The Cheltenham Board of Commissioners will likely vote on whether to adopt a township anti-discrimination ordinance at its meeting tonight.  The proposed ordinance, should it pass, would create a township human relations commission.

Cheltenham Board of Commissioners Vice President Harvey Portner said today that the board has been discussing an anti-discrimination ordinance for “quite a few years.”

“We hope to have it done this evening, if we can avoid one of our commissioners picking it apart,” Portner said.

Portner wouldn’t name the commissioner; he actually said the commissioner is likely in favor of the proposed ordinance.  

“It’s the fact that he’s an attorney and he picks apart every picayune detail,” Portner said. “He’s in favor of it, but there is always someone who has to show how brilliant he or she is. We’re not talking about anything that’s going before the United States Supreme Court.” 

Portner said the board of commissioners has not received any opposition from the community regarding the ordinance; he went on to say that the need for an ordinance is there, and called the ordinance "common sense."

“We ain’t changing nothing [tonight],” Portner said about the proposed ordinance. “We’re finally going to get it through, and it should have been through years ago.”

• To see the Cheltenham Board of Commissioners agenda for tonight, click here.
• To read the proposed ordinance, click here, or check out the pdf section.

According to Abington Township Manager Michael LeFevre, Cheltenham’s proposed ordinance would incorporate elements of Lower Merion’s anti-discrimination ordinance.

Abington has been mulling over an anti-discrimination ordinance for the past year or so.

For the most recent story on that, click here.

The proposed Cheltenham ordinance has caught the eye of the Philadelphia Metro Taskforce group, which is against the ordinance. 

In a Feb. 13 email, a representative from the group asked people to come to the meeting to express opposition.

"If citizens do not oppose this constitution-breaking ordinance the Commissioners will likely follow the easiest path and rubber stamp it," the email said.  

And, in a letter dated last year to Springfield Township Commissioners and the Springfield Township Manager, and posted on the website hellerspringfield.com, the group said:

“We are a local group that supports family values in government and the community. We are writing to request to present facts about discrimination ordinances, and scheduling of a new time for your public workshop meeting …

“We have as our focus, the uplifting of values of common sense decency and morality, and the bringing of family values to their former stature, in our Philadelphia region communities ... 

According to LeFevre, Springfield Township passed an anti-discrimination ordinance that was similar to ordinances in Whitemarsh and Jenkintown.

The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Curtis Hall, in the corner of Church Road and Greenwood Avenue, Wyncote

--

Check back for updates.