Fish, Science, Galas, Gardening & ARTS

Tomorrow I'll be up early teaching kids the finer points of mystery writing and may not be able to post a Diary entry. But SO much is happening in Norristown this coming week, I wanted to make sure I posted it now. I may have more events by tomorrow, and if so I'll post them later that day.

Saturday from 8 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 7 am to 4 pm will be the Annual Stony Creek Trout Derby at the Norristown Farm Park and State Hospital Grounds. Enter at Gate 5 on Stanbridge St. Adults $20, Teens $10, Kids 12 and under $5. Food vendors on site. Baits, lures and tackle, fishing poles for kids. Trophies for longest fish. Proceeds go to the Montco Co-op Trout Nursery and children's programs. Call Mike Sherman at 610-751-1854 or go to www.stonycreekanglers.org. See the flyer at http://norristown.org/userfiles/file/events/1219.pdf

Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm, The Dragon Boat Club presents "What's in Your River" at Riverfront Park (Haws Avenue and the river). Join their resident biologist as he takes kids on an ecological tour of the Schuylkill River. The event will include paddling in a dragon boat and collecting samples from the water. After multiple samples have been collected, they will be analyzed under a microscope to identify what is in the Schuykill. To ensure your spot in the Dragon Boat, registration is recommended. Payment of $10.00 can be made online, all participants must have a waiver signed by a parent. Go to dragonboatclub.org for information and payment, or show up Saturday morning.

Also Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm, The Pathway School (162 Egypt Road, Jeffersonville) will host "Discovering a Career at Pathway". The event will showcase Educational and Clinical Employment Opportunities: Full-Time, Part-Time, Sub, Volunteer Opportunities. ES & Life Skill Teachers, Instructional Coordinators, Teacher Assistants/1:1s, Behavior Specialists, Clinicians, Psychologist, Therapists, Administrative Positions. The event is in the gym off the parking lot. Call 610-277-0660 for information. or go to www.pathwayschool.org or email at get.hired@pathwayschool.org

Same day from 11 am to 3 pm at Elmwood Park Zoo, come to "Party for the Planet" -a nationwide Earth Day celebration. The event will feature an Earth Expo, where local "green" vendors will be highlighting their environmentally friendly products. Visit elmwoodparkzoo.org/event/105 for a list of participating vendors. Party for the Planet provides a great opportunity to showcase environmentally-friendly products. If you have a "green" product or service that you'd like to display, contact mreale@elmwoodparkzoo.org or call 610-277-3825 x275.

Saturday night from 6:30 to 10 pm. at the ACCPA Community Art Center (506 Haws Avenue), come to their Beach Ball Spring Gala. $35 per person. (includes dinner and adult beverages). Live steel drum music by the Joe DeVito Band, 3-course meal with a "Dip Bar", Picnic Dinner, & Beachy Cookies & Candies, members only area with complimentary chair massages and Tiki Bar shooters, and a silent auction featuring original artwork, jewelry, vacation get-aways, spa days, sports packages, and more. Proceeds go to fund ACPPA's great arts programs for our kids. Go to http://www.acppa.net/#!the-beach-ball/c4vd to RSVP. Call 610-277-2270 for info.

Sunday evening at 6:30 pm, Coffee Talk (507 W. Marshall) will host Tom McGlynn of Feed The 'Burbs, our local expert on edible landscaping. Tom will lead a discussion on permaculture gardening--strategies to maximize taste, yields and nutritional value of food plants. This is recommended to gardeners of all experience levels. Contribution, $5. Call Coffee Talk for info, 610-272-4811. (I'm definitely going to this. I may even bring some basil seeds to share.)

Thursday, May 1st is the Arts Hill Reception from 5:30 to 8:30 pm at August Moon Restaurant (300 E. Main St). Light buffet, cash bar, live entertainment, raffle/silent auction. $40 per person / $75 per couple (in advance. Add $5 at door.) $500 table sponsorship (10 persons). RSVP and pay online at www.norristownartshill.org/reception or mail checks payable to "Norristown Arts Council" to 208 DeKalb Street, Norristown, PA 19401. Kindly reply by April 30. Proceeds go to fund our Annual Arts Hill Festival.

AND don't forget the Arts Hill Festival Saturday a week (May 3) from 10 am to 5 pm, on Dekalb between Lafayette and Airy. Dance, drama, poetry, film and LOTS of music this year. Food vendors, artists, crafts people. (Vendor opportunities still available). For info, email info@norristownartshill.org, or call 484-961-0884.

Antennas and the Upcoming Primary

Two short news items today, one from the past, one for the future.

CELL PHONE ANTENNAS

Remember the cellular antennas that Cingular and T-Mobile are moving off the hospital roof? The Times Herald reported that there was a Zoning Board meeting about it on April 10. Since this was a Thursday, it wasn't a normally scheduled meeting. It was never listed on the town calendar. I suppose it might have been advertized in the paper, but I'm guessing most residents never knew it took place.

The result of that meeting is that, thankfully, the 84-foot cell tower on wheels was denied. However, all the antennas will now be placed on the elevator penthouse of the parking garage. This tower is supposed to be less than 15 feet above the roof of the elevator. This is only a temporary location, approved for 9 months. Still, if Einstein and Elon are allowed to go through with their demolition of the hospital, I'm not sure where those antenna would be placed permanently. I should note that, according to the codes department, there's been no application yet for a demolition permit.

PRIMARY ELECTION

The primary election is Tuesday, May 20th. Put it on your calendar and plan to vote because this is an EXTREMELY important election. We'll be voting for candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, US congressional representative, and state legislature. Except for the latter, there's more than one choice on both the Democratic and Republican tickets. (You can view a sample ballot at http://www.smartvoter.org/ - just put in your address and zip.)

We're in District 13-the epitome of gerrymandering.

It's likely, especially in the US Congress race, that the person you vote for in the primary will end up representing us. So don't stay home, and don't simply go into the voting booth and play eeny-meeny-miny-moe. Don't rely on flyers you get from candidates or TV ads. Do your homework. Check candidates' websites and articles from reliable news sources--find out where everyone stands on the issues. I'll report whatever I can find out.

For governor, there are 2 Republicans running: Tom Corbett and Robert Guzzardi. On the Democratic ballot, you have 4 choices: Robert McCord, Katie McGinty, Allyson Schwartz, and Tom Wolf. Frankly, all I know at the moment is that Corbett has taken education funding away, as well as state funds for things like libraries, and he's given money our schools desperately need to the fracking industry. He's also refused to allow state health insurance exchanges or expanded Medicaid in the state. We have so many low income families and self-employed individuals in Norristown, many of whom don't qualify for Medicaid under the current guidelines, yet they're now required to buy health insurance. They end up paying more than they can afford in premiums. So my take is, for the good of Norristown, we need a new governor. As for where the other candidates stand, I'll let you know what I uncover.
 

Candidates for PA's 13th

Yesterday I had the chance to meet 2 of the candidates running for our congressional rep--Daylin Leach and Val Arkoosh. I asked both of them what they'd do to help Norristown if they were elected. I'm not going to tell you their answers yet. I'm going to wait and see if I can get replies from the other candidates first. On the Democratic side, Brendan Boyle and Marjorie Margolies are also on the ballot. Beverly Plosa-Bowser and Carson Dee Adcock are running as Republicans. I've heard that there have been some debates, though apparently none around here.

Perhaps one or more of our organizations would sponsor a debate at one of our theaters? It might be telling just to see who'd be willing to come to Norristown.

As I hear of candidate appearances or debates, I'll list them here on the Diary, so you can go meet these candidates and question them yourselves. The only one I know of right now is a Meet-And-Greet for Daylin Leach at a private home in Bluebell on May 4th from 3 to 4:30 pm. If you want to go, call Beverly at 610-275-7665 for directions.

Water, Water Everywhere, And it Costs Money

I spent the last few Diary entries telling you some of the green progress going on in our community. Today, for Earth Day, I thought I'd mention few changes around the house we all can make to save water, electricity, heating and cooling costs, all of which help the environment. Some can even be good for Norristown as a whole. Then I realized, as I started compiling energy-savings tips, I found I have enough to fill a week's worth of blogs. So today, I'll just stick to one subject--water--and save the rest for another time.

The average person uses 50-100 gallons of water per day. The average household of 4 (because of shared usages like cooking) consumes about 300 gallons per day. The main places water are used are kitchens and bathrooms, laundry, the garden, and sometimes the heating system. I checked my last water bill and found that my average is about 37 gallons per day.

Saving water is just a matter of trying not to let water go down the storm drain until you've used it more than once, and in the garden, using rain when you can instead of water from PA American.

Now, we probably all have heard the usual advice--don't let the tap run the whole time while you brush your teeth or if you wash dishes by hand. When you do wash, the larger the load, the more you save water and electricity.

Here's a tip I learned from an Australian friend of mine who's lived with a decade's worth of extreme drought: When you let water warm up before getting in the shower, catch that excess water in a bucket and, next time you flush the toilet, pour it in the back of your toilet when the water drains out. One person can save 40-100 gallons a month this way. Multiply that by the number of people in your house.

I have friends who took it one step further--when they put in a powder room, they installed a long trough for a sink. When you flush the toilet, the water goes on at the upper end of the trough where you can wash you hands. The dirty water then fills the toilet tank and turns off automatically. It has a manual override if you just want to wash your hands without using the bathroom, but it's an ingenious solution that saves water, and looks really cool.

For my garden in the summer, I hook up a 50 gallon rain barrel to the downspout that drains my 450 sq. ft. flat roof. A good drenching rain will fill the barrel easily. The overflow hose is connected to a sump pump hose with holes in it that runs through my side garden, under the trees, where the rain doesn't always reach the ground. I also fill about 20 gallons worth of plastic jugs from the rain barrel, in case we get a dry spell (I easily use 10 gallons or more a day on my vegetables in the middle of summer, so my backup system works for about a week).

Last year I didn't have to pay to water my garden at all, and the plants like rain water better than treated water. The rain barrel was bought from the Montgomery County Recycling Office much cheaper than I would have paid elsewhere. If you keep an eye on their website or follow them on Facebook, you can find out when they have sales. You can find downspout diverters online. Mine cost about $30. It paid for itself in one season.

Rain garden using overflow from rain barrel

You can also put in a rain garden fairly easily if you have a downspout that can be diverted to drain downhill onto a piece of unpaved ground. Dig out the area, loosen the soil and add top soil, peat moss and compost, with maybe a bit of gravel on my bottom if you need better drainage. Put in plants that like moisture, like ferns, up close to the downspout, and ones that work better in dryer conditions at the far end. The rain garden will absorb the runoff and not send it down the storm drain, and you save on watering costs. If everyone in Norristown did this, we might curtail a good bit of flooding in town.

So there are my suggestions for water conservation. Check out this link for a whole list of others.

Anyone have any other tips they want to share? 

Norristown - A Green Community?

DEP Building on Main  

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and as I said last week, you can join one of the clean-up teams around town in the morning, form your own after school or after work team in your neighborhood, or simply clean up your own property.

But, although picking up trash and tidying up is important for the image of our town, it isn't all that Earth Day is about. Merely removing litter isn't going to help the climate change problem. Today, I'm going to highlight what IS being done in Norristown to help the planet.

Two office buildings in town have LEED Green Building Certification. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design. To obtain the certification, a building design must pass strict requirements for energy and water use.

DEP's cistern

The first building is the PA Department of Environmental Protection's Southeast Regional Office, located on Main St. right across from the public square, near Swede. The department is responsible for programs that reduce air and water pollution in this region of the state, so it makes sense that their building design incorporates environmental sustainability. The structure has a gold level LEED certification. The main lobby is open to the floors above, and the plants in that area help to keep the air on the upper floors fresh, to avoid sick building syndrome. Also located in the lobby is a cistern where rainwater from the roof is collected and is then used to flush toilets. They have auxiliary solar panels on the roof.

The building has recycling bins for everything possible, but they also recycle the binders they get in from businesses submitting regulatory reports. In the main lobby, they set up a shelf where these binders are placed--anyone can go in to help themselves. The free binders are popular with teachers and home schoolers. The DEP encourages its employees to use public transportation (the back of the building is right across from the Transportation Center) and to bike into work. Their parking garage has a secure bike rack, plus shower and locker facilities for those who cycle in. You can watch a short video on the DEP building and see its amenities at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lFjhnlMvZs.

Green roof at the DEP 

You might say, of course the DEP's going to have an environmentally friendly building--that's their job. But across town is another LEED certified green office building: the headquarters of US Maintenance at Logan Square.

Remember, USM's building was originally a department store, first Sears, the Ports Of The World, then it sat empty for a long time, then we were told it was going to be a film studio in what lots of people think of as one of the greatest scams the county and borough ever fell for. We're still paying for it.

USM's Lobby

Then USM decided to move their corporate headquarters here, providing hundreds of new jobs for Norristown, and when they converted the old Sears building, they added solar blinds, skylights, high efficiency lighting and A/C systems, Energy Star appliances, bike racks and showers, preferred parking for alternative fuel vehicles, reduced water usage systems, and a green roof (yes, grass on the roof, which absorbs 50-90% excess runoff--important at Logan Square where everything else is asphalt).

USM's Green Roof 

They reused and recycled materials during construction, and have an ongoing recycling and green cleaning programs. Water usage was reduced by 32%. The whole building uses about 45% less energy than a traditional office building. You can learn more about USM's Silver LEED CI (Commercial Interiors) Certification at this link.

It's worth noting that USM reused an old store, adding some features for architectural interest to what otherwise was a rather plain, drab building. That's a much greener solution that demolishing a building and putting up new construction on the same spot. The same could be done with Montgomery Hospital, instead of the wasteful plan Einstein and Elon have proposed, not to mention the trade-down in architectural quality.

Could we do more to make Norristown the sustainability capital of Montgomery County? Of course we could. What about incentives for developers who incorporate green building technologies into their plans?

Montgomery County Community College students just installed these very cool-looking wind turbines in Pottstown. Think about it--we've got a street named Airy for a reason. All those breezes at the high points of our town could be put to good use while adding an artsy look that we really need for our Arts Hill district. The added energy could be used at Municipal Hall or to light street lamps in that neighborhood. Perhaps a project like that could be funded with a grant from the state, or maybe we could even work out a rental agreement where we light streetlights, and the energy company we rent from gets the land for the turbines rent-free, plus the excess revenue from energy sold to PECO.

The Municipality's expenditures for liquid fuel have been running about $22,000 per month. Surely we could come up with some more sustainable strategies to reduce that cost, couldn't we?

I do know that at least 2 of our council members bike to work. Olivia Brady has some good ideas about establishing bike lanes through our alleys for safety. We ought to have an Environmental Town Hall, to discuss solutions like this.

What do you think?

Eggs Again, Spring Break, and More

It's a holiday weekend, so many of you will be spending time with family and friends, but there are still plenty of activities around town the next week. Check out the calendar links in the right-hand column for the regular programs at the library and elsewhere.

Today from 10 am to noon, bring your kids to the tot lot at Elmwood Park (next to the bandshell) for an Easter Egg Hunt.  3-4 yr olds at 10 am, 5-6 yr olds at 10:30 am, 7-9 yr olds at 11 am. Meet at tot lot 10 minutes before the starting time. All children will hunt for eggs in the playground and be supervised by the Recreation staff. No parents will be allowed in the tot lot during the hunt. Every child who finds at least one egg will win a prize, whomever finds a gold egg wins a special prize. For more details call 610-270-0467.

Spring Break Youth Party! Saturday, April 19th from 8-11 pm at the George Washington Carver Community Center (249 E. Jacoby St) $5 admission fee OR $3 fee with a student ID.

Saturday from 8 to 11 pm at Jus' Java (Dekalb and Brown). "Java After Dark" presents "Conversations With Alex." Topics of discussion to include: Can you handle what you Attract? Do you know who's right for YOU? BYOB. Food menu available. Mature audience only (ages 25+). $5.

On Monday from noon to 2 pm, Historical Society of Montgomery County presents the 2nd of a 4-part series on "WORLD WAR I: The Great War" which will examine the outbreak, conduct and aftermath of the first total war of the modern age. $40 per person. For information or to reserve a seat contact The Historical Society @ 610-272-0297 or contact@hsmcpa.org.

Tuesday at 8:30 am, the Norristown Business Association will hold their monthly meeting at Casa Bonita (801 Dekalb). This month's guest speaker is Lawrence Schade, Business Specialist and Brokerage Associate with Wells Fargo Bank. If you have a business in Norristown, you should join this growing organization. For info, contact Eddie Turner at 610-275-3727 or info@norristownba.org.

Tuesday is Earth Day. Join the clean up teams around town--9 am to noon, meet at the bandshell in Elmwood Park, or from 10 am to 1 pm, meet on the 2nd floor of the Montco OIC (Arch and Basin).

Tuesday night at 7 pm at Municipal Hall is the Zoning Board Hearing. See the agenda here.

Next Friday at 7 pm, Greater Norristown PAL (340 Harding Blvd) will host a Zumba Fundraiser. Get in shape and support the youth! Come on out with your family, have fun and get fit! For tickets and information contact either Cynthia at 610-633-7076 or Erica at 610-226-7977.

Also next Friday, Norristown Ladies Flag Football is having a Pre Season Football Party at 8 pm at the George Washington Carver Community Center. All are welcome! It is FREE for ALL coaches and team members, but $10 for everyone else.

Happy Easter and Passover.

Earth Day - Spring Cleaning Time

We're only 5 days away from Earth Day on April 22nd. I wanted to give you a heads-up about what's going on in town that day so you can plan to volunteer. But you know me--I have to start with a little history first.

The first Earth Day took place in 1970. It was a Wednesday, so most of the events took place the following Saturday, the 25th. In Norristown that day, students from Norristown High and Rittenhouse started in the morning at the mouth of Stony Creek and worked their way upstream, dragging debris out of the creek and cleaning the banks. At the same time, boy scout troops started cleaning the creek at Elmwood Park Zoo and worked their way downstream. The idea was that the groups would meet up in the early afternoon, but planners underestimated how big a job it would be. By 4 pm, the groups were still over a block apart--the scouts at Elm and Markley, the students just past the bridge over Markley between Marshall and Airy. I was with the students and I remember we kept a count of what we took out of the creek--24 shopping carts, over 50 tires, enough auto parts for 12 cars, and a refrigerator, not to mention bags and bags of litter, soda cans, etc. (I seem to recall the soda cans count being around 125.) We finally quit because we ran out of bags. Half the crew got poison ivy. Most of us got wet at least up to the waist. But the creek had never looked so good.

Since then, we've had only sporadic Earth Day clean-ups in town. Less than we should have. It should have been an annual event.

Time to remedy that. Next Tuesday, a group of Norristown Municipal employees will be hosting a clean up event, starting at the Elmwood Park bandshell on Harding Boulevard at 9 am, rain or shine. Staff members from each department will be at the park picking up litter, clearing flowerbeds and painting the band shell. Volunteers are welcome to join in. Norris Sales will be donating gloves for the event.

Also next Tuesday from 10 am to 1 pm, The Norristown Project and Montco OIC are hosting a cleanup on Arch Street. They're looking for volunteers to assist with cleaning up the neighborhood to help beautify the community. Volunteers are asked to meet at the OIC building at 1101 Arch Street on the 2nd floor to sign in. The group will then head out, working their way out from the OIC, picking up trash and debris. If you're interested in helping out, contact email NorristownProject@gmail.com.

But, like that first Earth Day in 1970, it's a weekday. People have jobs, kids have school. This doesn't mean you're off the hook. If everyone cleaned up just the front of their own property next Tuesday after work or school, Norristown's neighborhoods could look terrific for the start of spring. I'm doing my own house. If you're a business, clean up your storefronts and sidewalks. Get together with neighbors to do your whole block. Do you have a park near you? Or a public space that needs attention? Get some friends together and clean it. Busy on Tuesday? Do it on Wednesday or on the weekend. Students, don't wait for adults to tell you what to do. Show the community you can be leaders.

If you'd like host a bigger clean up event, it's not too late. Contact gprete@norristown.org for more details.

The Need For More and Better Journalism

When I wake up wondering what to blog about, I go to a few places for ideas. One is my Facebook "Norristown" pages--that is, the pages for our Municipality, the Business Association, the CTC and Violence Prevention Initiative, the Preservation Society, Men of Excellence, Dragon Boat Club, The Norristown Project, Norristown Nudge, the Norristown Library, our theatres, plus those for local restaurants and coffee shops. Today there were a few notices for upcoming events, but nothing that inspired a Diary entry.

Two other places that have been decent sources in the past: the websites for The Times Herald and Norristown Patch.

The problem with Patch is, all of the Patch outlets in this part of Pennsylvania (and maybe all over the nation) fired their local reporters at the beginning of the year. Despite the sub-heading of "Local News" on their website, and their name "NORRISTOWN Patch," you won't find one bit of Norristown news. The lead "local" story today is from Point Pleasant, New Jersey. On Facebook, the Norristown Patch feed is now all "trending" stories--meaning stories picked solely by Internet popularity. They're from all over the US, few are from reliable news outlets, and the content is what you'll find in your basic supermarket checkout line tabloid. Less than a year ago, Norristown Patch was a great source for news of what was happening NOW in Norristown, from police reports to fires to gunshots heard, and also a good source for event news. Now, nothing. So I've scratched Patch off my list of sources and UNLIKED them on Facebook.

Today in the Times Herald, the only genuine Norristown news article was Carl Rotenburg's recap of last night's council meeting.  He mostly concentrated on the new Fraternal Order of Police contract, but also added a summary of the new zoning ordinance at the bottom (though, if you were specifically looking for the zoning info, you probably didn't find it, because the article's headline only mentioned the contract).

Other than that article, though, other local news came from surrounding communities. Clicking on "Sports-High School" or "Obituaries" now takes you to other websites.

When I was growing up, the Times Herald showed up on our porch every evening--a good-sized newspaper stuffed with mostly Norristown news--not just crime and borough council news, but items on what was happening in the school district, what our churches, scout troops and civic organizations were doing (though, they did tend to ignore the doings of minority groups).

While working on my 4th book, I went to the Historical Society to research what Norristown was like in the 1930s, I flipped through microfilms of even bigger newspapers--2 editions a day, with comprehensive national, state and local news. Before that, Norristown had 2 papers--The Times and The Herald--which eventually merged. The photo at left is of a 1942 Times Herald, still proudly boasting the name of our town in its masthead. Compare how much news is on the front page to the photo above.

I can't blame the Times Herald for paring down their content--the Internet is putting most newspapers out of business, so I'm grateful we still have a local newspaper, and that they still cover things like council meetings, and haven't gone the way of Patch where we have no local reporters at all.

Yet, in every free society, journalism is incredibly important. We need unbiased observers who'll seek out the most reliable sources for news, and not get their information from blogs and social media as so many news outlets are doing these days. We need to be kept informed if our community is going to improve and grow.

I don't know the answer for Norristown--maybe a citizens' news website? Student or volunteer reporters? What ideas does anyone else have?