New Internet Casino opening on Frankford

Is this in the zoning overlay?
Call FNA, FACT, & DiCicco.

I noticed it last week while walking my dogs. I can't say I'm thrilled to have it around the corner from my house. While I don't know any details about it, a quick Google search for Internet Cafe Casinos is not encouraging. Here is a link to an article about them in Florida. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_18/b4226076180073.htm The article focuses on them in the context of Florida, and I don't know what the laws are here in PA, but it certainly seems shady.

That just sounds stupid.

Since DiCicco has a fraternal connection with Sugarhouse's principal partners, the idea of a gaming center opening up on FKD will probably get his attention.

There's no way that is connected with Sugarhouse, and Sugarhouse would be opposed, like all casinos are, to their Internet gaming cousins.

Vegas is primarily behind the Federal action against Full Tilt Poker and the like and they lobby Congress hard against Internet gaming.

This is what an investor bud I know in Alabama got in hot water in the Florida panhandle for. He went to jail and posted bail, and he was lucky enough to have a good attorney that knew about the loopholes in Florida law that these folks skate on. William isn't doing this stuff anymore (now he owns a diner). His legal snafu lasted him about a year and he only owned one store not far from Tallahassee.

I don't have an opinion on these types of businesses but if you're against them, the BEST way to give them a hard time is to let the nearby legitimate casino know of their existence. The casino operators will take care of the "sweepstakes" operators once they find out about it happening nearby. They want those folks opening their wallet in a real slot machine.

Do you really need to go somewhere to gamble on the net? Can't you do that in the privacy of your own home?

Not when you've pawned your computer.

why doesn't this place have an address on it? should be 1800 or 1802, right?

oh man, i had high hopes for something nice going in there.

Isn't there some type of zoning needed for this business? Hell, I'm opening one.

Would imagine that it is 02, 00 would be the corner property.

yea... very convenient. ;) it's actually 1802 frankford ave. i guess the apartments above are accessed from blair st.?

I don't ever remember this coming up at zoning.

This is the owner of the building. This may or may not be the owner of said business.

I am calling L&I right now to see if there is a BPL registered for this individual. I'll reply back if I hear anything substantive.

[EDIT: THE ADDRESS IS 1802 FRANKFORD AVE]

That is the owner of the property when it was a lot. How long has the building been there because they are only paying taxes on a lot according to the BRT site.

.

POOF NOTHING TO SEE HERE

The building has been complete for approximately six months, to the best of my recolection. The signs for the casino (gambling den?) just went up last week. Prior to the signs going to there were several rows of computers, but I never saw anyone either in the building or entering/leaving.

1802 Frankford Avenue.

311 can't figure out if there's a BPL or not for the thing. Pfft I wish I hadn't worked from home today I could have gone to the L&I permit counter to ask. 311 wrote up a ticket and kicked it to L&I.

Records dept website is down right now.

ugh what a horrid addition to Frankford Ave. I am sure they are exploiting some loophole by calling it an "internet cafe" and I don't understand why it has to be so hideous. Frustration.

POOF NO NEED FOR THIS ANYMORE

Hey anybody of those blood-thirsty casi-NO activists want to knock on [street address removed] (Mr. Murawski's house) and ask what is going on with that building and why it says JACKPOT INTERNET CAFE???

I am sure Mr Murawski really did not care what type of tenant he got as long as he rented the space for the money he wanted. He's a money guy not an ideals guy. I hope Fishtown finds a way to get rid of this horrible business but I am doubtful there is enforcement for it. Sadly crap like this is more predatory and offers less benefit than the casino.

The zoning on the lot is C2. The lot is straight-through to Blair Street and there is a different building on the back of the lot which fronts Blair.

The Blair house I thought has an address on it... so I would imagine there's been some lot reconfiguration recently? FNA Zoning needs to look at this.

Oh I bet L&I's answer to this inquiry is gonna be good. I put the chances of a candy-stripe sticker on the front door at 10%, but if you guys can get DiCicco to make some phone calls, it will be closer to 90%.

i went in a couple months ago when this space was first finished. At that time they were calling it "Frankford Dev. Corp." and they were doing "for-profit mortgage modifications... seems like that space is going to be a cavalcade of sleeze...

also its clearly not ADA accessible.... what about all those disabled nrighborhood residents who want to away their check without going all the way down to sugarhouse.

No, the overlay only covers the east side of Frankford.

When I saw all the cubicles going in, I thought it was going to be a call center for a dept collection or telemarketing agency.

A friend lives right next door to that. I bet they're not pleased.

Once the local media finds out about this, how much you want to bet that *Carl Primavera pops out of nowhere?

(*The premier Philly land-use/zoning attorney that so many owners run to when community groups get upset)

Quote from: bamalucky on Today at 06:15:14 pm
Go onside and look around. There's only 5 companies

I just got a call from WHYY about this. I think one of their local reporters is doing a story, possibly for Newsworks Tonight (@ 6pm on 90.9 fm).

I guess they know to go the the camera friendly face of Fishtown...please wear that blazer if you're going to be on TV! 

http://www.philebrity.com/2011/12/15/internet-cafeshady-gambling-facility-coming-to-fishtown/

I makes me endlessly happy that Joey Sweeney is increasingly using FTUS as a source. He usually has nothing good to say about FT. I'm sure he spent his youth being smacked around by Rec boys, and still can't get over the fact that they don't find him endlessly fascinating.

This whole thing is so surprising. I mean, who could have guessed that once a casino opened, casino related businesses would start popping up all around it?

Hey everybody.
I swung by here last night and asked around. First of all, it was locked up tight at 5 p.m. and, as I'm sure you could see, there's no posted hours or contact info. Asking around the neighborhood, someone told me they heard it wasn't for a business but would be some sort of art event.
I'm still looking into it and please, feel free to contact me anytime if you hear anything.
But, I can't see how any "internet cafe" could offer "cash prizes".
I'm still looking, I'll post any updates I find.

Thanks,

Hayden

It would be awesome if it was.

The Art of the Scam.

Oh, I also talked to the FNA and they don't recall having discussed this place at any meeting.
So, whatever this is, the owners don't seem to have sought approval for the business from the neighborhood.
Don't know if that matters or not.

Hayden

Mike Murawski is a neighborhood guy, who has done a lot of rehabs in the neighborhood. If you really wanted to ask him, I'm sure he is accessible.

I asked Hayden to call

Hey, I'm sure if his number is out here, I'm not the only media calling him about this. I left a message anyway. I'll let you know what I hear. Thanks everybody.

Hayden

"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"

I go off what I can find on the property with the City's records.

If a deed was transferred, it can take 4 months normally for it to go through; what the records say is that "he is the listed owner of the property". But there could be a pile of crud sitting in City Hall right now waiting to go in the scanners.

The person I use to find out what addresses water bills go to is on vacay so I can't get better information than what I've got so far.

Water bills move a little bit faster than deed recordings... about 2 months. [No people, I can't read your water bills... I can ask for the mailing addresses for where the water bills go to. That's often how the City finds slumlords that try to hide their domicile information from the public and angry tenants.]

If it's an art installation, it's brilliant.
(Although I don't think some city agencies will see it that way after the uproar it caused.)

However, I would caution that until we have verification, don't assume it's an art installation and therefore stop fighting it. Keep up the good fight.

now all we need is a cash 4 gold, a happy ending massage parlor and a check cashing joint to make things complete

If it is an art installation, us getting all in an uproar will become part of the piece - making it even better.

Yeah, there's been a big void since Brooke moved out of the neighborhood.

DONE!

just knocked on the murawski's door and demanded an answer.
he was not home but i scared his wife pretty good
she said she doesn't know if its legal for her to give me her tenants name and address.
i saw one of her childrens school shirts so I know what school her kids go to
i'm going to catch her in the morning and get some answers.

Tread carefully - you don't want to get arrested yourself for harassment.

Hey, I'm just finishing what Kenzo started

*Hitting Like button*

This was just posted on FB just now:

Don't know if this belongs here but I just went by 1800 frankford the internet casino place and they were scraping the Windows of all advertising hoping this means this place will not open its only gonna bring more crime to this area

A little more info: http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/nakedcity/What-the-hell-is-an-internet-sweepstakes-cafe--and-whats-one-doing-on-Frankford-Ave-.html

I don't know anything about the zoning aspects but it would appear they are currently loophole legal?

Hey,
Sorry to keep stepping in here, but I don't know if everyone here saw this, but over on City Paper's blog, Isaiah Thompson posting a link to this great Bloomberg Businessweek article that examines the type of business that this "Jackpot Internet Cafe" just might be.
If this is what it is, it's hard to believe this type of business would be legal and would operate under the radar without any prior issues or concerns coming from the city. Right?
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_18/b4226076180073.htm

OK this is all coming in really fast.

The Jackpot Internet Cafe appears to be on its way out. The owner of the building is NOT the owner of the cafe, it's a tenant.

When I called the City earlier at lunch they still couldn't find anything for a BPL for a business recently registered with "Internet Cafe" on it in Fishtown.

So we still don't know who owns this "business" that was trying to go in there.

Keep your eyes and ears peeled though. This business might approach another landlord and bamboozle them into signing a lease agreement. If you are a commercial landlord in Fishtown please keep a lookout for any "internet cafes" with a lot of computers that want to open in locations that are not conducive for an Internet cafe.

Internet cafes can only survive in high touristy areas or near hotels of or in heavily trafficked transportation centers.

The moral of this story is that it appears someone wants to test the legal boundaries of our Riverfront Controls District.

This is the SECOND time the zoning overlay has been tested by someone.

Please don't say or do anything threatening.
Ask the guy questions, but leave the kids out of it.
(I think you only meant that you would know where to talk to the wife, but the way you phrased it sounds really bad!)

FTownLarry the issue is resolved. There is no need to contact the property owner any further, the owner of the property doesn't appear to have known precisely what the business was that was renting the 1st floor.

He did us all a favor and spared us a huge fight with the tenant and kicked the tenant out.

I STILL WANT TO KNOW THE NAME OF THIS BUSINESS OWNER WHO TRIED TO PUT IN THAT BUSINESS. I WANNA KEEP AN EYE ON THAT PERSON.

Wow. 48 hour turn around. Not bad.

It sounds like Mr. M didn't know what kind of business he was renting to. (Hey, if somebody told me they were opening an "internet cafe", I wouldn't have known it could mean "mini-casino".)
In any case, it appears he's doing the right thing and shutting the tenant down. If so, kudos to him!

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

i didnt mean to make it sound bad but we need these answers
im going to ask her tomorrow morning what her tenants names are.

wish me luck!

Dan can you edit out Mr. M's information please, and his phone is still on here. I know a lot of you folks are PASSIONATE about casinos. No need for someone to stumble on this by accident, not read this thread completely to see that the situation is resolved for the time being, and then contact Mr. M again.

I would prefer that you only talk to Mr. M himself and NOT his wife. If Mr. M doesn't want to talk to you, then drop it. I will defer to the lawyers who are on this board whether or not the landlord can reveal tenant's names.

But for the sake of Fishtown, it would be beneficial to know who tried to slip this business into a commercial property owner's building. This business is definitely not wanted by many in the community, it could generate crime that the PPD are not prepared to handle, and unlike Sugarhouse, this kind of business takes your money and generates very, very few jobs.

Thanks.

Did that awhile ago, unless there's a post I missed. I'll double-check right now.

I'll second what Kenzo said and ask you to only talk to the husband.
Sounds like he's handling the business deals.

I just heard from a relative of Mr. M's, he did not know that the tenant was going to do that. I know the family and they are a good family. As soon as he found out, he did the right thing.

So, if this thread can be removed or locked, it would be in the best interest of all concerned. Thanks.

Why don't you all stop hiding behind your fake names and computers and grow a set and go to the building and ask what it is going to be? My brother has rehabed alot of run down building and made them look great. To put his home address and home phone number on here is way out of hand. Not to mention putting my mothers address on here. There are people knocking on his door and calling his home. How would you like it if I put all your address and phone numbers on here. Not very hard to find out who you all are.

Dan should be ashamed of himself for allowing this to happen.

This isn't the first time Kenzo has posted people's personal information causing harassment and now it may lead to someone harassing Mrs. Murawski and her children

Why is it that Kenzo is quick to point the finger at others ? I notice its impossible to find any of his information which makes me wonder where he came from and why he's running. This is the same guy who follows children on the eL and reads thier phones.

Its usually the person who points the finger at others to get the attention off himself.

I printed this whole thread out before Dan could censor the posts and if anything happens to them or their children I'll be the first one to hand my copies over to the police and the FBI.
(oh yes, I am a TROLL lol)

LOL. I read this on my phone on the way back from the holiday party and I'm like "say what??? should I just ignore problems with properties and let's not do anything until another Shane Kelly is murdered and we all hold another candlelight vigil, then we just shrug our shoulders and go back inside to watch the Eagles lose and then not do anything?"

Desiree I will respond to you personally.

Dan, I ask you please lock this thread (after you read the user manual to figure out how to do it)

Well... Desiree either deleted her account or she hasn't posted enough where I can send her a direct message.

Desiree you can call Brian and ask for my phone number he will give it to you (it's on his cell phone, I called him and talked to him earlier today).

I'll make this short and sweet:

1. Your brother is the best guy I've ever seen for kicking out this tenant. Seriously. Almost NOBODY who owns a commercial property ever reacts like that. That is a testament to how much your brother is concerned. Anybody else would have said "ehh fuq it... bunch of NIMBYs".

2. We had NO WAY to find out what was the deal with this strange "jackpot" casino place once we saw the windows. EVERYONE WAS ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT IT the day it went up and it didn't make it on fishtown.us for a couple days. I CALLED THE CITY AND THEY COULDN'T EVEN FIND ANY PERMITS FOR THIS JACKPOT PLACE

3. The only way we can find anything out is to ask the City what is going on. The City's records are public information. You can go to my block on the 24XX block of Cumberland Street and pull the names and house numbers of everyone who owns a house here. You can do that for all 577,000 properties in Philadelphia. This has been PUBLIC information since the 1700s and it always has. Used to, you had to go down to City Hall in the basement to pull this stuff in dusty books, now you can do it online.

4. I never accused Mr. M of "owning" the business. EVER. We only know that he owns the building and that someone who knows your brother mentioned that he's a handyman/rehabber. I think the building is nice.

5. When I called 311, they told me about 6 calls had come in about your brother's property. It's not like NOBODY was going to ignore this business once we saw that it looks an awful like a gambling institution. Do you honestly think if fishtown.us wasn't here, that nobody would be asking questions? Seriously.

Desiree, I know you are hot under the collar right now and I am very sure your brother is FURIOUS. It's a reaction I've seen before many times. Trust me, I just got done dragging my former landlord to court a week ago and extracting a settlement check out of him. He's not happy that I filed an IRS complaint against him and that I posted the fact, online, on a MUCH BIGGER FORUM that I am suing this guy and I put out the address of his property (I did this when my ex-landlord tried to skip town... I hired a private investigator to find the man).

I was not that man that turned up at your brother's doorstep to interrogate his wife. I hope whoever interrogated his wife apologizes. Profusely.

I also tried calling your brother but I got a voicemail. The STAR also called. We wanted to know who owns that business because that business may not be legal and gambling is definitely something that a lot of people do not want here.

Nobody here is accusing you or your family of running a shady casino operation.

But we want to know who was that person, or people, who rented from your brother. If you don't feel comfortable disclosing that information, can you give it to Dan or to Brian? We need to know who were these people that duped your brother into renting out that space.

And with that, I ask this thread to be locked.

I hope her husband is home when you CATCH her in the morning . This is out of control . No one even knows what going on but they will bother this family for no reason . I suggest you back the hell up and relax .

I haven't read this thread but I am ANGRY. Someone tell me who I am supposed to be angry at

By the way, when something comes up about a particular property, I actually do turn up and visit it in person and look at it myself. Front, back, side, and rear.

This property is right by the CAPA exit leading to the Berks EL station. That's probably a pristine location for someone looking to sneak in one of these "sort-of gambling" places. Again, commercial property owners DO get duped by people approaching them looking to rent. Controversial businesses do this all the time and embroil the property owners in disputes.

Any of you guys that know me know I take this VERY SERIOUSLY. If someone is running a drug house and it's causing problems, I have ZERO problems posting the address and the owner of the property online. I will also look at criminal and civil court records as well. If it is warranted, yes I will post it online because this is information people need to know.

Whorehouses, junkies living in vacant property, businesses that are not zoned or don't have their permits.

That is gonna make some people very upset. Ask the 500+ people who know me in Mayfair. I don't live up there anymore but I'm fighting the Methadone clinic that is trying to open in 7900 Frankford Avenue and there is a realtor working at REMAX Eastern, his name is DENNIS J KULP, who is a property investor and the landlord for the methadone clinic.

I caught this man BOLDFACE LYING to the people in Mayfair. Anybody here have family here that lives near Frankford and Decatur? How many neighbors up there do you know who are wigged out of their minds and are putting their properties up for sale or thinking about it and are looking to abandon Mayfair because of that clinic?

I can see the property listings going up because that stuff is online, too. There's several realtors that are making some BANK trying to blockbust Mayfair. I personally believe (OPINION) that Dennis Kulp is doing it.

Christopher Artur who runs ARTUR PROPERTIES over at Frankford and Harbison Ave is doing this too and I have a HUGE compendium of property owners who hate that man and 5 who claim they have been screwed. That guy is trying to destroy Mayfair.

So call me what you want, I've heard it all before. I love Kensington and Fishtown and I'm staying. If that makes you uncomfortable, please put your house up for sale and move.

Kenzo the thread shouldn't be locked because you said so and do not throw out Shane's name to justify your actions.
That information you're posting can be looked up but its not meant to be used to harass or slander someone and certainly not to point the finger at someone else which you're good at doing..
You posted Murawski's name address and number in an attempt to get someone to do your dirty work for you and look what happened.

If you were a real man you'd go apologize in person and get off their backs for good.

Margaret: I didn't accuse Murawski of owning the casino joint, ever. And you are inferring that I did. At the very beginning I wondered aloud if maybe he sold the building.

I'll call Mr. Murawski tomorrow myself. It's past 10PM now and I'm not doing this while everyone is obviously emotional and upset.

I am not going to discontinue doing property lookups or reposting property information. That is simply not going to happen.

So, enough about talking about my "balls".

REAL MEN

I did not infer anything I just notice you point fingers a lot and haven't answered why you read kids cellphones on the EL, specifically kids you claim cause trouble, which means you must have followed them and while the information you post is public its not meant for you to spread to the world! If you bothered to read any agreements you'd see that. Anyone can read this forum registered or not and you just supplied who knows how many sickos with it.
I never said stop reporting every crackhouse you come across but if you're going to be a private eye about it do your own dirty work not just posting a name and saying "Have at thee!"

I made the comment about when I am on the EL, and I'm standing and looking down, I do read what kids are tapping into their smartphones; or I'm sitting next to them. I said that on the SSFF Facebook page, so I know you're on SSFF.

I wish the parents of these kids would read some of the stuff they're texting.

Yes I do that and I also overhear every word these kids are saying too when they're on the phone. I ride SEPTA 6 days a week and I'm extremely aware of my surroundings when I'm on it.

I didn't start looking at texts until after I witnessed the flash mob at the H&M store at 16th and Chestnut and got to see a flash mob up close... I walked past it about the time the cops showed up. And of course the kids put it on YouTube when they do it. When I'm on the BSL platforms and there's 50 kids rushing on or getting off, I wait for the next train. I don't want to be in the train with them.

If you don't want me to read what you're texting on the train, keep the smartphone in your pocket.

God bless you Batman

$10 says I'm gonna get compared to Sandusky / Hitler / Barbara Walters (one of the 3) before this thread hits page 3.

And still an answer can't be found...

Given all your other posts, I find it quite astonishing that you object to my removing the address and phone number when requested to do so.

Margaret, I already answered your question now DROP IT.

I am done with this thread. I'm not posting in this any more. I will attempt to call Mr. M tomorrow and if he doesn't want to speak to me, I will understand.

That is the end of it. Whatever you post here from now on is just garbage to me. So, post away. I will read but will not respond.

Oh Margaret, take a chill pill. Seriously. Drama drama DRAMA. This isn't the street outside your front door. Keep your screaming matches over there, please.

No one is going to attack Mr. M or his wife. No one is going to creep on your precious, innocent and perfect teenagers on the el. No one is posting information without reason.

Mr. Kenzo said, more than once, that he did NOT suspect Mr. M was the owner of the business but that he looked to be the owner of the building and might be able to tell us about the owner of the business. But honestly? What sort of landlord lives just a few blocks from a building he owns and doesn't know that his tenant has plastered the entire front of the space with signs advertising an internet casino cafe? People had a right to be ed about it and a right to start inquiring about how it got there. We all live here. Not just you. And not just Mr. M.

Although, I don't really understand why I'm bothering to engage with you...or why any of us are. We know who you are and all you ever do is try to start trouble.

I found it astonishing you allowed it in the first place. I'm sure it would be different if it was your info though.

Items are not moderated before they are posted.
Contrary to popular belief, I do not monitor every word, every minute.
I also don't know what addresses are business addresses and what are home addresses.

And I note, again, that I removed the info when I was notified of what was happening and was asked to remove it.

Dan Roth
2223 East York Street
215-634-4695

Stop by someday for coffee, but if my wife's home alone, please do not harass her.
Also, I'm not much of a morning person.
Thanks.

My name is Christopher Sawyer
I live at 2434 East Cumberland Street
My phone is (215) 360-1352

You might have seen me in the news lately about some other projects I've been working on volunteering. I think I mentioned my full name quite a number of times. You already know my name anyway Margaret because you know who I am on the SSFF fishtown page.

Since I have been here I've met quite a number of people in the community. Hundreds.

If you want to call me, then do so. But if you're going to send a death threat or not be civil, please note that I do pipe my phone through Asterisk* and I can get Caller ID from people who try to block their Caller ID. And no, I do not record telephone conversations made to me because that is illegal in Pennsylvania without a 2nd party agreement.

And as you've probably been able to tell, I am really, really good at tying phone numbers back to the people who own them.

You can stop by my house to talk at any time. If you're not going to be civil, I don't have time for you.

My house is the one with the NRA stickers in the windows.

So Margaret. Me and Dan have a pretty big set of balls. Are you gonna post your full name and address as well? Or you gonna hide behind your "rose"?

Um, I'd really prefer you not refer to any alleged bravery in relationship to testicles.

That said, I'm really not all that brave. I just figure there's no sense hiding what a large percentage of the neighborhood already knows and is readily available in the white pages.

Frankly, I don't think it was a good thing that the family's home address & phone were posted here.
However, I also think it's incorrect to say that I should have known that the contact info for a business is a private residence. And it's definitely incorrect to assume I was closely monitoring everything that was going on here and giving it my approval.

Even if I hadn't intervened and removed the address/phone, there still would have been no "sin of commission" on my part simply by virtue of presenting a forum where someone else was able to post that information.

Okay, now I am locking this thread because someone made a threat (which I deleted).
Chill out, folks.