COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON PARKS, RECREATION AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS - - - Room 696, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, June 5, 2003 9:20 a.m. - - - - - - Bill 030300 - Ordinance amending an Ordinance (Bill 10 No. 877) approved September 16, 1994, by amending an exhibit thereto, in order to increase the limit of the amount of funding any entity may receive in any fiscal year PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS-BROWN, (Chair) COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 (215) 567-2670 2
We are here to hear testimony on Bill No. 030300. The title of the bill 4 read as follows: Amending an ordinance (Bill No. 5 877), approved September 16, 1994 by amending an exhibit thereto in order to increase the limit of the amount of funding any entity may receive in any fiscal year. The members of the committee that are in attendance are Councilman Rizzo, Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, Council President Anna Verna and myself, Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, chair of the committee, and Councilman Darrell Clarke. Councilman O'Neill staff person, do you have any remarks? Please provide the remarks at this time. Please identify yourself for the record.
Aaron Finestone, City Council technical staff. This bill raises the limit, the ceiling, on what the maximum grant can be. It is not an appropriation as such. Back in about 1994 when the fund was set up, it was an ordinance and an agreement incorporated into the ordinance, and at that time the limit was set at $5,000 per grant and in view of inflation and good causes which are needed by various community groups, 3 we feel that the limit should be raised to $6500. This does not require any grant to be that high.
Any comments or questions from members of this committee? We thank you very much.
We do have one other person to testify. Thank you very much. Mr. Kelly, do you want to move to the table and provide your testimony?
Good morning, Madam Chairman. My name is Ed Kelly, President of the Pennypack Festival. You will have to excuse my voice, Madam Chairman. Northeast Philadelphia, large enough in population of about 500,000 people to be Pennsylvania's second largest City. It has long been the stepchild of the city politics, getting less of its fair share of just about everything from at-large City Councilmen to culture. When it comes to doling out funds to the cultural center, a fraction, about percent, goes to the Northeast, which I'm very unhappy about. The 4 lack of cultural appropriation presentation facilities puts northeast residents at a disadvantage to the rest of the City, which I think we can prove that. The City's cultural program supports the Mann Music Center, approximately $390,000. The Robin Hood Dell East gets about $388,000 with substantial grants. Now, the grants are very important because it is insurance. I will bring that up later. However, a very small percentage of the cultural funds go to the Northeast Y. It isn't that the Dell East and the Mann Music Center aren't important to the City and aren't deserving. We feel those of us in the Northeast who pay our fair share of the taxes are not receiving our fair share of the cultural programs and the cultural funds. Substantial funds have been contributed from the City coffers to the Kimmel Performing Arts Centers and the Mann Music Center. However, prices remain rather high and are out of reach for the majority of the people of all parts of the City. I would like that to be checked into later on too including those in the Northeast. These facilities are beautiful and are quite a distance from the Northeast, an average of 30 to 35 5 miles round trip. Residents in the Northeast want their own cultural facilities in their own community. Although there are many other things to speak about and concerning cultural facilities in the Northeast or lack thereof, I would like to address my attention today to the Pennypack Park Festival. We started that back in 1970 by two public-spirited citizens, meaning Lou Farinella and myself. Lou Farinella is now working very closely -- he is the No. 2. man -- with Bob Brady and the City committee. We raised funds from area businesses, and, if more was needed, contributed from our own pocket. The concerts were and still are free to the public. At that time the City provides services at no charge. However, even at that time the Northeast received very little money from City government for cultural programs. The Pennypack Festival fell on hard times in the early 1990's and ceased operations. Recently in year 2000 a group of public-spirited citizens including myself reactivated the group and have had two seasons 6 for --
Mr. Kelly, we know of your love and passion for the Pennypack Park Festival. Can you summarize for us those several pages and underscore --
That's what I'm doing now. In comparison, little Bensalem Township in nearby Bucks County, a small fraction of the population of Northeast Philadelphia, has a beautiful theater up there. I would like to take you and some of the members of Council to see it. I was up there yesterday with Mayor D'Geralimo, and I'm meeting with him next week. What I'm interested in right now is we need actual funding for insurance and things like that, which we didn't have before, so I'm asking for $75,000 on what can be done on it. The other thing, I would like to close by saying I want to publicly thank Commerce Bank, who is our main sponsor along with PECO, the Philadelphia Foundation and Andy Sweeney and a great big thanks to George Caulker, the president of Channel Entertainment. I love billboards so it is a case where I would like to have billboards. 7 Do you have the billboards? Hold them up for the chairperson. But I would like to say thank you to George Caulker and Channel Entertainment for all the things they have done for us. I invited Chief Inspector Evelyn Heath, who is now the head of the police academy, to bring her recruits up there to meet the people up there and know that the people are interested in working with community people on the programs. That's about all I want to do, Miss Chairman.
We thank you very much, Mr. Kelly, for your testimony. As I said, in the three years I have been here you have educated me more than anyone else about the wonderful activity of Pennypack Park. We want to thank you for your testimony. I will ask my colleagues if they have any questions for this witness, any remarks? Is there anyone else left to testify on this bill? That concludes testimony on Bill 030300. We will now move into a public meeting and I will 8 ask my colleague, Councilman Darrell Clarke, to make a motion on Bill 030300.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I make a motion that Bill No. 030300 be reported out of committee with favorable recommendation and request for suspension of rules as to allow reading at the next session. (Duly seconded.)
Bill 030300 has been moved and properly seconded. All in favor of this bill say aye. MEMBERS: Aye.
That concludes this public meeting. (The hearing adjourned at 9:30 a.m.) 9 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Committee on Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of June 5, 2003, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. ______________________________ Cynthia A. Whyte, RPR (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)