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Just A Quick Word About The Intersection Of Front And Girard

As you may have heard, sadly, a clerk at the Trax Market at Front and Girard was shot and killed overnight. It’s worth noting that Trax was also where Sabina Rose O’Donnell‘s killer first tracked her last summer. And it’s further worth noting this is a corner that seems to hate itself as much as it hates you. And at the risk of oversimplifying a tangled web of police districting, neighborhood politics and generally bad, decades-old juju, we’d like to just say that Front & Girard has had enough. It doesn’t have to be this way. For all of the money that’s been pumped into the section of town over the last decade, nagging gnawing problems remain in a spot that could and should be very welcoming and even a point of local pride: That Girard El stop is where three neighborhoods and untold numbers of walks of life converge daily. How is it that no one seems to have ever made it a priority to see that the place is not a vortex of suck and violence and great urban shame?

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 26th, 2011 at 12:23 pm.

  • sneakers

    well they did take the time to unearth what was left of the original details and roof/facade of that old theatre…..

    which was then it was promptly drywalled over to make way for the new dollar store going into the location.

  • MH

    Waiting for the 15 trolley on a Friday night at rush hour could be the most exciting/interesting/frightening cross section of humanity around.

  • mBeck

    a great and worthy post

    I live in West Philly and always choose to bike all the way fuck home (about :40 minutes) rather than take Septa from that stop at the Girard corridor

  • http://www.secretpants.net Trigg

    @mBeck I hope you do this just because you like biking.

  • schmoe

    Recent tragic events certainly cast a gloomier light than usual on this corner, but it’s only one of several prominent El stops suffering from high crime rates, under-investment from a transit authority struggling through perennial budget woes, and a high rate of vacant properties and empty lots nearby, many of which are owned by government entities. That is not in any way meant to trivialize these two murders but to place them in a larger context of the need for a change system-wide.

    Counterintuitively, some of the most used El stops are among the more blighted areas and biggest missed development opportunities in Philly. The 8th St Disney hole comes to mind, as does K&A, the 40th St. Section 8 housing complex, 46th St’s vast swath of vacant land, and 52nd St canopies (RIP). Even the City Hall stop with its 1980′s sepia-toned pretzel boy photo as the one artistic gesture at brightening the place up is a dismal cave at the center of our transit system.

  • majawat

    You can blame Councilman Darrell Clarke’s need to park his car easily for the lack of any development on Front and Girard streets. He banned almost all new development in 2009: http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/2009/11/12/councilman-darrell-clarke-fishtown-collective

  • MarlyMal

    @majawat: That article is a great reason that Darrell Clarke is correct. Those snot kids decide to use daddy’s warehouse to throw a massive party and you call that development? Where were you when all the clubs and all were causing so much BS in the hood? That’s what led up to the zoning issue and I for one am glad its in place. It doesn’t stop anything, you just need to get it through zoning, if its good, it will go through.

  • mBeck

    @Trigg, I do enjoy biking, yes. part of being on a bike is also the relative safety of being on wheels. I’ve been mugged before but not on a bike. my initial comment is derived from personal experience with crime

    not a fan of Septa in general either and like schmoe somewhat relates above, Septa stops create foot traffic, good and bad: people coming home from work and late nights equals opportunity

  • majawat

    @MarlyMal: Great job protecting us from “snot kids” Councilman Clarke! He’s made the area safe for gun-toting thugs.

    In other Councilman Clarke asshatery news, he’s now sponsoring a bill to require his approval for all new bike lanes. Is there no development that Clarke won’t stand in the way of?

    http://blog.bicyclecoalition.org/2011/05/city-council-proposes-adding-bike-lane.html

  • deafmute

    Horrible. I was just in there at 2am this past saturday. As residents of this city we should get down on our hands and knees and thank god that our precursors had the wisdom and foresight to build even just two rail lines (something we could never accomplish now). I think our subway system will be our saving grace once gas prices REALLY climb and all the buses in the world won’t be able to get us around. That being said, it’s unbelievable how almost all our stations are surrounded by parking lots, empty buildings, and general blight. It’s mind boggling. If more people ride SEPTA it WILL get better.

    Hope they catch these guys.

  • mw_217

    I saw a dead girl lying on the cement on that corner in the late winter soul-suck that was 2008/09. I actually didn’t notice until I went into Trax to buy some chips and the clerk remarked (wide-eyed, but hardly shocked or scared) “bitch is DEAD.” Then I noticed her right outside the window.

    Moved to South Philly soon after, never regretted it.

  • MonicaMK

    @mbeck- wasn’t sabina rose riding a bike when she was attacked?

  • http://www.candycoated.org candy

    Yeah girard avenue rehabilitation! Sounds like its going great!

  • jc

    Dear Bart,
    Living has never been so exciting!
    With love,
    Ex-Fish