Tobacco-Free Zones Established in Lansdale Parks

Tobacco use is now banned from pools, parks, athletic fields, ballfields, tennis and basketball courts — and everywhere else children play on borough-owned properties

Smokers and chewing tobacco addicts — it's now illegal to feed your addiction anywhere that children play in Lansdale Borough. If you do, you will be ejected from the area. With a unanimous vote last week, Lansdale Borough Council snuffed out tobacco use with a tobacco ban at pools, athletic fields, ballfields, tennis courts, basketball courts — and everywhere else that children play on borough-owned properties. Signs will soon be posted designating such places as tobacco-free zones under Penn State Cooperative Extension and Pennsylvania Department of Health's Southeastern Pennsylvania Tobacco Control Project's "Young Lungs at Play" campaign. Violaters who do not comply with the law will be ejected from the specific play area. Repeated …

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patchifier

7:50 pm on Thursday, December 6, 2012

Aha! Yes, finally something good that can come from the Wood Vine Connector! Once that's complete, there'll be no reason for cars to be on Main between Broad and Wood - no car zone here we come! :-)   more ›

Lansdale Cleaning Up After Hurricane Sandy

Lansdale Borough Manager Timi Kirchner assesses the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy — and what staff is doing to beautify Lansdale Borough in its aftermath

Lansdale Borough Manager Timi Kirchner estimated it could take up to two weeks to clean up all the branches and debris in its various parks. She said parks staff and director Carl Saldutti have inspected all parks and assessed damage. "There are a number of trees either snapped off or uprooted in various park locations within the park system," she said in a statement to Montgomeryville-Lansdale Patch. "To date, the footpaths and parking lots have been cleared of down trees and fallen limbs." Lansdale Parks and Recreation focused its clean up on those paths used by schoolchildren. It has also targeted Railroad Plaza for quick cleanup in anticipation of First Friday Nov. 2. On Thursday, public works and parks staff cut trees into manageable …

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Lansdale Tobacco Ban Recommendation Moves Forward

Lansdale Parks and Recreation Committee recommended a tobacco ban for those areas in the borough where children play on a daily basis

If Lansdale Borough Council next week approves a recommendation from the parks and recreation committee last Wednesday, tobacco use will be banned from pools, parks, athletic fields, ballfields, tennis and basketball courts — and everywhere else children play on borough-owned properties. If approved by council, signs would be posted to designate such places as tobacco-free zones. Violaters who do not comply with the law will be ejected from the specific play area. Repeated violations will result in a fine from Lansdale Borough Police. Borough Manager Timi Kirchner said the tobacco ban would be an awareness and education program to prevent tobacco use where young lungs are at play. Signs would be provided free of charge by the state under …

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Smoking Ban to Help 'Young Lungs At Play'

Borough Manager Timi Kirchner suggested the parks and recreation committee move forward in recommending a smoking ban at places where young children play in Lansdale. A boroughwide smoking ban - that's more complicated

By next month, the Lansdale Parks and Recreation Committee is expected to make a recommendation to borough council to snuff out tobacco products at playgrounds, pools, and anywhere else where young children congregate for activities. A boroughwide smoking ban - one proffered last month by council Vice President Paul Clemente - is much more complicated and will take more time. What the borough wants to avoid is the bad that can come in doing good — the backlash from smokers who have a legal right to use tobacco products. Or, as borough Manager Timi Kirchner put it Wednesday night to the parks and recreation and administration and finance committees, unintended consequences. "You intend to do good and it creates a lot of other problems," …

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Five Things to Know Today: August 21

The Montgomery County Health Department will spray Windlestrae Park and Eureka Wastewater Treatment Plant in Montgomery Township to control the adult mosquito population from 8:15 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., weather permitting

1. The Montgomery County Health Department will spray Windlestrae Park and Eureka Wastewater Treatment Plant in Montgomery Township to control the adult mosquito population from 8:15 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., weather permitting. 2. Play Mexican Train Dominoes today at 1 p.m. at Lansdale Library. 3. Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots meet at 6:30 p.m. at Lansdale Library. 4. Brian Kuhns, agent with New York Life, presents “The ABCs of Life Insurance” tonight at 7 at Milestones in Music, 229 S. Broad St., Lansdale at no charge. This is sponsored by the PennSuburban Chamber. 5. Scrip sales – gift certificates from local retailers that are bought by the Archdiocese and purchased and redeemed at full face value by families and students – begin today at …

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Borough Closer to Banning Smoking in Parks

The borough parks and recreation committee took steps toward looking into the legality of banning smoking in Lansdale parks

Months ago, the borough parks and recreation committee discussed the possibility of banning smoking in Lansdale parks. The initiative was discussed again at the committee meeting this month, after parks and recreation director Carl Saldutti reported a higher volume of teenagers hanging out in and smoking in the playground areas of various parks. "Families in the neighborhood are reluctant to walk there with their children and use the equipment," Saldutti said.  He said that is all more reason to move forward with enforcing a non-smoking clause in borough playgrounds. The behaviors need to be addressed, he said. Saldutti added that Lansdale Police Chief Robert McDyre will look at considering a change to the borough park curfew as well. Read…

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MontCo Government Makeover Continues

Parks, roads departments being consolidated; county's legal department being rebuilt

Last fall, residents thronged a hearing held by the previous Montgomery County administration after a preliminary version of the 2012 operating budget proposed the elimination of the county's parks department, among other drastic funding cuts. That Board of Commissioners eventually passed a budget that hiked property taxes by 17.5 percent and kept the Parks and Heritage Services department intact. Thursday morning, Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro announced that the department had been eliminated, after all. Parks and Heritage will soon cease to exist. The same goes for the Public Property department and the department of Roads and Bridges. In their place will be a single, new department: Infrastructure and Public Assets. "The …

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Lansdale May Ban Smoking in Playgrounds

The parks and recreation department is looking into the air safety and quality of playgrounds in the borough

The borough parks and recreation department is investigating the ban of smoking in playground areas in Lansdale parks. The ban could be a controversial one: the borough doesn't want to ban smoking in the parks, just in areas considered playgrounds. "Quite a few departments restrict smoking," said parks and recreation director Carl Saldutti at the committee meeting this month. "There's a little bit of concern by playground users." In August 2008, Hatfield Township Commissioners enacted a law banning smoking at all township parks. “(The change) addresses residents’ concerns for a clean and healthy environment in our park system,” states the township website. North Wales Borough has no ordinance relating to smoking on its records. Towamencin …

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Phil Konigsberg

12:31 am on Sunday, April 22, 2012

The most logical option to consider is adopting a smokefree policy for all parks including all athletic fields. There are currently 602 municipalities in the USA with a smokefree parks policy including 29 in the state of Pennsylvania. Aside from the obvious health and safety features of a smokefree policy, the less obvious but important to the park environment is the reduction in littering of the…   more ›

Get Up and Get Moving

Spend the Day at Windlestrae

Montgomery Township's largest park, named in honor of late resident Bill Maule, has three sections offering something for everyone.

Bluebird skies, brilliant sunshine, cool breezes and mild temperatures ruled this past week. We hope that you have been able to get out there and visit some of the parks and open space that Patch has been highlighting every Friday, and that you have been able to take advantage of all their facilities and options for outdoor fun and exercise. Montgomery Township certainly has its share of stellar parks, and going to the top of the class is the William F. Maule Park at Windlestrae. This park, which consists of three sections, was recently renamed to honor Bill Maule and all of his achievements within the township. Maule passed away in 2010 and was a longtime township resident. He was instrumental in starting many of the parks within the …

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Get Up and Get Moving

Nature in Your Backyard

Montgomery Township offers two natural areas that connect with nearby Wissahickon and Hidden Valley parks

This week we are going to spend some time in Montgomery Township exploring two extensive natural areas that connect to each other and offer plenty of walking trails and wooded areas.  We will then end up, literally, across the street in Lansdale at Wissahickon Park. Off of Lansdale Avenue on Pecan Drive is located a small parking lot that leads to the first area of dedicated open space.  An open, grassy field leads to a foot bridge that crosses the headwaters of the Wissahickon Creek — which eventually flows into Fairmont Park in Philadelphia and beyond.    Meandering trails twist and turn throughout the wooded area, some in close proximity to the creek.   If you are lucky, many forms of wildlife can be viewed— including white tailed deer…

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