I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as one of the new contributors to the Neighbors of Easton Blog. I look forward to sharing my insights and opinions from the perspective of a thirty-four year resident of Easton's West ward.
My name is Tim Pickel, and as I have previously mentioned, I am a long-time resident of the West Ward and a life-long resident of Easton. I am a former school teacher in New Jersey, having retired this past year. Some of my activities in Easton over the years include:
-Founding member of the Easton Block Watch Association
-President of the Easton Heights Neighborhood Association
-Member of the West Ward Civic Association
-Member and President of Easton City Council (2000-2004)
Presently I am working in world missions, traveling to third world countries to provide clean water to people who are in desperate need of it. I have also assisted on building projects, such as a lunchroom for a school recently built in the mountains near Rio Blanco, Nicaragua. My travels have taken me to Uganda, Egypt, Haiti, Belize and Nicaragua. I believe my time spent in these disadvantaged countries will offer a unique perspective. Next month I hope to write my blog from Port-au-Prince, Haiti during an extended stay at an orphanage there.
My hope is to add some insight about the West Ward to its many residents. One focus will be to discuss the relationship between our neighborhoods and entities such as the Easton Area School District. I will discuss the effect of these entities and how they strengthen or weaken our neighborhoods here in the West Ward.
I look forward to your comments on my blogs and the discussions to follow.
Tim
Posts
9 comments:
Can't wait to get those posts from overseas--glad to know you'll still be connected to the neighborhood while away! You will be bringing an interesting perspective on the conditions of low-income families here versus Haiti, Nicaragua, etc...not to mention the current epidemic of water pollution we've been experiencing in the U.S., per this recent NYTimes article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/13water.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1254409286-PPo3Bnia1U+kbScFJWY6jg
...the EPA has got to get on this soon. Reducing carbon emissions is important, of course, but I'm hard-pressed to say that clean water that won't rot kids teeth and give people cancer isn't even more important. There's a town in WV where 1/3 of residents has had to get their gall bladders surgically removed do to pollution in the drinking water from a neighboring coal slurry. This article has an interactive map where you can see every location in the U.S. that has water pollution violations. The popular urban myth in NYC of their ultra-pure drinking water from the Catskills is sadly, just a myth--the map tells it all. I was surprised that Eastern PA/Western NJ is not too bad by comparison, but there are still some violations here...
Thanks so much for your contributions. I look forward to your insights. Thank you for your long standing commitment to our great city. And thank you for investing into the brokenness of communities around the world.
hi Tim,
glad to have you here. question, though: what is the Easton Heights Neighborhood Association? I have been a homeowner here on N 7th St for almost 14 years and have never heard of it. any more info?
btw, Noel doesn't like the name of my Easton blog, but here it is:
http://uglyeaston.blogspot.com/
I think we are all on the same page, just different ways of reading that page!
Hi Tim!
Wow, you certainly get around, making the planet a better place!
Your deep knowledge of the inner-workings of the city is a real asset to our neighborhood. Looking forward to your sharing some of that in detail.
Knowing where the problems are helps locate where the solutions must be found.
I once worked at the U.S. Committee for U.N.I.C.E.F. where its mission of clean drinking water was the number one priority in saving lives.
Did you see that new drinking straw/filter that people can use to drink the most contaminated water and it filters out the bad stuff? Will have to Google it to find out what it's called.
Laters,
Easton Heights Blogger,
The group was originally called the Easton Heights Revitalization Partnership. It was a group that existed for several years from 2000-2003. It no longer exists but played an important role in my neighborhood at the time.
Follow-up to Easton Heights Blogger,
Easton Heights Revitalization Partnership (EHRP) fell into my lap after Tim's departure. As president in it's last year, it seemed to me that the role it played would be taken up by Weed and Seed. At that time there was no organization on the south side of Northampton Street and it seemed inefficient to continue to hold separate meetings for the Heights and the remainder of the West Ward through W&S when people had limited time and energy.
Events continue to unfold and we will see where we go from here.
DRL
Dennis, thanks for your posts. I'll be paying attention.
Hi Tim,
I look forward to reading your insight! Happy Travels!
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