What brings more value ALL of Jenkintown? A well-built pedestrian infrastructure for all the Borough or a pocket park on Cedar? Like it or not, I probably know more about sidewalks and pedestrian policy than at least 95% of the population. That and a couple of bucks will get me a cup of coffee at Velvet Sky, I know. Yet, we continue exploring this issue because we believe in its […]

Our last “unexpected expense” was a requirement by the Borough to spend $3000 to fix their sidewalk. “Fifty-seven percent of Americans don’t have enough cash to cover a $500 unexpected expense, according to a new survey from Bankrate, which interviewed 1,003 adults earlier this month.” https://apple.news/AFjZswNehT-KbMuUJc-VSww

I took up the gauntlet. Since starting this campaign almost two years ago, more than a few people have asked why I don’t just run for Borough Council. A few, such as our neighbor Daniel Gans, have all-but-dared me to do it. I never had any political ambitions and had no desire to run for office at any level. We all know people who we’d describe as natural politicians. I’m […]

Jenkintown budgets $14,000 each year to remove nutrients from your yard Rick Bunker’s pompous bloviating aside, you do not own the sidewalk in front of your house, but Jenkintown Borough requires you to fix it. You do own all the leaves that fall on your property, and yet Jenkintown Borough will come and collect them — for free. All you need do is rake or blow them into the street, and the borough […]

We have so far reviewed more than 150 permit applications out of about 250, and there are a few immediate take-aways: Some residents may have gotten badly fleeced. We’ve found several instances where contractors — often the same one — provided vastly different estimates for roughly the same work. Almost everyone paid more — sometimes significantly more — than what George Locke called “PennDOT’s going rate.” Costanzo is so far the worst. D&D was the best, […]

Parking: The more you have, the less you need. As convoluted as that might sound to the uninformed, it simply means that the more actual infrastructure you clear to build it, the less demand you’ll ultimately have for it. It’s a devil’s bargain. Jenkintown does not have a parking problem. It never did. It has a planning problem. If you look at our downtown on a satellite view, you’ll see […]

This essay was originally written for the StrongTowns.org blog and was published last week. If you agree, please share this with friends and neighbors, especially if you live in Jenkintown. Jenkintown, Pennsylvania actively promotes itself as a walkable community. Indeed, this borough that barely encompasses a square mile has sidewalks lining both sides of all of its streets. We moved here for that reason among others, but at that time, we […]

When people and businesses howl about a lack of parking, what they really mean is a lack of foot traffic. When those businesses set up in a downtown environment, they must understand that foot traffic and parking are often mutually exclusive concepts. This video helps to explain the reasons. KW Parking from Kronberg Wall on Vimeo.

A few years ago, we operated a Jenkintown-related website called Jenkintown Station where we commented and reported on issues related to Jenkintown’s development. The site had no affiliation to SEPTA or the the train station, but it did a good job attracting comments from readers. We plan to resurrect it, but while working on that, we found this 2010 article about the $2.4 million parking lot. It’s a good time […]

Sorry, Rick. We don’t own it. On our Facebook page, Jenkintown Borough Councilor Rick Bunker wrote the following in response to a recent post about the extent of the public right of way: You seem to be confusing ownership of the land, and the public right of way. You own it. But the public has the right to traverse it. And the utilities have some rights, too. They can even […]

In a reasonable world, cities and towns would get their priorities straight and put our tax dollars where it serves residents best, instead of on money-losing (name your subsidized project) designed to attract more visitors. I speculate, and the City may also, that the sidewalk fund will soon bottom out as the repayments lag, with the result that few sidewalks are repaired.  But at least the City will be able to […]