I went to my first exercise class at the CREC (Haverford Township Community Recreation and Environmental Center) Monday and what a gorgeous place it is!  I hope everyone in the township will come and see this beautiful facility and sign up for some classes or use the indoor walking track. The staff is wonderful and helpful, and the facility has everything we need to keep fit and healthy. How fortunate we residents are to have this beautiful place. The playground and dog park and playing fields are nearby and are also fantastic. Then I stopped off at the Township Library to return a book. I …

Dear Haverford Commissioners, My name is Steve DiSipio and I am a resident of the first ward.  As you know, I have been an outspoken voice fighting against the approval of the proposed sewage tank by RHM Sewer authority in our township.  After over three years of testimony we have established some facts.  We know that the problem with sanitary sewer overflows (SSO's) is not isolated to the Haverford, Marple and Radnor section of the system.  It is a fact that when we have a severe weather event and the sewer flows begin to back up and spill out of the system it first begins in Darby Township …

The ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) Association Greater Philadelphia Chapter shares its praise of Kelly Slipakoff and her selfless work for the association with the Haverford-Havertown Patch. Perhaps it is Kelly Slipakoff’s humbleness that makes her shine so brightly.  When you ask her what her favorite part of The ALS Association is, she will tell you that everybody, from the patients to the staff to the volunteers, inspire her every day.  The truth is, she is the very often the one who inspires them. When Kelly became involved with the ALS Association 11 years ago, she had no personal …

Haverford Township Residents joined together to protect their community from invasive billboards at the 26th and last Zoning Board hearing regarding billboards, Thursday evening February 2, 2012. The Haverford Township solicitor Jim Byrne and Bill Kerr the solicitor for Lower Merion Township gave excellent closing arguments. Four residents with “party status” prepared closing arguments for the for the Zoning Board. United they stood together at the podium as their joint statement was read by Sandi Donato on behalf of herself, Margaret Murr, Michelle Collier and Mark Capriottii. If you are …

Representative Vitali has done a wonderful job of controlling the narrative on the issue of redistricting. While Rep. Vitali would like his constituents to believe his motives are altruistic, several factors call his current position in to question, and illustrate a singular focus on retaining his seat in the General Assembly. Representative Vitali argues that the plan set forth by the Legislative Reapportionment Commission which moves Haverford Township's 1st and 9th wards in to the 163rd legislative district violates Article 2 Section 16 of the Pennsylvania Constitution which states in part…

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has repeatedly been asked over the past 20 years to provide a complete tabulation of chemicals and petroleum carriers received at National Wood Preservers site as well as a tabulation of all wood treated, including quantities, from whom received, as well as the custom specifications to which the wood was treated. These requests, in turn, have always fallen on deaf ears. Additionally, the supporting documents that report the Hazard Ranking Score (HRS) —the basis for including the site on the National Priority List (NPL) in the first place—the Superfund…

Haverford Township condemned the Swell Chewing Gum property by paying $1.26 Million.  A real estate valuation of the property by the county considered the property was worth $4 to $5 million more which has caused Haverford to appeal that amount for less . . . with less than a certain outcome.  Associated legal costs in connection with acquisition of the gum factory property raised the amount paid by Haverford in legal fees to over $300,000 divided among the solicitor’s firm, McNicol, Byrne & Matiawski (slightly under $100,000 at $150/hr),  and a retained firm, Drinker, Biddle & Reath (in …

From 1947 - 1991 National Wood Preservers (NWP) operated a wood preservation facility at a site east of the gum factory site that Haverford acquired by condemnation through Eminent Domain. About nine (9) different chemical compounds were mixed with diesel oil and impregnated into wood in a pressurized charge vessel. The preservatives themselves, as well as diesel oil, spread onto the soil and settled into the ground water beneath the site then flowing generally east with groundwater toward West Chester Pike in the valley of Naylor’s Run beneath about 77 houses in the vicinity of Rittenhouse …

Dear Editor:     I am a parent to one of the amazing girls on the Haverford Girls Basketball Team (Lady Fords ). I would like to invite the Havertown/Haverford Community as a whole to come out on Friday Night to help cheer these girls on to a victory against Downingtown West as they play in their first playoff appearance in, from my understanding, six years. This team has worked so hard to make it to this level coming off a 3-13 season last year. The girls have had some amazing victories this season and almost beat #1 Lower Merion in their final regular season outing. The game is scheduled …

Dear Editor: The Delaware County SPCA’s decision to stop accepting stray animals from county municipalities that don’t have shelters of their own puts animals in serious danger (“SPCA To Stop Taking Strays,” 2/13). As Delaware County Councilman Mario Civera Jr. points out, the animals who are refused by the Delaware County SPCA will still die. But instead of a painless release through euthanasia, they will face slow, painful deaths on the streets, where they starve and scrounge for food and warmth; are hit by cars and eaten alive by parasites; and reproduce, creating even more stray animals …

“Ethical standards, including provisions regulating conflict-of-interest, would be mandated. Such standards of conduct are necessary and proper for a government dedicated to integrity and efficiency — as any government should be,” according to the Home Rule Charter dated April 27, 1976. Voting for an ordinance when an elected official states they have a relative who is homosexual or otherwise is a conflict of interest since they fail to represent the majority opinion of their constituents. There is a possibility that two or more members of the board of commissioners have relatives who are …