PHILADELPHIA -
A new contest is aimed at putting Philadelphia's vacant land to good use, in part because city-run cleanup efforts go just so far.
FOX 29's Bruce Gordon has more from North Philadelphia on a problem that's gotten out of control.
There are some 40,000 vacant lots and properties around the city. In many cases, the city is waiting, often in vain, for developers to come in and transform these into valuable properties.
But a local coalition of community groups just may have a better idea.
Workers from the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services were thrashing their way through thigh-high weeds and trash Wednesday on a vacant lot next to Eleanor Baum's home.
"A nightmare, that's what it is," Baum said.
City crews clean 350 tons of debris from 1,500 vacant lots each month. But they can't keep up.
And, so, lots like these become filthy magnets for crime and drug abuse.
"My grandkids can't even come to visit us because the parents don't want them down here," Baum said.
Marcus Presley helps lead the Campaign to Take Back Vacant Lands.
"These kinds of lots are a huge drag on the communities that they're in," Presley said.
The group is running a contest until the end of August. They want folks to send them pictures of the worst and best vacant properties in Philadelphia, along with a brief description.
It's a gimmick to highlight their plan for a city "land bank." That's a program that would make it cheaper and easier for neighbors to buy the vacant lots next door, with a promise to improve them.
Connie Morrow says she'd turn the mess next to her home into a garden.
"I would clean this land up and I would – in one section, I'd learn how to make some tomatoes, collard greens, stuff like that," Morrow said.
Presley said, "Developers are going to come in, and development can be really good for the community. But there has to be a balance between for-profit development and the kind of development that benefits the people that live in these communities already."
The contest offers cash prizes for the best photos and descriptions. They'll be shown to elected officials to try and jump start that land bank idea, Gordon reported.
For more information on that contest and how to send a copy of your photos as a UReport, click here.
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