The graffiti that was scrawled on fences and walls sent messages that the younger, tougher crowd had control of the streets. Best for residents to stay inside and keep quiet. Once the fabric of the neighborhood starts to unravel, the disconnected and disengaged will do little to stop it. But sometimes neighbors can find a new way to stitch it together. A group project can create a new pattern of interaction that can become the loom that puts the threads together, and so it was in Colonial Manors, where a vacant plot of land provided the opportunity.
Every neighborhood is a complex set of liabilities and assets.
Too often people dwell on the liabilities and start whining to politicians about what they need. The residents don't focus on what they can contribute. Many neighbors don't realize they possess assets or are equipped to use them. In Colonial Manors, the neighbors had an asset that appeared to be a liability. It was a few acres of weeds that represented more than 20 years of promises to build a city park.