Two Giant employees work in the rain to help assemble Mayfair Memorial Playground. Photo by Kirsten Stamn

“A promise kept. That’s what this is.”

Melinda Mulvenna, a co-chair for the Friends of Mayfair Memorial Playround, surveyed the playground that was furiously undergoing construction, with hundreds of volunteers milling around hauling mulch, assembling equipment and pushing wheelbarrows. The Mayfair Memorial Playground at Rowland Avenue and Vista Street, which was to be completed in only a matter of hours, had taken more than three years to get rebuilt after it had been torn down. And for Mulvenna, that was a personal triumph, as she was an indirect reason for the previous playground’s destruction.

“My daughter [Kaylee] was the one that was hurt. Her foot got caught in the padding and she fell into the monkey bars. Thank God it was only a black eye,” she said. “I called politicians and the mayor’s office; all I asked for was that the padding be repaired. I thought I was doing the right thing. One innocent phone call . . . it was demolished that April.”

Looking at the progress that had been made that morning, Mulvenna’s eyes became glassy. “Three years later, now look at it. We’re putting in a rumble slide for people with special needs. Our goal is to have everybody play. This is for kids with casts or wheelchairs, everyone. We even have Freddy the Firetruck for John Redmond, the firefighter who passed away and [for whom] this park is dedicated to for his service. We’re even painting his number on the side,” she said.

For Mayfair, getting to this day has been a long, arduous process. Before, in the times of former Pa. Rep. John Perzel, Mayfair might have gotten a check from the government, which was putting lots of resources into building up the community. But with Perzel’s indictment, all the funds had to come from donations and the community, which rose spectacularly to the challenge. continue reading »

An estimated 750 people attended a Tuesday night meeting at Lincoln High School to get information about the methadone clinic proposed for the 7900-block of Frankford Ave.

Dennis Kulp and Carl Primavera were booed at a meeting last night to discuss a methadone clinic in Holmesburg, but neither was around to hear it.

Primavera is the attorney for Healing Way, Inc., which has plans to open a methadone clinic at 7900 Frankford Ave. Kulp owns the property.

As the meeting at Lincoln High School got started last night, Mayfair Civic Association President Joe DeFelice announced Kulp had emailed him earlier in the day to say he’d been advised by his attorney not to attend the meeting in case it should interfere with future litigation. Primavera hasn’t answered any attempts to reach him.

DeFelice and Holmeburg Civic Association President Fred Moore cohosted the meeting, which drew an estimated 750 people to the school’s auditorium, and featured guest speakers 6th District Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, 5th District Sen. Mike Stack, 173rd District Rep. Mike McGeehan, 172nd District Rep. Kevin Boyle, 202nd District Rep. Mark Cohen and Karen Grumankin, who presented a letter written by Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz. continue reading »

People lined up outside Guppies Childcare Center last week to sign petitions and T-shirts in opposition of a methadone clinic on the 7900-block of Frankford Avenue.

Organizers are expecting more than 500 people at tonight’s meeting to discuss a methadone clinic set to open on the 7900-block of Frankford Avenue in Holmesburg.

The two-hour meeting at Lincoln High School is organized by the Holmesburg Civic Association, Mayfair Civic Association, Mayfair Business Association and Mayfair Community Development Corp., sparked by public opposition to the clinic.

A panel of speakers will address the issue before taking questions from guests. continue reading »

People lined up outside Guppies Childcare Center Tuesday to sign petitions and T-shirts in opposition of a methadone clinic on the 7900-block of Frankford Avenue.

As the sun beat down and the skies darkened to the north with the threat of rain Tuesday evening, Milt Martelack stood in the bed of a pickup truck, leading the crowd.

“Just say no to methadone,” the crowd cheered, speaking out against an addiction treatment clinic planned on the avenue by Healing Way, Inc.

Hundreds of people were chanting as cars whizzed up and down Frankford Avenue and police officers reminded those at the rally to stay out of the street. Residents and business owners of Holmesburg, Upper Holmesburg, Mayfair and beyond gathered to rally against the opening of a methadone clinic at 7908 Frankford Ave., across the street from schools and a daycare center.

“Can you imagine having to walk my 18-year-old son to the bus stop?” Sonia Latouche asked. Her son takes the 66 bus to school, waiting for it on the corner of Frankford Avenue and Decatur Street, where the clinic is set to open.

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This is part of ongoing coverage in “District 172: The Politics of Change after State Rep. John Perzel,” a collaborative effort with Philadelphia Neighborhoods funded by J-Lab.

Joe DeFelice has put a lot of effort into that little playground. And a few hundred residents and supporters have all helped in small ways.

In fall 2009, DeFelice, the Mayfair Civic Association president and now a new Mayfair CDC board member, kicked off a $50,000 fundraising campaign to renovate and reopen the Mayfair Memorial Playground at Rowland Avenue and Vista Street. More than a year and a half later, the Mayfair Civic Association has $20,000 and is seeking the opening on a smaller scale.

That fundraising was done dollar by dollar and almost exclusively by volunteers, like himself.

If fundraising for the playground, which closed in April 2008 after a young girl was injured on out-of-date equipment, was kicked off while powerful state Rep. John Perzel was still at the height of his influence, in the middle of this decade, DeFelice says the process would have been quite different.

Instead, in October 2009, Perzel was a month away from an 82-count indictment of corruption and a year away from losing his three-decade grip on a statehouse seat to a freshman Democrat who had never held public office before.

“When Perzel was in power, the CDC was buying houses, [a] movie theater, building [a] rec center, etc., so I’m sure that a little playground wouldn’t have been that difficult to come by,” DeFelice said. “So in the old days, a check may have been written, but now you have a large amount of neighbors who didn’t previously know each other coming together for a common good and coming up with new, innovative ways to raise funds.”

So what’s the biggest impact from Perzel’s indictment, the historic state budget deficit and a shake up of community leaders in a tight knit neighborhood like Mayfair? Perhaps nothing short of a change in how residents improve their blocks forever.

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Photo by Stephen Zook for NEast Philly

It looks like the Mayfair Memorial Playground is finally being rebuilt.

The playground in front of Lincoln High School on Ryan Avenue was torn down three years ago after a little girl fell and was injured. The School District of Philadelphia was originally only supposed to replace the poor matting blamed on the fall, but ended up ripping the whole thing out, said Joe DeFelice, president of the Mayfair Civic Association. continue reading »

Turnout was high for the Mayfair Civic Association's "meet the candidates" night for the 6th Council District.

This piece is the first of three covering the 6th District Council race.

With the City Council primary elections right around the corner, candidates for Philadelphia’s 6th District seat waited their turn to speak to residents of Mayfair at Tuesday night’s civic association meeting in the John Perzel Community Center.

“What a fun experience for me! Finally got to put some faces with the names of people who are following me on Facebook,” said Sandy Stewart, the Republican candidate for the 6th District seat in City Council.

Philadelphia’s 6th District seat is up for grabs, as long-time Democratic Councilwoman Joan Krajewski decided to retire after this term. Krajewski has held her position since 1979 and the race to succeed her is heating up, as the primary elections will be held Tuesday, May 17. continue reading »

The Mayfair Business Association‘s third annual Mayfair May Fair and the second annual Fallen Heroes 5K Run were held on Saturday.

The event kicked off with the 5K run at 8:30 a.m. at Sackett Street and Ryan Avenue. Runners traveled around Pennypack Park and Abraham Lincoln High School, and finished at the Mayfair Memorial Playground at Rowland Avenue and Vista Street.

Mayfair Civic Association President Joe DeFelice said roughly just under 300 people ran the race. They raised a little more than $10,000. continue reading »

In this two–part series, we examine the effects absentee landlords have on neighborhoods, and what residents are doing to fight them. In the first part, we hear from Mayfair residents.

During their patrols as Mayfair Town Watch President and Vice President, John Vearling and Len Roberts heard the same complaints from residents over and over again.

The owner of this property did not shovel his sidewalk when it snowed. This owner failed to maintain the lawn. The renters in this household would not put their trash outside at the proper time on the proper night. The sound of barking dogs and blasting music that came from this apartment never ceased, day or night.

Roberts said the gripes escalated as time passed. Some neighbors told him that certain properties on Cottman Avenue were known drug houses. Vearling heard from others that residents would move out in the middle of the night. continue reading »

The Fallen Heroes Run (design seen here, by resident Mike Ennis) was one of many topics reviewed at the March Mayfair Civic meeting.

The cold, rain and wind kept many from attending last night’s Mayfair Civic Association, but President Joe DeFelice powered through the agenda nonetheless, keeping the meeting to a brief 40 minutes. Below are the highlights:

“Mayfair Memorial Playground is the No. 1 issue,” DeFelice said, who assured residents that progress on the playground is beginning to move quicker than it had been. With a goal of $50,000, the organization has raised $3,000 thus far, though is in the process of securing grants.

And tomorrow, DeFelice said, Beatrice Seybold, the former financial secretary of the 1950s-based Mayfair Improvement Association will sign a letter to be notarized and sent to Sen. Specter, which will reassign a $500 bond to the MIA to the Mayfair Civic Association. continue reading »