Township Manager Kraynik May Be Leaving

I received this email from the Cheltenham Chamber of Citizens Group:

Township Manager Kraynik Looks to be Leaving for Upper Merion Final Deal is Still in the Works This was posted on May 18, 2012

 Click here to read more

Are You Looking For Work

Are you looking for work in the Montgomery County area?

I found this website courtesy of the "News From Cheltenham Township Library System" email!

It is an online site that list job openings in our area:


Job Openings Listings In Our Montgomery County Area

The LaMott Community Garden May Be In Trouble!

It looks as though our beloved La Mott Community Garden may be in trouble!

The La Mott Community Garden now has a website which is where I found out about this.

For those of you that don't know, the La Mott Community Garden - rather the land that it sits on - is owned by Temple University. That land and the rest of the Temple University's Tlyer School Of Art property is currently up for sale!

At the last community meeting back in June we were informed that there is currently no buyer for the property.

To find out more about what is happening with the La Mott Community Garden, you can visit their website below:

La Mott Community Garden Website

The Next LaMott Community Meeting

There is going to be another LaMott Community Meeting on Sunday, June 26th at 3pm



The meeting will take place at the LaMott Community Center located at Willow and Sycamore Avenues right here in LaMott.




So far I have been able to attend these community meetings for the past year and in my opinion they are very productive. It lets us resident know about what is going on in our area.

Now You Can Apply For A Library Card Online!

If you would like to apply online for a library card, just click here.

Once you receive your library card you will be able to use it at not only the LaMott library but you will also be able to use it at the other 3 libraries in the Cheltenham area as well.

Community Meeting

There will be another community meeting for the LaMott/Cheltenham residents on Sunday, March 20th at 3pm at the LaMott Community Center in the auditorium.

Chelsea Chats

chelseachats@yahoo.com

Darlene Melton publishes a monthly newsletter with community info and events The newsletter is distributed via email. To be placed on the distribution list, contact Darlene at chelseachats@yahoo.comYou can also find this information on the LaMott Yahoo group by clicking on the"Database" link and then clicking on "Newsletters".

What's Going On Outside Our Doors?

Just in case you didn't know there is activity going on outside our doors. What is it? Well from what I gather the township will be installing new street lights in our area.

Orange flyers have been posted all around the area for at least a few days now informing the residents of this. And yesterday one of these orange flyers was even delivered to my front door.

From what I have been told so far, the old street lights are going to be taken down and new ones (that will be around 12 feet tall) will be installed at various street points around the area. (If you see a "pink" chalk marking of numbers then that marks the spot for one of the new street lights).

This is going to take some time because holes have to be dug and electrical equipment installed so the work will be continuing in our area for some time.

I will be posting more information as soon as I get it.

LaMott Community Garden Update!

In a letter dated May 20th, 2010 a letter was sent to Ms. Ann Weaver Hart, President of Temple University regarding the LaMott Community Meeting held June 6, 2010.

"Dear President Hart:

On behalf of the residents of the community of LaMott, you or representatives of Temple University are cordially invited to attend a LaMott Community Meeting on Sunday, June 6, 2010, at 3p at the LaMott Community Center to discuss the possible sale of the temple Tyler School of Art property and the future of the LaMott Community Garden, which Temple University has allowed to exist on a portion of the school's property for many decades.

I, and the residents of LaMott, look forward to having you or a designated representative at the meeting to discuss the future of the Tyler School of Art property."

The above letter was sent by Harvey Portner who is the Commissioner of Ward 3 which is located in Cheltenham Township.

I personally attended this meeting! And Temple sent a representative to attend the meeting. They sent Charles Duncan who works in Government, Community & Public Affairs for Temple University.

At the time the property mentioned above was being considered for sale but the final details of the sale were not finalized.

at the present time and as far as I know the property has not been sold to any one as of yet.

Please stay tuned for more details! I will post them as soon as I can!

Latest Update

• Although Temple representatives were not present at the last community meeting they did send one of their lawyers to represent them.
  
  
• Re: property taxes - The garden plot / tract (which is 1.8 acres) is taxed $2100 per year and the plot / tract itself is valued at being worth $500,000.
  
  
• The next Temple Board of Trustees next scheduled meeting will be at the Ambler Campus on June 17th 2010.
  
  
• The Land Conservacy of Elkins Park which is a non-profit organization, is interested in buying the Temple Estate (which would include the garden plot / tract). 42 acres of the Dominican Republic are owned by the Land Conservacy of Elkins Park.
  
  
• The acting president of the LaMott Community Gardins is Diane Williams.

Harriet Tubman - Living History Experience

The LaMott Community Center, LaMott Library and Friends of LaMott Library present:




Harriet Tubman

Living History Experience

The Harriet Tubman Living History Experience highlights and heightens public awareness of the Underground Railroad, Civil War, and the life of one of the 19th century's most celebrated figures: Harriet Tubman.

Millicent sparks has portrayed Harriet Tubman throughout the region for schools, churches, colleges, senior centers, museums, women's shelters, corporations, state and local governments, community groups and special events since 2002.

This event will take place at the LaMott Community Center

7420 Sycamore Avenue

LaMott, PA 19027

On Saturday, March 27th at 2pm

The cost to attend is free and everyone is invited to attend.

The Cheltenham Bus Is In Trouble!

Just in case you haven't heard, our beloved Cheltenham Bus is in danger of being cancelled!

On Wednesday, December 16, 2009 the board of commissioners had a public hearing that was listed on the Cheltenham calendar. The next day a notice was printed stating it was the decision of the board to not continue the Cheltenham Transit Bus. As an alternative the board has recommended that residents and seniors - especially seniors - take either Septa or another form of transportation called TransNet.

When it was learned of the board's decision to cut the Cheltenham Transit bus residents of the area started a petition to get the signatures of both the residents of Cheltenham and LaMott, Lynnewood Gardens and stores and businesses that are along the route that the Cheltenham bus travels including the Shoprite of Cheltenham, the Cedarbrook and Cheltenham Malls and the area apartment complexes.

So far over 100 signatures have been gotten!

It is planned to present this petition to the board during a meeting that is scheduled for January 6, 2010. The petition was going to be presented to the commissioner board yesterday but for some reason none of the commissioners were present that day!

In a related piece of news it was found out that the contract for the Abington transit service would be renewed!

This news about the Cheltenham Bus service is still relatively new and all the details aren't known yet but what IS known is that the more people that show support for the Cheltenham Bus the better the chance that the residents will be able to continue to have it!

To show your support for the Cheltenham Bus service please call the Township Building at:

215-887-1000

I will post more news about this as I get it.

On Wednesday, January 6, 2010 a public meeting will be held at Curtis Hall 1250 W. church Road 215-887-1000 215-887-1561 is the Fax number If you are not able to attend the meeting then we ask that you please show your support by sending a fax explaining your support of keeping the Cheltenham Township Bus running. You can also show your support by contacting the commissioners for the area and telling them of your support for the Cheltenham Transit Bus. Board Of Commissioners Michael J. Swavola - Ward 5 1115 Coventry Avenue Cheltenham, PA 19012 email: mswavola@cheltenham-township.org Charles D. McKeown, Sr. - Ward 7 424 Township Line Road Cheltenham, PA 19012 email: cmckeown@cheltenham-township.org Harvey Portner - Ward 3 Melrose Court Apartments 1308 Willow Ave Elkins Park, PA 19027 email: hportner@cheltenham-township.org Public Information Officer - Nancy Gibson 215-887-1000

Update!

January 8, 2010!

The results of the meeting above resulted in the fact that the Cheltenham Board of Commissioners have scheduled another meeting to discuss further the fate of the Cheltenham Transit Bus. The exact date and time of the meeting is not yet known.

Please continue to email, phone and fax your commissioners to let them know that you are in support of keeping the Cheltenham Transit Bus!

Update - February 11, 2010! A 3rd meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, February 17th at 7:30 at Curtis Hall. It has come to my attention that at the 2nd meeting more residents showed up to protest the canceling of the Cheltenham Transit Bus. At the end of this meeting a vote / poll was taken from the commissioners and 3 out of 7 voted for bringing back the Cheltenham Bus. One of those commissioners that voted in favor of the Cheltenham Transit Bus was Harvey Portner. So yet another meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, February 17, 2010 and the more residents and potential riders that show up - the better! We still face a very good chance of being able to save our beloved Cheltenham Transit Bus!

Update March 2010!

Although the details are a little sketchy to me, it seems that the commissioners' board has decided to give Transnet a try. It is supposed to be a trial period kind of thing and it will start in April 2010.

However this solution requires that residents call and make a reservation first. And this is one of many negatives about this chosen decision.

It is very unfortunate that the public hearings for the Cheltenham Township bus were held during the evening at a location - to my knowledge - that is not accessible by public transportation. Another fact is that the seniors who have taken the Cheltenham bus had no way to get to these meetings because they do not have cars and some of the meetings were held during the coldest days of the winter here in Philadelphiawith some snow involved. It is very ironic that the very bus that could have taken the seniors to the public hearings was the very same bus that was cancelled by the commissioners.

However please do not consider this issue a closed one! I strongly urge all the residents of LaMott and Cheltenham to keep this issue opened! Just because the commissioner's board has made this trial period decision it doesn't mean that the issue is over. I encourage everyone to call their ward commissioners, send them a fax, send them an email, write them a letter stating your support of the Cheltenham Transit Bus.

We can still get our beloved Cheltenham Transit Bus BACK!



April 2010! - Unfortunately these new transit rules do not include the residents Cheltenham that are under the age of 55/65 who are not disabled!

Like I have said before We can still get our beloved Cheltenham Transit Bus BACK!

A Rash Of Burglaries Has Hit This Area

It seems that there have been a number of burglaries here in our local area! You can read one person's personal account of an attempted burglary that took place in their own home by clicking here.

You can also read the latest news story about this by clicking here.

Cheltenham, Pa. police are asking for help from the public as they try to solve a series of home burglaries -- five of them in a span of about eight hours over this past weekend.

Here is a recent video account of the story:



The police consider the thieves "well organized and they are looking for any information or tip that can help them catch the thieves.

Important message from Montgomery County Public Safety

This is a test of Cheltenham Township's Montco Ready alerting system. Please encourage your friends and neighbors to sign up today. Happy Holiday

Sent to Cheltenham Township (e-mail accounts, pagers, Cell phones) through Montgomery County ReadyNotifyPA
... powered by RSAN dba Cooper Notification.

Tell a friend/co-worker about ReadyNotifyPA! Forward this message to them and have them register for this free service at https://montco.alertpa.org/register.php

Forwarded from another Cheltenham neighbor
Jim Butt

The 15th Annual LaMott Fair!

The 15Th Annual LaMott Fair

will be held on

Saturday, September 19, 2009

from Noon to 6pm

at

The LaMott Community Center

Sycamore & Willow Avenues

LaMott, PA 19027

with

Great Food

Fantastic Music

Library Book Sale

and

Childrens' Games!

Neighbors, Families and Friends Are Invited!

I Found Out What Happened To The Mailboxes!

Imagine my surprise when I found out that the mailbox at Willow and Sycamore was gone! Not only that but it seems that the mailbox at the corner of 19th and Cheltenham is gone too as well as the one above the LaMott Firehouse #1 on Penrose Avanue! So what's up with that!


I have since come to find out that the post has gotten rid of these mailboxes because it seems that these mailboxes were not being used enough.

So now what are our options supposed to be? Well I was told that you could leave your mail at your home's mailbox so that the mailperson can pick it up when they deliver your mail, you can go online and request a pickup (I asked them if you could call the post office by phone and request a pickup but I was told that you would have to do it online so that it could be in the computer records) or you could mail your mail at the post office itself.

This whole thing seems quite ludicrous to me! Why would they get rid of the mailboxes?

And its not just happening here in our own little area! I have come to find out that the post office is getting rid of many, many mailboxes all over the United States! Now I can understand some of the reasons cited such as people putting other objects in the mailboxes and the "waste" of manpower going to mailboxes that only have a few (if any) pieces of mail. I can understand that kind of reasoning but I do not agree with it.

I am a big fan of computers myself but I don't think that the increased use of emailing and paying bills online is going to determine that there is no need for the actual mailboxes. I still mail things by hand and quite frankly I kind of enjoyed the walk to the mailbox!

Just in case you are curious there are some people who have fought for their mailboxes and managed to have them put back. You can read an article about it by clicking here.

Want to see what others' opinions are about this issue? Just click here.

Oh, and for the record I don't agree with this decision at all!

Cheltenham Township Police Alert!

It seems that there has been a rash of burglaries from automobiles in our local area. The Cheltenham Township police have issued an online flyer that talks about this more!

Actually the thefts are happening in and around this area as well.

It seems that cars parked at the Melrose Train station are being targeted and the police are advising people to take out or either hide all valuables located within one's car. The bulletin also offers some helpful tips to help you to not become a victim of one of these kinds of thefts.

Cheltenham Township Police Flyer - Theft Alert!

2009 Township County, Sewer & Refuse Bill in mail this month

This information comes straight from the LaMott, PA Group at Yahoo.com.

If you haven't received this bill yet you should wait until at least the end of the month before you call the township to request a copy.

The LaMott Directory!

As I posted about this before in my blog, I'm currently moving my LaMott-related pages to another webhost. My most current transfer is:

The LaMott Directory

This is a listing of the businesses, organizations and other entities that are in the Cheltenham / LaMott area.

If you would like to add your listing you can find out more about how to do that by visiting the link above.

Election Day In LaMott!

Yes the big day had arrived and it was time to cast my vote! And YES I did cast my vote today!

Because of where I live, my voting place was the LaMott Community Center!



It was an interesting (and very busy) day all day long!

I started the day quite early and started listening to the local community radio station, WURD, just to hear what was going on!

First of all it seems that the polling places had long lines even before they opened! But I figured since LaMott was such a small area that the same thing wouldn't apply! Boy was I wrong! I heard stories from those who were at the community center that there was a long line even before the voting was supposed to start!

I didn't arrive until the afternoon around 1pm because I heard that the late morning and early afternoon was the best time to avoid waiting in long lines! So by the time that I got there there was no waiting. I walked in, cast my vote and was finished!

But I decided to stay a little while. Did you know that LaMott has a constable? I was talking to him for quite a while!

A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. Constable - Historically, a constable could also be someone in charge of the defence of a castle. Even today, there is a Constable of the Tower of London. source Wikipedia

During the course of the early afternoon there were a trickle of people coming to vote! A lot of them were voting for the first time and there were volunteers there waiting and ready to help them!

What was also nice was the fact that the community center is just that - a place where the community gathers! People spent some time (after they voted) chatting with the other residents - including me!

We all were having a great time and even the weather didn't darken our moods!

I decided to leave a few hours later before it got too crowded! But it was a very pleasant day indeed!

Telephone Service Not Working Since Tuesday!

Just in case you're wondering about this and decided to look online for more information our telephone service was out since Tuesday (2 days ago). As of arond 6:45 pm today it is back on - at least I have telephone service now.

This started Tuesday afternoon although I can't be sure of exactly when but I do know that I tried to get online about 8pm Tuesday night and couldn't do it. Later I came to find out from Verizon that there was a problem with one of the telephone cables.

Now I don't know if its a case of EVERYBODY's telephone service being off but I do know that my next door neighbor's telephone service was affected too. Plus he joked about the fact that he was using all of his cellphone minutes to find out what was going on.

From what I have been able to find out there was a telephone / network cable that required some work but according to a represenative from Verizon, she said that "they" (whoever "they" are?) don't tell them specifically what the proble is they just tell them that there is a problem.

So I get a call from Verizon saying that it may be until 9pm FRIDAY that the telephone service will be restored and the next thing I know - another half hour later the phone rings!

So if my telephone service is restored hopefully that means that the rest of the area that was affected has also had their phone service restored.