Monthly Archives: May 2023

life in the cray cray lane

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I am just COVID free a couple of days but still feeling the fatigue. But Sunday was the first day I felt like gardening. So I did for like 3 hours.

As I was cleaning up a car shows up in front of my house. Some odd woman in a Nisson Rogue.

“Amazon!” she calls out like I am getting the items from her car FOR her.

“You can leave them on the porch, thanks.” I replied.

Next came the difficulty of where to leave packages. The instructions were pretty much crystal clear.

Then she asked me how I am and I looked at her and I’m like truthfully I’m tired. And she says “I’m tired too!“ I mumble something polite and commiserating, but I am all the while thinking to myself I don’t think I should be talking to her. (Always listen to the spidey sense.)

Then this woman has to go through this odd routine, where she reads out my name, and then my husband’s name, and then our address. (I resist the urge to say anything. I don’t want to have a conversation with a stranger.)

“I have packages for you and your husband and one might be heavy.” She says.

I just looked at her a minute. I didn’t say what I was thinking which was that I don’t order anything from Amazon I can’t lift so why is she working for them? With most job applications, if there is any physicality to it, they ask if you can lift 50 pounds. I think that’s the number?

I took a deep breath and told her if it’s heavy she can leave it on the walk or at the curb, that I would have my husband move it. I then go about my business which is taking some photos of my garden after working on it. I had adjusted a birdbath and I took it’s photo. You see the photo above? That’s it.

So the woman instead of leaving my packages goes all freakazoid and YELLS “ARE YOU TAKING MY PHOTO?”

I look up and I say (truthfully) that no I am taking pictures of my garden and birdbath.

“YOU CAN’T TAKE MY PHOTO!” she yells again.

I tell her once again what I was doing on my own property. I offered to show her the photo I took but she wanted none of it. I didn’t bother to tell her there are security cameras that could also capture her. I also didn’t bother to try to explain that she’s on a public street and that there is no expectation of privacy.

Finally I just snap at her to leave my packages at the curb and go. Her response is:

“YOU’RE NOT GETTING YOUR PACKAGES NOW! I AM TAKING THEM WITH ME!”

I looked at her and said that she was being paid by Amazon / Amazon Logistics to deliver packages not take them. I said to her technically, if she was now leaving with my packages that she was supposed to deliver it was like she was stealing them.

“YOU’RE THREATENING ME!!” She screams.

Oh, and then she starts taking my picture. I gave her the finger and told her to leave. Yes giving her the finger was not nice but guess what? I had had quite enough at this point.

At this point I did take a photo of her in her car, her car, and license plate to report to Amazon and the police. And I informed her that I was indeed taking her photo this time and her response was along the lines of I should knock myself out. That in and of itself was strange, just like her continuing to sit there. Because was it not just not a few minutes before she was screaming at me for taking my photo?

Technically I could show bad kitty’s face because photo was taken on a public street but I chose not to. This photo was ONLY taken after driver started randomly photographing me.

I started calling Amazon while she literally sat there on my street complaining to a friend (or friends?) of hers on her phone.

I have had some bizarre Amazon experiences with messed up deliveries (you know when breakables get tossed into a box and arrive broken and oozing out of a box, or they say they delivered only nothing arrived), but this one takes the cake, because I have never experienced such a delivery person anywhere. I reported her to Amazon. They actually couldn’t believe the driver. Or so I thought with my initial phone call.

Initially I felt reassured from a call center a million miles away in a different country. Sadly, it didn’t last that feeling.

I then filed a police report. I felt uncomfortable even after the Amazon Flex Driver finally left, taking my packages with her, so I decided although I wasn’t someone who generally speaking filed incident reports, decided to file one. (Now I am glad I listened to that inner voice of spidey sense, but I am getting ahead of myself.)

A lawyer who is a friend said to me:

Why did she remove them from your property to take them back to her car?

Why didn’t she just leave the packages?

And if so threatened and afraid for her safety, why didn’t she immediately drive away?

You are allowed to video and take her picture. Just as you implicitly consent, by way of ordering, to their delivery people entering your property to deliver. She as an employee of one of their sub contractors is also implicitly consenting to being recorded by delivering for Amazon.

Furthermore, Frightened people do not stick around hanging out recording with their car door open.

When I called Amazon and it was hard because it was an offshore call center. I could tell the poor woman did not understand me so I asked if she could bump me up to a supervisor because I knew I was speaking quickly because I was upset at what had happened, and she did. I spoke to a really nice man who said he would bump this up stateside. He was the one who made me feel reassured.

Yesterday at 4:11 PM I received a phone call from a woman at Amazon Logistics in the US. Very, very nice lady who goes through everything with me and then tells me (1) MY Amazon account is FROZEN while they investigate this incident. oh and (2) I had to verbally verify and in writing that their delivery people would be SAFE on our property.

So I have now done this once verbally, and FOUR times in writing. It seems like whenever I reply it goes back into an email queue and it’s like I have to start the process over, only I am not. I have actually sent them two security camera videos SHOWING their driver experience delivering with two different drivers.

I spoke to an Amazon DSP (Delivery Service Partner) delivery guy today. He has a regular route and I see him around making deliveries. I asked him if he ever had problems here or felt “unsafe” delivering and he looked at me puzzled. So I gave him the Cliff Notes version and his jaw dropped. He said simply “This is one of my favorite routes, I love the gardens I get to look at. You are so nice when I see you.”

But apparently those flex drivers are a very different species than DSPs or other Amazon drivers. I am thinking the standards are lower.

The flex drivers are the most independent of independent contractors, and they choose blocks of time. They are available to pick up and deliver for two or more hours and qualifications for a flex. Drivers seem kind of like they have a smart phone and a driver’s license and they have to do a tutorial on some Amazon app and have a vehicle with valid registration and insurance. I don’t know what level of background checks they do for these positions, that would be interesting to know.

All I know is as a customer I feel wronged. This isn’t bad order wrong, this is a delivery human who flipped out on me for going about my business on my own property, and then TOOK instead of DELIVERING my packages which sorry not sorry is her JOB, not taking them.

I thought 2018 was bizarre when an Amazon Logistics driver literally left an entire mesh bag/container thing full of packages in the middle of our street. We kept calling and calling Amazon to try to get them picked up to no avail. I was actually told in one phone call to just keep the items and how could we do that? These all belonged to people nearby so my husband delivered all of the packages that people did not come and pick up.

Then there was just recently when I received a book I did not order. They said it was a gift, but I still have no idea who sent it, only the person who gave it must find me very rude because I never said thank you. Amazon for “safety” wouldn’t tell me who sent it, which is kind of pretzel logic and creepy feeling since a mystery person apparently knows MY address, can’t you agree?

https://chestercountyramblings.com/2023/05/14/smart-brevity-amazon-needs-better-customer-service-as-in-actual-service

Now in 2018 I also tried then so-called Prime Now for groceries once in a while. As opposed to Instacart there was no easy way to have the shopper contact the customer if something was out of stock. Then in 2019, I bailed on Prime Now one July day when the food was first NOT delivered when I ordered (the shopper person shopped, order just was never delivered), and then when my husband used his account to order what hadn’t ever arrived when I originally ordered. His order was delivered, and nothing perishable was packed for perishable so cold and frozen food were kind of spoiled and melted in 100° weather. So we just bagged that Prime Now altogether.

Apparently our area doesn’t have Prime Now’s successor “Amazon Fresh”, and we tried Whole Foods delivery via the Amazon app before COVID and once after COVID I think it was and it was very hit or miss. Lots of missed items and no one ever looking at substitutions or contacting you. Truthfully I don’t even go to Whole Foods much since Amazon acquired them. I thought it would be a good thing originally, but it is just not the same. It’s not that I don’t like Whole Foods, its just not as fabulous as I once found it and it’s a little pricey to not be fabulous. So it is only once in a great while

So back to this Amazon debacle. A little while ago I went to check on an order that is not being delivered by Amazon, it is being delivered by USPS. I get the message no one wants on an online account. That my account is completely locked due to suspicious activity. It gives me the notification option, so Amazon text messages a code. SAME message comes up and they offer a phone number to call: 1-800-388-5512. I call that number and after a painful twenty minutes plus, the lady on the phone tells me I have to call 1-877-472-7562. Only that is NOT for customers, that number is a driver support phone number that all drivers must call if there is a problem.

So I go back and call Amazon Logistics again at 1-877-252-2701. There after an eternity I discover that apparently I am the suspicious activity on my own account which is locked, but there should be no reason why I shouldn’t be able to review my account, even if I can’t order anything.

I mean truly this is BEYOND messed up from beginning to end. It’s like the good old days of customer service simply do not exist. It used to be so easy to deal with Amazon. Tons of super nice customer service on the West Coast. Good deliveries, nothing crazy. And now the bigger they get, the problems multiply, don’t they? Do we have to now ask ourselves if Amazon thinks themselves too big to fail, but are they?

Time will tell.

Will they resolve my issue or just ditch me as a customer and side with the crazy flex driver or will I just break up with them because this whole thing was just that cray cray? It looks like my account is back open, but maybe it is also time to look at alternatives instead of depending on them so much?

Time will tell.

In the meantime, here are some current articles I find interesting:

Seattle Times: Amazon walkout to go ahead after 1,700 employees sign on, organizers say

By Lauren Rosenblatt Seattle Times Amazon reporter May 30, 2023 at 4:26 pm

Amazon, Hit With Driver Lawsuit, Braces for 1,000-Worker Walkout

Yahoo/Glenn Taylor Tue, May 30, 2023 at 1:43 PM EDT

https://www.complaintsboard.com/amazon-terrible-amazon-customer-service-c1406644

https://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/Amazon.com

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/01/why-does-it-feel-like-amazon-is-making-itself-worse.html

beach kid memories

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A sandcastle friend and I.

Down the shore, going to the beach. The Philadelphia Inquirer did a story on people’s memories. The article made me smile and think back to the little kid years.

SHORE MEMORIES
July 4 celebrations, nine kids in a car, cycling in Cape May. Readers reminisce on their trips down the Shore.

There are so many memories from the little kid stage. First down in the gardens in Ocean City when my sister and I were really little. Bike parades with patriotic colored streamers in the spokes.

My sister at like 3 making bowls of blueberries for everyone by putting each blueberry one at a time in each bowl. And counting each blueberry.

One of my Ocean City friends.
The red VW bug was my father’s car.

Getting fake yellow patent leather shoes with white daisies on them on the Ocean City boardwalk and then getting the the worst blisters ever. Getting my first pair of moccasins on the boardwalk for learning to speak softly. Being threatened with wearing “dungarees” if I kept messing up clothes or whatever it was that I was doing that was annoying.

Riding the super cool carousel on the Ocean City boardwalk but not really being big enough to grab a brass ring. The Ferris Wheel that gave you a view of everything and the mingled smells of cotton candy, popcorn, and boardwalk pizza.

Making sandcastles on the beach. Constantly skinning my knees. The day my sister decided to wander away on the beach when she was really little and the scary feeling of not knowing where she was and feeling like it was forever until they found her. And she really wandered a fair distance I remember.

Fireworks as big as the sky. Sparklers on July 4th.

Bike riding around the Gardens in
Ocean City with my father.

Then there were the Avalon years, of which there were many. Going with my father to the bakery on Dune Drive that was like down from the Princeton on OTHER side of Dune Drive for cinnamon buns and those puffy cream donuts all dusted in powdered sugar. There is just something about the smell of an old school bakery combined with the smells of the beach in the morning.

Swimming with our father out to sandbars and body surfing to shore.

The annual posing for photos in front of the lifeguard boat in matching swimsuits which I hated more than the matching dresses.

The year my mother put peroxide on our hair before we went in the sun and we were strictly instructed to tell daddy she only used lemon juice.

Going to church and liking the little old church better than the new church and it’s ugly auditorium design. Overall wishing we didn’t have to go to church in the summer.

Being bored to tears being dragged to Hassis so my father could go clothes shopping.

The Paper Peddler for books and the occasional Mad Magazine.

Remembering when one of my father’s single or divorced friends came to visit and they wanted to go to The Rocking Chair. My mother stayed with us and the guys went out.

The old Avalon Library on a rainy day. Cool and damp, it smelled like sand and mildew.

Flying kites on the beach. I loved kites!

Going to buy penny candy at the little general store that was around 7th street with a whole dollar each! A friend of my mom’s friends named Weezie handed us each a dollar with one hand, her cigarette in the other hand, and told us to “go blow our minds.”

Kite flying

I also remember the old movie theatre on the pier in Avalon. When the waves and surf got rough enough, I swear you could feel the building sway, only it didn’t freak you out, it was oddly comforting.

Right where the theatre was, there was also an arcade. The arcade had Skee Ball, which I still love. After you would collect all your tickets from playing, you could buy endless kitschy salt and pepper, shakers and bobble heads. I liked the Bobblehead cats and dogs. And I remember things like salt and pepper shakers that look like lightbulbs. It was so much fun!

Summer community theatre. Someone we knew was in Peter Pan and was flown across the stage on wires.

At night then, Avalon was pretty quiet. Dark skies, the sounds of crickets and kids. Brilliant, marvelous starry skies.

I hated the matching swimsuits and these photos. I remember especially disliking this swimsuit pattern. But it was easier to find us on the beach. My mother wasn’t a go into the ocean and get her hair wet person.

And then I have other memories like visiting family friends who owned Woodrow Wilson’s cabin on 13th St. in Avalon. It had a fireplace and was one of my favorite places even in the winter. In the summer, these friends would have cookouts, and the kids would run around and do stuff, and the parents would sit out back on lawn chairs and beach chairs surrounded by planted clumps of bamboo threatening to take over. When dusk and evening would fall, I remember the times we would all trek to the beach and watch the stars. And also do things like climb the lifeguard stands. All of the adults and all of the kids. It was an adventure!

Other memories like playing in the dunes when they were really high dunes. And I also have a magical kid memory of being somewhere around 8th street or 10th street or wherever and watching little hatched sea turtles swish their way down the sand into the sea. I wonder if any sea turtles nest there anymore because Avalon is so over developed at this point.

Then there are other random memories like watching moon landings on a little tiny black-and-white TV at the beach, and watching Nixon get impeached and leaving Washington DC.

Funny memories like going to a pancake house in Avalon with my mother, my sister, father, and their friends and their kids. I don’t think it was Uncle Bill’s, I remember another pancake place. It was Aunt somebody, Aunt Maggie’s maybe? Anyway, we were seated half banquette seating, half chairs with tables all put together. We were on the banquette side. My mother threw her head back to laugh at something, and her hair caught in the plastic plants in the little divider wall that the banquette seating was up against. When she went to move her head and untangle her hair, it created a chain reaction of plastic plants, being lifted out of their containers on top of the banquette. It was hysterical.

I loved the dunes! This was sound 9th or 10th street in Avalon. I wore that smiley face t-shirt until the decal came off.

When I was little, I loved the beach. But it was a lot different then. We started out in the gardens in Ocean City, but my parents had friends with homes in Avalon and Stone Harbor and there was a lot more space there when we were little, so that’s how we ended up there. As these beach towns have gotten built up, even the spit that Strathmere is, I have stopped wanting to go there. I still love Cape May but that’s basically for the Victorian architecture that so gloriously preserved. I don’t like how built up everything has become.

But when I saw the article in the Inquirer it just made me think. It even made me think of the little kid activities in the evening like catching the little toads that you would see hopping around and putting them in a bucket and then letting them go. And catching fireflies in a jar. Marshmallows on a stick. Hula hoops, flashlight tag. Transistor radios. Being super bummed when we crossed over the Ben Franklin bridge and were back in Philadelphia.

So many fun memories.

Happy Memorial Day weekend.

this is why municipalities need ordinances that correct wrongs

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219 Namar Avenue, Exton, PA

Namar Avenue in Exton/West Whiteland is one of those little neighborhoods of post-war (as in World War II) housing and earlier. There was a housing boom in Chester County before and following World War II which is how places like General Warren Village in East Whiteland came to be for example, and parts of Northeast Philadelphia too. This house is in Whiteland Crest I believe the name of this little area in Exton. And that area started coming into existence I think in the 1930s and most building was done up to the 1950s at some point.

Sadly this cute area is home to a rather derelict house.

Can you imagine living with this derelict house next door to you? It was sold most recently in 2021. It is the first photo in this post and the two just above.

But if you just Google the address, that house has had a lot going on for years:

I think there is probably a rather sad story here PRIOR to 2021 but the new owners have continued to let it rot since 2021, so what gives?

My point of this post is not all negative. My point actually is there is hope for dealing with properties like this at least in West Whiteland since is West Whiteland is a municipality that approved a property maintenance ordinance in March. Now if that ordinance had been in effect before the property changed hands in 2021, the township would have perhaps been able to help the homeowner find a non-profit group to help them clean up. But since this property changed hands in the fall of 2021 it has continued to dangerously deteriorate, so now this code will also be of help to the neighbors who deserve better than this.

I remember when I first moved to Chester County, in East Whiteland there was a derelict house on Morstein Road. The police had to babysit it because kids kept going in etc. Eventually the family sold it for a two lot subdivision. But if there had been more of a maintenance ordinance then in that township, maybe it would have been different? I also think this West Whiteland ordinance will also address people building structures without permits that require permits. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Along with ordinance like this there should be rental ordinances. Not just life and safety and inspections required when a property changes hands. The developers have introduced so many apartment complexes and developments that are loaded with rentals that it is desperately needed.

And student rental ordinances. East Whiteland is home to Immaculata, as an example. And there is no rental ordinance or student rental ordinance is there?

What made me think about those kinds of ordinances again in particular were comments on NextDoor about Frazer Crossing Apartments which used to be known as William Henry. But I thought about rental ordinances when the whole human trafficking thing happened in East Whiteland. It just made me wonder if there were rental inspection ordinances, would there have been rentals with human trafficking going on? Or would that bad row of houses just past the Wawa at 30 and Planebrook Road exist if there were actual rental ordinances in place?

It’s a shame that we no longer live in a world where people will do the right things, but if people don’t know what the rules are will they do the right thing today? My thoughts on ordinances like this are nothing new. I wrote about the need for rental property ordinances in April.

I see West Whiteland as taking proactive steps in ordinances surrounding property maintenance and rental properties. It’s a good thing, it will create a level and safe playing field. Here’s hoping some of her neighbors follow suit.

Thanks for stopping by.

why townships need rules on rental properties

things that make me not respect people in my own community

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Anonymous I am not, no matter what people I choose not to know and interact with say.

And within my own community if I think something is wrong. I stand up and I say so. Anonymous letters using probably someone’s voters list bother me. I received one such piece of mail a little while ago

I do not respect this. If you don’t like something in your community, don’t use a voter rolls list, stand up as a taxpayer and resident and say you don’t like something will we join you or will we talk about it, etc.

Anonymous lost me here. Not because of what bothers them necessarily, but because we as residents don’t know who is behind this mass mailing. How are we supposed to know if these people have our best interests at heart or their own personal agenda?

Well if they want me to listen (and perhaps that doesn’t matter to them) I would like to know which political party donated a mailing list and why we should listen?

Tell your neighbors if you are one of us and why. Plenty of the rest of us, myself included, stand up and are heard. Either do that or sit down.

This could very well be some out of the area slum lord. Or it could be a developer who might not be able to shove as many lemming apartments in.

And as much as I am not particularly in favor of Route 30 being widened, in places it is actually possibly necessary. But there have been meetings about this for years, it’s not a new topic.

This is as distasteful to me as the anonymous calls I received a few years ago telling me it was my job to get up and say the now former township manager wasn’t good, even if that hadn’t been my personal experience, you expected me to go to a township meeting while you hid in the shadows. I wouldn’t carry that water then, and won’t urge anyone to do so now if we don’t know who we are dealing with and why.

So whomever you are if you want community consideration, let us know you are actually one of us invested in our community. Until then, piss off with this throwback East Whiteland political skullduggery.

thinking

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COVID is one of those things I have decided that when your brain starts to clear from this insidious virus, you are still left to rest, which leaves time for reflection and thinking assorted thoughts.

I have spent the better part of two weeks being sick. Definitely not as sick as I would have been if I hadn’t had shots, but sick enough. It gives you time for reflection when you are not feeling like your eyelids are fever hot and burning and your head is heavy and clogged and you want to sleep, yet you can’t breathe so you sleep in fits and spurts. While I am through the worst of it, the tired factor is definitely real. Truthfully, the last time I felt this tired was when I was going through radiation treatment years ago. It’s a kind of crazy tired where you want to sleep and you just have to rest. Even if you thought you had other plans, you literally have to stop and listen to your body.

Having COVID is also a very weird thing because nobody wants to talk about the fact that they actually have it because there’s such a stigma attached to it after the past few years. When I told people I had been exposed and tested positive some (right or wrong) made me feel like I exposed them to leprosy or worse. I felt that same feeling before when I told people had breast cancer. You can only control yourself you can’t control how people react to a situation but it’s really kind of sucky. I tried really hard since COVID became part of our world to stay healthy so I was feeling bad enough having to say “Hi I have COVID, you’ll need to get tested.”

And then of course there were the people from the event where I picked COVID up. Most were sympathetic, but others less so. Disappointing that some were downright obnoxious, but also human nature and reverting to high school form when uncomfortable. I did the right thing. I told the people I was around I got sick and where I picked it up. For me tracing was not particularly difficult, I don’t go many places and haven’t since COVID because I am immunocompromised.

Then, interestingly, enough, what has occurred over the past couple of weeks as I’ve had COVID are the people that tell me they had COVID but didn’t tell anybody. All these people literally went through this thing without telling people I think in part because of the social and political stigma that has been attached to COVID.

I think if we don’t talk about when we have it, we’re never going to get past it or learn how to get around it.

Then there was the other introspection. When you are supportive of others and then they are shitty to you, it actually hurts. And when you see them doing it to others who have been supportive of them as well, it’s just something which gives you pause. I have observed this recently and it does sadden me .

Now this is someone who could be going through something no one is aware of, but they’ve been pretty obnoxious which then makes you realize that if they want to live on their emotional island you can’t help them with that. Lashing out and pushing people away is their choice. And again, it’s really sad. So you take a step back and hope that they figure it out.

I found myself realizing over the past couple of weeks that I actually spend a lot of time checking in with people who sometimes aren’t so reciprocal. And I get everyone has stuff going on, but human beings can be selfish. And self-serving. This made me realize, we all can and should do better. Be better. But do we remember how?

For the past few years we have been living in an angry, angry country. Things that used to be beautiful and true have turned ugly. Principles and ideals, even political ones we thought we could count on have changed; even dissolved. I think that has had far reaching effects into all of our own lives.

For the political lately (and locally) I have two examples. Sad examples.

First we have the spring primaries. I will go local although I believe the issue is regional, if not statewide. Yes, the Chester County Democratic Committee, AKA the CCDC. Slowly but surely they are emulating what and who they replaced more and more every day. This election they employed the school of political dirty tricks poorly in the 11th hour. Their main problem? They may have knocked out an independent unendorsed candidate this time around, but they can’t control the narrative that their actions, some rather indiscreet, created. That narrative will have far reaching effects and consequences. Their actions have turned off more of their devoted. Me, I sadly expected it. Power corrupts and when leadership is weak and has tunnel vision are we really surprised? Nope, and history bears it all out.

So then we have to think about stupid human tricks. This week’s example comes courtesy of the West Goshen Republican Committee. A gun raffle fundraiser. Talk about tone deaf. The conversation for me, here is not an argument about whether or not people have the right to bear arms because they do in this country. I also, don’t have a problem with responsible gun ownership. The conversation here for me is that a political organization, being deliberately divisive, and acting quite the provocateur. Candidates that accept their gun money, even decent moderate candidates will suffer. It’s in poor taste and throw back Pennsyltucky politics. This is creating unnecessary divisiveness, and again, is in such bad taste.

And then there are the oddities of social media like the people you don’t want to be connected to and don’t even know who try to friend you on every platform. What you do know of them is their bad behavior on public pages. And somehow they feel the need that they have to know you. No, no I don’t want to know you, I choose not to know you. (And that’s okay.)

Then there is the reporter with whom you had a negative interaction with years ago of their initiation that you have zero to do with ever. Because they and several someone elses were indiscreet with a political hot potato e-mail that read like a press release and was shopped they actually think you had access to their email. Bloggers are not hackers, and wowwww please let me off of this crazy train. I don’t roll like that.

From there we move on to crazy school board candidates. They claim to go high yet they run around on the down low accusing people left right and center of doxxing. Ummm yeah, ok, it’s stuff YOU talked about including as a politician so how does this work again? And what’s even funnier is you have supporters who do just that to people but it’s ok?

And yes I have people who track me obsessively because I am a blogger. It’s creepy AF.

The world has turned into a completely crazy place, and sometimes we have to look hard to find our golden moments of peace and happiness. It makes me realize again that life is short. It’s not about being a perfect person because I don’t think we can be as humans. But it’s in part about doing what makes you happy and trying to be a good person.

So what else do I think? I think if you tell people you don’t desire contact with them and they persist with what can only be construed as unwanted contact that it gives you pause. Unwanted contact is creepy. I have actually had to block people on various platforms because they don’t have respect for boundaries. (But I am being repetitive and I apologize. It’s just something I marvel at.)

And then there are the people who are just bad actors on the stage of life. They do things to hurt people and think they answer to no one. Well Karma is a bitch, and eventually the truth will come out. Some of these people also pretend to be able to do jobs they are not actually qualified to do. Some of these jobs are centered around nonprofits which is sad.

These are just some random thoughts I have been having. You can agree with me, or disagree with me, that’s up to you. Life is short. Live it well. Do your best. Be a good human. Stand up for truth.

Ciao.

wtf development proposed AGAIN in east whiteland…

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Start around the 1 hour 20 minute mark.

WTF East Whiteland Township? HOW MUCH ROUTE 30 DEVELOPMENT DO WE NEED? MORE FREAKING APARTMENTS?

OH BARF.

I mean seriously what is this bullshit?

This is planned for the Clews and Strawbridge property. 310 Lancaster Avenue Malvern/Frazer. Otherwise known as where the 18th century farmhouse has been rotting for YEARS and YEARS.

rotting 18th century chester county farmhouse in east whiteland.

People time to contact East Whiteland Township. Go to meetings. Like yesterday. Chester County is going to sink under the weight of development. Our infrastructure can’t support this, our school districts can’t support this, we can’t continue to live like this.

If you live in East Whiteland Township or drive through this area or live in a municipality on either side of this area, please contact East Whiteland Township. It’s time for us to start standing up for what we want in our community and not just standing idly by like a bunch of sheep.

Stop the madness. Slow down development.

Supervisor E-Mails:

slambert@eastwhiteland.org

rorlow@eastwhiteland.org

pfixler@eastwhiteland.org

Township Manager:

sbrown@eastwhiteland.org

Assistant Township Manager:

cricardo@eastwhiteland.org

Be polite but if you OBJECT, PLEASE speak up.

NOT RELATED but Also don’t forget about the FIRE at a new construction site in West Whiteland on Lancaster Avenue right near Church Farm School. It was May 5th. As described by West Whiteland Fire Company:

At 8:18AM The West Whiteland Fire Company was dispatched to the 800 block of E. Lincoln Hwy. in the new neighborhood under construction for a commercial building fire. The West Whiteland Township Police Department arrived to find heavy smoke showing.

Employees tried to extinguish the fire with an extinguisher prior to calling 911, unfortunately giving the fire time to grow. Initial arriving crews stretched two hand lines to the first and second floors. Crews found fire coming from the floor of the second floor. An attempt was made to extinguish the fire, but the fire had already spread throughout the void space between the two floors. Due to collapse concerns crews were ordered to evacuate the building. The fire continued to grow rapidly and reached gas lines. Eventually the fire reached the attic space and caused a collapse of the HVAC system on the roof into the second floor. Crews then went into defensive operations with master streams. The fire was placed under control in just under an hour and a half. Crews cleared the scene at 1 PM after extensive overhaul.

Thank you once again to our mutual aid partners for your assistance at todays fire. Lionville Fire Company, East Brandywine Fire Company, First West Chester Fire Co., Engine Co. 51, Goshen Fire Company, Uwchlan Ambulance Corps, Good Will Fire Company #2 of West Chester and East Whiteland Fire Company.

Also, a big thank you to The Paoli Fire Company and their crew for standing by while we operated and helping our crews get the apparatus cleaned and back into service.

~ West Whiteland Fire Company 5/5/23

grab your popcorn and meet the sacrificial lambs of the chesco dems, the “filing 5”

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Well they aren’t letting this go, and neither am I. This whole thing? In my humble opinion to eliminate a threat from their limited world order. But I never want to run for office, etc, so I might as well ponder aloud, right?

Reference:

BREAKING NEWS: does the chester county democratic committee also eat their own young? or is this just vote how mommy told you?

So when the news *magically* broke in the 11th hour, the Chester County Democratic Committee was taking action?

And then good Granma Charlotte Valyo sent it to the media too, also referencing action taken by the CCDC?

But then, like *magic* in the 11 3/4 hour a different tune was being sung. That it was the filing 5, it wasn’t the Chester County Democratic Committee?

I love a good political drama, don’t you? Or is this a messy family sitcom?

So the names. Some of these fine “upstanding” Democraps had no problem with a candidate who had issues, but they have a problem with Paige Simmons?

Gosh that is AMAZING isn’t it? That was the guy who caused a LOT of convention drama recently, right? But he is A-OK? And I don’t know the guy but it is a valid comparison to make isn’t it? They forgive this guy his sins but her they wish to crucify? I will say it again: PRETZEL LOGIC.

Rivera withdraws from 158th ballot, will run as write-in
Rivera-quits-158th-campaign-–-Daily-LocalDownload
Republican-Rivera-withdraws-from-Chester-County-primary-ballot-–-Daily-LocalDownload

I guess I am just confused? Lenny Rivera could be forgiven ummmm….mistakes, yet they are going whole hog after Magisterial District Justice Paige Simmons? That is so twisted AF pretzel logic, right? Don’t respond, you KNOW it is is. God don’t like ugly, and this is ugly. Also being all up in the Kool Aid and not knowing the flavor comes to mind as well, yes?

Also….even if you think you are the CCDC parliamentarian, it doesn’t mean you are, does it? Kind of like that great line from the movie “Working Girl”

Sometimes, I dance around my apartment in my underwear… doesn’t make me Madonna, never will.

~ Joan cusak as Cynthia working girl 1988

Election day yesterday also saw this interesting back and forth with someone on a Mid Chester County Democrats:

So gosh it makes you wonder about what roles within their own areas the Filing 5 have right? Their relationship with the party chair for the county?

Kieran Francke – Oxgrove Dems – CP 330 London Britton? Rachel Wick – Zone Leader – Mid-Chester County Dems? Russ Phiffer – Oxgrove Dems CP – 340 London Grove, District 13 Leader, Candidate Recruitment and Development Committee Leader? Carol Catanese – Kennet Dems CP 454 Pennsbury North 2? Whitney Hoffman – Zone Leader – Kennett Dems?

Do I have any of those assignments wrong? So does someone want to tell me how the fix isn’t in here? Who is the voice of the Mid-Chester County Dems on Facebook? (Except I bet that might change in light of this at some point so does it matter?) CP= Committee Person — they are part of the CCDC by default, an elected (or appointed) position to represent their portion of the county, right? So sating the CP role is covered in the by-laws for the CCDC, but its mostly to distribute literature, gather volunteers, and work the table outside of the polling place to make sure sample ballots get out, is this their role too? To be of use when the party needs bodies for other things?

Are they avenging angels against any other candidates? And if they were avenging angels on other candidates why not announce that in the 11th hour too?

the-filing-5Download

I am all for election filings being accurate. For example, will we see anything about State Rep Kristine Howard who pissed everyone off by trying to run for judge? And by everyone I mean the Chester County Democratic Committee because that was the talk around town, wasn’t it?

I am still calling bullshit on this. Why? Because at the end of the day:

(1) Can Charlotte Valyo really say she didn’t orchestrate this?

(2) Can the Chester County Democratic Committee REALLY say they embrace people interested in running for office on any level unless they pre-approve them?

(3) Can the filing 5 have judgement which can be trusted, considering?

(4) Can any of these political skunks on a very minute political stage actually say they are doing this for the right reasons?

It’s time for new leadership at the Chester County Democratic Committee and it’s time that old wood is also exited, right? Because what is one thing about old wood and the Chester County Democratic Committee? Is it if you don’t burn this current house down, nothing ever will change?

I can’t support this constant BS from either political party. It makes me re-think being a Democrat. And I am certainly not a Republican any longer. But Pennsylvania doesn’t have open primaries so essentially Independents are denied primary rights.

If “voters should evaluate and choose elected officials based on their trustworthiness and their ability to make good judgments and follow the rule of law” then how do they allow for pure political vindictiveness?

Sign me disgusted with democracy and no wonder voter turnout is low. Also ponder they have given the Chester County Republican Committee so much FREE fodder, haven’t they? Which if they can get out of their Trumpian way will help them perhaps?

BREAKING NEWS: does the chester county democratic committee also eat their own young? or is this just vote how mommy told you?

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I mean gosh golly gee whillikers Grandma Charlotte, so much for party unity, right?

This will be a sorry not sorry post because once again, the Chester County Democratic Committee is proving that there actually is no party unity or “Democrat values”, just politics as ugly or even uglier than their Republican counterparts. AND this latest stunt will hand advantage over to the Chester County Republican Committee which in spite of being the home to Klanned Karenhood has to absolutely DYING LAUGHING on the floor right now. Of course today’s stunt makes a person wonder ALOUD what team Charlotte Valyo and the Chester County Democratic Committee play for? (Oh and as soon as I publish, I will once again be a BAD Democrat for opening my mouth. Macht Nichts.)

Here is the entire verbiage of the email I was sent by someone in Grandma Charlotte’s own backyard. I couldn’t believe it, but maybe they are tired of her bullshit too?

From: Charlotte Valyo, Chair CCDC <Chair@chescodems.org>
Date: Mon, May 15, 2023 at 7:23 AM
Subject: IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Please see the statement below which is intended to inform everyone of legal action taken by CCDC. This statement has also been submitted to the Daily Local News.  If you have any questions, please contact me directly.
 Charlotte Valyo, ChairChester County Democratic Committee610 692 5811 (office)610 505 1237 (mobile)
After reviewing the latest Campaign Finance Report submitted by Judge Paige Simmons on May 4, 2023, on May 12, 2023, a petition was filed with the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania to appoint an auditor to conduct an audit of the campaign accounts, contributions, and expenses for Judge Paige Simmons. Judge Paige Simmons is a duly elected Magisterial District Judge and is running for the position in the Court of Common Pleas in the upcoming May 16, 2023 Primary on both the Democratic and Republican ballots. The basis for the petition is the failure of Judge Simmons to properly register campaign committees as required by Pennsylvania campaign finance laws, the making of expenditures, receiving contributions, and making communications through unregistered, nonexistent campaign committees. The audit is sought to review contributions, receipts, and expenditures to determine how funds were raised, and whether committees were properly formed, etc.  There is the potential for violation of Pennsylvania Campaign Finance Laws. Judge Simmons has named three different committees in her “paid by” sections of her mailers, texts, signs, website, and digital ads. Further, if Judge Simmons is found to have raised money, expended money in her name or loaned money to committees that do not exist, this would be a violation of the Canons of the Judicial Code of Conduct. Every candidate and in particular candidates for judicial office must understand the requirements for office. Running for any public office requires knowing the statutory requirements. Adhering to statutory and ethical requirements is a key measure of readiness to serve. Judge Simmons has run for a judicial office before and should be knowledgeable of the requirements of campaign finance law and the Canons of Judicial Code of Conduct. 
Paid for by CCDC, Ann McNally, Treasurer  Chester County Democratic Committee
37 S High St
West Chester, PA 19382
United States

So…interesting FACT is that the Chester County Democratic Committee is trying to blow up an election over something the courts may not find has merit and won’t be heard until AFTER the election? I also am going to say they are giving District Justice Paige Simmons the extra special Ginny Kerslake treatment. Yeah I did say that out loud. I also think Paige Simmons terrifies them because she quite literally rolled up her sleeves and got it done with her first election for District Justice without them. You know women are still supposed to do as they are told around her, you hear? You hear? OR ELSE!!! (Eyes rolling.)

Except this in my humble opinion this current situation is more deeply troubling because I see racial undertones here. Yes racial undertones, AND A PUBLICITY STUNT.

Are only certain black women allowed to run for office as Democrats in Chester County? Sure seems that way, doesn’t it? And why has it seemed since both Fredda Maddox and Paige Simmons announced that both these women are an either or proposition? So is there a reason they don’t want two black women on a ballot? And in spite of the Cheyney job of it all, they chose Fredda over Paige? Mind you, I know neither woman but I found it interesting. Fascinating even.I think the Chester County Democratic Committee is TERRIFIED of Paige Simmons. And Chester County Democratic Committee what else are you terrified of?

On November 11, 2022, Chair of Chesco Dems, Charlotte Valyo wrote:

After what seemed like an endless stream of political ads, calls, and texts, the 2022 election is over, and voters sent a clear message about how they want the future to look in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and across the entire Country.

Chester County voters turned out in unprecedented numbers for a midterm election– a cycle in which the party in power historically loses elections. But in Chester County, voters from both parties voted to reject extremism, reject hate, and embrace a future in which we work together towards a better future for all.

~ Charlotte Valyo 11/11/2022

Then on December 31, 2022, always loving to toot her own horn, Grandma Charlotte of the People penned an Op-Ed on the Chester County Democratic website:

2022 will be a year remembered for many things in Pennsylvania – the Phillies made an unlikely run to the World Series, the Eagles look ready to return to the Super Bowl, and voters in Pennsylvania bucked a century of political election trends to reject extremism in a historic way.

All of these achievements embody the spirit of Pennsylvania – we are a Commonwealth of honest, passionate, hard working people. We don’t have any unreasonable or lofty expectations of our elected officials, but we do expect that they too will be honest, hard working, passionate advocates for us and put the needs of Pennsylvanians over partisan political interests.

My most important learning in 2022 is that this is still true, and that a commitment to truth, civility, and reason remains deeply embedded in Chester County and across the Commonwealth. People in Pennsylvania were presented with two very different paths in the election this year. One was a path paved with hate, extremism and conspiratorial lies, and the other was paved with hope, vision, and leadership. The message sent by voters was clear and one better heeded by Republicans across Pennsylvania, than by me.

For the sake of our democracy, I hope that my Republican friends also see the lesson here and recognize that it is time to turn the page on the era of Trump and Trumpian impersonators, but early signs in Harrisburg aren’t promising.

~Charlotte Valyo, CCDC Chairwoman 12/31/22
(From Op-Ed in Delaware Valley Journal)

It’s all Kumbaya until you don’t listen to Mommy, right? And Mommy seems to be back peddling? So Mommy since it it is ALL public information, or should be, who filed Mommy and why are you back peddling now?

Here is Paige Simmons’ response:

Timing is everything here. EVERYTHING. If Paige Simmons was so terrible, why did she already get elected as a Magisterial District Justice? Are they doing this to ANY OTHER CANDIDATE? Of either party?

Oh gosh Charlotte Valyo, to you I simply say: GIRL BYE. You don’t lead, you never do. You only do what you are told by others. You got dimed out to me by your own camp, in your neck of the woods. I feel the need to point this out because you will blame MY friends. Honey, YOUR friends think you have gone too far this time. And do we really think if you weren’t desperate you would be shopping this to local media? Come on now, most of the time how do you really feel about local media?

(And no I am NOT taking a jab at the Daily Local at ALL. )

Here is the Daily Local article:

Candidate for judge in Chester County hit with campaign complaint
Daily Local News 1:02 PM

Charlotte and the Chester County Democratic Committee are as bad as the Republicans they lament. I also put to you the Democrat voters of Chester County that some of those happy little Democrat County Row job holders do not spend as much time as they should doing their actual county row jobs, and they also know that their time cards can be a Right to Know request, can’t they?

This thing, this great thing that the Chester County Democratic Committee claims to have unearthed is something that I feel is an 11th hour ploy to simply tank Paige Simmons’ campaign. It is also something that timing-wise as a piece of legalese, would NOT be heard until the END of this week IF it’s heard, because there is no guarantee is there?

People have the right to file if they feel there is actual wrongdoing. Not discouraging that. My whole thing is the TIMING. And what I feel are also weird racial vibes, like there can only be one black woman on a ballot at a time? And I bet they will call me a racist for being white and asking that question, but does that make me a racist really? Or just someone who wishes to be an informed voter?

TOMORROW is election day. TOMORROW. So why you have to ask yourselves did the Chester County Democratic Committee wait until NOW to do this? POLITICS. As in they are afraid Paige Simmons as a candidate is doing better than their candidates. And let us not forget, there has been a LOT of division over what the Chester County Democratic Committee has been doing and whom they choose to endorse.

Also has anyone asked Grandma to the people Charlotte why she or Chester County Democratic Committee is attempting 11th hour legal action against a fellow Democrat? Even if you don’t watch politics doesn’t it seem odd? I mean why have a primary election if we can’t chose unless mommy says so? Are endorsement conventions actually supposed to decide the primary election instead of the primary? I am confused, aren’t you? Talk about mixed messaging.

This is an odd year primary. This is also an odd thing to be doing. Are we all bobbleheads on this bus?

AND ABOVE ALL ELSE? IF THE CHESTER COUNTY DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE WAS PROUD OF THEIR LAST DITCH MUDDYING OF THE WATERS, THEY WOULD HAVE PUT THIS OUT THERE ON THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA BUT CAN YOU FIND IT?? SO GLAD Y’ALL STAND FOR FREEDOM, FAIRNESS, OPPORTUNITY…WE WERE WORRIED....

Yawn. I still have COVID, so back to bed with me. This is all so predictable. Chester County Democratic Committee needs new leadership, or actual leadership. Since I came to Chester County I have watched them as they block anyone independent as far as candidacy goes. From the most LOCAL levels of government. They want no one unendorsed and that’s a little lockstep with the Chester County Republicans as well, isn’t it? BOTH political parties COMPLAIN they can’t get people to run and they freaking wonder why?

Tomorrow is election day. It’s an off year so turn out will be low because apathy and laziness is what actually rules American politics. But if you are going to the polls tomorrow, I suggest to you with the exception of Kristine Howard who is really still their girl even if unendorsed, take a HARD look at the business of endorsements. And it is a business. After all just read that Inquirer article about Montgomery County recently. There is discontent not only in Montgomery County with the Democratic party, but in the Chester County Democratic Party as well. And their leadership isn’t so many years in (Chester County), and what they have done will actually ensure a stronger Republican series of campaigns in the fall. The foothold of the Democrats in Chester County has to been considered more tenuous because it actually is.

Tomorrow go vote the way YOUR HEART tells you to vote, NOT THE WAY SOMEONE ELSE IS TELLING YOU. And if the Chester County Democratic Committee really believed in their last minute dirty tricks, they would be shouting it from the treetops, and they are NOT. They are merely using a local paper to carry their water.

I am not going to say whom you should vote for, but I will tell you if you can’t look past the conniving endorsements and dirty politics of this spring slate, you deserve what you get if you are a Democrat in Chester County. And I will still tell you NOT to vote for Kristine Howard. I will also tell you that I thought about it and DID vote for Paige Simmons as one of my choices. (But I digress.)

After the primary no matter what happens, it is high time for a vote of no confidence in the current leadership of the Chester County Democratic Party. Hell, it’s not like it will be the first time, will it? And can we say the ones they show the door still try to play puppet master? So it really needs to be different?

In Chester County is Witch Hunt spelled C-h-e-s-t-e-r-C-o-u-n-t-y-D-e-m-o-c-r-a-t-i-c-C-o-m-m-i-t-t-e-e??

Sign me disgusted. Chester County Democrats only love you if you do as you are told does not work for me. Not.At. All.

dear willistown, if someone dumped strange chemicals on my property, can guarantee happiness wouldn’t abound

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So does anyone recognize that broad side of a barn or the logo on that tractor thing?

Well, apparently, if it’s something weird that will happen, it will happen in Willistown Township.

A friend has come to me asking if I recognized anything about this tractor like the logo and she knows it’s grainy because it’s from a security camera. Here is the tiny video. The video was taken May 3, 2023 at 9:50 AM. This video was taken on their property on Creek Road. They think that this vehicle came from Wildwood Drive.

The homeowners here were not home. They were out of town. They had not contracted with anyone for any sort of work on the property. And as far as they have been able to ascertain neither have their neighbors.

They went to the Willistown Police Department via phone because they were out of town when the security camera went off. They filed a police report right then, but right or wrong, recounted to me that they didn’t feel taken seriously, or the person taking the report didn’t understand how bad this could actually be.

Not only was their lawn completely turfed, and I have photos to post next, there is this smell emanating from where whoever this was dumped whatever it was and people need to know what the chemicals are! And yes the smell is still there! And it’s now days later!!

Now my friend does appreciate that Willistown sent an officer to check it out, however, this is something that is kind of a big deal potentially. Like many of us they are on a well. Like many of us, they have pets that could be potentially fatally sickened from whatever was tossed on their property. The officer who responded did not seem to get out of their vehicle?

This dumping event is SO not OK. Not only does this person not know what chemicals were dumped, but whoever the company is and employee totally ruined her lawn. She and her husband feel utterly VIOLATED and environmentally conscious Willistown Township needs to get on the stick here.

If you have any information, leave a comment, and or message any other kind of proof to this blog’s Facebook page. I will pass it along to the homeowner. If you saw the truck carrying this weird little tractor thing and Bubba in his big blue suit, also helpful information.

Illegal dumping is actually a crime. And this counts is illegal because they didn’t authorize any work or anything.

If you are media, and you would like to be connected to this person, you can similarly contact me and I will pass your information along to them.

We have enough environmental hazards on a daily basis without some thing that is intentionally bad news like this.

don’t be a revisionist history practitioner in bryn mawr…

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Beechwood House, Bryn Mawr, PA.

PREFACE….

This is not a dig at Shipley. It’s a simple desire for part of the history to be told more honestly than it is being told.

There were loads of media articles back then about this topic, and they ALL told this story: the school under the direction of former headmaster wanted to tear down Beechwood. Alumni and neighbors (who were also alumni and parents of alumni and students) wanted to save Beechwood. All of these people (myself included) were made to feel like PARIAHS as a result for a good part of this and weren’t made to feel too terribly comfortable AFTER like me who had a reunion not too long after completion.

It was very hard to take a stand back then over this. So hard. But this was the pivotal event that made me personally realize standing up in your community and for community and for things like historic preservation are important.

Acceptance is important as well. This was not a pretty time, but the events happened, and they mattered. And in the end it was positive. So truly positive.

The Shipley I have seen under the current headmaster is honestly magical. It is so good it even brought me back to campus. I believe in and support my alma mater.

I wrote this post to correct the record. After all, history is important. This is not burning down the proverbial house.

Now for the post:

In 2020, I wrote a post about Beechwood House in Bryn Mawr, PA. It is a completely restored adaptive reuse. This architectural gem is located on Shipley’s lower school campus. And I was a member of the group led by Heather Hillman which saved it. You see, the former headmaster literally wanted to pave paradise and put up a parking lot…a pool…etc.

what’s your preservation inspiration?

Our teachers at Shipley taught us not all of our history is convenient, that it’s the reality of what happened. They were also the ones that helped me write better and frame my arguments. My journalist mentors alway have said to write what I know. And I do know this I was there. It was a slog of a battle to save a beautiful home fallen on less than glorious times which had been designed by Addison Hutton. Yes, the same architect who designed Loch Aerie. But Beechwood was my first Addison Hutton love.

In between 10th and 11th grade I had a summer job on the Lower School campus of Shipley. I worked for the day camp there. When the little monsters, err darlings, were having naps I would explore non-renovated Beechwood which was part of the space used. It was fascinating to me back then because it had been almost crudely adapted to classroom space but you could see the bones of the original house when you did things like peeked in closets and behind shelves. It was the ultimate if these walls could talk.

We all have that one building or place that makes us look at the world differently. That one inspiration that makes us realize we can’t just sit idly by as our history disappears building by building, acre by acre.

For me, it was Beechwood House in Bryn Mawr. This was my first foray into community activism when I heard in the late 1990s that Shipley wanted to tear her down. It was because of this house that I spoke in front of people at a township meeting for the very first time all those years ago. Seriously, I had never even been to a meeting at my township building or spoken in front of everyone in a crowded room. But this place mattered to me and I joined Friends to Save Beechwood in their early days.

They wanted to tear Beechwood House down. It spread like wildfire back then. It was instantly polarizing in the community at large. Alumni of Shipley were in an uproar as well. This required professional mediation. Eventually Shipley said they would keep Beechwood if money was raised to save it by a certain deadline in 2001. To this day, I still think the school thought it would never happen. But it did.

Heather Hillman was the main driving force along with Jean Wolf (Wolf Historic Preservation) a preservationist who has done amazing things. (The saving of Beechwood was kind of a big to do at the time. There were many articles about it in multiple publications.)

As mentioned, I had never gone to a township meeting or spoken out in public. It got easier with time, but at first I was terrified. And in awe of these fierce women who did literally so much with a smile on their face and I don’t recall them raising their voices. I raised my voice, I was somewhat appalled by my alma mater when this started, and even when it was over – kind of like when they basked in the glory of the end result which was a successful restoration and adaptive reuse of a building we had to fight them to save because they didn’t think it was worth saving. (You can also read about Beechwood here.)

In 2006 when we had our 25th class reunion, we were able to get Beechwood House for our reunion. A lot of my classmates had contributed to the fundraising and along with me were listed up on the brass plaque inside the building. The headmaster at the time was making the reunion party rounds and was talking about the restoration of Beechwood with my class. He got heckled by one of my classmates because he didn’t mention me but mentioned almost everyone else on the Friends to Save Beechwood committee. But it was sadly a penultimate example of we might not as well have been there.

But we were, and saving that structure still brings me joy every time we go by. Shipley has the glory of a beautiful and useful structure. And loving Beechwood introduced me to Addison Hutton. But while Shipley does have the glory of the structure being saved and we raised all the money for it at the time, they need to be accurate in the retelling of the story. Not revisionist history. How we got there is important. So Shipley’s historians need a wee bit of grace here I think.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, we are taught by our teachers that not all history is convenient, and history can be uncomfortable. If you went to Shipley or live around it, the school thing with Beechwood is a little uncomfortable for some people. But sadly that is exactly why it should be discussed more honestly. Talking about it helps and it’s the right thing to do.

In 2021 when my class had their 40th reunion it was life in COVID. So our reunion was canceled. We had an online zoom reunion which was actually pretty fun and there were also online events offered for alumni who were interested. One was a history of Shipley. The lecture was given by the alumnus who re-wrote the history of Shipley, originally written by another alumnus and teacher of ours. I actually have both books.

Anyway, when the part of the school’s history reached the saving of Beechwood House, there was some coloring outside of the lines. At that time I politely asked for the historical record to be corrected to reflect what actually happened. Well when I attended some of the Shipley reunion activities last weekend I attended an in person lecture of the history of Shipley given by this same alumnus who was also I think having her 50th reunion. Once again, she colored outside the lines with the lecture. This time she actually credited the former headmaster who wanted to tear down Beechwood with saving her. Sorry it was a bridge too far for me, so here I am again. He did a lot of positive things for the school, but saving Beechwood wasn’t one of them. We saved it for him, for Shipley, and for Shipley’s history…and that’s an important distinction.

Yeah, ok, maybe I shouldn’t have, but when she asked if there were questions or comments at the end I raised my hand and politely reminded her that in 2021 I had asked her to amend the historical record as she recounts it on Beechwood House. She really didn’t like that and she said it was correct in the book. Well actually I beg to differ it is not completely correct in her book. It’s kind of fluffed over in my humble opinion. Technically, she included most facts, but she kind of glossed over the issue. I don’t think it should be glossed over, it should be discussed honestly. Don’t be a revisionist history practitioner.

In addition, to say that the lower campus project was “complicated“ by neighbors’ opposition is a little snotty to those neighbors, some of whom were either alumni or parents of alumni and students. You can’t blame neighbors for not wanting institutional, commercial, or residential infill development to drown their neighborhood and dwarf it out of human scale. And I have to be honest, since I still lived on the Main Line at this time, and not too far from Shipley, I can tell you the expansion conversations were always contentious. A lot of the meetings were ugly. And not just concerning Beechwood. At times, I barely recognized my alma mater during those years. It was hard, and if you were an alumnus it left you torn. It left me torn.

Beechwood House taught me about getting involved in your community. It reminded me of what some Shipley teachers had taught me long before about the importance of fighting for what you believe in and taking a stand.

Not every academic institution has 100% bright moments, and as much as I love Shipley, I have not always liked Shipley. And when they wanted to tear down Beechwood I definitely didn’t like Shipley very much. But part of our education there was teaching us right from wrong, and what is right is to set the record straight here and be honest. It does not hurt the school to admit that originally they were not correct and this was a place worth saving. But they also have to admit they didn’t actually do the saving, a small group of determined alumni and neighbors with a fearless leader did.

When I have tried to explain this before, even people at Shipley haven’t really understood. Some because they weren’t here then, and others because it makes them uncomfortable. Like the author of the updated Shipley history, for example. I know part of it is that she doesn’t care for me as a person and I’m fine with that, but I think the other part of it is she’s not comfortable with the whole truth of what happened. And while I get that, it’s not the worst thing in the world and it doesn’t tarnish the reputation of the school, it is merely one story of the thousands of stories dating back to 1894. It’s all part of the motto we learn as soon as we enter the school: Courage for the Deed; Grace for the Doing. (Fortiter in Re; Leniter in Modo)

Beechwood House also shows you what is possible with historic preservation. It’s a shame but if there hadn’t been such a swirl of BS around Oakwell in Villanova, maybe Oakwell and her property could have become a preserved gem. But sadly we’re talking about Lower Merion School District, and they will never have an iota of what makes Shipley so special. Oakwell will not have the preservation happy ending because not only doesn’t Lower Merion School District NOT give a damn about preservation, but people interested in preserving Oakwell couldn’t ever really become a cohesive unit of a unified vision. And well the guy who set Oakwell all into motion originally ? Well never mind about him.

Learn from the Beechwood Houses and the Oakwells of this area.

Thanks for stopping by.