SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON REGULATORY REVIEW AND REFORM
SPECIAL HEARING
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
City Hall, 1401 John F. Kennedy Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19107

Testimony by: Rob Wonderling, President & CEO at the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia

Good morning members of the Special Committee on Regulatory Review and Reform. My name Rob Wonderling and I am the President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia. Over the last year and a half I had the pleasure of serving as the co-chair of the Special Committee on Regulatory Review and Reform alongside Commerce Director Harold Epps and Councilman Derek Green.

Philadelphians from the public and private sectors have been working together to improve the regulatory environment and continue the efforts to make Philadelphia a great place to live and do business. This was done by establishing a process to review regulations, recommending revisions to streamline city government functions, and simplifying the Philadelphia Code to remove burdensome regulations. The committee’s work would not have been possible without the leadership of the following individuals:

  • Leslie Spina, Chair of the Child Care Subcommittee
  • Michael Brown and Pamela Fly, Chair/Co-Chair of the Construction and Real Estate Subcommittee
  • Saba Tedla and Nick Bayer, Chair/Co-Chair of the Food and Hospitality Subcommittee
  • Chet Riddick, Chair of the Manufacturing Subcommittee
  • Anuj Gupta and Jennifer Rodriguez, Chair/Co-Chair of the Small Business Subcommittee
  • Laurie Actman, Chair of the Tech and Startups Subcommittee

Additionally, I’d also like to thank everyone that served on various committees. The accomplishments over the last year and a half would not have been possible without your leadership and continuous dedication to improve the regulatory environment and continue the efforts to make Philadelphia a great place to live and do business.

We must remain vigilant on policies that stunt economic growth and, in turn, hurt Philadelphia and its residents. Although the work of the larger committee is winding down, our work will not end. We will continue to convene stakeholders from the public and private sectors on a quarterly basis to make progress on the areas identified in this report and continue to identify new areas for regulatory reform and process improvement in the City of Philadelphia.

I am extremely proud of the steps taken to help make it easier to open a restaurant in the City. The process of opening a food business in Philadelphia is particularly complex as it requires interactions with multiple agencies (Revenue, L&I, Health). The Food and Hospitality sub-committee, working with all of the departments above as well as Commerce and Philly 311, identified the need for a customer relationship management tool to help simplify and streamline the process for the new food business owner. Beginning this fall, Commerce will deploy a CRM tool to help guide a number of new food businesses through this process. The pilot will help Commerce/the City determine if a CRM tool can be used across departments to improve transparency, reliability, and overall customer service for the business community.

In closing, there is still work to do. I’m looking forward to continued collaboration between the public and private sector on pro-growth initiatives for Philadelphia’s economy. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today.