Frankford Community Blog | Local News, Events, Community Resources
For those of you who may have missed it last year, or who are looking forward to its return, The Food Trust’s Frankford Farmers Market is back for the summer, starting June 19th!
So head to the Frankford Transportation Center every Tuesday from 2:00p to 6:00p and check out the fresh produce from Roots Mass, who you can learn more about here and here.
I have been to some PSA meetings where there were as few as three people. Last night, May 22nd, there was about 30 people crammed into the 2nd floor conference room at Aria Health.
At a recent Northwood Civic meeting, some members had complained about crime issues and a point was made that they should attend the PSA meeting. At the last Frankford Civic meeting, complaints about the 4700 block of Griscom and the long ongoing drug problem were raised and it was suggested that they come to the PSA meeting. Everyone showed up and some folks from the 4600 block of Leiper were there as well to get help with their drug problem. Residents of the area around Horrocks and Herbert Streets reported acts of vandalism as an ongoing problem.
Lt. Derrick Wood went around the room and took his time taking it all in. As usual he made no promises but listened to each person and asked questions and made suggestions. He made it clear that he was not aware of the magnitude of these problems and would follow up on the information provided.
The residents asked why these problems are not being addressed. Where are the police. Why do some blocks never see a patrol car.
Well you call 911 and we all know that the 15th is the busiest district in the city so unless you have a major crime, you are not going to see the police right away. When the get there it will likely be after you problem is over.
The PSA meeting is the best way to make sure that your problem is on their radar. If it is an ongoing problem, like somebody selling drugs on your block, it is not going to be solved over night. You have to take the initiative and keep coming to the meetings until you get the service you deserve.
Lt. Wood spent some time after the meeting getting additional information from some folks. They all say they will be back next month to keep up the pressure.
The next meeting of PSA1 is on June 20 at 7PM at Aria Health.
The Frankford CDC just can’t stand sitting still, so on Tuesday we held not one, but two, business spotlight events. We started our day at Frankford High School, where we teamed up with the Student Success Center to hold a round table discussion focused on owning your own food business. The panel consisted of three women entrepreneurs based here in Frankford, Lily Fischer of A Cupcake Wonderland, Tegan Hagy of Philly LoveBar, and Therice Denby of Denby’s Sweet Sensations (4428 Frankford Ave). All shared great insight in to the hard work involved in being a small business owner, their decision making processes, and where they see their businesses headed in the next few years. As always, the Frankford High School students were wonderful, and asked some great questions!
In the afternoon, we headed over to Aria’s Frankford Campus for our first Business Spotlight Day. As you may remember, Aria and the Frankford CDC are launching a new program whereby four Frankford businesses, four times a year, set up a table for an afternoon in Aria’s cafeteria and get to know Aria staff who might not ordinarily find themselves shopping on the Ave. We had a great time speaking with Aria’s dedicated staff, and think some great connections were forged!
Stay tuned for more information about coming events, and for details about how to get involved! And if you have an idea for a business support event, we’d love to hear from you! Just call our offices at 215-743-6580.
Back on May 6th we posted about the Frankford Civic meeting and the complaints about the 4700 block of Griscom. It did not take long before things started happening by way of the Frankford CDC cleaning up and sealing 4728 Griscom Street. It had been an ongoing concern to the CDC (which owns the building) but what made it more of a problem was that a squatter had taken possession of that building. Squatters are difficult to deal with but the opportunity presented itself and possession of the building was secured.
The alley between 4728 and the building next door (4732-34 Griscom) which is owned by the city was also cleaned. The pictures below show what was done. Now the challenge will be to keep it that way. We’re hoping some concerned residents will come to the PSA1 meeting on Tuesday May 22nd to talk to the police about the problems they are having on the block.
As a news source for Frankford, we’re always on the lookout to see how we can better engage our audience. Specifically, we want people to be informed of events and meetings before they happen. We actually judge our effectiveness on how many people show up for meetings.
We understand that many in our community aren’t able to check the Frankford Gazette on their computer every day. To that end, while the entire news industry moves away from print, we’ve walked towards it. By printing our internet posts and distributing them along Frankford Ave, we’ve increased our ability to attract our intended audience who might not be inclined to search the neighborhood news on the web.
And in general, it’s a painful fact that many of Frankford’s residents don’t even have computers. A recent study shows that 55% of Philadelphia’s residents don’t have internet access at home, it’s probably even greater in an economically challenged neighborhood like Frankford.
To that end, when we came across Text Blast, developed by local civic hacker (and Frankford celebrity) Tim Wisniewski, we thought it would be an excellent opportunity to further put seats in the meetings. It’s a free service that will let us send a notice to many subscribed users via text message. Our current thoughts are to get a good subscription of cel phone numbers together and then blast them all with a single text message about a civic meeting, or town watch meetup, or park cleanup, etc. This is definitely a work in progress, but I think this is going to really help get the word out about civic involvement.
So if you’re interested in receiving announcements about Frankford community events, text message the word FRANKFORD to 215-987-5555. You won’t get any reply, I’m hoping the developer can fix it so that in the future it will return a confirmation. It is anonymous. We will have your cel phone number but no more information than that. If at some time in the future you want to turn the service off, you can just notify us by email.
You you prefer, you can also email me your phone number and I’ll add it manually. My email is jim@frankfordgazette.com.
You may can unsubscribe at any time by texting STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE to the text blast number.
