No one knows who their neighbors are from one year to another nor who owns what building. Within that area and as you go beyond it, I think you would find many proud homeowners struggling to have a sense of neighborhood in the mega-presence of the University of Pennsylvania. The current penchant for strip malls, chains, and mega-stores creates a mall environment and not a neighborhood. Support of small business and diversity are what we need to help a neighborhood survive.
More businesses create more foot traffic and less criminal behavior.
Whittacre, South 48th Street Resident Response to Mr. Whittacre Four Public Safety Division staff members, including myself, met for over two hours with the Inquirer reporter who authored the November 3rd article. During that long interview we discussed a wide range of topics about crime and safety in Philadelphia. The reporter chose to take a few sound bites out of context and use it for his own ends. The only point Public Safety was trying to make is that the 18th Police District taken as a whole is one of the busiest police districts in Philadelphia. Some areas within its confines are wonderful neighborhoods with low crime rates while other areas are dangerous as reflected by high violent crime rates.