Category: Features

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Frankford NAC Zoning Board Meeting for April

From Douglas Bryant, President of the Frankford NAC

The Frankford NAC Zoning Board meeting was held Thursday April 13, 2013 at Second Baptist Church of Frankford at 7:00 pm. There were two properties seeking zoning variances. The first property at 1728 Orthodox St was for the building of a vehicle and tool storage garage. The owner of the property explained that he needed a facility to store his work trucks, various tools and related work equipment. After much discussion the community members present rejected his proposal.

The second property discussed is located at 4731 Griscom St. The owner of the property was seeking a zoning variance to open a Crown Chicken fast food restaurant. Due to the amount of increasing negative activity in the area he was questioned extensively on issues regarding security, hiring intentions and hours of operation, particularly concerning the hours of operation. The community was unanimous in rejecting the proposal.

On Wednesday April 24, 2013 Wissinoming Civic Association and the Frankford NAC Zoning Board met at Wissinoming Presbyterian Church to hold a joint board meeting. The purpose of this community meeting was to discuss a new site development at Tulip St. and Harbison Ave. The developer Carl Freedman of FC Development Group is proposing a Retail Shopping Center on that site. The site is 12.5 acres which extends from Harbison Ave. to Sanger St. on Tulip St. The existing factories will be demolished.

The Shopping Center will be anchored by a 67,000 square foot Supermarket with Retail Stores, a Fitness Center, Restaurant and a large Gas station with a convenience store. Carl Freedman explained that Green Technology will be incorporated in the construction. This development will create 250 – 300 construction jobs and 400-500 ongoing jobs. Security was discussed and there will be cameras that tie into the Police Department. The property will have trees and 700 parking spaces. There will be community give backs to the community. The developer was concerned about being so close to the railroad tracks and will install a 6 ft. fence. The community was concerned about truck traffic on Tulip St. to the shopping center. The plan is to have trucks enter from Harbison St.

Although no formal vote was taken at this time, the proposal was well received by the community. There will be follow up meetings to discuss this project. For more information on the FC Development Group and their projects you can go to www.fcdevelopmentgroup.com .

 

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EPIC Stakeholders Meet for April

As usual, the NE EPIC Stakeholders meeting provided dinner and a full plate of information as well.

  • Doris Booker and Jennifer Selby reported on their attendance at the Frankford Civic and PSA1 meetings
  • Douglas Bryant, President of the Frankford NAC, reported on a proposed new shopping center to be built at Tulip Street and Harbison Avenue.   That is the large property that was, years ago, SKF.  The American Heritage FCU is on the Bridge Street side.  It will be called the Shops at Wissinoming and feature a large food market and numerous stores.  If all goes well we might see that open up in about two years.

    laverne andrews at epic

    Laverne Andrews at the NE EPIC Stakeholders

  • Simone Smith reported on the first week of the Citizens Engagement Academy which held its first session on April 24th.  It will run for 7 more weeks.
  • Laverne Andrews, a gifted communicator, presented for CAPE PA (Child Abuse Prevention Effort) a program on Communicating with Respect.
  • Cheryl Cutrona Esq. made a presentation of the Good Shepard Mediation Program.
  • CJ Waddy spoke about the Say Nooo to Strangers Foundation plans for National Day for Missing Children on May 25th.

The next meeting of the NE EPIC Stakeholders will be on May 30th at 5:30 PM at 2nd Baptist Church at 1801 Meadow Street.

 

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Get to Know a Frankford Business: Philadelphia Wedding Chapel

One of the newest businesses in Frankford, the Philadelphia Wedding Chapel, opened in March of this year at 4324 Tackawanna Street in the old Seal Tite Bag building.

The owner, Stacey Thomas, came to Frankford by a circuitous route after a career in corporate law followed by a second career as an  award winning wedding planner as With This Ring – Wedding Planning and Consulting.   Wedding planners encounter the issue of couples who are looking for something or someplace different for a ceremony and Thomas had an idea to fill that niche.

With the kernel of that idea, a search for a location was launched and she found the Tackawanna Street property and it was perfect.  The Philadelphia Wedding Chapel sits on the third floor of the historic building.

The space has been renovated to retain the warmth of the old brick walls and wood floors and ceilings.   It is flooded with natural light during the day and romantic lighting after dark.  The atmosphere is warm and inviting with seating for 30 guests comfortably and standing room for 15-20 additional people.

At the Philadelphia Wedding Chapel, they will perform beautiful, non-denominational wedding ceremonies. Each one is customized to the couple’s preferences.  The ceremonies are short and sweet lasting only 15-30 minutes depending upon the program chosen.

They offer a variety of packages ranging from a 20 minute Vegas style ceremony to one that includes a limo pick up, red carpet and mini reception! All that is left to you is to show up and get married!

The ceremony can be Non-Religious or Religious, Inter-Faith, Inter-Racial, Traditional or Non-Traditional, Civil Ceremony or Commitment Ceremony and they are LGBT friendly.

More information including pricing and a reservation request form are available on the web site at http://philadelphiaweddingchapel.com/

For further information, you can contact the Philadelphia Wedding Chapel at Phone: 215-906-0740 or Email:  info@philadelphiaweddingchapel.com

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Mayor’s Clean Up at Overington Park

We held our first event in our new building this past Saturday, April 13,2013, from 10 to 1. It was wonderful to have all our tools and supplies available to us, just by opening up the door to our Shed. We used the new water supply to clean our tools and hands at the end of the day.

Our thanks goes out again to Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation for their support in getting IMG_2024webus the water and new building for our park. 60 volunteers come out to help get our park off on the right foot this Spring. We cleaned out 10 flower beds, weeded tree pits, picked up trash and emptied trash cans, collected dead wood from around the park, removed graffiti, and cut in our new large flower bed around the shed.

The UCARE group from Ursinus College, came all the way from Collegeville, Pa, to help us out. Our Frankford High JR ROTC came out in force. The Frankford Garden Club members gave instruction on opening our flower beds for spring. State Rep. James Clay not only bought pretzels for our volunteers but came in person to deliver them. As always Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez under wrote our event.

The Friends of Overington Park pulled together to make the day a success. The new owner of the apartment building next to the park came out to lend a hand. The Frankford Gazette and Northeast Times stopped by to cover our clean up. We had more park neighbors come out and help on Saturday then ever before. The weather was perfect for working outside, clear, dry, and not too hot. We covered all the jobs that needed to get done, making us ready for a great 2013 growing season. Thank you to everyone who took time out of their weekend to help get our park in shape for Spring.

Our next event will be on May 18th from 10am to 1pm. We will hold our Second Annual Perennial Plant Sale, and plant our flower beds with seeds and perennials. Our volunteers will get seeds to use at home to improve their gardens, as well as tee shirts, and snacks. If you are looking for beautiful plants that will come back year after year, come out and support the park by buying our perennials at great prices. Please come out and join us!

 

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Focus on Frankford: Margie Rivera

Focus of Frankford: Margie Rivera

Margie Rivera never intended to become a community activist when she and her husband, Nelson, bought their home in Frankford on the 1500 block of church Street in 2005.  They enjoyed the neighborhood.

In the nice weather people would sit out on the front steps and chat back and forth.  In the summer their girls would enjoy the backyard pool.  It all came to a screeching halt early in 2009 when the two homes next door were sold.

The word got out that they would become recovery homes for single men.  That became a reality when work to convert the single family homes into multiple units began.  Men began to move in at the same time.

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Margie and grandson Joshua

Quality of life on the block to a nose dive. They were besieged at all hours of the day and night by noise in the house next door and people coming and going at all hours. There was obvious drug activity.

Margie started making calls.  It turned out that a zoning hearing would be required to legally convert the properties and Margie did not want that to happen. She started making noise.  The Frankford Civic Association got involved along with Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez office.  Over the next few months Petitions, letters from city, state and federal officials and all other stake holders were collected.  Finally at the zoning hearing in December, the owner failed to appear and the application was denied.

As a result of all the negative publicity, the owners changed their plan and now women are housed in the properties.  This has made a positive difference.

As a result of the experience, Margie became active in the Frankford Civic Association and is now on the board of directors and Vice President.  She is a reluctant activist.  Her concerns are the welfare of her family and community.  And of course, there is now grandson Joshua to consider.  Her advice to others in this situation is to get involved.  She did and it made a difference.