Updates and April 8th General Membership Meeting

Hello Neighbors,

The next general membership meeting of the Wissahickon Interested Citizen’s Association will be held on Wednesday, April 8th at 7:00 pm in the Board Room of Northern Children’s Services. All are welcome to attend and encouraged to join the Civic (membership is $10/person for the year). Below are links to some of the many things that are going on with WICA and in our community. We’ll have updates and more information at the meeting. I’ll send out an agenda by Tuesday.

On a personal note, I’d like to invite all of you to join the Civic and become a part of the association and, for active members, I’d like to ask that you reach out to your neighbors and friends in the community to tell them about the Civic and encourage them to join. We’ve been seeing a tremendous amount of growth and an incredible amount of enthusiasm for what we can accomplish. In the last year, we’ve built great partnerships with other organizations in the community, we’ve been awarded a new mural at the train station, and have become a finalist for a grant from the Philadelphia Horticultural Society. Members have worked tirelessly to work with local businesses and to try to address traffic issues. It’s been amazing to see the involvement of our members. I’m glad to be a part of it and I hope that you will join us.

Best,

Jon

Don Simon from the Central Roxborough Civic Association will be in attendance to talk about the zoning overlay. If you have interest in preserving the architecture and character of our unique community, please plan to attend. Implementing this plan will reap great benefits, but we will need the commitment of many volunteers if we are to move forward. Please come to the meeting to learn about the kit and help decide if we are to move forward with implementing the plan. Read about the kit on the Montgomery News site.

Triple A Auto at 5134 Rochelle has been granted the proper zoning from the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment. WICA voted to support in exchange for signing an agreement regarding the uses of the properties (see attached). Read the update here.

Volunteers have been hard at work to finalize our application for the Philadelphia Horticultural Society’s Neighborhood Placemaker Grant. Thank you to the volunteers who have dedicated a great amount of time and resources to this project and, in particular, thank you to Hal and Suzanne have been heading this project.  Click here for more info.

Thanks to the efforts of our volunteers and community organizations, we have been selected by the Mural Arts Program for a mural at the train station. We’re working out details of the first of two community meetings and hope to have a date and location confirmed within the next week. This project couldn’t have happened without the efforts of the members of our Mural Arts Committee . . . Sara, Janis, and Jose. Thank you!

Walnut Lane Bridge will be closed for repairs soon and the Ridge Avenue Re-paving project has begun.

Please join the Cook-Wissahickon community for their upcoming events. The first is “Meadow-Palooza” which will be held on Thursday, April 9th from 5:30 to 7:30. On April 25th, they will host a Fun Run/Walk Fundraiser. You can find more details and register for the event on the HSA website.

Rhyan Grech from Audobon Pennsylvania is working with Cook Wissahickon teachers on propagating seeds and installing them in local parks, etc.   She will work with teachers to grow the seeds and transfer them in Cooks kindergarten tree nursery, which is a very large raised bed.  Plants can be later installed in places around the school, the park, the neighborhood. She is planning on attending our April 8th meeting to discuss the project with the Civic.

See our update on Daisy Field usage and alternates to a dog park to solve field usage/damage issues. Click here for info.

Officer Klein will be retiring and Officer Jones will be taking over as our new liaison. At our last meeting, we discussed many of the parking and traffic safety concerns that have recently been raised. Click here for more info.

Nominations for Board Members will be held at our May meeting and elections will be held in June. If you’re interested in a position on the Board, please email me atpresident@wissahickon.us. Members may vote beginning 30 days after the day they join. Please become a member at our April or May general membership meetings if you’d like to take part.Click here to read the bylaws for information on Board positions, membership, and voting.

If you’re interested in helping to organize community social events, please send me an email and let me know. One of our members is interested in putting together a social event, ie a pot luck at Daisy Field, and is looking for others to help put something together.