NTI trying to turn blighted
areas over to the city

By Lauren Fritsky
Times Staff Writer

Five years after its inception, the city’s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative is looking for new ways to improve the quality of life for Philadelphia residents.
Part of the program’s second phase — presented at a recent hearing before the state House Urban Affairs Committee — is to improve on acquiring and redeveloping vacant properties. The quality-of-life issue has burdened residents in several Northeast communities that have experienced an increase in unkempt homes.
Many pin part of the blame on investors from outside the city who fail to maintain properties.
"In my neighborhood, I think people would rather have an abandoned property than an investor from New York," said Rep. John Taylor (R-177th dist.), chairman of the committee. His district covers parts of Northwood, Frankford and Wissinoming.
One proposed solution to the thousands of unused properties throughout the city is land banking. It involves the city scooping up significant amounts of land for future use.
In Philadelphia, developers usually determine a parcel’s use, and that often overlooks a community’s needs, said Eva Gladstein, NTI’s director. Land banking allows the city to hold title to the land — much of it vacant — and package it according to neighborhood plans. Six areas in North Philadelphia are currently designated as land-acquisition zones.
Taylor said the process would involve "being able to direct development of newly owned properties instead of leaving them up to fate."
"We also think this is a concept that can be used in every area of the state," he said.
Gladstein testified in support of land banking. Accompanying her were Elizabeth Hersch, executive director of the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, and Rick Sauer, executive director of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations.
Launched in 2001 by Mayor John Street, NTI promotes revitalization through demolition, land assembly, development, blight removal and home buyer/owner programs. Resources include $295 million in bond funds — most of which will be spent by year’s end — and more than $1 billion in local, state, federal and private foundation funds. Gladstein is seeking state funding for other initiatives, including land banking.
To boost redevelopment efforts, Hersch suggested state legislation that would keep foreclosed properties out of sheriff’s sale, an often lengthy process. The tendency for properties to go to the highest bidder does not always result in the best use for the community, she said.
Earlier this year, Gov. Ed Rendell approved Taylor’s proposal to allocate $3 million to the state Housing Finance Agency for the Homeowner’s Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program, which helps people whose homes are in danger of foreclosure. The state Department of Banking is currently investigating predatory-lending practices.
"There is a connection between predatory lending and blight," Hersch said.
And to handle already foreclosed and vacant properties, land banking could help community development corporations or other groups to redevelop them as they see fit.
NTI’s other anti-blight efforts have included cleaning up 31,000 lots, removal of 275,000 abandoned cars, and removal of graffiti from 535,000 buildings since the program launched in 2001. The Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP) undertakes those efforts in the Northeast.
"I appreciate NTI’s efforts in the area," Taylor said. "We utilize CLIP. In many ways it’s been a great initiative."
In addition, NTI has helped stabilize about 6,000 residential land parcels, which includes the construction of fences and landscaping on the property.
"That has really made a critical difference in a lot of neighborhoods," Gladstein said.
She also seeks to improve neighborhood commercial districts, centralize program databases and implement a Web-based system of community information through the Redevelopment Authority, which is being restructured as part of the city’s Office of Housing and Community Development, the department that oversees it.
Taylor is concerned that the Redevelopment Authority’s dismantling could exacerbate current systemic problems and impede NTI efforts.
"I’m worried that no matter how innovative we get with land banking, we don’t have the structure (to implement it)," Taylor said.
Regardless of future funding, NTI plans "to use our public money to stimulate as much private funding activity as possible," Gladstein said. ••
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com