Courtesy of Erie Reader

Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa yesterday appointed the Democratic chairs for the state’s standing committee. Among them are three senators from the Northeast.

“As we begin a new session, Senate Democrats are poised to move forward on plans to create jobs, improve education and make government more effective and efficient even while dealing with budget difficulties,” Costa said in a release. “I am pleased to make these appointments and I look forward to working with my colleagues because they will do quality work.” continue reading »

Photo courtesy of Pa. State Senate.

Yesterday, Pennsylvania’s senators representing Philadelphia declined a 1. 7 percent pay increase. The decision, led by Sen. Shirley Kitchen, was based upon the struggles of families who are trying to make ends meet.

“We are constantly hearing from people who are doing everything they can to find work, pay the bills and feed their families. Many of those who are lucky enough to have jobs have not received a boost in pay,” said Kitchen, who represents Fox Chase and Lawncrest in addition to other neighborhoods in the city. continue reading »

From left: Mike Bobby, who takes it upon himself to remove graffiti from Fox Chase and Steve Phillips, Fox Chase Town Watch president, display their patrol gear. Photo by Morgan Zalot.

When Stephen Phillips saw a group of teens brutally beating Eddie Polec to death from his Fox Chase doorstep in 1994 and no police responded to his 911 calls for help, he and a group of community members decided something needed to be done.

“You’d rather be proactive than reactive,” Phillips, who raised three children in the neighborhood, said. “Our community was reactive to the tragedy.”

Polec, then 16, a Cardinal Dougherty High School student who lived in the neighborhood and the son of a well-known crossing guard in the area, was beaten with bats by a mob of teens from a local suburb on the steps of St. Cecilia’s Church. Phillips said more than 30 calls were made from the area to 911 during Polec’s in a span of 20 minutes, but no police were dispatched to the scene until it was too late to save the teen.

“It was a major failure of the Philadelphia 911 system,” he recalled. “[Polec] was literally an innocent bystander.” continue reading »

Bill Dolbow leads Tuesday night's Lawncrest Civic Association meeting

The agenda for last night’s Lawncrest Civic Association read like a who’s who of local figureheads – much to the attendees’ delight.

Aside from the usual address from board members Bill Dolbow and Phil Grutzmacher, guests included representatives from the offices of City Council members Marian Tasco, Brian O’Neill, Jack Kelly and Bill Greenlee; Senator Shirley Kitchen; and representatives Dwight Evans, Mark Cohen and Brendan Boyle. Officer Mark Mroz of the 2nd District spoke, in addition to Bill Conaway from the Philadelphia Protestant Home and Debra Mikus with the Lawncrest Library.

The highlighted speakers were Al Schmidt, Republican candidate for City Controller, and Michael Untermeyer, Republican candidate for District Attorney. Needless to say, the meeting’s agenda was packed – and Lawncrest residents came ready with questions.

Below, you can read highlights from each part of last night’s meeting, which are broken down according to topic. continue reading »