Would like to invite you to come out and

represent our Community!

 Come Join us and bring your ideas and concerns to our next meeting!

On

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

at

6:00pm

 Location:

Inter-Community Development Corporation

1534 E. Wadsworth Avenue

For more information please call

215-248-4104

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Friends of Wadsworth Avenue Meeting

June 13, 2007

 

 

The meeting was held at the Wadsworth branch of the Free Library.  The meeting began at 6:21 PM with introductions.

 

Minutes:

The group silently reviewed the minutes from the May meeting.  John Ungar reported that he reported the complaint about the sinkhole at Roumfort Road to Marian Tasco’s office and they reported it to the appropriate city agency.  Ron Brister stated that the hole had been temporarily filled in.  Alita Beckham asked about getting driveways repaired.  John stated that property owners are responsible for their driveways, but Councilwoman Tasco is trying to come up with something to help homeowners.  Alita was concerned about the entrances to driveways on the sidewalk, and suggested we ask some of the business owners to make repairs to the entryways to their driveways.

 

Next Great City:

Cynthia Bradley reminded the group that we had signed on as a supporting organization of the Next Great City, which promotes a number of environmental suggestions to improve quality of life in the city.  The Next Great City newsletter has a section called “Voices of Philadelphia” which highlights what some of its supporting organizations are doing.  Cynthia will write something for the newsletter so we gain some recognition for the group.  Cynthia also noted that the Leader has been very supportive of us by putting her monthly column about Friends of Wadsworth activities on the editorial page.

 

Traffic Island Project:

John reported that this project is moving ahead but will take a lot of time.  We still have a commitment from Councilwoman Tasco to fund the design work for the raised planter, but now ICDC is working with a private landscape architect for the design work.  ICDC will still need to fundraise to build the planter.  John reminded everyone that this will probably be a slow process.

 

Keep America Beautiful Grant:

Cynthia reported that the Keep America Beautiful foundation had a $2,000 grant available for graffiti prevention.  The group agreed that graffiti was not a major problem in our community.  Cynthia agreed to look at the grant materials anyway to see if it was worth submitting something.  Grant applications are due on June 29.

 

On the subject of cleanliness, Ron Brister pointed out that the fence along the Roumfort Road side of the Recreation Center has a lot of trash, and probably needs a cleaning machine with a vacuum to properly clean it.  John agreed to ask OARC what they would charge to run the cleaning machine up there.

 

Fundraiser:

The group agreed to try to raise funds, not for any particular purpose, but just to have some funds available for future use.  Bernard Lomax agreed to follow up with the suggestion from last month’s meeting about a bowling fundraiser.   We also discussed working with either Trolley Car Diner or Michael’s in Glenside to pick a night where the restaurant would set aside some of the proceeds from people who came in to support Friends of Wadsworth Avenue.  Cynthia agreed to follow up with both of the restaurants.

 

Leadership Positions:

We have talked about the need for officers during several of our meetings.  It was decided that we will hold elections at the July 11 meeting and will not put it off past then.  To insure a good turnout for that meeting,  Cynthia will put a separate mention of elections in the Leader, and Bernard will put it on Wadsworthave.com.  It was agreed that we would elect a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer.  We also discussed whether at some point the group should consider becoming a 501(c)(3). 

 

Rick White asked Donald Purefoey about the structure of the Wadsworth Avenue Business Association (WABA).  This led to a discussion about what WABA is doing.  Donald stated that WABA is hoping to have a festival in the fall highlighting our local businesses, which will be different from Wadsworth Day.  He said that WABA offers discounts between its members, and soon members will have window decals.

 

Street Trees:

Rick White reported that he is very interested in getting fences around all of the street trees on Wadsworth Avenue, just like the fences that Agape installed around their trees.  He sent a letter to ICDC about this, and copied Marian Tasco, Cherelle Parker and LeAnna Washington.  He saw Marian Tasco this morning, and she told him that there will be a lot of streetscape money available from the City.  Rick distributed petitions for both businesses and neighbors to show their support for the fences around the trees.  He stressed the importance of telling the elected officials what types of improvements we would like to see, so this can influence how the streetscape money will be spent.

 

Philly CarShare:

John distributed information about Philly CarShare.  This is a car rental service, but it is a little different from a traditional car rental service.  Cars are located at various parking lots around the City (but none in our immediate area yet), and members can access a car with an electronic key FOB.  People who use the service love it, and it’s cheaper than a traditional car rental.  ICDC is hoping that enough people in the neighborhood will sign up so that we can get one or more cars located in our area.   The closest location now is in the parking lot by Fit Life on Germantown Avenue in Mt. Airy.

 

The meeting adjourned at 7:44 PM.

 

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Minutes from November Meeting

May 9, 2007

The meeting began at 6:20 PM with introductions.

The group reviewed the minutes from the April meeting.  Someone asked about the sinkhole on the 1600 block of Roumfort Road that was brought up at the last meeting.  John agreed to follow up with the City about that.  John is also trying to find out what kind of help homeowners can get to address the driveway problems.  Apparently Elaine Street got a new driveway a few years ago – people want to know how that happened.

Next Great City:

At the April meeting, Christine Knapp from Next Great City made a presentation to the group.  The group voted to be listed as a supporter of Next Great City.  The members support all of the ideas, and want to have our group listed along with the other supporters to help bring some more attention to Friends of Wadsworth.

Recreation Center Project:

The beautification and cleanup project organized by ICDC with the Rec Center and McCloskey Elementary on Saturday April 21st was a huge success.  About 100 volunteers painted the school building, fence, picked up trash, and planted flowers and bushes.  Ron Brister will lead a group of people to finish painting the fence on Saturday May 19th.  John will try to get more supplies so that others can do some more cleaning on the same day.

PHS Grant for Community:

At the last meeting, John reported that PHS possibly had $10,000 to offer the community for a greening project.  At that meeting, everyone wanted the money to beautify the traffic island at Wadsworth and Cheltenham.  Since then, they rejected that project, because the money is coming from Citizens Bank, and the bank is looking for a project where they can have a lot of their staff volunteer.  However, ICDC still has a commitment from Marian Tasco to fund the design work on the traffic island, and PHS has agreed to do the work.  PHS also agreed to suggest to Citizens Bank that they fund more landscaping at the Recreation Center.

Northwest Philly Jazz Series:

OARC - the organization that presents the West Oak Lane Jazz and Arts Festival – is presenting a series of free jazz concerts around the Northwest.  We will have a concert at the Recreation Center on Saturday May 12 from 1 – 6 PM.  Artists performing are Alex Evans, Ndugu Jesse Andrus, Natural Selection and Intersection.  There will also be a food concession, and an arts and crafts marketplace.  People are encouraged to bring their own chairs. 

Open Discussion:

Cynthia Bradley reported that Rick White had approached her about getting fences around the trees on Wadsworth Avenue just like Agape put around their trees.  He reported to her that the fences are $80 each.  Everyone loves the way the fences look and they are interested in getting them for the Avenue.  John mentioned that the Wadsworth Avenue Business Association is also looking into how to get the fences, so maybe it’s something the two groups want to work on together to raise the money.

Some of the members complained about trash that the school children are leaving on the ground.  It was suggested that we talk to the school about getting the children to stop littering.  Some also complained about traffic and the difficulty of parking on Provident Road because of the school and Recreation Center.

Ray Jones, a candidate for the 9th Councilmanic District, told everyone that he is running for office, and thanked the group for the opportunity to hear their concerns.  He left some literature for the members.

Bernard Lomax distributed a flyer for a free workshop on website design that he will present at ICDC on Tuesday, June 19th, from 10 AM to Noon.

Nicole Fulton introduced herself to the other members and announced that she will be kicking off her own nonprofit organization next year.  She wants to hear what types of things people in the community would like to see for young people.

Bernard suggested the group organize a bowling party as a fundraiser and agreed to explore the possibility.

Cynthia reminded everyone that we need to seriously think about electing officers as the first step to making the group more formally organized.

The next meeting will be Wednesday, May 13 at 6 PM at the Wadsworth Library.

The meeting adjourned at 7:35 PM.

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Minutes from November Meeting

January 10, 2006 

The meeting began at 6:22 PM with introductions.

Minutes from January meeting:

The group reviewed the minutes from the December meeting. They discussed the next steps that Friends of Wadsworth could take to support the recreation center, and talked about the appearance of the recreation center.  The group wants to know what type of programs can be implemented for the youth. There was a conversation about talking to Skip Young (head of Young Legends) about the types of programs he has for the youth. We need to get more people to volunteer for and help get town watch up and running again in the spring.  When we had the meeting with the commissioner there were only two people who signed up for town watch. We need to work on more recruitment for town watch in the spring.  It was mentioned that when there was a town watch that the program really worked but the people who were involved are much older now and can no longer continue to participate.

Next Steps:

We need to talk about how we can raise money to create programs for the youth at the recreation center. We want to provide activities because it is evident that the youth have nothing to do with their spare time.  In order for us to have a program in the recreation center it has to be organized or it won’t be allowed in the recreation center. The librarian Nani, informed the group that she does have game nights for the youth such as a scrabble night.  Bernard Lomax of Wadsworth Ave.com asked everyone to please start using the website to put information out in the open in regards to volunteers for town watch or just general information that we would like the residents for Mt. Airy to know. There was a committee meeting that was held on Monday, January 8, 2007, and it was discussed that there will be no new police officers.  At the last FOWA meeting, however, the police commissioner said that he would increase the number of police officers in this district as soon as the last police academy class graduates in December of 2006.  We will approach this situation by writing a letter to the commissioner and also send him a copy of the minutes from the meeting where he stated that he would increase the number of police officers.

Miscellaneous:

There were questions asked about whether someone could implement a landscaping project for the traffic island at Cheltenham and Wadsworth Avenue.  Tara from ICDC informed the group that she and John Ungar, Executive Director of ICDC, have discussed a beautification project and also a sign that will tell people that they are entering Mt. Airy.  ICDC is working on securing funding for the project and getting the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to design the project, so this will take some time.

Friends of Wadsworth Avenue meeting was originally scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, but because of the valentine holiday the next meeting will be scheduled  for March 10th (which would be the regular meeting date).

The meeting adjourned at 7:45 PM.

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Minutes from December Meeting

December 13, 2006 

The meeting began at 6:25 PM with introductions.

The group reviewed the minutes from the November meeting, as well as an article about the meeting that was posted on www.wadsworthave.com.  When asked to comment about the November meeting (which was attended by Police Commissioner Johnson), some said that they felt like we were spinning our wheels a bit, but it was nice to hear that more police are coming to the area.  People also noticed that Officers Moody and Merchant have been more visible in the community.  Tom also reiterated that Officer Johns had suggested that the community start a Town Watch, since the police can not do everything without help from the neighbors. Some people commented that they haven’t really noticed any of the problems that other people have complained about.  The consensus was that this is still a very good neighborhood –and every neighborhood has problems which can not be ignored.   One member said that if you see minor things happening, you should step in immediately.  If you make it clear that this community has certain standards, it becomes easier to stop the problems before they spread.

Next Steps:

The group has been searching for a direction for a little while.  Although the group has a mission statement, we need to determine what projects the Friends can undertake.  One person suggested that we invite Skip (Ameen) of Young Legends to a meeting, because he would have great ideas about how we could work with young people.  John suggested the MLK Day of Service Project at the Recreation Center, and also noted that ICDC will have a spring project at the Recreation Center.  John stated that anyone who wants to sign up for the MLK Day of Service Project should visit www.mlkdayofservice.org.  Allien said that she is with a group trying to do something for adults at the Recreation Center, and could use some help with ideas.  It was decided that three areas where Friends could get involved were 1)youth, 2)mature adults, and 3) cleaning the Recreation Center.

Guest Speaker:

Gene Szostak, the editor of the Leader, said that the Leader is trying to get more input from local people in the newspaper.  He asked that Friends of Wadsworth contribute an article or editorial to the paper on a semi-regular basis.  Cynthia agreed to write about the group for the paper.

Miscellaneous:

John pointed out that if people have clogged storm drains, they can contact the Water Dept.  The Water Dept. is very responsive to these calls.  Allien pointed out that some large trucks park overnight in the area.  John said to call the Police Departments’ Truck Enforcement Division.  John also encouraged everyone to support local retail businesses – some of our new businesses are struggling, and need community support. 

ICDC is accepting holiday donations for two organizations:  Christmas Angels is accepting hats and gloves for children.  The Germantown Young Professionals is accepting toy donations for families at Northern Homes.

Returning to the subject of safety – one of the members has had experience setting up and running a Town Watch organization in West Philadelphia.  He noted that there are two types of Town Watch groups: 1)patrolling  2) eyes and ears.  Patrolling requires groups to patrol the streets.  Eyes and ears groups are easier – people call each other and the police – it is entirely non-confrontational.  He recommends training for either type of group.  If the group is large enough, the police will send a representative to the meetings.  He suggested that people contact Anthony Murphy of the Police Dept.  He is in charge of the trainings.  A Town Watch group should have at least 6 or 7 people to start out, and set realistic goals. 

The next Friends of Wadsworth Avenue meeting will be scheduled either for January 10th (which would be the regular meeting date), or January 9th.  Meeting information will be distributed later.

This meeting represents the one year anniversary of the Friends of Wadsworth Avenue.  The members celebrated with a cake.

The meeting adjourned at 7:25 PM.

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Meeting Minutes for November 15, 2006

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM.  Attended were advised that our invited quest, Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson who was scheduled to arrive at 7:00 PM, would not arrive until 8:00PM.

The meeting began with introduction of attendees and a review of the minute from the October meeting.  No additions or corrections were noted.

It was reported that there was minimum participation for the November 11th clean-up along the Wadsworth Ave. Business Corridor.  This month only four individuals participated in the clean-up.  It was stated that the more participants the easier the clean up will be to accomplish.  There is no clean-up scheduled for December.

Meeting attendees were asked to take some time to write down any issues that they wish to put before the Police captain, inspector and commissioner.  There was a break for approximately 15 minutes for this to be done.

Captain Singletary-14th District (CS) arrived at approximately 7:00PM.  

Q & A

Q- Is there a mini police station located at the Getty gas station?

A- Capt.: There is no mini police station at the Getty gas station. 

Q-Can we get a mini-station in this area?

A-Capt.: There are no more mini-stations in the city.  They did not prove to be successful and the department discontinued the project.

Q- Is this area a “Hot Area’?

A- Capt.: This area of the NW is not considered a “Hot Area”.  The crime rate in this area is low as compared to other areas in the city.  Most of the incidents in this area are theft/auto theft/burglary.

One of the members presented Capt. Singletary with a list of auto in the area that she has been watching since 2005.  Some these cars are equipped with high tech gadgets that allow the occupants to survey and know when someone is approaching the auto from behind.  She also stated that individuals have the ability from tech gadgets that enable them to listen in on conversations taking place on cell phones. Capt. Singletary accepted the list of auto and stated he would follow-up on the list of auto.

Another member stated that this area of the NW may not be considered a “hot area” by the police department, but residents of this area consider it a “hot area” for them. He related an attack made on them in the area where a gun was drawn on him and he was fired upon.  He was not hit.  But the danger does exist and makes crime a reality to him and others in their own neighborhood.  It a matter of quality of life issue that is slowly heading towards a life and death issue.  He also stated that this area is historically a “nice neighborhood to live in and we want to preserve what we have in this area.  There is a need to address the negative issues before it gets out of control.

Capt. Singletary reiterated that the area is not considered a high crime area.  However, there is anywhere from 1 to 3 patrol cars in the area and always at least one patrolling. There are a limited amount of cars available to serve the area.  He acknowledges that the area is a good area and the police department is committed to trying to keep it that way and preserve the quality of life in the area.

Capt. Singletary stated that most of the crime in the area is being committed by individuals from the area and grew up in the area. He suggested that residents may know these individuals and should report any negative activity they see to the police department.  Residents should have an active block association and meet regularly. Become familiar with each other and activities around them. A Town Watch would be a good idea.

Prior to the arrival of Commissioner Johnson approximately ten (10) of the attendees left the meeting at about 7:45PM.  This was perhaps as a result of the time and the delay in Comm. Johnson arrival. (Exact reason unknown)

Commissioner Johnson arrived at approximately 8:00PM and joined in on the discussion.  He stated that he (and the department) is committed to service the area and help maintain a good quality of life for the residents.  He also stated that we (the police department) could not do it alone.  They need the help of residents to make it successful. He stated that the department would be getting more officers on the force starting next year and a good portion of the new recruits will be assigned to the NW area.  Residents need to get involved and work together with the police to address the problems in the area.  He commented on the presence of patrol cars in the area.  The cars patrolling the area may be pulled if there is a greater need in another area. 

There was another suggestion that a TownWatch be formed.  Residents stated that they had a TownWatch years ago but did not have the support of the police. They had a concern for their safety and fear of retaliation.

The Officers invited interested residents to attend a meeting Monday at the 14th District to gain knowledge and training for a Town Watch. A sign up-sheet was placed on the table for those interested. The Department would definitely support a TownWatch. It was also suggested that residents get pass fear if they are to take control of their neighborhood. If the problem individuals know there is a presence of residents that are out and visible they would not want to stick around and would leave the area. It was also suggested that “Men United could lend help to the TownWatch by joining in on walks through the neighborhood

Meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:45PM

 

Meeting Minutes for October 11, 2006

The meeting began at 6:15 PM with introductions.

Crime Update:

The group discussed whether there was any follow up from the meeting with the officers of the 14^th Police District at the September meeting.  Some people have seen a slight increase in police presence around the Recreation Center, and also noted that there seems to be fewer problems behind the stores on Wadsworth from Bayard to Michener.  People seemed to feel that the meeting with the police was beneficial, so that the officers knew our concerns. 

ICDC will make the criminal nuisance complaint forms available for people to register complaints anonymously.  We discussed the importance of documenting complaints about criminal activity.  ICDC will submit any complaints to the 14^th District, and will also log them on to the wadsworthave.com website.  It was requested that people complete the complaints no later than October 25, so we could then submit them to Police Commissioner Johnson for our November meeting.

Someone noted that we should be aware that sneakers hung on telephone wires are a sign of a drug sale location.  We should also note that drug dealers are using a variety of “undercover” vehicles, such as taxis, Roto Rooter and Comcast vans.  There have been a series of car break ins on the 8400 block of Temple Road.  People should also be aware that criminals can take the VIN number of your car to get duplicate keys made.  Papa’s Perfect Pizza seems to be the new “hot spot” on the Avenue for loitering and drug dealing.

There was recently a high speed chase around McCloskey Elementary School.  The principal called the 14^th District, but the District claimed to have no record of the incident.  This concerned everyone.  People have also noticed that prostitution and drug dealing are occurring in the school yard.  We discussed inviting Marian Tasco, Cherelle Parker and the principal from McCloskey to one of our meetings to express our concerns.

One of the members described a mentoring program currently being implemented in Germantown.  An article describing this program was passed around, with the hopes that we could implement something similar here.

Wadsworth Avenue:

One of the members questioned whether it was possible to control what types of businesses opened on Wadsworth Avenue.  Donald Purefoey (President of the Wadsworth Avenue Business Association), and John Ungar (ICDC) explained that they are working on this.  It is hard to stop businesses from coming in, but WABA has been meeting with business owners and landlords to try to set a standard for the Avenue.  One recent success is the recruitment of Blu Hawk Uniforms to Wadsworth Avenue.  This store will open up very shortly.

Cleanup Opportunities:

Tom Stafford noted that one of the primary concerns of this organization has been the cleanliness of the community.  There are two different cleanup opportunities in the near future:

ICDC received a small grant to work with neighbors from several blocks in the community.  Residents were very concerned about the condition of the Recreation Center. The person responsible for cleaning the Recreation Center is not doing a good job, so everyone was encouraged to call his supervisor, Joe Hoffman, at 215-685-2234 to complain.  ICDC has taken some pictures of the trash around the Recreation Center, so hopefully we can document the problem.  People are particularly upset that the children have to see the drug paraphernalia and evidence of prostitution. ICDC is partnering with the Recreation Center and McCloskey Elementary School to implement a beautification project.  McCloskey Elementary is holding a poster competition for their students to advertise the beautification project, and has also reached out to Arcadia University to partner with them.  ICDC doesn’t have the grant funds yet, so the fall beautification may just be a giant cleanup, followed by a spring planting project.  McCloskey Elementary will pick a date for the project and will spread the word.  We hope to get a lot of community participation.

Donald Purefoey announced that the WABA is holding another cleanup of Wadsworth Avenue on Saturday, November 11 from 8 AM to 10 AM.  Once again, the Friends of Wadsworth is invited to join in this project.  He expressed concern about the lack of support we have had for the past few cleanups.

John Ungar agreed to follow up with Melody Wright from Councilwoman Tasco’s office to see if we can get street cleaning machines to wash down the street and clean the curbs once in a while.  John also announced that ICDC has two interns who are cleaning Wadsworth Avenue a few times a week.  People commented that they have noticed an improvement on the Avenue.

Officers:

Tom Stafford noted that we have talked about having people run for office.  He suggested that we pick officers at the November meeting.

Website:

Doug Tillman encouraged everyone to submit positive stories to him to post on www.wadsworthave.com. While the website can be a useful tool to lodge complaints about crime, he would really like to see it used as a way to spread the word about the many positive things occurring in our community.

The meeting adjourned at 7:45 PM.