SOSNA News -- March 2003

Naval Home | Three Schools May Close | Zoning Task Force Recommendations | News Briefs

Printing for this issue of the Newsletter was made possible by a gift from the Lombard River Park Association

COMMUNITY & CITY EXERT PRESSURE ON TOLL BROS. IN NAVAL HOME SITUATION
More than 160 community residents crowded into St. Anthony's Senior Residence Community Room at 2311 Carpenter Street on February 11 to question City officials and hear an update on the Naval Home situation. Speaking to the community that night were: Kathleen Murray from Council President Anna Verna's office, Kevin Hannah, Secretary for Housing and Neighborhood Transformation from the Mayor's Cabinet, Robert Solvible of the Department of License & Inspection, Andrew Ross of the Law Department, Richard Tyler of the Phila. Historical Commission, and John Gallery of the Preservation Alliance. Congratulations to all the SOSNA members and community residents who have attended community meetings or court hearings, written letters to officials, and worked to focus attention on this issue. Without your concern and intervention, we would not have secured the court order to Toll Bros. to repair of the roof of Biddle Hall. All the reports on meetings and court hearings are available on the SOSNA web-site: www.southofsouth.org.

THREE AREA SCHOOLS MIGHT CLOSE IN JUNE
The School District and the School Reform Commission have indicated that the E.M. Stanton School at 17th and Christian Streets and the Durham School at 16th and Lombard Street might be closed in June at the end of the current school year. A final decision on the fate of both schools is due next month. In addition, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has announced that St. Charles Boromeo, a parochial school at 20th and Christian, will also close because of declining enrollment.

The Stanton School has held 2 Public Meetings to plead with the School Reform Commission and Paul Vallas, CEO of the School District, to keep Stanton open. Everyone present at the meetings was impressed with the articulate and passionate testimony by students, teachers, alumni, parents, and volunteers in Stanton's Mentoring Program. But Mr. Vallas explicitly stated that in order to reduce class size and invest in new high schools, he had to focus on saving money, and that could only be accomplished by hard decisions on closing older, under-utilized and inefficient buildings. Stanton, a 75-year old building, currently has only 189 students and capacity for about 400. If Stanton is closed, it is anticipated that most students will be transferred to the Arthur School at 20th and Catharine, or to Pierce at 24th and Christian.

LAND USE & ZONING TEAM RECOMMENDS STRICTER ADHERENCE TO ZONING RULES AS OPEN SPACE & ANTI-DENSITY MEASURE
The Land Use & Zoning Team held its first meeting on March 4th and recommended stricter adherence to zoning regulations in residential development to preserve open space and hold down density in the neighborhood. These recommendations will be applied to R10 (multi-family) and R10a (single-family) zoned areas and will most likely result in SOSNA opposing zoning applications for multi-family housing on lots where there is not sufficient rear-yard or open space.

"It's a quality of life issue," said SOSNA NAC Director Eve Lewis. "The Zoning Code mandates a certain amount of open space, rather than building on 100% of a lot. Residents seem to feel that, given all the investment going on in the neighborhood, now is the time to be more stringent and consistent in adhering to the Code." These views were echoed by Alan Mandel, the Zoning Chair: "For a long time we were desperate for investment and development in the neighborhood, and not as fussy as we should have been. But market forces are so strong right now that it behooves us to examine cases very carefully. Every additional dwelling unit in an existing building could mean an additional car on the street, or trash being put out before collection day, because a building has no off-street storage for trash. We have to be much more selective in the development we permit."

Future meetings of the Land Use & Zoning Team are expected to consider height limitations for new construction, street-level garages on the ground floor of buildings, and a zoning overlay on South Street to prohibit certain businesses. The team is also considering process questions--how the recommendations of the team should be discussed and debated in the neighborhood in order to develop a consensus.

NEWS BRIEFS

• SOSNA has submitted a proposal to the Claneil Foundation, seeking additional funding for its Architecture & History Project, a survey of keys sites in the neighborhood leading to publication of a booklet and cd on neighborhood assets. SOSNA already received a $6,000 grant for this project from The Philadelphia Foundation.
• The SOSNA Board has decided to name the 17th and Carpenter Home Ownership Development after Julian Abele, a distinguished African American architect who lived on Christian Street and designed the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as well as other significant buildings.
• Seconds on South, the SOSNA Thrift Shop at 1635 South Street, has a half-price sale on all winter clothing. Call 215-732-8151.
• An independent public auditor has completed an audit of SOSNA's finances and books for Calendar Years 2000 and 2001. Armed with these audits, SOSNA is applying to a variety of foundations and corporate sponsors to fund operations and special projects.
• Sharon Savings Bank is moving ahead with plans for a new bank building at 1900 South Street. Sharon will be applying for Renewal Community tax credits for its business and has indicated that new employees will be hired from the community.

NOMINATIONS & ELECTIONS FOR BOARD OF DIRECTORS IN MARCH AND APRIL
The entire Board of Directors of SOSNA stands for election at the April 9th General Meeting, and nominations will be taken at the March 12th General Meeting. In order to be nominated, or to vote, you must have attended 4 General Meetings from May of 2002 thru April 2003, be 18 years of age, be a SOSNA member, and have an interest in the NAC service area.
Ten of the seats are for 5-year terms, and Five of the seats are for 1-year terms. All Directors are volunteers and serve without compensation. The election will be monitored by an Election Committee drawn from the membership and by the Office of Housing & Community Development.


SOSNA GENERAL MEETINGS
SOSNA General Meetings are held on the second Weds. of each month at 7:30 PM, September thru June.

Published by South of South Neighborhood Assoc. Inc., 1711 South Street, Phila. Pa. 19146. Phone: 215-732-8446; Fax: 215-732-2016. Web-site: www.southofsouth.org. Douglas Norman, Executive Director. Eve Lewis, NAC Director. Luz Harper, Senior Housing Counselor; Angela Richardson, Chair. Doerte Smith, Vice Chair; Alan Mandel, Treasurer; Sam Porter, Controller, Marni Showell, Asst. Controller.

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SOSNA is the Neighborhood Advisory Committee for the area from South Street to Washington Avenue, Broad Street West to the Schuylkill River, funded by the Office of Housing and Community Development to provide citizen input into their redevelopment process in our community. SOSNA is a registered nonprofit corporation exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Site contents copyright SOSNA except where indicated.