My name is Esther McCrea, and I am 10 years old. My friends and I spend a lot of time at the Fountainville Rec Center. There we do lots of things. During summer we have summer camp where we go on lots of trips, go swimming and have potluck lunch where everyone 2428 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 brings in different kinds of food and then we have a picnic to share with our families. We also have arts and crafts. Also, I have been playing rookie league,. I also have my swim team. Now that we are in school, we have our after-school program where we get help with our homework, studying, and we get to use our new computers. That's lots of fun. And the new computer teacher buys CDs for the computers between two and three weeks when we are good. Last year I turned 10 and joined the 4H Club at the Manotonas Farm (ph) here in Philadelphia. Each member gets an animal that they take care of and prepare for different shows throughout the year. Last year at the show Butterscotch, my dairy cow, finished first in her class and also won overall grand champion of the entire show. In January our whole club went to the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg for a week. We took 11 animals: 8 pigs, 2 cows and 22 sheep. We brought home two champions, four 23 reserved champions, and one reserved grand 24 champion. My pig only finished fifth, but that's 25 okay 'cause next year I'll try to get grand 2429 1 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 champion. We were competing against kids from all over the state. I have a nephew who just turned 2. My older sister and I take him to the playground. He loves to swing and slide down the slide. As I look around the playgrounds, sometimes I feel very sad 'cause two of the adult swings are broken. I don't think that there should be only four swings. I think that there should be six swings so that everyone has a chance. When my nephew Antonio is big enough to swing on the bigger swings, I would like him to feel as though he's flying the same way I do when I swing on the swing. If we don't have enough money to fix these playgrounds, how are the next generation of children going to enjoy the same things I do? Also, I think we should start a fund for a security guard so that there are no more drugs or graffiti on our equipment. It's not fair that our playground has to be ruined by adults who have nothing better to do. It's not safe for our younger generation who is just starting our in the world like my nephew to see the ugliness in their 2430 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 play world. I would like a kiddie's pool added so my nephew and friends can swim also. And more lifeguards should add so babies like my two-year-old nephew can learn to swim. Also, could you put in a sandbox and a bouncey horse in the rec center? There should a changing pad in both bathrooms so that the babies shouldn't be changed on the cold floor. In conclusion, these are some of the things that should be fixed so other kids have just as much fun as I do.
That was excellent testimony. We know you work hard, especially for the little ones who are just starting out like your two-year-old nephew. (Laughter.)
Mayor Street, Members of City Council, as president of the Philadelphia Recreation Advisory Council, I represent a coalition of over 170 volunteer organizations 2431 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 associated with the Department of Recreation, each of them representing a different park, playground, recreation center all across the City. Working in a citywide position, I deal with thousands of volunteers working 40, 50 hours a week and returning home to volunteer to hours a night at thier local recreation center or playground, and that shows me that they all realize the importance of those services, not only to their families, but the entire community. And it's not hard to see what a difference it makes to the quality of programs offered and delivered by the Department of Recreation. As we begin the new millennium, the new administration calling it the year of the child, I think much to be thankful for. Our after-school programs serve almost 4,000 children a day, our summer camp enrollments were as high as they've been in many years, our swimming pools had one of the longest and safest seasons in recent memory, and enrollments in all of our programs across the board have increased. 58 a day. I don't think there's anyplace in the City's budget where we get more value for our dollar than here. The current fiscal year we've hired 54 full-time custodians making it possible for all of our A centers and most of our B centers to have full-time custodial care and most of our smaller centers to have at least part-time, permanent part-time custodial care. And this will allow us to utilize each facility to a fuller extent and with some additional dollars provide safer supervised and structured activities to even more children during these crucial hours and days when school's not open. We've seen a reduction in youth homicides from 1998 to 1999, and preliminary statistic look like we may even see a slight reduction to youth violent crime overall. We feel this is due in part to the investment we've been making and continue to make in young children and support prevention in early age. Now, looking at the proposed budget, however, some questions have to come to mind and some items that continue to divide reasonable 2433 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 explanations to myself or to many of my members. 58 a day to offer a child a variety of crime-prevention alternatives delivered by the Department of Recreation? It doesn't take much to see what's wrong with this picture, does it? However, myself and others continually point this out in the previous years with our testimonies, and this can only tell us that regardless of how lopsided these numbers seem to be, there must be some of you who must find this acceptable, otherwise, we'd be doing a better job of addressing it. Our kids deserve better, and as a group, you must make it a higher priority than it's been. It's also hard for us to understand how you can continue to a needle exchange program at a cost of almost $400,000 a year. The State Attorney General and her own District Attorney have both told us that it's against the law, and 2434 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 yet we continue to allocate public funds to do so. One would think the illegality of it alone should be enough to raise serious questions, but last year the program distributed a pamphlet on how to smoke crack safely, and most recently a distributed pamphlet titled "Tricks of the Trade Health and Safety for Street Sex Workers, covering such topics as what to wear and how to negotiate services and prices. Getting past moral outrage, it's obvious that the people in charged of this program have such a narrow focus that they cannot comprehend the continued criticism.
These are also the same people who gave out at the needle exchange locations what they call -- they used to give out what they call a starter kit for those individuals who showed up without any needles to exchange, and I brought one of them to these hearings four years ago and it contained syringes, needles, rubber strap, bleach, heroin cookers with associated paraphernalia, container for disposal, and instructions on how to inject yourself safely. And my own feeling is how could the City continue to fund this illegal activity with public funds is just inconceivable to me. 2435 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Let's just talk for a minute, though, about funding for some of the crime-prevention programs I mentioned earlier. Most of the after-school programs wherein the Department of Recreation, as good as they are, only provided with one structure RSI for about to hours a 8 week. Most summer camps, as good as they are in 9 Department of Recreation, are provided with two 10 adults for 35 hours week and one youth worker for 11 20 hours a week. And when our after-school 12 programs serve between 15 and 50 children a day 13 and summer camp served between 50 and 200 children 14 a day, it's not hard to see the numbers just don't 15 add up. The supplement these programs appropriate 16 levels of supervision many advisory councils need 17 to hire and pay for additional staff. Now I can 18 remember recent summers where some facilities 19 spent almost $8,000 in additional salaries just 20 during the summer, which doesn't include after-school or other programs where additional staff is also needed. Our only other choice would be to turn some of these children away, and that's not an alternative that we could live with. Shouldn't be acceptable to turn any child away 2436 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 simply because we don't have the resources to accommodate them. Now, over the years, as well as being volunteers, the advisory councils have also had to serve in that capacity as well. In 1995, however, the City Administration, specifically Risk Management, decided these additional support workers weren't covered under the City's insurance and because we paid for them and wrote out checks and signed them that we as volunteers were also not covered. And then we were told to continue functioning in that role, we needed to purchase liability insurance for the support workers and the teachers and ourselves, which at the time would have cost us almost $30,000 a year citywide. Now, it took many months of negotiating, and as most of you remember, we did finally agree to cover the volunteers but it still left to us to cover the support staff and fee paid instructors currently at a cost of about $14,000 a year. The fact that we even had to go there was not only insulting to us, but also showed us firsthand that there's still some people that just don't get it. 2437 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 As volunteers we don't have no problem helping bridge the gap between the level of services the City can deliver and what our communities need. But make it very clear we also don't like being taken advantage of. It's hard for us to believe that there was any one city government that found that even the littlest bit of acceptable. Bottom line is, I think, when we lose just one child to the streets to crime, drugs, violence or just an innocent victim, that to me is truly tragedy. But for us to allow it to continue as we have day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year without doing everything we can to prevent it, that to me is unconscionable. So the simple question must be asked, how much are we willing to sacrifice? Some people say it's a sacrifice just to continue to live in the City and not move out, but that would constitute quitting, and we're not quitters and would never set that poor example for our children.
Thinking about sacrifice, though, it has to bring to mind the Lord our God who endured the ultimate by giving up the life of his 2438 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 only son. Anything else we could possibly imagine would probably pale in comparison, however, it does help to bring home a very important point. It's never been difficult for us to find more money for prisons, police, and other costs associated with crime, courts, and incarceration, but it seems like every year we have to come here and beg for what amounts to a very small percentage of that to invest in our young people, our children who are just looking for alternatives to the negative images they are faced with every day. If we want to teach children anything, we need to lead by example, invest our time, our talent, and our treasure in children when they do te right thing, not wait until they fall into the abyss where seems no matter how much we seem to give them, at best they're just treading water. When it's clear that expend more energy and resources on those that choose to do the wrong thing, isn't it any wonder that more of our youth don't fall into that abyss? And doesn't that really make all of us just nothing more than hypocrites when talk to our young people about wanting them to do the right thing but we pay so 2439 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 much more attention and spend so many more resources when you do wrong thing? Just think about it. It's not rocket science; it's just common sense. I also feel that -- I added this later. It was two weeks ago. I wanted to do address an issue that came up in the hearings concerning capital improvements. I think while the Department of Recreation has control or the quality work completed at the facilities, I think they have very little control of how long a job takes to get completed and almost no control over the unqualified contractors being approved and allowed to submit bids for particular projects. Most of that control lies in the Procurement Department. To put it bluntly, we don't make the rules, we just have to follow them. For instance, if a contractor bids a job containing work at four different facilities at the same time, there's nothing we can do to keep him at one site until it's completely finished and then go to the next site. He can literally move from facility to facility week after week as long as doesn't exceed the total length of his contract. The Procurement 2440 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Department qualifies contractors for bidding on all City work and they also determine the1 length of time associated with each contract. Concerns brought up were almost as much Procurement Department issues as Recreation Department issues. And to properly address those concerns, we need to look at the whole picture and put it in the proper perspective. Now, I've been told by some that I take too hard a position, that I'm too hard on myself and others and I just need to lighten up a little bit. But when I talk to many volunteers all across the City that live and breathe it every day, they tell me that we are taking it too easy and not being hard enough. So I guess maybe it really depends on your perspective. Regardless, my personal opinion is we all need to be a little harder on ourselves because the truth is we're all somewhat responsible for the situation we find ourselves in, and like it or not, it is our cross to bear. " It's something that you should 2441 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 each have ask yourselves before the ink is dry and you put this budget to a final vote. As your constituents, we count on you to make the right decisions and we're not willing to accept anything less. As adults and parents, we certainly have to share some of the burden because if we did our better, the services would not be in such demand. And some of that burden falls on me because it has been part of my job to represent my membership to continue to bring message.
In every year that goes by without taking enough action represents a direct reflection on my delivery and sincerity. I think it's extremely difficult, though, for me to place a value on the satisfaction I get personally from empowering other communities across the City, helping to provide resources, administering grants, organizing and participating in citywide initiatives directed at youth crime prevention, participating in what has been referred to as old-fashioned community barn-raisings where we organized the community and put together an entire playground in one day, participating in special events like bingo for the blind or just helping to run a number activities at the Feltonville Youth 2442 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Access Center where I live. I have said to people that there are probably three things that are most important in contributing to the success and longevity in what all of us as volunteers do. First, you have to believe in what doing is right; second, to be willing to stand up for what you believe in even when you might be on an island all by yourself; and third and most important, you have to enjoy what you do and be willing to have fun with it. I think without any one of these, or years ago 13 I don't think I could have guaranteed that I'd 14 still be here today with as much enthusiasm as 15 I've ever had. So I think it's time to get past 16 our personal differences and continue to do the 17 right thing if we're going to leave any legacy to 18 our children that we can be proud of. We didn't arrive where we stand today overnight, and it will take many years of continued commitment to get us where we need to go. It's been said that the choices we make dictate the life we lead, so let's make a promise to set the right examples and work harder, provide more opportunities for all of our children to make better choices. 2443 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 In conclusion, I guess I'll ask the same question again. Can't we do better than this? I don't know what your answer is going to be, but personally, my answer is I know we can. And I hope that collectively you can all come to the same conclusion. Thank you. )
Thank you very much. Are there any questions? (No questions.)
Thank you very much. Thank you for working so hard at your recreation center. Mural Arts, Sandy Spicer, Teddi Harris Glenda Tate. (Witnesses come forward.)
It's great to see you again and to see that you're both doing so well.
Please 2444 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 identify yourself for the record and begin.
Hi, I'm Deidra Lyngard, L-Y-N-G-A-R-D. I appreciate the opportunity to speak before you today. I am on the board of the Mural Advocates, and I'm here to request increased funding for the Department of Recreation's Mural Arts Program so that it can function administratively at a level that can support it's current program.
I won't spend a lot of time with facts and figures because I figure other people have been here and already given you those. My main concern is just to tell you how much I think the program needs additional support because of the work it's doing. It has the will and the know-how to achieve its dream of bringing art to Philadelphia's communities, but it does not have the way. Plain and simple, it needs more warm bodies. Without more staff, the program cannot expand its art education programs for which 2445 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 there's a great and ever-growing demand, it cannot provide adequate backup to its mural teams, manage much mural restoration effort, it cannot plan for the future or begin to tap the extraordinary reservoir of goodwill that it has built within the community. While we certainly appreciate the support the City has given the program and we have enjoyed enormously the partnership with the Department of Recreation, I think there's still more that we would like to ask the City to do for us. I think that Jane and her small staff have done extraordinary effort in raising private funding in the best spirit of public-private partnership to match the City funds and certainly to exceed them, but unfortunately, private funding is not interested in supporting ongoing staff positions. This is the kind of thing that we need to ask the City to support. Right now, this program, the citywide program which produces over 100 murals a year and serves hundreds of children through its workshops and other classes has just one full-time administrative support person and a couple of part-time people. I go into that program on a 2446 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 weekly basis and I look around and I cannot believe the amount of work that they are able to accomplish given the staffing they have. I think it be a miracle. When I consider what this program is contributing to the quality of life in Philadelphia and how much national recognition in the media and elsewhere the beautiful murals have brought to the City, I have to ask myself, why is it such a struggle to find the manpower to get the most basic things done? And I am hoping that the City Council will ask that same question and come to a decision to increase funding. In closing, I would like to quote from a poem by William Carlos Williams. It's a quote about poetry, but it can just as easily apply to any art, particularly the Mural Arts. The quote is as follows: "It is difficult to get the news from poems, yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there." I appreciate the hard task City Council has ahead of itself in allocating limited City funds to so many deserving activities. As you undertake these difficult deliberations, I hope you will remember this quote by Mr. Williams which 2447 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 reminds how very important art is to people's lives, and I would add, to the spirit of the City. The Mural Arts Program better than any other program I can think of knows how to bring art alive and knows how to bring it into the lives of the people of Philadelphia. It is a quality program that deserves the best support possible. Thank you very much for your time.
If any of you have questions, I'd like to have the opportunity to answer them now because, unfortunately ,I have an obligation that I need to leave for quite soon.
There are no 16 lights on. Are there any questions so far? (No questions.)
Great to have you again. Please identify yourselves for the record.
Good afternoon, Madam Chairperson and City Council. 2448 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
I'm so honored to be here, and I'm here on behalf of the Mural Arts program and to be a voice for the children that have lost their lives. As for myself, I've lost three children in '92, '93 and '95. Without any money ours for our program, I wanted to reach out and help and touch the families of these children, so I wrote Jane Golden a letter and I asked her, is it any way that you can help me --
Excuse me. Introduce yourself and your husband, please.
Okay. I'm Sandra Spicer. I am the vice president of Families of Victims, and my husband, Garnet, is the president. I guess am a little overwhelmed because I'm so honored to be here. As I said, in 1992 and 1993 and '95 I've lost my children to acts of violence. I didn't know what I was going to do at that point. I was distraught I didn't know which way to turn. But I wanted to reach out and help other people that could share the same feelings that I've had. So I wrote a letter to Jane Golden 2449 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 and I asked her, "What can we do? Can we get any funding to go try to fund a mural for these families that these children not lose their lives in vain? She said, "Oh, well, we'll find some money somewhere." I felt so warm because I was able to do something and to bring awareness. And I'm also the voice for the children because 9 they can no longer speak and their families. If 10 you were to come down and see that mural and see 11 the faces, those children, through art, have been 12 brought alive. It's better than visiting a grave 13 site because that's so final. When you see these 14 children, it's a sense of healing to be able to know that it's like they're looking back at you. There needs to be more money put into the Mural Arts program because there are so many things that the Mural Arts program has to offer. I was surprised that they would even consider doing such a project as this because of the crime rate in the City. I was told -- there was a lot of negativity, "Oh, you shouldn't do this because they're not heroes." I mean, these things came from a lot of people. But after this mural was done, we've had people come from the various 2450 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 states come up, sometimes the streets are full. Sometimes you come out and you find the families crying and they're in tears and you embrace them. It's so touching and so moving that it helps me also through the process because of my loss. And I'm just hoping that more funding can go in to help to promote this program. It's a wonderful program because I know what it's done to touch the lives of all of these people. So I'm asking you to please give from the heart and not from the pocket. Thank you very much.
Thank you Ms. Spicer. And certainly, you and your husband have really been role models in West Philadelphia and your kindness when we went to the mural dedication, for those of you who are not aware, they held a service last year and they had pictures on a real, real long wall on Chester Avenue and they had oval-shaped paintings of victims, these young people, victims of crime. And as Ms. Spicer just said, she's lost three children, so it's really, really quite overwhelming when we were there, the service, and you can imagine, very, very sad quite 2451 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 overwhelming. And we want you to know that we do support, we love the Mural Arts Program here in Philadelphia. So we are deliberating the budget process now and we look forward to doing our part for them. Can we have the Sergeant-at-Arms show that picture so that everyone can see? Oh, that's of the dedication, isn't it?
Yes, the mural tells the story so all of you would you take that around so the Members of Council can see the long wall with just the pictures of all the victims of crime. Very, very sad, but Very, very important and it shows you just how the Mural Arts Program can be used. There are so many ways we use it to certainly uplift and commemorate lives of others. But we absolutely thank you. Does anyone have any questions for Mrs. Spicer or her husband? Yes, I will like to see it even though I was there. (No questions.) 2452 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
We thank you. Absolutely very, very, very beautiful for anyone who would like to see.
We thank you again and we commend you for all that you are doing try to give your lives to the community in spite of all that you've been through. We do love you and we say thank you and God bless.
Joanne Fabian, president of Fisher Park Community Alliance. Scott, you're next, from the Philadelphia Trolley Coalition. I saw you earlier. Are you still here? Scott? Okay, you're next. (Witnesses come forward.)
Joanne Fabian Fisher Park Community Alliance, are you here? (No response.)
I suppose not. All right, Scott, come up Philadelphia 2453 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Trolly Coalition. Identify yourself for the record, please.
My name's Scott Maits, I'm with the Philadelphia Trolley Coalition. I've also been elected to a national organization, the regional group is the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers which I'm a board member now. I wanted to thank you, Councilwoman Blackwell.
And the various other Councilmembers, thank you for listening to us today, ladies and gentlemen, various commissioners. I've been an advocate for quite a while now for improving transit in the region and within the City, and I'm here to testify about that subject. I know it's a little arcane for many people how we can improve SEPTA. It's been in the public light now that there's different problems there and people have seen that, but what I talk about is things that are not known so much in this area that we can upgrade transit beyond buses, beyond the subway system that we have now, and how important it is to revitalize the City. We all 2454 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 know about loss of manufacturing and what's that's done to the City, aging infrastructure, white flight, drugs, redlining. What story is not known so well, even sometimes by officials or planners, is that we've failed to upgrade our transit system which has been done in some European cities to keep pace with new highways in the suburbs. We can't build interstates in the City, we don't have the room, it's not appropriate, cars just decentralize cities anyway. But what we can do is run a better bus system, in some instances upgrade to modern light rail like it's done in Europe, not like it's done here in Philadelphia with our old street cars except for the subway surface subway portion where it's done, was upgraded in the '50s and runs pretty well this. So I just wanted to do come to this budget hearing to express how important this is. There are so many other worthy causes out there. The City, you know, continues with its problems, but one thing that is completely unknown by even planners sometimes is what transit can do, and I just come to let people know about that and that we can upgrade the City with a new investment if we can find ways to build 2455 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 you new lines. It's a very tough political situation with SEPTA and financially the City and SEPTA is supported the least of any major city in transit funding in the country from its state, and that makes things very tough. But we can -- we've gone around and identified various projects brought them to politicians and community leaders. Jannie, you know well we have a proposal that's really gaining some support out our way. We'd like to do things to increase Center City's mobility instead of building more and more parking lots, and as the Mayor stepped in the other day to perhaps say maybe we shouldn't do that in every instance. We'd like to build a light-rail line down in Center City to expand and bring tourism so that people can get around away from the Market Street subway and in other ways without having to bring cars. There's many, many different issues I could talk about. I will not go into the details of them. I will have a follow-up letter as time allows in time for the budget hearing process. I just wanted to highlight a few points today. The City, of course, has a hard-won 2456 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 agreement with SEPTA to bring back the Girard Avenue as a kind of a first step. There is the 4 other lines that are suspended that can also be 5 helpful in the future, but we must make the 15, I 6 think, run right. That's the Girard Avenue 7 trolley, and upgrade to it light-rail standards. 8 Hopefully, we can get a good count out of SEPTA of 9 any increase in ridership that that has brought to 10 the line. Typically, in comparable situations 11 ridership can go up 30 percent. It can bring new 12 investment. It can coincide with the Mayor's and 13 the City's efforts at redeveloping areas if it is 14 done the right way. There is a limited budget, of 15 course, SEPTA money and the City, I believe, is throwing in some money in various ways, and I just want to emphasize that if it's done the right way, it will work well; if it's not, because there is street running and the problems with it, that it will not benefit very much.
And so we have to be very, very careful about how we do it. I'll bring that around to various City Councilmembers and come to their offices and talk about what can be done to make it right or what budget things the capital budget can do to make it right and make 2457 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 those things right with that project to demonstrate to SEPTA, to suburbanites that it is worth investing in the City, in transit projects to curb suburban sprawl, which is the hot-button issue right now. Finally, I just wanted to say, to keep this short, that even though this subject is not widely understood, I don't have people behind 10 me today, it's not understood by residents or 11 riders, sometimes the leaders and sometimes even 12 planners, but it is critical. Most Philadelphians 13 do not own a car, don't drive, A lot of households 14 have no access to a car or there might be one 15 person that drives or one car and there might be 16 several people in the house. So we have a silent 17 majority here, and this is something that is, of 18 course, not understood outside of the City. And 19 certainly in a state where the biggest rural 20 population in the country, they don't understand how we might need to improve a bus here or a train here or a trolley there. But it is very important if hope to truly expand Center City's prosperity, University City, and West Philadelphia's prosperity, South Philadelphia, rebuild North 2458 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Philadelphia. We can bring the prosperity of Center City which is fed by high-quality rail service to the areas where it is not getting it, which is one of the primary reasons that it has declined over the years is because it doesn't have good connections anymore; it has weak connections transit-wise, and we can help to we build the City in that way. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Scott. Hold on for a minute, please. Councilman DiCicco would like to respond to your testimony.
Just for your benefit, and I appreciate what the Trolley Coalition has been attempting to do over the years. I live in South Philadelphia and I live on 11th Street which is the Trolley line. It was 22 a trolley line, it's now a bus line; I keep 23 waiting for the trolley to return. But when I was the acting chair of the Transportation Committee after Councilwoman Fern resigned I convened a 2459 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 after Councilwoman Fernandez resigned, I convened a meeting of a group of people who represent Delaware Port Authority, Penn's Landing Corporation, SEPTA, Philadelphia Streets Department, Historical District, and a few others who I just can't recall off the top of my head right now. And the purpose of my meeting was to see if we can bring all of these departments and authorities together to look at better ways in which we can move people around throughout the Center City area, in particularly on the east side of Broad Street, not because of part of Center City that I represent, but because part of the most concentration for the historical districts there and tourism and other forms of activity. And with the advent of the entertainment center down at Penn's Landing, there will certainly be an increase in traffic conditions east of Broad and around the Market Street Chestnut Street corridor. I know that for a long time now SEPTA has always been bearing the brunt of a lot of criticism, but I can assure you that since Jack Leary has been around and since I've been involved with him, SEPTA has really cooperated fully. And we have a 2460 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 proposal that SEPTA basically thought of and have agreed to participate in with a significant amount of funding should the Administration agree to a transportation mode that will be a real system from Front Street to 12th Street, Chestnut Street to Arch Street, and it will be a real trolley; it won't be the rubber tire things that are buses that people sometimes hop into and think they're trolleys, but it will be an authentic trolley system that will not only be there for the purpose of moving the tourists around the general vicinity, but also be for the residents in Center City and the commuters, people who work here on a daily basis to move them in and around the area that is most heavily used today. So I just wanted to pass that onto you for your information that we are working together. I gave this presentation to the Mayor a couple of weeks ago. He is looking at it. I think going forward you'll see something like that, but SEPTA has been extremely cooperative.
That's really great to hear. Thank you so much for that. I think it would be important to allow Center City to grow 2461 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 without coming to a standstill to do that if it is done right. I've looked at that loop. It's been the proposal -- the original propose proposal has been around for a while. I have some different things I'd like to point out about it. It could be an excellent -- it will cost some money, but I'm glad --
Well, everyone recognizes that we have to do something because the more advertising that we do in promoting Philadelphia as a place to visit which is good, a good benefit to us, we also have to figure out ways in which we can move people around more effectively and efficiently. And the DRPA is part of that program that we put together. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'd like to speak with you in the future to talk about that. 2462 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
Thank you, Scott, for all that you do in this field.
Thank you, Jannie. And I look forward to seeing you again maybe tonight.
Yeah, tonight, once we're done here. Brenda Kyser, 5300 block of Sydenham Street, Ms. Kyser? (No response.)
All right. Is Letty Thall, Children Youth and Family Council here yet? These are people who are due to be here tonight. I don't expect that they're here, but certainly if you are here, we'll give you a chance to go on now. Steve DiPietro? Bob Pierson? Bob Pierson? Maurice Sampson, Solid Waste Advisory Committee? Sheila Harper, Public Health Center No. 23 9; Sheila Harper, Public Health Center No. 9? Again, Barbara Kyser?
Excuse me, Madam 2463 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Chair, did you mention Mike McCrea?
Mike McCrea has come and gone. He came in with a little girl. He wanted to be moved up because he had his child with him. And also Rick Butler we let on because he needed to come up early. So therefore, we have completed our list so this hearing will be in recess, the committee hearing will be in recess until 6 o'clock tonight. Thank you all. (Break taken.) - - - (Proceedings resume.)
Thank you for your patience. Too many issues going on. I think the committee that was in recess now is called back into order to begin immediately with Children, Youth and Family Council. Thank you for your patience. Please identify yourself for the record and begin.
Members of Council, I'm Laurie Ward, Vice President of the Children, Youth and Family Council, known as CYFC and Executive 2464 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Director of the Youth Service, Inc. With me today is Letty Thall, the new director of the Children, Youth and Family Council, whose members serve 895 percent of the children in DHS's care. The Children, Youth and Family Council was established in 1983 by coalition of Philadelphia area nonprofit child welfare agencies to see share resources and build opportunities to ensure diversified, quality services for defendant, delinquent and special needs children. Through the CYFC Education Consortium, approximately 2000 child and youth serving staff and foster parents are trained annually in skills and knowledge basic to their employment. First, on behalf of members of CYFC, I want to thank the Department of Human Services for the rate increases the private providers received this January 1 for SCOH and foster care. We appreciate the Department's willingness to look at congregate care rates July 1, 2000. Review of rates for quality services on a regular basis enables us to move forward with a number of joint projects with DHS. In Commissioner Martinez's testimony to 2465 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 City Council on February 16, she mentioned that the Department is anticipating zero growth in placement services for Fiscal Year 2000 and a 2 percent decline if Fiscal Year 2001. This is good news for all of us, as it means that we are successfully preventing placement of children by providing services to children in their own homes, family preservation and truant services, and are decreasing the number of days in care through foster care initiatives, such as Family to Family, and aggressively recruiting adoption homes. We, too, are proud of these achievements. Accountability is important to us, also, and we have willingly participate in the outcomes projects and the SCOH RFP process. We hope DHS will be successful in receiving state funding for new initiatives, as outlined in Commissioner Martinez's budget testimony, and we look forward to working with the Department on those, too. The year ahead will present many challenges to DHS and the private providers, as TANF sanctions loom and ASFA requirements are met. We anticipate that the pending merger of CYFC with 2466 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Pennsylvania Council for Children's Services will help us meet these challenges. The new Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth and Family Services will represent private providers state-wide, many of whom have contracts with DHS. It should become easier for all these agencies to see participate in DHS initiatives. It will also help local private providers have greater impact in Harrisburg, which will ultimately help children placed through DHS in Philadelphia. We look forward to working with City Council and new Administration to ensure quality services for all the dependent and neglected children in the City. Thank you for your time and interest.
Mr. Steve DiPietro? Is Bob Pierson here? Your next. (Witnesses come forward.)
Welcome. Thank you for your patience. 2467 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
Thank you, City Council, for this opportunity to speak before my representatives and to speak before my neighbors. My name is Steve DiPietro and I'm a student at Drexel University. I am a member a student organization named Eye Openers, a group students concerned about issues regarding the environment and ethics and human rights. We're also a member of the Philadelphia Recycling Alliance, the Student Environmental Action Coalition, and I also personally used to work for Clean Water Action. And so through all of these different venues, I've been allotted time to speak as both residents of Philadelphia and students here at different colleges, including importantly the University of Pennsylvania and St. Joe's and also one of our friends Sarah who's here present Bryn Mawr and we're here to speak not only as students but also we're here to speak as members of the Philadelphia community. We're not here on some kind of holiday; this is where we live and we do care about our City and I'm here to represent those students who feel that we have a moral responsibility to manage our waste responsibly and 2468 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 to manage our resources responsibly. I'd like to perhaps propose that this time of waste is actually much more of a flash in the pan and we come from a long history of cultures that are very conservative of their all their resources. And one example of that is when I was walking and talking to people in Philadelphia for Clean Water Action, I spoke to over a thousand citizens. Time and time again I mentioned when talking about recycling when they were younger when they used to collect food waste separated from the normal waste sent to feed the farm animals, an important point because it kept coming up every time I spoke to these people. I think it speaks a lot to one of the themes we kept hearing recurring both this weekend and the week previous during talks was education is important for the young because people are going to remember these things. We need to get people into the habit and to realize that recycling is just something that you do. We need to make recycling easy and we need to make it more regular so it becomes more a part of people's habits. That's why it's so important that we switch to a weekly 2469 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 program and it's important that we keep it on the same day as trash pickup because it does make so much more simpler. The social sciences in this issue, the data is really straight-forward. And basically it says if you want people to participate in programs where they're volunteering and when they're being helpful to their society, you have to make sure that it's simple. The more complicated you make it, the less people are going to be able to participate. And one of the other reasons why we know that it's important to switch to a weekly program is because we've had these pilot programs and know that they work because we've seen a 16 percent increase in recycling in those areas that 17 have weekly pick up. And sometimes we even have 18 an increase up to 50 percent. 19 You know, all of those things are kind 20 of like common sense,, I mean, even ten years ago 21 when I was in high school and playing Lacrosse, 22 you just called it KISS, Keep It Simple, Silly. C. 24 high school, but at any rate, it still stands here. I mean, if we have a simpler system, people 2470 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 are going to be able to do it. And this is the time to move forward and to make sure that we have room to expand our recycling program because we have momentum and it's important. And it will give -- I mean, sometimes when I talk to friends from out of state, they'll say, "How can you like Philadelphia? " This is our chance to have Philadelphia known for something else. That's an excellent recycling program that people care about.
You know, I've also got another sort of silly cliche from high school or grade school is that you can't do things halfway. That's kind of the opinion that I get about how things are being run in the Streets Department. It doesn't seem like they're viewing recycling as an integral part of waste management; it's just like some little added thing. For example, I was in 30th Street Station right before we got here. I went and bought a drink and I couldn't fine a recycling bin in 30th Street Station. If we were really serious about recycling, wouldn't we have recycling bins in some of our major areas where people are converging? 2471 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 When I was talking to people across Philly and especially on campus, people didn't know if we recycled paper, people didn't know if we recycled plastic, they didn't know if you put things in your recycling bin that can't be recycled, sometimes that whole bin is going to get thrown out. And people need to know all of these things. Another important issue that I keep hearing from students when I was talking to students was when they're living in apartments they don't get notification of whether they're a blue zone or yellow zone. So students don't even know when they're supposed to -- even if they want to participate, it's made hard for them. And I also know some people who live in apartments who just don't have bins. They didn't even know that Philly had a recycling program. I don't think there's any excuse for that. We should be doing a better job. You know, I'm not beating up on the Streets Department as much as I'm saying we need to give them the resources they need to get this work done. Of course, we're all visionaries here. 2472 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 We can be, we're supposed to be if we're politicians, too, so I think if you took a second to think about the future, do you really see a future without recycling? I don't know how that could be. I mean, this is the way it's going to have to be in the future. So why don't we go ahead and step up to the plate now. And before I resign here, I'd also like to say that in this past month I've talked with the other members of my group who are with me. If you guys want to stand up, you can stand up if you can, go ahead. So these are some of the guys who were able to show up, but I did speak to over 200 other students this month, and they all signed a document here to explain how we feel about this program and I'd like to just read that and then submit it for Council. "Philadelphia's current recycling program is confusing and too inconvenient. Because we are obligate to manage our waste responsibly, our recycling program must be improved. "We, the undersigned members of the 2473 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Drexel and Philadelphia communities submit this petition to our city government to request citywide weekly pickup of recyclables on the same day as trash pickup and expanded educational efforts to teach our fellow residents about recycling. " And these are all 200 students from Drexel who also live in Philadelphia. Thank you very much for your time.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions? (No questions.)
Thank you very 2474 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 much. Mr. Steve DiPietro. Thank you.
I'm sorry. It's Mr. Bob Pierson I'm looking for. Thank you. (Witness comes forward.)
Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony. Thank you.
Actually, I'm not Bob Pierson. Bob Pierson asked me if I would make his comments for him. He's a new grandfather and today is the first day he gets to baby-sit his granddaughter. And as important as he feels this issue is, he's going to spend time with his family. My name actually is Maurice Sampson. I don't know if I'm next on that list, but if it's all right --
Yes, you are, you're next. So you're with the Solid Waste Advisory Committee?
That is correct. I live in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia. I'll make my comments first and then I'll highlight 2475 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 those points Bob would like to make. For the record, I also want to inform you that I'm working with Clean Water Action and Clean Air Council, and Recycling Alliance of Philadelphia in preparation of a citizens' white paper on recycling, an historical review report, an evaluation of the recycling program and recommendations for future development. We're hoping to have that complete sometime in the next month. I want to speak to several points today concerning the City's recycling program and also I want to make a comment about the issue of waste tires. First I want to encourage you to impress Mayor Street to restore to the Mayor's Office, Philadelphia Recycling Office as it was intended in 1251A and dictated in Section 10-717 in the City Code and that he take steps immediately to fill the position of recycling coordinator. A second concern is weekly collection. The early results of the pilot program indicate that the volume is increasing and the costs are decreasing. Steps need to be taken as soon as possible to expand the program citywide. 2476 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Currently, program services about percent of the City residents. Based on the cost of that program, my recommendation is that we add to the Streets Department budget enough money to double that service to 40 percent plus the funds to prepare and implement an extensive education and promotions program starting next fall. I have several reasons for making recommendation. The first one is that with the current budget, I understand, has money to take us to the end of the pilot period to the end of May and then to continue the program as it stands right through the next year provided that the evaluation that's due to happen in June is positive. That means that there won't be any expansion until the next fiscal year. We need to put some money in the budget to make sure that we can at least double the program. Larry also talked to us about in his testimony, Larry Moy, that while recycling rates in the pilot are up an average of percent, the rest of the City recycling rate is dropping. Now, I don't think that there's any mystery as to why the rate is dropping. It's the same reason why we 2477 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 needed to go to weekly. People don't remember what day recycling is. " Going the same day as trash is the right way the to go about it, but we have to be very careful about making sure that people understand how it works and we need to go to weekly so that there isn't any question of when it goes out. By doubling the area service by weekly collection and making an orchestrated effort to educate everyone will go long way to turn it around. I need to stress this: The education and programs need to be planned to be effective. It needs to enlist Mayor and it needs to enlist Members of City Council to help deliver the word. According to the studies that we're finding as we are doing our research for a white paper, the average setout by citizens who do recycling in this city is only 20 percent of what it could be. 2478 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 That means that we could almost triple the amount of recycling rate in this City just by getting people who ae currently participating to put out everything that they can put out. We also have a 40 percent illiteracy rate and even more that are functional illiterate. What that means is 4 out of 6 Philadelphians either can't or don't read the posters, brochures, and ads. So if the only kind of promotion that we're doing broadly is in written form, there are a lot of people who won't even understand what it is we want. We need to make sure that we're going to spend money on doing education promotion, we need to make sure that we're reaching the people with the message.
Now, as you may know, the City receives funding from the State under provisions of Act 101. It covers cost of education, equipment, half the cost of recycling coordinator's salary. That law that provided that money was recently extended, but it's not clear how long that funding is going to last. It's really critical that we move as soon as possible, develop the plan to go weekly citywide so that we don't miss the 2479 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 opportunity to finance the equipment, the education, and promotion with State dollars. Expanding the pilot, implementing an education program while planning for citywide expansion and securing funds to do all of this is a reasonable expectation of work for the next fiscal year. S. EPA under contract to the Commerce Department, I had opportunity to prepare a rather extensive study on waste tires focussing on Market development. The bottom line is this: The issue of waste tires in the City of Philadelphia and in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania can be solved. While we need state support to clean up the tires that are on the ground, and some of that money is available right now, the methods to manage and stop the short-dumping are available to us, it's in the laws and regulations that are currently on the books. What's required is the leadership of the Mayor and the City Council to compel coordination among City agencies to make it happen. Now, as many of you will recall, right after I-95 fire, Mayor Rendell ordered the Commerce Department to 2480 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 set up a committee to examine this issue and make recommendation to solve that problem. Well, this has been done. The report is complete and it's available, it's in the Commerce Department, it's been done since July of 1998. By the time that report was done, the cleanup was complete the guilty parties were convicted, and the report's never been formally released. But everything that we need to do has already been determined and we need to look to get a copy that have report and move on this issue. I'd be glad to meet with Members of City Council to discuss this further. I think the last point that I want to make here is that on all of these issues we really need to have a public hearing. You know, we've spent by my estimates some $55 million since 1987 on the recycling program and we have yet to have a formal meeting to review our progress, and it seems well overdue. April marks the 30th anniversary of Earth Day and it seems very appropriate that we would have a hearing at that point in time to talk about recycling in Philadelphia and to talk about where it's going. Those are the end of my comments. 2481 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Bob Pierson sits with the Recycling Advisory Committee and he was appointed to that position really from the very beginning. He has several points he wanted to do make cheer here. One, he wants to make sure that you understand that the need and urging of City Council to push to get a new recycling coordinator. There's also a desire to see us go to weekly collection of recyclables, to make sure that the funding is there to thousand for successful expansion and to have an education program to convince citizens to recycling all of their mixed paper which is the large component of the trash that recycling very little of. We also need a master plan for recycling, a plan ties specific program elements to a schedule to City and State goals, and most importantly to the budgeting process of this City. There's no way that we can know where we are unless we have a plan and that we know what that plan is before we go into it every year so that we have some idea when we come to these meetings what it is that we can expect. Without the plan, the Department will fail to meet the City's goals for recycling.
In Bob's words, "I cannot tell you the 2482 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 collective disappointment of the many loyal volunteers from industry, business and ordinary citizens who have come to endless meetings over the past years. " 8 That's my comments. Thank you. 9
In reference to the issue with tires and knowing that there's a serial number on a tire, and when I think about that, I think about that three's a serial number on abandoned automobiles and it's very difficult to use that VIN number to determine who the actual owner or who is the responsible person that left that car on the street. I guess as just a curiosity question, in your research on the issue of short-dumping, specifically tires, is the serial number that's on a tire, every tire has one 2483 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 and they're recorded at the point of sale, is there any value to that number or is that just like the situation I just described, if it isn't valuable in many cases in determining ownership of an abandoned vehicle, could the serial number that's on that tire have any value in at least knowing who the original purchaser of that tire was?
Yeah, that number will tell you from where it was sold. It doesn't track all the way through to exactly who had and owned that tire, but the system of dealing with tires, the industry has already put a system in place where there's a place and a home for every tire that comes back. The issue that the industry has is the industry cannot regulate getting that tire into their system. The tire industry wants government to get involved in helping to regulate to make sure that those tires get into their system, okay? And if that happens, then it means that every tire that gets returned to the market after you bring it back should have a home to go to that has been manifest so it doesn't end up on the ground. 2484 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
Isn't there a tax that each of us pay when we buy a new tire, a tire disposal charge.
That's a different fee. There is a fee that the shop charges and then there is a fee that is charged above and beyond that. If I remember correctly, I believe that money actually supports mass transportation.
So what I'm hearing you say is that the tire industry is willing to help be part of a solution to this problem if someone would reach out to them. Has anyone nationally that you know of that we can look at what they've done?
There are 34 states that have passed tire laws. Maryland and Virginia have excellent laws. Virginia actually has cleaned up an recovered more tires than are being sold in that state. And in that state, if you're caught dumping tires, it ranks a felony. 2485 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 We don't have -- there's a tire law that the state has passed, but when went to pass that law, there was a provision in it that would have put a penalty and would have put an enforcement element for dumping tires and it was taken out before the law was passed.
I believe when the Streets Commissioner and his staff were here before Council, and I don't want to misquote the Streets Commissioner or the Council. He's here; he can correct me if I'm wrong. That there are cases where tire dealers and garages that handle the replacement of tires are very responsible for the dumping and disposal. They take our money to dispose of them properly and then at 2 o'clock in the morning under I-95 drop them there. Do you agree that that is one of the problems with the tire companies throughout the City?
Yes. In the network of tire recovery, there's a group that are referred to in the industry as "tire jockeys." These are people primarily -- primarily the vehicle they use is a pickup truck. What happens is you go to the gas station or to a dealer that has tires and you 2486 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 offer a price to pick up those tires. Well, there is one price that will cover the cost of your fees, your cost, and the fee of taking it to where it has to go because tires have to be paid to be gotten rid of, and then there's a fee that's somewhat less than that. And that fee, when they get that money goes into thier pocket and tires go into the pile. The largest tire piles in this country filled up by tire jockeys in pickup trucks, not big tractor-trailers, although that happens. The biggest piles in this country are filled up by people with pickup trucks. And, yes, there are a number of people out there that are in this industry that are legit, but it's hard to compete when somebody comes to place you go and you're doing it for $75 and they do it for 50.
I learned that the Streets Department will pick up tires from a residential, if you have a couple old snow tires and you put them out. I understand from looking at the commissioner that they will pick those up. Do you know how we dispose of them? Do we recycle?
Our tires go -- we have a 2487 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 contract with an outfit up in Conshohocken, it's actually a waste management company, I believe. Domino Tire. Domino Tire grinds up their tires, and their tires are all used as tire-derived fuel. Most of their product goes up to New York, actually, and makes electricity.
So we collect tires throughout the City of Philadelphia and the ones that are short-dumped, we take them to a location in the Streets Department and then we drive them all the way to Conshohocken?
Well, I'm not sure of all the particulars. Yeah, they eventually have to end up in Conshohocken. I don't know that we deliver them or they pick them up -- they pick them up from us.
Well, that's another conversation with the Commissioner. Maybe that needs to be looked at to see if that's the most cost-effective way of disposing of them, because we have thousands of tires scattered throughout the City.
Eight to ten 2488 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 million?
I appreciate this because this is an issue that I don't know a whole lot about and I've learn something.
I really want to say this: In the Commerce Department there is a report that lays out what all the effective rules and regulations that are on the books and that discusses a whole system for how we can solve this problem.
For the record, Madam Chair, I'm going to request that the Commerce Department provide the Chair with a copy of that report so Members of Council that are interested in this issue can review it.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for this opportunity.
Thank you. Councilman Clarke. 2489 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
Good evening. In the last couple of years I can recall a program, and I don't know if it was sponsored by the Streets Department, if they interacted with community organizations and block captains.
Yeah, and they were paid a certain fee. Is that the Streets Department sponsored that? How did that program work?
I'll try and describe it and they can chime in where it isn't. The Tire Roundup is modeled after the Partnership Recycling Program where the City asked for residents to bring the tires to a location and they pay associated community groups the money for bringing those tires in. So what it is, is it's a way -- 2490 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 somebody has to go out and pick up the tires. And doing it this way it allows them to actually take some of the money they would have paid to someone to pick them up and it ends up going into community groups. See, something that we have to understand, all the tires that are on the ground right now, somebody, probably us or the State, we have to pay to pick them up, okay? So we got to get them picked up then we need to make sure we have a system in place that makes it very costly to the person who dumps them. We need to put a manifest on the tires when their taken back to these dealers so that we can trace that they're actually going to end up in legitimate hands. None of these things are new or exotic; they've ben done already. Once we do that, it means when we clean up tire pile, it's not going to come back. Quite frankly, if register all the people who pick them up and they're manifest, somebody with truck full the tires better have license or we ought have a very strict penalty to what happens if carrying a truckload of tires that you can't explain. The tire problem will disappear. 2491 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 That's already happening in Virginia and it can happen here, but we have to decide that that's how we want to do it.
The question I asked with respect to the tire pickup program with the community organizations, your recollection, do you think that's an effective program? Should it be expanded, or is just essentially a band-aid approach?
I think that it could be -- alone, it is a band-aid approach. But it is a part of a larger program that looks at trying to clean all the tires up, I think that it's an opportunity to really get community involvement in the whole process of cleaning up tires and I think it's great idea, but only if it's part of an approach that says within two years all the tires are going to be gone that are on the ground and the opportunity of doing a roundup isn't going to be here anymore because we don't let people dump tires on the ground.
Has your organization or anyone associated with your organization had an opportunity to talk to the 2492 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Mayor's people about the Blight Removal Program?
Okay. Because I think if talking about eight million tires, that's a lot of blight and I think that you should probably talk to them so you can play some sort of role as it relates to blight removal plus the stabilization because the backside of that program is making sure that whatever they clean up stays clean. And I hear what you're saying as basically an enforcement mechanism. I suggest you contact Joyce Wilkerson in particular. She's going to be in charge of that program.
Joyce Wilkerson, she's the Secretary of Strategic Planning in the Mayor's Office.
Thank you very much. Certainly, it is sad that we don't use our tire material as they do in other cities when 2493 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 we recycle. We even talked about many years ago using it for covering streets, but we just -- in fact, we introduced legislation way back then to investigate the possibility of recycling them and using it that way, but...
Well, there are, in addition fuel uses, which is the largest use, there's a whole range of civil engineering uses that you can do with tires. I did a project two years ago where they actually count the tires and use it as a top dressing for grass so that when you walk on it, you don't get bear spots. I did another project just this past year where you put on a horse track and it actually creates a better walking surface for horses. And then there are any number of product. All the plagues in the city use a rubber derived product to make that matting. In fact, the City buys a lot of that material. And there are opportunities for economic development here. When we talk about making the products. So it gets very exciting as get past just getting them off the street. If I can make a last comment, I would say wouldn't it be wonderful to come back to a 2494 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 budget hearing a year and two years from now and say, "Gee, has anybody seen any tires lately to pick up?" Because that's something that's possible. It's just a question of our putting our political will and muscle to it and deciding that that's the way it's going to be.
Thank you. Thank you very much for your time and your excellent testimony. Councilman Rizzo.
Could I ask Commissioner Moy to come to the witness table, please?
Certainly. Commissioner. (Commissioner Moy comes forward.)
Thank you very much. Another late evening. COMMISSIONER MOY: Yes.
Please identify yourself for the record, Commissioner. COMMISSIONER MOY: My name is Laurence Moy, the Commissioner of Streets, M-O-Y.
Thank you, Madam 2495 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Chair. Commissioner Moy, are you familiar with this report that the Commerce Department has about the problem, the tire problem throughout the City of Philadelphia? COMMISSIONER MOY: Just generally. I don't have intimate knowledge of it. It was I think two years ago, was it?
They would conduct a survey or do a study about the problem and not communicate it to the Streets Commissioner? COMMISSIONER MOY: No, we have the report and I think that our department participated and I think Commerce and I think Moe Sampson participated, I think there was a task force and L&I participated. So we have the report, I just don't have intimate knowledge of it.
The problem with abandoned tires throughout the City of Philadelphia, and you have to agree that it is a serious problem. Maybe to a Streets Commissioner it's just another problem, but to Councilmembers 2496 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 and residents, it's really a certain as you can hear here tonight. The approach that you use to remove abandoned or discarded the tire throughout the City, is there anything that you know of like Virginia does or other cities that appear to have this situation under control at a State level? Is there any legislation that you need to be able to do a better job? Is there additional dollars? Rather than take tires to Conshohocken, is there something that we could have here that could grind these tires and be more effective and efficient? Is there some things that you would like to do to deal with this issue that you're not able to do right now? Or do you have some of your own ideas to deal with this problem that you just aren't able to implement? COMMISSIONER MOY: We actually at the marketplace deal with the tire problem in the sense of taking bids for a vendor such as Domino to pay -- we pay a vendor to get rid of the tires, essentially. And then they go into the reuse market. In this case, as Mr. Sampson points out, it is going to fuel. It could be used for other 2497 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 kinds of things. We could turn it around and they could use it for many of the products. But we in the Streets Department have not gotten into the ideas that bringing vendors into the City. Commerce has looked at that concept, I believe, of bringing vendors in to have different kind of treatments of rubber and so on.
What bothers me is that you ride throughout city and you see vacant lot see a dozen tires, you see five tires, you see ten tires over here. And I have to pick up my car phone call and say, "there's five tires in front of this location," I don't see enough -- I don't see a proactive approach at going out and collecting all these tires that are just left along the roadway. I know PennDOT has responsibilities, the Streets Department. But going back to the very basic, the legislation, are you able -- why can't this problem be dealt with? You've done a great job in removing the debris and everything from the City streets. Why does it appear to be such a big problem getting these tired picked up. Is it that you pick them up on Monday and they're back on Thursday? It seems to 2498 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 me these piles of tires that I see are there for a very long time, for months and maybe even a year. I don't know what your constraint are, you're allowed to go onto the sidewalk to pick them up or and into vacant lots. Why is this such a difficult problem to get under control? COMMISSIONER MOY: Well, one of the things is I think is the sheer volume. We're talking about millions of tires that are in a dynamic situation. There may be some that you talk about that are there for some time, but generally in the right-of-way, the part of the street that we take care of, when we're made aware of them, we go out and we will get them. We're talking about another group that could be on private property on lots, and that's a different piece there. We usually do not get involved as a department for that. But with respect to the cleanup of the streets themselves and the sidewalks, and there are occasions where we talk about South Philadelphia we worked with Councilman Kenney on where people were just constantly just dropping tires on fire hydrants and things like this. We would clean them, and the next week 2499 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 there would be another pile that would occur there. When we went into the Tire Roundup program, for example, we agreed that the likelihood was that there were small garages and small tire shops that were probably contributing to this problem. What we tried to do is not let them benefit -- but it was hard for us not to do this- - benefit from our Tire Roundup Program. And I agree completely with mow Sampson here that this is not the only solution. We were trying to offer something. We got private funding to pay the bounty, as a matter of fact, to encourage people to do this.
Would you be willing to pull a group together, a very small working group, that can look at that Commerce Department report and possibly look at a fresh approach, a new approach for dealing with this issue? Maybe what we've created here is the people understand that if you're dump a tire, you dump it on private property. I just don't understand why -- and if it requires legislation or power that you don't presently have, I'm sure this Council would be open because this is a problem that every year 2500 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 that I sit here that never seems to go away. I'd like you to really focus on this. You used an suppression just a few minutes ago, tires that you're aware of made aware of. The eyes and the ears of the Streets Department is your supervisors ride throughout the City. They shouldn't have to rely on all these people here to report a tire that doesn't belong on the roadway, that those things proactively in my opinion should be collected and taken away because, you know, you can accept some newspaper flying around the street or you can accept a cardboard box, but when drive down an inner-city street and see a dozen tires on a particular block, that in my opinion, you can't excuse that. I know you do a good job at it. By the way. I want to congratulate you. I got the press release today that you're now getting pothole repair down for the year 2000 down to four days from the day it's reported. That's a great effort and achievement. But I would like to see you put group of people and the interested parties here in this room because this is an issue that I really think needs to be resolved; and the sooner it's resolved, the 2501 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 better. COMMISSIONER MOY: I think picking up on Councilman Clarke's suggestion, I think it would appropriate to probably involve Joyce Wilkerson as part of the blight effort. So I probably want to coordinate this effort with her.
I'd also like to suggest a couple of things here. One is that you have both the Recycling Advisory Committee and a Solid Waste Advisory Committee. These are citizens who had been working, some of us, for more than ten years on these issues who would love to get into this. In fact, both groups have discussed this and were involved in the study before, so there are people who are already into this before and we should take advantage of that.
I'd like, again, to be a part of the solution to this problem.
It would be very interesting to simply get a presentation of what was in the report. I read it tonight. Before I came. I went over to the Commerce Department. There are only three copies in the City, I 2502 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 understand. So I went tonight and sat down and went through the whole report again. It's extensive. It even goes through for all the various City codes and talks about what needs to be written in order -- it has one venue in it that says, "Here's a law you can pass," and then it has another venue that says "Here's what you can do if you don't pass any laws."
We will do that. I know that Commissioner Moy will help to resolve this program. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Councilman. Are there any further questions? (No further questions.)
Thank you very much. COMMISSIONER MOY: Thank you.
You're welcome. Sheila Harper, Public Health Center No. 25 9, Sheila Harper? 2503 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Is Brenda Kyser here from Sydenham Street? Brad Thompson, are you here? Okay, you're next. (Witnesses come forward.)
Yes. Good evening. My name is Sheila Harper, I'm Chair of the Board of Citizens for Public Health Center No. 9 located on Chelten Avenue in Germantown, 131 East. First of all, good evening, Councilwoman Blackwell; good evening, Councilpeople; and good evening, community members. I'm here this evening to speak on behalf of not just Public Health Center No. 9, but the entire public health system. The first point that I'd like to reference is the infant mortality rate that currently exists in Northwest Philadelphia. 2504 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Currently we have the second highest infant mortality rate in the City of Philadelphia. 9 percent of our babies die within the first year of death (sic). 8 percent. 6 percent or something like that. It's almost like a third-world country, okay? My concern is -- it's a few issues. One, we have a prenatal clinic that we operate currently one day per week. The average clinics, public health centers, there's eight around the city, at least operate at least two days per week. The first issue I'd like to address is to determine if we can have some additional staffing, okay, along with additional funding so that we can operate at least two days per week, if not more frequently. Secondly, we recently -- and I'd like to thank Council for approving the funds for our renovations. We completed those, I guess, about a year ago, and we have this beautiful playroom with no furniture and no staff. In discussion with some of the resources that are currently available around the City, one being the maternity care 2505 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 coalition who operates the Mom Mobile, I understand that at three of the other centers, Strawberry Mansion Clinic, Health Center No. 4, and Health Center No. 10, that they all have an arrangement with the Maternity Care Coalition to staff their playroom. Health Center No. 9, given that we have that high infant mortality rate, the second highest in the City, would like to look at that possibility of being able to have the Maternity Care Coalition staff our play room also. From what I understand, the cost of that would be in terms I believe of equipment and staff would be approximately $200,000. From the way I understand, a third of it generally is covered by the City, a third of it is also covered by whoever the provider is, and in our area it's Einstein Hospital. It used to be Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine Tenet and they have now closed their doors for prenatal care. So that's another issue that we have up at Health Center No. 22 9; we do not have adequate provider coverage, and hopefully eventually that will be addressed. So, therefore, what I'm basically asking is for that 33 percent which, I guess, is about $70,000 from 2506 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Council to be allocated for the specific coverage of our playroom so that parents can come and bring their children to the health centers and be seen and at the same time not have to deal with where to put the other children. On the average, a lot of people that are on prenatal care have at least to or three other children from what I understand on the Mom Mobile, which means that they can benefit from being able to come and bring thier children as opposed to missing appointments. The other 33 percent betters can come from wherever. Now, I've been kind of examining some of the regulations around CHIPS and I understand that there is a 10 percent portion in which it can be used for administrative outreach education, counseling, and that certain community-based providers, which is really nebulous -- I put a call to the people who wrote the article to clarify, you know, certain community-based providers can waive that 10 percent maximum. CHIPS, from what I understand, I don't know, it's $24 billion for five years all around the states.
I know, you know, we've done a good job in terms of getting it here, however, I 2507 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 don't think the enrollment in CHIPS is where everybody would like it to be. It's also my understanding that unless we reach the cap on enrollment, the monies that we do not spend are returned to the State after a three-year period, okay? So, therefore, I would urge Council to, number one, provide us some playroom coverage, provide us some additional staffing for our -- not additional staffing, any staffing, anybody for our playroom. I also understand that, like I said, the CHIPS Program and one of the other issues because the infant mortality rate is just so high generally in Philadelphia, certain areas got monies a few years ago, healthy start money in Southwest Philadelphia, I think at that time when I looked at the numbers, our area at Health Center No. 9 we were number three. However, we've moved up in terms of infant mortality. They put the monies in South and Southwest Philadelphia. We're now not number anymore, we're number 2. Okay? 9 percent. 4 percent, so obviously it's working. It's an issue I feel as a mom that we have to begin to address and that some additional funding just has to be allocated. So that's the first issue that I would like Council to look into. The second issue dealing with the tobacco settlement funding for the State. I know that a couple years ago, and I understand that that window of opportunity has not closed. Philadelphia had an option to file its own suit, okay, against the tobacco companies which meant that we would not have had to argue among the other people in this state, which we're doing right now for a little piece of pie. I understand that 10 percent of that tobacco settlement money is to go hospitals and to clinics, which is not clear. I don't know if they're talking hospital clinics, I don't know if they're talking about public health clinics, okay? The concern there is that I think we need to begin to lobby, rally. One, I think Philadelphia since the opportunity has not closed, should consider filing the own suit, okay, against the tobacco companies so that 2509 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 we don't have to argue. I think the second thing is that we need to begin to -- the percent that's been allotted for hospitals and clinics supposedly it's not a done deal as of yet. It's because they see a disproportionate share of the uninsured. Well, the public health centers sees 80 percent of our people who are uninsured. I know that there are should things that we would have to put in place such as the ability to be able to bill people in order to be able to cash in on that disproportionate share of the uninsured; however, that's something that I would urge us to do. A lot of the people who are uninsured that come to the public health clinics have cancer, respiratory problems, heart problems as a result of cigarette smoking, low birth rate babies, which also contributes to the high infant mortality rate. So in terms of that, I would really rally because somehow I have this feeling that public health is just not top priority on the agenda and I'm real concerned about it because, number one, the federally qualified health center money that's being eliminated by the year 2003, okay, which basically is a prime funding source for our public 2510 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 health centers, I understand that there's something in place -- or not, it's not in place. It's something that's being negotiated or determined or whatever. It's not black and white yet. It's not -- I don't know what it is, okay? So if we know that there is a substantial pot of money that we're about to lose from the federal government, we know that something is going to replace it we don't know what or how much, I think it's really on us to begin to tap in on whatever additional fundings that might be available through that tobacco settlement.
Okay, that's the second point. And the third point or the other issues that I'd like to speak to is the public health centers I think should be looked at as an essential provider because without -- I guess what I'm asking Council is to look at designating it as an essential provider because without the public health centers -- right now everybody knows about the growing number of uninsured and all this stuff -- we're the ones who see them, okay? So unless additional funding is available or additional resources are being looked into, and as 2511 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 the Board of Citizens we've asked this question, okay, and I mean I know that if it wasn't for the federal money, we would not be in place, the Boards of Citizens. And as a matter of fact, I also feel that if they didn't have to do it, they wouldn't have done it if we could have gotten that federal funding without having Boards of Citizens. But I think that the input is like really critical, so I'd like us to look at designating all of the public health centers as essential community providers. Thirdly, I'd like to look at -- looking at some sort of legislation or commission on access to care, okay. For example, when things like what happened with Tenet impact a community like Germantown -- I mean, in Germantown we have a lot of things going on. We lost Germantown Hospital. We no longer have a Medical College of Pennsylvania with charitable admission. I think they allocate a hundred thousand dollars a year to see the uninsured. Well, that's a drop in the bucket. Okay. That means that there are certain things that are going on in that community that I really feel need to be monitored a little bit more 2512 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 closely, given the loss of resources to that community. So therefore, what I'd like to do is to recommend that we have some sort of legislation on commission on access to care, given the cutbacks. I mean, in other words, any time a nonprofit hospital decides to go for-profit, any time nonprofit HMO decides to go for-profit, I think that it needs to be looked at in terms its impact on that particular community. And I'm asking Council to take a look at it and its impact on the community currently in Germantown. There are also some other issues which I guess I've kind of spoken to in the past. Like I said, our renovations have been completed. We still don't have ventilation in our restrooms at all. I know that if this was public facility like a restaurant, that would not be allowed, okay. That's something that I would like to see completed. We also have major pharmacy problems. I think a year ago we were told that we would get I think two additional pharmacists that were going to rotate through all of the public health centers; it never materialized. Likewise, nursing 2513 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 staff at Public Health Center No. 9, our budget says that we have three nurses. Well, we're operating with one nurse. And apparently, some recent changes to the test, the Civil Service test, no one can pass it? And I mean, you know, 12,000 patient is what we see yearly. You know, one nurse handling 12,000 -- and I understand that we borrow people from the AIDS nurse and this, that, and the other, but when an AIDS patient comes in that AIDS patient takes priority. I'm concerned about the staffing, the nursing staffing, the clerical staffing which is an ongoing problem. I'm concerned about the overall appearance. And, you know,maybe I'm wrong. The overall appearance that it's just kind of -- something else going on that we as citizens don't know about, okay? So the staffing issues, like I said, with the nursing and the clerical staff. Also, we raised the issue last year of extended hours to deal with the welfare-to-work moms, you know, so that they would not have to take time from their jobs to come see a doctor.
You know, we would like to see that happen at 2514 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 least one night a week. I have seen no progress towards that. Again, I remain concerned about it. And I guess the final thing in terms of the legislation that we're talking about this commission on access to care, you know, I would like to see, one, what the -- I know there should be a plan that public health has. I mean, a lot of public health departments around the country are making decisions on whether or not they're going to keep primary care and just do the whole general prevention stuff that they used to do. And I know, you know, we only have a limited pot of money. I don't know if we're working towards something like that type of thing in terms of forgetting about the primary care and let's just do -- because we're not really doing a good job of doing both, you know, with the limitations on the funding. So therefore, whatever plans, let's say, that a managed care organization or hospital might have to service the people that don't have coverage, I'd like to be able to see some sort of plan in place so that, you know, come year 2003 when this federal money goes away, you know, there's something else in place and at least we're 2515 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 beginning to look at it. And again, in all due respect to our commissioner, you know, I think she's done a wonderful, wonderful job in terms of mental health particularly. The public health side, and I guess it's from my standpoint, it's an essential community provider and I'm just not certain where it is as federally mandated community boards I think that we should have a lot more discussions or answers. For example, I specifically said, you know, the FQAC, whatever this that's supposed to replace that funding, can you give it to me or mail it to me? " You know, two weeks later I didn't get it. "Can you mail it to me? " Two weeks later, still don't have it. So again, you know, I don't know -- I know that as a volunteer, okay, and all of our boards are volunteers, you know, we're committed or at least I'm committed. And there were a few of my colleagues tonight that could not attend, Sue Rosenthal's mom died and so she had to attend to her funeral and Walt Palmer had a class that he had to teach this evening. But I'm speaking on behalf of all our public health centers, you know, 2516 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 to address that issue of the infant mortality to look into this percent waiver, whatever it is 4 that CHIPS has. If this is some money, we need to 5 spend it. And I'm not asking for the City to foot 6 all the bill, but I'm asking I guess for some 7 communications back and forth between all the 8 boards. Thank you. 9
Thank you very 10 much. Are there any questions? (No questions.)
Director Estelle Richman is here as well as Acting Commissioner Domzalski. And certainly we would hope, Commissioner, that you will be in touch with Councilwoman Miller who's at another meeting tonight and bring to her attention the issues of Health Center No. 9, especially with regard to infant mortality. He is committed to doing that as well. Also, please move and let her know, get in touch with Councilwoman Miller's office tomorrow if you haven't done that, so she will know that you want to --
Yeah, I talked to her 2517 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 earlier today. And I think the second thing, I don't know if they still have a health committee or something. I know last year we talked about, you know, rather than to come in and do this dog and pony show, which is what I feel like, you know, we're doing here, we'd like to have input, you know, prior to the budget when it's almost finalized, okay. So if there's still an existing Health and Welfare Committee --
Absolutely, we still do have that committee, and I think that the best way to access that is to work with Councilwoman Miller and certainly we want to do everything we can to keep you informed and to have you feel at ease that we do everything we can. Knowing Director Richman, I know that there are no 18 federal dollars we could have gotten that she didn't access. She's an expert at that. So I'm sure that if you had more information about it, you would know because every dollar we can get, that's one of the things she does quite well. She's accessed for our City. That, I can assure you of. And she's nodding yes, so she's done that. So we want to work with you and allay your 2518 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 fears that some of these issues -- to allay your fears that they're not being addressed because they really are. We work very, very hard in the area of health. Our City has done a lot, in spite of the fact that we have issues in health centers, but our City's doing a lot to try to improve health for citizens. So if you will do that, if you'll keep in touch with Councilman Miller who will give the rest of the Council direction, that would be the best way to approach that. Councilwoman Tasco?
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I'd just like to say that I chair the Public Health and Human Services Committee. My staff person is Brenda Frazier if you'd like meet with her. The other issue is that there will hearings in City Council on resolutions sponsored by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown and some of us who will have a discussion about the tobacco dollars. You might want to contact her office to get the -- well, the hearing will be sometime after the budget.
Okay, because I know 2519 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 they're working on a resolution now. There's a coalition of people that I'm a part of, too, that we're trying to whatever author it in order to, you know, present it to whomever in Councilwoman.
Certainly, you can present it to Council. I think if you want to impact on the dollars, you should talk to the State.
Right now the legislature will be looking at the Governor's budget. You might want to talk to your State representative to impact how they determine the money will flow.
What about the issue of Philadelphia filing its own suit since we had that option?
I can't get into the discussion about that. There are a lot of people were involved in the suit. I think at this point, it would be somewhat moot. I think the point is now you have to access the Governor because the suit has been filed and the State has been granted so many dollars. So to start all 2520 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 over again I think would be moot.
Ms. Harper, the Councilwoman's made her staff available as well, Brenda Frazier, very capable attorney, and if you would get in touch with her; and invited you to a public hearing on the issue of tobacco, so that's a very, very good, good thing to do.
Miss Harper, I'm sorry I was out of room while you were testifying, but I'm very concerned about the health centers, about the fact that I'm told that people have to wait weeks often for appointments. Is that true recently?
We've done things like 2521 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 designate a walk-in doctor, you know, to deal with just the walk-in patients. However, there's still a long wait. We have people who are just discharged from the hospital that might need to come back and forth for medications and, you know, when your diabetic with heart problems and things like that, you don't really want to sit up in there for four to six hours and hopefully be seen and then come back the next day for your medication because there's not enough pharmacists. So, no, I mean, you know, I think that effort are being made in that area, but it's not producing any major results right now. There's about a six-week waiting period for you to even get into the health center without being a walk-in patient. If you were to schedule an appointment, it's about six weeks from now, you know, if you wanted to do a whole complete physical, that you would finally get into the center. So that's a significant delay.
Large what percentage of people in Philadelphia that need the services of the health center do you think know about its existence and its availability? 2522 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
At Health Center No. 9, we see about 12,000 patient a year. And I think citywide it looks like it's maybe 350,000 patients a year at all of the different centers. Whether or not things are getting better -- my concern, sir, is the cutbacks that are coming from the federal government and the plan that's in place to deal with that cutback. I'm not sure if I'm answering your question.
Well, what percentage of the people who would tend to utilize the public health center because they lack insurance of any kind, what percentage of those people know of its availability and utilize the services?
I mean, we're kind of like unless you knew that we were there, there's these little signs but they're nothing that's really major. There's no marketing effort. I think that we are not in a position -- what happens is we don't want to see any more people without insurance because -- I mean, we do see them, but it's not a priority because that's not helping us to offset our cost. It's making us come back to 2523 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 you guys to ask you to give us some more money, you know. To be able to see more patients, which we do accept all the other insurances, the Medicaid, the Medicares and the managed care organizations, to have some of those patients also come would help to offset our operating cost so that, you know, the City doesn't constantly have to pour in money to cover the uninsured, which is why talking earlier about whatever tobacco settlement funds and stuff like that. I mean, 80 percent of the people that we see of that 350,000 people a year don't have insurance, okay. So I mean, yeah, I'm sure that that's going to impact, and the bottom line is we don't want to see it go away because for many of us it's essential, it's an essential community provider.
For those 300 patient visits, how many of them are repetitive? How many separate people do you think there are among the 300 patient visits? How many patients are actually being serviced?
Separate people come 2524 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 in?
In Germantown, I'm not really -- I'm not certain. I don't really know.
Well, in Germantown my expectation would be that a study would produce maybe 10, times 12,000. 11
I agree. I agree that 15 there's a larger percentage of people that could utilize service if they could get in on a more timely basis.
You know I'm impressed that citizens like yourself are coming in tonight and all of you show sensitivity to the cost of operations. You want to be careful not to ask for too much, not to put too much of a financial strain on the City. I just wish some of these big outfits like those that want DisneyQuest, and want stadiums and all would show 2525 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 at least a portion of the concern that the ordinary citizens show for the fiscal problems of the City. But thank you very much. I think you're doing God's work in doing the work for health centers. I think we've got to make them available to everybody and not on a wait two week or four weeks or six weeks basis.
And my final comment, I'm going to send copies of my testimony to all Councilmembers within about a week, okay? Thank you.
Thank you so much. And, Councilman, as you know, when the Health Department testified we talked again about the numbers going back up. Commissioner Richman fought to lower these numbers for people waiting to get seen on an emergency basis at health centers, and the numbers are going back up and 2526 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 waiting list is long again due to the extra pressure now that's on the centers. That's serious issue and a very, very important one where we need citizens taken care of.
Madam Chair, I would suggest that a portion of the money we think of devoting to the stadiums into the future go instead to take care of the health needs of the people of Philadelphia.
I assume the Mayor is listening to that, that a portion of the stadium money is the recommendation that that go to our health centers. Mr. Brad Thompson, Park Budget; and then Ruth Birchett, Heritage Community Development Corporation.
I'm Brad Thompson and I live at 235 West Winona in Germantown. I'm here tonight to encourage Council to increase the funding to Fairmount Park. I'm an avid user of the park and especially the larger watershed parks. I, like 2527 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 others in the City, love to run and hike and visit the historic sites. And for a great reason, or a big reason is why I moved to the city was to be close to this resource. I also think it's difficult to have a world-class city without a world-class park system. And for those reasons, I'm here tonight. The parks are in bad shape, and everywhere you go there are instances of deferred maintenance. We need the parks for active and passive recreation and for just contemplation. The children in the City need the parks for exercise and to grow and develop. I and others need the park for releasing tension and running and exercise. Parks are not frivolous, especially to the people who cannot easily afford to get away from the city on vacations or health clubs or tickets to museums. Each time I visit the park I am aware of deferred maintenance. There are few places in the world or in this country where you have the natural lands and sports fields and recreation and historic opportunities that we have in Philadelphia. They lack funding which continues 2528 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 to threaten this resource. The trails are in poor condition. The signage is either non-existent or lacking. And the park equipment and furnishings are often broken and vandalized. I see benches which are destroyed, trash blowing all over the place, sports fields in need of rehabilitation, historic mansions disintegrating. The list goes on and on. There are trash dump sites, sewer smells and graffiti. Cars are abandoned, set on fire, and left there. As quick as the park removes them a new, a net batch seems to arrive I've seen ATVs; they actually push you off the trails and they do incredible damage to the landscape. You don't see anyone policing in the park, and it's no wonder that people perceive the park as an unsafe place to be. Weeds and unkempt landscapes are seen throughout the park. Designed areas aren't maintained to their full potential. Sidewalks and restrooms are crumbling. Everywhere you look, there's something that needs to be repaired. There's a crying need for policing. As a matter of fact, many people see the disintegration or the beginning of the 2529 2/29/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 disintegration of the park pointing to the time when the police were removed from the park. We need increased funding for the rangers; it's our only hope to reclaim the park. In Council's hands is the ability to fully fund the park like other major U.S. and European cities. It will be money well invested in attracting people back to the city neighborhood, together with school reform, crime reduction, we would have what many families are looking for. Your role in protecting the park is a crucial one, and I encourage Council to increase the spending.