Vol. 1, No. 10
February 2019
eastfallsnow.com • FREE
Mifflin students honor Dr. King’s legacy
East Falls applies for ‘Slow Zone’ around Mifflin by John T. Gillespie
T
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
kindergarten and first grades were hard at work on King Day, breaking tiles, preparing drawing boards and starting new mosaics to tudents at the help reassert art’s role as a Thomas Mifflin School catalyst for community diacelebrated the legacy logue. At left, first grader of Martin Luther King, Jr. Quill Keating and kinderin several ways. Some vol- gartener Anna King conunteered at Cosacosa Art tribute to the piece for At Large on Main St. to cre- Dunbar. Above, first ate new public art for graders in Ms. Michelle North Philadelphia's DunShaw-Carpenter’s class (left bar School; others comto right) Kinorah Green, posed their own “I have a Khawla Alsultan and dream…” speeches. Savannah Newton display The students from Pre-K, their compositions.
S
he East Falls Community Council has applied to the City for a traffic “Slow Zone” covering the community around the Mifflin School below Henry Ave. and extending from Midvale Ave. to Indian Queen Ln. If selected, the neighborhood would experience changes in the way traffic moves through narrow residential streets. Speed would be reduced to 20 miles per hour from 25 mph and 20-foot corner clearances installed to ease pedestrian crossings and driver turns at blind corners. The latter is controversial among some residents who fear loss of scarce parking space. The law already requires 20-foot corner clearances but it is often ignored and rarely enforced. The proposal to apply for a Slow Zone was presented at the EFCC’s monthly general membership meeting on Jan. 14th. Further meetings will be held if the application is accepted by the city, and details would be subject to agreement from residents. Charlotte Castle, head of Vision Zero, the City’s plan to eliminate traffic fatalities, acknowledged concerns but defended the strategy. “We are looking for neighbors living inside of proposed slow zones to be open to the program’s traffic calming tools, including corner clearances. We want neighbors to be open to (Continued on page 9)
Feb. 11 meeting to discuss 3680 Indian Queen Ln.
T
he 7 pm Feb. 11 East Falls Community Council general membership meeting will include a discussion of a zoning matter for 3680 Indian Queen Ln. and a presentation from the City on the Earned income Tax Credit. The meeting will take place at the EF Presbyterian Church, Vaux St. and Midvale Ave. It will be a joint general membership and EFCC Zoning Committee meeting. The owner of 3680 Indian Queen Ln., just above Ridge Ave next to East Falls Eye Associates and across from Le Bus Restaurant, seeks a variance to enable him to build three residential units in total, including one on the ground floor. Construction has started under a building permit granted by the City requiring commercial on the ground floor with residential on the second and third floors. The site’s current zoning is commercial mixed use. The Zoning Committee
meeting is required because the City issued a refusal for the owner’s plans to build three residential units. The city stated that: • The property is zoned CMX-2.5, requiring the owner to use the ground floor for uses other than residential, such as commercial; and, • The owner’s plans do not provide the required amount of square feet of lot area per unit for three units. The meeting will give residents, particular near neighbors, an opportunity to voice their opinion on the development before the case moves to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The refusal and additional details will be posted at: eastfallscommunity.org/zoning Todd Baylson, Chair of the EFCC Zoning Committee, said that as soon as the EFCC receives more information, such as a rendering or site (Continued on page 8)
Too old to practice medicine? by John T. Gillespie
T
Dr. Bill Sharrar and patient.
INSIDE Community seeks action on dangerous Henry Ave. crashes – p. 2
ell longtime Fallser Bill Sharrar he’s too old to practice medicine, and he’ll tell you he loves what he does. The retired chairman of pediatrics at Cooper University Health Care-Camden has been treating children since he graduated and took his residency at Penn Medicine in 1966. Following a stint in the Peace Corps, he joined Philadelphia’s Childrens Hospital, and later Cooper. After 53 years in practice, he still sees patients five days a week and has no plans to quit. “I’m 77 years old, so I could retire, but I don’t want to because I really love what I do.” He calls pediatrics “funfilled” and every child a “joy.” Doctors might be a breed apart in the depth of attachment to their calling, pediatricians especially so. Medicine, after all, is a vocation, akin to (Continued on page 10)
News: editor@eastfallsnow.com • To advertise: ads@eastfallsnow.com • Opinion: letters@eastfallsnow.com • Questions: info@eastfallsnow.com