do some practice and I played a few rounds of golf there. Anyone who knows anything about the game of golf who has played at FDR Park knows that that place has many more hazards than the typical golf course. It is a problem because of the flood plane and it's constantly flooding out. I bring up FDR Park because I think there are six all under Fairmount Park Commission's Control. What is the status of the lease with the company or companies that have been operating these golf courses? Because I understand that the lease either has come up or is about to come up. What's going on with those?

Golf usually gets the chairman of the Commission going, so he might feel compelled to jump in at any time. 1150 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET We have been operating under an agreement with Meadow Brook Golf for several years now. That lease agreement is about to come to an end. The effective date is actually March 31st. The golf courses will be managed by another company coming in at that time. Fairmount Park, like we made mention of our concession agreement for park-wide food concessionaire is simply looking at our concession arrangements. We're trying to get the best return to the park and certainly the best services we possibly can within the park system too. Six public golf courses are clearly a place where we want to deliver our high-end service.

So you're saying there's a new company that will be managing these six golf courses?

Yes.

Excuse me, Commissioner. Would you wait just a moment? Councilman, why don't we wait until the children leave? It's a little noisy. 1151 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

Certainly. No 3 problem.

The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter for a point of information.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I cannot necessarily see what's going on above me. Hopefully it's not that group of kids, but there are a group of kids from the Discovery Charter School, which is located in the 4th District, and I just wanted to recognize them for their participation in our process and make sure that everyone knows that they are here watching City Council in Session. Thank you, Madam President.

Councilman DiCicco.

Thank you. Beginning April 1st the new company will be taking management responsibilities; is that correct?

Councilman, temporarily 1152 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET we're changing the way it operates. It was an all inclusive management agreement initially. We're taking it, I would call it, back in-house so there's a management company that runs it day to day where the Commission makes all the decisions. It's temporary for one, maybe two seasons. At the same time we're having a study done because we recognize, as you mentioned in your opening statement, that there are a number of capital improvement issues that need to be done at the golf courses to bring them to a standard where we will be competitive in a very competitive industry. Of our courses, we have one course that from design and layout is probably world class and another five that are very good neighborhood courses. So what we need to do over these next few months is come up with a plan of action on what improvements should be made, how we should change our inventory to get the best experience in our courses.

So there's a 1153 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET possibility that some of the capital will be the responsibility of the Fairmount Park Commission, even though there's a new management company?

One of the ways we're looking at is perhaps doing, for instance -- we haven't decided anything -- is a surcharge. So maybe on every round of golf you pay an additional cents which would go in the 11 Capital Fund. Before we can figure out how to 12 raise the money we have to know exactly how 13 much it would take. 14 For instance, if you take Cobbs 15 Creek, which is probably our answer to Beth 16 Page Black (ph) in New York, if we were to 17 make some substantial improvements to Cobbs 18 Creek, the course would then be on par with a 19 lot of private clubs in the area. 20 There are corresponding 21 difficulties. If you put those improvements 22 in, your cost of play for the consumer rises 23 as well. So we're trying to balance the play 24 with the interest of the players, and that's 25 difficult and that's why we need some 1154 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET expertise, if you would.

Under the lease agreement are there restrictions on the fees -- or who sets the fees?

The fees are set by the Commission. The way it was originally agreed to was, there's a pool of similar courses, and our rates had to fall with some percentage rates of those courses and historically have fallen lower. Our rates are maybe set here, but if you look at the discounts and permits and everything we did, they were always lower. I'm not sure about the service, but for the players, I think they had a pretty good value to play. In the future I think the rates will be pretty close to being tied on a level until we target where we're going over the next few years.

The discount rates for seniors, is that something that is in the contract or is that at the discretion of the operators?

It's originally in the 1155 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET contract. Every year they come back and they may say, if last year the discount for the seniors was $100, they might come back and say, we recommend a 5 percent increase, and the Commission either approves or disproves that request.

Again, FDR Park in Council President Verna's district, the neighborhood around it, immediately adjacent to it, is repopulating. There's a significant number of housing and condo units that are being built on the other side where the former Passyunk homes will be a huge housing complex. Most of these people are people who are moving back to the City from Jersey and the surrounding areas, which is a good thing, and many of these people are golf advocates as well and they are choosing to move there, in addition to a lot of other reasons, but for the fact that the golf courses are literally a block away from where they will be living, which is kind of why people move to the suburbs and South Jersey for years ago. So we have an opportunity here, I think, to benefit 1156 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET as a City as a whole.

Well, we would say, I think we're pretty proud of FDR Park. Thanks to Council the tennis courts are redone. I think those tennis courts are as good as any. I thank the Council President in particular, with Council in general, because baseball fields are there. We think that park can be made to be one of our revenue zones. I think we're on the same page.

I agree. Anything ever been discussed with the boat house there? I know years ago when we started the non-profit Friends of FDR Park, I think it was, there was some discussion that there were some restauranteur entrepreneurs that were looking at that. Any further discussions, anything new coming up on that?

We're looking at two or three opportunities in that park because we think some of the buildings and sites are natural locations for a restaurant concession, given the neighborhood movement, plus the stadiums. I will take some of the blame 1157 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET because we've been a little slow by pushing through the Water Works contract. Once that's done I think we'll focus much more down there.

Again, I just think if you can do something and bring that golf course up to a better standard conditions -- and I know that's a challenge because of the flood plane. Every time the lake fills up the water runs off into the golf course and it's literally underwater pretty much all of the year. But there's an opportunity if you can do some improvements there. And if you get a restaurant at the boat house, there's a connection there where it's almost like a country club environment at a lot less expense. So I think you'll have a captive audience, if you will, using the golf course who literally would walk across the road to a restaurant.

We would agree and I think that our ideas are very similar.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. 1158 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

Thank you very much. As long as we're on FDR Park, the Friends of the Park led me to believe that whenever there was an event at the stadiums and if parking occurred in the park, that the Friends of FDR Park would receive some portion of the revenues that were generated from the parking. Has that taken place?

I had a slightly different understanding, Council President. What we do is revenues generated in FDR Park stay in FDR Park. We didn't really make a further connection to anything proceeding to a friend's group.

So I assume you communicate with the Friends of FDR Park to share with them what you're doing, what they propose to be done? Do you work together with them?

Yes. With our last meeting, and I think your office actually helped to facilitate it, there was a great discussion about lighting issues. Currently 1159 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET as we sit major re-lighting is going on in FDR. We used proceeds from parking revenues in order to facilitate that project. So we used the City-wide contractor, but we also used proceeds from FDR.

The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney for a point of information.

Thank you, Madam President. I was one of the original members of the Friends of FDR Park a long time ago. Karen's understanding of the relationship is, in fact, correct. The group itself didn't get the dollars to use, but consulted with and tried to help direct the Fairmount Park Commission for improvements to the park. All the money that was generated in revenue, for the Eagles games especially, was spent inside the park. But it's still spent by the Fairmount Park Commission, not the Friends group.

I don't know whether you were here when we were 1160 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET talking about the golf course at FDR Park. For as long as I can remember, as a matter of fact, one of the commissioners on the Fairmount Park Commission used to go there to golf and he would always complain that after a rain, he said you were knee deep in mud. I don't know how much it would cost to correct that situation.

I played there since I was a kid and my son plays there now. It's better than it was because they reconfigured the holes.

It's still not what it should be.

When it's a long time rain it's bad.

I know several people that go there and they do complain. They love it, but they said after a rain it's just impossible.

That's why they call them the lakes, Council President.

I'm sorry. The stenographer would like you to identify 1161 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET yourself, please.

I'm Robert Nicks. I'm President of the Fairmount Park Commission. I'm sorry. Of our six properties, FDR, speaking specifically as a revenue source, is probably the best revenue generator. It's in our best interest over this 18-month period to find a way to make the course play as enjoyable as possible. If we were to rank the courses, FDR, it's probably two. There have been systems put in to have the water run-off system and pumping system. I think what we're doing is trying to improve that system to make the play even better. I'm pretty confident we'll get there.

I know that Councilman DiCicco was asking about the senior citizen discount. I was distracted at the time. Would you mind repeating that for me?

The senior citizen discount, it's set by the Commission ultimately. Back then Meadow Brook would come 1162 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET to us and have a rates sheet for all types of play, including daily play. The Commission would approve it every year based on -- they come back with percentage increases. They might say, we want percent, and they'd show 7 us a list of comparable courses and what 8 they're charging. Then we would negotiate 9 back and forth at times, saying it shouldn't 10 be 10. Maybe it should be 3 percent. Maybe this permit the seniors shouldn't be touched and the youth golf should. So ultimately the Commission approves the rate schedule.

Wonderful. Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Commissioner, I'd like to go back to where I was and then move to a couple other areas. A couple years ago, a part of the big discussion with regard to this strategic plan was an effort to get at the question of 1163 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET what is the proper funding level for a well operated and maintained park system. Now that we have the strategic plan, what is the answer to that question? What does the plan tell us about funding levels? Or what is the appropriate funding level for a 9,200 acre park and the variety of the services and buildings that we have?

Other than more than that we'll ever have?

If we could have an actual figure that would be helpful.

After all is said and done I don't think the plan ever quoted figures and a dollar amount. They do comparisons to other cities and things like that. And they told us that going forward, typically park systems across the country, would need to generate 30, 40 percent of their own operating cost and revenue. So currently we are at a $13 million budget walking in here today, generating about 11 percent, I think, of our revenue.

I understand 1164 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET that. But that's based on the budget that you have today. My question is a slightly different question, which is, when you look at the size of our park system and what we provide, whatever the measurement is -- quite honestly I think if we checked the testimony from a couple years ago when this strategic plan idea came up, what ultimately was done through the strategic plan might be a different issue. What was discussed here when we were talking about it was one of the goals was to get to the point of a recommendation from an independent party looking at our park system, comparing to others and giving us some better sense of what is the appropriate and needed funding level, putting aside what we actually have or what we appropriate. What is the number that experts would say in consultation with yourself and the Commission, what would it take financially to run and operate a superior park system. I thought that was one of the questions from a couple years ago.

Our consultant on this 1165 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET project, Leon Younger, would say three to four times our current budget.

So we're talking about $50 million?

An example, Councilman Nutter, is if we go to other jurisdictions like Chicago, Chicago is cut up into four or five districts. Each of their districts, the revenues or funding is about what ours is for the whole park. Their districts are about a quarter to our size. So I think if I remember from the consultant when he came in, his base number was about $30 million funding.

Was about what?

His base funding that a park this size should have from funding from municipal government would be about $30 million, with the Commission's responsibility of raising an additional percent. So the 21 three to four times isn't all funding from the 22 City. The Commission would have some 23 responsibility raising 25 percent of that 24 total budget. 25

So with all that 1166 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET information in mind, what steps or what plans are being formulated to move in that direction? Or has the Commission even decided to try to move in that direction?

The Commission can control what it controls. We have worked diligently on the revenue zones. In other words, we want to make sure that we raise on an annual basis somewhere around $5 million. It would be recurring income. In a number of ways we're working through how you would do it.

This is new money?

We currently generate outside of City dollars about $2 million a year. We're trying to generate an additional $3 million a year of new dollars. That can be done in a number of ways. For instance, every time there's a new concession, we have, I would say, a tacit agreement with the City that the new revenues were coming in at 50/50. If there's a Starbuck's somewhere in 1167 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET the park and it generates a million dollars a year, in concept right now the park would retain $500,000, and $500,000 would go to General Fund.

What do you mean when you say in concept?

That revenue stream hasn't been created yet. So it's my belief that 50 percent of all new revenues would go directly to park.

Is there an agreement with someone that that's the way it works?

There's an understanding with the Managing Director, who is, as you know, soon to be an ex-Managing Director. We're working it through the new Managing Director, but I don't have the same understanding level yet. I'm not saying I won't get it. I just don't have it yet.

I assume my time is up. I'll come back.

Thank you very much. 1168 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Let me ask one question. We have a community organization that is talking about historic trees. They're saying that in the 5800 block of Willows they've been requesting tree trimming over the years, but have been told these are very old historic trees and so they can't get it treated. Would you check on that for us and let the President know?

Yes. 5800 block of Willows?

Yes. Willows Avenue. There are three trees there that they have been complaining about for years. We've got historic districts and now we have historic trees, so it goes. Councilwoman Brown, please.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My next question goes to the issue of park safety. We know regrettably last year our City had to endure the jogger rape and the circumstances around that. I know that there have been a few cameras put up in the park. What else has been done in that particular 1169 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET area and what has been done to improve cell phone reception, particularly in the Wissahickon Valley, which can provide an additional means to provide safety in the park?

Public Property actually was pursuing the idea of cell phone reception. The study has been done. The RFP is on the street right now, I believe. I don't know that they've got responses back from that, but they have addressed that issue. That process has been moving forward.

Is Public Property handling the installation of the cameras as well?

The Police Department put up those cameras as part of a grant program. Actually, it's interesting you mention that. I don't think we've gotten our first report back yet from that.

So it's very new as of?

The pilot program, it's about maybe six months since it started. 1170 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

All right, then.

Madam Chair, point of information.

We have a point of information. Councilman Rizzo.

I'd like to follow-up on that cell phone issue. Director Borski, one of the things I hear from the Police Department is the fact that there must be some confusion or communication issue. If an incident occurs in the park, like on Kelly or Lincoln Drive, I believe years ago there were numbers put on the light poles for police radio to come with some reference. If you call 911 when there's an auto accident on Lincoln Drive, they want to know what hundred block of Lincoln Drive. What hundred block. It's very difficult for them to point out locations along, I believe, Forbidden Drive. Years ago there were numbers 1171 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET installed on the light poles for a person to be able to report. I asked Police radio about that and they said they didn't know anything about the number system, where if a person was in trouble they'd say, I'm at marker number 18. There's apparently no reference to what those numbers mean to the police, at least in the communications division. Excuse me for going longer than I should -- but I just wanted -- talking about the cell phones and the lots -- the way the police respond to crime in the park.

We can investigate it further. I know that, for instance, our parking lots are all numbered and identified. For this previous system, I personally cannot speak to it. There are numbers on the poles, so we could investigate why it's maybe not sort of up and running right now. I'll definitely look into that.

On Forbidden Drive there's numbers and they were put there by the park to reference various locations along Forbidden Drive. 1172 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Cell phones, I know Cingular does not work down on Forbidden Drive at Bells Mill.

Forbidden Drive Bells Mill is definitely a drop point. There's one small one in the Northeast as well. The locations where there is not cell phone reception have all been identified. Now trying to figure out a way to rectify that situation, since the world is such cell phone world, is step two. But there is a whole segment that would say exactly that.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Going to testimony on . I'm actually trying to understand the performance measurements regarding grass cutting. The frequency is not projected to be reduced between FY '05 and FY '06, but the targeted acreage to be cut is almost 10,000 acres less. Can you explain that for me?

For one thing we have talked about this idea of non-duplication of 1173 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET services with the Recreation Department. We assumed their acreage for a year. We introduced them to our contracting policies and practices and now have handed back that idea to Rec, so that explains some of the acreage. We picked it up and then we gave it back to Rec to manage their contractual acreage based on our system. Also I think we just, based on pure numbers, are probably trying to eliminate one cut in the coming season.

So this can be viewed as one by-product or outcome of the consolidation of tasks between the two departments, which is a good thing?

Yes.

Was there some discussion already on Growing the Neighborhood from your testimony on ? Did one of my colleagues already ask about that, because we don't need to be redundant?

No. But that's a great program. We're really thrilled with the results. 1174 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

Could you tell us about that? One thing I'm particularly concerned about is that funding is scheduled to end in FY '07, right?

Right. Because it is foundation and private enterprise driven. But it is a very successful program and we remain hopeful that Growing the Neighborhood will continue into the future. Current funding standards take us through FY '07. That's all private.

So I would imagine discussions are underway and what collectively can be done with the Administration, Council or not, to bring the companies back into the --

Bring the companies back to the table. Our conservancy is the fundraising arm that's been sort of spearheading the effort to get funding for that project. It's worked very well.

Thank you for your testimony. Thank you, Madam Chair. 1175 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

Thank you as well. Councilman Clarke.

Thank you, Madam Chair. A couple quick questions about either leases or potential leases. Can you give me the status of the Audubon proposed East Park Reservoir development, and also I'd like to get the status of the East Park Driving Range?

The Audubon Center, which was before us almost two years ago, now has resurrected itself. A tremendous amount of work was done on that project with the potential for Audubon to have a long-term lease of East Park Reservoir. It's our understanding from discussions with National Audubon just in the past month or so that they have put in place a new director for their Pennsylvania operation and that they are committed to that project and it will go forward. I haven't had that meeting yet. Certainly your office will be 1176 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET brought into play when that happens.

Will we have to replicate the process that we had before or do we just pick up where we left off?

No. I think we pick up where we left off. Even beyond memorandum of understanding there is now a lease written and in place that the parties agreed to.

Everybody signed off, the Park Commission, the two District Councilpeople, the Mayor?

Yes. I think the remaining details were some insurance issues and I think they might still be outstanding. But certainly the quantum leap has been done. What needs to be done is that Audubon needs to commit the dollars, and they needed a Pennsylvania director in order to do that.

Because it was two years ago, what about the terms and conditions as it relates to the dollar amount? Would we want to readjust those?

We probably will want to look at that. I think that we're still 1177 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET talking tweaking rather than reinventing.

Okay. East Park Driving Range.

East Park Driving Range, just at our last Commission meeting the designs plans were reviewed and approved. They are working with staff on filing design documents. We hope to have no break in service. The driving range will remain open while improvements are going on. The improvements are really quite extensive and quite nice, so that will be a new revenue generator for the park as well.

It will remain open while we're renovating? How can that happen?

I think so.

Are we replacing the stalls?

Since it took us longer than we anticipated to actually sign the contract, we may not have the improvements that we'd hoped. There's improvements scheduled that we can get to you from the 1178 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET contractor on what's going to happen in stages. There should be all new stalls and new turf laid in the range with a temporary trailer for the opening of the season, with everything else being converted at the end of this season. So this time next year the whole million dollars or so in improvements will be in place.

But we can't start any of that until we finalize the lease?

Right. But we've approved the design. My understanding is we're pretty close in the details. So as I'm speaking I don't anticipate any snags in the negotiations.

Can you give me a date?

For completion of the project?

No. The lease.

I've pushed the Law Department that we want to have a new operator in before the weather turns. So sometime before the end of April we want to have the 1179 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET lease signed and the operator in, because you know as well as we do how important it is for the community to see change. We talk a lot and very little happens. So it's another example of having something new happen right there.

Is the community organization still involved in the process? Does the new operator understand the relationship that the community group had?

I talked to Anthony Langford. I know he's been involved. My assumption is that he's relaying it back to the community. That's what my understanding is. My understanding is yes.

There was, I guess, a formal relationship with the prior operator. Do we have that type of relationship with the Friends of East Park and the new operator?

I believe that kind of relationship is in the documentation as well. I can make sure. I can get back to you. But I'm fairly certain that relationship carries 1180 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET through to the next operator.

Is anybody here that knows, that can answer that question?

Dennis Waller might want to speak to the community. This was a Request for Proposal that was put out. The community responded along at least in the first go round for this RFP as the potential operators. The second time around they did not respond.

No. That's not the community group that I'm talking about. There was a different community group.

Good morning, Councilman. Dennis Waller, Fairmount Park Commission. I think you're speaking of the relationship that was established in the RFP between the potential operator and the community organization itself. Yes, the potential awardee is aware of those conditions. East Park is aware of those conditions and they are formalized in the contract itself. They will be formalized in 1181 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET the contract itself. It is in the RFP that they will have a say with regard to employment opportunities, minority/female participation, and the general overall operation and how it impacts on the community. That is part of the agreement.

With the Friends of East Park?

With the Friends of East Park. And that is in the RFP, the Friends of East Park, not a community organization.

Okay. I know my bell rang. With respect to the Friends of the Audubon Society, the relationship as it relates to their lease, is that also with the Friends of East Park or does there need to be a new organization formed that has more people participating?

I don't recall the exact language for the community involvement in that, but we certainly know it was extensive in the Audubon piece. But I don't 1182 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET know that any particular group was mentioned by name.

Mark Focht, Fairmount Park Commission. Councilman, the Friends of East Park are mentioned in the terms of the lease as far as establishing the advisory committee to advise the Audubon staff on the development of the center and the curriculum, so they're specifically listed in there as part of the advisory group.

My understanding is there's going to be a board established to oversee the ongoing operation. There is community participation on that board, I'm assuming?

Correct. There's representation on what would be the stewardship board, which is the interim board that helps establish the center, correct.

I know there was some concerns about the number of participants from the community versus the number of --

That was all resolved with your input and they're represented there. 1183 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

Okay. All right. Thank you. I'll stop myself.

The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.

Thank you, Madam President. I'll be quick. I just wanted to take an opportunity to thank you for the way in which you approach your jobs. This is one of the City-related departments that really look at things innovatively, take suggestions and come back. You have dialog and try to really work with elected officials and the community. You've had some tough stuff lately. The great job you guys did with Microsoft, Please Touch and the very difficult deal you had to do in dealing with the community and everybody else on Fox Chase, those are the big profile issues. But the day-to-day stuff and the responsiveness of the Fairmount Park Commission, the Commissioner's involvement, the staff's involvement, it's one of the few pleasurable aspects that I have left to deal with on a day-to-day basis. It's really just 1184 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET interesting and fun. I know you guys really are committed to your mission, and that is preserving that park and making it the best it can. So I just want to take the opportunity to thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My last question in the area where we were before is, given the present funding level and the components of the strategic plan, is there a schedule or a time line that lays out which task will be completed when? Secondly, is there a document that lays out a plan and its implementation.

A scheduled time line for completion, no, not at this time. But it's something we can work on.

Is there something preventing that? Why isn't there a schedule? 1185 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

The time line was really based more on things that were considered high priorities, moderate priorities, long-term priorities. The decisions were based on several different factors. One was actually ability to complete them. One of the pieces of it was about the appointment of commissioners in that process and whether it was open enough. We've pursued as a Commission sending a letter to the President Judge about advertising openings and things like that. That had high priority. It was something that was important to the strategic plan and something that we could also act on right away. There are some longer term infrastructure issues --

I would agree that making sure that process is open is important. But quite honestly, in the context of where we are, in the very large scheme of things, I cannot imagine that for most of the park users, in a 9,200 acre system, one of the largest, if not in the country, possibly in the world, that the appointment process for 1186 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Fairmount Park Commissioners would really rise to the level of what is on many of the users' minds when they think about what's going on with this system and what some of its needs are. Now, I understand if you can do something you can hit it quickly and get it done. But there were numerous recommendations in the report. So what I'm trying to understand is, given your funding level, of the things you think you can do, what the President testified as to what the real number should be, whether it's City support or additional fund-raising, do you have the funding in place to implement the recommendations of this long awaited strategic plan?

Not in all cases, no. 20

So what are you going to do?

An example would be that we have, through foundation dollars, done a significant signage study through the park. Along Forbidden Drive those signs would be in 1187 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET place. We would love to implement that process throughout the park.

Why don't we do this? Could you forward to the Chair the list of the various recommendations, what the priority order is and when you expect to complete those tasks? It will be helpful to try to understand how this is all going to happen, because I'm not hearing anything at the table other than possibly a conceptual agreement about things to happen in the future, about sharing of funds from new revenue sources. Although I'm not hearing that there's an actual agreement and I don't know what our role is in that process if the dollars -- 50 percent are going to disappear into the park's budget off the balance sheet. But that will be a different argument for a different day. Someone gave us a lot of money. There was a lot of discussion in this Council, there are a lot of users and interested parties in the strategic plan, and I want to 1188 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET know how is it going to be implemented given your present funding and what the time line is and the completion schedule for those items that you think are important. That's what I'd like to know.

We'll send over a matrix.

Okay. Second, I don't know when it stopped, but it did some time ago. The Commission meeting schedules and the committees and what items are on the agenda, I don't get them anymore. But when I do, it might be the day before the meeting. A little hard to respond. Is there something going on with the notification process?

It's our understanding that it was e-mailed to all the Council folks probably a week to 10 days before the Commission meeting. If you're not getting them it's an oversight.

As much as I love the technology --

Hard copy?

That would be 1189 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET very nice. I'd like to see the paper. I love trees. I'm not trying to kill anymore. That's why I'm a big supporter of trees. But if I can have a hard copy a week to days 6 out to the office that would be very helpful. 7

Okay. 8

Lastly for the 9 moment, in that regard, in terms of the 10 Commission and its meetings and things that come up -- I was informed just a little while ago -- and I'd like to better understand the Commission's process with regard to the proposed relocation of a circus out on Parkside Avenue. Does the Commission approve this?

This is an unusual case, which seems to be less and less unusual. We had a request. The Madam Director had a request from the Mayor's Office to consider locations for the circus. I'm not really well versed on the reasons why the request came over. So the request came over and the park staff looked at two or three locations --

When did the 1190 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET request come over?

This past Friday evening, just last week. And fortunately for us, Universal Circus has been on one or two sites in the park before. They're not unknown to us. So in the current case we were able to facilitate the request. The staff looked at locations and determined a location over where the county fair actually used to be. The timing of the event was such that it didn't interfere with the Mann's schedule or any of the real construction that will be beginning in that area pretty soon. Having said that, it's a facilitation and something that we would prefer not to have to do in the future. But on the other hand, when you get a request from the Mayor to put a pretty large venue in the City, at least it's my feeling that that's something we try to facilitate. That's pretty much what happened.

Was there any thought given to the fact that there are a fair number of people who live across the 1191 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET street and I just learned about this last night with additional information this morning? This is the only place in the park that's available?

Right. We looked in the park system, and we have an events division that looked long and hard at it, as the chairman mentioned. This is the site of the previous county fair. It was a large enough footprint, as they say, to handle the event. That was why we chose that site. That was all done late on Sunday and early yesterday morning. The first request came in on Friday. There was a lot of thought given to it over the weekend and decisions were made late Sunday night and early Monday morning.

Let's go to the community notice and process issue. Do they have a voice in any of this discussion to have something just summarily thrust on them with no discussion or notification, coordination or anything else? What is the urgency here?

In the normal course it would have come up in a Commission meeting. 1192 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

So the answer is it's not been approved by the Commission?

It hasn't been approved by the Commission. I have sent out a request that everybody allow us to do it. Because the circus opens near the end of this week and it's just about over by the next Commission meeting.

I was told tomorrow.

Tomorrow? It's over by the next Commission meeting. In a normal process --

There's no other date? There's no other time that this can happen? This is something that is of such a critical nature that it has to start tomorrow, over the holiday?

As I understand it the circus travels and they're slotted for scheduling. This was obviously scheduled.

It wasn't scheduled for that site.

No. But outside of the 1193 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Commission's purview it was scheduled sometime ago to be in the City on that date.

What happened?

All I know is the request that we got from the Mayor's Office.

What was the original site?

I do not know.

I don't know. The request was for us to try to find a site to house the event.

Excuse me, Councilman. Would this be Circus Soleil?

No. 16

It's Universal Circus.

It's been at a different location every year it's been in town.

Point of information.

The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco.

Thank you, Madam President. 1194 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET It's my understanding that a site, if not the site, that was being looked at was at Broad and Washington, the Holt sight, where Cirque de Soleil has been performing, but for some reason Mr. Holt never followed up with the operators of this Universal Circus. My understanding is they were actually on the road coming into town last week -- and I could be incorrect in this -- but someone came to my office to talk to me about it. So they were not able to locate it at Broad and Washington Avenue because the owner of that parcel of land never followed up on the request.

Councilman, I appreciate that. My understanding is that there were discussions with the owner and the issue was insurance. The operator was not able to meet the insurance requirements at that particular site. So all of a sudden because of a problem at Broad and Washington, it now ends up the day before out in Parkside.

It could be. I 1195 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET was not a party to any of those discussions. It was just dropped on my desk. The guy said, you've got to help us. They're on their way into Philly. I said, well, I don't own the site. The City doesn't own it

It's off of your desk and it fell onto mine.

Okay. I just wanted to let you know what I heard.

I appreciate it. So there's been no discussion with the community organizations out there, the business associations out there. I get the first whiff of it last night. I get slightly more information this morning. All of the decisions have been made and you're just going to go and do it. Is that basically where we are?

We facilitated a request. I'm not trying to dodge your question. The same time frame you got, Councilman, is what I got.

Let me ask this question. Was there any discussion about 1196 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET possibly rescheduling it? Is the town going to fall apart if we don't have this particular event at that particular location at this particular time?

We didn't have that discussion.

So no one asked the question?

I did not ask the question.

Point of information.

The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo for a point of information.

I would assume a circus requires L&I inspection. I would assume that they have rides. There's going electrical inspections, I hope.

No. It's just a circus.

There's not going to be any carnival rides or anything like that?

Not that I recall. 1197 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET

So we're assuming some liability here? What kind of contract do you have? What if someone gets hurt at the circus? Is the City on the hook here?

They did a license agreement. It has to be approved by Risk Management, which I assume has already been done. I haven't seen it yet, but the license should be done.

Councilman Nutter, I know you were engaged in conversation. I asked about what liabilities that we may be assuming here on City property. What kind of revenue are we getting for this? What kind of money? What's in it for us, other than having a carnival on Good Friday.

The license agreement will reflect abatement of City services and a donation to the park.

How much?

Honestly, Councilman, I don't know right this minute. But it will be based on our special event policy, and that's 1198 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET what we would put forward in order to accommodate it.

The issue that I wanted Councilman Nutter to be sure he heard was the fact that there is consideration for liability that Risk Management has already approved. Risk Management already approved and has signed off on this and we assume no 10 liability at all?

We were only asked for a site. The license agreement would certainly address those issues.

Aren't you concerned that you might be buying into liability here? If I were in your shoes I would. Are you aware? Are you or not?

I'll be happy to forward the licensing agreement over.

The license agreement covers liability?

Yes.

It sounds like an awful fast deal. I'll tell you, if you reacted this quickly on a lot of issues we'd 1199 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET be really impressed. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman. Let me make sure that my position is very clear. I've been to this particular circus. They provide a wonderful entertainment opportunity. My issue is solely with the process by which this has come along. The complete lack of consideration to the affected neighborhood and the commensurate disrespect that is shown to the community that would be affected by something like this. I understand that things happen. But I think it's also incumbent upon the government to lay out to people, you were looking to do something at location X. For whatever reason it didn't work. We may be able to accommodate you at location Y, but not on your timetable. Because you had a problem. There was no problem with the City of Philadelphia. As best I can tell it doesn't sound like we were involved in the transaction. 1200 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Obviously we should try to be as accommodating to people as possible. It's a wonderful event. People will have a good time, et cetera, et cetera. As I've mentioned, I've attended in the past. The issue here is, how we conduct our business and how we treat our neighbors who are very good to the park, who I believe just deserve much more consideration under the circumstances. If the issue here is in an effort to accommodate someone and generate a few dollars, we will then just disrespect and ignore good community neighbors who we've tried to develop a longstanding relationship over time, then we should just say it, that the money is more important than the relationship. That we take whatever we can get from whomever we can get it, whenever we can get it and we really don't care what the impact is on you as community people during one of the significant religious times in this City. I disagree with it. I'm not particularly in support of it. I think it's 1201 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET inappropriate and badly handled under the circumstances and something else could have been done or a different location could have been found even under the tight time frame without disrupting a neighborhood under these set of circumstances. So I want to make sure that my views are pretty clear on this issue.

Thank you, Councilman.

You're welcome. Thank you, Madam Chair.

You're welcome. Councilman Rizzo, did you want to be recognized?

Yes. Thank you, Madam President. I'd like to go back to some infrastructure. If you can explain the relationship that the park has with the Streets Department. I mentioned earlier that you guys did a great job in maintaining Bells Mill Road between Germantown and Ridge. The brush was growing onto the roadway where your vehicle 1202 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET would strike it. There's no trucks there right now, other than Streets Department and Water Department vehicles, who have an exemption. If you look west of the creek between Germantown and the creek, there's debris and trash and everything behind the guardrail piled four or five feet high. It's really an eyesore. My main question right now is, do you know Bells Mill Bridge is in trouble? It's defective. The Streets Department, believe it or not, even though there's a three ton load limit, they allow trash trucks and the Water Department crew vehicles, they give them an exemption. It doesn't make any sense to me. I asked the Water Commissioner and the Streets Commissioner to give me that in writing because I want to have that for my file. What coordination has been done, because I understand this bridge is going to come out? As you know, Bells Mill is a very important artery into the City. What is the park's involvement in the interruption of the 1203 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Bells Mill Bridge? Can you explain the project and what impact it will have on the community?

I understand that our involvement is fairly minimal involvement right now. Can we get back to you? Because normally we have pretty open discussions with Streets and Water and I've been working very hard to make them even more open. It's in everybody's best interest and certainly the park's. So we'll get back to you.

Can you explain the relationship? Whose responsibility is Bells Mill Road? Is the vegetation overhang yours, the roadway theirs? It's another situation where the springs run off onto Bells Mill, and many of my constituents complain about the icy patches that develop overnight. Can you explain in general who should we be dealing with here? What should I be asking you to do and what should I be asking the Streets Department to do? The place is just in terrible, terrible condition right now. Debris, all kinds of 1204 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET junk. It looks like a roadway into a junk yard.

The responsibility for Bells Mill Road, the vegetation is Fairmount Park's responsibility. The repaving of the roadway is Streets Department. The inlets, I understand that's Water Department.

Could you do me a favor? You did a great job a few years ago. I don't know if you were in the position you're in now. You coordinated an effort where the police shut the roadway down. They went in with this Road Hog or whatever this gadget you have is, you went in there and cleaned all the vegetation back. They opened up the inlets to prevent the water running into the roadway. They were totally clogged from what I understand. I would appreciate it and the people that live in that community would appreciate being able to clean the roadway, the shoulders between Germantown Avenue and Ridge, cut the vegetation back again. Ask the Water Department to open up the inlets and have the 1205 03/22/05 - FY '06 OPERATING BUDGET Streets Department realign the shoulder and the center of the roadway. It is really a bad situation there. We shouldn't really have to ask each year or every few years. This is something that should be like a maintenance list.

Yes. We'll certainly look to schedule another one.

Thank you. I know you're doing it with mirrors right now and I wish you didn't have to do it that way. But there are certain priorities, and this, I think, should be one of them. As you all know it is a major, major roadway. I heard earlier, the Friends of the Wissahickon tell me that they're going to have a clean-up event or some type of maintenance that they're doing next week or so at Forbidden and Bells Mill. The whole roadway has washed off. The signage is all laying down into the park. It's a real mess. It's a mess. Thank you.

We'll definitely take a 1206 look. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments by Members of the Committee? (No response.)

Seeing none. I thank you for all the wonderful work you do. This Committee will stand in recess until 1:30, at which time we will hear from the Recreation Department.

Thank you, Council President (Recess taken.)

Thank you for your patience. This is the continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole. We will now hear from the Recreation Department. Welcome, Commissioner. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony. COMMISSIONER RICHARD: Vic Richard, Commissioner of the City of Philadelphia Department of Recreation. Thank you for 1207 welcoming us. Good afternoon, Council President and Honorable City Council Members. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our executive team. To my right and your left is Deputy Commissioner Mary Platt-Coles, Deputy Commissioner Carlton Williams, and Deputy Commissioner William Carapucci. We'd like to thank you for leadership and also for giving us an opportunity to present our requested budget for Fiscal Year '06. 2 million in the General Fund. That includes a decrease of a little over $2 million. This decrease includes cuts due to staff reductions, staff restructuring and over-time reductions as well. 3 million, 82 percent of our total budget is in Class 100. 7 million, 8 percent, is in Class 200. million, percent, in Class 300. There's $209,000, percent, in Class 400. 8 million in Class 500, which is percent. 4 million for Fiscal Year '06. The Recreation Department grant fund appropriations will provide for our summer food and after school food snack programs, our older adult senior citizen programs, Local Law Enforcement Block Grant, Human Services Development Fund and Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block grant funding. The changes in our General Fund position levels from FY '05 to '06 are as follows: In Fiscal Year '05, our full-time positions were 532. In Fiscal Year '06, they are 494. Permanent FY '05 part-time positions were 155 and permanent part-time in FY '06 are 142. Our seasonal positions in FY '05 were 1,972 and in FY '06 are 1,837. 6 million decrease in Class 100 funding. The Department reduced 10 full-time positions in our program unit, 20 full-time 1209 positions in our maintenance unit and eight full-time positions in our administration and development due to restructuring of recreation districts, staff reductions and contracting of our turf management for our recreation properties. Our service delivery impact in maintaining our core mission of public recreation and leisure services, we propose the following: There will be no change in service involving our after school programming. There will be no change in service involving our summer day camps. There will be no change in service involving our ice-skating rinks. The summer aquatics program will consist of a solid eight weeks from June 18th through August 20th. In FY '05 the summer aquatics program consisted of nine weeks. Passive park maintenance will continue to be maintained by SMAs, our seasonal maintenance attendants, and there will be no change in that service delivery as well. 1210 Turf management. Grass cutting will be improved from one cut every three weeks to one cut every two weeks. Three pools, Smith, 48th and Woodland and Waterview have been demolished and will be replaced with new state-of-the-art spray grounds to maintain water play activity in their respective communities. Revenue development and fiscal responsibility. The ice rinks in FY '05 generated $57,652 as of February 28th of '02, as compared to $28,738 for the same time period in '04. This is 100 percent increase in revenue in one year. This increase in revenue is due to improved advertisement and increased fee structures. Island Road Recreation Center was leased for $86,400 annually for the creation of a Montessori charter school. The consolidation of two maintenance warehouse operations within the Department resulted in a savings of $176,000 annually by the elimination of City lease payments. The consolidation of the Fairmount 1211 Park and Recreation administrative units resulted in $175,000 annual FY '05 savings.

We're very proud of some of these accomplishments while still maintaining quality services during these very fiscally strained times. Accomplishments in '05. Our maintenance and capital projects unit in FY '05 we continue to demonstrate our commitment to excellent service delivery. Through the leadership and diligence of our maintenance department, we were able to open another teen center, being number six, at Simon Recreation Center. We are proud to say that we now have 16 centers under the operation of the department; Rivera, McVeigh, Francis Myers, Kingsessing, Shepard and now Simons. Eight facilities are scheduled now for new play equipment, Simons, 29th and Chalmus, Olney, West Mill Creek, 33rd and Wallace, Cohocksink and Windemere, Kingsessing and Kenderton. Thirteen parks were renovated by leveraging City dollars with approximately 1212 $1 million in grant funding from the State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The pride in our daily maintenance of our facilities is the key to quality service delivery. In our administration unit, in administration and development, the division continues to play a very vital role in the development of our workforce. The ongoing investment in the preparation of employees is vital to the service delivery and the safety of our employees and citizens. The division also manages our older adult programs at five Recreation's older adult facilities. The program participation continues to grow at these centers, particularly for programs such as the senior art camp conducted at three Fairmount Park locations, including Love Park this year, where 90 senior citizens attended this past summer. The senior holiday party, which had over 2,000 senior citizens in attendance in '05, was a record setting number. That was hosted at the Marriott. In our senior games, held in the month of May, we 1213 had 495 seniors participating in various sports activities. In our program unit as mentioned, the Department opened a teen center at Simons Recreation Center in FY '05. This brings the total number to six. Since the inception of the first two teen centers, the Department has provided programming services to thousands of youth, ages to 21, who participate in 11 classes, tournaments, dances, field trips or 12 who just drop in to enjoy the teen lounge. 13 Currently there are 2,550 teens that are 14 registered as official members. We also enhanced our partnership with the Police Athletic League at Hunting Park Rec Center and we are close to concluding another partnership at Ford Recreation Center. In addition, we have selected Fisher Park as the permanent headquarters for our year round and summer arts camp. Through our ongoing partnership with the Phillies, 76ers and the Eagles, we are able to maintain special athletic programming in our neighborhoods, in addition to our 1214 ongoing soccer, basketball, softball, baseball and gymnastics which operate year round. The Department will continue to serve over 7,000 children and teens in our community day camps and in our sports and athletic camps that include golf, baseball, basketball, tennis and swim instruction. We are continuing our relationship with the University of Penn's Annenberg Center and Settlement Music School for our performing arts camp, serving over 300 children and teens. m. Our top recreation programs serve over 250 preschool-aged children and families and operates September through June. As you can see, we are just as committed today as we were yesterday to play our role in enhancing the quality of life in Philadelphia. We thank you, the City Council, 1215 for its support and leadership. We will be glad to answer any questions that the Council may have. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner, on -4 of your detail, you list $2.6 million of reductions in Class 100. Would you be kind enough to go through each item and explain what the reduction is, the number of positions being reduced and the service impact these reductions will have on your operation? COMMISSIONER RICHARD: I will give the overall numbers and I will let my deputy commissioners talk about the details in each one of their prospective divisions.

Thank you. COMMISSIONER RICHARD: In our program unit, the deductions in our full-time employees is 10 in that unit. In our maintenance unit there's 20, and in our administration unit there's eight. And that total -- and these are full-time figures -- that total figure for the entire Department 1216 from '05 to what's being proposed in '06 is a reduction of 38. In our part-time employees, permanent part-time employees, the reduction figure in our program unit is 13. We don't have any permanent part-time in maintenance or in our administration unit as well. So that total number is 13. In our seasonal temporary number, in our program unit is a reduction of 77. In our maintenance unit -- this is seasonal temporary -- is 55 and --