There’s a lot going on along West Philadelphia's 52nd Street commercial district. A new "SafeGrowth" collaboration between police and business owners to fight crime, a grocery store franchise that's filling the void in a food desert and retail corridor revitalization that includes artfully painted parking meters—are all featured in recent media coverage, including on PBS's Newshour. Each of these innovative projects brings new energy to one of Philly's most underserved areas, long supported by LISC.
The excerpts below are from:
"As violent crime rises in Philly, cops seek connection with businesses"
David Gambacorta, The Philadelphia Daily News
and
"Stakeholders continue investment in 52nd Street Commercial Corridor"
Nicole Contosta, University City Review
You could be forgiven for thinking Philadelphia's biggest problems have been limited recently to pope fences, a dismembered traveling robot and Chip Kelly's roster moves.
Violent-crime numbers - a quality-of-life measurement temporarily forgotten in the basement of the city's consciousness - have been climbing.
As of Sunday night, 152 murders had been recorded - a 5 percent increase from the same point last year, when the tally stood at 141, according to police statistics.
The number of Philadelphians who have been shot has risen 9 percent, hovering at 627 victims as of last Monday, compared to 572 at the same time last year.
Both figures pale, of course, to the bad old days of 2007 and 2008, when it seemed that crime-scene tape was unfurling on a different street corner every few minutes.
But the uptick still means something to people who live in neighborhoods where the sound of wailing ambulance sirens is part of the nighttime routine, a confirmation that they'd heard gunshots, not firecrackers, echoing through their streets.
Against that backdrop, the Philadelphia Police Department this week launches a new crime-prevention effort on business corridors in poorer pockets of the city.
To be clear, the pilot program - SafeGrowth and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design - isn't a knee-jerk response to the spike in shootings and murders.
The program, which aims to build a stronger and more-productive bond between cops and business owners, has been in the works for quite some time, said Deputy Commissioner Kevin Bethel.
The seed was planted two years ago at a meeting attended by Bethel, a Commerce Department official and about three dozen representatives from neighborhood business-improvement districts. Continued[+]...
Long time residents remember the 52nd Street Corridor of the 1960's and 70's as West Philly's destination for shopping. Several factors contributed to the corridor's demise. But the El's decade long reconstruction certainly hampered any efforts to revers it.
Once the reconstruction finished, organizations like the Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation’s TEC-CDC, endeavored to return it to its former vitality.
After receiving a grant from the Philadelphia Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) in early 2014, the TEC-CDC got one step closer to making the revitalization a reality. That’s when it hired Akeem Dixon to manage the corridor.
As part of that management, Dixon hosts monthly 52nd Street Stakeholder meetings at corridor businesses. And if the July 28th meeting, held at the Celebration Place, 23 S. 52nd St., is any indication of the community’s investment—then the revitalization of the 52nd Street corridor will occur in the foreseeable future.
Approximately fifteen business owners as well as other neighborhood stakeholders joined the meeting, which featured a crowd funding presentation by Iola Harper, a Senior Director at the Enterprise Center.
Dixon, in providing corridor updates explained the Enterprise Center will have 36 trees planted on 52nd Street October 15th. Twenty-five to thirty vending kiosks are coming to the corridor in the near future. Owners of the African Cultural Art Forum received a storefront improvement grant. Both Sneaker Villa and McDonalds are both slated for renovation.
And Dixon, who’s participating in the City’s Safe Growth Program (check the UC Review’s July 29th edition for details), encouraged other business owners to participate. "I along with other community stakeholders and the Philadelphia Police Department are working to make the community safer," Dixon said, explaining, "If a neighborhood is safer then you, as business owners, can make more money. But it starts with you guys participating," Dixon continued, stressing the importance of building strong relationships with police. Continued[+]...
Related
Building an oasis in a Philadelphia food desert, PBS Newshour
Finally, a reason to love a parking meter, The Philadelphia Daily News