About Us

The Frankford Gazette is a hyperlocal news blog reporting on, and advocating for, the neighborhood of Frankford in the great city of Philadelphia.

Started in 2007, we have worked to bring news to the residents of Frankford in the hopes that an informed community is a better community.  In 2011, we began publishing a monthly print edition.  The Gazette is now a publication of Keep the Faith in Frankford.

Here’s more on us at our one year anniversary in the Northeast Times.

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Our Staff

Editorial Director

Bob Smiley( @bob_smiley ) is the founder of the Frankford Gazette and it’s chief editor.  My mother’s family came to Frankford fleeing the famine in Ireland in the 1850s.  My father’s family came to Frankford in the 1890s and operated a grocery store on the corner of Ditman and Orthodox for a long time.  We moved to Bridesburg when I was 3 but I returned to Frankford in 1970 and have been a resident for 46 years.

Web Editor

Jim Smiley( @jimRsmiley ) is the web editor of The Frankford Gazette and an applications developer with Chapter 13 Standing Trustee of Philadelphia. A native and resident of the Philadelphia neighborhood, he went to Saint Joachim grade school followed by North Catholic High School.  He is a computer science graduate of Drexel University, an avid runner and a freelance application developer.