Sale of 2 lots riles Northern Liberties neighbors

Northern Liberties residents say they've been blindsided by the city's posting for auction on Craigslist two vacant lots that have been cared for and used as community gardens and gathering spots.

One lot, on 4th Street, near George, near Bodine High School for International Affairs, has drawn hundreds of people from Northern Liberties and North Philadelphia for an annual "Spooky Garden" Halloween display for at least eight years, said Linda Conley Soffer.

The deadline to submit a bid for the lot is this morning at 10:30, Soffer said. The sale of that lot was first posted on Craigslist Jan. 5.

The deadline to submit bids for a lot at Leithgow Street at George is Feb. 25.

Neighbors met to discuss the situation last night and may submit bids on the lots themselves.

"It was put on Craigslist without any notice," Soffer said. "It wasn't until we started making calls [last] Wednesday that a notice suddenly appeared [last Friday], because I was out there."

Also, she said a woman who lives adjacent to the lot has been trying to apply for 10 years to acquire the property through the city's "Side-Lot Program."

Soffer said the lot is used for all kinds of gatherings, including children's birthday parties, a "Spooky Turkey Day" the weekend after Thanksgiving and a "Spooky Easter Egg Hunt."

"It's our neighborhood's back yard," she said.

Soffer, a former board member of the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association (NLNA), said the auction "is a shifty way to sell property."

"I can understand they want to get top-market value, but this is not the way to do it," she said.

Mark McDonald, a spokesman for Mayor Nutter, said the Department of Public Property has been listing vacant lots on Craigslist for a year as "part of the effort to remove from the city vacant, unused property in an effort to get the land back on the tax rolls and to get the best price available for them."

McDonald said Public Property officials said that information on the sales had been posted at the individual properties.

"Nobody's sneaking anything past anybody," McDonald said. "This is a process that has to go before City Council, and the hearings are advertised widely."

But Councilman Darrell Clarke, whose district includes both lots, said he has conveyed a number of complaints he's received to the Public Property Department alleging that the notices weren't properly posted.

Matt Ruben, president of the NLNA, said that it's appropriate for the city to raise money by selling blighted properties that it owns but that "these properties are anything but that."

"They have been lovingly cared for and turned into an oasis," he said. "To sell this land would be to remove a unique community amenity. It's the kind of amenity that keeps people in the neighborhood when they have children.

"This is what keeps people here in the city."