Why A Separate Board about Bandit Threads?

[ArcticSplash]

• Because the "We'll buy your house in 7 seconds" thread has a looooota posts in it and over 12K views. It started off about one person complaining about a sign that's been posted vociferously across 8 different Philly neighborhoods. Volunteers traced the owner of this business down and notified the City of his illegal activity. But there's literally hundreds and hundreds of more violators.
• This is an issue that plagues all of Philadelphia, not just one neighborhood, but it doesn't make sense to have a bandit sign thread for every neighborhood board, nor are people inclined to check up in the Northeast forum for an issue that crosses neighborhood boundaries yet generates a lot of discussion.
• Many of the signs trace back to scams. This is one central place to swap discussion about this phenomenon while still remaining anonymous, if need be. Some of the information people gather traces back to activity that's not on the up-and-up; such as a City employee who has been caught erecting signs for his real estate business.
• To raise the visibility of this littering issue, just as BanditProject aims to be the Central Intelligence Agency for all the signs collected across Philadelphia.

[mixiboi]

Wait, Arctic got his own subforum? Not fair!

[Preesi]

What are bandit signs?

[kundabuffer]

An even better question to ask is why people like discussing bandit signs so much. I mean really, who cares....

[ArcticSplash]

What are bandit signs?

BanditProject.org - What are bandit signs?

An even better question to ask is why people like discussing bandit signs so much. I mean really, who cares....

Why click in the threads about volunteerism you don't care about, if you're not interested in reading them?

[LUCas]

Why a separate thread about a separate board?

[The Truth Hurts]

An even better question to ask is why people like discussing bandit signs so much. I mean really, who cares....

[kundabuffer]

I was simply curious to see what on earth people could even care to discuss.

[kundabuffer]

And the ironic thing is, this board is kind of like a "bandit sign" on the philadelphiaspeaks.com site. Every other major category in this section is simply a neighborhood (besides "Philadelphia photos" and "general discussion"). So to have a "bandit sign" board on the same level of hierarchy with these other categories is rather arbitrary and unwarranted.

[hammersklavier]

And the ironic thing is, this board is kind of like a "bandit sign" on the philadelphiaspeaks.com site. Every other major category in this section is simply a neighborhood (besides "Philadelphia photos" and "general discussion"). So to have a "bandit sign" board on the same level of hierarchy with these other categories is rather arbitrary and unwarranted.

Agreed on that element actually. This would be better listed in the "Life in Philadelphia" subfora.

[The Truth Hurts]

And the ironic thing is, this board is kind of like a "bandit sign" on the philadelphiaspeaks.com site. Every other major category in this section is simply a neighborhood (besides "Philadelphia photos" and "general discussion"). So to have a "bandit sign" board on the same level of hierarchy with these other categories is rather arbitrary and unwarranted.

So this having it's own thread is a bad thing?

You really are a

[harvey]

And the ironic thing is, this board is kind of like a "bandit sign" on the philadelphiaspeaks.com site. Every other major category in this section is simply a neighborhood (besides "Philadelphia photos" and "general discussion"). So to have a "bandit sign" board on the same level of hierarchy with these other categories is rather arbitrary and unwarranted.

Unwarranted like your comment. Sounds like your OCD is getting the best of you.

[ArcticSplash]

I wouldn't mind that this forum be recategorized under "Life in Philadelphia" to move it away from the Neighborhood boards, or even retitling this board to cover more scope (i.e. "Fight The Blight" or "Neighborhood Activism").


I am donating a LOT of my own time, energy and resources along with many others and this is a type of problem that doesn't get solved by sending bitchgrams to the City or dialing 3-1-1. I know 99.99% of Philadelphia's population doesn't give a sh*t, just like nobody gives a sh*t about short dumping or any of the other bazillion problems that plague Philadelphia. Those of us who do care have to have a place to swap information and share ideas; just like the other projects that I do (litter cleanup), or special projects which I won't bore you with.

FYI, when you call in these complaints to 3-1-1, they usually go in a bucket-hole, never to see the light of day unless you provide excruciating detail about the signage and its location. Then, enforcement doesn't happen unless the sign is very easily traceable to the owner. 15 years of complaining by heads of civic associations and residents hasn't reduced the problem one iota.

So, the next best option is to catalogue the signage, trace the owners of the signage, and then expose this information for all to see. Besides exposing the information so the City sees it, it lets more vocal community groups to approach the owners of the signs directly, which is what my area is doing for the businesses that are near us that are tossing up signage.

Businesses definitely listen to us because we are the same people who approve their zoning variances when they come before us to get the Good Housekeeping seal of approval before they go off to the ZBA. A businesses that litters, has a bad reputation and tosses up signs is probably not going to get the welcome wagon when they need zoning; just sayin'.


As far as complaining to the city, it's one thing to complain "get this sign that's 14' up off of my light pole", it's a totally different thing to say "look, I have a comprehensive list of 350 locations where this sign is, the owner is X and he lives at Y and Z new signs have appeared just this week alone."

Once you know who it is, it's a pretty trivial matter (takes minutes) to look up BPLs and licenses, check the zoning where the business operates out of, look at other code violations, the list goes on. Not everyone has skeletons in the closet but some of the bandit signs owners that have been caught so far do have problems.

MyPhillyRoofer for instance is operating on Unity street at a location that doesn't have the correct zoning.

The Diabetes Test Strips lady registered her BPL at a house in Kensington that is showing zero water usage (does anyone use that house? What happens when you flush the toilet or turn on the taps? Someone stealing water there?)

And Al Slafman, of the 7 seconds fame, he's no stranger to the Municipal Court system... tons of code violations and liens for unpaid utilities on his investment slums. Maybe $10,000 worth of fines for just the signs we've collected so far will convince him that he shouldn't put the signs up anymore, or better still---release his investment properties and stop accruing more bad utility debt that forces the utility companies to transfer that burden on to people like us who still pay?


The scams are nonsensical. "We'll close your house in 7 seconds!" You can't even get a title search done in a week... more like 2 if not longer than that.

Or $400 JUNK CARS - NO TITLE NO PROBLEM - HELP FEED A FAMILY. Excuse me... how can you transfer title and registration on a vehicle at sale if you don't hold the title papers? Sure, the car is probably going to be scrap and the catalytic converter stripped for its palladium content, or maybe falsely re-registered as a rebuilt auto, who knows?

And the "Feed a family" cockamamie bullsh*t, who the hell falls for that? I bet plenty of Philadelphians fall for it. With high dropout rate and the lowest per-capita population of people with college degrees, I bet a LOT of people are suckered into the scams being advertised on bandit signs.


And when you run into a problem doing business with any one of these folks--where is the recourse? It's pretty difficult sometimes to find the owners of these signs, how the hell you're gonna find these guys if you are screwed out of cash and want to file suit for recompense? The people who just don't know that bandit signs illegal usually put up info that easily traces back. The ones who are not legit, have skeletons in the closet or just plain don't want to be found go to a GREAT DEAL to make sure they're not easily traceable. So good luck with that when you want to sue--I'll laugh when you have to figure out how to serve them papers.

What are bandit signs?

An even better question to ask is why people like discussing bandit signs so much. I mean really, who cares....

[Hospitalitygirl]

I was simply curious to see what on earth people could even care to discuss.

People care. You're just oblivious to it.

[gren]

Not only do they care but they can do something about it. Take these two Roofsmith Roofing signs someone reported at 8th and Catharine. They were there over a year ago when this Streetview was taken. I'm not sure they'd be back up if they had been taken down. And if someone wants to lend me a ladder I'll have a go at them.

[lemko]

When quality-of-life crimes are ignored, such as bandit signs and graffiti, big crimes soon follow. The bad guys like to push the envelope. When they see that little issues like bandit signs are ignored, they think, "The people of this neighborhood don't care, so I guess they won't mind us slingin' rocks on the corner!" Next thing, the streets are full of junkies, prostitutes, and other assorted low-lifes. Pretty soon the bad guys push the envelope further and further until another neighborhood falls and you're afraid to leave your own house to walk to the store. Your once-beautiful peaceful neighborhood is a trash-strewn, graffiti-scarred, bandit sign blighted, drug and thug infested war zone. I witnessed the decline of my old neighborhood of Oxford Circle take this trajectory. Go there and the utility poles are practically "wall-papered" with junk cars signs as nobody really gives a damn.

[The Truth Hurts]

When quality-of-life crimes are ignored, such as bandit signs and graffiti, big crimes soon follow. The bad guys like to push the envelope. When they see that little issues like bandit signs are ignored, they think, "The people of this neighborhood don't care, so I guess they won't mind us slingin' rocks on the corner!" Next thing, the streets are full of junkies, prostitutes, and other assorted low-lifes. Pretty soon the bad guys push the envelope further and further until another neighborhood falls and you're afraid to leave your own house to walk to the store. Your once-beautiful peaceful neighborhood is a trash-strewn, graffiti-scarred, bandit sign blighted, drug and thug infested war zone. I witnessed the decline of my old neighborhood of Oxford Circle take this trajectory. Go there and the utility poles are practically "wall-papered" with junk cars signs as nobody really gives a damn.

Great posts they are so accurate about what is happening, I happy to see I'm not the only one that feels this way. I guess I'm one of the .01%

[ArcticSplash]

Great posts they are so accurate about what is happening, I happy to see I'm not the only one that feels this way. I guess I'm one of the .01%

+1000


Some folks don't believe in it, but I'm a big believer in the Broken Window Theory.


Low property values is the actual lubricant that imports crime and vice into your neighborhood. The people who consume the fruits of that more often than not revolve around inexpensive property. That's not to say that suburbanites in expensive areas don't do the same thing, but suburbanites also transit to low-income areas where drugs are on sale and bring them back home. Dealers do make house calls to the suburbs, but they are on-edge the entire time they're doing it because bored cops and random stops occur frequently enough to deter it. Bored cops go lookin' for a win... busy cops have to let a lot of things fall by the wayside. Really busy precincts have to triage complaints and ignore a fraction of the ones that come in.

The fact that "no one's watching" in a neighborhood where the cops are always too busy to pay attention causes more crime to gravitate and concentrate in areas with low property value.

Not to get "toooo" theoretical here, but crime and poverty in the suburbs around most US cities is now increasing rapidly. Memphis, TN is probably the best example of this trend. Memphis has made strides in exporting its crime and poverty to the suburbs; part of it has to do with the change of low income housing from project towers to scattered site housing (the public housing authority covers the entire county where Memphis sits and some adjacent areas, so those people have been relocated all over the metro, many outside the city limits).

The result: mass devaluation of suburban property values, increase in QOL issues and deterioration of streetscapes while Memphis has been rebuilding its downtown areas.

Philadelphia is undergoing the same transition with the inner suburbs deteriorating rapidly in Eastern DelCo and Lower Bucks and parts of MontCo, and the outer city neighborhoods are under siege of collapse. To whether that storm, neighborhoods that have:

- Strong civic associations
- Neighborhoods that fight back against QOL issues
- Smart residents who are aware of the Philadelphia Zoning Code who can spot out zoning violations and permit violations and call L&I out early as soon as illegal changes are being made to property---that usually results in huge losses to the investor who owns the house
- Property owners who are not afraid to take adjacent investment-owners to court
- Large groups of people that are receptive to new development and new businesses applying for zoning living in the neighborhood
- Activist residents who speak out issues in their neighborhood and run programs to reduce blight (like improving streetscaping, graffiti removal, removing bandit signs, etc.)

These neighborhoods are much more likely to cause the demographic changes to "skip" over their neighborhoods in favor of other neighborhoods that just don't give a damn.

It's like water. It flows in the path of least resistance. Low-income rental property owners get their margins wiped out when adjacent property owners sue them often, activist residents call out L&I early, and often to slap violations on the properties, call the cops out early and often, and generally do not stop whining, moaning, bitching and screaming at the City.

This wipes out the profit motive and the realtors and investors go somewhere else.




You want an example of this? Look at Northwood. It is SURROUNDED on all sides by failed neighborhoods. Hunting Park is on one side, Summerdale is on another, Oxford Circle is close by and the bad boy right across Oxford Ave is Frankford. This neighborhood should have collapsed and fallen a long time ago, but it hasn't. The reason? Those neighbors in Northwood are absolute bulldogs and they have a very close-knit civic.

The other reason? Northwood has expensive property that's unique to its surrounding neighbors. Homes that were already big to start out with were expanded and improved-upon over the years. That TLC has kept the property values out of reach of the Realtorzombies who are in the business of low-income flipping and low-income rental investment---the homes are too big.


And on top of that, the Northwood residents are very suspicious of any property owner who wants to rezone a single family home into multi-family, trying to split up those big houses into apartments. That's happened in corner houses in Mayfair to the consternation of some residents, and that's primarily why zoning changes for multifamily are usually greeted with a big fat NO by the civic groups. I don't blame them. If I had the druthers, I would re-zone all of Mayfair to R10A where I could to force anyone looking to duplex an airlite to appear before the Mayfair Civic Ass'n.

[hammersklavier]

I like the idea of this subforum being dedicated to neighborhood activism, Arctic. That way we can have a separate outlet for activist projects members of this board run as well as a soapbox for others to voice their activist ideas and opinions (like the Tea Partiers or the Occupiers). It would also be useful to have a sticky thread not just on how to do activist research, but also how to create online petitions, etc.

[Malloy]

And the ironic thing is, this board is kind of like a "bandit sign" on the philadelphiaspeaks.com site. Every other major category in this section is simply a neighborhood (besides "Philadelphia photos" and "general discussion"). So to have a "bandit sign" board on the same level of hierarchy with these other categories is rather arbitrary and unwarranted.

I hate bandit signs. When I saw what he was doing I wanted to get more eyes on his project, so I created this forum. A lot of people read this site so it can help his efforts