On January 11, the Delco News Network site reported on the (former Gov.) Rendell Center's "Citizenship Challenge" essay contest. The contest was held on December 17th 2015 and the winners, who took home a big ol' check for $1000 were our own Chestnutwold 5th graders! Get this - they had to write about the 4th Amendment protections against unlawful search and seizure. THEN do a skit about it! Whaaaa? They keep using that word, "5th grade" and we don't think it means what they think it means... When we were in 5th grade, we were writing about Smoky Bear and How to Stop Forest Fires (Only ME! *I* am the ONLY ONE WHO CAN STOP THEM) and even then, we only got an honorable mention in the county contest. 4th Amendment? Geez. These kids ROCK, though, and for real rock, not SchoolHouse Rock. They actually know the US Constitution and we only know the Preamble song, if we're lucky. Go, KIDS! You little law scholars, you. LINKS Rendell Center Citizenship Contest Here's the article over at delconewsnetwork.com BTW, you know ICYMI means "In case you missed it" right? And BTW means "by the way." C'mon people. Keep up. Kids with check photo by Rendell Center Smoky the Bear Photo Credit: Steven on Flickr (and yeah, that's Steven in the pic) … [Read more...]
MLK day Hoops from the Heart
Hoops clinic at Haverford College for kids benefitting a Delaware County Charity tomorrow: "For the 15th consecutive year, Haverford College, Neumann University, Widener University and Cabrini College are joining forces for the annual Hoops from the Heart basketball clinics Monday, Jan. 18 as part of the Martin Luther King Day of national service. The clinics, which are open to boys and girls in grades one through eight, will be conducted by the men’s and women’s teams as well as the coaches from each school. The clinics will be held from 9 a.m. to noon. Proceeds from the event benefit the Community Action Agency of Delaware County, Inc., the anti-poverty agency that helps families and individuals move toward self-sufficiency. Previous clinics have raised more than $90,000 and the organization hopes to go over the $100,000 mark this year." Go over to the Delaware County Daily Times to get more info on MLK day hoops and how to get a free t-shirt! PHOTO CREDIT: Havertownies.com Copyright 2016 … [Read more...]
Photos of theft suspect
Haverford Police Department released some security camera footage of a possible suspect for the rash of car break-ins (most recently along Colonial Road in H-Town). Below each pic is a guess at the suspect's traits. Contact 911 if you've seen anyone like this. … [Read more...]
Haverford Police: We’re on the prowler. You lock your car doors
A post is going around Facebook this week that reported of a masked prowler in the WestGate Hills section of H-Town. Here is a screen shot from Facebook, dated Jan. 15, 2016: We called the Haverford Police Department for an update. Lt. Hagan said there is increased patrols in the West Gate area but at this point in time, the HPD thinks it may be an isolated incident. As reported to them, the supposedly male figure was dressed in a black "spiderman-like" spandex suit that covered from head to toe. Besides the initial report, there have been no more reports of sightings of any prowlers. Still, Lt. Hagan asks residents to call 911 for anything at all. The police force has canines that can track the path of trespassers. Lt. Hagan insisted that 911 is to be used freely and immediately. "You're not bothering us," he said. Lt. Hagan would like to emphasize something else though: LOCK YOUR CAR DOORS. We've seen a serious uptick in thefts from cars over night, he reported. Cars parked in driveways as well as parked on the street have been entered. The unifying theme is that the vehicles were left unlocked. The perps aren't actually damaging the vehicles. They are checking to see which are unlocked and grabbing loose change, etc. It's a crime of opportunity. Please remember to lock your car doors. And again, call 911 for any suspicious activity, even if you think it's "nothing" or "stupid." Lt. Hagan would rather you be safe than sorry. Let them determine what's what. LINKS PHOTO CREDITS: Car in driveway Jim Grey on Flickr Ninja Costume: Google search Screen shot: Havertownies.com via Facebook.com Update: The original post of this article had the HPD Lt. listed as Lt. Logan. It is actually Lt. Joe Hagan. It's been corrected. Our apologies. … [Read more...]
We’ve got a new top cop
Chief Pettine is retiring. One of HPD's own, John Viola, was promoted. He starts Monday. Details in the News-o-Delco (more about John Viola and the US OPEN on philly.com below): John Viola becomes police chief in Haverford Published: Wednesday, January 13, 2016 By Lois Puglionesi For Digital First Media HAVERFORD >> After a career that has spanned more than 45 years, former Deputy Chief of Police John Viola became the township’s new chief of police, effective Monday. The commissioners voted unanimously in favor of Viola’s promotion. Viola succeeds former Chief Carmen Pettine, who is retiring. Family, friends, supporters from multiple police departments, Brookline Fire Department and several county officials were on hand as Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Green administered the oath of office. Commissioner and Chair of the Police Committee Stephen D’Emilio noted that Viola has served in many capacities during the course of a distinguished career that began in January 1970, when Viola joined the Patrol Division. In his earliest role as a police medical emergency responder, Viola helped transport sick and injured persons on police medical wagons, D’Emilio said. Appointment to the Youth Aid Division and Detective Division followed in 1975. Then in 1991, Viola joined the Highway Safety/Special Operations Unit, honing skills for major accident investigations. Additionally, Viola trained in arson investigations and SWAT/crisis management and has served as Tactical SWAT commander for over 15 years, D’Emilio said. Viola was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 1994 and became special operations supervisor several years later. Subsequent roles included assignment as Delco’s lead law enforcement representative on the Southeastern PA Terrorism Task Force and serving on the Five County Terrorism Task Force under Homeland Security as the Haz Mat SWAT Commander and as commander on the Major Incident Response Team, … [Read more...]
Pop-up dining comes H-town
"Pop-up" dining is so 2014. In 2016, we Townies are just catching up. (For suburbia, though, being only 2 years behind NYC and Philly is not too bad. H-town is cutting edge!). Eventbrite.com saw such a serious uptick in pop-up listings in 2014 (47% increase from 2013), they had to take a closer look. They analyzed 40,000 events listed and saw it was the most explosive trend on the site, with 82% growth. In industry standards, that's just plain bonkers. The long and short of it: Pop-up dining is a great way for restaurants to maximize use of their space, for chefs to break out of normal roles and for diners to try something different. Since the dawn of the Web, "sampling" experiences are the new normal, and we Townies are doing it. It's a good thing, too. Events like this will attract more of the highly-desired Millennial buyers to the real estate market in H-Town. H-Town has an aging population with a lot of empty houses. We'll be competing for those buyers with neighboring towns. We need a great mix of urban-style attractions along with affordable houses and great schools. We've posted before about the pop-ups coming to Kettle. Here's an update. There's a company called fEATures (notice the "EAT" in the middle) that acts as an event co-ordinator of the pop-ups. Here is there upcoming schedule for dinners at H-Town's Kettle restaurant at the corner of Brookline & Darby: LINKS: We like that the fEATures pop-up people are using Philly area start-up Ticketleap for their ticketing. Get more info at their website or their Facebook page. Look through the restaurant/dining industry talk in the Eventbrite article. There's lots of info from their survey of 2,ooo pop-up attendees. A more casual read about the study and trend can be found in a March, 2014 article at Huffpo. Better Homes and Gardens talks about the Millennial buyer's wants and needs. Photo Credit: INHABIT on Flickr … [Read more...]
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Same old, same old, for the board of commissioners. From the News-o-Delco: "By Lois Puglionesi lpuglionesi@gmail HAVERFORD >> The board of commissioners held its annual reorganization Monday, beginning with swearing in ceremonies for four commissioners. Taking the oath of office were Kevin McCloskey, who will be serving his first term leading the Third Ward, while also adding a third Democrat to the nine-member, Republican majority board. Also sworn in by District Judge Lisa Lacianca was Fifth Ward Republican commissioner Andy Lewis, returning to a post he held 2004-2008. Lewis defeated former commissioner Jeff Heilmann in November elections via a successful write-in campaign. Recently re-elected Republican commissioners Jim McGarrity and William Wechsler took the oath, as well. First Ward Republican commissioner Stephen D'Emilio, re-elected in November, was also sworn in at the reorganization. Republicans exercised their 6-3 clout to retain leadership positions. They appointed Eighth Ward Commissioner Chris Connell to a one-year term as president. Republican Mario Oliva, formerly president, was appointed vice president. Democrats voted for Dan Siegel and Larry Holmes. The board was unanimous, however, when it came to retaining solicitor James Byrne, township engineer Dave Pennoni and Civil Service Commission solicitor David Rohde." PHOTO CREDIT: Sean McGrath on Flickr Article link … [Read more...]
Using data to save lives
HuffPo has an article about how LA's police force released some statistics with a visual aid to help spread awareness of pedestrian deaths and the intersections where lethal accidents are more likely to occur. (link at bottom) Here's a screenshot of the map: A few years ago, after the Official Havertownie Minivan was t-boned at Earlington and Brookline (by a non-Townie on her phone who blew the light), we called the police station asking if there was any data on "intersections with the most accidents." Not naming names, but the officer told me the HPD wouldn't want to release that data because it may imply they are lacking in their duties. We thought this was a bit of an odd thing to say, seeing that it isn't the duty of the HPD to control every idiot driver, nor is it their duty to civil engineer the architecture of intersections. It was about 3 years ago, so perhaps the HPD has caught up to the current thinking on open data and safety. The Philly open data project is one such effort. The officer did point me to crimereports.com. (beware of Flash software. Blech.) That isn't the only crime report site available now. There are plenty to choose from. And we can always spend our days on the police blotter, but like Facebook, that can lead to paranoia and depression. HPD Police Blotter download interactive map data from LA HuffPo article about LA accident data OpenDataPhilly … [Read more...]
Restaurant happenings we don’t really care about
When longtime beloved dive diner Hanne's at Darby and Eagle closed, it was replaced with Havertown Grille. Both charming in their own ways, we were happy to see another diner take that space when it was left empty. It's still a regular on our breakfast rotation. We haven't yet tried the old-Irish-Shop now McKenna's but we hear good things. Kettle is always a fave, of course. That Kettle Omelet or the Veggie Scramble. Yum. Today the Main Line Times has some news about Marc Vetri selling his restaurants (except Vetri) to... Urban Outfitters? (Anyone else think that's weird?), about SNAP pizza (which is awesome for Celiac's as well as you omnivores) getting more space even FARTHER away from H-Town, and one other food-business happening that doesn't matter. We've already forgotten about it. We like dining out, of course, but the restaurant scene in H-Town has upped it's game so much in the last few years, our jeans don't fit. Edgewood is excellent and would impress anyone (we don't care who you are). Slice It Up pizza regularly burns the "gluten-free" fries but everything else is great (try the wings!). Brick N Brew... Kaffir Thai. We hear the Thai takeout place near the "ghetto" Rita's on WCP is killer, too. The best place to see our own little restaurant wars is the Havertown Community Facebook group. Lots o' opinions there, as you can imagine. And apparently there's this one Townie old guy who is Yelp Famous. Has a huge following and everything. We contacted him for an interview but he snubbed us. We aren't Yelp famous, I guess. We aren't even HavertownieHQ famous. Whatevs. Yelp's a cesspool anyway. So there. Anyway, here are links. We're kind of over big, blue, underlined links interrupting our reading flow. Our brain voice hums along, reading normally, then IT HAS TO SHOUT because: hypertext. The really annoying practice was probably invented by Yelp. Main Line Times, droning on about some food stuff Havertown Community Facebook Group – Use at … [Read more...]
We made the papers. This time for something good.
Haverford Township (remember - there is no official "Havertown" - That is a US Post Office shortening of Haverford Township [better than "fordship" or "Havership" or "fordtown"]) makes the Philly news every once in a while. Usually the news isn't so great. This article, from today's Philadelphia Inquirer, talks about the efforts volunteers have made toward brightening up the place. (If we could only do something about Eagle Road from Darby to WCP!) Proud residents are splashing it all over social media. So here you go: Haverford Twp. experiencing a civic reboot Mari A. Schaefer, Staff Writer Posted: Saturday, January 2, 2016, 1:07 AM Ten years ago, Haverford Township was known for its political infighting, tired business areas, and status-quo Civic Council. Then an election brought three new township commissioners; fresh blood energized the Civic Council - an umbrella group of local organizations - and grassroots volunteers got to work. The impact is visible: new streetlights, improved sidewalks, better parking. The township boasts a popular music festival, a new recreation center and YMCA, and a diverse restaurant scene that includes Mexican, Thai, modern Irish, Italian, gastropubs, trendy breakfast spots, and earthy coffee houses. "All these things send signals to consumers, businesses, and investors that this place is getting better," said Donald Kelly, vice president for the nonprofit Haverford Partnership for Economic Development. "We are excited about the direction our community is going." It hasn't been easy. Haverford faces a unique challenge - nine separate business districts in a 10-square-mile township. "You can't just put your money in one place," said Commissioner Mario Oliva. "We are spread out all over." About 48,000 people live in the inner-ring Delaware County suburb, flanked by Upper Darby and Radnor Township, sliced by West Chester Pike and bounded by, among other things, City Avenue and Darby Creek. The … [Read more...]
Pedestrian struck by train
Press Release: "On Wednesday December 30th 2015 at approximately 2245 hours, the Haverford Township Police Department responded to the Ardmore Junction station of the SEPTA Route 100 Norristown high speed line for a report of subject struck by a train. The preliminary investigation revealed that a W/M/38 of Mays Landing, New Jersey was struck by an outbound train on the tracks approximately 75 feet south of the Ardmore Junction station platform. The preliminary investigation indicates that this was an apparent suicide. Witnesses reported observing the subject exit a vehicle parked in an adjacent parking lot and walk up an embankment and onto the track. The witness observed the victim lay down in front of the train as it approached the station. Police did locate a suicide note in the victim’s vehicle. The victim sustained fatal injuries and was pronounce deceased at the scene. The name of the victim is not being released pending notification of family. There were no injuries to the train operator or its passengers. The investigation is continuing by SEPTA and the members of the Special Operations Unit of the Haverford Township Police Department. This is an Official Press Release of the Haverford Township Police Department issued on the authority of Chief Carmen D. Pettine Lt. Michael Glenn Patrol Division Watch Commander" … [Read more...]
Suspicious flyer put in mailboxes
An unsigned "mimeographed" (<-tee hee) flyer has shown up in area mailboxes. This obviously fake "Amazon Logistics" letter is in the photo. Click on it for a closer look. It's an obvious scam. Amazon would never: Use door-to-door "outreach" Use paper for first-line communication Need random customer feedback for logistics Ask for customers' access codes Send a person out to collect delivery preferences Not sign a letter with a name Use random capitalization (Our Business partner) Use photocopied paper Here at Havertownies HQ we received one of these flyers. When we asked @AmazonHelp, they assumed we were talking about an email phishing attempt. They were unfamiliar with this letter. We called the police and handed over the letter. Not all the neighbors received one so perhaps there is a leaked list of Amazon customers somewhere and this scammer got a hold of it. When posted on Facebook, another Townie thought she saw a while male, 30s, in black pants and shirt, driving a tan sedan distributing these flyers. This is just a guess, though, so take that under consideration. Our thought is the plan is this: Step 1: Distribute the flyers. Step 2: Send an official-looking person with stolen Amazon logos on his shirt and a clipboard to knock on doors. Step 3: Fish for information like where packages are left, whether or not doors are open, and if there is anyone home during the day. The Haverford PD said there are no permits issued right now for solicitation in the Township except for maybe the Natural Gas sellers. So no matter what, don't open the door to anyone you don't know and aren't expecting. Call 911 for any solicitors, even if they seem legit. To keep up with stuff like this, make sure to join and follow the following groups, pages and websites (starting with Havertownies.com, of course!) Havertown and Drexel Hill Community Network on Facebook. Closed group. You will need to wait for approval to join. Nextdoor.com … [Read more...]