A shining example

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Walking east on Race street yesterday, away from my car and toward my apartment, I stopped to take this in (and take this picture):

"This" is N Lambert Street. Amid the clutter and noise of Logan Square N Lambert, what might have been an alleyway of no significance, is a clean, peaceful, block where children sometimes play in the afternoons. It seems to be a non-sequitur in the story of Philadelphia filth. It has not gone unrecognized. Rather, it is a model upon which the city bestowed this:

These models of residential city splendor do exist. A small community can come together and make a single street clean, even if that street is just an a connecting alley. More signs like these and, collectively, the residents can refresh the city. In the process we will restore its image.