Tiffany Davis, director of civic engagement for Young Heroes, explains how the organization serves Holmesburg.

The Holmesburg Civic Association welcomed many guests at last night’s meeting – the most uncommon of which were representatives from Young Heroes, a division of Philadelphia’s City  Year.

Typical civic association guests includes politicians and other community leaders, but Holmesburg residents also had the chance to hear about how the City  Year term serves their neighborhood and the rest of the Northeast. continue reading »

The land the Mayfair Civic Association is selling to neighbors. See more detailed plans below.

Mayfair residents got wind of some big changes coming to their neighborhood at last night’s Mayfair Civic Association meeting.

The first order of business came from Acting President Joe DeFelice, who announced that former president Scott Cummings has stepped down from his position to attend to personal issues. From there, DeFelice said, the civic association will be dissolved, all assets liquidated and all grants closed. This will all likely happen by the end of the year, he said, and then the civic association will start fresh. continue reading »

Pennsylvania recently released its list of Persistently Dangerous Schools for the 2009-2010 school year, and the top 25 are all in Philadelphia. Of those 25, five are in the Northeast.

A school is defined as persistently dangerous if it meets any of the following criteria for this year and one of the two previous years: at least five dangerous incidents in a school with enrollment of 250 or less; dangerous incidents representing 2 percent of a school’s enrollment for schools with 251 to 1,000 students; 20 or more dangerous incidents in schools with enrollments exceeding 1,000. continue reading »

Courtesy of votemcelhatton.com

By Shannon McDonald

Dan McElhatton’s public office resume is almost as extensive as his ties to the Northeast. The 59-year-old candidate for District Attorney is a City Council alum, graduate of North Catholic, former Assistant District Attorney and Northwood little league coach.He spent two years working at Solly Playground, then represented that district 20 years later as a council member.

In an exclusive interview with NEastPhilly.com, Dan McElhatton talks about his connections with the Northeast and his plans for the next District Attorney.

There aren’t many candidates from the Northeast running for public office. Where abouts are you from?
I was raised in Juniata and moved to Northwood. I went to Holy Innocents as a kid, then onto North Catholic, as did my three brothers, my father and my son. Then I went to Villanova and Temple Law.

How did you spend your time growing up?
My brothers and I were active in the Juniata Park Boys Club. I played varsity baseball and jv basketball at North, then played American Legion baseball in college. I also worked at Solly Playground in Rhawnhurst for two years during the early ’70s.

When did you make the move from Juniata to Northwood?
I got married in 1971, lived in Juniata for three or four years, then moved to Northwood in 1975. My kids went to St. Martin of Tours, where my wife taught. My wife is from Holmesburg; she went to St. Dom’s and St. Hubert’s. My wife’s family still lives in same house on Rowland Avenue.

Continue reading for more on McElhatton’s ties to the Northeast and his objectives as District Attorney. continue reading »