Filed under: Are You Kidding?, Real Estate | Tags: abatement, Gentrification, taxes
Philadelphia has been in a budget crisis for some time now. When Nutty Mayor Nutter tried to force his iron will and close a dozen branch libraries a few months ago, the people fought back and won. Many library advocates at the time pointed to the city’s 10 year, transferrable tax abatement program for rich ass condos in Center City as the cause of the city’s lagging tax revenues.
And now, dear reader, we bring you the penthouse condo tax abatement to end all Philly tax abatements.
Behold 50 16TH STREET S 56/57 PHILADELPHIA, PA 19102. For a cool $30,000,000 (yes, 30 MILLION DOLLARS) you can live on top of one of the city’s twin towers in a small-ish 16,000 square foot penthouse.
The nice (read: baby killer) realtors also just throw in the description: “In addition, the owner of this residence will enjoy a 10-year tax abatement.”
We’re pretty sure the owners of this “residence” (read: monster mansion deathtrap) will enjoy a little more than the tax break. But what exactly would those pwned 0wners be paying in taxes for this swank pad in the clouds, if the city of Philadelphia chose to tax them sometime in the next 100 years?
Using the Philadelphia Forward guide to taxes, we will do the math for you.
30,000,000 market value x .32 = assessed value of 9,600,000 (9.6 million..chump change!). Then we take 9,600,000 and multiply by 8.264% real estate tax rate which equals $793,344 in taxes, annually. per annum. each year.
So EACH YEAR people, the scumbags who live in the 50 16th st penthouse get a 793,344 DOLLAR TAX BREAK. Multiply that by 10 years, and the city just lost out on $7,933,440 in tax revenue. Almost $8 million on one apartment. Gee, that sounds like enough to save the libraries and open the pools, doesn’t it?
Filed under: Appropriation, Are You Kidding?, Displacement, Future Plans, Gentrification, University City Creep, University City District | Tags: creep, Gentrification, university city, war, west philly
Alert! Vandals have repeatedly struck the 4500-5000 blocks of Baltimore Ave in West Philly! Every lamp post on both sides of the street has been tagged UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT. Why oh why would merciless thieves and liars called University City District do such a thing??
“The intent is to increase illumination, reduce the perception and reality of crime and encourage private investment.”
Oh, that. But wait, there’s more!
“Lewis Wendell, University City District’s Executive Director noted, “This project demonstrates the results of a new level of collaboration between the major institutions in University City, Penn Dot, the City of Philadelphia Streets Department and PECO.”
We here at the UCD blog love collaboration, especially between private corporations and the government. But seriously folks, the vandalizing soul-sucking demons of the “left of center” University City District should really be reprimanded for their behavior. Replacing perfectly good, working streetlights with boutique, fake vintage gaslight-looking streetlamps for a million bucks so they can hang their crummy gentrification advertising banners… well what can we say, this shit is wack.
Peep the original press release via http://www.ucityphila.org/news/release/402
Filed under: Displacement, The Master Plan, University City Creep, University City District | Tags: upenn, west philly
We here at UCity blog always look forward to the month of May, when the birds and the bees feast on the vomit left on the doorsteps of UPenn fraternities and UPenn sororities. There’s also the super-bonus of UPenn Graduation, a time when the city streets are power-washed, the hedges are trimmed, and the University pays hundreds of cops overtime to look menacing. We find that this greatly helps the UPenn endowment/trust fund, as parents and grandparents, otherwise terrified of West Philly and its filth ridden tales of yore, give generously to their favorite Ivy school.
If you’re planning on attending graduation for any reason, be it heckling and booing, or skimming off some free catered food, make sure to look out for SUV-wielding psychpaths (read: parents) who don’t really get how to drive or park in a major city.
Britain’s The Register did some crack reporting on University of Pennsylvania student Ryan Goldstein, who was sentenced 3 months in a guilty plea for running multiple botnets to attack his online enemies with Denial of Service attacks. That’s not too unusual, except for the fact that Ryan Goldstein repeatedly exposed himself to little boys on webcams, and had over 1,000 photos of kiddie porn on his computer. The IRC channel admins who were the target of Ryan’s DDoS attacks (because they banned him for lewd and inappropriate behavior) went so far as to hack into multiple UPenn networks to gather Ryan’s emails, emails of UPenn Administrators colluding with the FBI, print out photos and contact info with accusations of pedophilia on UPenn networked servers, and so on. Wow. Good job guys, it seems like UPenn doesn’t know how to config a router to save its life.
But you’d think that someone busted for hacking, spamming, exposing himself to minors, and downloading child porn all on his UPenn school network would be tried for all of those charges. But no. (More Register coverage here)
Instead, the Judge was so miffed at the sentencing options that he had a joint hearing so that Ryan was tried alongside convicted child pornographer Derrick Williams–who is African American. Ryan faced a maximum sentence of 5 years and $250,000 fine, but received only 3 months and a $30,000 fine. But that’s generally what happens when white prep boys (’05 Germantown Academy grad!) get busted. Williams received 2 years.
“The prosecution failed to bring any charges regarding the more than 1,000 child pornography images found on his computer. They then agreed that he could schedule the 90 days at his convenience, so as not to conflict with his class schedule. He’ll probably serve them during summer vacation.
I’m not sure what kind of school wants to have a convicted computer criminal and child pornography collector as one of their students. I guess he’ll get his degree and go find a job, after his brief visit to jail. “
But don’t take our word for it–even USA Today noted the disparity.
“Both men were found with several thousand images of child pornography, and each had copied some of the images, though Williams had also posted about 15 of them on a Web site, prosecutors said.
The judge said he could not help noting that Williams is black and Goldstein is white.
“This has weighed very heavily on my mind, as I think it would most judges,” U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson said. “That’s why I’ve brought this case together with the Williams case.”
However, he said the sentencing disparities were not connected to race. Baylson gave Williams a two-year prison term, noting his steady work history and minor criminal record.”
You see, the Feds set up a deal that prevented the judge from trying the case effectively. According to The Register, “In exchange for Goldstein’s help prosecuting seven cases involving botnets, federal prosecutors agreed to charge him with a single misdemeanor hacking charge for damage he inflicted on a University of Pennsylvania server.” So you give the spammer hacker a big break (ignoring child porn charges?!) for outing other spammy hackers? Interesting.
Ryan’s Google profile is available here, which also has a nice pic and a link to his company ChronoWake, which develops “a product that helps people wake up feeling more refreshed and energized.” Wow yeah I guess if I were a pedophilac spammer I would need that product too. Way to look out for your people, Ryan, I think you have that target market covered. Here’s his “business profile” with date of birth and ludicrous claims that he was contracted by the Department of Defense, Homeland Security and NASA.
You can find his contact info (address, phone numbers, emails) in a forum thread here.
Also of interest is that UPenn’s “Office of Information Security” got photos and emails of Ryan yanked from servers with the following letter:
“Hi,
I work for the Office of Information Security for the University of Pennsylvania. Someone has posted a file as well as private information from emails to your forum and we would like to ask you if you would kindly take it down.
http://www.opensc.ws/showthread.php?p=13632
The file “Digerati Exposed” contains personal email that should not be hosted on a public website. It is likely that everyone who has an interest in this file has already downloaded it so leaving it public is of no advantage.
Thanks for your consideration.
- –
xxxxx
University of Pennsylvania
Office of Information Security
xxxx“
Yes, UPenn, thanks for your consideration of the fact that you aided the government to get one of your pedophile students free on easily prosecutable charges. Thanks also for allowing him to remain in school and get a degree. That’s the kind of morality we’ve come to expect from the University of Pennsylvania.
Filed under: Displacement, Gentrification, Real Estate, University City District | Tags: eviction, Gentrification, university city, upenn, west philly
From something called The Jewish Exponent. Exponent? You people have to get a little better at naming your newsletter…
“David J. Adelman is the president and CEO of Campus Apartments, a company, which provides housing for undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and support staff at various colleges and universities throughout the United States.
Under Adelman’s leadership, the company has broadened its focus to include mixed-used projects on campus that incorporate both retail and office space together.
The company has increased its revenues by 300 percent over the last five years.
Adelman’s commitment to his clients extends to initiating and funding other types of projects that enhance the quality of student life on American campuses.
One of them is the University City District, a partnership between the University of Pennsylvania and other institutions to improve the safety and cleanliness in communities around Penn’s grounds and immediate area.
Moreover, Campus Apartments is the largest private-sector supporter of the district, contributing more than $500,000 over the past decade.”
That’s really charming. Campus Apartments in Philadelphia is making so much money, they can throw a half-million dollars at a gentrification committee in 10 years. That’s basically like having an employee for ten years who is paid $50,000 a year. Ah, lobbying. I’m sure Adelman’s “commitment to his clients” lies more in their exploitative monetary relationship, rather than “student life.” It’s scum like Adelman who have created the notion in yuppie pea-brains that $1,000 per month for a “studio/1BR” is a good deal in West Philly.
Filed under: Displacement, Gentrification, Poverty, Race, Real Estate, University City Creep | Tags: creep, Gentrification, home prices, university city, upenn, west philly
Every once in a while something really funny comes across our news desk. Apparently one real estate agent for RE/MAX thinks that home buyers elbowing to get their kids into the UPenn run Alexander school are making a mistake. These special brand of West Philly gentrifiers are looking to get into the Penn Alexander Catchement Area, a strangely mapped zone that qualifies your special kid to get into that special school.
Except the wise folks at REMAX give their top reasons to AVOID the special real estate zone, besides saving money…
“You don’t like the smell of Dirty Diapers on Wednesday mornings. True, the Catchment Area has exploded with the arrival of little stinkers like the one below. If you don’t like the smell of streaky green diapers on garbage day, move a few blocks away…”
Wow. Could that pesky diaper smell actually serve to dissuade people from this elitist neighborhood? We can only hope. However, the Philly Weekly article that inspired our real estate blogger actually had to quote someone using a FAKE NAME because of how much they’re ripping off people.
“We bought our first home, which is in the catchment, eight years ago for $100,000,” says Frank, a property owner/manager who now lives outside the city and doesn’t want his real name used in this article. “When the school opened, we watched our house go up to $150,000, then $200,000. Now it’s worth $400,000. With home prices rising, our rental price is higher. I’m aware that there aren’t many people in the city who could afford to rent our house.“
Local parent Pat Warner says “People have more money,” says Warner. “It’s not a bad thing, necessarily, but it’s different. And it certainly seems less diverse.”
Gee, you think? Gentrifying the neighborhood isn’t bad, it’s just different. Whiter. Richer. Stinkier. Chew on that.
Filed under: Appropriation, Are You Kidding?, University City District | Tags: upenn, west philly, youcies
West Philly kids love going to the Bubble House for queer dance parties. The mere fact that Bubble House is located at 34th and Sansom should have tipped everyone off to their lameness and associated evils already, but in case you missed it, the “youcies” love Bubble House. Youcies? Really? That’s the best you could come up with? via (LOL) Rupert Murdoch’s MySpace. Sorry we all missed this great event.
Young Friends of University City Happy Hour!
The Bubble House
3404 Sansom St., Philadelphia, PA
Tuesday, March 20, 5:30pm
Connect, Interact and Explore with youcie –The Young Friends of University City. Mingle with old friends and make new ones while enjoying drink specials and complementary hors d’oeuvres courtesy of The Bubble House at our first monthly happy hour.
This event will take place from 5:30 to 7:00pm, is free and open to anyone ages 21 and up, so feel free to pass this invite along but, please RSVP by March 16 so we can plan for enough food.
Youcie members are diverse individuals who are committed to University City’s uniqueness, growth and vitality. Youcie events will allow members to connect, interact with and explore University City’s diverse cultural, social, and community service offerings.
Youcie membership is free and open to those 21 years and older who wish to engage in exciting programming with other like-minded professionals.
To RSVP, please send an email to youngfriends@ucityphila.org.
Super Bonus Edition! UPenn endowment shrinks drastically (not like that!)
It pains me to link to this crappy newspaper, but in the interest of journalistic freedom we will do so. Due to the omnipresent shitty economy, it looks like UPenn is getting hit in the pocketbook.
“Penn’s endowment dropped 19.4 percent in the first half of the current fiscal year, falling from $6.2 billion to $5 billion from July to December 2008, according to Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli.”
Cry me a river. While that’s a nice chunk of change to lose, don’t start pulling out your checkbooks for poor old UPenn. Let’s think about this for a second…five billion dollars? Like, woah. I guess they can buy whatever they want. But let’s all hope that their economic policy wonks at Wharton keep messing up this “market based economy” thing. Lately at least one UPenn econ professor has been distracted by having sex with little boys. (“Investigators uncovered child pornography in the Penn office of Wharton professor emeritus Scott Ward yesterday, piling fresh charges on top of allegations that he brought child pornography into the country.”) If only we could make this shit up.
UPenn President Amy Gutmann
Well, UPenn sure is an interesting place. A few years back UPenn President Amy Gutmann decided to have a little fun and hang out with the “kids” at a UPenn Halloween party, stopping to pose for pictures with all sorts of upstanding young citizens frat boys. Here she is pictured with a young lad who thought it would be funny to dress up as a suicide bomber. “Ha, ha! What a barrel of laughs,” she must have thought. *Click!* Well she’s not shy of a little controversy, and remember any press is good press for UPenn!
Filed under: Displacement, Gentrification, University City Creep, West Philly Cultural References | Tags: creep, expansion, Gentrification, university city, west philly
via Zine Library. Sounds familiar if you live in West Philly, right? Distribute freely.
