Group Number 6
Moderators: Rochelle Krombolz, Onaje Muid
Total points: 23

Group Description:
Group 6 was quite a large group, ranging in size from 21-24 at different points in time due to participants coming in and out of the room and others who had not started with us joining mid-way into the exercise. The group was comprised by 12 women, 10 men, 14 African American, 8 white/caucasian. Ages ranged from 8 years to approx. 65 years. We had only 2 or 3 people who identified themselves as city employees. Participants resided in various parts of Philadelphia, not solely West Philadelphia. For at least 2 participants this was their 3rd budget forum meeting.

With few exceptions this was a lively and engaged group. While somewhat skeptical of the process initially, once they began working in the small groups there were spirited conversations in which all members appeared to be participating. There were a few folks who were uncomfortable with the lack of detailed information and short time period for the exercise. Our representative from the city was asked a number of times to provide clarification on various questions during the small group discussion, which he did in a very helpful and supportive way.

Our groups had a number of items to discuss for the Low Hanging Fruit and we spent the vast majority of our time there. We also got to No Way No Hows, and came up with 1 Gut Wrencher, 1 Shared Pain, and a few “other ideas.”

On several occasions the group got quite loud and there were a few separate conversations happening, which required some intervention by the moderators in order to restore some order. The group did a nice job of listening to and responding to each other’s comments, with the tone at times becoming a little heated. No one person dominated the discussion. The majority of participants completed both pre and post surveys.

No dissenting worksheets were filed.

Low-Hanging Fruit
Total points: 21
• #16 Reduce Vehicle Fleet (95%) 6 pts
o People shouldn’t be driving city vehicles home or for personal use
o We should have more people using vehicles from a pool versus having their own vehicles
o Why aren’t we allowing people to drive their own cars but expense mileage for business purposes for reimbursement? That’s how I do it for business.
o They should buy bus tokens and use SEPTA.

• #20 Make the Eagles pay (100%) 4 pts
o Maybe the Eagles and Phillies players should be paying something to us.
• #18 BPT: Gross Receipts (82%) 2 pts
o The group agreed to this with the provision that the increase would not apply to the first $500K of revenues. We don’t want to further disadvantage the small business owners.
• #1a Administrative (77%) 5 pts
o What are all these people doing? Why should we pay for inefficiencies?
o We should streamline here to the points that everyone is held accountable for doing their job and doing it right.
o Why do we need a Chief of Staff?!!!!! We don’t!
o We should be very careful about eliminating jobs for low wage earners.
• #1b Administrative Revenue options 0 pts
o This was proposed for a LHF (Low Hanging Fruit) but did not receive sufficient votes (18%) and therefore did not make the list.
o These are generally one time fees so let’s add them here.
o We would be adding $30 to fees already between $40 - $80.
 This is too expensive
 How much could it cost to make a photo copy? Seems to me that we are paying for inefficiencies.
 We should be looking at new technology to improve efficiency
• # 3 Drop the Drop Program (77%) 4 pts
• #17 Amusement
o Was proposed for LHF but did not receive sufficient votes (32%) and therefore did not make the list
No Ways, No Hows
Total points: n/a
• #6 Free Library (86%)
• #4 Fairmount Park (82%)
o This was approved with the caveat that it would be ok to close some of the decorative fountains on non-special event days in order to conserve water and electricity
o Here is an example. We used to have 640 staff taking care of Cobb Creek Park and now we are down to 140 people. There is no way that we can keep these parks clean/operational if we cut further.
o We also already lost the 92nd Precinct in there…no one is going to want to go to the parks.
o We must leave the drinking fountains.
• # 14 Recreation (86%)
• #5 Fire (95%)
• #11 Police (77%)

• #15c Streets Revenue Option was proposed for NWNH but did not quite achieve sufficient votes. We ran out of time to vote to see if it should go into SP.
o Do NOT charge residents for trash removal!
o People on a fixed income can’t afford this.

Shared Pain
Total points: 2
• #19 BPT: Net Income (64%) 2 pts
o This was supported with the provision that the first $300K of profits not be subject to the increased tax. Again, we don’t want to further disadvantage the small business owners.
• #21 Parking 0 pts
o Parking was originally proposed for LHF but did not receive 75% approval. We subsequently had some discussion on it for SP, but could not reach consensus.
o Most of the revenue from those lots/garages goes to the owners. Can’t we get more $ from them in taxes?
• #12 Prisons We didn’t actually discuss this as a group, however, one participant asked at the conclusion of the meeting that we capture the suggestion that we reduce the prison populations by eliminating bail for non-violent offenders.

Gut Wrenchers
Total points: 2
• #23 Real Estate Transfer (77%) 2 pts.
• #22 Real Estate Tax increase was immediately rejected by the group without a formal vote
o We’re already paying enough in taxes.
o My child doesn’t even go to the public school.

Other ideas
• Why not apply the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) program to our sports teams?
• If we froze salaries for 3 years for just the top levels of city government, that would close the whole gap.
• The city uses a lot of postage and they don’t have to pay for it.
• Tax abatement: we should discontinue it starting in 2010 in order that we can build back into our property tax base.
• There are a lot of empty lots alongside of residences. The city should make those available for purchase by other owners on that same block for a flat fee of $2000 and forgiveness of outstanding property taxes.
Big, Hairy, Ambitious Goals

• We really didn’t have much discussion here at all. There was a sense, however, that the group was in favor of getting the money for court costs.

Memorable Quotes: n/a