COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, April 16, 2024 10:03 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT KENYATTA JOHNSON COUNCILMEMBER NINA AHMAD COUNCILMEMBER CINDY BASS COUNCILMEMBER MICHAEL DRISCOLL COUNCILMEMBER JIM HARRITY COUNCILMEMBER CURTIS JONES, JR. COUNCILMEMBER RUE LANDAU COUNCILMEMBER QUETCY LOZADA COUNCILMEMBER BRIAN J. O'NEILL COUNCILMEMBER NICOLAS O'ROURKE COUNCILMEMBER ANTHONY PHILLIPS COUNCILMEMBER MARK SQUILLA COUNCILMEMBER ISAIAH THOMAS COUNCILMEMBER JEFFERY YOUNG, JR. BILLS 240179, 240180, 240181, and 240182 RESOLUTION 240193 - - 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
This is the public hearing and public meeting of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bills No. 240179, 240180, 240181, 240182, and Resolution No. 10 240193. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the roll to take attendance.
Present. Thank you. A quorum of this Committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. Ms. Loughead, will you please read the title of the resolutions.
Bill No. 240179, an ordinance to adopt the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2025. Bill No. 240180, an ordinance 25 amending Chapter 19-1800 of The 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Philadelphia Code, entitled "School Tax Authorization," to provide for an increase in the tax that the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia is authorized to impose on real estate; and amending Chapter 8 19-1300, entitled "Real Estate Taxes," to establish an equivalent reduction in the tax rate for the City real estate tax; and making technical changes; all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 240181, an ordinance 14 to adopt a Fiscal Year 2025 Capital Budget. Bill No. 240182, an ordinance 17 to adopt a Capital Program for the six Fiscal Years 2025 through 2030 inclusive. Resolution No. 240193, providing for the approval by the Council of the City of Philadelphia of a Revised Five Year Financial Plan for the City of Philadelphia covering Fiscal Years 2025 through 2029, and incorporating revisions with respect to Fiscal Year 2024, which 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. is to be submitted by the Mayor to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority pursuant to an Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement by and between the City and the Authority.
Today we will continue the public hearing of the Committee of the Whole to consider the bills read by the Clerk that constitute proposed operating and capital spending measures for Fiscal Year 2025, a Capital Program, and a forward-looking Capital Plan for Fiscal Year 2025 through Fiscal Year 2030. This morning we will hear testimony from the Managing Director's Office, including the Office of Public Safety. This afternoon we will continue the testimony of the Defender Association and the Law Department. The District Attorney's Office has been rescheduled to a future date due to the District Attorney being out of 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. town, and I thought it would only be proper that he actually come and give his presentation as opposed to sending a staff member. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the first witness to testify from the Administration.
Adam Thiel, Managing Director. (Witness approached witness table.)
Good morning, Adam. How are you today? DIRECTOR THIEL: Good morning, Council President. Thanks for having us.
Absolutely. Just state your name and your title for the record and when you are ready, you can begin your testimony, sir. DIRECTOR THIEL: Good morning, President Johnson and members of City Council. I am Adam Thiel, Managing Director. Joining me today are several 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. members of our MDO team: Tara Mohr, First Deputy Managing Director; Mike Carroll, our Deputy Managing Director for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems; Vanessa Garrett-Harley, our Chief Managing Director for the Office of Children and Families; Aparna Palantino, our Deputy Managing Director for the Capital Program Office; Aubrey Powers, our Deputy Managing Director for Community Services; Dave Wilson, Deputy Managing Director for General Services; and Crystal Yates-Gale, our Deputy Managing Director for Health and Human Services. I am pleased to provide testimony on the Managing Director's Office's Fiscal Year 2025 Operating Budget. The Managing Director's Office works in coordination with individual operating departments to implement the Mayor's vision to make Philadelphia the safest, cleanest, and greenest big city in the nation, with economic opportunity 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. for everyone and to deliver efficient, effective, and responsive public services to every neighborhood in Philadelphia that our residents, businesses, and visitors can see, touch, and feel. With that, Council President, subject to your questions.
Thank you very much. Mr. Thiel, give me an idea of -- you know, for me I'm addressing the City of Philadelphia's gun violence. So let's talk about how much of your budget is geared specifically toward addressing gun violence here in the City of Philadelphia? DIRECTOR THIEL: Council President, to help me answer that question, I'm going to ask our Chief Public Safety Director, Adam Geer, or other Adam, to join me. (Witness approached witness table.) DIRECTOR GEER: Good morning. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Good morning. DIRECTOR GEER: Good morning, Council President, members of Council. Council President, to answer your question, the total Operating Budget of the Office of Public Safety -- and we really do think that it is the total budget amount here -- is approximately $60 million in that area for our total budget. We are taking a holistic approach as an office. So if we're talking about Office of Reentry Partnerships, our work there related to gun violence. If we're talking about the good work of our GVI team, clearly related to gun violence. If we're talking about our JAC program, which is our juvenile intake facility, gun violence. That's just our Operating Budget. We reach into the Managing Director's Office and have contact with 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. some of their portfolio; for example, the Opioid Response Unit, Domestic Violence Unit. We believe that there are strong correlations and ties to gun violence there as well. So it's difficult to answer your question, because when we talk about Commerce, when we talk about Parks and Rec, all of those I believe have a role to play in reducing gun violence, but our specific budget is about 60 million. We are focused on gun violence as one of our top priorities, if not our top priority.
Let's do it this way, because I don't think every department you mentioned specifically has a strategic plan on gun violence, right? Because if I say let's bring up Parks and Rec, Aparna isn't going to say Rebuild specifically. I can give you a plan to target those who are most likely to kill or be killed per zip code, right? So that's like really doing a deeper dive more specifically around 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. how we're addressing gun violence. And so I guess on a more micro level, what would your response be? DIRECTOR GEER: Absolutely. So --
And just to give you past history, the prior Administration, we pumped more than $100-plus million in violence prevention initiatives, but that was such a broad umbrella where everybody received some level of funding and then they came and said, well, we're addressing it because we're funding all these areas. However, we know if we're going to address gun violence in the City of Philadelphia, we have to be strategic and laser-like focused and targeted with resources in terms of how we're addressing the actual issue of going after, as I would like to say, those who are most likely to kill or be killed as well as supporting their families who are being impacted by the trauma of losing a loved one. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. DIRECTOR GEER: Absolutely. And understanding that and trying to be clear, and we can circle back and try to pull together exactly what we feel is related specifically to gun violence. Again, most obviously I think our Group Violence Intervention program, our GVI program, would be focused on those who would be most likely to be killed by gun violence or be perpetrators themselves. That total budget, Council President, is $2,340,000.
In terms of GVI, are we planning on expanding it as we move forward, and what's the status, current status, of GVI? DIRECTOR GEER: We are. So GVI has 19 positions. Again, our total budget is about a little under $2 and a half million. We are planning on expanding. We've seen the success of the GVI model. I was out there a couple of weekends ago where for those of you who 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. don't know, these individuals who we identify with the help of law enforcement, we go right to their doorstep. We try and engage them. We bring with us moral ambassadors. We bring credible messengers. We bring members of the Police Department. We bring our own team who offers social services immediately. We think that this has an impact on gun violence, because we're offering people what they need, right? We're meeting them where they're at, whether that be mental health treatment, whether that be employment opportunities. We can set up in very short order. That matters, and we are -- we received a federal grant with help from some of our federal partners. Mary Scanlon, in particular, brought home about $600,000. That money is going to be targeted specifically for GVI programming around youth, right, around our youth. So we're going to be bringing on with that money 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. five positions. These five positions will be dedicated to our GVI program, again, as it relates to youth. We already do, by the way, look at youth in our current GVI program. So if they get on law enforcement radar and become part of that, we look at them, but this will be monies specifically targeted. So we're going to expand it up and we're going to continue to expand GVI in general.
Thank you. How many police districts are we in right now in terms of GVI? DIRECTOR GEER: We are currently in 17 police districts.
17 police districts? DIRECTOR GEER: 17, correct.
I didn't hear you. Say it again. DIRECTOR GEER: I'm sorry. 17 police districts. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
How many are we looking to expand into in terms of utilizing GVI as a strategy? DIRECTOR GEER: I would have to get back to you. I mean, it is my goal to obviously be citywide with GVI. We do understand, though, with our resources and with the Commissioner's plan that -- by the way, our GVI program is aligning with our public safety plan. We are following that evidence and see that as per the report, the ten districts, right, that we're going to be focusing on, but we're going to be aligning our resources, including GVI, with that. So we will continue to make sure that we are there to address that 70, 80 percent of the violent crime that's occurring in those top ten districts, but it's our goal to absolutely be where we can, and hopefully that's everywhere. So I can specifically get you how we want to scale up.
All right. Just report back in terms of how 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we're going to go about scaling GVI. Another question, regarding community expansion grants. I know last year it was million appropriated, 6 about by 16 million was actually spent. 7 Again, it's flat this year again, another 8 24 million for community-based 9 organizations. 10 Is there any plans to look at 11 how we provide multi-year funding from an 12 expansion standpoint? I know the plan 13 right now is a combination of, as y'all 14 would say, PIE, prevention, intervention, 15 enforcement. Majority of the other 16 component is the enforcement, because 17 that's what we're supposed to do as 18 Police Commissioner. 19 I want to talk more about the 20 prevention and intervention side, right, 21 looking at how do we scale the support 22 that we're providing for 23 boots-on-the-ground organizations from a 24 funding standpoint, because we are remaining flat, and then also the 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. back-office support that a lot of these organizations need in order for them to utilize the funding that we're giving them, but obviously I don't want to paint a broad brush because we have some successful organizations who are out there doing that work day in and day out. So have we looked at a multi-year funding standpoint to help stabilize these organizations? DIRECTOR GEER: Council President, I think that's a great idea. I think that's a great point. We are looking at all options to sustain and understand the organizations, and there's many, right, that are doing great work. And so we need to lean into those organizations, assist them in scaling up, finding out what their successes are. And then, frankly, if there are some organizations that we're finding aren't being as successful, can we help them along, and if not, then we might opt to use our money on some of these 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. organizations scaling up that we know are working. So I think right now the way it operates is, these organizations can reapply and we'll look at them. If we're seeing success, then they will get another round of grant money. I think we can be more intentional about that. I understand your point that there's something to be said for consistency for these organizations and them being able to build out like a two, three-year plan, right? If they're just going from cohort to cohort, that's difficult to think long term and include that into their strategic planning. So I understand that. We are, by the way, going to be hiring out a Director of Grants position. So to answer your question in terms of our level funding request, we're looking for an all star here obviously, a grant person who is going to be going out and looking for the money. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Separate from the grant, and we'll advocate as we move forward during this budget negotiation process, but we want to start with the money we already have, right, in terms of upcoming budget right now. So the grants are what we could get, right, but I'm advocating for expansion, additional funding beyond what's already appropriated. And I know part of the conversation will be, well, we did last year, only 16 was spent, 14 but, again, we're in a crisis. We got to 15 address this with a sense of urgency. 16 We're not going to arrest our 17 way out of this situation, so we want to 18 be very proactive in terms of supporting 19 as many, what I would call, grassroots, 20 boots-on-the-ground organizations as a 21 supplement, so what's going to be taking 22 place for a law enforcement standpoint. 23 And the other component is, 24 just to be more direct, and the last Administration did have, so I want to see 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. within this Administration under y'all first 100 days that we recruit an organization to come in to help with the back-office work that the boots-on-the-ground organizations need. Like we should already have an organization up and running to help these organizations, rather it's the system with paperwork, the systems with doing their taxes, but building their capacity. I just want to get an idea where we're at from that standpoint in terms of hitting the ground running, because we know what's coming around the corner when the summer comes. And so if we already know what the summer is going to bring, just being proactive as much as possible, I just want to get an idea of where we're at in terms of have we partnered or brought in an organization to work with these groups as of yet. DIRECTOR GEER: Council President, again, that is astute. We want to scale up responsibly. We need 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to, as we say, understand, right, and learn from any mistakes that the former grant round applications, however you want to look at it, we want to understand and learn from that. So we feel we're positioned now to scale up responsibly. We feel like we're going to be able to do so, though, with great effect, right? This cohort that's ending -- actually, we extended the cohort application for our next round of grantees until today, because there were six more organizations that wanted to get their applications in. Of course we want to take that in, right? Each of those grantees who we're going to give out in this next round of cohorts need to start by June 1. They need to have plans for June for the summer programming. Those grantees must also have a focus in their plans starting June for the youth, right? So we've already got that ready to go. We're going to have those in 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. operation, like I say, June 1. The Office of Children and Family, who we partner very closely with, has all of their summer programming for the youth in particular, as I believe the Commissioner has testified to already, and she is present here if there's any further detail needed there. But we are going to -- we're prepared. We're preparing for the summer. We will have our grantees up there. We also, to your second point, in learning again from some of the challenges that we faced prior to the Office of Public Safety, we brought in Scattergood to provide some of these supports for our grantees, Scattergood Foundation.
That's all I was really asking, do we have an organization to come -- DIRECTOR GEER: Yes.
-4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. and give these organizations the support they need in terms of their back office. So we are working with someone? DIRECTOR GEER: Correct. And we can do more. We can do more and we will do more.
That's cool. And we got to be supportive, but, again, when we're on the ground and we're having these conversations, a lot of these groups are actually like doing the right things for the right reasons. This is the type of support that they need, and I think it supplements the work that we're doing on the enforcement side. In your budget, there's 5 million to clean criminal justice debt. Give me an idea of the current spend of those funds, how many people have been impacted by the clean criminal justice debt, 5 million that's being requested? DIRECTOR GEER: I'm sorry. Is that the crime scene cleanup program? 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Yes. DIRECTOR GEER: Thank you, Council President. So we are in the pilot period of that. We decided to pilot in the 24th, and we did that on purpose because we anticipated that that might be an area that particularly might need the service. For those who don't know, we will be the first major city, and I'm very proud to say that, we will be the first major city -- city, period, that I'm aware of -- to publicly fund cleaning up crime scenes in public areas when they've occurred so that our communities who are suffering from the trauma don't have to deal with at least that visceral trauma and then have their children and family members literally cleaning up these scenes. That's our responsibility as a city. We feel very strongly about that. That 5 million is spread out 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. over three years to accomplish this goal. To date in that pilot program, thankfully -- and I say thank God we have not had to use it in the 24th. That means that there was no violent crime scenes that would require this cleanup process. We did, though, have to use it at a recent shooting where two juveniles were shot near a community rec center. Fortunately they both survived. They were in a public space. They ran into the public space, that rec center, and but for -- so that crime scene cleanup program with public dollars cleaned up that crime scene, right? But for that, who knows who would have cleaned it up and had to face that trauma. These are professionals who are coming in. We give them trauma treatment, and they're doing, I think, great trauma-informed work.
Okay. Thank you. Office of Victims Advocate, 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. just want to get an idea of current operation, where we're at in terms of reaching out to mothers and fathers who have lost loved ones to gun violence, how are we going to expand the level of support to address families who are dealing with trauma here in the City of Philadelphia, as well as an initiative where we're looking to expand upon those who are available to receive funding when there's a homicide that takes place. I know that Adara Combs, who heads that office, did some advocacy on the state level to try to open up the window to support and not penalize a family who needs funeral support, support to host a funeral, irregardless if their kid was involved in some level of gun violence. But we want to look at what's the future and what does it mean for the office in terms of support around supporting mothers and fathers who have lost loved ones to gun violence. DIRECTOR GEER: A tremendous 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. office under the tremendous leadership of Adara Combs. Currently there are four positions. Total budget is about a million dollars, Council President. They are doing incredible work with their team. They are going to state -- they're interacting with the state all the time to try and get the money that is -- frankly, there's a lot of money out there for victim services. They're doing a good job of bringing that in. They're doing a tremendous job of reaching out to our families on both sides of this, right? We know that often the individuals who are the victims of gun violence might be on the other side of that, right? And they don't care about that. What they're trying to do is deal with support and trauma-related support and financial support for co-victims and those victims. They've recently started an outreach, right? Every single person who 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. is unfortunately the victim of a homicide, their families are contacted by the Office of Victim Advocate, and they do -- they attempt to get them to every service that they can, right? It's a list of services, and they will walk them through that. Their information is there. So we believe strongly in that work, and I think that there are plans to add to that office to help continue further their mission in terms of positions.
Ms. Combs, could you come to the front, please, join the table. (Witness approached witness table.)
Just briefly, Ms. Combs, just give us an update on, since your office has been started, some of your key milestones and advocacy standpoint, and then also the work you're doing around trauma in 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. addressing families who have lost loved ones to gun violence. And then also I want to get an idea -- I know the Commissioner isn't here, but Adam as well as -- well, I got Adam and Adam. I didn't think about it that way. Adam, Public Safety Director Adam Geer, how are we also making sure we're co-coordinating with the new positions that's going to come under Commissioner Bethel, but also making sure the actual Victim Advocate for the City of Philadelphia, first of its kind in the nation, right, still takes the lead and there's a co-coordination in terms of how we provide the level of services and support as it relates to supporting those families? Because I believe hurt people hurt people, right? And one of the key ways that we're going to address gun violence is that when somebody gets murdered and their family members and their friends decide to go murder the person that did the murdering, that 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. intervention but also addressing that trauma hopefully will alleviate two people from -- well, two groups of friends or two guys from two different neighborhoods trying to kill one another. But, Ms. Combs, give us an idea of your milestones, where you're at, and what the future of your office looks like.
Absolutely. First and foremost, good morning, Council President and to our other Philadelphia City Councilmembers. It's an honor to be here and speak on behalf of the Office of Victim Advocate in service to the City of Philadelphia. So to go to your original question, which is where we began, so as this esteemed body knows, it began with just me being appointed to this role. Since then, two years later, we have additional staff. We have a Deputy Director, we have an Administrative Coordinator, and we also have a 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Relocation Program Coordinator. The reason why I mentioned that position specifically last is because as this body also knows from previous hearings, there was funding allocated to relocate individuals who are experiencing imminent danger as a result of gun violence. There was a special hearing on that and a lot of different conversations regarding how we were utilizing that money and how it will be utilized effectively. I'm proud to say that since this office was created, despite the fact that those funds were allocated prior to the existence of this office, we have developed a program that has been utilized not only by citizens but also by victim service agencies, by the Police Department, by our GVI team, and a lot of other entities in the City. To date within this fiscal year, we have relocated 19 individuals to safety. Some of those relocations have 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. gone temporary and have been relocations while the harm was abated or the danger was abated, but eight of those relocations have been permanent relocation where individuals have been able to find permanent housing in safe locations. And while in the grand scheme of numbers does not sound like a high 11 number, I think it's important to 12 remember that is 19 individuals who were 13 previously being targeted who are now in 14 safe locations. And while we don't -- we 15 pride ourselves on this program, it's 16 certainly not a program we want to see 17 have high numbers, because that means 18 there's a high amount of people who are 19 needing to flee their homes to safety. So I'm proud to say we have that program. We have a Relocation Coordinator who is charged with ensuring that those families are handled with trauma-informed care, they're connected to services. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. In addition to providing housing support, we're also looking to expand that program to provide some additional supports that we know those individuals need. When I say that, I mean things like food insecurity, job security, credit repair. A lot of the issues we see are individuals who may have the means to relocate to safety, but don't have the actual background to indicate that they're otherwise eligible for that housing. And as we know, we are in a housing crisis here in Philadelphia, so trying to support those individuals to make sure that they have those things in place to maintain that housing, because moving someone to safety without some longevity is, quite honestly, futile. So that is one milestone that I'm proud to say that we have been able to accomplish with such a small team. In addition to that, we have been able to pilot our crime scene cleanup program, which is intended to 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. remediate crime scenes that are on public property. The pilot district is actually the 25th District. And we are proud to say that to date in the last -- I think it's the 16th. Since it piloted on April 1st, we have not had any incidents on public property that required the cleanup, but we stand ready to provide those services, if needed.
Is this similar to the initiative, Adam, you just talked about?
Okay. Good. So it's 5 million that's appropriated that could be used in the future, correct, for this initiative?
So the plan right now, in partnership with the Police Department, we are working literally step 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. and tow with them to train the officers to develop the program to make sure every level of the Police Department and all of our community agencies are well versed on what we'll be doing. We started in the 25th District. We plan to expand within East Division, and after that move division by division until we're citywide. So that is the goal that we have. As Director Geer indicated, we did deploy the service one time, not in the 25th District where we're piloted, but to the West Mill Creek Recreational Center, and we were able to see that play out. And what I'd like to say to this body is while we can't predict how often this will be needed and obviously it's not something we desire to be needed, when I was there on the scene last Wednesday myself, myself and my Deputy Director went to that scene to make sure it was done correctly. There 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. were community members -- it was a bright sunny day. I think it was last Tuesday. And there were community members walking over and through the blood as if it was not there, and I think it's important to remember that these communities are becoming numb to what is happening to them. So it is on us to ensure that we're providing services to make sure that doesn't happen. People tracking that biohazard matter through the day into their homes is obviously a safety concern that as a city we certainly can't stand by. So those are certainly two programs that we are proud of. In addition to that, as Council President indicated, we have been doing a lot of work to make sure that we support the victim service agencies that are present in the City and make sure that they receive the funding that they need. There was recently a cut that was voted on through the Pennsylvania 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. State Commission on Crime and Delinquency to the victim service agencies, and what that translates to is that each and every victim service agency that is funded by the state will receive a cut come October 1st to their budget. That will happen. It's not a maybe. It's not a guess. It absolutely will happen. That will directly impact all of your constituents and all of our community members to the tune of five percent. And while, again, five percent is not a high number, that is a position, that is a program, that's supplies. That's a lot of different things that these agencies need to survive.
Let me put a pin in that just real quick. So, Adam, this is good while we have these hearings, right, so we could be supportive of one another. So what I would recommend, as members of Council, we submit our priority request to the Appropriations Chair in Harrisburg, as 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. well as the Mayor is going to submit her priority request to the Appropriations Chairman in Harrisburg. And also we're working together, the Mayor and I, and so we should be on the same page saying if we can stave off these cuts because we're asking for this type of resource and support as a part of our priority request, then maybe we'll have an opportunity, because they're still going through the negotiation process. So maybe we can stop this ahead of time working together. So this is very, very important information that I had no idea was actually happening. And we just had an intergovernmental meeting the other day with the Administration, members of Council, Congress, and both Appropriations Chair, but this wasn't brought up as a key issue that we all could be working on. So very, very valuable information.
And also just to 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. add to that, my office has been convening all of the PCCD-funded entities within the City of Philadelphia, so those include organizations like all of the community-based organizations in all of your districts, EMIR Healing Center, Mothers in Charge, SeniorLAW Center, CARIE, the DA's Office CARES Unit, all of those entities that are going to be receiving that cut, to do some collective advocacy to make sure that we cannot only secure funds to kind of gap fill the funding that they will lose come October 1st, but also to make sure that we're increasing their capacity, because as we ask more of them, we have to give them more to do the work that they need to be doing within our communities. So we are seeking to not only actually support them but also fiscally support them as well in the work that they are doing. And to answer your next question in terms of the future of the 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. office, in addition to the programs that we already have, as Director Geer indicated, starting, I want to say, in February, we began to send out letters to all of the family members of homicide victims. And although that is not a program per se, it is an initiative that I am proud to say we are doing. It's a small gesture, but it goes a very far way. Since that date, we have sent out 64 letters to those families, and we'll have another batch going out this Thursday, and what those letters basically say is that as a city, on behalf of myself, my office, as well as Mayor Parker, as well at the City of Philadelphia, we offer our condolences and support. In addition to that, we have a two-page resource guide that provides information to all of the agencies that are available to them, whether it be community-based agencies, the Police Department, the Medical 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Examiner's Office, the Police Department Victim Services Unit -- or Victim Assistance Office, I'm sorry, the CARES Unit, everybody you can think of, DBHIDS, that folks may need that they don't have the information for, that's contained in that letter. And while, yes, we know, individuals receive a lot of information after someone has passed away, in my viewpoint as well as Director Geer as well as Mayor Parker, this offer of our condolences and support to us is a showing to the community that we do care and that their loved one is not just a number but rather a person we will miss in our community. So that's an initiative that we have.
Go ahead and drop that mic. I want to acknowledge two key parts of what you're working on, which shows progress that this body has been doing. Councilman Curtis Jones held 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. hearings regarding witness relocation, and some people don't know that the relocation that you're doing is separate from what the District Attorney's Office was doing. There was a need. You also talked about helping people get permanent housing, also something that Chairman of Public Safety worked on as well. And the cleaning up of crime sites, had a hearing -- I didn't even know that was a thing at the time, right? I guess just growing up in the neighborhood, it's not -- just being quite frank, seen plenty of people, just being honest with you, since 12 years old being murdered in the streets of South Philadelphia. So I didn't even think it was a thing about -- ain't never come to the point of South Philly and say, we're going to clean up this site. It's just it is what it is and life goes on. So I think those key initiatives that you're working on I think is great. I think reaching out to 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the actual families, that goes like a long way from the healing standpoint, because we still have people coming down to Council advocating every now and then saying we're trying to deal with a cold case or how we get follow-up and work in partnership with detectives in terms of getting some closure after losing a loved one. So thank you for that update. And I'm going to relax my time to the members. I just had one small question regarding -- and this is for Mr. Adam Geer. Thank you, Adara Combs.
And my last question before I relax my time is, are we -- well, I recommend that we explore two things. One, in this budget is there expansion for funding for the safe passage program with the School District of Philadelphia, making sure children are safe going to and from school? Are we expanding -- in this 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. budget is there funding for that? DIRECTOR GEER: I would have to check specifically. That's a program that's with the School District. It's a contract with the School District and the Police Department. So we would have to look, and I'm not sure if we can quickly figure out whether there was an expansion for the monies for that. We have with Town Watch Integrated Services within the Office of Public Safety a program that's similar where we identify corridors for school-age children who are walking to and from school. That funding is level.
That funding is level? DIRECTOR GEER: That funding is level for that program, but that's the program personally -- well, professionally as the Director of Office of Public Safety, I think what we are trying to capture and focus on is the older individuals who are in and around 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. schools who may be subject to this type of gun violence. The safe pathways that the Town Watch Integrated Services runs in my shop, it's for younger.
Younger ones? DIRECTOR GEER: Correct. So I think we would want to look into the numbers as it relates to the other program with the Police Department and School District.
And then last, have we looked at how we can reset Town Watch Integrated Services? At one time Town Watch was very, very heavily inside the community under the Managing Director's Office. It was different than the traditional come outside with walkie-talkies, but more from an intervention and prevention standpoint, you had a significant amount of workers in different neighborhoods throughout the City of Philadelphia doing this work around public safety. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Could we consider re-looking at that model from a prevention and intervention standpoint? And the same thing with Philadelphia Anti-Drug/Anti-Violence Network. Most of the social media beefs end up inside the schools and spill out into the streets. And rather it's the School District contracting with Philadelphia Anti-Drug/Anti-Violence Network or other organizations that are boots on the ground, we have to have more of a presence inside the schools to try to help resolve the conflicts with our young people before they get out in the streets. And so I know some of it is the responsibility of the School District, but we lead as well from a city standpoint in terms of convening, getting everybody at the table from a resource standpoint, seeing how we can fill in the gaps, because if we're not inside those schools, I think we'll continuously see 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the same issue go on and on when it comes to our young people. Just something to consider and think about. DIRECTOR GEER: Agreed, Council President. Yes is the short answer to both those. We're going to look at both those, but, yes. The short answer is yes.
Thank you. I'll relax my time. Councilman Curtis Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. Two quick questions. Are you on CJAB and is the Victims Advocate also on CJAB? DIRECTOR GEER: I'm not sure if the Victims Advocate is. We are on CJAB. The Mayor needs to -- will officially appoint me to CJAB, but I'm in contact with Judge DeFino-Nastasi. We were invited to the last CJAB meetings. We have those memberships. It's just me officially being appointed, but, yes. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Because as we anoint you as the straw that stirs the drink, that is where the drink is. You have all of those different department heads, and when somebody does something, an initiative, if in Kensington we do a massive enforcement piece, that affects the prisons, that affects the health system, that affects the courts. So that all of those things are anticipated in a way that they can adjust for. So I wanted to make sure of that. A couple of things. One, have you begun measuring the boots-on-the-ground grants and their effectiveness? We are pleased that crime has gone down. I think it's 30 percent or better. But who, what, how that happens we need to kind of get more information on so that we can reinforce those programs that are working and then maybe adjust the ones that are not. So those kinds of data bringing back to this 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. body is essential. If we're putting up that much money, we want to know what is working and what needs adjustment. So if you could do that, that would be helpful. DIRECTOR GEER: Yes, absolutely. We have had independent evaluations of our grant program. Either they have been completed or are in the process of being completed. We hired -- rather, the previous Administration in response to some of these challenges hired two grant analysts to specifically look at this. I personally have brought on our Chief Operating Officer, Marcia Dixon, who is absolutely incredible and has not only a strong financial background and eye, but also comes from a public safety background as well. She is looking at this. We're bringing in a Director of Performance Management -- that will be a new hire -- to look at this. So we absolutely -- it is a priority of my 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. office to make sure that we are understanding what is working, what is not working, and being fair and also supporting these organizations how we have to support them so that they can be in the best position to succeed. And we will bring back that information to Council as we receive it.
And thank you both for elevating crime prevention and gun violence to a prominent level, and you have been working on the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia, and thank you for that. You all have the questions. You're responding in a tremendous way. A lot of those things are being implemented as we speak. But one of the ones that I really want to get insight on is, we have a school-to-prison pipeline. How do we reinforce and create a school-to-paycheck pipeline? Example, the Fleet Management, I think a third of their workforce actually comes from public schools, CTE 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. schools, Randolph School, and are filling the ranks. We have a problem with filling all of these positions. So if you can't find outside workers, let's grow them from particularly an at-risk population that otherwise might find their way into problematic careers. So I know Fleet Management does it. Can you talk about school-to-paycheck pipelines that we are creating? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, Council President, this is certainly a topic that is near and dear to my heart in my former role and now looking across the entire breadth of City government. I know in my prior role, with help from Mayor Parker in her prior role, we doubled the size of our Explorers Program by giving them a dedicated facility, and we've really seen the fruits of that already in Fire. And the Fire Department also has a program at the Randolph School, another program that frankly at various times has been challenged to 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. recruit students. That program is going great now, that partnership with the School District. And the Police Department of course has a huge Explorers Program as well. We have the program in Fleet. We have Future Track in Streets and Sanitation. We have a lot of different programs across City government, and I think we need more. Certainly the Municipal University, a great vision of Mayor Parker's that we're really excited to get going on with the Community College. And actually I just read an article about the current generation, and I have a few of those folks at home -- well, not really at home -- very interested in the trades and very interested in -- maybe less interested in going to college, and that really resonates even with my experience. I didn't know what I wanted to do and I just sort of stumbled into what turned out to be a career for me. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. There's a huge opportunity here, so I think as we're building the Municipal University, we're continuing to leverage and double down on these programs. Another one that's been huge for us as we've been talking with a lot of healthcare providers, healthcare systems is, here as the City of eds and meds, there are a lot of healthcare opportunities that are available. Another thing we experimented with in my last job, we had a community EMT program with 1199C. We had an community EMT program with Drexel's Dornsife School of Public Health. We had a community EMT program with WPSI, with the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative. So I really think the sky is the limit. I think certainly the time is now. It seems like there's an appetite for that. We do have unfilled positions across all of City government, and I believe that working together and in a 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. collaborative way, an intergovernmental way, which is what Mayor Parker is demonstrating, we can get this done. There was just a number of opportunities released in the past couple days from the federal Department of Labor for apprenticeship programs. We know that working with the building trades, there's already something we're doing. So I'm hopeful that this additional federal investment, plus all of the work that we're doing, will continue. We need it. We need it now. We need folks to fill these roles not just for today, in talking with the healthcare folks, this is a four, five, ten-year pipeline.
So we really do need to be filling that pipeline today for jobs that we may not have been thinking about are in scope.
One of the things that I would encourage, that really there's a finite amount of young people that are, as they say, off the 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. chain, might be around 5,000 folk out of the population. I want to encourage us to create year-round jobs for that population. Everybody is not going to take advantage of that opportunity, but if 50 percent of them did, what would it do to our crime rate. And as a part of GVI, that that is something we offer them. I've gone on those walk-arounds, and after the participant gets beyond disbelief that they're not going to jail that day, you know, they start to open up to the possibilities of some of the positive things that might be offered. So if you said to me, you can get off this corner, I'm going to give you an opportunity to have a year-round job so that you don't have the reason to do what you do, that might be an incentive for folk to do the right thing. So if we could see -- I know there's a year-round possibility. Does anybody know how many jobs that is and if 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we can't expand that? DIRECTOR THIEL: Well, we know that the Office of Children and Families during the summer programs this year, a number of those summer jobs are going to lead to full-time jobs, and we can get back to you with exactly that number. I know our Chief Deputy Managing Director has that. Parks and Rec I think has other jobs that that's a pipeline. Future Track is intended to be a pipeline. As we expand Clean and Green, this is another opportunity that we have for the Philly TCB folks, CLIP folks, for them to ultimately turn what are entry-level jobs into career jobs, and part of this, I think --
Can I get a point of information, if you don't mind, Member Jones.
We cut CLIP by a million dollars. So can 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you give us an idea why? Because that is an easy entrance way into the Streets Department, and we normally recommend folks there irregardless of their record, but I know the whole mission is clean and green. And so members have been asking that for a while, especially Councilmember Mike Driscoll. Can you give us an idea of how is that -- how cutting it gets us to where we need to go? DIRECTOR THIEL: Council President, since that is in the Clean and Green Initiative, we'll have to get back to you on that from our Director of Clean and Green Initiatives, Carlton Williams. I don't see him here today, but we can certainly get back with you on that. Obviously there is a huge investment in Clean and Green, and some of what you're seeing as cuts or what you're seeing -- what look like cuts are actually transfers or reinvestments in other areas. So I think -- I don't 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. think. I know that for Clean and Green, the net-net on our clean and green initiatives is definitely plus, plus dollars, plus equipment, plus people. We're going to be coordinating these folks. So my sense is that probably looks like a cut because of some of this movement. We are absolutely going to be investing not just in the equipment and the vehicles for Clean and Green, the people with an eye towards ensuring that those -- a lot of those folks that we're going to be hiring, whether they are -- part of this is putting everybody under the same umbrella. So regardless of how they're hired, we want them to get into these City jobs that have not just pay, benefits. I think this is another part of the conversation that we're missing. When you look at the total package, it's not just about cash money. It's about a pension and it's about health insurance, and I think we need to have that 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. conversation more holistically with young people, because if it's just about cash, that can be difficult to compete. The City offers so much more. And as we're having Municipal University -- we already offer -- I tell folks all the time, sure, college is great, and if you come work for us now, then we'll send you to college. I mean, we have a lot of different programs across the City to help send people to college. So I think that to me, reframing this conversation, Council President. We'll get back to you with the specifics on your question. I can confidently say the net-net for all of our clean and green initiatives is going to be more people to do more work in a collaborative and coordinated fashion, with an eye towards long-term City employment.
Thank you. Member Jones, do you want to 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. wrap it up?
No. I'm good. In the next round, what I'd like to do is focus on one of Member Phillips' priorities, which we're working with DHS on, Parent University, because at the beginning of the problem, precursor to the issue, is parents' ability to raise our kids and parent accountability, something that we need to take a deeper dive on, giving them resources, but also if your kid was out at 1 o'clock in the morning, why? So whoever from your team can respond to that, I'd be grateful to hear. Thank you, Mr. President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Phillips.
Member Phillips, one second. I just want 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to acknowledge present is Councilmember Cindy Bass, Councilmember Young, Councilmember Harrity as well present for the record.
Thank you, Council President Johnson. Many neighbors in the Ninth District hesitate to utilize 3-1-1 because of its lack of transparency. They submit a complaint and there's no 12 follow-up or clear action. Many times the ticket is closed with no resolution. This actually happened to me. Chicago's 3-1-1 faces challenges with transparency regarding resolved claims, prompting the implementation of a system where photos are uploaded to verify completed work. What measures is the Managing Director's Office taking to enhance the infrastructure of 3-1-1? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, Council President, I'm so glad you asked. We absolutely agree that 3-1-1 -- the 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. folks who work in 3-1-1 are really dedicated and they work hard to be able to do what is within their scope. The obvious challenge, or I see it as an opportunity with 3-1-1, is to make sure that that intake is connected to the work. That is the part that is missing, and we are building that. In this budget that is recognized. We're going to be building sort of an action component to 3-1-1 so we can make sure that when we get those tickets, that we are immediately or very shortly -- and, again, 24/7/365, not just seven and a half hours a day or not just if it happens on Friday, wait until Monday to fix it. We are building that capability, because we need round-the-clock coordination and collaboration, not just among City departments but among all of our other partners. And I think this is one of the challenges with 3-1-1. And, again, I really -- I want 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to be really clear. I appreciate their work, just as I appreciate our 9-1-1 dispatchers. It's National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. All those folks kind of fall in that bucket. To me and having sat with them, it's not a job I could do, to be able to -- essentially you're getting all of this incoming information and you're not able to see closure, so you can imagine how tough that is. So these are tough jobs. The transparency, we are going to be building exactly that. We are going to be essentially making sure that we're putting these feeds out, making them public, not just showing the tickets but showing the actions, exactly what you're suggesting, with photos, with information. It's happened to me as well that you call something in. We just saw an example the other day, somebody's ticket is closed and the discarded couch 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. was still there. So we need to build that. We need to give the folks in 3-1-1 frankly some love and some attention and better tools, not just technology tools, professional development, the training, to get them to the point where when we close a ticket, we're not just closing the ticket, we know the work is done and we're putting that out there for everybody to see.
Thank you. Thank you, Managing Director. And also one of the things just to add into transparency is how do we make sure that -- maybe you could make it more transparent where by district, here are all the district complaints so that we as Councilmembers and our team, we can figure out, you know, what was opened and what's closed as well immediately. So that could be helpful. DIRECTOR THIEL: Yeah. Councilmember, we're actually going to be 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. kind of organizing as we're -- organizing by geography for this coordination. We're going to be doing that by councilmanic district, so we make sure that as people are visualizing, they can see that, that you all will have direct access to this information, and we really think that's actually -- making it transparent is going to help the folks who are working there so they can actually see the fruits of their labors.
Thanks. This is around OTIS's work. So as we know there's a high demand for speed cushions in most District Council offices, and I know Vision Zero is looking at the dozens or so of roads that make up the highest number of vehicle deaths and accidents, but what relief are we going to be giving our residents in terms of helping them understand what can be done to slow down traffic? Because I want to hear from you all have you 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. thought about other measures that could be in place? Because right now there's this deep belief among residents that their block, everyone's block deserves a speed-calming measure, specifically a speed hump, right, speed bumps. So that may not be practical, right? So what are we going to be doing to make sure residents feel like there's traffic additions that are being slowed down across the City? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, Council President, as you know, Vision Zero is a high priority for Mayor Parker. Her fourth executive order was to essentially move Vision Zero forward. I can tell you, because we were at their conference together, it's a high priority for me as well, and it's really been an honor. We have an incredibly dedicated group of folk within our Office of Multi-Modal Planning who are working on Vision Zero and thinking about those issues literally around the clock and 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. continuing to address the education component. You're exactly right. If you speed between the traffic-calming installations, that just doesn't work. So we really need folks to embrace their role in this and slow down. I mean, we see that everywhere around the City. Rest assured, the Vision Zero folks are working constantly to find the most efficient and effective way to deploy the resources we have in communities for speed cushions, for other traffic-calming measures, for bike lanes, which are also -- bike lanes, in addition to providing that bike network that is so important, bike lanes also provide traffic calming. So this really is -- it is an extremely complicated system in Vision Zero and what our Streets Department is doing, and we can get you more specifics, because there is a lot of detailed information on how these decisions are 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. made and what they're doing.
I don't want to cut you off, but one of the things that could be really helpful is how do we communicate with residents the process towards getting speed cushions and how slow it's going to be. It can't just necessarily come from us, and I think it's going to be important that we communicate this across the entire City through maybe a website, through e-mail communication, something, because right now residents -- every resident in the City of Philadelphia believes they deserve a speed bump on their block. And so maybe there has to be a level of things that you're saying that you're going to be doing, how you're doing it, because we're going to frustrate the City right now. We just came from a community meeting last night where that was the biggest topic. DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we agree on the importance of education and prevention, and I know that Mike Carroll, our Deputy Managing Director for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems, is here, and I know his team is watching, so we'll make sure that we double down on that and provide that information.
Thank you, Managing Director. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember O'Rourke.
Thank you, Council President. Good morning, Director Thiel. DIRECTOR THIEL: Good morning, Councilmember.
Good morning, Director Geer. Thanks for being here today. As we all know, this 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Administration hit the 100-day milestone last week and dropped the 100-day report focused on public safety, which I was just kind of perusing through as Councilman Phillips was asking his questions. I want to spend some time today asking about that plan so I can understand how the Office of Public Safety is thinking about the rollout, starting with the Kensington community renewal -- revival. Excuse me. The first phase of this plan is warning and opportunity where the police and others will visit the area to give occupants a final chance to take shelter or treatment before enforcement begins in Phase 2. Phase 2 kicks off a multi-day effort to go block by block, sweeping the area, arresting folks who didn't comply during Phase 1. So I want to get very clear on the details of this. How long does the Administration plan to be in the warning 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. and opportunity phase before the sweeps begin, and what does, if you will, warning actually look like? Will written notices be given? Are you relying on word of mouth only? Can you speak to that, please? DIRECTOR GEER: Absolutely, and thanks for the -- thank you for the question.
Thank you. DIRECTOR GEER: Some of this I will reserve for the Police Department in terms of the actual police actions. I'm not -- I don't want to speak on their behalf there, but I'm happy to answer this question as it relates to these phases, because I want to make it very clear. That Phase in which there's going to be outreach to individuals to attempt to connect them with services, that goes through all phases. So as a priority -- if we're in Phase 2 where 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. there are going to be enforcement of criminal violations, well, as a first step, we're still going to be offering services to those individuals. So it is -- I want to be clear that it is not as though at Phase 2 there will be no 8 opportunities that were presented in Phase 1. Those will always be available into the future. That is the primary goal of this Administration, is to connect people to services.
To be clear, all phases of this plan will include the offering of resources in each step? DIRECTOR GEER: Absolutely. If there's an individual who is going to accept services, no matter where we're at, that is the plan, and that is -- that would be -- that is the top priority, top goal, absolutely. Yes.
Okay. But can you speak to me about the number of days or the weeks that you'll give 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. folks to find other arrangements or begin seeking treatment? Like what is the actual detailed day and week plan at this point? DIRECTOR GEER: I don't believe that there's been a date provided yet by the Police Department as to what that is.
Thank you. DIRECTOR GEER: Sure. But that period where we will be reaching out to people will continue and there's --
Resources will go along with that? DIRECTOR GEER: Right. There's no timeframe on that.
Thank you, Director. As sweeps occur, what is the plan for handling folks' belongings, their clothes, personal items, things that they were using for housing? Will there be a mechanism of folks to restore their belongings to return to after 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. receiving that treatment? What is the thinking along that line? DIRECTOR GEER: Yes. And, again, I really appreciate these questions, because this is getting to the point of how this needs to be done compassionately, right? When I first started doing this work and as a prosecutor, over a decade ago we weren't thinking about these kinds of things, right, but the reality of it is, as I get closer to this work, there are barriers to these folks entering treatment. Another one that I think about that I'll pull out is people who are in relationships, right? A lot of places where they'd go for inpatient housing, they won't accept the relationship, the couple to come. They separate them. And I have a wife. That would be difficult, right, to be separated if we both needed treatment. We are thinking about these issues, yes. There will be a plan to 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. take in, to answer your specific question, the personal belongings.
But as it stands right now, that's not clear. DIRECTOR GEER: I'm sorry?
As it stands at the moment, it's not clear. DIRECTOR GEER: No, no. That is part of the plan. Absolutely we are planning for that, yes.
For the police and other safety partners that are involved in the actual sweeping, can you describe the training that they'll receive to ensure that medical, behavioral health needs of these folks being arrested and displaced are actually being taken into account in the process? This is something I think we raised and mentioned in the past couple days or yesterday. DIRECTOR GEER: If we're talking about the folks who would just be arrested, that would be because they 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. refused treatment and because they were doing something criminal.
No, no. 6 DIRECTOR GEER: Right. But to answer your question, and this might be better suited for the Police Department, but the officers who are going to be out there in these particular areas for this particular Kensington plan are the ones who are highly trained in interacting in sort of this kind of work, this kind of really difficult work where there needs to be nuances and there needs to be officers who have training. So I can't speak specifically to the training, but I do know that that is absolutely contemplated.
So there's an assumption that the ones that are going out there are prepared to handle the uniqueness of the situation? DIRECTOR GEER: I think that that's fair to say. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Continuing with the Kensington community revival, I want to talk about how the Administration is expanding Philadelphia's treatment capacity to serve people with addiction. In the first phase, warning and opportunity, the plan states that PPD will partner with various programs and City partners wishing to provide services and treatment, and this will be the final opportunity to take advantage of treatment and shelter services. So that kind of is cross with what you were saying earlier, which is that in every phase, services will be offered. Is that still the case? DIRECTOR GEER: No, no. I don't think that's in contradiction with what I said. If you want to read it again, I can respond, but I don't think that's in contradiction. We're very clear that if there's a person and they are in Phase 2, Phase 3, or whatever, and 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. they are extended services and they accept services, whether that's through PAD, if they're PAD eligible, or that's through some other mechanism, that that will be the services that they will get.
Okay. DIRECTOR GEER: So I'm not sure what you read, but that's --
That's fine. This Administration has already acknowledged that Philadelphia's treatment capacity is far below what's needed to get the hundreds of people in addiction into long-term care. Do you have a plan to expand the City's treatment capacity so the Kensington community revival is functional in that regard? DIRECTOR GEER: So there's the mid, long term, and then there's the short term. In the short term and we in our meetings -- and we have members of our Opioid Response Unit here and members 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. of the other agencies who are really going to be doing the heavy lifting here. We have reiterated over and over that we will not do anything, we will not proceed in a way that jeopardizes the folks who are out there. We will make sure that when we are offering services, that there are beds available for those services that we will be offering. So OHS, DBHIDS, they will have numbers of what services are available when they go out at any given day during Phase 1 and we'll be able to connect people to those services that we know exist. And then there's the medium and long-term work that we're doing frankly for the first time as a city.
Thank you, Director. I heard the bell. Okay. What community stakeholders have been a part of developing this plan? Can you name them, the community stakeholders that have been 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. part of the plan? DIRECTOR GEER: Sure. The NKCDC. We've had several conversations with them. There are organizations that frankly -- Officer Rosario from day one when he was appointed has been specifically over and over and over reaching out to, I believe, a great deal of his work starting out -- and the reason why he's there and the reason why I think he's supported by the people who live there is because of his community outreach and hearing what they want. But I believe that that community input that he built up, right, not just actually over when he was appointed commissioner, but prior to that for the years he's been working there, influenced the plan and --
So the Deputy Commissioner kind of holds the partnerships there in this work? DIRECTOR GEER: Well, he's the person who has been doing the work on the ground, right? I live in South Philly, 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. so I'm not going to pretend to speak for the people there, but the representatives of our -- of not only our Administration but also I think the department are tied into the community.
These two -- because I'm kind of taxing my time already. When will you do an analysis of the expansions that will get done to determine whether they are sufficient to meet the need? DIRECTOR GEER: Which expansion?
The expansions to make sure that everyone has access to the long-term care. I was already asking about the treatment capacity. DIRECTOR GEER: Right.
We want to make sure that those are working and actually meeting folks' needs. Will there be a process where you're kind of analyzing them, checking them, seeing if 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. they're actually meeting the needs? Do you have that already in plan? When do you plan to do such an analysis -- DIRECTOR GEER: Yes.
-- to make sure that they're actually hitting whatever goals that you all are setting? DIRECTOR GEER: Yes. I think that's a question that folks from DBHIDS can answer. I've been in those meetings, though, where they have pretty excellent sophistication in terms of trying to understand the population that we're dealing with and --
I have more questions, but I'll get it on the second round. Thank you.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Council President. Good morning, everyone. First 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. point, please put page numbers on your testimony. I am putting little tabs. It's very hard to follow. And I have to take speed reading classes, because we just got this all at 2:00 p.m. yesterday. I understand everybody is stressed, but it makes for us being less informed because we don't have time to get through that. Question about the Capital Projects Office. Under that section in the testimony, I don't see anything about Rebuild. Can you talk a bit more about the plans for Rebuild moving forward? And an associated question, it says consolidating architectural and engineering staff for this department. Where will these employees be coming from and what will be the impact on other departments? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, Council President, I appreciate the question. I'm going to try to answer this at a level that is sufficient, and 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. if not, we have Aparna Palantino here. The Rebuild projects that are in the pipeline will all be taken to completion. So anything that started out as a Rebuild project is going to be finished within our new Capital Program Office. So Aparna and her team and the Rebuild team are working together to do that, and of course in some cases, additional funding is needed. We've had those conversations with many of you, Council President. So those projects are going to be carried to completion.
And we have a schedule of which rec centers those are? DIRECTOR THIEL: Yes. We can certainly get you the latest updates on -- get all of Council the latest updates on the Rebuild projects. The Capital Program Office is being assembled from existing components -- so this is at the staff level -- from the Department of Public 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Property and from Parks and Rec and from the Rebuild staff, as well as some additional folks to bring that capability. One of the things that really work, and I wasn't here, but one of the things that we heard really worked, and we're already seeing this with what Aparna has done, is having all of the folks that we need in one place to be able to bring these projects, often complicated projects, to completion on time and on budget or as close as we can get to that. So bringing all these folks together, adding some additional staff in key roles, having folks who can expedite contract reviews and contract conformance, very close partnership with Procurement to make sure that we're doing all of those things by the letter according to all the regulations and frankly having a rock star director like Director Palantino for this effort who has experience in these different areas, 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that's really been key, and we frankly are already seeing the results of that and the benefits of that.
And so the opportunity cost when things are delayed is really a problem, and that results in cost overruns in projects. So I'm hoping that your office is coordinating with L&I as well as procuring things, because that's where we see this added amount of money coming in. DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, absolutely. Again, that's one of the benefits of having the CPO, as we call it, within the Managing Director's Office, because we have so many of those relevant departments, including the operating departments that often inhabit and use these buildings, whose staff use these buildings, all integrated from the beginning, and then anybody that's not part of that, because we do have a lot of other partners, intergovernmental partners, coordinating all of that in one 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. place.
So just going back to that list of Rebuild that are already targeted, does that mean after that list is exhausted there's no 7 more Rebuild projects or do we -- is there a sunset on this beverage tax? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, as far as I know, and again that might be a question for our Chief Finance Officer, the sunset on the beverage tax, as far as I understand, there is not. Those dollars will still be available for projects that are relevant to that original intent, and those projects will be executed across City departments, like Parks and Rec and other folks that were doing that work, just not necessarily with the Rebuild brand. I also want to acknowledge the philanthropic partners that helped initiate Rebuild. Those folks have been part of these conversations. They understand that we are moving forward. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. For us, I mean, candidly, the focus is really on executing those existing -- that existing portfolio to completion, plus continuing to work on all the other capital projects and programs that are across City government. And when we get to that point, I think we all are excited to get to the point where we are completing those Rebuild projects as close to on time and on budget as possible at this point, then I think there's probably a discussion about what is next. We know there are huge capital needs across the PPR portfolio and other portfolio. So I think to me the need for these types of investments does not ever sunset, at least not from what I can see, and we intend to continue those projects out of CPO with all of the relevant City departments.
Thank you. Switching to Office of 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Immigrant Affairs, I was wondering how are they working to address the issue of human trafficking and what systems does the City have in place to make sure the victims are supported, and are we tracking these outcomes? DIRECTOR THIEL: Our Office of Immigrant Affairs, Councilmember, extremely dedicated group of folks, not a large team, and I know they are certainly part of our broader City efforts around human trafficking and frankly larger efforts from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, I know that our Police Department, our criminal justice partners also have equities in that. I'm not sure that our Office of Immigrant Affairs has a specific program around that. They are certainly savvy to that in very close coordination always with other City agencies.
So is there anywhere in the City where we address this outside of PPD? 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. DIRECTOR THIEL: Well, no; I think everywhere, Councilmember. I know we did continuing education in the Fire Department for all of our EMS providers and firefighters about human trafficking. The Department of Homeland Security has a number of programs. So I think we are consistently making sure that people are aware of that, and OIA to the point -- the folks that they are serving, I know that they are aware of it. And also we have another program within our health and human services portfolio, our Office of Domestic Violence Prevention, that also works on that.
All right. Thank you. I'll hold my questions for the second round. Thank you, Council President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Councilmember Quetcy Lozada.
Thank you, Council President. Good morning and thank you for being here this morning. We oftentimes have said that the MDO's Office is the conductor of City services, and we've seen challenges in the past as we have tried to conduct the orchestra. Can you share with us in your time as the MDO, have you or has anyone in your office been able to count the number of the unhoused population in the Kensington community, and if so, what is that number? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, I think the -- well, first off, I haven't had much time in the Managing Director's Office, a hundred-some-odd days. I think we certainly agree that there's a need for additional coordination and collaboration resources, sort of what I was talking about before. So we're 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. making sure that we're building that capacity. I think the best numbers we have for your specific question about the unhoused population in the Kensington area that need services, those are the numbers that were provided yesterday from DBHIDS. So that number is specific to Kensington. As I recall, that number is around 675, according to their data, and citywide there's also information on their website with a citywide number. Candidly, I think those folks do a great job. We have folks in the Office of -- in OHS, Homeless Services, who do a great job counting what they can. I think we certainly want to spend additional time and attention and look for additional resources in other ways that we can make sure that we can continually validate that number. And I think as we start to build and work through this longer term -- short, medium, and long-term continuum of care, 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that is also going to help us get better data. We're building in data collection. We're building in program evaluation from the beginning of that. We're having those conversations, making sure that's part of a system. You know, with any number like that, I mean, it changes every day. It's a difficult number to pin down. I think that DBHIDS Commissioner yesterday talked a lot about those challenges, and we are going to continue to invest time and resources to try to continue to refine that number.
If you heard DBHIDS yesterday, then you also heard that they don't have a strategy in doing the work and then following up on the work that they're doing on the ground, right? So while they're responding to the need, they are doing a very poor job at ensuring that people don't continue to come, not just into the City and find themselves unsheltered but 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. they can't figure out a way to stop them from coming into the Kensington footprint. Have you and your team looked at, as you stabilize the community, how do you maintain the work that you all are doing? And if you have, can you share with us what that strategy is? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, the short answer is yes. I mean, that is -- it is really important and I'm glad you said that. This needs to be -- what we are doing needs to be sustainable. And I don't mean in the sense of sustainability we're talking about the environmental sustainability, although that's a component of it. We need to be able to make sure that the very complicated system that we are building works for the long run. And so absolutely, we are thinking about all of those things, thinking about the coordination, trying to find ways to understand better the 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. different populations that we're serving, including and of course putting the community at the center of this work even as we take care of patients' needs and their clinical needs, get them into long-term treatment, housing, jobs. So we are looking at this entire continuum. Again, it's extremely complicated, probably complex. There are a lot of different partners. There are a lot of challenges, but we are literally working around the clock with an interagency, an intergovernmental team to get into the details, sort of as Councilmember O'Rourke was talking about, what happens with the clothes, what happens with the possessions, where do we go from here, how do we move people the most efficient and effective way. So we're looking at all those things.
I think the priority in this community is that the laws that are in the books are upheld. So I think that what people want 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to hear from you as the conductor is that the laws in the City of Philadelphia are going to apply in neighborhoods like Kensington, because they apply in other places. And so can we get that from you? I have heard the Mayor say many times that Kensington is her priority. I believe her. She has shown me nothing different up until today. She can't have her hands in everything, right, and so we're going to depend on people like you. I want to hear your commitment to my community that we are a priority, because I believe that if we stabilize Kensington, we stabilize the City and we stabilize what is happening with the unsheltered population across the board, but I want to hear from you that there is a commitment to uphold the law. There are people in this body and in this city who don't see what that community sees every day. They are my priority because I was sent here to represent them. And so, quite frankly, I 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. don't care how long we hold their belongings. I want to see people go into treatment, but what I want to see right now is the law being upheld in my community, and I need to hear that from you. DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, Council President, I think if you've heard that from the Mayor, that is the person from whom you need to hear it. If you've heard it from our Police Commissioner, the way we are organized, that is our chief law enforcement officer reporting directly to the Mayor. I think you've heard it in a full-throated way from the Police Commissioner. I think you've heard it very stridently from Mayor Parker. I think you've heard it from our Chief Public Safety Director, Adam Geer. And I can tell you that the folks in the Managing Director's Office, our Opioid Response Unit, all of our departments already are -- you've heard it from Clean and Green, which actually 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. also reports directly to the Mayor. We are certainly -- while the challenges, many of the challenges we're trying to address exist all across the City, we all know that Kensington is the place that we are tackling first. You've heard that from the Mayor. My job is to execute and implement the Mayor's visions and plans. So I certainly -- if you heard it from the Mayor, you've heard it from me, because we do what Mayor Parker asks us to do.
I appreciate your response. We heard it from the Mayor before too and we heard it from his MDO and we heard it from his response teams. That's why I want to hear it from you, because that's -- my community doesn't have faith, right? We are in a different place right now. I'm sure you know that. We're in a different place right now as it relates to how they're responding to what you all are saying, but when we're hearing it from 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. other folks and not hearing it from you, who is the conductor of the orchestra, it's difficult to believe, right? Because ultimately you're the person that's going to send down the orders. And so I was just asked to ask you to put it on the record, and so I'm doing what my folks are asking me to do. And I heard the bell. I want to be respectful of that, but that's all I'm trying to get out of you. DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, I appreciate that. I want to be really clear, though, with the way that our City government is organized. Some of the orders that you are talking about are not coming from or through the Managing Director. So I just want to be really clear about that. My orders come from Mayor Parker, and I can tell you that in my own time here in the City, I've spent a lot of time in Kensington, invested a lot in other programs and other agencies where I've worked. We're continuing to 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. do that with restoring capacity in other places that affect Kensington, and I think my last personal -- the last personal time and hopefully the last time that I almost lost my life in the line of duty was in Kensington. So I certainly understand from a ground level what the challenges are, and I'm thankful that we have such a great team here that is working together to make Kensington a priority at the Mayor's direction and under her leadership to get it done.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you. Good morning. DIRECTOR THIEL: Good morning.
Good to see you. So I have a couple of buckets 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. of questions, but I'll just stay on this same line, especially while you're both up here. I just wanted to go back to the stats that we heard yesterday, because I think we're all trying to figure out how this all works together. DBHIDS said they have 1,874 beds. There are currently 109 vacancies. There are 675 people who are unhoused and in need of treatment services and potentially housing in Kensington. They believed -- I think they said they believed percent of them are 15 chronically homeless. 16 Can you talk about -- and for 17 anybody who couldn't -- for the numbers 18 that are beyond the 109 beds, there was 19 an overflow plan, but we didn't have any 20 details about the overflow plan. So I 21 wanted to know more about who is really overseeing the overflow plan. And then the second thing is, how does this interact with your triage plans and how we're going to hopefully 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. have one point of entry to all these places? I'm loving one points of entry. I've worked for the City for a long time too. We do a lot of things in a lot of places. The more we can consolidate things, the better. How these will work with the triage centers, especially if they're throughout the City. I'm just going to add one more question to that. OSH -- OHS, Shelter Services -- has changed its name over the years -- Shelters has its own intake, and will that intake be subsumed by the triage centers in any way or are our triage centers really going to be only about people with addictions? Thank you. DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, I think the answer to all those questions is yes, the short answer. We don't have this all figured out, candidly. We simply don't. A lot of folks have been working on this for a long time, and we are working on it around the clock right 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. now with a lot of different partners. We are, as we just talked about, putting the community at the center of this work now, and as we are looking to -- we don't -- I don't necessarily have, to Councilmember Lozada's point, I don't necessarily have confidence, high confidence, in any of the numbers that we are told about that represent different cohorts of these populations. I certainly think there are data gaps. So we're trying to identify those and close those. At the same time, we are meeting with, I think it's safe to say -- well, we're trying to meet with everybody who might be able to provide the beds we need, the services we need in a compassionate, dignified way. So we're meeting with all kinds of people and asking them how can you expand your capacity, what do you need, how do we as a system, how does our healthcare system pay for that so it's self-sustaining. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I think one of the things while a lot of folks have been involved in this for a long time, I think there are some assumptions, certainly assumptions that even I had. The Mayor's convening of the academic healthcare systems, providers, payers, her convening towards the beginning of our first hundred days, believe it or not, was the first time that all of those folks were in the same room. And somebody raised their hand and said, you know, we should do some asset mapping. Yes. Emphatically, yes. So I think we even thought -- some of us thought who have been close to this work that a lot of folks were doing things that maybe -- everybody is busy. A lot of different aspects of this system are underresourced. We know that the broader healthcare system is arguably in crisis, and where that all plays out is on the ground in neighborhoods in Philadelphia, including in Kensington. So that is -- we're trying to 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. convene these folks, catalyze these actions, answer the questions better, with a sense of urgency.
And we are truly -- you know, in an ideal world, we would have all the answers to your questions because we'd be at, you know, month to of a year and a half 9 planning process to answer every question 10 and do all the analysis before we started 11 taking action. We don't have time for 12 that. Our neighbors don't have time for 13 that. Frankly, these patients don't have 14 time for that. You've all met Mayor 15 Parker, so you know she doesn't have time 16 for that. Some of you have known me long 17 enough to know that I don't have time for 18 that. So we are moving aggressively to try to understand all the facets of this system, to build the pieces that are missing. This is a classic market failure. Nobody has done this, and because right now the way the system is calibrated, it's because there's no money 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to be made for the middle and the long term, otherwise the market would have moved in and done this. So we as a city and as far as I know, as far as I can tell from talking with other folks around the nation, we're the first city and county that is trying to address this in a holistic, systematic way. We're building new structures and systems. So we're meeting with everybody to try to understand what the need is better, to try to understand where we get initial capacity, where do we get more right now, more beds right now for folks who need help right now and how do we build the medium to long-term system and structures for care, treatment, housing, jobs.
Excellent. Thank you for that answer, and I love holistic work as well and appreciate your breaking new ground and breaking down silos, which I hear all of you saying. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I'm going to just shift quickly into another question about data, because that was a focus of mine. What's the status of the Data Management Office? Do you still have that? It was under the MDO's Office. DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, Council President, I'm not aware of a Data Management Office per se. That might be -- now we have a unit called IDEA. My sense is that is probably IDEA. IDEA actually gives us -- it is alive and well and gives us pretty robust capacity to do some deep-dive projects that they're doing, and we're hoping to not just build them out some more but also add -- they have a certain, and you do know this, data analytics. It's not one size fits all. So in addition to IDEA, we're building PhillyStat 360, as you've heard the Mayor talk about. There are positions for that and capacity for that. That's going to be a key aspect of this. All of our operating agencies 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. have data analytics capabilities in them. We know that my colleague here, building a data analytics capacity. Our goal is really to make sure, again to Councilmember Lozada's point, to connect and collaborate and cooperate across all of these different data analytics units. And so we are also going to be building that in as part of our operational coordination component.
Can you tell me more about IDEA? Is that going to be one place where all of the data comes? I'm looking for the next phase when we finally are collecting the right data we want. Will it be housed in one place so we can start connecting more dots and solving more problems? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, great question, Council President. The one place is going to be PhillyStat 360, so in the Mayor's Office, led by Kristin Bray. And all of these other -- because, again, that is a certain set of -- again, 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the goal here is to turn these data into information. We collect a lot of data. Some of it is -- we're concerned about the validity and the reliability of some of those data. We know there are gaps. So we are going to continue to have a lot of different units that are doing data analytics around their particular specialties, and we're going to make sure that all of those top lines are connected into PhillyStat 360. And more than just looking at those data and admiring those data, we are going to be using those data. The Mayor is absolutely going to be using PhillyStat 360 data and information to hold all of us accountable for performance. That's the point. At the same time, we're going to have these other capabilities that let us do deeper dives, things like let's understand better what's going on in Kensington, what's going on in other neighborhoods, where are these folks coming from, where are they going. And 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. of course the Police Department, you can already see in Commissioner Bethel's plan really putting data technology at the center of that.
I want to go back just a little bit. The expansion of our beds, right, because I know at some point in time Commissioner Bethel is going to ramp up, right, and it's the carrot or the stick, if you take the treatment. You don't take the treatment, you're going to State Road, right? And so just reiterate to me again where the beds are coming from, who we're partnering with in terms of the beds to scale up. I know you just convened with all the healthcare service providers. Are they playing a role in terms of providing the medical services that are going to be needed when it's 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. time to ramp up? I wish you would have been here when the Prisons were here, because the Prisons couldn't answer this question. But all right. So you got some people who are going to say, you know what, lock me up, I ain't going with y'all, right? So now we double, triple, quadruple the number of people on State Road, but they're still addicts on State Road, right? So give me an idea, one, the expansion of the beds; two, the medical services that are going to be provided for those individuals; and then, three, when we quadruple the amount of people that's on State Road, just the plan and strategy on how we're dealing with that. That's just something that just kind of came to -- questions that have been coming up and people have been calling me just trying to get an idea, and I said, well, I'll ask so I can be able to respond back. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. DIRECTOR THIEL: Council President, I appreciate the way that you've broken that down and the way you framed it. Kind of working backwards through the questions, our goal is to not triple or quadruple the population on State Road. So our goal is to address the other facets of what you're talking about and create a system where getting the short, medium, and long-term care, treatment, and housing that folks need is preferable to spending time on State Road. That said, if we have folks who end up in the custody of the Philadelphia Department of Prisons, as you heard during their testimony, they do provide a lot of healthcare, including providing the types of services that one might need who ends up there with substance use disorder, and this Administration, again with Mayor Parker's leadership, we've actually made sustainable at the Prisons providing the proper level of care so 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. folks are not just kind of kept in this middle state, to get folks into clinically the next phase of recovery and hopefully get out again. So we also see that population. While they may come out of this system, when they come back in, when they reenter, talking with our partners about reentry, talking about where do we get jobs, how do we make sure that we give them immediate access to wherever they come out of our prisons, wherever they are in their journey, how do we make sure that they have access to what they need next, because this is part of the do-loop that we've been caught in. Everything has been short term, short term, short term. And then whether they're being treated clinically or they're in the law enforcement system, nobody can plug back in to the medium and longer term, because even where those exist, they're not necessarily connected. They haven't been viewed holistically. So we really want to not end up 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. having this go the law enforcement route. Services. Services, again, this is -- we are talking with everybody who might possibly --
This is medical services, right? DIRECTOR THIEL: Medical services, yes, sir. So everybody who can provide different levels of medical services, and this is a key point too. You know, a bed is not a bed is not a bed. There are a lot of different categories of beds, a lot of different types of clinical treatment provided sort of classified by bed, and as a result, a lot of different folks who can work in this space, many of whom have not yet been engaged. So we certainly think that there are opportunities here to build new jobs, to build our workforce, to talk with the health systems, all of whom are having challenges with recruitment and retention. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. The reality is for some of the beds that we're talking about, you don't necessarily have to have gone to nursing school or to medical school. So we're trying to ensure that we are matching up the workforce as it exists today, even as we continue to build, as Councilmember Jones was saying, we provide more opportunities with all these different partners to get folks to do these jobs. It is a tactical challenge to have the -- even when we have the physical capacity, the beds, it is a tactical challenge for us to make sure that they are properly staffed with the right level of clinical or other provider to ensure we're providing the most clinically appropriate and compassionate care that we can. So we're talking with a lot of folks to make sure that as we start to move things forward, that we have the right providers there, the right medical services there, and the right number of beds. The answer is the same 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. for beds. We're talking to everybody who might have a bed of X, Y or Z category, where are they, what does it cost for us to get them, what do you need, how much time do you need, even as we look across our own portfolio and try to figure out how many beds we can get now and months in the future -- well, I will say now, weeks, months, years, because we don't know how big the need is. And we're doing all these things at the same time with a very dedicated team to try to build something that nobody has built before.
What's the role of the District Attorney's Office and also the courts? Have we considered working with Treatment Court so those who are being arrested, right, based upon the addiction, right, Treatment Court, you go into a program, you're monitored, you're getting the addiction, the behavioral health support that you need, and then when you're 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. finished, you don't even have a record, right? Because you completed your treatment. Is that a part of this strategy? And also what's the role of the District Attorney's Office? He used to have a diversionary program, from my understanding, where if an individual gets arrested for a certain amount of drugs, they could be diverted into a treatment facility, but I'm not sure how it's being utilized, which we'll ask when we actually have him come and testify. But go ahead. DIRECTOR THIEL: Council President, I'm so glad you said that, because I think it is -- it's an aspect of this that is not always understood. A lot of this pipeline and this system is not necessarily in the executive branch of City government and we don't have control over that. We have some influence and frankly, thanks to Mayor Parker's leadership, an expanding amount of influence. And I'm going to turn it 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. over to our Chief --
When you say we don't have control, you mean other agencies or elected officials that are operating? DIRECTOR THIEL: Other branches of government, the courts, the DA. Those are independent branches of government.
I just want to be clear, though. So you know how we approach things, we approve all their budgets. And so at the end of the day, there's a level of accountability where we all can be at the table and the Mayor actually signs off at the end. And so there's a great level of influence in making sure everybody is participating in this mission to make our city the cleanest, greenest, safest city in America, with economic opportunity for everybody. Mr. Adam Geer. DIRECTOR GEER: I think that that's right what my colleague Adam 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. stated about sort of the force of the Mayor here, right? And it's really the force of the City in this notion of One Philly, which our Mayor loves to say, and I'm a believer and I'm a believer when we've been at some really difficult situations, some really difficult challenges, right, in looking around and seeing the partners that we have there. And I think that that's a credit to the leadership of this city and thus understanding what we need to do for our citizens, right?
Is the District Attorney at the table with you in your strategy? DIRECTOR GEER: Absolutely.
That's all I -- DIRECTOR GEER: Absolutely. He's a partner and an important partner.
Is the courts at the table with you in terms of your strategy? 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. DIRECTOR GEER: Yes. Yes. We've met with court leadership. We are all very, very interested in aligning and aligning --
Interested in aligning versus are they at the table actively participating and working with you on your strategy? DIRECTOR GEER: That strategy, and there are certain things that are in development. And the answer is yes. The short answer is --
I'm going to support you, but I just need a yes, no, they're at the table, we meet, they're an integral part of making sure that we're just not criminalizing a whole population of people. We want them to get treatment. They can go to Treatment Court, get the addiction support that they need where I can get a response. They have -- because here's the other part: We want them to get jobs, right, because we just talked about this, but if 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I'm getting locked up and I'm getting a felony because I get high, I ain't getting no job. I'm not going to get a real sustainable job, because now I got a felony. Nobody wants to hire me. So another way to approach it to take into consideration, the drug dealers need to get roofed, give them 100 years, right? But the ones who are really suffering that we're going to help, right -- because I'm on plan. I support the Kensington Caucus, but also recognize addiction is a disease, right? Don't give them a felony for a disease. Treat the disease, right, and do all the holistic things that we're doing. And I'm just saying courts could play a major role in helping people get their lives together without getting a felony, if you can take into consideration to be a part of your strategy. DIRECTOR GEER: 100 percent. And I'll be shorter this time. Yes. We have tremendous partners in the 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. judiciary. We've net with judiciary leadership. We are continuing to have conversations. They're at the table.
My man. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Isaiah Thomas.
Good morning, Council President. I actually had no questions about Kensington coming into today, but listening to my colleagues' line of questions have created some questions about Kensington. Before I start, I want to be very clear. I'm not a part of the Kensington Caucus, but I'm in Kensington a lot. My son goes to school in Kensington. I will be there today. I run a free basketball camp in Kensington, have done for the last couple years. Heck, I even went to Conwell Middle School. So I've seen the change in Kensington over the last years, because I 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. don't want to give up my age. You said earlier that you've been meeting with community organizations. I think it was Councilmember O'Rourke's question. And the organization you named was New Kensington CDC. I'm hoping that you can give us a list of other organizations that you've been meeting with in Kensington to craft this plan, because that was the only organization you named. Now, look, I want to be clear, as I was sitting here listening, I sent out some texts to say, hey, have you heard of the Mayor's plan to clean up Kensington and has anybody reached out to you. Nobody has said, oh, yeah, we've talked to the Admin, we're well aware of what's going on. So outside of Kensington CDC, who else have you been talking to about this plan and what you're looking to do? And then also I think it was Councilmember Rue Landau. I think the 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. number she said was 600 -- around 600 homeless folks and --
657 in Kensington. No way I believe that number, right? There's no way I believe that that is the actual number. That might be what you see on Kensington Avenue, but if you go to the railroad tracks, if you go under 95, I can show you some interesting places where you'll see people have set up encampments. So, number one, what are the organizations that you're talking to down there and, number two, where did the 675 number come from? DIRECTOR THIEL: Well, I'll start with number two and let my colleague handle number one. That number is from DBHIDS's outreach teams, a lot of work that they've done. I also have frankly concerns about that number and whether it's understated. So I don't take that number as gospel. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Also, we know and we are going to be doing a lot of work with the Office of Homeless Services. Those folks that they have working there are extremely dedicated, and they have some real limitations to what they can do and where they can go. I know from my experience in my last role, I think there are a lot of folks who are inside buildings and other structures who may or may not get counted when we do the annual Point-in-Time Count. So we are also concerned about the numbers, which is why we are building -- we tend to think there's a lot of need, and that is why we are looking for capacity, bed, and treatment capacity, housing for the long term, jobs anywhere and everywhere. So that's our piece of it. DIRECTOR GEER: Thank you. I'm seeing if we can get a more definitive list of community organizations, but we in my office have two positions rather 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that are dedicated to community partnerships specifically with Kensington. We have had considerable contact with the community over the last several of months in informing them when we get information when we are working with the police plan, which frankly that police plan, yes, with the City was being developed internally with our City agencies as we were moving forward. I think it's important to make the distinction here between this initial phase, if you will, or this initial planning that the PPD through Commissioner Rosario is sort of spearheading and being supported by our agencies and what will be a broader, longer, more sustained, engaged conversation with the Kensington community and the plan that gets towards Phases 3, 4, 5, turning over to the community. That is frankly work that we -- and we've had conversations internally about this -- need to be more 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. intentional about. In fact, the first time I met with NKCDC, they expressed some of the similar sentiments that you express, right? Why aren't we at the table here? Who is at the table in the beginning of this plan? And we have made assurances to them that as we move forward, we are going to continue to be intentional, but where I think the real heavy lifting is going to come is in these additional phases, 2, 3, 4, 5, where we're really letting not only our legislators but our community leaders and our community organizations be at the table for how they want to see their community.
So I'm not as informed as other Councilmembers are as it relates to this particular issue, so I'm not going to speak what you're doing or not doing. What I will say is that the people who are in my universe that I deal with in Kensington on a consistent basis have heard nothing. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I would also say as the Chair of the Education Committee that it would be very disappointing to execute any type of plan in Kensington without talking to the schools in Kensington. I'm sure that hasn't happened yet as well either, and I would recommend that there be a dialogue with the leaders in the schools, because those young people are the ones who are listening to -- everybody talk about all the time we don't want them to see this, we don't want them to experience this. And if they are the people that we are trying to protect in this effort to clean up Kensington, there's no way that we do this without having a conversation with them and the impact it's going to have on dismissal, arrival, out-of-school-time-based initiatives and anything else that's going on. That's a shame that I lost all my time to Kensington. DIRECTOR GEER: Can I respond to that, Councilmember? Because that is 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. an incredibly important point, and I know that Commissioner Rosario -- and I want to reemphasize this, because the fact of the matter is Commissioner Rosario has been meeting with anyone and everyone who has an interest across the board, no 8 matter what the spectrum, in getting their feedback, including the principals, which is a very good point, Councilmember, and my understanding is that he has a very good relationship with them.
I'm just going to respectfully push back on that, right? Like I have a text message in my phone right now that says, hey, Isaiah, I was just about to reach out to you because we haven't heard from anyone about that. I literally started a conversation by saying, my son goes to school in Kensington. DIRECTOR GEER: Was that a principal, Councilmember?
I'm 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. sorry. Say it again. DIRECTOR GEER: Was that a principal?
CEO. CEO. The CEO of the school is saying I've never heard from anything. So I'm not trying to like have this quarrel back and forth, but I'm 100 percent sure that you're not talking to all the schools in Kensington, because I'm literally in the middle of a conversation with a school right now who says they have never heard from the Mayor's Office, the Mayor's team about anything. So as the Chair of the Education Committee, I'm saying that it's important that we have a conversation with all of the schools, because they're directly impacted by this work. Now, if you want, I can reach out to Conwell. She's a great woman, find out what happened with that principal. Councilmember Lozada had the 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. principals of Kensington here in City Council to honor and recognize them for the work that they're doing. So these are people we have a text relationship with. So I'm not going to give you information that's not necessarily accurate, especially if it's on the record. Council President, I definitely want to be queued up for a second round, because I have a lot of questions about a lot of other things under the Managing Director's Office, including ACCT, which will have a direct impact on the work that you're looking to do in Kensington. Thank you, Council President, and second round, please, sir. If I can go one more question. So I won't go second round. So when we did the appropriations transfer last fall, one of the issues that we had was the Animal Care and Control Team. That organization was concerned because they are in the 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. midst of contract negotiations, and like the rest of us, we're struggling to hire as a city, they also are struggling to hire. They came before City Council because they wanted to see a transfer ordinance approved to be able to get a pay raise for the workers, because they can't hire people to take these jobs. They felt like if they didn't get an appropriate amount of funding from the City, they will have to dismantle the organization, and then those services the City would essentially have to provide, which will cost us a lot more than the $6.8 million, $6.9 million that you all have allocated to ACCT. My question is, based on what you've allocated, and we are going to follow up with them to get their opinion as well too, do we have enough money to meet the contractual obligations that was negotiated last year and will we be able to assure ACCT is fully funded to the point where as though City government 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. does not have to take over the services of dealing with a lot of things that I know I would never want to deal with myself? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, Council President, I appreciate the question. I've been here long enough and in enough roles that I've been in a position where we did have to take over those services or substantially augment those services directly. So we agree, ACCT provides a very important service. The answer to your first question is yes. The pay raise has been negotiated and we are covering it. There are not additional resources proposed for FY25. We will continue to work closely with ACCT to make sure that they are able to provide the services necessary.
That's good to hear, because I will hear from them to come before City Council to ask us to advocate for more money or some 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. type of transfer proposal, because they had to do that with the last Administration because the support wasn't there. Council President, I'm sorry. I do have to come back for a second round, because I have to ask issues around unsolved murders as well as issues related to our prison. I do apologize. Thank you for the time.
No 13 problem. The Chair recognizes Councilmember J. Young, and then we will go into -- Harrity, did you press your button? Because it's not lit up.
Just wanted to double check. Okay. Then we will go into our second round. Councilmember Jeffery Young.
Thank you so much, Mr. President. The first question I have, 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. looking at your budget, the Zero Fare Program. This is a program essentially that is working toward, I guess, eliminating fares for certain populations. Your budget asks for four workers, four positions is $730,000, which is average of 182,500 per position, right? So can you tell us who these people are, what their jobs are if the average would be $182,000? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, that's actually -- some of those dollars are shared over to 3-1-1 to do some of that work. So it's not like there are four people who are making that number that you just put out there.
Which portion is dedicated to 3-1-1 and which portion is dedicated to the Zero Fare Program? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, we'll have to get back to you on that exact split.
Thank 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you. Question regarding Rebuild. Looking in the Five Year Plan for the capital programs, you have no performance measures for capital programs. And given that there are some, I guess -- there are costs, higher costs, associated with Rebuild with everything, like how can we as a Council determine what the viability of the capital programs are if you don't have any performance measures associated with that? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, Council President, I appreciate the question. The CPO is literally a brand new office. Their executive order was just signed. Rest assured that we will absolutely, as with every other City agency, be building out performance measures as they continue to consolidate workforces and do that initial work.
It's a new office, but it's not new work, right? So, again, you're consolidating other 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. offices. You're consolidating Rebuild, you're consolidating some folks from Public Property, all these different agencies. So there are programs that are continuing to operate under the Capital Program. So did they have performance measures? Did they have things that we can look at to see if they're working or not? Because we're -- again, like Rebuild, for example, we are continuing to do Rebuild under this program. So there had to be some kind of performance measures for Rebuild and those programs. Can you continue to just let us know what they are? Because now we're funding an office where we can't necessarily track how they're doing now. DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, the prior performance measures for the different units that are now -- have now been sort of taken into CPO are still there in prior years' budgets or in the other agencies to which they were assigned. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. CPO is a new office. We think that this is a fundamentally different, more efficient and ultimately more effective way of doing this business, to your point.
I agree. DIRECTOR THIEL: And -- I'm glad you agree. As a result, we think that the performance measures that we'll be using, the key performance indicators for CPO, are going to be materially different from whatever was used for Rebuild and the different component organizations in the past. So we are absolutely going to be making sure as we build out CPO and consolidate it, get it moving forward together, we will have performance measures, and it will be assessed, that agency like all others, through PhillyStat 360.
I think this is probably the most important office that we have in our city because 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. it deals with the physical infrastructure and what our kids see daily. You look at our rec centers. I have probably -- I may have the most rec centers out of all the Councilmembers, right, and Rebuild has essentially stalled in my district and we're just trying to figure out answers on why. Like we have a program for the Cecil B. Moore Rec Center that's supposed to be demolished and a brand new rec center being built, but that program has stalled because of costs and a bunch of other things, and I just don't want to let bureaucracy get in the way of the things that we actually need to improve our communities. And my last question is regarding the Office of the Victims Advocate. Essentially the Police Commissioner proposed -- and I listened to the line of questioning that the Council President was asking, but the Police Commissioner proposed this idea that they are asking for money to be more 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. responsive to victims. So how can we assure that there isn't any redundancy with the Office of Victim Advocates with the new proposed efforts of the Police with their ask for money to address the victims? DIRECTOR GEER: I think as -- thank you for the question. As contemplated, the individuals who will be working in the Police Department will be working very closely with their homicide detectives and will almost be like managing or caseworkers for the co-victims of those homicide cases. So the difference there, I think the critical difference, is they're a level of access to the information as it relates to the cases, the specific cases and families, from each of these homicide unfortunate incidences. So they'll be able to have direct contact with those detectives, understand where they are with the cases, be able to answer those questions, things that aren't necessarily 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. in the direct purview or closer control of our office of the Victim Advocate. I will take a step back, though, and say that there's a tremendous amount of work that we can be doing here overall. So this is a very welcome, I think, ask, and I think it will go a long way to showing how we actually feel and care and deal with members of our community who are dealing with literally the worst thing that's happened in their lives, right? So I think they're going to be working together. You've already heard how Ms. Combs operates in terms of building connections with other victim advocacy groups. So I don't think that there will be -- I think they'll be able to find their lanes and it's going to be a very successful operation inside the Police Department.
Thank you. I'll wait for the second round 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. for my next question, Mr. President.
Thank you. What are we doing or how -- what strategies is the Administration contemplating regarding the spread of or the dissemination of information to communities that are outside of the Kensington area regarding the plans, right? Because I know you're speaking to folks in Kensington who are directly affected, but we see that when there is concentrating enforcement, those folks are just going to spread around and move, right? So what are we doing in those outlying neighborhoods and communities to help those communities prepare for what is possibly to come? DIRECTOR GEER: I can tell you in speaking to Commissioner Rosario that they are aware, right? They've already -- they are aware that any 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. actions that they may have may lead to individuals going to other areas that are either close by or other areas of the City. That is part of their plan. I don't want to speak for them, but I know that they're aware of that. We have been receiving reports of an individual here or there who may be leaving that Kensington-Allegheny corridor, and he is made aware of that and they are dealing with that and making that a part of the plan. So I can't speak to the communications largely in terms of what specifically we might be messaging to people, but I will say that if there is any information that we're receiving from the public, we're taking that and doing something with it. DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, I'll just add from kind of a health and human services perspective, it's an important point that you're making. We are building -- the system that we are 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. building is to serve the entire City and with Kensington as a priority. So we are starting in Kensington. I think we've been very clear about that. And we know that the ultimate system that we are building for long-term care, treatment, and housing has to be citywide and potentially beyond, because people move around.
And just going back to my original question I had probably on the first day, will a plan for the $100 million capital ask be in place before we conclude this budget process? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, Council President, that is a very reasonable question. The short answer is yes.
You took my question. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. We're in the second round. Just following up on Councilmember Jeffery Young, we just look forward to the actual plan just so we can talk about the actual details, locations, and I think as we wrap up the budget process, folks will have their questions answered. So thank you for the short, direct response. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Nicholas O'Rourke.
Thank you, Council President. And thank you again, Directors Thiel and Geer, for your responses so far. I wanted to continue on a line of questioning that I had. This is actually publicly accessible information, but can you just state for the record how much is MDO budgeting in operating dollars for the triage and wellness centers? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Council President, we do not have General Fund operating dollars in the proposed FY25 budget to operate the sort of triage and wellness system that we're talking about, because at the same time that we were doing all the things that we've talked about, we are working with payers and providers to understand what the impediments are, what the opportunities are to having the healthcare system and having the payment mechanisms that already exist pay for some of this care. So we are doing those convenings with insurance providers, with the healthcare systems. So we don't actually know that net.
Forgive me, Director Thiel. The information that I had, and I could be totally wrong, was that this was accessible information that you all had 3 million for FY24 and 1.5 million for FY25. Is that not accurate? DIRECTOR THIEL: We have money 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. in FY24, reallocated dollars that we are using for this initial work. So we are obviously -- we are needing to hire people and do work now, so in FY24, we have money for -- again, seed money. Similarly, the hundred million dollar capital investment is also seed money, as we're trying to build out a broader capital stack to be able to deal with the capital aspects of this.
Is that the 5 million? Is that the 5 million figure? The $5 million in the budget, is that what we're speaking to here? DIRECTOR THIEL: No. I think it's -- the FY24 is -- so 5 million in FY24 that's reallocated. Again, it might be we have multiple pots of reallocated money that we're trying to use to accelerate this work, and we're --
And you were saying like moving -- there's not a lot of cuts. There's a lot of 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. moving around. DIRECTOR THIEL: Yes, sir. That's correct. These are from other programs that underspent and also there was some money moved into our budget by Finance for mayoral priorities --
Understood. DIRECTOR THIEL: -- that we are using for this. That was around $6.7 million.
Understood. And because I'm green, let me make sure I understand this. Will this all be Class 200 funds for contract services? Is that how it will be? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, the money we have in FY24 is largely Class 200 money to accelerate this work. The dollars in FY25 and beyond are capital dollars, and we're hoping to get non-General Fund sources to pay for whatever the operational wraparound is that ends up being the responsibility of 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the City to make this whole thing work.
Got you. Is it true that MDO has not yet determined as of now which vendors will manage or oversee the triage and wellness centers, which vendors? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, that is largely -- I think the bottom line, the way that you phrased that question is, yes, it is true that we have not yet determined the ultimate ecosystem of providers that are going to be helping us with this work. We are talking with a lot of people.
Thank you very much. And what is the expectation for what the funding will actually get us that I've already asked about? Specifically, how many centers will be operated, what specific services will be offered at the centers, and how many employees will be needed? Any of that 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. information available? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, the short answer is, as much as we can get. Again, we simply don't know, because some of this there has not been a market for, so we are kind of charting new ground for the medium to long-term components. The short-term piece, we are meeting with people, getting proposals every day, and trying to understand how to make this initial -- these initial dollars get us through the balance of FY24, while at the same time we're talking with insurance providers, healthcare systems, and other providers about how we can make existing payment mechanisms work and also talking with philanthropic partners, talking with other folks about other funding streams that might help us do this.
Thank you very much. Just one more try. How will only five -- you know what, let me just state, as I understand, I think you 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. mentioned earlier that you almost lost your life in the line of duty in Kensington, and I am sorry to hear that news. I want to affirm that for those who are doing the hard work there. I should say that my line of questioning comes from a spirit of recognizing that there is -- I don't think that anyone is under any illusions that there is a question around how to address the question of Kensington in and of itself. I think that's unilaterally kind of agreed upon. The concern has been about the method and the way by which we approach that. And so while I do know that there are those who are committed even in this body and beyond to approaching it one way, it will always be my call to make sure that there's a compassionate approach. And compassion doesn't just mean putting the work compassion over an undetailed plan and then executing that plan without any regard for the impacts. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Compassion is a materialist analysis. It's addressing the actual method, the rollout or the numbers or the details, where do these things exist, what do we mean by beds. All of that is what allows us to realize what compassion looks like and thereby save as much life and improve the quality of life for all of those who will go into it. I had some more questions around Immigrant Affairs as well as OEM that I maybe will submit for the record, because I know this is the second round, but I thank you for your transparency in this. The idea, again, is to make sure that we are ensuring quality of life and that we're doing this the right way so it doesn't become a tragedy in the making because we weren't thorough in our preparations and in the way that we rolled it out. Thank you very much. DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, we agree. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Thank you, Member. Just a quick question. So 100 million for the actual capital on the triage centers, correct? DIRECTOR THIEL: Council President --
To build, to build out, right? DIRECTOR THIEL: Yes, sir.
Let's say we have XY building, and part of that hundred will go to retrofitting and making sure the building is right-sized for bringing in patients. Are we depending solely on private sources for the actual operations of the actual facility? DIRECTOR THIEL: Council President, it's a great question. We are trying to build this in a self-sustaining 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. way. We're trying to build this system in a self-sustaining way with the Mayor's bold vision to catalyze this. We've not seen anybody else doing that.
We all agree. DIRECTOR THIEL: We don't want to be dependent on any one source, so we're trying to get --
Just hear me out. We're all on board. We get the Mayor's plan, safer, cleaner, greener city, with economic opportunity for everybody. We are all on board with that. All right? We're just talking some specifics, because we get questions and we got to do our fiscal due diligence, right, to make sure what we're signing off on is detailed and accurate for the people who sent us here. So just wanted to get the other aspect of once the capital is done and we have the buildings and they're right-sized and you're ready to bring in all the people 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that we're going to help comprehensively, because we're going to help these people, we're going to clean up Kensington, but then somebody has to actually do the operation. Somebody has to be the counselors, somebody has to be the therapist, somebody has to do the medical, and as of right now, there is no 10 funding to do that aspect. As they say, you build it, then they will come. I just wanted to get clarity on it. Is that what we're saying? DIRECTOR THIEL: Council President, I think the short answer is yes, and as we are continuing to move forward through this planning process in a very dynamic environment, we will have answers for our initial approach for you before the end of the budget process, even as we continue to hope that we can actually change the game here in Philadelphia that is currently being played and is leaving our communities and patients frankly left holding the bag. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
We support that as well. And, again, I'm an advocate of the Kensington Caucus. Matter of fact, we just did a bill on behalf of Quetcy Lozada for the special committee on Kensington, but always the devil is in the details in making sure we're doing our due diligence. So those were the questions that come to my mind listening to you and also listening to the line of questioning of Councilmember O'Rourke. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Council President. I have a question about the Animal Care and Control Team. They're the only resource we have in Philadelphia that just amazes me, and they do great work. So I wanted to ask, in their FY25 strategic goal, they have a community outreach goal saying increase outreach in the community to proactively address the 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. disparities facing pet owners that are resulting in more animals coming to the shelter. Is there a specific outreach program with resources that will help people keep their animals? That's one. And two is, when we're doing this Kensington sweep, what is going -- a lot of people have animals, right? And, listen, animals are a therapeutic measure for us. It is a mental health resource having a pet. So it's very important we understand how we're dealing with that issue when that crops up. DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, Council President, I appreciate the question and, again, it just goes to show the complexities of what we're trying to do here. It is another facet of this that we need to be considering and understanding. Agreed that our Animal Care and Control Team is incredibly dedicated. We're thankful for the work they do. We 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. wish there was more capacity there. We constantly talk with them. And we can certainly get you examples of some of their outreach and educational materials.
So the question is, is there any money -- that's what it will take -- for people to buy their pet food, to get their pet to the vet? Is there any maybe public-private venture to do that to really support? Because I don't think we should underestimate the role animals, pets play in our lives. And so it would behoove us to actually have some focus on this and not just be an add-on as a site. This can stop people from going to treatment. Not knowing how their animal will get treated will stop people from going to treatment. So it's really important that we take this seriously, because people who love animals, have animals, those are family members. They are four-legged family members. They could be two-legged too, but... 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. So I just wondered that we should put some emphasis on this if we're going to be holistic in really wanting success for people to go into these programs and really get some help. DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, again, we agree. As we've been meeting with folks, a lot of different folks during the design -- again, remember, we're designing a system and structures that don't exist and designing facilities. We've heard that from folks with lived experience and other things that we are trying to include in facilities design and also in all the work streams that play into that, transportation. I mean, how do you handle transportation, how do you take care of things. We heard some of this earlier. All of those factors are important and, to your point, can have influence on whether or not somebody comes in for treatment. And so, yes. Again, this, I 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. think, shows the complexity of what we're trying to do here.
My next question is about the anti-violence community grants program, which is slated for million. So are there any 8 specific new initiatives or changes in 9 the program since the evaluation last 10 year, and will the same organizations be 11 awarded the grants or is there a new RFP 12 process? And is there inclusion of 13 mental health resources? And I asked 14 this question of DBH yesterday and I did 15 not get a clear answer where there are 16 things like CBT are going to be included 17 along with the actual program. They may 18 or may not have the resources for 19 themselves to offer that. 20 Will we have DBH be part of it 21 or Community Behavioral Health looking 22 into who can join up in order to make 23 these programs really effective? 24 I do believe that CBT was something I believe Joshu Harris had 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. given us information prior to -- I can't remember when he gave it, but he said that CBT was getting included in some of the anti-violence work. So I just wanted to know where it fits, who is paying for it, how does it actually get tabulated and counted to see what success looks like with these programs. DIRECTOR GEER: Thank you for that question, Councilmember. Yes, that is an important part of I think when we're giving our grants out, right? Frankly, I think we would need to, through particularly this Director of Performance Management, put into place a better, more robust way of understanding how this plays into our grantees, because we do think that it is incredibly important to our work. We as an office understand that dealing with trauma directly relates to reducing gun violence and violent crimes, period. So that is going to be a part of our work, and we will do a better job of 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. trying to understand what that is. So in terms of getting specifics in terms of the numbers of CBT and how much that is actually into our program, we'd have to get that back to you.
So at the moment, you don't really have that as a requirement of some mental health resources for anti-violence programs? DIRECTOR GEER: So as part of our GVI program, yes, we do have a specific component for that.
So we could get numbers into -- which non-profit is getting the funding and what is their mental health plan? DIRECTOR GEER: I will have to get back to you on that.
Okay. And the last question is about Office of Victims Advocate. I wanted to know -- I know there's a -- DAO has one and PPD has a resource as well. Who is -- I believe 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. DAO is supposed to be the one who paid for the funeral expenses and other actual resources. Is our office here doing that as well, and what is the coordination? And sometimes when I've sat with grief-stricken families, this is so much going on, and to have three resources coming to them and none of them giving them actual resources is the fear I have, right? So it sounds good we do this, but where's the coordination with all the different places who are coming into that family's home when they're sitting and grieving? DIRECTOR GEER: I'm going to have Ms. Combs answer that question.
Thank you for that question, Councilmember. I just want to make sure I understand it correctly. You're asking that as the services through my office are disseminated to support survivors of crime and co-victims of homicide, that we're not duplicating the services already available through 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the District Attorney's Office?
I mean, duplication might mean more services, more money, but funeral resources, you know, replacing income, all of those things. I don't know exactly how much a family gets currently without your office and does that change when your office is in the picture?
So to be clear, victims of crime and the co-victims of homicide, we're provided reimbursement-based funds through the state. So that is the same entity that the District Attorney's Office, the victim service agencies, my office connects victims to by way of helping them file for those claims or providing them information in terms of how to file 21 directly. So just to be clear, that funding all comes from state funding through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency through the Victims 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. of Crime Act, through VOCA funding.
So we are not putting any money in this outside of staffing, correct?
That -- but to be clear, there's also additional things that are needed, such as the relocation support, such as the crime scene remediation. So there is additional funding coming from the City to, in a way, fill the gaps and complement what isn't available through the state, because all of that funding is, like I said first, reimbursement based, which assumes that folks have that money on the front end to pay for stuff, which we all know is inaccurate and not rooted in reality of our city, but also the funding levels are not indicative of how much things actually cost in real life as opposed to maybe how much they cost 20 years ago. So we are complementing the things that are available, but we are in 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. no way adding money where money is already in existence to those folks.
So just last clarification. When PCCD does this reimbursement, for a family who doesn't have that, how do they operate? Like what happens then?
So to make sure I understand your question, so when folks apply for support through the state, they're able to get money for medical expenses, for certain relocation under a certain amount and for certain instances that qualify, for crime scene cleanup inside of the home up to a certain amount, for lost wages as well as counseling services and a number of other things that are available through the VOCA fund. But like I said, in addition to that, the money that we request, whether that be for relocation services as well as some funding that we had previously requested to help folks with funeral expenses, is to do exactly that, 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to make sure that folks that don't have the money to pay the above amount from what the state offers are able to take care of that. So there's a lot of money needed to support those families that can not be supplied by the state, because as I stated earlier, that money is being cut, so we're looking to make sure that Philadelphians don't feel that burden by adding funds to that.
Thank you, Council President. I just have a really quick question. As we work to restore quality of life in Kensington, we've heard you 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. say many times that partners are going to be necessary. Community residents have expressed some concern and some challenges around some of the partners that we currently have on the ground. While we understand that, harm reduction work is extremely important in order to be able to connect folks with resources. What are we doing to better coordinate specifically the mobile units that oftentimes park in residential blocks kind of drawing folks off of the commercial corridor and onto residential neighborhoods and really impacting how residents move in and out of their homes? DIRECTOR THIEL: Councilmember, Council President, you raise an important point, and I want to be clear about this as well. There are a lot of folks who are doing life-saving work across the City in Kensington and elsewhere, and we want that work to continue. We think there's still going to be a need for it. To be really clear, we all 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. understand and appreciate the importance of harm reduction, and we know that that alone is not enough, which is why we are here and why we are reallocating resources and putting new resources into building out the rest of the system, the medium and the long-term parts of the system. We are meeting -- we have been meeting with existing providers and making sure that they understand that there is a new standard. They need to do things differently to make sure that they are also considering in addition to the patients and the folks they serve, that they are considering the community and the neighborhood impacts. That is not something that I had heard as being a problem, and we will absolutely take that back and help ensure that there is better coordination for where those mobile units are going and what they're doing. So I appreciate you raising that. 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Again, this is the type of thing as we were talking about not just with 3-1-1, but this is the coordination capability that we're trying to build 24/7 to make sure that things like that are addressed in a more cohesive way and a community-centered way. So I appreciate you raising that, and we will go back and talk to those folks and make sure that that's being done better.
Let me recommend that you meet with Kensington Neighbors for Better Living, because we've had two meetings with the past Administration, specifically with Noelle and others, where they have expressed serious concern around mobile providers, and the agreement was that we would have them coordinate amongst themselves, which created a bigger issue. So it is going to be extremely important for us to actually take the lead. Again, we recognize that the work is extremely important. We just 4/16/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. need to make sure that we are not reducing harm for one population while increasing harm for another. I believe that was my last question, Councilmember. I just needed to make sure that I put that on the record. Thank you.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue -- she left. Councilmember Isaiah Thomas.