I’ve been really bad at updating my news clippings recently! Here are a few links of articles you may find interesting.
8th PDAC names latest Officer of the Month
Millbrook group discusses ways to decrease local crime
Normandy Civic discusses city sales tax
Millbrook group topics include flash mobs, Town Watch and RecycleBank
http://neastphilly.com/2010/04/29/reader-submission-8th-district-honors-officers-civilians/
April 2009 General Meeting Minutes – Holme Circle Civic Association
Parks chief gets static at Somerton civic meeting | BSCN | 04/21/2010
The GOP stars come out for a Clambake | pa2010.com
It Really Is About The Conversation — Roy Wells
Public Record PR-526-SP
8th PDAC elects new officers | BSCN | 01/13/2010
Public Record PR-517-S
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Somerton raises its voice
By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer
The Greater Bustleton Civic League isn’t alone in its fight to keep a drug addiction treatment clinic from opening in a medical building at Grant Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard.
Members of the Somerton Civic Association last week pledged their solidarity with the neighboring Bustleton group and vowed to attend a much-anticipated meeting with clinic officials on Feb. 19 at the Anne Frank School.
“If Bustleton is against this, so is Somerton,” SCA president Mary Jane Hazell said during her group’s monthly general meeting on Feb. 10.
“We urge people to call our local politicians to say that we’re not against anybody getting well, we’re just against (the clinic) being so close to a residential neighborhood,” added Bernice Hill, president of the GBCL.
As reported in Feb. 5 and 12 editions of the Northeast Times, the clinic would occupy a former MRI treatment center at 9432 Roosevelt Blvd. City approval has been granted for the facility, as it is considered a medical use that conforms with the site’s existing zoning classification.
Drug addicts from surrounding neighborhoods would visit the center to get methadone and other medications commonly used to wean addicts off of illicit drugs like heroin. The center would be funded by federal, state and city tax dollars.
NorthEast Treatment Centers would operate the clinic. It runs a similar facility in Frankford. According to Hill, NorthEast received a permit to renovate the interior of the building on Jan. 15.
The GBCL has taken a lead role in opposing the clinic’s opening. According to Hill, volunteers have distributed more than 14,000 fliers to area residents about the clinic and the Feb. 19 meeting. NorthEast executives and local elected officials are expected to join neighbors at the meeting.
Hill is most concerned with the site’s close proximity to homes on the 9400 and 9500 blocks of Hilspach St.
“They’re right behind it,” Hill said.
One Somerton resident who identified himself as an off-duty Philadelphia police officer detailed his experience with similar drug addiction centers in other parts of the city.
Addicts new to treatment generally start at lower dosages of methadone, a synthetic painkiller. The medication is meant to negate the withdrawal effects associated with kicking heroin, but when abused can also get the user high.
As patients build a tolerance to methadone, their dosage increases, the officer said. Eventually, patients who appear to succeed in the program become “trusted” and are given bigger prescriptions of the medication so they don’t have to visit the clinic as often.
Many addicts will then sell their methadone on the street for profit or to buy other drugs.
“What you’re going to have is drug dealers lined up (outside the clinic),” the off-duty officer said.
The drug trade in turn can attract other crimes, including theft, robbery and prostitution.
“All of the seniors who go into those (nearby) shopping centers are real targets for these guys,” Hazell said.
Seth Kaplan, an aide to state Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-170th dist.), said that researchers report that between 20 and 30 percent of addicts admitted into methadone programs subsequently test positive for heroin.
Dave Kralle, an aide to state Rep. Dennis O’Brien (R-169th dist.), said that O’Brien had numerous occasions to discuss methadone with medical experts when he was a member of the House Health and Human Services Committee. Those experts told the legislator that “the fact is, methadone treatment doesn’t work,” Kralle said.
Hill, the Bustleton civic leader, is hoping that wide-scale opposition to the clinic, including a big turnout for the Anne Frank School meeting, will convince NorthEast to withdrawal its plans, much like community opposition blocked a proposed disciplinary public school in Rhawnhurst last year.
In other Somerton Civic Association business:
*Members voted their approval of a plan by a local homeowner to build an addition. The house is at 12002 Pandrail Place. According to SCA zoning chairman Dominic Ragucci, the homeowner needs a zoning variance because the addition would infringe by 3 feet into the minimum side-yard width required by city code.
*Capt. Joe Zaffino, commander of the 7th district, reported that residents should not be alarmed by the recently reported increase in violent crime in the district. The 7th district has so few violent crimes that an increase of only a couple in the span of a year can represent a 10 or 20 percent increase.
“It’s really easy to play with the numbers and say there’s more violence, but the Seventh District is as safe as there is,” Zaffino said.
Nonetheless, the captain added, residents must use common sense to avoid making themselves vulnerable to criminals. One basic piece of advice is to avoid walking alone at night.
“If you put yourself in that situation and there’s someone looking for a victim, there’s a chance you’re going to be targeted,” Zaffino said.
*The next Somerton Civic Association meeting will be on Tuesday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m., at Walker Lodge 306, 1290 Southampton Road.
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com
By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer
The Greater Bustleton Civic League isn’t alone in its fight to keep a drug addiction treatment clinic from opening in a medical building at Grant Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard.
Members of the Somerton Civic Association last week pledged their solidarity with the neighboring Bustleton group and vowed to attend a much-anticipated meeting with clinic officials on Feb. 19 at the Anne Frank School.
“If Bustleton is against this, so is Somerton,” SCA president Mary Jane Hazell said during her group’s monthly general meeting on Feb. 10.
“We urge people to call our local politicians to say that we’re not against anybody getting well, we’re just against (the clinic) being so close to a residential neighborhood,” added Bernice Hill, president of the GBCL.
As reported in Feb. 5 and 12 editions of the Northeast Times, the clinic would occupy a former MRI treatment center at 9432 Roosevelt Blvd. City approval has been granted for the facility, as it is considered a medical use that conforms with the site’s existing zoning classification.
Drug addicts from surrounding neighborhoods would visit the center to get methadone and other medications commonly used to wean addicts off of illicit drugs like heroin. The center would be funded by federal, state and city tax dollars.
NorthEast Treatment Centers would operate the clinic. It runs a similar facility in Frankford. According to Hill, NorthEast received a permit to renovate the interior of the building on Jan. 15.
The GBCL has taken a lead role in opposing the clinic’s opening. According to Hill, volunteers have distributed more than 14,000 fliers to area residents about the clinic and the Feb. 19 meeting. NorthEast executives and local elected officials are expected to join neighbors at the meeting.
Hill is most concerned with the site’s close proximity to homes on the 9400 and 9500 blocks of Hilspach St.
“They’re right behind it,” Hill said.
One Somerton resident who identified himself as an off-duty Philadelphia police officer detailed his experience with similar drug addiction centers in other parts of the city.
Addicts new to treatment generally start at lower dosages of methadone, a synthetic painkiller. The medication is meant to negate the withdrawal effects associated with kicking heroin, but when abused can also get the user high.
As patients build a tolerance to methadone, their dosage increases, the officer said. Eventually, patients who appear to succeed in the program become “trusted” and are given bigger prescriptions of the medication so they don’t have to visit the clinic as often.
Many addicts will then sell their methadone on the street for profit or to buy other drugs.
“What you’re going to have is drug dealers lined up (outside the clinic),” the off-duty officer said.
The drug trade in turn can attract other crimes, including theft, robbery and prostitution.
“All of the seniors who go into those (nearby) shopping centers are real targets for these guys,” Hazell said.
Seth Kaplan, an aide to state Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-170th dist.), said that researchers report that between 20 and 30 percent of addicts admitted into methadone programs subsequently test positive for heroin.
Dave Kralle, an aide to state Rep. Dennis O’Brien (R-169th dist.), said that O’Brien had numerous occasions to discuss methadone with medical experts when he was a member of the House Health and Human Services Committee. Those experts told the legislator that “the fact is, methadone treatment doesn’t work,” Kralle said.
Hill, the Bustleton civic leader, is hoping that wide-scale opposition to the clinic, including a big turnout for the Anne Frank School meeting, will convince NorthEast to withdrawal its plans, much like community opposition blocked a proposed disciplinary public school in Rhawnhurst last year.
In other Somerton Civic Association business:
*Members voted their approval of a plan by a local homeowner to build an addition. The house is at 12002 Pandrail Place. According to SCA zoning chairman Dominic Ragucci, the homeowner needs a zoning variance because the addition would infringe by 3 feet into the minimum side-yard width required by city code.
*Capt. Joe Zaffino, commander of the 7th district, reported that residents should not be alarmed by the recently reported increase in violent crime in the district. The 7th district has so few violent crimes that an increase of only a couple in the span of a year can represent a 10 or 20 percent increase.
“It’s really easy to play with the numbers and say there’s more violence, but the Seventh District is as safe as there is,” Zaffino said.
Nonetheless, the captain added, residents must use common sense to avoid making themselves vulnerable to criminals. One basic piece of advice is to avoid walking alone at night.
“If you put yourself in that situation and there’s someone looking for a victim, there’s a chance you’re going to be targeted,” Zaffino said.
*The next Somerton Civic Association meeting will be on Tuesday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m., at Walker Lodge 306, 1290 Southampton Road.
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com
Parkwood Civic Association has a banner meeting
By KatieRose Keenan
Times Staff Writer
Residents at the Jan. 15 Parkwood Civic Association meeting were presented with an informative, if short, session.
The main topic of the meeting focused on banners that the civic association plans to purchase to place around the community.
“We would like to purchase banners that will have ‘Welcome to Parkwood’ written on them,” explained the civic group’s president, Mike Hatala.
The banners are to be placed on poles from Medford to Academy roads.
“We want to buy fourteen banners and spread them out through that area,” said Hatala. “They will be around three feet long by two feet wide.”
Residents at the meeting were invited to give their input on coming up with a slogan for the banners.
“We are still open for suggestions,” said Hatala, who asked attendees to submit written ideas before they left the meeting.
Dave Kralle, special assistant to state Rep. Dennis O’Brien (R-169th dist.), offered another idea for generating slogans or even artwork for the banners.
“Why don’t you ask schools, such as St. Anselm’s, to ask students to submit ideas for a slogan or create artwork?” Kralle asked. “Maybe even a school could have a contest where students submit work, and the winner gets to have their work featured on the banners.”
The other major item on the civic group’s agenda was nominations for president, vice president, secretary and recording secretary. All of the incumbents were unopposed, however, and will keep their posts for another yearr.
They are: Hatala, president; Bill Neveil, vice president; Lou Farinella, recording secretary; and Carol Kain, secretary. Hatala ended the meeting by announcing the winners of the civic group’s Christmas house decorating contest.
“The winner of the house decorating contest was the owner of 12324 Medford Road,” said Hatala, who had not contacted the owner of the house yet. “The runner-up was 12712 Cabell Road.”
Each winner was to receive two gift certificates – one to Pat’s Pizza and the other to Reen’s Delicatessen on Academy Road.
Reporter KatieRose Keenan can be reached at 215-354-3110 or kkeenan@phillynews.com
