We've been noticing township cars cruising the the Pennsy and Merry Place trails. The Merry Place trail is way too narrow for both a township truck (like Animal Control) and say, a stroller. Definitely not a double stroller! Hopefully when they come by you'll be walking near a space to get out of the way. Pennsy trail has plenty of "shoulder;" Merry Place's trail does not. … [Read more...]
PokéWalk Tonight! Veteran’s Park in Broomall 7:30pm
07/20/2016 by
Havertownies Unite! Let's meet at the gazebo in Veteran's Memorial Park in Broomall tonight at 7:30. This park ROCKS for Pokémon!!! It's a best-kept secret for trainers! The park has a little loop walk with over a dozen Pokéstops and a gym. Come fill up your bags and trade tips and show us the rare Pokémon you've collected. Tonight's weather will be clear and a comfy 82 degrees F. This is a great walk for kids. A ton of stops are right next to each other, so it's super easy to load up on Pokémon and items for your bags. Meet in the gazebo at 7:30 tonight and we'll start walking. We'll do one loop around the park together (less than a 1/2 mile). You can keep going round and round tie the sun goes down or gather back at the gazebo or grab a bench to battle at the gym. Bring water bottles and bug spray! Spread the word! DETAILS: Tonight, Wednesday July 20 2016 at 7:30 pm-sundown Veteran's Memorial Park, 354 Lawrence Road in Broomall, PA (Marple township). Parking is available. Meet at the Gazebo at 7:30pm. Come a little early or a little late! Just look for your fellow Pokémon trainers! If the parking lot is full, see the neighboring streets for street parking. There is a light at Warren Blvd to cross. … [Read more...]
Storm swishes through Swiss Farms and H-Town: Photos
07/18/2016 by
Here are some photos collected from Townies and news sources. We're adding as we go. Click on the photo to flip through the gallery: … [Read more...]
Recycling moving today
06/16/2016 by
Today the glass and paper/cardboard recycling bins (why never any plastic?) will move to some place in the township you’ve likely never been: the Fire Training Grounds. If you’ve ever walked Merry Place’s Darby Creek path all the way to the end, you’ve run into the fire training grounds. The area has a township building, a parking lot and a fire tower. This will be the new home of the big recycling dumpsters that were by the skate park. Merry Place got the Skate Park. The fire grounds got the recycling. Shit’s getting real on the new police/township building. Here’s a map: To get to the bins, you need to take that left at the light into the weird medical building complex off WCP. You know: that road you take to get to Barnaby’s. Follow that road around and take a left on Hilltop Road. There’s a little drive off to the left for the fire training grounds. Our guess: those bins will see a LOT less use. … [Read more...]
Concert in the Park was chill. Pics.
06/13/2016 by
Make sure to take blankets and chairs to Paddock Park next Saturday, June 18, 2016 to hear the very popular Jeffrey Gaines. It's 10 bucks. It starts at 6. You can find plenty of parking around there (the produce store will be closed, so that lot will be convenient). iRadioPhilly/Kelly Music for Life is using awesome local startup Ticketleap, too. Good stuff, all around. … [Read more...]
Retiring old flags, and YAY! Flag Day!
06/10/2016 by
Tuesday, June 14, 2016 is Flag Day. Let's show Delco how it's done! __________________________ The US Library of Congress tells us the legend of the flag, which all Townies should know by now: It's said that George Washington approached Betsy Ross (a seamstress) to sew up a flag. This was in June of 1776, a month before the Declaration of Independence was to be announced. We imagine good old Betsy had to tell the rest of her clients to GFY for that month. Having a rush job to make an entire new flag for a new country that would undoubtedly go to war soon was probably a bit stressful. Anyway, it got done. And how shrewd of old George to know a flag would be needed before the big day. It's almost as if the Founding Fathers knew what they were doing, eh? There have been 27 different versions of the US flag. The current one we have was established in 1960, after Hawaii was the 5-0 State of the Union. We'll probably see more states added in our lifetime, namely Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands or others. We always thought 52 stars would be nice, as it would match a card deck. The US was such a huge gamble in the beginning. A card deck is fitting, in a way. Someone in HavertowniesHQ direct area flies a flag that is tattered and torn. This is a big no-no. Let's all display nice, intact flags this Tuesday. No stains, rips or shreds. New flags are sold everywhere and they aren't that expensive. Also, if flags are flown at night, they must be lit up like the Fourth of July. Let's make an effort. The flag is for everyone, not just the crazies. Let's win the most-flags-out-on-flag-day (non-existent) prize. Maybe we can get some good press in The News of Delco. We might not be the la-dee-dah safest township in Pa but we're a civil rights, life, liberty, pursuit-of-wine-sales-in-Giant loving bunch, despite our political differences. Can we all just stick out one little flag on Tuesday? Let's do it. The scouting troops in the area and the VFWs take old … [Read more...]
Armed Robbery, Car and Foot Chase, Arrest
05/27/2016 by
This latest Press Release from Haverford Police Department reads like a movie script. (But holy crap, armed robbery?! At Grasslyn and Ellis?!) HAVERFORD TOWNSHIP POLICE DEPARTMENT 1010 Darby Road Havertown, Pennsylvania 19083 Official Press Release On Friday May 27, 2016 at 0211 hours Haverford Township Police were dispatched to the area of Grasslyn Avenue and Ellis Road for an armed robbery that had just occurred. The initial investigation revealed that two actors armed with handguns had just robbed a subject at gunpoint. The victim stated that the actors were two black males; one was described to be in his twenties, thin build approximately 5'10', clean shaven and wearing a gray or white shirt and black pants. The second actor was described as, being a heavy build with a full beard wearing dark clothing. The victim stated the gun displayed was dark in color. The actors got into a silver colored Hyundai and fled the area at a high rate of speed. While officers were checking the area for the suspect vehicle they were advised that Marple Township Police were in foot pursuit of two suspects at West Chester Pike and New Ardmore Avenue in Marple Township. Haverford Township Police units did respond to that location. Marple police reported that they observed the silver Hyundai traveling westbound on West Chester Pike and attempted to stop the vehicle. The vehicle failed to stop and pulled into the parking lot of 2201 West Chester Pike Broomall. Both occupants exited the vehicle and fled on foot. Officers from Marple Township, Newtown Square Township, Springfield Township and Haverford Township established a perimeter in the area and initiated K-9 tracks. HTPD K9 Jango located 9mm black in a grass lot adjacent to 2201 West Chester Pike. Police located a black male subject hiding in an exterior basement stairwell of a residence. The subject was taken into custody without incident. HTPD K9 Jango located a second handgun in the rear yard where the … [Read more...]
Nextdoor says shout-outs OK any day
05/10/2016 by
**Today our founder, Christine Cavalier, talks about her experience as a Lead in a Nextdoor.com neighborhood social network.** _______________ Unlike the "Designated Business Day" the Havertown Community Group and others have on Facebook, the Nextdoor policy is to allow for business "shout outs" (spontaneous recommendations) any day of the month without any restrictions on frequency or subject of posts, nor any scrutiny into the post writer's affiliations. Nextdoor and online communities After being one of local-neighborhood-social-network app nextdoor.com’s founding leads in my town, after recruiting over 100 members to my neighborhood group alone, and after being a lead and a moderator for years, I've quit the app. Several weeks ago, a firestorm lit up about a post in the Haverford Nextdoor general stream. A member gave a "shout out" to a local business. This was what we called an "unsolicited recommendation" i.e., no-one asked specifically a recommendation or information about the services the business provided. As a Nextdoor lead, I received a good amount of private messages about the post and others like it. In the comment sections of the posts, arguments arose over whether or not we would allow it. “No” surfaced as the best answer. People's motivations/affiliations are impossible to identify, and we didn't want our stream filled with business posts or blatant advertising. Already we'd had "social sellers" shamelessly plug their wares (and the posts were flagged. I removed them). We didn't want to encourage more of the same. Building a forum Things went along fine once that fight flickered out. We were learning how to use "ISO" for classified ads when we were "in search of" something. We were deciding whether or not to recommend ourselves if someone was asking for specific services, e.g. realtors or massage therapists. I kept an eye on the national Nextdoor Leads forums for guidance. The forum was growing in a polite and calm … [Read more...]
Civil War Dancing, Anyone?
03/11/2016 by
Philly Voice reports on the oddest stuff. But H-Town is weird, and we like it that way! Here's the article: Learn the dance styles of the Civil War era at Haverford library The event is part of One Book, One Philadelphia BY SINEAD CUMMINGS PhillyVoice Staff Each year communities in the greater Philadelphia area create programs and events for the Free Library of Philadelphia's project One Book, One Philadelphia, which promotes the reading and discussion of a single book. "Cold Mountain" by Charles Frazier is the book chosen for 2016. Frazier's novel tells the story of a Civil War soldier returning to the woman he loves. To celebrate the book, the Haverford Township branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia is hosting a class on Civil War dance styles. The Civil War Dance Foundation will bring dancers to the library to demonstrate the dances and discuss the period. After the demonstration, attendees will have a chance to try the dances themselves. While the event is free, registration is required to attend. Civil War Dance Program Sunday, March 20 1:30 p.m. | Free Haverford Township Free Library Philly Voice Article Denisbin on Flickr: Dance photo C&O Canal NHP on Flickr: Barn dance photo … [Read more...]
Collingswood Facebook Community Group (Like H-Town’s) Blows Up
03/07/2016 by
Phillyvoice has an article about yet another Facebook community group splintering due to drama trauma. Why did journalist Kevin C. Shelly report this non-event as "news" when it isn't really new? Because in our modern era, online groups are something worth talking about. We want our own community groups to help to our community instead of hinder it. Collingswood's group seems to have split up over typical stuff. Usually, bad member behavior and a lessening of moderation by the group's administrators cause the rift. If rule-reminders aren't handed out regularly, behavior doesn't re-align with the goals of the group. Behavior grows more errant until a split occurs. A new group is formed with a curated membership, similar rules, and good moderation. We have one or two Facebook Community Groups here in H-Town. The most active is the Havertown Community Group (HCG), run by Administrators Kim Lacovara-Barr and Carrie Kauffman. The HCG has 3,770 members. Haverford Township has (by 2010 census) 35,878 residents. That means HCG's membership is roughly 10.5% of the population. (These numbers are estimates, as HCG members can come from surrounding towns). As far as Facebook groups go, these are some impressive numbers. It's very possible a group of this size can enact real change in H-Town. For example, one of the topics of conversation in the HCG right now may end up making a difference for all of us: The Red Plum Mailers. Townies are throwing around the idea of throwing the Red Plum Mailer people out of H-Town. Talk of a petition is brewing. (One can request Red Plum to remove her address from the list, but we've tried this and have seen no results. The mailers still end up on HavertowniesHQ's driveway). If enough interest is generated, perhaps the issue will be brought in front of the Commissioners or the Delco Board. That's powerful stuff. HCG's admins seem to be quite on top of things and will occasionally remind members to refer back to the rules. This is … [Read more...]