SEPTA surveillance video/Philadelphia Police

Police in the 15th District are looking for the man who assaulted a woman in Wissinoming early in the morning on April 8.

According to the police report, a woman was walking along the 5700-block of Frankford Avenue from the Frankford Transportation Center around 3:45 a.m. when a man tried to have a conversation with her. continue reading »

Community Planner Ian Litwin shows Frankford resident Doris Booker some improvements the Planning Commission envisions for the neighborhood. Photo/Tiffany Goforth

In 1961, Jane Jacobs wrote The Death and Life of Great American Cities, in which she proposed supporting neighborhoods’ use of community-based initiatives.

Fast-forward 50 years, and urban planners are taking her observations into serious consideration, as evidenced by the city’s comprehensive plan,  Philadelphia2035, to play up individual neighborhoods’ strengths and improve upon their obstacles to connectivity and access.

Within the next few years, the planning commission will complete 18 district plans, which will incorporate many of the themes and objectives found in the overall citywide plan.

Currently, only three of the 18 plans have been adopted. The most recent being the Lower Northeast District Plan, which includes Frankford, Northwood, Summerdale, Lawncrest and Oxford Circle.

Saturday, Lower Northeast District Plan Project Manager Ian Litwin, other consultants and city employees held a community visioning workshop at Aria Health-Frankford to discuss ways to make Frankford, a major transit hub, more accessible. continue reading »

Did you hear about the Far Northeast’s drug and prostitution problem?

Yep, since 2008, photographer Jeffrey Stockbridge has been capturing the drug and prostitution along Kensington Avenue. And while his blog makes for a great read, he’s got the geographer all wrong.

“An elevated train runs the full length of Kensington Avenue, approximately 3 miles into the far North East section of the city.” continue reading »

Image/Philadelphia City Planning Commission

In the lobby of a building filled with innovators, residents of the Lower Northeast District planning area gathered Tuesday to see the highlights of four months’ worth of ideas for Frankford, Summerdale, Lawncrest, Northwood, Oxford Circle and part of Castor Gardens.

The third and final public meeting for the planning district was set up as an open house at Frankford’s Globe Dye Works for residents to review the highlight of a plan that will be presented to the Philadelphia Planning Commission later this month. At the first two meetings, participants worked with city planners to identify their neighborhoods’ strength and weaknesses and develop suggestions for improvement. Transit, greenery and connectivity were themes that came up frequently.

continue reading »

Fresh cherries at the 2011 Oxford Circle Farmers Market. It and the Frankford Farmers Market opened last year. Photo/Ben Bergman

Farmers markets are popping up all over the city as the weather gets warm and the seasonal produce gets ripe.

June 19, the Frankford Farmers market will return for its second season. The market opened last year at Frankford Transportation Center with the help of The Food Trust, and is set to return as soon as the produce is ready. continue reading »

Summer brought strawberries to the Oxford Circle Farmers Market. It and the Frankford Farmers Market opened this year with help from the Food Trust. Photo by Ben Bergman.

Frankford Farmers Market has been open for quite some time, but Mayor Michael Nutter will help mark the official grand opening tomorrow.

The Department of Public Health, the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities,  SEPTA and The Food Trust will be at the Frankford Transportation Center at 9:30 a.m. to celebrate the market’s offerings of fresh, local food. continue reading »

A view of Frankford Transportation Center from Frankford Avenue at Bridge Street.

A SEPTA bus driver likely won’t face charges for the early morning accident that left a pedestrian dead.

Just after midnight, a man in his 30s was struck by a Route 14 bus at Frankford Transportation Center as the driver pulled into the terminal.

The man was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The accident is still being investigated.

After potential terrorist threats to some other mass transit systems across the country, Philadelphia police have been taking advice from the FBI and Homeland security and upping patrols at many popular transit stops around the city.

The police have been working with SEPTA to conduct random sweeps, and while most of the security increases are based elsewhere in the city, many think smaller, less obvious locations could use a little more patrolling. There’s been no official word yet from SEPTA or the Philadelphia Police about how they plan to monitor the transit system more closely, but one would have to think the Northeast should being to see increased security presence.

With several major bus routes and train stations, and the Frankford Transportation Center hub, the NEast could stand to use more transit patrols – especially if government agencies want cities to be on alert of suspicious activity. Time will tell.

Have you noticed more police or SEPTA security on your daily route? Do you think a certain route or station is particularly at risk for crime or an attack?

By Shannon McDonald

A mother holding her baby was sexually assaulted on the El Thursday afternoon. The 22-year-old boarded the train at Bridge and Pratt while holding her young baby. Then a man sat down next to her, pressing a knife into her side, concealing it as he sexually assaulted her all the way to Eighth and Market streets. He then got off the train, walking in the opposite direction of the woman. Other people were on the train at the time, though no one could see the knife. The suspect is a white man, 35 to 40 years old, clean shaven with slicked back blonde hair.