The report also blithely asserts that Philadelphia's "affirmative maintenance" program helps prevent "demolition by neglect." Maybe the task force should make a field trip to Ninth and Locust where Wills Eye Hospital — run by a city-owned trust — has cynically allowed a row of historically certified 19th-century buildings to deteriorate. Wills is demolishing the two noncertified houses at the end of the row, with the aim of creating a large building site. It seems only a matter of time before the hospital cites the preservation law's hardship clause and claims that the three listed buildings are too far gone to salvage. Whether this row deserves to be preserved is a question worth asking, but clearly the Historical Commission has not been effective at staving off willful neglect.