Tag: frankford civic association

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Car Lots on Torresdale Avenue Continue to Block Sidewalks

The Frankford Civic Association meeting on November 3rd heard a string of complaints from residents about the sidewalks being obstructed by the used car lots on Torresdale Avenue obstructing the sidewalks with parked cars.  Kids going to local schools have to walk in the street to get by.  Its clearly a violation but getting the police or PPA to do anything about it seems to be next to impossible.  The issue will be investigated for future action.

Also a topic was the report of noxious fumes coming from the Amuneal building on Torresdale Avenue.  Subsequent discussion with Amuneal indicated that the plume of smoke coming from the stack on the roof is steam and no smell was in evidence when an in person visit was made.  Amuneal encouraged residents to come in and have a look whenever there is a problem.

The weeds on the Harding Middle grounds along Margaret Street have been cut.  The situation was the source of many complaints by neighbors throughout the Summer.  The School District says the problem was caused by a temporary lack of personnel.

 

The new bar at Paul and Torresdale is open but the LCB web site says the license is still in safekeeping but the business is open.  That issue was reported on the web site as a potential violation.

The next meeting of the Frankford Civic Association will be held on December 8th at 7 PM at St. Marks Church, 4442 Frankford Avenue.

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The Frankford Gazette and the Frankford Civic Association Honors Block Captains

The Frankford Gazette and the Frankford Civic Association honored Ray Gant of The Ray of Hope Project for his contribution over the last 14 years in community cleanups not only in Frankford but throughout the city. Area block captains were also honored at the meeting on October 6th at St. Mark’s Church. Block captains in Frankford, Northwood and throughout the city play an important part in mobilizing the community to work on clean up projects. In addition, they are an important conduit for disseminating information in the neighborhood. As we continue to mobilize our community for the betterment of all, block captains play a very important role.

We were honored to have Stephanie Robinson, Foreman Crew Chief and Relief Supervisor, and Diana Oliveros, Bilingual Clean Block Officer, from the Philadelphia More Beautiful Committee join us to present the awards.

If you are a block captain or know a block captain that could not attend the meeting, please email gil@frankfordgazette.com and we will see that they get their award. Congratulations to all of our block captains and residents who are striving to make Frankford sparkle and shine!!

The next meeting of the Frankford Civic Association will be held on Thursday, November 3rd at 7 PM at St. Mark’s Church at 4442 Frankford Avenue.

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Philly School District Embraces the Weeds

It has been years since the first neighbor on the 2000 block of Margaret Street came to the Frankford Civic Association meeting and complained about the maintenance of the Harding Middle School property on the Margaret Street side.

The School District mows the grass and keeps the weeds off the sidewalk on the property near the school but on that big section of the property closest to Margaret Street, it looks like a dump.  On the Ditman Street side you can barely walk on the sidewalk for the weeds that block the passage.  On the Margaret side, passersby are greeted by weeds on the lot that are three feet high or more.

In August when the neighbors on Margaret Street had a block party they cut the weeds on the lot closest to Margaret in order to make it look a little better.  They have made numerous complaints to 311 and nothing changes.

The most recent 311 case number was 10879517.  According to 311 records, an inspection was made on August 31st and a violation notice was issued.  A re-inspection was made on September 13th where no improvement was noted.  An inspection was made on September 23rd and the case was closed.  This would indicate that the problem was resolved however as you can see from the video below that these weeds did not grow this high in the last 2 weeks.

Do you think this would go on if this was private property?

 

When we finished the draft of this story we sent it over to the School District for comment and got an email back on Wednesday from Kevin Geary, Chief of External Relations who said ”

Thank you for sending this. We were closed yesterday due to the Jewish new year.

We will clear sidewalk and cut field today. Our field attendant has been out sick for 4 weeks…

Background: Our field attendant has been out sick for 4 weeks. Our supervisor should have caught and shifted resources but did not.

We went out to have a look on Saturday and true to his word, well take a look at the video below.

In Spring we’ll check back to see if is being maintained.  Thanks Kevin Geary for your help.

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Frankford Civic Takes on 311

The Frankford Civic Association met on September 1st with another group of new residents attending.

Franklin Daniel presented a first draft of the new mission statement for the group with discussion following.  More work is to be done before it is formally adopted.

The crime report for August shows an overall drop in crime in PSA1 but a significant increase in violent crimes and crime with guns.

311 reports:

  • Report made on 1841 Ruan Street.  the property had been sealed but vandals had taken off the covering on the second floor window for entry. 311 referred it to L&I who inspected it and found the report unfounded.  It has been resubmitted.
  • Report on the weeds growing 3 feet high on the Margaret side of the Harding Middle School property was made.  L&I did inspect and sent a notice to the owner.  A second visit has been made and the weeds continue to grow.  The next step is supposed to be compliance or court action.
  • Report on the property at 4101 Paul Street (formerly the Platinum Bar).  The property was cited for a violation.  This is a bar being renovated.  It has a pending liquor license which will become active when the renovations are complete.

New issues:

  • Car dealers on Torresdale Avenue park their cars for sale on the sidewalk. This has been an issue for years and will require a great deal of work to get corrected.
  • Partnership with the Ray of Hope project and working with Frankford Forward to do block cleanups.

The next meeting of the Frankford Civic Association will be held on Thursday, October 6th at 7 PM at St. Marks Church at 4442 Frankford Avenue.