Daily News | Philadelphia’s for-profit eviction system is a dangerous travesty | Editorial
The rest of Pennsylvania uses elected constables to oversee evictions, but Philadelphia
after a series of corruption scandals capped by an officer selling the possessions of evicted families. But over time, any reforms were lost in a system shaped by cronyism.In 1986, then-Municipal Court Judge Alan K. Silberstein appointed attorney Robert H. Messerman as the landlord-tenant officer. In 2006, Messerman hired Silberstein’s daughter, Marisa Shuter. After Messerman retired, Shuter was appointed landlord-tenant officer in 2017.
Shuter employs a handful of retired cops, suburban constables, and private security guards to carry out evictions. These deputy landlord-tenant officers are licensed to carry a gun but are not sworn law enforcement personnel and can’t make arrests.in Philadelphia, resulting in more than 5,000 lockouts, while Shuter’s firm was paid more than $1 million a year for its work.
The city’s Municipal Court does not put the eviction business out for competitive bid. In fact, Shuter doesn’t even have a contract. In lieu of a document that could provide some regulation and oversight, Silberstein’s daughter has something better: the kind of
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