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Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease

John Loftus at the Northeast Times this week reports that the cleanup on the 1900 block of Ruan Street from the fire back in January has finally been done by the city.  You may wonder why the owner of the building didn’t do this job.  See the full story for a fascinating glimpse into the problems of absentee property owners and why the city has to do more to bring them into line.  You will find that story here.

In the same issue of the Times, Bill Kenny updates us on the improvement on the 4800 block of Griscom Street and the intersection of Foulkrod Street and Frankford Avenue.  You can read that on at this link.

Complacency is quiet.  Activism is like a squeaky wheel.  It is so annoying that you have to throw some grease on it to quiet it down.  Don’t accept things as they are.  Makes some noise and make things better.

 

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Read Any Good Books Lately

John Loftus, of the Northeast Times, gives us the scoop from around the region in “Getting between the covers”:

So for all those people who get bookstore gift cards as Christmas presents, the Northeast Times asked scores of people – regular Janes and Joes to public figures – to recommend one or two good reads. Their ideas range from purely entertaining to thought-provoking, from classic to new, and only a few of their suggestions are on a current list of best-sellers.

Read the entire story here.  If Oprah has a book club, why doesn’t Frankford.

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Northeast Times Sold

The Northeast Times has been sold to a new group, Broad Street Media LLC effective December 15th.  The Times for the last few years has been in the Inquirer/Daily News company.  It is too early to say what this will mean to the coverage of the Northeast and especially Frankford.

Broad Street Media, LLC today announced that it has signed an agreement to purchase the non-daily community publishing assets of the Broad Street Publishing division of Philadelphia Media Network Inc., which recently acquired the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and philly.com. The purchaser is a newly-formed LLC whose principals include brothers Clifford and Stuart Richner, and Darwin Oordt.

We have been very fortunate to have this great sources of local coverage in this area. It has made my job much easier knowing that I can coast when the Times in the form of John Loftus at the the Frankford Civic or Tom Waring at Northwood is on the job.

Let’s hope these new folks don’t mess with a good thing and have the sense to keep the good people they have on the job.

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Man with a Plan

John Loftus of the Northeast Times profiles Pastor Gabriel Wang-Herrera this week:

To Gabriel Wang-Herrera, the Gospel is not just something you preach; it’s something you live.

That’s not an unusual Christian viewpoint, but one that is typically expected of a churchman, yet for Wang-Herrera, pastor of the small By Grace Alone Frankford Fellowship on Oxford Avenue, it has meant moving to a Frankford street that has seen its share of crime and trying to involve himself and his congregation in the residents’ community.

Read the entire story here.