When a van and a school bus were involved in an accident yesterday afternoon, the driver of the van fled.

Police say the driver took off after the two vehicles collided just before 1 p.m. at Castor and Longshore avenues. continue reading »

Disabled senior citizens were “snuck in on Christmas Eve” to a Northwood home bought in 2009 by Volunteers of America Delaware Valley, says that neighborhood’s civic association president.

“A year ago it was going to be a drug rehabilitation center and we fought it, now they’re putting the elderly in to get around the rules,” Northwood president Barry Howell told two dozen at Tuesday night’s meeting. “We’re not saying anything against the people they put in there, but we have a problem about them ignoring our deed restriction.”

The deed restriction, of course, is the decades-old Burk Deed Restriction that limits portions of Northwood real estate to remain single-family residences. It’s a zoning code add-on that has helped the neighborhood win nearly a dozen variance battles. Howell says the restriction will soon push the VOA operation at 4871 Roosevelt Blvd out, though it was partially city-funded and has government sanction as a necessary part of health services.

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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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Serial bank robber Joseph DiFalco was arrested this morning in Kensington.

DiFalco, 31, robbed a bank on the 6300-block of Castor Avenue in Castor Gardens around 9:30 a.m. Believing he was the man also wanted for five other robberies, police chased him to the 3100-block of Kensington Avenue, where he was apprehended.

A Castor Gardens man was shot Friday night during a robbery.

The victim, 50, was shot in both legs around 8:30 p.m. on the 1300-block of Barnett Street, just two blocks from his home on the 1200-block of Levick Street. continue reading »

Saturday – The FBI is searching for Omar Roane, a prisoner who broke free Friday afternoon in Mayfair. Roane and two other prisoners in a police van broke out the back door around 2:30 p.m. Friday when the vehicle was stopped at Cottman and Frankford avenues.

Police apprehended the two other suspects, but Roane, 22, is still on the loose. His rap sheet includes the 2009 murder of a 17-year-old, for which Roane has a Sept. 1 court date. The van was on its way to Holmesburg’s Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility when Roane and the others escaped. continue reading »

Internal affairs is investigating three police officers in connection with an attempted theft at Pat’s Cafe in Northwood.

According to reports, two officers responded to a break-in report early Tuesday morning at an auto-detailing shop in Pat’s at Castor Avenue and Arrott Street. After determining the call unfounded, the officers went to Pat’s for a drink, and were joined by a third office who was not wearing a uniform. continue reading »

The Northwood Civic Association announced yesterday an upcoming zoning meeting for Northwood Academy Charter School.

Northwood Academy, at 4621 Castor Avenue, is looking to construct a new building. The meeting will be held in the school Monday, June 28 at 6 p.m.

Twenty children were taken to the hospital Friday afternoon following a bus accident.  A sedan rear-ended the school bus the children were on on their way home from school at Castor Avenue and Benner Street. None of the children had life-threatening injuries, but were treated at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, Aria Health-Frankford and Einstein Medical Center. continue reading »

Three people were injured early yesterday morning after their vehicle crashed into several parked cars.

Just before 1:30 a.m., the vehicle crashed into parked cars along Castor Avenue near Benner Street, sending two people to the hospital with serious injuries.

The driver has been charged with DUI.