Tag: Civics

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Next Week in Frankford

Next Week In Frankford

  • Spring into your park day at Wilmot Park
    When-Sat, April 18, 9am – 1pm
    Where– Park – 1700 block of Meadow St., Phila. PA 19124 (map)
    Description-Jason Dawkins from Councilwoman Maria D. Quiñones-Sánchez will act as project coordinator to organize volunteers and provide support to Anthony Smith. The Plan: 1) Making and Planting new flower beds 2) Mulching and Cleaning up Park 3) Paint basketball Circle (Green) 4) Paint court pools (White) 5) Replace basketball nets 6) Trash pick-up on center grounds- outdoors The estimate numbers of volunteers is (25-30) • Frankford Park Committee is volunteering • Lunch is going be sponsored by State Representative Tony Payton • PHS is providing all cleaning supplies & Planting material Supplies: • 30 T-Shirts( Design by PHS) • 4 Push Brooms • 3 leaf Rakes • 55 Brown Bags • 20 Gloves • 10 Gallons of Paint • 4 Flat Shovels • 3 Point Shovels Schedule: 8:00am: Pick-up flowers 8:30am: Set-up equipment 9:00am :Volunteers Arrival 9:15am :Volunteers Briefing 9:30am: Begin to clean-up projects 11:00 pm: Lunch 1:00 pm: Departure
  • Spring Into Your Park day at Overington Park
    When-Sat, April 18, 10am – 1pm
    Where– Park (map)
    Description-There will be a Spring Into Your Park day at Overington Park on Sat. April 18th, from 10 till 1, rain or shine. We will be putting in new beds, cleaning up old ones, mulching, and general clean up. We are told that our council woman will provide snacks and water, we are hoping to have tee shirts for those who help out with the clean up. Tools and gloves will be provided. If you enjoy the park we need your help to spruce it up and ready it for the spring! Hope to see a crowd there, come out and meet your neighbors and have some fun.
  • Northwood Civic Association Meeting
    When-Tue, April 21, 7pm – 8pm
    Where-St. James Lutheran Church, at Castor Avenue and Pratt Street. (map)
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When is neighborhood rehab clinic one too many?

That was the headline of the write up this week in the Northeast Times about the task force meeting on the drug services businesses in Frankford.  And what is the answer to that question?   Dump them in there till the people scream in pain.  So in Bustleton, they win and in Frankford we lose.  At least up until now.  Maybe they have pushed us too far.

Now maybe there is a chance that we can get this thing under control.  Why?  Well a lot of people are really justifiably pissed off.

…the councilwoman was adamant that she does not want any more approvals of rehab facilities or recovery houses in the 19124 ZIP code. She said her office is looking into the licenses and permits of facilities located in Frankford. The city Department of Licenses and Inspections prepared to start visiting the locations on the councilwoman’s list to make sure that city codes and regulations are being adhered to.

L&I’s Dan Quinn told the task force that any houses found to be in violation will be shut down. If they continue to operate after a shutdown order, the buildings will be sealed, Quinn added.

The next Frankford Civic meeting is on May 7th.  There is strength in numbers.

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The Owner of 1338 Harrison Checks In, And I Have An Official Statement From Our Councilwoman

burned-house-wreckage“rich jolly”, probably the owner of 1338 Harrison(although on the internet you really never can tell) left a comment explaining his position.

i am the owner of 1338 Harrison St and lived there for 30yrs before i moved out in 1998, i now rent the property out and recently had a major fire 2 months back , the insurance co had to do a full investigation and i was unable to get rid of anything until now which i plan on cleaning the front of the house sat april 18 if I’m able to get a dumpster, if not sat then during the week. growing up in fkd most of my life and watching the house you lived in burn down is a very hard thing to handle. i have full intentions to fix this property up if structurally possible and apologize for the look of the condition the house is in now

And yesterday at 4:15 PM, councilwoman Sanchez got back to me after the Director of Enforcement and Neighborhood Services got back to her in regards to the property. He says the property got inspected on 3/19/09 and that violations were issued.  And what this means is that the owner of the property has has 30 days to fix said violations. The city inspector is scheduled to come out on 4/20/2009(this Monday) to verify that the property has been brought back into compliance.  If it hasn’t, the city will remove the debris, and fine the owner for the inconvenience.

This is a most welcomed coincidence for Mr Jolly.  His weekend schedule has freed him up to tend to his property before the city steps in that Monday.

Also, over on phillyblog we’re discussing whether insurance companies force homeowners to leave (the word for this shit goes beyond trash) hazardous material for kids to play on for months at a time.

Now it just seems we must wait till Monday.  This has been a fun exercise in civic engagement.  I’ll have pics of this property, cleared or dirty, next week.

[the entire saga] http://gloomyhappy.wpengine.com/tag/1338-harrison/

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The Residents of the 1300 Block of Harrison Street Need Your Help Maria

burned-house-wreckageSo I was just surfing the net on Saturday and found my way over to Phillyblog.  And there I found a new post by the_town_drunk bringing up the issue of the fire that gutted 1338 Harrison St.  Now I’m jre on there and as you can see I pointed him back to our site where I took pictures of the disgusting mess in the front yard a couple weeks ago.

But you know what occurred to me this morning?  I didn’t do anything else about it.  I shook my head and thought how pathetic it was but went on with my day.  That’s what a lot of Frankford residents do.  Do you know why we get drug and halfway houses?  Because no one complains.  Bustleton gets 500 people to show up when they have a methadone clinic coming to Grant and the boulevard.  But I’ve been to meetings here where the city pols and social service people outnumber residents.  Let’s start to change that, shall we?  But let’s take baby steps.  I’m gonna start with this freaking mess on Harrison Street.  I’m gonna hold someone accountable for this.  I’ve sent this email to councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez(Maria.Q.Sanchez@phila.gov) this morning.  We’ll start with her and see where it leads.  I know she reads her email because she talked to my father after he sent her one about the halfway houses at Church and Griscom.  This is what I said:

Councilwoman Sanchez,

I’m a resident of Frankford and the webmaster for the Frankford Gazette news blog(http://gloomyhappy.wpengine.com).  I’m writing you in regard to 1338 Harrison St.  It looks to have suffered a fire some time ago but it’s wreckage has been sitting in front (what would loosely be referred to as a ) lawn for more than a month.  I drive by it every day.  I have taken pictures of it and posted it on our blog(http://gloomyhappy.wpengine.com/2009/03/31/frankford-has-burned/).  As you can see it is an eye sore, and represents a quality of life issue for its surrounding residents.  And we would like this junk removed.

I am emailing you because I think you may be able to spearhead this project.  If I have misunderstood your role in constituent services regarding matters like this, or if I need to contact someone else, please let me know.  But also let me know if you are going to take actions to resolve this quality of life issue for the residents of your district, as I have published this email to you on our site(http://gloomyhappy.wpengine.com/2010/04/14/the-residents-of-the-1300-block-of-harrison-street-need-your-help-maria/).  I’m considering this an experiment on the role of new media( i.e. local news blogs) and interactions between residents and their politicians.  I will track the progress (or lack there of) of this issue on the blog for the residents of Frankford to see.

Regards
Jim

She also got my cell phone number.  I also copied her chief of staff Quetcy Lozada(Quetcy.Lozada@phila.gov).  So now I’m sitting here waiting.  I’ll publish her response.  I think this will be easy to fix, and after it’s done, let’s all tackle something harder.

[the entire saga] http://gloomyhappy.wpengine.com/tag/1338-harrison/

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The Northeast Philly Idol Competition

The Frankford Community Development Corporation (FCDC) is hosting The Northeast Philly Idol Competition for all individuals ages 12-21 during 2009. Auditions will take place May 12 & 13 at the Frankford Boys & Girls Club 1709 Kinsey Street. Applications must be received no later than May 1. The Idol Winner will receive a $500 cash prize. All finalists will receive a small cash prize and t-shirt. The competition will take place Saturday, June 20 in Overington Park at the 10th Annual Frankford Festival.
Contact FCDC for more information or for an application click here.

Frankford Community Development Corporation
4900 Griscom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19124
Phone: (215) 743-6580
Fax: (215) 743-6582
frankfordcdc.com
mainstreetcoordinator@yahoo.com

There is also a t-shirt decorating contest for children 12 & under. Cash prize will be awarded and design will be printed on all t-shirts given out at the festival.