Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ! Gotta love Savvy and the perfect, yes perfect turn of phrase!!! But remember, she lives her life accordingly, right? We’re still trying to figure out according to what, however….
Remember the splashy Wayne boutique owner, Hillary White Jean, whose dodgy business dealings we revealed in our last issue? Well, her legal woes are mounting.
For starters, her latest bankruptcy filing – her 8th filing in 12 years – was a bust. U.S. Bankruptcy Court dismissed her claim on March 23 after she failed to file the required documentation and skipped out on the Zoom call with the bankruptcy judge and creditors.
Also, shortly after our story ran, Jean’s current Wayne landlord filed charges against her for $3,000 in unpaid rent. By law, that case had to be put on hold while her bankruptcy claim was pending, but with the bankruptcy dismissed, it can now go forward if her landlord so chooses.
And Jean has a few new court dates. The Commonwealth filed a criminal complaint against her on March 13 for her behavior in Delaware County District Court in February, officially charging her with harassment, disorderly conduct and unlawful use of a recording device (per her arrest by Newtown Township Police). A preliminary hearing on those charges is set for April 20.
On Monday of this week, she was due back in criminal court for a pretrial conference in one of the bad checks/theft by possession cases.
I think she’s due in court this week in general isn’t she? What a lot of people have noticed after she vented her spleen, and tried to Doxx people and was generally obnoxious and implied that she got caught by the law because it was a racist thing, and that is still one of the craziest things we’ve ever heard, right? And then she was kind of playing peek-a-boo on social media wasn’t she?
And where’s the “exclusive showroom” anyway?
Hillary White Jean or Hillary White Joseph or Jean White Hillary or whatever she is calling herself has created her life, including what is happening at present. Who knows what the future holds, but she is the captain of her own ship isn’t she? This has nothing to do with race or class bias or whatever the excuse du jour is does it? It’s a simple case of right and wrong.
File under GIRL BYE?
Make sure you check out the entire new edition of Savvy Main Line. There’s all sorts of great stuff in it!
Way back in the early days of blogging there was this amazing site with bloggers from all over the region called PhillyFuture. They used to do #MissingMonday and feature missing persons.
Well we have a #MissingMomday situation. Two 12 year old girls. East Whiteland Police and the PA State Police are asking if you see them to hit 911. They are believed to be endangered. The two girls were last scene in Malvern, East Whiteland Township, in Chester County on Saturday, April 15, around 3:00 p.m.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Daniela Alvarado-Regalado or Greis Domingues-Millan can also call the East Whiteland Township Police Department at 610-647-1440.
Greis Dominguez-Millan is four feet tall and weighs 100 pounds. She was last seen wearing a gray jacket, black jeans and red and blue bracelets. She was carrying a green backpack and a white one with pink flowers. Daniela Alvarado-Regalado is four feet and nine inches tall and weighs 120 pounds. She had black hair and dark eyes.
I am completely and utterly UNAPOLOGETIC for my opinion here. This is quite literally historic destruction. Radnor Township and the Radnor Historical Society did not lift a finger to save the Wayne Bed & Breakfast Inn from a developer’s bulldozer.
Complete and total waste. This was a historically important house for the area and RESTORED! It was bulldozed for a pretentious A.F. development that spread like venereal disease from DoDo land because you know you have to cram as many front end loaded McMansions in as possible. People don’t need gardens or room to breathe between houses, right?
This old house could have been incorporated into the development as a couple of condos and the pool a development community pool. And it is like no one in Radnor Township blinked an eye. No commissioner opened their mouth that I could see. Now maybe I am wrong but how hard did they try?
Look lively if you live in West Whiteland because Planning Commission on Tuesday April, 19th has data center/power plant zoning amendment crapola back for another bite at the proverbial apple 🍎 !
Residents need to turn out and say #NO again.
They already have giant data center planned for East Whiteland Township!
You don’t have to have this zoning in your Township and you really don’t want to allow the possibility for it. Just Google data centers and Louden County, Virginia.
Certain factions and developers out for an extra large pay day want this zoning but it does nothing for residents (kind of like the pipelines, truthfully.) it also sucks off your power grid which will eventually send your electricity prices up.
I had a dream last night that time had reversed and I was back in my old garden apartment in Lower Merion Township. It was more of a nightmare because the dream was water was leaking from the ceiling, which means the apartment above. Drip drip drip.
Now that actually happened when I lived there from the bathroom above into my apartment. It meant an open ceiling for a while. I say a while because the leak wasn’t handled by an actual plumber but a random handy person so it also took forever to fix.
As a matter of fact, every single time something was wrong, it was a fight to get a real person qualified to do the job. Yet we all stayed in these apartments because they were in a safe neighborhood in a decent municipality. And comparatively speaking, affordable and pet friendly. And the first floor units all had walled garden spaces. Sort of a late mid-century California style apartment buildings. I stayed for the location and that I could have a little garden.
But the landlord was kind of odd. They are all dead and building long sold to someone else, so I can actually write about this now.
It was a constant dance to stay on the good side of the landlord. And heaven forbid if you knew one of their kids they were mad at or on the outs with. You kind of got punished for that. I actually did get punished for that for a while. Like when the landlord threatened to evict me because he had been told by a nosy neighbor across the driveway my dog was barking. I had to buy a nanny cam to prove my dog’s innocence. Ends up the dog was barking because the nosy neighbor was peeking in my windows when I wasn’t home. If I had not been friendly with one of the kids he was on the outs with, he would have ignored the nosy neighbor because he liked dogs. The dog did me a favor in the end because who knew there was a peeping Tom?
Deferred maintenance was an understatement. Some people had front doors that were not even outside grade. Two women in the complex had doors that had holes and didn’t lock properly. We all had bars cut for windows and sliding glass doors because none of the locks worked. It was a marvel none of us were ever burglarized. I had windows that didn’t lock next to my kitchen door. Not that it would have been a stretch for anyone to break the non insulated glass of those windows and just reach in and open the door.
The landlord for the first couple of years I was there had these weird meters attached to the forced hot water lines that fed the baseboard heat into the apartments. That was how we were charged for heat in the winter, only the way the meters measured was kind of random and we found out somewhat illegal when a woman who’s dad was a judge somewhere upstate complained. The landlord was terrified of anyone connected to the legal professions so magically the meters went away and were never used again. And if you dated a lawyer, etc. you were totally left alone and always got what you needed fixed done.
The heater was a marvel. It was original to the building and amazing it ran without exploding. It was so bad no heating professional would certify it every year and apparently that was something that should have happened. Somehow Lower Merion Township missed that. Or more likely the landlord just ignored them when they did do rental property inspections because they didn’t have enough manpower to follow up. It was literally just one person doing inspections in a municipality with a LOT of rental properties.
We actually loved when our buildings were on the township rental rotation which was every other year or so. When the buildings were inspected that is when we had hope for repairs. Why? Because repairs were not in the deferred maintenance handbook. Not every apartment even had working smoke detectors unless we bought our own, which I did.
Every apartment had an in theory working fireplaces. Only the fireplaces were never cleaned or maintained or routinely inspected, so I never used mine after the first winter. A friend in another apartment actually discovered that they couldn’t use theirs because the flue would magically slam shut sending embers flying and another apartment had a blockage up the flue.
Every apartment had air conditioning. Except that they were the giant in the wall units which were increasingly hard to find and didn’t work half of the time or even well. You learned how to replace your own filters and unplug when the air conditioner cords got too hot. But if a unit failed and it was summer good luck. I had one fail in one room and it was not replaced the spot was simply boarded up. Good thing I lived alone and could deal with one less unit, because technically it was the second bedroom in the unit.
And then there was my kitchen floor. It bowed slightly and flexed which meant something was wrong underneath. I think it had been termites, but I forget now. If enough people had bounced on it at one time, I always wondered if it would collapse into the basement. It failed rental inspections multiple times over the decade plus that I lived there, landlord was cited but there was never follow up by the township or fines levied. Again, so many rental residential properties to inspect in a big township and only one person to do the inspections.
In the winter one of the things that the landlord really hated was hiring good snowplow guys. They hired the fifty cents variety so half of the time we all just had to shovel ourselves.
Yet we all stayed in these situations because it was hard to find decent apartments that were affordable. And that is still the case today everywhere. You trade off safety in your living space for affordability and a decent municipality. And landlords take advantage of that. Good rental landlords are the exception rather than the rule, even with complexes. That is still the case today.
And a lot of municipalities out here in Chester County don’t necessarily have defined rental ordinances. A property might get inspected for use and occupancy when it changes hands from owner to owner, but if it’s a rental property they might not have a clue as to what goes on otherwise. And if you complain to a municipality a landlord takes it out on the tenant.
And look at developments that are not necessarily rental developments. There are townships with townhouse developments that are turning increasingly renter versus owner occupied. The homeowners associations aren’t keeping up with this and neither are the municipalities. Which is one of the reasons I never buy the hooey spewed by developers talking about the wonderful developments where people live forever. They are actually creating transient communities where people have investment properties. They are not living there.
When you look at all the slumlord rental properties around in places and then you look at all of the damn apartments and packed in like lemmings townhouse and other developments, you wonder who will keep track of all the rental units? Often that’s a very good question because again, municipalities keep approving all of these developments yet once they get past the short term high of ratables, who will make sure everything stays as it should? The answers might surprise you.
When I have pointed out slumlords out here in Chester County and suggested that municipalities need residential rental ordinances and even off campus student housing ordinances I have taken heat. But if you have ever been a renter you know how important this is. Not everyone has the luxury of owning their own home, and I think we are seeing more renters because of the sheer volume of development.
There is also very little out here in the way of affordable housing, which also presents its own set of issues as a renter.
At this week’s East Whiteland Township Supervisors’ meeting the East Whiteland Historic Commission spoke about the ruins and graveyard of Ebenezer A.M.E. at 97 Bacton Hill Road in Frazer. It was nice to hear them talking about doing things I have literally suggested for probably a decade: cleaning up, a historical marker, ground penetrating radar (Dr. William Watson of Immaculata actually suggested it to me) and more like stabilizing and capping the ruin (my husband and I had an engineer look at the site in 2016 when we noticed the walls were bowing on the ruin, and gave the report to East Whiteland.)
I am so truly happy to hear this news, but something was missing from the presentation: any mention of me or the others who have also worked quite hard on this project, including their former chair, Tim Caban or former Eagle Scout Luke Phayre and his mom. (I name a bunch of these other devoted people throughout this post.) I presume that they will do a marker dedication ceremony when they erect the historical marker, and I would hope a lot of us will be invited including family of those who helped who are no longer with us? I ask because sometimes with East Whiteland Historic Commission they seem neglectful of saying thank you to those of us who without their assistance or encouragement actually have helped too. They have not done this all on their own, and neither has the AME Church in Philadelphia or the representative from Mt. Zion AME in Devon, which is blessed to have national historical status (National Register of Historic Places) thanks in great part to my dear friend, Pattye Benson, Chair of the Tredyffrin Historic Preservation Trust.
The next little video is actually a compilation of photos I took up until November 12, 2016 of Ebenezer AME on Bacton Hill Road in Frazer, East Whiteland Township. What I said on that date which was after a massive clean-up organized by us regular people (not East Whiteland Historic Commission) was as follows:
Ebenezer AME on Bacton Hill Road has been my passion project the past few years as most of my friends know. If my husband hadn’t stopped that winter’s day years ago so I could take photos, I wouldn’t have found my USCT soldier Joshua Johnson.
I wrote about it for three years straight on Chester County Ramblings until things started to click. First with the help of A.v. Christie even as she was battling breast cancer, having the ear of William E. Watson and him making himself available to talk to Christine Kantrowitz and myself, then onto some dynamic ladies including Susan Cook, Kecia Lee, Cathy Taylor-Wentz, Tsuhai Nzinga Fka Tia, Christine Johnson, Catherine C. Quillman , Dana Y Bowles and always truly grateful to Pattye Benson of Tredyffrin Historic Preservation Trust for encouraging me…and saving the best for last, Al Terrell and those amazing Willistown scouts.
We went from a crazy overgrown site that no one loved to today at Ebenezer in Frazer! Al and Luke’s mom Kathy and Luke and scouts and WCU folks! Look at this and be happy – this is what it means to be an American. This is what it means to honor your history and the dead. This is what it means to honor some of our older veterans – as in from the Civil War.
A shout out to today’s guest star volunteers: WCU Student Veterans Group, WCU Men’s Rugby Club, and two WCU Fraternities, Sigma Epsilon and FIJI. About 50 students total. Kelby Hershey is apparently the super hero at WCU who brought these folks together today for us—and a new grave was discovered!
Thank you everyone for your interest. This is 184 years of history, amazing vibrant and important history, and we are all so thankful that so many are starting to realize it.
~me in 2016
November 19, 2016 is when we held the Veteran’s Day Ceremony at Ebenezer to honor the black Civil War Soldiers there and others. It made front page news of The Daily Local. That was such an emotional day for me at that site, I cried. And I have no ancestors buried there, just my black Civil War Soldier Joshua Johnson whom I discovered one day many, many years ago in a pile of weeds that I thought were surrounding an abandoned farmhouse.
On that day I do not recall any members of the East Whiteland Historic Commission, then township supervisors, but members of East Whiteland Police Department showed up to be part of the honor guard and keep the traffic in check.
We did this ceremony on our own, just a small group of volunteers. I wrote about it :
Through my love of this site, I have met the most amazing people who also loved this site. The late poet A.V. Christie, artist Claude Bernadin and Al Terrell, among others.
Learning about this site has been fascinating.
In 2017 I wrote about a gift of history sent to me by way of South Dakota. It was concerning Hiram Woodyard. He was a freed slave and Black Civil War Soldier who resided in the village of Bacton, “Bacton Hisotric District”, AKA “Bacton African American Community”.
In 1991, Jane Davidson, the then Chester County Historic Preservation Officer certified that one of the houses attributed to him on Conestoga Road as a “County Historic Resource”. She said “The events and activities that have occurred in and around the site form a chronological record of past knowledge that portrays a history of the area.”
The historical information listed in some of the paperwork states:
This resource is part of the Bacton Historic District which is a post-Civil War, Afro-American community. This resource is also connected with Hiram Woodyard who was a prominent member of this community….Due to previous development there is an eminent potential to widen Rte. 401,this threat would negatively impact the integrity of this resource.
In other paperwork, the same author continues:
Hiram Woodyard, one of two leaders in the Bacton African-American community, has become a local folk hero in recent years. While part of the timber industry as a fence maker, he also commanded a great deal of respect for his leadership ability, not only in the community, but also in the Union army.
Bacton Hill is fascinating and rapidly disappearing. That is why it would’ve been important to have had this preserved decades ago as it’s own little historic district.
Anyway people always have many things to say when it comes to how an area gets it’s name. And my friend historian an artist and author Catherine Quillman gave me some answers, I would like to share:
📌”Hey, finally got into the Chester County History Center. Bacton was formerly known as Valley View.
In 1871, a branch of the Reading Rail Co. was proposed and a stockbroker complained it was an unnecessary expense (though the rail line would connect to west Chester and Phoenixville). He complained it would just go through “back towns”.
I think Anselma was on that run, and that had a large creamery so it could hardly be a “back town” and the name stuck for Valley View – it officially became Bacton when the little post office which was once there opened in 1887.”📌
So Bacton came out of “back town“ and not “black town” which someone wrote to me once upon a time that I found a little bit offensive, but almost would’ve been understandable for certain times a century and longer ago.
Catherine also reminded me that this area also may have probably seen activity during the Revolutionary War. After all part of the Battle of the Clouds took place near where they have that “Ship Road Park” (West Whiteland), and other battles and encampments occurred close enough by in other municipalities which border East Whiteland like Tredyffrin.
The African American community at Bacton Hill was definitely significant once upon a time. They worked in the local quarries and worked for the railroad and even farmed where they could (A lot of the land there as you know is both scrubby, wet, rocky.)
So yes the little post office back then was renamed Bacton from Valley View. But people also speak of Pickering Valley railroad, but I am told it didn’t climb the “hill” of Bacton Hill. The story of conductor saying “Blacktown” instead of Bacton is probably more local lore and misremembering than fact.
Another aspect of this area that has never really been adequately studied was its relationship to the Underground Railroad. Because there was one, as some homeowners of historic homes alone 401 can attest.
Anyway that is what I have to share with all of you today about this fascinating topic and I do think it’s fascinating. If any of you have other recollections of the area of Bacton Hill or Ebenezer, I love to hear about these things so leave me a comment and write into the blog. I am also always happy to share old photos of the area.
Someone said to me that the greater Philadelphia region spends an inordinate amount of time focusing on the Revolutionary War and not other parts of our region’s history. To an extent, that is true. I think that’s why things like Duffy’s Cut got buried forever as well. It’s not fun for a lot of people to talk about the inconvenient or even uncomfortable aspects of our own history. And I think as complete a picture as it’s available helps all of us.
Richard Allen (February 14, 1760 to March 26, 1831 was a minister, educator, writer and one of this country’s original, most active, and influential black leaders. In 1794 he founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. This was the first black denomination and independent church in the US. The first actual church opened in Philadelphia in 1794.
Richard Allen was born into slavery on one of the properties of Benjamin Chew as another piece of property because he was a slave. He bought his freedom around 1780 at the age of 20 from a subsequent master named Stokeley Sturgis.
In 1816 the AME church was founded more formally and Allen was elected the first Bishop. He had bee a minister for years prior to this and Mother Bethel in Philadelphia actually first opened her doors to worship around 1794. Bishop Allen organized this religious denomination where freed blacks could worship without racial oppression and where slaves could find dignity and a welcoming place. He worked to literally lift up the black community, also organizing schools to teach literacy and promoting national organizations to develop political strategies. Bishop Allen died the year Ebenezer A.M.E. at 97 Bacton Hill Road in Frazer, PA Chester County opened. Their history, their dead, our country’s history – it is all in this ruin of a church and a cemetery of folks of a local A.M.E. Church founded only 30 some odd years AFTER the entire religious organization was founded and they opened their doors the year Bishop Richard Allen died.
Sociologically learning about and loving Ebenezer has also been fascinating. From people steeped in ignorance asking me literally “Why do you care about an old black church?” to being continually blown off by the modern day AME Church because I am essentially a middle-aged white woman. Maybe I am wrong about that, but that is how it felt.
After the Inquirer article appeared on the ruin of Ebenzer AME in Frazer, I remember I contacted Rev Dr. Mark Tyler of Mother Bethel in Philadelphia via e-email with a few interested folks on the e-mail including local historians.
Three times.
Why email? Because also included was information to help them make an informed decision. I stupidly thought maybe if they could see what we’d been researching, and see photos, they would be interested in working together to clean this place up. Crickets. Not even an acknowledgement I had written.
What I have learned since and from the recent East Whiteland Supervisors’ meeting is they are seemingly coming around, and that’s good. Finally.
But the take away lesson I learned back then is that I am not of their flock and couldn’t do anything for them and when it comes to ANY organized religion, sadly not so unusual, is it?
I really wanted to save this place but over the years I have found myself sad in human kind and thoroughly disgusted. I thought doing God’s work meant you tried to save places like Ebenezer AME. You do it for community, future generations, for ancestors of those living today, for the history and the fact it’s a sacred place, and you do it because it’s the right thing to do.
I did what I could and I stepped away. I have continued to watch Ebenezer mostly from afar. I tried twice to join the East Whiteland Historic Commission.
The first time I tried to join was after an obnoxious comment from a former supervisor years ago that the essence was I only complain, I don’t volunteer. (Yeah I know, let’s forget about all the things I have done to help where I live, but anyway.) At that point in time, I was told by the then historic commission chair that they weren’t sure what this supervisor was talking about because there were no vacancies.
The second time I tried to join, was before COVID. I was actually excited about belonging and did my application and went through the fairly rigorous interview process. Then magically, although I met the criteria, two supervisors seemed to take issue with me being on the historic commission. One even wanted to interview me personally, although he had actually spoken to me before in person. I said o.k. and then COVID hit. This supervisor who had to interview me never even ever contacted me by phone. I didn’t need a neon sign to realize people didn’t want me on the historic commission.
During COVID I tried for a while to participate by virtually attending the historic commission meetings. It felt awkward. But I tried. But then when I realized that two members I really liked were cycling off the commission (the ladies who did the update on the history of East Whiteland and really did not get thanked by the historic commission that I could tell), I decided to bag the whole idea.
So the historic commission in East Whiteland has grown up some since the onset of COVID. They have some new blood, and one now not so new member in particular I find to be quite amazing and knowledgeable and they are lucky to have him on board. And their chairman is a very nice man whom I really do like. But it still feels to me like I wish I could get more from them. For example, other historic commissions and societies locally have created social media presences to engage residents with their own history. I seem to recall offering to help East Whiteland Historic Commission once upon a time to establish a Facebook Page so people could learn about all of the history that is in East Whiteland. Crickets. I also offered alternately to write about historic sites and whatnot if they would simply email me what they wanted to get out there. Crickets.
But now I am somewhat heartened to learn they haven’t abandoned Ebenezer and progress is happening. But they need to remember that quite a few ordinary people over the years have loved Ebenezer and tried to help. So when they do their sign dedication, here’s hoping that invitations, mine included, aren’t lost in translation.
I have written so many posts throughout the past decade, below is just a random selection. Please consider supporting East Whiteland Historic Commission as they try to preserve what’s left of Ebenezer. They actually are doing a newsletter now. I really like it!
Another Aqua/Willistown post to add two more video snippets courtesy of Ginny Kerslake featuring the actual Willistown unanimous vote to break up with Aqua over the sewer sale and comments from Chris Franklin of Aqua who is a Willistown resident. I will note I am sure this was hard for Aqua officials to hear, especially on the heels of Bucks County dumping them and the controversy in New Garden Township.
I have never been a fan of sewer sales because of the rate hikes which occur. Other than that I am somewhat ambivalent. But Act 12, which allows the rate jumping I think is wrong. It’s greedy.
Video courtesy of Ginny Kerslake – Aqua’s Chris Franklin, also a Willistown resident addressing the Board of Supervisors April 14, 2023
If you have paid attention to what I have written, what I also had a problem with all along with regard to Aqua buying Willistown’s sewer, was the way the residents were behaving. I understand upset, I was part of a group which successfully fought eminent domain in Ardmore years ago all the way to Washington, DC. So trust me, I get upset. But we were in on fighting our issue from jump, and in Willistown it seems like they only woke up after the deal was initially inked. Then there was an ocean of nastiness, vitriol and misinformation at times (even directed at me personally.) Along with repeated accusations that Willistown had done this essentially behind closed doors in secret, which wasn’t the truth, was it? People simply hadn’t been paying attention. And before everyone wants to jump on me (shocker, for a change), the agendas told a different story.
Last night? Willistown’s residents stood up and were the people I had hoped they could be. They were clear. They were well-spoken. They were marvelous. They weren’t imitating the storming of the Bastille.
Hindsight they say is 20/20, but Willistown residents? Remember this moment. Look at what you accomplished. I have been reading the comments on social media, and what some residents don’t realize is a lot of people played a part here. It stopped being an isolated Willistown issue. People from other communities also offered support. Like Ginny Kerslake and folks from New Garden, Bucks County, Norristown. Me? I just wrote about it and was lambasted most of the time by some factions in Willistown because I didn’t live there. No I don’t, but refer to blog title. I write about what interests me. And I live in a municipality where they did sell to Aqua. Right as the deal with East Whiteland was inked, the OCA in PA filed suit against the PUC about Aqua. That is still in court.
When East Whiteland announced they were selling the sewer, there really was no pushback, let alone much interest from residents. It was advertised, discussed at meetings, and voted on. Residents for the most part in East Whiteland didn’t object. It was very different from Willistown. BUT East Whiteland as far as I know can’t do anything much with the proceeds until the litigation is completed. They are in a holding pattern as in East Whiteland has the proceeds . For a while there was misinformation being disseminated by Willistown residents about East Whiteland’s sewer sale. I think Willistown residents thought East Whiteland may have changed their mind because nothing was happening. That wasn’t the case. It’s as simple as worlds colliding when East Whiteland had finalized the sale literally at the same time the Office of Consumer Advocate filed suit against the PUC. So big pause button until litigation is concluded. How will litigation potentially affect East Whiteland? I have no idea. (Here is the link to the East Whiteland page on their sale: https://eastwhiteland.org/434/Sewer-Sale )
Here is the letter Aqua sent to East Whiteland residents in August, 2022:
Aqua’s Chris Franklin (he is Chair of Essential Utilities) spoke about his company last evening in Willistown. He is a resident of Willistown. He refers to the history of Aqua and Essential Utilities back from when it was Philadelphia Suburban Water. With all due respect, they aren’t that same company from years ago.
I go far enough back now that I remember when Philadelphia Suburban Water acquired property in Bryn Mawr to grow their footprint back off of Lancaster Avenue and expand their corporate campus as it were. I remember the houses that once stood there, and I remember them empty before Philadelphia Suburban Water did their building.
A group of more than 100 Aqua Pennsylvania union workers marched from Polo Field in Bryn Mawr to the headquarters on Lancaster Avenue late Saturday morning to express their anger at what they say are unfair contracts.
“Does Aqua PA, whose parent company recorded almost $124 million in profit last year, really need to increase the rates of hard working customers like you?” reads a flyer union workers were handing out to passersby. “Aqua PA seems to think so!”
Members of 32BJ SEIU, in purple union T-shirts, marched together westbound on Lancaster Avenue/Route 30 from Penn Street to Aqua America headquarters at 762 W. Lancaster Ave. shortly after 11 a.m. Saturday. The large group marched in both lanes, backing up traffic. Once at headquarters, they crossed the street and stood in both eastbound lanes, saying “Corporate greed has got to go.”
I have actually known some Aqua workers over the years. The guys on the job, not the suits in the proverbial ivory tower in Bryn Mawr. Nice guys, hard workers. But no more does Aqua have the lovely gentleman named Tim Lloyd who once was business liaison/PR guy for years and years. He was an amazing man. He talked to everyone. Even me. He was always super helpful. And for years if you had an issue you just called the main switchboard in Bryn Mawr, PA and spoke to a real live customer service person who cared. I remember a guy named Bill Miller who was a manager or a VP at Aqua. Also super nice and I am sure retired by now. But that was then, and this is now.
Sadly Aqua is out of touch today with their former local business selves. They are too big to remmeber or truly care in my humble opinion. The corporate suits are always out of sink with their workforce. The guys whom you see on the street are nice, just like Chris Franklin said. But are they really known to the suits in the proverbial ivory tower? Nope. (When I was looking for history, I found this page on Philadelphia Suburban Water and also this one.)
Aqua has an opportunity to do better. It’s not just about rescuing old municipal sewer systems and making buckets of money. It’s about the people they are supposed to serve, not take advantage of with rate hikes. They can learn from citizen groups like NOPE and Keep Water Affordable. And they can learn from the Willistown residents. I think we all underestimated the Willistown residents.
What the Willistown residents accomplished that culminated last night was amazing. Seriously. They should take a big old victory lap. However, is it over? Will Aqua let it go or will they file some sort of legal action? Time will tell.
Residents everywhere should pay attention to this as they organize to deal with issues in their own communities. Anything is possible if you come together and people put their egos and personal political beliefs aside. And you have to watch agendas and go to meetings, either in person or zoom.
The last word is the video of the Willistown Supervisors unanimously voting to break up with Aqua before prom. Willistown decided to have a date with her residents.
Dear Aqua, it’s me, Willistown. I’m sorry, but we’re breaking up. I have another prom date, the residents….
Well it’s over…for now. Willistown Supervisors actually voted unanimously to end the relationship with Aqua.
I have incomplete details, but I am told that there was an exit clause or sunset capability in the contract? The exit date was apparently today, expiring at midnight . The Board of Supervisors said they weren’t going to prom with Willistown just before 8 PM. It was further noted that some Aqua executive said something along the lines of Willistown needs to honor their contract which is confusing because wasn’t Willistown doing just that ?
People from New Garden and Norristown came to show solidarity with Willistown residents.
The following graphic is courtesy of New Garden resident, Bill Ferguson (KWA – Keep Water Affordable):
So oh what a night. That’s all I know. Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) is still in litigation against the PUC (Public Utility Commission). So although Willistown’s neighbor East Whiteland sold to Aqua, I am not sure that East Whiteland can use the proceeds until the litigation settles? I could be completely wrong, but I seem to remember something like that and also, it’s important to note that East Whiteland residents did not kick up a fuss about their sewer system selling to Aqua. As a matter of fact, sometimes you wondered if people had a pulse over this issue.
I have to wonder if Aqua will take this to court? The reason I wonder that is because Bucks County was a big kick in the teeth for them already. And just for gossip inquiries, someone also said that Willistown had their solicitor resign? Is that true?
This stopping the sale is quite the accomplishment on the part of the residents from Willistown and other communities.
Anyway, enjoy the following video snippets courtesy of Ginny Kerslake.
Please note that this is a developing story and I will have more video eventually. Stay tuned.
The hot news out here in Chester County is there is an unusual Friday evening Willistown meeting. it’s being held shortly at General Wayne Elementary at 7 PM sharp this evening.
It’s kind of unbelievable to think about it and realize it may happen, but in a little over two hours, Willistown Township could be breaking up with Aqua over the sewer sale?
Now interestingly enough today I have an afternoon reach out from Aqua. I don’t know why they reached out to me other than I write about this. But I’m not the media I’m a blogger. They sent me a document you can view HERE, but I am attaching screenshots of below. It has to do with Aqua and their rates.
I don’t have a horse in this race because it’s Willistown but we will see what happens. I do think Aqua needs to deal with what they do vis-à-vis rates, however.
I am told by my network of contacts that there are people in New Garden and elsewhere who rolled their eyes when they saw this document I was sent. They told me in their opinion it was truly propaganda, and they couldn’t understand why Aqua seemed like they were confessing about the New Garden rates going up like 90% and how this was so different from what residents there were told before the deal closed and that is kind of weird, right? They also asked where Aqua’s rate increase calculations were for Willistown?
Anyway, it’s looking like a pre-prom break up but who knows what will happen because this is Willistown we’re talking about…. also, this meeting will not be televised although for the life of me I can’t figure out why they can’t leave the Internet on a little better in this elementary school. Hopefully people record the meeting, but if you are interested, get to the meeting at 7 PM
I blog about things I wish to blog about. People seem to confuse that with I am going to blog about what they decide I should be blogging about, what they want me to blog about, and when they want me to blog about whatever.
You know, like I work for them. Only I do not.
Earlier today this comment came in:
Ok fine, the comment published. It was about some upstate super Pennsyltucky Stepford Wife for Totalitarianism. Who apparently has be charged with harassing someone of a different political persuasion or lifestyle using a dead woman’s Facebook profile. Yes for real, and there is a court docket up in Pike County . ( MJ-60302-NT-0000079-2023 /complaint N 0140482-6 )
Ok is this crazy town and beyond awful? YES. But I can’t write about everything. Also this is not happening locally. No doubt this woman is not my kind of person.
However, I saw the story, read the articles and went on with my life. Life happens. My friend Barry wrote in and asked why this comment was left on a post about development in West Whiteland. I told him it happens all the time. People decide to just leave a random un associated comment wherever on this blog.
But then this person left ANOTHER comment a little while ago. A repeat of their first comment:
Same email, another I.P. address:
So are you following here? This person wants me to write about a person who harassed someone using a dead person’s Facebook profile by harassing me by leaving multiple comments?
Alrighty then.
People, find your own voices and USE them. And finding your voice doesn’t include leaving multiple comments for me to be your voice.
This is bad as the woman who contacted me recently claiming to be abused and needing “our” help. Apparently she’s mistook my blog’s Facebook page for a group.
Did I mention that she sported an entirely fake Facebook profile? I told her truthfully I don’t think I could help but offered information on resources to organizations which could help. So what did I get for my efforts? She essentially bitched at me and told me to stop contacting her when she was messaging me.
Some of you out there love to criticize me as a blogger, even hate on me for not being matchy matchy with your views or for merely writing about something. And then if I am not writing about something you have decided I should be writing about or doing, I am just supposed to accept certain levels of what amounts to being harassment or making me feel harassed?
