((PKG)) GREEN SPACES
((Banner: Green Spaces))
((Reporter/Camera: Steve Baragona))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania))
((Banner: LandCare is a model of urban revitalization that addresses the widespread challenge of abandoned land plaguing Philadelphia))
((NATS))
((Keith Green, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society))
The program started as a pilot program to clean vacant lots. It sets itself up for dumping like this. It's really not safe for the kids that live around here because, you know, it’s an open lot. Anybody can hide in here. You can stash drugs in here. It’s huge for everybody involved. It's huge for the community because, you know, you're cleaning up vacant lot. And, you know, in these neighborhoods, you're giving small businesses opportunities that they may have not had, and you're also hiring, you know, local residents to perform the work.
((Sheila Parker, Philadelphia Resident))
People, you know, they go out their door and they just see rubbish and trash and nothing cut. It does a lot to a person. I know this has really been helpful for me, really has.
((STILLS: Before / After))
((Keith Green, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society))
We, like, educate the community people in, like, basic horticulture, teach them how to water, the difference between an annual on a perennial.
((STILLS: Before / After))
((Dr. Gina South, Emergency Room Physician))
What we found was a significant drop in heart rate when people were walking past the vacant lots when they were greened compared to before they were greened.
((STILLS: Before / After))
I did a qualitative study in which I interviewed people who are living in neighborhoods that had a lot of vacant lots and abandoned buildings and asked them what they felt the impact was on their health. They had a lot to say. People felt like it had a negative impact on the overall well-being of the community and, in particular, that it fractured ties between neighbors. So, it affected that social milieu of the community, which we know has an impact on health, and then people felt like it impacted their mental health. They felt stigmatized and neglected and then experience a lot of negative emotions like depression and anxiety and fear, because of living on a block with a lot of vacant lots or abandoned buildings. People reported feeling 40% less depressed and an overall improvement in their mental health. We took care of a lot of shooting victims and did a great job of treating their physical injuries but did little to nothing to think about what was causing them to come in as shooting victims to us in the first place.
((Keith Green, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society))
Gun violence has gone down, and you know, people's heart rates is being reduced. People are exercising more in certain sections of, you know, Philadelphia. You just be like, wow.
((Dr. Gina South, Emergency Room Physician))
Our results were most prominent actually in the poorest neighborhoods in the city so indicating that there may be certain neighborhoods where interventions like this can have the biggest impact.
((NATS))
