Phil Grutmacher reviews Lawncrest's top zoning issues at the January Community Association meeting. Photo/Shannon McDonald

Last night’s Lawncrest Community Association meeting began with a word about burglaries from 2nd District Community Relations Officer Mark Mroz, ended with a $49 50/50 ticket and was interrupted by  a birthday cake for dedicated LCA member Peg Kramer.

But the meat of the meeting was zoning. With no guest speaker plan, President Bill Dolbow breezed right through the agenda and let Phil Grutzmacher take the mic to discuss zoning. Five proposals were reviewed, but the first is a site that’s been a thorn in the LCA’s side for months. continue reading »

A dozen sick and dead cats were removed from a Lawndale home Tuesday night.

PSPCA officers raided a home near Lawndale Avenue and Levick Street where a couple had been keeping several cats and neighbors became concerned about the smell of feces and trash.

Some of the cats were dead and most of the living ones were sick.

City representatives, elected officials and DRCC Board members break ground at Tacony's Lardner's Point Park. Photo/DRCC Facebook page.

Yesterday’s groundbreaking at Larnder’s Point Park is the first noticeable step of many in a process that will bring a new park to Tacony.

Part of Delaware River City Corp.’s plan to connect neighborhoods along the Delaware River, the park at Levick Street near the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge will feature a river overlook, fishing pier and green space. continue reading »

UPDATE – The property at the center of Saturday’s shooting in Mayfair, as well as other neighboring properties, has been brought to the attention of the city and state and municipal politicians. These properties have a history of complaints against them. We’ll have more information for you as the story develops.

Saturday – A man was found shot in Mayfair early Saturday morning on the 6300-block of Frankford Avenue. According to reports and accounts from neighbors, the man was shot multiple times in a home on the 3100-block of Levick Street. He was taken to Aria Health-Torresdale after being found on the Avenue. continue reading »

Friday – Authorities are investigating the shooting of a man by police early Friday morning in an incident that began outside Aria Health-Frankford. Reports say officers witnessed a car drop off two gunshot victims at the hospital, and the officers decided to follow the car. During a confrontation, officers reportedly shot a suspect near Hawthorne and Pratt streets around 2 a.m. continue reading »

Pennsylvania legislative district 172, as it stands today. Click to visit Redistricting the Nation.

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.

Shaping legislative districts is by no means illegal. It’s a part of the democratic process.

After each U.S. Census informs leaders about population and demographic shifts throughout the country, each state, county and municipality is meant to see subtle movement in its boundaries to better reflect the realities there, from balancing population totals and community divides. For example, in the post-1990-census redistricting, Philadelphia lost two House seats to its western suburbs due to population growth there.

Where redistricting has earned the more negatively connoted term of ‘gerrymandering’ — coined in 1812 after a partisan Massachusetts governor — has been when political, not population, shifts seem to motivate legislative rewiring.

Now again, Pennsylvania is revisiting its boundaries, like the rest of the country, following the 2010 census. In April, a former Superior Court president was named the independent chair of the state’s Legislative Reapportionment Commission, which by October is due to send to the state Supreme Court its reapportionment draft of state legislative districts.

One district that will be watched by some insiders is the Pennsylvania 172nd State House Legislative district, formerly the precinct of John Perzel.

continue reading »

You don’t have to live in Summerdale or Lawndale to know that one is not the other. Lawndale is one-half of Lawncrest; Summerdale is another neighborhood entirely.

It doesn’t take much to spot the difference. All you need is a map and general knowledge of Philadelphia. Cue the error… continue reading »

Police located a stabbing suspect early yesterday morning in Lawndale. It what appears to be a domestic dispute, a woman stabbed a man in the chest in a home on the 1100-block of Kerper Street, then fled the scene. continue reading »

(L to R): Bill Conaway, PPh Director of Community Relations; Sherry Wharton; John Evans, Salvation Army Thrift Store; and Sandi King, Philadelphia Commerce Department Business Services Manager, take a break from cleaning Rising Sun Avenue from Hellerman to Levick streets. Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Protestant Home.

This submission was provided by the Philadelphia Protestant Home, one of many business and organizations that took part in the Rising Sun Avenue cleanup. NEast Philly will have additional coverage of the event in the coming days.

More than 75 people took to the street on Saturday morning, and with brooms, rakes and shovels in work-gloved hands, cleaned up Rising Sun Avenue from Adams to Cottman avenues. continue reading »

Residents of the 6300-block of Revere Street got an unpleasant wake-up call this morning: an eight-inch watermain break.

The break happened around 5 a.m. between Robbins  and Levick streets — two main traffic arteries. Water has been shut off to approximately 60 to 80 surrounding homes, but is expected to be back on by the end of today.