Philadelphia 2035 (Girard, Clark: homeowners, sheriff, liens)

[cpomp]

http://www.phillymag.com/business/20...ngs-institute/


West Market needs to start filling in ASAP.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Here


West Market needs to start filling in ASAP.

Let me put in a good word for my colleague Fabiola Cineas, our business channel editor. She's sharp and very sophisticated. She also happens to be Haitian-American, though born in the US.

[thedirtypirate]

Delinquent homeowners could have tax debt deferred under Council plan

How to destroy the city and the free market system 101.

Darrell Clarke is a cancer in this city. I'm sorry but Philly's problem isn't affordable housing. The problem is people not paying their F'n taxes.

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by thedirtypirate

Delinquent homeowners could have tax debt deferred under Council plan

How to destroy the city and the free market system 101.

Darrell Clarke is a cancer in this city. I'm sorry but Philly's problem isn't affordable housing. The problem is people not paying their F'n taxes.

My previous neighbor had two tax liens on his $400k+ house, but was driving around an Escalade. These council clowns need to go.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by thedirtypirate

Delinquent homeowners could have tax debt deferred under Council plan

How to destroy the city and the free market system 101.

Darrell Clarke is a cancer in this city. I'm sorry but Philly's problem isn't affordable housing. The problem is people not paying their F'n taxes.

Another 2 steps backward for Philadelphia, while NYC, Boston, DC take 2 more forward. Its's almost like he's saying its okay to accept living in poverty and not pay taxes, yet the city barely has funing for its dreadful prublic school system. What a clown.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

My previous neighbor had two tax liens on his $400k+ house, but was driving around an Escalade. These council clowns need to go.

Okay, that's pretty ballsy and definitely a sign of misplaced priorities, but this sounds like a variant of the "welfare Cadillac" tale, which then was used to justify s**tting on a bunch of people who didn't deserve that treatment. More below.

Originally Posted by cpomp

Another 2 steps backward for Philadelphia, while NYC, Boston, DC take 2 more forward. Its's almost like he's saying its okay to accept living in poverty and not pay taxes, yet the city barely has funing for its dreadful prublic school system. What a clown.

Who said all the tax delinquents were, or are, poor?

This subject came up at the forum Next City sponsored last night around that feature I wrote about upper East Mount Airy. (I wish I could post the video a friend of mine shot of the panel, but it's on his Facebook profile (and mine), and I don't think I can download it.)

This neighborhood is far from poor, but foreclosures hit it hard. And there were several people in the audience who urged Councilwoman Cherelle Parker, who represents the neighborhood, to do something to keep the city from piling on. Most of the residents of upper East Mount Airy made a point of paying their mortgages and taxes on time, but when the economy turned sour, a good chunk of them could no longer pay either.

If figuring out a way to keep people like these in their homes means the difference between a stable "middle neighborhood" and a declining one, I think I'd err on the side of stability.

And please note that this program defers, not excuses, the debt. It's akin to something I discussed with one of the audience members, a West Powelton resident concerned about the side effects of gentrification, during the reception after the discussion.

He suggested something I thought would be a good solution for those long-time homeowners who, through no fault of their own, faced the possibility of being taxed out of their homes because of the new development surrounding them.

It's a variant on the Tax LOOP program instituted in the wake of AVI.

What it would do is freeze property tax rates at their current level (plus adjustments for the inflation rate) for long-term homeowners (10 years or more, the LOOP program threshold) whose bills rise sharply as a result of increased value of neighboring properties becoming more valuable.

The deferred taxes would be due when the property is sold. (This is the proposal's one downside, akin to what's known as the "welcome stranger" provision in California's Prop 13.)

Still, it would give many "middle neighborhoods" a fighting chance against decline.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by thedirtypirate

Delinquent homeowners could have tax debt deferred under Council plan

How to destroy the city and the free market system 101.

Darrell Clarke is a cancer in this city. I'm sorry but Philly's problem isn't affordable housing. The problem is people not paying their F'n taxes.

Imagine living in his district which I do.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

My previous neighbor had two tax liens on his $400k+ house, but was driving around an Escalade. These council clowns need to go.

Run for office. Stop saying you're not a politician. Or encourage more people to think about running. Look what happened wrt Krasner.

[thedirtypirate]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Okay, that's pretty ballsy and definitely a sign of misplaced priorities, but this sounds like a variant of the "welfare Cadillac" tale, which then was used to justify s**tting on a bunch of people who didn't deserve that treatment. More below.



Who said all the tax delinquents were, or are, poor?

This subject came up at the forum Next City sponsored last night around that feature I wrote about upper East Mount Airy. (I wish I could post the video a friend of mine shot of the panel, but it's on his Facebook profile (and mine), and I don't think I can download it.)

This neighborhood is far from poor, but foreclosures hit it hard. And there were several people in the audience who urged Councilwoman Cherelle Parker, who represents the neighborhood, to do something to keep the city from piling on. Most of the residents of upper East Mount Airy made a point of paying their mortgages and taxes on time, but when the economy turned sour, a good chunk of them could no longer pay either.

If figuring out a way to keep people like these in their homes means the difference between a stable "middle neighborhood" and a declining one, I think I'd err on the side of stability.

And please note that this program defers, not excuses, the debt. It's akin to something I discussed with one of the audience members, a West Powelton resident concerned about the side effects of gentrification, during the reception after the discussion.

He suggested something I thought would be a good solution for those long-time homeowners who, through no fault of their own, faced the possibility of being taxed out of their homes because of the new development surrounding them.

It's a variant on the Tax LOOP program instituted in the wake of AVI.

What it would do is freeze property tax rates at their current level (plus adjustments for the inflation rate) for long-term homeowners (10 years or more, the LOOP program threshold) whose bills rise sharply as a result of increased value of neighboring properties becoming more valuable.

The deferred taxes would be due when the property is sold. (This is the proposal's one downside, akin to what's known as the "welcome stranger" provision in California's Prop 13.)

Still, it would give many "middle neighborhoods" a fighting chance against decline.

I respect your opinion greatly, and think you have very sound and logical arguments. People were annoying me at work when I posted that, and I think some of my annoyance came through.

However, you are wrong on this in my opinion. Can't you see the obvious problem with having the school system directly tied to property tax collection? I am sorry, but saying "you can keep your house, keep putting children into the school system, but you don't have to contribute anything." is a major problem. The city knows this. Hence why they have sent out tens of thousands of new foreclosure notices. What type of city do you want? A lawless ghetto where children grow up thinking dealing drugs on dirtbikes and raping girls in the school bathroom is normal? These are the children of the people not paying there taxes. Philadelphia's inner city has a very serious cultural problem and the only way I see it getting better is 1. stop making excuses. 2. a lot of people need to leave. You call a lot of neighborhoods "middle" but let's be real. They are already near full on collapse and these little plans to shift resources away from real change is only slowing the already painful death.

The city should contiually send out notices and run quarterly sell offs of the properties. It is no longer acceptable to be a deadbeat POS. LOOP is in place to help the good people, and people have the oppurtunity to pay their back taxes back. That is enough. Clarke is doing what he does best, being the King Poverty Pimp.

The city has struggled mightily to curb rampant tax delinquency. The lien sale was an experimental attempt at a new strategy: selling the liens to private investors, who would then have the same authority the city has to collect penalties and interest from delinquent property owners, and even to begin foreclosure proceedings on delinquent properties. Lien sales are, at root, an outsourcing of delinquency enforcement.
Over the last few days, the city tried to auction off 865 liens online. The sale ended Monday, and the results sucked. Philly sold only sold 28 percent of the liens for a total of $2.1 million, according to data from the city’s revenue department.

But something the city government did right before the lien sale was a lot more successful. It mailed letters to deadbeat owners of more than 4,000 properties, warning them of the impending lien sale. The threat was clear: If they didn’t pay their delinquent taxes, the city would try to sell their debts to a third party.
Out of the 4,000-plus properties, 1,419 of the owners paid their delinquent taxes in full, while 645 paid their 2015 taxes. The city reaped $5.5 million in cash, as well as an additional $2.2 million in expected payment agreements, said mayoral spokesman Mark McDonald. All together, that’s about $10 million in proceeds.
In other words, it appears that a lien sale is an incredibly effective tool with which to threaten property owners who haven’t paid their taxes.

Philly's Tax Lien Sale Sucked* - Philadelphia Magazine

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Another 2 steps backward for Philadelphia, while NYC, Boston, DC take 2 more forward. Its's almost like he's saying its okay to accept living in poverty and not pay taxes, yet the city barely has funing for its dreadful prublic school system. What a clown.

Look on the bright side. The Inquirer has a new article about Philly having better job growth, over the last year, than NYC. Look for it.

Lots of people are hating DiBlasio right now in NYC. Starts with the uptick of homeless people on the street. I've noticed it myself. You have not been a New Yorker long enough to notice probably. You're still in the honeymoon phase regarding NY.

DC has a possible negative problem building with the clown show in the White House. It may infect a lot of DC if it goes on and bears fruit.