“We are merely misunderstood!”
~ Mr. Grinch, Yuletide at Liberty Hill Community Relations
So what about the fact they’re closing early? Will people get a refund on the season pass?? Are they just giving up?
Monthly Archives: December 2024
why is it buh byes principal at bayard rustin high school in the west chester area school district??
Well gang, here’s some breaking news right? Last time there was a Rustin explosion was circa 2012-2013 for coach touchy feely right?
So what did Marano do? Any takers? Police are involved?
Here is the verbiage of the message if the screenshot doesn’t look clear enough:
Dear Rustin High School Families,
As you may be aware, last Friday Dr. Michael Marano resigned as principal of Rustin High School.
Local law enforcement is involved and is on site today speaking with individual members of the Rustin school community. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement and will share more
information when we are able.We are aware that rumors may be circulating, and we recognize the concern this situation creates. We ask for your patience as we work through the investigation.
Our top priority is ensuring the safety of our school community. We take this situation with the utmost seriousness and appreciate your partnership.
Best regards, David Christopher
David Christopher, EdD I Superintendent
West Chester Area School District
782 Springdale Drive, Exton PA 19341
484-266-1018 1484-266-1175 (fax)
Here is Marano’s LinkedIn:
The internet is not teeming even with photos. Think he lives in Delco? Here are a couple of photos and he has been removed from Rustin directory already.
So what did he do?
life is not an episode of yellowstone, right?
Well, it’s over… For now. I’m not sharing any spoilers. I have always been fascinated with how many different kinds of people love this series.
Why have people loved Yellowstone so much? Is it because it’s emblematic of all the things we’ve actually lost in this country?
We’re not all cowboys and not many run ranches. Farmers are a dying breed and our open space is being taken over by some form of development or another. And that That is one of the things that has always struck me about Yellowstone is it’s portrayal of people trying to save what they love, where they live.
It has been a wild story of life and loss and love. It has been an escape yet it’s very raw and real feeling at times. It gives a lot of air time to American native peoples that we haven’t seen since the spaghetti westerns of our childhood and it’s a lot more accurate and not cartoonish. In Canada, indigenous and native peoples are a big part of their television programming.
The whole talking about the land and how nobody can afford to buy it unless it’s a developer definitely resonates here.
It’s a story of good and evil. Sometimes the evil is not what you thought. That’s kind of symptomatic of life. I think.
I actually know people who call the wild places of Montana and Colorado and other places with wildness left home. The longer I am here the more I understand the need for the wild places, a way to restore the balance between humans and nature.
Since before COVID we have been delaminating as a society. It’s a nationwide disease. Boundaries and manners? Optional at best.
I’m a blogger. In the OG category. I started blogging before it was a thing. I started blogging because it gave my community at the time a voice to try to stop what was happening to it (eminent domain for private gain.)
This blog here has been a journey since coming to Chester County. Blogs are opinion based and once again we live in a universe where your freedom of opinion is somewhat subjective, and it’s not what the founding fathers intended, but this is what it is right now.
Yes, there are things I think about. There are things that interest me. There are things that don’t interest me. It’s not a media outlet and doesn’t pretend to be. People think there are things that I should be writing about just like there are things that are public information that I shouldn’t be writing about and I’m always bemused by both scenarios, especially when it is not like I am the only person talking about whatever in the first place is it?
I think the strangest thing about being a blogger now is the obsession that some people have for me as a person. Like they own a piece of my soul or they should own a piece of my soul. I’m just one woman so I don’t quite get it. Maybe I’m not supposed to? We can’t control everyone else’s behavior. We can only control our own right? So why is this particular blog and me a thing that needs to be controlled?
People seem to live life like it’s a giant reality TV show. The problem with that is then sometimes you find people that are supposed to protect us or legislate for all of our best interests only they don’t. They’re part of the problem. This isn’t about conspiracy theories, or conspiracy theorists. These are observations of things just going on around us.
I think political corruption is as real as political disillusionment. Of course that makes it hard for those who actually do things for the right reasons as opposed to personal gain.
I recently heard about someone who seems to be setting their proverbial cap so to speak to be a county commissioner. I think they made a lame attempt to try to be a state rep once as well. Yeah good luck with that and bless your heart. If this one runs, it will be a bring your popcorn situation to their election cycle.
And then talk about political disillusionment. Recently, a former local politician turned minister was charged with some pretty heinous acts against someone with intellectual disabilities. And people are saying, the churches circling the wagons? They will protect someone who did this? What kind of God is that they worship exactly?
People’s perception of God and religion is another thing that I have marveled at the past few years. I don’t get all these people that love their angry God. Can people not have their individual faiths and religions? Why is one better than the other? Are we all supposed to be the same? That of course brings me full circle to are we all Stepford on this bus or are we supposed to be?
And then there is the world where we live where people who are supposed to enforce the rule of law seem to think they can make up their own laws along the way? This isn’t anything specifically locally, it’s kind of a nationwide issue and it gives the true white hats a harder go of it, doesn’t it ? North South East West.
From coast to coast, we’re kind of a messed up country right now. What is it we believe in and what is it we are supposed to believe in?
Monday we learned of another school shooting. In Wisconsin, a school called Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. According to the New York Times “ a private school founded in 1978 with the goal of providing “academic excellence in a Christ-centered environment,” according to the school’s website.”
Once again, the shooter seems to be another kid. Yes a juvenile so what are we doing in this world that this is where kids think they need to go? And this time a girl. When I was a kid, I remembered not liking the mean girls, but I don’t remember anyone wanting to shoot them. I also don’t remember kids having such easy access to firearms, even if their parents owned them.
What is our world about today? What are we about today? 
We have our families and maybe that’s where we need to focus? Why are we paying attention all the time to social media?
And as far as the fake influencers and the stuff, that is just such bullshit that you can’t believe somebody posted it.
I don’t pay attention to the fake influencers. They don’t interest me. They live their plastic lives in their plastic world in their bubble. They can have their bubble.
Yet this is our weird world in which we exist.
We live in strange times. We live in sad times. We live in times where people think because I blog I should be a super public person. And then there are the ones that reach an obsessive point because I don’t want to write about whatever it is their topic is. and the thing is this would they do that to a regular reporter? I think the answer is no.
Things that are important to me? My friends and my family and they’re none of anyone else’s goddamn business.
I’ve had three losses in 2024 a friend from childhood and a friend from college years that I didn’t even know had passed away essentially the same time as my other friend because again she lived far away from here now. The last was an artistic and family friend whom I knew since I was a little girl. Three really great loving women whom it was a privilege to know.
These are the things that really matter. I tried to explain that to someone this weekend who was talking about particular local government and I finally just kind of said to them that I was in a social setting and that was not appropriate or desired conversation in that moment.
I don’t know what people expect of each other at times. I do take interest in a lot of different things that is happening around us, but not everything interests me all the time, either. Does that make sense?
It’s almost Christmas. Maybe we could all due with a little reflection. 
And no, this post isn’t like some secret Beatles song you’re supposed to play backwards while juggling in the air or something. It’s just some random thoughts in mid December. 
so….yuletide….first it runs until just after new year’s, now it closes december 23?
This is a great curiosity of life I think right now. Last year at first people were excited at the idea of Yuletide, but then the reality was less than, correct?
So then we had the whole thing about it was coming back at a golf club on the other side of Montgomery County owned by the Union League. (Liberty Hill.)
I wrote about dissatisfaction with the event just recently.
And now here we are 10 days before Christmas and all of a sudden they’re singing a different tune about closing not January 5, 2025, but December 23, 2024? So if you bought a season pass for this, do you get a partial refund? People are asking this question and it showed up on social media.
And the reviews and people being dissatisfied has only increased. And then, as a friend pointed out, the event people seem to be pushing back on Google reviews, which is kind of amusing.
Also kind of amusing is most of the positive reviews you say are essentially influencers and what not so are they comped? It’s a fair question to ask because the majority of the reviews are actually very negative aren’t they?
I’m just going to share a potpourri of screenshots:
So Yuletide, whose fault is it now?
What’s going on?
If people paid for a season pass and you’re closing early, what are you doing for them?
If you’re closing early, how does that affect the vendors who have committed their time and money to this?
How does this affect the employees that were hired to help run this event, and most of all why are you closing?
Last year (2023) you were at Devon, there really weren’t a lot of straight answers after the fact as to where your contract went etc. were there? So you were supposed to be new and improved and smaller and more thoughtful and more fabulous at the Union League’s Liberty Hill in 2024?
Seriously, what is going on?
It seems like there’s a lot of bah humbug in the house? And if people bought a season pass and you are shortening the season what are you doing for them? After all, if you think about it, after December 23 is pretty much when all the schools are on vacation, so if this was supposed to run until January 5, can’t you consider the fact that people that paid for your season pass were really going to use it in that time between just before Christmas and just after New Year’s?
What is going on Yuletide?
Inquiring minds would like to know.
west goshen adaptive reuse retail gem on pottstown pike: melangell antiques
I have been writing about Melangell Antiques since they opened. They are located at 1133 Pottstown Pike, West Chester, PA 19380 in West Goshen Township.
This business is in an old estate hunting lodge. A rather famous one to local history buffs. Also known as “Wrangley Lodge”, in an amazing century-plus old Arts and Crafts style designed by Charles Barton Keen as part of the original Greystone Estate. This is special to me because one of my very close friends and honorary other mothers is his granddaughter.
And those who know me know I love a good adaptive reuse, and some of my favorite antique stores have been in restored old houses! (You know like another favorite business down in Chadds Ford, Brandywine View Antiques.)
Anyway, I stopped in this past weekend because I knew that the store had some strands of vintage mercury glass garland, which I use on my trees.
Once again, when I walked in the door, I marveled at the sheer beauty of the place. And it’s not just what the business owner sells, it’s the restoration. This place really has been transformed. It’s a beautiful serene space. The building glows inside and out. No not literally, it’s just a feeling you get when you go inside and it’s lovely.
And what I also realized this weekend is they’ve never been honored or commended publicly by West Goshen Township or any of those supervisors there for what they have done. This is an adaptive reuse business that works in a historic asset.
I guess West Goshen doesn’t do historic preservation awards? Do they even celebrate local small businesses or are they only about Target and Chick Fil A? I mean, I like both stores, but they need to celebrate their small businesses too.
I also decided to research the name. Melangell is Welsh and was the name of a Saint. That I already knew, but the rest of the history was fascinating. 
The name Melangell has its origins deeply rooted in Welsh culture and language. In Welsh, mel translates to dear, while angell relates to angel. Combining these elements, the name Melangell signifies Dear Angel. This name has a rich and intriguing history, closely tied to the story of Saint Melangell herself.
Saint Melangell was the patron saint of hares and rabbits. She was a Welsh hermit and abbess. She possibly lived in the 7th or 8th century, although the precise dates are uncertain. According to her hagiography, she was originally an Irish princess who fled an arranged marriage and became a consecrated virgin in the wilderness of the Kingdom of Powys.
According to legend, she was known for her devotion to nature and for providing sanctuary to a hunted hare (rabbit) , thus earning her saintly status. As time passed, the name Melangell became associated with this valiant, compassionate figure, and it found its place in Welsh folklore and traditions. The Shrine Church of Pennant Melangell is reported to be one of the most beautiful little churches in the UK.
Anyway, this store is filled with wonderful treasures if you’re looking for a gift or something for your home or something for the holidays. Art, antiques, and fun. The place is just simply beautiful and I think we can all use a little more beauty in our lives and they definitely have Christmas magic.

You can follow them on Instagram.
Their hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11 AM until 6 PM .
1133 Pottstown Pike, West Chester.
610-624-4577
in a pickle in easttown
Well I know this has been brewing a while but wowza. I feel sorry for the neighbors. I don’t play pickleball, so it means nothing to me. I have friends who play and love it. However I do know that it is unusually noisy.
I did a little nosing around and found out this has been going on for a while (as in more than a year? Maybe two years almost?) AND if you listen to the entire meeting somewhere a neighbor says pickleball courts were built without permits? I did a screen record of the meeting because Easttown has their meeting on You Tube but unlisted so that makes me think they could disappear so….
I found the Upper Main Line Y response ineffective. I am told that the Brandywine Y (which I guess owns them now?) has or has had similar issues? I remember a big issue when they wanted to put pickleball in Lionville a year or so ago.
Here’s the contact list at “UMLY”: https://ymcagbw.org/locations/umly/staff
So things about the meeting that made me laugh out loud: kind of asking Eattown to pay for or pay towards noise mitigation with some special fencing? Umm I am still wondering HOW they built the courts without permits?
Back to the meeting. The residents were well spoken and polite. Many of the Upper Main Line YMCA (“UMLY”) supporters and patrons…less so.
One person, can’t recall her name, was as rude and dismissive as could be…and is the apparent chair of the Willistown Planning Commission? Well we all know how Willistown residents get so wonder how she would be feeling if it was next door to her ?
Some of the patrons of UMLY were pleasant-ish and polite, as I mentioned. But so many of the others? Asshats with a misplaced sense of entitlement. I did not hear any neighbor say take away the pickleball courts, only that the noise HAS to be dealt with. Some of the most immediate neighbors, like on Longcourse Lane (a great street, incidentally) are showing by my research as being in Tredyffrin. So accomplishing anything is harder because UMLY is in Easttown.
Here is where UMLY is on the zoning map. Notice the R-1 AKA Residential:
Here is the another attachment – a land use table- I found in e code 360 on zoning:
Here’s a little blip out of Easttown’s own zoning on r-1:
R-1 Residential District. The R-1 Residential District is intended to:
(1) Provide for low-density single-family residential units on lots of sufficient size for on-lot sewage disposal systems.
(2) Foster protection of sensitive natural resources and areas conditionally suitable for on-lot sewage disposal systems.
(3) Provide for the preservation of natural resources, historic resources, and open space through lot averaging development options.
I am not a Zoning officer and don’t play one on TV or the Internet. Here are some interesting chapters in Easttown Zoning:
So again, not a zoning professional. Not an attorney. But I can read. And I have to ask if UMLY is playing a game they can win? And yes I suggested a land use lawyer to a friend to pass along to the residents. Ask the residents in Narberth and even Willistown who have used this man and they will tell you worth every penny.
I added the lighting component of the zoning code because that is also a consideration. Hypothetically, lights might be on later than needed in part to liability concerns. However, I also have to ask WHY those courts are not locked up at the close of every day and even seasonally when it’s too cold to play pickleball or tennis for example? I am asking because residents said at this meeting where pickleball was continuing AFTER operating hours at UMLY? And I will note at present in Radnor an elite private girls school is being rude to neighbors with super daylight bright lights at night shining into windows of neighbors. They lock their courts but say they have to keep lights on and they are not down shielded so I have been told you can wake up at 1 AM and it’s like noon. That is light pollution and that also has serious environmental impacts. It affects bird migration and other things.
Residents are entitled to a reasonable expectation of quiet enjoyment, and people might like playing pickleball at UMLY but the residents do indeed have to be considered. And they are not being considered. Neighbors have apparently been trying to deal with this for a couple of years? These neighbors are far nicer than UMLY deserves. Personally I would have given them six months.
UMLY needs to be told a cautionary tale: the tale of Dink City Pickleball that opened for a brief time at Valley Forge Military & College….and closed because the neighbors in Tredyffrin had enough of the noise rather quickly.
Dink City Pickleball was forced to close due to a violation of the township’s R1 (residential) zoning code. The business received a notice of violation in July 2023, giving them 30 days to appeal or cease operations. No appeal was filed, and the business announced that August 14, 2023 would be its last day.
In June 2023, Savvy Main Line had the scoop on Dink City opening:
Finding the holy grail – a place to play pickle – just got easier, Main Line.
Two enterprising locals just opened what they say is the largest pickleball facility in the northeast: Dink City Pickleball at Valley Forge Military Academy & College.
And unlike YMCAs, country clubs, and Malvern’s new Bounce Pickleball, you pay only for your reserved court time. No need for a membership….With the tagline “community at play,” Dink City is more than cushioned courts, painted lines and regulation nets.
“It’s all the social things around pickleball that we offer – that’s the differentiator,” Norton tells SAVVY.
Think food trucks, corn hole and music on weekends, plus lessons, clinics, leagues, tournaments, pro shop, private events and birthday parties….“I love getting out on the court and getting a good sweat on,” says Norton who’s played pickle for nine years. “But just as much as that, I like hanging out with friends and family afterwards, maybe having a beverage or a taco or something from a food truck. That enhances the experience for everybody.”
The courts have lights for evening play and will be available year-round. “There are some hard core pickle-ballers out there who will play in the cold,” Norton says. “It’s like paddle – once you get moving, you warm up a bit.”…The two decided to cash in on the craze but make it community-oriented rather than an exclusive club. A real estate broker connected them to Valley Forge Military, which has been seeking new revenue streams to offset falling enrollment. (Since 2010, VFMAC has sold 20 acres to Eastern College, five acres to Bentley Homes, and most recently, 23 acres to developer Rockwell Custom for a new senior living complex.)
“The quickest win,” the partners say, was repurposing the lightly-used tennis courts on Radnor Road in the Tredyffrin section of campus. They loved the “heart of Wayne” location – a stone’s throw from St. David’s Golf Club and close to multiple schools, campuses and country clubs.
And if all goes well, outdoor courts in Wayne could just be the beginning for Dink City. VFMAC is in early talks to turn its equestrian center into a sports complex that might include Dink’s first indoor courts. Craft and Norton are also looking at properties in and around Philly and Maryland – although they haven’t yet quit their day jobs.
Yeah and then a few weeks later, it was sayonara Dink City, again I refer to Savvy Main Line:
IN A PiCKLE IN RADNOR. Just two months after they cut the ribbon on a popular new 16-court pickleball facility at Valley Forge Military Academy, Dink City Pickleball is closing.
The trouble began with a “handful of complaints” about noise from neighbors, according to Tredyffrin Zoning Officer Erin McPherson. When she investigated, she found the commercial business was operating in violation of the township’s R1 (residential) zoning code. She sent a notice of violation on July 14, giving Dink City 30 days to appeal for zoning relief or cease operations. No appeal was filed, she says, and today Dink City announced that Monday Aug. 14 will be its last day.
“This is not the end,” wrote owners Bryson Craft and Robbie Norton in an email. “Dink City will be back better and stronger than ever.”
The partners – both young local fathers and pickleball enthusiasts – had leased four lightly used tennis courts from Valley Forge Military Academy and invested big $$ converting them into a state-of-the-art pickleball center with leagues, clinics, “Dink and Drinks” nights, summer camps and more. (See our story in the June SAVVY – link in profile and scroll down.)
“We tried to resolve the issue with the township but they wouldn’t accept our proposals,” co-owner Craft tells SAVVY.
Dink City will refund Open Play memberships and any account balances as of Aug. 15
Pickleball noise is a real problem. There is even a group on Facebook devoted to it – all areas of US and Canada:
Pickleball Noise Relief
·This group has a whole file section on pickleball noise etc.
Like this file:
Pickleball Noise – A qualitative description of the psychological and physiological effects on nearby residents (5)Download
They also posted this:
IMPULSIVE/IMPACT SOUNDS: By definition, an impact sound is simply the solid collision between two objects, such as hammering, dropped objects, a door slamming shut, metal-to-metal impacts, etc. Impulse sound is defined as the product of a force and duration with which the force is applied. More specifically, impulse is the time integral of force from an initial time to the final time, the force being time dependent and equal to zero before the initial time and after the final time (ANSI S1.1–2013). – ……. The measurement of impulse noise is becoming increasingly common within the industrial hygiene field. Issues for measuring impulse noise issues include dynamic range, frequency range, anti-aliasing, microphone/preamplifier/power supply, sampling rates, etc.. Whether an SLM, dosimeter, or computer-based recording system is used, good impulse noise measurements are not trivial to make. The limits of the microphones may be reached. The influence of nonlinear acoustics can dramatically affect the measurements. – Taken from The Noise Manual, 6th Edition.
https://www.thedinkpickleball.com/its-time-to-admit-we-have-a-problem-pickleballers
It’s Time To Admit We Have a Problem Pickleballers
by Jason Flamm on July 23, 2024
Like many pickleball players, when I hear (another) story about how noisy pickleball is, I simply roll my eyes and spew a few snarky remarks about how some people just can’t let others have any fun.
So, you can imagine my response when I discovered there was a Facebook Group called the “Pickleball Noise Relief Group.”
My eyes rolled back, my lips curled, and I prepared to write something blasting a bunch of Karens for wanting to shut down pickleball.However, after a few conversations with the group’s leader, Nalini Lasiewicz, and actually listening to what they had to say, I realized that automatically labeling them as a pickleball hate group that just wanted to ruin our sport was completely off base.
And my preconceived notions about people complaining about pickleball noise couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Basically, I was … I am wrong. And so are many of us who think that pickleball doesn’t actually have a noise problem.
Because for these people and many others who are too afraid to speak up, it’s a serious problem that’s causing them health and mental issues.
Pickleball players: it’s time we admit that there is a pickleball noise problem.
Meet Nalini Lasiewicz
Nalini Lasiewicz is a resident of a Los Angeles suburb who first got involved with pickleball noise issues during the COVID lockdown….Nalini says this exact scenario has played out countless times since she became an administrator of the Facebook Group created by Rob Mastroianni, a Cape Cod resident who had to sell his family home due to the noise becoming too much to deal with.
Mastroianni’s story was featured on ABC News in August 2023.
The group is dedicated to finding and supporting others across the country in similar situations. For many, it’s a platform that allows them to find ways to regain the peace they’ve lost in their neighborhoods.
Look, NO ONE IS SAYING NO PICKLEBALL. But UMLY needs to do right by the neighbors. And that doesn’t mean Easttown Township and taxpayers should be paying for noise mitigation. And If Tredyffrin shut it down at Valley Forge Military Academy and College, zoning is not so different from municipality to municipality given that the Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of PA guides it all, correct?
I have no horse in this race, but I have been watching pickleball issues out of curiosity for a while. So Easttown and Tredyffrin residents near UMLY, I hear you and I am not hearing anything other than wanting your environment back. You aren’t being unreasonable. But UMLY and Upper Main Line Y? They are. And still I ask…how did they build pickleball courts without permits if that is indeed true?
A shout out in general to YMCA of Greater Brandywine. YMCA of Greater Brandywine needs to quit playing possum because it’s not their first pickle problem is it?
Easttown Township needs to deal with this and not play kick the can. Tredyffrin Township could step into help residents if the supervisors can stop contemplating their collective navels long enough, yes? Expectation of quiet enjoyment? It’s a real thing. So pickleballers? This is a real issue. It’s not the noise you all are hearing, it’s what the residents are hearing and that is NOT the same thing.
Easttown residents, also see https://www.quietcommunities.org/les-blomberg and https://www.nonoise.org/index.htm
Pay attention to the Model Noise Ordinance video I embedded here. They talk about the expensive anti-noise fences/barriers. They are discussing how it doesn’t work….
Ok Christmas is not going to decorate itself around here. Have a good night.
it’s not “nimby” to be sick of all of the development in chester county
Today I had posted something from another blog (Cara at Hello West Chester) about development in West Chester Borough .
The comment I am about to share has sent my teeth on edge and if you don’t want to listen to my rant, get off of this post now:
Chester County Ramblings my current neighborhood is not a dense borough, is not walkable, and has no restaurants/shops/galleries/etc. Regardless, I’m fine with development and don’t object to new neighbors. Not everyone is a NIMBY.
I don’t agree with everything you post but you are definitely “in the know” and I appreciate the updates.
As soon as my kids finish HS, I’ll be moving to a new place and WC Borough is on the list. I hope it has more apartments, nice buildings, restaurants, etc. by that time. It keeps getting better as it gets redeveloped. Maybe it will even have restored train service in a few years but I’m not holding my breath.
I’m curious as to why you choose to live in the suburbs of a major city when you frequently lament growth, development, and change? Wouldn’t some place like Forest County be a better fit? Or do you simply want access to the amenities this region offers by virtue of having the density and wealth of being near a city but not the development and congestion that come along with that? You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.
Also this comment:
Y’all hate when someone builds something on an empty lot 😂
And this one:
That was a historic parking lot though! George Washington parked there!
And this one:
Chester County Ramblings I own a home in the borough, drive or walk past these sites multiple times a week, doesn’t bother me one bit. I lived in Chestnut Square when it was first built and it was awesome, brought a lot of young people into the town, everyone was proud to live there and the property was always well taken care of. It brings more people to our local businesses and restaurants, more money into the borough. The only people I see complaining are the ones too high and mighty to live near “renters”. No one will convince me that replacing an empty concrete lot or an abandoned Burger King with a brand new, nice, apartment building is a bad thing.
And this:
All the NIMBY’s know is unhappiness about any sort of growth and change. They are perfectly content with this region stagnating and declining while the rest of the world flourishes and advances. I can see being against a 5-floor apartment complex on a farm in West Nantmeal Township, but on an empty parking lot in a walkable town with amenities?
I’m really tired of having the same conversation over and over and over again.
While some are reveling in their ignorance of what they think are funny comments, they are missing the point and the point is there are too many apartments.
NONE of these developments are even attractive at this point . The development can be along I 95 in Philadelphia or in Chester County and it all looks the same. Cheap looking Lego boxes.
Too many apartments are creating a transient aspect to society out here. It causes issues with other types of real estate. It encourages predatory real estate investors, etc.
It’s just whatever the developer can suck out of the plot of land. If these folks all want to be part of the conversation, they’re welcome to be part of the conversation but if they’re just here to be ignorant, they can F off.
I’m just tired of it. We can’t have intelligent conversations about anything.
People can either constructive and polite even if you are on the other side of the issue, but they are not . Does anyone think these apartments are doing anything in the long run? They aren’t. They cause more kids to be in already bursting at the seams schools and they cause other stresses on infrastructure which is human and otherwise so it’s services like utilities, and then it’s emergency services like fire and police, etc and roads.
So if anyone out there would like dense buildings next to you, give the developers your address I’m sure they can oblige.
We can’t handle everything that’s being built literally. And our municipalities can not afford it. They get the short term high of ratables, but then we’re all on the hook.
There is no pace. There’s no real design. There’s a lack of human scale in most of these developments and issues with setbacks as well. Find open space? Not if they can help it. You know how you get open space in any of these new developments? If they can’t build on all of the land correct?
And then there are the developers that shove these plans down the throats of people in various municipalities and then they just let everything sit there and rot Today we have seen in Berwyn what happens with that. See my post on Berwyn Square.
Yes, communities have to grow and evolve to survive. But the growth shouldn’t always hurt so much and how about plans that are less dense and not so many rentals? That would probably be welcome just like anything other than a cram plan of apartments or townhouses.
What about affordable housing? I mean, basic average houses that people can downsize to who are getting older but raised their families and possibly even grew up themselves in a particular community or area. I’m also talking about what used to be called “starter houses” for people who grew up somewhere and came back to raise their own families and start their adult lives in a particular community. And by affordable housing, I’m also referring to low income housing. The state of the current supply of low income housing in Chester County is deplorable.
These developers aren’t building for a sense of community. They’re building for a sense of their own bank accounts. This is why you saw two municipalities this past election put an open space referendum on the ballot – East Whiteland and Uwchlan. Both referendums passed.
We don’t live in Chester county because it’s just some random suburb, we live here because we love the history of our county and we don’t want to become what Montgomery County and Delaware County have become and we’re pretty much there. It’s becoming too much development, overcrowded schools and an urban feel which is not what most of us signed up for. Bucks County too. Basically pick a county.
The Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is something I have written about so many times before I’ve lost count. This is the state level zoning bible, the guides all municipal zoning throughout the state. This weighty tome came into being when the definition of suburb and exurb was very different than today. this thing has not been comprehensively updated since around 1969. We’re at 2024. That’s 55 years.
Supposedly there was a big update in 2022, but I don’t remember anyone in Harrisburg enacting an act of the state constitution to do it?
What changed in 2022? Things most people didn’t even realize happened:
Amended Title 53 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes to establish the Municipal Boundary Change Act. This act also defined changes to real property that don’t require the assessment office to adjust an assessment
Amended Section 509 of the MPC to clarify the amount of financial security that municipalities should retain to cover the cost of remaining improvements on a subdivision or land development. This amendment took effect in February 2022
What we’re looking for in our communities among other things is more open space preservation, historic preservation that actually has teeth, and meaning, means to slow down the pace of development and have better control in our communities over the types of development we’re seeing. we want to be able to say we need to pause dense development and we want tools that our municipalities can legally have to help us preserve the feeling of where we call home.
It feels like every square inch of where we live is getting developed doesn’t it and as soon as you say, I really wish there wasn’t so much development you’re called NIMBY.
That’s bullshit. And the reality is the pace of development currently is not sustainable long-term and the stuff being built it doesn’t have staying power. The finishes and building style is just put it up as fast as you can. It doesn’t last. What is being built is not inexpensive and it looks cheap.
Parcels of land are built out to every inch possible. If any thing is retained as “open space” half of the time it’s not billable so you think a developers being magnanimous, but they really aren’t.
And then with all this development, especially in places like West Chester Borough you have people that’ll say “but we need workability and then maybe we’ll get the train back .”
Do you have two dollars? I can give you a piece of my bridge. I don’t really own a bridge. It’s a turn of phrase. All I’m saying is people are so gullible that they want to believe just about anything, but it doesn’t mean anything is based in reality.
And people always want to just say I’m NIMBY and I hate all development. There have been developments in the past I’ve actually liked. but those plans are few and far between or in some cases never actually happened because they were too good to be true.
Plans for development need to fit the communities in which they are going to be located. which of course is why I am worried about what is planned for the Weston tract in West Whiteland of W. King Rd. It’s why I am also concerned about whatever warehouses are being planned for the corner of Phoenixville Pike and W. King Rd. in West Whiteland.
Another thing I’m concerned about is whatever will happen with that random 15 acres that are partially in East Goshen and West Whiteland that were part of Schiffer Farm that the West Chester University Foundation is selling to a developer which backs up to a sweet older neighborhood on Old Phoenixville Pike.
And things like Lionville Station Farm are still in play aren’t they? And what is it about Downingtown Area School District that you don’t really know what’s going on with what the latest buyer is actually going to do?
And then you go past what used to be Happy Days Farm. The scale and just size of those warehouses is insane and no more farm.
If you want to see what negative impacts are occurring with all of this development try to drive through Ardmore or Wayne. Look at all the apartments in Tredyffrin, including along 202.
All of the development is overly dense and it’s about maximizing developer profit. It has nothing to do with community. It has nothing to do with any of us who were here first.
Again, all of this development is not sustainable. All of the rentals don’t foster a sense of community but they do create a more transient society. But go ahead, call me NIMBY if it makes you feel better. It’s not the truth.
what’s up with roof collapsing at “berwyn square”?
I mean, yikes! So much for Berwyn Square being the fabulous addition to Easttown Township, right? I mean, how long is Easttown Township going to allow this to go on? This affects property values of neighboring properties, residential and commercial. It looks like a slum.
I was tipped off today when I saw a post:
So the entire roof hasn’t completely collapsed as of earlier with photos sent to me, but you look at the photos being shared here that residents sent to me today and you tell me if you think that looks safe? And how about there’s no construction fencing around this entire project and does police tape, and those sawhorse / barricade things keep people out?
Residents have expressed concern for quite a while now haven’t they? Haven’t among the complaints been not only does the site look like a slum, people have questioned it being secure as in. They’re worried about people getting into it?
I posted about this in June 2024 :
I think I first wrote about this in 2019 and that would’ve been under the prior developer. The meetings caused such a huge resident turnout that they had to cancel one of them and reschedule.
Residents have been against this super sizing since this first began and I think that was what 2018 or so? I’ve lost count because this has been going on and been a consternation for so many years at this point.
https://vista.today/2022/01/berwyn-square-interest-sold/
https://savvymainline.com/tag/berwyn-square/
This is the website for DP Partners who own this obviously dilapidated development site:
I have to ask how can they say? They actually care about the community around this site and how can Easttown allow this to continue? This is ridiculous. There isn’t even cyclone fencing up around this site. Haven’t residents been worried before about middle schoolers and other kids getting in there?
OK, everyone gets it. The site will be developed, but what was there before obviously needs to be taken down ASAP no BS. They need to clear that lot and make it look neat and safe. Now I realize in order for Easttown Township to do the cleanup themselves they might have to take the property via eminent domain, but wouldn’t that be for public purpose at this point because it doesn’t look quite safe? And I don’t like eminent domain, but they’re not taking care of the property and they’re not moving forward on the project right now, are they? Now I also wonder if Easttown could force the unsafe structures to come down as a matter of public safety without taking the property because I remember East Whiteland did that on two dilapidated properties two different times in recent memory.
The neighbors deserve better. The residents of Easttown in general deserve better.
It seems like no matter what municipality you live in you are living with development sites that haven’t quite popped yet and they just sit there rotting don’t they? 
Giddy up Easttown and DP Partners, giddy up. This is BS. This developer likes to tell people at meetings how he’s one with the community, well dude do you want this across the street from your house?
Rant over.
fa la la la …. flat? yuletide 2024, similar issues, different location?
So they went from Devon Horse Show in 2023 where they fell flat, to a geographically somewhat undesirable and odd location? A golf club owned by the Union League in Lafayette Hill? What happened to that lease that was supposed to be more than one year with Devon Horse Show anyway? It’s one of the great mysteries of life isn’t it?
Anyway, so it’s happening again and the prices aren’t much different. And then there’s this great disclaimer. Basically can it be said they’re there to take your money, but they’re not responsible for anything?
And I’ve been hearing from people that tried it again that said it’s just the same song different radio station so to speak. Now I know where they’re having it because it was an insurance company owned golf club for a long time. It’s pretty but for an event like this? In my opinion, it’s just not another good location. Except I have to be honest, if they had handled it properly, Devon was actually a great location.
Here are two of the recent reviews I found:
So there you have it don’t you? And this is what I’ve also heard from people that went, but didn’t leave any reviews. They didn’t even bother to post about it on social media.
And the other thing is it’s Christmas and people don’t mind paying a tasty per head charge to walk in the door, if part of it goes to a nonprofit so where’s their nonprofit component this year? Or again it doesn’t exist does it?
I think this is sad honestly because I think it had the potential of being something really cool. But this is a special and magical time of year and if you can’t really bring the magic because you don’t have the true generosity of holiday spirit, then this will keep happening won’t it?
My favorite bad review was the one that said it was a crime against Christmas. Buy that man a peppermint cocoa!
I will note I found one very glowing lonnngg new positive yet poorly written review and I have to ask: did that person pay for the admission or were they comped because last year weren’t they at the comped preview? Because they are in influencer category ?
Santa’s watching… do people think they’ll be back for a third year?
I posted all the reviews I saw on Google. They match again what I’ve been told by people I know who went. I’m going to say go up to Bethlehem or some of the other great markets for Christmas. One of my favorites is coming up and it is the Clover Market holiday market at Westtown School.
Also I have to ask how do you categorize the reviews family that’s doing this ? They are liking their own festival? I get that but are those real reviews or like familial sock puppets ?
Fa La La La La.