Tuesday, April 12, 2005
The price of corruption
So, because of the hemorrhaging of cash resulting from the 'Move Incident', the city has lost millions of dollars on sub-standard housing due to corruption. On top of that, they now have to pay out nearly 13 million to homeowners because Mayor Street tried to cut-n-run much too late in the game.
- Twenty years after the MOVE bombing, the price tag for the debacle keeps rising, with a federal jury yesterday awarding the last 24 residents of the West Philadelphia block about $530,000 each and handing a stinging rebuke to Mayor Street.
Of total damages of $12.83 million, the jury awarded the homeowners $1.68 million for harm caused by Street's "arbitrary" behavior for canceling repairs to the rebuilt houses on the 6200 block of Osage Avenue.
The award to each homeowner amounts to more than three times the $150,000 per house that Street wanted to pay residents in 2000 to move out of their homes permanently. When the suit was filed in 2000, the city had spent more than $16 million to build and repair the houses, and officials estimated that further repairs would cost an additional $13 million.
- Of the $12.83 million award, the jury found the city liable for:
Conspiracy to harm, with compensatory damages of $960,000 and punitive damages of $300,000 against city officials, agencies and the mayor.
Breach of contract for a 1988 warranty on the homes, with damages of $3.6 million.
Breach of contract for the Rendell letter promising repairs, with damages for emotional distress of $2.4 million.
Arbitrary treatment by officials, with $720,000 in damages against the city and $1.68 million against Street.
Malicious or reckless disregard for the rights of homeowners, with $1.25 million in damages for the actions of Street specifically.
Denial of the economic use of residents' homes, with damages of $1.92 million.
Street had declared the block a blighted area and the homes unsafe for residents.
In making a take-it-or-leave-it offer in 2000, Street told homeowners that the city would use its power of eminent domain to seize their property. The City Planning Commission, meanwhile, has the block slated for open space.
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