Tacony meeting
urges unification

By Diane Prokop
Times Staff Writer

Tacony residents and business owners packed the Disston Recreation Center to discuss key issues in the neighborhood.
Tacony Town Watch president Angel Cianci-Hartman organized the June 20 community meeting to keep the neighborhood unified and informed about what residents should do when it comes to crime.
Moderated by Cianci-Hartman, the panel included Capt. Frank Bachmayer, commander of the 15th Police District; Camille Capobianco, a member of the Tacony Civic Association’s Quality of Life Committee; Glenn Devitt, president of the Northeast United Neighbors; Lynn Roman, the Juvenile Probation Office deputy director and Town Watch liaison; and Chad Enos and Pablo Mateo, both of Town Watch Integrated Services.
Devitt told attendees that perhaps it is time to revitalize Northeast United Neighbors, a collaborative organization of Northeast Philadelphia civic groups that focuses on crime and safety.
"The power is in you," he told community members, assuring them that they could take back their neighborhood.
Capobianco urged Tacony residents to join the Tacony Civic Association (www.taconycivic.org) for $5 and unite to fight neighborhood nuisances and absentee landlords.
The civic association is currently challenging 38 houses in the neighborhood, claiming they illegally have been converted from single-family homes to duplexes, and in some cases from duplexes to triplexes.
"Landlord, P.O. Box Brooklyn, New York . . . I am after you," Capobianco said.
Roman told residents that 85 percent of juveniles complete their parole successfully. She also explained that if residents see youths who have been arrested in the past causing trouble again, they can call her office 215-686-8329. While Roman won’t be able to discuss specifics of the case, information received could be helpful down the line, she said.
Enos, a Town Watch recruiter and trainer, stressed the importance of pulling together as a community.
"Stop thinking as individuals and act as a group with a common goal," he said, encouraging residents to join Town Watch or even form a block watch, which would not require them to leave their homes to undertake neighborhood patrols.
Cianci-Hartman agreed.
"We are the eyes and ears of the neighborhood," she said.
Town Watch members, she explained, receive training and patrol in vehicles with a partner. They have no arrest powers; their job is to report suspicious happenings to the police.
"We’ve had no problems, no incidents and no repercussions," she said.
Cianci-Hartman also called for block watchers, stressing that they act as eyes and ears of the neighborhood without leaving their homes.
Mateo, also of Town Watch, explained other opportunities of service available to the community, including taking part in community conflict resolution, training parent volunteers in the schools, overseeing the Adolescent Violence Reduction Partnership (AVRP) program, which is an after-school initiative designed to prevent delinquency among children 10 to 15 years of age, and helping safe-corridor programs, in which neighbors watch out for children en route to and from school.
Bachmayer, the 15th district commander, listened to crime-weary residents’ complaints and explained that the 15th was the busiest district in the city last year.
"The radio never stops," he said.
In addition to answering 911 calls, officers focus on crime prevention and quality-of-life issues, such as curfews, truancies and getting people off the corners, he said.
According to Bachmayer, curfew violations are up 278 percent and truancy is up by 76 percent in comparison to the same period last year. Violent crime is down 5 percent, property crimes are down 2 percent, and shootings are down 20 percent, he added.
Meeting attendees listed specific complaints and issues on postcards that Cianci-Hartman planned to forward to Bachmayer for action.
The community will meet again sometime in August to follow up on last week’s meeting. ••
To join the Tacony Town Watch or for more information, call 215-355-1404.
Reporter Diane Prokop can be reached at 215-354-3036 or dprokop@phillynews.com