COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND CIVIL SERVICE - - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, March 3, 2005 1:15 p.m. - - - - RESOLUTION 040171 - Resolution authorizing the Committee on Labor and Civil Service to hold public hearings to examine and investigate the high number of unemployed people in Philadelphia... PRESENT: COUNCILMAN JUAN RAMOS, Chair COUNCILMAN W. WILSON GOODE, JR. COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN - - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 I N D E X RESOLUTION 040171 THOMAS CRONIN, District Council 47... MICHAEL WALSH, AFSCME Local 2186..... 29 SUZIN RIGSBY......................... 32 PATRICIA HOBERG...................... 41 AUDREY ROLL.......................... 47 KATHERINE SCOTT, AFSCME Local 2187... 60 JUANITA VEGA-DEJOSEPH................ 66 ANN HORNBACH......................... 74 T. KIM ROBINSON...................... 80 PAULETTE COPELAND BOLTON............. 87 BRIAN ANDREWS........................ 93 ARTHUR SHOSTAK....................... 100 CURTIS JONES, PCDC................... 114 3 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171
Good afternoon, everyone. This is a hearing of the Committee on Labor and Civil Service. I am Juan Ramos, Chairman of the Committee. With me today is my colleague Councilman W. Wilson Goode, Jr. Thank you, Councilman, for joining me on this continuation of a hearing that was started on March 15th of 2004 on the reality of unemployment in the City of Philadelphia. Will the Clerk please read the title of the resolution?
Resolution 040171, a Resolution authorizing the Committee on Labor and Civil Service to hold public hearings to examine and investigate the high number of unemployed people in Philadelphia and the effects this has on their families, the viability of business, commerce and the City's declining population base and to recommend policies, programs and practices that are intended to help reverse this trend.
Thank you for reminding us of what we're here for. It is a continuation of a hearing that was started 4 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 March 15th, as you heard from the Clerk. I have been also asked in the last couple months by the leader of District Council 47, Mr. Tom Cronin, he wanted to specifically talk about the impact of the budget cuts and the impact of the reduction of services by the decision of the Administration where there were going to be a certain amount of layoffs that would affect members of District Council 47. I received a letter from the Managing Director. I had inquired about how many layoffs would affect the members of District Council 47. At this time, I will ask the Clerk to read the letter, please.
"Dear Councilman Ramos, I am writing the provide the requested information for your public hearing to discuss staffing reductions. "Employees who were laid off and not working, 98; employees who were demoted in lieu of layoff, 34; employees who retired in lieu of layoff, 20; employees who were 5 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 transferred to other positions before or after layoff, 48; employees who will be laid off upon the return from Reg 32 Disability Leave, 2; total, 202. "The staffing reduction process, which began in January, continues. As employees who are eligible to be demote in lieu of layoff elect this option, additional employees may receive layoff notices. "Sincerely, Philip R. Goldsmith, Managing Director."
Thank you for reading the letter from Mr. Philip Goldsmith. That will be part of the record of this hearing today. Will the Clerk make sure that those here who are interested in a copy of that letter, we can provide it to them, please.
Good. How about we call forward our first witness. I promised Tom Cronin that he'd be first. I don't know if I promised, I just thought that Tom brought this us, we were 6 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 going to do a continuance let Tom Cronin be first. Please state your name and position for the record, please.
My name is Thomas Paine Cronin. I'm President of AFSCME District Council 47. Mr. Chairman, before we start, let me just -- I want to personally thank you for honoring my request to have these hearings because I think it's very important for not only the union officers to be able to testify on this, but to be able to hear from some of our members firsthand the impact of these layoffs. So I really appreciate your courtesy in honoring my request and meeting with me and pushing these hearings. So I just want to let you know that.
Well, thank you so much. I see it as my duty, my obligation, to make sure that labor is heard all the time.
Thank you, sir. Good afternoon. This afternoon you are going to hear a great deal of testimony as 7 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 to the impact that the Administration's proposed layoffs are going to have services provided to the people of Philadelphia. You are also likely to hear that these layoffs are necessary and are planned so as not to be noticed by the public. Let me remind you of two important facts. One, while the number of layoffs may seem small, some 200 people out of a current city workforce of over 23,000, these are really just the tip of the iceberg. Further, since the year 2000, the City workforce has been reduced by almost 2,000 people. In each year of the Five-year Plan, there is a figure that knows the number of positions appropriated to each department. This number is what should be. What you need to know is what is the real number of workers. As both workers and management appear before you, you should ask them as to the number of unfilled positions in each department or agency. I am sure that you will find across the board that every city department has fewer workers than what is called for in the plan. This means 8 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 that men and women who are working there are forced to do the work of more than one person to make up for the failure to fill those vacancies. Further, while some may say that the vacancies are a normal occurrence, I will suggest to you that they are, in many cases, a deliberate strategy to reduce the personnel costs to the City. A vacancy is one less person to be paid, one more dollar saved. But at what cost? One less person means that people who use City services will wait longer for those services. It means that senior citizens who use the City health centers to get their prescriptions filled may now have to wait three weeks rather than two for their medications because there are fewer pharmacists. It means that kids at recreation centers no longer have after school or summer programs which keep them constructively engaged rather than just hanging around and getting into trouble. It means that libraries are open fewer hours; and when they are open, 9 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 can no longer offer the programs that benefit all the members of a neighborhood. For the City employees who remain, it means greater stress as they try to do the work which was planned for others. Stress and tension become the overwhelming characteristic of their jobs. Their lives and lives of their families are changed as these men and women attempt to fulfill all of the demands of the people that they are trying to serve. It is a bad situation. This brings us to the second fact that you must understand. These layoffs and vacancies are the inexorable result of what I must call, quote, a frenzy of tax-cutting by City Council and the Mayor. In the last few years, there has developed an often self-serving drum beat for the reduction and elimination of just about every tax imposed by the City. The mantra of "if you cut taxes, they will come" has a strong allure for many elected officials, especially when the proponents are so effectively organized and supported by the media. 10 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 I will not sit here and say that I like paying taxes; I don't believe anyone does. Yet I will say that I recognize that my taxes are used to support services and programs that are important to the people and which contribute to the betterment of this City. Taxes provide services for those less fortunate; for the very young and the very old. They also provide for the services that are the very essence of what makes a City. They pay for what we want our government to do for us. Yet we are at a moment of time when government at all levels seemed to have forgotten that fact. The Bush Administration wants to make permanent tax cuts which have produced the largest deficit in our nation's history.
These deficits present a serious political problem which the President plans to address by reducing federal domestic aid. That means that cities and states will have less money to supplement their budgets. The same situation exists at the state level. Though Governor Rendell has had the political courage to face the situation 11 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 and propose alternatives to cutting services, in our City we need to show the same resolve and support those measures which keep service levels steady so that the quality of life of our citizens does not undergo further erosion. So today I ask you to dig deep into the testimony presented here and acknowledge that the people of Philadelphia deserve more and better City services. Understand that the people who provide those services need the support and staffing to meet those needs, because those are the services which define what makes our City great. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, we also have panels of individuals from both of the locals that provide those specific services which I'm sure can also get into some of the nitty-gritty questions you may have about staffing levels and work specifically performed. So hopefully, those questions can be addressed to the local officers or the folks that are here on those panels. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Cronin. 12 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 Any questions for Mr. Cronin?
Just a few. Good afternoon, Mr. Cronin. Thank you for your testimony.
I don't take issue with much of what you said about the future as we consider this year's budget and tax bills before us. I definitely take issue with the fact you suggest in your testimony that the current layoffs are a result of tax-cutting as opposed to bad pension system investment, money spent on special initiatives by the Administration, and any series of other things. And so I ask you to please be specific about what tax-cutting frenzy you're referring to in your testimony.
Well, I attended a -- let me just say this. I think there's an organization called Philadelphia Forward which has a web site which is a pretty good web 13 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 site. Obviously, it's well financed by -- I'm not quite sure whom. I could take a guess, but it's clear that it's well financed. It's clear that it's organized. It's also clear to me that there's been a stampede, from what I've seen in the newspapers and on the electronic media, of tax-cutting, tax-cutting, tax-cutting, and various proposals by different Councilpeople that have said, "I have a particular tax plan," and another Councilperson said, "Well, I have another one," and so forth and so on. To me, when you look at all these various tax plans, if you took them all and you supported them all, almost no one would be paying any taxes, whether its business, middle class, or the poor, et cetera. What I'm saying to you is that the most recent example was the business privilege tax which we came -- meaning, District Council 47 and its locals -- the other day and we sat and we listened to business person after business person, the Chamber of Commerce folks, the Bar Association. In fact, I think we sat here 14 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 almost until 6 o'clock at night listening to their testimony before we were called. Person after person that testified before us was asking, in this case I think it was Councilman Nutter's bill, to completely eliminate the business privilege tax which would mean, as I understand the bill, approximately 300 million other a number of different years.
That's even worse to me. What I see, when we go to the bargaining table, what I see every time that we go with not only our city locals but some of our other locals, we are faced with minuscule wages. In fact, in many cases not even wage increases but bonuses --
Mr. Cronin, I don't want to interrupt you and I don't disagree with anything you've said so far, so I'm not interrupting you for that purpose. That really doesn't address my question, though.
I'm trying to get to a 15 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 complete answer.
I want to clarify my question. If what you meant was the Tax Reform Commission proposals are tax-cutting frenzy or what Philadelphia Forward is supporting is a tax-cutting frenzy, or what the editorial boards have supported is a tax-cutting frenzy, that's one thing and that is probably a true statement and I would be in much agreement with that about now and the future. My question was, what tax-cutting frenzy led to layoffs this year? I just don't believe that to be factual.
What I'm saying to you is I think a climate has been created in the City of Philadelphia for the last couple of years which says, cut taxes, cut taxes, cut taxes. And what I see in healthcare, in particular, double digit inflation where we have to keep lowering our plan, not having enough benefits, constantly cutting those benefits in order to try to service our members, seeing fewer and fewer people in all 16 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 the City departments. So I think that there's been various tax cut proposals, most of which, whether it's been Councilman Nutter or whether it's been Councilman Cohen, I don't support those tax cuts, because I think that it leads, when you look at the federal government and the state government, a situation where nobody wants to pay but everybody wants the services.
More specifically I'm asking the question, which particular tax cuts led to layoffs? And I will dispute that fact because there are no particular tax cuts that we have actually enacted that led to layoffs.
Well, I would say that you and the Administration have a particular difference of opinion on that because they certainly believe that the tax cuts have.
I'll just make a statement rather than pose a question. The statement simply is that what we did a few years ago when the Mayor wanted to shift the tax burden and essentially halt wage tax cuts and accelerate the gross receipts portion of 17 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 the business privilege tax in terms of cuts, and all he was doing was shifting, he wanted to essentially stop the wage tax cuts and increase gross receipts portion of the business privilege tax. Council made a decision at that point not to follow that plan per se but to keep the wage tax cuts that were already scheduled and already part of the Five-Year Plan. So that was not an actual change and those were not necessarily additional cuts. The only thing that happened at that time that would have caused additional cuts was a provision in the Nutter bill at that point that said that if the economy improves, we will accelerate those cuts. And a provision in the Mariano bill said as we increase property tax revenue we will take that additional revenue and put it into additional business privilege tax cuts. What has happened since then in reality is we killed both of those provisions. So you do not have the accelerated business tax cuts as a condition of the Nutter provision because we took it out. And you do not have additional 18 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 property tax revenue put into additional business tax cuts because we pulled it out. And then when we actually passed a wage tax cut bill this past spring, early summer, we actually saved $15 million in the Five-Year Plan, the same Five-Year Plan that had no 8 money in it for labor contracts. What we actually did was save $15 million.
Councilman, let me just say this. I'm not here to get into a specific debate or be the monkey in the middle between the Council and the Administration. What I'm saying and what I've made clear both to the Administration and to various people in City Council is whether it's the Mayor's proposed tax cuts or City Council's proposed tax cuts I don't agree. I don't agree that's our position because we're the rubber meets the road. What I see from my perspective -- each of us have a different reality here -- is that I see when we're talking about less and less taxes, again, I don't care what level it is, the people who get hurt are, first of all, my people, meaning City workers, and the services 19 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 that they provide. That's what I see. And we go to the bargaining table with the City Administration and we say to them, "Listen, we want a modest wage increase, a modest one." Nobody expects to get rich working for the City of Philadelphia. When we can't get a modest wage increase and we can't get a decent benefit package when our healthcare is under attack and now we're beginning to see our pensions are under attack, I'm not for tax cuts. If they want services, they've got to agree to pay for them no matter whether it's city, state, or the federal level.
Mr. Cronin, I don't disagree, again, with what you just said. My only disagreement, and for clarity of the record, is even for business tax cuts, essentially those tax cuts, none of which has been passed, so they couldn't have caused layoffs because they haven't been passed, one. And two, particularly none of the Council bills, particularly the Nutter bill and/or my bill will take effect until the year after next, so they couldn't have caused layoffs. 20 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171
Well, let me just say this. We're just going to have to just disagree on that. But again, even if it's in the future, Councilman, again, whether it's your bill or Councilman Nutter's bill, I'm not for -- and I want to make it clear -- additional tax cuts because all it's going to do is hurt services in the City of Philadelphia.
That can be clear and we might agree upon it, but the issue is whether it caused the layoffs that existed this year. And that's not a true statement and that's not a statement you can prove. Philosophically you can be against tax-cutting, you cannot prove that any tax cuts that were enacted by this Council and signed by the Mayor caused the layoff of any one person --
We're beginning to get into, for whatever reason you're doing this, a little gymnastics about an Administration has the right to say what programs are going to support, what programs are not going to 21 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 support, begin to shift the money around, begin to talk about different taxes. They've done that. But what we know --
Councilman, let me finish. You asked a question. You obviously want to debate me on this, and that's fine, we can do that. What I'm saying to you is there's less and less money available. Now, whether it's the tax cuts that have been enacted, whether it's Administration's -- and again, I want to make it clear. I don't support those, and I've told that to the Mayor. But nor do I support yours or Councilman Nutter's or Councilman Cohen's or anybody else's because what I see is it's having a deleterious effect of services to the people of Philadelphia and it's clearly causing our people untold amount of pain, whether they're actives or retirees. And now what's happening is people are going after our pensions. We talk about taxes, but it's interesting on so many of these levels, whether it's in City Council or the state or 22 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 federal government, the people that get the tax breaks, if you will, are big business; are big business. And don't tell me that that doesn't have a trickle-down effect or an impact on what is going in the City of Philadelphia.
I'd vote against probably all of them, if not almost all of them. My point is -- and you still have not proven your point that any of the tax cuts that are actually enacted have caused one layoff. The layoffs are a decision by the Administration to balance the budget in the way they want to balance the budget and is not from the absence of revenue because revenue has not decreased.
Tax revenue has increased. 23 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171
Tax revenue has increased? And it's increased because we've given breaks to big business?
I haven't given breaks to big business, but do your homework, tax revenue has increased.
I think you need to do your homework, Councilman. What I'm saying to you is you need to talk to these people about where the money has gone. I'm saying to you that we don't have the money here to get decent contracts and provide services to the people of Philadelphia. And whether we're talking about 2005 with whatever the Mayor has done or we're talking about in the future your proposals for tax cuts or Councilman Nutter's proposals for tax cuts, that's not going to improve the situation. And we're just going to have to disagree on that. But what I think people need to know is rather than the mantra that we've heard from big business proponents or other proponents that have come before here is tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts, is the question of how it's going to impact on the 24 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 people of Philadelphia. We have always have all kinds of money for stadiums; we don't have the money for playgrounds. We have all kinds of money for other things, but we don't have the money for libraries. I've seen it myself when I go to a district health center and I say to the nurses, "There's been layoffs here. Has that hurt you?" You know what they say to me, "Well, it's not so much that the layoffs have hurt us, but what's happened is this steady attrition because we don't have enough people to serve the people of Philadelphia." That's what they say. When you talk about additional tax cuts, I don't see that helping the situation because we're not getting any relief from the state and we're not getting any relief from the federal government.
Mr. Cronin, I have not advocated for additional tax cuts today. All I said was the tax cuts did not cause the layoffs. It's very hard for you to defend even the Administration's position, if you call it that -- 25 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171
I'm not defending the Administration's position. I'm not defending your position.
Let me finish. That tax cuts already took place caused layoffs when later this afternoon it's my guess that the Commerce Director will come here and testify that the Administration still plans on pursuing a half billion dollar investment fund.
Councilman Goode, I don't know how much more clear I can make it to you. I don't support what they're doing and I don't support what you're doing. But you know what, I think the people of Philadelphia should know is in this City some people get the tax breaks and some people don't get the tax breaks. But what the people need to know clearly is when you do give the tax breaks what that means. And what it means is what you're going to hear here, is cutting back on libraries, cutting back on hours in healthcare centers, crisis situations at the prisons, and so forth and so on. And whether 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 it's tax cuts or tax breaks -- because we're playing a little semantic game here -- it's still going to hurt the people of Philadelphia.
No, you're playing a semantic game because I'm not talking about tax cuts or tax breaks. What I'm actually talking about is what tax policy led to layoffs, and no tax policy led to layoffs.
We're just going to have to disagree. That's going to be clear.
Okay. I believe that these public hearings serve a very important purpose. One of the purposes is to have an exchange. And Councilman Goode is very good at exchanges and so is my dear friend Tom Cronin in a very respectful way, but we're here to see what are the real numbers of workers being laid off. Mr. Cronin makes it very clear, and this is a trend that we have seen since the 27 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 year 2000 where over 2,000 members from this District Council have been terminated --
No, I'm not talking about 2,000 from this District Council. I'm talking about 2,000 totally. I think what we've seen in every -- again, what we've seen, whether it's District Council 47, which I'm speaking for, I'm not speaking for 33, but it's clear that they've had a loss as well.
Right. But you can also say the same for -- when they closed firehouses all around the City, that's a problem. But I think the Fire Department, the head of the fire union, you know, they can come and they can speak for themselves. But I see a deteriorating situation.
But even in that case, Mr. Cronin -- and once again, I'm not arguing particularly this point. We put the money back in the Fire Department to keep them open. The Administration made a decision to close them anyway. 28 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171
Councilman, let me just say this. We're getting ridiculous here. Your problem with me isn't even this problem. What's going on, City Councilpeople will stand beside other representatives -- let's say it's the Fire Department local. And they'll say, "You know what, we don't want to see firehouses close." But they really don't care about libraries and health centers and some of the others. It's a twofold thing. They will say, "We don't want to see all these City services closed but we want more and more tax cuts and tax breaks." You can't have it both ways. That's my point of view.
Can I at this time call on the panel that will accompany Mr. Cronin from Local 2186, Michael Walsh. Is Michael Walsh here? Suzin Rigsby. Suzin, are you here? Pat Hoberg. Pat, come forward. And Audrey Roll.
You're welcome. Mr. Cronin, if you care to join 29 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 them, you're welcome to stay. We're here to hear from you today.
Whoever wants to be first can proceed, please. Identify yourself and if you have a title with you that you want to introduce into the record, please do so.
Councilman Juan Ramos, Councilman Wilson Goode, Jr., thank you for the opportunity to testify here today. My name is Michael Walsh. I'm the president of AFSCME Local 2186, which represents first line supervisors of administrative professional and technical employees in every board, department, and agency in the City of Philadelphia. Layoffs are an important issue for the union and its members. Layoffs will cause service cuts. Our families, our children, and our members are residents of the City. We take a double hit, jobs and services lost. For this local, five departments were hit: License and Inspections, MOIS, 30 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 prisons, Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, and the Free Library or your part-time book warehouse, no services available. For us, the largest cuts occurred in the Free Library. Don't believe me, read the City's own report. The latest quarterly city managers report, dated February 15, 2005, for the period ending December 31, 2004, listed service hours as its No. 1 service indicator. What does it say? At the branches in the neighborhoods, hours of service have decreased 97,711 to 88,288. This is a reduction of 9423 units of service. It is a 9.6 reduction in one reporting year. How does this affect our communities and children? As per the City's report, it means 775,500 less visits to neighborhood libraries; 406,608 less borrowed items, which means our children are reading less; 49.3 decrease in electronic information access category. How does this affect computer skills? Today, literacy and Internet access 31 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 are major government initiatives. Someone needs to inform the Free Library. Elliot Shelkrot, the Free Library's director, has informed the Philadelphia Inquirer that less library hours are better. He should be asked, how does less service promote children's literacy? His own report, the one I cited, challenges that view. Criticism without a solution is a wast of everybody's time. What budget category is significantly increased? The category of professional service contracts has increased over $31 million in just one year. This increase would fund the Free Library system for nine months of service. What we should do is reduce personal service contracts before a library is expressed, a media spin for closing. Maybe children's literacy should become a personal service contract. On today's panel are three professionally trained librarians. They will discuss briefly the specifics of community and children affected by the Free Library's reorganization. 32 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 On behalf of AFSCME Local 2186, whose members, their spouses and dependents are City residents, thank you for this opportunity to testify. Councilman, I'd like to turn it over.
Next person, please proceed with your testimony. Please give your name and title if you want to include that into the record.
Good afternoon, Councilman Ramos and Members of City Council. My name is Suzin Rigsby. I am the branch manager and children's librarian at the Wyoming Avenue branch of the Free Library. My branch is located in the Feltonville section 18 and is one of the branches designated to become express in the near future. Wyoming Branch is currently fully staffed, one librarian who is the branch manager and children's librarian, an adult teen librarian, three full-time library assistants, and a full-time municipal guard. I have had three Master's degrees credits 33 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 toward a doctorate. Our adult teen librarian has two Master's degrees. When Wyoming Branch becomes an express library, we will be replaced by one library assistant with a high school diploma. And, of course, none of the current full-time staff will remain at the branch. Wyoming Branch serves one of th most ethnically diverse populations in the City. It is also one of the largest immigrant populations in the City. Our patrons are natives of Puerto Rico, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nigeria, Kenya, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Korea, Pakistan, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Morocco, and Yemen. Our branch has collections of books, magazines and movies in Spanish, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese, Haitian and Arabic. Nearly 60 percent of our patrons speak a language other than English in the home and over 40 percent have not completed high school. Over 7 percent have less than a fifth grade education. To meet the needs of our patrons, 34 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 Wyoming Branch offers two English as a Second Language classes, a GED class, and English tutoring. We also have a large collection of books and tapes for English self-study. We partner with Indo-Chinese Council, Nueva Esperanza, Asociacion de Puertorriquenos En Marcha, Episcopal Community Services, Tabor Lutheran Church, Aspira, and other community-based agencies to identify community needs, select library resources to meet those needs, and then direct residents to the library to utilize our resources. Because of our outreach, Wyoming Branch has had the fifth highest program attendance in the Free Library for the last two years, 13,100 in 2003, and 12,200 in 2004. There are 14 schools that you use Wyoming Branch, particularly Central East Middle School, Clara Barton Elementary, Olney High School, Feltonville Elementary, CEP Hunting Park, and St. Ambrose Parochial. Central East Middle and Clara Barton Elementary are located directly across the street from the library. There are nearly 35 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 1900 students between these two schools. By the end of this year, the School District will open a new K through 8th grade mega-campus directly across the street from Wyoming Branch. Its anticipated enrollment will be 2500-plus students. Just a few months ago in October 2004, I received a phone call from a member of the library administration who was retiring. She said that she had spoken with Elliot Shelkrot, the library director, about the new school being built across the street from Wyoming, and Mr. Shelkrot, quote, nearly fell off his Chair. She then told me that he was concerned that we would be needing more staff and maybe even an addition to our building in order to accommodate all those students. Then, six weeks ago, we found out that we were instead going to become an express branch with no librarians, less staff, and drastically reduced hours. As for our neighborhood schools, Clara Barton has a very small library and no 25 librarian. Feltonville School has neither a 36 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 library nor a librarian. And Central East Middle has a librarian but a rather small library. None of these schools have the resources to meet the homework and research demands of their students. m.
If Wyoming Branch becomes an express library, it will affect our patrons in the follow ways: We will lose our evening ESL class for speakers of Vietnamese and Cambodian. This is one of the few ESL classes in the city that is geared solely to speakers of these languages. We will lose our morning English tutoring. We will loss our community partnerships, because most of the outreach in cultivating a partnerships that I do takes place in the mornings. Unemployed adults will lose access to our resources for preparing their resumes and searching for jobs. Because the schools 37 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 are right across the street, adults must come to the library in the morning before the facility becomes overwhelmed with students. Because this a poor neighborhood, many families do not own cars. To visit another library will require the use of SEPTA and this will be both costly and time consuming. No other library in our vicinity has the extent of language resources that Wyoming Branch has. Our patrons will be deprived, and it will place an undue burden on other library branches which cannot accommodate heavy demands in Haitian, Arabic, Vietnamese, and Spanish. Wyoming is one of only two branches in the City with a Haitian language collection. West Oak Lane is the other. Wyoming Branch is five blocks from Roosevelt Boulevard. Our nearest library neighbor is Greater Olney, which right now isn't even open. If it were open, it's across 12 lanes of Roosevelt Boulevard which constitutes a real danger for children to 38 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 cross and most parents don't allow their children to ride SEPTA alone. Wyoming Branch has been paired with Bushrod Branch, which means that our patrons are supposed to go there for full library service. 55 miles of away; again, across lanes of Roosevelt Boulevard. 9 Neighborhood teens will not have a 10 safe place to gather in the evenings to study 11 and spend time with friends. 12 Preschool groups cannot cross Roosevelt Boulevard to get to another library. m. will not be able to use Wyoming Branch's resources at all, as they will just be arriving at the Library when it is time to close. m. Classes will not be able to visit Wyoming Branch as part of the school day and do research under the assistance of professional librarians. On a final note, when Wyoming Branch was closed for renovations in 1998 and '99, I 39 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 received a phone call from a kindergarten teacher at Feltonville Elementary. She was very upset that the branch had been closed during that entire school year and she said it was first time that her kindergarten class was not adequately prepared to go on to first grade. She directly blamed the closure of the library for her students' incomplete preparation. If Wyoming Branch becomes express and loses its librarians, how many more students will be inadequately prepared because they've lost access to resources vital to their education? Changing Wyoming from full service to anything less will leave more than one child behind. It will leave the community of Feltonville drastically behind. And considering that so many of our patrons came to America to seek out better lives for their children, we owe them the best, not a mere shadow of what American education is supposed to be all about.
Thank you so much for your testimony. I can relate to the 40 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 library because I know the library; I've used it before. And my father still lives in the Feltonville section not too far away from the library. And I have seen how the neighborhood has changed, how it's become a United Nations type of community where people from all over the world have settled in this community. And I've been very much aware of all of the programs that are available in so many different languages to the people of that area. That library and its hours should not be curtailed. And the other libraries' hours should not be curtailed as well. But I know that this library, with I having a personal relationship with it, I feel very, very strongly that the people of that community would definitely lose out if we curtailed the hours or close down this branch. I don't believe we're talking about or the Administration's talking about closing -- they're talking about closing and curtailing hours, but there are many members of this Council that are not for it. So I thank you so much for reminding me of my old library and 41 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 all the services that it provides to the people of that community.
Is there anyone else here from the panel that wants to speak? Please proceed.
Good afternoon, Councilman Ramos and the Members of the Committee. My name is Patricia Hoberg. I'm the library supervisor and the adult librarian at the Frankford Branch of the Free Library, and I have been in that position since 1983. For me, the present layoffs represent the final blow to 14 years of chipping away at the library staff and thereby seriously eroding the service that we can deliver to our community. In 1991, Frankford had a staff of nine full-time employees and one part-time employee. That staff consisted of one library supervisor, two librarians, one library assistant 2, four library assistant 1s, one part-time page, and a municipal guard. We 42 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 were open for a total 37 hours per week, Monday through Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and we were closed on Thursday. Other branches contributed staff to our Saturday schedule. In 1992, we lost one librarian position and one librarian assistant position, reducing the staff to seven full-time employees and one part-time employee. We continued with the same schedule of hours open to the public. In 1995 we lost the part-time employee, reducing the staff to seven. We also added afternoon hours on Thursday for a total of 41 hours open. Fewer employees, more hours open, but we were still receiving help with our Saturday schedule from other libraries. In 1996, all branches opened on Saturday, so Frankford lost the help it had been getting from other branches on the Saturday schedule. Frankford shifted to a half-day service on Saturday with full day service on Thursday. Keeping the same number 43 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 of hours, but covering those hours with less staff. The staff of seven full-timers continued for seven more years. Then in 2003, we replaced a full-time library assistant with a part-timer for a total of six and a half employees but continued to maintain 41 hours open, full days on Monday through Friday, 1:00 to 5:00 on Saturday. In true library die-hard fashion, we coped. In 2004, one of our library assistants transferred to another city department. That position remained vacant, and as a result of the layoffs has been lost. This leaves us with a total of five full-time employees and one part-timer, one library supervisor, one librarian, one library assistant 2, one full-time assistant 1, one half-time library assistant, and one municipal guard. At this point, we have had to reduce hours by closing on Saturday, taking us back to our 1991 schedule of 37 hours but now operating with four less employees a reduction in staff of 43 percent. 44 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 Even with the reduction in hours, this schedule has been impossible to maintain consistently. When one full-time library assistant uses a week's vacation, we must either get help from another library or close our branch for a part of the day on two days out of five. At those times, staff is stretched so thin that there is barely enough staff to handle the customers that come through the front doors, let alone complete the behind-the-scenes work that must be done to keep the building functioning as a library. With each employee lost, we have analyzed the work flow and looked for ways to cut, streamline or reorganize until we can cut no more. We have sacrificed quality in order to maintain quantity, but in the last year quantity has suffered as well. Work piling up behind the scenes, that is, books videos, periodicals, et cetera, that must be entered into the computer in addition to other steps before they can be made available means that these materials are not ready for the public when they need them. Shelves that are not 45 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 read and straightened result in materials that are not where they ought to be and, therefore, as good as lost. Replacement of popular materials that have warn out is not happening quickly enough so the public cannot borrow the items they most want.
All of these things affect the count of items that have circulated to the public and that count has been dropping steadily. We measure the number of people who come to the library via an exit turnstile. In 1991, we counted 98,765 people. In 2004, we counted 96,173. A 43 percent decrease in staff corresponded with only a 3 percent decrease in the numbers of people looking for help. 83 percent of the population is below the poverty level, and 36 percent do not have a high school diploma. We serve a public that often needs a lot of help in vital areas of their lives, whether it is applying for employment or unemployment compensation, obtaining an e-mail account because that's essential if you're applying for jobs via the Internet, developing a 46 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 resume, obtaining income tax forms, applying for financial aid, obtaining materials for their GED or identifying classes that they can attend. Nowadays, much of those vital areas are being handled over the Internet and often people are coming into the library because they have little or no computer skills and no 10 where else to turn for help. Assisting them with their applications and their resumes can be a very time-consuming proposition. Unfortunately, sometimes we are spread so thin that we are unable to give everyone all the help they require. And then because we care about people and about doing a good job, we worry that they have left with a resume that is not all that it could be or an application that is incomplete. I would term the library layoffs penny wise and pound foolish. For the small percentage of the total budget that they represent, the City is sacrificing tremendous value. Thank you for the opportunity to 47 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 address the Committee.
Thank you, Pat, for your testimony. Another story of another neighborhood library. In Pat's case, Frankford Library Can we proceed with Audrey Roll? Please state your name and your title, if you wish, for the record, please.
Good afternoon, Councilman Ramos and City Councilmembers Goode and Kenney. My name is Audrey Roll, and I am the library supervisor and children's librarian for the Cecil B. Moore Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, which is located at 2320 West Cecil B. Moore Avenue. I'm not going to take a lot of time, but I ask for your permission and your attention to further present information regarding the issue that will affect the constituents that you represent. The issues simply are the minimization of library hours and services and the elimination of branch supervisors and professional librarians in the 20 branches of the Free Library of 48 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 Philadelphia. If Cecil B. Moore Branch Library is closed mornings and only open for four hours daily, it will be impossible to provide important services for the children in the community. My branch provides library services to children from public, private, 9 and parochial schools, just as the other 10 libraries do. In the absence of school 11 libraries, which is a reality for Philadelphia 12 schools system-wide, I am called upon during 13 the early hours of the day to provide library 14 orientations, library talks and tours, book talks, book selection for reading and assignments, as well as a myriad of school-curriculum-supporting and reading-promoting activities. Like all the branch libraries in the City, I do this daily. What this all means specifically is that I service six to nine groups of to 40 22 school-age children per week. I can see 360 23 school-age children per week who come with 24 their teachers from nearby schools. These 25 children, for the most part, seldom come 49 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 accompanied by parents or by themselves. They most certainly will not have the experience which enriches their academics and encourages their achievement in school if the library is closed in the morning. I also service the Head Start, preschools, and child care providers in the community. There are eight institutions whose teachers routinely bring the preschool children to my library for story hours and book selection during the morning hours. In these times when early learning programs are taking financial cuts that minimize their ability to provide quality experiences for these youngest children, the conscientious, care providers are actively turning to the libraries city wide as a valuable resource. I can see four to six groups of 35 to 40 preschoolers, ages to years old each week. This is about 180 or more of our youngest children. When the children visit, they borrow books. Children not borrowing books means that the foundation, which is circulation and is the measurements of a 50 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 location's value, will be questionable. My greatest fear would be to see the closing of the branch. The community of Cecil B. 5 percent do not have high school diplomas. 5 percent of the community below the poverty level. A needed service is being minimized, compromised, in a community where it is needed the most. The branches will be staffed by 14 non-professional library assistants. This 15 means that there will not be a professional 16 library supervisor, which I am, or a 17 librarian, which I also am, in the branches to 18 conduct the programs that I've described. 19 Educated, experienced professionals -- I've 20 been 26 years in my profession -- liaison with the schools to promote and conduct programs that promote reading. They not only conduct programs, but they interact with the community to make the library a part of the infrastructure that sustains that community. 51 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 I've achieved partnerships with institutions and community agencies, just as Ms. Rigsby described. Philadelphia Health Federation, I've partnered with for the last three years now to provide parent talks, story times, and to maintain a play group of teen mothers who come every single Tuesday for the last three years.
I've partnered with the Rosenbach Museum to bring programs to school groups for the second year. The YMCA had collaborated with me to bring a series of family literacy programs to parents and children for the past two years. Simple problem being, if parents aren't good readers, the children won't be. I support Temple University Senior Corp by doing trainings for the 100 participants twice a year for the third year. And since the public schools reorganized to have private concerns manage locations, I've partnered with Reynolds Elementary, Gideon, and Morris Elementary Schools to orient their new teachers to the 52 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 community before placement in their school. In 2002, I hosted a quarter of a million dollar exhibit of African sculpture for the enjoyment of children and adults alike in our community. Libraries are vital to communities in ways that they have never have been before. If there are no professional librarians in the branches, then the community loses a major artery, and we as a city of children bleed. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Audrey, for your testimony, representing a historical part of this City, the area around Cecil B. Moore and the library that has been there serving our children particularly for many, many years, and we're very proud of your commitment and your tireless work on behalf of that community, the Cecil B. Moore Library. Councilman Cohen has joined us. He's a member of this Committee. Thank you, Councilman, for coming down to join us in this discussion on the reality of unemployment in 53 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 the City of Philadelphia and how it is affecting our municipal workforce. At this time, do any of the members of the Committee have any questions for this panel? We have a second panel coming up.
Are we speaking of the next budget? Are these the cuts we're talking about, what's to come? Or are these cuts that already have been made? Is there anybody at the witness table that can answer?
Excuse me. Before you go on, I want to apologize. Is this Councilman Cohen.
I apologize, I think I called you Kenney. It's not that I'm here every day.
We're going to answer your question in one minute, Councilman Cohen, but I've been asked my colleague Councilman Wilson Goode that would like to make an announcement. 54 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171
The hearing scheduled for 2 o'clock in the Committee of Commerce and Economic Development will begin as soon as this hearing is finished.
Thank you, Councilman Goode. Councilman Cohen, the presentation today by AFSCME District Council 47 -- we have already heard from its president, Mr. Tom Cronin -- this panel was talking about the closing of libraries or the reduction in services and the layoffs in our libraries.
Well, are they talking about cuts that have taken place or that would take place from if the present Mayor's budget recommendations are carried out?
I've heard that of the cuts that will take place, if the cuts that are being proposed by the Administration go forward. And in their testimony they have also talked about the continuous cut over the period of time of services in our libraries.
Councilman, some have 55 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 taken place and some are in the process of taking place with the libraries. There are 4 branches cut to have reduced hours, and I 5 believe 10 of them have now been assigned 6 reduced hours, and there's 10 more to go. We 7 don't know what the date is when that 8 implementation will be. We believe it's in 9 the near future. 10
Does anybody have 11 an estimate of the amount of money that's 12 involved to restore the former status quo, 13 poor as that may have been? 14
Councilman, IT'S 15 approximately 17 people will be laid off from 16 the library that's resulting in this loss. We 17 believe that it's less than $1 million or 18 approximately $1 million. 19
That's a very 20 heavy price to be paying the layoff in library service when one considers the amount of money that's being spent on attorneys' fees in the Federal Grand Jury probe, which I understand is now committed at the level of at least $2 million. And I hardly think that the City 56 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 is the proper balance. I saw a headline in the Inquirer this morning that said, "No Change Needed Assert Mayor's Aid." It certainly seems to me that this is one area where change is desperately needed, where we can't afford to have our students pay for the cost of attorneys and the probe or permit the people of Philadelphia to suffer a deterioration of living standards when there are other options open. I hope the Mayor is listening because I just think it's terrible that at a time when education is so under attack by people that we're joining in that drive to reduce standards for our people in Philadelphia. I have not heard of -- perhaps Councilman Goode who's more familiar than I am perhaps with economic development. Has there been similar cuts in the economic development field proposed? Or is it just a quality of standards for human beings for life generally for the people of Philadelphia that cuts are 57 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 being proposed? Do you know?
As I mentioned earlier, Councilman Cohen -- I don't mind repeating. There's hearing after this hearing in the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development where I will ask the Commerce Director who is here about economic development funding, but we expect that there will probably be economic development funding in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
I don't know whether people involved realize really what's going on. It seems to me that President Bush is well underway in his effort to eliminate every vestige of what we once called "The New Deal" in Philadelphia where government in the United States for the first time began considering human beings as important enough to develop programs for, whether they were in libraries, education, social security, workers protection, right to organize and so forth. But apparently, we're well under our way of the President's campaign to eliminate everything decent that's occurred over the 58 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 last 30 years. And I think people have to become aware of that in the City. And I think the Department of Libraries ought to be carrying out its own campaign, because you know better than anybody else -- we can tell that by the testimony given by this panel -- of what's being lost by people in Philadelphia to this reduction that's occurred, plus the one that's pending. I just think it's terrible what's going on in this country at a time in 2000 to believe that a huge tax cut for rich people who have more money than they know what to do with. So when a tax cut emerges for them while at the same time education and library standards are being cut, I think it's an awful thing and I think people ought to begin to act sharply against it. I think it's unbelievable that the City Administration seems instead of fighting these cuts to be accepting them and accommodating itself to it. If anybody's here from the City, I'd like to know what it is the City is doing to fight against these cuts. I ask the Chair to 59 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 see if there's anybody here from the City Administration that's ready to answer why these cuts have been chosen.
Councilman Cohen, what I'd like to do is just remind you, this is a continuation of a hearing that started last March on the reality of unemployment in the City of our Philadelphia citizens. Today, we have a particular focus on the impact of some of the layoffs that have already taken place with our municipal employees. And also we have other testimonies today, distinguished retired Professor from Drexel University, Dr. Arthur Shostak. We also have Mr. Curtis Jones of the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation who is going to testify at this hearing. What I'd like to do at this time, if there are no further questions for this panel, I would like to call the second panel forward. Thank you so much for taking time out to testify about a very, very important discussion going on about our libraries. Thank you. 60 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171
Thank you Councilman Ramos, Councilman Goode, and Councilman Cohen for allowing us to testify today.
The second panel is from AFSCME Local 2187, Kathy Scott, Ann Hornbach, Juanita Vega-DeJoseph, T. Kim Robinson, and Paulette Copeland-Bolten. I hope I got everyone's name right. If not, please forgive me.
And we have two other people who may be able to answer a couple of questions who are being laid off, one from the Commission on Human Relations and an additional recreation leader.
Please give your name and your title for the sake of our record, and you then can proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon Councilman Ramos and Councilman Goode and 61 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 Cohen. My name is Katherine Scott. I am president of AFSCME Local 2187 which represents administrative professional and technical employees of the City of Philadelphia. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to discuss the layoffs which are occurring presently in the City. There are more than 2900 members in my Local, of which more than 2400 members work for the City of Philadelphia. To date, 34 members have received layoff notices with more to come as higher level managers bump down to positions represented in my Local. Those receiving layoff notices to date are follows: Two network support specialists in Public Property, one criminal justice program analysis in the Criminal Justice Coordinating Office, one administrative technician in the Atwater Kent Museum, one environmental education planner in Fairmount Park, one information management analyst in Human Services, one economic development program specialist in Commerce, one accountant in the Office of Emergency Shelter and Services, two 62 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 systems program project specialist in the Mayor's Office of Information Services, one programmer analyst in the Mayor's Office of Information Services, one recreation leader in Fairmount Park, one public information officer in the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, one network support specialist in Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, one human relations representative 2 in that Commission, one psychologist in the Philadelphia Prisons, a computer based education instructor in the Philadelphia Prisons, the dietician in the Philadelphia Prisons, two recreation leaders in the Philadelphia Prisons, one physician assistant in Health, one public health program analyst in Health, and 12 librarians in the Free Library of Philadelphia. As you can see from the list of job titles, these layoffs strike at the heart of basic services to the communities of Philadelphia as well as its infrastructure. At a time when the chief information officer of the City of Philadelphia is being 63 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 interviewed about Internet access for all Philadelphians who have a computer, the City has laid off seven information technology staff members in various city departments just in Local 2187. While the City is attempting to encourage economic development, specialists in the Commerce Department are being let go. While two of the members of this Committee are proposing legislation to stimulate immigrants coming to live in Philadelphia, the Commission on Human Relations specialist, whose job it is to resolve community disputes usually caused by clashes in culture, are being laid off. And the public relations activity in that department has been eliminated. Environmental education programs in Fairmount Park slashed. Continued erosion of the Atwater Kent Museum funding which is the death nail essentially for that fine museum. The program services at the Philadelphia Prisons have been hard hit. At a 64 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 time when the City just built a new prison, vital services are being eliminated. A psychologist whose experience in appropriate medication for mental health patients will be sorely missed. What's the point of having computers for educational purposes if there are no 9 instructors in some prisons to help the inmates with the courses? The loan dietician who, among other things, made sure that inmates are receiving special diets, such as diabetic diets, will no 14 longer be there. What is the City's exposure when those incarcerated are not protected in mental health and dietary areas? With the recreation leader layoffs three will be one recreation leader left for five prisons. Physicians assistants not needed in the Health Department? But perhaps the most draconian and far-reaching organization is the concept of libraries without librarians.
You will hear more testimony today 65 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 about the action by the Free Library of Philadelphia. We are the only city in the country to take such a wrong-headed action. In austere budget times, the needs for community service are greater. With fewer personal resources, more people rely on public services such as libraries and recreation centers to fulfill basic needs. I would like to bring to the Committee's attention the erosion of services that goes beyond this round of layoffs. As people leave the City employment through retirement or resignation, their positions are not replaced. For example, in the library between now and June 30th, additional 17 positions are to be eliminated in the library 18 through attrition. This will result in more 19 service cuts, but this will not be as public 20 as the layoffs being addressed today. 21 The ongoing decrease in community 22 services, services to children, teens, young 23 adults, senior citizens, the most vulnerable 24 in our society, is reaching catastrophic 25 levels. The service elimination is not 66 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 planned, but dependent on who retires or resigns. This is no way to manage city services which is the life blood of economic development attracting and retaining citizens and providing a quality of life for those who live and/or work in the City. I want to thank you for the opportunity to address you.
Thank you, Kathy Scott for your testimony at this Committee hearing. Can we proceed with Ann Hornbach?
Okay. Juanita, please state your name and your title, if you wish.
Good afternoon, Councilman Ramos. Can you still hear me if I stand? I feel more comfortable if I stand.
As long as the 67 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 stenograph can hear you.
) Don't worry, I won't leave the rest of you out. My name is Juanita Vega-DeJoseph. I'm a children's librarian, recently demoted, demoralized children's librarian at the Kensington Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, located at 104 West Dauphin Street. As a Spanish-speaking children's librarian, I perform bilingual story hour to preschoolers and school-age children, conduct library tours, and present introductions on how to use our online catalog. No longer is the card catalog in existence where you flip through the cards. It's now on the computer, and it requires that you instruct each and every individual that walks into the library on how to use the system. I perform these tasks to a multitude of cultures. Kensington has an unusually cautious base of Latino, African-American, and Asian population. Due to this fact, aggressive outreach is 68 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 essential. I would take the hour before the branch opened to the public to deliver flyers on future programs, such as story telling, to our neighboring businesses, schools, and agencies such as the Norris Square Neighborhood Project, Cardinal Bevilaqua Recreational Center, as well as the local element schools, ranging from public to parochial establishments. Personally, if I could read stories to children and adults all day, I would. I believe in the power of a store and the telling of them. Children and adults alike can become inspired to become compassionate human beings through stories. But if this current plan comes to fruition, reducing hours in the select branches such as the Kensington Branch, it will mean the loss of the following activities in these mostly Latino, Asian, and African-American schools and centers. We would loss preschool story hours to the Norris Square Day Care Center, McKinley Headstart, Allegheny Childcare. That's just to name a few. 69 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 We would loss school visits to the Branch from the following schools that are within walking distance to the Kensington Branch: St. A. Brown School, McKinley School Moffat. We would lose school visits to the classroom held by myself and the other librarian, Marcella Franco. We would lose promoting reading and library services workshops in schools and organizations, such as AmeriCorp. Statistics show that early introduction to literacy increases vocabulary and an awareness of the world around our children. Our preschoolers are our future patrons of our libraries. The earlier they come to us, the higher the guarantee they will support libraries as they grow into adulthood. If a preschool group would like to visit a branch, they would need van transportation or walk to the nearest full-time branch, which is a mile and away. And for preschoolers, that's a hike. 70 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 With the conversion to an express branch of only four hours a day, the community will loss contact with the bilingual librarians who will assist them with their needs. The actions being taken to lay off librarians like myself -- I was given the layoff notice on February 18th -- undermines your own efforts, Mr. Ramos, to add an amendment to the Philadelphia Charter, and I quote, to create the office of the Director of Immigrant Affairs to actively recruit new residents to Philadelphia and to assist these new arrivals with assimilating into City life with the goal of reversing Philadelphia's population loss. Historically, every immigrant group has assimilated into our culture through the public libraries. Public libraries were then and still are the gateways to our culture, rich and poor, English speaking and not, race and creed, young and old. What better way to assist new arrivals to our City but through our Free Library card and the access it provides to language tapes, citizen 71 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 information, and rich literature, just to name a few. Life is filled with obstacles, too many to discuss here and now.
But when we talk about our children, we are talking about our future library patrons, educated citizens and taxpayers. As adults, we have a responsibility to guide them on how to make good choices. Cutting library services that will deny our youngest, most impressionable children is the wrong choice. Taking our children as young as 4 and 5 years old to the treasure of a public library is tantamount to giving a priceless gift of knowledge and discoveries that can grow with them until they die. By limiting the hours of the Kensington Branch Library to a paltry four hours a day is crossing the Rubicon into irrelevance. Our children, our future, do not deserve this kind of thoughtless treatment.
Howard and Dauphin, so you're familiar with the Norris Square?
Are you familiar with the pink house at 2246 Howard Street? It's still painted pink.
That's PHA home. My parents -- our family in my years in high school went to a PHA home. And it was when that neighborhood started to be integrated many, many years ago. And I made good use of that library.
And it has changed over the years. 73 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171
I know. I've been there not too long ago. I definitely understand, my colleagues understand that libraries need to be kept open, they need to be fully staffed, they need to operate as we go through a changing, as you well alluded. There will be hearings on that other matter, on the immigration at sometime in the future. We have a City that is changing and its population growth, people coming from all over the place, from all over the world. And these services and the many languages as we heard EARLIER from Wyoming Branch, this also is happening in the Kensington community. And I know you've done a very good job there. There were books in Spanish when I was a kid. That was a very long time. And even back then there was a bilingual librarian. I ain't gonna tell you how far back, but it goes to show how important it is for our government services to be provided in a way that it will attract and bring people 74 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 into our services, and in this case, into our libraries. So I appreciate your testimony this afternoon. Kathy, who do you want to call up next?
Please state your name and your position if you'd like to add that to the record.
Good afternoon Councilman Ramos, Councilman Cohen and Councilman Goode, Jr. First of all, I would like to thank all of you for giving us the opportunity to express our concerns regarding the radical reorganization of the Free Library of Philadelphia. My name is Ann Hornbach. I am the Children's librarian at the Welsh Road Branch Library in Northeast Philadelphia. Welsh Road, at the present time, is the second highest circulating branch in the City. In Fiscal Year 2004, the branch circulated almost 202,000 library materials, about 70,000 of which were juvenile items. Our turnstile count was just a little under 75 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 103,000. Program attendance at the branch, especially that for preschool programs, sharply increased from the prior Fiscal Year. Now, Welsh Road, at the present time, is not slated to become one of the Free Library express branches. However, I believe the designation of other libraries as part-time facilities will not only have a devastating effect on their respective communities but will also detrimental to Welsh Road and its ability to provide quality service. Now, my morning schedule is typical of any children's librarian in the Free Library. The majority of programing to younger children and their parents takes place at this time. School classes frequently visit in the morning. This past year, special education classes from JH Brown and Loesche Elementary School have been coming to Welsh Road on a monthly basis. These children with autism are a delight to watch as they enthusiastically participate in the story times and the arts and craft sessions. We 76 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 also have a special education class of teenagers with autism from Lincoln High School that visits us once a week in the early afternoon. I have with me today letters of support from this class and also from their fine teacher, Mrs. Marjorie Gaines. These teenagers have come a long way in the three years that they have been visiting us to the point where they now assist us in performing certain clerical tasks. To see them make their way around the library, finding what they want with little or no assistance from library staff is due in no small part to the frequency of their visits. Teachers and parents of all the aforementioned groups tell my staff and me time and time again how much the children and teens look forward to their library visits. The change of hours at express branches will have a drastic impact on all library users. First, school classes that were accustomed to visit the now afternoon branches will need to go to a nearby full-time agency. Welsh Road would be one possible 77 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 designation, especially for those who used to visit the now-express Holmesburg and soon-to-be express Torresdale branches. 42 miles, respectively, from my branch. As it is now, my mornings are full to the point where I can hardly accommodate any more groups. Also, because of our location, school classes need to travel via bus to Welsh Road. As I have learned from many teachers, obtaining a bus for transportation is not always doable. Second, mothers of preschoolers who in the past visited the express branches for preschool programming will seek another venue. Again, they may want to want to come to Welsh Road. Now, I can have up to children right 18 now in any preschool program that I give. I 19 cannot possibly take on any more children if I 20 want to offer a story time that is enjoyable 21 and beneficial to both the children and their 22 caregivers. 23 Third, is anyone considering the 24 effect this debacle will have or senior 25 citizens patronage? Seniors typically used 78 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 medical reference books, newspapers, and magazines. Many depend on the Free Library for their leisure reading needs. Many, if not most, prefer visiting the library in the morning before the after school crowd arrives.
I fear that a majority of seniors who used to frequent express branches will not be able to get to another full-time branch library. Should SEPTA eventually cut the bus schedules, this problem will be further compounded. Finally, Welsh Road has only seven Internet available patron computers. These computers are used all day long as it is. Increased patronage will mean more demand for this limited resource. Problems are already beginning to surface. m. for the rest of the evening. m. on Monday and Wednesday. m. m. complained that the cuts to the library amount to 79 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 economic discrimination. And frankly, I couldn't agree more. I cannot possibly overemphasize the over all damage this reorganization will have on expressed library users. No more class visits. No more mothers bringing children in strollers to the library for morning story time. No more programming to children and teens with special needs. No more morning hours for seniors. No more evening hours for families or working people. Likewise, the increase in patronage to full-time branches means less time to provide quality reference and other services, especially at the already very busy branches such as Welsh Road. If I can make one more point, the absence of professional librarians at the express branches will have a devastating affect on the user communities. And who will suffer? Children with homework assignments. People who have limited skills in finding information independently, which is a significant number of the City's population. Patrons with questions concerning computer 80 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 use, to name just a few. These patrons will need to go to or call a full-time library to meet their information needs. Consider, if you will, how inconvenient and aggravating this will be for patrons and for staff alike. At this time when we lament the reading skills or lack thereof so many children and teens, the City of Philadelphia needs its libraries more than ever. Please, don't let this reorganization of the Free Library of Philadelphia in its current form take place. And again, I would like to thank you for your time and your attention to this matter.
Thank you, Ann, for your testimony. Kathy, who is up next?
Kim, please state your name and if there's a title you go into the record, please do so at this time.
Yes, sir. My name is T. Kim Robinson. I'm the children's librarian 81 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 at the Paschalville Library, located at the corner of 70th and Woodland. I want to thank you for this opportunity to share some of the concerns that I have regarding the reduction of hours and services t the Free Library of Philadelphia in many of our community libraries. As I have served the children of Paschalville, which is challenged neighborhood for almost five years, I feel that I can come here today and speak to you about what services our citizens need. Just in the reduction of hours in West Philly, that is to say, five libraries converted to express branches, and the loss of five librarians means 110 day cares with over 1300 children will be unable to use the library; 255 classes from local schools with over 5,000 children will be unable to visit their neighborhood library; 23,000 people will be unable to use the public computers; and 50 programs for 800 adults, including GED classes, will not be held. The impact on day cares is not just 82 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 a child misses out on story time. A child misses out on the building blocks for early literacy. Researchers say that early literacy and reading experiences, such as preschool story hours, contribute significantly to children's reading achievement. The child who does not have a picture book reading experience or the handling of books enters kindergarten unprepared. There is a strong correlation between reading skills and future academic achievement. Eliminating morning hours and most of services to young children put their future successes in education and careers at risk. These services are not going to be reproduced by someone showing up at a day care center once in a blue moon and reading a book to the kids. Is Council willing to turn its back on our neediest children? The impact on 255 classes that will not be able to come to the library is not to be minimized. Most of the charter schools and several of the public schools in this City do not have school libraries in the first place. 83 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 In the schools that do have libraries, the average age of a book is years old. Is 4 that the type of information we want our 5 children having? Do you want to produce even 6 more poorly educated children than we already 7 have? 8 For the 23,000 people in West 9 Philadelphia who will not be able to get on 10 the computer, what is lost? We are talking 11 about adults who are doing job searches. 12 Libraries provide the equipment for resume 13 preparation and for career searches on the 14 Internet. For those of you who have not been 15 in the job market for a while, most employers 16 now require and on-line application. The Free 17 Library has provided free Internet access for 18 showing a library card. To use a commercial 19 service, people would have to pay $15 an hour 20 just to sit at a computer. Most unemployed 21 folks cannot afford these prices. The library 22 computers are gateways to jobs, to citizenship, to special data banks that transcend the walls of the library. Are you prepared to eliminate these services? 84 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 For the adults who won't be able to complete their GED training, how do we justify this shameful cut in services? The Free Library service cuts have eliminated librarians in neighborhoods. 7 Public librarians are technology experts, 8 information detectives, literacy promoters, 9 children story-tellers, community programming 10 coordinators, readers advisors, and collection 11 builders. Librarians have at least one 12 Master's degree. Someone with a high school 13 diploma cannot replace them. 14 As information professionals, we 15 know that today there is more information 16 available to people than in the history of the 17 world. Locating quality information requires 18 skilled searching. None of those 20 express 19 libraries will be able to offer that service.
20 The Free Library of Philadelphia's mission statement states that the library provides services to all segments of Philadelphia's population, employing a highly-qualified staff who provide the link between library materials and users. How can 85 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 the Free Library make that claim? How can the Free Library claim that these services are being offered to neighborhoods that are being subject to innovative restructuring? It is like telling the captain of the Titanic telling the passengers that rather than panic, they should be glad to be getting a midnight swim. I'm asking Council for your help. Are you willing for the citizens of Philadelphia to be told sink or swim? Please save our libraries. Our children need them. Thank you.
Thank you, Kim, for your testimony. Our next witness, Kathy, is Paulette?
Mr. Chairman, may I ask, is there anybody from the library system of the City of Philadelphia present in the audience?
I will grant that interruption by my dear colleague, Councilman 86 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 Cohen. Is there someone here from our library system from the Administration? (No response.)
Are they disinterested in finding out the effect of their proposed cuts? Is that why they're not here? Has there any effort by anybody in the library system to find out the effects that the cuts would have on the system that you're explaining to us today?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do believe this is important testimony. I think when we look at the issue of unemployment, we have to look at the public sector as well as the private sector. But this is a hearing on unemployment. It is not a budget hearing, so I don't think we were expecting the Administration to respond to it at this time. We will question them throughout the budget process on these issues, as well as there is a separate hearing on a 87 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 separate resolution dealing specifically with the Free Library, I believe introduced by Councilman Nutter. But it is appropriate as we talk about unemployment we talk about public sector unemployment as well.
Thank you, Councilman Goode. Paulette Copeland Bolton, please proceed.
, and Councilman Cohen. My name is Paulette Copeland Bolton. I've been employed as a recreation leader at the Philadelphia Prison System since August 14, 1995. I was informed on February 18, 2005, that I would be laid off effective March 4, 2005. During my employment as a recreation leader at the Philadelphia Prison System, the growth of the inmate population has required the building of a women's site, Riverside Correctional Facility that opened in July 2004. There are currently six county prisons: Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, 88 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center, Detention Center, House of Correction, Alternative and Special Detention which has four satellites, and Riverside Correctional Facility. From the summer of 1995 through 1998, the Philadelphia Prison System was staff with a full complement of recreation leaders and one supervisor. There was one recreation leader assigned to each facility, providing a full organized program for each institution. Intermural athletic competitions were held in volleyball, basketball, flag football, tennis and table tennis throughout the year. Tournaments with different board games were held six times a year at each facility during holidays. Various community organizations such as Weekend of Champions, a prison ministry; the New Jersey Saints, also a prison ministry basketball and softball; Philadelphia College of Bible, volleyball and basketball; Calvary Church basketball; Wuz Kids softball; and Feltonville, Olney and Lawncrest Recreation center volleyball came to the 89 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 institutions and provided the inmates with exposure to people in the community in an organized atmosphere. It gave the inmates a chance to develop team spirit, respect for others, the importance of rules and regulations, experience the joy of accomplishment, whether it was a win or loss. Various arts and crafts activities for all populations, male or female juveniles and male or female adults, were conducted. Special card projects for holidays where the inmates were allowed to make cards for their children and family members. Art contests using different mediums were held throughout the various institutions. It gave some of the inmates a chance to utilize talents without negative distractions. Participating in these activities enabled the inmates to have a sense of accomplishment, provided them with respect for others, team spirit, knowledge of quality activities that could be done with their children upon their your return to society. These activities are just a sampling of the many constructive things that were available 90 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 for the inmate population to help provide an avenue for release of stress. The erosion of the recreation staff for each institution began in approximately 1999. As vacancies occurred, they were not replaced and the PAD was eliminated and the institutions were not staffed with recreation leaders. Correctional officers filled the vacancies with no organized program available for the inmate population. As these vacancies occurred, the need for remaining recreation leaders to cover more than one facility was required. Approximate population of the six institutions are as follows: CFCF, 2500; DC, 1200; House of Correction, 1,283; PICC, 1,205; ASD, 580; Riverside Correctional Facility, 725; for a total of 7,483 inmates. The importance of an organized recreation program is one that provides the inmate population with an opportunity to release stress in a constructive manner. If the inmate population does not have an outlet to release stress, this could have a number of 91 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 consequences. Built-up frustration can be released at any given time and could make the work environment unsafe for all employees and volunteers who provide services or programs.
A constant level of stress with no means of release will make the environment on the housing units one that is a breeding ground for chaos and explosive tempers, fights with other inmates and possible assaults on correctional staff. When these inmates encounter other staff off the housing unit, for example, social workers, medical staff, school teachers and various programs and jobs, these employees are also subject to explosive episodes that could result in verbal abuse or physical assaults. Placing correctional officers in the job of recreation leaders will cause a larger problem. A correctional officer throwing out a ball with no organizational rules can lead to more frequent arguments and altercations which can be taken back to the housing units and get more inmates involved in negative behavior and attitudes. 92 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 In laying off two of the three recreation staff at the Philadelphia Prison System, the big picture was not considered. Now one person is responsible for providing recreation programs to all six of the facilities. This will create an environment that is unhealthy and unsafe for all involved, staff and inmates. Since 1995, with an organized recreation program, there has no 11 major incidents at any of the institutions. The presence of an organized recreation program, in essence, keeps the lid on the jails; one that is about to blow with continued build up of frustration and stress and no constructive means of release. A shortage of correctional staff in all institutions created by the opening of the new facility, Riverside Correctional Facility, only compounds the situation in all of the institutions.
Thank you, Paulette Copeland Bolton, for your testimony this afternoon. Do Members of this Committee have 93 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 any questions for the panel that we just heard from?
Councilman Ramos, I also have with me Brian Andrews. He's the other recreation leader that was also laid off.
Good afternoon, Councilman Ramos, Goode, and Cohen. I don't want to repeat verbatim --
Brian Andrews, recreation leader Curran-Fromhold Correction Facility.
I don't want to repeat verbatim what Ms. Bolton just addressed with her testimony. The one thing I want to emphasis is the public safety danger in eliminating the recreation program would have at the prison system. We had a staff at one time of five individuals. We were able to run a 94 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 comprehensive program, and we've been doing more with less for approximately six years. Now, Ms. Bolton and myself are being laid off, which leaves one person to run the entire system. We did more with less. Now, my question is, what's going to happen now? I'm afraid for staff members there that I've worked with for close to years. 10 The prison administration wants to allow the correctional officer to handle our duties in our job class. It's not fair to put these responsibilities on the officers since they are working shorthanded also in a correctional manner. Also, it's not fair to replace qualified professionals, such as ourselves, with them. The lack of structure will ultimately cause confusion and potential dangers for staff and inmates alike. That's my main concerns today. Thank you.
Did anybody discuss with you your feelings about this 95 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 before you got notice?
Do you know of anybody in your department that was asked questions like the ones you're raising today.
No, sir. There's only three of us, our supervisor and the two of us. He received a layoff notice first. And then in order to keep his job, he demoted down 2 places. He was a rec leader 3. He demoted down to the rec leader 1 to take my job.
Councilman Cohen, if I could respond also. I have asked the Prison Commissioners specifically this question, what is going to happen in recreation and how is he going to handle this loss, especially from a security perspective. He has not really responded with an answer. I have gotten labor relations involved in it, but there is a really serious problem with the cuts that have happened in the prison because they seriously 96 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 affect the exposure of the institution to both, as Paulette and Brian testified to, heightened tension and possible riots there. But also, we believe that there is a serious exposure to the City with lawsuits, for example, if inmates are not getting proper diets and services like that.
I was just looking over to see who at the press was here, because it seems that in today's environment when people's problems are being discussed like the kind you're raising, not even the press is interested. What are we going to do to get people to understand what's going on?
Probably have to have another riot like they had at Holmesburg Prison in order for them to be interested.
We sure pray that doesn't happen and take all preventive measures for anything as catastrophic as a riot to happen anywhere in our City. Definitely nothing like that should ever happen in our prison system as well. These are painful type of hearings. 97 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 So I think that's probably, at least from my point of view, Councilman Cohen, why we probably don't have media. We had a lot of media attention earlier today when City Council was in session about other issues. I want to assure you, the two panels and President Tom Cronin that I will use the information that you have provided in this testimony to help me make my questions as focused and in defense of working people that I have always had in my life during our budget process. And you've talked here a lot about the libraries and recreation now over at the prison system. Both the Library Director and the Prison Commissioner will come before us. So you have given me a lot of information that I will definitely include in my questioning of those people in charge and probably making the decisions that are not favorable to workers, and particularly members of District Council 47 and 33. Are there any other questions from the Committee?
No, but may I 98 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 make a comment?
During budget sessions there will be hearings officially on the library system and on recreation and all the other departments. I think it's important that people who work for the government find out when those hearings are taking place. And when the main subject matter is called up for discussion, I think there ought to be good-sized delegations here ready to raise the questions right at the hearings themselves. Now, that will probably get me in trouble with the President of City Council who has her own method of order, and she's probably right on the questions of order. But I don't think questions of order are going to solve this problem. I think what will help to solve it the way it ought to be solved, not through riots, but through further advances in education and better conditions for prisoners so they'll be better ready able to resume normal life once they get out. It will occur from showing your determination that these 99 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 things must not be tolerated. And I just think it's awful that the government at this point in time is acting like the government 50 years ago when they gave no consideration human rights at all. The testimony you gave really outrages one to hear that we're not doing for the children what ought to be done after we've learned how important education is, particularly for preschool children. And when we learn that libraries could be useful to adults and so many ways and we're not taking advantage of that but tossing people out into the cold when they really need us and then to carry out this threat in the prisons is a terrible thing. So I think you've convinced the Members of this Committee that something's got to be done, but we need more than that. We've got to convince all the Members of the Council and you've got to get to the government people in charge. It's unthinkable that a current City Administration should be considering these 100 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 problems. We've all got to work together to solve it and prevent and find another road to answers other than job cuts. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Cohen for your words of wisdom. Thank you so much, all, for coming here. We have a couple of very distinguished individuals from the citizenry of Philadelphia who are going to testify. You're all welcome to stay. And also, following our last two witnesses, we'll go right into the Committee of Commerce and Economic Development. Our next witness will be Professor Arthur Shostak . Professor Arthur Shostak, will you please state your name for the record and whatever identification you want to include in the record.
Thank you, Councilman. My name is Arthur B. Shostak. I'm an emeritus professor of sociology at Drexel University 101 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 here in Philadelphia.
Before we proceed with your testimony, I want to say a little bit about Professor Shostak. Professor Shostak is a retired professor of industrial sociology, formerly of Drexel University. And he submitted testimony before the Committee Labor and Civil Service back in March of last year that made various suggestions regarding steps the City could take to improve its ability to make forecasts regarding the changing economy in the labor market of the future. Professor Shostak specifically recommended that Council convene a task force made up of experts from the area's colleges and universities to provide Council with expert forecasts regarding the future state of the City's labor force and job market. A couple of things, among probably other things that I don't recall at this time, out of those Committee hearings in March, Councilman Goode took the initiative and had introduced and it was passed by this body to provide tax credit for companies hiring 102 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 ex-offenders. We had during that hearing a number of representatives not just from the administration of or penal system, but also of advocates for services of inmates. And out of that Committee, just recently in February, for all of you here and those watching and for the purposes of Arthur Shostak, the City Council approved unanimously authorizing this Committee to invite the area's college and university presidents and leading corporate executives to appoint experts to a Council-convened labor forecast task force to provide Council with expert forecasts regarding the future state of the City's labor force and job market. And that would include also other members of this community, particularly the labor community. So Professor Shostak, although we have not met you in person, we took your testimony, put it into the record. And out of this, we have a resolution that is calling for a labor forecast task force. And this is a task force that will probably be around for a little bit, but we want to be able to take a 103 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 look at what the job market is going to be like, how do we fill the demands of the future, how do we maintain our workforce, our municipal workforce, for example, as you've heard today at levels that are satisfactory to the services that the people of Philadelphia want and demand. I wanted to bring you personally. I'm here this afternoon, so you can talk to us about the recommendations you have made to this Committee in writing.
Councilman, I appreciate the opportunity. The librarians, the remarkable, wonderful people that we've shared some time with this afternoon --
Can I just interrupt you. I'm sorry to be rude, but my colleague Councilman DiCicco has joined us. He's not a member of this committee, but he's welcome to stay here. Proceed, please.
Of course. I suspect were we able to ask our librarian friends if the books that they have at the moment, 104 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 particularly the books for children, would explain to children the need we have today in 2005 for technicians who can handle the new hybrid car engine, for technicians who can handle the wind power installations going up throughout the midwest of this country that are being debated in the Cape, up in the Boston area. If they had books that could help children think about solar power, photovoltaic cell installations which are common in the middle east and which are getting more common in parts of this country. In short, if the librarians had books that could have helped children a few decades ago better understand new jobs, cutting-edge jobs such that children in those neighborhood libraries in the 1970s and '80s would have read a leapfrog fashion about esoteric-sounding jobs that in 2005 are, in fact, growing in volume and importance, that are well-paying and that are available for graduates of high school, graduates of community college, that do not require doctorates and master's degrees, but are 105 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 well-paying, sound jobs. If the librarians could have boasted to us that they have such books, this would be a perfect world than it is. I suspect that if the librarians were to talk to us about it, they would talk with regret. They would talk about out-of-date books about this kind of job title. So what I'm urging is that this labor forecast task force do an assessment of job horizons, focus on job horizons. You have excellent testimony over on that table from the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board and the Director Sally Glickman in testimony over on the table indicates that they're using the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry for their 2010 job forecasts. I would suggest to you that those forecasts are what some of us consider to be sound and conventional. They're forecasts which look at information tech, allied health, engineering, and pharmacy. Those are the four big areas recommended for fervor job attention in Philadelphia. Now, what's not included in that 106 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 kind of research is more risk-taking forecasting. And that's why I think the City and the Council needs a futures focussed task force. More risk-taking job titles are things like the need we expect for nanotechnology technicians. Not just a brilliant scientist and venture capitalist, but the men and women how understand how to work the lab processes. We need expectations for eugenics counselors. That's probably community college, maybe bachelor degree level. We need expectation of pre-retirement counselor.
Can you back up just a little bit. Can you tell us what a eugenic counselor is?
I appreciate the question, because it's an example of the kind of job which hasn't had substance, hasn't existed in volume and which we anticipate that as those of us who are forecasters anticipate will be more common, especially out beyond to you 2010, 2015, but which the City schools could begin preparing youngsters for today. A eugenics counselor would help a 107 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 couple look at that what their DNA reveals about the 3,500 inherited diseases, ailments, and propensity to disease. We can now tell from DNA that you have a propensity to develop diabetes after age 40. We can tell that almost at birth. And eugenics counselors then can help couples engage in preventative, in taking action in light of this new kind of knowledge. So eugenics counselor is a positive approach to new knowledge, knowledge that comes from unraveling the DNA code, and that's very recent knowledge. It's an example of a kind of job of tomorrow, knowledge that has to be more current in the Philadelphia scheme of things. We cannot continue to prepare youngsters for today's job market. Today's job market is churning, 15 million jobs disappear every year in the labor force of 110 million jobs. So the creative destruction of jobs is commonplace. We have got to be thinking progressively. And the kind of task force that I'm recommending to you, which would tap a lot of 108 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 existing forecasts that are now scattered all over the place, the area colleges and universities, the number is so large that this is called the City of schools, all of them have units in the college and university that privately and confidentially study tomorrow's job market. That's part of the way they recruit. They move around the country and they tell people, "Come to Philadelphia. Study at Villanova, study at St. " If they talk that way, they are accountable and they have knowledge of the labor force out there beyond us. They ought to be sharing that knowledge for the public good. They ought to pool that knowledge. And Judith Rogadan (ph) heads, in fact, a committee made up of the heads of colleges and universities. That Committee, along with a wide range of Jewish educational vocational services, a black ministers council, Hispanic groups, all do horizon scanning, but they commonly do it like silos. 109 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 They do it each of them independent. The Committee that I'm recommending to you would ask all of them, what do you see in the labor market out five years, out years? And then 6 that Committee would assess -- because people 7 will see it differently. It's like the blind 8 men touching different parts of the elephant. 9 The committee will asses. The committee will 10 have expertise, hopefully pro bono volunteered by the college and university faculties that are told by their presidents, this would be a good thing to volunteer to help with. And the committee could then inform the school system, inform the public, and the committee could help the City of Philadelphia pioneer in this kind of forecasting. I did a Goggle search on the subject of cities and labor market forecasting, and it pointed out that there are only two American cities at present that are engaged in what I'm urging here today, only two. And both of them are commonly looking at community preferences in shaping their cities. They're not looking at what I'm urging. 110 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 I'm urging the City of Philadelphia to set itself in front of every other municipality in this country by establishing a formal committee to look at tomorrow's labor market. The men and women you heard this afternoon who spoke with genuine in their depth of being anxiety about layoff notices they have, about what will they do next, those men and women ought to be able to look to a branch of city government for a clearer than ever understanding of tomorrow's work world. That's not possible today. It is doable. I'm not talking rocket science.
I'm not talking blue sky. I'm talking about pockets of information that are in isolation today that could be put together and the synergy of bringing these pockets together could reward all of us.
Thank you, Professor Shostak, for your testimony. I want to reiterate that the City Council of Philadelphia has authorized this Committee on Labor and Civil Service to invite 111 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 the area college and university presidents and leading corporate executives to point experts to a Council-convened labor forecast task force. And, of course, we will expand on the participation of not just those two entities but labor and other entities to be a part of this. In your testimony, you mentioned one of the jobs of the future, but I found out that some of those jobs are available now and you were talking about cyber detectives. Can you talk to us about those cyber detectives?
What I found out is they're out there now. Maybe we should just put it out there, where do you apply for one of these cyber detective jobs?
You know, the long list of these sometimes cause a smile job titles of the tomorrow, as with eugenics counseling. The long list, in fact, represent the beginning, the beginnings of larger employment categories. And the cyber detective is an example of this. Cyber 112 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 detective was not possible before computers were commonplace and before DNA, the code was broken. Now when we put the two together, we have millions of Americans fascinated by the CSI television shows, CSI New York, CSI Miami, whatever, hopefully Philadelphia. You and I know, by the way, that there's blow back. And the below back is the general public now coming into a courtroom fully expects that Hollywood style CSI approach to any and every crime. That's an example of where future and future shaping kind have a cost to it. And we don't want to lose track of that. There is no telling the future, there's only making it. That's what I'm urging. I'm urging that this list of job titles and similar lists be taken seriously by this committee you've established. I was particularly pleased to hear you say a moment ago that the membership will be beyond the mandarin of college and university presidents and will include, I trust, the building trades. Because the building trades know because they walk it, they talk it. The 113 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 building trades know that we are preparing too few plumbers, too few electricians, too few carpenters, too few of the what we call the aristocracy of the building crafts. The apprentice ranks are slim. The apprentice ranks don't have the response they urge. Those are also jobs of tomorrow because in everyone of those job titles, the craft has gotten more refined. The craft has gotten more demanding. They belong on the list with nano tech specialist, with fish farm specialist, with wind power technicians. It's a wonderful long list, and we ought to be doing more with it.
Thank you professor Shostak. Are there any questions from the Committee members of the Council? (No response.)
Professor, thank you. And I want for the record also so you want get away from us that the good professor has volunteered to be an advisor and to help us with the forming of this labor forecast 114 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 task force of the City Council, and we appreciate so much your input and your commitment to work with us on this project. Thank you so much.
It's been our pleasure to hear from you. Our next witness is Mr. Curtis Jones who is president of the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation. Mr. Jones, please state your name and title for the record, please.
My name is Curtis Jones, Jr., I'm the president and CEO of the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation. And seated with me is Mr. Aqil Sabur who is my vice president for micro lending and technical assistance. Good afternoon. I want to, before I begin my formal testimony, just say that I was impressed with the testimony from the good doctor there. And when I listened to some of futuristic professions, he is not far off of 115 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 the mark. When I remember a number of those kinds of categories actually coming in for technical assistance to PCDC and looking for locations of fish farms, in particular; and under forensic CSI, the digitization of crime scenes was a company that was brought in that wanted to set up a training facility in West Philadelphia to train high school graduates how to actually take those crime scenes. So he's not far off the mark with those predictions.
I wanted to tell the good professor also that when I retire from City Council or when I'm retired, I hope it's the former versus the latter, that I can be ready to become a cyber detective. It sounds like something that will fit my personality. Proceed with your testimony, please.
My colleague and I are here today to present testimony to the Committee in accordance with Council Resolution 040171. In our opinion, entrepreneurship is one of the keys to 116 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 stabilizing and creating employment. My testimony shall focus on the general state of employment and unemployment in Philadelphia and some of the successful efforts of PCDC to increase employment among neighborhood residents through entrepreneurship and some general recommendations. As most of you know, retail and financial services represent close to 11 percent of the jobs that exist in 12 Philadelphia. In fact, the gains made in 13 retail are the primary reason that 14 Philadelphia has realized one of the job gains 15 this year. In retail in the '70s, there were 16 400,000 jobs in the region. In 2000, we 17 recorded 634,000 jobs in the retail sector, 18 with an average annual salary of $18,000 per 19 year. 20 PCDC does not finance sports 21 stadiums, but we do finance some of the 22 concessions housed within them. 23 PCDC does not finance airports, but 24 we do finance some of the small entrepreneurs 25 that make money inside of those airport 117 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 concessions. PCDC does not underwrite hotels, but we do finance businesses that service those hotels and also reside within them. We do not take big bites, but we take small bites that represent the bulk of our local economy. There are two stories to tell regarding Philadelphia's employment situation. 4 percent in December 2004, with 116,000 people out of work, according to the US Department of Labor monthly report. However, in the follow-up to that story February 4th, the Labor Department reported that jobs in the City of Philadelphia had declined in most recent measure from June 2003 to June 2004, with a loss of 10 now job, according to these statistics generated by companies covered by unemployment loss. Working with one set of numbers let us review unemployment data in the City of 118 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 Philadelphia and the Commonwealth as well the nation in calendar year basis 2003 to 2004. 7 percent. Sources are the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor, and Center for Workforce Information Analysis. What are some of the facts that we can derive from some of this data. At a glance, Philadelphia is doing better than its national counterpart. 2 percent lower than the Commonwealth. This statistic camouflages, however, the human story. And the number of African-Americans leading that list among the unemployed, followed by Latinos, Caucasians 119 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 and Asians. No matter how we look at this data, it is the stubborn reality that becomes an alarming demographics when we consider that in our urban areas the majority will be minorities in the City. The second story is that Philadelphians are starting a record number of small businesses. PCDC is on the cutting edge of neighborhood economic development and have established a number of urban initiatives to harness Philadelphia's entrepreneurial drive. These initiatives are structured around our four development goals: Access to capital for small business, providing timely and quality technical assistance, empowering businesses through the use of technology, and maintaining our role as a business association advocate. During the past years, PCDC has 20 arranged financing in excess of $267 million 21 for more than 2500 businesses. The funding 22 has resulted in the creation and retention of 23 more than 12,000 jobs. Of the total PCDC has 24 directly delivered $90 million in direct loans 25 from our own coffers. The last decade we've 120 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 seen record growth in our loan volume. We've provided various types of funding, ranging micro loans to financing for contractors, professional assistance to firms, franchising opportunities, and venture capital and grants to CDC's who are interested in economic development.
And you as well. Many of the firms who received assistance were small, disadvantaged neighborhood-based businesses that have created or retained jobs for low and moderate income individuals. Our neighborhood commercial revitalization division is responsible for the management of 44 commercial corridors throughout the City of Philadelphia that include, to name a few, Frankford Avenue, Kensington, Allegheny, Germantown and Chelten, Lancaster Avenue, Chester Avenue, 52nd Street. The 44 commercial corridors generated an 121 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 estimated $774 million in annual sales, with sales per business averaging $195,000. That includes your big guys and small family-owned business. Since 1996, PCDC has provided assistance to more than 40,000 entrepreneurs through the Small Business Support Center. These consulting services include but are not limited to accounting matters, business planning, preparation of cash management, marketing, procurement assistance, tax advisory services. We regularly assist companies with business formation issues involving the City and Commonwealth and federal government Procurement opportunities. We have developed a unique project which the assistance of the Small Business Administration and the Department of Community and Economic Development to empower neighborhood CDCs and business organizations through technology. This project has resulted in the creation of 12 Web sites for business associations and has provided teleconferencing capabilities to many CDCs throughout the City. 122 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 Just how important are small businesses to job generating power of the local economy? 7 percent of all employers in the US. And that's on the not agricultural-based business. They employ half of all private sector employees. 3 percent of all US payrolls. They have generated 60 to 80 percent of all new jobs in last decade. They have created more than 50 percent of non-farm, private groups domestic product in the nation. Supplied over 15 percent of the total value of federal prime 16 contracts. Produce 13 to 14 times more 17 patents per employee than large patenting 18 firms. And are 39 percent of the high tech 19 workers in the United States. They are 53 20 percent of the home-based business and 3 21 percent of the franchise businesses. They 22 make up 97 percent of all identified export 23 products, representing percent of the known 24 export value in FY 2001. 25 Just looking at it, we represent -- 123 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 and you look at this in these statistics that you see here, the number of employees on average that are produced by Philadelphia companies. 55 percent, to employees; 20 percent, to employees; percent, 10 to 19 employees; 7 percent, 20 to 49 employees; and 2 percent represent 50 to 99 employees. So the vast majority of the employment in the City is made up from small business. The University of Penn has a unique database that tracks the business activity in particular West Philadelphia zip codes. A look at two zip codes in West Philadelphia mirrors the findings in 19151 zip code, almost 60 percent of the businesses have between 1 and 4 employees, followed by 24 percent of the business having 5 to 9 employees. In other words, 84 percent and 77 percent of the companies in these two respective zip codes have between and employees, a resounding majority of the employment in that area. In closing, I offer the following recommendations on how we can spur additional employment. And the doctor who proceeded me 124 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 talked about this. But the use of the German model of apprenticeship which closely links corporate communities with public education systems, this mentorship process prepares students with skill sets that lead to jobs upon graduation. The proposed Microsoft University is an example of that kind of proposal.
The Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce can be solicited to poll its membership to assist the design within the public school of curriculum that will matriculate students into real jobs. Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation already does customized job training programs using this model. The gambling industry should be examined for job potential in the areas of entry level mechanics, security, and blue color opportunities as it enters Philadelphia marketplace. Currently, the Philadelphia region has over 500 international multi-cultural firms represented in areas such as insurance, technology, medicine, pharmaceuticals, 125 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 industrial, and retail. International joint ventures like the Chinese Mall Project in my recent trip to China which is going to attract over a hundred manufacturers here can be used to create opportunities for joint venture with existing firms, keeping in mind that based on visa restrictions, only one CEO and a key manager can come over with those companies. So all other employment will be generated locally. We need to creat incentives for mixed-use development in commercial corridors. A good example is the Germantown corridor. The further you go up Germantown Avenue, the higher the number of mixed-use, meaning residential up top and commercial below, real estate is being developed there. There is a direct correlation with the prosperity of that commercial corridor. So we need to create incentives to create more opportunities for mixed-use development within the City of Philadelphia. Developing strip malls strategically located to prevent consumer flight in gateway 126 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 areas is important. What I mean by a gateway area, you can look at areas like Baltimore Avenue that abut Delaware County and Ogontz Avenue which abuts Chelten Avenue. If we can develop those corridors, we can stop some of the consumer flight to suburbia shopping opportunities in Chestnut Hill malls and other places like that. We can stop some of that if we develop those commercial corridors to satisfy some of the consumer needs there. Areas like 52nd and Lancaster is a perfect example of what should be done. We should work with organizations like the American Cities Foundation which did a study that showed how under public works just using almost the Franklin Del Roosevelt model of Public Works, that we can create jobs here in the City of Philadelphia. He cited a study that showed that in the City of Philadelphia our sewers and waterways on average were over a hundred years old, some of them even having wooden construction dating back to the turn of the previous century. That if we use a low tech approach to 127 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 developing and repairing some of this, there was a percent leakage factor in those 4 waterways, that recouping the savings on those 5 alone would pay for that Public Works project. 6 Inner City Economic Development 7 Forum showed that we had a representative up 8 at the Ford Foundation's seminar in New York, 9 and they talked about the fact that -- and 10 they surveyed over 150 fortunate 500 11 companies, that said they would like to have a 12 presence in inner city America but only very 13 few of them were really making plans to do 14 that. We need to create a task force or a 15 group of folk on a ad hoc basis using 16 employees from various departments to go after 17 some of these companies and make their choice 18 Philadelphia. We used to do that under the 19 Rizzo Administration. We had traveling 20 representatives that actually used to target 21 these businesses, would go to different trade 22 shows and actually recruit businesses to 23 Philadelphia. We need to take a hard look at that. We need to look at entrepreneur 128 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171 opportunities for ex-offenders. We release 500 ex-offenders from County weekly. They have to go somewhere and they have to work somewhere.
We need to be creative in developing entrepreneur opportunities for them, keeping in mind that a lot of the employment opportunity, because of their felony records, are closed to them. Philadelphia has to create -- I talked about the attraction team. And we have to work better within our own cluster of organizations to go after some of those businesses that would consider Philadelphia. And we look forward to continuing our working relationship with City Council, the City's Commerce Department to increase employment opportunities in the City of Philadelphia. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Jones. Are you going to present a testimony as well?
No, this is actually my backup here. He's working with me. 129 03/03/05 - LABOR - RES. 040171
Any members of Committee have any questions for our witness? (No response.)
I have a few questions, but there's a Committee hearing that's been waiting very patiently for this Committee of Labor and Civil Service to get done. I definitely want to follow-up with some things with you, Mr. Jones. So I've already someone from my staff to make sure that we get a date as soon as possible. Thank you so many for taking the time to testify this afternoon. Thank you all for participating in this hearing of the Committee of Labor and Civil Service on the issues of reality of unemployment in Philadelphia. This Committee stands in recess to the call of the Chair. Thank you. (Council recessed at 3:35 p.m.) - - - - 130 C E R T I F I C A T I O N I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Thursday, March 3, 2005, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. RE: COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND CIVIL SERVICE _________________________ Lisa C. Bradley, RPR