Frankford dad arrested for chaining his son to bedpost

After you read this story some may wonder why this guy didn't get a commendation for at least trying to control his son. In any case read here at the Northeast Times: http://www.northeasttimes.com/2007/0830/chain.html

Unidentified Homeless Man

The Northeast Times featured a story about the death of an unidentified homeless man in Frankford. We see them every day and yes manage to not really see them. this man was a fixture in Frankford for a long time and yet nobody knew him This is the link: http://www.northeasttimes.com/2007/0830/homeless.html

News Gleaner notes Mozaic

The News Gleaner ran a very nice piece on Mozaic which can be read by following this link: http://www.newsgleaner.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/Weekly;jsessionid=1ShRGYkN7vw1NF5pqy14wGBktwqysth9GCYNyQ0v6yVL6VQLSZpZ!-547604190?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_wk_article&r21.pgpath=%2FNGC%2FHome&r21.content=%2FNGC%2FHome%2FTopStoryList_Story_628632

Weekly spotlight on homes

A new feature this week is our spotlight on a particular house in Frankford. As you walk around the town you cannot help but be impressed by the huge houses you see on some of our streets. Many of them have been converted to various uses and some have unfortunately fallen into disrepair.

However Frankford is filled with well kept houses of modest size and that is what this feature is about.

So today the spotlight is on this house in the 1600 block of Wakeling Street. It catches your eye because of the neat, well kept little garden in front of the porch but it is clearly cared for and is still being undergoing some painting.

Every week for the next year or so we will put the spotlight on a new house. No houses that are for sale will be featured.

Tacony

For our friends in Tacony:

IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE

16th Annual Tacony History Day Parade and Disston Festival Saturday, September 15th, 2007

The Historical Society of Tacony and MARC (the Major Artery Revitalization Committee) are proud to sponsor the 16th Annual Tacony History Day on Saturday, September 15th, 2007. This celebration of history and community pride includes a Parade marching through the historic Tacony neighborhood, and a Festival at the Disston Recreation Center, both featuring local history and talent.

We are thrilled to announce that Bianca Ryan, winner of the 2006 America's Got Talent national competition, will be our Parade Grand Marshall.
The Parade begins at 11 am, forming at Magee and Torresdale Avenues, and stepping off North on Torresdale to Princeton Ave where it will turn West to Cottage Street, then South to the Disston Recreation Center for the Disston Festival. Disston Recreation Center is located at the corner of Disston and Glenloch Streets, three (3) blocks west of Torresdale Avenue.

Favorite Parade performers include the Eagles Cheerleaders, Greater Kensington String Band, Woodland String Band, Hegerman String Band, the Golden Crown Fancy Brigade, Philadelphia Police & Fire Pipes and Drums, the Andalusia Jug Band, and the Father Judge High School Band. Ronald McDonald, Drill Teams, Color Guards, Boy Scout Bands, Classic cars and Military vehicles also thrill the crowd. After the Parade, Bianca Ryan will kick off the Disston Festival with a short performance, followed by a "Meet & Greet". More live music and dancing will be on stage at the Festival, featuring the local talent of the Mary Ford Dancers and students from Anna Marie's Academy of Dance.

There are also games and rides for children and families, food & refreshments, face painting, and games of chance.The Historical Society of Tacony will exhibit their Historic Display in the Recreation Center, where people can see some of the great photographs and artifacts of Tacony and the greater Northeast Philadelphia from the Society's collection. Books featuring local history will be available to purchase.
Other local historical groups will be there, including the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation Philadelphia Chapter and the Historical Society of Frankford. . Thanks also go to the Tacony Civic Association and the Philadelphia Recreation Department for their dedicated and loyal support.

The Rain Date is set for September 29th. If there is a question of rain, people will be able to call the Tacony Day phone line after 7AM on September 16th to find out if any part of the Day will be postponed. If you want to volunteer or participate in the Parade or the Festival, or if you want further information, be sure to call the Tacony Day Phone line at 215-338-8790.

Friends of Womrath park

The Friends of Womrath Park still needs a leader to keep the Friends group going and growing! The Philly Water Dept (PWD) has funding in the works to do a project in Womrath Park as part of the Frankford Creek Greenway project, and they need to have the group functioning so they can channel local input.

If you are interested in coming out for meetings, cleanups etc as soon as possible, they need you!

Please contact:
Janet Berstein at jamberstone@aol.com
or
Tracy ODrain at frankfordmainstmgr@yahoo.com

Next week in Frankford

Concert in Womrath Park on Wednesday the 5th at 6:30 p.m.

East Frankford Civic meeting on the 6th at 7:00 p.m. in the second floor conference room at Frankford Hospital.

Frankford 1901

I started this out by trying to find what the boundaries of Frankford really are. A news report this week identified the 2300 block of Orthodox Street as Frankford. When I grew up in Bridesburg in the 50s we considered that part of Bridesburg. So I started looking around and found that there are no official boundaries of Frankford because there is no official Frankford.



Frankford may be a zip code or a census tract or an idea in somebody's mind but that is as close as we can get. Which brings us to this map. It is from the Gopsill's 1901 map of Philadelphia. I like this map because it shows Frankford in the period before the development that changed the original town.



Most important thing to know is that the street lines that are shown as dashes are proposed. they were not built in 1901. Five points was what we now call Oxford Circle. Dark Run Lane is now Cheltenham Avenue. The intersection of Orthodox and Ditman (my great grandfather's grocery) is there but Torresdale Avenue did not exist.



Click on the map to get a larger image. The Historical Society of Frankford has many others of much better quality. A new season of programs will begin in September.

Concert in the park

Don't forget the concert in the park next week:

Wed Sep 5, 6:30pm

Where: Womrath Park

Featuring the famous Butch Ballard and his Trio.

Free Event

Bring your lawn chairs and blankets for a nice evening in the park.

Mozaic tonight

The Victor North Trio will be performing tonight, August 25th., from 7PM - 11PM.

mozaic will be closed for vacation - 8/27 - 9/6

Happy Labor Day. Hail to the worker!

Come celebrate mozaic's 1st. Anniversary on Saturday, September 8th.
The Butch Ballard Trio will be there from 7PM - 11PM. Mr. Ballard will be performing a very special drum solo to honor the recent passing of his dear friend Max Roach. It's gonna be a blast.

Historical Society of Frankford

The Historical Society of Frankford http://www.historicalsocietyoffrankford.org/ is looking for volunteers to help with monthly programs, open houses, special events, administrative support and collection projects.

For more information, call 215-743-6030 or e-mail katrina Travis at trenebean@yahoo.com

Illegal Signs

I found this on the Metro today. One of my pet peeves is those ugly and illegal signs. This lady suggests you do your civic duty and rip them down.

There are strict limitations on posting signs on public property. A $75 fine is supposed to be levied against any person or company for every illegal sign found by the city.

But a recent report by the city controller found that thousands of the illegal signs litter virtually every neighborhood in Philadelphia. Not only are the signs hard to manage, the Controller’s Office reported, but tracking owners of the signs is hard.

http://philly.metro.us/metro/local/article/Fighting_a_grand_fight/9742.html

Similar story in the Northeast Times this week: http://www.northeasttimes.com/2007/0823/signs.html

Frankford Yellow Jackets - 1926 NFL Champions

Yesterday I posted a link to the best site I found with history of the Frankford Yellow Jackets. Eagles fans will be familiar with the team especially this year as its the 75th anniversary of the Philadelphia Eagles.

My introduction to the Yellow Jackets was when I met Mary and Levi my neighbors in our first house in Frankford. Levi and his family had lived in Frankford for eons. His family name goes well back to the time when Frankford was a town in its own right.

He told me that when he was young he used to sit on a wall in back of the nursing school on Penn Street and watch the Yellow Jackets play. When I read later that the Yellow Jackets played up at Frankford and Devereaux I though his memory may have failed him.

But as I was browsing the Yellow Jackets history, I found that it does note their early games were played at Wistar Park. If Wistar Park was in the area of Penn and Oxford then Levi was right as usual.

It's good to see the name of Frankford associated with champions once again even if it is only by way of a reminiscence.

Take a look at this article from The Evening Bulletin: http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=18733115&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=6

At Mozaic

The photograpy of Jim Sell is on exhibit from August 1st. 'til September 29th.

Frankford fields getting an extreme makeover

If you noticed the improvements being made at the William Gambrell Playground down at Wakeling and Ditman Streets, this link from Philly.com will fill in the details:

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/sports/20070817_Frankford_fields_getting_an_extreme_makeover.html

"Tomorrow, the team will celebrate the opening of a new, first-class field, with new fencing, goal posts and a new mural.

Comcast-Spectacor, the Eagles, and the city - among other donors - contributed $1 million in materials and services to improve the field, including an artificial-turf playing surface. Mayor Street and Gov. Rendell have also pledged their support.
Artists from Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program created the mural, which includes images of the current Frankford Chargers team and its expansion team, the Frankford Yellow Jackets.

The new Fox network show "Extreme Field Makeover" will record the project. The show is aimed at American communities that have renovated fields in need of refurbishing. "

and:

http://digital50.com/news/items/PR/2007/08/18/NESA001/eagles-vips-celebrate-extreme-makeover-of-gambrel-field-home-of-pop-warners-frankf.html

I see vampires

I've had to get up early several times during the last few months to travel for work. So at 5:30 a.m. as I'm out loading the car with my tools, people are strolling by the house. Now these folks aren't walking by, they are strolling by.

When you walk to catch a bus or the el you move along to get where you're going. When you stroll you're in no great rush to get anywhere. They walk in two's and three's chatting as they go and always chat loud like it's 5 in the evening not 5 in the morning.

So I wonder who are these people who are either up very late or very early and have no place to be. They don't look homeless. They are fairly neat and clean. They don't seem to be crazy or escapees from an asylum.

The only answer I can up with is that they are vampires. The sun isn't up yet so they can still be out. I have never seen them in daylight so that fits. I guess they don't have to be anywhere because they don't work. They live by sucking the life from the community.

How did Frankford come to be populated with these creatures? How can we make them go away?

Mozaic Review

On Philly from the inside out, another great review for Mozaic. Read it here: http://www.uwishunu.com/2007/08/17/you-may-not-have-to-travel-as-far/

CBS3 Idiots - Well at least they fixed it

I emailed CBS3 the following tonight:

The story below indicates Pennypack park is in Frankford. It is not and now once again you have besmirched the reputation of our neighborhood. Get your facts straight.

The link to their story is here: http://cbs3.com/topstories/local_story_225142058.html

Feel free to blast them if you have time. Every time something bad happens within a mile of Frankford Avenue these morons call the neighborhood Frankford. If it's something positive they somehow manage to get the neighborhood correct.

On Wednesday I got this email:

Hey Gil, The article will be updated to reflect the correct section. Thanks for taking the time to write and for watching CBS 3.

and they changed the story to:

(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA Philadelphia Police are searching for a suspect who allegedly sexually assaulted a female during a robbery in Northeast Philadelphia Saturday.A 29-year-old female told police she was walking in Pennypack Park when she was grabbed from behind by an unknown male at about 8 p.m.

Art Holiday Poll

I posted our first poll last month about the Art Holiday more as an experiment than for any other reason. However a good number of people responded and the results are in.

Not many of us miss that venerable old institution. My opinion is that the Art Holiday was a blight on our neighborhood that served to mock the "Welcome to Frankford" signs on Womrath park.

On a nice sunny day you would drive up Frankford avenue coming up from Torresdale and see the Womrath park in all its greenery and there find a pleasant sign welcoming you to the neighborhood. Then as you get to the end of the block, there was the Art Holiday with the dirt and trash and prostitutes offering a welcome of a different sort.

Now, hopefully, it is gone forever, never to rise again. We were fools to have tolerated its existence all those years.

From State Rep. Tony Payton

Residents of the 179th Legislative District are invited to a free senior fair on Friday, August 17 from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the New Frankford Community Y at 4700 Leiper St .

My staff and I will be available to answer your questions on prescription drug programs, health insurance, property tax/rent relief and more.

Come test your checkers skills in our checkers tournament, play some chess against a new friend, or be one of the lucky ones who wins a prize in our raffle.

This is a great opportunity to have some fun, meet your neighbors in the community and learn about the programs and services for which you may qualify. For more information, please call or visit either of my constituent service offices.

Demolitions

Fox News reported on Friday that demolition has begun on Deal Street. I am not sure how long the link will be available but here it is: http://www.myfoxphilly.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=4033251&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

[where: 19124]

New poll

We have a new poll over to the right. Please let us know how you feel about the sale for the Third Federal building.

Sale of Third Federal Building

The Northeast Times provides a detailed synopsis of what has transpired. Read it here: http://www.northeasttimes.com/2007/0809/eastfrankford.html

Neighborhood Agenda Conference

Fighting Recidivism--A Key Panel at the "Phillyblocks 2007



The Neighborhood Agenda Conference"ISCV continues to move forward in putting together our "PhillyBlock: 2007--The Neighborhood Agenda" conference on Friday, September 14th, at the Convention Center from 8:30 AM to 2:00 PM.

Registrations are now coming in from all over the city. You can sign up now using the PhillyBlocks 2007-The Neighborhood Agenda Online Registration web page formAfter an opening plenary with Mayor Street, Michael Nutter, and Al Taubenberger, we will break into 90 minute panels covering the neighborhood environment, youth development in and out of school, the mortgage foreclosure crisis, confronting economic hardships, and what we are all concerned about--crime.Recently, someone on PhillyBlocks asked, "What will the Crime Panel at the Conference Be About?" The answer is clear where we need to focus our attention if we hope to have a major impact on crime in Philadelphia. Repeat offenders.The following have agreed to join us:Anthony Murphy, Director, Town Watch (who will chair)First Deputy Police Commissioner Patricia Giorgio-FoxLeon King, Prison Commissioner Peter Solomon, Probation Department Harriet Spencer, Mayor's Office of Re-Entry.Bilal Qayyum, Men United for a Safer Philadelphia These panelists represent a cross-section of the criminal justice system They all agree that if we hope to reduce crime in the City, we need to gain effective control of the more than 52,000 repeat offenders who are now out of prison and living in our neighborhoods.Here are the relevant statistics:There are now 327 probation officers responsible for keeping track of these 52,000 people on probation and parole in the City--a caseload of nearly 160 apiece. Probation caseloads should be no more than 70--and 35 for the parolees most likely to cause trouble. This is just common sense. But the Probation Department could not even gain an increase of 100 probation officers in this year's budget--despite strong support from the District Attorney, a number of members of City Council, and the Philadelphia Daily News.So what happens with repeat offenders who are not monitored at all? Out of 76 people arrested for murder between January 1st and July 5th of this year, 65 had prior offenses: 85%.Out of 208 murder victims during this period, 158 had prior arrests: 76%. If we want to stop the violence in Philadelphia we need to take a close look at the people most responsible for it. That's where probation and parole come in--along with the emerging Reentry System.Most crime is committed by the same people--over and over again. But our probation and parole system cannot even keep track of these repeat offenders, even though we know that they are responsible for most of our serious crime. Does that make sense to you? If you want to do something about this problem in the coming year, then join us for the PhillyBlocks : 2007 Conference on September 14th.

Ed Schwartz, Institute for the Study of Civic Values, 1218 Chestnut St.,Rm. 702, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107 215-238-1434 edcivic@libertynet.orgISCV web site: http://www.iscv.org/Also Check out "Neighborhoods Online" at http://www.neighborhoodsonline.net/. Or in Philadelphia: http://www.phillyneighborhoods.org/

"Citizenship is the American ideal. There may be an army of actualities opposed to that ideal, but there is no ideal opposed to that ideal." --G.K. Chesterton

Ed Schwartz, Institute for the Study of Civic Values, 1218 Chestnut St.,Rm. 702, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107 215-238-1434 edcivic@libertynet.orgISCV web site: http://www.iscv.org/Also Check out "Neighborhoods Online" at http://www.neighborhoodsonline.net/. Or in Philadelphia: http://www.phillyneighborhoods.org/"Citizenship is the American ideal. There may be an army of actualitiesopposed to that ideal, but there is no ideal opposed to that ideal." --G.K. Chesterton

Mozaic review

Follow the link: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=105624

PhillyBlog Night at mozaic

BYO Appetite!

This is a special evening. A special Bloggers Menu has been prepared. We all look forward to seeing you tonight.

The Butch Ballard Trio will be performing tonight from 7PM - 11PM, featuring the legendary George "Butch" Ballard on drums, Sam Dockery on the Baby, and Dylan Taylor on acoustic bass.

The photography of Jim Sell is on exhibit from August 1st. 'til September 29th.

Shooting Leaves 2 Wounded

From KYW.com

A shooting, at about 2:45 a.m. Friday morning August 3rd, inside an apartment in the 1500 block of Foulkrod left a 32-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the side and a 31-year-old man shot in the thigh. Both were taken to Temple University where their conditions were listed as stable.

The gunman fled the scene and has not been located.

Maybe it was a late night scrabble game that went bad. Frankford intellectuals can be hot tempered.

http://cbs3.com/topstories/local_story_215075112.html

Batter Up at Deni Playground

The tee ballers find out which end of the bat is up. This first Friday night was a resounding success.

Third Federal Building again

I'll post more information as it trickles in.

Another source shows that on April 19th of this year title was transferred to Frankford Associates LLC. Owners address listed as Wasserman Properties, 550 Pinetown Road suite 440, Fort Washington, PA 19034

Wasserman Properties also lists an address as 3900 G Street Philadelphia, PA 19124.

Finally, the Department of State of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania lists the address for Frankford Associates LLC as 1528 Gillingham Street, which is owned by Mantis Development Corp. Jim McCarthy is the president of the corporation.

Third Federal Building

The Northeast Times has a story on the transaction that resulted in the sale of the Third Federal Building to NET (Northeast Treatment Centers). http://www.northeasttimes.com/2007/0802/treatment.html There are varying opinions about the wisdom of having a treatment facility on Main Street Frankford but the real issue in my opinion is that the citizens of Frankford had no say in the matter. That is unfortunate. Now this sale looks like a deal done in a back room in the dark of night. It gives it a bad smell that it may not deserve.

One other curious aspect to this deal is that the sale has still not been properly recorded on the city Bureau of Revision and Taxes web site. What it does show is that the property is still in the hands of the Frankford CDC located at 499 N 05TH ST SUITE A PHILADELPHIA PA 19123 which happens to be the headquarters of NET. No sale date is listed and no sale price. http://brtweb.phila.gov/brt.apps/Search/SearchResults.aspx?id=3496004621#

Our State Representatives

There is an interesting story in the Northeast Times this week on state Representative Mark Cohen. http://www.northeasttimes.com/2007/0802/cohen.html If you follow Phillyblog at all you may have seen posts by Cohen. the surprising thing about finding him posting there is that it is so atypical for a pol to say what he thinks out there in the public forum knowing that it will be impossible for him to deny it later. Agree with him or not but we need more like him who are willing to say what they think and take part in an exchange of ideas.

And in that same line, my wife often emails our elected officials to ask them to support one issue or another. She has emailed State Representative Tony Payton on such and issue and each time he has emailed back with a response. A few weeks ago, at about dinner time, the phone rang. Representative Payton was calling to further discuss an issue she had emailed him about.


Could this be a trend where politicians actually listen to people. Let's hope.

Code Blue

An unusual time for the Inquirer to post this video but it is worth a look for as long as they make it available. Those nameless people who you sometimes meet at the Frankford Transportation Center have a story to tell. This video was taken in January in the midst of a code blue. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/multimedia/8831582.html