Please be notified that the next Frankford Business & Professional Association meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 24th from 12n to 2p at Northeast Treatment Centers (4625 Frankford Avenue, in the main room of the Recovery Support Center located on the lower floor).

We hope to see you there!

–
Michelle Feldman
Commercial Corridor Manager
Frankford CDC
Phone: 215-743-6580
Fax: 215-743-6582
www.frankfordcdc.com
www.frankfordcdc.blogspot.com

Some readers have noticed activity in the old Salvation Army building at 4342-44 Frankford Avenue.  They packed up shop last year and since that time it has been vacant.  Since our unfortunate experience with the opening of NET and Wedge without our support, people are very concerned about any changes on the Avenue that may be counter productive to improving our community.

I contacted Jorge Santana, Chief of Staff for Tony Payton and he updated me on what is happening with the property.  It is listed for sale with Ken Blum of Benjamin Jacobson Associates for 1.2 million dollars.

As Jorge reported:

Since getting in touch with Ken Blum, I have been working very closely with him.  I have made it clear to him that the building cannot by any means be sold for a purpose the Frankford community does not want, and that the community is ready and willing to use any legal means necessary to ensure the building falls into good hands.

That said, I see this as a major opportunity for Frankford.  I believe the building is perfectly suited for a charter school or vocational/trades school like Devry, Thomson, or Orleans Technical.   We will be reaching out to local charters to see if they are interested in the property.  We also have meetings throughout January planned to show the property to other reputable charters not currently in the neighborhood.

Its good to know that Payton’s office is on the case.  I agree that this can be an opportunity and it will be if we all stick together and make sure it goes that way.  It’s a simple issue.  Our political leaders will do what we tell them to do if we speak loudly enough and in the right way.  We rolled over too easily for Wedge and NET.  Let’s make sure it does not happen again.  Stay tuned for further information.

That was the headline of the write up this week in the Northeast Times about the task force meeting on the drug services businesses in Frankford.  And what is the answer to that question?   Dump them in there till the people scream in pain.  So in Bustleton, they win and in Frankford we lose.  At least up until now.  Maybe they have pushed us too far.

Now maybe there is a chance that we can get this thing under control.  Why?  Well a lot of people are really justifiably pissed off.

…the councilwoman was adamant that she does not want any more approvals of rehab facilities or recovery houses in the 19124 ZIP code. She said her office is looking into the licenses and permits of facilities located in Frankford. The city Department of Licenses and Inspections prepared to start visiting the locations on the councilwoman’s list to make sure that city codes and regulations are being adhered to.

L&I’s Dan Quinn told the task force that any houses found to be in violation will be shut down. If they continue to operate after a shutdown order, the buildings will be sealed, Quinn added.

The next Frankford Civic meeting is on May 7th.  There is strength in numbers.

The Northeast Times in their editorial this week notes that the NorthEast Treatment Centers plans to open a methadone treatment facility at Roosevelt Boulevard and Grant Avenue.  We sympathize with their concerns.  Treating people with drug addiction can be a challenge.

Addicts have no constitutional right to get their fix in the middle of a stable and decent neighborhood in a stable and decent section of Philadelphia. The rights of immediate neighbors as well as those in the entire Northeast to live without an influx of drug addicts far outweighs the right of those addicts to get treatment in a neighborhood that does not want them.

I have to commend those folks in Bustleton for somehow having managed to exist without having any drug addicts living among them.  It is truly an amazing story that I have referred to Matt Drudge for investigation.  You have a good population up there and not even one druggy.

Or could it be there there are folks up there who are drug addicts and maybe you would rather have them treated elsewhere.  You know, send them to some down and out section of the city, send them to Frankford?

Certain sections of Philadelphia may be down and out, but dragging the Northeast down with them would be patently unfair. It won’t happen if Bustleton residents have their say – and if the politicians back them up.

It might be more unfair if other sections of the city have to bear the burden of your drug addicts.  So let’s get to the bottom of this, once and for all.  If the clients who will use the facility come from your neighborhood, they are yours.  Keep them.  We have enough of them now.  And if we find we have some of them down here with us, in the “down and outs”, we’re sending them back.

Read the entire editorial here.