I will.
And can Mr. Williams, are you able to turn on your video?
It's automatically on, but I can't see myself here.
I don't know how to do that.
All right.
Um, Mr. Williams, uh, can you, um, share with the board, uh, where you live and how long you've
lived at that location? Yes. Uh, uh, my name is Calvin Williams again, and I've been living
at that location for 30 years, 1814 North Nechona street.
So are you across the street from, from the house that we're, that we're here for today?
Yes, I am.
Directly on an angle across the street from both of the properties.
Let's first address the blight issues that were raised by the attorney for the applicant.
He claims that there are two houses that are blighted on this block.
Can you describe what this block looks like and if there are any houses that are blighted?
Can you describe what this block looks like and if there are any...
There are no blighted houses as far as our block is.
There was a fire across the street from me a year ago that completely destroyed Cush's house, and it's gone now.
The two neighboring properties were damaged also. The one that's right close to it is in the process of getting insurance and redoing it.
The property next to it has been completed. All the damages have been done and the families moved back in.
And I would add that both of those properties right across the street from me are new members of our block, new single family members of the block.
And one of them has brought into our block our first born new child, and I don't know how long, as a single family homes, both of them.
So, Mr. Williams, did you ever have any kind of leadership role on the block, like a block captain or something?
Yes, I had been the block captain for a very long time, and we kind of tried to pass that on and give everyone an opportunity.
But when I first moved in the block 30 years ago, I took it upon myself to be a good civic neighbor like everyone else I was always taught and clean the front of my house.
And matter of fact, the Moore Street next door, I spent the first six, seven months to two years in cleaning the block because traffic from people would bring the johns there and I had to clean up herphalastics and all that.
And it was through that effort that the elders on the block tapped my shoulder to become the block captain.
And that's when I became totally active in that part.
So let's talk now about the two houses, the 1819 and 1821 North Natrona Street.
Are you personally familiar with those two properties?
Yes, I am.
before the attorney mentioned a picture
that I held up at the RCO meeting.
It was a picture of six of seven of our elders
that we had honored on the block years ago.
They're no longer with us that we honored.
And I just wanted them to see the picture
of the people that been on that block.
In that picture was the parents
of the latest owners and neighbors across the street, the Tuesdays, the house that is in
question now. And the house next door is also a picture near of the McCalls, the two old
traditional families on the block. And the last ones that were within those homes were their
relatives, both sons of those deceased parents, were the last persons in the house. Now, who owns
it now outright? I don't know. I only know the Tuesdales, and I only know the McCalls,
and those were the ones that left their properties to their children, and now we are in,
well, that's where I'm at with that. There's nothing wrong with those properties.
Okay. So I'm showing you now a copy of a form that the applicant, says Brian Watson, doing business as BJA Real Estate LLC, submitted to the RCO, the Strawberry Mansion CDC.
and i'm going to the second page and um it says it's uh the question is briefly describe the
intended structural adjustments and or additions to the property and it says the property is
already configured as a two-unit residential household this application is to legalize that
use no structural adjustments or additions are needed so um mr williams is are either or both
of those houses that we were talking about, 1819 and 1821, are either or both of those
already configured to be a duplex?
I have no way of knowing specifically, but from the outside and the times that I have
been in both of those houses with my neighbors, the only thing that I've seen had changed
in there is that they had made the property adjusted for people to age in place. Both of
Both of the homeowners there had gotten to the point that they couldn't get around.
the homeowners there had gotten to the point that they couldn't.
They moved.
They made bathrooms on the first floor.
I don't know about the upper floors, but they made adjustments in their home in order to be able to age in place.
That's all I know, and that's all I've seen in the times that I have been in there prior to the children having sold the property.
All right.
Now, have you been inside?
When was the last time you were inside 1819 North Nostromo?
I was inside that property just before Bunny left.
That's the son of the Tuesdales.
I was in his home in there because he had some minor problems himself and getting around.
He had had surgery with his eye and all those things.
So it was handy that he was able to utilize the property because of the bathroom downstairs and all those other things.
And so I was in the property. And the condition I've seen on there was, it wasn't looking like that, but it was livable. And that was up until less than a year or so ago.
All right. Let me address what the counsel for the developer said in his remarks, that you supposedly own a three-unit property and that you don't want anyone else to have one. How do you respond to that?
Well, when I moved on the property, the next door was three units. It wasn't not long after that, they moved out. Someone was in the process and it was just laid there.
It was a fire. There was a fire in that property. I got nervous because I'm a new neighbor. I just moved next door. I am next door to the property that we're talking about that is zoned as three units. And that was done back in 1956 or something like that.
But in dire fright of my property getting damaged somewhere down the line, I sought out the owners of that.
And through a process we went through, I did all I can to flood all of my savings and everything to be able to purchase that property in order to save my property.
I have not done anything with that property, but just try to keep it from being an eyesore to the neighborhood with some adjustments and all that, because I have no idea when and where I'm going to do with that property.
Hopefully, my grandchildren, my grandchildren, as a matter of fact, come in to visit me this weekend and her husband.
Hopefully, I can get those guys to be able to help me make a decision.
That property was purchased by me and my wife in 1997.
And it's still there. It's not an eyesore. And I've been through years out of pocket just trying to keep it looking decent so it doesn't bring down the rest of our neighborhood. And hopefully in the future, I'll be able to develop it in a way with my family that I'm living next door to. We will not be absentee landlords or absentees anybody. So go ahead.
thank you all right let's talk about the rco meeting uh you heard uh the council for the
developers say that there were a whole lot of people there who were supporting it not too many
opposing it um but there was some kind of a change with um the letter from the rco um tell us what
you saw when you were at the rco meeting and who was who did you who could you identify from the
block, and who did you not be able to identify? I am sure there are some people that is on
this Zoom meeting there from my block. And as it was described to me after the RSEO meeting,
was that, who are those people? If you take another look at the photos that was just presented,
our street is like a u-turn most people don't know that we're there and that's why we were
able to survive all of this time you come down burke street and you make a turn you have to
make another u-turn to come out of it no one ever ever comes down that street unless they're part of
the family they know somebody in the family and they're visiting and there's no other reason to
be there it's not a shortcut the place it's not a shortcut you just come in and you make a u-turn
and you're out. Now, the Moore Street that's on the other side of us is literally the alley for
Montgomery Avenue. They have no alley. The houses are backed up against the street.
Mr. Masters said, let's try to concentrate on this.
Mr. Williams, can you focus on the RCO meeting and what you saw happen and who you saw vote
which way we did not know those people from the from the graph that he showed the of us
We did not know those people from the from the graph that he showed the way they sent letters to a lot.
A lot of those houses are empty. No one's there is just nothing there.
We don't know who those folks are. And we know that we have put a petition together with all the names of the people on our block from 20 from 1821,
when they came before the zoning board before saying that we didn't want that.
We thought it was a done deal and it was over.
So these people, we don't know where they come from.
So from your observing the people on the Zoom for that meeting, did you know who the neighbors were on your block and how they voted?
Objection.
I recognize.
I will object to that.
Mr. Calvin is not the RCO.
He does not maintain the roster, and the roster is not in his possession.
He's already testified that he didn't know.
Mr. Masters, I agree with that, Mr. Masters.
All right.
Was there something about the Reverend Williams, the way he ran the meeting, that concerned you at that RCO meeting?
um how can i i've been to previous the rr so ceo meetings and the the the quorum and and and things
that were put in a place and established was uh great i i just don't know whether we had fair
opportunity for everyone to speak make this point and identify themselves as who they were and where
they were where they live and what the addresses were and and and and i again i'm saying i cannot
from where i was identify anybody from our block of nearest near neighbors
i i it's not for me to keep explaining this like this yeah yeah i mean i think we're starting to
repeat mr masters we're starting to repeat all right is there anything else that you wanted to
add mr williams i i just wanted to say that the opening lines again when you say the the tree
lined uh block was typical of of in philadelphia i want to say our neighbors uh together and work
with the uh the philadelphia horticulture society to have trees planted and every tree that's on
that block is implanted in front of our elder older neighbors homes every uh store front of
a house that has reflective addresses were put together by the block. Everyone that has a lamppost
that has a lamp on it was done by the folks on that block. We have been close together like that
and we're not asking anything unusual. We want to keep a single family units on there. If you build
it they will come period because we have two new neighbors that have mr mr top mr top and you want
to cross just a few questions um well well for first uh mr williams um it's good to to hear you
again you are you're you're very consistent in your advocacy for your block that's the kind of
advocacy that this board is is impressed by and i'm impressed by so but at the same time mr williams
I wanted to go over some of the things that you've said.
Number one, you did confirm that you own currently a three-unit building on that house on North
Metrona Street.
That's correct, right?
That's correct.
And have you rented that?
Is that a rental property?
No, never, ever.
Never, ever.
It's a vacant property as we speak.
That's what you're representing to the board today?
Yes, yes.
But you did not represent to the board that you intend on converting that to single family.
Is that what you intend to do?
I don't know what I want to do.
I have the prerogatives to do that.
But again, Mr. Williams, you're not saying to this board, and you didn't say in the RCO, so you're consistent there, that you intend to make sure that your own property is single family.
I'm going to object because there has nothing to do with this application.
and it's and it's harassing the witness okay hold on so i'll move on from that but
sherman want to move on to a different question i will yes yes so mr mr williams you did not
circulate a petition for an 1819 north natrona street on the block prior to this rco meeting
isn't that's correct that's correct we had already did one for the next door property
You did not do one since the meeting. After the vote was in the favor of the applicant, you did not circulate another as the block captain to show exactly what the support is. That's correct, right?
as the block captain to show exactly what the support is that's correct right no i did not do
that okay so after his rco meeting just looking at mr reverend williams is um his uh summary
there were five there were four people sorry four that opposed one of which was you um and you
recognize of course those people those are the people that you're referring to from the block
that are in support of you isn't that correct i i don't understand what you're asking me
the RCO meeting that you attended that we were all present for in that vote there were only four
that opposed this only application that we're here to talk about you were one of those four
so that means only four people from your block that you mentioned that you're the block captain
of appeared to vote in I'm objecting he he didn't testify he's the block captain now he said he was
in the past but he hasn't been the block captain for many years but i i i think i think the real
question is was there just four people from the block period yeah that's a better question that's
a better question okay i cannot really identify anyone but myself because the meeting progresses
no one signs in of who they are and where they live in the block and everyone did not have an
opportunity to be able to speak and so so i have no idea how other than breakdown than my well i
just that's that's it just no idea please yes okay great and now you are you know mr mr watson
mr captain miss williams i don't know her no i know i do not know him personally i know the
truesdales and i know the mccalls okay and um so as as you as you sit here today you you've referred
used the word we several times in your testimony um the we i imagine you're referring to are other
neighbors on north natrona street is that correct correct okay are are those we part of the four
people that opposed at the rco meeting no idea i have no idea okay or to your knowledge are there
people associated with this meeting hearing today that are waiting to testify because of your
advocacy i would hope so okay how many people do you think are in support of your position
mr williams when you refer to as we who are you referring to exactly i i can't i i can't explain
this to you unless you lived on the block where we live you saw it it's small it's not those many
houses we've all grown up that's my point that's we as family you know but you but you know them
all mr williams or do you do you not know them all i i know i know most of every single one of
my neighbors on it even some of the newer ones that have come to our block i've known i've reached
out to them i've reached out to them well mr williams you you've said again you've reached
out to the neighbors you you've mentioned that you are representing a we or a group
how many of this group are you actually representing today beside yourself
that's a in my mind of mine that's a crazy question i can't answer no no no no in the way
that i did you can't answer the question don't answer the question yes well i have no further
questions from miss williams i think it's clear thank you thank you very much um mr masters do
you have anyone else um i do not okay um questions or comments from the board
question was a uh summary sheet uh submitted uh from the meeting
yes yes miss gaston um that is the last exhibit on i'm actually on that let me share my screen once
again okay this is the summary sheet that is in front of you here as you can see the final
position taken and that and that would say how many attended yes 30 people were at the meeting
um 12 support four opposed five abstained and does it say um anything um i can't
it's a little small okay i'll make it i'll try to make it bigger here
It is not broken down in two critical ways.
It's not broken down.
Well, what it does state to, thankfully, it states that both RCOs, it says participating RCOs, and they list both of them.
So this is the count of both RCOs and the letter that is the consolidation of all people present.