Oct20
Updated 10/20/10 @ 2:30 p.m.
The shooting that left a 19-year-old in critical condition outside a former adult theater in Frankford brings to light the ever-present battle with irresponsible absentee landlords, says Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sánchez.
The reason so many absentee landlords are able to remain derelict in their responsibilities to maintain safe, clean and community-orientated properties, Sanchez said at Tuesday night’s Northwood Civic Association meeting, is because the city doesn’t have the man power to track them down.
“Part of the problem has always been about resources,” Sanchez said last night to nearly twenty residents in the basement of St. James Church at the corner of Castor Avenue and Pratt Street.
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Apr21
New Frankford Development President Felicia Richardson addresses the Northwood Civic Association at its monthly meeting Tuesday, April 20, 2010.
It seems the Northwood Civic Association has made nice with the for-profit company poised take operational control over the storied Frankford Y.
“This has the prospects of being a well established part of the community,” civic President Barry Howell told nearly 40 residents inside the St. James’ church basement at Castor Avenue and Bridge Street Tuesday night.
It was Howell, of course, who said in December that he “sensed a rat” around the proposal. But Howell now says lots has changed since then.
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Jan8
The futures of two large neighborhood institutions were discussed at Thursday’s Frankford Civic Association meeting.
First, the now vacant Salvation Army building, on Frankford Avenue near Unity Street, is up for sale, recycling residents’ fear over recovery homes that have beleaguered Frankford for years. Second, the latest chapter in the harried sale of the Frankford Y was announced, including a sale date that passed without action.
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Dec4
Frankford residents ask questions at the Dec. 3 Civic meeting about the proposal for the new Frankford Y.
A starry-eyed plan for reinvigorating the century-old Frankford Y has now lost the support of the civic association to whom the proposal was first presented.
Northwood Civic Association President Barry Howell, who presided over the November meeting of his neighborhood group that featured the announcement that a for-profit group would purchase the cherished, nonprofit community center, stood up at Thursday night’s Frankford Civic Association meeting and addressed the issue aggressively.
“I sense a rat,” Howell said, to chatters of approval from the 16 residents and 10 Frankford board members in attendance. “They fed us Disney World, but this ain’t Disney World.” continue reading »
Nov18
Anthony Bannister, a partner in the company that is purchasing the Frankford Y, addresses the Nov. 17, 2009 Northwood Civic Association meeting.
A for-profit development company has agreed on terms to purchase the New Frankford Y, as announced at Tuesday night’s Northwood Civic Association meeting. The Y closed its doors back in May after 68 years as a neighborhood hub.
Portraying himself as well-connected and well-funded, a young and charismatic quarter partner in the Frankford Development Corporation said they plan to reopen the Y as the Frankford Community Center by September 2010.
“The place brings such a rich, beautiful element to the neighborhood,” Anthony Bannister told a dozen residents and the civic board inside a well-heated classroom at St. James Lutheran Church. “I’m not afraid of Frankford. You just need a vision, and I can see it.”
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