Group Number 1
Moderators: Kiki Bolender, Benjamin Cromie and David Secan
Total points: 79

Group Description:
There were 22 people in the group. Thirteen were male and nine were female; 14 were white and eight were African-American. We estimate that 11 were between the ages of 21 and 40, nine were 41 to 60 years old, and two were older than 60.

The group seemed to have productive and steady energy. They were cooperative, civil, creative about splitting/combining options and could see the big picture. They got started right away and steadily chose about a dozen items for the “Low Hanging Fruit” category. Almost everyone spoke out, and no one dominated the group.
No dissenting work sheets were filled out.

Low Hanging Fruit
Total points: 37
• #20. Eagles - $8 million: 4 points
o Unanimous
• #21. Parking - 21% tax: 2 points
o Almost everyone
o One person countered with an argument not to discourage visitors to the city.
o Fresh ideas: Can we put in a free fare zone for transit downtown and put parking in surrounding areas?
• #15b. Streets - revenue options, charge businesses $200/year: 2 points
o Almost everyone
• #3. DROP Program - end program: 4 points
o Almost everyone
• #16. Vehicle Fleet - reduce budget by 20%: 6 points
o Almost everyone
o Get rid of gas guzzlers and take-home vehicles, including some police vehicles.
• #24. Sales - raise sales tax to 7.1: 6 points
o Almost everyone
• #1b. Administrative - Increase recording fees: 1 point
o Almost everyone
• #12. Prisons - reduce budget by 10%: 10 points
o Great discussion
o Release 1,200 and keep all programs.
o Two ex-offenders discussed how difficult it is to get their lives back on track.
o This move should target nonviolent offenders and first-time offenders first.
o “Prison is not the best place for a nonviolent offender.”
o It’s not right to people who paid their debt.
o Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Everett Gillison: “Who needs to be locked up? That is a discussion the public needs to have.”
• #17. Amusement - increase to 6%: 2 points
o Big-ticket items like Eagles and South Broad arts organizations can afford it.

Mentioned but not selected
• #4. Fairmount Park - both cuts mentioned: 2 points
o When people don’t have money, it would be good to have the park.
o “Can we get corporate sponsorship for Fairmount Park/some fountains?”
o Moved to “Shared Pain” for discussion.
• 5. Fire - reduce budget by 10%: 10 points
o Moved to “Shared Pain” then selected as a “Gut Wrencher.”
o Discussion written out in “Gut Wrenchers.”
o Can we reduce benefits rather than lay off firemen?

No Ways, No Hows
Total points taken off the table: 47
• #7. Housing - reduce budget by 30%: 7 points
o Almost everyone
• #14. Recreation - all three choices: 5 points
o Almost everyone
• #8. Human Services - all three choices: 19 points
o Almost everyone
• #6. Free Library - both choices: 3 points
o “If we don’t want to cut recreation, we don’t want to cut libraries.”
o It doesn’t make sense (to cut libraries) if people are looking for jobs.
• #13. Public Health - all options: 8 points
o “Do other cities keep nursing homes?”
o “I would think the last cuts we want to make would be the ones that hit the people at the bottom of the ladder.”
o If we had public/federal health care, Public Health would be less costly.
• #22. Real Estate - both tax increases: 5 points per mill
o Real estate taxes are too high, especially for low-income and retired residents.
o Low real-estate taxes are a competitive advantage the city has to the suburbs.

Shared Pain
Total points: 22
• #1a. Administrative - reduce budget by 20%: 5 points
o Mayor/administrative staff “should lead by example.”
o They should be selective - don’t cut necessities.
o “I assume jobs had been added in richer times.”
• #25b. Wage/Resident - increase 0.1% to 4.0396: 12 points
o Votes for 25b and 26b taken together.
• #26b. Wage/Commuter - increase 0.1% to 3.5997: 5 points
o “The wage tax is a terrible thing to look at on your check.”
o “Is it temporary or is the city going to get used to it?”

Mentioned but not selected:
• #11. Police - reduce budget by 10%: 26 points
o The group had questions and was mostly listening to the city staff answer.
• From Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Everett Gillison: Losing overtime for parades is a trade-off for keeping patrol overtime.
• Gillison: We’re still using DOS.
• Gillison: Special units is how we do policing. Compared to a few years ago, we have more police on the street - we have officers from desk jobs in special units on the street.
o Can we charge for false alarms for burglaries?
o Voted on but not selected as a “Gut Wrencher.”
• #4. Fairmount Park - both cuts mentioned: 2
o When people don’t have money, it would be good to have the park.
o “Can we get corporate sponsorship for Fairmount Park/some fountains?”
• #5. Fire - reduce budget by 10%: 10 points
o Ultimately selected as a “Gut Wrencher.”
o Add more volunteers to Fire Department (like in New Jersey).
o Can we reduce benefits rather than lay off firemen?

• We had a quick vote of whether we would select fire over police or police over fire to include on the list. Each vote received a minority of six votes.

Gut Wrenchers
Total points: 20
• #15. Streets - reduce budget by 10%: 10 points
o Right at the end - little discussion.
• #5. Fire - reduce budget by 10% : 10 points
o Add more volunteers to Fire Department (like in New Jersey).
o Can we reduce benefits rather than lay off firemen?

Mentioned but not selected
• #11. Police - reduce budget by 10% - 26
o The group had questions and was mostly listening to the city staff answer.
 From Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Everett Gillison: Losing overtime for parades is a trade-off for keeping patrol overtime.
 From Gillison: We’re still using DOS.
 From Gillison: Special units is how we do policing. Compared to a few years ago, we have more police on the street - we have officers from desk jobs in special units on the street.
o Can we charge for false alarms for burglaries?

Big, Hairy, Ambitious Goals
• We did not reach this section.

Memorable Quotes
• “I would think the last cuts we want to make would be the ones that hit the people at the bottom of the ladder.”
• “Is it (a wage tax hike) temporary or is the city going to get used to it?”
• “Prison is not the best place for a nonviolent offender.”
• “What about services to illegal immigrants?”
• “Nonprofits should pay more.” Re: PILOT
• “What about the tax abatement?”

Other
• There were no process comments or questions at the beginning, but more than half-way in, one person complained that there were no revenue options, then corrected himself and said they should be organized into 10%, 20% and 30% options.