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City loses bid to keep addresses of absentee landlords secret
By Ed Goppelt
Saturday, 01/24/04
(1074962992999)
The Revenue Department must provide Hallwatch with the mailing addresses of absentee landlords Commonwealth Court has ruled. In a closely reasoned 13 page opinion released earlier this month, the three judge panel rejected the City's argument that the mailing address would invade the privacy of absentee landlords who are delinquent on their real estate taxes. Instead the Court ruled that the so called "off-site addresses" are a public record which must be disclosed.
Michael Churchill, Co-Chief Legal Counsel of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia (PILCOP) represented Hallwatch in several hard fought legal battles over the course of a year.
And fight the City did. City lawyers generated a blizzard of paper, submitting legal briefs totalling 43 pages. Churchill was able to make his successful case to the Court in just 15 pages.
Hallwatch felt the off-site mailing addresses were worth pursuing because of the many inquiries it received from users seeking to contact the owners of abandoned or nuisance properties. With these addresses, people will be able to alert absentee landlords to problems with their properties, make offers to buy or lease the property etc.
Churchill believes that the City's chances of winning on appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court are slim since this area of the Law is well-settled. Indeed Churchill helped make that law, arguing and winning a similar case against the City as a young lawyer in 1979.
Whether the City will continue to spend taxpayer's money on an appeal remains to be seen: it has until has until February 8, 2004 to decide. With a budget of $36 million the Law Dept. certainly has the means to pursue litigation indefinitely.
But does it make sense for the Law Dept. to spend the time and effort required by such an appeal? Surely City attorneys have better things to do with their time than fighting requests for public records?
For example, City officials say Philadelphia is currently facing a $144 million budget deficit and have already begun cutting popular programs such as Operation Safe Streets.
Wouldn't our City be better served by the Law Dept. stepping up its efforts to collect the delinquent real estate taxes owed the City, e.g., the $11 million owed by the Top 100 Individual Delinquents or the $59 million owed by the Top 100 Corporate Delinquents?
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