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Jenkintown faces a Sophie’s choice: Our cars or our community?

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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.

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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

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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 […]

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Did Sean Kilkenny lie to Jenkintown Council?

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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

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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, […]

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Sines-Pancoe discovers the religion of transparency

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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 […]

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NBC 10 whitewashes Borough acquisition

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In Garbin’s case, his objection is monetary. He thinks the property would bring in new tax revenue. To that I ask: Couldn’t a park raise property values of all the surrounding, already existent homes? Plus, Jenkintown got the property for a sweet deal. They actually saved green while buying green. Well, no, the Borough didn’t “save” anything. They spent $250,000 (of our money) that they otherwise would not have spent […]

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Rick Bunker strikes back

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Just so Jenkintown residents understand the level of discourse that they can expect when voicing any opposition to the party line, I offer this screen grab. On January 2nd, at 1:43 in the morning, Rick Bunker posted this comment on our website. He apparently had second thoughts and removed it, reposting instead something more innocuous, but I suspect he didn’t realize that Disqus sent out this notification first. Frankly, this […]

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Jenkintown EAC Meeting to discuss a pocket park on Cedar Street

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Last night’s meeting of Jenkintown’s Environmental Affairs Committee was described as a “visioning meeting,” which in simpler terms means brainstorming session. We’ve discussed these exercises in the past, specifically with regards to the Jenkintown 2035 project. We regard them as well-meaning, but largely ineffectual, feel-good events designed to apply a veneer of public input to something that will ultimately be decided by people who may or may not know better than us. We […]

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Traffic Cameras for Jenkintown? Think again.

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While Jenkintown Borough promulgates its disingenuous narrative about the Cedar Street acquisitions, some in favor of a proposed pocket park there have suggested that funds for this park might come from red light cameras mounted on Old York Road. What we learned last night shoots down that idea for good. If you attended the Jenkintown 2035 Workshop last year, you might have heard Police Chief DiValentino tell the gathering that the state deemed Jenkintown ineligible […]

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How all Jenkintown can benefit from the recent Cedar Street purchase

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Assessing cost vs. value of the Cedar Street acquisition According to the Borough, they recently purchased those properties at below market value. Borough claims a purchase price of $250,000, and Andrew Smith, Jenkintown’s top selling real estate agent tells us that price is well-below market value. Indeed, Zillow backs him up. The current combined “Zestimate” for both properties is $485,000 for a potential $235,000 profit. It just happens that this amount lands […]

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 Jenkintown’s Pocket Park: Buy now, ask permission later

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It took nearly six months, but the Borough finally decided to let us in on their quarter-million-dollar secret: A park no one asked for. On Wednesday, we received like many of you the official email from the Borough announcing this transaction. As we know now, the ink has dried on the purchase. The two plots now belong to the Borough, or more appropriately, to you and us whether we want it or […]