An AnnoTATEd STudEnT RESEARCHEd ARgumEnT 207the neighborhood into community gardens, which would work
in tandem with the gleaning from local farms. Similar to the
Philadelphia project, these gardens would simultaneously yield
produce and improve the appearance of the neighborhood.
One PHS project, in the New Kensington neighborhood of
north Philadelphia, was the subject of a recent socioeconomic
study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s renowned
Wharton School of Business. In the New Kensington area,
PHS recently planted 480 new trees, cleaned 145 side yards,
developed 217 vacant lots, and established 15 new community
gardens. The effort was a model of the collaborative strategy
between PHS and the local community development corporation,
making it the ideal subject of the Wharton study. The findings,
published in 2004, showed significant increases in property val-
ues around the PHS greening projects and were the first step in
quantifying the fiscal returns of neighborhood greening beyond
the qualitative benefits of remedying food insecurity. After ana-
lyzing the sales records of thousands of New Kensington homes
between 1980 and 2003, the study reported that PHS greening
had led to a $4 million gain in property value from tree plant-
ings alone and a $12 million gain from vacant lot improvements.
Simply greening a vacant lot increased nearby property values
by as much as 30 percent (“Seeing Green”). While a supermarket
might modestly improve property values for those immediately
near the store, community greening involves multiple plots
across an area, benefiting many more people and properties. The
Wharton study showed that community greening would provide
increases in the value of any property near a green space, up
to multiple millions of dollars. The New Kensington neighbor-
hood covers 1.4 square miles, which is approximately the size
of LaSalle Square, so while the overall property values are lower
simply because South Bend is a smaller city, the gains might be
proportional (City-Data.com). It is reasonable to believe that
cleaning up LaSalle Square and planting gardens would quan-
titatively benefit the fiscal situation of the city and increase
assets of the homeowners while subsequently improving the
quality of life over many acres.She summarizes a
study and then para-
phrases.Paul 91607_GRE_5344_Ch7_151_210.indd 207 11/19/14 1:59 PM