Ringside: Another Phila. example of clout, incompetence

An estimated $100 million in taxpayers' money has been plowed into a nonprofit known as Germantown Settlement with essentially little to show for it.

Yet, no one seems to know where all the money went. Nor does anyone seem too concerned about determining who is responsible for such incompetence, or worse, let alone hold anyone accountable. More troubling, the troubles fit a pattern of failures that are all too common in Philadelphia.

Those are just some of the takeaways after reading the excellent piece in this month's Philadelphia magazine by Jason Fagone titled "The Man Who Duped City Hall."

The story details Emanuel Freeman's mismanagement of Germantown Settlement, a hodgepodge of nonprofit social-service agencies and housing properties that operates in Germantown. The organization was founded by Quakers in 1884 but was eventually taken over by Freeman.

To be sure, he had some early success helping the community. But by the mid-1990s, Germantown Settlement began receiving more and more funding, while seemingly doing less and less.

Freeman's clout grew thanks to support from a number of influential politicians, enabling him to obtain and throw more good taxpayers' dollars after bad. Perhaps Freeman's plans were well-meaning, but that doesn't excuse giving him tens of millions of tax dollars over the years with little scrutiny or accountability.

My colleagues on the news side of The Inquirer detailed many of the problems at Germantown Settlement in recent years, but Philly magazine stitched it all together.

According to the magazine, Freeman's organizations have received at least $100 million in grants, low-interest loans, and tax credits since the mid-1980s. But decades later, the Germantown neighborhood where Freeman operates as the largest employer and developer remains mostly an urban blight.

One person has clearly benefited: Freeman. He receives a six-figure salary and drives a Mercedes-Benz. His wife, also an executive at Germantown Settlement, drives a gold Cadillac. The Freemans are so dedicated to helping the inner city that they live in a four-bedroom house in the suburbs of Wyncote.

From 1998 to 2003, the amount of city, state, and federal funding poured into Germantown Settlement jumped from $1.6 million to $6.8 million. Meanwhile, in 1998 and 1999, the organization failed to pay $208,100 in city, state, and federal payroll taxes, according to the magazine.