CHESTER, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 For the first time ever, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society is taking its Landcare vacant land program outside of Philadelphia and bringing it to Chester.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Melissa Stutzbach, the program\u2019s director, said a partnership with the Delaware County District Attorney\u2019s Office, Chester Partnership for Safe Neighborhoods, and the City of Chester, is helping them transform and maintain more than 100,000 square feet of vacant land across Chester.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve cleared 10 vacant lots, taking out all the debris, all the weeds, putting down topsoil, grass, a post and rail fence, and trees,\u201d she said, adding the program would do more than just beautify blighted areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a study that came out of UPenn that found neighbors near our vacant lots. Reports of depression decreased by 41% and crime was reduced by 26%.\u201d<\/p>\n
Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said a partnership between PHS and the District Attorney\u2019s office may seem like an unlikely pairing at first glance, but makes sense where the data is concerned.<\/p>\n
\u201cStatistically, it is proven [that] when you have beautification efforts,\u201d he said, \u201cwhen you have a neighborhood that is clean, that is green, you\u2019re going to see a reduction in violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rouse said the partnership helps them combat violence in a different way than what is usually seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat you have to do is show a commitment to the community for law enforcement to be down here saying we care \u2026 saying, \u2018Kids, come and play here. We’re going to create the space.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Barron Lacy, a PHS Landcare specialist and Chester resident, said the possibilities were nothing but positive for the city. \u201cIt makes developers look to want to come here, and it raises property values,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
For Mayor Stefan Roots, the initiative reflects his own vision for Chester. \u201cMy vision is for green space to be within a five-minute walk of every front door in the city of Chester,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Roots suggested the renovated lots could be used for everything from play spaces for kids to cookout sites for families.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as I\u2019m invited,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHESTER, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 For the first time ever, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society is taking its Landcare…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":872461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,54878,7282,71641,1448,2830,148728,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-872460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-chester","tag-delaware-county","tag-green-spaces","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-horticultural-society","tag-philadelphia","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116762927900366095","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}