National Park Service: Ballard Spahr

Showing posts with label Ballard Spahr. Show all posts

Friday, August 19, 2011

Independence Visitor Center Corporation ("IVCC") Appears to Have Engaged in Eight-Year Effort to Marginalize The Constitutional Walking Tour and Keep the Evidence Secret

The IVCC Has Spent at Least $515,626.00 on Legal Fees to Ballard Spahr over the Period from July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2010

Overview
On July 21, 2003, Bill Moore, President and CEO of the Independence Visitor Center Corporation ("IVCC"), sent a critical evaluation of The Constitutional Walking Tour of Philadelphia ("The Constitutional") to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell allegedly in response to a request from the Office of the Governor ("2003 Memorandum"). The 2003 Memorandum was finally revealed by the Office of the Governor on July 26, 2011 after a lengthy legal battle spearheaded at least in part by the IVCC. In the 2003 Memorandum, Mr. Moore revealed his apparent dislike for The Constitutional since Mr. Moore appears to have perceived The Constitutional as a threat:

"My conclusions on this tour are as follows: ... Copycat idea - not unique to Philadelphia - difficult to separate the product from the Boston [Freedom Trail] experience ... would be confusing to customers ... Philadelphia is almost over-burdened with disjointed products that consumers find hard to understand and use." (emphasis added)

In stark contrast to Mr. Moore's conclusions, The New York Times published a supportive Travel Advisory article about The Constitutional Walking Tour on October 26, 2003 in which it stated:

"A new walking tour of Philadelphia [The Constitutional] helps visitors find their way to sites relating to the city's history and its key role in the creation of the United States.The self-guided, three-mile tour, the Constitutional, features more than 30 historical sites, including churches, museums, former taverns and old hospitals."

Continue Reading...

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

$1.0 Million in Public Funding from the Delaware River Port Authority ("DRPA") to the Independence Visitor Center Corporation (IVCC)

Private Benefit and Inurement - Public Dollars Serving Private Interests: Independence Visitor Center Corporation ("IVCC") Is Not A "Small, Emerging and New Business" as per DRPA's Grant Requirements; DRPA's and IVCC's Corporate Governance - Conflicts of Interest with Funding when John Estey Chairs Both DRPA and IVCC

On November 19, 2010, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the "DRPA funneled more than $13 million to groups, some with ties to board,"

"DRPA [Delaware River Port Authority] officials repeatedly have said in the last two years that they were out of the economic-development business... That followed the DRPA's pledge in July 2008, during public hearings for bridge toll increases, to end its spending on such projects."

On November 15, 2010, the Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board published the following,

"The Delaware River Port Authority has finally proven the existence of an alternate universe in which it must be located. In an era of dire government budgets and municipal bankruptcies, it's somehow sitting on a gigantic pile of spending money.

Despite the temptation to keep found cash, many people actually try to return it to whomever it belongs. One might even be so starry-eyed as to hope the DRPA would give its extra money back to the public - a notion likely to make one of its officials laugh so hard as to choke on his toll-funded wasabi-and-panko-crusted ahi tuna steak at the Palm."

On August 9, 2010, the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation ("PIDC") reached an agreement ("Funding Agreement") with the Independence Visitor Center Corporation ("IVCC") whereby PIDC would funnel $1.0 Million in economic development funds from the Delaware River Port Authority ("DRPA") to the IVCC.

The details of this Funding Agreement reveal the inherent conflict of interest that has emerged through the entangled web of allegiance and responsibility between two agencies designed to serve the public--DRPA and IVCC.

John Estey is the Chairman of the Board of of Directors of both the DRPA and the IVCC. His law firm, Ballard Spahr, has represented both of these organizations for years. The PIDC Funding Agreement appears to show the ways in which public funds may have been used for the personal gain of those involved in these organizations.

Continue Reading...

Monday, October 18, 2010

What is Governor Ed Rendell Hiding?

Mr. Nutter, meet Mr. Rendell. He is now joining you in blocking the public's access to information, protecting corporate interests, and denying our Right to Know.

Governor Rendell appoints a "Governor's Representative" to serve on the Board of Directors of the Independence Visitor Center Corporation (IVCC), a 501(c)(3) taxpayer supported public charity, which runs the visitor centers at Independence National Historical Park, as well as visitor centers at Philadelphia City Hall, Fairmount Park, Free Library of Philadelphia (Central Branch) and Pennsylvania Convention Center.

This "Governor's Representative" is William A. Graham, IV.

Under the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law, The Constitutional Walking Tour requested records regarding the Governor's role on the Board of Directors of the Independence Visitor Center Corporation.

The Office of the Governor denied the release of the records.

The Constitutional appealed, and the PA Office of Open Records issued a legally binding Final Determination for the Governor to release the records (Jonathan Bari v. Office of the Governor, OOR Dkt. AP 2010-0733, September 13, 2010).

The Office of the Governor refused to release any records! Instead, on October 12, 2010, the Office of the Governor filed suit in a Petition for Review in Commonwealth Court to overturn the Final Determination.

On October 13, 2010, the Independence Visitor Center Corporation (represented by Ballard Spahr) filed suit in a Petition for Review in Commonwealth Court to overturn the same Final Determination.

Governor Rendell is going to great lengths to protect the IVCC, whose Board of Directors is chaired by John Estey, Governor Rendell's former Chief of Staff. Mr. Estey is also a senior partner at Ballard Spahr which serves as legal counsel to the IVCC; Ballard Spahr is also Governor Rendell's former employer.

What is Governor Rendell hiding?

Now I have to allocate my small business's scarce resources to defend myself in this matter. This is an absurd use of taxpayer dollars to ensure that the IVCC can continue operating in the dark, especially in light of the fact that the Independence Visitor Center Corporation just was allocated $5 Million in Commonwealth funds.

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Exhibits:

Petition for Review, Office of the Governor (Petitioner) vs. Jonathan Bari (Respondent), seeking to overturn Final Determination issued in Jonathan Bari v. Office of the Governor, OOR Dkt. AP 2010-0733, September 13, 2010; No. 2123 CD 2010, October 12, 2010.

Petition for Review, Independence Visitor Center Corporation (Petitioner) vs. Jonathan Bari (Respondent), seeking to overturn Final Determination issued in Jonathan Bari v. Office of the Governor, OOR Dkt. AP 2010-0733, September 13, 2010; No. 2123 CD 2010, October 13, 2010.

Final Determination, Jonathan Bari v. Office of the Governor, OOR Dkt. AP 2010-0733, September 13, 2010

Friday, August 20, 2010

Statement on the DRPA and Independence Visitor Center Corp.

We applaud Governor Rendell, Governor Christie, John Estey, Chairman of the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), and the rest of the members of the Board of Commissioners of the DRPA in adopting resolutions for improvement, including abiding by both the Sunshine Act and Pennsylvania Right to Know Law.

Reform is a journey and not a destination. As such, reform has to continue going forward, and reform must include changes to the culture of the DRPA. The DRPA must prove to the taxpayers that the reforms adopted are not merely superficial concessions designed to quell a brief media uproar, enabling self-serving business interests to permeate its operations. Moreover, similar changes must occur at other taxpayer supported public trusts with commonalities to the DRPA.

For example, if Mr. Estey believes that the DRPA should adopt the Sunshine Act, abide by the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law, and conduct business in a transparent and fair manner, then the Independence Visitor Center Corporation (IVCC) should as well.

The Boards of Directors of DRPA and IVCC are both chaired by John Estey, Esq., senior partner at Ballard Spahr and Governor Rendell's former chief of staff. Both the DRPA and IVCC use Ballard Spahr as outside counsel; Ballard has billed DRPA almost $3.1 million in legal fees from 2000-2010.

Both DRPA and IVCC operate essential public facilities. Both the DRPA and IVCC have an insular culture that does the public’s business in private. Both the DRPA and IVCC are taxpayer supported public trusts that are rife with patronage. Both the DRPA and IVCC are stuck in a time warp because both the DRPA and IVCC have been quite clandestine in terms of their operations and corporate governance. Both the DRPA and IVCC are heavily influenced by Governor Rendell (Rendell personally appointed most of the Pennsylvania commissioners to DRPA and he appointed the "Governor's Representative" to the IVCC).

On information and belief, the DRPA gave the IVCC $1.8 million in 2010 in an economic development grant, although there is no information available as to the details of those funds from either the DRPA and IVCC.

Nonetheless, as reported in The Philadelphia Inquirer on August 20, 2010, Mr. Estey claims, "It's [IVCC] not a public entity [...]"

To the contrary, the IVCC is absolutely a public entity given the massive public funding which the IVCC receives, the federal land on which the Visitor Center stands, the federal employees stationed within, and the federal legislation that authorized its creation.

Both the DRPA and IVCC maintain a sense of entitlement, an attitude that they can do no wrong, that they answer to no one and are certainly in no way accountable to the public which funds them. Unless Mr. Estey and Governor Rendell (Mayor Nutter also serves on the Board of Directors of the Independence Visitor Center Corporation), extend the resolutions for the DRPA to other secretive public organizations, like the IVCC, the proposals for change will be exposed as political smoke screens, enabling business as usual to continue without restriction or public oversight.

Jon Bari
The Constitutional Walking Tour of Philadelphia

Exhibits
*Article published in The Philadelphia Inquirer: "Now, [John] Estey should get the Visitor Center to open up," 8/20/2010

*Letter from John Estey to Governors Christie and Rendell discussing proposed changes at the DRPA, 8/4/2010

*Letter from Jon Bari to Mayor Michael Nutter calling for transparency at the IVCC, 8/13/2010

*Letter from Jon Bari to Governor Rendell calling for transparency at the IVCC, 8/17/2010

Background on The Constitutional’s disputes with the NPS and Independence Visitor Center

The Constitutional Walking Tour of Philadelphia (“The Constitutional”) offers guided walking tours of the Independence National Historical Park area by providing a primary overview of Independence Park and visiting more than 20 of Independence Park’s most historic sites including the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Carpenters’ Hall, Declaration House, etc.

From 2005 to 2010, the Independence Visitor Center Corporation sold tickets for The Constitutional’s various tours only at the IVC’s main information and sales desk. The IVCC has received a 20.0% (twenty percent) sales commission on each ticket that it has sold for The Constitutional (ranging on average in gross price from $12.50 to $17.50). Since 2005, The Constitutional has requested to also license a dedicated ticket sales booth from the National Park Service and IVCC on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms commensurate with Ride the Ducks and Philadelphia Trolley Works, for example. Additionally, since 2005, The Constitutional has requested to also license marketing opportunities and commercial use authorizations from the National Park Service and IVCC on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

The Independence Visitor Center (“IVC”) is owned and operated by the United States of America - National Park Service (“NPS”), which then sub-contracts with the Independence Visitor Center Corporation (“IVCC”), a taxpayer supported public charity, to manage the IVC.

The IVCC and NPS have preferenced third parties including Ride the Ducks and Philadelphia Trolley Works, and the IVCC and NPS have discriminated against The Constitutional Walking Tour. The National Park Service has enabled the creation of this unfair business environment. The National Park Service and the IVCC have ignored and circumvented Federal management and concessions laws for the sale of goods and services at Independence National Historical Park that require open, transparent, competitive and appealable processes awarding concessions contracts for the sale of goods and services including tours.

To facilitate the administration of the National Park Service System, the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, acting through the NPS, is authorized under the National Park Service Organic Act (“Organic Act”) to carry out twelve categories of activities, none of which include transferring administrative responsibility to a private party [i.e., IVCC] or engaging in cooperative administration with a private party [i.e., IVCC]. 16 U.S.C. § 1a-2(a)–(l). Rather than grant the NPS discretion in its dealings with park concessioners, Congress established “carefully controlled safeguards against unregulated and indiscriminate use” of the parks in the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998 (“Management Act”), which governs all national park public accommodations, facilities, and services. 16 U.S.C. § 5951 et seq.; see also 36 C.F.R. Part 51.2 (“policy underlying concessions contracts”). The safeguards are not limited to nationwide policy: Congress also manages the parks with significant visitor traffic on a park-by-park basis. See, e.g., 16 U.S.C. §§ 21–40c (Yellowstone), §§ 91–110d (Mount Rainier), §§ 212–218a (Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace), and §§ 410z–410z-5 (Boston National). One of the dozens of national parks managed by specific statutes is Independence National Historical Park (“INHP”). 16 U.S.C. §407m–407s. As such, compliance here going forward would require the NPS, first, to reassume from the private IVCC the NPS’s duties “to administer, operate, manage, lease, and maintain” properties at INHP pursuant to 16 U.S.C. § 407s; second, to award “all proposed concessions contracts … through a competitive selection process” pursuant to 16 U.S.C. § 5952; and, third, to issue commercial use authorizations in a rational manner pursuant to a reasonable interpretation of 16 U.S.C. § 5966(c).

The IVCC and NPS have arbitrarily and randomly selected business partners in a non-competitive and clandestine manner; as such, the actions of the NPS and IVCC have from an economics perspective stifled competition, innovation and consumer choice. Ultimately the IVCC’s actions have enabled prices to increase for its preferred vendors to strengthen the for-profits’ financial performance. Visitors to Philadelphia will be better served when the IVCC’s management, manners and methods are fundamentally changed. This would include having the National Park Service abide by Federal concessions management laws. Specifically, this will entail only having the NPS award concessions sales contracts and not having the IVCC involved in any of the selecting, awarding, contracting and managing of Independence Park’s third party concessions, including inside the Independence Visitor Center. This is the model that is practiced in virtually every other of the 390 (three hundred ninety) National Park Service units across the United States (in 49 states) including at Yosemite, Yellowstone, Statue of Liberty, etc. Additionally, visitors and all stakeholders will be better served once the operation of the taxpayer funded IVCC is totally transparent and accountable. While part of the issue centers on a publicly funded charity competing against the private sector (i.e., by offering guided tours and services), it more so has to do with the manner in which the IVCC and NPS operate and discriminate against third party concessionaires, tour operators and vendors in a random and arbitrary fashion (i.e., with the licensing and leasing ticket sales kiosks by the IVCC to third party companies, for example).