Many people would consider sitting on their front porch a rather mundane activity, but Angelina Crosby relishes it.

For several years, the 9 1/2-year resident of Malleable Heights, Sharon, would not have considered venturing out to catch a summer breeze or enjoy the flowers blooming in spring.

"Drug activity was horrible," she said. "The kids couldn't really go outside."

A simple walk down the block could not be done without fear, she said.

Her fear has dissipated.

As Mercer County Housing Authority held a grand opening of the Quinby Street Resource Center on Wednesday, those days of fear were on the minds of many.

"I think we may have a facility that equals the accomplishments that you all have made here," said Carol Gurrera, president of the board of Mercer County Housing Authority.

The center was dedicated to former Sharon Mayor Robert T. Price, who deflected the attention onto the residents and community organizations that had a hand in the center's development.

"This is a classic example of what cooperation can do," he said.

The opening of the new center, replacing an older building that was on the same site, caps several years of improvements at Malleable Heights.

The community started becoming a better place to live in 1995, when Sharon police opened a substation in the old center.

It took 1 1/2 years, but the police chased the drug dealers and reduced crime in what had been a high-crime area, said Ms. Crosby, the mother of two children, ages 11 and 6 months.

"It's quiet all day long," she said.

The center opened its doors to a number of other programs seeking to improve the lives of residents.

Aside from the substation, the new center houses Mercer County Cooperative Extension's 4-H and Children Youth and Families are Resilient programs, a branch of the Shenango Valley Community Library -- which has pledged to expand its hours of operation -- and the Mercer County District Attorney's victim/witness and Weed and Seed programs.

Janet McDougall, Cooperative Extension's executive director, challenged residents to "make the most of the resources here."

As the old center flourished, the authority looked for ways to make the community even safer. It knocked down three apartment buildings, and remodeled the exteriors of the remaining buildings.

A figure-eight walking area was created in the courtyard, porches were added, new facades were put on and fences were put up to keep non-community members out.

Ms. Crosby showed a photograph of a building on Ravine Place taken before the renovation.

"That building still exists," she said. "If you go down there and see that building, you wouldn't know it's the same building."

At one time, Ms. Crosby wanted to move out. She's glad she stayed.

"They told me to be patient and I stayed with it," she said. "I wouldn't move now."

That doesn't mean she's content. Ms. Crosby said the community could be further improved by removing the barricades that limit motor vehicle access to Malleable Heights, and installing a playground.

Both are up for discussion, said authority Executive Director L. DeWitt Boosel.

Once the complex's first site manager, Judson Flint, is trained, the authority plans to open a discussion with the city about removing the barricades, Boosel said.

The community once had a playground, but it was out of site of most apartments and attracted drug dealers, Boosel said. There is no room to put a full-scale playground in Malleable but some improvements could be made.

While the courtyard was built to give children a place to play and ride bicycles, a sand box and other play items could be added, he said.

jpinchot@sharon-herald.com