COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE, April 7, 2026

And one last item is that transforming neighborhoods so that people don't think dumping is okay. And we mentioned Lotscapes with Councilmember Brooks earlier. We think this is going to be a huge program. HACE is one of the programs that we're going to be working closely with as a pilot area so that we can demonstrate how effective a transformed and beautified lot can have on a community.

Thank you. I work very closely with many of the schools in the 7th Council District and I can't tell you how often some of the young people in classrooms tell me that one of the things that bothers them the most is seeing trash. And so, how are we partnering with some of our schools, particularly in our younger grades, right, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th grade where again we're starting to shift the culture of trash and throwing out trash and how we dispose of trash? How are we working with our schools in local neighborhoods to make sure that we're doing the work intentionally to shift the culture? COMMISSIONER JACOBS SHIPMAN: So I will bring up Green Schools, again, as one of the programs that we do offer that provides grant funding directly to the school. We don't have to go through the school district. The school itself applies and they can utilize it either for recycling or green-friendly projects that will allow them to pick what it is they want to support, an effort they want to support. So that's one of the ways in which we partner with our schools to be able to support their specific efforts and their specific needs.

I haven't heard about that. I want to be a partner in that. I want to work towards making sure that community residents know, particularly our students, about these types of programs. And then one of my other questions is around employment. I see that you guys have done a lot of work in making sure that you fill some of those vacancies. But I see that as it relates to the equipment operators, that is still challenging. When you are working with some of our Future Track folks or some of these community-based organizations, have you all talked to them about the support that you need to be able to fill positions like this?

And thank you so much, Councilmember Lozada. If you could give an expeditious response. We still have eight additional members in the queue.

Sure. We have a CDL training program that when they become a full-time employee, we strongly encourage them to take part of it. After six months being employed with the City of Philadelphia, they're eligible.

If you can share that information with me too, that would be great.

Absolutely.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Councilmember Lozada. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Bass.

Thank you, Madam Chair. How are you? Good to see you all. I want to say a big thank you. I text you all morning, noon and night. And Crystal, Keith and Carlton, of course and you always respond. And I'm going to give a big shout-out to Keith because I know that you're really -- you and your crew are out here, you know, again morning, noon and night, getting up trash. Doesn't matter what's going on, whatever else is happening, you make it happen. So I just really want to tell you how much we appreciate all of the hard work by the Streets Department, so thank you.

Thank you.

And I also wanted to shout out Philly Future Track, the work that you do on that program. It's so important. So many people want to get into it. I'm excited to hear that it's coming back. More is going to be happening around Philly Future Track. And I also want to give a shout-out to Myra Brown and NWON who helps provide some of the professional services. I know for a time you were working at the Nicetown Tioga Library. We have the only library in the system that also has a jobs component to it. And so, I know that she was working with you all to help provide jobs from that location at one point. I know she's got other locations now. But again, I just want to say a big thank you. And I wanted to talk, you know, the problem with going near the end is that everybody's asked all the questions that you wanted to ask. But I wanted to ask you about trash and dumping because we call you and you all know, you come out, it's the same spots over and over and over again. But I'd really like to dig into technology and the use of technology to try to solve the problem. It's very frustrating for me and I know it's frustrating for you as well that I'll call you about the exact same sites over and over and over again. And I know we have cameras. That's great, but it's not really moving the needle in terms of you not having to go to these same spots over and over and over again.

Oh, you want me to comment?

Yes.

In some areas they've worked very effective. And others, as you mentioned they haven't been effective as much.

Can you tell us how many people have been identified and prosecuted as a result of the cameras onsite? Do you have an idea of what that is?

Yeah, I can submit this also for the record. But this year there was 113 notices of violation issued by our law department under the new policy in which our Council and our Mayor passed several years ago where you can get up to $5,000 per item per incident if you use a vehicle, and 2000 if it's independently dumping. Of those cases, 17 of them have been closed. 40 of them have been filed in court. There's a sum of $10,000 in restitution. And for a total of all judgments of $908,000. This was on top of the previous year's $3.2 million, so well over --

That's what we collected from people who --

This is a judgment, so they still have to collect that. The real restitution money is about $70,000 we've collected off of people who have agreed to pay for the restitution to give back to the City of Philadelphia. But the judgments remain on business records and they have to be collected by the law department.

Do we confiscate vehicles as well? Are we doing that?

We have passed -- and Councilmember Squilla is here, along with City Council, who's championed legislation to allow PPA to tow a vehicle, not necessarily confiscate it, but to tow it in the act, and they have to pay to actually get it out of storage for committing an illegal act of dumping. So that was just passed last summer and we're excited about that, because that's another tool in the toolbox for us to be able to hold people accountable. I think we need to do what you guys always ask us to do, is this needs to be advertised and told publicly so people understand what the options are to be able to address these issues. And that's what we're going to work on.

Okay. I just want to add a couple little things. I know the bell has rung so I'll be brief. The Stop Trashing Our Air Act, so I'd like to get a little more clarity. I don't know if we have time right now, but I would like to get a little more clarity in terms of what the city is doing and how we are approaching this. I think it's a good thing that we're having this conversation thanks to the sponsor. You know, something's going to happen. We already know. This is going to change. And it's going to be better. It's going to be better for Philadelphia. It's going to be better for the residents of Chester. But I'm not really clear as to exactly how we're navigating this situation. But it sounds like you're saying that you basically need a little more time.

We need time for the RFP to be presenting proposals to you in City Council from the Administration.

And the timeline on that is what?

We hope to have it late spring, early summer. If necessary, we can ask for an extension on our existing contract to accomplish that because we want to make sure that we get it right. We certainly don't want to rush it. Adding that component does take some time to evaluate those systems, and we want that to be an important part of the process, as evidenced by all the people here who are very concerned about it.

In the Administration's mind, what's the timeline to address this?

So the contracts that we currently have expire June 30th. If it continues -- of course we have to finish the negotiation period as part of that evaluation with the waste contract. Once we do that, then we have to prepare contracts to be submitted and approved. And if it's under the current terms and conditions, it comes to City Council for review and approval. Once that happens, then contracts are then executed and then the waste contract goes into place. So we're looking at the summer to have it in place. If it extends beyond that, because we need more time for review and evaluation, we will request an extension on our existing contract.

2026, 2027?

Oh, definitely 2026. It's no 2027. We're talking months. We're not talking years.

That's good to know.

Maybe even weeks. That's part of the process in what we expect to do.

I mean, it would be great to pull the plug today -- (Applause.)

-- but are we able to do that?

I understand the spirit behind getting this done quickly, but we should not rush this. This is a very important contract for not only Chester, but the citizens of Philadelphia. So we just respectfully, Councilmember, ask for the time to do our jobs correctly.

No, I agree. I want to make sure that we get it right and we get it right the first time. Because I've seen in this body when we don't get things right, we have to come back, we have to make other adjustments. It's a mess. So it's better to take your time and do it right, as long as your time happens in 2026.

Absolutely. That is our goal.

I just have one other quick question --

Very quickly, Councilmember Bass. Thank you.

Can I ask one quick question?

Oh, yes.

Can you explain the difference between lotscapes that you said you were doing and PHS lots, you know, when they come in and they redo a lot and they make it a neighborhood space? Is that the same thing or is it something -

No, this is an enhanced version of what PHS does.

Oh, stop now. Okay.

So we clean lots, make sure they're green, make sure trees are planted, make sure any dead grass or dumping or trash removed. That's maintenance. So that's what PHS Land Care program does.

That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about when they come in and they do sort of like a whole community space. They put in benches, they mulch it, they really sort of, you know.

Right, so that's similar. But again, we want to enhance that. We're giving them more amenities to the program through Lotscapes.

Okay. I'm excited about that. Look forward to getting more information and a list of if any of those spaces are in the 8th District. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Councilmember Bass. Councilmember Jones will be our last Councilmember for Round 1. Then we will proceed to Round 2. I'll only be able to recognize maybe two to three members before we break. Okay. So we have a hard stop at 12:30. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Jones.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to add to the chorus of compliments, but I want to give real tangible stories. You are my number two, Commissioner -- not you, but number two, only because of your choice in amateur football teams that compete with the West Philly football teams. But I just downgraded your grade a little bit. But my number one guy is Keith Warren. Rains, sleet, snow, shine, he comes through and I really appreciate everything that he does. I'm going to give you two stories real quick. So I was newly-elected, Madam Chair, and I was in a part of North Philly that I had not really been in and made enough of an impact. You may remember this. We were looking at lots that would take me on a neighborhood tour. So this is for the newer members of this body. So I'm walking through and they're pointing at this lot, looking at this refrigerator, short-dumping tires. And I said, well, let me make a call to see if I can get this taken care of. Now, we had already worked it out that there were trash trucks in the area doing other sundry things. But when I called, minutes later they pull up, 10 right, they got their shovels, hut, hut, and they're taking the trash out. The people in the neighborhood looked at me like amazing. Now, to your credit, I've gone past those lots most recently and they're still well-maintained. So I am very grateful and thankful to you.

You're welcome, Councilmember.

The second story real quick is Marion Avenue, which you are aware of, Madam Chair, is a notorious dump spot in -- is that the 52nd Ward still or is it --

Marion Avenue --

Marion Avenue. That might be the border. And so, we're down there and every week we're going through this tire dumping. There have been more dangerous things found down there, but this one time there must have been 50 tires out on Marion Avenue. And when he went to confront the individual that dumped the tires, they kind of brushed him off and said, so what, sue me if you want to recover some money. And what he amazingly did was calculated and counted every tire. And I think you gave the maximum fine on every tire. When this bull got this bill, he stopped short-dumping on Marion Avenue. And that's the kind of hard results that I appreciate from the departments. And I will say to you that until we increase the fines to make it cost-prohibitive to do the dumping, we're hustling backwards. So we need to as a body or working with our partners in the state, increase the fines for these short-dumpers. But until we do that -- go ahead. It's all right. I like the claps, but I don't do it for that -- (Applause.)

-- but I like it. So my only question is, how are you integrating -- you talked about lot cleaning and beautifications and 2.0-ing this. How are you integrating with the Consortium and some of the state money for trails and parks that I know about? Are you collaborating, so on 49th and Parkside, we want to do a thing called edible landscapes and be able to organically pick things from the garden and work it into your diet. Is there a collaboration on that kind of level?

So I'm glad you asked that question. Thank you for your comments, Councilmember, as well. And I don't take offense that I'm number two, but --

You're number two. Try harder.

-- my football team is still better. But to answer your question, we're looking at establishing a conservation district here in Philadelphia. We are the only municipality or county in the state of Pennsylvania that does not have one. And what that does is it makes those connections and resources to the state to ensure that there's synergy to what their goals are to an environmental aspect, from a green space landscape that we can transform these things. So I think we're making progress. I'm working with our very own Jerome Shabazz on that project, and we're looking forward to bringing more resources in the City of Philadelphia so we can promote those types of programs and also coordinate our efforts with the state to be able to do that. And those conversations have really picked up over the last couple of weeks, so we're excited that that is something that we're looking forward to doing here in the city to understand what potential opportunities exist to be able to transform vacant, industrialized land into something that's very productive like Mr. Shabazz did out at the Overbrook Environmental Education Center.

So, Chairman, just so you have geographic reference, there is the underpath that leads on Parkside to Wynnefield. You make that left and you're in Wynnefield. And imagine being able to find a way for walkers, hikers, joggers to start there, go all the way around Parkside Avenue on a trail into the Container Village, for example, where there should be by then a fish aquaponic garden with tilapia and stuff like that. And you can walk through the garden and cut your own vegetables that are organically sourced and then be able to walk back across the street to Parkside, go around the two lakes that are there in an arboretum, where you can see the difference between oaks and pines and cypress and things like that, and then walk all the way down to the Delaware River. Those are the kinds of visionary -- everybody's not going to see the Sixers, but some people want to commune with nature and we want to give them every opportunity to take advantage of the zoo, take advantage of the bird observatories and all kinds of things in between. So carry on, young men and women to do that. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Councilmember Jones. We are now officially entering Round 2 prior to break. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Gauthier.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair. Thank you, Councilmember Bass, for your line of questioning. I think I'm hearing some of your answers, Director Williams, for the first time. I just wanted to get very quickly on record, the last time this contract came up, I know Council got it, and there was only a few weeks before we had to make a decision. Can you commit to the body that when you do make this decision, there will be adequate time for Council to consider such an important contract?

Yes, Councilmember, and that's the reason why we requested an extension. Because while we may submit the data to you, we know you need time to review and make a conscious decision, and we know this is not an easy one. So absolutely, we want to commit to giving you the time necessary for you to implement.

Thank you. It's also the first time I'm hearing you requested an extension. How long of an extension have you requested?

Well, right now if it goes past the June 30th deadline, we've asked for an extension for -- what is it, a year, Commissioner? COMMISSIONER JACOBS SHIPMAN: (Inaudible).

I believe it was a year if, if it requires. But we'll verify that with the law department because that's where we requested it.

Okay. Thank you very much. I just want to echo that this is important and not something that we can kind of kick the can down the road on. Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson, in fact, did a hearing on this same topic in 2020. There's been plenty of time for us to consider. The time is fast approaching for us to make a decision that is the right decision for both Philadelphia and Chester. I know time is coming up. I wanted to end, like my colleague Nicholas O'Rourke, with the voice of one of our young people from Chester because I think young people have a way of seeing straight through an issue and a level of moral clarity that sometimes can get lost. The letter says, My name is Disera and I am a 7th grader at Toby Farms Middle School. Things I like to do with my friends when we are outside is go to the park and play games there and do TikToks and other fun things outside. The negative pollution in my neighborhood stinks and it makes everything dirty and makes people's eyes burn. The air smells horrible and it makes people have asthma and other health conditions. I demand you to keep your trash out of my lungs and keep your trash out of Chester. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Disera. And I've gotten probably a couple hundred letters from young people in Chester and throughout Philadelphia that I would like to deliver to you. I haven't had the opportunity to make my way through all of them. Most of them are addressed to Mayor Parker. I hope you take the time to read them because again, it is very important, I would say ultimately important, for us in this chamber to uplift the voices of our young people because that's who we're ultimately making decisions for. Thank you so much, Madam Chair.

Absolutely. Thank you, Councilmember.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Gauthier. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Harrity.

Thank you, Councilwoman Richardson. Hello again. As the Chair of Labor and Civil Service, I just have to get some questions on the books about the same day pay workers we used for the cleanup and some of the miscommunication let's say that happened between District Council 33 and the Administration as to the use of those employees. The winter storm season is over, but we're going to end up in hurricane season soon. And to be honest, we haven't had a rough hurricane season in a while either. So have we made any attempts to try to talk to District Council 33 so that if we have to do that at some point again for another emergency or something like that, that there is an agreement in place? And also, is there a mechanism for those same day pay workers since we are short in certain areas, right, to become civil service? Are we making -- people who are working those same day pay jobs, I mean if they're coming in for a number of days and they seem to be a good employee, it would make sense to try to fill some of those positions we have. I know there's civil service, but we can make exceptions at some point to help them in that process, whether it's tutoring or something like that. Are we thinking along those lines? And like I said, are we in contact with the unions that are involved so that we don't have the disruptions that we had last time and the miscommunications because our city employees, you know, we all praise you and your guys and Sanitation and all. They do hard work and they do good work and work that nobody really wants to do. So I get it, and I get the theory in the same day workers. But I also want to make sure that our union members are protected and our jobs are protected. And also, if there's a path for some of these same day workers to become members of District Council 33 and the others?

And thank you. And I apologize for the brief interruption. I'm going to respectfully request that you respond to Councilmember Harrity, Director Williams, in an expeditious manner. And then thereafter, we have four additional members that will receive two minutes each so that we are able to break on time. Thank you so much for the accommodation.

Absolutely. Really quickly, Councilmember, we've had extensive conversations, especially after that first major storm to definitely have an open relationship and dialogue with D.C. 33. My good friend Antoine Little was here and he was a part of that process as well. And we made good on that during that second storm by opening up opportunities for our city employees. As far as the same day work and pay, they would have to go through the same process as any other individual. Future Track is a great way to try to apply for getting through the program. And I think that's what makes us all comfortable when we can move forward that program.

Beautiful. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Councilmember Harrity. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Brooks.

Thank you so much. I am going to start off with a letter and then I'm going to put my three questions on the books. So my letter that I have says, Dear Mayor Parker, I believe we need to stop burning trash in Chester. Many people have asthma and cancer. The kids should be able to go to school and they need to breathe. The ash is very toxic and the people are getting sick. It's also hurting nature and animals. Instead we can create green jobs that help our earth. That's why I think we need to stop burning trash. Sincerely, Nate. My questions are, how is Clean and Green prioritizing equitable neighborhood efforts with some of the more high profile work around the 250th anniversary? One of the criticisms that I've heard about the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives is that there isn't a lot of focus on the green portion of the office. And to that point, I want to understand how this office works with the Department of Sustainability? I understand that installing LED lights and some of the other initiatives work towards making us a more efficient city. But what else specifically are you working on that will lower the carbon rates to hit our 250 goals? And has there been any discussion about incorporating more of the Office of Sustainability's work within the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives?

Yeah. Thank you. And I'll be very brief, per our Madam Chair's request. But I will say we have a 10 point greening plan. Deputy Director Casey Kuklick can share that with you at a later time for the record. We will submit that for the record, Councilmember, since we don't have time to really go into detail what that plan requires. But it does talk about tree canopies, neighborhood greening improvement programs, vacant lots and also streetscapes. That is part of actually the 250th celebration where we have 20 commercial corridors that we're greening in the neighborhoods, not down in just Center City, so that they can benefit as well. But that's just a snapshot of some of the things that's in that plan for long-term greening, and we appreciate it as well. We'll get that information for you.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Brooks. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Young.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to talk about the illegal dumping again. I know it's something that is still prevalent in our Council District. So can you tell us how many dumping cameras are currently deployed? And how many are planned in this FY27 budget, what they cost? And what's the measurable results again to having existing cameras already produced?

If we don't have the exact number, we can get that for you. We will forward that to you for the record given the time that we have. But I can tell you that the cost is about $6,000 per camera. It's used -- the same cameras that our police department utilizes for major crimes and the DVIC, we're connected into that system, so that we can expand not only the ones we buy, but to also cross-reference the ones that police use because a lot of the times the dumping occurs in those high crime areas, so we utilize those things as well. I'll let Commissioner Shipman talk about the cameras that she has. She's found the number. Thank you.

Thank you. COMMISSIONER JACOBS SHIPMAN: Thank you, Councilmember Young. We do have 400 surveillance cameras that are specific for illegal dumping, but we utilize the full network of cameras that are available to us that are through the police department and other departments and other entity agencies altogether. We do anticipate for this fiscal year an additional 100 cameras to be purchased.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Councilmember Young. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Landau.

Thank you. One statement and two questions. And I wish I could do this all day but I know the Chair is going to cut me off. The statement is that the Stop Trashing our Air Act is a very serious initiative to protect the health of folks in Chester as well as in Philadelphia. As somebody who has asthma, I got to tell you it is essential that we are continually working towards cleaning our air for everybody in Philadelphia. And I would just ask that you come to the table a little more directly. Somewhere in your testimony, Commissioner Williams, you said we could maybe ask for an extension of our contract. You then said, we've asked for an extension of our contract. If you asked for a one-year extension of contract, you could have started right there. It could have happened even before today where we could have had a conversation where we're really getting to the same point. I believe we all want the same result, but we have to be honest brokers with each other. That's just a statement. I don't think we need to talk about it.

Thank you. Appreciate it. (Applause.)

Thank you. Clap, clap, clap. The second thing I want to talk about is data. In your written testimony or the statement you put in you talked about working with OIT to modernize or replace outdated systems in the sanitation operation centers. I'm the Chair of the Tech Committee and I wanted to know what new systems you're looking at to put in place to update our systems. And the last thing I want to know is why is the Office of Sustainability not here this year? There is so much that we have to do with the urgency of the climate crisis of making sure that we're safe and clean and green in Philadelphia. And I wanted to know why sustainability isn't here and will they come?

I'm sure that they will be here, whether it be with the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure and Sustainability. That's where they fall under, not to say that we don't work very closely with them with some of the initiatives. And we do appreciate your comments in reference to being open and transparent. That's what we always strive to do and I'm certainly going to continue to do that with this process. As far as the data- driven in IT, we can have a conversation about that also. But we're trying to fix outdated systems in terms of how we track information and data, especially through 311, that's important for us, and to do realtime information- gathering. We're looking at things like AI for our cameras so that we can catch people in the act and not after the fact and have to go back, but that's just an example of the things that we're doing.

I don't know if there's anything else to add, but you'll commit to a conversation with the Technology Committee for us to get more updated on what your systems are?

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Councilmember Landau. And for the record, we have the Office of Sustainability under our nontestifying departments this year. If you could just make a request of Council President Johnson for that to be modified. Okay. That request must go to the President. Thank you. Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Bass.

Thank you very much. I just have one quick question. Can you talk to us really quickly about why can't I put a trash can out in front of my house without getting a ticket and collect trash? There's not enough trash cans in the city. There's just not enough trash cans.

Thank you, Councilmember. I'm going to let Commissioner Shipman just talk about her new initiative about trash cans.

Oh. All right.

I will say in general some people want them out in front of the block. Some people don't. But we have a program called Philacan that the Commissioner can address. But in general, some of the residents don't want other people to have trash cans out because it creates litter conditions if you don't maintain them.

No, I understand if you're not responsible with it, taking care of it, maintaining it.

But if there's a collective majority on that block that says this is what we want, I'm going to turn it over to Commissioner Shipman and she can explain how we can get that done. COMMISSIONER JACOBS SHIPMAN: So I will say that we do still offer the Community Can program if folks want to have a community can on their block. They have a block captain, we can partner with them to allow that. As far as Philacan 2.0 is what we're referring to, this next pilot that we'll be rolling out. It will allow for larger cans for both recycling and trash and will give the ability for folks who don't have the ability to store the trash in the back of the home. If your block is selected, you would be able to store that can outside. Other folks would be able to utilize it, if that's the appropriate use for that particular can. But --

What -- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off. What about Big Bellies? COMMISSIONER JACOBS SHIPMAN: We are still rolling out additional Big Bellies on our commercial corridors primarily, in some instances adjacent streets. But it's primarily to serve in those highly-traffic areas.

How many new Big Bellies are we rolling out this year, would you say? COMMISSIONER JACOBS SHIPMAN: I mentioned it in my testimony. I do apologize. I don't recall the number offhand. But in total, we're looking at having a network of 1500 in total once we've completed this --

Do you remember how many we have now? COMMISSIONER JACOBS SHIPMAN: Right now on the street, I'll find it in my testimony. I could tell you --

The Chair recognizes Councilmember Young with a point of information. COMMISSIONER JACOBS SHIPMAN: 1200, Councilwoman, on the street now.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just really quickly on the trash cans, I've noticed other municipalities have municipal trash cans, right. We have our municipal recycling cans, but are we able to do municipal trash cans like other places have so we can collect our trash in a more, I'll say, better enforced way essentially? COMMISSIONER JACOBS SHIPMAN: So the pilot that will be rolling out through Philacan 2.0 will provide the tall 64 or -- are they 96- or 64-gallon trash cans, and then a matching recycling bin, so it will be both trash and recycling that we're piloting for.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Councilmember Bass.

Thank you, Councilmember Young. The Chair now again recognizes Councilmember Bass.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm done with my questions. I was looking to see if I had anything else, but I'm done. Thank you very much.

Well, thank you very much, Councilmember Bass. Seeing no additional Councilmembers in the queue for the Office of Clean and Green and Sanitation, we'd like to thank Director Williams, our Sanitation Commissioner Crystal Jacobs; Casey Kuklick, Deputy Director for Clean and Green; Mary Stitt, Deputy Director for Clean and Green; Keith Warren, Deputy Commissioner for Sanitation; and Christopher Newman, Deputy Commissioner for Administration, for your testimony today and all the Councilmembers for your questions. At this time, we will take a break until 1:30. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilmembers. Thank you, Madam Chair. (Lunch recess.)

We would like to welcome to the table Streets Commissioner Kristin Del Rossi; First Deputy Commissioner for Streets Richard Montanez; and Deputy Commissioner for Administration Christopher Newman. Please approach the witness table and provide your testimony. Thank you so much for being here. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

While they are approaching, thank you so much, Commissioner Del Rossi, First Deputy Commissioner Martinez, Chief Engineer Steven Lorenz. And I have to say, he always, always goes above and beyond and out of his way to inspect a location himself and has assisted us with so many cases, anything having to do with repairs to streets, resurfacing, curb cut-outs. You name it, he's there. So thank you so much, Steven Lorenz. Kasim Ali, Chief Design Traffic Engineer; Harry, District Traffic Engineer; Nicholas, District Traffic Engineer who assists with the speed studies, traffic signs and lights; Patrice Nuble, thank you so much, Chief Street Lightning Engineer, for all of your street light assistance, as well as Amber Porter, Administrative Assistant. And then, of course, OTIS, Mike Carroll. Thank you so much, Mike Carroll. So you now can begin your testimony. COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: Good afternoon, Majority Leader Richardson and members of City Council. I am Streets Commissioner Kristin Del Rossi. Joining me today are Richard Montanez, First Deputy Commissioner for Transportation; Christopher Newman, Deputy Commissioner for Administration; Michelle Brisbon, Chief of Staff; Thomas Buck, Transportation Operations Director; Angela Dixon, Transportation Strategic Planning Director; and James Kelly, Streets Director of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs. Thank you for the opportunity to present the Streets Department Fiscal Year 2027 operating budget. The Streets Department is excited to advance our ambitious agenda this upcoming fiscal year as we move forward with multiple strategic initiatives and successfully manage our extensive operations, to achieve our objectives, we are requesting transportation fund appropriations totaling 87 million for Fiscal Year 2027. Before discussing the framework of our FY27 operating budget, I want to begin by recognizing and thanking our employees. Their work is highly visible, challenging and physically demanding. Yet their commitment to making our streets and roadways safe is unwavering. On behalf of our entire department, I extend my sincere gratitude for their professionalism, resilience and pride in serving the residents of Philadelphia. Our FY27 operating budget reflects a continued focus on our core transportation services, while making strategic investments to improve overall operations. Safety remains the forefront of our work and this budget reinforces our commitment to Vision Zero and its goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries. We will continue to implement effective traffic- calming measures, improve street and intersection designs, enhance signage and roadway markings, improve street lighting and advance critical and innovative transportation public works projects. These efforts are essential to creating safer streets for all users, including pedestrians, drivers and cyclists. And a recent significant decrease in traffic fatalities during 2025 is indicative of our ongoing commitment and success in this regard. A central priority in this budget is addressing street conditions and repairing roadway defects. By improving roadway repair activities, we intend to extend the life of our streets, reduce long-term cost and provide safer, smoother travel for users of our transportation network. This is clearly demonstrated by the department's recent and highly successful resurfacing activities. I am proud to report that for the second consecutive year Streets anticipates achieving over 100 miles of city roadways resurfaced, a feat that has not been accomplished since Fiscal Year 2004. 5 million investment establishing the One Philly pothole squad, six new pothole response crews deployed throughout the city, each exclusively dedicated to repairing potholes and identifying other street defects quickly and comprehensively.

These new squads will have a considerable impact on the number of potholes and defects fixed throughout the city and on improving roadway conditions for streets not scheduled in paving out years. I would be remiss if I did not mention my sincere appreciation for the tremendous snow and ice removal services performed by our Streets employees as well as employees from other partner agencies during the very challenging winter season that included nine winter events, two of which featured significant accumulations and one that involved historically prolonged below- freezing temperatures over a multi- week period. Winters in Philadelphia demand readiness, and our FY27 budget ensures we are prepared to respond effectively to treat all our streets, keeping roads safe and passable during severe weather. The Streets Department and its employees continue to rigorously pursue our mission to design, construct, repair and maintain safe streets in a cost-effective and efficient manner, making Philadelphia the safest, cleanest, greenest big city in the nation with access to economic opportunity for all. We are excited to present our proposed budget today, which we believe will allow us to make tremendous progress in achieving many of the department's strategic objectives. We therefore request your favorable consideration of this budget request and we thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. The deputy staff and I are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Commissioner. Before we proceed with additional members in the queue, I wanted to get a few questions on the record relative to your testimony. But I too want to take the opportunity to thank the hard-working employees of the Streets Department, particularly after so many back-to-back winter events this past winter season and very difficult storms, not normal, typical, fluffy snow. You had a layer of snow, then a layer of ice and then it froze for days and days. And so, we want to uplift and appreciate the work of all of the workers who were out on the streets on our behalf during that time. And again, thank all of the team members that we recognized earlier. I wanted to start because I was going through the QCMR for the last couple of quarters for FY26, but also what we know to be true for FY25 and then what we know to be true for FY26. And in the Q2 of the QCMR, it states that Streets has 164 million in general obligation carry forward obligations; is that correct? COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: I'd like to call up Deputy Commissioner Newman.

Okay. Thank you so much for being here. Please state your name for the record and proceed.

Good afternoon, Councilmember. I'm Chris Newman, Deputy Commissioner for Administration for the Streets Department. That 164 million does sound correct for carry forward. And that's not unusual because what we'll have is carry-forward capital that we get in January, but don't get an opportunity to spend until the next fiscal year.

Right. And that's why I'm asking, because it also seemed as if there's about a little over 100 million in carry-forward operating revenue. But if you add together all of the state, federal and the other sources, it says that it's $1,110,230,000 in FY26 carry- forward appropriations; is that correct?

That actually doesn't sound correct.

No?

We'd have to look into that.

Okay. If you'd be able to get us a response, that would be great because I know in FY25 we had 993 million in carry- forward appropriations, and that was from Quarter 4 of FY25 for the QCMR.

Sure. We can definitely look into that.

Okay. If you could just check the number and I'll say it again. I know that she's taking notes. That includes state, federal and other resources, over 1 billion in carry-forward appropriations, which is not too far off from the 993 million that was notated in FY25, Q4 for QCMR.

Councilmember, that should be directly to Streets alone?

Yes. And my question is what is the plan to spend down?

So I don't think that that's a correct number, and I think we'd have to look into it and get back to you in terms of how much is actually there and what we're going to be doing to spend it down.

Okay. Well, that would be great because I have the QCMR here. So if you could get back during the hearing, you know that's important to me. I would never say an incorrect number and I have it here. So if we could get that information before the conclusion of the hearing, that would be helpful. But really the question is, what's the plan around spend- down? Okay. And particularly because on the capital side for FY27, there's an additional request of 73.7 million in new capital funding. And over the entire plan for capital is $497.5 million, so I'm trying to understand the additional request relative to the carry forward. That's really what the question is. In addition to that, in FY24 you encumbered $82 million in general obligation funds. The actual expenditure was $38 million. In FY25, you encumbered 161 million in general obligation. But only 67 million was expended. On the operating side, 82.6 million was encumbered. 3.9 million was expended. In FY26, you encumbered and expended roughly half of the FY26 adopted appropriations. The question is, do you anticipate to be around that number for this year? And it's a question that I've sort of asked of each department, but it really stood out for Streets. And I've asked this of all of the departments.

So I know in prior years the fund that we typically did not spend all of was our Class 100, so we would have a surplus in Class 100 by the end of the fiscal year. That's not anticipated to happen this fiscal year. We anticipate to spend all, if not most, of our money for this fiscal year. So I think you're going to see a difference this time around.

Okay. That'll be great. If you all could just check and also from the QCMR fund balance summary for transportation. Okay. And then please get back to me. That's important to me. You know I would never say a wrong number.

Sure. And just to let you know, Councilmember, we're looking at our carry-forward funding that we have right now total for Streets, our number is for January 2026, 39.5 million. So I think we have to look into what you're looking at and try to come to some conclusion about what that number is you're looking at.

Excellent. Okay. Thank you so much. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Phillips.

Thank you, Majority Leader. So I want to begin by saying that the paving list through the Five Year Plan and ultimately determines which neighborhood receives roadway investment. I want to start with how that list is actually built. Can you walk us through step by step how the streets are selected for paving and what particular factors are used to determine which streets are prioritized first? Thank you, Commissioner. COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: Thank you, Councilmember, for your question. The city primarily completes resurfacing in a multi- step process. Currently, we are using a two-fold approach to assess our streets. We are, one, using a system that is a little bit outdated. We're in the process of looking at other information and also we have visual inspections that are conducted on the street. And then we take that information from the system, current system, that's called PRISM, the current system we use now, and visual inspections that are conducted citywide and each street is ranked, and the volumes are considered conditions, roadway defects, utility cuts, projects, and then they get ranked on a list of streets that are then on a paving list.

Understood. And the only issue of concern is that you're making a decision through PRISM. But what if there is a neighbor or neighborhood that is interested in saying, our streets need to be repaved? They're not on a Five Year Plan. What is the process they need to take in order to get reviewed to get on the Five Year Plan? COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: Well, we do take 311 calls and we assess the streets that residents call into us. And if we have some contingency in our paving contracts that go out, so if we inspect the street and it doesn't indeed need to be resurfaced, we can add it to the project. Just like Van Kirk was just recently milled, and we're in the process of getting Gilham on the schedule. So we received a request and we assess the streets and we pave them when we're in the area.

Thank you. Appreciate that. And just wanted to follow up on that even more. What happens if a neighbor wants to report that their street needs to repave, but they want to get a better sense of when the street is going to be repaved, right. Is there a service level agreement that can be given to neighbors on the street repaving process? COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: Yes, we do have service level agreements for paving. Street repaving, it's a 60-day SLA for street paving. But, Councilman Phillips, what we're looking into right now is we're piloting two programs -- two vendors currently in a one mile square radius that is using technology to assess our streets to better accurately assess and add them to the paving list.

Can I just jump in with a little bit of an overview and I'm going to give you a little detail on PRISM so you understand how that's come about. So PRISM goes back a couple decades. Basically what it's intended to do is to provide cities an overview of the expectation for the life of a street. And it incorporates information about the dimensions of the street, how it was constructed, the depth of concrete, a lot of details about the construction of the street. And it compares it to kind of an estimate of the amount of traffic and the kind of traffic that's on that street. So you might have buses or trucks or that kind of thing. It's very coarse, but it does give you a tool to figure out what parts of the city are going to need to get repaved more frequently, and you can compare that to the last time a street was paved. And I think what Commissioner Del Rossi is talking you through some of the improvements we're going to implement in the future to get eyes on specific streets. We're looking at using AI tools and cameras, video surveillance. As maintenance vehicles go through different parts of the city, they can kind of take a picture of the street, feed that back into an algorithm, tell us whether that street needs to be paved or not. To the question of SLAs, there's a service level agreement around a street that is designated to be paved in a specific year. So when we tell you we're going to come out, we're going to start paving on that street, 60 days is the window for that job. It's different than what I think you may be asking about, which is when a neighbor says, hey, our street hasn't been paved in a while. The fact is Philadelphia, because of decades of underinvestment, I would say 90% of the streets are overdue for pavement. And so, that's why we really appreciate the investment that Council has made in paving streets at a more accelerated rate over the last few years and that's going to put a dent in that. But there's no process, unlike for something like speed cushions or even potholes, for neighbors to reach out and say, hey, I need paving on my street, when are you coming and for us to give them an answer, because we're taking a fraction of the city every year with the investment we have, given that there's about 2000 miles of paving we need to do to cover the whole city, and we're taking about 100 miles at a time. So it's always the streets that are in the worst condition based on what we see in the PRISM system, plus what the Highways Division visually inspects. And also, we get information when we see that there's an increase in potholes on a street, if you have a situation where a street seems to be failing, so cave-ins is a major factor in something like that. A lot of the paving that takes place in the city also includes utilities and developers taking a block at a time. But the Streets Department when they're putting blocks and blocks and blocks together to come up with their plan, that's something that's programmed in a way that it's very hard for us to jump around the city to different places. If a neighbor on one block says, hey, my street's an issue, that tends to be a maintenance issue we address with resurfacing around potholes, that kind of thing.

Thank you. I would just kindly ask if we can just to quickly follow up on that because of my time, but I just wanted to say that if it would it be possible for you to provide in the future, in this budget, like a service level agreement that neighbors will have a clear understanding of what you just said that we can share with them, here's how you look at the Five Year Plan, here's the reasons why we can't necessarily provide a service level agreement, all that and more, 60 days, that would be really helpful for a lot of our neighbors. And then also just really quickly, Commissioner, it's not even in our district, but it's something that happens often, even just saw a post in West Philadelphia where people were complaining about some sort of crater in the middle of the street, and they said it's been over 60 days. How do we work on for the next round, hopefully we get more questions, answers on communication about these potholes even around the neighborhood so people know when it will be taken care of. Should she answer or wait --

Thank you. Thank you very much, Councilmember Phillips. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Lozada -- was your question answered?

(Inaudible).

Can you just take 30 seconds? And as a reminder, colleagues, for this round we're on three minutes. Okay. We have a long list of folks. If you could quickly respond to Councilmember Phillips' last question, and then I'll recognize Councilmember Lozada. COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: Councilman Phillips, can you repeat the last part of your question please?

I wanted to just really quickly, if you can talk about the communication behind when you have these large craters in the middle of the street, neighbors are wondering -- it made the news, like why is this not done? Do we have a communications team with the Streets Department that's making sure people understand what's happening? COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: Thank you, Councilmember. Yes, we are definitely trying to put out some things on social media because not all roadway defects are potholes. It isn't indeed like a utility ditch or something of that nature or sinkhole. So we're trying to educate everyone on the SLAs behind potholes, utility ditches and sinkholes, but we will do better with putting that information out there.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Commissioner. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Lozada.

Thank you, Madam Leader. Thank you for being with us this afternoon. Like every other district, you know, I'm going to continue on in the conversation of potholes because I feel like this winter was brutal and we have more than we have seen in the past. Just like my colleague, I'm trying to figure out how we get better response on getting them filled and responded to as well as the need for us to proactively go out into different communities to just see the conditions of our roadways right before they become these big sinkholes that take longer to fill, create bigger problems for our community? What are we doing to be able to more proactively respond to the infrastructure in our neighborhoods that sometimes cause some of these sinkholes, right? And I recognize that sometimes it's the responsibility of residents for broken laterals, but often times it's just condition, weather conditions. How do we respond to those or how can we better respond to those? COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: Thank you, Councilmember, for your question. So to maintain a transportation network, we need to both resurface and do roadway maintenance. So while we've paved and we're on target to pave, we paved 104.7 miles last fiscal year. And we're on target to meet our goal of 90 miles and could potentially exceed it this year. The pothole squad would be in addition to our paving crew. So our request for the pothole squad would help us actually maintain the roads to keep them in a condition of good repair until we're able to pave them. So we have to do it in two-fold, so pave and maintain. So while we're paving the miles that we'll be paving this fiscal and into next, the pothole squad will be in addition to that to help us maintain the roadway defects and to help us assess the situation to be out there actively inspecting the six districts that they will be in to make us more proactive in addressing these roadway conditions rather than reactive when we're receiving phone calls and 311 requests.

This pothole squad that you're referring to, it says that it's 21 positions and you're increasing 22 funding from 577,000 to close to $2 23 million. But what is not clear is 24 if this is a full-time type of a position or is this part-time? COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: Full-time, full-time positions. 4

5 And it looks like they're only 6 going to be paid $24,000 an hour -- 7 24,000 annually? I'm sorry. 8 COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: 9 They are semi-skilled laborers and 10 streets crew chief 2s. 11

I 12 don't know about y'all, but $24,000 13 a year for a full-time position 14 from city government is not 15 responding to the need -- what can 16 they -- they can't live with 17 $24,000 a year. What is that? And 18 why, why is it so low? Is it just 19 me? I don't know. But $24,000, 20 we're talking about getting people 21 out of poverty. The city 22 government is going to pay you 23 $24,000. Come on. 24

Councilmember, Chris Newman, Deputy Commissioner for Administration again. It's not $24,000. It's 42,000 at the minimum level for our semi-skilled laborers. And it's 52,000 to 54,000 for our heavy equipment vehicle operators. So that's what they --

Give me that salary again.

Our heavy equipment vehicle operators make in the neighborhood of about $52,000 to $54,000 annually. And our semi- skilled laborers who are part of that pothole response crew make about $42,000 to $44,000. It's not 24,000.

Okay. To me it's still not enough. However, we'll move on. This is my last question. In districts like mine, we have a lot of development that is occurring and many of those blocks see multiple projects happening at the same time which cause issues to some of those roadways. I know that I've talked to Deputy Commissioner Montanez in the past, who has said this is the responsibility of the developers, depending on the number of units that are being built for them to do the entire street. That's clearly not happening in districts like mine. How do we hold some of those developers accountable to make our roadways free from all of these bumps and holes and everything, all of the issues that they create? COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: There is a private paving agreement. When the developers come into the city of Philadelphia to have their project reviewed, there is an agreement between the city and the developer. When they dig up so much percentage of the street, they're responsible for repaving it. So --

Clearly, that doesn't happen, right. I can give you -- Howard Street, for instance, is one of those streets that has had a lot of development but no street repaving. And so, who's responsible for that? Who are we calling to say, these streets need to be repaved? There's been development. It's clear, right, you go onto the block and you can see the development has occurred and the developers have not done their due diligence. How do we respond to that?

So this has been an issue for a really long time. We have some tools that seem like they've worked okay. We do the best we can to obligate developers to take out bonds in some cases in order to make sure that when they're done, the paving is what they leave behind is fresh. I think the main issue we have is that there's a lot of loopholes. And often we're in situations where unscrupulous developers, they create entities that do the building and then the building's done, and then they kind of move on to the next thing. And we can't go after those entities because they're only talking about one property here or a property there. And the condition of the street that we have to manage and the size of the inventory that we have to manage doesn't give us the wherewithal to chase each individual LLC. So what we were trying to look at, and you may see some proposals come forward from us, is a way to upfront create sort of an impact fee or an impact program where based on the size of the development that comes in, we as the department and as the city can get funds so that we can have a pool of resources that we can then, as the city, make sure that streets are in the best condition possible. This is something we've been working on for a long time. There's constraints in terms of state law what we can do, in terms of local practice what we can do. So it's taken us literally years to get to the point where we're preparing proposals. We're interested in having conversations with Councilmembers to compare ideas moving forward. There's a lot of different interests in this and a lot of different angles, but we would love to work with your office to understand better some impacts you're seeing on the ground and use those as examples to move these kinds of proposals forward, but there's certainly a lot more work we hope we can do.

We have to do better. We have to do better. Like I said, right, districts like mine are seeing high levels of development. And the ones that get stuck with the aftermath and the frustration of having their streets look the way that they look are the long-term residents. And so, there has to be a better way for us to do that, whether it means before the project is sealed and the developer gets their next permit for their next project, which we know they're going to come back for, they need to make community residents where they are doing projects and make them whole.

And that's one of the issues frankly. Because what happens is often, not all the time, but often you sort of have like ABC company comes and builds this project and then leaves things a mess and then they turn into XYZ company and go somewhere else. And you can go after ABC company, but ABC company doesn't exist anymore. They've reincorporated as a different bunch of people and legally, it's a whole different thing. And we as a city don't always have the tools to connect the two entities together. And we haven't had, you know, a pathway to work with either the state or anybody else to make both entities responsible for both outcomes. And so, that's the trick that has been out there for a while, but we're certainly interested in trying to solve that, trying to solve that problem.

Thank you. I can keep going?

Keep --

My time is up. Thank you.

Thank you, Member Lozada. I want to first thank my Majority Leader for keeping this process going while I stepped out for a second. And I want to take a moment to acknowledge Rich Montanez and my friend Michael Carroll as well as from the great part of Philadelphia known as South Philly, Commissioner Kristin Del Rossi, I just thank you and your team for your hard work and your dedication on addressing all quality of life leading the streets and overall the infrastructure of how we operate as a city. Thanks for always answering my calls on the weekend, text messages when I see potholes riding down the street. Same thing for Steve Lorenz, when I call him, I'm like I just saw this pothole. As a matter of fact, I hit one pothole one day I thought I was in another world, and that was in the Land Rover but that's a different conversation. But I thank you and your team for staying on top of this as well as our Mayor for coming up with the Pothole Posse, which has been duplicated by the mayor of New York City. And so, Philadelphia leads. The same with same day pay during the winter storm, so followed New York City. So again, Philadelphia leads. So I do want to acknowledge the Mayor and her team for just being on the front line. That's what leaders do, we lead. I have a couple questions about Vision Zero and that we have $5 million in the current proposed budget, and I know there's going to be some significant cuts on the federal level from the infrastructure standpoint. So I would want to get an idea, do you think that $5 million is sufficient to carry out the goals and objectives of Vision Zero for FY27? I see you smiling. And also, I want to get an idea of an issue that's near and dear to me is the issue of daylighting. And I would like to begin to start advocating around that process of what it looks like if we can do daylighting across the City of Philadelphia and come up with a comprehensive study to move forward with daylighting intersections throughout our city. So those two initial questions.

So I'll just give my quick response and I'm going to ask if Kelly Yemen can step up and talk about some of the Vision Zero capital program. My stock response is that I never turn down resources when it comes to traffic safety and Vision Zero. So I hope I don't get in trouble for saying that, but every little bit counts. We're very grateful for the $5 million in the proposal. And we're going to take on a variety of things, including traffic-calming measures and there's some items that, like I said, Kelly can talk about in our Vision Zero capital plan. So it's not just the 5 million. We're going to leverage that state money, the federal money and other resources we have in order to get those projects done. So I'll turn it over to Kelly so she can talk about that.

Good morning, Council President. Kelly Yemen, Director of the Office of Multimodal Planning within the Office of Transportation Infrastructure Systems. I oversee the Vision Zero program for the city, and we use that $5 million, as Mike Carroll was saying, to match a lot of both federal and state grants. So while things are changing at the federal level, the state is still providing a number of grants, whether it's multimodal transportation fund grants or others to the city, and we'll use those funds to start design or provide construction match. We're working on things such as improvements up on Tabor Road, in the Northeast on Lehigh Avenue where we've had a number of fatalities and been working with community members and those locations as well as numerous corridors throughout the city to do traffic safety improvements and do that in conjunction with those neighbors.

Are we doing any comprehensive plans around traffic- calming measures around schools beyond speed bumps? I'm going to advocate first for the 2nd Councilmanic District Marian Anderson Academy. Some of the parents approached me and said, hey, you did a great job with the playground, but could we also be looking at traffic-calming measures outside of the school, so that's Marian Anderson Academy. And also, Southwest Leadership Academy in the southwest part of my district as well. Same request, hey, cars are speeding, we want to look at traffic-calming measures around the school. And I'm advocating for those two, rather it's publicly as well as we have official requests and to take a look at traffic- calming measures regarding those two schools. But have we also did a 30-foot, 1000 view of all of our schools here in the city of Philadelphia and begin looking at -- I know we're doing speed bumps, right. But beyond the speed bumps, have we begun taking a look at a comprehensive approach around traffic-calming measures?

Yeah. And I think it's important on traffic calming or just in general traffic safety, especially around schools, to look at it holistically. So we have the speed cushions and daylighting that's happening around schools that the Streets Department is leading. We've got five schools right now that we're putting in pilot speed enforcement cameras during the school day where you're supposed to be going miles an 9 hour through a school zone. Those 10 cameras were authorized by the 11 state and have been installed and 12 are now in a warning phase in front 13 of those schools. So we're trying 14 that technology out as permitted by 15 the state. And then we also have our Safe Routes Philly program, where right now we're working with a number of schools where they're in spring training, as we like to call it, to get ready for Walk to School Day in May, where we teach kids how to walk and bike safely to school. And then every May and every October we have events at those schools to celebrate all of the work that kids have done to learn how to walk and bike safely. And we're really working with the school district right now and their service network 2 district in South Philly to get to all the schools in that district as a first pilot and then ideally moving to other service areas within --

I'm sorry. Whereabouts in South Philadelphia?

It's the school district's service network, learning network, so it's a number of different schools that are connected through the school district to get into them to do education. So it's important to do education, the engineering and the enforcement. And we're moving on all three of those levers right now.

Okay. Another area regarding Vision Zero, how often do we do the evaluations and the replacement of flex posts? When they first go up, they look great, right. And as time goes on -- I'm particularly advocating for -- I talked to Michael Carroll about this before. In the past, any given day when you ride across the South Street Bridge, particularly in the morning during rush hour, you will see hundreds of people literally on bicycles, either students going to Penn or working nurses and doctors working at Penn. But I do see from my eyes that it's being utilized, right. And at one time, we had flex posts that actually I advocated for when CHOP did the new building and we negotiated making sure we had a protected bike lane and at that time was flex posts. And so, how often do we look at replacing the flex posts when people tear them down or when they just totally look like we need to change them because they're white and as time goes on, truthfully it becomes an eyesore of more than just a protective measure to keep bicyclists safe? And so, give us an idea of what that looks like. And also, I'm going to advocate publicly and privately regarding when you get past South Street Bridge and you're going from 76 to University of Pennsylvania where the stadium is, that whole area should just have a flex post all the way down that corridor, right, just to keep bicyclists safe when they go from South Philly and to Southwest. So I would like to figure out what that looks like, Michael Carroll. And then we have to advocate for a budget on my behalf to get that done. I just think it's a worthy cause.

Commissioner, do you want to talk to replacement -- I can talk to -- we are doing an evaluation, so I'll talk about the evaluation and then leave questions on the regular maintenance to the Streets commissioner. We are currently evaluating the lifecycle cost of all of the number of delineators throughout the city. So we're going out and evaluating multiple times a year how long is that delineator lasting in certain locations, so we can provide better information to the Streets Department on where it would be most effective to maybe replace or upgrade something with concrete and where delineators are performing just fine and they're not having a high turnover rate. So that is something that my office is working on. But I'll turn it over to the Commissioner. COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: Thank you, Kelly. The flex post that you're referring to will be installed in the spring on Spruce Street.

I can't hear you. Say it again. COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: They're going to be installed in the spring, the flex posts you're referring to on Spruce Street. Yes.

Yeah, I was really -- COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: South Street Bridge. I'm sorry.

Yeah, South Street. I was referring to South Street. But since we touched on it briefly, I see my colleague over there, Councilmember Squilla, we share this issue together as South Philadelphians, where are we with concrete barriers along Spruce and Pine Street? What's the status of that proposal/vision?

I'm going to turn it over to Jim Kelly.

And I know that we have lawsuits going on and the Spruce and Pine lawsuit and we just want to get an idea. We obviously want to find a win-win for everybody, right. We also want to protect pedestrians who bike as well. So we're trying to find that balance.

Good afternoon, Council President. James Kelly for the Streets Department. The answer is not going to be satisfactory in terms of the sound bite for where we are, because during the pendency of this litigation we've been advised frankly by the law department in consultation with our colleagues in multiple units of the law department that we are going to wait on a final decision until the pendency of that outcome and we can't comment frankly on that.

Okay. Just wanted to get an idea.

I would love to give you a better idea. Thank you for the question.

All right. Everything is on hold for the moment. Okay. Thank you. At this time, the Chair recognizes Majority Leader Councilwoman Kathy Gilmore Richardson.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. President. I think I was still in the queue, but I wanted to also thank Noelle Marconi from Streets. Thank you so much, Noelle, for being our legislative liaison. We appreciate your work. Also, we were able to get the additional information. So I just wanted to circle back to the last question so we have clarity.

Thank you, Councilmember, for allowing us to get back to you on this. What we're looking at or what you're looking at is called appropriations, and that's grants that we hope to receive mostly from the federal government. We usually ask for five, six times what we're actually going to get. So it's not the money that we got. It's the appropriations that we requested.

Received. Thank you very much for the clarification. But I just wanted to notate for the record, colleagues, that the number that was stated was not incorrect. This is a budgeting matter that takes place relative to federal, state, mostly, primarily federal funds that the city is seeking to get on behalf of the City of Philadelphia. It's not that the number is incorrect. The number that I stated was correct and can be found on in the latest QCMR. And I just wanted to say that for my colleagues for the record so that they know from my perspective the numbers I stated were correct, but that this is a budgeting matter relative to how we hope we receive support from the federal government. Okay. Thank you very much, Council President. And thank you all so much for the clarification.

Thank you.

Thank you. Chair recognizes Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad and Councilmember Jeffrey Jay Young.

Thank you, Council President. Thank you all for being here and for your service. A broad question about these awful snowstorms that we had. And many of the speed bumps across the city have been destroyed, partially removed, and the remaining metal spikes are causing problems for cars and flat tires. So how are we addressing that and how are we going about that and is there a priority in how you're addressing this? COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: Thank you for your question. We are actively assessing every rubber speed cushion throughout the city and repairing each one. Some of them we're completely taking out and putting on a list for asphalt. The other ones that are damaged, we are repairing. So we had an inventory of speed cushions that were damaged during the snow that we are addressing, inspecting and repairing. And if there's any others out there, we just ask everyone to report it to 311 so that we can get to it.

So the 311 list is what is the priority of how they get fixed if somebody asks my street has this sitting for so long, I reported it, but maybe you had another priority because there's a high volume traffic somewhere and you were doing that first even if it was reported after that? COMMISSIONER DEL ROSSI: We're addressing the High Injury Network first, and we're addressing like the ones that are most dangerous first. And then the ones that are just missing a few bolts that are shifting, we'll get to them. But the ones that are obviously dangerous, we're getting to them first.

Just want to know what to tell our constituents. Quickly the second piece, I just want to circle back to the issue that Councilmember Quetcy Lozada brought up because I had the exact same question. This was Class 100 funds of 577,758, FY27 with a salary of -- it 24 seems to come to 24. Unless we don't understand that's an addition and there's other money and we're not getting the full number, because 24,000 for a full-time job is problematic so I just wanted to clarify and understand that number. It's that I found this on.

Councilmember, the math is correct in terms of the 577,000 that you're looking at. The positions are 12 real though. And what they will be 13 doing is we'll incorporate them as 14 part of our overall budget. 15 Typically when we get new 16 positions, it takes some time for 17 us to fill them. So that 24,000 of 18 what you're looking at is when we 19 fill them how much we're actually 20 going to be spending for that 21 fiscal year. 22 But upfront, we're using 23 existing vacancies to fill those 24 positions right away, if that makes sense. So the amount of money they're actually making is based off of their annual salary, which I mentioned before, semi-skilled laborers at about 42,000, 44,000 and heavy equipment operators at about 52,000, 54,000.

So just to be clear, it says plus 10 positions. This is adding to the 11 existing budget that's there and 12 the salary rate will be adhering to 13 the 42 and you're being 14 aspirational in this plus 24? 15

The 24 16 positions are real. They're going 17 to be filled. As a matter of fact, 18 they're getting filled this fiscal 19 year. They actually become 20 budgetary positions. We're filling 21 them now, we're filling with vacant 22 positions. But by the time we fill 23 those extra positions later on, by 24 the time we fill them, it'll be later on in the fiscal year. So we don't need the full $42,000 per position. The 24,000 covers it because we fill them later on in the fiscal year. I know that's confusing.

Yeah. Where's the balance going to come from of the 24?

If you look at FY28, the next 577,000 amount comes in to cover those positions when we go into the next fiscal year after that.

The reason we ask these questions, our constituents do not understand this at all, let alone us understanding it. So there has to be a more clear way of presenting this information so we know what are we actually dealing with, because all we have are these numbers and this divided by this is what we come up with. Both of us came up with that. So I just behoove you to give more detail somewhere so we are clear about what we are telling -- because we tell people to apply for these jobs and we have to tell them this is the salary range. And quickly, my last question is about the Schuylkill River Trail. I got complaints from constituents about it's very crowded at certain times of the year and certain times of the day. And there seems to be all kinds of vehicles, people on foot, people on ebikes, people on bicycles whizzing by. There's no demarcation of where any kind of lanes for anybody and it is actually quite dangerous. I've walked it myself. So I just wondered how you control who rides on that, who walks on that and how they maintain speed or how do we manage that space for Vision Zero kind of question?

Yeah. So it is a Vision Zero issue. Sort of like the designation of space and the maintenance and any improvements on the trail would be taken up by the Parks & Rec Department in coordination with the Schuylkill River Development Corporation. We can take those concerns to them. I do have a seat on the Board with the Schuylkill Development Corporation. These aren't new issues. I think the trail turned out to be a lot more popular than a lot of people thought. So there's always going to be some competition for space, but we'll try and explore some measures we can take to improve safety on the trail.

It's a wonderful addition. It's beautiful. People are out there. Great job. I think we're a victim of our success in terms of how we're using it, so thank you for that. We'll look forward to hearing about who has jurisdiction to regulate those pathways. Thank you, Council President.

Thank you very much. Jeffrey Jay Young, Councilmember Mark Squilla.

Thank you, Mr. President. So first, I just want to say as Chair of the Streets and Services Committee, I want to give my condolences again to the family of Mr. Timothy Sapp, Sr. of D.C. 33 Local 403 and I want to commend all the members of Local 403 for the hard work this winter. One question I have is regarding when we had this emergency storm and we utilized the same day work and pay, those folks got uniforms. Can you tell us what is the plan, I guess, for those uniforms now that we're no longer in an emergency? Do men and women of D.C. 33 get Streets Department- issued uniforms to perform their jobs? Can you tell us what investments the city is making, if not into those uniforms, those proper uniforms to ensure the safety of the men and women in the Streets Department?

Good afternoon, Councilmember. So we're going to have to refer those questions to the Office of Clean and Green, which administered the work that was being done by the same day work and pay team. The Streets Department played a role in terms of the highway operations, specifically in the clearing of the cartway with its own equipment, but that aspect of the operation was stood up independently from the Streets Department or from the Office of Transportation Infrastructure.

Thank you. I'll make sure that we get that question over to that correct office. Thank you for that. Earlier today I was hearing testimony about the repavement schedule. I think it was Dr. Phillips who was asking this question regarding the 100 miles at a time. And it seems like that for our constituents, that 100 miles at a time just doesn't work for them because who knows when they're going to get to that block, right, to their block. So what can we tell our constituents? I mean, because that doesn't fly for them to say, oh, well, we have a 100-mile schedule, you got to wait your turn when they've been waiting for the repavement for years, it seems like. So what is it that we can give our constituents, right, because they're on us? What can we give them to kind of ease their mind about the pavement schedule? I mean, I have the schedule for my district, but it seems like there are streets that were repaved a few years ago that already need it again, right. And so, what can we do to really reassure the taxpayers that their tax dollars are being put toward things that affect their everyday life when they're using our roads?

There's no 23 easy answer here. I just want to be clear about that. It always comes down to budgetary priorities. The fact is some streets are going to get paid more frequently because they bear more traffic. The role that they play in the transportation network is more central. So you'll see a street like Broad Street in good times could get paved every six or seven years. And then in contrast, if you're living on a neighborhood street, there's plenty of places in the city where you're in good shape, for every years. 15

I 16 mean, I can tell you in parts of my 17 district, particularly in 18 Fairmount, their repaving is 19 happening near Lemon Hill, but 20 that's great. But once you go a block off Lemon Hill and continue going west, I mean going east on Poplar Street, that street is horrible. That street is going to be used heavily during this summer because of the FIFA Fan Fest. We're asking for some investments into that entire street, not just that street that's near Lemon Hill because of the heavy traffic that's going to happen throughout this summer during that time. So can we get that little sped up on our timeline? I think those residents in that community would really appreciate that given the amount of traffic that's going to be in that neighborhood this summer.

Well, speaking to that, Philly Soccer, anybody who's listening should not drive to Lemon Hill. You should not drive to --

They're going to be catching Ubers. It's going to happen.

There might be some Uber traffic and we'll try and accommodate that. We certainly want to make sure people are taking advantage of enhanced public transportation options. So there'll be a lot of SEPTA vehicles using Girard and Philly Flash, who is going to stand up some additional service. I don't want to go on and on, but I really do want everyone to get the message, ride a bike, walk, take a bus, take a train, go on the trail if you're going to Fan Fest this summer. But to your point, we will try and take a look at Poplar Street. And you may have heard before some of the tools we were looking at, you know, streets that are in bad condition that carry arterial levels of traffic definitely need to get a good assessment, and we're looking for better tools to do those assessments. But we certainly appreciate all the investment that we've seen in the most recent budgets. And I feel like if we can keep up this pace of paving, things will get better. We have to do that paving in conjunction with ADA ramps, which is also important. So it comes down to budgets. It just comes down to making sure we have the resources to do the work.

Thank you for that, Mr. President. Is there a second round of questioning for this panel? I just want to know.

We will try to stretch to get to it, if y'all want to stay after 4 o'clock.

All right. I just have one more question then. Line painting, can you tell us what's in our budget to restripe our streets this year? I think that's the most simplest way we could do traffic calming, just by repainting the lines that are in our streets so the cars actually know which lane they need to be in or vehicles. All vehicles need to know which lane they need to be in. So can you tell us about what's in our budget for line painting and what is the process to I guess have our lines repainted in our streets?

We have two line-striping crews, Councilmember. And from what I'm looking at here, that should be a little over 2.5 million in operating.