A Look at Stephen Pollock

Stephen G. Pollock is one of six Democratic candidates for two spots on the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, which hears cases on topics like eminent domain, disputes over elections, zoning, public utilities, banking, and so on. The 2005 pay raise dispute ended up in Commonwealth Court.

Pollock has experience in many of the areas heard by the Commonwealth Court but among those his specialty is zoning. This is the biography on his campaign website:

Steve Pollock has over 32 years legal experience, practicing in zoning, land use and development, and municipal code enforcement. He has expertise in workers' compensation, eminent domain, historic preservation, environmental and commercial litigation. Steve has provided volunteer service to communities in Southeast Pennsylvania. He was a partner in his own two-person law firm for 13 years. He currently practices law at Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads LLP, where he serves Of Counsel to the Business Department.

When Gov. Ed Rendell revived the Pennsylvania State Planning Board, Steve Pollock was among the first appointees. He is a longstanding member of the Lower Moreland Township Planning Commission, where he has served as chair for five years. Steve is a former chair of the Real Property Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association and currently serves as co-chair of its Zoning and Land Use Committee. He is also a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

Steve is the son of a public school teacher and a bookkeeper. A graduate of the public schools of Philadelphia, Steve received his B.A. from Muhlenberg College and his J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law. A past president of the South Street Neighborhood Association, Steve has frequently served as a volunteer attorney for many civic associations in the Delaware Valley. He is the former counsel and past president of Old York Road Temple – Beth Am in Abington, a former president of the Huntingdon Valley Library, and has served on the transition teams for the past three mayors of Philadelphia.

In 1993, Pollock and another lawyer worked with a private publisher to make a copy of the Philadelphia zoning code available:

The two, Stephen G. Pollock and Peter F. Kelsen, co-chaired a zoning committee for the Philadelphia Bar Association. Their objective was to make it easier for residents, developers, neighborhood zoning committees, lawyers, and others to get hold of the city zoning code. They were, said Pollock, “complete frustrated” that the code was no longer easily available. (Caba 1993)

In his PA Bar Association questionnaire he says his first 10 years of practice were very general and then he was given his first zoning case and decided he wanted to specialize in that area. His private clients have included two grocery stores trying to open in Philadelphia(Davis, 1998, Van Atta, 1990), two check cashing companies (Marder, 1997, Meltzer, 1995), a union (Lines, 1994), a deli with an ice cream window (Copeland, 1994), and numerous real estate issues such as building on watersheds, property subdivision, and so on. Of the five cases he chose to cite in his PABAR forms, four concern zoning matters, two of these with billboards (he tangled with SCRUB), the other with governing bodies, and the fifth case revolved around pension procedures.

His answers on the PABAR form show repeated efforts to make legal matters more transparent and fair to all parties. Examples would be his work to make the zoning code more readily available and his efforts to find an alternative to the Commonwealth Court ruling “opinion not recorded. His writing is thoughtful and citizen centered. I encourage you to read his entire questionnaire. Pollock received the bar association’s “recommended” rating. He appears to be the only Commonwealth Court candidate with a specialization in real estate zoning matters, at least going by the brief description’s on the PA Bar website.

I have met Mr. Pollock and spoke to him once for a few minutes. He is personable and well-spoken though perhaps not chummy, which is a very judicial demeanor. Pollock is also making very impressive use of social media and has a twitter account, www.twitter.com/pollockforjudge. His notes there are thoughtful and often intriguing.

Sources

Caba, Susan, “New manual takes city’s zoning rules out of the twilight: an updated code is now available for the firsr time since 1981,” Inquirer 11/03/1993

Copeland, Larry, “Ice cream window becomes a hot issue,” Inquirer 3/12/1994

Davis, Mark, “Fresh fields plan for South St. wins board vote,” Inquirer 10/31/1998

Lines, John P., “Job Center hearing lasts 7 hours,” Intelligencer Journal 9/30/1994

Marder, Dianna, “Law would cancel his setup,” Inquirer 1/30/1997

Meltzer, Marc, “Pawn shop proposal draws fire,” Daily News 10/31/1995

Van Atta, Burr, “Solicitor’s opinion sought on Pathmark project,” Inquirer 5/16/1990