A LOOK AT THE WEEK AHEADApril 20 - April 27, 2001OFFICE OF NEWS AND MEDIA RELATIONS(215) 204-7476 Fax: (215) 204-4403
PUTTING THE BRAKES ON URBAN BLIGHT -- Temple criminal justice professor Ralph Taylor, Ph.D., is raising the red flag on Mayor John Street's recently launched urban blight campaign. "Removing vacant housing can create disorder," says Taylor, who's been writing about urban residential environments since 1978. "There should be careful, small-scale planning about how residents will manage these changed streetscapes. Particularly crucial are plans for managing the new open spaces as the vacant housing is cleared. These can become 'holes' in the residential fabric or centers of community life." Taylor cautions against the over-reliance on blight removal as a magic bullet for reducing neighborhood instability, crime and disorder. "Certainly, the current initiative is better than cementing up 800 crack houses," comments Taylor, the author of Breaking Away from Broken Windows, a recently published book about urban neighborhoods. To reach Taylor, call his office, 215-204-7169, or contact the Office of News and Media Relations.
CONFERENCE EXAMINES HIGH SMOKING RATES AMONG ASIAN AMERICANS -- Shunned to the backs of restaurants and made to huddle outside the front of workplaces in the cold and rain, it isn't easy to be a smoker anymore. And while the amount of people lighting up has dropped dramatically in the last 20 years, there are still populations where smokers are, if not the majority, commonplace. How to help one of those groups, Asian Americans, will be the topic of an all-day conference titled, Assessing Tobacco Use in the Asian American Communities of the Greater Philadelphia Region. "Studies show that between 35 and 75 percent of Asian American men are smokers," says Temple University Health Studies Professor Grace Ma, who is one of 18 researchers from across the country taking part in a $60 million National Cancer Institute funded project to research cancer in minority populations. "This is not just an issue for the men but for the whole Asian community because the women and children are also being exposed to dangerous levels of second-hand smoke." To Reach Dr. Ma or for a conference schedule, call the Office of News and Media Relations. (Room 405 Tuttleman Learning Center, 13th St. and Montgomery Ave.)
Cheryl AfonsoTemple UniversityOffice of News andMedia Relations215.204.7476[email protected]
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