Thursday, October 2, 2008

dcexaminer: Frightening but true

She had been a gang member but wants out. He puts her in a witness protection ... for a carload of gang members and forced her to a vacant apartment building. ...

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This blog drew a lot of attention, and I am very aware of the anecdotes propagating the internet about nuisance properties that plague DC neighborhoods.

Unfortunately, the anecdotes which form the counterpoint are lost. What about the bankrupted one-time entrepreneur, who ran into troubles with his first project when he tried to get building permits, and then was hit with the vacant property tax and lost all the equity in his project before he could decide to fight it?

I have been working against the 5% and 10% tax for the last two years, and have encountered several people who were materially affected by the extremely long exemption process. Most pople do not find out about their reclassification until they get the new tax bill. With 30 days to pay that bill, at the risk of defaulting on their mortgage loans, people will borrow and beg to pay off the bill, and spend months trying to convince the city to give it back.

There is a public hearing in four days about the new blighted vacant property tax. Read about it here: http://www.zacharypatterson.com