I was walking with my wife and parents on 12th street headed south last sunday afternoon, and as we approached the pizza place on the corner we noticed lots of people hanging around the corner. My father said he didn't like the looks of the scene, but I assured him that it was fine and we walked past them on south. I'm not sure if it was right after south, or the next block, but we were subsequently approached twice by men sitting on the stoops to buy drugs. The first asked if we wanted "black tar", and the second offered us coke. I have seen obvious open air drug activity in philly before (around 12th and locust at night), but never like this on a Sunday afternoon. Is this a known spot? Should we have called the police?

i should also note that when I saw activity like this on 12th and locust at night it was very down low. They sort of mumbled drug names under their breath as you passed. In this case, both men approached us, stopped us, and very clearly told us all about what they had available.

You don't know if you were on south or bainbridge? There is a big difference on those blocks.

I'd say if it was bainbridge it was possible. There is a police satellite near 10th and south. You could walk in there and tell them what happened. Either way I doubt your family was impressed. Don't walk around there.

__________________
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard. - H.L. Mencken

it's gotta be south, Genaro's pizza is on the corner. that's where the kid got shot in the face before they caught the suspect trying to take the subway.

__________________
"You down wit OPM?"
Fumo: "Yeah, you know me!"

i'm gonna guess that this corner has been that way ever since the MLK public housing towers once loomed over south st.

as for calling the police, i doubt you would get much of a response. but hey, there's no reason not to.

sounds to me like they were walking south on 12th street past the pizza spot when they got approached. 12th and Fitz? Bainbridge? Those spots wouldn't be surprising at all.

I lived at 11th and bainbridge for a few years and never once had a problem. I'm not saying it didn't happen just relating my experience. Did you call the police? I'm not sure how you expect things to change if you do nothing about it. The "New Rules" are that trouble makers are to be removed from the projects but no one will ever know if you don't report them.

Right, we were walking on 12th past south street. I couldn't remeber if we were still on the block between south and bainbridge or had crossed bainbridge.


I recognize that it can be shady around there, but I was surprised at how shady it was considering how nice the area is once you cross 11th street.

You can also make anoymous online complaints at: http://www.ppdonline.org/rpts/rpts_narcotics.php

__________________

11/28-12/31: MACY'S LIGHT SHOW (10AM-8PM EVERY HOUR ON THE HOUR) AND DICKENS VILLAGE (10AM-7PM)
BEST VIEWING TIMES AFTER 4PM

I recommend a weekly narcotics report in detail to www.ppdonline.org and that way the police get a sense of the mobility of the open air corners.

Yes, that area of MLK Plaza is an open air drug market, witness the helicopters that are more permanent in the summer than cicadas. Yes, there is improvement in a big way from corners that you could name as permanent to corners that float, IMO. That is why everyone is debating above where the "drug corners" really are. They move. But the vicinity is the MLK Plaza.

Where is the Universal development that is supposed to drive out the drugs? Since Kenny Gamble is supposed to have renovated this area, why is it still a significant multi-drug destination for heroin (ie black tar) to powder and crack cocaine? This is not that hard to cope with, and the equity in home values will quadruple when the MLK area has more private development.

It has a million dollar location, but too high a density of public housing that is too insufficiently policed. This is not a conservative screed, but a comment on the structure of the policing within and without PHA managed or owned properties. Can we update this to a more user-friendly interface?

Report drug activity in public housing to the PHA police and to the PPD at www.ppdonline.org. It would be better if PHA also had an online complaint report form since they are a wholly separate police department tasked with staking out and cleaning up PHA properties.

PHA is policed like a city within a city. If PHA does not get a complaint from a citizen, no police work occurs within the PHA property.

Please keep us posted.