Sidewalks

The Langhorne Borough Council has instructed Solicitor C. Anne Porter to draft specifications for installing brick sidewalks in the historic borough, despite a 10-year-old ordinance prohibiting new brick sidewalks. Council Vice President Tom Court questioned the need for the action in light of a statement from the building inspector that brick sidewalks were hazardous. Council President Kathy Horwatt said brick sidewalks enhanced the borough's historic ambience, and she cited the requests of several residents to replace their concrete sidewalks with brick.

More than 60 Ivyland residents have been told to fix their sidewalks, or the borough will hire someone to do it and send them the bills. On Aug. 7, 67 homeowners, about 40 percent of all the property owners in the borough, were sent notices telling them they had 90 days to repair portions of their sidewalks that a Borough Council member had deemed dangerous. Borough Council President John Hall said the measure was meant to ensure the safety of pedestrians. He said the Borough Council was worried that someone who tripped on a sidewalk could sue the borough for failing to ride herd on property owners.

When gas was cheap and the air was cleaner in the 1970s, local people didn't think much about walking in Montgomery Township, according to Supervisor Chairman Robert R. Kuhn. Traffic wasn't bad, either, so people could drive down the street and drive around the corner without a hassle. Supervisors didn't want sidewalks then. Who needed them? "Back in those days, we were still a rural community . . . and sidewalks weren't considered rural," said Daniel P. Olpere, the township manager.

Although some parents are still upset over Lindenwold's on-again, off-again busing for students who live within 2 miles of school, those who have accepted their children's pedestrian fate are upset that some students have no sidewalks on which to walk. Egg Harbor, Chews Landing, Gibbsboro and Laurel Roads - all county highways that serve as direct routes to either Lindenwold Elementary Schools No. 4 or 5 - have no sidewalks, for the most part. "The kids need a safe way to get to school, whether it be by bus or by sidewalk," said Susan Malick, whose child walks about a mile to School No. 4 along winding, narrow, two-lane Egg Harbor Road.

Because of contradictory language in an ordinance, the Borough of Magnolia must pay for last year's installation of curbs and sidewalks in front of about 17 homes on West Atlantic Avenue. The Borough Council made the announcement at last Wednesday's meeting. Council member Denis Reid said that ordinarily the borough bills homeowners for curbs and sidewalks that are installed in front of their homes while road improvements are being made. But not in this case, borough officials said.

I commend the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce for its well- considered proposal about how the city ought to deal with "vent people" (Op-ed Page, March 4). I'll bet there are many people like me, who, when we see vent people in the middle of the sidewalks, day after day, as we walk to work, first feel angry at them for being there (for making our world look as dismal as they do) - and then we feel angry at ourselves for our lack of compassion. Malcolm Lazin is right: The vent people do not belong on our sidewalks.

The board sidewalks in downtown West Chester in the 1870s were a disaster. In the spring, mud oozed over the wood, making walking precarious and long skirts unspeakably dirty. And so it was that merchants followed the 1840s lead of many homeowners by installing brick sidewalks in front of their stores. Brick sidewalks are once again a subject of controversy in West Chester, but this time the issue is one of contract compliance rather than aesthetics or muddy clothes. At a meeting Nov. 24, Borough Council members rejected a request from the developers and homeowners of Brinton Square at Church, Biddle and Washington Streets to leave intact a mistakenly laid portion of brick-striped concrete sidewalk on Biddle Street when plans called for all-brick sidewalks.

Darryl Beltz and his wife, Patti, have lived in their turn-of-the-century, three-story Victorian house on Shearer Street in North Wales for five years. Part of the reason they moved into the quaint section of the borough was its towering maple and oak trees and its distinctive slate, brick and concrete sidewalks. They sensed the neighborhood would have a character all its own. But the reconstruction and widening of Shearer Street has claimed the stately shade trees. And now the Borough Council has sounded the death knell for some of its more distinctive sidewalks as well.

A Radnor Township commissioner who calls himself "Mr. Sidewalk" continued his crusade Monday night for better walkways in the township and was promised that his proposal would be discussed at a future meeting. Commissioner Bill Spingler has been trying to push through a certificate of occupancy ordinance that he said would ensure safer sidewalks at the cost of the homeowner. The current ordinance on sidewalks, he said, is weak and difficult to enforce. Only 5 percent of Radnor has sidewalks, said Township Engineer B. Duncan Hubley, and most are in commercial areas.

Aldan Borough Councilman Joseph A. McCollian Jr. is going to be watching his step this week. McCollian will be inspecting the borough's sidewalks to ensure that residents are maintaining their properties. The inspection, which is done annually by the chairman of the highway and sewer committee and the code inspection officer, includes checking for broken sidewalks that are deemed potential hazards to pedestrians. "The people that want to take care of their property usually maintain it without prompting," McCollian said at a council meeting Wednesday night.

It was a typical summer Saturday night on South Street, filled with shoppers and revelers and at least one artistic woman drawing vivid, hippy patterns on the sidewalk with chalk. The artist, Emily Hamilton Epstein, wasn't doing anything wrong on June 19, 2010, when Police Officer William J. Gress came around, her attorney told the Daily News. "She hadn't done anything wrong and we're very concerned about an officer who's arresting people for activities that clearly aren't illegal," Paul Messing said.

Should contractors and the city do more than they are now to keep sidewalks open around Center City construction sites?

When the long-awaited makeover of Dilworth Plaza is completed two years from now, the plaza will be a great place to stroll. Until then, though, the project could be a major pain for Center City office workers, residents, and visitors accustomed to navigating the area on foot. With fencing that went up all around the plaza immediately after police rousted the Occupy Philadelphia encampment last week, pedestrians' normal routes for getting around the west side of City Hall changed overnight - and not for the better.

With Dilworth Plaza fenced off for construction, Mayor Nutter asked people to stay on the sidewalks instead of traipsing through the streets. The fence cuts off access to the west half of City Hall, which had been a major pedestrian thoroughfare. Since the barriers went up last week, many people have chosen to walk in the street on JFK Boulevard and 15th Street. Nutter held a news conference Thursday, asking them to stop. "There is no safe place on the side of 15th Street for people to walk," he said, adding that crossing to a sidewalk would add only a few minutes at most to the typical trip.

ROME - Rome's mayor said yesterday that it could cost at least a $1.4 million to recover from the havoc wreaked by rioters who smashed windows, tore up sidewalks and torched vehicles after breaking off from a peaceful protest. The estimate came as clean-up work continued in damaged neighborhoods, where many charred vehicles remained parked along the streets. The hundreds of rioters infiltrated a march Saturday by tens of thousands of demonstrators unhappy about the global financial crisis - part of a worldwide version of the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York.

Roxborough's business corridor is getting a face-lift. Officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for a $2.2 million streetscape project scheduled to be completed next summer. Construction began Sept. 19 on the plan, which calls for refurbishing sidewalks, planting trees, and replacing streetlights on a half-mile stretch of Ridge Avenue between Roxborough and Ripka Streets, according to Bernard Guet, executive director of the Roxborough Development Corp. Guet said he hoped the upgraded lighting and sidewalks improved safety for pedestrians and attracted more shoppers to the business district, which runs along three miles of Ridge Avenue.

To understand why Tredyffrin Township wants to build more sidewalks, look no further than Harold Scott. The 69-year-old Pottstown resident was on his way to a church meeting in the township but wanted to stop first for coffee at a Saxby's down the road on Route 30. Rather than walking from the Church of the Good Samaritan, he ended up driving the 100 yards to the shop. The sidewalks "stop and start" too much to walk safely, he said, gesturing toward the road, with its islands of unconnected sidewalks and cars rushing by. If the sidewalk ordinance adopted Monday does what it's supposed to, people like Scott will be able to get around more easily on foot.

Philadelphia police are investigating a fatal shooting early Sunday in North Philadelphia. Police responded about 1 a.m. to the 800 block of West Hunting Park Avenue and found a 20-year-old male lying on the sidewalk. He was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center and pronounced dead a short time later of a single gunshot wound to the back of the head, police said. The name of the victim will be released when relatives have been notified, police said. The investigation into the homicide - the city's 212th this year - is continuing.

In last-minute negotiations Tuesday, advocates for the homeless and representatives of the Center City District reached a compromise on how police should handle aggressive begging and other disorderly conduct on sidewalks. The action came just before the start of a City Council hearing on proposed changes to the city's 12-year-old sidewalk behavior ordinance. More than 50 protesters carrying signs that read "Housing Not Harassment" and "Solutions Not Citations" filled Council chambers.