COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA BUDGET HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, February 18, 1998 9:40 a.m. - - - BILL 980003 - An Ordinance adopting an Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 1999. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILMAN JOHN F. STREET, Chair COUNCILWOMAN ANNA C. VERNA, Vice-Chair COUNCILWOMAN HAPPY FERNANDEZ COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILWOMAN AUGUSTA A. CLARK COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILMAN ANGEL ORTIZ COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILMAN RICHARD T. MARIANO COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center Plaza, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 506 I N D E X BILL 980003 Joseph C. Certaine, Managing Director, City of Philadelphia--------------------------------- 509 Charles P. Kluge, Jr., Executive Director, Police Advisory Commission------------------- 538 John Wilder, Deputy Mayor, Criminal Justice----- 540 Tom Conway, Assistant Managing Director, City of Philadelphia--------------------------------- 584 Donna Wolf, Director, Target Assistance Program- 587 Michael Nardone, Deputy Managing Director, Special Needs Housing------------------------ 594 Harold B. Hairston, Commissioner, Philadelphia Fire Department------------------------------ 603 Joan Decker, Commissioner, Records Department--- 633 Joan M. Reeves, Commissioner, Department of Human Services------------------------------- 660 Joyce Burrell, Deputy Commissioner, Juvenile Justice Services-------------------- 680 Paul Bochetto, Private Citizen------------------ 726 Ed Schwartz, President, Institute for Study of Civic Affairs---------------------------- 732 Cynthia Ferguson, Community Women's Education Program------------------------------------- 748 Peggy Maguire, Germantown Women's Project------ 749 Faith Williams, Urban Affairs Coalition-------- 751 Jimmy Clark, President, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance--------------------------- 780 Robert Leslie, Freedom Theater----------------- 786 Grays Ferry Panel James Helman-------------------------------- 787 Celeste Harris------------------------------ 790 Pat Sheridan-------------------------------- 792 Terry Bennett------------------------------- 793 Walter Piecyznski, Private Citizen------------- 795 Gaylord Neal, Private Citizen------------------ 802 Reverend William Erat, Executive Director, Lutheran Children & Family Services--------- 807 June Cairns, Executive Director, Executive Committee of Children, Youth and Family Council Education Consortium---------------- 813 507 BILL 980003
May I have your attention, please. It is my understanding that the Mayor is having a press conference to make a very important announcement relating to the Police Department. On that basis, these hearings will stand in recess until o'clock a.m. 8 It is my understanding that the 9 Managing Director will be at the press conference. 10 And it would be unfair, in my judgment, to ask him 11 to be here testifying at the time when a significant announcement is being made that relates to one of the major operating departments of the City of Philadelphia. So this committee will stand in recess until 11 o'clock, at which time we will take the testimony of the Managing Director. Thank you. (Council stands in recess.)
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I will say good morning, while I still can. If I could have all Councilmembers come to the Council chambers, we would like to get started with our Public Hearing. This is a recessed Public Hearing 508 BILL 980003 from, actually, yesterday. And we will be taking testimony primarily on Bill No. 980003, An Ordinance 4 adopting an Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 1999. As most of you know, this committee has been in recess since about 9:30 this morning. And Councilmembers have had an opportunity to go down and meet the new Philadelphia Police Commissioner, as was announced today by the Mayor. It was agreed with the Mayor at that time that we will defer a consideration of testimony on the Police Department's budget until after the arrival of the new Police Commissioner. Given the fact that we will be taking testimony into March, we can arrange to have that testimony at a time when the new Commissioner is with us. So what we will do now is proceed with the consideration of testimony by the Managing Director on behalf of the Managing Director's Office. The Managing Director is with us. Mr. Certaine, please identify yourself for the record and proceed with a summary of your statement. And we appreciate your being available to answer questions of Councilmembers. 509 BILL 980003
Good morning, Mr. President. Thank you. Members of City Council, I am Joseph C. Certaine, Managing Director of the City of Philadelphia. The total proposed Operating Budget for the Managing Director's Office for Fiscal Year 1999 is $13,677,040, which includes $6,510,975 in the General Fund and $7,166,065 in the Grants Fund. The Fiscal Year 1999 General Fund budget request represents an increase of $361,018 from Fiscal Year 1998 estimated obligations. This increase includes $221,018 in additional Class 100 funds to support negotiated wage increases for staff and all divisions of the MDO. In addition, funding and responsibility for a $100,000 contract for consultant services to support the Telecommunications Policy Advisory Committee has been transferred from the Mayor's Office of Information Services, to the Managing Director's Office. Another $40,000 will be used to fund legal services for the Police Advisory Commission. 510 BILL 980003 The budget in the Grants Fund contains an increase of $5,125,473 from Fiscal Year 1998, which includes an additional $201,600 for services provided by the Targeted Assistance Program, an additional $59,678 for Criminal Justice Coordinating Services, an additional $4,864,195 for the Municipal Energy Office. Traditionally, the Managing Director's Office provided oversight, support, and assistance to the operating departments that it 12 directly serves. 13 In the last few years, we have dramatically increased the way we provide services to the departments and the citizens of Philadelphia in order to address the complex problems like blight, graffiti, and crime facing the city. The MDO plans and coordinates projects that enhance municipal service delivery across departmental lines, ensures that the department's critical service delivery performance levels are met and maintained, and works closely with neighborhood leaders to develop innovative methods for targeting service delivery. Some of the achievements of the 511 BILL 980003 Managing Director's Office over the last two years include deploying mobile data terminals for the Police Department, ensuring the growth of Philadelphia's communications infrastructure plan, evaluating proposals for the renewal of the city's cable TV franchises, designing and implementing service improvements in the Streets Department's daily operations, including the collection of refuse and recycling, as well as street maintenance and winter weather operations. We also are working with the state to develop an acceptable plan for the transition of the Navy base and Capart housing properties from federal to local jurisdiction and for the delivery of municipal services to these sites. And we are also conducting a comprehensive review of environmental priorities with the operating departments in order to develop a blueprint of the city's environmental priorities and coordinate environment compliance. The MDO is also working in the area of contract monitoring for the Prisons and Department of Public Property, developing new requests for proposals for commissary food and 512 BILL 980003 health services provided to the inmates of the Philadelphia Prison System. The key focus over the next year will be the ongoing review of deployment practices by the Police Department, including the creation of an Aviation Unit and the evaluation of the feasibility of a 311 nonemergency phone number. In May 1996, the Managing Director's Office, the Mayor's Office of Community Services, and the Recreation Department assumed primary responsibility for the city's antigraffiti initiatives.
As the Chair of the Graffiti Operations Committee, which provides oversight, policy guidance, and coordination for the city's comprehensive antigraffiti efforts, I have got to be able to say that since the onset of the new coordinated program for antigraffiti, the city now has five Zero Tolerance Zones, 37 Graffiti Free Zones, and has removed in excess of 7,000 tags of graffiti, and has cleaned approximately 19,000 instances of graffiti from the Zero Tolerance Zones. Since the city has instituted a 513 BILL 980003 Special Events Policy in May of 1993, the Managing Director's Office has coordinated the city's services that make possible such events as parades and festivals. We have been successful in recouping a portion of the money, a small portion at that, of the money that the city spends on these events. To date, approximately $266,000 has been billed. And in 1998 and '99, we anticipate collecting an additional $179,000. As I said a couple of minutes ago, this only helps to defray the city's costs for special events; it does not cover the costs of those events. The city's Partners for Progress Program was established in 1984 as an innovative community development stabilization program to improve the delivery of municipal services to targeted neighborhoods through a partnership of government action and civic responsibility. Since the program's inception, Partners has focused its attention to meet the needs of the neighborhoods that it has targeted and that it serves. 514 BILL 980003 Currently, elements of the Police Department's newly formed Rapid Response crime team, as well as the expanded Narcotics Strike Force, have been added to the Partners for Progress program initiatives in order to be part of an effort aimed at revitalizing community participation through community-based organizations and Town Watch groups in the fight against crime at the neighborhood level. Over the next year, the city will dedicate an additional $1 million to the demolition of imminently dangerous buildings in targeted Partners for Progress areas. In the last four years, the MDO has vastly increased the city's support provided to communities trying to make their neighborhoods safer, cleaner places to work and live. Between FY '95 and '98, the city has allocated nearly $6 million to support anti-crime activities and programming. Between Fiscal Year 1995 and '97, the MDO coordinated the distribution of 1,300 radios and 400 cellular phones -- roughly three radios or phones per Town Watch group -- and over 21,000 sets 515 BILL 980003 of T-shirts, jackets, and caps. In the same three years, the MDO has awarded 475 cash grants, amounting to nearly $245,000 to Town Watch groups alone. In 1998, the MDO will distribute approximately $200,000 worth of additional equipment and grants. In addition, the MDO distributes grants for neighborhood antidrug activities to address the problems of violence and drugs among the city's youth. These funds have been used for mentoring programs, youth organizations, trips for neighborhood youth, and educational programs to inform young people about violence, AIDS and AIDS prevention, drugs, and the criminal justice system. In recent years, the MDO has designated three deputy managing directors to coordinate the city's homeless service system, accessibility compliance, and prison population management. Deputy Managing Director for Special Needs Housing is charged with obtaining shelter beds, food kitchen sites, and job training for 516 BILL 980003 clients served by the homeless service system. And by securing these services on a citywide basis, significant economies of scale are achieved. In addition, the Deputy Managing Director has helped the city develop a long-term strategy for moving clients from large shelters, to transitional and permanent housing, and continues to work to temper the impacts of Welfare reform on the city's homeless system.
In response to the safety cap proposed by the prison system, which limited the number of inmates in custody in the city's prisons to 3,750 at any one time, the position of Deputy Managing Director for Criminal Justice Population Management was created. The deputy has worked closely with the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, the District Attorney, the Police Department, the prison system, and the defender association to secure release from the Federally imposed prison cap and to ensure that the prison population is maintained at acceptable levels. The Deputy Managing Director for 517 BILL 980003 Accessibility Compliance is charged with coordinating the Americans with Disabilities Act compliance activities of every city department and agency, as effectively and efficiently as possible, while providing citizens with disabilities access to all public services. Since Fiscal Year 1990, the city has spent a total of $33 million to bring city facilities and streets into structural compliance with ADA guidelines. The city expects to install curb ramps for the city's intersections and renovate a total of approximately 70 buildings and facilities in order to improve access to the disabled. The Office of Emergency Management coordinates all contingency planning for the city and interdepartmental activities during emergency situations. During Fiscal Year 1998, the MDO will complete the first comprehensive status report on the city's emergency management program that will provide an overview of the city's state of readiness in the event of a local or regional disaster. The MDO is also responsible for 518 BILL 980003 coordinating the city's response to snow emergencies, of which we haven't had any this year, thank God. In late 1995, the MDO led the effort to establish the defunct Snow Emergency Route system. As a result, the city is now better equipped to handle snow emergencies by ticketing and towing vehicles left along the 110-mile route system after a snow emergency has been declared in order to make them more accessible for emergency response vehicles. In Fiscal 1998, the Targeted Assistance Program received a $298,400 grant to improve services to older refugee populations in an attempt to mitigate the impacts of Welfare reform. 1 million. The Municipal Energy Office's 1999 budget reflects an anticipated $4,864,000 increase in grant revenues largely attributable to two grants 519 BILL 980003 worth a total of $4,000,603 to construct a compressed natural gas refueling facility at the airport and the purchase of dedicated compressed 5 natural gas employee buses. 6 In the 42 months since its creation, 7 the Police Advisory Commission has received 407 8 individual allegations of police misconduct. Of 9 this total, 271 casess, or 67 percent, have been 10 closed, while 136 cases are currently under 11 investigation. 12 Mr. President, this concludes my 13 testimony for the Managing Director's Office, and I 14 would be glad to entertain any questions. 15
Thank you very 16 much. 17 The Chair recognizes Councilman 18 Cohen.
Thank you, Mr. President. The first question is a simple one. This money for the airport, you referred to two grants involving nearly $5 million. Could you tell me, where is that money coming from, what kinds of grants are they, is 520 BILL 980003 it General Fund money?
It is my understanding, Councilman, it is not General Fund money. And I am at a loss this morning because we just lost the Director -- we didn't lose her; she left the government -- of the Municipal Energy Office. But we would be glad to provide for you a detailed report on the source of the money, the type of grant it is, and the amounts.
Yes, I would appreciate that. Because it has been my understanding that the airport is self-sufficient and that whenever there are costs, they are apportioned among the various airlines that use the services. But we would appreciate getting that information. The second, last question is, who is the Deputy Managing Director for Special Needs Housing?
The deputy is in the Council chamber, and his name is Michael Nardone. He is seated right behind you, Councilman. 521 BILL 980003
Let's see. Mr. Certaine, I had also a question about the Municipal Energy Office. Is there someone here able to answer it, or should that be put on to a later time?
Councilwoman, I believe that that should be put on to a later time. As you know, Judith Mondre has left the government. There has not been a replacement named. And we can supply in any detail to your office or to you personally that you may need, but I am not prepared to answer any detailed questions on the Municipal Energy Office at this time.
I would like it on the record that maybe you could send it to the Chair. Is there a projection for savings 522 BILL 980003 that the office will produce in FY '99? Last year their savings were projected as 8.1 million, which is a significant amount of money. And I am wondering what your projection is for the next fiscal year.
I believe I may have mentioned -- let me just check here for a second. No. The figure that I have does include the FY '98 savings projected to be 8.1 million. So I would have to get a refinement of that for the upcoming fiscal year.
I think that that office has played a very important role, very quietly saving a lot of money in helping us be more efficient.
Yes. In addition to saving money, they have also brought into play a series of grants that have allowed us to do some very spectacular things in the area of energy savings and with an indirect, or maybe not so much an indirect, impact on environmental concerns that we all have.
And I think what Councilman Cohen was referring to is the natural gas.
Yes. The compressed natural gas facility that's scheduled for the airport, I don't have all of the detail on. But we would be glad to submit it to the Chair for the Councilman, and the information for the savings for the next fiscal year, also, for your office's perusal.
The second question was, in the discussion of the Five-Year Plan last week, I had requested a list of all the Partners for Progress areas, with a map showing where you had done work in the last several years. Is that ready yet?
No. You asked that of the Streets Commissioner. I was listening to the testimony at that time. We have produced periodically a series of maps indicating what the census tracts are that we worked in. I am in the process now of having the 524 BILL 980003 Planning Commission put together a large citywide map that indicates all the census tracts that we have been involved in. Some of those census tracts have been repeated from time to time. So what I want to do is put together a legend that describes what census tracts have been hit once and other census tracts that have been hit more than one time. That should be ready within the next ten days or so.
I would think you would want that for the work you are doing, and then I want it so I can see, if I am driving around the city, if I can tell where Partners for Progress has -- if an area looks cleaner, is that because of what you have done or is there something else going on; that's why I want it.
Councilwoman, I would caution you on that. Some areas of the city, no matter what we have done by way of Partner for Progress, we have those conditions that continuously reoccur. And other areas of the city, even 525 BILL 980003 though we may go in for a targeted concentration of municipal services, the Streets Department and other services are engaged in ongoing activities in some of the very same census tracts. So we try not to take credit where it is undue. And what I will try to differentiate on the map is where we have had an ongoing program, or some concentrated effort, of the targeted resources of municipal government to let you know where the program itself has been. But I would not read too much into that, particularly if the block captains and the other community organizations in that area have banded together to maintain what's been accomplished. More of that credit should go to them, than it should go to the program itself.
But your initial cleanup can really give encouragement and incentive to then try to keep it clean.
It is the impetus for a lot of the community organizations to dig in once again and try to maintain what's been accomplished. And we have been fairly successful around the city with that program. 526 BILL 980003
I also had a couple of questions on the anti-graffiti work. But I noticed on the schedule of hearings, that testimony is coming later?
Yes, Councilwoman. Assistant Managing Director Tom Conway is in the Council chambers. But I would suggest that when he presents his testimony, those questions will probably be more appropriate at that time.
That's good. So I will hold those questions. The last one was regarding the Deputy Mayor for Criminal Justice. They are always looking for ways to more effectively and cheaply control the prison population. Does the city use electronic monitoring of criminals so that they could be at home instead of, you know, sort of a more expensive stay in our prisons? And if we are doing that, how successful has that been?
Let me say this: With the rescheduling of this hearing from Friday to 527 BILL 980003 today, Dianne Granlund, who is the person who would best be able to answer your question, is not available right now. But I will say this: The City of Philadelphia does use electronic monitoring. The level of that use and how successful it has been, I am not really prepared to address. But we can get that information submitted to you. Miss Granlund was just not able, there was something else scheduled for today. When the scheduled testimony was moved, she couldn't meet this requirement.
Perhaps she could come back when they are talking about the prisons, anyway, and we can have that all together.
Absolutely. And we will make a note of that, and make sure that she is in Council chambers when Prisons gives their testimony.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Verna. 528 BILL 980003
On -10, No. 7, can you tell us who the Deputy Mayor is on that line item?
Would you submit to the President, please, or to the Chair who that is and what the responsibilities of that individual are?
Also, about four years ago several members of Council had done a study on 911, and a report was submitted, at which time we suggested that the Administration look into the possibility of initiating a 311 nonemergency phone number. I see that, in your testimony, we are 529 BILL 980003 still checking into the feasibility of that. Is it going to take another four years before we get an answer as to how it will work --
-- no, I don't think it will take another four years. I think we are very close to working out the details of establishing a number like that. The closest jurisdiction that has a successful 311 system is the City of Baltimore. That has been studied. We have consulted with them and some other jurisdictions around the country. We are in the process of working with the Department of Public Property, Communications Bureau, as well as the Police Department, to figure out the mechanics and the exact systems for implementation. But we do see it as something that would be beneficial, given the fact that a lot of nonpriority calls still flood the 911 system. And we would like to utilize something like that to clear that up, so that 911 is used for the purpose 530 BILL 980003 that it was intended for.
So when do you think? Give us an approximate date that you think that we will know a time when it could be initiated.
Well, Councilwoman, it is very difficult for me to say exactly when that would be implemented. But I think that we can look for implementation some time in Fiscal Year 1999. I can't give you an approximate date, though.
All right. Thank you. Also in your testimony you mention about assuming some responsibilities at the Navy Yard and the Kapart homes?
Do you know when the Department of Navy will be transferring those to the city?
Well, actually, the process requires the Department of Navy to send the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania a letter requesting transfer. 531 BILL 980003 The Commonwealth has indicated to us that they will not grant that transfer until the City of Philadelphia is ready to assume that jurisdiction. We are looking now, we are looking within a 90-day window. Because there are certain things that have to be done that includes the Kvaerner deal, that have to be taken care of prior to Kvaerner actually beginning their operation. We are in consultation with the departments. In fact, we have a series of meetings finalizing the service delivery side from those departments scheduled for early next week. From then, we should be able to notify PIDC and the Law Department as to the Operating Department's readiness to begin supplying the municipal services that are required in order for us to assume the jurisdiction. The key thing here is that that parcel of land is an additional 1100 acres that is being added to the city. It does have its own infrastructure. In some places the infrastructure that exists is not totally compatible with the city's infrastructure. 532 BILL 980003 We are prioritizing Public Safety, then Public Works, and then the regulatory issues that are involved in that. And I can safely say that we will meet the 90-day window that we are work working within. There will be some glitches that would have to be worked out a little bit later on. But it is also important for PIDC to be able to finalize the service delivery contracts, because they will be managing the site as an industrial site. And we want to make sure that the relationship between PIDC and the understanding in the contracts for service delivery are met right up front. We also have to anticipate some things that will occur once the Navy Yard is up and running at full tilt. And those are some of the things we have to anticipate. And I am not so sure that we have all the information that we would need from Kvaerner, not just for their startup operation, but for when they would have their 900-some employees on line. So we are trying to anticipate what those needs are. 533 BILL 980003 In some cases there will be placement of municipal departmental representation on the site itself. Those are the things we are working out right now.
Thank you. I note a significant increase in the anti-graffiti Town Watch contracts with groups, quote, to be determined, end of quote. What process is used to determine the groups?
Well, what has happened in the past -- in fact, there are a couple of variations. Very early on, there were a series of groups who were kind of held over from the previous Administration that were used to getting a certain amount of money in a year, regardless of what happened to anybody else. Several years ago, when we did the task force that included Council members, we changed that and tried to set a criteria for solicitation early in the year, and then a weeding-out process that included representatives of that task force, to determine which groups should get the limited 534 BILL 980003 funding that was available. What we have run up against is a listing of groups that feel that they should receive the same amount of money every year, regardless of whether a new and innovative program has been added to the inventory. We are trying to determine now what system of prioritization we are going to use and how we are going to make the spread so that we affect every councilmanic district in the city that has groups like this that are engaged in that kind of activity. We are in the process of doing that now. I am in consultation with the Mayor's Office. And if there is any recommendation from the Council that should be considered in that prioritization, I would really like to get ahold of it as quickly as possible. And the reason for that, Councilwoman, is that, even though there are some very good programs out there, these grants are considered to be seed money grants; they are not really intended to fund a program year after year after year. Some of the groups don't quite 535 BILL 980003 understand that. And when it gets beyond two or three years, you know it is past the seed money stage. And that's where I am trying to work that out, so that the groups understand that, and we can allow new groups that are innovative and dynamic to get into the system to get access to some of that funding.
Councilwoman Verna, I believe we have identified the Deputy Mayor on the budget detail that you had asked about.
Yes. May I ask who that is, and what are the Deputy Mayor's duties?
That is Deputy Mayor Donna Cooper, who took Mr. Rost's place when he became Chief of Staff. She is now Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning in the Mayor's Office. She is housed in the Municipal Services Building, in the same offices that Greg Rost had when he was Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning.
My question deals with TPAC, the Telecommunications Policy Advisory Commission.
A consultant was hired for 100,000 to assist TPAC. What process was used, who did you pick, and what services will he consult on?
Councilwoman, I am not sure that the consultant has been in fact hired. I know that $100,000 has been allocated. I have not been made aware that a consultant is already on line. I know that we have made arrangements 537 BILL 980003 in the Fiscal Year 1999 budget for $100,000 for consultant services to TPAC.
And what questions, what services will that consultant provide? What's he looking into? Why do we need a consultant for this issue?
That's information that I don't have with me today, Councilwoman. But we will make that information available to the Chair, so that you can receive it as soon as possible.
Okay. Mr. President, I yield to Mr. DiCicco, who has a follow-on question. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Councilwoman. In that same paragraph, at the end, it says another 40,000 could be used to fund legal services. Is that an outside law firm that we are hiring? I assume it is? And could you identify who the law firm is?
I cannot identify who 538 BILL 980003 the law firm is. But I believe that Mr. Kluge is here in the Council chamber. He may be able to identify it.
Good afternoon. My name is Charles, middle initial P, Kluge, K-L-U-G-E, Jr. I am the Executive Director of the Police Advisory Commission. The law firm is the same law firm, Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, who has been providing pro bono legal services for the Police Advisory Commission for 42 months. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Is there any reason we would not be using the City Solicitor's Office? Is there a conflict there?
There would be a conflict. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Is there any reason we are not using the City Solicitor's Office?
There would be a conflict. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: No further questions. 539 BILL 980003
Okay. Back to me. Mr. Certaine, I want to discuss alternatives to incarceration. What, if any, are being presently employed by the city?
The one alternative to incarceration that we discussed a little bit earlier is the electronic monitoring. By way of programmatic alternatives, ma'am, I am not clear in my budget testimony as to what those programs would be or how extensively they are used within the criminal justice system. That is also an area of testimony that Dianne Granlund would be able to address. When you talk about alternatives to incarceration, is it programmatic or -- is it programmatic across the board for all levels for youth, as well as adult offenders?
I am interested in what you are doing for youth, as well as adults, yes.
Okay. I would be able to supply that information, but I don't have the detail at this time. 540 BILL 980003
Let me refine the question a little more. What are the alternatives, other than electronic monitoring, for incarceration for nonviolent criminals?
What has the Criminal Justice Coordinating Office proposed and/or advocated? And in serving as the Mayor's coordinating arm for drug control policy, what exactly does this office do?
Councilwoman Clark, Deputy Mayor John Wilder is here, who could probably answer the latter part of your question.
Unless you can answer the questions to alternatives to incarceration.
John Wilder is the name, Deputy Mayor for Criminal Justice, Drug Czar, City of Philadelphia. As far as alternatives are concerned, one of the things, the newly established drug court 541 BILL 980003 certainly has been one of the instrumental things that I think has taken some of the slack off of the prison overcrowding situation. With that, some of the defendants obviously are being sentenced to, if you want to call it that, home monitoring situations; some of them are being sentenced to halfway houses; some of them are being put in treatment in community-based and/or other types of treatment programs. So those are some of the alternatives that are taking place now. What does our office do? Let me just put it this way: I think I have tried, since being on board, to work with more than 200 antidrug groups that have been community-based throughout Philadelphia. In that sense, working in concert with the Managing Director's Office, I think in the first year we came on board, there were about ten of those group, and I think he alluded to it as it relates to funding for their particular programs, as well as summer programs for youth. That has gone and varied between 60 and probably 75 groups that have gotten funding over 542 BILL 980003 the last two or three years for their various programs. The other thing that we do, we have a Weed and Seed Program in North Central Philadelphia. That particular Weed and Seed Program, since the inception of the Mayor's term, going now six years, we have been fortunate enough to get somewhere in the neighborhood of to 4, million dollars for that particular program. It was, basically, geared as a three-year program. And that is getting the community-at-large to work with the police, to work with federal government, to work with state government, to work with city government, bringing in an array of city services to alleviate the problems of drugs and crime within that community, and also seed the community with opportunities not only for development, but also for jobs and things of this nature. In that particular community, it does have one distinction; it is the Empowerment Zone, as well. I think that the other thing is that, 543 BILL 980003 in working with -- as it relates to our office, one of the things that we find is that we have got to go outside of city government in order to try to get resources for these particular programs. Aside from lobbying with the feds for that kind of money over the last five, six years, just very recently, within the last four weeks, we got a new allocation of $100,000 for children that are victims of domestic violence, geared towards that particular area, which is North Philadelphia.
Mr. Wilder, I don't want to put a cross on you, but do you have a report that you could give us that shows me what you are saying here?
Yes. In fact, I have here -- and I will certainly see to it that you get it -- I have a document that outlines the services of our office and those things that we consider to be our mission.
Okay. What I would like you to do is to tell me the number of programs that you have operating, the number of dollars, the number of organizations, and the number of people with which you work. 544 BILL 980003
So I need a spreadsheet, so I can read it across and down, and get a picture of what it is that you are doing.
Because, as you know, over the last five or six years, this Council has shown a great deal of interest in drugs and the degree to which drugs have changed the way we live our lives in this city.
As the number one officer for whom drugs is your major reason to exist, we rely on your report as to what the city is doing to combat drugs and its effects on our lives.
Excuse me. I am going to have to ask that you two fine people, who are enjoying this question-and-answer exchange, limit your answers, because your time is long expired.
In closure, can I just have ten seconds, if you don't mind? Just one distinction I would like to make. Even as the Drug Czar, I can assist with my expertise as it relates to enforcement. But certainly the enforcement of the drug laws is the responsibility of the Police Department and the federal government.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you very much, Mr. President. Managing Director Certaine, what is Dianne Granlund's actual title, Deputy Managing Director for what?
Dianne Granlund is the Deputy Managing Director for Prison Population Management, primarily. 546 BILL 980003
And I know she is not here today, so I would like to give you a couple of questions that I would like her to be prepared to answer when she comes here, I assume, with her testimony as it relates to Prisons Department.
I am going to try and make sure that she is scheduled along with the Prisons.
I need to know how many defendants have been released by her office, or been recommended for release, that bail has been set for them, whether or not there is a limit on the bail number that would preclude a person from release without paying their bail. My understanding is, the way the process has been working, is an individual comes before the bail commissioner, the bail is set. The individual is then incarcerated because they can't make bail. And that there is a collection process that precedes relative to the amount of bail -- well, the individual that can't make bail is then released for various reasons. Okay? And what I want to try to find is, 547 BILL 980003 how many people have been released once bail has been set by judgment or by decision of the Managing Director's Office; whether or not there is a limit on the bail that's been set for them, for example, if there is a bail level set over which a person is not considered for that kind of pre-release; whether or not there is a number of previous arrests, offenses, or convictions that would preclude a person from that type of release; and what types of crimes, if any, preclude a person from that type of release.
Any type of crimes. It is my understanding, to the frustration of our Bail Commissioners, that individuals who have been arrested 15 or more times, who cannot make bail, for various offenses like theft from auto or burglary or shoplifting, for example, are released post the setting of bail by the Bail Commissioner based on a decision made by the Managing Director's Office. And that person, without electronic monitoring or without any particular constraints on 548 BILL 980003 their ability to move about, are released back into the community-at-large. So in the course of a year, I need to know how many people were -- as they say, one of the -- allegedly, one of the prisoners who come before a Bail Commissioner, after being released for another charge similar to what he had been incarcerated for in the first place, was asked by the Bail Commissioner how he paid his bail, because he couldn't make it. He had said that God paid it. I want to know how many people God paid the bail for in the course of the last year. Okay?
All right. Councilman, in fact, as soon as I get back, I will make that information available to Deputy Managing Director Granlund for submission to the Chair in response to your question.
Thank you, 549 BILL 980003 Mr. President. Mr. Managing Director, on your testimony, in the Partners for Progress section -- first, let me commend you and your staff -- I see Frankie Hughes over there, and a number of other people -- on the operation out in West Philadelphia. We should probably start giving these operations names. But for the moment it will be the operation out in West Philadelphia, 58th and Arch and the grid that was created out in West Philadelphia. I did want to ask, though, based on the testimony, last line on it talks about demolition of imminently dangerous buildings in targeted Partners for Progress zones. Are there now specific areas in the city that are considered Partners for Progress zones, or does an area get the designation after the operation has taken place?
That's just a matter of the writer's license, Councilman. We continue to target at-risk neighborhoods, largely with input from the District 550 BILL 980003 Councilperson. The amount of money that we are talking about is approximately half of that amount in this current fiscal year and half in the next fiscal year. It is money set aside. It is in the Department of Licenses and Inspections budget. That demolition funding would be used primarily for imminently dangerous properties that fall within a grid that we would be working on. It would be similar to -- was it Warren Street?
The Warren Street operation. Where there was no money set aside specifically for the Warren Street operation; it came out of the General Fund operation of L & I. It was successful. But in doing that particular project, we recognized the need to have funding associated with the Partners for Progress, the targeted resource program, so that we would not be dipping into the General Fund monies set aside in the L & I budget specifically for demolition, which usually includes large factories, imminently 551 BILL 980003 dangerous fire properties, things like that.
So that's what that's there for, and that's how we intend to use it.
Can you share with us, with regard to the general operations of Partners for Progress, once Partners has come through an area, what is, I guess, either the followup, or how do we, once we have cleaned up an area and stabilized it, what is our ability to keep track of what's going on in that specific area or zone or grid to make sure that the conditions don't go back to the way they were?
One of the things we try to do -- and this is constant throughout the program -- we try to form alliances with existing community leadership in the area, including the Town Watch anti-drug groups in the area, to provide us with a constant stream of intelligence, that we then turn over to the Police Department; in fact, turn over to the expanded narcotics strike force and the rapid response teams. Now, in addition to that, what happens is, the Town Watch liaison people that work 552 BILL 980003 under Deputy Managing Director Hughes are on the ground in those areas trying to reinforce or build, if there are none that exist, Town Watch groups. We try to get the Philadelphia More Beautiful Committee of the Streets Department to identify and work with potential block captains in the area. And what we try to do, essentially, is strengthen the neighborhood to the extent that when we roll out with the trucks and go on to another neighborhood, that we leave behind a reinforced network of Town Watch -- I am getting instructions here, Councilman.
This would be a real dissertation if I went into everything that we are doing.
But essentially what we try to do is strengthen the community-based network of leadership that exists in an area. If it does not exist, then we try to structure it. And we use Town Watch, reuse the 553 BILL 980003 anti-drug groups, we use members of the clergy that are active in an area. We will use just about any resources that we have access to to try and do that. And in many cases, it is the offices of elected officials, Councilpeople, as well as state representatives and state senators, that can steer us in the right direction as to the people we need to be reaching out and to talking to. So it is really, it is truly a partnership that we try to utilize to make the neighborhood stronger.
This is not in your testimony. But in your capacity as Managing Director, having direct authority over the ten operating departments -- but recognizing that for reasons stated earlier we will not have the Police Department here -- I still would like to raise one issue that I found in the Police Department testimony that had already been distributed for today. And hopefully it is something that can be looked at prior to the actual testimony coming up. It is on , and it talks about some of the grants that have been secured by the 554 BILL 980003 department. $2 million from the United States Department of Justice to purchase mobile data terminals, $4.4 million to reduce auto theft, $94,000 to help reduce the incidence of rape and sexual assault, and $32,500 to fight abuse against women. I am certainly pleased that the Police Department has been able to secure various grants for various programs. I do have to say, though, Mr. Managing Director, that the numbers on trying to reduce incidence of rape, sexual assault, and abuse against women seem to dramatically pale in comparison to -- and I realize auto theft is certainly important, or auto break-in and the like; and I'm not even suggesting that we should reduce in the other areas -- but I am a little perplexed, given the nature of these kinds of crimes, why those numbers are so particularly low. And what efforts will we make to increase them, given the nature of these rather, at times, vicious crimes?
Councilman Nutter, I agree with you that $32,500 -- and I believe this 555 BILL 980003 paragraph indicates since 1993.
I would like to think that it is an error. And once again, I don't want to speak for the Police Department and this draft of their testimony. But I believe that since 1993, the Police Department can claim to have received more than $32,500 for those types of activities.
Well, if you could check that out, and maybe we can get a better accounting of that, I would appreciate it.
Lastly, I had expected that the Finance Director would be back to finish up a piece of business from yesterday, but I do not see him here. I know our hearing has been postponed from the normal time. But, again, in your capacity as Managing Director -- and this seems to be a Public Property issue -- there is a proposed relocation of some City of Philadelphia personnel to a building 556 BILL 980003 located at 990 Spring Garden Street. The information I have is that a number of departments, or parts of departments, whose personnel, apparently, do not have to be located in Center City Philadelphia, or in any of what is generally called the triplex buildings, will be at this location, proposed location: The Streets Department, Survey Division, the Police Department 911 training, various other units of the Police Department that are apparently generally housed at 3rd and Race, the Police Training operation, and the L & I Code Enforcement Unit, as well as L & I's Weights and Measures Unit. With the exception of the Police Training Operation and the L & I Code Enforcement Unit, all of the other units of personnel are coming from city-owned facilities. The Police Training and the L & I Code Enforcement are located at 1415 North Broad Street, what I believe is generally referred to as either the OIC Building or the big white building up on North Broad Street. And so I am trying to understand why we are relocating those employees out of the OIC 557 BILL 980003 facility, over to 990 Spring Garden. Secondly, I understand that at least one of the police units that may be relocated to this 990 Spring Garden is our Internal Affairs either Bureau or Division, I think generally referred to as IAD. But what particularly perplexes me, I guess, about this transaction is my understanding that the owner of the building, or the company involved in this, is U.S. Realty. Are you familiar with this company or this transaction?
Yes, I am familiar with the relocation of the offices, some of which are coming from 1600 Arch Street and other locations around the city. There will be some movement of the L & I -- I believe the housing inspectors are at 1415 North Broad Street. It is, as far as I know, U.S. Realty that owns. That's the old Packard Press building on Spring Garden Street.
The police units that 558 BILL 980003 are coming from 3rd and Race are being moved out because of the condition of that particular building.
It is my understanding that that building is in great disrepair.
It is not in the best shape that we would want to have a police facility located in, even though it is one of our buildings.
And this was an opportunity that was taken advantage of. I believe the developer is, in fact, U.S. Realty.
Okay. And is it my understanding that U.S. Realty is either owned or controlled or operated by an individual by the name of Michael Grasso?
I believe that's the case. (Councilwoman Verna assumes the Chair.)
We had some prior dealing with U.S. Realty, I believe, when we 559 BILL 980003 relocated the old -- when we relocated Traffic Court from the old building on Broad Street.
And don't we also have some public employees in another building at Delaware and Spring Garden?
Delaware and Spring Garden is where the offices of the City Commissioners are, dealing specifically with the voter registration activities of the City Commissioner's Office.
Well, I would ask you as Managing Director, because I guess what concerns me here, if it is in fact the same individual and if that person's name is in fact Michael Grasso, there are newspaper accounts that seem to indicate that Mr. Grasso has, apparently, two previous federal convictions of various crimes and was listed some time ago by the Pennsylvania Crime Commission as being described as a financial adviser to the former, now deceased, Angelo Bruno. There seemed to be a number of 560 BILL 980003 questions about this. And I guess one of them is, how is it that we would have parts of our Police Department in a facility owned by a person with these issues, or this background? In addition, apparently we are going to put our Internal Affairs Bureau in a location where there are other police units. And, therefore, anyone coming to that building, possibly for an IAD interview, will have to either walk through or go past other police officers to get to that location. Now, from a policy standpoint and a procedure standpoint, that would seem to put either those individuals at some risk of exposure or potentially compromise investigations. Can you take a look at this and see what the story is, and why are we making this kind of transition, as well as, apparently, moving people out of, clearly, a neighborhood location, up at about Broad and Master, with the relocation to 9th and Spring Garden? Why are we doing this?
Yes, Councilman, I can look into that and answer the question that you have 561 BILL 980003 as quickly as I can get answers myself.
I would appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Managing Director, following up on a question that Councilwoman Verna asked you before. How many Deputy Managing Directors are there currently?
Just a moment, Councilman. Currently our budget detail, Councilman Ortiz, shows seven deputy managing directors.
And how many other managing directors are in the offices of other departments?
Let me rephrase 562 BILL 980003 that. Are all seven of those deputy managing directors in the MDO office, or are they assigned to other departments?
All of them are not currently working in the Managing Director's Office in the Municipal Services Building.
Are they working in other departments and being paid as deputy managing directors?
How many of those seven are in other departments, and what are those departments?
Councilman Ortiz, we can, as we have before, break that down and prepare that information for the Chair and have it to you as quickly as tomorrow. We have done that in the past, when this question has been raised, and we are fully prepared to do it again.
How many of the seven work directly for you? 563 BILL 980003
How many assistant managing directors do you have right now listed being paid out of the payroll line that says, "Assistant Managing Directors"?
Councilman Ortiz, I can prepare that information and have it to the Council President's office as quickly as tomorrow morning, but I am not prepared with that kind of detail in front of me.
I would like to find out how many of those assistant managing directors are working for other departments, and what those departments are.
That's not a problem. We do that routinely. That's a computer run that we do, and I neglected to bring it with me today.
Are any of the deputy managing directors that you currently have Latino? 564 BILL 980003
Are any of the assistant managing directors, which are many, that you currently have Latino?
In other departments, DHS, Health, on down the line, do you currently have Latinos in any sort of, other than Public Property, which Andre Perez is the Commissioner, sort of program director, policy-making positions?
That I am aware of -- we have never done a breakdown. I would not be prepared at this time to indicate that we have any at all.
Could you make that breakdown to see whether we have Latinos, over and above the clerical typist position, and if we have individuals in programmatic areas that are functioning in terms of executive and professional areas?
And to see how many Latinos there are in terms of programmatic and policy-making positions within the ten departments in the city?
But it is shameful that among all of those assistant managing directors, not a single Latino, or even the deputy mayor.
It is. It is a matter of some concern. You and I have discussed this before. And, quite frankly, I think that the issue probably should have been raised before now. We have talked about it. But I will examine the municipal payroll, along with central personnel, to find out what the breakdown really is.
During the last six years, has anyone, any Latino, been hired?
Councilman, I can't answer that question. Not in my office, I can say that.
Could you get 566 BILL 980003 that, if during the tenure of Administration, has there ever been a Latino at a position, policy-making in the Managing Director's Office, other than Andre Perez, okay, because he is a holdover from the other Administration? I would like to have that.
Madam Chair, can I just follow up on that? Mr. Certaine, you will be sure to include how many of these people are women, if you have any Asian, or any other groups? So you will indicate race and gender of the deputy managing directors and the assistant managing directors in this report that you are preparing?
Yes, that can be done. And let me say again, Councilwoman, what I would do is have the Office of Central Personnel do a full examination of the classes that Councilman Ortiz has described, to prepare, along 567 BILL 980003 with the Managing Director's Office, the report that we are talking about.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Certaine, could you please explain to me why the Division of Fleet Management doesn't report to the Managing Director?
The Office of Fleet Management, Councilman, was set up by executive order several years ago. And in its formation, because it was formed as a result of the Public/Private Task Force that was convened at the beginning of the Rendell Administration, it was thought that the Office of Fleet Management, which the Managing Director's Office did have a hand in creating, would report to the Mayor's Office until such time as the Mayor felt that it would then come under the jurisdiction of the Managing Director. Obviously that time has not come yet. That is beyond my control, and I think that's all I have to say about it. 568 BILL 980003
The problems that I have identified with some of the operations of Fleet Management is the fact that not all of the services that support Fleet Management have been given to Fleet Management. Public Property still controls certain types of services, and it doesn't appear that it has come together. And then when you ask questions, there is a lack of data on how much that we even spend on certain services that Fleet Management uses to keep this fleet running. And I just don't understand why the Managing Director's Office, that has -- and I know you said you won't comment on it; and I assume someone will -- why the ten operating departments that have the vehicles work for the Managing Director, but the support isn't there.
Councilman, one of the things that I should note is that the Office of Fleet Management is exactly that. It is not an operating department; it is an office. It is a nonchartered entity that was created by executive order. 569 BILL 980003 To the extent that it does become a department as defined in the City Charter, I am not sure that that is allowable without some sort of Charter change. But to the extent that the jurisdiction of the Office of Fleet Management is retained within the Mayor's Office, and has not yet come to the Managing Director's Office, that is a decision that is up to the Mayor. And it is stated in the executive order that formed that office, that at some point that would happen.
My next question is, I see the advertising for the Police Advisory Commission, billboards. And it states that it is a nonprofit organization. Could you explain that status?
Well, hopefully it is a nonprofit organization. But the Police Advisory Commission was created by this Council. And the Director of the Police Advisory Commission is here in the chamber, and he can probably more adequately explain what the content of those ads is intended to 570 BILL 980003 convey.
Excuse me, sir. Please identify yourself for the record.
Charles P. Kluge, Jr., Executive Director of the Police Advisory Commission. The message, Councilman, of the billboards is an outreach project to let the community know --
The message of the billboard advertisement is an outreach project to inform the community of our existence. I think it is our fault that we have not done enough outreach. In the very beginning we were doing community meetings, as much as we could. We don't have a staffing level that would allow us to do as much as we want. We try to do the best we can, and that was just one method of getting our message across. That same billboard message last year, and I think the year before, traveled in 571 BILL 980003 subway cars, buses, and trolley cars, the overhead advertisements.
My question was, the question was asked of me, and I didn't know the answer, so I am taking this opportunity, why are you a nonprofit organization, and what's the significance of that?
We were able to get the advertising at a much reduced rate by carrying the city seal in the advertisement. And I suppose the moniker that we are nonprofit, which we are -- I don't know whether we had to advertise that -- but I think it had to do with cost, carrying the city's seal in the advertising.
I was just curious. Because I have gotten a letter to ask why the Police Advisory Commission carries that nonprofit status. So it is strictly buying power, then? 572 BILL 980003
Councilman, I do believe that is accurate, though. As a part of city government, as a commission of the city government, it is a nonprofit. I just don't know if that wording needed to be used on an advertisement.
You are welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Clark.
My light is on by mistake, and I respectfully ask to have it withdrawn.
Thank you, 573 BILL 980003 Madam Chair. Good morning.
How are you? I just want to talk to you for a moment about Town hall in Germantown. I think you were the last person that I know of that was active in that whole situation. What will it take -- and Barbara Kaplan and I had a discussion a few weeks ago about Town Hall -- what will it take, do you believe, to restore Town Hall to a functional and operational condition and for use such as -- well, there are a lot of different people interested, but also the probability of a northwest municipal office?
Councilwoman, through the Department of Public Property, my last discussion was with Commissioner Perez about the estimated amount of money that would be required to renovate and make Town Hall operational was in the vicinity of $4 million. Now, that was not all at one time. I believe that at some point there -- and I believe it was with the Councilman prior to your tenure as 574 BILL 980003 Councilperson for the Eighth Councilmanic District, there was an effort launched by the community to try and include renovation dollars in each fiscal year's Capital Budget specifically targeted for Town Hall. What has happened to that, and whether or not that ever materialized, I am not real clear about right now. The Department of Public Property would be better suited to answer that question. I will say, however, that Town Hall, and my knowledge of Town Hall -- because I am very familiar with the building -- is not ADA compatible. So regardless of the systems improvements that would have to be made in order to make the building operational, there would be additional expenditures that would be necessary to make the building ADA compatible. And I believe that's why there is such a significant cost associated with the renovation of that building. In addition to that, the age of the building and other circumstances may have precluded the Capital Program Office or the Department of 575 BILL 980003 Public Property. They may have decided as a result of that that the amount of money that it would take not only to renovate the systems and make the building operational, but to also make it ADA compatible, may not be available in the budget, given the other Capital Program priorities that the city is faced with. That may be. I'm not sure that that is the reason. But from my perspective, I believe that that is a reasonable assumption, with me not having other information available to talk about right now.
Okay. Have you heard a rumor that someone has put in that Town Hall be demolished to expand parking for the 14th District Police?
I have heard that. Hopefully, that is not true. I am not aware of anything afoot within city government.
I think that between the two of us, though, we can probably work on that rumor to find out if that's going to happen. 576 BILL 980003
That is a historic building. It has been -- this is my own editorial comment now -- that is a historic building that is part of the Germantown Northwest fabric as long as I can remember, and even beyond that. And that would have to be given very careful consideration.
Absolutely. We would be opposed to it. Because it is a fabric of the community, it has been there forever, since I was a kid. And even now there is a lot of interest in reuse. So maybe we can get together and talk about Town Hall.
I would like to talk about that. I would suggest also that when the Commissioner of Public Property is available here in chambers for testimony, that question can be put to him.
And I will advise him that you have asked me about it, so that he will be prepared to respond. 577 BILL 980003
One other question. What does Partners for Progress do in the winter?
What we had been doing, right up through last winter, at the onset, we would shut down, we would stand down from December to March. But because I have unusual foresight, this year I was able to determine that we would have a mild winter, and Partners for Progress is operating through this winter.
It is amazing. But it is something, it is a gift that I have to handle.
All right. I just want to thank Frankie Hughes on your staff for coming out to our town meetings that we have been having. And I just enjoy the working relationship. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman. She is in the chambers, so I am sure she heard that.
Thank you. 578 BILL 980003 The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a couple of quick last questions, Mr. Managing Director. On and of your testimony, there is reference made to anti-drug and anti-violence programs on , and the neighborhood anti-drug activities, in that the Managing Director's Office distributes grants for those programs. What I wanted to ask was, what is the cycle of funding for these programs, and how do we get, I guess, advance notification or copies of the applications? What normally happens is, we get a list of the awardees, which seems to be after application period and people coming in.
I would like to figure out a way to get in front of, I guess, the cycle or the process. In another grant program, the 579 BILL 980003 applications come in early, we in the Council, and I'm sure other places, mail them out to the various groups, and then they respond to them and get them back. This program seems to be handled a little differently.
This has been handled differently, and it is problematic in that respect. This is a question that Councilwoman Verna asked, or something similar to Councilwoman Verna's question, a little while ago. We are --
We believe if we keep asking the question about ten different ways, we will finally get the answer we want. That's part of the activity here.
As I responded to Councilwoman Verna, we are in the process now of trying to determine if there is a better way of allocating those resources. Deputy Mayor Wilder, who was here just a moment ago, said that at the beginning of the Rendell Administration, there were roughly about ten groups that got the bulk of that kind of funding. 580 BILL 980003 City Council has increased that funding. And what we have done in the Managing Director's Office and in the Mayor's Office, through the task force that was created, has been to reduce the amount of money going to each individual groups, and expand the number of groups. That has worked very well up until now. Because what has happened is, most of these groups have come to rely on this money. It was originally intended as seed money.
Now they have come to rely on it for programmatic delivery. In doing that, they shut out any new groups that may want to apply because they feel that they are -- because they have gotten the money in the past, that they are supposed to get it again.
But if I had a group that was seeking funding, and hopefully they wouldn't be a part of the kind of cabal of ten, at what point in time would they apply, or, I mean, how do we know when the application window is?
What has happened 581 BILL 980003 previously is that a letter has gone out from Deputy Mayor Wilder's office to the same groups that we have supplied funding to, year after year. That list has expanded, but it does not take into account any additional groups that may not be aware of the program, so that they can get an application in. It is based primarily on -- and I hate to say this -- it may be based on who it is you know and whether you can get access to that information. I believe that --
I believe there should be a more rational approach and a more objective way to systematize this process. And that is where we are right now. Usually around this time of year, those letters go out. I am consulting with the Mayor's Office to find out if this is the way we 582 BILL 980003 want to continue it for Fiscal 1999, or should we do some kind of posting, should it be through councilmanic, you know, representatives, the Councilpeople's offices. I'm not quite sure. But I know that the way it is proceeding, because of the expansion, I don't feel that it is fair and objective, particularly because I have run into other groups and organizations who know nothing about it.
One last question. On , if you could -- and I know that the individuals who, I guess, would have direct responsibility for this, you have indicated they will be coming to us shortly. But acknowledging that, can you just explain the difference between a Zero Tolerance Zone versus a Graffiti Free Zone? And with the graffiti vouchers, again, is that a rolling application process, or is there only one time of the year when you apply?
I can answer the latter first, if you permit. And then I believe Assistant Managing Director Tom Conway is in the 583 BILL 980003 chamber, and he can give you the difference between Zero Tolerance and Graffiti Free Zones. The voucher program is probably one of the earliest programs that we initiated in the Managing Director's Office. That is ongoing. That is year-round, at any time. A group or individual can apply to the Managing Director's Office, giving us the location of where they intend to apply resources, what they need, what it is they intend to do. And the Managing Director's Office will supply vouchers that allow them to go directly to the supplier and get the material they need for graffiti abatement.
That is year-round, and it has been ongoing. It is probably one of the most successful programs. And we did it at a time when the old anti-graffiti Network was having a problem with their inventory and warehouse. You remember those old draconian systems that were used then. That was one of the ways that we 584 BILL 980003 tried to alleviate the problems that were associated with that type of warehousing.
Tom Conway can answer the first part of your question, about the difference between Graffiti Free and Zero Tolerance.
My name is Tom Conway, Assistant Managing Director for the City of Philadelphia, and nervous as usual. The major difference between the Zero Tolerance Zone and a Graffiti Free Zone is just, Zero Tolerance Zone puts the responsibility on the city to remove graffiti within to 48 hours. 16 And the Graffiti Free Zone, which we 17 have currently 37, the responsibility is more on the 18 property owner, business owner. And we will, within 19 72 hours, I assume, to 90 hours, we go back, 20 previously, and go over the areas, and we will 21 remove any graffiti within that area. We do not 22 guarantee it will be within 24 hours. 23 Is that better? 24
Councilman, if I can add to that a little bit. And Tom Conway is very 585 BILL 980003 nervous up here.
Is there like a money-back guarantee involved in this? If you don't get it within hours, there is a rebate on your 6 property taxes? 7
No. I will say this, 8 however: The graffiti teams, once they go in and 9 clean the area, in the Graffiti Free Zones, I 10 believe you still make available to property owners 11 additional paint and supplies, where they can keep 12 the graffiti off as much as possible themselves. 13 In a Zero Tolerance Zone, it is the 14 city's responsibility to respond within 24 hours. 15
That's correct. We try 16 and make the area that we went through responsible 17 for their area. And we do go back to make sure the 18 area stays clean and keep it clean. 19
I understand how 20 you get a Zero Tolerance Zone. We have created an 21 elaborate bill and ordinance system to do that. 22 How do you get to be a Graffiti Free 23 Zone, the 72-to-90-hour response zone areas? 24
Basically, that's due to community input and business associations working 586 BILL 980003 with the groups throughout the city. They contact us, wanting to do a cleanup, say, in a certain area. And we will go out and work with them. As long as they are willing to partner with us and help maintain that area, that becomes a Graffiti Free Zone.
Lastly, let me mention this to you, Tom, I have tried to tell you this in the past, there is really no need to be nervous when you come to the table. The chair to your left is the one that has the electrodes in it. Your chair is clear. So you picked a good chair today. Don't worry about it.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman 587 BILL 980003 Tasco.
My question may have been asked. On of your testimony, you talk about the Targeted Assistance Program, working with persons from Southeast Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe. And it says that you will employ outreach workers to increase knowledge of area aging services for elderly, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What will the staff of this program look like in terms of its ability to communicate with people from Southeast Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe?
Councilwoman, I would like to introduce Donna Wolf, who has been directing the Target Assistance Program since its inception.
Good afternoon. The way the city is managing the funds for this elderly program is, we are leaving -- letting subcontracts with community groups, specifically folks from the former Soviet Union, the Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Association, the Nationality Services Center, and they are to hire 588 BILL 980003 the outreach people. They won't be staff from the city, per se.
Those are providers that you work with, you contract with them?
Yes. We prefer to do that, because it covers all the languages.
Okay. Thank you. And on , you talk about, under the Criminal Justice Population Management, you talk about alternative programs, programs for alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders. What procedures do you have for ARD? Are you a part of that, of setting policy for that program?
Councilwoman Tasco, that is similar to a question that Councilwoman Clark had asked a little while ago. And at that time I asked for the Councilwoman to allow us to contact the deputy managing director who is in charge of that program, 589 BILL 980003 Diane Granlund, who was not able to be with us today when the time for testimony was changed from Friday until today. We are going to try and make sure that in conjunction with the Philadelphia Prison System testimony, that Deputy Managing Director Granlund is available here in the Council chambers -- unless we can get that information to you in written form prior to that -- so that those questions can in fact be answered. I am not prepared at this time to discuss the detail of alternatives to incarceration.
Also, Deputy Mayor Wilder did allude to some of the alternatives to incarceration. But I don't believe that he or I is prepared with the kind of detail that Councilwoman Clark had needed and what your question would require.
What I will do is, make sure that she is aware of the question. 590 BILL 980003 If the information can be provided prior to her being here to answer questions directly, we will do that. But you will have the answer to the question you have asked.
I guess I am interested in if she has some input into that program, and what is the relationship with the District Attorney's Office, and moving the program forward, and if there has been an increase or a decrease in the number of people who have been put into that program.
Yes, ma'am, I understand. She will be fully prepared to answer those questions.
Thank you. The other question I have, your Partners for Progress, how do you decide which areas to target? I know you have been very responsive to calls. But do you have a plan, a master plan, of where you target the various communities, and when you are going in there, and that kind of thing? 591 BILL 980003
Since the program's inception in 1994, what we have tried to do is target census tracts in the city that meet certain demographic criteria that is available through the Census Bureau. With the popularity of the program, there has been some retreat from that kind of targeting, where we do try to respond to requests that come in largely from councilmanic offices. But we are also working, and have been since last spring, with the Philadelphia Police Department. And what we do -- contrary to popular opinion, the Police Department has computerized, it is GIS-based mapping systems, where they indicate on maps the hot spots for drug activity and other kinds of concentrations of illegal activity. What we try to do is focus our attention on those areas, primarily because what we have determined is that where those hot spots are for drug activity, there is a corresponding relationship with blighted conditions and other kinds of things that we need to respond to anyway. So we have drifted a little bit away 592 BILL 980003 from just plain demographics provided by the Census Bureau, on to kind of a municipal response tactical plan that's done in conjunction with the Philadelphia Police Department based on hot spots for drug activities. We have been very successful. We did a grid in Southwest Philadelphia last March. We did the Hunting Park area, around Hunting Park itself, during the summer. As Councilman Nutter mentioned, we just got finished a grid in the 19th district. And we are currently in the 39th district, in the vicinity of Triumph Baptist Church. From your office, I have received recently a request to go into the area just east of East Oak Lane, Feltonville, the lower -- what's considered the Lower Northeast area that borders the Ninth Councilmanic and the --
-- Seventh Councilmanic District. So it is a combination of requests from Council, as well as targeting, as well as census demographics that we are using now. 593 BILL 980003 We try to keep all the balls in the air at the same time.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Clark. She is going to be extremely brief.
I was premature when I said I didn't have a question. I do. Briefly, sir, would you describe for us what actions your office has taken to prepare for the projected increase in homelessness that is likely to result by the Welfare reform changes? Briefly.
Councilwoman Clark, I can be very brief. Because our role in the policy and planning initiatives associated with that has been limited. That is primarily being handled by the Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning, who is Donna Cooper, that I had mentioned a little bit earlier in my testimony. To the extent that the Deputy Managing Director for Special Needs Housing, who is 594 BILL 980003 a part of the group of people who were considering those options and working on those plans, I would prefer to let Deputy Managing Director Mike Nardone respond to that question, if it's okay.
Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record.
My name is Mike Nardone, and I am Deputy Managing Director for Special Needs Housing. One of the major ways that we're trying to prepare for the onslaught of Welfare reform pertains to utilization of a federal Welfare Work Initiative. We anticipate receiving some $50 million in the City of Philadelphia over the next two years for employment and training efforts. And one of the things that Deputy Mayor Cooper has been working on is development of a plan to best utilize these resources. They probably -- or, they are not sufficient to do the job. But we are trying to put in place a plan that will try to be as effective as possible. 595 BILL 980003 And I know that there is a -- I know that there has been or will be an effort to brief City Council or what the initiatives will be included in that plan. At the same time, we are -- and I will talk a little bit about this more in my testimony next week -- that legislation and those Welfare work funds are targeted primarily at recipients, formerly, of AFDC. Within the OESS system, we are also beginning and putting in place, or relaunching, I would say, an initiative for those individuals who are non-TANF recipients, primarily single males and single females. And we have an RFP that was released last week. And over the next 15 months we think we will be able to spend, or expend, roughly a million dollars in terms of job training funds for non-TANF recipients. A major focus of my efforts is in that regard, with respect to being ready for Welfare reform. With respect to the homeless and funding from the state, we are still short of the 596 BILL 980003 funding that we need for homeless services. And that's something that we will have to advocate for at the state level, to get restitution of those funds.
I will not expand now, but I will be happy to hear your full presentation. Because it is my belief that there are many more people who will not be served than there are who will be served. And at the end of the training, what happens when there is no job? You see, I think we may be training toward futility and, as a result, towards increased frustration. Because at the end of the training grant, if there is no job, what happens to those people? They can't go back to receive Public Assistance. And so if we don't have some city program in place, they then increase the number of structurally and permanently homeless.
Well, I think you have made an excellent point, and I look forward to discussing that on Monday with you. 597 BILL 980003
Thank you, Madam Chair. I share the same concerns that Councilwoman Clark has. And not only that, but also the impact that the elimination of the homeless preference in terms of Section 8 will have in the overall aspect of creating more homelessness and adding costs to the city Operating Budget. But I will suffice that we will have that question answered later on. Mr. Managing Director, one short question. And this is something that we discussed for a couple of years now. The Licenses & Inspections outreach office, the director left that office to go to Camden to become the Licenses & Inspections Commissioner over there. Since then, no director has been appointed. From community folks we get a huge amount of phone calls and other individuals, because 598 BILL 980003 it has always been threatened with elimination. And I know that that is a concern of community folks and community agencies. And I would like to know when a director is going to be appointed, if, and what can we do to begin making sure that that office is fully staffed and provides the services that the community need?
Councilman Ortiz, I'd like to say that I am not so sure that a new director is going to be appointed for that office. There have been negotiations primarily for the transition of that building from the city to another organization. We have made arrangements for some transitional activity related to that L & I outpost to occur at 6th and Lehigh, at the newly renovated offices there in the lower level of the library. I might add -- and, once again, I don't want to speak for the L & I Commissioner -- she has indicated to me that there have been a series of requests from the staff in that particular office for transfer to other L & I locations. To the extent that any of that has 599 BILL 980003 been accomplished, I am not sure, since our last conversation. I do know that that office is still functioning. Whether or not any of the transfers have occurred or what staff level it is at right now, I'm not sure. We did make arrangements for a minimum of three people at 6th and Lehigh, but I don't believe that any of that has occurred yet.
I understand. If you want to really close an office, and an outreach office, you begin by cutting out certain services and not providing certain resources. Myself and other folks in the community are concerned that the resources have been cut, the staff has been diluted, and a lot of the folks have been transferred out, and, in essence, is leaving the office almost not able to perform what it was supposed to perform when Bennett Levin created it, in order to be able to do the job and outreach to that community. I have been very concerned, as you well know, and so has State Representative Ramos, 600 BILL 980003 about this. And what we see is an attrition process going on that will make it almost impossible for that office to function, and thereby give the reasons to the L & I Commissioner to close it. And that is going back on a promise made by the Commissioner, by the Administration, to that community, that they were going to do certain things differently.
Well, I am not sure what the level of commitments made through promise really is. But I will say this: I am aware of a number of requests by staff of that office for transfer. We have had discussions, including Deputy Mayor Ortiz and yourself at different times. I am not currently aware of what the overall status is. The L & I Commissioner, I believe, is due to present her testimony next Tuesday, on the 24th. I will advise her that that is a question that I was asked today, and she may be better prepared. 601 BILL 980003
I am just very concerned as to the whole process that has taken place.
Well, I will say this: We fully intend to maintain the Mayor's commitment to that community.
And the level, and what the perception of that commitment is with the community.
Because as we have seen with the employment, it hasn't been there. Thank you.
I will say this: There is some question as to the number of service requests that have been associated with that office, and how that community actually needs to be served.
Because obviously, the service requests, if a community understands that they are not going to be answered and they are 602 BILL 980003 not going to be served, and the resources will not be there when they call, they will stop calling. They are not fools. So if an office is not prepared with the resources to answer the concerns, you will not get phone calls.
What I will do is make sure that the L & I Commissioner is aware of this discussion -- and she may be, if she is listening -- and to make sure that there is a full report available to the Council President, as well as her preparation to answer the questions from the floor during her testimony next week.
Thank you. Are there any other questions of the Managing Director? Seeing none, thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Councilwoman. The Fire Department is next to testify. Good afternoon. Thank you for your 603 BILL 980003 patience, Commissioner. COMMISSIONER HAROLD B. HAIRSTON: Good afternoon, Councilwoman Verna. I am Fire Commissioner Harold Hairston. And with me is Matthew J. McCrory, who is the Deputy Commissioner for Technical Services; William McNaulty, who is the Deputy Commissioner for Administrative Services; and Dave Beatrice, who is our Fiscal Officer.
I'm sorry, Commissioner. Could you pull the microphone a little closer to you. You can't be heard. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Good afternoon again, and good afternoon to other members of Council. With me here is Deputy Commissioner for Technical Services Matthew J. McCrory, who is to my far right; Deputy Commissioner William McNaulty, who is the Deputy Commissioner for Administrative Services; and Dave Beatrice, who is our Fiscal Officer. The Fire Department's FY '99 Operating Budget proposes $137,464,663 for the General Fund, $3,854,400 for the Aviation Fund, and 604 BILL 980003 $551,893 for the Grants Fund. The General Fund application is an increase of $6,424,647 over the current estimated FY '98 budget for the department. This increase is primarily in Class 100, and largely related to the staffing and pay provisions for the 1996 city labor agreements. The increase also includes $1,800,000 to purchase a new, state-of-the-art, self-contained breathing apparatus system. The SCBA devices, as you know, provide firefighters with the ability to breathe while they are working in toxic atmospheres for up to approximately 45 minutes. The existing units being replaced have been in service for almost ten years, and our monthly maintenance costs have really skyrocketed. They are about $28,000 a month, for a total yearly of $336,000 for FY '98. In purchasing a new system we will, of course, eliminate normal maintenance costs for at least -- for the warranty period. And most of these vendors that we have talked to, or potential vendors, have said that 605 BILL 980003 they were willing to guarantee the product for six to eight years. And that will provide enhanced safety features to protect our firefighters. This year's budget also provides for the second-phase funding of our public relations campaign on the proper use of 911 emergency phone system. The first phase, which is really just about complete, in this Fiscal Year, FY '98, provided for an extensive market research and preliminary design of a public relations campaign. An allocation of $100,000 for FY '99 will provide for the final design and submittal of a fully developed public relations campaign aimed at reducing the number of improper calls by 17 percent. 18 Additional funding will be requested 19 in the next fiscal year in order to launch the 20 campaign. In FY '97, emergency medical services personnel responded to 157,769 calls for help and made 107,306 transports to area hospitals. We conservatively estimate 40,000 of these calls to be in the category of unnecessary or 606 BILL 980003 improper. Under fire prevention, although the number of fire deaths increased to 62 in Calendar Year 1997, over the record low of 51 in Calendar Year 1996, that number 62 still represents the second lowest annual fire death toll for the past 36 years and supports a general trending downward in fire deaths, especially over the past five years. I firmly believe that this extraordinary drop in fire deaths is directly related to our intensified efforts in fire prevention, including our continuing efforts of distributing smoke detectors through our Operation Save a Child in schools and hospitals, and especially our residential fire prevention programs which began back in 1995, where the field firefighting forces conduct routine residential inspections to identify fire hazards in homes, educate residents in fire safety, and recommend corrective steps to reduce the risk of fire. Virtually all the fire department's 2400 firefighters have been involved in this ongoing program. The number of structure fires has 607 BILL 980003 continued to decrease slightly. The Fire Department has experienced a downward trend in the past several years, coming down from 4,636 in FY '90, to 2,997 in FY '97. That represents a decrease of 35 percent in seven years. Under Emergency Medical Services, we have had a significant expansion of medic units in the past three years, and that has helped us stabilize the workload.
Our EMS personnel responded to 157,769 runs, and it is expected to run just about the same or maybe slightly less for this next fiscal year. The average number of medical runs per unit is expected to be about 4200. And that, if we hadn't had that expansion, it would probably be somewhere around 6200 in FY '98. Additionally, the higher number of units, particularly with the concept of employing peak period units, had, as promised, decreased the number of first-responder runs of the firefighting companies from about 49,000 to 37,000. And it looks like it is trending downward to somewhere around 33,000. 608 BILL 980003 This increased availability of EMS units has helped us to reduce the need to send fire apparatus and trained emergency medical technicians as first responders to medical emergencies. And this, of course, increases the amount of time firefighters' units have available in quarters to respond to fire emergencies. EMS revenues are up, too. The department expects significant increases in our EMS revenues of somewhere between and million dollars in FY '99 due to improved supervision and data collection for the claims. Providing for negotiation of better rates from third-party insurers and our private collection agency, and refinements in our fee structures to conform to industry standards which were implemented in November of 1997, these revenue enhancements have more than covered the cost of service expansion required to meet demands and should account for a continuing heavy revenue stream. We have been fortunate with our safety enhancements, too. In calendar year 1997, our lost-time injuries were reduced by 24 percent. 609 BILL 980003 That's down from 207 incidents in 1996, to 158 in 1997. What's even more dramatic is the trend since 1991 in paid days lost due to injuries. 42 paid days lost per member due to injuries. 96 days. The cost value of these days in lost time in 1990 was $1,422,000. In 1997, the cost had decreased to $347,000. Only through a very serious effort by the department management and personnel, and an equally serious effort by Risk Management personnel, could this kind of startling turnaround have been accomplished. Needless to say, we are proud of this accomplishment and grateful to Risk Management for their support. However, we remain fully committed to a zero tolerance of firefighter injuries. Just one serious injury of a firefighter is too many. Medical Priority Dispatch is something you have heard me talk about before. The department has completed its pilot testing on the 610 BILL 980003 new technology for a multiple priority dispatch system. That's a call-screening program that prompts call-takers in the dispatch center to ask certain questions of those calling for emergency medical services, and to aid them in assessing the level of emergency response and providing advice to the caller for pre-arrival preparation. This professionally certified computer-based system provides dispatchers with the ability to triage the call, which, in turn, enable a system of differentiated response that more scientifically aligns levels of response to levels of emergency to prevent inappropriate responses. For example, once this system is fully implemented and all training has been completed by the contractor, a patient with relatively minor injuries may get a different level of response than a patient whose condition is life-threatening. In the first instance, we may be able to respond by conforming to all traffic and safety regulations. And in the latter, response to be a full emergency with lights and sirens. 611 BILL 980003 The approximate cost of this is $300,000 for the system, and is fully funded through a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania EMS grant. By the end of FY '98, the department will have enhanced 911 online in our communications center. This life-saving system provides fire/EMS dispatchers with the telephone number and location of the citizens requesting our help.
As you might expect, there are times when callers are highly agitated, incoherent, and otherwise unable to give us the information that may be necessary. It is particularly supportive of the aforementioned priority, Multiple Priority Dispatch System, in that our dispatchers can quickly affirm and address with a caller and begin the dispatch process, and simultaneously begin efforts to calm the caller and give pre-arrival instructions for medical emergencies. Also, this new technology provides obvious advantages in reducing false calls. Data Terminals for Medic Units. In the spring of 1998, the department plans to install 612 BILL 980003 computerized data terminals in EMS to facilitate the cumbersome reporting requirements and to record more accurate data and to better substantiate EMS billings. That completes my testimony, and I will be happy to answer any questions that you might have.
Thank you very much, Commissioner. First I want to thank you and every member of your department for the wonderful job that you do in protecting our citizens each and every day. I don't think that any of you get the credit that you truly deserve. If I may, Commissioner, I would ask you to please refer to -12 of your budget. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Okay.
It would appear to me that in 1997, we had 1607 firefighters. We are budgeting for 1530 positions for firefighters for '99. However, I also note that we have more lieutenants for '99 than we had in '97. Am I correct in my assumption? COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Well, let me 613 BILL 980003 say this about that: What we have done from year to year is to take the number of firefighters that we would have, and then we would move them in various classes. A few years ago we made a conscious decision dealing with EMS to have a certain number of people, because of budgetary conditions, to put them under EMS, as opposed to under firefighting. If you look at this Administration, and you go back a few years, what you will see is that we have the largest number of people on board, uniformed people on board, than we have had since the late '80s. But for budgetary purposes, we may decide to put maybe 1600 people under firefighting for one year, and we may decide to change that the next year, just because of balancing the way we deal with EMS. But we actually have more people on board than we have ever had. So you don't have to worry about us cutting the force or anything like that.
I am glad to hear that. 614 BILL 980003 How many paramedics do we have? COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: We have on board about 189. We have provisions right now, we are going through a hiring process to hire more than that. We are probably, in the next few months -- because they are doing the interviews right now. And I would say probably another 30 to 45 days, we will actually hire probably another 25. What we are going to do with that is, we are going to start to upgrade some of these basic life support squads and make them advanced life support. That's just in our trending to try to deal with, in a more professional way, the response that we give to the public.
Do they receive the same salary as a firefighter? COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: No; they actually get 10 percent more.
They deserve it. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: They do a good job. And I appreciate your comments 615 BILL 980003 earlier, and I appreciate you making that comment about that. I really think they are kind of the unsung heroes. Because it is probably a little less dramatic, but certainly it is just as important. And although you may not know anybody that has personally had a fire emergency, everybody knows somebody who has had a heart attack.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I share your deep respect for the firefighters and the department and the excellent job you have been doing, and particularly the really commendable decrease in fire deaths, if I recall your testimony, to the lowest since they started keeping records, down to 53. So I think that's perhaps somewhat attributable to the focus on prevention that you have had, doing so much with children and doing so much with inspecting homes and making sure that the smoke detectors are there. 616 BILL 980003 So, again, I want to publicly thank you and commend you for your great record. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Thank you.
The one little point I wanted to bring up -- and I am aware that the department is doing some things already, again, way above and beyond the call of duty by being involved with the community, and particularly children -- but I wanted to note for the record a little piece from the Children's Defense Fund, which is a national group concerned about children. And I think a lot of people are trying to make a much sharper focus on children and their needs. And certainly here in City Council we have had hearings on the importance of after-school programs as a way to prevent crime, and the need for dealing with children who are truant from school, who, hearing their testimony, some of them so poignantly said, "We needed an adult to reach out to us and make us feel like we were valued and wanted." And I would note, what caught my eye was, the article says, "Fighting more than fires in Chicago." And they talk about what the fire 617 BILL 980003 department, a Company in Chicago, is doing. Where about three years ago firefighters initiated an attendance program with one of the local schools. Students with perfect attendance at the end of each month have a chance to win a T-shirt emblazoned with their school logo on the front and "Engine 16, Ambulance 35, Attendance Winners," on the back. The T-shirts are paid for out of the firefighters' and paramedics' own pockets. At the end of the school year, two students, one boy and one girl, with perfect attendance and A's and B's on their report card receive new bicycles. A bicycle repair shop has been set up in the basement, where young people can fix their bikes. Used bikes donated to the station are spiffed up and given to young people who may not get A's and B's, but whose progress at the schools are good. Last year the attendance rate at the school jumped from 85 to 94 percent. And the firehouse this year is trying to establish an attendance program with a second school. 618 BILL 980003 So that was sort of a new twist that I had never thought of. But in talking with you, Commissioner, I know that your officers and your firefighters are involved, and I know particularly with Lehigh Library. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Right.
But there might be some other ideas here. And maybe you want to share briefly what your officers are doing, in addition to their very central function of preventing and fighting fires. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Well, fire prevention has really been a major focus of everybody that's at this table and the other commanders that are in the Fire Department. The year before last we had about 3200 different programs that the field forces did. This past year, because of some changes that we made, we ended up with about 8200 programs that were done by our firefighting forces, one of which was the program that you just spoke about, which was at the library. We have something we call 619 BILL 980003 Partnerships for Prevention. And Partnerships for Prevention really is designed for each captain to design his own fire prevention program so that they can focus appropriately in the areas in which they are geographically responsible. That has worked to a very, very large degree for us. In addition to that, there are about 2500 programs that the actual Fire Prevention Division does. And we are always doing things with children and youth. The fact is, I think it is this week, where we make the final decisions as to who is going to get the awards for CAPA. CAPA won so many of our awards, until we decided that we would have to break them out and give them special awards, as opposed to the other high schools. But it has really been a major focus of ours to try to do more than just normal fire prevention. As part of that, National Fire Protection Association decided to give us $15,000 so that we could do a program called Learn Not To Burn. We did that in cooperation with the School 620 BILL 980003 District. They are presently negotiating with us to get us to become part of a new program called Risk Watch. Risk Watch takes it a step further. And the Centers for Disease Control has decided that they want to give us $10,000 a year, for the next three years, so that we would be a part of that. That's more of a holistic kind of program, where you work directly with the schools and you work with the Police Department, you work with the Health Department, so that you deal with safety in a much broader perspective. It is everything from how you cross the streets, to say no to drugs, to all of those other things that really cause our youth to really suffer some traumatic injuries and that kind of thing. So we believe that if we continue with that kind of focus, and not just be able to do this locally, but to take some of the programs that we have and spread them out from a national perspective, that that's good for Philadelphia, and it is certainly good for the citizens that we 621 BILL 980003 serve. And it is particularly good for the youth. It is a major focus of ours to try to reduce the number of injuries, to try to reduce the number of deaths to children, because we believe that they are preventable. Even under the worst of circumstances, if you can teach this early enough, it becomes a part of what they do. And they grow up to just be better citizens and to have a fair chance in this world.
And certainly you are always very positive role models. Many children probably look up the most to a firefighter or police officer as the sort of what everyone would like to be at some stage in their life. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: I feel very fortunate. This is the right time in the Fire Department to see certain changes. And we have been very fortunate to have so many people that work for us who have bought into the idea that that's an important thing. And I think that what you will find is, the firefighters see themselves as citizens 622 BILL 980003 first, so they are really contributors to this. And I think they do, in fact, deserve your praise, and I appreciate you giving it to us.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Commissioner, likewise, it is not the first time I have told you about the great work that all of you do in the Fire Department. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Thank you.
Commissioner, with the Philadelphia Police Department's creation of an Aviation Unit, we are going to have two helicopters. Have you begun conversations or some strategies to utilize that equipment to assist in fighting especially large fires, with firefighters trained in that unit to give information that could be helpful with a similar situation with the Meridian fire? 623 BILL 980003 How will the helicopters that the Police Department is purchasing be support to the Fire Department? COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Quite some time ago we made conscious efforts -- and I guess it became much more apparent in the Meridian fire than at any other time -- as to the value of helicopters. And we have procedures set up for the use of helicopters. And we have good working relationships with Penn Star and others, should we need them for emergency medical purposes or should we need them to help evacuate in case you end up with a fire as severe as the Meridian fire. So this has been not just thought out, but there is an actual procedure that deals with how you access them and how you can deal with these kinds of events in a safer manner.
My point, Commissioner, if we have helicopters out on patrol, and during the summer when you would have a report of a field fire in a park someplace, will there be coordination where that equipment out there, very costly equipment to operate, will be able to give 624 BILL 980003 assistance to the Fire Department to make you more efficient, and possibly recall equipment before it arrives on the scene? In other words, what I hear in other communities, especially in California, that have helicopters -- and you have seen the pictures on television where lives have been saved from burning buildings because there was no other access to the building other than by helicopter -- I would just hope that the Fire Department is going to get their bang for the buck out of this. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Some of that will be a matter of figuring out how to best coordinate those things. But let me just share a couple of things with you. One, because of paying attention to these kind of things over the years -- not just starting with me, but going back with previous commissioners -- and having some say about what happens with codes, I think you will find that we are relatively safe in terms of the way we have dealt with our buildings. Fortunately, we don't have very many brush and grass fires that are in the park itself 625 BILL 980003 that are of large loss. We have been very successful, I believe, in extinguishing those very quickly. If you have helicopters in the air, and they can point out some place where you have a fire in its incipient stage, obviously that's a help to us, because we can respond quickly and extinguish that before it gets the opportunity to expand. We will continue to do those things. And if there is anything that we can do to improve our operations, we are certainly going to do that. We believe that prevention is the key to any of this. And if you can't prevent it, at least keep it small. And that's the approach that we take with this.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Commissioner. Thank you, Madam Chair.
You are welcome. Commissioner, have the bids gone out on the new self-contained breathing apparatus? COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: No, they haven't. We right now have established the 626 BILL 980003 questionnaire. We believe that there will probably be about five vendors that can really appropriately supply this. We have cleared the path for an RFP. We are going to use that process to help select who the vendor is. We are going to go through an intensified program, where all of the vendors that can appropriately respond to this RFP will come to our Fire Academy. And, under great scrutiny, we will put them through various paces to see whether or not they meet all the qualifications that we believe are necessary.
In your testimony, you stated that most vendors have warranties extending up to six to eight years. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Yes.
Can you tell us what is the expected lifetime of this apparatus? COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: That's particularly hard to say. There is a part of it, which is the most critical piece of the apparatus itself, that 627 BILL 980003 they actually -- some manufacturer will guarantee for years. 4 As part of our system, as an example, 5 we plan to incorporate past devices, a personal 6 alert safety system. 7 If you operate this equipment, which 8 can take a beating, and you do it in the most 9 difficult areas, where you get a lot of usage, 10 obviously it wouldn't last quite as long as if you 11 were using it at, let's say, some place in Chestnut 12 Hill or something. 13 You can safely say that you can at 14 least get the guarantee, which would be for seven or 15 eight years. Because most of them are coming in six, seven, eight years in terms of their guarantees. The caution that I would have for this is this: That although a product may work very well and it may not need any repairs, and actually operate to 100 percent efficiency, because of changing technologies, if, in fact, you make a better product -- as these are better products than what we now have, because our old units are about ten years old -- I would like to see us at least 628 BILL 980003 start to examine very closely what's on the market when it comes down to the end of this guarantee period. The reason I would like to do that is because, if you are really going to be true to firefighters' safety, then you have to consider that it is not a matter of how long it lasts; it is a matter of whether or not there is a better product that can provide a safer environment for the firefighters. So I would say, in answer to your question, that the most difficult part of it is going to be guaranteed for somewhere around 15 years. The actual guarantee itself on the other parts of the product will probably come in at around seven or eight years. At that time, I think that Council ought to be ready to consider probably looking for whatever state-of-the-art is at that time.
Fine. Thank you very much, Commissioner. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Clark.
Thank you, Madam 629 BILL 980003 Chair. Mr. Commissioner, I associate myself with the comments made by Councilwoman Verna and Fernandez in complimenting you in the overall job that the department has done, particularly in reducing fire deaths, which is such a devastating thing to happen to a community. And it must personally hurt you each time you have to go and do your duties. And it is a very, very gruesome thing to have happen. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Thank you.
Sir, could you please elaborate on the types of safety enhancements that you have implemented which have resulted in the amount of lost time injuries being reduced by 17 percent, and the amount of paid days lost per member 18 due to injuries decreased to a record low of .96 19 days? 20 COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Well, the 21 first thing that we did was, to take a different 22 approach in terms of the way we were approaching the 23 injuries. 24 We used to have one person that primarily kept statistics. And what we decided to 630 BILL 980003 do was to establish a Field Safety Committee, which is a practical kind of way of dealing with our firefighting forces to help them better do their job and do it in a safe way. We also expanded the size of the unit itself. We decided that they ought to more appropriately examine every single injury, because one is too many. With that, what we have been able to do is to kind of devise some strategies. And on every single fire ground we established someone that is responsible for safety. It is everything from taking banner tape and putting it in a position where you keep people out of certain areas, keep firefighters back by a certain distance. So it becomes more a way of life than it is anything else.
Right. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: That's primarily been the kind of attitude that we have tried to foster with that. In addition to that, we took about $90,000 and put it into some sophisticated equipment 631 BILL 980003 for accidents. So we have been able to reduce our vehicle accidents, which people get hurt in vehicle accidents. We have been able to reduce that about percent. 6 What we continue to do is to try to 7 examine every single injury and take the attitude 8 that it ought to be zero. 9 And with that, and with change in the 10 focus on the way we look at injuries -- we used to spend more time looking at automobile accidents than we did firefighter injuries, so we changed the focus. So now the chief officer has to look very, very closely at each and every injury that occurs and tell us how it could have been prevented. And so it is more an attitude change, as well as actually changing some of the paperwork that we deal with, so people are forced to look at this in a very serious kind of way. And we have been successful with it. And I think if we continue with this -- because I believe it is the right path -- we will continue to even see better results. 632 BILL 980003
Well, thank you, sir. A grateful city acknowledges your work well done. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Thank you.
Are there any other questions of the Fire Commissioner? The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Miller.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have a question for the Commissioner. I just want to thank him and the Fire Department for their excellent work in the Gorgus Lane fire on New Year's Day, and for the firefighting activities at the Stenton Aubury Apartments a couple of weeks ago. And I just want to commend the department. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Thank you for acknowledging that.
Are there any other questions or comments for the Commissioner? Commissioner, thank you very much. 633 BILL 980003 And thank you for your patience. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Thank you.
The next department to be heard is the Department of Records.
Good afternoon. COMMISSIONER JOAN DECKER: Good afternoon, Council Chair. I am Joan Decker, Commissioner of Records. And with me today is Jeanne Reedy, the Department's Administrative Services Director; Irene Macchia, a Manager; and Jarrance Nesbitt, one of our supervisors. I will make this very brief. I am not going to read through the entire testimony, since you do have a copy. But I would like to make two points. For Fiscal Year 1999, the Records Department is requesting a General Fund Operating Budget of $4,274,912, which is an overall decrease of $223,000 from our Fiscal '98 budget. This appropriation level is apportioned to cover personal services allocation changes from $3,388,536 in Fiscal '98, to 634 BILL 980003 $3,490,554, for Fiscal '99. And that increase of $102,018 is to cover negotiated wage increases. The number of staff positions remains unchanged at 98. Materials, supplies, and equipment allocation decreases from -- it is an overall reduction of $244,000. And this represents a one-time allocation in FY '98 for the replacement of a central duplicating high-speed copier. Excluding the copier, the proposed Class 300/400 budget is the same as the FY '98 budget. As for our accomplishments, I wanted to highlight a couple of improvements that we have made in the document recording and registration division. As a result of intensive work efforts in the document recording and registration divisions over the past ten weeks, the backlog of documents to be recorded, indexed, and verified has been dramatically reduced for the first time in four years. In November 1997, approximately 18,500 documents were in unrecorded backlog status, 635 BILL 980003 compared to zero today, the lowest level since FY '94. Approximately 25,000 documents were in the verification que awaiting processing. Today, most of the documents to be indexed and verified have been processed. Overall, the time to index and verify documents once they have been recorded has also been reduced, as has the time to return the original document to the filer. That time frame has been reduced from 11 months, to 4 and a half. And of course our goal is to further reduce that. Our goal is to maintain no backlog of unrecorded documents and to process all currently held documents through index and index verification before May of '98. Once this goal is reached, our goal for the remainder of '98 and '99 is the continued rapid document recording and indexing, with return to documents, return of documents to the filer, within one month. In FY '99, we will also continue to streamline the recording process, support state 636 BILL 980003 legislation to permit use of modern technology to capture and copy legal records, and continue to introduce automation to improve productivity and service delivery to citizens and companies. In FY '97, exactly 177,174 documents were recorded, and this was the second-highest number of documents processed in the past years, 9 and represented an increase of 30,967 documents from 10 FY '96. 11 I would like to thank Council for 12 their support in helping us to streamline by 13 supporting and endorsing some of the repealed 14 legislation that was introduced last spring. That 15 has made a difference in the recording process. 16 On an average, we are able to process 17 about 200 documents more on a daily basis. 18 This level, I ask for Council to 19 support this requested level of appropriation. This 20 will help us to continue with the various program initiatives that we have outlined in our testimony. Thank you very much for your support during the past year, and I hope that you will continue to support our department.
Thank you. 637 BILL 980003 The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon. From time to time my office gets requests for police reports, but it takes about three weeks to get a police report. Could you tell me why it takes so long and what's in your plans to speed up that process? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Sure. The Records Department receives the copies of the police reports from the Police Department after an accident has occurred and the report is written up by the police. I believe that the report is forwarded from the district offices in the Police Department, to Central Headquarters, where then a copy is made and forwarded to the Records Department. The Records Department accepts applications for copies of the reports, as well as the fees for the reports. And we process those applications in as timely a fashion as possible, and 638 BILL 980003 make available a copy of the report as soon as we receive the reports from the Police Department. So there are a number of steps. The report does not originate within the Records Department, but the report actually originates in the police district. It is then forwarded to the PAB. And from there a copy is made, and at that point the Records Department receives a copy. So that is the first time interval that the report copy is available to the Records Department to make available to the public.
So there could be the lag time from the Police Department to the Records Department? COMMISSIONER DECKER: That's correct.
Have you looked at the process with the Police Department to see what steps could be eliminated to get the report to you faster? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes. Yes. The Police Department has been reviewing and requesting, I think, looking at programs to increase 639 BILL 980003 automation. And I believe that they will be implementing and phasing that in. During the past year they did, we worked jointly, and the Police Department made available to the Records Department an automated transmittal system. And that gave our staff at least the ability to look into an electronic version of the first incident of the logging in of the report on the part of the Police Department, into an automated system. And through the use of that electronic tool, we are able to validate and confirm and sort of trouble-shoot if there are any problems. So that was the first step in the efforts to increase the use of automation to improve service delivery all around.
Thank you. Commissioner, on -5 of the budget detail, it shows an increase of more than $2 million in Grants Revenue for Document Recording 640 BILL 980003 Division. I believe that's a productivity loan? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes, that is correct.
That $2.4 million will be spent in Class 200; however, I don't see a breakdown of those costs. Can you provide such a breakdown to the committee? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes, we can furnish that to the committee.
Do you know them off the top of your head? COMMISSIONER DECKER: The actual costs cover hardware, software, and services overall for the automation efforts. I would say the great portion, the greater portion, probably more than one-half of that amount of money is for hardware, for network cabling, and other kinds of network infrastructure. The remainder of that would be applied to software and customized software and vendor services. 641 BILL 980003
I'm sorry. I know you may have indicated this, but I didn't quite hear you. Currently, how long does it take to record a document? And how long will it take as a result of the $2.4 million from the Productivity Fund that we are talking about with the implementation of the new system? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Sure. Currently, we are recording documents the same day that they are delivered to the department. There are two other -- and we would sustain that, obviously, with the use of automation. We record them the same day. There are two other important tasks in the recording process. They are indexing the information into a database and verifying that indexed information. We have significantly reduced the time to index and verify. In November, the verification process took approximately 45 days. That's now been reduced at least by half, to between 11 and 17 days. Our goal is to index and verify also 642 BILL 980003 on the same day. And we will be supported by the automation system to help us towards that goal.
Are you at liberty to tell us the status of the litigation that the city is engaged in concerning the length of time it takes to document or record a document? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes. We have submitted a Compliance Plan under the terms of the Court Order to the Court. The Court Order ruled that we had to clear up the backlog, meaning the documents had to be recorded, indexed, and verified the same day. And that Court Order gave us a six-month time frame to complete these tasks, until May '98. And as I mentioned in my testimony, we have eliminated that backlog of documents. We have no backlog of unrecorded documents. We record the same day. We do submit reports of the progress that was made to the judge through our lawyer. And, basically, that's the status. We did have to submit a Compliance Plan. We are well ahead of schedule, and we want to keep it that way. 643 BILL 980003
Thank you, Madam Chair. Commissioner, could you please describe for me the process? I guess to use a buzz word, how friendly is it for a citizen to do business with you? Can a person call? There are people that I hear constantly are told they must come down, they must come here to get a copy of a document. How easy is it for a senior citizen that lives in the Northeast, that would need a copy of a police report? Is there a person, is there a unit within your organization that can accept a phone call, mail them this, fax them this? Is everything done for a fee? Could you just take a quick couple of seconds to describe that? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes, we do have a separate unit. It is the Accident and Investigation Unit within the Records Department. 644 BILL 980003 And the process is that the person is really required to fill out and complete an application form, pay the fee, the required fee. They can submit that either through the mail or deliver that and fill it out in person in the department. We do have a separate room 8 within the department to conduct this business. And that, in a nutshell, is the process for fulfilling an AID request and for making a request to the department. I think that we have an excellent -- I know that we have an excellent -- AID supervisor. We January a year ago reorganized this particular unit and really regrouped the staff within the unit. We were able to clear up a sizable backlog there, too. And I know that the unit is -- supervisor of the unit is an excellent supervisor. We do have a voice mail box that is available for any citizens that are having any kinds of problems in obtaining a copy of a report or needing help in completing the application, and our supervisor returns the voice mail messages immediately. 645 BILL 980003 And we are very sensitive to the needs of elderly or any other kinds of clients that have special needs. And I would say that we do our best, very best, to fulfill those requests.
Commissioner, if I called the Records Department and needed a copy -- not being a member of Council, but a citizen -- and I happened to have a fax machine or a neighborhood business, will your people fax something to a person, or do you need to get paid first? COMMISSIONER DECKER: We do need the fee.
Is there anything you do for free? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Only if a special request is made for a waiver.
In other words, every document that comes out of your office, there are fees associated with getting that document? COMMISSIONER DECKER: That's correct. And we are audited on an annual basis 646 BILL 980003 by the Controller. So we have to have an audit trail of all the transactions which we complete within the department. If there are extenuating circumstances, we do, with the proper paperwork and so on and so forth, waive the fee. But the standard is to accept the fee for each copy report.
Would you fax something to someone if they needed it right away? Like I sent the check, your office got the check, you had the document, rather than mail it to them, if they requested -- I got a call that someone begged for a document to get faxed, and they said, "We don't do that." COMMISSIONER DECKER: That is not our standard policy. However, if there are extenuating circumstances and we can confirm and validate payment and/or there are extenuating circumstances, we would try to work with the citizen to fulfill that request.
Don't you think that is something you should look at? This is 647 BILL 980003 1999. If a person would send you a $15 check and put a note on there and say, hey, could you just fax this to this number, I think that would be a lot easier than putting it in an envelope. COMMISSIONER DECKER: We will do that. That is a good suggestion. We will take action on that.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Fernandez.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Commissioner, you note in your testimony that you have had some staff training for customer service. COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes, that's correct.
To have your staff be as customer friendly as possible. Who have you had do that, and has it been pro bono or by contract? 648 BILL 980003 COMMISSIONER DECKER: Actually, we worked with the airport, the trainers at the airport. Two of the trainers within the personnel department, in the training group at the airport, who have conducted this particular program at the airport, were kind enough to make their services available to the Records Department.
Great. And also, again, I note that you have done a commendable job to try to reduce the backlog problem, and note in your testimony what your goals are. And I think on the issue of getting the document returned back to the customer, you said that right now it is -- it had been four and a half months, and your goal for '99, for next year, is to get it down to one month? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes, that's correct.
Which sounds 649 BILL 980003 great. How does that compare with other counties? COMMISSIONER DECKER: I think some of the counties are able to return it is usually within a month. I would say only the smaller counties are in a position to do less than that, but not too much less than that. Most of the recording process has a series of work-flow steps involved in it, and they are fairly standard for all the recorders across the country, but especially very consistent within Pennsylvania. So those same amount of steps have to be taken regardless of the size of the county. As I said, I think on an average, most of the counties in Pennsylvania are not too much better than one month. And the only way they would be able to do that would be if they were much smaller and their volumes were very much smaller than the annual volumes that we deal with in Philadelphia.
So if I hear 650 BILL 980003 you, basically if you can get it down to one month, that would make us comparable -- COMMISSIONER DECKER: To other counties.
-- to other counties. Which, again, I think would be great. Because that was one of the major complaints that I was hearing, why does it take so long in Philadelphia. So I hope you keep steaming right ahead. COMMISSIONER DECKER: Thank you. I do, too.
Commissioner, how are you today? COMMISSIONER DECKER: I am doing well. How are you?
I am good. My question will be about the Automated Integrated Document Recording System, that 651 BILL 980003 I understand has been in development for a number of years. When are you expecting it to be fully operational, and how is it doing with respect to estimated costs? COMMISSIONER DECKER: We are within budget. We have not spent anything beyond the original allocation through the productivity funding.
What does it cost? COMMISSIONER DECKER: The original amount of the productivity bank loan for the project, the project is costing us $3.4 million.
Is it completely operational? COMMISSIONER DECKER: It is not operational. The vendor has been slow in making a part of the delivery. The actual -- you asked for the time frame for implementation?
When do you expect it to be fully operational? COMMISSIONER DECKER: There are a 652 BILL 980003 series of tasks and events that have to be completed successfully before we introduce it into production. So the implementation is best explained in that manner, rather than a target. Where we are in the project now, we have implemented and installed enough hardware to enable us to establish a test lab to test the various components as they have been delivered to the department. We have also installed the network with the appropriate cabling. And we are in the process of testing the integrated software solution. We are currently working out the detailed plan to proceed with the full performance and integrated testing. There are a number of detailed tasks that have to be completed as part of the requirements for the successful performance test. The system must work for 30 days at a certain effectiveness level; in other words, a ratio of up time to down time. And we have to go through each of those 30 days and ensure that we are getting the appropriate response and performance times for 653 BILL 980003 data entry and response times within the system. And, as I said, the point in the project that we are currently at is working out the detailed plan to develop test cases --
But, Commissioner, my question is a date. When are we -- COMMISSIONER DECKER: We expect to have it --
Let me refine the question. When can we reasonably expect that this program will be fully operational, tested, debugged, and ready to go? Now that's a date. Whatever process you have to go through, I assume you are going to do it to the maximum level feasible, consistent with your duties to conserve the money. Now I need to know when to expect that. COMMISSIONER DECKER: We will have that in before the end of this fiscal year.
30 June, 1998, 654 BILL 980003 the whole system will be up, debugged, and ready to go? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes.
When it is in place, it will then permit you to reduce the time of recording process, whatever it is, from four months to less than one month? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes, to one month. And that would take it from the entry of the document into the department, until the original document is returned to the filer. That would be one month.
Is returned to the -- COMMISSIONER DECKER: The original document is returned to the filer, to the citizen.
To the person to whom the document belongs? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes, that's correct.
Okay. Did you recently reorganize your agency managementwise? I am missing Herb Smith, who is an old buddy of mine. He is like a fixture. 655 BILL 980003 What has happened there? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes, we have completed a reorganization of the Document Recording Division. We reorganized the Document Recording Room. There is a separate room, a separate division, which is a Registration Division, which was split out from the Document Recording area. The Registration Division is the area in which the maps are -- the city's Tax Assessment Maps are maintained. Each deed that comes into the department is reviewed, the legal description is reviewed, it is depicted in engineering accurate terms on the city's Tax Assessment Maps. That particular operation, as well as another room, which is commonly referred to as the reading room, which is a research room where the microfilm of all the permanent land records are retained and made available to the public, those two rooms were split out separately from the Document Recording Room. The reason for the reorganization was to enable the staff and each -- actually, the 656 BILL 980003 managers to concentrate on their particular area. Given the fact that in the past number of years, the volumes of documents have been fairly high due to mortgage refinancing rates, we had a deluge of documents. I think '95 was a particularly high period. And it was that combination of events that precipitated the backlog. I believe that it was an appropriate thing to do, to narrow the focus of the managers and expand the number of managers that we had within the department.
Where is Mr. Smith? Is he still the manager? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Mr. Smith, yes.
What does he manage? COMMISSIONER DECKER: He manages the Document Recording Room, and that is the primary room which accepts the documents that need to be recorded, and that the documents are reviewed for conformance to recordability requirements as set forth in the state law. 657 BILL 980003 So Mr. Smith, his title has not been changed.
Have his duties been changed? COMMISSIONER DECKER: His duties, he is still the Chief Title Recording Officer in the department.
So he hasn't been demoted; he has just been moved over? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes, that's correct.
All right. COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes. The other areas were -- in other words, it was quite a bit to manage. And I guess the other parts of the operation were moved from the Document Recording, as I said, the Registry and the Reading Room, to make it more manageable for each of the managers to maintain their operations. But Mr. Smith's position, his title, has not changed.
Did you increase, decrease, or maintain the same staffing level for this calendar year, for this program 658 BILL 980003 year? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes; we are authorized at a staffing level of 98 positions.
And is that where you are? COMMISSIONER DECKER: Yes; we are at 95. We had unexpected some attrition, and we are in the process of trying to replace those positions.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, Commissioner. You should just note for the record that all of the difficult and tough questions have come from that side of the room. This is the kinder, gentler side of the room. And all I really want to say is that I appreciate your testimony and the commitment that you have demonstrated having come in under, in my opinion, at least difficult circumstances with the 659 BILL 980003 backlog already in place. I know that we had you in some time last year to talk about that. And I guess I just wanted to express to you that I do appreciate the effort of you and your staff people. You have provided high-quality service to my office. And notwithstanding any problems, whether it is police reports or any of the other documents that we're chasing after, I just think that you do need to be commended and recognized for the type of job that you are trying to do. We have a responsibility, and the Administration, to support those efforts. And I think the Records Department as a department generally doesn't maybe attract the kind of attention and constituency which, at another level, you might appreciate. But it doesn't often get some of the support that it probably needs. Because many people, I think, don't recognize the importance of the role that the department plays in the government, in comparison to some other departments. 660 BILL 980003 So I know that you will continue to try to do your best. And you would probably like me to stop talking so you can get out of that chair. So have a good day. Thank you. COMMISSIONER DECKER: Thank you very much. We really appreciate that very much. Thank you.
Are there any other questions or comments? Thank you very much. Department of Human Services is next to testify. Good afternoon. COMMISSIONER JOAN M. REEVES: Good afternoon. Madam Chair, and members of City Council. I am Joan M. Reeves, Commissioner of the Department of Human Services. With me today are Maxine Tucker, Deputy Commissioner for Children and Youth; Russell Cardamone, Deputy Commissioner for Administration and Management; Margaret Holtzman, Superintendent of Riverview; Richard Spitzborg, Executive Director, Children and Families Cabinet; Leann Ayers, Executive Director, Office of Family Service System 661 BILL 980003 Reform. And I would like to take this opportunity to introduce to you Joyce Burrell, Deputy Commissioner for Juvenile Justice Services. We appreciate this opportunity to present for your consideration the Department of Human Services' Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 1999. I have a few summary comments to make. You have the full testimony. And I would like to start just with a reminder of the mission of the Department of Human Services, which is to strengthen and preserve at-risk families and the communities in which they live. The protection of children, youth, and the frail elderly is the department's primary responsibility. Our programs and policies are sensitive to communities and the cultural and ethnic backgrounds of our clients. In the beginning of Fiscal Year 1998, the department completed the revision of its strategic goals and objectives to better reflect the 662 BILL 980003 changing social environment in which we find ourselves. As stated in the Five-Year Financial Plan, the department is committed to achieving six measurable and attainable goals: One, to prevent the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of vulnerable individuals; to protect vulnerable individuals from further abuse, neglect, and exploitation; to assure the existence of permanent and safe home environments in a timely manner for the individuals DHS serves; to assure the department's services are effective and responsive to client and community need; to assure high levels of accountability through effective leadership and management of resources; and to manage existing fiscal resources effectively and to maximize those sources of revenue. Each of the department's divisions has developed measurable outcomes that are to be achieved beginning in FY '98, and those are included in the full testimony. I want to highlight some of our major accomplishments in FY '97. The first being that the Youth Study 663 BILL 980003 Center has received full accreditation from the American Corrections Association, making it the only such detention facility accredited in the State of Pennsylvania. We have full State Department of Public Welfare licenses for all programs, including the Children and Youth Services, Youth Study Center, and Riverview Home. We are also proud of the Children and Youth Division's exemplary performance in adoptions, finalizing 422 adoptions in Fiscal Year '97, and we're projecting finalization of 450 additional adoptions in Fiscal Year '98. In Fiscal Year '99, the number will decrease to 400 due to the impact of our initial switch to the new adoption processes. We are continuing to have success with community behavioral health and the enrollment and services provided to our dependent and delinquent children. Aging Services, having changed its focus for Riverview Home, has resulted in the reduction of the length of stay to an average of 137 days for those clients that were discharged to 664 BILL 980003 community placements. 7 percent in Fiscal Year '97. 4 percent in '98. 8 percent. The Children and Families Cabinet has received a $4 million Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant for four years, renewable for eight years, or $4 million -- I'm sorry; or $8 million. This grant focuses on systems changes that will improve the outcomes for teenagers in the areas of youth violence, teen pregnancy, and teen substance abuse.
We continue with our Outcomes Project, which develops and identifies measurable program results that assure a child's safety, family stability, and child development. 665 BILL 980003 Achieving these outcomes has become more critical today due to the changes in federal and state child welfare, juvenile justice, and physical and behavioral health managed care. There are many more accomplishments identified for Fiscal Year '97 and projected in '98. However, all these improvements can be negatively impacted by the federal and state Welfare policy changes. The impact of state Welfare or TANF policy changes will become a reality in Fiscal Year '99. Also, increases in juvenile arrests, implementation of the balanced approach, increases in the numbers of youth adjudicated delinquent with mental health, substance abuse, and other behavioral conditions will continue to impact juvenile justice services. Any decreases in federally funded Titles 4E and 4A will also negatively impact the revenues available to fund the department's programs. The Fiscal Year '99 appropriations 666 BILL 980003 request of $388,242,647 assumes that the Department of Public Welfare will fully honor its commitments to hold children harmless as a result of the Welfare changes and to honor Act 30 needs-based budgeting requirements. We want to thank the City Council for its continued support for the children, youth, and disabled adults and elderly served by the Department of Human Services. This concludes the summary of the full written testimony, and we are pleased to answer any questions you might have.
Thank you, Commissioner. I note that there is a large increase in the General Fund costs in your budget. For the record, can you provide a breakdown of what these increases will fund? It would appear that the increased staff levels are rather high. I believe that according to -7 of the budget detail, there will be 249 additional full-time employees in the department. And my calculation would indicate 667 BILL 980003 that 106 of these employees will be additional administrative employees. And we're not talking about social service workers, or social workers. These are all administrative employees, are they not, for the most part? Or am I not reading the budget properly? COMMISSIONER REEVES: What I have determined here, what we do each year is, through our needs-based budgeting process with the state, identify the kinds of needs and increases that we are anticipating. One area of administrative support that is increasing -- and that's about 30 positions -- is under our Administration and Management. As the department has grown over the past several years, with an increase in social workers and administrators, our support services like personnel have not grown at all, our contracts monitoring staff has not grown at all. And as we continue to increase services based on the needs of our children and families, and we increase requirements for our provider agencies, our ability to monitor those 668 BILL 980003 contracts, to make sure that they are meeting the quality standards that we have set, have been not diminishing, but it has been very difficult because the staff has not been increasing in those areas, as well. Another increase is due to, as our personnel functions for all the new staff have increased, this is the first year we are looking at increasing the number of personnel list in the department to handle things like payroll and other kinds of activities that right now are not being done. The other area of increase is as the complexity of revenues and bringing in revenues has increased over time, we are looking to increase those staff, as well, to assure that we are able to generate and pull down the type of federal and state dollars that we're entitled to. So those increases I have as 30 positions, with the majority of the increased positions really being in the Children and Youth Division for increased in-home services, for social workers, our community-based placement services, and institutional services. 669 BILL 980003 So I would have to go back and look at the budget detail to identify those administrative-type positions that you are referring to.
I would appreciate that. And I don't want to let you think that I am questioning, but I think we should know at this point in time. And I know that we are all supportive of the work that you are doing, particularly with the children and youth. But I think, for the record, we should have some explanation as to why there are so many administrative positions that are being asked for to be funded this year. COMMISSIONER REEVES: We will provide that to the Council.
According to a Daily News article -- and I guess you saw that, too? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes, we did. We read that first thing this morning.
I don't know if 670 BILL 980003 members of Council did. But in essence what it does say is that we currently have 160 children in out-of-state placements, at a cost of $10 million a year. This year the department anticipates placing at least 65 in in-state placements; is that true? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes.
And do we have contracts signed for these 65 placements? COMMISSIONER REEVES: What we are in the process of doing is developing those contracts. There are provider agencies who are willing to increase their contracts and bring programs from out of state into the State of Pennsylvania. One such group has identified a site and facility in a neighboring county for some of the high-end-cost youth who need specialized services. So that, we think, will come to fruition. And those 65 placements, we believe, will happen. I was trying to find my notes on that. Because as of June, July of last year, and 671 BILL 980003 juvenile justice services, we had seen an increase in the number of youth placed out of state to 173. We have been able to bring that number down to 150 as of November. So we're working very closely with Family Court in identifying facilities within state who will provide services to these youngsters.
What kind of services do these youngsters get when they are placed out of state? Is it varied? COMMISSIONER REEVES: It is mostly treatment, mental health and other types of treatment, structured programs, really to help them identify the problems that they are having, as well as how to cope with them. So that when they are returned to the community, they have a better chance of not getting back into trouble again. And because it is residential care, there are requirements of 24-hour, around-the-clock-type supervision for these young people.
Since it is a residential treatment program, does it make any difference where the residential program is located? COMMISSIONER REEVES: It does not make any difference where it is located. The problem is the difficulty of locating facilities within the State of Pennsylvania.
That already exist? COMMISSIONER REEVES: That already exist and that are willing to take these type of children. I mean, they are difficult to handle. And a lot of the local facilities, residential facilities, are not willing to take them. And when we reach out to those providers who can provide those services, and they want to locate here in the state, we run into, "Well, not in my backyard. We don't want a sex offender program across the street from where I 673 BILL 980003 live."
So Nimby, we run into Nimby. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes. So it takes a long time and quite a lot of negotiation on the part of the provider agency with the community, with state-elected officials, and so forth and so on.
Last question. What reason have you to believe that we are going to be able to reduce the out-of-state placements? Are there new facilities being planned within the state? And, if so, what is their capacity to handle our population, which I suspect is growing? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes, to your question. We are working with out-of-state providers who are willing to come into state. They have located properties, they are working with the State Department of Public Welfare so that they can become licensed to deliver those services. In our planning, we also ask them to 674 BILL 980003 develop a certain number of slots or beds for Philadelphia children.
You are welcome. Commissioner, can you tell us what the $355,000 contract for AFGARS is, the initiative? What is that? COMMISSIONER REEVES: AFGARS is a state -- not a state, A federal reporting requirement that every state has to comply with, which provides information on adoption and foster care for all children in the child Welfare system. Therefore, we are required to develop that system. It is an automated system. So we have to contract for the development of that system. I do believe we get federal and state reimbursements, so that -- and I have to ask my budget person John Zanier what the city's share of that is. It is 75 percent federal dollars. And out of that percent that's left, 60 percent 25 of that is state. So the balance is city tax 675 BILL 980003 revenue, which would be 40 percent of 25 percent.
We are not going to calculate. COMMISSIONER REEVES: So I goes it is about cents on the dollar. 7
Thank you, 10 Madam Chair. I want to follow up with just a comment about that article. I thought in some ways it was fair. The headline is very scary. You think, my God, $10 million. But then when you look at the costs and the seriousness of these issues, in some ways it was fairly balanced. And I think the part that strikes me is, so much goes to pay for a child, $65,000, or more, where trouble has gotten, you know, sort of things way out of control. Yet when you look at prevention, often that's where we get short-changed. Yet I know you and the department have been doing a lot around family preservation and trying to help families stay together and deal with 676 BILL 980003 some of their problems in a holistic family way. But as I was reading that article, I was thinking about some of the testimony we heard at our hearings on truancy, where Carol Getzel, I think it was Carol, has a contract with you all where they try to help children and families, like I think it was from the ages like 8 to 12, sort of early signs of truancy, early signs of school problems, and try to help the child and whatever is going on in the home, and perhaps the school, to try to prevent truancy with those young people. (Councilwoman Clark assumes the Chair.)
And it was relatively low cost in comparison to what it costs to incarcerate a young person or pay for the crime that can develop if they continue to get in trouble. Because I was noticing, again, the Youth Fatality Review Committee report that just came out, noted that all the young people who had been victims of homicide had been truant from school at some point, and many of them had dropped out. So I think a lot of the work that you 677 BILL 980003 are doing with prevention and family preservation would be a way to catch some of these problems before they get totally out of control, and, therefore, also very expensive to treat. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes.
One of the things I wanted to note was, sort of a different topic, Riverview. Again, I was a little puzzled when we look at the trends, and more and more people living longer, being frailer, needing nursing home care, and sort of the shortage of nursing home care in a lot of situations, and the numbers of people with also overlays of mental health and other kinds of issues. I didn't know why you projected a lowering of the number of people, or fewer people that you would be expecting at Riverview, from 263 in FY '98 to 255 in FY '99. Is there an explanation? There must be. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes. What we are doing at Riverview is really in the process of improving the environment 678 BILL 980003 for these older people who are remaining there. And one of the things, right now in the cottages, there is no privacy. So you come in, there is no privacy. There is a little cabinet for you to put your personal belongings in. Part of our renovation is to increase the amount of space available to the person with more storage and more privacy. So as we remodel each of the cottages, it means because we are increasing the amount of space available to a person, it then decreases the amount of space available for all 263.
That does make sense. I remember the time I toured, the living conditions were very cramped. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes.
Let's see. One other, just a comment, on of your testimony, about the after-school programs. It says some programs run three days a week for one to two hours between 3:00 and 7:00. I guess I was worried why they aren't five days a week, if a child, you know, one of the 679 BILL 980003 things parents need and children need is sort of a regular, steady, dependable, safe place for young people to be. Do I have the wrong page number? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes, I have it. It is under the Children and Families Cabinet. This refers to the programs that the Recreation Department is expanding and running for the Children and Families Cabinet. And I think they are looking at this 3:00 to 7:00 p.m., and the number of days that are available, as we expand the availability of after-school programs.
I will bring that back up to the Recreation Commissioner. COMMISSIONER REEVES: It is Commissioner DiBerardinis.
I apologize for being distracted. The next person on the list to speak is Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you, Madam 680 BILL 980003 Chair. Commissioner, we had a meeting months ago, many of your employees were concerned about the limited parking, and the Parking Authority made a survey of availability of on-street parking. There was also a suggestion at that meeting that there possibly be some space available to expand the existing parking facilities, especially for the shift workers, on site. Has there been any followup on that? Is this a matter of money, or is this just not feasible? COMMISSIONER REEVES: If you recall, I did submit a memorandum to the Managing Director's Office with the issues and the request. We did get a response to that, which basically says that it was not feasible to do what was being requested to be done, like limiting the parking only to Youth Study Center employees around the area at the Youth Study Center. And I think the other issue was whether part of the area around, I think, one of the walls on the --
Commissioner, 681 BILL 980003 forgive me for interrupting, but the stenographer needs five minutes to change the tape. Do you mind? COMMISSIONER REEVES: No. 6
Good afternoon, everyone. This is a recessed hearing. The Chair thanks Councilwoman Verna for her good work. And reports -- and reports --
Oh, and Councilwoman Clark for her good work in relieving Councilwoman Verna in the responsibilities of the Chair. And I'm very proud to report that I have no eye problems. Just got back from Wills Eye Hospital. I think the Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo at this time.
Thank you, Mr. President. Commissioner Reeves was kind enough to answer a question about the Youth Study Center. (Inaudible.) COMMISSIONER REEVES: In terms of the parking, the fact that there are 12-hour parking meters around the facility as well as a parking lot a half a block away also had a lot to do with the decision. 683 The other thing that we have to look at is whether it is appropriate to use any of the property around the Youth Study Center for paving, and I have not followed up on that.
So are you basically satisfied that the way it exists -- so if we get any further communication -- COMMISSIONER REEVES: The way it exists, I am perfectly satisfied with the way it exists. There is parking available around the facility. It is 12-hour parking. There is a parking lot a block -- it's almost just a half a block away.
So it's not a matter of needing any additional funds to pave an area to provide additional parking? COMMISSIONER REEVES: I don't believe so, no. 20
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Fernandez.
Thank you, Mr. 684 President. In the earlier conversation, I had not asked about the Youth Study Center. As you know, that came up in the capital budget hearings. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes.
And I was very concerned about any discussions of building a much larger facility. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes.
And my major concern was over the increased -- every year thereafter, operating costs -- we built a bigger facility, because maybe we could afford the capital outlay, but if you increase the size of the Youth Study Center, that means every year thereafter, our operating costs would be higher. Could you, for this record, tell us what is the current operating costs of the Youth Study Center? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes. The current operating cost is. . . we will get that to you. I thought we had it right here. It's about $19 million.
A year? 685 COMMISSIONER REEVES: A year. Roughly million a year. 4
For a facility 5 that was built for a capacity of 105, right? 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes. 7
And then the 8 population there has been higher, so you've 9 probably been paying some overtime? 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes. So it's 11 overtime cost. And it's not just overtime cost. 12 I mean, there are other costs when the population 13 is over 105. I mean, you have to feed, you have 14 to clothe. 15 And also there's the cost of potential 16 injury to either the resident or the staff when 17 the facility is overpopulated. And just the 18 morale in trying to get a program operating is 19 also a struggle.
And one of the numbers was a high of like 183. I know sometimes in the years past, the population was higher because there were X-number of young people waiting for placement in State facilities or other facilities. 686 Do you know how many of that 183 number are young people awaiting, who have been adjudicated and who are just awaiting place in some other facility? COMMISSIONER REEVES: There's usually about 40 who are waiting for transfer to another placement, State or other types of facilities that the State is required to place. So there's about 40 on any given day that are waiting for State placement.
So if they were taken out, there would not be such an overcrowding problem? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes, that's correct.
And is all the money used to operate the Youth Study Center, is that City dollars, or does the State pay us when they don't have room in their facilities? COMMISSIONER REEVES: We get reimbursement from the State for the operation of the Youth Study Center. So the City dollars are about 50 percent, and the rest is the State dollars. 687
Okay. And lastly, could you provide us with a breakdown -- if the number's 183 or whatever it is at this point, could you get a profile of the categories of young people that are there and get how many perhaps wouldn't need to be there if the system was working better? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes, we can do that.
Aren't they supposed to have a hearing like within ten days? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes. Right now we are working very closely. Miss Burrell is working very closely with the Family Court, with the State, with the Defenders, and other stakeholders, meeting every week in order to review the population and to see whether they can be stepped down into other types of alternative placements or not, whether they can be moved, whether they're being held there on a hold because of a medical reason, or just what the circumstances are for each one of the children that are there.
Mr. President, 688 I think both the City Council and the City Administration really have to keep a close eye on both the costs and what is and isn't happening to the young people who are there and maybe shouldn't be there. Because often, they're sort of out of sight, out of mind. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes.
And as nice as the Youth Study Center looks as you drive up the Parkway, when it's overcrowded, it's potentially very dangerous, but it's also very costly.
Can you tell me the average time it takes to get a hearing for a person who is charged with acts of delinquency and held at the Youth Study Center? COMMISSIONER REEVES: I will have Miss Burrell answer that since she --
That would be fine. DEPT. COMM. BURRELL: Joyce Burrell, Deputy Commissioner of Juvenile Justice Services.
Miss Burrell, I'm going to have to ask you to speak much closer to the microphone and a lot louder. And if you can, it would be nice if you 689 could spill that water. We always like that. (Laughter). DEPT. COMM. BURRELL: Good way to start, don't you think?
Why not. DEPT. COMM. BURRELL: Joyce Burrell, Deputy Commissioner for Juvenile Justice Services. Every youngster has an initial hearing within hours of entering the Youth Study 11 Center. The adjudication hearings occur for the 12 large number of youngsters within 10 days, but 13 there is a population that stays 20 to 30 days who 14 are in need of other placements that are not 15 available at that initial adjudication hearing. 16
What are the 17 circumstances under which a juvenile, if at all, 18 will not get a hearing in ten days? 19 DEPT. COMM. BURRELL: The youngster 20 will get a hearing within ten days. He may end up 21 with a continuation because there is not enough 22 information at that time to make a decision in 23 terms of whether there will be a longtime 24 placement for this youngster, or if, in fact, he or she is ready or can go home. 690 And availability of a suitable home does become an issue. Many parents are overwhelmed by some of the activities of their delinquent youth and are unwilling to have them home. So one of the things that we are focussing on is --
Because I asked you what are the circumstances under which a person cannot have a hearing -- DEPT. COMM. BURRELL: No, there are none. It's just that --
I practiced law in that court. DEPT. COMM. BURRELL: Okay.
I know about continuances, I got a lot of them. Just because a hearing is scheduled, it doesn't mean the hearing is held. And my questions is, what are the circumstances under which a person cannot have a 691 hearing within ten days? The fact of the hearing is -- I mean, I understand that this case requires that hearings be held in seven days and I know that they're not held in seven days, but they're usually held in -- they're scheduled within ten days. I'm not talking about scheduled hearings; I'm talking about circumstances under which they don't have the scheduled ten-day hearing. Because that creates a problem because it is the continuances that are the problem. DEPT. COMM. BURRELL: Right.
It is not enough to say we complied with the court order if we scheduled a hearing within ten days, and the world knows we're not going to have it, but all we did was schedule it under circumstances where, you know, nobody can say we didn't schedule a hearing and we're trying to comply with the court order. What I'm trying to do is get beyond all of that and find out from you what are the circumstances under which these hearings are scheduled but are kind of not -- we don't have them. I'm interested in some more practical 692 information. DEPT. COMM. BURRELL: Okay.
Because if everybody had a hearing, if all those juveniles had their hearing within ten days and were either found delinquent or adjudicated delinquent, let go, or committed someplace, and I guess then there's going to be another delay, then we probably wouldn't have any crowding anywhere because what would happen is they'd be moving in and out. But that's not the case, and what I would like for you to do is give us a more in-depth explanation of what happens such that they get these scheduled ten-day hearings and then the hearings may or may not occur and what kind of continuances are applied for and by whom so that we can figure out, you know, a little bit more about why they're sitting down there. Do you have that kind of information? DEPT. COMM. BURRELL: We'll get that for you, Mr. Street. I know that one of the reasons is the need for more in-depth reports on the youngsters and more psychiatric evaluations of some the 693 youngsters. But in terms of more specifics, I do not have those at this moment.
I can remember a time when Judge Frank Reynolds was in charge down there, and he would sit until 6, 7, 8, 9, 7 o'clock at night, and he dealt with those cases. 8 And I can remember when the census down 9 there reached almost 200. I mean it was, way, way 10 up there. And it makes 144 look like, you know, kind of, you know, like lounge living. And I can remember having budget hearings here, and we talked about it, and he started sitting all times of the day and night, and he got that census down and kept it down. And, in my judgment, it might be easier for us to figure out a way to extend the hours of the court stay -- I mean, do a little -- and it's probably going to be a lot cheaper and we can do what we need to do to get these young people considered in some rational way. And those are the kinds of things that I'm -- listen, I used to get court appointments, and I would routinely run down there and say I just got an appointment, I'm prepared on this, I 694 need another hearing. And it was all true; it wasn't even anything anybody was making up. A juvenile can't have a hearing without an attorney. And if these cases are not being held, and if they're not being put back out on the street, if they're in custody and these lawyers are coming in and requesting continuances, at least in part, because maybe they were just recently appointed, we need to know about that too. I mean, I'm more concerned about how this whole system is working, because it is a system that has a lot of very important and integral parts. And for us to be able to have some appreciation for, you know, why we have this cost over here on this end, I think we've got to try to work our way back to the origin of some of the problems because, obviously, there are a lot of people who are involved in all of this other than just the Department of Human Services. So if you could produce some kind of analysis that lets us have that kind of information, in addition to what Councilwoman Fernandez has requested, I think it would be 695 helpful to us. DEPT. COMM. BURRELL: We'll do that.
Thank you, Mr. President. Commissioner, when a child is in foster care, does your agency do anything to try to collect the money, back support money that may be owed? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes. As soon as a child comes into our custody, we file a child support order with Domestic Relations Court. And then it's up to Domestic Relations Court to hold a hearing in order for us to receive any support. We are meeting now with -- or a meeting is scheduled with Judge Pannapento of Family Court in order to see if we can't streamline the process.
Can you tell me how much money in child support your agency collects now from these indebted parents? COMMISSIONER REEVES: I can get that number for you. I know it's not a lot.
And can you also 696 tell me how many parents are contributing to this child support? COMMISSIONER REEVES: We should be able to get that information to you.
Could you get that to the President? COMMISSIONER REEVES: To the President.
And are we doing anything with other City departments to make sure there's not City employees who are delinquent in their duties as parents? You know, and the City on the other hand, do we cross check, you know, with computers, with Social Security numbers? COMMISSIONER REEVES: That kind of cross-checking, if anyone has an order to support, that's handled by Domestic Relations Court.
So, basically, DHS sends it over to Domestic Relations, and that's the last DHS worries about it? Is that what you're telling me? COMMISSIONER REEVES: No, that's not the last we worry about it, but we do have to have Domestic Relations Court hold a hearing to determine the ability of the parent to contribute 697 to support.
So you don't have a system or an attorney or a representative to make sure that we pursue these child support payments? COMMISSIONER REEVES: We, through what we call our "Fiscal Determination Unit," we pursue every dollar that we can pursue, including the support.
And you can let the President or let us all know how much we have and -- COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes. We'll let you know the process that we follow, we'll let you know the amount that we --
Could it be possible to also find out about if there's a way to cross -- there's got to be a way to cross -- you file for a gun permit and everybody in the worlds knows about it. So, I mean, there's got to be a way, if you're a City employee at least, where we can cross-check to see if you're not paying child support payments. COMMISSIONER REEVES: I can't do that. 698 That is not within the mandates of my department. I can only request child support information on those children that we have custody for.
No, but the ones that you have custody for, that's the ones I'm concerned with. COMMISSIONER REEVES: The ones that we have custody for, we can cross-check.
I wouldn't want you to be responsible for anybody that you don't have a mandate to in your department. What I'm concerned about is, again, City employees. If there was a way to get non-City employees, it would make it extremely happy. You know, you have to have a license in this City to have a handgun, you have to have a license to have a pet, but you don't have to have a license to have children. I mean, we're having children having children, and there are social and economic needs here for this. But I just want to make sure there's not City employees that aren't skirting the law. I know that's not in your jurisdiction. But, I mean, could we meet with somebody? Could we meet 699 maybe even with the Controller's Office or the Mayor's Office or somebody who may have that information? COMMISSIONER REEVES: I would think that it's within the Family Court and the State Department of Public Welfare, where they get information on child support orders.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Miller.
Thank you, Mr. President. Good afternoon. I have questions regarding the day treatment program. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Okay.
Okay. It's my understanding that the number of placements to day treatment have decreased. And is that due -- are you thinking about eliminating that alternative or increasing it or just developing other community alternatives? COMMISSIONER REEVES: We are looking at increasing day treatment as an alternative to 700 being placed. Also, when young people return from residential and other type placements in the juvenile justice system, that there is what we call "after care," and they attend day treatment programs in order to help them readjust to the community and to prevent recidivism. So we -- our plans are to continue day treatment and increase it as appropriate.
How has day treatment been positively impacting the change of the behavior of the youth that it serves? As individuals, not -- COMMISSIONER REEVES: We have information -- we have what we call "Prodesk," which is an evaluation of all programs being provided to young people in the juvenile justice system. So we'd be glad to share data about the effectiveness of day treatment because all day treatment providers must submit information, and then those youths that they are providing treatment to or care for are tracked to see what the outcomes of that treatment is. 701
Okay, I'd like to see that information. COMMISSIONER REEVES: We will provide that to the President.
I have one other question. Family To Family, I see, has grown. Congratulations. And I'd like to know the zip 9 codes that Family To Family now serves. 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: We'll be glad to 11 provide that to the Council. We have that here, 12 but it would take some time to identify each one 13 of those, but we do have that information 14 available. 15
Okay, one more question. I know I said I had one, but. . . Has your department considered putting the new -- well, whenever there's a new -- because they've talking "new" ever since I got here -- the new Youth Study Center out in the neighborhood or away from Center City? COMMISSIONER REEVES: There has been discussion about location-location-location, looking at such bus routes. I mean, if it's in a neighborhood, how parents would get there, 702 transporting the youth to Family Court. So there have been a lot of issues around where this should be located based on what the needs of the system are and the needs of the families are to be able to have access to their children.
Thank you. I feel compelled to say for this record that we've had the Youth Study Center located in almost every available spot in this City at one time or another, and we still don't have it located anyplace. I don't know what the answer is to all of that. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you very much, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Clark -- just kidding, just kidding. (Laughter.) 703
Good afternoon, Commissioner and everybody. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Good afternoon.
On of your testimony, you talk about the City's share of costs for DHS programs was reduced from percent 8 to 15.7 percent because of federal revenue. 9 Are we -- must we be cautious about -- 10 well, I guess I should ask you, what is the 11 federal revenue? And in the future, do you see 12 the federal revenue disappearing and we may have 13 to come back and pick up the costs for these 14 programs? 15 COMMISSIONER REEVES: The federal 16 revenue for our programs, the majority of those 17 dollars are called Title 4-E. We are able to get 18 reimbursed over 50 percent of the costs of our 19 services based on placement costs. 20 So the more placements we have, the 21 more federal reimbursement we can get, which is 22 kind of anti- what we're trying to do to preserve 23 families. 24 So one of the other cautions about this 25 is that when welfare reform was enacted, a block 704 grant entitled 4-A, which is another source of federal funding, which will not grow over time, which then, through -- through some reallocation of Title 4-E, we have been able to offset any loss of Title 4-A dollars. One of the things we need to be concerned about is that if the federal government should ever feel that they needed to cap Title 4-E because the states are really doing a very good job of getting reimbursed under that federal title, if that should ever become capped, then we would probably be facing a federal funding problem. So to answer your question, reliance on federal dollars is really dependent on what happens in Congress.
Well, we know, but it doesn't seem like in the near future -- COMMISSIONER REEVES: As far as we can tell, it does not seem like in the near future that there would be any reduction in Title 4-E.
Now, back to the family preservation issue. Are there any efforts to move the federal government towards supporting 705 family preservation services? COMMISSIONER REEVES: In the most recent federal bill, the Adoption Assistance New Act, they reauthorized funding for family preservation and family support, so that those dollars, as far as we know, are still available to us. In the new act, there is a lot -- a great deal of emphasis on permanency, and those decisions need to be made about a permanent placement or home for a child within 12 months, which, in the previous law, was at 18 months. They also changed some of the requirements around reasonable efforts in order to keep a family together so that there are certain conditions under which we don't have to do anything in order to try to preserve a family. I mean, and some of those conditions, are abandonment, which we would have to try and find parents in order to meet the reasonable efforts requirement, which will not be required now. Some other things revolve around if a parent had abused or injured or killed another one of their children, and there are other children in 706 the family, we no longer would have to make reasonable efforts to maintain that family. Some other issues are a little grayer, which will require a great deal of documentation on the activities and services provided to families before recommendations are made for termination of parental rights. So right now, the federal government is developing regulations around that act, and the State will have to develop state regulations or laws in order to implement the act, I believe, by July of 1999, when the first pieces of this become effective. So we're in another -- I mean, we're looking at more services being provided up front to families, with documentation of the impact and the effectiveness of those services and the willingness of parents to cooperate and participate in the requirements that we will be asking them to adhere to.
Is kinship care considered in the family preservation, or is that something else? COMMISSIONER REEVES: That is -- 707
Kinship care as another budget item, what are you doing about that? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Kinship care falls more under foster care, so it's -- we consider it family preservation here because the child still remains with the family. However, because of State regulation, it is considered foster care. But when we place a child with kin, we consider that a permanent plan.
Mm-hmm. I think I have one other -- your staffing levels. I mean the ratio of case -- the case level. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Right.
The relationship of case to worker, could you give me that figure? COMMISSIONER REEVES: The average as of today -- and of course, this is an average -- is to 1. The State regulation is no more than 30 22 families -- I must emphasize families -- to 23 worker. So right now, we're at 23 families to 1 24 worker, on average. 25
That's a 708 1 decrease? COMMISSIONER REEVES: That's a decrease. We've been decreasing over the past several years. We can decrease by one family each year based on federal -- I'm sorry -- based on State budgetary requirements.
I don't understand that last statement. You said we can decrease by one family every year based on State budgetary requirements. COMMISSIONER REEVES: The needs-based budget, the State instructions for needs-based budgeting allows the counties to reduce case loads by 1 family each year so that if your case load is at 23 to 1, we can put in the needs-based budget to reduce all those case loads to to 1, and 20 then calculate the number of workers we would need 21 in order for that to occur. 22
Then suppose you were wrong? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Then we have a case load that remains higher than 22 to 1. 709
I mean, with all the things that happen that you can't predict. Okay. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Clark.
Thank you, Mr. President. Commissioner, in your testimony, you spoke of a Youth Study Center being one hundred percent. Tell me what that means. COMMISSIONER REEVES: With the accreditation, that we were able to meet the American Correctional Association's mandatory standards at 100 percent.
Is this the first time we ever did it? COMMISSIONER REEVES: It's the first time we ever went to get it.
Oh, all right. So we passed it the first time out? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Well, there were a couple of reviews. So, yes, I would say the first time out, we did.
Can you speak to the factors that cause the increase in the 710 population in the second and third quarters of FY '98? That's one half of my question. The other half of my question is: Is the Youth Study Center overcrowded? COMMISSIONER REEVES: The first half -- the second half is that the daily population today is 143. So, yes, we're overcrowded. And the first part of your --
The optimum population would be what? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Is 105.
But that's a court-ordered limit. COMMISSIONER REEVES: That's a court-ordered limit. That's a court-ordered limit and a State regulatory limit because the facility was built for 105.
Have we ever been at 105?? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes, we have. The end of last fiscal year, we were down to, on some days, 90, 97, 98. The last -- we've seen an increase in the number of arrests of juveniles over the past 711 four months. We've seen -- as a result of the increase in arrests, we have been seeing the population increase.
What steps have we taken to address the overcrowdedness issue? I think Mr. Street spoke just briefly about perhaps extending the length of the court's day. Would that help you? COMMISSIONER REEVES: That would be of help. Having hearings on weekends would help also.
Right. COMMISSIONER REEVES: We are meeting weekly with Family Court to identify kids who can be stepped down and stepped out. We have been working with them on lists so that judges can hear specific cases and make commitments based on some specific cases. It's not just the number of youth in the Youth Study Center; it's the number of youth who are also in the alternative placements awaiting adjudication, so we have to look at the whole system. Because if our community-based 712 placements are getting backed up and kids are being held for longer than 30 days because they haven't had a hearing, that means when there's a hearing for a youth in the Youth Study Center and it says place in a community-based facility --
There's no spot for it. COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- there's no 10 spot, so it sort of just backs up. So what we're doing every day is reviewing every child and every one of the alternative placements to determine whether they should have a hearing, whether they can be stepped down, whether they can be stepped back home. Because there are sufficient supports in order to make sure that, one, the community remains safe and this child does not get into anymore trouble.
Does the arrest of a juvenile help that child potentially get sent to the Youth Study Center? Speak to the record on the kinds of arrests that impact the population at the Youth Study Center. COMMISSIONER REEVES: I think what we see are charges of assault, aggravated assault, 713 car theft, sexual offenses that would bring a youth into the Youth Study Center. Outstanding bench warrants also result in kids being sent to the Youth Study Center to be held until they have their hearing.
Right. COMMISSIONER REEVES: So it's those kinds of offenses. There are a number of youth who are referred to youth aid panels if it's their first offense. But now we're seeing, based on some evaluations being done, that even kids with first offenses are being held.
Depending on the severity of the charge? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Depending on the severity of the charge and the charging of the charge.
Thank you. Now I'd like to switch to a question that I asked of the Managing Director.
I always had the 714 feeling when I knew a lot less about what goes on at the Youth Study Center as a practicing attorney and later as a member of the City Council, that in some respects, incarceration at the Youth Study Center was a form of punishment, that some of the members of the court felt it was an appropriate way to try to deter young people from getting involved in these kinds of offenses. In other words, we'll charge them, overcharge them, we'll hold them for ten days, two weeks, whatever period of time, because we're probably not going to be able to do much else with them, but at least we got them off the streets for a period of time. Can you comment on whether or not you believe that there's anything of that going on at the Youth Study Center at this time? Within the system? COMMISSIONER REEVES: It's hard for me to answer that. I'd like to look at some of the data that we've been collecting as to, one, the type of charges and who gets committed to the Youth Study Center and who doesn't, because sometimes two youths with the same charges, one 715 will go to the Youth Study Center and one will go home. So it's like looking --
Is that considered a commitment to the Youth Study Center? COMMISSIONER REEVES: No. When the child is committed to the Youth Study Center, yes. But when a child is sent home, no. That's not --
I didn't know people got committed to the Youth Study Center. COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'm sorry, not "committed." It's when they're sent to the Youth Study Center, because they can't be committed because --
They're held at the Youth Study Center. COMMISSIONER REEVES: They're held at the Youth Study Center, thank you. They're held at the Youth Study Center.
Okay. COMMISSIONER REEVES: So we'd like to really look at the data on that in order to answer your question. 716
I'd be willing to accept some information. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Okay.
Earlier today, I spoke to the Managing Director, but I really believe that this question is more appropriately directed to you, Commissioner. This has to do with the impact of federal welfare reform. What projections have been performed to highlight the impact of the $29.3 million decrease in the federal budget in the federal welfare funding, and how will that impact us? COMMISSIONER REEVES: In two areas --
Wait a minute. There are more parts to this question, then you can answer the whole thing. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Okay.
Who will (inaudible) the most, and what alternative services will supplant those that DHS will no 24 longer provide? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Okay. In terms 717 of our projections, last year in our needs-based budget, we projected to the State that we would see an increase of about 800 children.
800 children? COMMISSIONER REEVES: As a result of welfare reform. Two things: One, we didn't see that increase based on welfare reform; and, two, the State said, no, that wouldn't happen. So this one, they were right.
We did not see an 800 percent -- COMMISSIONER REEVES: We did not see based on --
I mean 800 new children. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Right, 800, due to welfare reform.
Was there any substantial increase? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Not that we can document was based on welfare reform. The other thing that we have --
Excuse me. One more question, Commissioner. 718 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes?
Is it too soon for it to have played out -- COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes.
-- and gotten to our attention yet in ways that are reflected in statistics? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes. The answer to your question is yes, because it will be in March of '99 --
Okay. COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- when people start falling off the rolls if they aren't employed.
Right. Now project for us on this record, if you will, to March and subsequent months in '99. What plan have we in place? To what degree will we see those numbers increase and will it be primarily children who take the brunt of it? COMMISSIONER REEVES: What we have projected, we are continuing our projection of the 800 children that will come into our system. 719 We're also very concerned about kinship families, and I don't think we've made a projection on this as yet. Kinship families that will have the choice of either having a child only assistance grant or becoming foster parents and receiving the full foster rate for all their kin that they're taking care of. We're just beginning to see an increase in the number of kinship families coming into the department, so we're just starting to track that to see if this is a trend that is related to welfare reform. What we have also put into place is that as people come in requesting services from us, that we ask the question, What has been your experience or are you experiencing difficulty because of TANF? So that we can begin collecting data about why -- if see this increase, why it's happening. There have been a couple of studies done in other jurisdictions -- one in Baltimore, and I forget, one in another state -- who have had welfare reform programs a lot longer than Pennsylvania. And so far, they have not seen any 720 increase in child welfare. So, again, I think it's too early to tell.
Well, where there has not been an increase, what program changes have they made? And should we be putting some of that in position so as to ameliorate the impact when it hits us? Because it's going to hit us. We may be wrong as to the size of it, and we may be off by a few weeks or months as to when it hits, but it will hit us, because there's no place else for the people to go. COMMISSIONER REEVES: I agree. And we are looking at the kinds of programs. Some of them are around, you know, the supportive services that get provided to families so that they just don't drop off and then there's nothing available for them in order to take care of their children.
I think that children might be the last to see the impact. I think single adult males and females who appear to be able-bodied to work, for which there is no 25 training, and for which there are no jobs, are 721 going to be the people who have no choice but homelessness when they have used up every bit of public assistance. Respond to that, if you will. COMMISSIONER REEVES: I agree with that, and I think when Mr. Nardone is here, he can speak to that better than I can because we've had a couple of years of Act 45, when single adults were taken off of any kind of assistance at all. But, yes, homelessness is, I think, going to be one of our biggest areas of concern and biggest problems for families as well as for single adult people.
Mr. President, I thank you for the opportunity. I have no further questions. And I thank you for your answers.
Thank you very much. Commissioner, I would like for to you briefly detail for us and prepare whatever other information you might recommend. Detail for us the context that your department has with the schools. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Oh, yeah, okay. 722
I have had this continuing concern that there's not enough coordination and activity that the Department of Human Services has with schools. Can you comment on that. COMMISSIONER REEVES: We'll be glad to provide you more detailed information, but I must say that the relationship and the contacts have been much better here of late, with us working jointly on committees that look at the needs of children in the school district as well as those children who are in the delinquent and dependent systems. Because of managed care, it is necessary that there be a team of people to review all children that are being referred for residential or any kind of institutional placement. That has required us to have and work very closely with the school district as well as the Office of Mental Health in order to do those teamings so that we can make recommendations about the most appropriate placement for children. So I would say that since I've been here over the past few years, the relationship 723 with the school district staff has really improved, I'll say, a great deal. Probably more could be done, but I think we're working --
Well, I'd like to know what that relationship is, what are the circumstances under which you have contact with the schools, counselors, teachers. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Okay.
I'd like to know precisely how that works. Do you know whether or not the school district still has the responsibility to provide educational opportunities for children who have been adjudicated delinquent and that are committed to some facility within the State? COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes, they are to have that responsibility and also for children who are dependent and in residential treatment facilities.
I would like for you, to from your department's point of view, put in writing exactly what that responsibility is and how your department relates to it and how -- and give us an analysis of what it is you think about 724 the way the system works, the way it's currently structured. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes, we will.
Anyone else have any questions? (No further questions at this time.)
Seeing no one, we thank you for coming. COMMISSIONER REEVES: Thank you.
I'm advised that the Department of Human Services is the last department that will be considered today, but we will be back at 6 o'clock to take testimony from the members of the general public, and all City Council members are encouraged to be here at 6 o'clock so that we can take testimony from members of the general public. Thank you very much. This Committee stands in recess till 6 o'clock this evening, Wednesday, February 18, 1998. (Recessed at 3:53.) - - - 725 (Committee reconvenes at 6;21 p.m.)
May I have your attention, please. This is a recessed meeting of the Council Committee of the Whole. Today we are taking testimony on Bill No. -- If you'll forgive me, I just went to -- where did I go, Pete? I went to the ophthalmologist, I'm told, and you know how they dilute your -- what do they call it? They dilate your -- what is it, your pupils? They dilate your pupils, I've had my pupils dilated. So, therefore, in order to read, I'm still trying to figure out Bill No. 980003, an ordinance adopting an operating budget for fiscal year 1999. There are a number of people who are on the list to testify, about two pages of people. Back in the good old days, we would be here till 2 o'clock in the morning, but I fear today we will not be able to stay that long. What we are going to ask people to do is if you have a statement, we'd certainly like to have you make it available to us. If there are a group of people who are here together -- I notice that there a number of people here from the Grays 726 Ferry Recreation Council. In that case, if you would all like to come up and sit at the witness table together, we might be able to expedite your testimony. But, in any event, each person is entitled to be able to testify here at this hearing, and we don't want to discourage anybody to testify. But in some cases, the testimony would be repetitious, and if you're willing to summarize, we will be glad to you have you do that. But, in any event, thank you for coming. Our first witness will be George Bochetto. (Applause.) (Paul Bochetto comes forward.)
Thank you, Councilman Street. I have an extra set of statements if I could ask that they be distributed among the Councilmembers.
I'm going to ask you to please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your statement. 727
Thank you, President Street. My name is George Bochetto, and I would like to thank you as well as all the other Councilmembers for allowing me this opportunity to testify concerning the budget proposed for 1999. I am a resident of the Center City Philadelphia, and I am a lawyer here in town with the firm of Bochetto & Lentz, but I would like to testify as a citizen, taxpayer, and businessman. I have reviewed the fiscal year 1999 operating proposed by Mayor Rendell, and I must tell you that I think that the direction in which this budget takes us is wrong. This will be the seventh budget presented by the Rendell Administration. The majority of this Council were Members during the time those other budgets were presented. This Council's main fiscal responsibility is the review of the budget and the approval of the budget. The budget under Mayor Rendell has been passed by this Council six years in a row by a vote of 17 to O. There has never been on a Rendell budget a no-vote cast; nor has this Council ever proposed even one amendment to a 728 Rendell budget in all of those years. Every year of the Rendell Administration -- that is, the past six years -- this City has averaged a loss of 500 people per week and 1100 jobs per month. In addition to unconscionably high taxes, especially the wage tax, crime and the deplorable state of our city's schools are what drives business and citizens away from our city. If we continue to ignore these issues, we will continue to lose both taxpayers and businesses. Attracting jobs is vital to our financial health, and drastically reducing the crime rate and improving our educational system is the only way we'll keep citizens. Mayor Rendell's proposed 1999 budget does nothing to stem the exodus that we are experiencing, and it contains no changes in the critical areas of the budget. Crime in the school is allowed to proceed status quo. Not one penny, not one police officer is added to the Police Department in the 1999 budget, yet other departments are receiving huge budget increases. This is foolhardy. The budget 729 contains a tax reduction so minuscule as to have no practical effect at all. Rendell's 1999 budget ignores all of those issues and ignores the issues that are helping to destroy our City. This is the year to get back to basics. Crime is an issue. Too few police officers is one of our main problems. Crime statistics reflect crimes that are reported, not those which are unreported, nor those for which there are too few police officers to respond to. Half-an-hour late responses to crime due to personnel shortages are clocked in as unfounded or uncounted. Students who graduate from high school who are unable to read or do math is an issue. Taxpayers and business that are fleeing our borders from the crushing weight of the City's tax is an issue. I would, therefore, like to challenge you, my elected officials, and this City Council, to scrutinize carefully the fiscal year budget proposed by Mayor Rendell for 1999. (Applause.)
I challenge the City 730 Council to submit an amendment to the 1999 proposed budget calling for not less than $50 million to be transferred to the Police Department from other departmental budgets. (Applause.)
We must have more police, and this $50 million will allow us to add 1,000 uniformed officers. I further challenge the City Council to discuss the impact of Philadelphia's impending loss of its first-class status and its impact on our revenues. This issue has yet to be addressed by either the Mayor, City Council PICA, or the Controller. In April of 1997, our population in this City fell to 1.47 million people. If we do not exceed 1.5 million people by the year 2000, this City will lose its first-class legal status and will suffer dire consequences as a result. I further challenge every Member of City Council to begin to adopt the measures called for in my plan to eliminate the wage tax. (Applause.)
And I challenge the City 731 Council to demand that the Rendell Administration submit a budget with substantial, and not token, reductions in the wage tax. (Applause.)
Finally, I challenge every Member of City Council to withhold any allocation to the school district until more safety measures are installed so that our students have a safe environment in which to learn instead of fear of physical harm. (Applause.)
Chaos in our streets has led to chaos in our schools. I'd like to sum up by saying that the Mayor and City Council deserve a lot of credit for helping to change the perceptions about our City, particularly Center City, but we have a long way to go. I ask you today, all of the Members of City Council, to meet the challenges that face all of us, to review this budget carefully that has been submitted by Mayor Rendell for the year 1999, and to reprioritize the spending rather than merely giving it a rubber stamp. 732 Thank you. And I would be happy to answer any questions that any Councilmember might have. (Applause.)
Good evening, Mr. Schwartz. I would appreciate it if you would identify yourself for the record, and I would ask you to confine your remarks to 6 hours and 13 minutes. (Laughter.)
Come on, folks, it's late but it's not that late, so it's 6 hours and 13 minutes. Now, I know that, Councilman -- I know that, Councilman, we spent a lot of time here together. I know we appreciate the -- 733
No, no. I think I clocked it close to that, Councilman, and I'll leave out some of the earlier portions, and I think we can get it done. My name is Ed Schwartz, and I'm President of the Institute for the Study of Civic Values. And I'm joined by people from groups that are working with me on a coalition called "Join." I'll say a word about it here. Faith Williams, from the Urban Affairs Coalition, Peggy Maguire, from the Germantown Women's Education --
Councilman, I'm going to have to ask you to speak a little closer to the microphone and a little louder.
Some of the younger members of us might not be able to hear.
" Faith Williams, from the Urban Affairs Coalition; Peggy Maguire, from the Germantown Women's Educational Project; Cynthia Ferguson from the Community Women's Education 734 Program. And I'm going to -- I've given you a summary of my remarks. I'll go through them. They're here to give some personal evidence about some of the things I'm saying. And the other material is for your use, in keeping with my tradition of supplying Councilmembers with vast arrays of statistics and whatever on any matter that might be of concern here. Mayor Rendell gives us, always when he issues his budget message, a good history lesson that begins sort of in 1992. My history lesson begins in 1981, and I'm not going to go through the whole history here because that would be 6 house and 13 minutes. But it's the fiscal consequences of unplanned crises, and I want to cite two. When the Reagan budget passed in 1980, you didn't wake up and see a different world. But by 1984, when I was sitting in this chamber, there were 4,000 people in shelters in Philadelphia that did not exist in 1981. And 500 people were lying in Center City beyond those shelters, at a cost of 735 $32 million in local taxes, equivalent to a 4-mill real estate tax increase. The same decade in that period, the State had capped, as those of you who were here remember, its reimbursement for helping the Department of Human Services respond to abused kids. So over the course of that decade, the City ended up spending about 50 or $60 million again of our money every year so that kids would not be beaten up by their patients. Those two items, coupled with land fill costs and the loss of revenue-sharing, accounted for just about all of the major spending increases that this government experienced in the 1980s that led to the fiscal crisis of the late eighties early nineties. Today we face now, over the next five years, a catastrophe of even greater proportions, and I'm here today to call it to your attention because so far, even though the Mayor has made very eloquent speeches about it, so far in his own budget, it's business as usual. A year ago, March 3, 72,000 households in Philadelphia received what amounted to layoff 736 notices from the State. They were told that in five years, they had to find jobs or they would no 4 longer have income. That's 72,000 households in the City, almost a quarter of a million people involved, 150,000 (sic) kids. Now, imagine if Mayor Rendell sent a letter to -- or 28,000, I guess now -- people 9 who work for the City of Philadelphia and said, 10 We've established term limits for City employment, 11 five years. You've got five years to get another 12 job. 13 I think that would be on the front 14 pages of every newspaper for as long as we hadn't 15 found jobs. Look at what happened when we had to 16 lay off all the SETA workers, 5,000 back in 1980. 17 What hell broke loose then. But that's what's 18 happened now to 72,000 heads of households a year 19 ago in Philadelphia. 20 And one year later, in the healthiest 21 economy that we've had, with quick attachments and 22 all these things, the case load in Philadelphia 23 has dropped by just 5,000 households. To reach 24 the situation in the year 2002, where we won't 25 have people lying by the dozens in the streets, 737 you'd have to reduce it by 11,500. Mayor Rendell, the week before he delivered his budget message to you, spoke to a conference of the United Way on this subject. And what he said at that conference was that, despite everything the City was planning to do, including its federal program that will come into play at some point this year, he right now projects 40,000 households by the year 2002, 40,000 that won't have any income at all.
Now, the material I've given you breaks out in every planning district in the City, every census track, the number of people on welfare as of the '90 census, as well as the number of people in your districts who don't have high school diplomas, which I'm going to get to. So you can look for yourselves at how this will impact your own neighborhoods in your own districts. But if there's somebody who thinks that this is all in, quote, North Philadelphia or somewhere else, we all know that's not true. We need to think again. I made the decision in January of last year that I was not going to sit by over this 738 five-year period while that was developing and just watch it happen. And so for the last year, I have been running meeting after meeting all over town, trying to get a grip on not only the nature of the problem, but what we need to do to solve it. What are the steps that we need to take to avoid this catastrophe? And, basically, the conclusion I reached is as follows: Obviously, we need to get people access to jobs in this environment and in the future access to jobs. And in this environment and in the future, access to jobs is no longer something we can rely on the City to produce. The City produced, after all these years, 3,000 jobs last year that's all. In the region, there was a growth of 38,000 to 40,000 jobs. So to solve the jobs crisis, we need, in fact, to get people from the City to the suburbs to work. A quarter of a million people come from the suburbs to the City to work. Sixty-five percent, I saw in the paper today, of the people who work in Center City come from Pennsylvania 739 suburbs and from Jersey. Nobody raised any questions about that. And 125,000 people in 1990 went from the City to the suburbs. Now we have people living in inner-city neighborhoods who can't get to the jobs in the suburbs. This was true ten years ago when I first wrote about it as the Council's Chairman on Transportation. Not much has changed. But now changing it becomes a matter of necessity. " And this, in fact, is the central point that I want to make with you today. It is the central point that has been totally ignored, both in the discussion of welfare reform and, frankly, in the discussion of the City's economic condition. As of 1990, we have 400,000 people, adults over 18, who do not have high school diplomas. And 120,000 of those people don't even have ninth-grade education. The greatest growth in jobs, as Andrew Cassell, a conservative economist, documented last week in The Inquirer, is in offices. For all the work that we've done on hospitality -- and you 740 know I voted for and advocated the Convention Center when I was here -- there was zero growth in hospitality jobs this year, zero, and a decline in the City. The growth in jobs comes in business services and in finance and in social services and in membership organizations. The statistics from the State on that are in this book I handed out. You need to work in an office. And working in an office is not some narrow skill; it requires basic literacy. Employers all over the place are putting the GED up as the prerequisite to getting into the jobs, it's a prerequisite to getting into training programs. This Council made the OIC Hospitality Suite Program possible. I'm on their board. We have 150 people working in the Convention Center or related hospitality industries. You know something? You need a GED to get into that program. We will not succeed economically unless we close the literacy gap. And in contrast to what was just said, I don't care how much we lower 741 the wage tax. As long as we have 400,000 people in Philadelphia who don't have high school diplomas or the equivalent, they're not going to be working, and businesses will not come back here. And we need to look at that as least as a serious problem, as the cost of doing business which everyone does recognize.
Ironically, many of the leaders of economic development in the City have been saying this for a long time, the last couple years. " Fred Dietrich, who is their international trade person over at Greater Philadelphia First has moved into what he calls the "Philadelphia Jobs Project" and is now spending most of his time talking about the educational level of our work force. Jeremy Nowak, who is the leading funder of community development in the private sector in Philadelphia, has spent his year talking to community development groups about the need to get into improving work force. 742 We haven't talked to each other about this. Independently, a number of us who have been looking at this problem have come to the same conclusion. So where are we in relation to solving this problem? The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania invests $8 million exactly in adult literacy. The budget has increased by exactly three percent in the last ten years, that's all. The City of Philadelphia awarded exactly 1800 GEDs in 1996, that's all. At that rate -- you know, we're interested in millennium projects. Well, this is one that would take that long. So the coalition that we've gradually put together began to sort out some priorities. First, we need, in fact, to triple or more the budget for adult literacy, triple it, so that we can get up to at least 5,000 GEDs in a year and not 1800. We need to provide a fast and efficient way of moving people from the City to the suburbs. And my proposal there, looking at what was done and looking at one of the demonstration 743 projects that you're going to hear, is that we should invest in the purchase of 500 vans and vehicles to help people move quickly, like the Philly Phlash and some of these other places. And we need to provide child care, which is a primary responsibility that the State and the federal government, under the new Clinton proposals, are attempting to meet. And we're all in favor of the Public Service Jobs Bill pending in Harrisburg that Senator Vince Hughes has introduced. But the long-range economic issue is not going to be addressed unless we deal with reverse commuting and we deal with the literacy cap. And now I look at the wage tax reduction. Now, I have had misgivings about that, but I haven't been here every year. And maybe if welfare reform, as I describe it, weren't on the equation, I wouldn't be here on this because the wage tax is no great bargain. And over time, trying to lower it, if all other things were equal, it's not an unreasonable thing to attempt to do. So you haven't heard me here. 744 But now we are facing a different situation. We really have to worry about what our investment in economic development should look like and what results we get from it. The fact is that the proposed wage tax reduction for this year will mean a savings of exactly of $30 for a person earning 30,000 a year, that's all. The Mayor in the budget message obscured that by talking about the cumulative impact of the reduction. But this year, it's $30. But those of you, you know, of course, if you earn $100,000, it will mean $100. And if you earn a half a million dollars, it will mean $500, and if you earn behind $1 million, it will mean $1,000. So, at that rate, the City is certainly giving bigger gifts to those who have more money. But for most of us, the amount will be beyond recognition. In fact, I had a meeting in this group, and I asked three questions: How many people pay your electric bill and know what you pay? Every hand went up. How many people pay their phone bill and know what you pay? And every hand went 745 up. How many people know how much you saved this year in the wage tax reduction that the City gave you last year? And every hand was down. So that's the savings that we get. Now, that savings is costing your budget $24 million. And that $24 million is 3 times the amount now spent on adult literacy.
And $24 million could help hundreds and hundreds -- I estimate close to 5,000 people in the City could get their GEDs. You could buy all 500 vans for moving people from the City to the suburbs with that $24 million, or part of it. So the question is, what will improve the economy of the City? Part of the reason I've never come back here on this question is that I do think economic development is an extremely important priority. And I don't think we should be trading off wage tax reduction against other things. It's got to have an economic justification. But my view right now is putting 500 people -- or 5,000 people back to work in jobs because they can get them. It's a powerful economic incentive. 746 And, you know, the two areas in Philadelphia that grew successfully without City planning, South Street and Manyunk, began with people with skills moving into them and then businesses growing around them. The suburbs did that, too. So if, in fact, we invest in increasing the educational level, take people off of welfare and get them working, then they come back to neighborhoods with income. In fact, the national statistics show people with GEDs earn 40 percent more than people who don't have GEDs, 40 percent. So you want to increase the income of people in your neighborhoods who are low-income? Give them a GED and get them a job, wherever the job is. So my appeal to you very specifically is to take real seriously in this budget the alternatives before you. Does it make more sense to invest in a fragmentary reduction -- and I've talked to Hankowsky and all these other folks about what benefit we're getting from it economically every time. And I am not, frankly, having been here 20 years, having written a book on neighborhood economic development, persuaded by 747 the response. On the other hand, I know damn well that the money invested in adult literacy could, in fact, produce real results. I asked Mr. Hankowsky two weeks ago at a panel whether he could say in five years that the economic development programs of the City would absorb all of the people who are going to be thrown off the welfare. And he treated it as the laughable question that it was. Of course not. So what happens in five years? What happens a year from now, when everyone on welfare has to spend hours a week doing something? And 15 all I'm saying is, in the investment that you're 16 making, you need to take this seriously. But more 17 than that, you need to take this crisis seriously. 18
Okay, I am, I'm done. Now, all I would like to do is to ask the folks here to briefly say -- address two questions. Both Cynthia and Peggy are working in adult literacy programs. They're on the front 748 lines of doing the GED. And I've asked them to just talk briefly about what it costs to get somebody from a ninth-grade to a GED level. Faith Williams has got a demonstration project in reverse commuting that is showing what can be done with vans, and I've asked her to come here and speak very briefly about that. And then we're done.
And I will be very quick in the interest of time and everybody's schedules here. I'm Cindy Ferguson, Director of Community Women's Education Project in Kensington. In our immediate neighborhood, 46 percent of the population does not have a high school diploma. We serve approximately 400 women a year. There are many other agencies in our area providing adult education. We all have very, very long waiting lists. We need to think about the time constraints that people are under now, the time restrictions of when they will lose their benefits, because when people are on waiting lists to get into a program, this is not serving their needs. 749 We offer about five different programs. And to just give you an example of the cost, we have a 16-hour-per-week basic skills literacy program. The average cost per student is $3,072. What we get from the State of Pennsylvania is $645 for that program. The rest of the money we have to fund-raise on our own. What we are not able to do at this time is to begin offering additional programs without other funding. And I would just want to leave you with a thought, that the thing that is so scary to me is looking at the five-year lifetime limit for welfare. We're not providing the tools for people to get off of welfare. Our experience for 17 years now has been that education can be the most 18 effective way for people to stay off of welfare 19 and not to be cycling back on and off. 20
I too will be very brief because Cindy said a lot of what I would say in terms of background. I'm Peggy Maguire, I'm the Executive Director of the Germantown Women's Educational Project. We're a small community- based, adult-literacy, life-skills project for 750 women in northwest Philadelphia and in Germantown. I just wanted to say very quickly that we work with about between 80 and 100 women each year. And we -- the way we are budgeted right now, we spend about $1,800 per woman and her children per year. That is how we're budgeted. What we get from the State is about $440 a year. So, clearly, we are depending very strongly on other sources of support in order to even be able to do the most basic services for women and their children. And I say "their children" because we provide supportive services to make it possible for people to even come to our classes. So that we're talking about providing free on-site child care, providing family counseling, providing emergency referrals for women and children as a part of the package of adult literacy. So just to be clear, that adult literacy is not something by itself when you're talking about an at-risk population that we're talking about. So, basically, we depend on local foundations, local churches, local individuals to 751 fill some of that huge gap that is being talked about. But, in fact, what we need is to be able to at least -- let me also say that what that pays for is six paultry hours a week of instruction for women who are supposed to, within a year, get all the education that they need to find and keep employment. So we're talking six hours a week. So I would suggest that, you know, obviously, we've signed onto the joint agenda. And I think that tripling the State budget is a beginning, but we also need to look very clearly at what are the connections between the dollars spent on literacy and the dollars spent on what makes it possible for people to pursue GEDs and to pursue, then, self-sustaining, living-wage jobs as opposed to whatever they can get when they're no 18 longer able to depend on welfare. Thank you.
Finally is this relationship of reverse commuting. And this demonstration project is what actually gave me the focus of what I think would work in this area.
Save me for last. I'll be very brief, and I speak very quickly. My name 752 is Faith Williams, and I work for the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, and I'm the project director for the City-To-Suburbs Commuting Project. And we were funded by the United Way. We started our project back in July. We were funded by the United Way, we got a grant of $300,000 with which we bought three 15-passenger vans. We hired drivers, we set aside $30,000 in transportation subsidies to provide transportation for specific TANF clients that were coming off of the welfare rolls. And we do job development out in eastern Montgomery County, particularly the 309 Corridor. We provide the transportation subsidies, we provide emergency ride homes in case children get sick. A lot of clients are a little hesitant to go out into the suburbs without having a guaranteed ride home. We use taxi services, we'll dispatch a van, and the employers have been very cooperative with that. Since July started, we placed about 150 clients in suburban jobs. It's been a very successful project. 753 And our project is only funded for a year, so we're looking to, with the budget changes, have money put into not only transportation services for the big transit agencies, but for the creative and innovative projects that are working out there and creating partnerships between community service organizations, welfare populations, and the transportation management. Thank you.
Just to summarize, we are also, of course, going after the State. And at the very least, we would like to see the State demands we're making raised far higher on the City agenda than they are. Right now, they're not on the City agenda at all. But when we look at the tiny amounts that these folks get to do now the burden of helping 55,000 people between now and the year 2000, get the credentials to hire the work force, and then we turn and see the City giving $24 million back to us in the $20 or $30 a year increments, something's wrong with that. And I think you have to look at this 754 very carefully. Now is the time to act, before people are lying in the streets. And that's why we're here talking to you now, so we can begin to plan for perhaps a successful transition and not face the catastrophe that we faced on other grounds in the 1980s. I want to thank you for your attention.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Fernandez.
Ed, I'd like to thank you for the data, particularly going census track by census track and the maps so that you can really see, you know, the astounding numbers of people that do not have their GED, the adults who don't have their GED. So I think this information is very valuable for us to have. I had one question for Cindy Ferguson and Peggy Maguire.
Okay, how many -- Cindy said they did 400, but you've done 80 to 100 women per year. How many of those women are 755 able at the end of your -- I assume this is one year -- able to get their GED?
Well, actually, it's a good question. Actually, we do not have a one-year program. We have an open-entry -- yeah, thank you for asking. Our program -- basically, we say, Once you come here, you are welcome to stay as long as you need to reach your educational goals. Very, very few women can get a GED in one year, very few, because most of the people who come to us are not anywhere near ready to prepare for a GED exam, which is a very, very difficult and strenuous exam, by the way, which lots of high school graduates can't even pass. So the assumption is that we are being open to you as long as you need to. So I would say, in one year -- Cindy, come here. You're needed. In one year -- I think last year, we had perhaps 10 percent of the people can get a diploma in one year. The most successful people that I've worked with in our program have been there an average of two and a half to three 756 years. So I've actually sort of identified three years. And we have one of our current teachers who is a former student. It took her three years to actually get a high school diploma. But within that time, she was able to start her own business, she was able to get more active in her children's education. There were a variety of goals that she had set along the way that she reached. And three years later -- and had to drop out for a while because of illness and because of all the stuff that happens to women. So it took her three years. And she, to me, is a model student. I mean, she's what we wish everyone who walked through the door could be. And, as I said, we proved it by hiring her. But, so I would say, three years is more of a realistic target. And we operate -- one of the reasons -- well, one of the challenges of operating the way we do is that it costs money to say to women, You can stay as long as you need to. Cindy?
Sorry for the coughing 757 spasm. This is actually the first year we've been doing GED. Prior to this, we've been doing adult basic literacy as well as college classes, so I don't have history to report here, other than from this current year. We have two GED classes now that are both six hours per week. And we estimate that maybe percent of the students in those programs 10 -- am I saying the same thing or different things? -- that they're going to be able to pass the test this year. Our 16-hour-a-week day program, however -- and this is really the difference between a much more intensive program. There will probably be about 40 percent of the students in that class who will be able to pass their GED. It's very, very different when you're doing 16 hours a week and doing 6 hours a week. And the welfare legislation makes it difficult to do 16 hours a week. That's the program that we offer now that is under the most challenge.
Let me add that the Center for Literacy, which has been at this for a long time and just had other commitments tonight, 758 their estimate is if they have hours a week with somebody, they can do it. If the person starts in the ninth-grade level, they can do it in a year. If the person is reading or testing below ninth-grade level, it requires two years, but that requires like an intensive 20-hour program. And it costs them roughly $2500 per year, 5,000 for two years. And let me say that those of you, you know, who --
Councilman, I need 13 you to speak a little louder and much more 14 directly into the microphone. 15
Fine. Did you hear 16 that? It's $2,500 for a year for somebody at 17 ninth-grade level, 5,000 for 2 years. 18 The Kavaerner ship deal is spending 19 $30,000 a person to train people to work in the 20 ships. So we're talking about helping somebody get a basic job for one sixth that.
And one other question. Is the money from the two neighborhood- based centers -- you said you get a small amount from the State. The rest of it is foundation 759 funding?
The fact is that the State has produced $8 million in funding for 5 years. Last year, it went up to 8.2. This year, 6 it's going up to 9. It needs to go up a 7 staggering amount to deal with this problem. 8 And I debated Heather Houston two weeks 9 ago on this set of questions. And the literacy numbers that I was laying out to you came as a total shock to her.
Thank you, Mr. President. On the issue of reverse commuting, the statistics I have seen seem to indicate that the jobs don't last very long. And could you address that question on what can be done to --
I think the reason why I'm sitting here with the literacy gap --
That's a little better. Okay. I think the reason why the jobs don't last long, there are some jobs depending on -- some jobs do last. And the retention statistics are a problem. And one of the reasons why the retention is a problem is due to the literacy gap. There are many clients that can get an entry-level position. An employer may just look at the application, bring them in and do some basic training. But there's a lot that needs to be done in addition to that. I think they really need to have some basic education, some time spent in a training program so that they can learn some basic skills in addition to literacy, some stick-to-it-ive-ness, things that people learn every day, getting up in the morning and going to 761 work, those types of things. Those are some problems that occur with the retention rates. So I think that's important. And the support services that need to be provided. Sometimes the case managers should be following up and mentoring programs need to be set up with the employers. I think there's a lot more that the employers could do to increase the retention rates. Initially, when the proposals came out, the job placement agencies were given a certain amount of money for a placement for one day. In reverse commuting, that's not a good statistic. A lot of the proposals that come out now go into the retention rates for one year, so the job placement or the job developers are looking a little more closely at how they place their clients and not how quickly they place their clients. So I think the way the proposals have changed and the issues of retention and support services are going to change the fact that a lot of the clients don't keep their jobs.
I would merely add to, that right now, a big source of the kind of 762 suburban jobs that City residents can get are retail. That's one of the few -- The Inquirer had a piece on Chester County and how many great jobs were opening up there. We called all those employers and asked, Would you hire anybody who didn't have a GED? And there were only two employers that would do that: Circuit City and a restaurant. Everyone else said they wanted a GED or more. So the retail jobs -- like the King of Prussia Mall might have a spate of retail jobs during Christmas season, then they lay everybody off. But the biggest growth out there are these business service jobs, the temp agencies themselves growing, and those could provide long-term employment, but not for people without skills. That's why we're coming at you with both and coming at the State with both. Literacy and reverse commuting, they have to be done together.
One other comment, Mr. President. We welcome you to joining forces with a 763 few members of City Council who have opposed the very small reductions, not because we think they should be bigger but because we think that the money could be used for far more productive purposes. So we welcome you to that battle, and we wish you a success.
Well, thank you. And let me say, Councilman, that I have followed your remarks in the press about this and whatever. And I guess, you know, the discipline I'm trying to hold to in making this fight is to justify what we're doing on grounds of the economic development of the City, and I think I have some track record on that, and I'll match mine with anybody here or in the Mayor's office. I've spent a lot of time looking at this. And I really do believe that spending this little money is having a negligible effect on job growth in the City. And if you took the same amount of money and invested it in increasing the educational level of the work force, that would have a greater economic impact than the rest of what they're doing. And now it becomes a matter 764 of necessity. So I'm giving you a spending option here that I would match against what the Administration's talking about in terms of its economic value, and I'd be prepared to debate anybody in the Administration on this point. So far, I've heard them speak, and they haven't persuaded me.
Thank you very much. I just have a couple questions. I started working for the Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center, as some of you know, in 1968. It's been 30 years. From 1968 to 1972, I spent all of my waking hours doing two things: literacy and job training. That's all I did. I came to understand the very difficult problems that people had working in a program at Broad and Girard where the people came there because they had no hope and they had no training. And then most of them had no skills at all, whatsoever. I mean, these were the people 765 who had the least ability to perform in almost every way. They didn't have -- they had attitude and background and experience problems. Some of them had never worked ever, had never been required to get up every day at a certain time and go to a certain location and report. I mean, these were people who would come to class or come to this training late and say, Well, I overslept. I said, Well, why didn't you set an alarm clock? Well, we don't have a clock. And I believe I understand, and I have a couple of tough questions.
I mean, I need to know what makes you that think if people get GEDs that that's going to help them get jobs? When I was at OIC, I supervised a network of GED programs, and people came and they got GEDs, and they still couldn't get jobs.
So I want you to -- you need, for me, to show a much closer and a much 766 more direct nexus between getting a GED certificate and getting a job because I sent people to take the GED. I sent Vista volunteers to take the GED test so that we'd have an idea of what was on the test so that we would be able to know how to train people, because none of us were doing it because we all had our high school diplomas, and we all had -- most of us had college degrees. And people came in and they got their GEDs and they went out and they still didn't have -- they absolutely still didn't have the skills necessary to get the jobs that were out there. They were better people in the sense that they now had more information at their disposal, but I don't see a direct relationship between getting a GED and getting a job.
Well, let me say what persuaded me because I came at it with the same skepticism. First, the census data. The census data nationally does shows, and it shows consistently --
I need you to try give me the short answer to this question. 767
Yeah, well, there are four things. The census data does show that between not having a high school diploma or a GED, and the GED is structured so that only two thirds of graduates could pass it, so it's a tougher exam. The income level goes up by 40 percent, suggesting employability.
I'm unimpressed by that. I have to tell you, that doesn't mean anything to me.
Because I know they're going to make more money because they just have to make more money. I want you to tell me why it is you think that when they get a GED, they're going to go get some of the available jobs?
Well, because the second piece of evidence was a State study that was done on GEDs in Pennsylvania, that showed about 60 or 70 percent of the people who got GEDs got jobs afterwards, and the GED was the platform that permitted them to get jobs. 768 The third piece of evidence is they have been able to place people who have high school diplomas; they have not been able to place people who don't have them. Does a GED by itself guarantee everybody a job everywhere? No, of course not. It's a necessary but insufficient condition in many cases. But unless we get them that, they are not even in the ball game. But those three are compelling. The income level respects employment. The State study, which I'll send you, I could have brought that along. The one page addresses specifically the question you're asking, what happens to employment after somebody gets the GED? The results are staggering. And if we go around, as I've done, to all the programs like OIC -- I'm on its board now -- and ask, you know, Who are you getting jobs for? The answer is people with GEDs and better. So does it mean that everybody's going to get a job? No. But the people without GEDs don't even have a chance to get into the interview at this point. 769
Well, that's not their problem. I mean, that's not their fault. I mean, the fact that somebody won't give somebody an interview because he doesn't have a GED, who might otherwise be qualified, isn't the fault of the applicant. Maybe we need to educate some employers that the simple fact of a GED doesn't qualify or unqualify a person, or the lack of a GED isn't a disqualification for consideration.
I agree that there needs to be some effort made there, but the core jobs are office jobs.
I understand. I heard what you said and I understand that, but I'm not convinced by that, and I will be glad to get additional information.
I want to know, why wouldn't we structure a job program as opposed to a GED program? Why wouldn't we identify, for 770 example, where the jobs are, much like Councilwoman Tasco and the Work Force 2000 -- is that what it is?
The Work Force 2000 effort that has been going on for some years. Why wouldn't we figure out where the jobs are, what are the qualifications for the job, and train the people for those jobs? These are the jobs, you got these jobs, we're going to train the people to do those jobs. And I know what the GED test is ail about. And you've got to know about English grammar and all. And I got an English background and I know the difference in the tenses and all that, taught the stuff. It's wonderful information, but it's not targeted -- it's not quite targeted enough and it's not specific enough for me. If I'm going to spend economic development dollars, job training dollars, I want to know that in the private sector, there are certain kinds of job that are available or likely to be available. I want to do an evaluation, a 771 specific evaluation of the people when they come in. And somewhere between whether it's a three-month period or a three-year or a six-month period or a nine-month period, whatever the time is, I want to know that the people walking out there are going to have the skills necessary to be employed in those jobs, whether or not they have a GED or not.
And what I'm saying to you, Councilman, having done this now years 13 ago, when OIC was creating jobs for industrial 14 positions, that this -- 15
We weren't creating 16 jobs for industrial positions. Please don't 17 distort the work like that. 18
It wasn't -- we 20 weren't creating jobs for people for industrial positions. And we did everything; clerical, the whole nine yards.
All I'm saying is that, in fact, 20 to 22,000 of the jobs that grew in this region in the last year were in offices. And 772 when you talk to the people who run offices, what they want, first, is somebody who knows all of the things that you've just cited that a GED gives you as a precondition to anything else. And when you think about it, you run offices, so do you. And that's why this image of some specific skill that we're going to train people for, whatever existed years ago, is 10 wildly inadequate now. 11 A bank in this city made a commitment 12 -- and I'm not going to go to which one, forget 13 reverse commuting -- to hire 100 from a particular 14 neighborhood. They went to Community College and 15 got them to agree to a skills training program to 16 hire 100 people. 17 You know how many they hired? Four, 18 because they could not find more than four with 19 the basic literacy needed to work in a bank. 20 So there is no such thing --
Well, why do you -- you think basic literacy is equal to the GED?
Well, you see, the point is that we have a system right now that, in fact, is assembled to represent that. Is it the entire story? No. 6 But it's part of the story. You want to construct some alternative system, fine, but we don't have that available to us right now. Right now, the system that people use to evaluate whether somebody comes in is either a high school diploma or a GED. Then they will interview and make a determination whether some of these other things are there. But the point is, if somebody has a GED, then maybe they go into something like computer training or whatever. If they don't have it, then they don't get in the door, and for a good reason: because the assumption is that they cannot read, they cannot --
And I want to change some of that, too. I'm going to recognize Councilwoman 774 Tasco at this point. I'm through. I would like to get whatever additional information that you can give me on this. You see where my issues are.
I just wanted to add that it is important for maybe to have the calling card of the GED for those people who are out of school, but our whole focus should be on educating children in the public schools so that when they come out, they are ready to go to work. And that has been the focus of Work Force 200, to call on the school district to develop a curriculum that will train and educate children and young people for jobs that do exist. And then we don't have to get into the whole remedial thing. Of course, that's reality, it does exist, but our focus should be on trying to provide a quality education for our young people so they're educated when they come out.
Well, you know, the only times I've testified here up to last year was, in fact, on the two issues of school funding. And 775 I'm in complete agreement with that premise. And were it not that we were saying to all these folks in Philadelphia who are on welfare that you either get hired or you lose your income, you could sort of have the luxury of saying, Well, this generation maybe didn't make it, but at least they're supportive, we can worry about the next. What I come to you to say is that welfare downsizing, like the Reagan budget of '80, has changed the picture dramatically. And we can wait till all these bodies are lying in the streets, or we can act now to try to do something about it. I'm flexible as to what kind of education and training may be done. When you talked about a jobs program, I thought maybe you were heading into what if the City maybe created a public service jobs program. I'd be fine with that; particularly if, in fact, it paid people City money that would take them off welfare for a while and thereby extend their five-year clock. There are other things that can be done here. This is not a kind of tightly knit, ridged plan. I'm merely saying, Here are the problems we 776 need to solve, and we need to --
And we hear you. And I don't think that there's anybody here who doesn't understand that this is a crisis.
But some of us do have a reservation in suggesting that the GED is the answer. And, you know, we've had some of these discussions before. I mean -- and I have some background in all of this and was involved in all of that OIC hospitality industry stuff and am very conscious of all of it, but I do have a significant problem with characterizing the GED and the GED certificate in a way that you have done it in so far as its relationship to -- Let me get to Councilwoman Miller now 'cause we could do this all day and probably all night.
Yeah, the six and a half hours that we were talking about, we're getting there, Councilman.
I just wanted to 777 mention that I too have a lot of experience working in employment and training. And, you know, when I first started out there, maybe 12, 5 years ago, lots of people came to programs because 6 they wanted to just get the personal satisfaction 7 of getting a GED. 8 I think what makes it different now is 9 that the welfare reform is requiring people to 10 attain a certain level of knowledge and skills, 11 moving hopefully towards employment. So people 12 don't have the luxury anymore of saying, Oh, I 13 want to come. 14 I guess some of the questions I have 15 related to funding from PIC. I haven't kept up on recent funding and education. However, if you have a 16-hour-a-week program and the State funds you for 30 hours of instruction, is that still happening, where you don't have enough instructional hours, you receive more State funding?
What happened with that is through June of 1996, we had a very significant contract with the Private Industry Council for basic skills literacy program. It was a feeder 778 program to other PIC training programs. With the welfare changes, outcomes have to be job placement, and feeders do not result in job placement. So we, along with many other agencies, lost that contract with PIC in the summer of 1996. So that money has not been found.
And I just wanted to also mention that the program where I worked, we targeted our training specifically to what was available. We went out and found out what was available. We knew it was service industry, clerical jobs, etc. We referred people out for literacy, had a basic education class and a GED class and, at the same time, trained people to operate computers, you know, do data entry, read, do math, communications. So those kind of programs do work. And where I used to work was Metropolitan Career Center, and that's one of the best programs in the City. And we and other members of the staff invested a lot of time into developing that project. So it can be done all at the same time. You've just got to -- 779
And I would like to add to that that many of the literacy agencies are doing that kind of work. What we have done in the last couple of years is integrate connections to the work place in our program where there's job- shadowing, mentoring, and internships as part of our education programs. So we're demonstrating a connection to work. And we do a lot of work with computers. And there's many other agencies that are doing many other similar things.
Thank you for your time and thank you for your very serious questions.
What we have done is respect a lot of the work that you have done. We appreciate that work, and you know we'll take a good look at it. Thank you. 780 It's one of the continuing privileges of membership. Is Adrienne Jenkins here?. (Adrienne Jenkins is not present.) (James Clark comes forward.)
Good evening, President Street and Members of Council. I am not Adrienne Jenkins, I am Jimmy Clark. I'm President of the Board of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance as well as Executive Director of the Clay Studio, located in Old City. The Cultural Alliance is the largest advocate for culture in the Philadelphia region, with 240 members, 80 percent of whom are located within the City. I'd like to start out by thanking the Councilmembers for initiating the Culture Fund in 1992 and for the generous support that the fund has provided the City's cultural organizations since that time. I strongly urge you to increase the funding for the Cultural Alliance Fund from its current level of million to 1.5 million. The budget for the Cultural Fund has remained at one million for the past four years while the number 781 of applicants has increased in each of these years. This, unfortunately, translates into declining support for many worthy organizations who contribute greatly to the quality of life in the City. To use my own institution, the Clay Studio, as an example, we have seen art support decrease from 7500 four years ago to approximately 5800 in the current cycle. This reduction occurred despite a consistently high rating from the peer review panel. This decline is across the board and has a severe impact on many worthy organizations who are struggling to elicit support elsewhere. Philadelphia has wisely embraced arts and culture as a major impetus for economic development and renewing our city. The Avenue of the Arts, cultural tourism, and the creation of new jobs are just a few examples of the positive impact of culture on the City's economy and national profile. Preliminary findings of the soon-to-be- released economic impact study conducted by the Pennsylvania Economy League showed that the arts 782 constitute a $300-million-a-year industry, employing over 5500 people in the Philadelphia region. Arts groups are actively engaged in addressing the common problems of the City, offering hundreds of educational programs during and after school hours. Arts programs are providing positive alternatives for at-risk youth, and research has proven that arts education is a major impetus for students to remain in school and continue their education after high school. Countless numbers of inner-city youths have been provided a positive alternative to the culture of the street through classes at Freedom Theater, programs at the Village of Arts, outreach classes at the Painted Bride, the Art Museum, the Please Touch Museum, Prints in Position, and my own organization, Claymobile, among many, many others. Culture is an integral part of all of our citizens' lives and not a luxury strictly for the elite. Thank you again for your past support, 783 and I strongly urge you to increase the Cultural Fund so that the critical partnership of the City and its cultural institutions will continue to flourish. And now I'd like to turn over to Donald Brown of the Freedom Theater.
Good evening. My name is Donald Brown, I'm Managing Director of Freedom Theater.
I need you to speak a little louder and much more directly into the microphone, much like the Chairman is doing. Is there anybody here who can't hear me? See, they can all hear me.
I don't think that microphone was on. My name is Donald Brown, I'm Managing Director of Freedom Theater. During my tenure at Freedom Theater, we've seen phenomenal support from the City of Philadelphia and City Council. Going back to Ethel Allen, Joe Coleman, Lucien Blackwell. And we continue to have that support through yourself and the Mayor. 784 Your support and the continuous support of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund has enabled Freedom Theater to do a number of phenomenal things over the past two to three years. We've increased our staff from a little under people 7 to over 523 people. Our part-time staff has grown 8 to over 235 people in terms of actors, 9 technicians, and carpenters. We now serve nearly 10 1200 students per year. That's up from 300 11 students 4 years ago. 12 Arts training provides cultural 13 enrichment, discipline, and empowers the 14 individual by making an impact on our community. 15 Over 98 percent of our students graduate from high 16 school, and 85 percent go on to college. 17 Our audience has grown from a little 18 over 6,000 in '95 to this year, when we'll reach a 19 little over 41,000 people in the Greater 20 Philadelphia area. What this means for Freedom Theater is that we are now, according to NEA, the largest African-American theater and performing arts training program in the United States. We have -- we are members of over 250 arts institutions in the Greater Philadelphia 785 area. And, as Jimmy said, we make a direct economic impact of over $300 million per year, 80 percent of which happens in the Philadelphia County. We are economic and social engines in our communities. We know that Freedom Theater is one of the reasons that Philadelphia is the number-one tourist destination of African-Americans. We as a community face critical issues such as crime health care, employment, and education. The arts impact on each of these areas. More than anything else, the arts are change agents. It changes lives because it empowers the individual. We see it every day at Freedom, Settlement Music School, Point Breeze, and many other fantastic arts institutions throughout Philadelphia. The arts must be a critical part of your agenda. We urge you for your continued support. In fact, we ask that you identify some new ways to increase the support to the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. And we need this desperately if we are to compete with the Baltimores and the North Carolinas of the world. Thank you. 786
My name's Robert Leslie cofounder of Freedom Theater, retired, and I'm on the Board of the Cultural Fund.
Why do you have to say that retire stuff, Bob? I mean, are you rubbing it in? He's like retired and collecting, you know what I mean, Commissioner? You know, he's living large.
No, I think I'm trying to convince myself that I'm retiring. They won't let me. But just to summarize, you can see that the arts has an impact as it relates to crime, as it relates to education, and it has an economic impact on the City. And I would just like to add that I think that the half $1 million increase would be greatly appreciated this year. And I'd also like to thank you all for 787 the kind of sensitivity that this Administration has shown for the growth and the development of the arts in this City because I think that you're smart enough to realize that it's an economic development engine and can have a great deal to do with enhancing the quality of life in the City of Philadelphia. Thank you.
Thank you very much, appreciate it. There are a number of people here from the Grays Ferry Recreation Council: James Helman, Celeste Harris, Pat Sheridan, Terry Bennett. Can we have them all come forward now. (Grays Ferry panel comes forward.)
Good evening, Members of City Council. My name is James Helman. I'm a resident of Grays Ferry and a member of the Grays Ferry Youth Access Center Advisory Council. By creating the Youth Access Center, which includes our three recreation facilities, Vare Recreation Facility, Lanier Playground, and Finnegan Playground, by offering a variety of structured recreation programs, the Department of 788 Recreation is making a positive difference in our community. Our children and youth are being attracted in growing numbers to programs like last fall's Touch Football Program, 76ers Neighborhood Basketball League, Tumbling Program, Drama Program, Drawing Class, Arts and Crafts, Tot Recreation, Modern Jazz and Ethnic Dance, and our After-School Program. As an example of how a structured recreation program can impact the lives of the children who participate, we can examine the after-school program at Finnegan Playground. When the program started, the instructor, Delores Bridges, was shown homework papers with marginal or failing grades. By insisting on a serious homework period before play, with proper help and guidance, Delores now sees homework papers with stars and teacher comments like "good work" and "very good." Two of her children were even selected as Student of the Month. This shows how are recreation programs can exceed the bounds of recreation and affect the 789 lives of our children and youth in areas of education, discipline, pride and accomplishment, and self-esteem. Residents of Grays Ferry such as myself -- and there are many of us -- firmly believe that our recreation facilities and our recreation programs are a vital ingredient in the formula that will make our community a better and friendlier place to live. But we do need help. Our facilities are deteriorating. The baseball fields and basketball courts at Vare Recreation Center need serious professional attention. The hockey rink at Lanier Playground needs refurbishing and the fence needs repair or replacement. The building at Finnegan Playground needs to be extended in order to accommodate the growing number of children and youth who want to use it. And, of course, we need funds to operate our programs on a daily basis. I can assure you that whatever resources the City Council might provide or help us obtain will be wisely used. Your support will allow us to enhance our current programs and 790 create new programs that all of the children and youth of Grays Ferry will be able to participate in, learn from, and grow with. Thank you.
Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Yes. My name is Celeste Harris. I'm Vice President of South Philly Rainbow Committee and also a member of Vare Grays Ferry Center Advisory council. The Youth Access Center Advisory Council is to act as a liaison between Recreation Department staff and community residents and act as a spokesperson for the community and alert other public and elected officials facilities as well as within the community. This statement is from the manual of the Philadelphia Department of Recreation Advisory Council. As spokesperson for the community and one of the few members of the new Grays Ferry Advisory Council, I make this statement. 791 Since the early part of last year, the Vare Recreation Center has gone through a few good changes, new staff, a few good programs, and some face lifting in the facility. Our plans are not to stop here but to continue through to Lanier and Finnegan Playgrounds. We need to provide crisis intervention and connection with other support services. A specific plan of activities will be outlined for all of the youths and adults in Grays Ferry. Another avenue that we must consider is youths who have less supervision and fewer activities to occupy them because the hour of day for juvenile offenders begins at 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., as school ends and before parents come home from work, or parents who are present but have no 18 concern for the well-being of their child. They are bored and have too much time on their hands to kill. Bringing in the youth access center into our community is an important step that will require, time, effort and commitment on the part of us all for which -- in a community that has been, for so many years, in conflict, to be in 792 harmony at their recreation center or playground. A recreation center or playground is where time should be fun and shall apply equally to all with no expectations, none. Thank you.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Pat Sheridan. I'm a lifelong resident of Grays Ferry and I am a member of the Youth Access Center Advisory Council. Although some monies have been allotted to us through the Department of Recreation, it is not enough for all three playgrounds that are under the umbrella of the Youth Access Center. These three playgrounds are still in need of many repairs. Very soon our spring and summer programs will start at Vare, Lanier, and Finnegan Playgrounds. We have much outside field work that still needs to be done, such as drainage problems that need repair on baseball fields, basketball 793 and volleyball courts cemented, repairs on Vare Swimming Pool, and also some landscaping and fences fixed. It is very important that our programs start on time. With your help and funds, the repairs could be accomplished quickly. Recreational activities should be a part of everyday life for all people. But for many children, black and white, in Grays Ferry, this is the only fun they will have all summer. Please consider us for more funds when designating your money this year. Remember Grays Ferry. Thank you.
Yes, my name is Terry Bennett, I'm Cochairman of the Grays Ferry Community Development Corporation. I'm also a member of the Grays Ferry Youth Access Advisory Committee. I just want to have my statement 794 submitted for the record to keep from being redundant. I just want to come before City Council to ask for more support in the activities that we're doing in Grays Ferry and for the Youth Access Centers. In terms of funding, we would like to do more things because of the conflict that has been going on in our community, we would like to see an increase in funding. And we also believe that the Recreation Department in the City has been doing a tremendous job. And we'd just like to continue on with that and ask for the continued funding and blessings from the City. Thank you.
Thank you very much the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Verna.
Thank you, Mr. President. I will be very brief. I know that two weeks ago, I believe, you were in my office, and the concerns were brought to my attention. I have been in contact with the Recreation Commissioner, and he has assured me that everything that you have mentioned 795 here tonight will be addressed in some fashion. Thank you for coming in I really appreciate it.
I'd just like to know from any of the Sergeants-At-Arms, do you think it's possible we can turn the heat up in here a little bit? Will you turn the heat up a little? Just kidding. Okay, it just doesn't seem right. We're in the middle of February, it's 54 degrees outside, and we're sitting in the Council chamber at -- what time is it? It's quarter of 8 at night, and everybody is sweating. Is that a amazing? What, El Nino, what are you doing to us? James Clark, is Mr. Clark here? (James Clark is not present.)
Mr. Pieczynski, would you please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your statement. 796
My name's Walt Piezzynski, and it's been years since I've been 4 in this room. And the last time I was here, I was 5 sitting over there in a chair. 6 And the Sergeant-At-Arms came over to 7 me and escorted me out on the floor here. And he 8 -- Joan Krajewski was standing there, and 9 everybody was laughing and smiling, and I brought 10 some pictures with me. And -- 11
Yeah, 15 years ago was 14 the last time that I spoke on this floor. 15
Okay. What I want to talk about is, last year, I was part of the Presidential Summit here in Philadelphia. I went to the meeting. After the meeting, 5:30, 7 o'clock, I walked out the door, I was robbed. I didn't have a dime. The police brought me home -- brought me 797 to the door. My wife nearly passed out. She couldn't understand why the cops brought me home. My next-door neighbor, okay, in November, was standing on the step, putting a key in the door to open the door to her house. A person pulled up in a car, came up to her, robbed her, beat her up, and we placed her in the hospital. Now, the funny part about all of this is, 1997 is a year that's going to go down in history for one reason with the political party. This woman that they grabbed was a Republican and she worked at the polls for years. And in a 15 sense, for the past 25 years, I've been in 16 politics and a little bit of everything. I was an 17 elected official here in Philadelphia for 10 18 years; I was a committeeman in Bridesburg. 19 And it's just getting so out of hand 20 that the people in Philadelphia don't even want to 21 come out and vote anymore. Only 20 percent of the 22 voters came out in the general election. 23 Now, whatever happened to the other 80 24 percent of the voters is a good question. It's 25 something that the politicians ought to think 798 about, because it's getting to the point that the voters are going to go and they're going to change parties in a way. And it's going to be very -- I just can't imagine what's going to happen in the next couple of years.
You mean the Republicans are going to turn into Democrats, and the Democrats are going to turn Republican?
No. They're liable to change to independents. They're liable to walk out on the floor one day, on Election Day, and pull the button for someone else. The question is, What happened to that other 80 percent of the voters last year? And it's something that's going to really, really be coming up. Because in the primary election, it's always a little -- a small amount comes out to vote. And it's really got me puzzled because I was part of that Presidential Summit. And of all people that they had to grab that day, it had to be me. 'Cause we had people from Disneyland, the Mayor's Office, the President, a little bit of everybody was there up in Germantown. 799 And this is happening every day. So it's something to think about. You know, I just don't know what else to say about it. I have a note here, though, a little letter that I wrote. But, you know, I'll give it to you people, and yous could read about it. But it's just got out of hand. And, I tell you, I'm very nervous now because of being robbed on the street. Two weeks ago I was at the Reading Terminal. I walked out the door after lunchtime and the police were holding a person up against a wall, three people -- three cops were holding person. He, apparently in broad daylight, I don't know, just jumped on someone and robbed 'em. So this is happening every day in the City, and the people for this reason are moving out of the City. My sister moved out of the City last year. I have a daughter that was married, she just moved out of the City. I mean, everyone, it seems like they're moving out of the City for some reason, and the main reason is crime. Crime is the problem. So you could lower the taxes all you 800 want, just keep lowering and lowering and saying it's going to be good, good, good. People ain't going to come out because of crime. It ain't safe. The City ain't safe. And I just don't know how else to put it to City Council. Dave, of all the years, I mean, it is the worst. And I just want to say this. Like I say, I'm staying neutral on the elections, but the safest part of this City ever was, was when Rizzo was a police commissioner. I would say that City Council should elect -- or the Mayor should bring in a person who is going to strongly work on the communities and make 'em safe because without it being safe, you could save all the money, give all the money you want back to the people, it ain't going to do no 19 good 'cause the voters are just leaving the City for that reason. I mean, the taxes right now, the economy is up. When I went to Washington in '79, and 1982 is when Resolution 747 was passed, okay? Now the economy is up, all the money's coming into the City, but it's the people. The voters are all 801 living outside the City. They're coming in everyday on the major highways, you see this. They're riding in at 5, 5:30. It's on the news, they're on their way out. They don't want to live in this city because it's just not safe in here. I mean, anybody walks out the door here tonight, you know, think about it, you know. Think about the person who's walking besides you because you don't know. And I'm not being funny about it. I'm just being serious about it because it's happened to me, to my next-door neighbor, and quite a few other people right out here in Center City. So I'm not talking about the money part, saving money and all this. To me, that 31 dollars is a real joke. I mean, giving it back to the people and thinking they're going to come out and vote on Election Day is -- I mean, the voters understand. If you read the information that I gave you, you'll understand what I'm saying in a way. But it all comes down to crime, and it's just gotten to the point that businesses -- I'm with the Chamber of Commerce, I joined that about five 802 years ago.
Mr. Pieczynski, I'm going to have to ask you to summarize.
Okay, all right. But that's about it. Make the City safe and maybe the voters will come out on Election Day.
Okay, thank you very much. Gaylord Neal. (Gaylord Neal comes forward.)
Councilmembers, good evening. My name is Gaylord Neal. I'm a parent. This my daughter, Nancy Fleming. I had no intention on coming here this evening but I sat in here this afternoon and I heard the Commissioner from the Department of Human Services tell you about how there's a high level of accountability in their department, how they're sensitive to the needs of the community. And I want to tell you a horror story about the Department of Human Services. Back in 1991, there was a process at the Department of Human Services, when they have a charge against you, they go to the City 803 Solicitor's Office, not through the Police, not through the District Attorney. And they charged me with sexually molesting my daughter. It was fine, I had no problem with it, because I knew I didn't. After they had taken my child into custody, ten days later, they took my name out of the petition. And I'm not even going to tell you what it cost me. Over a year and a half, they kept my child. I heard this morning a discussion from the Chair talking about we know that they set you up to have a hearing in ten days, and we know there are CFNs. That CFN went on for 444 days, and I never, ever had a hearing. And they threw my child back at me like she was a piece of rag meat at the end of that 444 days. I thought it had ended. I was working with a child development thing at the University of Pennsylvania. And one day in the school at 13th and Spring Garden, I was told I had to leave by the professor that I was working with. I never understood that, but I was left out of the program. 804 A couple years later in the neighborhood, Duckrey School, a security guard was beating the parents and arresting them for trespassing. After I discovered there was three, I went to him and I said something to him. I walked into the school, the next time I did, and I was beaten unconscious and arrested. It was a shame that that process had to go into the federal court to get it straightened out, but it did and it was straightened out, but I still never understood it, I never understood it until I went to court to get custody of a younger child of mine and got a report back last week from a home investigation that the officer had went to the Department of Human Services and they had told him that I had sexually abused my child. This is 1998 and this charge happened in 1991, never substantiated. They told that parole officer that I had sexually abused my child and, really, I shouldn't be getting custody of another child. Then it all came to me. I began to understand the whole thing then. I began to understand why I was put out of that child 805 development program, I began to understand why the school decided I should be beaten that day going into the school. " It's a statute, and it provides that you're not allowed to do that, but they always did that. Whenever I brought it up to a judge, they didn't want to hear it. Now, the rest of it sounds like a little spy story. I swear it does. When I tried to discover what was going on, my child had been kept in a foster care, fine, 444 days of foster care. Somebody paid for it. I don't know who paid for it. And I heard that discussion this morning about who pays for it. The federal government picks up part of the tab, the State picks up part of the tab, the City picks up part of the tab. My problem with that was, I had never had a hearing for my child to be kept, and she was 806 kept in an agency. And the agency did what they wanted to do to my child. As a matter of fact, they shifted her around so much, I took an appeal to the Department of Public Welfare and said just last year, after four years, they decided that it was illegal for them to move my child around the county like they were doing. So what do I do with this? I looked at that and I said, the board of directors for the agency that kept my child consists of judges of the Family Court. I said oh, whoa, I can't complain back to them. So what do I do now?
I went back and I looked at it again. And I said if they are providing funds for employment for friends and family, they could have kept my child there perpetually in that agency and never gave me a hearing. I said, well, well, this -- what is wrong with this procedure? How come you aren't guaranteed a hearing when an agency like that takes your child? There is such a bureaucracy, they have so much money, they have so many attorneys. Let me tell you, they can ruin your 807 life. They are a Gestapo agency. And not until recently did I discover what they were doing to mine. And I ask this Council to guard that, guard that. Because when you go to Family Court, you know, it's a civil action. And they don't give you an attorney. You're poor, and they make you file for yourself. You've got to go through that process with a tunnel vision by yourself. So please help the next person. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Reverend William Erat. (Reverend William Erat and June Cairns comes forward.)
Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
To the President and Honorable Councilmembers, my name is William Erat. I'm Executive Director of Lutheran Children and Family Service, and I'm also a member of the Executive Committee of the Children Youth and Family Council Education Consortium. And my 808 colleague here is June Cairns, who is Executive Director of that group. CYFC represents 56 agencies which do business here with DHS in the City. I have four comments to make. First, if the City is to be ready to integrate the several services which help to strengthen families, the Children and Families Cabinet must be funded by all of the relevant departments of government, including at least the Department of Health, Recreation and DHS. We believe that 1 percent of the budgets of these departments should fund the activities of the Cabinet, especially abuse prevention funding supports policy. Secondly, the City should settle the Baby Neal class action suit. Too much time, energy, and money is going towards defense efforts and too little to the improvement of the system. The private providers represented in CYFC are willing and ready to make substantive changes. In fact, agencies already have formed a 24 corporation to enact innovative practice and 25 fiscal reform projects. 809 We would prefer a settlement that is formulated, that would also help DHS to move toward action on policy implementation. Funding supports reform. Thirdly, there should be a $1 million fund set aside from the DHS budget to fund provider-driven initiatives. New York City, Maryland, Ohio, and Massachusetts are but a few of the states which have moved to involve providers in new ways to serve families. DHS has no clear fiscal provisions for funding new initiatives and even for soliciting and processing them, especially if they come from providers. We want DHS to develop a clear process with guidelines for soliciting and responding to the new initiatives. Six major agencies have been working together to develop an advanced permanency project for over two years now for DHS families, with a model which, many agree, can work and should be tried. DHS's response has been lukewarm at best. Are we squandering the tens of thousands of dollars we, as private organizations, have already spent to develop this project for 810 Philadelphia, or must we commit our resources to other counties? Funding supports innovation. Fourth, it is time to redesignate DHS dollars from increased staffing to increased rates for providers. Even with low inflation rates, it is not realistic to think that private providers can hire staff and pay foster parents at 1994 rates. Our underpaid social workers will be moving to DHS to fill the new 110 slots that you're creating in this budget to get the higher DHS wages. This has been a clear trend already this year in that movement. With our needed 10-percent rate increase, the extra $20 million that it would cost would still leave DHS with $7 million for new staff. Funding support staffing closest to the clients. And since some 85 percent of DHS direct services is going to contracted services, why are contractors getting no increases? Providers and DHS have, however, forged some of the most cooperative and most helpful relationships that they have had in recent memory, much to the Department's credit. But now talk 811 should result in action, and we must change the way we do business to save dollars in that process. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Council Cohen.
Councilman Cohen, I need you to speak right into that microphone so we can all hear you. We can't hear you.
It's refreshing to be told that I can't be heard. Usually people think I'm heard too often. Would you explain very briefly the Baby Neal case. You make reference to it in your second paragraph, assuming a level of knowledge among us that may not exist. In my case, it doesn't.
Okay. Very briefly, there have been a number of class action lawsuits filed across the, country; 20, 30 of them in various states where the ACLU and others have gotten together to force reform in the child welfare system, largely which ends at reducing the 812 amount of bureaucracy that goes on between the public sector and the private sector and hopefully providing better services. And some would argue that it has not worked very well in many places; and other places, maybe it has worked better. We're in the midst of that. "Baby Neal" is what we refer to it as right now, and there has been much -- I can tell you that my own personal staff has been duplicating hundreds of welfare records at great expense, and I'm only one agency who's had records subpoenaed. They're being read by ACLU and by the Child Welfare League on behalf of the Department, and they're in the process of the discovery, I believe. There have been some dates established, June -- is it in the fall? -- for hearing this. And it's been my impression -- I believe it's been the Department's and the Administration's view that they don't plan to settle this; they're going to push it. And we see, as a result of all the pushing that's going, an excessive amount of activity and interest in Baby Neal. And all the 813 possible reforms that could be made are being put on hold because of this.
Councilman Cohen, my name is June Cairns. I'm the Executive Director of Children Youth and Family Council. I believe this suit was initially brought in 1988 and became a class of around or 9 16 children and became a class action suit 10 sometime within the last five years. I don't have 11 those dates. 12
Yes. That would have been my question too. I didn't get the connection, so I had a question about that and also the issue of the no raises since -- what did you say here, '74?
And the fact that it's draining people. I assume you're saying here that some of your staff are being attracted to the City's Department of DHS because the 814 salaries are more attractive?
That has always happened, but it's happening especially right now because we're in a bind right now for raising salaries. Social work salaries for beginning social workers are around $23,000 a year; maybe 8 with a master's degree. That's not very much 9 money. 10
I have the DHS budget in 17 front of me, and I just opened to Family 18 Preservation. 19 The social worker trainee, which a 20 trainee is, I believe, six months, I could be 21 wrong. It starts anywhere from 24.5 up to 31.5. 22 And a Social Worker I starts at 26, with a range 23 up to 33.5, along with, of course, the City 24 benefits and pension and all of the things that come with being a City employee. 815 The private sector agencies in the foster care arena have not had a rate increase since 1994 for cost-of-living or anything. And so the agencies have had to struggle to raise the additional money through foundations. So then it becomes very attractive. The private agencies can't provide the pension or the benefits in the same way that the City can, so it becomes very attractive for our workers to go to the City.
Madame Chair, I see the Commissioner's here. Commissioner, would you have a response to either of these two issues the Baby Neal case?
Commissioner, I'm sorry. You have to come to the table so the stenographer can hear you.
The salary question, just both of them, then we can follow up later. I just wondered if you have had a brief response. COMMISSIONER REEVES: My name is Joan Reeves, I'm the Commissioner of the Department of Human Services. 816 In regard to Baby Neal, it is ongoing litigation and in discovery, and I cannot respond to any questions about that. In regard to the difference between the public sector salary, I mean we have a civil service system which sets salaries. I guess the issue I have around the no rate increases since 1994 for foster care, we did a rate study. All of our rates right now, as we increase them, we do rate studies to determine the cost for the delivery of those services. There have been other rates that have been increased like group home and institutional care so that rates have been increased over the last three years. I think some of the other issues around pooling of funding in the Children and Families Cabinet, we're already doing that. The other issues around what I thought we had been having some pretty productive discussions around change and permanency planning and some of the other strategic activities that we are involved in. Obviously, that is not the same impression.
Yeah, I had 817 less questions about that than the issue of, you know, salaries. Because in some ways, both in DHS and even in the Health Department, in a sense, it's often less expensive to contract out services. Sometimes it's much more effective because there's neighborhood-based agencies. So I think it's both sound policy and often saves us money but also if the rates aren't reasonable, then agencies are put under great stress. And, you know, I'm aware of some of the work that some of the nonprofit child welfare agencies do and I don't know when the next rate study is, but I would hope there would be a way to keep track of that. It seems like a pretty big discrepancy. COMMISSIONER REEVES: One of the things that we have also asked private agencies to do is that as they look at the changes in the way we are asking services to be delivered, that they also look at their administrative organizational structures to see what changes they can make within their own organizations. For example, I understand their case 818 loads can range from children to maybe children per worker; whereas the City social work's case load, as I said earlier today, averaging about families. 6 So there is a difference in work load 7 that we have to accommodate as well. 8
Now is not the 9 time to get into a detailed discussion of this, 10 but I was not aware of some of these issues so I 11 would hope that there will continue to be some 12 good discussions to try to resolve some of the 13 issues. 14 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes. Thank you. 15
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just as a follow-up to some of the points that were raised, to I get the impression from the testimony that you're talking about a $20 million increase in funding? Is that the request?
Since the contracted services are just over $200 million on the per 819 diem contracts, that's approximately a $20 million figure. And the comparison that I was making was that the fact that there is some $27 million devoted to 110 new positions at DHS. I was talking about the hope that we don't ask for more money that isn't there, but a reallocation of money and suggesting one of the ways that that might happen.
And is it your contention that DHS doesn't need the 110 positions?
Well, my contention is that we need a rate increase. And I would say that if the budget could be reconfigured in that way, that would help us do that. I can't comment -- I mean, I can say that DHS believes it needs those positions.
Right. And your position on this is that we should increase your rates so that you can pay your people more? I mean, is that the logic that's going on here?
We have a pool of foster parents, most of whom have gotten minimal rate increases, if any, over the last four to six 820 years. We also have social workers who are severely underpaid and going into other professions so that they're not in child welfare. So that, yes, I am saying that, I guess.
I guess I just found that somewhat interesting that anyone would think that our social workers were so well paid that they were actually leaving other places to now and come and work for the City. I think when I initially got here and maybe even in a prior service as a staff person, many of our DHS social workers, I think, often felt that they were the most underpaid people around. So, I mean, it's kind of weird now that private sector people are jumping -- or nonprofit people are jumping to be in the government. Your other sources of funding are corporations, private foundations?
It depends on which organization it is, but there are endowment funds, there are fund-raising campaigns, and other services we do.
We're always looking for new money. For example, we were talking about PIC earlier and some of these job-training programs. Many of us are very much involved. And it's including DHS, by the way, in looking at issues like where are these people who are homeless going to be living? So we're talking with DHS about development of home building for people and finding housing in the Family Preservation Program, which is one of those nice new initiatives that DHS is, in fact, cooperating with us on. So there are many other kinds of things that we're doing that are related to the activities that we're talking about, ESL, job-training, and whatnot.
Okay. And lastly, your third point was that there should be $1 million set aside from the DHS budget to fund provider-driven initiatives. And then you go on to say that New York City, Maryland, Ohio, and Massachusetts -- and I'm 822 now going to assume that you meant New York State, maybe it is New York City -- are but a few of the states which have moved to involve providers in new ways to serve families. DHS has no clear fiscal provisions for funding new initiatives. I mean, do you really mean to compare the Philadelphia Department of Human Services to what either New York City, Maryland, Ohio or Massachusetts do?
There is major child welfare reform going on throughout the country right now, at least the states closest to us that are involved in major new projects that are, in fact, innovative and aimed to reduce costs as well.
Have you had any conversations with Tom Ridge recently?
Okay. No, it's very interesting. I mean, I don't know what the State is doing. I have a hard enough time trying to keep track of the City. I guess I was just hard pressed to understand how DHS, as a county agency in a state 823 with 67 counties, is supposed to do something comparable to what Maryland, Ohio and Massachusetts do in their locales.
I think there is -- it is very important that the State has to buy into the kinds of system reform we're talking about, and we're not just talking to City Council and DHS about these issues, absolutely. On the other hand, there's Ohio, which is a county-driven system, and there are many really interesting and good reform efforts going on that are famous throughout the country right now.
Also, New York is a county system as well. And New York City has implemented a number of initiatives separate from the rest of the state in their child welfare system. They also have a huge number of problems. But despite the problems, they've been able to do some creative things with foster care.
From my first term back in 1968, it seems to me that every budget year I hear very much this kind of concern by different provider organizations. And then it seems to me that during the rest of the year, I hear almost nothing. I can't speak for other Councilmembers. And then comes the next budget hearing and we hear that again. You know, there are some variations. The Baby Neal situation perhaps may take on a different form. But are there labor organizations that exist in the field that you're talking about? Say, the social workers? But, I agree with you, they are vastly underpaid. My problem is I also think that the City social workers are also underpaid, you know, for the enormous job that they do. And I'm troubled by what Commissioner Reeves said about, you know, the number of cases social workers handle, and there may have been explanations for that. But are there other organizations, the 825 traditional labor organizes that cover --
The Teamsters tried to organize it, one of my member agencies, it was a residential agency several years ago. This is prior to the rate increase that the Commissioner mentioned about institutional care. That rate increase affecting institutional care and group care affected far fewer children or social workers or caregivers than what we're asking for in foster care. The Teamsters was unsuccessful, and it probably would have driven the cost of care up for this agency so that they would have had to close had the Teamsters gone in and organized their child care workers.
Well, I'm going to leave it in one more sentence, maybe two. It just seems to me that the lack of understanding among this professional group on the importance of working together, and I know of no 22 other way of working together effectively on economic demands than some form of labor organization. I just think that that ought to be considered. 826 It's an old bugaboo, whether you're in the social work field or you're in manufacturing, that somehow organizing together so that instead of flailing wildly, you really work together. It's an old bugaboo saying that you're going to drive the company out of business. There's no 8 more truth to that in your field than in any other. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Miller.
Thank you, Mr. President. I have one question. Does the City pay the foster parents more than you're able to pay them? There hasn't been an increase since '94, correct?
Each agency has its own way of giving their foster parents a stipend. And most agencies have not increased the stipend. It 827 goes to the foster parent because they haven't gotten a rate increase from the City. Now, some agencies may have been given a slight increase or some agencies may have done a done special perk for their foster parents. But consistently, no. 8
Thank you very much. Patricia LaPera, Mary Tuff. (Mary Tuff and Bernice Cooper come forward.)
Good evening, Council President Street and ladies and gentlemen. My name is Mary Tuff. I'm with the Friends of the Free Library of Philadelphia. With me this evening is Bernice Cooper. She's a cochair of the Nicetown Tioga Friends. Mrs. LaPera was in the audience but she had to leave because of another commitment this evening. Briefly, what we would like to say is that we're very pleased that the proposed 828 operating budget will restore positions to the Library's budget. These additional staff persons are important to us as Friends, they're important to our branches. And, more importantly, they will be very crucial to the opening of new branches with the new technology and renovations. Also at this time, we'd like to thank City Council President and City Councilmembers for their support and their consideration of the $900,000 that we talked about last week. We've talked to the many of our constituents. There are many phone calls and notes, and we hope that you're receiving these as well.
Thank you very much. 16 I appreciate it. 17 Stephen Zord? Stephen Zord? 18 (Stephen Zord is not present.) 19
Well, it's too early 20 to go, so I guess we'll have to have more 21 questions for the Health Department or something. 22 Okay. Well, is there anyone here whose 23 name has not been called? 24 (No response.)
There being none, 829 this committee will stand in recess till Monday February, 23, 1998, at o'clock a.m. 4 Thank you very much. 5 (Adjourned at 8:33 p.m.) 6 - - - 7 8 9 830 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Wednesday, February 18, 1998, were reported and accurately by us, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE BILL NO. 980003 __________________________________, DEBRA WHITEHEAD, RPR __________________________________, JOSEPHINE CARDILLO, RPR