Sheriff John Green, responding to concerns from City Council about the sub-prime mortgage trouble sweeping the nation, announced today that he would postpone April's scheduled sheriff's sale. Green told PhillyClout this afternoon that he will go to court to ask for at least a six-month moratorium on sheriff's sales. This is happening even though Philadelphia has experiences a decline in sheriff's sales since the last time Green called a moratorium in 2004. "We've had a continuous decrease through education and counseling," Green said.
Council members Marian Tasco and Curtis Jones today introduced a resolution, unanimously passed by their colleagues, calling on Green and Common Pleas President Judge C. Darnell Jones to institute the moratorium. She received a telephone call from Green's office during Council's session and announced the postponement of April's sheriff's sales, drawing a round of applause from community activists in the audience. Asked later about Philadelphia's decreasing number of sheriff's sales, Tasco said: "One foreclosure is too much."