On June 1st at the 2nd Baptist Church, the Youth Day Breakfast.  See below for details.

The Boys and Girls Club has space available.  See below for details.

• Residents are concerned that the problem with the building at Simpson Playground has been put on the back burner by the city and as a result, the toddler play area is still closed to use as well as the building itself with the rest rooms.  Will the pool be able to open under those circumstances?  No answers have come from city officials and residents are feeling like the are getting the run around.
• The tire shop behind Pat’s cafe has cleaned up its act since they were approached by Northwood Civic members as a result of last month’s meeting.  Weeds and trash have been eliminated.
• The owners of 5260 Castor Avenue will be coming to the next Northwood Civic board meeting to discuss a proposed use for the property.  Residents opposed use for it as a beauty salon.
• Work will be starting on the Y in the next few weeks.  Prospective tenants on looking to the building for use.  Volunteers and donated materials will be used as much as possible to rehab one office space at a time to get some income from the property as soon as possible.
• Frank Bennett has been maintaining the triangle of property at Adams and Boulevard on his own time.  Cleanups are proposed in the coming weeks for the vacant water ice property on Castor Ave. and Northwood Park.
• The Neighborhood Security Patrol is still out there doing the job and will be doing a new campaign to sign up additional participants.

The next meeting of the Northwood Civic Association will be held on June 18th at St. James Lutheran Church at Castor Avenue and Pratt St.

At their 2010-2013 Triennium Luncheon on Saturday, May 18th, the Flag House Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) awarded Excellence in Community Service Awards to Joseph J. Menkevich and Michael C. Axelrod.

First a little bit of history about the Flag House Chapter of the DAR.

Mr T. Worcester Worrell, a long-time Frankford resident and member of the Sons of the American Revolution, suggested to his wife, the great grand niece of Betsy Ross, that a family chapter consisting of relatives of “Aunty Claypoole” (as they called Betsy Griscom Ross Ashburn Claypoole) be formed as a lasting tribute to the maker of America’s first flag.

The idea was well received by Mrs Worrell’s relatives and an organizing meeting was held at the Worrell’s home (Column Hall – State Rd/Church St and Tacony St) on February 23, 1901.  On June 9, 1903, the founding members met the home of Ada Cooper Dickeson where they were granted their Charter from the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution.  Ms Dickeson, a member of Delaware County Chapter DAR, became a member of Flag House to be with the Ross family group and bring their numbers to a symbolic thirteen.

In 1924, Flag House Chapter opened its membership to all Revolutionary War descendants – ensuring the chapter’s survival into the next millennium.  Members continue to participate in local, state, and national DAR activities and remain a presence in Frankford and the surrounding area.

Following are the citations for the awards. Joe Menkevich is well known to many in the Frankford community.  He will be our Focus on Frankford subject in June:

Flag House Chapter, NSDAR, proudly honors Joseph J Menkevich with the 2012-13 National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Community Service Award.   Mr Menkevich, an active resident of the Northwood/Frankford area of Philadelphia, has invested his time, resources, and considerable talents in civic/community service in enhancing the livability of his community & preserving the area’s history for over a decade.

As president of the Northwood Civic Assn, he took a firm stance in working with community leaders & City to enforce the area’s protective zoning ordinances – encouraging residents to get involved.  He convened civic meetings around development and demolition to preserve the historic, social, cultural, and economic features of the neighborhood.

Joseph Menkevich can be viewed on You Tube (02 July 2012) www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLTFAN30Yqc sharing his vision for the Frankford community in conjunction with his participation in the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program’s initiative to create six murals featuring the area’s history.    He has devoted his tremendous skills, time, and resources to researching the significance of various properties in the area to discourage their demolition and encourage productive use/reuse.  These include researching/sharing  the historic significance of the home of Dr Benjamin Rush, researching Oaklands – the home of William Overington – researching and sharing the history of Lydia Darragh’s role informing Washington of the movement of British troops www.frankfordgazette.com/doc/darragh3.pdf, and researching and encouraging the Historical Society of Frankford in the preparation of a nomination for a Philadelphia Historic Commission listing for the oldest house in Frankford.  He is a consistent and vocal presence at community meetings and a frequent contributor to the area’s on-line newspapers (www.frankfordgazette.com, and www.nephilly.com ).

 Mr Menkevich continues to generously share his time and talents with the area’s social, civic, and historical groups.  His activities have served to inspire residents to get involved in making their community a better place.   Flag House Chapter is delighted to present this national award.

Mike Axelrod is known to Frankford as a former Vice Principal at Frankford High School.  He has also made a fascinating presentations at the Historical Society of Frankford on flag history.

Flag House Chapter, NSDAR, proudly honors Michael C Axelrod with the 2012-13 National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Community Service Award.  Mr Axelrod has combined his formidable skills as an educator and administrator and his interest in and love for history to research and present a series of programs, activities, and displays on military, American, and Flag of the United States history to children, senior citizens, educational institutions, and social, cultural, patriotic, fraternal, historical groups throughout the SE PA region.

He is Vice President of the national’s oldest flag day association (Philadelphia Flag Day Association www.flagdayassociation.com/), and is an active member of the nation’s first organized military unit (1747 – Veteran Guard, Third Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania www.vg3reginf.com/). 

Mr Axelrod took the lead in establishing and expanding the PFDA Flag and Banner Collection, broadening it to include 9-11 and “Support our Troops” flags – now numbering over 200.  He has raised the funds to purchase significant flags through his educational programs, which are richly illustrated by examples from the Collection.   He has been instrumental in the planning of parades/processionals, events/activities, and ceremonies to commemorate 9-11, Flag Day, Veterans’ Day, and Washington’s birthday, working cooperatively with the National  Constitution Center, US Army, Independence National Historic Park, the Betsy Ross House, Fort Mifflin, and local universities and legislators. 

 His latest project is to offer support to enhancing and expanding the Military Museum at the National Guard Armory in NE Philadelphia as a vehicle for the preservation of the nation’s military history through the items from our nation’s military history and the stories of those who used them.   Michael Axelrod continues to explore ways to bring history alive through educational outreach and patriotic pageantry as he generously shares his time and talents with the area’s social, civic, and historical groups.   His activities have served to inspire residents to get involved in making their community and this nation a better place.  Flag House Chapter DAR is delighted to present this national award today.

In addition to the honors bestowed, new chapter officers were also installed as follows:

• Pamela Rivera, Regent  
• Patricia Coyne, First Vice Regent  
• Colleen Kolakowski, Second Vice Regent 
• Betty Bedford, Chaplain 
• Patricia Coyne, Recording Secretary   
• Bunny Riehl, Corresponding Secretary 
• Christie Link, Treasurer 
• Nancy Popielarski, Registrar 
  
• Patricia Coyne, Historian 
• Kathleen Zielinski, Librarian 

Congratulations to Joe and Mike and the Flag House Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

2010-2013 Triennium Luncheon

The meeting was originally scheduled for last Tuesday May 14th.  We got an email on the 14th that said it was rescheduled for Thursday May 23rd.  We sent out a notice to that effect and a textblast.

I learned later that Captain McCloskey was present last Tuesday and met with some residents.  When we checked this week to see if the meeting is still on for tonight, we did not get a positive answer.

The next PSA1 meeting, as far as I can tell, will be on June 20th at Aria Hospital at 7PM.

The new home of Marianna Bracetti Academy Charter School continues to take shape in anticipation of it’s opening in Fall of 2013.  The building is the former Northeast Catholic High School for Boys, once the largest boys school in the world.

The charter school is currently occupying an old trolley shed at Kensington Ave and Cumberland St.  The school is contracted by the city to educate 1,155 students.

Looking into the building, it looks like they ripped down all of the old walls and were putting up new ones.

I ride by the building every day and am amazed at what I think looks like an air conditioning unit on the roof.

It looks like something NASA would try to launch into space.

They’ve removed the bridge between the school and the former rectory building, which was sold to separate developers to be turned into senior housing.

Additionally, the rectory has ivy growing up it’s walls, I think it looks good, I’d love to see them keep it.

At one point, the football field out back looked like it was growing wheat, but it appears to have been mowed.

At Neighborhood Advisory Council, EPIC Stakeholders, Frankford Garden Club plant sale, Frankford Parks group, Campbell AME Church, you are likely to meet Anthony Smith.  He seems to be everywhere, lending a hand in one way or another.

This lifetime Frankford resident has deep roots in historic East Frankford and is a community activist. 

The Smith family founded the SW Smith Moving and Storage Company almost a century ago.  His father was a founder of the Frankford Chargers. 

Since his father passed last year, his mother Nancy continues to live in Frankford .

He lives on Mulberry Street and is active in his church, the historic Campbell AME church. 

He takes great pride in his family: Wife Lucille, son Anthony and daughters Tanisha and Aykema.

Anthony often makes reference to how he loves the diversity of Frankford.   It has always been a neighborhood with people who cared about each other. 

The Frankford of his youth was a neighborhood that you could take pride in.  It was clean and safe.  Now he works to bring Frankford back to that standard.

He was one of the first members of the Frankford Parks group and has been instrumental in working on Wilmot Park and Hedge Street park. 

This was related to one of his pet peeves, cleanliness in the neighborhood.

The resurrection of these two parks has made a tremendous improvement in the community and has fostered a better environment for all who use them.

When I asked him how he feels about the future of Frankford, he gets thoughtful.  Realistic is his reply.

We have crime to be sure but we are seeing a lot of improvement in how its being handled.  He has praise for the new 15th District Police commander.  We’ve seeing more police on the streets walking the beat where they are needed.

His other big concern is the youth of Frankford.  There is the lack of jobs for the teenagers. 

There are not enough places for recreation in the community.  The Frankford Community Y, the Salvation Army and the PAL center have all closed in the last few years. 

Another problem is that there are new people moving into Frankford who do not know how to raise children with the values. 

However, there are a lot of people who care very much about the neighborhood and that is the greatest reason for hope for the future.

Full report at this link.

Fifty-four organizations learned today that they are recipients of a substantial monetary award from ArtPlace America to support their work in creative placemaking in communities across the U.S. ArtPlace America awarded a total of $15.2 million to 54 projects using the arts to transform 44 communities (and a statewide project in the state of Connecticut).

ArtPlace America is a collaboration of leading national and regional foundations, banks and federal agencies committed to accelerating creative placemaking – putting art at the heart of a portfolio of strategies designed to revitalize communities. This is the third cycle of grants awards by the collaboration. With this round of grants, ArtPlace America has awarded a total of $42.1 million in 134 grants to 124 organizations in 79 communities across the U.S. (and a statewide project in Connecticut).

“ArtPlace America recognizes the central role arts and cultural activities can have in the revitalization of American cities.” Said Rip Rapson, chair of ArtPlace America’s Presidents’ Council. “With this grant award ArtPlace America is directing individual project support to scores of creative, high-impact projects throughout the country.”

“ArtPlace America is also continuing to break new ground in drawing together some of the nation’s leading foundations to think — in a concerted way — about how these kind of projects can become more widespread.” Continued Rapson.

This year, grants will support creative placemaking in:

• Bringing new life to rural communities
• Helping communities imagine new futures
• Activating public space
• Integrating art and design into creative citymaking
• Connecting and animating communities
• Creating new anchor institutions
• Sparking redevelopment
• Providing artists housing and workspace
• Strengthening business and the economy
• Developing civic brand stories
• Stretching established cultural institutions

The 54 organizations that received grants were selected from over 1200 applications. Inquiries came from all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia. Grant amounts range from $750,000 to $33,000 with an average grant size of just over $280,000.

Destination Frankford $ 335,150
Philadelphia City Planning Commission (PCPC) Philadelphia, PA

Through the creation of a vibrant public space, artfully designed signage and street furniture, a storefront dedicated to local artists, and an arts-focused marketing campaign, Destination Frankford will increase exposure to Frankford’s growing arts scene, add vibrancy to Frankford’s commercial corridor, and attract new artists, businesses, and residents to Frankford.

Agenda:

Discussion on 5260 Castor Avenue

Removal of bandit signs

Upcoming summer clean ups.

Coming up on May 25th is a special event in Frankford.  To coincide with the National Missing Children’s Day, the Say Nooo to Strangers Foundation is holding a Walk to bring attention to the issue.

Along with the walk there will be a parade with up to 25 drill teams from around the city.

Leading off the parade will be the Frankford High ROTC.  Following them will be the elders of Post 224 and CJ Waddy who is the founder of the Say Nooo to Strangers Foundation.

The event starts at the Gambrel Recreation center on Ditman Street. The drill teams will perform at Ditman and Orthodox.

Refreshments for the kids and a performance of the song from the the Say Nooo to Strangers show.

Event sponsors are:

Good Books U NOOO
Freedom House
Education Nation Learning Center
One Stop Uuto
PSK Custom Collision Center
Fly Guys Barber Shop
Strong Roots
Wade Brothers Roofing
Silene Marketing
Jackie’s King of Seafood
State Representative James Clay Jr.
OOO View Films

For further information, you can call CJ Waddy at 267-622-0906