Greening in Progress: A Year of Transformation

Strategy for a Green City, Fall 2004

Greening works. That's the message of the Green City Strategy, an initiative of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS), which calls for significant and sustained investment in Philadelphia's parks, plazas, recreation areas and other green spaces as the cornerstone of an overall revitalization plan for Philadelphia. Through its Philadelphia Green program, PHS is making dramatic improvements in neighborhoods and downtown locations throughout Philadelphia. Hundreds of tons of debris have been removed from vacant lots, creating "clean & green" spaces where crumbling, abandoned buildings once stood, and residents throughout the city are coming together to help transform their environment with gardens, thriving parks, and tree-lined streets.

The Green City Strategy was adopted by the City of Philadelphia in 2003 as part of its Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI), an ongoing, citywide blight-removal program, and in June 2003, the city awarded a one-year, $4 million contract to PHS's Philadelphia Green program to begin to carry out the greening work of NTI.

"The transformation of Philadelphia's neighborhoods is not just about bricks and mortar," says Patricia L. Smith, the city's director of neighborhood transformation. "We believe that cleaning up vacant lots and investing in quality green spaces is one of the most effective ways to build thriving communities, enhance the quality of life and make Philadelphia one of the most desirable places to live, work, and do business. That's why the city has partnered with PHS and is investing in the Green City Strategy."   

The NTI contract with PHS included a significant effort to reclaim the city's vacant land. PHS started out with a goal of "stabilizing" one million square feet—or one thousand parcels (single street addresses). Stabilization involves clearing the land of debris, planting grass and trees and installing wood fencing around the perimeter, transforming trash-filled parcels into "clean & green" lots in a matter of a few weeks. The simple power of grass and trees dramatically improves the appearance of neighborhoods in the short term, prevents further deterioration until new uses for the land can be found, and serves as an inspiration for further revitalization efforts.

"Greening reveals the land and its potential," says Bob Grossmann, Philadelphia Green program manager. "These sites may one day be used for new housing or commercial development, or they may be further utilized as permanent open space." He notes that many lots already are being used for family gatherings, barbecues, and neighborhood football games.

The work focused on several target areas identified by the city: Frankford, South Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, Eastern North and North Central Philadelphia, as well as parts of Mount Airy, Germantown, and Tioga. As of the end of June, PHS had stabilized 1,330,000 square feet, or more than 1,300 parcels, of vacant land—one third more than the original goal.

Along the American Street Empowerment Zone in North Philadelphia, cleanup of vacant land has helped turn the community around on a number of fronts. "Aesthetically, we're improving our neighborhood," says Tom Forkin, president of the American Street Erie Avenue Business Association. He also points to the economic impact: "We're attracting businesses and retaining businesses in an area of the city they might otherwise overlook. It's community empowerment."

The Neighborhood Transformation Initiative also includes the demolition of dangerous abandoned buildings. To keep these newly vacant lots clean, the city asked PHS to design a model program for community-based vacant land maintenance. PHS selected eight organizations and trained them to provide basic cleaning and maintenance services on land newly cleared by the city, including picking up trash, removing tires, and weed-whacking. The groups maintained 1,971 parcels of vacant land with regular monthly visits throughout the year. As an added bonus, the eight organizations hired 70 neighborhood residents to get the job done.

PHS completed landscape improvements along high-profile community corridors in four neighborhoods with active community redevelopment efforts, creating attractive new streetscapes on Frankford Avenue, Ogontz Avenue, Girard Avenue, and Oxford Avenue. PHS also took on several "signature" greening projects—major landscape improvements at important community sites, including libraries, schools, parks and business corridors in the six target neighborhoods. These projects create the opportunity for direct community involvement in highly visible improvements that have an immediate impact on the community. For example, about 25 neighborhood residents helped plant bulbs on the grounds of the Lovett Memorial Library in Mount Airy.

Joseph Dollack, a business owner in the Fox Chase neighborhood, says residents are "thrilled" with the newly landscaped traffic island at the gateway to the neighborhood on Oxford Avenue. "There are a lot of plans for improvements in this neighborhood over the next few years," he says, "and when people see this, they know it's not just talk. They're really pleased."

Creating and enhancing quality open spaces for community use is at the core of this greening initiative. PHS worked with residents to complete 23 garden projects throughout the city, creating new community gardens and making improvements at six "Keystone Gardens," larger, established community gardens that began with Philadelphia Green support.

Community gardens produce more than flowers and vegetables; they help create a sense of community. At Thompson and Mascher Streets in the city's Kensington section, a new garden has become a central point of interest for a very diverse community that is home to immigrants from the Phillippines, the Middle East, Albania, Greece, and West Africa. "The garden cuts across generations and across cultures," says Roger Wing, one of the garden's founders. "People are always stopping by to see what's growing."

Working with the city's Department of Recreation and Fairmount Park Commission, PHS made improvements to 26 neighborhood parks and offered training and special events for park volunteers. PHS also completed 30 "garden block" projects, distributing plants and garden containers to residents on contiguous blocks and training the people to care for them.

To help build community involvement, the Green City Strategy calls for expanded education and training efforts. PHS increased the number of workshops offered through its ongoing Garden Tender and Tree Tender training projects and instigated a new " City Gardening Series " of free lectures and workshops held at community locations through Philadelphia.

First-year Accomplishments

• Stabilization of more than 1,300 parcels, or about 1.3 million square feet of vacant land (about one-third more than the initial goal and equal to the length of Broad Street from Washington Ave to the northern end--about 8.5 miles).

• More than 800 trees planted on vacant lots.

• Development of successful program for community-based maintenance that employs 70 local residents.

• Landscape improvements along four high-profile community corridors.

• Six Signature Greening projects at important community sites.

• Enhancement projects at 23 new and existing community gardens.

• Enhancement projects at 26 neighborhood parks.

• Completion of two high-profile greening events at neighborhood parks, Spring into Your Park and Fall for Your Park, which drew a total of 1,300 volunteers.

• Completion of 30 garden blocks, which distributed plants and sidewalk garden containers to residents.

• Creation of a new "City Gardening Series" that offered dozens of free lectures and workshops, held at community locations through the city.

• Expansion of Garden Tender and Tree Tender training workshops.

Moving Forward: The Second Year

As the city moves forward with NTI, it has awarded a second contract to PHS to continue to transform neighborhoods through greening. The work will build on the successes of the first twelve months and add new initiatives to further improve the fabric of selected neighborhoods, as well as Philadelphia's prospects for the future.

The plan for the second year takes a three-pronged approach: PHS will carry out targeted vacant land stabilization, choosing sites with the most potential impact on their communities. Working with the city, PHS will target vacant lots based on quality-of-life issues such as safety (creating safe walking corridors for schoolchildren), community development (clearing sites near ongoing or proposed redevelopment projects), and environmental concerns (exploring the possibility of using vacant land to collect excess storm water). In addition, PHS will provide opportunities for artists, designers, and other creative thinkers to find imaginative ways to connect communities to the "clean & green" spaces emerging in their midst.

The Green City Strategy encompasses a variety of approaches to maintenance (see Spring 2004 Strategy for a Green City: Protecting our Open Space Investments), and, with funding from the Office of Housing and Community Development, PHS plans to complete a feasibility analysis of the various models by January 2005. At the same time, PHS will expand its community-based vacant land maintenance project, which employs local residents to perform basic housekeeping on land newly cleaned by the city. By bringing in additional organizations and assigning more plots of land to existing participants, this program has the potential to manage as much as 2,500 parcels of land and to become a model for the city.

Finally, PHS will organize promotional events around high-profile greening projects to spread the message of greening and build support.

"An ambitious, citywide effort like the Green City Strategy cannot succeed without the backing of Philadelphia's political, business, and community leaders," notes Blaine Bonham, executive vice president of PHS. "Community involvement also is essential, not only to carry out some of the physical work of transforming the city, but also to send a message to city officials that residents consider green space important."