NORRISTOWN FIGHTS DRUGS, CRIME ONE STREET AT A TIME

NORRISTOWN -- When Eleanor Brown decided to rent her East Moore Street
apartment a month ago, she had seen it only during the daytime.

But what a difference dusk can bring to the neighborhood, Brown said. That's
when drug dealing, loitering and blaring music take over the corners between
the 400 and 500 blocks of Moore Street -- which, borough police say, is fast
becoming known as Norristown's marijuana capital.

Brown, 39, says she is wondering whether she will be able to make it to the
end of her lease. She is waiting to see whether Operation Fresh Start, the
neighborhood-cleanup program that moved to Moore Street yesterday, will have
any effect.

Police, cleanup crews and code-enforcement officers hit the street yesterday
in the latest phase of the program, modeled after similar efforts in
Philadelphia and begun here on Cherry Street in June and on Green Street in
October. Borough officials said the idea was to empower residents, deter
crime and restore safety.

"You don't want to get run out of your home, but it seems that way. It's
sad," Brown said yesterday, as she watched police set up barricades. "If
this program works, I'll love it. If it doesn't, I'm seriously thinking
about moving."

To give these blocks of Moore Street a fighting chance, Mayor Ted LeBlanc
said, police officers will stay on the street from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. for two
weeks, questioning people traveling through the barricades. After that,
residents will have to participate in several planned neighborhood meetings
if they want the turnaround to last, he said.

"This is one of the prime[drug]selling corners," LeBlanc said, standing
between the two blocks at the intersection with Violet Street. "The bottom
line is, we're going to ruin business here. This is the kind of thing that
allows the good people to take back their street."

Already, several residents said they were looking forward to the help. As
code-enforcement officers condemned one rental property, children played on
the sidewalk and rode bikes in the traffic-free street. Residents chatted
with police, and Tim Wallace, executive director of Norristown's Religious
Committee for Community Justice, said it was a positive sign.

"Shut-ins," Wallace said, describing the blocks' longtime residents.
"They're living shut-in types of lives, unable to go outside and enjoy their
houses. They say, 'Basically, I get out to do what I need to do at a certain
time and then go back in.' It's really sad."

The anticrime program, led by LeBlanc, the Police Department and the
Religious Committee for Community Justice, first targeted the 1000 block of
Cherry Street and then the 500 block of Green Street, both of which suffered
deterioration from drugs and crime similar to that on Moore Street.

Police Chief Russell Bono said that while the department's calls to the 1000
block of Cherry Street declined markedly after Operation Fresh Start, those
who live on Green Street were still experiencing problems with crime and
drugs.

Moore Street resident Mary Isaac said she doubted the program would have a
lasting effect once police left.

"They're wasting their time. It's like saying, 'OK, the President is coming
to Moore Street for the day, so let's clean it up,' " she said. "After that
one day, then what?"