Greetings
Neighbors,
As
we head into fall I wanted to take a moment and reflect on the great summer
that we had. Since assuming the role of president of the Civic Association in
May, I have been humbled by the overwhelming support, by all Tacony residents,
community groups and businesses. Despite this summer’s challenges with the
weather, we were able to host several events including our Kickoff to Summer
Festival, 4-Summer Concerts, a community cleanup, a rally, ice cream giveaway
and a fall craft vendor fair. Thanks again to all our great sponsors whose
generosity allows for us to host these magnificent events.
As president, I have been able to
meet some great people as well as reconnect with so many more. As time goes on
we tend to form new friendships and often drift away from others. Being
reconnected to former classmate’s friends and neighbors was very eye-opening.
This thing called Tacony Strong, most don’t understand it, but it’s a way of
life for us because we face many challenges here. A neighborhood can also be
like a family, where this guy from Leo’s married this girl from OLC, which is
true in more than one case. We look out for each other and each other’s
properties, we are seen laughing together, celebrating together and crying
together. When you lose a neighbor that you’ve known for years it’s like losing
a family member. We sit on our steps or our porch over a drink and talk about
the Eagles, Flyers, Phillies or Sixers or whatever else is happening in the
world. Those are the things I enjoy about this neighborhood and that’s what
makes us Tacony Strong.
As I have made my way around the
neighborhood, and have spoken with people, I feel the same way you do. We are
plagued by quality of life issues daily, whether its trash on the ground, areas
used as dumping grounds, drugs, prostitution, petty theft, car break-ins we all
feel the same pain. What is the answer? I honestly don’t think there is one
answer, I do know however it is up to us as a community to make things better,
and I truly believe we are on the right path. Joining together and working with
all community groups is key to a successful neighborhood. Ego’s need to be put
aside and we must work together. We cannot allow jealousy, the nay-sayers, or
those that no longer live here deter us from our goal. We can no longer be
dragged down by nonsense on social media, and we must not be in fear to walk
our streets and avenue because of a few malcontents. We need to organize each
block, by electing a block captain and have block events and street cleanings,
work together in teams to help cleanup unsightly areas and properties,
volunteer for Townwatch, be the eyes and ears for our police, work with our
elected officials or hold them accountable for our neighborhood if they don’t
step up, and most of all stop being afraid, lets these insignificant people
know this is our neighborhood, and you are no longer allowed to do these things
here. BE TACONY STRONG
Pete
Smith
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