This past weekend the Frankford CDC & the Mural Arts program teamed up to petition the neighborhood and film Frankford residents telling their stories, to help inspire the murals that are coming to Frankford. It was a great day – as you can see from the pictures below! We’ll be filming again on Tuesday, November 15th, from 2:00p to 6:00p at the CDC’s offices, 4900 Griscom Street.
Remember that date because it’s a busy day in Frankford: the CDC will also be celebrating America Recycles Day, so stop by to be filmed AND get a blue recycling bin! And if you thought that wasn’t enough, the Frankford Business & Professional Association will be meeting from 12:00n to 2:00p at Northeast Treatment Centers (4625 Frankford Ave) that day. Come listen to a representative from Beautiful Blooms in the Piazza talk about being a good business neighbor and building a supportive business community. Lunch will be provided.
We hope you’re as excited as we are about how much is going on in Frankford!
There are things that I would share with the Mural Arts Program in order that they would be able to replicate & paint an accurate depiction – like illustrations of Powder-Mills or antiquated machinery – as Frankford was once the “Workshop of The World.”
But I do not wish to be filmed by the FCDC. The last film I watched (of the FCDC) was a rather anemic self serving promotional documentary.
It is interesting to note that 4900 Griscom is the location of “Frankford Style.”
Google it. You get some interesting results, for example:
COMPANY DETAILS
Location Type: Single Location
Industry: Beauty Shops
Ownership: Private
Year Founded: 1985
Sales Range: $500,000 to $999,999
Employees: 20 to 50
4 executives listed for Frankford Style’s Philadelphia, PA location.
Exec Dir Martha Kearns
President John McGloughlin
President Robert Hynicka
Here is some history on it:
Style to make
a comeback in Frankford
By Diane Prokop
Times Staff Writer
Joan Oliveto, owner of the Frankford jazz restaurant mozaic, told the Frankford and Business and Professional Association last week that she plans to spearhead the revival of FrankfordStyle, a community non-profit organization that taught drama, art, music and dance to children and promoted arts and culture in the neighborhood.
Wearing her Frankford 19124 T-shirt, Oliveto told association members at their meeting that she had been approached months ago by FrankfordStyle founder Martha Kearns, who asked her to take over the helm of the organization, which has been inactive in recent years.
“Right now we’re in the embryonic stage again,” Oliveto said, noting that the Rev. Jonathan Clodfelter has offered the use of St. Mark’s Church for art and stained-glass classes. “We also hope to add yoga and put a women’s step troupe together.”
The restaurateur will work with others during the summer to organize the group and expects to begin classes in the fall. Since FrankfordStyle had operated with support from the Frankford Group Ministry, a coalition of community churches, the bylaws of the cultural group also have to be rewritten, Oliveto said.
Style is coming to the area in more ways than one.
According to Liz McCollum-Nazaria, chief of staff for City Councilman Dan Savage (D-7th dist.), new banners welcoming visitors to historic Frankford will line Frankford Avenue.
“Before leaving office in January, Councilman Savage wants to make sure Frankford is taken care of in many ways,” she said. “The ‘Welcome to Historic Frankford’ banners takes us in a direction the avenue would like to go.”
Additionally, new trash cans and other improvements are in the works, according to McCollum-Nazaria.
In other business, it was noted that a vigil will be held on Thursday, June 28, starting at 7 p.m., on the 4600 block of Penn St. to protest violence and recent shootings in the community, including the May 19 slaying of Miguel Torres, 21. No arrests have been made.
The violence has distressed Peggy Hoch, president of the East Frankford Civic Association.
“It’s not acceptable,” she said. “Take your courage and put it on your sleeve. That’s the only way we’re going to take our neighborhood back.”
During its meeting, the business association also announced some upcoming events, including Frankford Salsa Sunday on July 15, from 2 to 6 p.m., with live bands and an anti-violence message.
Also in the works are concerts at Overington Park in September. ••
Reporter Diane Prokop
http://gloomyhappy.wpengine.com/2007/06/21/frankford-style-to-return/
BTW – as a footnote – just reminiscing –
Joan Oliveto attended the Northwood Civic Association:
SEPTEMBER 19, 2006 – 7:00 P.M.
ST. JAMES LUTHERAN CHURCH
• MOSAIC – Joan Oliveto appeared before the NWC to announce the opening of her new restaurant located at 4524 Frankford Avenue. There is live Jazz on Saturday nights. Reservations are suggested. There is valet parking with security guard on site. Joan said that the restaurant is wallet-friendly fine dining with a culturally diverse menu, which reflects the neighborhood. She hopes to introduce 2020 Vision to the restaurant which is an art consignment group who will sell original art in the restaurant. 20% of the proceeds go pack to the community, which Joan hopes to direct to the Police Athletic League. There is a monthly drawing for a $20 gift card for the restaurant.
There were many other interesting things in the minutes, but they have no bearing upon this thread.
J.M.
The filming is just using the location of the CDC but is being done entirely by the Mural Arts folks. Frankford Style was the previous tenant of the building but is no longer active.
Somehow I feel this article is relevant and connected to PhillyRising & to the Mural Arts Program. If it is not then it should be.
Early to Dinner:
November 21, 2011
“Greening Vacant Lots Linked to Reduced Gun Violence”
by EMILY BADGER
“We all know about modern theories of policing that suggests signs of deterioration in a community – vacant lots, boarded-up buildings and, most famously, broken windows – communicate to would-be criminals, “No one cares about this place, so you don’t have to either.”
A related theory suggests that the presence of all these same “physical incivilities”promotes weak social ties among residents, increasing crime and discouraging the kind of community self-policing that Jane Jacobs celebrated.
These theories seem sensible. You’re more likely to drop a candy wrapper on a sidewalk that’s already covered in trash. But there hasn’t been a lot of quality, hard data to back this up.
A new study, published online this week in the American Journal of Epidemiology, offers some of the more promising evidence.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania studied a 10-year project in Philadelphia to convert vacant lots into park space. They found that gun-related assaults significantly declined in areas around the lots that had been greened. Vandalism and criminal mischief also significantly fell off. …more at link: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2011/11/greening-vacant-lots-linked-reduced-gun-violence/526/
Philadelphia Inquirer is Late for Dinner:
” ‘Greening’ Vacant Lots Linked to dip in crime” was published on the front page of Philadelphia Inquirer, November 25, 2011. However the article was not found on the Internet under that title; but it t was found as:
University of Pennsylvania study links vacant-lot cleanups, reduced gun crime
Posted: Fri, Nov. 25, 2011, 3:01 AM
By Tom Avril, Inquirer Staff Writer
“By clearing trash and planting grass in thousands of vacant lots in Philadelphia, work crews did much more than beautify the landscape.
They also struck a big blow against crime, according to first-of-its-kind research from University of Pennsylvania scientists.
In the areas immediately surrounding 4,436 lots that were “greened” by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, there was a net reduction in assaults, gun assaults, and gun robberies compared with areas around lots that were not greened.
The reason? Part of it may be that once a vacant lot is cleared and planted, it is no longer a good hiding place for a gun, the researchers reported online last week in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
“You remove the abandoned automobiles, all the abandoned trash where you can hide firearms,” said lead author Charles Branas, an associate professor of epidemiology at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. “All of a sudden, it makes it more challenging for illegal guns to move around the neighborhood.”
The authors said the decrease in crime might also be partly explained by the “broken-windows” theory, which proposes that boarded-up windows, vandalism, and other signs of decay can serve as a magnet for serious crime, because they suggest that no one is in control.
Told of the study findings, Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said both explanations made sense – the elimination of hiding places for guns, and the broader perception that an environment is safe.
“If you bring something special to a neighborhood, it helps to make people feel a little bit better about where they are and where they live,” Ramsey said, adding that he expects the city’s Mural Arts Program to have a similar impact.
Other studies have linked crime rates with elements of the surrounding environment, including a Penn study on take-out liquor stores. But the new research appeared to be the first to look at the effects of transforming vacant lots.
The greening program, a major effort begun under Mayor John F. Street that has received national attention as a weapon against urban blight, involves trash removal and the planting of grass and a few trees. A low wooden fence is typically erected around the border. … more at link:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/134475553.html?viewAll=y
J.M.