So you get that, you're out in the street, you punch it in, you come back, plug it into the main --
It's a windows-based. Touch it and the information is stored and that result then is held in the computer and can be downloaded immediately into the database. The product that we're using is being used in 100 cities around the world, and the 1672 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 different modules that we intend to purchase will give all of our units the ability to have that information. And in other cities they're using this hand-held device with the same product and that was part of the research. Our proof of concept here is that the five hand-helds the Commissioner spoke about is that we wanted to get into our system, give them to our inspectors and add an ability for them to dial into our network immediately so that in an emergency situation, that information can go over the cellular system and immediately be downloaded into the system so that any emergency situation that arises, we would then have that information.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, gentlemen. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Good afternoon. 1673 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
I believe some of the answers to Councilman Clarke's questions may speak to the question I have here. The last of your testimony, the impact statement, The area of complaints received. If you look at the details you provided for FY 1999 and then what's the original goal for FY 2000 and the estimated goal for FY 2000, upwards of $85,000, that's an 80 percent increase in a couple of years. So can you speak to what is driving the increase? And I'm curious to know what are the top three levels of complaints that you get in that area? And then, finally, what are you doing internally to manage that tremendous amount of complaints from the customer service side within your office?
Well, the increase in complaints has been mostly the area of vacant buildings. That's always been a primary area where the department has received a lot of complaints. The other areas, of course, your tenant complaints that we typically get particularly related to heat problems, drainage problems, things of that nature, the failure of landlords to maintain properties. That's the 1674 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 second area of major concern for the department. Those are areas, quite honestly, we would hope that, one, the blight program will be addressing to some degree when that is announced by the Mayor. But we think that that will go a long way in terms of doing what we have to do. At this point in time, the Department is reactive in terms of those complaint are, in fact, the basic source of how the department functions. We get the complaint, that generates inspection activity. So that a lot of our work -- we rely on the public to keep us informed as to conditions out in the neighborhoods so that our people can be assigned to make inspections so we use that as an integral part. We we say a complaint, it's a request for services, it's a need and so forth. So that we're not necessarily trying to minimize those. What we are trying to do is make sure that our people react to them and we don't have to react to the same compliant over and over again. But, in fact, actually complaints are an integral part of the process that drives the department' operation.
Given the gap 1675 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 between what tenants believe a landlord's responsibilities and what landlords believe their responsibilities are, what, if anything, does the department do to educate landlords who probably already know that they need to be doing the right thing and help tenant understand their role or lack thereof?
The department has a number of publications that we put out. Partners in Housing being the foremost of that which we try to direct to both landlords and tenants to acquaint both of them with the laws and regulations of this City. The City's housing code is a minimum code. It establishes minimum standards, not maximum, optimal; minimum standards so that we do insist that people try to adhere to those codes. We have had stakeholders meetings with the various groups of people. In fact, we just had one last year, a major thing where we tried to get the message out and we brought in a cross-section of the community, both tenants, landlord groups, homeowners associations people, people who are in the real-estate industry, and we have tried to bring those people together and have 1676 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 a dialogue with them and be able to sort of get our message out to all of them to cooperate and to meet the needs, the common needs that exist because it really is not in the interest of an owner to allow his property which is his asset to go downhill. He should be trying to maintain it in a fashion that is going to give him a return on his investment for many years to come, not just in the short term. So we try to get that message out. As I said, we do have regular meetings with stakeholders. We do have a number of publications that we put out. One of the things we talk about that we're trying right now is come up with a computerized version of the license and permit requirements which we would eventually hope to go out on the Internet so that everybody would be aware of all requirements are on a citywide basis. So these are all kinds of things that we've been doing in the department, Councilwoman.
You say publications that you put out. Define what that means. The mailing that your office sends out to constituents for some designated reason? Help me understand how that happens. 1677 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
We generally have those available in our offices. We have made mailings. We have done mailings, for instance, with water bills over the years where we would put stuffers in water bills to let people know what various requirements are of the City Code and different specific requirements. So, yes, we've done that. We publish those, we give the out to community groups. We do meet with community groups on a regular basis and give out those pamphlets and booklets to them. Organizations like TAG, they work closely with us. We give a lot of the publications to them and try to get the word out through them.
That's helpful to know because I come with some experience from the Tax Review Board where you hear over and over how tenants are not properly or appropriately informed about their rights. And, of course, there are three sides to every story. Landlords have their view of instances like that as well. So that testimony is very helpful. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: I would just 1678 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 like to add one thing, Councilwoman. You've heard us talk about the technology improvements that we want to put in place. The first area that we went ahead and actually purchased a module from this Hanson Technologies, that was the complaint intake module so that complaint intake now is automated. When you call to register a complaint, you're given a number. The system automatically assigns a number. Now, that number is not too valuable to you right now, but when we get to the rest of the system, that number will allow our people to tell you where in the system, where in the court system, anyplace in our inspectional system, anyplace where that particular complaint is at that time will be able to update you just by asking you what that number is. That will also solve the problem of addresses, where people are calling up and using one address. We go out on the complaint, we establish the correct address, so now the address that you think in your head and the address that we have in our system are two different addresses. The one thing that does remain the same now is that number that you'd be instructed to call. So, you know, we're hoping to 1679 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 lower the complaints by being more efficient in handling the complaints.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Commissioner MacLaughlin and your entire staff, I want to also compliment the department on the fine work you do. Just based on what I get, how overwhelmed your people must be with the requests for service. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Thank you, Councilman.
I also want to tell you that you run your place, obviously, like a well-run business because I send a letter, I get answer. People are willing to hear, "no" or "we can't help you" or "it's take six months." But at least we have the ability to tell them that and people are reasonable. Again, I want to thank you for making my job as at-large member a lot easier because I'm able to at least give people honest 1680 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 responses. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Thank you, sir.
Now, question that I have is, could you please explain to me, does L&I have role in tree removal? If a constituent or a neighborhood has a dangerous situation, they consider it a dangerous tree, we constantly refer these to the Fairmount Park Commission and the Fairmount Park Commission deals with the situation. But, again, they're stretched pretty thin and trees aren't being removed for years, especially trees that on the curb. Private property trees are a different issue. Could you tell me if a homeowner has a tree that's on private property and it is imminently dangerous that it could fall on another person's property, what action can L&I take? But to go a step further, removing a tree is an expensive proposition today, and a lot of people would love to be able to pick up the phone, call to get this tree removed, but financial they're putting meat and potatoes, hopefully, on the table and just can't afford to deal with tree issue. What can 1681 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 you do to help people that have situations like this, if anything? COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Well, the only type trees that we have are the ones that you have identified, the ones on private property. They're the only trees that L&I is responsible for. And when I say "responsible," I mean that we would issue a violation, you know, to the owner of the property for the tree if we thought it was dangerous. If the tree fits into an imminently dangerous-type situation where it's -- like, we had a situation where a branch had fallen off of the tree, a branch large enough to do significant $20,000 in damage to two cars that were parked and then the balance of the tree was precariously hanging over the bedroom of two children in the house next door. Some $12,000 later, we abated that problem, but that came out of our demolition money. So that's $12,000 less I have to address a dangerous building. You know, so we're kind of in the same position as the person who's watching their money, you know, to say that, you know, what dangerous situation do you -- that was a no-brainer. But for most of the tree complaints 1682 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 that we get, there's not too much that we can do in the way of abatement.
In that particular case $12,000 in City money to make that a safer situation or did you remove the whole tree? I assume you did with $12,000. Did that house get liened? COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, absolutely.
So in most cases if there's a dangerous situation L&I is not in a position to help or you can help and lien the property? Maybe I missed the answer. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Well, if it fits into a life safety type situation, then just like when do in every other circumstances, we go into action.
Just another example, during the recent storm a tree fell, fell across the back door of a person's property and the person was basically locked in their home, they couldn't get out the back door, and for some reason, they couldn't get out the front door. L&I went over and made it safe for them. I think they 1683 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 just cut the branches just so the person could get out of the house. But again, you'll responds to absolutely dangerous situations or life-threatening situations but there's not a routine where you can get involved in -- if a person complains, you'll respond and do what you can do, is that basically it? COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Again, it goes back to the property owner having the primary responsibility. So for us in that situation I talked about, the owner refused to take action. We took him to court and the judge ordered us to, you know, abate that situation.
All right. Well, again, thanks. It's, again, appreciated, all of the work that all your people do. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Thank you for saying that. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon. 1684 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Good afternoon.
First like to thank you for working with me over the year, and I think I've gotten a lot of cooperation out of L&I. Just wish you had more money for demos and all the other things. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Us, too.
What can we do on City Council to help L&I -- what recommendations can you give us that would -- what to we need to do with the court system to help with the enforcement around troubled building, multifamily dwelling issues? For example, I know that we're getting ready to go to court with the 15th and Allegheny case. When the First Judicial Court System court system comes here I think one day this week or next week or next Monday, I think that's really an important issue to talk to them about because so much -- I know that you go out and you cite and you cite and you cite, but you can't enforce. So we really need to come up with a way to see what we as Councilpeople can do and the residents to 1685 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 get judges to take some of these issues more seriously around enforcement. I know that when I was a part of the Vacant Land and Review Committee or whatever, that special committee that was going on, I talked to Joe Dworsky (ph.) and he said that they were in Harrisburg looking at a way to put those types of buildings in receivership. Do you know whether that research or whatnot is still going on? Do you know if they ever made a final decision to move that way on multifamily dwellings that are troubled? COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: I'm not aware of that particular effort. Although, I have heard the Mayor talk about one of his transition committees looking at that ownership issue, that conveyance issue. So we should be looking forward to hearing some of the solutions to those issues. But as to what Councilpeople could do, it's the old equation of getting the people who are victimized by whatever that problem is to appear in court and make themselves known in court to -- it's the best way I know to influence a judge's decision to let -- all the judge hears is the 1686 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 textbook presentation from L&I, what the rule is and that person has broken the rule. That's kind of dry. And then as far as the defense, it's one-sided.
Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: And, you know, the issue I think where Council can influence people in the community to get out there and make sure that the judge knows that this is a problem in the community.
All right, because it is an ongoing problem. When you look up the properties and they've got a ton of violations and that's where it stops. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Right.
And before the buildings are falling down on people's heads and all kind of things. Because that's an area, of course, you know that I'm very interested in because we have a trouble building properties in the 8th Councilmanic District. Well, I'm going to start -- I'll question the First Judicial Courts when they come next week regarding that. I wanted to talk a little bit about the 1687 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 encapsulation program. Now, I know you use it to stabilize a particular block if it's maybe one or two properties vacant, but there are several blocks -- more than several. There are lots of blocks that maybe there are four or five properties vacant. However, it's a rowhome or it's a semidetached home and that vacant property is now causing internal damage to the house that it's attached to and someone is living in. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Right.
I see you only have a projected. You're projecting to do just 75, and I know it's probably hundreds of properties in the City that could use encapsulation, particularly on the rows and the semidetached. Can you up the number? Do you think 75's going to be enough? I sure don't. I could probably find 75 right in one part of my district. And that's 75 for the whole City? COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: We're using housing money for this project, and my goal is to spend every last dime and then ask for more money. I believe it's federal money. And Joan Kromer, I think, is amenable to that. For us to show him 1688 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 that we're efficiently using that money and he has been increasing the money up to the amount that we're reporting to you now, but that's about -- that amount is about double than what we historically have had because all we were doing out of that particular fund was the emergency repairs.
Okay. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: And as far as making a decision to do more than one or two houses on a block, that depends on the block.
Right, right. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: That depends on the viability of the block, and we have done that.
All right, very good. One other question, and this is a technical question and I'm not real technical but I'm going to try to ask this question. You know how we can go into the computers to the real estate program and get information? COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
Will the vacant 1689 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 property data -- will we also be able to access the vacant property data from our computers in our office on the survey that you took last summer?
The answer to your question is that that information is in our L&I database now. The existing Licenses and Inspections database commonly known as LIMS. So if you can access that, you can do that. All of the information that we input from the vacant property survey that we did this past summer was put into that stadium system so that we can actually show all those 22,500 vacant residential buildings, which is why we're confident or somewhat confident that our numbers are correct. We don't know the numbers that have been bandied about are, but our system you can go in, you can identify where vacant properties are, and I believe Council does have access to the LIM system.
Well, I know that we have access. The person in my office that uses this -- I've never used the system, so I'm trying to get this question clear here. He said he went over to L&I and asked them to give him a copy of 1690 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 the abandoned properties in the 8th Councilmanic District and they were not able to do that from that survey.
We should be able to do that. We, in fact, actually even mapped it out geographically from the survey so that there's no 8 reason why we should not be able to give him a map showing all of the locations in your Councilmanic District.
Councilwoman, in answer to your question, we're in the process of cleaning up the data so that it's in a clean and accessible way for the other agencies, offices, in the City to be able to access that data. We're in the process of putting it into something that we'll be able to put it out on the city's Web site at Phila.gov so that you'll be able to go to the Phila.gov site and see that information. I would say in the next few months you should be able to do that. 1691 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
Great. One other question, Madam Chair. You know, Commissioner, I've talked to you, and I know you're very troubled by this, too, about these shoddy contractors that are performing these demolition jobs and really making it a public safety issue because they leave their trash, they leave their debris, they leave buildings half-done. Is there some way that we can permanently get them off your list as a contractor? Because in my district, it's the same ones over and over and over and over again. Why are they still eligible? Why can they even continue to get City contractors? They're just so awful.
We, along with the Philadelphia Police Department, have been monitoring contractors and the bad ones for the last several years. We agree. It's a matter of at some point in time all of our contractors will be taken off the list mainly because of the numbers we were putting out. From the beginning of five years ago, we had about six contractors on our list, of approved contractors. Right now we 1692 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 have approximately, I believe, 17. I can get the number over to you, Councilwoman, or the names also. A lot of our efforts have been going in increasing the number of contractors so that there's more -- so each one has less work and they don't abandon job like you're describing.
At one point, though, weren't you contracting out to community development corporations to help with the demos? Was it you or OHCD?
You use Greater Germantown Housing Development Corp.
Yes, but it's not CDC part, it's a separate for-profit part.
And we've reached out and advertised over the years, and it's one of our 1693 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 things to have more contractors, more, better. And we do monitor the quality of the contractors.
Also, Councilwoman, one more thing. In the Logan area, and we've tested it and we believe that we'll go and increase us. We bid the area the Logan triangle which is partly in your district, and one contractor has the balance of the buildings there to demolish. We can monitor him a easier. As a matter of fact, myself and my boss, Mr. MacLaughlin, visit there often. The contractor is starting to complain about us being there. He has too many inspectors with him and I. It's $4,000 a unit there because of this effort, and if there's any damage to that neighbor, we know who's done it. And we want to expand on this, and the Commissioner is going to work with the blight czar and try to get this built into process. It's really very, very effective. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: I'd just like 1694 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 to say, Councilwoman, if your constituents have any complaints about the way a site was left, I'd appreciate knowing about that.
I really appreciate the quickness of when I did call about that one particular one on Midvale Avenue that, you know, I was really happy to ride by and see that everything had been taken care of. I didn't know that Risk Management got involved at this level. I didn't know that until I was reading their testimony last week because it then presents public safety and people's ability to sue the City and all kind of things. But I know that that would take away a lot of the problems that we have and hearing from constituents when it comes to demos because some of those contractors just leave it terrible.
The horrible part about demolition is before it gets better, it gets a lot worse. That's the problem. You know, it creates dust, debris, and unsightliness in the community.
I'm going to give som of my time to Councilman Rizzo.
Councilman 1695 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Rizzo, you have a follow-up question?
Yes, please. It was in response to something that you just said, the conversation that you just had with Councilwoman Miller, the best way to whip a contractor into shape, after they do a demolition, how long does it take them to get paid? How long does it take them to get paid, 60 days, 30 days, 90 days?
Well, doesn't someone from L&I go out and sign off on the demolition and say, "Hey, this job's done properly, pay 'em." I mean, if they're just getting paid no matter what the situation is, then I understand you've got a problem.
They only get paid when we approve the demolition. So if we do not approve of the demolition, they will not get paid.
So then how does this exist? They're satisfied with doing a sloppy job and not getting paid.
It exists if they can only tear down 20 buildings a week and we bid 40, 1696 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 that's why it exists because there's just more work than they have the capability at the lowest responsible contract price.
Don't you know the capability? Why would you give a contractor that doesn't have the ability to demolish 40 buildings 40 buildings to demolish?
Well, it's not one contractor, but several. But -- go ahead. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: I think Bob's statement was -- his prior statement was more telling, and that was that it gets worse before it gets better. And the problems that the Councilwoman is talking about is leaving the site to go to something else before they finished doing what they're supposed to do. So that by the time we get to the site to inspect it, by the time they tell us they're done, it looks decent. It looks the way it's supposed, but that could take months if they're prioritizing and going to other places and not completing the job.
Then I suggest you put in your contract that they have X-number of days from the minute they start to the minute the 1697 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 finish so they can't play the game where I start one -- it sounds like my carpenter. He starts to build a closet over here and runs over here to do four more.
That fits with contractors, Councilman. They give you "I'll do it tomorrow," but tomorrow never comes.
Or they rip everything apart and they got you and you're at their mercy. But I'm sure you could -- COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: These contracts are under review and I'll make sure that that gets addressed.
Once they start that they've got X-number of days to finish it up, and then this problem might subside. Thank you. It's easy just to talk about it. COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah.
Thank you. Councilwoman Brown. 1698 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
My colleagues raised important questions about this issue of civic responsibility when it comes to contractors who care more about getting paid for their service and less about the community in which they're conducting the work. Are contracts awarded within your department, you oversee that process from beginning to end who these contractors are? 10
We work with the 11 Procurement and Law Department advertise to 12 approve the contractor for their ability to do the 13 work based on their experience. The Law 14 Department makes sure they have the proper bonding 15 and Procurement makes sure they have the 16 business-type questions that need to be answered. 17
As a footnote, does that include MBEC? When you say Procurement, is MBEC implicit in that process, Minority Business Enterprize Council?
You would have to ask the Procurement Commissioner. I'm not sure if they -- they probably are because I believe MBEC and Procurement work very, very closely together.
We have over the years worked really hard to work with MBEC to get qualified companies that bid for us that minority female-owned, we've worked very hard with that.
And I believe we've been somewhat successful, but not completely.
So back to Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller's question, I don't know if I heard an answer. What becomes a defining circumstance where contractors are no 13 longer considered for doing business with the City? An example? Because it is something wrong with continuously giving contractors business with the City and they don't honor up to cleaning up their act.
Councilwoman, in concert with the Philadelphia Police Department, myself and Commissioner MacLaughlin met with them about two or three weeks ago. We worked with them and the contractor has been removed, one and I believe two others under investigation as we speak has been permanently removed. Matter of fact, they have them up for criminal charges, but we 1700 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 have removed him permanently from our list. And two others right now are under investigation.
So then that answers the question that there is something internally that addresses circumstances like that. Final question. On the awarding process, is this some criteria or amongst your criteria, do they have to be Philadelphia-based, in other words taxpayers of Philadelphia or Philadelphia region or Delaware Valley?
They have to be taxpayers to make sure business privilege license, but they do not have to be Philadelphia based. And you'll have to ask Procurement as to why. I don't believe we can seclude anyone that's not in Philadelphia.
We had Councilman Nutter. I assume he stepped out. Are there any other questions? (No further questions.)
Again, thank you for the excellent job. 1701 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 COMMISSIONER MCLAUGHLIN: Thank you Councilwoman.
Board of L&I Review. COMMISSIONER MCLAUHGLIN: Before we go I would just like to thank Council for their cooperation that Council gives us.
Councilwoman Blackwell, Members of Council, I am not Pamela Esposito. Richard Feldgus, Administrative Director for the Department for Licenses and Inspections, and I'll be presenting testimony for the Board of Licenses and Inspections Review. Unfortunately, the Board has scheduled hearings this afternoon. They will not be able to attend since they're conducting own hearings. The Board of Licenses and Inspections Review is requesting a budget of $207,709 for Fiscal Year 2001. This is an increase of 4846 over the FY 2000 estimated obligations. The increase in funding reflects monies to fund the wage increase for support staff. 1702 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 The budget we are requesting will continue to provide for full-time staff of three employees as well as six board members. In 1999, the Board of Licenses and Inspections Review has heard and rendered decisions in 758 cases. It is now anticipated that in FY 2000 the Board will hear 1120 cases. We project the same number in 2001. The number of appeals filed with the Board increased in Fiscal Year '98 as a result of changes in laws regulating guns. That number has now stabilized, and right now we're taking approximately 60 days for the Board to issue decisions once cases are brought before the Board. I'll be happy to answer any questions.
Thank you. Are there any questions? Any questions? (No questions.)
Again, I am not Bart 1703 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Kligerman, I am Richard Feldgus, Administrative Services Director for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. I apologize. Mr. Kligerman was here earlier, but because of the lateness and other commitments, he could not stay. The Board of Building Standards is requesting the budget of $117,125 for Fiscal Year 2001. This is an increase of 3191 over current appropriation. Funding will provide full-time staff of two employees and four board members. The role of the Board of Building Standards is to advise the Commissioner of the Department of Licenses and Inspections on requests for variances as well as to provide interpretations of the building code and make suggestions for standards regulations dealing with building safety. The Board also reviews new and substitute materials and methods of construction make recommendations to the Commissioner to Philadelphia up-to-date and competitive with latest technologies. In 2001 we will conduct 50 meetings and hear approximately 180 cases. In 1999, the Board heard 161 cases, made recommendations to the 1704 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Commissioner on 126 cases. Time for obtaining a decision from the Board of Building Standards is currently approximately 30 days. The Board also provides accelerated hearings to persons requiring quick turn-arounds on variance decisions. In 1999, of those accelerated hearings were 8 conducted. 9 I should point out that for the 10 accelerated hearings we do have the people who 11 want those hearings pay the cost of the special 12 hearings that they're granted, but this does 13 accelerate the opportunity for those people to do business in the City and it's worked out very well for both the people coming before the Board and the City. I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Are there any questions? Are there any questions? (No questions.)
Thank you very much. We will now hear the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Again, I am Richard 1705 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Feldgus, Administrative Services Director for Department of Licenses and Inspections. I'm here to present testimony for the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The Zoning Board of Adjustment is requesting a budget of $517,262 for FY 2001. This is an increase of 11,728 over the current obligations. The increase in funding reflects cost for salary increase granted to Civil Service employees of the Board. The FY 2001 budget that is being requested by the Zoning Board will provide full-time staff of six employee and five members. During 1999, the Zoning Board of Adjustment, which is the most active of all City boards, conducted 250 meetings. The Zoning Board provides vital service to those who work, live, or do business in the City of Philadelphia, and it provides an opportunity to appeal zoning determinations, request variances where the Code imposes unnecessary hardship on property owners. The Board also grants certificates for certain types of zoning uses as prescribed by the ordinances of City Council. 1706 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 In 2001 it is anticipated the Board will conduct hear 1618 cases. In 1999, the Board heard 1906 cases and rendered decisions in 1491 situations. Currently, the Board is rendering a decision within 30 days of it being submitted to the Board or the Board having a hearing. To enhance service to the public, the Board has adopted an accelerated hearings program similar to the Board of Building Standards where persons wanting quick action before the Board may petition the Board, and by paying cost of Board hearing can receive a hearing as quickly as the notice posting requirements are met. In 1999, there were 358 zoning cases heard with accelerated hearings. We project that that number should be consistent for both the current Fiscal Year and 2001. I'll be happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, Mr. Feldgus. Are there any questions? Any questions? (No questions.)
Thank you very 1707 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 much.
Next will be Community College. (Community College witnesses come forward.)
We certainly welcome you. It's always a pleasure to see our friend Mr. Schrager (ph) who's a great fighter for Community College. Lynette Brown, I'll get you soon, welcome. You may pull up whatever chairs you need. Thank you. You can proceed and identify yourself for the record and begin.
Good afternoon, Councilwoman Blackwell, Members of City Council. My name is Emanuel Ortiz, I chair the Board of Trustees of Community College of Philadelphia. To my left is our new president, Steve Curtis, Dr. Steve Curtis, and to my right is someone you know very well, Mr. Isador Schrager. I'm honored to have colleagues on the board, a group of dedicated civic and business leaders in Philadelphia like 1708 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Mr. Schrager who recognize importance of Community College of Philadelphia to our great City. With your permission I would like to introduce those others who are here in attendance, and that is Dr. Edward Kohn (ph), Dr. Marciene Mattleman, Representative James R. Roebuck, Jr., and, of course, you met Mr. Isador Schrager. Let me first express our appreciate to the Mayor for recognizing the excellent work of faculty administrator, staff, and students by recommending a $1.5 million additional allocation to the budget this year. We're most appreciative of the investment in the educational future of our City. Community College of Philadelphia was founded in 1965 and opened with an enrollment 700 full-time and part-time students. Today your City College is one of the 10 largest community colleges in the nation with over 1,000 full- and part-time faculty and more than 41,000 credit and non-credit students enrolled in programs throughout the City. We are proud to be the third largest degree-granting institution in the City of Philadelphia. 1709 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 On August 1, 1999, as a result of a national search for a president to advance the institution and its student successfully into the 21st Century, Steven M. Curtis was appointed president of the college. Although many of you have either spoken with or met Dr. Curtis, allow me for the record to note that he is an academic leader with a proven commitment to cities and to urban education, having spent most of his academic career at community colleges in St. Louis and in New York City. While president of Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, New York, he advanced strategic plan, launched a campus-wide student retention effort, initiated innovative approaches to instructions such as on-line courses, developed a long-range marketing plan, and expanded the college's service to the community through a range of workforce training and economic development projects. President Curtis also served as acting president of the City University of New York's Queens College, which is a four-year master's degree granting institution with over 16,000 students which is in Flushing, New York, and the 1710 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Borough of Manhattan Community College in New York. Our college's board of trustees is pleased that President Curtis is leading the college at this significant time in the history of our City. We believe that he has the right combination of experience and dedication to ensure the realization of our shared vision for Philadelphia's city college. Let me also note that his formal inauguration as fifth president of Community College of Philadelphia will be on Sunday, April 2, 2000. We sincerely hope that your schedules will permit you to participate in this significant event. At this time and with your permission, Councilwoman Blackwell, I would like to ask Dr. Curtis to present the formal testimony to Council on the budget for our college.
Thank you very much. We certainly welcome him. I'm sure he knows of the fine legacy that has been at Community. It's wonderful. We love it here, and there has always been great presidents, so we 1711 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 assume you follow in that a tradition. Let me also -- I see Marciene Mattleman left and thank her for her work with Philadelphia Reads for which she has recently stepped down and certainly our own State Representative Jim Roebuck who's always been devoted to Community College. We thank you all for coming. You may proceed, Dr. Curtis. Thank you again.
Thank you, Councilwoman Blackwell. My name is Steven Curtis, and as indicated I'm President of Community College of Philadelphia, and it is my, not only pleasure, but my honor to testify on behalf of the college today. I'll make my remarks brief. First, I do want to thank the Council for the support that this body has extended and provided to the college throughout our 35-year history. While I am relatively new to the position, I know from my own initial meetings with a number of Councilmembers and also everything that I've heard from my board of trustees, members of academic community, that there has been a strong commitment for the Community College of 1712 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Philadelphia over the years. Over. The years, the college and this Council have shared many opportunities and many challenges. When the City faced a budget shortfall, so did the college. When the City was forced to tighten its budgetary belt, we also tightened ours. Two years, for the first time in five years, we were able to produce a balanced budget. And this was achieved, however, at some cost to the college since it required us to place a number of critical initiatives on hold. 8 million. We respectfully urge Council to support this allocation. As the City's only public institution of higher education and the third largest degree-granting post secondary institution in Philadelphia, we share with the Mayor and this Council a commitment to the City, a commitment to neighborhoods, to education, to job creation and retention. The recommended allocation will allow 1713 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 us to make significant progress in a number of efforts, in our efforts to decrease the level of unnecessary increase in tuition and fees, to improve our technology infrastructure, to introduce new degree programs and other curricular changes that will meet the needs of City's emerging industries, to develop new business and industry training facilities in our regional centers, to support economic development within communities, to expands student services at offcampus locations throughout the city, to replace worn-out and/or obsolete equipment used in our laboratories, to strengthen our ability to offer instruction using distance learn strategies and to remain current with technology, to enhance our partnerships with the School District of Philadelphia, and to address key deferred maintenance issues. We touch the lives of students long before they ever enter the college. Our programs with the Philadelphia School District are helping high school students improve their academic skills, access college credit courses, and experience college. We help middle school 1714 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 students begin to engage in career exploration opportunities and we help to develop new teachers in such critically important areas as mathematics. We have forged partnerships with Philadelphia business, industry, government, higher education, public and parochial schools, and nonprofit organizations to develop educational programs and services to address the educational and economic needs of Philadelphia. Together we are working to prepare, train, and educate students, employees, leaders, and contributing citizens for our City. Having said all of that, I think the biggest impact that we make in Philadelphia is in the lives of our individual students. And to conclude, I'd like to briefly city three examples. First, three of our most recent graduates are sisters Alejandra, Alexandra, and AnnaMaria Cintron (ph). The first members of their family to earn college degree, they are now taking typical Community College of Philadelphia paths. Alejandra and Alexandra, both graduates of diagnostic medical imaging program are now licensed radiologic technicians. AnnaMaria is 1715 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 pursuing a baccalaureate degree in business administration at Temple University.
They exemplify the diligence, persistence and achievement of our students. A second example, Renee Dapney (ph) is a single participant in the Mellon Minority undergraduate fellow program in english at Cornell University. She is a graduate of our education program and she was also a member of our Phi Beta Kappaa Honor Society. With the encouragement of her curriculum coordinator, she transferred to Cornell is currently one of five minority undergraduate fellows who work closely with faculty mentors. She, like her four undergraduate peers is now highly sought after by graduate programs across the country. Eileen McCabe (ph), a mother of six is yet another example of how our college helps residents of this city achieve their potential and their goals. When two of her older children enrolled at Community College of Philadelphia, she enrolled with them. In between exams, reading assignments, and studying, she found time to serve in student government, to volunteer as a student 1716 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 ambassador, and sew quilts for student fund-raisers. These experience raised her confidence and helped her to realize the academic success that her professors knew was possible. Eileen graduated with highest honors and $7,000 in scholarships at Beaver College where she's now enrolled as an education major. Eileen frequently speaks at college career fairs and counsels other mothers who dream of launching careers later in life. It is our students who matter most of all. And what we have been able to accomplish on behalf of our students has occurred within restraints of an increasingly restricted budget and with the reallocation of current resources rather than extensive new revenues being the primary source of funding. These accomplishments have occurred because we manage ours in highly cost-effective manner, we pursue strategies to make productive and efficient use of available resources, and we actively seek new revenues. We have tightened our belts, secured supplemental grant funds, and advocated in Harrisburg for additional resources as well. We now need to 1717 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 ensure that this city college is positioned to continue to respond efficiently and effectively to the needs of business, industry, government, and its citizens for high-quality affordable educational opportunities. To do this requires the resources of the proposed budget. And finally, as an overview for the context of the budget, that proposed support represents approximately half of the projected increase in our Fiscal Year 2001 budget. With our sister colleges across the State, we have requested the remaining increase in funds from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. For your information, the Governor's proposed budget recently released recommends an increase in the State allocation, but not at our requested level, and therefore, not sufficiently large enough to probably avoid a tuition increase of some kind for next year. While raising tuition appears necessary, it's an action which will only be taken by the college as a last resort. We are committed to working toward public financing that will keep tuition affordable and higher education accessible. 1718 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Community College of Philadelphia has superb programs in business, science, engineering and technology, health care, social and human services, liberal arts, liberal studies, arts and communications. We have experience an expertise in workforce development and training. We have talented faculty, dedicated employees, a visionary board of trustees, and the collective talent to ensure success. I appreciate your remarks about those that have preceded me. I certainly intend to do everything I can to keep this college on track and making the same kinds of contributions to the City that it has in the past.
We appreciate your continued support, and I look forward to working together with the Council so that we are even a more vital contributor to the City of Philadelphia. Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Curtis. Councilwoman Reynolds Brown.
Let me first start by saying that I fully support the proposed increase in the city college subsidy. And it goes without saying given the, I would say, miraculous outreach that you do throughout our City is certainly deserving. On of your testimony, 5th paragraph, you speak to a number of -- in this instance you speak to the involvement of 11th and 12th graders, and I put a question in the column, what are you doing by the way of early intervention because we know to the extent that you touch young people during those middle school years, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, they are better prepared in terms of the academic requirements on what to do 9th through 12th which get them in shape for two-year and four-year institutions. Could speak in some detail to the early intervention efforts?
I'll be happy to. What I'm doing right now is going around cluster by cluster meeting with the leadership to talk about, in some cases, programs that we already have underway in a given part of the City and seeing if 1720 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 there's some interest in replicating it; and in other cases, asking what it is that we can do as a partner with a particular school or a cluster that can make the kind of difference that you're describing. I'll give you a couple of examples that relate specifically to the middle school experience.
We're talking in some cases now about -- in fact, we are putting on a series of career fairs so that we can begin talking about career opportunities down the line and what kind of educational experience it takes to get there.
That has to do, obviously, with the need for math, science, other kinds of things. We're talking about some potential teacher training opportunities in the middle schools, again, focused in some cases on math, science, technology, as the School District has increased its technological capability, there are still training issues. And again, that's something that I think we can be helpful with. By 1721 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 9th grade, approximately, we are now offering the opportunity, so it's probably more on a high school level, but still early, not before 11th or 12th grade, the opportunity for us to come in and do assessment in terms of basic skills, the kind of assessment that we do automatically, not for admission to our institution, but for placement purposes so that, again, we can have the discussion with students or the School District can have discussions with students early on about what needs to be done before we get to the end of high school.
So you're saying Community College is actually offering that service?
We are offering that service, yes. We're at the moment doing it kind of on a school-by-school basis, but as I make my way through the clusters, we're talking about all those. And we're trying to adapt. We're assuming one size may not fit all. But those are the kind of things that we are discussing and in some cases 1722 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 now implementing.
And that ultimately make difference with regards to the number of young people that go on to two- and four-year institutions.
Because they've been adequately alerted early on what the requirements are.
You mention in your response the word "partnership" and you discuss partnerships at length throughout your testimony, particularly on . And you've spoken to the recruitment process whereby you are serving as an ambassador and going around to the clusters. The qualifications for enrollment, what is that? Is there any need to have any since the outreach is to all 6th, 7th and 8th graders, and the programs currently in place at optimum level, meaning, is there a need to fill any gaps in terms of participation of young people?
Okay. For the examples given on , the dual enrollment program, for 1723 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 example, yes, there are criteria. It generally is based on a writing sample and that kind of thing. We're not looking to put a student in a college credit situation, because that's what that offers.
If student isn't sufficiently prepared. That would not lead us to a positive kind of outcome, so for that, yes. For other things that we're doing the answer is no. Again, some of those are still preliminary discussions. I don't want to mislead you. We're setting some of those things up now, but some of those will be much more generic for participation, for participation in the career exploration activities, for example. There's a career fair coming up at the end of March that we're doing with a couple of middle schools and that's wide open, so there's no criteria in that case. But for enrolling in a college-level course, there will be some criteria, yes.
A couple of more questions. The career fairs happen because Community College of Philadelphia sees a need and is responding to need and the partner on the other 1724 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 end, the principal or the cluster leader philosophically is where you're at, is that how that happens?
Yes. The first one that's coming up, we were actually approached and ask if we would do it, and we said yes. We're taking that as a model, as said earlier, and now asking would others like to replicate that model.
Yes, because that would be the optimum circumstance, to see that go system-wide. One question on funding. On your testimony, third paragraph, you speak to a new funding formula for the State's contribution and mention a number of entities that are needed to move towards that end. And this is redundant, but I'll say it for the record anyhow. There are always -- and I'm sure members of your team know that the members of the Philadelphia delegation who believe as you do who are advocates for Community College efforts and need to know early on what your efforts or what your strategies are to see what role they can play in making it real. So I share that with you because they're not 1725 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 mentioned in this paragraph. And they, I believe, since they are at the State and living and breathing that three days a week, need to know what you're trying to do in their world.
Right. I appreciate that. The reason there aren't some specific there because as a community college sector I don't think we've come to closure yet on what we think an appropriate funding formula would be. This is an attempt to let you know that that's definitely a discussion that's underway, but I don't think we have the specific answer yet so we're not out there advocating a specific formula until collectively we've agreed on what that should be.
And finally, the middle schools you mention, tongue-in-cheek question, might they be in West Philly? I'm just curious.
I've been to meet with Janice and we have talked specifically about middle schools there. We have not set that one up yet, but that discussion going on, yes.
Congratulations to Mr. Curtis and good afternoon to you and members of the board and members of your administration. My question is really related to workforce development and job training activity. I've noticed of your testimony a grant from Department of Community and Economic Development for customized job training. Can you tell me what the level of that grant was and what type of activity you were involved in?
I'm not sure which specific one that refers to, but the customized job training is done in cooperation with Department of Community and Economic Development. We have about three active ones right now, I think, and we have probably a couple more in the preliminary stages. The active ones, I think, are Jefferson, Smurfit, Freeman and SPD Technologies. 1727 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 And then there are others in the works. Generally, a Philadelphia company that's interested, we can refer or they can go to the Department of Community and Economic Development and then be referred back to us and then we set up the contract and work out the training with them.
So companies have approached you regarding customized training?
Let me ask you more general questions leading toward really what I want to see as an increasing role for community colleges of in-job training from the community college system. I know a lot of other cities are utilizing community colleges a lot more for job training. What do you think the role of community colleges are in workforce development?
Our particular goal is to expand that, if not exponentially, certainly greatly. In other states with that exists to a 1728 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 greater extent, it's often because by public policy community colleges are the places where the state typically directs that kind of effort. In this state, it's not a matter of public policy so much.
It's not a matter of public policy or not on the state level?
I think it's not a matter of public policy. In a number of states, community colleges are "the" training entity.
It's built into the system. That's not the case here. It takes what just described a moment ago, a company must go and ask and maybe directed to us. So I think we have to be much more aggressive.
I guess my response was, was it not just a matter of state policy but also not a matter of local public policy?
Is to the student? 1729 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
A full-time student I think spends about $2,000 a year. Is that correct? So for a two-year degree if it were full-time, it would be about $4,000.
Related to some of your workforce development that you're doing, you have done, my understanding, specialize in associate degrees because those people are being trained in areas they needed to be trained.
Yes. And then some of it is non-credit training, too, not necessarily toward a degree.
What would you foresee in terms of developing specialized programs so that people would be encouraged, not only just be trained for a job, but to have the associate degree to have other educational training that might lead them toward further advancement.
We look at it as a continuum, and the continuum can include a number of things. It can include the non-credit kind of 1730 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 training. We'll call it training for this purpose. It can move to a certificate kind of level. It can then move to an associate degree level an beyond. We try not to see ourselves as the limit here. And in fact, we have, obviously, the kinds of articulation agreements in some cases related to career programs, in other cases obviously in terms of our transfer programs that allow students to move past the associate degree level. So we do look at it as a continuum, and ideally I think a student should be able to enter at a given point on the continuum and in some cases may already come to us with a degree. We have students in our health programs, for example, that may already have a bachelor's degree. So now they're coming back for another kind of training that will result in an associate degree but will get them into the RN field, for example. So we need to be as accessible as possible, I think, in those terms. And what we're trying to do, have already done in many cases, is to create that kind of articulation, whether it's with an institution that a student may move to after he or she leaves us or even within our own institution moving, 1731 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 let's say, from a strictly training kind of activity into the degree program.
Have you engaged in discussions with this Administration about increasing role of Community College in workforce development? Let me preface that.
Let me preface that by saying I know the previous Administration concentrated all the resources under the control of the Mayor's Office and then directed them toward what is now the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation and there's a tendency to want to keep under that one very large bureaucracy. Have you yet engaged in conversation with the Administration about why that doesn't necessarily make sense in terms of guiding people along that continuum that you talked about?
We're starting some of those. It's still early in the Administration, so a there's a lot of dialog to be had yet. But we're definitely looking at -- well, you've already mentioned the CJT kind of example. We're 1732 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 looking at welfare to work. We're trying to find a number of instances where we can become even more proactive than we have been. So that, again, the result that we're looking for is to take residents of this City, in some cases put them into jobs, in other cases move them upward in the job market and allow them to achieve their individual goals.
So with two new administrations, we might be able to do it right.
The Welfare Reform Act, what type of impact has it had on student enrollment in terms of women and individuals who 1733 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 were on welfare and since this is a work-first state has had -- has that had some impact on people being able to maintain both work and study at the same time?
Well, I wasn't here when that went into effect, but I presume based on my own experience elsewhere that it has had some impact. But we're looking for ways to mitigate that. As an example, last semester there was a very creative opportunity made available to us by a local church who gave us a scholarship, created a scholarship fund. But I put "scholarship" in quotes because the scholarship money is specifically to go toward work-study so that students who are receiving public assistance can come to the College and do their work experience on-site at the college so that it makes it easier to have that kind of experience, both the education and the work. So yes, again, I'm not sure I know the numbers. I wasn't here.
I'm really interested in seeing if we can get some numbers maybe because I was working with your predecessor.
We'll get that for you. 1734 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
Your predecessor and I were very interested in seeing what, if any, the impact was going to be on the accessibility of Community College because of the Welfare Reform Act.
I know that Community College had built and structured and offered a day care center for students. And I want to know if the population has decreased or increased in the day care center because that could also be a barometer of accessibility of individuals and so on. I know that you may not know.
I don't the exact answer, but will be happy to get you the answer.
I'm just putting the question so I can get the answer later on.
It's part and parcel of what we're trying to do in terms of changing State policy as it relates to poor people and people that are coming off the welfare rolls, really misguided, misdirected policy from the 1735 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 governor an so on. If you're going to raise tuition, have you measured what impact that may have, again, on accessibility to Community College? Because that's why Community College is there.
To be able to permit everybody who has the desire to go to it.
First, let me reiterate the decision has not been fully made yet, that has not gone to our board and they have not approved that. But in terms of our projections, I mentioned that so that you'd understand that between City support and State support, the total amount that we project we need hasn't come through yet. The answer is --
What is the difference that has not come through, what's the amount?
Possibly about $650,000 overall. We had requested an increase in base funding from the State of about an additional $100 1736 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 per full-time equivalent student, and the Governor's budget includes about $60, so that difference represented in there. If there were to be a tuition increase, it would a fairly small one, but typically for those students for whom the financial issue is the greatest, that tuition increase would typically be picked up in terms of financial assistance. So I think that would not provide an accessibility barrier.
So $600,000 around that would prevent the tax increase from going forward (Sic)?
As a community college sector, we have requested an amount from the State that at the moment is not forthcoming, yes.
The City, at least the Mayor's proposed budget met our request for this coming year, but the City does not meet the 1737 2/22/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 overall theoretical model. You know, the theoretical model is one-third of support from the State, one-third from the City, one-third for student tuition. The City's contribution this year is about percent. 7
I know that you're 8 new and this question I ask individuals that hold 9 your position every year. The level of minority 10 at present at different levels of your 11 administration, Latinos, females, blacks, what are 12 the numbers at the current level that we have at 13 Community College in terms of that. 14
I don't have the number 15 with me. I can't answer that numerically. I 16 think there has been a strong commitment at the 17 college to make all levels, faculty, staff, 18 administration, as diverse as possible. It's a 19 commitment that I've had everywhere that I've 20 worked and continue to have. So we are moving 21 forward in the various normal searches that we 22 would have. That is part of our commitment. 23