July 14-20, 2005

political notebook

Latinos United

by Mary F. Patel

The National Council of La Raza, the largest and oldest Latino national advocacy group, will host its annual conference at the Pennsylvania Convention Center Sunday through Tuesday.

The conference will focus on issues that are important to Latinos such as immigration, empowerment, health problems that disproportionately affect their community and the importance of becoming politically active.

The Latino population is the nation's largest minority group, having recently overtaken African-Americans. Likewise, the population in Philadelphia is large and growing.

Former City Solicitor Ken Trujillo is a vice chair and board member of La Raza. He says he has been working on getting the conference here for several years.

"This community is a growing influence across the county," he says. In the 2000 census, 8.5 percent of Philadelphians were of Latino descent.

While the Latino population is expanding here, it is not as politically active as it could be. There is only one Latino on City Council, Juan Ramos, compared to seven African-Americans councilpersons. No Latinos represent the city in the U.S. Senate, U.S. House and the state Senate. There is one Latino state House member from the city, Angel Cruz, and there are few Latino state judges.

There is clearly a lack of Latino elected officials and, while past and current mayoral administrations had appointed Latinos to prominent Cabinet positions, they still lack political force.

"One of the ways we can enhance our visibility is to engage our youth in the process so as time moves on — five, 10 years from now — we can see a difference," says Trujillo.

The conference is bringing some big guns to town, including Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Admission to the workshops and exposition at the Pennsylvania Convention Center is free. The social highlight will be a salsa ball featuring Eddie Palmieri. For more information, see www.NCLR.org.

The Big Sale

Has Philadelphia got a deal for you!

The city wants you to help in its efforts to unload some $50 million in real estate all across town. They are hoping that the sale will raise sorely needed funds for their cash-strapped coffers.

The city has long sold unneeded properties but now, they are hoping to make a killing in the burgeoning real estate market. Officials in the city's Public Property Department have been working for some time to identify properties that the city can no longer use and that could be appealing to others.

The property portfolio is diverse. Roman Catholic High School students will soon be learning at the old city morgue at 320 N. 13th St., and a 1,100-square-foot park on Mt. Vernon Street near the Philadelphia Museum of Art is up for bids. There is vacant land in Northern Liberties and a great deal of untapped sites at the Navy Yard. The far Northeast has a lot of land available, as does West Parkside.

Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) will be marketing the available properties. Paul Deegan, PIDC's senior vice president of government relations, says that aggressive efforts began late last year. Public Property has already given PIDC a number of properties to promote. Before these properties close, City Council needs to give approval. Deegan says that council has passed some of the necessary ordinances and, when a buyer is procured, each property will go before council. Council will be looking to ensure that any development is in the best interest of the particular area.

According to Deegan, the sale price is based on appraisals. He adds that the city will be issuing "requests for proposals" for certain of the larger properties.

"We are very confident that these sales will result in millions of dollars in assets for the city that will go into the general fund," says Mayor John Street's spokesperson, Joe Grace. "It is all part of this administration's five-year plan."

Some of these properties could be eligible for a 10-year tax abatement. Tom Dalfo, another PIDC vice president, says that interested parties can find more information on available properties on the PIDC Web site — www.PIDC-PA.org.

This and That

Former Assistant District Attorney Scott Sigman has gone to the firm of Bochetto & Lentz.

At the DA's office, Sigman was assigned to the Special Narcotics Prosecution Unit, an office that worked on special drug cases. He criminally prosecuted the city's most serious drug offenders from pre-arrest to post-conviction, and litigated the forfeiture of the offender's real estate through quasi-civil forfeiture hearings.

District Attorney Lynne Abraham disbanded the Prosecution Unit last month due to fiscal restraints, citing a $1.3 million budget cut.