By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

The Wallace Roberts & Todd planning and design company has been impressed with what it’s seen of Mayfair so far.
The Center City company was hired by the Mayfair Community Development Corporation to conduct a study on neighborhood demographics, services, trends and housing stock.
What WRT found was a CDC that isn’t sitting back waiting for direction.
The company found a CDC that is working with state House Majority Leader John Perzel (R-172nd dist.) and City Councilwoman Joan Krajewski (D-6th dist.) to make major neighborhood improvements.
The crown jewel is a proposed $3 million community center that will be built on the existing basketball courts at the Mayfair School/Playground campus, near Princeton Avenue and Battersby Street. The money will come from a state grant sponsored by Perzel.
Dick Huffman, head of WRT, said the CDC’s work is making his job easier.
“Mayfair is already on its way,” he said.
Huffman addressed a community meeting last week at Mayfair School. His company is working in conjunction with the city Office of Housing and Community Development.
A second study, conducted by Urban Partners and Brown & Keener Urban Design, is looking at the Frankford Avenue commercial corridor in Mayfair and Holmesburg.
In general, the CDC boundaries stretch from Frankford Avenue to Roosevelt Boulevard and Harbison Avenue to Rhawn Street.
Mayfair CDC president Reese Hartey plans to hold another community meeting at the end of the summer.
Once the studies are completed, the CDC will use the results to obtain funding to further improve the neighborhood.
Most of the folks at the May 29 meeting liked what they heard, though one man said building a community center was a waste of money.
The man noted that the school/playground campus already has outdoor basketball courts, there’s a stage in the Mayfair School auditorium, and senior citizens can meet in the newly constructed Holy Terrors clubhouse.
Hartey, though, said that it will be better to have all activities in a central location. He added that the school is closed in the summer and that it’s too cold in the winter to play basketball outside.
While the community center holds great promise, the Mayfair CDC’s biggest investment so far has been in housing. Perzel has been key in supplying the funding.
The CDC has converted a duplex at 7349 Sackett St. into a single-family home and has rehabilitated a corner property at 3301 Decatur St. that once housed a few hundred cats. The group is also renovating houses at 7233 Brous Ave. and 3328 Englewood St. and converting the Manor Bar at 6810 Frankford Ave. into offices.
Neighborhood leaders are happy with the results of the 2000 census. It showed that there are 26,345 people in Mayfair. That’s a slight drop from the 1990 census, but the CDC attributes that to the fact that families are smaller.
Also, the percentage of homeowners in Mayfair is 77 percent, compared to a citywide rate of 59 percent.
Hartey said the CDC’s work in renovating houses will keep the neighborhood stable.
“Affordable, good housing will keep people here,” he said.
Besides housing, the CDC is focused on improving the Frankford Avenue commercial strip from the 6100 block to the 8100 block.
Perzel funded the purchase of four “Clean Sweep Program” machines that will pick up trash along the avenue and side streets.
Two courtesy ambassadors will sweep, distribute brochures and assist residents with Krajewski’s Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP).
The CDC will also place 120 trash cans along the avenue. The urban planners studying the avenue are recommending adding lights, flowers, awnings and signs. They’d also like to see the SEPTA poles painted.
The Mayfair CDC, which has an office at 7240 Frankford Ave., knows the value of a thriving commercial district.
“As Frankford Avenue goes, so goes the neighborhood,” Hartey said.
The Mayfair CDC doesn’t only focus on big projects like housing, a business strip and a community center.
The group has distributed a number of grants to neighborhood organizations like the Mayfair Recreation Center, Abraham Lincoln High School, Mayfair School, Holmesburg United Methodist Church, Mayfair Town Watch and the Lansing Knights for a variety of purposes.
Soon, the CDC will unfurl 100 banners proclaiming: Mayfair. A great place to live and work.
WRT, the planning and design firm, would like to see Mayfair create seven new “gateways” to go along with the one at Frankford and Cottman avenues.
Contact the Mayfair CDC office at 215-332-4414 or visit its Web site, www.mayfaircdc.org