Category: Civics

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Coming up in Frankford October 28 to November 3

Community Planting Day – Sat, October 28, 10 am – 2 pm, Frankford Pause Park, 4671-73 Paul Street – The Frankford CDC and the Frankford Garden Club present Community Planting Day with workshops throughout the day.

Free Concert – Sat, October 28, 1 pm – 5 pm, Carmella Playground, 2100 Wakeling Street – Free concert by Jah People, skateboard contest, food trucks, 50/50 raffle, Halloween costume contest for kids and adults and feed the homeless food drive.

20th Annual Tricky Trays – Sun, October 29, 11:30 am, St. Joachim Church, 1527 Church Street – Court St. Francis de Sales #2617 invites you to a day of fun at the 20th Annual Tricky Trays in St. Joachim’s Hall, 1527 Church Street on Sunday, October 29, 2017. Doors open 11:30 AM. First ticket drawn at 1 PM. $5.00 admission includes trip to the kitchen and 2 raffle tickets. Free dessert. Additional raffles and food available. 50-50 and kids costume judging. Bring canned goods for Matthew 25 food cupboard and get a free raffle ticket. Call Brenda for info 215-288-8168″

Frankford NAS Election – Thu, November 2, 9:00 am – 6:30 pm, 4667 Paul Street – Ground floor for the voting and  Thu, November 2, 10 am – 4 pm, 4900 Griscom St,

Frankford Civic Association Meeting, Thu, November 2, 7 pm – 8 pm, St Mark’s Church Frankford, 4442 Frankford Avenue

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Congratulations to the Frankford CDC

On October 18th, at the Kimmel Center, the AIA (American Institute of Architects)  presented the Community Design Award to the Frankford Community Development Corporation and Richard Carroll, Brad Springer, Robin Miller, Sophia Lundeholm, Carrie Sauer and Michael Williams for excellence in design, collaboration  and community impact in the conceptual design of the streetscape improvements planned for the intersection of Margaret, Arrott, and Paul Streets with Frankford Avenue.

Proposed streetscape looking from the foot of Oxford Avenue across Arrott Street.

The plan is to take some of the chaos out of the intersection and make it more than what it is right now.  The first piece of that project is the Frankford Pause pop up park which is now being constructed.

It will be bold and not easy to miss. It will be a place for the community to gather for events and being next to the Daral building makes that block a hub for all civic business in Frankford.

When the reconstruction of the Arrott Transportation Center is completed the area will be much different.  Now, if we can get some of those stop and go stores out of there, things might really start looking up.

 

 

 

 

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Northwood Civic Scores a Big Win Against Blight

Congratulations to Joe Krause and the Northwood Civic Association on their big victory over EverBank of Jacksonville, Florida, the owner of 1301 Wakeling Street.  At a court hearing on October 19th, Scioli Turco was appointed conservator of the property. Immediate improvements will begin to be made to the outside of the property and the home will be repaired inside and out to be marketed for sale as a single family home in the coming months.

Scioli Turco is a community and neighborhood development organization who works on behalf of neighborhoods to take over blighted properties and return them to the market when the owners cannot or will not do so.

This case goes back to April 16th, 2016 when the first hearing was held and the judge ordered the owner to do the repairs and get the house on the market for sale by June 1st.  They did not comply but managed to forestall the conservatorship for almost a year and a half.

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Castor Avenue Speedway

I have been watching the efforts of the people in Northwood to take on  the speed problem on Castor Avenue between Foulkrod and Pratt for a couple of years now.  They had some success in that the Streets department studied the Speedway and concluded that yes traffic was running too fast.  They made promises to do some fixing and they did some fixing but not as much as the promised, at least to date.  What they did was lay some strips across the lanes that are about as thick as cardboard which are intended to remind people to slow up.  Cardboard might have worked better.  The accidents are still happening and speed still speedy.

Northwood was promised by Councilwoman Sanchez that she would arrange a sit down with the Streets Department to resolve the issue.    So far, no meeting.  There are solutions to this problem but they are not being implemented.

Saturday morning, April 29th,  Mari Carrasquillo, who lives about a block away from Castor and Foulkrod, posted on Facebook the first news about the accident.  The car was traveling South on Castor and as it approached the intersection of Foulkrod, came into contact with the utility pole on the West side of the street.  The car and pole were heavily damaged. The power lines shorted out creating some fireworks that took some time to be extinguished.  No further information about the accident investigation by the police was available as of today.

 

Thanks to Joe and Mary Menkevich and Mari Carrasquillo for the video and pictures.

 

 

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Frankford Civic Talks 4200 Torresdale Avenue

Frankford Civic  Association meeting on March 2nd took up the pending application for a special exception zoning variance at 4200 Torresdale Avenue.  Local residents received notice of the ZBA hearing to be held on March 15th.  The application reads as follows: SPECIAL EXCEPTION FOR THE INSTALLATION OF ONE (1) STATICALLY ILLUMINATED FLAT-WALL SIGN AND THE DOCUMENTATION OF THE ERECTION OF THREE (3) AWNINGS (NO SIGNAGE) AND STAIRS & RAMP IN RIGHT-OF-WAY (PROPERTY IS LOCATED IN THE AREA FLOOD ZONE). SIZE AND LOCATION AS SHOWN IN APPLICATION. FOR USE AS PERSONAL VEHICLE REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE WITH ACCESSORY SIGNAGE.

The Frankford NAC will hear a presentation from the owner of the property at their meeting on March 9th.  Any resident who received a copy of the notice should attend that meeting which will be held at 2nd Baptist Church at 1801 Meadow Street at 7 PM.

Car dealer cars parking on the 4800 block of Oxford Avenue has been discussed at previous meetings.  At the latest walk through the parking of cars without licenses was down to one.  There is a lot of transient parking however which is to be expected in that area.  

The Frankford NAC heard a presentation at the January meeting by ArtisanSmiles, a dental practice, who wants to open up a full service office at 4821 Frankford Avenue.  The NAC had to delay a vote on the issue due to a problem with the posting of the zoning notice.

A new Verizon wireless store opened up at Frankford Avenue and Foulkrod Street.  That is good news for the area.

The Daral building has seen the Frankford CDC, NAC and Representative Jason Dawkins move in.  Good news for that intersection of Paul and Frankford Avenue.

Kim Washington, Christine DeJesus and Pat Smiley at the new office of the Frankford CDC in the Daral Building.

The owners of 4150 Kensington llc attended the meeting to discuss their interest in using the corner of their property at Adams Avenue and Kensington Avenue for used car sales.  The folks attending spoke about concerns the community might have should they look for a zoning variance.  At present the lot is zoned residential since it actually fronts on Adams Avenue.  They were advised to contact the Frankford NAC for further guidance.

 

Kat Hardy of Senator Tartaglione’s office attended and announced the office will be offering SEPTA KEY application help to seniors.  The new card will be necessary when SEPTA KEY is operational to ride for free.  They will take your picture, help with the application and send it to SEPTA for you.  SEPTA will then process your application and send you the new card in the mail.  You need to bring your id with you when you come to the office.  Whatever you use to ride SEPTA will will do it.

The next meeting of the Frankford Civic Association will be held on April 6th at 7 PM at St. Mark’s Church, 4442 Frankford Avenue.