April 14-20, 2005

mailbag

Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

But Is It the Next Fishtown?

Yo, [Duane] Swierczynski: What's with Oak Lane being a "bad neighborhood" [WTF, "Not from Around Here," March 31, 2005]? Total news to those of us who live there, and to those Philadelphians who have bought and continue to buy houses in the area. Oak Lane, particularly East Oak Lane (most people distinguish between East, east of Broad, and West Oak Lane, west of Broad) is a neighborhood of large single houses, originally built for the rich citizens of Philadelphia to escape the stifling city heat in the summer, as Oak Lane was cooler by about 10 degrees than Center City. Even now, when I get off the bus at 67th Avenue, it still feels cooler [with] tree-lined streets giving shade, birds singing loudly, children playing in the street.

East Oak Lane today is an ethnically diverse, culturally rich, vibrant neighborhood, where long-time residents mix with new young families, where we know our neighbors, where borrowing food staples is still done, where we sit on the steps of our nonrow houses in the evening shade and talk and drink beer. Oak Lane has successfully integrated racially, without the trauma that seems to have afflicted other areas. Is this perhaps what makes it a bad neighborhood, as opposed to when most of the homeowners were rich and white? It is an area that welcomes differences; mixed-race couples, families with special needs children, writers, painters, activists. Our houses are amazing and reasonably priced, with high ceilings, huge rooms, great architectural detail and big gardens. For those who love old houses, it is probably the best deal in the city. It is well-served by public transportation and has many handy little shops within walking distance. It is, in short, a great neighborhood.
Deirdre MacDermott
Oak Lane

As we say here in Philadelphia: What an Attytude you have. Your "lifelong" knowledge of the city appears to have been developed by years of parochial travel in only the places that you are comfortable with or have been told by other "locals" are "good or bad." I suggest you get on a bicycle or other conveyance that will allow you to see the real city at low to moderate speeds. Then, you can really see the wonderful collection of neighborhoods that Philly has: East Oak Lane, Northwood, Tacony, Overbrook, Stephen Girard Estate section of South Philly, and a host of many other locations. To provide a blanket assessment without any real knowledge of it smacks of xenophobia and could be construed as racist even if not intended to be. Even after you left the North 11th Street area, your column still left the impression that that neighborhood might still be "bad."

City Paper should call it as it is, not project innuendo. Don't play the "Top news story on Action News" fire-and-crime view of the city to visitors or your readers until you have really explored the place.
Ray Scheinfeld
Philadelphia (The whole of it)

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Swierczynski responds: Actually, Deirdre and Ray, I agree with both of you. Perhaps my column didn't convey this clearly enough, but I was poking fun at myself for still being so parochial — in effect, catching myself in the act of dismissing a neighborhood without properly knowing it. And it took a Scotsman to help me see the error of my ways.