In this section of Southwest Center City, this block largely defines the image of public housing in Philadelphia. The fires were the result of accidents, the fire marshal determined, not structural deficiencies. But the PHA has left the burnt-out houses untouched, unrenovated and only partially boarded up. When neighbors look at the block, they feel abandoned.

Uhuru's Philadelphia chapter was born in the wake of the 1985 bombing by police of MOVE — another black radical group that practiced a back-to-nature lifestyle. It has since cultivated its own unique, and uniquely radical niche in Philadelphia.

Though scaffolding sits atop a gash in the floor where the steeple fell, it can't conceal the space's centuries-old beauty. Christ Memorial is filled with potential. But for what?

The issue, which concerns just 13 tables and 26 chairs, has transformed into a bitter struggle between neighbors in Graduate Hospital, the primarily residential area surrounding Sidecar Bar & Grille at 22nd and Christian.