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Payton Off the Ballot

It was reported today by Chris Brennan on philly.com that Tony Payton will not be on the Democratic Primary ballot for State Representative.  His campaign did not collect the required 300 valid signatures.

State Rep. Tony Payton withdrew from the April 24 Democratic primary election this evening after a two-day Commonwealth Court hearing made clear that he did not have enough valid signatures on his nominating petitions to remain on the ballot.  Payton submitted 1,854 signatures in his bid for a fourth two-year term representing the 179th District but a line-by-line examination of those names, with the help of a hand-writing analyst, resulted in many being disqualified.

With no other candidate on the ballot, James Clay Jr., son of the late Frances Clay, will become the Democratic candidate for State Representative of the 179th district.

You can read the entire story here.

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Frances Clay

Frances Clay

When I got the news last week about Frances Clay passing, I was out at the King of Prussia mall.  I was testing out the email on the new I Pad.  At first I thought that I Pad wasn’t all its cracked up to be if it was messing up the email.  Maybe I was misreading an email about Thelma Young from last month.  I only knew Frances from the Civic meetings and seeing her coming and going down on the Avenue but the immediate feeling was one of great loss.  They gave her a nice write up in the Northeast Times which you can read here.

Frankford needs people like her.  Folks from the neighborhood willing to give their time and talents in a cause that many feel is lost.  If it was lost, nobody told Frances.  She was too busy getting things done to think about that.

Photo courtesy or our friend Chris Wink at NEastPhilly.com

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Frankford Civic Association Meeting

The Frankford Civic met Thursday night at Aria Health (Frankford) at 7:00 PM.  The meeting called to order by Frances Clay and the minutes  from last month’s meeting were read by Brian Wisniewski.

The first item on the agenda was a zoning issue related to the property at 1845 Wakeling Street.  It is a commercial property presently zoned as residential.  It has never been a residence but now must be officially rezoned to be legal.  You can view the presentation made by Tom Citro, the expediter for the owner, at our YouTube channel.

Pete Specos went over a zoning issue regarding 4314 North Penn Street.  Owner wants to convert it to a two family dwelling.  The hearing is scheduled for next week.  The issue of 1715 Harrison Street from last months meeting was also discussed where the owner wants to convert if from a two family to three family dwelling.  The Civic issued a letter of opposition to the ZBA for that change.

Next up was Jason Dawkins of Councilwoman Sanchez office with an update on the Philadelphia Recycling Rewards program.  This program is a no brainer.  You get free stuff for your trash.  All you need to do is recycle.  The City saves money and you get something.  Recycling bins are available at Tony Payton’s (4665 Frankford Ave.) office and Tina Tartaglione’s office (Bridge and Large Streets) as well.

Jason also talked about the proposed Stakeholders/Town Hall meetings on the issue of recovery homes. The meetings may possibly be scheduled by the summer.  Some rational discussion about the recovery house issue followed.

The book he mentions (“How it works”) is available in our book store.

Mayor Nutter sent Lauren Vidas (Coordinator, External Affairs and Public Engagement at City of Philadelphia) , Dr. Don Schwartz (Health Commissioner) and Carl Williams (Deputy Streets Commissioner) to explain the budget options that have been proposed to close the 120 million dollar budget gap for fiscal year 2011.  The discussions focused on the proposed tax on sugar sweetened beverages and the trash collection tax.  They also made the point that the mayor is open to any reasonable proposal to increase revenues but at this point does not believe that further service cuts are possible or realistic.

This Saturday, park cleanups are scheduled all over Frankford.  Check the upcoming events for more information.  The next meeting of the Frankford Civic is scheduled for May 13th.  At that meeting, folks who would like to join the Civic and become a voting member may pay their annual dues of $10.00.  The Civic needs your support to continue doing the vital work that needs to be done.