For the first time in two decades, Philadelphia will start rating dozens of facilities throughout the city, including many aging libraries and recreational centers, in order to identify the necessary repairs and develop a plan for their solution.
Officials from the administration of the mayor of Cherlle L. Parker presented a plan to members of the city council during the budget interrogation on Wednesday, claiming that the assessment of facilities would lend a hand agencies to prioritize the needs of infrastructure.
“This is something that has recently been done in 2005, so we are 20 years old, we are in the life cycle of almost everything in the building at the moment,” said Kalentino, which supervises the office of the city’s capital program. “This is something that we decided to do in all city facilities to be able to program better … in the case of projects that should be made.”
Officials did not offer a schedule when the report is completed.
The plan is particularly crucial for the library city of the city, which over the past year temporarily closed 54 units due to problems related to the aging of HVAC systems, some of which are over 50 years ancient. Last summer, 20 closed branches Due to problems with air conditioning and seven more for part of winter due to heating problems.
This year, a free library system asked the City Council for a budget of about $ 3.9 million in capital financing to solve the necessary repairs. Some members of the council wondered if it was enough money to deal with aging infrastructure throughout the system.
“One of the things we should talk about for a solid capital campaign aimed at solving our real library system,” said the president of the Kenyatta Johnson council, a democrata representing the southern and south -western Philadelphia. “Infrastructure is quite old.”
Kelly Richards, president and director of the library system, an application for money this year to a gigantic extent for emergency repairs and ephemeral costs until the assessment of the facilities.
Richards said that the upcoming study would allow a free library for the budget and priorities “all the problems we see with our buildings with it.”
“The evaluation will give us real data that we need to present what our general needs for the whole system are,” said Richards. “And this is something we are [haven’t] he had earlier. “
The point is that the assessment of the facilities will lead the city’s strategy to maintain public spaces. He comes among the many years of effort known as Rebuild, which was started under former mayor Jim Kenney to modernize parks, libraries and recreational centers of the city.
The program was erected as an effort worth $ 400 million, partly financed from tax on sweetened drinks to improve dozens of places throughout the city. But since its creation, the program plunged into delay, including because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
»Read more: The plan of the mayor Kenney for the reconstruction of the Rec centers and libraries was a senior project harassed by delays
Everything is said The improvements were introduced in 36 sites And 10 more are for construction, according to the latest report on the progress of the city about Rebuild, which was published in January.
A member of the city council of Jamie Gauthier, a democrat who represents the parts of Western Philadelphia, told the agency’s leaders that the reconstruction “was amazing”, but concerned what she considered a deferred maintenance that came from decades.
She said that it concerned the fact that the administration budget proposal for the upcoming financial year did not contain enough money to cover “daily” expenses for repairs and improvements.
“I’m really worried about our future beyond reconstruction,” said Gauthier. “What are we doing to make sure that we did not return to the place where a capital program worth $ 400 million was needed, because we did not care about maintenance?”
Commissioner Susan Slawson from Philadelphia Parks and Recreation said that the department is working on a more regular “asset management”, implementing routine deep cleaning. The agency also employs more inspectors to carry out facilities.
But she admitted that for decades “neglected in the system”.
“This is not a few years not to manage our facilities,” said Slawson. “It’s been years not to solve regular, everyday challenges.”
