Policy

Affording a $400 Sidewalk Repair

Posted on:

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 […]

Latest News

Who owns what?

Posted on:

For a country founded on the sanctity of property rights, we’ve done a terrible job of keeping records on who owns what. Do you know exactly where your property lines lie? Do you have a copy of your site plan? Like most homeowners, you probably don’t. I spent some time […]

Policy

Does Jenkintown Borough need more parking?

Posted on:

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 […]

Legal Issues

Lock Haven provides for hardship

Posted on:

It’s still bad policy, but at least the City of Lock Haven makes provisions for hardship within their sidewalk maintenance ordinances. In Jenkintown Borough, it’s pay up or go to jail. Grants for sidewalk  repairs are available to qualifying low income single family, owner-occupied homeowners funded the city’s Community Development […]

Latest News

Please support our GoFundMe campaign

Posted on:

We are stuck between a concrete slab and a hard place. As regular readers know, Jenkintown Borough has cited us for having substandard sidewalks and curbs. Despite the fact that this is government property, this Borough can and does force its residents to pay directly for their repair. Because of this, […]

Policy

Paying for steak, getting McNuggets

Posted on:

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

Posted on:

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 […]

Latest News / This Meets Code

Jenkintown’s Sidewalk Follies: 2016 Edition

Posted on:

Can anyone explain this bit of sidewalk inspection boobery? To our friends and neighbors on Rodman, who just got hit with this  unjust form of infrastructure maintenance and automobile subsidy, we’re still here willing to fight with you to change this system of sidewalk maintenance. Reach out. Call us. Spread the […]

Policy

10000 Friends of Pennsylvania weighs in

Posted on:

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

Posted on:

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 […]