Chavon Hodges, 35, recently moved from Delaware into Chester's Union Square neighborhood, where snazzy tan houses with clean white sidewalks are located across the street from condemned buildings with shattered windows.
"I'm liking the house," Hodges said of her new four-bedroom home. "The neighborhood just needs to be worked on."
Prostitution remains a problem there, according to Hodges, who attended a community meeting this month at New Jerusalem Church to discuss the future of the neighborhood, north of the stadium site.
Fighting crime and cleaning up Chester's image remains one of the biggest hurdles to its revitalization. Even some cops, fearing retaliation against their families, want to leave the city. They've asked officials to lift the residency-requirement for city employees.
There has been some progress in reducing crime. The Boyle Street Boys are long gone. In May, federal authorities indicted 21 members of an alleged drug gang that operated in that same neighborhood.
But stanching the drug trade sometimes feels like a high-stakes game of whack-a-mole, said Chester police Chief Floyd Lewis. "Usually, it crops up in other areas of the city," he said.
There have been nine homicides so far this year. Last year, the city recorded 19 homicides. In 2007, there were 27.
While the murder rate may be declining, investigators are still getting little help from residents in solving major crimes.
"It's our biggest burden, unfortunately," police Capt. Joseph Massi said. "There are times when we get some tips from the public, but nothing consistent. It's sure as hell not as consistent as I would like to see."
The city has been beefing up the police presence in targeted areas, but Butler, a former police commissioner himself, said that organizations such as the Chester Youth Collaborative and Christian Coalition Against Violence are crucial to shaping the next generation of adults.
"Everybody has to come on board to try to do what they can to suppress violence," Butler said. "You can't just lay it at the door of the police department and say, 'Solve this.' "
In order for Chester to fully realize it's potential, Friend said, parents and youth coordinators need to get through to children now - before they grow up - and convince them that a life of crime is not their only option.
"They don't have to become what everybody says they have to become," Friend said, "just because they're from Chester."
