Ron Panepinto Jewelers
Jim Stevenson
700 Sansom St. 215-923-1980
9371 ROOSEVELT BLVD. PHILADELPHIA, PA 19114 215-698-7000 JStevenson@ChapmanAutoGroup.com
Vol. XI. No. 33 (Issue 498)
www.PanepintoJewelers.com We Buy Gold & Diamonds
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August 13, 2009
PICA Deadline Extension Could Resolve City Crisis GERMANTOWN Town Hall is one of hundreds of battered old buildings a new Conservancy wants to take control of and fix up.
Group Eyes Germantown Properties by Tony West A little-noticed Pennsylvania realestate law that went into effect last year will get its first major trial in Germantown today. And what a doozy! If the activists involved succeed in their petition, they will take control of 331 parcels with poorly kept buildings on them, totaling over 5 million square feet, with a potential street value of half a billion dollars. Act 135, which was introduced by Democratic State Rep. Don Walko of Pittsburgh and cosponsored by Republican State Rep. John Taylor of Port Richmond, is entitled, “An Act providing for court-appointed conservators to bring residential, commercial and industrial buildings into municipal code compliance when owners fail to comply”. It enables individuals to seek court authorization (Cont. Page 2)
Marijuana Bill To Get A Hearing
Philadelphia State Rep. Mark Cohen may one day be credited with making “one small step for a man, but a giant leap for mankind” into the world of legalized marijuana. He recently introduced HB 1393 with less than a dozen co-sponsors. It will draw media attention when State Rep. Frank Oliver, chairman of the Committee on Health & Human Services, schedules hearings on the bill in early fall. The bill, if passed and signed into law, will be known as the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. Like similar bills passed in 14 other states, it would permit the use of marijuana to alleviate pain and other symptoms associated with certain debilitating medical conditions “as found by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine in March 1999.” According to Cohen’s bill, “99 out of every 100 marijuana arrests in the nation are made under the laws of states, rather than under Federal law. (Cont. Page 19)
Why Census Is Vital To You? The 2010 Census is a count of everyone living in the United States and is mandated by the US Constitution. Census data are used to allocate Congressional seats among the states and to guide funding decisions and distribution of more
than $400 billion in Federal funds to local, state and tribal governments each year. The 2010 Census questionnaire will be one of the shortest in history, consisting of 10 questions, and will take 10 minutes to complete.
Union Battles For Chief
LEADERS OF Local 22 of the International Association of Fire Fighters protest City’s plan to eliminate Battalion Chief’s Aides. President IAFF Local 22 President Bill Gault is joined by Mike Conroy, Tim McShea and Tom Callahan Tuesday at 4th & Arch Street Fire Station – the Ben Franklin Station – which had its Engine removed last year. Union wrote a letter protesting the cuts, written by Gault and signed by 46 of the 51 Chiefs, and has been hand-delivered to the Mayor, every Member of City Council and Commissioner Lloyd Ayers.
Oversight Group Has The Final Say
Every State Senator is now aware Philadelphia is in a major economic crisis, which could impact negatively on its neighboring counties as well. They remain unsure, though, if the deadline precipitating the crisis remains Aug. 15, or moves to Aug. 31 or even Sep. 15. The final word rests with the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority and its board members, most of whom are from Philadelphia, three Democrat-appointed and two by Republicans. The Philadelphia Public Record believes PICA will not be ordering any cuts over what have been outlined by the budget passed by City Council, (Cont. Page 2)
City Needs To Adopt LVT Now
by Nick DePace, Jr. What can a Land Value Tax do for Philadelphia? This question needs deeper study as its real-estate assessment system demands overhaul. An LVT can bring the City more revenue than its present property tax structure, advocates say. Many square miles of vacant land in the City of Philadelphia are currently undertaxed, according to the LVT principle. If Philadelphia were to adopt the LVT, it would then be able to produce substantial new revenue from this geographic land mass, which comprises 28% of the City. What the LVT does is transfer the weight of real-estate taxes from buildings to the land on which they sit. Instead of taxing land and buildings
separately, this system would serve to create a single tax based on a proportion of land-tax rates to building-tax rates. A look at other Pennsylvania cities gives insight into how it could change the City of Philadelphia. Many other governments already employ this method and their overall report is: It works. It is no secret real-estate taxes in Philadelphia are arbitrary and sometimes unjustified. As the Mayor’s Task Force on Tax Policy & Economic Competitiveness is scheduled to meet today about the City’s tax structure, it is time to examine how other cities do the job. Currently, 17 cities across Pennsylvania utilize a real-estate tax based
on a ratio of land value to building value. The bulk of them lie in the western portion of the State. Typically, these cities decided to implement the LVT to encourage the development of idle, vacant land. But their approaches are diverse. The ratios of land to building tax rates range from 44 in Dubois to only 1.89 in Duquesne. The largest city to implement the LVT is Allentown, with a population of 106,632, which instituted the tax in 1997. In contrast, cities as small as Ebensburg (which added the tax in 2000), with a population just over 3,000, have begun to use it as well. Scranton, who today has a population of over 76,000, became the first (Cont. Page 10)