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Northwood Civic Association Meeting

Alan Butkovitz addresses the Northwood Civic Association

NOVEMBER 17, 2015 – St. James Lutheran Church

The Northwood Civic Association kicked off last week with a run over of old business from the previous month presented by Civic Association president Joe Krause.

Cynthia Young from the Simpson Recreation Center expressed thanks to the Civic Association for their donation of $125 for their Halloween Party. Proposed construction, she told members, will cause the rec center to be closed during the summer, but they are continuing efforts to keep the pool open. The rec center holds Advisory Council meetings on the second Thursday of every month (except summers), and those interested should email simpsonreccntr@hotmail.com. Krause recommended to peruse the lists of classes and activities being offered listed on the Simpson Recreation Center Facebook page.

Terry Heiser updated members on the progress to put speed bumps on Castor Avenue between Foulkrod Street to Pratt Street. Of the 52 houses Heiser and his team visited on Castor Avenue, all 42 who answered signed the petition and offered their support. There are also over 90 signatures from homes on intersecting blocks of Castor Avenue. The next steps, Heiser informed members, will be to get a letter of support from Senator Christine Tartaglione, the signed petition and proposal to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Heiser said he looks forward to keeping the Civic Association informed of the progress on this project.

Krause continued with old business, telling the group that there had been no new reports of burglaries in the past three weeks. He suggested that members who were concerned or interested should consider attending the monthly PSA meetings, the next of which will be December 17th, 7-8pm, at Aria Hospital.

The reports of a peeping tom at a home on Haworth Street were a false alarm.

A non-profit organization is taking advantage of Act 135 and filing for conservatorship of 1301 Wakeling St. The property will be refurbished and sold as a single family home. If this home goes well there is potential for the same NPO to do the same to 1208 Dyre St.

City Controller Alan Butkovitz attended the meeting and spoke to members about some of the projects and movements of the City Controller’s Office.

Butkovitz reaffirmed the situation following the discovery of $2 million of unused WiFi equipment in a warehouse in Philadelphia. The equipment, Butkovitz said, was purchased at the behest of the federal government for the city’s police, fire, and other municipal business needs. According the Butkovitz the equipment will be recycled through an unnamed technology recycling company.

The biggest project of the City Controller’s Office, says Butkovitz, is the auditing of Philadelphia Licenses and Inspections following the collapse of the construction site at 22nd and Market, in June 2013. The office has also been working on a project for the past 9 years, he says, to bring Philadelphia School District schools up to code.

Butkovitz offered a curious Civic Association member his initial feeling of Mayor-Elect Jim Kenney, saying that Kenney seemed to be trying to get “good, operational people.” Butkovitz hopes that through this new term there will be increased interest in Fire, Police, and L & I.

If members have concerns or questions they are advised to call the City Controller’s Office directly at 215-686-8888, use the Philly WatchDog App, or call or email the Director of Community Affairs, Isaiah Thomas, at 215-686-7030 or isaiah.Thomas@phila.gov.

The next Northwood Civic Association meeting is scheduled for December 15th, 7-8pm, at St. James Lutheran Church on Pratt St. and Castor Ave. All are welcome to attend.

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Thanksgiving Spirit Lifts Frankford

Thanksgiving day brought out a lot of folks to three great events.

We had the Turkey Bowl brought to you by Ike and Kat Hardy, the Frankford Oldhead game organizers.  It was held on Frankford Chargers field at Ditman and Harrison at 10 AM.

Turkey Bowl

Turkey Bowl photo courtesy of Kisha Thompson

In the afternoon the Second Baptist Church had the Community Outreach Thanksgiving dinner from 1 to 4 PM in Fellowship Hall at the church.  The culinary crew fed a record number of people.

At Frankford Stadium the North Catholic – Frankford High football tournament was going starting at 8:30 AM.  This was in keeping the tradition of the annual football game alive that must have gone for 70 years or so until North Catholic was closed down by the Archdiocese.  There was a great turnout up there with a few hundred people.

 

 

 

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Burglary Prevention Tips at the PSA Meeting

15 Residents attended the 15th District PSA1 meeting on November 19th and were treated to a great presentation by Officer Kennelly on burglary prevention.  Burglary has been a significant problem in the past few months.  He noted that an arrest made in another district was connected to a string of burglaries in Northwood,  With the arrest of those perpetrators, the burglary rate has now gone down.

Preventing burglary is using a lot of common sense such as:

  • Lock your windows.
  • Trim bushes that block view of your windows.
  • Stop your mail if you go away.
  • Put a motion detector on your outdoor lighting.
  • Don’t announce you are going away on Facebook.
  • Keep a record of your serial numbers for your equipment.  It makes it possible to recover stolen property if its located at a pawn shop.

Officer Matt Crosson is filling in for Officer Jacobs as Community Relations officer.  He advised to be on guard against scammers who knock on your door and say they need to come in.  Always get identification and if you are not sure, call 911.

osa cops

Lt. Gordon, Officers Kennelly and Crosson

Joe Krause reported on the situation in Northwood:

  • The resident who is selling cars out of his house continues to park them all over the area around Foulkrod and Castor.  He takes up valuable parking space and is in violation of zoning in operating a business.
  • The area around Adams and Castor is filled with businesses who park their cars on the sidewalk.  If creates a hazardous condition since it forces pedestrians onto the street. Kids walk on those sidewalks to school.

Griscom street in the 5000 and 4700 blocks continue to harbor drug sales.

Lt. Gordon in response to whether there are beat cops, says that he encourages his officers to park and walk the block rather than cruise on through.  He trains his officers to get out and walk to see what is happening on foot.

The area around Harding Middle School is surrounded by parked 18 wheelers.  Is this legal?  The police say it is.  As long as parking is permitted, they can park there.  Joe Krause pointed out that Northwood worked with Councilwoman Sanchez office to get legislation passed by City Council to prohibit truck parking throughout Northwood.  The same could be done for this area of Frankford.

In response to the issue of “loosies” being sold at stores in Frankford, Lt. Gordon says this is an L&I issue.  That means a call to 311.  It will not be a high priority though and the fine for an offense like that is minor compared to the profits of selling them.  Minors are often those who are buying.

There will be a gun buy back on December 19th from 11 AM to 2 PM at the Engine 38 fire house at 4931 Magee Avenue sponsored by the 15th District PDAC (Police District Advisory Council).  Bring in a gun, rifle or shotgun and receive a $50 supermarket gift card.  No questions asked.  Bring your gun unloaded.

The next meeting of the 15th District PSA1 will be held on Thursday, December 17th at 7 PM at Aria Hospital.

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Frankford: A Community of Faith

Given recent world events, like the bombing in Paris and the retaliation by the French against ISIS, we often shake our heads and wonder what the world is coming to.

My husband, Bob and I, have lived in Frankford for all of our 42 married years. My great aunt, Pearl, would bring me over to Frankford when I was a kid to get my hair cut at LaCorte’s and for ice cream at Dairy Maid. I even remember the Horn and Hardart’s. Time passes and many things change.

What hasn’t changed and may even be stronger is that faith is flourishing in Frankford. We have the major religions (AME, Baptist, Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, Episcopal, Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lutheran, Methodist, Orthodox Syrians (Indian and Oriental Christians), Presbyterians, Quakers and we have those who are in storefronts on the avenue and other places. Bob counted the Churches and there are over 50.

Two Roman Catholic Churches closed, a Jewish temple closed and we’ve never had a Buddhist Temple. The Catholics formed a nonprofit, Keep the Faith in Frankford, to keep doing the work of the Church without a Church. We were very kindly and warmly welcomed at St. Mark’s Church on Frankford Ave. (Dean Jon does not feel it necessary to always use “Episcopal” in the Church’s name as God’s Church is welcoming to all.)

This is one of the things about Frankford that makes me the proudest. We go about our daily business and our lives while we worship in many different ways but we practice what we preach and we are living together. Sure, we have many problems, but look at the power we have to solve them – the power of Allah, Christ, God, Jehovah, Jesus, Krishna, Yahweh – whatever name you give to the One, the Mighty. Let’s use that power to better our community and the world beyond Frankford.

Warsan Shire, a Kenyan-born author now living in London writes:

“later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole worldfaith graphic
and whispered
where does it hurt?

it answered
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere.”

We need to heal ourselves and our world. In Frankford, we have the faith we need.