I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and is looking forward to an exciting New Year with EPIC. As you all know, January marks JOB READINESS MONTH for EPIC. Our next meeting is Thursday, January 26, at Aria Health’s Frankford Campus from 5:30 – 7:30 pm in the 2nd floor conference room.
Joseph Douglas from Impact Services will be giving a short presentation on their community employment and training programs as well as their Re-Entry services for ex-offenders. Erica Smith from Philadelphia Parks and Recreation will have information on their new Yard Tree Initiative and how residents can sign up to receive a FREE yard tree. Dwight Leevy, our DHS Liason will have information on the 2012 SCOP grants and application process. We will also discuss our upcoming meetings and initiatives leading into the Spring. I hope to see you all there!
November 17, 2011 we will be meeting at Aria Hospital (4900 Frankford Avenue) from 5:30 – 7:30pm to discuss the roles and responsibilities expected of the EPIC board (the steering committee) and it’s voting members (the ECAC). DHS has drafted a set of bylaws to govern the group but has also recommended that we take them back to our individual groups to have input from the members. I will bring the DHS draft along with some suggestions that are specific to our group, I am also open to any suggestions that you all may have.
In addition to discussing the new bylaws, we will also be discussing a 2012 mini EPIC summit which will be held right here in Frankford. DHS has allocated some funds for us to bring our 2011 Economic Development Summit to our respective neighborhoods. Therefore we need to discuss the details of what this will look like. Last year, the Frankford Economic Development Steering Committee focused on the 4600 block project. I will give an update on where this project is headed and it will be up to the group to decide how you all want to handle the summit this year.
Saturday August 13th is the Hedge Street park cleanup day (Hedge and Orthodox Streets).
I was listing this on the calendar a few days ago and it occurred to me that the Frankford Parks group has been going about its business getting things done without a lot of fanfare. Jason Dawkins and Kim Washington are the two young people who have been directing this group.
Yes, Jason does work for Councilwoman Sanchez and Kim directs the EPIC stakeholders but what they do for the Parks group looks like something more. It’s on their home turf, in their community and they are trying to make a difference using their know how and connections. I don’t think they are on overtime. They do it for the community.
Not unlike what Danny Savage did for Deni Playground, they have started up the Hoop Dreams basketball league at Wilmot Park. This community is being rebuilt one block at a time and increasingly it is the younger people who are doing the building.
At the EPIC Stakeholders meeting on Thursday night, Vern McDonald the new owner of 1520 Arrott Street, set the record straight on his plan for the property. His initial intention was to make it a Gentleman’s club but when he saw the bureaucratic hurdles necessary to achieve that end, he decided to go in the direction of a sit down restaurant instead with a liquor license. He is working on the three apartments at this stage of the renovation but has not begun work on the business area yet. He has taken steps to secure the property to make the corner less attractive to the drug dealers who may want to conduct business there. You can see the video below of his presentation and the answers to some questions from some of those attending the meeting.
Kim Washington did an admirable job of keeping what could have been a very contentious meeting moving in a positive direction. There was universal agreement that nobody in the community wants a return of that property to its former status as a nuisance bar. At the same time, having it sit vacant and idle is also undesirable.
Vern has made an investment in this property and therefore has to make it work financially. However it won’t work without community support. The bone of contention is that everybody can support a restaurant but there is a great deal of concern about serving liquor. It was pointed out that restaurants that we travel to outside of the neighborhood (Red Lobster, Olive Garden) all serve alcohol.
Suggestion was made to open the restaurant at first without the liquor license and then get community support and add that later. You can see comments and suggestions from Jason Dawkins, Phil Robinson, Barry Howell, Marie Delany, Lynda DeSouza and other in the video below. In any case, if Vern opens his place and the community fails to support it, it will all be to no avail.
Vern agreed to work with the Frankford CDC and to come back to the EPIC Stakeholders future meetings to keep the community informed of his plans and progress.
