'This Is A New Day': Union Volunteers Repair 3 Homes Damaged During Nicetown-Tioga Police Standoff
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A neighborhood physically damaged during an hourslong police standoff and shoot out is finally being put back together. Volunteer contractors with the local painters and Allied Trades International Union helped make repairs to homes on the 3700 block of North 15th Street in the city's Nicetown-Tioga section.
That standoff lasted for at least seven hours back in August. While the three homes were repaired on Tuesday, people who live on the block say moving on takes more than just a bucket of paint.
"It's going to fade away just like most memories do over time," block captain Cynthia Muse said. "It's never going to be erased. Not in some people's minds, especially the ones that were traumatically hit by this whole thing."
Ken Forman says he remembers Aug. 14 like it was yesterday. Forman lives across the street from where Philadelphia police engaged gunfire with Maurice Hill during a seven-hour long shootout and standoff.
He says a bullet went through his window, over his bed and pierced his back wall.
"I never heard nothing like this before. I never seen nothing like this before. This is hell, what's going on here?" Forman said.
His house was hit at least 14 times. He says the bullet holes served as a daily reminder of what happened.
"Do you think you're lucky to be alive?" CBS3's Howard Monroe asked.
"That was the hands of God when I laid down and started to pray. I said, 'God, what am I going to do?' He said, 'Don't worry. I got you,'" Forman said.
In the days following the shootout, Mayor Jim Kenney asked for help repairing homes on the block. On Tuesday, volunteer contractors came out to begin work on three homes.
"It's a nice block, nice neighbors and they deserve to live in peace and have their homes put back together again," Kenney said.
"I hope that they feel that there are people beyond this block that care about them," Joe Ashdale from the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades said.
Through the union's apprentice program, they often go to communities to make repairs.
Beyond the handy work, pizza was bought for the students at Precious Babies Learning Academy. The school was on lockdown during the shootout.
Forman says he is grateful for the work.
"This is a new day. A new day because every time I walk up the step, I see those bullet holes and it gets to me," he said.
It is not clear if other homes on the block will also be repaired by volunteers, but Forman says the union will be back in the coming weeks to replace his bedroom window.