Though citywide shooting rates are soaring, it seems there may be a bit of hope for West Philadelphia.
The number of assaults with firearms in West Philadelphia - comprised of the 12th, 16th, 18th and 19th police districts - has dropped 35 percent from 2003 to 2006.
Over the same time period, citywide assaults with firearms have increased 7.5 percent.
"This is the best news I've gotten," Criminology Chairman Larry Sherman said, crediting the decrease to economic development in the area, improvements in local schools and increased attention from city police forces, especially in neighborhoods with high crime rates.
But the news isn't all great.
Over the same four-year period, Philadelphia Police Department numbers of deaths by firearm rose 33.7 percent.
Still, Charles Branas of the Philadelphia Gun and Alcohol Study said the statistics indicate that West Philadelphia has achieved a level of safety that surpasses other crime-laden areas in the city, though he acknowledged the area still has much work to do.
"West Philadelphia is bad," he said. "It's just not as bad as North Philadelphia."
But, for some groups, that's not good enough.
Like the 52nd Street Business Association, which aims to develop the area it is named after by giving support and advice to businesses.
The group would like to turn 52nd Street into "West Philadelphia's Main Street," association consultant Paula Williams said.
Williams hopes to turn the neighborhood into a cultural and arts area. To that end, the group is organizing an arts festival and cafe live event in the summer because, she says, in order to bring crime rates down, people "need to feel good and take pride in their area."
The city, too, is pulling it's own weight, establishing the United Block Captain's Association, which recruits a leader from each block to organize community activities
Association President Alice Wright estimated that Philadelphia has hundreds of such captains, who organize clean-ups of the block, youth activities, reading clubs and a summer camp, to try and keep Philadelphia's young men out of trouble.
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