So yesterday I posted about a Phoenixville Area School District bus driver at about 4:45 PM screaming and cursing and yelling out his bus window at all drivers everywhere.
The comments I got made you think I had personally impaled Christ on the cross again. 
I was a passenger in a car in the lane next to the small white SUV. That small white SUV was on the line they weren’t over the line. Further and to the point, they were trying to back up to give the bus driver more room in the bus and people we’re not giving them enough room to back up.
No one else was yelling except the bus driver. And that is notacceptablebehavior and that is my point.
I don’t really want to hear about how hard a bus driver’s life is. I know it can be challenging, but that does not excuse that behavior and that’s what we’re talking about the behavior. And face it at different points in time everyone’s life pretty much can be hard.
These people who drive school buses are charged with driving our children. And there are a lot of amazing bus drivers who are super sweet that everyone loves, and then there’s this guy.
And then, of course, there was that time a few years ago, when we were behind a Krapf school bus sitting at a freaking traffic light IN REVERSE. And oh yes, I saved that video.
We were all in traffic at a light on route 100 in West Whiteland and we were scared, yes scared, until the driver realized they were in reverse. We had nowhere to go. We couldn’t get into the lane to the right of us, we were stuck. That is not the kind of situation where you want to lay on the horn because you don’t want to startle the driver, because then they would have probably plowed into us when in reverse.
Road rage is kind of a scary thing. And it’s scary when you see it happen and you are stuck in traffic nearby. And that driver was raging.
That is not acceptable behavior for anyone driving. But it gives you extra pause when it’s somebody like a school bus driver. So haters are gonna hate hate hate, but I stand by my opinion.
I will note I was briefly down on the Main Line today, and I also saw some less than stellar bus driver behavior there. But I was driving not a passenger in a car, so it would’ve been unsafe for me to take photos.
Even small school buses are still bigger than your average car or SUV. I don’t pretend that I would be able to drive any size school bus, but I also think some school bus drivers have to be more aware of what’s going on around them and how their behavior might be perceived to other people.
Someone said to me well why didn’t you go to the school bus company or the school district. There’s no point because when you call either of those kinds of entities they don’t care and half of the time they don’t even take your information down. When I sent Krapf the video I took five years ago and even followed up with phone calls, I never received even an acknowledgment.
So save the hate mail school bus drivers. It will fall on deaf ears. Let’s be safer on the road and behave like adults.
I wanted to know what Andrée Goldberg had to say. I really did. You may not know the name Andrée Goldberg off the top of your head. But you’ve probably seen the video from Memorial Day at the Jersey Shore.
You know the one: a woman confronts Kylie Kelce — wife of Eagles champ Jason Kelce — in Margate. Said woman tells Kylie Kelce “you’ll never be allowed in this town again.” All this was reportedly because Kylie Kelce didn’t want to take a photo with the woman. And by now, you’ve probably guessed that the woman in the unfortunate moment was Andrée Goldberg….Lots of people have been watching and sharing this video, especially Philly Mag contributor HughE Dillon. It’s been covered by the New York Post, the Daily Mail, and a bevy of media outlets in the Philadelphia area and in New Jersey. But even after reading all of those accounts and watching lots of influencers and other online types weighing in on the scandal, I had no idea what was going on in Goldberg’s head at the time of the incident.
I sent her an email. I sent a message via Instagram to Teuscher Chocolates, the luxury Swiss chocolate shop she just opened in Wayne with her husband, Bryan Goldberg. But to no avail. So I drove out to Teuscher Chocolates to see if she was there….
I introduced myself to the Goldbergs and explained why I was at the store. I told them that I was trying to understand exactly what led up to the encounter with Kylie Kelce. Was there more to the story? I wanted to give her a fair shake, let the world hear her side of the story. “There’s no story here,” Andrée Goldberg insisted. Her husband said the same. They both repeated the line a couple of times. I told them I disagreed, that everybody has been talking about this mess. And so I just wanted to get the full picture.
But Andrée Goldberg didn’t want to speak to me.
Bryan Goldberg told me to leave and that he was calling the police. I immediately walked out of the store and to my car. He followed me, taking video along the way.
A couple of hours after I left the store, a publicist representing the Goldbergs reached out to me and sent me the following statement…[GO TO PHILLYMAG.COM to read the rest]
So I have to ask what was the husband going to do with his video? Post it on his or his wife’s Instagram account? Didn’t they delete those? Are they going to tell Victor he’s never going to work in Philadelphia again or something?
I wonder will the Main Line tell them to leave Wayne? After all, Kylie Kelce is Main Line born. She’s a Narb.
Also who was the publicist? That’s one lame “apology” isn’t it? And she apologized in person on Saturday? Damn, was that when she was banning Jason Kelce’s pretty wife from towns all over the area or maybe just Margate?
Oy enough already, lady. Send apology chocolates already.
I would say it’s only a matter of time before the woman doing the pointy finger in face yelling at Philadelphia Eagles legend and his lovely wife is really and truly outed.
Yes I am talking about the woman doing her best bad Bravo Real Housewife imitation and yelling on a street making a scene thing at Jason and Kylie Kelce in Margate.
I don’t know who the woman is and I’m not even a huge Eagles fan not because I don’t like the Eagles just because I don’t watch much football and never have, but if I saw Jason Kelce and his wife on a street I’m not going to hail them like a freaking cab and then scream when I am ignored. I mean, for goodness sake that also makes a beach community and all of us look bad. He’s someone who worked hard for a Philadelphia sports team and she’s a local girl from the Main Line. Narberth to be precise which makes her a “Narb.”
This reminds me of when I was a summer beach tagger in Avalon a million summers ago. There were plenty of Phillies and Flyers and Eagles who went to the beach there with their families. We all knew who they were, but they were there for a vacation with their families, or their friends like everyone else. And as the beach taggers, we would see them probably the most often. And we just said hi to them to them like we said hi to everybody else. You just didn’t make a big deal out of the fact that they were there, because these people are entitled to have lives.
Also one summer every time they were breaking from filming in New York there was the cast of a soap opera now defunct called Loving that you would see out in Stone Harbor at night. There was one place in particular I remember in Stone Harbor at the time that had an inside outside bar that backed up to the bay and I can’t remember what the name of it is now, but we used to see them there all of the time. We just let them be.
And I know people get all freaky deaky when they see celebrities and sports figures but I think it’s just one of those things that when you see celebrities and or sports figures, just let them be. They’re not on display like an animal in the zoo and they don’t owe us anything, and we actually owe them respect.
I’m guessing that woman was possibly in her cups as they say, and should be really embarrassed. I mean she should be sending like apology flowers, or apology chocolates, or an apology fruit basket, a she’s sorry card, or how about making a public apology, saying she is sorry she acted like an asshole?
There’s literally no excuse for that behavior. And it’s not the good old days where you could say you were just beach buzzed and get away with it. It’s the age of social media and sure enough boom she’s an Internet star and it’s not going away.
Thank you @wttwpodcast for sharing with all of us
Like some of my blogging friends, I have also heard who the Screaming Margate Mimi was. My thoughts are simple: if she was a real grown up woman with actual chutzpah, she should truly issue a public apology at a minimum, and say she is sorry.
And again, I’m not saying this because I am a huge Eagles fan or anything else. I just think it’s wrong and I think that if people have a real versus imagined on the Internet celebrity status, they should be able to go out where they live once in a while without obnoxious things happening. I am sure that Screaming Margate Mimi thought she would get hits on her Instagram or something if she got a photo.
According to PhillyChitChat there is also supposedly some video floating around that I have not seen of the woman then banging on Jason Kelce’s vehicle?
The Mayor of Margate, New Jersey apologized for her behavior, so why can’t she just woman up and apologize herself ? She can’t hide from it, she’s a viral video,
I also don’t know what would Taylor Swift do? This would make a great song, though, wouldn’t it?
When chirpy little posts get put up about housing developments in Coatesville, you have to look. Because with the City of Coatesville, nothing is ever as it seems because there is a history of corruption in the City of Coatesville, is there not?
When Coatesville says no comment you ALWAYS look again, so I am. I learned that many years ago when it ended up, they were trying to take a certain farm via eminent domain for private gain for a freaking golf course.
So here’s the post that caught my eye and the post creator is correct because if you have an interest you DO have to go to the meetings to be heard. I will preface the post that this is 88.3 acres and I pulled the property record and they have been sitting on this since 2019, which undoubtedly means that logically the City of Coatesville has had some awareness since then and why so quiet?
I will note that her verbiage comes from a publicly published whyy.org article:
📌Harrisburg-based developer Brandywine View Tri-Corner, LLC hopes to bring 266 market-rate apartments to the city of Coatesville. The development will be called the Brandywine View Apartments.
The Planning Commission of the City of Coatesville is expected to vote on the new project in June.
If the five-person commission greenlights the project, the Brandywine View Apartments will be the first rental development to break ground in Coatesville in more than a decade…..
Brandywine View Tri-Corner, which appears to operate under Statewide Partners, did not return multiple calls for comment. Jon Juffe, one of the three partners leading the real estate outfit, did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
City manager Jonathan Logan and assistant city manager Roberta Consentino declined to comment on the project until after it receives a vote.
I think that’s my favorite part of the article. That the city manager and the assistant city manager of the city of Coatesville declined to comment until after it receives a vote.
Simple question really but why won’t they comment about some thing that they appear to be supporting? I guess it’s always the same old Coatesville government at the end of the day isn’t it?
If a municipality is supportive of a project, all they do is talk about it because they’re salivating over the money they can make. Except in Coatesville if they’re not commenting, it means the other shoe has yet to drop probably doesn’t it?
I called up Coatesville because I don’t see anything on the calendar. The person I spoke to said that the agendas go up a few days before the meetings and that the planning commission meeting should be June 12 and it is a public meeting. I don’t hold out much hope for a comprehensive agenda because I pulled up the one for May and honestly it’s like a 4th grader wrote it. I mean, it is so bare-bones it’s laughable. No plans no documents no instructions as to whether the meeting is recorded you can watch it live or anything.
I asked when I called to find out the date of the meeting to make sure it really should be June 12 if plans would be filed on the website and they don’t file plans on the website. Now they have a fancy new website with an AI bot, yet Coatesville can’t load plans and documents?
Soooo what about all of the houses in Coatesville that need help? Also are there going to be affordable housing units in this development or just market rate which are insanely overpriced most places?
Rental apartments are also creating a more transient society because people don’t stay in apartments necessarily especially given the way most landlords jump the rents with market rates. Just look around Chester County. Look at all the social media forums where people who rent are looking for places to live because their landlords are hiking rents.
The developer mentioned in the article,Brandywine View Tricorner LLC, has owned the property since 2019. They filed business name with PA in 2018.
Statewide Partners and its partners oversee business entities and activities in five main categories, which include: Real Estate Development, Residential Construction, Multifamily Construction, Property Management, and Commercial/Investment Brokerage. The three current partners, Josh, Jon, and Zach Juffe are brothers of a second-generation investment management team. Their combined skill set coupled with their zeal to develop responsible communities and businesses make them a perfect fit for the ever-changing real estate markets they serve.
Statewide filed this entity with the state in 2021:
So when you Google the address, this comes up:
And when you look at the reviews for the companies listed at this address, they’re mostly really bad aren’t they?
So I don’t know what the affiliation is or if these are all pieces of the same puzzle but on the Pennsylvania Corporation database:
So honestly, I think it’s up to the residents to decide. And if they have an interest or questions, they need to go to a meeting June 12 because there’s not much out there on this plan and nobody’s talking about it which can be construed as suspect in my opinion because doesn’t any kind of municipal government always has the ability to say that they don’t have much information but here’s what they know? No comment all the way around it’s just kind of suspicious isn’t it?
This land parcel has been bounced around and bounced around overtime, and I think other plans that were considered for the site were single-family homes in the past maybe?
The property records only record sales dates from 1955 forward, although if you look on the property record, it shows people owning it prior to that. I don’t know what this land ever was used for or if it was just raw land that had no use.
Whatever it is it’s 88 acres, right? Is this the best plan for that site? Was this site ever farmed? Was it a factory? It’s just a puzzle isn’t it?
I will note in another lifetime, I spent too much time going up to Harrisburg, Mechanicsburg, etc. and that area has a lot of really unattractive development.
So if you live in Coatesville or abut Coatesville and this parcel you’re going to want to go to the planning commission June 12. And then you are going to want to go to the city Council meeting that follows and maybe even the one that precedes it to ask questions.
And one of the questions you should start with for the city of Coatesville is if you look at when the Chester county planning commission reviewed this it was 2021. So have they known about this since 2021?
And I don’t think this is a love match with the Chester County Planning Commission because it’s a pretty long reply. It is in this packet of information. Starting on page 27. I am going to give you screenshots of each of the pages but you should go read it in the PDF because there are other hyperlinks. You may wish to click on. And I’m also going to give you some of the Takeaway is that I am taking out of what Chester county said, as a little excerpts.
I hope residents and others interested in this project pay CLOSE attention to what the county is saying with regards to this project. They are not sold on this project the way I am reading this. I also wonder why Coatesville hasn’t seemed to talk about this before if Chester County Planning Commission issued this report late 2021 (December 27, 2021) and we are all learning about this now, almost halfway into 2024?
Here are some things that popped out to me in the Chester County Planning Commission report:
The parcel according to Chester County records is 88.3 acres. This plan calls for 7.8 acres according to Chester County Planning Commission so what happens to the OTHER acres?
is this to be a phased development?
What open space gets saved and preserved?
“The plan and aerial photography indicate that a portion of the site is wooded. Mature trees and shrubs reduce the volume and impacts of stormwater runoff by intercepting precipitation, increasing evapotranspiration, and stabilizing soil through root growth. If development or earth disturbance is going to encroach upon existing woodlands, the removal of trees should be limited to the minimum area needed for the buildings and support facilities. The limits of tree removal should be clearly shown on the plan and “limits of disturbance” should be delineated to protect all trees that are intended to remain”
“The area to the north consists of much lower-density residential developments, including single-family dwellings. We suggest that the applicant conduct a shadow analysis to predict how the proposed multi-story buildings will affect the neighborhood to the north”
“We suggest the applicant consider eliminating at least one of the proposed buildings or reconfigure the buildings to limit environmental impacts and provide more usable and centralized open space and recreational areas. Reconfiguring the buildings to allow parking underneath would decrease the footprint for the required parking, provide room for usable open space, and limit the environmental effects on the site, such as on the steep slopes and woodlands.”
“The applicant has requested a waiver from landscaping requirements at some parking areas. We suggest that the City carefully evaluate these waiver requests.’
“The applicant has requested a waiver from landscaping requirements at some parking areas. We suggest that the City carefully evaluate these waiver requests…..Subsurface infiltration stormwater management practices are not appropriate for areas that will receive runoff with high sediment loads. Particular care should be taken during construction to prevent compaction of the soil below the system and to minimize the delivery of sediment to this system from construction runoff.”
Public transit access?
ADA compliance including with sidewalks?
Traffic impact study? I am person ally adding one that is realistic and not done in dead of summer or a holiday which is a favorite dev eloper trick isn’t it?
“We suggest that the applicant and City consider providing a percentage of affordably-priced housing units within the proposed apartment building…”
City Fire Marshall needs to weigh in on “fire protection facilities” and I want to ask will all roads be WIDE enough to accommodate all fire trucks and apparatus AND will there be ROOM behind buildings and in between for all fire trucks and apparatus? We can all name developments of recent vintage throughout Chester County where we can’t say that about, correct?
So…lots of questions about this prospective project dating to late 2021 and the City of Coatesville seems like they have had laryngitis for a couple of years?
And I have to ask is this a site on the border of Valley Township? What have they been told? And do any other municipalities border this? What have they been told? Development does not happen in a vacuum does it?
It also shows up in a website called Construction Journal which has a notation of zoning variances being sought? So why is this going to planning June 12? Has it already been to zoning? If it has not been to zoning and they do need variances, what gives?
I mentioned earlier in this post that Coatesville’s website has an AI bot. I find that rather amusing considering what money could be better spent on, but I digress. But even the Coatesville Website Bot knows nothing about this project.
I swear it’s the most economically deprived or challenged areas that have the snazzy websites that say absolutely not much. They have a city council meeting tonight and an agenda that says practically nothing and again, no attachments or uploads? And meeting recordings do not appear to be readily available and a handful of City of Coatesville videos and meetings are on YouTube…but only from 2020 so explain how they are sunshine friendly?
I have an inherent distrust of this municipality dating back to around 1999 when the City of Coatesville declared eminent domain on a family named the Sahas who are dear to me. Coatesville wanted to exercise eminent domain for private gain so a developer could build a golf course. I met the Sahas when we were fighting eminent domain for private gain in Lower Merion in the historic Ardmore business district. The Sahas fought until 2006. They won. Coatesville lost because they were in the wrong.
I have nothing more to add. This project seems off or it could just be me because it’s Coatesville. People will undoubtedly say I should be supporting things in Coatesville, and yeah if it’s for good, I am all ears to listen. This is just development and I am sorry not sorry of the opinion if residents don’t pay attention and residents in neighboring municipalities don’t pay attention they won’t be happy in the end.
There are too many questions already on this plan don’t you think? If people love Coatesville, then they had better look sharp. That opinion and the rest are brought to you courtesy of the First Amendment. You can’t trust Coatesville government can you?
I will close with a couple of things from the Saha struggle so people are clear as to why I will always and forever be mistrustful of the City of Coatesville.
A friend of mine sent me a photo they took quite recently of SunTop in Ardmore. It looks like it’s under construction again? Correcting past mistakes? Or maintenance?
SunTop places have had fires over the years, but I have not heard of any for years have you? It’s very weird the way Frank Lloyd Wright houses all over the country have had fires over the years. And this location is no exception. The first one at SunTop was 1941.
I’ve checked with someone I know in the area and they thought there was no fire of a recent vintage, but these houses have required repairs etc. especially since some of the restoration might not have been historically accurate or in some cases, interior rooms were rearranged like I read in an old article.
So it looks like restoration is what is happening with this house and then I found similar on Google of all places with a note to respect someone’s property.
SunTop is a Frank Lloyd Wright creation that has had a complicated history at best with Lower Merion Township.
It as called “the Ardmore experiment” was built in 1939 as a potential solution for multi family housing. One of the units had a fire in 1941, but wartime shortages during World War II meant repairs didn’t happen.
Of course, Lower Merion being Lower Merion rewrote their codes, and SunTop suddenly became non conforming as a use in a single family zone in 1951. Ironic considering all the multi family cram plans they approve in the present, right? Sorry had to say that as it has given me a chuckle looking at this.
An owner in the 1950s of SunTop was denied a zoning variance in 1957 to restore the fire damaged property. Finally in 1965 a zoning was amended or something so restoration could occur. It seems like in 1989 another renovation occurred to correct mistakes from the 1960s. In 2003 there was another renovation judged from media reports.
They are actually super cool houses and were ahead of their time. They just don’t seem particularly durable. The only Frank Lloyd Wright house in Malibu, CA burned down in 2018 wildfires.
Now my friend who did the SunTop drive by recently, loves the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. He has tried to see as many of Wright’s structures as possible over time. SunTop appears in a catalog he has devoted to the homes.
So I was never a huge Frank Lloyd Wright aficionado but I have always been intrigued by what he had the foresight to see in Ardmore, PA. Their design works for multi family housing. Imagine if something like this could ever be designed instead of the awful rape of the land we see now.
The thing about Wright’s designs is much like Wharton Esherick, his designs involved and seemingly enveloped nature. Both Esherick and Wright also have things in common with George Nakashima and his legacy – furniture and buildings on his property. I think Nakashima’s furniture is beautiful and I have always wished I would find an Esherick print at a garage sale.
It has been a long, long time since I wrote about Shiloh. Shiloh is a sad story: a cemetery where the headstones and remains of an extraordinarily important AME church were bulldozed away in Westtown because a former property owner wanted to. But all the souls and remains of the dead are still there. The current property owner is also seemingly uninterested in the history and the languishing dead in now unmarked graves, which is sad.
Today between 11 AM and 1 PM on the steps of the old Chester County Courthouse at 21 West Market Street there is a ceremony to honor the 14 AME soldiers still on site at what use to be Shiloh AME in Westtown. It’s funny, I mentioned to an advocate for this site that this would be the perfect location a few weeks ago to get attention to the history languishing.
You are invited! Please Share.The Forgotten USCTs of Shiloh AME Church & Cemetery: A Day of Honor and Memory
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 11AM – 1 PM
In front of the Historic Chester County Courthouse
21 West Market Street
West Chester, PA 19380
FREE – Open to the Public!
Presented by the Friends of Shiloh AME Church and Cemetery
Featuring:
o Rev. Dr. Richelle Forman Gunter, Associate Minister
St. Paul’s Baptist Church, West Chester
o Speaker – Dr. Cheryl Renée Gooch, author of
Hinsonville’s Heroes: Black Civil War Soldiers of Chester County, Pennsylvania
o Robert Ford USCT 54th Massachusetts Co. B, Reenactor
o Speaker – Dr. Tonya Thames Taylor, Professor of History West Chester University
o Representative Headstones of 14 United States Colored Troops (USCTs)
Buried at Shiloh
o Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
More Information Attached:
– Shiloh AME brochure
– Inquirer Op-Ed, Friday, May 17, 2024,
“Black Civil War veterans in an abandoned Chester County cemetery deserve a memorial”
JOIN US!
shilohAMEfriends@gmail.com
It’s hallowed ground treated in the most unhallowed way. This happens far too often. Could this space be saved and properly remembered? Yes, but the current property owner doesn’t want people on his property. It’s sad but that is his choice.
It just gives you pause. There are 140 graves that never moved when the church closed in the 1920s and a subsequent but not current owner bulldozed the crumbling remains of the church built in 1817 was bulldozed in the 1960s. Think about it, the AME Church was only about 23 years old when this was built and slavery was not yet abolished. This is truly one of the earliest AME sites in the same state where the AME church was founded by Richard Allen in Philadelphia. This site pre-dates Ebenezer in Frazer on Bacton Hill Rd.
I tried to write about Shiloh in 2016 when I was told that there was going to be a cleanup of the site. I was invited to it. Yet when I wrote a post people freaked out. So I killed the post and haven’t said boo since.
Only ONE grave survived thanks to a neighbor.
These hallowed grounds matter. People’s ancestors are buried there. Here’s hoping Westtown can get the property owner to come around.
My photo from a Westtown Day either 2016 or 2017 at Oakbourne.
Sigh…I am really conflicted about posting this. What “seeds” or what kind of seeds are being planted exactly?
One is because I know all of the horrible comments which will be directed towards me which is total BS anyway. Questioning this does not make me a racist but it does make you wonder if I would be so judged if the color of my skin was different? There I just said it. It has to be said because if this person looked exactlylike me I would still be asking the same questions.
Secondly, because I actually like U.S. Representative Chrissy Houlahan and will be voting for her like I have since I first met her a few years ago. BUT this HAS to be looked at.
I found comments on Chrissy Houlahan‘s Facebook page that I’ve taken screenshots of because it PROVES people have concerns and questions doesn’t it? A lot of you always wish to lay this at my feet and call me horrible names and I feel the need to point out LOTS of people are concerned aren’t they? And then there are questions on FJ Instagram and if you deviate from the “message” the sycophants rear up and it always gets ugly fast and the fauxmer does nothing to ask for civility does she?
Farmers in Chester County are up in arms about this ridiculously large grant ($657,000) given to a FAUXMER with a track record NOT of fabulous crops and farming practices but for grand plans that are a lot of buzz words, glam shots, and PUBLICISTS and what farmers do you know who have publicists? Most of the farmers I know are trying to figure out how to make their money last until their crops come in and make improvements on their farm and survive. They work from before dawn to well past dusk don’t they?
But the other thing is this is $657,000 of taxpayer dollars and this person is NOT someone who has proven they can do anything other than talk a good game or do I have this all wrong? Shouldn’t you need a proven track record for this kind of money?
And can we talk about the grant application which has an address of 6730 Germantown Ave Philadelphia PA 19119. That is no longer a place that Farmer Jawn has a leasehold on and it has been quite a while. The business now there is NOT affiliated with her or the Farmer Jawn and Friends Foundation Fund or any of her gigs – no store, no tea, no honey, no food no nothing.
I don’t understand how an application could be sent to Washington DC without viable addresses. And I also don’t understand why Westtown School didn’t apply for the grant because they actually own the property and isn’t that ODD ? Usually if your information isn’t 100% stand-up on an application for something like this you get rejected right? So what’s with the special treatment?
📌 “We are incredibly grateful to Representative Chrissy Houlahan for her unwavering support and successful advocacy in securing a federal grant of $657,000 for FarmerJawn. This generous funding will enable us to renovate our aging barn and incorporate hydroponic facilities, allowing us to expand our mission of teaching essential agricultural skills and entrepreneurship qualities to the Chester County community. With this investment, FarmerJawn will continue to thrive as a vital contributor to the local agricultural landscape, offering innovative, sustainable solutions and opportunities for continued growth,” said Brandon Ritter, COO of FarmerJawn.📌
So wait, who is this person?
Where are the form 990s? Why is the entry on PA’s Charity site still incomplete? They got non-profit status in like 2022 right? So there are employees?
This grant recipient has had all these ideas and plans, a lot of which I HONESTLY think are great but where is the execution? The inclusiveness? And the great James Beard Foundation gave her an award? For what? And again how many farmers do you know with pricy publicists?
What about the Germantown Avenue store folded and what happened to the supposed spa that was supposed to happen down the street a couple of doors from 6730 Germantown Avenue? Mae Belle or whatever?
Where is the tea business? Where is honey that no one really knows where it originated from but did know it was not very good? And what’s with the Elkins Park Farm?
Back to the grant. So it’s supposed to be for the barn and hydroponics right? I think that’s a great idea and I love being able to get a good hydroponic organic vegetables in the middle of winter, but this is someone who doesn’t have any or much experience with this, do they? And then there is this chatter that now the grant is about workforce development? Is that true and if so, is that kind of a bait and switch? And Westtown owns the property so why didn’t they apply for the grant? Why is Westtown so silent on everything having to do with this person since they gave her access to the land? Is it landlord’s regret? Does she pay rent? If she pays rent how much rent does she pay and is rent deferred while the land lies fallow? Who were the other people who applied to be the farmer there?
And then the comment on Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan‘s Facebook page about vendors not being paid? And the screenshot the author of the comment leaves shows someone who works for George Didden Greenhouse? Is that true? That’s terrible if so isn’t it? Is she square with all other vendors past and present?
And then there are the people who like to say well why doesn’t somebody just talk to her? Have you seen what happens when anybody tries to talk to her? There’s regurgitated self promotion and dodge ball and a publicist but where are straightforward simple answers? The other thing is does she make everyone feel welcome?
And also Chester County does actually have minority and female farmers so where is THEIR recognition? I guess the difference is they just practice their craft with diligence and little faux fanfare, right?
The whole Farmer Jawn COULD be a great thing BUT what will actually happen and until Westtown is certified organic WHERE specifically will things be coming from?
So many questions…and it has never been just me asking… The Farmers of Chester County deserve our best. That’s all I am saying. And if Farmer Jawn wants to be counted among their numbers, then she needs to be more accepting and respectful of those who came before her and who have existed before her and work hard every day. and she needs to start being straight with people not just giving soundbites and cute pictures on tractors.
Soooo…. She took over Pete’s produce in 2023 as a lease with Westtown and it was announced late 2022. It takes 3 or 4 years for land to lay fallow before you can get organic certification right? So where will all of this food / produce coming from? I didn’t think where she leased in Elkins Park/Cheltenham was big enough or viable enough to produce everything?
And like I have said ALL ALONG if she ends up farmer legit, I will be honestly thrilled but right now I think the outlook is still shady.
My opinions are bought to you courtesy of the First Amendment.
So I have once again grown tired of the ugliness directed at me for sharing important things that I have learned when I learn them.
I may be many things, but a liar has never been among those things.
Things that I do know is we live in a world where people want pink fuzzy bunnies and unicorns farting rainbows while (for example) kids are suffering.
And then there are people who don’t want to feel uncomfortable when I question the motives of people I feel are not up to anything good. Or if I mock ridiculous politicians. Or whatever the topic may be.
And we’re going to talk about bullying in the schools because it’s not just one school district. It’s across the board. Bullying is a pervasive issue in our society, especially with kids. And every time bullying is discussed, adults can’t handle it. It’s like if they pretend bullying doesn’t exist, if they say it doesn’t exist, it’s just a fantasy , but how’s that pretzel logic working out for these people?
I myself was bullied in elementary school. And the girl who did it actually broke the corner of my front tooth. The corner of that tooth is still broken and I’m 60 years old. it’s been filed down, so it’s not noticeable to most people, but I always know it’s there and how and why it happened. It happened because I said no to a bully and they retaliated. But I’m glad I said no to that bully. No regrets.
After that day in elementary school, I did learn to stand on my own two feet. It wasn’t the only example of bullying I would experience before I reached high school. I also experienced it in the middle school or as we called it, junior high school.
At that point I was a new kid. And because I was the new kid and I hadn’t gone to elementary school with all these people I was immediately bad. Some of those girls were truly miserable.
It was quite the learning curve. I had never been in a public school since kindergarten. These miserable little bitches were 100% part of the reason my parents sent me to Shipley and took me out of the esteemed Lower Merion School District. The esteemed Lower Merion School District couldn’t admit that there were bullying issues. Except I witnessed it and experienced it. And so did friends that I still have to this day.
I did end up getting the last laugh later in high school, however. You see, one of the boys the mean girls worshipped was a neighbor. We were actually friends which sort of made them crazy because it put me finally in a hand’s off zone. It killed them to be nice to me and I admit I enjoyed that. It was briefly my own John Hughes movie life moment, although my experiences predated his movies, which is probably why so many of us identified with them and many became cult classics.
I saw kids bullied even sadly at Shipley back then. And kids had to learn how to take care of themselves because no one else was going to do it for us. I had learned to handle myself at that point so well I personally wasn’t bullied at Shipley, there were those who did try to make my life uncomfortable for just being myself. At that point, I had honestly learned that I didn’t care that their issues were their issues, not mine. It’s why I avoided particular cliques and sort of floated in between groups within my class. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee and all that.
So guess what? I do know what it’s like from personal experience after being bullied in these preteen and early teen years. And again online as an adult for being a blogger. And I am still standing.
I will stand up for what’s right when it comes to these issues with bullying as well as my right to write in general. And I have decided for the time being to remove the post I wrote about what happened in a certain school district recently. Young teen/pre-teen kids don’t just wake up and kill themselves. But I am being bullied online by purported adults for talking about it and I have had quite enough of their bullshit for one day. One of my favorite aspects of the bullshit are the adults who want to know why the obituary doesn’t mention bullying or suicide? Do they hear their ridiculous stupidity?
This particular school district has been talked about with bullying and other issues for years. Posts show up on social media and disappear. Hell, I knew a kid once who was pulled out of that school for home schooling / cyber schooling because of the bullying.
This district is also hardly the only school district to be spoken about regarding bullying. In fact, almost every school district and a host of private schools have dealt with bullying in this region. Or should I quantify that and say the kids have experienced bullying but the schools and school districts have not dealt with the bullying?
Anti-bullying campaigns exist, but school districts mostly pay them lip service. And then, of course, there is the other issue of when you look into the bullying and bullies, you see what’s lacking in their home lives . Bullies are often subjected to bullying/abuse things in their own homes, and nobody wants that coming to light do they?
And I think that’s at the core of bullying issues isn’t it? The kids want our help, they want our protection, but that would mean the adults would have to look at some uncomfortable hard truths.
And then, when a lot of these parents talk about bullying in schools, they turn around and bully fellow adults online over stupidity. Or over more modern topics that make them uncomfortable, although it has no personal bearing on their lives. Yes, I’m talking about things like gender identity, sexuality choices, politics, and books that freak them out.
I’m tired of these limited people who think their voice is more important than anyone else’s. I’m also tired of these limited people attacking me because I couldn’t possibly say any of this out loud.
I speak my truth and will continue to.
If you don’t like my opinions, I can’t help you. That’s your issue, not mine. No one is forcing you to read this blog.
But don’t tell me among other things that bullying is not real. It is.
Yesterday we headed out in to Chester County to go visit a peony farm in what I knew growing up as Brandamore. Like Glenmoore it is actually a very old unincorporated community in Chester County. Brandamore is north of Coatesville. Sometimes when I see people referring to Brandamore today, that either call Coatesville or Glenmoore.
Anyway, we headed out Reeceville Road off of the 30 Bypass. The 30 Bypass is insane in the rain, and what was even more insane were the people not moving over for an ambulance with lights on.
I’m also going to say something that might lead to believe I have fallen and hit my head, but I haven’t. It’s just in this location it works because there’s enough space.
I’m talking about the traffic circle/roundabout at Route 82 (Manor Road) and Cedar Knoll Road/Reeceville Road intersection. I actually think it really works here because there’s enough land for the circle to function properly, as opposed to what they were trying to propose at 352 and King Road a few years ago in East Goshen/East Whiteland. And no houses were taken from what I understand.
This is a mostly pretty drive with rolling hill and farm fields except the farm fields are disappearing rapidly, and all you see are more developments coming.
All of these developments are going to bring how many more people to an area that doesn’t even have a hospital close by.
As we drove by bulldozers and other heavy earth moving equipment I wondered what PA State Senators and State Representatives and the PA Governor were doing to protect these areas?
The short answer, of course, is nothing much because then they would actually have to get off their asses and enact an act of the state constitution to update the woefully decades outdated Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
It’s so sad to watch what is happening to a county known for agriculture and equine culture. The school districts can’t handle this growth, first responders can’t handle it, the rest of the infrastructure is stressed, and there aren’t even hospitals to serve all these people.
Chester County is being destroyed. And state elected officials are allowing it.
