Court Opinion

ID: 9706924
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:55:26.493329+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:26.005285
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Justice Cohen :
I disagree with the majority’s decision with respect to both the Academy House Project and the Rittenhouse Square Project. Regarding the latter, I would sustain the decree below on the basis of the excellent and comprehensive opinion of Judge Spaeth, whose *363analysis of the issue of the standing of plaintiffs to challenge the Rittenhouse Square Project is a thoroughly enlightening presentation of the applicable Pennsylvania law.
With respect to the Academy House Project, I would affirm the decree below because of the very logical discussion by Judge Spaeth of the merits of the case. However, since I do not believe that plaintiffs had standing to maintain that portion of their action, I would not have required a decision on the merits. Except in that regard, I am satisfied that all of the chancellor’s findings of fact and law, which were approved by the court en banc, were amply supported by the record. While I might disapprove of the grant by the Authority to the developers of exclusive options to purchase their respective projects at some future time, I do not believe that that issue is presently ripe for judicial determination, and will not be, until there has been an attempt to exercise either option.
In addition, I feel that the position taken by the majority is detrimental to the best interests of our cities and our State. It has long been recognized that a municipality is in a much better position than a private individual or a group of individuals to solve the problem of parking.
Municipalities make parking facility decisions on considerations of the total parking problem, the needs of the persons who will utilize the parking areas and the relationship of parking to community objectives and other municipal operations. Private parking is supplied only on a profit basis and, following the profit motive, when there is no profit there is no parking. The city or the parking authority can use its power of eminent domain to condemn property for parking purposes and can avoid exploitation of people desiring in-city parking by property owners who hold out for exorbitant prices.
*364The city or authority also can better guarantee the permanency of a parking facility. Private owners continuously face temptation to sell their facilities at a profit for non-parking purposes and hence the parking facility is lost to the community and to the area served.
It is generally recognized that government must subsidize parking. Government has done so both by tax considerations extended to the parking facilities and by permitting the facilities to borrow money more readily and on more favorable terms than can be secured by a private borrower. As a return to government, subsidized parking helps sustain and maintain property values and taxes on real estate in the area served, and it produces public revenue from the commercial activities that thrive as a result of the parking facilities.
The whole economic life of our cities is dependent upon the establishment, development, and continuation of parking facilities. The position taken by the majority curtails the development of center-city Philadelphia and does so by protecting private operators of parking lots who have been notoriously deficient in providing parking facilities for the community. The majority strikes down this joint venture between the public and private interests and thus retards the growth and development of the cities of our State.
I differ from and dissent to the determination of the majority.