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Restoring Taxpayer Standing
By "Mary Tracy SCRUB" <scrub@urbanblight.org>
Thursday, 06/09/05
(1118411461155)
IT'S NO GAG.
Philadelphians want their legal voices back!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, June 9, 2005
Citizens Rally at City Hall Room 401
June 13, 2005 at 10:00
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Mary Tracy, Executive Director
Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight
215-731-1796
scrub@urbanblight.org
Rep. Mark Cohen to Introduce Bill to Restore Taxpayer Rights in Zoning
Cases
State Rep. Mark Cohen (D-Phila) and twenty-two co-sponsors
will introduce legislation in Harrisburg that will restore Philadelphia
taxpayer rights stripped last December when a controversial stealth
amendment was added to HB 1954. Cohen will provide details of the new
bill at a press conference and rally set for Monday, June 13th at 9:45
am in Philadelphia City Hall, Room 401.
Neighborhood groups were outraged when the Senate
Appropriations Committee, through a late night sneak amendment, changed
the purpose of HB 1954 from helping the city raise the amount of fines
for code violations, to meddling with Philadelphia's Home Rule Charter
and the long existing right of "Philadelphia taxpayers" to challenge
Zoning Board decisions. This "silence the citizens" stealth amendment
has set new legal hurdles for community groups through a "detrimentally
harmed" standard that will complicate and possibly eliminate a citizen's
ability to challenge zoning decisions. The "silence the citizens'"
supporters claim it will only bring Philadelphia in line with the rest
of the state. But SCRUB believes that lawmakers who support "silence
the citizens" have tipped the system further to benefit select
industries in Philadelphia, to the detriment of the neighborhoods.
The new legal standard is already proving costly for civic
associations who are forced to litigate twice: first to prove standing,
and if they prevail, then to litigate the actual merits of the case.
Since enactment of the bill in December several community groups,
including Society Hill Civic Association and East Falls CDC have faced
standing challenges based on the amended Act 193 of 2004.
Cohen emphasizes that "this new legislation is important
because it restores the neighborhood voices silenced by Act 193 passed
in November of 2004." Since passage of Act 193 a coalition of
neighborhood organizations including SCRUB, the Center City Residents
Association, the Society Hill Civic Association, and the Preservation
Alliance have been urging state legislators to support Cohen's bill. The
Philadelphia delegation has responded positively to the requests of
their constituents and most have signed on as co-sponsors.
SCRUB firmly believes that Philadelphia taxpayers and
neighborhoods need the "any taxpayer" standard to combat the erroneous
decisions of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Mary Tracy, SCRUB's
executive director said, "SCRUB members applaud Rep. Cohen and the
leadership of the Philadelphia delegation for supporting citizens'
rights and the rights of Philadelphia's community groups to have a legal
voice in community development."
###
Community Groups Supporting PA House Bill 1698:
Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight
Overbrook Farms Club*
Center City Residents Association*
Philadelphia Parks Alliance
Cedar Park Neighbors*
Society Hill Civic Association*
The Preservation Alliance*
Nat'l Assoc. of African Americans for Positive Imagery (NAAAPI)
Upper Northwood Community Council*
Oxford Circle Civic Association
Ridge Park Civic Association*
Northern Liberties Neighbors Association*
Northwood Civic Association*
West Mt. Airy Neighbors*
East Mt. Airy Neighbors*
Powelton Village Civic Association*
Tacony Civic Association*
West Poplar Neighborhood Advisory Council*
Mt Airy USA CCD*
St. Paul's Baptist Church Community Center*
Northwest Greens*
* Attending Press Conference
23 PA State Representatives are co- sponsoring PA House Bill 1698:
Rep. Mark Cohen (D)
Rep. W. Curtis Thomas (D)
Rep. Frank Oliver (D)
Rep. Thomas Caltigirone (D)
Rep. Kathy Manderino (D)
Rep. Edward Staback (D)
Rep. James Shaner (D)
Rep. Greg Vitali (D)
Rep. Babette Josephs (D)
Rep. Thomas Blackwell IV (D)
Rep. Anthony Melio (D)
Rep. Robert Freeman (D)
Rep. Harold James (D)
Rep. Louise Williams Bishop (D)
Rep. LeAnna Washington (D)
Rep. Rosita Youngblood (D)
Rep. James Roebuck (D)
Rep. Marie Lederer (D)
Rep. Jewell Williams (D)
Rep. John Myers (D)
Rep. Robert Donatucci (D)
Rep. Ronald Waters (D)
Rep. Michael McGeehan (D)
To read more about the passage of HB 1954 last November visit
http://www.scrub@urbanblight.org/hb1954.htm
Scroll down for two past articles
Posted Feb. 11, 2005
HOME-RULE RIGHTS ARE UNDER ATTACK
By Tom Ferrick Jr.
Inquirer Columnist
It was done in secret. It took place in the middle of the night. It
involved a theft. The victims were completely surprised by the attack.
Does it sound like a mugging? In a way, it was.
Only the mugger was the Pennsylvania Legislature. The victims were the
citizens of Philadelphia. What was stolen were their rights.
It happened in late November, just as the House and Senate were about to
adjourn for the year. And just itching to get out of town.
Out of nowhere appeared House Bill 1954, an innocuous-looking bill that
started life as a measure to authorize the City of Philadelphia to
increase the fines charged for code violations.
At the last minute, an amendment was added in committee that was aimed
squarely at SCRUB, the anti-billboard and anti-blight group that has
been very successful in the courts in challenging the legality of
billboards.
However, the amendment was so broadly written that it had the effect of
excluding not only SCRUB from legal standing in zoning cases, but any
neighborhood, civic or community group that couldn't meet the bill's
narrow definition.
I knew it wouldn't take long for some lawyers to try to use the new law
as a cudgel against community groups. Lo and behold, they have.
The case involves construction of the swank new St. James apartments at
Seventh and Walnut Streets.
Throw the bums out
The Society Hill Civic Association and the Preservation Alliance are
challenging the developer's plan to preserve the facades of historic
buildings that are part of the apartment town project.
Lawyers for the developer went into court in December, seeking to have
the civic association and the alliance thrown out of court. Their motion
is pending.
This is just the beginning.
Over the next few years, lawyers will challenge the standing of every
group that appears before the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Over time, this new law will have the effect of taking civic and
neighborhood groups out of the business of trying to regulate zoning and
development in their own communities.
And I'm not talking just about citywide groups, such as SCRUB, the
Preservation Alliance, the Clean Air Alliance, etc.
As the St. James case proves, lawyers will use the new law to deny
standing to civic associations in the neighborhoods where the projects
are planned.
It's no surprise that passage of House Bill 1954 has had a galvanizing
effect on civic groups in Philadelphia.
More than 20 have joined to challenge its legality and are planning a
suit, focusing on the stealth way it was enacted.
Let's try this
I say, God bless them for their effort, but a lawsuit could take years.
There is another way.
Just get the legislature to repeal the offending section of the bill.
Most Philadelphia legislators said they were completely unaware of the
amendment when it came before them - in dawn's early light, with dozens
of bills being voted on. There's reason No. 1.
There were never any legislative hearings held on the issue. No debate
on the merits of the idea. Besides, what business does the legislature
have changing Philadelphia's City Charter, which contains the language
on standing? Anyone up there ever hear of home rule?
Reasons No. 2, 3 and 4.
"It's unwise for the legislature to fool around with the City Charter.
It tends to make a mockery of the home-rule concept."
That quote comes from State Rep. Mark Cohen of Philadelphia, who has
drafted a bill to repeal the amendment and is circulating it among his
colleagues.
Every House member from Philly - Democrat and Republican - should sign
on as a cosponsor.
It would send a message to the rest of the legislature that
Philadelphians want this to be a local issue.
And we don't like being mugged.
Posted on Fri. Nov. 26, 2004 Philadelphia Daily News
A BILLBOARD COVER-UP
LEGISLATURE LAUNCHES SNEAK ATTACK ON CITY
THEY OUGHT TO be ashamed to call themselves representatives of the
people.
The state Legislature surely didn't represent the will of the people
when, in secret, in the waning hours of its session last week, it passed
a law that removes the right of taxpayers to make the city enforce its
own zoning laws.
Some background: For years, the city's Zoning Board routinely ignored a
1991 law that limits the number and placement of new billboards in the
city. Then an advocacy group, the Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight
(SCRUB) began to win court challenges to zoning decisions - and the
billboard industry lost what had been a virtual guarantee to place what
it wanted where it wanted. (And it no longer could count on being able
to dot Philadelphia's landscape with lucrative "wall wraps" that cover
whole buildings.)
Rather than obey the law, or even revisit it, they - and their agents in
government - tried to prevent SCRUB and other community groups from
going into court at all to challenge not only billboards but other
projects.
And tried, and tried: Three years ago, when City Council passed a law
that would limit the right to sue only to "aggrieved parties" who live
500 feet from a project, nearly every community group in the city
protested. Mayor Street vetoed it. Two years ago, state House Speaker
John Perzel tried to sneak a similar amendment onto a House bill. It too
was defeated. The will of the people on this one is crystal clear.
But last week, in one of those classic sneaky moves that have made the
Legislature infamous, they tried again. Someone - no one will own up to
it, which ought to tell you something - tacked on a similar amendment to
House Bill 1564, which would allow the city of Philadelphia to raise its
maximum fines from $300 to $2,300. It passed.
No matter how much the city wants and needs to raise its fines, Gov.
Rendell should veto House Bill 1564. SCRUB and other community groups
have been urging citizens to call Rendell's office (717-787-2500) or
e-mail him (governor @state.pa.us) to urge him to do so.
It's an cheap smackdown of democracy to pass laws in secret, without
hearings. Someone in Harrisburg must represent the people. It's not
going to be the Legislature. So, Governor, you're it.
To read more about the passage of HB 1954 last November visit
http://www.scrub@urbanblight.org/hb1954.htm
