COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE THE COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON FINANCE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, May 2, 2000 10:09 a.m. - - - BILL 000028 - An ordinance amending Title of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "Finance Taxes, 13 and Collections," by amending Chapter 19-2500, entitled"Real Estate Non-Utilization Tax," by 14 changing the definition of "vacant and abandoned property" for the purpose of taxation under this 15 section, changing the rate of assessment of the tax and modifying the means of collections, all 16 under certain terms and conditions 17 PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE L. BLACKWELL, Chair 18 COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO, Vice Chair COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE 19 COUNCILMAN FRANK DICICCO COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 2 /00 FINANCE I N D E X Sharif Street. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chief Legislative Advisor to State Senator Kitchen Beverly Stokes, Private Citizen. . . . . . . . 7 Russell Meddin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Logan Square Neighborhood Association 8 Humberto Perez, Committee Person 37th Ward . . 27 9 State Committee Member, 2nd Senatorial District Willie Henderson, 37th Ward Activist . . . . . 33 3 /00 FINANCE P R O C E E D I N G S
Good morning. This is the Council Committee on Finance. We have a quorum present. To my left is President Anna Verna, to her left is Councilman Jim Kenney, and to my right is Councilman Michael Nutter and also Councilman Darrell Clarke. Thank you very much. We have called this hearing for the purpose of getting testimony in regard to Bill No. 11 000028, and the clerk now read the title of the bill. Thank you.
An ordinance amending Title of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "Finance 15 Taxes, and Collections," by amending Chapter 16 19-2500, entitled "Real Estate Non-Utilization 17 Tax," by changing the definition of "vacant and 18 abandoned property" for the purpose of taxation 19 under this section, changing the rate of assessment of the tax and modifying the means of collections, all under certain terms and conditions. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The Chair notes that Councilman Frank 4 /00 FINANCE DiCicco is also here. And now we would like to call forward members of the community and all others who are here who would like to testify. I believe there is a witness list. Councilman Clarke, do you have a list of those you would like to call?
Yes, he told me he has a list as well. (Witnesses come forward.)
Thank you very much. We are glad to have you to testify on Bill 16 28 today. Please make yourself comfortable and identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.
My name is Sharif Street, and I'm the Chief Legislative Advisor to State Senator Kitchen, and we overlap a significant part of Councilman Clarke's district. And I have with me Miss Beverly Stokes, one of our joint constituents.
Thank you very 5 /00 FINANCE much, Mr. Street and Miss Stokes.
Okay. Hello, Councilpeople, Council President, and Councilmembers. I have a letter that was written to the Senator, and which she cc'd Councilman Clarke and the Department of Licenses and Inspections, and I would like to read Miss Stokes' letter into the record and then have a couple comments on it. It's dated August 24, 1999, to the Honorable Shirley Kitchen, State Senator. "Dear Senator Kitchen: I am bringing to your attention a notice of cancellation of homeowner's insurance due to the abandoned property next door to my home. I currently reside at 1207 West Sedgely Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19133. And the abandoned property next door is a garage store front, which address, I believe, is 1201 through 1203 West Sedgely Avenue. "I have pleaded with the owners of the property to have something done with the building on numerous occasions, and they have promised me that they would hold a family meeting to decide what would be done with the building. However, the property remains abandoned. 6 /00 FINANCE "The building has not been occupied since 1984, when the owner operated a refrigerator business and also operated the storefront. Since then, the condition of the building has been on the decline and became hazardous. There are open windows in both of the garage doors, large enough for stray animals and rodents to dwell. And when it rains, the stench from the abandoned property seeps through the walls of my home and the water dampens my walls adjacent to the garage due to roof leakage from the abandoned property. I am now afraid that the lack of concern for this water damage will cause my wall to collapse that's addressed to this property. "I am in the process of renovating my home into a full-service hair and nail salon, and these hazardous conditions on the abandoned property have prevented me from lawfully obtaining homeowner's insurance because I am considered a high risk. I have enclosed a copy of the notice of cancellation of homeowner's insurance, along with photos of the abandoned garage and my property. "I'm appealing to you to please 7 /00 FINANCE investigate this matter immediately so that I will not suffer a great loss of my property or it being destroyed due to the neglect of this abandoned property. I feel as if I have exhausted all of my options, and I am beginning to feel discouraged. I am humbling seeking the necessary action, but there has not been any action to resolve this matter. "I greatly appreciate your attention to this matter." And then she gives out numbers and cc's the Licenses and Inspections L&I Commissioner and Councilman Clarke. Councilman Clarke's office has been working to abate some of the nuisances -- has been working with the Department of Department of Licenses and Inspections to abate some of the nuisances described. But as it pertains to the matter of just all of the problems which arise from abandoned properties and the fact that the property -- as long as the property remains abandoned, she's in a high risk category for homeowner's insurance, that really does require something more, perhaps a legislative change. 8 /00 FINANCE I am here with Miss Stokes, who is a representative of the numerous constituents that we have that have this problem and also on behalf of Senator Kitchen who is the Democratic Chair of the Housing and Urban Development Committee for the State Senate to hear what's being done locally so that we might complement those efforts at the state legislative level.
Thank you, Mr. Street. So you're saying the purpose basically for this legislation is to help the neighborhoods, especially where there's abandonment and there's controversy over what an abandoned property is so that some resolve can be -- so that something can happen.
Right. I think the purpose of the legislation is to deal with -- I believe we're talking about the purpose of the legislation is to deal with -- one, look at what abandoned properties are; and then, two, to try and reduce the number of vacancies we have in this city, particularly in the North Philadelphia sections that we jointly represent. 9 /00 FINANCE
And you also mentioned the issue of homeowners insurance.
Right, because the homeowners and property owners generally -- not just homeowners -- find that they are put into a -- automatically put into a high-risk category at times in which their insurance is -- they own a property that has an abandoned property next to it. I think Miss Stokes has a letter from her insurer that she'd like to read.
This letter is from Sidney Rosenfeld Insurance Company, where I had homeowner's insurance for a short period of time, until they saw the building adjacent to mine. And this is what they wrote: "Dear Miss Stokes: Please be advised that the recent routine insurance inspection of your property has revealed a vacant home right next door to your. This vacancy prevents any company from writing a homeowner's policy and, therefore, you are receiving a termination notice from your company." 10 /00 FINANCE And, you know, I've had this problem with getting homeowner's insurance -- not just then, I can't even get a home remodeling loan to do any remodeling to my home. I've always had to use my own monies to see remodel my home because this is a high-risk building next door, and when you get loans, they want you to have homeowner's insurance. They've all rejected me, so I can't even fix my property up -- while I have fixed it up, but it's been a long process because I've had to use my own money, I couldn't get a loan to do this. And, you know, I'm always at nighttime in fear that a fire might break out next door to me in the building because they're trying to, you know, get into the building, I guess, to do illegal activities. And I'm afraid that I'm going to wake up and a fire's going to destroy not just that building but take my building with it, and I guess I'd be up in a shelter after that.
I know this bill is dealing with the problem that we're facing with blight as it relates to a citywide issue, but specifically, your situation, has Licenses and Inspections reviewed or examined the property next door to you to determine whether or not it is able to be demolished?
Councilman Clarke, do you know whether or not Licenses and Inspections has been out there to take a look to see? So the property is able to be demolished without creating structural damage for your property?
I don't know that. What I understand is that the people that own the building are still paying the taxes on the building, then that might be a problem, but I do know that the roof -- I have pictures of the building. And the roof on the building, water has come through over the years, maybe at least 15 12 /00 FINANCE years, that roof has been bad, and water has deteriorated the level, the upper level, and come through the floor of the building, and the floor has deteriorated --
How long has it been since the property's been unoccupied?
And the windows are 11 out and the doors are open? I mean, is it 12 sealed? What's the condition? 13
I have pictures of the 14 building if you'd like to see them. 15
I've been informed by the Councilman's office, 'cause we've been working jointly on this, that the owner is currently maintaining taxes on the property and doing some of the other things that make it difficult for L&I to legally demolish the property. I think one thing -- and that being the case, I think one thing that this would do is make the local -- make the property owner more accurately -- well, it raises the assessment on 13 /00 FINANCE the property when the property becomes vacant, and I think that makes the property owner have to more accurately reflect the additional costs.
It makes the property owner have to pay some of the additional costs associated with having a vacant property. There's more nuisance to abate.
No doubt. I think in general terms, this is something that the City should be looking at as far as getting vacant and property owners off their duff to either pay more money to keep these properties in good condition or to do something about it. But I guess the practical question that I have on the Stokes situation is, this building is imminently dangerous. Even if we had deemed it or had Licenses and Inspections deem it imminently dangerous, the owners would then be responsible to deal with this property on a different level, not just simply as an unused vacant structure, which would even create a situation where the owners would have to be pulled into court and explain why this imminently dangerous building has not been 14 /00 FINANCE rectified. And if not, a judge could then order it to be torn down, which I think the City would be happy to do as long as it was going to -- I look at this property and I look at Mrs. Stokes' property, and I commend you for keeping your property in the condition that it's in --
-- from these pictures, based on what mess is next door to you. But I see no reason why this property couldn't be deemed "ID" and brought into Equity Court and torn down. As long as -- now, some properties, as we know, if you tear down, they can cause structural damage to the vibrant occupied properties next door. And if that's the case, that's something different, but if this building could come down easily and without structural damage to your property, I don't know why it's not down.
Well, it's causing structural damage as it is because the water is seeping through my walls.
I would be interested through the District Councilperson in 15 /00 FINANCE trying to determine whether or not this building could be deemed ID, at least accelerating to the process to get these idiots into court and have then have a judge issue an order to tear the damn thing down.
It's really a shame because for years before this building became in this condition, I have tried to talk with the owners, and I have a youth organization -- Focus on Youth -- and I've asked them, you know, let's try to get it as a community building to do things for the community and the children, and I have never, ever been able to, you know, get them to agree.
I think what you need is an empty lot with a nice side yard.
What I'm saying is if there are processes in which you can have that building removed, fenced, and have a nice little garden and a patio and a barbecue.
I would make this just as beautiful as my house because inside my house, everything I've done, it looks like a brand-new house in there.
Thank you. Councilman Kenney, this particular case is one that has progressed over a period of time. Early on in the process, the property was not deemed imminently dangerous. As you know, having been here for some time, being able to get L&I inspectors to expeditiously cite these properties -- unfortunately, I have a number of these in my district -- is just simply a matter of sometimes they just don't get around to it. My concern is that Mrs. Stokes, along with other individuals, should not have to suffer based on L&I's inability to adequately deal with that problem and allow it to now be imminently dangerous. Our intent is to, as you say, create an 17 /00 FINANCE additional burden for people to maintain properties in this vacant status. Also, in certain parts of the City of Philadelphia, the real estate taxes are so low based on market value. As you know, there's an $800 requirement to be certified for sheriff's sale and also for a condemnation, and it can take some time for those properties to achieve that status. So what we are trying to do is accelerate that process so that either that person has run the risk of losing that property at sheriff's sale or having it condemned by the City of Philadelphia's.
I think the philosophy of the bill is sound, and I would like to see how it fits in with the Mayor's blight initiative, 'cause I do think they affect each other, and this bill may enhance the blight initiative by accelerating the process and compress the time that these owners can allow those properties to go to pot. But I do believe that -- as you know, Commissioner (unintelligible) could probably figure out a way to move this around a little 18 /00 FINANCE quick and maybe get this building down for this poor woman.
Yeah. I anticipate, particularly after this hearing, that we will get some action quite soon.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for coming in, Miss Stokes.
And certainly I might add that anything that helps us to cause residential properties, and any properties for that matter, to be dealt with so that we can get rid of blight is a plus because, as you know, Councilman, unless it's a group of houses, they just sit. The City doesn't have a program for single houses here and there. And so neighborhoods get stuck with them, so maybe this legislation will help us get another mechanism through which we can help dispose of blighted properties. Are there any other questions for these two witnesses? (No further questions.) 19 /00 FINANCE
Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Street. Thank you, Miss Stokes. Is Mr. Russell Meddin here?
Please give Senator Kitchen our regards. Mr. Meddin, welcome. Logan Square Neighborhood Association. Would you identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.
Yes. My name is Russell Meddin, and I'm with the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, and I'd like to speak to you this morning in general and in specific. This Bill No. 28, I view, would be very helpful in stemming the tide of vacancies and abandoned properties in the City. Right now, we have many properties that are totally abandoned and vacant, and nothing's being done, taxes are not being paid, and there is probably time in which the property can be condemned and taken over by the City. 20 /00 FINANCE But there are other properties in the City in which the owners do pay their taxes, but they do not maintain their property, and this is another cause of blight in many of our neighborhoods. We need something to make owners who are not taking care of their property pay a little more attention to them. If your taxes are so low on a property that it's not necessary to do anything to it, why should you? If you were to increase the taxes on properties that are not being maintained, it might make the owner more agreeable to either selling the property or refurbishing the property. So for this reason, I think that it's very important that this committee consider this bill. That is the general statement. A specific statement of what these properties do to neighborhoods. (Witness laughs.)
Excuse me, I'm sorry. I was just trying to get someone's attention. For many, many years in my neighborhood, we have been plagued by a 14-story vacant property. It has been vacant for 15 years. 21 /00 FINANCE It is a property that is a nexus of many transportation areas of the City. It is where most visitors who come in through 30th Street Station or the Airport will see Center City for the first time. I have pictures of the building, if you don't mind me showing them.
This is 2200 Arch Street. It is really and truly 22nd and JFK Boulevard. When you come into the City either from Amtrak or the Airport, especially if you take a taxi, you pass this building, 2200 Arch or 22nd and JFK Boulevard. The owner has been offered two or three times from people to purchase this building, and he has not accepted them because he's not getting his money. He pays very little taxes. Very honestly, there's a parking lot attached to the building, which pays his real estate taxes, so he has no incentive. And this is a cause of blight. This is in a very viable -- this building is in an extremely viable neighborhood, and it is being drawn down by an owner's inattentiveness to his 22 /00 FINANCE building. With this bill, we maybe can get his attention. Maybe if didn't have to pay $800 a year in real estate taxes for a 14-story building on an entire Center City block, he might be more interested in doing something about it. The building has been cited by L&I. I know that I started cites of it in 1996. The owner is very good at hiring extremely talented attorneys to slip under the problems that L&I give him. There's nothing to make him move. This bill 13 just might help. This has been a drug haven, a graffiti magnet. The people who live across the street from there live in horror of what they can see through their windows into this building, the things that go on at night. So I'm hoping that you will consider this bill and consider that it might be able to help -- not just this building, but many buildings like it throughout the City, in which the owners do pay their taxes but are getting a free ride. And I think it's up to you to stop their free ride. 23 /00 FINANCE I thank you.
Thank you very much. Excellent point. I always pass that building all the time.
Oh, if you could do something very soon, it would great if City Council could do something.
Thank you very much. Do you have a question, Councilman Nutter?
Thank you for your testimony. Just a quick question. By way of the bill, I'm assuming it's covered by Section 17 19-2504. What would be the additional tax on this building?
What I would like to see done -- I don't know exactly what the bill is calling for, but it would be reasonable that if a building has recently had an agreement of sale, whether it's gone through or not, which gives you a value of the building --
How would we know that the building is under agreement of sale, unless it was with us?
I think that is through -- I mean, it can be -- when it comes to specific buildings, if a community group is involved, they will know and they will be more than happy to know let the Tax Board know what's going on. Actually, I do believe the Tax Board probably knows more than we think that they know.
That's true too, heaven forbid. If it's possible to prove that there have been agreements of sale that have fallen through that show a much higher value for the property than it's being listed, then that should be taken into consideration and that information be given to the Board of Revision of Taxes. And, therefore, the assessment should be on what is now the current market value, even though the owner is 25 /00 FINANCE saying no, the market value is as it was when he bought the building.
One moment, please, Mr. Meddin. Councilwoman Tasco?
I would just like to echo your concern. I have a building in my district that's been boarded up for almost than 30 years, and it's in a market where the owner is not going to get the price he wants. It has been offered to purchase it by someone, but he wants this ridiculous price, so the building remains boarded up. And his lot next door is grass, overgrown grass and trash, and it really is a nuisance, it does really make the neighborhood look bad.
He may be claiming suffering by not getting his price, but he is making his neighbors suffer much worse than he is. /00 FINANCE
Well, yeah. I mean, he's got to be realistic too. He's not going to get his price if -- actually, his building is in such bad disrepair, he told me he couldn't even rent it, 'cause no one could use it. So I don't know what --
Thank you very much, thank you. Mr. Earnest Cannon, President of Philadelphia Community Civic Association.
Mr. Cannon is not here. Humberto Perez, 37th Ward Committee Person. And next is Willie Henderson, 37th Ward also. (Witnesses come forward.)
Good morning. Would you identify yourself again for the record.
Yes. My name is Mr. Humberto Perez, and I'm a committee person for the 37th Ward, also a State Committee member of the 2nd Senatorial District. I just have a few concerns in my neighborhood that I live in, which is mostly minority and low-incomes. One of the things about this bill that might be a little bit good is to bring up the PHA issue. There are some abandoned houses next to some homeowners, and they have a problem also with the insurance because the house probably has been vacant so many years, which is a PHA-owned house, and the homeowners can't get insurance because of that issue. There are also some lots, which are also PHA, abandoned next to some homeowners. Some of these are in 37th Ward area. And the homeowners kind of lose out that nothing get done with the lot or it can be turned into a garden or something, where it can be put to safety and the 28 /00 FINANCE homeowner can get insurance, and the lot could probably be used as a garden or something. So that can be done because it's a PHA lot. And that's a issue. Also, in the 800 block of Cumberland, there's a big empty lot, and the City tore down this old vacant factory, and it left a few homeowners -- it had left a big, wide empty lot, and some of the homeowners next to it are now kind of lost on the insurance because there is -- there's no vacancy there or nothing happening. They're doing a garden now, but because of the matter -- some of the residents are not here. They've been trying to get insurance. We can also talk about the squatters that also are in that block. You have some of them where the house has been empty and abandoned for many years. Now a squatter comes in, starts to renovate the house, and the homeowner next to him has a little bit of a problem with the squatter coming in, but this is a squatter that's never owned the house. And you have the squatter in, you have the abandoned lot, and now you have the homeowner still, you know, losing out from 29 /00 FINANCE insurance. And because of those issues happening, which if the squatter never who's owned the facility can own the house, it makes it easier to the resident next door to obtain insurance 'cause the scatter's not the original owner. But the squatter is so low income and doesn't have sufficient funds to obtain a house, that there should be some type of reconciliation that the squatter can get access to the papers to the property. And that's my testimony, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Certainly I agree with all that you have said. If this legislation will hopefully help define this area better so that we can dispose of these properties and force those slum landlords or absent folks who don't care about their properties to do something, we have accomplish something certainly, but I agree with you. In many blocks where we have squatters who've come in, they do protect the property. If they struggle, if they try to survive, if they try to improve the property, it's still better, in 30 /00 FINANCE most cases, than an abandoned property that could be taken over by people for all kind of negative activities. So certainly, we appreciate your testimony.
I'd just like to say that your Councilman is here. I believe that the PHA issue could be addressed without this legislation. My colleague on Council -- certainly, though, PHA is responsible for the maintenance of those homes that they have in their inventory, so you might want to talk to your Councilmember about that.
Well, let me say that this is Councilman Clarke's, but we know that PHA has abandoned properties throughout the City. They're willing and able if somebody has a plan and if somebody wants to develop them, so they're kind of like -- it's kind of like if a property is owned by Public Property or PHDC or the City of Philadelphia or D.A.'s Confiscation Program, they're still all abandoned. And with PHA, they're in the same category in that they're owned by somebody 31 /00 FINANCE affiliated with the City, but there's no real plan for them, and all those departments are very sorry, but they don't have a plan, especially in neighborhoods where there are individual properties. Unless there's a whole plan for that neighborhoods, then it falls through the middle, and they just simply -- we fought year in and year out for plans for individual homes, but there is none. And, therefore, we have to come up with creative means like this to try to hit it in the back door, to force some legislation that would cover housing in this kind of situation.
One issue also with the abandoned properties is that if you have a resident next door, maybe there can be some type of a tax credit for them that, when they get their gas bill because it's so high, they have the house abandoned next door, and it's eating up their gas, because the house is just sealed up, no one's living in there, and it makes the house next door harder, especially a low-income person to maintain 32 /00 FINANCE those bills. And sometimes they have to go in and ask for additional help from the gas company because the house next door is abandoned, and there's so much air or whatever in the wintertime, that makes it harder for a low-income person to keep up the bills. So maybe if in the future, there can be some type of tax credit or something that can help those residents, it would be helpful.
I think that's an excellent idea 'cause you're almost being victimized twice -- you're victimized by the abandoned home and then you're victimized by having a higher gas bill because you live there and then you're victimized 'cause can't get the insurance. So it's over and over and over again. And maybe if can ever get through this initial problem with the gas company, maybe we can consider something like this, or maybe this is a way we can do that -- gosh, all of a sudden, it slipped my mind -- that energy money that people apply for, maybe we can amend the qualifications to make a person able to apply for it in this kind 33 /00 FINANCE of a situation. Maybe we can at least expand the guidelines to allow people who live next door to abandoned homes to also qualify for this money, you know?
Yeah, for the weatherization or any other programs that the utility companies have. Maybe we can look at that, okay. Excellent. Thank you very much, Mr. Perez. Mr. Henderson?
And members of the Council. My name is Willie Henderson, and I am a community activist within North Philadelphia, and I'm here this morning to testify on different things about abandoned housing. We have -- on my block, we have approximately six abandoned houses, and I feel as though that if these houses was taken by some of 34 /00 FINANCE the members within the block or by somebody within the City, that they could fix them up, and those houses would not be tore down because the houses that they're building today is nowhere near as good as the house that is already built, you know what I mean? And another thing. We have -- this is, like my comrade here said a few minutes ago, we have squatters coming in taking over the houses, but they're not fixing the houses up. All they doing is finding a place for they dope dens, and this is something that we don't want within our neighborhoods and in our communities. What we are asking the City Council to do is to give these houses to these people that will fix them up, give them a certain amount of time to fix these houses up. If they don't, then you come back and you evict them. But on one hand, I have an organization myself, plus I have a property at Fifth and Allegheny Avenue. I've been trying to get the City Councilperson to come up there and take a look at the place, to go in the place with us. That's Councilman Mariano. And every time I see 35 /00 FINANCE this man or talk to this man, he tells me, Well, go to my office. I call his office but I can't make no kind of meetings with him. The only person -- the Councilman that I can get to is Mr. Clarke. He do everything that he can to give us a hand, but this is out of his district. So you can't just step over out of your district into somebody else's district because you have authority, but you'd like to get that person to respect -- to work within his district. You know what I mean? And this is what I haven't had with Councilman Mariano. The man is a very hard man to reach. He's not interested with his own ward, his own division. He's not interested up there.
Well, Mr. Henderson, if you give your -- if you could see Councilman Clarke at the end of this meeting, if you give him your number or give us your phone number, we will again let Councilman Mariano, who is not here -- he is not on this committee -- know that you were here and that you are concerned and you asked him to get in touch with you. We'll be glad to do that. 36 /00 FINANCE
I appreciate it very much. Thank you. That's the end of my testimony.
Thank you very much. Is there anyone else here who would like to testify on this bill? (No response.)
Let me say that this is a very, very, very important issue. There are those of us who have fought. Councilman Clarke is one of them, even before he was elected a Councilperson himself. There are those of us who have fought over the years to try to make legislation better to allow people to acquire individual properties, as well as to try to dispose of them. And we have been waylaid many, many times. But, certainly, I would like the Councilman to know that we support this legislation, and certainly the committee will revisit this entire area with members from the various departments in the City to allow for their input. And are there any questions from the 37 /00 FINANCE members of the committee?
Madam Chair, as you know, we will be asking members of the Administration to come in and testify in the near future. I just want to say briefly, the premise of this bill is to essentially shift the focus of responsibility on these various vacant properties and vacant lots. Currently, the average citizen thinks that it is the City's to clean the vacant house and it is the City's responsibility to clean a vacant lot -- when it is not. It is technically the responsibility of that property owner. So the purpose of this bill is to somehow make that property owner feel that maybe it's not profitable to allow the property to sit wide open, that maybe it's not profitable to not have a fence on a lot. As you see in a part of the bill, in the appeals section, in 19-2406, that if an individual property owner who owns a vacant lot, if he fences that lot, that individual will 38 /00 FINANCE not be subject to this tax. So we want to come up with every creative manner to shift that focus back to the responsibility party -- which is the property owner. Thank you.
Thank you. Certainly we commend you for your efforts in this area, as we strive so hard as District Councilpeople to come up with plans for our areas and to let the neighbors and residents know that we are committed to our neighborhoods. It's very, very difficult when you feel that you are stymied by the lack even of a definition that would hold up in court. And, apparently, this is what has happened -- unless I'm not correct -- that in court, some owners who have no concern for the community have been able to just wiggle out of their commitment because the definition has not been clear.
Exactly. And interestingly enough, if you recall the history of the original bill, an organization called "The Homeowners Association" litigated this matter in court, and ultimately the City felt that it 39 /00 FINANCE potentially would not be able to win it and it, therefore, did not enforce the existing bill. So as a result, we've made some changes in the bill 5 that will hopefully make it more palatable to that organization and other organizes. We will be offering some amendments based on some of the Law Department's recommendations at the future hearing. So we want to do something that's fair but we also want to do something that is fair ultimately to the citizens that have to endure this problem in their communities.
Absolutely. Well, we thank you very much for your leadership in the whole area of housing. And what we will do now is, we will hold this bill subject to the call of the Chair. And let me thank all of the committee members, and Councilman Clarke, who has testified, is also here. And we thank everyone for coming. Thank all of you.
Thank you. (Adjourned at 10:49 a.m.) - - - 40 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Tuesday, May 2, 2000, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON FINANCE BILL NO. 000028 __________________________________, JOSEPHINE CARDILLO, Registered Professional Reporter