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 »

Burholme Town Watch President and Police Radio Advisory Board member Paul Andris explains 911 operations

Note: Due to technical difficulties, two videos cannot be uploaded.

There’s a difference between 311 and 911, and the police want to make sure everyone is aware of it. Aside from the notoriously slow response time of 311, it’s not for emergencies. For that, there’s 911. Police Advisory Board member and Burholme Town Watch President Paul Andris explained at last night’s Burholme Civic Association meeting how 911 works so efficiently.

“In  Philadelphia, there are 3.3 million calls per year to 911,” Andris said. “There are 330,000 crank calls.”

Andris showed an educational video –the same he shows to students at schools he presents to — about how to best use 911, and how the operators are able to trace your call so easily. continue reading »

Tonight’s meeting of the Burholme Civic Association/Business Association/Town Watch has been canceled due to the weather. They’ll meet next on Feb. 10.

The Rising Sun Avenue corridor has gone through a drastic change in the eyes of the people who have lived there all their lives.  A community that once was solely described as a close-knit, working class residency is now suffering from a spate of robberies, violence and an overabundance of trash and unkempt houses.

Kathy Wersinger of Councilwoman Marian Tasco’s office is a 55-year-resident of the area and believes the problem to be renters.

“People that rent houses for a profit and don’t worry about the condition of them as long as they are receiving their monthly check,” contribute to the decline in quality of life, she said. continue reading »

(L to R): Bill Conaway, PPh Director of Community Relations; Sherry Wharton; John Evans, Salvation Army Thrift Store; and Sandi King, Philadelphia Commerce Department Business Services Manager, take a break from cleaning Rising Sun Avenue from Hellerman to Levick streets. Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Protestant Home.

This submission was provided by the Philadelphia Protestant Home, one of many business and organizations that took part in the Rising Sun Avenue cleanup. NEast Philly will have additional coverage of the event in the coming days.

More than 75 people took to the street on Saturday morning, and with brooms, rakes and shovels in work-gloved hands, cleaned up Rising Sun Avenue from Adams to Cottman avenues. continue reading »

Members of the Lawncrest Community Association voice quality of life concerns to 2nd District Officer Mark Mroz.

A little more than 50 people turned out for last night’s meeting of the Lawncrest Community Association — about half the usual number. But the still-sizable group was as vocal as ever, especially when talks turned to quality of life issues.

Mark Mroz, community relations officer for the 2nd District, ran the first 30 minutes of the meeting as part of the PSA Zone 2 meeting, but residents’ concerns stemmed beyond crime.

Homelessness, trash, dog droppings and nuisance bars were among the leading issues in the neighborhood, and many residents had their own ideas about how to fix them. continue reading »

At the October meeting of the Burholme Civic Association/Town Watch, Nicole Wenger of Northeast Victim Service explains how the agency assists victims of crimes in the Northeast.

Northeast Victim Service “helps you not become a victim for a second time,” explained Burholme Civic Association President Al Taubenberger at last night’s meeting of the civic and Burholme Town Watch.

Nicole Wenger, a court advocate for NEVS was on hand at the meeting to explain to Burholme residents how the agency helps crime victims. continue reading »

Marc Collazzo is “a civic by nature.”

That’s what the Republican candidate for State Representative in the 17oth District told Burholme residents last night.

Collazzo — a Bustleton native — told the more than 20 residents who attended the monthly Burholme Civic Association and Town Watch meeting “we live in rare times.”

What’s rare about it, he said, is the recent behavior by state and city governments to  support tax increases and “out of control spending.”

Collazzo, who attended Baldi Middle School and George Washington High School, told Burholme residents: “The most important thing you can ever do is help your neighborhood.” continue reading »

We’re excited to announce that, as part of our ongoing effort to reach out to individual neighborhoods, NEast Philly will hold a Town Hall meeting at this week’s monthly gathering of the Burholme Civic Association and Burholme Town Watch groups.

We’ll join Burholme residents during their regular monthly meeting, and take the floor to ask residents what they like and don’t like about where they live and what they want to see more of on NEast Philly. continue reading »

Common Pleas Judge Chris Wogan addressing the Burholme Civic Association meeting on April 8, 2010.

Judge Chris Wogan says he has such a reputation for being tough on crime,  that once a defendant had a will drawn up, naming Wogan as the primary beneficiary in the hopes that a conflict of interest might force a change.

It didn’t work then, the Philadelphia Common Pleas judge says, and nothing has changed.

“They say I’m tough. I just think I’m fair,” Wogan, 60, told more than 60 residents at Thursday night’s Burholme Civic Association meeting. In a 20 minute address, Wogan railed against his perceived frustrations with the Philadelphia court system but said there is hope.

“Good people are working to fix the problems,” the 1968 Cardinal Dougherty High School alumnus said. “There is an optimism now that I didn’t see even a few years ago.”

continue reading »