Title
Recognizing Joseph T. Ashdale, Jr., Chairman, and Karen M. Wrigley O.D. upon their retirement from the Board of the Philadelphia Parking Authority.
Body
WHEREAS, Joseph T. Ashdale, Jr. and Karen M. Wrigley, O.D. were appointed to the Board of the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) in June 2001; Ashdale was also elected Chairman of the Board the same year; and
WHEREAS, Chairman Ashdale and Dr. Wrigley were instrumental in transforming and professionalizing the agency by improving its overall managerial efficiency and customer service. For the past several years, the PPA has been designated as an Accredited Parking Organization with Distinction by the International Parking and Mobility Institute; and
WHEREAS, Prior to their appointment to the PPA's Board, the agency had lost control of its Airport parking operation to private vendors and suffered multiple years of abysmal financial audits. The PPA had never provided more than $17 million annually to the City at that point, and had never contributed any money to the Philadelphia School District; and
WHEREAS, By 2019, the PPA's on-street division was delivering $57 million to the city. For three years prior to resuming direct operation of its Airport parking operation in 2005, the PPA returned on average only $13.8 million to the City each year. By 2019, its Airport garage operation delivered $35.7 million to the City for a combined on-street and airport total of 93.6 million for the year - including $16 million to City schools. The PPA's overall operation delivered more than $132 million to its local, state, and federal partners in 2019. Since first being legislatively directed in 2004 to provide funding to City schools, the PPA has delivered more than $139 million to City schools; and
WHEREAS, Chairman Ashdale and Dr. Wrigley's twenty-year leadership of the PPA ushered in a period of financial stabilization, expansion, and modernization of existing programs, and the creation and implementation of an ...
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