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You are viewing 41 articles by the author Patrick Kerkstra
As Philly land bank momentum slows, proponents want administration to take lead
Political progress on Philadelphia’s proposed land bank - which many advocates see as central to solving the vacancy and property tax delinquency crises - has ground to a near halt in…
City leaders send stark message to Nutter: Collect taxes
Two days before Mayor Nutter is scheduled to deliver his budget address, a host of city leaders called on his administration to improve its performance in the collection of delinquent property…
Ravaged by Neglect, Part Two: A broken property tax system where everyone loses, except investors
Philadelphia's decades-long neglect of property tax collections has been a disaster for public schools, the city budget, and typical taxpaying homeowners. But the system does have its advantages for low-rent landlords,…
Part One: Lax property tax enforcement and brazen deadbeat investors have depressed Philadelphia’s property-tax base by $9.5 billion
The neighbors did what they could to dress up the gaping wound on their block. They painted the steps black and the porch a bold bluish-green. In the fall, they put…
Fiscal reform in Philadelphia faces a taxing problem
Powered by Tableau Jobs behind the push to cut taxes The competitive advantages of lower wage and business taxes are well documented. A half century ago, when Philadelphia’s economy was still…
City's tax delinquency epidemic deepens
Philadelphia property tax delinquents piled up an additional $43.8 million in new debt over the last year, increasing the total amount owed to the city and financially desperate School District to…
City's "Front Door" cracks open
At last, the city’s enormous inventory of mostly vacant surplus land is being made available online for would-be buyers.The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s “Front Door” - essentially a database and map…
Sheriff sales failing to round up promised bonanza of property tax deadbeats
Two years ago, the City of Philadelphia offered its legions of tax deadbeats a once-in-a-generation chance at amnesty: a 54-day window to settle their accounts without paying a dime in penalties…
Should city bank on land bills that finally lay down the law?
For decades, Philadelphia’s city government has struggled to cope with an abundance of vacant land and chronic tax delinquency, two closely related problems that have fueled blight and depressed property values…
Philadelphia's imminent vacant land plan: major progress, or major letdown?
The City of Philadelphia has all but finished an overhaul of its land disposition policy, a long awaited move designed to put more of the city’s nearly 13,000 vacant properties -…
Stanton supporters say school is worth saving
The School District of Philadelphia weighed a lot of factors before settling on the nine schools it proposes closing to eliminate some of the 70,000 empty seats in the city’s public…
Few turn out to protest loss of far-flung school
At the far southwestern edge of Philadelphia, just north of the airport and two blocks away from the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, lies George W. Pepper Middle School.By Philadelphia…
Schools bursting at the seams in the Northeast
For most Philadelphia neighborhoods, plummeting public school enrollment is a fact of life. In Northeast Philadelphia, however, there is a different problem altogether: too many students, and too few seats.Overcrowding…
How the fate of the old West High may be hinged to far West Philly revival
This report is a product of William Penn Foundation funded reporting partnership between Plan Philly and the Notebook. The old West Philadelphia High School at 48th and Walnut is a…
Partnerships produce exclusive tax delinquency and school closing news in 2011
Tax DelinquencyIn August, PlanPhilly published the findings of a months-long investigation into the City of Philadelphia’s delinquent property tax collection system. The report, produced in partnership with the…
District tries out new tone at W. Philly facilities meeting
Again striking a new, more conciliatory tone, senior officials from the School District of Philadelphia last night presented their facilities master plan to an audience of about 100 parents and community…
City Controller calls for action on vacant school buildings owned by the Philadelphia School District.
City Controller Alan Butkovitz today accused the School District of Philadelphia of letting eight shuttered district buildings deteriorate into dangerously unsafe condition, and called the empty facilities “catastrophes waiting to happen.”…
City Council hears about school closings - sort of
This story is the product of a reporting partnership on the facilities master plan between the Notebook and PlanPhilly. The best proof yet that the School District of Philadelphia’s modest school…
Did school district's facilities action pass the political smell test?
For months, the city’s political leaders had braced themselves for the storm of criticism and controversy they were sure to endure once the School District of Philadelphia finally released the gory…
University City feeling the impact school closings and consolidation threat cast
This story is the product of a reporting partnership on the facilities master plan between the Notebook and PlanPhilly. They were only 142 words, comprising just one proposal among 84 others…
