The only zoning issue I know of around which there is no controversy in
the city of Philadelphia, is that the City of Philadelphia's zoning code
is hopelessly complex, illogical, clumsy, unnavigable and broken. Seriously.
Every City government has strengths and weaknesses. Its Water Dept., for
instance, Philly is world-class. In contrast, its zoning code reads like
it was pounded out by a thousand monkeys on keyboards. Nobody likes what
we now have. Everybody is calling for soup-to-nuts reform. Nutter's all
for it, says he. The question is: will he make it happen?
In the meantime ... nobody in Philadelphia really understands the
workings of our zoning system. The ordinary man on the street does not.
A bizarre man on the street like myself does not. Crafty landlords like
Al Krigman and Al Klein and Guy and Glenn do not. Dueling real-estate
experts like Melani and Liz do not. Multi-million-dollar investors like
Lussenhop and Penn and Cira and the Sheik of Araby do not. It is
confusing! And it is very bad for all of us that it is so confusing.
While we're awaiting comprehensive reform, my starting position is that
Philadelphians should be patient with each other in zoning
controversies. In simpler terms: people who have no idea what zoning law
dictates in a complicated case are probably truthful; people who are
absolutely certain what zoning law dictates may be suspected of fooling
themselves.
It's a real problem. And it's a problem without villains.
-- Tony West
Frank wrote:
http://www.planphilly.com/node/2788
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