Week of July 7, 2008

 

Editorial: Avoiding Foreclosures

A hometown solution
Congress should look to Philadelphia as lawmakers wrestle with a bill to help homeowners stave off foreclosure.
A housing bill awaiting action in the Senate would create a multibillion-dollar fund to help 400,000 homeowners refinance costly mortgages into more affordable loans backed by the government. The House has already approved a similar bill.
No single piece of legislation will help all of the estimated five million homeowners who will be facing a mortgage crisis in the coming year. But a program in Philadelphia is working to keep families in their homes, and it could be copied in other cities at minimal government expense.
The Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Pilot Program kicked into action this spring after Philadelphia Sheriff John D. Green halted foreclosure sales. A committee of housing advocates and mortgage lawyers got to work, under the guidance of President Judge Darnell Jones II and Judge Annette M. Rizzo.
Foreclosures are soaring in Philadelphia, as in the rest of the nation. The city's number of foreclosures is expected to jump to 8,500 this year, up from 6,200 in 2007. In South Jersey, foreclosure filings were up 33 percent through March, compared with the same three-month period last year. The problem is likely to get worse as housing prices continue to fall and unemployment rises.
More
 
Dems quiz EPA on Clean Water Act enforcement
By Kristen Coulter
 
Pointing to an internal memo, House Democrats on Monday said the Environmental Protection Agency is not doing enough to enforce the Clean Water Act.
In a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, Reps. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), say they have “grave concerns over the current status of implementation of the Clean Water Act” and demand that the agency provide Congress with information about its enforcement process.
 
More
 
Ostracized Montco commissioner pushes agenda

By Derrick Nunnally ,Inquirer Staff Writer

Outvoted and outmaneuvered on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners for the last six months, Bruce L. Castor Jr. took to the Norristown courthouse steps yesterday to present his own agenda for county government and to complain, again, about his two fellow commissioners.
"I am disappointed to say that I don't believe that we can point to any accomplishments whatsoever of any significant nature in those six months," he said.
Joined by more than a dozen top Montgomery County Republicans, the former district attorney called for a wide range of changes in county policies, including Internet initiatives and referendums that could reshape county government and double or triple the size of the commission.
Absent were his co-commissioners, Republican James R. Matthews and Democrat Joseph M. Hoeffel III, with whom Castor has been warring since he took office in January.
More
 
McGinty steps down at Pennsylvania DEP
By Amy Worden, Philadelphia Inquirer
 
Kathleen McGinty, who as secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection was in charge of executing Gov. Rendell's agenda to clean up the environment, advance energy-conservation initiatives, and attract green businesses, is stepping down.
In her resignation letter, McGinty thanked Rendell for giving her the "privilege of serving" on his team, but offered no glimpse of future plans beyond taking a vacation with her family.
The letter, which was not made public, said her resignation is effective next Friday. A formal announcement will be made today, a spokesman for Rendell said.
McGinty, 45, a Philadelphia native, is among a growing number of cabinet secretaries and other high-level staffers leaving the administration as Rendell heads into his final two years in office. Among the recent departures were Col. Jeffrey Miller as state police commissioner and Michael Masch as budget secretary.
McGinty's resignation letter came Wednesday, the same day that Rendell - with her by his side - signed into law a bill that creates a $650 million fund to spur investment in alternative and renewable energy and provide rebates for installing solar panels in homes and businesses.
Environmentalists credit McGinty with helping transform Pennsylvania from a rust-belt state with aging and idle factories and polluting mines to one that aggressively fought to clean up the land, water and air and recruited businesses that shared those goals.
More
 
Montco planners discuss economic policy
By RICH PIETRAS, The Intelligencer
The Montgomery County planning commission reported on the progress of its “Strategic Economic Development Policy” to the board of county commissioners on Thursday.
Outlined by Steven L. Nelson, planning commission director of policy, and member Charlie Tornetta, the plan aims to join representatives from the private sector, transportation, governments and colleges to work on five key economic development issues. They are:
Help older communities with economic challenges, such as finding ways to use obsolete commercial sites.
Improve transportation.
More
 
HBA created legislation signed by Governor Rendell
 
Due to the efforts of the Legal Task Force, ACT 39 (HB 1329) and ACT 40 (HB 1330), which provide fixes to the Glen-Gery and Luke v. Cataldi decisions, were signed into law last week.
 
ACT 39 (HB 1329) Amends the MPC providing for optional notice of ordinance or decision and procedural validity challenges; further providing for ordinance provisions and for jurisdiction of the zoning hearing board and the court of common please in challenges to the validity of an ordinance for procedural defects in the process of enactment.