My name is Rick Tustin, I am the Director of the City's Capital Program Office. Councilman Nutter, as you know, we have been involved in this project for several years now. We have broken it down into many different tasks to complete. The simplest ones we have tried to take care of first, whether it is the protection of the apron around City Hall, as you have just mentioned, the bollards. We have a second phase of that work that will be starting probably -- 169 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04
We have the bollards, we have got some chains, and then the orange cones are a new feature.
They will be replaced very shortly with a gate system that will be -- we are waiting for the contractor to start, probably, by the end of this month on that work. We have also done some new fencing in the courtyard around the switch gear and around some of the mechanical and the electrical components that were open to the public before. They are now secured so people cannot get into that area, as well.
Councilman, we are trying to provide a serious answer to a serious issue. And I think that you are trying to demean our efforts, I really do. And I really -- we are trying to tell you what we are doing. 170 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04
Mr. Managing Director, I think I can ask Mr. Tustin whatever question I want to ask him, whenever I want to ask him. I didn't cut across him. I asked him about the plywood that I saw in the courtyard the other day. So I am not being demeaning. I am actually very serious. I am going to ask the question the way I want to ask the question.
Right. And we are trying to do our very best to provide security here and do our job.
Well, Mr. Tustin was doing fine until you jumped in the question. He and I know each other very well. He wasn't upset, I'm not upset. I would appreciate it if I am able to listen to his answer.
The work we did in the courtyard, Councilman, consisted of wrought 171 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 iron fencing that protects, I guess it is, the Northeast courtyard of City Hall, where it used to be open before. And if you go down in that area, you can get access to the mechanical and the electrical systems of the building. A lot of the doors that were before opened have been mechanically locked now in the basement areas. The doors around the perimeter continue to have the old locking system, which are keys. Unfortunately, with keys, as you know, they can be duplicated, and then the next thing you know you don't have the security you are looking for. There are probably at least 18 entrances just to the first floor of City Hall. It is a hundred-year-old building. And when they designed the building, they wanted it accessible from all points. In addition to that, there are entrances through the portals that you can get direct access to the 2nd and 3rd floor, as well. 172 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 We have addressed every one of those entrances in the overall security plan, which is out for bid right now. We expect that work to start within the next couple of months. And, so, you should see a lot of construction going on around this building come this summer and through the fall and next winter, until we are completed. The work includes card accessing system on all of the doors so that you no 12 longer will be able to duplicate a key and hand it to people. That will secure most of the entrances. Public entrance will be the northeast corner, which will also have security. You will have an area with turn styles, where you will have to go through similar to MSB, similar to One Parkway. We will have cameras in most of the hallways throughout the building. We will have security cameras on the exterior of the building. We will have new lighting fixtures around the exterior of the building for better lighting at night. 173 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 We will have the grating that now you can get access into the airways from the exterior, will be secured. So you will no 5 longer be able to get access that way. We have tried to button up the building as best as possible, but we still realize it is a public building and it needs to be somewhat open to the public. The portal entrances during the normal working hours, I guess 8:00 to 5:00, will be accessible by the general public so that they can come in and do their business and still they will be observable, if that's a word. So we feel that by this time next year, you will see most of those improvements well under their way, if not fully completed by that point.
You are welcome. 174 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Madam President, and good afternoon. Mr. Goldsmith, I would like to bring your attention to your testimony on . I apologize if you already answered this question. I was listening to most of this morning's discussion, I may have missed the answer to the question I am about to ask you. The last paragraph, where it deals with the strategic enforcement and abatement through specific targeted zip codes, the approach would be education, warning, enforcement, and abatement. Enforcement officers and inspectors will respond to quality of life complaints and issue warnings to violators, and it goes on further to talk about the area of abatement. In what manner will properties be 175 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 abated? A property that has no windows, no 3 doors, I generally think is the kind of abatement that we normally speak of when we talk about the issue of abatement. And what do we plan to do with those properties, where doors, windows are missing?
With regards to abatement, the community life improvement program doesn't do many clean and seals, and I think that's what you were getting towards. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Where I am going is, I have been beating my head against this desk for about four years now. I had introduced a bill back in the Year 2000, which was passed by this City Council and supported by the Administration. I refer to it as the broken window bill. It was Bill No. 000404, which basically says to a property owner, given a specific amount of time to replace the doors and/or windows that are opened, broken, not existing today, you have a certain amount of 176 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 time to make replacements to those doors and windows with a door and a window, et cetera, not to seal it up with metal tin, not to be sealing those openings up with wood. And for every day after the allowed time, the allotted time to make those improvements, the law says that the property owner will be fined $300 per day per opening that is not properly sealed And "properly sealed," again, means no plywood, no tin, no metal, nothing other than a door or a window to replace that opening. I have been working with L & I Commissioner Solvibile for a couple of months now. I have just got to use a couple of examples where I think we are really, really missing the boat here. There is a property at 639 Catherine Street, on the Northeast corner of 7th and Catherine, that has been sealed up for 22 years. And since the year 2000, I have been hounding the Department of L & I and others to do something about enacting this bill. 177 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 Recently, in the last few months, action has finally been taken. As I speak, the fines on that property exceed $1 million. We will be in court next week for the second time. I believe, I am hopeful, that the judge will see fit to impose a significant portion of that fine to the owner of that property. The basic reason for that bill was, my opinion, was to get people to do something positive with the property; either sell it, replace the doors and windows so it doesn't look blighted or as blighted, do something about it. At the same time several months ago I turned in a property at 708 South Warnock that had been vacant, boarded up, tin on the windows, for the better part of a dozen years. That owner, immediately upon receiving notice that the $300 a day, per day, fine would be implemented, put the building up for sale. He sold it in two weeks, it is now an occupied property. 178 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 And I know Mr. Solvibile is at the table now, and he will talk about we are beefing up that enforcement. But what I was asked to do was give a list. And I don't have a problem, I am always driving around. And maybe I see too damn much, and that's why I can't sleep at night. But I make lists up, and I am going to start sending them into L & I. Wouldn't it behoove us, while we have the CLIP program in place, during those abatements of properties, cleaning of lots, to create the list on a zip code by zip code, neighborhood by neighborhood basis, and start sending notices out to these delinquent, absentee landlords who really don't care about the property or the neighborhood on which they have created a lot of blight within; most of whom are waiting for that neighborhood to turn around, if you will, and become a viable neighborhood, and then profit on their neglect. We are losing a lot of money that I think we could recapture, and probably make a 179 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 lot of money -- although that's not the business we are in -- but I don't have a problem if the city were to make money on the backs of delinquent, uncaring landlords. So my question is, through the statement that I have made, what are we going to do about enacting once and for all on the citywide basis Bill No. 000404? This would have probably offset significantly the cost of the NTI program.
But what we are doing is, we are taking taxpayers' dollars, people who live in the city, maintain their properties, and pay their taxes, to go out and fix up or close up a property of someone who doesn't give a damn, excuse my French, when they should be the people who the burden should be on. This is four years in the running. I will have to wait another four years to ask my question, Madam President? So, I guess, what are we doing? And I know -- I just don't want to deal with, well, when we get a -- you know, and Bob and I work well together, and we have got about a 180 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 dozen properties, including Center City. Northeast corner of 11th and Chestnut, an income-producing property on the first floor, has broken windows throughout it, in the core of Center City. And we are not doing anything but maybe send them a $75 fine, which is ridiculous, in my opinion.
Robert Solvibile, Licensing & Inspections. Councilman, since our last conversations about this, we have opened up the violations to be written by all the inspectors in the department. With the expansion of CLIP is where most of the neighborhoods we are aiming to get this type of enforcement in. The inspectors will be instructed to write this violation for the doors and window violation. And we believe it will then finally get into the mainstream and become effective 181 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 at that point in time. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: So if I hear you right, Mr. Solvibile, you are saying that your people, L & I's personnel, will be going through those CLIP areas and making that list? Is that going to be a function of what they do or is it going to be -- and I don't mean this to be disrespectful -- hit and miss, kind of if we see it? But I think it should be part of the overall program as you are going through those communities.
Councilman, it will be a part of the -- as Mr. Conway, or the Director, has stated, the program will be run by zip codes. And there will be meetings with the Councilpeople to determine their needs. But as part of the inspector's, L & I inspectors assigned to this going out, they will in fact write that violation citywide, and we will then be able to track it and see how we are doing with enforcement. Hopefully at this time next year we will have a better report. 182 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Can I finish this statement?
This is very interesting. I am just curious to know, have they been implementing that bill at all? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Well, the notification has been sent out on at least two buildings, 708 South Warnock, which I explained the owner immediately sold it. The building at 639 Catherine, we were in Municipal Court. The fines exceeded $10,000. We now have to go into Common Pleas Court next week. The problem we had -- and, again, we have been talking about this for four years -- is that an inspector went out, looked at the building, and came back, I think, originally, Bob, with several windows. There are about 33 doors and windows in this building. So, you do the math. If there are 50 doors and windows, at $300 a day -- now the reality is, we may not get all of that money. But the purpose of the bill was to not just give somebody a little smack on the 183 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 hand. I mean, the guy who bought that building years ago paid about $35,000. 4 Today, today, as a result of the RDA's 5 appraisal on that building -- because I am 6 going to have to spend NTI monies to take that 7 building through condemnation -- that building 8 is worth $500,000 today. 9 The owner lives in New Jersey, runs 10 a liquor store in New Jersey. His wife, I 11 don't know where she lives. They are 12 estranged. And they keep using the excuse 13 that they haven't done anything with the 14 building because they can't settle their 15 divorce, 22 years. 16 I went through two marriages and 17 divorces in 22 years. I am not happy about 18 that. But, I mean, you know, give me a break. 19 I am not boasting about that. 20 But the reality is, they have been 21 sitting on it. It sits in the heart of Bella 22 Vista. They have been watching the real estate values go up and up and up every year, and they are going to wind up walking away with a profit. 184 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 We should have been hammering these people. I mean, now we are doing it, we will see, in that property. I will give you another example, is the one I always call my signature building, which is in Councilman Clarke's district, the former Daily News building at 23rd and Arch. There must be 3,000 windows in that building. It is the gateway into the city. People see it on the Expressway, people see it on JFK Boulevard, people see it on the train as they are going of 30th Street Station. It sits there. Every single window in that building is broken and has been broken for 15 years. I will bet you we have not sent them a notice concerning this legislation. And I can tell you the owner of that building, when and if he has sold it -- because I keep hearing it is sold, it may be sold -- is going to make a huge profit, because 15 years ago that was not that desirable a neighborhood. Now it is one of the hottest real estate markets in the city. 185 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 So the developer who didn't do anything to contribute to enhance the quality of life in the neighborhood, sat back, let the building deteriorate, is going to walk away with a fortune, and we let him do it.
The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke for a point of order.
Thank you, Madam President. $13 million, by the way, the sales price for the building. I just wanted to also reiterate, there was a bill that was supported by Council Members, I think, as recent as a year and a half ago that talked about vacant window bill, the boarded-up window bill, that we passed unanimously, that required that the city make sure that property owners put windows inside of vacant buildings, particularly on blocks that are, I think, 80 percent or more occupied, very well supported by the northeast community. It was actually the first piece of press I got in my new district. And today I 186 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 don't think we are aggressively enforcing that. I agree with Councilman DiCicco that in some of these communities, where we allow these buildings to just sit and bring down the property values of other individuals, because it is just not right. And we need to address it and go after these people. We found that, in some instances, when you do go after people, they actually do comply, in a lot of instances. So I think we need to stop playing around with people. We need a get aggressive, as we are getting aggressive on other issues, such as the CLIP. If we were half as aggressive as these property owners are, as we are on people in the northeast, and making sure they cut their grass or shovel the snow three hours after the snow, we would be a lot better off. So I agree with the Councilman on this very much.
I would just like to say, as I think Mr. Solvibile will tell you, that we have actually started action against 187 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 that building. But I don't want to get into that particular thing. Just to say that I share the frustration. I go around the city all the time. And nothing bothers me more than when I see businesses, you know, sort of trashing the city. And I think we have to get tougher and we will get tougher. But often, a lot of these times, these people have money, and they are able to tie us up in court and so forth. But it is a big city, with a lot of problems. And I think it frustrates us all that want to see it better and see people take better care of their properties. And we will do what we can. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I will wait for my next round.
Councilman, at 22nd and Arch, the old Bulletin Building, we did take the owner to court, and we have a court order that he is to put doors and windows. He asked for a 30 or 40 day -- I'm not quite sure of the time, because there was 188 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 going to be a permit to rehabilitate it. That did not happen. I am now asking the Law Department to go back into court, and we will enforce the court order and have him put doors and windows in all the openings where there is broken windows. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you.
The bill for that would have been over a million dollars, by the way, Councilman, for the doors and windows. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: A million a day. You have to have a few thousand windows in that building. A million? 7th and Catherine is a million dollars, and that's two properties, row-house properties, that are on the corner. It has got to be over a million dollars. It has to be a million dollars a day.
In talking to the contractor, the person who was going to get the permit to rehabilitate it, told me it was a million dollars. 189 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: To rehab. I am sorry; I thought you meant the fines.
No, sir. To put the doors and windows, he said it would be a million dollars. Now, I didn't check to see if he was accurate on that. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I apologize. I misunderstood you. I thought you said a million dollars in fines.
Thank you, Madam President. I want to follow up on a question I asked earlier about vacant lots, the vacant lot program. And, actually, the second question, I will get it in now. The second question is, does the Managing Director have any jurisdiction/responsibility on any of the social services programs? And I will get into the first question in depth. 190 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04
Approximately two years ago, when we started the NTI process, we talked about entering into an arrangement with P&S, I believe it was, for long-term maintenance of lots, putting grass on, planting trees, and things of that nature. And one of the questions that came up, that I, frankly speaking, raised was, hiring of local residents. The thought was that this work was not extremely skilled labor; that there could be opportunities in neighborhoods for people to maintain lots in their particular communities. And I was told at the time that there would be some process. Frankly speaking, I have yet to see a single person from the neighborhood hired to work with P & S. I happen to be the recipient of parts of my district, actually in the neighborhood where I live, of a substantial amount of the work that's taking place. I must say, I am a little dismayed that that didn't happen, but I must say that I am not surprised. 191 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 One of the questions I have is, first of all, I am assuming that we are looking to renew that contract. Second of all, understanding that we currently have a crew -- and I'm not sure what the size is -- a vacant lot crew that is run out of the Managing Director's Office, were where our work force is probably from a lot of the neighborhoods that the work is currently being done. But since they are relegated to cleaning the lots, removing the debris, then they go into another location, my question is, does it make more sense to elevate the skill level of the people that we have on the city's payroll to provide the long-term maintenance? What I have seen, particularly in Strawberry Mansion, when a lot is cleaned and it is greened, and trees are placed, that lot stays clean. You know, something in the psyche of the people in the communities, when they see a nice lot, they don't treat it the way that they do when there is a lot that has a substantial amount of debris on it or 192 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 untreated lot. I am going to ask the question, but I believe that the contract with P & S is probably more than a million dollars. And what I want to know, does it make more sense to elevate the level of our employees to not only clean the lots, but also maintain them, since those maintained lots will not require an additional maintenance, an additional cleanup by our lot crews? Is that something that makes sense to you?
Yes, I think what you are saying makes sense. The P & S contract is not handled out of my office, but I will have to find out what is happening to renewing that. But I think to the extent that we can either use city workers or people from the neighborhoods to do a lot of this work, and really to increase their skill set, particularly when it comes to horticulture and stuff like that, it really makes sense. We will look into it.
When you say you 193 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 will look into it, with all due respect, what does that mean?
Since that contract does not come out of our office, I will have to speak to NTI folks to find out what's going on with that contract and whether those commitments that were made, where they stand.
I don't know. Do we have anyone from NTI? MR. JAY McCALLA: Jay McCalla, Deputy Managing Director. That is operated out of NTI by a woman named Cynthia Biette. And we can get you whatever information you want regarding that today. Or certainly we are going to be back to present our budget in the next several weeks. So whatever your pleasure is.
I can't wait. I talked to people in the government about this. I talked to Ms. Biette. I am not going to tell what you her response is, I don't want to get her in trouble. 194 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 But to me it makes no sense that we are spending a million dollars, probably more than a million dollars, to maintain lots, green them, put trees up, or whatever it is we do. We already have the work force whose sole responsibility is vacant lots. And you don't get people from that neighborhood hired. And suffice to say that all the people who work on the vacant lot treatment program, the vacant lot cleaning program, are neighborhood people, probably some of them referred by members in this room, Council Members. And I asked this question some time ago. And I would really like to get a real answer, a real response, before we renew the contract or continue the discussion on the contract. Because I think that, you know, elevating the skill sets of our people -- you know, ultimately we no longer need vacant lot cleaning crews, which would be a good thing. At a minimum, these people would have a skill that they can market in another areas, a 195 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 landscaping skill. So I think that's something we need to seriously look at. MR. McCALLA: As the Managing Director said, we don't know the term of renewal for this contract. But this is Monday. And there is no reason why you, myself, and Pat Smith and Cynthia can't sit down --
I don't want to do that. I don't want to have a meeting. I want you to do it for me.
Every time I sit down with people, I don't wind up getting anything out of it. When you get stuff done is in the budget process.
The other question related to social services. In your testimony, I didn't see anywhere where you spoke of any social service program. But through the course of the last year, when there were programs and contracts 196 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 to be let as it relates to mental health contracts, there was a contract I recall over near Richard Allen, one of my community people called. And I keep hearing your name surface as it relates to the sign-off on those contracts. What involvement do you as the Managing Director have in social service program?
Well, the social service departments report to the Managing Director. So that would be DHS and Health Department and Behavior Health and all of those departments. There had been a director of social services, Ms. Estelle Richman, served at, when Joe Mertz was Managing Director. And when she became Managing Director, it was then Gary Letterer, he has since left.
So Estelle Richman, she was director of social services reporting to Joe Martz?
Yes, that's correct. So, those departments do report to 197 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 me. And depending on the contracts, some of them I sign off. If you can get me the name, the specific name, of the contract, or whatever, I will find out
So in all the other departments do you get involved with that level of detail, signing off of contracts? The Fire Department. The Fire Department needs to enter into a contract with whomever, do you have to sign off on that?
It depends on what the contract is, requires whether I have to sign off on it. Maybe, Tony, you can answer that. But I don't single out social services contracts for special attention.
I don't hear your name coming up in other departments. I always hear your name as it relates to social 198 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 service contracts.
Councilman, usually it is the process whereby the -- whatever the contract comes under, that commissioner's jurisdiction, it is usually that commissioner that would sign off on the contract. If it was a DHS contract --
That's always my understanding. But now I am hearing, and the Managing Director has concurred, that he signs off on some social service contracts.
I will sign off on different grants. Things come on my desk all the time. But normally departments do their own thing. There are some points where I am the signator for the city, and I would sign off on. So there may be social services contracts that, as Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer, I am the signator on them. Some of them go over to the Mayor's Office. Most of them end up either at the commissioner level or the Managing Director's Office. 199 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 So, it would depend.
Some grants would have to go over to the Mayor's Office for signature.
It depends on what the grant is or what the contract is or what the issue is. I would say most -- probably the predominant of them get taken care of at either the commissioner level or the Managing Director's Office.
Yes. If there is a Police grant -- I think Commissioner Johnson 200 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 and I just signed off on one. You know, there is multitude of these things that go on. But if you can get me more specific about any particular one, I can check into it.
Well, that has happened. I mean, there have been a number of contracts that have happened and I have had to get involved with. And that's why I understand now that you are in the middle of it to some degree. I am just trying to find out from a procedural standpoint, the Managing Director traditionally gets involved in that level, on signing off on contracts, and that's not something that I knew. Now that you are telling me that, I probably would like to know the types and the categories. If there is a federal grant that comes down, maybe that will require your signature. But I just need to know what -- does it mandate that you are involved, or do you just arbitrarily get involved?
I don't arbitrarily 201 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 get involved, unless there was -- I don't want to say a dispute. But if there was a difference of opinion or something like that, I might get involved. But I can't, you know, remember any of those. A lot of these go to the CRC, our Contract Review Committee, which is made up of representatives from the Mayor's Office and Finance Department, Managing Director's Office, MBEC. Virtually every contract in the city goes through the CRC process. So it may come up there.
They would come up through CRC. If I am misstating myself, I would ask someone. But they would come up to CRC. Laurie Jones is my representative on CRC. But everything goes through a process that we look at. You know, it is not that I am singling out any particular one. I might be an arbiter if there is a difference or someone 202 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 says why are we doing this. On grants, we have formed this grants office. And one of the things, if a grant comes to me, one of the things I ask is for the grants office to sign off on it. And I particularly want to know whether there are any operating dollars that are going to be attached or are going to be committed as a result of the grant. If there are, I might look at it a little differently than if it were just federal or state dollars. But we will get you the process that is used.
I know my time is up. I just want one followup. I want to know are these any Charter-required sign-offs or regulatory requirements or is this the way the government is set up under this Administration?
Would you find out for me. I really need to understand why 203 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 your name keeps coming up on all these different contracts.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Managing Director, earlier this morning I commended you for reducing the city fleet, and that important initiative. I want to commend you now for your Global Philadelphia initiative. And I want to use part of your testimony to say that this Global Philadelphia initiative is very important because both Title 6 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and executive order signed by Mayor Street in the fall of 2001 require the city to provide meaningful access to limited English proficient individuals. Many, many years ago I came from a limited English proficient family. My colleague, Councilman Kenney, has been a champion in this chamber for a few years on the issue of immigrants, particularly new 204 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 immigrants, into the Philadelphia area. And for all the obvious reasons in my name, I have joined him in this area of concern and of righteousness to welcome new immigrants into our city. And I see Global Philadelphia as coming about at the right time. Maybe well overdue, but, nevertheless, that it is here. And I am encouraged by your involvement and the involvement of this Administration. In your testimony, you also stated that through Global Philadelphia, in the partnership with community and advocacy groups, the Personnel Department is involved in an effort to enhance recruitment. I just want to be clear, when you say to enhance recruitment, are you saying to advance hiring?
Yes, to advance hiring. The whole issue, obviously, is, you can't hire people unless they apply. And part of this, the Personnel Department working with different agencies and different groups 205 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 throughout the city, is that when we do have positions that we think require some bilingual in nature, that they are -- we are going out to groups and saying help us, you know, find these people. Obviously once they apply, they have got to go through the same testing and same process. But the outreach -- unless you have an effective outreach process, it is really not going to work. And we recently had one where we got a lot of applications in as a result of the outreach that we used, so that's something we want to continue to do.
Can you tell us, how far ahead are you with the Global Philadelphia concept? You mentioned you started to recruit. Because I know my office was of help in the application process. How far ahead are you with this program?
Well, we just, you know, recently got started. I think we have done a lot of good work so far, but there is a 206 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 lot of work that's got to be done. We started out with eight departments which we have identified because we think those were critical departments. We have an RFP that we just received back contracts or proposals from to provide different services to the city. They are going to be document translation, language translation, and telephonic usage. That review will take place, hopefully, within the next 30 days, we will be able to pick the various vendors to provide that service. Councilman Kenney and I have talked about this. And I really see our job, in certainly the Managing Director's Office and our initiative here, is to make city government more accessible to people. Our job is not to go out and try to attract people to Philadelphia, that's other people's jobs. But I think once, you know, people come here, we want them to be able to access our services. And I think the more accessible the 207 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 word gets that we are as a city, the more effective we are going to be in recruiting people and do what we have got to do. So this is a multi-facetted approach. We got people from the Recreation Department together, all the directors, I think regional directors, from the Latino areas, and we brought in representatives from the Latino area. And we said, we want to you get to know each other. Because the needs, your needs in the community, you as a Recreation Department employee, have got to understand what the needs are of people in the community. We had a cocktail party for them, and so forth and so on. I mean, it is a whole bunch of different things that we have got to do. And part of it is legally driven, you know; part of it is the Justice Department, I believe, is sort of revving up on this issue; part of it is basic fairness; and part of it is an economic development issue. As I said in my testimony, L & I 208 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 forecasts about 30 to 50 percent of their license and business permits come from people that do not speak English as their native language. That goes to show people that want to open up businesses and so forth. That's our outreach, and we have a lot more we can share with you on it.
It seems as though you are going to contract out some of these services. Are you looking also to hire people, city employees, to do this type of limited English proficient accessibility?
Yes. In the eight departments that we have started with, we have asked them to identify positions, going by positions that we think it is important to have a bilingual component to. And, so, that's one of the initiatives that we are doing.
I again want to reiterate that I am for this program. It is well overdue. I am glad it is happening now for all the right reasons, for legal reasons, 209 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 as well. If we are under all these budget constraints, how are we going to pay for -- we have a hiring freeze, but yet we are saying that we are going to hire to make this program happen. What's your thinking along those lines? Because I don't want us to give the public a false expectation that we are going -- we are trying to comply with a Civil Rights Act, and we are trying to do the right thing here, and we are telling people to apply for these positions, and then five months go by and they inquire about the position -- I am saying that happens in my office a lot -- and then we turn around and say, yes, this is the right thing to do, but we can't afford to do it?
We are only going out and recruiting for positions that we have vacancies on that we are filling. So we are not going out there and just saying -- trying to go out there and just have people apply, when we don't have positions for them. So we 210 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 are being very specific. As positions come up, they are identified by the Personnel Department. And if there are ones in particular that we think are bilingual in nature, that's when we are going out and recruiting. So, you know, while we have had job freezes on and so forth, the fact of the matter is, there still are positions that we fill every day. And I want to say the other component here is just not for hiring people, but it is also to make our city services accessible and understandable for people that do not speak English as their native language. I mean, whether it be the Police or Fire Department or L & I or Health Department, these are major departments, Recreation, that we are working with that we can become, frankly, more customer friendly.
Do you have any idea about how many people you will be hiring directly into the government to comply with this mandate? 211 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04
No, I don't. That would be -- I would have to get you that. But that's going to depend on how many vacancies we have and what positions.
Are you willing to cut in other areas to make this program work, if you have to?
No. I think that -- no. I think what we are doing now is --
What happens if the Justice Department comes around and says, you only hired five, and you have ten departments, what are you going to do then?
I don't think the Justice Department -- I mean, the hiring issue is just one of the issues that the Justice Department is looking at. But we are going to -- you know, we have a financial crisis on our hands. I was happy that we were able to get state funds to help fund this program. So we will have to go from there and do our very best. All we are saying is, if we have an 212 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 opening, if there is an opening in the Police Department and that's one where we think it would benefit from a bilingual employee, then we are trying to target and trying to be more aggressive to make sure that, from a recruiting point of view, that we get people that are bilingual in nature to apply for that job. Then they have got to qualify like everyone else.
Again, I commend you and the Administration for taking this initiative. It is very important that we continue to think long range on the future of this city and this ever-increasing immigrant population that is already here within our city limits, and with the potential of bringing more immigrants into this area as a place for them to make a living and fulfill the American dream, as my family and many of you here, have full tilled. Thank you, Madam Chair.
The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo. 213 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04
Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Goldsmith, first of all, I would like to change you for bringing this Police overtime, the one where police officers work on their days off, to bring that program under control. I know there are still a few loose ends at the revenue end. But, again, thank you for you taking personal charge of that to get that under control. I wasn't planning to discuss this. But after seeing, I believe it was, Dateline last night, where they reported on the severity of intersection accidents, when vehicles are hit broadside, and that in many cases the injuries are fatal, if not very, very serious, the results of the accident. And if you could give me an update on where we are with the red light camera program, I would really appreciate it. Because I understand politics is standing in the way. Because there is an agreement of understanding that's required 214 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 between the City of Philadelphia and the Parking Authority to manage the red light camera program. And after seeing Dateline last night, I believe it was Dateline, that every day we allow some of these very dangerous intersections not to be protected by red light cameras and proven technology to reduce fatalities, reduce injuries, I think that that's a very bad situation. So I would like to know what you can tell me about a program that was supposed to be off the ground December, January, and from what I understand the Parking Authority and the Administration cannot get together on how this program is to run.
Thank you. And I think that the whole issue of traffic safety, whether it be with school children, whether it be with red lights, whether it be whatever the concept is, running the block, or whatever we call it, I think, frankly, we are a little bit out of control in this city. And something I have talked to the Police Department about. 215 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 I think we have got to crack down on people that just -- whether they are just going through red lights or whether they are blocking intersections and so forth. We let people get away scot-free here. And I know New York City, people have told me that have come back from New York City, it is amazing what a little enforcement does and a $300 fine. You don't see that going on right now in New York, and I would like to see us take the same attitude here. I think it is going to save lives and I think it would make it a much better city to get around, rather than have to get tied up in intersections because someone couldn't wait 2 seconds and went through an intersection and tied up traffic. Having said that, Joe Egan and I have a very good relationship. We go back many years. And there is nothing that we will allow get in our way from doing what we think has got to be done in the areas of parking or traffic flow in the city. There was a meeting with the various 216 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 representatives April 16, which I think was Thursday, or something like that. We are working on an implementation agreement that all sides can agree with. I will tell you that this is a complicated issue, and it is complicated because it involves a lot of different entities. It involves the Parking Authority, it involves the Streets Department, it involves the Police Department, it involves PennDOT. And I know this is long overdue and I know your interest in this program.
I was there when it was signed with you. I know that. And, so, we are anxious to get this thing off the dime and get it rolling. It has cost issues to it and start-up costs, and we have to figure out who pays for those start-up costs, how we recoup the money, and so forth. But I think that the meeting that 217 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 was held on the 16th was a good meeting, and I think everyone is working to get this done.
You know, I think you pointed out something very important. And I had a conversation with the Police Commissioner, he is going to get back to me. The culture in this city, people that run red lights, people do not stop at red lights in this city for some reason. And I think that some reason is that our Police don't do all they can do. I think police officers have gotten to the point where they can be on the corner in a car -- and I think I understand sometimes why they can't go and enforce the red-light-runner, because they may be involved in an assignment or doing something that they can't be distracted. But I asked the Police Commissioner to get aggressive, come up with a program to start to detail red-light running. Because I don't think there is anyone in this room that hasn't stopped for a red light and the person just goes, blows right on through it. 218 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 And I am not talking about one that's questionable; I am talking about dead red. And I would hope that when the Commissioner gets back to me, that he does announce that there is going to be some stepped-up enforcement. Because, again, the culture in this city is, as you described, right on the money. Because, apparently, there is just no 12 ramification for running red lights. And I know we probably have statistics to show how many tickets we do write. But I can tell you that I don't think I am alone in this room with the feeling that it is out of control in this city, the way people disregard at least that one area, red-light running.
Sure. 219 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 The other area that I would appreciate you elaborating on -- and if you would prefer the Police Commissioner to answer this question -- we talked about Police overtime. I'm concerned about the way we evaluate -- and I understand that the commanders of the traffic division, from the inspector, the captain, the inspector, the chief inspector. When we provide police for special events, like Eagles games, Phillies games, where does our responsibility end and where do the teams begin to pay for the luxury of having what they believe is an adequate number of officers? Now, we had the special district where police officers patrolled because of the quality of life issues, the issues of police officers controlling the 700 level at the Vet. I hope that goes away and we don't have that problem at the new facility. But my question is, how, as a manager, are you satisfied that we are not 220 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 giving away the store to the Phillies, Eagles, and other special events? How do you balance that?
Well, I think that I am more satisfied than I was. And maybe that's just because I know more than I did. But we do insist that the -- you know, we are responsible for outside the stadiums. And if the Police Commissioner wants to correct me on any of this, I would appreciate it. But we are responsible for outside the stadiums. Once you get inside the stadiums, and we are putting on special detail, we get reimbursed by the Phillies or the Eagles or whoever. I have taken a pretty hard line on this. I know with L & I, for example, when we put people out there for vending issues, I have insisted we get paid up front. These are vending issues to protect their brand names. This has nothing to do with safety; this has to do with that people don't sell counterfeit shirts or counterfeit 221 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 hats and so forth. If they are trying to protect their brand name or the NFL is trying, you have to pay us up front. And Dominic Verdi is instructed, and I have had no problem convincing him, that if they want a detail out there, you pay up front. So we are pretty stringent with it. And, again, it is a cooperative effort. When it came to the implosion of Vet's Stadium, the Phillies picked up everything. They pay on time, no problems. Everything was fine. So we try to work through these issues. And I think with the opening of the new stadiums, you know, it did pose certain challenges, and particularly with the Eagles because of the different parking lot and color or coding and so forth and so on. So we try to work through these things. But I can be as much of a businessman as they can be. And I don't mind going hammer and nail at them when I don't think the city taxpayers are getting their 222 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 fair share.
You are welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Managing Director, I will try to move through some of these quickly. In your testimony on , you talk about your office implemented a plan to crack down on illegal posting of commercial signs on public property, including utility poles, trees, and other city- and utility-owned structures. Who specifically is responsible for this program?
It is run out of the Managing Director's Office, but it sort of involves the Streets Department and L & I. And we have run out -- Frankie Hughes has been responsible working with community groups. 223 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 Thanks to Verizon and PECO, they gave us money to give to community groups, 50 cents a sign, that takes down these signs and returns them to us. We plan to, you know, continue this effort. I think it is blight. But Frankie Hughes in my office is the lynchpin on doing this.
You should have. There was, actually, a press conference that a number of the Councilpeople came to. But we will get you information. And I go through Wynnefield a lot and Overbrook a lot. And it just blows my mind that we have allowed those wonderful neighborhoods -- that's where my in-laws grew up, in Wynnefield, and where my wife grew up. You go down Wynnefield Avenue, sir, 224 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 they are just there. And it just boggles my mind. I actually have a tool in my car that I take signs down. And I have given them to a couple members on my staff. But I would also like to see the Wynnefield Residents Association and others, we will give them 50 cents a sign. And I go off on this. Because I think what happens is, a lot of these signs, not necessarily Wynnefield, go into our poorer neighborhoods. And there are businesses, in a couple of cases we found businesses, that were not registered, and we shut them down. But they didn't mind putting up to get telephones or this or that. So I would like to see us do it as a community, as a community, more on this issue.
Yes, I would agree with you. And, I mean, certainly Wynnefield Avenue, but many others. One, I would be glad, if you have any extras, to put whatever the tool is that 225 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 you have. If you have any, I would certainly like to have one and someone show me how to use it so I don't hurt myself. But I was not aware that you were offering that kind of bounty. And what do you have, some kind of a contract with a local neighborhood group to work on this?
No. Any community, any Town Watch, any community group that's a nonprofit community group, if they return the signs, you know, we give them 50 cents a sign. I don't have the numbers right off the top of my head. I forgot how much we got, $25,000, or something like that. There is still money left. There is still money left.
Great. And if you could provide us through the Chair any information about, you know, I guess who so far is participating, and where their level of participation is, what the outreach has been, that would be very helpful.
I go through Fairmount Park. I have to say there is a big orange sign right near Belmont Avenue, right 226 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 on one of those roads there. And they are getting smart now because they are tying them in with nuts. My tool doesn't do any good anymore.
I understand. We will get another device. On , you talk about initiatives for '05, you are restructuring your office to deal with the various departments, to help them in the most effective manner possible run their departments, exercise leadership in grappling with our difficult fiscal situations. To your knowledge, have there been any performance or operational audits for each of the operating departments in the last three, four, five years?
The Budget Office works on service criteria. And when we have the quarterly meetings, those are used as a gauge. I would say, probably, the closest that I am aware of on a full-scale operational audit is the strategic plan we are doing with 227 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 Fairmount Park, which will have some components of an operational audit. I wouldn't call it, you know, a real operational audit, but it will show us some things that we can do better and so forth.
And not to highlight anything that, you know, could be considered as a negative, but more as a management tool, I mean, do you think something like that would be helpful on not necessarily something you are going to do every year, but over some amount of time, do you think it would be helpful to just have an outside performance and operational audit of every department, find out what you do well, you find out what you don't do that well, the stuff in between, and use that as just a management tool?
Absolutely. And we may actually do that with the Police Department and help on that. I think we have to prioritize which departments and so forth. But I think it keeps us all on our toes a little bit. And it is always a pain 228 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 when you are on the receiving end, but they are helpful.
I understand. And, again, I was not necessarily directing it at any particular department. We have a lot of operating departments. All of us, you know, certainly even our place here, can always do better. On the overtime issue, you make reference to an FY '04, you've reduced overtime by $17 million from FY '03. Could you provide to us through the Chair a department by department breakdown of this overtime reduction?
Last year when we were here having the pleasure of each other's company, I asked you about a particular location in my district, the 400 block of North Daggett Street, D-A-G-G-E-T-T.
At the time you indicated that you were working on a plan to respond to the challenges over on that street, 229 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 the variety of homes that we have had to ask the citizens to evacuate. It is about 4 percent of the homes on the block. The other 5 75 percent are still trying to figure out 6 what's going on. 7 There has been virtually no 8 discussion about that since that time. The 9 problems over there continue. And, so, I need 10 to ask what has happened since I asked you 11 about this about a year ago? 12
Well, one of the 13 things that I failed to do, which I wanted to 14 do with you a couple of weeks ago when we were 15 together, was to give you an update on Daggett 16 Street. 17 We are trying to get a federal grant 18 to help us on that. And if Bob Allen is in 19 the room, he may be able to -- he has been 20 working on this for me. And this is something 21 we may need your help on to get this where it 22 should be. 23 But time is of the essence. 24
My name is Bob 25 Allen, I am Assistant Managing Director. 230 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 A number of things have occurred on Daggett Street. There is a federal earmark grant that's available to us, it is a quarter of a million dollars, to help us remediate some of the things that are occurring on Daggett Street. Unfortunately, it is not enough money to help all of the residents on Daggett Street. And we have a plan, based on an engineering report and some L & I -- several L & I inspections, to remediate some of the damage on the houses that are sinking and to prevent further damage. Because a big issue for us is that, as they deteriorate, the houses surrounding them are structurally unsupported, as well.
So we really need to get in there and make sure the roofs are intact, that the water is draining away properly through the laterals. And we intend to use the grant money for that purpose. We have estimates for some 231 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 of that work. And also to make sure that those houses are sealed up in an attractive manner. Because right now the condition detracts from the overall appearance of the neighborhood, and it is a very nice neighborhood.
What I would suggest, Councilman, if we can get with you today or some time and let you know. We need some congressional help here that you may be able to help us with.
I would be glad to do that. At the same time, there possibly are some things that, with our own resources, that the gentleman -- I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name.
Mr. Allen, some of the more immediate issues may fall within the course of the normal things that we do as a city government. Open houses, you have a whole host 232 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 of issues with people and their mortgages and debt, public utilities issues, and, I mean, trash, grass, debris, all of that, safety and security of the homes that have been evacuated. We had a situation, I think, on Friday where someone has apparently bought one of the homes through sheriff's sale, is in the process of cleaning it out, I can only imagine for the purpose of trying to put someone in the property. I mean, we are in kind of a left hand/right hand situation, to some extent. Bob Solvibile gave me some information about what we can do and what we can't do. But the prospect of anyone thinking that they could put someone in one of the homes that we actually evacuated ourselves does raise a lot of concerns both naturally for the neighbors on the block and for myself. So somehow we have to make sure that we are clear on what people can do, what they can't do, what we won't allow people to do, and make sure that we are in a constant 233 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 vigilance situation. This has been going on, I think, as we all know, for much too long. And, so, I look forward to the meeting. What would be helpful is to have a real hard timeline in terms of a series of actions to be taken. But certainly with regard to the federal issue, I would be happy to talk with Congressman Brady about it. It is his Congressional District and also his Ward. I know my time is up, ma'am.
Thank you. Respect also working on the Town Gardens in Southwest Philadelphia?
No. I think where we last left that was, I think, we have had, as you well know, some meetings with --
-- Congressman Brady and Senator Williams to see whether there wasn't some federal money that we could get. We did have one issue with Town 234 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 Gardens on a particular building, house that we have taken care of for them. And I think that we made a commitment to try to do a little greening down there where that house was, and we will do that.
The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo for a point of information.
Mr. Allen, like Councilman Nutter, I have been involved in this Daggett Street issue for a long time, attended community meetings, et cetera. And the frustrating part of Daggett Street is the fact that the people that are still there, other side of the street, call me -- you can tell that it is very critical there -- 2:00, 3 o'clock in the morning on voice mail, leaving a message that they haven't heard anything, they don't know what's going on. I think the communication needs to get better, also. How have you communicated with these 235 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 people? Because many of them are calling suggesting that they don't really know where they stand. Or maybe they are not listening. I see Bob Solvibile ready to come out of his seat over there.
I would have to ask Bob or others who have been involved directly with the community.
My role has really been because of the possible grant activity.
I think when your house is crumbling from under you, it is a very serious concern.
And not knowing what's going on, not being communicated with, or just getting some form letter just doesn't cut it, in my opinion. So if Mr. Solvibile would come and answer that question, how exactly are these people being communicated with. Because I get, without a doubt, a 236 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 call a week or two a week from the people that live on Daggett Street.
Good afternoon. I am Robert Solvibile, Licensing & Inspections. Councilman, when the people were first asked to leave their houses --
Could you tell us that date for the record, approximately.
Two years ago. I just want it for the record to understand what I am talking about occurred two years ago.
A little bit more than two years ago. The properties were declared imminently dangerous. We met individually. Risk Management and Licensing & Inspections hired an engineering firm, Albert Tantella. And he did a study, an in-depth study on the depth of the fill and all of the problems associated with that. We gave briefing to the Councilman and to the -- several parties. I believe the 237 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 elected officials, Congressman's Brady's staff attended, and State Senator -- I cannot remember the State Senator that was at the briefing that we gave. Hughes. And we fully informed him. Then Risk Management and Licensing & Inspections met individually with the homeowners to explain the situation and they assisted in moving the homeowners out.
But, now, how does this scenario play out? You hear about a house that was one of the affected homes, was sold at sheriff's sale. So obviously that person wasn't dealt with through Risk Management.
We didn't know it was sold at sheriff's sale. And it was the original people that were affected that we moved out, we dealt with. Subsequent owners who may purchase, they purchase as-is. And if they purchased the property with a cert, state cert, like you would get at a regular sale, they would know that the properties were imminently dangerous 238 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 and what the problem is. It is specific in the file as to what they would have to do, what the condition of their property is. At the sheriff's sale, there is no 7 regular sale; it is just you buy as-is.
Well, tell me, how could we even sell a house at sheriff's sale that is imminently dangerous? Something doesn't sound like it is connected here.
I believe it was at a private sheriff's sale. Probably the mortgage company sold it. But it was a private sheriff's sale, Councilman.
There is no way to block that kind of a transaction on a building that's dangerous?
That's an answer I can't give. That would have to be a legal opinion, and I'm not sure what the opinion is.
I am saying, for me to answer you now, I cannot answer that. 239 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04
Doesn't it sound kind of stupid to sell a building that is imminently dangerous?
I would say that anybody that would go to that block and look at that house, and then go to sheriff's sale and bid on it, knows what they are getting. And they are trying to try to fix it up and, to be frank with you, probably put somebody in there for $1,000 a month to get by the system. But with the Licensing & Inspections and the Councilman's office, we are not going to allow that to happen.
I have talked to some of the people that were, like, the original affected group. And I made the statement, naive of me, I said, well, you have been made whole on your situation there. And I was kind of like rebuked and said, we haven't been made whole. So could you tell me what you know. Has Risk Management taken care of all the settlements? Or, where exactly are we? 240 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04
Risk Management, the City of Philadelphia, through the Risk Management Office, provided moving expenses for the people who lived in the homes. And the city determined that we were not at fault, and there would be no settlements. And, as far as I know, that was told to the owners early on in the process. As soon as the results of the engineering study were made available, were known, we made it known to them that there would be in fact no settlements.
Thank you. I, too, would like to echo Councilman Ramos' comments relative to Global Philadelphia. I am happy to see they are moving in a direction 241 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 that is positive. I do disagree slightly with one of your characterizations, that it is not our job to go out and recruit people to come here. I think it is probably what one of our main jobs are. And in addition to translation services and other types of things that are federally mandated, there are a plethora of things we could be doing. For example, Community College charges noncitizens a higher rate than a local Philadelphian to attend school, even if the person lives in Philadelphia, pays taxes, works, and, you know, is here legally. The college does not, for example recognize them as a Philadelphia resident because they are not a citizen. That would encourage people to go to school and do well. I think one of the things you talked about was that 30 to 40 percent of our business licenses are immigrants, which really is a case in point as to why we need them here. 242 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 So I think attracting them from New York, attracting them from other parts of the world, is an extremely part of rebuilding our neighborhoods and growing our population, like Boston, like Chicago, like New York has done. Another issue, again, is our airport. You can't get to immigrant feeders from around the world, Western Africa, South America, Central America, Eastern Europe, places where people are coming from to the United States, can't get direct to Philadelphia in our airport. So there are a lot of different things we need to market and change to really make this an immigrant-friendly destination. But I do appreciate the continued movement in that direction. I want to go for a moment to the issue relative to street-level prostitution and some of the issues that have been affected by many of our neighborhoods in Philadelphia. It is an ongoing chronic problem that pops up and goes away as time goes on, and it seems to move around. 243 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 And there has been a number of different opportunities and suggestions for how to kind of combat it. I know the police regularly do undercover sting operations where, undercover female police officers pose as prostitutes and engage in conversation and make arrests. One of the things I would like you to look at for me is the impoundment, not the -- I would like to look at the confiscation of the vehicle of the arrested person. Not the impoundment of a car, like in a narcotics case. I don't want to own the car. But I want to see if we can work out a system with our livestock program where, when an individual is rested for this particular activity, we take his car to the impoundment lot for safe keeping, store it there to make sure it is not vandalized, charge the person the appropriate towing fee, storage fee. And then make sure, when the person does get out of jail and picks up their car, that they are licensed and insured and they 244 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 don't have any traffic tickets. I think the more level of inconvenience that we place on people in these types of petty -- well, sometimes not petty crimes, if it is happening outside your house -- the lower-level crimes. And when I raised this before, people said, well, we are not empowered by the Commonwealth to take these cars from these people. And, again, I want to reiterate, I don't want to own the car and sell it at auction. I just want to take it, put it somewhere to make it safe and inconvenient the person, and perhaps they will think about not coming back again. So could you check and see whether it is feasible within livestock and whether we are legally able to do it?
Another question that I have about towing is relative to our abandoned automobile towing program. And, you know, it has been touted as 30, 40 thousand 245 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 cars. I was curious as to whether or not it is ongoing. How many cars we do a year since the initial effort, and what it costs the city to tow, the towing program.
Okay. I can answer it. It is an ongoing program, and we will get you the specific information as to how many and the cost.
Since we have gotten over the larger hump early on, and this is kind of a maintenance operation, has there been any look at trying to subcontract that out? Other cities, Chicago, for example, I know makes money from their abandoned car towing program. I think we have, you know, in an effort to get our arms around a big problem, bought tow trucks, hired a number of people. And I am wondering whether or not we are at a point now where a legitimate, licensed, bonded towing company or companies could not take that over for us. 246 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04
Just if I may, on the Global Philadelphia, I was not suggesting that we should not be recruiting. I was just saying, from the Managing Director's perspective, what we are trying to do is the approach with city services, which I think is indirectly a form of recruitment. But I couldn't agree more that we have to be more aggressive in recruiting people to Philadelphia.
I think maybe city government and city operations and city information being made available in a more bilingual, trilingual way is a form of recruitment. But I really do wish that you could encourage the administration. Because I know, having spoken with you, how you are interested, sincerely interested, in doing this. We need to really have a more formal 247 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 embrace by the government of immigrants and immigration. Right now some of what we are doing is legally required, some of it is something we are doing as an incentive. But I would really like -- Mayor Menino in Boston has really embraced that program, the Office of New Bostonians, and really sends out a message that we are a desirable place and we want you here. We understand and acknowledge your entrepreneurship, we acknowledge your solid family life, we acknowledge your contribution, and we want to attract you here, not just take care of the people that we got by luck. And, as you know, we have talked, down in South Philadelphia and West Philadelphia and other places it is just a growing community. Everybody is contributing. No one is taking from the system. They are all giving back to it. And the more, the merrier, if we could get to that.
Thank you. 248 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Madam President. And good afternoon again. Earlier today in your testimony, when you spoke about the CLIP program -- this is directed to Mr. Goldsmith -- you spoke of the increase in fines from to 75 dollars. 11 For what violations are we 12 increasing? 13
Well, we are not. I 14 mean, that's up to City Council, my 15 understanding. But this would be for quality 16 of life, CVN-type notices. 17 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: So it would be 18 for the trash on the sidewalk, could be? 19
Uh-huh. 20 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: How did we get 21 to the $75 recommendation? You can go as high 22 as 300, I think, under the city statute. 23
I'm not sure. Maybe 24 it has already been proposed, or something 25 like that, and that's the number that I used. 249 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 I think if you go too high, then you sort of slack off on the enforcement a little bit because you think it is too high. I mean, we have to find the right amount. That's for this body to find out, make the determination. I just think $25 just doesn't do it. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I agree.
It is, like, if you go too high, it is sort of like having the death penalty, and you get to where you have jurors that don't want to do it. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I think all of us would agree that in today's world is not 16 enough. 17 Maybe what we need to do, and 18 Council has to look at, are specific fines, 19 increasing some in excess of $75, depending on 20 the violation. And I will work with your 21 office on those issues. 22 The other issue is, I may or may not 23 have spoken to you about this a month or so 24 ago, when we got into the issue on the fleet. 25 I asked the question about would we 250 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 be looking into the possibility, or look at the numbers, if I will, with the cars for elected officials as an example. Where the city buys the car, maintains the car, insures the car, et cetera, did anyone ever look at the cost analysis versus a stipend, if you will, similar to what state legislators and Senators get? You get X amount of dollars a month, you go buy the car amount you want. If it is over that cost, the insurance is up to you. Because, you know, we get in an accident -- fortunately I have never been in an accident -- but if we get in an accident, the city has to bear the responsibility of the cost of not only the repairs to the car, if there is any litigation in terms of personal injury, which can be pretty expensive, I'm sure. So I just was curious, has anything been done in that regard?
That is one of the options that we have on the Fleet Management side as an alternative. One is the Carshare, 251 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 Philly Carshare. The other one is, I think we got 300 employees now that use their personal cars and they get -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Compensation for mileage?
-- compensation. But the third one is also to do precisely what you are suggesting. We just haven't hung that down yet, but it is something that -- and maybe we start with City Council. And I think that's a good -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: It may not make sense. It may cost us more the other way. I just don't know; I am curious.
I would prefer to, as much as possible, to get out of the car business and really allow the limited resources we have -- and I talked about this with mechanics -- to really focus on our police cars and our fire engines and our medic units and the things, our trash compactors, as opposed to having to take care of sedans and so forth. I just think it is a better utilization of our manpower. 252 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 So I would totally favor that approach. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Do you have any idea when you may have some final analysis and recommendation in that area?
No; but we will set a date. We will try to do it before the end of the budget process. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: That would be very helpful. Thank you. I have received some phone calls -- and I certainly don't mean to blind-side you -- in the last week concerning fire station closures. You know, when the Recreation Department list came out, there was not an official list, unofficial list, was not accurate. Could you shed some light on that today, or is this something more for the Fire Commissioner?
Fire Commissioner Hairston will be talking about that. I think 253 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 it is fair to say we are not closing firehouses, but he will get into that. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. I have no further questions. Thank you.
Mr. Goldsmith, we have some additional operating departments coming in tomorrow. At the rate we are going, you might be here when they get here tomorrow morning. But can you give us at this point, is there a definitive list with regard to the rec centers and pools that have been proposed for either closure? Or I have heard about sales or turning over to groups and organizations. Is there a definitive list at this point as we go into tomorrow's hearings?
I do not believe that there is a definitive list as of yet. And, as you know, we have looked at 254 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 all the rec centers and the pools, come up with our analysis. But we have been going around to the City Council people and sharing ideas with them, and we have been readjusting our views and our ideas based on those conversations. So I would say there is not a definitive list as of yet.
Okay. All right. I will take that up further with the departments tomorrow. This is really more an operational issue. But there was a parking issue raised earlier, and I made a note to myself. In many of the designated areas -- although I noticed a citizen this morning who could not figure out that the sign, apparently, right above his head that said, "No Parking, City Council Only," somehow I guess he didn't think that applied to him. He is probably trying to recover his vehicle from the Parking Authority about now. But one of the areas for designated parking is adjacent to our beloved Love Park. 255 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 Which, as I go by there from time to time, seems to be a bit of a subtly Helter-Skelter situation in terms of where you park. The other areas, at least, along the Masonic Temple, and I think even MSB -- I think I got the quick bell on that one -- have lines for parking, so it is clear how many spaces there are, people have enough room. Do you have any idea why you don't have the same situation over at Love?
Good afternoon. Francis Dougherty, Special Assistant to the Managing Director. Councilman, among my many duties is handling the authorized parking list.
Yes. Every day it presents a challenge to us. We try to work in cooperation with the designated police units, traffic units that have enforcement duties. But every day we have a different 256 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL NO. 020455 - 4/19/04 situation, and we have a shortage of those who are authorized to park there and can't find a spot. I wish I had more authorized zones around the city, but obviously it is not fair to the public taking many more streets or parking meters away.
No. I understand that. I am not necessarily advocating for that. What I am saying is, this is kind of more of a space-management issue. Because at least, again, across the street and down the street, you know how many spots there are. People know where to park, they try to generally stay between the white lines. And, I mean, it is 10, it is 12, it is 13, whatever the number may be.