The sessions can be helpful for making business-to-business contacts or for getting one's name out into the business community.

The chamber also hosts monthly breakfast meetings popular for their guest speakers, along with an annual business exposition. This year's event attracted more than 100 exhibitors to Holy Family University.

Events like that give Taubenberger hope for the future, despite bleak economic forecasts.

"When you really look at it, about ninety percent of people are employed. ... Things can and will get better," he said.

The next East Torresdale Civic Association meeting will be on Monday, July 13, at 7 p.m. at Liberty Evangelical Free Church, Linden Avenue and Milnor Street. The guest speaker is expected to be state Sen. Mike Stack.

Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com

Abraham says farewell to Somerton

By William Kenny

Times Staff Writer

District Attorney Lynne Abraham bade a sweet farewell to the Somerton Civic Association during the community group's June 9 general meeting.

Philadelphia's longest-serving chief prosecutor, Abraham thanked residents for electing her into citywide office eight times, including three as a judge followed by five as district attorney.

Nicknamed "One Tough Cookie" by then-Mayor Frank L. Rizzo in the early 1970s, Abraham reminisced about her professional and personal relationships with the former police commissioner and mayor as well as her recently deceased husband, local radio pioneer Frank Ford.

She preached gun safety and even took a moment to share some cookies with City Councilman Frank Rizzo, son of the city's most famous and perhaps most controversial modern-era political icon.

Abraham will step down as district attorney in January after 19 years in office. She opted not to run for a sixth term this year. Seth Williams is the Democratic nominee for the position and is heavily favored to replace Abraham by defeating Republican Michael Untermeyer in the general election in November.

Abraham has not declared her next professional move, but she has said that she does not plan to retire. True to her unofficial moniker, she has long prided herself on determination, attention to detail, honesty and integrity.

"Whether you've liked what I've said or didn't like it, I never broke your trust," Abraham said. "That's all I've wanted - to show you I'm trustworthy."

The future DA gave the elder Rizzo a full demonstration of that character some 40 years ago after a high-profile murder case that she was prosecuting fell apart at trial.

Rizzo was the iron-fisted head of the city's police department at the time. Abraham was an assistant district attorney barely a couple of years removed from law school. She was trying to win a murder conviction of a young man who had fatally shot the owner of a Point Breeze jewelry store during a botched robbery.

During preparations for the trial, a police ballistics expert informed Abraham that an accidental firing of the alleged murder weapon would've been unlikely essentially because the action on the gun was too tight. The shooter would've had to "cock" the gun first, then pull the trigger.