Please see the note below from Linda Callegari. Linda has been heading up the traffic and 202 issues committee for us. She is proposing a meeting and email campaign to change the color of the sound walls. Please read her suggestions and note her email and phone to respond directly to her if you wish to.
I have received many notes from neighbors that are unhappy with the red color walls. One clarification - the township has said in a note since I sent out the last one that ivy will be planted on the walls so the red color will be muted by the green.
I hope you will take the time to read up and act on this issue.
Carol Pfister
gwyneddknoll@gmail.com
215-661-8775
Dear Gwynedd Knoll neighbors,
I have been watching the emails fly all over concerning the red sound barriers on 202 and I thought perhaps a coordinated response from individual homeowners in our hood would get the Supervisor's attention and appropriate response. I must say, they always have responded to our requests for meetings and so if we all ask for a meeting at Hancock & 202 some weeknight next week, I'm sure they will oblige. I think it will be absolutely essential that we get an overwhelming turnout to demonstrate our very real concern and our commitment to follow this issue long term. I also think every neighbor needs to send an email/letter to the Supervisors indicating some of the concerns I've outlined below. Certainly, there are other points to be made, but accountability for their decisions on 202, the sound barrier issue, etc.are theirs alone and with this upcoming election, we need to remind them that they "serve" this neighborhood as well as the rest of the Township.
I looked thru my old emails and can find only one Supervisor email. Here are the names of the LGT supervisors and their term expirations (FYI):
Kathleen Hunsicker (12/31/11)
Dr. Richard Booth (12/31/11)
Stephen Paccione (12/31/13)
Mark Grey (12/31/15)
Edward Brandt (12/31/15)
There is virtually no information out there in the local news about who these two supervisors are, what they stand for, what they feel the issues are, how responsive they'll be to their constituents, if things get pissy, I think we need to become a bit more vocal and I would like to think our hood will be willing to speak up and write to these individuals & perhaps the Ambler Gazette.
If you remember, when we asked the Twp to install the barricade at Hancock & 202, both Supervisors Paccione & Grey came out one morning and met with several of the moms in the hood at a time when the kids were standing out there so they could see for themselves the danger in having speeding commuters flying thru our hood. That was a good sign.
I think the vulnerable individuals are Booth and Hunsicker, whom I have never seen in this hood or heard a peep out of either of them on any of our concerns. At meetings where they have been present, you never hear them say anything. I believe Hunsicker is the Vice Chairman of the Supervisors and I think she needs to justify why we should vote for her at this point.She brings nothing to the table for any of her constituents. She basically is a quiet majority vote.
Bottom line, I think we need to contact them all individually with emails and ask them to respond individually so we don't get this group response with no accountability. It's time that they get from behind this group stand and give us a reason to continue to support their future terms on the board. Be prepared to respond to the group response and ask each to reply.
The township website does not offer individual emails for them, but rather lists a generic email for all of them:
supervisors@lowergwynedd.org However, I do have Stephen Paccione's township email: spaccione@lowergwynedd.org . I would think if we email the rest using that format, we can reach them, although Larry C. did tell me that not every supervisor has an email and so he prints them, batches them, and send them hard copies in the mail.
Key points I think we need to make with these people in an email:
1. Obviously, we do not want the red brick, but rather a beige color that should coordinate with the entire run of the sound barriers on the LGT side. If it is about the surface and having a way for the ivy to "grab" onto the walls, just look at the blue route and their beige walls with tons of ivy growing all over!
2. We should point out that while Penndot views the 202 project at this intersection as two distinct sections, the Township should have recognized this and their job was to make sure there was continuity and conformity of appearance and design. We understand there have been periodic meetings with Penndot and the other interested towns in this section and they represent us and the township at these meetings and should have been advocating for us, as I'm sure they will say they have been. Our response can then be, why did we have to put in writing to Penndot that we needed some of the shrubs to be moved as a base planting for our entrance and why did we have to ask their Project Managers to correct the disparity between the two sound barriers. One was curved and the other slanted! In my mind, this is what the township should have done on our behalf!~ It then opens the door for us to ask for periodic updates from the Township & coordination with us on upcoming decisions, before they are made!
3. We should request a meeting with the supervisors at the Hancock entrance this coming week to let us hear from each of them. Most likely, they will send just two, but I think it will speak volumes if it's Paccione & Grey again. In that case, we should seriously consider why Hunsicker & Booth deserve a second chance. I think having them there looking at those red walls with a large crowd of neighbors will make it very hard for them to cross us. We will have to get the hood out for this to make sure they understand that we all don't like this situation...crowd!!!
4. There is not enough communication with the Township on this project. It isn't like they don't know how to reach us all. Unless we have initiated the request for a meeting, none happens. This is not acceptable. Again, do the supervisors think that unless the constituents request a meeting or contact, they don't owe us the courtesy of informing us of important updates or opportunities to have input on major decisions that affect us? We already have an active committee that contacts Larry C. with issues now and in the past. This mess is not for our lack of interest, but rather their lack of understanding/recognition that their constituents want to be active participants in decisions that affect the value of the homes here, the quality of life for the people who live here, and the safety and well being of anyone in the township who drives through our neighborhood. Based on this issue alone, we should demand regular, periodic meetings with the supervisors (whomever they choose to be the point people) that are open to all of us in the hood. This issue just blatingly points out that we cannot assume they are acting on our behalf.
5. We should ask them what they are doing to secure funding of the 500 feet that will not be widened at this time. I feel that while we all know there is no funding, it is important for them to acknowledge the problem and give us their plans on what they will do to make sure that our neighborhood remains residential with little cut thru traffic when the project is completed. I think they need to lay out what they have done so far, who they have been talking to, and what each of them feels is needed to be done in light of this situation. According to Larry C. the traffic light at Meetinghouse is tied into the funding for that 500 feet too so this issue goes beyond our hood, it affects all those on Meetinghouse & Foulkways too.
I hope this helps everyone to focus on the essential issues, develop their own personal approach to the problem, and act now. I am home over the weekend and will check my email if anyone wishes to "converse" further. You can also reach me at 215-699-8472 (home).
Linda Callegari
1600 Claudia Way (corner of Claudia & Tanglewood)
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