The Mantua Community Improvement Committee is planning to file a $10 million lawsuit against Penn, Drexel and the University City District by May 1, charging the three institutions with racial discrimination.
MCIC -- a local group seeking to revitalize the community located slightly north of campus -- says that the UCD fails to provide street-cleaning and security services north of Spring Garden Street and that this lack of care is a response to the racial composition of the area.
Penn and Drexel will be sued as well because they are the UCD's principal financial supporters, MCIC Executive Director Rick Young said.
Penn's General Counsel Wendy White said the University has not received official notification of a lawsuit, so she cannot say how officials will respond to such allegations.
"I have not seen a copy of the complaint," White said.
She added, however, that Penn is currently "not aware of any basis for a lawsuit."
Drexel's Vice President for Government and Community Relations Brian Keech also refused to comment on the pending lawsuit.
Young said that though the UCD has assumed responsibility for the blocks from 31st and Spring Garden streets to Lancaster and Spring Garden, it neglects to put funds there.
He said the heavy concentration of black residents north of Spring Garden Street indicates that race is the motivation behind the neglect.
"It just makes it seem very, very racist that Spring Garden Street is becoming a modern-day Jim Crow boundary," Young said.
"Under the 14th Amendment, any organization that acts like a government organization -- like by cleaning the streets -- is not allowed to discriminate," he added.
Young said that with the large number of Drexel students moving into the Mantua community, he would expect that the institutions would show more interest in maintaining the cleanliness of the area.
However, he said that a drive to support the neighborhood simply does not exist.
"After a close-minded meeting between the UCD, Drexel and Penn, it doesn't seem likely that they want to resolve the situation," Young said.
Young said he hopes the lawsuit will provide MCIC with money to clean the streets in the community and hire safety ambassadors, since the UCD is unwilling to do so.
He said that there is a "100 percent chance" that MCIC will sue.
