COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON STREETS AND SERVICES Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Friday, April 5, 2024 10:20 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN JEFFREY YOUNG, JR., CHAIR COUNCILMAN MARK SQUILLA, VICE-CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN KENDRA BROOKS
240021, 240022, 240086, 240090, 240100, 240121, 240122, 240123, 240155, 240156, 240158, 240186, 240188, 240189, 240190, 240212, 240213, 240214, 240217, 240218, 240219 RESOLUTION: 240136 - - -
Hi. Excuse me, everyone. Because of what felt like an earthquake, we're going to evacuate City Hall. They were telling us we have to evacuate City Hall, so we're going to pause. (Recess.)
Good morning, everyone. Sorry about that delay. God had other plans today. This is Philadelphia City Council Committee on Streets and Services. I note that the hour has come. On the Committee, we have Committee Vice-Chair Councilmember Squilla, Councilmember Harrity, temporarily appointed by the Council President we have Councilmember Rue Landau. So I note that a quorum has been established. This is a public hearing of the Committee of Streets and Services considering testimony on Bill Nos. 240021, 240022, 240086, 240090, 240100, 240121, 240122, 240123, 240155, 240156, 240158, 240186, 240188, 240189, 240190, 240212, 240213, 240214, 240217, 240218, 240219 and Resolution 7 240136. Mr. Pullin, please read the title of the first bill of the bills.
Thank you, Chairman. Bill No. 240021, titled establishing parking regulations in the vicinity of Gravers Lane and Millman Street. And also Bill No. 240022, entitled establishing parking regulations in the vicinity of Rockland Street and North 2nd Street; Lawrence Street and Rockland Street; Ruscomb Street and North 2nd Street; Ashdale Street to North 3rd Street. And also Bill No. 240090, titled establishing parking regulations in the vicinity of Old York Road and Courtland Street and Loudon Street. And also Bill No. 240188, titled establishing parking regulations in the vicinity of: Montrose Street between South 7th Street and South 8th Street; Montrose Street between South 9th Street and South 10th Street; Montrose Street between South 10th Street and South 11th Street; Beulah Street between Montrose Street and Carpenter Street. And also Bill No. 240189, titled establishing parking regulations in the vicinity of: South 12th Street between Jackson Street and Wolf Street; Emily Street between South 6th Street and South 5th Street; Winton Street between South 5th Street and South 6th Street; Mercy Street between South 5th Street and South 6th Street; Sigel Street between South 5th Street and South 6th Street; South 4th Street between Mifflin Street and McKean Street; McKean Street between South 5th Street and South 6th Street; Sigel Street between South 5th Street and South 4th Street; South 3rd Street between Mifflin Street and McKean Street. And also Bill No. 240190, titled establishing parking regulations in the vicinity of Jackson Street between South 12th Street and South 13th Street; Snyder Avenue between South 13th Street and Juniper Street; Jackson Street between South 6th Street and South 7th Street; Mercy Street between South 7th Street and South 8th Street; Watkins Street between South 11th Street and South 12th Street; South 7th Street between Johnston Street and Oregon Avenue; Moyamensing Avenue between South 5th Street and South 6th Street. And also Bill No. 240212, titled establishing a parking regulation on Green Street and North 40th Street; North 41st Street and Spring Garden Street; North 41st Street and Powelton Avenue; North 32nd Street and Haverford Avenue; Brandywine Street and North 36th Street. And also Bill No. 240214, titled establishing parking regulation on Hazel Avenue and South 55th Street; Cedar Avenue and South 51st Street; Cedar Avenue and South 55th Street; Hazel Avenue and South 46th Street; Hazel Avenue and South 47th Street; Hazel Avenue and South 48th Street; St. Bernard Street and Pine Street; St. Bernard Street and Spruce Street. And also Bill No. 240155, titled establishing parking regulations in the vicinity of: North 20th Street and Fairmount Avenue; Tioga Street and Old York Road; Westmoreland Street and 13th Street. And also Bill No. 240156, titled establishing parking regulations in the vicinity of: North 30th Street and Master Street; North 29th Street and Master Street and Oxford Street; Oxford Street and North 30th Street and North 29th Street; North 15th Street and Parrish Street; Swain Street and North 17th Street. And also Bill No. 240186, titled establishing parking regulations in the vicinity of: Pacific Street and North Broad Street; North 13th Street and Allegheny Avenue; Marlborough Street and Thompson Street; North 4th Street and Master Street. And also Bill No.
240217, titled establishing parking regulations in the vicinity of: Parrish Street between North 16th Street and North 17th Street; Perkiomen Street between Vineyard Street and North 19th Street; Gratz Street between Jefferson Street and Harlan Street; Cambridge Street between North 30th Street to a dead-end; Jefferson Street between North 18th Street and North 19th Street; Newkirk Street between Thompson Street and Stiles Street; Brown Street between North 16th Street and North 15th Street; Seybert Street between North 24th Street and North 25th Street; Flora Street between North 29th Street and North 30th Street; Olive Street between Shirley Street and North 19th Street. And also Bill No. 240218, titled establishing parking regulations in the vicinity of: Watts Street between Cambria Street and Rush Street; Camac Street between Cambria Street and Glenwood Avenue; Cambria Street between North 13th Street to North 12th Street; Silver Street between North 13th Street and Broad Street; Rush Street between North 12th Street and 13th Street; North 12th Street between Cambria Street and Somerset Street; Marvine Street between Susquehanna Avenue and Diamond Street; Thompson Street between North 27th Street and North 28th Street; Montgomery Avenue between Uber Street and North 20th Street; North 19th Street between Montgomery Street and Berks Street. And also Bill No. 240219, titled establishing parking regulations in the vicinity of: Bailey Street between Poplar Street and Parrish Street; North 20th Street between Oxford Street and Jefferson Street; North 27th Street between Girard Avenue and Thompson Street; Folsom Street between North 18th Street and North 19th Street; Uber Street between Parrish Street and Poplar Street; North 19th Street between Master Street and Jefferson Street; Herald Street between North 22nd Street and North 23rd Street.
Thank you, Mr. Pullin. I note that Councilmember Kendra Brooks, a member of the Committee, is also present. Mr. Pullin, can you please call the first witness to testify.
The first witness to testify is Lester Emerson, Deputy Manager of the Philadelphia Parking Authority. (Witness approached Witness table.)
Can you please state your name and proceed with your testimony.
Good Day, Council. My name is Lester Emerson, Deputy Manager for the Philadelphia Parking Authority. Thank you for allowing me to testify before Council regarding Ordinances 240212, 240214, 240217, 240218, 240219, 240021, 240022, 240090, 240155, 240156, 240186, 240188, 240189 and 240190, establishing parking regulations. The Philadelphia Parking Authority has no objection to the ordinances previously read before Council and recommends favorable consideration. Thank you again for your time.
Thank you, Mr. Emerson. Are there any questions or comments from members of the Committee for this witness? (No response.)
Seeing none thank you, Mr. Emerson, for your time. Mr. Pullin, could you please call the next witness -- I'm sorry, Mr. Pullin. I'm sorry. Please read the title of the next bills.
Bill No. 7 240100, titled establishing parking regulations, one-way regulations and a closure of the public right-of-way to motor traffic regulation in the vicinity of Washington Avenue from 4th Street to Water Street, all under certain terms and conditions.
The next witness to testify is Noelle Marconi, Legislative Affairs Director for the Department of Streets.
Good morning, Chairperson Young and members of the Streets and Services Committee. My name is Noelle Marconi and I'm the Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Streets. I'm here today to offer testimony on Bill No. 240100, introduced by Councilmember Squilla. This bill establishes parking regulations, one-way regulations and a closure of the public right-of-way to motor traffic regulation in the vicinity of Washington Avenue from 4th Street to Water Street. This work on Washington Avenue consists of upgrading the traffic signals from 4th Street to Christopher Columbus Boulevard, including the Washington Avenue side road on the south curb in conjunction with the reconstruction of the roadway itself in order to create a side path on the south side of Washington Avenue. The project aims to provide improved pedestrian and cyclist connectivity between the neighborhoods abutting Washington Avenue and the Delaware River Trail. This Streets Department project is being completed in collaboration with the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation and furthers their efforts to improve access to the Waterfront while providing traffic signal, roadway street lighting and landscaping improvements to the segment of Washington Avenue. The Department of Streets supports this bill. We hope to start construction on this project in the fall. This concludes my testimony and I'm pleased to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you, Ms. Marconi. Are there any questions for this witness from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, are there any members of the public wishing to testify on Bill 4 No. 240100? (No response.)
Seeing none, Mr. Pullin, could you please read the title of the next bill.
Bill No. 10 240213, titled authorizing Rekhaben Patel, owner and operator of the newsstand at the northwest corner of 30th and Market Streets to construct, use and maintain conduits in, under and across the northwest corner of 30th and Market Streets for the purpose of supplying electrical service to said newsstand, under certain terms and conditions.
Thank you. Mr. Pullin, please call the next witness to testify on this bill.
The next witness to testify is Noelle Marconi, Legislative Affairs Director for the Department of Streets.
Good morning, Chairperson Young and members of the Streets and Services Committee. My name is Noelle Marconi and I'm the Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Streets. I'm here today to offer testimony on Bill No. 240213 introduced by Councilmember Gauthier. This bill authorizes Rekhaben Patel, owner and operator of the newsstand at the northwest corner of 30th and Market Streets to construct, use and maintain conduits in, under and across the northwest corner of 30th and Market Streets for the purpose of supplying electrical services to said newsstand. The Department of Streets is not opposed to this bill so long as the owner meets all the requirements of the appropriate departments, boards, agencies or commissions, including approval of the site plan. This concludes my testimony. I'm pleased to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you, Ms. Marconi. Are there any questions for this witness by members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, are there any other witnesses to testify on this bill? (No response.)
Seeing none, Mr. Pullin, could you please call the next bill.
Bill No. 22 240086, titled amending Sections 23 and 2 of an Ordinance (Bill No. 24 170086), approved May 22, 2017, 25 entitled "An ordinance authorizing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No. 269 by relocating portions of the houselines and curblines of Convention Avenue, from 34th Street to Health Sciences Drive, and placing on the City Plan two rights-of-way for drainage purposes within the vicinity of the intersection of Convention Avenue and Health Sciences Drive and authorizing acceptance of the grant to the City of the said rights-of-way for drainage purposes, all under certain terms and conditions, including the dedication to the City of the beds of the areas proposed to be placed on the City Plan as portions of Convention Avenue," by adding additional necessary City Plan changes and revising the terms and conditions stated therein.
The next witness to testify are -- witnesses to testify are Noelle Marconi, Legislative Affairs Director for the Department of Streets; and Ian Hegary, Senior Environmental Planner for the City Planning Commission.
Thank you. Good morning. Can you please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good morning, Chairperson Young and members of the Streets and Services Committee. My name is Noelle Marconi and I'm the Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Streets. I'm here today to offer testimony on Bill No. 240086 introduced by Councilmember Gauthier. This is not an Administration ordinance, but an ordinance requested by Ira A. Kauderwood, Esquire, Associate General Counsel for the University of Pennsylvania. The purpose of this proposed ordinance is to amend a previous ordinance, Bill No. 6 170086 previously amended by Bill 7 Nos. 190379, 210828 and 230652 approved on May 22, 2017, which authorized the relocation of portions of the houseline and curblines of Convention Avenue from 34th Street to Health Sciences Drive and the placing on the City Plan of two rights-of-way for drainage purposes in the vicinity of the intersection of Convention Avenue and Health Sciences Drive. This action is part of the development of the new Penn Medicine Patient Pavilion Hospital building. The purpose of this action is to redesign Convention Avenue to accommodate a reconfigured streetscape and enhance pedestrian access to better serve patients and users of the new facility. During development of this project, additional changes to the City Plan not provided for in the original ordinance became necessary. The proposed amendment will authorize an additional right-of-way for drainage purposes in an area for the public pedestrian use. The Department of Streets has no objections to this proposed ordinance and recommends it to the Committee for favorable action. Thank you for the opportunity to testify and I'd be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you, Ms. Marconi. Mr. Hegarty, will you proceed with your testimony.
Thank you. Good morning, Chair Young and members of the Committee of Streets and Services. I'm Ian Hegarty, City Planner with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. I'm here to testify on Bill No. 240086 introduced by Councilwoman Gauthier on February 8, 2024. As Ms. Marconi gave an overview, this bill added drainage right-of-way and a pedestrian easement to the City Plan, specifically to place on the City Plan a right-of-way for drainage purposes within the areas being stricken. And two, to plot upon the City Plan area for public pedestrian use of the southwest corner of Convention Avenue and Health Sciences Drive. This action is consistent with the original Bill No. 107 -- excuse me, 170086, which was to facilitate construction of Penn Medicine's new pavilion building. The additional drainage right-of- way and pedestrian easement are needed for this development. The City Planning Commission approved Bill No. 170086 on February 21, 2017, and this is another end of series of subsequent bills to extend the timeline for compliance. Therefore, the City Planning Commission at its meeting on February 15, 2024 recommended Bill 10 No. 240086 for approval as an item in accord with the previous policy. I'll be happy to answer any questions at this time.
Thank you, Mr. Hegarty. Are there any questions for these witnesses by members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, Mr. Pullin, could you please read the title of the next bill.
Bill No. 240121 titled, authorizing encroachments in the nature of a sidewalk café in the vicinity of 2401 East Norris Street, all under certain terms and conditions. And also Bill No. 240122, titled authorizing Norris Street Holdings, LLC to install, own and maintain a streetery in the right- of-way adjacent to 2401 East Norris Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19125-2913, under certain terms and conditions.
Thank you, Mr. Pullin. Can you please read the names of the witnesses to testify on these bills.
The next witnesses to testify are Noelle Marconi, Legislative Affairs Director for the Department of Streets, and Ian Hegarty, Senior Environmental Planner for the City Planning Commission.
Thank you. Good morning. Could you please state your name again for the record and begin your testimony.
Good morning, Chairperson Young and members of the Streets and Services Committee. My name is NoelLe Marconi and I'm the Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Streets. I'm here today to offer testimony on Bill No. 240121 introduced by Councilmember Squilla. This bill authorizes Norris Holdings, LLC or a subsequent owner, the owner, to install, own and maintain encroachments in the nature of a sidewalk café at 2401 East Norris Street, all under certain terms and conditions. A total of 8 tables and 32 seats for a sidewalk café will be located adjacent to the building line of 2401 East Norris Street. The Department of Streets is not opposed to this proposed sidewalk café building as it will maintain the feet passable sidewalk spaces required by the Code. This concludes my testimony. I'm pleased to answer any questions you may have.
Are there any questions for this witness on this bill? (No response.)
Seeing none, Mr. Hegarty, can you please proceed with your testimony.
Thank you. Good morning, Chair and members of the Committee of Streets and Services. I'm Ian Hegarty, City Planner with the City Planning Commission. I'm here to testify on Bill No. 240121, which was introduced by Councilmember Squilla. The bill will allow an open air sidewalk café with 8 tables and 32 seats to be located adjacent to the building line of 2401 East Norris Street. It will leave a minimum of 5'0" clear unobstructed footway on the sidewalk. The proposed encroachment therefore meets the Complete Streets policy of the City. City Planning Commission at its meeting on March 21, 2024 recommended Bill 9 No. 240121 for approval. I'll be happy to answer any questions at this time.
Are there any questions for this witness on this bill? (No response.)
Seeing none, Mr. Pullin, could you please read the title of 240122 once more.
Bill No. 20 240122, titled authorizing Norris Street Holdings, LLC to install, own and maintain a streetery in the right-of-way adjacent to 2401 East Norris Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19125-2913, under certain terms and conditions.
Thank you. Can you call the witnesses please for this bill.
The next witnesses to testify are Noelle Marconi, Legislative Affairs Director for the Department of Streets; and Ian Hegarty, Senior Environmental Planner for the City Planning Commission.
Good morning, Chairperson Young and members of the Streets and Services Committee, my name is Noelle Marconi and I'm the Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Streets. I'm here today to offer testimony on Bill No. 240122 introduced by Councilmember Squilla. This bill authorizes Norris Holdings, LLC, the owner, to install, own and maintain a streetery in the right-of-way adjacent to 2401 East Norris Street. The streetery will occupy the parking lane of the cartway. It will be comprised of 2 structures, 6 tables and 20 seats that will be located adjacent to the curbline of 2401 East Norris Street in the parking lane. The Department of Streets is not opposed to this proposed streetery as long as it complies with the laws, rules and regulations of the City, and specifically those of the Departments of Licenses and Inspections, the Department of Streets and the Art Commission. This ordinance authorizes the location of the streetery subject to those rules. This concludes my testimony. I'm pleased to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you. Mr. Pullin, please call the next witness on this bill.
Thank you, Chair Young. Good morning, Chair and members of the Committee on Streets and Services. I'm Ian Hegarty, City Planner with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. I'm here to testify on Bill No. 240122, which was introduced by Councilmember Squilla. This bill will allow a streetery in the right-of-way at 2401 East Norris Street. The proposed encroachment meets the Complete Streets policy of the City. And therefore, the City Planning Commission at its meeting on March 21, 2024 recommended Bill 21 No. 240122 for approval. I'm happy to answer any questions at this time.
Thank you, Mr. Hegarty. Are there any questions for these witnesses by members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, Mr. Pullin, could you please read the title of the next bill.
Bill No. 9 240123, titled authorizing Pat Olivieri doing business as Pat's King of Steaks, to vend from a location in the right-of-way adjacent to the Pat's Steaks location in the vicinity of 9th and Wharton streets, under certain terms and conditions.
Thank you. Mr. Pullin, could you please read the name of the next witness to testify.
The next witness to testify is Sarah Adamo, Legislative Affairs Manager for the Department of Licenses and Inspections.
Thank you. Good morning, Ms. Adamo. Will you please proceed with your testimony.
Good morning, Chairperson Young and members of the Committee on Streets and Services. My name is Sarah Adamo and I am the Legislative Affairs Manager for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Today I'm here to provide testimony on Bill No. 240123 introduced by Councilmember Squilla. As amended, the bill would authorize Pat's King of Steaks to vend from a food truck, trailer or similar facility located in the roadway in the parking lane across from the location of Pat's Steaks on the west side of Passyunk Avenue between 9th Street and Morton Street for a period of six months from the effective date of this ordinance. Considering its proposed amendments, the Department has no 3 objection to this bill and is prepared to enforce its provision should it become law. Thank you for the opportunity to provide the Department's testimony. I'm happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, Ms. Adamo. Are there any questions for this witness by members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, is there anyone else in the chambers willing to testify on this bill? (No response.)
Seeing none, Mr. Pullin, please read the title of the next bill 240158.
Bill 240158, titled amending Chapter 12-900 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Parking Regulations and Penalties," by providing for parking prohibitions for motor vehicles with sunscreening devices and for penalties and enforcement, all under certain terms and conditions.
Mr. Pullin, please call the next witness for this bill.
The next witness to testify is Francis Healy, Deputy Commissioner for the Philadelphia Police Department. (Witness approached Witness table.)
Good morning, Mr. Healy. Please state your name for the record and begin with your testimony. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HEALY: Sure. Good morning, Councilmember Young and Vice -- I don't see him, Vice-Chairmember Squilla. My name is Francis Healy and I'm Deputy Commissioner Philadelphia of the Police Department. First, on behalf of Commissioner Bethel, thank you for allowing the Philadelphia Police Department the opportunity to voice its opinion on Bill No. 240158, providing for additional parking regulations to Chapter 12-900 of The Philadelphia City Code. As you know, the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code Section 13 4524, Subsection 3 prohibits driving motor vehicles with any sunscreen device or other material, which does not permit a person to see or view inside the vehicle through the windshield, side wing or side windows of the vehicle. While this bill 21 incorporates the terms and conditions of the State Code, this bill prohibits parking of any motor vehicle on a public highway in Philadelphia with such sunscreening. Further, by referencing the state statute, all exemptions set forth at the state level are hereby incorporated, and that the appropriate exemptions are provided, the Philadelphia Police Department can support this legislation. If the vehicle is illegal to drive, then the similar rationale exists to prohibit such vehicles from parking on any public highway. In closing, I'd like to thank Councilmembers Driscoll and Squilla for introducing this legislation. This is yet another tool for law enforcement and this concludes my testimony. I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, Mr. Healy. I do have one question on this bill. So there won't be any preemption issues with this bill given what the state holds, any conflicts? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HEALY: Well, this bill is substantially dissimilar from the state in the fact that the state deals with the operation of the vehicle. This one is strictly a parked vehicle.
Okay. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HEALY: So it's distinguishable from the state. Therefore, it should not be preempted.
Thank you. Are there any other questions for the witness by members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, are there any members of the public wishing to testify on this bill? (No response.)
Seeing none, Mr. Healy, thank you for your time. I appreciate it. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HEALY: Thank you. May I be excused?
I note that we will now transition into our public comment section. Mr. Pullin, please call the first witness.
Chairman, I don't believe there's anyone on the public comment list.
So the Chair now recognizes -- so I note that we are -- thanks. So we will now temporarily end the public hearing and go into a public meeting. I note for the record that a quorum is still present. And the Chair recognizes Councilmember Brooks for a motion on the amendment to Bill No. 25 240022.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I offer a technical amendment to Bill No. 240022. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of the Committee, and I move that the amendment to Bill No. 240022 be adopted.
The ayes have it. It has been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill No. 240022 be adopted. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Brooks for a motion on amendment to Bill No. 240213.
Thank you, Chairman. I offer a technical amendment to Bill No. 240213. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of the Committee and I move that the amendment to Bill No. 240213 be adopted. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that all those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it and the motion carries. Amendment to Bill 240213 has been adopted. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Brooks for a motion for an amendment on 240123.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I offer a technical amendment to Bill No. 240123. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of the Committee. And I move that the amendment to Bill No. 240123 be adopted.
It has been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill 240123 be adopted. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. The motion for amendment 240123 has been adopted. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Brooks for a motion on Bill Nos. 240021, 240022, 240086, 240090, 240100, 240121, 240122 as amended, 240123 as amended, 240155, 240156, 240158, 240186, 240188, 240189, 240190, 240212, 240213 as amended, 240214, 240217, 240218 and 240219.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that Bill Nos. 240021, 240022, 240086, 240090, 240100, 240121, 240122 as amended, 240123 as amended, 240155, 240156, 240158, 240186, 240188, 240189, 240190, 240212, 240213 as amended, 240214, 240217, 240218 and 240219 be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
Thank you. It has been moved and properly seconded that Bill Nos. 240021, 240022, 240086, 240090, 240100, 240121, 240122 as amended, 240123 as amended, 240155, 240156, 240158, 240186, 240188, 240189, 240190, 240212, 240213 as amended, 240214, 240217, 240218 and 240219 be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of these bills at the next section of Council. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. Those bills will be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation with a request that the rules of Council be suspended to permit the first reading at our next section of Council. This concludes the public meeting of the Committee on Streets and Services and we will now re -- and we will enter the public hearing, excuse me. Mr. Pullin, please read the title of the resolution for the public hearing.
Resolution No. 16 240136 titled, authorizing Philadelphia City Council to conduct hearings to investigate the efficiency, implementation and enhancement of the outdoor dining program and improve opportunities for restaurants to operate streeteries and sidewalk cafés.
Thank you, Mr. Pullin. We will proceed with panel testimonies. But before we proceed with calling witnesses, will any of the members of the Committee have any comments to make first? (No response.)
Seeing none, thank you. Mr. Pullin, please call the first witnesses to testify.
The first witness to testify is Michael Carroll, Deputy Managing Director of the Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability. (Witness approached Witness table.)
Good morning, Mr. Carroll. Please proceed with your testimony.
Good morning, Chairman. My name again is Michael Carroll. I'm the Deputy Managing Director for Transportation and Infrastructure in the Managing Director's Office. Good morning, Chairperson Young and members of the Streets and Services Committee. My name is Mike Carroll. I am here to offer testimony on Resolution No. 240136 introduced by Councilmember Landau. This resolution authorizes Council to conduct hearings to investigate the efficiency, implementation and enhancements of the outdoor dining program and improve opportunities for restaurants to operate streeteries and sidewalk cafés. The outdoor dining program encompasses sidewalk cafés and streeteries each defined separately in The Philadelphia Code. Sidewalk cafés are under Section 9-208, streeteries are under Section 21 9-215. The Sidewalk Café initiative predates COVID-19, while the Streeteries program was introduced during the peak of the pandemic. It's imperative to note the distinction between these two programs as each necessitates a separate license. Nonetheless enforcement of both programs is a collaborative effort between the Streets Department and the Department of Licenses and Inspections and I must mention the role of the Health Department as well. Since March 2023, the Streets Department has conducted daily inspections of the right-of- way in issuing notices of violation for illegal streeteries, and in 2023 a total of 88 such notices were dispatched leading to compliance from 50 businesses while 36 remain noncompliant with fines pending collection. Since the fall of 2022, the Streets Department has received 118 streetery applications, approving 36 to date. Of those 36 approved for Streets Department review, only have applied for L&I for actual streetery licenses under The Philadelphia Code. Notably, all applications are reviewed within 6 days for professionally rendered 7 drawings when they are received by 8 the Streets Department. 9 If individual restaurants 10 provide us with hand-drawn 11 sketches, those will take 30 12 business days for review. 13 Nonetheless delays in approvals 14 often result due to applications failing to submit up-to-date drawings when submissions are subjected to comments. When speaking of sidewalk cafés, specific data on the application process is not available for us at this time. However, L&I confirms the existence of 244 active licenses under that program. Businesses seeking licenses for sidewalk cafés and/or streeteries are advised to utilize the eCLIPSE format, which is an online e-permitting system and the Streets Department uses the Formstack application form online for submissions for its review. gov, both on L&I's website and on Streets Department's website. We recognize that streeteries have been a lifeline to struggling businesses whose bottom line has been affected by and since the COVID-19 pandemic. The City has worked with restaurants and other businesses to streamline the process for applying for streetery licenses and is willing to continue to work to make that process smoother for everyone. At the same time, to maintain functions of City infrastructure and to make sure that we take precedent in mind in terms of how we manage the right-of-way, we must maintain safety, accessibility, have fire and emergency access and allow for utility work, rubbish and recycling collection for paving and for City-approved special events. We must also adhere to state and federal regulations. Streeteries are not allowed on state and federal roadways according to state statute and federal guidelines. There have been challenges with streeteries, and we continue to seek cooperation from restaurants and businesses to make outdoor dining more enjoyable for the community. Streeteries have presented certain issues from residents dealing with either the level of noise going up and also issues related to late night dining activities. They've also taken in some cases resident parking, which has led to complaints.
In addition to this, concerns have been raised because streeteries have become in some cases havens for homeless folks who are seeking shelter. And we had at least one instance where a fire was created outside of one restaurant causing a streetery itself to burn down. Thankfully no one was hurt, but the circumstances could have been far worse. Streeteries make it difficult for the Fire Department under some circumstances to address the frontage of the adjacent building if there's an emergency in that location. So it is necessary to make sure they are not blocking fire hydrants, utilities or manholes and that emergency access can pass through the frontage to access the frontage in case of an emergency. The City has had the utmost consideration of the safety of outdoor diners in mind when instituting the regulations on streeteries. Safety must be our number one priority. There have been several accidents where a car has struck a streetery or a truck has struck a streetery. Several people have been taken to the hospital in one instance where a car struck a streetery. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt. That's not the case as we've seen in other cities however. With this in mind, we require that streeteries have to be accompanied by crashworthy barriers. Streeteries must also comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. There must be clear pedestrian pathways. They must also comply with the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code and must allow for sight lines of neighbors, pedestrians and vehicles. The Streets Department strongly advises businesses that there is a significantly easier path for restaurants to apply to set up only tables and chairs with crashworthy barriers rather than erecting a structure. This approach requires no building permit from L&I. It also requires no Art Commission approval. In terms of public safety, we know that this approach also significantly reduces the concerns over traffic crashes, it eliminates worries over emergency responsiveness and decreases concerns over fire hazards, especially any risk of fire starting in a streetery and spreading to an adjacent building. It eliminates the risk of encampments forming if it's only being applied for tables and chairs, and problems we have seen with unsecured structures being the housing place for drugs and other illegal activities outside -- I'm sorry, off hours are also eliminated. It eliminates problems from unresponsive businesses refusing to move structures when it's time to maintain our roads for water, gas or electric lines underneath the right-of-way where the streetery is placed and we've seen from previous experience that this has been an issue in many cases. The City has worked hard over the past two years across many departments to create a streetery program essentially from scratch in the middle of a pandemic. We recognize that there's room for improvement and we are committed to make those improvements as long as they keep safety as the number one priority. We acknowledge that there have been bumps in this road, so to speak, but we're always open to continuing the discussion on how to make this program better. We look forward to continuing to work with restaurants, businesses and with Council to achieve that result. This concludes my testimony and I'm pleased to answer any questions.
Thank you, Mr. Carroll. I do have one question. I frequent New York and I like to eat outside. My family and I like to sit outside to eat. And I've noticed that they don't require those large barriers that we require. For the most part, they're planters they have. So could you describe to us some of the rationale behind why we have a little bit more onerous regulations and requirements than peer cities?
Yeah. So New York has a different setup in some respects, but we do allow planters. Those planters just need to be crashworthy. So they have to be inspected either by a professional engineer who establishes that they're crashworthy of if they meet guidelines that already exist, and PennDOT has looked at crashworthy planters on other roads and we've looked at crashworthy planters. So in terms of the aesthetics, there's really no difference in our opinion as long as they're crashworthy. I'd also mention that New York has seen fatalities where folks have really plowed directly into planters -- I'm sorry, into streeteries and they have been killed. And so, part of our emphasis on safety reflects making sure that whatever is put in place around a streetery, whether it's a planter or not, is able to withstand the force of a crash.
Now, when there are injuries, essentially who is at fault, who takes that risk? Is that on the business owner? Is that on the City? Who bears that risk?
That would be determined in the case, and we cannot as a City assume that we wouldn't be held liable. In similar circumstances if we're involved in an approval process and plaintiffs make the case, make a claim that the City's approval led to damages to their client, we can't guarantee that we wouldn't be in a situation where we would have to settle or a judgment would come in against us.
As a part of the approval process, could the City ask for the applicants to indemnify the City or add the City as an additional insured for their policies in order to try to mitigate that issue?
So in the current law, that isn't something that we require. There was a proposal that that would be incorporated, but that was not incorporated in the legislation that Council passed. And I would just offer that in the conversation it seemed like that was too onerous and that certain businesses would not be able to meet that standard.
Thank you. Are there any questions for this witness from members of the Committee? Chair recognizes Councilmember Landau.
Thank you. Thank you so much for your testimony. Can you tell me what other agencies you collaborate with on streeteries and sidewalk cafés?
So Commerce Department, I mentioned Licenses & Inspections, I mentioned Health Department, also the Planning Department. In particular, we coordinate since the Planning Department provides staff with the Arts Commission.
I should also mention the Fire Department has been a partner in this process and in terms of representing the emergency responsiveness.
And are members of all of those departments here today?
I believe so. I think the Planning Department may have had other commitments. So we can certainly get any feedback you want from them.
So you said there were 39 approved streeteries, but only 14 approved licenses. What's the difference between those two numbers? Why don't the people who are 25 approved not have licenses?
Well, I'll offer my theories. I mean, ultimately it's the responsibility of the business itself to get that license. The Streets Department in reviewing those 39 was satisfied for the things that we look at, that they met all the right criteria. Some of those may have been required to get a building permit. They may have got stuck in the process of getting a building permit. There's also I feel like a tendency for certain operations to feel like once they got the streets approval they didn't need to come back and get the license. There's a fee involved in terms of actually getting the license. And so, some businesses may have felt like they didn't want to pay the fee or they couldn't afford the fee. And to be honest, one of the issues even going back to the pandemic is that we've tried to show some restraint in terms of enforcing and there's some legal thresholds that we have to pass before we can actively enforce let's say in terms of removing a streetery from the street and some businesses I feel have taken the position that they're going to wait until they're absolutely compelled for one reason or another to be taken out of the street before they comply with what the law requires.
So you named about seven different departments that you coordinate with for both streeteries and sidewalk cafés. Can you describe what kind of outreach or one-on-one assistance has been done to help support the restaurants through the process? And does anyone ever come in person from the City to the restaurant to help them through that process?
So we do daily inspections. That daily inspection doesn't necessarily occur at every restaurant but we're out there every day. And in those inspections in terms of enforcing the rules, our first option is not to cite people when there's a conversation we're trying to have with the business owners to explain what's wrong. And if people can commit and we come back and they've addressed the situation, we're not writing citations in that. So that face-to-face interaction happens in the street. I'll say that during the pandemic we weren't meeting face- to-face, but there were regular Zoom meetings and online meetings with folks who represented the industry, individual restaurants. I also want to say, I mean we've got guidance that we worked on several years online. And in the application form, it's linked on phila.gov. It's linked from the Streets Department's website, L&I's website. And I was just going back and speaking with folks from the Commerce Department, we've never received one question from anyone about the guidance. So the main thing is that we hope that the businesses are doing research. But if there's an issue they're confused about something, we would expect the businesses to call the Commerce Department and ask what does this mean, what does that mean. And we speak with Council a lot, we speak with Council staff a lot, but we're not seeing that there's this uptick in the materials that we're putting out there for the businesses to look at and to help us get where we need to be.
It looks nice, but it's still complicated and there's so many steps and so many departments involved. And so, even when I asked about if there was one person or one way in which there could be contact between the restaurant and all of the entities, you were talking about citing the entity, but I'm talking about helping them through the process and streamlining the process to make it as easy as possible. You spoke that you use both eCLIPSE and Formstack applications for the licenses, it's two different systems maybe with two different online processes. Have any efforts been undertaken to help walk applicants who might not be particularly tech-savvy through the process to help navigate the applications?
Well, I am open to suggestions on that. Businesses in general that are working in Philadelphia are going to end up working with eCLIPSE. Anyone who's built anything requiring a building permit is going to end up working with eCLIPSE, which is L&I's online permitting system. So there is a presumption that at a minimum folks who are engaged in these types of activities have to understand at some point in time how to work with the eCLIPSE. The Formstack process is something we had to put together because eCLIPSE is an enterprise system. And as an enterprise system, we have certain commitments where we have to pay for improvements or changes in that system. And in the middle of the pandemic, the determination was that this should basically be incorporated into eCLIPSE. But we needed to have the funds in order to pay for in the sequence of working through that software upgrade. And Formstack felt like it was a good way for us to give people an opportunity before all that was set up. And we can revisit that, but we have to go through a technical process in order to do that work. And again, if we have not received specific complaints about what steps aren't working, it just seems like in general people are not satisfied that they have to go through these steps. And I'm certainly open to hear that. We're certainly open to work on improving it. But when we get the specific issues where people are stuck, we can work with them. We can help them get unstuck, but we're not hearing the specific issues. We're hearing the general frustration, and there's a difference in what we can do with that.
Thanks. For the record, the Chair notes that Michelle Brisbon and Keisha Duckett from the Streets Department are also here to testify as a witness.
So I'm going to turn it over to Keisha Duckett and Michelle Brisbon both with the Streets Department to talk about the appointment process that we have stood up with. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Good morning. My name is Michelle Brisbon. I'm the Assistant Chief Engineer for Streets Department.
Good morning. Keisha Duckett, Assistant Chief Engineer of Streets Department.
So I know y'all question about if there's assistance, so Deputy Director Carroll, he mentioned the several agencies. But for intake, it's just Streets Department. So Streets Department is bringing in the applications and reviewing it. And when there are questions, we offer appointments and they can come in and we'll review the plans with them.
On the same -- so what issues have emerged during this time regarding the streeteries and their operations during the pandemic and how can we learn from those experience? Like from the pandemic to now, I know you say that too many people don't reach out. But from what you have experienced around regulations and fines and having closure, have we found a way to kind of be proactive in supporting streeteries and not making these violations or making not just the process of applying easier but to maintain licensure easier based on frequently asked questions or frequently fined issues or however to describe it?
Okay. So from I guess you're saying during the pandemic up to now?
So I guess some of the initial things were the width of them. So some of them were beyond the parking lanes. So for the most part, I believe all of them that were beyond the parking lanes are now either within the parking lane or they've been removed completely. But I mean --
Right. I guess during the pandemic they were allowed to operate beyond their property, so they could get permission from the adjacent properties. Now, they can only solely be in front of their own property. I think --
So there's been, you know, during the pandemic some evolution in the guidance as we learn things, and I think maybe that goes to your question as well. And so, in the beginning we tried to make it clear that we expected folks to exercise judgment in terms of how they heated them, in terms of whether electrical was added to them so they could be lit up. We in particular had a lot of concerns about the use of propane in the right-of-way because that could lead to a real catastrophe if those were struck by a vehicle and there was a combustion. And so, that type of interaction I think we've got to a point where we're not seeing as many issues from those perspectives. You can't run a line across the sidewalk or have a cord coming across and have high-powered lights. We don't want heating elements in the streeteries. These things are made out of timber and some of them have had scorch marks you see the next morning. And like we said, there's been a couple fires that have taken place. Securing streeteries, I think we're trying to be out there consistently. Not only do you have people who open the streeteries go into them overnight and kind of encamp there, you have folks who stash things in the streeteries. You've had incidents where we couldn't guarantee there was prostitution, but you see evidence of things like that taking place in the streeteries, in terms of vermin being in the unsecured streeteries, which is sometimes a function of the cleanliness of them. In some instances, restaurants will sort of abandon a streetery and just let it be there and not really maintain it at all and sometimes it's because the business itself is going out of business, but we don't always get notification of that. So you've got this object in the right-of-way that nobody's really taking care of and eventually we need to find out and then address that type of situation. So over time these things are improving. There's still instances of pretty much everything I just said that's out there, but I think the communication with responsible businesses has been improved over time.
I have one other question. And another thing, I enjoy streeteries. So like Councilmember Young, I enjoyed that experience during the pandemic and I've noticed the decrease in that availability since things have opened back up. So I was wondering with the eye on economic development, what type of support do you think smaller restaurant owners could use in order to make sure the opportunities as is available in other parts of the City, because we see a lot popping up in Center City or -- what's the new area, North Central or whatever they call it. But past that, there are other smaller eateries that could benefit from this. But if the guidelines are so intense and the regulation isn't clear as to how the booklet is nice, but --
Because people open up restaurants because they like food and can cook, not necessarily business- savvy and techy. So how can we provide support to expand this opportunity to new smaller up-and- coming Black and Brown businesses around the City?
Well, what makes this guide so thick, and I'll take what words you guys are using, complicated, the majority of it is about structures. The roads weren't built with the idea people were going to build little buildings in them so there's a reason for all of that complexity because we're dealing with a complex situation that nobody expected 20 years ago, right. So I really want to emphasize this gets a lot simpler if we start from the perspective that when somebody wants to try it out we have some standards around the barriers. Look, we'll come up with some templates about what planters could look like that you can take in, roll in or roll out. But if we just start from a basic, you know, put some tables out, put some chairs there, accommodate people in wheelchairs and then when you're done, just get it out of the street, then that is infinitely simpler than trying to figure out how to fit a square peg into these round holes that all the laws, state laws, City laws, City code, building code, fire code were written not anticipating this. And trying to make it simpler, make it more streamlined certainly has a benefit until we see something goes wrong and then suddenly we feel like we went too far, and finding that middle ground is part of what makes it so complicated.
Thank you, Councilwoman. I have a couple of questions. Why was the requirement or the ability to get permission from the neighbor removed from the regulations if a streetery wanted to expand into that neighbor's property if the neighbor is okay with that? Why is that no longer an option?
Yeah, we're just talking it over. There were a couple arguments and one of them had to do with the distance in the health code for food to travel from the kitchen to wherever the table is. So for any form of outdoor dining, there are some health standards that the food not be exposed. I don't think that was it though. I think what it came down to was disputes that we were seeing which the City was sort of being put in the role of adjudicating between neighbors, between landlords and tenants, and we don't have a way of verifying if we see a signature, is that person necessarily responding owner-to- owner, are they responding tenant- to-tenant, are they responding onwer-to-tenant, one way or the other. And so, if the adjacent building owner gets a request to sign off on the streetery that's next door and he lives in Detroit or Chicago and then we get a complaint from the person he's renting to here in Philadelphia, I did not approve this and now my business is impacted by people can't load and unload to my bridal shop because the restaurant next door, we're getting drawn in to try sorting that out and we weren't set up to do that. There was an expectation that all the parties involved would agree, and we just didn't have the capacity to sort through these four-way fights that were cropping up.
Yeah. So I think that that is a private matter between that particular tenant and their building owner. I don't think the Streets Department should get into that. I think if the property owner allows that, then their tenant should have to, you know, that's something they need to take up with their landlord, right, and that's something they need to work out in the private landlord-tenant matter. You mentioned having just tables and chairs just set up in the street. But from what I've noticed is that our streets aren't level, right. And so, a lot of our restaurateurs may need to build some kind of platform to keep it level because if you sit a glass of water on a table, the table's going to get wobbly, it's going to spill. So are there ways that we can I guess create a more simple method of just creating or allowing restaurateurs to provide just a level platform in order to have that --
Absolutely. So that actually was an option or is an option that's in the guidance as well. Because we even before the pandemic had a parklet program we called it. And basically this is something we saw other cities were doing, and this goes back two Administrations ago, where we had a standard designed for people to build a platform and some seating on that platform. That was not intended for commercial purposes. That was sort of give people in more built-up neighborhoods a little tiny bit of open space. It worked pretty well, and there was an expectation that Streets Department will give it a quick engineering review. They were really supposed to use the template that we supplied them with. It went in, in the spring. It came out in the fall so we could plow and that worked pretty well. So something similar to that does exist in the guidance, and we feel like, yeah, that's a reasonable compromise for people who do want to have a surface. One of the other benefits of that is that for wheelchair access it makes it easier because you don't have the curb to contend with, but we want to be careful that if we give you this template, you follow the template. And kind of what we saw in the pandemic is people would sort of start with that and then suddenly there would be a structure that was up there and we weren't always getting notified when those structures were going up. But I think there is something to work with there.
But even with that, right, so in a prior life I represented a restaurateur applying for one of these streeteries and that took forever. The issue that we're seeing is that when there is I guess an agreement between the restaurateurs, engineer, architect and the Streets Department on certain I guess placing of the streetery, again you mentioned it goes back to the queue, takes another 30 days for review, right. And for the most part, these restaurateurs need this for the warm weather months. And so, there's two issues. You're losing the summer right there. So is there a way when an application is submitted to kind of have a more quicker process? What is the delay that creates that 30-day window or review process?
So the 30 days has to do with just someone takes a napkin out and draws what they're thinking and gives it to us because we have to kind of go out in the street and see if this kind of sketch works in that space. And if we get a professional drawing, it should be days. 13 Now, we're going to give 14 comments back and we can't just give the comments back and walk away. We need to see another submission, so that restaurant is going to have to re-engage somebody unless they feel like they can draft something that looks professional and bring it and get it stamped by somebody. They have to respond to the comments. And so, that starts the new clock when we get the comments back. And that sometimes is what makes it become an extensive thing. But we feel like if folks really, you know, if you have a professional, that professional should be able to deal with these guidelines. And if they're faithful to the guidelines, then we don't see a lot of resubmission. And it's the same as anything else that gets approved in the right-of- way. The closer people stick to the standard that we're comfortable with, the less repetitive interaction there's going to be.
Yeah. I mean, I'm an attorney, right. We had a professional engineer. It's still going through that pamphlet, right. I think it's a little bit more onerous even for folks who are licensed professionals in this particular area.
Yeah. If I could just make one more comment. One of the issues we had when we talked with some third-party engineers and we asked them to try and work with us to come up with a template, and I also expect a lot of the restaurants have when they go to an architect or engineer and they try to engage them is that these professionals are often feeling some nervousness about their own liability. And so, again this is the inherent issue that comes up when you're building buildings in the right-of-way. And any engineer or architect who says, oh, that's going to work isn't really thoughtful and thorough and isn't trying to make sure that they're dotting all the I's and T's and exposing themselves to liability if they sign off and stamp on it. And so, I don't want to minimize that, but that nervousness and that extra attention to detail on their part and that back and forth that gets initiated isn't from nowhere. They're trying to protect themselves, right. They're trying to protect themselves from being sued because they came up with a design that led to something bad. And the restaurant that engaged them may not appreciate that, but we certainly do appreciate that because we have to protect ourselves too. So that's some of the tension and that's one of the reasons why we want to move people away from the instinct to always go for that sort of Taj Mahal and just try to moderate a little bit more what they're trying to do, at least out of the gate. And maybe when we see it works well at this location, there's no issues, the neighbors have no complaints, we can start to look at something that's a little bit more elaborate once the pattern's been set.
Thank you. And thanks so much for all of the testimony you're giving us to explain the process. I want to shift for just a second to sidewalk cafés because I just want to first clear something up. Sidewalk cafés, they don't go through Streets for intake, right?
They do go -- everybody goes through Streets for intake?
Okay. Can you talk about the current regulations surrounding sidewalk cafés, in particular how the permitting process differs from the streetery process and any efforts that have been taken to coordinate between those two processes?
Yeah, it's not really different. So sidewalk cafés only allow tables and chairs. We don't allow structures at all. Of course, the locations. Some locations require you to get an encroachment ordinance. If it's not by-right, then you have to basically go through I guess two processes. So you have to get an encroachment ordinance and then you also have to submit the plans, but -- we create it in eCLIPSE, correct?
Yeah, so we create the project in eCLIPSE for the applicant once they submit the drawings to us for the sidewalk café.
And I think one of the things that I'm hearing here today is, and that's what I think you'll hear from some of the restaurant owners, again they just feel there's a lot of steps and a lot of different entities to talk to. I didn't think it was Streets that was overseeing sidewalk cafés too. I thought Streets was just overseeing streeteries and sidewalk cafés had a little different back and forth. But I think having one point of contact, and I brought this up to Commerce during their budget testimony this week too, having one point of contact of somebody who is your person who might have a docket of new restaurants or something like that, would be so helpful for our small businesses in Philadelphia so that they know who their point person is, who's checking in with them as well.
Yeah, I think that does make sense to have one person who can be the concierge for this. The challenge I think is that we had the expectation that this program was essentially going to pay for itself. And throughout the pandemic, we were all just doing what we needed to do. We understood folks were under a lot of duress. We were seeing a lot of restaurants go out of business, all kinds of businesses going out of business. But as we were coming out of the pandemic, some clear direction we got in the Mayoral Administration under Kenney but also from Council because there was a diversity of opinions on City Council is that this should be something where the revenue generated by it pays for the extra support, and that just hasn't panned out frankly. It's a function of the lower number of folks than we expected who were getting through the process, paying the fees and moving on. So I think there is a calculation that we need to make, you know, how much we invest and how much we put on the table in order to make it work as smoothly as I think I understand you guys would want it to.
So one of the things that I expect we're going to hear today is concerns about the Art Commission's review being required to put up a streetery. Can you speak to why that's necessary, part of the process or any efforts that are being undertaken to streamline that process to simplifying the design review?
Well, I'm going to stray a little bit away from the efforts that could be made to streamline it, but I think it's worth recognizing that the Art Commission stands independent of the Administration. And for anything that goes on in the right- of-way, there's always this dialogue with the Art Commission as to whether or not they have purview and what form that purview takes for them to provide recommendations or if you look at the other end of the spectrum, you know, kind of issue findings that require changes in something. And for streeteries, there was no formal process. We sort of had to kind of come up with what we thought was going to be defensible. And the Art Commission's take on that was that they did. And if you think about other things in the right-of-way, I think they have some good precedence to work with. So bus shelters require Art Commission review. You see these kiosks that come up, they require Art Commission. The newsstands I believe also have to go through the Art Commission. And so, what would make this different so that it wouldn't require the Art Commission to weigh in. There was not a strong argument that there was something distinct here.
I do think that the low numbers that you're seeing is just because of the process, right. I think it's not allowing more restaurateurs to engage in the process. So I do look forward to working with you on working on regulations to streamline this process because I do think that this is something that could benefit our entire City and we can expand it where more restaurateurs can benefit from having this experience as Councilmember Brooks said, because again my fiancee and I, we choose restaurants based on who has outdoor seating. And if you don't have it during the summertime, we're probably not coming. And so, I want every restaurant in our City to be able to experience that opportunity to attract more customers. I do have a question on the regulations regarding the lift of feet from stop signs, right. I believe it's like 30 feet from stop signs. I mean, that's a lot of space and we have a lot of restaurants that are on corner properties. And so, that 30 feet is essential space where they can use that streetery. So can you explain the rationale behind why it's 30 feet versus 15, 10, something like that?
So it's in the vehicle code, Pennsylvania Vehicle Code, that there be a clearance in front of a stop sign or a crosswalk basically back from the intersection. And I can appreciate what's frustrating for the average citizen or especially a restaurant that if you go around the City, you will see parked cars in that space, which is illegal. I mean, those cars aren't supposed to be there. So naturally the next question is, well, why aren't those cars being cited. And where we have installed signage or basically provide an indication for a driver, those cars are being cited. But we've got about 70,000, 80,000 corners in the City and we don't have signs at all of those corners. Now, what makes this different is we're creating something from scratch and we wouldn't want to take something that's already wrong and make it worse by allowing for obstructions to the lines of sight. So when drivers are driving up and someone's crossing the crosswalk, they're kind of ducking out right into a traffic crash. And that's the rationale behind the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code, but that's where we're put in the role of enforcing the vehicle code.
So that's something that we would have to work with our state partners to try to see if we can get some relief from that. Because I do think something we could do is just require that the height of certain streeteries is just lower so the stop sign remains visible. And even when there isn't an actual structure, even if there's a platform that a restaurateur is trying to put there, they're still not allowed to do it even though that sign will remain visible through the entire block. So I think that's something that we should work on with our state partners to see if we can get some relief from the code. But I recognize Councilwoman Landau.
Okay. A little bit of commentary and then one last question for you. Although I would like to know are you going to stay through all the other testimony in case we have more questions for you?
Great. The commentary I wanted to talk about is ADA disability access, because I know we often talk about having enough space on the sidewalk so wheelchairs can get by. But I also even from my own life experience can say that sidewalk cafés and some streeteries are the way to make restaurants accessible for people in wheelchairs. And I had spent many days and nights wheeling my dad up to certain places where he would never be able to get into the building or it was just too cumbersome to get him in, and we loved being outside. So I'm a huge fan of the outdoor dining as well and that is one of the reasons. I had just one more question about streeteries with roofs versus streeteries without roofs, because we've heard from the Admin, and thank you so much for all the time you've given to us before now to try to understand this process. We've heard that a streetery without a roof is easier and quicker to get, but we've heard people tell us that it's just as long of a process to get a streetery approved with a roof versus without a roof.
Hello again. Sarah Adamo. So essentially if there is no roof, you cut L&I's building permit out of that process. So L&I is still included in the process when it comes to issuing the license. However, we don't need to issue a building permit. So I can't give specific timelines for one without or one with, but I would assume that in almost all cases it would be a lot quicker of a process and simpler without a structure involved.
Yes. I'm sorry. When I say structure, I mean something with a roof as opposed to a platform.
Are there any other questions for these witnesses by members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, thank you for your time and your testimony today.
I apologize. I want to ask if we can have Palak Raval-Nelson from the Health Department come to clarify some of our testimony. (Witness approached Witness table.)
Sure. I don't know if this is on -- hello. Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson. I'm the Deputy Health Commissioner for the Health Department and I just wanted to clarify regarding the question about streeteries using space adjacent to their properties and that it was a health issue. It is not. It is only a Health Department issue if the streetery location is across the street because it becomes a food safety issue. As you're carrying a meal across the street, pigeons and other things can get into the food, so that is where the food safety lies and the food safety issue comes into play. We do not have a role if the streetery wants to expand to the location adjacent to the property. So I just wanted to clarify for the record that the Health Department only has an issue when the place is across the street.
So you're just clarifying across the street, not on the same --
Exactly, the adjacent property issues -- and again, we worked tirelessly during the pandemic. So the adjacent property issues came into play. It was more of a Law Department issue where the properties next to the restaurant and Deputy Managing Director Carroll mentioned this, had issues with the streetery expanding without permission. So the Health Department issue is if the streetery is going to locate itself across the street and won't have a way to cover the plates of food practically as they walk them across the street dealing with oncoming vehicle traffic and everything else as well as -- not to be gross before lunch, but pigeons and other things flying in and adding to the food.
Thank you. Mr. Carroll, I'm sorry. I do have one more question while you're up there. So right now streeteries are only allowed I guess by-right in Center City, certain parts. Does the Administration have a position on expanding, allowing the streeteries, allowing sidewalk cafés to be by-right in other parts of the City versus just Center City?
I want to be careful. I don't believe that the Parker Administration has had a chance to develop a position. I can talk a little bit about the thinking in the Kenney Administration, which was essentially that they wanted to make sure that City Councilmembers and more outlying districts had an opportunity to weigh in. And so, the sort of compromise between the one objective to make sure that there was equity for people who weren't in the usual neighborhoods where a lot of the activity is, and on the other hand making sure that Councilmembers who represented more residential areas in the City weren't kind of blindsided by streeteries appearing and creating different types of conflicts within those neighborhoods was that there would be a process, which actually we undertook a couple times today where Council could introduce an ordinance that would allow those steeteries to come to be.
Yeah. I only say that because that just adds again for our neighborhood- based businesses, the ones who aren't getting as much foot traffic as Center City, it just adds more time to their application process and they can lose the summer, right.
And then that's revenue that our City is losing essentially. So just want to see ways that we can explore adding a more by-right nature, particularly on commercial corridors that already have a lot of commercial foot traffic and activity. So again, I thank you for your testimony today. Thank you for your patience.
Mr. Pullin, can you please call the next witnesses to testify.
The next witness to testify, witnesses to testify are Ben Fileccia, Senior Vice-president of Strategy and Engagement at the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association; Jason Evans, founder and Chief Executive Officer of JD Evans Solutions; and Sean McGranaghan, Director of Operations for Winnie's Manayunk. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Good morning, gentlemen or afternoon now, right. I'm sorry. Please state your name for the record. And if you submitted written testimony, please just summarize your testimony and we will have questions for you. Thank you.
Great. My name is Ben Fileccia. I'm the Senior Vice-president of Strategy and Engagement for the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association.
Good afternoon. My name's Jason Evans, owner and operator of JD Evans Solutions. MR. McGRANAGHAN: Good afternoon. Sean McGranaghan. I'm the Director of Operations for Winnie's Manayunk.
Thank you. Please proceed with your testimony, gentlemen.
Great. Good morning, Chairperson Young, Vice- Chairperson Squilla wherever he may be, and esteemed Councilmembers. As I said, my name is Ben Fileccia, and I'm with the PRLA. The PRLA represents over 400 operators in Philadelphia and more than 5,000 members statewide. Today on behalf of the Pennsylvania's vibrant hospitality industry, I'm here to share insights and recommendations regarding Philadelphia's streetery and sidewalk café programs. You'll also hear today from many op owners, operators and other stakeholders who are enthusiastic, passionate and in some cases frustrated with the program. There are many misconceptions out there about who we are in hospitality. And so, I want to share with you some background on the industry. out of 10 restaurants have fewer than 50 employees. out of 5 restaurants are single unit 6 operations. 8 out of 10 restaurant 7 owners started their industry 8 careers in entry-level positions. 9 I'm one of them. Nearly 63 percent of adults have worked in a restaurant making it the nation's training ground. 41 percent of restaurant firms are owned by minorities compared to 30 percent of businesses in the private sector. Prepandemic nearly 40 percent of all Pennsylvania restaurants were women-owned. Restaurants employ more minority managers than any other industry. Hospitality is and always will be an industry of opportunity. I want to thank City Council for their efforts in formalizing the permanent Outdoor Dining program. Special recognition goes to Councilmember Rue Landau for her leadership in advancing the resolution 5 authorizing these hearings. While outdoor dining has become a beloved aspect of Philadelphia life, it's essential to recognize that this program is still in its relative infancy. With recent changes in Administration and City Council, it's pressing that Philadelphia comprehensively evaluates the current program, identifying what works well and what requires improvement. It's important to note that there's an urgency to this conversation. There's a pressing need for improvements considering the upcoming spring and summer seasons as well as the anticipated influx of visitors in 2026. We've identified four overarching themes for consideration: clarity, efficiency, fairness and investment. Clarity is paramount. Transparent and predictable guidelines are essential for program success. Complex regulations hinder participation and innovation, necessitating clearer directives that move at the speed of business. Efficiency is key. Philadelphia's government should align with the pace of Commerce, streamlining processes to support the industry effectively. Mayor Parker has been a champion already in the space. With her leadership, we're confident that government is more aware than ever before of the cadence and pace in which business moves. Fairness and equity ought to be non-negotiable. The program should not favor those with extensive resources but should be accessible to all, including small businesses of all sizes. Investment is essential. Rather than solely regulating the City, the City should invest in the industry's growth and sustainability. Similar to other jurisdictions in Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh is a golden example of a city that has proactively invested in its outdoor dining program, mostly using federal ARPA funding. We've seen similar efforts in local jurisdictions throughout the Commonwealth. I'd ask you to imagine a partnership where both business and government have skin in the game. I promise you there will be a positive return on your investment to achieve these goals.
We propose the following changes: Streamline permitting processes to reduce bureaucratic hurdles, provide flexibility in design while ensuring safety and accessibility, consider additional geographic flexibility as it relates to both programs, establish rules and regulations to allow for outdoor heating and lighting, enable and authorize the use of adjacent property, especially for operations located in unique spaces like corner properties and historic neighborhoods, consider offering financial incentives for expansion, particularly in underserved areas. We encourage the City to consider providing applicants with a direct liaison they can communicate with throughout the permitting process. We've been eager to have this conversation and I'm excited for you to hear from other stakeholders who are much more familiar with the ins-and-outs of this program than I am. The Streetery and Sidewalk Café programs have enriched our city without compromising its essence. As representatives of Pennsylvania's hospitality and tourism sectors, PRLA is committed to collaborating with the City Council and the Administration to enhance these programs. PRLA stands ready to support the City as we collectively move forward. And I should note there are many other stakeholder groups like the BIDS in Philadelphia, the diverse Chambers and others that would all be willing to engage and help as a group as this Committee continues navigating this important conversation. I'll add that countless others would have loved to have been here. However, due to time constraints, earthquakes, they could not be. We will all be available for questions today as well as in the future as City Council continues to explore and navigate this conversation. Thank you, Councilwoman Landau and Council, for initiating this crucial dialogue.
Thank you. Good morning -- good afternoon, excuse me. Good afternoon, Chairperson Young, Vice-Chairperson Squilla and fellow Councilmembers. My name is Jason Evans. I own and operate JD Evans Solutions, a consulting firm that provides services to bars and restaurants in the City. I've represented the Tavern Group, owners of Tavern on Camac, U Bar and Otto's. In addition to other bars and restaurants in the Gayborhood, I worked with Councilperson Allan Domb's office creating the original streetery bill and represented the Tavern Group participating in the City's pilot program for outdoor dining during the pandemic. This collaborative effort brought businesses together along with multiple departments of Philadelphia government, including Commerce, Streets, Licensing and Inspection, Health and OTIS or the Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability to identify and resolve any outstanding issues during the weekly calls. That system worked. The process worked and it all worked well. The City gave feedback and helped businesses succeed. I appreciate the opportunity to share our successes and challenges in navigating Philadelphia's Streetery and Sidewalk Café programs. We were pleased when City Council passed the Streetery bill 2 to make permanent changes supporting small business. Many of these changes came about as part of the pandemic reopening and recovery, and several bars and restaurants were able to remain in business as part of these programs. Given these successes, we hope today is a helpful conversation to inform and rectify the challenges businesses face with navigating the Outdoor Dining program process, specifically the application. I would like to talk about the application process and what follows. The process seems to be decentralized and can be quite challenging for those who do not have experience in navigating multiple City departments all at once. For example, I have this email chain here which has over 32 messages between myself and the City over the course of one year trying to complete a sidewalk café in Brewerytown. It's outside of the overlay so there's a different process. I had to chase down departments for receipts, documents, et cetera, all that need to be uploaded into the eCLIPSE system. In addition, after my first meeting with L&I at the MSB Building, I found out that many of the instructions on some of the City websites, not all of them, were incorrect. There was a listing where you had to make eight different copies that you had to bring in person and that was all incorrect. The process has moved into eCLIPSE, but the instructions on the website still remained. That's a challenge. Many businesses do not have the resources to not only make appointments to sit at the MSB Building for hours to let alone the tons of emails to find out the appropriate information or the correct department. Business owners have been focused on pandemic recovery and following the rules while frustration grows as the process has become more of a hardship than it may be worth. We need support. So today I have a few asks: Clarity, I ask for clearer instructions and for uniformity of instructions on all websites the City posts information regarding outdoor dining. Efficiency, I ask for an office of one to three individuals, employees dedicated to the entire Outdoor Dining program, whether it's a streetery, a sidewalk café or other to help minimize the need for the business owner to be responsible to bring all the City departments together. I suggest a weekly or monthly call would be helpful or online office hours. Fairness, I ask for equity in this process. Many businesses do not have the resources to build a huge structure or even the resources to spend weeks, months or maybe even a year trying to apply for a permit that may never come. An investment, I ask the City invest in this program by designating staff and resources to this process to better assist applicants.
Lastly, bring back a form of the outdoor dining pilot. I ask because we had online meetings. I was on these calls every week. It was Tuesday at 11 o'clock, and it really worked. It brought all the different City departments together. We were all there. They asked us questions. We could ask them questions and there was that form of communication instead of having to chase down each individual department. This system really worked. I understand there will be challenges with that just based on the number of people applying for these different permits and applications, but I think a system could be developed, whether Week No. 1, it's the beginning of the process, Week No. 2 is the L&I, Week No. 3 is the Streets part. There's a million ways we could go about it and we're all here today to offer our help to make sure we have a process that works for everyone. Philadelphia has a lot to offer. We've proved our willingness and resilience during the pandemic. And in 2026, we could show the world how great this city is once more. Won't you help us. Thank you again, Councilmember Landau, for your assistance and bringing the light to this matter. A big thanks to the entire Committee for inviting us to participate today. We look forward to helping you however we can moving forward. And I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Evans. Please proceed with your testimony. MR. McGRANAGHAN: Good afternoon, Chairperson Young, Vice- Chairperson Squilla and fellow distinguished Councilmembers. My name is Sean McGranaghan. I'm the Director of Operations for Winnie's Manayunk located on Main Street in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia. I appreciate the invitation and opportunity to join you today to share some of my thoughts and feedback on Philadelphia's Streetery and Sidewalk Café programs. When the pandemic happened, restaurants were one of the most vulnerable and yet essential industries affected. At the time through the leadership of several Councilmembers, including the current Mayor, Mayor Cherelle Parker, and getting feedback from the PRLA, we were permitted to expand our opportunities, collectively think out of the box for solutions to support our team members, our guests, our operators and our communities. We all did whatever we could to keep our team employed and our doors open. Then coming out of the pandemic, the program was documented and outlined to formally normalize a streetery license. What we found was a confusing and arduous process that was extremely expensive and burdensome. At Winnie's, we were one of the first locations in the City to be approved. We worked tirelessly for months going back and forth with multiple City departments for the simplest of available options, the pavement streetery. For months we went back and forth with reviews from the Streets Department, which did not acknowledge the difference between the pavement streetery and other versions. We were able to get approved through persistence. Many face the same challenge and gave up the idea of continuing a strategy or simply kept doing what they wanted to do ignoring the law and willing to deal with the repercussions being fined as opposed to submitting to the process. As a result, I feel the participation level in acquiring a streetery license was far below the actual streeteries in operation. At Winnie's, we are a pillar of our community. We are a cheerleader, not just for ourselves, not just for Manayunk and Roxborough and the neighborhoods we serve, but for Philadelphia as a whole. Winnie has spent the past years 6 cultivating an environment of 7 inclusivity and caring for both the 8 community and her team. 9 The team at the PRLA 10 highlighted many of the issues and 11 challenges facing the industry as 12 it relates to Philly's outdoor 13 dining and rules and regulations. 14 To expand on some of what Ben 15 mentioned, I wanted to emphasize a 16 point of concerns that affect us 17 personally. 18 Creating a fair playing 19 field for all operators regardless 20 of who they know or how many resources they have is critical to support an industry that is still struggling to get back to pre-pandemic levels. Those who had the resources or connections were able to get more done. While those without resources were given a mountain to climb. This created an unfair disadvantage and does not help those who need the help of the additional space to serve their communities. Once we passed, I worked with several other operators to help them put forward their plans to help them through the process. We want a system that helps everyone, a system that creates opportunities for our teams, our guests and our communities. We want to know that the City we all love will help create opportunities, not create additional barriers to grow for our communities. What we're looking for today is fairness and equity for everybody, creating a level playing field. Thank you, Councilwoman Landau, for bringing this forward. Big thanks to the entire Committee for inviting us to participate today. We look forward to helping however we can to move forward. Happy to answer any questions you might have.
Thank you so much for your testimony. Are there any questions for these witnesses by members of the Committee? (No response.)
I just have one general question. You all have said that during the pandemic the process seemed to be better than it is now, right. And just describe to us what you think the City can be doing in order to -- because that was emergency rules, right. But what can we do as a City to really, really streamline the process? I understand you said have someone dedicated to the outdoor dining experience. You mentioned the onerous monthly-long process of getting the applications through which frustrates many small business owners. But what really is the most simplest thing you think we can do today that will make this process less burdensome?
I think having a liaison, Councilman, would be the best option.
You talked about how easy it was during the pandemic. It was also the Wild West. Nobody knew what they were doing. We really had to be creative and you saw restaurants being creative. However, this -- I mean, Philadelphia should really be patting itself on the back. I mean, it's one of the most robust outdoor dining programs in the country, and these guys have worked their butt off in the Administration to get that moving along. So I said this is in its infancy. We want this to last for a long time. So during the pandemic we were just really trying to help the restaurants, help the guests of the restaurants, help employees, make sure we were keeping employees employed. But moving forward, we understand that regulations are required. We understand that processes have to be played out, but there's no one that cares about the safety of their guests and their employees more than restaurant operators, one of the regulated sectors in our City and these guys are prepared to work hard to make sure they're doing the right thing. All they want to do is the right thing. They want this permit, whether it be for café seating, for sidewalk seating, structured streetery or normal streetery. What we've seen over and over again that these processes, as you hear now and you're going to hear from, could be months to years. I mean, I talked to some restaurant owners that have been waiting two years for a café permit. So again, we just want to -- and I have to say some of the departments have been really fantastic. Commerce has been giving a lot of our members White Glove treatment to go through this process. And if we can kind of formalize that and say, hey, listen if you're having a problem, here's where you go to or let's get somebody to come out to your streetery instead of going back and forth for six months in an email, which takes up a lot of time for the operators and the City official. How much easier would it be to go out to the restaurant and say, you know what, we just need you to move that inches, we need 6 you to get off that manhole, we 7 need one last chair here, we want 8 to make sure this is ADA 9 accessible, we want to make sure 10 there's not a fire hazard, we want 11 to make sure that that's not 12 blocking traffic, and let's get this all cleaned up right now instead of going back and forth for six months to a year. And again, we have a lot of people that are passionate here and they love the City of Philadelphia, so we'll do what it takes. But I think a direct liaison would be the easiest and simplest solution. And to get back to one other point that you had asked, Councilmember, is about adjacent used property. And you asked a very great question about why can't you put a streetery within 30 feet. And we saw time and time again, I would go to operators and say, you have to take this down. And they said, but there's a PPA sign that says you can park there. And PPA goes right up to 5 feet to the corner. And it was very difficult for me to explain to them, listen, this rule is for you, not for them. And unfortunately, we can't we create a regulation that goes against state guidelines. However, we can find a solution because we are a smart city and a smart industry. And adjacent property use is a great solution to that. If you can't have a streetery in a corner property with what, 78,000 corners in Philadelphia, many of them do have bars, pubs and restaurants in them, let's come up with a solution. Good Dog on 15th Street, it's a standard foot-wide 4 restaurant. During the pandemic 5 and up until last year, they had a 6 streetery that extended a couple 7 stores down because it's just the 8 side of a parking lot there. All 9 of a sudden they went from having a 10 beautiful streetery that had about 11 11 tables to now having 3, 4 orange 12 crash barriers with two picnic 13 benches.
14 So we want to be a part of 15 the community in a meaningful way, 16 not just serving our guests, but to make the City stronger and to welcome all these guests that are coming in. I mean, in 2026 we're expecting millions of folks, many of them from Europe. Europe has not had a problem with outdoor seating. South America has not had a problem with outdoor seating. Many of our cities in the country have not had a problem with outdoor seating. So as we welcome all these folks from all over the world, let's show them that we are just as great as they are and providing not only the restaurants with opportunities, but the citizens of Philadelphia with the opportunity as well.
Thank you. In your interactions with the different departments regarding outdoor dining, where do you think this liaison should be housed at?
That's a tough question because they all have very, very specific roles. I see most of the permitting process ends up in streets. But I also know Commerce with their Nighttime Economy Department now, that may be a better fit but I would love to have the conversation.
Thank you so much. Thank you gentlemen for your testimony. I appreciate your time today.
The next witness to testify, witnesses to testify, are Nate Ross, owner of New Wave Café; Joshua Otto, owner of Otto Architects; and William Reed, owner of Johnny Brenda's and the International. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Thank you gentlemen. In any order, just state your name and proceed with your testimony.
Hi. My name is Nate Ross. I'm the owner of the New Wave Café. Thank you for having us. And I think it's finally going to be time that you actually hear from people that actually do this for a living, so thank you. I'm happy to report that I'm about to start my 40th year in business at 3rd and Catherine, so I've been doing this for more than a minute. And I survived COVID for two reasons: New Wave survived because of my partner and I's tenacity and the fact that we had sidewalk dining. Now, I've had sidewalk dining first on 3rd Street and then on Catherine Street for almost 30 years. But the streetery is the single reason why we survived. And until this day I have customers that still won't come inside. We're a neighborhood spot. We get mom and dad, the kids and the family dog. We get as Councilwoman Landau says, we get plenty of handicapped or senior citizens, it's just easier for them. I don't begrudge the City and Mr. Carroll and everyone in their department for doing their job. That's not going to get us anywhere, bashing anyone. But through Mr. Carroll's testimony himself, he basically told you that we have seven different agencies to do business with. I mean, it's preposterous. Give us one entity and everyone in this room, we're all rule-followers, we're all serious people, we will get it done, you know. So I mean, that's kind of my personal story. I've been in this -- first off, I was one of the 100 people that had the original license that you had when it came out. There are only about 113 of us I believe that had the original streetery license. I had that, which expired December 31st of '23. And I was also one of the operators that met the new deadline for the new application, which was the first week of January of '23 -- I'm sorry, end of '22 to then January of '23 was the new application. I hired the architect and the drawings and the engineer and figured out the tech, and we got our application in. The original response I got was thank you, but this is not the correct application for sidewalk dining. Now, I didn't make a mistake. I filed for the right license. Politely wrote back that I had what I -- sidewalk, I was applying for streetery. 14 months later I'm still waiting for my appeal to be heard. So the good news is that I'm licensed, I'm permitted, I'm insured and I'm doing my -- and instead of letting that time go by, I went proactively and got 250 of my neighbors to sign a petition. I then went to my neighborhood group, Queen Village Neighborhoods Association, and they held a hearing on our place, and they unanimously endorsed us. We've forwarded all of that to my Councilman, Mr. Squilla. And at some point when we finally get our license being that this is Philadelphia, I still have to go through another step because I'm not in the automatic approval zone. I still need to have an ordinance 13 written by my City Councilman. So that's kind of my story. Thank you for listening. And if you have any questions, please.
No, thank you for your testimony. I really appreciate hearing about your experience.
Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to come today. My name is Josh Otto. I'm the owner and principal of Otto Architects located in Jenkintown. For more than years I've worked with local restaurant owners on design approvals and construction of over 50 restaurants. I've had the opportunity to work with various City agencies, including L&I, the Streets Department, Department of Health, Commerce as well as the historical Art Commission. Resulting projects contributed greatly to Philadelphia's vibrant dining scene. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and lockdown started in March of 2020, my business like many others faced an uncertain future. The majority of my projects involved the public-facing restaurant industry. As lockdowns began to ease and restaurants were slowly permitted to reopen, we pivoted to help them address concerns and the safety of their staff and customers. One of the biggest opportunities at that moment were the newly created regulations for expanded outdoor dining in the form of sidewalk cafés and the streetery. We helped restaurants plan and document these streeteries, and City agencies worked quickly to allow implementation. This became a lifeline to the restaurants and the only way most of them could provide onsite dining experience. The initial outdoor regulations were rolled out quickly and were straightforward to understand. The application and approval process for sidewalk cafés was streamlined for fast approvals and the Streets Department worked swiftly to review the new streeteries. The resulting streeteries took many forms, from tables and chairs set in parking spaces to more robust structures with integrated heating and lighting. While the streetery program was well-intentioned, it was inequitable. Many businesses could not create a street due to constraints, including the physical location of the restaurants and their financial resources. They may not have had the available parking lots, lanes in front, and some properties are too narrow to effectively install dining and the width of the boundaries of their storefront property lines. Additionally, streeteries were and are not permitted by-right for most restaurants outside the Center City boundaries. New streetery-related challenges began at the end of 2022 when regulations were updated. At that time, three sources regulated the design, the updated City Code Section 9-215, the Streetery license guide and an L&I code bulletin. Unfortunately, the three of these were not carefully coordinated which caused confusion to both restaurant owners and design professionals. Reviewing these rules at the time, I found over a dozen discrepancies between them, many relating to dimensional and construction issues. Since there was no single resource outlining the submission approval process, submitting streetery applications became frustrating. While understanding the Streets Department was given this new and additional burden, learning the status of applications has been difficult, review responses are varied and multiple submissions are typically required. The process from application to approval has often spanned many months. If a restaurant wants to build a structured streetery, one that is enclosed with a roof, there are additional required submissions to the Art Commission and L&I for building permits. These approvals extend the process with some lasting over a year as the City moves forward allowing restaurants to construct streeteries. I believe changes can be made to streamline the submission and review processes, such as taking action to clearly define the application review requirements. A restaurant owner should be able to easily understand the process and timeline without relying even on design professionals or attorneys. Formalize the initial submission to the Streets Department. Currently the information is sent to a central email address.
Once this is submitted, there's no ability to track these applications. Review the by-right location requirements that impede outdoor dining outside of the established Center City boundaries. These restaurants are required to obtain City Council ordinances before they may apply for a license. This a month-long process that is difficult to understand and navigate, especially for the typical small business restaurant owner. Philadelphia's renowned restaurant scene is recognized both near and far. The outdoor dining opportunities the City provides, both animate and discrete scape and make this a vibrant city. Any efforts made to support this should continue to be encouraged. I would like to thank Councilmember Landau and the entire Committee for initiating this important conversation. Look forward to help to encourage and strengthen outdoor dining opportunities throughout Philadelphia and be happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.
Thank you so much for your testimony. Mr. Reed, please proceed with your testimony.
Thank you, City Council. I really appreciate the good faith effort that's really apparent here in trying to help out the hospitality sector. My name is William Reed. I'm co-owner of three restaurants in Fishtown and Northern Liberties, Standard Tap, Johnny Brenda's and the International. We employ about 125 people today, all residents of Philadelphia. I mention that because pre-COVID it was about 20 percent higher. Many people are under the impression now that the hospitality sector has come out of the pandemic. The restrictions have lifted, but it's not in our rearview mirror. Many restaurants are really struggling. Last year was terrible for most of us. We've been taking the opportunity during our earthquake break, I don't know what you call that, we were talking to each other and 2023 was terrible for us. Revenue is up a little bit but our costs are way up. And I mention that because the outdoor dining program during the pandemic was really a lifeline for many of us. I supported the restrictions that were in place for public health and all that kind of thing, but it was great to have somewhere where the restaurant industry we could help ourselves, right. We were not asking for a handout. We were asking for a way to do what we do, and it saved many of our businesses, very important. We are looking forward to 2026, right. We're looking at the world coming here to Philadelphia and we really want to put our best foot forward, our best foot. I don't think there's any reason that we shouldn't be as good as Paris or other places, right, that have this outdoor vibrancy. I'm not full of myself. I don't know if Philadelphia is Paris, but that's what we're striving for. And I heard a lot of sort of compromise suggestions from earlier testimony that why don't you just put a couple chairs out, and that's not the best we can do and that's why. We creatively solved a lot of problems during the pandemic, and we've adapted and rebuilt and done stuff to try to make our outdoor experience as good as it can be. The new legislation when it became permanent, I get that it's easier to be more restrictive to try to make everywhere compliant as much as you can. But there's a lot of the restrictions that we find in the permanent version that just don't really make sense. The one where you're not allowed to get permission from an adjacent property has been cited many times, that's huge. All three of my properties are corner, right. Most of the bars and restaurants in Philadelphia that's not -- I'm not going to say most, but many of them. I don't have the statistics, but many of them. But just that one simple thing can really allow a viable outdoor dining scene that isn't allowed in the current things. Not allowing lighting of any kind or electricity, I mean what year is this? We know how to do this according to code and safely. So the idea that it's safer to not have lighting in an outdoor dining area is just insane to me. It's not only inviting in a hospitality way, but it's needed, right. You wouldn't allow a business to operate without lighting in an employee zone, and yet somehow this is cited as a safety concern --
We're also probably the safest corners in the City that have streeteries in our restaurants because we are well- lit. I have many, many, many women in my neighborhood that cross the street to walk on my side of the street when they're walking down with their children, not crossing the street away, crossing over to be in front.
Yeah, that's a really good point. I have personal anecdotes to where people have sought safety in our place. Yeah, eyes on the street, some lighting, all those things is great. You've noticed -- the earlier testimony also mentioned illegal activities that could somehow take place or something like that. Restaurant owners are, it's all -- we sweep our sidewalks, we clean, we provide security at night. We do all those things and it's important to us more than anybody that our corners are safe. So, yeah, actually lighting's a big one. And it wasn't even a commonsense solution like, oh, you could do low voltage lighting or something like that, like landscape lighting. I have no idea what the objection is to the safety of that. We actually at Johnny Brenda's came up with heated seats that used minimal electricity during the pandemic because we were forced to be a four-season outdoor dining, right. We came up with a heated seat that used very little energy at all. We shared it immediately on YouTube for other restaurants across the country. People have implemented it in ski areas, everything, right. It worked, you know, but we had to pull all of our electric out of our streeteries to comply and it's really just a step backwards. The public loves outdoor dining. I applaud you guys, men and women, for bringing this forward. It's amazing to see a partner in Philadelphia government rather than just a bureaucracy that is stopping us from doing what we need to do. Thank you.
Thank you so much for your testimony. With the changes in regulations, how much does it cost you to comply with all these changes?
Yeah, it's a lot and the time is really more expensive than anything, right. And keeping -- we basically had architects on retainer at this point to be able to get through this. I mean, it is very expensive.
I mean, the customer tells you what you can and cannot do, I mean, whether they come or not. It's really elementary. I mean, I'm in a neighborhood where a house will sell for $1 million. I mean, of course my sidewalk's swept. Of course, I hose it down. Of course, my streetery is well-lit. Of course, it's clean. I mean, it would be incompatible with success to not be any other way.
Thank you. Are there any questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, thank you gentlemen for your testimony. I really appreciate your time.
Mr. Pullin, can you please call the next panel of witnesses.
The next witnesses to testify are Nate Hommel, Director of Planning and Design at University City District; and Cassidy Martin, Executive Director of Northern Liberties Business Improvement District. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Thank you all. Will you please state your name for the record and begin your testimony.
Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Young, Councilmembers. My name is Cassidy Martin. I'm the Executive Director of the Northern Liberties Business Improvement District. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. My colleague Nate and I are here to provide testimony on Resolution 240136 on behalf of our organizations and representing the BID Alliance as well, which includes the 16 Business Improvement Districts of the City, those being Aramingo, Center City District, Chestnut Hill, City Avenue, East Passyunk, Fishtown, Manayunk, Mayfair, Mount Airy, North Broad Renaissance, Northern Liberties, Old City, Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation, Roxborough, South Street and University City. The outdoor dining requirements as they currently stand clearly do not work for the restaurants in the City. At its peak there were over 800 outdoor dining establishments in Philadelphia, and now only a handful remain. Specifically Northern Liberties used to be over a dozen streeteries. Today there's only one which is licensed under the current requirements. The other dining regulations are also inequitable, which I believe Councilmember Brooks brought up earlier. Streeteries and sidewalk cafés are only by-right in selected neighborhoods. Most of these neighborhoods have a Business Improvement District. And Section 9-215 defines by-right boundaries using the specific boundaries of these BIDS. By definition, BID boundaries have wealthier residents as well as businesses with greater access to capital, as they are created on corridors where the commercial property values can support the additional assessments issued by BIDS. This is inherently inequitable because the BIDS played a major role in advocating for their corridors during the outdoor dining conversations, and many neighborhoods and restaurants do not have the same voice at the table. Every restaurant on a commercial corridor in Philadelphia should have the same process and opportunity to utilize outdoor dining for their business, whether they are located in a corridor with a BID or not. The BID Alliance published its policy agenda at the beginning of 2023 and recommends the City make outdoor dining on every commercial corridor by-right. Businesses should have access to use of the parking lane in front of their space for seating by-right and use of the adjacent parking lane by-right with permission of that property owner. The process for obtaining a streetery license should also be streamlined as much as possible. As we've heard, businesses must obtain professional drawings, have architects on retainer, meet with several City departments, pay various fees. But in many cases, businesses must also obtain an ordinance from City Council and engage in a lengthy legislative process. Based on the lack of businesses who are licensed, it is clear these requirements are burdensome. We also recommend sidewalk café seating be by-right in all commercial corridors. Every restaurant in Philadelphia should have the right to place a few tables and chairs in front of their establishment without needing a City ordinance. Outdoor dining, specifically sidewalk seating, adds significant revenue for little investment for small restaurants. To tell a story about a restaurant in my neighborhood, this is especially critical for first- time restaurant owners often who are many new Americans. Pera Turkish Cuisine located on 2nd and Laurel Streets in Northern Liberties has worked for almost a year on getting their sidewalk café permit, which they need prior to getting Council approval. Pera is owned by Mehmet and Eric, who both moved to Philadelphia over years ago and 2 opened the restaurant in 2022. 3 Pera is highly successful, but 4 still operates in only a little 5 over 1,000 square feet of space.
6 Pera's sidewalk café will add four 7 tables to their dining space which 8 will bring in significant 9 additional revenue, especially on 10 weekends when the restaurant is often completely booked. The dozens of requirements needed for the sidewalk café license, including several revisions to their plan by an architect and still waiting to get on the Council calendar, will mean Pera will have spent over a year just to place four tables on their sidewalk. The current regulations are incredibly difficult and complex for most restaurant operators, but are specifically an added burden for small new American restaurants. Thank you for allowing me to share this and I welcome any questions.
I'm Nate Hommel, Director of Planning and Design for University City District. Chair Young, Councilmember Landau and members of the Committee of Streets and Services, thank you for allowing me to provide this testimony regarding steeteries and the necessary regulatory reforms. As representative of University City District, I'm honored to speak on this critical matter that significantly impacts our City's vitality and vibrancy. My organization University City District was founded in '97, by partnering with the world-renowned anchor institutions, small businesses and residents to improve economic vitality and quality of life in Philadelphia's University City. Our primary mission is community revitalization. We work within a place-based data-driven framework to invest in world-class public spaces, address crime and public safety, support small businesses along our commercial corridors, connect low-income Philadelphians to careers and employer partners and promote job growth and innovation. Every day we work to change places and change lives. Before delving into specifics, I want to thank Chair Young, Councilmember Landau and all Committee members for their dedication to addressing this issue and facilitating this critical discussion. My organization University City District has been at the forefront of urban revitalization efforts. With experience ranging from large-scale public space projects like the Porch at 30 Street Station, Trolley Portal Gardens on Baltimore Avenue to neighborhood safety and commercial corridor activation projects like parklets and pedestrian plazas. Of particular note for this Streetery's hearing was that we introduced parklets to Philadelphia in 2011. A parklet is a pure public space that is a simple seating platform with protective barriers that showed on average a percent increase in sales to our 15 restaurants. With the onset of the 16 pandemic, we collaborated with the 17 City to strategize the activation 18 of public spaces, leading to the 19 emergence of streeteries, a concept 20 derived from our previous experience with parklets in West Philadelphia from 2011 to 2022. The design of streeteries or parklets is intricate and often necessitates the involvement of costly design professionals. We propose pre-approved, standardized modular options to democratize access to streeteries as an economic development tool for restaurants. This approach will streamline the process and alleviate financial burdens for restaurant owners. Standardized options will promote fairness and equality among restaurants, particularly benefiting establishments owned by individuals from marginalized communities. By reducing the need for hiring design professionals, these standardized options empower restaurant owners to focus on their businesses, saving valuable time and resources. Reflecting on our experience with parklets, we recognize the importance of an iterative approach to streeteries. Learning from the evolving needs and preferences of the community, we envision a phased implementation that allows for adjustments and enhancements over time. This iterative process proved successful with parklets and is essential for effectiveness of streeteries. While promoting the activation of public spaces, we must prioritize pedestrian safety, especially for corner restaurants. Similar to our previous parklet designs, we propose leaving the portions nearest to corners uncovered to ensure visibility and mitigate potential hazards. Drawing from past successes in Philadelphia's right-of-way activation projects, I urge the Committee to embrace innovation and flexibility in regulating streeteries. We can create dynamic inclusive public spaces that benefit our communities by fostering collaboration and adaptability. In conclusion, I sincerely thank the Committee on Streets and Services for their commitment to advancing urban development initiatives.
By working together, we can establish a regulatory framework for streeteries that fosters innovation, equity and safety. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Thank you so much for your testimony. I just have one question. Since majority of the BIDS that we have are outside of the Center City zone, I guess can you reiterate your position on allowing a more by-right process for sidewalk cafés and streeteries in areas where there are BIDS that are created by the City?
For us because I'm in the 3rd Council District, we are all approved. We're the only one that has a blanket approval outside of Center City. But sidewalk cafés remain onerous and requires the restaurants to get involved in the legislative process. The sidewalk cafés are certainly more of a challenge, but actually that's what most restaurants in our district have been asking me for because of the streeteries. Even though they're by-right, because of the difficulties of all the design professionals and the reviews and other things, they say you know what, I'll just get a couple tables and chairs. But even in that getting in ordinance, they have to hire an architect. They again have to have an architect on retainer because it lasts for months and months and months even though I'm there holding their hand the whole time saying, this is what you need to do, here's who you can talk to, here's who the City officials are that you need to speak with. Even with that, it takes many months for one or two tables. And so, it seems like that could be a by-right situation very easily. You just don't block a fire hydrant, don't block the emergency, et cetera, et cetera, and boom, you can just have these things. So the safety is number one. Safety has to be considered. We don't want to jeopardize anything like that, but the ease of access to get these items having by-right options certainly makes it easier for people that don't have the resources, don't know the Councilmember, don't know City officials, don't know people in the Business Improvement District. They should be able to just get these items because we've proven with our parklets it increases business by percent just with 6 parklets, and during streeteries it 7 saved the restaurant industry. 8 Our argument is you pay for 9 the infrastructure, that 20 percent 10 increase in sales continues year 11 after year after year, and that 12 parklet or streetery has paid for 13 itself. So this is clearly an 14 economic development tool. Again, 15 with new Americans, with Black and 16 Brown businesses, there aren't a 17 lot of resources. There aren't as 18 many options for them to go out for 19 these things. 20 And so, I think the more we can have a standardized set of like, hey, pick from Option A, B and C, if you're deep-pocketed and you don't want those, great, you can still go through the process. But for those that don't have that, it would be a lifeline to say, boom, I can just get this, I can save up that money and I can get this maybe in Year or of this process.
Thank you so much. Any questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Thank you so much for your testimony. I really appreciate your time today. Mr. Pullin, are there any other witnesses to testify?
Yes, there are. The next witnesses to testify are Cassie Tomkins, Senior Director of Government and Civic Affairs at Visit Philly and Ashley Miscevich, Manager of Local Government Advocacy and Engagement at the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. (Witness approached Witness table.)
Thank you so much for having me this afternoon. I'm here to testify in support of Resolution 240136, introduced by Councilmember Landau. My name is Cassie Tomkins and I'm the Senior Director of Government and Civic Affairs at Visit Philadelphia. As you know, Visit Philly is the official destination marketing organization of the Philadelphia five-county region. Our mission is to build Greater Philadelphia's image, attract leisure visitors and boost the local economy. Culinary experiences are a key marketing pillar for Visit Philadelphia. Meaning, that we are often leaning into this when we're advertising to folks outside of the region as a reason to come to Philadelphia. And food and beverage is the largest category of direct visitor spending, accounting for over a quarter of all visitor spending in the City. So when they come, what they're wanting to spend their money on is food. And we know from perception studies that we commissioned from Ipsos research firm that restaurants and dining are key motivators for getting people to travel, not just to Philadelphia but across all destinations. And when restaurants thrive, there's increased foot traffic and more visitors, residents and regional residents spend time and money in our commercial corridors. Not only did the pandemic negatively impact restaurants, it also showed us how crucial the dining scene is to the vitality of our communities. We encourage City Council to adopt this resolution 4 and look into ways to make the process for gaining and maintaining streeteries easier for restaurants, equitable across neighborhoods and beneficial for residents and visitors alike. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Just one question I have. I know Philadelphia is known for our restaurant scene, as our Center City. We don't have a lot of the large chain restaurants here. So could you talk about how the regulations, if any, has it suppressed any visitation or have you had any issues from visitors when trying to navigate our restaurant scene here?
Well, one point I just wanted to make, you reminded me, Philadelphia actually has more restaurants per capita than New York City, so we are known for having a lot of restaurants, small restaurants, as you said not owned by chains. I don't actually have any data on the regulations impacting travel, but I will say as we can all anecdotally say we enjoy eating out, and I think having a lively street scene would be actually a draw to come to Philly, especially for our day trippers, people who are coming from the regions who might want to come in for a meal with their families. If you know there's a vibrant outdoor scene, you might want to come more often.
Yes. Just anecdotally, I'm going to New York this weekend for a day, right. And as we're walking around whoever has somewhere outside, that's probably where we're going to go because it catches our attention.
Yes. Any questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, thank you so much for your testimony, I appreciate it, today.
Mr. Pullin, please call our last witnesses to testify please.
The next witnesses to testify are Eli Storch, Chair of the Design Advocacy Group. I believe Ariel Ben-Amos, founder of StreetBoxPHL is not here anymore. It's just Mr. Storch.
And was there anyone who signed up to testify today as well for public comment?
Yes. We have one, Paul Lipton, if he's still available. You can feel free to come up and testify on the panel.
Thank you. Please come up to the panel. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Please state your name and begin your testimony please.
Sure thing. My name is Eli Storch. I chair the Design Advocacy Group. Chairperson Young, Councilmember Landau, members of the Streets and Services Committee, it's a pleasure to testify before you today on the opportunity to revisit streeteries after the program languished since pandemic regulations were lifted. This program can and should work. Philadelphia's restaurants, as have been stated again and again, are world renowned and a source of pride for our citizens. And at the same time when retail's struggling and commercial corridors need a boost, a successful outdoor dining program can provide many solutions. What is required to revise and implement such program is leadership, leadership to navigate the City's agencies. We've heard all about the many boundaries there, bringing them together to find solutions that are more than a mere agglomeration of various agency requirements but coordinated commonsense regulations that represent best practice. Leadership to coordinate meaningfully with PennDOT to provide peace of mind to restaurant owners so that they're not under that constant threat of an outside authority, and leadership to make this program a priority. We thank Councilmember Landau for taking the first step, but it's critical that other members of Council and the Mayor's Office get on board and prioritize the streeteries program. Outside of City Hall, that the will is there, not just from restaurant owners looking for additional seating, but from communities eager for greater foot traffic, active street culture which provides more safety and a higher quality of living while supporting other local businesses. And frankly, people like it. Folks enjoy it. The design community is prepared to support these efforts as well, whether the goal is standardizing design options as Nate was talking about, evaluating and modifying regulations to achieve best practice outcomes or designing the most beautiful interesting and welcoming structures for dining that meet the various regulatory criteria. As with any design development and construction project, clarity and certainty lead to better more consistent outcomes. The Design Advocacy Group is excited to offer our support and assistance with the review of both the design and regulatory requirements for the Streeteries Program, DAG's Philadelphia Streeteries Visioning Guide, which was published in August of 2022 represents months of research, outreach and public meetings and design studies with City officials, restaurant owners, design professionals, community representatives, commercial corridor managers and others. And throughout that process, it was reinforced again and again how much momentum was behind the program. Sadly, we as a city have squandered that momentum. But with the leadership of Council and the Mayor's Office, we look forward to joining in a rejuvenated process that studies best practice precedence from other cities, both domestically and abroad, and combines them with all the elements that make Philadelphia special and challenging to yield an actionable outcome that benefits the City. Thank you for your time. It's a privilege to be here.
Thank you so much for your testimony. Please proceed with your testimony. Do you have any --
Yes. Thank you for your time and for this opportunity to speak to the Councilmembers. Today I'm speaking as a member of the public. I don't represent or have any affiliation with any restaurateurs or the industry as a whole or any of its related vendors for that matter.
Yes. My apologies. My name is Paul Lipton. I'm a citizen in Philadelphia. I live in the Graduate Hospital area. Do you need more specific information or is that adequate?
Okay. So I wanted to take this opportunity to speak in support of some of what we've heard today and what Member Council Landau has been encouraging, which is streamlining and improvement in the process. I'm speaking personally from a handful of perspectives. My wife has some medical issues and also she is hearing- impaired. So the streeteries for us -- we've all seen, for example, people pull up a wheelchair at a streetery or a sidewalk café and certainly people with those disabilities are served and we see people with dogs and all that, but there are many other constituencies with medical problems that are dependent upon these sidewalk cafés and streeteries if we wish to dine. So in the case of hearing disability, my wife uses hearing aids. Just to make that clear, a lot of people wear hearing aids. If you look for them, you can see them. I know there was a gentleman here I saw had one on. 8 million Americans who have hearing disability that would significantly benefit from hearing aids. That's expected to double by 2060 because we're getting older, because we use earbuds for if we go to concerts. There's a lot of reasons, but it is inevitable. We have an aging population. It's inevitable that more and more people will have these disabilities. For my wife who can't be here today, she is unable to dine indoors because almost all restaurants are too noisy for her to do what we really do when we wish to dine which is to socialize. It's one of the things that makes Philadelphia great, is these restaurants, and certainly she is largely unable to take advantage of that now. Even though we're fortunate to have the disposable income and ability to go to these restaurants, there are quite a few that we can't. She also has in addition to a hearing deficiency, she has something that's actually relatively common for people who have hearing damage and you may not have heard of it before, it's called hyperacusis which means even though she can't easily understand what people are saying in noisy environments, and as we know some restaurants for better or worse, they use words like lively, but for those of us who see the word lively or exciting, we know that means loud as a jet engine, so we just don't give our money or go to those places. You could tell a little frustration there. I'm sorry if I let that show. But when you have hyperacusis, it's physically painful for you to hear a loud noise. So you can imagine how difficult that is for people who suffer from that particular hearing disability. And it often accompanies other hearing loss to varying degrees. So for us as people who have chosen to live in Greater Center City, this is a real issue. And we all know -- you can see I'm wearing a mask. That relates to the other medical issues. We all know that this isn't the only pandemic we're going to have. We know that RSV or other things will happen because of climate change or all that. I'm an engineer by background, so the first thing I think is are we resilient or are we going to go into panic mode when we have to all dine outside again. And the charm of this City is also its resilience in terms of its restaurants and that academic base, if I may speak that opinion. And also, in my own nature of work as an engineer, I've had to travel from Prague to Tokyo. And I've been fortunate enough to go to a lot of cities, and the only ones you want to go back to are the ones that have the outdoor dining, the charm, that European feel. And Philadelphia which is in so many ways a European city. I can't see economically, I can't see in terms of our quality of life as citizens why we aren't leaning into that more. Why it isn't the easiest thing in the world in a city like this, especially if you're a small restaurateur to at least jumpstart into a small café with three or four tables, but also easier for people to offer streeteries that can support three- or four-season dining, which of course means some kind of electrification or heat.
Because what we do now to be honest is in January we don't dine out. And if there are restaurants that we could go to and support with our dollars and our enthusiasm, they're completely close to us, if they don't have the ability to properly heat and with proper ventilation -- guys, please still have those outdoor dineries. So I guess I shouldn't really take much more of your time. I very much appreciate that you've listened to me so far. And again, I apologize for the extemporaneous nature of what I'm saying. I have no notes or preparation. I literally saw Councilmember Landau's tweet -- well, my wife showed me. I don't tweet or X last night. I did send you an email. But I just want to thank you for your time and attention. And I'd be perfectly comfortable answering any questions you might have.
Thank you both for your testimony. Mr. Lipton, thank you for your testimony specifically coming down here as just a common citizen of our City who just wants to enjoy the benefits of living in the City. So again, thank you so much. I do have a question for Mr. Storch. Can you describe to us some of the materials that are required to design some of these streeteries? And is there a way where you think we can offer more lightweight materials, a little more cheaper materials to help some of these restaurant owners out?
So New York City's doing some interesting work with prototyping, and inevitably those prototypes cost a little bit more. But once they can make them and begin to standardize them, the cost comes down considerably and they're using lighter gauge aluminums and things that either allow you to move the whole device easily or lift up panels. So if you are over any sort of underground utilities, you could fully expose those for maintenance without having to deconstruct the streetery. The nice thing is when we started studying this in 2022, we were out front with everybody else trying to figure it out. There's been a lot of work done so there are a lot of really good precedence around the country. And that's just one off the top of the head. So I think with some research, the focus on resilient materials and lightweight materials is a really critical one, whether it is that aluminum or fiberglass or some other lightweight materials that can be prefabricated going back to the standardization approach.
Thank you. Are there any questions from members of the Committee? Councilmember Harrity.
Not really questions. I'd just like to thank everybody who came out today and actually thank Rue for putting the legislation in. I grew up in the restaurant business. I dropped out of high school at 16 and was able to make a living and then actually support a family from working in the restaurant business. And I know how important it would have been to have three extra tables with 36 extra covers if we can make three turns, you know, the restaurant business. That's money for restaurant and it's also money for the employees working there. So I commend Rue on putting this up because I too love the outdoor cafés. And if I had a choice and I was going out and it's nice out, I want to eat outside. I want to sit around, enjoy the atmosphere and people watch, you know, watch everybody going by and all that stuff that you do. So I'd just like to commend it. And we really do need to make it easier. And like you said, there's other kinds of stuff that we can use now. They have plastic that's stronger than steel now. You know, it's very lightweight. So I appreciate it and I thank you, Rue.
Thank you. No specific questions, but I also just want to take a second to thank everybody. We are so appreciative of our small businesses here in Philadelphia, our small restaurants, for everything that you've already gone through in this process. I've talked to many restaurateurs who spent a lot of money to create structures that they just had to take down, and we're now saying -- hopefully we'll open up the avenue for you to do it again. But hopefully they will also last this time. We are going to all take in everything that you've told us, and I know that especially Chair Young and I are going to sit down and see what solutions we can come up with in working with the Administration who we appreciate so much. 2026 is just around the corner and we do want to make sure that Philly's got such a vibrant, sometimes quiet and vibrant, restaurant scene and want to make sure it's accessible to everybody. So thank you again for your time and coming out, and we want to support you in every way that we can.
I think I want to jump on the thank- you train too. Once again I love outdoor eating and dining. And just being in the hearing just hearing some of the restaurants that are represented reminded me like, I need to make reservations. As the weather changes and we want to be able to get out and enjoy the weather, I am with my colleagues to make sure that we can work as hard as possible with the restaurateurs and the City to make sure this opportunity is made available as soon as possible into the summer and spring, but even more so everyone's talking about 2026. We have a big opportunity in the City and we just need to get it right. So thank you to the City representatives for the work that they're doing to move this forward. Thank you to the restaurateurs. And thank you so much, Councilmember Landau, for bringing up this issue.
Thank you. Being no more questions, I appreciate your time -- sorry. There's one more coming to testify. (Witness approached Witness table.)
Thank you, Chairman and members. I don't want to prolong this. I just wanted to clarify a couple things from previous testimony. First, I just want to be clear that lighting is allowed in streeteries. The question I think that comes up is how the power is provided to those lightings. So it is correct that we do prohibit lines being extended from the building to the streetery, whether it's overhead or underground, and the reasoning it has to do with compliance with code, also not creating tripping hazards and not creating excavation for these. But what we expect is for people to use portable power. So powerpacks for lighting is perfectly acceptable. That's not a problem at all. The second thing, I want to clarify my own comments about the questions that have come up or have not come up on the guidelines. So in the process of issuing the latest round of guidance which came out in February, getting from the end of the pandemic to here, there were an abundance of questions and comments that have come in around that guidance. But since these guidelines were put out February of this year, we have not heard any questions from anybody through the Commerce Department, which has been the main department focused on the guidance. And specifically, what we're looking for is confusion about things. We understand that people don't like some of the things that are on the guidance. And so, we certainly want to do our best to make sure people are accommodated. But we're also very much concerned in the clarity. And I think you guys have been explicit, you want things to be clear and understandable. And so, that was what my comment was directed to. But of course, we look forward to making improvements and making this easier for people all around. So thank you for allowing me to correct those two things.
Okay. Thank you so much. Now, that will conclude our public --
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You stated the guidelines and folks have rolled into trying to comply to those guidelines. What is the process and policy to help people comply to what we have now and how can we make it so that we --
So as we're listening to testimony, I think it's worth also stating that we do have a system for appointments. Streets Department takes appointments for folks to address any issues that they have, with coming into compliance, with filling out the applications, with getting to the point where they have a license. And they do have staff within Streets Department that is dedicated to outdoor dining. Now, I think one of the things we need to look at is why people either don't feel like that's adequate, why they may not know about it and whether those folks need to have more visibility across the whole spectrum of, you know, I think we listed seven departments that are involved. And so, we can work to improve that, I think.
I think the other concern is that when they do apply, it takes long to get the comments back, right. And then they have to -- the way we notify them is we put it up in eCLIPSE, right. And then if they don't look at their eCLIPSE account, they don't know. So now, there's comments, they're waiting, you're waiting, we're waiting, right. Everybody's waiting, but there's got to be a way to notify and say, hey, these two things need to be changed.
Do we contact them just through putting that up in eCLIPSE? Do you send them an email?
I will have to take a closer look at that, and that may be something we need to push out, like you say a little bit more robustly so they can see and then be told to check eCLIPSE and come back to us, so that's something that we need to improve as well.
Okay. Thank you. Because the goal is to get people to have it open and comply and do the best we can, whatever the rules and regulations are or whatever we change them to. And this way just notifying them by putting it up in eCLIPSE, I don't think it's the best way to do that because they would have to go into their eCLIPSE account look and say, hey, do I have any comments yet and I already applied and not getting something back. And so, we go back and forth. And your staff is great. We harass the hell out of them when we're trying to get people up and running, because a lot of these are outside certain areas, are done through ordinance, right. So the ordinance has to be in compliance before we could then move forward with that.
So hopefully there's a path that's a little quicker and that no 9 notification is sent back and forth. So when we call, the Streets Department will say, oh, we sent the comment in; oh, we didn't know there was a comment; oh, we sent that back, Streets is reviewing it now; we didn't get it back, and it goes back and forth.
I was just going to add, if this is still on, one more comment. So for folks that do have --
Keisha Duckett, Streets Department. So for those that do have an application in with eCLIPSE, a lot of times they don't add a co- applicant. Typically what we encourage is that the applicant be whoever is the person who prepared the drawing and then the co- applicants can be the owner, owner/representative, anyone else, and then they will all receive a notification. Because a lot of times it may be the owner who's reaching out for the status, but they're not the one who was actually the applicant. By adding the co-applicants, they will all receive the same notifications, and that's an email.
Yes, the email goes into eCLIPSE and then they will all receive the notifications.
So we would need to inform them to put both the co-applicant on there?
Thank you. That concludes our public hearing. But I note there was an error when amending one of the bills, so we would have to enter back into the public meeting for an amendment to Bill No. 240122. For the record, we stated that there was amendment to Bill 21 No. 240022. However, the correct number is 240122. So I --
Never mind. So with that, Mr. Pullin, can you please read the names of folks who have provided a written testimony to be added to the public record.
Entering into the public record will be written testimony from Job Itzkowitz, Old City District; Jennifer Rodriguez, Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Ashley Thomas, Royal Restaurant Group; Katrina Johnston- Zimmerman, Think Urban; Owen Kamihara, El Camina Real; and nearly 100 survey responses from constituents provided to us by the Office of Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you so much, Mr. Pullin. This concludes the business before the Committee on Streets and Services today. Thank you very much for your attendance. (Committee on Streets and Services concluded at 2:46 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL