Democrat Bill Rubin (L) and incumbent Republican Brian O'Neill (R) at the 10th District City Council debate

It was about halfway through last night’s 10th District City Council candidate debate when Carol Kessler stood up to ask a question. But this wasn’t an audience participation type of event.

As League of Women Voters President and debate moderator Rachel Lawton explained ahead of the hour-long debate, there’d be no audience questions. Also part of the rules: incumbent Republican candidate Brian O’Neill and Democratic challenger Bill Rubin both had one minute to answer each question and 90 seconds to close their arguments.

Kessler had many questions for the two men, and though she spoke loudly and entered the aisle to make herself heard, Lawton continued with her questions as planned, leaving many of Kessler’s queries unanswered.

O’Neill and Rubin did have answers for Lawton, though some were vague and some were more swipes at each other than they were promotions for their campaigns. continue reading »

About a dozen protesters gathered Sunday outside St. Thomas Syro Malabar Catholic Church Sunday to oppose a zoning variance. Photo by Maureen Greene.

Bustleton resident Maureen Greene sent us the following update from Wednesday’s Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing, at which Tacony Academy Charter School was was set to request a zoning variance to send kindergarten and first-grade students to St. Thomas Syro Malabar Catholic Church at 608 Welsh Rd.

“The hearing for the variance to allow a charter school to rent parts of St. Thomas Church was continued on Wednesday without a date for a new hearing.

The attorney for the Church confirmed that the charter school withdrew from their plans and the Church had to evaluate what they were going to do. continue reading »

The Far Northeast will get two additional red light cameras. That was one of the bigger announcements at last week’s Somerton Civic Association.

Councilman Brian O’Neill said two busy intersections — Grant Avenue and Academy Road and Bustleton Avenue and Byberry Road — will be among the many Northeast corners to have red light cameras.

Zoning and crime updates took precedence during the second half of the meeting. Those details are below. continue reading »

Brian O'Neill explains the impact of the zoning code. Photo by Ian Romano.

This is the second in a two-part look at zoning in the Northeast. Read part one here.

Councilman Brian O’Neill and the Zoning Code Commission’s executive director argued over zoning regulations at the April meeting of the Greater Bustleton Civic League. The draft is the first citywide revision of the zoning laws in 50 years.

ZCC Executive Director Eva Gladstein said parts of the code may apply to the Northeast more than other areas.

One of those issues is family-based childcare in the home. The restrictions in place for such an establishment are not changing for family-based childcare. The one distinction is the amount of children allowed in the home.

“For childcare in someone’s home, in the 6th and 10th council districts, the number of non-related children allowed in the home is only four. In the rest of the city the number is up to six,” Gladstein said.

Zoning classifications for parks and recreations will be changed under the draft.

“One thing we’re doing is enabling private participles to be zoned for parks,” Gladstein said. “Now it says only land owned by the city can be a park.”

The new code is requiring new developers to notify registered civic associations and to have a neighborhood meeting before completing their zoning variance.

“I think that will be positively affecting the Northeast since it has so many active civic associations,” Gladstein said.

The number of days allotted for posting a zoning hearing is being increased to 21 days. Another posting is being required if the hearing is continued to another day.

The Zoning Code Commission is changing the organization of the code. continue reading »

L to R: City Councilman Brian O’Neill, State Rep. Brendan Boyle, Sen. Stack, Cranaleith Director Sister Mary Trainer, RSM (in the driver’s seat), Sister Christine McCann, RSM (President of the Sisters of Mercy, Mid-Atlantic Community), former state Rep. George Kenney, Cranaleith Board Member Tom Trainer, and Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce President Al Taubenberger

State Sen. Mike Stack joined former State Rep. George Kenney on April 15 to present a significant state grant that will help expand the Cranaleith Education and Conference Center.

The $1 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant will go toward the $3.3 million project to renovate the existing barn into a welcome center and construct a conference center, a lodge with overnight accommodations and a chapel. Stack and Kenney each secured $500,000 in RACP funds. continue reading »

Officers James Boccalupo, James Snyder, Dimitrios Loizos, John Schmidt and John Seymour were honored at 8th District Officers of the Month for April. Photo courtesy of the 8th PDAC.

The 8th Police District’s April PDAC meeting was held on Wednesday, April 6. As usual, the membership came out in great numbers to partner with our police. At this meeting, five police officers were honored with Officer of the Month awards. Presentations were made by PDAC President, Mr. Harry Sonntag, supported by his executive board and TD Bank representatives. continue reading »

Photo courtesy of Elsie Stevens.

Scores of Holme Circle residents participated in two protests on Oct. 17 at 9 a.m. and Oct. 27 at 4:30 p.m. at the Engine 18 firehouse at Pennypack Circle to voice their concern of the Fire Department’s new “brown out” policy. continue reading »

Northeast residents listen as the Philadelphia City Planning Commission's Michael Thompson explains the proposed zoning code rewrite. Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Neighborhoods.

At a 10th City Council District open house for the Philadelphia Zoning Code Commission, Northeast Philadelphia residents thought certain aspects of the code rewrite would negatively affect their neighborhoods, while other parts would be beneficial. Northeast residents were especially unhappy that the reform discussed legalizing the practice of converting single-family homes into duplexes or triplexes, often with rental units. This is known as accessory dwellings and is a common phenomenon in neighborhoods like Fox Chase, Bustleton and Somerton.

Pat Cantwell, the treasurer of the Somerton Civic Association, was especially irritated by the proliferation of accessory dwellings on her blocks. “The conversion of houses into apartments, and duplexes into triplexes affects parking, which is already bad in our neighborhood,” said Cantwell. The president of her civic association, Domenic Ragucci, elaborated by saying accessory dwellings in basements is a serious problem in Somerton.

You can read the rest of the story on Philadelphia Neighborhoods or PlanPhilly.

Photo submitted by Elsie Stevens.

I’m seeing red these days as I learn more about the Fire Department’s brown outs.  Did you know that three firehouses in northeast Philadelphia are among those on the citywide list:  Engine 18 Pennypack Circle, Engine 71 Cottman and Loretto, and Engine 64 Rising Sun and Magee?

With past cuts in fire personnel and equipment and now rotating closures of neighborhood firehouses, how can the Mayor and Fire Department’s administrative personnel justify that they have our public safety in their best interest?  Is it not the core responsibility of our city government to provide adequate fire protection to its citizens?   continue reading »

Photo courtesy of 8th PDAC.

The 8th Police District community went outside and greeted neighbors on Tuesday as they and the district officers let criminals know their community was organized and watchful on this 27th annual National Night Out.

National Night Out was started in 1984 as a high- profile way to get communities involved in preventing crime, according to the organization’s website. It started with 400 participating communities in 23 states, and by last year had grown to 35.4 million participants in 11,310 communities in all 50 states. continue reading »