Committee Hearing, May 5, 2008

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, May 5, 2008, 10:15 a.m. - - - Resolution 080089 - Authorizing the Committee on the Environment to hold public hearings to examine Philadelphia International Airport's recycling policies and goals, and to explore alternative approaches to increasing the Airport's recycling rate of both public and internal waste. Resolution 080266 - Calling on the Committee on the Environment and the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development to hold joint hearings on adopting a Green Job Corps to help Philadelphia create a qualified, trained workforce to support local green businesses and contractors. COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT: James F. Kenney, Chair Blondell Reynolds Brown, Vice Chair Curtis Jones, Jr. Jack Kelly Frank Rizzo - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Specialists 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2 5/5/08 - COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT I N D E X WITNESS Resolution 080089 Panel 1 - Philadelphia Airport Charlie Isdell, Acting Aviation Director 7 C. Davenger, Environmental Stewardship Allen Moore, Facilities Maintenance Mgr. 27 6 Panel - Baltimore/Washington International 7 Richard Keller, Manager of Recycling.... 75 Edwin Maker, Contract Manager.......... 76 Panel 3 - PennFuture C. Knapp, E. PA Outreach Coordinator.... 99 - - - Resolution 080266 Panel 1 Duane Bumb, Deputy Director, Commerce 111 Panel 2 L. Brancky, Sustainable Bus. Network.... 131 Scott Wheeler, Strategy Arts............ 136 J. Carroll, Wissahickon Charter School 141 L. Hunter, Wissahickon Charter Student 150 A. Paget, " " " 153 Panel 3 S.D. Glenn, American Cities Foundation 172 Christine Knapp, PennFuture............. 190 Judy Wicks, White Dog Cafe.............. 197 Sonia De Van-Lake, Phila. Workforce Dev. 201 Panel 4 C. Morssink, Healthy Environmental Coll. 214 Glenn Bergman, Weavers Way Corporation 220 J. Naples, Greensgrow Farm.............. 223 L. Robertson, Energy Coordinating Office 230 3 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The Committee on the Environment is now in session. We do not have a need for a quorum since we are dealing with two resolutions, so in the interest of saving some time for the people who are here today, we'd like to get started. And as Councilmembers come -- Councilmember Rizzo is here now. As Councilmembers come, we will enter them into the record. I just have a briefing opening remark relative to the issue of airport recycling. As we all know, Philadelphia's in the midst of taking steps to support urban stainability and promote green initiatives. From incorporating energy-efficient policies and products to establishing incentives for greening, there is much to be proud of more and still much more we can do. 4 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 One area we can improve on is recycling. While I am aware of Philadelphia International Airport's commitment to environmental stewardship, I would like to see an active recycling campaign throughout the airport, with receptacles located conveniently throughout each concourse, especially since the airport is often the first and last impression of Philadelphia for visitors. Recycling is an opportunity to showcase our commitment to being green. With over 30 million passengers each year, the airport has a tremendous opportunity to divert newspapers, magazines, bottles, and other recyclable products from the waste stream. Therefore, I am interested in hearing about what steps are being taken to encourage travelers to recycle. Furthermore, I would like to hear more about the airport's 5 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 recycling guidelines and procedures for administrative offices, retail shops, and restaurants. There are many airports that have adopted aggressive and creative policies for both internal and public recycling of materials ranging from plastic bottles to cooking oil. The Seattle Tacoma International Airport, which is currently ranked as the 17th busiest passenger airport in the U.S., has been recycling tonnage increase by 900 percent between 2001 and 2005 by providing recycling opportunities in the terminals, retail stores, maintenance buildings and airport offices, as well as food concessions, taxi stands, and garages. The Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport is here today to share their success story of growing recycling from less than 5 percent to 28 percent 6 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 in two years. I'd like to thank everyone for being here today and for participating in this hearing so that we can learn more about what our airport is doing to recycle and how we can expand this important program. Let me also say that we are certainly going to review what the airport has done over the course of the years, but going forward, we would like to make this a more positive hearing so that we can put in place a program that we can all be proud of and be effective in trying to accomplish our recycling goals. So with that being said, I'd like to ask our first panel, which is Charles Isdell and Calvin Davenger from the airport. Please proceed with your testimony. (Witnesses come forward.)

Good morning. As you know please, identify 7 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 yourself for the record and proceed.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman.

Good morning.

My name is Charlie Isdell. I'm the Acting Director of Aviation for the City of Philadelphia. And Calvin, do you want to introduce yourself?

Yes. Good morning. My name is Calvin Davenger. I'm Deputy Director of Aviation Planning and Environmental Stewardship.

Please proceed. By the way, Councilman Kelly is now in attendance also.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. Philadelphia International Airport has embarked on a host of environmental programs over the past 8 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 decade. One of our most challenging initiatives has been the gradual growth of recycling and integrated solid-waste management systems. With over 200 tenant businesses, 32 million passengers a year, two-and-a-half million square feet of terminal space, and 35,000 employees working seven days week, 365 days a year, the airport has one of the more complicated waste streams in the region. As you can imagine, an airport recycling program presents more challenges than a typical commercial facility due to the budgetary constraints of the airlines that fund our budgets as well as some of the regulator restrictions imposed by the FAA and the Transportation Security Administration. Waste streams at the airport can be divided into two categories. The first is waste from non-leased terminal areas, such as City offices 9 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 and buildings; and the second is waste from areas leased by the airlines, vendors, and other tenants. The first category generated about 2500 tons of solid waste in 2007; and the second category, roughly 8500 tons. In 2007, we recycled about 62 tons of mixed paper, cardboard, and beverage containers in our City facilities. The number is up from 42 tons the previous year, but it still only represents a two-and-a-half percent recycling rates. However, initiatives we have undertaken in 2008 will significantly increase this rate. Separately, we contract with an EPA-certified recycling company that recovered nearly 60,000 fluorescent lamps and over 3,000 ballasts in 2007. Our concession program recovers 130 tons of recyclable cardboard each year. We also utilize citywide 10 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 contracts for the recycling of toner cartridges, scrap metal, tires, construction and demolition material and obsolete electronics. Because the Procurement Department administers these contracts centrally, no specific airport tonnage data is available for those materials. We are working with Procurement to establish a procedure to calculate these quantities in the future. All of the above represents Phase I of a three-phase program that will dramatically increase recycling rates for the airport's tenants and passengers while simultaneously reducing costs and creating significant environmental benefits. Phase II involves the collection and recycling of public waste. This effort has been hampered in the past due to high levels of contamination caused by passenger misuse of the receptacles. Undaunted, 11 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 we have recently completed a successful pilot recycling program on Concourse B and are now using seven state-of-the-art integrated recycling receptacles to recover beverage containers, newspapers, and magazine in that concourse. Twelve additional receptacles are already on order for placement in Concourses A and C and additional 12 receptacles will be put out to bid 13 through the Procurement Department 14 later this month. 15 We've hired 12 semi-skilled 16 laborers for the hauling of materials. 17 We also received assistance from the 18 Procurement Department in adding the 19 airport facility to the citywide 20 contract for recycled materials 21 processing. We estimate that the 22 airport will dramatically increase its 23 recycling rate after full deployment of these receptacles in all of our concourses. 12 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 And, Mr. Chairman, we do have a sample of the receptacle on display today in Council chambers.

Thank you.

Phase III will involve the development of a centralized recycling system that will encompass paper, cardboard, beverage containers, and other material- collection services for all vendors and companies at the airport. This will allow for enormous economies of scale. USAirways and American Airlines are already in discussions with us regarding collection of recyclables in their passenger hold rooms. The airport's recycling committee was formed in 2002 as part of a campaign to raise recycling awareness. Calvin Davenger, our Deputy Director for Planning and Environmental Stewardship, chairs the Committee. The members, some of whom are 13 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 here with us today, represent all airport departments. They meet monthly and have helped to development and implement our recycling plans and training programs. They also participate in public-outreach events such as America Recycles Day and Earth Day. The committee has also engaged local schools, including Patterson Elementary School, in environmental awareness programs. Committee members also act as resources and mentors to colleagues. And, for example, they put together a set of recycling instructions for all employees to clearly explain the office recycling program. The Green Airports Initiative encompasses all aspects of airport environmental policy, including solid waste, green design, water quality, air quality, and energy efficiency. Its solid waste subcommittee is cochaired David Biddle, Executive 14 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 Director of the Greater Philadelphia Commercial Recycling Council and is composed of key policy-makers from the US EPA, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the City's Recycling Office, the Mayor's Recycling Advisory Committee, and several institutional recycling managers from around the region. This group meets regularly with airport personnel and provides valuable guidance on issues such as recycling. Earth Day and -- I'm sorry. PHL has held Earth Day and America Recycles Day events for airport employees and the public for almost a decade to raise awareness about the airport's recycling mission. Awards are given out in recognition of individuals contributing to environmental stewardship. Media briefings are conducted and information booths are on display, providing numerous environmental 15 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 organizations the opportunity to network with airport passengers and employees. Some of the key objectives we've targeted for 2008 include the following: First, expansion of public- area recycling to all concourses. Second, establishment of a passenger education process, in partnership with the TSA, to minimize material confiscated during the security screening process. Three, meet the ongoing training needs of maintenance and custodial management staff. Fourth, development of a better and timelier tracking and monitoring system for all materials recovered on site. Sixth [sic], formal establishment of a waste-management program budget. Seven, strategic addition of 16 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 new materials for recycling; for example, food waste, composting, wood pallets, and other organic material. Eight, regular updates on our website regarding recycling program process. And lastly, begin a five-year strategic planning process for solid- waste recycling at the airport. If time is available, I would just like to mention a few of our other recent environmental achievements.

Please.

On air quality, we made the largest US airport wind-energy purchase: 13,000 megawatt hours per year through the PECO Wind Energy Program. We subsidize SEPTA Transpasses to encourage employees to use our R1 high-speed line rather than drive to work. And we currently have seven hybrid vehicles for our staff; three more are on order. 17 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 In water quality, we have a new de-icing facility that directs de-icing fluid runoff to the City's sewage system rather than let it run into the Delaware River. Wetlands creation at Penny Pack Park and Heinz Wildlife Reserve has been done in the past. The red- bellied turtle has begun to repopulate our area thanks to habitat enhancement; that is a state threatened species. Cleanup and monitoring of the former Enterprise Avenue landfill, upon which the Runway 826 was built in the '90s. We continue to monitor wells to make sure that the water supply is safe. Elimination of sludge dump at Northeast Airport through a program whereby we cleaned up the site and sold the property to TJ Maxx Corporation, which now has a giant distribution warehouse at Northeast 18 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 Airport. And in the noise area, we have a program: Ongoing sound insulation at 600 homes in Tinicum Township. We've opened noise community service offices in both Tinicum Township and the Eastwick community of Philadelphia. And we've proposed sound insulation of historic Fort Mifflin structures on the historic Fort Mifflin property. Lastly, Philadelphia Green -- PHL Green Program. We are a sponsor, and have been for the last two years, of the Philadelphia Flower Show. This year, we had an award-winning exhibit that was put together by students from the Saul Agricultural High School. We have done Earth Day awareness, tree plantings with Kensington High School for the last several years. And we allow a group of senior citizens to do community farming on a seven-acre parcel of our 19 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 property north of Runway 1735 in the Eastwick community. I want to thank you for the opportunity to present this information. We're very proud of our environmental stewardship program and we would like to make you proud as well. And, Mr. Chairman, if you wish, I could introduce the members of the recycling committee. It will just take a moment.

Thank you.

The ones that are here today are: Maryanne Boyle is here. If you want to stand when I say your name. Diane Bush, Al Chernoff, Barbara Culture, Bob Drellic (sp?), Barbara Evans, Marshall Evans (no 22 relation), Henry Fapahanda (sp?), Dita Cullman, Sandy Lanier, Clyde Latham, Vicki Lupica, Darnell Mason, Bob Gizinski (sp?), Deirdre McDermott 20 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 O'Neill, Allen Moore, Karen Merchantson (sp?), Kim Rone (sp?), Robin Ross; and our custodial superintendent, Ed Gore; our maintenance manager, Allen Moore; and our assistant director, Tracy Border. All of them have been active in our recycling and other environmental programs. I just wanted to acknowledge them. And thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you very much. Thank you for your and thank you for your volunteer efforts on behalf of the recycling program at the airport. And I want to thank you for a lot of the other -- many other environmentally sensitive and green initiatives at the airport. I think our overall -- or at least my overall general concern has been the level of 2.5 percent of our recycling. And I sense from the 21 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 testimony that you've given relative to efforts in 2008 that by this time next year, we could probably get hopefully a very good report on an increase from 2.5 percent to a substantial amount.

Yes, that is certainly our goal. And I really want to thank you and the committee, Mr. Chairman, for, among other things, stimulating and focusing us on this issue.

I think with the new administration and the new administration's embrace of sustainability and recycling and everything's else that I think we need to look at each individual aspect and component of what we do in government, whether it's this building, whether it's the airport, whether it's the Navy Yard, in ongoing efforts to kind of focus attention. As I said in a speech at the 22 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 end of one of our last Council sessions, since we've gotten weekly single-stream recycling, I put the trash out on Wednesday night, and Thursday is our trash day, I put out two bags when I normally put out five and was physically and personally shocked at the reduction in my trash based on this single-stream weekly pickup. So I think if we can replicate that at the airport, we'll be taking a lot of, I guess, landfillable products out of our recycling stream. Councilman Rizzo?

Thank you Mr. Chairman. Good morning, Mr. Isdell and your colleagues.

Good morning.

Beyond what you've described today, I just have a couple of questions about other areas of the airport. 23 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 When a flight arrives at your airport, there's a lot of materials -- newspapers that are left behind by passengers. The flight attendants, when they come down the aisle, from experience, they put cans and they put trash all in one container. How are you dealing with some of those materials that are accumulated in our city? I don't know whether the airline takes it with them or they discard it here. Could you describe that process?

I'm going to ask Deputy Director Davenger to help me with this. But at the present time, we have discussions ongoing with USAirways and American Airlines to do recycling of the airline waste stream that largely accumulate in the hold rooms. I just read recently that Seattle Airport has embarked on a program to actually recycle the waste 24 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 that comes off the plane; is that specifically what you're talking about?

Yeah. In other words, I'm just talking about what -- the times I just left a newspaper in the seat pocket, thinking that it's going to be obviously picked up by somebody that cleans the aircraft, and I wondered if you look down the rows, there's dozens and dozens and dozens of newspapers, plus when the flight attendant comes through, they pick up soda cans and perishable food and everything that accumulates during the flight. What happens to it? Does it stay behind? does it go with the aircraft? I don't know.

Calvin, do you want to handle that one?

Good morning, Councilman. What you've described is pretty much what has been identified in 25 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 a report that was published by the National Resources Defense Council, which was titled "Trash Landing." And essentially what that report outlined are those same issues. And when it comes to off- aircraft recycling, it's pretty much handled on an airport-by-airport basis, and it's pretty much the policy of whatever airline that you're flying on at the time. So at our airport, since we haven't fully implemented what we call our Phase III, which is kind of an all-encompassing and centralized recycling program at our airport, I don't really have a good answer for that. I'd have to go back to the specific airline and ask them what is it that they do. And that's part of, you know, what we're looking to do going forward.

I can -- 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089

I would assume --

Go ahead.

I'm sorry. If I can elaborate. I think that we would -- initially, the assumption would be that the airline itself as a corporate entity would have some desire to be responsible and recycle that waste. What I think we're discovering is that the airport really has to take the lead and, at the very least, make it more convenient and practical and cost-beneficial for them to do that. And we really haven't done that, honestly, up to now, but it is the Phase III plan that we're looking at for next year.

Is that your expense to discards of their debris? Do they put it in containers that you're responsible for --

If it comes --

-- and the 27 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 airport pays for that disposal?

If it comes off -- and I may need some help from my maintenance manager here, but if it comes off the plane into the airline's hold room area, they dispose of it themselves. The exception would be if it's at what we call "a common use gate," like an international gate, which is not really -- we're responsible to maintain those gates, including the cleanliness of them. And I believe that that waste is frequently left in trash bags on the jet bridges and then collected by our staff and put into the general waste stream. I think we may want the maintenance manager to explain that process. (Witness comes forward.)

Give your name for the record, please.

Good morning. My 28 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 name is Allen Moore and I'm the Airport Facilities Maintenance Manager. Typically -- what Charlie has described is correct -- the airlines historically are responsible for the waste that they generate on the aircraft that they collect as part of their aircraft-cleaning processes and then subsequently handle it internally.

Could you stay there. I have one more quick question. You talked about, during your remarks, Mr. Isdell, the de-icing project, where they de-ice the aircraft before takeoff. You talked about that once it ran off into the river and now it's recovered into the sewage system? Isn't there a way -- I read an article once where some airports are recovering that material and using it again after some process of 29 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 purification. It seems as though that's pretty expensive material just to flush it down the drain.

Again, I think Mr. Davenger has an up-to-the-minute answer to that question regarding de-icing fluid.

Yes. Councilman, some years ago, we looked at -- or we proposed to put a study in place to study recycling some of that material on airport premises, you know, some portable recycling equipment. And what we found was that pretty much the amounts that we were collecting and storing, they weren't of a high enough BOD CO2 content to make it worthwhile to recycle; it was fairly dilute. And so it wasn't an economical process for us, so we didn't -- you know, we didn't pursue that. But we did do a study to investigate a means of recycling some of that material. 30 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 Also, the standards for that material by the airlines are quite high. And so when you do recycle it, it's oftentimes not used again on aircraft. It may be used as part of runway de-icing or some other de-icing use.

Is that material appropriate to flush down the drain? Is there any consequence of that going into the sewage treatment facilities? The pipes won't freeze, that's for sure, but --

Well, we have an agreement with the Water Department to take this product, you know, if it's of certain quality, and they have chemicals, bugs, per se, that do work to clean that material and make it usable again.

So they're obviously aware that that's coming to them.

Oh, yes, sir. 31 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089

It's actually metered. An d one of the reasons, I believe, when we had this study done in terms of doing a recycling program that would either pay for itself or be cost- beneficial is the idea that we just happen to live sort of -- you know, our part of the country. We have sometimes severe, sometimes mild winters, like we had a fairly mild winter this year, so not in a steady stream. When we have a really bad winter and a lot of de-icing fluid is used, it actually -- we have holding tanks that when it's collected from the pad, it goes into a dedicated drain system and goes into some tanks, and then it's metered over the course of the whole year into the Water Department's sewage-treatment system. When we have a really bad winter, sometimes we run out of capacity in those tanks, and the excess fluid has to be hauled away in 32 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 trucks. When that happens, the vendor who hauls the excess de-icing fluid away does recycle it, as far as I know, but we don't get -- at least up until now, we don't get credit for that. And it has not been -- it's been such an erratic processes, not a regular amount year-to-year, that we haven't really focused on it.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

In your testimony, you indicated that one of the biggest obstacles to the public common-area recycling is the contamination of recyclable material. Can you give me an idea as to what type of contamination and what you may be aware of what other airports do to handle that contamination problem.

Yes. Can I ask Calvin to weigh in on that also? 33 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089

Yes. The contamination that you typically see would be contamination by food waste, perhaps some cleaning fluids, oils, drink cups as opposed to beverage containers. These are the type of things that we would typically see.

Are you aware of what other airports do to -- I'm sure the flying public in Chicago or New York or California have the same bad habits as our people do.

Well, I believe, you know most airports do have a certain amount of contamination depending on how they recycle. Now, we're at a stage now, or finally at a stage, you know, where we're kind of turning a corner, where we can do commingle products. So the contamination rate tends to be a little bit less because we do have beverage containers that still have, you know, water and beverage and mixed 34 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 drinks, you know, in with the recyclable materials. So that's made a big difference. And as far as what other airports do, I guess it depends on how their system is set up, what kind of a facilities they have near them to process the materials. And that's a big part of recycling is that you have to have the facilities available to process the various types of commodities that come off of your premises.

When will Phase III be -- when is your target date for Phase III fully implemented?

We're going to go back and take a much harder look at that. Phase III --

Well, is it fair to say you're in Phase II now or completing Phase II?

We're in Phase II now. You know, certainly when we 35 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 started, pretty much as other airports across -- domestic airports started, they started with pretty much the offices with, you know, white paper, mixed paper, cardboard. Then they would move into, you know, the public areas the best that they could. And that's where we are. Phase III, in my mind, can be handled in one of two ways. We have terminal recyclable materials, which fall under what I would call Phase I or Phase II, and I think the airport can manage that, I think we can budget for that, I think we can put a system, put a mechanism in place to deal with those. When it comes to Phase III, if you're talking a centralized recycling process, we may want to investigate a waste-management or third-party- managed-type system, which would then take the airlines' recyclables from the maintenance facilities, from off 36 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 aircraft, from their back-of-the-house facilities, and handle that maybe separately from what comes off the terminal. Stuff that comes off the terminal is usually pretty clean. We're working with Blue Mountain now; we can get most of those materials to Blue Mountain. Some of the other materials may be better served if they go to a local or a close facility where those products can be handled. So we may be looking at two separate systems here.

Who hauls the office -- the Philadelphia office's recycled material and non-recyclable material now?

Right now, the recycle material is being hauled by Accurate Recycling.

And who is -- and how about the non-recyclable material?

We haul our own. 37 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 We have compactors --

The City of Philadelphia or the airport?

Well, it's the City of Philadelphia.

The Streets Department or the airport's --

It's the airport.

It's the airport that --

Now, in Phase II, who do you envision hauling that recyclable and non-recyclable material?

Same.

Who hauls it now? The terminal, whether it's recyclables in the future or the current trash we're disposing of, who hauls the terminal trash right now?

Right now, we haul the terminal trash through our own City of Philadelphia compactor trucks. That would be non-recycled material. We 38 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 haul it to the appropriate waste disposable facility --

Do you have the capacity of using Philadelphia equipment to pick up the recycling material in the terminal?

We collect the recycling material in the terminal, but at this point, I would say we probably don't the capacity to actually haul it to a processing facility, which is one of the reasons we are looking to engage in a contract.

Well, when Philadelphia picks up its residential single-stream weekly recycled material now, who hauls that; do you know?

As far as I know, the City of Philadelphia hauls it in their trucks for recycling.

So it out of the realm of possibilities for us to be hauling our own recycled material to the same place the City is taking its 39 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 recyclables.

It's a possibility, but it would require investment on the part of the airport in terms of additional vehicles to haul that material as well as staffing to drive them.

And do you anticipate doing a cost analysis on what we're saving in potential tipping fees into landfill as opposed to what we'd be siphoning off from that landfill cost to kind of compare it to what our cost of purchasing equipment and/or personnel would be?

Well, initially, when we started recycling, we did do that kind of analysis, and the analysis was based on whether we would take the program totally in-house or whether we would do some with the Division of Aviation staff and with some of our contractors. And when we looked at it, as 40 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 Allen had mentioned, it would involve purchasing compactors, additional crews for (indiscernible) and grounds. And at that time, the decision was made for the outside hauling to be done by contractors.

The only problem with the outside hauling, even though the number right now is -- it's a comparatively low annual figure of 23,006, which is really not much in the scheme of your budget; it's about $382 a ton, which -- we get economies of scale the more we collect and put into that, even if it's a private hauler, do we get -- does the tonnage price go up or down the more we put into the stream?

Well, it depends on the quality of the material, you know, that you take to the facility. And, you know, at this point, what we're hoping to do and what we're looking to do to subsidize some of 41 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 these costs, you know, we're trying -- we're looking to maybe generate some advertising revenue from these receptacles that we're using now to, you know, pay for some of the expensive programs as well as, since we are with -- we finally did get a contract with Blue Mountain, who, up to now, was handling only residential recyclable materials. So we -- as a commercial entity, we have a contract with them. We're on the same -- I think they pay, like 30 -- they pay so much per ton. I don't know if it's $30 per ton or what the figure is exactly. So --

I'm sorry. I don't understand that. Who pays $30 per ton?

The Blue Mountain facility.

Pays the airport.

Well, they pay 42 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 the City.

Yeah, $30 a ton for what they take out?

Yes.

Okay.

So we hope to, you know, work some figures using those numbers.

So theoretically, the more we collect and the more we ship off to a private entity, the more money we make. So it's a potentially money-making venture.

Yes.

Now, on Phase III, do you private, City, or a combination of both in the hauling?

On Phase III, again, you know, we're still having discussions. You know, we do have a subcommittee that's working on that under the Green Airport Initiative, who David Biddle is the chairman of, and 43 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 we're looking at it very closely. But in my mind, if it was up to me, it would be a separate operation; it wouldn't involved the City at all.

Right. But we could do the cost analysis to figure out whether or not it makes any sense.

Yes, we could.

Okay. Councilman Jones.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My line of questioning is on the same not. And it's good to see you, Mr. Isdell. We've shared a lot of board rooms together. I'd like to follow up by saying: How long have we done recycling and greening in one capacity or another?

Good morning, Councilman.

Good 44 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 morning.

I've been involved since about 19, maybe, 96. But the airport has been involved probably a little bit longer than that. I believe their first study that they had conducted was in 1994. We had a study done by Urban to assess what our waste stream looked at. You know, we had people come in, they went through the trash, they went through the Dumpsters; they assessed what type of commodities, what type of materials are coming off of the airport. And so, that's kind of when it got started at the airport. Now, since that time, we were tied for a period of time to the City's Recycling Office, and we had to file a recycling program with them, which we did do, again, in the late 1990s, and we were compliant with that and we're still compliant as far as I know with that. 45 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 So I would say since late 1990s.

All right. I saw testimony that we're generating 13,000 megawatts of windmill electricity, 62 tons of cardboard. We're beginning to use hybrid vehicles, seven of which we have and three or more are on order. My question becomes, and I think the spirit of what some of the comments that Councilman Kenney mentioned, is that if we are going to take on these initiatives, we have to do a cost-benefit analysis. My question becomes: How much have we saved by way of windmill power versus what we would have paid in electrical power?

Well, that particular example is an example where we actually pay more to get the wind power than we would pay normally. So really, that was an investment in 46 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 environmental stewardship rather than a cost savings. At least at this point, we don't project a savings.

The question then becomes: What does it cost us to generate 13,000 megawatts watts of electricity?

I don't have that off the top of my head, but we could certainly get that for you, Councilman.

That's an important -- I mean, as we start to move forward are as a city to start to measure what the benefits and the cost benefit analysis for these efforts, we need to be real clear as we get on tighter margins with our ability to meet our budgets whether these initiatives are, in fact, a effort to save the world through greening or cost-effective measures by which we save our budget, so we need to really take a look at that. Same question for the 47 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 cardboard: Do we gain money by recycling these 62,000 tons of cardboard, or does it cost us to do the recycling?

Well, again, the contracts that we were working with in the past, we weren't receiving that type of a benefit. With the contracts we have now, we do expect to receive benefit from cardboard that we take to these processing facilities. And ideally, you know, again on the terminal side for recycling, what we're looking to do is, you know, we're looking to have shoots off the terminal areas feeding compactor units, which keep everything clean, keep everything dry, keep the rodents out. We would like to have bailers to bail the cardboard from the warehouse from the maintenance facilities so we have clean bails of cardboard that can go to these 48 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 facilities, and we can gets top dollar for 'em. So these are some of the things that we would like to see happening.

If I can just add, you know, a more direct answer. I think that recycling -- of all of the environmental initiatives that we've looked at, the recycling seems to have the most potential to ultimately, if not become profitable, at least to pay for itself, and some of that depends on these economies of scale that we're looking at that Councilman Kenney referred to. But in the interim, there may be an initial investment that we have to make, but we're already seeing, somewhat to our surprise, the airlines, now that they've seen the receptacles in use and because Calvin and his staff have been pretty aggressively approaching them about 49 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 not only recycling but things like using ground-service equipment, you know, the tugs and carts that drive around. The airlines seem to be receptive and desirous of joining us in this program. So that's good news. And I think, frankly, they wouldn't be that interested if they didn't see it as being economically beneficial to them.

But as we approach all of these various aspects, and all of them are worthwhile, as I read through your testimony, worthwhile, we need to measure. If a hybrid vehicle is supposed to give us more gas mileage, the question is, does it? I mean, does it really? And as we excuse me oil -- I mean, gasoline, we need to measure whether or not they're having the benefits that they stated they would have in the beginning. 50 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 I understand about the environmental carbon footprint reduction of carbons, but by way of efficiency in saving us gas and as prices go up, we need to measure this. Because your example can be beta testing for the City of Philadelphia. I mean, we can see what savings you're able to make in that particular department and decide whether we're going to replicate it throughout the types of vehicles, whether or not the light bulbs are actually reducing the kilowatts that they say they are. And somehow measuring that is as important as just doing it. So I would encourage you to kind of do a cost-benefit analysis.

Certainly. And I can say, you know -- we're, you know, along with the very enlightened scrutiny that we get of our budget from City Council every year, we have a 51 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 double review. And the airlines, who ultimately pay the lion's share of our revenue stream, have the same incentive that you're talking about. They will from time to time -- and remember, a lot of them have been in bankruptcy in recent years. They will from time to time support environmental initiatives that do not have immediate economic benefits. But over the long haul, they want to see the cost benefit, or they will no longer support those programs.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Councilmember Brown.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, gentlemen. PANEL MEMBERS: Good morning.

First let me commend your leadership, Mr. Isdell, 52 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 on having a department that looks like Philadelphia. It's always encouraging to see leaders in various departments have people of all stripes in positions of leadership and responsibilities. And I could not sit here and let that go unnoticed. Second of all, let me thank you for your decision to allow the Langston Hughes flags project to happen at the airport and that space being an art venue for work done by area public, charter, and private schools. To my questions. One, in your testimony under challenges and goal for 2008, you indicate that you expect to establish a passenger education partnership. Discuss that briefly, what that means and where that is.

Calvin, can I prevail upon you to respond to that, please?

Good afternoon, 53 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 good morning.

Sure.

We found for the most part that, especially when we were experiencing a good deal of contamination, that that was mostly because people didn't understand what they need to recycle and what they didn't need to recycle. With the current (indiscernible) that we have now, that's -- we have exhibits in and around the recycling unit, which we believe help people to understand what recyclables are and what is not a good recyclable type of product.

So right now --

And we also have in the past -- and it's not ongoing, we expect to have it ongoing. We do have programs from time to time in the public school system where we'll go in and we'll talk to the students about 54 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 recycling. We do have programs at the airport on recycling and Earth Day, where we bring in other environmentally -- or other agencies also to help us get the message across about recycling and things which we can do to either reduce, reuse, or recycle to help reduce the waste streams.

Do the other agencies include City departments?

Yes.

Mr. Isdell?

Yes, if I can also -- specifically I think the item that you're mentioning or that you're referring to mentioned the Transportation Security Administration partnership?

Yes, mm-hmm.

And that is an area, if you remember a couple of summers the imposition of the rule 55 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 where you couldn't take liquids, more than three ounces onto planes resulted -- and it was kind of a surprise announcement at the time -- that resulted in a great deal particularly of bottled water accumulating outside the checkpoint area.

That's right.

So we really have two different things going on. There's material that's confiscated by the TSA right before you go through the metal detectors. That is contraband that they are responsible for, and they have methods to dispose of that that we're not totally privy to for security reasons. But now what we do have outside before you enter what's called the lanes where you show your boarding pass --

Mm-hmm. 56 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089

-- we've established a system where we do recycle all of that liquid that's disposed of by passengers at that point. And I think Allen Moore can address that a little more specifically 'cause I think that's a very good improvement to the system we had in the past.

Thanks, Charlie. Yes, Councilwoman, a couple of years ago, we did have a quite a problem dealing with all of that waste that was suddenly being disposed or divested of by passengers just prior to entering the security checkpoint. And what we found was that the majority of it was, as you could imagine, plastic water bottles, soda bottles, cans, things of that nature, some glass. And really, the contamination level of it wasn't too bad other than the liquids in there. 57 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 So through the help of our custodial department, we did start adding that material to our recycling stream, and I would say that probably accounts for of the majority of the commingled plastic bottles, glass cans that we do recycle at the airport right now.

The program where you cite your involvement with Philadelphia public schools, are they public schools in the region? is that system-wide? What is it?

They're pretty much District of Philadelphia schools.

So principals on their own look to that opportunity that exists at the airport? I'm just trying to get a handle on --

Yes. Most schools have a requirement that the students have so much -- so many hours of environmental education.

Right. 58 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089

And so we will talk to the principals of some of the schools to try to come in the door to lecture and help provide that environmental training.

So it's on an interest basis; it's not something that's stipulated by the School District.

No. 12

Okay. That's what I'm trying to get a handle on. Okay. Last and final question: What strategies do you see putting in place to move the needle that's been articulated by Chairman Kenney with regards to the level of recycling?

Well, again, we're getting more of these recycling units to help to complete Phase II of our recycling process.

Okay.

Certainly with 59 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 these in place in all of the concourses and the public spaces, we would expect to have more recycling materials. Also, in July, we expect to have contracts in place where we will have compactors to handle the larger volume of materials. Right now, we have Dumpsters so we're going to replace the Dumpsters with the compactors. And we are working, you know, with the airlines, with American Airlines and soon with USAirways, on programs that they want to tie into our recycling program, which also will add to our recycling stream.

The end date for Phase II is when?

The end date for Phase II. I don't have that.

I'd like to answer that if I may.

Please.

Our goal is to 60 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 have all seven terminals with recycling bins by the end of this calendar year.

Okay.

And as I mentioned in my testimony, I think we have enough on order for half of the airport to be covered. We now really just have one of our seven concourses, B. We've got bins on order for two other concourses, and then I think a follow-up order that hasn't gone out for bid yet that will add at least one or two additional concourses. I think the big thing that we're learning -- and I had to learn this as well and I'm very interested in what the BWI representatives may teach us as part of their presentation, but at least in our environment -- and remember, every airport is a little bit different in terms of how it was built, how it was constructed, how it's laid out. And the centralized systems 61 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 are a little bit easier in some physical plants than they might be in ours just simply because of the way it's --

It's bigger.

-- seven pier terminals without a real central core.

Sure.

But what we found is that there's really three elements here. There's the collection of the material and then it has to be hauled, and at least in the City's current setup, that's a separate contract with Accurate Industries, I believe.

Okay.

So our staff actually takes it from the recycling containers to a Dumpster or compactor on the air side of the airport. Then it's hauled by a contractor. And the final piece was, we had to have a disposal facility on 62 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 contract to accept the recycled material, and the City already had a contract with a company called Blue Mountain.

I see.

We had to -- it took us some time to have the airport added to that contract, and there are a lot of reasons for that. Because Blue Mountain felt that their contract was really for residential type of material recycling, they were a little bit leery of adding the airport and also feeling like somehow it might end up not being economically feasible for them to accept our waste. So with that great help of the Procurement Department, we got Blue Mountain added to the contract, and the agreement is that they're going to monitor what they're getting from the airport, I think, for a six-month period?

Yes. 63 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089

And then if they feel like they can't handle it, we may have to go back and do a new bid, but these three steps are what was standing between us and really getting an airport-wide program going. So now I think we have a system. Initially the Blue Mountain processing seems to be working fine. So our next step is to get these receptacles into all seven terminals. And to handle that, we've been adding some airport staff as well to do that internal hauling out to the airfield.

Okay.

(Addressing Mr. Davenger.) Did I miss anything?

Thank you for your testimony.

And that's why I was kind of reluctant to give a date, because one of the hurdles we've had to manage is restaffing. We have a 64 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 certain class that's been assigned for the recycling tasks, these semi-skilled workers 'cause they have driver's licenses and they can drive vehicles. And it's taken a period of time to get those individuals hired at the airport.

Councilmember Rizzo.

Thank you. I'd like to follow up on what we were talking about earlier, and the comment was that we don't have compactors; we would have to add additional personnel to do some of the hauling. Have you had a serious conversation with the Streets Department to see exactly where they could fit into this program? I assume they have some basic responsibility at the airport to pick up a certain amount of trash, like any other -- Well, you're shaking your head, but maybe that conversation 65 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 needs to happen to take advantage of the Streets Department's personnel, equipment, and contracts that are already in place. So I would appreciate it that you do engage with, whether it's the Managing Director's Office or the Streets Department, to see how they can fit into the challenge that you're explaining today.

I think that's a great idea. And the good news is that in our new organizational structure, you're probably aware that I'm reporting to the same person that Commissioner Tolson is reporting to, Rhina Cutler, the Deputy Mayor. And, frankly, I have not had that conversation, but Commissioner Tolson was instrumental in encouraging the Procurement Commissioner to add us to the Blue Mountain contract, so to that extent, we have exchanged some information. 66 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 I think Allen may have some additional comment on that question.

Thank you. Mr. Councilman, about a year ago, I had such a conversation with members of the Commissioner Tolson's team in the Streets Department about possibly utilizing the City Streets Department recycling fleet to make pickups at the airport. And one of the big concerns they had was really the scheduling, whereas they would have to redirect vehicles from their normal route of residential pickups to swing by the airport. Right now, our airport compactor vehicle picks up at the terminals roughly every couple of hours throughout the course the day. Obviously, we don't like placing trash just on the curbside; we need to keep it contained. We generate trash 24/7. So we do multiple pickups during the 67 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 day. So the Streets Department thought that that was really at the time a hardship for them to redirect, again, redirect their vehicles to come by and pick up. But right now, they have no pickup responsibility at the airport. We collect everything with our compactor vehicle and, as I said before, haul it over to the City's waste facility. Chairman Kenney did ask me earlier about utilizing our vehicles to haul the waste or the recyclables, as opposed to having compactors on site, and one of the differences between our operation and the Streets Department, where their vehicles are picking up in residences over a large area, really, are collection operations are concentrated just in one relatively small geographic area at the airport. So our goal was to centralize 68 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 all of the collected materials into compactors on the airfield that can subsequently be hauled in bulk by a vendor, particularly as we start adding partners in the airlines in the other agencies and start taking on their recycling waste. The goal was to centralize that collection and then provide for economies of scale by bulk hauling as opposed to us making multiple trips with our trucks.

Chairman Kenney's question is what motivated me to ask that. Could we get a commitment, though? Because recycling in the Streets Department has really developed in the last year. Since that initial conversation, more equipment, more people, single-stream, so maybe they could provide a service and lessen the number of contracts necessary to be supportive of what you do there. So I would appreciate it if 69 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 you at least would have that conversation again to see if anything has changed.

Yes, Councilman, we can do that.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Councilmember Kelly?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I'd like your permission to ask a question of Mr. Isdell. It's not relevant to the issue that we're discussing today, but I thought since we have Mr. Isdell here, that it's a great opportunity for me to get this question out.

Sure, please.

And it has to do with the service that you provide for people who are injured or handicapped or elderly people who have a hard time walking from the terminal 70 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 to the gates or from the plane to the baggage compartment, the baggage area. I would like to know, what are the hours of operation for that service?

Are you referring to wheelchair assistance?

Yes.

Or the cart assistance?

Yes.

It actually varies. The service is actually not provided by the airport; it's provided by your individual airline.

Okay.

And I'm not sure -- I mean, most of the airlines operate from approximately 6 in the morning till about 11 at night, and I would assume that they have staff to do the wheelchair assistance for those types of hours. But some of the airlines don't 71 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 have that much activity. Like USAirways is two-thirds of our passengers, Southwest is another 5 percent. Some of the others might 6 have such a small daily schedule that 7 the hours are limited. 8 The way that's supposed to 9 work is, when you make your 10 reservation, you actually make an 11 individual arrangement, a reservation 12 for someone to provide that assistance from the airline. So it may not actually work on a daily schedule; it may be a case-by-case basis. But we could certainly look into that, unless one of the other panelists knows the answer. I could find that out for you and get back to you.

I wish you would look into that because I know these are scheduled flights. They're flights that come in at 11 o'clock, 12 midnight, or whatever, and they do 72 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 it daily. The problem that I see is that people, when they get off that plane, they were told that there isn't any service like that after, I think it's, o'clock or o'clock. Now, I guess 8 that was the individual airline that 9 put those hours in there. But I think that we have to provide that service for as long as the people are going to need it, which it means that their flight may not arrive until midnight and they're on their own. Evidently, the airlines, they don't have to do anything.

Right. We do have -- we have an ADA committee that meets monthly, and this issue has been a topic at a lot of those meetings. We have established a -- like a help line for people to call, because the most frequent comment we get is they can't reach anybody at the airline. 73 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089

Well, I would recommend that the airlines pitch in in saying okay, that we could provide the service if anyone calls a number and then maybe have a cart sent out to that gate to bring those people in the baggage areas. Maybe they can share that cost after 8 o'clock at night or 9 o'clock at night, whatever it is. Because this is a problem. There are a lot of people who travel and don't arrive until probably 10, 11, 12 midnight, or after.

You're absolutely right. And the percentage of people that are seniors who travel has increased dramatically in recent years.

Yes, that's true. And the carters aren't getting any smaller; they're getting longer and longer. So I would appreciate anything you can do in that regard.

Thank you very 74 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 much, Councilman.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

So what would you believe would be our anticipated recycling rate with the concourse recycling fully implemented by this time next year? Do you have a number in mind?

Well, I would like to -- if we're looking at two-and-a- half percent really with one concourse, and that concourse wasn't even up and running until this year, so the two-and-a-half percent was for 2007. I mean, I would like to shoot for a double-digit number, at least 10, but I don't want to put Calvin into a possible situation. (Addressing Mr. Davenger.) Do you think that's reasonable?

Yes, sir.

Very good. Thank you. 75 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089

And that certainly won't be the end, Mr. Chairman.

Okay. Thank you very much for your testimony. Mr. Edwin Maker and Mr. Richards Keller. (Witnesses come forward.)

Good morning. And thank you for coming up to see us, and please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your presentation.

Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. My name is Richard Keller. I'm the Manager of Recycling for the Maryland Environmental Service.

Good morning. Edwin Maker, Contract Manager.

Good morning. Please proceed.

What we'll do this morning is to walk you through a presentation that we put together and 76 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 that we have used in a number of presentations around the country outlining the basics of our program and then take whatever questions that you might have on the program.

Thank you.

And we'll try and walk through these slides relatively quickly, so if we can go onto the next slide. Maryland Environmental Service is a state agency and a not-for-profit corporation. We've been in business since 1970. We do just about everything that you can imagine in the environmental field. Most notably, we do water and waste-water projects; we run a number of those facilities around the state. We do dredging projects and pretty much everything in the solid-waste field. Our program with the Maryland Aviation Administration has been in existence since 1995. We work with 77 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Martin State Airport, which is a much smaller airport, with their recycling projects. And I would say, for the purposes of our discussion this morning, most of what we're going to be talking about is what is happening at BWI. At BWI, we have 33 front-end containers on the airfield and cargo ramp for corrugated plastic and aluminum, and the corrugated now includes a whole group of other paper products. And we also have 43 recycling containers inside the terminal for passengers. And we'll see examples of both of those containers. Under our agreement with the Maryland Aviation Administration, these are the things that the Maryland Environmental Service does. 78 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 Number one, we analyze the material in the solid-waste and recycling containers twice a month, so we are actually out on the airfield twice a month looking at every trash container and every recycling container. So we are seeing what the flow is and what kinds of materials are there. We also have been doing for several years now a weekly inspection of one compactor from the airfield. For those of you who have ever looked inside a compactor, the problem is that the area that you're looking at is probably no bigger than the desks that we're sitting at. So in order to try and give us a better picture of what's actually coming into the trash compactors, we actually go to Allied, which is our hauler. They actually dump the material out on their tipping floor, and we actually look at and take 79 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 pictures of what is happening in the airfield. We make recommendations on improvements to the program; that's an ongoing process. We discuss the program at monthly tenant meetings, which not only includes food and retail vendors but also includes the airlines. We have meetings with tenants to involve them as partners with the program. We've done a number of programs with employee training. We do monthly reports, including the recycling rate, and we look at areas of purchases of environmentally preferrable products. Next. This particular slide is an example of one of the areas of at the airport, and what you see is that most of the trash compactors have shoots that come from the terminal itself that go directly into those compactors, and then the white units that you see are the recycling 80 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 containers for paper or containers. And those are the ones that we mentioned earlier that are located throughout the airport. Some of the products that are being recycled: We're doing OCC, and I was at a hearing the other day where somebody asked me what OCC was. So OCC is old corrugated containers; ONP is old newspaper and paper. Aluminum, glass and plastic, scrap metal, tires, fluorescents, grease, yard debris, and we are expecting later this month to begin our program for food composting. Now, I mentioned the program that we do where we actually look in the compactors themselves, and these are some examples, and I will state to amplify the point that these were earlier in the program, but this is an indication of what we actually saw in some of the compactors. This is one of my favorites slides 'cause it shows you that 81 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res.

080089 somebody went through all the trouble to fold the cardboard up and make it nice and neat, and then they didn't do the last step, which is putting it in the recycling container as opposed to the compactor. Another example: Same thing, where somebody again went to the trouble of breaking the boxes down, which is usually the more difficult of the problems, and yet it still ended up in the compactor. This is one of those areas that we're constantly trying to work with the airlines on, and that is the area of the magazines that are generated each month and end up being unsold. It's a significant problem because, as you can see -- and this is from one of the compactors -- there's probably a dozen packages that are visible there and, as you can see, they're still in their original containers and have not been recycled. 82 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089

I'm sorry. Is that retail newsstands?

No, no. This is the material that's coming -- this is your monthly whatever the name of the magazine is that you would get off of one of the airlines.

And they were throwing that away?

And they were throwing that away, yes. And that's still a constant battle that we're working on. Some of the recycling numbers. We went from, as was mentioned in the beginning of the testimony this morning, 4-3/4 in February of 2004. Most of our increases have been in the area of old corrugated containers. 33 percent, and we have met the state recycling goal for more than three years. We've put this slide in. This is something that we've been doing 83 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 more recently in our presentations is, what it is that has made the effort at BWI Thurgood Marshall unique? We don't have any magic formulas. We don't have anything that we've done, I don't think, that's any different than what other airports are doing, but we really think there's three keys to the success. Number one is the partnership among all the key players at the airport, and we'll talk about that partnership in just a moment. Continual training of employees. And then the third area is, Maryland Aviation Administration controls everything, both solid-waste- and recycling-related. So in other words, they are in control of all of the waste, so it's not something that we have to go to each individual airline, each individual tenant; they all share the same facilities that you 84 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 saw earlier. Partnership, we think, is really the key to all of this, and when we talk about some of the awards that we've won, you'll notice the word "partnership" comes back into play again. Maryland Aviation Administration obviously is the agency that runs the airport. BAA is the tenant-manager of the airport that manages the stores and the food concessions; they've been very actively involved in the program with us. Allied, who is our local hauler, has been very helpful in terms of making the program work. The tenants, including the airlines, have been involved in this particular program. I wanted to mention, in response to some of the questions that came up earlier about what's happening 85 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 at BWI, the airlines are able to use the recycling containers that you saw earlier, so they have the ability to do that. We also, much like what you heard from here in Philadelphia, we are now beginning to have the airlines come to us to expand the recycling programs. We've met recently with both Delta and AirTran, and we've also found out that Southwest Airlines has an existing program where they've been doing both corrugated and aluminum, and we're now starting to capture those numbers, which we can then fold into our recycling program. One of the things that you have to recognize when you're looking at getting airlines to participate is that one of the things that they're struggling with and they're trying to deal with is that every airport's recycling program is different, every airport's configuration is different, 86 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 and as they're trying to roll out programs, they're trying to figure out the programs at each particular location so that they know how to recycle at that particular facility. So that's one of the challenges that we're working with the airlines on is that, for example, both Delta and AirTran are very active in Atlanta but their programs in Atlanta are going to be different from what they are at BWI just simply by the configuration of the airport, the way that we manage the waste, et cetera. Chimes is our company; it's a developmentally-disabled group that does our cleaning pickups. Midpoint International is the one that manufactured the containers inside the terminal, which we'll see a little bit later. And then, as I mentioned, Maryland Environmental Service, with our efforts, to provide the technical 87 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 assistance.

One of the things that we've been able to see is the reduction in our cost in the area of $15,000 a month through reduced landfilling, making sure that all of our containers that are going out to be recycled are full, are going to landfiller-full. Because we're getting corrugated out of the waste stream, it means less compactor maintenance, and we're also seeing revenue from the sale of the materials. We've been fortune enough that we have received, as you see from this particular slide, awards from both the Maryland Recyclers Coalition and the National Recycling Coalition. We currently have a grant from EPA Region III to expand the program, and I should mention that the grant that we have from EPA also includes regional cooperation within the Mid-Atlantic area, and we have been 88 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 working for some time now with Philadelphia Airport with their recycling program. I've had numerous conversations with David Biddle and others. We've been to a couple of their meetings. David's had a chance to come down and tour our facility. So one of the things that's happening is, there's a lot of cooperation that's going on between Baltimore and Philadelphia in this area. Media-wise, we've had a number of articles on the program in some of the local media. Edwin and I had about our ten seconds' worth of fame. We were on CNN right after Christmas a year or so ago. And when I say we had our ten seconds, I think that's about what we ended up. But we've also gotten some local media coverage, as you can see here. A number of programs. We're getting calls -- Edwin was mentioning 89 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 to me this morning that we're getting more and more calls from airports. This list may, in fact, not be complete, but it just gives you some idea of some of the airports that we've had questions from. We've also looked at the area of buying recycled products to make sure that we're creating marks for the materials. This includes office paper, tissue, and towel products, the collection containers that you're see in a few moments, and then another product called TreadSpread, which I'll mention very briefly. This is a program -- Maryland Environmental Service up until, I believe it was, December ran a program where we actually made products out of recycled tires. We have since sold that plant, and I understand the new operator is going to be doing that very shortly again. But you can see some of the things that we were able 90 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 to do with it. This is a playground that is near the area, where people have a chance to go to the playground or to -- it's more of an area where people go watch the airplanes take off and land. This is at Martin State Airport, and they are extremely happy with this particular product, a rubber mulch product that they use around mulch around trees. And in the next slide, you'll see that it's around trees and shrubbery in the area. This is the recycling container that we have throughout the terminal. A couple of things that I'll mention that I think are critical about this. Number one -- and it's probably not visible from the slide, but on the left-hand side, there is a trash slot, and I think one of the things that you need to make sure of 91 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 anytime you're doing a recycling program is that the recycling and the trash containers are in close proximity, because otherwise, you're going to have a cross-contamination problem. The second thing -- and, again, it's probably not visible here, but there is also a Spanish translation of this, and that's another area that I think they did a real nice job on. This particular slide just has some information on how to find more information on the program. And the last slide is simply information on how to get hold of Edwin and I either by phone or by e-mail if people have particular questions.

But again, I think, to summarize what we have done, I think the three things that really make this program important are the fact that 92 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 we've had the partnerships with all of the different groups at the airport, that we've had the consistent and ongoing training, and number three, that Maryland Aviation Administration has control over both the solid waste and recycling, and it's not something we need to go to each individual tenant and each individual airline in order to do that. Once again, our thanks for inviting us this morning. I know the folks from the airport are aware of this, but I'll restate it, that Edwin and I are certainly available for whatever we can do to share what we've done at BWI, and I'm sure, as time goes on, that as programs develop at other airports that we're going to learn some things from them that will help us with what we're doing at BWI. I think the thing you have to recognize again is that this is not a 93 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 Baltimore and a Philadelphia issue; this is something that is consistent throughout the airline industry. And one of the things that I'll close with is, is that I often remind people that an airport is like a small city. In fact, BWI itself is actually its own zip code. And one of the things you have to realize is that, much like any small city, you have very distinct waste streams. You have a residential stream, which is basically what the passengers are bringing in or getting at the airport that they need to deal with. You have a commercial stream from the food vendors and the retail establishments. And then you have the material that's actually coming off the airplane. So it's a management issue that you need to look at as to how do you manage all three of those different streams. 94 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 So, once again, our thanks for inviting us up here, and we're more than happy to not only answer questions today but provide whatever assistance we can with the program.

Great. Thank you very much for your testimony, and it's very concise and informative. And the Chair recognizes Councilmember Jones.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Particularly revolving around the recycling of tires, I saw that you use some of the -- you had a tire plant --

Correct.

-- that you sold.

Correct.

What were some of the by-products other than the recreational playground usage?

We did some 95 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 programs with sports fields, where we were able to use that material to protect the turf so that when it rained and somebody came across the field in cleats and things like that, the turf didn't get broken up. Tires are actually doing a whole group of projects beyond even what we did in that particular facility. The TreadSpread that you saw there was probably the biggest product. The second one was the things that we use for the various turf fields. Some of those were artificial turf fields, some of those were natural turf fields. Some of the tires that are being managed across the country are going into, you know, burning plants, you know, they're being used as a fuel source. And there's a lot of engineering things that are going on with tires. So I guess what I'm trying to 96 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 say is, it's beyond even what we are doing at our plant. Ours was predominantly the TreadSpread, which was basically a mulch-type and the stuff that we were doing for the sports fields.

A couple of questions then. Have you heard of the reuse of those ground tires being used as a patch for streets?

There are a lot of programs that are being looked at as far as tires are concerned and a variety of other kind of kinds of products. And, you know, there certainly are places where they're being used as, you know, as patchwork, there are places that they're being used on roads. To be honest with you, Councilman, I haven't really tracked it recently to know what the current state of the technology is. But, yes, 97 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 there's a lot of different uses that are being made from the tires.

The point being that it's a derivative of oil. Oil has gone up exponentially. One of the increased costs to the City of Philadelphia is street repair, which also uses that derivative of oil, and I was wondering if, in fact, they made the connection of tire recycling to patchwork yet.

I don't know that they've made that connection in the current dramatic increases that we've seen in the cost of fuel. But, I mean, certainly, there are a lot of people around the country that are looking at what are the options in terms of using tires and how they might be used.

And, finally, last question. You talked about grease and recycling of that?

Yes.

How did you 98 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 dispose of it or what did you use that grease for?

The grease, again as I understand it, I mean, the grease is basically coming from -- like most airports, BWI has a large number of food vendors that exist within the airport. My understanding at this point is, is that material is going as a fuel, but that certainly is better than it going into the waste stream.

Yeah, that's my point. I just saw recently -- it might have been this Sunday, they were talking about recycling fries grease from fryers to make fuel. So I wanted to know if you were using it.

That's my understanding, that it's going as a fuel source.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Any other questions for this 99 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 witness? (No further questions.)

Thank you for coming up and for the information. We appreciate.

It's our pleasure.

Thank you. Christine Knapp, PennFuture. (Witness comes forward.)

Hi.

Hi.

Please identify yourself for the record.

My name is Christine Knapp. I am the Eastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture. PennFuture is a statewide environmental advocacy organization with offices in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, West Chester, and here in Philadelphia. I'm also on the Mayor's Recycling Advisory Committee and a partner in the Green Airport Partnership. I'm also the coordinator 100 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 for the local Next Great City Initiative, which did make recommendations around improving recycling in the City of Philadelphia. I want to thank City Council, and Councilman Kenney in particular, for setting up this hearing to explore recycling at the airport. The airport does set a tone for the City. Obviously, it's the gateway to our city for many travelers. While the City is currently the second-worst city in the country in terms of our recycling rate, and as the second worst city, we are used to not having recycling at most of our large cities, but for most travelers who are coming from other cities and from other countries where their recycling programs are everywhere, it really is quite astounding to travelers when they come off an airplane and they have paper or plastic bottle and are not able to 101 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 immediately find a recycling bin that's. And that's one of the first things that people are experiencing when they come to visit our city is the inability to recycle, which sets the tone for them for the rest of their trip. They also have to take a train and see all the trash on the railroads on their way into Center City, but that's another topic for another day. I do want to address some of the comments that Councilman Jones was making in terms of the money situation in these initiatives. One of the reasons why the Next Great City Initiative recommended recycling is because it is actually a cost-effective practice as well. The shifts in the international markets in recycling have changed. India and China are now expanding rapidly and need natural resources. They are 102 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 paying top dollar for recyclables. And that has changed the recycling markets; thus, it's now cheaper to recycle. Someone mentioned earlier that Blue Mountain pays about $32 a ton for recycling while we're also avoiding landfill costs. So recycling is an area within the terms of environmental initiatives where money is being saved. The City itself saves around $2 million a year through recycling, and that the City Controller also said that if we increase our recycling rate dramatically, the City itself can save upwards of $17 million a year in recycling. But that's not the only reason to do something like a recycling program. The cost of not doing something is really what I want to emphasize. We obviously have global warming looming, you know, as a threat for us. We also, as you have 103 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 mentioned, have economic problems and energy crisis. The cost of not doing something is what needs to be considered more. I mean, what does it cost upfront to do something, 'cause the long-term benefits of recycling, of wind energy purchase, of a lot of the other initiatives at the airport and others are taking on we really can't quantify. And I just want to caution against the idea of doing studies to find out what the cost is going to be upfront versus not doing something because we have information from other cities, we obviously just saw best practice from another city. We know -- we have information, we have data. And I just -- I think that the time -- we have the information, we know what the economics are. The time to take action is now, because, again, the cost of not doing anything is going to be far greater than doing anything. 104 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res.

080089 In working with the Green Airport Partnership, I've noticed that it seems that the largest stumbling block in getting an effective recycling program going at the airport seems to be cooperating in terms of the logistics of the various vendors, the terminals themselves. It seems to be a complicated system, but it's not something that -- we can overcome it basically. The Green Airport Partnership working group has been looking at it, David Biddle has been leading that effort to take a look at how the existing program functions, how it can be improved, how it can be streamlined. The cooperation needs to be found among all of the groups. And having Council's leadership and having leadership from within the airport's department itself really will help make sure that the cooperation happens and that all of the groups work together. 105 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 I know that there's a lot of other people waiting to testify on another bill, so I'm going to keep it short and take any questions that you might have.

Thank you. Councilman Jones?

Thank you for that testimony. And I don't want you to misconstrue my interest in measuring, managing, and quantifying with not being supportive or the cost of -- the opportunity cost of not doing something for our environment. There was a interesting commercial that was on, and it was a young person talking to a grizzled CEO about recycling efforts for the economy. And at one point, he was listening but not listening to the recycling efforts and what the company was doing based on this young fire-brand executive. And then all of 106 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 a sudden, what she did was she, put up a paper and said how much the company was saving and that got his attention.

Right.

And he was, like, in love with the idea of recycling. And I believe we're getting to that equilibrium point. As fuels cost more, as energy cost more, we're beginning to see this as not something for the environment but something to protect and preserve the bottom line for companies and organizations like the airport. So if we don't start measuring, we can't manage the difference between what some of the presentations are is that the bottom line of what the recycling efforts at BWI was, was $15,000 a month -- measured, stated, and a part of the financials of the airports. So that's my only comment. 107 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089

No, I absolutely agree that that's another piece and another argument to be made for recycling and a lot of other things. And, you know, just to give you the context, PennFuture's tagline is: Every environmental victory grows the economy. So we do absolutely get that point.

There you go.

But there are some things that you can't quantify, and that was my point.

I understand.

We want as much data as we can to support our arguments, but there are some things that you have to do and just see the results down the line. You'll see benefits you didn't even expect in a lot of cases. 108 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089

Thank you.

Thank you very much for your testimony. Is there anyone else to testify on this resolution, about recycling at the airport?

Mr. Chairman?

Councilman Kelly.

Miss Knapp.

Christine.

Just a short question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. It has to do with, of course, the startup cost of putting in a recycling program and whatnot. What, in your opinion -- how long does it take before we start seeing a benefit, seeing a cost savings to justify a recycling program to begin with?

I really wouldn't be able to put a timeline on it. I'm not a waste consultant. There are people in the audience who may be able 109 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 to answer that question, but it has been mentioned that there is a scale of economy, that the more you do, you know, the more recycling that you have going, the more money you save. So, again, I urge not small steps but big actions, a big rollout of the campaign, because the more you get in terms of material, the more you will save. And that cooperation is important for that reason, because you're only getting a small amount of tonnage from one vendor and another small amount from another vendor, and they're all doing their own contacts with their own waste haulers. They're not going to realize the kind of economic savings that if they all cooperated together and had a large amount of tonnage, you know, a more effective system of collection and disposal, that would obviously result in greater economy. 110 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089

Yeah, the larger, the better.

Right.

And that would --

But I wouldn't be able to give you a timeline. I think some other people could --

All right thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much. Anyone else to testify on the recycling airport resolution. (No response.)

Thank you very much. * * * 111 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266

The next resolution is Resolution 080266, calling on the Committee on the Environment and the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development to hold joint hearings on adopting a Green Job Corps to help Philadelphia create a qualified, trained workforce to support local green businesses and contractors. Is there a representative from the Administration here to testify? (Witnesses come forward.)

Good morning.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman.

Please identify yourself for the record.

Pardon me?

Please identify yourself for the record.

Yes. My name is Duane Bumb, the Deputy Director of Commerce, and I'm appearing here today 112 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 to provide testimony in support of Resolution 080266, calling on the committee to hold joint hearings on adopting a Green Job Corps program. By the way, I've got copies of my testimony if you don't have it up there.

Please.

Integrating the Green Job Corps program into the City's sustainable development strategy will place Philadelphia among a handful of other cities in the nation leading the change against climate charge -- or leading the charge against climate change and addressing our global energy shortage. In the summer of 2007, the City of Oakland voted to fund its Green Job Corps program with a $250,000 seed grant. Cities that have followed suit include Chicago, Washington, D.C. and New York. The program offered by each of these 113 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 cities carry a twofold agenda: Number one, to prepare a competent workforce to participate in the green economy; and, number two, to offer pathways out of poverty to at-risk and low-income individuals. The green-collar jobs are defined in the 2008 Sustainable Business Network Report, "Building A Green Economy," as blue-collar jobs within organizations whose products, services, and business practices promote environmental health. There are a substantial number of skilled professionals who currently work in Philadelphia and fulfill the existing demand for green services and technologies. These are the professionals who build green buildings such as the Comcast Tower, install solar panels such as seven-acre solar array at the Navy Yard, and construct green roofs, as demonstrated by the Water Department's 114 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 issuance of permits for over four acres of green roofs in the City, and the existing roofs at the School District's School of the Future and on the City's Forensic Science Center. There is a clear recognition within the City that the green market sector will continue to grow. For example, in recognition of the market potential for solar energy and to ensure that the City's workforce is prepared to respond, the City applied for, and was recently named, one of the 12 solar American cities by the Department of Energy. With that $200,000 award matched by $50,000 in City dollars, $45,000 in private dollars, and over $175,000 of in-kind contributions from key stakeholders, the City will assemble a task force to ensure that the City's workforce is ready to meet the growing demand for solar energy. A hallmark of Mayor Nutter's 115 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 plan for making Philadelphia America's greenest city is to invent in local energy-efficient industries. The Green Job Corps program offers not only a vehicle for developing the workforce needed to meet the employment demand of these industries but also addresses concerns of many of our neighborhoods that continue to struggle economically. Thank you for your consideration of this important resolution. I ask that you -- or I'd be happy to answer questions but you'll be hearing testimony from others from the Sustainable Business Network as well. (Councilwoman Reynolds Brown assumes Committee Chair position.)

Thank you. Good morning.

Good morning.

Let me thank the Administration for the 116 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 testimony, and I had a question around what's happening currently within the Administration. The follow-up I have is, has the Department of Commerce I.D.ed personnel who are, for lack of a better way of saying this, LEED certified, who know and understand all of what that means? because in each of presentations, we saw just saw, employee training is a factor.

Right.

But it's important to have professionals in these departments who know what they are doing and looking for. Has Commerce moved in that direction at all? has there been any conversation or discussion?

I think we are moving in that direction. We are having discussions with the workforce-development organizations. You'll hear testimony today from the 117 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation. We're also talking with the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board about how do we better link workforce and our -- and those sort of growing industry sectors within our economy. Again, we would say that the green industry sector is one of those targeted sectors that we should be better aligning with workforce needs, so it is, in fact, very appropriate for us to be having that discussion. Again, there are a lot of examples of the connections on the professional level where we've got people -- architects and engineers, who, in fact --

Okay.

-- are now designing to this LEED standard. But what we're really focusing on here -- and I think it's an 118 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 appropriate and necessary step -- is to bring in those people within the workforce who have entry-level skill sets who can actually now benefit from those growing sectors.

So does the Department of Commerce have any specific goals that it's trying to achieve with the workforce development through the workforce development meetings?

We're -- we have specific goals associated with population and job growth in the City. We are still breaking out within the job-growth sector --

Okay.

-- the targeted industries. Again, this one is an appropriate one to be included in that strategy.

Has the business community, through the Chamber, been invited to be a part of 119 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 those sit-down discussions? 'Cause my thinking is, business leaders, the labor community, organized labor, along with government -- and there's a role for public school education and the public school district as well -- collectively need to be a part of those discussions at the door, not as we roll out a program that has not clearly or carefully factored in all of those stakeholders.

Right. Our interaction with the Chamber of Commerce, for example, is generally as we sort of all sit on the board of the Philadelphia workforce investment Board.

Okay.

And so that's the forum where we have those discussions.

And so they then (indiscernible) --

Yes.

-- at that 120 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 --

Yes.

And the discussions have led to what? Is it too soon to say what those discussions will lead to?

Yeah, it's -- again, we are wanting to finalize those -- first of all, to improve our system -- and we've talked in our budget hearing a few weeks ago about how we are realigning our Office of Business Services to make sure we are better connecting with workforce development; and within that office, also focusing on those targeted industries where real growth in jobs can occur. We are having that discussion with the Workforce Investment Board and its board members to improve those linkages as well. So it's a work in progress, I guess, is what I'm saying.

So 121 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 green-collar jobs is on the docket.

Yes.

It's on the agenda.

Yes.

That's a part of the conversation and debate.

Yes, it is. And, in fact, it's critically important in that so many of the jobs that are these green-collar jobs that we talk about really are -- many of them would be manufacturing jobs. It's a sector we've seen tremendous erosion in jobs over the last --

It's 400,000 to be exact.

Yes. And even in the last seven years, we've seen a 36 percent drop within the City.

Mm-hmm.

And so, you're right, it's tremendous erosion. And so it's focusing on those sectors within 122 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 manufacturing that actually have a real opportunity for growth is a great way for us to stabilize that sector.

Okay. Well, thank you for your testimony.

Sure, sure.

Councilman Jones?

Yes. How are you, Mr. Bumb? It's so good to see you once again.

It's great to see you, Mr. Councilman.

You are the flag bearer, when it comes to the department, on all things Council. A couple of things, and I'd like to follow up on Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown's questions. I don't know if you've been following our hearings, but we've been pretty consistent with the developers and with vendors and with people interested in doing things within the 123 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 City of Philadelphia on this green-job industry. When it comes to Fox Chase and their ability to expand their facility, one of the questions that was asked of them was, What is your green plan? and whether or not their facilities were taking that into account. And then the question also was, Well, where can we find resources? And I think the time has come for the City of Philadelphia to kind of be the central depository of information on all things green and someone particularly in the area of economic development helping them to realize, one, that it doesn't have to cost more, because the first thing that they say is, By doing things green, it's going to cost me more. And whether, in fact, that is true, over the long haul, it should be designed to reduce expenses over a period of time. And someone on behalf 124 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 of the Administration needs to kind of champion that and lead that. When it came to golf courses, we asked those questions of -- Madam Chairwoman, when it came to the extension of leases for the municipal-owned golf courses, we even asked, Well what are the green jobs, and who's going to take landscaping to irrigation to alternate fuels to the kinds of things that are on the horizon? Even when it comes to permits, even when it comes to permits, people want to blacktop a lot, and then the question becomes about what happens to the excess rain-water runoff --

Right.

-- and experts in the field like American Cities that understand about different means and measures of capturing rain water when it comes to rain barrels or different uses of rain-water runoff. 125 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 So its time has come, its time has come in a way that we need kind of grasp what that industry is. In the last hearings, one of the questions I asked is, Do these conservation efforts work? We need to monitor them. Everything that claims to be green may not be green, and we need to have best practices and things like that. And I just think that the City of Philadelphia has to kind of step up its game if we're going to achieve some of the goals of this administration when it comes to greening, conservation, and these jobs that may be created as a result of this effort.

I agree. Again, I think there are sort of two general ways where we in economic development can play a larger role here. One is through efforts like the Green Job Crops, where by the very act of us 126 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 training individuals for an emerging industry, we are actually signaling to that industry that that's an important growth sector for us. And so when international companies like Gamasa (sp?) are looking for their headquarters and we want to keep them in Philadelphia, it's important to signal to them that this is a sector we pay attention to. So it's very good not just to sort of put people in the workforce who, in fact, have certain barriers to entry in the workforce but, in fact, it's just good policy for us to sort of let the world know that this is important to us. Sort of one another way I think that we do that in the economic development is in our coordinating role for development within the cities, and so it gets to your point, Councilman, when we sort of bring developers in and we talk about what 127 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 the appropriate zoning is and sort of how they're looking to sort of develop a particular site, that, in fact, we raise the question -- if their plan does not, that we raise the question of what efforts have they made toward sustainability and give them some technical advice on how they can improve their design in that sort of way.

Mm-hmm.

We are looking at introducing legislation and trying to coerce my colleagues into being a part of it, some green-zoning legislation, where we take certain areas in the City of Philadelphia and designate them green zones. And all new developments subsequent to that period of time, when the legislation gets passed, would be responsible to meet some measure, some area of LEED certification and/or effort, it would be submitted in their plans before even 128 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 they were able to get permits and licenses and the like. So this is something that -- its time has come.

Right.

So we're trying to give you a heads-up so that you can continue your primary mission, which is to grow the economy of the City of Philadelphia, and hopefully, it will be a green economy.

Right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The expectation would be, just as we have clear requirements for EOP's educational employment opportunity plan, we would also ultimately look to some type of green initiative plan as a part of the final approval of documents that flow past this table.

Right.

One final 129 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 question. You mentioned a task force currently in place, where the notion of green-collar jobs is being discussed. What was the name of it again?

Um...

You said with the Chamber and Commerce already at the table currently having discussion.

That's right. Let me pull that right out of my -- just to make sure...

Well, you mentioned a task force on your testimony, but there's no name for it.

Yeah, in fact, it -- it hasn't -- there are stakeholders that are sort of in that task force, but it hasn't been named, and it's only had a preliminary meeting to date, so we're still -- it's still being -- they've been brought together one time, but we're still framing the mission for 130 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 that organization.

Okay, then. Well, thanks again for your testimony.

You're welcome.

If we could please invite up Panel No. 2, Sustainable Business Network of Philadelphia. Please accept my inability to pronunciate your name correctly: Leanne-Krueger Brancky. Strategy Arts, Scott Wheeler. And the principal for the Wissahickon Charter School, Julie Stapleton Carroll. While they come to the witness table, let me give a heads-up to the next panel, which will include: Sandra Dungee Glenn of the American Cities Foundation; Christine Knapp of PennFuture, Julie Wicks of White Dog Cafe; and Sonia De Van-Lake, representing Ernie Jones of the Philadelphia Workforce Development 131 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 Corporation. Good afternoon, everyone. Please proceed with your testimony and state your name for the record.

Good morning. My name is Leanne Krueger-Brancky, and I'm the Executive Director of the Sustainable Business Network of Philadelphia, a business organization that brings together local leaders who share a common passion to grow successful businesses that are socially and environmentally responsible. The Sustainable Business Network cultivates socially and environmentally responsible commerce in the Philadelphia region by providing our members with assessment, education, advocacy, and business development opportunities. We are here this morning to talk about green-collar jobs. Green-collar jobs are blue-collar jobs 132 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 in green businesses, manual-labor jobs in businesses whose products and services directly improve environmental quality. There are sectors of the 7 U.S. economy that can provide green- 8 collar jobs, including bicycle repair, 9 biodiesel production and gas station 10 jobs, green building, organic food 11 production, large-scale composting, 12 recycling, and public transit. 13 Green-collar jobs have huge 14 potential to plug holes in our local 15 economy. In 1969, there were over 16 650,000 manufacturing jobs in this 17 region; by 2005, only 250,000 18 manufacturing jobs remain, a loss of 19 over 400,000 in less than four 20 decades. Green-collar jobs can plug 21 some of the gaps left behind by 22 manufacturing because they require similar levels of vocational training and often pay a living wage. On February 21st, the 133 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 Sustainable Business Network convened a sold-out public event with Van Jones at the Urban Sustainability Forum. Van Jones is the founder and president of Green For All, based in Oakland, California. In 2007, Van helped the City of Oakland pass a Green Jobs Corps proposal, and their city council allocated funds to train residents in ecofriendly green-collar jobs. At the national level, Van worked successfully in 2007 with the U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pilosi and others that passed the Green Jobs Act of 2007. That path-breaking, historic legislation authorized $125 million in funding to train 35,000 people a year in green-collar jobs. Over 600 people joined us at the February event with Van Jones. Mayor Michael Nutter welcomed Van to Philadelphia and reaffirmed his 134 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 commitment to make Philadelphia the greenest city in the U.S. On March 20th, we brought Van Jones back to Philadelphia for an invitation-only green-economy strategy session at City Hall. Scott Wheeler will talk about the results of that meeting in his testimony. On the same day, the Sustainable Business Network released a report entitled "Building A Green Economy: Green-Collar Development Initiatives in the Delaware Valley." This report is intended to be a resource about the organization's currently training and hiring green-collar worker as well as new projects on the horizon. This report shows that we do not have to start from scratch. Good work is already happening in the region and can serve as the foundation for future efforts. In order to move this work forward, we need to be collaborative. 135 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 No one entity can accomplish this goal on its own. Business and local government, workforce development organizations and community colleges, labor, funders and investors are all important stakeholders in this work. Each of us holds an important piece of the puzzle, and only by working together can we create meaningful numbers of good jobs that will help the environment and lift people out of poverty at the same time. Thank you.

We'll hear from everyone and then we'll open up for questions and comments. Good afternoon. State your name for the record.

Good afternoon. Scott Wheeler from Strategy Arts. It's an honor to be here today discussing such an exciting opportunity, and it's been an absolute pleasure working to move this whole thing forward. 136 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 I'm the founder of Strategy Arts. It's a small consulting business based in West Chester, Pennsylvania. We lead businesses and nonprofits and diverse stakeholder groups through planning processes to solve complex problems. And one of the things that's important to how we approach things is that we use a collaborative process to engage people and also analysis to provide them the information that they need to make decisions. Our role in this initiative has been to plan and guide a process that helps stakeholders work together to build the initiative. In February, the meeting that Leanne was talking about, we worked together with the Sustainable Business Network to set two short-term end-of-2008 goals for the community to consider. The first is to place 100 youth from disadvantaged communities 137 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 in green-collar jobs by the end of this year; and the second is, at the same time, to have a visible part of the infrastructure that enables green-collar job to be in place so that we can continue that growth.

Speak more into the mic. Pull it closer to you, please, sir.

Sure.

Thank you.

With these goals in hand, the Sustainable Business Network called a stakeholder meeting that was held here in City Hall on March 20th. The objectives of that meeting were to involve stakeholders in determining what needs to happen to build the Green Jobs Initiative, to inspire all of us with a clear vision of what success can look like, and to move to action through committees free to decide and pursue needed action. We invited a range of 138 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 stakeholders to the meeting. We included green business, community development groups, workforce development groups, labor, green builders, educators, and City government. At the meeting, we built on the inspired vision presented by Van Jones during his first visit to the City in February. Van continues to give us tremendous support in this and also returned to Philadelphia to kick off our strategy meeting on the 20th. His message to us was that the early-level involvement that he saw here in our city will give us the opportunity to move faster than anyone in the cities he's worked in so far.

Mm-hmm.

At the meeting, the Sustainable Business Network also distributed a green-business report that they had done that documents the current efforts of businesses when 139 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 workforce development and other community groups that are already focused on sustainable business areas in Philadelphia. A vital part of that meeting was to involve the participants in the creation of ideas needed to achieve the goals. During the meeting, participants worked in groups to identify what was needed to support Philadelphia's green-job success and, more specifically, the short-term goals that we had identified. We focused on four complementary areas: job training, employer commitment, community policies, and funding. To ensure continued momentum, the participants at the meeting established four committees. The job of these committees is to move forward with the planning and actions required to build the green jobs initiative in Philadelphia, and we also agreed at 140 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 the meeting to keep the Sustainable Business Network in the coordinating role to assure continued focus on a common end-goal. So where are we now? It's not been very long since our meeting in March. All of the organizational committees have actually completed their actions. They've all met. This is absolutely extraordinary for this kind of a multi-stakeholder organization. And, in fact, we were just talking recently that there are now over 50 people involved in these committees to drive this forward, so this is a true grassroots effort across everything. Each of the committees has met. They've developed short-term three-month goals. They've also developed longer-term goals, and they are now actively pursuing the actions that they've set for themselves in 141 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 pursuit of those short-term goals. So you will be hearing from some of those committees as a part of the testimony that's coming up next.

Okay. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. My name is Julie Stapleton-Carroll. I am from the Wissahickon Charter School. I wanted to first begin by thanking the committees for this opportunity to talk with you about supporting a Green Job Corps in Philadelphia. We serve 400 Philadelphia students in grades K to 8. Some quick statistics about us. We focus on the environment as a way to integrate our curriculum. Eighty-five percent of our students come from low-wealth families. Ninety-five percent of our 142 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 students are minority. Ninety-five percent of our parents reports that their children enjoy coming to school. Ninety percent of our parrots report that their children feel safe. Ninety percent of our children hate our school lunch, but we're working on that. (Laughter.)

We have a 100 percent top-notch faculty that you may be aware of. Ninety-five percent of our parents attend parent-teacher conferences. A hundred percent of our students recycle their school papers, bottles, and cans through a very rigorous recycling program at the school. And Wissahickon Charter School has proudly made adequate yearly progress four years in a row. So we take pride in the fact 143 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 that we can offer children in this city an outstanding education while also teaching them to be stewards of their environment and their community. Our students represent most neighborhoods in Philadelphia and come from communities that would gain huge benefits from a Green Job Corps in Philadelphia. In a minute, you'll hear from two of our students, and I'm sure that you'll agree with me that they would be great ambassadors to move this initiative forward. I'm going to skip a lot of my testimony at this point, but I want to talk a little bit about the way we teach at the Wissahickon, because I think it could bear a lot of the benefits that come out a job corps and training program for individuals joining the job corps. We utilize elements of the natural world to encourage students to 144 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 connect learning across disciplines and grade levels. Our faculty members draw upon the resources of nearby Fairmount Park, the Wissahickon Creek and its watershed to provide students with hands-on learning opportunities to choose, devise, and implement an environmental-service learning project. This approach gives students ownership of the project and provides opportunities for in-depth explorations of real-life problems. Our students also annually grow and maintain a community garden with residents of the Germantown block closest to our school. As responsible stewards of this community resource, Wissahickon Charter School students come to understand the importance and impact of all aspects of the urban natural environment in which they live. As a way of demonstrating the great benefits of a Green Job Corps 145 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 concept, I'd like to describe two initiatives that Wissahickon Charter School students are engaged in that not only better our environment but really offer students an authentic and meaningful opportunity to engage in and something that they can take beyond the school walls. At Wissahickon, we manufacture alternative fuel. Supported by an Environmental Protection Agency grant, middle school students begin planning the design, construction, and operation of a processer to convert used vegetable oil into alternative fuel that can be used to power buses. Wissahickon Charter will make the environmentally-friendly biodiesel fuel available to its various partner organizations. We've been talking with (indiscernible), we've been talking with some organic farms to bring CSAs out to delivery, et cetera. In addition to the processor's 146 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 design and operation, students will establish and implement a community- wide collection strategy to ensure a consistent supply of used vegetable oil for use in the production of biodiesel fool fuel, and will, in the process, educate community members about the utility and sustainability of this practice. Harnessing solar energy. In recent months, Wissahickon Charter School's 4th grade students who are studying energy have participated in a wide variety of projects to help the school prepare for the installation of solar panels. We now have two solar panels on our roof and are generating a portion of our energy through that. ) here built one as well; you could ask him about it -- demonstrating their power at our school's community-wide Earth Day 147 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 celebration, where students spoke with attendees about recent developments in solar technology, committed to educating families who care about issues of sustainability.

Students will also participate in the conceptualization and installation of our new onsite educational kiosk that will take that energy of the solar panels and allow us to integrate that into the curriculums through visuals and participation in how that impacts our grid. The school's successful use of environmental education curriculum is evidenced by its receipt of the 2007 Storm Water Best Management Practices Recognition Program Award, the 2008 Greater Philadelphia Stainability Award, which we're particularly pleased about, and the 2007 Triple Bottom Line Award, which is also something that we hold dear to us But regardless of what we can 148 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 do within our school walls, what happens outside of school walls is really what dictates our students' success, and I feel really passionately that Philadelphia is poised with a new administration and an invigorated Council to move forward at an incredible rate. Frequently, I'm asked where our students go after graduating from Wissahickon and 8th grade. While we're pleased that our students have selected schools of very high caliber and fit for themselves, we're left to wonder where the love of nature and purposeful service of our environment goes beyond the walls of Wissahickon Charter School A comprehensive, thoughtful, and visible program to support green jobs in Philadelphia would achieve a number of things in the minds of our students: Consistency between what 149 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 they're being taught in school and what we as citizens value. Recycling, not wasting. There's so much that can be done around that, and I know that everybody in this room is aware of that Taking care of ourselves and each other, making sure that our city is looking after us and that we're participating in that process A sense of commitment from our city, that we value the things that they have been taught to be important Self-reliance and respect for each other And our responsibility to take action to fix problems in our community. We teach our students that it's their responsibility, if they see something that needs fixing, to fix it, and this Green Jobs Corps could help implant that attitude across the City I very enthusiastically 150 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 support the creation of a Green Job Corps that will promote community- based growth opportunities for traditionally hard-to-employ workers I even more enthusiastically support the creation of these jobs around the care of our environment and the active stewardship of our city, which holds such wonders and history possibilities. ), who will take a moment to speak from their minds.

Good afternoon, young people. STUDENT #1: Good afternoon. My name is LeVar Hunter. I'm a 7th grade student at Wissahickon Charter School.

Okay. I need to ask you to please lower the mic so you can talk directly in it, and 151 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 start again so that we can clearly hear your full name. STUDENT #1: Okay. My name is LeVar Hunter. I'm a 7th grade student Wissahickon Charter School.

Thank you. STUDENT #1: In coming across my research for my speech, I happened to find some strong words that were from Van Jones. Van Jones strongly compares social and environmental issues. Two problems confront us: social inequality and environmental destruction. Both problems are affecting our city in many terrible ways. We act as if they are separate, but they are linked economically, politically, and morally. The solutions and strategies for each must, therefore, be one. The United States is both the world's leading polluter and the world's leading incarcerater, which is 152 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 a total embarrassment to our nation. In the City of Oakland, where environmental and national activist Van Jones resides, they spend more money on prisons than for their colleges, and I can imagine that it's the same here in Philadelphia. The U.S. spends tens of billions of dollars subsidizing mass incarceration and spends hundreds of billions subsidizing polluters, despoilers, and clear cutters. By creating green jobs, it will keep children off the street and money earned by working not doing something that they shouldn't be doing. Create green jobs. I promise you you won't regret it. Thank you.

Repeat that last sentence, please. STUDENT #1: Create green jobs. I promise you you won't regret it.

Thank you. 153 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 (Applause.) STUDENT #2: My name is Ajanay Paget, and I'm a 8th grader at Wissahickon Charter School. Not to tell you a whole life story about me, but since 3rd grade, I was one of the first students at Wissahickon Charter School. And from day one, they were all talking about the environment and everything, and they really made me want to be involved with the environment and animals. So responding to her question, what would happen outside of the school walls within the environment, this year, after I graduate, I'm going to Sol Agricultural High School to stick with my environmental reputation and stuff. And so, Van Jones was -- I think he -- since I started studying him, I think he could be one of my heroes because he -- he went above and 154 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 beyond to live his dream, and he became famous for living his dream, and I want to do the same thing. He reminds me of Martin Luther King and the other famous African-American people. And since 4th grade, I think, we have been studying, like, anything about the environment that we can get our hands on. So it was, like, different programs that we can be in. So right now, I'm in the outdoor program, and Saturdays and Sundays, we may have camping trips and hiking trips. And we also have a harmony garden outside of the school, and it's, like, I think it was made to something for the water that when it rains -- yeah. And so -- and now the 8th graders are now studying what to do with the rest of the playground, with the rest of the yard area out there. 155 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 We're studying playgrounds to see what types of environments kids of different ages like so we can mix it all together and have a perfect playground for everybody of every age. And so we're doing biodiesel since, like, sixth grade. So I might not remember it well, but we're mixing vegetable oil and we're being associated with two different restaurants, and so the biodiesel fuel will help run buses, and the benefits are to help -- to help air pollution so not to -- the buses won't have as much smoke and gas coming out the pipes. And so that's basically how we are helping with the environment and be better people, like sticking to Van Jones' word. So leading -- like -- I can't get the words out. It's like, um, so if a greener world is a brighter world for us because without -- correct me if I'm 156 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 wrong, but if we didn't have any trees or any grass or anything, the earth wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't be -- I don't even think it would be alive 'cause without the trees and without the environment, it wouldn't be no -- well, trees help with the CO2 and the oxygen and everything. And so with the green jobs, it will help people who don't have -- yeah, who don't have a real good education or whatever, it will help them to have a job and actually play a part in helping the earth by just being them, by just doing whatever. Thank you.

Well, thank you very, very much, all of you, for your testimony. (Applause.)

And we want to say a huge thank-you to the young people for your testimony and for your experience. It's a woeful 157 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 reminder to us that we need to do more to get more young people like you ready for tomorrow's world. Thank you very much. Councilman Jones?

I would just like to echo the Chairlady's comments. I could not have been prouder of that testimony. They get it. And, hopefully, this Council and our administration will get it too. So we'll try to keep up with you guys. Now, just out of curiosity, where are you guys located? STUDENT #2: 4700 Wissahickon Avenue.

And who would be your Councilperson? (Laughter.)

And one other question: Did you have a teacher named Miss Upshaw, Gina Upshaw? STUDENT #1: Yes. She's a 6th grade teacher. 158 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266

She's a 6th grade teacher? STUDENT #1: Is she your daughter?

Is she a good teacher? You like her? STUDENT #1: Yes.

'Cause I'm her dad, and if something's wrong, you tell me. (Laughter.) STUDENT #2: She buys us snacks every Friday.

All right. I just wanted to make sure of that. And I've been to your school. It's a wonderful place, it's ecofriendly, it's all about green, and I'm very proud to have it in the 4th Councilmatic District. Thank you for your testimony today. STUDENT #2: You're welcome.

A couple 159 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 of questions, please. The Sustainable Business Network, are any of the chambers represented at those meetings, the African-American Chamber, the Greater Philadelphia Chamber, the Hispanic Chamber, the -- I believe it's Asian, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but are any of the chambers represented?

The Asian-American Chamber of Commerce was represented at the March 20th session. In addition, the Chamber of Commerce and the African-American Chamber of Commerce were both invited but did not attend. I've recently connected with the new director of the African- American Chamber, and she and I are going to be meeting within the next few weeks.

Okay. Farms, you mentioned farms. I believe that was the school, the principal of 160 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 the Wissahickon Charter School talked about you're using farms someplace in the work that you're doing?

We've talked to a number of farm producers that need to get their goods from their farm for drop-offs for CSAs. We've offered to barter our diesel fuel for organic goods.

Okay. So we can presume that they are local farmers, which is --

Absolutely, yes.

Does the garden have a entrepreneurial element, this community garden?

We struggle with our own lunch service in trying to get local produce into our own lunches, so we're kind of neophytes in that process right now. We partner with the Arboretum, and Weaver's Way has a wonderful 161 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 garden that our children have participated in farming, and so it's growing, no pun intended.

Okay.

We're growing and learning. In fact, Councilman Jones, you had mentioned a green zone. I think the area right outside of our school would be an ideal location for a green zone, and I would love to work with you on that.

Actually, that is one of the areas being considered -- you're right -- near an industrial park that has seen better times, and the idea here is, as land becomes more valuable and opportunities become more valuable, we need to raise the bar on what our expectations are by way of our corporate citizens and neighbors, and one of the expectations is some consideration for our environment. 162 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266

That's great. That's really good to hear.

Is the Department of Commerce represented at the Sustainable Network meetings?

Yes, they are. Both Karen Randall and Terry Gillen, who have been very involved in our planning efforts.

And then lastly, you indicate that reports have been produced -- is that what I heard? -- from Strategy Arts, that of those four areas, policy, funding, job training, and employer relations, you said reports have been -- the next step, the next tangible steps are --

Right. So each of the committees has identified both short-term goals to help get to the hundred students in jobs by the end of the year and to start putting the infrastructure together, and they've also identified longer-term goals that 163 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 are going to help to get more of the jobs moving, 'cause we consider a hundred jobs as a starting point and a very small starting point, but a meaningful one.

So then if you have identified a tangible number -- one should never assume anything. Is Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation at the table?

Yes, they are.

They are?

Yes. Yes, they are at the table.

All right. That takes care of all of my questions. Thank you very much for your important testimony, and the word continues as we look to crafting recommendations, but more importantly being a part of the task force that was shared by the City Commerce Director so that we're all working in 164 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 tandem down this road. Councilman Jones?

Thank you, Madam Chair. A couple of quick questions. As we start to look at these jobs -- and I know that we will have Sandra Glenn from the School Reform Commission testify, but one of the things that I use as a comparison to where we are with green jobs is to where we were maybe years ago with 14 cable. 15

Mm, yes. 16

To where we 17 were with cable. As we looked at it 18 then, I don't know if we truly 19 understood what an impact on the local 20 economy it would be from, cable installers to customer-service reps to engineers to repairmen to bill- collectors to lawyers. It was like a pebble in a pond that had rippling effects throughout our economy, which 165 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 was, for the most part, positive. I see us at that time now, where we will have -- in the last testimony if you were here in the chambers, you heard people talk about cost-benefit analysis of greening activities and the application of a almost accounting background that would be required, which you wouldn't altogether think of at first when you came to a green job. But those are the kinds of opportunities -- everything from -- people have come to my office and, I'm sure, the Council Lady's office to talk about energy audits and guarantees by way of savings, and whether or not these said statements are true and we are realizing those cost savings, I have an ebonic saying that "if it ain't measured, it ain't managed." And so people make these green claims without substantiating them and so we buy things that may not 166 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 work. So what I'm saying is, there's a whole cottage industry that can be developed by that. As we start to multiple that by wind, by solar, by thermal, by corn versus cellulose fuel sources, we really need to kind of retro-engineer that back into training programs for people that are going to take advantages not of jobs of the future but jobs of right now. If we look at the infrastructure of this entire city, it's a old city, it has to be rebuilt. If we start to pass green zones, there's going to be a whole industry and a whole need for a workforce that we need to prepare now.

Thank you, Councilman. And I do want to point out that this is a wonderful time for Philadelphia, and there is an amazing amount of interest in green 167 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 businesses. Our membership at the Sustainable Business Network has grown by a hundred new members alone just in the past few months. And so there are green businesses here, there are green businesses that have come to this state and to this region, and our local policy has not been very welcoming to green businesses to date. And so what we're hoping to see and what our policy committee is working on is looking at what could Philadelphia do to better retain existing green businesses and attract businesses to the region. And we're currently looking at policies that have been put in place in other cities --

Sure.

-- that have made it a place that really does draw green businesses, 'cause that's important here. 168 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266

As we look retro-engineer, when these young people are coming out of Wissahickon Charter School, they have a opportunity either to go on to college and university and pursue those kinds of advanced degrees in those specific areas. Or, just like at the turn of the century, they could come out of high school and wind up in a entry- level job in a industry that they are prepared and uniquely qualified to take advantage of. So we want to prepare on both tracks.

Yeah. I'd like to respond if I could as well; is that okay?

You may. And certainly state your name again for the record.

Sure. Scott Wheeler. There were two points you 169 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 made, which I just wanted to echo. You compared the early days of the cable industry, and I would agree that that's a very good analogy, but this is actually much bigger than that because it crosses so many sectors of the economy, and there are so many industry sectors that we can actually find where green jobs are going to be applicable in the very newer future, if they're not already today. And the second point you made, which I also -- I heard the earlier session. Measurement is a very critical part of this, because there's the easy things to do the and the visible things to do, and then there's the real things to do, and a lot of those have to be backed up by financial backing and understanding of the financial impacts. And one of the areas we work in when we consult with businesses is in sustainability, and there's just 170 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 three things that I wanted to bring forward to think about that businesses think about. One of them is the cost savings, and so that will drive behaviors when you have good bottom-line, baseline measurements. The second is policy, so there are things that may cost them more but because policies are set, that's going to be something they need to do and they focus on, and you've talked about that with your green zones. And then the other is actually the demand from consumers so that products and things that they make are going to drive some of their behaviors.

Yes.

So all three of those are driving towards more green jobs.

Okay. Well, again, thank you for very 171 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 important testimony. I look forward to the documents that come out of those four committees, particularly the committee on policy. And we want to again say a huge thank-you to the young people, wherein either six years from now or eight years from now, you'll be our new leading environmental experts. Thank you very much. Thank you all. (Applause.)

Next up: Sandra Dungee Glenn of the American Cities Foundation; Christine Knapp of PennFuture, Judy Wicks of White Dog Cafe; and Sonia De Van-Lake, representing Earnest Jones of the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation. (Witnesses come forward.)

Good afternoon, ladies.

Good 172 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 afternoon.

Proceed with your testimony.

Good afternoon, Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown and Councilman Jones. My name is Sandra Dungee Glenn, and I come before you today in my dual roles as President of the American Cities Foundation and Chairwoman of the School Reform Commission for the School District of Philadelphia. And I want to thank you Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown and I also want to thank your colleague Wilson Goode, Jr. for sponsoring the resolution that provides us with an opportunity to come before you today in support of the creation of the Philadelphia Green Job Corps. And as spoken to in the March 6th resolution, I believe the creation of a Green Job Corps will move Philadelphia into a job-development 173 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 strategy that is proactive rather than reactive. With increasing attention being given to the need to live in ways that sustain rather than deplete our natural resources, consumers, businesses and governments are responding by demanding products, services, and business practices that promote environmental health. In this emerging green economy, we'll need train and committed workers to grow. We need to prepare unemployed and underemployed Philadelphia residents for these jobs. And I'd like to add that there's also an opportunity, as has been stated, for City Council to support the growth and expansion of local neighborhood-based entrepreneurs into this growing green sector. Growing businesses will also grow jobs. The American Cities Foundation, or ACF fully supports the 174 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 Green Job Corps initiative. ACF, founded in 1992, is committed to designing new strategies to revitalize urban America and approve the quality of life for children and families. We strive to uncover and develop best practices around core issues like urban education, community leadership development, neighborhood revitalization, and business development that can be shared and replicated with other groups and cities. For the past four years, we have been bringing environmentalism into Philadelphia's neighborhoods and engaging residents, especially people of color, in environmental activism. Our work, Project NEAT (Neighborhood Environment Action Teams), funded by EPA to address storm-water runoff, demonstrates that City residents are eager to be environmental activists and students. 175 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 Led by our NEAT Director, Dennis Lee, Project NEAT has planted over 1,000 trees, removed 165 tons of debris, and reclaimed vacant, under-utilized land and buildings as community centers, recreation space, and commercial centers that showcase environmental best-management practices like porous surfaces, cisterns, green roofs, and rain barrels in Mill Creek, Cedar Park, Strawberry Mansion, Eastwick, Kingsessing, Overbrook, Wynnefield, and other Philadelphia neighborhoods. In fact, as a result of our second Urban Environmental Summit on April 26th, entitled "Going the Green Route," ACF's Project NEAT will be installing 76 rain barrels with home owners in West, Southwest, and North Philadelphia over the next two months. Project NEAT works by involving neighborhood leaders and residents. We have over 150 176 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 neighborhood, civic, environmental, and government agency partners, including a number of the members who were here today. The project has also provided part-time employment and training to 114 neighborhood residents, many of them ex-offenders. Forty-five percent of our part-timers have moved on to better jobs after their time with us. The American Cities Foundation's demonstration project shows Philadelphians are ready and willing to take action to clean up the air, water, and land in our communities. And we are demonstrating that when we are strategic, we can make an explicit connection between Philadelphians' environmental health, neighborhood revitalization, and employment.

A City-sponsored Green Job Corps, using Oakland California as a model, offers an opportunity to work 177 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 at scale, target scarce job training and development dollars, and provide coordination to local nonprofits and for-profit organizations engaged in this work. But I do want to add a word of caution: Philadelphia's policy should target its Green Job Corps to the training for green-collar jobs as defined by Dr. Raquel Rivera Pinderhughes in her study for Berkley, California. And it should target Philadelphia residents with barriers to employment. Dr. Pinderhughes, a professor at San Francisco State University, defines green-collar jobs, as has been stated, as blue-collar jobs or manual- labor jobs in green businesses. These are relatively high-quality jobs with low barriers to entry, jobs that provide workers with opportunities for advancement, and jobs that are located in sectors that are growing rapidly. 178 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 Dr. S. economy as sectors with 4 green-collar jobs. 5 Because these jobs offer a 6 prime opportunity to place unemployed 7 Philadelphians in living-wage jobs, 8 Philadelphia's Green Job Corps should 9 target men and women from populations 10 that include youth and adults without 11 a high school diploma, the formerly 12 incarcerated, and the long-term 13 unemployed. By engaging these 14 populations, we can proactively attack 15 some of the root causes of crime and 16 violence in our city. We can connect 17 being a cleaner and greener city with 18 being a safer and better-educated 19 city. 20 ACF recently sponsored a 21 leadership round table for 22 environmental, corporate, academic, and civic organizations to meet and to talk with Dr. Pinderhughes and Deputy Mayor Andrew Altman about a 179 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 Philadelphia green-collar jobs strategy. We are also working as part of the Sustainable Business Network's coalition to develop a green-job and business strategy that promotes economic equity. And we're excited to have the opportunity to share our experiences and our research with City Council. We're also prepared to support this work through our Community Leadership Training Institute to assist with the job-training component and our Project Rise, which provides technical assistance to small emerging businesses in West Philadelphia. Finally, while the School Reform Commission has not taken a formal position on the Green Job Corps proposal, we are in full support of Council's work to provide additional pathways to our high school students, particularly students who may otherwise be at risk of dropping out 180 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 of school. I want to thank you for this opportunity to address you today and look forward to working with you on this important endeavor. And I also need to just excuse myself. S. Senator Casey at 1 o'clock, so I'm going to go because I think he could be very helpful to our school district, so -- but I want to thank you for your time and again for this opportunity, but if you have any questions, I'll be happy to address them now.

Let's entertain them now then, given your schedule, if we can. You said you need -- no, I have here a meeting with Mr. Altman. Is the Commerce Department still here? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: They just left. 181 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266

Okay. So we'll get back to that. The number of activities you stated about NEAT, how can citizens, home owners gain access to NEAT? What's the processes of procedure for that?

Well, simply really by calling our office. Project NEAT has worked with community organizations around the City. Our phone number's 215-476-8091, and we would be happy to each reach out and continue to work an expand if there are groups that are interested in working with us, absolutely.

So then that agreement that you had with the federal government does not restrict it to certain communities; it's a citywide effort?

No, we have focused it in three core communities --

Okay. 182 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266

But we are open to working with organizations throughout Philadelphia.

Okay then. Thank you. Are you prepared now to say how this body and/or the Commerce Department can be more helpful with regards to your recommendation that those very specific audiences that you talked about indeed get roped into the pipeline for green-collar jobs: the ex-offenders, at-risk young people, and those who have been unemployed for a long time?

Well, I think there are a number of organizations around this city, dozens and dozens of them, who are responsible and charged with and often funded to work with those populations, specific populations.

Sure.

I think one 183 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 of the challenges as we develop the policy is that those organizations need to be at the table, because I think this is the right effort, but I don't think we should underestimate the network of support services that have to be in place to make sure that it can successfully meet and target those populations. They need a lot of support in, I guess, a number of soft, I guess -- kind of what you might call "soft skilled" or social supports that are in addition to the job training. So I think we need to carefully think through what those needs are, what organizations have been most effective at filling those gaps, and making sure that they are a part of the strategy to design both the training program, the on-the-job internships and then the after-training portions of it to make sure that these residents can really 184 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 be successful.

Councilman Jones?

Yes. I know you have a urgency of time, and I want you to go get that federal money for our school system.

Thank you.

But I could not help but say that the High School of the Future was LEED certified, which is the national designation, and one of the first high schools to receive that. I have Saul, which has always been a agricultural and pretty green school, Lankenau and Wissahickon, which testified today, all of which are in the 4th Councilmatic District, and I appreciate it. A couple of things. When you had your conference on environment, were representatives of the City and the Commerce Department and PWDC there? 185 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266

Yes, they were. As I mentioned, for our leadership round table, Deputy Mayor Andrew Altman was one of our speakers.

Mm-hmm.

One of our ongoing partners is the Water Department. We also have a very strong partnership with the Streets Department around a recycling initiative. So the City government has been very supportive of our efforts, and EPA is one of our funders. We've also received support and cooperation from the department -- the State Department of Natural Resources, Michael DeBerardinaris is secretary, and also from the State Department of Environmental Protection. So there's been good coordination with those various agencies.

The next question is: As you start to revamp 186 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 your strategy with your new superintendent, are there going to be more charter schools and/or public high schools designated for these type of votech-skill development? And are they going to be working with the private sector to create mentorships and actual job experience for those kinds of cottage industries?

Yes. I would say that we're going to be expanding on the career -- what we call "votech" is now "career and technical education." But expanding on those models that are in place, we have some successful models with Philadelphia Academies, for example, is one of our partners. A meeting with Secretary Laurie Shore in a couple of weeks to talk about working with the Administration, what we're calling a "pathways initiative," how we can -- from the School District, the City 187 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 administration, along with organizations like the Chamber, expand on a number of things that are in place. And one of the goals is to better identify the sectors where jobs truly will be growing in this region and make sure we have a pipeline back into our schools to prepare young people for those jobs either immediately after high school or after going on for some advanced education.

Mm-hmm.

We're going to try to expand on some of the programs that are in existence.

I would urge you to consider City Council as a potential partner. As we start to consider green-zone legislation. We want to be cutting edge but also relevant to your curriculum design, so that's one area. The other strategic partner I 188 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 would recommend is the Commissioner of Public Property. During the testimony for their budget, we started to talk about greening of the Philadelphia operation and its respective properties, which is a massive capital undertaking. We looked at even this chamber, which has over 500 different light bulbs. And if you'll just look up, they're not energy-conservation light bulbs, and we're starting to revamp the whole Public Property to start to consider these things, from everything from light bulbs to boilers and electrical systems. So there may be some opportunities within City government proper to take advantage of the curriculum design and also mentorship.

Thank you. That's an excellent suggestion. And as we spoke to in our hearings before Council on the School 189 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 District's budget, we talked about this task force that would be coming up, Shared Service Task Force, between the District and the City, and that's another area and, I think, mechanism that we can use to explore that. But thank you, that's a great suggestion.

Thank you.

Finally, I would ask that you keep this body informed of goals and recommendations that you would hope to see from the City departments that you mentioned -- Commerce, Street, and Water -- so that we can work with you in helping those departments move towards the goals you've stipulated.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for your testimony.

Thank you.

Do you 190 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 have written copies of your testimony?