Good 1914 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 afternoon. Thank you for your patience.
I originally made a mistake and said "good afternoon" and then I changed it, but "good afternoon" turned out to be correct. Good afternoon, Council President Verna and Members of Council. I'm Barbara Kaplan, Executive Director of the City Planning. ), who's our Administrative Services Director for the agency. I want to thank you for the opportunity to discuss the Commission's proposed Operating Budget for 2001. 6 million; a Community Development Block Grant request, for a little more than $242,000; and $336,600 in federal transportation grants. This 2001 budget reflects an increase over the present estimated obligations this year in Class 100 in order to accommodate a negotiated wage increase. As has been true in the past, about 92 percent of our General Fund appropriation and 100 percent of the Community Development Funds 1915 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 are devoted totally to personnel costs. The three transportation grants that we will receive are for three different transportation projects. The first one is a little over $62,000, which is going to support staff that undertakes basic capital programming and transportation analysis. 4 million major investment study, which began in 1999 and that will be funded over three years. And 2001 will be the last year of that study and the last year of that grant, and that's to look at the feasibility of extending rapid transit or other significant transportation improvements in the Roosevelt Boulevard corridor in the Northeast. Over the past year, as has been true in recent years, housing redevelopment activities have continued at a record pace and have involved a significant level of involvement from Commission staff. We work closely with the Office of Housing and Community Development and the Redevelopment 1916 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 Authority, and we've been involved in the planning and in the site acquisition for housing redevelopment projects in northwest and South Philadelphia. In particular with the accelerated effort that's been made by the Housing Authority through their receipt of public housing modernization funds, we've been involved with OHCD, the Redevelopment Authority, and the Housing Authority in planning and site acquisition and zoning for the redevelopment of the Martin Luther King public housing development, and more recently, for public housing and publicly subsidized housing in eastern North Philadelphia, and that activity will continue. In addition to the work we're involved in in housing and redevelopment, we're also working with a number of neighborhood organizations on a variety of neighborhood planning and zoning initiatives. For example, in the East Falls neighborhood, we are completing the analysis of a communitywide survey that we took in cooperation with the East Falls Community Council to describe the general characteristics of the community and to determine public opinion on a 1917 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 wide range of local issues. We also completed a community rezoning process that resulted in the enactment of a zoning overlay in the last session of Council for the East Falls commercial area. And we have begun more recently working with neighborhood organizations in Northern Liberties in southwest Philadelphia on rezoning plans for those areas. We're also involved in neighborhood planning efforts in Chinatown North -- that's north of Vine Street -- and in the East Parkside neighborhood, in West Philadelphia. And we've also began an effort with the Mt. Airy USA group in the Northwest to work on a zoning overlay for a portion of Germantown Avenue that is their commercial district. In the past year, our urban design unit, which we had established several years ago, has completed a long-range plan for the Avenue of the Arts South, and we've begun work on a plan for the Avenue of the Arts North, which is targeted for completion next fall.
The urban design unit also has been providing design assistance to the 1918 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 Commerce Department by developing conceptual designs for the improvement of neighbor commercial strips, the funding for which comes from the Capital Budget. We prepare the concept design and then the Commerce Department and PCDC hire landscape architects to do the bid documents following the general concept prepared by our staff. We also continue to work toward the implementation of recommendations that we made in our vacant land study several years ago. We've been working close with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society with funding they've received from the William Penn Foundation and with the Office of Housing and the Redevelopment Authority. We really would like to see this work contribute to the implementation of the proposed Blight Removal Program from this administration. And we've also been involved in another aspect of vacant land, which has been the managing of work Army Corps of Engineers in the Logan neighborhood. We also will, in the coming year, continue our involvement in some major development projects, such as the Penn's Landing Family 1919 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 Entertainment Center, the redevelopment of Independence Mall, and the continuing process of transforming the Navy Base into the Naval Business Center in South Philadelphia. As this new administration begins to take shape, we're looking forward to undertaking a series of new initiatives. For example, now that the Family Entertainment Center is proceeding at Penn's Landing, there's renewed interest in the redevelopment of the Delaware waterfront, and it's time to go back and revisit and update the comprehensive plan that we had done for the Delaware waterfront in the 1980s in the light of new developments and new development pressures. In a similar fashion, what we've seen downtown, through the conversion of office buildings to apartments and hotels and the great boom in restaurant and other entertainment uses that were stimulated by the Convention Center, this has placed a demand on our existing parking facilities. And I think one of the things we wanted to take a look at is taking another look back at the recommendations that we made in the Center City plan, and among those recommendations, 1920 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 probably parking recommendations -- the recommendations we had made for parking is one of the most pressing, but we intend to take a broader look at Center City issues as well. We've also been undertaking considerable work on examining the whole issue of the City's population loss, in particular the decline in the middle-income population. We're the agency that really keeps tabs on what's happening in terms of census data and monitoring demographic trends. So I think we may have seen what was start to go happen maybe sooner than it hit the popular press, and we have been working on trying to understand who is leaving, why they're leaving, and what opportunities there are for public actions that can make the -- make City neighborhoods more competitive with suburban communities. This work we're referring to as kind of "the liveable city study," and it's intended to improve the quality of neighborhoods through a variety of not only public incentives, but also the use of public incentives to stimulate some private investment in these neighborhoods. We're -- I sat here through the 1921 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 hearings this morning and I heard the comments of Councilman Kenney and some others with regard to the issue of the middle class and what could we do for middle-class housing, and I think we're looking forward to using this information, working with the new administration and Council to fashion some specific strategies and programs to focus on these kinds of objectives.
We have been involved in preparations for the 2000 census, working at a technical level to provide information for the outreach effort undertaken by United Way and to complete the various technical procedures that were necessary to ensure that the Census Bureau had the best address list from which to conduct the census. One of the more significant accomplishments of the Commission over the last years has been the development of a geographic information system for automated mapping and data analysis. And while a number of other agencies have been able to make use of this system and enhance it by adding additional attributes to it -- such as the Police Department, the Water Department, the Records Department, and the 1922 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 Streets Department -- we're the only agency that provides the service of producing maps for the Mayor, for City Council, for other City agencies, and for various nonprofit organizations. And we -- over the past year, we've fulfilled over 120 separate mapping requests, not only from City departments but from nonprofits, neighborhood groups, and federal agencies as well. This geographic information system has really become very essential to the day-to-day operations of the Commission's staff. And in fact, this year, for the first time, because of a change in federal law, we had the opportunity to review the master address list that the Census Bureau was going to use for the 2000 census. Actually, we did this work a year ago, and because of our -- because we had this geographic information system at our disposal for this work, with relatively little staff time, we were able to identify 14,000 addresses that the Census Bureau has agreed to add to its master address list. So -- and during this work and in the past -- in the past, we weren't even able to look at their master address list but whatever 1923 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 information they did give us that we were able to review was a far more laborious, much more labor- intensive operation, and I don't think we were able to do it as effectively either. So I just wanted to point that out that that's kind of side benefit of having this GIS. We continue our traditional responsibilities in neighborhood planning and in zoning and in environmental review and in development activities generally and in the preparing of the Capital Program, and I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have at this time.
Thank you very much. You mentioned blight remediation, but I didn't hear all that you said. President Verna is really interested in learning whether or not the Planning Commission will be participating in the Mayor's blight program.
Well, I certainly hope that we will. I think we've done a very significant body of work regarding vacant land and vacant buildings and the circumstances under which 1924 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 they exist. Our 1995 study on vacant land made quite a number of recommendations, some of which have been implemented, others have not. And we certainly hope that that work and the continuing work we have undertaken since then with the Horticulture Society and OHCD will have -- you know, will have a very positive impact and certainly influence the development of that program.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it appears that we are slightly ahead of schedule. Therefore, I would like to request that I have at least one hour to question Miss Kaplan on the planning. (Laughter.)
On of your testimony, you make mention of the vacant land study, of which I'm familiar, and the coordination with the Horticultural Society, OHCD and the 1925 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 Redevelopment Authority. Could you share with us out of that study, which my recollection is, was done a couple years ago.
Right. Which of the recommendations, to your knowledge, have either been implemented or are in the process of being implemented or were utilized to better enable us to deal with the vacant land issue in Philadelphia?
Well, I think one recommendation, which, I think, has been put into effect, has been the concept of lowering the density of neighborhoods when we redevelop them through, you know, through the City. You know, as we're losing population, we have an opportunity not to put rowhouses back, you know, 40 units to the acre, the way they had been, you know, at the turn of the century. You know, we ought to take advantage of the loss in population and use it in a positive way to reduce the density and provide people with more outside space, off-street parking, you know, where that's feasible, and other amenities. 1926 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 And even when we're doing rowhouses, there's a way to do rowhouses with larger lots and off-street parking as well.
And I think that the Office of Housing and the Redevelopment Authority have done at a very good job of that. The new sales housing in East and West Poplar neighborhood, I think, is an excellent example of that, the Home Ownership Zone and Cecil B. Moore on the other side of Broad. And we continue to try to influence the plans of community-based sponsors, the CDCs, and other providers of low-income housing, the for-profit developers that do the tax credit housing.
And I think they're listening. I mean, one of the obstacles is that the process of, you know, acquiring property is very cumbersome, the process of getting financing sometimes is even worse. And so you get a developer ready to go and they present a plan, and we say, Gee, that's really too dense. You know, you ought to acquire -- you know, there's five 1927 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 vacant lots across the street and two down the block and, you know, you ought to encompass all of this. And they know that's the right thing to do but they don't want to stop, you know, for nine months while that property's acquired, and they may lose financing commitment in the meantime.
So there are barriers to doing that, but I think if we were more proactive about assembling vacant land for use in redevelop, some of those barriers would come down, and I think that's one of the biggest -- and I think that was one of the most important recommendations in the vacant land study and one that has not yet been implemented and that I would like to see incorporated into the blight removal plan, and that is to assemble sites, you know, for redevelopment even if we don't have a specific plan or redeveloper in sight.
Because unless we control that land, unless we own it, unless it's cleared and prepared for development, we will not be able to get that vacant land reused. Most people have 1928 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 a perception that the vacant land is owned by the City. Most of the vacant land and most of the vacant houses are not owned by the City.
So you get a developer that comes along -- actually, there's a real example in LISC, the Local Initiative support Corporation, which was on a national program to find sites for supermarkets, and they wanted a five- or six-acre site in the inner city. And we did not have a five- or six-acre site, and we had all of this -- it's sort of like water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. I mean, all this vacant land, but we could not say to LISC, Yes, it's ready to go. We'd say, Well, maybe we can get it in nine months to a year. And when you have a developer in hand or somebody with a vision in mind, nine months to a year is not enough.
And so I think that, you know, the answer to dealing with a lot of this is to control it. And until it's within our control, we can't -- it's very hard for us to do anything 1929 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 with it. In some cases, I think it would be a good idea to give it to somebody to redevelop and put back it on tax rolls, an attractive development, whether it's housing or commercial development or, in some cases, industrial development, depending on the circumstance. You know, it enhances and encourages everything around it.
And we're having the opposite effect in too many of our neighborhoods where the presence of vacant buildings and vacant lands discourages investment and discourages people who are already there from even making minimal investments in the upkeep of their property. So I think that that's a real important thing.
And it's not -- unfortunately, it's not cheap. You look at this land, which looks like, gee, it has no value, nobody's interested in it, people are dumping all over it. But in reality, you know, when you start to assemble it and observe due process that you 1930 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 have to observe because of the property rights, it winds up costing us more money than, you know, certainly we would like. It's almost as bad as the discussion earlier about why it costs so much to produce a house for a low-income household. It will cost us something to assemble this land, but by the same token, there's a big cost in letting it sit there and not getting any taxes from it and tearing down the value of everything around it so that that's devalued as well.
Yes, all right, I know. You raised, though, the other question that I wanted to ask in this regard, which is, I guess, kind of the age-old dilemma of the chicken and egg. Do you acquire the property and worry about what to do with it later, or do you develop even preliminary plans of if I had this property, five acres, ten acres, whatever this site is, these are some of the things that I would do with 1931 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 it, and use that as the incentive or the tool to either spark someone's imagination or even show to the community what the possibilities are.
But I understand, as you said, that until you actually own it, I mean, you could have ten plans for it but they're not going anywhere. And I was concerned as to what the Commission's role, if not responsibility, would be as it relates to the blight elimination program, which, I understand, is not complete yet but, you know, the news information is that we're just going to kind of go out and demolish a whole lot of sites all over the place, flatten them, technically make them available, but at that moment, we don't own them either. And so what --
Well, I don't know the details at this point of what the blight removal program is. I have talked to the transition committee that's helping to shape some of those ideas for the Mayor and provide them with considerable information. I -- a couple of things. I don't think 1932 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 we can, or should, acquire everything you, know, everything that's vacant. I think we have to be strategic in terms of what we acquire. But I think we do have a lot of plans already that provide the guidance as to what we -- the kinds of things we should be acquiring, the kinds of sites we should be assembling.
You know, the Office of Housing has sponsored the development, and some foundations have participated in this as well for a lot of neighborhood plans, you know, particularly in North Philadelphia but also in other parts of City. So there are a lot of plans in existence where neighborhood groups have said, This is what we would like to happen in our neighborhood.
Some of it, you know, may not be realistic, some of it may be quite realistic, you know, quite possible to do, and we've certain seen a lot of neighborhoods, you know, come up with a plan and begin on a positive implementation. 1933 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00
So, I mean I think there is some guidance. You know, we've provided some overall framework when we did the North Philadelphia plan, when we did the West Philadelphia plan. We have done plans for neighborhoods and we can do, you know, additional plans for neighborhoods. So I think, you know, there are certainly places to begin that acquisition process. We don't have an infinite amount of money so we can't get it all, but I think we certainly could begin the process of identifying what should be acquired, you know, particularly in areas where there has already been some redevelopment and some repopulation of the area, as John Kromer indicated earlier, which then creates the need for more neighborhood services. And increasingly, you do find chain retailers who are interested in coming into inner city neighborhoods that they had been turning their back on. They recognize that people need, you know, greeting cards, drycleaners, tooth paste. And, you know, there is a market. 1934 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00
And I think if we can provide, you know, the opportunities, I think we will have some people interested. The other thing is that the Housing Authority, in the process of tearing down high-rise public housing and going into lower- density housing plans, needs a lot of land in order to rehouse people that have, you know, been temporarily relocated.
I mean, if you're going to tear down Martin Luther King, you're not going to put all those low-rise units back on the site. Some of those units will be elsewhere in the neighborhood or elsewhere in the City.
And so there is a demand, even from our own agencies for land. There's demand from other agencies when we want to build a new police station or when we went to, you know, build a new library. And there are opportunities to reuse a lot of this land, even in a city with a declining population. 1935 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 I mean, if we think about it in terms of, first of all, going to a lower density, trying to get more sort of private caretakership of the land, so to speak. In other words, if somebody's building rental housing, build in as much open space as possible and make that housing manager of that rental property responsible for that open space, anything to get it cared for and out of the public responsibility because we can't do it.
Right. Two last questions, Madam Chair. One, Miss Kaplan, has there been much involvement by the Planning Commission around the issue of promoting maintenance and preservation of housing and the housing stock we have versus what ultimately ends up being virtually demolition by neglect, that we clean and seal a place, we brought it up for a while. I mean, actually, first it becomes vacant after some event -- the homeowner dies or the systems are starting to fail -- and then eventually, people move out. People break in, we clean and seal, they break in again, we brick it up. Eventually, the roof caves in, there's water in the basement, and the home is 1936 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 demolished and, in most instances, not replaced by anything, and maybe we're fortunate to get a fence. It seems to me that before you get maybe even to the first clean-and-seal, what steps are taken to preserve that place? We've talked about some encapsulation with L&I yesterday. But, I mean, do we have an active, aggressive policy?
I don't think we do enough in the city on that issue. I think, you know, in the old days of urban renewal, when we used to have more money for low-interest loans and even outright grants to the lowest-income homeowners and we had more resources to devote to the preservation of the homeowner-occupied existing housing stock, I think, you know, we did better. We have some money available, but I don't think it's nearly enough for a city with such an aging housing stock. The other thing is, we have -- I think the last census had about 25 percent of all the 1937 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 households were headed by somebody over 65. That is not a good statistic for home maintenance because those people typically not only tend to have fixed incomes or more limited incomes, but they're not going to get up on the roof and fix it themselves -- in most cases. I don't want to, you know, underestimate people.
I've never been on my roof, I can assure you of that. (Laughter.)
And it's not going to get better as you get older. Anyway, so I think that that -- and this -- I think it overlaps with a lot of other issues. I mean, I think it is part of more assistance to help people maintain themselves in their homes. I think it's important because we have a significant elderly population. I think it also relates to the issue of middle-income people and what they can do 1938 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 themselves to modernize their housing stock, and this goes beyond maintenance.
We did a survey recently, a mail-out survey of people who recently bought houses in the city and people who recently sold houses in the city to find out why they bought and why they sold and where they went and all of that. And in addition to the kind of things that we've traditionally heard about why people are leaving the city -- you know, the school system, taxes, crime, those kinds of things -- people did surprisingly mention, more than we expected, the physical obsolescence of their house and of their neighborhood. I mean, they're looking for, you know, gee, we can't live in this house, there's one bathroom, we have no place to park. You know, other kinds of issues like that. No place for my children to play.
So, you know, not all of those issues would be dealt with -- could be dealt with by, you know, increasing access or assistance 1939 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 for home improvement loans, but I think there are some incentives that we ought to think about in that area. You know, we can't do everything for everybody or respond to all the concerns, but I think we could, you know, make more of an effort than we're making. The other area that I think is neglected is the small rental properties which are typically owned by people who don't have a whole lot of money themselves, and when those properties start to have a lot of defects and the tenants can only pay a certainly amount of money, those people are out of there, and those do become abandoned properties, I think, all too often. And I think we need to find some way to assist the owners of some of these small rental properties within certain, you know, boundaries. But I think that's, you know, important.
The other thing that we recommended -- I don't know, t was probably in the mid-'80s when we did a study of vacant properties, before we did vacant land. And I think one of the ways that properties become 1940 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 abandoned is when some elderly person dies and nobody really in that family is interested in that property or there isn't anybody to leave it to, and then the house gets stripped very quickly so that -- in certain neighborhoods, and then has no 7 value. And one of the recommendations we had made at that time a preventive measure is a vacant house hotline so that, you know -- and neighborhood organizations would have to be organized and take the responsibility to kind of keep their eyes open and, you know, have some kind of an internal communication system in the neighborhood to notice when a property is vacant and to call it in and have L&I quickly seal it or board it up.
Or maybe even have a way to place a family in there temporarily so that the house doesn't really -- I mean, somebody was living in there, it was a habitable house.
And then, you know, a month later or two months later, there's no 1941 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 plumbing, you know, and the windows are broken and the rain comes in, and it's gone.
And so, you know, there is a cost to that, but it seems to me that that's a minimal cost compared to what we might be able to prevent.
Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Rizzo, did you want to ask a question at this time?
Thank you. All right, this committee will be in recess until 2:15. Thank you. (Recess taken.) - - - (Proceedings resume.)
Thanks for your patience. We were down in the Mayor's office for Congressman Brady, and I thought we would all 1942 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 be back long before this hour. I believe the next department to be heard is the Free Library. Planning was finished, I believe? Thank you. The Free Library. (Free Library witnesses come forward.)
The stenographer has been provided a copy of your testimony for the record, so we would appreciate your summarizing your testimony, please.
Sure, I'd be happy to do that. I'm Elliot Shelkrot, the President and Director of Free Library. With me this afternoon is Helen Miller, who's our Director of Public Services, and Bill Fleming, who's our Administrative Services Director for the Library. President Verna, members of the committee, I'm very pleased to be here this afternoon. ), the Chair of our Board of Trustees, who could not be with us today. He is traveling on business and couldn't adjust his schedule. There have been many exciting things in 1943 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 our libraries over this last year, and I just want you to know how much I look forward to working with you and Mayor Street, as we are a partner in this Year of the Child and working with children and families by providing information and inspiration and education to youngsters and families. Today, the Library's requesting a total of some $46 million for Fiscal 2001. That includes a little over 36 million in City General Funds and approximately 10 million in Grants Revenue Funds. 2 million increase over the Library's Fiscal 2000 budget, General Fund budget, and represents the ability now to fund the operations in every one of our 55 locations, including the new Independence Branch, the expansion of after-school programming for children into 41 libraries throughout the City, and outreach efforts to reach and provide services to the charter schools, just as we do to public, parochial, and private schools. On January 4th, Governor Ridge visited the Library and announced a new plan for 1944 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 increasing State expenditures on literacy programs. " So I'd like to take just a few minute to see briefly summarize some of those investments, and if you will, the return on that investment for libraries. I want you to know that this year, nine libraries have reopened with renovations since July 1st, and those renovations were extensive remodeling of the children's area, as well as some remodeling in the adult sections, there is Internet access provided on state-of-the-art equipment, and that brings us up to 41 libraries renovated last four and a half years, and we expect to have another seven by the end of June. Community response has been absolutely outstanding to these reopenings. 7 million items. And I think it's interesting to note that that's higher than it has ever been, ever been. The last peak was back in '64, when Philadelphia had over 2 million people, and here we are with roughly a million and a half people, and more items are being borrowed from our libraries than ever before. I also want you to know it's not only more people borrowing and using the library in that way, but more than 8 million hits on the Internet have come to our library sites in the first six months of this year, and that represents some 30,000 different, different computers that are coming to our library's Web site. This area -- and I just want to digress for just a second on the area of our Web site hits. The area of technology and the area of worldwide web is of concern to many people. It brings great riches, but it also has some dangers and some concern that I know is felt by some Members of Council regarding the Internet and how we can protect children and how we can educate them, and this is also true about some of the 1946 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 videos that are available in our libraries, some of which happen to have R ratings. And we know that these are areas of concern, and we'd be happy to sit and meet with Council to discuss those issues at a future time, if that is Council's wish. We are especially excited about the plans for the 55 library locations and the long awaited Independence Branch. You know, that branch will be on the first floor of the Balch Institute.
With the help of Councilman DiCicco, and certainly of the Administration and of all you, the neighborhoods of Chinatown, Old City, Queen Village, Society Hill, and Washington Square will finally have a neighborhood library of their own. Council and the Administration made an investment in our library's after-school programs by funding this current year 12 Library after-school programs, 12 LEAP programs, in the most distressed neighborhoods. That, plus two short-term grants, enabled us this year to have 37 libraries with the after-school LEAP Program. Additionally, LEAP is now being offered 1947 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 five days a week. This is the first year that we have had LEAP available five days a week as well as year-round. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of LEAP is that we are including 7th-graders through 12-graders in that program, and we now have created a team leadership assistant corps with teenagers hired from local communities around their branches to help other children, and sometimes the adults, with computers and homework help. Other major initiatives this year. The Summer Reading Program this past year, "Dive Into Reading," saw 45,000 youngsters in the program, including over 5,000 who were youngsters in homeless centers and PAL centers and recreation centers. "Science in the Summer," a week-long science camp that's funded, in part, by SmithKline Beecham, was expanded to 37 libraries and 1600 participants. And "Books Aloud," our early literacy program brought books and training on how to read to young children and more than 640 day-care workers and 100 day-care centers, and this really means that some 5,000 little people, preschools, have begun to learn the joys of books 1948 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 and reading in day-care settings. A very important initiative this year has been the drive to get library cards in the hand of every youngster. Our goal is that in three years, every child in the City of Philadelphia will have a library card. The result of a great deal of work on the part of the staff and volunteers is that we now have 45,500 new library cardholders. In April, we'll launch another aspect of that campaign, and I'm hoping that City Council will be participants as we spread the word out to get an additional 45,000 new library card registrants. As we look forward to this coming year, I first want to thank Council and the Administration for supporting the request in restoring capital dollars for the renovation of neighborhood dollars. With your backing, the George Institute Library, the Haddington Library, the Walnut Street West Library, and the Widener branches will also become 21st-century libraries. The $3 million in our Class 100 General Fund will provide staff for the full operation of all 49 branches 6 days a week, and the 3 regional 1949 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 libraries and the Central Library, 7 days a week during school year. Additionally, this money, as I said earlier, will support the Independence Library staff to open this fall. Class 100 Funds will provide staff for 29 additional after-school programs, and this will bring to 41 the number of after-school programs funded by the City. Class 100 Funds will also make it possible for our Teen Leadership Assistant Corps to continue to employ community teenagers. And this money will also enable us to reach out to the charter schools and provide the kind of services that we provide elsewhere. Requests for 186, almost 187,000 in Class 100 -- excuse me, in Class 200 and 300 is essential as we provide the materials and the budgets for these new programs. Challenges that lie ahead. I'd like to briefly indicate some of the things that we see on the horizon. The massive branch renovation program is now nearly complete, and we must turn our attention to the Central Library.
Today our Central Library, once the jewel of the Free Library system, offers its users the least sophisticated information technology of any of our 1950 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 libraries. It's horribly overcrowded and offers one-quarter of the seats for the public that were available when it opened in 1927. Planning is now underway to make the Central Library as exciting a destination for families and children from all over the City as our branches have become in their own neighborhoods. And I do want to say that we musn't forget that the Central Library is also a neighborhood library for the people in the Spring Garden, Fairmount, Logan Square, and Art Museum neighborhoods. And they, too, deserve as up-to-date a library as their neighbors on the north at the Cecil B. Moore Avenue and the neighbors on the south in Rittenhouse Square. Madam President and Members of Council, I want to thank you for your outstanding support of libraries in the City of Philadelphia. And with your continued help, we will keep every one of our handsomely renovated branches open six days week to enrich the lives, provide educational opportunities, and promote economic development in our neighborhoods and throughout the region. And I thank you for giving me this opportunity. 1951 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00
Thank you. Thank you very much. How will the Library participate in the Mayor's KIDS Initiative? And can you tell us what are the hours of the KIDS Program? And will it operate throughout the year?
The LEAP after-school program -- I think Helen has a great deal more information. Helen, why don't you talk about that.
Excuse me, Helen, you're going to have to identify yourself for the record.
Sure. My name is Helen Miller, and I'm Director of Public Services at the Free Library. The after-school program is our initiative that I think you referred to, which will be in all of our branch and regional libraries. Right now, the City currently funds 12 programs. Starting in September, we will have 41 programs funded by the City. In terms of the hours, the program is 1952 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 from to on Monday and Wednesdays, and then it runs from 3 to 5 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. And the program will -- on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. What did I say?
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. We are not quite there on Saturday yet. And the program will run from September through June, the full school year. And then we have our Summer Reading Program that starts in the summer and, you know, goes for the entire summer.
Will all of the branch libraries be operational in Fiscal 2001?
They will all be operational except -- well, the Haddington will be undergoing renovation, so that one is the only one that won't be operational -- at least in the temporary quarters. The branch at 40th and Walnut, although it is not in the full building, it's in a temporary storefront, and so there is some service to that neighborhood.
Thank you. 1953 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 Have you had to close any libraries during the year due to staff shortages?
There was only an original hour or two here and there. There was no 6 need to close any libraries for more than an hour or two here or there. And I could get the specifics for you on the number of those, if you will like.
The reason we don't have -- no, we have no staff shortages right now, but please keep in mind that we've got --
-- seven libraries that are closed for renovations, so that allows us to have fewer than the total number of staff that we require.
But you are taking the necessary steps to ensure that when the libraries are open, that they will be fully staffed?
Yes, and that's exactly 1954 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 what the Class 100 money is for.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, I'd like to congratulate you on all of the good work that you do and -- but there's a couple things that, as you know, trouble me personally and, I think, require an explanation. You recall the controversy here last year when it was learned that the library has R-rated videos in the library, and I didn't have a problem too much with that, but then we learned that young people as young as the age 14 had access to those R-rated videos when they can't go to a video store at that age and rent a video, or they can't get into a movie theater, according to some voluntary standards that the motion picture industry has instituted, but at the age 14, a young person could come and check an R-rated video out. And then we learned that there was access to the Internet where they could even get 1955 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 worse than R-rated information -- as a matter of fact pornography -- out of the Internet, and you soley rely on librarians to manage that, which I talked to many librarians and they wish they had the time to manage that process. So that was bad enough, as far as I was concerned, at 14. And then I learned -- and I learned just this week and I'm, I guess, disappointed that there was -- knowing that I had an interest in this issue, that no one ever told me, and I was then made available a document referred to as PS No. 12, Policies and Procedures of the Free Library of the City of Philadelphia Public Services. And apparently, at age 14, and I'll read: "Adult Registration Through Your Library Card. An adult. . . " -- and I was concerned about it being 14. An adult is now 12 years of age or older or has completed the sixth grade of school. Do you think that it's appropriate for a 12-year-older to be able to come into the library, to go into the Internet, and review the most violent information, also have the ability to 1956 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 check pornography, to go into porno pages, or to take home -- to take out a R-rated video from the library. I guess I need to know, do we have anything in the collection beyond R-rated or X-rated? Is that the next step? Do you plan on X-rated videos for the library?
Councilman, no, we don't plan on X-rated videos for the library, but I would like to try to respond. These are issues that we regard as very serious issues and challenges, if you will, for the library. The Internet, as we all know, has opened up an enormous array of fine and excellent and important sources of information for youngsters and for adults and for families. It also has opened up an opportunity for a lot of other kinds of things. And granted, the vast majority of what is on the Internet is of high quality, but there is no way to -- you know, it is not a very controllable resource. Whatever someone decides to put on it is on that Internet. We have looked, and we continue to look, at the various things that are published -- or that are promoted, I should say -- to restrict 1957 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 youngsters. "Filters," they're called, and they're often advertised as being simple and quick solutions. Our explorations -- and we've looked at many and we continue to look at many, 'cause this is a major concern. They block off so many good resources and they allow through so many bad ones. Furthermore, they are extremely difficult to put onto a system, a system such as ours which has well over 1,000 computers all on one network system. They are perhaps useful for individual homes and individual small clusters but very, very difficult to use on a broad system. We still continue to hook for ways that we can provide that, but so far, we believe that the best thing is for our staff to work with youngsters, to monitor. All of our computers are in open public spaces on purpose. When youngsters see things that they are, you know, that are -- can I say outrageous or -- they start to carry on and giggle, and we know right away there's something going on. But it is an area that is of concern, and it took a great deal of time for our board to issue the policy that was issued last year on the 1958 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 access to electronic resources because it is a very, very tough issue. On the R-rated videos, if I may for just a second this, too is a complicated situation. The restriction that you talk about that requires the parent's signature for borrowing library resources outside, you know, borrowing things is a policy that requires that every youngster who is in 7th grade -- or excuse me, below 7th grade, below the 7th grade is required to have a parent permission slip signed. Their parent may say that they can borrow anything they want to from the library, or their parent can restrict them to only those things that have been purchased specifically, specifically for children. Once someone is in 7th grade or over, as you pointed out, age 13 -- 12 and up, that would be 7th grade and up, they are treated as an adult in the library in that they can borrow anything that they want. This was a response to what has occurred in our communities over the last 50 years. The initial age was established in the 1950s, but youngsters, through class assignments, through reading assignments, through their own 1959 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 interests, and their own sophistication, are reading a so much broader array that the restriction was changed from age 14, or 9th grade, to age 12, or 7th grade. And that applies to all of the resources of the library.
The restrictions to the Internet -- I believe we've had a conversation where the Archdiocese of the City of Philadelphia has been able to restrict pornography from their computer network but I don't think there's is equal or much smaller than yours. If they've been able to do it, you sound like this is a challenge for you to do it. Do you recall want to do it? Or is that just an answer that -- I've gotten dozens of letters from people saying that what you say is impossible is easily accomplished.
Well, I'd be happy -- I will, as a matter of fact, get in touch with the Archdiocese to find out what system they're using. I do know that we have looked at dozens of different systems. Each one initially had great promise, but when we got down to it, it just wouldn't work. 1960 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 Now, I don't know that we've checked that system, but we'll be happy to look at it.
And I'm not just not -- I'm just not referring to only pornography. I'm talking about other information that's on the Internet, like how to make a bomb and all the other things that we don't really -- that I don't think a 12-year-old should have access to. That's just an example. But I just don't understand the rationale to change it from 14, which I, basically, after speaking with you, backed off and agreed that -- to leave it alone, and then I find out it's changed from 14 to 12, so I'm just concerned. Where are we heading here? And I asked you if you're going to consider in the future going from R to X-rated 'cause if we went from 14 to 12, nothing would surprise me.
Well, I can assure you that we have no intention to deliberately change a policy to purchase X-rated videos. We don't have a policy on the motion picture industry's rating. What we do is, we carefully evaluate the qualities, the artistic quality, just as do with 1961 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 books -- the literary merit of books, the publisher, the information about it. We do that same thing with videos. And then only those things that meet the standards of quality are the things that we purchase. Some of them happen to have R ratings, but I can, you know, assure you that our quality standards remain in effect.
Well, again, when we met and basically had this conversation, I learned, through many parents, that they were not aware that their children could go -- they send their child to the library, a safe haven, that they could go there and check out while they're at work an R-rated video, take it home, and view this without their knowledge. I would hope that there would be some communication device where you could make sure that the parents of 12-year-olders that have adult cards at least know. And then to go back to what you said earlier, you want to put the responsibility on the parent to decide what their child could see and not see, but I was surprised to find out how many parents were not aware of the policy, maybe they should be, but I don't think that they would 1962 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 expect 12-year-old to go to the library and have unlimited access to the Internet or to have the availability or the access to R-rated videos without their knowledge. And I think if anything we can accomplish, it's let's make sure that that information gets communicated, and then we go on from here.
I'd be, as I said before, I'd be happy to sit down and talk with you and with other members of Council and review those kinds of things and see what we can do that would be satisfactory.
Again, just to end this, after the flap last year at this time, I got phone calls and letters from moms, parents, moms and dads, saying, We had no idea that our children were exposed to this in the library. Thank you for bringing this to their attention. And I think that's what we really have to do more of to make this policy, because there's many parents that don't know.
That's right. And we do believe that it is the parents' responsibility and so we'd be happy to do that and to talk with you 1963 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 about the best way to do that.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Cohen.
Mr. Shelkrot, just to briefly continue this discussion, I just wanted to say that I very much appreciate the approach that the Library has been using. I have not had a complaint in all my years in City Council from a constituent who felt, to use Councilman Rizzo's words, that a child was exposed to a harmful influence. I think you're working in a very thoughtful, careful way. I was stunned the other night to see on C-Span David Duke making what to me seemed like a wholly inflammatory statement about the dangers produced in this country by the existence of African-Americans, just by their presence here. I wanted to, you know, destroy the TV, but then I realized, I guess, are we going to cut out all cable companies? You know, are we going to eliminate that as an area of information and knowledge for people? 1964 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 It's very difficult. Democracy is not an easy process, and I think the main effort still has to be not to frighten parents about the dangers their children may encounter in a library, because really realistically, I think they're very, very limited, if they exist at all, and I don't believe they exist. I think the real drive is to get children more and more into the libraries, reading more. I know since we've had this Ogontz library, because for years, we had to fight the library system -- do you remember? -- because there was a feeling that in the community of West Oak Lane, there would be no need for a library, there would be no interest. And from the moment it's opened, it's been overcrowded, and we're fighting. And I'm going to ask you some questions about what you're doing about it 'cause I've raised several times with you the question of the expansion possibilities and what I think is a desirability of the City to be again ready to expand, because there are three schools, there are two public schools, there's one Catholic school, 1965 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 there's a library in the area that's now too small because it's overused constantly. We'd like to expand the availability of the library facilities. And have you been able to start the progress of investigating if there's land available? I think it will only be available for a very brief period of time. Because of zoning problems that have arisen, I think the owner is in the mood to sell, and then if you wait very long someone's going to pick it up and at some time later when we need it, we're going to have to pay two or three times the value for which I think it could be bought now. So I'm urging and I would like to get a response. Are you doing anything, do you agree with the community's feeling that expansion is desperately needed? Because it can't hold the people that it holds now, and I tell you, they want more and more facilities, not fewer ones.
We're in the process, as you know, of completing the renovation process. We've got four more branches -- after June, we have four more: the George institute one, which is even much smaller than the Ogontz Library, and 1966 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 in order to put a handicapped entrance and a this a little meeting room there, we have to expand that. And that is -- you know, these are things in the budget. These are, you know, these are not things that are brand new. And Walnut West and Haddington needs a new library there. It is closed. It's open only at temporary quarters. And those things are underway, and we need to get through that process. But, we have looked and -- Bill, do you want to -- Bill Fleming did on the properties that are around just to see what was on, you know, what was there, and perhaps you can respond to that.
Yeah. Councilman, my name is Bill Fleming, Administrative Services Director for the Library. We did a check on ownership of the properties on either side of the Ogontz Library, and the City does not own property on either side; they own property, some lots, a little further down the street. But on either side, the City does not own those properties. Now, there is a lot directly adjacent 1967 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 to the library, which is owned by a gentleman, if that's the property you're speaking of?
I think so because the community was involved in years in the zoning matter because that lot, owned by one individual, was just full of trash, abandoned cars, it was a junk yard literally. And the community finally won after participating in the zoning matter for years, and that is the area that I'm speaking of. It's immediately in back of -- its face is on Limekiln Turnpike, just to the north of where our library is.
I just want you to know that we have looked at those properties and we will now go take it to Public Property and have them begin the process of seeing how we could expand, you know, and if sites are there that are owned by other people, but we do have -- as we said, we do have to get through the completion of the projects that are --
No, I understand that, but it would seem to me if you made studies and they justified the expansion, and this property seemed as it were one, wouldn't the City 1968 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 be interested? I know we stockpile -- I see the acting Director of Commerce here, and I know we stockpile land sometimes for business developments. Don't we stockpile for future needs if they seem obvious? That's what I'm suggesting -- that it would be much less expensive now than if we have to go later through a process of condemnation.
Well, we will get those discussions underway with the people in Public Property and the other agencies of City government that enter into those negotiations.
Excuse me. Is the Ogontz Library the one that we in Council call the "Cohen Library"? (Laughter.)
I would just 1969 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 hope that it doesn't take years for the expansion as it did for the library to be built.
Yeah, and then my 5 grandchildren may celebrate the expansion, and I'd 6 like to kind of celebrate it while I'm still here 7 -- on the extension that the good Lord has given 8 me. 9
But I really would 11 like to follow through, 'cause government seems to 12 so many times to hurt itself by not taking 13 advantage of opportunities. I know the man was so 14 angry at the community, he just wanted to get rid 15 of it when I first spoke to you a year ago. And I 16 thought the City could get it at a very, very low 17 price, and I'm just fearful that it's going to be 18 seized. 19 It's right across from Prince Hall 20 School, right next to the Holy Prayer Church. 21 It's a wonderful area, and I just would like to 22 see the City move on it and make a decision, and if you decide that it ought to be stockpiled, that you move ahead on it. The last thing on that is, there have 1970 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 been a few break-ins in that library in the rear, and several months ago, our office called the service department of the Library, and we were told -- we suggested that some bars might be put in to at least make it a little more difficult. You know, you can't be break-proof absolutely, but we were sure that it would be done but nothing's happened in the last couple of months. There were several break-ins thereafter, and we're fearful that some very valuable technical equipment could get damaged or stolen. And I'm wondering if you could look into that and. . . .
Well, I will look into that. You're right, that has not been done, we have not put the new bars in, but let me look and find out how far away that is and what we can do to make that building more secure. I do know that we had some problems with our contract with the security firm that we're using, and we -- it was very difficult because other departments of City government were being serviced quite well, and it was difficult to apply the kind of pressure just for the Library, but we are continuing to work on that and I'll 1971 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 look in to see whether that has had an effect on Ogontz also.
And I can just let you know that in our community, in the West Oak Lane portion, the lower portion of West Oak Lane, near the Central High, LaSalle, the library is in very high estimation. The library has produced a whole change of attitude in the community. And I want to congratulate you, as leader of the library, for achieving that kind of support in the community.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, Mr. Shelkrot and Ms. Miller. I engage in research from time to time myself, although, for the record, none of which gets anywhere near the concerns that Councilman Rizzo raised earlier, but I have 1972 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 occasion to use the database center and find their services to be just superior. And through the work to be done at the main or the central branch and any other renovations, can you tell me about that unit, the room that they're in. The conditions, at least for the few times that I've gone in there, as opposed to the mostly phone work don't necessarily seem to be the most conducive particularly in a work environment. They do tremendous work. Can you tell me how the benefits of the work to be done at the central branch will affect them? And what's the long-term future for that unit?
The conditions you describe in that database research center are, you know, are typical of many of the staff areas of the Central Library areas that were carved out of spaces that were never intended to be used for that purpose at all. I wish I could tell you that that were the worst of the spaces. We have an automobile history collection that's one of the finest in the world, of owners manuals and workbooks and 1973 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 advertising literature from the beginning of cars, and we can't let the public into that because it is so crowded and on a balcony that's just not strong enough.
A world-class theater collection is a public area, but it's an embarrassment when somebody says, How do I find it? because it's almost like you can't get there from here, you have to go up and down so many steps and duck your head to get into it. That is exactly the kind of area where our services could be so much more widely available, so much more accessible. There are collections in that building and resources in that building that Philadelphia is denied access to because it is just so crowded, we can't get to it for people.
So that's a perfect example of the kind of space and kind of working conditions and the kind of access that the public needs. You know, our staff willing to, you know, work in what are not the best environments, but 1974 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 we're denying access to the public, and that's what concerns me.
Tell me a little bit about the unit itself, and obviously, you've expanded computer access, and people can come in and do a fair amount of their own research, but for the more research-challenged individuals, the database center becomes a great resource. What is the longer-term --
Okay. Councilman Nutter, the database center is a part of our newspaper and database department, and it's a service that we used to provide before we had the level of technology that we have, even in the Central Library. It was a service that we provided for the public when people didn't have the time or didn't have access to computers for themselves. We would do the search, and for a nominal fee, send the information off. We certainly could, as Mr. Shelkrot mentioned, expand that service if we were in different surroundings. What is happening, 1975 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 however, is that we have added some new technology to the newspaper department, per se, so what we can provide now is an opportunity or access for the public to come in and do some of their own research with the computers that are in that particular department, as we intend to expand throughout the Central Library. So that's what's happening now. In terms of what would be designed in the future, I mean, the sky's kind of the limit. Depending on the dollars we would have, we would be able to provide just the best resources, we would be able to provide training for the public in terms of them learning how to access some of the resources that we have, and we do some of that now on a limited basis.
Right, but you do anticipate -- I mean is the unit going to stay?
That are part of the services that are provided by the Library?
Absolutely. Not only will they stay, but we also expect to expand those services. 1976 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00
I, too, would like to go on record as another member of this body who does have a concern and an interest in the young people having access to inappropriate material and will look closely and prepare to work with you, including being a part of the dialogue and discussions of meetings that move you towards a strategy which safeguards and protects what we want after-school programs to be, and that's a structured, safe, stimulating, supervised 1977 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 environment. So for the record, include me in those kinds of meetings as we move forward.
Okay? I do have an interest, of course, in some details with regards to after-school programs, and I'm always concerned about outreach. So we'll turn to of your testimony, third paragraph, the Science Camp Program. I know this only from past experience, that come March and April, parents call wanting to know where the programs are. Give me some sense on how you do outreach to get vital information like this in the hands of parents so that they have information to act on during the spring part of the year for the coming summer months.
Briefly, I can tell, and then you perhaps Helen Miller would like to come up. Briefly, we are overrun with applicants for the program.
So our challenge hasn't been outreach, but Helen, perhaps you -- there are 1978 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 things that we can do to make sure people know about it.
Across the board, then, just a sampling of the kinds of things you do with regards to outreach.
Yes, Councilwoman. Are you familiar with our calendar of events?
Well, we do announce in that medium the program, explaining where it's going to be located, because it's not in all of our libraries; it's at least three quarters of them. But we do announce where those programs are, when the preregistration period is, when it's going to end. There are so many students who are accepted in each program. We do generally make that announcement early in the spring.
And we will do that. And what we will try to do this year in addition to that is to put the message on our Web page so that you can, you know, when you look at our other programs, you'll also become aware of the Science in Summer Program. 1979 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00
One particular population, last paragraph, of your testimony, young people that are in homeless shelters.
What we have done for the last two years, and will be expanding, is our Summer Reading Program as we reach youngsters in the homeless shelters. We -- you know, the Summer Reading Program will have -- this last year, had almost 45,000 kids in it, and we expect it to go up to perhaps 48,000.
From -- oh, no, no, no, in total. I don't have how many youngsters in the shelters are a part of program, but we go to the shelters as part of that Summer Reading Program.
I can get information on how many shelters or how many youngsters there are 1980 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 for you. I don't have that at this time.
That would be helpful only in the -- the intent is only to know that there is -- that each homeless shelter, where there are children, has a tie, a direct link with the Free Library or a recreation center so that their lives can be as rich as those who are not there.
That's right, and we don't only invite them to our Summer Reading Program, but we also do programs directly in homeless shelter.
We go right into the shelters and do programs. Depending upon the age level of the children, programs are devoted to that particular population and age.
On , you mention, in the second paragraph from the bottom, that you have a goal of registering 40,000 people -- it says "people" -- by the end of the calendar year. So give me some sense of the kinds of strategies you have in place that would move you to attaining that goal. 1981 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00
The programs so far have been a program to mail out to every youngster in the City schools an invitation to the Library, with an offer to get a token of appreciation, a little reward, if they come in and sign up for a library card. We've had a program early this year whereby every kindergarten teacher in the City schools presented a library card application to the parents when they first met the parents as a part of that interview process. In the spring, we have another campaign that we are working on. And, Helen, can you talk about what that's going to look like?
Yes, of course. I don't know if you remember in the fall when every City employee got an application in their paycheck --
-- to sign up for a library card. We're going to do something similar to that in the spring. This time, we're partnering with about 15 large businesses in the City to get them to sign up their own staff, their own employees for library cards, and we will go to 1982 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 any number of agencies, any number of organizations doing outreach, community fairs, wherever there are large numbers of people we intend to show up and to invite people to sign up for library cards.
Okay. Is there any intergenerational activity of any kind, working with senior citizen homes? 'Cause both lives win: young people win and those in their senior wins win with that kind of interaction.
Yes, yes. We have done some work in this area. We have not expanded that program as much as we anticipate we will in the future, but we've done programs whereby we've invited senior citizens to participate in poetry sessions with teenagers, and that has worked very well. We've had some oral history programs whereby senior citizens are sharing some of their experiences with our children. And it's really history for the children, but it's very rewarding for the seniors as well because it's something for them to do. It's an opportunity to talk about the past experiences they've had. So that has been a 1983 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 good interchange as well. And we do look forward to doing more work, particularly with the senior citizens. And when we can do it with the intergenerational theme, we will take the opportunity to do that as well.
And one other community, before I getting to a closing comment -- faith-based institutions.
Yes. We have worked directly with the Black Clergy, encouraging them to help us with our library registration card campaign. We've also encouraged them just to participate in their neighborhood libraries, to get their parishioners, their members to use the library, to help get them to help us to get their parishioners and members aware of the library and the opportunities that are available at the library. So we do rely and hope to develop relationships even more with the clergy across the City, not just the Black Clergy but, you know, churches overall.
I asked about 1984 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 those various worlds because we know that this is "The Year of the Child," and we know that Commissioner Richman and her department will be working closely with those of you who are intimately involved with after-school programs, and we know that the standards need to be developed with regards to what's a good-quality after-school program for young people. So those types of worlds can be factored in as you move to develop standards on what constitutes a quality after-school program.
And I would hope and expect that you engage yourselves in those dialogues.
Oh, I just was going to mention one other program that we do. A lot of churches have after-school programs. We will send our staff to their programs to do programs, even though we have after-school programs of our own, but we have outreach staff who go into churches 1985 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 and do things with their after-school programs as well.
Have you moved to the step of measuring? And that's a relative term, but assessing what's good and what's not? Because there are a lot of after-school programs out there.
That's the upside. The downside is that not all of them are of quality, and that's where we want to move to.
Okay? Finally, we learned in public testimony in the hearings that both the Fleet Management and the Water Department currently have programs in place where they involve high-school students in those departments, whereby, you know what happens, you hope to spark their imagination about career opportunities and then inspire them to consider that career path. Is the public library involved in anything like that?
Well, that's exactly what our Teen Leadership Assistant Program is 1986 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 about whereby we work with youngsters that we hire on a, you know, part-time basis, youngsters, high school kids in the communities. We give them training on the use of technology by some wonderful trainers who are often from those communities but who are in college now, and we find some wonderful activities and growth opportunities for them as they help others use the technology an use the libraries better.
So we can have something to learn from you. Now there are three City departments, or three public agencies, that are doing that kind of thing. Thank you very much. Thank you Madam Chair.
Thank you. Are there any other questions from members of the committee? (No further questions.)
Human Relations Commission is next. 1987 OPERATING BUDGET - BILL 05 - 2/23/00 (Human Relations Commission witness comes forward.)