In the fight vs. blight:'A lot of frustration'

When a local nonprofit offered to help Sandra Justice organize a tour of blighted properties in her Kingsessing neighborhood for elected officials and other decision-makers, Justice was thrilled.

Finally, she thought, she'd have the chance to tell her story. Finally, she'd be able to draw much-needed attention to the abandoned property neighboring her home in the 5700 block of Chester Avenue, the one where people loitered and drug deals happened. She'd been complaining about the property for more than two decades, watching as it disintegrated a little more each year.

"I've been complaining since 1988," Justice said. "You complain about these properties, and they don't do nothing about 'em."

Then no one showed up for the march.

No concerned citizens. No city officials. No community leaders. Save for representatives from a few media outlets and an organizer from the nonprofit, Justice walked alone last night, pointing out empty properties and telling her story to anyone who would listen.

"I'm just trying to get the people in the neighborhood to care about what's going on around here," she said. "Sometimes it's hard. That's why things don't get done."

Amanda Koprowski, the ACTION United organizer working with Justice, called the evening "a good start." ACTION United is a nonprofit focused on issues like clean and safe neighborhoods. It was founded earlier this year by former ACORN members.

Koprowski said that a few neighbors had come to Justice's house after the scheduled tour and shared their thoughts about the neighborhood.

"I've been talking to a lot of folks in the neighborhood," she said, "and they all say the same thing: 'It's these houses. It's these vacant lots.' There's a lot of frustration."

The neighbors say that they have reason to be frustrated. Justice has filed so many complaints about the house next to hers that "I got tired of calling L&I, and I know they got tired of me," she said.

Further down Chester Avenue, Shirley Holloday said that she's been complaining about the overgrown and trash-filled lot next to her mother's house since last year. Her calls to 3-1-1 amount to nothing, she said.

"Why would it take two years?" Holloday asked. "This right here is a disgrace."

Abandoned houses are a huge neighborhood problem, Holloday said. She lives a few blocks away, next to an empty house that collapsed one day in 2000. "Nine years, it sat," she said.

A few houses away from Holloday's mother's home, another house, damaged in a long-forgotten fire, sat empty. An orange sign dated "7/27/10" was pasted on the front door.

"That means they're going to tear it down in 10 days," Justice sniffed. "We'll see about that. Come back in 10 days."