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Germantown Y reopens
YMCA from B1 “It’s a community celebration,” resident Robyn Tevah said. “We don’t have anyplace else like it.” A separate part of the building houses a shelter for homeless men; it suffered little damage and remained open. But the fitness center, in the building’s front section, was shut so long that rumors flew that it would not reopen. Residents scrambled for alternatives in other neighborhoods. “It was definitely a void,” said Denise Turner, 49, grandmother of the soccer-playing Joel. Turner said Joel’s family was eager to enroll him in activities. “He has so much energy, they can’t wait to get him into a martial-arts class,” Turner said. Turner was looking forward to using the pool, because she has knee problems and her doctor recommended water aerobics. That will have to wait at least a few more days. The pool is empty because its tiles were recently re-grouted, and a few other rooms remain off limits as well. But three-quarters of the facility is ready to go, said Jim Foster, president of the Y’s board. The repairs took far longer than they should have, in part because a previous board sought to resolve disputes with the insurance company first rather than go ahead with the work using existing funding, Foster said.
As the crisis dragged on, some past board members despaired and stopped going to meetings, and many thousands in unpaid debts piled up, he said. Early last year, the national YMCA was so discouraged with the standstill that it took away the charter of the Germantown chapter, and the organization is now simply the Germantown Y, Foster said. State Rep. Rosita C. Youngblood (D., Phila.) recruited community members to serve on a recovery committee, and a new board was eventually elected. So far, the insurer has paid two claims totaling $160,000, but the Y has the option to file more, Foster said. Other repair funds have come from capital reserves. “We’ve been spending the money as recently as yesterday,” said Foster, who is publisher of the Germantown Chronicle weekly newspaper and has an auto-repair shop. Built in the 1920s, the Y has handsome features, such as fan-shaped windows over many of the doors and dark wood wainscoting on the first floor. The reopening ceremony took place in a highceilinged atrium, bathed in September sunshine from high-arched windows. The grand old building has hosted some standout athletes over the years. Among them was Bucky Walters, who went on to pitch for the Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds, winning the Nation-
al League’s Most Valuable Player Award in 1939. Inquirer editor William K. Marimow remembers hearing his father, Jack, talk about playing basketball with Walters at the Germantown facility. “He once threw a full-court pass so hard and precise, it just knocked my father down,” Marimow said. Another product of the Y was Carlos Bradley, who went on to play football at Wake Forest University and, during the 1980s, for the San Diego Chargers and briefly for the Eagles. Then there’s Baker, the former Globetrotter, who grew up in North Philadelphia but played some pickup games at the Germantown Y. After his playing days, he returned to the Y as a coach, until the flood. He said he’d like to coach again. It is a positive sign for a neighborhood that has suffered other blows recently, said Betty Turner, president of Germantown Community Connection, an umbrella organization for community groups. Among those are the closing of a nearby YWCA and the bankruptcy of Germantown Settlement, a provider of housing and social services. “This is a community that’s in the process of healing right now,” she said. “Now that the Y is open … it’s sort of like a beacon.” Contact staff writer Tom Avril at 215-854-2430 or tavril@phillynews.com.
Market
MARKET from B1 confused about regulations. Sonny D’Angelo’s butcher shop was ordered to obtain a restaurant license, even though it is not a restaurant, because he is “preparing food” when he grinds his sausages. Spice Corner was shut down for five months over licenses that its owner acknowledged had lapsed. Schmanek said he had argued to L&I that keeping Spice Corner open would allow the owner to generate revenue to pay off fines and costs. Burns said representatives of L&I and the Streets and Health Departments were about to meet to formulate new regulations for Italian Market food vendors. “It’s not necessarily bad to do this,” Schmanek said of L&I’s vigilance. “Sometimes, though, they start checking for one thing and they find more” violations. Around the time L&I called on the cheesesteak shops about the seating, Health Department inspectors cited Joey Vento, who owns Geno’s, for wearing “excessive” jewelry at his grill. The citation was dropped after a reinspection, said Al Weiss, Vento’s lawyer, who noted that Vento still sports his heavy gold neck chain and bracelet. Joe Lichtman, who has sold clothing and other merchandise from his storefront on Ninth Street south of Washington Avenue since the 1950s, said he had been warned a “couple of times” not to place merchandise by the curb. L&I wants to keep the sidewalks clear. But “the more you put out, the more you sell,” he said. One day last week, the curb was clear. Dan Lam, whose family operates a variety store at Ninth and Kimball Streets, said inspectors had warned
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for survivors of clergy sexual abuse A New Support Group Start Date: September 14, 2010 time: 7:00 to 9:00 PM Location: Meeting place near the Philadelphia Airport to be confirmed at registration FaciLitateD by: Network of Victim Assistance of Bucks County (NOVA) call if you are looking for a safe place to talk with others. adult men and women, who were sexually abused as children by clergy, regardless of where the abuse occurred, are invited to attend.
ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer
Dan Lam helps a customer (left) outside his family’s variety store in the Italian Market. Lam said inspectors had told him to make sure curbside displays could be rolled away at the end of a day. him about keeping the sidewalk clear. The solution, he said he had been told, was to make sure any displays at the curb had wheels so they could be moved into the store at the end of the day. Councilman James F. Kenney said he had heard that an inspector threatened to cite C&D Appliances on Eighth Street for selling refrigerators off the sidewalk, even after workers protested that they were simply lifting them from a truck and moving them inside the store. “It’s not like it’s little stuff we can just carry in right away,” co-owner Carl Arrigale said. Kenney said he believed the inspector had not used proper judgment. Such problems arise because of “each individual inspector and their view of the world or this neighborhood,” he said. Kenney said South Philadelphians might be “apt to complain more” than people in other parts of the city. “I don’t think they’re totally unjustified,” he said. “It’s not just [directed at] just L&I. People naturally don’t like the government. … There’s got to be a better way of treating customers, even when they’re wrong.” Some Italian Market merchants, especially younger ones, said they believed the L&I moves were positive. Emilio Mignucci, 43, an
owner of Di Bruno Bros., a family-run grocery, acknowledged that L&I was enforcing things that hadn’t been enforced. “Those of us who look at it from a younger person’s perspective would say, ‘If we follow the rules and adhere to them, it’s only going to help our business in the long run,’ ” he said. And then there’s the cupcake lady, whose situation, while not a South Philadelphia issue, cast L&I as a carbo-phobic ogre. Burns said Carrara had not been unfairly targeted and simply had gotten caught selling in a prohibited zone in University City after several warnings; an L&I worker seized her truck and drove it away. Mindful of the image, Burns said L&I was considering using “another authority” — perhaps the police or Philadelphia Parking Authority — to impound or boot trucks that violate the law. “I thought they would give me a fine,” said Carrara, now parked in a sanctioned spot at 16th Street and JFK Boulevard. “I didn’t think they would take the truck.” Contending that the regulations were confusing, she said, “I guess I know they were gunning for me, but I didn’t know what to do to fix it.”
there is no fee for the group. Funding is provided through the Victim assistance Program of the archdiocese of Philadelphia.
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO ENROLL: PLEASE CALL NOVA DIRECTLY AT 1.800.675.6900
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Contact staff writer Michael Klein at mklein@phillynews.com.
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