Operation Weed & Seed is a U.S. Department of Justice initiative to reduce illicit drugs and violent crime in targeted communities. The strategy includes law enforcement efforts to increase enforcement, prosecution, adjudication and supervision of offenders; community-oriented policing to foster cooperative relationships between the police and area residents; neighborhood programs to prevent problem behaviors or eliminate them before they become entrenched and reduce behaviors that adversely effect the community; and dedicating resources to neighborhood restoration. Open-air illicit drug sales in Wilmington’s Weed & Seed neighborhoods continue despite repeated efforts to eradicate drug markets in the area. Although drug and burglary-related calls for service increased in 1997, robbery and assault-related calls for service were down. Weed & Seed is having a beneficial effect on Wilmington neighborhoods, but many factors contributing to neighborhood declines still exist. An important step in increasing the benefits of Weed & Seed efforts would be the creation of a Weed & Seed Special Assistant position within the mayor’s office. Tables, figures, appendixes