Nah...we're more like an irregular circle.

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"If these walls could talk, I'd listen to the floor."--Rev. Horton Heat

I don't think that Philly is that much of a car city. I also don't think that we should be paying attention to the already beautiful neighborhoods of our city. What we should be concentrating on are the areas of north, southwest and west philly. especially north and southwest because those are the areas that people enter the city by. Those are the areas that need the most work.

__________________
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

Philly needs tax revenue, and I don't get the sense that our Mayor is doing much beyond 10 year tax abatements that will kick in after he is out of office. How about collecting the $490,073,342.58 in overdue property taxes owed by130,069 people? This administration thinks Sheriff sales cause vacant housing, but in my experience, much of the boom we are discussing now is because a new investor/builder was able to buy property at a good price and renovate it. This is true in my neighborhood, SWCC.

To keep up the momentum beyond the low interest rate boom years, the city must do more than NTI, which has borrowed against the federal allotments for housing and community development and this must be paid back. But Philly is very lax in collecting property taxes owed. A significant amount of this debt is over ten years old.

A recent article had the head of the Department of Revenue state that the properties that owed taxes were "written off as uncollectable debt." Whuh?

The real estate market has been booming and values were never higher. Check out the hallwatch article documenting graphically the increases in housing sale prices over time, "Philadelphia Real Estate Market on Fire:"

http://www.hallwatch.org/news/1109011849624

Then take a quick look at:

http://www.hallwatch.org/proptax/about/redelinq/stats

and see what the percentage of property tax debt is in your Philly zip code and your neighbors.

I know Street is afraid to dislocate his base of support by collecting property tax. In order to bid on a house at Sheriff sale for property tax held by the city, one must "certify" the property for a refundable $800.00 using a money order at the Department of Revenue in the Municipal Building.

I've never lived in a city that makes private citizens front the cost of overdue property tax collection!

All the reasons given to me by Revenue and politicians are now no longer true in this real estate market.

Help!

How are we going to pay for quality public schools and workers who can pay for our old age if we don't collect property tax like other cities and counties do?

I love Philly for so many reasons, but I don't see a future here without big changes in management philosophy.

:great_po:

ljlong -
Once again, Ihave to say that on national issues we would probably fight like cats and dogs but on local ones you hit the nail on the head. Its insane to be cutting city services at the same time we are doing such a horrible job of collecting delinquent property taxes.

Real estate boomed in the late nineties as part of the general economic boom. After the economy slowed down, real estate boomed even more because lots of capital had nowhere else to go. For this reason, real estate is often the last to boom and the last to bust.

So my question is, what evidence exists that the ten-year tax abatement has been a necessary component of Philly's real estate boom? And more to the point, what evidence is there that the City has seen more revenue via the boom than it has lost (and continues to lose) in foregone property taxes?

And, by the way, re this:

One of the architects told me that gating was a deal-breaker - the financing, and/or the developer's willingness to take on the project, depended upon it being gated.

More generally, there's a self-perpetuating quality to this. Gating gives the impression - correct or not - that it's necessary. It then becomes an "amenity" that is not only a safety feature, but also a status symbol. This makes it tougher for similar projects targeted at high-end buyers to forego it.

Matt

Yes, unfortunately people feel the need to gate themselves off from their surroundings in the hope of being a little safer. This logic has never worked. City streets need active law-abiding citizens walking along them and watching them from their homes above. That is what creates safety, not fences and blank walls. Developers, of course, could care less in this regard. They only want to sell condos, so if they can gate their buildings and sell them for a higher price, then they will. What really gets me, is that many people move to the city for its vibrant, exciting atmosphere, but this exactly what is lost when they move into these terrible gated communities. No one thinks about such things anymore. Much of this type of knowledge and specific thought process was lost in our transition to a suburban society last century, and sadly, no one seems intent on bringing it back (at least no one with authority to do so).

Pedestrians beware...a greedy, automobile-driven, suburban-minded monster is closing fast.

Thanks Seand.

Sadly, unless the city changes its corruption at the top, the corruption at the bottom will fuel the demand for gates to wall off the open air prison.

Also re gates, we've got to hold people in prison until their court date for certain offenses. Philly is the only place that lets people out and endlessly reschedules a court date for them as they continue not to show up.

One bench warrant for not showing up for court should lead to being held in prison. I know a cop who was going to a car theft court date last month for a crime that occurred in 1993. Not a typo. 1993. The guy never showed to his court date and rescheduled.

Admit it, all you defense attorneys, you make a boat load of cash doing this. Sadly, it lets out the young gangsters who are painting the streets red. And defense attorneys give cash to the Democratic City Committee. They won't change the status quo. The politicians love to go hold a candle and put a teddy bear on the pile, but change, oh my no. Not the lucrative, lawyer friendly courts. But the rest of the state and environs hold people who risk not showing up for their court date.

We wouldn't need gates to live behind if we did NYC community policing that involves prosecuting crime that is more minor. Assaults. Hard drugs in smaller amounts below felony level. Three Strikes. A tiny proportion of people commit most crimes.

Of course, sensible gun laws are part of this. Why not do what Germany and Great Britain do? They think we are hare-brained for selling handguns like candy for all the reasons you all named above.

But that won't be under a Street administration. I think he is just dinging the NRA for campaign contributions.

So Street has sold his legacy down the river:

Posted on Thu, Mar. 17, 2005

Pay to play bill defeated

By Angela Couloumbis

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

City Council today defeated a proposal that would have cracked down on the city's long-standing practice of giving government contracts to big campaign donors.

The pay to play measure came one vote shy of passage. Twelve votes were needed to pass the bill, but only 11 council members voted in support of it.

The five council members who voted against the bill were: Jannie Blackwell, Darrell Clarke, Rick Mariano, Donna Reed Miller and Marian Tasco. Most of them, with the exception of Tasco, are allied with Mayor Street.

The mayor did not outright oppose the bill, but he said he was concerned about possible "unintended consequences" if it passed. He had not ruled out a veto.

Twelve votes were needed because the measure would have required voter approval for an amendment to the City Charter. Had the bill passed, the pay to play issue would have been put before the voters on the ballot for the May 17 primary election.

I had to read into the 6th page in this thread, and FINALLY, it was ljlong who cited the factor of city government corruption and mismanagement.

All those things you DISLIKE about the city can be traced to it...I challenge anyone to prove otherwise.

Gang, I hate to burst all this warm love, but I'm one of the few who lived here once before (from age 19 to 22), left, and actually returned.....fueled by fond memories and loads of hope that Philly really was the whole package of affordable, big-city living. (The "affordable" part of which is one reason why NY, Boston, SF, etc. would be disqualified.)


Now, 2+ years later, I'm ready to beat a path out....bankrupt by the wage tax, shocked by the lack of enforcement by (and tolerance of) the authorities of both petty and major crime, accosted by surly, lazy, shiftless losers lurking on every street and as cashiers in every Rite Aid and supermarket...shall I go on?


Say what you want about NYC, but, when the city fell into a deep, noticeable decline in the early 1990s, the electorate shocked everyone over the next 10 years by electing a fiery, divisive man (Mr. Giuliani) and a wealthy one (Mr. Bloomberg). And look at the city now...for one, the population actually increased in that time, from 7 million to 8 million, and it's a thriving melting pot.

I probably wouldn't want to dine with either Mr. Giuliani or Mr. Bloomberg, but my point is, neither would most of NYC...yet they voted the right way. Here, you are rewarded for mismanagement.


Sorry gang, I wish you the best, but you can all have what I will soon be leaving. And before you post, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out," remember how much you'll miss me when you want to sell these wonderful properties you want to buy.

May I suggest you each do a two week service in a 'Population Corps,' and go tour the world to sponsor Asian, Mexican, etc. immigrants, and vagabond Americans, to move here, and dilute this city into a unit which will be more prone to voting rationally and conducting themselves decently?

reddevilguy- I agree its time for a change in the political culture of Philadelphia but the journey of a 1,000 miles begins with a single step.

http://phillyblog.com/forum/ftopic89...amp;highlight=

Congratulations...leave, as so many have done before you.

Your post really pissed me off by the way. Everyone wants Philadelphia to overcome corruption, but no one seems to want to stick around help out. People too easily blame corruption and other urban ills on those left behind, but the real culprits are people like you, who move away and leave an even fewer number of citizens to deal with the problems.