PA. FENCE FEUD SPLITS COMMUNITY

ERIE, Pa. (AP) A fence proposed to curb drug sales and help police
catch criminals is dividing more than the back yards and vacant lots
of a blighted neighborhood in Pennsylvania's third largest city.

Some say a 6-foot-high, $15,000 chain-link fence running down the back
yards of a block could reduce crime and help rehabilitate the area.
But critics argue it's a waste of tax money and a misguided effort
aimed at young black men who gather in the area.

"They're discriminating against the blacks in the community," says
Gene Toran, 66, a retired lightweight boxer who has lived in Erie
since 1963. "The only time (police) come up here is when they put on a
show. They harass these kids."

James Redmond, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority of
the City of Erie, said the fence, approved last month by the City
Council, has nothing to do with race in this blue-collar city of
105,000 people.

"The biggest problem in this neighborhood is perception and reality
about drugs and crime," Redmond says.

Two-story houses with generous porches circle the block, which is
defined by East 22nd and 23rd streets intersecting with Holland and
German streets.

Many are built of sturdy brick and date back to the early part of the
century. But plenty are vacant, with boarded-up windows and
graffiti-scarred doors. The Redevelopment Authority owns 17 of the
block's 36 lots.

Old folks, young people, married couples and parents with children
most of them black live here, surrounded by old factories. So do
drug dealers, according to neighbors and police, who say dope pushers
and other criminals cut through the block to elude them.

"There's drug selling everywhere," says Delmar Moore, 21. "If that's
the case, you might as well put fences around the whole of Erie."

Where abandoned houses were demolished, bare lots offer easy
accessibility for illegal activity. Redmond predicts there will be
more because some of the houses deeded to the Authority would cost
more to refurbish than they are worth. He valued most at $5,000 to
$15,000; the median home value in Erie is $43,300.

Several years ago the Redevelopment Authority and a private developer
built five new houses across from the vacant lots on East 23rd. Each
was valued at about $45,000. Toran recently bought one of them, but
the house next door remains unsold after five years.

"There is crime in this area, and they have to do something about it,"
Toran says. "But there are things you can do about it other than
putting up some fence."

Mayor Joyce Savocchio and residents first came up with the fence idea
while brainstorming about ways to clean up the neighborhood, says Gary
Horton, special assistant to the mayor.

Mike Nolan, an Erie police narcotics detective, said authorities are
targeting crime, not color.

"We won't lock them up just because they're standing there," Nolan
said. "Any action on our part is a response from neighbors who live in
the area and have to live with crime out in the open 24 hours a day."

Some people may find their way through or over the fence, Redmond
acknowledges, but if it helps residents feel safer and makes law
enforcement easier, it will be worth it.

"It's a very tiny piece of a puzzle," Redmond says.

The city already has installed a street light on the corner of 22nd
and German streets, where some of the worst problems occurred, Horton
says, and the surrounding area has been designated an enterprise zone
to spur new business.

"The larger issue of creating jobs and opportunity in that area is a
much bigger challenge and a much loftier goal," Horton says.

Many residents in the area are reluctant to talk. They barely peeked
their noses out when a reporter rang their doorbells and said they
didn't want to get on anyone's bad side.

"I don't go up in there at all," says Mary Boyd, 65, who was waiting
down the street to catch a bus.