Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 6

Hope at Hersch Rec for Monchito's kids ast Monday, I described a hellish Hersch guided Recreation tour of Center, 5th Street and Allegheny Avenue in North Philadelphia. Tour highlights included: I A dysfunctional pool that caters exclusively to the recreational needs of king-sized rats. A dysfunctional roof that channels rainwater through the ruined rec center ceiling onto the warped and rotting gym floor and into walls and live electrical fixtures throughout the building. A bombed-out children's playground carpeted with broken glass. A huge $600,000 rubber check signed by Gov.

Casey that has been hanging in the rec office since October 1989 because Delores Andy, the city's by DAN Recreation Queen from Outer Space, never came up with the city's $300,000 needed to secure the state's matching $300,000 to save the center from ruin. My tour guides were neighborhood advisory council members Wilfredo Cintron and Alex Perez. As we stood talking outside Hersch Rec, I saw an old station wagon screech out of a side street, speed the wrong way down one-way 5th Street, hang a sharp turn onto the sidewalk maybe 100 feet from a woman walking with her toddling daughter, haul ass across a vacant lot, and disappear down an alley. The whole thing was over in seconds. I was thinking: If the driver decides to turn a little sooner, the mother and daughter are dead.

Then I noticed that Cintron and Perez were looking at me, waiting to see if I got their point. "Looks like he had to go to the bathroom real bad," Cintron said bitterly. "Or maybe he just bought something around the corner and he was anxious to get home and try it out." "That's why our children can't play outside in the streets," Perez said. "That's why the city must not forsake us." The city did not forsake them. Ever since he became city managing director in March 1990, David Pingree has been living proof that you can respect the bottom line of Philadelphia's financial crisis while respecting the human needs of the city's most vulnerable citizens.

Children in drug-infested areas, for example. Last week, Pingree approved the $683,000 rehabilitation of Hersch Recreation Center. That's $383,000 from the city's capital budget which will secure an additional $300,000 in state Pennfree funds. The $683,000 package includes a new roof and gym floor a new playground the conversion of the rat-infested pool into a grassy recreation area for human beings a new spray pool a new boiler to replace the old dead boiler ($90,000) and the NOVEMBER 4, 1991 THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS PAGE 7 Call JACQUELINE BIGAR'S Psychic Connection Live psychic reading! 1-900-737-3210 Touchtone or rotary phones CUSTOM VERTICAL BLINDS Wholesale Direct STAR BLIND COMPANY 45 E. CITY LINE AVE.

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"I feel ecstatic," Cintron said when he heard the good news. "There are caring people in this city. Children will adjust to any environment you put them in. They'll think of it as the norm. But, hey, this is not the norm.

I can see the faces of children playing in the new playground next year. I can see the looks on those children's faces One of the things that impressed Pingree about Hersch Rec was the Police Athletic League sports program that Officer Ramon "Monchito" Santiago established in June GERINGER 1990 and that now involves nearly 600 kids in basketball, baseball, weight lifting, ping pong and karate. Late Friday afternoon, Santiago and PAL Sgt. Ken Linneman got the $683,000 good news. "Last year," Santiago said, "one of my 16-year-olds walked into the rec center and smacked a member of the staff in the face.

He wanted to let the other kids know how tough he was. I arrested him for disorderly conduct. I talked to his mother and father. I told them that if he came back and did anything like that again, I'd arrest him again. I'd arrest him as many times as he needed to be arrested.

I never had any trouble with him after that. He didn't have any other place to go." "For some kids," Sgt. Linneman said, "our program is everything." He nodded at Santiago. "This guy," Linneman said, "can go to sleep at night knowing that if not for him Lineman was interrupted by a loud rapping on the office window. Santiago turned his head to look.

It was a little boy, maybe 8, 9 years old. Had his sneaks on. Had his game face on. Had his school shirt hanging out of his pants. He was ready to play.

"Ray," he said. Santiago and the kid looked at each other for a few seconds through the office window. In that look was all the mutual trust you could ask for. Santiago excused himself from the office. He walked with the kid into the gym.

Maybe that walk made a difference in that kid's life. Maybe it will make a difference 10 years from now. Maybe Santiago takes that walk hundreds of times a year with hundreds of kids. Maybe he makes all the difference in the world. Dan Geringer's column appears Mondays and Wednesdays.

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