Public comment sought on PhillyRising’s draft plan for Lawncrest

Lawncrest residents have identified three plans for action within the neighborhood as part of the community’s involvement with PhillyRising.

PhillyRising, an initiative out of the city’s managing director’s office, targets neighborhoods with chronic crime and quality of life issues and brings community organizations and city agencies together to try to solve them. The program is entrenched in several neighborhoods, including Lawncrest and Frankford.

Following two initial community meetings, Assistant Managing Director Manny Citron drafted Lawncrest’s “Action Plan” based on feedback from the more than 50 people who gave their input.

When Citron first addressed the Lawncrest Community Association in November, PhillyRising fell flat with some residents. The boundaries for Lawncrest’s variation of the initiative are Comly Street to Godfrey Avenue and Tabor Avenue to Hasbrook Avenue. In other words, the Crescentville section of Lawncrest, but not Lawndale.

Citron has made an effort to encourage Lawndale residents to participate in PhillyRising regardless. Though Crescentville has the issues the program targets, Citron said he expects Lawndale to see fringe benefits of the crime-reducing, community-engaging program.

At Tuesday’s LCA meeting, Citron called for public comment on the draft action plan.

Issues residents want addressed fall into three main categories: streets and infrastructure, parks and green space, and general quality of life.

“Community  stakeholders in the PhillyRising Lawncrest site strive for a future without blight on residential streets,” the draft plan reads, “one where neighborhood green space is fully utilized and residents can feel safe at all  hours of the  day. Their  goal is also a vibrant and stable business district along Rising Sun Avenue that serves as an anchor for the greater neighborhood.”

Several action items are detailed in the draft plan, and Citron has stressed the importance of feedback from residents, not just those who attend the PhillyRising and LCA meetings. Among the items in progress:

• new signage at the intersection of Van Kirk Street and Newtown Avenue
• lighting on the 5900-block of Palmetto Street
• dog park at Lawncrest Rec Center
• improved monitoring of trash violations

The next PhillyRising meeting for Lawncrest residents is scheduled for Jun 21 at 6 p.m. at the Lawncrest Library, 6098 Rising Sun Ave. Comments on the draft plan can be sent to Manny Citron at manny.citron [at] phila [dot] gov.