What’s Happening in Baltimore Could Happen in Philly With Just One “Nickel-Ride”

I think Philadelphians who don’t have family or friends living in Baltimore realize just how eerily similar Baltimore is a sister city to Philadelphia. We’re the same age, have a similar economic history, similar demographics, same income problems, even the same style of housing–rowhouses–that we have.  We even have the same accent of English (they say “wooder” down there, too). Baltimore is our twin and closest cousin–not New York.

The burning riots plaguing the harbor city right now could happen in Philly with just one single fuck-up.  Just one, and we only have to look at CNN to realize what Philly will look like if that happens here.  All it takes is one nickel ride.

Remember the nickel rides?

Philadelphia Police have long been accused of, and the City of Philadelphia has paid out claims relating to what are known as “nickel rides“.  These are abusive police van rides where the officers driving the transport van make the ride as violent as possible in order to batter up a suspect inside who has been arrested.  This has been going on for decades.   The controversy right now surrounding Freddie Gray’s death and the results of his autopsy report with extensive spinal damage seems to draw similarities to previous plaintiffs who have sued the Philadelphia Police Department over these rides.

But it’s not just about nickel rides–that’s one form of documented mistreatment of suspects by police.   Tension has built up and provocateurs are itching for any excuse to incite a riot.   It’s happened in Philadelphia before.  Most of us weren’t alive when it happened.

The 1964 North Philadelphia Riots

The riots which triggered the 50-year-long downward spiral of 1/4 of Philadelphia’s surface area began with with this single event.

It’s only been in recent times that North Philadelphia has shown signs of recovery.  It’s now no longer a place that one dreams forever as a place to get out of, now it’s a place to grow-up in and stay.  Businesses have come back.  Temple University has expanded.  While crime has been a major problem, it’s been declining over the last decade.   North Philadelphia is slowly, and I mean slowly, recovering.

Carol Ott

Baltimore is a struggling city as well.   One long-time friend of mine and compatriot in Baltimore is Carol Ott, who runs Baltimore Slumlord Watch which is the equivalent of Philadelinquency, the blog that I run that’s been cheering redevelopment and calling out bad property owners over the last 4+ years.

The recent rioting and looting across marginal neighborhoods in Baltimore has been really wrenching to read coming from my closest compatriot and equal.

As idiots from across America have been all-too-willing to tweet out their small opinions on Twitter, Ott actually lives in Baltimore and she’s been fighting the good fight against blight, inept city council and speculative property owners flouting code violations and tax obligations for longer than I have.   Watching the city you live in burn is not fun.  The damage it causes is so much worse than just the property that is destroyed.   It destroys trust.  It creates new negative stigmas.  It causes huge numbers of locals to throw their hands up and give up on their communities and walk away from them.

Watching Ott’s tweets tonight has torn my heart out.

Riots tilt cities closer to bankruptcy as they are tremendously costly disasters.  The lost revenue from people fleeing, businesses not re-opening, tourists passing the city up, jobs lost and that people can and do unfairly judge neighborhoods, and whole cities, based nothing tangible whatsoever leads to only one thing (like summing up a whole city in one riot, and drag that stigma along for a half-century):   decline.    Decline breeds disinvestment, less revenue to help the poor, and people bail.   That’s the last thing Philly needs right now.

I strongly urge you to ignore the Twatters who don’t even live in Philly or in Baltimore, and follow Carol Ott instead.  She’s @HousingWatchMD on Twitter.  She needs your support right now.

This should be a very stern warning to the City of Philadelphia.

We absolutely cannot afford to have what happened in Baltimore happen here.  I know how crappy that police arbitration contract is, but that contract is worth violating if our city’s interests are at stake and it means preventing a riot before it begins.   Remember the Officer Josey saga?   What do you think might happen if that fracas happened right now?  I bet it wouldn’t be the same.

We all know we have some shitty cops on the force.   We shouldn’t allow these cops to be the fuse that ignites a riot.   Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey probably knows this more than anyone and has watched Baltimore burn right now, just as we all have.   Top cops are worried.  This is serious.

I hope the next mayor is willing to take unusual steps to keep public anger focused and productive and is smart enough, or at least can hire handlers that are smart enough, to help him or her manage the next screw-up before it spirals out of control like what happened in Baltimore.

Let’s hope that Baltimore can recover from this quickly, and that we can live in peace.

-Chris

Our Local Newsmedia Has Failed to Tell You The Full Story About the 3 Charged Officers Arrested Last Thursday #PHL2015

A bombshell was delivered earlier this week about three police officers which District Attorney Seth Williams is charging with animal cruelty, perjury, tampering with government documents and receiving stolen property.

Ofcs. Roderick Walton, Christopher Hulmes, and Christopher Jackson [Philadelphia Police Department]

Most everyone has heard about these arrests of these officers.

District Attorney Seth Williams fired a whistleblower ADA over this case who raised Hulmes’ perjury problems long before he announced these arrests.

A.J. Thomson raised the perjury issues about Ofc. Hulmes to his superiors, who later fired him [CityPaper]

But what no media outlet that I have seen lately do is mention an article done by CityPaper by Daniel Denvir last year where DA Seith Williams fired then-Assistant District Attorney A.J. Thomson who was in charge of handling prosecutions that involved Hulmes, who admitted to lying under oath on the witness stand, in front of the ADA.

Here’s the thing, and I will admit it to you openly, right now… I know A.J. Thompson, personally.   I’ve known him for over four years, I have never once doubted his integrity, and I know he cares passionately about the East Division, the area whose cases he worked on.

Fishtown, Thomson’s home neighborhood, was shocked over this termination. Thomson has long been a Fishtown booster and organizer for Penn Treaty Park and was raised in the neighborhood, where he’s well-known.   Thomson has since moved on to a higher-paying legal position outside of the District Attorney’s office.

So, here’s the thing… I was very inclined to believe Thomson’s versions of events with regards to Officer Hulme back then at the time Thomson was terminated.   And this week, the very people who terminated the ADA who raised this issue to his own superiors holds a presser accusing Hulme of the very same actions that Thomson aired just before he was fired, when raising objections to his superiors had fallen on deaf ears.

I can’t speak for the Ofc. Walton and Jackson cases, but on this one I have to say this:  I am very suspicious of how the District Attorney’s Office carried out enforcement here, and in the process it gutted another great Assistant District Attorney who’s day job is to defend the public.

As to whether any of these three officers are innocent or guilty, that is of course up to the criminal justice system and a box of 12, and DA Seth Williams who, in my view, threw a good ADA under the bus who probably will be vindicated when all this is over.

All of this leaves a very sour taste in my mouth.   As is often said on social media… #smh.

UPDATE: Since the arrest, CityPaper has written a much more in-depth follow-up article that contains more details over the charges and evidence in the cop cases.

Campaign Bandit Signs Are Illegal!

If you see any candidates bandit signs out up on light poles and trees (like this one above), send me a picture!

Everyone running for office received this letter from the Streets commissioner warning them not to do it, so ignorance is no excuse!

You Have until MIDNIGHT TONIGHT To Register to Vote @ 520 N Columbus Blvd 5th Floor!

After midnight, if you have not registered to vote you will be turned away from the polls come May 19th.

Kermit Gosnell Horror House Won’t Be Eligible for Sheriff’s Sale for at Least Another Year

Kermit Gosnell, the grisly abortion horror doctor who shocked America and who now sits in jail, still owns property.  Several properties, in fact.

The Daily News‘ Ronnie Polaneczky paid a visit to 646 N 32nd Street (BRT #242135600), a Victorian rowhome up in Mantua and found absolutely appalling conditions.  Squatters have quickly broken in and wrecked the place.    A developer who owns an adjacent property wants to buy it, gut it and rehab it.  But no dice.

Welcome to a weird policy of how Philadelphia handles properties that go into abandonment.  Taxes must accrue at least $2,500 in liens before the City of Philadelphia will even think about taking a property to Sheriff Sale.  The average length of time for a property to start accruing liens and when it might actually attempt a sale is 6.5 years.

As of right now, the property doesn’t owe enough in liens to be eligible for sale:

There is currently only one lien applied to the property for $970.   Later on this summer the City will file a lien for the 2014 property taxes that went unpaid for $3,069.  Further, it appears that this property in its present state, with its plumbing stripped and destroyed interior is severely overvalued by the City of Philadelphia.  The City raised the value of Gosnells home to $214,000, which is unbelievably high.   The Gosnells didn’t file an appeal on the taxes so right now, those figures stand.

Even when the Gosnell home gets the 2014 lien, neighbors wouldn’t be able to force a sale without the support of Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, lest they hold some fundraisers to pay a $1,100 deposit and take part in this Department of Revenue program to force a sale to happen without the Councilwoman’s support:

Forcing a Sheriff’s Sale

The Department of Revenue has a Sheriff’s tax sale escrow program which covers any property that is subject to a municipal lien and is Real Estate tax delinquent. You can view your account status by clicking “Real Estate Balance” on the left. Properties under a delinquent payment agreement (AGRE), or having collections being pursued by Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson (LBR) or Goehring, Rutter & Boehm (GRB) Collection Agencies are not eligible under this program. Bankruptcy status does not show on the website, but will be checked upon receipt of your application. If the account is in bankruptcy, your request will be denied.

Any taxpayer, other than the owner, may request the Department of Revenue to certify the property for Sheriff Sale. A certified check or money order made payable to the “City of Philadelphia” in the amount of $1,100 is required. Bring payment to the Taxpayer Services Counter in the Municipal Services Building, Public Concourse Level, 1401 John F. Kennedy Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19102.

The requestor must agree to attend and bid at the sale. If the requestor’s bid is successful, the $1,100 will be credited to the total amount of the bid. If the requestor is outbid, the $1,100 will be returned to the requestor without interest.

If the neighbors want this fixed as soon as possible, this is the fastest way there… which will take 2 more years:

• Wait until July for the 2014 taxes to accrue a lien
• Pay $1,100 to the Revenue Department to force a sale… you do this in person by going down to the Municipal Services Building, go down the escalator to the basement, follow the sign that says Taxes and ask the desk clerks that you want to speak with a Real Estate Tax supervisor as you want to make a Sheriff Sale deposit.  You can even show them this article (tell them Chris Sawyer sent you… they hate me :-).   They need the property’s OPA account number which I’ve already printed at the top for you.
• Wait about 13 months for the slow machinery of tax foreclosure to finally reach the point of auction.   Ms. Gosnell will be showered with lots of demands for payment and notices that her former home is going to tax foreclosure.
• When the sale happens, attend the auction to find out who wins the bid.  If you want your $1,100 back (if you didn’t win the house at auction), you need to show up so the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t “steal” your money.

If this sells at auction to a builder inclined to do the work, and market forces are there, then the house will be gutted and restored, provide it doesn’t deteriorate so fast that it reaches the point where it will collapse and need to be torn down.

Or, you can wait 6.5 years, on average, for the City of Philadelphia to naturally get around to taking this property into tax foreclosure.

Eureka! Landlords Now Face Tax-checking Computer Algo at L&I, $1 Million Collected from Deadbeats

An issue that I’ve been pushing for years, tax-deadbeat landlords, has finally met its match: a new computer system at the City has been blocking deadbeats from getting rental licenses for their properties.

A rental license, known within the Department of Licenses & Inspections has a Housing Inspection License, is a $50 license meant to register rental properties to the City.

Without the rental licenses, landlords are unable to go to Landlord-Tenant Court to file eviction lawsuits against their tenants. So if a tenant has fallen behind or withheld rent, that landlord is stuck until the license is obtained.

Since the inception of the system, nearly $1 million dollars has been shaken out of deadbeat landlords who were motivated by the new tax checks to pony up.

This still leaves thousands of other rental properties in Philadelphia that do not have rental licenses.  However, each one of those landlords is taking a gamble that they’ll never need to evict a tenant, since without the valid license in their hand, L&T court will throw out any eviction lawsuit.

To all my tax deadbeat landlords out there:  you better pony up.

Michael Nutter Can Put His Cheesesteak Where the Sun Don’t Shine

Can you buy City Hall one cheesesteak a month?

This is the public service ad that Nutter has come up with to sell yet another property tax increase on low-income homeowners:

 

Well… my response to this nonsense is that City Hall is stealing one more cheesesteak a month from needy families.  How about that Mayor Nutter?

Seriously though…. how about we use the time machine and look back on how many times we’ve jumped taxes for one school district budget funding gap after another:

• Liquor by the drink tax (1995)
• Parking Authority dispersements
• Nutter’s “temporary” property tax hike becomes permanent (2007)
• Another 1% sales tax hike (2013)
• And what about that $2 per pack cigarette tax we JUST PASSED, which has caused businesses to close near the city’s borders?

No thanks Mr. Mayor.  You can take your cheesesteak and shove it.

THIS is what you should tell the School District of Philadelphia to do:

• Make a list of the worst 5 charter schools in Philadelphia.
• Stop paying them and send them IOUs
• When the school closes, relocate those children to other open seats in the School District of Philadelphia system
• Watch the charter administrators scream
• Tell those administrators to go lobby in Harrisburg for state funding.

Or, better still:

Call those those deadbeat landlord-investors who own much of the Property Tax debt and let them know you’re taking the deeds to their investments away.

Campaign Has Launched! Let the Battle of the Fancy Hats Begin!

May 19 will be Primary Day for Philadelphians.  For several of the City Council races this amounts to nothing more than a coronation ceremony, as there’s many district council members not facing any challengers within their own party or in the other party.

That’s not the case however for the offices of Mayor, Common Pleas court judges or the wildcard spots for City Council At-Large.

For the Sheriff’s race though… the election is pretty much set.   Sheriff Jewell Williams, the current incumbent, is expected to win his primary.   As I am the Republican running in this race but running uncontested, I will be on the ballot machines both on May 19 and in the general election on November 3rd.

Most Philadelphians do not pay attention to the Sheriff’s race during the primary season.  It falls during the same cycle as the Mayoral and Council elections so it always gets short shrift.  There’s been very little media coverage of either candidates since the beginning of this year.   I fully-expected that.

What normally happens after Primary Day is over is that most political campaigns go to sleep.  Usually it’s fundraising all through the summer and the fall with one event here and one event there.   Things pick up again at the beginning of October as the general election draws near.

Well… not this time around.   I will be the only progressive/reform candidate for this race.   The problems at the Sheriff’s Office have been widely documented over the last several years.  If there is going to be any hope for reform to happen, it’s going to only happen with you.   By simply pushing a button, you really can fix this office.   I have a track record of standing up against blight and documenting its damage on our town on Philadelinquency, the only blog of its kind in the region.

As of today I’ve started accepting donations for the campaign and I’m asking for you to bring your talent, your ideas, and your drive to see reform happen by volunteering.  This is an education campaign–the goal is that by the end of this race, most Philadelphians will understand the Sheriff’s Office, and will agree with you and with me that reform is in the cards.

(And yes, I can wear fancy hats like our current Sheriff does… just not any 5-star general hats.  Our police commissioner only wears 4 stars and he’s a real law enforcement officer.  I’ll settle for Stetson.  😉

–Chris

Campaign/Donation Launch Date: April 15, 2015

Sawyer for Sheriff launches April 15 (pay your taxes!) for the long-haul campaign to the November general elections.

With all the talk about the mayor’s race and city council, much of the public focus is on the May 19th primary elections.   As I do not have a Republican opponent on May 19th, this gives me six extra months to reach as many Philadelphians as possible to send the message home:   we need a better Sheriff’s Office, and that I am the best shot at reforming the Sheriff’s Office so that it can become an open, transparent office that protects homeowners rights and respects ALL Philadelphians.

Volunteers!

As this is a grassroots campaign, I will need your help and support in order to win in November.   Most Philadelphians do not have any idea what the Office of Sheriff actually does.  Many people believe it’s a law enforcement agency like the Philadelphia Police Department or the PA Highway Patrol.   Even more people do not realize that the Sheriff does not answer to the Mayor or City Council and the Office has been heavily corrupt for many decades.

I need your help this year in spreading literature and getting the word out to your neighbors about the Sheriff’s Office and how it is important to fighting blight and protecting homeowners.

Please check back on this page for more information as next week my campaign opens to accept donations and to reach out to the neighborhoods over this summer and fall for the general election in November.

 

Thanks so much for your support.

 

–Chris