We have an initiative called "West Philadelphia on the Move" where we're trying to train and employ West Philadelphians. This training program alone would allow for 150 people per year. The University of Pennsylvania's already started it, West Philadelphia on the Move is in concert with them, and we're working with them in their Skills Development Center and have a new program with 52 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE regard to the hotel industry where we want to involve the training of people. We want to be involved at the level that others are, and we just don't know how to do that. You mentioned the High School Academies and OIC, which is absolutely great, but we want to be involved at some level. I don't know how this is done.
But we want to be involved at some level to certainly help these youngsters and certainly unemployed adults in the area.
Excellent. Greater Philadelphia First has also put forward a task force to consider and look at all of these different organizations that are in the City and trying to give them counsel, advice, and help to be able to get those potential employees into our buildings and into this industry. There's no question about all the growth that's happening here in the City with hotels. And even as an employer of 550 staff members and a target for many of those staff 53 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE members to join other properties. We would be delighted to have another organization helping. If I can be of help, then please call upon me.
Thank you 'cause I know that they receive funding, and certainly, we want these folks to be eligible to receive funding as well. That's specifically what I'm asking you -- not for advice only, but for the opportunity to receive funding as well.
It's my understanding that the source of the funds for both OIC and the High School Academies and also Mercy Academy is through the hotel tax via PCCA, Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority. And I don't know if it's legislation or how ever, you know, the money is disbursed there. It goes through PCCA, and you're right, it's about a million a year to those variety of training institutes, so I would talk to them.
Okay, that would be fine. Thank you very much. Any questions from any other members of the committee for certainly Mr. Cima while he's 54 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE here? (No questions.)
Thank you very much. The next person to testify will be Ashley Andrus, for the President of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. (Ashley Andrus comes forward.)
Thank you. Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed.
Good morning, Madam Chair and members. My name is Ashley Andrus, I am Director of Public Policy for the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. And I'll just summarize my testimony; I don't want to belabor a lot of points that have already been made. But I just wanted to come here kind of -- the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce is a membership organization, and I'm sort of wearing two different hats because among our membership include the vast majority of the hotels in the City as well as GPTMC. So obviously, they're supportive and we're supporting their 55 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE efforts. But also the business community at large is supportive of this because the business community sees a spin-off value of the hotel industry and hospitality as a whole, and are concerned about the great investment that the City has made in hospitality and want to make sure that we maximize those dollars. And because marketing is such a vital component of that, we're supportive of this tax increase. And I think it's important to note that Mr. Cima referred to this as an economic development bill, and I would wholeheartedly agree with that because the hotel community does serve as an employer and a source of jobs for a number of people in our communities of varying skills, and would even be an important component of welfare-to-work efforts throughout the City. And they represent a number of jobs and a number of dollars to the City's bottom line. And I think it's important to note also that the hotels are in support of a tax on themselves. It's not something that's a common occurrence, but they recognize the importance of 56 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE the marketing and maximizing that investment. And they have taken a look at what this extra tax means and they want to make sure they remain competitive and have made sure that the room 6 rental rates will be competitive. But also, we want to make sure that the amount of marketing that's done for Philadelphia is competitive with that of our competitors within the hospitality field nationwide. So in short, the State has stepped up and played its role, and Pew has also come to the plate with an offer, and I think it's important that the City kind of make its share available to GPTMC as well. So we would urge a swift approval of this bill. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Any questions? (No questions.)
Thank you very much. We will now have testimony from Meryl Levitz, CEO and President of Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation. 57 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE
Thank you very much, Councilwoman Blackwell and members of the committee. I'm joined here today by our Vice President Karen Lewis, with whom I'm going to share the testimony; we're going to tag-team it a little bit; by Rachael Delano, our Director of Marketing; and Angela Patterson, Assistant and Hotel Liaison. I'm also going to address the question that Councilwoman Clark and Tasco asked as well, because we think that's important. For the record, we are here to speak to you about GPTMC's role in Philadelphia's economic development and to testify in support of Bill 16 990116 and the amendment proposed by the Administration. We'd like to thank you again for your support since we began. The 500,000 and the million, the million and a half were really a risk that everybody took together because Philadelphia never before had had an advertising campaign outside of Philadelphia itself. Without this support, Philadelphia would not have achieved the following in the last two years: a sustained 58 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE and effective television campaign which, I remind you, is the first for the City; and a national print promotional campaign. Last year, according to the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, we had a percent 7 increase in tourism after only one year of this campaign. We were able, by two separate studies, to generate an additional 1,133,000 trips made to Philadelphia in one year alone, and that generated an additional $97 million in incremental expenditures by these visitors. There was a return to the City, in other words, of $55 for every advertising dollar that's spent. This support also enabled to us give MAC, the Multi-cultural Advisory Congress, a $40,000 grant to help us strengthen Philadelphia's presence as a top destination for African-American visitation. In addition to the grant for MAC, we were able to support the following multicultural efforts, and I have a list of vendors and also efforts here, if anybody would like to see them, but I'll go through them quickly. $15,000 to the Fly Away Program, which 59 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE is an American Airlines MAC initiative; $15,000 to the Underground Rail Tour Development Program; $30,000 to the Cultural Junket; $15,000 in each of two years to African-Americans Expose, 1997 and 1998, at the Convention Center; A $30,000 grant to African-American Women on Tour; $15,000 to PECO Energy in '98; $40,000 to the Black Nativity production at Freedom Theater; $40,000 to Cooley High at Freedom Theater; $15,000 to Pathfinders Tourism Program; And $50,000 this year to Love is More Than a Game, which included the PECO Energy Jazz Weekend of 1999. I would now like to introduce Karen Lewis, because Karen oversees this grant program, the multicultural effort and also all of our research.
Thank you. Good morning. As mentioned earlier, the Greater 60 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation is a public-private partnership between the City of Philadelphia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the Pew Charitable Trust. In 1996, the Trust commissioned a study to determine how Philadelphia could increase its share of the booming global travel industry. Among the study's first finding were the following: Philadelphia was spending only $200,000 per year on tourism advertising, a stark contrast to the spending of its many competitors. The city, therefore, was suffering from a weak, fuzzy, and sometimes negative image in the minds of the public, the travel industry, and the media. In 1994, the City's media spending ranked 21st out of 28 major cities monitored, and last out of 16 smaller cities measured. Meeting planners ranked Philadelphia 32rd out of 50 as a desirable destination. Philadelphia spending was running counter to that of its competitors; and as a result, Philadelphia was losing out in terms of day-trippers, overnight visitors, retail spending, tax revenues, and job growth. 61 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE Yet, as the study concluded, the Rendell Administration had also recognized that tourism could serve Philadelphia very well as a replacement industry; therefore, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation was created as a three-year $12 million in total initiative dedicated to increasing Philadelphia's prominence as a primary destination.
Last year, the Hotel Association voted unanimously to raise the hotel room rental tax by 1 percentage point in order to continue this work on behalf of the City. As you know, the State legislature passed this measure in November of '98, and the Governor signed in December. Governor Ridge has also pledged to continue the 1.5 million per year, and the Pew Charitable Trusts are now considering a final round of operating support in the amount of $2.25 million over the next three years. Both of these revenue streams are triggered by the passage of the tax in City Council at this time. Indeed, we go out of business on June 30th, last bill's paid the middle of August if this tax is not passed, and the City would again 62 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE be without an advertising and promotional budget. This loss would be especially difficult to recover from at this critical time. We would be in the middle of our tourist season and would have no 6 time to regain the lost momentum. The City is adding 4,000 additional hotel rooms to its inventory, which can supply a insanity number of new jobs if occupancy levels at all our hotels stay healthy. The City is adding new tourism attractions which are going to need considerable support. The City is competing for millennium visitation, and the City is hosting a major political convention which, among other things, brings in 15,000 members of the media, for a minimum of one week, to tell not only the Convention story but the Philadelphia story. The additional 1 percent makes the total tax paid by our visitors 14 percent rather than 13. We remain well within the acceptable limits. And the taxes, of course, are paid by visitors, not by our residents. As the advertising campaign has been very effective, due in large part to our celebrity spokespersons such as Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, 63 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE Kevin Bacon, Dr. J., and Nicole Miller, continued funding would enable us to build on the image correction that has been necessary. We would like just to take three minutes to show you six of the spots that be play in the New York to D.C. area 'cause I think these will answer some questions as well. Thanks, Ang and Rich. (Six Philadelphia promotional spots played on VCR).
Thank you. Before I continue, I just also wanted to mention that it was stated earlier that our competition is New York, Baltimore, Washington, and some of the other cities. Those cities have actually contacted us and asked us to give presentations in their respective cities because they have seen the commercials and they've seen some of the results of what we've down. So they believe that we are making progress and wanted us to help them along that path as well, so I just wanted to add that. In the hopes that we receive our funding, here are some other initiatives that we 64 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE would like to do. We would like to zero in on specific travel itineraries based around a multicultural tourism and cultural tourism initiatives. In 1996, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation funded the Multicultural Affairs Congress to produce a guideline for us in our advertising buy, promotional support, and grant program. Additional research included in your packet outline the positive response African-American travelers have towards Philadelphia as a desirable travel destination. This indicates that they are familiar with our multicultural project and are visiting in response to our efforts. In fact, percent of 18 our visitors are African-American. We are 19 dedicated to increasing this number and are in the 20 process of incorporating yet more of our 21 multicultural message in our upcoming campaign. 22 For example, the following initiatives 23 are now in development: A specific African- American travel television spot, and this would feature some of 65 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE the attractions like Mother Bethel, the African-American Museum, Freedom Theater, possibly the Johnson House. Also highlight some events that take place here in the City -- the PECO Energy Jazz Festival, Unity Day, and maybe some events at the Apollo as well as some of the activities with "Go West" in West Philadelphia; We also, for example, have advertised in various multicultural print publications -- Essence, Ebony, Black Enterprise, and Pathfinders; An expanded multicultural Share The Heritage Guide will incorporate many of the multicultural attractions mentioned; And also a do-your-own heritage Website with itineraries, camera-ready press releases for the African-American, Latino, and other multicultural weekly newspapers around the country; We'd also like to highlight some of the well-known celebrities that have either lived here or have an association with Philadelphia. For instance, Marian Anderson, Billy Holiday, John Coltrane, Henry Tanner, and Paul Robeson; Emphasize the fact that Philadelphia is 66 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE now a restaurant city, hotel city, and night life city; Emphasize the no-sales-tax on clothing, shopping opportunities we have here like the King of Prussia Mall and the Franklin Mills Mall; Extend our geographic reach into Illinois, Florida, California, and Texas, all good feeder markets for multicultural, cultural and special-event travelers; Produce and promote special-interest packages to support hotel occupancy not only during the traditional season but at "soft" times, such as the holiday and the first-quarter months; Build a travel-friendly Website that is so necessary to continue and compete. Attracting overnight visitors is not easy. Competition is strong and close by, and they are not going to wait for us. Tourists cannot be manufactured when more are needed. When a city is out to get more tourists, it has to steal them from other destinations; it has to get them to come here rather than to the hundreds of other destinations that are all vying for them. It is a very "you-have-to-play" business, and we 67 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE can't "pay" for only two years and expect results for five. In addition, Philadelphia has to play largely in one of the two most expensive media markets in the company -- New York.
If Philadelphia is going to stay in this business and utilize it to drive economic development, it needs the hotel tax from our visitors to make sure we continue to have visitors. It's not enough to have the best hotels, restaurants, attractions, neighborhoods, and people ready to love you back; we have tell the travel industry, the traveler, and the media that we do. The way to do that is a strong, consistent, well-targeted advertising and promotional program that defines the value of the experience for the travelers and invites them to spend here time with us. We'd like to thank you for the opportunity to testify today and answer any of your questions. In addition to this testimony supplied, we've supplementary materials in the packets that you have. You have an Advertising Campaign Overview, the Co-op Matching Grants Advertising Program, the Three-Year Budget, some 68 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE letters of support and sample materials. We also have with us today some of the samples of the print ads. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. In your testimony, you mention Pew as one of those who you are targeting for contributions. Do you have other major contributors in mind, and who might they be?
Yes. We've already secured Visa USA who, once they were assured that we probably were going to be permanent, have come back for a renewing grant. When we opened, they were very excited and gave us $600,000 over the first two years. We were able to work with them and they worked with us to increase Visa spending in the region by 31 percent. So they were very happy. They realized that the Philadelphia region is a very good market for them and us, so they've come back for another $300,000. We're working with the William Penn Foundation on getting grants for the upcoming Gateway Visitors Center. They gave a grant of 69 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE which percent will go to us to help open the Gateway Visitors Center and to make sure it represents Philadelphia and the region. We're currently working with the Chamber of Commerce, SEPTA, Amtrak, U.S. Airways, PECO --
Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, we're also working with the Chamber of Commerce, Amtrak, SEPTA, PECO, Coca Cola -- and I'm leaving somebody out. We're also working on a VFR program, which would -- it means "Visiting Friends and Relatives" -- to turn the people in the region -- I'm sorry, you're right, Karen, thanks. PNI has come on as a large sponsor so that we're able to do some advertising locally so that our own residents can become more active --
And what's the name of that company? 70 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE
PNI, Philadelphia Newspapers. It's The Inquirer and The Daily News. So that we can convert our own local residents into more active and enthusiastic hosts when people come here for the millennium, for the Republican National Convention, or whatever, and to support neighborhood growth.
All right. We have a list of vendors that was just given to us. I assume that these are minority companies?
We certainly would like a list of all vendors. And let me also ask you -- and how vendors are used. We'd like a full list of all vendors with regard to this program, what part they play, and what percentage of the money they get. We would also like to know how these vendors are chosen, as well as how the multicultural initiatives on , how these folks are chosen to receive funding. Maybe you can answer the latter question now.
Yeah 'cause that would take a long time, some of the questions. Do you want to go over the grant program? Let's start 71 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE with your last question, which was how the grant awardees are chosen.
GPTMC has a co-op advertising grants program. It's an opportunity for communities organizations, cultural institutions to apply for a marketing grant from us to advertise and market their specific programs outside of Philadelphia. In order to be considered, you have to, of course, apply by filling out an application, but there are two requirements that you must have. One is an overnight component, meaning that you must have a hotel-room night program attached to whatever your event or activity is. The second is that you must fill out an application, and that application then comes to us, and we have a committee that reviews those applications and makes recommendations to our board of directors. Our board of directors actually makes the final decision on any grants that GPTMC awards. And, again, it is very focused on advertising and marketing. 72 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE So, for instance, a person couldn't apply to us to get programming support; it has to be marketing and advertising support. And then they must match that by showing us how they're advertising and marketing those programs here.
Let me ask you a question. You said they have to have the ability to have hotel room accommodation. Now, Freedom Theater is a Philadelphia institution, we all love Freedom Theater, but certainly, Freedom Theater gives shows, daily shows. I don't understand the hotel room accommodation part you mentioned.
For instance, we worked with Freedom Theater on their successful Black Nativity program, and they then worked with hotels to create a package, which we could then advertise outside of Philadelphia so people could come in to see Black Nativity and stay overnight. They also included in that package opportunities for you to go on a multicultural tour and for you to have dinner at Zanzibar or Warm Daddy's.
Okay, so an organization doesn't necessarily have to have that 73 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE built in; you work to create a package that can be advertised outside of Philadelphia.
Correct. And we also provide assistance. For instance, Mickey Rowley sits on this committee from the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, so anyone that's having difficulty getting to a hotel, he can be of assistance in that area.
Okay. Now, for the other -- and so you will -- when are the grants available and what's the turnaround time for groups to receive a grant?
Normally, we award grants twice a year -- in the spring and in the fall. However, we're currently reviewing this entire program to make sure it's -- well, we believe that this a good time to review a lot of the programs that we're working on, but we feel this is a particularly a good time to go back and review everything that we've done with this program to make sure it's been effective. So although, in the past, it has been twice a year, we may revise that program and only have it once a year so that we can do more 74 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE advertising to support a lot of our community and cultural activities.
What we would like you to do, we're requesting that if you provide it to the Chair, I'll make it available to all members of the committee and Council information about any grant programs, when the applications are and the criteria so that we can let them know and be aware of this. And we're also requesting again the full vendor list and how that percentage works out.
Another thing that we do to advertise this program is try to get information in many of the newsletters the organizations have so that they can pass that on to people. If you don't have a newsletter, we'd ask people to post information on bulletin boards at their organizations, and we've also gone out to meet with people individually and to also speak to community groups to explain the program. So I just wanted to add that. 75 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE
Well, certainly I think that's great. We've been doing newsletters since, I guess -- let me see, oh, since my first or second year here, we do regular newsletters, and many people have started or do newsletters as well. So I think that that might be good information that we can pass out to members of our community. Certainly, in my district in West Philadelphia, we have the West Philadelphia Arts League.
And we have Partners for the Arts -- that is a West Philadelphia initiative. And we also have pledged as part of our West Philadelphia on the Move that the arts is one of the areas in which we want to focus. So a lot of us are interested in receiving this information so that we can let those who are interested be aware.
With that, let me ask Councilwoman -- I'm sorry, all right Councilwoman Tasco, then Councilman Kenney.
Good morning. 76 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE Thank you very much. The promotions are very good. How many people -- do you know how many visitors come to Philadelphia and stay in Philadelphia but go to Bucks County to visit or use Philadelphia as where they stay in the hotel but go to the outlying county?
We know that in the research that's attached, we haven't broken Bucks County out specifically, but we know that of the 10 million people who came here in 1997 for overnight visits, only about 2.5 million of them were the kind of leisure tourists that we need to increase. The others were visiting friends and relatives so they stayed with family or they were here for convention. We know that Philadelphia is a very prominent, what's called "hub-in-spoke destination" so that people may stay here and they do go out into the other counties. The most popular attractions in Bucks County for other visitors is shopping, it's Peddlers Village and New Hope, so they'll go to Bucks County for those things. If they have little kids, they'll go to 77 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE Sesame Place.
Well, since you testified earlier that they don't want to support the program financially, you have them advertised prominently displayed and promoted in one of your advertisements and on your brochures. It's one of the first counties that you list, probably listing them in alphabetical order, but --
The way the State's share of the money came in at first for the first three years, that was considered as sort of the counties -- the State was making the contribution for the counties. We also found for the research that the only county that outsiders really knew by its name was Bucks County, but they had no idea that Bucks was near Philadelphia, so we did use that to encourage more visitation to this area. We found that people really did not know where things were. We were still getting questions like, "How close is Philadelphia to Pennsylvania?" So we knew that we had to start out with making some extreme clarity in terms of mapping. We start with the real basics with this thing because when we said that the image was 78 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE negative or fuzzy, we were being very kind. We also found through the research that people don't really care where the county lines are, they don't care when they're crossing from Chester to Delaware or into Philadelphia, and there's really no point in letting them know. So for the first three years, we accepted this. However, we feel, and certainty the Hotel Association feels, that once the funding streams are changed, the counties really ought to ante up. They would argue, Councilwoman, that because Philadelphia gets most of the attention and most of the room nights, that the contribution should be proportionately less. We don't have a big problem with that but we believe that there should be a contribution.
These ads, now, what is your market, where do you promote them -- all across the country or just in targeted markets?
I wish we could promote them all across the country, but we don't have 79 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE nearly enough money to do that, so we concentrate in where the New York TV signal goes, and that's North Jersey, New York, Long Island, West Chester, Southern Connecticut. We go down to Baltimore and D.C., we go into central Pennsylvania. And through cable, we're able to go into Illinois, Florida, California, and Texas, which have proved to be good feeder markets for us, especially when they're hooked on to an event. We also know that with these markets, Philadelphia, as the place where it all began, the recognition of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall will become increasingly stronger as we go on, once the mall is redesigned. So we're looking forward to pushing that more. As soon as the Liberty Bell has it's new pavilion, we have the Gateway Visitors Center, the landscaping of the mall, etc. That's one thing we have that nobody else has.
One other question. Going to the festivals, who will now -- will you promote the Jumbalaya Jam PECO Festival, all those festivals that we've had? Who's going to be responsible for that, you or the 80 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE Philadelphia Visitors and Convention Bureau, or just what group?
It's going to be a combination of a few things, and each special event is really different. For the Jam, Penn's Landing has it's own in-house P.R. people, who are most concerned with the kind of publicity that you need to do for selling ticket, so they'll continue to be doing that. We'll do the outside, using the Jam as a regional image-builder. We would follow that basic formula with PECO Jazz, with Mummers Fest, with the Flower Show, with all of them, as we do now. Most of the events that have been around for ten years or more are very good at knowing where their local markets are and selling tickets to what they need. What haven't been able to do, and the basis of Karen's whole co-op Matching Grants Program is, is to enable them to extend their reach and use it as what we call a "destination definer" so that through these special events, people start understanding what Philadelphia really is. We would advertise them as well, 81 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE instead of just promoting.
I noticed in one of the films that we did a lot of advertising there for Valley Forge, which is certainly a part of this regional history, and obviously, we have a lot we could that we could advertise in Old City, the Liberty Bell, etc., etc. Are they somehow great contributors to this?
Yeah. They contributed $270,000 towards the placement of that spot. And we're really glad we did it because when we had the Republicans in to get them to do the Convention here, they were real thrilled to see a Bob Dole spot, so it paid off.
Thank you. Councilman Kenney and then Councilwoman Clark.
Thank you. What research has been completed or anticipated in an effort to attract European, South American, and Scandinavian tourists considering our expansion of regular routes through our airport to Europe and to South America 82 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE and Scandinavia? And what have we done in an effort to fold in the cruise ship opportunities that I understand this year is going to be very expansive, apparently, if we can get an arrangement with, I think, either Bermuda, where we may have every week a large cruise ship or two leaving Philadelphia over the course of weeks? 9 So could you talk a little bit those to 10 opportunities? 11
Sure. If you think that 12 local people are still fuzzy on where Philadelphia 13 is, you should start talking to people from other 14 countries. What we found is that until U.S. 15 Airways had direct flights here, it would have 16 been a waste of money entirely to try to establish Philadelphia as an international destination because people like to go where they can fly directly. Now that U.S. Airways has built up their routes, we have looked into what it would take. It would take about $3 million per country per year to be able to compete with all of the competitors who have been there who have had direct lift over these last years because what 83 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE happens now is, nobody is doing consumer advertising anywhere for Philadelphia in Europe or Asia. U.S. Airways does some consumer advertising for American routes but does not break out Philadelphia as a particular destination, and it did not include Philadelphia as city break tour when that program of four-day weekenders was very popular. In addition to the consumer, you need to be able to market to the travel agents. The European consumer and the Asian consumer use travel agents a lot more that we do, a lot more we do, and they are used to having their whole vacation in one envelope made up of vouchers. And so you need the travel agent and then you need to advertise to the tour operator because the travel agent goes and buys the trips from tour operator, who then sends them to the consumer. So, basically, for the U.K., it would take about $3 million for, as I said, for each of a number of years. And it would take a little bit more for some of the other countries because you have certain language problems. But right now the 84 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE consumer in these foreign countries is not really being talked to about Philadelphia. The other thing that would really help would be to have a movie that really celebrated Philadelphia. "City Slickers," for example, did an enormous amount for dude ranches, especially in the West -- they just bloomed, if a dude ranch can do that. Series like "Dynasty" and "Dallas," especially in the U.K. and Germany, just sent those two destinations, Denver and Dallas, into almost top of the mark in terms of that. We've had a number of great movies here but not the kind that really rally people to Philadelphia so we're working with the film office on that. In terms of the cruise ship terminal, that was one of the initiatives that GPTMC supported because we feel that this is a terrific addition to the Philadelphia product and can add nights on before and after.
I have one more comment. I wouldn't beat up too much on yourself about Philadelphia. The problem of people who 85 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE might not know where Philadelphia is might have something to do with the educational system across the country -- they probably don't teach geography anymore.
You know, that's a really good point. And we would also like to be able to correct the textbooks in America. All the 5th-graders read about Philadelphia, and what they read about Philadelphia is that it was really hot and sticky and our forefathers suffered so that when we get rated on weather, our weather came out worse than Buffalo's weather. And according to research studies that were done, a lot of people come through here just to see the bell on a class trip, then they think they're done with the whole city. That's why we need to continue to sell the bell plus everything else that there is. .
Excellent segue discussion about the film. What, if anything, would you do to standardize the bell as the symbol of Philadelphia, just as apple is to New York? 86 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE There are no apples in New York City, and yet, and yet, the apple is their symbol. "I Love New York," i's probably the most disinterested town in the world, but it has a wonderful slogan. I am just hurting for us standardizing our bell. Sometimes you see William Penn, sometimes you see Benjamin Franklin, sometimes you see the bell, so we have so many that we don't have one. Is it anybody's plan to standardize the bell, which is our most unique historic relic? We need to do it. If you take Carpenters Hall, every old city has a building that looks like Carpenters Hall.
Certainly Boston, certainly these eastern cities, so I don't think you can do it with the building. I think that the bell begs to be our symbol.
Mm-hmm. Well, let me start by saying that the Gateway Visitors Center coming to Independence Mall and the new Bell Pavilion will us greatly with that. We use the bell on everything that we 87 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE do -- it's somewhere in there -- but it's not prominent. And, certainly, the bell is one of the most recognizable symbols in the world. What it has been symbolizing, however, to our hotels and our restaurants and our other attractions is that it's been kind of in the pavilion that it's been located in for the past few years, almost a drive-through attraction. And it doesn't seem to many of our attractions like a reason for people to stay overnight. History is such a daytime word, that they've been asking us to push not only the bell but more. In fact, one advertising came up with the slogan "Just ask us, Philly plus, it's bigger than the bell," and a bunch of other ways to --
Now, that's a whole paragraph, so please don't use that.
We didn't. You're right, it was just too. We have to get across the bell plus everything else that Philadelphia is. Fortunately, Philadelphia 2000 uses the bell prominently, the Gateway Visitors Center will use the bell prominently, and we use it. But our 88 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE challenge these first three years has been really to correct the image. People already knew that Philadelphia had the bell; we had to show them what else it did. Once we're here and around for a while, we can incorporate it more fully, but we --
I don't think you can fix it by not using it; I think you fix it by using it. Just the same way you use the Love statute, if you had put the bell everywhere you put the Love, you would start to establish this as the symbol. Now, I didn't even mention the Love, but that's one more thing that competes with the bell and gives us that kind of patchwork quilt look rather than a slick, smooth presentation. And it reminds me kind of White House. The White House is a lovely house that's been lived in by a lot of people, and everybody who was there tried to put their stamp on it so that it's not the one continuous family decorated house. 89 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE If we don't find and focus ourselves on one historic relic, it will just be one more. So you have to do it, and this is the time for you to do it because you're relatively new. If you get caught up in something else, somebody who sits in my chair will say this to you ten years from now.
So I would like to see you focus on our most historic relic.
"The City That Loves You Back" may one day catch on, but it's not "I Love New York," is it?
Yeah. "I Love New York" has been around now for about 14 years.
That's right. And I really think that we ought to start to spend money on a slogan that rolls off your tongue, that fits easily on a bumper sticker or on a button. You know what I mean? 90 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE
Yeah. And I think you ought to be in advertising or something.
Since I do this for free, you didn't have to pay me for it.
I really do not think that anybody has ever given us the kind of slogan, the kind of relic that makes Philadelphia come immediately to mind. You got to read almost a paragraph. Now, you talk about Philadelphia, "the place that loves you back."
Right, I know, I know, I know. We're sorry about that button.
What we have got to do is put some real money into a real slogan, 91 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE and let's stop changing it. As soon as we get one, leap on it. I'll give you an example.
"A mind is a terrible thing to waste." That is a beautiful slogan, it rolls off your tongue, it fits on a button, it goes on a bumper sticker, and when you get through saying it, it means something in your heart. Unless we get something that pulls on a heartstring like that, we will constantly change this. And I'm upset that we haven't done it yet.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd just like to follow up on the line 92 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE of questioning from Councilman Kenney. A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure of going to Italy, and I spent nine days in the Abruzzo region. And as I traveled to each of the four provinces of Abruzzo and met with the mayors and the people in the commerce departments in those provinces, most of the discussion was on how we could form a partnership between the City of Philadelphia and the region of Abruzzo, because we already have Florence as a sister city. And one of the areas we discussed was, how do we encourage people from Italy, when they come to American, to come someplace other than New York? Because New York is where everybody seems to want to go. And I was wondering, do you have any discussions with IVC, the International Visitors Council? Because they, the IVC, said to me that they would like to begin to do some more promotion for foreign countries who have significant numbers of people from their region in this country. And as an example in the Philadelphia region, they tell me there are about 450,000 descendents -- first, second, third generation -- from the region 93 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE of Abruzzo, most of which are in Philadelphia, it's a heavily concentrated area for people from Abruzzo. And the IVC, it kind of got lost in two years, and it's a shame because we talked about it in Italy, we spoke about it here with the IVC, but I don't know if there's really been much follow-up. And I could appreciate the costs that you mentioned to Councilman Kenney of about $3 million per country, but I think you have a target in some of the countries. That might be less expensive since they do have family here, as a way of bringing them here. Just a thought I had, and I was just wondering, do you have any interaction with the IVC?
We do have some interaction with the IVC, but during these first three years, our mandate was to advertise only between 90 miles and 500 miles out. Because the advertising budget is so limited, the idea was to build on people who might be able to make return trips, so all of our advertising has had to stay within 500 miles. 94 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE However, what you're bringing up is part of what Karen was mentioning in future plans. We talk a lot about how Philadelphia is the city of neighborhoods, but it's really time to apply the city of neighborhood strengths, which is just what you said. If there are 450 Abruzzeses?
I wasn't too far off on that. We would like each of them to invite their relatives to come to Philadelphia and stay in a hotel, not with you.
That's -- part what we discussed was that maybe what we need to do is work with the travel agents --
-- who are trying to encourage -- when they encourage people or try to promote America, the United States, is to look at the family tree and identify where -- my grandfather, as an example, came from the Abruzzo region back around about 1910. I got to meet cousins of mine that I never knew that are third-generation. 95 /99 FINANCE COMMITTEE But when people come to America, typically, they won't come to the neighborhood or the area where the descendents came to; they will go to New York or Washington DC, and we kind of get lost in between.
And that would strengthen the visitation to the neighborhood as well, and that's where that has to come from -- somebody has to invite you.
Thank you. Are there any other questions from the committee? (No further questions at this time.)
Is there anyone else who would like to testify? (No response.) - - - 96 4/12/99 FINANCE COMMITTEE - Public Meeting
Then we would like to end our public hearing and now go into our committee hearing. I would like to ask the President for a motion for the proposed amendment to Bill 990116, that it be approved.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that on , Section 2, that the amendment read: "This ordinance shall be effective July 1, 1999." (Duly seconded.)
It's been properly moved and seconded. All in favor? All opposed? The ayes have it, and so the amendment is carried. And now I would like a motion for Bill 21 No. 990116, that it be approved, and with a suspension of the rules. Councilwoman Tasco?
There is no 25 suspension. 97 4/12/99 FINANCE COMMITTEE - Public Meeting
Madam Chair, I move that we adopt the amendment as submitted to Bill 990116. (Duly seconded.)
All in favor? All opposed? The ayes have it, and so it's carried.
Madam Chair, I move that we vote out Bill No. 990116, with a favorable recommendation, as amended. (Duly seconded.)
All in favor? Opposed? All right, the ayes have it, and so Bill 990116 is reported out of this committee, as amended, with a favorable recommendation. Let me also add that since this committee was advertised to be held from 11 till 2 o'clock, that we move that this hearing be adjourned at this hour. May I have a motion and a second on that? 98 4/12/99 FINANCE COMMITTEE - Public Meeting
All in favor? Opposed? The motion is carried. Thank you, thank you very much. Thanks all for attending. (Adjourned at 12:53 p.m.) - - - 99 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Monday, April 12, 1999, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON FINANCE BILL NO. 990116 __________________________________, JOSEPHINE CARDILLO, Registered Professional Reporter