UC Green spruces up U. City

A semester after its inception, the University's UC Green initiative has begun to make headway towards its ultimate goal of beautifying University City by planting trees, flowers and shrubbery in the area around Penn's campus. "We want University City to be a place you come because there's nowhere else you want to be," said Esaul Sanchez, Penn's director of neighborhood initiatives and head of UC Green. To accomplish this goal, UC Green has been bringing community members together on "greening" projects, working block by block in planting gardens, maintaining yards and sidewalks, tending trees and clearing out deserted lots. The initiative kicked off last fall as part of Penn's eighth annual Into the Streets community service day, leading a group of King's Court/English College House students in planting and tree-pruning on several neighborhood blocks, including the corner where Woodland and Baltimore avenues meet at 39th Street. Since then, UC Green has assisted in the planting of 2,500 donated tulip and daffodil bulbs on the 4000 blocks of Pine Street and Baltimore Avenue and is helping to coordinate several other similar projects. Replacing the popular but costly UC Brite initiative that improved lighting on University City streets, UC Green aims "to create a garden village in University City," Sanchez said. College senior and UC Green co-coordinator Hillary Aisenstein described the organization's efforts as bringing University City "back to nature in the middle of the city," and said the results are "easy and visible." Aside from the aesthetic benefits of the UC Green initiative, Sanchez said it has also served to help community members bond with one another. "There's something magical about [gardening]," Sanchez said. "It allows people to overcome the barriers and difficulties of working together as a community." Mike Hardy, one of the project coordinators for a local community group that is trying to beautify the Baltimore Avenue area, said UC Green "turned out the troops" for several of its landscaping projects. "[UC Green] is extremely valuable," Hardy said. "They're creating network partnerships." Some future UC Green initiatives involve setting up tree tending classes for area residents through the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, talking with some area landlords about landscaping their properties and working with a group of college house students toward adopting a University City street.

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