As a result of a little brainstorming, an idea to honor Mayor Mike DiNunzio's legacy in Lansdale has surfaced: an old town clock located in the grassy area across from the Kugel Ball. Attached is a very preliminary (it could be moved closer to Main Street, closer to the train tracks, etc) rendering of how the clock might look. Some additional landscaping, a few benches and maybe a streetlight or two would add a bit more ambiance to this rendition or hopefully, a realized version. There are a number of reasons why this could be a worthwhile project:
- Mayor Mike was quite a collector and restorer of clocks.
- This area is one of the gateways to the downtown and it could certainly be updated.
- This area has been the site of the area's service organizations: the Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis and the Lansdale Business Association. Mayor Mike was an active member of Rotary and a lifelong Lansdale businessman and a good friend of the Lions and Kiwanis.
- A clock is a nice welcome to those coming to Lansdale. What a way to welcome a visitor by saying, "Meet me at the clock!"
The thrust of this project should come from the community and therefore, a public campaign should support this effort. The pricetag of the clock is roughly $25,000. The funds would be raised through donations for personalized bricks for the base and larger donations would be memorialized in raised bronze lettering on the clock itself. Given Mayor Mike's longevity and the number of lives he touched, I think this goal is realistic (with the past success of Founders' Day and Lansdale's Craft Beer Festival, I don't think fundraising will be a problem). In addition to cleaning up an area of Lansdale that needs a facelift and honoring a longtime public servant to the Borough, I believe that this project would unite the business community (the LBA has struggled with this site for years) as well as the community at large. I invite your comments and also invite you to check out other clocks in the area: Phoenixville, Sellersville, Perkasie, Souderton, Doylestown, New Hope, Quakertown, Harleysville, Audubon, NJ, Stone Harbor, NJ and Milltown, NJ to name a few. Check out this site for more examples of clocks in our area: http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeqo3ms/verdin-nj-pa1/id1.html. I look forward to your input.
