Newly released, “Frankford Heroes, 2nd Edition”, written by Bob Smiley and Richard Johnson, takes us from a small 17th Century village in Philadelphia county to a 21st Century neighborhood in the city of Philadelphia, PA. Frankford has a long history of proud military service. This new edition has the stories 190 brave men and women, 147 of them would not return from war.
If you buy the book directly from us, we pay the shipping. Click on this link, https://frankfordgazette.com/books-for-sale/ and you can order online and us Paypal, credit or debit cards as well as mailing us a check. Anyone who buys a print edition of this book, please email gil@frankfordgazette.com or text 215-847-5506 to get your free ebook. The ebook has even more information about the Veterans, resources and links.
Through Tuesday evening, May 26, we will donate 10% of monies raised to St. Mark’s Church and Court St. Francis de Sales #2617 of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas for their Matthew 25 Food Cupboard. Thank you!
Totally on board with that idea that the residents need to own their neighborhood. Why should any politician do something for others that won’t do for themselves. Shame Frankford sucks at that.
I Called John Farrell, the Deputy Managing Director and did not reach him – He called back and the Next meeting of PhillyRising:
Landlord/Tenant Rights Focus Group Meeting
When – Wed, May 25, 7pm – 8pm
Where – Aria Helath, 5000 Frankford Avenue, 2nd floor (map)
“PhillyRising will be hosting a series of focus group meetings with a special emphasis on the quality of life issues that you expressed were most important in your community. We would like to hear your ideas as to ways to improve the Frankford community and develop a plan of action.”
I like the PhillyRising program and the guys that are organizing it. It’s just too bad that political correctness doesn’t allow us to get to the root of the problems. I’ll air it here and see if the same subject is brought up at the meetings and see if it’s explored, or ignored and avoided. Frankford is prisoner to a whole generation of people who rely and expect handouts from the City, State and Federal government. Classic example is the resident from a previous meeting that works for the city and gets her income from the city; that’s great, people are working. Her next statement was that she lives in PHA housing; my jaw dropped. I thought PHA housing was for people who were destitute; who didn’t have income. So now we have city employees getting what’s supposed to be available for the truly needy. Then we have the fabulous state funded ‘nutrition program’, I think that’s what they call it now. The real name is food stamps. I don’t believe I ever saw anyone in a grocery store in this area that didn’t have an access card. Even the corner grocery stores have made their largest advertisement, a painted teal and yellow access card, part of their exterior design scheme. As for all the rental properties in Frankford; the majority are funded by SSI payments that are received by people with disabilities. Their disability is they’re junkies. How did becoming a drug addict become a disability; I made some bad choices in my life too, but I don’t get rewarded by the government for them. The list of handouts goes on and on, and people are taking advantage of all of them. Not just Frankford, but Frankford has more than it’s share. Stop handing out money to people, giving them homes, cleaning their streets; maybe then people will step up and appreciate what they do have because they will have worked for it. When I ride to work I see all the same people everyday sitting on their stoops doing absolutely nothing; you think they’d at least clean their streets and/or homes. Everyone on my street works and yet we find the time to keep our street spotless. PhillyRising will hopefully succeed and create some improvements; but until you change the mentality of a whole group of government dependent leeches, the project will be nothing more than another free handout…..Oh yeah, the people that would benefit the most from what PhillyRising is doing are afraid to leave their homes because of the rampant violent crime that goes unpunished by our courts. Clean that up first and get us more police. I’m sure the cops that work that area are tired of rearresting the same people dozens and dozens of times for the same crimes.
There is a very serious, growing problem here in the United States, not just in Frankford. We have a large segment of our society that are uneducated. We have young people graduating from high school who can barely read or write a complete sentence. And this problem has been going on for many years. Years ago we had factories that would employ those people who dropped out of school. And those factories paid a decent wage. Times have changed. The factories are gone. In todays’ society if you don’t have a good education, preferably a college degree, then you will be unemployable and dependent on government assistance. The truth of the matter is those people who are the uneducated make more money on the street than they ever could on a job. I don’t know if the answer is to stop government assistance. But I certainly understand your frustration with the present situation.
Bang zoom you nailed it Lorraine; EDUCATION. It’s just difficult in this city for many children to get the education they need to survive. Frankford HS is definitely not the first choice to achieve academic excellence. You spend most of your attention on survival; definitely not the atmosphere to learn in. The trouble makers should be removed from the school and placed in a secure facility; call it a jail if you want. Maybe then they will see what their future is going to be like inside a cage and decide early on that they don’t like it. Give the kids that want to learn every chance possible and eliminate the burden craeted by these thugs. To quote the late George Carlin, “stop with the every child is special, every child is NOT special.” Don’t cut the schools budgets; eliminate the wasteful spending on students who don’t want to be there. They will grow up to be losers anyway. Spend the taxpayer dollars on those students who want to improve their neighborhoods, their lives, and the future of the city.