May celebrated its fifth annual May Fair on a sunny May Saturday along Frankford Avenue. Photo/Richard Kauffman

Mayfair residents had a reason to celebrate Saturday as they flooded a closed-off Frankford Avenue for the fifth annual May Fair.

The morning began early with the Fallen Heroes 5K Run/Walk to raise funds for the Hero Thrill Show, which helps educate the families of fallen officers, and also helps further rebuild the Mayfair Memorial Playground. At, organizer Mia Hylan held a dog pageant, helping draw attention to establishing a dog park in the Northeast.

“It’s taken years to get the Memorial Playground project underway, so I’m hoping we can get a lot of people behind the project,” Hylan said of the neighborhood’s latest cause. continue reading »

David Toledo has been charged with slashing tires on his neighbors' cars in Mayfair. Photo/Action News

David Toledo has been arraigned on 49 counts of criminal mischief, seven counts of possession of an instrument of crime and five counts of false reports. His bail is set at $270,000.

His neighbors and the media gathered outside his house on the 4000-block of Aldine Street last night where Mayfair Town Watch President Milt Martelack called a press conference.

For months, residents of the block had been victims of vandalism, waking up many mornings to find their tires slashed, or the air let out. David Toledo was among them, but it turns out he isn’t a victim.

“He betrayed us,” Martelack told NEast Philly late Wednesday afternoon after initial reports indicated Toledo was a town watch member. In fact, Toldeo never received town watch training. Instead, Martelack believes Toldeo expressed interest in joining the rejuvenated neighborhood watch group to get a sense of how it works so he could proceed to vandalize several dozen cars on his own block. continue reading »

Mayfair Town Watch President Milt Martelack addresses the group about recent acts of vehicle vandalism.

What was supposed to be a small, short meeting about the Shamrock Shuttle turned into a larger, longer meeting that drew Philadelphia’s TV news channels.

Mayfair Town Watch President Milt Martelack reorganized the meeting schedule to address recent acts of “isolated” vandalism in the neighborhood. Over the last few weeks, residents have woken up to find their cars vandalized – graffitied on, or tires slashed or missing.

“This shows that there’s still people in Mayfair that care,” Martelack said of meeting turnout. Despite concerns from some in attendance that more people should have been there, Martelack reminded the approximately 30 or so people there that the meeting had been called just a few days before.

“We’re taking baby steps but these baby steps are turning into big steps.” continue reading »

The scope of tonight’s Mayfair Town Watch meeting has changed. What President Milt Martelack originally intended to be a meeting about the upcoming Shamrock Shuttle will now be a meeting to address the recent acts of vandalism residents have experience.

For the past few weekends, Mayfair residents have woken up to find their cards had been vandalized – side panels graffitied, tires slashed or missing.

“Mayfair is not a bad neighborhood,” Martelack said, despite the attention it’s been getting for the recent crimes. Martelack will host tonight’s meeting at the John Perzel Community Center [map] at 8 p.m.

Tires were slashed on two dozen on the 4000-blocks of Aldine Street and Teesdale over the weekend. Image/Google Maps

It was deja vu in Mayfair yesterday, where residents of the 4000-block of Aldine Street once again had their tires slashed. The same thing happened a week ago, on the same block.

Last week, Mayfair Town Watch President Milt Martelack said the incident was evidence of “very serious issues with widespread vandalism” in the neighborhood. continue reading »

Tires were slashed on 13 cars on the 4000-block of Aldine Street over the weekend. Image/Google Maps

A week after two dozen Mayfair residents awoke to find their cars vandalized, others discovered the same.

Neighbors along the 4000-block of Aldine Street had their cars vandalized overnight into Sunday morning, Mayfair Town Watch President Milt Martelack said.

In light of incidents over the last two weekends, Martelack said the neighborhood has been having “very serious issues with widespread vandalism.” continue reading »

Milt Martelack (megaphone), seen here with State Rep. Kevin Boyle (second from right) and staff members at a September rally against a Holmesburg methadone clinic, will help restart the Mayfair Town Watch. Photo by Stephen Schultz.

Mayfair residents will try again to form a town watch.

The group started fresh more than two years ago, shortly after the Mayfair Civic Association assumed new leadership and liquidated all assets the previous membership had accumulated.

But that town watch effort fizzled out after a series of weekly meetings, training sessions and talks of taking on other neighborhoods’ town watch efforts. Determined to try again, Mayfair residents have organized a meeting for Monday, Jan. 9 for the third incarnation in as many years. continue reading »

Meetings for tonight are expected to be held as plans. We’ve confirmed the following: continue reading »

Northeast Philadelphia Now meeting at the John Perzel Community Center on Monday, June 21, 2010.

The beginnings of a coalition to unite the neighborhoods of Northeast Philadelphia around a common agenda stemming from quality of life crimes took another humble step inside a Mayfair recreation center Tuesday night.

Just a handful of attendees cycled in and out of the John Perzel Community Center for the second meeting for the Northeast Philadelphia Now initiative, corralled by Mayfair Town Watch Founder John Vearling, and the conversation roamed wildly. The pitch is to bring various and sundry community leaders together to develop cohesive strategies to supplement stretched police details and maintain the family-first reputation that has been a Northeast staple since its post-World War II boom.

“Our question is what can we do in the Northeast and what can we do now,” Vearling said. “Whatever the rest of the city does, I don’t care. I want to fix the problems in the Northeast.”

continue reading »

The idea isn’t new: bring together all the Northeast civic, town watch and other community leaders to form a united front.

But Mayfair leaders Monday night breathed new life into an old idea when they gathered for a preliminary meeting to share ideas for a Northeast think tank of sorts.

In attendance were representatives from the Mayfair Civic Association, Mayfair Town Watch, 15th District Police and 3rd Federal Bank. Together, this group — and others who were unable to attend the meeting — is seeking to unite the region’s neighborhood organizations to build and strengthen community relations, safety and business corridors, among other things. continue reading »