Category: Meetings and Events

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Northwood Civic Meeting

Major news last night was the appearance of Frank Bennett who has taken title to 4712 Castor Avenue and is in the process of restoring it to its former grandeur.  Mr. Bennett intends to occupy the home with his family and has taken on a formidable task.  Work is underway at this time but on Saturday there will be an open house between noon and 4PM for those who would like to see the property.

Michael Ogden made a presentation on behalf of the Bridge, a residential treatment facility for adolescent boys between 14 and 18.  They are looking for community support for their proposed move to the 1100 block of Adams Avenue.  They presently occupy a building at 8400 Pine Road in Fox Chase on the Medical Missionary Sisters grounds.  That building will be taken over by the sisters for a residence for nuns in retirement so the Bridge must relocate.  A new facility would be built on that hill on Adams Avenue and the Bridge would have a long term lease.

Ogden made his case to the audience and it is clear that they run a very good program.  The issues raised by the audience were of security since this is not a lock down facility.  It is run like a school.  If a kid wants to run away, he can.  Ogden stated that no violent offenders are in their program.  Jorge Santana (Tony Payton’s Chief of Staff) pointed out that the property now is frequented by drug users who are more likely to be criminals than the residents of the school that would hopefully replace the empty lot.  Two young men, residents of the Bridge, spoke eloquently of their life changing experience in the program.

No vote was taken regarding the Civics’s support for the Bride at last night’s meeting.  It is a tough call.  Most residents are opposed to more social service programs moving into the neighborhood.  However, the audience last night seemed to be favorably impressed with the quality of the Bridge.

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Northwood Civic Meeting

From Michael Bane of the Northwood Civic Association:

NCA General Meeting
Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 7:00PM
Saint James Church
Castor Avenue and Pratt Street

On the agenda…

– There will be a presentation for the proposed boys school at the former site of Thrifty Scott Beer Distributor.
– We will discuss information about new ownership of the house at 4712 Castor Avenue.

Please bring a neighbor to the meeting!

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Frankford Civic Meeting

The Frankford  Civic Association meeting, which had been delayed by inclement weather, was held last Thursday night at Aria Health.  There was a fairly good crowd, with some new faces, considering the 25 degree temperature outside.

First off was Nick Esposito, project manager for Portfolio Associates who will be making a presentation on the proposed improvements to Womrath Park in regard

Nick Esposito

to storm water management.  We posted information about the upcoming meeting last week.  You can read that post here.

Toby Biddle

Next, Toby Biddle spoke seeking support for a zoning variance for the legalization of the conversion of 1837 Harrison Street to a duplex.  He is a real estate investor who bought the property at sheriff sale and then found out it had been illegally converted from a single family home.  The civic raised several questions about his intended use of the property to determine whether Mr. Biddle was looking toward making it a rooming house.  Biddle says he intends to manage the property as a duplex and nothing more.

The most significant discussion of the night centered around the long rumored move by the Bridge into Frankford.  Barry Howell, President of the Northwood Civic Association spoke about discussion they have had with the management of the Bridge.  Also attending was Kate Clarke, president of the Juniata Park Civic Association.

1100 block of Adams Avenue at Unity

The Bridge is being forced to move from their present Fox Chase location by the owners of the property who have other needs for it.  The owners of the vacant land in the 1100 block of Adams Avenue (near Unity and Adams) are looking to develop the land which is zoned industrial.  The Bridge is seeking support from the community to move into a new building to be built on that site.

The discussion raised these issues:

  • The Bridge offers a good quality program
  • It is not a methadone treatment program
  • The community would like to see a better use for the property
  • Once the Bridge moves in they may change the services that are offered
  • What is they become another drug treatment facility
  • The community can get provisos as part of the approval process
  • Once they are in the community will have no control over what they do
  • Nobody will want to develop new businesses near the facility
  • NET on Bridge Street is looking for a new location so it could be worse
  • Doesn’t Frankford have enough of these services, why not some other location

There will be a presentation with full details of the Bridge proposal at the Northwood Civic Association meeting on Tuesday, February 15th.  The next meeting of the Frankford Civic will be on March 3rd.