Melani.I noticed you removed the "sales" signature from your e-mail post when you replied. If you want me to be truthful..than I will. I wish all the "sales people" who have invaded this "community discussion listserv" would save all your "sales" for when your not on this list!! .. Keep it simple and sign off as ."Melani.Simply Me". So there..honesty from me to you. I am not going to spend much time discussing racism in our community beyond these two stories: Story 1 takes place directly after the 9/11 attack in New York. My neighbor rings my bell, I answer, he is standing there with a flag, he says "put this up right away", I say "why", He says "trust me Sharrieff". Story 2 takes place about 10 months ago, my neighbors are planning a "Block Party" at a neighbor's house..not in the street, at a neighbor's house. A neighbor is passing out flyers and skips my house (I know this because I happen to be looking out my window), I later ask why my house was skipped, the neighbor says "maybe I just don't like you". Keep in mind I am the only African American owned house on the block. Coincidence? 1945 or 2007? People still fear "the black man" Melani, even if he's middle-class. Let me be a witness, yes Melani, you have given a tremendous amount of time to our community, however, beyond many of us, you benefit in a very different way due to the fact you "sell" this community for a living..and judging from you advertised sales success, to the tune of many $$$$$$$. Enlightened self interest? Penn doesn't have the market cornered on that one! Melani, you are our best cheerleader for sure, I will always be third and UCD will be our worst-first. Irrational fear? I think not. Look around you.look at our city, look at the incidents of crime in our community over the last two years. Is it really wise to create the spin which says "it's really not too bad, it is not as bad as Center City?" Is it wise to ignore the stickers, banners and vandalism and blame it all on "frat-boys" and "track-stars"? I think it is smarter to recognize the facts and have a plan. UCD won't launch a safety related web-site because it interferes with the marketing of the area, I have asked. The program which started as the "clean & safe" support of the community has become the areas premiere business and neighborhood "marketing" organization full of employees who live in the suburbs!! Our neighborhood is not broken beyond repair but it is failing in many ways.failing to support the diversity which makes us the most unique community in our city, failing to build bridges between our strengths, failing to take our heads out of our asses and ACT! What are we waiting for anyway? Heads out and up! S -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2007 6:51 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [UC] plethora of smashed car windows this morning
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.
