What's driving the city's Point Breeze land grab? Hint: It's not tax delinquencies

[torts]

Can I get a comment from the CCPB? KJ?

[ArcticSplash]

I don't believe it's in response to the lot, the bill was part of the PRA's July meeting, before lotgate occurred.

Prior to LotGate was CoffeeGate until KJ finally sent over a notice of non opposition to the ZBA so the coffee shop could go forward. LotGate started soon-after when Ori pushed harder to get movement on the lot, which then turned into LotGate.

But LandGrab is basically the same exact thing that happened in G-Ho back in 2000-2003 timeframe. Back then it was PHA and RDA both doing the land grabbing. PHA was grabbing for itself and RDA was grabbing for PHA and Universal. SOSNA in part got stronger from fighting LandGrab 1.0; as I understand the history (someone who lived through it please give up corrections and extend my remarks).

LandGrab-2 is basically a repeat of the same idea. Freeze market rate development because:

a) anti-gentrifiers will be happy
b) presents you less headaches with catering to a widening array of demographics you didn't need to deal with before.


Some Philly pols are horrible at adapting to demographic shift. See: Rizzo, Jr.

[Giavella Water]

Next American City wrote up an article last week that the city was taking over land via eminent domain. As mentioned:


I decided to do some digging in the tax records to better understand the lots in question. What I found was that nearly half of the privately owned vacant parcels owe no taxes, or under $100 in taxes. 3 properties even have a negative balance, while 9 properties owe nothing.

Here is a graph that shows the total owed by each property tax owner


Here's a map of all properties that the city is attempting to acquire: Philadelphia PRA Eminent Domain Properties
The outliers are for side lot applications that have been rolled into this proposal.

If you're interested in reading the city ordinance, you can find it here, on Page 25

Reading the fine lines of the city ordinance, the goal is for the city to grab parcels next to existing PRA lots so that it can bundle the lots together. It doesn't matter if the lots are newly purchased or paid up on taxes, the city is actively confiscating land.

So what's the takeaway here? Don't buy a lot near PRA owned property? If you buy one, develop immediately?

What stands out is that if this map is designed to showALL the properties the city is trying to acquire, why is Newbold/ Grays Ferry the only place this is happening? It seems to me that this land grab may be to try to limit the number of whites moving into the area. I think after all the hate filled zoning hearings the past year including the flyers passed around warning of outsiders (whites) moving in , I'm not far off the mark.

This issue should be at the very least be investigated by the Human Relation Commission. After all, they investigated Joey Vento for a lousy sign where this is about housing descrimination. Perhaps the developers interested in this area could pool their resources and hire a Civil rights attorney?

The fact this is happening only in Newbold/ Gray's Ferry is suspicious...very suspicious indeed.

[JakeL]

What stands out is that if this map is designed to showALL the properties the city is trying to acquire, why is Newbold/ Grays Ferry the only place this is happening? It seems to me that this land grab may be to try to limit the number of whites moving into the area. I think after all the hate filled zoning hearings the past year including the flyers passed around warning of outsiders (whites) moving in , I'm not far off the mark.

This issue should be at the very least be investigated by the Human Relation Commission. After all, they investigated Joey Vento for a lousy sign where this is about housing descrimination. Perhaps the developers interested in this area could pool their resources and hire a Civil rights attorney?

The fact this is happening only in Newbold/ Gray's Ferry is suspicious...very suspicious indeed.

There are a number of council resolutions on Thursday by several council members to acquire property, it's not just Point Breeze (although that seems to be the largest)

[ArcticSplash]

There are a number of council resolutions on Thursday by several council members to acquire property, it's not just Point Breeze (although that seems to be the largest)

There would be less of a problem if the Land Bank legislation were in place. Of course, Ori would submit a transaction to the Land Bank Board, which would immediately consult KJ because they know they can't do anything w/o his approval.

And the proposed language in the LBB currently allows a rejection for "any reason", which that means no reason at all (i.e. "We are not prepared for a sale at this time. Thank you.") is sufficient enough. The bill doesn't require the Council member to explain the reason in depth.


HOWEVER, the rejections coming from the Council office would be required by the proposed LBB board to be published; to apply it to the situation we have now, KJ's office wouldn't like that. If for instance, his goal is to curry favor with favorites, he won't sell any land to competitors who complain to KJ about other buyers. He can openly reject those purchase requests. But they will become part of the public record and as with LotGate, it could garner media attention when he does it.

[thoth]

Point Breeze Affordable Housing Plan Moves Forward, Drawing Increased Criticism – Next American City

[bootsywannabe]

Many of the properties given to Universal at a huge discount due to political connections were never developed. For instance 764 S. 16th, 760 S. 16th, 728 S. Hicks St., 1515 Catharine St., 1505 Catharine St., near me. The first three have finally been resold to private developers by the PRA (RDA) after reverting to the PRA because Universal didn't develop them within 5 years. The PRA still doesn't seem to know it owns 1515 Catharine St. and 1505 Catharine St., but they do, and they are a mess, just like the others. This is the kind of BS we will get more of if the RDA buys more properties for cheap political gain, and succeeds in yet again cockblocking private developers to they can maintain their poverty pimp subsistence form of existence.

1515 Catharine St


1505 Catharine St, Philadelphia, PA - Google Maps

sorry, I meant 1507 Catharine, not 1505 Catharine, which doesn't exist.

[green77]

Back to the PRA eminent domain list, the OPA lists at least 4 of these as already owned by either the City (Department of Public Property) or PHDC.

1728 Federal- DPP
1713 Manton- DPP
1715 Manton- PHDC
1718 Titan- DPP

The PRA map( PRA Available Properties) has 1719 Manton as owned by DPP, but OPA has it sold to a private owner in 2010.

These types of discrepancies are bound to be there with this amount of data. Question is, are any of the above properties ones being discussed as recently sold by DPP or PHDC and now being targeted for eminent domain acquisition?

[bootsywannabe]

Prior to LotGate was CoffeeGate until KJ finally sent over a notice of non opposition to the ZBA so the coffee shop could go forward. LotGate started soon-after when Ori pushed harder to get movement on the lot, which then turned into LotGate.

But LandGrab is basically the same exact thing that happened in G-Ho back in 2000-2003 timeframe. Back then it was PHA and RDA both doing the land grabbing. PHA was grabbing for itself and RDA was grabbing for PHA and Universal. SOSNA in part got stronger from fighting LandGrab 1.0; as I understand the history (someone who lived through it please give up corrections and extend my remarks).

LandGrab-2 is basically a repeat of the same idea. Freeze market rate development because:

a) anti-gentrifiers will be happy
b) presents you less headaches with catering to a widening array of demographics you didn't need to deal with before.


Some Philly pols are horrible at adapting to demographic shift. See: Rizzo, Jr.

Also, by building "affordable housing" or "low-income senior housing" or whatever the heck it's going to be, he will guarantee himself a nice nest of votes. Sorta like the Scottish Rite stuff over at 16th and Fitzwater. Just show up and smile, you're a Dem, you've got their votes. And your staff/campaign volunteers can sheppard them to the polling station, all the while telling them how to vote this year.

[brandywine]

Here is what is missing in this entire conversation. Why is it that Kenyatta Johnson and his fellow ilk on council don't ever talk about RAISING INCOMES??? It's always about assuming that the city wil be poor. For god's sake, the African American leadership in this city AND btw, the entire democratic machine in this city has governed this city in a way that is about managing decline....not encouraging growth.

KJ and his enablers have no interest in raising incomes, improving schools and attracting new business. It is not racist to call them on it.ANY politician that perpetuates poverty and race baits, whether white, black, brown or purple needs to be called on it.

There are 5-6 members of city council who DEPEND on poverty and social disfunction to ensure re-election.....it is disgusting and it need s to end NOW.

[Giavella Water]

Philly is one of the Democratic party's larger plantations.

[the mule]

Also, by building "affordable housing" or "low-income senior housing" or whatever the heck it's going to be, he will guarantee himself a nice nest of votes.

Look I know he only won by 46 votes, but I don't think the next election will be close enough that this development sways it in his favor. If anything it has galvanized the opposition and I would expect it to swing widely the other direction if there is a credible opposition candidate. Besides, the other problem with that line of thinking is that you assume all of the people who eventually buy these houses will vote for him. If they have the same income limits as most of the current affordable housing being built, that's pretty unlikely.

I think the idea that this is retribution or an attempt to steal the next election are pretty far fetched. It seems much more like what they say it is, an attempt to ensure housing affordability as area prices rise. What they do not publicly say is that it's also meant to provide a fairly minor counterbalance to the major demographic shift going on in the neighborhood. As long as Philadelphia is run by Democrats there will be an insatiable desire for affordable housing, it's just that the way they're going about this particular development is insane.

There are already some nice rehabs for sale by that are affordable without needing government subsidies. The private market is still somehow filling that need for houses in the 130-200k range without having to forcibly take people's property. Oh yeah, and many of those developers are buying those houses at sheriff's sale and sending tax dollars back into the City coffers in the process. Point Breeze is already an affordable neighborhood which is part of why so many people are flocking to it, there is no need for the city to get in the way of that.

[MarketStEl]

The fact this is happening only in Newbold/ Gray's Ferry is suspicious...very suspicious indeed.

"Only"?

The attitude is at work elsewhere too. The difference is one of degree, not kind - and also one of having some people around who know how to work the levers.

Edited to add: Point Breeze, not Grays Ferry.

[thoth]

Look I know he only won by 46 votes, but I don't think the next election will be close enough that this development sways it in his favor. If anything it has galvanized the opposition and I would expect it to swing widely the other direction if there is a credible opposition candidate. Besides, the other problem with that line of thinking is that you assume all of the people who eventually buy these houses will vote for him. If they have the same income limits as most of the current affordable housing being built, that's pretty unlikely.

I think the idea that this is retribution or an attempt to steal the next election are pretty far fetched. It seems much more like what they say it is, an attempt to ensure housing affordability as area prices rise. What they do not publicly say is that it's also meant to provide a fairly minor counterbalance to the major demographic shift going on in the neighborhood. As long as Philadelphia is run by Democrats there will be an insatiable desire for affordable housing, it's just that the way they're going about this particular development is insane.

There are already some nice rehabs for sale by that are affordable without needing government subsidies. The private market is still somehow filling that need for houses in the 130-200k range without having to forcibly take people's property. Oh yeah, and many of those developers are buying those houses at sheriff's sale and sending tax dollars back into the City coffers in the process. Point Breeze is already an affordable neighborhood which is part of why so many people are flocking to it, there is no need for the city to get in the way of that.

People also forget that likely half or more of these "affordable houses" will be market rate anyway. I think the concept of using subsidized development to "build" a constituency is kind of a boogie man. There just aren't enough fed dollars or density in these developments for them to really shift numbers. By the time they even build these things, the private market will probably have finished or started just as many rehabs or housing starts in PB.

However, just as some perceive this move as having galvanized KJ's opposition, I'm sure he sees it as a move to galvanize anti-gentrification folks. Not to mention give out money to affordable housing groups to build market rate housing at inflated costs.

[JakeL]

Live Stream: TelVue CloudCast Video Player

[JakeL]

Live Stream: TelVue CloudCast Video Player

Skateboarders fighting against a crazy law that punishes skateboarders with 90 days of prison or a $2,000 fine for skateboarding.

[JakeL]

They just jumped over bills 120763 and 120764, does this mean that Johnson pulled these bills?

[JakeL]

Johnson tweeting during council meeting. Keep it classy Johnson.

[Butter Sandwich]

Skateboarders fighting against a crazy law that punishes skateboarders with 90 days of prison or a $2,000 fine for skateboarding.

Not for skateboarding, for using a skateboard to damage public property and memorials. Nobody's getting thrown in jail for riding down the street, but if you decide to do a crooked grind on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, well that's an entirely different story.

[annie]

They just jumped over bills 120763 and 120764, does this mean that Johnson pulled these bills?

I thought the PB bill was 12055?