Company Aims To Transform Old HS Into Housing For Homeless Vets
By Greg Argos
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The old Edison High School at 7th and Somerset, in the city's Kensington section, could soon be changing.
"We're calling it Edison 64," said Scott Orens, President of Oren Brothers LLC.
It will be a housing and services center for veterans, which will transform a high school that lost so many years ago.
"There were 64 veterans that died in Vietnam that graduated from this high school," Orens explained. "It is the largest number of veterans, from any high school in the country, that died in Vietnam."
Orens leads the company that owns the building and says there are two issues which are causing delays. "Number one: we need funding for this," he said. The 800 page application for state funding is in. Orens say they will be informed about the funding on June 15.
The second issue has to do with rubber; lots of it in the form of illegally dumped tires.
"This is part of it. The trough had been full. It's just a few bad eggs that feel this is a good and necessary way to take care of business," said Kevin Noone, the project manager. He says he called the city for months and even provided the license plate of a truck whose driver was illegally dumping, but there was no response until we reached out to city officials.
"For me to staff this and dispose of it the proper way and dispose of it to a proper recycling area, this would cost me several thousand dollars," Noone said.
"Certainly we're going to address it. We're sending a crew out today," Carlton Williams, the Streets Commissions for Sanitation Deputy, said. The crew arrived within hours and carted away three garbage truck loads of tires, allowing this important project to move one step closer to completion.
If funding is approved for this project, the developer says this could turn into homeless veteran housing in as little as 18 months.