In June’s meeting Council discusses ice cream trucks, appoints two new part-time police officers (welcome!), and listens to a presentation from Marley Bice about the Jenkintown 2035 Plan. Sadly, the presentation slides make for poor viewing, and the report provided by Ms. Bice has not appeared on the web just yet. Suffice to say, it does a fine job singing the praises and potentials of Jenkintown, even if it does […]
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Jenkintown faces a Sophie’s choice: Our cars or our community?
It’s time to decide whether we want nice places to walk or fast places to drive Last Monday’s Business Zoning, and Redevelopment Committees brought Graham Copeland pitching his services as a business development consultant to Jenkintown Borough. Mr. Graham seemed like an earnest guy and who brought with him at least one solid credential in the field of revitalization; the ongoing redevelopment of Fort Washington, of all places. Most of us […]
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Not found money, real money, our money.
Jenkintown Government and the “cost of a cup of coffee a day” fallacy Last Monday night, Jenkintown’s Finance Committee and Business Development Committee held their monthly meetings. I attended because I saw an item about a discussion to update the Borough’s sidewalk and street codes on the agenda, but I came away with a more lasting impression about our government’s fiscal attitude. In short, the Borough needs to borrow $1.5 […]
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Left in the dark by the Right to Know
A cautionary tale for anyone hoping to make a difference A friend of of mine who follows my dealings with Jenkintown Borough recently related his own experience that spoke to the futility of civic engagement. An attorney and a one-time senior official in state government, he’s a guy that possesses considerable political acumen. Earlier in his adult life, he and his wife also decided to get very much involved in […]
Livestream
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Watch the Jenkintown Borough Council Meeting, May 22, 2017
This month’s meeting includes some interesting public comment, and more arrogant, tone-deaf responses from our representatives. Don’t miss hearing Rick Bunker’s fuzzy math as he falsely describes how the new park on Cedar Street will not result in a tax increase for residents. The only thing missing from his assertion was a “Ready my lips.” Sadly, he does not speak for the School District, which is vehemently against this park and will […]
Legal Issues
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Jenkintown Council, property boundaries, and the dangers of assumptions
Who owns what? No one knows. That’s the question we keep coming back to in our ongoing campaign to change the sidewalk ordinance. As we have found at the outset of this campaign, the Borough, and especially Rick Bunker, Sean Kilkenny, and Michael Golden continue to believe that the current ordinance is completely justified because the homeowner also owns the land underneath the sidewalk. Borough Solicitor Sean Kilkenny, at the […]
Policy
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A simple blueprint for a more transparent Jenkintown
What began as an effort to simply change the sidewalk ordinance so that it becomes more equitable and produces superior results has evolved into an investigation into the overall competence of Jenkintown government. The more you know, the less you like, sad to say. Indeed, it seems that at times Council makes things up as they go along, which we have to assume is a downside of all-volunteer governance. What’s worse is that […]
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Did Sean Kilkenny lie to Jenkintown Council?
And if so, why is he still our solicitor? Did you know that Jenkintown Borough Council creates an audio recording of all their meetings to use in the generation of its official minutes? Given that you no longer see anyone at the meeting typing a transcription, this makes sense. Did you also know that once the Borough creates the minutes document it destroys the audio recording? News to us as […]
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Jenkintown Borough Transparency, Sines-Pancoe style
Deborra Sines-Pancoe extolls the virtues of transparency, but her actions drown out her four minute statement. Council President Deborra Sines-Pancoe delivered a rambling four-and-a-half-minute statement last Monday that considered some of the controversies currently swirling around 700 Summit Avenue. Much of this statement sounded like a defense of her and her colleagues on the board, but she also took some swipes at the “inordinate” number of Right to Know requests, […]
Livestream
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Jenkintown Borough Council, Recorded April 24, 2017
We have annotated this video so that you may fast forward to agenda items if you wish. You may download the agenda in PDF format here. Highlights from this meeting include: A statement from Council President Deborra Sines-Pancoe expressing sentiments regarding civil discourse, the Council’s volunteerism, the ballooning cost of right-to-know-request filings, and a pledge to conduct business in the most open manner possible. An auditor’s report that seemed to make […]
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Sines-Pancoe discovers the religion of transparency
Jenkintown Borough seeks to sell its properties and our Council president promises an open process On April 20, the Jenkintown Borough website posted an announcement about the possible sale of Borough properties for redevelopment. The announcement made it fairly clear that they were approached by a developer, and that last night’s meeting would have this matter on the agenda. Reading between the lines of that announcement, one could plainly see the effect […]
Policy
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The Myth of Main Street fails to explain Jenkintown’s decline
The New York Times recently published a widely shared article about Main Street and how some believe our new president will prove a boon to it. Louis Hyman lays the blame of for the decline of Main Street solely on its inherent economic inefficiencies. It’s worth noting that the idealized Main Street is not a myth in some parts of America today. It exists, but only as a luxury consumer […]