How much is a buck worth? Why a District land deal needs more scrutiny
by Helen Gym on Apr 20 2010
The background: The children from Duckrey Elementary School in North Philly practice band and play basketball on a sweet piece of land behind their school. Teachers had plans to grow a garden and beautify the space; the school’s principal hoped for a playground for the school’s 380-some children. However, others had their own plans – namely the board of a nonprofit development company called NewCourtland, which counts State Rep. Dwight Evans and School Reform Commission Chair Robert Archie among its former board members. NewCourtland is also represented by Archie's firm,Duane Morris.When is a dollar not worth a dollar? Take a look at last week’s media stories (Daily News andInquirer), which blew open a District land transfer deal for a politically connected development group. The story raises serious questions not only about the SRC’s secretive decisionmaking process, but also the wheeling and dealing behind the District’s new land management policy and its enormous – and almost entirely unscrutinized – capital budget.
Last September, the Mayor’s chief of staff, Clarence Armbrister, penned a letter to District Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and the School Reform Commission requesting the land behind Duckrey for a NewCourtland housing project. Although
