In Homewood, Race Street redds up
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Volunteers Dave Majcher, left, and Clarence Swindle finish putting in replacement concrete outside a home in the 7400 block of Race Street in Pittsburgh's Homewood neighborhood. Volunteers and the Redd Up Pittsburgh cleanup crew took on the task of cleaning up several blocks of the street Thursday. -
Andrew Deshler, left, and his father, Ed, put down new flooring in Sandra Ford's Race Street home.
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Sandra Ford was pleased with the landscaping and flooring repairs that volunteers performed at her house Thursday as part of a two-day improvement blitz on Race Street in Homewood.
But she was especially grateful for the message of solidarity implicit in their work.
"This community is part of Pittsburgh," Ms. Ford said.
Volunteers from around the city will return to Race Street today to clear more overgrowth, complete repairs at a handful of homes and improve boarded-up houses with vinyl panels made to resemble doors and windows.
While the work will have a modest impact on one of the city's most troubled neighborhoods, volunteers and city officials hope that small improvements will beget bigger ones, turning the "broken windows" theory of neighborhood decline upside down.
"We have to come together as a neighborhood and work on it together," Dorothy White/Sparrow, a member of the Save Race Street Committee, said.
The blitz has been months in the planning, said Elwin Green, chairman of the Save Race Street Committee.
The city Urban Redevelopment Authority gave about 35 employees release time to participate. The Save Race Street Committee and another neighborhood group, Rosedale Block Cluster Inc., deployed their own volunteers.
The city Redd Up Crew brought in heavy equipment to remove weeds and overgrown foliage. In a statement, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said the blitz "continues our efforts to help our residents who need it most."
Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh, a nonprofit home-improvement group, was present Thursday, will return today and plans many other trips to the neighborhood.
"We have a commitment to Homewood, and Race Street is our first street," said the group's housing coordinator, Katie McAuley.
The vines on one 21/2-story home had climbed as high as the dormer. Elsewhere on Race Street, vacant, boarded-up properties abutted neatly kept homes, a stark reminder of Homewood's perilous state.
First Published October 14, 2011 12:00 am
