December 18, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Local News

14th District sees decrease in two crime categories
by JENNIFER KATZ

Capt. Winton Singletary and Crime Prevention Officer Synell Hall of the 14th Police District came to the Germantown Jewish Centre in West Mt. Airy last week to deliver some good news and talk to residents about crime prevention.

The district as a whole has seen a decrease in violent crime, with homicides down 20 percent – five points more than the citywide figure. Gunpoint robberies are also down 19 percent.

As most residents know, burglaries remain high in what Singletary describes as the biggest police district in the city. The district comprises 13 square miles and will grow by the end of the month when it absorbs approximately two miles of the Fairmount Park system after the 92nd District officially closes.

Bank puts up funds to save historic Garrett-Dunn House
by JOEL HOFFMANN

National Penn Bank has promised $20,000 to seal the historic Garrett-Dunn house. The house has been exposed since contruction at the site stopped in April. (Photo by Erin Vertreace)

Philadelphia history buffs can breathe a collective sigh of relief.

The Garrett-Dunn House, a 19th century landmark in Mt. Airy, will remain standing despite sustaining structural damage after construction crews left its lathwork exposed in April.

The contractors stopped working because local developer John J. Capoferri had run out of money for a renovation project at the site, 7048 Germantown Ave., where he had planned to turn the existing house and barn into five luxury residences. Fourteen new town houses were also slated for the property, according to the developer’s Web site.

Fortunately, damage to the property was less severe than city inspectors had expected, according to Plan Philly, a blog published by the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design.

New president brings vision to struggling library system
by SABINA CLARKE

Siobhan Reardon

Siobhan Reardon, the newly appointed president and director of the Free Library of Philadelphia may be just what the city needs to shepherd the library into a new era. In just a few months on the job, Reardon seems to have a sure grasp of what needs to be done to resuscitate a stale, overly stressed system struggling for years with understaffing, low visibility, lack of private and corporate funding, and, lately, a $20 million budget cut in city funding.

I met recently with Reardon in her office at the Central Library — the day before pink slips were to be distributed to staff — to hear her plans for the future, discuss the 11 branch closings scheduled for January and see how she was dealing with the staff’s low morale and the PR nightmare that triggered citywide demonstrations, an uproar from the Friends of the Free Library and, most disturbingly, a divided City Council that just passed a resolution urging Mayor Nutter to delay the planned closures.

Faced with a set of dire realities, Reardon’s bold move to shutter branch libraries and risk her own personal approval rating, speaks volumes about her character. Although admitting that the decision to close the targeted libraries was an “extremely painful one,” she added that it needed to be done and was five years in the making.