ELEPHANT CORNER: Developer Sues Councilman Johnson For Favoring A Business Rival In Pt. Breeze

I now know why Council – at least COUNCILMAN KENYATTA JOHNSON – did not like the idea of selling the Philadelphia Gas Works to UIL Corp.: because it was to be done honestly and transparently. Johnson apparently has steered the sale of city-owned properties to political insiders.

In a lawsuit filed by developer MICHAEL POLLACK, Pollack asserts that multiple properties in the Point Breeze neighborhood were sold under pressure from Johnson to his cronies. Pollack asserts these properties should have been sold through a competitive bidding process.

Apparently, all parcels of city property for sale must pass through the Vacant Property Review Committee, a committee of City Council. It is unclear whether these properties need to be put out for competitive bid under city law, but they should be reviewed in a transparent manner. Apparently the sale of property owned by the city, the Redevelopment Authority or the Philadelphia Housing Development Corp. is not done without the approval of the Council Member in whose district the property is located.
This is a practice that should end. This is an open door to corruption.

District Council Members’ interference in the sale of city property is consistent with what is referred to as “councilmanic prerogative”. Through the decades, there has been a gentlemen’s agreement that District Council Members have a de facto veto on any project in his or her district. I thought I lived in democracy, not a fiefdom.

The upshot of this gentlemen’s agreement is not so gentlemanlike to those who, like Pollack, are investing in and improving properties in Point Breeze. Pollack has decided to take Johnson to court.

Another developer in the area, ORI FEIBUSH, also sued Johnson over a similar issue in federal court in June of this year. Feibush has upped the ante and decided to take on Johnson politically. He plans to run for the District Council seat in the primary next May against Johnson. Feibush in May of this year attempted to unseat 36TH WARD LEADER ANNA VERNA (who appears to be supportive of Johnson) by challenging her committee people. I understand Feibush has the support of BARBARA CAPOZZI, who ran against Johnson in the Democratic primary in 2011.

A “Hail Mary” play was utilized by SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D-La.) in Washington this week. It did not work. She lost at the hands of her own team. She had sponsored a bill to approve the development of the Keystone XL Pipeline that would bring oil sands crude from Canada to the US. The pipeline has been opposed by environmental groups because of concerns about the amount of carbon released in the processing of oil sands crude and the safety of the pipeline.

But if we do not buy the oil-sands crude, it will be transported to Western Canada for sale to Asia. Pipelines are probably the safest way to transport crude. However, the more-liberal members of Landrieu’s party did not agree with her and filibustered the bill.

The fact a bill on this pipeline surfaced is amusing. The US House of Representatives had sent a bill on this issue to the Senate, which SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID promptly buried.

Reid is now allowing this bill to go to the floor, in my opinion, for two reasons. One, Reid probably realizes that this bill will pass with the new Senate in January and possibly with enough votes to override an expected veto by the President. Two, he wanted to help Landrieu in her runoff election next month. Apparently her bill, which her constituents for the most part favor, is not helping her in the polls. Many expect her to lose her Senate seat to Republican CONGRESSMAN BILL CASSIDY.

Her bill looked like a political stunt (and probably was), but to her credit she has been in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline for a while. She was one of 11 Democratic Senators who sent a letter to PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA earlier this year supporting the development of the pipeline.