Posted on 12 Comments

Frankford Farmers Market

I noticed this bill was passed by council in June.  Kind of sounds like the Frankford Transportation Center.  There were a number of similar bills passed for other locations in the city in June.

12 thoughts on “Frankford Farmers Market

  1. A few google searches can track down the nearest farmers markets in your area. But 40% of Philadelphians don’t have internet access at home, although nearly all of them have cell phones.

    So last month I worked on an app that lets you text in your address and it sends you back the nearest farmers market that accepts Access Cards, as well as the 2 nearest Access-accepting retailers with healthy food.

    Text your address to 267-293-9387 to try it out.

    Read about it here: http://technicallyphilly.com/2011/06/08/disaster-mapper-philly-snap-star-at-random-hacks-of-kindness-philadelphia-video

  2. ‘Farmers Market’????? does that translate to the peddling of bootleg DVD’s and CD’s, fake Gucci bags, and other cheap garbage that will take even more business from the already struggling taxpaying legitimate retailers? If you want to increase the retail space in this area, do it the right way in which you can maintain what little integrity still exists in this area. Build something that looks respectable and eliminate the folding table fly by night peddlers.

  3. Nice one Tim. Does it work with those safe link phones?

  4. @lyndad: It should work fine – any device capable of texting

  5. Why the sidewalk? Why not the area in front of Thriftway? Plenty of room, and if the Thriftway Corporate Office was really smart they would encourage the location. Better yet, Turn the old Art Holiday parking lot into a farmers market and the abandoned theater into FKD’s version of the Reading Terminal.

  6. When the Thriftway moves that building would make a great spot for indoor Reading Terminal style Market.

  7. Hey guys I spoke to the Food Trust today about this, and it’s not only true – it’s happening this month! I believe she said July 17th. There will be fresh fruit and produce from farmers (not the types of things NW Resident suspected) and I believe people will even be able to buy using their Access Card!

    It’s going to be at Bridge & Pratt in front of the Septa Police station. I’m trying to get a representative to come out to a Civic Meeting about it to give us more details. But from the sounds of it, this looks great.

  8. I have seen some amish venders at other sites throughout the city selling farmers market items, eggs and produce. They used to set up at clark park and on Broad St.

  9. If the past is any clue to the future, then do not get your hopes up.

    It is true that Frankford has had some upgrades around the hub of the Frankford EL, but here is some history:

    The track record of incompetence in the City’s Elected Officials that we (in Frankford) have been forced to endure over the years still continues today. It is outrageous & shameful, but it has not happened by accident.

    I understand that when an official is corrupt & goes to jail – one can place some culpability on that one person.

    But when the next person comes into office and things are still just as bad or perhaps even worse; at that point one may begin to wonder if that wise-guy who went to prison, really wasn’t that bad after all & was perhaps even good.

    Is there really something wrong with the neighborhood? Do we not deserve better?

    March 19–26, 1998
    Avenue of the Artisans

    Can an ambitious tribe of artists and tradespeople turn a depressed stretch of Frankford Avenue into a cultural mecca? by Gwen Shaffer

    Kevin Phelan still vividly recalls the magic of that muggy evening last summer in Northeast Philly. He was swaying to the smooth sounds of a classical brass quartet performing on a gravel lot, adjacent to Frankford Avenue. Looking around at the few neighbors who turned out for the performance, Phelan was surprised to see that everyone in the audience was, like himself, white and middle class – an uncharacteristically homogenous bunch for the Frankford neighborhood.

    Just then, three small African-American toddlers tentatively peeked out the window of their second story rowhouse, which overlooked the makeshift stage. With the exception of the disposable diapers fastened around their waists, they were naked. Apparently, the children liked what they heard. They boldly dangled their little heads and arms out the window, clapping and swinging to the beat for the remainder of the concert.

    At the same time, back on street level, a group of Latino teenagers happened to be roaming Frankford Avenue, searching for something to do. They heard the music and paused to listen. But just for a moment. Not more than a few minutes could have gone by, when Phelan noticed the same group of teens passing down the avenue again. Just as before, they paused briefly to listen but ultimately kept walking.

    Except that the next time Phelan turned around to people-watch, the teenagers had joined the crowd and were standing immediately behind him. As the music wafted through the air, the teens danced in place. They were smiling.

    This mix of ethnic diversity and aesthetic awareness, Phelan says, is what makes Frankford unique. One of the first communities in Pennsylvania to allow African Americans to buy land, it has also been home to skilled tradesmen and artisans ever since its settlement by Swedes in the 1660s. He believes the community’s historical ties to the arts are among its strongest assets.

    Strolling down Frankford Avenue these days you are more likely to encounter firearms than fine arts. … more at link:
    http://www.citypaper.net/articles/031998/cover.shtml?print=1

    May 13–20, 1999
    primary 99
    7 Up

    Incumbent Councilman Rick Mariano’s not the brightest bulb in the marquee. But does that mean his 7th District seat is in jeopardy? by Frank Lewis

    He’s not an easy guy to figure out. This is not to suggest he’s an enigma; if anything, he’s too eager to explain himself. There’s just no telling what he’s going to say or do next.

    Some examples: Earlier this year, he joked that some labor leaders would support Adolf Hitler if it meant more jobs—in front of a gathering of labor leaders. On the day of the 1998 primary, he got into a fistfight with a ward leader’s son. [note – rumored to be Dan Savage].

    In September 1997, the Daily News reported that Mariano had been patrolling Frankford Avenue on a bicycle with a gun in his waistband and chasing prostitutes off corners.

    In 1996, he offended many in his district’s growing Latino community by saying that economic development projects “don’t mean anything to Jose from Second and Lehigh.… These people, you got to throw them a bone.”

    “I think the press and the people have a love-hate relationship with Ricky,” says Ceisler. “They love him because he shoots from the hip, and he makes great copy.”

    So why do they hate him? … Maria Quinones-Sanchez, says she too has been harassed by Mariano supporters. And Mariano himself tried to make an issue of insurance fraud allegations involving Quinones-Sanchez that had been investigated and dismissed in 1996. … More at the link:
    http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/051399/news.cb.7up.shtml

    May 18–25, 2000
    Frankford Gets Festive

    With its first arts festival, Frankford is gearing up to remind Philadelphia that there is life beyond Old City. by Ellen Rosenholtz

    It’s festival season. Craftspeople, musicians, food tables, maybe a face painter or two — the standard elements of the urban street fair will be popping up on city streets throughout the next several months.

    But this weekend’s Frankford Arts Festival, the neighborhood’s first, has more than cotton candy on its mind. Like many of its counterparts in other sections of the city, Frankford’s fest is not just an excuse for a party. It’s a conscious attempt to draw wider attention to an area that’s revitalizing itself.

    The idea for an arts festival has its roots in the Frankford Plan 2000, an economic initiative developed seven years ago as a blueprint to bring new life to this architecturally rich and historically significant neighborhood.

    The Plan identified 12 key concerns, including such basic quality of life issues as improvements in housing, transportation and education. With progress being made in addressing these residential priorities, the arts fest becomes a great marketing tool; it’s a sign that the neighborhood is ready to show itself off a little.

    Martha Kearns, executive director of the community-based art program FrankfordStyle, has lived in the Frankford area for 14 years. She noticed about eight years ago that the Avenue, as she refers to it, was “teeter-tottering” on the brink of urban blight. She actively began soliciting artists to move into vacant facilities, connecting them with the local Community Development Corporation (CDC) and landlords to find inexpensive rentals and buyers’ assistance, in exchange for community service.

    Frankford’s festival clearly shares her philosophy. Kate Clarke, executive director of Frankford United Neighbors CDC, an organization that purchases vacant properties and rehabs them for retail use, sees the festival as a way to shine a spotlight. “There are a lot of specialty stores and Mom and Pop shops that people are unaware of.

    There are places on the Avenue where you can purchase a communion dress, have a grandfather clock fixed, or obtain a hearing aid, things you can’t just do anywhere. The festival is a means of letting people know this community is alive and thriving, while attracting more stores and larger businesses.” More at link:
    http://www.citypaper.net/articles/051800/ae.art.frankford.shtml

    Leading The Fight For Frankford Kate Clarke’s Lower Northeast Community Is At A Turning Point. She Acts As Its Guide.
    November 21, 2000|By Elisa Ung, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

    In the dim City Council chamber, Kate Clarke has just displayed why she has a reputation for being an aggressive Frankford neighborhood activist.

    Today, she is chastising the Department of Licenses and Inspections about the problem of abandoned houses.

    “Our reports are often met with frustration, leaving us with the picture that Frankford is a forgotten community. However, this community will not allow that to happen to them,” she says.

    Grandly, she hands Council members a pair of scissors – “to cut the red tape,” she says.

    Clarke, 45, waited three hours last week to testify to a near-empty room, but she did get a payoff: a meeting later with L&I officials to discuss the 369 properties her community-development corporation has identified as abandoned.

    Despite her no-nonsense attitude, she says testifying in front of Council can be nerve-racking. Then she pauses and gets a gleam in her eyes: “I like a good fight, though.”

    She’s got one. As her Frankford neighborhood teeters on the brink of either further progress or deterioration, all eyes are on Clarke. This fall, the former political aide and Democratic committeewoman took charge of Frankford Plan 2000, a community-advancement initiative compiled by residents throughout six weeks.

    It was conceived as a sequel to the first plan, developed in 1993, which gave Frankford a special-services business district and was eventually used as a nationwide model. … More at the link: http://articles.philly.com/2000-11-21/news/25611772_1_neighborhood-properties-residents

    QUIZ on last 2 articles: Does anyone know what this “Kate Clarke, executive director of Frankford United Neighbors CDC” is doing today? See the answer at end of this post.

    August 25-31, 2005
    Under the El

    Artists, dancers and artisans are fighting to save Frankford. But it’s tough to overcome a history of violence. by Duane Swierczynski

    Every morning, my 2-year-old daughter smiles and points to the train yard where they found the first mutilated body.

    GOLDIE’S GONE: When SEPTA built the Frankford Transportation Center, they knocked down the building on this corner that housed Goldie’s, a favorite watering hole for many of the Frankford Slasher’s victims.

    But 20 years ago this week, this was where SEPTA workers found Helen Patent, stabbed 47 times in the head and chest. Her body was naked from the breasts down, legs parted in a lurid display.

    The violation went even deeper: a deep gash along her stomach revealed her internal organs to the elements.

    During the next five years, at least eight women would be beaten and butchered by a serial killer dubbed the “Frankford Slasher.”

    The DA tried and convicted a man for at least one of those murders,but some true-crime writers maintain that the real killer was never caught. … More at the link: http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/2005-08-25/cover.shtml

    Answer to QUIZ: What is “Kate Clarke, executive director of Frankford United Neighbors CDC” doing today?

    She is still drawing up blueprints, cutting “the red tape,” striving for that “nationwide model” on social engineering experiments in Frankford, while hiding out in Juniata Park; masquerading as the president of the Juniata Park Civic Association. Kate Clarke seized control of the Juniata Park Civic Association just about one year ago in a somewhat hectic fashion:

    Juniata Civic – Who’s in Charge?

    Betty Huntley (left) and Kate Clarke (right) were elected as trustees to oversee the revision of the bylaws of the JPCA after the Civic Association was declared folded on Tuesday night by their Vice President. Following verbal resignations of top officers, the VP rescinded her resignation. More at Link:
    http://www.neilsonst.com/jnews/JuniataNews051810.pdf

    Juniata – Extent of the Neighborhood: West – G Street; North – Wyoming Avenue., East – Frankford Creek, South – Erie/Sedgley Avenues.

    Adams Avenue is not listed as part of Juniata.

    With the aid of two (unnamed) non-genus individuals from Northwood, in less than one year, she has approved a Drug Rehab & Juvinile Prison facility to be placed inside Frankford.

    How’s that as a payback to the old hood?

    The Ghost!

  10. To: The Ghost!

    Liked your post and I couldn’t agree more with your statements regarding Kate Clarke. Her and the others from NWC should hang their heads in shame for their interference on the matter of the Bridge in Frankford.

    I remember well the enthusiam created by Kevin Phelan and others involved with the Frankford Plan. Unfortunately there were too many people in control at that time who wanted Frankford to remain a low economic neighborhood dependent on government funds through non-profits. Having Frankford become an “artist community” was a threat to many of the people in power at that time.

    Do we have enough people in Frankford now who are willing to bring Frankford out of its present ghetto status? I don’t know. Too many people have moved away from Frankford and the area has become a transient neighborhood. If we can’t get home owners and businesses in Frankford then we don’t have people who are invested in the community. Too many people in Frankford believe we need to provide services for people with drug problems, social problems and behavior problems. I attended a Frankford Civic meeting and at that meeting Jason Dawkins asked the civic president “What are you doing for our at-risk youth’? How about this Jason Dawkins: NOTHING! We have too many people in Frankford who focus on the criminal minded. Maybe if we focus our attention on the people who are responsible and know how to bring about a positive change in our community the “at-risk youth” will either turn their lives around or move out of Frankford.

    Hopefully some developer will come along and see potential in making Frankford upscale.

  11. Terminal Illness & Politics Have Unique Synergies:

    It is a fortunate thing (for us) that The City Paper and Philadelphia Weekly still have a Digital Archives of past publications.

    In the height of today’s digital revolution – there is a War between Google & Microsoft to make Earth’s printed “Body of Knowledge” (books & newspapers) available to everyone. However, Philadelphia’s News Papers, in a sardonic twist of fate, have actively participated in the “dumbing down of America” and in the promotion of illiteracy.

    In an epitome of contradistinction to the small Independent Newpapers of Philadelphia, our own Northeast Times has erased over 10 years of news/history with one keystroke on a compuert terminal by pulling the plug on it’s digital archives. (The News Gleaner was the first to disappear).

    I do not know what to call this dichotomic paradoxical idiotic retarded destruction of intellectual property? The (Philadelphia Newspapers) digital databases – (even the physical papers themselves) may have been donated, (reducing company debt) as tax-write offs to one of the aforementioned companies. There may still be plenty of money hidden in these old newspapers – time will tell. – FINUS

    Terminal Illness by Frank Rubino
    Archives 2003 » sep. 10th

    The stunning new terminal at the Bridge-Pratt end of SEPTA’s formerly decrepit El line stands out like a misplaced Emerald City against the dreary streetscape that surrounds it. There are handsome brick columns and scores of gleaming windows. An information center and electronic message boards. A roomy sheltered platform accessible by escalator and elevator. Large restrooms that, while not spotless, are passably clean. All this in Frankford, better known for blight and a bustling drug trade than for $187 million in infrastructure investments.

    SEPTA officials and community leaders are crossing their fingers in the hope that the not yet fully completed Frankford Transportation Center (25,000 daily riders have been using it since Aug. 4) will galvanize an economic upswing in the neighborhood. But neither local merchants nor even the police are stampeding aboard that train.

    “This area has been decaying for a long time,” says Ella Ryan, co-owner of Frankford Real Estate and Tax Service Inc., a half-block down from the terminal. “The people you’d see sweeping the pavement in front of their houses are gone. Drugs and destruction are what you see around here now. I love what SEPTA’s done. The station is breathtaking. But what’s it going to look like in a year?”

    Capt. Mark Everitt, commander of the Northeast’s 15th Police District, comes across as similarly pragmatic. “The terminal is a significant step,” he says. “But Frankford didn’t get into the shape it’s in overnight, and things won’t turn around overnight, either.”

    Ryan’s agency makes a good vantage point from which to survey Frankford’s woes. It sits across Frankford Avenue from a 7-Eleven that was firebombed in May by two men captured only by a blurry surveillance video. The inferno gutted the store, now a plywood-encased shell. … More at link: http://pwblogger.com/articles/6122/news

    http://pwblogger.com/?inc=archives_issue&issue_id=170

    The Ghost!

  12. These Access Cards sound great; where can I get one? I would love to have one so I can stop being responsible for myself and my family. All the empty buldings in Frankford and the best the city can come up with is sidewalk vendors? How about bringing in some real commerce and utilize these properties; maybe eliminate the need for all these Access Cards. Draw some real businesses into the neighborhood by eliminating the high cost of starting a legitimate, prosperous, job creating entity. Access Cards are being promoted as a good thing….Really?

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