Broken Poles, Fallen Lines Block Montgomery Avenue in Narberth

All lanes were cut off.

Massive utility poles dislodged and power lines fell on Montgomery Avenue near Woodbine Avenue early Tuesday, cutting off all lanes of traffic indefinitely. The closure of the Villanova-to-Bala Cynwyd local artery was perhaps the most prominent of dozens of road blockages throughout Lower Merion and Narberth as a result of Hurricane Sandy. It was not immediately known when repairs would be made. Check back with Patch for updates once authorities establish a timeline.

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Curves Members Take Over Penn Valley Gym

The new owners are pushing hard for new members after an abrupt transition.

Among new gym owners, "We really have no interest in owning a gym" is not typically a promotional strategy. Susan Bartow and Bobbie Epstein, however, are not typical new gym owners. The members at Curves in Penn Valley know that as well as anyone, because until quite recently, Bartow and Epstein were just members, too. When the previous owner departed in July, along with the equipment and the contact information for more than 200 members, the pair despaired. Bartow, an attorney, and Epstein, a retired teacher, had both been Curves members for years and hated the prospect of seeing a little community dissolve. "The reason we didn't want to close was, so many people felt passionately that this is where they wanted to be," Epstein said. They …

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Arlen Specter Celebrated at Funeral by Friends, Family and the Famous

Vice President Joe Biden was among those to speak about the 82-year-old former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania who died Sunday.

Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) was remembered by loved ones Tuesday as a man of independence, virtue and influence, with well over 1,000 people, including Vice President Joe Biden, filling a suburban Philadelphia synagogue for his funeral. Har Zion Temple in Lower Merion Township's Penn Valley held the 90-minute ceremony before Specter, who died Sunday at 82 in his Philadelphia home, was to be buried in Huntington Valley. Pallbearers wheeled his American flag-draped casket out of the temple as Frank Sinatra's "My Way" played. Before the funeral, the Specter family greeted a steady stream of mourners that began pouring in more than two hours early. Many of those who waited were heard talking politics, as might be expected at the …

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LMSD Paying $2.5M for Land in Penn Valley, Board Announces

Next month, officials will discuss possible plans for developing the church property to accommodate growing Welsh Valley Middle School, the superintendent said.

Lower Merion School District has agreed to spend $2.5 million on a closed Catholic church property next to Welsh Valley Middle School in Penn Valley, school officials said at Monday's Board of School Directors meeting. The board had last month authorized Superintendent Chris McGinley to close a deal on the 7.2-acre St. Justin Martyr Church property at 1200 Hagys Ford Road. However, with the deal not complete, no price was disclosed then. The property was most recently assessed for tax purposes in 1997, at a value of $2,062,750, according to county records. School district solicitor Kenneth Roos said closing was set for Sept. 5, but St. John Vianney Church in Gladwyne, which merged with St. Justin in 2009, will likely not have to vacate …

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Welsh Valley Expansion: LMSD Buying Vacant Church Property

Growing enrollment at Welsh Valley Middle School prompted Lower Merion School District to plan for more classrooms on 7 acres next door.

Lower Merion School District is negotiating to buy a closed Catholic church property next to Welsh Valley Middle School, expecting to need more classrooms in the near future as enrollment grows. The Board of School Directors voted at Monday night's meeting to authorize Superintendent Chris McGinley to execute a deal for the St. Justin Martyr Church building at 1200 Hagys Ford Road in Penn Valley. A price was not announced. The district is still negotiating details with the property's owner, St. John Vianney Church of Gladwyne. St. John Vianney and St. Justin Martyr merged in 2009. Though St. Justin Martyr's 7.2-acre property has been tax-exempt as a religious institution since the church was built in 1968, it has occasionally been assessed…

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News Next Door

Annie Sez in Penn Valley Closing at End of February

The Penn Valley store is discounting merchandise 40 to 60 percent.

The women's clothing store Annie Sez, on Montgomery Avenue in Penn Valley (across from Narberth) is closing within weeks, most likely at the end of February, store manager Marge Pinketti told Patch. The entire chain is reportedly in financial trouble, according to BusinessWeek.com. Read the full story here in the Narberth-Bala Cynwyd Patch. 

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Sewer Connection to Park Postponed

Four contractors' bids all came in over Lower Merion's budget for the project.

Switching Flat Rock Park from septic tank to sewer service will have to wait. In December, bids for the project all came in above Lower Merion Township's budget, something that has happened generally less often in municipal construction bidding since the recession began. AJB Mechanical Inc. offered to connect the riverfront park's restroom building to River Road's sewer line and install a grinder pump station for $37,498, and three other contractors bid more than $60,000. The project's budget is $24,000, parks director Lindsay Taylor said. She has asked the Board of Commissioners to reject the bids at Wednesday's finance committee meeting. "In speaking with the bidders, we learned that there were some ways we can revise the specifications …

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Christmas Tree Collection, Mulching Set for Lower Merion and Narberth

Trees will be ground up at the public works complex in Penn Valley.

Discarded Christmas trees will be picked up this week and next in Lower Merion and all next week in Narberth, and all will be ground into mulch at the township public works complex in Penn Valley, officials said. In Lower Merion, the trees will be picked up on residents' normal trash collection days. This week, collection is taking place on an adjusted holiday schedule because of Monday's New Year's observance. Next week will be a normal schedule again. In Narberth, the trees will be picked up curbside Jan. 9 through Jan. 13. Trees can also be dropped off at the public works complex, at 1300 N. Woodbine Ave. in Penn Valley. All collected trees will be fed into a chipper, so residents must remove all decorations before leaving the trees out…

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Police: Two Knife-Point Robberies in Three Days

The first robbery took place on Dec. 8 in Merion, the other on Dec. 10 in Penn Valley. Neither victim was injured.

Twice in three days last week local men were robbed at knifepoint, or by an assailant threatening to possess a knife, Lower Merion Police Capt. William Boegly told Patch. Boegly added that the pair of crimes were unusual, considering that the township typically has around five such incidents in a given year. Boegly said the first robbery took place on Dec. 8 at 7:20 p.m., when a pedestrian on Montgomery Avenue, near Bowman Avenue in Merion, was confronted by a black male in his early 20s wielding a steak knife. The victim handed over his wallet and cell phone and the suspect fled. Subsequent investigation showed the victim's phone was in the area of 63rd Street and Lebanon Avenue in Philadelphia—some 3.5 miles away from the crime scene—but…

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Police Say Harriton Webcam Victim Drove Unregistered Vehicle

Blake Robbins faces two citations from Lower Merion police.

The Penn Valley teenager who got a $175,000 settlement after complaining his Harriton High School-issued laptop computer's camera spied on him has been cited for driving an unregistered vehicle and displaying a license plate on the wrong vehicle, court records show. Blake Robbins, 17, was pulled over Nov. 26 at an unspecified location in Lower Merion, and the citations were filed Nov. 30 with Magisterial District Judge Kathleen Valentine in Ardmore, the records show. No further court dates have been scheduled in the case. Robbins' complaint drew worldwide attention to the Lower Merion School District, which had been using a laptop theft-tracking feature that took intermittent automatic photographs. In October 2010, eight months after the …

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