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When, how, and whether a neighborhood should tax itself extra: the case of Callowhill / Chinatown North
Debate is hot in the section north of Chinatown, in which some residents have called for the city's first residential neighborhood improvement tax.
When, how, and whether a neighborhood should tax itself extra: the case of Callowhill / Chinatown North
Here's a question: when, how, and why should a neighborhood voluntarily tax itself? And what happens when not everyone in it wants to be taxed?
In this week's City Paper, I took a look at the heated debate over whether the "Callowhill" or "Chinatown North" neighborhood will become a "Neighborhood Improvement District."
While several areas around Philly have set up Business Improvement Districts, which excise a tax on local businesses and use the money for services like extra street cleaning, this would be the first one encompassing every residential address in a neighborhood, according to Center City District CEO Paul Levy, who first suggested the idea of the NID during a presentation on the viability of a park on the defunct Reading Viaduct.
A bill introduced by Councilman Frank DiCicco would impose a 7% assessment fee on almost every address in the area.(Buildings facing Broad Street, which would bring in higher assessments, have been excluded, apparently because they already belong to the Center City District — a fact which has not sit well with critics of the proposal).
My article this week focuses mostly on the divide in the neighborhood between those who favor the NID, those who don't, and those who are somewhere in between. Calling it taxation without representation, opponents worry they won't have sufficient say in the quarter million dollars collected annually — and that it represents the funding of a pet project for a vocal few: the viaduct park. Proponents say that the money is vastly insufficient to fund the building of a park and that it will be used primarily for on-the-street improvements to the blighted neighborhood.
But another interesting question is whether it makes sense for neighborhoods to tax themselves to provide themselves services that the city apparently can't. It doesn't take a long walk through the neighborhood in question to see that dumping and litter are rampant. Residents complain that streets are dark and dangerous. A quarter million dollars a year in improvements could go a long way.
On the other hand, whatever you thin of how your city taxes are being spent now, you can always (theoretically, at least) vote out of office the people spending them. The governance structure of this NID is little more confusing: a steering committee will appoint a board of directors, and members of the current active steering committee say it's open to anyone who wants to get involved.
But that's not the same as an election — and how much room there would be for dissent isn't at all clear.
City Council will hold a hearing on the bill tomorrow.
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