7th-Grader Petitions For Restoration of Bloomingdale Events

When 13-year-old Brandon Bott heard his parents talking about how a few Bloomingdale , he not only decided to join the conversation, but tried to do something about it.

Last month, the Bloomingdale council said the borough would not be continuing its annual Fourth of July fireworks program, or continue to fund the Halloween event on Bailey Avenue this year, due to budgetary constraints.

So Bott, along with some help from his parents,  Barbara and Donald, created last Monday a petition, which now has more than 600 signatures, to present to the Bloomingdale Borough Council at their next meeting on June 14 to restore the public events.

"It's just a 13-year-old vision to let the council know how important these events are to the town," Barbara Bott said.

Initially, Bott asked only children to sign the petition, but after hearing about adults' interest from another Bloomingdale resident, Karen Timpanaro, Bott decided to change the petition to say that it was on behalf of "citizens of Bloomingdale."

Timpanaro decided to help with Bott's campaign by bringing the petition, which Bott started at his own school, the , to the and schools as well.

"It seems like everything that we had is now being taken away, little by little, for the kids," Timpanaro said.

But Bott did not only start the petition because he thinks the events are fun to attend. He said he also believes the borough events keep kids out of trouble.

"Bloomingdale children don't have enough time to spend with their friends and hang out with their friends, and to keep their minds off bad things," he said.

Barbara Bott said she is proud of her son, having grown up in Bloomingdale and seeing how passionate he is about the borough.

"I'm proud of him because he is going to be 14 at the end of the week and he is the next generation of Bloomingdale," she said.

Last week, when Bott started the petition, his mother told him that even if he got 10 signatures, it would be a success. Now that Bott has hundreds, Barbara Bott said he will not stop until he presents the signatures to the council.