In a message dated 4/29/07 3:24:46 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > .....Fear is not good for sales right? Well the lack of fear will get you > killed! > Heads up? > S > > Irrational fear is not good for anything. Irrational fear - racism - gave our neighborhood an undeserved bad reputation for way too long. People new to the area looked around and saw people who didn't look the same as they did. The new people were afraid. Unfortunately, they had classmates and colleagues in every department at Penn who lived elsewhere, and shared that uninformed racism, and fed the newcomers' fear. It still goes on: way too often, I still run into people who have never been west of 45th St., or 43rd St., or 40th St., or some other crazy divider. A new CHOP doctor and her husband, just arrived from San Francisco, came to an open house I had at 47th just south of Springfield last weekend. She said she'd been told not to live south of Springfield Avenue. That was a new one for me: I've often heard "don't live south of Baltimore," but I'd never heard Springfield.
We spent years - you, Sharrieff, and I, and a lot of other community folks - working to convince the rest of the world that this is a GOOD place to live, that the different faces here are a POSITIVE part of our community - one of the most positive assets we have here. I like to think that we made some tiny dent, somewhere, in the thinking that has white people crossing the street every time a young black man approaches. Do bad things happen here, sometimes? Of course. It's the big city. They happen in center city and many other respectable neighborhoods, too. Fear is not good for cities - not sales! City people have to be aware and willing to take a few precautions. As a matter of fact, four young boys tried to mug my son a couple of weeks ago as he was vacuuming out his car at the car wash at 47th, is it, & Chestnut. He's a city kid, though, so he saw it coming and took action to show them he wasn't afraid, and then he left. Like Robin said about her daughters' young would-be muggers, we need to be aware. But I don't think we need to go overboard and believe that the neighborhood is failing. Sharrieff, that was kind of a cheap shot, to suggest that I care more about sales than about my neighborhood. I'm sure you didn't mean it that way, but people who don't know me, who don't know how long I've worked for, and loved, this neighborhood, might draw that conclusion from what you wrote. Melani Melani Lamond, Associate Broker Urban & Bye, Realtor 3529 Lancaster Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19104 cell phone 215-356-7266 office phone 215-222-4800, ext. 113 office fax 215-222-1101 ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
