Neighborhood police "boxes" like they have in Tokyo are very helpful and make people feel safe to leave their houses more, and walk around later at night. There was one of these in Georgetown (Wash. DC), and I think there is one in Rittenhouse Sq. as well.

Basically, these mini-police-stations serve to give a safe feeling to people walking around in the neighborhood, and serve as a place where pedestrians can ask for directions, or get a neighborhood map, etc. They are staffed by one or two cops and they appear every few blocks.

Another thing that Philly doesn't have widely available is maps of various neighborhoods. For example, the Philly atlas I have only has a detailed map of Center City. There should be detailed maps available for each neighborhood, these maps would be especially helpful in pedestrian areas. I was at the Italian Market this weekend, and it would be great to see a map available that showed the surrounding neighborhoods in detail, as the Center City map does.

In this time of huge real estate activity, someone could make a mint by putting out some good maps of neighborhoods. The city should also provide these b/c it helps residents and visitors orient themselves.