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Vol. 71 No. 23 | June 6, 2018 southphillyreview.com
Reassessments raising concern over taxes With some residents seeing their homes nearly double in market value, local homeowners are questioning the formula behind appraisals, file for appeal By Grace Maiorano SOUTH PHILLY REVIEW
S TOM BECK/South Philly Review
On Friday afternoon at City Hall, 19-year-old South Philly native Kasim Shaw was presented with his high school diploma after a tumultuous few years in the wake of being charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.
Back on track: By Tom Beck
SOUTH PHILLY REVIEW
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asim Shaw’s mom always knew he had it in him. “His hard work was nothing but faith,� said Izetta Shaw. “At first he lost it. He’s a boy, well, a young man now, and I believe from the trials he went through through high school lowered his self-esteem and lowered his pride, and he felt
Program helps local teen find path to graduation after stumble on streets
like he couldn’t handle it. I always told him, ‘I always believed in you.’� Life was good for Shaw, now 19, during his high school days. He was captain of Mastery Charter’s basketball team and was a member of the National Honor Society. He got straight A’s. Shaw had an astute work ethic, but the thing he didn’t have was money. So he turned to the streets. “I was a senior at Mastery Charter and left near the end of the year. There was non-
stop chaos. It was dangerous, and the trouble came to my doorstep,� he said. Shaw was caught selling drugs and was forced to drop out of high school only three credits short of getting his diploma. To add insult to injury, around the same time in early 2017, his 17-year-old brother was gunned down on South 7th Street right before his eyes. “I lost it all,� he said. See TCY, page 6>>
outh Philly homeowners continue to voice concerns over April’s citywide property reassessment – the first mass reappraisal since the Actual Value Initiative in 2014. After receiving revised property market values in the mail last month, Girard Estate Area Residents – or GEAR – recently held a meeting led by Councilman Kenyatta Johnson and Residential Administrator for the Office of Property Assessment Jaye Divine to shed light to the latest colossal increases, as well as guide residents in filing the First Level Review or FLR, the first step to appeal proposed assessments. “It was important to get everybody together because of the First Level Review, which is just an appeal, so that the mayor can see how upset the people are,� Jody Della Barba, president of GEAR, told SPR. “Because this is totally without rhyme or reason.� Some South Philly residents were hit with a nearly 30 percent increase while other homeowners saw their property market values more than double, ranging from hundreds of dollars to more than $1,000 increases in property taxes. These jumps come before the potential 4 percent property tax increase proposed by Mayor Jim Kenney to benefit the school district. The First Level Review, which can take up to a year to fully process, allows homeowners to officially refute the assessments using evidence they believe proves an inaccurate projection. See REASSESSMENTS, page 8>>
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