Voices sound off on crime

In his second term, Mayor Ed Rendell was hugely admired for having revived Philadelphia's finances and injecting bolts of confidence into a city that never had much to feel good about. But he hadn't been paying enough attention to public safety. And people let him know it.





IN PHILA., RISING FRUSTRATIONS OVER CRIME
RESIDENTS AND LEGISLATORS SOUND OFF - AND WONDER IF RENDELL IS LISTENING.
BYLINE: Howard Goodman, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. A01

The voices are of citizen outrage.

Lorraine Dubzak, Rhawnhurst: "I go to Center City periodically. I have a permit to carry a weapon . . . The 15th Street Concourse, I haven't been down there for a while. I'm walking, I'm like . . . where the hell is everybody? . . .

"I had a guy follow me down there. I just reached into my waistband, clipped my clip in, and I walked and I just watched what I was doing. . . . You have to watch yourself."

Inez Porter, Cobbs Creek: "I don't have a drug corner in my area, I have an infestation. . . . I see the nonchalant attitude of the police on the street and the radio. . . . Nobody answers my letters."

The Rev. Kermit Newkirk, Logan: "People are leaving the city in droves. It's crime, schools. People in the inner city, they aren't even surprised by car theft anymore. We have people come out of church, the car is gone. It's not a major thing. It's just the cost of going to church."

Voices of outrage - out of earshot of Mayor Rendell.

In every corner of the city, sentiment is rising for a smarter, more aggressive attack on crime.
To many Philadelphians, crime is no abstraction, no statistic, no headline. It's the anxious undercurrent of everyday life.

And they're wondering if the most popular mayor in the city's recent history hears their cry.

Library makes for good story

Covering a municipal government is usually an immersion in stories of frustration. So I seized the chance to report good news like this.





LATEST CHAPTER ON THE FREE LIBRARY IS TALE OF SUCCESS
IN TWO YEARS, 16 BRANCHES HAVE BEEN UPGRADED INSIDE AND OUT. THE RESULTS, INCLUDING COMPUTERS, HAVE DRAWN MORE PATRONS.
BYLINE: Howard Goodman, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. A01

The paint was peeling, the roof unreliable, the fluorescent lights too dim. One recent January, the heater conked out for most of the month.

For an awfully long time, the Paschalville branch library in a shot-and-a-beer section of Southwest Philadelphia had the used-up and left-behind look of a city ruin.

But two years ago, the branch underwent a major overhaul. New paint, new lights, new
computers.

New customers.

"The community loves the building," said Frank Ferguson, head librarian at the branch for 13 years. He tallied 9,500 people coming through the doors in October - the most he can recall.

"The only thing is we're so busy now, we need more staff," Ferguson said.

All across the enormous Free Library of Philadelphia system, tarnished buildings are being restored and outfitted with up-to-date technology in an unprecedented public-private drive slated to yield $75 million by 2000.

And the public is responding. Last year, the central library and its 52-branch system recorded 4.8 million visitors - 800,000 more than in 1993. Borrowers took out 6.5 million items - a half-million more than in the 1960s, when the city had a half-million more people.

The system is in such a frenzy of renewal that two employees spend the bulk of their time planning grand reopening celebrations.