Title
Honoring and recognizing Joe Schiavo and Janet Kalter for their tireless dedication to the City of Philadelphia and especially their Old City neighborhood.
Body
WHEREAS, In 1981 Joe Schiavo and his partner, Janet Kalter, established their furniture and lighting business, OLC, on North 3rd Street in Old City, where they also live. OLC became a significant part of Old City's renaissance. Joe and Janet soon became active in the Old City Civic Association, on whose board Joe served for many years; and
WHEREAS, Joe and Janet have been highly involved members of the community for the past 35 years, as the neighborhood has experienced tremendous growth and change. They have dedicated thousands of hours to making Old City cleaner and greener. They have helped plant, water and maintain street trees all over the neighborhood. They started a distinctive dog-waste initiative, complete with custom-designed awareness posters and custom-made receptacles, which have become a model for efforts throughout Center City and the river wards; and
WHEREAS, Joe and Janet have donated significant sums of their own money, along with hundreds of hours of labor, to renovating a marquee pocket park on Arch St., adjacent to the Old City fire station. Joe and Janet also serve as unofficial communication leaders in the neighborhood, maintaining a community bulletin board to keep residents informed of everything happening in the neighborhood; and
WHEREAS, Joe has become the City’s preeminent citizen authority on the City’s new zoning code. He serves as chair of the Zoning Committee of the Philadelphia Cross-town Coalition, a coalition of more than 20 of the City’s most active civic associations. Joe is also the Vice Chair of the Central Delaware Advocacy Group, a coalition of 15 community groups dedicated to safeguarding the Central Delaware Mater Plan. For most of the past decade, he’s repeatedly played a key role in shaping and improving legislation impacting the City’s new zoning code and the Central Delaware Zoning Overlay; and
WHEREAS, Joe is unfailingly civil, polite, and thorough, his unimpeachable character has made him a reliable advocate entrusted by multiple civic groups to represent their interests - he is similarly trusted by members of City Council and the Planning Commission to be an honest broker on behalf of the public; and
WHEREAS, Together, Joe and Janet are model citizens, for whom Philadelphia should be proud. They have poured their hearts, minds, hands, and financial resources into our city as business owners, residents, and civic leaders; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we honor and recognize Joe Schiavo and Janet Kalter for their tireless dedication to making the City of Philadelphia a better place to live.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Joe Schiavo and Janet Kalter as evidence of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.