New Frankford Community Y investors a no-show at Civic meeting

Tag Jason Dawkins

5 ways L&I has become a better agency in three years, says city rep 8

Sep9

If you had a bad experience in the past with the city’s once notorious Licenses and Inspections department, it’s time to give it another shot.

So went the address Thursday night from a representative of the city agency charged with enforcing its zoning code and related statutes.

“Let’s be real: things were bad,” said Maura Kennedy, the L&I director of strategic initiatives, of the agency before current Commissioner Fran Burns came on. “But we’ve worked very hard to get things in order in the past three years, and we want you to give us another try.”

Kennedy, who was speaking at the Frankford Civic Association meeting, outlined how her agency has changed and, along the way, took questions on a longstanding neighborhood beef with L&I over recovery homes.

1520 Arrott Street: former nusiance Primo’s Sports Bar to face public scrutiny 3

Jun22

Another Frankford bar with a troubled past due to reopen will get some community scrutiny at a forum next week, a city council representative said Tuesday night.

The former Primo’s Sports Bar and Grille, at 1520 Arrott Street, which sits diagonally from the Arrott Bus Terminal beneath the Margaret Orthodox El stop, has a new owner hoping to reopen it, says Jason Dawkins, who works for City Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez. But coming off a court-ordered closure following episodes of gun violence, greater attention needs to be had, residents have said.

Frankford Civic Association executive board votes ‘No’ on the Bridge 15

May6

The Frankford Civic Association voted Thursday night to write a letter of opposition to the city’s Zoning Board, asking it to deny a zoning variance for the development of a new facility for the Bridge, a school for boys suffering from drug, alcohol and behavioral issues.

“We’ve been just overwhelmed with drug-related facilities, so we need to say ‘no’ because we’re the closest civic,” said association president Brian Wisniewski, referencing tumult over whether the local Frankford, Northwood or Juniata neighborhood group had the authority to vote on the facility. “At first, the Bridge wanted to go to Juniata but they got together with Northwood to try to bum rush Frankford… We have something to say too.”

Hearing scheduled as Frankford pushes for shutdown of T&T bar 12

Apr12

Jason Dawkins and Maria Quinones-Sanchez comfort Chris Spence's family in front of the Frankford bar where he was fatally shot.

As was discussed at Thursday’s Frankford Civic Association meeting, a hearing has been set of T&T bar. Jason Dawkins, Jorge Santana and the offices of Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez and Rep. Tony Payton have pushed for a ’611 action’ hearing to take action against the bar where Christopher Spence was fatally shot in February. continue reading »

Frankford Civic Association meeting ends in shouts, accusations and no vote on the Bridge 29

Apr8

The two and a half hour Frankford Civic Association meeting that started 20 minutes late and ended with heated conversation on the controversy of the moment in that beleaguered neighborhood didn’t feature a single vote.

Local opinion of plans for the Bridge, a celebrated, four-decades-old, adolescent residential treatment facility, to develop a campus on a nine-acre plot of nearby land along Adams Avenue, is split between pragmatic support for a known entity and firm opposition for any more recovery programs in the neighborhood. To develop the property, the Bridge will need a variance from the city’s Zoning Board, which can be influenced by neighborhood group opinion.

After spilling into inaction, Barry Howell, president of the Northwood Civic Association, told reporters that on Monday he was going to sign a neighborhood agreement with Bridge representatives.

Vow to close bar where shooting claimed football star’s life 9

Feb21

Shirley Phelps-Pollard holds pictures of grandson Christopher Spence during his days playing football for Frankford High School. Spence's mother, Javese Phelps-Washington, (r) says she forgives the man who fatally shot her son.

Early Saturday morning, Christopher Spence died. The 20-year-old former Frankford High School football player was shot once in the chest after a scuffle inside T&T bar at Margaret and Hawthorne streets.

His friends, family and former teammates gathered outside the bar this afternoon, which the owner has closed temporarily, to honor Spence and take action.

“They killed my boy,” Spence’s mother, Javese Phelps-Washington, sobbed over and over, standing at the corner outside the bar. Bundled in coats, hats and gloves, the crowd grew larger as more came to comfort Phelps-Washington. continue reading »

Frankford ‘speakeasy’ shutdown, plans to license and reopen 3

Jan7

A Frankford resident, who says she didn’t know her after-hours social club was breaking various city ordinances, took on a barrage of questions and criticisms from the Frankford Civic Association board, its members and others in attendance at Thursday night’s meeting.

In the fall, flyers were circulating Frankford promoting a private club with liquor, underage patrons and a cover charge on the third floor of 4651 Frankford Avenue, admits Roselyn González, who says she has since taken responsibility, authority and leadership of the haphazard club. But that has all changed, she says.

State Rep. Tony Payton: Recovery homes are a real estate problem 2

Feb5

State Rep. Tony Payton at the February Frankford Civic meeting.

It has become something of a tradition at Frankford Civic Association meetings in the past year.

The first 15 or 20 minutes of the meetings, held in a conference room on the second floor of the old Frankford Hospital, are devoted to typical zoning issues, event announcements and new community concerns. Then something changes.

The meeting becomes more of a conversation and the topic is always the same: recovery homes.

True to form, it happened again Thursday night. Only three or four residents were in attendance, outnumbered by media and legislative aides and almost doubled by the association’s executive board, but the conversation was no less lively.

Salvation Army and Y updates at Frankford Civic meeting 1

Jan8

The futures of two large neighborhood institutions were discussed at Thursday’s Frankford Civic Association meeting.

First, the now vacant Salvation Army building, on Frankford Avenue near Unity Street, is up for sale, recycling residents’ fear over recovery homes that have beleaguered Frankford for years. Second, the latest chapter in the harried sale of the Frankford Y was announced, including a sale date that passed without action.