Neighborhood strife on South Street West

FOR YEARS, Jessie L. Frisby has been a longtime fixture on South Street, west of Broad.

Known as "Miss Jessie," Frisby was president of the South Street West Business Association. And in 2012, City Council honored her for her 43 years in business.

Earlier this year, after 46 years as owner of Miss Jessie's Boutique and Herbal Essence, Frisby, 78, decided to retire and close her store on South, near 16th.

While the building is up for sale, her plans are to lease the first-floor retail space. She also continues to be the landlord of rental apartments on the second and third floors.

But since July, Frisby has become enmeshed in a boundary dispute over what she said has always been a shared alley for the 46 years she's been on South Street, and even longer - since the properties were first built.

The alley or breezeway extends from the rear of the South Street buildings one block north to Rodman Street, where the alley is now boarded up.

According to Frisby, the problem began over the summer when her South Street neighbor, William "Barney" Richardson - who purchased his property 13 years ago- suddenly decided to seal up the wrought-iron gate that Frisby had installed at the alley entrance on Rodman Street.

Frisby bought her property 26 years ago, in 1989. (For her first 20 years in business, Frisby was a tenant.)

"It's a fire hazard," Frisby said of the sealed-off alleyway. "It's life-threatening."

Frisby said that by blocking her apartment tenants' access to Rodman Street, Richardson has created a dangerous situation.

"It's an easeway. We have to have a way to get out," Frisby said.

"I've called the police, I've called [Councilman] Kenyatta Johnson, the Fire Department and L&I. It's been over two months."

Frisby said that one L&I inspector saw the boarded-up alley and told her it was definitely a violation.

But later, he told her his supervisor told him that Frisby should take the matter to the Streets Department.

"Everyone is passing the buck," Frisby said, adding that she has four tenants who need to have access to Rodman Street in case of an emergency. "Does somebody have to die in order for them to enforce the codes?"

She said that when she first called 3-1-1, the city phone line that people call to report safety problems, a man told her "nobody owns an alleyway or breezeway. It's to be shared between the two properties. He read the ordinance."

Now Frisby said she is also angry because the city has taken a hands-off approach and said that the matter is a civil dispute.

"I don't understand how the city can require me to provide something and then someone can come along and take it away," she said.

Ralph DiPietro, deputy commissioner of operations for L&I, said, "It's a common misconception that alleys were put there for fire exits."

DiPietro said the dispute between Frisby and Richardson is a "civil matter."

"She can file a civil complaint," he said. "In that case, both parties could bring in their deeds and surveys and a judge can determine if the alley belongs to one party or both."

Yet, DiPietro said that, because Frisby has tenants in a multifamily dwelling on South Street, it is Frisby's responsibility to make sure her tenants have a secondary exit from their apartments in case of fire or other emergencies.

"And it has to be through her property," DiPietro said.

Frisby said she didn't think she should have to pay for a lawyer when the city needs to enforce its own codes.

Both Frisby and Richardson once had single-family homes facing Rodman Street that are part of the deed to their South Street business properties, but Richardson's Rodman Street house was torn down years ago, he said.

Frisby still owns the single-family trinity on Rodman Street next to the boarded-up alley.

In addition to boarding up the alley, Richardson put his address for 1534 Rodman St. on the black-painted sealed door and topped it with a "No Trespassing" sign, which Frisby promptly took down, she said.

After Richardson bought the building at 1535 South St. in 2002, he restored it and has now turned it into a small history museum devoted to South Street's once-vibrant entertainment culture.

His museum is called "Mind of the Past." Inside, there are dozens of photos of Philadelphia luminaries like Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, basketball great Julius "Doctor J" Erving, and a photo of Richardson as a younger man. He said that in the 1950s he was one of the first African-American state electrical inspectors.

Richardson said that he's not a bad guy and pointed to the news articles about his campaign to reopen St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, on Lombard Street at 12th.

"This is my property," Richardson said. "I'm not going to let her [Frisby] steal my property from me."

There are several alleyways on Rodman Street, just north of South, where the gates are locked.

Matt Levinson, who lives in the same block of Rodman Street, said that he and his next-door neighbor share the alley between their homes. Traditionally, other residents said, two or three property owners might have keys to share a locked alleyway.

Charles Goodwin, president of the Center City Residents' Association, said he found the case "perplexing."

"I've heard of people getting into disputes as neighbors, but I don't recall ever hearing of any case like that," Goodwin said.

Goodwin is a lawyer, but said he's not a real-estate lawyer.

Yet, he said, there is something in the law where, because Frisby had access to the alley for more than 40 years, there is an "easement by prescription" - even if the easement isn't written into her deed.

Frisby said that someone at an L&I survey office told her years ago that easements weren't written into the deeds "because it was a known common passageway that was to be used by two neighbors."

Meanwhile, Frisby's lawyer, who didn't want to speak on the record, will send Richardson a letter to try to resolve the matter, Frisby said.

"The alley doesn't belong to anyone; that's universal," she said. "Everybody knows that."

On Twitter: @ValerieRussDN