Some said let's wait and see. There were some who said maybe we can steal some tools. We had to deal with some of that, too. But Habitat's presence is most visible just off Haledon Avenue, where the largest concentration of homes was built starting five years ago on a site of a former warehouse that housed Broadway costumes. Like much of the Northside, the area has seen its better days.
Businesses are few and far between, but police are a constant presence.
Almost like a flower garden in a vacant lot, the bright facades of Habitat Way seem out of place, giving the neighborhood a suburban feel, with their front lawns and fenced-in driveways. Though the homeowners consider themselves Northsiders, their world revolves around the development. Sometimes families shut down the street, roll out the basketball courts, and play a pickup game. Most homeowners know their neighbors by name, and their children play together. Greenwood recalled how he grew up in the Christopher Columbus project with one neighbor and played Midget baseball with another.