The false assumptions arise from anecdotes about that portion of section 8 housing that is problematic. Where section 8 housing is more successful and residents are good neighbors you are not even aware of its existance.

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Cheers,
Jayfar
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“I am indeed well aware of the history of Conventional (sic) Hall, both globally and locally, and can assure you that we are carefully exploring avenues for its future.” -- Penn President Amy Gutmann 5 days before demolition began.

... "if the shoe fits".

Exactly. I think folks simply decide that anyone who acts badly is a "Section 8" resident - which becomes a catchphrase for something they don't like - probably black (especially in NE).

I think we need to do a primer on what the Section 8 program is and how it works . . . and how the landlords get inflated rent ("market value") for apartments that they refuse to maintain.

And the tenants get the blame.

Which isn't to say that all Section 8 tenants are angels. I know that they aren't. But, as you say, the good ones are simply your neighbors, the bad ones are "Section 8" people.

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

this thread is about the section 8 tenants on 13th st not section 8 tenants elsewhere who may or may not be causing trouble. these ones are and they are a problem. and why should people live for free where so many peopel work to put themselves up in tiny apartments? and then sell dope on their stoops in plain view? screw 'em. I'd be happy to see those building turned over to market rate housing as well as the hooker office at 13th and spruce. wake up and smell the coffee. this has been a problem here for years and the realtor is completing denying it. this is the thrid article I've read where the relator takes the"head-up-the-arse" position. I don;t plan on every giving my money to WSW realty. have a little respect for the neighborhood. if you know your buildings are the source of the problem, then do somethign about it.

Section 8 residents don't live free.

Section 8 owners and realtors get "fair market rentals" - actually, the often get above what you and I would consider "fair market."

I absolutely agree that building owners ought to do something when they have bad tenants. The hookers certainly aren't Section 8 people. And I wonder how everyone knows that the dope dealers are.

Dope dealers should be pushed off any block - and they should be busted, as far as I'm concerned.

I just get tired of everyone blaming all sorts of ills on the evil "Section 8." It's too easy a whipping boy. Rather, why not just blame the dealers and the landlords.

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

Chris, no one is blaming the tenants. I really feel for the people who live in those apts - i'm sure most of them are hard-working, law-abiding citizens. And if you read that article, you'd see the blame placed squarely on the landlord. We don't know if the drug dealers who operate out of those buildings actually live there.

So it's not the tenants who are the "whipping boy." It's the system. Do you really disasgree with El that if those apartments were converted to market rate, the drug dealers would go elsewhere?

The area around 13th and Spruce/Locust has been a hooker trolling area for year and years. This is where Daniel Fauklner was shot and killed by Mumia back in 1981. Guess who one of the eyewitnesses was. Yes a hooker. I'm sorry to say but anyone who decides to live in this area and who does not know or bother to find out about the area first is partly to blame for the problems they will encounter.

Why the city government has refused to clean up this area is beyond me. Something tells me that someone is making too much money off of the streetwalkers to let a good thing go to waste...

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"If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed." -- David Viscott

Ahh, my old neighborhood...

Hey rlc, not fair to blame the victims! I lived at 13th/Spruce for a year - right across from the Parker. My apartment was nice, especially for a poor, first year law student (no jokes about hookers and lawyers, please, I can see them coming a mile away). I had no idea what kind of neighborhood it was at the time, I just thought it was lower middle class (for folks like me!). I think I've mentioned on another thread somewhere that I never felt unsafe - just under-dressed! There were some mighty well-dressed transexuals on my street! :lol:

hmmmm, memories of visions of silvery glittering drag queens on roller skates.

The area has been looking much better in recent years; it used to be visually scary to walk around but we never had any "problems" (unlike OC and AM areas). I can remember the first time we dared walk down Drury one afternoon (an absolute pit at the time) to try McGillians for the first time... They have cleaned up the area quite a bit and the addition of the Gellato place has been a plus for the whole city (IMO). Sure the Parker Hotel is nasty, but the Westbury has cheap beer and a killer jukebox (circa 2001 or so).

lm stated:
My question to that is did you just look anywhere for an apartment in Philly without talking to anyone from Philly or perhaps an upper level law student first? I'm just curious. Anyone who knows a thing or two about Philly could have told you about the problems in that area, as if the adult bookstores and the X-Rated movie theaters are not enough of a clue.

But as I mentioned in the earlier post why has the city not done enough to agressively resolve this problem? I think it is because they would rather have the hookers here, where they have always been then walking out right in front of the new Convention Center.

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"If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed." -- David Viscott