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Archive for “Gentrification” news
Does Philadelphia Need Gentrification Relief?
By Joel Mathis 4/16/2013
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We all know that Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods, and that the constant push-and-pull between forces that would preserve those neighborhoods and their identities and the forces that would remake those neighborhoods into something new. And some fear that City Hall's recent reassement of property values could accelerate the latter process, by dramatically raising taxes on longtime homeowners.
Thus: "Gentrification relief."
A City Council bill would give a property-tax break to longtime homeowners in rapidly gentrifying areas. People who have lived in their homes for more than 10 years, and have seen their assessments more than triple, would be eligible for
AVI: Also Screwing City Council Members
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 3/22/2013
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City Paper has compiled a handy chart documenting how each City Council member will get affected by the city's Actual Value Initiative (provided the current assessments and 1.32% tax rate hold steady. Big winners: Marian Tasco and Bobby Henon each save about $1,400. Bill Greenlee is the biggest loser, as his Fairmount taxes will rise by more than $1,500. Jim Kenney, Maria Quinones-Sanchez, and Darrell Clarke, all of whom live in gentrifying/gentrified neighorhoods, would pay more than $1,000 each. The full chart is here, which you can print out and scour for conspiracy theories, based on who proposes which kind
Where Philly’s “Creative Class” Lives
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 3/19/2013
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The mighty urban theorist and Atlantic Cities honcho Richard Florida has descended upon Philly to judge its creativeclassishness. The results: Philly has two substantial but tightly clustered cohorts of "creative class" individuals--"which includes workers in science and technology, business and management, arts, culture media and entertainment, and law and healthcare professions"--in Center City and Manayunk/Chestnut Hill. (Many assume creative class means "hipster" but these days it seems to mean 'professionals,' basically.)
Overall, Florida designates 34.6% of the metro area as "creative class," on par with NYC's 35.9% and Chicago's 35.1%. Not surprisingly, the city's working class (by which Florida appears to mean
Note to Gentrifiers, Rich People, and Pretty Much Everyone: Your Taxes Are Going Up Under AVI
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 2/13/2013
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According to City Controller Alan Butkovitz, 343,191 properties will experience tax increases under the city's proposed Actual Value Initiative (AVI) overhaul, compared to 107,603 which will owe less. Here are the five ZIP codes he estimates will experience the highest average annual tax hikes, assuming (optimistically) a 1.25% tax rate. Listed are the annual amounts average properties in each ZIP would owe.
19102: $1,634 (39.8% increase)
19148: $819 (78.4% increase)
19146: $768 (44.6% increase)
19130: $815 (27.3% increase)
19103: $946 (17.5% increase)
I expect not a few of you loyal readers live in these ZIPs, which comprise Rittenhouse, Fitler, Grad Hospital, parts of South Philly and Fairmount,
