Families watch as the Mayfair-Homesburg Thanksgiving Parade rolls down Frankford Avenue in 2010. Photo by Brian Bailey.

Sunday marks the annual Mayfair-Holmesburg Thanksgiving Parade, and unless it rains, Grand Marshall Ed Kelly will lead the “Bringing Music to Mayfair” parade down Frankford Avenue.

The Mayfair Civic Association has a guide to everything you need to know for parade day, including tips for businesses that want to get involved.

Festivities begin at noon on Frankford Avenue at Rhawn Street, and will end at 3 p.m. at Knorr Street. In between, performers will stop at Ryan Avenue and one other location farther South to entertain the crowd. continue reading »

Before the Frankford Civic Association meeting got started Thursday, zoning officer Pete Specos had an announcement.

Alice Henry will withdraw from the board for personal reasons, with Specos taking the helm. Henry joined the board as vice president in January. continue reading »

The small grocery store at Frankford Avenue and Unity Street in Frankford has plans to sell beer and incorporate seating. But before the store makes those changes, the owners are getting community reaction.

The Frankford Gazette reports the store owners were at Thursday’s Frankford Civic Association meeting to float the idea of improving the small strip of stores adding seating and selling take-out beer.  No formal steps have been taken with the Zoning Board.

Holmesburg Civic Association President Fred Moore (foreground) speaks about proposed legislation for narcotics treatment facilities. Background from left: Mayfair Civic Association Joe DeFelice, 6th District City Council candidate Bobby Henon, State Rep. Kevin Boyle, Sen. Mike Stack. Photo by Bill Achuff

As Holmesburg awaits a Zoning Board decision on a proposed methadone clinic, legislators and neighborhood leaders gathered today on Frankford Avenue to announce their plans for the regulation of narcotics treatment facilities.

Championed by Rep. Kevin Boyle and Sen. Mike Stack, an amendment to a 1972 act would require more scrutiny of proposed narcotics programs like the one slated for the 7900-block of Frankford Avenue.

“The proposed facility in my district would have a significant impact on the neighborhood. Many community leaders and residents have come together to fight against the proposed clinic,” Boyle said. “This legislation would provide the tools necessary to fight back against such a situation happening elsewhere in Philadelphia and across the state.” continue reading »

The Mayfair and Holmesburg civic associations, state and local politicians and neighbors gathered against yesterday to protest the methadone clinic proposed on the 7900-block of Frankford Avenue at Decatur Street.

Neighbors opposed the clinic Healing Way, Inc., wants to open based on the applicant’s apparent lack of qualifications to run such a facility, and the facility’s proximity to schools and other family centers. continue reading »

Northwood Civic Association President Barry Howell discusses the Frankford Y at the Sept. 20, 2011 meeting.

If action isn’t made on the historic Frankford Y, “it needs to be leveled before something awful happens there,” said Northwood Civic Association President Barry Howell Tuesday night.

“It is becoming dilapidated, and kids are starting to hang out there doing drugs and causing trouble,” Howell said at the civic group’s monthly meeting at St. James Church on Castor Avenue. “It won’t be long until someone breaks into the door and bad things are going to happen.”

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Tacony Civic Association board member Lou Iatarola reviews zoning matters at the September 2011 meeting.

Lou Iataroloa had less than an hour to zip through a dozen active zoning issues in Tacony at Tuesday’s civic association meeting.

Before 15th District Capt. Frank Bachmayer took the floor at 8 p.m. for his town hall meeting, the association board had an hour to review old business, new business and upcoming meetings.

The zoning issues involved a variety of issues, including illegal duplexes and auto body shops. The rundown Iatarola, a TCA board member, is below. For pending permits and variances, neighbors living within 500 feet of the properties in question will receive a notice prior to the TCA’s meeting and the Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing. continue reading »

Photo from Bill Green's Facebook page.

City Council will address the zoning code reform this session, looking to pass the changes that have been in the works for years.

Councilman-at-large Bill Green has issued a memo outlining 10 amendments he wants made to the new code to impact the way it’s implemented. One amendment in particular deals with an ongoing issue in Holmesburg.

If the methadone clinic proposed for the 7900-block of Frankford Avenue had been proposed after these amendments were in place, here’s the way Green sees the process going: continue reading »

At a July rally, neighbors protested a proposed methadone clinic on Frankford Avenue in Holmesburg

“The Zoning Board of Adjustment will take three weeks to announce their decision on whether to revoke the permit for the proposed methadone clinic in my district,” State Rep. Kevin Boyle said after today’s hearing.

Neighbors joined politicians today in Center City as Councilwoman Joan Krajewski led the appeal on the clinic’s over-the-counter permits for a facility on the 7900-block of Frankford Avenue in Holmesburg. continue reading »

An estimated 750 people attended a meeting at Lincoln High School to protest the methadone clinic proposed for the 7900-block of Frankford Avenue in Holmesburg.

A bus will depart Lincoln High School at noon tomorrow, carrying residents from Holmesburg, Mayfair and beyond to Center City, where a hotly contested methadone clinic will come under review at the Zoning Board of Adjustment.

Councilwoman Joan Krajewski and others are expected to ask the city to remove the proposed clinic’s over-the-counter permit and prevent it from operating at Frankford Avenue and Decatur Street. continue reading »