Tag: Northeast Times

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we are going to have to get ugly

So said Councilwoman Quinones-Sanchez at the meeting last week with Frankford stakeholders.

The Jan. 13 session focused on the number of recovery houses in Frankford, as well as which ones are funded by the Office of Addiction Services (OAS), an agency within the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services (DBH/MRS).

The impact of these substance-abuse treatment facilities – particularly some that residents believe are poorly supervised – has been a source of discussion for months.

City Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez (D-7th dist.) and state Rep. Tony Payton (D-179th dist.) organized the community meeting in response to ongoing requests from residents of Frankford and members of its civic association.

KatieRose Keenan writes an excellent report this week in the Northeast Times. Follow this link and read. Then take a look at the list of know drug treatment facilities mentioned in the post below this one.  If know of something not on the list, report it.  It’s time to get ugly.  It’s your town.  It’s time to take it back.

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City Year comes to Frankford

From KatieRose Keenan of the Northeast Times:

The Philadelphia City Year branch was created in 1996 and serves as a key site among the 18 chapters in the country.
Now the organization is spreading its mission to Northeast Philadelphia, primarily Frankford. The Young Heroes program is expanding with school visitations throughout the Northeast and an appeal for youngsters to take part in service projects.
Recruitment began in October. Young volunteers will be trained by City Year staff and help out at schools, primarily in tutoring and mentoring, starting in January.

Find out what City Year is and what it will be doing in Frankford.  Read the entire story here.

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We are not going away

KatieRose Keenan of the Northeast Times writes about last week’s Frankford Civic meeting.  One of the important issues addressed:

During the association’s meeting, the membership also turned to the continuing saga of its fight against the opening of substance-abuse treatment facilities and recovery houses in the community.The civic group has been opposed to the opening of the Wedge Medical Center, a treatment facility at 4243-47 Frankford Ave.At its June meeting, according to the civic organization, Roland Lamb, director of addiction services for the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health/Mental Retardation Services, promised to organize a town-hall meeting so that the community could discuss concerns about a recent spread of these facilities in Frankford.
Civic members are taking steps to push for that meeting. “We addressed Mr. Lamb and requested that we settle on a date for the town-hall meeting we were promised,” aid Brian Wisniewski, vice president of the civic association. “We have been waiting well over six months for a town-hall meeting.”
During that meeting in June, members said, Lamb also outlined the criteria that a treatment facility must meet for approval to operate in a community. One of those provisions, Wisniewski insisted, has not been met. “Mr. Lamb stated that a treatment center had to have letters of support from the community,” Wisniewski said. “There were no letters of support from this board for the Wedge Medical Center to open up.”
“We have also asked Mr. Lamb repeatedly to show us who from the community supported Wedge. So, far we have received no answer.”

A common strategy in government for dealing with problems is to ignore them.  Sometimes they go away and you solve the problem that way.  But Frankford is not going to go away.  We are waiting.

It is time for Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez to step into this issue.  She is the chair of the L&I committee.  Seems like she is the go to person when it comes to enforcing regulations.  We is she waiting for?