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Murders were common and home values depressed in a big neighborhood immediately south of downtown Minneapolis in the mid-1990s.
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But a partnership using new solutions, deeper thinking and intensity of focus is turning the Phillips neighborhood around.
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In Milwaukee, a tough-love approach with landlords and redevelopment is revitalizing the neighborhood called Fond du Lac and North.
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Cities across the nation are using strategies and tactics that could help Madison deal with Allied Drive and other neighborhoods.
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Duluth, Minn., lets neighborhoods use sweat equity or their own resources to obtain matching grants from $500 to $20,000 for improvements ranging from cleanups to playground equipment.
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Fort Wayne, Ind., has a drug-house hot line that leads to police actions, evictions and hefty fines for bad landlords.
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Denver's Safe City Initiative combines a job program, curfew, leadership training and more to address root causes of violence to and by youth.
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In Minneapolis, corporations, nonprofit agencies, residents and the city created the groundbreaking Phillips Partnership, which set priorities, attacked crime, delivered jobs, created housing and rebuilt streets.
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In six years, serious crime in the neighborhood of 20,000 has fallen 29 percent and homicides dropped from 20 to five.
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The average home value of $40,000 has about tripled.
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The key was persuading corporations with resources in the neighborhood, such as Abbott Northwestern Hospital, to act in their self interest, said Mike Christenson, the Minneapolis' director of partnerships.
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Although all partners helped devise a plan, corporations delivered critical investment, training, jobs and career ladders, Christenson said.
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The city is now forming a new partnership to attack poverty and crime on the troubled near north side, he said.
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For Allied Drive, Madison could directly involve corporations with nearby outlets - such as Walgreens, McDonald's, Home Depot, Cub Foods - and other businesses with a stake in the area, as well as financial institutions that hold mortgages for the rows of apartment buildings there, Christenson said.
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"If you're going to do anything worthwhile, you've got to go across sectors," he said.Milwaukee is acting, too.
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If police handle three or more nuisances such as loud music, loitering or drug activity at a property in a month, the city can make the landlord pay for future responses.
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The city, which can seek $150 to $10,000 fines for code violations, also lets neighbors submit impact statements used by judges to set penalties.
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Code enforcement, combined with a neighborhood plan created by many partners, is invigorating the Fond du Lac and North area two miles from downtown, Department of Community Development spokeswoman Roesann St. Aubin said.
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"Involve as many people as you can," St. Aubin said. "Talk with them and really listen. You've got to keep going back and involving them."