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.
Latest News
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GoFundMe goal reached!
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.
Policy
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MontCo to Jenkintown: Sidewalks are public property
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 […]
Policy
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Affording a $400 Sidewalk Repair
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 […]
Latest News
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Please read our new FAQ
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.
Latest News
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Who owns what?
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 corresponding with a licensed surveyor on this topic, and he expressed a rather emotional lament that in the United States, […]
Policy
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Does Jenkintown Borough need more parking?
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 experience of living in a Massachusetts city that had, by far, the largest downtown parking garage per capita in the […]
Legal Issues
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Lock Haven provides for hardship
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 Block Grant (CDBG) Program. Should the cost of the sidewalk repair exceed the grant amount, the homeowner may be eligible […]
Latest News
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Please support our GoFundMe campaign
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, we face what amounted to a surprise tax of over $3500. If we do not comply with their order, we […]
Policy
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Paying for steak, getting McNuggets
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 order to have a more uniform look to our walkway. That leaves three blocks and our driveway apron for the […]
Latest News / Policy
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Pennsylvania and the Big Lie of Home-Ownership
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 the east, Pittsburgh in the West, and Alabama in the middle. Electorally, Pennsylvania looks like a sea of red with two small […]
Latest News / This Meets Code
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Jenkintown’s Sidewalk Follies: 2016 Edition
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 word.
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