We'll help your business bloom.
I can’t believe it’s been a year since Bloom & Bloom opened for business. It’s been a great year. From starting up at the South Philly Co-op Workspace, to booking new clients, to presenting on real estate topics, to working with businesses, it’s been an adventure.
We look forward to continuing our business, and to continuing to help our clients, new and old. Give us a call, send us an email, and let us know how we can help your business bloom!
A great big THANK YOU to Paul Rosso and the staff of WWDB-AM TALK 860 for taking the time to interview me on conservatorship under Pennsylvania’s Act 135 of 2008 (and other topics) on his radio show Real Estate Today with Paul Rosso. The interview can be downloaded here: http://retodayshow.com/download/real-estate-today-show-april-26-2015/ (last visited April 28, 2015).
Bloom & Bloom believes in disseminating knowledge. That’s why we like public speaking on small business and real estate topics. If your group needs a speaker, reach out – perhaps we can help.
Nella’s upcoming speaking engagements include:
More events to come – keep checking our site.
We’re pleased to announce that Bloom & Bloom, LLC has moved to Center City Philadelphia! We are now located at 1528 Walnut Street, Suite 910, Philadelphia, PA 19102. We’ll miss South Philly and the South Philly Co-op Workspace. But continuing in the fine tradition of coworking, Bloom & Bloom is sharing an office with the Center City Proprietors Association.
Feel free to reach out at (267) 630-2466. Let us know how we can help your business bloom.
Previously in this blog, I profiled the Philadelphia Land Bank. Since that post, the Land Bank’s progress has continued apace. The Land Bank’s strategic plan was approved by City Council in December of 2014 and a Board of Directors has been appointed. More recently, the Land Bank issued its first Request for Proposals for the development of a contiguous group of available properties on the 1600 block of North Bodine Street. Nonetheless, the Land Bank remains controversial. Recent competing articles in Philadelphia Magazine online highlight the differences of opinion regarding the Land Bank.
The January 9, 2015 article “INSIDE TAKE: The Land Bank Is A Bad Idea,” by Jay McCalla (available at http://www.phillymag.com/citified/2015/01/09/land-bank-bad-idea-insider/) (last visited Feb. 2, 2015), argued that the Land Bank is nothing more than redundant bureaucracy and is dependent on City Council for its success. McCalla is the former Deputy Managing Director of Operations for the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative. McCalla argues in part that, since his former organization was considered underfunded with $300 million, the Land Bank’s budget ($4 million in this fiscal year) is insufficient to carry out its purposes in acquiring privately-owned tax-delinquent properties, sorting them, assessing them, or disposing of them “at a pace to have any effect at all on abandonment levels.” He argues that the Land Bank will duplicate the current efforts of the Redevelopment Authority, Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation, and Department of Public Property. He also points out that City Council’s members must approve all transfers of properties into the Land Bank from their districts to preserve councilmanic prerogative, arguing that “this guarantees that development will remain politically driven.” In short, McCalla argues that the Land Bank is folly.
Beth McConnell’s January 22, 2015 response opposing McCalla’s article, “Land Bank Defeatism Solves Nothing” (available athttp://www.phillymag.com/citified/2015/01/22/land-bank-fight-blight-defeatism/) (last visited Feb. 2, 2015), provides an interesting counterpoint. McConnell is the Policy Director for the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations. Her view is, in part, that the Land Bank is not simply another bureaucratic agency to hold land, but is instead a new tool to quickly and efficiently access abandoned and tax-delinquent properties throughout the City, whether privately or publicly owned. Once in the Land Bank, the properties could be held and transferred out – in particular to owners who propose to use the property to serve a public purpose or implement communities’ plans. McConnell also argues that the Land Bank can and will work together with City Council to transfer properties into the Land Bank, and that Philadelphia’s property values are skyrocketing, even in neighborhoods considered undesirable just a few years ago. In McConnell’s view, the Land Bank is poised to take on both new and old tasks in a streamlined way.
Clearly the Land Bank exists; clearly it is gaining inventory. Just as clearly, though, the success of the Land Bank depends on factors outside its control – most pressingly, quickly increasing the volume of its inventory. Such a large problem makes the Land Bank look to some like a big risk that may not pay off.
What’s my opinion? I think it will succeed, but not overnight. It’ll take City Council and City voters to gain trust in the process and the agency. My question is: will we give the Land Bank enough time to thrive?
For more information about the Land Bank or other Philadelphia real estate issues, contact us.
Since 2000, tax abatements on Philadelphia real estate have been available to owners or developers of commercial or residential real estate who make improvements to real property in Philadelphia. Many abatements permit an applicant to exempt the tax otherwise due on the improvements for up to ten years. When an abatement is in place, the owner or developer pays taxes only on the original value of the property, and not the value of the property as improved. Tax abatement has been a controversial issue, but studies examining Philadelphia’s tax abatements have mainly shown it to positively affect the City’s finances. So, how do abatements benefit Philadelphia?
So, why is there a debate? Because abatements underfund Philadelphia’s schools.Philadelphia’s public schools, which are largely funded by property taxes, remain in near-crisis mode, with no real plan to close the budget gap. As of the date of this post, is a councilmanic bill in process which would require owners to pay taxes to the School District that would otherwise be abated. However, Kevin Gillen and John Westrum, in their case-study of the Brewerytown Square development, calculate that implementation of the bill will generate less than 1% of the School District’s budget deficit. They also calculate that this amount is far less than estimated taxes generated by the abatements, such as increased wage taxes, sales taxes, real estate transfer taxes, and taxes associated with new construction projects.
The benefits of Philadelphia’s tax abatements outweigh the burdens. The tax incentives to develop real estate were greater than the relative high costs to develop, which in turn led to an increase in Philadelphia jobs, Philadelphia homeowners, and Philadelphia taxes. It also led to a decrease of abandoned, blighted, and tax-delinquent Philadelphia land. And even existing homeowners could take advantage of abatements to improve their homes. In short, the abatements helped businesses, families, and the City bloom.
Sources:
Everyone has business or legal questions they can’t answer – even lawyers (especially lawyers). Which is why I’ve focused in part on creating a “knowledge web*,” a network not only of trusted friends and colleagues, but also people with expertise in areas of the law where I don’t practice. My knowledge web helps me, but more importantly, it helps my clients.
For example, let’s say you’ve failed to pay business taxes in the City of Philadelphia, and you come to your shop one morning to find it padlocked. If you were to call me, I would immediately give you contact information of other practitioners I know who specialize in City of Philadelphia tax matters. Given their experience in that area, they will be able to help you more efficiently.
I think analogizing collective knowledge with a web is apt. A web is a series of connections; the “knowledge web” is a form of collective intelligence formed by a series of connections between people. Nobody can know everything, but we all expect to have access to information. Accessing information on the internet, however, is less helpful (and may be less accurate) than speaking to a person who can discuss questions or collaborate on answers. The key part of a knowledge web is the willingness of each member to talk through issues, since without an exchange there is no web. There’s no room for a free rider in a knowledge web. Those who ask for information without providing any in return are soon shut out.
Creating a web takes work, but is very rewarding for me and my clients. It lets me focus my time and energy on my practice and my brand, while still helping to provide a client with a connection to legal assistance. The members of my knowledge web may gain clients. We all work together, in complementary ways, to help our businesses bloom.
* Not to be confused with the “knowledge web” of the James Burke Institute (see http://k-web.org/ (last visited Dec. 23, 2014).
For more information, see Douglas Engelbart’s website, in particular his philosophy on Network Improvement Communities, at http://www.dougengelbart.org/ (last visited Dec. 23, 2014). See also Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams’s books Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything (2007) and Macrowikinomics: New Solutions for a Connected Planet (2010), which address large-scale collective intelligence in the digital age.
We at Bloom & Bloom, LLC want to thank our friends, neighbors, family, and clients for a great first year. We opened our doors in May of this year. Since then, we’ve enjoyed making new connections and cultivating existing ones, as well as encountering new and interesting challenges. We’ve been privileged to help clients, former and current, with their matters. It’s been a great year!
We want wish everyone a happy, healthy, and relaxing holiday season, and a very happy New Year. Thanks for helping to make 2014 a great year for us.
Warmest regards,
Nella and Myron
Bloom & Bloom, LLC
It’s estimated that there are around 9,600 debt collection agencies in the United States, all trying to make money off consumer debt. Some are legitimate, but many aren’t. For those that are above-board, there’s no issue: the company buys the debt from the original holder, like a credit card company, and does its best to get the consumer to pay it off in full. However, the debt can then be sold off to another, less reputable agency – and this is where the problems begin.
Debt collection is like the Wild West. Once a debt is sold, it can be re-sold many times, sometimes to multiple collectors at once. Some companies never even buy the debt, but try to collect on it nonetheless. And some companies simply obtain consumers’ credit reports and call at random, hoping to be paid for another’s debt. Agencies can’t verify the amounts of the debts, and may inflate them to include phantom interest, fees, or costs beyond the stated debt.
At their worst, debt collection agencies are abusive. They may call many times a day, threatening a debtor with immediate lawsuit or imprisonment. They may even threaten to tell a debtor’s employer about the debt, or threaten to take away the debtor’s kids. Those companies are often fly-by-night, disappearing after a threat of a consumer protection lawsuit and restarting under another name. This makes it extremely difficult to pursue an abusive agency for its actions.
Clearly, the best way to avoid being scammed is to only pay the company owning your claim, and only pay the amount legitimately owed. But can you ensure that you’re paying the right entity the right amount? Here are a few steps to take:
Getting collection calls or letters can be extremely stressful. However, standing up to unscrupulous collectors by doing a bit of legwork can make the difference between making unnecessary payments and avoiding paying a debt the collector doesn’t own.
On Monday, November 24, Philadelphia-based Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP absorbed Boston-based Bingham McCutcheon LLP. When the merger is complete, Morgan will have nearly 2,000 lawyers in 28 offices worldwide, and will be the tenth-largest law firm in the world. Is there an advantage to the merger? Let’s put it this way: in their shoes, I’d likely vote against it – even if I’d be in the minority.
My (not very popular) answer is that a merger of this scale can be quickly disadvantageous. While I’m likely in the minority, here’s my logic:
Perhaps my vision is clouded because I am now the Managing Member of a very small firm. Nonetheless, I feel that a new megafirm must look to the past, to failed mergers and large law firm bankruptcies – and to the future of building a sustainable long-term solution to address clients’ needs.
Bloom & Bloom, LLC 