J.R. Briggs

An Interview with Lansdale Mayor Andy Szekely: Part I

May 12, 2010

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Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love. It’s a great city.

Technically, city planners consider Philly a mega-city made up of ten edge cities that are clustered together to make one large mega-city of Philadelphia. One of the edge cities is Lansdale/NorthWales/Montgomeryville.

One of the opportunities and privileges of living in a localized community of Lansdale, PA is that people are fairly centralized and neighborhood-specific. (For more date on Lansdale click here). Over the past two years I’ve had the opportunity to connect with Lansdale’s mayor, Andy Szekely. A few weeks ago I asked him if I could conduct an interview with him so that the blog readers could get better acquainted with him – and Lansdale – a bit more.

J.R.: Many people know that you are the mayor of Lansdale and a chiropractor in town.Tell us a little bit more about yourself .

AS: I was born in Lansdale in 1970 at the old North Penn Hospital which is now Elm Terrace Gardens. I grew up in Upper Gywnedd Township. I attended West Point Elementary School and then graduated from Germantown Academy in 1988. I went on to Lyncburg College and majored in International Relations and French. As part of my studies, I spent nine months in France.

After graduating from college, I took a job as an English and French teacher in a small town in Hungary, and this is where I met my wife Szilvia. I taught there for three years and then I returned to the U.S. After a bit of soul searching and some prodding from my father, I went back to school to become a chiropractor. I graduated chiropractic school in 2001 and then joined my father and uncle in practice in Lansdale. It is wonderful to be in a family practice that has been in existence for over fifty years.

When you’re not working or serving as mayor what do you like to do? What are some of your interests, passions and hobbies?

I enjoy spending time with my seventeen month-old daughter, Anna, and my wife, Szilvia. I like to build furniture, especially in the biedermeier and art deco styles. I also like to oil paint landscapes and portraits. I used to practice the piano on a regular basis, but with the birth of Anna and since becoming mayor, I haven’t had much time to play. I also try to read a little, mainly history and biographies before falling asleep in bed.

For those who don’t live in the borough, how would you describe the ethos of Lansdale in three adjectives?

The character of Lansdale could be summed up as unpretentious, optimistic and slightly quirky.

The Sumo in the Park event last fall certainly would play to the quirkiness of Lansdale. In all seriousness though, what are the best things about living and working here?

Lansdale will be the next, Ambler, Manayunk or Phoenixville or rather a bit of a combination of all three. In Montgomery County there are only three towns with a similar population: Norristown, Pottstown and Lansdale. This amount of people and the diversity of people makes for a vibrant community. Real estate prices are low and stable, but not for long! I believe that there is a trend that younger people– those forty-five and younger are looking for communities that are walkable and have character. Lansdale fits that description.

When I look at the neighborhood where I grew up [Sugar Valley in Upper Gywnedd Township] the housing is 1970′s cookie-cutter colonial on an acre or more. Today’s families don’t have the time to spend on landscaping and the upkeep associated with a larger home. Plus, there may be a generational issue; my parents and many others’ parents grew up in the cities and moved out to the suburbs to get away from the cities. Now their children hear the stories about the corner stores and the activity in the city and they want that experience.

So, if someone was considering living or moving their business to Lansdale what would you want them to know about it?

Get in on while it’s inexpensive. And for businesses, take advantage of the upcoming incentives to move to Lansdale.

If you could snap your fingers and see three things changed immediately in the borough what would those three things be?

Similar to other towns, I would plaster signs on the outskirts on Lansdale that would direct traffic to the business district or downtown district and other thru traffic would be directed away from downtown Main Street. I would also bring back some of the historic buildings that were razed such as the Tremont, the Eitherton, the Longacker Building.

Check back later this week for Part II of this interview.

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