By Elizabeth Stieber
Times Staff Writer
Members of the Tacony Civic Association thought they had made a decision about what should be done with the trolley tracks embedded in Torresdale Avenue.
The tracks, they say, are an eyesore, a traffic and pedestrian hazard and a detriment to the community. They want the tracks — as well as the cables above and the poles along the edge of the sidewalks — removed from the 7.5-mile stretch that runs through Tacony, Frankford and part of Northwest Philadelphia.
The civic group has the support of City Councilwomen Joan Krajewski (D-6th dist.), Donna Reed Miller (D-8th dist.) and Councilman Rick Mariano (D-7th dist.), as well as many longtime business owners along the avenue.
Then Frank LePara came along.
LePara, a 27-year-old lifetime Tacony resident, resigned from his job at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center last year to dedicate all of his energy to educating his neighborhood about the benefits of keeping the tracks and bringing back the trolleys.
At the civic association’s May 13 meeting, LePara, armed with statistics and information about trolleys that he gathered in recent months, encouraged members to hear him out during the open forum portion of the meeting.
He was not well received.
“From the members we have polled, it has been the mass-majority opinion that the avenue is not doing well,” said Anthony Naccarato, the civic association president.
In 1998, Tacony learned that SEPTA was talking about bringing back three light-rail electric trolleys — the Route 15 along Girard Avenue, the Route 23 through Chestnut Hill and the Route 56 along Torresdale Avenue.
It wasn’t until last October that SEPTA had a timetable for reviving the trolleys — a timetable that was too distant for Tacony civic leaders to worry about it much.
In an April 30 letter to the City Planning Commission, the civic association and City Council members outlined their request to SEPTA to consider removing the tracks, cobblestones, cables and poles, and to pave the streets instead.
SEPTA has an interest in reviving the Route 56 trolley. Right now, the issue is how to come up with the money.
According to SEPTA spokesman Jim Whitaker, service on Routes 15, 23 and 56 stopped in 1992 because the overall infrastructure of the tracks and the trolleys was aging. The trolleys were replaced by diesel buses.
However, SEPTA made an agreement with the city to retain the tracks until the routes could be restored.
That agreement has not changed, Whitaker said.
Currently, the Route 15 is being restored, with trolley service slated to return sometime in 2004, he said. The restoration is expected to cost about $90 million.
The problem is that the rest of the project could take up to 12 years, primarily because of funding and time required to modernize the service lines.
SEPTA figures it would have to find about $100 million to restore light-rail service to Route 56.
Naccarato, the head of Tacony Civic, is dismayed that the issue could drag on for some time.
“We don’t believe they have the right to hold us hostage until 2016,” he said.
Today, the poles that support the cables above Torresdale Avenue are leaning and chipping, and the cobblestones between the tracks are sinking, causing the tracks to become a hazard to pedestrians who could trip on them, according to the civic group.
The trucks that double-park while delivering merchandise to local businesses also would obstruct any trolley trying to pass, opponents contend.
The civic group’s vice president, Louis M. Iatarola, said LePara and his pro-trolley proposal arrived five years too late.
“We refuse to let the avenue die between now and 2016. You’re talking about a transportation issue in the eleventh hour,” Iatarola told LePara at last week’s meeting.
Iatarola admitted that a number of factors have led to an overall decline in the business along Torresdale Avenue, but removing the tracks, cables and polls would be an important first step in revitalization.
The years of neglect and deterioration of the overall infrastructure have contributed to a decline in business, Iatarola explained.
Iatarola also said a number of business owners have relayed stories from their older customers, who refuse to shop along the avenue because they nearly tripped over the iron tracks that stick out up to 6 inches in some areas, he said.
An alternative plan to beautify Torresdale Avenue is in the works, according to Iatarola.
The Tacony Civic and Business associations are working with Urban Partners, a Center City planning firm, to come up with a plan to remove the tracks, pave the avenue, place cobblestones in the medial strip and parking areas and install Victorian lighting.
The plans are still in discussion with SEPTA and City Planning Commission board members, but if it is approved, work would begin next summer.
The project would not just be funded by SEPTA. Along with the various city sources that fund revitalization projects like the proposed plans for the overall revitalization of Torresdale Avenue, state Rep. Mike McGeehan (D-173rd dist.) has promised state funding for the project and Iatarola has asked U.S. Rep. Joseph Hoeffel (D-13th dist.) for federal funding.
The business district along Torresdale Avenue — from Tyson Avenue to Knorr Street — is suffering because of the unused tracks, Iatarola said.
In the last six months, five businesses have closed. By the time the trolley returns, it may be too late for merchants, Iatarola said, noting that the business and civic associations just want to stabilize the business strip.
“We can’t sit around and wait,” he said.
Many local merchants agree.
“It’s a hazard to everybody,” said Bob Glassman, who owns Smith Hardware, at 6918 Torresdale Ave. “It’s not well-maintained.”
Glassman’s store faces the avenue. He has been there for seven years. For 23 years before that, the hardware store was on Longshore Avenue. Glassman said he sees cars swerve on the tracks and get into “fender-benders” on rainy days.
“If they’re not going to use it and not going to fix it up, we don’t need them,” Glassman said of the tracks.
LePara argues that revived trolley service would boost the businesses along the avenue.
“If the trolley cars come back, not only Tacony but the other communities connected will see economic growth and redevelopment,” LePara said.
LePara, who also worked for SEPTA a few years ago, has researched other trolley services across the country and found a revitalization in those cities that resumed light-rail service.
Center City and Chestnut Hill have embraced discussions of restored trolley service along the Route 15 and Route 23, LePara said. Tacony, he added, is the only neighborhood that opposes the plan.
“This is an opportunity for this community to stand apart from everyone else,” LePara said.
LePara circulated a petition and collected more than 100 signatures of residents and business owners who want the trolley back in the neighborhood, he said.
Stella Wellens is among those who support LePara. Her store has been on Torresdale Avenue for almost 50 years. She wants to see a return of better times to Tacony.
“We want to maintain the structure of the neighborhood and bring it back to the way it used to be,” she said.
Wellens said the trolley would bring more customers to the neighborhood. She suggested that some of the concerns could be remedied by safer loading zones and a move to metered parking.
“There’s no reason to pull the tracks,” Wellens added.
Iatarola acknowledged LePara’s fervor for wanting to improve the community. In fact, he sat down about a month ago to hear LePara’s views.
But Iatarola said the issue already has been discussed and decided among community leaders.
“We’ve lagged as far as commercializing and have taken major steps forward. Someone is trying to thwart and trying to stall it, telling people it’s not too late,” Iatarola said. “It is too late.”
Despite opposition from the civic association, LePara said he will continue to raise awareness in Tacony about the benefits of bringing back the Route 56 trolley.
“I’m not going away,” LePara said. “I’m here to stay.” ••
Reporter Elizabeth Stieber can be reached at 215-354-3036 or estieber@phillynews.com