Arts and Culture Face the Mayor’s Veto - P.A.W. Print

After a week of bargaining with the mayor, the Philadelphia City Council voted on May 31 to approve a newly amended budget proposal that includes tax-cuts and budget bills, which Mayor John F. Street has already promised to veto. Among the bills are measures intending to slash the city's wage tax for residents and nonresidents to 3.25 percent by 2014, the omission of the business-privilege tax by 2015, and the effective reduction of taxes for partnerships such as architectural and law firms. The amended budget also restores the city’s funding in full of the Atwater Kent Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the African American Museum. Scheduled so that Council could pass its budget by the City Charter deadline of May 31, the unusual Memorial Day vote proposes reforms, which Street has called, “irresponsible.” Six Council allies of Street guaranteed not to override Street’s veto, eliminating the possibility of the budget passing, without his signature.

“Street twists arms,” said At-Large Councilperson James F. Kenney, Chair of the Committee of Legislative Oversight. “He intimidated the President of the Chamber of Commerce and the head of the Tax Reform Commission, to say what he wanted them to say and not in the best interests of the tax payers. It is my suspicion that the Chamber did a complete turnaround in their views on Street’s tax reform plans, because Street and his administration had something to do with it.” Chamber CEO Mark Schweiker testified on May 10 in Room 400 of City Hall in support of the Street-endorsed tax reform bills 040009 through 040021. “What you have before you in the way of the aforementioned bills, is a fiscally responsible package provided that the savings realized in this plan is not used to offset tax reform and is not used to plug other budget holes. I believe that there is little dispute that these recommendations will lead to a more competitive Philadelphia.” Commission Executive Director Christopher Dwyer and Schweiker, could not be reached for comment.

“The mayor’s budget is not the budget that I would have presented if I were the mayor,” said City Controller Jonathan A. Saidel, who added, “If you look at what a budget it is, it’s really a numbers forum, a reflection of the priorities you have as a leader. It’s a reflection of the hopes and dreams with a limited amount of money.”

Among the intentions cited in Street’s $3.4 billion Five Year Financial Plan for the General Fund Operating Budget (which has been contested in Council hearings since the 17 members announced their March 31 hearing start date), are the cutting of the funding of the Office of Arts and Culture by $400,000 (thereby eliminating this office), the Cultural Fund by $1 million (cutting it by $1.4 million), the African American Museum by $30,000, the elimination of the $2.25 million annual operating subsidy for the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the $300,000 annual operating subsidy of the Atwater Kent Museum.

“The budget priorities of John Street are totally out of kilter,” continued Kenney. “None of the cuts are good. These are all quality of life issues that Street has ignored. Street touts himself as the quality-of-life mayor but his actions do not speak to that.”

“Since day one of the mayor announcing his plan, I have felt that arts and culture have been unfairly hit,” said At-Large Councilperson Blondell Reynolds-Brown.


SoRi-MoRi's Korean Dance and Drum Troupe opened the rally in Love Park. photo, Kelly Jensen

Overall, Street’s proposal, which was issued at the beginning of March, calls for a $4.4 million reduction in funding of the arts in Philadelphia as a means of erasing a $227 million budget deficit. Written on page xvi of the proposal, the “reductions will save the City $6.25 million annually.”

“I am accepting of the strategy that all city departments bear equally the weight of handling the deficit,” said Reynolds-Brown. “When you look at how the Cultural Fund is being cut and then the fact that Fleet Services are only being cut twenty percent, you see the need to even this out. All city departments have to share the burden.

Kenney said, “I have no idea why these budget cuts came about. They are one of the stupidest things I have ever heard of. There’s no reason why that money should be removed from the budget.”

District Councilperson Frank DiCiccio said, “I just don’t see the sense in these proposed cuts. And that’s not a political and rhetorical statement to make myself sound good. I just don’t get it.”

“You can learn a lot about people when you look at the budget they present,” said Saidel, who continued, “The other thing is that a lot of people cutting arts and culture never lived in Philly or only recently worked here.” Street was raised on a farm in Montgomery County. Saidel added, “My position is if you can find people to fill high positions in Philly, who come from our area, you’ll find them to have a nexus between their heart and mind.”

On June 7, because the Council did not have the 12 votes needed to override Street’s veto, the budget process began anew. The 17-member Council commenced hearings on the second budget bill, which contained all of the originally-proposed cuts to cultural funding.

Kenney added, “Street’s proposal is extremely shortsighted and will probably be reversed. In the end there are so many areas of waste in such areas as the housing agencies and the Redevelopment Authority, that a lot of other obligations before the arts need to be streamlined so that a lot of truths can be recognized.”

At the invitation of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, more than one hundred supporters of the amended budget visited Room 400 of City Hall throughout three days of deliberations, carrying signs, written upon which were slogans such as, “More Art Not Less.” Council hearings began there at 10am and lasted through 8pm, each day, through June 9. The Council and the mayor must agree on the budget plan before the beginning of the fiscal year, July 1.

“There are numerous areas of the budget that are totally, disgracefully wasteful, such as runaway overtime in the police department, prisons and in the city government, generally, where there has been $134 million in unbudgeted overtime in the last year,” Kenney continued.

Proponents for the restoration of the funding, such as the Cultural Alliance, have called to attention the economic necessity for the sustenance of an amply-funded city arts core. Citing its sources as “Greater Philadelphia’s Competitive Edge: The Nonprofit Culture Industry and its Value to the Region,” a 1998 study compiled by the Pennsylvania Economy League and the 2004 “Greater Philadelphia Outlook Survey,” by Sovereign Bank, GPCA has publicized via fax, postcard and e-mail campaigns and live appearances, that taxes generated by the cultural industry for Philadelphia, equal $6.5 million. The PEL analysis was accomplished using the IMPLAN economic model, a system of assessing economic projections through the interfacing of a business database (in the study, one containing all of Philadelphia’s cultural 5013 C businesses) and software that simulates the mean economic activity of the businesses populating the database through the implementation of “social account” matrices, multiplier tables and output aggregation tools that mimic economic functions and introduce impact assessments. According to the study, the arts and culture sector of the five county region generates yearly revenues of $564 million through consumer spending, $224 million in personal income derived directly and indirectly from arts and culture employers ($199 million of which is salary), $10.2 million in overall state income and sales taxes, and over $6.5 million in City of Philadelphia sales and wage taxes. The six year-old study also reported that the sector also is responsible for the creation of 11,377 jobs.

“I don’t know if those PEL numbers are perfect--- it’s always difficult to say,” said Saidel who continued, “but if you look at the large number of yellow school buses coming to and from the city visiting the arts, you can also believe that because we get two million visitors here per year, if every citizen of Philly visited museums only once, outside visitors would still outdo our population by twenty-five percent. So, why would we not take care of this investment?”

Finally, according to PEL, out of the total revenue figure of $788 million, $370 million is “new” revenue, impacted from tourism, new employees and newly engaged demographics. Total taxes generated by the cultural industry from the state as a whole, GPCA purports, equal $16.7 million.

“Every dollar invested in the arts supports two dollars in regional spending,” said Reynolds-Brown. “Every twenty-five thousand dollars spent on the arts equals one job. By transferring our love for the arts into business terms, we are not cocky, but can be sure that we’ll restore the funding.”

Reynolds-Brown, who grew up in the Mantua section of west Philadelphia serves on the board of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitor's Bureau, The Pennsylvania Ballet, The Wellness Center of Philadelphia, and the Cultural Fund. She was also a dancer in the Philadelphia Dance Company. “Public murals, for example… kick start other positive acts like people cleaning up… their streets. [They] have a happy spin-off or domino effect in neighborhood beautification. If you cut their funding, the positive effects they stimulated will also cease.”

“If you look at the suburban traffic on the weekend, people are not necessarily coming into Center City for a ball game, but for the arts and culture here,” said Saidel. “From a financial standpoint, there is a positive domino effect to be protected.”

At 4pm on May 7, approximately four hundred people attended a demonstration in Love Park to protest the proposed budget cuts. Poets, dancers, musicians and artists were joined by arts and culture leaders, employees and patrons, drawing attention from the commuters escaping the rain on JFK Boulevard. “The rally symbolized the importance of everyone working together for a vibrant Philadelphia,” said Rebecca Lang Staffieri, Advertising and Promotions Coordinator of GPCA, which organized the rally.” Protestors were asked to sign postcards collected for delivery to Street, bearing the message, "I understand that you have a responsibility to balance the city's budget, but your proposed $4 million cut to the arts and cultural organizations is too steep.” Staffieri adds, “If the Mayor chooses to veto the amendments City Council proposed … arts and culture organizations will be challenged to make difficult decisions about what programs they can provide and people they can serve."

The hour-long proceedings opened with SoRi-MoRi's Korean Dance and Drum Troupe. Prose, poetry and dance were delivered by the members of Art Sanctuary. The Olive Dance Theatre performed Hip Hop and modern dance. Fran Aulston, Executive Director of the West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, spoke and led the crowd in the chant "Don't Cut Culture!" Doc Gibbs, Music Director and Percussionist for "Emeril Live!" led the crowd in waving signed postcards. Following a ceremonial lifting of the shroud on the Love Statue, Peggy Amsterdam, Executive Director of GPCA, concluded the demonstration with a speech, emphasizing that 230 Philadelphia organizations would be affected by the cuts, which in trickling down would also affect children of families employed by the affected organizations and benefited by the educational enrichment offered by a healthily endowed cultural core. Amsterdam’s speech was followed by a drum reprise.

“We represent 270 large and small arts and culture organizations in the region,” said Amsterdam. “GPCA is leading the charge against the budget cuts. We are the focal point and the voice of this movement. Somebody has to be.”

Amsterdam, who has been president of the Alliance since 2001, holds as an example of arts cuts that didn’t work, Governor James McGreevy’s 2003 failed proposal to fix a state deficit of $5 billion by eliminating all State aid for arts, culture and history organizations. Amsterdam said, “Legislators shouldn’t regard the arts organizations as a societal frill, but in terms of the economic and educational value they bring.”


	Doc Gibbs led the crowd in waving signed postcards. photo, Kelly Jensen

The GPMC was founded as a means for arts groups to gain visibility, during the city’s huge bicentennial celebration. “The arts draw people to the city and they keep kids off the street,” said Amsterdam, who added, “There is even a higher property value growth rate in communities with arts centers.” The Please Touch Museum stands to lose 61 percent of its $19,300 annual grant from the Cultural Fund. “The mayor and the council need to take a leadership role to find a way of keeping the arts funded. It will benefit businesses and families.”

Amsterdam, who was born in Chestnut Hill and grew up in Cheltenham, continued, “Studies have shown that children involved with the arts stay in school longer and score higher on their SAT’s and are less likely to be behavior problems.” Amsterdam, who took Saturday classes at Tyler as a child and danced semi-professionally, received her M.A. in Art History and Museum Studies at George Washington University. Having been a panelist for the NEA, she produced several operas and testified with Alec Baldwin and NEA Chair Jane Alexander in Washington, DC during the Cultural Wars.

Councilperson Michael Nutter took the Love Park stage on May 7, while the rain eased. "If we can have the money for the things we want, we should certainly be able to have the money for the things we need. Arts and culture, recreation, those kinds of activities, are what makes a city a great city."

Spiral Q Puppet Theatre flecked the crowds of the rally with color. Its Justice Works program is dedicated to the promotion of activism through the inclusion of puppets and props. Teaching Artist Beth “Ixnay” Nixon, who has been coordinating the group in preparation for its incoming Executive Director Tracy Broyles, organized two, free ‘Open Builds’ at the group’s studio, publicized by flyers and posters, inviting activists to build props for the rally. Nixon said a dozen people showed up at each Build, which brought twenty five protestors (in addition to thirty additional friends and neighbors of the group) to the demonstration. Once we were on site, we were able to pull people from the crowd, asking them if they wanted to carry props. Teenagers from the Village of Arts and Humanities were enlisted to operate a giant puppet which danced to the drums of Kulu Mele. VAH stands to lose $7,808 of the $12,800 annual grant it receives from the Cultural Fund. Spiral Q will lose 61 percent of its $11,100 annual CF grant if Street has his way. “It was a relatively small turnout for such a crucial and heartbreaking issue. Everybody should be flipping their lids and be up in arms about all of the cuts, even the ones affecting so-called small and un-famous things—the rec centers and after school programs, through which Culture, conscientious people realize, is nourished and fed.”

Moore College President Happy Fernandez explained that instead of Moore getting $10,000 annually from the Cultural Fund to finance its free galleries, it will receive $4,000. “It’s not a big chunk of change,” she said. “But it goes toward important general operating support for our galleries.” Fernandez (whose galleries receive $500,000 from the Fund) was protesting at the May 7 rally. “Happy’s students depend on finding jobs in a strong arts community that can survive,” added Amsterdam. Fernandez concluded, “If you are a smaller, community-based arts group currently helped by the Cultural Fund, chances are you’ll feel these proposed cuts intensely. If they go through, this will be bad for the city in terms of its economy and its prestige.”


Protestors from Moore College braving the rain. photo, K. Jensen

“The big losers will be the Philadelphia people and the businesses who are trying to attract visitors. The trickle down is going to hurt,” continued Amsterdam, whose verbal testimony was received by the Council at continuous morning and afternoon sessions during the week of May 10. Amsterdam was accompanied by Meryl Levitz, CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation.

Levitz’s testimony was delivered at 3pm. She announced that visitors to Philadelphia spend $14.5 million per day/$5.3 billion per year in Philadelphia, and book 3.1 million hotel room nights. Forty-one percent of all hotel room nights in the region were rented by leisure travelers in 2002 (in the late ‘80s this number was only 15 – 17 percent) and the number of leisure travelers has grown “a whopping” 39.5 percent between 1997 to 2002, from 5.59 million to 7.8 million. Visitors’ stays have increased from 1.8 days in 1990 to 3.6 days in 2002, said Levitz. “… Our visitors are finding more reasons to stay longer, and many of these reasons have directly to do with our arts and culture events, including programs, museums, theaters, galleries and performances.”

“We’ve been talking about a Convention Center expansion, to attract people to fill our hotels,” said DiCicco. “But visitors come for the overall experience of Philly, a great part of which is to experience its arts and culture.

“You can learn a lot about people when you look at the budget they present,” said Saidel.

Among Street’s other proposals are the closing of recreation centers, playgrounds and pools. In a recent news conference, Street said some playgrounds "are patches of ground that we should get rid of. We should sell them."

Saidel, whose May 11 report on the Recreation Department’s Maintenance Division cited unsafe and under-maintained conditions at a number of the city's recreation centers and playgrounds, explained that Street’s plan of shutting down and cutting funding on Recreation is “going too far.” “To use Recreation’s categories of A, B, C and D to describe conditions, there are a variety of D properties unfixed or unused in twenty years,” said Saidel. “Those should have been done away with as City properties, not because we have a budget crisis but because it would have been a good business decision. The problem with the mayor’s idea is its concept that any rec center costing us money, is costing us because it is being used, not because it is in ill repair.”

Street is also proposing to reduce the City’s contribution to Philadelphia Community College by $750,000 and slash the City’s Penn’s Landing subsidy to $500,000 (a one-third reduction). Sustained funding for the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI), a proposed $500 million to create a new economic development fund and $10 million for college scholarships, and a $5 million subsidization of the Convention Center, have also been contested in the Council.

DiCicco, whose family has occupied 11th Street and Federal, since 1910, said, “These are not venues that are a drain on our resources but quite to the contrary.” Comparing Street’s Fiscal Year 2004 and 2005 proposals, there is an overall, negative sixty-four percent change. The Mural Arts Program, actually a city office, would lose $48,914. The African American Museum, which has temporarily lain off its entire staff because of revenue shortages, will suffer a ten percent funding reduction of $30,000. “The wonderful arts and cultural institutions … create jobs and tax revenues,” said DiCicco. “Statistically, for every dollar invested in the art museum, the city gets a five dollar return. For me, that’s a no-brainer.”

The Avenue of the Arts, which has been struggling to find beautification funds to start such projects as the building of the Rev. Lusk Early Childhood Intervention Center on North Broad Street, may have to buy the cheaper wheelchair ramps, because Street wants to cut its subsidization by seventeen percent, or $16,500.

The Philadelphia Cultural Fund, whose 2004 grants totaled $2,291,961 and dispersed among more than two hundred organizations, will face a cut of 61 percent. In 2005, while Philadelphians begin their second year of paying off the $90 million bond managed by the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development (PAID) used to build Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Stadium, they will also be able to attend fewer presentations by the Philadelphia Young Playwrights and the Islamic Cultural Preservation and Information Council (whose annual Cultural Fund grants respectively were $11,000 and $5,600). Why catch a play at InterAct or a concert on Penn’s Landing when you can catch an “away” ball game on television?

“I grew up here in Philadelphia,” said Saidel. “I remember going to the cultural events. From a moral standpoint, we have a responsibility as a government of the people to give young people an opportunity to witness the beauty of life through painting and other cultural activities.”

According to a two-part 2002 study published by the Performing Arts Research Coalition, of the thousands of consumers who were surveyed in Cincinnati, Denver, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Austin, Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Sarasota, Washington, D.C. and the state of Alaska, 69.8 percent had seen a live performing arts event, 66.4 percent had visited a museum or gallery and 51.7 percent had attended a professional sporting event. The Philadelphia Business Journal 2004 Book of Lists cites the top 25 tourist attractions in 2002 to be cultural organizations whose attendance topped off at 11,894,840. While the Eagles, 76ers, Phillies, Flyers, Phantoms, Wings and Kixx play 236 home games, their total 2003-2004 annual attendance is 4,890,858 and average game attendance is 23,106 [Source, www.kenn.com]. “You don’t need a study to understand the economic impact,” explained Saidel. “Just by growing up here and by being a politician, you know there is a great number of visitors to the arts and culture.”

At-Large Councilperson Jack Kelly said, “Eleven million people patronize Philadelphia’s art institutions each year. The Philly museum brings the city $50 million annually in revenue. We need to support institutions that bring revenue to Philadelphia.”

“The museum is not an entity we dump money into without a return,” said DiCicco. “We won’t be saving but will be losing money.” Saidel added, “From a financial standpoint, we make money from all the arts and culture here. People come to the art museum. I think we ought to spend more money on advertising places like Atwater Kent than destroying these vehicles of people’s appreciation.

DiCicco continued, “And what about the job losses? The losses are compounded because all those people who will become unemployed in the arts, will have their unemployment paid by the Philly taxpayers. How many of these unemployed people will be able to get another job quickly? Probably not most of them.” Although the average sports ticket price of twenty dollars is also roughly the average admission paid to see an opera, ballet, symphony, a play, a jazz band or spent to purchase a cheap painting, the majority of arts programming (i.e. a poetry reading at Allens Lane Art Center--- which stands to lose sixty-one percent of its $8,900 Cultural Fund grant) is almost free. However, considering that multiplying twenty dollars by sports’ 4,890,858 attendees (equaling $97,817,160), falls $690,182,840 short of the $788 million projected in the PEL study, it is a wonder to politicians why Street feels that a negative sixty-four percent change in cultural funding will ameliorate the city’s $227 million deficit.

By this logic, Street’s reasoning would cause the city to lose $504,320,000 of the annual $788 million total arts and culture revenue projected by PEL. However, Philadelphians must pay off the $90 million PAID bond landed by the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) to build the new stadiums. Like it or not, if sports attendance drops, the City’s deficit will grow wider.

The investments by the State (excluding Philadelphia) and City in stadium construction, equaling $180 million and $303.9 million respectively, added to the $90 million PAID bonds [a $394 million City investment overall; source, PIDC], posit themselves as partial culprits in the creation of the $227 million deficit, which, through the sacrificing of the arts, Street is expecting to eradicate.

“The City capitulated, which was a mistake, by giving in to the teams' demands," said Saidel during a PAW Print interview in March. "There is nothing that can now be done to cop our losses.”

“The stadium legislation was passed in December, 2000,” said Reynolds-Brown. “That’s a long time ago. We missed the opportunity to do anything more with that. We now need to focus on the future and begin strategically to think about where to find a dedicated funding stream for arts and culture. Page 65 of Street’s proposal reads, “Both the Phillies and the Eagles signed long-term 30-year leases, and the new stadiums are projected to generate $159 million in revenue for the City from wage, business, sales and amusement taxes. The Eagles and the Phillies, who are not taxed on the revenue from naming rights and G-3 loans, occupy stadiums at the intersection of 11th Street and Patterson Avenue that are located far from the commercial hives of Center City. Saidel said that sports patrons do not spend any time in Center City patronizing restaurants, shops and clubs, but jump on I-95 and go home.

“I supported the building of the stadiums, but there is no reason why we shouldn’t be supporting the art museums in a similar fashion. We have the money to do it,” said Kenney.

“I voted for the stadiums,” said DiCicco, “But if I had my way, the baseball stadiums would be in Center City where people could patronize local businesses. Moreover, that the teams were allowed to change addresses before their lease expired, causing the city to lose the $150,000 to $160,000 per team that it had been paid yearly in rent, prompts a call for the new operating budget to adjust for the loss. While the active 2004 budget has targeted a $2.46 million allocation for the stadiums (a 46 percent reduction from 2003), Street is calling for zero stadium funding in 2005. The $394 million invested by the City, the $180 million contributed by the State, the $14 million given by the Delaware River Port Authority and the $29 million drawn from “Other” resources {Source: PIDC) since 2001, will do just fine. The final cost to the teams, City, State, DRPA, and “Other” was $1,098,000,000.

“If left alone, arts and culture will probably bring in a hundred times more revenue to the city than our expenditure [on this sector],” said Kenney.

“The economic spillover,” said Amsterdam, “of the teams is smaller [than that of the arts], because the stadiums don’t provide the benefit to local businesses provided by arts centers, which comparatively are located in the heart of Center City.”

“As Philadelphians, we need to be more circumspect, using the stadium project as a model of the consequences of having a major construction project without planning to get something back,” said Reynolds-Brown.

In March, Brett Mandel, then the Financial and Policy Director of the Controller’s Office, told PAW Pint that debt payment on the stadiums’ operating and maintenance subsidization (the $90 million PAID bond) will be made by the taxpayers per successive five-year periods, with Philadelphians giving $6.8 million during the first five, $7.8 million the next, then $9 million per each year of a succeeding five year period. Twenty million dollars will be paid by taxpayers each year for twenty-three years as debt service on the stadium bonds, which the city sold to raise the construction project revenue, altogether a total of twenty-five to thirty-million dollars per year paid by Philadelphia's taxpayers until the stadium debts are honored.

One good thing that came out of the stadium deal is that each team agreed to give one million dollars per team, per year, for the next thirty years, for kids,” said Reynolds-Brown. “We got a Children’s Fund out of ten months of negotiations.”

The Phillies and Eagles, like good sports, also contributed $310 million and $172 million toward the stadium project, which had an overall cost of $1,098,000,000. That works out to the Eagles funding 28.2 percent of the stadiums, the Phillies 15.6 percent, the City, PAID bonds, State, DRPA and “Other,” paying $616 million of the $1.098 billion or 56.1 percent. The teams contributed 43.9 percent.

The teams are not taxed on naming rights (the Eagles have booked $6.7 million per year through 2002), G-3 loans (the Eagles have received $150 million in G-3), Personal Seat Licenses (Eagles, $60 million) tickets, food and beverages, or parking. There is sales tax on clothing and keepsakes sold at Majestic Clubhouse Store and Alley Store, which are independent businesses located at Citizens Bank Stadium and licensed to sell Phillies merchandise. There is also a City car rental tax especially levied to help the City finance the PAID bonds. Citizens Bank Stadium is owned by the Phillies Ball Club which is owned by a limited partnership. Veterans Stadium, formerly the home of both teams, used to be owned by the City.

The fight to preserve Philadelphia’s cultural life becomes, according to politicians and protestors, a matter of convincing tax payers to decide between Art and the Circus Maximus. Opting for Spartan remedies, such as forbidding stadiums ever to be built in Philadelphia again, would happen only after Philadelphians, on the whole, realize that they are-- according to Saidel, myopic accountants. Let it also be known that while the PEL study purports the arts and culture sector to create 11,377 jobs, that Street’s plan heralds the PIDC (the agency which produced the PAID bonds for the stadium projects) for creating a targeted 2,000 new jobs in 2004, an actual 2,313 in 2003 and a projected 3,000 in 2005.

“The Eagles,” added Amsterdam, “who will play at most twelve home games, do not have as good an economic impact as the Philadelphia Museum.”

Funding for Philadelphia’s museums rose slightly between 1993 and 1994, but was cut to zero in 1995. Out of the five cities whose on-line budgets have been studied by PAW Print (New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Philadelphia), Philadelphia is the only city cutting museum funding. In New York, for example, the Department of Cultural Affairs budgets $118,000 for expenses and $250,000 capital spending for museums alone (Source, www.nyc.gov). San Francisco proposes to increase museum funding by $0.6 million ($2.9 million in 2003; Source, http://sfgov.org). This money is being lined while, like Philadelphia, city revenue is increasing modestly.

“When we begin to cut away from arts and culture, which make us great, that’s something we can never get back,” said Saidel.

Amsterdam says that the recognition paid to arts and culture by the Economic Development and Commerce Committee of the Best Practices Board of the National Governors Association (where New York Governor George Pataki and Ed Rendell are members) ought to be copied by Philadelphia legislators. “Nationally, the arts and culture sector is recognized as a real political power base,” said Amsterdam, who also mentioned that the Arts, Culture and Recreation Committee of the US Conference of Mayors is another example of national recognition of the sector. Amsterdam served under Delaware Governor Tom Carper as Director of the Delaware Division of the Arts for eight years. A 16-member agency, the DDOA is unlike Philadelphia’s seemingly doomed Office of Culture Affairs, because it is enabled under state code and is funded by the State legislature and the NEA.

While the stadium projects have cost Philadelphia $394 million and the State $180 million, Street’s proposal indicates that the mayor is swearing off of the locating of like-sized revenue prizes to build departments and services, which are almost as popular as Sports. The Police, Fire, Sanitation, and the Free Library, since 2003, have experienced an aggregate, mean change of negative 4.97 percent.

	2003	2004	2005	Cut
Police	491,321	495,856	481,173	-2.96%
Fire	161,317	175,888	162,603	-2,96%
Sanitation	87,788	90,721	88,765	-2.16%
Library	35,866	38,282	35,526	-7.20%
Art Muesums	2,513	2,542	0	-100.00%

At the same time, City revenues during the same time frame are rising from an actual $3,085,735,000 in 2003 to a projected amount of $3,184,467,000 and $3,342,362,000 in 2004 and 2005, showing projected increases of 3.2 percent and 4.96 percent (Source, www.phila.gov/mayor/highlights/index.html). Offsetting these cuts and revenue increases are the following proposed increases:

in thousands	2003	2004	2005	Increase
Employee Benefits	540,605	594,813	713,724	19.99%
Human Services Dept.	538,632	585,821	640,801	9.39%
Mayor's Office	4,236	3,783	4,195	10.89%
Mayor's Scholarships	198	200	4,200	200.00%
SEPTA Subsidiary	57,247	0	57,034	--

There is an inconsistency in the FY 2005 proposal denoting the activity of the Commerce Department /Economic Stimulus Program, and the mayor’s summary mentioning this department/program’s allowances in his 2004 “Budget in Brief.” Within the list of the General Fund allowances by department in the proposal, actual 2003 activity was recorded as $4.7 million, and 2004 budgeted allowance is $61 million, in Appendix III, Page 3. In the “Budget in Brief,” on page eight, the allowance is cited as $4.6 million, “to direct toward key projects that serve as economic generators.” In earlier pages of Street’s proposal, in the Obligation history of FY 2005, the allowance is stated to be $4.6 million in 2004—not the $61 million allowed to this department, cited in the General Fund activity. If nothing else, this is sloppy bookkeeping that should be questioned.

"Overtime expenses are way out of control," said Kenney. The Street plan also announces, as part of Operation Safe Streets (the mayor’s signature battle plan against drug-related crimes), the mayor’s intention to shift $10 million of the $491 million proposed Police allocation from off-street administrative expenses to on-street activities.

“It isn’t so much that the budget proposal is meant to move money from one place to another, but to insist that there is no money to do all the things,” said DiCicco. “The figure for police overtime is mind boggling,” said Reynolds-Brown. “If we were able to take a fair amount of dollars from police overtime, we wouldn’t be having a conversation about cutting arts and culture.

“The biggest chunk from the General Fund in the last couple of years has been for police and prison overtime,” said DiCicco. “Sure, I want safe streets, but if people don’t have jobs, that puts people out on the streets and the ripple effect is additional crime.”

According to Street’s proposal, about 87 percent of the force serves in on-street bureaus, a percentage, which it claims is five percent behind the average for police street presence among the ten largest cities reported by the US Department of Justice. Kenney asserts that the Police Department is the biggest abuser of overtime privileges. Street’s plan allocates $55 million for overtime expenditure in 2005.

“Most of the overtime has been for Operation Safe Streets, which I think has been a disaster,” Kenney said. “We have a $60 million overtime number for the police so far this year, while the crime and murder rates are up. Polling has told us that people feel no additional attraction to the Police Department after Safe Streets than before.” DiCicco added to the list of money pits, saying that the city should sell a 670-acre property it owns in the Pocono Mountains. It $500,000 per year to maintain this land, which yearly is used by approximately 500 Philadelphia school children during several weeks of the summer.

Reynolds-Brown contends that a $5 million allocation planned by Street for the advancement of the Convention Center, if reallocated, could have restored the funding to arts and culture programs and as well as $1 million for behavioral health programs, “however, the legislation for this allocation is already in place and now there is nothing we can do.” Aside from these restorations, replenishing the proposed $800,000 slashing of the City’s contribution to the Recreation fund would still be in order if Reynolds-Brown is to have her druthers.

“You can’t just use dollars and cents to judge the impact of closing a rec center on the people it services,” Saidel added, who added, “You have to look at the proximity of other rec centers, asking perhaps if there can be a consolidation.” The unsafe conditions and unsightly appearances were due, according to Saidel’s report, in part, to an enormous backlog of open work orders. “I told the mayor that action shouldn’t be taken because we’re broke but analytically, properly, openly and above board with the community members every year. That way, there wouldn’t be a public outcry and the thought of a hidden agenda to save money just to hurt the children.”

Reynolds-Brown is Chair of the Committee on Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs. The Department of Recreation, in Street’s plan, goes from receiving a targeted $38.7 million in General Fund Obligations in 2004 to $31.2 million in 2005.

From March 2001 through July 2003, the number of outstanding work orders increased from 1,800 to 3,900, an annual growth rate of nearly 40 percent, according the report by Saidel who said, “I think [Street’s] process is wrong. The way he is choosing rec centers to close is not taking into account the impact it has on the live-ability within a neighborhood.”

The number of full time Recreation jobs, at 593, is projected to remain unchanged. In his proposal, Street bases his argument for closing an as-yet undetermined number of recreation centers on the decrease of Philadelphia’s population; since the time when many of the centers were built, Philadelphia’s population has decreased from 2 million to 1.5 million persons.

“If it weren’t for parks and playgrounds,” Saidel continued, “I wouldn’t know what a lawn looked like. Saidel, who grew up in Oxford Circle, recalled the pool at the Max Myers Playground on Bustleton Avenue, open in Northeast Philadelphia between 1898 and 1987. “If it weren’t for 500 boys jumping in on a Saturday and 500 girls jumping in on a Sunday, I wouldn’t know what a pool looked like. There is something to be said about giving those opportunities to kids during a hot summer. Every day that I played ball was another day I didn’t get in trouble. There are a variety of D and C categories that should be done away with, because nobody uses them. You have to look at things from both a moral and an economic standpoint.”

Another bone of contention is the funding of Fleet Services. “Reducing the proposed fleet management allocation would also free up more dollars,” said Reynolds-Brown. While $36.7 million is allocated in the General Fund of the adopted budget, Street intends to increase Fleet Management’s allocation to $38.9 million in 2005. However, funding for fleet vehicle purchases would drop from the 2004 adopted figure of $10.7 million to $3.18 million, reducing the number of city vehicles from 6,200 to 5,900.

Street, proposing perhaps better axe work, proposes to do away with the City worker’s pension fund. Pensions currently are determined by a formula calculating years of service, final salary and job ranking. Employees can retire at 72 percent of their final salary after serving 35 years.

Kenney said, “Over the years, bad investments in the Pension Fund have resulted in the General Fund having to contribute more to the Pension Fund than it should have. That whole pension fund needs to be overhauled and audited.”

Because the pension fund has not earned a targeted annual 9 percent since four years ago, the mayor projects that the city will have to make up a $319 million 2005 difference. City payments had totaled $196 million annually when Street took office.

None of the council people have commented on whether or not the budget proceedings will last until the July 1 deadline. The level of optimism regarding whether Street’s plan will be overcome, is mixed. Acknowledging Street’s calling to fix the deficit, Reynolds-Brown believes that arts and culture ought to share a fair percentage of the burden. It’s part of arts and culture becoming recognized as an economic sector.

“We are now looking at ninety percent restoration and the process is absolutely fluid. I am absolutely confident that there will be restoration,” said Reynolds-Brown. DiCicco said, “I shudder to think about what those cuts will mean to the city if they happen. It is too bizarre for me to think about what my comment would be, should this happen. I would be more even more generous than Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown by saying that ninety percent restoration is even too low, as any aim.” Presently, the aim is overriding Street’s promised veto, which may happen only by building a coalition in the Council.

“This involves the collective will and involvement of the arts community and such Council members as Jack Kelly and Frank DiCicco, who both did a press conference with me early on to put this issue on the radar. We are working on building a majority in the council,” said Reynolds-Brown. “[The City} would institute the tax reforms at a risk. Tax cuts as well as cuts in core services like arts and culture is unacceptable. We have to ensure that arts and culture are hit fairly.”

Saidel concluded, “Lately, when I go outside of the city to make speeches, I get questions about the cuts on culture. People are concerned because they actually benefit from the arts by visiting Philly. There is a domino effect that people have to take into consideration, like some of these [PEL] studies do. Even if the arts weren’t bringing in a great deal of revenue, there is more to living in a city, in terms of live-ability than dollars and cents. I can’t imagine New York City doing away with the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”