Squilla will now propose lifting the ban on waterfront nightclubs in a much smaller area

The ban on nightclubs and other assembly uses near the Delaware River would continue in all but a few blocks of Fishtown and Northern Liberties under the latest plan to amend the Neighborhood Commercial Area Overlay.

First District Councilman Mark Squilla introduced legislation in September that would have greatly reduced the size of the overlay district, meaning nightclubs and restaurants could have been opened by right in most of Northern Liberties, Fishtown, Kensington and Port Richmond.

Civic organizations in some of those neighborhoods were concerned the nightclub-related problems of the 1980s and '90s which the overlay was established to curb would return.

In response, Squilla said he'll amend his own bill at a Dec. 3 City Council Rules Committee hearing, reducing the area from which the overlay would be lifted to a few parcels at Frankford and Delaware avenues where Michael Samschick and Core Realty want to build a multi-venue entertainment complex (learn more here) and a few blocks south of that project's Laurel Street boundary, down to Poplar Street. The hearing is set for 10 a.m. in City Hall Room 400.

The amendment would also reduce the area in which an extra parking requirement for waterfront projects would be repealed to the area between Frankford and Poplar.

The overlay's current boundaries are the Delaware River, Front Street, Spring Garden Street, 5th Street, Girard Avenue, Frankford Avenue and Lehigh Avenue. The parking requirement extends over an even wider area. Squilla's original legislation would reduce the overlay area by more than half, leaving it to apply in two, much-smaller areas: One bounded by Spring Garden Street, Front Street, 5th Street, and Girard Avenue, the other by the west side of Delaware Avenue, Lehigh Avenue, Trenton Avenue, York Street, Aramingo Avenue, and Cumberland Street. It would eliminate the parking requirement completely.

Before the new zoning code was passed, nightclubs and other places of assembly, bars and restaurants could not be opened or existing ones expanded within the overlay without a zoning variance. The new code changed the rules so that bars and restaurants could expand or open by special exception. (The difference: The party seeking a variance must prove a hardship without one. Under special exception, the burden of proof rests with the community, which must show the granting of the exception would cause harm beyond which is normally expected with that type of use.)

The Core proposal had won the support of Fishtown Neighbors Association, and received from the ZBA relief on on the assembly, restaurant and parking-related zoning needed for the project to move forward before Squilla introduced the bill to shrink the overlay.

But then neighborhood resident Jethro Heiko filed an appeal of the ZBA decision in the Court of Common Pleas, which Squilla said prompted him to introduce the legislation so Core could begin development.

The appeal is set for 10 a.m. Feb. 26 at City Hall Court Room 426.

If city council passes the original bill or a version amended the way Squilla says he intends to, next month, Core wouldn't need the variances it has received.

While there is some relief from community groups that nightclubs wouldn't be able to open in much of the Central Delaware with the proposed changes, not everyone is happy, or completely happy,  with Squilla's decisions.

The area between Laurel and Poplar is within Northern Liberties, and Northern Liberties Neighbors Association wants the overlay protection to remain there.

“We keep saying over and over again that we will oppose any attempt to repeal (the overlay) within the boundaries of Northern Liberties,” said NLNA President Matt Ruben.

Ruben is also the chairman of the Central Delaware Advocacy Group, an organization comprised of representatives from waterfront communities and other entities that advocates for the city's long-range goals for the waterfront.

CDAG is concerned that Squilla's decision to introduce legislation that they believe would make moot a pending appeal sets a bad precedent that could undermine residents' and civic organization's ability to appeal future ZBA decisions. Earlier this month they decided to continue to oppose the legislation even if it is amended, largely for this reason.

Heiko's attorney, Paul Boni, said his client's appeal applies to the zoning approvals Core holds, and so long as he holds them, the appeal goes forward. If city council passes legislation that means the project could be built by right and Core abandons its current approvals and gets new ones, "that might have a mooting effect," he said. Boni said he couldn't comment on what possible actions he and Heiko could take at that point.

In October, CDAG voted to speak against Squilla's bill based both on nightclub concerns and worries that the legislation would encourage the future introduction of legislation to circumvent issues where civic organizations have filed appeals. Earlier this month, CDAG decided to continue to oppose the bill based on its policy concern, even though most neighborhoods would not face new nightclub concerns.

Fishtown leaders have told city planning that they want the restrictions on new restaurants removed from their neighborhood. At one point, Squilla was leaning toward amending his legislation so that the nightclub-related restrictions would remain across the district, but the restaurant restrictions would be lifted in some areas. See previous coverage.

The Philadelphia City Planning Commission and the quasi-city Delaware River Waterfront Corporation want the parking requirement lifted from the entire waterfront, because the Master Plan for the Central Delaware calls for less dependence on automobiles, and more use of mass transit.

The precedent issue troubles neither Squilla nor the PCPC. Natalie Shieh, Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development has been working on the bill. She said a report recommending changes in the zoning code, which came out before the lawsuit was filed, called for these changes.

Squilla said Monday that the CORE project has the approval of planning and the community, as well as the ZBA. “It went through the proper procedures and process. This bill just helps enable it to happen. It's not like we're doing something to create an area to build something that nobody wanted.”

He said that in cases where there is community support for a project, he would continue to use ordinances to further that project in some cases. “An ordinance can be cleaner, and easier to do, than trying to go through nine million hurdles to get what's needed,” he said.

Boni disagrees. "This city councilman ran his campaign on a pledge of not spot zoning, of respect for the zoning code, of support for the zoning code and the procedures and the rights of community members, and this seems to fly in the face of all of that," he said.

Squilla said he's still talking with NLNA, and there was a possibility that some compromise regarding the southern boundary might be reached before the December bill hearing. It makes sense to him to extend the boundary to Poplar, he said, because Core owns that land as well.

“It should have the same zoning, it made more sense to me,” he said. The area from which he proposes lifting the overlay has “already shrunk tremendously from where we started.”

Ruben, in his role as NLNA president, said ownership is not a good reason to lift the overlay, especially since no development has been proposed yet for that land.

“If an Overlay is going to be removed right BEFORE any actual development is proposed, then it moots the entire purpose of an overlay,” he wrote in an email.

"The land is not an island," Boni said, and removing the overlay from it would impact the surrounding neighborhood, not just that parcel and its owner.

Squilla said he wants to meet more with the neighborhoods, CDAG, DRWC and planning. He's open to tweaking the overlay across a broader area if civic groups want that. He's also open to lifting the parking requirements.

“Planning thinks if we do that (lift the additional parking requirements), it would spur more interest in development, because it's almost impossible to do anything now because of the parking requirement,” Squilla said.

But more discussion is needed before he'd be comfortable with any changes beyond the Core property, he said. Squilla plans to introduce further amendments to this overlay sometime next spring.

Source: PlanPhilly.com

Two tenants named for transformed textile mill in Bucks County

The first company to acquire loans through a Bucks County economic development program unveiled its plans for a nearly $5 million adaptive reuse project in Quakertown at a media conference Tuesday afternoon.

Jerry Gorski, president of Gorski Engineering, a design-build general contractor and engineer of Collegeville, described his plans to transform the 60,000-square-foot Best Made Hosiery Co., a predominantly vacant textile mill, into new office, technical and laboratory space for three companies. Gorski is the owner and developer of the site at 18 S. Fifth St. in Quakertown.

Gorski said he will repurpose the building for three tenants and rename it "Best Made Center." When it's complete, the building will be 45,000 square feet.

Roselon Industries Inc., a company that occupies space in the building that will be torn down, will move to a new 10,600 square-foot-space inside the renovated building on June 1, 2014, Gorski said. In the meantime, Roselon will continue operations by temporarily relocating to another site.

Roselon (previously Spinlon) has occupied the building for almost 50 years and is maintaining its corporate headquarters, office space and research and development activity in the new space. Roselon will continue its operation of texturing synthetic fiber to make specialty yarns for athletic clothing, socks and gloves but will not be manufacturing products at the site. Manufacturing operations ended in 2002.

"I have a lot of emotional attachment to the building, but it's the right decision," said Robert Adams, CEO and owner of Roselon. He said he was happy to stay.

At its peak business operation from 1995-2001, Roselon hired 175 employees, Adams said.

Synergis Technologies Inc. will be the primary tenant and will occupy 33,000 square feet of the building. Synergis is comprised of two independent divisions – Synergis Software, developers of Adept Engineering document management solutions, and Synergis Engineering Design Solutions, an Autodesk solutions provider in the mid-Atlantic region.

Synergis now leases space in two separate locations on nearby California Road in Richland Township and would like to combine operations at one location.

Synergis has 107 employees and plans to grow over the next three to five years to 135 employees.

The building will have room for an additional tenant, with 7,500 square feet of available space.

Re:Vision Architecture of Philadelphia is the architectural firm for the project.

A FIRST FOR BUCKS 2 INVEST

The project marks the first loan project approved through Bucks County's "Bucks 2 Invest" economic development program, created earlier this year to spur business activity throughout the county.

The Bucks County Industrial Development Authority, an agency overseen by the Bucks County Board of Commissioners, manages several loan programs for the county's "Bucks 2 Invest" initiative.

For this project, Gorski received low-interest loans totaling $400,000 from the New Economy Fund and $70,000 through the Bucks Rebuilt program.

"We looked at so many projects that resonated with us," said Mary Smithson, chairwoman of the Bucks County IDA. "It was a vision that I saw we could do here in the county. This project simply states it will improve the economic vitality of the area."

Synergis wanted to be in a community environment and that was a big part of their decision, Smithson said.

Gorski said construction costs would be about $2.8 million; the total project, including purchase price and investment, is estimated to cost nearly $5 million.

Univest of Souderton supplied the biggest part of the investment, Gorski said.

'SCULPTING FROM STONE'

Gorski said he plans to integrate technology into the facility to inject the Quakertown landmark with new life.

"It's a lot like sculpting from stone," Gorski said. "There's some beautiful parts in there, you just have to find them. We're gonna find the best pieces and make sure they stand out."

David Sharp, president of Synergis, described the move as a great opportunity for revision to use new available technology at the site. He plans to move the company on Sept. 1, 2014, and said he has a long-term commitment to be in the building for 20 years.

"When we saw this, we knew this was what we wanted to call home," he said. "It's perfect for us, and we're looking forward to being here for many years to come."

Sharp said his company's clients include manufacturers, engineers, building contractors and governmental agencies.

"When we make these types of investments that were high tech buildings at one point; it adds so much value and good things to the borough," said Rob Loughery, chairman of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners.

He noted that this project took much collaboration between organizations to make it a reality. These included Quakertown Borough Council, Upper Bucks Chamber of Commerce, Bucks County Economic Development Corp., Bucks County Industrial Development Authority and several state agencies.

U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick thanked the private sector for stepping up to redevelop the building.

"Second chances are a wonderful thing," he said. "Textile factories in old boroughs, they are the heart and soul of the borough."

The influx of new employees in the building also will build business in the nearby downtown shops, as people are likely to go to local merchants and restaurants, said Pete Krauss, executive director of the Bucks County IDA.

Source: LVB.com

LABOR - Union request for Neutrality on Economic Development Projects

Stuart Appelbaum, the union head who spearheaded last year's successful fight to require some recipients of city subsidies to pay their workers more, has a new request for mayor-elect Bill de Blasio: labor neutrality.

"I’ve always believed that the best way to deal with income inequality is through collective action by workers," said Appelbaum. "And that means forming unions and negotiating contracts. I think that the best way to move forward is to be looking for labor neutrality and labor peace as part of our notion of living wage."

In its most basic formulation, labor neutrality means that a developer agrees not to interfere with the formation of a union, and the workers agree not to disrupt business by, say, going on strike.

Appelbaum would like to see labor neutrality language in play any time the city's economic development corporation subsidizes a development.

In some instances, labor neutrality agreements are already a prerequisite to doing business with the state.

For example, every bidder for the Aqueduct racino had to sign a labor peace agreement.

That paved the way for the employees of Resorts World, the winner of that bidding process, to unionize in 2011 and, ultimately, to this year's arbitration agreement granting workers hefty new raises.

"Thanks to a provision in New York law requiring a labor peace agreement for Aqueduct operators, [the Hotel Trades Council] was able to organize over a thousand workers and conduct productive negotiations with Racino operator Genting without disrupting operations at the Racino or jeopardizing hundreds of millions of dollars in gaming revenue generated for the State," said Josh Gold, the hotel's political director.

This year's state budget, similarly, included a provision that requires anyone bidding for one of New York's new casino operating licenses to sign a labor peace agreement.

"It’s been done at the casinos that are approved," said Appelbuam. "It’s done at the Port Authority. It’s done at public authorities around the country. Other cities and states have done it. And basically the notion is this: That if you’re using public money to support private development, you don’t want the public’s money to be used to deny workers the right to take collective action. So for instance, an employer receives $100,000, you don’t want that money to either be used ... to fight workers acting collectively."

De Blasio was a relative latecomer to the original living-wage battle, but he has since signaled his interest in further expanding living wage in New York City.

Appelbaum sees labor neutrality as the logical next step, since union membership also brings members more than just higher wages.

"We’ve always believed that the most effective anti popular anti-poverty program in the country is a union contract," he said. "And we think that thereare many things that are included in union contracts beyond wages and health care."

Did he ever make a similar argument to the Bloomberg administration?

"It’s a different era now," he said. "We knew that the mayor would not be receptive to that at all."

Neither de Blasio's campaign nor a spokesman for the E.D.C. had any comment.

But the push comes at the same time that the Supreme Court is deliberating on the constitutionality of such labor neutrality agreements.

Naturally, the proposal also raises some flags for some business leaders.

"The question as to whether the business community could support this really depends on what they mean by labor neutrality," said Kathy Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a business advocacy group. "If it means a union shop and it results in making it more difficult to develop projects in lower income neighborhoods, it would raise concerns."

Source: Capital New York

Firefighters Charge Commissioner With Perjury / Eiding Encourages Walmart Workers / With the Unions Senators Hear From Labor Leaders

Philadelphia Fire Fighters Union Local 22 President Joseph D. Schulle is leading the charge Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers and Fire Dept. Human Resources Mgr. Karen Hyers have committed perjury before Judge Leon Tucker in a court hearing when they testified as to their reasons and roles in demoting 14 firefighters shortly after they had been promoted.

In a rally outside City Hall, he provided court testimony backing up his charge and called for the District Attorney to launch an investigation into the matter. As of press time, the DA has yet to comment.

The District Attorney is currently reviewing notes of testimony to determine whether an investigation is warranted.

Eiding Encourages Walmart Workers

As thousands of Philadelphia-area Walmart workers prepare for a busy Black Friday shopping season, the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO applauded Walmart workers and their families across the country who have been demonstrating for a fair wage and fair treatment from the world’s largest retailer.

”Walmart needs to do the right thing,” said Pat Eiding, president of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO. “We know they can afford to pay their employees a decent wage. The Philadelphia AFL-CIO supports all the Walmart employees who will be standing up for better wages and working conditions on Black Friday. We’ll be there with them.”

Walmart has made $17 billion in profits this year, but the company continues to drive the race-to-the-bottom economy by paying its employees poverty wages: 825,000 of their employees nationwide make less than $25,000 a year, trapping them and their families in a state of economic insecurity.

Wendell W. Young, IV, president of the 24,000-member United Food & Commercial Workers Local 1776, said it is “long past time for Walmart to join the ranks of responsible companies by paying its workers a living wage and making affordable health care insurance available to them.”

In a boost for Walmart employees, the National Labor Relations Board announced on Monday that they would take Walmart to trial over more than a hundred alleged labor-law violations.  The Board has found evidence that Walmart illegally fired or disciplined workers who protested or went on strike demanding better pay and fair working conditions.

Raising wages would increase Walmart employees’ purchasing power, create more jobs, supplement local tax bases, and improve the economy. Instead, Walmart keeps wages so low that its workers across the country are forced to rely on billions in annual government assistance to survive.

Young continued, “As long as more than half of its working men and women can’t afford the benefits that Wal-Mart brags about in its television commercials, this company will continue to lead our nation in a race to the bottom. All of us as taxpayers end up paying the bill. Walmart’s employees can’t afford the company’s insurance. They wait until they get sicker than they have to be, and they end up in expensive hospital emergency rooms for their medical care. Those costs show up in everyone’s medical bills, while Walmart’s profits soar. It’s a big part of our broken health-care system, and it won’t get fixed until Walmart assumes its fair share of responsibility.”

The wealth of the six Walmart heirs is greater than the combined wealth of 42% of American families. It’s not good for our regional economy that the Walton family and Walmart’s well-paid corporate executives are padding their pockets while thousands of Walmart workers in our area are struggling to support their families, Young asserted.

With the Unions Senators Hear From Labor Leaders

Philadelphia labor leaders and affected workers told a State Senate panel last week current unemployment-compensation laws are not doing enough to protect vulnerable Pennsylvanians who are temporarily out of work.

At the request of State Sen. Mike Stack (D-Northeast), one of the committee members, the State Senate Democratic Policy Committee hosted the roundtable to discuss recent changes made to the unemployment-compensation system with the implementation of Act 60 and Pennsylvania’s workforce in general.

“It’s our job to make sure workers – men and women who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own – avoid the social and economic disasters that can come from unemployment,” Stack said. “We can’t help these Pennsylvanians get back on their feet by tightening eligibility requirements and reducing benefits.”

State Sen. Lisa Boscola (D-Northampton), who chairs the policy committee, said the purpose of the discussion was to hear from workers, unemployment specialists and community members to better understand how changes in unemployment compensation affect vulnerable Pennsylvanians.

“How can we protect individuals and families who are facing hard times without burdening taxpayers?” Boscola asked. “It’s a delicate balance that we must achieve.”

Boscola said the unemployment trust fund is a vital safety net for people who lose their jobs, and it’s essential to have a fair, equitable system in place to assist the state’s workers during difficult times.

“This was a chance for Philadelphia leaders, workers and legislators to have a serious discussion on how to ensure reasonable unemployment benefits get to those who need it,” Boscola said.

Anthony Gallagher, business manager at the Steamfitters Union Local No. 420, said these highly skilled workers should not be punished for the seasonal natural of their careers.

“These are not people who want to be out of work,” Gallagher said. “This is their career …t his is a situation that is beyond their control.”

State Sen. Tina Tartaglione (D-Kensington) said since the implementation of Act 60, the system for applying for unemployment benefits has become incredibly difficult.

“We understood the changes to Act 60 were going to adversely affect laborers and employers, but we were unable to stop it from passing then,” Tartaglione said. “We need to reverse this now, because to me, this is unacceptable.”

also testing were Andrew Clauson, member, Steamfitters Union Local No. 420; Louis S. Agre, business agent, International Union of Operation Engineers Local 542; Sharon Dietrich, managing attorney, employment and public benefits, Community Legal Services; John Dodds, director, Philadelphia Unemployment Project; John Clark, business manager/secretary-treasurer, Boilermakers Local Lodge 13; Gerry Gontz, business agent, Sheet Metal Workers Local No. 19; and Mike Guinan, business agent, Sheet Metal Workers Local No. 19.

Source: Philadelphia Public Record