A weekend distribution of fliers throughout Northwood brought about 30 people to the initial organizational meeting of the Northwood Town Watch at St. James Lutheran Church Tuesday night, prior to the regular civic meeting.  An hour was spent on discussion of the role of the Town Watch, discussion of the proposed bylaws and election of temporary officers.

A second organizational meeting is scheduled for Saturday, May 19th at 9 AM at the Knights of Columbus at 5323 Oxford Avenue.  Anyone who is interested in participating in Town Watch in any capacity is encouraged to attend.  Future Town Watch meeting will precede the Northwood Civic Association meetings.

Read more from the Northwood Civic Association meeting from the Frankford Gazette.

Northwood Civic Association (L to R) President Joe Krause, member Gina Panchella, Vice President Frank Bennett, member Renee Hudson and member Lou Kubik consider forming a town watch. Photo/Christopher Wink

At the Northwood Civic Association meeting on Tuesday April 17th, Vice President Frank Bennett proposed that the civic look into establishing a Town Watch group for the neighborhood.

Member Paul Sager who had formerly headed up a Town Watch group in Northwood, volunteered to co chair the group with Bennett.  A proposal to fund the initial study with $300 in Association funds had to be tabled until next month’s meeting because a quorum of members was not in attendance to approve the motion.

Read the rest of the story on Tuesday’s Northwood Civic Association at the Frankford Gazette.

NEast Links: Bringing you additional Northeast news

Police critically wounded the man who tried to rob the Pantry 1 Food Mart and the 7-Eleven early Thursday along the 5300-block of Harbison Avenue. An officer fired when the suspect allegedly pointed a gun [CBS3].

Also in the 15th District, police are looking for two men involved in a shooting at Leiper and Foulkrod streets. A 53-year-old man was shot in the hand and hip early Wednesday, suffering non-life-threatening injuries [Action News]. continue reading »

First of all, CBS3, 19124 is not Mayfair.

Somehow every news outlet in Philadelphia but you managed to determine that Large and Pratt streets intersect in Northwood.

Not Mayfair.

So when a 10-year-old was hit by a car after school, and CBS rushed to alert everyone that a Mayfair child had been struck, parents in that neighborhood had to scramble to account for their kids. continue reading »

Northwood Civic Association new 2012 board of directors, from L to R: President Joe Krause, member Gina Panchella, Vice President Frank Bennett, member Renee Hudson and member Lou Kubik. Not pictured: Treasurer Bill Rodebaugh.

New Northwood Civic Association board leadership was introduced Tuesday night, but a familiar voice took hold.

After a debate raged at last month’s meeting around the necessary quorum and other group charter rules surrounding the choosing of new board members, not a single vote was cast at the December meeting.

Instead, new civic president Joe Krause, formerly board vice president, said the board had largely remained the same, except for his promotion and a single new nomination. The group’s charter allows for board nominations to fill vacant seats, Krause said, so no vote was necessary.

Krause is replacing the outspoken and fiery Barry Howell, who retired from the board yet still grabbed the spotlight Tuesday, as he is known to do, by calling for an audit of the finances of the Historical Society of Frankford, something close to a neighborhood sacred cow.

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The Frankford Y has a rightful owner that is seeking a buyer and the Northwood Civic Association can’t do much about it.

So says Frank Bennett, the civic member, private attorney, new resident and Castor Avenue home renovator, who offered last month to look into the embattled historic building.

His view, which came by way of a thick packet of paper handed out to 20 residents in attendance, was echoed by civic President Barry Howell, of the historic and currently abandoned former community center.

“Sooner or a later a decision needs to be made about the safety of the building,” said Howell, who was presiding over one of his last civic meetings as president. “For now, we wait until there’s a buyer and see if we should oppose or support it.”

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The historic Frankford Y should be forced into sale with civic approval and could be done so in orphans’ court, said an attorney and Northwood resident present at that neighborhood’s civic association meeting Tuesday night.

The 70-year-old Y, which closed in June 2009 and whose future has been uncertain since its controversial executive director died in January, was the subject of intense criticism from Northwood Civic Association President Barry Howell both at Tuesday’s meeting and last month, when the subject was revisited.

“We don’t know who really owns the thing and what’s going to happen, but I don’t believe we’re going to get the right buyer for that property because that right buyer doesn’t exist. They say the building is worth $1 million. I wouldn’t give them $100,000,” said Howell to a crowd of nearly 40 Tuesday night. “And while we wait for it to get figured out, I think someone is going to get raped, shot or killed in there.”

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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.

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Northwood Civic Association President Barry Howell at an earlier meeting. Photo by Christopher Wink.

Held a week early so as not to conflict with primary elections, Tuesday night’s Northwood Civic Association meeting focused on quality-of-life issues around the neighborhood, including the application for a grant to remove fire-damage garages from Rutland and Fillmore streets. continue reading »

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.”

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