rda directors update

I will be sharing information from time to time with the Redevelopment Authority stakeholder community. This is a way to give you some sense of what we are doing – things that might not be “newsworthy” but may be an indication of how we are tackling problems or finding solutions to issues that we face.

Today, I want to talk about an activity that has both real and symbolic value to us. One of the goals that we have set for ourselves at the Redevelopment Authority is to review every existing file and to get rid of as much paper as we can. We have set a goal of putting the Redevelopment Authority’s files in electronic form by the end of the year. This is a huge undertaking for an organization like the Redevelopment Authority – because real estate organizations rely heavily on paper.

We have established a great internal team of -- employees, coordinated by Melvis Dunbar. Her team has been reviewing and tracking boxes at three sites – at our office on 1234 Market Street (where we have rooms full of files!), at the Gallery (which we own) and at our maintenance shop site on Spruce Street. The team has now gone through every box at Market Street and at the Gallery and will be finished with the Maintenance Shop by next week. To date, these efforts have resulted in the identification of 1639 boxes for shredding. We estimate that we will have over 2000 boxes to shred by the time we are completed with all three sites next week. (We still haven’t figured out the most economical way to shred confidential files – so if you have suggestions, let me know!)

Getting rid of these files will free up space at these three facilities. In fact, we are planning to sell the Maintenance Shop, which will generate revenues for future community development projects. Getting rid of files also will reduce our footprint at Market Street -- and save us money.
Shifting to electronic records will save us paper costs and help the environment. It reflects the values of the new “green” Redevelopment Authority.

I am proud of this great effort by our staff. So I wanted to share it.

Terry Gillen
Executive Director
April 24, 2009

1234 Market Street, 16th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107,Tel: 215-854-6500; FAX: 215-854-6603

Access to Public Records
Site design - Tiger Productions ©2008 RDA all rights reserved.
Terms of Use
It is the policy of the City of Philadelphia to provide services without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, having AIDS or being perceived to have AIDS,
national origin, ancestry, physical handicap or age.