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we are going to have to get ugly

So said Councilwoman Quinones-Sanchez at the meeting last week with Frankford stakeholders.

The Jan. 13 session focused on the number of recovery houses in Frankford, as well as which ones are funded by the Office of Addiction Services (OAS), an agency within the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services (DBH/MRS).

The impact of these substance-abuse treatment facilities – particularly some that residents believe are poorly supervised – has been a source of discussion for months.

City Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez (D-7th dist.) and state Rep. Tony Payton (D-179th dist.) organized the community meeting in response to ongoing requests from residents of Frankford and members of its civic association.

KatieRose Keenan writes an excellent report this week in the Northeast Times. Follow this link and read. Then take a look at the list of know drug treatment facilities mentioned in the post below this one.  If know of something not on the list, report it.  It’s time to get ugly.  It’s your town.  It’s time to take it back.

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Frankford Civic Association

The Frankford Civic would like your help.   At the last meeting there was a discussion of the number of drug rehab related properties in Frankford.  In order to start taking control of the problem, there has to be a list of where they are.  In fact, even the city does not have an accurate list.  But the people who have one on their block sure know.  So take a look at the list which is posted on the civic’s web page.  If you know of one that is not on that list, contact them and let them know.  We can solve this problem if we all work on it together.  Do your part.

This is a map of the locations.


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Bakshees sahib

I walked out of the Intercontinental hotel in Karachi on the first day of January in 1968.  My friends and I were waiting for a driver to take us on a tour of the city on our first day in Pakistan.  We were standing there in front of the hotel getting impatient after waiting 15 minutes past the scheduled time when I felt something pull on my arm.  I looked down to see an incredibly dirty little girl with big brown eyes looking up at me.  She said “bakshees sahib”.  She and the other two she was with were begging.  We had been warned that we would be followed by these kids wherever we went and it proved to be true.  Fortunately our car came just in time and I gave her two rupees and hopped in for the tour.

There is an incredible book called “Three cups of Tea” that I have just finished reading.  I had not intended to read it because the author was on Oprah recently but I happened to have it in the car last week as we were coming back from Virginia Beach.  A long ride will make you do things sometimes.

It’s over 40 years since that day in Pakistan and I have never forgotten that child’s face.  There were many of them and honestly I did not even think there was a way to help them.  Poverty in Pakistan was and is endemic.

Now, I read about what Greg Mortenson has been doing and I believe.  He has been building schools.  Why would he do that?  Because nobody else did.  But there is more to his story and his story has more to give us that may come home to the heart of Frankford.

If you are a reader, get his book.  We have it on page 2 of our book store or go down to the library and borrow it.