All is quiet on the 400-block of East Cheltenham Avenue just days after a dogfighting ring was broken up.

Sheryle Nash said she never knew her family lived near a basement stained with dog blood.

“The neighborhood is already messed up,” Nash said. “I didn’t know people ever [held dogfights] around here.”

Police and Pennsylvania SPCA officers arrested two people Wednesday evening from a house on the 400-block of East Cheltenham Avenue. Animal protection officers seized eight dogs and equipment they said were used for fighting and training, including a treadmill. continue reading »

This is part of ongoing coverage in “District 172: The Politics of Change after State Rep. John Perzel,” a collaborative effort with Philadelphia Neighborhoods funded by J-Lab.

You can find an update to this post at the bottom of the article, from the April 12 Holmesburg Civic Association meeting.

About $10.6 million was funneled directly to the Mayfair Community Development Corp. since 2000, granted from the state Department of Community and Economic Development, according to its website. Much of it went into street cleaning and senior citizen programs.

The document states $800,000 was used toward the Devon theater.

The same state department gave the Holmesburg Civic Association and the Friends of the Holmesburg Library $5,000 each, according to state records.

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Lou DeCree

Lou DeCree, president of the Daniel Boyle Athletic Program in Somerton, was awarded the token of appreciation award by Keep Philadelphia Beautiful Friday.

Phoebe Coles, the not-for-profit’s executive director, said she appreciates his effort to make Somerton’s parks enjoyable. She considered DeCree as a recipient after reading an article about him on NEast Philly.

“Mr. DeCree fits all the specifications that we look for,” Coles said.

Read the rest of this on NEast Philly’s partner site, Phiadelphia Neighborhoods.

Hugh Campbell, a 45-year-resident of Burholme, thanked Matt Taubenberger for sweeping up trash Saturday.

Campbell said he can’t shop at the stores on Castor Avenue because there is too much trash.

“It’s good to see a couple of young fellas cleaning up,” Campbell said. “I’m a product of New York City and left because it was so filthy.”

Taubenberger and a group of college students took part in Philadelphia’s spring cleanup by packing mulch into the street trees and sweeping the sidewalks on Burholme’s end of Rising Sun Avenue. Councilwoman Marian Tasco joined volunteers on the Lawncrest end of the street.

“One of the things that I really hate and see all the time is people throwing their trash right on the ground,” said Taubenberger, who plays an active role in the neighborhood as part of the Business Association. “I think when people walk by and see us cleaning up they realize how hard it is to keep the street clean and they try not to litter.” continue reading »

The Philadelphia City Planning Commission is proposing a new subway station near the corner of Bustleton Avenue and Robbins Street, along Roosevelt Boulevard. The station would be a subway and elevated line station connected to the Broad Street line’s express tracks.

The proposal, published in a city-wide blueprint for 2035, describes the Northeast as one of the least connected regions by public transit.

Read the rest on Philadelphia Neighborhoods.

Matt Morgan 12, plays at Reale's on Frankford Avenue once a month.

Check out the video below of some talented Northeast musicians who spend their weekends playing in local bars and get publicity from the entertainment magazine Out on the Town. continue reading »

This is part of ongoing coverage in “District 172: The Politics of Change after State Rep. John Perzel,” a collaborative effort with Philadelphia Neighborhoods funded by J-Lab.

While former House Speaker John M. Perzel waits to fight corruption charges against him, there has yet to be rulings on some of the pretrial motions, a spokesman for the attorney general wrote in an e-mail.

Attorney general spokesman Nils Frederiksen did not say when these motions are expected to be decided on. Most of them from Perzel’s attorney, Brian McMonagle, seek to have the charges dropped.

Dauphin County Judge Richard A. Lewis ordered last month to delay jury selection until August so defense lawyers can look through evidence, including 1.8 million paper documents and thousands of computer files.

McMonagle argued during a pretrial hearing the Blue Card program was legitimate because it was used for legislative actions, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. continue reading »

This is part of ongoing coverage in “District 172: The Politics of Change after State Rep. John Perzel,” a collaborative effort with Philadelphia Neighborhoods funded by J-Lab.

Bob Dillon may look rusty, but the 68-year-old pitcher says he still has a lot of fight left.

He and his teammates workout at the John M. Perzel Community Center every winter Friday to warm up for the Philadelphia Senior Softball League season.

“We’ve been coming here for a couple of years now,” Dillon said. But other residents say they shouldn’t have a community center named after a politician indicted under corruption charges.

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Photo taken at a gun shop protest, used with permission from the Heeding God's Call Media Library.

This is a followup to our feature on the vigil held for slain jeweler William Glatz.

It is 2 a.m. on Jan. 17, 2009. Mennonite Pastor J. Fred Kauffman is handcuffed, standing in a dingy holding cell somewhere between Spring Garden and Ninth Streets, divulging his personal information to a judge through closed-circuit TV.

“What are you in for?” The female Judge asks.

“Oh, I was sitting in front of Colosimos”

“Oh, really? You were in the paper! See here!” she says, holding up a copy of that day’s edition of the Metro.

“Listen, brother,” she continues. “We are living in the last days and we need to take a stand against this violence!”

Kauffman says later “I felt like I was in church.”

The judge would continue to speak with Kauffman for “about half an hour about pastors and religious leaders having to do what they are called to do to confront this violence,” Kauffman recalls. continue reading »

More than 60 local residents turned out for the vigil held out front of Glatz Jewelers on Rising Sun Avenue.

A preacher is standing on a street corner in a white jacket with a megaphone. He is wearing an “I Love Jesus” cap and spouting his message loudly to oblivious passersby on Rising Sun Avenue in Lawncrest.

“I was an alcoholic. I was a drug addict. But I found Jesus and Jesus’ message changed my life,” said Jimmy Gardner, 52, an aspiring Bible teacher from North Philadelphia. “Only in Jesus can we all see the error of our ways and can we find salvation.”

An older woman with sleek gray strands pulled back into a bun ran over to him holding her pink jacket closed with her right hand, informing the megaphone preacher that he was disrupting the vigil for a murdered jeweler being held across the street.

So touched was the megaphone preacher, and so apologetic for his disruption, he joined the others in prayer.

“We are all God’s children,” Gardner said.

The vigil was held Saturday in honor of William Glatz, hosted by pastors from several local churches in front of his former jewelry store, in response to the man’s shocking death during a robbery attempt on Oct. 21. Glatz was 67. continue reading »