Tag: Civics

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Frankford Civic Association Meeting

The meeting last night on the second floor at Aria Health was well attended despite the cold temperatures.

First issue on the agenda was a zoning issue regarding a house owned by Pastor Richard Smith of the Faith Assembly of God.  He is seeking to renew his zoning variance on a property at 1930 Harrison Street to house up to eight men.  A number of people from the congregation attended and there was testimony at the meeting of the pastor’s dedication to helping men in need.

Another zoning issue was related to the application to build a storage facility for a contractor at 4205-07 Adams Avenue.  This applicant appeared at a previous meeting and the project is moving along.

In regard to the possible sale of the now vacant Frankford Community Y building, Jason Dawkins of Ms. Sanchez staff reports that the issue is still on the table but the attorney for the parties involved say that funding is still not in place.  That was the reason why they did not appear at the last Civic meeting.

The issue of the sale of the Salvation Army building has been reported and there has been no change in status.  It is significant to note that the Pols offices are both taking a proactive stance in trying to make sure that any sale that does take place will be in the best interests of the community.

The big news at the meeting was revealed by Barry Howell, president of the Northwood Civic Association.  He announced that Community Behavioral Health, contracted by the City of Philadelphia, is opening up a recovery house at 4871 Roosevelt Boulevard.  This would violate the Burk deed restriction which prohibits use of the property for anything other than a single family residence.

So now the city government has turned on us.  The city where you pay taxes is going to war against us.

Barry requested that someone from Frankford Civic attend the Northwood Civic meetings in the future.  This fight will require a coordinated  effort by by both Civics.  Why is this important when there are so many other recovery houses in Frankford?  Because there are so many recovery houses in Frankford. There are far more than the number of people in Frankford needing those services.

It’s time again to stand together and so no more.   Check out the report on NEastPhilly.com.

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Salvation Army Building Available

Some readers have noticed activity in the old Salvation Army building at 4342-44 Frankford Avenue.  They packed up shop last year and since that time it has been vacant.  Since our unfortunate experience with the opening of NET and Wedge without our support, people are very concerned about any changes on the Avenue that may be counter productive to improving our community.

I contacted Jorge Santana, Chief of Staff for Tony Payton and he updated me on what is happening with the property.  It is listed for sale with Ken Blum of Benjamin Jacobson Associates for 1.2 million dollars.

As Jorge reported:

Since getting in touch with Ken Blum, I have been working very closely with him.  I have made it clear to him that the building cannot by any means be sold for a purpose the Frankford community does not want, and that the community is ready and willing to use any legal means necessary to ensure the building falls into good hands.

That said, I see this as a major opportunity for Frankford.  I believe the building is perfectly suited for a charter school or vocational/trades school like Devry, Thomson, or Orleans Technical.   We will be reaching out to local charters to see if they are interested in the property.  We also have meetings throughout January planned to show the property to other reputable charters not currently in the neighborhood.

Its good to know that Payton’s office is on the case.  I agree that this can be an opportunity and it will be if we all stick together and make sure it goes that way.  It’s a simple issue.  Our political leaders will do what we tell them to do if we speak loudly enough and in the right way.  We rolled over too easily for Wedge and NET.  Let’s make sure it does not happen again.  Stay tuned for further information.

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Coming Up in Frankford

  • Grand Army of the Republic Museum Open House
    When – Sun, January 3, 12pm – 5pm
    Where – 4278 Griscom Street, Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)
    Description – Presentation at 1:30 PM:
  • Frankford Civic Association Meeting
    When – Thu, January 7, 7pm – 8pm
    Where – Frankford Hospital – 2nd floor conference room (map)
  • Frankford Friends Open House
    When – Wed, January 13, 9am
    Where – 1500 Orthodox Street, Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)
  • Northwood Civic Association Meeting
    When – Tue, January 19, 7pm – 8pm
    Where – St. James Lutheran Church, at Castor Avenue and Pratt Street. (map)
  • Italian Style Family Dinner
    When – Wed, January 20, 4:30pm – 8:00pm
    Where – St. Joachim’s Church, 1527 Church Street, Phila., PA 19124 (map)
    Description – MARK YOUR CALENDAR Every Third Wednesday from September thru May Italian Style Family Dinner The Dinners will be served from 4:30 PM to 8 PM in Fitzmaurice Hall Take-out will be available. COST: $8.00 for Adults, $4.00 for Children. Come Join us!
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Coming Up in Frankford

  • Grand Army of the Republic Museum Open House
    When – Sun, January 3, 2010, 12pm – 5pm
    Where – 4278 Griscom Street, Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)
    Description – Presentation at 1:30 PM:
  • Frankford Civic Association Meeting
    When – Thu, January 7, 2010, 7pm – 8pm
    Where – Frankford Hospital – 2nd floor conference room (map)
  • Frankford Friends Open House
    When – Wed, January 13, 2010, 9am – 12pm
    Where – 1500 Orthodox Street, Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)
  • Northwood Civic Association Meeting
    When – Tue, January 19, 2010, 7pm – 8pm
    Where – St. James Lutheran Church, at Castor Avenue and Pratt Street. (map)
  • Italian Style Family Dinner
    When – Wed, January 20, 2010, 4:30pm – 8:00pm
    Where – St. Joachim’s Church, 1527 Church Street, Phila., PA 19124 (map)
    Description – MARK YOUR CALENDAR Every Third Wednesday from September thru May Italian Style Family Dinner The Dinners will be served from 4:30 PM to 8 PM in Fitzmaurice Hall Take-out will be available. COST: $8.00 for Adults, $4.00 for Children. Come Join us!
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New Philly Media Outlet Metropolis Produces In Depth Expose On Frankford

We got an email from Mike  Newall a month ago looking to do an interview a couple weeks ago for a story about crime and development in Frankford for a new Philly-centered news website called Metropolis.  Inside his four part series he scored some notable misses(like Friends restaurant was opened for under a year, it was Mozaic that opened during a so-called reneasance). Anyways check out all of his piece, it’s nice to see Frankford get some in depth attention.  Although it does make me cringe when the title of part one is “The Frankford Story: In a Free Fall”.  It’s like he asked someone from Mayfair for the title.  If he had come in and done just that story it would have been the regular bullshit that Frankford gets from the area media.  I am so sick of hearing where Frankford has been.  Yes it sucks.  I know how awesome it used to be.  Try telling me why it sucks now and point out some things I can do to start changing it.  So this bastard spends the next three articles doing just that.  It is by far the most comprehensive report on the past, present and future of this neighborhood I have ever seen.  And it’s a testament to this so-called “media revolution” that it should come out of a web based outfit as opposed to print. If paper and ink are too valuable to waste on forgotten places like Frankford, then let the printing presses die.

Part 2 covers the crime and drugs. Crime reporting to me is generally sensational, but tell me everything you can come up with about the drugs, especially about the drug rehab houses which he talks at length in part 3.  I think the more residents know about how they open up and operate, the better prepared they are to fight it.

Part 4 is my favorite and most important to helping understand what’s going in Frankford now.

Here’s a quote from the piece about the political infighting I always considered too nuanced to even try bringing up:

Factions at war

It’s civic and business organizations are beset by nasty political fighting. Frankford has had had three city council representatives in the last four years – Rick Mariano, Dan Savage, and now Maria Quinones-Sanchez. All three have tried to stuff the boards of the local organizations with their own followers and now it’s all a big mess.

The Frankford Civic Association has had some recent success in fighting the zoning of recovery houses. But the civic consists almost entirely of Savage supporters seemingly more focused on winning the former councilman his seat back than taking bold action for Frankford. For her part, councilwoman Quinones-Sanchez has been no great friend to civic association, seemingly putting politics above constituent need.

“The political fighting is destroying the neighborhood,” said Rita Lugrine, a member of the Frankford Community Development Corporation.

But at the end of the day, what am I, a lone resident, able to do to help?

“We’ve been telling the community folks, pick a parcel of land, come up with an idea, shop it around to developers,” said Michael Thompson of the City Planning Commission.

I’m gonna think on this one, I’ll get back to this.

Overall I’m a huge fan on this piece of reporting, if this is how the future of reporting is going to be, it’s going to be an exciting time, not just for Frankford, but for any forgotten section of Philly. Mike Newall is a Philadelphia reporter who writes about neighborhoods. Yeah he does.