AVI’s unanswered questions and likely vote | school worker concessions | Nutter to lead US Mayors | Council ‘cleans up’ zoning code | Philly foreclosures
Today City Council could pass AVI – the contentious, but important property-tax reform plan – despite major uncertainties and information gaps about the tax rate, the incomplete citywide assessment, and homestead exemption. City Paper lays out the thorny issues with AVI in today’s issue. The Daily News editorializes about some points Council should consider in what is likely to be a marathon session today.
Blue-collar workers have offered $20 million in concessions to the school district in hopes of avoiding a new wave of layoffs. The Inquirer reports that the union, 32BJ, and the School Reform Commission (SRC) will continue negotiating until the Friday deadline. It now looks as though the city might chip in $40 million (as opposed to $94 million or $85 million) to help the School District fill its huge budget gap, putting the District in an “unthinkable” position, according to SRC Chairman Pedro Ramos.
Mayor Nutter will be voted in as President of the US Conference of Mayors this weekend, reports the Inquirer. In this election year, expect to see lots of Mr. Mayor on national news, as he works behind the scenes on a political agenda for cities nationwide.
City Council has been playing “clean up” with the city’s new zoning code, from technical changes (correcting details like maps and grammar) as well as substantive amendments to the code that have snuck in under the wire. PlanPhilly’s Jared Brey explains amendments advanced by Councilmen Bobby Henon and Bill Green, heard at Rules Committee hearings this week, that would shrink the time period for Civic Design Review, narrow the “purposes” for stream buffers, and remove the maximum amount of parking at a development site.
One out of every 980 homes in Philly was in a phase of foreclosure during May. The Business Journal reports Philadelphia’s residential foreclosure rate ranked us 16th out of the nation’s 20 major metro areas. Despite the city’s relatively low foreclosure rate, the numbers have been up in 2012.
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