All in Borough Council
At the meeting of the Swarthmore Borough Council Public Safety Committee on Monday, January 27, the conversation revolved around two intersections on Yale Avenue: the intersection of Yale and Cornell, and the intersection of Yale and Chester Road. Several borough residents came to the meeting to voice their concerns.
Concern about the intersection of Yale and Cornell avenues was raised again at Swarthmore Borough Council’s first legislative session of the year. Michael Carey reported on behalf of the Finance Committee that borough revenues were higher than budgeted in 2019, and expenditures were lower. And giving the annual State of the Borough address, Mayor Marty Spiegel compared Swarthmore to what people want in a place to live, according to surveys. “We fit almost a perfect profile,” he said.
Jill Gaieski was recently sworn in as the borough’s newest council member, and with her partner Lori Knauer she is working hard to open Swarthmore’s first wine bar. She also had a couple of other interesting careers in her past.
On Monday, Swarthmore Borough Council met in its first work session of the year, which was also its yearly organizational meeting. Thus, the main business of the evening was swearing people in and appointing folks to various positions and committees. Not much happened that I would call news, but I felt as though I made some progress in my ongoing quest to understand how our borough government works.
Here are some things I learned.
How to inventory a whole year? What to remind you of, and what to skip? What would you rather forget, but maybe shouldn’t? What have you already forgotten that might interest you to recall? Collecting (recollecting) these happenings and lives and milestones is a way to consider what we have accomplished and aspired to and worried about as a community, as we take the first steps into 2020. To think about where we have succeeded, where we have more work to do, and where we might want to start all over again.
Monday night’s final Borough Council meeting was enlivened by interruptions of official business to celebrate Borough Council President Creagan, who has served for a total of eight years. Creagan’s calm and measured demeanor, cited by many of his colleagues throughout the meeting, was on display last night as he simultaneously ran an efficient meeting, paused to address a community-merit-badge-seeking Boy Scout in the audience, and found affectionate words for all.
The Swarthmore Senior Citizens Association (SSCA) Sidewalk Committee met in June with Borough Manager Jane Billings and Ross Schmucki, chair of council’s Public Works Committee, to discuss sidewalk regulation and repair. Homeowners in the borough are responsible for maintaining their own sidewalks, and the borough code is precise in its specifications. At the same time, repairing a sidewalk can be expensive. Getting rid of the sidewalk permit fee was a recommendation of the SSCA. Was it approved?
Thanks to the dozens of you who responded to The Swarthmorean’s online survey about short-term rentals in Swarthmore. It was exciting to see people interacting with the paper in real time, and to know that so many of you are eager to weigh in on issues affecting the town. We are presenting the results of the unscientific survey here, along with comments by those who gave us permission to publish them. Ultimately, 78 people participated.
Swarthmore’s Environmental Advisory Council (EAC)’s November 26 meeting was largely spent reviewing goals from 2011 and assessing how much progress has been made toward those goals to date. That year, a state grant funded a Temple University greenhouse gas inventory and action plan for the four communities of the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District. Recommendations were made for specific steps municipal governments and broader communities could take to reduce future emissions — everything from encouraging residents to limit car trips to planting more trees.
The intersection of Yale and Cornell avenues was the focus of much of Borough Council’s Public Safety Committee meeting on November 19. The junction was the site of two accidents in recent weeks, so Chair Mary Walk asked Swarthmore Police Chief Raymond C. Stufflet to provide data on the number of accidents there over the last year.
The thorny subject of Swarthmoreans renting out their homes for short periods of time was debated by the Planning and Zoning Committee of Swarthmore Borough Council at its monthly meeting on November 14. The issue was brought to the committee’s attention by neighbors of a house frequently rented out on Airbnb—sometimes to large groups—when the owners are away.
Swarthmore Borough Council led off its monthly legislative session on Tuesday night with the ceremonial swearing of new police officer George Dunn, who was celebrated by a throng of fellow and family members. Officer Dunn actually began in the job last week following his official oath of office. Council president David Creagan congratulated council members Mary Walk and Ross Schmucki on their reelection, new member Jill Gaieski upon her election, and Mayor Marty Spiegel on election to his first full term. Gaieski will replace Creagan on Council as of the upcoming reorganization meeting.
At Monday’s Swarthmore Borough Council meeting, Mayor Marty Spiegel read a proclamation declaring Saturday, November 9, 2019 as Ed Jones Day in Swarthmore. He presented the proclamation to Donna Kay Jones, Ed’s widow (left), who was in attendance along with six former mayors of the borough and members of the Centennial Foundation, which Ed co-founded. There will be a memorial service on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Swarthmore Friends Meetinghouse for Ed, who served Swarthmore as mayor and in many other leadership posts in the borough, county, and state.
In its two October meetings, Swarthmore Borough Council approved several measures which should make the borough less attractive to speeders, and safer for all residents. Council members voted to approve the conditional offer of employment to Folcroft resident George Dunn as a patrol officer, gave the go-ahead to purchase two solar-powered radar speed signs, and adopted standards for hardscaping in the borough zoning code.
Swarthmore Borough Council Update
Swarthmore Borough Council acted on several matters that promise to make the borough a healthier place to live. With several members of the Sierra Club‘s team in attendance, Council adopted Resolution 2019 -05 - Sierra Club Ready for 100. This resolution commits Swarthmore to join hundreds of other U.S. municipalities in resolving to attain 100% renewable electricity use in all homes, businesses, and government buildings within the borough (not just municipal government) by 2030.
Recently, Swarthmore Borough issued notice to owners of adjoining properties at 311 Cedar Lane and 406 College Avenue that the structures are unsafe for human occupancy, that rehabilitation is not feasible due to the degree of deterioration, and that the structures should therefore be demolished, according to Borough Manager Jane Billings. The owner of 311 Cedar Lane has appealed the notice.
On a night when tornado-like winds struck Swarthmore, most of Rose Valley and much of Wallingford were darkened by power outages, Swarthmore Police Chief Ray Stuflett told the assembled members of Rutledge Borough Council, “You guys are lucky.” In fact there was at least one emergency call from Rutledge for a fire ignited by a lightning strike.
At its combined work and legislative session on Monday night, July 1, Swarthmore Borough Council focused most of its energy on two parking issues and one park improvement.
Borough Council’s General Government Committee has been considering changes to parking meter payment fees and duration that would make it more convenient for visitors and Swarthmore residents to park in town and support local businesses.
Swarthmore Borough Council opened its meeting this Monday night with a public comment session, and Jackie Dering of the 500 block of Cedar Lane quickly took to the podium to address Council on what she called “a neighborhood health issue.” She spoke of an incident last weekend in which a rabid raccoon bit her next door neighbor. Although that raccoon was captured and killed, she said, “That means there are other animals with rabies — that raccoon had to get it from somewhere.” She noted that local raccoons can be fairly bold even when not rabid, appearing by day as well as in their typical nocturnal habit.
