Edmund Jones to Be Celebrated Saturday

At Monday’s Swarthmore Borough Council meeting, Mayor Marty Spiegel read a proclamation declaring Saturday, November 9, 2019 as Ed Jones Day in Swarthmore. He presented the proclamation to Donna Kay Jones, Ed’s widow (left), who was in attendance along with six former mayors of the borough and members of the Centennial Foundation, which Ed co-founded. There will be a memorial service on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Swarthmore Friends Meetinghouse for Ed, who served Swarthmore as mayor and in many other leadership posts in the borough, county, and state.

Saturday is Edmund Jones Day, per a proclamation read Monday night at Swarthmore Borough Council’s work session. The proclamation recognizes and honors Mr. Jones, who died recently at 101 years of age, and according to Council President David Creagan, “had done just about everything around here except sit on borough council.” Mayor Marty Spiegel, who presented the proclamation, said, “He was a visionary who got things done, and most important, he was a friend to many of us in Swarthmore and beyond.” Donna Kay Jones, Ed’s widow, said, “So many good things happened in his life, and in almost every instance, that was the result of his friends, who just meant so much to him,”

Saturday, November 9, will also be the date of a memorial service for Ed at the Swarthmore Friends Meetinghouse. All are invited to share memories of this model public servant.

Council’s planning and zoning committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 14, to discuss short term rentals in borough properties. Chair Betsy Larsen invites all interested citizens to attend the meeting at borough hall.

Councilmember and Cornell Avenue resident Sarah Graden commented accident data she received from police chief Raymond Stufflet — accident data pertaining to incidents at Yale and Cornell avenues, which is regarded as one of the most dangerous intersections in Swarthmore, in terms both of the number of and severity of the incidents. Public safety chair Mary Walk said the topic of conditions at the intersection and possible remedies would be put on the agenda for the next public safety committee meeting on November 19.

Plug in at Central Park

Michael Raffaele plugs in his Chevy Bolt at Swarthmore’s new electric vehicle (EV) charging station in Central Park, adjacent to Borough Hall. Photo by Kathleen Raffaele.

Borough manager Jane Billings reported that installation is complete of a new electronic vehicle (EV) charger in the municipal parking lot at Central Park, thanks to the lightning-quick and expert work of Swarthmore electrician Dave Augustine. The vehicle charger is available to all EV users, who pay normal parking fees at the dedicated spot, plus $1 per hour of charging time through an account they establish with the nationwide ChargePoint network (which ultimately remits a small proportion of these fees to the borough). Billings points out that overnight parking in the dedicated spot would not be allowed, even for electric vehicles.

Billings also noted that the borough’s other shiny new acquisition, a $200,000 leaf pick-up truck, will be almost entirely paid for through a grant from Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.