Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon. My name is Gretchen Clausing, and I'm here representing the Philadelphia Community Access Coalition. Again, my apologies for just sort of rushing in. I think that our presence here today is really to again raise the issue of the importance of public access. It is something that I do believe going forward needs to be considered, not only in the budget of Public Property but also in the budget of the Capital Budget of the City. And you're going to have to -- I have to apologize if I am repeating myself or repeating 240 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings what Dina said, but I think there are so many pros to this opportunity. I think that in looking towards the creation of really high-paying jobs, giving the opportunity for young people to learn skills, to kind of raise the level of discourse that happens in this city, to be able to have an incredible outlet for marketing the City and its activities through the use of the access channels by nonprofit organizations, be it those working in social services or in education or in arts and culture. In terms of just wanting to see Philadelphia as it goes into the 21st century, we want to see the city really be wired and prepared and having the kind of workforce that knows how to use these technologies. And, you know, again, I just want to urge you all, in looking at this Capital Budget, to think about -- we're not talking about vast sums. We understand that based on the franchise agreements, there is already money that is supposed to be coming from the cable companies from the franchise fees. There's monies from the cable companies that once the nonprofit corporation is set up by Council President and the 241 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings Mayor, that then those capital monies will come in to buy the equipment. But those are all figures that were determined years ago. And I do believe that 6 the City needs to be prepared to include some 7 additional monies in making sure that Philadelphia 8 does really have the kind of state-of-the-art 9 facility that these franchise agreements -- 10 really, when you look at what was written up 15 11 years ago, it was really quite exciting and could 12 really put Philadelphia out in the forefront of 13 what is happening across the country and across 14 the world in terms of using television and the new 15 technologies. So thank you very much.
Thank you. I don't believe there are any questions. Thank you. Our next witness is Karen Talarico. (Karen Talarico comes forward.)
Good afternoon. 242 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings
Good afternoon. I'm Karen Talarico, and I'm the Executive Director of the Friends of the Free Library. And I'd like to thank you, Madame President and members of City Council, for allowing me to speak this afternoon. " These Friends represent people from every neighborhood and section of the city, from all walks of life and from every age level. As Friends of the Library, we're grateful to City Council for including in the year 2000 budget continued funding for the capital renovation project, which will result in the refurbishment of all the Free Library's 53 branches. If you have visited any of the renovated branches, you know that the change have been very dramatic. New paint and carpets, new furnishings and computers have made the libraries attractive and inviting. This has translated into increased library usage at all of the renovated branches. People are attracted by the new 243 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings technology at the Library where they can access the Internet and surf the Web. In fact, the computers have attracted people who have not been library users in the past. Many new patrons are now using their branch library for the first time. But although new technology may be inviting people to come back to their branch library, the further good news is that they are still taking out books once they get there. Circulation is up at every branch library that's been renovated and reopened. Although the renovation process has proceeded pretty much as scheduled, there are some branches that need more attention, and the Friends would like to bring them to your attention. The Widener Library on Lehigh Avenue was scheduled for renovation during the current budget year, but the building is in such terrible condition and the challenges to renovating a space that has deteriorated so badly are so great that the community and the library administration feel that another solution is needed. We hope that the City Council, the community, and the library administration can work together to find the funds 244 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings and the site for a new Widener Library. Another such site is the George Institute branch on 52 Street, south of Lancaster Avenue. The existing library there is much too small to accommodate the planned technology upgrades in addition to the collection of books and reference materials. The library administration has been working with the City government to find another site for this library, but until one is located, the community will have to do without the new computers and the Internet access available to people in other parts of the City. The Walnut Street West Library remains closed, although the library has tried to continue some level of service in a much smaller space across the street. The Administration continues to work with the University of Pennsylvania to identify a new site for this branch. The Friends of Walnut Street West have tried to keep some of their projects going such as an after-school tutoring project for neighborhood children. But without a full site library, it's impossible to serve the ongoing needs of this community. 245 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings The Haddington branch represents a special challenge to the renovation project. Haddington's a huge old Carnegie library on North 65th Street. The scope of this renovation is so large that it must be funded over two years. Repairs are scheduled to begin this year but will of necessity extend into the Fiscal 2001 budget. And as the library enters into the final phase of the renovation to its branches, we now must look to what's the crown jewel of our Library system, the Central Library, at Logan Square. The Central Library itself may be architecturally very beautiful outside, but inside the building, many of the collections are housed in space that is so cramped, access to the materials in them is limited.
The Central Library is the home to many priceless volumes, prints and pictures, and orchestral scores, but the age and state of the building make it impossible to safeguard these treasures for future generations. The installation of modern technology for public access has also been hampered by the existence of antiquated phone systems and wiring. 246 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings The modernization and expansion of the Central Library will be an issue that we will want to address in the very near future. In closing, I would like to thank you for your past support of the Free Library, and urge you to extend that support by continuing to fund the capital needs of the Library and its branches during the upcoming fiscal year. Thank you.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madame Chair. I deeply appreciate your testimony, and I just wanted to make sure that we had a couple that were clear on the record. You made reference to a couple of libraries. You may know that there's no other Council district beyond the 4th that has more libraries than I do.
In this year's Capital Budget, the George Institute branch that you mentioned is in for $417,000; the Haddington branch is in for $500,000; the Haverford branch is 247 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings in for $300,000 for one project and $105,000 for another project; and the Wynnefield branch library is in for $475,000. I did, though, want to make particular note of the situation at the George Institute branch, which you know that we are trying to expand in order to have meeting space. We are faced with the challenge in that expansion of trying to acquire a property adjacent to the George Institute Library. And I'd just like to at least inform you and get on the record what we have been doing in that particular regard. With the Chair's agreement I'd like to ask John Christmas from the City's Law Department to come up and share some information about our recent activities with regard to the George branch. Is that okay? (John Christmas comes forward.)
Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record.
Good afternoon. I'm John Christmas with the Law Department. 248 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings As the Councilman mentioned, we are in active efforts to acquire a site right next door to the George's Institute branch for the expansion. We met with the property owner. We've been trying to negotiate with him to get some kind of sensible price for the location. At the same time, we knew we needed, in an effort to further that discussion, have an appraisal done, which we received two weeks ago. Our plan was to either negotiate from that plan some type of sale price that made sense or to exercise our imminent domain powers in order to acquire it. It is obviously critical to proceed on an imminent domain basis observing all of the due process entitlements that the property owner would have. Naturally, an agreed-upon sale price that makes sense is best. Having received the real estate appraisal only a couple weeks ago from the Redevelopment Authority, we're going to schedule a meeting as contemplated with the property owner to talk more realistically about what the property's worth, and I fully expect that meeting to occur in short order. 249 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings
Mr. Christmas, you were brought into this process as a result of a call between myself and the City Solicitor about this particular; is that correct?
And you participated in the meeting with the property owner a few months ago; is that right?
Is it fair to say that the asking price that the property owner put on the table for a series of parcels, after having rejected the City's request for the sole parcel that is next to the George institute, is it fair to say that his asking price was somewhat high?
And we did initially try to get from him an agreement on just the one parcel next to the George Institute, which he rejected on a number of occasions and insists that we look at all of this properties which are not only the one adjacent to the George Institute, but would also take up almost a triangular larger 250 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings parcel; is that right?
And as a result of that, we have now decided to get a full appraisal not only for the site adjacent to the George Institute but for all of those other properties that he owns. And as you indicated, we will either negotiate a reasonable price or we will use every power and authority that we have as a government to go after all those properties still paying a fair-market value; is that right?
Okay, I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting with the property owner.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Cohen. Just a moment please.
To the gentleman 251 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings first. Do you handle these matters in the City Solicitor's Office for the acquisition of property generally or just for the Library?
Well, I was called in to this project -- no, I don't normally handle either acquisition f property matters or imminent domain acquisitions. But I do -- my normal work does embrace valuing property and making deals concerning property. But why I was brought in to this matter is because there is a mix of things that we can negotiate, one of which is that this property owner owes a lot of taxes on a lot of different properties. And I had previously represented the Department of Revenue in my experience with the Law Department, and I know how to structure some of these possible acquisitions where there really might not be no out-of-pocket to the City. And we, with Councilman Nutter's help, wanted to explore that and we could actually accomplish some or all of this without an outlay of money.
Well, I wanted to thank Councilman Nutter for bringing you in to the picture, because I was concerned in general 252 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings because we sometimes have situations where people are prepared to offer properties but there are tax liability and you've got to balance out all of kinds of things. And, secondly, the Ogontz Library that I've been working for some 35 years has already outgrown its, you know, ability to handle everybody. And I've recently raised with the Library the possibility of talking about acquiring more land immediately adjacent. So I'm very glad you raised that because it seemed like a live matter, and you obviously knew very much what you were talking about.
Point of information, Councilman. The reason John Christmas was involved in this process is because I called the City Solicitor, explained the situation that we have a reluctant owner who also owes the City of Philadelphia significant outstanding tax dollars on these properties and other properties, and I asked her to send over the roughest, toughest attorney she's got over there to get this deal done as quickly as possible. 253 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings
Do not let his demeanor confuse you, Councilman. You may want him for your Ogontz project.
Well, I was just very pleased to know that the City has somebody like that.
That's why he's working on this project for me; plus he's the one that would be willing to put up with me in this transaction.
Well, I'll remember that. I'm as unpleasant as Councilman Nutter is frequently in our persistent effort to get at the facts, but I'm glad to see that the City has such able talent working in that field because I think, increasingly, we're getting to run into situations involving acquisition of property where we want to feel that the City's counsel is just as able as, you know, those in the private sector are, and you certainly clearly meet and exceed every expectation. We thank you for the information.
Thank you very much, 254 2/9/99 WHOLE COMM. - Budget Hearings Councilman.
Thank you very much. Are there any other questions? (No further questions at this time.)
Do we have any other witnesses here who wish to testify? (No response.)
I want to thank everyone for their patience today. The Committee of the Whole will stand in recess until Tuesday, February 16th, at 9 a.m. (Adjourned at 2:32 p.m.) - - - 255 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Tuesday, February 16, 1999, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE BILL NO.'S 990021, 990022 __________________________________, JOSEPHINE CARDILLO, Registered Professional Reporter