Street addresses city's budget

There was standing room only at the Kimmel Center yesterday, but the sounds were less than harmonious as the Philadelphia City Council convened on stage to receive Mayor John Street's budget address. While enumerating the many challenges he faced upon assuming office, challenges which he has since taken on, Street was briefly interrupted by a blunt clatter as the image of the city seal affixed to the podium dropped to the floor. Street chose to ignore the interruption, but the incident made clear, in a microcosm, that the city still has many kinks to work out of its system. With an estimated $834 million deficit looming in 2008, effective cost cuts and efficient allocations are Philadelphia's only lifeline. Although the tax cuts announced by City Council last month -- estimated to exceed $319 million -- will likely make for happy constituents, Street's proposed cuts in city jobs and facilities may counteract these good tidings. The city job cuts will begin with "50 administration positions, mostly in the mayor's office, the Finance Department and the managing director's office," Street said. "The elimination of these positions will save $17.5 million over the life of the Five-Year Plan." The mayor proposed to cut 1,614 city employees by Fiscal Year 2008, reducing their numbers to 2,500. These cuts will not affect either the police or fire departments. The other major cut the mayor has proposed involves "closing or relocating" several neighborhood facilities such as swimming pools, recreation centers and playgrounds. "You can rest assured I do not propose simply to close facilities at random," Street said. He stressed the high proportion of facilities to residents in the city, noting that many of these are "poorly staffed, physically deteriorated and more of a drain on resources than service providers in communities." Although Street is cutting down on facilities services, he proposed three new measures aimed at providing program services for families and children. These include a $5-million Child Care Health and Safety Fund, endeavoring to increase the number of children eligible for daycare and aftercare programs, a $30-million Free Library Expansion Fund and a $25-million School-Based Facilities Improvement Fund which will select and outfit schools as "safety-zones" for after-hours programming. Street affirmed his determination to continue funding for projects hatched under his administration. These include Operation Safe Streets, the increased policing plan slated to receive $77.5 million over the next five years, the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, which aims to decrease blight in city neighborhoods at a cost of $40 million and a proposed expansion of the Convention Center, which will cost an estimated $11.9 million. Budget hearings addressing allocations to specific departments and programs are scheduled to take place over the course of next month.