Nearly 20 percent of all properties in Philadelphia are tax delinquent. This project will develop a searchable database and examine how unpaid taxes have cost the city more than $1 billion in lost revenue and thwarted development. By freelance investigative journalist Patrick Kerkstra with the Philadelphia Inquirer and PlanPhilly.com
- Final project summary: A Deluge of Deadbeats
January 2011 update, by George Miller:
Freelance journalist Patrick Kerkstra has been working on other projects and is just beginning to work on the Delinquent project whole-heartedly. However, Kerkstra has been working on stories related to the project since he was a staff writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer, a position he held until June 2010. He says that he has a world of information already. He plans to do further reporting and then write the story at the end of February or early March.