Honoring Phillip R. Goldsmith.

WHEREAS, Mr. Phillip R. Goldsmith became the Managing Director of the City of Philadelphia on February 3, 2003 and brought with him over thirty years of professional accomplishments in both the public and private sectors; and

WHEREAS,

Mr. Goldsmith’s well-developed leadership skills and his ability to openly and directly communicate have guided him to senior positions in a wide array of fields including: law, journalism, government, education, banking and human resource consulting; and

WHEREAS, Prior to his appointment as Managing Director, Mr. Goldsmith served as the acting Executive Director of the Fairmount Park, the Interim Chief Executive Officer for the School District of Philadelphia, an executive officer of the PNC Bank Corporation and as a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter and editorial writer during which time, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing and a winner of numerous state and national awards; and

WHEREAS, During Mr. Goldsmith’s tenure as Managing Director, the City has seen significant accomplishments as a result of the programs and initiatives he has overseen as the Chief Operating Officer of the City including:

Unprecedented improvements to emergency response times

that have been critical to cutting down on the number of emergency-related deaths and injuries of both City residents and City employees;

The launching of “Global Philadelphia”

to unify the City's efforts to strengthen the relationship between diverse linguistic communities and the City by improving Philadelphia's language accessibility;

Countless quality-of-life improvements realized

, through his tremendous support of the Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP) and his willingness to target urban scourge by regulating honor boxes and illegally posted signs;

The right-sizing of city government

through Citywide Fleet Reduction which, in the past year alone, has lead to 300 fewer City-owned vehicles and provided the City with annual savings of $1.6 million; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA,

That we hereby honor and commend Phil Goldsmith and thank him for a career of exemplary service. While his departure is undoubtedly a tremendous loss to us all, we thank him for his reason and intellect which was exceeded only by his passion for the City. We wish him success in all of his future endeavors.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Phillip R. Goldsmith as evidence of the high esteem and sincere gratitude of this legislative body.

End