Political Division - Three candidates vying for one state rep seat in 195th

TALMADGE BELO remembers when his Sharswood neighborhood was noted for winning Philadelphia More Beautiful awards.

"I live on the 2400 block of Sharswood Street and they used to call this the utopia of North Philadelphia," Belo said.

"You didn't drop a paper on the sidewalk. People were afraid to walk through our block because they knew they were under scrutiny, " he said.

Today, however, the neighborhood is dotted with trash-strewn lots, where "the weeds are taller than I am," he said. On some blocks, there are only one or two houses standing and on others, the houses are boarded up and abandoned.

In a major effort to rebuild Sharswood, the Philadelphia Housing Authority plans to replace its Norman Blumberg Apartments and seize 1,330 nearby properties for mixed-income housing and business development. Although most of the properties - slated for seizure through eminent domain - are vacant lots or abandoned houses, about 80 to 100 are owner-occupied homes or businesses.

It is this issue that has become the focus in Tuesday's special election for state representative in the 195th Legislative District.

The special election will fill the seat vacated by former state Rep. Michelle Brownlee who resigned in June after pleading guilty in a corruption scandal.

The three candidates hoping to replace her are:

*  Donna Bullock, a Democrat and the former special assistant to City Council President Darrell Clarke.

*  Adam Lang, a Republican who works as a computer engineer who may lose four vacant lots to PHA's planned development.

* Judith Robinson, a write-in candidate and real-estate broker, who is a lifelong resident of North Philadelphia.

Yvonne McGough owns three properties on Ridge Avenue that are on the list to be taken by PHA, and she is livid.

"We wanted them to take down Blumberg," she said of the 8-acre complex at 23rd and Jefferson streets. "There was a lot of crime, and the housing projects were hurting our property values.

"But if they had been clear about also taking some of our properties, they would have heard us screaming a long time ago."

Both Lang and Robinson said they are seeking office because they oppose PHA's plan to force private property owners to sell to a government agency with a decades-long poor reputation for managing the housing projects it already owns.

Lang has more than a general interest in the PHA redevelopment plan. He owns four lots that PHA wants to seize.

"They [PHA] are heavily responsible for the condition of the neighborhood," Lang said.

"They think the way to fix the neighborhood damage that was done by PHA is for PHA to try to do it again."

Lang has lived in Sharswood for 10 years. He said two of the lots PHA wants make up the side yard next to his house. Lang said he bought the other two lots from PHA in an auction only a couple of years ago as investment properties. Now PHA wants them back. Lang said one lot cost him $15,000 and PHA is offering him $7,000 as settlement for seizing it. He said he paid $16,000 for each of the two side lots to his house. PHA is offering him $7,000 for each one.

Robinson said she opposes PHA's plan because PHA has had a poor track record.

"How can we trust PHA to build all these new homes when they have not taken care of the property they already own?" Robinson said.

She pointed out two boarded-up PHA properties on South College Avenue.

"They have a waiting list [for housing] that is five years long while people are sitting in homeless shelters," she said. "Some of these units have been boarded up for a year."

Robinson said she opposed the way Clarke's office sat down with PHA officials and started to pick and choose which property owners would get to stay and which would be sent eminent domain letters.

"It's social engineering," she said.

"They are taking property from private citizens and holding it for over a 10-year period."

Bullock, a lawyer who worked for Clarke for five years, said she's running for state representative "because I believe I can serve my community." She resigned from the city in June to run for state office.

"I am the candidate with the qualified skills and the experience to represent the interests of the 195th," said Bullock, who lives in Strawberry Mansion with her husband and two young sons.

As for PHA's plans to seize property in the area, Bullock said there were several community meetings over the last year or two where PHA and Clarke's office were very clear about the process.

"There was a planning process that engaged residents and partners to come up with a plan to revitalize the community," she said.

As a candidate for the state House, Bullock said: "It's a local issue at the city level. As a candidate, I want to focus on state policy and state issues that I can have an impact on in Harrisburg."

Belo, 72, is vice president of the Brewerytown-Sharswood Community Civic Association.

He said the civic association mainly supports PHA's development plans as one way for longtime residents and working class and moderate-income people to be able to stay in Sharswood.

But he would prefer that existing homeowners and business owners who want to stay are allowed to stay.

"If not PHA, then who?" Belo asked. "We see what is going on in Francisville and Fairmount. They can change the name, but it was all North Philly you are talking about. Everybody is being edged out that has a stake here, including myself."

"Once those towers [at Blumberg] come down, the developers are going to be here. The sharks are already here. They saw the blood in the water."

As for Tuesday's special election, Belo said all three candidates are highly qualified.

He has worked with Lang in the Republican 29th Ward. Lang also sits on the board of the Brewerytown-Sharswood Community Civic Association.

And Bullock "has been magnificent" as she worked with the civic organization about the planned PHA redevelopment project, Belo said. He's also worked with Robinson years ago in the community.

"I have good things to say about all three of them. I don't relish the day I have to make a decision [for whom to vote]. All of them mean a whole lot to the community and the people that we serve."