Mayfair Civic Association Meeting Proposed Minutes (March 2013)

Mayfair Civic Association Meeting

Monday, March 18, 2013

7:00pm

Mayfair Community Center

2990 St. Vincent St. Philadelphia, PA 19149

 Board Members Present

Joseph DeFelice, Michael Williams, Pete McDermott, Kevin Leonard , Mike Serverson, , Lisa Greco, Anna Stacey, Mia Hylan, John Jenkins, James Ortlieb, Milt Martelack, Bill Becker

Board Members Absent

Melinda Mulvenna, Megan Whalen, Mike Ennis, Dana Lambie, Suzann St. Marie, Donny Smith

Proceedings

Pledge of Allegiance led by Vice President Michael Williams

Meeting called to order at 7:17 pm by President Joe DeFelice.

Actual Value Initiative (AVI) Presentation -  Chris Creelman

Presentation by Chris Creelman from Councilman Bobby Henon's office regarding the  letters sent out from the city about AVI.  There has been a lot of confusion regarding the AVI for homeowners and especially for senior citizens. Councilman Bobby Henon's staff are available at the district office (6730 Torresdale Ave) and at their Center City office to review paperwork and answer any questions or concerns. Of specific interest for seniors is the senior tax freeze where anyone 65 or older and meeting certain income requirements can ask for a freeze on their taxes. The forms and applications were made available to attendees of the meeting and residents are urged to contact the district or center city office with any questions or concerns. Any residents who have not applied for the Homestead Exemption or have been denied please contact the district office. For more information please visit www.bobbyhenon.com or the http://avicalculator.phila.gov/ where you can enter your address and will allow you to adjust according to the Homestead Exemption and the millage.

Membership and By-Laws Update

Review of by-laws changes from previous meetings requires that voting members be paid members of the civic association. If interested in membership, attendees were asked to see Assistant Sergeant at Arms, John Jenkins to obtain an application and pay for membership. Applications can also be obtained at the Mayfair Civic Association website at mayfaircivicassociation.com.

Treasurer's Report

Treasurer Kevin Leonard reports that the current balance is $9745.23

Previous Balance as of 01/23/13: $3997.72

Deposits:  $5896.15

Withdrawals:  $146.00

The MCA has received a $4000 Activities Fund from the city of Philadelphia. These funds will be put towards the Fallen Heroes Run and Mayfair May Fair.

Legislative Staffer of the Year Award- Lisa Marie Deeley

Lisa Marie Deeley is a staff member of Councilman Bobby Henon. Lisa is not only a Northeast Philadelphia resident but is a regular attendee of many of the Northeast events, is extremely supportive of the local civic associations, and extremely responsive to complaints and helping with community issues. For these reasons, the MCA chose to honor Lisa Marie Deeley with the Legislative Staffer of the Year Award. Since Lisa Marie Deeley was unable to attend tonight's meeting, this award was presented to Chris Creelman who thanked the MCA on her behalf.

Zoning

 New Zoning

Applicant: Shannon Mulhern and Mark Colomy of 2706 Elbridge Street (nearest to Farnsworth Street)

 Zoning Class: RSA-5, Residential

Appeal for One (1) Zoning Variance

Calendar Number:

19908

Application Number:

445321

Applicant looks to obtain a “Permit to Legalize the Erection of 18’ x 20’, 2nd Story Addition”

[On an Existing Deck, Open Below, as an Extension of the 1st Floor]. Mr. Colomy presented several pictures of the addition already in progress. He reports the addition is already 70% complete. He reports that the original owner who initially built the deck did not have the correct permits and he had had to go to variance court. The addition takes up the whole back of the lot and extends 1 foot into the common driveway. Zoning Chair, Pete McDermott reports that since the addition is already 70% completed, provisos will most likely not be effective. No immediate neighbors were present.

The Zoning Application was "Not Opposed" by a majority of members who were present and eligible to Vote.

Methadone Clinic Update

·         Dawn Tancredi, a lawyer representing the neighbors, presented an update on the case against The Healing Way. The case is currently pending in the court of common pleas and they are still waiting on the judge to make a decision.

·         Currently, via donations, $3000 has been raised for the neighbors defense fund to help offset ongoing legal costs incurred by the case. Any other donations for the defense fund can be sent to Mattioni Law Firm located at 399 Market St. Suite 200 Philadelphia, PA 19106. More information is available on the MCA website mayfaircivicassociation.com.

Shamrock Shuttle

The Shamrock Shuttle was held on Saturday, March 2, 2013 and the Northeast Erin Express for Saturday, March 9, 2013 with no reported major incidents. Representatives from the Mayfair Business Association, Mayfair Town Watch, Rep. Kevin Boyle's office, Councilman Bobby Henon's office and the MCA met with the new 15th police district Captain McCloskey and the participating bar owners as they did last year to discuss a plan of action and areas of improvement to combat public urination, sanitation issues and quality of life issues throughout the neighborhood. An additional 45 port a potties were set up along the route and members of the Mayfair Town Watch patrolled the residential neighborhoods and Frankford Avenue the day of the event.  Thanks were extended to the participating bars for their cooperation and working with the different groups to address the concerns of the community. Hammerheads Bar also made a $200 contribution towards the Mayfair Memorial Playground (at Lincoln High School).

Mayfair Arts Initiative

·         Third Thursday--The Mayfair Arts Initiative will host an informal gathering of Northeast Philadelphia artists at Headquarters or another public location (TBA) every Third Thursday of each month. This month's Third Thursday will be held on 3/21/13 at 7pm. Local artists, artisans and anyone with an interest in the local art scene are welcome to attend. Visit "Mayfair Arts Initiative" page on Facebook for more information and meeting locations.

·         Avenue Art Project--The MCA would like to see an increase in public art installed on Frankford Avenue. A sculptures to be placed at Frankford and Cottman is in the early discussion phase.

·          

Mayfair Farmers' Market 2013 Update

·         The application deadline to be a vendor/crafter artisan for this season's MFM is March 25, 2013. The Mayfair Farmers Market will be held on a bi-weekly basis on Ryan Ave at Frankford and Cottman Ave. starting on April 21, 2013 and ending on Sunday, October 20, 2013. A flier with all of the dates was made available to meeting attendees. The food vendor and crafter application are available at the following link: http://mayfairbiz.blogspot.com/p/mayfair-farmers-market.html

·         The Mayfair Farmers Market is being sponsored by the Mayfair CDC and Republic Bank. Currently, another sponsor is being solicited for the 2013 season. Please contact Joe DeFelice (josephjdefelice@yahoo.com) or Suzann St. Marie (sstmarie1@aol.com) if you or your business is interested in sponsoring.

Mayfair CDC Update

·         The CDC continues to explore a Business Improvement District (BID) for Holmesburg/Mayfair to spur business development.

·         The CDC has applied and been approved for a Business Privilege Tax application to partner with Allegheny Iron. Instead of paying taxes to the city of Philadelphia, Allegheny Iron would partner with the community group and directly contribute $85,000 a year to the Mayfair CDC to be used for improvement and maintenance projects in Mayfair. The Mayfair CDC was selected by the city to receive $85,000 for the next 10 years from Allegheny Iron which will go directly into community improvement projects.  

·         The CDC is also exploring a Greening Grant of $30,000 from the city for cleaning graffiti off the poles and cleaning up the business corridor.

·         The CDC continues to work on a conservatorship program and is asking for the addresses of any abandoned or neglected properties within the boundaries of the neighborhood. The CDC was successful in monitoring the house at Sheffield and Frankford and getting the owners of the house have been doing improvements including new windows, new flooring and extermination of the pests in the house. The plan continues to be for the house to be put on the market to be sold.

Mayfair Memorial Playground (at Lincoln High School) Update

Easter Egg Hunt

·         The 2013 Easter Egg Hunt was held on Sunday March 17, 2013 from 11am to 1:00pm with over 1,000 attendees despite the cold weather. All proceeds from this event will go towards ongoing maintenance, funding for a new fence and additional equipment.

·         Visit the Facebook page at "Rebuild Mayfair Memorial Playground (at Lincoln High School)" or at mayfairmemorialplayground@yahoo.com if you are interested in helping out with future projects.

·         The Mayfair Memorial Playground will be a clean-up sit for the Philly Spring Clean up on Saturday, April 18, 2013 from 9am to 2pm. Visit the Philadelphia Streets Department page to sign up to volunteer: http://www.philadelphiastreets.com/ProjectGroup.aspx?code=340I57C4N56

Mayfair Town Watch Update

·         The group is still looking for volunteers to become regular patrol members. More information can be found on Facebook under "Mayfair Town Watch" or at mayfairtownwatch@gmail.com. Applications and information were also present at the meeting. Www.mayfairtownwatch.org.

·         Mayfair Town Watch President Anna Stacey reiterated the need for new members to patrol the streets with current member. Currently patrols are limited due to lack of patrolling members.

Mayfair Clean-up Committee Update

·         A volunteer team of neighbors led by Jim Ortlieb and Anna Stacey continue to hold clean-ups assisted by CLIP. Most recently they did the Frankford Ave Business Corridor, the Mayfair Playground at Mayfair Elementary and Mayfair Memorial Playground at Lincoln High School. The committee also removed the planter boxes from out front of Family Dollar on Frankford Ave which were being used as trash cans and ashtrays.

·         Jim and the Clean-up committee and the Mayfair CDC have had 3 additional trash cans put around the Lincoln Loop.

·         Clean-ups have been halted during the winter but they will be starting back up in April.

·         The committee is always looking for suggestions for areas in the neighborhood that could use a cleanup. Make any suggestions about areas that need a clean-up via the their Facebook page at "Mayfair Clean-up".

·         Jim Ortlieb has organized bi-weekly clean-ups of the Frankford/Cottman/Ryan Avenue Intersections with CLIP prior to each farmers market date.

·         There is a scheduled May 4, 2013 clean-up of Frankford Ave for 3 hours. More information will be posted via a Facebook event page and linked to the MCA page.

Mayfair Dog Park Update

·         The committee continues to explore filing for 501c3 status and has approximately $500, which should be enough to get the process started. The committee is looking to formalize itself by holding officer elections at an upcoming meeting and establishing a bank account with their current funds. The long-term goal is to raise money for fencing and long-term maintenance which is estimated to be approximately $10,000.

Mayfair May Fair and Mayfair Fallen Heroes Run (honoring Officer Chuck Cassidy)

·         This is the sixth year for both the MFMF and the Mayfair Fallen Heroes Run to be held on Saturday, May 18, 2013.

·         This year's Fallen Heroes Run will honor Officer Chuck Cassidy. In the coming years if the event reaches 500 runners the plan is to move the run up to Frankford Avenue.

·         Lisa Greco, MBA representative spoke about the possibility of expanding the Mayfair May Fair this year by closing off Frankford Ave from Bleigh to Wellington and condensing all participants into that area. The paperwork is still pending but plans are going forward and specifics will be announced shortly.

Public Presentations

Laura Wagner from First Home Care

First Home Care is a foster care agency located on the grounds of Friends Hospital in the  Scattergood building. They provide the training of potential foster parents and the certification of homes for children. Participation in foster care training programs and additional clearances are required. The next foster parent training session will happen on 3/25/13 at 10am and runs every Saturday. Please contact Laura if you are interested at Laura.Wagner@uhsinc.com

Open Discussion

·         A neighbor discussed finding out about how to get his trash picked up in the back alleyway. Jeffrey Dempsey from Kevin Boyle's office addressed it and went through the process which includes writing a letter to the city and obtaining permission from additional neighbors. Neighbors can send a request in writing to:

Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson

Rm 730

Municipal Services Building

1401 JFK Blvd.

Philadelphia, PA 19102

·         Handbill information was made available by Secretary Pete McDermott and applications are available in the back for decals to placed on your door or in your mailbox to stop the placement of menus and handbills on your house railings, doors, mailboxes, etc. Jim Ortlieb  of the Mayfair Clean-up Committee made a statement regarding the effectiveness of the decals after he placed one on his mailbox and has received no menus or handbills.

·         The case against alleged, "Mayfair Tire Slasher" David Toledo, is scheduled for March 30, 2013.

Candidates for the May 21, 2013 Primary Elections

Candidates for Election presenting to the MCA in order of arrival:

Court of Common Pleas Judge, Ken Powell (R/D)

Court of Common Pleas Judge, Martin Coleman (D)

Traffic Court Judge, Donna DeRose (D)

Court of Common Pleas Judge, Dawn Tancredi (D)

Court of Common Pleas Judge, Dane Grey (D)

Court of Common Pleas Judge, Ann Marie Coyle (R/D)

District Attorney, Dan Alvarez (R)

Court of Common Pleas Judge, Abbe Fletman (D)

Traffic Court Judge, Holly Harris-Seidle (D)

Court of Common Pleas Judge, Chris Mallios (D)

City Controller, Brett Mandel (D)

Traffic Court, Ella Butcher (R/D)

Court of Common Pleas Judge, Michael Fanning (D)

Court of Common Pleas Judge, Joseph Fernandes (D)

Court of Common Pleas Judge, Christine Hope (D)

Traffic Court Judge, Marnie Aumnet-Loighrey (D)

Court of Common Pleas Judge, Fran Shields (D)

City Controller, Michael Williams (D)

City Controller, Alan Butkovitz (D)

City Controller, Terry Tracy (R)

Court of Common Pleas Judge, Derrick Coker (D)

Court of Common Pleas Judge, Sierra Thomas Street (D)

The next MCA meeting will be scheduled for May 20, 2013 at 7pm at the Mayfair Community Center.

Meeting adjourned at 8:36 pm. 

Meeting minutes submitted by Communications Secretary Mia Hylan on 03/18/13.