Philadelphia's Blight Fight Working

Philadelphia Mayor Street's multimillion-dollar effort to reduce blight in city neighborhoods appears to be working.

1 minute read

January 3, 2005, 9:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen


Buoyed by an improved residential real estate market, Mayor John Street's multimillion-dollar effort to reduce neighborhood blight in city neighborhoods has surpassed many of its goals halfway into the five-year program. In all, 5,507 houses and apartments for low-income residents have been built or renovated.

"Others see problems. In her new book, Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, and What We Can Do About It, Mindy Fullilove, a Columbia University clinical psychiatry professor, says urban renewal programs, such as the one in Philadelphia, leave psychological scars on displaced residents."

Thanks to Governing Magazine

Sunday, January 2, 2005 in The Philadelphia Inquirer

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