Author Archives: carla

About carla

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

fight swarthmorians, fight

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Kevin Riordan of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this brand new article out. About development in Swarthmore. Swarthmore one of the last places with beautiful trees and not overtaken by ugly development…until now. And the players include the guy who went from zoning and planning dude in West Goshen Township to Swarthmore Borough Manager (William Webb) and the former Borough Mayor of Swarthmore and developer/builder, Bill Cumby.

I will start with not a big fan of West Goshen and West Goshen employee refugees because West Goshen just always has issues. And then there is this once a politician always a politician former mayor of Swarthmore and how can he really want to build something so out of character and out of scale in a small main street oriented community that is also home to lovely homes with terrific gardens and street trees, Swarthmore College, and Scott Arboretum? Political/personal gain? I mean you don’t want to think that, but this plan? It’s like all the bad plans for Ardmore, PA mated with Eastside Flats in Malvern Borough and The Elm in Narberth, and had an alien love child.

This proposed plan? One word: HIDEOUS.

No Swarthmore is not in Chester County. It’s in Delaware County. And Swarthmore and Media are two of my favorite Main Street small town feel towns. So yes, I am expressing my dismay. Honest, heart-felt dismay.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Swarthmore locals are divided over how well luxury condos would fit the borough’s distinctive character
Swarthmore, Delaware County’s classic college town, is wrestling with a five-story condo proposal some say will help and others fear will hurt the borough’s heart.

By Kevin Riordan
Updated on Mar 7, 2023

A local developer’s proposed condominium complex in Swarthmore would offer ready access to a SEPTA Regional Rail station as well as to shops, restaurants, and cultural amenities in the heart of the Delaware County borough.

Called 110 Park, the $30 million, five-story building would increase the town center’s population and provide Swarthmore empty-nesters an opportunity to downsize in their community. The proposal also includes 1,250 square feet of retail space and preservation of the facade and front section of the Celia Building, a Park Avenue landmark….a significant number of Swarthmore residents, including architects, preservationists, and businesspeople, say 110 Park would dwarf its low-rise surroundings, cast a literal and figurative shadow over the town center, and erode the borough’s distinctive character.

They also oppose the pending demolition of two vintage buildings and see the proposed 40-space parking garage at the complex as a potential threat to pedestrian and vehicular traffic safety….Ever since the developer, 110 Park LLC, submitted the first iteration of the proposal for review in 2021, public concerns have focused on the impact of replacing a small-town expanse of Park Avenue streetscape that includes green space with a residential building more appropriate for a city block…..The council is expected to vote on the measure on March 13.

Melanie Rodbart, one of the founders of a nonprofit called Save Our Swarthmore….is not opposed to town center development, including on Park Avenue.

“There’s a way to develop that site without razing everything on it,” said Rodbart, a structural engineer and owner of a company that specializes in historic preservation….

Incorporated in 1893 and best known as the home of Swarthmore College, the borough is an inner-ring commuter suburb of Philadelphia. It has about 6,500 residents in its 1.4 square miles and features comfortable homes on tree-lined streets named after universities.

The Cumby family has been a part of Swarthmore for generations, and Bill Cumby, a former borough mayor who owns W.S. Cumby, a Delaware County construction firm, is a partner in developing 110 Park….Prices would range from $600,000 for some one-bedrooms to $1 million and above for three-bedroom units….The controversy has alerted Swarthmore residents to what some describe as shortcomings in the borough’s development regulations. Although none of the buildings to be demolished or altered as part of the 110 Park project are on registries of historic places, the 100 block of Park Avenue is eligible to be declared a historic district but has not been proposed as such.

~ Philadelphia inquirer/kevin riordan 3/7/23

So I am curious as to how the zoning and assistant planning guy from West Goshen went to Borough Manager of Swarthmore? No other manager experience? I mean this guy also was in West Goshen when they approved that catastrophic ugliness of new construction which is on the site of the old Agway in West Chester, right? And up he pops with this particular piece of puffery just last week on his LinkedIn:

So Bill, Will, Willy, whatever you go by Webb are you actually LISTENING to your Swarthmore residents, the people whose taxes pay your salary? Because if you were listening you would know what the temperature is on this project.

CondoProjectUpdate_CouncilVoteClearsWayforWreck_ingBallDownload

Now Swarthmore has a big old page on their website devoted to this hideous project: CLICK HERE.

Some company called Bernardon has design plan things on their website: CLICK HERE.

Developer and former mayor guy has a website for his proposed project: CLICK HERE. He is heavy on the hype to get monster Lego land approved in my humble opinion.

Residents have banded together. Their group is SOS or Save Our Swarthmore. They seemed to have one of my favorite land use lawyers and former Lower Merion Commissioners assisting them. Phillip Rosenzweig, Esq. (Now for those of you reading, yes indeed this is indeed one of the land use lawyers I talk about as being AMAZING. He is also the guy that wrote that piece of fabulousness that ended eminent domain for private gain in Ardmore, PA when he first became a commissioner. And no, he is not a commissioner now, which is a shame for Lower Merion.) Here’s something off the SOS site he penned regarding this hot mess of a proposal for Swarthmore:

RequestforDeterminationDownload

Here is an excellent article from Swarthmore College’s The Phoenix:

“This will change us”: Swarthmore Considers Upscale Condo Proposal in Downtown

by Owen Mortner
December 13, 2021 27 mins read

Plans for Condos in Swarthmore Stirs Debate Over Downtown’s Future By David Bjorkgren
Published: 5:12 am EST December 16, 2021

And articles from Swarthmore’s own local paper The Swarthmorian:

Condo Developers Go Back to the Drawing Board

Condo Plan Faces More Scrutiny

Swarthmorians fight for your town. Human scale matters. Fitting the existing landscape matters. You have an old school main street oriented town. It should be a historic district. Learn from the mistakes of other towns. Preserve what you have. I find it completely appalling that someone who once was an elected official and lives in Swarthmore thinks this is right for the character of your town. I am allowed to have that opinion. I feel for you guys. I applaud your efforts.

m.kaplan jail interiors next?

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Goodness. M. Kaplan Interiors is back in the news. Quite the whopper of an article in the Daily Local. BOTH Kaplans have been charged: Vuitton toting over-priced car driving Margaret, and Matthew who apparently is in some hospital somewhere according to the article?

Chester County furniture store owners charged in fraud cases
By MICHAEL P. RELLAHAN | mrellahan@dailylocal.com |
PUBLISHED: March 4, 2023 at 10:15 a.m. | UPDATED: March 4, 2023 at 1:37 p.m.

….Matthew Kaplan, 54, of Abington, Montgomery County, is charged with 15 separate counts of deceptive business practices, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, theft by false impression, receiving stolen property and conspiracy. His wife Margaret Kaplan, 56, also of Abington, is charged with three counts each of the same offenses. All are felonies.

The couple has yet to be arraigned by Magisterial District Justice John Bailey of West Whiteland, Matthew Kaplan was arrested last month and charged in four cases, and was released on bail. The other alleged victims came forward after news of his arrest was reported.

A telephone message at the business on Friday stated that Matthew Kaplan had been admitted to a hospital in February. He could not be reached. He was represented in the first set of allegations by attorney James Bonner of Media.

M. Kaplan Interiors, located on Lancaster Avenue in the township’s Malvern section, began business in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood of Philadelphia in 1922, with its founder, Morris Kaplan, providing parlor sets, appliances, and baby carriages, “at a time when business was done on a handshake,” according to its website….”Now in its 3rd generation, M. Kaplan continues to design and furnish homes throughout the United States and abroad,” the site proclaims, “Proudly, a small family-owned and operated business carrying on the family tradition.”

A proud family tradition is, however, not what those making complaints to East Whiteland police said they found, however.

Here are the dockets:

Apparently grifters make the world go round.

Below is the prior post. If you were a victim of this business, contact East Whiteland Police.

ruh roh: interior design firm from malvern (really frazer) outed by 6abc, police on their trail.

relevant/irrelevant tomayto/tomahto

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First post.

Oh my, she’s discovered me. Shockers. Give me a minute.

Then it was edited.

So. First things first. I am nobody says the woman who arrived here and expected everyone to lap up her bougie B.S. (Note I said bougie not boujee.)

Alrighty then. To her I am nobody. That’s fine. I don’t know people who do things like what Radnor Police etc. have said what she did. (Refer to Savvy Main Line article.)

The swift rise and steep fall of a Wayne shopkeeper; Top-shelf shooting at Main Line Armory; Walk-in pet care; New Joey Chops & Thrillz adventure park; All-weather pickleball (!) & much more

Now the other day she had plenty to say about Caroline O’Halloran and someone else it seemed like. Maybe now it’s my turn, I suppose? Is she threatening me? Calling me out behind the gym? Why? Did I create her issues? It seems to me she’s a grown woman who made her current choices, oui?

Now she talks about 15 minutes of fame? Maybe just maybe that’s a little light projecting on a Saturday? You see I hypothesize that she wanted her 15 minutes of fame, but this wasn’t the 15 minutes of fame that she probably envisioned, right?

I wonder if she thought after leaving NYC, then going to Delaware, then Glen Mills, PA, that Wayne, PA was going to be the golden mile because it was the Main Line? I don’t know and none of us can get inside her head, but it seems a mite *crowded* hating on people, doesn’t it? Does hating everyone instead of owning her actions make it easier to deal with? Again don’t know, that would be a psychologist’s job.

The Main Line is a funny place. Even more today than it used to be. But one thing has never changed. You can’t just move there to belong. Much like any other affluent suburb. You have to be invited to belong, if you feel you need to sit at the ultimate popular girls table. This is a nuance that so many don’t get.

Hillary doll, I grew up on the Main Line. So I don’t need 15 minutes of anything, nor do I have to seek or do seek relevance. I am sure next you will vaguely or not so vaguely refer to me as, or call me a racist. Do you do that to everyone, I wonder? You seem to have patterns, and for a smart woman, you’re not being smart. And that is my opinion. Just like it is my opinion, that on some level this is a tragedy in many acts. You are a woman who is obviously extremely bright and attractive, so why is this the path?

And oh by the way, my blog doesn’t even have an Instagram presence. That was a fraudulent account God knows who created that was reported to Instagram a long time ago. So you probably should block it to be safe.

Also, the media and police are all watching your socials. And they read my blog. I am sorry for your troubles, but I didn’t cause them and neither did Caroline O’ Halloran.

the part where you just want to scream….at uwchlan townhip

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Seriously. I.CAN’T.EVEN.

…. it will be ginormous. Over 300-some loading docks running 24 seven. Going to look like the New Jersey Turnpike in Uwchlan Township. Not to mention the truck-stop atmosphere that will accompany it.

~ All Things CheSTER COUNTY FACEBOOK PAGE

Lionville Station Road is just fields and 2 empty farmhouses butting up against Milky Way Farm. I’m sure they aren’t happy about this with all the water and air pollution this will cause them and their animals. Can’t imagine my back road to home having 300+ tractor trailers coming and going on it.

~ LOCAL RESIDENT

I think I should state that I have NOT heard about this before today. AND Milky Way Farm is staying put and not going anywhere from what I am told, but they might turn into a farm island as a result of this right? Also Gardner’s Landscape is NOT going anywhere, so can’t imagine what they think of this, other than abject horror like residents, right?

Another BIG HUGE QUESTION is ARE THEY SURE AMAZON IS COMING? Read today’s article about Amazon slowing it’s roll in the Washington Post. Article is gifted so follow

link:https://wapo.st/3mlh33s

The residents are up in arms. I would be. And when I zoomed in on the plan thing above? I saw my friend’s house! I mean can you even imagine waking up for years to loveliness and now be threatened with the ass end of a warehouse as your view???

UWCHLAN TOWNSHIP COME ON!!!

http://uwchlan.com/DocumentCenter/View/1115/Lionville-Trade-Center—Sketch-Plan

When I looked at the plans on Uwchlan Township’s website I saw Audubon Land Development, AKA the people who want to develop Happy Days Farm.

I wrote about Happy Days twice a few years ago:

not so happy days farms on route 100 near turnpike in exton (uwchlan township)
happy days farm under contract to a developer?
Audubon-Land-Development-buys-Happy-Days-Farm-for-34.3M-Philadelphia-Business-JournalDownload

The next Uwchlan Supervisors meeting is Monday March 6th and as of the time of this post NOT much of an agenda. That of course is sunshine UNfriendly…. .AND IT IS SHOWING AT 12 NOON…OR YOU KNOW WHEN PEOPLE WORK!!!

I don’t have anything more. But people need to be aware and get themselves to Uwchlan meetings and bug their supervisors.

Happy Friday, what isn’t being developed in Chester County?

Yes you can buy this T-shirt:
https://www.mychesco.store/listing/don-t-delco-my-chesco?product=1303

just wow.

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Just wow. Race card to cover bad deeds day 2. Typos etc. not mine.


jwhboutique

On Tuesday, I’ve been put on this lady’s front page (swipe left) to see page. Surprise , I’m either the last one or never heard before .
Batching my name and my character for something that could have a civil matter with parties involved. Instead, they made it criminal.
Where there are some much far worst things in this neighborhood that are being kept (under the radar)”ushhh”

But I became their pray.
NO ONE I mean NO ONE cares to ask me what’s my side of the story.

This story will go much farther I promise you.
I will get many people involved with (Facts, receipts, emails, texts, etc..)

Stay tuned to hear my side of the story very soon!

“Discover The Unexpected “
#mainlinetonight #alsharpton #blacklivesmatter #beingblackonthemainline #waynetown #19087 #blackattorneys #defamationofcharacter #racism #etcetera #cnn #gma3 #fox29 #blackownedbusiness

Edited · 1h

I am astounded. This is so ugly. A second day of she was wronged, but no explanation as to how that happened or did I miss something?

Where did Savvy Main Line go wrong? By reporting what happened? Public court dockets? Court dockets of a person who made themselves a PUBLIC FIGURE vis à vis somewhat shameless self promotion? Oh and that’s opinion, covered under the First Amendment, much like Caroline O’ Halloran as a journalist.

What did the article get wrong? Or is it more like the article got it right and this is a diversion so the public doesn’t peek behind the wizard’s curtain and see that it’s not all glam and designer?

Are the police lying? Is she saying Radnor Township Police got it all wrong?

How was the Savvy article or what has been said racist exactly? The answer is this has NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE AND NEVER HAS. This is about right and wrong. Doing the right thing. Paying your rent, paying your suppliers, paying others who did work for you? HOW IS THIS REMOTELY RACIAL IN NATURE? It kind of begs the question of if this person herself is behaving in a racist manner because the person who wrote the story she doesn’t like is a different race than she is?

Is this just a cancel culture attempt?

Do you know who Caroline O’Halloran is to me? She is a woman who bore witness to me ringing the bell after breast cancer treatment. That is who she is. And she is a gifted writer who was all fine and dandy to this person when they were giving a nice positive review of the now closed store when it opened, right?

*Also Note* The post at opening of this post keeps changing. It was recently edited again and will show version that opened post and edited version. What is up with editing? Is what happened supposedly one person’s fault as in OTHER than the boutique owner?

Appeared 3/2/23 Instagram
Edited late 3/2/23 into 3/3/23

Yet another version she corrected because of the fact she used a certain word:

Below is the link to the Savvy Main Line Article. Read it for yourselves. I am sorry if anyone is disappointed that I think calling the race card here is out of bounds. Racism is a terrible, horrible thing. But to weaponize it, just is not right.

The swift rise and steep fall of a Wayne shopkeeper; Top-shelf shooting at Main Line Armory; Walk-in pet care; New Joey Chops & Thrillz adventure park; All-weather pickleball (!) & much more

FEBRUARY 28, 2023 / BY CAROLINE O’HALLORAN 

le sigh… (or the day après le shock)

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So yesterday, Savvy Main Line blew up the Internet.

The swift rise and steep fall of a Wayne shopkeeper

FEBRUARY 28, 2023 / BY CAROLINE O’HALLORAN / 43 COMMENTS /

Hillary White Jean wafted into Wayne on a cloud of luxury perfume, designer heels, extravagant cars and personal charm.

Sixteen months later, her splashy store, JWH Boutique, departed in the December darkness, leaving a string of angry landlords, fashion vendors and small business owners in her wake.

Court and police records show that Jean:

  • has declared bankruptcy five times in three states since 2011, most recently on Jan. 30 of this year.
  • has been repeatedly sued for alleged nonpayment of bills and has had at least four court judgments entered against her since 2021.
  • has been arrested three times since arriving in Wayne: twice last summer for passing fraudulent checks and once three weeks ago for witness intimidation, harassment and other charges at her preliminary criminal hearing before Radnor District Judge Leon Hunter. The Delaware County DA and Radnor and Newtown police have all confirmed ongoing investigations of Jean.

To the public, she was a smart businesswoman, a former hairdresser from Haiti with a sharp eye for style and a winning personality who worked hard for the designer clothes she wore and the Range Rover she drove.

Jean marketed herself as both “the first black business owner in Wayne” and a fashion pioneer who was upping the Main Line’s style game. “We’re bringing Rodeo Drive to the Main Line,” she once told SAVVY with a 100-watt smile.

Everyone and everything in Jean’s orbit looked the part. Her clothes were chic, her stores were sleek, her website polished.

And the media lapped it up.

She ran prominent ads for a year in Philadelphia Style, including a pricey full-page spotlight as a “Dynamic Woman” of 2022.

She made the rounds of TV news shows and newsmagazines.

And she threw showy shindigs, most notably last fall’s “Cocktails and Fabulosity” party to celebrate the opening of her second Wayne location. The e-vite asked guests to “dress to impress;” she hired a “Real Housewife of NYC” to up the glam factor….….But court and police records and our interviews with multiple sources reveal a woman who repeatedly changed names, addresses and businesses and stiffed people and companies whose fashions she sold, whose space she rented, and whose services she engaged.

In the last two years, Hillary White Jean has opened and closed three stores: Lady M Boutique (M was for millionaire) in Glen Mills, HJ Boutique at 106 E. Lancaster Ave. in Wayne (now the home of Wheelhouse Cards) and JWH Boutique at 209 E. Lancaster Ave. at the former Mattress Factory/Tehrani Rug Co. building, also in Wayne.

At 3,700 sq. ft., JWH Boutique was her most largest and most exalted emporium yet. Like the others, it lasted mere months until, faced with a court-ordered repossession by her landlords,  Reuben, Benjamin and Youdi Tehrani, she quietly moved out on New Year’s Eve…..According to her own handwritten bankruptcy filing, Jean owes nearly $1.4 million to 27 different entities. While the bankruptcy claim is pending, creditors must stop collection efforts. If the bankruptcy goes through, Jean’s debts will be wiped out.

Among her listed creditors in addition to her two Wayne landlords: $44,189.85 to the fashion label Camilla Australia (a top vendor), $46,000 for a Land Rover car loan, $40,000 to Modern Luxury (owner of Philadelphia Style), $7,210.96 to PR agent Sarah Doheny of YUB PR, and a total of roughly $10,000 to the party planner, florist, and photo/video team she hired for “Cocktails and Fabulosity.”

In her bankruptcy filing, Jean claimed these were all personal – not business – debts. She filed under the last name “Jean Joseph.” On every other court and police record we reviewed, she is named “Hillary White Jean.”…On June 10, 2022, Jean was arrested, charged with four counts of passing bad checks and one count of deceptive business practices. According to court records, she was confined to Delaware County Prison briefly on July 18 until she was able to post $10,000 bail.

On August 15, Radnor Police arrested Jean a second time and charged her with passing bad checks and “theft by unlawful taking”…She did, however, attend her Feb. 9 preliminary hearing on criminal misdemeanor charges in Delaware County District Court. The hearing never happened because witnesses saw Jean moving closer to and pointing her iPad at alleged victim Volpe Beringer in the waiting area, presumably to take photos in violation of posted PA law, according to Reuben Tehrani, Volpe Beringer and a third alleged victim who wishes to remain anonymous.

Jean was also overheard repeatedly saying “bitch” as she spoke to a companion “in a foreign language,” according to the Newtown Township police report.

At Judge Leon Hunter’s direction, Jean was arrested. Police charged her with witness intimidation (a felony), harassment, disorderly conduct and unlawful use of a recording device in court, the report states.

If convicted, she could be fined, put on house arrest or jailed. 

~ savvy main line 2/28/23

creditorsDownload

So once we all got over oh le shock because of all the schools for scandal which have popped up on the Main Line, this one is a true doozy position, yes? So this morning, this is what popped up on Instagram:

I will admit that gave me pause.


jwhboutique

Yesterday,there was an article that has been published about me on the mainline with a whole bunch of lies.

But NO ONE bothered to call , email to ask me “what’s my side of the story “
But yet so quick to publish and judge.

I have RECEIPTS, EMAILS and TEXTS messages to show my side.

Remember, there’s always two sides to every story .
#alsharpton #protest #blackonthemainline

I thought wow, she’s playing a card I didn’t see coming. Maybe I should have. We’ll start with the obvious: explain the “lies”? One of the folks she is in dispute with has shared this which was posted on social media:

Get to Know Lady M’s Hillary Jean White

So….there was also NYC. Found this video, which if it ends up like other social media will disappear, but for now there is also “in the beginning“:

So obviously this is an extraordinarily bright and resourceful woman, yes? So why did it all lead to this? And how? And her post today, which I am today was maybe not the only one? Is she someone who has literally been caught doing not such nice things and her response is to play the race card?

Yes there ARE two sides to every story BUT #alsharpton #protest #blackmainline REALLY? Is she saying this happened to her because she is black? Is she trying to get a civil rights thing going to cover up what was reported or distract from it? That just sat funny with me. So I called black friends to ask them their opinions. After all, I am a white middle aged woman and I don’t know what it is to be anything other me.

I spoke with black and bi-racial friends. I sent them the article from Savvy and the screen shot above. I asked them their thoughts. These friends are from various areas, including the Main Line (and not from living there as of five minutes ago.) They all said they found what she implied distasteful and one friend in particular said that it is wrong and just bad form to cry wolf after getting caught doing something potentially terrible and saying it’s a racial issue. A black female friend said black women have to work twice as hard as other women so why do something that may be classified as God don’t like ugly?

I marvel at this whole sad tale, and it is sad. Again, obviously a bright woman, so what happened? What is the disconnect? There is a lot wrong with the Main Line, no one can ever deny that. But to imply if she was white this wouldn’t happen? Nope sorry. If anything, I think she actually didn’t research the area she was coming into enough. And underestimated what would happen when she went from a smaller stage in Glen Mills and Delaware prior to that to a larger stage in Wayne, PA. And she started in New York, right? Huge city, blink and people are onto something else. But the Main Line? Over priced fishbowl. You could be a pink pussycat, it would still happen.

And let’s talk about that whole coming to Wayne. She got lots of press. She had a publicist who placed it well. That put a giant spotlight on her. Television and magazine and more. I have to wonder if the designer Caycee Black from Project Runway really hit her DMs up on Instagram?

The Main Line is a funny place. Always has been. However, even though it is more nouveau Main Line these days, you still have to watch how hard you try to climb. People keep book. It’s true. I actually have warned some others in the past who didn’t pay attention to that. While they didn’t have the scandal factor, it still didn’t work out how they planned. But this lady? Check her debtors list for the bankruptcy, it’s quite the who’s who. And seems like most aren’t talking. Why?

One thing I do not get is how did this all get so far? It’s genuinely a head scratcher for sure. Maybe we will never know. Maybe she will move away and the scandal will be forgotten. Except this happened in Radnor Township. Tongues wag there as fast and furious as in Lower Merion….and well when you pose for faux society photos….and I did have to laugh that these were still posted on the photog’s website of “society” because face it, Main Line “society” as it were doesn’t really exist anymore anyway.

Is this a story that will grow legs, or die on the Main Line and off? Too early to tell but I have to ask, are they opening a store in the Hamptons? If she thinks the Main Line is a tough crowd, oy wait until the bloom falls off the rose up there, right? Is she still pals with her housewives?

Oh pass le popcorn….has anyone called Dateline?

oh le shock

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Oh honey child, you have made quite the store hopping version of dine and dash haven’t you?

What am I talking about? This, Saavvy scoop of the century:

The swift rise and steep fall of a Wayne shopkeeper; Top-shelf shooting at Main Line Armory; Walk-in pet care; New Joey Chops & Thrillz adventure park; All-weather pickleball (!) & much more

Hillary White Jean wafted into Wayne on a cloud of luxury perfume, designer heels, extravagant cars and personal charm.

Sixteen months later, her splashy store, JWH Boutique, departed in the December darkness, leaving a string of angry landlords, fashion vendors and small business owners in her wake.

Court and police records show that Jean:

  • has declared bankruptcy five times in three states since 2011, most recently on Jan. 30 of this year.
  • has been repeatedly sued for alleged nonpayment of bills and has had at least four court judgments entered against her since 2021.
  • has been arrested three times since arriving in Wayne: twice last summer for passing fraudulent checks and once three weeks ago for witness intimidation, harassment and other charges at her preliminary criminal hearing before Radnor District Judge Leon Hunter. The Delaware County DA and Radnor and Newtown police have all confirmed ongoing investigations of Jean.

To the public, she was a smart businesswoman, a former hairdresser from Haiti with a sharp eye for style and a winning personality who worked hard for the designer clothes she wore and the Range Rover she drove.

Jean marketed herself as both “the first black business owner in Wayne” and a fashion pioneer who was upping the Main Line’s style game. “We’re bringing Rodeo Drive to the Main Line,” she once told SAVVY with a 100-watt smile.

Everyone and everything in Jean’s orbit looked the part. Her clothes were chic, her stores were sleek, her website polished.

And the media lapped it up.

She ran prominent ads for a year in Philadelphia Style, including a pricey full-page spotlight as a “Dynamic Woman” of 2022.

She made the rounds of TV news shows and newsmagazines.

And she threw showy shindigs, most notably last fall’s “Cocktails and Fabulosity” party to celebrate the opening of her second Wayne location. The e-vite asked guests to “dress to impress;” she hired a “Real Housewife of NYC” to up the glam factor….But court and police records and our interviews with multiple sources reveal a woman who repeatedly changed names, addresses and businesses and stiffed people and companies whose fashions she sold, whose space she rented, and whose services she engaged.

In the last two years, Hillary White Jean has opened and closed three stores: Lady M Boutique (M was for millionaire) in Glen Mills, HJ Boutique at 106 E. Lancaster Ave. in Wayne (now the home of Wheelhouse Cards) and JWH Boutique at 209 E. Lancaster Ave. at the former Mattress Factory/Tehrani Rug Co. building, also in Wayne….according to her Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy filing on January 30, 2023, she owes nearly $476,280.42 to her first Wayne landlord, School Lane Holdings Co., with whom she signed a five-year lease with a personal guarantee, and $67,103.42 to her second Wayne landlords, Reuben, Benjamin and Youda Tehrani….Perhaps Jean’s most high-profile alleged victim is the Philadelphia-based fashion designer, Nancy Volpe Beringer, a 2022 Fashion Group International “Rising Star” who made history as a finalist on Bravo TV’s “Project Runway” at age 64.

~ Savvy Main Line/Caroline O’Halloran 2/28/23

https://about.me/jean.hillary1

https://jwhboutique.store/

So the very active social media accounts, especially Instagram are disappearing faster than a politician under indictment. I will note that the next stop for this designing woman, or this woman that have designs on OPM based on the Savvy Spectacular. So I will post all of those. But first here’s a screenshot from somebody who really must not like this person very much:

Yes, Hillary Jean Crook is a Facebook page. Not much to it other than that screenshot above.

So something else worth mentioning is the next stop for this woman was supposed to be a store in the Hamptons. Now the baby Instagram page disappeared – this is what I snapped before it disappeared:

So, without further ado, here are the screenshots I grabbed. Accounts and related accounts. this whole thing just blows my mind.

Le 🍿 popcorn 🍿 please 🙏

Here’s another bunch of screenshots:

Yes, there are more….

give it up gail and is a local bank getting political?

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She’s baaaaacccccckkk! Gail Newman international woman of idiocy and failed politician is back. She’s hosting political meet-ups now. And apparently she’s doing it at local businesses too? She would be as welcome as ants at a picnic one would think, right?

On the face of it, it’s actually hysterical because although she doesn’t know how to win, she is past master of annoy thy neighbors and intrusive behavior isn’t she? She was such a bad candidate she made Kristine Howard look good and now Kristine thinks she should be a judge but that’s another conversation for another day. Oh and Gail still has her state rep page up, so obviously she may try again?

Part of what bothers me with this is did the National Bank of Malvern approve this being posted at their bank? Will they allow other political persuasions to post things now or is this just Gail doing whatever? However, if the bank is getting selectively political, that is kind of problematic isn’t it? I mean they say they are not for sale but define for sale?

The other part of what bothers me is Gail Newman is attempting taking over the tranquility and friendliness of Julie Anne’s Place in Malvern Borough. My guess there is she did NOT ask permission or pay for space because well, girlfriend wants a meet up on March 1st and the favorite breakfast and lunch spot for so many is on vacation until March 3rd, so what’s up? Are they going to meet on the sidewalk March 1st? I mean, why couldn’t Gail just meet on the sidewalk in front of the Wawa like the teenagers and Malvern Borough?

Maybe Gail Newman is just being kind of exclusionary ? Maybe everyone should start going to her gatherings and takeover her meetings? Or be sure to pack Julie Anne’s on days she says her group is going to be there? After all at the end of the day, it is not OK to co-opt someone’s small business like that is it? And a lot of small businesses don’t want groups like this which have an edge for one political side or the other taking over their small floor space because that’s a turn off to other customers, isn’t it?

Gail, have the meetings AT YOUR HOUSE! Show more respect for local businesses.

Have a great day all.

details, details

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Things that drive me crazy includes when incorrect dates are attributed to old houses. The City of Philadelphia in particular is the WORST. THE WORST.

Take for example, the house that counts as my birthplace in Philadelphia. The City of Philadelphia has it listed as being built in 1860. It is a historic property that their own redevelopment authority dated to 1811! I have the sign when it was built in 1811 and for whom that hung on the house before my parents purchased it ! And a former Mayor of Philadelphia and Congressman J. Hampton Moore lived there. Documentable history.

Or my grandparents old house in North Philadelphia where my father was born. They give the rowhouse a date of being built in 1940. My father was born in 1935. There. Was daddy living in the wild, Philadelphia?

What started me on this today? One of my friends and I realized that one of her grandmother was born a few blocks from the house my great aunts and great uncle lived in at 1128 Ritner Street in South Philadelphia. The City of Philadelphia lists the house as being built in 1940. Again, one issue: photos of my father as an infant out front with my grandfather, grandmother, great aunts, and great grandmother…..in 1935.

So then I went digging around. Found instances of when this house was for rent, for sale, needed domestic help in the early 20th century. 1897, 1908, 1912, 1919. So there goes that idea of 1940 Philadelphia.

This of course led me to all sorts of other notices. For my family. When my Great Aunt Rose and Uncle Carl got their marriage license. Death notices, executor and executrix notices. And one freaking amazing find I had never seen before: when my father’s maternal grandfather, Francesco Antonio Luca, my great grandfather became a naturalized U.S. Citizen. That gave me chills.

Of course this led me to sad records, including when my Aunt Josie’s house, now sold a few times since it was sold when she had to go into a nursing home with Alzheimer’s, went into a foreclosure in 2021. I feel sorry for whomever that was and I am guessing they may have been in part responsible for the bastardization of the inside of the house.

It also led me to photos of a more recent Realtor type vintage. I have so few photos of the inside of that house, and none are scanned. And I couldn’t find them when I was starting to write this post. Inside when I was little was an old fireplace with Mercer tiles around it and a white mantle. There was a vestibule, which meant you came inside the front door and there was a little area with tiles that you could drop wet shoes, an umbrella, etc. There was also a door that then led you inside the house. My great aunts had an ancient player piano. That was left when the house was sold while Aunt Josie was alive. I actually found a photo of it but it had been moved to near the front window when it was always in between the living room and dining room when I was growing up. At some point the living room and dining room were bastardized in the 2000s and no more fireplace or vestibule or curved arch kind of entry to dining room. Oh and there is a “roof terrace” (not finished) which trust me never excisted.

I have a lot of very specific memories of the house on Ritner Street because we spent a lot of time there. I have written about that before. When you walked inside the front doors, there was a vestibule with an additional door and transom window. The vestibule had tile as flooring. Not sure it was marble, but might have been. The fireplace was closed off and completely decorative by the time I was a child and I think hid pipes or something. But when it was for sale a few years ago, the beautiful mantle and Mercer tile surround and hearth was just gone and those floors were not the original hardwoods. And I am not sure where the front window came from because it was different from when I was little and even different from when my father was growing up.

And I am not sure when the house got so unattractive with the façade because originally it was brick and other stone. I remember the steps were blue-grey marble or granite originally and then at some point before I was born a home “improvement” contractor working the neighborhood convinced the residents of 1128 Ritner that the steps HAD to change. I imagine he probably re-sold the original slabs of stone and the way the steps were situated also changed.

Being so annoyed that the City of Philadelphia didn’t even have the right year the house was built also sent me to the census records for the Lucas. Why that was cool is I saw all the places they lived after emigrating. They came in through Alabama and PJ, my Uncle Pat (Pasquale) and Aunt Millie were born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. The others were born in Philadelphia. I found the houses prior to moving to Ritner Street – 966 Kimball and 1614 Iseminger.

I will remember Ritner street the way it was when I was growing up. I am sorry the interior details that were so pretty have been lost over time. Especially those Mercer tiles in the hearth and fireplace surround.

Except for their earliest residences, these immigrants I descend from owned their homes. And if you read the census data, there was only a limited education until my father’s generation. These people worked hard. These people are my people. When so many run from what they are from, I celebrate it.

I miss my old people of my growing up years. I miss that house. No one besides me probably cares that the year it was built is wrong, or the house I was born into is listed with the wrong building year. But details matter. Or they should. But it’s the City of Philadelphia which has seemingly stopped caring about pretty much everything.