And this one breaks my heart. I had a friend visiting from out of town this weekend, and I saw the city through her eyes -- and I saw trash.
If Philadelphia is to be the NEXT GREAT CITY, someone should be assigned to clean up the major arteries. People are standing in piles of trash to wait for buses. The Far Northeast used to be beautiful. Now it's starting to look like North Phila. and West Phila. Center City may look clean and beautiful, but the grassy, wooded areas in the Far Northeast are left to accumulate roadside rubbish that never gets cleaned up. Where is C.L.I.P.? We've been told that Academy Rd. and Roosevelt Blvd. belong to Fairmount Park, so the Streets Dept. ignore it. Please help!!!-Rita and Bill
Comments (11)
I hear you loud and clear. But then again, I'm a fellow Northeast Philadelphian, so of course I do.
But there's a day and night difference between that and the current political leadership assigned to here from elsewhere which takes all its cues from those other than of here. And in this political leadership mix -- or mix-up I should say -- it not only includes the heads of the Fairmount Park Commission but all heads of local civic associations from what I can tell.
What is going on, from what I can determine, is that with demand for Center City residential housing spilling over into and gentrifying Fishtown, Kensington, North Philadelphia, etc., Northeast Philadelphia has been chosen for where to shift the blight and crime of those areas to -- with the full compliance of the political leadership assigned to here from elsewhere.
And every politician currently governing Northeast Philadelphia -- whether it be U.S. Representative Allyson Schwartz, State Senator Mike Stack, State Reps McGeehan and Perzel, Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, etc., etc., etc., is 100% on board with the proposal, as well as all current civic association heads. This is why when you attempt contacting them to get answers regarding what is currently happening you either get no answer or a complete runaround.
I personally consider it a disgrace, given how Northeast Philadelphia IS still part of the United States after all.
But right now, this moment, that truth is neither here nor there. In a sense we've been declared war on, a type of civil war of sorts, our having been caught completely offguard as it were. And the strength of this attack is only being reinforced by a Northeast Philadelphia refusal to believe this is actually happening, the whole denial thing.
What to do about it? Well, for starters, don't lose sight of what way is up and what way is down.
Posted by Steve W. | April 17, 2007 1:33 AM
The city in general isnt as clean as it should be, its not just the NE at all. I've seen trash all over the place and it appears to me the city needs to do far more street cleaning along commercial corridors. Enforcement stinks citywide, not just in the NE.
BTW, the NE is nowhere near as blighted as West, North, SOuth or Southwest Philly. In fact, aside from NW Philly the NE is probably the least blighted.
Posted by sj | April 17, 2007 8:34 AM
The only areas of the city that come close to being clean are the ones with NID/BIDs. I.e. the area served by the Center City District and the University City District.
I walk to the subway in University City and always see one of those little "elephant" cars sucking up all the trash. Often there are also one or two people standing next to the little car throwing more trash on the sidewalk. I guess it just doesn't bother some people to be knee deep in trash.
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April 17, 2007 9:25 AM
dave,
you are correct, the parts of the city with extra services from nonprofits like CCD are the cleanest. Center City outside of the CCD zone isnt even that clean. Of course areas that see little pedestrian traffic like the far northeast and chestnut hill are also pretty clean. Most rowhouse neighborhoods from Graduate Hospital to West Philly to Kensington are too dirty.
Posted by sj | April 17, 2007 10:25 AM
Also, neighborhoods with a well financed CDC (like chestnut hill or manayunk) tend to be clean.
But, in the end its about the community and who lives there. You have a problem with trash, then get with people in your neighborhood and do something about it, don't sit there and expect someone to solve it for you. Show some initiative.
Posted by Jill | April 17, 2007 5:57 PM
Jill, for the past 30 years, or maybe we should make that 40, if there's any cleanliness to be said for Northeast Philadelphia it's almost entirely the result of backbreaking volunteer work. Volunteer, as in people not getting paid to do it. And in most cases volunteers at the same time paying their city taxes which are supposed to provide this service, but then having to do the work themselves because the city doesn't.
Do you understand what I'm saying here?
To give you a good analogy, you hire a roofer to put a new roof on your house. He doesn't do what you've hired him to do -- forcing you to do the work yourself for free -- while he bills you nevertheless. And it's such that if you don't pay the bill, you could go to jail for that.
Now here comes the big kicker:
For the past 30 or 40 years you loyally paid your taxes but did the work the city was supposed to do during that whole stretch. And though during that 30 or 40 year period you did get the payoff of keeping your neighborhood looking half decent, you don't have a single dime to show for all that work you did. What you do have to show money-wise, though, is a 30 to 40 year deficit. And what does the city have to show from this arrangement? 30 to 40 years of money for nothing is what.
That is, certain people get wealthy in exchange for nothing when others do as you advise.
And here's the biggest kicker of all:
After 30 to 40 years of this arrangement we have the everyday Northeast Philadelphians who don't have a single dime, or a benefit of any sort, to show in exchange for the city taxes they paid out those many long years. But with the do-nothing cronies in government it's just the opposite. After 30 to 40 years of your being such a sucker they're filthy rich as a result of that. And now they decide to turn on you -- money being the weapon of choice. And what do you do? For they're rich, you're poor.
And as for that 30 to 40 years of volunteer work you did, that's gone just like that. Gone with the wind as it were.
And that's what you're not getting, Jill. Either that, or you're a total...[well, I won't say it here, but you get the idea.]
Take the case of Burholme Park, for instance. It's beauty is almost entirely attributable to unpaid volunteer work. And we're talking years and years and years of this. And today what the volunteers have to show is the beauty of the park itself. That's their equity if you will.
But in 2004 the neighboring Fox Chase Cancer Center announced it would like to expand onto the park, wiping out those many years of volunteer equity in the process. And to this the government of Philadelphia said, "Sure, go ahead." As for those many volunteers, under this agreement, would they get compensated for their loss of equity? Only if you consider getting brutally booted aside in Nazi-like fashion as "compensation." As the editorialist of the Northeast Times so "eloquently" put it when addressing those who stood in defense of Burholme park, "Get the hell out of the way!"
If you're going to tell Northeast Philadelphia residents to roll up their sleeves and get out there and do the work the city refuses to in exchange for the taxes it collects from them, please tell these same people to stop paying their taxes in exchange for their agreeing to do this work themselves for free, and also, to demand back all the money they paid out to the city all those years for nothing.
But don't expect to have it both ways. For if you are asking for that, that is indeed a declaration of war on Northeast Philadelphia. And God help Northeast Philadelphia and the hell it will truly become if it doesn't declare war right back.
Posted by Steve W. | April 18, 2007 1:10 AM
It isnt the government's responsibility to pick up trash in front of residential or commercial properties. It's the responsibility of the property owners.
Posted by sj | April 18, 2007 8:19 AM
Correction: It's the responsibility of whoever tossed the trash there to pick it up. If it's a case where it's the homeowners themselves who tossed it there, then you're absolutely right, it IS their responsibility to pick it up. But if that isn't the case, then it's high time the city start doing the part it's paid to do. In Long Beach, California and many other parts of the U.S. you can get tossed in jail, or hit with a steep fine, just for so much as tossing a small candy wrapper down. And believe me, there is NO REASON why we can't do that samed thing here.
What I'm trying to do, my having been around a bit, is simply bring the modern world to here. For after my having seen what can be done elsewhere, I find no excuse whatsoever for anyone having to litter, graffiti, vandalize or what have you. And IMO anyone who comes to Northeast Philadelphia with the outlook that doing such things up here is "perfectly okay" DOESN'T BELONG HERE.
Unfortunately, our current politicians, who love getting paid for nothing, don't share that same outlook. When we complain to them they direct us to get with volunteer groups which will have us do for free what they're getting paid to do. And we're all supposed to go along with that with a goofy smile.
Well guess what, S.J. These days when I spell the word "duh" I spell it "S.J."
Posted by Steve W. | April 20, 2007 12:36 AM
Dan P., other places have strict ordinances against littering, graffiti, vandalism, etc., and it works beautifully. I have seen this firsthand. And if we try to say we can't do that here, the blame for that I place directly on our politicians plus our own complacency towards them. For such programs can and will work. But what doesn't work -- and I mean literally -- is our current politicians.
Our politicians of here are of the mindset of "If you don't like how it is around here, go move to some place else." Either that, or go join a volunteer group to do what they refuse to.
And with regard to candidate Fattah, and in a way that I feel relates to this somewhat, back in the early '90s I took an environmental conservation course at Philadelphia Community College at its campus on Academy Road up in Northeast Philadelphia. Fattah was on the CCP board of directors at the time. While this course was being taught, two white students from Port Richmond sat at the back of the classroom conversing so loudly you couldn't even here the instructor talking. And each time the class was held it was the same situation. And nothing was being done about it. I and several other students complained to the instructor, but he chose just to shrug it off. Finally, out of disgust, I called CCP's main campus in Center City to complain to them about it and they put me through to Fattah himself. And the moment he heard my complaint he just exploded, not with regards to what I was bringing to his attention, but my "audacity" to complain about it. And he instantly began raving: "You don't belong in CCP; you should go to Montgomery County Community College, Bucks County Community College or wherever! CCP is clearly not for you!" And I seriously doubt he's changed any since then, Dan P.
Meaning, I could just see if he were to become Philadelphia's next mayor hearing that same insane tirade if any of us were to complain to him about a sudden surge in littered streets or whatever; that same no-can-do incompetency when called upon to do the simplest, most obvious things.
Posted by Steve W. | April 21, 2007 2:23 AM
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK STEVE W. FOR STICKING UP FOR OUR GREAT NORTHEAST. I CAN AND DO CALL IT THE GREAT NORTHEAST NOT BECAUSE THE CITY KEEPS IT CLEAN , BUT FOR PEOPLE LIKE STEVE W. WHO CARE.HASNG IN THERE PAL AND I SAY THAT NICELY BECAUSE I SURE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW YOU AS A PAL. BOB F.
Posted by ROBERT A. FLOWERS | March 5, 2008 6:58 PM
I WONDER WHAT CLIP IS DOING ABOUT THE 85OO-8600-8700 FRANKFORD AVE ALL THE WAY UP TO ACADEMY RD EXIT FOR I95 THE TRASH RIGHT IN THE BLOCKS WERE CLIPS OFFICE IS, ARE THEY BLIND? THERE IS A VACANT LOT WHERE A GAS STATIONS IN THE-8500 BLOCK NEXT TO THAT THERE ARE APARTMENT BUILDING THAT COULD BE CLEANED UP KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN ON THE CORNER THAT LOOKS LIKE THE TRASH WAS JUST DUMPTED OUT. I HAVE LIVED IN THE N.E.FOR OVER 40 YEARS NEVER HAS IT LOOKED SO BAD. THERE IS NO NEED TO REPORT THIS BLIGHT IT IS RIGHT IN THERE FACE.
Posted by DALE G | April 5, 2008 2:23 PM