Thank you. And I just want to thank the chairman for holding these hearings. I found them very informative. I commend you for it, and know you're going to keep it up. Thank you.
Thank you. I was listening to most of the testimony in my office while I was having other meetings. And advertising has always been an issue that I've been very interested in in the way of generating 155 12/10/08 FISCAL STABILITY, RES. 080603, 890 revenues. And no disrespect to you, Councilman Green, but back in, I think it was, '97 or '98 -- no, actually, it was a little bit later than that, closer to 2000. I had introduced a bill that would have provided for some of the concerns that Councilman Clarke spoke of a few minutes ago, about the ability to -- I hesitate to use the word "limit" but to create boundaries in which -- where people from one neighborhood or from across the City or even from across the region would not have legal standing in issues as it related to zoning matters, in particular when it comes -- when it would come to outdoor advertising. It's all-inclusive of other matters. The bill number was 629. I pretty much had my head handed to me on a platter. Every newspaper in the City wanted to remove me from office. It was unbelievable. 156 12/10/08 FISCAL STABILITY, RES. 080603, 890 But, needless to say, I would certainly be more than glad to reintroduce that bill or some form of that bill, but there is that challenge that currently any taxpayer has the right to appeal a decision by the Zoning Board of Adjustments, whether or not you're a resident of the City of Philadelphia or not. And that goes to the whole heart of this issue. And there are advocates out there, as we all know, and I respect their position, although I disagree with it, that feel there is already too much advertising in the City. So I'm just kind of giving you a three-minute synopsis of where this argument was. And I know Rhina and I talked about this the other day, and I started out by suggesting that we do wall wraps on scaffolding, which is temporary. And I got the idea from Europe, where they were putting these wraps on scaffolding, which I thought was much more esthetically 157 12/10/08 FISCAL STABILITY, RES. 080603, 890 pleasing than the scaffolding. And it just -- we were shot down -- I was shot down every which way. And at the time, I even used City Hall as the example. A ten-year project of scaffolding surrounding this building would have generated conservatively two-and-a-half, $3 million in direct revenues to the City that would help offset. So I'm not dismissing this conversation. I'm just saying I've been down that road and I'd be more than happy to work with you, all of you, to find some reasonable accommodation where we can benefit by doing some advertising either on public buildings or even not public buildings. There's a whole way of -- a whole host of things. And, again, I did a lot of work on this stuff. And, unfortunately, I never could get the bill passed.
Well, Councilman, I'm always looking for common 158 12/10/08 FISCAL STABILITY, RES. 080603, 890 ground with my colleagues, and I look forward to following the lead on this issue.
Well, have your staff go pull up Bill 629. And if you want to get some of the testimony that we've been through, but it was a rough one. And it was at the beginning of the Street Administration; I think it was, like, '99 or 2000, if I'm not mistaken.
Timing is everything. So maybe there's a different -- because of the timing and the circumstances that we're confronted with, there may be -- some people might -- may have second opinions or second thoughts about how we can go about raising revenues. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. Actually, I think that was my 159 12/10/08 FISCAL STABILITY, RES. 080603, 890 first year here, and I must say it was --
Yeah, at some point, I was wondering why I decided to run for political office, and I said, "Is this the way it's going to be?" And it was pretty brutal. Thank you. Thank you both for your testimony.
All right. Are there any other questions from members of the committee? (No further questions.)
There being none, Mr. Madden, I just want to thank you so much. You had some more?
No. I'm free to stay afterwards if that's what you need. That's no problem whatsoever.
No, no, we're actually going to ask to be able to have further conversation 'cause, as I 160 12/10/08 FISCAL STABILITY, RES. 080603, 890 say, we're going to -- there's going to be some follow-up with this -- the information that was discussed today in a more formal way, and I think there's actually going to be some sort of a document produced, so we may need to lean on you for --
And it has my contact information and everything I discussed.
And so you guys can have it and distribute it to Council. Thank you.
Thank you very much. You're a credit to your team. You guys are definitely (indiscernible). And also, Miss Cutler is fantastic. It 161 12/10/08 FISCAL STABILITY, RES. 080603, 890 really shows a level of effort, and it's refreshing, so to speak.
Thank you, Miss Cutler. This concludes the hearing on the Committee on Fiscal Stability and Intergovernmental Cooperation. We now stand in recess to the call of the chair. Thank you. (Proceedings end at 3:35 p.m.) * * * 162 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings of the City of Philadelphia Council Committee on Fiscal Stability and Intergovernmental Cooperation are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me on Wednesday, December 10, 2008, and that this is a true and correct statement of same. __________________________________ JOSEPHINE CARDILLO Registered Professional Reporter (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.)