John Perzel COmmunity Center

[Eddiej1984]

From the Northeast Times

Mayfair will soon have its own community center.
The Mayfair Community Development Corporation, along with local community leaders and politicians, broke ground last Wednesday at the site of the future John M. Perzel Community Center, on the basketball courts next to Mayfair Elementary School and behind the Holy Terrors Clubhouse.
Construction of the $2 million center is expected to start in January and will take about a year to complete.
Perzel secured more than half of the cost, and the rest will be funded by the state.
"We’re trying to do what we can to make sure Mayfair is a great place to live, work and raise a family," said Perzel (R-172nd dist.).
He and City Councilwoman Joan Krajewski (D-6th dist.) worked together to help bring the center to fruition. Krajewski secured the land from the city.
"I think it’s great," Krajewski said.
"The community is working together, and this is what happens when we work together for the sake of the community."
Al Mercadante, the Mayfair CDC operations manager, views the center as an important facility that will gain plenty of use in the neighborhood.
"We’ve been working on the idea of a community center for many years in the Mayfair area because, as some of you don’t know, despite the size of this neighborhood, we do not have a rec center in Mayfair," Mercadante said at the ceremony.
The 200-foot-by-70-foot center will have two full gyms, a community room and classroom space for senior citizens, storage space and a room for any community function, Mercadante said.
Mayfair CDC also is building a partnership with Mayfair School next door so that during the school day, the students can use the building for gym classes or other activities, Mercadante said.
New outdoor basketball courts will be constructed in the school yard so that the playground will still have them, said Mayfair CDC president Reese Hartey.
As the idea for a community center took shape, the CDC realized there was not a lot of vacant space in Mayfair, Hartey explained. Organizers gave thought to a parcel behind Abraham Lincoln High School, but then decided it was too secluded, he said.
"This is a core point in the neighborhood," Hartey said of the chosen location next to the Mayfair School.
"It will make Mayfair a better place, and it will be a great asset to the community for many years," said Al Taubenberger, president of the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
Construction of the John M. Perzel Community Center will be just the latest project to keep the Mayfair CDC busy in recent years. The agency has acquired and renovated homes in the community for resale, in addition to refurbishing the old Manor Bar and converting it to the Manor Medical and Community Services Building.
CDC members are now working on beautification projects and turning the old Devon movie theater on Frankford Avenue into a community performing arts center. ••


that will be cool, buta re they gonna build this in the baseball field place of what?

[chrissayer]

Perzel secured more than half of the cost, and the rest will be funded by the state.

Is there a difference.

[GuinnessHarp]

I must say the GOP was very smart to give him Speakership. I've been hearing winds of the Club for Growth wanting to knock him off for a Toomey-like Republican. Good luck finding that in Mayfair. He does a lot for the people of Mayfair, I'll give him that. However, there are a lot of things I don't like about him. He is trying to engineer state takeovers which IMO could be more destructive than Street. Look at the PPA. GOP corruption is rife in that department. I also don't like the fact he is chairman of the Melissa Brown campaign yet has done nothing on Section 8 himself yet Ms. Brown is using that issue for cheap votes.

[chrissayer]

Kind of a Vince Fumo of the Northeast. :shock:

[Eddiej1984]

They have started! (ok they did a week or 2 ago)
the basketball court is blocked off, the baskets are layin on the ground (Guessing the snow has slowed them down) also the baseball field is somewhat intact, it use to have 4 main fiekds with 1 small cage
Now it has just 3, as the one maina nd the small one is gone, as its fenced off, and I guess when the snow clears its off to start building it!
I wonder where they are gonna put new basketball courts?

Here is a a thing i drew (The community center is outlined in red)