Event: Southeastern PA First Suburbs Project Legislative Forum
When: Sunday, September 28.  4-6pm (ends before Eagles kickoff!)
Where: St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, 714 DeKalb Street, Norristown, PA
Registration: Free, but please RSVP online at  http://www.sepafsp.org/

600 suburban leaders will convene to unveil an agenda for change centered on three policy areas: education finance, infrastructure, and housing. This agenda will be presented to the dozens of State Senators, State Representatives, and County Commissioners who have committed to attend. Governor Ed Rendell is tentatively scheduled to attend.

This message came from Nether Providence Board President Lin Axemathy Floyd:

We hope this is far from the first time you have heard about First Suburbs!  We urge you to join us to show our incumbent state and county legislators your support for regional thinking and actions on concerns common to residents of the four First Suburb counties.   You can also learn more about this non-partisan organization and review position papers on our current issues:  education finance reform, infrastructure (especially water quality, sewage, and flood controls), and affordable housing on our recently launched website: http://www.sepafsp.org/  At least one of these issues is of particular concern to you.

If we want to see positive change and renewal happen in our older communities, the only way to make it happen is to get power.  Power comes through numbers. We can’t overstate the importance of getting people out to this event.  If we cannot turn out the numbers we said we would, there will be no reason for the 20+ elected officials confirmed to attend to pay attention to our agenda for regional change because they will conclude that we are not a force to be respected. Attend, be counted, and count!

Questions?  Contact 484-432-7284
Lin Axamethy Floyd
Nether Providence Township Commissioner
First Suburbs Project Steering Committee Member

Senator Joe Biden, the next Vice President of the United States, is expected to make an appearance in our area this week. According to an invite circulated by State Rep. Bryan Lentz (PA-161), Joe will be at Linvilla Orchards on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 5 p.m.

Come do your Easter (or birthday, or anniversary) shopping at Bekabell’s Hallmark and raise money for the Nether Providence Democrats at the same time.

Bekabell’s will close to the public at 4:00 PM on Sunday, March 9, and will be open only to Nether Providence Dem supporters. Bekabell’s will donate 10% of EVERY DOLLAR sold during the two hours.

When: Sunday, March 9th, 4-6 PM

Where: Bekabell’s Hallmark
5013 Edgmont Ave
Brookhaven, PA
610-876-9553
Between K-Mart & Pathmark

Public swearing-in ceremonies are coming up on January 7, 2008 for our recently elected officials.

Magisterial District Judge Stephanie Klein will be sworn in for her third term at 3:00 that day. (Ceremony to take place in the ceremonial courtroom of the main courthouse in Media, 2nd floor.)

Nether Providence Township Commissioner Frank Noyes and Commissioner-elect Matthew C. Sullivan will be sworn in at 7:30 that evening at the Township building, Sykes Avenue.

PA Delco Watch, a Democratic blog covering this year’s big County Council race, has a post with the video and highlights from the final Delaware County Council candidates’ debate from last week. (Video is courtesy the Delco Times.)

File this under non-partisan news, but there are two important events in the Township this week to put on our calendars.

On Thursday, Oct. 18th, there will be an open forum at the Board of Commissioners’ meeting. The topic of the conversation will be review and public comment on the report by the Recycling Task Force. The meeting will start at 7:00 PM at the Township building.

Then don’t forget that on Saturday, October 20th, Nether Providence will be holding its second annual 5K Run for our First Responders. After a great first year event, Nether Providence is once again hosting a 5K run starting and finishing at the Nether Providence Elementary School and Garden City Fire House in Wallingford PA. Net proceeds benefit the Township’s Community Enhancement Fund for the First Responders. Registration will open at 8:00 am. Race starts at 9:00. For more information and online registration, visit Run the Day.

Four of Nether Providence’s seven wards will be selecting their commissioners this November (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th). We’re excited about the slate of Democrats who are running. The voters will have a chance to size up our municipal candidates on October 3rd, when the League of Women Voters will moderate a candidates’ forum.

Aside from brief opening and closing statements, the questions will come from the audience.

Where: Nether Providence Township Building, 214 Sykes Lane
When: October 3, 2007, 7:30 PM

The next in Bryan Lentz’s town hall meetings will take place close by at the Hedgerow Theater. This is your chance to hear an update on a range of issues, as well as to ask any questions you might have of your state representative.

Where: Hedgerow Theater, 146 W. Rose Valley Road [map]
When: Wednesday, September 19, 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m

Residents who cannot make it to the town meeting are reminded that Lentz’s district office is located at 630 Fairview Road, Suite 104. You can call the office at (610) 544-7301.

At a press conference this week, Democratic challengers David Landau, Ann O’Keefe, and John Innelli took issue with the closed and secretive practices of the Delaware County Council.

They quantified some of the results of one-party government:

Council members have cast 2,012 votes since 2003, agreeing unanimously each time. The Democrats took such unanimity as evidence that one-party government has made impossible the kind of critical approach that will keep contracting costs and other costs low for county taxpayers.

Landau pointed out that the county budget has grown 75 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars since 1979, when the council became all Republican. [Source]

The three Democratic candidates support a platform to increase transparency and greater responsibility in spending:

• new rules for bidding and awarding of contracts
• television broadcasts of council meetings
• advance publication of all ordinances under consideration
• more stringent ethics rules for officials

State Rep. Bryan Lentz (D, PA-161) invites all district residents to a town hall meeting. Bryan will hear from constituents and discuss some of the critical issues recently debated or coming up in Harrisburg, including mass transit funding, energy independence and legislative reform. He will also be discussing his proposal to create a Southeastern Pennsylvania Regional Airport Authority to help relieve the overcrowded air traffic at Philadelphia International Airport.

Where: Ridley Municipal Building, 100 E. MacDade Blvd, Folsum. [map]
When: August 30, 2007, 7:00 to 9:00 PM

Residents who cannot make it to the town meeting are reminded that Lentz’s district office is located at 630 Fairview Road, Suite 104. You can call the office at (610) 544-7301.

* * * *

Update: The Delco Times covered the town hall meeting, which ranged over a variety of issues.