What's happened to the black males and females who live in the City of Philadelphia?  A large percentage of them currently live in poverty. It's well known that Philly has a twenty-six percent poverty rate out of the estimated one and a half million residents. That's three hundred and ninety thousand Philly residents living in poverty. Guess what percentage of that 390,000 are black women and men?

   I speak of courage because of the most recent property money grab, which is once again stripping black men and women in Philadelphia of their dignity, pushing them further into financial poverty.  Mayor Cherelle L. Parker's property tax increase, where the overwhelmingly highest assessment increases occurred in the poorest of black neighborhoods. Yet, none of the black elected leaders, preachers, or residents voiced any opposition to what was a very unnecessary and suspicious property assessment. 

Why are low-income households in Philadelphia getting inflated property assessments while higher-income households are getting a break in their valuation? It leaves the low-income communities paying more, as a percentage, into public services that everyone uses and benefits from. Not only does this further the racial wealth gap, it also means that wealthier households are not paying their fair share in property taxes.  

   Why in Philadelphia are lower-value homes being assessed at higher rates, in proportion to their actual market value, and more expensive homes get a break on their taxes?

Overvaluation in property assessments results in property owners being more burdened by their property taxes. Families hurt by these costs are having to make critical decisions about necessities, like medications or groceries.  

  This is Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle  Parker. For those of you who think she runs the city, I have some swamp land in Florida for sale! Yes, she has the title of Mayor, but who's really running things? Think about it, she's a Democrat who instructed a Republican controlled OPA to engage in property assessments of the poorest Democratic neighborhoods. If you're unfamiliar with the OPA, it stands for Office of Property Assessments. What does the OPA do? It determines the value of all real property in the City of Philadelphia. Yup, your Democratic properties were assessed/valuated by the Republican control city department of the OPA. Are you starting to get the picture? By the way, who is the Mayor married to? It's just a question.

   You are not alone; there are tens of thousands of Philadelphia property owners like you who got this overevaluation stuck up their assess. The question is, why haven't you all gotten together and demanded that your elected officials (City Council) hold hearings on this matter? You can bet if the OPA did this in white neighborhoods, they would not stand for it, and there would have been council hearings on the discrepancies in the evaluations. 

White people, rich or poor, have the courage to rise up and fight together against any city agencies that try to do things like this to their neighborhoods. Do you want to get out of poverty? Then stop letting them do these things that are keeping you there!