Businesses raise pope concerns in controller's survey

City Controller Alan Butkovitz this week became the latest critic of the city's handling of the coming papal visit, with the release of a survey of businesses that largely lambastes the Nutter administration's outreach efforts while offering optimism for the lucrative potential of the weekend.

The survey, however, contains several inconsistencies, and includes the responses of only 30 restaurants, 27 hotels, and 11 retail or alternative businesses of the estimated 400 within the most secure perimeter. The mayor's office discounted the report, likening it to a political candidate's "push poll," with questions designed to provide a predetermined outcome.

The survey was conducted from Aug. 18 to 28, around the time the city's business resource center was launched to help businesses in central Philadelphia with many of the questions that it posed.

The resource center, open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., has fielded nearly 300 calls, and World Meeting of Families street teams have circulated throughout Center City distributing information packets on how to stay open.

Butkovitz commended those efforts, and said the respondents were called Tuesday to ensure that their answers still stood.

"We're not trying to do a poll, we're trying to put the decision-makers together with the people who need certain problems solved in time, before this thing happens, so it can be a success," Butkovitz said.

The Controller's Office contacted 250 businesses. Of the 68 respondents, 82 percent said the Nutter administration had neglected major details or had been unclear, creating high levels of uncertainty.

Sixty-five percent said they expected the increase in demand to offset the challenges.

Mark McDonald, spokesman for the mayor's office, noted that the 68 responding businesses represented a minuscule sampling when compared to the 12,000 that fall within the large swath of the Center City being called the "Francis festival grounds." They also represent less than a quarter of the 400 businesses within the secure vehicle perimeter.

He said the Business Resource Center had seen a drop-off in calls since it was launched, suggesting a general calming of pope-related concerns by businesses.

"The best thing the controller could have done is to refer anyone who called him with concerns to the Commerce Department's business center," McDonald said in a statement. "His stated goal was to evaluate the 'business climate and mood,' but in the preface to his poll, he muddied the water with his negativity."

At a news conference Wednesday morning Butkovitz went on the defensive when asked why he did not wait until after the pope's visit, Sept. 26-27, to get a larger sampling size and assess the city's performance on the whole.

"This is the biggest thing that's happened to this city in maybe 40 or 50 years," he said in response, "and the performance of city government on an ongoing basis should be world-class."

According to the survey, hotels lamented having to drop prices because of lack of demand and many respondents wanted more clarity on commercial trash pickup.

Some respondents predicted if trash isn't picked up daily in areas highly concentrated with restaurants the city could experience a widespread rodent problem during its time in the spotlight.

McDonald said the administration would announce plans for business delivery and commercial trash pickup next week.

The survey contained some major inconsistencies, including the number of businesses that plan to close that weekend.

In answer to one multiple-choice question, zero respondents said they would be closed. On another, seven said they would be closed, and on a third, 16 said they planned to close.

"That's the way that people answered the survey. It's not an interview," Butkovitz said.

Despite the contradictions, Butkovitz said, the issues businesses raised should be taken seriously by the mayor's office.

"If the idea is that I just don't have a legitimate right to do this work and comment on things because it makes the mayor unhappy, I'm sorry if he's unhappy," Butkovitz said. "I just commended him for making some steps forward."

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