Philadelphia Begins Assault, Seals First of 500 ‘Drug Dens’

Gray concrete blocks began filling the vacant windows of a once-elegant townhouse Monday in an effort to deny drug dealers outlets to sell their wares.

Crews from the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections shoveled out debris from the three-story brick house, then ripped wooden frames from the windows and sealed them up with concrete and thick slabs of tin.

The house was the first of more than 500 that police have identified as “drug dens” to be sealed under a program announced Sunday by Mayor W. Wilson Goode. Goode said the city was acting because the drug problem was getting worse.

In the last two weeks, a 5-year-old boy was killed and a 6-year-old was paralyzed by bullets intended for adult drug dealers. This year, 52 people have died in drug-related violence.

A police spokesman said the 500 houses that would be sealed or demolished were identified because of previous drug arrests or by investigations based on tips.

Monday’s action got mixed reviews from residents.

“I’m glad to see this happen because they would come to my house by mistake,” Lavinia Murray said from her front porch as she watched city workers hauling junk out of the neighboring house and begin sealing it.

Another neighbor, Yvonne Hill, was not so impressed.

“They’ll just move around the corner, or down the street. They’re everywhere,” she said of the drug dealers.