State Representative Tony Payton, the Frankford CDC, Northeast EPIC Stakeholders, and Friends of Overington Park are hosting a free Frankford family movie night. Join us on Friday, October 21st, 7:00p, in Overington Park, as we watch Johnny Depp in Rango! We’ll also be raffling off a free DVD player, and refreshments will be served! See the flyer below for more details.

Movie Night

Rep. Tony Payton

Some help from the state is available.    Follow the link.

Saturday was community cleanup day and I got an invite to go over to the Mastery Charter School formerly known as plain old Smedley Elementary to see what was happening.   Smedley is a big school and when I first pulled up and I only saw a few kids in front.  Jacob Waters a teacher there had sent me the email and he gathered all personnel for a picture.  Turned out there was a nice crowd of kids on hand and just when we got set up Tony Payton arrived.

I have been doing this long enough to know that Tony will usually turn up at community events.  He is the most present politician I have encountered.  Present he was and below we have the picture.  Three cheers for Mastery Charter School and the new Smedley Elementary.

Frankford Cleanup Day at Mastery Charter School - Smedley

I was off the check out Overington Park and when I went by the 4900 block of Penn Street I found these folks just out cleaning up.  I had to stop and get a video of them in action.

Finally saw I was early for Overington so I headed over to Wilmot Park.  I got a tip from Jason Dawkins that there would be a cleanup crew there too.  I found Raymond Grant of Philadelphia Cares unloading the equipment as his crew began to arrive.  All in all it was a cleanup day in Frankford.  But there was more than that happening and that will be posted tomorrow.

Raymond Grant of Philadelphia Cares

Jorge Santana, Rep. Tony Payton's Chief of Staff

There were about 30 people last night at the Northwood Civic, which had been rescheduled to avoid next weeks election day.  The focus was on quality of life issues as follows:

• The Civic is going back to court on the issue of enforcement against 950 Fillmore Street and the addition to the home at that location.
• Residents of the 1100 block of Herbert Street have complained about one occupant of that block operating a business selling automobiles.  There are as many as 11 cars parked on the street.  The owner is moving tags from one to the other to avoid detection.
• Illegal day cares continue to be a problem.  Some are offering care for as many as twelve children around the clock.  There are safety as well as traffic and noise issues.
• Barry noted that the Frankford Civic voted to not support the zoning application of the Bridge to move onto the property at Adams Avenue.   Northwood will maintain its support for the move.
• They will continue to work on the VOA group home by talking with the owners.
• Members voted to approve attorney’s fees for the Bridge zoning hearing and the case for 950 Fillmore Street.
• The Civic is looking to apply for a grant from the Preservation Alliance for demolition of the garages located Rutland and Fillmore Streets.  There were severely damaged in a fire.  Looking to make improvements to the nearby tennis courts at the other end of the block at Rutland and Harrison Streets.
• Barry will be meeting with the Principal of Frankford High School today to discuss the problem with students roaming through the neighborhood and getting into trouble.  He is looking to having a similar discussion with the Principal of Emunds in the future.

Jorge Santana, Tony Payton’s Chief of Staff, announced that he will be leaving his position with Tony at the end of the week.   Jorge has been at almost every Northwood meeting and Barry noted that he has been invaluable to the Civic with his assistance in every way possible.

The next Northwood Civic meeting is scheduled for June 21st at 7PM.