Nuclear weapons did destroy our cities. Just not in the way we expected. We Jenkintonians are fortunate that the great wave of urban renewal mostly passed us by. We had a close call, though. Most people don’t know that the state had planned an expressway that would have run roughly down the West Trenton line right-of-way and interchanged with Route 309 at about the Wyncote Apartment towers. Those who live […]

Louise, Cecelia, and myself (plus our cats Alice and Brini) wish the best for all our neighbors this holiday season and well into the new year. Good luck to the new councilors. We look forward to working with them!

In a recent post by our friends at StrongTowns, Kevin Posey compares sidewalk funding mechanisms in various communities against their WalkScores. Using this tool, let’s check a few cities to see how high their walk scores are under the following two conditions: The city spreads the cost of building and maintaining sidewalks among all taxpayers, as with streets and highways via taxation. The city puts the onus of paying for […]

I just spent an hour up at Borough Hall reviewing the copies of all the sidewalk permit applications between April 2015 and September 26, 2016. Rick Ware, our Right-to-Know officer was most accommodating, particularly when I showed him the ruling that does allow me to photograph the records, despite his original assertions to the contrary. One other point: Yesterday, Rick Bunker accused me of “wasting taxpayer dollars” on my “quixotic” […]

Jenkintown’s 12-member Council works for nothing. What’s that cost us? It always raises eyebrows when I mention to outsiders that Jenkintown’s Borough Council has 12 members representing a mere 4400 people. Each of the four wards has three members, and no, none of them receive a salary. While some might consider this public service a measure of valiance, I’m left to wonder about the actual incentive to spend time on […]

Most residents might not know this, but Jenkintown has a “Right to Know” officer, and his name is Rick Ware. We’ve exchanged several emails with Mr. Ware in the past few weeks, because we want to determine what Jenkintown residents have spent on their sidewalk repairs since the Borough’s paving program began in April, 2015. Those who have filled out the permit form saw a line item for the estimated cost […]

Update: Looks like our headline will pack a bigger wallop of relevance than expected. According to the Borough Council’s meeting minutes, PECO plans to replace gas mains on not only Rodman next year, but Runnymede as well. So much for our nice fresh pavement. Did anyone consult with PECO about their plans to do this? Unlikely. We awoke this morning to the sound of stone saws carving up the pavement […]

The Borough won’t tell you, and no longer wants to know Jenkintown Borough does not know what you paid for their sidewalks, and at some point this past summer, it decided not to care. Up until at least April 1 of this year, the permit form that residents completed before they could proceed with their sidewalk or curb repair, asked for the “Cost of work”. Apparently that information is not compiled, […]

Last week Walkable Jenkintown filed a Request for Information. We’d like to know what YOU have so far spent on sidewalk and curb repair as a result of the Paving Program. The permit you or your contractor filled out and supplied to the Borough with your $25 fee included a line item for the estimate provided by that contractor for the total work. If the Borough entered this information into a […]

Today, we just took delivery of our new yard sign. You too can proclaim your support of simple common sense, fiscal responsibility, and a better pedestrian infrastructure. Would you like one of your own? Let us know. If you’d like to make one of your own, download this PDF.

We’re happy to announce that we have reached our GoFundMe goal thanks the generosity of our friends and family. We now have the funds available to fix the Borough’s right-of-way as required by ordinance.

We have published a new page that answers many of the questions asked by residents and Councilors, including the perennial favorite, “Why don’t you just move?” Read that here.