Yes. Yes. So the payment management goes hand in hand with the right-of-way ordinance.
Could you... Since you're not done with the ordinance, could you incorporate or give some thought to some defined times in trenching because frankly, I think that, you know, I think that the City should manage the streets in a way that people have to adhere to what it is we want, as opposed to us responding to their needs. 261 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 And I think that our ability to manage the degradation of the streets, if we set certain time lines and certain locations where people can trench these streets, it would enhance our ability to do this type of work. And ultimately, once people understood that, you know, whatever we're going to do, this is the time line that the City has set. And in fact, add that into their budgets or their capital budgets or their need to do telecommunications or installation of water or sewer lines or whatever it indicates, that's us; that, you know, you have a certain time period and you have a certain trenching area that you want to do that in. Can you, like, look at that --
-- of that to 262 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 see if that makes some sense?
All right. I was going to ask you about street paving, but I kind of think I'm not going to like the answer, as we move ahead. But let me ask you part one of that, street paving. What's the criteria used for street paving? And I'm assuming if it's capital budget, there's a time line associated with -- Is it a five-year life to which capital budget funded street repaving? And what's the criteria, first, for the selection of streets for street paving? And what's that process? I know in the olden days -- And I'm hoping it's not still the way we do it -- we used to have a couple of employees to actually drive every street through the City of Philadelphia and write down a list of streets that should be paved. And actually, in the olden days I remember we used to get a list -- and I 263 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 don't recall seeing them lately -- of streets that were recommended for repaving, and in individual Council Districts. And we would get an opportunity to look at it and add or delete wherever possible, based on the condition of the street. Where are we at with that process? Because I haven't seen my list in a while, so...
All right. We actually brought that into the 21st Century. Part of our pavement management system is -- offers us the ability to kind of assess conditions of the streets on a global basis, based upon conditions that we state. We still do have to look at the street and see what the conditions are. But through that assessment, we supply the information to our GEFA system which then can tell us, you know, if we delay resurfacing for how many years, what condition we can expect the street to be in. It kind of gives a grading to the 264 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 street, to say, you know, it will be satisfactory or unsatisfactory in so many years, absent --
Yeah, but that doesn't take into account of a bad winter on a street that's on a grade, where you're probably going to put a lot of salt, a lot of treatment or a substantial amount of trenching on a particular street, that would not fall under that category of analysis.
to give you an example, we are right now repaving the street... I guess it's Vine Street, coming off of the bridge, essentially right off the bridge, the Ben Franklin Bridge...
Up to 20th, 20th Street, I think. But just around the corner, going up 20th Street, the street is in poor condition, and there's a substantial amount of trenching and other things, and ruts. 265 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 And it's all types of problems. And we're not doing that particular street. And the street coming off the bridge, Vine Street, frankly speaking, was not in that bad a condition. And it could have been determined that that should have been redone as a result of the timing issues. And that's what concerns me, that, you flow, when we make these decisions, is it done -- by now this new system that doesn't take into account some of the unforeseeable events such as weather and trenching things of that nature.
The system also allows us to collect information about what's happening on the streets. So it kind of stays current. So it never replaces a need for having somebody go out and look to see if there's some things that we can't identify by computer, that -- conditions. You know, if there's raveling or just pitting that's occurring that we have not anticipated. 266 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 But another issue that I think that you're highlighting that you may not be aware of is that some of the work in resurfacing that happens on City streets is not happening by the Streets Department. In fact, PENNDOT does a significant amount of --
I wouldn't say that coordinate's the best word for that because they have those streets to maintain, so --
But we do work together so that we understand where they're going to be. And to the extent that we can work, you know, we're not on top of each other, 267 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 in terms of messing up their work as we do our work, that's a very important thing.
Do we still get the -- We haven't gotten the list in a couple of years.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Miller.
Thank you, Madam President. Good afternoon, Streets Department. I have just a couple questions here. And I do want to say that I, too, have the same concerns as my colleagues around the driveways, retaining walls, and the traffic, traffic signs, traffic lights. I need to ask a question about the pilot trash program in my District, you know, with the big green cans?
It's my understanding that's going to be stopped or is it going to be continued?
Oh, stopped, Councilwoman. 269 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04
Okay. When is that going to happen? Because I got -- The reason I'm bringing that up, I got a fax today from someone in that area regarding the trash pickup and the large heavy containers and whatnot, and the problems that it puts people through when they're trying to put those big cans out from a driveway.
Okay. Because actually his suggestion was that the streets -- sanitation trucks come down the driveway. But hearing Councilwoman Tasco talk about the driveways and the sanitation trucks, I don't know that that's such a good suggestion. Okay. That's one. And we got a letter, I believe, from Paul Vallas, saying that they're going to put, you know, the money up for flashing lights. Correct?
And I just have some questions in terms to process and time line. So, once the School District puts the money up, then I guess you're going to be actively involved in going out. I guess my bottom line question is, how long will it take, basically, to get the flashing lights up? You're going to do... Your schedule will change from the two a year per Council District to more or has any of that been worked out yet?
Oh, the details and time lines have not been worked out, but we will be moving fairly quickly. We have a contractor for that.
Okay. And one 271 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 other question. In that letter, I believe it said that they were going to be... that they, I guess meaning the Streets Department, was going to be back out reassessing corners where schools are located or areas surrounding the school to evaluate the signage.
Okay. And I also once again request that the intersection of Armat or Maplewood, whatever street we want to call it, you know, right there --
-- that street is called Armat by some people and Maplewood by others, and Green be reevaluated for a traffic light. And I know the rationale is that the four-way stops makes it safer. But in that particular intersection, it's in the middle of the business district, and we have a charter school and a private school right there at the intersection. 272 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 And maybe cars do actually come to a stop with the stop sign. However, they never stop coming. If it's not one coming one way, it's one coming another way. And for young people trying to cross the street there, it's potentially dangerous. It's bad enough to try to get through in your car with the four-way. The stop signs, the car stops. Doesn't mean that they stop and wait for the pedestrian. They just stop, and they keep going. So I'd like to get that reassessed again for a traffic signal.
And those are my two questions. And thank you, Councilwoman Brown for giving me your time. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman 273 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 Brown.
Thank you, Madam President. Good afternoon, Commissioner.
And your team there. Let me continue with the line of questioning raised by Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller regarding the flashing lights. I, too, am enthusiastically interested in knowing what that plan will be, around the installation of -- They actually quoted a number someplace in the literature. 140 schools that don't have them. Currently there are 40 schools on line that have applied for signals. Could you forward to Madam President a copy of the list of those schools that are currently on line that have been identified either by your department or the City Managing Director?
Okay. And we'll just have to wait for the plan to hear how you and the School District will spend that additional million, and how you will ultimately arrive at making sure all the schools are taken care of, correct?
We did some applications and information about applications to the School District to share with principals, and we advertised that we have them as well.
The others have not requested them. 275 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04
Very well. So I'll be interested in knowing who's on that list. Follow-up to Councilman Nutter's questions around MBE WBE participation with Streets Department contracts. What is the role of the Office of Procurement when it comes to the Streets Department letting contracts?
They certainly review and final approval on that contract. I'm not sure I understand what you're...
I am making an effort to learn more and more how and to what extent the Office of Procurement is involved with Commissioners across the state -- across the state -- across the City departments. So I want to hear from you specifically how it's handled.
Because there's not a consistent standard on the role and involvement of the Procurement Commissioner. So how the Streets 276 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 Department --
Right. For all of our public works contracts, Procurement actually does the advertisements, and they receive the bids. With us they are reviewing the bids. They review for meeting certain expectations and goals requirements. Procurement tells us that, and actually does all the tabulations and gives us the final tabulations.
Tabulations. Which ultimately move you towards a short list, as such.
Okay. What is the role of the office of MBEC in that process?
MBEC works with us to assure that we're aware of available contractors. They also work with us to 277 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 find out what our needs are, to try to find potential vendors to work with us, as well as certainly setting the goals.
All right. And I should just mention for the record that there are a number of members of this body that care, that consideration is given to Philadelphia-based businesses because they typically employ our citizens, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So that's why the question is raised about how many are Philly based. Is there a requirement or a stipulation somewhere in regulations, either in Procurement, your office or MBEC, that... And Councilman Nutter may be able to help me with this because I do not remember if it is stated in executive order, that businesses... a percentage of them or whatever have to be Philly based. 278 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 Does that exist anywhere?
I don't think that there's something that requires that. But I can also say that on the federal jobs, which is a significant portion of our monies, you know, our matching monies, we are not allowed to do that.
Yes. Councilwoman, what you're recalling is last year, much to the dismay of apparently some members of the news media, we passed a number of amendments to the Home Rule Charter, one of which was a five percent bid preference for Philadelphia-based firms.
Which hopefully 279 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 is in effect and the Procurement Commissioner is talking to all the departments about it. If companies when they bid in the lowest responsible bidder situation which does not apply, naturally, to the professional services. But in regular bidding process, if a Philadelphia-based firm, their bid gets five percent taken off of the amount. And if as a result of the five percent discount, if you will, if that ends up being the lowest responsible bid, then that company gets the bid. So, it was a bid preference program for Philadelphia-based businesses. That was just approved by the voters last year.
And should be in effect now. That, to my knowledge, is the only, you know, preference that we can show to Philadelphia-based firms.
Thank you for that clarity. That is what I was trying to 280 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 remember. Let me move to a question raised by Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell. She had to step out for a meeting regarding Walnut Street. Then I have a couple of additional questions around recycling. Her question was: There's been dialogue, conversation, planning with regards to helping Walnut Street return to the way I knew it which is just street lanes. Currently it's street lines and bike lines. And she wanted to know where were you in the status of returning it to the way it was.
Yes. We were -- I think the issue there is with regard to the traffic calming, slowing the traffic down and making it a safe -- safe corridor. And we have engaged in discussions with the Police Department, with regard to their enforcing the law on that corridor. Absent that enforcement, we are having some problems. Things that need to be enforced are rush hour movement and cars driving in 281 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 lanes other than travel lanes.
So that is to say, then, that you're still testing the existing patterns or do you ultimately see moving toward -- moving back towards the original configuration of those lanes?
Well, what we had -- Through evaluations and some traffic studies, it theoretically should work. But we don't have in place all of the components of -- for safety or for efficient movement that we need to have in place. And one missing component is the enforcement for the rush hour removal or not allowing parking. Presently cars are parking during rush hour, and that -- it doesn't allow for safe traffic, because it should be a travel lane, not a parking lane. So what is happening, people are sharing a lane with parked cars. They're trying to drive and park in the same lane.
So then the 282 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 response to her would be you're still -- you're waiting to put in place all those remaining components first to see if it works, based on theory; and then you'll make a determination on whether or not you're going back to the original configuration.
Right. We had engaged the Police Department to say that we need their assistance and support on this, in order to make it work.
Okay, then. I'll certainly relay the information to her.
I'm sorry. If I could add anything or ask a question on top of that which may also enhance the response to Councilwoman Blackwell. 283 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 I take Walnut Street every now and then, and Chestnut Street as well. Commissioner, is it true that a number of years ago -- and I think this may be Councilwoman Reynolds Brown's recollection as well as Councilwoman Blackwell's. Many years ago wasn't Walnut Street three travel lanes west all the time?
-- side of the street. And then somewhere in more recent times you introduced parking during non-rush hour times on the north side of the street?
Well, the parking actually changes. There's a portion of it that had parking on both sides of the street, and there's portions that only have it on one side of the street.
It was three absolute, all-time travel lanes on Walnut Street, correct?
And the challenge -- That's why I mentioned, I think it was a safety issue, that Councilwoman was trying to get to.
Three full-time travel lanes east on Chestnut Street which have now in some portions been reduced to two.
Is that about traffic calming? Is it about allowing people more opportunity to park on the street? Because I could never figure that out. 285 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04
Right. It certainly does allow people to park, but that was not the goal, the goals with regard to traffic calming. What the three... always having three lanes and sometimes four, we had a speedway that was fairly dangerous. People were kind of jockeying around each other because the lanes are fairly narrow. I think they're as low as eight or nine feet on some of the lanes, which is a fairly narrow lane. If you're on a small street, that might work fine, but on a street like Walnut Street where cars are going 35 miles an hour in some cases, it's a challenge. And you had more aggressive drivers on the outside which were against the parking lanes. So that was causing a big problem. Now the lanes are wider. They are 10- and 11-foot lanes. There's a bike lane in a portion of it. And that allows for everyone to travel at a slightly slower 286 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 speed. So it its calmer to that extent. But where we have a problem is during rush hour in particular. There's one lane that is now parked that is supposed to be removed during the rush hour. People don't remove their cars. They instead park on the curb which gives you the appearance of there being space for another lane of travel.
And you have cars driving and parking in the same lane, and that's the problem.
You're welcome. My final few questions are around the issue of recycling. I was encouraged to learn, through the reading of your testimony, that the City now has a new recycling pilot program in the works. More importantly, it's providing positive 287 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 revenue projections. Please speak to where the City or how close the City may or may not be moving towards weekly recycling for the whole City, as opposed to certain areas.
Surely. Let me start by saying that the positive returns on recycling is coming off of the present system, not the pilot program.
The pilot program, in fact, may have lower revenues. The pilot program will allow us to collect all the materials together.
Commingle. They call it single stream recycling, everything being collected in one truck. The benefit of the pilot, though, is that it will allow us to use more efficient 288 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 trucks. We should be able to carry more materials at a time --
-- versus the open trucks that we use now. The pilot program will allow us to use a compactor or packer truck to collect the materials. So, we may double, triple or little bit more on our collection efficiency. But that's yet to be seen. We're developing a pilot around that, in looking at some interesting ideas. David Robinson has been working on that program. He initiated that in the City, initiated the thought and has been developing it. And we hope to have that in place sometime later this summer. So the revenues is really off the present contract. The present contract is one of the best around, and we're getting paid quite nicely. We made $500,000 off of the last quarter, and compared to the maybe $200,000 289 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 the previous time. In part, the markets are doing better in the area; and in part we've negotiated a good deal. We have a structure where we share the risk on recycling contracts.
We as citizens are not doing as well as we should. There are opportunities to recycle that are not being taken advantage of.
Just putting it out at the curb. And we have sections of the City where we have tested weekly, and we are still doing weekly. Even with weekly recycling, we do not have material at the curb to show that people are sincere about the program. But we do have other areas of the City, even with every other week collection, that do an excellent job of putting materials at the curb. 290 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04
My own editorial comment on that is, though, we should not give up our on generation, we should probably focus more on teaching the next generation, with hopes that they'll get it. While it is not major, there's a slight tip in the tons of recyclables from FY '03 to FY '04. What do you attribute this to? It's about 45,000 six plus in FY '03 to 44,000 in FY '04, if I'm reading this correctly.
Sure. That's right. Recycling is probably far more sensitive to set out, and what's going on at the moment, than trash is. Any inclement weather, you will always see recycling suffer from that, because people tend to put out only one thing. They only want to do one thing.
And they will not separate the material. So it's fairly sensitive. No change in the system that 291 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 would have caused the degradation in those numbers. As you said, it's about 1300 tons, but there's nothing that changed in the system to cause that. We have... We're doing what we can to educate our citizens, and we continue with that. And we're hoping to step that up over the -- over the next --
We now have music as part of the testimony. My final question about recycling is -- Let me say I would be remiss not to say thank you publicly to David Robinson for sitting down with my staff, David Ford, a few years, to talk about recycling in a real global optimistic way. And we did some discussion around recycling at the airport. Can you update me on the progress we're having at the airport around recycling, if you could.
I think that's an issue area that Mr. Robinson is still working on. We have some concerns there. And we are 292 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 working with the Air Force Management. I think his name is Mr. Davenger and Mr. Isdell, to try to address how we can make that program really work. They have done a great job. The Airport has done a great job in trying to move ahead with their advertising and promotion of recycling program. I think it's a stellar position that they have taken. And we're working with them to try to improve their process on the back end.
Okay. So, what does that mean, you're working with them? You've come up with some recommendations and they're implementing them or --
What we had suggested is that -- And actually, Dave and I talked about this right before we came here, is that we're ready to sit down with them a little bit more and maybe give them some guidance about how to process their materials, how to get it from the citizen dropoff, and then to the facility versus 293 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 just collecting it and having problems and troubles with the sorts thereafter.
The sort. With the sort. With the sort. After materials are collected, we want to make sure that once it's collected and sorted -- Once it's -- I'm sorry. Not collected. Once it is dropped off by the citizens or the users of the Airport, that the newspaper make it to a paper recycler.
I see. I see. Okay. Well, we are paying close attention to recycling out at the Airport because which need to. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Thank you, Madam President. 294 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay. I want to get back. I have a few points I want to make, so I'm going to go fast. Bells Mill and the Ridge. Bridge closes on Germantown Avenue. We put up a left turn arrow to accommodate the flow of traffic so it can go east on Bills Mill Road. The bridge --
I think you may have gotten it, counselor, to be honest with you.
Earlier today I think when you said it, you gave a location where you wanted the left-hand turn -- turn arrow?
Well, let me just finish the quick story here. 295 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04
No problem. The Bells Mill bridge, I thought the Streets Department said when the bridge reopened they were going remove the arrow. I thought that maybe, everybody being busy, they'd forget about it and not take it away. Not Charley, right? Okay. But here's what happened. What motivated... He has a list of taking out arrows?
I didn't know that. The bridge, then, the little bridge that we talked about earlier, goes out. So that forced us to remember that that left arrow needed to go. So that we took the arrow out after being there for a number of years. The problem that I have, we resist these left-turn arrows and we say it's not according to the code. But the crazy thing is, they work. Everybody calls and says, thank you, 296 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 the left arrow. Thank goodness. You know, it really makes life a lot easier. We say that we are not allowed to do it. We do it. Everybody is pleased with the fact that it's working, it's doing what it's supposed to do. And I don't know whether... What can we do to do some of these things that work? And I'm not saying ignore the code, but it just seems stupid to fight it all the time, when they're working. And again, I wouldn't support something that's absolutely a violation of some engineering code. But maybe we have to kind of look at it and address it. Could somebody tell me just quickly why there's such resistance to these left-turn arrows, especially when they work?
I don't think it's necessarily the left turn in and of itself. I can say to you from my perspective, that what I'm understanding, what I've come to 297 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 understand, there's certain resistance with regard to something that may not meet the regulations because of the liability issues that incur. Our engineers, unfortunately, spend a lot of time in court. And in court they're talking about what's warranted, what's not warranted. And the things that are unwarranted give a City some level of liability. And that's one of the concerns. Certainly where we have discretion, I think that we should exercise to the fullest extent that our political leaders would like us to exercise it. I have no 16 problem with that.
And I think that we still have to work on the issue of how we bridge that gap between the warrants and some other desires.
Well, I'll give you another copy of my March 18th letter. And I know Councilman Nutter, we're working together to try to accommodate -- 298 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04
We talked about this about two or three weeks ago, these left arrows?
And if the little bridge hadn't gone out, I believe that maybe that arrow would have stayed there. At least I think it may have; it would have. But that forced your hand because it had to come out because we didn't want to direct traffic over that bridge. So I have a letter dated March 18, 2004. Councilman Nutter has discussed it with you. So maybe we can revisit that because it worked well. The community appreciated it. And if there's a way that you can 299 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 exercise some flexibility on that particular location, it would be appreciated. And that leads me to the hearing that we had recently about the school crossings, the safety zones for the schools. There's a new committee in Council. It's technology and information service, that I'm a member of. And I don't want to have to drag you into the technology era, but I would hope that we would please start looking at new technologies that aren't -- that gets old, mechanical timers. You know, there's all this new stuff out there. I don't know what you're doing about it, but this technology committee is going to bring you in here to talk about what you're doing to minimize maintenance of timers, to make sure that the newest technology that's available is at least reviewed, to make sure that we're taking advantage of it, like other municipalities do, like the speed -- the speed radar signs 300 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 and things like that, that could be very very helpful. The other question that I have is with -- You said something today that I just wanted to make sure I understood. And we talked about it with L & I today. When you open up a street, when a person, a plumber -- Let's say a private contractor asks for a permit to open up the street, I hope the value of the permit also includes your restoration that you -- that the City pays to restore the street. Did I hear you say that that's not in there?
It is not sufficient for the plumbers' ditches. It is not sufficient. In fact, we have an ordinance 18 set is on its way over to increase the plumbers' ditch fee.
Now, you know for sure that we should be recovering our investment in restoring those to the proper status. So, that leads me to the new ordinance about the Water Department being responsible for the laterals... the 301 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 laterals out into the street. Now, the Water Department comes. Now that they're responsible, they have to dig up the street to make the repair to the lateral. Who's going to fix the street? The Water Department or the Streets Department? You're going to have a budget impact here. You're going to have to start repairing all of these streets that are going to be dug up by Water to repair these laterals. Do you have money to do all this?
Historically the Streets Department and the Water Department have had a very good relationship with regard to restoration. The Water Department has not been able to restore it on its own through their contractor. We will work with them, and we restore it, and they reimburse us.
Well, but my point: This is a new scenario now. All these years the plumber, the private contractor, the homeowners', responsible 302 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 for the pipe between the curb and the water main. Now the Water Department is going to assume that responsibility. I understood that the Water Department sent some piece of paper over to you, and you were their contractor to repair the streets. I don't believe the Water Department comes to you first -- or second. I believe they come to you first to repair the street. Am I right? And they do have a little money in their budget for emergency repairs, but I don't believe... I believe -- You are their contractor to fix their dig-ups. Am I wrong or right or wrong on that?
We do a significant amount of work for them. We're reimbursed.
But now you've got another piece now. You've got all of these laterals that are potentially going to be dug up. Is there money to -- Who's going to pay, the Water Department or the Streets 303 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 Department to repair all of this new work that we were never responsible for?
My understanding is the Streets Department is not going to be responsible for funding repaving after sewer laterals.
And that's... Charley McPherson reminded me -- and I'm having a hearing later next month on the 43 percent increase in water rates over the next three years. So, Charley just reminded me that that's probably why we have such a significant increase. But somebody's going to have to pay because before the contractor is responsible to make that repair. Now the Water Department is going to be responsible. And that is going to be a big budget item, with both the repair to the service and also to the repair of the street. Okay. That's also... Recycling, my last issue here. In this... And did you see this document yet, 304 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 Commissioner, that was sent to all the members of Council? I hope you got a copy of it. Recycling Alliance of Philadelphia. Did you read this yet?
Okay. There's something here that's interesting. It says every recycling news in Philadelphia is not all good. Philadelphia still ranks as the second worst City with a population over a million people, in terms of recycling diversion, with a rate hovering around six percent, while many other urban municipalities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, are nearing 30 percent rate. However, if Philadelphia is able to improve its recycling rate, for each percentage point the diversification rate increases, the City will save an additional $200,000 per year. If we recycle at the same rate as Chicago, we could save almost $5 million a year just through recycling. Is that what you said earlier? 305 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04 Is this basically what you were saying earlier with this new process, that you'd be able to commingle, recycle more, even though you'll get less? Will you be where this paragraph that I just read will be eventually?
Well, I think it's a couple of things that are a little misleading in there, from what I heard. First I should say that Philadelphia ranks fairly high in its commercial collection. Our diversion rate is 30... 38.9 percent. Our curbside household collection is not good, and that could be improved. I think that there's also some concern about, from what I heard, about we approach -- have to account for that improvement through that report. But I'd be more than glad to review that with you and discuss it with you.
Well, I think we all got a copy of this letter. And I would be more than happy to share it with you. 306 Whole - Operating Budget 4/28/04
Okay. Let me see if you're cc'd on it. Just a second. I can't -- Let me -- No, you were not. I'm sorry, Madam President?
I believe we received that either today or yesterday.