| Sign up | Log in | Forgot Password |
Kenney: DiCicco's Hard Work Resulted in Better Ikea Deal for City
By Ed Goppelt
Friday, 12/20/02
(1040397645380)
Hallwatch users wrote City Council in droves about Ikea. I
learned last night that Councilman Jim Kenney has sent out the following reply. Kenney's letter (see below) praises the
work done by Kenney's friend and political ally, Councilman Frank DiCicco in negotiating the
deal to bring Ikea to Philadelphia. DiCicco and Kenney are members of
State Senator Vince Fumo's
political family.
In his letter Kenney points out that DiCicco got a much better deal
from the parties than was originally offered. On this point, there
can be no doubt: DiCicco managed to extract around 40 acres of land
from railroad giant CSX that had previously not been on the table. The Philadelphia Port hopes to use the land
to expand, bringing more jobs and business to the City than a shopping
center alone could have.
Kenney also argues that DiCicco had to accomodate the Port's
interest in getting more land for future expansion, otherwise the Port
would have confiscated the land from Ikea. The Port has the power of
emminent domain from I-95 to the Delaware River. Why the Port and
DiCicco had to use Ikea as a bargaining chip in their dealings with
the Railroad is not so clear, at least to me.
For example, why didn't the Port simply confiscate the parcels it
wanted directly from CSX rather than by threatening to ruin the Ikea
deal?
Were the hard ball tactics employed by the Port and DiCicco
necessary? I suspect DiCicco did what he had to do to get the deal
done, but not having been there there's no way to know for sure. In
my opinion, the bottom line is this: DiCicco delivered. Ikea and
other nationally known retailers will build in South Philadelphia.
The Port now has the land it needs to expand. The deal is a big win
for Philly and a major achievement for DiCicco.
Ed Goppelt, webmaster@hallwatch.org
December 18, 2002
Dear Hallwatch User:
I greatly appreciate your recent faxed letter to my office. Hallwatch.org's FaxBank provides a great service by helping citizens communicate with their elected officials, and I appreciate its use and welcome your input.
As you no doubt have heard by now, a compromise was brokered by First District Councilman Frank DiCicco that will finally bring to Philadelphia its first Ikea. As the Chair of the Rules Committee through which this legislation passed, I was heavily involved with these negotiations and was very impressed with how calmly Councilman DiCicco handled the intense pressure he was under from all sides.
I received several hundred faxes regarding the need for the construction of an Ikea, and some questioned whether my friend Councilman DiCicco was "playing politics" by not getting this development done sooner. Please understand that this was never the case, as all parties were always committed to bringing Ikea to Philadelphia, and rarely is such a large and complicated deal ever done quicker. In fact, except for the new stadium construction deliberations, I have never seen negotiations for a development project conducted in such an intensely public way.
In addition to the obviously very compelling argument to bring an Ikea to Philadelphia, there were other important stakeholders with persuasive arguments on all sides of this debate. Governor-elect Rendell has declared the expansion of the Philadelphia port as one of his highest priorities, and with its recent federal designation as a ?Strategic Port? and federal funds finally allocated for dredging, it has become critical for the port to expand beyond its current boundaries. Since the port has the ability to use eminent domain to condemn and seize any property it desires, Councilman DiCicco knew it was in everyone?s best interest to bring Ikea, its developer, and the owner of the land (CSX) to the table to work out a compromise with the port.
The resulting compromise that Councilman DiCicco brokered was a significant improvement upon what was initially offered, resulting in a wonderful new shopping center with an Ikea as its crown jewel, acres of land made available for Port expansion, and a significant investment in the surrounding community by the developers of the project.
I am sure you join me in commending all parties for finally getting this wonderful deal done, and I want to thank you for keeping the pressure on your public officials to ensure that they always do the right thing. I encourage you to continue to speak out and communicate with us, and if my office can ever be of any assistance, please feel free to call at (215) 686-3450. Happy Holidays!
Sincerely,
James F. Kenney
Councilman-At-Large