The primary election issue most Philly voters have never heard of: councilmanic prerogative

Just last month, the city halted the sale of most public vacant lots, after the Inquirer reported on real estate developers netting huge profits buying city land at below market rates and flipping it, with the help of district Council members.

Council members say district representatives tend to know their neighborhoods best and are closer to constituents.

John Carpenter, former deputy executive director of the Land Bank and the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, said he’s seen a lot of issues related to sales of vacant land. But to remove prerogative altogether would strip residents of a voice, he said.

“For every time you find a thieving, conniving developer who somehow hoodwinked the city into giving them something for free, I think you can find a Council member who listened carefully to neighbors and tried to act accordingly," Carpenter said.

Some developers also oppose councilmanic prerogative. Ken Weinstein, a Mount Airy-based developer, said he’s been blocked from buying several parcels of city-owned vacant land because the Vacant Property Review Committee requires a letter of support from a district Council member. Members can also place holds on certain properties.

The city said it did not have data on how many “holds” Council members have put on properties or why sales were blocked.

“It is inherently inefficient and ineffective at deciding where resources should go, because there’s too much power in the hands of one individual," Weinstein said. "I think it’s fascinating that people who are pro-development in general and anti-development in general are both seeing the harm in Council prerogative. ”

. Leo Addimando, a managing partner of Alterra Property Group and vice president of the Building Industry Association, however, said the authority Council has to introduce legislation is an efficient way to get large projects through. It’s easier to do business when there’s a person in charge of decisions, he said.

“In this business, certainty is more important than outcome … so being able to go to a Council person and have a conversation about whether a zoning change is something they’ll support, I think it’s a useful thing in streamlining the development process," Addimando said.

Given that councilmanic prerogative isn’t an actual rule, its unclear how one would abolish it. Theoretically, the seven Council members who don’t represent geographic areas could all choose to buck a district lawmaker, but they would still need the votes of at least two district lawmakers who might want the courtesy extended to them.

Justin DiBerardinis, a former staffer to Councilwoman María Quiñones-Sánchez and candidate for Council at-large, has proposed restricting councilmanic prerogative. He thinks the city needs a charter convention to more evenly allocate power among the branches of local government: Give Council more control over certain budgetary items, for example, and maybe Council cedes some control over land use.

Even he is surprised to be talking about such things in the campaign , though.