BEATING NEIGHBORHOODBLIGHT

Formulating clean and safe spaces

CPI PROJECT FOR GRAYS FERRYPRESENTED BY: L. Warren Bullard

The numbers are rather sobering. According to PlanPhilly, there are 32,000 potential Land Bank properties — 24,000 are vacant, tax delinquent and privately owned. The remaining 8,000 properties are publicly owned by the city with no current plans for development. The report also states there are 2,100 vacant lots sitting next to homes that are up to date on their taxes city wide. Noteworthy and of consequence is that the City Planning Commission redrew the map of Point Breeze and Grays Ferry under the justification of Blight Recertification on September 15, 2009 in order to hasten (subjective viewpoint) the gentrification process of both areas.

Above is the new Land Bank process intended to return land to viable use? The question is; does it fit into neighborhood plans for vacant land use and does it serve to facilitate congruenentcy and the integrity of certain targeted neighborhoods and how these neighborhoods can best make use of the process?

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

• To Involve community organizations, block Captains and residents with the aid of certain City agencies to find a subjective approach to blight spiraling out of control within certain communities, to convene a task force to catalog various vacant lots in the area and how to best make use of them on the short term.

• • In order to provide residents of the various closed neighborhoods encompassing the

Grays Ferry area with a quantity of comfort and voice in having a sense of input within their communities, our goal is for them to take vested ownership of the blocks they live on and to make use of the vacant lots contained within, in order to provide green spaces within certain blocks containing these properties and make use of them for beautification projects, tot play lots, meeting places, gardens and to be used as spaces for neighborhood gathering places/block parties etc.

• GOAL: “CHANGING PERCEPTIONS”

• To color the ways in which neighborhoods, neighbor alliances, coalitions, networks, urban planning initiatives and the City of Philadelphia think about neighborhood blocks and the features that are or will be contained within each area

First Step: Forming Partnerships: First two weeks of April

• First step of planning will be to utilize various the City data bases, as well as the canvassing, block by block of RCOs and Block captains, encompassing the boundaries of Washington Ave. from 25th South to Dickerson Street and West to 28th Street in order to identify lots, initiate contact, gauge interest and to hold meetings under the umbrella of the lead organization/RCO Residents Organized for Advocacy and Direction (R.O.A.D) and its members

Second Step: Community Outreach; Handing out Flyers, making contact via Social Media, Phone trees, email etc and establishing meeting for Last week of April

• Having contacted the various organizations and individuals, the lead RCO will gather all pertinent and essential data needed to make contact via various media and grassroots efforts such as telephone contact, handing out of flyers, email and social media contact-----create a blog and FaceBook page to disseminate information regarding the initiative and the meetings as planned.

Third Step: Last week of April-----meeting

• Assign Block Captains to contact necessary City Streets Departments for supplies (brooms, garbage bags, rakes, trash receptacles if necessary and gloves etc., gather volunteers’ together and to ask for contributions/donations of and for seating on lots once cleaned and cleared of debris. The head planning organization will contact The Philadelphia Horticultural Society for various plantings as desired by each area Black Captain. Establish date for cleanup of lots for first week of May.

Fourth Step: Clean Up Day. First week of May

• All involved parties, neighborhoods are now engaged in major clean up of the various targeted lots within their respective areas. Block Captains will circulate petitions to be signed for street closings in order that the blocks involved may have block parties on Labor Day to celebrate their new clean and green and safe areas. The lead RCO of the initiative will visit each area, make note of the conditions of the lots, take pictures, and post them to the Clean Neighborhood Blog and on Face Book. At the same time, each individual block captain will be informed of the upcoming presentation of “Best” of Award of Achievement, at the next coalition meeting as voted upon by the major players involved in the overall effort.

Fifth and final Step: Time to party

• Labor Day block parties commence with the informing to the communities involved of the need for the continuation of keeping the areas clean and green for continued use. All parties involved will be encouraged to visit other blocks, make contact and alliances, and provide feedback. Lead RCO will conduct presentation of “Best” of Achievement award to block deemed the winner, take pictures, names etc. for later posting to social media and neighborhood Newspaper.

• Ultimately the intent and the agenda is that once this imitative has taken place, groups/stakeholders will continue to buy into their communities while maintaining interest with the definitive outcome being that they will eventually create enough continued interest to expand a plan to acquire and preserve the lots as a community trust with all having a vested interest.