'Motivating And Encouraging': North Broad Renaissance Executive Director Talks About Community Coming Together To Help North Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Neighborhoods impacted by looting in Philadelphia are getting a little help cleaning up the mess from the community. The North Broad Renaissance was out cleaning heavily damaged areas of Broad Street Monday afternoon.
Executive Director Shalimar Thomas tells CBS3 it was "motivating and encouraging" to see the community help clean the impacted areas in Philadelphia.
On Sunday night, members of the North Broad Renaissance went out to examine where the hard hit spots in North Philadelphia were.
"There was still activity taking place, so we were really able to get an understanding of where the hard-hit areas are," Thomas said. "I spoke to our cleaning team Sunday night, and myself and her, we just coordinated efforts to have an all hands on deck. We knew the areas we needed to hit."
It is part of one of the organization's programs to clean parts of the Broad Street corridor every day, but yesterday they had to immediately spring into action and work on cleaning the entire corridor.
"We just had to go ahead and really address the areas that were hard hit," Thomas said. "The businesses that had broken glass because, you know, ultimately our goal is to keep North Broad clean and safe."
Business owners Thomas has spoken with are distraught. Prior to the looting in Philadelphia, the North Broad Renaissance was working with businesses as they prepared to reopen after months of being shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Philadelphia is expected to move into the yellow phase on Friday and businesses are waiting for a date they can reopen.
"We were just getting ready to enter the yellow phase and talk to businesses starting to reopen gradually and safely so we can help businesses already in economic stress prior to this," Thomas said. "And this just added another layer to what we have to do. Businesses like the North Broad Renaissance across the city are working to keep our corridors healthy, safe and improve the quality of life and attract businesses and retain businesses. When things like this happen, it puts our efforts back."
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