Frankford Community Blog | Local News, Events, Community Resources
From Michael Bane of the Northwood Civic”
NCA General Meeting
Tuesday, October 19, 2010, 7:00PM
Saint James Church
Castor Avenue and Pratt StreetIt’s nomination time!
Nominations will be taken for elections in November. If you were a member last year you may be nominated for President, Vice-President or Board Member. Your renewal must be paid to take office in January.
Also on the agenda:
Philadelphia City Council Member Maria Quinones-Sanchez will address the meeting.
HAPPY FALL!
As reported in the Northeast Times on September 29th, the Frankford Parks Group has received a boost in the form of grants of Councilwoman Sanchez office totaling $30,000 which will allow them to buy and install playground equipment at Wilmot Park, Meadow and Mulberry Streets. The old equipment will be removed next week and the new installation will take place in the Spring.
You can see by the pictures that there is definitely a need. This little park is in a historic corner of Frankford opposite the Second Baptist Church on one corner and on the other side, the historic old Wilmot school building. Thanks to Councilwoman Sanchez and Jason Dawkins who always the best interest of the neighborhood in mind.
The Frankford Parks groups meets the last Monday of the month at Second Baptist, Meadow and Mulberry Streets, at 6PM. The next meeting is on October 25th.
So how did this all come about? A while ago the Frankford CDC and the Frankford Business and Professional Association both decided to work on the litter issue in Frankford. The time had come to take a shot at improving the situation here. By a stroke of serendipity, the city of Philadelphia awoke from its slumber and decided it was time to do the same thing citywide. So UnLitter Us Frankford is the first in a citywide effort to work on this problem.
It took a lot to drag me out of the house and down to Frankford and Pratt today for the UnLitter Us rally. I support the idea but the rain was still dripping and the sun wasn’t out and I didn’t feel like taking the video equipment down there etc. But I decided to go because I knew I would live to regret it if I didn’t. I was pleasantly surprised by a congenial crowd milling about chowing down on Mark Gilbert’s Thriftway hot dogs. It was a stroke of genius to schedule this event on the first of the month thereby ensuring a large crowd of happy shoppers passing by.
The mural arts people had a decorated trash truck down there and I can relate to that. Its beauty rivaled the trucks I saw traveling through the Khyber pass back in 1968 during the vacation that Lyndon Johnson sent me on. No surface is left undecorated as if it would be an insult to the gods of art to see a patch of plain unadorned paint. It was a site to behold.
SEPTA had a big green bus which was a big green diesel electric hybrid bus. Neat idea combining the two technologies.
The speechifying commenced with introductions by Tracy O’Drain of the CDC. Tony Payton spoke and Jason Dawkins spoke on behalf of Councilwoman Sanchez who was downtown on official business. Denise McVeigh of the recycle bank, Diane Richardson and Mark Gilbert of the Frankford Business and Professional Association also addressed the crowd.
Now I admit that I am ignorant of this spoken word art idea. My experience with it has been those idiots who are always riding around in their little cars playing their radios so loud that it shakes your bones a car length away. I was expecting that experience today and much to my delight it turned out otherwise.
Greg Corbin performed “The City Has a Heartbeat“. Carlo Campbell did his “Reconsider” and Whitney Peyton presented “Broken Bottles“. I get it now. Thanks.
The event is to be followed up by a Frankford wide cleanup on Saturday October 2nd.
Catherine Lucey, in the Daily News today, features profiles Maria Quinones-Sanchez.
Almost three years into her freshman term representing the city’s 7th Councilmanic District – which weaves through parts of Fishtown, Kensington, Frankford, Hunting Park and the lower Northeast – Quinones-Sanchez is slowly becoming a player on Council.
Read it all here. It’s good to get another perspective.
UnLitter US, the movement for a litter free Philadelphia, kicked off in Frankford, Monday morning at 8:30 AM with Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez addressing a small crowd at the Frankford Transportation Center. As is often the case, I was a late arrival and only caught the last minute of her talk. Marie Delaney, President of the Frankford CDC and Tracey O’Drain, managing director were also on hand.
Now for the editorial rant. Some people will look at this effort and think “This ain’t going to make a difference”. Well I beg to disagree. Yes, it can make a difference. Harken back to 1979 when SEPTA hired David Gunn to be their the new General Manager. The first thing he saw was the deplorable state of the system which was covered with graffiti. I remember it well. There were some El cars with windows through which you could not see the light of day. He said that could not go on because it made people afraid to ride the El and subway. He said it had to be eliminated and it was.
Now why was that problem allowed to go on in the first place? Because people said “you can’t eliminate graffiti”. If you think you can’t do it, well of course you can’t. If you decide to solve the problem, at least you have a chance. You might fall short but you will be farther down the field than if you never had tried in the first place.
Cleaning crews have been in Frankford working since September 7th. I’ve seen them up on Oxford Avenue. They will continue until the 29th. A community cleanup is scheduled for October 2nd. There will be a big rally and fair on October 1st in front of the Thriftway at Frankford and Pratt from 11:30 to 2:30 PM.
We’ll pass along updates as they become available.
