Center City tour guides will have to hit the books to get their official tour guide certifications under Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown's bill that City Council passed Thursday, a year after it was first introduced last March.
Brown's bill, expected to be signed by Mayor Nutter, requires guides pass a test, administered monthly by a department to be determined by Nutter. The test will be "designed to test the applicant's knowledge of the geography, history, historic sites, historic structures, historic objects and other places of interest in the Center City Tourist Area," according to the legislation. Guides can take the test as many times as they need to pass.
Anyone caught leading tours without al icense could lose their business license for at least six months, and up to three years for a third offense.
Brown amended the bill yesterday to ensure that organizations consulted by the city in making up the test represent the city's demographics to properly account for the histories of various groups.
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