It's a restaurant, Family Dottos across the street.
And here's a bigger picture of what the current state
of the gas station looks like.
So again, you will walk up here to the counter,
well, I guess to the screen,
speak with the operator who's inside.
There's only room for one person to be inside.
Get your gas or goods,
whatever it is that you're looking to buy.
Ideally, when you see the new pictures,
what you'll see is that what's already been approved
is for this to be revamped and made larger so that people can actually go
inside the actual property. So again, we already have the proof of that. We're just
looking to add the ability to serve hot food when you do go inside. Here are some
pictures of it at night. So in the traffic in the area. Here is a restaurant. So this is a Chinese
store. It's a restaurant that's exactly across the street. And here are some pictures of other
commercial buildings in the area. It's a Rite Aid down the street. It's a whole plaza down the
street. So again, it's in a very, very commercialized area. So now we're looking at some internal
drawings of what we would be doing. So this would be the entrance to the property. This is the
counter here. Here's will be a grill and a sink and a kitchen area, and there's a bathroom in the
back. So again, currently, as it states now, you're not able to actually walk into the actual
property. Ideally, what's already been approved is the ability to build this so that you can walk in
and actually go inside the establishment
and buy stuff from the concession stand
and stuff like that.
Again, we're looking to be able to add the ability
to serve hot food in the establishment, though.
So here's what the property will look like
once it's revamped on the outside.
It's a corner property.
Here's an additional picture of what it will look like.
So as you can see, it's a lot larger,
and you're able to actually enter it inside the building.
Looks like cleaner and is modernized. Again, here's some drawings of actual property.
And then here are some petitions signed by neighbors. So now I will preface that these petitions are signed by neighbors to the property.
However, they are not the RCO near neighbors, right?
So these are people who, so just for clarity, when we filed these petitions, when we filed with the RCO, when we filed with the RCO, we're given a list of near neighbors who will be impacted, right?
These addresses were people who were within two blocks of the actual property.
So the RCO notification, it does not list them as near neighbors.
However, they are within two blocks of the actual property and they were in agreement with the project.
Um, additionally, here are letters from neighbors.
Additionally, here are letters from neighbors who were within two blocks of property, and they supported it as well.
This is the proof of mailing. We had the community meeting. We actually had two community meetings. The first meeting was June 18th, proof of mailing.
this is the letter so chair mr chairman you mentioned that the west philadelphia economic
development council they sent in a letter i believe this morning and um basically they stated
that they were um not in opposition they were not opposed to the project the rco date and this is the
um coordinating rco and they were not opposed to the project right um this proof of tax compliance
This is a proof of posting. I also have a few people on this call who are actually, I should have five of them, who actually are affected neighbors that we're going to speak when I call them so that they can, you know, give their opinion of the property and show that they are in support of it.
So if possible, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to call some of them up to speak of their support.
You want to call them as your witness?
Yes, please.
Go ahead.
Okay. On the first I'm going to call is the block captain, Karen Johnson. Are you on the call?
Please raise your virtual hand away to be sworn in.
Ty, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
I'll be coming back in shortly, Mr. Chair.
Sure. Thank you.
Is she in yet?
Commissioner's in now.
Would you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Ms. Johnson?
Can you hear me?
I can.
Could you please state your name and spell it for this phonographer?
Yes, sir.
Karen, K-A-R-E-N, Johnson, J-O-H-N-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Ms. Johnson, could you turn your video on, please?
OK. OK. All right. Proceed, counsel.
Good afternoon, Ms. Johnson. How are you? I'm fine. How are you?
Great. Great. Would you mind for the record stating your address?
Yes. I'm at 216 South Frazier Street. I'm off to the block center, the whole 200 block of Frazier Street.
OK. Thank you. And Mr. Chairman, for the record, 216 South Frazier Street is an affected neighbor.
just for the record. Okay. Ms. Johnson, could you explain to the board why you're in support
of the project? Yes, it's a commercial corridor. We need more variety, and I support the hot food
application for this project. There's not a lot of places for us to eat around here but two Chinese
restaurants and they're not restaurants they're walk-in like places like that so i support this
project wholeheartedly okay thank you thank you thank you devon who's your next witness yes um jasmia
deluge thank you it's me at the mooch please raise your virtual hand to wait to be sworn in
deluge sorry deluge with an
jasmir deloach
Hello?
I'm a virtual audience.
These are the next hand.
Who's your next witness, Devin?
Yeah, James and Kathy Lawton.
All right, Mr. Chair, they should be coming back in as a panel.
Okay, thank you.
Wait, which one is coming in, James and Kathy Lawton or Jasmia Deluge?
Both of it, James Lawton.
Okay. All right. Perfect.
Oh, wait. I'm sorry. They must have put their hand down for some reason.
James Lawton, if you're still in the audience, please raise a virtual hand away to be sworn in.
James Lawton, if you're still in the audience, please raise the virtual hand away to be sworn.
Do we see him?
Yes, but now they're coming in as a panelist.
Mr. Lawton?
What's that?
Could you unmute yourself, sir?
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?
Kathy Lawton, L-A-W-T-O-N.
Right. Could you put your video on? Is that possible?
All right, Devin, start your presentation.
Ms. Lawton, could you state your address for the record?
This is Mr. James Lawton, 141.
I live on the first house of the court.
Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
Mr. Lawton, state your name, please, for me.
James Lawton.
It's spelled for the court stenographer.
J-A-M-E-S-L-A-W-T-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm the tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
please proceed counsel um mr lawton could you state your address um for the record
141 south 57th street on the first house okay so mr chairman just just to give i understand i
understand his house is the house that's directly next to the property so if when i when i put the
presentation it's basically the back of the gas station i understand okay um mr lawton could you
explain to the to the board um why you support this project oh i support the um the hot food
applications because that gas station is just like it's like it's abandoned it's like it's
they're attracting unworn attention i'm on the corner i got grandkids i got kids that comes over
here and supporting that it gives them a variety to go someplace to get hot food that that's that's
that's um more um more safe because that's not safe at all you know they got a chinese restaurant
across the street everybody don't eat chinese food so bringing that gas station with the hot
food there gives me personally right there i could just come out my my house or my grandkids
or my child come out of my house
and actually go get something affordable
that's more different than, you know, that they like.
It's very much needed in this community right here.
All right. Thank you very much.
Devin, do you have anyone else?
Yeah, I think Jasmia Deloach is, I see her in audience.
Is it going to be the same testimony?
Hello?
Kai, could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer?
hi my name is jasmia deloach j-a-s-m-i-a-d-e-l-o-a-c-h right and devon could you ask her
if she's in favor of the project for us yeah miss lucius i'm sorry just mr would you say your address
mr lucius what address are you at 124 south 56th street okay and mr chairman for the record
she is um and miss mr lucius are you in support of this project yes i am okay all right
Was she sworn in, Mr. Chair?
Do we swear her in?
Mr. Looch,
did you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Devin, do you have anyone else?
Is Sean Johnson
on the call?
Sean Johnson?
Sean Johnson,
they should be coming back in as a panel shortly.
yes good evening mr johnson could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
uh sean johnson that would be s-h-a-w-n-j-o-h-n-s-o-n right do you swear or firm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do devin could you ask him whether or not
he's in favor of the project or not yeah um mr johnson for the right could you state your address
uh i'm on 122 south 57th street okay mr chairman just for the record that's an effective neighbor
um mr johnson are you in support of this project yeah being right right across the street from the
project uh i'm in favor of it i think that would stop the loitering all right thank you very much
i think that it would stop the loitering all right thank you very much devon have you
brought your owner on yet no i can bring him i can bring him why don't you bring him on to
adopt your testimony sure sure one of the members is here with me i'm going to turn my
okay hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer amina perez a-m-i-n-a-h-p-e-r-e-z
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Thank you, Devin.
Amina, did you hear my testimony?
I did.
Did you testify that it was true and accurate to your knowledge?
And do you adopt my statements?
Okay, thank you.
All right, Devin, I'm going to have questions from the board.
Devin, my first question is, this just says food to go.
Am I correct?
You walk in and get the food, you leave.
Take out, yes.
That's all it is.
Okay, all right, questions from the board.
Oh, yeah, I do have a couple of questions.
What's the status of the upgrades to the existing gas station?
Because that gas station is ragged.
It really is.
It looks like pumps don't work.
It's just a horrible situation.
Right.
So the idea is that assuming we get this approval, everything will just start all at once, right?
So they'll shut down everything.
It'll be just done all at once.
The remodeling and everything.
They'll build out the kitchen that's needed for the takeout restaurant. So it all happened at one time.
Right. So I'm hearing from the community that there's some support for the project for this for this takeout restaurant.
What what is the proposed menu for the restaurant?