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Patience and Persistence in the Face of Bureaucracy


NLNA Looks At Quality of Life Issues at Recent Meeting

As property values in the area rise, the rapid rate of development in Northern Liberties may be having the opposite effect on the quality of life for those who already live there. This may seem strange considering Northern Liberties is one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the city proper, but it’s precisely this influx of capital that seems to be at the root of many of its residents problems.

For the past few years, there has been something of a gold rush to develop in Northern Liberties. This boom has many factors: it’s an echo of a national housing boom, decreased mortgage rates, a recent trend toward urbanization and mixed-use neighborhoods, etc.  The Department of Licenses and Inspection, to this day, still sees more permit requests for this zip code than anywhere else in the city. However, this rate of development, when put into practical terms, is not solely a positive thing. Leaving all discourse on the politics of gentrification aside, there still remains the issue that there is an unsustainable amount of construction going on in Northern Liberties.

The Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association (NLNA) held a forum at its monthly community meeting concerning quality-of-life issues in the area. Almost all of these problems stemmed from the high levels of construction within the neighborhood: projects blocking sidewalks and parking, sometimes on both sides of the street; construction practices being in violation of the Uniform Construction Code (UCC); residents cars being towed without warning to make way for construction vehicles; developers and plumbers leaving uncovered or poorly covered holes in the street for months on end.

At this meeting, the NLNA brought together a panel of representatives from various city agencies including, Licenses and Inspections (L&I), the Streets Department, the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD), and the Parking Authority. The reason for this assemblage of reps was that many of the issues are under the jurisdiction of different city agencies. This creates confusion on the part of the citizen trying to report a problem, not knowing who exactly to report it to. One of the goals of the meeting was to sort out this bureaucracy and give residents a clearer channel through which to report their problems.

NLNA President Matt Ruben and Quality of Life Coordinator Lara Kelly facilitated the meeting. L&I, who brought five representatives, fielded questions first. One of the L&I representatives began by acknowledging the congestion of cars and construction vehicles in the neighborhood, stating simply, “parking is a disaster.” However, as parking is not under L&I’s jurisdiction, the conversation quickly changed to reporting problems with construction practices. This set the tone for the rest of meeting, with each respective agency doing a little passive finger-pointing at the others, and outlining why, according to bylaws, the issue at hand was “someone else’s problem.”  

The police cannot cite contractors participating in illegal construction practices because they do not enforce the UCC. L&I can enforce this but complaints have about a 48 hour turnaround. L&I, in turn, suggested that if a situation at a construction site seemed “extremely dangerous” to then call the fire department (no representatives from the Philadelphia Fire Department were present at the meeting).

The representatives from the Streets Department were from the Sanitation Division and therefore could only field questions about litter and trash removal. However, they did take notes on the issue of uncovered holes left by developers and plumbers and promised to report back to higher ups. They also mentioned their “Adopt-a-Can” program, in which a resident of a block can get a trash can from the Streets Department provided the individual maintains it themselves. The only stipulation is that the individual must be a block captain. Lara Kelly interjected saying that Northern Liberties no longer has block captains and that, “I think they’re all dead now,” a statement ominous in its ambiguity.

Next came the discussion about towing and tow signs, which quickly became the most heated and confusing topic of the night. Two officers from the PPD’s Sixth District contended that, “if [private towing companies] are towing cars off of city streets then what they are doing is illegal.” The Parking Authority claimed it had no control over the practices of private towing companies. Then audience members began to wonder out loud where these tow-away signs, posted on private property, were coming from. Several members became visibly and audibly agitated when no answer could be provided.

But there was some semblance of resolution and it came in the form of 311, the number which provides access to non-emergency municipal services. L&I suggested 311 in order to find out information about building permits and to get in touch with a specific building inspector. Streets Department suggested 311 to report illegal dumping and uncovered potholes. The Parking Authority suggested its own website (philapark.org) as means of a communication channel. The PPD suggested 911.

The solution to these problems seems to be a kind of “playing the game,” finding the proper channel to complain through and then waiting it out, patience and persistence in the face of bureaucracy. The NLNA has set up a 311 page on its website which aims to help concerned residents find the appropriate contact information to address their problems. It can be found here: http://www.nlna.org/quality-of-life/

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