Oh what to do with AMTRAK. The railroad that is our neighbor. They do not maintain their properties and when they do, it is always a study in bad extremes. Their tree maintenance comes to mind.

Like PECO they seem to employee Asplundth the tree murderers. And they have done so recently. You see, one neighbor complained to Amtrak about Amtrak's trees falling on their property, specifically their garage. Well Amtrak came out and not only stripped the trees out from behind this one neighbor's yard, but behind other neighbors' yards as well. Too bad no one else wanted the protective screening of trees clear cut, eh?

When you live with an institution in your neighborhood, life can be irritating at times. Take this morning for example.

Happy New Year from Haverford! We are struggling still as 2008 opens with maintaining a cordial relationship with our institutional neighbor, an elite private school undergoing renovation and construction.

That makes for messy living for us, unfortunately. In the New Year we would be most appreciative if the institution would ask it's construction workers to NOT litter and to NOT take all of our on street parking in zoned and non-zoned areas.

May there always be work for your hands to do.
May your purse always hold a coin or two.
May the sun always shine upon your window pane.
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near to you and
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Hmm, we need a subtopic for "ignorant". This afternoon a driver (a woman) in such a hurry around 3 p.m. (give or take) decided she shouldn't have to wait in line on Penn Street/Pennswood in front of Our Mother of Good Counsel and the ACME in Bryn Mawr.

So what did she decide to do? Invent a thru lane in the oncoming lane JUST for her personal use - she's a VIP and all....

This SUV driver decided to invent a second lane for herself in the oncoming lane of traffic!

Our neighborhood deserves better....

Barrett Avenue, Haverford PA 11/7/07

We don't know what happened, but neighbors heard this was a pedestrian related accident on Lancaster Avenue near Wendy's construction site and Roache and O'Brien's in Haverford. A lot of us were seated comfortably at our dinner tables, helping our children with homework, or watching T.V. when the telltale sounds of sirens and the loud whirring and whump, whump, whumping of helicopters could be heard earlier this evening. That is a sound we hear far too often in our neighborhood...we are so close to Lancaster Avenue....

If this is true,that this is a pedestrian accident, this is a horrible end result of what can only be described as a frequent jaywalking spot, and has been for years. We don't know what can be done with this location, and honestly, right there it is close to that border between Haverford and Lower Merion Townships. If this is true and it is a jaywalking related accident, we pray everyone is ok and that people would come to their senses and NOT jaywalk.

After all, it does not matter what or how many traffic calming measures and pedestrian safety features are enacted on our streets if people jaywalk. Neighbors report that Lower Merion Police had a significant response to this accident scene and had it well under control immediately.

Please, don't jaywalk....

Here in the official Lower Merion Township noise zone of Haverford, we are tired. Tired of the noise and dirt and traffic from numerous construction projects along Lancaster Avenue and apprehensive about the residential construction yet to come. In our neighborhood, which is indeed like an island given it's position between large roads, institutions, etc, it seems like there is the constant din of noise, mostly from construction at least 16 hours a day if not more.

Recently, we have all begun to be tortured once again by Amtrak. It's amazing how many of those guys stand around and just make noise and jabber away on the clock. It's amazing how much noise they can make, how they can't simply park in that almost always empty Septa lot adjacent to Sharpe Park, how they think it is OK to toss water bottles filled with urine all over.....

Amtrak is our collective hard earned tax dollars at work, and here is an e-mail that one of our neighbors sent out along with photos this morning. We would like to share with all of you out there. This missive was sent to state and local elected officials, as well as the office of Congressamn Jim Gerlach.

It's proposed at 30 feet (approximately) over the roof line on top of 429 W. Montgomery Avenue Apartments in Haverford.

429 W. Montgomery Avenue in Haverford is private property. Owned by University City Housing:

TaxMapID 40007B150
Parid 40-00-40228-00-7
Land Use Code 4211
Land Use Description A - HIGH RISE > 4-STORY, > 50 UNITS W/EL
Property Location 429 W MONTGOMERY AVE
Lot #
Lot Size 3.98 ACRES
Zoning R1
Front Feet 338
Municipality LOWER MERION
School District LOWER MERION
Utilities ALL PUBLIC//
Owner
Name(s) 429 ASSOCIATES

Read this terrific article...this isdefintely a time of great articles about one of Lower Merion's beloved treasures because Kathy O'Loughlin has done not one but TWO articles in Main Line Times for the History page (link provided to second one), one from Cheryl Allison, and even a blurb in the Bulletin!

Harriton House spans the ages
The historic farmstead hosted hundreds of families for its annual plantation fair.
By Bonnie L. Cook
Inquirer Staff Writer