If You Ask Me / By Martha Knight

There are old traditions, and there are new traditions.

Maybe “new traditions” sounds like an oxymoron. But just think, our existing traditions started sometime!

Traditions aren’t forever. Some have lasted a long time; some are so old we aren’t even sure when they started. But some are not so very old; we can remember when they started. And some have faded from use and nearly from memory on our watch.

All the businesses closed Wednesday afternoon, by longstanding tradition. People who worked in stores and offices had to have some time to get to the bank and the post office and doctors and dentists.

Beginning early in December, stores stayed open until 9 p.m. People needed the extra time to get their Christmas shopping done. That was true in many communities including this one.

Christmas shopping started after Thanksgiving, and stores did not decorate for Christmas before that.

There used to be Halloween parades and floats by many classes, school clubs and community youth organizations. Elaborately costumed kids participated. Then they went to the Moose for costume judging and games and refreshments.

Trick or treat for UNICEF was one night, regular trick-or-treating was another.

Oktoberfest was not always observed at St. Gabriel’s. That’s a new tradition. Maybe three years old?

Used to be there was lots of special lighting downtown, at stores with their windows full of items for Christmas giving, and along the street. And by late December there would be skating on the Square, weather permitting. That space is used somewhat differently now. Maybe there is still space for a skating area, but care would have to be taken not to interfere with the electrical provisioning on the Square.

With or without traditional ice skating, there will be a new tradition involving the Square, once the new nativity display goes up. Obviously it is not for one-time use, but to be set up year after year, and stored in between.  It should be highly durable, for it is being constructed of sturdy plywood and painted with outdoor paint.

Perhaps Christmas on the Square will become a tradition. If it proves popular this year, look for it to become an annual event.

It was a local tradition, for a time, to have a Santa’s House on the Square, and to have a little shop stocked with inexpensive gifts where children could buy presents for parents, grandparents, siblings and friends. I have heard some talk of the Santa’s House being set up this year, and hope it happens.

An interesting variation of the Santa Claus visits here and there in the community has been the Santa and Mrs. Claus appearances. At least one local couple has impersonated that pair, and been well received. At the elementary school and wherever little kids get to meet those celebs, the presence of Mrs. Claus is particularly reassuring to the tykes who are a little frightened of the jolly elf as seen in malls and stores or solo appearances.

If you have old traditions to mention, or ideas for new ones, we (readers and I) like to hear about those. Email drymar@gmail.com.

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A tale of two code omissions:

Some time ago an area resident was all set to put a mobile home on a lot across the tracks, on Roper, I think—a place where a house had sat, before it was destroyed by fire. This individual bought the lot and wanted to put a “single-wide” mobile home there for his daughter.

That person was told by a borough official that this would not be allowed. Only a double-wide or a conventional home could be placed there, under our zoning ordinance. Regular mobile homes must be placed in those zones designated for them.

Someone else put a regular mobile home on a lot next to that one. The owner of the new double-wide was startled and displeased. Why didn’t the same restrictions apply to that owner? Initially he was told that occupancy of this newly placed single-wide would not be allowed.

But then, upon further examination of the zoning ordinance and zoning map by the solicitor, it was discovered that the ordinance is not worded in such a way as to accomplish what the planning commission and borough council had intended. It did not, clearly and enforceably, forbid placement and occupancy of single-wide mobile homes except in the area(s) designated for that. And the area(s) the planners had meant to be defined was/were not drawn to include the relevant portion over the tracks. Oops!

This was brought to the attention of the borough government. The borough council tasked the planning commission with finding a solution to recommend. The commission wrestled with the matter and came up with a possible solution, which they sent to the solicitor to be polished.

Sensible zoning allows for the orderly use and development of properties within the community. It takes into account safety and aesthetics and local traditions and harmony within neighborhoods. Some personal rights might be seen as inhibited, or subordinated to the public good. But planning is necessary—better than chaotic development. The glitch in the ordinances must be corrected.

In another code omission, ours does not include what many others do: a prohibition of parking a vehicle, with or without a motor, on the “cartway,” or traffic lane. Such is a situation on Catlin Avenue, where a fairly new resident of the neighborhood has parked a trailer on the eastbound lane for several months. No local ordinance states that this is not lawful, although it would not be lawful on a state highway, or, probably, in  most other municipalities.

Shouldn’t that omission be corrected? Some borough council members and the streets and sidewalks committee have declared this to be a matter to be settled between or among neighbors. Obviously it affects all who use that street, not just those who live there, when a parked trailer makes part of a two-way street into a one-way one, requiring one motorist to wait and then pull into the other lane to proceed.

Just talk to the trailer owner, neighbor to neighbor? Maybe he will decide to move the trailer? Okay, just talk to the mobile home owner. Maybe he will decide to relocate his mobile home.

Neither is a personal matter. Neither should be left to ad hoc negotiations between private individuals. (One is a public safety matter; one is a matter of aesthetics.) Such situations could occur elsewhere in the borough. They need to be settled by correcting our ordinances.

We have laws because people are not always reasonable and considerate, voluntarily. Laws express community standards, and work when sweet reason fails.

Peace.