Editor’s Note: West Philly Local is proud to present the seventh in a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. Go to Them That Do for more information, updates and additional photos.

We’ll present the next profile on Wednesday, Jan. 8.

JoAnn Manuel stands on her front porch steps on the 5200 block of Pennsgrove Avenue on the day of the summer block party. Friends, family and residents enjoy food, music, and children’s game. (Photo by Lori Waselchuk)

Stoop culture is big on Pennsgrove. Climb the eleven steep steps up to JoAnn Manuel’s front porch, pass through a small iron balustrade gate at the top, look left and right, you will see through every one of her neighbors’ identical porches. Look across the street for an eye-level view of all the porches on the odd side. Pennsgrove’s heartbeat pulses from these stoops.

“We gather!” says Manuel, who has been the block captain since 2001. “It happens in the evenings, especially on Saturdays. It’s a good way to share with your neighbor the things going on.”

Manuel’s first act as block captain generated lots of stoop talk. She petitioned the city to correct the misspelling of “Pennsgrove” on their street sign. Manuel remembers, “My neighbors were surprised. They told me, ‘We called our street Penngrove.’”

Manuel decided to raise money for more block improvements. Through her block’s association (5200 Pennsgrove Street), she applied to the Philadelphia Activities Fund for a grant to fix the pole lights set next to each house’s stoop. “Eighty percent of the pole lights were out.”  After two unsuccessful applications, she finally received $1,500. She hired an electrician to fix the lights. With the rest of the money, she and some neighbors bought and planted flowers to spruce up the green spaces and vacant lots on the block.

Manuel applies for money each year and receives around $500, which they use to buy paint for houses, flower boxes for sidewalks, as well as maintain the exteriors of the five vacant houses on the street.

Manuel works hard to keep up vacant properties to prevent squatters from moving in. She even used the porch of one vacant house to host a weekly after-school reading and gardening program for 4^th and 5^th graders.

Manuel joined forces with Urban Tree Connection’s Sue Witte. Witte, who is also a children’s librarian, would meet with kids to work in the community garden at the corner of Pennsgrove and 53^rd Street, and then retreat to the stoop to read books.

Witte remembers how important that porch became to her and the children. “We would begin and end on that front porch. It was our space, and everybody knew it.”

Perhaps the greatest celebration of the Pennsgrove stoop culture is its annual block party, which is set for the first Saturday of August every year. Almost all of the residents participate.

“Morning time is set up time. We are up early. Everybody is excited about the day, getting their own space ready. But we all share in the work,” Manuel explains.

The residents sell raffle tickets to pay for the moonwalk and kids games. The cooking, eating and drinking happen on the steps and porches. “The stoops are where we hang out and talk. Some say its gossip. I say it’s a culture of neighbors being neighbors.”

–Lori Waselchuk

Lori’s note: A search to find more information about the Philadelphia Activities Fund led me to a 2011 pdf file with contact information; a Facebook page; and critical articles like the piece “Council’s Secret “WAM” Fund”, by Ryan Briggs found in Metropolis Report, about the Fund’s political impact and lack of oversight.

Editor’s Note: We’re proud to present the sixth in a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. Go to Them That Do for more information, updates and additional photos.

Lisa Barkley / Photo: Lori Waselchuk.

Lisa Barkley shows me the view of her fruit tree orchard from the window of her bright yellow kitchen.

“We have apple trees, pear trees, plum trees, cherry trees, peach, apricot and nectarine trees,” Barkley says. She sounds surprised by the bounty she helped create. “A grapevine – we have Concord grapes out there. Wow!”

Barkley lives in the same 2-bedroom unit in the Haddington Homes public housing project at 55th Street and Vine where she was born. As a child, she played games on Pearl Street. As a young woman, she was the secretary for the Haddington tenant council and in 1999 she was voted the block captain.

From her home, she has watched her community evolve. “There were never flowers, no plants, just trees and some shrubbery here and there,” she remembers. “But it was clean. The adults really took ownership of where they lived.“

But as time went on, the community seemed to lose that sense of collective responsibility. The children lost safe play areas. The local cleaning business was torn down. The city blocked off Pearl Street, creating a dark, abandoned space. Haddington’s parking lot became a staging ground for stolen cars.

“Public housing is transient, so people move in for a while and move out. As a block captain, I want to see the neighborhood be neighbors again.”

Through Barkley’s leadership and with planning and material help from Urban Tree Connection and Mission Philadelphia (Facebook page), the Haddington residents have transformed the parking lots and Pearl Street into a playground, community gardens, and an orchard.

Barkley has reserved the orchard for the adults who live at Haddington. She encourages them to plant their own vegetable plots or use the orchard as a place of refuge.

“Gardening is a natural de-stresser, right? When I plant a seed in the ground and nurture a little sprout, the feeling I get inside – it’s fulfillment. “

The orchard feeds Barkley’s imagination and passions. She inspires others as well. On a sunny Saturday morning in September, eight women attended Barkley’s class on juicing, which she held in the orchard. The women laughed as they placed copious chunks of pineapple, grapes, pears, and spinach into the juicer. They teased each other during the tastings.

The orchard brings beauty into Haddington Homes, and beauty is Barkley’s highest priority. “I want to embrace life now and do all the beautiful things and live the beautiful way that I envision.”

–Lori Waselchuk

Editor’s Note: West Philly Local is proud to present the fifth in a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. Go to Them That Do for more information, updates and additional photos.

Angie Coghlan / Photo by Lori Waselchuk.

It’s the trees that keep Angie Coghlan busy these days.

Angie has planted hundreds of trees in West Philadelphia and she wants to plant more. A retired nurse, Angie has been the block captain of 4800 Springfield Avenue for 32 years. During that time, she was also active in Cedar Park Neighbors and in the revival of the Firehouse Market. Mostly, though, she’s had trees on her mind.

Angie co-founded Cross Baltimore Tree Tenders with her friend and neighbor, Johanna Fine, 20 years ago. “We were losing the tree-cover in our neighborhood and we tried to do something about it,” Angie remembers.

At first they acted informally, planting small trees in the lawns near the curb. “We called ourselves guerilla tree planters,” because they didn’t seek permission from the city, says Angie. For their first project, they planted two plum trees on a corner of Windsor Ave. and 48^th Street.

Over time, Angie and Johanna met the city’s requirements of having permits and formal permissions. “We developed a really good relationship with the arborist from our district and count him as a friend to this day.”

Angie and Johanna have partnered with UC Green since its inception. Angie has been a board member as well as an advisor to the organization. “Angie is one of UC Green’s pillars,” says Susan MacQueen, director of UC Green. “She is always thinking about what to do next.”

One of Angie’s long-term projects has focused on 47^th St. and 48^th St. corridors between Woodland and Baltimore Avenues. In 2005, she organized a one-day campaign to plant 47 trees on 47^th St. To pull it off she met with residents, coordinated volunteers and gathered donations of supplies, tools and trees. In 2008, she led a similar drive at 48th and Woodland Avenue Recreational Center, planting 50 trees.

This week, Angie and Johanna are going back to 48^th and Woodland to check on the trees they planted nearly six years ago. “We are finding that some of the trees are stressed. The roots are all tangled up,” says Angie. She worries that they will not survive. “We’ll see if we can save them.”

Much of Angie’s work is behind the scenes, identifying trees for removal. Just last week, the city responded to one of her reports and removed two giant sycamore trees near the corner of 45^th St. and Baltimore.

Johanna and Angie also assist homeowners who need to get rid of dead trees. “Larger trees pose a big problem for homeowners,” says Angie. Knowing that tree removal isn’t cheap, they collect donations to help residents pay for the removal.

– Lori Waselchuk

Editor’s Note: West Philly Local is proud to present the fourth in a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. Check Them That Do for more information, updates and additional photos.

Juanita Lewis Hatton / Photo by Lori Waselchuk.

Juanita Lewis Hatton leans over the thick black back-support belt, noisily adjusting the Velcro clasp. “Oh God!” she says. “I suffer with this back pain. It’s not as bad as yesterday, mind you,” she tells me.

Ms. Hatton was preparing to step outside and distribute her monthly newsletter door-to-door for the residents of the 3900 block of Poplar St, where she is the block captain. She lives on a street peppered with vacant lots, abandoned buildings and dilapidated homes. Yet the street has no visible trash and the grass in vacant lots is cut.

Hatton moved into her two-story row home on Poplar St. in 2009. Within the first week of moving in, she swept as if it was an obvious thing to do. The neighbors were intrigued. They questioned the 72-year-old grandmother to find out which government agency she worked for.

Hatton’s answer: “I don’t work for the city. I just don’t like livin’ around dirt!”

Hatton has been a block captain for over a total of 38 years. Most of those years she served her former block in Nicetown where she became known as the ‘Granny of Nicetown’. She rallied her neighbors to board up abandoned houses, organized neighborhood watches, planned summer festivals and flea markets, connected civic and health resources to the community and she spearheaded the rehabilitation of Nicetown Park on Germantown Avenue. Continue Reading

Editor’s Note: West Philly Local is proud to present the third in a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. Check Them That Do for more information, updates and additional photos.

Anita Harris’ inspiration to become block captain didn’t seem particularly ambitious when she started. “I needed something to do,” she explained.

Anita was already working fulltime as a secretary and raising her two daughters.  She simply wanted to make her block of 5300 Wyalusing safe and clean.

But I’ve learned to listen closely to Anita, because behind her efficient language is an ocean of commitment.

Early in Anita’s term as block captain, she met Skip Wiener of Urban Tree Connection. Skip’s organization was working with residents in the Haddington neighborhood to plant flower gardens and trees to rehabilitate crime-ridden vacant lots. Anita joined their efforts and was able to help build several gardens on and around her block.

Five years ago, Skip told Anita that he wanted to start growing food.  It was then that Anita devised a monumental plan for the ¾ acre abandoned lot behind her house.  The lot was once a construction company’s storage site, but it had been abandoned for over 30 years and still contained buried drums of oil and other hazardous construction waste.

“Why don’t we build a farm?” Anita asked as she showed Skip the property.

Skip remembers seeing the lot for the first time. “It was a nightmare. You couldn’t see a foot into the property because the weeds were so high. The space was being used as a chop shop, there were fires, nighttime prostitution, and drugs. It was a very dangerous place.”

For five years, Skip and Anita worked with residents, the city, volunteers, and organizations to clear the lot, remove the waste, replace the soil, and build an urban farm.  It has been slow and intense work, but The Farm at North 53^rd and Wyalusing is fully functional with three greenhouses, a packing shed, cold storage and compost stations.

The Farm produces and supplies fresh vegetables and herbs that are sold to Neighborhood Foods farm stands throughout Philadelphia. Anita spends her Saturdays picking, packing and selling the produce at the vegetable stand on the 600 block of North 53^rd Street, right around the corner from her home.

The 53^rd Street farm stand will open once more this year on Saturday, November 23^rd from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. to help families prepare for Thanksgiving.

Editor’s Note: West Philly Local is proud to present the second in a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. The first profile ran last week.

Maureen Tate became a gardener because of a killing.

In the 1980s, during the era Maureen calls the “The Crack Period,” Cedar Park neighborhood residents organized drug vigils on the corner of 49^th Street and Baltimore Avenue where they would stand in shifts all night and ‘stare down dealers’ to try to prevent them from doing business.

“We were trying to regain control of our streets,” Maureen explained.

Another intimidating location was the vacant lot at the corner of 49^th and Florence Avenue. “The corner lot was trashed all the time and it was dangerous,” said Maureen, who has been the block captain of 4800 Florence Avenue since 1982. “The neighbors were feeling really threatened.”

When a Vietnamese immigrant was murdered in his home next to that lot in 1983, she and her neighbors decided to act. They removed the trash, built flower beds and filled them with daisies, lilies, and tulips. They named it Florence Garden. “Our garden made us feel we were reclaiming that space and staking our presence.”

The transformation required patience, and several years of work. Maureen laughs when she thinks about how little she knew about growing things. “Everything I know about gardening, I learned at Florence Garden.”

She and a handful of others maintained Florence Garden for 20 years. It won second place in the city’s garden contest in 1989.

“It was beautiful.”

Eventually the city sold the property in a sheriff sale and developers built four townhouses.

Cedar Park is now experiencing a period of more stability and reinvestment. “It’s such a relief to see happy people on our street.” Tate remains very active on her block as well as with Cedar Park Neighbors. She continues to garden in public spaces, organizing crews to build and maintain flower beds around Cedar Park.