Northeast Philadelphia, a Section of the City That Puzzles Many Visitors

Northeast Philadelphia, a section of the city that puzzles many visitors. This confusion is not without its merit. Upon completion of a quick tour of the city it becomes abundantly clear that the Northeast does not compare to the rest of the city. Believe it or not, there is a perfectly good reason for this difference. Long ago, Philadelphia was once a growing, bustling city, without (that’s right I said without) the Northeast. During this period of time the Northeast was more of a rural area with a few businesses, but mostly farm land. Recently this area of the city has become increasingly denser in population, but has also seen an influx of corporate businesses with smaller, privately owned businesses sprouting up on the outskirts of the strip malls that house these corporate businesses. As the entire city continues to grow, the Northeast has continually seen a decrease in public services including reduction in police officers, closings of community centers and volunteer organizations, and a serious lacking in government attention. The problem has many causes, but it seems as though the most threatening cause is the rest of the city. Year after year the crime rate in areas such as West, Southwest, North, and South Philadelphia has been exponentially growing. Due to this, projects such as Operation Sunrise and Operation Safe Streets were put into effect to curb these growing concerns. Unfortunately, these projects only are concerned with ridding crime in the pre determined targeted areas. What these projects overlook is what the deterrent force of increased police patrolling does to the rest of the city. As reported by the Philadelphia Police Department, “As these criminals become more desperate under the intense pressure, they have begun to move and change their modes of operation.1” Seemingly a benign remark is only too stinging to residents of the Northeast who have seen not only an increase in section eight housing, but also a mass movement of the drug trafficking and violence being removed from the “crime ridden” areas of the city into Northeast. So, a realistic interpretation of the police department’s remark is that the criminals are moving…to the Northeast, and the criminals are changing their modes of operation (from on-the-street drug dealing)…to dealing within section eight housing. While the area known as the Northeast has been diversifying at its own pace, certain government decisions are forcing diversity onto the Northeast. One method, a term I had just mentioned, section eight housing has been an effective way to forcibly diversify a neighborhood, but another method, busing in students from “urban” areas of the city is aiding in this forced diversification. What this amounts to is an all too common dissatisfaction with both the government and the “urban” (or should I say black) migrants who appear to be forcing themselves upon the mostly white population of the Northeast. Section Eight housing is a major problem to the aesthetic and cultural aspects of the city since the tenants of those residences rarely take care of their borrowed property and a minority of those residents are inclined to criminal activity. In case this term needs clarification, Section eight housing refers to The Housing Choice Voucher Program, in which a tenant pays on average 30% of the rent for the property and the government subsidizes the rest. I obviously cannot make a general sweeping statement about all Section 8 housing, however many residents of the 1 PPD, “Philadelphia Police Department :: Operation Safe Streets.” March 28, 2007. http://www.ppdonline.org/ops/ops_safestreets.php community, including myself, experience living with these tenants on a daily basis. Many of us have experienced the increase in crime, pollution, and decrease in property values once a house or apartment complex had been deemed section 8 by the government. Section 8 housing turns neighborhoods into games of “good block-bad block.” For those of you unfamiliar with this “game” it is a continual wave of relief quickly overshadowed by fear as you go from a block with property owners to a block with section 8 housing. It pains me to reach this conclusion but if the government wishes to grant citizens section 8 housing opportunities they should be in centralized areas instead of being scattered throughout neighborhoods. The other problem, busing students from one area to another I wish to give sufficient attention to. This may be another concept that needs clarification, especially for those of you who live in areas where long distance school busing is nothing new. It was apparently made clear to the government of Philadelphia that schools in areas such as the Northeast, areas that saw lower crime rates and higher graduation numbers, were housing all of the “good schools.” A confounding factor of this entire problem is that these schools were all located in primarily white neighborhoods. To curb this supposed “racism” the Philadelphia Board of Education decided to bus in urban youths. I said it earlier, but I must reiterate, by urban they merely meant black. A quick glance at the passengers of one of these buses would confirm this statement. You would find no Asians, no Whites, and possibly one, maybe two persons of Spanish descent riding these buses. I scoff at the idea that the only people living in “urban” areas are of African descent, but this is the apparent mode of thinking of the Philadelphia Board of Education. My sympathies do go out to those youths who wish to learn, but are put into situations that prohibit them from learning, however forced busing of students has led to a decrease in the quality of education of schools in the Northeast as well as an increase in school violence, including the occasional and usually devastating race riot. So far as I have noted the residents of the Northeast have seen a gradual deterioration of their once beautiful part of Philadelphia. The main cause of this deterioration, as many Northeastern Philadelphians agree, is the Philadelphia government. “In the 1980s, the Northeast developed along a separate path from much of the rest of the city. In addition to the racial differences mentioned above, the political climate in the Northeast was balanced evenly between Republicans and Democrats, while the rest of the city almost uniformly voted for the latter party. As a result, many Northeasters became more and more discontented with the high city taxes and a perceived imbalance in the services they received for them. This discontent grew sufficiently to give rise to a secessionist movement…2” I think the call for secession is needed once more. Northeast Philadelphia did not begin as a part of Philadelphia and therein lies the problem. This community is an area that has been adopted by a city that is too large to control with the Northeast still attached. Not only would the Northeast prosper by being allowed to form its own government, but the rest of the city would also flourish with the lessened burden. When considering the concentrations in 2 Wikipedia, “Northeast Philadelphia,” March 9, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Philadelphia populations throughout the city it seems logical that the division be made between Philadelphia and the Northeast. The city of Philadelphia boasts a population of approximately 1.5 million citizens, of that 1.5 million, 300,000 to 450,000 of those citizens live in the Northeast. This sizable portion of the city’s population could easily be turned into another city. It is a common belief amongst Northeastern Philadelphians that much of their taxes do not go to projects directed at their part of the city, that the government no longer listens to their pleas, too much of the police force is being pulled out of the Northeast, and community based non-profit organizations are being replaced with for-profit corporate businesses. Noberto Bobbio poses the question perfectly in his “The Future of Democracy” when he queried, “But how can government respond if the demands generated by a free society are increasingly numerous, pressing, and onerous?3“ Although Noberto was speaking on the ‘ungovernability’ of democracy when he answered with, “This results in the so-called ‘overloading’ of government and the necessity for the political system to make drastic choices. But one choice excludes another, and not making certain choices produces dissatisfaction,4” I believe he was right but misinterpreted the problem. Democracy is “governable,” however it is only possible on a small scale. I submit to all of you that for the successful, democratic future of the Northeast section of Philadelphia, and the rest of Philadelphia for that matter, it is necessary for the two sections of the city to part ways. It seems as though for the past two hundred years or so American governmental theory has been to consolidate and 3 Bobbio, Noberto. The Future of Democracy. American Political Thought. Pg. 198 4 Bobbio, Noberto. The Future of Democracy. American Political Thought. Pg. 198 create super governments among areas that may need smaller and more involved governments. It is time that this trend of consolidation ends and we reach a happy medium between consolidation and proliferation of governmental powers. I propose that Philadelphia has two very distinct paths in its future. On the one hand Philadelphia can choose to split itself into the Northeast section and the rest of Philadelphia, as I have already mentioned. The other option is for Philadelphia to continue its current path staying as one giant entity, growing and incorporating more citizens as it grows. Following this path Philadelphia may one day engulf Bensalem and other surrounding suburbs that are becoming increasingly populated with ex-Philadelphians leaving the city.

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