Positively Philadelphia: “Best and Worst Lots in Philadelphia” Contest

By Lauren Lipton

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – There is a big contest going on in Philadelphia and everyone is invited to enter.

“Take Back Vacant Land is running a contest called ‘The Best and Worst Lots in Philadelphia.’  What we want from you is we want to know, do you have a vacant or blighted lot that’s a real pain for the community?” says the organizer for Take Back Vacant Land Nijmie Dzurinko.

Nijmie Dzurinko, organizer for Take Back Vacant Land (Credit: Skip Fischer)

Hear Lauren Lipton’s full interview with Nijmie Dzurinko in this CBS Philly podcast (runs 5:36)…

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“On the flip side, if you have a lot that folks have reclaimed and people are actually doing something productive with, using it to grow food, using it as greenspace or a community playground or anything like that, we want that too.  So we want the best lot and we want the worst lot.”

And what do the winners get?

“There are going to be home and yard improvement gift cards for the top three best and worst, as well as a lot cleanup for the worst,” Dzurinko said.

How do you enter?

“Take a picture of it, write a description, send it in to us via e-mail (takebackvacantland@gmail.com), Facebook, Twitter.”

Vacant lot on the 3400 block of Livingston Street in Philadelphia. (Credit: Mike DeNardo)

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Dzurinko says the issue of vacant land in Philadelphia has become a large problem.

“There are 40,000 parcels of vacant and blighted land in Philadelphia, 40,000.  And the properties reduce the city’s total wealth by $3.6 billion. What we really want is to get this land back into use.”

And that’s “Positively Philadelphia!”

“Positively Philadelphia” main page