Philadelphia Special Report: "The Delinquency Crisis" (111,000 delinquent properties)

text, pics and maps.........from philly.com....

"Philadelphia runs the least-effective delinquent-property-tax collection system of the nation's biggest cities, a system that has created a "culture of nonpayment" and cost the city and cash-strapped School District $472 million in unpaid real estate taxes, penalties, and interest.

It is a delinquency epidemic that reaches from Chestnut Hill to Point Breeze, infecting every neighborhood. In all, there are nearly 111,000 delinquent properties, or about 19 percent of all parcels in Philadelphia, according to an Inquirer and PlanPhilly.com analysis of city data.

The past-due properties include such pricey parcels as the proposed Foxwoods casino site, an Old City art gallery, a South Philadelphia hotel, and choice real estate a block off Rittenhouse Square.

But it is in low-income neighborhoods where the delinquency crisis has peaked and where the city's response has been the least effective"..........READ MORE