Hatboro Mayor Meets With Seniors

Residents of Moreland Towers Apartments had the opportunity to meet with Hatboro mayor Norm Hawkes (D) last Thursday from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. in the building's community room. Managed by Interstate Realty, the 138-unit complex for seniors and the disabled is located on East Moreland Avenue between North York Road and North Penn Street. Hawkes, who is in his second term, fielded questions from the approximately 30 attendees.
During a brief introduction, the mayor shared a few personal details, and in a civil tone, pointed out what he said were two erroneous statements made by his political opponent, Bill Godshall (D), who is running against Hawkes in the May 21 primary.
"The first [erroneous statement] is that the borough has no evacuation plan for Moreland Towers," Hawkes said. "We have a very good evacuation plan for this building. The second is that the mayor is in charge of emergency management for the borough. Fred Zollers is in charge of emergency management."
Topics broached by tenants included noise, traffic and general issues concerning safety. In response to complaints about motorists speeding, Hawkes urged people to ask their legislators to support the use of radar by local police.
"Pennsylvania is the only state that doesn't allow local police to use radar to enforce speed limits," Hawkes explained. Hawkes added that officers were also required to allow a 10-mile per hour speed buffer.
"If a car is going 34 in a 25 mph zone, police can't ticket them," Hawkes said.
Hawkes added that the borough was planning on obtaining several electronic speed monitoring displays, but admitted that these devices could not be used for enforcement, only for making drivers aware of how fast they are traveling.
A complaint regarding the excessive noise from Septa train whistles found widespread consensus.
"Those trains have woken me out of a sound sleep at two in the morning," one woman said. "Why do they have to lay on the horn for 30 seconds?"
Hawkes said that the borough had addressed the noise with Septa, and would continue to do so.

© May 10, 2013 by Allan M. Heller