PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — North 52nd Street in West Philadelphia has been restored to a vibrant commercial corridor thanks to a community-led effort to rid the area of drug dealers. City officials celebrated the transformation on Thursday.
Officials spoke in front of a vacant lot, now free of the dealers who once hung out there day and night. What changed? A fence. That’s the kind of incremental step that City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier said made all the difference.
“Neighbors began feeling unsafe dining, shopping or traveling here. Shootings were skyrocketing, and when we traced the root cause of all this violence, we kept finding ourselves here at 52nd and Arch,” she said. “It is almost magical how powerful basic municipal services can be when they are deployed quickly, comprehensively and in concert with one another.”…