City Council weighs taxing shopping bags and greenlighting Gallery mall redevelopment

HOW MUCH WOULD you pay for the plastic and paper bags used by grocery stores and other retailers?

A penny?

Maybe for your thoughts, but City Councilman Mark Squilla thinks you should pay five cents for each bag.

A bill he introduced yesterday calls for the tax as a way to discourage littering while helping to fund the city's anti-littering campaign.

Two cents from each nickel collected would go to the city and could generate as much as $150,000 a month, said Squilla, a Democrat who represents the 1st District, which includes parts of South Philadelphia, Center City and Port Richmond.

"We have so many complaints from constituents throughout the City of Philadelphia about how dirty it is, and major parts of the problem are people who come out of the stores with bags that just get discarded right into the street," Squilla said.

If the bill becomes law, Philadelphia would join a growing number of cities and states that have enacted legislation that imposes fees, taxes or bans on plastic bags, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

A similar bill to ban plastic bags was defeated in Council several years ago, and other than Squilla, no Council members warmly embraced the latest bill.

"On one hand, you have these tumbleweed bags going down the street that clog our waterways, they go into our infrastructure and cause all kinds of flooding. On the other hand, if we put a five-cent surcharge on plastic bags, it gets transferred to people in my district of fixed incomes," said undecided Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., a Democrat from the 4th District, which includes Overbrook, Manayunk and Wynnefield.

"I'm all for cleaning up litter, but my feelings are, a lot of people would not be aware of the tax, and I think it's very unfair in the sense that, they go shopping and all of a sudden they get a five-cent fee," said at-large Councilman David Oh, a Republican.

Council President Darrell Clarke said he did not yet have a position on the bag bill but would be talking to Squilla about it soon.

Squilla got more love for a handful of bills he introduced on behalf of Mayor Nutter's administration to redevelop the Gallery shopping mall on Market Street in Center City.

The legislation calls for the creation of a Tax Increment Financing District, which would allow the mall's developer - the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust and its partner Macerich Co. - to keep $55 million in tax revenues over the next 20 years to pay down its construction debt.

"This once-in-a-generation project has the potential to transform Market East, create thousands of jobs, and offer a new shopping and entertainment experience to Philadelphians and visitors to our city," Nutter said.

"East Market is such an important aspect of the growth of the city . . . We have a dead zone between City Hall and the historic [district] around 5th and 6th and Market," Squilla said.

Clarke said he supports the measure and anticipates that it will be voted on by the end of Council's session in June.

"We think this is a reasonable approach. The Gallery clearly needs a makeover," he said. "The developer is world renowned."

The $325 million deal already won the required approval from the School Reform Commission and the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.

Also yesterday, Councilman Jones and Philadelphia Sheriff Jewell Williams held a news conference to warn the public of phone scammers who try to extort money by claiming they represent the Sheriff's Office, the Jury Commission Office or the court system.

Jones said constituents from his district have complained of people calling and threatening them with arrest or fines of up to $500 for failing to appear for jury duty or for not paying debts.

Williams said neither his office nor the courts ask for money over the phone and urged the public not to send money to any such caller.

Those with concerns are asked to call the Office of the Sheriff, 215-686-3530; the Jury Commission Office, 215-683-7190; or the District Attorney's Office, 215-686-9900.