Top 3 Concerns:
Graffiti and Vandalism
Lack of Usable green space
Lack of Waterfront Access

Graffiti and vandalism is a HUGE issue is Fishtown. Our Rec Centers and ball parks have unrestricted access. Last year, a local Girl Scouts troup planted flowers at one of our Rec Centers which were promptly ripped out that night. There has been talk about locking down fields and recreation facilities to prevent further vandalism but, to date, access has not been restricted. The parks with active Friends groups are cleaned regularly but there is an ongoing battle to combat the graffiti and vandalism.

The only public access to the Fishtown area waterfront is via Penn Treaty Park. There is an active Friends group involved with this park and they have done great things but there is heavy drug activity, prostitution, vandalism at night - as well as homeless people who spend their nights there.

None of the traffic triangles in Fishtown are tended to. This simple act would do alot to beautify the neighborhood.

The nearest Park to me is a recreational area which edges along a rail right of way and Castor Ave. It is really a nice size piece of land with good street access, but looks quite forbidding with no softening what so ever of the unforgiving angles of chain link fence and rec. center. I see a few folks there tossing balls now and then, but there never seems to be any leadership present aside from election days. Occasionally large groups of teens "rumble" there and rioting spills out into the neighborhood. Younger kids there are sometimes beligerant towards passers by and there is defeinately a gang sort of mentality there amongst some amazingly young children (6-8 years). Not the sort of place I'd want to let my grandson go to play in.

There is a park near the Tioga El Station which looks to have a very nice layout, but is populated mostly by;
dead & dying Sycomaore trees (which shed an amazing amount of bio-trash, not to mention many are allergic to it's airborne lint from seedballs and bark),
drug pushers (they are not aggressive as in some places though) and young adults who sit on the benches making out.
There must be an improvement though if the kissers feel safe there, it was more of a gang-hang/pick-pocket place a few years ago. I wonder how much the new tot-lot will be used - I hope it will cause parents of young children to want to police it a bit more.

There are a great number of vacant buildings/lots in the neighborhood, one of which we purchased in 2001 - ours was a crack house and the neighbors seem to really appreciate us though we have been slow in re-modelling. The Crestex Mill is habitated in the summer by the same 4 prostitutes and thier drug pushing pimp every year we have been here and which use the El station as a toilet. We locals complain to the police, but they never seem to totally disappear & with a few new heroin addicts in the neighborhood who sell to work off useage, we have had an on going turf war with the the crack dealers who were already warring with the influx of amother group who also moved in with some pretty obvious designs on illicit trade monies, we had several illegal weapons discharges in the neighborhood, most of which resulted in fatatlities this summer for the first time since many neighbors can recall (it's the drugs, stupid). I beleive all of the disadvantages of our neighborhood could evolve to something more beautiful fairly easily with community programs such as actual recreational programs, perhaps sponsored by the local shops & environmental education programs that have young people from a wonderful array of ethnic backgrounds mixing with older residents to reach a common goal of making our neighborhood ours and creating a more cohesive stewardship. Working together to clean & green local vacant lots and work on pressuring action on vacancies and greenway accesses would be a good start.

Thank you for your time!

Jeannine