Editor’s Note: This is the latest in the series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. Make sure to go to Them That Do for more photos, videos and other information and updates.

Freda Egnal, block captain for 43 years on the 4800 block of Osage Avenue. (Photo by Lori Waselchuk)

“Stop Bitching, Start A Revolution,” reads the Zendik Farm bumper sticker on the Prius parallel-parked between handicap parking signs. The sign poles are decorated with beads, fabric, earrings and ribbons. This is Freda Egnal’s spot.

Egnal is a funky lady. She dyes flashes of blue, green, yellow and purple into her white hair to match the rainbow rims of her glasses. She covers the walls of her front-porch office with posters and buttons shouting slogans like HOUSES NOT HIGHWAYS (1970’s) or REFORM HEALTHCARE NOW! (2000’s) – most are from community campaigns and projects that she has worked on.

When I met Egnal a year ago, she had been a block captain for over 40 years. A few months ago she passed on that position to a young couple who volunteered. But she hasn’t been able to rewire her captain habits. “I still send out e-mails,” she says. The neighbors can’t break their familiar patterns either, Egnal says. “People still come to me with small problems and I try to help them.”

Egnal speaks proudly about her block. “We became organized in the 1970s and we made a big effort of looking out for each other.” She says never felt unsafe and remembers feeling “offended when Penn told their students that it wasn’t safe west of 40th Street.”

Her fondest memories from her block-captain days are the First Friday Block Club meetings, in which block business was mixed with socials. “We had a lot of neighbors make presentations about their own areas of expertise.” Egnal remembers. “And of course we would always eat.”

After graduating from the UPenn School of Social Work in the late ‘60s, Egnal moved into the home on Osage Street with her partner, Herbert Bickford, and worked for the city of Philadelphia as a community and labor organizer.

As a civil servant, Egnal was ‘hatched’ – the term used to describe the federal Hatch Act that forbids government employees to work in party politics. Now retired, Egnal is free to dedicate her time to a lifelong passion for politics. She represents her neighborhood division on the Democratic Party Committee. Egnal says it’s “the lowest rung on the party apparatus.”

But her humble rank in the Democratic Party doesn’t keep her from still believing in change. “I think capitalism clearly has failed. I still think we need a revolution.”

–Lori Waselchuk

Editor’s Note: This is the latest in the series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. Make sure to go to Them That Do for more photos, videos and other information and updates.

Jeff Lutzner has 23 years experience as the block captain of 4900 Cedar Avenue in Philadelphia. Photo by Lori Waselchuk

A few years back block captain Jeff Lutzer and others on the 4900 block of Cedar Avenue had an idea to get the city to fill more than 30 potholes on their street. For a year he tried unsuccessfully to get the street repaired. Then he and his neighbors resorted to protest in the spirit of guerrilla gardeners. On a citywide cleanup day, they filled the potholes with potting soil and planted palettes of marigold and impatience flowers into them.

“They were only there for a day,” says Lutzner, but with the help of coverage in the University City Review, the flowers bore fruit. It took a few months, but the city eventually paved over the potholes.

Humor and persistence are useful qualities for any block captain. Lutzner, who has been in the post for 23 years, has needed plenty of humor and persistence. It’s been smooth sailing, but he would consider handing over the title to the next generation.

If you live on the 4900 block of Cedar Avenue and are interested, Lutzner could share how his laid-back approach helped him reduce the number of hours he spends on block duties. He concentrates on the basics: cleanups and safety.

If the potential candidate has a family, he or she might want to reinstate annual block parties. “When we moved here, we had lots of kids,” Lutzner says. As a father of two, Lutzner organized block parties and street games and remembers a street full of children.

Lately, though, there isn’t much interest in jumping castles. The block’s demographics have changed. “The challenge now is staying connected to the ever-changing tenants in rental units.”

Working from home is a plus for a block captain aspirant. Lutzner runs his business, Caoba Doors, from home, so he has kept an eye on things without too much effort.  He is also visible and available. “When there is a major issue, people come to me,” he says.

A green thumb wouldn’t hurt either, just in case the city gets behind in filling potholes again.

–Lori Waselchuk

Gush Gallery co-founders Sarah Thielke and Stephanie Slate. (Photo courtesy of Thielke and Slate)

For local photographers Sarah Thielke and Stephanie Slate, art is a stimulus—a rapid stream of influence in their daily lives. After all, the lineage is there: Slate, a native of Florida, is the granddaughter of a professional photographer, and painters thrived in Theilke’s New Jersey-bred family.

“[Art is] just something that’s always been around us and that we are passionate about,” the duo, who met while attending Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, told West Philly Local via email.

It’s a passion that’s amassed to Gush Gallery—a West Philadelphia interactive art gallery, community center and boutique Slate and Thielke hope to open in April with the help of donations through their Indiegogo fundraiser, which ends next month. So far, since its launch, Slate and Thielke have raised $1,315 of their $8,500 goal, which will go towards repair costs and equipment for their space (a lease is not signed at the moment; the pair are considering spots on the 5000 block of Baltimore Avenue and the 4700 block of Spruce Street).

Once opened, Gush will be an epicenter of sorts, serving an eclectic lot of emerging and underground artists from a hodgepodge of disciplines and styles—a call back to the gallery’s moniker, synonymous with “enthusiasm” and “torrents”—ultimately catering to a community rich with creativity but lacking in resources to foster it. At the start, Thielke and Slate will run Gush, curating the exhibitions, designing the annual Gush “yearbook” of shows, and leading the photography-based workshops for members and non-members alike (membership fees are three-tiered and start at $25 per year). Services like printing, scanning, film processing, alternative process printing, and digital workstations are also available through Gush at an hourly rate plus use of materials (discounted for members). And, as Gush evolves, the pair hope to bring on local artists to teach workshops in their respective field (like painting, illustration, or sculpture), bring on interns and possibly a small staff, offer a free monthly critique, and classes for children.

But Gush Gallery’s reality isn’t driven by hard numbers. The Indiegogo campaign the two 27-year-old artists are running is flexible, meaning if Thielke and Slate don’t meet their goal by February 7, they will still receive the funds they did raise. In addition, they’re researching grant opportunities for the arts and small businesses, as well as possibly brainstorming brick-and-mortar fundraiser events to help push Gush from concept to tangible.

Still, they say, “if we don’t make our goal but raise enough to open, we’re going to do just that. We want to open Gush as soon as we can.”

–Annamarya Scaccia

Editor’s Note: West Philly Local is proud to present the eighth in a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. Go to Them That Do for more information, updates and additional photos.

Rebecca Metraux Canna holds her seven-month-old daughter Lorelei in their home. Canna is the block captain for the 4600s of Hazel Avenue in Philadelphia PA. Photo by Lori Waselchuk

They call themselves the Hazelnuts. And Rebecca Metraux Canna is their captain.

Canna, soft spoken with a friendly smile, took over as block captain four years ago. “I love to plan events. I love West Philly. I thought I could contribute.”

The Hazelnuts love to party. They apply for five summer block party permits at a time. For more than a quarter of a century they have been hosting an annual progressive dinner party, during which 30 or so Hazelnuts eat a three-course potluck dinner, each course hosted by a different household. There are house concerts with famous musicians and impromptu happy hours on the large front porches of the nearly identical Edwardian twin homes. On Halloween, the Hazelnuts decorate their homes and treat generously.

For all the events and the business of the block, Canna uses block’s listserv and Facebook page to communicate. Canna is a psychologist; she likes to create surveys to understand how folks feel about things. When the block was considering permit parking, Canna used online surveys to get a consensus. “It was very contentious and took three votes to get it approved,” recalls Richard Olaya, a Hazelnut, a former Hazelnut captain, and a father of two.

Canna continues to think of new ways to be social. One Sunday this month, she is hosting a Sunday coffee and dessert get-together. “It might get people out of their houses during the winter,” she says.

The children party, too, in their own way. There are skateboarders and four-square games. The Manhunt tag games spill over into other blocks. Olaya took an informal census recently (surveys may be another Hazelnut tradition) and counted 36 kids living on the block. Some of the annual block parties are less structured so the kids can play freely on the blocked-off street.

Canna hopes to keep a kid-friendly culture on Hazel Avenue for her seven-month-old daughter, Lorelei. Already, she has been enlisting Lorelie to help with her captain duties. “She’s a good ice-breaker. I take her when I go around collecting the [$10] block fees. I don’t know everyone on the block, so Lorelie makes my introductions easier.”

–Lori Waselchuk

Editor’s Note: West Philly Local is proud to present the seventh in a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. Go to Them That Do for more information, updates and additional photos.

We’ll present the next profile on Wednesday, Jan. 8.

JoAnn Manuel stands on her front porch steps on the 5200 block of Pennsgrove Avenue on the day of the summer block party. Friends, family and residents enjoy food, music, and children’s game. (Photo by Lori Waselchuk)

Stoop culture is big on Pennsgrove. Climb the eleven steep steps up to JoAnn Manuel’s front porch, pass through a small iron balustrade gate at the top, look left and right, you will see through every one of her neighbors’ identical porches. Look across the street for an eye-level view of all the porches on the odd side. Pennsgrove’s heartbeat pulses from these stoops.

“We gather!” says Manuel, who has been the block captain since 2001. “It happens in the evenings, especially on Saturdays. It’s a good way to share with your neighbor the things going on.”

Manuel’s first act as block captain generated lots of stoop talk. She petitioned the city to correct the misspelling of “Pennsgrove” on their street sign. Manuel remembers, “My neighbors were surprised. They told me, ‘We called our street Penngrove.’”

Manuel decided to raise money for more block improvements. Through her block’s association (5200 Pennsgrove Street), she applied to the Philadelphia Activities Fund for a grant to fix the pole lights set next to each house’s stoop. “Eighty percent of the pole lights were out.”  After two unsuccessful applications, she finally received $1,500. She hired an electrician to fix the lights. With the rest of the money, she and some neighbors bought and planted flowers to spruce up the green spaces and vacant lots on the block.

Manuel applies for money each year and receives around $500, which they use to buy paint for houses, flower boxes for sidewalks, as well as maintain the exteriors of the five vacant houses on the street.

Manuel works hard to keep up vacant properties to prevent squatters from moving in. She even used the porch of one vacant house to host a weekly after-school reading and gardening program for 4^th and 5^th graders.

Manuel joined forces with Urban Tree Connection’s Sue Witte. Witte, who is also a children’s librarian, would meet with kids to work in the community garden at the corner of Pennsgrove and 53^rd Street, and then retreat to the stoop to read books.

Witte remembers how important that porch became to her and the children. “We would begin and end on that front porch. It was our space, and everybody knew it.”

Perhaps the greatest celebration of the Pennsgrove stoop culture is its annual block party, which is set for the first Saturday of August every year. Almost all of the residents participate.

“Morning time is set up time. We are up early. Everybody is excited about the day, getting their own space ready. But we all share in the work,” Manuel explains.

The residents sell raffle tickets to pay for the moonwalk and kids games. The cooking, eating and drinking happen on the steps and porches. “The stoops are where we hang out and talk. Some say its gossip. I say it’s a culture of neighbors being neighbors.”

–Lori Waselchuk

Lori’s note: A search to find more information about the Philadelphia Activities Fund led me to a 2011 pdf file with contact information; a Facebook page; and critical articles like the piece “Council’s Secret “WAM” Fund”, by Ryan Briggs found in Metropolis Report, about the Fund’s political impact and lack of oversight.

Editor’s Note: We’re proud to present the sixth in a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. Go to Them That Do for more information, updates and additional photos.

Lisa Barkley / Photo: Lori Waselchuk.

Lisa Barkley shows me the view of her fruit tree orchard from the window of her bright yellow kitchen.

“We have apple trees, pear trees, plum trees, cherry trees, peach, apricot and nectarine trees,” Barkley says. She sounds surprised by the bounty she helped create. “A grapevine – we have Concord grapes out there. Wow!”

Barkley lives in the same 2-bedroom unit in the Haddington Homes public housing project at 55th Street and Vine where she was born. As a child, she played games on Pearl Street. As a young woman, she was the secretary for the Haddington tenant council and in 1999 she was voted the block captain.

From her home, she has watched her community evolve. “There were never flowers, no plants, just trees and some shrubbery here and there,” she remembers. “But it was clean. The adults really took ownership of where they lived.“

But as time went on, the community seemed to lose that sense of collective responsibility. The children lost safe play areas. The local cleaning business was torn down. The city blocked off Pearl Street, creating a dark, abandoned space. Haddington’s parking lot became a staging ground for stolen cars.

“Public housing is transient, so people move in for a while and move out. As a block captain, I want to see the neighborhood be neighbors again.”

Through Barkley’s leadership and with planning and material help from Urban Tree Connection and Mission Philadelphia (Facebook page), the Haddington residents have transformed the parking lots and Pearl Street into a playground, community gardens, and an orchard.

Barkley has reserved the orchard for the adults who live at Haddington. She encourages them to plant their own vegetable plots or use the orchard as a place of refuge.

“Gardening is a natural de-stresser, right? When I plant a seed in the ground and nurture a little sprout, the feeling I get inside – it’s fulfillment. “

The orchard feeds Barkley’s imagination and passions. She inspires others as well. On a sunny Saturday morning in September, eight women attended Barkley’s class on juicing, which she held in the orchard. The women laughed as they placed copious chunks of pineapple, grapes, pears, and spinach into the juicer. They teased each other during the tastings.

The orchard brings beauty into Haddington Homes, and beauty is Barkley’s highest priority. “I want to embrace life now and do all the beautiful things and live the beautiful way that I envision.”

–Lori Waselchuk