Right NEast/Wrong NEast: Tacholmesfair?

It’s one of the most recent high-profile news stories around the city: a 50-year-old blind woman beaten and raped inside her own home.

The story is a sensitive and shocking one, made all the more difficult to read when you consider its inaccuracies.

Similar to October’s rape attempt in Holme Circle, the larger media outlets in the city can’t agree on which neighborhood the brutal attack took place in.

Some reports, like those from Fox and the Inquirer, insisted the 7300-block of Torresdale is in Mayfair. Action News and NBC reported Holmesburg, and CBS didn’t dare speculate.

It’s not just the media fighting over this one. Folks over at Philadelphia Speaks are discussing whether Torresdale Avenue between Cottman and Bleigh is Mayfair, Holmesburg or Tacony. And to be honest, the NEast Philly staff had some trouble with this one, too.

We initially took Mayfair out of the running, but there are Mayfair neighborhood flags hanging on the 7300-block of Torresdale, across the street from Russo Park. Can you blame a reporter who’s likely never in the Northeast for calling it Mayfair?

So it comes down to Holmesburg and Tacony, and it gets a little subjective. If you consider Cottman Avenue the border between Tacony and Holmesburg, then this happened just inside the Holmesburg borders. But as everyone knows, it’s the people who live in a neighborhood who best determine what it’s called.

Our staff is sticking with Holmesburg for now, but if we get some comments with solid proof to the contrary, we’ll take a second look.

Outside media don’t care about the Northeast. We have all seen them misuse, misspell and mistake our neighborhoods and our streets, so we at NEast Philly wanted to do something about it. When they get it wrong, we set it right in a segment we like to call Right NEast/Wrong NEast.

WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal