Philadelphia 2035 (Republic, Houston, Penn: city hall, homes, job market)

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by cpomp

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/ph...-20191212.html

Thoughts??

I have mixed feelings about it which are not easy for me to articulate. So I'm not going to say anything right now.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Pennsport

This personally scares me. Not because I think developers and individuals who can afford 700k homes necessarily deserve tax breaks, but it did do a great deal to drive the housing boom and neighborhood transformation in our city, as well as enticing people to move into the city that otherwise would have discounted it. I know dozens who, if they had to pay "suburb-like home taxes" along with wage tax, would never have moved into town. I hope this doesn't have developers start looking elsewhere for their next projects. We were just getting north of Lehigh Ave, into East Kensington and deep Port Richmond. There are a TON of empty lots that need filling in our outer-neighborhoods and no developer is going to fill them if they can't then sell the homes.

Ultimately, in my opinion, the revenue benefit of having wealthy residents live and play in the city far outweighs property tax breaks for 10 years for some new construction...

Fwiw, there is still a fair amount of development, in progress, in eastern Spring Garden, Francisville/Sharswood. Will some of these projects end up being stalled??

The very first abated properties are paying taxes now or they should be.

In any case a long simmering debate/dynamic between new and long time residents will continue.

[Pennsport]

Additionally:

"The phase out is projected to generate up to $265 million in revenue over the next 10 years, but that will be offset by a companion bill that expands the homestead exemption for 220,000 homeowners by $5,000. That will cost about $17 million a year," as reported by KYW.

This means that the city will net about $95M (which in reality will probably be more like $70M), which we all know will simply be wasted, or more likely, "lost" by our corrupt gov't any way. So the net/net is that we are:

- Probably negatively impacting hundreds if not thousands of well-paying construction-related jobs over the next decade, while encouraging empty lots to remain empty and distressed housing to remain distressed;
- While circumventing a free market system and enabling individuals who have virtually zero discretionary spending power to help drive the local economy stay in housing they rightfully can’t afford;
- And, actively discouraging (or at the very least, not encouraging) residents to move here who would have a hugely positive impact on the local economy

Look, I’m all for helping long-time residents stay in their communities as long as it isn’t at the expense of the entire city. Philadelphia is in a critical time and will be for the coming years. We need to keep advancing in all facets (business attraction and retention, new residents, building both commercial and residential, expanding our core - as we’ve been doing for the last decade) if we want to get to a safe area where the city won’t collapse as soon as a minor recession hits.

[Pennsport]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Fwiw, there is still a fair amount of development, in progress, in eastern Spring Garden, Francisville/Sharswood. Will some of these projects end up being stalled??

The very first abated properties are paying taxes now or they should be.

In any case a long simmering debate/dynamic between new and long time residents will continue.

Right, exactly. It's only 10 years and then many of these home owners who were enticed to move here because of the abatement will be city residents for life because they've grown to love our city as we do. And then they'll pay 8-12k a year in taxes for the next three decades.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Fwiw, there is still a fair amount of development, in progress, in eastern Spring Garden, Francisville/Sharswood. Will some of these projects end up being stalled??

The very first abated properties are paying taxes now or they should be.

In any case a long simmering debate/dynamic between new and long time residents will continue.

The abatement for rehabs was enacted in the late 1990s, and it was extended to cover new construction in 2000, so we've had new houses coming off abatement for nine years now.

The numbers I recall seeing show that these houses are producing plenty of tax revenue for the city. And their owners aren't selling them to chase another abatement. (IOW, the presence or absence of the abatement on an existing residence doesn't appear to be a motivating factor in the decision to sell or move if one lives in an abated house.)

One problem here is that too many people don't seem to understand "deferred gratification" as it applies to city tax policy. Granted, seeing your own property taxes go up is a strong incentive not to understand it.

[mslhu]

Originally Posted by Pennsport

We need to keep advancing in all facets (business attraction and retention, new residents, building both commercial and residential, expanding our core - as we’ve been doing for the last decade) if we want to get to a safe area where the city won’t collapse as soon as a minor recession hits.

Yeah it's too bad how the city utterly collapsed when a major recession hit 10 years ago.

[Pennsport]

Originally Posted by mslhu

Yeah it's too bad how the city utterly collapsed when a major recession hit 10 years ago.

LOL... ok, fair enough. Just maybe, I might have incorporated some hyperbole in my statement. What I was getting at though is that we are a poor city with a relatively weak business platform. We need every financial advantage we can get, and actively discouraging wealthier residents from the burbs and other area of the country to live in the city by establishing both city wage tax AND high real estate taxes seems to be extremely counterproductive.

[MB1562]

Originally Posted by mslhu

Yeah it's too bad how the city utterly collapsed when a major recession hit 10 years ago.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Philadelphia weather the Great Recession better than most other places?

[mslhu]

Originally Posted by MB1562

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Philadelphia weather the Great Recession better than most other places?

I think the cliche is that Philadelphia neither booms nor busts.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by mslhu

I think the cliche is that Philadelphia neither booms nor busts.

"Goldilocks economy" - not too hot, not too cold, but just right.

But we're not primed to accept slow growth as good. (By this I mean the experts, reporters and commentators all seem to value high growth rates over slower growth.)