Committee Hearing, June 4, 2007

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON FINANCE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, June 4, 2007, 1:00 p.m. - - - Bills 060108, 109 - (Biosolids bills) Recessed to 6/7/07. Bills 070125, 151, 170, 260, 262, 388, 393, 401, 402 - RCAP Bills Bill 070368 - Re PGW Capital Budget Bill 070230 - City depository bill 12 Bill 070049 - Re claim checks, parking stickers Bill 070387, Res. 070405 - Re CDBG and NTI (Full text of all legislation attached hereto.) COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT: Jannie Blackwell, Chair Blondell Reynolds-Brown William K. Greenlee Carol Ann Campbell Brian J. O'Neill Frank DiCicco Juan Ramos W. Wilson Goode, Jr. Marian B. Tasco - - - 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 Monday, 6/4/07 - COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON FINANCE WITNESS RCAP Bills Paul Deegan, PIDC, PAID................. Janet Parrish, Executive Director....... 20 Philadelphia Gas Commission Bill 070230 John Nacchio, City Treasurer............ 9 10 Bill No. 070049 11 Nancy Kammerdeiner, Dept. of Revenue.... 30 Bill 070387, Res. 070405 Veronica Pankey, President, Local 1971 34 Rick Sauer, Executive Director.......... 49 Philadelphia Association of CDCs Bernard Hawkins, Executive Director..... 57 Philadelphia Neighborhood Housing Services John Rowe, Executive Director........... 70 Utility Emergencies Services Fund John Gallery, Preservation Alliance..... 90 Mike Groman, Philadelphia Green......... 94 Will Gonzales, CEIBA Executive Director 111 Liz Robinson, ECA....................... 124 Judith Robinson, Realtor................ 138 3 Monday, 6/4/07 - COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON FINANCE WITNESS S. Wall, People's Energy Center CDC..... 159 Kevin Hanna, Housing Secretary.......... 162 Eva Gladstein, NTI Director............. 170 Debra McCullough, First Deputy.......... 196 Housing and Community Development Anthony MacIntosh, PHDC................. 222 Executive Vice President * * * 4 Monday, 6/4/07 - COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON FINANCE

Good afternoon. Thank you for your patience. We are now calling into session our Finance Committee slated for today. We note that the Biosolid bills for all who are present -- that is, Bill No.s 060108 and 060109 -- will not be heard today. Those bills will be considered on Thursday, June 7th, at 9:30 a.m. Again, anybody who's here on the Biosolids bills, Bill No.'s 060108 and 109, please note that they are not being considered today. They are rescheduled to Thursday, June 7th at, 9:30 a.m. Thank you very much. We note -- the Chair notes that we have a quorum. Present are -- is Councilman W. Wilson Goode, Councilman William Greenlee; and to my right, Councilman DiCicco and Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown. 5 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS The Chair like-wise notes that Councilwoman Carol Campbell is like-wise here, and we are happy to have all of our colleagues in attendance. The first bills that will be heard will be read by our clerk. They are called the "RCAP bills," and Paul Deegan is here, who will testify, and the clerk will please read the titles of those bills.

Okay, this may take about five minutes. (Laughter.)

Bill No. 070260, an ordinance authorizing the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development ("PAID") to file an application with the Office of the Budget, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, under the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, in an aggregate amount not to exceed $1,400,000 to assist in the redevelopment of the Roosevelt 6 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS Boulevard and Bustleton Avenue area and authorizing the City to enter into an agreement with PAID in furtherance of grant requirements, all under certain terms and conditions. And Bill No. 070151, an ordinance authorizing the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development ("PAID") to file an application with the Office of the Budget Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, under the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, in an aggregate amount not to exceed $3 million to assist in the development of the Lutheran Theological Seminary Learning Center, the Allen's Lane Art Center, and the Chestnut Hill College Student and Community Center; and authorizing the City to enter into an agreement with PAID in furtherance of grant requirements, all under certain terms and conditions. And Bill No. 070125, an ordinance authorizing the Philadelphia 7 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS Authority for Industrial Development ("PAID") to file an application with the Office of the Budget, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, under the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, in an aggregate amount not to exceed $7,500,000 to assist in the development of the Free Library of Philadelphia; and authorizing the City to enter into an agreement with PAID in furtherance of grant requirements, all under certain terms and conditions. And Bill No. 070170, an ordinance authorizing the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development ("PAID") to file an application with the Office of the Budget, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, under the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program in an aggregate amount not to exceed $500,000 to assist in the development of the Lutheran Settlement House; and authorizing the City to enter into an agreement with PAID in 8 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS furtherance of grant requirements, all under certain terms and conditions. And Bill No. 070262, an ordinance authorizing the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development ("PAID") to file an application with the Office of the Budget, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, under the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, in an aggregate amount not to exceed $2,900,000 to assist in the development of Nueva Esperanza II; and authorizing the City to enter into an agreement with the PAID in furtherance of grants requirements, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 070388, an ordinance 19 authorizing the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development ("PAID") to file an application with the Office of the Budget, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, under the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, in an aggregate amount not to exceed 9 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS $400,000, to assist in the development of the Diversified Community Services Project; and authorizing the City to enter into an agreement with PAID in furtherance of grant requirements; all under certain terms and conditions. And Bill No. 070393, an ordinance authorizing the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development ("PAID") to file an application with the Office of the Budget, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, under the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, in an aggregate amount not to exceed $500,000, to assist in the conversion of the former Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia to the Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience; and authorizing the City to enter into an agreement with PAID in furtherance of grant requirements, all under certain terms and conditions. And Bill No.

070401, an ordinance authorizing the Philadelphia 10 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS Authority for Industrial Development ("PAID") to file an application with the Office of the Budget, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, under the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, in an aggregate amount not to exceed $500,000, to assist in the development of the North Philadelphia Health System; and authorizing the City to enter into an agreement with PAID in furtherance of grant requirements, all under certain terms and conditions. And, finally, Bill No. 070402, an ordinance authorizing the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development ("PAID") to file an application with the Office of the Budget, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, under the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program in, an aggregate amount not to exceed $500,000, to assist in the development of Old Metropolitan Opera House; and authorizing the City to enter into an agreement with PAID in 11 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS furtherance of grant requirements, all under certain terms and conditions.

Thank you very much. The Chair notes that Councilman O'Neill is here; he's also a member of this committee, and thank him for his attendance. Councilwoman Marian Tasco is here, and so all of our members are present. The Chair now recognizes Mr. Paul Deegan.

My name is Paul Deegan, D-E-E-G-A-N, and I represent PIDC and PAID. I think I'm going to be shorter in reading the titles, but I have submitted testimony that summarizes the projects. These projects are funded through the State Capital Budget. Typically, the projects are sponsored by the local legislator, and the money flows through PAID to the recipients. 5 million is a project that I think you've seen before. It's the Central Library branch expansion; they're adding 180,000 square feet. 5 million. Bill No. 070170 is for the Lutheran Supplement House. We're applying for a grant of $500,000. They will be renovating two buildings in the Fishtown area of the City to provide social services, which will include an education center, a domestic violence counseling center, and senior citizen housing. Bill No. " It's going to be owned by 13 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS COPF, Incorporated. 4 million. Bill 070262 is for a grant for a RCAP grant for the Nueva Esperanza project. 9 million. Nueva Esperanza is a social-service provider to the Hispanic within the area bounded by Olney Avenue, Girard Avenue, Front Street, and Ninth Street. They intend to renovate two existing buildings to provide new commercial space and off-street parking for their administrative services and commercial space, which they'll rent out to provide income for their programs. And the total project costs is $5 million. Bill No. 070388 is for a grant for Diversified Community Services. We're applying for a grant of $400,000. The project will provide new 14 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS administrative headquarters and a community services center at 22nd and Tasker streets and, this will allow Diversified to expand program and services to include day care, after-school programs, and adult education. 9 million. Bill No. 070393 is for a $500,000 grant for Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience. Jefferson is converting the former Wills Eye Hospital to a dedicated hospital for neurological research and disease management. 2 million. I think we just approved the grant for this project back in February, as a matter of fact, but the Governor decided they needed some more money. Bill No. 070401 is for a grant for North Philadelphia Health System, $500,000. They're renovating their 15 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS existing hospital at 16th and Girard, which I think is one of the few hospitals that are serving the inner-city area in North Philadelphia. And they're also adding a new emergency room. 5 million. And, finally, Bill No. 070402 is for a $500,000 grant for the old Metropolitan Opera House; the old Met is at Broad and Poplar Streets. It's a historically certified building and it's going to be become the headquarters for the Holy Ghost Headquarters Church, the North Philadelphia Community Development Corporation, and commercial retail space. The total project cost is $10 million. Bill No. 070151 authorizes us to apply for three grants totaling $3 million for Lutheran Theological Seminary, Allen's Lane Art Center, and Chestnut Hill College. 16 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS Lutheran Theological Seminary, at 7301 Germantown Avenue, is building a new facility to house the seminary's public archive collection. The total project cost is approximately $19 million, and the redevelopment grant is $500,000. Allen's Lane Art Center is going to renovate its current building, which it leases on a seven-acre portion of Fairmount Park Allen's Lane in East Mt. Airy. The project includes new mechanical systems, new rest rooms, upgrades to all of the program spaces, new windows, and minor exterior cosmetic upgrades. The total project cost is approximately $2,250,000, and the RCAP grant is $ million. And Chestnut Hill College is renovating the existing Greenfield mansion facility at 9220-9250 Germantown Avenue.

I think they purchased this from Temple 17 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS University -- I think they purchased the building from Temple University. And it's going to become a going to provide new classroom space for Chestnut Hill College and event space for both the students and the surrounding community. 5 million. I think I've lost track. Did I miss any? I think I've gotten them all. This concludes my testimony, and I request the Finance Committee's favorable consideration of these bills and ask that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading at the next regularly scheduled session of City Council. And I thank you for the opportunity to testify and for listening to all of these bills on one hearing schedule. I appreciate it very 18 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS much. And I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have about any of the projects.

Thank you very much. Are there any questions for Mr. Deegan on any of these bills? Councilwoman Tasco?

Did I hear you say that -- I missed -- I think it was 070170. Did I hear you talk about a car dealership on Broad Street?

That's going to be at the Roosevelt Boulevard and Bustleton Avenue intersection in Northeast Philadelphia.

Okay, thank you.

I believe it's in the 6th Council District, and it was something sponsored by -- I believe, State Senator Tartaglione's office sponsored it in the State budget. 19 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS And they are three vacant buildings, and I think they're having a deteriorating influence on the commercial section in the lower northeast, and this will renovate those buildings and provide -- you know, a new company will move in and provide jobs in the area.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Are there any further questions on any of the RCAP bills for Mr. Deegan? (No further questions.)

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman and members of the committee.

Certainly. We will now consider the PGW Capital Budget bill, Bill No. 070368. 20 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS We invite those willing to testify: Janet Parrish, Executive Director of the Commission; and Craig White, the Executive Vice President of Philadelphia Gas Works. Thank you very much. (Witnesses come forward.)

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chairwoman Blackwell and members of the committee. I'm Janet Parrish, the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Gas Commission.

Thank you very much. I neglected to read the title of the bills excuse me. Will the clerk please read the title of the bill.

Yes. Bill No. 22 070368, an ordinance approving the Fiscal Year 2008 Capital Budget provided for expenditures for the capital purposes of the Philadelphia 21 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS Gas Works, including the supplying of funds in connection therewith, subject to certain constraints and conditions; and acknowledging receipt of the forecast of capital budgets for Fiscal Years 2009 through 2013.

Thank you very much. Please continue, Ms. Parrish.

Thank you, thank you. And I appreciate the opportunity to be here today to present this testimony on behalf of the Philadelphia Gas Commission. We have, as usual, submitted our written testimony, and attached to that testimony is a copy of the Commission's resolution in order adopted at its April 25th meeting, which sets forth all of the Commission's recommendations with respect to PGW's capital budget for Fiscal Year 2008. The ordinance, or the proposed 22 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS bill before you, is a reflection of the Commission's recommendations in this matter. So, of course, we are here today to urge your support and approval of that bill and also are requesting a suspension of the rules so that first reading can occur at the next regularly scheduled session of Council. As you note, Mr. White, PGW's Acting Chief Operating Officer, seated to my left, has also submitted written testimony, which provides further detail on the capital budget itself. And I'd simply like to note that, as we indicate in both of our testimonies, the Commission this year has recommended a continuation and also an expansion of the framework that Council has approved for the past five fiscal years, according to which line-item transfers within the capital budget may take place, some at PGW's discretion intradepartmentally and others with the Commission's approval 23 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS interdepartmentally. And we are recommending some expansion of PGW's discretion in this regard on a trial basis for this fiscal year's budget, which will have the result of giving PGW increased responsibility for managing within each individual department. The Commission, of course, would continue to maintain oversight and would report to Council at the conclusion of the year as to our further recommendations. I would be happy to go into any further detail you might wish to her or answer any questions that you may have today. But with that, Mr. White also is available should you have questions of him. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Are there questions from 24 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - RCAP BILLS members of the committee? (No questions.)

Thank you very much. We will know, as is on your schedule, again, that the Biosolids bills, No. 060108 and 109, are recessed until Thursday, June 7th, at 9:30 a.m. Thank you.

Thank you. * * * 25 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070230

We will now here the City depository bill, Bill No. 070230, and we ask the clerk to read the title of the bill.

Bill No. 070230, an ordinance amending Chapter 19-200 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "City Funds - Depositories, Investments, Disbursements," by amending Section 11 19-201, entitled "City Depositories," by authorizing the City Treasurer to deposit funds in CitiBank, under certain terms and circumstances.

Thank you very much. We welcome our City Treasurer and ask him to identify himself for the record and begin your testimony.

Good afternoon I'm John Nacchio, Treasurer of the City of Philadelphia.

Thank you.

Just part of my 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070230 written testimony. Good day, Madam Chairwoman and members of the Committee Finance. I am John Nacchio, the City Treasurer for Philadelphia. I appreciate this opportunity to testify before you on matters related to City depositories, financial institutions authorized to accept City deposits. In this proposed legislation, CitiBank is being added to the existing list of ten authorized depositories. This proposed depository meets the four basic financial criteria required by the Philadelphia Code, which requires depositories to have at least $100 million in assets, been in business for the last five years, been profitable for the last two years, and are federally insured. This criteria assessment is conditional in that CitiBank would need to meet all of the criteria requirements to maintain annually its 27 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070230 depository status as set forth in Chapter 19-200 and 17-104 of the Philadelphia Code. There is no objection in the provision of the Philadelphia Code to add CitiBank as an authorized City depository. That concludes my written testimony.

thank you. Are there any questions for Mr. Nacchio?

Madam Chairwoman?

Yes, Councilman Goode?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon Mr. Nacchio.

Good afternoon.

In addition to the basic requirements that need to be met for City depositories, in 28 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070230 addition, has City bank responded to the requested information to give those depositories?

Yes. I've created an annual request for information from all City depositories, and they've completed that kind of application format for me and submitted information about their bank and financial institutions with their statements.

And does that information include anti-predatory lending information and community reinvestments goals?

There's a statement on both of those, yes.

Thank you.

Are there any further questions for Mr. Nacchio? (No further questions.)

Are you requesting a suspension of the 29 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070230 rules, sir?

Yes, yes, I am.

Thank you very much.

Okay. Thank you. * * * 30 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 0700049

The next bill is the claim checks and parking sticker bill, Bill No. 070049, and we will ask the clerk to read the title of the bill.

Bill No. 070049, an ordinance amending Section 19-1204 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "Books and Records," and Section 11 19-1205 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "Claim Checks and Parking Stickers," by no longer requiring the retention of claim check stubs, all under certain terms and conditions.

Would Miss Nancy Kammerdeiner of the Department please come forward. (Witness comes forward.)

Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Commissioner. Welcome, and please identify yourself and begin your testimony. COMMISSIONER KAMMERDIENER: 31 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 0700049 Good afternoon, Councilwoman Blackwell and members of the Committee on Finance. My name is Nancy Kammerdeiner, Revenue Commissioner, and I'm pleased to be with you to testify in favor of Bill No. 070049. As the title indicates, this bill would amend two sections of the code and would eliminate the need for parking tax operators to maintain claim-check stubs for six years subsequent to the year of the transaction. At one time, these claim-check stubs were used by the Department of Revenue in the audit of parking lot operators. With changes and technology and improvements in the books and records maintained by these businesses, the actual stubs are no longer an integral part of the audit process. The continued storage of these claim-check stubs places an unnecessary burden on the parking lot operators. 32 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 0700049 However, without these amendments to the code, the Department of Revenue could not waive the need for their retention as a part of the record. This concludes my testimony, and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Thank you, Commissioner. Are there any questions for Commissioner Kammerdeiner? (No questions.)

Are you requesting a suspension of the rules, Commissioner? COMMISSIONER KAMMERDIENER: That would be helpful so that this could be in place the next time our auditors go out to parking lot operators and we don't look for this.

Thank you very much. COMMISSIONER KAMMERDIENER: Okay, thank you. 33 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405

Certainly. The next bills are Bill No.'s 070387, the Community Development Block Grant; and NTI, the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative bills. So it's Bill No. 070387 and Resolution No. 9 070405. We will ask the clerk to please read the titles of the bills, and while he's coming forward, we're going to have testimony by those present and then answer questions, if that is okay with the members of the committee. And so I suppose what we'll do, then, is skip Mr. Hanna and Miss Eva Gladstein, have all of the other testimony come in, and then you can respond to all of the testimony you hear in addition to any questions members of this committee and members of Council may have. Is that satisfactory to everyone? Great. 34 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Then the first person here, after the clerk reads the title of the bills, is Veronica Pankey, if she's here.

Yes.

Thank you. Please come forward. And, Clerk, please read the title of the bill and the resolution.

Bill No. 070387, an ordinance authorizing the Secretary of Housing or his designee (Secretary of Housing) on behalf of the City, to file applications with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for a Community Development Block Grant CDBG (CDBG), to participate in the HOME Investment Partnership Program and the Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) Program; and for a Housing Opportunity for Persons With AIDS HOPWA grant; and with the Commonwealth to obtain grants under the act of April 12, 1956, P.L. 1449, 35 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Section 4, as amended, to prevent and eliminate blight, authorizing the Director of Commerce to use the Section 5 108 loan Guarantee program; and authorizing the Secretary of Housing and the Director of Commerce to enter into all understandings and assurances contained in such applications and take all necessary actions to accept the grants, all under certain terms and conditions. And Resolution No. 070405, a resolution approving the Annual Program Statement and Budget for the expenditure of the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI) bond proceeds for Fiscal Year 2008. (Witnesses come forward.)

Thank you very much. The Chair notes that we have many people, those as well as members of the union, many employees present and past who are here. We thank you 36 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 all for coming. We know we've had a long haul, and we regret those who have -- I'm sure Miss Pankey will deal with the issue -- those who are unemployed I see Mr. Wills sitting in front of us, and we thank you all for your continued interest and sacrifice over hard times and long days to this whole issue of housing reorganization. Good afternoon, Miss Pankey, President, Local 1971. Thank you for being here, and we're glad to see that you're well. Haven't seen you in a while.

Thank you. Good afternoon, Councilwoman Blackwell, members of the Finance Committee, and attendees.

Good afternoon.

And my name is Veronica M. Pankey, President of AFSCME Local 1971, District Council 33, 37 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 AFL-CIO. And this is our Vice President, Matthew J. Foster. We are here today speaking with regard to the Year 33 proposed consolidated plan and appealing to this committee and members of City Council to not support said plan as presented by the Office of Housing and Community Development, known as OHCD. Permit me to introduce to the members of this committee the work performed by AFSCME Local 1971 left union members and the agencies for which we work: The Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia, known as RDA; the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation, known as PHDC; and the Office of Housing and Community Development, known as OHCD. The Redevelopment Authority coordinates real-estate activity, and it acquires and disposes of properties for development purposes. It finances and oversees the development of housing 38 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 and rental projects undertaken by nonprofit and for-profit developers. It also issues debts to finance-specific projects and for programmatic purposes such as low-interest home-improvement loans. The Redevelopment Authority is, by State law, the only body in Philadelphia that can issue housing bonds and acquire land through eminent domain for the public good. PHDC administers the weatherization and basic system repair programs and oversees the rehabilitation services performed by contractors to income-eligible occupants. PHDC acts as developer for project, as directed by OHCD, and is responsible for the Home Ownership Rehabilitation, known as HRP, and is the Home Start Program, which involves the rehabilitation of homes for sale to income-eligible first-time home buyers. 39 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 It administers the adaptive modification program to eligible disabled citizens to afford them safe mobility throughout their home. It also manages and maintains a few low- to moderate-income scattered sites rental properties. OHCD is responsible for establishing housing and developing community development policy for the entire city housing agencies, setting priorities and coordinating planning efforts. It administers the housing budget and contracts with the Redevelopment Authority, PHDC, the Philadelphia Housing Authority, as well as subrecipient nonprofit organizations to conduct planning activities and perform service and support of the overall housing plan. As a result of the housing organization of 2006 in which 69 of our members were laid off, OHCD is 40 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. " Currently, a Vacant Property Review Committee advises the Commission of public property on the acceptance and disposition of City-owned properties. Currently, in accordance with Section 16-406 of the Philadelphia Code, the Redevelopment Authority disposes of properties. OHCD's ability to acquire this authority remains to be seen. On May 14, 2007, AFSCME Local 1971 received from OHCD the Year 33 Proposed Consolidated Plan. The budget, as presented, clearly depicted not only a decrease in allocation of CDBG and other funding resources, but also an unrealistic projection of 41 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 program income to be raised during the operating year July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008. 35 million less from their overall funding sources. What is unrealistic regarding programming income is, PHDC's primary source of generating such income is through the sale of its real estate inventory. Given its real estate department was dissolved with the 2006 layoffs and 30 of our union members and the implementation of a bogus housing reorganization, the only employed qualified staff are no longer available to market PHCD's inventory. 42 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES.

070405 Additionally, as it currently stands, those structures, which will be classified as prime, are being given to CDCs and other nonprofit entities for nominal consideration at the directive of this administration, as such leaving PHDC with little to nothing to sell at market rate, impeding its ability to generate the substantial monies for program income. The Redevelopment Authority primarily generates its program income through the sales of its assets. This has occurred over the past five years to assist in sustaining not only themselves but also shortfalls of PHDC and OHCD, as was the case in 2003 to avoid layoffs. Should such requirements or directives continue to be mandated, it is clear that in the not-so-distant future, there will be major financial woes for the Redevelopment Authority. OHCD has nothing, owns 43 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 nothing; therefore, does not have the ability to earn program income, waits in the winds, raking in the efforts of PHDC and RDA. And as a thanks, we get laid off, reorganized, no respect, no 7 recognition, no labor agreement, and no 8 cost-of-living increase. )

It is time for this administration to be held accountable for the decisions they make and the projections they forecast. Over the past five years, substantial budget deficits have been dealt to the housing industry, and these agencies have been direct targets; in particular, labor has been the outsource of resolving these deficits. Time and again, layoffs and staff reduction results in decreased productivity. However, this administration's annual completion projection for each program was increased over the previous 44 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 years with less staff to perform. In 2004, we were issued 28 layoffs; in 2006, 70 layoffs, early retirements, 5 and a bogus housing reorganization. 6 The desire of this 7 administration to achieve a savings for 8 which we have not been made aware of 9 the amount and to become more effective 10 and efficient, which, at this time, is 11 worse, has left these agencies in 12 shambles. There has been at least 13 seven housing reorganizations in the 14 past 32 years, and never has any been 15 as unorganized, disruptive, 16 non-productive, and unnecessary as this. (Applause.)

The deficits the housing industry continues to face should not be resolved on the backs of labor. It is the responsibility of this administration to find and supply a realistic source to the budgetary woes of PHDC, OHCD, and the 45 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Redevelopment Authority. The administration has the resources available, and that is the General Fund. At July 1, 2006, AFSCME Local 1971 watched the surplus of the General Fund grow, and not one penny was allocated to meet the shortfall of the $7.3 million deficit. This administration, rather, laid off 70 employees. A view across the nation shows that other large municipalities facing the very same deficits obtain assistance from their general fund. It is the position of Local 1971 that if such action is not permissible by City Charter, that the necessary steps be taken in order that monies be committed to the annual CDBG budget beginning with operating year July 1, 2007. While this administration to date has not given a definitive answer as to whether they are proposing 46 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 reductions in the current staffing level at the three housing agencies, it is the opinion and position of AFSCME Local 1971 that not one body can be afford to be lost specifically at PHDC and the Redevelopment Authority, and we look forward to the additional new 9 hires committed as a result of the 10 transfer ordinance. 11 People are needed to make the housing and blight elimination programs function. The current housing agencies have been understaffed for years, and despite what some efficient experts with no housing experience may think, we cannot get more work in this field out of fewer workers; there is a point of diminishing returns. AFSCME Local 1971 is extremely concerned about the employees we represent. We are exceedingly apprehensive about the future employment and working conditions of our union members. 47 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 We come before this committee, requesting assistance, and obtaining a commitment of fair treatment of employees by the City administration not only to finding other resources to offset the budget deficits but obtaining a fair contract. Their claim that it wants to work cooperatively with Local 1971 and to assure fair treatment of employees does not clearly demonstrate said desire. The evasive response to layoffs for Fiscal Year '08 and the numerous concessions regarding our contracts remain on the table, and no 17 cost-of-living increase is being offered after three years of production rendered. Local 1971 reiterates our desire to meet with the City administration to assume negotiation sessions and obtain a fair contract. Madam Chairwoman and members of the committee, on behalf of the 48 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 membership of Local 1971, I respectfully ask City Council not to approve this Year 33 proposed consolidated plan as presented; but rather, charge this administration to take the necessary steps to committing General Fund dollars to meet all, if not some portion, of this all and CDBG budgets presented for approval. We of Local 1971 District Council 33 thank you, Madam Chairwoman and the committees in City Council for your support. (Applause.)

Thank you, Miss Pankey and Mr. Foster. Let me say that we will ask Mr. Hanna to be prepared when he comes forward to respond to some of the issues mentioned and to let the committee know, given this housing reorg and all of the battles and the myriad hearings we've had in the past, how we are made better, how the 49 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 departments are working now, given the employment levels, and how housing production is now faring with -- given the housing reorganization. So we'll let you prepare to respond to those questions. If it is okay with the committee, unless there are some questions for Miss Pankey and Mr. Foster, thank you very much.

Thank you.

We're going to ask Rick Sauer, Executive Director of Philadelphia Association of CDCs to come forward. (Witness comes forward.)

Thank you very much. Thank you all for your patience. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Chairwoman Blackwell and members of Council.

50 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Excuse me one moment. I neglected to mention the presence of Juan Ramos, so all who are on the committee are present. Thank you.

Thanks. As I mentioned, my name is Rick Sauer, and I'm the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations. And as I think you all know, we're a citywide of CDCs and other housing and economic development work throughout the City. I'm going to keep my comments brief today, and there's three points in particular that I wanted to focus on. The first is around affordable housing; in particular, the need to if identify increased dedicated funding for the Philadelphia Housing Trust Fund. The trust fund's been operational now for about a year-and-a-half. 51 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 We've had a good track record of getting some funds out in the streets, but what we're seeing, which I think we already knew, is that the demand for those resources are way beyond what is available. As the price of buying a home in Philadelphia has gone up, as the cost of renting an apartment has gone up, there are more and more folks in need of adequate affordable housing. 7 million available. And while they did forward-commit some additional funds, that's not going to be a solution in the longer term. So there's a number of possible dedicated funding sources that 52 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 are out there that could be tapped into. The Housing Trust Fund Oversight Board is actually starting to give thought to this issue as well, and we would look to work with City Council to identify appropriate sources that can expand funding for the trust fund and enable the City to better address its affordable housing needs. Second is around neighbor economic development. We're certainly supportive of the effort to pass the bond funds to implement the Restore Philadelphia Commercial Corridor Initiative. Commercial corridors provide a critical role in our neighborhoods, not only to provide local access to goods and services and jobs, but they're the focal point; you know, sorts of the heart of many neighborhoods. And, unfortunately, through the last couple decades, we've seen a lot of these corridors decline dramatically. 53 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 So the infusion of the funds that City Council has approved will provide a big boost. Most of those dollars are sort of capital-oriented, doing streetscape improvements, things like that, which is very important. At the same time, we also know that it's important to have an entity on the ground that can sort of manage the process of improving commercial corridors, so it would be the facilitator or the coordinator of that effort. Many CDCs play that role as well as other organizations, and it's critical that there's also adequate operating support to carry out those myriad of activities that they're involved in if those revitalization efforts are going to be successful. So we certainly support the implementation of the bond ordinance, but we need to identify and ensure there's adequate operating support for 54 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 those groups as well, whether it's through the CDC tax credit program that Councilman Goode has been the leadership on before or whether it's more CDBG funds or whatever the source, we know that's important. Also, another critical issue around commercial corridor revitalization -- and it ties into the larger issue of safety and crime prevention in these neighborhoods -- is the whole issue of pedestrian-friendly lighting. There has not been strong support from the Streets Department in the past to put in more -- instead of the high street lights, the more pedestrian-oriented light to make our sidewalks and streets safer and more secure. Many groups are now tapping into funds elsewhere, whether from the State or from other sources that require a local match, and more groups are looking to implement the strategy 55 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 on a targeted commercial corridor basis.

So we need the support from City Council to work with the administration to get a good strategy in place to make sure that we can address this issue more effectively. And the final issue that I wanted to focus on is around property acquisition and disposition. We know, with NTI, there was a fairly substantial push to acquire properties, vacant properties, throughout the City. I think the City committed to acquiring over 6,000 such parcels, a number of those parcels have been acquired for projects that are already going forward. A number of other properties that have been committed to are still sort of stuck in the pipeline, and there are numerous reasons for that, we all know. But if we're going to be successful in actually redeveloping 56 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 these vacant properties and moving some projects forward, we need to expedite that process a little bit quicker. So we know that this has been an ongoing issue. Again, we're looking to work with City Council to figure out ways that we can better address this -- both the process issue but also the funding issue, because while each Council District had their own allocation of funds for acquisition and the City had another pool of funds available on a citywide basis to acquire property, as we all know, I think those funds are pretty much committed and expended. And while there's a slight bit more NTI money, I think, for acquisition in Logan Triangle for the upcoming year, pretty much all of the acquisition funds are tapped out, so the real question becomes: How do we support that critical activity as we move forward? 'Cause, as we know, if 57 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 we don't have land, if we don't have property, you can't build on it, and that's a key to the success of turning many of these neighborhoods around. So I want to thank City Council for their past support of housing and economic-development efforts, and we look forward to working with you in the future to address these key issues.

Thank you very much. Any questions for Mr. Sauer? (No questions.)

Thank you. Bernard Hawkins, Executive Director of PNHS, Philadelphia Neighborhood Housing Services. (Witness comes forward.)

Good afternoon. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Philadelphia Neighborhood 58 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Housing Services, PNHS, is one of the leading providers of services to low-income homeowners in the City of Philadelphia. Annually, through our contract with OHCD, PNHS provides low-income homeowners in our targeted neighborhoods and on targeted blocks with financial services and resources needed to maintain and improve their homes. PNHS's menu of service includes exterior facade treatment programs, in which qualified homeowners can receive subsidies for sidewalk and step replacement work; porch repairs; window and door replacement; roof repair; and new heating systems. These services improve the appearance of the community and the residents' quality of life. PHNS leverages public funds with homeowner reinvestment. With our programs and services, homeowners are required to pay a minimum of 20 percent 59 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 of the cost of their improvements. In addition, PNHS provides loans for home improvements through our Revolving Loan Fund and also through referrals to reputable conventional lending institutions. PNHS maintains partnerships with several banks in the City: PNC Bank, Commerce, Citizens, Beneficial, Wachovia, Nova, Sovereign, TD Bank North, and M&T Bank. These private institutions support PNHS's preservation and revitalization in west and southwest Philadelphia, providing programming support and access to capital. Another PHNS partner is State Farm Insurance Company, which supports PHNS activities by providing funding for our major systems repair program. Providing subsidies to low-income homeowners for plumbing, heating electrical, and roofing repairs. This private support allows 60 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 PHNS to deliver our services at a minimum cost to the homeowners while leveraging significant private investment. Over the past three years, federal budget cuts and other factors have resulted in funding cuts to PHNS which have dramatically our ability to continue to provide valuable and needed services to low-income homeowners, who would likely defer maintenance on these repairs, become victims of predatory lenders and contractors, or just continue to live in substandard conditions that could potentially present a risk to their health and safety while also becoming a blight on the neighborhood. The City of Philadelphia has made great strides in recent years, developing in new programs and financial resources to help those in need. We commend the City for these efforts. We, however, implore you not 61 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 to forsake a program that has consistently been working for well over 30 years. The current Year 33 plan calls for PHNS to receive 150,000 in the convenient improvements and model block program delivery funds. This number represents a reduction of (indiscernible) be reconsidered and that 50,000 of the reduced funds be restored. In Fiscal Year 2008, Philadelphia Neighborhood Housing Services will deliver community improvements and model block program services in the Cobbs Creek, Morris Park, and East Parkside neighborhoods of West Philadelphia. PHNS has demonstrated the capacity to deliver these services. Under our current contract, PHNS has committed all but $3700 of the 215,000 that was made available to us. Over $126,000 in improvements have already 62 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 been completed. Another 149 in improvements are under contract. This work has leveraged $75,000 in homeowner reinvestment. This program is working now and will continue to work for years as long as their funding is continued. I want to thank you for your time and attention, and I'll answer any questions.

Thank you very much. A very important program. Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown.

Thank you. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Where's Morris Park?

It's in the area from Market Street north to about Landsdowne Avenue and above 63rd.

63 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Over the past 30 years, have the boundaries changed at all?

Excuse me?

Have the boundaries of your program changed at all?

Yes. Our program originally started in the Frankford neighborhood. We've also operated in Fern Rock Ogontz Bellfield, Allegheny West, and other neighborhoods, Carol Park and Overbrook in West Philadelphia. Our model block program has serviced other neighborhoods. It originally was funded by the William Penn Foundation. There we worked with other community groups such as (indiscernible), WCRP, Francisville CDC, Allegheny West, and several other organizations, Fern Rock Ogontz Bellfield Community Development Corporation, PEC. So we've worked with a number 64 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 of other organizations in delivering our programs and services to the specific targeted blocks.

And so how do these organizations that you just mentioned ultimately end up in the mix of beneficiaries of your program?

They target blocks for the program services, they facilitate our relationships with the residents in the community, and our program, we deliver the actual services to the representatives there.

And approximately how many would you say families are served or blocks are served? What's the records of performance over the last couple of years?

In the last few years, we probably have varied somewhere in the neighborhood of about 75 to 100 families being served each 65 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 year. In terms of blocks, you might be looking at about a dozen blocks. Although we don't restrict some of our services to specific blocks, we will service people who have needs for roof repair and heating systems anywhere in the targeted area.

And so with this proposed reduction, what would be the impact?

The impact for us would that be many of the people who've already applied for services under our program will not be served; we won't have enough resources to serve them.

Which is, in many ways, typical that the need is always greater and stronger than the available resources.

That's true.

So are these new families, or is it a 66 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 practice to have repeat service to families?

We generally try to move on. We encourage families that participate in our program to take full advantage of all of the services that are needed that are available to them in a one-shot deal. Frequently, because of their contribution requirements, they're not able to do that. So people will, you know, have some work done one year and then attempt to come back in another year to have other work done. We discourage it. We encourage them to take out a loan if they need to to leverage all of the investment that's, you know, available to them at one shot. It doesn't always happen. Some of them are repeaters. Many of them are new home openers. We'll just be targeting the East Parkside area. That will be the first 67 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 year for the residents of three blocks in East Parkside.

Any partnering with -- I believe it's East Parkside CDC?

East Parkside Community Revitalization Corporation?

Yes.

Yes. We'll be working on three blocks in their area -- the 4200 block of Stiles, the 4200 block of Viola, and the 3800 block of popular.

Thank you for your testimony.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

You're welcome. Councilman Greenlee?

Thank you, Madam Chair. 68 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 As a follow-up to Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown's question, with this proposed $65,000 cut, have you determined, if that indeed happens, how you're going to decide which -- how you deal with that less money? In other words, what criteria you're going to use? Are you just going to cut down on the number? is the criteria going to be different? That kind of thing.

What we do, we have targeted blocks that we've made commitments to and also targeted neighborhoods. We serve people on a first-come-first-served basis. So these people who come in with their share of the project costs that are ready to execute their contracts, they're the ones who get served most immediately. On occasions where people have made service requests that we have not been able to address in the current contract year, we will extend our 69 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 services to that block for an additional year or more.

So the ones you've already had contact some with, you'll try to deal with first.

Yes.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much. Are there any further questions? (No further questions.)

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Good program. We just need more of you.

Thank you.

Mr. John Rowe, Executive Director Utility Emergencies Services Fund. (Witness comes forward.)

Good afternoon. 70 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405

Good afternoon, Madam Chairwoman. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

Certainly.

On behalf of our board, our staff, and the families that we serve and myself, I extend our appreciation to the Philadelphia City Council and the Office of Housing and Community Development for the support provided to UESF. Year 33 will be the 25th year that City Council and OHCD have continued to recognize the direct link between the energy and housing needs of low-income families. The support provided to you UESF through the Community Development Block Grant has played a major role in our ability to take a preventive approach to the problems of housing abandonment and homeless necessary. UESF has had an outstanding 71 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 record of service to the Philadelphia community. We leverage every dollar received from contributions with a dollar-for-dollar match from our three participating utility companies. In addition, PECO Energy, PGW, and the Philadelphia Water Department pay UESF's administrative costs. Since 1983, UESF has assisted almost 130,000 families not only to settle their utility bills but to achieve a new start. 7 million of grants and utility credits. UESF is a year-round program. We are the last resort for many during the non-heating months of the year. UESF provides financial assistance to families to pay utility bills, but UESF is not merely an income supplement program; our goal is self-sufficiency and independence. We are about solving the problem, not just 72 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 managing the problem. UESF assists only those who are shut off or who are in imminent danger of being shutoff. Participation in the program requires that families completely settle utility bills, resulting in a zero balance. Our maximum grant is $500, which is made up of $250 in contributions and $250 in utility-matched bill credits. If the bill is higher, to make up the difference, participants must seek help from other programs and pay the remaining balance themselves. Last year, the almost 4,000 families paid remaining balances, totaling over $123,000. UESF works to strengthen the process by which families gain access to energy and energy-related self-sufficiency services. Our strategy is to leverage the many services already available at the 73 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 community-based level. Our intake sites are a part of the larger nonprofit community organizations that provide various energy services such as LIHEAP, Crisis, Intake for Weatherization, Water Conservation, Energy Counseling, Weatherization Workshops, and referrals to utility universal-service programs. In addition to energy services, our intake sites provide many other needed stabilization services such as: Tenant counseling; default delinquency counseling; homeowner emergency mortgage assistance programs; anti-predatory lending; food, clothing and furniture assistance; individual development accounts; and workforce development. Families do not come back year after year; they must wait two years to receive our services again. Over the last five years, 73 percent of the families we served have not returned 74 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 for additional assistance. If we factor out those who are not permitted to return yet for the past two years, over 10,000 families remain independent and self-sufficient from UESF services at least for five years. Every year since 1938, we have chosen to be audited by top-tier accounting firms. The audits have all been excellent, with no findings of material noncompliance, and we have never had any of our costs questioned. There has never been a negative finding in our 24-year history. We have all seen that the cost of utility service can go up drastically, almost without warning. We have all experienced firsthand the rising cost of utility service. We all know firsthand how difficult it can be to pay our own utility bills. According to a study performed by the Energy Coordinating Agency, from 75 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES.

070405 1999 to 2006, the average low-income family's utility costs in Philadelphia rose by 71 percent -- from $2300 a year to over $4100 a year. The average family that we serve is made up of one female adult with between one and two children. Thirty percent of the families we serve derive income from employment. The average annual income of these families is $10,900. Families are struggling to exist financially and struggling to reach some level of self-sufficiency. Seven years ago, a low-income family paid 28 percent of its income for utilities; today, that same family pays 38 percent of its income. By way of a brief example: If a family is paying $340 a month for gas, oil, water, electric, $450 a month for rent or mortgage, what is left for everything else -- for clothing, transportation, food, telephone, child 76 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 care, taxes, Nyquil for a sick child -- is $27 per week for the family. That's about a dollar and a half per day for each family member. If utility and housing costs go up by percent, the arithmetic 8 would say that there would be nothing 9 left for anything else. Natural gas 10 prices have quadrupled, oil prices have 11 doubled, we are at war in the 12 oil-producing region of the Middle 13 East, electricity rates are directly 14 affected by the natural gas and oil 15 used to generate electricity. 16 Sub prime lending practices by 17 mortgage institutions have caused 18 housing payments to skyrocket and a 19 record number of foreclosures. 20 The problem is large. We see 21 no outlook for price relief. 22 Low-income families, moderate-income 23 families, middle-income families are 24 awe experiencing greater difficulty in 25 meeting utility and housing costs. 77 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 People suffer physically from the loss of utility service. More seniors die from the summer from the effects of heat and during the cold winter months. The very young and the very old are greatly affected by low temperatures. The Medical Legal Partnership for Children recently released its child health impact assessment, studying the longer-term effects of unmanageable utility costs. Number one. Since utility costs represent such a high percentage of a low-income family budget, families must choose to heat or eat; and even more appalling, to heat or adequately feed their children. The study clearly demonstrates that choosing to pay for energy costs over food has dire consequences for children: malnutrition, leading to increased illness; poor growth; cognitive and developmental deficits, leading poor school attendance and poor 78 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 performance. Number two. When alternative heating sources are used such as space heaters and stove burners, children are especially susceptible to contact burns, the long-term effects of carbon monoxide poisoning, and, of course, fires. And, lastly, as utility costs consume more of a family's budget, families are more likely to live in substandard housing. The children, again, are greatly affected by this. Substandard housing along with the associated rodent infestation, mold, water leaks, lead poisoning produce the long-term effects of increased asthma, increased risk of diarrhea, cognitive and developmental deficits and respiratory conditions. Overall, the child health impact assessment stated that the effects of not managing high utility costs caused in children mental and 79 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 physical problems, depression, anxiety, and behavioral disorders. UESF has experienced a decline in utility-customer contributions. They've represented about 50 percent of our budget, our budget about seven years ago, but it has decreased to about percent now. We have made up 10 about 50 percent of the losses in customer contributions by intensifying our fundraising efforts. With the increase in utility costs and the decrease in funding, the need for our services is increasingly vital.

Our income limit is 175 percent of the poverty level. At that level, about 220,000 Philadelphia families could qualify for our services. We could serve those families if we had the resources. And if not, utility shutoffs will increase, homelessness will increase -- homelessness is directly related to utility terminations, 80 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 neighborhoods will deteriorate with increasing housing abandonment. A recent study showed that in Philadelphia, after termination of electric service, 32 percent were abandoned within one year, percent 8 after termination of gas service. 9 UESF currently receives 10 $525,000 in OHCD funds. UESF has been 11 funded at this constant level since 12 1993. When this amount is matched with 13 utility-bill credits, we are able to 14 assist 2,400 Philadelphia families. 5 million 19 in utility bill credits to use as a 20 match for the funds which we raise from 21 many different sources, including OHCD 22 funds. 5 million due to a lack of 81 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 funding. UESF is requesting that OHCD increase its funding to UESF so that we can maximize the available matched so that we can serve those who are in need. For every $1,000 increase, UESF can help four families get a fresh start. We respectfully request an increase of $300,000. With that increase, we would be able to leverage an additional $300,000, and we would be able to assist an additional 1,400 families, a great many of whom may never come back for service because they will no longer need UESF. I thank you for the opportunity to submit this testimony.

Thank you very much. Are there any questions?

Yes, ma'am.

Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown? 82 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Let me first thank you for very your compelling testimony.

Thank you.

Has your funding remained constant since the inception, which, you say, was 1993?

Well, we've seen a drastic reduction in the contributions from the utility customers. There's a little chart on where back in 1997, for example, the amount of -- at the bottom of the page, the amount of contributions that we received from utility customers was in the neighborhood of $325,000 a year. As you see the downward slope of that, this year, it's in the neighborhood of around $70,000, less than a quarter of what it used to be. 83 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 There's been a dramatic decrease from contributions by the common utility customer. I'm sure there's a lot of reasons for it. There's a lot of other national emergencies that have happened where we have lost contributors and they've never come back. And also, customers are experiencing their own problems with utility bills.

Mm-hmm.

That's what I think What I know is, it has decreased, though, like that.

You mentioned on of your testimony a number of the partnerships you enjoy with others who are trying to make a difference for these families. On , you talk about the senior citizen community. What is the nature of the relationship with PCA, Philadelphia Corporation for Aging. 84 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405

We have a real strong proprietorship with PCA. I'm a member of their group that comes up with the programs for the elderly. A representative of PCA is on our board also.

So, are they one of the entities that assist with this leveraging you talked about earlier in your testimony?

In terms of the social services? We go more for the community-based organizations. I believe on the copy of the testimony that you have, on the back of it is a map.

Yes, I see it.

And what we do is, these organizations have been serving UESF for the past at least three years. I'm new as the executive director; I've been around for about two-and-a-half months. 85 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 And we try to -- we put one group in as an emergency basis out in the Strawberry Mansion area because we weren't covered geographically. We're not covered in the Germantown area, and we lost a site there. We will have an RFP that will go out to make sure that we adequately cover the entire city. We tend to go for the community-based organizations that have roots in the community. PCA is not one of those, but some of the intakes sites for PCA are shared by us; I don't know which ones, but they are.

Okay. Do you seek any foundation support at all?

We have had support from two foundations in the past two years -- the Philadelphia Foundation and the William Penn Foundation. We've put together an active fundraising plan where we will go after more foundation support and we'll go 86 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 after some of the corporate community. We have a database of individual donors who did contribute at the $70,000 level, and we will solicit them also. We have an active plan to go after anything we can really.

Okay. You give a lot of discussion to what happens with children when their needs are not met. What are the linkages with CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance Program?

We don't have a relationship with CHIP.

Okay. I mention that because I think that when you list and consider the issues raised here around children, it could play an important role in filling that gap.

Part of what I intend to do is to partner with a variety of organizations that have common needs that we have, and what we 87 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 would do is that we would do joint proposals perhaps. This is an idea that we're entertaining now. So that the need of that organization and the need for UESF could be fulfilled at the same time. We have not considered CHIP. It's something that we would do, though. It's just -- my plate has been full for the last ten weeks or so.

Sure, sure.

But there have been other health organizations that we've talked with, and perhaps an idea would be to dedicate some of the services to their customers and, at the same time, make that kind of proposal attractive to a funder for whatever services are offered by the health organization.

Sure. And then, finally, you mentioned on of your testimony that -- at least you allude to the fact that every 88 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 dollar raised is matched.

Yes.

Every dollar raised is matched?

Every dollar raised is matched. There's an agreement with the utility company. What typically happens is that a customer will come into the Friends Neighborhood Guild as one of our intake sites. And if the bill is perhaps $600, we would solve that by paying $250 from our own contributions, including the OHCD amounts of $525,000. The other $250 would come from a utility credit in terms of forgiving the bill. And the maximum that we can do is $500. And then the other $100 would have to come from some other source. We'll do more than that, though, because we're trying to get away from just being a financial assistance program. We'll make a 89 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 referral for the same customer perhaps to a utility -- a universal services program because if we merely give the financial assistance without look looking at what the cause is, that family will go back and still have that bill of $175 a month, and that's the exact situation that brought them to this crisis mode. If they went on a universal services program, if it's possible, then perhaps their bill could go down and get down to maybe $25, $30 a month, say, if it's a PECO bill, and their arrearage could be sort of frozen for a while and perhaps forgiven. And then we would still have that same UESF grant for someone else, so we're cautious about that.

Well, thank you very much your testimony.

Thank you very much. 90 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405

Thank you very much. Are there any further questions? (No further questions.)

Mr. John Gallery, Preservation Alliance. (Witness comes forward.)

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon if the committee would indulge me in a moment of nostalgia. The last time I testified on the Community Development Block Grant was Year 5. (Laughter.)

The hearings went three to four hours. And, in fact, there were substantial reasons for that. One was a member of City Council who usually sat to the Chair's right, Councilman Lucien Blackwell, who 91 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 was one of my most vigorous critics, and I usually had seated about two rows back in the audience a very young housing activist attorney from North Philadelphia named John Street. It's wonderful to see that the block grant has continued and continued to serve the important purposes of helping lower-income people. I'm here today just to make a few comments about a portion of the program that is funded from the NTI parts of this budget and, that is the Historic Property Repair Program. This program was begun in Fiscal Year 2006 with an appropriation from NTI and with the support of City Council. And the objective of the program is to assist low- and moderate-income homeowners who live in historically designated properties or in historic districts to be able to make repairs to their properties that meet the standards that they are 92 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 required to meet as an owner of an historic property. Preservation Alliance administers this program for OHCD and NTI. Of the original million-dollar grant, we have expended or have commitments to work in progress of $700,000. We have been able to leverage that with contributions from the individual property owners, which represent about percent of the 13 grants. And in addition to that, we 14 received a $100,000 grant from the 15 National Trust for Historic 16 Preservation to also support the 17 program. 18 The program has been very well 19 received. We have more applicants than 20 the funds that are currently available. 21 The work has occurred in properties 22 throughout the City, and we believe 23 that the continuation of the program 24 fills a very important and very special 25 need of low- and moderate-income 93 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 homeowners who do live in historic properties. We also believe that the additional funding proposed in the NTI budget may also lead us to obtain an initial grant from the National Trust to help support a continuation of the program. So I'm very supportive and very appreciative of the OHCD and NTI commitment to this program and also to City Council for appropriating the funds, and I hope you will approve the budget and allow this program to continue. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Gallery. Maybe I've been too easy on you since Lou was a critic; do you think? (Laughter.)

Any questions from members of the 94 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 committee? (No questions.)

Thank you very much. Bob Grossman, Associate Director, Philadelphia Green. Mike Groman, Senior Director, Philadelphia Green. (Witness comes forward.)

Good afternoon, thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone. Mike Groman here. Bob Grossman, unfortunately, couldn't make it today, so I'll speak for everybody at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Thank you, Councilwoman --

Thank you.

-- for having us here and the opportunity and all the members of the committee. You should have copies of my 95 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 testimony. I passed it out to John, so I think he's doing that now. And what I'll do is, I'll try to truncate my testimony and keep it as short and impactful as possible here and efficient. The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, through its Philadelphia Green Program, promotes greening as a vital part of the City of Philadelphia's ongoing revitalization. And over the past three decades, with significant investment from the Office of Housing, through community block grants, and, more recently, throughout the Mayor's Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, Philadelphia Green has demonstrated that greening not only improves the quality of life in the City's neighborhoods but also strengthens community bonds and attracts investment and also creates community wealth. We very much appreciate the support and have put these resources to 96 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 good use. And, more importantly, we've been able to leverage City dollars into significant support from foundations, businesses, and other entities in the private sector. All of our public funding for the Philadelphia Green programs is about 40 percent so about 60 percent of our finding is from private sources, which we think is fairly significant. So let me move on and talk a little about how the resources that we hope to receive this year through Fiscal Year '08 will be spent. And one of the things that we were looking to pursue is this thing called "a green city strategy," and basically what that is, it's a major and significant investment in the City's green infrastructure. So just as you have streets, roads, buildings, utilities as infrastructure, we talk about parks, trees, and open space as part of the green infrastructure of the 97 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 City of Philadelphia, which means ongoing investment, ongoing care in order to create quality of life in the City's neighborhoods. So this is really a seven-point programs, and let me go through the seven points, and these are the areas that are going to take the major investment. Number one is managing vacant land as a community asset. And this is where most of the dollars for NTI will be focused. So since Fiscal Year 2004, over 5,000 vacant and blighted parcels of land have been cleaned and greened with grass, trees fencing; and others are being maintained on a regular basis. We have this thing called "Community Land Care Project" that actually hires community organizations to go out and continue to maintain the sites that were cleaned and greened by the City of Philadelphia to keep the 98 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 weeds down, to remove the trash, so there's an additional 2500 lots there that have been taken care of in that way. This project not only engages community organizations in this process but also has the added benefit of hiring 80 Philadelphia residents to partake in this, so we think it's a good sort of employment program for the neighborhood of the City of Philadelphia. So in this coming year, Fiscal Year 2008, Philadelphia Green plans to maintain the existing 5,000 stabilized vacant parcels and clean and green an additional 600 parcels out there in the neighborhoods and select another community organization to participate in our Community Land Care Program. Number 2 is, part of the program is to support the development of community-managed green spaces. Philadelphia is known for its community 99 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 gardens. Philadelphia Green is producing community gardens throughout the City for the past 30 or so years. They've become very important spaces in the City of Philadelphia. They're very important to the people that live there. They also help to promote security and safety in the neighborhoods.

And when you talk about private investment, we've been to secure a large grant for the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation to produce this program called "City Harvest," and City Harvest is a partnership between the Philadelphia prison system, about 18 community gardeners out there, and the 19 Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and 20 an organization called "Share," which 21 is a food distribution system, to grow 22 out fresh produce and distribute it to 23 those who are need in our city's 24 neighborhoods. 25 So this year, we've actually 100 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 grown 7500 pounds of produce, which has been distributed, and our goal for next year is 9,000 pounds of produce, so we're very excited about that program. Number 3 is to promote and invest in what we called "a localized approach" to storm-water management. And as you're probably familiar, in the City of Philadelphia, we do have a combined sewer system which frequently overflows and sends untreated waste into our rivers and streams. So we've been working closely with the Philadelphia Water Department to test out an experiment on vacant lots and the neighborhood parks to actually create them as sponges for storm water to eliminate some of the localized flooding problems and help that storm water infiltrate back into the ground, where it needs to be. So we're going to expand that program, we're going to have some additional funding from the 101 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Philadelphia Water Department, and, hopefully, we're going to come up with some great, creative ways to manage the storm water in the City of Philadelphia. Number 4 is to revitalize our neighborhood parks, and research is out there that shows, you know, great parks mean great neighborhoods. If you have a bad park, it means a very bad neighborhood. So we're going to continue with what we call our Philadelphia Green Park Revitalization Program. It's been around about 14 years. We are working now in close partnership with the Department of Recreation and the Fairmount Park Commission to target 80 neighborhood parks throughout the City. It's a great program, it's very popular, and we're going to continue to do improvements of parks, host community events around parks, and work to do some training and build the 102 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 capacity of the parks' volunteers so that they can be good stewards of their neighborhood parks. Number 5 is to support the development and management of the City's urban forest. Trees are very important to the urban environment not only environmentally but socially. And so we are now -- and one of the things to note is also we've just recently completed a study that says that planting street trees in the City of Philadelphia actually increases the values of the homes on that block by about 10 percent. So that's pretty significant. So we are now a major nonprofit partner with the State's Treevitalize Program, and we're working in partnership with the Fairmount Park Commission, and we've planted over 2,000 trees in 19 neighborhoods throughout the City of Philadelphia since 2004, which is pretty 103 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 significant. And in the coming year, what we intend to do is, we will work with NTI and use this funding to plant an additional 600 trees on vacant lots, plant 200 street trees in commercial corridors throughout the City, and provide maintains to 300 maintenance mature trees scattered throughout the City. Number 6 is to invest in our civic landscapes, and you may have seen recently since last fall the major transformation of the landscape of the swan fountain at Logan Square, and we did that in partnership with the Fairmount Park Commission, with funding from Pew Charitable Trusts. It's a great spot and it gets a lot of great people out there now.

So we're saying that we will continue to raise private dollars to improve and manage these landscapes throughout the City such as the Art Museum, the Azalea Garden, Penn's 104 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Landing, the cover parks over I-95 and Society Hill, and many other high- profile spaces that really identify Philadelphia as a world-class city. And, finally, number is to 7 help to implement Green Plan Philadelphia. And Philadelphia Green has partnered with the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, the Managing Director's Office, and the City Planning Commission to support the creation of Green Plan Philadelphia, which is, as far as we know, is first -- the City's first comprehensive open space program. Philadelphia Green has managed a community-engagement process which involved all twelve planning areas throughout the City of Philadelphia. We had over 350 residents come out to talk to us about what their hopes, dreams, desires, and issues were about open space in the City of Philadelphia. And over the next year, we 105 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 will host additional community engagement sessions to share the preliminary plans that are coming out and also to get additional feedback before Green Plan is finalized by the end of the year. So that sort of winds up my testimony. But, again, I want to say that the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society is very grateful for the long-term support provided for its Philadelphia Green Program through OHCD and NTI. We look forward to continuing our work in the neighborhoods, using greening as a community development tool, and we also look forward to do expanding our impact and building on the landmark investment that's been made to date through the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative in open space revitalization. We hope this green city strategy holds tremendous promise for 106 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Philadelphia's continuing revitalization. So thank you very much for your support. )

Thank you very much. Are there any questions? Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown?

Thank you. Good afternoon.

Hello.

I want to compliment you on the number of partners you've engaged in all the work that you do. Speak more about what you're doing with the Philadelphia prison system.

This has been an interesting partnership and one that we would have never envisioned until we received from this Albert M. Greenfield. We're working with the prison 107 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 up on State Road. And they have -- originally had a greenhouse that was funded many, many years ago to produce some similar type program where they would grow plants out to distribute to the community. And, unfortunately, because of lack of funding from the prison system, the greenhouse fell into disrepair and was no longer functional. So we sought them out, we knew that there was a problem up there. We also saw this other organization called "Share," which runs a number of food cupboards throughout the City.

Very familiar.

And we started to put two and two together and said, what if we just took some of this money and revitalized the greenhouse up there, worked with the prisoners who are there to grow out additional plants, which are then transferred to community gardens in this city, the community 108 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 gardens grow out the extra produce, and then it's given to share, and they distribute it to the food cupboards. It's not only been a great way to revitalize that greenhouse, but it's been a great way to revitalize people and spirits up there who are in the prison system. And they love it, they love the project. And we, fortunately, have received another year of funding to support the program, and we're going to hopefully continue with it throughout this next year.

So take a leap. What are the criteria for the Philadelphia Flower Show participants?

For the flower show participants or for the program participants?

Those who ultimately exhibit at the flower show? 109 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405

Oh, oh, oh, I see. Are you trying to make the connection between the prison and the flower show?

I am, I am.

Well, we tried to make that connection this year and we thought it would be a great idea to get the prisoners connected to the flower show just to help them see what greening is all about. And we actually organized something and had a bus tour come with the prisoners. And, unfortunately, when we got there, we ran into some problems with security from the Convention Center. Long story short: We were able to make a number of negotiations, we were able to make sure that we could take the chains off of the prisoners; we didn't require that, which was unfortunate that they were even 110 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 required to have chains. And we had a professional guided tour for them to go through early in the morning to actually get inspired and see what the flower show is all about.

Mm-hmm.

So we're hoping that some day, you know, particularly when some of the prisoners are released or maybe there's a program that can be hatched out of the prison system that they may be able to exhibit in the flower show, and I think that that would be a great idea.

That's where I'm headed, yes, because the mix of those who exhibit at the flower show is rich and is very diverse.

Absolutely.

And it really should include people 111 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 from all walks of life.

Absolutely.

Okay. Thank you for your testimony.

Sure. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

If there are no more questions, the next witness is Will Gonzales, Executive Director of CEIBA. (Witness comes forward.)

Thank you. Feel free to identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.

My name is Will Gonzales, and I am the Executive Director of CEIBA, a coalition of Latino community-based organizations in Philadelphia. We thank you very much for providing us with the opportunity to testify today. 112 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 The members of CEIBA are the (indiscernible) Federal Credit Union, Centro (indiscernible), (indiscernible) de Philadelphia, the Norris Square Civic Association, and Nueva Esperanza. We testify here regarding the Office of Housing and Community Development's Year 33 Consolidated Plan. We are happy to see in the plan that OHCD will continue to work on housing development projects in the Latino community with organizations like (indiscernible), APM, the Norris Square Civic Association, and Nueva Esperanza. We have a limited amount of time today, so we want to focus on remarks to a number of areas where we would like to see further improvements in the plan. They relate mostly to homeownership. We are glad that the housing market in Philadelphia is flourishing today in comparison to what the market 113 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 was like at the turn of the 20th century. That blessing, however, has created some challenges in the area of housing affordability and the preservation of homeownership for working families. We are glad to see a modest increase in funding for neighborhood and citywide housing counseling, but we are disappointed in seeing a $300,000 cut in settlement grants. As the prices of homes go up, the importance of settlement grants increases. We understand that the settlement grant assistance provided under the program is modest, $800, but it is a very good bait to get buyers to come in for housing counseling. The size of the OHCD settlement grant has not been increased for over ten years. Instead, the grant amount was reduced from what it was at one time, $1,000. Over the last ten years, however, housing values in the 114 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 City have quickly outpaced what many of our residents can afford. 8 percent over the same period. We respectfully request a restoration of the $300,000 to the Settlement Grant Program of OHCD. 8 percent of Latino households are owner -occupied in the City. The increase in home prices and the threats from a foreclosure crisis are a big threat to our community. But we have one more thing to worry about in order to protect some of the gains that we have already made in terms of homeownership: We need effective and responsive basic system repair and weatherization programs. The plan's proposed elimination of $619,000 in weatherization and basic 115 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 system repair program tier II is not good. Philadelphia has an old housing stock. For example, one third of Latinos live in homes built prior to 1940, and over 60 percent of them live in homes built in 1959 or earlier. While we welcome the increase in money allocated to the Weatherization Assistance Program, we feel that these are Band-Aid repairs compared to the ones offered through the BSRP Tier II Program. Some of our older homes need a lot more than caulk on the windows; they need total systems replaced and repaired. Our homes are deteriorating, and because of that, residents in the City are paying more for health care and home energy. The inability of poor families to meet the demands of repairs for their older homes is fueling a tide of gentrification. We would like to see money for the Weatherization and 116 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Basic System Program Tier II restored and the efficiency of all home repair programs improved. You know well about the problems of the long wait that clients face to go through the program and the problems that the limits on the size of grants pose for clients whose old homes need sizable repairs. One problem that also needs attention is the need to fix and ensure that language is not a barrier for people who do not speak English.

Spanish-speaking families in the City have difficulty accessing and getting grants under the home repair programs. 7 percent of BSRP funding was spent in the American Street Empowerment Zone last year. We believe that language barriers to that inequity, and we respectfully ask that OHCD ensure that non-English-speaking people have full access to all of its programs. 117 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 We have heard anecdotal evidence from applicants to the programs that when inspectors from the program come to their homes to assess their property's needs -- not only inspectors, but also contractors, when they come to their home, there are problems communicating, and important matters are lost in translation. A report entitled "Pursuing Equitable Community Development in the American Street Empowerment Zone," prepared by (indiscernible), in collaboration with the Reinvestment Fund, offers a good insight into the shortcomings of the various housing preservation programs in the City and offer solutions to address them. We refer to you that report. Latinos have been priced out of Spring Garden, they have priced out of Northern Liberties, and they are on the path to being priced out of a number of other surrounding 118 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 neighborhoods in Philadelphia. While gentrification has the potential to bring some benefits to the City and its neighborhoods, there needs to be institutional mechanisms in place to ensure that the residents who endured sacrifices to protect their communities that are being gentrified are not punished or pushed out for their good work. There's a lot more that we can talk about relating to the plan, but in the interest of time, we will cut our remarks short and attempt to follow up later if we see a need to. Thank you for attention. We hope that we can work together to address these concerns. Gracias.

Thank you very much. Councilman Greenlee?

Thank you, Madam Chair. 119 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Mr. Gonzales, when you talk about the language problems, you know, particularly with the home repairs and all, have you had discussions with OHCD people about that? and if so, any kind of response?

Well, preliminary discussions but nothing that we've gone deeply in. We've testified on this on previous plans. We have done some work around Title 6. As you know, there is a requirement that every entity that receives federal funding must ensure equal access based on language. We've devoted more of the time in dealing with other departments in the City. We're looking forward to working this year with OHCD on that.

Any kind of -- rough kind of numbers of how many people you feel have somehow gotten lost because of the language problem? particularly focusing in on the home 120 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 repair thing, which is obviously very key, you know, to be able to stay in your home.

Well, I referred you to that report by Mr. Wilson. He tried to take a chunk of the City, a relatively small chunk, which was the American Street Empowerment Zone area, and tried to study that deeply. He did have some difficulty in terms of getting that full picture of the number of people. We hope that we can work with OHCD in the coming year to get that type of information that he needs not only for that area but for larger areas. No, we don't have large set numbers. We're basically dealing with anecdotal evidence with clients that come to our office.

Mm-hmm. All right, okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. 121 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405

Thank you. Councilman Ramos?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Along those lines, I think there is probably a bigger -- a broader problem, and that is that the people new immigrants, particularly Spanish-speaking people but not exclusive to the Spanish-speaking, that they don't know about these programs, they really don't. And that has been my experience here in City Council that the overwhelming majority of people that come through my office -- close to 7,000 people have come through my office, and they do not know of these programs. And I know we do a decent job advertising and trying to get the public to know about this program. But a new growing community such as the Spanish-speaking community, 122 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 these programs are not known, and I think we need to do more in getting this -- these programs known throughout the City and particularly in those areas that you mention -- east of Broad Street, where there's a vast Hispanic community and other languages. I live in a community where a lot of people from different parts of the Arab world are living, and they need to know about these programs as well. So I think that would be a good thing to work out OHCD, you know, outreach, you know, to your particular community, right?

Yeah, it's with one -- (Indiscernible, parties talking over each other.)

... were to access the program, what does the program offer, and then on the other end, on your point, you know, just to have bilingual personnel, or 123 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 multi-lingual personnel to be able to make these programs available to the people of Philadelphia.

Yes, that would help a lot, but there's also a more nefarious, disgusting problem with that; and that is that those who do now about it and do apply for the grant are put on long waiting lists, and that is one thing that has plagued the program for many years. I think that facing what is going on in Philadelphia in terms of affordable housing, that there is a need to say (using Spanish phrase), stop now. We're going to try to fix this program and finally make it work. And at this point, the small amount of money that is allocated for it, plus there's a need to put more money into it and put more money per grant for these programs. So I hope that we look at this plan as the last year that we run the 124 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 program like this and that we look forward to really instituting a very good Basic System and Weatherization Program for the aging housing stock in this city, one of the oldest cities in this country.

Thank you very much. Are there other questions? (No further questions.)

Liz Robinson, ECA.

Thank you. (Witness comes forward.)

After Liz will be Judy Robinson. Is there anyone else who would like to testify? Thank you very much.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, Councilwoman Blackwell and members of the committee. 125 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 I am Liz Robinson, and I'm the Executive Director of the Energy Coordinating Agency, or ECA. ECA provides comprehensive energy services, specifically energy conservation, home repair, bill payment assistance, and education services to more than 25,000 low-income households every year. These services are funded by federal, state and local government, local utilities, corporations, and foundations. ECA's citywide network of neighborhood energy centers create a lifeline of service, connecting thousands of low-income households to public and private assistance, resolving utility disputes, restoring thousands of households who have been shut off, and teaching people how to manage their scarce sources more skillfully to ensure that they keep their water, electricity, and heating service on year-round. 126 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 As energy costs continue to climb, this job gets harder every year. Utility terminations are on the rise, affecting not only low-income families but also moderate-income people. In fact, last year, for the first time across Pennsylvania, there were more terminations among low-moderate-income people than among low-income households. This suggests that our low-income energy-assistance programs are serving to protect low-income households but that those just above the eligibility thresholds have no 17 protection from rising prices. This will only continue as energy costs continue to rise. In Philadelphia, the rate cap on electricity will expire in 2010. Conservative projections are that rates will rise percent. If surrounding 24 states are any guide, the rate hike 25 will be closer to 70 percent. Imagine 127 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 what that will do to our local economy. Philadelphia needs to start investing in its own energy future. Energy conservation is the cheapest and cleanest energy resource. As such, an old city in which virtually every building is leaky, underinsulated, and has old, inefficient heating appliances and lighting, energy conservation is also an abundant resource in Philadelphia. We need to start harvesting this energy conservation resource and start saving the tens of millions of dollars we're currently wasting every year. I thank OHCD for increasing the ECA's contract for the neighborhood energy centers this year. This increased funding will enable us to expand our network and meet even more of the pressing need. A key service that ECA has been providing for many, many years is the Heater Hotline Program. Through Heater 128 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Hotline, we repair almost 4,000 heating systems every year. We're also able to replace just a handful of systems. Heater Hotline is essentially a lifeline to low-income homeowners throughout the City. ECA has been funded at the same level since 2000. During that time, the number of households served has risen each year from 3,864 in 2002 to 4,923 last year. ECA's also modified this program, introducing some measures to conserve energy in addition to repairing heating systems. Thus, through Heater Hotline, we are helping people lower their energy costs. As you may imagine, in the last four years, labor costs, health insurance, Worker's Comp, gasoline, materials, and many other costs of providing the Heater Hotline Program have steadily climbed. As our budget remains flat, it becomes increasingly 129 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 difficult for us to keep up with rising demands. The other program which desperately needs to be refunded year is the Energy Conservation Workshops. ECA has received a grant for the last two years to do weatherization workshops citywide.

These workshops have reached thousands of people in every neighborhood across the City, teaching them how to install basic weatherization materials in their homes, and then giving them a starter kit of weatherization materials. These workshops have been extremely popular. This year, we're asking OHCD to fund this effort earlier in the year rather than waiting for the holidays to get started. In this way, we can do much better planning and even run a train-the-trainers program through our neighborhood centers to train skilled presenters in many neighborhoods across the City. 130 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Thank you very much very, very much for the opportunity to testify, and I'd be happy to answer any of your questions.

Thank you very much. Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown?

Thank you. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Did you have an opportunity to hear the testimony of the Utility Emergency Services Fund?

Yes, I did.

Is there any opportunity to complement each other in the work that you do? since it appears, at least on paper, that for sure, you're serving the same population.

Exactly. Yes. Most of the neighborhood energy centers are also UESF intake sites. 131 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405

Okay.

We do coordinates very closely. And the energy-services delivery system is actually very well coordinated in Philadelphia.

Okay.

We are trying -- John and I are talking about doing even more at UESF sites around budget counseling, which is really, you know, financial literacy is a greatly needed service.

Can you give me an example of what you mean when you say that Philadelphia needs to start investing in its energy future?

Yes. Thanks for asking. Energy. Conservation is, by far, the cheapest form of energy. So, for 132 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 example, I'll just give you a real-life example. In this room, the lights that are in the ceiling, these are probably incandescent lamps. If you were to change these lamps out to compact fluorescent lamps, you would drop the energy cost for lighting this room by 75 percent. You would receive a payback of less than six months. So this kind of opportunity is abundant in Philadelphia. We are, as you know, a very old city with old buildings with old equipment, old every. Energy technologies right now can cut energy consumption in our existing buildings cost-effectively by more than 40 percent, and that's with a payback of less than five years. As energy costs rise, in comparison, energy conservation gets cheaper and cheaper and cheaper. So the cost of delivered energy conservation in Philadelphia is about 2-and-a-half cents per kilowatt hour in 133 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 comparison to what PECO charges us, which is cents per kilowatt hour, 4 just to give you a sense of the 5 relative cost. 6

7 Sure. So is there any organized 8 strategic way of informing consumers of 9 that? I mean, just that fact alone, 10 how many owners of old buildings in 11 this city know that? 12

That's a 13 huge -- you've hit the nail right on 14 the head. 15 The reality is that most Americans know very little about energy and would love to learn more and are really eager. You know, they're kind of desperate for this information. The federal government, as you know, has been doing nothing on this score for years, and it's really left to the local level. Both PGW and PECO have begun educating customers a bit about energy 134 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 conservation, but, you know, we really need to do a vast amount of education to give people the right tools to help them reduce their consumption. This is the single biggest wealth opportunity waiting to be tapped in the City. It's huge.

Is there a coordinated effort between PGW and PECO?

No, there is not.

And the reason for that would be...?

I honestly don't know. I don't know the reason for that.

Okay. Thank you very much for testimony.

You're welcome.

Councilman Greenlee?

Thank 135 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, Ms. Robinson.

Good afternoon.

You talk about the low-moderate-income person that's probably above the limits to get direct help. Does your agency still deal with those people as far as advice, you know...

Yes. We provide -- we have a -- well, just to be clear about this, all of the low-income programs use 150 percent of poverty. So services to people below that level are free.

Mm-hmm.

If you make 151 percent of poverty, you have no free services. There are now a couple of loans, low-interest loans. Citizens Bank has a percent loan, the State has backed an energy loan. And we provide service to anybody regardless 136 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 of income on a fee-for-service basis; we charge people who are not low-income for conservation. But there really are not yet the right tools and the right education out there that, in order to get this market moving, specific tools needs to be created.

What do you mean by that?

The cities across the country that are most successful have a zero-interest loan program. They have robust education, public education efforts, they have low-interest loans for mortgages so that on an energy-efficient building, the interest rate would be lower. They have requirements when a building changes hands that the building be brought up to energy codes. Philadelphia could be doing a great deal more for new construction now that we really have a building boom 137 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 going on in the City. New construction could be required to be much more energy-efficient in order to earn the tax abatement. So there are many, many tools that we could be looking at and creating to spur energy efficiency in the City that will make the City much more competitive over the long term.

That's interesting. Very good.

More to come. Thank you so much.

Right, thank you.

Thank you very much. Miss Judith Robinson? And if there's no one else after this, we will ask Kevin Hanna and Eva Gladstein and others from our housing agency to come forward and respond to some of the issues we raised earlier and to make your testimony. 138 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 (Witness comes forward.)

Good afternoon. Thank you for your patience.

Good afternoon. Please bear with me. I understand we are combining two -- or one resolution 9 and one bill?

Yes.

So bear with me because I planned to testify on both. Good afternoon. My name is Judith Robinson, and I'm here to testify on Bill No. 070387 and also 070405. Wow. It's been a long time. The first time I ever heard about community block development grant funds, it was Citizen John Street oh so many years ago. I was a young mother, not even in -- I wasn't in the real estate business at that time, not just yet, and at home, trying to raise my daughter, hearing John Street and his 139 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 brother, Milton, on WHAT, Mary Mason Show, talking about the community development block grant funds. But I was subscribing to Philadelphia Magazine. And in 1979, I received this magazine in my mailbox, "The Hot New Neighborhoods: Come On Back," and it has a nice ethnic family sitting on the step, and it's talking about various neighborhoods. Come, come back. A whole nice article about the various neighborhoods, had maps, et cetera. I kept subliminally, I guess, remembering that, and I kept it in my archives. It's an interesting story. I want all of this to go in the public record, please, so maybe someone in the future like my granddaughter won't be as confused about just how this planning and housing and all of this kind of comes together. I always knew that federal funding and housing dollars and urban 140 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 renewal takes a long time when you're dealing with government, but this is a very interesting story. I remember blabbing to all of my friends about, wow, they're even talking about coming on back all the way back to North Philly, where we live, y'all, up to Brewerytown, Brewerytown, all the way uptown. So I want all of that to go in, and maybe it will be good reading for someone. That was in June of 1979. In October of 1979, October, there -- another Philadelphia Magazine came in my mail, and it asked the question, Is Philadelphia going black? Okay? I brought that too for you all to research if you choose to. I was wondering, and I probably have been sounding a little angry as I have come down here to testify in years, but fast-forward to the future. I realize those two covers and 141 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 those stories that I read years ago were sticking in my mind, they were bothering me; it was something about them that was bothering me. As I looked at the housing budget and started to pay more attention, I got in the real estate business -- it was like six years after this. I didn't realize that this had anything -- I didn't no consciously that this had anything to do with me getting in the real estate business. But as I did, I went about trying to be a real-estate person trying to sell real estate. And then about 1990-something, '96, '98, I started to remember what Citizen John Street -- at this time, he was my councilman -- was talking about these community development block grant funds, and he and his brother was marching up and down the Gallery steps and carrying on. I kind of thought they had our 142 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 back so to speak, you know? I was thinking that. So I didn't rush downtown to start testifying; I didn't come down here until about the '90s. But before I did, I wrote to my councilman then, John Street, saying to him -- there was a select committee, and those of you that have been around for a long time will remember this -- a Select Committee on Land Management and Reuse. I wrote to my councilman at the time; he was president of City Council. This was 1998 by this time. I'm saying to him, Listen, I found out about these hearings that are being held around the summer of 1998. It was a select committee hearing in September of '98, and if they start tearing down these properties and doing these things that they're talking about at these meetings, the 5th District will have more vacant land than any other area. How come you don't have more of your 143 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES.

070405 people involved with this Select Committee on Land Management and Reuse? Well, nobody has to tell me as a citizen how to get involved. What did I, I attended the meetings throughout that summer of '98, and I wrote to my councilman at that time. And he wrote he me back a real weak letter, okay? telling me that he's been in contact with me on more than one occasion about the subject of this letter, which is abandoned properties and vacant properties and their use for housing. And he says my staff is working on these problems every day, and if I take a quick drive around North Philadelphia, I would be able to confirm this. I was living in North Philly at the time. But, anyway, I just wanted to put all of that in the record. Fast-forward to the future. John Street, John F. Street, our mayor, 144 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 coming up with the NTI Program. I just want to say this, 'cause what is my point, what is my point in all of this? I remind myself to get to the point. That Mayor John Street's NTI Program with Hope VI, PHA has moved more African-Americans out of the City of Philadelphia over this period of time. In addition, all of the projects in our district that didn't work out -- 16th and Cecil B. Moore, Girard Avenue, here they are digging up, having a groundbreaking about a project that never came to fruition. Girard Avenue, Heritage Village, Super Mall of Shopping. I was sent this by my councilman, saying things were moving forward. Well, I'm just saying this 'cause I don't want to drag you all along too long but, you know, I'm going to read it to you all, and it's not adding up because the community block 145 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 development grants, according to your documents, were supposed to eliminate blight, help economic building of our community. But what I see that it was really doing is following this plan of reducing black people from Philadelphia, because when the projects were torn down, that reduced the number substantially of African-Americans in this town. They all didn't move to the new -- they didn't come back to the new developments. It's only one development, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, and that's Mill Creek that increased the number of units from when they were the developments. My point, my point, my point is that I live in North Philly. I'm a homeowner, I am a business owner. And after 33 years, all I see is like a hodgepodge of development cheaply crafted but very expensive 146 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 developments. Now, I'm not going to be so out of order as to say that nothing has been done that's of value 'cause, sure, you know, there are some things such as the retaining walls, but that's not so much in North Philly as it is in other areas. I think that was a good thing. The Clip Program, I think, is a good thing. I hear CDCs come here to this forum over the years, talking about what they're doing and what they have done. ACDC, for instance, which is our development in North Philly, after 30 years, they no longer exist. And Susquehanna CDC is a new CDC. You can't find out who is on the board, you can't find out any -- very much about them. I think CDCs have not been of value to my community. We have had a lot of developments with pop-up CDCs such as the 3S Project, and it's a lot of just 147 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 mess. It's almost like I really wish the private sector could have done more and not have politicians get in our way over 33 years. I know good and well I have done in one year, created a business on an avenue, Susquehanna Avenue, without any government dollars than I've seen on our commercial corridors in 33 years. This restore, whatever that's supposed to be, a drop in the bucket, I don't really know what it's supposed to do, but I know it's not of value to Susquehanna Avenue.

If we could just get something like an anti-litter campaign or just some help with reduction of litter, that would be a lot for me. I just -- I'm trying to -- bear with me -- combine both of these testimonies in and making sure that I don't leave out things that I really think are important, because I don't want to come down here and just say 148 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 that I'm perturbed about over 33 years of much of nothing, you know. I want to be of value because I do have years of real estate 6 experience, and I should be able to add 7 something to this hearing. 8 So in that regard, let me just 9 please try to go over my notes so I can 10 maybe add something to this hearing. 11 RDA, let me start there, 12 because that's the implementation 13 agency. They have more land, more 14 properties in their inventory. They 15 need a property disposition program 16 such as HUD where they get rid of their 17 properties in their inventory. 18 It's no good reason why they 19 should be allowed to mar communities 20 with vacant properties in their inventory that when you write to request them, they tell you that there's a development planned. However, years later, the properties are there sitting vacant, such as 2603 149 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 North 33rd Street. Years ago, I had a tour. I showed Councilman Goode and others that were on the tour this property on 33rd Street. It's still there rotting, but when you request any information about it from RDA, they'll tell that you there's some project going on. There are many properties like that, vacant and rotting while they sit there. I don't know how we can say that housing agencies are being redeveloped or reorganized without PHA being a part of some kind of organization. It's no way that PHA should be allowed, after 30 years of funding, to have properties that are sitting vacant while they have a long list of people that are in need of housing. And I'm going to jump a little bit. RDA, still from what I can see, are not giving fair market value to folks that are having their property 150 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 taken through eminent domain. They seem to have a problem with their appraisals, and I think this is really something I'm going to work with the next mayor to see if we can work on. When they get an appraisal and they're taking someone's home through eminent domain, it's very low, below fair market value. However, when people have requested land, they are given appraisals that are extremely high. There is something wrong with that. And I have challenged the board at RDA to look into this, and I would respectfully request that you all, as Councilmembers, find out what's going on there because at least if a person's property is going to be taken from them through condemnation and eminent domain, at least they should get fair market value. The rate of real estate, as we all know, has really tremendously 151 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 increased. Let everybody partake of the bounty. Let's not be disrespectful of mostly African-American people as you take their properties and not give them fair market value. Let everybody be awe part of what's going on here. Let me get to some of the things that I think are of value in this plan. I don't know why these folks over here are holding on to these plans like, you know, they're gold or something. We, the taxpayers, should be seeing this information. I don't know how we could have an intelligence discussion without seeing this, but I'm a speed-reader, so I was able to go through this and see something's are of value. In the past, I have requested that there be money for tangled titles. That's the reason why we have so much abandonment now. A lot of people, for whatever 152 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 reason, especially in the African-American community, do not have wills.

They need to be encouraged to have wills so that they will know when they're not able to, for whatever reason, or if they're deceased, if they're not able to take care of their properties, they need to designate someone that will. So that's a good thing. A small amount, $50,000. I guess that will be sucked up like the last money was. As a real estate broker, this is something that I encourage all the time. I'm not looking for any money, government money, but the last time some little bit of money was available, a bunch of lawyers sucked it up, and they had somebody all the way in Glenside counseling people in Philadelphia about whether they should get a will or not. That was really just crazy for me. 153 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Even the lawyers at that forum that they had, the one little one that I attended, agreed with me sneakily, privately, that real estate brokers' ears were closer to the ground, and they were the ones that really should be very much involved with assisting folks in creating wills, or assisting in making sure that their properties are a part of some process a succession. I'm not looking for any funding for that; I want to be clear on that, please. I would not take any more for that, 'cause it's something that so much needs to be done. But community planning. I really wish that communities' plans and community planning would be more a part of this process 'cause if true community planning was a part of this process, I don't think so much money would be squandered. I am not trying to disrespect 154 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Councilpeople, but they need guidance. I don't think any of you all, as Councilpeople, are experts in real estate. And I am, so I'll be willing to volunteer my time just to make sure that when we have developments in communities, that they truly are of value. In addition -- and I will be summing up shortly, but I want to make sure I get this all in 'cause maybe somebody might just hear some of this. You know, I'm not one to take credit, as long as it gets done, so maybe I'll see some of my other ideas in some of these plans. But in addition, I'm really concerned -- and I will be talking to my councilman about this -- that Stanley Street, the block that I grew up on, is down here for demolition of 51 properties. We asked the councilman to take substantial number of properties off of the list, and that's 155 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 money for somebody else to knock down something else because we do not want 51 properties on a 69-house block demolished. You might as well take the whole block, and I'm just not feeling that, if I could use the vernacular. In addition, I see where scattered sites -- PHA scattered sites would be modernized, 244. That would be a good thing. But I just don't understand how PHA, with their own source of financing from HUD, can be sucking up dollars. Their dollars should be better managed. I know that's not a part of this process, but it should be. And the fact that it's in this book tells me that it's somewhat a part of the process. It's no way that people should be sitting around, waiting for PHA housing. How much modernization could they need? People are not looking for the most modern, cute property in the 156 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 whole city; they just want a clean, safe, healthy property, like no 4 lead-based paint and all of that. So if PHA has been getting millions of dollars in the name maintaining these properties over the years, how much could they need, you know? Anyway, one thing I'm really concerned about that I saw at RDA -- and I do go to their board meetings and have been for the past three years, most times I've attended -- side yards that are being used as tot lots gardens, et cetera, have really started to increase in price.

Now, I understand the value of land has increased, but when a house in the same neighborhood would go for less than what the land would cost if it was condemned, something is wrong. And I'll give you an example. The 1200 block of West Cambria, a side yard a person was buying, an average 157 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 size house, 18,000. But a house that's being condemned for the 52nd and Jefferson development, they only want to give the person 17,000. Something's wrong with that. Something is definitely wrong with that. So I really would respectfully request that you all look into that. I'm glad to know that money will be budgeted for historic property repair. Diamond Street, in the former Councilman John Street's district, I remember him being so happy about Diamond Street being the first historic street district, but over the years, they have done nothing much to help the folks on Diamond Street maintain those historic properties, and many of them have been torn down. So it's good to know that there's some money there. I'll tell my friends right away. Well, I really appreciate your attention. Thank you very much. I think that's about it. 158 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 But I really would respectfully request that all of these documents -- I got two sets, one for the NTI hearing and one for the community block development grant funds, 'cause I want you all to read this. So I would like to have this put in the record, please.

Thank you very much. Are there any questions? (No questions.)

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you. We'll now ask Kevin Hanna, Eva Gladstein, and whomever. I'm sorry. Someone just came in from People's Emergency Center. This is the last individual that we have before you to testify, and then we will have the Administration testify. 159 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 (Witness comes forward.)

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon. My name is Stephanie Wall, and I represent People's Energy Center Community Development Corporation. Thank you for offering me the opportunity to testify today and to discuss the importance of supporting the ongoing funding for affordable housing and neighborhood economic development. On behalf of PEC CDC, I'd like to make the following recommendations for Year 33. First, we thank the City for continuing to set aside community development block grant funding for homeless and special-needs housing to better serve homeless individuals and families and people with physical disabilities. The set-aside ensures new housing units for the homeless, 160 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 increase of the development capacity of special-needs providers, and increases the federal dollars for special-needs projects in Philadelphia. It serves as a match to available federal and state dollars that can add to development operating costs. Additionally, the set-asides enable the City to fund critical permanent supportive housing without draining resources from other components of the homeless continuum of care. Second, we appreciate the City has maintained their commitment to both homeownership and affordable rental housing at levels relatively close to last year's allocation. Third, thriving commercial corridors are critical to the overall health of Philadelphia neighborhoods. We applaud the City's commitment to the neighborhood economic development with the $65 million in City bond proceeds 161 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 for commercial corridor revitalization and their continued partnership with the Commonwealth through the Main Street and Elm Street programs. And finally, acquisition is essential to the revitalization in the neighborhood commercials corridors and in the surrounding residential communities. We thank the City for allocating funds to both commercial and residential property acquisition, which will allow critical affordable housing and economic development activities to move forward. We greatly appreciate the past support that City Council, the OHCD, the RDA and the Commerce Department, and other City agencies have provided to PEC CDC and the local CDC community. We believe that we have consistently provided an important return on this public investment. Thank you again for the opportunity to provide these comments. 162 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405

Thank you very much. Are there any questions? (No questions.)

Thank you very much. PEC does a great job. All right. We're now prepared for the Administration, and thank you for your patience. (Witnesses come forward.)

Please introduce yourself for our record and begin your testimony.

What a difference a year makes, right? " Good afternoon. My name is Kevin Hanna. I serve as Secretary of the Office of Housing for the City of Philadelphia. I'm here today to testify on 163 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 behalf of the Administration on Bill 3 No. 070387, which permits the City to apply for the Federal Community Development Block Grant Home Investment Partnership Funds, Emergency Shelter Grant, and Housing Opportunities for Persons, otherwise known as HOPWA, and for State funds from the Department of Community and Economic Development. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and which details our proposal for spending these and other related funds for affordable housing and other activities. By no later than August 16, 2007, the City is required to submit to HUD the consolidated plan which combines the formerly separate CDBG final plan and statement, the Home Program Description Emergency Shelter Grant Application, the HOPWA 164 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 application, and the Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy. With me are Debra McCullough, First Deputy of Housing and Community Development. Tony MacIntosh is seated to my left, your right, as is Michael Koonce. Tony is Executive Vice President of PHDC, Mike is the Executive Director of RDA. With me also is Eva Gladstein, the Director of the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, who can answer whatever questions you might have related to NTI and its budgeted items within the CDBG plan. The Year 33 Consolidated Plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2007, details our plan for spending monies from a variety of federal, state, and local sources. The proposed budget cares forward existing programs and commitments to reinforce NTI activities. As far as resources go, the 165 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 582 million; that's an increase of $30,539,000 over the prior period over the prior year. Most of the increase can be attributed to City bond proceeds used to -- or used for community economic development and from NTI bond proceeds. New entitlement funding from HUD is virtually the same as in the Year 32. Resources also include the Community Development Block Grant, still the largest single source of funding for affordable housing that is outside of the subsidies that PHA receives directly from HUD. 643 million in new entitlement funding; that's a reduction of only $75,000 from Year 32. 3 million cut in CDBG funds versus 166 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 75,000 for this year. Other CDBG-related resources include program income such as the proceeds from the sale of land and other prior years' reprogram funds, which are funds which can be liquidated from prior years' budgeted activities. 2 million increase from Fiscal Year 2007. Other federal resources received reflect minor changes from prior years' levels. 879 million; that's a $115,000 increase from the prior year. HOPWA funds awarded are $7 million; that's a $333,000 decrease from the prior year. 3 million in the upcoming 167 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 years. 758 million in NTI funds made available through that program. 5 million in City-issued bond funding, $20 million in Section 108 loan requests for economic stimulus activities, $11 million in other City funding, and $4 million in RDA bond proceeds. The proposed Year 33 Consolidated Plan builds upon initiatives and programs from prior years consistent with the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative's housing development strategies. Year 33 is the sixth year of implementation of the NTI Program. The proposed plan seeks to keep as much 168 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 money in programs and projects as possible. That's a very important line; in fact, it bears repeating: The proposed plan seeks to keep as much money in programs and projects as possible.

More specifically, the proposed plan either maintains or slightly increases funding aimed at subsidizing the development of new affordable housing. The reorganization of the three housing agencies -- OHCD, RDA, and PHDC -- is substantially complete. The Administration's proposal to strategically organize the three core housing agencies has resulted in the consolidation of redundant functions and activities. It streamlined certain processes and reduced the cost for delivering housing services, assuming no additional reductions in projected funding resources and assuming no 169 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 significant unforeseen expenditures. We do not anticipate additional staff reductions in the upcoming fiscal year, nor do we anticipate decreases in housing program funding levels. In order to meet our deadline, I would respectfully request that the committee vote Bill 070387 out with a favorable recommendation and with a request to suspend the rules to allow for first reading at the next Council reading on Thursday. Thank you for this opportunity to present this written and verbal testimony, and I have my colleagues standing ready to answer any questions that you might have.

Thank you. We will ask Miss Gladstein to give her testimony, and then we'll open the floor for questions.

Good afternoon. My name is Eva Gladstein. 170 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 I'm Director of Neighborhood Transformation. And thank you, Madam President and other members of the committee, for allowing me the opportunity to testify today in support of Bill No. 070405. I'm going to truncate my written testimony -- I assume that you all have copies of it -- just for the sake of time. In April of 2007, Mayor Street unveiled the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative in response to the challenges of blight, abandonment, and deterioration and the quality of life of residents that resulted from decades of disinvestment in Philadelphia neighborhoods. The NTI strategy was created to rebuild and preserve Philadelphia's neighborhoods as thriving communities with clean and secure streets, recreation and cultural outlets, and quality housing. 171 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 From the beginning of NTI through Fiscal Year '06, its work was organized into strategies that included facilitating and supporting community- based planning; eliminating blight to improve streetscapes, to abate debris-filled lots and remove abandoned cars, litter, and graffiti; improving the City's ability to assemble land for development; encouraging neighborhood preservation; stimulating investment in Philadelphia neighborhoods; and leveraging resources to the fullest extent possible, investing them in neighborhoods strategically. Like any long-term comprehensive strategy, NTI was also designed to be resilient and adapt to changing conditions. Its rich and successful implementation has increased expectations in neighborhoods, in commerce, and among City departments. Effective in Fiscal Year '07, NTI revised its framework to build upon 172 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 earlier achievements and lessons learned. The new framework includes supporting sustainable community development to ensure that Philadelphia's neighbor are economically diverse, culturally rich, and desirable places to live, work, learn, shop, and play; and continuing to help the City work smarter by improving its business practices. " I'll now go through some highlights for Fiscal Year '08, which is on the bottom of of my written testimony. Beginning in Fiscal Year '08, an additional $10,641,000 will be made available as a result of interest earned on NTI bound proceeds. 9 million was earned on 173 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 taxable bond proceeds. 64 million is being allocated to uses consistent with the original bond issue. For example, interest earned on tax-exempt governmental-purpose bond proceeds must be allocated to uses that meet that criteria for the original tax exemption governmental bond issue. Therefore, effective Fiscal Year '08, the NTI Bond Program funding totals $306,875,415, of which $67,537,774 will be spent during this program year. It is anticipated that Fiscal Year '08 will be the final year of NTI bond spending. The proposed program statement creates flexibility among certain NTI funding line items and allocates the interest earned in most part to housing- preservation activities. And I've highlighted these changes. NTI bond proceeds allocated to residential demolition, vacant property stabilization, and large vacant 174 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 property demolition will become fungible and be available for activities approved for the expenditure of tax-exempt bond proceeds. These include public-safety demolition; grants for physical improvements to public infrastructure such as streetscape and gateway improvements. We've made this modification because a number of District Council persons have found that there's less demolition needing to be accomplished in their districts and want to be able to use the resources towards other physical infrastructure improvement.

We've also made fungible the grant funds that were allocated for the Preservation Development Initiative and the Historic Property Repair Program so that any remaining resources from the initiative can be used to help low-income homeowners in historic make necessary and historically appropriate repairs. 175 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 176418 of the interest earned on taxable bond proceeds will be added to the Land Acquisition Budget for acquisition zones and large-scale development projects. The preponderance of the interest earned on tax-exempt bond proceeds will be allocated to a range of housing preservation activities, including the Basic Systems Repair Program, the Home Rehabilitation Program, and the Adaptive Modification Program. The Vacancy Prevention Program, which was referenced two speakers ago, will be newly funded with NTI resources of $50,000, and there will be additional CDBG resources attached to that as well that, and will help elderly homeowners and others plan for the maintenance and disposition of their homes. The largest investment, planned investment, almost 176 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 8 million, is proposed for the City's equitable development strategy. First funded in Fiscal Year '06, this strategy addresses neighborhood change resulting from housing commercial revitalization activities. The strategy will continue to develop financial tools, housing counseling, and education programs to enable long-term residents to participate and benefit from stronger housing markets and other improved neighborhood economies. These activities will complement the work of Inclusionary Housing Working Group recently formed by the mayor and to be cochaired by Councilman Clarke and Secretary Hanna. The program statement also discusses additional City resources and initiatives, which I'll just name and not read through my testimony, including: Restore Philadelphia Corridors, Green Plan Philadelphia, the 177 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 New River City initiative, as well as Project Management Best Practices that are working with various operating departments to migrate those practices back into those departments as well as best practices for economic opportunity and participation and employment. On , I list some of our accomplishments, which I will not read for you. And before I conclude, I do want to note that in the copy of the proposed program statement, there's a stapled sheet, I believe, in the inside front cover, because as we reviewed the document for today's hearings, we noticed several typographical errors that we wanted to correct. I'm not going to read that into the record unless I need to do that, and somebody will advise me, but I do want to make a note of that in my testimony. In conclusion, Madam 178 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Chairwoman and members of the committee, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and to acknowledge your contributions to the success of NTI. Without your support, your work with us, any significant achievements would not have been possible. I respectfully request that the committee vote out Bill No. 070405 with a favorable recommendation. Thank you. Miss McCullough, you okay? Thank you very much. I'll ask just maybe two or three questions myself and then turn it over to my colleagues, who have many questions. Mine is about housing reorganization; many people have waited a long time to deal with this issue, and it has been a problem in prior years.

Councilwoman, can 179 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 I make a couple of comments first of all?

Absolutely.

Just to respond to the testimony presented earlier -- it seems like a long time ago -- by Miss Pankey. I agree with Miss Pankey that if we, the Office of Housing -- and when I say "the Office of Housing," I'm speaking there of OHCD, RDA, and PHDC. If we, the Office of Housing, have to suffer through any more federal cuts consistent with what we've seen, this next year notwithstanding, it is going to be very -- in fact, it's going to be more painful going forward than it has been up until now. Because she's right, we've cut from an administrative -- from a personnel standpoint, we've pretty much cut to the bone. Any additional federal cuts will mean that we're going 180 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 to have to start cutting programs, and that's one thing we've tried to avoid. I will agree with Miss Pankey also when she says that -- when she throws out the idea that the General Fund may need to be tapped going forward. I disagree as far as this current fiscal year is concerned; I think we'll be okay, and I can talk about some of the program income assumptions we've made. So I think short-term, we should be okay; but long-term, I absolutely support her view, the union's view, that we need to look at the General Fund as an additional source of funds for housing. We are -- we, meaning Miss McCullough and I and the other folks on the Housing Trust Fund Advisory Board, as you all know, are looking for additional alternative sources for revenue for that particular housing source. And I think long-term -- maybe 181 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 even intermediate term -- we'll be successful with that. Short-term, maybe not so successful; we may not be able to find as much subsidy for the Housing Trust Fund short-term as we will long-term. But I say all of that to say this, that we are in desperate need of additional funding. We can't -- not anymore anyway -- depend substantially upon CDBG. We do have to look at other sources for funding; otherwise, the level of services, the quality of the provision of those services are going to suffer dramatically. From a reorganization standpoint, as I said in my testimony, the reorganization is substantially complete. In this current fiscal year, the one that will end at the end of this month, we will not see a whole lot in the way of savings, nor will we see a whole lot in the way of more 182 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 efficiency. It's not unlike what you see when a road is being repaired. During the time that the road is being repaired, traffic sometimes actually gets worse sometimes. But it's the expectation -- as with road repair, it's our expectation that with this upcoming fiscal year, we will, in fact, see more efficiency; we will, in fact, see a smoother provision of certain housing services. I'm not here to make excuses, but I will tell you that implementation of the reorganization in this fiscal year was more difficult than we thought it would be -- for whatever reasons. The fact is, we are in now, I guess, already June, just about to embark on a new fiscal year. I do, however, fully expect that in this upcoming fiscal year, we'll see a better operated Office of Housing than we saw in this current -- 183 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 the one now, just about to pass, fiscal year.

How do you reconcile, for example, just on a -- we took a cursory look at some of the information we asked and received from you, and that prior to housing reorganization, seven employees had salaries in excessive of $100,000. In posts, there were employees who had 12 incomes in excess of 100,000, and five of those who were making more than 90,000 got increases, but seven more people, who were making significantly less, got cuts, cuts like 6,000, 10,000 a year, 14,000, 15,000, 25,000 dollars a year. So how do you reconcile housing reorganization when those who were making the higher rates almost doubled; and at the same time, the same number of people who had lower salaries doubled as well. How do you reconcile those kinds of numbers? 184 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405

I can't comment specifically on that because this is the first time I'm hearing about that, and I have not seen --

It's in your figures, Mr. Hanna.

Well, I have not seen the specific individuals. I can give you one, at least one, anecdotal example. There was one individual who was making, I don't know, roughly $90,000 a year, and he's probably one of folks of whom you're speaking. That individual had not had a raise since the mid- to late-'90s. During the reorganization time, it was determined that that person had not had a raise in upwards of ten years, and it was time. Now the timing may have been ill-conceived, or accidental more than anything else, but the two weren't timed to go with one another -- reorganize so that we can give people 185 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 who make whatever baseline number you use there, people who make a lot to make a whole lot more. Several adjustments were made on that same basis. Folks who hadn't seen -- I'm talking folks who are not represented by the union, who hadn't seen raises in seven to ten years, those folks, their salaries -- and I'm not going to embarrass anybody by calling out names, but people like that did have salary adjustments. Again, this is without seeing the specific names that you're talking about, and I'd ask that you not call out specific names here.

Well, I realize that I contacted you on certain individuals and asked you to relook at their cases, whenever I learned about them, and you did that. But other people --

One other point still to your question. 186 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 When folks came over from the Redevelopment Authority and PHDC into the Office of Housing and Community Development, an agreement needed to be made between the union and management which would have governed the basis on which those folks came. In other words, without -- and I'm trying to be as circumspect as possible -- without the benefit of what we call "a transition agreement." Without the benefit of a transition agreement, those people who were hired from RDA or PHDC had to be brought in at lower levels of compensation. If the transition agreement had been negotiated -- and, believe me, an awful lot of effort went into negotiating. If that transaction agreement had been negotiated, folks who came up RDA and PHDC, for the most part, would have maintained their same level of salary and other benefits. 187 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Without that transition agreement -- and such a transition agreement was negotiated in each of the previous reorganizations to which Miss Pankey referred. Without that transition agreement, to a large extent, our hands were tied in terms of being able to bring folks over at the salary they had at PH or RDA.

Oh, I wish I had specific figures, but in seven cases, it was lowered -- 15,000, 14,000, 12,000, 16,000, 6,000, 10,000, and 25,000 per year are salaries that folks were lowered by. That's -- that's really -- that's major. As I said, I know in some cases where I learned about it, people came to me, I called you, and you reviewed them, but I don't know how anybody lives at times 25,000 less a year -- even 6 at the bottom end. While we're talking about housing reorganization, on another 188 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 level, many of my colleagues and I have experienced a slowdown in acquisition of properties, notwithstanding dollars. Many properties that were even approved in '03 have not as yet been acquired, and others seem to be delayed. Where are you on the issue of improving this process? And, you know, because the agencies work as hard as they can. They do all that they can. We've been worried about them, and it's been a blessing we've gotten to go this far because, again, I still haven't met anybody who thinks housing reorganization has made life better. But can you cite a few examples of how program efficiency has improved and your criteria or how you even expect it to?

The real estate disposition process, again, to which you just referred, over the past nine months, you're right, has gotten worse. A lot of that has had to do 189 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 specifically with the reorganization, the fact that we were moving the Real Estate Department from PHDC and RDA up to OHCD. As you well know, late last year, there were some issues with that. We ended up actually having to lay some of those -- most of those folks off for several weeks. And, obviously, with no 11 staff, there will be -- there was to be no disposition. That had an awful lot to do with what you're talking about. Those folks have now been hired, they're at the Office of Housing and Community Development. My expectation is that now that they are there, the kinds of issues that we dealt with in October, November, and December, we hopefully won't have to deal with going forward. You asked about efficiencies going forward. As a direct result of consolidating certain redundant functions, we have fewer employees; 190 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 that's a fact of life. We have fewer employees now than we did this time last year. This time last year, remember too, as I said, we were looking at a $5.9 million decrease in our funding level. With fewer employees, we've been able to actually get out of a couple of the leases. We'll get out of a lease, part of the lease that we have in our building. That's going to save us some money. As a result of the reorganization, as well, we have been able to be more efficient in our usage of vehicles. We'll operate with roughly 16 fewer vehicles this coming year than we did in the previous year. As a result of the reorganization, we'll also do a better job of managing and ordering equipment and supplies used by the Office of Housing offices of housing. Again, my expectation is that 191 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 in this upcoming year, we'll see -- I know we'll save money. In fact, if you'll look at our plan, the total administration costs actually go down by about $2 million. I know we'll save money. Our expectation is that with, again, for the most part, the most difficult aspects of parts of reorganizing behind us, it's my hope, it's my expectation that the provision of services, like disposition, will get better in the upcoming months than they have been in previous months.

Councilman Greenlee?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I had a couple questions on some of the testimony. But just, Mr. Hanna, just quickly so I'm clear, can you explain in answer to one of Councilwoman Blackwell's questions on the salary decreases of some people, 192 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 you said your hands were tied because there wasn't a transitional agreement. Can you explain that a little bit for me, please?

In previous organizations and in this reorganization, folks were moved from RDA and PHDC. I wasn't here for previous reorganizations.

Excuse me a moment, Mr. Hanna. We have to interrupt a moment. Councilman O'Neill?

The good news is, you'll have at least one vote, I hope more. I just want to -- I have to run up to my district, and I just wanted to not have anybody rush 'cause I know a lot of people want to be here until 6 and 7 o'clock, but I do have to go, and I want to have my vote recorded as aye on all bills today, and if there's on those as well, but I don't 193 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 believer there are at this point.

Thank you, Councilman.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

I wasn't here for previous reorganizations, so I can't speak specifically as to they were, but in this reorganization, as I said, it contemplated moving folks from RDA and PHDC to the Office of Housing and Community Development. Without a transition agreement, without some document which instructed, which directed the basis on which folks could come from those organizations, without that, OHCD would have to look at those hires as new hires. With that transaction agreement that transition agreement would have determined the basis on 194 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 which people brought over their vacation time, their sick leave, their salary. The proposal was, in fact, to have -- to allow folks to come over and maintain the salaries that they had at RDA and PHDC. Without that transition agreement, we couldn't agree to do that. And so those folks were brought on as new hires.

And you say they had to be brought on as new hires without that agreement? I mean, there was no other way to do that?

Well, certainly there could have been other ways to look at it, but that agreement would have instructed how, in fact, folks were brought on.

Okay. I'm not sure I totally understand that, but let me just ask, if I could a, couple of other questions on -- regarding some testimony that was here 195 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 earlier, particularly Mr. Gonzales's testimony on the language difficulties.

Okay.

First, informing people of programs and then dealing with the clients or the constituents once they're in the program, have you looked at that at all? I know he said he would have some discussion with you, but have you looked at that at all? have you seen in a program? do you have any plans, that kind of thing?

Mr. Gonzales brought very compelling testimony. We certainly are aware of the language challenges that we face not just in that part of Philadelphia but, you know, those parts where there's a preponderance of Asian citizens.

Right, right.

One correction I 196 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 do feel compelled to make. Mr. Gonzales made a remark relative to the Basic Systems Repair System, how it seemed like Latin or Spanish-speaking individual citizens were put onto a long list. Everybody who comes onto the Basic Systems Repair Program gets put onto the same list. We don't maintain different lists, so we certainly are not discriminating against him or folks of Latin --

Right. I guess I was more interested in what he said as far as dealing with people coming out and doing the inspections and whatever, how they may be not understanding; the language there seem to be a big concern. MS. McCULLOUGH: My name is Debra McCullough from the Office of Housing and Community Development. The BSRP Program is carried out through PHDC, and then maybe 197 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 there's someone here from PHDC who could speak to it more directly than I can, but we have worked with PHDC to try to ensure that the folks do have that -- interpreters there to help them through those complicated processes. Mr. Gonzales is right: Contracts are very complicated, and certainly some of our contractors, we don't expect them to be able to speak Spanish, the folks that who are coming in to do the work on the houses. But we have Spanish-speaking and bilingual employees at PHDC to assist clients who need that kind of help, and we would want to work with Mr. Gonzales and other housing- counseling to ensure that that language barrier is overcome, and we've been working with him and others to try to do that, and so we would welcome his assistance to continue to try to do that.

How 198 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 about the other part that was mentioned as far as -- I think it was actually Councilman Ramos that mentioned this, as far as people actually even knowing about the program, as far as outreach to both -- as Mr. Hanna said, to both Latino communities, Asian, whatever. MS. McCULLOUGH: Right. I would say that we do as much outreach as we can. We have, you know, a whole series of housing counseling agencies, we have neighborhood advisory committees throughout the City whose job it is -- is to advertise our programs. Certainly, can we do a better job? I think one can always do a better job of outreach. That particular issue that Councilman Ramos raised was not one that was brought to my attention before, that people don't even know about the programs. The concern that Mr. Gonzales 199 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 raised that sometimes people are confused about the programs or there's a misunderstanding in interpretation, that problem I have heard, and we've been working with the housing counseling agencies and others to try to overcome that. The issue of people not having even heard of it, I'm not aware that that part of it is a problem. One of the problems that we do have right now, as you well know, is that our needs so far exceed our resources that it may be that people have heard about it and they've heard, Oh, there's a long waiting list, I don't even want to apply, or something like that. That may be a part of the issue. But certainly through our (indiscernible) and other organizations, we try to get the word out there about the programs we have -- ads in water bills, you may have seen 200 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 the water bill stuffers that advertise our programs, and those are both in Spanish and English, so we certainly try to get the word out.

Again, I had not heard that either, but I was just going by what the Councilman said, that that may be a problem. On the Basic System Repair and Weatherization, has the list elongated any more? Have you been able to cut into it a little bit? Is it hard to say?

Well, actually, it's heartening and at the same time, it's disheartening, because I've been here now -- this is my fifth budget hearing. Each year, we've increased the amount going into BSRP. There's a paper decrease on this, but we can explain why that is. But each year that I've been here, we've but more money into the Basic Systems Repair Program. That's 201 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 the heartening part. The disheartening part is no, the list doesn't seem to get any shorter. The more money we pump into it, it seems like the higher the demand continues to be.

Yeah, I guess that's not surprising, particularly with what Liz Robertson said about how even more people that are probably not eligible for a program may need assistance like that. Just the last question, if I could, to Ms. Gladstein. The Restored Philadelphia Corridors, as you mentioned in your written testimony, I don't expect you to go into the whole thing here, but could you give an example of like an area or a corridor that's been particularly helped through your program?

Actually, we've been mostly doing planning through Restore Philadelphia Corridors, 202 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 and we've looked at a number of the transit-oriented corridors in the City, and I've been working with District Councilpeople planned investment. So some of those corridors include Girard Avenue, Lancaster Avenue, Baltimore Avenue, Ridge Avenue, corridors like that, where we would be making investments either in furthering planning that community-based organizations have been doing on those corridors or actual investments into capital improvements and investment into the businesses on those corridors.

And I guess you're just using that as an example. That's an ongoing thing, 'cause obviously, those corridors are getting there, some of them anyway.

Right. I mean, this was newly funded or authorized by City Council. The funding became available in December, so actually, some members of my staff 203 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 will be here on Wednesday, looking for second-year funding on it, but we've identified investments for a significant amount of it, but the money is not yet on the street; we're still in the process of hiring folks.

Okay. So it's still kind of new, okay.

Exactly.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown?

Thank you. Let me follow-up with Eva Gladstein. Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell and I sit on a committee with Stephanie Nadoff and her team of professionals that are making decisions around the bond issuance for the corridors and the arts institutions. 204 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 What is your interface with the Commerce Department on that project?

Our interface is really that the Commerce Department and the NTI staff are working together around the $150 million overall Cultural and Commercial Corridor Bond Issue. However, the Commerce Department is managing the cultural component, and the NTI staff is managing the commercial component. So we have, for example, tried to work on systems that are compatible with each other. To the extent that there are projects that might be eligible from either or both sources, we'll to try to discuss it to make sure that we both have the right information to make a good funding decision. But in essence, they are managing the cultural, and we're managing the commercial corridor component. 205 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405

You should know that Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell and I have sent a letter to Miss Nadoff indicating our interests in making sure that the process is fair, transparent, and open to everybody.

If I may interrupt, we concur.

Okay. And the way it has been currently described to us, we believe, does not fit open, fair, transparent and a level playing field for everybody. On the issue of the bilingual challenges, are any of the brochures published by any of the housing agencies in different languages?

They're all.

All.

Very good, excellent. Any publications in Latino 206 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 newspapers and/or the radio?

Yes.

Okay. That takes care of that. Both of you witnessed the testimony of both the Energy Coordinating Agency and the Utility Emergency Services Fund. Knowing the world that they try to serve, what opportunities have you had in the past where you were able to -- where dollars appear for whatever reasons that happen within the work of the housing agencies and you're able to -- available dollars become available mid-year and you decide -- or can you make a decision to then go back to those agencies that provide the kind of testimony that we witnessed here today?

Let me comment first of all upon their testimony. Again, it was very compelling testimony. Those folks do outstanding 207 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 work. The folks they serve need the services that are provided to them. And if we had more money, we'd give them more money. I think testimony was provided that the one agency has had $525,000 budget for the last umpteen years or so. That in and of itself is actually something to be proud of because given the cuts that we have had over the past five years that I've been here, everybody, I thought, had been cut, with the exception, obviously, of that R525,000. Now, this year, again, things were relatively flat so they didn't see an increase but, again, the fact that over the past several years, they have been flat is really a testament to the good work that they have done as opposed to anything else. We had earlier discussions as to how we might be able to step up to 208 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 their requests. One way would, in fact, be to review their requests. As the days got shorter, as the weather got colder, they're not going to need that money until, you know, November or December or certainly January or February. If our program income projections prove to be conservative, then it may be possible to pull some additional funds from those additional collections and dedicate it here. If we don't do that, if it is Council's desire that we somehow, quote/unquote, find money to dedicate to them, that's going to entail pulling it from someplace else. Now, what someplace else is is up for debate, but this budget is pretty tight. If we decide to do that -- and, again, I'm not at this point lobbying for other against it, so to speak, but if we choose to do that, just know that we're going to have to 209 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 pull that, whether it's 300 or some factor thereof, from some other line item.

Okay. Does the federal government offer any incentives, provisions, conditions whereby those agencies receiving higher housing dollars, you're required to adhere to the new leads standards, for example? Do you impose those types of requirements for new construction currently within the Administration? MS. McCULLOUGH: We are using Energy Sta certification -- Energy Star requirements for all of our rehab and new construction.

Okay. MS. McCULLOUGH: And we were encouraging, encouraging, the even more restrictive -- if that's right word -- better leads qualification requirements, and that's the direction 210 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 that we're moving in. We're not there yet, but we are requiring Energy Star requirements now for all of offer work.

Okay. All right then.

If I could add something.

Please.

In the Mayor's executive order that he issued during Earth Week, he did ask, I believe, the Planning Commission to review the adaption around leads development, so it's something that he's asked the City Administration to study.

Okay. That's important to know. Finally, you're right, the difference a year does make when it comes to the huge challenge that all of the housing agencies were confronted with, given the backdrop of the federal government. 211 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 So now, with the benefit of hindsight and knowing that hindsight is 20/20 what lessons have been learned around the housing reorg, period?

That's a good question. We would have approached -- we would have approached our communications with the union differently. (Applause.)

We could have done a better job of communicating, and they could have done a better job of communicating with us. We would have approached that differently; that's probably the most important, the biggest lesson learned, the best lesson learned probably.

Because if we look to what's happening in D.C. and what lies ahead, given fewer dollars coming to municipalities, Philadelphia and other cities may be confronted with that type of must-do 212 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 governmental assignment again. And so it's just important that we not repeat --

Well taken.

-- what did or did not work. Thank you for your testimony.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Campbell, thank you for your patience all day.

Madam Chair, some questions that I would like to ask Miss Gladstein.

Certainly.

Good afternoon, Miss Gladstein.

Good afternoon.

I would appreciate your prompt response to my request for some details regarding NTI funds that are available 213 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 for use in the 4th Council District. I have a number of questions regarding the information provided that I would like you to respond to now and confirm your response in writing. In the document titled "Neighborhood Transformation Initiative Demolition and Encapsulation Summary," it shows the retaining wall repair escrow account in the amount of $100,000. On what basis was this escrow account established? number one.

Well, thank you for the opportunity to respond and to confirm later since I'm not sure I can give you full detail on all of these points. There was a retaining wall in the 4th District that -- for which an RFP had been issued by the Streets Department in the last year. There was a technical error with that RFP that was issued by the Streets Department, and it was reissued. 214 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 However, the first set of bids that came in identified that there would be a need for additional funding beyond the amount available in the retaining wall line item. The previous holder of the position of the 4th District Councilmember had signed off on an escrow, if you will, an allowance to enable that retaining wall to be completed. And this is one that I would like to definitely be able to confirm in writing to you later.

On what basis will these funds be released from escrow to be used to support activity of the 4th Council District, though? I assume that you are talking about Stewart Street.

Yes.

And the 5700 block of Stewart Street.

And what I do have to do is confirm with the Streets 215 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Department the status of their rebidding of that retaining wall. In these cases, we do require the signature of the Councilperson for the use of the funds.

In the same document, it shows $539,388 total available dollars. Can I assume that this amount and more, if the escrow for retaining walls is released, is available to be reprogrammed for other activities in the 4th Council District?

I'm going to ask Tumar Alexander from the Managing Director's Office to assist me with the response.

Okay.

Your question is about the $539,000 that's available for demolition and vacant property stabilization? I'm sorry, if you could just --

If there's anything left over, will it be 216 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 reprogrammed for other activities in the 4th Council District?

Right. If it's -- if there is funding left over, yes, that would be available for other activities of a similar nature in the 4th Council District.

Okay. In the document entitled "Accomplishments of the 4th Council District," the line-item settlement grant shows a citywide budget of $3,100,000, and the 4th Council District's expenditures of $212,000. The 4th District expenditures itself of 212,000 represents only 6.85 percent of the citywide budget; why such a small percentage in the 4th Council District, and what actions can be taken to increase the use of funds in the 4th Council District?

This is for the Basic Systems Repair Program, which is a citywide program. And the way it 217 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 works is that there's individuals through housing-counseling agencies, (indiscernible) or other community- based organizations become aware of the program, apply to PHDC for the program. They have to be income-eligible and meet other criteria. So the distribution is not necessarily consistent throughout Council Districts. I believe you heard testimony earlier today from the -- eastern North Philadelphia that they also felt that their community was underserved. I think there are two ways to deal with this. One, obviously, is to try to maintain as much funding as possible in that line item, but the second is to be able to ask community-based organizations and other groups in the 4th District to be aware of the program, and I'm sure the Office of Housing and PHDC would make information available so that they 218 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 could make referrals into that program. There are several housing- counseling programs that do work in the community, and they should be well aware of the program and be able to make referrals.

I think there are copies of that, but I just wanted to know why only 6.85 percent.

If I may, I think it's hard to know what the correct percentage should be in every community because not very household will be eligible for it, again, because it's based upon ownership status and income as well as the kinds of needs of the property. And I don't know that it's -- something that I think we would have to do is to look to see who the eligible households would be in any particular community; I'm not sure it's information that we have available. 219 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405

In the lower part of the 4th Council District, it's comprised mainly of senior citizens, low-income and fixed incomes. That's the lower part of the district. Let me go on to this one: You have here in the same document, your line item Basic Systems Repair Program shows a citywide budget that's $26,475,000, with expenditures in the 4th Council District of only $562,026. The 4th District expenditures of $562,026 which represents only 2.12 percent of the citywide budget; why such a small percentage in the 4th Councilmatic District? I mean, you know, this is getting redundant, it really is.

Well, I think you're looking at number of grants and then the dollar amounts of grants, and the dollar amounts of the grants would again relate to what the particular needs of the household would be, 220 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 because while there's a maximum grant, not every household receives a maximum grant; it depends upon what basic systems need repair.

I still don't think you understood what I said. I said the 4th Councilmatic District in the lower end is comprised, the majority of senior citizens on low incomes and fixed incomes; it's a very poor area who are greatly in need of help for basic repairs. And I just -- it's inconceivable to me that that small percentage is there and with the need of the people that I know, I've lived there all my life, so I know what their needs are. Also in the same document, the line item Adoptive Modification Program shows a citywide budget of $9,300,000 with no expenditures in the 4th Council District. Why are there no 25 expenditures in the 4th Council 221 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 District? What actions are you prepared to make sure that these funds are made available to the residents of the 4th Council District who desperately need their homes adapted to meet their disability?

We would need to work with you and with the housing agencies that operate these programs to make sure that we can increase the number of applications coming from the 4th District into those agencies for these programs.

Evidently, according to this information, there were none because no 18 one received anything. And that's deplorable because there are a lot of people that are disabled in that district that need help, and they're poor and they can't get it theirselves.

My information will be corrected by -- and I apologize for this -- Tony Macintosh, the 222 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 Executive Director of PHDC, who operates the program.

My name is Anthony MacIntosh. I'm the Executive Vice President of Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation. With respect to the 4th Councilmatic district and specifically the Adaptive Modification Program, we're showing expenditures in the last nine months in excess of about $320,000. And then in the previous years, which would actually only reflect six months because, remember, PHDC only assumes responsibility for the program in January of '06. During that same period, there were 10 modifications and there were a total of 3 properties that were treated during that time period. What should be noted with respect to the Adaptive Modification Program as well as the Basic Systems Repair Program is, those programs are 223 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 demand-driven. It's a first-come- first-served basis, and we try to serve all of the clients that are, in fact, eligible for services. And in certain neighborhoods, the need appears to be greater than others, but we do have information available to reflect actual expenditures related to the community development dollars as well as the NTI dollars.

This information I have we received from your department last week, and we were told that it was current.

Well, I'm not sure where the information came from.

We will review it again with PHDC. Again, we are collecting information from a variety of departments, and so it may have been our error; and if so, I apologize.

I would appreciate that very much in 224 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 writing. Thank you.

The Chair is requesting that the information be forwarded here as well so that the Councilwoman receives all of the information she required for her district. Thank you, Councilwoman.

Thank you.

Councilman Greenlee?

Yeah. Mr. Hanna, just at the risk of belaboring the point, but just so I understand, and I know that it was what -- or it was what it was, so I know it's not going to change. But on that salary question okay, you responded both to Councilwoman Blackwell and I that the -- about your hands being tied, and I don't mean to be sarcastic, but 225 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 you're the Secretary of Housing who is tying your hands? I mean, why couldn't you have just brought those people in at that level and maybe taken away a lot of the problem?

The union contract is pretty specific, but the union contract outlines the basis on which these kinds of transactions can take place. Without -- the contract spells out that those kinds of things have to be negotiated that I can't unilaterally make those kinds of decisions. That's what bound my hands.

So the union would have opposed that?

No. Remember, I said we were negotiating. Negotiations were between us and the unions. Without a negotiated transition agreement, we had to do what we did. And, again, I can't go into any of the detail as to the level of 226 6/4/07 FINANCE - BILL 070387, RES. 070405 negotiations and the hours and weekend nights that were spent trying to negotiate that, but an awful lot of effort went into it from both sides.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hanna.

Are there any further questions for the witnesses? (No further questions.)

Any further questions? Thank you very much. If there are no further questions and no one else who wants to testify, we will conclude this part of our hearing and enter into our stated meeting. * * * 227 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING

For my colleagues, we'll go by the calendar. And as you note, the first two bills were the Biosolids bills, 060108 and 060109. Next is the bill for City depositories, and the Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco for a motion with regard to Bill No. 070230.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 070230 be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation and a further recommendation that the rules of Council be suspended. (Motion seconded.)

It has been moved and seconded that Bill 21 No. 070230 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and furthermore that the rules of Council be suspended in order to permit first reading at our next session of Council. 228 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING All those in favor will say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it and so the bill passes. The Chair recognizes Councilman Greenlee with regard to a motion to Bill No. 070260.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 070260 be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation and that the rules of Council be suspended so as to allow for first reading at the next session of Council. (Motion seconded.)

It has been moved and seconded that Bill 21 No. 070260 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and furthermore that the rules of Council be suspended in order to permit first reading at our next session of Council. 229 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING All those in favor will say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and so the bill passes. The Chair recognizes Councilman Reynolds-Brown with regard to a motion to Bill No. 070151.

Okay, Madam President. I move that Bill No. 070151 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading. (Motion seconded.)

All in favor, say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it; and, therefore, Bill No. 070151 will be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and also a recommendation for a suspension of the 230 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING rules so as to permit first reading at our next session of Council. The Chair now recognizes Councilman DiCicco for an amendment to Bill No. 070049.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the amendment that was circulated earlier in reference to Bill No. 070049 bed approved. (Motion seconded.)

It has been moved and seconded that the amendment to Bill No. 070049 be adopted. All those in favor will say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it and so the amendment is adopted. The Chair now recognizes Councilman DiCicco for a motion with regard to the amended bill.

Thank 231 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 070049, as amended, be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation and that the rules of Council be suspended. (Motion seconded.)

It has been moved and seconded that Bill 11 No. 070049, as amended, be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and also a recommendation for a suspension of the rules so as to permit first reading at our next session of Council. I think we voted, didn't we? All those in favor will say aye. Those opposed? The ayes have it, and so the bill passes. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown with regard to Bill 25 No. 070125. 232 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING

I move that Bill No. 070125 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended. (Motion seconded.)

It has been moved and seconded that Bill 10 No. 070125 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and also a recommendation that the rules of Council be suspended in order to permit first reading at our next session of Council. All those in favor will say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and so the bill passes. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode with regard to Bill 23 No. 070170.

Thank you, Madam Chair. 233 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING I move that Bill No. 070170 be reported out of committee out with a favorable recommendation and that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading at our next session. (Motion seconded.)

It has been moved and seconded that Bill 11 No. 070170 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and, furthermore, that the rules of Council be suspended in order to permit first reading at our next session of Council. All those in favor will say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and the bill 20 passes. The Chair recognizes Councilman Greenlee with regard to Bill 23 No. 070262.

Thank you, Madam Chair. 234 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING I move that Bill No. 070262 be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation and that the rules of Council be suspended to allow for first reading at the next session of Council. (Motion seconded.)

It's been moved and seconded that Bill No. 11 070262 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and also that the rules of Council be suspended in order to permit first reading at our next session of Council. All those in favor will say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and the bill 20 passes. The Chair recognizes Blondell Reynolds-Brown with regard to Bill No. 23 070368.

Madam Chair, I move that Bill No. 235 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING 070368 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading. (Motion seconded.)

It has been moved and seconded that Bill 10 No. 070368 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and furthermore that the rules of Council be suspended in order to permit consideration at our next session of Council. All those in favor will say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and the bill 20 passes. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode with regard to Bill 23 No. 070387.

Thank you, Madam Chair. 236 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING I move that Bill No. 070387 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading at our next Council session. (Motion seconded.)

It's been moved and seconded that Bill No. 11 070387 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and, furthermore, that the rules of Council be suspended in order to permit first consideration at our next session of Council. All in favor, say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and the bill 20 passes. The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco with regard to Bill 23 No. 070388.

Thank you, Madam Chair. 237 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING I move that Bill No. 070388 be reported out this committee with a favorable recommendation and a further recommendation that the rules of Council be suspended. (Motion seconded.)

It has been moved and seconded that Bill 10 No. 070388 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and, furthermore, that the rules of Council be suspended in order to permit first consideration at our next session of Council. All in favor, say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it and the bill 19 passes. The Chair recognizes Councilman Greenlee with regard to a motion for Bill No. 070393.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 070393 be 238 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation and that the rules of Council be suspended to allow for first reading at our next session of Council. (Motion seconded.)

It has been moved and seconded that Bill 10 No. 070393 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and, furthermore, that the rules of Council be suspended in order to permit first consideration at our next session of Council. All those in favor will say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and the bill 20 passes. The Chair recognizes Reynolds-Brown with regard to a motion on Bill No. 070401.

Madam Chair, I move that Bill No. 239 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING 070401 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading. (Motion seconded.)

It has been moved and seconded that Bill 10 No. 070401 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and, furthermore, that the rules of Council be suspended in order to permit first consideration at our next session of Council. All those in favor will say aye. The ayes have it, and so the bill passes. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode with regard to Bill 22 No. 070402.

That you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 070402 be 240 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading at our next Council session. (Motion seconded.)

It has been moved and seconded that Bill 10 No. 070420 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and, furthermore, that the rules of Council be suspended in order to permit first consideration at our next session of Council. All in favor will say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and the bill 19 passes. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown with regard to Resolution No. 070405.

Madam Chair, I move that Resolution No. 25 070405 be reported out of committee. 241 6/4/07 FINANCE COMMITTEE - PUBLIC MEETING (Motion seconded.)

It has been moved and seconded that Resolution 070405 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation. All in favor will say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and so the resolution is passed. This completes our short calendar for the day. Let me thank all of you and thank all of the members of the committee. And we note that Councilman O'Neill voted aye on all bills and resolutions that were passed today. Thank you very much to everyone. Thank you. (Proceedings end at 4:50 p.m) * * * 242 C E R T I I f C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings of the City of Philadelphia Council Committee on Finance are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me on Monday, June 4, 2007, and that this is a true and correct statement of same. __________________________________ JOSEPHINE CARDILLO Registered Professional Reporter (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.) 243 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings of the City of Philadelphia Council Committee on Finance are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me on Monday, June 4, 2007, and that this is a true and correct statement of same. __________________________________ JOSEPHINE CARDILLO Registered Professional Reporter (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)