This is the average amount of residential property tax actually paid, expressed as a percentage of home value. Some states with high property taxes, like New Hampshire and Texas, rely heavily on property taxes in lieu of other major tax categories; others, like New Jersey and Illinois, impose high property […]
Policy
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A $25 plan for Jenkintown Sidewalks
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
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The Jenkintown Parking Business
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 […]
Policy
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Surgeon General: “Walk More”
And research is starting to show the health consequences. Communities designed around more compact, walkable street grids — places that have what the Surgeon General calls “connectivity” — have been correlated in research with reduced rates of obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease (they also have fewer fatal car crashes, another public health […]
Policy
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Goals for Jenkintown’s pedestrian infrastructure
Anyone who thinks that this blog is devoted to the mere rantings of a disgruntled resident is wrong. This blog represents only the first step in getting this policy changed, because I believe that not only can we change it with minimal impact to our already-high property taxes, but that […]
Policy
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The Heavy Jenkintown Tax Burden: Cost vs. Value
Most people who live in Jenkintown will tell you they love living here, but they won’t tell you that taxes are reasonable. Most I’ve spoken with will express a sentiment along the lines of “they’re already too high”, especially when we start talking about paying for sidewalks. The question then becomes, […]
Latest News
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Jenkintown Borough Budget Here
Can Jenkintown afford its own sidewalks? Borough Council has repeatedly made the claim that property taxes, already too high by many measures, would only have to go higher if we expected them to pay for the work. I have my doubts, so naturally the first place we need to look […]
This Meets Code
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Results of Jenkintown’s Beautification, Part 4
Yesterday, I toured Greenwood Avenue, where a good part of the curbings appear to be made of granite, not slate. This interests me only because my hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts typically used granite curbs, which typically hold up better against the elements and snow plows. My mom’s neighborhood, built in 1971, […]
Latest News
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Pleased to meet you, Jenkintown
Louise and I have lived together in Jenkintown since late 2002, marrying a year later. The year before, Louise’s mom had passed away, and while she stood to inherit the house, she considered selling it and buying elsewhere. We didn’t much like the house at the time, mainly because of its […]
This Meets Code
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End Results of a Dubious Policy, Part 3
This homeowner apparently found a contractor desperate for work or perhaps, their first commission. How lucky for our community that this meets code.
This Meets Code
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End results of a dubious policy, part 2
Some of the work is still ongoing, and some streets have yet to receive their notices, but here’s how things look so far, which I should mention is no fault of the residents who commissioned the work. As stated before, if you have brick and/or slate, you get a pass. […]
This Meets Code
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The end results of a dubious policy, part 1
With much of the work complete, let’s take a look at how the Borough has been “beautified”. Click on photos for full resolutions. Curb fix on the 400 block of Runnymede.
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