Category: Springfield

Fed Street Sign Mandate To Affect Springfield

Springfield (Delaware County, Pa) Township Manager Michael LeFevre describes the new federal street sign mandate as “a doozy”

The Federal Highway Administration, last year, mandated that  street name signs throughout the nation be upper/lower case. The white letter on black background signs in Springfield are in all capital letters.

The township has until 2018 to replace them.

“The cost to buy a sign face is $50,” he said. “We install them with our own staff. If you look around town there are quite a few street signs.”

The feds feel that older people can read upper and lower case easier.

LeFevre says the township is still awaiting some final directions from the feds.

“We have no plans on beginning major changes at this time,” he said.

If the over-burdened Springfield taxpayer wants to try and find a bright sign to this bit of Washington whimsy he can consider that the mandate is expected to cost New York City $27 million.

Inherent Decency Of The Tea Partyers

About a dozen persons filled the upstairs room, Tuesday night, at Old Original Nick’s Roast Beef in Springfield for the meeting of the Delaware County Patriots.

The Patriots are the Tea Party group for the suburban Philadelphia county.

There were singles and couples, and ages ranged from 23 to seasoned citizens. The meeting was for mostly getting acquainted.  Attendees were asked their reasons for getting involved. Almost all said it was a  desire to find like-minded people and to save the country.

About two-thirds of the way through, after the beer and other drinks and delicious sandwiches, one fellow suggested a prayer be said, which is a rather unusual time to have a meeting prayer.  He didn’t want to say it, though, so the fellow sitting across from him volunteered.

And what he prayed was for the Lord to watch our nation and our leaders — and he pointedly noted all our leaders to no objections — and he asked for it in Jesus’ name.

So much for the claims of hate.

The Delco Patriots have a website and a Facebook page. The group’s larger meetings have been held at Kings Mills banquet hall in Aston.

Nick’s has locations in Springfield and Philadelphia. Rush Limbaugh has been known to enjoy a meal there.

Inherent Decency Of The Tea Partyers

Inherent Decency Of The Tea Partyers

Springfield Giant Opens

The Giant Supermarket had its grand opening today in the Springfield Shopping Center in Springfield, Pa. There were lots of samples and friendly staff and some nice deals.

The store is at the site of what once was E. J. Korvette with its legendary record department which closed circa 1978 and whose building was then used by a series of hard-to-remember discount stores. The building was demolished to make way for the much larger Giant and since non-union labor was used in construction, pickets often with a large inflatable rat and always overseen by county deputy sheriffs, graced the Woodland Avenue construction entrance for the last year or so.

Anyway, the store opened and I applied for a courtesy card and they simply scanned in the code from the back of my drivers license without me having to fill out any forms.

It was neat and rather amazing but I suspect it would be unconstitutional in Arizona.

Channel 6 Where Are You?

Channel 6 Where Are You? — Those using an antenna for television might be wondering whatever happened to WPVI-Channel 6 when broadcasting went digital on June 11, 2009.

WPVI is owned by ABC.

Channel 6 is Philadelphia’s second-oldest station behind the CBS-owned KYW- Channel 3 and has been broadcasting since 1947. The low VHF channels were once the prime real estate for broadcasting.  These frequencies, however, require large antennae or antennae with amplifiers  for good reception and are susceptible to interference from  sources such as FM radio stations.

And the strong FM signals being sent by the   WXPN 88.5,  WRTI 90.1 and WHYY 90.9 which are co-located on a tower in Roxborough are getting in the way of the WPVI signal.

The FCC gave WPVI permission to boost its power two weeks ago from 7.5 kilowatts to 30.6 kilowatts which is the maximum allowed in the Northeast.

As of today, however, it is still not being received in central Springfield.

Channel 6 Where Are You?

Blood From Stones In Springfield

Here are two of the four homes for sale in the 100 block of West Springfield Road, Springfield, Pa. Note, that’s just in the 100 block. The tax pain suffered by the people of this state can be laid solely at the feet of government corruption;  mostly by Democrats but the Republicans are far from innocent bystanders. It’s only going to get worse and, no, the pending reform  is not going to help.Enshrine this in gold: it is every bit as decent and moral to cut  a  public employee’s pension as it is to force someone to sell their home to pay for it.
Springfield residents, btw, are now receiving their school tax bills and it’s starting to dawn on many of them that they are merely renting their homes from the government.
The good news? The thrift shop at the Church of Redeemer, which is also in that block, is now open on Tuesdays as well as Saturdays. 

Snapper Saved In Springfield

 Snapper Saved In Springfield
Snapper Saved In Springfield
Lisa from Delaware County Animal Control removes a snapping turtle from beneath a truck on Windsor Circle, Springfield, Pa. about 5:40 p.m. today, June 28, 2010.  The out-of-element reptile will be released in one of the bodies of water in the county she said. In back is Kristina Brotzman who reported the troubled animal. As noted, wildlife is thriving in this Philadelphia suburb.

Dan Desiderio Happy Birthday For Delco’s Maestro

Dan Desiderio Happy Birthday For Delco's Maestro
With premier accordionist Desiderio is premier journalist William Lawrence Sr.

Long-time Springfield, Pa. resident Daniel J. Desiderio, now of Middletown Township with a Media address, was feted for five hours this afternoon, June 26, in honor of his 80th birthday at Sam’s Restaurant & Saloon on MacDade Boulevard in Glenolden.


The event featured fine food, heartfelt testimonials and superb music.

Desiderio, one of Delaware County’s hidden jewels, is among the premier accordionists in the world. He conducts the Accordion Pops Orchestra  but is known for compositions and has performed throughout the world including Carnegie Hall and the Academy of Music.

He was the Air Force Band’s first accordionist and was a featured soloist during his military service.

He was trained by Pietro Deiro Sr. 

 Dan Desiderio Happy Birthday For Delco’s Maestro

The Lights Are Back On

Power returned to the Rolling Road/Springfield Road section of Springfield, Pa. about 12:30 p.m. today ending a 21-hour outage that was the longest for the neighborhood in memory.


A fast-moving storm with hail and hurricane-force winds hit the Philadelphia region about 3:30 yesterday afternoon toppling trees, shutting down commuter rail lines and knocking out power to 215,000 PECO customers about half of which were in Delaware County.

Springfield Murder Motive Reportedly Love Triangle

The murder that occurred Monday, June 21, between the Olde Sproul Village Shopping Center and Smedley Park in Springfield, Pa. was reportedly motivated by a wife’s threat to leave a husband for an old lover.


The victim, of Norristown, was a wounded Army calvary scout who had served long-deployments in Iraq and was reportedly the old boyfriend of the wife of the accused killer. The wife had kept up a correspondence with him and was allegedly preparing to leave her husband for him.

The woman has children from a first marriage who are reportedly close to the accused — an immigrant from Jamaica who owns a small business in Morton. Her relationship with the victim is reportedly the cause of the dissolution of the first marriage.

The crime was initially reported at 10:50 a.m. as an assault occurring in a white Jeep Cherokee at the parking lot of the shopping center. County detectives investigating a different matter happened to be on the scene and followed the Jeep down Baltimore Pike into the heavily wooded park where it stopped and the accused was captured after a short chase.

Inside the vehicle was the victim’s bloody body. The accused is claiming self defense.

Rolling Road Fox Of Springfield

Residents of the Rolling Road/Windsor Circle area of Springfield, Pa. have been seeing a red fox use the neighborhood as its hunting grounds. One woman saw it eat a squirrel about 7 a.m. then kill another to carry off.


If that’s not enough worry for the squirrels a hawk has also been hunting successfully in the area. 

The area has also become infested with chipmunks and deer have been seen in front yards. These are not large sweeping lawns, people.

Thirty-five years ago this would not have been imagined. Nature was pigeons, sparrows and the occasional skunk or raccoon. Glaring signs warned people to stay out of Darby Creek, which has now become a destination for trout fishing.

So things have gotten better in some ways.

The fox may be cute, btw, but watch your cats and small dogs.
Rolling Road Fox
Rolling Road Fox