I note with regret the passing of the Frankford Special Services District.  The legislation that created the FSSD had a sunset provision which meant that it had to be renewed by City Council to continue beyond the end of 2011 and that did not happen.

Tim Wisniewski, the FSSD Executive Director,  has moved on the a position in the Philadelphia Managing Director’s office.  The folks who worked on the street for the FSSD have, we hope, found other employment.  Their loss will be the most visible since they did contribute significantly toward a cleaner and safer business corridor.

The loss of the FSSD now puts a greater burden on the Frankford CDC which is the only entity left standing working toward the improvement of the Frankford business district.

There is a meeting scheduled for January 19th at 6PM by the CDC to discuss their 2011 accomplishments and 2012 plans.  This is a public meeting where you are invited to hear from them and share your ideas with the CDC staff.  It will be held in the second floor conference room at Aria Health.  Don’t be left out of the process, come to the meeting.

The January print edition is about to go to press so I am posting a link here if you would care to take a look.

My thanks to Tim Wisniewski, Executive Director of the Frankford Special Services District who has been doing the work of publishing the print edition since August.  He did the initial design and layout of all the editions until this month when I attempted to fill his shoes.  It was not easy but it is done.

Tim Wisniewski at the PSA meeting

Tim was instrumental in the effort to get the Gazette into print.  Jimmie Saunders of PhillyRising first raised the issue back in July since it had come up in discussion by residents as something that was needed by the community.  A meeting was set to discuss the possibility.  We met with Jimmie, Tim Wisniewski and Patricia Coyne in the offices of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations down on Lehigh Avenue.

We talked about what could be done and how it could be done.  It was Tim who said let’s just do it and do it now, not next week or have endless meetings to plan it out.  So we did and it got done.

There is no doubt that we would have done it one way or the other.  PhillyRising does get things moving.  Tim volunteered to do the layout and get it distributed and that made all the difference.

Ongoing, we will be doing the layout here and the CDC will handle the printing and distribution.  Printing now courtesy of Tony Payton’s office until a permanent printing solution can be found.

Frankford’s own Tim Wisniewski has developed two new text message applications.  One is geared towards helping Frankford residents find out their polling place, ward and division, and elected officials.  The other will provide Frankford residents with the closest local source of fresh, affordable produce who also accepts food stamps.

• Update on Safety Ambassadors, Detail Team, Sidewalk Sweepers
• Update on Finance and Fundraising
• Officer Elections
• Goals for 2011
• Community Input
• Establishment of 2011 Meeting Schedule

It was almost surreal to hear, once again, a call for a moment of silence at the Frankford Civic Association meeting on Thursday night.  At December’s meeting, Frances Clay had asked for that moment in honor of Thelma Young, long time member.  This month, Brian Wisniewski asked for that moment of silence in honor of Frances who passed away before Christmas.

Alice Henry read a thank you card to the Civic for the remembrance at her memorial service and then the meeting commenced with new business exactly as Frances would expect.

The election for officers was conducted with the following results:
President – Brian Wisniewski
Vice President -  Alice Henry
Secretary -  Rose Zimmermann
Treasurer -  Tim Wisniewski
Zoning – Pete Specos
at large – Al Rose
at large – Al Mitchell
at large – Margie Rivera
at large – Steve McClintock

Jason Dawkins

Several issues of problem properties were raised by Mike Mawson of West Frankford Town Watch.  The Civic will look into those issues.

Roselyn Gonzalez attended on behalf of the club the “Third Floor” at 4651 Frankford Avenue.  She has been in contact with Councilwoman Sanchez office recently(Jason Dawkins) in attempt to work through the process of finding out what has to be done with the city to become legal. You can see the coverage and video by the NEastPhilly.com here.

The club has been operating unlicensed for several months with some problems as previously reported here.  The intention is to resolve the problems and become a members only club.  They will be going before the zoning board to complete that process at some point in the future.  The Civic will then have some input in the process.

Roselyn Gonzalez

The next Frankford Civic  meeting is scheduled for February 3rd at 7PM at Aria Health, 2nd floor conference room.