I attended the Council’s Administration and Finance Committee hearing meeting last Monday to discuss the budget, PennDOT’s Multi-Modal Fund, and to present this blog’s $25 Sidewalk proposal. First, the committee’s explanation as to why the projected 2014 $2.2 million budget carryover didn’t necessarily constitute a “surplus” did not clarify things much. As it was explained to me, Council budgets money so that they need to buy stuff for the next year. “So the […]
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13th heaviest property tax burden and no trash pickup (or sidewalks)
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 taxes alongside high rates in the other major tax categories. Source: How High Are Property Taxes in Your State? | […]
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 correction, including the headline, which tags on an extra five dollars. I apologize for the errors, but this is still […]
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 shines some light on what can best be described as Jenkintown Parking, Inc. If run as an actual business, how […]
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 problem). One study of a million residents in Toronto found that people in less walkable neighborhoods were more likely to […]
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 we must change it for the sake of our property values and for public safety. We recognize that the current […]
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, do we get good value for our money? The heavy Jenkintown tax burden might not pay for sidewalks, but it does fund one of […]
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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 is in the budget. For some reason, Jenkintown Borough only posts a summary of its budget on its website. I […]
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, and sees about the same amount of traffic as your average Jenkintown side street, has yet to repave the street […]
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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 tiny kitchen and lack of porch. After an exhaustive and frustrating search for a better house in a location as […]
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. At one point, the Borough’s street sweepers thought that this section needed replacement. Apparently a call to George Locke, Borough […]
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