Renovation underway at 47th and Kingsessing.
Neighbors backing the plan to bring two pre-schools to the recently purchased church building at 47th and Kingsessing are collecting signatures for a zoning change that would help make the plan a reality.
Back in January we reported that the 114-year-old Frank Furness-designed church building at 47th and Kingsessing was undergoing renovation thanks to local developer Guy Laren, who bought the deteriorating building and saved it from demolition. Laren’s plans include opening two pre-schools that would occupy about 40 percent of the large building after the renovation has been completed. The schools are Little Learners, currently located next to Four Worlds Bakery on the 4600 block of Woodland Avenue and Children’s Community School, currently in the basement of Calvary Center at 48th and Baltimore. Relocation to the church building would allow both schools to expand and accept more kids for the next school year.
The petition can be downloaded here. Supporters are asking those interested to sign the petition and drop it off at Four Worlds Bakery, 4634 Woodland (you can put it in the mailbox if the shop is closed). You can also show your support for the zoning changes at the Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing on April 15 at 2 p.m. The address is 1515 Arch Street, 18th Floor. Guy Laren and the directors of Little Learners and Children’s Community School are expected to be at the hearing.
UPDATE: There’s also an online version of the petition on Change.org.
March 31st, 2015 at 5:02 pm
How could anyone be against this project?
April 1st, 2015 at 3:38 pm
Why two and not one large pre-school? This sounds suspicious.
April 1st, 2015 at 5:36 pm
Two schools and not one, I presume, because neither is quite large enough to really fit the space?
April 2nd, 2015 at 9:47 am
I agree this seems like a back door approach to development. This reminds me of the Church/School/apartments/business that clogs the road daily with school bussed at the corner of 45th and Walnut.
This started off as one zoning then ended up the fiasco it is.
The busses linning up 2x daily on Walnut is a hazard and dangerous.
.
April 2nd, 2015 at 1:03 pm
Wow, I spoke too soon. What low-impact reuse are people envisioning as a viable alternative? Most of the CCS students live in the immediate area and walk with their parents every day. I imagine much of Little Learners take SEPTA as on the trolley is where I have met parents enrolled there. Unlike grade schools, there is certainly no yellow bus transportation provided by the city.
Would you prefer the building to fall back into disrepair? I cannot imagine there is a church group wealthy enough to fund the renovations and ongoing maintenance that it requires.
April 2nd, 2015 at 4:13 pm
I agree with A and am pretty sure these daycare providers do not offer buss services. I did tour one of them a few years ago, and I believe that the two providers may have different offerings/ models. It may not be appropriate for two daycare facilities with different philosophies to merge just because they are in the same physical building. But, I’m more or less generally speaking.
April 4th, 2015 at 9:37 am
It is more about getting special zoning. I have seen these “special zonings” abused as in the 45th and walnut.
It started as one thing a church then it was a school and after special zoning it became a School/church/business with apartments on the top. All behind the backs of Walnut Hill. Then the Busses that stop traffic cause a jam at the intersection, people are trying to maneuver past them as they idle 30 plus mins waiting for the students to be dismissed 2x daily It is dangerous. And the spot they chose is in the street not parked on the side.
It is sad that back-dooring a property use is happening. Which is why I am against the change. There is no guarantee that the plan goes as promised.
April 11th, 2015 at 1:01 pm
Oh, for heaven’s sake, no matter how low-impact and pro-building-rescue a project is, there have to be folks who see it as negative. How sad.
April 12th, 2015 at 8:55 am
One of the schools will be located in the parish house next to the church and the other right in the church. They are two separate schools. They already have established well attended schools
May 4th, 2015 at 7:14 am
See When reporters and investigators cooperate…http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150504_Did_Blackwell_aide_violate_ethics_rules_.html
May 4th, 2015 at 7:15 am
AN AIDE to Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell has been linked to a nonprofit that has hosted fundraisers for her, despite a ban on city employees engaging in political fundraising.
Saboor Muhammed, who has worked for Blackwell for about three years, is listed as the “chairman” of the nonprofit Southwest Philadelphia District Services on its website. He is also listed as a contact person on other promotional materials distributed by the group.
A flier obtained by the Daily News shows that group organized and promoted a $20-a-head fundraiser for Blackwell on March 22, 2014, at a bar in Upper Darby.
When asked in a phone conversation last week if he was involved with Southwest, Muhammed repeated, “No, no, no,” and abruptly hung up after refusing to answer further questions.
But Blackwell had a slightly different recollection.
“Sure, I know [Muhammed] is involved with that group,” she said. “I’ve know that group for some years, known him for many, many years. . . . That group is like many others.”
Blackwell ought to remember the group, since the nonprofit hosts an annual “Jannie L. Blackwell Community Day” each year. But did it also host fundraisers for the councilwoman?
“Yeah, one or two. What’s the problem?” Blackwell asked.
The problem is the city forbids its employees – even City Council employees – from getting involved with political fundraising.
“The rules are pretty clear and there for good reason,” said David Thornburgh, of the government watchdog Committee of Seventy. “I’m not commenting on this specific instance, but we know why the rules are there and I’m sure the Board of Ethics will come to their own conclusions.”
Blackwell would say little else on the subject. She declined to describe Muhammed’s duties (he earns $47,930 a year as an office assistant), although she alluded to his friendship with her late husband, U.S. Rep. Lucien Blackwell.
When the issue of possible ethical violations came up, the councilwoman said she would not go through “an interrogation on the phone about a community group” and refused to answer further questions.
Southwest Philadelphia District Services also has made small donations – some under an address that Muhammed has used as a residence – to several political candidates, including Blondell Reynolds Brown and state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, who is running for mayor. Election law prohibits nonprofit corporations from donating directly to political candidates.
Despite – or perhaps because of – its political activities, the group has benefited from city money. Southwest Philadelphia District Services landed a $190,000 grant from the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development in 2012 to renovate a dilapidated building on Woodland Avenue near 52nd Street for use as a headquarters. But that building is still boarded up.
Muhammed’s involvement with Southwest came to light after a recent zoning meeting hosted by the nonprofit pitted neighbors against the group. The group is a “Registered Community Organization” – a special group approved by the city to handle neighborhood zoning meetings for development projects – and infuriated some neighbors at a recent zoning meeting, where a Southwest representative declined to hold a vote to approve the renovation of a local church building.
It was a popular project. The crumbling church in Southwest Philadelphia was about to meet the wrecking ball last year when preservationists, community members, developers and former Mayor Wilson Goode united to save the 19th-century church, which was designed by legendary architect Frank Furness. Two day-care centers nearby were bursting at the seams, and a deal was hashed out for a private developer to renovate the church with the day cares as tenants.
But Southwest declined to support the zoning changes needed for the project.
“I think they said they wanted a $10,000 donation,” said zoning lawyer Carl Primavera, who represents project developer Guy Lauren. “And I said, ‘Look, that’s not within any scope of reality here.’ You can’t add layers of expense to things that are hard to get done in the first place.”
At a raucous community meeting later hosted by Southwest, the group’s representative, Jihad Ali, repeatedly interrupted neighbors who had arrived to support the project and tabled a vote to determine whether the project got community approval.
Ali did not respond to calls for comment.
After that meeting, upset neighbors started to grumble online about Muhammed’s apparent involvement with the nonprofit.
The group has been involved in zoning controversies before. In 2013, members of the nonprofit attempted to hold up approval for a West Philadelphia woman who wanted to open a taco cart on a vacant lot unless she offered up a similar “donation,” according to Philadelphia City Paper.
“They can’t treat everyone that comes into the neighborhood like there’s a price of admission”
May 4th, 2015 at 7:16 am
This is the same thing MCIC’s Rick Young does, did in Mantua.
May 4th, 2015 at 8:05 am
Racketeering, money laundering, graft. Blackwell needs to be arrested with the rest of her criminal croonies
May 4th, 2015 at 8:38 am
AN AIDE to Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell has been linked to a nonprofit that has hosted fundraisers for her, despite a ban on city employees engaging in political fundraising.
Saboor Muhammed, who has worked for Blackwell for about three years, is listed as the “chairman” of the nonprofit Southwest Philadelphia District Services on its website. He is also listed as a contact person on other promotional materials distributed by the group.
A flier obtained by the Daily News shows that group organized and promoted a $20-a-head fundraiser for Blackwell on March 22, 2014, at a bar in Upper Darby.
When asked in a phone conversation last week if he was involved with Southwest, Muhammed repeated, “No, no, no,” and abruptly hung up after refusing to answer further questions.
But Blackwell had a slightly different recollection.