New president appointed
to Millbrook

By Lauren Fritsky
Times Staff Writer

In an attempt to keep the Millbrook Civic Association non-political, Pennsylvania House Speaker Dennis O’Brien (R-169th dist.) appointed a new president to the organization’s board.
Taking the spot of former interim president Annamarie Feeney is resident Kate Thomer, who led the group’s April 17 meeting. Feeney — a legislative aide to U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-13th dist.) — is now the second vice president, while Tony Marciante remains the vice president.
"Denny O’Brien asked me to take over mostly because I’m not politically connected at all," Thomer told the group. "I don’t even know what my political party is. I think I’m Republican."
Rejoining the Millbrook board as secretary is Carol Fowler, a staff member in O’Brien’s district office. She formerly held the vice president’s post.
Discussions alleging political imbalance tinged the February meeting of Millbrook, a group formed by Shawn Dillon, Democratic leader of the 66th Ward.
Dillon said at the meeting that he created the group at the behest of neighbors concerned that the quality of life in the community was eroding. He claimed that the Millbrook Civic Association had met sporadically over the last few years and that the community needed a more visible group.
But others sensed that Dillon aimed to promote the local Democratic Party, including its candidate for the 10th Councilmanic District, Sean McAleer.
McAleer — whose father Mike leads the 66th ward with Dillon — is running against longtime Republican Councilman Brian O’Neill in this year’s municipal elections.
O’Neill, who sent legislative aide Bill Rapone to Millbrook’s first meeting but attended last week’s, took particular issue with McAleer, stating that he still is a staff representative for City Councilman Jim Kenney, an at-large Democrat who is running for re-election.
Records show that McAleer was taken off the city’s payroll Jan. 9. At several local civic meetings, he has stated that he represents Kenney on an unpaid basis.
Kenney told the Times in early April that McAleer no longer worked for him in a paid or unpaid capacity, and that he told the candidate to stop saying that he did.
McAleer, however, told the Times that he wanted to help get things done for constituents and that Kenney never told him that he must stop identifying himself as a representative for the councilman.
"If people in the Northeast need help," McAleer said, "I’m going to try to help them."
Meanwhile, the city’s board of ethics said that McAleer didn’t appear to be doing anything wrong in volunteering for Kenney. McAleer remained quiet at last week’s Millbrook meeting, speaking only to offer assistance on how the community can form and register a Town Watch group. He introduced himself to the civic organization as a board member of the Ashton Town Watch, not as a representative of Kenney or as a candidate for City Council.
Dillon, the ward leader who arranged and led the last Millbrook meeting, also said little.
Dillon later told the Times that he felt his efforts to get an active civic group in his community were thwarted by O’Brien’s reconfiguration of the Millbrook board.
"I tried to reorganize the group. Under the old regime they have not done anything. I thought that it was important for the people in the community to have a voice to be heard, and I didn’t realize that I was going to run into as much opposition in trying to accomplish this goal as I did," he said.
But O’Brien said that the problem wasn’t Dillon’s enthusiasm, but the fact that a civic group already existed.
O’Brien contended that the City Planning Commission stipulates that a civic group cannot exist in an area where another group already operates.
However, Gary J. Jastrzab, the PCPC’s deputy executive director, said in an e-mail that his agency acknowledges established civic groups, but does not "regulate their creation or require any kind of formal registration of neighborhood associations."
O’Brien, whose grandfather started the North Torresdale Improvement Association, which later became the Millbrook Civic Association, wants the group to be non-partisan. He told Dillon as much, and said that the ward leader agreed to the restructuring of the board.
"I said, ‘I’ll attend these meetings and it’s not going to be my group or yours,’" O’Brien said he told Dillon.
"There’s a wonderful team of people who care about this neighborhood…this isn’t about politics, it’s about preserving that neighborhood," O’Brien added.
In other news from the April 17 meeting:
• Mike Bremser, of the Calvary Athletic Association, discussed forming a Town Watch in Millbrook. He said he and fellow board members from Calvary have started a makeshift group to monitor the association’s facility for problems like underage drinking and graffiti.
O’Neill suggested that Millbrook invite members of Fox Chase or Burholme Town Watch groups to a future meeting to discuss how they run their groups. McAleer said interested parties should contact the city’s Operation Town Watch Integrated Services about organizing a group.
• Tom Forkin, an aide to O’Brien, discussed forming a zoning committee within the civic group.
• Mike Janik, a salesman with the Web site Nephillyonline.com, offered the civic group a free micro-site to help keep residents informed. ••
The Millbrook Civic Association next meets on Thursday, May 24, at 7:30 p.m., at Calvary Athletic Association, Chalfont Drive and Deerpath Lane.
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com