PhillyDeals: Can 'Condo King' Domb bring change on Council?
Center City real estate broker Allan Domb hasn't been advertising himself under his familiar title, the "Condo King," in his run for City Council as an at-large Democrat.
Center City real estate broker Allan Domb hasn't been advertising himself under his familiar title, the "Condo King," in his run for City Council as an at-large Democrat.
Backed by a political action committee, he's buying TV time and print advertising, and enjoys the backing of energetic ex-Mayor Ed Rendell.
"Alan has big ideas to revitalize our city," the ad promises. Then it lists three examples:
1) "Allan will donate his salary to our struggling schools." That's Idea One - to shave a $127,000 salary compared with the city's billions in fiscal needs?
Domb told me he's running "to help the city," not for money.
2) "Allan will use his business experience to make Philadelphia more affordable for everyone." I thought Domb's business, the more successful it gets, has the effect of driving up the price of real estate. Which is great if you own some, especially if you don't have to pay the tax assessment increases. But the result is typically the opposite of "more affordable." (See also, for example, New York City under Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg.)
Domb says he wants to boost the minimum wage (to President Obama's target of $10.10 an hour) and increase the number of poor people applying for the Earned Income Tax Credit.
3) "Allan will collect more than a half-billion in neglected property taxes." Him and what army?
Not Council, which, despite minority member David Oh's efforts, shows little intention of squeezing deadbeats or rolling back exemptions popular with developers.
Domb is right that many taxpayers feel it's unfair that so many Philadelphia property owners aren't forced to pay property taxes. But how exactly is he going to change this by joining Council?
Domb's solution: Copy New York. Sell bonds backed by uncollected taxes; hire servicers to collect.
Like another Council candidate, Ori Feibush, Domb is a successful businessman who sees some combination of public service and personal advancement through winning election. (That's more commonly done these days through agent candidates; see also Jeff Yass and his colleagues at Susquehanna International Group, who are spending millions trying to persuade voters to elect Anthony Hardy Williams as mayor.)
Are more city voters ready to trust the Dombs and Feibushes instead of the elected professional government types who have dominated Philadelphia through long years of office and factory stagnation?
What exactly is Domb prepared to do to build up the city behind the tax-break-driven, high-end housing market, with its veneer of prosperity; to address the chronically weak employer interest in the city, as shown by the fact that Philadelphia office and warehouse rents remain stuck at 1980s levels?
Nine of the 10 major Philadelphia employers are currently nonprofits. (The lone exception is cafeteria operator Aramark.) What would business people on Council do to change that?
Domb says that reassessing commercial properties on lines suggested by Brandywine Realty Trust chief Gerry Sweeney would make the city more attractive to employers. He also wants a joint city/private investment fund - run by guys like real estate investor Ira Lubert and venture capitalist Josh Kopelman - to back city employers and help the underfunded pension plan.
I asked if he'd ever seen that work in real life. Worth trying, Domb says.
215-854-5194 @PhillyJoeD