Thanks Melani for the clarification. I was a member of the original UC Services Board as well (and founding member of the U-City Community Council). So..I remember. We did have meetings to get public feedback. The board's lawyer discovered residents could not be taxed and it killed the volunteer district as you described.
I'm not boycotting the party tonight, I just won't be there. S. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 10:14 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [UC] Laws about special service district funding in PA/ Party for the Park In a message dated 5/6/04 10:37:20 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << The same thing happened here in U-City. U-City residents had a meetings regarding funding the Service District. Residents and business owners said no to "assessments" or more taxes as they put it. The only reason UCD works here is because it is by donation only and not mandatory payments. We are VERY fortunate to have institutional support for UCD.>> Actually, Sharrieff, by law, homeowners and landlords of residential buildings CANNOT be taxed extra in PA for special service districts. The PA "enabling legislation" for the districts ONLY ALLOWS COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES TO BE TAXED EXTRA. We learned this back in 1992-93 when we first had a short-lived voluntary UC Special Services District. (I was on the board.) Since there were too few businesses and since the commercial area was too spread out and small to have any impact on our "clean and safe" efforts, all UCSSD funding was from donations - mostly from homeowners since it was community-organized. For that effort, there was not sufficient voluntary support from institutions and large landlords, so the UCSSD had to shut down after about half a year in operation. But that was the inspiration, the spark, for the later-organized UCD, which began with major funding donations from the big UC institutions, especially Penn, and had the support of the community organizations through their umbrella group, the UC Community Council. I'm a big fan of the Roger Harman (Abbraccio owner, former CPN president and all-around good person) style of telling all sides of the story - he always gives an explanation and then says "on the other hand" and proceeds to also explain any other points of view. Along those lines, I want to add something else to the UCD story. For those who say that the homeowners get off lightly by not having to pay for the UCD unless they want to, there is a counter argument. UC homeowners pay property taxes to the City of Philadelphia to provide our BASIC services - police, fire, trash collection, park maintenance, etc. Property taxes range between about $1000. and $3500. per house in our area per year. That adds up to millions of dollars per year paid by homeowners for BASIC SERVICES. The institutions, many of which are non-profit and don't pay property taxes, then make their voluntary contributions to the UCD for ADDITIONAL SERVICES for safety, cleanliness, park maintenance, etc. So it seems that many of us could agree with the UCD's slogan which, if I'm quoting correctly, is: "working together, making it better." By the way, for those negative people who DON'T want to work with anyone else and make things better, those who are advocating boycotting today's Party for the Park, I'm kind of glad that you won't be there to bring your negative, non-productive voices to what will otherwise be a very nice gathering. Melani Lamond ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>. ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
