|
|
|
Neighbors, City and Conrail take first steps to clean up Kensington "Wasteland"
On Saturday, neighborhood activists teamed up with city and railroad workers to (begin to) clean up portions of the drug-ridden, trash-strewn, neglected railroad bed that was the subject of CP's story, "The Wasteland."
Neighbors, City and Conrail take first steps to clean up Kensington "Wasteland"
On Saturday, as neighborhood groups around the city organized spring clean-ups, about 60 neighborhood activists, residents, and city and Conrail workers got down to (the beginning of) the dirty work of cleaning the drug-riddled, trash-strewn, long-neglected Conrail railroad bed that runs from the Delaware River through Port Richmond, Kensington, and North Philly and that was the subject of our cover story, "The Wasteland."
Neighborhood groups, including the Hispanic Association of Contractors and Enterprises (H.A.C.E.), the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary church, Arch Diocese Office of Community Development, and New Kensington CDC have said that if the city and the railroad's owner, federal entity Conrail, are willing to help clean out and maintain the railroad, they'll do their part to keep the streets around the railroad cleaner, too.
The cleanup is part of a effort by these groups to find a solution to the criminal and trash problems the railroad causes those who live near it. Encouraging the railroad to practice better upkeep by making a good faith effort to help is one part of that equation.
H.A.C.E.'s Willie Gonzalez says of Saturday that it "was a good gesture on the part of Conrail."
Residents of the unfortunate clock of 300 Tusculum street — who live facing a giant, gaping hole in the 50-year-old fence, and who see a steady flow of drug users, police, and violent, drug-fueled chaos past their houses — watched Conrail bulldoze swaths of accumulated garbage with mixed reactions.
Theresa Lugo, whose children were held up at gunpoint in front of the tracks and who says she fears to let them leave the house, said "it's good to see them moving. It's good to see them doing something."
But without fixing the fencing (there were no signs of that), she questioned the efficacy of the cleanup.
"I don't mean to sound ungrateful," she lamented, "But if they don't fix the major situation — which is covering entrance into there, it's pointless."
Seriously, how much money does it cost to replace a section of chain link fence every 50 years? The citizens are doing their part. Conrail needs to fulfill its responsibility here.— p-diddy- Conrail is not a federal entity anymore, its half owned by CSX and Norfolk Southern.— WillieNelson
- The railroad did not cause the trash problem. The trash came from trespassers. Ordinarily, railroad owners/operators have no responsibility to police their right-of-way, except to make sure that no danger lies there that could interfere with railroad operations. All that said, where a long-disused rail line is the scene of accumulated trash, the railroad for good PR purposes is well-advised to support clean-up efforts like what is shown here. And, they should follow up so there is no regression. These are good neighbors and they want to improve their neighborhood. Thank Heavens they are working on this, whatever the common law says.
Vincent
The fence that is described is unlikely owned by the railroad. Railroads have a standard practice of not fencing their railroad rights-of-way. And the law supports this common practice. So: who originally put up the fence? Knowing that might help.— V J Walsh
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
