Category: Civics

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January Crime Report

Crime, overall, was down again in January.

Of course if you are a victim, that is a different story.  There were 184 incidents reported in December and 163 in January.  That is about an 11% decline.

There were 12 aggravated assaults.  4 of those came from 2 incidents.  One on Penn Street and the other on Adams Avenue.

We use data from Open Data Philly which come directly from the Police Department.  I noticed this month that the number of homicides did not add up.  Captain McCloskey mentioned at the PSA meeting in January that those two incidents resulted in multiple fatalities.  It looks like they were initially classified as aggravated assaults but then the victim died at a later time.  The bottom line is homicides are higher than reported and aggravated assaults are lower.

If you would like to see Captain McCloskey in person, along with Tom Nestel, chief of SEPTA police, they are scheduled to attend the Frankford Civic Association meeting Thursday, February 5th at 7PM at St. Mark’s church (4442 Frankford Avenue).

Meanwhile, the crime summary is below.  This is a link to a pdf file where the details for January are available.

Dec-13 Dec-14 Jan-15
Aggravated Assault Firearm 2 5 12
Aggravated Assault No Firearm 19 17 11
Burglary Non Residential 7 4 5
Burglary Residential 28 14 15
Homicide 0 0 1
Motor Vehicle Recovery 23 26 15
Motor Vehicle Theft 9 13 16
Rape 5 7 4
Robbery Firearm 12 22 12
Robbery no Firearm 10 6 17
Theft 40 49 36
Theft from Vehicle 39 21 19
Total 194 184 163
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Northwood Civic January Meeting

Joe Krause, President of the Northwood Civic, opened the meeting on January 20th, with the treasurer’s report.

A donation was made before Christmas by the Civic to a family who had a significant loss in a burglary in November.  State Representative, Jason Dawkins, also made a donation of toys to the children in the family, since their gifts were also stolen.  Krause noted that there are not a lot of burglaries in Northwood but residents should be vigilant and always keeps your doors and windows locked.

The problem with the “ad hoc” car lot on the 900 block of Foulkrod Street continues.  The police are being called whenever those untagged cars are parked in the area.

Tom McAvoy, President of the Northwood Town Watch, reported that Councilwoman Sanchez will introduce legislation that will ban truck parking throughout Northwood.  Tom met Sanchez at a recent meeting on the Land Bank program, and talked to her about the problem.  She was happy to help and told his exactly what was needed.

The water department will be doing major construction on Adams Avenue to replace water pipes.  They are being invited to a meeting to explain to residents the timing and exactly what it will involve.  It may be done during the Summer.  They have been doing the same on Orthodox since the Fall.  The section West of Frankford Avenue up to Penn Street is complete and now they are working East of Frankford Avenue near Torresdale.  The date of the meeting will be announced when it is confirmed.

Residents on the 1200 block of Arrott Street have been living with a problem tenant who caused a fire that took down one house there.  They are naturally concerned about the situation since he remains on the block.  Drugs are at the heart of the issue.

The next meeting of the Northwood Civic Association will be on February 17th at 7PM at St. James Lutheran Church.

 

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Frankford Civic Association Meeting for January

The Frankford Civic met on Wednesday, January  7th.

The first order of business was a proposal to move the location of the meeting to St. Mark’s church at 4442 Frankford Avenue.  This would allow the Civic to meet on the first Thursday of the month.  Aria Hospital is unable to offer their meeting room on that day and so the motion was approved.  The Civic Association will be meeting at St. Mark’s on the first Thursday of the month.  Entrance is from the parking lot on the side of the church.  Use the door at the top of the stairway.

In other news, the PSA1 meeting which was scheduled for January 15th according to their web site, will be moved to January 22nd at 7PM at Aria Hospital.  This has been confirmed by Captain McCloskey even though the 15th district web site continues to list the meeting as the 15th.

The SafeCam task force continues to meet and plan a program that will encourage business and home owners to utilize this program.  News will be forthcoming when the plan has been finalized.

Discussion about the coordination of Philadelphia and SEPTA police pointed out that there appears to be none around the SEPTA station at Margaret Street.  The drug dealers and vagrants will move when Philadelphia police tell them to move but return to do their business under the watchful eyes of the SEPTA police.  Why is that?  A representative of the SEPTA police will be invited to a future civic meeting to discuss the issue.

The next Frankford Civic meeting will be on February 5th at St. Marks Church.

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Northwood Civic Meeting for December Cancelled

There will be no meeting of the Northwood Civic Association on December 16th, 2014. My decision to have a meeting wasn’t very popular, so we will have our next meeting on January 20th, 2015.

I received a letter from a neighbor on the 1200 block of Haworth Street requesting help with some things that concern them. If anyone knows who sent it, please tell them to call me or contact me. They left no name, address, or phone number, so it will be difficult for me to assist them in any way.

I can be contacted through Facebook or my email northwoodcivic@comcast.net

Joe Krause
President, Northwood Civic Association
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Northwood Civic November Meeting

At the Northwood Civic Association meeting on November 18th, President Joe Krause announced that the Association is taking steps to incorporate at a non-profit 501 (c) (3).  This step provides some tax benefits to donors and also allows the Civic to participate in certain programs only open to those types of organizations.

The civic also recently took nominations for the board.  As of November the board makeup is as follows:

  • Joe Krause, President
  • Tom McAvoy, Vice President
  • Mary Robus, Secretary
  •  Renee Hudson, Treasurer
  •  Ed Martin, Board member
  • Allen Jackson, Board member
  • Sonya Martin, Board member

Other news at the meeting:

The Civic will do a mailing to all Northwood residents in the deed restricted area give them information on the deed restriction.  Rep. John Taylor’s office will be providing assistance with this task.

NO TRUCK PARKING signs are going to be put up around Northwood Park.

The owner of 5050 Oxford Avenue has been cited by L&I for renting rooms.  The may be an illegal day care on the 5000 block of Oxford Avenue.

4834 Penn Street is ready to open as a 6 unit apartment house.  The property was the focus of protests when it was initially announced that it would be a recovery residence for 30 plus occupants.

The 900 block of Foulkrod continues to see parking of cars for sale by a local car dealer.  That is illegal but the dealer manages to stay one step ahead of the police by moving them almost every day to a different location.

The have been a number of burglaries in Northwood in recent months.  The perpetrator looks for open windows and unlocked doors as a point of entry.  Residents are advised to take precautions.

There has been no progress in making repairs to the Simpson playground building.  Estimates to fix it are in the area of a half million dollars which has to come from the district Councilperson. That area is going to switch districts next year and Darrell Clarke is reluctant to use funding source to repair a building that will soon be in Councilwoman Sanchez district.

Northwood Academy Charter School as asking the Civic to support their plan for banners along Castor Avenue identifying the school block.  There was no opposition to the proposal from the membership at the meeting and a letter of support will be provided.

Numerous complaints about the poor condition of Orthodox Street from Castor Avenue down toward Frankford Avenue came up at the meeting.  Residents are advised to call 311 to put it on the radar for the city to repair.  They will only recognize a problem if enough people complain.

The next meeting of the Northwood Civic Association will be held on December 16th at 7PM at St. James Lutheran church at Castor Avenue and Pratt St.