COLUMN: A reversal of Penn's decay

From Ned Nurick's, "Spare Change," Fall 1997 From Ned Nurick's, "Spare Change," Fall 1997 As if you didn't already feel that Penn was located somewhere on Long Island, Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell announced the city is considering hiring former New York City police commissioner William Bratton to consult on police department restructuring. It is about time "America's mayor" looked beyond the downtown shopping district where people spend their money to the neighborhoods in which they live. In my three years here, bracketed by the August 1994 stabbing death of a graduate student and the shooting last year of an undergraduate, life hasn't gotten any safer. While I am no longer the naive suburbanite I once was, I still yearn for any shard of comfort the University can lend to me. While the newly lit areas around campus (most notably the Superblock prison yard complex and the splendid off-campus lighting project) add slightly to the comfort level, the aura of crime still permeates the surrounding areas. No amount of illumination can eradicate the ills. Slick Judy and Fast Eddie (Rendell that is for the Philly-impaired) need to take some clues from, sadly? ugh, New York City. New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's successful attack on "quality of life" offenses led to an impressive 44 percent drop in the crime rate since his administration took office in 1994. For New Yorkers, "quality of life" offenses range from public drunkenness to vandalism to tardy garbage removal. Guiliani and his police commissioner, Bratton, reasoned that a crack down on relatively smaller offenses coupled with physical cleaning could cleanse the soul of New Yorkers. Furthermore, the law enforcement strengthening reacquainted citizens with the acceptable standards, clearly redefining right and wrong. Admittedly the plan doesn't directly confront the violence which underlies people's fears. But that's not the aim. Quality of life seeks to raise residents' perceptions of safety and propriety while shattering their cynicism, making every day a little cleaner and safer. By all indications the plan has worked for New York City and I expect Giuliani to be rewarded for his efforts with another term. So how do we start here? The University has already begun the process with its efforts to reorganize street and sidewalk vending. It is a credit to University President Judith Rodin and her staff that they were able to recognize the blight the food trucks and bootleg movie salesmen represent while at the same time providing an alternative outlet for affordable cuisine. There also has to be a concerted effort to clean up the trash that lines the streets. A midwestern mother remarked to me during freshman year that her first memory of Penn will always be of filthy streets. Somehow the administration has to make a broader effort to maintain areas around the University. Visitors and students alike view the surrounding buffer zone as part of the University community. Penn police patrol past 40th Street yet there exists a distinct ring around the collar that begins there. Penn administrators view non-University owned areas as not theirs and therefore relinquish responsibility to clean or include in U.S. Department of Education campus crime reports. But to potential and current students, "off-campus" means "greater Penn." Recognizing that, there has to be better maintenance and street cleaning in those areas. Finally, the University has to maintain zero tolerance for gray area infractions. Too many cars coast through the stop sign at 40th and Locust streets while Johnny Cop drinks his Uni-Mart coffee. Drivers need to be made aware that the rules are not made to be broken. The wise pursuit of University Pinball exhibits the University's understanding for zero tolerance. The administration has the responsibility to sniff out in fractions everywhere, untrue or not. If we can emulate Bratton and Giuliani's lead in New York, perhaps Penn can be restored to the beauty that it once was. Quality of life improvements will markedly improve image and morale among students and applicants. Penn can become a safer place where "Greater Penn" reflects the whole campus and mothers will feel good about sending their kids to beautiful Penn.