Policy

Does Jenkintown Borough need more parking?

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The trouble with parking is that the more you build, the less you need An recent exchange with Jenkintown Borough Councilor Rick Bunker brings me back around to the subject of parking. Unlike probably everyone in Borough Hall, We’ve studied this issue for at least two decades, especially during our unfortunate […]

Policy

Paying for steak, getting McNuggets

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According to George Locke, Jenkintown residents pay double what it would cost the borough to repair our sidewalks and curbs on a wholesale basis. Despite the hardship to our family, we have applied for our permit to repair our sidewalk. The borough marked off four blocks, but we will do six in […]

Latest News / Policy

Pennsylvania and the Big Lie of Home-Ownership

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The Pennsylvania legislature has yet to pass a budget for this fiscal year. With a Democratic governor and a GOP-dominated legislature, we have a form of gridlock in Harrisburg that mirrors the disfunction in Washington. For those who don’t know much about the Keystone State, James Carville famously described it this way: Philly in […]

Policy

10000 Friends of Pennsylvania weighs in

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The preservation group 10000 Friends of Pennsylvania was one of the few walkability advocates that responded to our requests for help in this matter. Dan Wofford contacted to discuss the situation, but unfortunately because of Pennsylvania’s budget crisis, he and his organization found themselves too distracted to get involved. We […]

Policy

Minneapolis suburb takes action to be more like Jenkintown

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We already have (and promote) a walkable community. However, the traffic volumes on Old York Road stand to erode our downtown’s last vestiges of charm. Because no one wants to walk on Old York, no business that relies upon foot traffic will establish themselves there. It will all become about […]

Latest News / Policy

Jenkintown 2035: Wishing and hoping and planning

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The Jenkintown 2035 Visioning Workshop turned out an impressive attendance last Thursday night, which included several Borough Council members, Mayor Ed Foley, and Jenkintown Borough Manager George Locke. The overall group seemed to represent a cross-section of Jenkintown society that didn’t have to commute long distances to and from work. […]

Policy

Jenkintown Congestion = Jenkintown Revival

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For automobile flooding (congestion), the only way to deal with it and still have a successful economy is to address it at the source. We need to absorb those trips locally before they become a flood. Instead of building lanes, we need to be building corner stores. We need local […]

Policy

Old York Road in Jenkintown 2035

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On October 29, Montgomery County will hold the Jenkintown 2035 Workshop that calls for us “to join the conversation with fellow residents, businesses, and lovers of Jenkintown to help shape the future of the Borough.” They call this “visioning”. Officials stage these workshops because they apply a veneer of public input on […]

Policy

The Multi-Modal Fund and Jenkintown

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As part of Pennsylvania’s major gas tax hikes instituted a few years ago, a portion of the money collected goes into PennDOT’s Multi-Modal Fund.  According to their website: The Multimodal Transportation Fund provides grants to encourage economic development and ensure that a safe and reliable system of transportation is available to […]

Policy

A $25 plan for Jenkintown Sidewalks

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Update: Since posting this article, I discovered that I miscalculated the total sidewalk square footage. While current ADA regulations require a minimum width of three feet, the walkway in front of our house is actually 46 inches wide, which I’ve rounded up to four feet. The new numbers reflect that […]

Policy

The Jenkintown Parking Business

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To give an idea of how Jenkintown prioritizes its pedestrian infrastructure, we should look at where it does choose to spend our money. This blog has previously cited several times the 2009 parking lot project, and how it has impacted its budget. The budget supplied to me by Borough Manager George Locke […]