The Daily News ran a story yesterday by Dan Geringer about the Frankford revitalization and the changes coming to the 4600 block of Frankford Avenue.
For too many years, Frankford’s main drag hovered in decline under the El tracks – dark, dirty, desolate, plagued by drugs and crime and fear.
Today, the bustling 4600 block of Frankford Avenue is the targeted center of a revitalization that Dawkins and his boss, Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez, hope will radiate out along the Avenue from Womrath to Bridge streets.
It all starts with a broom, said Raymond “Ray of Hope” Gant, a former North Philly drug dealer who spent most of the ’90s in prison but has spent all of the 2000s helping struggling business corridors like Frankford’s get clean.
“When you clean up your house and your house is clean, the bugs go other places,” said Gant. “Human nature’s no different, understand?”
Gant leads a volunteer army of ex-offenders, recovering addicts and community-minded residents on a daily war against Frankford Avenue trash.
Read the entire story at this link.
