In a community meeting at Aria Hospital on August 16th over 30 residents came to voice their opposition to a zoning application for a grocery store at 4691 Hawthorne Street. This is for former location of the T&T bar which was the site of the murder of Chris Spence.
The opposition from the neighbors is based on the litter and loitering that inevitably come with a corner store, no matter how well run it may be. They note there there are as many as 16 grocery stores within a five block radius of that location now.
The neighborhood has been relatively quiet since the bar was shut down and the neighbors are very wary of any new business going into that location.
They listened politely to the presentation and then left declaring that there would be signed petitions at the next Frankford Civic Association meeting to document the depth of opposition in the neighborhood.
At the Frankford Civic meeting in September, the owners will make their presentation again. The neighbors will express their views and the the Civic will vote on whether to support or oppose the zoning variance.
The owners will still have the right to go to a zoning hearing for the case but with community opposition, their case would be more difficult.
