Committee Hearing, December 12, 2006 (part 2)

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA JOINT COMMITTEES ON PUBLIC SAFETY AND STREETS AND SERVICES - - - CORA Services Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, December 12, 2006 2:30 a.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN WILLIAM GREENLEE COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY COUNCILWOMAN JOAN L. KRAJEWSKI COUNCILMAN BRIAN J. O'NEILL COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILMAN DANIEL SAVAGE COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO RESOLUTION 060787 - Resolution authorizing City Council's Committees on Public Safety and Streets and Services to hold joint public hearings to investigate the safety of Roosevelt Boulevard, including traffic engineering, law enforcement, the condition of the street lighting, etc... - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2

Good afternoon, everyone. The Joint Committee on Public Safety and Streets and Services is now in session. This is a continuation of the hearing that took place in City Council Chambers earlier this morning. Will the Clerk please read the title of this resolution.

Resolution 060787, authorizing City Council's Committees on Public Safety and Streets and Services to hold joint public hearings to investigate the safety of Roosevelt Boulevard, including traffic engineering, law enforcement, the condition of street lighting, et cetera; to inform and educate the public about the safety issues that plague the highway; and, to explore any and all feasible measures to make Roosevelt Boulevard a safe highway for all; and in furtherance of such investigation, authorizing the issuance of subpoenas to compel the attendance of 3 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 witnesses and the production of documents to the full extent authorized under Section 2-401 of the Home Rule Charter.

Thank you. The purpose of this continuation is to give those who were unable to attend the morning hearing an opportunity to attend. I am Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, Chair of the Public Safety Committee, and here today is, to my right, Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, Councilman Jack Kelly. To my left, Councilman Rizzo, Councilman Daniel Savage. I'd like to begin by thanking those that have taken an interest in the safety concerns around Roosevelt Boulevard. Today's hearing has been requested because of pedestrian fatalities that have been plaguing Roosevelt Boulevard. In the hearing this morning, we heard from Clarena Tolson, the 4 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Commissioner of the Streets Department; Rina Cutler, Deputy Secretary of Transportation for PennDOT; Vincent Fenerty, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Parking Authority; Chief Inspector Richard Bullick, just to name a few. Since September 3rd, seven pedestrians have been struck at various spots along the increasing treacherous roadway. Four have died. The number of pedestrians injured and killed crossing Roosevelt Boulevard is staggering and unacceptable. We've installed red light cameras in some of our busiest intersections, and they are working, but we need more. This technology is used to protect lives, and we need to do more. Pedestrian bridges are very helpful, but they come with a large price tag. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials have estimated a structure costs $5 million per pedestrian 5 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 bridge. We need to do something, because accidents and the fatalities and severely injured pedestrians are not going away on their own. And with that, I'll just say thank you and start the hearing. Councilman Rizzo.

I think folks that joined us need to get a little bit of a feel for what we did this morning. As Councilwoman Miller indicated, we had excellent testimony from Rina Cutler from PennDOT. Her team is here. And our Streets Commissioner, Clarena Tolson, is here. And basically we went through the relationships, which I believe are good. I think we're all focused on trying to make this roadway a safer place. I think that the right people are in the room. Our City Controller, Alan Butkovitz, is here, and we appreciate that very much. I am not sure whether we should have any of the testimony repeated. I 6 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 don't think that will be necessary. The objective here is to come to this community. Cathy Rossi and -- if my staff could give me a copy of the witness list, because I don't want to overlook anyone. I just want to go over this quickly. Clarena Tolson, Rina Cutler, we have Cathy Rossi from AAA and the representatives of the Police Department, Chief Inspector Bullick, Inspector John Heath. He's the Commanding Officer of the Northeast Police Division. Captain Michael Murphy, the Accident Investigation Division, and other representatives. We have a representative of the Pennsylvania State Police here. I think what we'll do is, we will turn to the witnesses, and if my staff could tell me who the first witness would be that would like to testify, we'd like to hear from them. We can give this microphone to that person so they can 7 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 express themselves for the record. And if I've overlooked anyone, I apologize. And our State Representative George Kenney is here, and maybe the Representative would like to talk about his initiative for the speed cameras that will eventually and hopefully be placed on the Boulevard to monitor the speed of the traffic. So I know that has gone over real well, and we could probably get Representative Kenney to talk more about the likelihood of that. So our first witness, Mr. Viola?

Marvin Lewis.

For the record, I'm Marvin Lewis. I live in the neighborhood, 3133 Fairfield Street. (Microphone not on.)

Just a minute. Here, use this one. I'll switch with you. We'll figure that out.

Yes. It's working 8 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 a little too well.

State your name again for the record.

Marvin, M-A-R-V-I-N, Lewis, L-E-W-I-S. I live in the neighborhood. I'm a retired Philadelphia police officer. I sat on Red Lion at the Boulevard and written ticket after ticket after ticket. Enforcement is only one issue. It doesn't stop too much, believe me. What I wanted to point out is that when the traffic turns to the left from Grant Avenue, from Welsh Road, the drivers are allowed to pick and choose the lane to which they want to go on to the Boulevard, and that causes a lot of tie-ups, because you wind up all sorts of blockages. Drivers just don't pick the first available lane. They pick the lane they want, and if they don't get it, they sit there in traffic and block everything and there is no movement. 9 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 As far as the speeding, very simple solution. People get used to the lights. They know how fast they have to go to make the light. If that's a few miles above the speed limit, so be it. And it doesn't matter if there's a cop car sitting right at that corner, they're going to do that speed limit. And if there's a pedestrian in the way, they're going to do the speed limit. Very simple solution I would suggest is change the timing, change the timing often so that they don't get into the habit that they're going to do 65 miles an hour and beat every light. Thank you very much for this rare opportunity. It's been either -- I've repeated this, but with letters to the editor and letters to the various Councilpeople, but unhappily -- well, thank you for the opportunity.

What we're going to do, before we end the hearing today, I'm going to give PennDOT an 10 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 opportunity just to restate some of the initiatives that they have that are obviously going to be very helpful, and you'll hear more about traffic light timing. We'll let our Streets Commissioner have a brief statement and anyone else that testified earlier so the folks that weren't at City Hall today can get a feel for where we're headed.

Thanks a lot.

Is there anyone else from Traffic Engineering here?

Yes. Anyone would like to handle that question? We need to give you a microphone. Come on up to the podium, please, and grab a hold of that microphone. Identify yourself for the record, please.

I'm Charlie Denney. I'm the Assistant Chief Traffic Engineer for the City. The traffic signals are timed 11 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 on the northern part of the Roosevelt Boulevard at about 43 miles an hour; on the bottom, at 38. The speed limit on the top is 45; the speed limit on the bottom is 40. We've recently changed, last year in fact in November, changed the timings on the top from Woodward north to Southampton, going to a longer cycle, giving more time to cross-street traffic. We're in the process, with the cooperation of PennDOT, studying the bottom from Summerdale south to see where we can change the timings and pick the appropriate timings for down on the bottom end of the Boulevard.

Mr. Denney, is one of the issues with traffic light timing -- correct me if I'm wrong. If there's a power outage in the community in the area of the Boulevard, does that throw the timing off if there's a power interruption? Does that create a problem for the work that you do to try to have 12 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 some synchronization of the traffic signals?

The controllers have a memory which they will hold until the power comes back. When the power is out, the signals don't work. When the power comes back, the signal will restart and it will start up with the memory they have. It will take a couple cycles to get back into step. There is synchronization along the Boulevard. As long as the master is not out -- lost power, these signals on the Boulevard should be able to reset themselves within three to four cycles.

If there's a lengthy power interruption of more than, let's say, an hour or a half hour, will that memory still work?

The memory will still work, yes.

Is there technology out there that would even make this even a better process to keep 13 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 everything in sync or is that something that just needs a lot of maintenance?

Well, what we have in the controllers works. It's in the process. The only thing is, there is the possibility of doing battery back-up on some signals, but all the signals would have to be LEDAN. Right now all the signals work off 120 volts. We would have to convert it over to volts for 12 battery back-up. 13

Thank you 14 very much. 15

Mr. Denney, 16 I have a question. The gentleman there 17 was more concerned about people making 18 left-hand turns on Grant and on Red Lion. 19 What happens is that traffic backs up. 20 In your opinion, is the timing right to 21 allow all of those cars to make a 22 left-hand turn safely before the light 23 changes and then you have a mass problem? 24

Well, the lights are timed properly, but the problem is, 14 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 the traffic turning in the opposite directions are blocking their movements. So it's a matter of vehicles wanting to turn into the inner lanes blocking the vehicles coming in the other direction wanting to also make a turn.

Well, sometimes I think that maybe you ought to start taking another look at that, because I think there still is a little congestion in those lights. Even by adding a few more seconds could make a big difference in clearing out the intersection before the light changes to allow the traffic to proceed north and south.

We did add some more timing to that recently, but we'll take another look at it.

Thank you.

I think Mr. Lewis said that people have grown accustomed to time, right?

Yes. 15 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787

And were you suggesting that we maybe periodically change the timing?

Right, because once they're used to that timing, they're going to go 65, 70 miles an hour. It doesn't matter if there's a cop car that they have to beat out, because my cop car got beat out a lot of times.

So is it possible to do that? Is his suggestion feasible?

If we have a signal and they're working and it's set and they're set for, in the upper end, for 43 miles an hour, there should be no 18 need to change it. I mean, if we can get people to go 43, that would be a very desirable event. We'll have to look and see if there's some other things we can do, but changing the timing just to keep them confused doesn't help, having people confused. Having them travel at a 16 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 reasonable speed is what we want to do.

Okay.

Is there a chance we could get that second microphone, please? Again, what we'll do at the end here, we'll let all the people -- I see Vince Fenerty, the Executive Director of the Parking Authority will have a brief comment on what he's heard today and the plans for the Parking Authority with additional red light cameras for the Boulevard. Who was our next witness, please?

James Flynn.

Mr. Flynn, if I could ask you to please -- we're working with one microphone.

Hi, Joan.

Hi.

First of all, I'd like to say that I notice that the lights work very well at Cottman, Red Lion and 17 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Grant and everything. To me, I drive that pretty regularly and I notice a lot of the gridlock was eliminated there where people weren't beating lights and now it seems like the traffic --

Do you mean the red light cameras are working well?

Yes. Yes, I do, and I think we ought to continue that on other intersections. One thing I would like to address here was charity organizations, people standing out on the Boulevard soliciting. I mean, that's all nice and everything, but they're in danger, and this goes from 9th Street all the way up. It seems like any given day -- and this is not just the Boulevard. This is at Cottman and Frankford. That's my neighborhood, but it goes wherever, and these people are blocking the highway and they're slowing down traffic, and to me, that's just one thing that I think should be addressed. I mean, I'm all for the 18 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 sports teams and everything like that, but do your donations somewhere else, you know. If I hit somebody out there, you know...

I hear what you're saying. I see the coin drops where various organizations --

But I mean, please -- I don't give anybody any money out there. I would rather like I'll send you one or anything. There's another thing. I read a thing, how about putting a fence down certain areas where -- I mean, I drive the Boulevard --

You're stealing my thunder.

You're the fence man, okay. Somebody wrote in there about a fence, and I thought that was an excellent idea and it's pretty cheap.

We have a picture that PennDOT saw some fences --

Yes. I saw them in 19 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 the back there. I thought that was great, because I drive -- I'm a union carpenter. I drive all over, everywhere, and most of the times, I see people -- I mean, they just cross and people do not cross at intersections, lights. I mean, I've seen the paper guys selling things. I've seen them out there in the morning. I mean, it's like crazy, you know. There's another thing that I watch. When you're making the left, when people are crossing at these busy intersections, you'll have one person who wants to stay on the inside lane and it blocks traffic. Could we make everyone turn into the outside lane?

First available lane?

Well, what I would say is go to the outside lane and if you want to go to the express lane, go to the inside. Because, you know, if you have the first car who wants to pull up there, then they're always blocking, you know. 20 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Just make that turn go to the outside lane. To me, that's a pretty easy shot that way. And that's all I have to say.

Thank you very much for your testimony.

Hey, Joan. My favorite.

You're one of mine, too.

Thank you.

Joseph Picciotti.

Picciotti.

Picciotti. Sorry.

My name is Joseph Picciotti. I live in the area of Roosevelt Boulevard 74 years. I've been a resident of Philadelphia, and I really have an interest in it. As a child, I remember fatal accidents on the Boulevard when it was a two-lane highway, and now we know it's a six-lane highway now. And I traveled up and down the Boulevard maybe twice a week being retired, but 21 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 what I have observed is that most of the people observe the law, maybe a couple miles over the speed limit, but they're all in order, and then you see an occasional weaver, the occasional speeder and catch you off guard. And also what I observed through the years, most of the accidents, the fatal accidents, are people who have lost control of the vehicle, and that comes from speeding and trouble at the intersections. I did not hear what went on this morning, but I'm sure if there's some way of controlling the speeding and the weavers, I think we would have a lot of it solved. But also the thing that I wanted to mention mostly today, and the one man before me mentioned it, I thought perhaps it was a silly idea, then I thought, well, the government wants to build a 700-mile wall between Mexico and Texas. If that is okay, then I will 22 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 mention what I wanted to say. I don't have the statistics, but through the year, I read how people have been killed crossing the Boulevard, and this other gentleman mentioned it. Why not simply put a barrier? Now, a barrier? Right off, you hear, well, it's very expensive. A four-foot chain link fence will stop these old people, most young girls, and there will be some teenagers it's a challenge to them, but most of the people that have been killed have not been young teenagers who can jump a four-foot fence. And the price to me seems reasonable. I mean, compared to some of the things -- I guess it had been mentioned this morning. I don't know. There was talk of making crossovers at the intersection. That's one possibility of seeing the lights at the intersections. But to have this barrier would -- I think it would just solve a big problem. It would save many lives at a reasonable expense. 23 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 And I had another thought, which I can't think of. That comes with age, but I'm sure it was covered this morning. I thought I would just mention as long as I have the microphone in my hand, for several years when I was a child, I grew up on this very ground we're standing on. This was a big farm. Where we're standing now, it was a cow pasture. I was standing at the top of the hill. We lived in a big white house that had been demolished last year. I'd look down on the field and see the cows. The farmer would call at nighttime and they would run up. And I had an enjoyable childhood, and I enjoy Philadelphia. It would really do my heart good to see the Roosevelt Boulevard a safer place to travel. And I thank you for your time.

Thank you. Our next witness -- and I know that we have --

The City 24 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Controller.

-- the City Controller. If anyone else in the room that would like to testify, again, I repeat that we will be calling Rina Cutler, the Deputy Secretary from PennDOT, and also our Streets Commissioner, Vince Fenerty from the Parking Authority and some others just to capsulize what we discussed in City Hall Chambers today. Mr. Controller.

Good afternoon. I wanted to ask if we could focus our attention on the situation involving mid-intersection pedestrian crosswalks on the Boulevard. That's an issue that our office has been working on since March and which I believe all the TV stations here have documented back in March and April. We have nine locations on Roosevelt Boulevard where PennDOT and the City have placed signs that look like 25 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 deer crossing signs and painted crosswalks and installed handicap accessible ramps, inviting people to cross in places where there are no 6 traffic controls. It's in violation of federal guidelines, which say that you shouldn't do something like that in areas where traffic exceeds 40 miles an hour where there's no traffic control. And what we've been told when we talk to the people in PennDOT about it is that it's kind of six of one, half dozen of the other, that there's no good way to handle this problem because there is such long distances between traffic control lights that people will not go to where the traffic signal is and where you cross. So that they felt they had a choice between random jaywalking or designated jaywalking. I think it's unconscionable for the City and State to be inviting people to walk in areas where there's no 24 traffic control, where everyone who has clocked it has clocked 55 to 60 to 65 per 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 mile traffic. Our office did some videotaping of it. We found people who were almost hit by a tractor-trailer. Channel did 6 something a few months ago in which 7 Mr. Hairston was almost killed crossing 8 the Boulevard documenting the 9 dangerousness of the conditions. I 10 believe Denise James and Channel 6 did a similar demonstration. We are suggesting and we would appreciate the help of the Committee and the Council in getting PennDOT to look at a variety of alternatives. First of all, I'd say Mr. Picciotti's idea is an excellent idea. I think we had a situation where an elderly woman was killed crossing Roosevelt Boulevard to get to Our Lady of Ransom, and PennDOT's response at that time was to install a metal barrier that maybe was about two feet off the ground. One of the recommendations that we had is that that at least be expanded throughout the 27 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Boulevard, but if you can do it at four feet, so much the better. And I think that there are a number of other coordinated types of responses that would be helpful. For example, SEPTA could be enlisted in this project and could drop people off at intersections and not in the middle of the block.

Excuse me. Identify yourself for the record. You didn't do that.

I'm Alan Butkovitz, City Controller. Plus, I live on Unruh Avenue about a mile from Roosevelt Boulevard now for years. 17 Where were we? We were talking 18 about SEPTA being encouraged to just drop 19 people off at the traffic light so that 20 you don't have as much of a motivation to cross in between the intersections. Another suggestion would be consideration of a loop type of shuttle, because you do have a heavy population that has a hard enough time traversing 28 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 the lanes even at an intersection. Transportation between the east and west on the Boulevard has been notoriously poor forever, and given the price tag that has been placed on some of these alternatives such as the $5 million per overpass price tag and the price tag of traffic signals, the idea of having the type of loop that they have at the airport that would come around and pick people up at bus stops and ferry them over to the other side of the Boulevard is the kind of thing that would probably be less costly than some of these other suggestions. So I commend Councilman Rizzo and the members of the Committee for focusing on this issue, but I very much would like this particular part of it not to be lost in the shuffle. I've never seen a situation where the government invites people to cross in the middle of what's effectively a highway with no 25 protection. 29 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787

Mr. Butkovitz, I'm going to ask PennDOT. Mr. Controller, just so I'm understanding, are you suggesting that these mid crossing signals, these crosswalks, are in violation of federal law? I just can't imagine PennDOT doing that.

They're in violation of guidelines.

Guidelines.

Now, in fact, the law is that if you paint these lines on the street and somebody sets foot into that area, the law is that the drivers are required to stop. Nobody stops. So what you have is two conflicting rules. You're saying that the drivers have to stop, but they can't stop, but you're saying it's okay to cross. And the Federal Highway Administration has guidelines on how this should be handled, and we're in violation of the guidelines.

I'd love to 30 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 hear from PennDOT and our Streets Commissioner -- we have Rina Cutler, the Deputy Secretary of Transportation, and the Streets Commissioner -- why we would use that configuration if the guidelines suggest that is not a good configuration. Secretary Cutler or Commissioner Tolson, if either one of you would.

Madam Chair, we had the charts this morning.

They're here.

I believe one of the charts we were told said that these were the safest crossings, the ones that had been painted. I'm just telling you what I remember hearing, Mr. Controller. I'm not agreeing with it.

You can say they're the same as crossings, because they're the smallest number of linear miles at that location. You know what 31 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 they say about statistics. The fact of the matter is, it's common sense. Would you let -- I mean, there's a 13-year-old girl killed leaving a skating rink crossing exactly where we told her to cross.

What I wanted to point out was that we left the hearing this morning with the impression that the safest crossings, because that's what we were told, were the crossings that you so eloquently pointed out are dangerous.

Well, I think that's part of the problem.

Thank you.

Commissioner Tolson, Philadelphia Streets Commissioner. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Good morning -- good afternoon. I'm sorry. My name is Clarena Tolson, Commissioner of the Streets Department, City of Philadelphia. 32 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 The mid-block crossings that we have, by and large, occur at T-head intersections, intersections where the streets come into the Boulevard and they do not go straight through to the Boulevard. And often times we have citizens who were crossing at those intersections. I believe the crossings predates me, but I believe they were installed in the mid '90s. And at some point, and even in the late '90s, a discussion about not having them, the community was most interested in retaining the crossings. The data that you mentioned earlier represented of the crashes that we had with pedestrians, the number that occurred at the mid-walk crossings was three percent. The non-marked mid-crossings were described --

Excuse me. We lost the microphone there.

While 33 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 you're doing that, let me just acknowledge that this hearing is joined by Councilman Brian O'Neill and also Councilman Bill Greenlee.

Who were at the Finance Committee. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: I'll speak a little bit more louder, if that's okay.

I think it's working again now. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: The non-marked mid-block crossings, those are, as the Councilman described earlier, the jaywalking, people who were crossing at some location that was not what we call the mid-block crossing or the marked mid-block crossing. These are people crossing at some point in the block that is -- it could be 100 feet short of the intersection or 100 feet short of the marked mid-block crossing, but that was the 32 percent, just to put the information in context that was being 34 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 talked about earlier, and then one percent was the crossovers with the traffic. Charlie Denney has a little bit more history, given that his longevity dates back to this period of more questions about when they were installed. At the time of the installation, I believe that the guidelines were met, but Mr. Butkovitz is discussing regulations that may have changed in the interim. But they are our guidelines that are not hard and fast in terms of their requirements for this roadway.

Commissioner, are you going to reconsider or are you satisfied that the mid-blocks that you described, the T-bone, are something that you're going to continue with? COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Absolutely. We share the concern about these crossings, because intuitively they seem a challenge. And we will continue 35 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 through the work on the joint Task Force to look at all of the crossings, whether they be mid-block or at the intersections, to determine how we can channel people to safe havens across the roads and how we can also get cars to drive safely across them. Because I think that there is a certain challenge that motorists have in coming down the roadway and understanding where the crossings are. And there are some engineering things that we're going to be using to improve identification of those locations and also we're saying that we need to educate the crossers as they occur.

Commissioner, do you want Mr. Denney to comment on this? COMMISSIONER TOLSON: I think that may be sufficient, unless there's another question.

I think it's sufficient. 36 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Secretary Rina Cutler, do you have any comments on this issue? State your name for the record, please.

Good afternoon. My name is Rina Cutler. I'm the Deputy Secretary for Administration for PennDOT and the current Acting District Executive in Region 60. I guess I'd like to say a couple of things. One is -- although it certainly predates me, during the 2002, Safety Task Force on Roosevelt Boulevard, there were any number of public hearings held, and the one consistent message from the community was not to take out those mid-block crosswalks. So while I actually agree with the Controller that they are counterintuitive, I will say that they were, from my understanding, located at specific places on the Boulevard where there was adequate site distance. And it is certainly true that there have been at least one fatality in a mid-block crossing and perhaps 37 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 additionally, but as you heard this morning, when we took a look at the pedestrian fatalities from 1997 to 2006, it was true that only three percent happened in mid-block crossings. It is also true that we are sure that less people are attempting to cross at that location. So I think there is some truth to the fact that statistics can be skewed depending on how you look at them. I do believe that part of what our responsibility is is to try to better mark those particular intersections, perhaps additional signage, perhaps lights in the crosswalk on the Boulevard, perhaps some kind of overhead signage that flashes when a pedestrian is in fact in that crosswalk. So I do think he is correct that there are solutions to make them more visible and safer than they currently are. There is a certain sense that they even need to be left in as an adequate crossing location or they should 38 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 come out. There is much debate about which of those is safer and which of those might be more acceptable to the community. We have not gone back to the community in recent years, since the 2002 safety report, but the community at that time felt very strongly that the current mid-block -- we did not put in 2002 those crosswalks in. We were just improving the safety in them at that time. The community felt pretty strongly that they'd like us to leave them in.

I personally like your idea to have some sensor that an amber light would illuminate when there is pedestrian traffic in the roadway. Yes, Mr. Controller.

Councilman, if I may, since there's been some disagreement about the statistics and so on, I would appreciate a chance to read into the record the conclusion of the 39 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration report, which is entitled Safety Effects of Marked Versus Unmarked Crosswalks at Uncontrolled Locations. It's dated September 2005. It says the following: "Marked crosswalks are best used combined with other measures, such as curb extensions, raised crossing islands, traffic signals, roadway narrowing, enhanced overhead lighting, traffic-calming measures. "Marked crosswalks, without other accompanying treatments, give pedestrians a false sense of security. Marked crosswalks alone are insufficient and should not be used without the implementation of other measures outlined above in the following conditions: Where the speed limits exceed 40 miles per hour, on a roadway with four or more lanes without a raised median or crossing island that has an average daily traffic of 12,000 vehicles, on a roadway with four or more lanes with a raised median 40 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 or crossing island that has or soon will have an average daily traffic of 15,000 or greater. "Federal guidelines recommend the following guidelines for crosswalk installation: At locations of stop signs or traffic signals, at non-signalized street crossing locations in designated school zones, at non-signalized locations where engineering judgment dictates that the number of motor vehicle lanes, pedestrian exposure, average daily traffic, posted speed limit and geometry of the location would make the use of specially designated crosswalks desirable for traffic pedestrian safety."

Thank you, Mr. Controller. Mr. Viola, the next witness, please.

Al Taubenberger, President of the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

Good 41 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 afternoon. My name is Al Taubenberger. I'm President of the Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce representing over 1,000 businesses in Northeast Philadelphia. And Councilman Rizzo and Councilman O'Neill and Councilwoman Krajewski, Councilman Kelly, thank you for bringing the hearings to Northeast Philadelphia for our delegation. Councilwoman Miller, I'm glad to see you up here. It is greatly appreciated as well, and Councilman Greenlee and Councilman Savage as well. I thank you all very much for being here, and it's greatly appreciated as well. But when you really think about Roosevelt Boulevard, I really think you have to think in terms of what you have. You virtually have a highway with the speed sometimes as fast as I-95. It's certainly wider in many cases than I-95, but you have about 400 businesses, you have residents, you have churches that 42 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 all border this. So this has to be thought out very, very closely, and it is not an easy subject to resolve in any ways. But I think when you look at some things, education, education of the neighbors, the pedestrians, cross only in designated areas, and I have to agree with City Controller Butkovitz that these mid-block crosswalks, the way they're set up are extremely dangerous and they're almost an invitation to walk across, and the way they are now is really unsuitable at all. You really need to do something, as you said, Councilman, with lights flashing, if that could be done.

They lure the pedestrian.

You already have a number of fatalities in doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing. It was stated earlier. And that's wrong. Something is out of sync here. Something is wrong. And like I 43 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 said, this is not an easy thing. Enforcement of traffic regulations, particularly speed, the proposal that was given by State Representative George Kenney to be administrated by the Philadelphia Parking Authority I think is a step absolutely in the right direction and it's something that can easily be done. More traffic control cameras, I think they do make a difference. I think when you look at the statistics on what has happened on Grant Avenue, Red Lion Avenue and now on Cottman, I think they help quite a bit. Education of the motorists that the laws will be enforced and are being enforced, additional signage. I'm not a big fan of a lot of signs, but I think we may need them. Hey, people have died here -- I mean, I'm not giving you the wording for the sign, but something that will draw the attention of the motorists in knowing that he's in a dangerous or 44 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 she's in a dangerous area and there are pedestrians coming back and forth. Because the speed limits, if you clock them, are easily the same as on I-95 where you don't have traffic regulation. And who among us would cross I-95? There's not one person in this room that would do it willingly, not one person. So these combinations of special enforcement and also looking at SEPTA and where their bus stops are. There have been at least two fatalities that I know of that involved SEPTA buses, not directly but as far as somebody trying to get a SEPTA bus. One was outside Evangelical Manor. The other one, I believe, was in the farther Northeast above Red Lion Road, both trying to catch buses. The bus stops have to be looked at. Are they in the right place? Do they encourage people to run across the Boulevard to make those buses? Can something better be done? One last thing. At Rhawn and 45 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 the Boulevard, there is a Wawa there. As we know, Wawa's are quite popular, a lot of traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular. The bus stop is absolutely in the wrong place there, because as the bus on Rhawn Street travels west, for the safety of the pedestrian or the passenger they stop on the farther side, which is fine. The fact of the matter is, when they make that stop to let that person off on the far side, on the west side, they're then blocking traffic in back of them, which causes great consternation. That bus stop could easily have been moved maybe another 50 feet to the west and I think would save time, make it more safe and be easy -- these are simple things we can do. So this thing needs to be studied constantly.

I think your suggestion, we certainly can communicate with SEPTA to see if that's a possibility.

Is SEPTA 46 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 here?

They are not here.

Anything else that my organization can do, we stand ready to help. If roundtable discussions are needed, discussions with actual business owners along Roosevelt Boulevard, we'd be happy to serve as a catalyst to have those meetings. We stand ready and willing and able to help you.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony.

Thank you very much.

I'd just like to know from Ms. Cutler or either the Streets Commissioner who is a member of the Task Force? What organizations, groups make up the Safety Task Force? COMMISSIONER TOLSON: The members of the Task Force includes PennDOT, the Streets Department, the 47 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Police Department, the City Planning Commission, SEPTA. I'm looking for help here. Parking Authority. And I said police, yes.

And there are a number of elected officials. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: And we're reaching out to -- we've just started meeting most recently, the last couple of months, and in the new year, we're asking for representation from various levels of government, local, state and federal government, that representatives sit on the committee as well.

What about civic organizations? For example, the Chamber said -- I keep looking at things from a different point of view. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: We will be expecting to meet in the community and to require the assistance and support of the community to give us feedback. And DVRPC is also on our committee.

48 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Commissioner, we heard about a 2002 safety report. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Yes.

Can we have a copy of that? COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Yes, sir.

And was there anything in that safety report that recommended taking the Boulevard below grade in any areas other than where it is? COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Yes. That was one of the things that was to be looked at for a long-term consideration.

Has any effort been made to put that into the long-term planning through the process we heard about this morning with PennDOT and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission? COMMISSIONER TOLSON: I don't know where it stands exactly now, but I don't think that it's off the table. I think that there's some interest in 49 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 creating some options there, including -- I think the Planning Commission said earlier today, including putting a rail in the middle.

Right, but would you agree with our PennDOT leader, Rina Cutler, that it might be instead of looking at this entire length of the Boulevard, look at strategic intersections that are much more manageable in terms of the financing and be able to move and do something? And I think everyone agrees that depressing the Boulevard, depressing certain key areas is the way to go if we can afford it, if we can manage it, but it's somehow got to get into the pipeline. It's not in the pipeline now, as we learned this morning. I don't want to ask you a question I know the answer to now. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Yes. We are absolutely in agreement with PennDOT on that issue. We needed to look at intersections, strategic locations to 50 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 determine what solution is necessary for each of them, because, quite frankly, you have varying conditions along the Boulevard, locations where we have malls or senior homes where you have more pedestrians and maybe a different solution than where you have people turning by vehicle having a different requirement. So there's the whole -- I think the whole gamut of suggestions that have come out today. The hearing has been quite helpful to hear reinforcements on the ideas that we're actually talking about. The whole gamut of options are on the table for us.

Were pedestrian bridges in the 2002 safety report? COMMISSIONER TOLSON: I don't remember.

It was looked at.

But was it a recommendation? 51 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787

A long-term one.

Okay. And I wish that anything that moves forward from that report or this new Task Force, that AAA gets involved, because I think the entire Committee was very impressed with the suggestions and the national scope that they bring with best practices and also worst practices, so we don't get involved with that, and the pedestrian bridge idea. I have not heard before the model where you prevent people from crossing with barriers of some kind, so they have to go up the bridge where you want them to, where it's unsafe to do otherwise. But I just have to ask you this one question. You said today that you weren't ready to render an opinion on the speed cameras. You really dodged that really well. But Ms. Cutler answered it a little differently, and I wonder if you would agree with her opinion that anything that would slow traffic down 52 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 you'd be in favor of. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Absolutely.

Okay. Thank you. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Thank you.

Our next witness.

Pennsylvania State Representative George Kenney. REPRESENTATIVE KENNEY: Thank you, and I want to thank Council -- George Kenney, State Representative, 170th District. And I do want to thank Chairwoman Miller for bringing the Committee to Northeast Philadelphia, and good to see all my friends on City Council. As you know, this issue really started in November of -- actually, November of 2001 when we had five fatalities along Roosevelt Boulevard 53 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 where we started to begin -- and I know Councilman Rizzo had some hearings in City Council at the time trying to make some change. We all know Roosevelt Boulevard is an unsafe roadway. It's probably unique across the country, a 12-lane pedestrian-crossed highway. And we have to do, as I think Councilwoman Miller said, we need to do more, and that's really -- I'm here to listen, to get ideas, to work with PennDOT, Deputy Secretary Cutler and to work with you, my colleagues in the City, to ensure that pedestrians using Roosevelt Boulevard are safe, motorists are safe. It's going to take a partnership between all of us. Law enforcement, a great job that the Philadelphia Police Department has done with their limited resources, trying to get their job done. And as Councilman O'Neill said, I think you're right, long-term depressed roadway is the best way to go, and I think that works, 54 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 but that is a long-term strategy. Pedestrian bridges are a long-term strategy because of the costs. And I mean, long term, I think it was suggested that maybe the first pedestrian bridge would take five years. That's just too long to take. And as we listen to my neighbor here in Somerton, Mr. Picciotti, fences are a good idea. I think City Controller Butkovitz has a good idea. But when you start implementing some of these ideas, they trigger other ideas. It's nice to move bus routes along Roosevelt Boulevard, but don't forget there's no 17 sidewalks along Roosevelt Boulevard. So when you now shift the bus route and say get off at Haldeman and the Boulevard to go to St. John Neumann Nursing Home, they'll be walking down the Boulevard. And why is there a mid-block crosswalk there? I think because the residents in that part of Somerton that either work at St. John Neumann or live off of Haldeman 55 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Avenue and Hamilton don't want to be dropped off at Haldeman and the Boulevard. They'd rather be at Tomlinson and the Boulevard. So these are the things we have to look at. Removing certain pedestrian crosswalks are going to trigger other issues, and that's something I think the Task Force will address. You have my commitment as one of your colleagues in the State House to work with you on making a difference. So if there's any questions of me, I'd be glad to answer them.

I just have one comment, Representative. I want to thank you for your effort and hard work in getting those cameras installed up at Red Lion and Grant Avenue. As one who uses the Roosevelt Boulevard every day, I can tell you that those intersections is -- I think it's been great improvement, and I want to thank you again for your hard work and also 56 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 thanking the Parking Authority. I know Mr. Fenerty is here, and I also want to commend him on his hard work in implementing that, because I think that has already saved lives. It really has. I know it's reduced hazardous driving on those two intersections as the two most dangerous intersections in the country. And all of these things, I think if we start implementing some of them, it's going to also improve and save lives over the long haul. REPRESENTATIVE KENNEY: Let me say to you, Councilman Kelly and your colleagues -- and I know Councilman O'Neill has stood with me and Councilman Rizzo. I haven't had Councilman Greenlee or Councilman Savage, but I know the work of Councilwoman Miller, but as you know, when we introduced the camera concept, you understand the initial feedback from your constituents. They don't want to hear it. But when you think about it, it has made a difference and I think we have 57 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 saved lives, and I think we do need to do more. I sat down with the Parking Authority and said, What other options are available? They mentioned speed cameras. Then the calls came again from my constituency. They don't want to hear about speeding tickets along the Boulevard. But ride the Boulevard as we all do. They're moving at 60, 65 miles per hour. Working with Deputy Secretary Cutler, we have financed the Police Department with some overtime, about $250,000 a year, trying to put more manpower on the Boulevard, just the presence to slow down the speeders, because I do believe that is a huge issue. I think that's something we have to control, speeding. We got to get pedestrians to use the proper intersections or mid-block intersections. It's a combination of all those things, but I think together we can make 58 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 a difference and we should continue to move forward.

Just a couple points, Representative Kenney. One, I want to thank you for your initial efforts -- well, first of all, for the red lights. That's been already stated, but the initial stab you took in October, November to try to get the speeding cameras or speed cameras passed, and I hope you're going to continue with that in the new session, because I think everyone agrees, just as everyone agrees on the depressed highway as the ultimate answer, everyone agrees that as our two leaders from the State and City traffic divisions have said, anything that slows traffic down will help this situation and the dangerous condition on the Boulevard. And Mr. Fenerty testified today how quickly they can ramp up that speed camera system if it's funded and -- not funded, but passed by the Legislature, if it's enacted. And Ms. Rossi, I believe, 59 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 from AAA expressed their willingness to get involved to make sure that it is safety oriented, not just revenue oriented, as they did with the red light cameras from the beginning. But I have to ask you one question. See, I consider the pedestrian bridge just to be short term. I mean, if you think in the long term -- because I think once the highway is depressed, which I think is a long-range answer, you don't need pedestrian bridges anymore. They actually are the roads like Cottman Avenue that crosses over the depressed highway. Five years for it, assuming we could get the funding and approval and everything or somebody to prioritize it now. I was told a much shorter time frame than four to five years on the pedestrian bridges. I understand the time frame with depressed highway. That's a major construction project, but is there anybody that can comment on if 60 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 we decide one pedestrian bridge today, we have the money, how long does it take from start to finish? REPRESENTATIVE KENNEY: I will tell you, Councilman O'Neill --

Five years is kind of scary in terms of the wait. REPRESENTATIVE KENNEY: Well, I've been waiting for some things for 11 years. 12

These are 13 pre-packed units. 14 REPRESENTATIVE KENNEY: I 15 think, Councilman, when you start looking 16 at building pedestrian bridges, you're 17 talking about handicap accessibility. 18 You get into a lot more issues and ramps. 19 They're not as simple as you and I would 20 think. 21

Well, no. 22 Maybe have someone testify at some point in the hearing how long that actually takes from start to finish if you're really fast-tracking that. 61 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 REPRESENTATIVE KENNEY: But even if we could build pedestrian bridges tomorrow, is that the answer?

None of this is the answer by itself, except I believe the depressed highway, which everyone agrees isn't going to happen. REPRESENTATIVE KENNEY: And I will throw this out there. The other issue -- and Mr. Flynn had testified. We're trying to outlaw the coin toss, only limiting that to police and fire in locations on the highways. So that bill 15 was moving through the Legislature this year. The red light camera -- the red light speeding bill will be reintroduced. The other tool that we do not have in the State is radar. Talking to the Philadelphia Police Department, that may be a tool that we should add to the legislation, and we're going to change Title 75 of the Motor Vehicle Code to allow at least maybe radar on Roosevelt 62 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Boulevard or some of the -- I mean, these are things we have to look at, pursue. We'll get pushback from some, as you know, but all those things. But I'll look in to see where those costs came from. I don't know if they were from the old report from '02, but we'll be glad to get that information.

Thanks for your hard work. REPRESENTATIVE KENNEY: Thank you.

Next witness.

Bob Previdi.

Hi. I'm Bob Previdi. I'm the Executive Director for the Chestnut Hill Business Improvement District. I'm here today to show solidarity with my friends in the Northeast. I too am very concerned about pedestrian safety and I'm here to advise Council that I don't think it's just a 63 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Roosevelt Boulevard issue. I think it's a Citywide issue. I think this is a lot of bad behavior going on out there. And I want to applaud the Streets Commissioner on her effort to try to implement some traffic calming, and I'm here to ask you Councilmembers to fund more traffic-calming initiatives. What you have coming in the door right now is an initiative that's supported both by the Streets Department and by PennDOT, Rina Cutler. And I got to tell you, I got rave reviews for putting it in when I put it in on September 15th.

Is that it?

I got eight of these, and I got to tell you, they all look like this. And my point here is that we're going to have to do more to support traffic calming and getting people to slow down than just throwing out signs. Now, I'm going to be asking the 64 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Streets Commissioner and Rina Cutler if I can get some more of these. But in any case, I would also like to ask the Police Department for some strategic enforcement. In a recent local Chestnut Hill local news story, people love these things. But a lot of people are disobeying the law. The fact of the matter is, when a pedestrian is in a marked crosswalk, cars are supposed to stop. It's scary in this city how they're not stopping. And we need to ramp up our education campaign and our enforcement like this. I applaud the Controller for bringing up the issue and just commenting on the idea of closing the crosswalks. I have a little bit of a personal experience with 12-lane-wide roadways from where I come from in Queens. Queens Boulevard is a 12-lane roadway, and I would caution you that you're blaming the pedestrian by coming up with ideas that 65 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 would put a barrier and cut a neighborhood in half, and that's what you're doing when you suggest putting fences or walls or a bridge over. I would caution that that's not necessarily what you want to do. You might want to look at some other facts and realities. One reality is, the FTA -- the Broad Street subway -- there's an idea for the Roosevelt Boulevard subway. The FTA ranks that project number two in the nation, because the day it opens, it would attract 100,000 people a day, and that's because you're a dense urban environment. So you need to start designing that way. I would caution that we're designing too much around the car and not enough just walking around on our two feet. If this city is going to bring back a half a million people, it's not going to do it on the backs of the automobile. It's got to be a balanced transportation plan. And in Chestnut 66 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Hill, we're a pedestrian-friendly community, and I'm having this problem here and I want to make myself better. I also would point that Center City District has been contracting with Project for Public Spaces, and the guy who runs that has a very interesting little introductory statement. He said if you design a place for people, you get Center City. If you design a place for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. So I really want to implore everybody, please look at this as part of a balanced transportation approach. When each project is coming across your desk, is that shopping mall designed in the back with parking off the street or are you putting that building front on the sidewalk? Are you inviting more pedestrian activity? In every little thing that we do in development, we need to start thinking about a balanced transportation 67 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 approach. I feel like I'm a lone soldier on Germantown Avenue trying to get traffic to slow down. And I don't think it's necessarily the police's fault, but I think a combination of engineering ideas, educating the public, educating drivers and enforcement to back it up. We need to have some teeth here, and I think there can be strategic ways for doing that. Thank you very much.

Thanks, Bob. And this morning in the hearing, one of the comments that I made too was around public education, because it's important that people, not just drivers but pedestrians also, everybody, needs to be educated and reeducated over and over again as to these. I had a couple friends call me when you put those up, and she's probably one of them that hit it. I said, Hey, we're just trying to save lives and calm traffic down. But I 68 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 agree.

Mr. Viola.

We have Chief Inspector Richard Bullick, Special Services Division.

Well, let's just hold there for a second. What I'd like to do at this point is go back over the testimony that we did, just in brief. I'd like to bring Rina Cutler, the Deputy Secretary for PennDOT, back and then our Streets Commissioner, Clarena Tolson, and we may have some additional questions. And we have Vince Fenerty from the Parking Authority. We're going to bring AAA. We're going to bring everybody back just for a brief recap. Secretary.

Thank you. Again, for the record, my name is Rina Cutler, Deputy Secretary for Administration from PennDOT and the Acting District Executive in District 60. Members of City Council, thank 69 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 you for the opportunity to appear before you today on behalf of Secretary of Transportation Allen Biehler to address safety on Roosevelt Boulevard. The State Department of Transportation is extremely concerned about safety on this unique highway that is miles long, 12 lanes wide and moves 10 between 70,000 and 100,000 vehicles a 11 day. I also want to take this 12 opportunity to express our deepest sympathy to those who have lost family members in tragic crashes on this roadway. We at PennDOT are deeply saddened and disturbed by the events of this past September and October when five pedestrians lost their lives on the Boulevard in a spate of crashes that have prompted the State and the City to reexamine the road to identify further measures to enhance safety for pedestrians and motorists alike. Roosevelt Boulevard is one of 70 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 very few highways of its kind in the United States. It functions like a limited-access highway functioning as an urban street in a densely populated area. While the Boulevard may carry interstate-like traffic volumes, motorists and pedestrians use it every day to reach adjacent neighborhoods, churches, schools, shopping centers and businesses. Just like on other state-owned streets in Philadelphia, PennDOT and the City Streets Department share responsibilities for Roosevelt Boulevard. PennDOT is responsible for maintaining the road pavement, curb to curb, plus the grass medians located between the express and local travel lanes. The City Streets Department is responsible for all traffic signals, road signs, traffic lines, street lighting and drainage. In regard to the structures, PennDOT owns the bridges that carry the Boulevard over streams, railroads and 71 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 local streets. Of the bridges over the Boulevard, ten are owned by PennDOT, one is owned by the City. As for winter services, PennDOT pays the City $2.5 million to salt and plow state highways that are part of the City street system, including the Boulevard. By its very design, which dates back to the early 1900's, Roosevelt Boulevard attempts to satisfy numerous needs. These needs often conflict. The needs are to provide local access to key cross streets and neighborhoods; provide pedestrian access to neighborhoods, schools, churches, shopping areas; provide neighborhood continuity; and to provide commuter travel in and out of Philadelphia. Aside from its width and the number of travel lanes, the uniqueness of the Boulevard is further illustrated by its 48 signalized intersections, 56 crossovers for travel between the 72 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 highway's express and local lanes, 3 marked mid-block pedestrian crossings and 4 two overhead pedestrian bridges. By its 5 length and design, the Boulevard provides 6 numerous locations for pedestrians to 7 cross all 12 of its lanes. 8 I'm going to sort of skip 9 around because it's pretty long. 10 As you are aware -- so I'm 11 going to go off -- 12

You can just 13 paraphrase, Secretary.

The City and many members you've heard referenced have pulled back together a Safety Task Force for Roosevelt Boulevard. We certainly agree that we think there are no easy solutions or, frankly, we would have done them long before now, but we do think there are ways to maximize safety with short-term, quickly done projects, such as putting lighting in the pedestrian crosswalks, having better signage, trying to do -- one of the things we've 73 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 definitely decided on is a public education campaign. That is geared toward both the motoring public, who we want to slow down, and the pedestrians, who we want to pay attention and try as we can to get them to the crosswalks. So I think there are a lot of short-term things we can do that make it better. I would like to try to answer Councilman O'Neill's question about five years for a bridge. I'm sad to tell you that project delivery for this kind of project, five years would be the minimum it would take. There are right-of-way acquisitions that would need to happen. There are federal rules as to environmental review. There are design criteria. Obviously we would need to go into design. There's a public process that is part of an environmental review that would need to occur. And so even in our most speeded-up projects, assuming they are not natural disaster type emergencies, five years would be quick to 74 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 get a bridge designed and under construction in any state in the United States.

Representative Kenney was right, I should have figured that.

Secretary, we like the word "speed up."

But obviously we will certainly do our best. And there are ways to deal with it that I think might be able to be done creatively, such as public/private partnerships that allow entities other than state bureaucracies to design. And we've done a couple of them, where private entities pay for the design based on our criteria and then we go in and construct, which can shorten the schedule.

Shorten it how much? One year or four years?

It will not shorten it four years. I'm pretty good at what I do, but I'm clearly not that 75 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 good.

On time tables, let's assume you just did one intersection depressed below grade by Cottman Avenue.

Oh, even worse, because of the environmental review.

Just one. What's your shortest time from now, which we haven't applied for or have it in any plan, but what would we be talking about before people would see it?

Six to eight years.

Just a little longer than a pedestrian bridge.

But you're probably --

I'm going to come back.

So I just wanted to respond to that question. Obviously we think, as a wrap-up here, from PennDOT's perspective, 76 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 we believe that this really is a partnership on a four-legged stool, and that four-legged partnership is really Philadelphia Police Department, the Streets Department, the Parking Authority, who needs to come through PennDOT for approval of those red light camera locations, and I've certainly assured both Representative Kenney and Vince Fenerty that we will move with alacrity. But that four-legged stool is really the solution group and the partnership that will make that happen. And I would just like to state for the record that the Philadelphia Police Department and the Streets Department and the Parking Authority have all enthusiastically joined the Safety Committee to try to make this roadway better. Thank you.

Ms. Cutler, I have one question. I just wanted to know how you feel about the cameras for 77 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 speeding.

It was asked of me this morning. I basically said that I thought that anything that slowed traffic down would be a good thing, and I've had some discussions with Representative Kenney about possible strategies to try to help move that through the Legislature. And it is likely that the only way I think we'll succeed is to try it as a pilot program in cities of the first class, which we are the only one. So I think we have a shot.

Councilman O'Neill did a good job in trying to pin down the Streets Commissioner for her support.

I'm a little more easy about saying that. I'm okay with that.

Thank you, Secretary Rina Cutler. Our next --

I have a 78 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 follow-up for her, if she's not coming back.

We can call her back. Let's give Commissioner Tolson an opportunity to summarize what we accomplished this morning. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Surely. I will present this in summary. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the joint Committee. My name is Clarena Tolson, Commissioner of the Philadelphia Streets Department. On behalf of the Managing Director's Office, I thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the safety of the Roosevelt Boulevard. The Streets Department is committed to protecting citizens of the City and improving the systems that support safety. Roosevelt Boulevard is divided into four roadways of three lanes, and it includes three medians. This non-standard layout can be challenging to motorists. Its design is so obsolete 79 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 that it dates back to the early 20th century, probably around 1910. In 2001, the Streets Department, along with PennDOT, convened the Roosevelt Boulevard Safety Task Force to investigate and develop traffic-calming measures to increase safety of pedestrians and motorists along the Boulevard. In August 2002, the Task Force issued its report with various recommendations. Its most prominent recommendation being for increased enforcement by the Police Department. Since 2001, PennDOT has provided a grant for targeted enforcement along the Boulevard. Additional recommendations included the following actions which were completed by the Streets Department's Traffic Engineering Division: Pedestrian crossing signs at the ten mid-block marked crossings were replaced to allow for improved visibility; speed limit signs were replaced with a larger sign to 80 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 allow for improved visibility; signal timings on the northern section of the Boulevard -- that's north of Pennypack Creek -- were revised to include a longer cycle length to allow for additional time for cross street and left turn traffic. The Streets Department is currently working with PennDOT to revise the timings on the southern section of the Boulevard; that is, south of Summerdale. Recently, the Task Force reconvened to evaluate the effectiveness of traffic safety measures taken over the past five years. The Task Force is currently investigating and developing criteria for additional traffic-calming measures to implement. I thank you for the time before this Committee. It was a pleasure to hear the commentary from both the community and from Council. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Clarena Tolson. 81 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Secretary, could you please come back. Councilman O'Neill has a question for you.

Ms. Cutler, this morning we were having a discussion about the fact that it's a four-year plan, a 12-year plan for these highway projects in the City and throughout the Commonwealth and that if a project isn't requested, PennDOT isn't in a position to approve or disapprove, like the depressed highway, pedestrian bridge. We just heard how long things take once they are funded and approved, but I had a concern, and maybe you can clarify it for me. I believe the City -- I mean, I may be the only one, but I doubt it -- has been derelict for 40 years in having a road that is both unsafe and dangerous by design. Not intentionally, but that's just the design of the highway, and has, since whenever Cottman Avenue was placed below grade 35, 40 years ago, has never 82 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 asked, to anyone's knowledge, to take any more of the Roosevelt Boulevard and place it in a much more safe place, below grade in the middle lanes. I think you said, as I sorted out this question, you had to look at it when it comes to us from a locality. What I'm struggling with is, if PennDOT believes these citizens that are being put in an unsafe, dangerous position, whether they're pedestrians or motorists -- they're citizens of the City but they're also citizens of the Commonwealth, which has a much bigger shtick and a much bigger pocketbook than the City has -- is it impossible for the Commonwealth, PennDOT, to say, Look, City, you may not be asking for this, but we all have eyes, we all have ears, this has to get into the planning process at some point? Is it impossible for PennDOT to do that, to exercise its right to say, These are our citizens, this City is in our state and if the Streets Department 83 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 thinks that other projects when billions of dollars are being spent are more important than this, we disagree and we're going to superimpose our will on the process? Is that -- I don't mean to be --

That's okay.

I know you've only been with PennDOT for a short time, but I know you know the City from your years in the Parking Authority. If you could just comment. I'm just struggling with that concept. And I'm not saying that you're going to agree with my premises, but if you did, if they were accurate, would PennDOT still be powerless in that situation?

It's an interesting question and I will try to get it as best I can. I do not believe that PennDOT is powerless and I certainly do not believe that we could not put forth our will in the matter, if that's the right 84 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 term, but we view the transportation program for the counties as a partnership, and so I think it is much more logical to engage the City in a discussion that says, These are your projects for the next four years, is there a way we can either add an additional priority or take something in the four-year plan and move it perhaps to years eight or nine. There is a hierarchy of needs in the plan, and, in fact, the update for the four-year plan was done a year ago. I will tell you that we held very fast to adding any new projects to the plan, because there are currently systemwide over 500 projects on the plan and it made no sense to continue to add new projects when we couldn't afford to even pay for the ones on there. So there is a reassessment going on in terms of what's currently on the plan, both in terms of what is financially possible and, two, what are the actual priorities. 85 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 So I think the discussion -- and I certainly think that there is no 4 question that the City is as anxious as PennDOT is to try to figure out if there is a way to get this type of project programmed. So I don't think there is really a need to assert the will. The money comes from the same deep pockets, which in this case is the federal government, and there is a formula by which the district, which includes Philadelphia and the other four counties, that pot of money comes from a formula, and I will tell you that the district gets pretty much percent of all 17 federal dollars, because obviously we 18 have the most people and the most 19 roadways and the most structures. 20 There is also a hierarchy of 21 need in how projects get programmed. So, 22 for example, we would tend to want to 23 prioritize Interstate I-95, which, as you 24 may know, had to be closed down recently 25 over the Thanksgiving holiday, I'm sad to 86 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 say, for a number of days, because it is in atrocious shape. So, for example, the segment we had to close on Interstate 95 is not programmed to be redone until 2012. Obviously it can't wait. So the TIP is alive --

We're still a lot safer, I hate to say it, we're still a lot safer than Roosevelt Boulevard. I'm talking about for the motorists who were inconvenienced. There was two lanes going by instead of four.

Well, I'm not worried about the inconvenience. I'm worried about the collapse of that structure.

Right.

So from a safety perspective, I cannot have bridges or structures obviously collapsing. So there is a hierarchy of need. So interstates are sort of the top group, and then bridges is a huge group underneath them. As the City I'm sure 87 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 will testify, as will PennDOT, we have a huge need for bridge money. And then after that, counties really get to prioritize projects based on trying to increase capacity, deal with safety. I mean, there are a variety of ways projects get on the TIP. But the TIP is a fluid document. So there is nothing, to answer what I think your real question is, there is nothing that says we can't make a decision at some point to move a project onto the TIP for Roosevelt Boulevard. The only other thing I want to throw out here is, there is currently, as I mentioned this morning, DVRPC is undertaking a study of Roosevelt Boulevard. It is, in all likelihood, the potential first step toward doing a project. And I guess part of what I would ask the Councilmembers is that maybe either jointly or individually a letter be sent to DVRPC to potentially add looking at the location for the first 88 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 pedestrian bridge to that study. And it may be that that's sort of a good way to take the first step to try to get something programmed.

Thank you. I appreciate that candor. If I could just ask you one more thing, at least one more. I had talked about closing down six lanes of the Roosevelt Boulevard, because that's the only place those extra six exist in the country or on the east coast where U.S. 1 is. But it sounds radical, but has anybody talked about a redesign -- this is at grade -- where there were six lanes but with all the appropriate traffic engineering devices that we now know about that we didn't know about and didn't have in place, with proper planned turn lanes that are off the main three lanes of the road, even double turn lanes. You see them up and down Route and other areas. So just taking the depressed 89 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 highway off the -- I don't know if either of us have enough weight in us for that, but a redesigned at-grade highway, whether it includes mass transit or a mass transit component, going way into Bucks County hopefully and not just stopping at Southampton Road, but at grade, redesigning, taking our experts who do this for a living and say, This is how we would design Roosevelt Boulevard today, knowing that it's six lanes from Key West, Florida to the top of Maine and knowing that we can do a whole lot of things with it today that we maybe couldn't do in 1900 because we had no 17 idea what was going to happen. But to me, it is dangerous by design. It is unsafe by design, and maybe it's the design, which is a lot cheaper and a lot faster, that we should be focused on.

Two responses. One is, the City, to their credit, I believe it was last year, said, Is it 90 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 possible to do a study that creates somewhere between an eight and ten-lane at-grade road here? And, actually, I'm going to read what has been at least discussed. "To establish four to five through lanes" -- and that means in each direction -- "remove outer medians, create possible parking lanes, bike lanes that will require capacity analysis to see if the lane reduction is feasible." So the City, to their credit, has begun to explore the issue of shrinking the roadway. I don't know that we've gotten down to six lanes, frankly, but we certainly have looked at cutting it in half -- I'm sorry; from 12 to eight, and I do think that is feasible and certainly possible. I would also say that while I think your notion of closing the six inner lanes is pretty radical, I will argue that -- and I'm not sure how the community will feel about it, because, frankly, a lot of that traffic is local. 91 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Not all of it for sure, but a lot of it is local. I believe that if the City has an interest in actually discussing a trial run at taking those -- obviously we can't take them out, but I would at least be willing to have a discussion with us and the City and Federal Highway to see if they would be willing to allow us to do that pilot to get some sense of what the heck would happen if we did that. So it is radical, and Federal Highway will have some issues with it, I assure you, but they'd be much happier having it done as a pilot to sort of allow us to go out there and gauge what exactly happens to the traffic when we do that than they would in a notion that says we want to redesign it. Now, whether or not permanently, my guess is that legally we would, the City, would be responsible for paying back the dollars that the federal road used to create the current roadway. But we have had several occasions in the past couple of years as 92 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 we've been trying to do smart transportation and traffic counting to decide we're not building a 12-lane road here and have paid back the money.

Ms. Cutler, I got to tell you, I think sometimes --

Thank you.

-- we have to watch what we're wishing for here.

Yes. That might be the case.

Because I think when you mention about shortening lanes or removing lanes from the Boulevard, you have to remember there's only two major highways coming from Northeast to Center City. That's I-95 and that's the Boulevard. And it seems like whenever there's a traffic tie-up or an accident on I-95, which is practically every other day or maybe every day, it looks like the alternative route would be the Boulevard, and if you're saying or you're mentioning one of the studies is 93 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 going to be eliminating some of those lanes, I think we have to really take a hard look at that. And another point I would like to make with Councilman O'Neill is that a depressed highway sounds great, it really does, it sounds safe, but the problem with that is that what you would be doing, you would be splitting the Northeast in half. You would have the west side and the east side, and it would be very difficult sometimes to get from one side to another if you have a depressed highway going right through, as what happens with I-95 and the riverfront. That's the only comments I would like to make, but sometimes we really have to study this and study it thoroughly.

And I think, Councilman, they are very good comments. Everything we do in a big way is going to cause -- every action is going to cause a 94 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 reaction, and the folks who live in the Northeast are really, at the end of the day, the folks who are going to have to decide truly where the balance lies. And I don't think we're talking about depressing the highway from 9th to Bucks County. Obviously we don't have the time or money to do our own version of the "big dig." But we think there might be individual intersections where we have some ability to move the vehicles down and keep the pedestrians at grade. So I think it's worth looking at, but absolutely there are pros and cons to every single big picture issue we're going to do here, and it is often a case of be careful what you ask for because you just might get it. So we will tread carefully, with a lot of community input.

Thank you.

Thank you. The next witness is Vince Fenerty. Just a summary of your 95 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 testimony, please.

Thank you, Councilwoman. I'll abbreviate my summary to just minutes, if that would be 6 okay. 7

We'll give 8 you two. 9

First of all, I'd 10 like to comment on the red light camera 11 program, which the Parking Authority 12 administers. 13 Just in a brief overview, at 14 Grant Avenue on the Boulevard we've had 15 month-to-month reductions in 92 percent 16 of the violations issued from 2005 to 17 2006, and at Red Lion, month to month, 18 roughly a 77 percent decrease. We're 19 currently studying the other intersection 20 along the Boulevard, which is Cottman. It hasn't been up for a year yet, so there are no real statistics. But I would like to comment on House Bill 3069, which was introduced by Representative Kenney. Speed cameras we 96 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 believe are a solution along the Boulevard. They can be easily implemented at these three locations, as well as the five additional locations which this Council has approved and will continue to approve in this week's Council session. Each of those cameras can easily be converted to speed on the green cameras, in addition to others at other locations. Between the session this morning and this afternoon, Councilman Rizzo had asked if we would check and be able to gather some statistical data using one or more of our locations along the Boulevard to clock speed on green and see if it was possible to clock speed on red. We are having our subcontractor, ATS, look at that currently and I think we will be able to do that. And the location that I believe we will study after I've talked to my staff member, Mr. Vogler, is, we will do a study at Red Lion Road for a 30-day period to see 97 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 exactly how fast people are going through that intersection, and I'll come back to City Council with additional information on that. The only other thing I do want to comment on, Ms. Rossi had said that her organization would help see that this would not be a revenue-generated source of income for the Parking Authority or for PennDOT or any other agency. Red light cameras has never been revenue generated. It has always been about saving lives and preventing accidents, which, as I stated earlier this morning, rear-end collisions were down by four percent, which two accidents, one year over the other. The part that I omitted from my testimony this morning, T-bone accidents, at the intersection of Grant and the Boulevard are down 40 percent.

Great.

So the goal of red light cameras was to save lives, 98 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 prevent injuries and prevent collision with damages. And although the intersection is made up differently than it was years ago the last time a traffic count was done, from year to year T-bone accidents are down 40 percent. And that's the one location. We are currently doing a study on Red Lion Road. So we believe that red light cameras work. We believe that speed cameras will work. Speed cameras don't cost overtime. They're over there 14 hours a day. 15 And so the Councilmembers do 16 understand, this is not just a program. 17 Red light camera and speed cameras are 18 not just a program that is administered 19 by just the Parking Authority. The 20 Police Department under Chief Inspector 21 Bullick's command also regulates this. 22 Our cameras take the photos. We sort 23 them out. We validate them. But a 24 citation is never issued unless it goes to the Staff Services Division and a 99 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 police officer assigned to Chief Bullick's division reviews each camera, each picture, makes sure everything is in order before a citation is issued. The same thing would be done with speed cameras. The citations would not be issued by the Parking Authority per se. They have to be validated by a police officer from the Philadelphia Police Department. So if there was any misunderstanding with that in the legislation, everything would work the same way as red light cameras with speed cameras. It would be validated by a police officer. I thank you for letting me testify today, and if you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them.

Mr. Fenerty, I have one question on the citations. What about the enforcement of the citations? For instance, if a person gets a citation and he doesn't pay it, is 100 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 there any repercussions? Is his license going to be held up?

Yes. License cannot be held up. This is more of a civil violation than a criminal violation under Title 75. With the red light camera tickets, under legislation introduced by Councilman Rizzo and passed by City Council, a red light camera ticket can be counted towards one of three tickets outstanding and can be booted, which means if a motorist has two parking tickets and one red light camera ticket, the vehicle can be booted, or it could have two or three red light camera tickets, it can be booted. This was passed by City Council last May or June, and currently we're in the testing phase to start booting people with that. We've also added penalties, which Council approved, for people who don't pay within 30, 45 and 60 days to make the penalty of a red light camera ticket be $175 if it's not paid in 60 101 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 days, I believe. With speed tickets, we learned from not our mistakes but from an enforcement point, if the Legislature approves the speed camera tickets, if you don't pay a speed camera ticket after you were warned and after the penalties go in, you will become boot eligible after one speeding ticket that you don't pay. You don't lose your driver's license, but your car will be booted and immobilized by the Parking Authority and then impounded.

How about the owner's card, your registration card?

Your registration card, each of those type of tickets, the registration suspend would come under the registration suspend law. A red light camera ticket as well as a, I believe, speeding ticket would be counted as one of six that would disqualify you from having a valid registration, not just for one ticket but it would be counted as one 102 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 of the six.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Chief Inspector Bullick. And after Chief Inspector Bullick, we're going to have Ms. Rossi. CHIEF INSPECTOR BULLICK: Good afternoon. What I was saying this morning --

Don't forget to identify yourself for the record. CHIEF INSPECTOR BULLICK: I'm sorry. Chief Inspector Richard Bullick, Philadelphia Police Department, Special Control Bureau. What I was saying earlier today was about the initiative we have with the $250,000 grant, that it's been working 103 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 very well. We've been doing it since '02, late '01. And with the aggressive patrol with the officers out there, we've cut down fatalities and auto accidents a great deal. Also, the red light cameras in working together with PennDOT and the Streets Department, it's been working great. So I don't see any problems with it. The only problem I've seen here was Rina a little earlier stating that she wants to cut the Boulevard down to about three lanes, six lanes. I have five and a half years left in the Police Department, so please don't do that for six years.

Trust me.

Chief Bullick, I got an e-mail from a constituent -- and I'm not suggesting this is a good idea or a bad idea. I'm just passing it on. The police that do this patrol, on occasion as a traffic-calming method, 104 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 could they run with their lights or some part of -- I know you can go from the yellow in the back. Something that sends a message to the motorists on the police car? CHIEF INSPECTOR BULLICK: That's done at many of the malls. You see the security doing that. It's good in that area. I think on the Boulevard it would be a distraction. Somebody is going to be looking at you rubbernecking or whatever and they're liable to hit someone. I don't think that --

You've answered that question. Thank you. Here's Councilman Kelly.

Thank you, Councilman. Inspector, I just wanted to know about the people who were collecting for charity, they're doing charitable drives on the Boulevard. Is that legal? Can they do that? And also, people selling flowers or selling water or 105 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 selling all this stuff on the Boulevard -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: No, it's not.

-- is it legal? CHIEF INSPECTOR BULLICK: Well, I think we've answered it. No, it isn't.

So if you want to enforce that then, you could very easily -- CHIEF INSPECTOR BULLICK: Yes. I believe we do on occasion. We go out there -- it's hard to make an arrest. We will try to chase the people.

And it is very difficult, because generally they're probably some youth organizations or whatever. You would like to give to them, but the problem is that they're a danger to everyone, including themselves, when they're going in and out of cars or the lanes of traffic. And it's just one of the things that we really have to take 106 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 a look at. Maybe they can do their charitable work or their drive somewhere else. CHIEF INSPECTOR BULLICK: Exactly. The Boulevard is a tough place.

Thank you. Councilman Greenlee.

Thank you. Chief Inspector, along the same lines, a little more generally, how would you say percentage-wise as far as actions of pedestrians cause a lot of the problems? I mean, obviously we know about the speeding and all, but I'm talking jaywalking, walking against the lights, that kind of thing. CHIEF INSPECTOR BULLICK: Oh, we had problems with, we mentioned earlier today, about pedestrians getting off a SEPTA bus, crossing in front of the bus and just stepping out in traffic. So at times it is -- you don't want to say it's somebody's fault, but they got to 107 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 really be careful out there.

Does it ever get to the point where you stop the people? I know a few years ago we had a certain Councilwoman that pushed action against pedestrians for jaywalking, and that went over like a lead balloon, so I'm not going to say that, but -- CHIEF INSPECTOR BULLICK: That's funny you mention that, because the Captain that has been running this, Captain Martin, that's one of his ideas or at least to give you something to say not to jaywalk, just to bring it to your attention.

Right. Okay. CHIEF INSPECTOR BULLICK: It may be a good idea.

They do it in Los Angeles.

Right. In California they're very diligent in that, I know. 108 12/12/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 060787 Thank you.