And I'd like to also share with the Councilman the overview presentation that we did at our Planning Commission meeting, which really sets a departmental policy favoring TOD. But zoning is not 100 percent of TOD. It can also be seen as a design concept or a design direction. In my testimony, I said that our agency -- at our Commission meetings, we're frequently commenting on major developments, either for zoning change or for a zoning variance or for -- there's another reason that escapes my mind. So we're making decisions regularly on major developments, and we need to review them through the lens of TOD principles. Any time that major developments are close to transit stations, we need to look at them in terms of walkability, in terms of 113 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc. connection to the transit station, in terms of mixed use, in terms of density, the same principles that I talked about.
And then we hear the principle of affordable housing. So is that a part of the equation or part of the discussion customarily, like is that a standard operating procedure for major planning initiatives that the department looks at?
Well, yes. We're very much involved in the production and planning of affordable housing in all of the neighborhoods. In my testimony, I didn't refer to affordable housing in relation to TOD, but you're making a really good point, and it can definitely be part of the mix.
And so, again, I'm just trying to make sure it happens, because we can talk about it here, but if the dots don't connect after today is over, this time has not been well spent. 114 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc. So who has the responsibility to make sure that that happens? Is it Mr. White's organization? Is it a standard operating procedure within Planning? How can this sponsor of this bill be assured that that aspect of this discussion is a part of the pie?
Within City government, leadership is happening from City Council, from Commerce Department and from Planning Commission. And at the Planning Commission, it would be Alan Greenberger, our Executive Director, who reviewed my testimony and supports the testimony. He has a schedule conflict, so he couldn't give the testimony himself.
Sure. Okay. That gets close to where I want us to be.
I guess the bottom line is, we need to sit down as soon as possible and talk about all these things so they're still sort of 115 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc. warm in everybody's mind, I guess. And Mr. Greenberger did -- Mr. Redding, you're right -- call me and say while he couldn't come himself, he echoed the statements that the Planning Commission certainly supports the concept of the bill, had some questions, which I understand. As I said from the very beginning, this bill I never said was sacrosanct -- no bill is -- but we certainly want to move, and I think the hearing has shown today how many people care about this and the good ideas that have been offered to it. So thank you. Yes, ma'am. Quickly, because we have a few more witnesses.
I just had two comments about practices that have been implemented at other places around affordable housing and TOD. One is a value capture, because we noted that there's a strong market around TOD. You can use inclusionary housing-type 116 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc. policies or other things like that in order to force the mix. The other thing I wanted to mention is that in a lot of neighborhoods in Philly, there are already a lot of affordable housing units around transit and it's going to be important to protect the affordability that's already there.
Good point. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you all for testifying. I have one more panel, and I hope I get these names right. I apologize if I mess this up. Lee Huang from Econsult, Rose Gray -- I don't see Rose -- from APM and Omowale Crenshaw from the Enterprise Center. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Mr. Huang, I have you first, so if you'd like to start, or whoever. And, again, I just repeat what the Chairman had earlier said. If you have written testimony, we 117 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc. can make it part of the record and if you could just paraphrase in the interest of time, we'd appreciate it. Thank you.
Lee Huang, H-U-A-N-G, Director of Econsult Corporation. One of the nice things about going towards the end is, everything good has been said already, so I don't need to say as much. I do have written testimony. Please have it passed through. I did want to make three points. First, I wanted to connect this issue to the broader issue that everyone has been talking about nationally, this notion of stimulus and infrastructure.
That's fine. I thought you meant we have copies. Sorry. Thank you.
So everyone has 118 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc. been talking about infrastructure. Who knew of such a sexy topic. Secondly related to transit, what we've noticed is some of these cities that have been talked about earlier have been spending billions of taxpayer dollars on measures to institute new infrastructure. Well, guess what? Here in Philadelphia we have great transit infrastructure. I would put the value of the SEPTA system somewhere north of $20 billion, which is not to say that we don't need some of that federal money coming our way, but to say that we have a lot of asset to build off of, and I think that's the whole notion of TOD. Secondly, it's been mentioned this notion of gas prices. Don't be fooled, gas prices are going back up. There is a very high probability that they will return to the $4 a gallon level by summer of 2010. There's a small possibility that they will shoot even further upwards if we have, say, some 119 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc. sort of geopolitical situation, some sort of environmental catastrophe, another natural disaster. And those sorts of things argue for high-density locations, if we're organized to take advantage of development looking for high-density locations. And then, finally, I would just note that while much of the TOD conversation nationally has focused on newer cities, downtowns, suburban areas, one of the things our firm has been very vocal about related to our work with NeighborhoodsNow is this notion of TOD as a neighborhood strategy, very much helping neighborhoods and working families from an affordability standpoint, from an access to other locations standpoint and from an aesthetics standpoint, which not only is a nice thing to live near but can reduce crime and increase perception of safety. So I'm very much a fan of TOD, and thank you very much for your time. 120 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc.
Good morning. My name is Jennifer Rodriguez. I'm Director of Community and Economic Development for Asociacion Puertorriquenos en Marcha. I present today on behalf of Nilda Ruiz, who is our CEO and President, and Rose Gray, who was unable to attend. I will summarize basically our testimony. APM, through its 39-year history, has sought to help families achieve their highest potential in life by providing social services, human services, as well as community and economic development. Over the last 15 to 20 years, we have leveraged over $70 million of physical improvements in the revitalization of our target area, which is located just east of Temple University's main campus in eastern North 121 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc. Philadelphia. A lot of that community is located really close to Temple, to transit; namely, the Temple regional rail station. APM does a lot of community-based planning, and it has been an early supporter of TOD practices. We in 2002 published a neighborhood revitalization plan that called for the creation of a TOD close to our community. Our community is primarily underserved, underemployed and undereducated, and we believe that TOD principles go a long way to helping these families not only have a more livable, walkable and healthier neighborhood, but it really does allow them to benefit financially from the non-reliance on cars. If you would imagine people that -- whose cars fails them, they cannot attend school or they cannot go to their jobs, and that's in many cases for populations like the ones we serve, it's really critical. They can lose a job 122 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc. because they do not -- they're not able to go. So having access and having those linkages between residential development, affordable housing, our underserved and disadvantaged communities to transit, ways in which you can lower the cost of living, those are things that we support, and policies like this one are in alignment with our Healthy Neighborhoods strategy and we support it. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Crenshaw, I assume?
Again, not to repeat that which has already been said, I just want to highlight a few things. For those who don't know, the Enterprise Center is a business accelerator in West Philadelphia at 45th 123 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc. and Market Street. We've been out there and doing this business for almost 4 years now. We predominantly focus on 5 small business development, and we've now 6 migrated towards commercial corridor 7 development where we can now integrate a 8 lot of the technical assistance that we 9 provide for businesses with the growth 10 and development in the neighborhoods. So 11 we're really focused on commercial 12 corridor revitalization. And 13 specifically -- it's already been 14 mentioned by several people now -- our 15 project at 46th and Market Street, which 16 is called the Plaza at Enterprise 17 Heights. And to just kind of paraphrase, 18 the Plaza at Enterprise Heights I 19 personally am working on for four years 20 and the organization has been working on it for almost seven. At our location, which is the southwest corner of Farragut and Market Street between 46th and 47th Street, we've got four, maybe five different zoning classification. G-2, 124 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc. R-10, R-9, C-2 are the predominant ones, all within 30 or 40 feet of one another. As you know, West Philadelphia in that area was an old agricultural suburb. So what we really want to do is focus on revitalization. And to Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown's point, we have several green components to our project. We have a comprehensive green roof. We're pursuing a LEED Gold certification. We have geothermal heating systems. We are pursuing now solar thermal systems as well to incorporate as many renewable energies as we can, because as an organization like ours and the APM as well, the more efficient our buildings are, the lower the operating costs and the increased longevity that those buildings have. So that's first and foremost. Secondly, we really want to use this opportunity on TOD to support the small business and the small enterprise 125 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc. redevelopment, to provide entrepreneur opportunities, but also job creation opportunities for local and regional residents. So that's predominantly what we want to focus on. So we enthusiastically support the proposed ordinance changes and the modifications to the commercial district section that Councilman Greenlee is proposing, and we'll do absolutely anything that we can from an organizational standpoint to assist in the growth and development of this conversation and working in conjunction with NeighborhoodsNow, DVRPC and others to really move this conversation forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Crenshaw. Thank you all for your comments. Any questions, comments? (No response.)
Again, 126 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc. thank you, and thank you for your patience and hanging in there. I know it's been a while. That's all I have listed to testify. Is there anybody else that wishes to testify on this bill today? (No response.)
Seeing none, before I recess, I just want to thank members of the Committee, Councilwoman Brown, for hanging in there, and also thank you to everybody who testified. Again, this is something that we're not going to forget about, we're going to keep working on, and hopefully before we take our summer break, we'll have it passed. I see Ms. Coleman shaking her head enthusiastically over there. So, again, thank you all very much, and Bill No. 080949 -- I'm sorry; Bill No. 080130 is recessed to the call of the Chair. Thank you. 127 2/24/09 - RULES - BILL 080949, etc. (Committee on Rules recessed at 12:00 p.m.) - - - 128 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on February 24, 2009, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)