Mark Fiore: No crime, no grime, no appreciation

West Philadelphia residents, at least many of them, have a bad habit. They complain too much.

They complain about things for which they should instead be thankful. Whether it's renovations to Clark Park or construction of a new Penn-assisted public school, "the community" seems to oppose virtually every effort to improve a neighborhood that just five years ago was wrought with dilapidated housing, rampant crime and ubiquitous filth.

Take the recent initiative to transform University City's Clark Park from an adequate open space in need of maintenance into a multi-purpose recreational oasis. While most locals, whether they live in West Philadelphia or elsewhere in the country, would embrace changes that include new lighting and a new public restroom, some University City residents are amazingly crying foul.

With accusations that the renovation plan was "railroaded through," these residents are fighting to throw out a public design process that has been underway since the spring -- and that has continuously been seeking public input. A consensus rallied around the accepted renovation plan, yet these residents are still protesting. Apparently they would prefer relieving themselves on the park's trees than take advantage of new restrooms.

Beyond Clark Park, much of the criticism for neighborhood improvement is levied at one source: the evil empire the natives know as Penn. A clever group of residents even came up with the witty name, "Neighbors Against McPenntrification."

The animosity towards Penn runs so high that even when it is carrying out one of its most noble efforts -- the establishment of a new public school -- the locals berate it, attack it, chastise it. The University is contributing $700,000 a year to the school for the next 10 years and has leased the property for the school to the city for $1.

Yet at the groundbreaking for the pre-K-8 school, which partially opened this year, members of NAM came out in full force, claiming that the school will divert funds from the already struggling Philadelphia school district.

Protesters have also astonishingly complained that not every single child in all of West Philadelphia will be able to attend the school, which is limited in size.

"The neighborhood around here is being displaced," West Philadelphia resident Josie Campbell said at the groundbreaking. "My neighborhood kids aren't going to get to go to this school."

So there it is. The University is pouring millions of dollars into an initiative designed to educate many of West Philadelphia's children, and many of the neighborhood's residents could not be less grateful for it.

The attacks should come as no surprise, given the track record of the locals.

Last winter, NAM held a town meeting to voice their anger over such initiatives as Penn's redevelopment of the 40th Street corridor and its planned purchases and renovations of several apartment buildings in West Philadelphia.

While both efforts are designed to improve the residential and retail climate of West Philadelphia, the neighborhood's residents apparently see nothing positive in the plans. Rather, they fear rising rents and a conspiracy by Penn to take over the entire region.

While higher rents are justifiably a concern, the many benefits coming from Penn's redevelopment plans far outweigh any drawbacks.

Indeed, the UC Brite initiative -- sponsored in part by Penn -- has installed more than 2,200 lighting fixtures throughout West Philadelphia. Equally important, the financial incentives of the University's new mortgage program has attracted Penn faculty and staff to the neighborhood, thus pumping more money into the local economy.

By contrast, let's remember what this place looked like just five years ago.

Where Sansom Common now bustles sat an empty parking lot. At 40th and Walnut, where a grocery store now caters to both Penn students and West Philadelphia residents, another empty parking lot took up valuable space.

Across the street, the strip mall between Locust and Walnut hosted a series of shady outlets, while makeshift booths hawking bootleg videos overran the sidewalks. Today, that shopping center hosts fresh new tenants, and will soon feature a movie theater complex.

In that same area in the fall of 1996, a Penn student walking with two friends was shot in an apparent attempted robbery. Two months later, a University biochemist was stabbed to death on 43rd Street and Larchwood Avenue.

Crime had sprung out of control five years ago in West Philadelphia; terrified parents were calling the University and attending open forums, high school students were deciding not to apply to Penn. Thanks in no small part to the University's efforts in the neighborhood, crime today is significantly lower and students and residents alike feel safer.

"I don't think anybody in their right minds would want to go back to the way things were," Barry Grossbach, a member of the University City District Board of Directors, said in September.

To most, that's true, but apparently not to all. Do problems still remain? Of course. In addition to rising rents, concerns exist over such issues as excessive garbage and the noise created by Penn students.

But no matter what critics say, West Philadelphia has come far in five years. And for that, the University deserves the community's thanks, not condemnation.

Mark Fiore is a third-year Law School student and a 1999 College graduate from Spring Park, Minn.

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