Why won't Nutter administration hold AVI meetings in Blackwell's district?
City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell has a serious bone to pick with the Nutter administration over AVI.
Why won't Nutter administration hold AVI meetings in Blackwell's district?
For the first two days of budget hearings City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell had a serious bone to pick with the Nutter administration.
"They don't want to send [administration officials] to my district," Blackwell said on Monday during a hearing on the proposed five-year plan.
Blackwell was referring to a series of community meetings the administration was holding throughout the city to inform residents about the Actual Value Initiative, a new property-tax system based on market values and relief measures.
Those meetings came to an abrupt end in Blackwell's 3rd district which includes parts of West Philadelphia, University City, Mantua and Southwest Philadelphia after a community meeting two weeks ago got a bit "ugly" as city finance director Rob Dubow described it.
Chief Assessment Officer Richie McKeithen of OPA, who attended that meeting said residents there were aggressive, adding it "makes you uncomfortable." McKeithen said he was not physically assaulted, but that the meeting was intense.
Council president Darrell Clarke said he too has attended AVI meetings that could be described as "ugly," but he does not have the "luxury of not going to the next one."
"How can you just simply say because it was a contentious meeting that we're not going there, in the entire Council district," he asked.
Administration officials said they would follow-up with Blackwell.
Comments (22)
probably afraid of getting shot. we're not talking about rhawnhurst here- rhawnhurst is a wt dump
— john_dallas_bowers - pretty sure most of her district doesn't pay taxes anyway. or their PGW bill. or their water bill. which is why the rest of the city has to pick up her tab.— Fascism Rules
- Happy you didn't bet on that pretty sure most don't pay taxes in her district. Most in her district just happen to be home owners who do pay gas and water bills. Get a grip on your sly racist comments.— prue
- she's a crook...why is she still even on city council— Philly54321
- Oh spare us Jannie. You and your fellow ilk on council, like Darrell Clarke sytematically undermine income and job growth in this city, eroding the tax base and turning a blind eye to tax delinquents. And you have the nerve to perform this kabuki theater for your constituents? Your platform of keeping your constituents poor, dumb and dependent is now coming home to rooste. You are an elected official....it's your job to understand AVI. If it's getting tough on you the take your drop money and leave. What an embarrassment you are to Philadelphia! Inarticulate, stupid, ingnorant and rascist.— samsjr
- i hope the borthas and sistas in that district raise hell!!!!!!!!!!!!
AVI cannot be allowed all at once no way no how, if taxes are raised it should be in increments of 10percent per year for 10 years, not all at once it is unfair of the city to punish the taxpayers for there historic inability to run a government, collect back taxes etc...— coolbreeze - How is it fair that the same people pay little to no (or no) taxes year after year while the rest of us see our taxes increase to pay for those people that don't pay? You don't get anything for free in this world and it's time these people stepped up and actually paid for something. — john_dallas_bowers
- I've heard stories (rumors?) about Council Folk helping constiuents dodge taxes, utility bills, etc., for years. Are these Urban Legends true? How do we know? It doesn't say on the OPA site if a person is delinquent or is in arrears on their taxes--possibly for years--. We, as the average citizen, don't have ready access to this data. We all know that there is $500 MILLION in taxes that need to be collected. To date, aside from some feeble, BS sorry efforts, the property tax non-payers keep adding to the total. It's not going down --is it? If someone knows, please apprise the rest of us. Remember how Knudsen as the SRC overseer and "Warlord", was going to "crack down" on these thieves and dodgers? Heard anything from him lately? He's got his robust salary for doing nothing--it's just window dressing. We're surrounded by liars, hypocrites and leeches--drawing on the taxpayer dole for their ludicrous salaries, benefits and pensions. These people are embarrassments and totally dedicated to their "handlers". The power brokers run the show--these minions are just the silly faces we see. You notice that the law firms are already reaping their SDP money thanks to their "vassals" on the SRC.— oblekr
- The OPA site for checking property records and assesments has a link to view the property account details. Once an address is entered there is a link at the bottom of the property record that takes you to the Revenue Dept and you can see the account activity for the past 10 years. — ElecFact
- oblekr, the OPA site does list tax bills and whether it is up to date, just hit the view tax balance button after searching for a property. you can see everyone on your block and find out if they are a tax deadbeat— FunCakes
- The pretense of deliberative democracy only occurs when paid facilitators can tightly control the discussion, away from the interests of the vast majority of people. The false dichotomies controlled with time limits have been a favorite tactic of Nutter's UPenn team ( i.e. the people's budget, zoning, and SRC community meetings). Once the gloves come off and the realities of the neoliberal vision can't be cloaked with propaganda generating techniques, a much simpler version of brutality and control emerges. There will be no pretense about public inclusion or discussions, and the inevitable street protests will be met with massive police intimidation and brutality.
AVI is designed to rob the working classes and provide million dollar windfall profits to the transnational corporations that own center city skyscrapers. What more do we need to discuss?— glennm7 - Enjoying the standard Philly racism, but here's the real reason from someone who was there last time Michael Nutter dropped by Kingsessing (makes the "traveling back in time sound).
Remember when Ol' Mikey decided he was going to shut down the libraries and rec centers (but only in neighborhoods that hadn't voted for him)? Well, in Kingsessing we were gonna lose our library, our pool, AND the spray-ground around the corner. So he came out for a town hall meeting, which he clearly envisioned as a "Mike talks/Kingsessing does what it's told" session. We didn't let him get a word in edgewise. He was confronted with an angry crowd of blacks, whites, adults, families, teenagers, kids, and senior citizens. People were chanting "tax the rich" at him. He finally had to leave. He literally ran away. It was the best thing to happen to our neighborhood, we became much more supportive of each other.
And THAT is why he won't come to KIngsessing: because we forced him to flee the last time, and he doesn't want that to happen again.— brendancalling - All the standard Philly racist comments aside, the real story is what brendancalling just said. Nutter is a dictator plain and simple. All you racist commenters are missing the point. He will do you the same way given the chance. Oh, except for those of you who don't live and/or work in Philly. You can just sit and stew in your racism and fondle your guns. It's probably cheaper than having to buy those ittle blue pills with the V on them at Wal Mart for your real problem.— union guy
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
Follow Dave on Twitter.
Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
Follow Jan on Twitter
Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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