Commissioner Lewis shares thoughts, details on Fight Blight Cleanup Day, Cheltenham Township shares photos

October 5th, 2025 | By Ryan Genova

“Fight Blight Township Cleanup Day” took place on the morning on Saturday, October 4 across 16 locations in Cheltenham Township.

Ward 2 Commissioner Dwight Pedro Lewis led the charge at the former Walgreens at 2727 W Cheltenham Avenue in Wyncote.

As of Wednesday, the property looked like this:

It now looks like this:

“Public works went out there on Thursday and Friday. We finished the job today. I may be embellishing the truth a bit, but it looks like it was just built,” he said. “My fellow commissioner Ann Rappoport joined the effort at John Russell Park. I feel very proud and pleased.”

Commissioner Lewis noted that county organizations and township staff were out participating as well.

“That speaks volumes about the kind of people that work for the township. They didn’t get paid for today, but they wanted to part of the solution. I’m really grateful for their participation,” he said. “This is a cause, and it’s one that we have to fight. We have to spend a fair amount of time talking about what we need to do to eliminate reoccurrences. All in all, the people of Cheltenham took a stand today for a cleaner, safer township.”

Public works removed 119 tires and 50 bags of illegally dumped trash at Tookany Creek Parkway, Lewis said.

“They’re a star in this process,” he said, noting that Cheltenham Avenue was “so messy that we needed to table the effort. We need to bring in public works to finish the job.”

The Melrose Park Neighbors Association (MPNA) tackled Coventry Avenue and Cheltenham Avenue:

“We collected a lot of trash and felt good about it. We like living in a clean township with neighbors who care,” MPNA member Caryl Levin told Glenside Local in an email.

The photos below are courtesy of Cheltenham Township. You can view the full albums here.