The Frankford Special Services District (FSSD) has deployed a “Detail Team,” a new beautification program for the Frankford Avenue Business Corridor. The team will be responsible for a range of tasks, including graffiti removal, pressure washing the sidewalks, sweeping litter and planting flowers.
The Detail Team has been trained to identify small details along the Corridor that most would overlook, for instance a 2-inch sticker on a stop sign, or a graffiti tag on a parking meter. Rather than reporting every small detail to various city agencies, the Detail Team will take action itself, providing quicker and more scrupulous service to the Business Corridor.
The Detail Team was inspired by the Broken Windows Theory, which states that maintaining urban environments may prevent further vandalism and more serious crime. The program has started on the 4600 block of Frankford Avenue and will expand outward one block at a time. Each block that the program has ‘reclaimed’ will be given top priority and immediate cleaning. In doing so, the FSSD is sending a message: that these blocks are looked after and that vandalism and graffiti are not worth the time. Eventually, this message will encompass the entire Business Corridor.
The program currently employs three Detail Team Members operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10am to 6pm. The team works in conjunction with Frankford’s Safety Ambassadors, a program started by the FSSD in June 2010. Businesses, shoppers and residents can report graffiti, trash, vandalism, and just about anything else on the Business Corridor to 267-777-SAFE and the Detail Team will be dispatched.
It would be very nice if they could get SEPTA to power wash all the filth off the el structure and get the bus drivers to stop urinating out the back bus doors onto Arrott St. The el stop could use a good power washing to get the smell of bum and urine out of it too. It would also be nice to get that abandoned Police trailer off the Avenue and get all those darn appliances off the sidewalks.