When it comes to monitoring Philadelphia's some 30,000 vacant buildings, the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections is admittedly overwhelmed. "We can only be in so many places at one time," says L&I Acting Commissioner Robert D. Solvibile Sr.

Though he says the department has the resources to clean only 2,500 buildings annually, it's still difficult to imagine why a pair of neglected properties on the 2700 block of Master Street could turn into a garbage hell complete with scurrying rats and nose-churning aromas. Locals say their neighbor at 2730 Master St. collected trash from across the city and squirreled it away in his home and an adjacent property for the past three years. According to people who have lived here since they were children, maggot-infested food, old appliances, broken lawn chairs, ratty mattresses and other debris started spilling out into the back lots during the past six months.

The stench made it impossible for Christina Morrow's 1- and 3-year-old grandsons to play outside on summer nights and left neighbor Wilhelmina Cassis worried for her 85-year-old mother's health. Things, however, are finally starting to look up, considering that neighborhood complaints resulted in a police SWAT team visit one recent morning. While Cassis says "it smells 100 percent better," residents still can't understand why the city ignored them for so long when a few streets over in what they call "the new Brewerytown," development promises to boost property values and quality of life.

On their section of Master Street, repeated phone calls and letters resulted in visits from L&I this summer, but no real action. Solvibile didn't comment on whether it was a coincidence that a crew responded to neighbors' complaints less than 48 hours after City Paper called to ask about the veritable junkyard.

Cassis' family moved to the house where she lives when she was a little girl. Now 61, she remembers a time when a cleaners, drug store and bakery thrived across the street. In the late 1960s, when riots erupted on Girard Avenue and looting spread north, the neighborhood never recovered. But Cassis stayed put, maintaining her home and the tradition of street sweeping started by her father. Finally, after decades of coping with a downtrodden community, Cassis is poised to enjoy the benefits of change.

Aazim Muhammad, director of the Brewerytown Community Development Corporation, loves to talk about how developers are pouring money into the once struggling area, bound by 25th and 33rd streets and Girard and Glenwood avenues, in the form of townhomes and loft apartments [News, "Fight Brewing," Brian Hickey, April 28, 2005]. Cassis disagrees. "Whitey," wants this neighborhood back."

In December, Stephanie Stago bought a house sorely in need of renovation in Cassis' block. She was attracted to Brewerytown for its proximity to Fairmount Park. The courier and massage therapist bonded with her neighbors over the trash problem. "Now," Stago says, "these homeowners are getting what they deserve. That's why you buy a house, so the property value goes up. But I can't stand it when a city touts itself as an up-and-coming place and lets this happen. This area is still getting sidestepped."

As Stago and her neighbors talked, the sun set over the silhouetted Acts of the Apostles Church at 28th and Master streets. The humidity let up for the night, but they couldn't open their windows against the smells. "I can't even sit on my porch on a nice night like this," Morrow said.

They didn't know that two days later, workers would show up. A five-person cleanup crew suited up and shoveled take-out containers, broken bottles, a cracked plastic baby carriage and milk crates filled with rags into a trash truck. It wouldn't be a simple job since the trash man barricaded himself in one of the properties until the police SWAT team arrived, coaxed him outside and took him to a local mental health center for treatment. Neighbors know him as Franklin Wayne Evans, son of Alice Evans, owner of 2730 Master St., according to city records. They'd been told there was little they could do to keep him away because the owner paid her property taxes on time. (The city owns 2728 Master St., the other trashed property).

Solvibile says L&I will bill the property owner for the cleaning but his office won't know the price tag for another week. Crews will also put up "No Trespassing" signs. "We have no control over stopping that guy from doing what he does," Solvibile says. "I suggest if he comes out again, that the neighbors call the police again."

In the meantime, the city relies on neighbors to keep an eye on vacant properties. A few residents will pool their money to put up a fence in hopes of keeping out unwanted visitors. They just hope next time there's a problem the city meets them halfway.

"The people here really take care of this neighborhood," Stago says. "The city shouldn't make it harder."