About carla

Writer, blogger, photographer, breast cancer survivor. I write about whatever strikes my fancy as I meander through life.

PECO settle your strike. your customers deserve better as well as your workers.

According to media reports, over 1600 workers are on strike against PECO. Also according to these same reports, this is the first time in the company’s 145 year old history.

This is NOT an anti-union post. Quite the contrary. These are the men and women who actually keep our power on and help us when storms cause crisis in our communities. The fat corporate cats who charge us out the ying yang, even profiting from data centers at our expense, are at fault. As a matter of fact a comment from one of my readers gave me pause:

PECO’s CEO makes millions. Record profits….and peanuts to those who actually do the work?

We are in the middle of a record breaking heatwave and these workers had no other option except strike. The recent rate increase has nothing to do with workers, just corporate America.

We the consumers are caught in this mess because of a greedy corporate entity and their executives. The fault lies with the executive suite.

The workers only want the basics and also don’t want jobs outsourced that are customer service related, and I am all for that. I am so tired of calling a US company and getting scripted offshore call centers or AI bots.

I am a fan of the linemen and folks that keep the power on. That started back in the 90s- specifically the summer of 1999 when we had a horribly long stretch of weather. I was living in my single girl home. We kept having brown outs and outages.

We also had a problem with a pole that serviced a lot of our neighborhoods. It had “legs” underground that kept burning. You could literally see scorched earth and feel the heat.

PECO corporate wouldn’t listen. We had so many outages that the site workers and linemen looked after us, one even gave us a really powerful flashlight. Eventually it took our state senator’s office to help us, and they helped us in part because of the workers who gave us information we needed to get the right repairs.

Then there was the ice storm of 2014. We were what? Ten days without power in a particularly icy cold February. We cheered when the linemen came.

Last night’s storm was swift and dangerous. We have a pole near us that services multiple municipalities. Every time there is a bad storm we are out. Last night was a more lengthy than average outage. I think that is because of the strike.

So PECO? I am sure your executives love their cushy packages and benefits. But for what we pay as consumers I would like to know that your workers are getting their fair share. That’s all. Other than you need update the problem poles that really have not been fixed AND your outage map is still not working. And Aspludth still sucks.

And for those of you who don’t share my opinion on this, please note purported violence against strikers is terrible. There is enough violence in this world.

https://nbcphiladelphia.app.link/8m1xTm23w4b

https://6abc.com/amp/post/peco-workers-remain-strike-negotiations-resume-sunday/19450004/

https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/video/negotiations-to-resume-sunday-between-peco-union-workers-as-strike-continues/

https://nbcphiladelphia.app.link/d1M9W6n4w4b

happy (?) 250th birthday america (?)

Today I was greeted by media images and footage of a white supremacist types in white masks, marching in our Nation’s Capital.

That’s not my America.

I think the deadly horrible hot weather is a reflection of the emotions and sentiments of the ghosts of our founding fathers.

This is what 250 looks like, America? We should all be ashamed. We are probably as divided as we ever have been in that saying something, considering the Civil War, etc.

I love this country, but I don’t love this point in our history. We are standing on the edge of a crumbling, dangerous precipice. I’m tired of politicians talking. They need to do something about this.

This country has all but forgotten from whence it came and do average people now actually know what it means to be American?

People are going to read this post and say “She’s not a patriot. She’s bad.”

Patriot is now an overused trigger word that has lost its meaning because people now have a distinct lack of understanding of the term and our US history, good bad, and indifferent.

No, I’m not bad. But I am fed up. I’m fed up with the pablum being shoveled at us from politicians on both sides of the aisle. I am tired of the ugliness, the divisiveness, the overt racism, and just anything ugly that you can attribute with a stereotype of what an ugly American looks like. I’m tired of the faux Christians who think they’re actually Christian. They are not. They are lizards who slither back and forth from under rocks.

Our country is in the toilet economically. The Wizard behind the curtain would like us to believe it is hunky dory but ya know how they are trying to reframe social security? We’ve paid into this our whole lives and it could be out of money or seriously cut by 2032.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/politics/your-social-security-benefits-could-be-cut-by-a-quarter-in-2032-heres-what-to-know

https://www.cbpp.org/press/statements/social-securitys-financial-outlook-deteriorated-in-part-due-to-trump-policies

The funny thing is I remember the Bicentennial. I was just a kid. and I remember people complained about it. And it wasn’t perfect, but I remember it was a real celebration and both sides of the political aisle came together for the greater good. I got to ride in a covered wagon to and through Valley Forge Park.

I saw an Inquirer article about the reenactment of the 2nd Continental Congress of some sort that was down at Independence Hall within the past couple of days and it was pathetic. Face it, today’s Congress couldn’t do anything that those men did 250 years ago, they simply don’t have it in them.

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/philadelphia/independence-hall-250-congress-ceremony-20260702.html

My country ‘tis of thee, don’t let a mad man subvert our liberty.

I will end with posting the Declaration of Independence because what else can we do but remind people what our founding fathers fought for ? Why? Because otherwise the future is bleak house.

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

big boy chugs through gladwyne and enters philadelphia!

Courtesy of Sabina Louise Pierce

Big Boy did a whistle stop through Gladwyne, PA down on River Road.

Courtesy of Sabina Louise Pierce

The last two photos I will share was Big Boy rolling into Philadelphia. These photos have all been lent to me with permission of National Geographic Photographer/Explorer Sabina Louise Pierce. I am really lucky that she just happened to connect with me and say “Hey guess where I am?!

Courtesy of Sabina Louise Pierce

Again, I have permission to share them.

People walking down Waverly Road in Gladwyne to the river to see Big Boy! Sabina Louise Pierce photo

The last two I will share are from Philadelphia, including a little seven second video which I think is great!

Courtesy of Sabina Louise Pierce

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you’re staying cool.

Courtesy of Sabina Louise Pierce

compare/contrast

I was in the Hamptons for a few days. The Hamptons is actually a place I do go to every now and again.

(Yes, I’m now waiting for the people to start with the elite comments and whatever and yawn. Disney cruises aren’t my jam.)

But it gave me a little time to reflect.

One of the things is say what you want about the Hamptons in New York, but they care about historic preservation. They care about the way their communities look. I like that. But I think one of my favorite things that they do, which is great because the traffic is insane, is they actually enforce their pedestrian crosswalks.

But honestly, one of the things I truly liked the best is I didn’t see any political signs anywhere. As a matter of fact at a historic structure, that is now an adaptive reuse that I believe was in Bridgehampton, I saw a sign that said “no political signs allowed.”

Also important to note is the shopping areas along their main drags and even off of the beaten path are in size and scale with the rest of their communities out there. And I didn’t see giant gargantuan big box apartment buildings everywhere which was quite delightful. Architecture, even very modern design had thought and human scale and process and actual design.

It was of course absolutely fabulous people watching.

The food was pretty much wonderful everywhere we went, but I have to say the highlight was the most perfect lobster roll from a place called Shippies in Southampton. It was nice to get away from the over abundance of chain steakhouses, the mediocre, and pub food.

This is an area that has a lot of farming around it, so everything is very much farm to table, which makes a difference. And the produce stands! Amazing. Not a single fauxmer to be found anywhere, and the prices I saw on produce was actually a little better than in this area

And it’s a very long ride back-and-forth, and for people who know my eternal curiosity of things I also like watching what’s on the side of the road. It’s a great way to see where bad infill development has totally made a mess out of places from Long Island through the NYC boroughs. We should have learned from these mistakes already.

It’s also a place where you see somebody with a little tiny house on the side of the highway who is still growing a garden.

And again, as I mentioned, it’s the place of absolutely insane traffic and bad accidents.

I must mention again I adored a few days where I didn’t hear one person anywhere even discussing politics. I did however see a disgusting lit billboard on the highway leaving the Hamptons. This one seemed to be on Shinnecock Nation Land on the highway.

I was also around so many gorgeous gardens filled with hydrangeas and imaginative plantings.

I garden so that is something that I always love to see. This was the place where I truly fell in love with hydrangeas.

However, I also saw the effects of climate change and disease on what once was a stretch of road en route to Montauk that was filled with different kinds of pine and other things that just look completely dead.

It is somewhat of an out of body experience being in a place that caters so specifically to the super rich. And I’m not saying that for any other reason other than it’s true. Maybe that’s why things just get taken care of. I don’t know.

But I will admit I loved coming home to Chester County.

It’s nice to visit other places, but home is where your heart is and my heart is very much in Chester County.

as the sword of damocles hangs over our heads

Resident photo, East Whiteland Data Center Site NOT TRESPASSING!

The Sword of Damocles. I think that’s a good and applicable metaphor for those of us in any community throughout Pennsylvania dealing with the issue of data centers. We live in a state of eventual peril, and our elected officials don’t really seem to get it and or really care. Or if they care at all, do they care enough?

East Whiteland in particular I’m beginning to find especially frustrating. With everything it’s no we couldn’t possibly, it’s never maybe we can investigate that as a solution.

Every time you turn around yet another community is being faced with a potential data center, or inadequate bad pablum smeared data center ordinance language developed by people who are really in it to get data centers in communities. And yes, I can have that opinion because it’s the truth in my opinion.

The developers are your typical developers and this could be a warehouse or an apartment building or condominium complex or bad stick frame townhouse development. They don’t really care, they’re just in it to make money. and like typical developers they will build their build and move on to the next community whose lives they are going to impact negatively.

There seems to be a couple of court cases pending, so there’s no actual data center building going on at the moment in East Whiteland, but it never should’ve gotten this far. This township had the ability when this first started to say no, but they lost their balls along the way.

This started in 2018. I know because I was following it and so was Ginny Kerslake. It was around the same time that the developer tried unsuccessfully to get a hydrogen hub in West Whiteland next to where he wanted the data center in East Whiteland.

When I asked about this then and asked them if they had ever heard of Loudon County Virginia or how bad this could be the response was along the lines of (and I’m paraphrasing), “It couldn’t be that bad.”

I warned officials in this township then that a human tsunami would arrive when they least expected it about this data center. And the human tsunami is here and the residents are not backing down, which is something this township is not used to because there isn’t a lot of staying power on certain issues. But with this the issue of data centers, residents are united.

And it’s not just the residents of East Whiteland. It’s the surrounding communities who would be affected by this data center or who are going to be affected by another data center. This issue is non-partisan. People just don’t want them, and if you study the fine print in our electric bills, we’re already paying for data centers. We’re paying for what we didn’t ask to have dumped on us. That’s just classic isn’t it?

Resident photo no trespassing involved

A truthfully, we shouldn’t have to have it. There’s an opportunity right now in Harrisburg thanks to State Senator Katie Muth to pass a bill that would allow for a moratorium on data centers. It wouldn’t be forever, but it would give people breathing room, but of course the lobbyists and the politicians, who have swallowed the Emperor’s new clothes as being spun by Governor Josh Shapiro, just don’t get it, and their ignorance (or deliberate obdurance) could cost us our communities, our health, our environment, our home values, and more.

State Senator Katie Muth is the only elected official who seems to give a damn most days.

Who is going to take care of us when our wells run dry? Who is going to take care of us when we don’t have enough energy for our use because it’s being hogged by a data center? Who is going to keep us from literally losing our minds from the noise of a data center which will also affect our children, our pets, our wildlife?

Resident photo no trespassing involved

I’m tired of being Sister Mary Sunshine on this issue. It’s wrong and when did our government become people who didn’t protect the people who elected them in the first place? Do any of them have courage? That remains to be seen.

Now there’s this narrative being spun in East Whiteland that Foote Mineral really isn’t a super fund/EPA site any longer. Don’t know what they’re smoking, but it really must be good, huh?

Yes. It. Is.

That Foote Mineral site is a bad site and this is a greed driven bad plan. Data centers are not good for any community. And yes I can have that opinion.

And a brief segue to Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and Salem Township. Does anyone really believe that the data center land owners give a crap about the cats living on one particular parcel I mean, where are they going with them? Are they just making them disappear? Doesn’t the potential for animal cruelty matter either?

https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/luzerne-county/friends-and-ferals-removed-from-salem-township-data-center-properties-while-rescuing-cats-berwick-qts-salem-township/523-d8709ca6-4fac-418a-8948-b21a5153e2e5

My greatest fear with these data centers is the reality that our local governments and our state government is creating a Logan‘s Run scenario for the future. And that’s not as crazy as it sounds if you look at what’s happening with the negative effects of data centers in other states already.

https://www.eastwhiteland.org/government/departments/planning_development/sentinel,_green_fig_data_center_on_swedesford_road.php

East Whiteland Township among other municipalities still has the opportunity to grow balls and do the right thing.

But will they?

Signing off utterly disgusted.

I don’t know what we’re celebrating on July 4 but it seems like this country is on a bad track and data centers are just part of it.

Logan’s Run here we come.

Make sure you read Ginny Kerslake’s editorial in the Inquirer.

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/data-centers-moratorium-shapiro-katie-muth-pennsylvania-20260701.html

Resident photo no trespassing

gladwyne folks had best pay attention to the uncertain fate of saint peter’s village

I remember the first time I saw Saint Peter’s Village as I guess a teenager. My father wanted to see it, so one day we went. I thought I had stepped into a magical place. It has felt like that every time I have been there since. It is in Warwick Township and has a cool history.

is a preserved 19th-century industrial company town located in a narrow gorge along French Creek. A company town. Much like the Village of Gladwyne, hence the reference. In the 1840s, iron ore was discovered there.

https://theclio.com/entry/154077

Allow me to quote a Times Herald article from 2008:

Cradled in the hills surrounding French Creek State Park was a run-down, sad-looking town called St. Peter’s Village. It’s cheerless, empty shops and crumbling walks hid this little Victorian hamlet’s history and charm.Originally founded and built as a ‘company town’ by Davis Knauer to house and provide services to workers of his Black Granite Quarry at French Creek, this picturesque Victorian community began to take shape in 1880.

For many decades families flocked to the village to ‘jump’ the rocks and picnic by the stream. 

Winter sleigh rides and festivals were a constant as was, in later years, the sound of old Aunt Lena playing the saw. The village’s fascinating history and the memories of thousands who visited could not preserve it from the descent that followed the closing of the quarry and the subsequent selling of the village by the Knavery family in the late 1970’s.

For over 20 years this charming Victorian town sat neglected with its magnificent Inn deteriorating into a shabby shadow of its former grandeur. But all that has now changed.

Tom Drauschak of Earth Companies, the builder of the nearby Stone Wall Golf Course, and his partner, Vince Piazza, the father of future baseball Hall of Famer Mike Piazza, purchased the Inn as well as several other buildings in the village two years ago and already life has come back to the town. Paver sidewalks were installed, the quarry had what can only be called a ‘face-lift’ and working with the Chester County Historical Society, existing structures have been restored to their 1880s Victorian charm and are now occupied. The historic Inn at St. Peters Village (http://theinnatsaintpetersvillage.com/), which first opened in 1881, has been radiantly restored…The best part, however, are the careful measures that are being taken to maintain the historical integrity of St. Peters. Mr. Drauschak is working with the historical society to ensure that the new construction will be representative of the architecture of the era, thereby making this lovely neighborhood fit seamlessly into the charming village and its setting. Home site reservations at pre-construction pricing are now being accepted. So, what happened to St. Peter’s Village? It’s Renewed, Revitalized and Open for Business!

Wellllllll….I had not really paid attention to the whole thing that this little village always had overlords err owners and then the news broke:

https://www.phillyvoice.com/historic-st-peters-village-chester-county-auctioned

St. Peter’s Village, a 19th-century industrial town along French Creek in northern Chester County that’s protected under the National Register of Historic Places, is being put up for auction by its owners.

The sale includes the Inn at St. Peter’s Village and accompanying restaurant, 121 residential and 13 commercial properties and subterranean mineral rights to the land, according to Philly-based Traiman Auction Company. The village will be sold Sept. 30 at the Desmond Hotel in Malvern.

Molly McVety
PhillyVoice Staff/ June 29, 2026

June 29 is ironically the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul.

AUCTION???? yeah this gets an oh fuuuuuuuuck for sure. The auction house has tried to be coy about ownership but Philadelphia Business Journal burst that cherry:

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2026/06/30/saint-peters-village-auction-piazza-chester-county.html

An entire 83-acre village in Chester County with a hotel, shops and over 100 developable home sites is being put up for auction by Piazza Management Co.

The historic St. Peter’s Village will be auctioned off Sept. 30 with no reserve price at the Desmond Hotel Malvern. At that time, the village will be sold to the highest bidder, no matter the price, and with no set starting bid.

~By Ryan Mulligan – Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal

Jun 30, 2026

https://www.saintpetersvillageauction.com

Philadelphia Business Journal also pointed out that this is the SAME Piazza tearing up Ardmore in Lower Merion Township for a mixed use development that will supersize and citify.

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2025/12/29/piazza-ardmore-development-radnor.html

Radnor Property Group is set to begin construction on a mixed-use development in Ardmore that will add hundreds of apartments to an area drawing attention from multifamily developers looking to build near transit hubs.

The $187 million, 270-unit development at 100 W. Lancaster Ave. is planned to have about 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 480 garage parking spaces, including 108 for public use by retail customers. The project is named The Piazza at Ardmore after property owners Daniel Piazza and his family.

Radnor Property Group CEO David Yeager said he and Daniel Piazza view the project as an opportunity to “create a gateway” into downtown Ardmore.

Those are my photos from when I was in Ardmore recently and I was horrified. Another fun fact? Former East Whiteland Supervisor Rich Orlow works for Piazza, who also has a seemingly stalled project in East Whiteland – a car dealership.

According to the auction website:

Engineer’s plans, plot plans, and other property details will be available at the property.

Description

Owner has directed an Absolute Auction for their portion of its property located in historic St Peters Village, Warwick Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Step into a one-of-a-kind opportunity in the heart of St. Peter’s Village, a nationally recognized historic destination in Chester County, Pennsylvania. This mixed-use development invites major builders, venture capitalists, and historic preservationists. Located in a growth corridor, this intriguing property sells at absolute auction to the highest bidder. The offering includes 121 Home Sites, consisting of 33 single-family homes, 33 twins, 34 town homes, and 21 expansive 2-acre home sites; also a wastewater treatment plant that services the existing structures, which must be improved by the buyer to accommodate the full build out. Thirteen historic and commercial village buildings—totaling approximately 43,500+/- square feet—create exceptional potential for retail, hospitality, or adaptive reuse. The property also conveys valuable subterranean mineral rights, including documented iron ore deposits, adding a rare investment dimension.

Facts & Features

It’s all being sold “as is, where is”.

Now someone has to ask the question is Saint Peter’s Village being auctioned off to pay for Ardmore?

Well?

Last year part of the road was closed by PennDOT, does that have anything to do with this? After all it is no great secret in Chester County that PennDOT road closures can help kill businesses, right?

According to Evan Brandt at The Mercury, the sewage treatment plant has major issues:

The small sewage treatment plant nestled into the hill behind St. Peter’s Inn discharges directly into French Creek, an “exceptional value stream” that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is charged with protecting.

The sewage treatment plant has had serious problems over the years with aging pipes that allowed stormwater to infiltrate. Every time it rained, the plant would not be able to handle the flow, and thousands of gallons of raw sewage were discharged into French Creek.

In 2008 and 2009, the DEP stopped expansion work at the sewer plant that it said was being done without a permit

Evan also mentioned the ghostly was to be a development where only about 5 model units were built. Today he remarked only a couple seemed occupied.

https://tomdrauschak.com/projects/st_peters_village (this website which was old, disappeared overnight after I had found it)

Anyway….GLADWYNE PEOPLE like the good for nothing civic association and Lower Merion Township sit up and pay attention as this could be the fate someday of Gladwyne Village. You have a new owner turning it back into a company/mill kind of town. Don’t say it couldn’t happen in 19035, it certainly damn well could.

I am sure I am not the only one extremely worried about Saint Peter’s Village which to be honest has started to look a little run down in the past couple of years. If residents and preservationists don’t get busy and pay attention who knows what could happen here and it might be on the National Register of Historic Places but how many times have things on that register been demolished for “progress”?

No rest for the historic preservation weary, I’m afraid. Only potential profits for developers, right?

#SaveSaintPetersVillage (pass it on)

https://tomdrauschak.com/projects/st_peters_village

https://web.archive.org/web/20260000000000*/https://tomdrauschak.com/projects/

https://web.archive.org/web/20251017134539/https://tomdrauschak.com/projects/

being involved in your community.

I’ve written about this so many times I don’t know why I’m bothering to do it again but I am.

There are no better advocates for a community than the members of said community. It takes a lot at times, sometimes it’s easier.

But people ask, how do you do these things? You gather together. It starts with that.

I think the biggest problem I see that people have with local governments today are the poor decisions, and trying to hide things from people.

Sometimes it takes a while, but the truth always does come out. But there are things that I don’t understand today that comes out of the mouths of our local elected officials. Elected officials are the ones that are driving the bus of the municipality, yet they can’t contemplate their navels without being told what to do by staff.

Now of course they’re just places where the elected officials are just off. Do we call them corrupt or are they just stupid? I think they are stupid a lot of the times because they think their residents are stupid?

If you don’t like the face of who governs you change it, one of your most powerful tool in a citizen toolbox is your vote, along with your voice.

My friends and I have done it. It’s often a slog. Pure and simple. And while it is great to have t-shirts, catchy phrases and acronyms and lawn signs, that is literally the fun part. The crazy rest of it? It’s like having a second unpaid job you didn’t sign up for.

In East Whiteland and East Vincent and Limerick and Plymouth and West Conshohocken and Upper Merion it’s the blasted data centers. In Chaddsford, Radnor, and Malvern Borough and some other areas it’s unwelcome development.

In Easttown things are a little below the radar right now, but I keep getting inklings that things are simmering.

And Willistown is its own hot mess. You have unresolved major development issues with Rockhill Farm. And the guy who won’t let the township fix a culvert on Spring Road. And every once in a while you have people who pop up wanting sidewalks on absurd roads. In some places sidewalks are helpful, but the can’t be on dangerous roads that are not safe for walking or sidewalks to nowhere right? And the eternal thing of who pays for sidewalks when they are installed is an issue that the sidewalk advocates have no realistic answers to.

Another example I’m going to use today is Tredyffrin – what are these people thinking?

Residents are asking for transparency because everything they get is talking in circles, a non-answer, clear as mud. Like how is a supervisor named David Miller able to just write a check for a big chunk for the park being formed out of Picket Post Swim Club? The Chase Road Park but does that check really buy naming rights? (Watch the meeting)

https://www.youtube.com/live/wQ_L-VTRLmo?si=YHmswdPbfx29QvWE

Just the other day after sharing a concern from a resident in Mount Pleasant, a sitting supervisor, replied the following:

So let’s review: she is a sitting supervisor. Her job is to help her constituents and residents of this township. What I’m sharing is a resident asking for help. What she’s sharing meaning the supervisor is she couldn’t possibly. She can call about a leaky fountain, but she can’t also say to the township manager and traffic safety “Hey, we have a problem and there’s going to be a fatality or a really bad accident if we don’t improve the signage in Mount Pleasant.”

But hey, it’s Mount Pleasant right, so why give a damn?

I see you lazy supervisor and so does everyone else.

I will also note this is the woman who actually lives extraordinarily close to where Megan Nieberle was murdered and did we ever hear a word out of her about that?

Now another weird thing in Tredyffrin. Humble brings up Hans van Mol and he’s a curiosity to me. He likes to play parliamentarian at meetings right? So why does he not recuse himself from Parks and Rec stuff? His mama, Diane van Mol is the chair of the Parks and Rec Board is she not? Isn’t that a conflict if he doesn’t recuse himself? And has he recused himself?

And let’s talk America 250? If Tredyffrin is so proud of their flag why did Sharon Humble have the attitude of a cold wet noodle when Michelle Kichline was there. How could she not recognize Michelle’s service to the township as a supervisor for years, she was a chair and she was a county commissioner and a chair there as well!

Tredyffrin residents are waking up. Residents in other Chester County communities are waking up. Government needs to realize that we are all not sheep on this big bus of life.

Ciao.

don’t forget the tinfoil hats

It’s been quite the amusing time since Anonymous Ada and her hit squad didn’t prevail at the ChesCo Republican “convention.”

Time to address the nutbag chorus. This is yet another faux Christian bible thumping hypocrite with a conspiracy theory inner voice. Seriously do they buy their tinfoil hats in bulk?

So we’re clear:

✅ No one gave me anything. Certainly no one from the ChesCo GOP.


✅ Everything I’ve posted this tribe has posted on Facebook, including this handout they’re all in a lather about. I didn’t go through it with a fine tooth comb but are they lies? Doesn’t seem to be since they didn’t seem to deny any of what’s on that thing?


✅ It seems to me no matter what the political persuasion these convention things are run like general and primary elections, and everybody has handouts and platforms? If they bring nothing but chaos to the table every time, whose fault is that?

Also, since a certain QAnon Princess got her head handed to her again, we’ve been having revisionist Ada.

Either the grammar police are coming for the QAnon Princess or she thinks some ancestor spent several winters camped out at Valley Forge? It was ONE winter. There encampment was there exactly one winter. One……winter. So unless he was homeless or they pulled up stakes and he forgot to leave with the troops and stayed in Valley Forge , it didn’t happen did it?🤣

Also, it’s very confusing about her genealogy, isn’t it? After all, the last time she was talking about her genealogy so much is when she was running for West Chester Area School District School Board, remember? Then she was identifying as Latina.

To be clear, I don’t honestly care either way. America is a melting pot. It’s part of the history, but it seems like there are different narratives to suit different needs with this woman.

Oh and again for the dullards, this is all publicly available and her words.

You have to wonder if she actually knows how to be just herself. Or what herself actually is when you peel back the layers of BS, conspiracy theories, and tinfoil hat politics.

https://patch.com/pennsylvania/westchester/ada-nestor-challenges-region-1-west-chester-school-district

https://broadandliberty.com/2021/05/06/ada-nestor-education-not-conspiracies/

https://substack.com/@adanestorwc/note/p-203415462

But I am tired of these people and they have no sense of personal accountability and yet they have this drive. But the drive is for chaos.

And these folks are also supported by the Thug Politics Cabal of the Tammany Hall in the cornfield of Honey Brook. And the excessively nasty of Oxford.

They want to tell everyone how wonderful they are, but they are kind of ridiculous.

These are the types that buy tinfoil hats in bulk. These are the types representing the worst in American politics.

a day for advocacy in harrisburg: stop the march of data centers.

oakwell is for real and forever saved- it’s done and dusted!

The other day I received a press release. I’m finally taking a minute to share it because it’s important and it’s wonderful, wonderful news.

This is from our friends at Natural Lands. It’s about Oakwell and Stoneleigh together again.

I knew this was coming long before it was announced, and I am thrilled that there is finally the presser out on it.

This is an amazing thing that is happening in great part thanks to the Haas family and the Wyncote Foundation, all those wonderful volunteers who fought for Oakwell (and some of them are very dear friends), and Natural Lands which I love as an organization.

Sadly, as soon as Natural Lands announced this formally, and in spite of all the write ups already out there, you have people jumping in to start raising alarm bells when none are needed. Reading comprehension is a big problem for a lot of people it seems these days, especially on social media, and they should just in this instance here, say thank you.

People don’t seem to get, it’s ALL safe. The house/mansion is being retained and preserved by the Wyncote Foundation and the rest joins Stoneleigh. All ultimately thanks to the wonderful Haas family, one of whom was in my class at Shipley. These are a family which always done the right thing because paying it forward is simply what they do.

Here is the press release:

Natural Lands Expands Stoneleigh: a natural garden in Villanova, PA

MEDIA, Pa., June 15, 2026 – Natural Lands today announced the acquisition of 10 acres of the historic Oakwell property from Lower Merion School District (LMSD). The land is immediately adjacent to Stoneleigh, Natural Lands’ beloved public garden and, in fact, was once part of the estate in the early 1900s. The land protection success marks the culmination of years of community advocacy, partnership building, and a shared commitment to preserving one of the region’s most significant cultural landscapes.

In a separate transaction, an additional three acres of the property, which includes the Oakwell mansion, was purchased by and will be carefully restored and preserved by the private Wyncote Foundation.

In 2018, LMSD purchased two parcels—collectively known as Oakwell—as a site for athletic fields for Black Rock Middle School. As development plans progressed, public concern grew. Over a period of years, community members campaigned for preservation of the property and its towering trees, historical structures, and horticultural legacy.

A turning point came early in 2024, when ongoing conversations between LMSD and Natural Lands led to a conservation solution. In August of that year, the two organizations announced an agreement: LMSD would sell 10 acres of Oakwell to Natural Lands to expand Stoneleigh and the remaining three acres to a separate entity whose use will be complementary.

Today, that agreement is reality.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to preserve all of Oakwell and to grow Stoneleigh for the benefit of residents and visitors from the entire region. We are immensely grateful to our generous funders, the community, and the leadership of the school district for making this possible,” said Oliver Bass, president of Natural Lands. “It is not an exaggeration to say that this is the culmination of years of work by our staff, our supporters, and members of the Lower Merion community.”

“None of this would be possible without the exceptionally generous support of the Wyncote Foundation,” Bass said. “Additional leadership support is being provided the William Penn Foundation,” he added.

Although Oakwell will require a period of preparation before opening to the public, its addition significantly advances Stoneleigh’s mission: to celebrate the beauty and importance of the natural world and inspire the cultivation of native plants for the benefit of all.

Dr. Frank Ranelli, LMSD superintendent, added, “We hope that this agreement, which came about after years of public discussion and collaboration with the purchasing parties, will enhance the quality of life for members of the Lower Merion community, which is so supportive of our schools. We look forward to future collaborations that might allow our students to explore and learn at Stoneleigh.”

A new Master Plan for the expanded Stoneleigh outlines a vision for thoughtfully weaving Oakwell and Stoneleigh together while creating inspiring new garden spaces, expanding educational capacity, elevating guests’ experiences, and honoring the properties’ historical significance.

“We are honored to reunite Oakwell with Stoneleigh in a way that pays homage to their shared and distinct histories while also incorporating new garden features,” said Ethan Kauffman, director of Stoneleigh. “Oakwell is a magical place with some truly spectacular trees and beautiful buildings, and we can’t wait to share it with the community when it’s ready. Honestly, I have to pinch myself to believe this opportunity is real.”

Highlights of the Master Plan for Stoneleigh include:

  • Creating new garden features that honor the landscape legacy of Oakwell while furthering Stoneleigh’s commitment to showcasing the beauty and ecological function of native plants and habitats.
  • Preserving healthy, mature trees that are a hallmark of the Oakwell property.
  • Thoughtfully restoring historical buildings, which include a complex that once housed the greenhouses for the Stoneleigh estate, a former caretaker’s cottage, and a garden feature known as the Tea House.
  • Constructing a new Welcome Center to greet and orient guests year‑round.
  • Removing physical barriers like fencing and driveways to reunite the properties while also improving circulation and accessibility.
  • Expanding educational programming through new indoor and outdoor classrooms.
  • Enhancing community connections via gathering spaces, programs, and partnerships.

“Stoneleigh is growing in so many ways,” added Bass. “We look forward to the day we welcome everyone to experience all the joys of our expanded 52‑acre public garden.”

Stoneleigh will continue to welcome guests, free of charge, Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 AM -5 PM while work on the expanded portion is underway. To learn more, visit www.natlands.org/growing.

Natural Lands is dedicated to preserving and nurturing nature’s wonders while creating opportunities for joy and discovery in the outdoors for everyone. As the Greater Philadelphia region’s oldest and largest land conservation organization, Natural Lands—which is member supported—has preserved more than 137,000 acres, including 40+ nature preserves and one public garden totaling more than 23,000 acres. About five million people live within five miles of land under the organization’s protection. Land for life, nature for all. natlands.org.

Please note: “Natural Lands” is the organization’s official operating name and should be used instead of its legal designation (Natural Lands Trust, Inc.).