Committee Hearing, February 11, 1998

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, February 11, 1998 9:44 a.m. - - - BILL NO. 980001 - An Ordinance to adopt a capital program for the six fiscal years, 1999 through 2004, inclusive; BILL NO. 980002 - An ordinance to adopt a Fiscal Year 1999 capital budget - - - PRESENT: PRESIDENT JOHN F. STREET, Chairman COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO COUNCILMAN FRANK DICICCO COUNCILMAN RICHARD T. MARIANO COUNCILWOMAN JOAN L. KRAJEWSKI COUNCILWOMAN AUGUSTA A. CLARK - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 2 I N D E X Barbara Kaplan. . . . . . . . . . . . Executive Director 6 City Planning Commission 7 Emily Bittenbender. . . . . . . . . . 28 Director of the Capital Office Terry Gillem. . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Friends of the Free Library Board Janet Elfring . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Executive Director Friends of the Free Library Betty Davis . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Friends of Chestnut Hill Branch Ben Lovett. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Bushrod Library Anso Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Bushrod Library Alex Petkov . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Bushrod Library Peggy Fairchild . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Northeast Older Adults Center, Sam Luciano . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Northeast Older Adults Center Ida Shugerman . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Northeast Older Adults Center Rosemary Matthews . . . . . . . . . . 189 Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 3 P R O C E E D I N G S

Good afternoon. (No response.)

Oh boy, we've got a slow group today. Good afternoon. (Audience responds "Good morning.")

Oh, good morning. First of all, I'd like to offer my apologies to those members of the Administration and the general public who came here this morning, expecting that we would start promptly at 9 o'clock. You knew we weren't going to start promptly at 9 o'clock. I'm sure people brought their coffee, bagels, and low-fat doughnuts, and all of the rest. But it does appears that we have a quorum now and are ready to begin. This is a meeting of the Council Committee of the Whole. We will hold a public hearing today; we will not have a public meeting. And there are often members of the general public who are here and who do not understand our process. So for those of you who might fall into COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 4 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 that category, what we will do today is take all of our budget bills that are advertised, but we will only take testimony today on the capital budget and the capital program. We will take testimony on Bill No. 7 980001, an ordinance to adopt a capital program for the six fiscal years, 1999 through 2004, inclusive; and Bill No. 980002, an ordinance to adopt a Fiscal Year 1999 capital budget. We will not take any testimony on the operating budget or on any of the other bills. We will do the capital program today. This afternoon, I believe, at 2 o'clock, we will have testimony from the members of the general public. At this time, I would like to inquire as to whether or not Councilmembers have copies of the statements of the Finance Director, the Chairman, the Executive Director of the City Planning Commission and the Capital Program Office. If every Member -- is there any Member does not have that testimony? I would like to make sure all of you have it. (Those without copies indicate same.) COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 5 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

Okay, can we get some additional copies of the testimony? And while we're at it, I'd like for us to get maybe an extra or maybe even 50 copies 6 of this testimony so that it can be made available 7 to any member of the general public who is here 8 who would like to read over the testimony. And we 9 certainly can have it available for the public 10 hearing that will take place this afternoon at 2 11 o'clock. 12 It is my understanding that there have 13 been several members of the general public who are 14 signed up to testify at our public hearing 15 scheduled for 2 o'clock. We will go this morning 16 as long as we need to, to finish up the testimony 17 from the representatives of the Administration 18 that are here. 19 Councilmembers, of course, will be free 20 to ask any question. It is my understanding that 21 representatives of all of the departments are here 22 so that if a Councilmember has a question and 23 wishes to direct it to the department head, then 24 the department heads are here. 25 I also understand that questions that COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 6 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 are asked of representatives of the Administration might be referred to a representative of a department that is here if the witness thinks it's appropriate to do so. So what we will do is, we will have a summary of the testimony, Councilmembers will ask questions as long as they wish, and then if we have time, we will recess and come back at 2 o'clock. It is my understanding that representatives of the Administration will be with us at 2 o'clock. So if any question comes up and we actually need somebody from the Administration to answer a question that might get raised from a member of the general public, someone will be here to answer those questions. Is there any Member of Council who has any question about what we propose to do at this time? (No questions from Council at this time.)

Seeing no one, then I suspect we can get started. Miss Kaplan, who will be first? In COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 7 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 what order do you propose that this testimony be given?

I will be first, and then Emily Bittenbender will be following me. And then we will have questions and answers. Or we can have questions and answers, as we usually do, that interrupt our testimony.

Well, what I would like to do, if we can, is to get through the testimony of all the witnesses since it's very brief, and then we just have a kind of a free-for- all of questions from any Councilmember on any subject that is in front of us. So at this time, the Chair recognizes Miss Barbara Kaplan.

Good morning, Council President Street, Members of Council. I'm Barbara Kaplan. I'm the Executive Director of the City Planning Commission. I also have with me this morning Dean Kaplan, who is the Budget Director of the City Planning Commission. I also have with me Emily Bittenbinder, who is the Director of the Capital Program Office; and Ernie Leonardo, of the COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 8 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 Planning Commission Staff, who is the Chief of the Comprehensive Planning Division that has the major responsibility for preparing the capital program. I'm pleased to present to Council the 1999-2004 capital program and the 1999 capital budget, as recommended by the City Planning Commission, and to show some of the progress we have made and that we will continue to make toward to the renewal of our physical plant and infrastructure. This $3.2 billion capital program, prepared by the Planning Commission, builds on the initiative begun at the beginning of this Administration of substantially increasing the rate of reinvestment in the City's capital stock of buildings, streets, recreation centers, libraries, and the myriad of other facilities which serve our citizens. Our restored financial health allows us to present a fiscal 1999 capital budget requiring $127.5 million of new tax-supported loan funding. This investment is supplemented by self-sustaining federal, state, and other non-tax-supported funds, resulting in a total proposed budget year spending COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 9 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 of $731 million for 114 projects. Neighborhood improvement projects, which are allocated percent of the budget year 5 funding, focus on the basic renewal of community 6 assets such as streets, water, recreation, fire, 7 police, library, and health facilities. 8 Featured in the increased program for 9 site improvements in support of housing 10 initiatives this year is $1 million for the first 11 year of funding for streets and utilities for 12 Schuykill Falls. 13 The recommended capital budget also 14 includes funding of $1,570,000, which is more than 15 double the amount of money that we were able to 16 program last year for sidewalks, lighting, and 17 parking in neighborhood commercial centers. 18 We have some slides. If we can just 19 put out the lights. 20 (Lights are turned off.) 21

Okay. One of the things 22 that has been a special initiative of the last couple of years has been the Library's Changing Lives Campaign, which has been a private -- very successful, private fund-raising campaign that has COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 been also coupled with an increase in the City's commitment to the renewal of library facilities. And the goal here is to renew all of the branch libraries within the next couple of years. This is a very dramatic example. These are the front steps of the Lehigh Branch Library, at Sixth and Lehigh. Not a pretty sight. This is the interior where they had plaster problems. And the whole place was really suffering considerable damage. And this is what it looks like now. It is a truly wonderful example. And if we want to set an example for our children, to encourage them to read and have positive associations about reading and the places where books are kept, I can't think of a better example. It gets even better on the inside. This is inside the front door. This is the ceiling restored, that same ceiling that had plaster crumbling. And this is a sense of what it looks like in the reading room, that same reading room 24 we saw a view of with the ceiling. We have wonderful ways to display new books, to make them COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 11 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 attractive. This is a children's computer area where everything is at the right height and the right size. And this is just one example. We have the Tacony branch in the 6700 block of Torresdale Avenue. This also had a major restoration of, $1 million. The McPherson Square Branch, 601 East Indiana, another beautiful structure, half a million dollars. This is a new library. This is the Ogontz Library, in the 6000 block of Ogontz Avenue. This has been a long-awaited project. And this is what the inside looks like. It's extremely attractive. It kind of simulates the impression and the effect of a bookstore, and it makes books much more easily accessible. Again, in the Ogontz Library, the computer stations, the book racks. And this is for the children, what they call "kids' computer cars," where the kids are invited to sit right down and step up to the computer. And the Recreation Department, this is COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 12 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 the new recreation facility, at 12th and Carpenter. This was built to replace the kind of very makeshift recreation facilities that were associated with the Ridgeway Library, both in the basement and in the rear yard. And this is the replacement for that facility. We've also, in the last couple of years, been embarking on a major effort to restore and renew a lot of our swimming pools. We have a lot of pools in the City. A lot of them were built 20, 30 years ago. They're definitely in need of major rebuilding. This is the pool at 33rd and Diamond. The whole pool was restored, and there was a new building built for changing rooms. As I indicated, we have an increased commitment to provide infrastructures; basically streets, sidewalks, curbs, lighting, sometimes sewer laterals to support the housing that's developed with different federal housing programs and with money from the Community Development Block Grant. This is in the Cecil B. Moore Home Ownership Zone, where the City won a competition COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 13 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 to be one of only 25 cities in the country to receive special funding for low- and moderate- income home ownership program. And this is that housing under construction, and we will be supporting that go with the capital program. Excuse me, I made a mistake. I switched those slides. This is the Raymond Rosen Replacement Housing at 23rd and Diamond. This is what we are building to replace the towers that were imploded a couple of years ago.

And I think everybody will agree this is a much better solution to the public housing program. And this is the Cecil B. Moore Home Ownership Zone Program. These are a couple of other sites that we will be developing housing on and that will receive support. The Women's Community Revitalization Program site at Sixth and Berks and a site that Frankford Group Ministries will be developing in the 1800 block of Wilmont Street. This is the Schuykill Falls Development, where the City's received a major COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 14 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 grant to redevelop this housing site, to renovate the low-rise units, build new housing units in a mixed-income kind of plan where the towers had been, and then also to find some additional sites to replace housing off site. And $1 million of the infrastructure funding we have in the program this year will be used to begin to build new roadways into this project. One of the problems with this site is that it was always very inaccessible, and that will change, and we need to put in the new roadways before the new housing's developed. This is on Ninth Street, the Italian Market, in South Philadelphia. This is the before. And this is the after the new street paving. There's also a companion program that's going on where there are incentives for the owners of the properties to improve their facades with some matching contributions to defray the cost of that. This is a supermarket site in the Empowerment Zone, in the APM area, at Fifth and Berks and Germantown Avenue. It's a cleared site, COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 15 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 ready for construction. The financing is in place, and there is a supermarket operator. And the capital program will be supporting some of the infrastructure costs. This is in the northwest area of the City, the Wadsworth Avenue commercial strip, which will receive about $460,000 in the capital program to make improvements to the street and to the parking arrangements for this area. This commercial strip actually is very well occupied, but it's starting to show certain signs of age, and we think this is a good investment to be making to improve this before we start to have problems of vacant stores and severe deterioration. This is Frankford Avenue, in the Margaret Orthodox area. The el, you can see -- it's kind of hard to see actually in this slide. This is after reconstruction of the el, and we're starting to see some restoration of the facades alongside it. This shows what's happening to the buildings a little bit better, but the el reconstruction project is finally coming to an COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 16 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 end. And, in fact, we will be starting the reconstruction of the el in West Philadelphia on Market Street, and that will have a major impact, a positive impact, in that neighborhood because you're going from a double-column structure to a single-column structure, which will mean that there will be much more light penetrating to the street, and it will be much easier to drive under that structure which, I'm sure, everyone will appreciate. This is in the Mayfair Frankford Avenue, Frankford Avenue, which is another commercial strip that right now is fairly healthy but needs some improvements. And those are all the neighborhood kinds of projects. In economic development, we're really focussing on four main areas: industrial development, hospitality and tourism, neighborhood commercial development, and defense conversion. And 34 percent of all the budget year funding from all sources is devoted to economic development. Of particular importance are COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 17 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 projects that support the City's tourism industry.

The completion of funding of the City's $10 million pledge to the Liberty Bell Pavilion in the Gateway Visitors Center on Independence Mall is included in the budget year. There's funding of $146 million in self-sustaining funds provided for continued improvements at the airport. The City is also proposing to continue its commitment to the Avenue of the Arts, both north and south, through an additional investment of $15 million in budget year funding, while additional support is provided in the historic district to Penns Landing and to improvements in the Convention Center area. This is in the area of industrial development. In addition to the money we're spending on tourism, this is the new PNC Bank expansion near the airport, on Tinicum Boulevard. This will begin to establish a major job corps near the airport. A thousand employees have already been located here in Phase I, with more to come. This is Tinicum Boulevard, which is a COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 18 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 $2 million investment that will enable additional development sites to be opened up for the second phase of PNC Bank and for additional hotels. This is a spec building, an industrial space/warehouse space at American and Sommerset, in the Empowerment Zone. This was a PIDC project, with $3 million coming from a combination of DRPA and State funding. And this is in the Market Street East area, the opening of the Hard Rock Cafe, where about $4 million of City capital funds went in to make the improvements in the lower levels of the Reading Head House that enabled this retail space to be created. In terms of infrastructure renewal, the projects included in the capital budget account for 34 percent of the budget year allocations. This area of investment includes those facilities which serve all Philadelphia residents, regardless of the specific neighborhoods where they live. It includes such facilities such as the Art Museum, the Zoo, Fairmount Park, major highways and bridges, SEPTA projects, including the Market Street East El reconstruction that I COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 19 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 mentioned, the Girard Avenue Light Rail, and the Frankford Transportation Center project. The largest proposed new investment is the $85 million replacement of the House of Corrections, which has $56 million included in the budget year, and the rest of the money is available from previous years' allocations. This is the Berks Station on the Frankford El, where reconstruction is needed. The design is about 90 percent complete. And you can see the rusted structure. You get a better view of what it looks like here. And this is the Tioga Station, which has been renovated, which is part of the overall $493 million Frankford El reconstruction. Then we have other views of the Tioga Station. This is the interim station that SEPTA constructed in record time at 84th Street, in Eastwick. It's an interim station on the High-Speed Line, and it was constructed in record time, principally to serve the employees going to the new PNC facility that I showed you in a couple COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 20 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 slides ago. Looking forward, we have the Suburban Station concourse renovations over the next few years. SEPTA has devoted a very large portion of capital funding to this. The project will cost about $38 million, and only a very, very small potion of that will be a contribution from City tax-supported dollars. And this will not only be the portion of the concourse in front of Suburban Station itself, but the part of the concourse that goes from about 15th Street to 17th Street. So, obviously, this a transportation thoroughfare that's used by riders of the Broad Street Subway, riders of the Frankford El. As this is the busiest transit concourse in the City, and we really ought to have it look the way it ought to look.

And it will eventually have new shops and will be air-conditioned and just provide a much better environment for the transit passengers. This is the Overbrook Station, on City Avenue. Renovations are in design. We got especially federal transportation money here under COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 21 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 the ISTEA Enhancements Program. This is about a $4 million renovation of the station. This is the 54th Street Bridge over the Amtrak train line. This is a $2 million reconstruction that has been completed. A major project is the Strawberry Mansion Bridge. Phase I is under construction now and should be complete in September. The first phase is the deck replacement for $3 million, and Phase II will involve repainting the entire structure and putting in a kind of a Boardwalk promenade. That will be another $5 million. And this will give you a sense of the deteriorated structure. This is in the Logan Circle area. The first phase of improvements here are complete. We expanded the green area and reduced the asphalt to kind of make this a more attractive accompaniment to the Square itself. This is a $650,000 project, a significant portion of which was contributed through federal iced tea enhancement funding. This is the Walk Philadelphia signage which now accompanies the vehicular signage, the COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 22 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 Direction Philadelphia signage that we have in various places throughout the City. City Hall. We didn't put any new appropriation in the budget this year because there's a backlog of almost $30 million of funds that need to be spent. This turned out to be a much more complicated project, I think, than anybody thought, just in terms of the order in which these projects need to be done and how they ought to be programmed. This is the east portal. We're beginning to replace mechanical systems in the building, literally from the top to the bottom. This is in the basement. At the Zoo, this is the new handicapped ramp to the Small Mammal House, and it's just an example of how we've been gradually making facilities throughout the City more accessible. This is the new HVAC system at the Small Mammal House. On the West River Drive, we have money to provide fencing for safety and esthetic purposes. We have bulk heading underway now in COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 23 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 Schuykill River Park. We had to shore up the bank before we could put in the park improvements. This is on Kelly Drive. This is Lloyd Hall, which is the new facility to replace Playstead Hall, and we will have meeting space, indoor meeting space, and recreation space, as well as bike rental, and some food service when that's complete. This is another view. At the Art Museum, the first phase of the landscape restoration project, which also included a rebuilt auto entrance to the west side, has been completed. And the next phase is the replacement of the Eakins Plaza at the base of the steps, which is very badly deteriorated and is such an important gathering place for the City for various events. This is at 34th and Diamond, in Fairmount Park. This is the Edgely Fields Complex, which has nine baseball fields, four soccer fields, two rugby fields. It needs drainage and field renovation. We're starting the first phase of that with the money that's recommended here. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 24 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 FDR Park, a similar ball field renovation project. Drainage is a major problem here. Then in East Park, this is the Laurel Hill Mansion, one of the Fairmount Park mansions. This needs HVAC work undertaken. In the area of government effectiveness, a lot of this isn't terribly photogenic, but this does account for 8 percent of the budget year funding. It includes projects which allow the City to do its job more effectively and more efficiently.

The Water Department's automatic meter- reading program, for which the final phase of funding is proposed, is the largest project in this category. The City's innovative energy conservation program in the budget year focuses on the start of a comprehensive energy management program at the Art Museum, with an appropriation of $300,000. We also have $200,000 for the ongoing Green Lights Program, which will provide for installation of energy-efficient lighting at COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 25 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 Riverview and at the Family Court. We also have in here, which we didn't mention, is $83,000, not a large appropriation, but it's to replace City Council's public address system. And I think that will be a major improvement. )

You can thank the Department of Public Property for requesting it on your behalf. This is also the geographic --

Could I have this mike on, please? Thank you. We were clapping, Councilwoman Clark, because we've just been informed that $83,000 has been placed in this program to replace our public address system.

Here?

Yes, in this building.

I can't hear you. What? What? (Laughter.)

See? COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

It's definitely a needed project. This is a work station at the Planning Commission's geographic information system. We have funding in this program for the Mayor's Office of Information Services that will enable them to install a server that will allow the benefits of this program to be used by more City departments. And I think that will be a significant benefit. And this is an example of a work station that was installed at the Municipal Services Building. It's similar to what would be installed at the One Parkway Building, for which funding has been allocated in this budget. In the area of health and safety, it's about $14 million in 1999, and it includes basic improvements at the City's adult care facilities, Riverview, the Philadelphia Nursing Home, and the Stenton Homeless Family Shelter. We've also continued funding for underground tank removal and replacement for hazardous material abatement and for improved handicapped accessibility at City and at SEPTA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 27 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 facilities. This is an example at Riverview of a new ramp for the handicapped that's been installed there. And these are the old bathrooms at Riverview. This is a new bathroom. The fixtures aren't in, but I think you get the idea of what the difference will be. And last but not least is the Bernard Samuel fire boat, which is 50 years old. And the City does need to begin to replace its fire boats. We've put funding in for the second year of the budget year for that. In conclusion, the Planning Commission believes that the recommend 1999-2004 capital program and the 1999 capital budget will allow the City to continue on the course laid out at the beginning of this Administration to revitalize the City's neighborhoods and its economic base by continued renewal of our physical plant. This capital program provides for a high level of investment in Philadelphia's future and, at the same time, strategically allocates COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 28 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 limited resources to ensure the City's capacity to deliver effectively and efficiently needed public services. Thank you. Now Emily Bittenbender would like to make a statement about the Capital Program Office and the implementation of capital projects.

Good morning, President Street and Members of City Council. My name is Emily Bittenbender, and I am the Director of the Capital Office for the City of Philadelphia. I am here today to present our operating and capital budget requests for fiscal year 1999.

Can we get the lights back on? I mean, we actually don't need to be sitting here in the dark.

It's an energy- saving program, Mr. President. (Lights turned back on.)

All right.

The requests are --

And we can hear you better now. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 29 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

You can you hear me better? Okay. The requests are for an appropriation of $2,409,000 in the operating budget, with another request of $7,460,000 in the capital budget. The ongoing operations of the Capital Program Office are supported by both budgets because the City accounting rules only permit certain types of positions to be charged as capital expenditures. The proposed Fiscal Year '99 operating budget represents an increase of $30,137 to cover negotiated civil service wages increases. It also includes $1,031,000 to support 226 positions, $1,268,000 for the repair and maintenance of City building systems, for staff training and computer software, which will enhance our program management capabilities. The proposed Fiscal Year '99 capital budget includes $6,124,000 to support 85 positions, as well as the cost for consultants to provide technical assistance to our 4 project management team. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 30 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 Our four project management teams serve eleven client agencies and they currently oversee all of the capital efforts from the budget development and construction closeout for Public Safety, Health and Human Services, Criminal Justice facilities, as well as Center City government buildings and lease space throughout the City. At the beginning of the new fiscal year, our portfolio will be expanded to encompass the capital projects for Fairmount Park. And our budget request reflects the transfer of the Park's Design and Planning Division staff into the capital program. 3 million, and it has a dedicated staff of 17 people managing it. The Fairmount Park Commission is the only department with a total average capital COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 31 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 budget of $22 million that has its own project staff. We believe that bringing the staff into the CPO will create greater efficiencies in the management of the capital projects. Also included in Fiscal Year '99's request is $1,086,000 for environmental remediation involving underground storage tanks replacement projects as well as asbestos abatements. And $250,000 is also requested in the City's effort to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act requirements, but it should be noted that during Fiscal Year 2000, these requests will be included or incorporated into each of the capital projects requested. The appropriations that I'm requesting will assist the Capital Program Office in the furtherance of our mission, which is to improve the pace at which capital improvements are completed, to eliminate the unnecessary project costs, and to provide a single point of accountability for the vast majority of the City's capital undertakings. In fulfilling our mission, we will be COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 32 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 building on a significant stride that the City has made in the last six years in the management of the capital program. Even with our considerable efforts to date, however, the process is still too laborious and takes too long, in spite of the fact that 80 percent of the Capital Program Office's projects in any given fiscal year are $500,000 and less. The CPO is committed to working with our partner agencies, such as our client departments, the Law Department, Procurement, the NBEC, and Risk Management in order to expedite smaller programs as well as the larger, more costly, and complicated projects that often involve site selection and multi-year schedules. By organizing, standardizing, and computerizing our operations, we are improving the capital project development process, accelerating the rate of capital project completion, and reducing our project backlog. During the seven months of our existence, the Capital Program Office has implemented a number of management initiatives that will move us towards our goal.

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 33 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 We worked with our client departments much earlier this year in the development of their Fiscal Year 99 capital budget requests and in order to improve the City's accuracy of the cost estimates that accompany those requests in order to avoid unnecessary delays that frequently occur due to the hack of funding for the projects. We're charged with the process to select the design professionals, and this included more oversight by senior management and the issuance of a comprehensive request for proposal this year. Committees were put together to evaluate and recommend the consultants as well as the development of an in-house contracts management unit to allow a faster pace of shepherding our contracts through the 17 stopping places in the city. As a result, we were able to begin our Fiscal Year '98 project six months earlier than our Fiscal Year '97 projects, and we were able to conform 34 of our contracts prior to the start of the fiscal year. We also purchased and customized a management information system that allows us to COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 34 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 track the status of our project budgets and schedules regularly. By creating an organized approach to the frequent review of project status, we have enhanced our ability to correct problems earlier on in a project's life. One gauge of the accelerated process is the consistent growth in the rate of monthly expenditures. million. million or a 40 percent improvement. These efficiencies have enabled the Capital Program Office to address our 137-project backlog that existed when we began operating in July of '97. The backlog consisted of those projects funded prior to Fiscal Year '97 that were one month behind schedule. By the end of the second quarter of Fiscal Year '98, we've succeeded in reducing that backlog by 68 projects. And, hence, we are six months ahead of schedule in our goal. The CPO intends to continue this high COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 35 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 level of performance and eliminate the entire backlog by the end of Fiscal Year '98. The successful completion of this initiative will allow us to dedicate our staffing resources to completing our goal of completing each fiscal year project that's fully funded of under 500,000 in one year. As these and other improvements in the Capital Program process take hold, we look forward to quickening the pace of capital spending even more and decreasing our project costs. Our Fiscal Year '99 performance goals, which are attached for your information, clearly reflect that emphasis and the mission with which we have been entrusted. I thank you very much for your attention today, and I'll be happy to take any questions that you may have.

Thank you very much. Miss Kaplan, are you all at the table finished?

Yes.

Mr. Kaplan, you're not speaking?

I don't have anything COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 36 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 today.

All right. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.

Good morning. I just have a couple of questions. The dollars set aside for Community College to acquire the facility in northwest Philadelphia, is that enough money to cover the acquisition, or are you doing part of the acquisition?

I guess last year when I had the conversation with the President of the College, this is the amount of money that he indicated that he was expecting from the City as a contribution. I believe at that time he indicated to me that probably in terms of the acquisition of the site and the improvement, renovation and customization that they might have to do of some of the buildings that they were taking over to make them suitable for the College's purposes, the total project might range somewhere between 9 and $13 million. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 37 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 But that this was the contribution as requested over two years this year and next year. That's what was requested by the College and that's what we had provided.

Okay, thank you very much. Item 66, Port Proceeds Account Transfer. It's stated that you're going to transfer the port proceeds money from the capital account to the City's operating budget to provide for a variety of economic stimulus initiatives. Do you have those initiatives outlined and in place?

There is a list of these. It was not included in your material. I don't know if there's someone here from the Commerce Department that could tell you what those are. One of the project's intents is in your district, that is money set aside for infrastructure improvement should they be needed for the development of the former Temple Stadium site as for housing. If there's a need for that, that is one of the items that would come out of this funding. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 38 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

Well, who determined where the economic stimulus money would go? I mean, I didn't request any infrastructure money for Temple Stadium. No one conferred with me or my district where the economic stimulus money should be allocated. I mean, how was that decision made without my input?

Two things, the Commerce Director is on his way here and will be able to give you a more detailed answer. The second issue is that the economic stimulus money -- I believe that what Commerce and PIDC have jointly developed is a proposed list of potential projects. I don't believe they've made any final decisions and I don't -- it's my understanding that they don't have any intention of spending any of the economic stimulus money, especially on that project, without conferring with the Council and with the neighborhood, in that case or in others.

Well, it would seem to me that the Commerce Department would have a conversation with the District Councilperson COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 39 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 relative to what projects in the district should be promoted and funded. We haven't had any conversation at all with the Commerce Department about any economic stimulus money in the Ninth City Councilmatic District. So I have a concern about that. Usually we do have some conversation. They come and talk to us about the needs in our district. I haven't had any conversation with anybody about that.

As Dean Kaplan indicated, what exists now is a possible list, and certainly, there will be that opportunity for discussion with each Councilperson who may be affected. And because that money would be transferred to PDIC, there would be an opportunity for different allocations to be made as projects are more fully developed. Because one of the things that happens with those economic development projects is that what looks like a project sometimes drops out, and then money's available for something else. So I think it's a long way from being specifically committed to any particular projects, COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 40 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 and there certainly would be opportunity for consultation with the Councilperson.

Is that for Councilpeople who may have something on that list that they're dealing with? I would like to see the list, and I think that every District Councilperson should certainly be sharing some of the stimulus money.

Well, we can certainly share --

You said you have a list. I would like to see it.

We can certainly share with you the proposed list. And the Commerce Director will be here, and perhaps when he comes, a process can be developed for that type of consultation.

Thank you. I didn't mean to interrupt you. I just think that since we're talking about that, I would want my feelings to be known.

The other question I have is: Could you give me an update of what's happening in the Logan area? COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 41 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

Yes. The Army Corps of Engineers has been engaged by the Redevelopment Authority, although we at the Planning Commission are providing the general oversight to that project. The purpose of hiring the Army Corps of Engineers is for them to do environmental testing of the site and to be able to prepare a report that indicates not only what is there but what the implications are for how this site needs to be treated before it can be developed. There have been previous studies done which took a look at the question of why did the homes sink, why was there subsidence. And the information indicated that there was fill of porous material and that that was the problem. What they didn't do in those previous studies was look for the presence of any toxic material; you know, whether there's anything that really has to be removed like heavy metals or lead or anything else. And the other question that was not answered was once -- now that we know why this subsidence was created, what would we have to do COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 42 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 to make that a development site again so that the same problem would not occur under a future development. And it may be that parts of the site, you know, are more severely -- you know, because they're more severely affected than others, that certain parts of the site have a lesser development capability than other parts of the site, or that we might have to spend money, you know, for certain remediations to make the site buildable. And that's what the Army Corps is going to us. I wish they were telling us faster. I know what your concern is.

I just want to go back to the economic stimulus initiative dollars. How long will this money last? When does it run out? Does it ever run out?

Well, I believe that this money is transferred to the operating budget, and a contract is made with PIDC. So that avoids the problem that you typically have in the operating budget where at the end of the year, that appropriation runs out and you have a surplus, or COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 43 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 a deficit in other cases, and you have to reappropriate the money. This would be made -- put into a contract at PDIC, as has previous stimulus money over the last couple of years, and then the money's allocated to specific projects. I think, in virtually all of those cases, there's been consultation with different Council people in whose districts these projects have been located. And in some cases on major projects, authorization of the whole Council has even been required, depending on, you know, what the nature of the project was.

Well, I guess the question I'm trying to ask is like the UDAG money, it ran out at some point in time. When does this money run out? Suppose I don't want to use the economic stimulus money for Temple Stadium, suppose I want to save it for Logan? How does that happen? And if I use it for the Temple Stadium, and we come down the pike maybe five, six years now and we want to do development in Temple, will COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 44 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 this money still be available? I mean at Logan.

I think that's a good question for the Commerce Director to answer more fully. But as a general kind of answer, the economic stimulus money, I think, has been used in two major ways. I think it's proposed to be used in two major ways for this. One is some specific projects which the Commerce Director and PDIC are in the process of identifying and which he can discuss in more detail. And there's also, as you know, in economic stimulus, a pool of kind of business development funds that they've used to aid specific firms when a firm want to relocate and stay in the City or a firm wanted to come into the City. And they have, I know, a list of those projects, several of which are not funded now because economic stimulus funding is limited. To answer the second part of your question, there is not a real a source of economic stimulus funding over time; however, we can find different bits and pieces to put into the program. So the short answer is, no, the money COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 45 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 is not unlimited forever. I think that the program has been very successful, and the Administration has tried different ways to fund it. I think if Councilmembers have specific projects they would like to use that money for, that it's perfectly legitimate for PDIC and Commerce and that Member to talk about using funds for that purpose. But I think that there is -- certainly the Mayor's priority now, given the very good economic development climate of the City, is to try to fund projects which are good, legitimate projects throughout the City now, when there are developers in town who are willing to do projects and businesses which are interested in expanding and staying here while the economy is strong. So that's part of the idea of this particular contribution to the Economic Stimulus Program.

Okay, thank you. Then I'll save my questions for the Commerce Director.

The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Verna. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 46 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

Thank you very much, Mr. President. On of the budget detail book, it shows that there's $1.5 million in environmental remediation funding for brown fields. Can you share what sites have been selected for this program?

At this point, I don't know that there are any specific sites. The Commerce Department and the Planning Commission and the Managing Director's Office have lists of sites that we believe are brown field sites in the sense that they contain toxic materials and need to be cleaned up before they can be redeveloped. We don't always have people interested in these sites. If the site is not posing a kind of serious threat to anybody, we tend to have this money as a fund for when somebody wants to develop these sites or we can find somebody to develop these sites. Then that money is available to clean up those sites or to match money that we could get from the State Commerce Department, or sometimes the private person puts up part of the COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 47 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 share also. So there's probably a lot of sites, but I don't know that these are earmarked for anything. If you have a site in your district that's a source of concern, it would be good to communicate that to Duane Bumb in the Commerce Department. One site -- I believe there was a City Council hearing on it last week as a property bill, the Sovereign Oil site, which has become infamous in the American Street area. And it's not in this program because we already have the funds from previous years and some State money as well to clean up that site, but that's -- and now we're moving to clean it up because we have somebody that's interested in the property. I mean, there was some EPA cleanup a few years ago to get rid of the worst problem, but the remainder of the cleanup will happen between State funds and City funds.

Thank you. Can you tell us what specific projects are planned to the tune of over $12 million for the Avenue of the Arts? COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 48 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

Okay. There are -- I think most of this money will go into the Orchestra Hall itself, the "Regional Performing Arts Center," as it's now known. And, you know, there's been a fund-raising commitment for that -- a fund-raising campaign for that, and this portion of the funds -- of City funds would go towards that facility.

We've been carrying $10 million for that for a long time. Is this the same $10 million?

No, this is new money.

Is this 10 in addition?

We now have now 22.

Is it now 22?

Now it's 19 million? 20

I would have to defer to 21 the Commerce Director to give you the total of all 22 the money that we have appropriated for the Avenue of the Arts, how much has gone into the Regional Performing Arts Center. One thing that I do know is that with COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 49 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 some of the funds we have on hand from previous years, with some of these additional monies, we're paying $14.5 million to take over the mortgage on the land that has been assembled for this facility. Because in doing that, it would relieve the project of $100,000 a month of debt service that they're now paying on the mortgage for the land while wait to complete the rest of the fund- raising for the facility and design it and actually commence construction. And I can't tell you exactly how the rest of that money would go into the Hall, but that's what it's intended for.

A point of information. What was the answer? Is it 10 million new dollars or 10 million old dollars?

It's 10 million old dollars.

I think the amount that we have put in, the Commerce Department will tell you directly, but I think it is well over $20 million toward the Hall itself. Now, there have been other projects as well. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 50 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

Go ahead, I'll take my own time.

What is proposed with the $2 million for the, quote, renewal, end of quote, in the Convention Center area?

There are properties at the corner of 12th and Arch; it's actually half of the block -- or a third of the block from Arch Street west -- along Arch Street west from 12th Street that the City wants to acquire. They're kind of a blighting nuance. We would like to acquire that and add that to some of the land that's been assembled that's now a parking lot to, first of all, remove those kinds of undesirable influences from the front door of the Convention Center; and, secondly, to be able to have a development site which potentially -- not right away, but eventually -- could be used for a hotel. We have appropriated some money for this in the past, but it is -- it's enough to acquire the properties, but it is not enough to do the relocation of tenants and the demolition. So that's what this additional $2 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 51 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 million is for, to complete that.

All I keep hearing about is the new hotels that we're striving for. And when I see what's happening in our residential areas, it truly, truly concerns me.

Well, this money is for site acquisition, not to build a hotel there; it's to be able to put that land under our control. When we originally set out to build a Convention Center, we made a very calculated decision that we weren't going to acquire any more land than we absolutely needed to do the facility and the Marriott Hotel. We felt that the private market would kind of take care of this unpleasant little grouping of buildings.

Mm-hm, it hasn't happened.

It has not worked that way. And I think we feel that to protect our investment in the Convention Center, we really need to acquire these properties and be in control of it. I mean, we would sell these properties to a developer at fair-market value. You know, this isn't going into the hotel, and there is no hotel COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 52 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 developer in sight. And, as I said, the hotel would not be right now. We have a number of hotels on the drawing boards, but I think people feel that this would be a good site for a hotel because it would be right across from the front door of the Convention Center. But I think the primary purpose is, you know, to get rid of blight and to kind of control our destiny by being in charge of this parcel. I think originally, in going back to 1983, we didn't think it was going to be necessary, but nobody's kind of come along and done a private development there.

Thank you. I note that you have only $34,000 set aside for the Eastwick Rail Station.

That's the City's share.

How much will it cost? Tell us what this is for. And how do you plan to accommodate the parking at that location?

Okay. This is -- you saw in the slide the interim facility they had put in at 84th Street. This was to -- COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 53 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

I was distracted; I didn't see it.

Oh, in your district, there was an interim facility that was put up in record time to be able to provide SEPTA service on the High-Speed Line. And SEPTA did that in record time. But it's been intended for many years to have a permanent station there. One reason it hadn't happen was there didn't seem to be enough ridership to justify the expenditure. But the total cost of that is $5,769,000. And the City's share is very tiny, $34,000. So I mean, like all SEPTA projects, the leverage is really extraordinary. And it will be done over three years. That won't be all in one year.

And that will certainly help PNC?

Oh, yes. I mean, we have developers that are interested in other hotels in that area to feed off the airport trade. So there will be other employees, too, who would take advantage of that. And the other idea is that -- the other COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 54 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 hope is that once you have the station there, it becomes an incentive for other people to locate in that area.

I think that's very good. And then, finally, we see the 800- megahertz system coming on line. Are we sure that the system that we're getting isn't already outdated?

I hope not.

Can you tell us just when we'll be seeing something specific happening?

I can't give you the details on that, but -- is Vince Costello here from Public Property?

I know we've been talking about this for several years now.

A major portion of the 800-megahertz funding is, you know, the ability to use some of the --

Excuse me, Mr. Kaplan.

I'm sorry. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 55 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

Would you please identify yourself for the record.

I'm Dean Kaplan, the City's Budget Director. A major portion of the 800-megahertz funding package was the ability to use capital dollars that we receive as part of the 9-1-1 surcharge for the 800-megahertz system, which was not allowed by State law originally. The legislation involving that, as you may have read, has just passed the State. It's expected to be signed by the Governor. That's something that the Managing Director's Office has worked very hard to achieve. Now that that funding is in place -- as you may know from last year's meeting, we had sent out RFPs. And the Managing Director's Office and the Public Department have been reviewing those. They are negotiating with a set of vendors. And now that the funding's in place, they'll be able to complete those negotiations, we expect, by the end of the fiscal year. So we are hopeful that that will be completed now that we have a funding package in COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 56 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 place, and we'll probably begin on that project in the next fiscal year.

Thank you. I noticed the $4 million for the purchase of vehicles for the Water Department is in the Water Department's budget. Why wouldn't that be in Fleet Management?

Well, I'll let Dean answer that. We had a lot of discussion about that.

The only real reason is because the Water Department is a separate enterprise fund, so the Water Department itself -- the Fleet Management does not have a Water Fund capital appropriation, so it's in the Water Department appropriation because it's funded through water sewer charges and not through general-obligation debt or any other source.

And did I understand Miss Kaplan to say that the $40 million will complete the installation of the automatic meter readers throughout the City?

Yes. That's the last phase of the funding, and the Water Department feels that will be adequate to complete the COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 57 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 project.

I think they've done a great job in expediting the installment of the new meters. I know that they've done that in my district and it's working out very, very well. Thank you, Mr. President.

Councilwoman Verna, that's because South Philly gets everything.

You bet your life.

You all get everything.

The sports, the trash-to-steam if they could put it there, and everything else, uh-huh. But I don't get the money you get.

I couldn't go two places. Sorry I brought it up. (Laughter.)

The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Krajewski.

Thank you. My question is to Miss Bittenbender. I see where you're requesting 22 new positions? COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 58 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

No, those are 22 positions in the operating -- are you talking about operating or capital?

Well, you're requesting positions in capital. 7

No, they're 8 existing. 9 I think the change may come about 10 because there are 17 people for Fairmount Park 11 that have been transferred in this year from their 12 portion of the capital budget into our budget. 13

I believe, Mr. 14 President, that last year several Councilmembers 15 were questioning the fact of whether so many 16 consultants were necessary, and they were going to 17 do an analysis on that. Did we ever receive 18 that? 19

Actually, 20 Councilwoman Krajewski, I cannot remember. We can 21 check our files and determine whether or not a 22 specific response was given to such a question, but I do not know right offhand. We can check for you.

I'll look into that. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 59 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 I know that we did respond for --

I'll appreciate that, to get that answer.

Sure, not a problem.

I want to know what they will be doing. And when do you plan (inaudible) --

Councilwoman, is your microphone on?

Are the District Councilpeople involved with these new positions? Not positions. I'm talking about building. Sorry.

For the hiring?

No, the proposal of building, where you were planning -- I believe at one time you were looking for different sites within my district and I wasn't aware of it.

Yes, the various Councilpeople are involved. Typically, what we do is formulate or complete our analysis, both for building and operating dollars, and we put together a list of COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 60 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 potential sites that we will be looking at. And we review it with the Administration, then come directly to the Councilpeople to begin working on the project with them.

When you are looking for different locations, my question is: Is the District Councilperson involved in that decision?

Absolutely.

Because I know there have been times where there were plans that were made that I was unaware of. And I believe I did bring you into the office to ask you those questions.

Yes. You and I have had a conversation, I believe, a few months ago, about some potential sites. And we will be coming back to you soon and talking to you again, because we have just recently completed both costing analysis of various construction methods as well as site constraints on projects that -- especially for those sites and whether their buildings go horizontal or vertical. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 61 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 So we will be coming back to working with you.

The bottom line I'm trying to say, Mr. President, is that if anything like that is going on in my district, I do not want any plans made unless I am involved in it; or any District Councilperson, for that matter. Thank you. One more question. To Miss Kaplan, is there any plans on capital improvements for the Police Academy?

No, I don't -- no, I don't think they requested --

I have been to the Police Academy and I do believe they need an awful lot of work there.

I don't believe they were -- I'll double-check that. I don't believe they requested any money for that.

Well, I'm requesting you take a tour to see the Police Academy because it really needs a lot of work. The rest rooms are outrageous. I believe Mr. Costello is coming up. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 62 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 POLICE COMMISSIONER COSTELLO: Good morning, Council President Street and Councilmembers. I'm Thomas Costello, the Deputy Police Commissioner. Councilwoman, in the past year, every building at that facility has been painted inside and out. We have put up a modular building that contains eight classrooms, and we have funding in our capital program from last year for additional rest room facilities. And that --

What about the heating system and the air-conditioning? POLICE COMMISSIONER COSTELLO: The heating system is -- there is work being done on the heating system. I'll get you the exact details on what that is, but there is work being done on that. My recollection was that because of the time of year, they couldn't do it now, and it will be done before next winter.

I believe last year they were freezing. POLICE COMMISSIONER COSTELLO: There were problems in the system, yes. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 63 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

But you'll get that to the Chair Person? POLICE COMMISSIONER COSTELLO: Yes, I will.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Fernandez.

Thank you, Mr. President. First, you noted in your testimony, but I wanted to underscore and say cheers for the fact that you've speeded up the backlog and that you've set a goal for this year of doing away with the backlog. I think --

Thank you, Councilperson.

That's always been a problem. And I think, you know, again, you deserve credit for good management and moving things along.

Thank you very much.

I had a question about the Youth Study Center. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 64 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 I think that ever since I've been here, every year there's promises that it's about to happen, that there'll be a replacement for the structure. You know, for ten years, even before I got here, there have been promises. So I think it was last year, it was those $30 million in the capital budget. They were talking about purchase of the property being imminent, and every year I've gotten promises, for six, seven years. This year the Youth Study Center disappeared from the capital budget. And when we looked back in the quarterly report, it says stuff is on hold. So, you know, I'd really like to know from the Administration, what's the scoop? Why is it, you know, not only not even in the budget, but it's like disappeared.

Councilperson, there is $30 million of funds from last year that has been carried forward and still remains in the capital budget.

Could you tell me what line that is.

Just to clarify, at this COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 65 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 point in the budget process, we don't show the carry-forward funding because we didn't want -- we don't know how much would be carried over until -- you know, we wanted to give the departments a little longer to implement the project. So that by the time Council has to act on the budget, then we would provide the information on the carry-forward projects. But the money is still available from the current year.

Mm-hm. Well, again, what's the status of the project? Every year -- we all know what a sad state --

Yes.

-- that facility is in, so what's the scoop?

The scoop is that there was a report and analysis that was completed last year on the facility. And during that time period, the population had maintained itself at about 107 for almost an entire year since. Since this fall, the population has had a dramatic spike, and the Youth Study Center has been experiencing between 150 and 180 inmates. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 66 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 The Capital Program Office is currently working with the City Administration to go back and revise that analysis. The $30 million in carry-forward money was appropriated in order to cover 150 beds, and now there needs to be expansion of that project taken, and additional City funds will need to be identified in order to cover that expansion. We are also in the process -- we will be, you know, very soon going to speak with the Councilpeople in that area to talk to them again about the finalization of that report. And at that time, you know, we can come to you and tell you publicly what the plans are.

Well, just for the record, I've been following this issue for at least, at least ten years.

Yes, I understand that.

And the population goes up and down. And the major factor is not the amount of kids getting in trouble in the neighborhoods; the issue is how well the courts and the Youth Study Center and the other COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 67 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 agencies work together to get kids moved through the Youth Study Center instead of having it turned into basically a long-term holding pen. And that's not the function of the Youth Study Center. It's basically where kids who are too dangerous to be in the neighborhood or a community-based facility or at home are to be held in a very short-term time while they are awaiting their hearings. And if you look at those trends, there's no reason why we need the Youth Study Center any bigger than the one we have as long as the courts and the other agencies are actually fulfilling their responsibilities. I'd also like to note for the record that I will stand opposed to any expanded, large Youth Study Center because it's not the capital costs that are the problem. The problem is the ongoing operating costs, and if you build a bigger facility, the courts will continue not to function, and we will fill it at the cost of what, $25,000, at the rate of $25,000 a year per child?

Yeah, I think it's $300 a day. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 68 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

It shouldn't be there. So I would just like the public record to reflect that it's not a capital budget issue; it's an operating budget issue that we will be carrying those several -- I can't remember now the numbers, but it's a large operating cost. And we can't afford to keep kids incarcerated in the Youth Study Center instead of really dealing with their issues and getting them moved into a facility where they can get some care.

Councilwoman, let me please assure you that when these analyses are done, that both operating and capital go hand in glove. And, you know, the tricky part really comes on the operating part. But please note for the record that that is absolutely understood.

Perhaps with Mr. Kaplan sitting there, can you pull from your head what's the current operating cost for the Youth Study Center, how many millions?

No, I can't, but I can think of the overall juvenile justice number. But COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 69 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 I think --

No, for the Youth Study Center.

Yeah, I think about $13 million a year. So it is, obviously, a significant operating cost. And to the extent that the population is higher, obviously, that increases significantly.

The other issue I wanted to raise is --

Councilwoman, I seem to remember that it may cost us as much as 65, 70 dollars a day per resident at the Youth Center. So this is a monumental expense. And I think your point is well taken because when we came here and discussed the Youth Study Center last year, there was testimony in this record that they were talking about expanding the size of the Center to 200 or something so that it could even grow to about 300. And I remember very well quite a bit of discussion about it. But your point is on target. This is a very, very costly facility to operate. And it is -- the size of it is really not to be taken COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 70 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 lightly.

Right.

It's very expensive.

And that will go on forever once you have it. The other issue I wanted to raise was the libraries. I think we saw your slides about how great and what a real addition it makes to the libraries once they're, you know, refurbished. I know the Lehigh Library just really helped change that whole block, having that get fixed up. And, also, in a time of technology, when so many more people are starting to use the Internet, I see the libraries and access to the Internet in the public libraries as a very important service that's needed in a city that has so many low-income people that might not be able to afford both a computer and the monthly Internet charges. So the role that the libraries play are important and I think they're going to be even more important. So I was concerned when some of the people in the Friends of the Library had said that this was some reduction in the capital COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 71 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 dollars allotted. The numbers I had was originally -- it was 47 -- 4.7 million, and it was reduced to -- do I have my numbers right here? It was reduced to 3.6? Last year you had projected, right, 4.7 million for the branch renovation, but now this year's capital program is suggesting that 3.6 or even -- right, 3.6. I'm wondering if that's accurate, and if so --

Councilperson, this year's total for the Free Library is actually $4,447,000 as a total.

What would that be on? I'm looking at .

You may be speaking specifically about the branch renovation program. That's about 3.7 or so; is that about right? And that would be the City's share of that.

The City's share, right.

When the Free Library began the branch renovation program, the hope was COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 72 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 to spend about $5 million a year on branch renovation. And in some years, we spent more than that. In the last two years, we've spent a bit less than that. Obviously, like all the other capital programs, the Library's program is one that we have to fit into the overall available general obligation funding of the City. It's one we've given a lot of priority to, though, because it is leveraging such a large amount of private money.

Right.

And in fact, the Library's request -- you know, everyone comes in with a request. The Library's request in the past year was lowered less than that of any other department. What we are going to be doing over the next couple months with the Library is sitting down with them and looking at their progress so far in the first three years -- almost three years of the renovation program, the costs of the projects to date, and determine whether -- you know, obviously, our hope is to complete the originally planned renovations in the five-year COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 73 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 time frame. That may or may not be completely related to the actual dollars spent. I'm relatively hopeful that we're going to find these renovations are somewhat less expensive than we had originally hoped. But I think over the entire five-year period, we're relatively optimistic that we should be able to fund all of the originally planned renovations.

Well, I would just like to say for the record that I think it's very important to keep on schedule. And if there basically was a promise, particularly with all of this private money that's part of the match, and all of the money that people are raising in neighborhoods, and people are putting -- I'm saving pennies in a big bucket so that when it's our neighborhood library's turn, you know, we can all give a little bit. But I think, with private citizens and foundations and people doing their share, and mainly the very important role that these libraries play in our neighborhood, particularly again with the new technology that's being added COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 74 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 to give people access to the Internet, again, which I think, the President mentioned in his speech. Four, five years ago, almost nobody was using the Internet. Now, you know, it's moving very fast, so we need to have our neighborhood libraries equipped sooner. I'd rather we were ahead of schedule rather than behind. So I hope you'll take a careful look at that.

We'll do that.

And see if all the scheduled libraries could get done this year.

Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.

Thank you, Mr. President. Miss Kaplan, I think I'd like to go back first to of the capital budget book, the blue-covered document, line number 47, Avenue of the Arts, North and South Broad Street. Now, do I understand that within the $12.5 million on the first line that that is the COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 75 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 money for the Regional Performing Arts Center; is that correct?

That's right.

Okay. And just so this portion of the record at least -- or for my questioning purposes, so I'm clear on this, this is an additional and a half million dollars? 9

Yes. 10

And what is the 11 current investment in this project by the City? 12

I think I'd like to defer that to Mr. Mullin, from the Commerce Department.

My name is Steve Mullin, Commerce Director with the City. The total capital dollars in the overall Avenue of the Arts South project is $20 million. The bulk of that has been used for land acquisition along the Avenue.

Okay. Well, I understand, but how much of the money is in the Regional Performing Arts Center project specifically?

By the way, I was talking about land acquisition there. There was also -- I COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 76 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 believe it's either or $15 million for the streetscape improvements that I was not including in that.

Right. 6

I'll have to get the exact 7 numbers on the amount that has been spent thus far 8 for acquisition of land for the Regional 9 Performing Arts Center, but I believe that -- my 10 estimate is that's on the order of $15 million. 11

So you believe we 12 already have $15 million in capital funds invested in the Regional Performing Arts Center.

In the acquisition of the land, yes.

Land acquisition for the Regional Performing Arts Center. Okay, and what's the 12 and a half million in this budget for?

The 12 and a half million in this budget is for parts of rest of the project, including the construction of the facility.

Well, what are the other parts, the non-construction parts? COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 77 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

Uh, it's. . .

Try the word "infrastructure."

Pardon me?

Try the word "infrastructure."

"Infrastructure" is correct, that's right.

Okay, what's the total cost of the Regional Performing Arts Center Project?

I'm sorry, could you repeat that?

What's the total cost of the Regional Performing Arts Center Project?

I don't know if that has been completely finalized yet. I believe I'll be able to find out what that number is.

Mr. Mullin, isn't it somewhere like 150 million, 140, 160 million, in there? I mean, it's a pretty big number.

It's on the order of 150 million-plus, that's correct. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 78 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

Now, you can get us the real number --

I'm sorry.

But you can give us some frame of reference?

Yes.

Okay. And this is a public-private project? Are there private dollars in this project?

Yes, there are private dollars, both in State public and in City public dollars that are included.

Okay, and what's the level of fund-raising at this point?

That I will have to check, but it is not 100 percent yet. I'd say maybe it would be -- this would only be a rough --

So is it accurate to say that there might be 40- or 50-million- dollar gap in funding?

I think that is on the order of magnitude -- again, without saying the exact numbers, but I think that's on the order of the magnitude of what still remains to be funded. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 79 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

That's my understanding. And what's the prospect of closing the 40- or 50-million-dollar gap, and who plans to do that?

Did you ask, What are the odds of doing that? That would --

No, I'm not a gambling person.

Sorry, I didn't hear what you --

What are the prospects of filling the gap? And who do you believe is going to fill the gap of 40 to 50 million dollars for this project?

I think the prospects are considered to be very, very high. And the potential sources continue to be private fund-raising and institutional support.

What's the projected completion date of this project?

That I will have to get for you. I don't have that detail.

Well, why do they need our 12 and a half million dollars now? COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 80 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

"Now," meaning the FY '99 capital?

Yeah.

I think the idea is to try to make sure that we have all of the funding in place during fiscal -- hopefully, as early in fiscal '99.

Well, that's based apparently on the belief that the 40 or 50 million dollar funding gap is also going to be closed in FY '99?

I think that's -- I believe that that's the hope and expectation, yes.

I guess lastly on this particular topic --

Excuse me, Councilman, could I interrupt on that topic. You know, I think that this whole Regional Performing Arts Center might be worth a briefing, and I say that because I hear a lot of questions. And what I propose to do is to circulate among the Members of Council some proposed briefing times so that Councilmembers can COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 81 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 sort of hold those times open. Because I think it's probably not a bad idea to have Bill Rouse and Stephanie Nadoff come in to do it. I don't know that we need to do that at a public hearing, but it might not be a bad idea to have them come in and just sort of tell us where we are on all of that, because it is something that is widely discussed. And it shows up -- I've asked these questions in the past. Every year, you know, we see at least $10 million here and, you know, we get into this -- some parts of this discussion depending on, you know, the circumstances. So I think we all need to know precisely where we are on the Regional Performing Arts Center. There are -- those are the people responsible for it, and I think they should come in and just give us a briefing as to where we are. And I'll be responsible, along with the Administration, for setting aside a time so that Councilmembers can get fully briefed on it. Because this testimony is very confusing. And nobody here -- I mean, I can tell that Councilwoman Verna and Councilman Nutter and COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 82 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 I have some questions. We don't really want to belabor it, but we really do have to understand it, we have to understand it, because there is a very significant amount of public dollars that sort of keeps rotating in and rotating out. I'm informed by Mr. Certo here that the way we used to do the budgeting that sort of laid out the money in the past years would give us a little clearer picture. We don't do that now. So on the one hand, the document is a little simpler. It doesn't give us much information, but it does breed a whole new level of questions because now we're sort of trying to figure out what it is we remember. So I will make the commitment to the Members of Council to get that briefing together so that everybody can know where we are in the Regional Performing Arts Center.

Well, I appreciate it, Mr. President, because based on the Q and A, I mean I'm perplexed to understand at this moment why we continue to put so much money in this particular project that has seemingly its own problems. It's had its fits and starts. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 83 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 And I also had on my list an issue that my colleague Councilwoman Fernandez raised, which had to do with the library branch renovations. I mean, they are our libraries. I don't think this is our Regional Performing Arts Center, and the fact that it has its own problems and we seem to be scurrying around, trying to find additional dollars to finish up what everyone seems to agree is an appropriate project, which is our branch libraries, I'm a little perplexed to understand why we put 12 and a half million dollars into this one, which is clearly not ready to go, when we've got other ones that are ready to go that clearly don't have the funding support that they need. And there is an inherent conflict between this project and its particular location in the context of a larger project on South Broad Street versus the rest of the City. And so I'm having a little trouble understanding why at this moment in a project that clearly is not going anywhere tomorrow, why we put an additional 12 and a half million dollars in it when we've already invested some money in it. And COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 84 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 the people who really want the project, it seems to me, have to do a little more work to get it. So I'll wait for the briefing. Why don't we go to the next line, on line 48, New Facilities for Independence National Park. This seems to be the much talked about Liberty Bell Pavilion. Is this also involving the Constitution Center?

Well, there are three blocks to the mall. The Constitution Center under the new plan, the Parks Services has proposed, would be in the third block. This does not contribute to the third block improvement in any way or to the Constitution Center. This money would go toward a new complex that would house the Liberty Bell and a new Visitors Center that is called "The Gateway Visitors Center." It's intended to be a gateway, not for the Park, but for the City and for the region. Now, the --

Is this going to replace the little round building over here on JFK? COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 85 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

That's another -- the Visitors Center at JFK, there are plans to renovate a portion of the ground floor of City Hall, to accommodate the Visitors Center that's now in the round building.

So there will be a Visitors Center in City Hall --

Right, which would be --

And then there'll be another Visitors Center down at --

Right, the Visitors Center down at Independence Mall. The Parks Service has had a Visitors Center, I guess, since about 1976. It is located, unfortunately, on Third Street and Chestnut, and a lot of people don't -- it's not in the mainstream of the way people arrive and use the facilities of the Park.

Right.

It also only serves the Parks Service, and the City's relegated to a little card table in the corner. And the Parks Service has certain restrictions about what they can do in that Visitors Center, what kind of information they can give out, etc. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 86 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 The Pew Trust did a tourism study and looked at in what way they could become involved.

Right, okay.

They said that they would spearhead the effort. They thought the important thing that could happen for tourism was to have a new -- in addition to putting up this money for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, GPTMC, they wanted to spearhead the effort for a new Visitors Center that would be for the City, the region, and the Park. It's a $30 million facility. The Pew Trust has put up $10 million, the State has put up $10 million, and we're putting up $10 million. But not all our money is going into the Gateway Visitors Center. Roughly half and half, although it hasn't been exactly decided, will go into the Liberty Bell and building a new complex of buildings to house the Liberty Bell, which would be on the first block at the corner of Sixth and Chestnut.

Okay.

With Pew's fund-raising, the total cost of this, to remake the first two COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 87 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 blocks of the Mall, which is not just the Visitors Center and the Liberty Bell Pavilion, but also includes relandscaping and everything, and the Parking Authority has to fix the garage. It's about a $65 million project altogether.

Okay.

All but about $3.8 million of that funding has been identified, including our $10 million; $1 million of which was programmed last year and the remaining $9 million.

Well, my question on this is -- and maybe this goes to the ownership question of the Liberty Bell. But for many of the activities going on in the Independence Mall area, it just strikes me, I guess, as a little strange. These are not only Philadelphia but national treasures. And so I wonder why we have to pay for a location for a national treasure such as the Liberty Bell, in contrast to what I either believe or assume happens in Washington D.C. I mean, I assume that the citizens of Washington D.C. don't pay for the Washington Monument, the Smithsonian, and the half million other various monuments and COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 88 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 buildings and other activities that go on in Washington D.C. And so I'm just trying to understand why the citizens of Philadelphia have to pay for a location for the national treasure of the Liberty Bell.

Well, we do own the Liberty Bell.

I thought we might.

And we own Independence Hall and the park behind it.

What do the feds contribute to any of that?

Right now, there is no 16 federal contribution to it. It is hoped that they would come up with some of the remaining funding that's missing. Virtually all of the money that's been raised, aside from the City's 10 million and the State's 10 million, has come from private foundations or contributors. I think the Annenberg Foundation contributed $10 million, as well.

Have we ever asked the federal government for any funding for this COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 89 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 wonderful place in the City?

The federal government's contribution to Independence Park has been significant over the last few years. Principally that's been in the renovation of Independence Hall which, you know, some of the side buildings are still undergoing renovation. And in redoing the utilities for the entire park, it's very expensive because they're all underground and have to be dug up and replaced, so I think about $75 million of federal commitment was obtained through Congressman Foglietta to do that. Now, I would certainly agree with you, we don't get the kind -- I mean, we don't get what they get in Washington for all those federal facilities, but that was a fairly substantial contribution within a very short period of time. I mean, I think when that project has taken place, by the time it's finished, it will have been about a three, three and a half year project.

Okay. I mean, is that something we can explore, though, the prospect of some additional federal funding to COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 90 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 help us?

The Parks Service has asked in their budget request for the additional money that we're hoping, you know, to complete this project. And I'm sure the lobbying forces are at work to try to see that that happens. We've also gotten the federal government to agree to take over Washington Square and make it part of Independence National Historic Park, which will be a relief to the Fairmount Park budget, both operating and capital. We had to make a certain contribution to bring it up to standard. But we also did get through Congressman Foglietta, I think, $2.6 million from the federal government for that. The deal was they wouldn't take it over and make it part of the Park System until it was brought up to a certain standard. The problem was that all of the paving stones had deteriorated, and that project is going on right now. I think it's about a $4 million project to replace. So once it's up to standard -- and, as I said, we did get federal contribution to bring COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 91 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 it up to standard -- then it will no longer be our responsibility; the Parks Service will take that over.

If I can, at least this round, ask this one last question. The pictures in the first part of the presentation, were some very good examples of the benefits of the capital budget and program over time. I did want to ask, though, what is, in your view, Miss Kaplan, the infrastructure renewal plan for our residential areas throughout the City or those areas that surround many of the facilities that we put dollars into to make improvements? We make wonderful facilities, or we try to make our facilities look as best as they can. Unfortunately, as the case may be, many of the neighborhoods around those facilities are still in very poor condition. And so, you know, you have to get there.

Well, right. I mean, we have been -- I think there's two issues. There's sort of neighborhood infrastructure: streets, COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 92 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 street lights, those kinds of issues.

Right, street stuff.

As well as -- well, before we even get to streetscape, just make sure that the streets are in good repair and, you know, everything's working, everything's in good enough shape to be working properly and delivering proper service. And then there's also the question, you know, of housing and what can be done about that. One of the things we have tried to do in this Administration -- and we include it as a neighborhood project -- is to increase the amount of money that we allocate for the resurfacing or reconstruction of neighborhood streets. We don't include the major arterials or the streets that are eligible in the Federal Aid Highway Program, but the tertiary streets, the street that really serve houses. This year we have $13 million in the budget for that. If you compare it to last year, it will show a decrease in that amount. But, in fact, it's not really a decrease because it was last year's. And I believe maybe a year or two COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 93 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 before that, we were under a court order to use a portion of those funds to construct ramps for the handicapped. I think last year, out of or $18 6 million, about $4 million of the total went to the 7 construction of the curb ramps and not into the 8 street reconstruction. So we're roughly trying to 9 maintain the same level of funding. So that's one 10 way that we think we've made some progress in 11 recent years. 12 The other thing, we can't spend City 13 capital dollars directly on housing. And so what 14 we've tried to do is to make the housing dollars 15 that we get through the Community Development 16 Block Grant and through other special federal 17 programs like I showed, the Cecil B. Moore Home Ownership Grant, try to make that money go further by using some City capital dollars to pay for total reconstruction of the infrastructure in those areas.

Right.

And that's a fairly expensive proposition. For example, we showed the slides of COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 94 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 Raymond Rosen. And, you know, we tore down high-rise structures. Well, there weren't City streets through that site, so if we're going to now replan that site for these town houses that I showed you in the slide, you have to put in, you know, all new streets, curbs, sidewalks, street lights; all of that infrastructure is new. And we are paying for that out of the City capital program so that the housing dollars can, you know, go into housing. Because we have no way to get more of those housing dollars. Schuykill Falls, in fact, in your district, where we got a huge amount of money -- I think it was $48 million to renew the housing development, to build new housing. It didn't include infrastructure, site improvements, a recreation facility that is intended, so we will be supporting that. The first million dollars is in those capital program. Over the next two years, we'll be allocating additional funds to pay for those improvements. You know, so we are trying to do that. We also put money in site improvements COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 95 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 for commercial strips which are neighborhood- based, and we do put some money in even where we're not building new housing. Where there's a significant amount of rehab activity occurring in a neighborhood, then that justifies the use of City capital funds to come in and do even curbs, trees, sidewalks, that kind of thing.

Right, but most of those usually are also project-based.

Right, or at least sometimes we're doing like houses in 4 blocks, 13 even if they're scattered. 14

I guess what I'm 15 asking is, in the areas where we don't have the 16 benefit of either a Schuykill Falls or a Raymond 17 Rosen, where we have to create new -- what I'm 18 really talking about is some of the older areas of 19 our City where you don't have housing development 20 going on. I mean, they're just stable 21 neighborhoods areas. 22 I mean, what is the plan if there is 23 one. And if there's not, then for the moment, 24 that's okay. 25

Right now, the only thing COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 96 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 we would have is the money we're putting in, the $13 million a year or whatever we're putting in for street resurfacing. You know, there's no specific money in there for curbs and sidewalks because that's viewed as the private owner's responsibility. The Streets Department does restore and renew the lighting fixtures and the signs, you know, kind of on the life cycle replacement, you know, kind of schedule.

This will be my last question --

But there is no plan like to go into an area and, you know, do it. I think large --

Okay, is it possible to go in and do something like that?

I think it's certainly possible to consider it. I mean, one of the problems I think that we will run into is the question of what's an eligible capital cost.

Right, I understand.

But I think we certainly, COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 97 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 you know --

Is that something that the City should be doing as we go forward?

I think it's certainly worth, you know, consideration. We're working on this project with the Planning Commission, sort of trying to look at how the City can improve its competitive position sort of in the region to compete for people, you know, to retain and attract people to keep our population up, just the way we do with jobs. And, you know, that's one of the things. You know, people say, Well, the housing's obsolete. Well, sometimes the housing's obsolete, but sometimes it's more that the neighborhood infrastructure's obsolete. So certainly it is certainly something that's worth some serious consideration.

Thank you.

Councilman, you still have four minutes left.

For tomorrow, right?

No, for next budget COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 98 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 year.

FY 2000.

FY 2000. Just kidding. (Laughter.)

The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rizzo.

Thank you, Mr. President. Okay, Miss Kaplan, on , budget line 95, could you explain the $5 million for renovations of Eastern State Penitentiary?

Yes. The Mayor has sort of made a challenge to the prison society and the preservation groups who are interested in preserving and renovating Eastern State Penitentiary. And the Mayor has said that if they could raise $4 million, we would give them $1 million, so it's kind of a challenge. Thus far, they haven't raised any funds that we know about. We did put in some capital money last year, I think about 450,000, to try to put a roof on some of the structures there, to prevent damage from water. And that is happening COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 99 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 now just to, you know, seal up the facility and make it weather-tight. What we have said is, in view of all of the other capital needs that we have in the City, you know, we did not want to commit more resources to this unless there was a demonstrated effort that they could really -- they've been saying that they could raise money. We're sort of putting their feet to the fire and saying, Well, okay, if you raise money, we will put up a share of this. So that's what this is. They are actually on a shoestring, doing some fairly significant tours through the prison. They had, I think, about 17,000 visitors last year doing this sort of thing, with no 17 budget. They got a big article in the New York Times, in the tourism section, about Eastern State Penitentiary.

I actually saw that article. And when I saw the caption, I didn't know it was talking about our Eastern State Penitentiary.

And you thought that it was a great place. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 100 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

And I saw this thing and I thought, This is a wonderful thing they're doing there. And then I got further down in the article, and I said, This is over on Fairmount Avenue. But, actually, I did happen to see the article.

And actually, what -- I live near there. So amazingly not -- and it's gotten enough publicity that the commercial trolley tours that go by now go right past the prison because everybody wants to see it, even if they don't have time to go in for a tour. So it has attracted some attention even nationally. It's not that far from the Art Museum. A lot of out-of-town visitors who do go to the Art Museum can find their way there. And this, I think, is considered a World Heritage site. It's a very significant site. Unfortunately, you know, it's extraordinarily expensive to be able to really restore the building, so what we're doing is sort of a holding action, hoping that other resources from other sources, other than the City, will be found to put into this development. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 101 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

Well, million seems like a lot, though.

We will put 1 if they put 5 4. And it may take them a while to get the 4.

So what you're saying is that once this gets in the budget, it gets carried forward each year.

Right, but not spent until they come up with a match.

My next question is, you mentioned that --

Councilman, is your microphone on?

It is.

Well, I was having difficulty hearing you.

My next question is, when I heard the Liberty Bell mentioned, it reminded me that we have a lot of art and valuable possessions here in the City of Philadelphia. And in conversations with the Public Art Office, I find that they desperately need to do an inventory to determine what they have, what condition it's in, what we believe we have, and I COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 102 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 understand that that is not going to be funded.

No, I think it was, it was. It's in the Commerce Department. Let me see if I can find it. We've already funded the first phase of that, and I believe the rest of the money is in here to complete it. Oh, it is line 52, $200,000 to complete inventory.

That is in here right now?

Yes.

Well, that's good to hear because I was told differently, that it was not in the budget.

I think -- excuse me? I couldn't hear you.

I was told that it was not in the budget. So you're telling us it is?

No, I think what happened was, you know, we do this in stages and conference with departments, and we send out a first draft to all of the departments before Christmas. And at that time, either it wasn't COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 103 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 included or only partial funding was included, and they kind of appealed and gave us more information, and we provided the rest of the fund -- the rest of the funding got in when we did the final version.

And the people that work there know this?

Yes. Carol Lawrence knows this.

Okay, my final question is, we talked about the Youth Study Center. And there's been some concern out there, especially since it's a shift operation, about additional employee parking. Do you know if there been any requests to expand the off-street parking for the Youth Study Center?

No. That did not come up in the budget discussions that we had.

Thank you. No further questions, Mr. President.

The Chair recognizes Councilmember DiCicco.

Thank you, Mr. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 104 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 President. What happened to your clock?

Oh, we've been trying to survive without it. I'm sure when that operating budget shows up, we'll --

Oh, okay, it's in there somewhere.

-- we'll dust off that clock.

Okay, thank you. My question is -- now, I'm not sure who would be prepared to answer this, probably either Barbara Kaplan or Steve Mullin. It's about the line item number 47, Avenue of the Arts, specifically the north improvements. Could you just give me an overview of what those improvements are and how far north we're going.

Okay. These are really streetscape improvements for Broad Street, from City Hall north to Lehigh Avenue. Now, we're not going to --

What hundred is it?

We're not going to do COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 105 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 every single block all the way to Lehigh Avenue, and I'll explain, but it was always intended that we would do a streetscape treatment on North Broad Street the way did on South Broad Street. There are two difficulties, or two issues, that we needed to come to grips with. One is, there's a much longer distance that was laid out. And the second one was that, you know, and nobody was going to walk like -- it wasn't really a walkable distance, and that there are a lot of blocks in that area that are, you know, for industrial uses or that don't really need a streetscape because somebody's not really going to really walk there. But a plan was done by the Delta Group under contract to the Streets Department with a lot of community and business participation. And then they came up with an overall concept which treats certain major -- provides custom treatments for specific intersections where there is a lot of commercial activity or where it's anticipated that there will be activity, either commercial activity or arts activity on North Broad Street, such as Girard Avenue, Cecil B. Moore Avenue, where COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 106 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 there's already a lot of activity because of the Apollo, Broad and Susquehannah. And you know, a couple of others. And these concepts for these specific intersections have been included in a plan. There's also a concept for the interior block treatment to be applied wherever there's a block where there's development activity or arts activity that needs us to come along and complete the package by putting in that kind of treatment. Now, we did get money from the State, 3 million, I think, 3.15 million or something like that, which we showed in last year's capital budget. And this year we're putting in the $2.5 million of City money. So we have a significant amount of money to start that project. And, as I said, there is a concept plan. What we now have to do is to go into design and bid documents, but we can definitely start implementation of that in the budget year.

Okay, thank you. I'm aware of the improvements, and I think they're necessary, and I would encourage that. And while they're all taking place in the Fifth District -- COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 107 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 (Laughter.)

And I know that a certain portion of money went into the First District and part of the Second District as far south as Washington Avenue, but that's just about a mile south of City Hall. And when I look at North Broad Street going to Lehigh, I would also like to encourage -- and I've had some discussions, I believe with you, Miss Kaplan, and Steve and, I believe, Dean about doing some additional improvements, maybe not as elaborate as the improvement on South Broad Street going to Washington Avenue, but going from Washington Avenue to maybe Patterson. And that way, the First and Second District can share part of that capital budget improvements. Because, you know, I've had some ideas about Passyunk Avenue, which you've been very helpful with, all of you, and I thank you for that. But I would like to, going forward, see what we can do about finding some money in capital improvements to enhance the appearance of Broad Street going south. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 108 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

Well, we might take a similar approach as with North Broad Street, where we focus on those activities.

At Broad and Snyder, that intersection?

Yeah. It's a similar kind of situation, correct.

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you. I'd like to ask some questions about a much more long-range kind of concern that we always have to have. And I'd like for somebody to, for my own recollection, explain it -- and for the edification of Councilmembers and others who might be observing us here, explain where our capital debt limits come from.

I'll turn that over to Dean.

I used to know this.

The City has --

Trick question.

It is, of course, a trick question. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 109 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 The City has several different numbers which we call our capital debt limit. The formal capital debt limit is the amount the City's allowed to have as borrowed indebtedness overall, and that's related to the tax rateables in the City, currently a little bit over $9 billion. A percentage of that, which I believe is about $1.5 billion is the number that the City's allowed to borrow G.O. borrowing for, and I don't know that number exactly but I will get it and forward it to you. So that's the cap that the State law sets as to what the City can borrow to finance various G.O. projects. And currently, we have spent about half of that, so there's about 7 or $800 million remaining, which sounds like a lot of money until you realize that we're looking at a capital budget G.O. borrowing every year of about $125 million. So that is an issue which, in the next four or five years, we're going to have to look at very closely.

Where do we find these debt limits in State law?

I don't know exactly, but COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 110 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 I'll get a cite for you and forward it. I believe it's in the First Class City Bond Act, but not being an attorney, I could be very wrong.

Get what you can. And it is my understanding that in order to do this capital program, you're talking about borrowing 127.5 million of new tax-supported loan dollars?

Yes.

When do you anticipate such a question?

As the normal procedure would be to take a -- we've proposed to Council a loan authorization ordinance. We would go to the voters in May, and we're proposing to go to the bond market in September.

Do you propose to go to the bond market in May of 1998?

Probably in September of 1998.

Do you propose to go to the voters in May of 1998?

Yes.

What I'd like for COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 111 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 you to do is produce some kind of analysis which shows over the next five years or so what our debt capacity looks like and where we are in it, with a view toward giving anybody that might have some question about any of this the comfort that we need to know that we aren't overspending on the capital side. And I'd like for you to also include in that analysis what the operating budget implication of all of this is. And I say that because -- and I guess I'm also speaking to Councilman Nutter here and other members who have raised this. And you could correct me if I'm wrong. You're proposing to spend an additional $127 million. That could be 135, it could be 140, it could be 110. So if Council decided we think 127 is too aggressive, right, I mean, we could say we want to take all of that money for those recreation centers out of the budget. Just kidding. Or, I mean, we could recommend, you know, some reduction in the spending. Is it fair to say we could also recommend some increases in the spending? COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 112 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

Obviously, Council has that opportunity. I think when I provide this analysis, you'll see that we're -- I believe we're pushing the limit on what we're borrowing now. This is probably the maximum we may borrow.

Well, now, you can't have it both ways. I thought you said that we were in good shape.

I think we are in good shape, but I don't think we want to go out and add 10 or $20 million a year for the next several years, either.

All right. What I would like for you to do is provide an analysis based on your best judgment that justifies the $127 million and suggests to us that it shouldn't be anymore than that and that it shouldn't be any less than that either. Because, in every case, people are exercising some judgments about what should be spent and how it should be spent. And I think it would be useful for us to know why it is you're recommending that we spend this amount of money, and not some amount less and not some amount COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 113 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 more. Okay?

Okay.

Now. . . I think my time is up. I will now go back to Councilwoman Tasco.

Thank you. I have a couple of questions for Miss Bittenbinder. Could you tell me, what does your department do, what duties in your department are duties that were within the Procurement Department. What is the relationship there?

There's no 14 duplication. The Procurement Department and the Capital Procurement Office work hand in glove to bid out public works. And basically, we design the projects and we give them to the Procurement Department to advertise for bid and they manage that bidding in award process. The Procurement Department and the Capital Program Office do work together in order to find efficiencies and accelerate the rates of bidding and contracting.

Okay. The $1 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 114 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 million to support positions, is that 22 additional positions --

No, they -- 5

-- in addition to 6 the 85 positions? 7

Yes, that's correct. 8 The 22 people that are paid out of Operating are 9 employees that we do not have justification for 10 them to be paid out of the capital budget because 11 they either do not directly manage capital 12 budgets, they're more the operations side of the 13 department. 14

Are they included 15 in the 85? That's what I wanted to be clear on, 16 maybe I didn't -- 17

No, they're not. 18

So you have 22 19 operating positions that are positions from the 20 operating side of the budget? 21

That's correct. It 22 should be noted in the 85 paid out of Capital, there are 6 employees who reside in the Department of Public Property and they are from the Communications Division, but we pay for them out COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 115 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 of Capital because there's eligibility there, but yet, we do not manage those employees. And also included in the 85 are from 5 the Fairmount Park Commission. 6

Okay, thank you. 7 Mr. Mullin, could you tell me, what are 8 the projects that would be funded in the Economic 9 Stimulus Program? And how are those projects 10 developed and determined to be funded? 11

By that, I understand from 12 the earlier conversation, you were talking about 13 the port proceeds portion? 14

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, 15 item 66 on in the Capital Program, the 16 yellow book. 17

The yellow book, let's see. We have not concluded a full listing, but the types of projects that we have thought about including in this allocation include things that we -- that in the past we have included in the Neighborhood Economic Development section or a portion of allocation of the Stimulus Program projects, such as fundings for projects associated COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 116 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 with the Schuykill Falls Hope Six project, the West Parkside Retail Project with the Empowerment Zone, additions to Partners in Progress which we've funded in the past through stimulus programs, housing projects, potential housing projects, including one in your district as a possibility and the infrastructure there.

I want to know what housing project you're talking about, because I haven't had any conversation with you --

Right. COUNCILWOMAN TASCO -- about putting any money in the budget for a housing project in my district.

I know we haven't. We're familiar with some discussions, and these again are only -- these are not allocations that are set in stone or commitments that we make.

Well, how much did you allocate for the housing project in my district?

We -- Barbara says she thinks it's about 4 million; I would have said about or million. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 117 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

Okay. And so how did you all come to that determination that you should allocate the money to a project?

I guess two steps. One is, this was a project that if it's something that looks like a project that would get the kind of consensus and approval and wanted to move forward, this would be the type of source of funding out of all the types of sources that we could identify. This would be the type of project that we would say would fit here, and it looks like it would be a good type of expenditure out of here. Again, this is not meant to mean to say that we have said yes, absolutely.

Well, when were you all going to talk to me about it?

Pardon me?

When were you going to talk to me about it?

Uh --

See, what you all do is put us in the position of being the bad guy. So you determined that you're going to appropriate money for a project in my district without any COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 118 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 conversations, and we may have another group that may want to do some work, and then we pull the money from the project, and then we are the bad guy.

Right, right.

Without any conversation with the District Councilperson, you appropriate money for a project in my district without any conversation.

Yeah, that's why I want to try to make it very clear, there's nothing that's appropriating money out of the allocations of the money. We are proposing an overall appropriation of -- I want to say 39 million, whatever the number is there. But the allocations of that -- in other words, what will be spent is still under determination. We wouldn't want to propose anything that people are not -- without going though with the various District Councilpeople.

Well, see, now I'll get a news article tomorrow that says that the City in the capital budget has $4 million for a developmental of housing. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 119 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

No, it is not in the capital budget. There is not --

Well, I'm just saying, you know, because when I asked earlier what was the money going to be for, my good friend Barbara Kaplan said that there's money there for the Temple Stadium site. And that poses a problem for me up there with that Temple Stadium site because we're nowhere near talking about any development on the Temple Stadium site. So then what? The people in my district are going to call me, they're not going to call you. And I have to explain to them how it got there.

Let me just clarify something. This money is being transferred from the capital budget to the operating budget, so it's not in the capital program. And when we make appropriations in the capital program, they do have to be fairly specific for specific projects. This money that will be transferred to the operating budget, as I indicated before, probably there will be a contract with PIDC for them to administer the money. And that money will COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 120 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 be -- is flexible at that point and, you know, subject, as I indicated earlier, to, you know, some of the ideas that people have for how this money could be used may fall out. I mean, a lot of development projects, you know, are very uncertain. Sometimes they seem like a good idea and then they're not financeable or they're not wanted or for other reasons, they drop out. So that this is -- this isn't -- these projects are, first of all, not in the capital budget. And, second of all, they're certainly not set in stone, you know, the way the line items you see here are for other specifically mentioned projects. So there's plenty of opportunity for those projects to be discussed, you know, and for various decisions to be made as to whether this money would even be allocated for those purposes.

Certainly, I would like to have some discussion regarding any of the stimulus money that is targeted for the Ninth Councilmatic District because there may be other priorities that we may have other than what you COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 121 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 might think. And I don't know who you're talking to in my district. And, certainly, our constituents hold us accountable for what goes on in the district. Thank you very much.

The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rizzo.

Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to go back to a question that I asked earlier, for some clarification. And since Mr. Mullin's here, I'll direct the question to him. I asked the question about the inventory of art and the condition of it throughout the City. And Barbara Kaplan's answer was that there is money in the budget, $200,000. Now, I read that it's for a conservation of art. From what I understand, $200,000 does not include an audit. This is not enough money to complete a City-wide audit of all of the art that may be out there. So I need to hear from Mr. Mullin, will $200,000 cover the conservation of all existing COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 122 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 art and also provide a City-wide audit to find out what we have and what we don't have?

Let me -- now I understand what you're getting at. I apologize that I didn't get it the right way before. There has already been an audit of all of the -- I think it's still being completed, but the money has been allocated from previous capital programs for the Art Commission to undertake that inventory. And we have also put some money in the past, and the additional $200,000 in this year, to begin to address those pieces of public art that we found out through the inventory really need some attention. I believe one of the pieces that will be done this year is the football -- the Punter statue by the Stadium. It is considered to be in very bad condition and needs immediate attention. I think the only piece that we did not fund shown is -- and it's shown in the out-year as an additional -- an assessment of memorials and markers that are placed throughout the City, some of them not necessarily -- most of them probably COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 123 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 not placed with City money because they may have come from a veterans' organization or some other private, nonprofit organization for a specific purpose. Those are the ones don't have the inventory of, and that's what got delayed into the out-years of the program. I think you'll see it there. There's 75 -- you can't tell it from the blue book, you have to look in this. If you look there, you'll see the $200,000 in the budget year and then the $75,000, I think, that was for that assessment of memorials and markers that had been deferred to a later year. But the big assessment of the public art that is City-owned and, you know, on public property, that money is funded. I think in the course of doing that study, the people doing it kind of came to understand that we had all these other sort of markers that were out there and memorials and not necessarily originally placed by the City, but that we really ought to know where they are because most of those are on public land. And by default, we're probably responsible for them. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 124 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 And so that's what's been deferred.

I would hope, Mr. Mullin, that the folks in that Public Art Office know that because of the fact that many people have an interest in these memorials that have been placed on public land. And, you know, we've had this discussion or the impression that this is on the shelf and not going to be addressed.

Right. I will talk with Carol there. I was under the impression that she realized that the accelerated schedule that they were originally requesting was put in -- it was -- actually, it was around where the initial amount, which, as Barbara mentioned first, was increased. But we basically had to put in the out-years -- namely 2000, 2001, and 2002 -- the continuation of those programs. But I'll talk to Carol about that, to make sure she knows.

Do you feel as though that that really should be delayed, knowing that --

I voted in City Planning for this allocation here. And I probably would have -- I mean, I've supported my office's and the COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 125 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 Public Art's Office request, but I think that this is a good first and second step, but a third and fourth will still be needed, and we're also trying to see whether or not there's some other potential sources that we can speed up, especially the non-publicly-owned memorials.

Thank you, Mr. Mullin. Thank you, Miss Kaplan.

Mr. Mullin, let's go back to , line 66, Port Proceeds Account Transfer, the Economic Stimulus Program. I assume this must be the money that -- I seem to recall toward the tail-end of the June session, I believe we had an appropriations bill 16 for upwards of $30 million for the Economic Stimulus Program.

At the end of last fiscal year?

Right toward the end of --

Yes, yes.

And this is that money?

No, this is -- this would COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 126 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 be monies for FY '99, beginning July 1. These are monies that are currently found in the Port Proceeds Account in the capital -- stored in the -- accounted for in the capital account.

All right. Well, what happened to that appropriations bill?

I believe the $30 million you're referring to are proceeds from the tax lien sale, which were similarly appropriated to the Commerce Department and transferred to the PDIC for the Economic Stimulus Program. The Commerce Director would have to give you a detailed breakout of how those were spent.

Well, let's talk about that first. So you're saying that the PDIC has upwards of $30 million in economic stimulus fund proceeds.

The Commerce Department, through the appropriation last June, amended -- we amended our stimulus contract with PDIC to add 30 million, and that 30 million was broken down at 15 million in the business retention and attraction loan pool, $10 in neighborhood economic development and $5 million in housing. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 127 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 And those funds -- I don't know the exact amount that's left now, but those funds had been used, and I can get you the total amount. But overall, the stimulus program has received in the last two and a half, three years, approximately $65 million.

And is it your testimony that that $30 million has either already been spent or allocated already?

No, definitely not spent. And I don't know the exact proportion, but I would say some proportion and probably on the order of at least half or more in each of those accounts. The total 5 million, for example, in housing has been committed. John Kromer has several projects that extended the earlier stimulus housing programs. And the neighborhood economic development, I would say, is about half committed. And I think the business retention and attraction is about two-thirds or more committed. And by "committed," that means identified for projects through PIDC through the City, and it does not necessarily mean expended.

Okay. That, I COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 128 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 guess, takes us back to the initial questions. I think, prior to your arriving here, that Councilwoman Tasco and Councilwoman Krajewski raised questions about dollars being committed to various projects, apparently prior to the respective District Councilmember's knowing that a project is apparently moving along and is attracting or carrying some funding with it. You said you can get us a full accounting of the $30 million?

Yes.

Okay. And why is it that lists get developed and projects get developed for funding prior to virtually any contact with the appropriate Councilmember? Why does that happen?

Well, I'd like to -- there are really -- I mean, these are two separate things, I believe. The 30 million in the previous stimulus years, those were when City Council made the appropriation and the Commerce Department made the contract with PDIC. What we did was we gave broad COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 129 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 categories, basically the broad categories that I just mentioned: neighborhood economic development, business retention and attraction, and housing. And the first year we had the Administration and the Mayor's Business Action Team, Services to Businesses, those broad categories. And through the course of the economic development calendar and year, various projects, deals, transactions, retention cases, programs would either be designated, be developed, be thought about, and we'd identify, Well, perhaps we can find some stimulus funding or perhaps we can find some funding from block grant or any of the other sources that we have. So that's how those in the previous years have been developed. In this year, when we're talking about the port proceeds, one of the things that we wanted to try to take a look at was, are there some projects that we know of at whatever level, even if it's just people just talking very -- you know, very, very preliminarily. Right now, are there some projects that COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 130 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 don't seem to fit block grant, for example. They aren't in areas that are block grant-eligible, don't seem to fit capital because they won't involve our ownership. And they're the types of projects that we might -- if they came up, we might say, Well, let's take a look at stimulus funding as a possibility. All we were doing in this particular case was saying, Here are some things that we know are out there, as we sort of culled around internally who's working on what or who knows something there. We said, How many of these programs or how many of these projects are there that we might want to look at and propose in advanced as opposed to ex post?

Well, let me ask you this question. I mean, has the thought ever occurred to anyone that prior to or in conjunction with all this thinking and ruminating about various ideas and projects, that you might actually want to go and talk to the people who represent specific areas of the City and see what their concerns are or needs are or where they might have a project that's having potential COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 131 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 funding problems or that's having trouble getting off the ground? Did that ever --

Absolutely.

Absolutely thought about it or --

Yes.

Or absolutely, you'd like to do it?

Yes, absolutely. Both thought about it -- and part of what I think I had definitely expected and I think what we were estimating was during the course of the budgetary deliberations, we would talk about these projects or these types of projects here as part of the discussion about the port proceeds and the allocation. The two that are specified, that Barbara has already mentioned, the two that are specified from this source of funds that are actually in the capital budget are the Food Distribution Center and the Avenue of the Arts North Streetscape match. But those are the only ones that are identified in the capital budget as specific COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 132 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 projects that we would ask that ultimately through this, we would ask for actual appropriation. Everything else would be, Here are some potential projects.

Well, then I may have missed a part of that testimony. Are you saying that those two projects are coming out the of the 38 --

No. 11

-- 750? Or they're totally separate allocations?

They're coming from the same port proceeds pot, but that 3 million's being taken off of the top.

What's the Business Development Program, $10,850,000?

That's the Business Retention and Attraction Loan Program. That's basically the lending program that we have that augments the --

So now it has its own separate allocation of funds. What do you plan to use the $27,900,000 of the Economic Stimulus Program on? COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 133 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002

The 27 million, that is -- that's the preliminary list of, say, about or 4 16 possible uses that include the housing project 5 that we were discussing here earlier. 6 Again, but those are not set in stone. 7 It's sort of, Here are some things that we have 8 been working on. I mentioned two. We've been 9 talking about increasing the amount to Partners 10 for Progress, some potential funds for the reuse 11 of the Sovereign Oil site that has already been 12 discussed here in Council. 13 We've been talking about increasing the 14 -- one example of a project that we're looking at 15 would be in commercial corridors, looking at developing some type of program with less fettered funds, that would allow us to help the development of parking. As you know, in some of the cases in your district, if we don't own the land, just virtually every one of our sources of funding doesn't allow us to do something that in some commercial districts is just about the life blood, and that is to help provide parking.

So are there less COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 134 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE/BILL 980001, 980002 restrictions on these dollars than there have been in previous economic stimulus fund dollars?

No, I don't think -- I don't say "less" than those. These would be the same as the stimulus dollars in the sense that they have less restrictions than the block grant primarily on what area you can use or the capital funds.

Well, where did these dollars exactly come from? I mean, why do we have this money?

I do recall something from my days as Finance Director, but that's a little bit rusty, and if I could ask Dean Kaplan to identify that.