Permits Required for Community Groups.

[whatever]

What do you think about this? What about the neighbors that are not included in the community group? Would a permit for a community group mean that new groups could not evolve and the old guard groups would become self centered and unconcerned except with their own agenda and ignore the basic civil right of others in the community.

Shouldn't ALL citizens have the right to have input on zoning in their immediate neighborhood even if they don't have a permit? It's almost like needing a permit for free speech.

Seems like anybody or any group of people has the right to assemble and/ or have a voice without a permit.

A permit would cause specific groups to grab the power of that permit and they would undeniable abuse it. CDC's and community groups dealing with zoning and building issues are full up with their special interests and don't care about the civil rights or health and welfare of others and are often using political favor to push their agenda often against the law in regards to the civil rights of others.

East Mt Airy Neighbors and their cohort West Mt Airy Neighbors are a perfect example of the abuse of power and the failed and environmentally contaminated site of the Devon/Sydney project that caused illness and property loss are a perfect example.

I was told it was my fault because I had not joined their club. I asked for their help but they had their own agenda and my safety and property was not their concern at all and they used LOTS of political power to abuse me and break the law. I guess giving them a permit would make it even more okay for them to do this.

What if a person or group of people outside their PERMIT group don't agree?
Is every citizen that is NOT part of the community group then disenfranchised ? That's what it sounds like to me.

The majority of citizens in this city are disenfranchised from the process anyway and the City Agencies like to keep it that way so they can run amuck. No city agency did their job properly nor did EMAN take ANY responsibility for the harm they Knew was happening over a very long period of time. And they will get a permit to continue this abuse???

If EMAN gets a permit now and then in 5 years a group of citizens doesn't like what EMAN wants to do in their back yard, can that group of citizens have any voice at all? EMAN doesn't let you have a voice anyway even when your voice can prevent them from a bankrupt project.

They don't allow dissenting voices into their club anyway. They just kill them.

Seems like this permit idea is another choke chain around the neck of civil rights and keeps the power close to the same old inner circle of Philly power that has been running things for ages and running it into the ground and ruining some lives along the way.

Communities INCLUDE everybody and communities change. Often people that join groups like this have their own agenda- like getting in on making some bucks off an insider deal. That's the Conventional Philly way.

If these groups get permits then I think EVERYBODY who is an OUTSIDER should be their own group. There are a lot more Outsiders in this city. That might get scary- a whole bunch of citizens without permits? OMG

Oh yeah- the failure of this project and loss of my home is also my fault because I'm dramatic and sarcastic. Hey - this is Philly- they have fist fights in city council meetings......and destroy lives without remorse and without even thinking of preventing a disaster or fixing a mistake.

Planning, Zoning, community groups, city council - NONE Of them correct their mistakes.


Developers, community groups to meet with ZCC in January | Plan Philly: Engaging in Urban Dialogue
"
Permits for neighborhood associations?
“We are actually going to enter into a dialogue with developers, formally,” said Planning Commissioner Natalia Olson-Urtecho. “I don’t think that the civic associations are aware that they often have the same issues as developers.”

Olson-Urtecho believes neighborhood organizations and civic associations should be licensed, or submit to a permitting process. In the past, “I don’t think any of the civic associations have helped” to foster the kind of discussions hoped for at the January meetings.

Cross-city coalitions, such as the newly formed Neighborhoods Matter group, are “exactly why the system has failed,” she added. “That is why I really think we should have a set of rules, and a process that all the civic associations should adhere to – why not get permits? It has to stop somewhere.”

“Civics get together for a reason – we want to speak with one voice,” said Ruben. “It’s been a very common occurrence over the past few years. Being for or against” a coalition like Neighborhoods Matter is a waste of time, he said, because that kind of cooperation and resource-sharing is only getting stronger within the city.

That said, he agrees with Olson-Urtecho on the topic of certification of individual neighborhood associations.

“Permitting is an excellent idea,” Ruben said, adding that it was actually a recommendation his and other groups suggested in October. “It’s a perfectly reasonable requirement for the city to have.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, Schelter said he’s inclined to disagree.

“My initial reaction is no,” Schelter said about giving permits to civic groups. “I say this based on some of the specific cases I’ve had – one where 32 abutting neighbors are saying they are in favor, and then the civic association comes along and said they knew better. ...

“They vary so dramatically,” he said of the groups. Certification “doesn’t assure what I would feel is a rational approach. You also have ones where you have ward leaders throwing their weight around.”

“There needs to be actual discussion of what the groups are doing now,” said Rob Stuart, an active member of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. “I think there’s a myth that civic associations are capricious and arbitrary and a so-called ‘drag on development,’ and frankly that’s inaccurate. Neighborhoods do matter, and the character of the city is a product of neighborhood involvement in zoning decisions. If it had been left up to the planners, South Street would have been an expressway.”"

[raider.adam]

Have a permit to do what? What would not having a permit prevent you from doing?

It seems ridiculous that the city would certify a non-profit to be a neighborhood civic association and effectively saying other people can't form their own non-profit.

On the surface this idea seems nuts. It would be nice if th article actually elaborated n what they are talking about.