Wetzel said you can get a real perspective on the situation once you know that when the city had 2.1 million people living within its boundaries, the Northeast above Cottman Avenue was essentially not developed. As of 1990, more than half the population of the city lived in the Northeast. Fixing and reinvesting in the city's blighted areas is probably the greatest challenge Mayor Street faces. Clearly, that won't be enough. To fix what we now see will be expensive and call for creative solutions.
Ideas are out there.
In his book Neighborhood Recovery, city Housing Director John Kromer suggests a combination of public and private-sector investments or reinvestment aimed at promoting home ownership, opening of retail businesses and new construction. It won't be easy. Many residents are among the poorest and least prepared for the new technological age. But we have to start taking serious steps now. This crisis, the city's most pressing and longest-standing, is in the long run even more important than education and crime.