COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT Museum of the American Revolution 101 South 3rd Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, April 14, 2025 1:10 p.m. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN ISAIAH THOMAS, CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN QUETCY LOZADA COUNCILMAN ANTHONY PHILLIPS COUNCILMAN MARK SQUILLA COUNCILMAN JEFFREY YOUNG, JR. ALSO PRESENT:
Good afternoon, everybody. We are looking to get started with today's hearing. Have we gone live yet? Can we start live, Channel 64 folks, or -- okay. All right. Good morning. Good afternoon. Before we get started today with officially opening today's hearing, I want to give a moment to the President and CEO of this phenomenal space that we're in, Dr. Scott Stephenson, to give a few remarks before we get started.
Well, 50 years ago I was a 9-year-old growing up in another great sports town called Pittsburgh. (Boo.)
Oh, come on. And I'm just here to tell you that what I'm excited about, and for those of you who came up to the museum, it is spring break week. It is great to see hundreds of families here with your children and they are visiting from around the country. If you had been here last week or you come next week, it's when our student-rich environment comes. We have about 50,000 school children, not just from the city, not just from the region, around the country who come here to the museum every year to learn about these crucial founding decades that created our constitutional democracy. And I can tell you that the opportunity we have is so exciting to ignite in them a passion and an interest in history, for critical thinking, for literacy, to spark their interest in reading and learning about the roots of our democracy that can sometimes feel a little bit thin and fragile. And so, this is a great opportunity that we have. We are so grateful to be part of this great campus of the University of America, which includes great places like the National Constitution Center, the Weitzman Independence Hall, and we're really a place where people from around the nation should continue to come and hopefully in greater numbers will come here as we celebrate the Semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence. So thanks to all of you for being here. Thanks for the opportunity to host you all today. (Applause.)
Thank you. It's important that we're in this space today, and we will talk about that throughout the course of our hearing. So with that being said, good afternoon. This is the Committee on Legislative Oversight. Today is Monday, April 14, 2025. Before we start, I just want to take a moment of personal privilege just to acknowledge that today would have been my mother's birthday. So it's really touching for me to be here in this moment. My mother died two years ago and today is her birthday. So I'm excited that we're having this conversation about the history of Philadelphia on a day that is the birthday of somebody who means so much to me. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Philadelphia City Council and the Committee on Legislative Oversight. I now note that the hour has come. Mr. Clerk, will you please call the roll and take attendance of the witnesses here today.
Present. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. A quorum of the Committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. I would like to take a moment of privilege to recognize that, although not on the Committee, Dr. Nina Ahmad is here with us today as well too. Thank you, Dr. Ahmad. We appreciate you being here for such an important conversation. And I would also like to recognize that Councilmember Jamie Gauthier was here earlier as it relates to supporting the advocacy of press- based initiatives. With that being said, this is the continuation of a public hearing of the Committee of the Legislative Oversight Committee on Resolution No. 240701. Mr. Maynard, will you please read the title of the hearing resolution to be heard here today.
Resolution 240701, authorizing the Committee on Legislative Oversight to hold hearings to assess the current state of Philadelphia's preparations with a multitude of events being held across the City throughout 2026 as we celebrate America's 250th birthday and Philadelphia's central role in America's founding.
12 Thank you, Mr. Maynard. 13 Before we call the first 14 panel, I would like to open it up 15 for any members of the Committee 16 who might have any brief remarks. 17 (No response.) 18
19 Seeing none, I would like to ask 20 that all of the people who are here 21 in attendance today who are not in 22 government, right, who's in the 23 private sector and who's here 24 because you care about this city, maybe you run some type of event, some type of business, any type of activity, everybody who's here today because you care about 2026 and you care about Philadelphia and you do not work for any government level, can you please stand up for us? (Applause.)
Look at this, folks. Isn't this beautiful? I want to say thank you all. I want to say thank you all for coming out. I want to say thank you for making Philadelphia the amazing city it is. And I want to say thank you because even when government was behind, you still were laser-sharp focused on the goal of making sure 2026 was at the forefront of the work that we do. And we can see, based on where we are today, that we would not be here without you all. So I just wanted everybody to understand the people that are in the audience, because sometimes we come to these spaces and far too often people are coming to testify or they're coming because they're staffing us. Today is the day where people are coming because they care about our great city and they want to make sure that we do the best that we possibly do as it relates to 2026. Give yourselves a round of applause please. (Applause.)
Mr. Maynard, will you please call the first panel to testify here today.
Our first panel this afternoon is Michael Newmuis, 2026 Director for the City of Philadelphia, and Jazelle Jones.
Can we give them a round of applause please. (Applause.)
I know that's not normal at hearings. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Again, it isn't normal at hearings, but nothing today has been normal so that's okay. But we really do want to recognize the two people who've been leading the charge for the executive branch of government. And if you are ready, please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
Thank you. For the record, my name is Michael Newmuis, 2026 Director for the City of Philadelphia, and it's an honor to be here with you today. Happy birthday to Mrs. Thomas. And it was really encouraging to see everyone stand up because I think it really punctuates a key message, that for Philadelphia to succeed and leverage this catalytic opportunity, it really will take all of us working together. And I'm so pleased that we have been driving forward incredible partnerships and collaboration. And I want to thank City Council and the Office of Thomas for being a major part of that. Good afternoon, Chair Thomas and members of the Committee on Legislative Oversight.
We work for y'all. State your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
My name is Jazelle Jones. Good afternoon, Chairperson Thomas and members of the Committee on Legislative Oversight. I am Jazelle --
No worries. I am the City Representative and the Director of Operations for Special Events in the Office of Special Events. Philadelphia stands at a pivotal moment in history. As we look ahead to 2026, we have a once-in-a-lifetime generational opportunity not just to showcase our city to the world, but to ensure that this moment leaves a lasting legacy in our neighborhoods for our businesses and across every community. Our journey to 2026 didn't just start this year or even last year. It began back in 2017 when the City of Philadelphia alongside the Host Committee and the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau submitted a bid to join the United 2026 Campaign to bring the FIFA World Cup back to North America for the first time since 1994. We know that Philadelphia is no stranger to being a City of First. And in 2026, we will help make history once again. For the first time ever, the FIFA World Cup will be hosted jointly by the United States, by Mexico and Canada. And Philadelphia will be front and center. When we were selected as a host city in 2022, we knew that we had work to do. But we also knew that we were ready to showcase Philadelphia on the global stage yet again. From the 2015 Papal visit and the World Meeting of Families to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, to the 2017 NFL Draft, the 2024 WrestleMania and two very unforgettable Eagles Super Bowl Parades in 2018 and 2025, Philadelphia has proven time and time again that we can rise to the occasion of hosting large celebrations. Today you will hear about some of the major events coming our way, including America 250, Homecoming 250, Navy Marine Birthday Celebration, the 2026 FIFA World Cup and FanFest, the MLB All-Star Weekend and much more. Each event requires meticulous coordination and expertise, and that is where the Office of the City Representative and Special Events come in. Our team is responsible for the behind-the-scenes work that ensures these events are successful, seamless and, most importantly, safe for all residents and attendants. I am here before you today to say Philadelphia is ready. In fact, we've been preparing for this for years. Planning committees have been established across a wide range of subject area expertise, including, but not limited to, public safety, transportation and infrastructure, communications, finance and sustainability. Each committee has been charged with a critical mission to develop, refine and finalize comprehensive operational plans with an overall goal that each and every visitor and every resident feels safe, supported and connected. Our committee leads have been coordinating with host organizations, mutual aid partners and a myriad of local, state and federal agencies to develop these plans and will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that every potential issue is addressed. These committees have also been proactive in considering unforeseen contingencies and emergency scenarios, ensuring that plans remain flexible and adaptable in the face of changing circumstances. Our committee leads have engaged in a series of indepth discussions to anticipate possible obstacles and formulate effective responses. This collaborative effort, through a series of meetings, has hyperfocus on identifying and troubleshooting potential challenges, along with data- and information-sharing in coordination with a wide array of experts across multiple sectors. The work is not only aimed at creating a smooth operational club, but also at fostering a sense of community. As plans near completion, they will be thoroughly tested and refined to guarantee effectiveness, ensuring a seamless experience for all who visit Philadelphia to participate in these tremendous events. Public safety is and will continue to be our top priority. Comprehensive public safety planning for events is critical to ensure that large patterns are safe and well-managed.
Proper planning helps identify and mitigate risk and greatly enhances experience for attendees, staff, residents and emergency response. We're working closely with our public safety partners, police, fire, emergency management, public health to make sure we're prepared with the right people, the right equipment and plans in place to support the full schedule of events while simultaneously delivering a high standard of services to Philadelphia's residents and existing business community. From a transportation perspective, we are uniquely positioned. , and we take that responsibility really seriously. We understand that coordination and collaboration with our neighboring cities is not just helpful, but it is essential. We can expect that some international visitors will use this opportunity to maximize their visit to the United States and traverse up and down the Northeast corridor. And thanks to the strong partnerships we built with regional and national agencies we are working to ensure that those journeys are smooth, secure and seamless. But beyond operations and logistics, transportation and safety, our focus is also on legacy. A city worthy of a global celebration must first be a city that works for its people. The Mayor is extremely committed to assuring that every neighborhood and every community are part of the celebration, and that is why we're working diligently to drive investments into every Council District, also into our small businesses, commercial corridors and community events so the benefits of 2026 extend far beyond Center City and well beyond the event dates. As it relates to FIFA FanFest, our team is working with partner agencies and stakeholders to enhance accessibility and infrastructure at Lemon Hill ahead of the event and is engaging directly with the community members and the park to gain insight into what sort of legacy enhancement and improvements that should be made post-event. It is important to note that many of the upcoming large- scale sporting events, including FIFA World Cup, MLB All-Star Weekend, they offer free and low-cost fan experiences for those without game tickets. FIFA FanFest at Lemon Hill will be free to enter with no ticket required. Major League Baseball All-Star Weekend offers a number of free and low-cost fan experiences outside of ticket games and stadium events. Not only will FIFA and MLB All-Star Weekend have free or low-ticket event options, but most of the Welcome America events being planned in conjunction with Welcome America 250 celebrations will also be free to attend. On the homefront, even as we prepare for the world stage, we are not stepping away from our daily responsibilities. Our office processes more than 1800 special event applications throughout every year, including over 500 city- sponsored events hosted by our Councilmembers and our city departments that uplift and celebrate our communities. In 2026, we'll continue to support those events and look for ways to tie them to the larger 250th celebration, because a celebration in Philadelphia is a celebration for every community. And we do believe that every neighborhood deserves to feel a part of this historic moment. This is why we are so committed to being a part of the solution that makes doing business in Philadelphia easier, especially as we approach the landmark events of 2026. We're actively working to streamline the event-permitting process so that individuals, organizations and neighborhoods that have always dreamed of hosting a celebration can now do so with confidence and with the support of our office. To help make that vision a reality, we've created a special event guidebook designed to walk you through every step. Whether you're a first-time organizer or a seasoned planner, we want you to feel empowered to contribute to this historic moment and celebrate Philadelphia in your own meaningful way. Philadelphia holds a unique place in America's story.
As the nation's birthplace and its first world heritage city, we are uniquely positioned to lead this milestone moment with pride, purpose and unity. So, yes, the world is coming to Philadelphia, but more importantly, Philadelphia is rising to meet the world. And together, we'll make sure that we rebuild for 2026 and that build is felt for generations. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
Thank you for your testimony. If I heard you correctly, I thought I heard you say 500 city-sponsored events hosted by city departments and Councilmembers, so --
-- the words by our phenomenal Council President, we be working. So -
So before Michael goes, I would like to acknowledge the presence of Council President Kenyatta Johnson. Council President -- (Applause.)
Please state your name for the record. Begin with your testimony. After your testimony, we'll open it up for questions from members of the Committee.
Thank you. My name is Michael Newmuis, 2026 Director for the City of Philadelphia. Good afternoon, Council President, Chair Thomas and members of the Committee on Legislative Oversight. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the critical work that is under way to prepare Philadelphia to shine on a global stage as we host America's 250th anniversary in 2026. Since my last testimony, we have achieved an unprecedented collaboration across government, community leaders and institutions to leverage the (inaudible) to create a lasting citywide impact for Philadelphia. Together we are making 2026 a moment of celebration, investment and pride that will positively impact the residents of Philadelphia for years to come. Let's jump right into it. With the FY26 budget proposal, we are ensuring that the spirit of the celebration extends to all Philadelphians, by enhancing our commercial corridors and empowering all neighborhoods to be a part of the experience. We are collaborating with each and every City Council District office to ensure that the Parker Administration can identify key corridors for investments based on City Council's recommendations and the Philadelphia Department of Commerce and in partnership with trusted community partners to collaboratively enhance the lifeblood of our neighborhoods. This initiative is aimed at beautifying public spaces, increasing tours of fueled economic activity for small businesses and bolstering civic pride among residents. Just imagine going out to the corridors and there are beautiful, beautiful, large planters in areas where they weren't, commemorative 250 (inaudible), neighborhood banners, all of the things that are going to drive civic pride and also place- making tools to help drive economic activity to these places. But we're also proposing the funding of the Neighborhood Centers Grant Program to provide support for individuals and community institutions and organizations who are seeking to co-create programs to host events in the communities. This application process would prioritize events that demonstrate a potential to really boost the economic activity to support the jobs and businesses along corridors with engaging our residents across Philadelphia. And as with the corridor revitalization proposal, no 17 District across Philadelphia will be left behind. We are committed to working with each District office through that process. I want to also thank Philadelphia250 for their support with executing that particular program. I want to especially acknowledge the leadership of Councilmember Lozada for her hands- on leadership as we work through opportunities in Kensington and her commitment to working alongside us to find a solution that's not just handed to the community, it's really to co-create with community partnership and it is benefiting from her subject matter expertise. While there's still much work to do, I'm confident that through our collaboration we're going to deliver a meaningful initiative that can benefit the good people of Kensington and deliver impactful activation together. Our goal is to make 2026 activities accessible, inclusive and inspiring with opportunities for every Philadelphian to take part in the celebration. We're supporting initiatives like the German Arts District, Kristen Clark from that group is here today. You may know them as GTown250 or Germantown250, but they are amplifying Germantown's role in history through arts and business, and their program is pretty exceptional. By offering these grassroots efforts across neighborhoods, we're giving our local communities the tools to tell their meaningful stories and attract participation. But, you know, as we approach 250 years since our nation was founded, there is no city that embodies the essence of America more than Philadelphia does.
From our Quaker roots and our indigenous path to the visionaries who understood that 1776 was just the beginning in the fight for our rights and democracy, Philadelphia will once again remind the world why we are the keystone celebrating the nation's history and the pathway for so many dreams that are still to come. The American spirit thrives in many stories and experiences that shape us, and the proposed FY26 budget extends a welcome to all. These plans honor the traditions that make our city shine, including Stonewall and Art Fest honoring our sacred LGBT community, the Pennsylvania Juneteenth Parade or Festival, not to mention Odunde, Bumi Fernandez, their head is here today, the largest African American street festival in the world that takes place right here in our hometown. It champions community cornerstones like the Welcoming Center, Esperanza, Asian Arts Initiative and Philly Truce, which is bringing a year of brotherly action initiative to life, fostering renewed bonds among Black men. And I believe Mazzie? is here today from Philly Truce, which is remarkable. They're doing incredible work. We want to also acknowledge the support of Councilmember Young's office, who has fostered connections to ensure that we're elevating indigenous voices in the celebration of America's 250th. The proposed budget proudly supports initiatives hosted by We Are the Seeds, a Native indigenous organization, ensuring these underrepresented indigenous voices resonate during this historic milestone. Additionally, through funding from the FY25 midyear transfer, we are launching a Philadelphia tour series that will share the rich stories of our neighborhoods while supporting local economies. We'll include tours like those through Germantown with the legacy of the Underground Railroad comes alive and through Chinatown and the Gayborhood that highlight the trailblazing history made by these communities right here in Philadelphia. The importance of youth cannot be understated as we talk about redefining of the future, what the next 250 years look like, and recognizing that high demand for tickets for major events won't be a thing in 2026. We want to ensure that our residents, particularly our youth, can still access fun, entertainment and activities. The proposed budget includes programs like Mont Brown's Let's Win Together, which offered through kickbacks and packs, will allow youth to both meet and playfully compete with real-life sports leaders through transformative free programming. Additionally, Victory in Philly offers basketball and life skills education throughout Philadelphia, reaching over 15,000 youth across 80% of Philadelphia zip codes through schools, rec centers and community organizations. The FY26 budget also supports programming and activations hosted by community cultural hubs through Philadelphia, including the Paul Robeson House and First Person Arts as well as major museum exhibitions hosted by the Franklin Institute, The Barnes, the Museum of the American Revolution, that we've seen today, and the African American Museum's 50th Anniversary program. This balanced approach ensures that both residents across our neighborhoods and visitors can enjoy offerings that further position Philadelphia as the lead in 2026. While we celebrate the future, we are deeply committed to preserving the landmarks that define our city's past. Included in the Administration's proposed FY26 budget, our supplemental capital allocations for institutions like the Mann Center, the Please Touch Museum and importantly, the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I also work quietly behind the scenes with partners to come to an agreement on the prioritization of federal funding for the physical restoration of Independence Hall, a treasured UNESCO world heritage site that remains our nation's most enduring symbol of democracy. The Administration is appreciative for the accelerated efforts steered by the Department of the Interior.
I'm thrilled that this historic asset can be preserved for future generations with work commencing within this month. Legacy is not just about building anew. It's about taking treasures we inherit and leaving them in better condition for the generation that will follow us. It's about honoring the past while preparing for the future, ensuring that the foundation you lay today supports the aspirations of our city far into tomorrow. I'm proud to say that this proposed budget reflects that ideal, advancing projects that will solidify Philadelphia's enduring legacy. We've already explored some of those efforts that embody this philosophy, including transforming commercial corridors and neighborhoods that historically were not invited to the table to be part of these incredible celebrations, giving our youth across those streets the physical site that we care about and that we invested in, also the preservation of our cultural and historic assets like the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Independence Hall. These efforts are designed not only to elevate our neighborhoods and preserve our history, but to ensure Philadelphia's stories are told for centuries to come. Legacy takes many forms and the Parker Administration has far more in store as part of a larger construct. The full package of projects will be unveiled in the coming weeks. And I'm excited to just tease that they involve some incredible national collaborations with America250 and the Library of Congress. Business has to be the heart of the celebration, and the Parker Administration is committed to ensuring those proposed investments deliver a return for the business community. The Philadelphia Department of Commerce and the efforts they drive are essential to the success of America's 250. Not all small businesses are ready to handle the anticipated influx of visitors that we expect in 2026. That's why the Mayor's Business Action Team is actively engaging small businesses across commercial corridors to help them enhance their physical infrastructure, including storefront improvements, outside beautification and security camera solutions. These efforts aim to help businesses prepare and scale operations to handle the uptick of tourism anticipated in the next 6 months. 7 This work is not just 8 because companies are coming. It's 9 part of our ongoing efforts to help 10 local small businesses scale by 11 improving their marketing plans, 12 pricing models, customer service 13 and other growth factors to ensure 14 that our corridors can thrive, not just in 2026 but for the years that will follow. MBAT will also be delivering additional engagement opportunities for the 250 commercial corridors, receiving targeted enhancements to commemorate the 250. We're preparing to communicate additional resources to help businesses get involved, including a matchmaking tool to connect service providers like food trucks, collateral companies, transportation services with events that will be hosted seeking to procure locally. We'll also be announcing workshops to help businesses prepare for upcoming opportunities. By identifying and promoting local procurement opportunities, we're ensuring that local businesses within the city can actively participate and benefit in this historic celebration. While today's remarks focus on our efforts really at the local level, we assure that we are concurrently working to capitalize on the global opportunities that 2026 presents. The world is coming and these proposed investments will help ensure Philadelphia is ready. I can't give you the full information. I'm really excited to say that even just this past weekend working closely with former Treasury Secretary Rosa Rios, Philadelphia just led an incredible national partnership that's going to really elevate that position.
So thank you for the opportunity to testify today and share all these exciting investments and highlights that will make Philadelphia the place to be in 2026. My colleague and I are happy to answer questions.
Thank you. Colleagues, before we open it up for questions I just want to be mindful that we have a packed agenda today. We have a lot of different panels and we really want to make sure we can get to all of them, especially our fourth panel on SEPTA and the Airport. With that being said, just a couple of questions. First, I want to commend you for your testimony today. Michael, I'm listening to the organizations you named and it seems like the partnership has been a good thing thus far. There are a lot of people in the audience here today who are curious about how do we plan on making sure communities, neighborhoods, entrepreneurs can benefit from the moment that we're in. As I look around the room, I see David Simms, who's an entrepreneur in the city of Philadelphia. I see Nicodemus in the back who's a gaming entrepreneur. I see Christina, she's a filming entrepreneur. And you talked about Kristen and the work that she does with the Germantown Arts District. All of these people, who are representing different professional sectors, all have a similar objective as Black entrepreneurs looking to advance their bottom line in 2026. We all know that Black businesses make up less than 5% of the businesses in the city of Philadelphia, while simultaneously Black people make up the largest percent of the population in the city. Help us understand through the lens of the Administration, and either one of you can answer this question, how are we making sure that these entrepreneurs who showed up here today as well as those who didn't have an opportunity to be beneficial -- to benefit from the work that's happening in 2026?
Sure. And thank you for that question. That's something that's been top of mind for the Administration as well, not just for this but for past celebrations. We've always looked at them through the lens how can you benefit our local and members' businesses, and to your question specifically Black and Brown businesses. One thing we're doing is serving every single individual that is receiving a dollar from the city or that will be submitting permits for the city to identify, capture what are the opportunities that you're going to be needing, whether that's a procurement hiring or whether that's a space that you're looking to activate around your space, so we can share that information with our entrepreneurs and our business class. Because if you got the information to actually know what's happening, then you can mobilize and get resources in order to drive that opportunity forward.
What pipeline specifically are we creating so when somebody like FIFA or Major League Baseball wants to put out an RFP, right, because I'm hearing what you're saying about city government and city funding, and I commend the organizations that you have talked about that the Mayor intends to fund. This list is very different than the list that we talked about through Councilmember Squilla's Committee a couple months ago, so we definitely see progress. But what systems specifically are in place for these entrepreneurs so when they leave here today if I don't have Councilman Thomas' cell phone number or Michael's cell phone number, what platforms exist so I can get up-to-date information as it relates to opportunities to partner with the private sector to move the needle for Philadelphiabased businesses specifically?
Sure. I'll mention two things. One, you mentioned FIFA specifically. I know Philadelphia Soccer 2026 has engaged Tiffany (inaudible), who runs an incredible procurement business. She's a young Black woman that does incredible work. Ned (inaudible) is here. We can provide specific information about how to get in touch during her testimony. And then the City of Philadelphia is going to be launching phila.gov/2026 --
I don't have a specific date, but I can follow up in writing with a specific date of when that will be launched.
Can we make sure that the people who have been aggressively trying to be a part of this process gets access to that information?
Because we have people who attended a number of hearings who provided public comment who met with you, who met with my office, and I just would hate for us to put this information out there and a lot of the people who've been at the forefront of this work get left behind.
Thank you for your partnership and your commitment to show that we can leverage all of your networks and resources to make sure that we're reaching the right people.
I'm sitting next to Councilmember Lozada. So because I'm sitting next to Councilmember Lozada, I vividly remember being next to her in another hearing and she asked for specific initiatives around Kensington to prepare Philadelphia for all of the tourists that come. I remember her words. Her words where, When people come to visit Philadelphia, I don't want them to come to Kensington and get these viral moments, I think you talked about it as. Where are we from the last time we spoke to where we are now as it relates to what Councilmember Lozada requested as a plan specifically for Kensington in preparation for 2026?
We're all handling that. And I'm so excited that even this Thursday we'll be taking a tour side-by-side with Councilmember Lozada to walk the streets and identify specifically what the vision is with various event planners and other resources. The conversations we've had have been over the past few months and they've evolved. And it's really important from my perspective, and I'm sure, although I won't speak for the Councilmember, but that we're working with the community and that we're not just handing the plan but that we're being really intentional about co-creating experiences and opportunities for the folks that we're looking to positively help.
Councilmember Lozada would like to provide a point of information.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I sat here in our first meeting and expressed deep concern and lots of frustration, and I just want to publicly say thank you. Thank you, Michael and his team and many others here, for understanding my frustration, for understanding my deep concern and focus-finding the way that you all have. I am hopeful that after our tour, right, we talk a lot about seeing, feeling and touching things and I think it's important that Michael has committed to walking and riding the train with me and my team to feel what community residents feel as they travel through neighborhoods on our public transportation. So I'm looking forward to that. And I'm looking forward to continue to work together to ensure that when visitors come to our city and they visit Kensington and they walk away with a completely different experience than what the Internet has said Kensington is.
Thank you, Councilmember Lozada, for your leadership on that issue. Greatly appreciated. Two more questions and then I'm going to turn it over to Councilmember Phillips for a few questions. I see -- oh, Council President, would you like to be recognized?
Okay. A lot of us elected officials wear a number of hats. I seen Dr. Ashley Jordan here. I sit on the Board of the African American Museum. It was just an honor to have Bumi from the Odunde Festival as one of our panelists today. When I think about festivals and institutions that traditionally do not get funded, how are we prioritizing events like Odunde, initiatives like the Germantown Arts Festival, institutions like the African American Museum to make sure -- and I heard you mention the celebration for the African American Museum specifically as one of the initiatives. But how are we doing a deep dive as it relates to our finances, to make sure that we're funding diverse initiatives but also to encourage the private sector to partner with these institutions, these cultural events of these initiatives, to make sure that they have the same opportunity to thrive as a lot of our historic places on East Market Street as well as in other parts of the city?
Thank you. When I first got in this role, my very second week, Bumi was the first person I met with in terms of doing the external stakeholder outreach. We've been in constant communication since. But that's not isolated to Odunde. It's across the board. I am a person who cares deeply about our communities and that you're seeing it in this proposed budget proposal. Councilmember, the second part of your question was?
So we talked about cultural institutions and events. So we talked about events like Odunde, we'll do a deeper dive there, but specifically looking at the African American Museum and other institutions in the city of Philadelphia, smaller institutions, African American Museum is the biggest one, but I think about a number of others, specifically in the 8th District, that have these type of cultural institutions. What are we doing to ensure that they can have the same opportunity for success, the Paul Robeson House? Council President just had an institution, Marian Anderson I believe in his District, I can think of a few others. Are we making sure that those institutions are able to have some level of success? And what are we doing to encourage tourism to participate in these initiatives outside of just the traditional Market Street?
Thank you for that question. It's something that we are also all in on. You'll find included in my remarks and in the proposed budget that we've prioritized with AAMP, who've I've met with quite a few times and other institutions that you've just mentioned that are included in the proposed budget, but we're also working to make sure that with our marketing partner in Visit Philadelphia, that we're not just shining a light on the major tourism hubs. When I was at Visit Philadelphia, I started an initiative called Shop Black Business Friday and then Councilmember Parker decided to introduce it, and it has remained an incredible program since. It shines a light on our businesses throughout, and that philosophy carries forward with the proposal for your consideration. We really are working intentionally across both the small community hubs as well as larger institutions that you're looking at so that there's a balance and that everyone can be supported.
Last question for me from this panel: When I think about public safety and I listen to some things you've talked about with public safety, through Chairman Squilla's leadership through the Appropriations Committee, we know that we've allocated a lot of money to be able to address issues related to public safety. But what are we doing? And is there an appetite -- I heard you mention it, but is there truly an appetite to partner with organizations like Philly Truce and other boots-on-the-ground organizations that I know work closely with Council President's office as well as the Public Safety Committee to be able to bring them in to be a part of the public safety initiative, right? We can't just rely on police and sheriff, right. That's not enough. We're already understaffed right now. So what creative things are you looking to do to address issues surrounding public safety to make sure that all events across the city of Philadelphia are executed in a way that's safe and also equitable, right, because the RFP process is an important part of this process?
I would need to get back to you with this question specific to public safety and steps are being taken. I will say you mentioned Philly Truce. I've known Mazzie since my last role and I've been supportive of his work in the past and remain supportive even now. In addition to public safety, he has also played an incredible song that we want to incorporate for a lot of our community events. It's called Can't Say Love Enough. The work in that organization is really important. But in terms of a specific ask of how we would incorporate that specific organization into a public safety plan, I can't speak to that but one of my colleagues will follow up.
We'll follow up. Thank you for your candidness. Chair recognizes Council President Johnson and then Councilmember Phillips.
I'm going to be real brief, but I just want to start off by just thanking our colleague Majority Whip Councilman Isaiah Thomas. Give him a round of applause. (Applause.)
On behalf of your leadership and your vision of making sure this is a critical priority in City Council to make sure we are expanding the 250th celebration here in the city of Philadelphia. I also want to say and acknowledge our (inaudible) and our Mayor. Give them a round of applause as well. (Applause.)
Working in partnership in City Council to allocate the last midyear transfer and currently this upcoming budget, $100 million focusing on the birthplace of our celebration. And I also want to take a moment to acknowledge Kathryn Ott-Lovell and working in partnership with -- (Applause.)
-- working in partnership with Michael Newmuis, who I think has done an incredible job as far as we talk day-to-day just about this particular process. And for me, I'm very interested as we celebrate the birthplace of our nation, but just making sure the process is diverse and inclusive, so if we're going to spend $100 million, that money should represent what the city of Philadelphia looks like. So I do thank you for just being patient with us and doing your due diligence as we make sure this process is diverse and inclusive. And I have different meetings with different stakeholders throughout the city of Philadelphia in my position as the City Council President. And some folks say, are we ready, are we ready to take on the world. And so, our response is that sure enough we will be ready. The reason why I say that with the utmost confidence is because we have a young lady who will be leading the helm of this particular initiative on behalf of the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. She's the City Representative. She also does work in terms of making sure that any key initiative that comes to the city of Philadelphia, whether it's hosting the Pope, whether that's hosting the NFL Draft, whether that's making sure 1,000 individuals every year get a chance to participate in the Broad Street Run, it's the incomparable Jazelle Jones. Let's give her a round of applause. (Applause.)
And knowing that she's going to be at the helm of making sure that we have an outstanding event. And last but not least, I just want to echo the sentiments of my majority members of City Council, we just want to make sure that this celebration represents the city of Philadelphia. The same way we're here celebrating and having this hearing inside the American Revolution Museum, right, we also want to celebrate the Underground Railroad up at the Belmont Mansion, the same we're celebrating the Betsy Ross House, we're going to celebrate Paul Robeson House. The same we're going to celebrate the July 4th celebration we do every year, we're also going to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Odunde here in the city of Philadelphia. (Applause.)
That's my mission, right, to make sure we celebrate the city of Philadelphia in the most diverse way we can as we honor the 250 celebration of the birthplace of our country. So again, I say hats off because this young man has been working on this issue day-in and day-out. I just wanted to stop and take time out of my schedule and want to support you. But we do not do this work alone as well. And so, when we say we have Appropriations meetings and folks come to us and say, well, we want to make sure this $45 million is supportive, we have members of the Appropriations Committee who are sitting on that Committee having the conversation. And our Chair is Mark Squilla. Give him a round of applause. (Applause.)
And before the bill is passed out of Appropriations, you also have other members of City Council that say, well, hold up, before we vote on this bill, we want to make sure our interests are a part of it because we all want diversity here in the city of Philadelphia. And you will see the members who are here, including Councilmember Jeffrey Jay Young, Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, Dr. Anthony Phillips and Dr. Nina Ahmad, so you got a group of members that are working day-in and day-out under the leadership of this particular initiative, Councilmember Isaiah Thomas. So I thank you young man for your hard work and your dedication to -- (Applause.)
I have four other events but wanted to stop past to be supportive of your initiative.
We know, Prez. Can we give our Council President a round of applause. (Applause.)
And I just want to commend Council President, John and the entire team for encouraging us to do remote hearings. Traditionally, things like this is done at City Hall in Council chambers, but Council President has pushed us to go into the community and do things that's relevant to the theme, so that's how we got here today. Council President, thank you and thank you for your team. (Applause.)
Thank you so much. I just want to also thank Council President for always pushing us to do even more each and every day. He's doing a great job as our leader in City Council. Thank you, Council President. Chairman Thomas, you are doing one amazing job with focusing our city and bringing the facility to bring people together around 2026. So I would like to echo and thank you as well, Chairman. Two quick questions so we can move ahead. Thank you also, Jazelle and also Michael Newmuis, for the work that you're doing. It seems a lot of great work is coming from it. Just some things I want to ask questions for our neighbors and a lot of our Districts. The normal business of the City of Philadelphia during the spring and summer months, there are a lot of community festivals, block parties and so forth. What is the plan to communicate with neighbors about potential interruptions or disruptions to some of their community programs such as their block parties or this festival that they want to have locally? Are we planning for disruptions and interruptions? If so, is there a way that we're going to communicate to them way in advance so we don't feel like we're getting a hit from that in our District offices?
Thank you for your question, Doctor. We are planning a very robust communications tool, which actually Michael is spearheading. However, in our new normal special events quadre of things that we do, we have a mechanism that we push out through various mechanisms as it relates to street closures, demonstrations and the like. And in addition, typically if we end up at a community meeting we give information to residents about what's coming. We are working with the Lemon Hill, maybe 15 associations there. So we meet with them regularly and we make it our business to let them know what's going to happen in their neighborhood.
And I just want to mention that I'm assuming that even beyond the spaces that are going to be immediately impacted, which is West Philadelphia and Center City areas, sometimes if you're having a block party all the way in Northeast or Northwest Philadelphia, police, you know, may have to be present for a community program. So we didn't want residents to feel -- some people don't want residents to feel like we just found out last minute that we can't have our event because all the police officers have to be down at Lemon Hill or downtown somewhere. So how do we get people aware of lockout dates essentially because it may not get enough security presence for certain events?
All of that is true and we are working on a plan to address just that.
Okay. Thank you. That's awesome. We'll follow up on that, continue to work on that. So last question I had I mentioned that there -- you mentioned in your testimony, Michael, that you're preparing commercial corridors for 2026. I just want to get a better sense of maybe a list of the commercial corridors that you are hitting and whether or not the timeline for completion for those commercial corridors and small businesses so they can understand the impact. Are you doing every commercial corridor in all 10 Districts or just the ones that are going to be surrounding the impacted areas of the festival?
Thank you for that question. I'm happy to follow up with regard to a list. This is not every single commercial corridor. But throughout Philadelphia, there were so many corridors that historically didn't necessarily benefit from the use of tourism, and they were on the cusp of being tourism-ready, right. We've made a lot of investments over the years. So we said what if we were to select every single Council District with two corridors that we could pour in to target investments to help get them just there, and then lay on top of that some marketing to really drive forward working with partners in the community. You're already there to make sure that, one, that they want the tourism and, two, that they are ready. So I'm happy to provide you that list. It's not every single corridor, all of Philadelphia. But it's two per Council District that'll be part of a strategy of driving economic equity throughout Philadelphia County.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you for your leadership on this. It's really important to really work with our community stakeholders and all our partners here as well as the Administration. And you know you're really important when you can go by one name like Jazelle and everybody knows who it is. But, Michael, you'll get there too. Thank you for all your work. (Laughter.)
No, but thank you all. And this is important. And we talked about things about the communities and legacy projects. And I know one that's been discussed and has been working with the National Park Services, the project that we talked to (inaudible) projects needs approval and as it has a legacy project where it may be possible to install a 250-year time capsule. What is the -- I guess where is that now, as are we still raising money to try to get that finally built? And do we see that giving us enough time to get that in there so that this is something that could be realized?
Thank you for that question. About six weeks ago, former Treasury Secretary Rosa Rios who chairs America250 issued a memorandum of information that changed some language in the Congressional bill that allowed for the national time capsule, that is, the time capsule commemorating for the entire country for 250 to be installed above ground. The statute that you referenced is the place that's being targeted for that. Included in this proposed budget is the funds that they would need from the City's portion to have that completed. And although per ethics, we cannot fundraise on behalf of a third party, we are at least making folks aware of what the opportunity is and making a connection.
I was going to say because it's always important that everybody says is the City involved in this, right. So we know we have the City resources that are involved now, and hopefully that'll help push that with the approval process to be able to get that done. And thank you so much for all your work on that. Appreciate it.
Before I move on to Councilmember Lozada, I do want to recognize Councilmember Squilla who's the Chair of our Appropriations Committee for the great work that he did leading the effort to help get a few more pennies in the midyear transfer. I know for a lot of people they don't know what we're talking about. But if you know, you know. That's what the young people say. So thank you, Councilmember Squilla. We appreciate you, sir. Absolutely. (Applause.)
Another member of the Appropriations Committee, Chair recognizes Councilmember Lozada.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm looking at your testimony and I started to think about a follow-up to Chairman Thomas' question about small businesses and how to connect them now. My question would also be how do we connect some of these groups, these sports teams, these youth teams, group activities set up in our Districts that are really interested in showing the world what they do in their neighborhood? How do we connect them now to be a part of the conversation?
That's a really good question. I'd love to start having that conversation. Specifically, you asked about youth groups who are in communities of what we can do right now to tie those specific groups into 2026?
They're having to make some connections. We got a lot of folks that are already through Philadelphia250 and (inaudible), but we can bring folks together and we would love to work with you to that end and even have conversations with the (inaudible) to see what ideas we can come up with.
I was just going to add that we work very closely with the Commerce Department who could be very helpful with this initiative.
Are we working with PPA to be able to have conversations about what are some of the (inaudible) that we're giving to some of these youth communities that we know. I have a bunch of soccer teams that have started to plan their workforce in the last five years in the District and they want to be a part of the conversation too. They want to put games on. They want to show the world what their young people are all about. They're our future athletes, right, so they want to be a part of this conversation. So I'm just wondering what can I do to make sure that those teams are connected and brought to the table now, so looking forward to figure out how we do that. And then you also mentioned that you are doing tours. How are we making sure that every neighborhood is represented in these tours? How can we connect people like Esperanza who has an art museum and (inaudible) who is a cultural hub, how are we ensuring that all of the neighborhoods who have something to offer are a part of the conversation?
We're really excited about the tours and I appreciate you adding that. The funds worked through the midyear transfer we're partnering with the Visitor Center and Kathryn Ott-Lovell. We are actively working to reach as far as possible, and the tours are actually organized by neighborhoods so that we can emphasize not just the cultural assets and the history but really organized by our neighborhoods and across neighborhoods. Obviously, each of those touch base with the different Council District. We deal with the commercial corridors of actively soliciting folks and organizations that you'd like to be sure that we're engaged with and we're following the same approach with our tours.
Chair recognizes Councilmember Phillips -- I'm sorry. That's my Councilman. Chair recognizes my brother Councilmember Young. And then after that, we'll close out with Dr. Nina Ahmad and then we'll get ready for our second panel. Councilmember Young.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I also want to commend you for your efforts around 2026. Just going out into the communities and talking to the residents and trying to explain the magnitude of what is happening in our city in 2026, not just with FIFA but just with everything that's going on and I try to explain to the residents of North Philadelphia and beyond who don't understand the magnitude of soccer, right, it's the world's most popular sport. And we have to let our residents know that it's going to be literally people from all over the world here in Philadelphia. No matter if their home country is here or not, those folks will still be here because it's a place to celebrate the most popular sport in the world. I just want to make sure that our communities have the opportunity to join in on that celebration. We want to make sure that our blocks on the 4th of July who is celebrating the country's 250th but also we have a FIFA match that day, how can our blocks participate in that celebration that the city is going to have on that particular day? I do know that there are grants that are out there for community organizations, and I would love if some of those fundings can trickle down directly to some of these blocks to support some of these celebrations, some of these block parties that make them feel like they're included as well, to make sure that those communities don't feel isolated from this celebration. So whatever we can do in that regard I think that will be very helpful to the spirit of the residents of the city of Philadelphia to make sure that they are having -- to increase their civic pride and their civic engagement along with some of the guests that we will have coming into our city. So I hope that's something that we can work on together. And I also want to echo the sentiments of the Council President. The person that we have being the helm of our city, I worked with from Live Aid when I was an intern, on the draft, NFL Draft when I was a staffer, now as a Councilmember working together on the 2026 initiatives, Jazelle Jones is someone who is very thoroughly prepared for this opportunity. There's no one in this country that I don't think is better prepared than what Jazelle Jones is prepared for 2026 because she has been at the forefront of every major event in this city for a long time. I won't say how long, but for a long time. Thank you, Jazelle.
And I'll take one point of privilege. I do have wind beneath my wings and four of them are sitting here today. While we're very quiet, you know, we kind of do everything behind the scenes to make it all work and get it all done. But I would like to acknowledge Natalie Faragalli, who's our Director of Communications. (Applause.)
James Allen who is our Director of Operations. Kyra Harris, Deputy City Representative and Margaret Hughes who is the First Deputy City Rep. (Applause.)
Stand up. Please everybody stand up. Let's give you the proper ado. Please stand up. Thank you all. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
In listening to some of the things that has been said thus far, I want to go back to a challenge that we had in the last hearing. And the challenge that we had and I have not done it yet, and I'm hoping that you still have an appetite for it, we talked about the fact that we would partner with every District Councilperson across the city of Philadelphia to bring education, awareness and information so every community is prepared for 2026. I'm wondering if you still have an appetite to partner with my office and our District Councilmembers to be able to make sure that we're bringing this stuff to the community because it's great for us here, but I'm sure a lot of people who are in the audience right now can help us identify who the right people are in neighborhoods so that we can make sure that information trickle down to those blocks that the Councilmembers just talked about.
Yeah, put me in, coach. We're all in. We'd love to partner with you. Obviously, we're starting that process early on with the Mayor's budget town halls and including 2026. We're going to be extending it with a very thorough communications plan, where beginning next month we're going to see a slow steady ramp-up, starting with the city resources, city preparedness as we build up the momentum. So happy to partner with you too.
Thank you, Chairman. And I echo everything that's been said about all these stars here. We're going to make Philadelphia shine. But I just want to make a special mention of Chair of this Committee, my colleague Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, our City Councilmembers At-large. And so, we listen to all our District Councilpeople and I also like to have a global perspective. And on that note, I am the Chair of the Global Opportunities and Creative Economy. So in that light, my question is about Philadelphia is the sixth largest city in the country. That status teeters, right. We need to really grow. Philadelphia has been 2 million people and we are 1.6 barely now. So this is a unique opportunity to showcase our state, to invite people. And I wonder how intentional we are being around trade and business in inviting people to consider Philadelphia to not only do business, but to live here, to grow our population. How do we do that and make sure they understand it has to be done in an equitable fashion, right. So I just wondered what intention I think we have around sort of a more global perspective of using this time to be on the world stage?
Thank you for that question. Yeah, the headline is our Commerce Department has outlines and we can follow up specifically from the Commerce team, but we are including incredible leaders like Thomas Shaw whose World Trade Center, Business Expo who bring in 500 international businesses, and his organization is working and committed to working with the diverse Chambers to create trade opportunities. Just as I mentioned earlier, what we're doing with matchmaking, connecting together our local diverse businesses with global trade opportunities. So I can't speak for Thomas and I won't, but that's definitely part of the lens of his initiative. And I'd love for our Commerce teams to be able to provide more detail for you.
Thank you. And please use us as partners to be ambassadors for our city and to encourage whatever strategy that Commerce has so we can really work together. And the work (inaudible) that we see that's really important, to have pride in our city to stand up and shine and make sure that (inaudible).
Thank you. Thank you. One last question from Councilmember Lozada and then we will move on to our next panel.
Very quickly, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, right. I want to make sure that in all of these events you're hiring Philadelphians. What do we do to prioritize these employment opportunities for Philadelphia residents?
Thank you for that question. Again, I won't speak for the Commerce Department. But just so you know in my role, even in reviewing requests for funding, of having conversations with each group, recently there was a request that included travel, and I asked, why is that travel needed when we have the talent right here, right. So when we're going through and holding accountable, every corridor is requesting funds, but in terms of the strategy for ensuring that Philadelphia jobs are first, that is a question I think for the Commerce Department and I'd love to follow.
We have career (inaudible) here. People apply at those centers every single day. I was at Esperanza this morning where they had a job fair. There were over 500 people at that job fair hungry to work. Let us take advantage of the CareerLinks, right. There are people from here saying they're ready, so we need to make sure that we provide those Philadelphians with opportunities.
Thank you. Can we give this panel a round of applause. (Applause.)
For those of you who don't normally come to City Council hearings, this is not normal, right. This is not normal. But we greatly appreciate the work that's being done as well as the partnership. Mr. Clerk, will you please call the next panel to testify today.
The Committee will next hear from Angela Val, President and CEO of Visit Philadelphia, Kathryn Ott-Lovell, President and CEO of Philadelphia250 and Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
All right. Time for some fun. For those of you who are here who are looking to network and build and you do need to step out to have a conversation, it's fine. We're just going to ask that you kind of keep your voices down. Thank you all for being here. Please state your name for the record and you may begin your testimony.
Thank you for the record. My name is Angela Val. I'm the President and CEO of Visit Philadelphia. Thank you for having me this afternoon. Good afternoon, Chairman Thomas and members of Council. On behalf of Visit Philadelphia and our entire tourism community, I want to first express our sincere gratitude to Mayor Parker and her administration for proposing the 2026 funding on a recently passed transfer ordinance 10 and proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget. Thank you also, Chairman Thomas, the Appropriations Committee Chairman Squilla and Council President Johnson who worked to pass the transfer proposal to ensure Philadelphia shines brightly on the global stage in 2026. Your vital support has reinvigorated everyone who has dedicated so much time and energy as part of our 2026 coalition. It's given us all hope. Together with the City's backing and the support of the funders collaborative, we can confidently position Philadelphia to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We are a mere eight months away from 2026 and we feel the pressure every day to position Philadelphia as the leading destination to visit in 2026. , Baltimore, Chicago, Boston, Miami and Atlanta. For TV and radio spots, billboards and social media, this campaign will deliver positive Philadelphia messages into homes, cars and electronic devices throughout these cities. We are currently undergoing consumer campaign and messaging testing to ensure our messaging in advertising and media is highly effective and targeted. A core tenet of our marketing strategy is messaging that reflects the rich diversity of Philadelphia. We are specifically developing content to feature and highlight Black- and Brown-owned businesses across the city. com. Through this campaign, we will first establish Philadelphia as a center of 2026 celebrations and invite people to visit us. Second, encourage these visitors to explore all the neighborhoods throughout the city while they're here. And lastly, support small businesses by featuring them in our social media channels and advertising. We're also committed to keeping our stakeholders informed and engaged every step of the way. Visit Philadelphia is working with our partners to provide stakeholders updates on our progress, share opportunities for involvement and foster a unified approach to 2026. We also developed a dedicated 2026 newsletter that provides timely updates on planning, milestones, event announcements and opportunities for collaboration. com is now live, serving as a central information hub for potential visitors and our local community, featuring a growing list of confirmed events. The City has already demonstrated its commitment to making 2026 a success, but it will continue to take all of us, Visit Philadelphia and other partners, for actively engaging in state funding advocacy effort. This month destination marketing organizations throughout the Commonwealth are sending a joint letter of support for robust 2026 state funding and we are traveling to Harrisburg in May to advocate as a group for the General Assembly. Governor Josh Shapiro has included 64 million in his proposed budget for 2026 events, legacy projects and small infrastructure projects and marketing. We're advocating for an additional 36 million in state funding to truly maximize the economic impact of 2026, as we are advocating for 100 million in state funding, which matches the City's $100 million investment. The Mayor's proposed Fiscal Year 2026 City budget includes funds for 2026, the City budget is the last chance for a strategic investment that submits Philadelphia's position as the official destination for the Semiquincentennial and expands our messaging to (inaudible). In closing, there are few moments we feel like to get to be a part of history, especially a positive piece of history.
As I've done this work planning for the 250th, I've heard snapshots from people who remember the Bicentennial and to tell you what it felt like to be part of such a historic moment, how the City felt -- how they felt that day. Right now we have a chance to break that moment, ensure kids of Philadelphia today feel that same feeling. The only way we can do this is by investing in bringing people to Philadelphia and making an amazing celebration. My colleagues and I remain committed to the work ahead. We will continue to attract even their visitors, generate significant economic benefits for our city and showcase Philadelphia's pivot role in American history so that 2026 is just the beginning of a prosperous future for this city. Thank you for your continued support and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you for your time.
Good afternoon, Chair Thomas and members of the Committee on Legislative Oversight. My name is Kathryn Ott-Lovell, the President and CEO of Philadelphia Visitor Center and also Philadelphia250. I very much appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today regarding preparations for 2026. I would like to send a sincere thank you to Mayor Parker, Councilman Isaiah Thomas and all the members of City Council for your support regarding the FY2026 budget and the midyear transfer ordinance. Philadelphia250 is pleased to be the recipient of funding from the midyear transfer, which we will rewrite in grants to neighborhood organizations to support their 2026 efforts and initiatives. 2026 will bring many exciting events across our city. Let me be clear on this: We are 100% committed and focused on ensuring that the excitement and operation spills out to every neighborhood and every resident has the opportunity to be engaged. In support of this, we are working lockstep with Michael Newmuis, with the Mayor's office, with the Commerce Department, the Office of Clean and Green to actively beautify neighborhoods and commercial corridors throughout the city. We'll also need residents in supporting local businesses. Next and finally, we received the midyear transfer ordinance. We're also developing a citywide neighborhood (inaudible) in addition to driving more visitors and increasing businesses in neighborhood, this initiative will tap into local knowledge and (inaudible) in our communities. It will result in a cohort of trained and (inaudible) who will continue to share their stories and choice of their own communities well beyond 2026. Our (inaudible) stories will evaluate stories that define our city and foster a deeper appreciation of what makes Philadelphia most special, its residents. At the Philadelphia Visitor's Center, we are excited to launch the newest mission this spring, which will bring together passionate Philadelphians in a collective effort to celebrate and elevate and showcase what makes our city (inaudible). It is designed to tap into and provide a vehicle for the unconditional love and pride that Philadelphians have for their city in the lead up to 2026 and beyond. While we're eager to share more, the official launch of this program will take place on Tuesday, April 29th at 11:00 a.m. in LOVE Park. At that time, we would like Philadelphians to join us as we build engagement, leadership, capacity citywide and drive tourism. I want to thank all of you again for your incredible leadership and support for our 2026 initiatives. And we give a very special shout-out to Michael Newmuis, who has been working so tirelessly in support of all of us to make this amazing opportunity happen. I also want to give a shout-out to Max Weisman. (Applause.)
He's the unofficial 2026 mascot. While he needs no (inaudible), rest assured Max is on the phone call for so many people throughout our city who are here to learn more about what's happening, and he's been so such a great advocate on so many levels. Thank you so much, Max. And lastly, I want to say thank you to all organizations, their leaders, their staff members who are sitting here in this room 5 today and those who could not be in this room today because they're busy running their nonprofit organizations. There's such an incredible community of people who are working tirelessly beyond their everyday missions, right. Everybody has work to do in their own organizations, in their own nonprofits, in their own communities. They are working above and beyond that for years now and will work tirelessly for the next 12 months to help make something really truly special for them in 2026. And we are so grateful to them because this is not something that's being recognized every day, right, to thank these people from the bottom of our hearts for everything you're doing to lift up your community, your mission and the people you represent, the constituencies you represent in advance of 2026. It's a huge opportunity to help your organization and your mission forward. We're so grateful to each and every one of you. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Thank you. And thank you both for your leadership as well too, because at the end of the day we would not be where we are as it relates to 2026 without your vision, your foresight, your advocacy and your teams, right. Because I know that you have a team that works in collaboration with you to help put us in a position to make sure that we're not behind. Couple questions. Help us out with numbers. All right. How many people are we expecting to come to Philadelphia next year, over what time periods and how much revenue should the City expect to run through Philadelphia? Clearly, you don't have accurate numbers. That's fine, but from the seats you sit in what do you estimate?
Angela Val. I don't have numbers that are specific to the 250 events. Many of those events are new, so it's hard to say how many people would attend. I think Meg Kane is going to be testifying in an upcoming panel. She'll be able to speak to how many people we anticipate, particularly for the World Cup. We have specifically -- although there'll be events that happen throughout the year of 2026, a lot of them are concentrated in that June-July time period for two reasons: One, that is the time of America's birthday. But two, to make sure that the folks that are coming specifically for World Cup have an opportunity in between matches to see Philadelphia and to get into some of these neighborhoods. We did have an economic impact study done that looked at all of the events over 2026. We believe that there will be additional revenue somewhere between 1.3 billion to 2.5 billion coming in because of the events for 2026. That number does include the World Cup matches that Meg will be able to give you that detail.
Thank you. For someone looking to increase their visibility, advance their business or take advantage of this moment, I asked the question earlier to the Admin, looking at a lot of the entrepreneurs who are not just here today but are all over the city of Philadelphia, I think about institutions like the African American Museum and events like Odunde, what is it that folks should know about the work that you're doing on your side and how you can be beneficial to the agendas that they're trying to push? Now, I want you to specifically talk about the visitors side and the marketing side. And then I have two questions for 250 and then I'll pass it to Councilmember Lozada.
I'm going to break this up into three areas: One, our attractions, some of our smaller attractions, right. I'm then going to talk about businesses that are B2B and then B2C. Let's start with the attractions and festivals. Odunde, any museum, size does not matter, in regards to what they might be doing for an exhibit or a special event that they are having, Philadelphia will do what they normally do, which is take this information and market it in a theme, and for 2026 places people can go, things that they can experience throughout the year 2026. We are taking that information now. I'm happy to send a link out where you are able to submit your organization's event or exhibit or festival that's happening so it could make it onto the 2026 calendar. If you're doing something different of what you normally do year-to-year, that's what we really want to know about too. We take a lot of this information, look at it, you know, big board, kind of high 30-foot view to say where are the themes, how many of these are events are around food, how much of them are around history, how many of them are around arts and culture, so that we can give that information back to the visitor because people make a decision about what they want to see and do depending on where their interest lies, right. So they're not looking at county lines, neighborhood lines, looking at what they want to experience. So that's what I would say for our attraction partners and festival partners. When we look at businesses that are B2C, so businesses that are direct to consumers, so think of somebody who might be selling coffee, right. Those folks are the people that we want to also promote and make sure that in between these great experiences, you get a chance to go shopping, you get a chance to go grab a drink at a bar or have a fantastic meal. So we're working with the (inaudible) DMO program to make sure that people can find these places. Because what is that we all do when you land in another place?
Get out your phone and Google what you want to do, where you want to eat, where you want to go, what music you want to listen to. If they can't find you, you can forget about it. Okay. Nobody is looking up anymore, oh, let me go to a website and see what I can find. They want to put in the best hamburger and your company needs to be coming up on that list. So we're working with a lot of these small organizations to make sure that happens. Because during COVID, we changed our hours, we had a different menu, it was takeout, maybe the location is different, and we just didn't all get back to putting that information out the way we need to. That information is also going to be needed when you have a group that is coming in, what they want to do. So we're working really hard to make sure that happens with these smaller businesses. My last bucket is our B2B. These are businesses that really have a service of products that help another business, right. So you might think of somebody who might be a printer, right, that would print collateral. That kind of work, a lot of these 250 events you might see some of that where people might need signage printed or might need catering for an event. You're going to see the bulk of those types of class come through larger events, such as World Cup and MLB All Star. That's where they're going to put out these large margins. You're not really going -- just realistically they're not really going to get an RFP from, say, the Art Museum, for instance, for an event that they would really typically do, except they have a different direction for this one particular exhibit that they're doing. So the large marquee events, large conventions that come in, those are the folks that really need that kind of B2B service where you have a large business that services another business.
That was a very thorough answer. Thank you for that. I think a lot of the people who are here, not just the people who are here but the people who will view this later, I think that you can listen to some of the information that you just gave right there and you can put the entrepreneur in a position to understand exactly how to work with both of your organizations. And Councilmember Lozada just said you answered her questions, right. So in the midst of doing that, that was some excellent content. Kathryn, I don't know if you want to add anything.
Sorry. So Visit Philadelphia is the marketing organization. So they are managing how these events, exhibits, activities, are being (inaudible), right. So all of that good information that the Angela just gave is really focused on that. What we're hoping to do as well at PHL250, the Visitor Center is the (inaudible) coordination. As I mentioned, I'd like to say Michael has a team, but it's a mighty team, you know, to do all the coordination that a lot of people don't see that's happening around 2026. So we have a (inaudible) call that we have every two weeks to look at, you know, the whole picture of 2026 and to really look at that calendar both chronologically, right, what's happening January through December, but also geographically, right, to really ensure that again these celebrations are happening in every facet of the city. And as we know to your point that there will be a lot of activity down here, right. This is where it all will be happening, so we know that that box is checked. But a lot of our focus is really looking at all of those other neighborhoods, Council Districts, to ensure that we have celebrations that are happening all throughout the city. And that's going to be the big focus.
Another thorough answer. Thank you. I'm assuming both organizations have some type of plan in place to maximize impact, participation numbers and ensure diversity, equity and inclusion on all of the work that you do to make sure that you're pushing a variety of type of businesses. Amazing. For 250, recently we have -- well, recently 250 had some leadership changes and we know that you might not be able to answer some of these questions, but the City of Philadelphia, specifically, City Council working with the Mayor's team has I guess you could say volunteered 250 to be the passthrough organization.
To be the passthrough organization for us to be able to disperse dollars to different initiatives across the city of Philadelphia. What is your plan as it relates to connecting with those different neighborhoods to disperse dollars? And what opportunities do you have for both employment and RFPs on the Philly250 side?
Sure. So thankfully we're -- because Philly 250 is part of the Visitor Center and the Visitor Center has experience in being a fiscal sponsor at this level, we are the fiscal sponsor for American250PA, which is a state commission that has (inaudible) runs as the Executive Director, so we've been managing American250PA, their back office for a few years now. So really happy to serve in this purpose as the funds are directed to us through City Council, through the Mayor's office, we're happy to get those funds back out to those organizations that are doing really important work. And just really need to work many as possible, which we can do, right, to make sure that these funds get out as quickly as possible.
So I'll pass it to Councilmember Young and that will be the last questions for this panel. So the next panel can kind of mentally prepare yourself. But before -- I know, I'm asking a lot. But before I pass it to Councilmember Young, if I am in the audience right now or if I'm listening to this at a later time, how can someone get in contact with your organizations all three that you represent here today?
Yeah. So feel free to reach out to me personally and I can recite my email. It's kottlovell@phlvisitorcenter.com. So please feel free to reach out to me or call Visitor Center or stop by at 6th and Market.
And you can reach out to me too. It's Angela at visitphilly.com. And if I could just have one thing?
We are beginning to partner with WURD on a series called Let's Get Ready For 2026, which will be really directed to businesses to talk about like what they can do to get ready for 2026, encourage volunteers. And the second part that I want to just really emphasize, there always seems to sometimes be a little bit of tension between what people consider smaller events and marquee events. When I say the marquee event, I'm talking about the World Cups and the NFL Drafts of the event world. And then we have sometimes these smaller events that might be like a neighborhood festival or an exhibit in a museum. We need both to make this work. So although it seems often times that the marquee event is getting all the attention, that marquee event is how we get the people here. It is fish that, you know, it's really the worm on the fishing line that attracts the visitor to us. And then once the visitor is here, Visit Philly's job is to push that visitor out to as many things to do as possible so that they spend their money. And that's when they find these smaller exhibits and the street festival and this cute little restaurant at the end of this little cobblestone street that they didn't know about. That's the thing that pulls people back to Philadelphia. So we need all of these things together to make this work.
Certainly, folks can also reach out to their City Councilperson. And we would encourage them to do that (inaudible) Councilpeople as well because we are close in touch with your office as well as others and we're always funneling information and ideas.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you for your testimony. This insight is something that's very needed as we look forward to showcase our city. One question I have is regarding -- it was mentioned that when we go somewhere we Google, right, so we want to make sure that we get to the top of that search. So can you tell us what type of opportunities exist for some of our smaller organizations regarding this discreet opportunity and how about direct support can they get to do some of the marketing on their own? We know they can go to -- your organization said, hey, go to our website, but what support is there for a direct market for those organizations to get themselves up where they can be?
So for us, this was a two-phase approach for us, for this Google DMO program. The first was to identify what small businesses were out there that needed this type of help and then to do an assessment. So, for instance, if you had a restaurant you weren't appearing, say, on the first page of the Google search, right, not even on the top above the fold. We were looking at things like how many pictures do you have that people can search, right. You have to have 42 pictures of your food or restaurant or people in your restaurant to even start to show up. So if you have 22, you aren't going to make it to the first page. So we're doing these individual assessments and pairing people with someone (inaudible) and Google who could talk to them about their specific needs for their listing and how they need to improve it. The second part of what we're doing is if you don't have pictures that you can put up, we have a photographer on staff and have a slew of freelance photographers. We will send someone to help you with this. We know most small businesses maybe have two or three people that work there and they just simply do not have time or may not have that expertise. So we will send someone there to help you get the number of pictures that you need. We also want access to these pictures as well so we use them for the website. And secondly, how do you write your description, how are you presenting yourself and positioning yourself. It's one thing to really describe the food that you might have. It's another to really talk about the environment or the culture or whatever is happening in that neighborhood where they might want to come for that restaurant. We're taking it case-by- case. There is no actual grant funds that we regrant out for this program. This is something you sign up for and then we work with you basically in giving you the services of Visit Philly to make sure that you show up on search.
Thank you. So I guess I can direct that more toward Kathryn with the regrants that your organization will be doing. I'm thinking of organizations like the Strawberry Mansion CDC that operates the Yard on John Coltrane Street. It's a nice little homage to John Coltrane that folks who are interested in jazz may want to go see. So how do we provide that organization with the funding to market that particular part of their portfolio to the work essentially for 2026?
Sure. So the regranting program that -- when we received the grants, those were grants from organizations that were directed (inaudible). We weren't choosing those organizations. We're just directed where to grant those organizations. With that said, there are some grant opportunities that exist for organizations. There is an amazing collaborative funders that have come together to support initiatives. It's called the Funders Collaborative for 2026. Some of the members are here with us today, and they have been providing resources for nonprofit organizations, large and small, hundreds of grants. They have already granted to these organizations to support their efforts around 2026. So I would highly encourage organizations to apply for that and we can provide links to that information. And then there's also a grant program through America250PA, the Semiquincentennial grant program. It's not a large grant, but for some of these organizations I think it may be really substantial. They're making grants specifically for 2026 initiatives as well. So happy to provide those links, follow up with that.
Thank you. I appreciate that. And I'm talking about some of the smaller orgs where a $2,000 grant changes their whole connection. So I would love to work with you on that.
Thank you, Councilman. He's exactly right. Before I close out, film industry, anything happening next year that's attracting folks who make movies, folks who make documentaries? It's a historical moment. What are you doing for that industry?
Not as far as I know there is not. And I'm happy to reach out to the Philadelphia Film Office to see if they have anything specific, but nothing that has come across our table.
There are a few films, documentaries that are happening as part of 2026 that I'm aware of. You know, people that are raising money now to do some films.
I was just going to offer as a Board member for the Film Office (inaudible) -- I apologize. I was offering as a Film Office Board member to provide a list of all the things that the Film Office is doing for 2026.
We'll definitely take you up on that offer. What about gaming? Anything gaming, attracting anything gaming? Nothing around gaming?
Nicodemus, you got work to do. All right. You hear me? So that's why we asked you for your contact information. Thank you all. Can we give them a round of applause. (Applause.)
Mr. Clerk, if you could please call the next panel to come testify before us today. The fun continues.
And the fun continues in the form of Gregg Caren from Philadelphia Convention --
The fun continues with Gregg Caren from the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau; Megan Kane, Host City Executive/CEO of the Philadelphia Soccer 2026; and Bumi Fernandez-West, CEO of Odunde, will you please come to the table.
Good afternoon. As this panel is transitioning, anybody who wants to go outside and network, we encourage it. Just ask you to try your best to remain silent while you're in here so we can give all of our witnesses who came to testify the same respect. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here. So excited to see you. I know this is going to be an energetic panel. So whatever order you want, please state your name for the record. You may begin with your testimony. After all three of you testify, the Committee will then open it up for questions.
Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I'll give the same shout-out to everybody else here but more broadly. Thank you to Council, thank you to our Administration, thank you to staff. It's an extraordinary team that's in place for our city and our Commonwealth as we continue to do the collective good work that we do. Formally for the record I'm Gregg Caren. I'm President and CEO of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. You often see us abbreviated as PHLCVB. I always like to simplify -- I'll step aside from my preparedness remarks for a second. If you ever want to see the results of what we do, when you see people walking down Market Street wearing name tags, when you see these tall, amazing young women that are in town right now in these next few weekends playing volleyball, when you see the great colors of our Divine Nine, when you see the World Cup, WrestleMania, the RNC, the DNC or the Pope or the 260 other events that our team helps bring to the city every year, those are the results of what we do. So it's a broad, broad tapestry. And thank you, Madam Rep, if she's still here, it is incredible. We do take a long view on this. The first conversation about the World Cup was an RFP that hit our conference room in 2017 the week after the NFL Draft. We were looking at a piece of paper that says, Can the City of Philadelphia book, win and post something like the World Cup. And here we are some years later on the precipice of doing that. But that long view also puts the perspective of why we do what we do. And Councilmember Lozada, you mentioned jobs, jobs, jobs. So when I think about what the work that we do impacts, it's about 80,000 people in and around our city that work at hospitality, tourism, attractions, retail operations. And it's about hundreds of investors, large and small. Whether it's a small shop on South Street or it's a big hotel, we've got hundreds of maybe thousands of people investing hundreds of millions of dollars in businesses that are not built for one day, one week or one year. So when people ask about my perspective on 2026, I remind them that our perspective is on '24, '25, '26, '27 and beyond. And just like when we book the World Cup world events right now, it's a 2030, 2035 and that's the long game that we play in our world. But the measure of success of how we prepare is not just going to be on how we spotlight for 2026, but it is going to be about every day leading up and the end. It is a pivotal moment for us to build a Philadelphia that shines long at these events leave town. And before we welcome our next round of mega, there's a sustained investment for the long- term impact that I mentioned both for the City and the private sector. Philadelphia's story is one of historical significance and modern innovation. To deliver a world class experience for visitors and residents alike, it's critical that we invest in our infrastructure, investor infrastructure, services and communications not just for '26 but for the City's entire future. The PHLCVB acts as an economic engine for the City and the county, creating jobs, fueling our economy through business events, sporting events and international tourism. We measure success by the economic impact generated, hotel room nights booked and dates filled at our state-owned Philadelphia Pennsylvania Convention Center and our amazing sports complex. All of these major venues ripple out to support our hotels, restaurants, museums, cultural attractions and small businesses. As we discussed at the last hearing -- and, Councilmember Thomas, thank you again for calling both of these -- the impact of 2026 will be long-lasting, from the creation of thousands of new jobs to the impressions we'll leave global event planners and international visitors. Our momentum will start actually earlier in the year that some of you think. In January of 2026, we will host an organization called PCMA Convening Leaders.
It is arguably the World Cup of global meeting and business planners. They'll be here in the second week in January, traditionally a very slow week for our city, but the impact of that event has 20-year implications for us. The last time that event was in Philadelphia was in 2006. Imagine a differentiation of our city in 2006, in 2026, in the eyes of the meeting planner seeing all of our new hotels, restaurants, museums like this one, and everything that's been happening in this city. The impact on our sales team, the people that actually book these big conventions for future years, is too big a game for us to play around with. As much as what World Cup will do for us for tourism, international visitation from around the world for this year and in many years to come, the people that will be in this city have the potential, every one of them, to go back home and book a major citywide convention, more people with (inaudible), more people with volleyball uniforms, more people with Divine Nine. You will have 5000 people in this city in January 2026 that can make or break the next two decades of our meetings, conventions, sporting events industry. Just by way of example, that same event was in San Diego just two years ago. And San Diego projects booking over half a million room nights just by virtue of hosting that important group in their city. They have presidents as keynote speakers. They have rock stars for closing events. This city will be shining for the (inaudible) industry the same as we will for the World Cup come spring and summer. Our message of inclusive growth is critical and has been part of our DNA for decades. Our successful hands-on ensuring that local businesses, especially diverse and family-owned enterprises, are prepared to meet this moment. We encourage these businesses to actively engage with the influx of visitors by enhancing online visibility, offering promotions and collaborating with event organizers for a greater experience. Our PHLCVB Diversity Division, some three decades old, is a key connector in this area. Through initiatives like our Discovery and Diversity Guide -- Councilmember Thomas asked about how do we connect with businesses, small Black and Brown businesses -- we have a guide for our PHL CVB Diversity Division that exists every day all year long for our meeting planners and our clients to see how they can engage with our local business community. We feature our nine prominent Black and Brown neighborhoods throughout the city and we actively market Philadelphia's vibrant and diverse communities to diverse visitors and event attendees. With regard to investment and preparedness, we are deeply grateful for the City's financial support of our industry provided by the 2025 transfer. Councilmember Thomas, I've got (inaudible) and we appreciate your support in 2025. And we respectfully are still waiting and we will be waiting with bated breath. '26 will be the year to make and break all of us, as I said, for decades to come. And we're respectfully looking forward to hopefully a transfer 2026 as well. Our work consistently brings millions of people to our city every year. We exist to ensure the safe and welcoming environment. And we actually invest ourselves in supporting the PPD in Center City District, and we often have an investment from the PHLCVB to ensure that the pedestrian experience for our visitors and meeting delegates is a positive one. In closing, in looking at the legacy of 2026 and beyond I believe our two most critical areas of focus should be, this is me personally and my organization, we need to support and hyperaccelerate Mayor Parker's safe and green initiatives to ensure a positive visitor experience, not just for six weeks, not just for six months, but every day from today forward and into the decades to come.
Secondly, we need to support but will be (audible) for any of us that has a voice and has connections with Harrisburg, SEPTA is at a critical point, as you'll hear from them directly, and I believe it's important for our visitors, for our residents and for our visiting community to make sure people get in and around the city safely and effectively. With a coordinated investment in planning and community engagement, we can ensure that all of these events will not only be extraordinary for visitors but truly transformative for our residents, our businesses and Philadelphia's long-term proximity. Thank you, Council, for standing with us to help shape a stronger, more vibrant Philadelphia for 2026 and beyond.
Thank you. Please state your name for the record and you may begin your testimony.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Oshunbumi Fernandez-West. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much, Chairman Thomas, for allowing me to be here. Odunde is the biggest festival in North America. So I'm going to give you a brief history. I come here with a lot of pride. Odunde was created by my mother in 1975. I was strapped to her back at the first Odunde. And I was my mother's shadow. Everywhere she went I went, right. And people used to laugh at my mom, make fun of my mother like, go ahead, they're not going to let you march to the rhythm and honor God, they're not going to let you have people there and sell their goods, sell their products. And my mother said, Bumi, Odunde is God. You and I are just vessels. So as we stand here today, as I sit here today, we are celebrating 50 years of Odunde. (Applause.)
I'm so excited because Odunde was the blueprint for community-based festivals, it was. When people came to Odunde knew that I think I can go back to my city, to my state and start my own festival, right. I know my mom sacrificed. She sacrificed her physical health for Odunde and for the uplifting of her people. Odunde's mission is to educate and inspire the public about the African and African American culture. So let's get into some numbers, because people think Odunde is to come and have a good time and shimmy a little bit. No, we do more than that. Okay. We made it rain. We make it for (inaudible) and make a deposit. Businesses make deposits, yes, you can feed your family. You can pay that electrical, gas bill, right. You can put money to it. We pay tax revenue for the City of Philadelphia. We pay tax revenue for the state of Pennsylvania. So let's get into the numbers. So Odunde started 1975. We are celebrating 50 years of Odunde. I'm 51 so I've been to all Odundes, all 50 of them. Okay. Yes. Odunde covers 16 city blocks, has over 150 arts and crafts and food vendors, yes. Small entrepreneurs, business owners come to Odunde. They are the reason why Odunde survived. Funding fluctuates. We don't know if we're going to get funding from the City. We don't know if we're going to get funding from the state. It fluctuates. It does. I'm going to be very honest with you. But most importantly, our business owners are the reason why Odunde has survived. Okay. We've created about over $30 million economic impact on the state of Pennsylvania. No other festival, no other street cultural festival can do that. We produced over 700,000 in tax revenue for the state of Pennsylvania. We have a $28 million economic impact on the city of Philadelphia in a 10-hour period, putting over $480,000 in tax revenue. Times that by 50. That's millions of dollars for the City of Philadelphia. It's very important that people know that. I'm not making these numbers up. They say, Bumi, you making these numbers up? No, I'm not. You can call Steve Mullin at Econsult Solutions and he can confirm everything that I'm saying to you. His name is (inaudible). But Odunde is more than that. We provide year-round programs. We are in the schools. We're in community centers providing African dance, African drum, entrepreneurial programs. Yes, we teach children beginning to end and show them how to create their own business. So we are teaching generations here. I was at Odunde last year. I saw four generations, a great-grandmother, a grandmother, her daughter, her granddaughter. It made me cry because I said, you know what, Odunde is bigger than me. I am just a vessel. We do need support. We need financial support, City Council, for Odunde to last another 50 years. I am so excited to have my son, he is the new COO of Odunde. This is what my mother used to do with me. She used to take me and say, Bumi, you have to come and see, all people that smile in your face don't mean they like you so you have to see it for yourself, right. So that's what I do with my sons and my children. I take them with me so they can be in these meetings so that they can see who's for us and who's against us. But mostly we have received support. Thank you to (inaudible). They have supported us and helping us with Odunde. Thank you to Jazelle Jones and her staff. They have helped us in regards to all city agencies on board to help us. Odunde is a team effort. I cannot do it by myself. I know people think, Bumi does it by herself. No, I cannot. So I thank all the city agencies. Thank you to Council President Kenyatta Johnson. We take place in his District. He has been ten toes down for Odunde, do you hear me. For those that don't know what that means, that means he fully supports Odunde. (Laughter.)
Let me translate that for you. Okay, y'all. He supports Odunde, right. Mayor Parker came to Odunde her first time as Mayor. Go to our Instagram. She said as long as I'm Mayor, Odunde will not need anything. I'm not making this up. She said it, right. But thank you to Mayor Parker and her Administration for supporting Odunde and we're looking for that financial support from Mayor Parker because we need it. As we go through to 250 of America, Odunde has been there for percent of those years, 5 right. 50 divided by 250 is 20 6 percent. So Odunde has been there 7 for 20 percent of America's 8 celebration (inaudible) and I'm so 9 excited about that. 10 We want to create a 11 soccer (inaudible). I talked to 12 Councilman Thomas about it, he and 13 Max. Thank you, Max, for having us 14 here. We were talking about how 15 can we use Odunde's numbers. What 16 other festival in the city of 17 Philadelphia, cultural festival, 18 gives you a half a million people 19 from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.? My 20 point exactly. And I say that very humble because how can we use Odunde's numbers to spread the word about the 250 (inaudible), how do we reach the old demographics, all nationalities. America is a melting pot; am I correct? So a melting pot should look like everybody, not just a selected few. We should get some of that funding, that hundreds of million dollars that they're putting into the City of Philadelphia, not just less than 1%. Are we less than 1% of the voting population? Let that funding reflect what Philadelphia looks like, what it looks like for all the different cultural festivals, Italian, Irish. We are all here and we all deserve a piece of that pot to promote our festivals, to promote our parades. We deserve it. We have done the work. So I just want to say thank you for having us. I look forward to supporting, just celebrate the 250 of America. Thank you to Michael Newmuis. He has come to Bumi, how can I help you, how can Odunde play an intricate part in celebrating America's birthday. So excited to be here. As you leave today, stop by. I got bags. Bye now.
Thank you everyone for supporting Odunde. Thank you. (Applause.)
Please state your name for the record and begin with your testimony.
Meg Kane. I am the CEO for Philadelphia Soccer 2026. I would like to first echo the thanks that everyone has expressed to Chairman Thomas and the committee as well as the Parker Administration and the entire City Council for the financial support that has been put forth with your transfer in proposed FY26 related to our 2026 planning. A point of privilege for me, you asked who was in my office in 2020 asking and talking about 2026, that was me, I'm sure, saying I promise we're going to emerge from this (inaudible) and the World Cup, and we've done both. I also would like to take time to thank Council for welcoming FIFA President Gianni Infantino last Thursday, which is the first time that the President had visited Philadelphia. And so, as always Philadelphia meets the occasion (inaudible) so thank you so much for your support. FIFA World Cup is a 23 generational opportunity to welcome 24 the world for extraordinary celebration sport, while showcasing the beauty of Philadelphia in its diversity of people, history and experiences. And Philadelphia Soccer 2026 is committed to celebrating that diversity and the vibrancy derived from it from the Far Northeast to deep Southwest and then every neighborhood. But that commitment isn't just in activating soccer fans across our city. It is in delivering a sustained impact that continues long after our six matches and Fan Festival included in July '26. It starts with our Legacy vision for Lemon Hill Park, extends to creating greater accessibility to soccer (inaudible) across the city and is rooted in our commitment to working with vendors who reflect the city of Philadelphia. To that end, 41% of our organizational spend through February 28, 2025 has been with minority-owned business enterprises. We also take in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania first approach in our procurement with 59% of our spending being with Pennsylvania-based businesses and 40% specifically in Philadelphia. We are encouraged, but certainly not satisfied by those figures. And as more opportunities arise for services and vendor contracts, Philadelphia Soccer 2026 is committed to make sure that they succeeded to growing those percentages whenever and wherever possible. We continue to build momentum on this front with the recently made (inaudible) 21 Safety Solutions, which is owned by former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey for our safety and security plan in the City of Philadelphia as well as with an M/WBE stimulus for our procurement management. Jonathan Todd has also joined us as our full-time Director of Social Impact, who will oversee our diversity, engagement and our community efforts, including community engagement. We are actively collaborating with the leadership of the Diverse Chambers and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce's Diverse Procurement Collaborative. We continue to partner with the City's Office of Economic Opportunity as well as elected officials. And we're working with advocacy organizations, including (inaudible) and the Women's Business Enterprise Center, just to name a few. Success for FIFA World Cup will be defined in several ways, but an area (inaudible) is driving economic impact for our city and region through the engagement of diverse (inaudible). Councilmember Thomas, you asked about numbers. In the 39-day tournament we are expecting 500,000 fans just associated with FIFA World Cup. We are anticipating a projected economic impact of 770 million related to hosting the tournament with $305 million in direct tourism spending, 6600 jobs, school jobs supported, 2200 jobs created.
So 18 let me do everybody a favor. Just 19 repeat the numbers. 20
Sure. 21 500,000 visitors to the city of 22 Philadelphia just for FIFA World 23 Cup. Projected economic impact, 24 total of $770 million. We are expecting $305 million in direct tourist spending. We are also looking to support 6615 jobs with approximately 2200 new jobs created within that number.
Created about 2200, a total is 6600. We can also send a full economic impact report to you. One other note, we are also expecting to book more than 100,000 hotel rooms (inaudible). And as we look across this from a Commonwealth-wide perspective, these numbers are focused just on what we know to date, related to number of matches, like duration of tournament and (inaudible). There are other aspects that may occur that could increase that number. But within that we're expecting $50 million in tax revenue with 30 million directly to the City of Philadelphia.
50 million in tax revenue with 30 million of that directly to the City of Philadelphia. So in addition to those numbers and around that economic impact, it is critically important that we ensure that that economic benefit is felt by as many businesses and residents as possible. And to that end, Philadelphia Soccer 2026 is (inaudible) with 423 days to go until FIFA World Cup kicks off, but who's counting, this is not only a priority but very much partnership. Thank you.
Question, I would like that number to get above 30 million. So please, I think that's a little bit of homework for everybody to figure out how can we get that number a little higher. Not that 30 million is bad, but we want to be ambitious. First question, so in the midst of listening to your testimony you said was 100,000 hotel rooms. Recently we passed legislation to change the requirements to have an Airbnb in the city of Philadelphia. If you don't know, in the city of Philadelphia you need a CMX-5, did I say that correctly? Do you think that we should be thinking about relaxing the regulations for Airbnb and other creative ways for people to reside in the city of Philadelphia in 2026 just for that year or do you think we already have enough beds with the hotels we have here?
I would say that I think it would be contemplated, but I don't know that that's necessarily the case. I would probably recommend waiting until after the FIFA Cup draw in '25, December of '25 (inaudible) could affect that type of travel.
I think our concern is that if we are to relax any regulations around Airbnbs and other creative ways for people to book their stay in the city of Philadelphia, would we have enough time between when that FIFA draft would take place and when people will start coming to Philadelphia for this? I think it's about a seven-month time period.
Yeah. Actually I would defer -- is Ed Grose still here? I'd actually defer that to the Hotel Association. It's not my goal to speak on their behalf from a business perspective how they operate and help what's competitive or appropriate within their space. So I would defer to Ed Grose at GPHA.
Chair recognizes Councilmember Young. Do you want to go first, Councilmember Young, or Councilmember Lozada? Ladies first. Councilmember Lozada.
My question was around the rooms as well. But beyond the homes that are available downtown, are we taking into consideration some of those smaller hotel spaces that are in the neighborhood? I'm thinking there's a level of art, right, (inaudible). Are we thinking about those types of spaces as well --
And City Line Avenue, yes. And how is the PHLCVB breaking up how we measure economic success by district? Are these measurements public or accessible tasks?
So to answer the first question, you should know that we do collaborate across the entire city and county of Philadelphia. We actually collaborate very effectively across the entire Southeast region, Southeast PA, across the river. When we look at things from our -- as I said, we have a long lens. We also have a wide lens. Because the impact of major events coming to the city, whether it's that volleyball tournament or Divine Nine or a medical convention or World Cup, the All Star game or PGA tournaments, you're going to have an impact one way or another. There's an expression in the hotel industry where there's a word called compression. Compression basically is what it sounds like. When you're filling rooms in the masses of what's available within the city and the region, it has an effect that goes out to Montgomery County, to Camden County, Northeast Philly, South Philly, Airport. There will not be a section of the city or the region that won't be impacted. Whether they're hosting a convention delegate or a foreign or international tourist coming on holiday or to come to a World Cup match, I won't say it's immaterial, but the math is there. We can actually show that in a more intimate environment that shows when big events are in Philadelphia how it impacts the entirety of the city. The argument could be made that some hotels and some owners of whatever facilities they rent out in some cases make out better than the ones that are the official hotels of those events, because they're the ones who -- once that demand is created, there's little to go after and they're usually getting a higher rate for that business.
Thank you. So I'll send one question for Megan. Can you tell us what are the current RFP opportunities that are out there for Philly Soccer 2026 and what are the future opportunities that will be coming up?
Sure. So the best way to talk about this is to understand that FIFA, it serves as a governing body. And so, often there are going to be RFPs that FIFA issues from central headquarters down in Miami that go out nationally. That is something that we are provided with that we then send out to the City of Philadelphia, through the Chambers, through Diverse Chambers and our team has kind of shared the list to Council and all Councilmembers' offices. So there are certain RFPs that we at Philadelphia Soccer 2026 don't govern but we can distribute. We don't provide a timetable, we are free to let those (inaudible). When we are looking at what has to happen within the city for FIFA World Cup, some of the essential work that we're doing with Director Jones and the City and the Office of Special Events is to look at what contracts will be governed by the City of Philadelphia and what contracts will be governed by Philadelphia Soccer 2026. Currently, the only RFP that we have issued at the moment is related to the management partner for FIFA Fan Festival. That is available on our website phillyfwc2026.com. It is posted to all of our social media channels. It has been distributed vis-á-vis the Diverse Chambers, the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and we can certainly redistribute to all Council offices after this hearing as well, so we are putting those out. And it will be a significant number of subcontracting that comes from that, where as you can imagine given the scale there are certain larger scale RFPs that are coming out now. And then once those partners are identified to bid, we will then have a significant number of subcontractors coming out from underneath. I would expect that the final I would say in the fall and the (inaudible) sense of RFPs being issued from Philadelphia Soccer 2026 as it relates to FIFA Fan Festival. There are certain things that the City of Philadelphia will handle in terms of contracting. We would be very clear in terms of (inaudible).
Could you also talk about if there are any requests for (inaudible) or requests for information as well?
Yes. We previously earlier this year placed a request for information for the signature event planning. We received more than 50 responses. And I believe -- I don't want to misspeak, but I believe that we had a majority that were M/WBE qualified, so we saw a significant response from diverse business owners into that RFI process. That was both small, medium and large scale event planners. We have not yet did an RFP for any of those events, per se, but it could be some time in the summer. Right now we're just getting ourselves organized in terms of ensuring for FIFA's calendar and making sure we're organized to be able to run RFP processes (inaudible).
Great questions, colleague. Chair recognizes Councilmember Phillips.
Thank you so much. I just thank you all for your work. Looking forward to working with you 2026. I just wanted to bring up the 770 million that you mentioned that, you know, sometimes people throw numbers out there as pure estimates. I just wanted a better sense of how did you come up with $770 million as the estimate for revenue as a result of 2026?
We commissioned Econsult Solutions to run our economic impact report and we actually (inaudible) with Visit Philadelphia, which ran through the (inaudible) 2026 with Econsult. We (inaudible). We wanted to make sure that we were measuring (inaudible) in terms of our economic impact and how that fit into the overall 2026 narrative. We looked at previous World Cups. Obviously, this is a very different World Cup. It is larger. It's three countries, cities. So we 10 have 104 matches instead of 64 11 matches, and then a (inaudible). 12
13 Did Econsult provide you with 14 details around particulars around 15 every area, food industry -- 16
Yes, all of that detail. We're happy to provide the economic impact report following this, but it was very detailed. I would also say what gives us confidence in that number is that FIFA has also conducted its own economic impact through a separate entity and their projections for Philadelphia and (inaudible).
Oh, wow. Is that on the lower end? Is there anything --
And notice out of that 770 million, we only anticipate about 50 million in tax revenue, which means the other 700-plus million will go where, to the private sector, right?
So we need to make sure that those Black and Brown businesses are able to take advantage of that 770 million. I need to leave 2026 and do a victory lap with my colleagues because we've made some Black and Brown millionaires next year who weren't millionaires this year, so thank you. One homework assignment, one home assignment, and I actually have to read this. I try to memorize stuff. But I'm told that the Women's World Cup will be coming to the U.S. in 2031. Are we prepared to make a bid for that?
I would defer that question to our colleagues at the PHLCVB and the City of Philadelphia to respond to that.
So as I had the pleasure of meeting the President of FIFA, the one thing I whispered in his ear was looking forward to having you here in 2026 and we would wonderfully welcome the Women's World Cup as well. All we need is the same level of support we had from the public sector and hopefully the same level of support from the private sector. And companies like Comcast and other corporate partners have really helped us get where we are today. It's not just a yeoman's effort and time, but funding even to go after the bid. But our PHL Sports Division wants every major sporting event, whether it's WrestleMania, World Cup, PGA, MLB All Star Game, we want them all.
All right. Just want to make sure we're on the same page so we all got our homework assignment. We don't want this to be a one-time thing. Thank you so much. Mr. Clerk -- please give them a round of applause. Absolutely. (Applause.)
Mr. Clerk, will you please call the final panel for today.
Our final panel today will be Atif Saeed from the Philadelphia Airport and we a brief change from the program you see, Interim General Manager Scott Sauer from SEPTA, if you're here, sir. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Oh, we appreciate your patience. Thank you so much. While we're transitioning panels, I just want to give a special thank you to Thomas Young, the President and CEO of the World Trade Center in Philadelphia. We know you're doing great work to help bring a giant business expo to Philadelphia next year. So, Thomas, thank you. Thank you and your team for being here. Also want to give a shout-out to Nikki White. I saw Nikki walk in. She's doing great work with Welcome America, another great initiative that's going to be happening in 2026. So to the Welcome America team, thank you for being here. And to the World Trade Center of Philadelphia team, thank you for being here as well too. We appreciate the great work you all are doing and it's going to make Philadelphia one of those amazing -- well, the place to be in 2026. For those who want to network, we encourage you to do that, if you can just do that outside. When you come back in, if you decide to come back in, please enter quietly. We are about to have probably our most intense conversation of today as we talk to our partners at SEPTA and the Philadelphia Airport. There's no way we can expect $770 million in revenue along with 500,000 people over 39 days without these two important institutions partnering with us. So first and foremost, thank you for being here. Thank you for your patience. Please state your name for the record and begin with your testimony.
Thank you, 12 Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon 13 Chairman Thomas, and members of the 14 Committee on Legislative Oversight. 15 My name is Atif Saeed, Chief 16 Executive Officer for the 17 Department of Aviation which 18 manages both Philadelphia 19 International and Philadelphia 20 Northeast Airports. I am here 21 today to testify on Resolution No. 22 240701, which authorizes City 23 Council to hold hearings to assess 24 the current state of Philadelphia's preparations for the multitude of events being held across the City throughout 2026. This is truly an exciting time for our city. The team at the Department of Aviation has been working diligently to ensure we meet the moment and put our best foot forward as PHL and PNE are the gateways to our great city. Shortly after becoming CEO in 2022, I tasked my team with thoughtfully preparing a strategic plan specifically designed to establish a department-wide strategy in advance of 2026. This strategic plan has been our "north star" for the past year and focuses on the following elements: improving conditions of current facilities; elevating the airport experience; enhancing business opportunities; and building for the future. As a result of this strategic plan, my team worked with our airline partners to formulate a $500 million capital plan to improve conditions of our facilities through rehabilitating public-facing aspects at both PHL and PNE. Some of the upgrades travelers will notice along their journey include: A $13 million rehabilitation of our SEPTA platforms allowing for safer, easier transit between our terminals and SEPTA's Airport Line. Renovated and new restroom sets, a $20 million investment, designed to improve quality and comfort, accommodate more travelers, and expand accessibility for persons with disabilities. A $16 million terminal refresh which includes upgrades to hold rooms, which include but are not limited to improved lighting, new tile and carpet. Additionally, we are spending $25 million to rehabilitate one of our primary runways, Runway 9R-27L, to ensure our infrastructure is safely able to accommodate the air traffic we expect to see next spring and summer. With these projects also come local and federal goals that assist in helping small, diverse businesses engage in the economic development occurring at -- my apologies. I'm mixing some -- let me finish that sentence. Occurring at PHL --
Take your time. The bathrooms are clean so we're good. Take your time.
Appreciate it. Development occurring at PHL. Elevating the experience isn't entirely about capital investment however, it’s about providing passengers with first-class amenities, a world-class experience, and the flavors of Philadelphia. Our team has been actively working with partners in advance of 2026 to ensure our terminal complex is alive with locally recognized restaurants and shops, helping to drive local business growth and prosperity. These "Founded in Philly" vendors the travelers will recognize as they pass through our facility include: Sabrina's Café, Bud and Marilyn's, Yard's Brewing, Elixr Coffee, Geno's Steaks with additional vendors arriving before the end of the year that include: Federal Donuts, Middle Child Clubhouse, and Oyster House. As with our capital program, PHL also strives to ensure small, diverse businesses are engaged in our concessions program as well. As of the end of 2024, 42% of participation in our concessions program has been from disadvantaged businesses. Travelers will also be able to experience new lounge spaces opening in multiple locations in our terminal complex. This past winter, PHL welcomed a Chase Sapphire Lounge which is located above the D/E checkpoint. This 20,000 square foot space has various amenities and is the largest Chase Sapphire Lounge in the United States. Also coming later this year, American Airlines will be opening their new flagship lounge at PHL. Extensive work is being done by our nationally recognized Airport Exhibitions Program to beautify our facility and provide passengers and employees with a rich, lively experience in our terminals. Founded in 1998, the Exhibitions Program is responsible for organizing and presenting rotating exhibitions that are located throughout the Airport. The exhibits change throughout the year to provide a variety of educational and cultural programs – with an emphasis on local art. Future artwork to celebrate the events in 2026 include: a Youth Art Gallery; a celebration of Philly landmarks piece; a historical exhibit focused on the Philadelphia Union; and student photography exhibit in partnership with the Fleisher Art Memorial. In addition to creating, our investment in infrastructure improvements, technology upgrades, and aesthetics, we are also investing in our people. Within the past year, PHL has established two critical initiatives focused on workforce development and employee culture building. First, PHL's Bridge Program, which was initiated by the airport's Development Unit, provides current employees with information, tools and resources needed to advance within the organization while also attracting new talent. The second program, PHL WORKS, was created by PHL's Guest Experience Stakeholder Council to address a unique challenge – establishing a universal customer service baseline for all employees, tenants, contractors, and other stakeholders within the PHL Airport Community. With millions of additional travelers potentially coming through our terminals in 2026, PHL is committed to ensuring airport-wide service excellence amongst all 17,000+ badged employees. It's our responsibility to not only meet but exceed the expectations of our passengers, resulting in an unforgettable experience from curb to cloud. In summary, our team continues the important preparation work for 2026. S. Travel, and other key national airport associations. This is most certainly an "all hands-on deck" moment with the eyes of the world on our great city. Our team has risen to the occasion numerous times in the past for the Papal visit in 2015, the Democratic National Convention in 2016, and most recently this past year for WrestleMania. I feel confident that by spring of next year our facility will be ready to serve as the welcome mat to the world and help showcase Philadelphia. I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to present testimony today. I look forward to continuing our partnership and would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Good afternoon, Councilman Thomas and members of Philadelphia City Council. I am Scott Sauer. I'm the Interim General Manager for SEPTA. Thank you for the opportunity to update you on the progress that SEPTA's making to prepare for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Semiquincentennial and the major events that will punctuate the entire year. SEPTA service was a significant factor in helping to secure Philadelphia as a World Cup host city, so it is particularly painful to appear today following our budget announcement last week, including the dire service cuts and fare increases that SEPTA will need to implement to balance our budget without a permanent state funding solution for transit. The math is simple. If Governor Shapiro's funding plan is not enacted and the service cuts that would take effect at the end of August were to go into effect, SEPTA will not be able to provide additional service for special events or support the transportation needs demanded of our world-class city next year. Just as the city is preparing to welcome the world, SEPTA would go from driving its economy to holding it back. While SEPTA's budget realities certainly cast a cloud over my testimony today. However, I do not want to take the focus away from my colleagues here on the panel or overshadow the exceptional efforts of so many partners who we've heard from today that are working to make 2026 a success. The scale of events planned throughout 2026 requires intense preparation and SEPTA will continue to do just that, until funding dictates otherwise. With a fully balanced budget, supported by a permanent state funding plan, SEPTA has committed more than $50 million to support 2026 events. Operations, staffing, safety and security and marketing obligations are estimated to cost approximately $21 million. While $30 million in facility and infrastructure upgrades are planned for key stations, including platform resurfacing, variable message displays and camera upgrades at NRG station, fare gate re-alignment, platform resurfacing, painting, new LED lighting and upgraded cameras at City Hall Station, reconstructed and modernized headhouses at 2nd Street Station and new LED lighting and painting at Fern Rock Transportation Center. Managing this enormous task behind me is Shakira Smith. Shakira is the program manager leading our 2026 special events department. Shakira is a 20-year SEPTA employee who started her career as a bus operator back in 2005. Her deep -- (Applause.)
Shakira's deep and diverse background with experience at high levels of management, managing both city and suburban bus and rail operations, makes her uniquely suited to coordinate SEPTA service plan. As it is for games and concerts nearly every day of the year, the Broad Street Line will be the workhorse to the sports complex. At full capacity, the Line can carry 25,000 to 30,000 passengers per hour to and from NRG station with six- to eight-minute headways. SEPTA will also be standing up dedicated bus service from Center City to FIFA's FanFest at Lemon Hill. We're currently planning to provide service roughly every 10 minutes from late morning to evening and can carry over 1800 people per hour. On match days alone, we project moving as many as 100,000 to 110,000 fans to and from the stadium complex and Lemon Hill. Our budget and planning also include added capacity on the El and Regional Rail Lines, as conditions dictate. This will be an all-hands-on-deck event for SEPTA. SEPTA's ambassadors and operations personnel will be deployed at major transportation hubs to help with customer service, crowd control, line queuing and information. Other recent initiatives that will also improve the customer experience include the Metro Wayfinding program using new route names, terminology and signage designed to make travel easier regardless of familiarity, language or disability. The SEPTA website is now optimized for mobile viewing. The upgraded SEPTA app now includes SEPTA key and transit watch functionality. And contactless payment is available on all SEPTA modes. Visitors and daily riders can now simply tap a credit or debit card or mobile wallet. Visitors will see safer and cleaner stations and vehicles. SEPTA's Transit Police Department is partnering with law enforcement at all levels to help coordinate city and regional preparedness. Safety is SEPTA's highest value. And over the past three years, we've more than doubled spending on cleaning, safety and security priorities, investments that have SEPTA well- positioned to support 2026. Last year the SEPTA Transit Police Department achieved its largest ever one-year drop in serious crime, equating to 350 fewer incidents or 33% decrease. Over the past year, SEPTA has performed a top-to-bottom restructuring of cleaning operations under a new Deputy Chief Operating Officer for Cleaning. With added cleaners and maintenance personnel, we have increased station deep cleans, pressure washing, 50 station passenger areas and 160 station entrances and exits every month, while track cleaners are working at all hours and conditions to remove debris from the track areas. The results of these efforts are already starting to be reflected in improved customer satisfaction scores. If I could just divert from the script just for a second, I'd also like to just say how deeply concerning the budget is that we've put forward and we understand the stress that this puts our customers under. And certainly, it's added stress for the thousands of employees that serve our riders every single day. And I would like to thank City Council, the Mayor's Administration, our Southeast and Philadelphia Delegations for the effort that was made Friday in the rain to call attention to this crisis and to help fund SEPTA. It's very important, not just for 2026, but to just help this city and this region grow and continue to grow. So thank you again for inviting me to appear before you today. We know this is a historic opportunity for our city, and success in 2026 will resonate for decades to come. We're hopeful that a permanent state transit funding plan will be enacted quickly so that SEPTA can continue to fulfill its commitments to this important undertaking. We're grateful for Council's support of our funding efforts in Harrisburg and ask that those here today and those that have been here, and Chair Thomas acknowledged the nongovernment people that were in attendance today.
And I want to acknowledge those same people because they have also stepped up to advocate for transit funding, and I want to acknowledge that effort as well. Thank you again and I look forward to taking questions.
Thank you. We appreciate your patience. We appreciate you being here today. And I think for most of us up here we really want you -- we want Philadelphia to know the great work that you have done to prepare our city for 2026, but we also want you to know that we have your back. I've met with the leadership at the Airport multiple times in preparation for 2026 and I appreciate the fact that you've been open to every idea, every suggestion, every recommendation, and you've implemented most of those things so we want to say thank you. But specifically to the issue around SEPTA, and I know a couple of my colleagues are going to want to speak to this, I want to first start by thanking Governor Josh Shapiro for his continued advocacy for public transportation as well as the legislative branch of government who are in leadership in Harrisburg that's been fighting for funding for SEPTA and for public transit. It's unfortunate in the political climate that we live in that something like SEPTA, which a long time ago wouldn't be considered as controversial as it is, is now that thing. It's unfortunate that something like SEPTA that doesn't have a political affiliation or doesn't have a political party, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, I don't think when you get on SEPTA, they ask your affiliation, right. But somehow, someway, this has turned into an issue that unfortunately is dividing the region, dividing Southeastern Pennsylvania and dividing the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. You talked about the rally that took place this past weekend, and I was excited to see so much energy around the rally. But I can tell you that a big part of the reason why we wanted SEPTA to be here today was because we wanted our own platform, another platform, as it relates to members of City Council to tell our colleagues in Harrisburg that if they do not fund SEPTA in the way that's being recommended by Governor Shapiro, we can see more damage than the pandemic ever caused here in the city of Philadelphia. I think about the workers at TWU and the people at SEPTA, the phenomenal people at SEPTA, who during the pandemic when they were called essential workers -- I don't know if they're essential anymore, maybe they lost that title, but they're still essential to us -- I think about how people involved in SEPTA had to do more than just provide public transportation. You had to support the homeless. You had to provide help to the mentally ill. You had to put yourself in a position to really put your life on the line. And when I decided to be a worker for SEPTA, I didn't decide to put my life on the line. I decided to help people get from one place to another, but members of TWU and people at SEPTA, they didn't waver. They stepped up to the plate during the pandemic in the most difficult time in the entire region and they had our back. They made sure people could get to work. They made sure people could get to school. They made sure people could see their loved ones. And for us to be in a position some five years later, for SEPTA to be here begging for money, to make announcements talking about what would have to get cut if we don't pass Governor Shapiro's budget, I find it appalling. I think it's disgusting and it's really, in all Philly words, just corny when elected officials decide to turn something like SEPTA into a partisan issue. So I don't have any questions for you, sir. I commend you for stepping up to the plate, the entire leadership team at SEPTA. I thank you for riding this ride with us because it's been nothing but a roller coaster. And I also want to give a special shout-out to Wendy who comes down to City Council every Thursday and fights for SEPTA in ways that only Wendy can. We appreciate you all and know that as legislators we're not going to stop the work that we need to do to fight and to advocate and to make sure that you get the funding that you need to support the citizens of Philadelphia.
Chair recognizes Councilmember Phillips, and then we'll go down the line and Councilmember Lozada and Councilmember Young.
Just a quick comment. I echo Chairman Thomas's sentiments, great job that you all are doing to try to improve our region. I just want to say that when I was at the Eagles game I so happened to try to get on SEPTA that day, I don't know why but there was a mistake, actually, you know, the Regional Rail was only working, but the one time I tried to get on there it wasn't working. But anyway long story short, I just wanted to think about ways to communicate with people, maybe through large banners or something letting them know what subway lines are open, what subway lines are closed. And then also, how do we reduce -- figure out ways to reduce the lines that we saw at the Regional Rail space. I mean, that's going to be more than important to make them feel like we're welcoming. So I just think that all the people that are going to be handling those lines are going to be extremely well-trained and they're going to have to have really strong systems different from what happened at the Eagles parade. Thank you.
I appreciate that, Councilmember. Unlike the Eagles parade, this will be a little bit different of a service event for us. The Eagles parade was everybody in at the same time and everybody out at the same time. This will look a lot different because it's going to be all day travel. So thank you for those comments and those are the things that we definitely want to work on.
Thank you, Councilman. Chair recognizes Councilmember Lozada.
I don't have any questions either, but I also want to express my gratitude for Wendy and for all of the work that SEPTA is doing to ensure that things get better, right. I don't think that any of us can say that we are where we need to be. But as it relates to responding and continuing to be present and consistent in responding to the needs, not just of us as legislators, but community is extremely important. And so, I commend you for your work and for your responsiveness. Thank you so much for all that you're doing.
Thank you, colleague. Chair recognizes Councilmember Young.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I'm the Vice-Chair of City Council's Transportation Committee, and this issue has been something that my office has been paying close attention to. How do we show the world who Philly is in 2026. And transportation and getting around is a way that every single visitor in our city will get to know our city, right, whether it's on SEPTA, whether it's flying in from the airport. But also another issue is our innercity bus terminals, right. How are we going to get those visitors in and around from city to city given Philadelphia's location. It's very easy to hop on a bus to go to New York, to go to D.C., to go to Boston. It's very easy to hop on Amtrak, right, to go to those particular places as well as we're showcasing the world, showcasing America rather to the world. So I just want to make sure that when we provide the significant level of support that you all need to make sure that the passengers have the best experience they possibly can while using our transportation systems here in Philadelphia.
Thank you. With that being said, I want to say thank you both for the great work that you're doing. The conditions at the airport are completely different from the last time we had this conversation to where we are now. And again, without your leadership we would not be as prepared as we are for 2026. So with that being said, for anybody who got a chance to listen to today's hearing, to be a part of the conversation today you can tell that Philadelphia is ready for 2026. When I think about all of the cities all across the country who are going to be hosting events, activities and initiatives, there's no better city to come visit than the city of Philadelphia. We have the sports team and amazing sports events. We have the nightlife and the amazing entertaining events. And most importantly, we have the history. This is the place that's the birthplace of our nation. This is the place that's filled with phenomenal arts and culture. This is the place that has so many amazing museums, so many amazing tourist attractions. But at the same time, we know we still have work to do. We have work to do to figure out what do we do around gaming. We have work to do to figure out what do we do around the film industry, and we have work to do to make sure that every district across the city of Philadelphia has an opportunity to take advantage of some of the most amazing initiatives and events that we'll ever see in our lifetime. 50 years from now people will look back at 2026 and say, what did we do, how did we do it and how can Philadelphia be even better. So with that being said, are there any other questions or comments from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Are there any other questions or comments from members of the public? 60 seconds, sir. Somebody give him the mic. State your -- hold. Go to the Clerk. State your name for the record. 60 seconds.
Ernest Rouse, guide of Philadelphia. We don't have enough restrooms for our visitors. We don't have enough coach bus space for these people that are coming to our city. That is our two major problems that we tour guys are having with the people that are coming to this city. We are not a coach bus friendly city yet anymore and we are not a public facility-friendly city. After o'clock I don't 4 know where you're going to go to 5 bathroom. You have to go to a 6 restaurant or something. So there is a good porta potty that they did invent, the Philly Phlush or something like that. Maybe that can be expanded throughout the city of Philadelphia, especially downtown. We're going to do Lemon Hill. I guess there's going to be a lot of porta potties for Lemon Hill out there and a lot of porta potties for other different big celebrations that we're having. But our primary problem we tour guides are having is that there are no restrooms for our guests that are coming into this city.
Ernest, thank you for that comment. I want to let Councilmember Young respond to that before we close out today because Councilmember Young has been championing that issue. Chair recognizes Councilmember Young.
Thank you so much. And so, we have two of these Philly Phlush toilets in the 5th Council District, one at Federal Square Park, and then at 15th and Arch as well, and that has been a huge success for our city. There was some issues folks thought that it maybe limited the quality of life, but those Philly Phlushed toilets have actually been great for our city like you mentioned, and we are looking to expand those throughout the city, not just in the core of our city but they're going to University City and other places as well.
Hi. My name is Kristen Clark with the Germantown Arts District. I just had one question for Council and mainly for you guys. One, thank you so very much for all the work that you have been doing, especially for transportation in the city while everything is, you know, what it is. I wanted to know if there's an opportunity for both PHL Airport and SEPTA to start advertising small businesses? Is there opportunity for small businesses, local businesses, to advertise within these wonderful spaces just to get folks to neighborhoods?
So because of Council protocol, you technically cannot ask them a question. That panel is no longer there. But your comment --
-- was perfect and on point. And when we close out this hearing, I'm hoping Kristen can talk to some of the appropriate people about that particular comment because we want to make sure that that comment gets addressed, if that's okay.
No, no, no, no. I still got to follow the law. I got legislative people looking at me like Councilman Thomas is crazy. So thank you. Two very important comments. We appreciate it. And please make sure that we can address both comments. There being no further questions or comments from members of the Committee and no other witnesses to testify, I will ask that if there is anyone else present in the hearing whose name we failed to call that wishes to offer any testimony on the resolution be considered today? (No response.)
Seeing none, hearing none, I want to thank you all and all the panels of witnesses and members of the Committee for your participation today. We value your opinion. This concludes the business of the Committee and we will recess this hearing to the call of the Chair, which means we will be back in the fall before 2026 starts to have our last conversation. Thank you all and have a great rest of your day. (Committee on Legislative Oversight concluded at 3:50 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL