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Phillyskyline Honors Frankford with a Visit

phillyskylinewalkingtourI am a huge fan of phillyskyline.  Like huge, don’t get me started.  Brad Maule has done an incredible job telling the story of Philadelphia through his photo essays.  They recently did some excellent work while walking from the Church Street El stop down to the Matt Papajohn’s Globe Dye Works on Torresdale Ave.  You can see it here.  There’s also a companion piece by Nathaniel Popkin who accompanied Mr Maule on his journey.

If he ever came back, I’d love to see him head west and tackle the Frankford Creek and the mills around Adams Ave.  There’s a lot more to Frankford than a trip down Church St and some shots from the El stops,  but this was an excellent start.

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The Clog Rags on Tony Payton Jr for Thinking Outside of the Box

Tony Payton JrWe caught the City Paper’s staff blog “The Clog” mocking our very own state 179th rep Tony Payton Jr for searching for a Chief of Staff on craigslist.  You’d think a young hip organization like that would appreciate the nuances of using the internet for more than just porn.  We’re almost a decade through the 21st century, c’mon now, only geriatrics search monster and careerbuilder.

Maybe I’m wrong but to me this is just another example of this dude’s efforts and attempts to do his freakin job.  Should we ask Tony to handle his business by the book?  Would Frankford be better off if Tony would’ve just hired his brother or high school buddy?  Maybe after that, he can kiss the establishment’s ass and wait in line for his turn at state rep in 20 or 30 years.  Then when he gets his act together he’ll be able to  start no showing the Friends of Overington Park’s TWO tree planting days like counsel woman Maria Quinones-Sanchez.  We’re still waiting on them cookies Maria.  I’m still thirsty for that orange juice you said was comin.

TP returns his phone calls and shows his face in Frankford.  Duder’s an outsider, he acts like an outsider.  That ad really makes it seem like he expects his Chief of Staff to do a day’s work.  I like it that way.  But it really sucks cause that coulda been a real choice no show job.  But I’m still waitin, cause aside from some pettiness over at phillyblog, I haven’t heard a bad thing about this guy.  It sucks that a whole lot more decision making for Frankford sits at the municipal level, cause if we had a few more like him at the city level we might be better off.

But we know The Clog is just ragging on Tony for internet filler.  We’re doing the same to them.  I hate slow news days.

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Philly Car Share at the Frankford Transportation Center

Previously, we’ve shown you Philly Car Share’s  cars at Margarette/Orthodox, and now that we’ve found where they hide their cars at the Frankford Transportation Center, we have pics of those also.  A Prius liftback and Dodge Caravan are available, although on our stop we only found the Prius.  I found the pod a bit hard to locate.  It’s located at 1A in the large parking structure next to the FTC.  The easiest way seems to be to take the pedestrian stairs at the corner of Bridge and Bustleton that lead up to the parking garage.  You can’t miss the signs.

Philly Car Share at the FTC

Philly Car Share at the FTC

Prius liftback at the FTC

Prius liftback at the FTC

PhillyCarShare is a non-profit organization that provides members with access to a fleet of vehicles on an hourly basis.  A tromendous resource for city dwellers that wish to shed their car payments and insurance and embrace transit oriented development.  A search of their website shows that for all of northeast Philly, and for the hundreds of locations citywide, the farthest Philly Car Share goes into the northeast is Bridge and Pratt streets.  That speaks volumes to me.  While Frankford is down, it’s on pace with the rest of the new city’s future.

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1929 Ward 23 Google Maps Overlay

Surfing over at phillyblog.com, I came across a post arguing where Convention Hall was located at Broad and Allegheny.  A poster referenced the Greater Philadelphia Geo History Network website.  They have as their “crown jewel” an Interactive Map Viewer with overlays of historic maps.  Very cool I must say.  Now most of the maps have old timey maps of Frankford, but they have a 1929 map of the 23rd and 41st ward with the house owners for the larger mansions and factory names written on it.  Tons of insight for the history buff.  This is filthy cool.  I could spend hours meandering through those maps.  Joe Menk, you should be all over this.  If anyone notes anything cool( like Overington Park still looking like an estate), post it in the comments.

[link] http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/index.cfm

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FKD Is Waiting – Lowes

I like to mark progress from the flashy side of gentrification coming up through Kensington.  But I must point out the middle class utopia of a Lowe’s coming (oh so close) to Frankford.  How close?  1000 feet close.  The new construction coming to the Port Richmond on Aramingo Ave between Wheatsheef and Butler is 1000 feet away from the Frankford Creek, the border of fair Frankford.

They are building, not in yet, but oh so close, to Frankford.

[link] http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2008/09/29/story10.html