Jenkintown Zoning Hearing Board: The Downses Strike Back

Jenkintown Borough finally runs out of stupid questions about lawn equipment, bringing its war of attrition to an end. Last night at Borough Hall, the ZHB unanimously voted to toss out the Borough’s citation based on lack of evidence showing any kind of business, impactful or otherwise.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the room erupted with a standing ovation with most people relieved, but none more than the Downses. Unfortunately, what this decision does not do is make their troublesome next-door neighbor go away.

When will the heads start to roll? Which resignations are forthcoming? We’d welcome resignation letters from George Locke, Council President Deborra Sines-Pancoe, and/or Council VP and social media bully Rick Bunker as well as the ringleader, Sean Kilkenny. These four are the current cancer in this town that will not heal until they are removed from any political involvement in it.

We conservatively estimate that this circus will eventually cost Jenkintown taxpayers close to $20,000 with the Downses legal fees not far behind.

Jenkintown PA George Locke Jenkintown loses its war of attrition against the Downses
Despite appearances, no, George Locke was not napping during the two-plus hour proceedings.

At last month’s Borough Council Meeting, we went on record estimating that the Borough has so far spent about $12,000 prosecuting the Downses. Turns out, we under-estimated.

Borough Expenses related to the citation between November 2017 up to the March, 2018 court appearance: $5500

Since then:

Kilkenny Invoices for April and May this year: $2604
Court Reporter: $2818.00
ZHB Attorney: $1428.00
Times-Courier Ad: $246.30
FedEx delivery: $8.66

The Kilkenny Invoices are heavily redacted.

April invoice

May invoice 

We have filed a Right-to-Know request for Kilkenny’s June invoice and will again file for the July invoice at the beginning of August. We don’t expect to have a final tally until sometime in September.

Jenkintown Borough Council Meeting Live stream for June, 2018

Borough Council had its regular meeting on June 27th. Highlights include:

  • Presentations to two of Jenkintown High School’s runners for their exceptional performance
  • Public comment revealing that the Borough has spent at least $12,000 prosecuting the Downs’s citation.
  • Public comment about a possible edit to the Borough’s own archived video
  • A big round of “attaboys” for George Locke’s completion of his manager education
  • And a public hearing that included discussion about establishing code for a future medical marijuana dispensary.

Just a reminder that we do not edit these videos in any way except to remove breaks in the proceedings and to enhance the audio when possible.

You will find the agenda for this meeting here.

Jenkintown Borough Council Special Meeting

Jenkintown Borough Council held a special meeting on June 20 to consider rescinding its support of the Taco Bell project. This video contains that meeting and the regularly scheduled meetings for the Admin and Finance and the Building Zoning and Revitalization meetings.

Highlights of this video include some passionate public comment, Scott Hummel cry poverty if this all goes down even though as a prospective buyer he really has nothing to lose except all the time he wasted pursuing this bad idea, Rick Bunker scolding his ex-wife from his council seat, and Council finally voting to rescind their support.

You also got to see yours truly get credit for the proposed sidewalk loan program. If passed, residents will get to pay interest on something unnecessarily expensive compared to a Borough-managed wholesale program.

A good time was had by all.

Jenkintown’s war of attrition continues

The Zoning Hearing Board of Jenkintown, PA staged its second evening of mind-numbing questions about photographs of Dave Downs mowing an elderly woman’s lawn, the brand of lawnmower he used (Craftsman), and whether Christine Glass can discern the difference between a business and good Samaritan.

We present to you last night’s hearing in its entirety, edited only to remove the two five minute breaks in what was nearly a three hour hearing. Council members attending last night: Council President Deborra Sines-Pancoe, Jay Conners, Ann MacHaffie, and Michael Golden. There was no sign of Elcy Hope.

This hearing continues for a third session on July 12, 2018. 

Your comments are welcome and sharing is encouraged. Also, if you have any theories as to how Patrick Hitchens sleeps at night, we’re all ears.

Jenkintown Zoning Hearing Board: Borough Vs. Peggy and Dave Downs

Grab your popcorn, folks! This is the hearing in its entirety. We apologize for the sound quality (again), but this is what we’re using for a microphone:

There’s an omnidirectional mic at the base of that Solo cup, which does a decent job picking up voices. Unfortunately, because we’re always in the gallery, it also picks up coughs, paper shuffling, and chair moving.