things did occur on any residents or any other buildings so with that said if we could swear in
Ashton.
Why don't you state your name and spell it for the stenographer, sir.
Ashton Quinton, spelling Ashton, A-S-H-T-O-N, last name Quinton, Q-U-I-N-T-I-N.
Do you swear referring to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel.
Thank you.
Ashton, what's your position with Advance?
Senior construction manager.
And you've heard my testimony so far.
Would you agree it's true and accurate?
And you would adopt what I've stated as if it were your own?
uh and you're familiar with this location obviously yes and what you're proposing to
And you're familiar with this location, obviously?
and what you're proposing to do here is to solve
do here is to sell parts correct correct and some courtesy installations of what
uh a windshield wipers and batteries um days and hours of operation uh so mondays through saturdays
7 a.m. through to 9 p.m. Sundays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. And you have studies and have information
about what the customer traffic rate would be for Rite Aid compared to Advance here and the number
of vehicles per hour? Yes. How does that compare? It's less traffic. Okay. So therefore, you would
conclude that there's less of a traffic impact, right? Yes. Okay. So, let's go through these
proviso conditions. So, is the company willing to have an outreach program with the 12th District?
Yes. And you use your reasonable efforts to deter these activities? Yes, absolutely. And what would
that include? That would include the store team members notifying the police district of any
infractions when it comes to the illegal repair work on the site and you maintain a log of those
calls made to the department yes yes and I'm just going down my list on the proviso conditions
and the next thing we have regards signage you would agree to that correct yes inside and outside
inside and outside and you're going to keep the property posted for towing correct and and when
would you call to have someone towed do you think they got their car there when we see the the
activity the illegal activity in in process okay somebody pop a hood outside of a team member
from our store then we'll address and i'm going to switch to a photograph but tell us about the
security cameras and what what the plan is for that so the plan is to install um possibly a
handful maybe two to three security cameras on specific vantage points on the building
facing the parking lot and relaying and connecting to our asset protection team
and upon request from the police district if they would like you know any footage for any
incidents that may happen on the site we will you know just coordinate with releasing that footage
to them and so this photograph shows the rear of the building here right here right over here is
the Pembroke Park and the playground this is the side of the building is this where a loading
whitaker correct and uh community had asked if we would install cameras here correct and uh you
agreed that you would allow the police if they requested videos uh that you would provide that
to them yes of any activity okay um and let me go back to this
there was a proviso regarding loading locations and time is that fair to say what was that proviso
That would be deliveries once a week for our trucks within the hours between 10 and midnight, which is after our store closing.
Okay, and how would you manage trash?
Trash, we will have trash within our space for standard employee trash, and then we will have some waste bins on the exterior that we will bring inside of the building at the end of every closing.
and the next proviso regarding truck routing and i think the comment at the meeting was made that
the uh not to have or discourage the tractor trailers and you could tell us what size they are
um driving through the neighborhood and the suggested route would be probably from i-95
but they would exit and then they would go straight down island road into the
the location is that correct that is correct what size trucks would they be using uh they range but
But our largest truck is a WP67, which is the standard tractor trailer with the 53 foot.
And I think it's obvious looking at this location compared to the other locations that there's adequate parking here.
And is the position that the company would accept these conditions, proviso conditions, if the community group agreed?
Yes, we have internal conversation.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
okay thank you let me ask a question you you were here before right with snyder avenue
right have you opened snyder avenue yet not yet okay all right questions from the board
i have a few questions and comments my first question is i know there are some courtesy
installations that your team will do and where do those happen because if i remember correctly on
the other location you had a bay where like the cars could pull up at the front of the store
that was part of the building, right?
right or Snyder was a drive while in front of us yeah so they wouldn't pull
Or Snyder.
I thought it was for Snyder.
Or the drive-out.
up in the main drive off because that would affect the other businesses we
would park in the closest parking space and our team member will have a cart or
dolly yeah so let's see maybe this this is actually here not occupied so this
might be a space here if they able to use that because I know that was
probably what a bank or something before in it yeah it was for a long time do we
any restrictions on the parking spaces you're allowed to use no restrictions the landlord is
fairly open to us using whatever we need when it comes to that and it's not designated so it's not
like a target where there's a sign that prohibits people from parking in it no it wouldn't prohibit
any other customers if we open another business next door okay i mean i think like one thing is
having even if it's your store people if there's a place where it's not like branded like this is
the car installation site it's gonna it's then it's gonna lead other people to mimic the behavior
so i mean i do think not having like a dedicated this is a loading zone specifically for people
getting this service done that's like very obviously branded that makes it clear that
it's like we're the one like that's a question is something that i think is is would be helpful
even if it was somewhere along the back like you know where you have the loading area it looks like
there's a lot of space in the back where it could potentially also even be accommodated um there
i think the second question i have is like obviously this is a this is not like a philadelphia
specific problem and i think you talked a lot at the last hearing for the other location about how
you've addressed it um but like in the letter we got from the rco there they are also you know
targeting your store on island avenue in addition to the former auto zone knowing auto zone is your
competitor when you have employed some of the techniques you suggested to us as remedies
have you seen a reduction in the kind of illegal activities that we've talked about or the
unlicensed activities we've talked about outside of other stores and other locations not yet
because we didn't open the the no i mean like outside of philly like have you seen it in jersey
Jersey and New York, like, have, are they working?
What's, if you want to take Island Road, for example, there's nothing going on in the street
because it's Island Avenue, correct? So what's, anything going on on the property there? Is
there repairs going on there? Or a reduction of repairs that you know of?
Not that I know of. Not at the moment, no.
Because I think I'm just, you know, the RCO's brought up a lot of valid points.
Yeah. And I mean, I live near, unfortunately, I live near AutoZone. It's, it's the reason I don't walk through the gross, the like area in my neighborhood for the same reason. And so I think you put forward a lot of things that seem like they might be solutions. But I'm just wondering, like, have we seen them have any kind of efficacy anywhere else to kind of indicate? Yes.
so i would give you an example for a location that we have in the bronx bronx new york and
it's our main practice is just to call the nypd and the nypd would tend to come out
sometimes they'll do uh routine patrolling of the area just to kind of discourage those those same
type of mechanics in the lot and that has caused a cause of reduction and we also implemented
signage um in and around of the in in the property for from what i remember what they were doing and
then are there any cameras in the front because I also feel like if there's cameras in the front
that give someone the idea that they're being surveilled it might cut down on activities because
even if you're not necessarily watching the camera they know they've been caught on camera and that
you could come back so well yeah for that location that location always had cameras in the front of
the building because it was just it had a history of certain uh crimes that were committed so our
asset protection just were diligent and just putting that upon store opening is that because
it was not mentioned for here. I think you mentioned potentially having cameras on the rear
in the agreement with the RCO, but not in the front. Is that possible?
No, it would. I was just using that as an example. Yeah, we're not. Yeah, we want a camera.
Third question is, have we already met with the 12th police district at all? Because I think it's
one thing to say, our solution is we're going to call them. It's another thing for them to say,
we understand that and we're planning to be responsive, just knowing that the Philadelphia
police department currently is heavily underfunded um just making sure that that's something or even
meeting with their community constituent um well we we didn't get that far i said i did speak to
um one of the officers and he and he said listen to you know if you want to talk more here's my
number and uh you know just give us a call we're happy to you know coordinate some effort so i
So, I mean, I know your instruction, but I would recommend that the operations lead for the company.
I mean, I know your instruction, but I would recommend that the operations lead.
I mean, this actually has been a good exercise, I think, through all the issues.
I think this will serve as a template for the others to come.
I think just to add to your template, I would add in the 311, right?
Like we have L&I, we have a process where you can also start submitting these businesses.
I think oftentimes we train community members on how to do it.
But I think if it became commonplace for the whoever's working the store to also file those same three one one calls, then like you can have a much more believable system.
And then my last question is, would you be opposed to a temporary variance so that we could give this time to see if I'd have to respectfully say we would be because we're on long term leases.
how long is the lease uh the first term is 10. okay all right with with renewal options yeah with
five-year renewals um who's responsible for keeping the parking lot clean that'll be on
the landlord our team members just um are diligent to pick up the trash that's left behind from
anybody and that's why we're putting the trash cans that's why we have the trash cans on site
So if there's trash left in the parking lot, and we know it's trash coming from AutoZone because it's products that you sell in your store, you will wait until the owner comes and clean it, or would your staff go out and clean it?
Our staff will go out and pick it up if they happen to see it, if it's something recent, or if they're walking by.
If something is brought to their attention, they will come out.
So that would be part of our image, and our operation stresses the…
And let me clarify, because what I heard at the meeting, so we would put trash cans out and take them in at night.
right and as part of that you would you would do the cleanup of the parking lot as close at closing
yes okay yeah and that's what you're building okay so you're so when you say by the building
because most of the times when you have the mechanics they're not going to be up on your
building they'll be maybe a couple parking spaces away from your building and they will leave debris
and that's something that the rco pointed out so are you committing your staff to go beyond
maybe those one or two spaces that are close to the building but to the parking lot itself where
you know especially if you know it's just bought the product from your store yes yes yeah our team
will not let it sit um obviously if the if the landlord does catch it before our team members
catch it but at the end of the day if they're walking to their car or during the day or if
they're coming from lunch and they happen to see waste or oil bottle or something they'll pick it
up and take it into proper trash and the other question is so and the hope is that this doesn't
happen but we know what happens um what kind of assistance are would you give to help clean it
like if there's oil spills like are you guys contributing to maybe buying some sand to clean
it up like what what contribution are you prepared to make uh you know when you experience these
things yeah so we do have product within our stores for oil spills so they would um put down
the um the chemical to help clean up the oil if it's something that's spilled in the parking lot
but the number one thing is for us to discourage that type of work that's supposed to be done
so if somebody is trying to change their oil we'll report to the authorities to let them know to
address that but if they happen to get it done faster than the authorities are able to come
well well our goal is to kind of just maintain the image of the plaza in our business because
it is discouraging to see a mess in front of our own personal business so we will try to be diligent
on taking care of that type of stuff and cleaning it up as best as possible
other questions just one one basic one basic thing to add there are signs that say do not
repair your car you know what i mean do not perform any uh repair work on this uh parking lot
you know we we welcome all all language we're not yeah yeah we're not opposed to anything
whatever works that type of signage with inside the store upon a customer's checkout as well as
on the building along the walls and if there's any poles that we could put on especially nearby
further parking spaces i mean the challenge that you will have at this particular location is that
there's so much other vacancy that you know folks can buy stuff at your place and you know
drive to the front of the two doors two stores down and they're still working in cars on the
on the parking lot itself so having that relationship with the landlord and making
sure that they're following the same sort of protocol that that you've committed to is important
okay questions from our attorney
not meeting to uh beat a dead horse but and look
Not meeting to beat a dead horse, but in looking at the letter from the RCO, I just saw this.
It indicates that your unit is suite B.
Do you know anything where they would get suite B from?
I have no idea.
Okay, I didn't know.
They were like suite A, suite B, suite C, suite D, C.
Okay, you didn't provide that to them.
No, I did not.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Craig has got to be there.
Craig Melodosian
there you go
there you go
there we go
hi Craig
he disappeared
but his hand is back
he'll be back
Is he coming back?
Yes, he's there now.
Thank you.
I had to promote him again.