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Project – Philadelphia Business Journal – The Price of Crime
“I had to shoot you a quick note congratulating you on the superb issue of PBJ looking at the impact
that crime and violence has on our region's business community. The depth and diversity of the
stories was so rich that I'm planning on using the information in both my advertising and ministry
work. I know that our biz colleagues often don't see themselves affected by (or being able to affect)
these problems that plague our city. Your coverage challenges that thinking and shows us all how to
get involved in making a difference. Bravo!” David Brown, a local minister and ad agency president, in
an email about the Jan. 4, 2008, issue of the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Crime was the top issue in the campaigns leading up to the November 2007 election of
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. The city’s murder rate, while not at an all-time high, had
risen to intolerable levels. High-profile homicides, including the killing of a police officer in the
line of duty, created tension that permeated even the relatively safe Center City area.
Out of this heightened attention emerged a debate over the role of the business community in
fighting crime. Some asked whether business leaders, who often are insulated from the city’s
highest crime spots, care about crime. The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, which
had helped to create more than 1,000 internships for inner-city children in 2007, was accused of
not doing enough. The head of the organization, former Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker,
responded that the responsibility to solve the problem rested primarily with government.
It was against this backdrop that the Business Journal undertook a two-month, staff-wide project
that set out to assess the impact of crime on the city’s economy. The result appeared in our Jan. 4,
2008, issue — the week the new mayor took office — and is our entry in the Project category.
As any editor knows, putting together a large project is a logistical challenge. The regular
workload doesn’t recede to make time for in-depth work. The final package contained 22 stories,
24 photos and five graphics, including a full page with two charts mapping crime in the city.
Among the powerful anecdotes that helped humanize the crime problem was the story about the
safety concerns of a home-health aide, how a doll museum deals with being in a high-crime area,
the vigilant attitude of a store owner who carries a gun and what it’s like to be on police patrol.
The project brought Business Journal reporters and photographers into neighborhoods they had
never visited before. One reporter found a guide who could help encourage suspicious merchants
to share their experiences with him. To get information and access, an editor and a reporter had to
build contacts with a police department that hardly knew our publication.
Among the issues the package dealt with were how much a business owner spent to protect his
property, how much universities spend on security, how crime affects business attraction efforts,
how banks protect themselves, the cost of treating gunshot victims and the safety of public
transportation facilities. It also had stories about solutions, such as job training and what other
cities have done. We used dollar amounts to quantify the cost of the problem wherever possible.
Twenty-one pages were dedicated to the package. When we hit newsstands, Editor Bernard
Dagenais was interviewed about the package live on the local Fox-TV affiliate and on the top-
rated talk-radio station in Philadelphia.
We believe this issue is a prime example of enterprise, stretching our publication beyond its
typical boundaries into a matter of great importance to our business community and region.
LATE BREAKING NEWS: Don’t forget to check our Web site for frequent updates at philadelphia.bizjournals.com THIS WEEK
BUSINESS
JAN. 4-10
2008
P H I L A D E L P H I A WEDDED TO
Volume 26
ATTIRE
Number 46 Mary Helen
215-238-1450
Ranieri makes
others
JOURNAL
philadelphia
.bizjournals.com
happy on
Lighting a spark
a big day. John Longacre ignored
$3.00 P27 advice when he bought
into South Philly. P22
Crime takes a toll on city economy
THE PRICE OF CRIME
Measuring the economic impact on business
Impact on business
proves wide-reaching
Tourists
I
They feel safe, as long as t’s impossible to put a price on the loss of
they’re not the target. P2 human life. But many of the crimes that
occur in Philadelphia each year have a
Hard numbers definite price tag attached to them.
Thieves stole $156 million The Philadelphia Business Journal staff has
P2 in 2007. P3 sought over the past two months, leading up to
the inauguration of Michael Nutter as mayor
The new chief on Jan. 7, to assess the impact of crime on the
P4 Charles H. Ramsey wants city’s business community.
liaisons to business. P4 Nutter has identified crime as the number
one issue he must address, and the business
Extra presence community agrees. Philadelphia.bizjournals.
Special districts spend com poll respondents recently put crime at the
$4.5 million on safety. P4 top of the list of Nutter’s challenges above all
other issues, including high business taxes.
Selling the city This special issue goes a long way toward as-
Site selectors factor crime sessing the price of crime for tourism, health
rate into decisions. P5 care, business marketing, colleges, retailers
and neighborhood delivery services. It also
Mapping crime PETER VAN ALLEN | BUSINESS JOURNAL explores some of the solutions being consid-
Property and violent crime A Hunting Park Avenue sculpture memorializes victims of gun violence. ered here and being used in other cities. n
weigh heavier on some
areas of the city. P6
P6 Safety in store P17 Delivery dangers
Seeking answers A small-store security Home-care workers,
Cutting recidivism by 10 system costs $15,000. P12 delivery drivers time their
percent would save nearly trips and plan ahead. P17
P8 $7 million per year. P7 P12 Neighborhoods
W. Allegheny businesses Lessons in safety
Trauma central look out for each other. P13 Crime-fighting steps other P21
In a recent year, hospitals P19 cities have taken. P18
spent $146 million treating Death at Dunkin’
gunshot victims. P8 Two months after Officer High-tech tools Dolls in danger
Cassidy’s shooting. P13 Police use innovation to get This museum has to take
Scared straight P14 an edge. P19 special precautions. P21
A gunshot victims’ Campus safety
program spends $1.3 The city’s six-largest A sad surprise Making bread
million a year to try and P16 colleges spend $42 million Security expenses factor Thrift shop means jobs for
stop the cycle. P9 on security each year. P14 into startup costs. P19 teenagers. P21
Going legit On the transit beat Protecting vaults Riding shotgun
P10 Companies find workers SEPTA equips 260 officers, Area bank robberies have This officer encounters the
among ex-offenders. P10 with a $14M budget. P16 averaged 332 a year. P20 drug trade nightly. P44
DailyUpdate Sign up @ philadelphia.bizjournals.com FEATURES INDEX
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2 PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL THE PRICE OF CRIME philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008
Is this a man who
just found the right job?
Or is this a man who
just found the right employee?
Don’t miss Mega, The Inquirer’s biggest job section
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To advertise, call 215-854-5448
CURT HUDSON
or email us at recruitment@phillynews.com.
For luck, tourists traditionally toss coins onto Benjamin Franklin’s grave in Old City.
Center City visitors often feel
Ten years of connecting employers with employees
insulated from violent image
PETER VAN ALLEN about how the city’s violent crime might
STAFF WRITER be viewed by outsiders.
Ask how your Mega ad can be part of a buy that will reach 86% of the job seekers in the region! When Philadelphia magazine put an
Histor y and sightseeing, not crime, image of a handgun on its November
And make plans now to attend the Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Career Fair, January 15, at the Hilton Philadelphia City Avenue Hotel.
may be foremost on the minds of tourists 2006 cover with the headline “Murder,”
and convention-goers in Philadelphia. the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Associa-
For info, go to http://go.philly.com/careerfairs.
In a series of person-on-the-street inter- tion urged hotels to pull complimentary
views in the Historic District, visitors ex- copies from guest rooms and even copies
pressed ignorance about the city’s mur- that were for sale at gift shops.
der rate and said they had had largely “The way I saw it — I’m from Alaska
pleasant experiences. — is that if my family saw that cover, they
DOLL HOUSE On a cold, windy af- never would have left the [hotel] room,”
An exclusive peer group created by ternoon, outside the said Ed Grose, executive director of the
It’s a different story fence next to Benja- association.
& designed for Financial Executives at a tourist site that’s min Franklin’s grave Some say the negative publicity comes
off the beaten path. a t C h r i s t C h u r c h with a high price tag
P21 Burial Yard, visitors that includes can-
went about their busi- ‘I didn’t celed weekend trips
ness — reading plaques, taking pictures and lost conventions.
and partaking in the tradition of tossing even To lessen potential
coins onto Franklin’s grave. Crime concerns among peo-
seemed far from their minds. consider ple who plan major
“I feel totally safe,” said San Diego resi- conventions to be
dent Lauren Yauch, who took in the [the held in Philadelphia,
sights with Tyler Prestwood. They were Mayor-elect Michael
in town for a conference on tropical dis- murder Nutter personally
Join your peers for breakfast and roundtable discussions focused on eases and stayed at the Marriott Down- called convention
the opportunities and challenges facing today’s financial executive. town Philadelphia Hotel. “One night we rate].’ planners to outline
were walking outside the Marriott and his future plans to
saw a whole bunch of police cars and a Elisa Rancie fight crime, said Tom
Wednesday, January 9, 2008 Australian tourist
Registration: 7:45 am • Session Close: 9:30 am couple of police running. So, we kind of Muldoon, president
Philadelphia Country Club, Gladwyne, Pennsylvania watched that. But otherwise we’ve felt of the Philadelphia
safe.” Convention & Visi-
The Role of the CFO in Executing the Company’s Strategic Plan: Philadelphia’s murder rate has been tors Bureau.
Leading like an entrepreneur front page news in Philadelphia. But visi- “[As a result,] plan-
Moderated by: Donna Marie DeCarolis, Ph.D., Drexel University, tors in the Historic District seemed ei- ners have felt confident that there is a
Department Head and Associate Professor of Management and Faculty ther unaware or unconcerned. good plan for the future,” Muldoon said.
Director for the Laurence A. Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship in “I didn’t even consider [the murder “Safety is absolutely a concern to all
Technology, LeBow College of Business
rate]. I didn’t look at the list,” said Elisa visitors no matter where they travel
Meetings will be held bi-monthly at the Philadelphia Country
Club, Gladwyne, Pennsylvania and will focus on topics
Rancie, a Melbourne, Australia, resident around the globe,” he said. “However,
including compensation, ethics, people strategy, and conflict visiting cities in the Northeast.
management. Still, city officials have shown concern SEE TOURISTS, P5
For more information or to register
www.theCFOAlliance.org
BUSINESS
P H I L A D E L P H I A Philadelphia Business Journal (ISSN 0744-3587) is published weekly by Philadel-
or contact Nick Araco, Jr., Esq. at 215.648.3021 phia Business Journal Inc., 400 Market St. Suite 1200, Philadelphia, PA 19106.
Periodicals Postage Rates paid at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and additional
Mission: The CFO Alliance drives individual and corporate performance through the Office
JOURNAL
mailing offices. Subscription rate is $105 for one year, $175 for two years, and
of the Financial Executive. $210 for three years. Subscriptions mailed out of the continental United States
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS are $500 for one year. POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to Philadelphia
Partners: Business Journal Inc., 400 Market St. Suite 1200, Philadelphia, PA 19106.
LeBow
philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008 THE PRICE OF CRIME PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL 3
Crime toll amounts to millions in seen and unseen costs
SONJA SHERWOOD
STAFF WRITER
Philadelphia residents and businesses
lost $156 million to thieves in 2007, ac-
cording to police reports collected by the
Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Reporting
System.
Banks reported $624,873 stolen in 114
robberies.
Convenience stores lost $505,619 dur-
ing 418 robberies.
Muggers made off with $9.4 million
from 6,526 victims.
While 2007 did not
CRIME MAP approach the 2006
Criminal hot spots. crime spike that set
P6 off alarms and helped
sweep Michael Nut-
ter into City Hall,
crime still costs residents, businesses and
taxpayers plenty.
A typical business owner spends as
much as $15,000 equipping his or her
store with a basic security system, for ex-
ample. The cost to Temple University
Hospital of treating a single gunshot vic-
tim is $37,500. Campus security budgets
at the city’s six-largest universities total
$42 million. More than $3.7 million tax
dollars went to victims’ services groups in
Philadelphia last year.
The cost of crime to the city — in repu-
CURT HUDSON
tation and lost opportunities, to say noth-
Marie Delany closed her pizza restaurant, New Oxford Pizza in Frankford, because delivery drivers were terrified.
ing of ruined lives — is hard to quantify.
Some impacts aren’t as noticeable as
one might expect — tourists, site selec- helped push me to the decision to close getting robbed at the El stop — that’s the
tors and college students for example, was on the 1100 block of Pine Street,” she OUT OF POCKET stop where the kids get off from after
take urban crime in stride. said, referring to an area that until a few school, and it’s scary.”
But many are fixed costs that persist years ago had a reputation for after-dark Philadelphia residents and businesses reported Frankford has tried to emulate strate-
even when crime appears to be in retreat, prostitution. “We closed the store there $153 million stolen on average each year gies used elsewhere to improve its busi-
as it does now. three years ago. My feeling is that things since 2000. ness corridor. It formed a revitalization
Citywide, total crime rates are better, but I don’t want to plan about 12 years ago and established
dropped roughly 15 percent in jinx myself.” YEAR VALUE OF STOLEN PROPERTY the community development corporation
2007 through mid-December. ‘My She credits the Center City (IN MILLIONS) and a special services district, which levy
Only the homicide rate re- District business association 2000 $164.7 assessments on proper ty owners for
mained up, at 392 murders in feelingand neighborhood groups for 2001 $154.8 beautification and economic develop-
2007 compared with 380 in 2006. making the area feel safer. 2002 $138.9 ment.
Long-term statistics tell a posi- is that “There’s more of a residential 2003 $146.9 But in 2005, the CDC collapsed amid fi-
tive overall story. population in Center City that 2004 $130.3 nancial mismanagement, Bowers said. It
Between 1998 and 2006, city things areuses all the ser vices and fre- 2005 $150.3 laid off its staff of a dozen people, Frank-
crime dropped 21.6 percent, ac- quents the neighbor hood 2006 $186.0 ford’s then City Councilman Rick Mari-
cording to CrimeBase, a collec- better,places,” said Smith Born. “Peo- 2007 $156.0 ano went to jail on bribery counts, and
tion of police data maintained by ple report things more quickly. the special services district fell apart.
the University of Pennsylvania’s but I don’t
There’s more awareness that Source: Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Reporting The CDC reorganized with all-new lead-
Cartographic Modeling Lab. it’s not just the job of police.” System. ers, including Delany who became its
The greatest reductions have want Not every neighborhood has president, a staff of two and a part-time
been in the category of property shared Center City’s good for- bookkeeper. The special services district
crimes — burglaries, larceny to jinx
tune. Elmwood, Kingsessing, jump in violent crime between 1998 and has also regrouped and resumed limited
and auto theft — which ac- Frankford, Tacony, and the Wis- 2006. trash pickup.
counted for more than 90 per- myself.’sahickon Valley Park neighbor- Delany said crimes there have become “There was a lot of anger and discon-
cent of reported losses last year hoods saw overall crime accel- more serious since the late ’90s, when tent about the CDC … promises made
and three quarters of all inci- Wendy Smith erate over the decade. most were nuisances. that weren’t kept, and that was there, but
dents. (Maps on page 6 show Born Marie Delany and her hus- “Now we have...gunshots going off at we think that’s been changing, and we
where crime was most intense.) Metropolitan band Ken closed their year-old least once a week on Penn Street,” she hope there’s more suppor t,” Bowers
Nowhere have falling crime Bakery pizza parlor on Oxford Avenue said. said.
rates been more apparent than in the Frankford section four “People do not feel safe in Frankford; in The feeling in Frankford, true or not, is
in Center City. months ago because they fact, there’s a large level of alarm,” said that Center City’s success was had at
Ten years ago, police logged couldn’t keep delivery drivers Catherine Bowers, vice president of the Frankford’s expense.
far more reports in Center City than in from quitting. board of the Frankford Community De- “Some people directly blame Center
any other neighborhood. “They were beat up and robbed and velopment Corp. since 2005 and execu- City for displacing poor people,” said
Between 1998 and 2006, incidents there they were out and outright afraid,” said tive director of Frankford Group Minis- Bowers. “I heard from a former CDC em-
dropped more than 40 percent. Delany, a longtime Frankford resident. “I tr y, a United Methodist church. “One ployee, I don’t know if it’s true, that peo-
Even so, Wendy Smith Born, co-owner had one person hand back all the pizzas person I know was on his way to work ple were specifically moved from Center
of five Metropolitan Bakery stores, has he went out with and say, ‘Here, you de- and he got robbed and shot, and he City to Frankford by the housing agency
seen her shops robbed seven times over liver this yourself.’ After 8 or 9 o’clock it doesn’t want to be in the paper because to get them out of the way down there.”
the years, most recently in 2005. turns into OK Corral.” he doesn’t want retribution. In the last
“The one that was robbed the most and Frankford experienced a 126 percent couple of weeks there have been people ssherwood@bizjournals | 215-238-5143
4 PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL THE PRICE OF CRIME philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008
New police commish Ramsey will enlist businesses’ help
ATHENA D. MERRITT because purchasers pay-as-they-go for use and don’t
STAFF WRITER need to provide identity, are red flags, Ramsey said.
“It may be nothing, but let us know,” Ramsey said.
During Charles H. Ramsey’s nearly nine-year tenure After a series of robberies involving night clerks at
as chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the hotels in Washington, the hotels were equipped with a
District of Columbia crime dropped about 40 percent. paging system. If a robbery or scam happened at one
Ramsey enlisted Washington’s business community hotel, all of the hotels were alerted of the incident by the
in his effort to drive crime rates down, something he paging system so they
will be looking to repeat as the new police commis- could be on the lookout
sioner of Philadelphia, he said. ‘I will be and not become victims
Locally, the chambers of commerce and other busi- themselves, Ramsey said.
ness associations will be among the first groups with reaching out to Ramsey also worked with
which he will seek to forge relationships in Philadel- D.C.’s Police Foundation
phia. Ramsey said he also plans to establish liaisons everybody.’ to address youth crime,
with businesses, using possibly police district com- through an initiative that
manders or district captains, to keep the lines of com- Charles H. Ramsey targeted youths on proba-
munication between police and businesses open. incoming police tion for auto theft, he said.
Businesses are major stakeholders in a city and as commissioner The Police Foundation pro-
such they can play a vital role in reducing crime rates, vided the seed money for
Ramsey said. “We had very good relationships with the the program, Operation
businesses in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “We provided Prevent Auto Theft, which
information on a regular basis.” made juveniles aware of the consequences of their ac-
Sharing crime prevention tips and informing busi- tions, Ramsey said.
nesses of crime trends in their areas, especially new “People don’t think about what that vehicle means, it’s
spikes in a certain type of incident, can put a dent in just a joy ride to them,” Ramsey said of the program,
crime by making business more aware, Ramsey said. Charles H. whose participants had a 80 percent rate of nonrepeat
“We work with businesses so they can better educate Ramsey’s tenure offenses.
their employees so they are less likely to become vic- as Philadelphia’s Though Ramsey’s efforts have been mostly focused
tims themselves,” he said. new top officer so far on familiarizing himself with Philadelphia and its
Businesses can also be used to alert police to suspi- begins today at police department, he said making rounds in the busi-
cious activity. For example, a hotel clerk who notices a the Roundhouse. ness community was also a priority.
guest receiving frequent visitors who only stay for a “I will be reaching out to everybody,” Ramsey said.
short period of time or a store clerk who has a customer
who buys several “disposable” cell phones, called such CURT HUDSON amerritt@bizjournals.com | 215-238-5149
Research and experience shows BIDs’ safety patrols work
NATALIE KOSTELNI City, Part I crime, those that are the most “It’s difficult to isolate those things,” nage, banners and other streetscape im-
STAFF WRITER serious, from rape and robbery to murder, Wendell said. provements to create an enticing environ-
are down 12 percent from 1998 to 2006, ac- Extensive research conducted by Lor- ment for pedestrians, criminals are
Center City and University City have cording to UCD data. Just from this year to lene Hoyt, assistant professor of urban deterred, according to Hoyt.
dramatically curtailed crime in their neigh- last, those crimes are down 7 percent. In planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Not ever y improvement district sup-
borhoods as a result of beefed up safety Center City, all serious crimes have been Technology, concluded business improve- ports regular cleaning, let alone pays for
programs that include a direct line to the cut by 44 percent between 1993 and 2006. ment districts themselves make a real dif- safety ambassadors.
Philadelphia Police Department. Theft from auto, which had been the most ference in thwarting crime, while the addi- The CCD has the advantage of receiving
Of the 11 business improvement dis- prevalent crime and accounts for two- tion of safety ambassadors linked to police its funding by taxing property owners in
tricts in Philadelphia, Center City and Uni- thirds of all crime experienced in the helps even more. Prior to teaching at MIT, one of the city’s priciest neighborhoods,
versity City are the only two that operate downtown area, has been slashed by 80.3 Hoyt worked as a crime analyst for the where skyscrapers’ assessed values are in
their own special safety forces that work in percent. Philadelphia Police Depart- the tens of millions of dollars. The UCD is
tandem with police. It comes at a cost. “Once you create the reputation that ment and also worked at the financed by a collaboration of institutions
The Center City District, a special ser- there are eyes and ears on the street, you Philadelphia Housing Au- in its area, with the University of Pennsyl-
vices district established in 1991, spends create a halo effect,” said Paul Levy, CCD thority. vania the lead sponsor. University City also
$3 million annually for a troop of 42 so- executive director. “The basic crime trends Additional eyes and ears on has the benefit of the presence of other se-
called “safety ambassadors” who work in the downtown have been low and have the street, especially by those curity forces used by such institutions as
seven days a week in two daily shifts that been on a downward trend for a decade.” who care about their neigh- Drexel University and the University of
run from morning rush hours to 11 p.m. One of the more challenging conclu- Levy borhoods, make a difference, the Sciences.
The University City District, formed in sions to draw on the reduction of crime in Hoyt said in a recent inter- “It is not realistic that this can be repli-
1997, spends $1.5 million a year to employ these two business improvement districts view. It’s not just an increase cated in a lot of smaller neighborhoods
more than 40 ambassadors. is whether the decline is the result of the in safety patrols but street sweepers, main- because this is completely based on the
These uniformed bicycle and foot pa- safety ambassadors’ presence or a combi- tenance crews, as well as marketing cam- tax base,” Levy said. “This is not a panacea
trols carry no weapons and are instructed nation of other efforts made by the im- paigns that bring additional shoppers and for other neighborhoods because every
to use no force under any circumstances provement districts. other pedestrians to an area that, com- other district can fund a certain amount of
other than self-defense. For example, during the same period bined, increase the awareness that helps cleaning activity and very few have the re-
They have constant radio contact with in which University City saw crime inci- deter criminal activity. sources to fund this.
the police districts in their neighborhoods. dences decline, the University of Pennsyl- Another factor at play is the “broken win- However, putting a uniformed cleaning
Both the CCD and the UCD maintain Phil- vania instituted a low-interest mortgage dows” theor y that criminals tend to be officer on the street can have a deterrent
adelphia police substations from which program to encourage faculty and admin- drawn to areas with signs of neglect, such effect and send a message that someone is
badged Philadelphia police officers moni- istrators to buy houses in the neighbor- as broken windows, vacant buildings, trash there and someone is in charge.”
tor crime trends, ready to be deployed. hood. The program was popular and over- strewn streets and sidewalks. Other countries, such as England and
“They are the eyes and ears for the Po- subscribed. In addition, a new Penn-run When an area attracts criminals, fewer Canada, find value in improvement dis-
lice Department,” said Lewis Wendell, ex- elementary school was established, creat- pedestrians venture into it, and then it falls tricts and support them by making avail-
ecutive director of the UCD, about the am- ing a desirable alternative to pre-existing into decay, according to Hoyt’s research. able matching funds or seed money to
bassadors. “If you look at the statistics, it public schools and even boosting property But when a business improvement dis- support the organizations, Hoyt said.
has been quite effective.” values in a catchment area that serves the trict deploys crews to regularly sweep and “That’s the direction we need to go in,”
The data are compelling. In University school. clean grafitti as well as fund lighting, sig- she said. ■
philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008 THE PRICE OF CRIME PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL 5
Crime isn’t the only factor for site selectors
NATALIE KOSTELNI margin because the issue of security is capacity with Deloitte & Touche/Fantus
STAFF WRITER not a net positive for Philadelphia.” Consulting. A community with a high
Biggins noted that Mayor-elect Mi- crime rate can be written off just based
Crime can play a role in a company’s chael Nutter has already laid out a goal on perception, Cranmer said.
decision whether to locate operations in of fighting crime at the same time as If a community has a crime problem
Philadelphia or in any other city, but the championing economic development. and remains on a list for consideration, a
weight the issue carries varies from firm That, Biggins said, will likely give busi- company will then evaluate whether a
to firm and depends on what a company ness confidence going forward that the city is dangerous either for employees to
is ultimately seeking. work or live in. A company may believe a
When a site location consultant is help- city is safe for its business but not so safe
ing a prospective company evaluate a lo- ‘The trouble is ... you for worker to reside in, and decide to
cation for expansion or relocation of op- have them live in a nearby, safer area.
erations, a city’s crime rate is always don’t know who may have Under that scenario, the economic
factored into an overall equation, accord- punch a new or expanding company may
ing to site and corporate location ex- considered us and didn’t have on a city is curtailed. “A community
perts. would miss out on all of that economic
There’s no hard evidence a company look at us because of impact of people living, shopping, going
has either left Philadelphia or decided to schools,” Cranmer said.
against locating here because of any on- crime.’ From Cranmer’s perspective, Philadel-
going crime problem and high homicide phia’s crime climate is “not favorable.” CURT HUDSON
rate. Tom Morr “It’s not a positive thing in terms of San Diegans Tyler Prestwood and
“The trouble is that’s one of those is- Select Greater Philadelphia public perception,” he said. “It’s not the Lauren Yauch stroll Arch Street.
sues that you don’t know what you don’t Wild West, but there’s a perception that
know,” said Tom Morr, president and people have whether it’s accurate or not.
CEO of Select Greater Philadelphia,
marketing and economic development
People in Kansas City don’t know what
Philadelphia is about. It’s an urban envi-
TOURISTS
arm of the Greater Philadelphia Cham- issue will be addressed. ronment and you’re going to find crime, FROM PAGE 2
ber of Commerce. “You don’t know who Biggins and other site location consul- but it’s limited and businesses are typi-
may have considered us and didn’t look tants haven’t automatically eliminated cally not at risk. There’s not an urban what we have found is that visitors
at us because of crime.” Philadelphia from their lists because of environment that doesn’t have some and planners who often work in or
Select spends $4 million a year to mar- crime issues. Instead, crime is among crime difficulty.” travel to major urban destinations,
ket the region and attract businesses. dozens of criteria calculated into a com- Bob Ady of Ady International in Mount such as Philadelphia, are less con-
Morr, who held a similar position in pany’s location decision. Prospect, Ill., has been in the corporate cerned with news on crime. But re-
Washington, when it was dubbed the Dennis Donovan, a corporate location site location business for 30 years. He gardless, the stories on crime have
“murder capital of the country,” and cor- consultant with Wadley Donovan Guts- has found crime to be one of 20 to 30 resonated with some people nation-
porate location consultants who do busi- haw Consulting in Springfield, N.J., said ally. We have had several meeting
ness in Philadelphia are, however, cer- crime is always an issue but becomes a planners call us about the topic, but
tain Philadelphia’s crime hasn’t reached
proportions where the city is no longer
real concern when it comes to smaller
communities such as Camden, Yonkers
‘I’ve never eliminated a none have decided to move their
business as a result.”
considered as a business destination.
“We haven’t had a company we’re
and New Rochelle, N.Y.
“That’s a red flag and could be a deal
location because of a Joe Goldblatt, senior lecturer and
executive director for Strategic Part-
aware of make a decision against the re-
gion or not to come here because of
breaker,” Donovan said.
When it comes to metropolitan areas,
crime rate.’ nerships and Professional Develop-
ment at the Temple University
crime,” Morr said, adding: “It’s obvi- such as Philadelphia; Newark, N.J.; and Bob Ady School of Tourism and Hospitality
ously something all of us in the commu- other cities, it’s not as big of a deal. Ady International Management, has studied the effect
nity are concerned about.” “Even in those places where crime of violent crime on tourism.
For some corporate consultants, crime rates are high, they are high in other “Historically, when there have
is an issue that naturally arises when metropolitan areas such as Atlanta,” he been crime waves, unless they’re
evaluating a large metropolitan area that, said. “Philadelphia has no better or no specifically targeted at tourists, there
not unlike other cities, has pockets of worse an image when it comes to crime, other criteria such as cost of living, avail- was no effect,” Goldblatt said.
urban strife. Crime statistics are factored able housing, labor, taxes, included in an However, if tourists are involved,
in with other considerations like high overall assessment of an area. word spreads fast and it can have a
business taxes or a labor shortage. On ‘Anything you can do to “It doesn’t rank very high in most loca- chilling effect on visitorship, he said.
the other hand, there are cases when the tions,” he said about crime. “There are Goldblatt cited a rash of violent crime
issue can heavily influence a company’s lower the crime rate does much more important things like labor, in Miami in which two British tour-
location decision and have far-reaching finding people you need at reasonable ists were killed. Tourism plummeted,
economic effects. help the image and make costs.” rebounding only when visitors could
Jay Biggins of Biggins Lacy Shapiro & Again, how it’s factored in depends on be assured it was safe again.
Co., a site-location consulting firm in it easier to sell and gives the situation. If a company is comparing “It usually picks up again with busi-
Princeton, believes crime is on the verge Philadelphia to places like Columbus, ness travel, social travel, weddings
of becoming one of Philadelphia’s big- favorable publicity.’ Ohio; or Pittsburgh and it looks at the and the like,” Goldblatt said. “There’s
gest problems. [larger metro area], it’s not as important rarely a correlation between tourism
“Crime and the perception of an unsafe Dennis Donovan or high on the scale, he said. On the and crime. But, if tourists are tar-
environment could emerge as one of Wadley Donovan Gutshaw Consulting other hand, if a company has decided on geted, it has a short-term impact.”
Philadelphia’s most important economic Philadelphia and is looking to build in a It’s possible suburbanites may be
development challenges because the specific neighborhood in Philadelphia more affected by reports by crime.
perception of security is fundamental to where crime is rampant, it will then have “People from the suburbs are only
the ability of a place to compete,” Big- a greater impact on that decision. going to come in if they feel safe,”
gins said. and it hasn’t hampered business recruit- Ady concedes crime is an issue in the said Jonathan Morein, a former
“If you can’t feel safe, then it’s hard to ment. Obviously, though, anything you City of Brotherly Love. Town Watch leader in Manayunk.
recruit and retain employees. Now, I’m can do to lower the crime rate does help “Historically it’s been a problem but I “The fact that Manayunk had a
not saying Philadelphia is unable to com- the image and makes it easier to sell and can’t eliminate Philadelphia on that thriving Main Street was due to the
pete because they are successfully com- gives favorable publicity.” basis,” he said. “I’ve never eliminated a fact that the neighborhood had sta-
peting, winning and losing some in the Some companies rank crime as an location because of a crime rate because bility. A stable neighborhood is why
market. But in hundreds of location deci- issue higher than other firms might, said it’s just one of the many factors that you you had a thriving business dis-
sions being made every week, Philadel- Les Cranmer, a corporate relocation con- consider.” trict.”
phia will start losing some opportunities sultant in the Philadelphia office of Stud-
that could have other wise won at the ley Inc., who also worked in the same nkostelni@bizjournals.com | 215-238-5139 pvanallen@bizjournals.com | 215-238-5145
6 PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL THE PRICE OF CRIME philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008
57
57
CRIME
5
6
OT SPOTS
me and violent crime affect different neigh-
66 o different degrees. The maps on this page
8
48 e crime was most prevalent in 2007, based
8 22
22 4
47 eports. The chart underneath shows how crime
11
11 15
15 65
65 hiladelphia neighborhoods changed over the
52
52
riod between 1998 and 2006.
16
16 45
45
5
55 14
14
64
64 3
30
2
42 39
39
35
35
36
36 43
43
68
68 24
24
60
60
7
37 13
13 23
23
61
61 31
31 32
32
1
19
19 8
28
4
69
69 9
29
59
59 41
41 53
53
33
33
44 3 63
63
27
27 40
40 2 50
50 21
21
20
20
51
51
12
12 7 9
62
62
56
56 10
1
34
34 54
9 7
49 67
26 58
5
18
18 25
5 4
46
38
1
17
y
2007 Property Crime 19 - 48 2007 Violent Crime 7 - 20
49 - 88 21 - 37
incidents per 1/4 mile incidents per 1/4 mile
89 - 152 38 - 62
153 - 309 63 - 134
310 - 705
6
00
06
19 e
-2
20
e im
d
98
8-
oo
ge me
ng Cr
99
rh
an ri
1
C rty
Ch t C
bo
% pe
ha
% en
gh
o
ol
ei
Pr
Vi
N
1. Allegheny West -35.4 -24.5 24. Germantown -37.9 -30.9 47. Pennypack -31.4 +79.6
2. Belmont -10.6 +13.1 25. Girard Estates -25.7 +22.5 48. Pennypack Park -22.9 -40
3. Brewerytown -19.9 -22.6 26. Grays Ferry -26.01 +55.2 49. Point Breeze -35.7 +4.13
Crime Trends 1998-2006 (%)
4. Bridesburg -13.5 +80.7 27. Haddington -29.3 +11.6 50. Poplar -17.3 -16.9
5. Bustleton -43.6 +229.03 28. Harrowgate -16.8 +8.6 51. Powelton -13.7 +55.08
6. Byberry -17.3 +85.7 29. Hartranft -17.2 -1.8 52. Rhawnhurst -22.7 +39.2
7. Cedar Park -15.6 +6.3 30. Holmesburg -26.5 +117 53. Richmond -18.1 +26.8
8. Cedarbrook -45.9 -33.02 31. Hunting Park -20.5 -11.8 54. Riverfront -66.7 -41.8
9. Center City West -44.5 -17.3 32. Juniata Park -21.9 +43.2 55. Roxborough -28.8 -2.7
10. Center City East -40.7 -9.93 33. Kensington -33.09 +3.63 56. Schuylkill -23.1 -36.5
11. Chestnut Hill -63.8 -50 34. Kingsessing 0 +26 57. Somerton -35.1 +30.1
12. Cobbs Creek -15.6 +8.05 35. Lawncrest -17.7 +106.6 58. South Philadelphia -21.3 +43.2
13. East Falls -17.07 -18.3 36. Logan -34.8 -25 59. Strawberry Mansion -29.2 +0.99
14. East Germantown -23.3 +17.3 37. Manayunk -31.3 +7.9 60. Tacony -0.14 +191.6
15. East Mount Airy -39.2 +1.71 38. Marconi Plaza -43.9 -17.2 61. Tioga -35.4 -13.8
16. East Oak Lane -29.8 +5.51 39. Mayfair -15.7 +104.5 62. University City -13.4 -5.58
17. Eastwick -18.8 +6.25 40. Mill Creek -24.6 -5.44 63. West Kensington -36.6 -29.5
18. Elmwood -13.7 +105.7 41. North Central +3.08 -8.7 64. West Mount Airy -57.2 +14.2
19. Fairhill -33.5 -15.7 42. Ogontz -41.8 -16.6 65. West Oak Lane -35.1 -27.2
20. Fairmount -33.5 -13.9 43. Olney -35.4 +14.8 66. West Torresdale -26.1 +36.9
21. Fishtown -37.1 -21.5 44. Overbrook -24.2 -1.36 67. Wharton -36.5 +5.18
22. Fox Chase -29.7 +91.1 45. Oxford Circle -21.9 +161.7 68. Wissahickon Park +18.03 -57.1
23. Frankford -15.8 +125.8 46. Pennsport -33.7 -16.09 69. Wynnefield -19.6 +9.13
Map Source: Philadelphia Police Dept. (Jan.1 through Dec. 27) Crime Trends Source: University of Pennsylvania Cartographic Modeling Lab’s Crime Base
philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008 THE PRICE OF CRIME PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL 7
BREAKING NEWS
-FROM THE PUBLISHER-
Dear Readers,
Get breaking news as it happens, directly from me. Several
times weekly, I’ll e-mail you breaking news at least 12 hours
before it’s in the morning paper. To get this free service,
send your e-mail address to me, lkremer@bizjournals.com.
Your privacy is protected. I maintain the list myself.
Lyn Kremer, Publisher
P.S. Just type “News”
in the subject line.
CURT HUDSON
Case worker Desiree McDonald interviews an applicant for training at the Mayor’s
Office for Re-entry of Ex-Offenders at 52nd Street and Woodland Avenue.
THE LIFE OF YOUR COMPANY
MAY DECIDE THE LIFESTYLE YOU LEAD.
Activists, businesses, public WILL YOUR LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT ADDRESS LEADERSHIP GAPS?
Drexel University’s Corporate and Executive Education programs at LeBow College of
officials seek out remedies Business provide innovative and forward-thinking solutions to today’s management
challenges.
ATHENA D. MERRITT Some 40,000 released inmates land in From sharpening individual management and technological skills to developing effective
STAFF WRITER Philadelphia each year, according to a educational programs for entire organizations, LeBow’s CORPORATE LEARNING
repor t released by the University of SOLUTIONS deploy advanced approaches to complement industry expertise,
In April, when Health Partners made a Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and
plea for an end to the violence in Phila- Practice in November. Typically, prison- augment leadership skills and enhance global management perspectives.
delphia, five businesses were by its side ers exit the system with less than $100, a Why Drexel’s LeBow College of Business? Because it is flexible and relevant, featuring
recognizing the city’s then 116 homicide small package of personal belongings, several different programs to enable you and your organization to succeed:
victims. the clothes they arrived in and a bus
Philadelphia’s 2007 murder count ticket back to wherever they were ar- • CUSTOM SOLUTIONS and IN COMPANY SOLUTIONS
grew to 392, and with it suppor t for rested. developed specifically for your organization
Health Partners’ Silence the Violence Upon returning to Philadelphia now
campaign, which now has between 60 they have the suppor t of two “ex-of- • OPEN ENROLLMENT PROGRAMS including:
and 80 businesses on board. fender reentry one stop centers,” which – NONCREDIT ONLINE CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS
In the five months following Health were opened by Mayor John F. Street – CREDITED GRADUATE CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS
Par tners’ plea, a nurse was savagely this year to help former inmates get back – DREXEL EXECUTIVE MBA
beaten on her way to visit a woman ex- on their feet by putting all of the services
pecting twins in the city’s Fern Rock sec- they need under one roof. Corporate learners are taught by top
tion and another was shot leaving a hos- The centers are located in two of the educators from Drexel University and
pice in Fairmount, Health Par tners seven neighborhoods in the city (Fairhill, select international institutions through
President and CEO William S. George North Central, Kingsessing, Frankford, the Global Knowledge Network. Our
said. Richmond, Cobbs Creek and Tioga) that
It’s that type of violence that has shoulder the highest number of return- faculty will analyze and assess key
brought more businesses to Health Part- ing ex-offenders. The goal is to eventu- performance indicators essential
ners’ side. Its campaign joins other ef- ally have a center in each of the neigh- to adding immediate and lasting
forts under way to address issues that borhoods, said Harriet Spencer, director value to you and your organization.
range from the pursuit of tougher gun of ex-offender reentry services for the
laws to Mayor-elect Michael Nutter’s Mayor’s Office for the Reentry of Ex-Of- Each program is tailored to you and
controversial stop-and-frisk proposal. fenders. your organization, and is offered
The hope is that each will help chip “We help anybody who wants help. online, in the classroom or at your
away at the tide of crime in some way, Our reason is if we are going to help re- facility to optimize the learning
both now and in the future. duce the amount of crime in the city it experience.
“When you think about all of the solu- makes no sense to work with people who
tions, it’s everything from after-school have committed misdemeanors and not CHOOSE A SOLUTION FOCUSED
programs to rebuilding neighborhoods those who have committed the more se- ON YOUR SUCCESS.
to rebuilding the school system,” George rious crimes,” Spencer said. “We can’t
said. “For ever y challenge out there, turn our back on any segment of the 215.895.1604
there are probably five groups out there population, they all need help and if we EXECUTIVE@DREXEL.EDU
trying to do something about it.” don’t help them what we are saying in WWW.LEBOW.DREXEL.EDU/EXECED
Health Partners has met with various effect is continue to commit crime.”
anti-violence activists and government At the centers, at 1741 S. 54 St. and
and business leaders, and plans to gather 1952 E. Allegheny Ave., ex-of fenders
business leaders next to carve out short- can meet with probation and parole offi-
and long-term goals for quelling brutal- cers and tap into a variety of services, in-
ity, George said. cluding high-school equivalency COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
“If you make something a priority it
happens. At this point we have to pick
one or two things, and say this is our pri-
degrees classes, job training and place-
ment, housing assistance and treatment LEARN HERE, LEAD ANYWHERE® LeBow
ority right now,” George said. SEE REMEDIES, P11
8 PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL THE PRICE OF CRIME philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008
Gun-related treatment costs top $128M in Philadelphia
JOHN GEORGE
STAFF WRITER ‘If you are
Joe Davis will be the first to admit he was not moved
far from an upstanding citizen as a young
man living in North Philadelphia in the by, night
1980s.
“I was selling dope, getting high,” Davis after night,
said. “I wasn’t a very good guy.”
Then, at age 25, Davis was shot in the people
back by a 14-year-old boy, the boyfriend of
a teenage girl Davis had threatened. Even being shot
that didn’t change him — at least not right
away. Though the gunshot left him a para- in your
plegic, Davis went back to selling and tak-
ing drugs. city … then
“I didn’t handle things very well and fell
by the wayside for a lot of years,” he said. from an
“I remember being in my mom’s house
getting high on the second floor and de- economic
cided I didn’t want to live like this any-
more. Problem was, I didn’t want anyone viewpoint
else to live either. So I took a whole bunch
of pills and lit a cigarette.” you better
Davis said his plan was to leave the ciga-
rette on his mattress and burn the house be moved.’
down. That tragedy was prevented when
his sister heard him gagging. He woke up Amy Goldberg
a few days later in the hospital with his Temple University
mother at his bedside. Hospital
“That was the beginning of the road to CURT HUDSON
recovery for me,” he recalled. Paralyzed by a gunshot wound at age 25, Joe Davis shares his story to steer kids away from violence.
Today, Davis tells his story about vio-
lence to kids as part of the ThinkFirst pro-
gram at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, ries about crime] … Condos are going up down all the people they would miss.
the Center City medical center that cared all over the city, but who is going to move if To measure the program’s effectiveness,
for him after his paralysis. people keep getting shot?” Temple is using a questionnaire developed
“I go to schools, churches, synagogues by the Centers for Disease Control and
— anywhere there are young people,” he Teaching from experience Prevention in Atlanta that measures atti-
said. “I’ll go to a telephone booth if there At Temple University Hospital, more tudes toward guns and violence. The sur-
are young people there.” than 700 teenagers have passed through a vey is administered two weeks before the
Magee is just one of the Philadelphia program that provides an up-close-and- teenagers go through the program and
medical centers that have, along with the personal view of what happens when a vic- again four weeks after.
Pennsylvania Department of Health, de- tim of a violent crime is wheeled into the Charles said the preliminary results are
veloped programs aimed at preventing vio- North Philadelphia hospital’s emergency promising.
lent crimes. Treating victims of violent department. “A lot of the gunshot victims we get here
crime costs hospitals millions of dollars “We take the kids on the very path that a are kids who grew up poor without a lot of
every year in uncompensated care. very unfortunate 16-year-old who died of education and no occupational promise,”
In 2005, the most recent year for which multiple gunshot wounds [was on],” Gold- Charles said. “All they have is their social
statistics are available, Philadelphia medi- berg said. capital. They take every slight more seri-
cal centers treated 803 patients for firearm- The idea behind Temple’s Cradle-to- ous. This program tries to help kids keep
related injuries resulting in total hospital Grave program is to get kids to grasp the minor squabbles in better perspective. If
charges of more than $128.4 million, ac- realities and repercussions of gun vio- someone steps on their shoe, we want
cording to data compiled by the Delaware lence. them to think about whether it is worth
Valley Hospital Council. “We know they play video games and lis- risking their life” to retaliate.
In the five-county region that same year, ten to rap music to get one view of violence
hospitals treated 935 shooting victims re- CURT HUDSON that isn’t realistic,” Goldberg said. Breaking the cycle
sulting in total hospital charges of just Joe Davis is part of the ThinkFirst pro- The program was developed in Febru- Last year, the Pennsylvania Department
under $146 million. gram at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital. ary 2006 by Goldberg and Scott Charles, of Health launched the Pennsylvania In-
Temple University Hospital in North the hospital’s trauma outreach coordina- jury Reporting and Intervention System
Philadelphia estimates the cost for treating government program that covers medical tor. (PIRIS) program created to collect data
the average gunshot victim — the person costs of the poor, or indirectly through bill- Together, they lead kids through the and to provide immediate interventions
who is treated, admitted and goes home a ing to uninsured patients. front doors of the trauma center into a when a firearm victim is admitted to a
week later — is $37,500. “We need to look at preventing this vio- trauma bay where Charles has one of the trauma center.
“For the patient who is shot through the lence,” Johnson said. “It’s an issue we need kids lay on an operating table. He then “We don’t want to stop at just gathering
neck and becomes a quadriplegic, the cost to get in front of, not just address through uses red stickers to represent all the holes information,” Johnson said. “We want to
is off the charts,” said Dr. Amy Goldberg, the criminal justice system. … The impact where bullets entered the 16-year-old’s then act to break the cycle of violence.”
Temple’s chief of trauma surgery. “And is felt across the entire population. If it body. The final stop of the tour is the The Health Department implemented
most of the care we provide is to the unin- doesn’t affect somebody emotionally, it af- morgue. the program initially at the Hospital of the
sured or underinsured.” fects them from an economic level.” Next, they go through an exercise in University of Pennsylvania and the Albert
Goldberg agreed. which students are asked who they would Einstein Medical Center, which collec-
Costs borne by all “If you are not moved by, night after die for. tively treated 37 percent of the total fire-
Dr. Calvin Johnson, secretar y of the night, people being shot in your city, your “Most will say their parents or grandpar- arm-related injuries among patients ages
Pennsylvania Depar tment of Public state — then from an economic viewpoint ents or a maybe a sibling,” Charles said. “I 15 to 24 statewide in 2004.
Health, said about 72 percent of the hospi- you better be moved,” she said. “They are tell them the people dying here are not Under the program, gunshot victims
tal costs associated with treating patients building a big addition to the convention dying for those people.” and their families are referred to the Phila-
with firearm injuries are carried directly center, but who is going to want to bring a The kids are then given toe tags, like the
by public dollars through Medicaid, the convention here if we are on CNN [in sto- one used on dead gunshot victims, to write SEE TRAUMA, P9
philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008 THE PRICE OF CRIME PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL 9
State program reaches out to victims to get lives on track
JOHN GEORGE school and getting their diplomas.
STAFF WRITER Those in their early 20s often had
dropped out of school and will want to get
Among the more than 200 gunshot vic- a general equivalency diploma, Spears
tims referred to the Pennsylvania Depart- said, or want to discuss going to college or
ment of Health’s PIRIS program is Meralie getting specialized vocational training.
Batista, a 21-year-old mother of three who “The issue is not that these people have
was shot twice in 2006 while sitting with no goals,” Spears said. “I think that’s a
friends on steps outside her North Phila- common misconception. By and large,
delphia home. that’s not the case. What we see is people
Batista said a man pulled up in a car, got who don’t have role models, someone they
out and fired bullets into her group in re- can see go through the process of going to
taliation for a fight that had occurred ear- college or learning a trade.”
lier in the day. Spears said it’s rare for gunshot victims
“I didn’t even know I was shot until I saw who qualify for the PIRIS program to turn
the blood streaming down my leg,” she re- down the help. She said since April 2006,
called. “I was in a state of shock after I saw PHMC has received 211 referrals and only
the guy get out of the car and just start 17 people have refused to participate.
shooting at us.” The average time a person stays with the
Batista was in Temple University Hospi- program is four-and-a-half months. Spears
tal for about three weeks recovering from wishes it was longer. In that time, she said,
her wounds. During that time she met the case workers can provide basic assis-
with a case worker from the Philadelphia tance such as getting somebody a Social
Health Management Corp. (PHMC), who Security number or photo identification,
explained the PIRIS program. and begin to tackle complex problems,
PIRIS — Pennsylvania Injury Reporting such as navigating the confusing world of
and Intervention — is a violence-reduction CURT HUDSON
health insurance and rehabilitation.
initiative established last year by the state Nicole Ricketts, a case manager with Philadelphia Health Management Corp., visits She said one of the greatest challenges
Health Department. The annual budget with PIRIS participant Christopher Lee, 18, at his home in West Philadelphia. for the case managers is dealing with a
for PIRIS is $1.3 million. PHMC, a nonproft young population.
city-based public health organization, ad- “You’re talking about people who can be
ministers the program. gram is in place, initially, at the busy management supervisor. “Sometimes it impatient, who want instant gratification
Batista is still a part of PIRIS today. trauma centers of Albert Einstein Medical will be in the hospital, sometimes it will be and, sometimes, carry a sense of entitle-
“They’ve helped me with a lot of stuff,” Center, Temple University Hospital and in the community if the patient has been ment,” she said.
Batista said. “They’ve helped me with fi- the Hospital at the University of Pennsyl- discharged.” “Their attitude is, ‘I was shot, I’m the vic-
nancial things. They’ve helped me with my vania. Spears said the case manager will dis- tim here, why are things so hard.’ We real-
kids. They’ve given me cab vouchers so I The hospitals contact PHMC whenever cuss what happened, why it happened and ize for many of them, it’s the first time
can get where I need to go. They give me a gunshot victim in the program’s age the areas a person needs help with to avoid somebody they don’t know reaches out
advice. They are somebody to talk to.” range is brought into their emergency de- becoming a victim of crime again. and takes them by the hand and offers
The dual goals of the PIRIS program are partment. The younger crime victims, she said, support.”
to collect data and provide assistance to “A case manager will make the initial typically will say they haven’t been attend-
firearm victims, ages 15 to 24. The pro- contact,” said Doris Spears, PHMC’s case ing school and will want help going back to jgeorge@bizjournals.com | 215-238-5137
TRAUMA: About two-thirds of gunshot treatments are paid through Medicaid
FROM PAGE 8 more prevention was needed.” “Like any other prevention activity that
Cheney said FICAP takes a multidisci- involves behavioral change, you have to
delphia Health Management Corp., which plinar y approach to study the conse- give it at least five years to see a differ-
has coordinated a network providing in- quences of firearm injuries. One of the ence.”
terventions and services designed to miti- goals has been to try to determine all the Davis, the former dr ug dealer, has
gate the impact of gun violence. different opportunities when people had shared his story with thousands of kids
As of last month, PIRIS had received the chance to intervene and possibly pre- while participating in Magee’s ThinkFirst
more than 200 referrals. Only 17 have re- vent a violent crime from occurring. program, a national prevention program
fused to participate. “There’s never going to be that one thing started by a couple of Chicago neurosur-
you can do to prevent a firearm injury,” geons concerned about the increasing
Tracking firearm injuries she said. number of young patients they were treat-
Penn, prior to becoming a site for the Cheney said one of her major struggles ing for brain and spinal cord injuries.
PIRIS program, had been operating its is securing funding for the program’s re- “The first time I talked to a group, I was
own program for 10 years — the Firearm searchers, given the highly politicized sub- absolutely terrified,” Davis said. “The truth
and Injury Center at Penn, or FICAP. ject of firearm ownership. was the thing that calmed me down, I
The center conducts scientific studies “We have had to push past that focus on didn’t tell any lies about anything. I have
concerning the reduction of firearm and the injury and the consequences of the in- never had to write anything down. I just
violent injury, while enhancing ongoing jury on patient, his family and the commu- talk about my life.”
research, advocacy and dissemination of nity around him,” she said. “The costs are Davis said it’s impossible to know
study findings. all across the board, not just medical care. what kind of impact his stor y has on
Rose Cheney, FICAP executive director, Once you pull at it, you start to unravel the kids, but that’s not going to stop him
said the program was initiated by Dr. C. many pieces of impact.” from telling it.
William Schwab, soon after he was named The ripple effect, Cheney said, extends One day, Davis ran into a student ap-
head of Penn’s trauma center. to everything from the stress experienced plying to be a nurse intern at Magee.
Around that time, Cheney said, the by all the members of a neighborhood Dr. Amy Goldberg, Temple University After being in the audience for one of
trauma center was experiencing a shift of where a shooting takes place to the impact Hospital’s chief of trauma surgery. his talks, the girl was inspired to be-
gun-injury patients shot by revolvers to crime has on where businesses decide to come a nurse.
those shot by semiautomatic weapons. locate. pand the PIRIS program into the western “I didn’t know her, but she knew me,”
“Dr. Schwab was seeing more holes [in part of the state this year. Johnson said Davis recalled. “She said I was the reason
the gunshot victims coming into the Measuring impact gauging the impact of the program is not she was there. You don’t get that ver y
trauma center],” Cheney said. “It was clear The Health Department is looking to ex- something that will occur overnight. often.” ■
10 PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL THE PRICE OF CRIME philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008
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“Probably the best book I’ve come
across for building a sound and
thriving business.”
Dan Bobinski, CEO
Center for Workplace Excellence
“Full of incredibly useful tools CURT HUDSON
and charts, all about how Owner Emmanuel Aden (left) and Mark Macon, an Aden-Chase General Contrac-
businesses execute strategy.” tors employee, install a kitchen counter.
Anita Campbell, CEO/Editor
Small Business Trends
Work, job training essential
Published by Synergy Books and available
wherever books are sold.
to curb plague of recidivism
Price $14.95, ISBN-13: 978-1-933538-81-5 ATHENA D. MERRITT such as food and laundr y ser vice and
STAFF WRITER within their sports and entertainment
operations, company spokeswoman
Learn how to plan and execute at As the small general contracting busi- Sarah Jarvis said.
ness of Aden-Chase General Contractors “From our perspective it’s not the nice
www.SixDisciplines.com/bizbook
and multibillion-dollar operation of Ara- thing to do, it’s the right thing to do,”
mark Corp. see it — there’s always a Jarvis said.
place for ex-offenders. Introduced in 1999, Aramark’s Inmate
Both companies are among those in to Workmate program, which is in Phila-
Philadelphia that are already giving ex- delphia, among other areas, provides
Got a minute?
offenders the break that Mayor-elect culinary and food preparation training to
Michael Nutter is calling for as a means
of reducing crime.
Of the 40,000 returning from federal, ‘As long as someone is
state and local prisons to Philadelphia
annually, nearly two-thirds are expected willing to try, I believe in
to be re-arrested, a cycle Nutter and
companies hiring workers with criminal opportunity, I believe in
records believe can be broken by pro-
viding job opportunities. giving them the tools.’
“It’s all about tr ying to find a spot
where a motivated ex-offender could fit Emmanuel Aden
into their overall outfit or operation — Aden-Chase General Contractors
there is always a place,” Emmanuel
Aden, owner of Aden-Chase General
Contractors, said.
Aden has connected with ex-offenders
through Connection Training Services, inmates that they can take with them to
a federally funded grant program to help land jobs, Jarvis said.
ex-offenders get into the work force, and The benefits of employing ex-offend-
the Joseph E. Coleman Education Train- ers are already recognized in Chicago,
ing Center, a 500-bed halfway house in which has a number of people within its
Philadelphia. business community working with ex-
“I kind of have a spot for individuals, offenders to get them hired, said Jim
whether it’s a child or a grown man, that Wagner, president of Chicago Crime
wants to tr y,” Aden said. “As long as Commission, one of the oldest citizen
someone is willing to try, I believe in op- crime commissions in the nation.
Now in streaming video, portunity, I believe in giving them the “The incentive for the business is an
tools. employee pool who maybe have motiva-
the area’s latest and most important business news. Since 2003, Philadelphia-based Ara- tion to take what would be considered
Go to philadelphia.bizjournals.com mark has hired 1,700 ex-of fenders entry-level jobs,” Wagner said. “I think
across its operations that provide food, that it’s pretty recognized that you have
hospitality, facility management and in- to give somebody hope that they can
dustrial laundry services to clients in 18 succeed in an alternate method instead
Another service of countries. While positions in corrections of crime, and if they don’t have that hope
facilities are off-limits to ex-offenders, they go back to it very quickly.”
plenty of opportunities exist at Aramark
for nonviolent offenders in other areas, amerritt@bizjournals.com | 215-238-5149
philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008 THE PRICE OF CRIME PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL 11
STEMMING THE TIDE
Other proposals are being considered and
efforts are under way to combat crime in
Philadelphia:
State legislation
BILLS TO limit handgun purchases to one a
month and allow local governments to enact
their own gun-control laws were shot down in
November by legislators. A third proposal, re-
quiring gun owners to report lost or stolen
guns to police, was tabled.
THE LAW Enforcement Protection Act, snsored
by House Speaker Dennis O’Brien, mandates a
20-year prison term for anyone who shoots at
a police officer. Conviction for first-degree mur-
der of an officer would result in a death sen-
tence or life in prison without parole. The bill
was sent to the House Appropriations Commit-
tee in November.
HOUSE BILL 31, sponsored by South Philadel-
phia Rep. Bill Keller, would require parolees
convicted of a violent or gun-related crime to
sign a “stop and search” waiver as a condition
of their release from prison that would allow
police to stop and search them without cause.
“IF WE can give police the power to stop and
search them, maybe they’ll think twice about
putting a gun in their belt before they leave the
house,” Keller said of his legislation, which
passed the House by a vote of 189 to 8 in Oc-
CURT HUDSON tober and awaits action by the Senate.
Hortense Levine runs a professional development class for past offenders at the West Philadelphia re-entry office.
10,000 men
REMEDIES: Some older people say they have never held a job ON OCT. 21, thousands of men descended on
the Liacouras Center answering the call to
FROM PAGE 7 ment center, which is being expanded, Frankford are among the areas in which make the city’s streets safer by patrolling
also receives referrals from the Pennsyl- the mayor’s Neighborhood Transforma- crime-ridden areas. The grassroots movement,
for substance abuse. The centers, which vania Department of Corrections, the tion Initiative has invested, NTI Director backed by Bill Cosby and music producer
average 75 clients a day, assisted 5,400 state Board of Probation and Parole and Eva Gladstein said. Kenny Gamble, began deploying volunteers as
former offenders between February and Bucks County. The center’s programs “We are investing both in improve- peacekeepers in November.
the end of September, including placing are among those helping to break the ments to the physical environment —
500 ex-offenders in jobs. revolving door from prison to the street streetscape, façades, gateways,” Glad-
“I’ve had 50-year-olds and older adults and back again, said stein said of NTI’s efforts. “But we also Re-entering society
walking in saying I’ve never had an hon- Ralph Fretz, director are being more strategic in how we in- UNANIMOUSLY PASSED by City Council and
est job in my life,” Spencer said. “We ‘What of assessment and re- vest in human capital in that we fund the signed into law in November, the legislation
take a lot for granted and I think we as- search at CEC. operations of groups that actually act as drafted by Mayor-elect Michael Nutter pro-
sume because we’ve learned certain atti- we tend Sixty percent of a manager of these corridors — they are vides a $10,000 tax credit or grant for hiring
tudes and behavior everyone else has.” those leaving state the eyes and ears.” ex-offenders. Businesses that hire ex-offenders
Connection Training Services (CTS) to do is and federal prisons The city police has been active in fight- would receive a $10,000-per-job credit against
and Community Education Centers Inc. will be re-ar rested ing crime in Philadelphia’s three feder- the city’s business privilege taxes for three
(CEC) are also among those helping ex- training within three years for ally designated Empowerment Zones, years, in exchange for providing at least
offenders back into the work force. CTS committing a felony, Gladstein said. The city has spent $74.3 $2,000 in tuition assistance for education or
serves 200 nonviolent ex-offenders an- that is in a serious misde- million of the $79.1 million in grant fund- training to each employee.
nually from the tri-state area, 95 percent meanor or a technical ing awarded to revitalize the low-income EMPLOYEES WOULD also repay the city at
of whom are from Philadelphia, through demand.’ parole violation, ac- areas located in the city’s West, North least 5 percent of the wages earned over the
a four-year federal grant of $660,000 per cording to Penn’s Central and American Street section. period the company received the tax credit. In
year awarded by the federal Prisoner Crystal study. Reducing Phil- “One piece [of that revitalization ef- lieu of the tax credit, nonprofit organizations
Reentry Initiative. Participants receive Barnett adelphia’s recidivism fort] has been fostering dialogue and would receive a $10,000 grant for hiring an ex-
job readiness and skills training, which program rates by just 10 per- communication; both are sharing infor- offender under legislation sponsored by City
enable them to be placed in such fields manager cent would save the mation that has been helpful to each Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr.
as meat packing, shipping and receiving, CTC city nearly $7 million other,” Gladstein said of police working
construction and transportation. a year, the Philadel- with community and businesses.
“What we tend to do is training that is phia Consensus Other strategies helping to combat Operation Safer Streets
in demand, so we know we can place Group on Reentry & crime include designs that promote
them,” Program Manager Crystal Bar- Reintegration of Ad- safety, such as better lighting, the im- AMONG THE initiatives under Mayor John F.
nett said of the ex-offenders who land judicated Offenders reported in its ac- provement of façades and a security pro- Street’s program aimed at preventing and re-
jobs paying anywhere from $9-$12 per tion plan for Philadelphia. gram in the American Street Empower- ducing violence are: the hiring of 200 addi-
hour, and in one recent case $26 per “Certainly getting a job is a huge plus ment Zone that matches employers’ tional police officers, deployment of experi-
hour. in staying out,” Fretz said. “You can work investment in security patrols, Gladstein enced officers in targeted areas, opening 11
Of the 326 helped to date, CTS has with someone to get a job, but you also said. neighborhood curfew centers and $3 million to
placed 58 percent, Barnett said. need to treat them,” Fretz said of CEC’s “A lot of it has been having places that hire 400 parent truant officers to help keep
Starting in April, CEC will begin pro- services that address substance abuse, appear to be well cared for because that students in school. The city also has a contract
viding re-entry services to 200 offenders education, life skills, employment and discourages crime, when it’s clearly a to add 250 video surveillance cameras to its
from the Philadelphia prison system at community reintegration. community and place people care about,” network by next year and unveiled a camera
the Joseph E. Coleman Education and The neighborhoods to which inmates Gladstein said. monitoring station at police headquarters last
Training Center on D Street off Erie Av- return most often have also received at- month. ■
enue in Philadelphia. The 500-bed treat- tention. Hunting Park, Kensington and amerritt@bizjournals.com | 215-238-5149
12 PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL THE PRICE OF CRIME philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008
Keeping the corner store safe can be a costly endeavor
PETER VAN ALLEN But the cameras can also solve more mundane
STAFF WRITER matters.
At Lake Blue, a small grocer on North 3rd Street in
Theft, and efforts to prevent it, can take a bite out Old City, a surveillance system captures images from
of retailers’ profits. more than a half-dozen cameras. On a recent day, a
For stores in Philadelphia, security devices such as customer claimed she gave the clerk a $20 bill. The
rolling steel doors, video surveillance systems, bul- owner rolled back the surveillance film and, lo and be-
letproof glass to separate the cashier from custom- hold, there was the customer’s sweater, clearly visible,
ers, a heavy-duty safe, on-garment security devices and hand, holding a $10 bill. End of discussion. The
and even, in some cases, a concealed weapon add up customer walked away with her soda and the appropri-
to a major investment. ate change.
In the words of Roy Ludwick, owner of Fast Door, a Convenience stores have often proven convenient to
Philadelphia company that custom makes many of robbers as well as customers. They can make for fast
the rolling steel doors that protect businesses in off getaways for armed robbers, who target the stores be-
hours, “Business is always good.” cause they often have cash on hand.
The cost to outfit a store with modern security sys- Amenities like ATMs “created havoc with the store
tems can run into the hundreds of thousands of dol- change fund because more customers started to pay
lars. with $20 bills. Stores all of a sudden need a huge
Even the average convenience store owner in any change fund to make it through the day or a long holi-
Philadelphia neighborhood could shell out as much day weekend,” said Chris E. McGoey, a Los Angeles-
as $15,000 on basic security devices, including a based security specialist, adding that convenience
good safe, alarm system and color-digital surveil- stores have the added burden of being thinly staffed at
lance system, said security consultant John Moore, all hours of the day.
CEO of Armed Robbery Training Associates LLC in Convenience stores come with an inherent risk for
Spokane, Wash. robbery and investors and franchisees need to know
“That’s at the high end. At the low end, it’s ‘noth- that from the outset, according to the founders of CAP
ing.’ I still see people using tackle boxes as safes or Index, an Exton firm that specializes in crime preven-
dummy cameras, which create a liability … [Stores] tion.
also use convex mirrors, which actually help crooks “There are no statutes telling these folks what they
because then they can spot where the employees need to do,” said CAP Index co-CEO Robert Figlio, a
are.” criminologist and former professor at the University
Surveillance cameras can serve many purposes, of California–Riverside. “A lot these small operators
from providing evidence in a high-profile murder — don’t know the risks except by actually living or work-
CURT HUDSON for instance, in helping to identify the killer of Phila- ing in the neighborhood.”
Charlie Lim gives change to a customer at Lake Blue on delphia Police Officer Chuck Cassidy, who inter- When people think of convenience stores, they often
North 3rd Street. A computer monitor, on shelf, displays rupted an armed robbery at a Dunkin’ Donuts in
multiple images from cameras inside and outside the store. East Oak Lane on Oct. 31. SEE RETAIL, P14
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philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008 THE PRICE OF CRIME PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL 13
PETER VAN ALLEN | BUSINESS JOURNAL
Broad Street Dunkin’ Donuts where
Officer Cassidy was shot to death.
Ray Murphy
After an
(left), owner
of Tommy’s
Men’s Clothing,
talks with Alvin
officer’s fall
Little of the
merchants’ as- When a Philadelphia police officer
sociation outside was shot at a Dunkin’ Donuts on Oct.
Murphy’s store 31, it sent a shock wave through fast-
in the 2900 block food employees everywhere.
of North 22nd Working behind a counter at a 24-
CURT HUDSON Street. hour establishment takes nerves of
steel — a quality often not listed on
the job description. Now, in addition
Watchful eyes look out for W. Allegheny to trying to survive on an estimated
median wage of $7.17 an hour, em-
ployees must learn how to just sur-
PETER VAN ALLEN I’ve been here 35 years. I’ve seen the corri- Mayor-elect Michael Nutter and his hand- vive.
STAFF WRITER dor go up, I’ve seen it go down. Now we’re picked police Commissioner Charles H. But at the Dunkin’ Donuts where
up again. I would say the No. 1 thing is Ramsey. Still, there is fear that the police police officer Chuck Cassidy was shot
On 2900 block of North 22nd Street, re- crime. Guns … I know our Constitution might change the existing beat system, or and killed after interrupting an armed
tailers depend on a strong beat-cop system gives us the right to bear arms, but we’re take the two regular officers off this beat. robbery, at 6620 N. Broad St. in the
and a network of eyes and ears among the out of control. It’s OK to take a little bit of “They walk the beat,” Little said of the West Oak Lane neighborhood, busi-
business owners. freedom. I’m not afraid governments and officers. “You can’t take these guys off the ness goes on.
The West Allegheny neighborhood is fi- soldiers will take over the streets … I came beat.” The manager of the shop, who re-
nally on the up-and-up after years of de- from the street — you used your knuckles. Later, Little said: “You can put a Lord & fused to give his name, said employ-
cline, with three blocks with sandwich But I’m scared now.” Taylor here, but if people don’t feel safe, ees are tired of talking about the
spots, pastr y shops, a bank branch and Lyn Rix, who owns a day-care center with they won’t come.” shooting.
stores selling a range of items, from home plans to open a sandwich shop in February, Steve Yi, whose family owns a sneaker “They’re frustrated. They just want
electronics to sneakers to hair accessories. said the neighborhood is not plagued by store, said that before the second beat offi- to come to work and do their job. It’s
On a recent rainy morning, the violent crime. But smaller, petty cer was added, criminals worked together the same people that were here [at
streets were bustling with peo- crimes are a persistent problem. to distract the lone officer. the time of the Cassidy shooting],”
ple shopping, doing errands
‘It’s gotten “Thank goodness we haven’t “It’s gotten better with the two beat cops,” the manager said. “The thing that
and stopping for coffee. had anything but vandalism,” Rix Yi said. “Before we had the second, we had makes them most nervous is when all
“We have African-American
better with said. “But, as a day-care provider, more robbers and purse snatchers. When the news trucks come around.”
merchants, Caucasian mer- we want to feel safe walking to the officer was at the other end of the block, On a recent afternoon, the tiny
chants, Middle Eastern mer-
the two beat the park. Leaving at night, 22nd they’d go to work. When the officer got store had a steady stream of custom-
chants, Asian merchants. We Street closes down at dark. We back [to the crime scene], he’d say, ‘I was ers. One clerk worked both the drive-
serve a mostly African-Ameri-
cops.’want to be out, but we’re ner- just here 15 minutes ago.’” thru window and the main cash regis-
can community,” said Alvin vous. We need more police pres- Despite the police presence, merchants ters. Between customers, she busily
Steve Yi
Little, who leads the neigh- store owner
ence.” still take security matters into their own swept the floor. A security guard —
borhood’s merchants’ associ- That was a sentiment echoed hands. Yi said the shop uses a panic button, unarmed, appearing to weigh about
ation and is himself a shop- by every merchant interviewed. alarm, remote lock for the front door and 150 pounds despite an oversized uni-
keeper. “Most crime that people are faced with is microphone system. form jacket — stood watch in the
North 22nd Street was once the home of the petty crime — shoplifting and break- “If the alarm goes off, you can listen in front window.
Jewish and Italian immigrants and shop- ins. As far as violent crime, it comes in without coming down to the store,” he A poster next to the cash register
keepers. The retail stretch is three blocks waves, where they know they’ll have suc- said. featured a picture of Officer Cassidy
from the old Connie Mack Stadium, which cess. Violent crime, we have very little. At Denise’s Delicacies, recent robberies and promoted a fundraiser, “Benefit
hosted its last Major League Baseball game Petty crime is what we live with,” Little convinced the owner to invest in a guard for a Hero,” to aid the Chuck Cassidy
37 years ago. Like many neighborhoods in said. during work hours, Little said. Family Fund, that was held Dec. 15 at
the city, the 1950s and ’60s meant suburban “We have good relations with the [police] At a variety shop on North 22nd, the the Sheet Metal Workers Union hall.
flight and economic decline. district,” said Little. “We have excellent po- owner wears a leather holster and a 45-cali- Elsewhere at the busy intersection
Now, with waves of new immigrants, new lice officers. We know them by name. If ber pistol — in full view of customers. of North Broad and 66th Avenue, the
shops have sprung up. But crime is still a something happens in his beat, he’s good The owner, who would not identify him- Oak Lane Diner was packed. A Pizza
persistent issue. at using his means to track down [the per- self, said the store had invested in security Hut and a CVS across the street were
“We’re pretty much always watching out petrators]. That’s helped eliminate the cameras and a $2,800 steel rolling security doing good business.
for others [store owners] and watching out crimes that are in other areas.” grate for the front of the store, but it is the Yet crime in the neighborhood has
for ourselves,” said Dino Cieri, who has For the most part, armed robbery has sidearm that keeps robbers away. persisted. In the early morning of
owned Cieri Bros. Shoe Repair for 50 years. been held at bay by the presence of the two “I always carry a firearm,” said the owner. Dec. 11, police reported, a burglar
“We need more police.” beat officers, merchants said. The officers “It’s a deterrent. It’s a visual. It’s helped us crawled in the drive-thru window and
Has he ever been robbed? patrol the streets. They hand out cards many a time. We have people come in [to made of f with a donation jar that
“Not in a long time,” Cieri said. with their personal information, including case out the store]; we call it, ‘look and Dunkin’ Donuts had set up to benefit
“It’s safe compared to the average neigh- home and cell phone numbers. leave.’ If it’s seen, nine out of 10 times they the Chuck Cassidy Family Fund. The
borhood,” said Ray Murphy, owner of Tom- In interviews with a half-dozen store own- don’t bother you.” thief netted $30.
my’s Men’s Clothing. But “it’s not ‘safe’ ers along the stretch, most said they have
safe. …We need more police on the streets. high hopes for the new administration of pvanallen@bizjournals.com | 215-238-5145 — Peter Van Allen
14 PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL THE PRICE OF CRIME philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008
For the city’s big six colleges, security is no small matter
PETER KEY
STAFF WRITER
Philadelphia’s six largest colleges and
universities spend more than $42 mil-
lion annually on security.
Temple is one of two universities in the
city with its own police force, which has
121 members. The school also has 73
security officers and contracts 225 offi-
cers from AlliedBar ton Security Ser-
vices. Its annual security budget is $13
million.
The University of Pennsylvania has
116 police officers and contracts for 450
security guards from AlliedBarton. Its
division of public safety has an annual
budget of $21 million.
In contrast, Pennsylvania State Univer-
sity, located in rural central Pennsylva-
nia, employs only 47 officers, four assis-
tant officers, five dispatchers and five
security guards, supplemented by 100
student officers. Its budget is $5.3 mil-
lion.
Penn State has nearly 42,300 students
on its main campus compared with a lit-
tle more than 35,000 at Temple and
nearly 24,000 at Penn.
But Penn State isn’t adjacent to poor
Philadelphia neighborhoods.
“We’re in such a relatively safe area
that a lot of students feel comfortable
CURT HUDSON
walking alone at night, even though we
obviously don’t recommend it at all,” On a recent night, Carl S. Bittenbender, executive director of Temple University’s Campus Safety Services Department, con-
said Tyrone Parham, the assistant chief verses with bicycle officer Sgt. Enoch McCoy on the brightly lighted Liacouras Walk.
of Penn State’s police department.
Although being in Philadelphia may Temple’s is up from nearly 28,000 in 2000 “If our students are our customers, our of Temple University’s Department of
increase their security costs, it hasn’t and Penn’s is up from a little more than customers have gone way up,” said Carl
hur t Temple’s or Penn’s enrollment. 20,000 the same year. S. Bittenbender, the executive director SEE CAMPUS, P15
RETAIL: Larger operators make substantial investments in high-technology gadgetry
FROM PAGE 12 of the violence can be “anticipated and don’t want to try anything if they don’t feel nonresistance. If the robber wants money,
avoided,” OSHA wrote. like the cash isn’t there.” give him the money.
think of chains like Wawa and 7-Eleven. In Among OSHA’s recommendations: use New technology allows cashiers to de- But the trick is making sure employees
fact, in Pennsylvania, nearly half of the a drop safe to secure excess cash; use posit larger bills directly into the safe. The know not to take actions that can get them
state’s 4,168 convenience stores, or 48.3 fences to direct customer traf- safe, in turn, is a one-way oper- shot. For instance, even in reaching for
percent, are owned by one-store operators, fic; use door detectors to alert ator and has time delays that cash, employees need to stay in communi-
according to the trade publication Conve- employees when people enter Nearly half prevent taking out more than a cation with the robber and let him know
nience Store Decisions. the store; control access with preset amount — say, enough what they’re doing. Training is vital be-
In the city of Philadelphia, that translates door buzzers; maintain ade- of the state’s to replenish the cash drawer. cause convenience-store and fast-food em-
to small-business owners operating as the quate lighting; and improve But such technology can run ployees are often paid minimum wage and
neighborhood’s corner store. They don’t visibility, for instance by keep- convenience $10,000 to $12,000. may jump from job to job.
have the deep pockets of a 7-Eleven or ing store windows clear. Tidel Engineering LP, a Car- “Training is a big issue, having policies,
Wawa to outfit their stores. Not surprisingly, the equip- stores are rollton, Texas, maker of safes, procedures and training. You’ve got to
Larger operators make substantial in- ment needed to protect stores sells a range of them, and the have a corporate policy: ‘Don’t resist hold-
vestments in digital cameras, monitors, runs a steep price.
owned by prices vary dramatically. up.’ But then your employees have to know
drop safes, lighting in parking areas, main-
tenance of security equipment, interactive
In the 1980s, crooks viewed
convenience stores as cash ha-
independent “The range for the more
modern, sophisticated safes
what that means and have to have prac-
ticed how to deal with the situation,” said
TV (which works with remote security sta- vens and crime against the operators I’d say is about $7,500. For the Moore. “Those measures are cheap com-
tions), panic buttons and litigation insur- stores surged. That’s when ‘robbery prevention’ safes we pared to [security] hardware.”
ance, to protect retailers against lawsuits convenience stores star ted who don’t initially developed in 1978 — Still, crime is just one of a list of concerns
brought by customers who may be caught fortifying themselves. But the still the big sell — it’s about convenience store owners, like any busi-
in the line of fire. biggest advancement may have deep $2,200. [We have] everything ness owners, have.
“Security is a real concern for conve- have been in using safes that in between and up in the “When we ask our members how secu-
nience stores. It’s not insignificant,” said allow for constant deposits. In pockets for $20,000 range,” said Ed Gron- rity rates [as a concern], it ranks low, espe-
Figlio. “It got to the point where the fed- that way, stores could post security.’ dahl, Tidel’s executive vice cially compared to two decades ago.
eral government, OSHA, got involved in signs on their doors that said, president of sales and market- They’ll rank it behind the rising cost of
the late 1990s to write guidelines.” “Only $40 in cash drawer.” ing. cigarettes or gasoline. It’s much less of a
With that 1998 report, the Occupational “The No. 1 predictor of crime Moore of Armed Robber y factor now,” said Lenard of National Asso-
Safety & Health Administration said vio- is if it’s been a previous target of crime,” Training Associates, who spent 30 years ciation of Convenience Stores. “That said,
lence in the workplace accounted for 15 said Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the Na- on the Spokane police force, said much of if you don’t look or feel safe to your cus-
percent of all workplace deaths in 1996. tional Association of Convenience Stores, the success of crime prevention rests on tomers, you’re out of business.”
About 80 percent of the deaths were an Alexandria, Va., trade group. “For life- training. Like most consultants, Moore
caused by robbery or related crime. Much time criminals, they’ll case the joint. They recommends that employees be trained in pvanallen@bizjournals.com | 215-238-5145
philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008 THE PRICE OF CRIME PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL 15
CAMPUS: The six biggest colleges in the region spend a combined $42M a year
FROM PAGE 14
SCHOOL SAFETY
Campus Safety Services. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Drexel University, located next to Penn’s campus in Univer- CAMPUSES: Three
sity City, also has grown dramatically this decade. It has nearly ACRES: 972
21,000 students, up from a little more than 12,000 in 2000. BUILDINGS: 270 (excluding the University of
The three schools, and others in the city, say being in Phila- Pennsylvania Hospital)
delphia is a factor in their growth. STUDENTS: 23,980
“The students who come to Penn tell us time and time again POLICE OFFICERS: 116
… they want to be in an urban area,” said Lori Doyle, Penn’s CONTRACTED SECURITY OFFICERS: 450
vice president for university communications. “They don’t just BUDGET: $21 million
see Penn as their campus. They see the city of Philadelphia as
their campus.” TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
The popularity of cities among young people is probably hav- CAMPUSES: Six
ing the biggest impact on Temple. The number of students liv- ACRES: 362
ing at its main campus in North Philadelphia has more than BUILDINGS: 227
doubled to 10,000 in the past five years, according to Mark Ey- STUDENTS: 35,000
erly, associate vice president for communications. POLICE OFFICERS: 121
That growth appears likely to continue. Temple fielded SECURITY OFFICERS: 73
nearly 18,000 applications for its fall semester, an increase of CONTRACTED SECURITY OFFICERS: 225
44 percent from the number of applications it had for the fall BUDGET: Nearly $13 million
semester of 2000. It also had a record freshman class of 4,300
and, with 2,700 transfers, a record number of new students, DREXEL UNIVERSITY
7,000. CAMPUSES: Three
Almost half of Temple’s new students came from outside the ACRES: 71
five counties of southeastern Pennsylvania, meaning that the BUILDINGS: 62
university is appealing to people who may not be familiar with STUDENTS: 19,882
Philadelphia and so might be expected to be more worried SECURITY OFFICERS: 35
about its crime rate. But Eyerly said that over the past five to CONTRACTED SECURITY OFFICERS: 105
10 years, the number of questions about security posed by BUDGET: $5.7 million
parents of prospective Temple students has dropped off.
“I think in some ways the campus is perceived to be safer COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF
now,” he said. PHILADELPHIA
One reason is Temple’s growth, which has transformed not CAMPUSES: Four
only its campus, but the area around its campus, much as the CURT HUDSON ACRES: 27
growth of Penn and Drexel has transformed University City. A solar-powered emergency call station (front) and a tower BUILDINGS: Nine (on main campus only)
Bittenbender became executive director of Temple’s Depart- with video cameras (back) in place at Temple University. STUDENTS: 37,000
ment of Campus Safety Services in 1996 after 26 years with the SECURITY GUARDS AND MANAGERS:
Philadelphia Police Department. At the time, he said, Temple’s respond with the Philadelphia police to calls that require both 25
campus primarily was populated during weekdays. Now, it’s departments’ attention. CONTRACTED SECURITY GUARDS: 50
active all the time. Penn can access the Philadelphia Police Depar tment’s BUDGET: $1.8 million
“It’s a much different university,” he said. computer-aided dispatching system and also has its own.
The additional people, by themselves, have made the area Penn’s division of public safety coordinates efforts with its ST. JOSEPH’S UNIVERSITY
around Temple safer by making it a riskier place to commit a counterparts at Drexel and University of the Sciences in Phila- CAMPUSES: One
crime. That has led to a chicken-and-egg effect in which the delphia, the SEPTA and Amtrak police, and others through an ACRES: 65
increased safety has attracted more people, increasing the organization it started called the University City Public Safety BUILDINGS: 53
safety further, and so on. Group. STUDENTS: 7,300
But that doesn’t mean bad incidents, such as the shooting Penn also has a massive network of closed-circuit cameras, SECURITY OFFICERS: 70
outside the then-newly opened Pearl Theatre a block from including 83 pan-tilt-zoom cameras that can be used to spot CONTRACTED PHILADELPHIA POLICE
Temple’s campus a little more than a year ago, can’t occur. and zero in on anything within two blocks of their location. OFFICERS: Two from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m.
That’s why Temple has taken steps to prevent them. The Camera networks are part of the technological infrastruc- BUDGET: Nearly $1 million
campus is so well lighted that Eyerly said pilots who fly over it ture that supports the security departments at most colleges
at night remark that it looks like a and universities, regardless of where LA SALLE UNIVERSITY
stadium with a sporting event going they’re located. Those infrastructures CAMPUSES: One
on. also typically include emergency ACRES: 125
Temple also has 285 cameras on phones, and since the shootings at Vir- BUILDINGS: 67
two levels throughout the campus. ginia Tech last year, systems for warn- STUDENTS: 6,138
The ones at the high level of fer a ing students and employees of prob- SECURITY OFFICERS: 70
broader view and can be used to lems on campus. CONTRACTED SECURITY OFFICERS: 3
track the movement of a person For example, St. Joseph’s University, CONTRACTED PHILADELPHIA POLICE
across the campus. The lower-level whose campus is in Philadelphia and OFFICERS: Two, one at day and one at
cameras can be used to get views of Lower Merion, installed a system that night.
people that are clear enough to use can deliver text messages to the cell BUDGET: Would not disclose.
for physical descriptions. phones of students and employees in
Temple’s biggest crime deterrent an emergency. It also made its bell PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
could be its police force, which works CURT HUDSON tower able to broadcast announce- (UNIVERSITY PARK CAMPUS)
in concert with the Philadelphia Po- A video monitoring room at Temple. ments and sound a war ning siren CAMPUSES: One
lice Department and shares with it a should a disaster strike the campus. ACRES: 15,984
computer-aided dispatching system. Other common security measures at colleges and universi- BUILDINGS: 758
Although Temple maintains its own monitors in its dispatch- ties include escort and, depending on the size of the campus, STUDENTS: 42,294
ing room, its system runs largely off of hardware and software shuttle services. Possibly the most important aspect of the POLICE OFFICERS: 47
maintained by the city, thanks to a T-1 line connecting the sys- programs is educating the students about how to keep them- ASSISTANT POLICE OFFICERS: Four
tem to computers in Philadelphia Police Department head- selves and their property safe. SECURITY GUARDS: Five
quarters. “For these kids, especially coming out of Iowa, it’s the first STUDENT POLICE OFFICERS: 100
The tie-in allows Temple police to see all the 911 calls seen time they’re away from home for an extended period of time,” BUDGET: $5.3 million
by Philadelphia police. As a result, they can respond to the said Maureen Rush, Penn’s vice president for public safety.
minor calls within their jurisdiction, allowing the Philadelphia “Our job is to try, not to be their parents, but their adviser on
police to concentrate on more pressing matters. They also can how to make it in a big city.” ■
16 PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL THE PRICE OF CRIME philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008
Transit cops are ‘in the elements’ protecting rail and bus
ATHENA D. MERRITT
STAFF WRITER
Standing ever y bit of his 6-foot, 215-
pound frame with 11 years as a Marine
shining through, SEPTA Transit Officer
Troy James prides himself on being a pro-
tector of the hundreds of thousands who
use public transportation daily.
To the 40 some kids just dumped on a
SEPTA bus at Broad and Oregon on a re-
cent chilly day, he’s nothing more than a
hitch in their day.
Truancy sweeps like the one James was
conducting, which nab students on or near
SEPTA property during school hours, are
among services provided by the 260-per-
son transit force, which patrols 2,300
square miles of rail, bus, subway and trol-
ley systems in the five-county region.
Robberies, thefts, aggravated assaults,
homeless people, rowdy kids, shootings
and on rarer occasions, homicides, are
also dealt with by the force that operates
on a $14 million annual budget.
Taking the outcome
of any one of those
‘It’s not confrontations for
granted, regardless of
like TV. how small, is a mistake
officers cannot afford
There are to make, James said.
“Whenever you put CURT HUDSON
times this uniform on you SEPTA Officer Troy James keeps watch on a Market Street subway train.
have to worry,” James
you have said. “There’s no com-
ing to work and say- Officer Thomas DeLoach said, shifting his You’re not in a warm patrol car. This is a and narcotics, Harold said.
a split- ing, ‘I’m going to relax weight on the bicycle on which he’ll log up tough job.” Truancy sweeps are also done regularly
today,’ you let your to seven miles on this day patrolling SEP- Last year, a total of 177 Part 1 crimes, in coordination with city and school dis-
second guard down and that’s TA’s Center City system, both above and classified as aggravated assault, burglary, trict police, Harold said.
when things happen below ground. rape, robbery, theft or homicide, occurred Between September and December of
decision to you.” “It’s not like TV. There are times you on SEPTA’s subway elevated system, last year 1,400 kids were taken into cus-
The threat could ar- have a split-second which includes the tody during the sweeps. So far this year,
to make.’ rive from any one of decision to make, El, Broad Street line 1,056 have been picked up in the sweeps
the homeless people which matters if you and surface subway and transported in SEPTA buses to the
Thomas shepherded from bus go home to see your trolleys. As of No- city’s truant centers.
DeLoach shelters and subway kids play soccer or v e m b e r, P a r t 1 “We have kids that haven’t been to
SEPTA officer and rail stations on a someone is carrying crimes were up school in 100 days,” Harold said.
daily basis. Like the you in a casket,” said about 19 percent on Among those picked up during SEPTA’s
homeless man who DeLoach, one of the system, which truancy sweeps is Donyea Phillips, 16,
threw blood on an offi- SEPTA’s 10 bicycle registers more charged in the November shooting of two
cer who in turn had to cops. crime in Center City undercover Philadelphia police officers
pop pills for weeks in hopes of staving off Roughly 145,000 than in West Phila- that were shot through a door while trying
possible infection from HIV or other com- passengers daily delphia because of to serve a warrant.
municable diseases while he awaited the board SEPTA’s Mar- the volume of pas- “If you don’t do truancy sweeps the kids
outcome of tests. ket-Frankford Ele- sengers there, Har- are out getting into idle trouble or becom-
The threat could come from a late-night vated subway line, old said. ing victims themselves,” Harold said, ex-
rail rider, who hops the subway on your about 125,000 use Another 4,000 plaining that dips in crime occur in the
watch with an open can of beer, narcotics, the Broad Street people will arrive areas where truants are picked up on the
or a hidden knife, gun or other weapon in subway line and be- with the opening of day of the sweeps.
their possession. tween 110,000 and the Comcast Center Next to school children, the city’s home-
Then there are the gangs — the Bloods, 120,000 ride regional at 17th and John F. less population is the biggest headache for
Crips and MS-13 all have a presence in rail. In protecting Kennedy Boulevard, transit officers, Harold said. Drug dealers
Philadelphia, James said. passengers, 75 per- bringing with it are lured to SEPTA stations trying to sell
“Some of these gang initiations, if you cent of SEPTA’s offi- high-end stores, so- their wares, especially to the homeless.
kill a cop that’s like a badge of honor,” he cers will do it CURT HUDSON cial events and even Such incidents have led to shootings, one
said. through foot patrols, SEPTA bicycle officer James Johnson more headaches for of which recently occurred at Dilworth
Toss in the verbal and mental abuse reg- which are supple- stops to give some directions to visitors SEPTA, which plans Plaza near the entrance to a station, Harold
ularly heaped on officers by adults and mented by the bike on Market Street near 8th. to add a beat officer said. The transit system also attracts those
youth who use the system and the days cops, 10 K-9 officers, and work with Al- who commit crimes and are looking for a
can be trying, James said. But, more than a special operations liedBarton Security quick escape, officer Nick Jasionis, who
anything else the days are unpredictable response team and car patrols, SEPTA Ser vices to address problems, Harold patrols the Broad Street line, said.
for the transit officers who suit up at start- Transit Police Capt. Steven Harold said. said. “It happens a fair amount,” Jasionis said.
ing salaries of $29,000 that top out at about “You’re walking in tunnels, you’re deal- Up to four times a week, transit officers “It’s just an easy escape route, especially
$49,000, roughly $8,000-$10,000 less than ing with a transient population and you take to the trains to enforce quality-of-life when it’s busy. It’s easy to jump into a
Philadelphia Police officers. have limited contact with a lot of folks,” violations, such as passengers smoking or crowd and disappear on a train.”
“The public perception of law enforce- Harold said of the foot patrols of the sub- being rowdy. The enforcement has led to
ment work is often what they see on TV,” way systems. “You’re out in the elements. police finding knives, brass knuckles, guns SEE TRANSIT, P17
philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008 THE PRICE OF CRIME PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL 17
When steering clear of danger is part of the job description
JOHN GEORGE phia Medicaid HMO plan, to raise money
STAFF WRITER for a reward to catch the perpetrator.
Stankiewicz, a home-care nurse for the
After completing her fourth patient visit past two decades, has never felt the need
in North Philadelphia on a recent Thurs- to use the escort service.
day mor ning, Linda Stankiewicz ap- “You have to use good judgment,” she
proached an intersection in a particularly said. “That’s the bottom line. You have to
dicey neighborhood on the way back to follow your gut. If it doesn’t feel safe, you
her office. drive away. You can always make another
“I’ve had patients a few blocks from visit the next day.”
here,” said Stankiewicz, a home health- On a day when her visits would include
care nurse with the Visiting Nurse Associ- helping one patient cope with a fear of
ation of Greater Philadelphia. “It’s not a strangers entering her house through her
great neighborhood. I’d see people shoot- refrigerator, and coaxing another to ex-
ing up, buying drugs, selling drugs. But pand her diet beyond Rice Krispies,
they never bothered me. I was more afraid Stankiewicz explained her other strategies
somebody was going to break into one of for making herself less of a crime target.
my elderly patients’ homes.” She leaves absolutely nothing out in the
As a home health-care nurse, Stankie- open in her car. She carries only her blood-
wicz is among a group of workers — from pressure kit into a patient’s home. She
taxi drivers to appliance repairman to food doesn’t carry a pocketbook. She leaves
delivery people — whose jobs routinely her laptop out of sight. She doesn’t want to
take them into neighborhoods with the be fumbling with stuff if she needs to leave
worst violent crime statistics in the city. an area quickly or make a fast cell phone
While most trips JOHN GEORGE | BUSINESS JOURNAL call.
ar e uneventful, Home-care nurse Linda Stankiewicz makes a residential visit in North Philadelphia. Stankiewicz schedules all her visits for
‘I committed sometimes tragedy the morning, when drug traffickers are
strikes. phia in the mid-1980s to serve as a Tasty and managers, who can be another set of apt to be sleeping. It disturbs her to see
every Two months ago, Baking district sales manager. One day, eyes looking for trouble; and starting their kids who should be in school out on the
a 42-year-old heat- while filling in for a driver, he was robbed route as early as possible before “a lot of streets.
mistake in ing repairman was outside a store at 22nd and Jef ferson activity happens” on the streets, Brown “What you hear is kids in these neigh-
shot and killed streets in North Philadelphia. said. borhoods know how to get a gun before
the book.’ while on a service “I committed every mistake in the book,” Stankiewicz has found the “so-called bad they learn their multiplication tables,” she
call in North Phila- he said. “I parked across the street from people” will leave home-care nurses alone said. “There’s something wrong with that
Bob Browm delphia. the store. I wasn’t aware of my surround- because they respect the job they are picture.”
senior vice president In 2006, two driv- ings.” doing to help people in their community. In all her time as a home health-care
for route sales ers delivering He left his truck with a tray full of “I always wear my stethoscope around nurse, the only time she was truly scared
Tasty Baking Co. Tastykake prod- Tastykakes and, before he knew it, two my neck,” she said. was about two months ago after Police Of-
ucts were shot — men grabbed him. “They took $60 out of This year, however, even nurses making ficer Chuck Cassidy was shot and killed in
one in West Phila- my pockets, and I was left with $100 worth house calls have become targets. North Philadelphia after he interrupted a
delphia during a of cakes all over the street,” Brown said. Karen Alston, senior vice president for robbery at a doughnut shop. Stankiewicz’s
robber y and the Brown said company officials continu- home care at the VNA of Greater Philadel- travels frequently take her past that loca-
other by a stray ally stress safety with its drivers in meet- phia, said two Philadelphia home-care tion and she said it was unnerving, before
bullet in the city’s West Oak Lane section. ings and company newsletters. He said nurses from other agencies were assaulted police made an arrest in the case, to think
Businesses do what they can to ensure they “turned up the volume” after 2006’s — one of whom was shot — last year. a person who would shoot an officer was
the safety of their personnel. incidents. “It’s becoming more and more danger- on the loose.
Bob Brown, Tasty Baking Co.’s senior “We tell our drivers to always look ous out there,” Alston said. A native of Binghamton, N.Y., Stankie-
vice president for route sales, said most of around,” he said. “If they see trouble or The VNA has hired Imperial Security to wicz enjoys working in North Philadel-
the people who deliver the company’s unfamiliar people, we encourage them to provide escort services to nurses making phia.
products are independent contractors and keep going and come back later in the day home visits in high-risk areas. The agency “I have my compact territory,” she said.
not employees of Tasty Baking. or the next day.” has also brought in Philadelphia police of- “People who work out in the suburbs have
“We do work with them to help them de- Other tips include alternating the routes ficers to educate nurses on street safety. much longer to go between visits. And the
velop their business and promote safety,” so they are not always in the same place at After the first nurse was assaulted this people here, they truly appreciate it when
said Brown, a crime victim himself. the same time, parking directly in front of year, home-care providers with the Penn- we make our visits.”
After driving a Tastykake route in cen- a store with their vehicles locked; develop- sylvania Home Care Association got to-
tral Pennsylvania, Brown came to Philadel- ing good relationships with store owners gether with Health Partners, a Philadel- jgeorge@bizjournals.com | 215-238-5137
TRANSIT: SEPTA officers are ‘in the elements’ protecting rail and bus passengers
FROM PAGE 16
have to be on your guard regardless Surveillance cameras have also gone
SEPTA transit officers, who are of if it’s a homeless person or kids.” up in some stations and are expected
armed and empowered with the same In the first quarter of next year, to be installed in all stations, buses
authority as Philadelphia police, as- SEPTA will move to the same com- and regional rail within the next few
sist police in responding to incidents puter-aided dispatch system as Phila- years, SEPTA spokesman Richard
near their patrol areas. Such was the delphia police, improving communi- Maloney said. Stations are also
case last year when Jasionis and Offi- cation and response time between the equipped with emergency call-back
cer Kenneth Pooler landed in a shoot- forces. As it stands now, when an inci- systems that provide a direct connec-
out while responding to a report of dent comes in Philadelphia police tion to SEPTA authorities.
police in pursuit of a bank robber at must then make a second broadcast “When you put on this uniform you
3rd and Reed streets. on another radio band to alert SEPTA have to be willing to lay down your
“I think there is a great loss of re- police or either call them directly, life,” James said. “You can’t be scared
spect for officers in the city,” Jasionis Harold said. to die, you can’t be scared of pain …
said. “In any given situation you never Also on the way to help with safety you have to have heart.”
know what’s going to happen, and are 400 new buses, which will be CURT HUDSON
that’s the way you approach it … you equipped with surveillance cameras. amerritt@bizjournals.com | 215-238-5149 Capt. Steven Harold checks in with a rail conductor.
18 PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL THE PRICE OF CRIME philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008
Cities find crime fighting
BREAKING NEWS
Dear Readers,
-FROM THE PUBLISHER- needs proactive approaches
Get breaking news as it happens, directly from me. Several times weekly, I’ll ATHENA D. MERRITT
STAFF WRITER
e-mail you breaking news at least 12 hours before it’s in the morning paper.
To get this free service, send your e-mail address to me, lkremer@bizjournals.com Fearing that crime would creep into their
neighborhoods, more than two dozen busi-
Your privacy is protected. I maintain the list myself. ness and community groups in northeast
Baltimore banded together in 2000 to keep
Lyn Kremer, Publisher P.S. Just it at bay.
type “News” in the subject line. By 2003, sur veillance video cameras
were being put to use in Chicago, which
today is considered among the most heav-
ily monitored areas in the nation, with
more than 2,000 cameras in high-crime
areas and throughout the business dis-
trict.
New Jersey will soon roll out pilot pro-
grams in select areas, including Camden,
to fast track the most serious cases involv-
ing gun crimes.
The approaches may differ, but the goal
is the same — to send the message that
crime will no longer be tolerated, which is
the first step in ef fectively combating CURT HUDSON
crime, said David M. Kennedy, director of A security camera at Framefit in Port
the Center for Crime Prevention and Con- Richmond (see story on facing page).
trol at John Jay College of Criminal Justice
at the City University of New York.
Crime is most often committed by a munity and businesses in an effort to re-
small group of people, Kennedy said. For duce crime as part of an initiative that
cities such as Philadelphia to make streets includes a public safety crime prevention
How to get safer, they must involve police, community campaign announced in October. The ef-
organizations and social service agencies fort seeks to reduce crime, especially bur-
simultaneously, he said. glaries of businesses, residences and
“This par tnership says di- motor vehicles, by increas-
what you want rectly to these groups, ‘This has
to stop, the violence,’” Kennedy
said. “All of these successful in-
‘Crime has
ing patrols, extending the
hours of storefront opera-
tions and establishing an e-
from a bank. terventions have involved these
very basic shoulder-to-shoulder
partnerships with law enforce-
definitely
decreased
mail community alert net-
work, among other things.
Formed in 1919, the Chi-
ment, social agencies and com- cago Crime Commission is
munity organizations.” but communal one of the oldest citizen
HARBEL Community Organi- crime commissions in the
zation Inc., an umbrella group participation nation. It has battled orga-
for business and community nized crime, child prostitu-
groups in northeast Baltimore, has tion, gun violence and
has been working with police to worked to make neighbor-
provide patrols of residential increased.’ hoods safer. The organiza-
and business districts since tion has also established an
2000. Members of 25 commu- anonymous crime report-
Business banking. It can be this good. nity groups, armed only with
Naomi Benyowitz
executive director ing hotline and Web site
two-way radios, voluntarily pa- HARBEL and operates a business as-
Simple. Bank with us. Because we’re going to do more, try harder, bend over trol areas at night and report sistance network that pro-
backwards, stay up late; you get the idea. With more than 50 branches and over $3 any suspicious or criminal activ- vides crime information to
billion in assets, we have the goods: cash management, merchant services, online ity to an assigned on-duty offi- chambers of commerce in
banking and so on. We turn loans on a dime. We build buildings, lease equipment. cer, HARBEL Executive Director Naomi more than 130 metropolitan Chicago areas.
But here’s the difference: we’ll go to lengths on your behalf that no other bank (and
Benyowitz said. Ninety percent of crime tips to the hotline
we don’t care how big they are) would. This isn’t hype—this is what we do. May we
“There was a concern crime was on the are local, but the rest come from all over
do the same for your business?
upswing here, and whether crime was the United States, and even outside of the
going to reach our neighborhoods from country, commission President Jim Wag-
other areas of the city,” Benyowitz said. ner said.
Since its rollout, the effort has grown “We get several tips a day,” Wagner said
from 200 to 800 volunteers, Benyowitz of the Web site that went up in 2006. “We
said. review those and we forward on the perti-
“Crime has definitely decreased, but nent information to the law enforcement
communal participation has increased be- agencies.”
cause people feel more comfortable going Sur veillance cameras, which began
out in the evening and letting their kids going up in Chicago in 2003, also play a
50+ offices in 8 counties in eastern PA. play outside,” Benyowitz said. “They are strategic role in helping to address and
Call 1-888-HNB-2100 or visit www.harleysvillebank.com for locations. not going to get accosted; they are not deter crime in Chicago. The cameras,
going to get mugged; they are not going to which monitor high-crime areas and the
run into a problem.” downtown business district, were respon-
The Houston Police Department’s north-
Member FDIC. 04/07 east patrol division is also tapping the com- SEE ELSEWHERE, P20
philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008 THE PRICE OF CRIME PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL 19
Security cost Police meld technology with manpower
PETER KEY headquarters at 8th and Race streets Each camera will wirelessly transmit
can surprise STAFF WRITER
Technology can’t replace policemen,
by means of Verizon Wireless’ broad-
band service at for $371,000 a year.
Philadelphia police dispatchers also
its feed to one of eight locations called a
high spot, which will transmit the feed
to a new monitoring room at police
but it can sure help them do their jobs. have been assisted in their jobs by a headquarters. Each high spot can sup-
ATHENA D. MERRITT That’s the attitude of the Philadelphia computer-aided dispatch system. It port 35 cameras, giving police a lot of
STAFF WRITER Police Department, which has become prompts people who take 911 calls at leeway in deploying them. The high
a big technology user. police headquarters about how to enter spots, which can communicate with
When looking for a place to set up his ■ The department has 800 mobile information from the calls and priori- cameras within a two-mile radius, are
frame-making company eight years ago, data terminals that officers use in their tizes each call. The call takers then located so that at least one is in each of
Frame Fit Co. owner Steve Kress had two squad cars to run identity and license- send the information to the dispatch- the city’s six police divisions.
things on his mind: The price of the build- plate checks. ers, who assign the units. The system “As we roll out, we want to hit the big-
ing and the size of the building. ■ Its dispatchers use a computer- gives each assignment the equivalent gest high-crime areas,” Gaittens said.
Within days of moving into 2200 E. Ve- aided dispatch system to help them of a case number and keeps prioritizing The department will spend $8.9 mil-
nango St. in Philadelphia’s process 911 calls, rank them by impor- assignments as calls come in. lion to have a team led by Unisys de-
Port Richmond section, he tance and send of ficers to answer To assist commanders in non-emer- ploy the cameras and support the net-
realized his narrow focus had them. gency deployments, the department work and another $1.1 million for the
been a mistake. Windows ■ Its commanders use a software uses software called CompStat. It was monitoring room. The city’s contract
started to get broken. The program developed in-house to analyze modeled after similar software used by with Unisys contains three one-year op-
company’s tr ucks wer e crime trends in
robbed. Graffiti reappeared their districts and
Kress as quickly as he got rid of it. deploy their offi-
Parking outside became a cers in response.
roll of the dice for Kress and ■ A team led by
his employees. The neighborhood was so Unisys Corp. has
bad that by 2000, one in five of the area’s begun deploying
industrial businesses were considering a wireless video
leaving within the next five years, accord- sur veillance sys-
ing to the Port Richmond Industrial Devel- tem for the de-
opment Enterprise (PRIDE) neighbor- partment.
hood improvement district, which was The Philadel-
established in that year. phia department
“We never got physically confronted, but implemented the
burglary was bad,” Kress said. mobile data ter-
His trucks were broken into for tools, minals, or MDTs,
cell-phone chargers, whatever. If he had it in r esponse to
to do all over again, Kress said he would’ve what its of ficials
tried to determine the neighborhood’s refer to as “the
safety before buying a property. Eddie Polec inci-
Within a couple of months of moving in, dent.”
Kress had an alarm system and surveil- That occurred
lance cameras installed for about $5,000. in 1994 when dis-
He also had fencing, with razor-sharp wire patchers failed to
running along the top, put up around the properly alert of-
property, which cost another $10,000. ficers to numer-
With the building’s windows being broken ous calls about a
nearly every day, Kress began replacing group of teenag-
them with windows made of a supposedly ers from Abington
unbreakable material, he said. To date, attacking a group
he’s paid out $20,000 replacing windows, of teenagers from CURT HUDSON
and he’s still not finished, he said. t h e c i t y ’ s F o x Deputy Police Commissioner Jack Gaittens checks the video surveillance cameras with Police Officer
“We’re right along the railroad track, Chase section. Kathleen Allen in the monitoring room at the Roundhouse, police headquarters.
which is not a good place to be … kids The end result
throw rocks at the windows,” Kress said. was that one of
The location makes the property more the Fox Chase teenagers, Eddie Polec, the New York Police Depar tment, tions for support services and for the
vulnerable to break-ins, so Kress has put was beaten with baseball bats by the where former Philadelphia Police Com- deployment of another 250 cameras.
up boards and concrete blocks in some Abington teenagers and left outside St. missioner John Timoney worked be- The Philadelphia Housing Authority
areas around the building to prevent entry. Cecelia’s Roman Catholic Church. A fore coming here. The department de- also has jumped on board the tech
Kress’ property has still been targeted. police officer arrived at the scene 45 veloped it in-house and implemented it bandwagon. It’s testing a global posi-
Things are better since the PRIDE was minutes after the first call about the in 1998. tioning system that uses satellites to
established in 2000 with funding from a 20 fight and was unable to save Polec’s At its simplest, CompStat replaces pinpoint the location of its police vehi-
percent assessment on the real estate life. old pin maps police formerly used to cles, track their speed and stop-and-
taxes of the area’s roughly 60 industrial The MDTs have cleared up a bottle- locate criminal activity. But it also al- start patterns and monitor such engine-
properties. PRIDE has added hundreds of neck in the dispatching system that lows police to drill down into each inci- performance measures as idle time and
thousands of dollars worth of pedestrian contributed to Polec’s death — the dent to get all the information about it gasoline usage.
lighting. The district, bounded by Tulip, amount of time and air space that offi- and do a variety of sorts and searches The cost of the system is less than
Amber and Venango streets and Allegh- cers in cars used getting information of crime data, including by date, time, $20,000, according to PHA Police Chief
eny Avenue, has also been dotted with se- from dispatchers about things like the crime type and even things like phrases Rich Zappile, who also manages the
curity cameras through a program that status of the driver’s licenses of people spoken by the perpetrators. fleet and risk management for the hous-
cost about $100,000. they pulled over. Now, they can get that “You can see what your [crime] pat- ing authority.
“I think the neighborhood is safer than it information from their MDTs, giving terns are so you can deploy your per- Zappile thinks the system will help
was when I first got here,” Kress said. “I the dispatchers more time to handle sonnel,” said Deputy Police Commis- keep the authority’s police officers safe
felt terrible about security; all and all I’ve 911 calls. sioner Jack Gaittens. and reduce the amount it spends on
seen things improve.” The most recent batch of MDTs cost The department’s latest technologi- their cars. If it does the latter effec-
He continues to invest in security. He the department a little more than $4,000 cal advancement is a system of 250 tively, he may roll it out to the rest of
upgraded to night vision cameras and re- apiece, including their three-year war- video surveillance cameras scheduled the authority’s 500 vehicles.
placed the VCR he used to record in the ranties. Each cost $1,200 to install. to be deployed across the city by the
past with a computer. ■ The MDTs communicate with police end of next October. pkey@bizjournals.com | 215-238-5141
20 PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL THE PRICE OF CRIME philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008
Banks weigh the risk of robbery as incidences have risen
JEFF BLUMENTHAL vard as a quick getaway route. Williams said the FBI evaluates the GPS systems attached to money that can
STAFF WRITER But in Center City and similar busi- number of armed robberies, injuries, track where the robber heads after exit-
ness districts, where traf fic moves what type of institution was robbed, the ing the branch.
The first bank robbery in the United slowly, robberies are usually done on number of perpetrators and their race More banks are using man traps,
States reportedly happened in the over- foot, she said. and gender, the amount of money taken, which are bullet-proof glass vestibules in
night hours of Aug. 31, 1798, at the Bank “The robber jumps into a taxi, bus or what the money was used for and which tellers can lock robbers as they
of Pennsylvania at Carpenters’ Hall. The train after ward,” Williams said. “Once whether or not the crime involved repeat attempt to escape.
vaults were robbed of $162,821. they get on the street, it’s easy for them offenders. Tim Abell, president and chief operat-
One of two culprits died days after the to blend in with the crowd.” Bank executives say that just because ing officer of Conshohocken-based Fir-
robber y of yellow Williams said the region’s five-largest a branch is located in a high-crime neigh- str ust Bank, said the bank recently
fever that plagued banks — Wachovia, Commerce, Citi- borhood does not mean the site is viewed opened a Newtown branch with a man
‘I think Philadelphia that zens, Sovereign and PNC — are the as high risk. trap, which he said was an additional
summer. The other most popular targets because of their Stacey Graham, senior vice president cost but he prefers them to guards be-
it’s due drew suspicion when size and recognizability. at Bank of America, said safety proce- cause they are less intrusive.
he began depositing Citizens Bank and PNC Bank de- dures are the same at all branches but in Abell, though, said the ability to im-
to the the money back into clined to be interviewed in connection areas of high risk, the bank will use bul- prove security often depends on the age
the same bank he with this stor y. But Wa- of the branch.
fact that robbed. He was ar- chovia Bank said it con- “Our first branch was
rested, but Pennsyl- ducts an annual security THIS IS A STICKUP opened in 1934 in South
violent vania’s governor par- audit and ranks branches
The number of bank robberies in the Philadelphia region has increased in the past
Philadelphia,” Abell said.
doned him in return by risk. “It has different technol-
five years.
crime is for full restitution to “There are some neigh- ogy than the ones built
the bank. borhoods that you might 2000 296 today so it is harder to
on the Almost 220 years assume are a security risk
2001
upgrade security.”
later, yellow fever that are not,” said Kathy 249 Some banks still do not
upswing.’ might be a thing of Burger, Wachovia’s state 2002 245 like the message that
the past but bank rob- operations executive for man traps send to cus-
Gerria beries are still com- the mid-Atlantic region. 2003 314 tomers.
Williams monplace in the re- “We look at incidents in our 2004 454 “You have to weigh the
FBI special agent gion. The FBI said banks and peer banks, get possibility of these
there were 369 rob- information from the FBI 2005 342 things happening,” said
beries in its fiscal and local police and rank 2006 Andy Cook, CEO of Bala
392
year 2007, which branches by low, medium Cynwyd’s Allegiance
ended Sept. 30. That and high risk.” 2007 369 Bank. “Think of the cus-
number continues Highest-risk branches tomer being locked in.
five years of more look at upgrades ever y Source: FBI data for Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Camden, What kind of atmosphere
than 300 robberies and represents a 50 year and lower-risk ones Gloucester and Salem counties. is that going to create?”
percent increase over 2002 when the re- every two or three years. Chris Jacobsen, COO
gion recorded only 245 robberies. Burger said low-risk of South Philadelphia-
“I think it’s due to the fact that violent branches have cameras. Medium-risk let-resistant glass, which he says is a based St. Edmond’s Bank said he prefers
crime is on the upswing,” said Special have additional cameras and a guard. huge deterrent. He said the glass has to rely on DVR camera systems with
Agent Gerria Williams, the FBI’s Phila- And high-risk locations have bullet-proof been installed in the bank’s branches digital quality video sur veillance that
delphia office spokeswoman. glass. Less than 10 percent of all near Temple University in North Phila- has led to the apprehension of the sus-
Williams said of the 369 bank robber- branches are high risk, Burger said. delphia and also in suburban locales pect in its one robber y from the past
ies in the eight-county area, 32 percent The U.S. Bank Protection Act requires such as Yardley. three years.
were carried out by suspects brandish- banks to have a designated security of- Barbara Hurst, executive editor of the Williams said that the FBI likes banks
ing a weapon. In 2006, there were 392 fice, written security policy and trained Bankers Hotline newsletter and a con- to advertise that they have man traps to
robberies but only 23 percent involved a personnel. sultant on security and compliance is- scare aware would-be robbers.
weapon. Williams said on average, be- The FBI holds regularly scheduled sues, said cost is one of the first things “But the most important thing is good
tween 60 percent and 65 percent of bank meetings with the Delaware Valley Bank banks evaluate when deter mining quality sur veillance video,” Williams
robbers are caught. Security Officer Group. Williams said whether to open or close a branch. She said. “That, more than anything, can
Williams said most local bank robber- the FBI will tell bank security executives said risk assessment can determine what help you catch someone, especially be-
ies occur in Center City and Northeast to use the media to help apprehend sus- the ultimate cost will be. cause bank robbers who are successful
Philadelphia and not in higher crime pects. One way is to give robbers nick- Part of the security cost is the new tend to try it again. So you need to have
neighborhoods like North Philadelphia names. For instance, one nattily dressed technology banks are developing to quality equipment that is positioned
or Southwest Philadelphia. Northeast robber was dubbed “the GQ Bandit” and thwart robberies. Banks have long used properly in the branch.”
Philadelphia is an obvious choice be- was caught in part because of the public- exploding dye packs with money turned
cause of its access to Roosevelt Boule- ity, Williams said. over to robbers. Now some are using jblumenthal@bizjournals.com | 215-238-5136
ELSEWHERE: Participation by concerned citizens is major factor in stemming the tide
FROM PAGE 18 looking at the camera, but the information to boost its own network from the 18 the Ottenberg said. “But, if we can speed them
provided by the network was invaluable to city installed to 250 by next October. Phila- up, we have some chance of keeping peo-
sible for more than 1,000 arrests as of last the investigation.” delphia credits the cameras with helping ple in jail throughout the process.”
fall and helped lead police to two murder The camera’s zoom capability make it to make nearly 90 arrests in the past four A significant number of those released
suspects in July, said Kevin Smith, a possible to get a license plate from 60 to 70 months. on bail commit additional crimes, said Ot-
spokesman for the city’s Office of Emer- yards away, Smith said. The office is work- Camden, which experienced an overall tenberg, who believes the program will
gency Management and Communication. ing in partnership with IBM Corp. to de- slight climb in violent crime last year, will also serve as a deterrent to gun violence
“[Police] were able to identify the get- velop analytical software that will “teach begin fast-tracking gun cases in the New by reducing the number of people who
away car and follow it to another location the cameras” to recognize suspicious be- Year through a pilot program. Under the commit crimes in the first place.
where a second camera got some informa- havior. program, a coordinating judge will preside “It gets the message out very quickly …
tion on people as they fled the car and also Baltimore has a network of about 400 over serious gun cases through indictment that there’s a special program waiting for
helped them to identify potential wit- cameras, and in nearby Aberdeen legisla- and handle all preliminary bail reviews you when you fall into the loving arms of
nesses,” Smith said of the images caught tion was approved in October that empow- and pre-indictment proceedings. enforcement,” Ottenberg said.
on the city’s cameras. “You didn’t actually ers the city and police to require cameras “We are not known as a slow county,”
have the guys shooting the victim and in new developments. Philadelphia plans Acting Camden County Prosecutor Joshua amerritt@bizjournals.com | 215-238-5149
philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008 THE PRICE OF CRIME PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL 21
On a gritty N. Phila. block, tiny doll museum limps along
PETER VAN ALLEN and in various locations around Philadel- the museum are firmly planted in North “You have to let those organizations
STAFF WRITER phia. Philadelphia. know where you are,” she said. “What hap-
“I have a passion for histor y and cul- To attract visitors, Whiteman pays $500 pens on the north side [of Avenue of the
The Philadelphia Doll Museum attracts ture,” said Whiteman, who retired as a for an annual membership in the Philadel- Arts] is space. It’s three miles on this side
just 3,000 visitors a year. medical technologist at a veterans hospi- phia Convention & Visitors Bureau, which and we’re spread out. That’s not a prob-
But perhaps no other museum requires tal. “The dolls are artifacts of history and has a Multicultural Affairs Congress to lem, it’s a challenge. The Phlash buses
visitors to work so hard to get there. The culture.” market attractions like hers. don’t come up here.”
museum is on a gritty block of North But the merits of the collection are often “I pay the same amount as the Philadel- Visitors fall into two groups.
Broad Street, on the corner of Dauphin overshadowed by its location in North “Some like the challenge of the local
Street. It is adjacent to a vacant, trash- Philadelphia. bus. Others prefer to take a cab,” she said.
strewn lot. Visitors must be buzzed in. Whiteman, executive director of the mu- “You’ll get visitors, but maybe not as many
When closed, the museum’s facade is cov- seum, said there are two districts that at- as you’d like.”
ered in a steel grate. tract visitors — the city’s historic Of the neighborhood, Whiteman said:
It is 22 blocks north of City Hall, district and the Ben Franklin Park- “Sure, there’s more fear. But we’re per-
and three blocks north of the north- way — and she’s not in either of fectly safe.”
ern most part of the Temple Univer- them. Efforts to market the Avenue “If you’re coming from Center City to
sity campus. of the Arts (a.k.a. Broad Street) North Central Philadelphia, it’s two differ-
“You look at the city’s [visitor] mostly focus on the southern half of ent neighborhoods,” she said. “I usually
maps, they don’t let people go past the avenue, home to the Academy of say I’m up the street from Temple Univer-
Vine. Most tours and guides stop at Music, the Kimmel Center for the sity. Saying ‘Temple’ arrests their fears.
Whiteman
Vine,” said Executive Director Bar- Performing Arts and a slew of the- They think, ‘OK, they’re in a college
bara A. Whiteman, who has been at aters. area.’”
2253 N. Broad St. since 1996. “I had a “Visitors or even neighbors will She even said, given the choice, she
girl walk here from City Hall. She said she say, ‘You should be in town.’ If I had the would have outfitted the museum with a
just followed the arrow on the map. You money, I might move,” Whiteman said. less-forbidding rolling steel door — one
just have an arrow from Vine.” The museum operates on an annual bud- that would allow pedestrians to see inside
The Philadelphia Doll Museum started get of $25,000; Whiteman is the only full- at night.
in 1988 as a “museum without walls,” with time staff member. “It’s not friendly at all,” she said of the
founder Whiteman taking her collection of But in the next breath, Whiteman said door, which is required by insurers and
antique and historic dolls around to she takes pride in offering something to a was installed by the landlord.
schools. In 1996, she opened the 1,000- low-income neighborhood. PETER VAN ALLEN | BUSINESS JOURNAL She said the buzzer is necessar y be-
square-foot museum in the best location “Here people can see the collection, they A gate protects museum when closed. cause “it’s good to know who is in” the
she could afford. can have a neighborhood museum. The museum.
In limited space, she has arranged dis- admission is only $4. If they don’t have $4, phia Museum of Art, but if I’m going to ad- Whiteman said she is looking forward to
plays for more than 500 dolls of all shapes I’ll tell them to come on in. I’ll tell them to vertise anywhere it’s there,” Whiteman Michael Nutter taking office as mayor, not
and sizes. Some date back 100 years. Oth- bring [a new visitor] back. People will said. because she thinks it will make the city
ers, like the Roberta Bell collection, tell come in and say, ‘Do I have to pay?’ I’ll say, She is also a member of the Greater Phil- safer but because he has been an advocate
the story of African-American heritage and ‘Do you have it to pay?’” Whiteman said. adelphia Cultural Alliance, the Museum of arts and culture. She hopes Nutter rein-
feature abolitionists Sojourner Truth and “We serve a low-income community, North Association of the Delaware Valley and states the office of arts and culture that
Frederick Douglass, Mother Bethel AME Philadelphia people. They won’t be denied Avenue of the Arts Inc. Brochures for the Mayor John F. Street eliminated. As a city
Church founder Rev. Richard Allen and admission. They’re not used to a museum Doll Museum are available at the Indepen- councilman, he was supportive of the arts.
scientist George Washington Car ver, right in their neighborhood.” dence Visitor Center on Independence “We once got a grant from the Philadel-
among others. Parts of the museum’s col- Someday, she said she might compro- Mall. Whiteman also leaves information phia culture office and wrote a ‘thank-you
lection have been shown in traveling ex- mise by opening a satellite museum in an- with the concierge desk at Center City ho- note’ to City Council,” Whiteman said.
hibits in Boston, Dallas, New York, Maine other neighborhood. But, for now, she and tels. “[Nutter] wrote back to wish us well.” ■
A shop full of Tastykakes keeps teenagers from mischief
PETER VAN ALLEN Dwight, 16, said of other companies where
STAFF WRITER she applied. “They think young people are
not capable to do the work. I tried McDon-
In the Allegheny West section of town, ald’s, Chuck E. Cheese, Shop Rite.”
Ronald Hinton Jr. recruits teens to work at Kids in the program are required to
the Tastykake Thrift Store, at 2236 Hunt- carry good grades, and their attendance
ing Park Ave. is monitored — both at school and at
“We have a simple strategy,” said Hin- work.
ton, who is director of the Allegheny West “If they’re graduating, they’re not com-
Community Development Corp., which mitting crime in the street,” Hinton said.
started the program with Tasty Baking “It reduces the boredom, reduces the neg-
Co. and PNC Bank, which contributed atives of the street.”
$75,000 and a former bank branch to the Among teens who have gone through
program. “We hire 50 kids a year, 14 to 18 the program, 100 percent have graduated
years old, and we put them to work in the from high school. Four out of five go on to
store. We feel the real way to stop crime is college.
to get people off the streets and into the One of those who has gone on to college
work force.” — and who continues to work in the store
The 500-square-foot shop, which opened — is Erin Fullard, 19, who is studying fo-
in 2005, stocks Tastykakes, as well as as- rensic science at Temple University and
sorted candies and drinks. Tasty Baking’s Community College of Philadelphia.
CURT HUDSON
headquarters is less than a mile away. “If I wasn’t working here, I’d probably be
Teens get work experience at Ronald Hinton Jr.’s Tastykake store.
Kids get experience stocking shelves, at a fast-food restaurant or something” Ful-
managing inventory, handling customer lard said. “I’d probably just be at CCP, not
service, doing maintenance, working the How would you run it?’” said Hinton. “Not ules.” Temple.”
cash register and even in management. many companies are going to give 14-year- Indeed, the kids bear out what he says.
“We basically say, ‘Here is a business. olds a job and work around school sched- “They don’t want to hire us,” Sabina — Peter Van Allen
Viewpoint
‘The percentage of all companies now
offering HSA plans is up to 40 percent.’
Karen Kerrigan | Small Business Council See column, facing page
44 PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL philadelphia.bizjournals.com | JANUARY 4-10, 2008
BUSINESS PULSE
Readers:
Insurance still
on the rise
T
he Internet Business Pulse Survey recently
asked readers what the change will be this
year in their health-care coverage costs.
Readers were asked if their costs would de-
crease, stay the same, increase by less than 5 per-
cent or increase by more than 5 percent.
For the results of the survey, see chart.
A sampling of reader comments:
n Health care is what is bringing down the Amer-
ican economy. People’s savings are being redi-
rected towards health care.
n For the past three years it has gone up at my
husband’s company by a
SURVEY SAYS very significant percent-
age. Last year, it was al-
What cost changes will most double: the year be-
your company’s health fore, our monthly outlay
plan have next year? was $86 per month, then
it went up to $148 per
month for the same plan
and coverage.
n I would love for it to
This Outlaw stands up against crime
Y
go down but … fat ou know you aren’t in Kansas when they strap a Before the night is through, he will
chance. bullet-proof vest on you. If that’s not enough, the pair up with another officer to try and
n It’s outrageous! waiver does the trick. To ride shotgun with a Phila- serve two arrest warrants, at one point
n After hiring a young delphia police officer, you have to agree to hold the de- walking into a dark public housing unit
man, our rates decreased. partment harmless if you get maimed or killed. through an unlocked door, only to come
Total responses: 203 n It will stay the same: So began my ride-along in November in the city’s 22nd out empty-handed. He speeds through
$0.00. I can’t afford a Police District, an area north of Temple University that is red lights, slowing slightly for safety,
health-care plan. considered one of the most dangerous in the city. It’s re- with sirens blaring in response to calls.
n Doctors make too much money. The people ferred to as the Badlands. In trying to understand the Outlaw has a thing for faces and leafs
they treat cannot afford to go to them. crime that plagues Philadelphia, there’s no replacement NOTEBOOK through arrest warrants. On this night,
n The attorneys [at the firm] are absorbing for witnessing what police deal with it firsthand. It hap- his skill and practice would pay off.
[the increase] after the firm cut our pension con- pened on a Friday night between 8 and 11 p.m., in a time Bernard Word of a shooting crackled over the
tribution, changed our PTO, took away our holi- and place that almost guaranteed some sort of action. Dagenais radio. At the scene, a victim, who was
day party, and took away our Christmas bonus of I was assigned to ride with — I kid you not — Officer apparently shot in the foot, wouldn’t
a day off. Alvin Outlaw, 32, a rookie officer and former high school identify the shooter. Such lack of cooperation is common.
n [Our costs] went up dramatically last year teacher in the Philadelphia School District. Among the crowd that gathered, however, Outlaw spot-
but have remained static [in 2007]. Outlaw, who is pursuing a line of work he had thought ted a familiar face — a woman whose picture was in his
n We have experienced a 20 percent to 25 per- about for years, never saw himself as someone who warrants folder. He made the arrest.
cent annual price increase for the last six years. would spend his working years behind a desk. He was at- Outlaw’s nights are primarily about drugs and shoot-
This is unconscionable. Government regulators tracted to the job by the action and the idea that he could ings. The drug business chokes others and he doesn’t
have abdicated their responsibility and failed to make a difference in the lives of youth. regularly interact with legitimate operators. There are a
provide adequate oversight. “This is a way for me to get them off the streets,” he few shopping centers, some coin-operated laundromats
n What businesses don’t get is that they have said. On this night, as with most, that means shooing and plenty of street-corner bars. He recalls a bar in which
to pay for the uninsureds. Get those people cov- young men off street corners where they stand in small an employee was badly beaten as she was preparing to
ered and my cost goes down. groups with their hands in their pockets. open up one day. Her assailant got away with $100. When
n We have converted to a Health Savings Ac- “You can’t stand there,” he tells the men, who slowly stores get robbed, victims often won’t talk.
count. wander off. “Some of them are afraid to talk,” he says. “They see
n It stinks. It’s likely many of these teenagers have guns, since the these kids every day.”
n We changed to a plan with higher employee weapons are easy to get and rampant on city streets. As a new mayor, Michael Nutter, takes office with a
co-pay to avoid a large increase in premium over Many sell drugs from those street corners. new police chief, Charles H. Ramsey, the challenge of
last year. “The corners get crowded real fast, and they start making these streets safer looms large. As things stand,
n 9.2 percent increase on PPO. shooting each other,” Outlaw says. “None of them can re- these streets are hostile to legitimate business. Neigh-
n Unfortunately, we are at the liberty of our in- ally handle a weapon so kids end up getting shot.” bors often won’t, or can’t, help. These hard facts will be
surance company as regards our health-care In the weeks following the shooting death of Officer hard to change. It’s certain, however, that Outlaw and the
costs. Chuck Cassidy in October, and the injuries to two detec- officers he works with assuredly can’t do it alone.
n Just received info from Blue Cross-Blue tives shot while trying to serve a warrant a week later, the
Shield that rates will increase 21 percent in danger Outlaw faces is palpable. He drives around look- BERNARD DAGENAIS, editor of Philadelphia Business Journal, can be reached at
2008! n ing for trouble, literally racing toward it. bdagenais@bizjournals.com.
