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Vol. XI. No. 2 (Issue 467)

The Public Record “The good things we do must be made a part of the public record”

PHA Plans Jump Over Recession

Value 50 ¢

January 8, 2009

‘Tiny Rascal Gang’ Growing Menace

GENERAL ASSEMBLY swore in its members Tuesday, including these ladies of the Philadelphia caucus. From left are State Reps. Cherelle Parker, Kathy Manderino, newcomer Vanesssa Brown, Louise Bishop and Rosita Youngblood. More pictures on Page 7.

Photo by Donald Terry

‘Tiny Rascal Gang’ Growing Menace Community Takes Them On

by Rory G. McGlasson A group of civic leaders has banded together to stop a violent gang that continues to terrorize South Philadelphia.

The gang known as the “Tiny Rascal Gang” or TRG has seen its membership rise in the last 10 months.

Now it is targeting schools and public parks to recruit members, take over area gangland and reap havoc across one of the city’s most populous areas.

The City’s Criminal Intelligence Unit targeted TRG members last summer and warned individuals and their leaders they were being watched, but it hasn’t stopped the gang from violently patrolling South Philly.

(Cont. Page 2)

COUNCILMAN at Large Bill Greenlee listens to concerned residents at Kaffeeklatsch meeting at 9th & Sigel Streets. Neighbors are concerned block is being overrun by “Tiny Rascal Gang”. Greenlee said he will look into putting up fence around demolished house on that block used by drug takers and dealers to run and hide from Police.

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PHA Plans Jump Over Recession

PHA IMPLODED 18-story Mantua Hall high-rise on Mar. 30, 2008, clearing way for new low-rise Mantua Square which will feature 101 homes. Phase I will be complete in fall 2009, Phase II mid-2010.

The Philadelphia Housing Authority has no plans to slow down its robust pace of building affordable housing for low-income seniors, disabled citizens and families in the New Year even in the face of the weak economy.

The agency has announced its schedule, which includes beginning and completing development of the first phases of a 101home site called Mantua Square in West Philadelphia (where PHA demolished an 18-story high-rise in 2008) and a 95-unit complex with commercial space and a

senior center in Germantown called Warnock Street.

“We have found a way to leverage and stretch our dollars through good economic times and bad over the past 11 years. The citizens of Philadelphia have come to expect, and have a right to expect, that PHA is going to continue rebuilding distressed communities,” said PHA Executive Director Carl Greene.

Mantua Square, a $27 million development, will be located in the area of 35th Street & Fairmount Avenue. Warnock Street, a $38 million project, is located off Germantown Avenue and the 1000 block of W. Cambria Street. Both projects will be funded through a combination of public housing dollars and private investment through the Low Income Housing Tax credit program.

Aside from the two announced construction projects for 2009, PHA is working on a plan for a major transformation in Southwest Philadelphia of the high-crime Paschall neighborhood. A major benefit to PHA reconstruction at previous sites such as Martin Luther King, Richard Allen, Cambridge, and Greater Grays Ferry Estates has been a dramatic drop in the crime rate.

“The Paschall deal has the potential to produce the kind of positive impact that only a plan of that scale can achieve. You need a number of committed public- and private-sector partners to bring a plan like that one to fruition, especially with tight credit markets,” Greene said. “But if the will is there we can make it happen.”

PHA completed three projects in 2008, the 80-unit Marshall Shepard Village in West Philadelphia, Ludlow Homes in North Philadelphia featuring 192 homes (including 53 by PHA partner APM), and most recently Nellie Reynolds Gardens, a 64-unit senior building with adult daily-living center.

Since the arrival of Carl Greene at PHA’s helm in 1998, the agency has completed more than 7,000 homes and apartments, about half brand-new and the other half completely renovated.

The 2008 results may seem even more remarkable considering PHA’s Federal funding was threatened at one point by the US Dept. of Housing & Urban Development. PHA filed suit against HUD claiming the Federal agency tried to punish the Philadelphia agency for not turning land over to a private developer at little or no cost. A HUD secretary resigned, in part, over the allegations in lawsuit. A new HUD secretary took office and working with Pennsylvania US Sens. Arlen Specter and Bob Casey, Jr., resolved the issue, keeping PHA’s Federal funding intact.

PHA begins 2009 with a restored positive relationship with HUD and plans for continued construction and expanded services to the growing senior market.