The “greenspace” and then shoving parking next to private homes of residents who were there first. Quite disrespectful at a minimum if it matters to these people.
Greenspace is great, but have these people also actually paid attention to Gladwyne?
Right across Youngs Ford Road is a most marvelous park, and some of the best trails and open space anywhere are already existing in Gladwyne and have for many, many years. That “greenspace” is lipstick on the proverbial pig and a vanity thing along with the “water feature” and most of this project. And yes I can have that opinion. (Creeks and a big river are apparently not enough of a NATURAL water feature?)
A lot of people were not around to remember the “water feature” that worked for like ten minutes in Ardmore at the “gateway” on Ardmore Ave by Bryn Mawr Trust (don’t know what it is now). And the water feature was crooked, as in not level.
Today it is an oversized flowerpot that whomever owns the property should care for, but not sure who does?
Gladwyne is a beautiful area with natural water features, not an urban center that needs the calming influence of the sound of water so you don’t hear buses and taxis etc etc.
I am all for historic preservation and adaptive reuse, not Disney.
Gladwyne does not have to be Peddlers Village, there already is one.
Gladwyne does not have to be anything other than the sweet village it already is.
Reading and reciting history to (in part) appease HARB and the public doesn’t mean you get it, and part of the whole they aren’t there yet, is they do not get Gladwyne any more than a lot of the nouveaux who have moved in over the recent past.
What I have sadly observed is I do not think that the commissioner who now serves this ward including Gladwyne gets it, nor do most of the 14 member board of commissioners. The current leadership of Gladwyne Civic either doesn’t get it or they in my opinion have personal agendas and yes, I can offer that opinion. One co-president in particular is a problem and he treats Gladwyne as a gated community, which oh my means he won’t like it in the end if the village turns Disneyesque. The other co-president is nice (and his wife is fabulous.) The civic today seems to not have the same spirit past iterations have had, and a lot of the people willing to get up and fight for Gladwyne have moved and even passed away. Can we send up a prayer that Gladwyne Civic finds it’s lost spine?
BUT (and it’s important) If the commissioners allow that zoning change it will mean eventual disaster for a little, VERY historic crossroads village, which historically is supposed to be just that. Nothing more, nothing less, it doesn’t have to be.
The other thing is this: there are other areas the “developers” AKA new village owners could pour their energies into. Like Narberth, which is no longer a magical small town that I used to call Main Line Glocca Mora, it’s a hot mess with local borough government that acts like they all have had lobotomies or something. (Cue trying to sell Sabine Park for development, right? Or the disgraceful condition of parts of “Main Street” near the old market.)
Look, the bottom line is these people see a PROJECT in Gladwyne, and IMHO it is still a vanity project because I still feel they don’t SEE Gladwyne for who she really is and can remain. Again, I don’t object to restoration and adaptive reuse AT ALL, but as for some of the rest of it, there was something one of my grandmothers said once upon a time: just because you CAN do something, it doesn’t mean you should.
Enjoy the screenshots courtesy of the Lower Merion Historical Society and my photos with many happy memories of the village of Gladwyne.
Here’s hoping they figure it out. Here’s hoping they realize that some places can retain their historical and beloved character and it’s ok just the way it is.
(Also, I had heard that there MIGHT be some kind of a meeting possibly at Waverly Heights on May 19? Is that just a regular civic meeting or a special meeting? And ummm on Election Day? That’s kind of shady isn’t it? And if it is happening, where is it posted so people can verify it? Or can’t the public attend?)
I am also including in the post, proposed changes to historic preservation stuff in Lower Merion and Class I and Class II resources. (It is a draft of a historic preservation plan.) As I know longer live there, doesn’t affect me, but it bears reviewing by the public before the commissioners act upon it in the future. I will note that the LMT employee head of HARB, Greg Pritchard, is a really good dude and incredibly knowledgeable. I came to know him years ago when he was with the Radnor Historical Society. He helped me research the Wayne Natatorium when I was submitting it to the state for the historical marker.
This isn’t going to be a long post. These are my thoughts based on a conversation I had with a friend in another part of Southeastern PA, who isn’t being targeted by data centers, but happen to be at a meeting talking about other things where data centers came up.
So in Maine and Ohio with regard to data centers, officials are starting to ask companies to have like a security bond – not escrow – with the purpose to cover potential issues – pollution that affects humans and livestock – cover issues with energy/utilities, decommissioning buildings etc.
As of May 2026, both Maine and Ohio have moved to implement rigorous financial and environmental “guardrails” for large-scale data centers.
Legislators in these states are shifting away from simple escrow accounts toward security bonds and comprehensive accountability frameworks to address potential negative impacts on residents, livestock, local infrastructure, etc.
We’re talking about (in Maine) accountability councils/ committees, resource protection (which includes things about noise pollution, discharge of warm contaminated water into waterways which WILL affect livestock and humans and wildlife and potentially domestic pets, water shortages), utility safeguards (energy costs and straining energy grids).
In Ohio (maybe Wisconsin too?) also the things mentioned above about security and infrastructure bonds. These bonds cover all sorts of things like if a data center becomes decommissioned and land use things around these data centers. Also measures about pollution and the reason these things are coming out in these states is to protect residents from having to clean up after data center developers essentially.
Now this is why you’re seeing in some of these states that these developers are walking away because they’re realizing it’s going to be too expensive for them to do what they want isn’t it?
Also in pending (?) legislation in Kentucky (HB 593), Colorado (SB 26-102), and elsewhere aims to ensure that data centers pay for their own energy. As in all of their own energy it seems?
As of April 2026, in addition, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, and Virginia are considering or have filed statewide moratoriums or strict regulations. Now realize in Pennsylvania that there has been similar legislation, but none of it has teeth does it? It’s all still aimed to cater to the data center industry isn’t it? And why is that? Two words: Josh Shapiro.
I think data centers will very well be Josh Shapiro‘s political Waterloo. He will undoubtedly get reelected as governor because Marg Simpson, err Stacey Garrity just isn’t going to beat him. but I have to wonder if this will keep our governor from his loftier political aspirations in the end? 
So why aren’t we doing it here now? I know it was bought up at one of the East Whiteland meetings by the Supervisors Chair Scott Lambert that he wanted some kind of financial measures in place to cover some of these things and the data center developers lawyers basically were like no are you crazy but was he crazy? Because this is what’s being proposed in other states isn’t it?
Some of my biggest concerns and some of these municipalities, including East Whiteland is elected officials don’t realize that they can say no, but do they have the courage to do so? You will get responses like along the lines of they have to do what counsel instructions them, but do they really? These elected officials were elected to represent the people. Therefore, all of these other people, lawyers and township staff included work for them and the residents, don’t they?
It’s finding the courage to say no.
Sorry, not sorry but my humble opinion (which I am allowed to have) is we don’t need these in our communities. Developers want them in our communities and all they are is the new apartment building, the new condo complex, the new kind of warehouse. It’s about their profit and nothing to do with us. F ‘em.
What is going on with Fiorello’s in West Chester? They used to have impeccable service, even just from the person answering the phone at the front of the house. Literally for years we have been going in and enjoying meals and occasionally getting a takeout order via Uber Eats.
Now, we didn’t do takeout/delivery for a while because they use the Slice app and Slice jacks prices and if there’s a problem with your order, it’s very hard to rectify.
However, in late March this year– March 29 to be precise we did an Uber Eats order. I think Uber eats is a probably one of the better food delivery services that exists and the problem wasn’t with them. The problem again was with Fiorillo as it had been a couple of years ago when we ordered through Slice with them.
I contacted them via the email address that they claim they have after being rebuffed by a young woman quite rudely on the phone.
This is what I said:
I placed an order from Uber Eats. It came incomplete.
I ordered the Calamari Mediterranean, which on the Uber Eats menu like your physical restaurant says it comes with linguine.
I am including the description from your page on Uber Eats so you see. It was delivered without linguine there wasn’t even the side salad that used to come with it or even a slice of bread or that skinny pizza slice that would come with it.
I called twice and whoever the young woman is answering the phone is rude. And no, I was not nice in tone to her. I will admit that because I do not respond to rude her response was “what do you want me to do about it” and that’s paraphrasing, but that was the message.
“We don’t deliver.” She says.
I know you don’t deliver. The problem wasn’t the delivery. The problem was the order.
And no, I’m not driving more than half an hour to come pick up a replacement order when I wanted to treat myself to delivery from Fiorello’s.
And her whole attitude of what do I expect her to do about? It is simply not acceptable. That’s what I can’t get past. She could’ve actually just apologized.
Does she want me to explain a restaurant and what front of house does when there’s a problem?
We’ve been customers for years. And every once in a while we order via Uber Eats.
And I don’t understand how your own kitchen doesn’t know that this comes with linguine or any kind of pasta that’s plain that you put the calamari over?
But above all else, I don’t do rude on the phone. And again she would not have gotten an edge in my voice if she had just been polite to me instead of me getting the whole attitude if she doesn’t really want to be there on a Sunday night and talk to anybody on the phone or help people.
I am attaching photos, so you see.
When employees have attitudes like that it makes it less likely that people actually want to come into your restaurant.
Here is the photo of what was delivered:
Here is what I ordered from the menu:
You will note I did NOT ask for a refund. I’m still not asking for a refund. But if someone who’s been a pretty long-term customer, I’d like an apology.
Just a simple “We’re sorry that happened. ”
I have emailed them twice and have not gotten a response. So I’m posting this.
The data center. At this point, people are saying “which data center” because every time you turn around another municipality in Southeastern Pennsylvania, and all across the state are being faced with data centers.
And with few exceptions like our wonderful State Senator Katie Muth, so many elected officials are walking lock step with Josh Shapiro ruining areas one day to center at a time, aren’t they?
This post is primarily focused on the East Whiteland data center. But it’s an insidious problem. I’m going to share a video I found on Instagram from Missouri’s JeffCoHousewife on Instagram- she proved my point about this is just a real estate deal/development meaning data centers.
It’s the new warehouse, it’s the new condo development, it’s the new apartment building. It’s nothing about the good of the community, etc. etc. She also poses an interesting thing about how there the data center operators or want to be developers are packaging their scheme to the Republican majority that is this county in Missouri. That’s exactly what’s being done across the state of Pennsylvania only it’s being packaged for the Democrats, primarily. These data centers are just being packaged to sell, period. You could belong to the purple people eater political party and they would tell you why it was so fabulous for your political party and your constituents.
Let’s get real: they’re bad. Data centers aren’t good for anyone except the developers making money and then the data center operators making money. They suck our resources dry, they pollute our water, our land, our air. And if you want to tell me that it won’t affect real estate values in a community, maybe they should offer the Brooklyn Bridge for sale while they’re at it.
Now I have tons of questions about the data center in East Whiteland, but my voice isn’t the most important one. It’s the thousands of other people.
I will mention, however, that when this first started, I couldn’t understand why people in Malvern Hunt didn’t seem more concerned? I think that’s a question that I would ask board members of the homeowners association at the initial time this surfaced a few years ago, wouldn’t you? Which board members were on the board at the time this was initially proposed? Did the developer at the time a.k.a. Green Fig before Sentinel go meet with them? What was said?
Now, I’ve said before that the Green Fig developer is a glad-hander. His personal career roots are in sales and retail brokerage, correct? He described himself as a stock picker. See here:
Some brokers almost cringe at the term “stock-picker.” It can conjure up visions of reps with frayed nerves and churned accounts.
Not Charlie Lyddane.
“I’m not ashamed to admit that I pick stocks,” says Lyddane, a soloist at Legg Mason in West Chester, Pa. “It’s what a broker is supposed to do. My clients like that kind of help.”
Apparently so. Lyddane reports $1 million in production and $120 million under management. He’s been a broker for 19 years and has never been part of a team….With 400 clients and 1,000 accounts, Lyddane uses discretionary account management as a time-saving technique. “I can’t call everybody when I move stuff around. So I pick investments as I see fit.”
He also wants to tell you he’s a son of the environmentally, friendly, but is he really and remember when he ran for school board as an endorsed Republican?
Here’s an interesting quote from that Patch article years ago when he ran for school board:
Mr. Lyddane has lived in Great Valley School District for 15 years and has graduated two children from the District. A graduate of Union College in Schenectady, NY, Mr. Lyddane has a BA in History and also attended the Business School at Union. He started his career at Xerox. He was Vice President of Merrill Lynch and Legg Mason in West Chester for 23 years. As a real estate developer and investor in Chester County for the past 9 years, Mr. Lyddane has significant experience in budget development and implementation, as well as achieving strategic goals in a timely and cost efficient manner. He also has significant experience in Property Management….According to Mr. Lyddane, “When you are managing shareholder’s money, you must produce a product that is beneficial to those shareholders.
They are not us. They don’t get us and don’t care about us, do they?
Why not simply admit who they are and what they are about except they kind of did that at the meeting last week didn’t they? They were like if you don’t comply, we will make you comply, and if you’re bad, we’ll build a Walmart wasn’t that kind of the gist of it?
Then again, one of these East Whiteland Supervisors also told us who he was last week didn’t he? ⬇️
Nothing about this since at first began has felt normal has it?
Why should we have to deal with this and can we deal with this on an EPA super fund site that was polluted with lithium and more? And what good will the EPA prove in this given the fact that they have been gutted by the Trump administration? And then there is the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection our good old PA DEP? (Somebody explain to me what they do exactly that is substantive because as an adult I’m still wondering.)
I know, I know. The eternal conversation of what do you do with old super fund sites, but is a data center really it?
And neighbors have really worked hard to bring up valid points. And I’m going to turn it over to residents.
Listen to these people who I excerpted out of the whole meeting:
East Whiteland should say no to this giant expansion but will they? I think Peter Fixler the data center apologist will vote yes, I’m not sure about the other two votes just now, and it pains me to say that, but they have to decide whether they’re going to have the balls to say no to something or just capitulate?
And then there are the people that work at the township. My biggest area of concern lies with the assistant township manager. Her name is Catherine Ricardo. I haven’t interacted with her personally, but she always has concerned me. She came to East Whiteland from East Vincent Township where she was the township manager. I’ve always wondered why someone would leave a manager’s job for the underling’s job of assistant manager?
Note what I highlighted. Note her comment as a manager, saying once the zoning hearing board approved something they are locked in to that amount and nothing more. Yes, I’m paraphrasing, but you can read it yourself in the screenshot or the hyperlink by clicking on it. It makes you wonder why she could say that there yet they couldn’t say something similar in East Whiteland when Green Fig kept coming back to the pot for more porridge before even getting a shovel in the ground?
There’s also something about data centers being mentioned in 2022 if you read the same minutes.
There’s this old Parch article from way before then 2011 actually. About Pennhurst before it was sold I guess to the current owners? Read it and tell me if a familiar name shows up, or should I be more specific, a more familiar name sitting on the East Whiteland bench?
I will freely admit I think the Pennhurst site should be cleared of all of those buildings because it was literally a campus of horrors, but that’s not for me to say. What I don’t think should happen there is a giant data center. What I’m eternally curious about is if that land was supposed to be cleaned up because there are toxic issues there as well why hasn’t it been cleaned up and they’re talking about building a data center on top of it?
And whether we like it or not the whole data center issue in East Vincent is something East Whiteland needs to pay attention to in my opinion because East Vincent’s old manager became East Whiteland’s current assistant manager. Actually in the overall scheme of things it might be helpful if East Vincent data center fighters and East Whiteland data center fighters joined forces and then there’s Upper Merion and Limerick also facing giant data centers. And then we move upstate don’t we?
So everyone who says this is a NIMBY issue to people in each community facing this horror show needs to buy a clue. Data centers are being shoved into everyone’s backyard and isn’t that the truth? It’s not NIMBY. It’s everywhere and it doesn’t matter what political persuasion you are if you live in one of these affected areas, we’re all affected.
My final thoughts include still trying to figure out why it is that Green Fig got approved and never did anything except try to change everything after the initial approvals? I will also note that last meeting, Charlie Lyddane was uncharacteristically quiet and why was that?
Above is their proposed Valhalla, but that’s not the residents Valhalla is it? I mean it was former Supervisor Sue Drummond’s idea of Valhalla was it not? Did we ever send her a thank you note?
Aren’t we tired of these discussions of do the opinions of residents matter yet? When do our voices matter here? Do our voices matter?
I think because no one knows enough about data centers, they shouldn’t just be plugged into our communities. Why do we have to havethem? But who am I but a mere mortal and a female?
Along that vein, I will never understand as a plain old ordinary person a site that was a superfund site got approved for a nursing home or whatever that once proposed senior facility was could have the same zoning for a monster data center? Like many other things in involving this topic in East Whiteland, it does not compute.
Here are some links to recent media about the East Whiteland data center issue and other communities somewhat close by and a website that seems to be pure propaganda about data centers in East Whiteland:
Chase and David the owners who are now friends literally started with a small hoop house that I am pretty sure they made themselves. They delivered all the plants themselves at first. That’s actually how I met their dogs.
I want to say up front I have been a devoted and regular customer. I am not ever compensated in any way, shape, or form. Quality plants- annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, herbs, fruit plants, vegetables and more.
I love to garden, they have great plants at fair prices. And they deliver. I do know some of the wholesale nurseries in multiple states that they use, so I know what I am buying and it’s quality plant material not all juiced up with Miracle Gro. Have I lost a few plants over the years? Yes, due to deer, not them!
I have bought so many wonderful things from them. I have introduced friends and family in multiple states now to them. I have watched them grow from a one hoop house and a couple of vans operation to a multi-state business where they have a hub up in Lancaster County and another in Maryland. They are even growing some of their own plants now.
Last year they added a new arm of their business called Second Chance Plants. It’s an overstock and discount concept put into pop-up locations. They tried it out last year and it was such an enormous hit that this year. They have the regular Bloombox business and like a dozen of these seasonal pop-ups stretching through PA and MD.
I went to the one in Exton on Saturday because I was jonesing to look for plants. Gardening is a definite passion of mine, and I put a lot into my garden every year. So the Exton location is that the Exton Square, Mall in one of the parking lot. And since it’s essentially a dead ghost mall, there’s plenty of space. Of course if those developers would actually pay attention it shows you what people want and it’s not more condos townhouses and apartments is it? It’s things like this and a hospital isn’t it? (But I digress.)
This additional arm of their business is freaking amazing and the prices are amazing and the plant quality is literally like Terrain, but not the Molly Markup. I bought three trees and they had so much stuff and it was just the soft opening. They even had a tremendous selection of beautiful ceramic planters. They have the grand opening next weekend. I think it starts on March 20. You have to look on the website or their social media.
I never had the time to visit any of the pop-ups last year. And I’m really glad they moved them into so many areas this year.
One of the things that we are lacking around here now with the constant march no stampede of big box stores and the cost of renting space and what not is there aren’t as many plant nurseries. There used to be so many gorgeous plant nurseries around so to me this is welcome. I’m not saying there aren’t any nurseries, but they aren’t nearly as many as there used to be.
The guys from Bloombox have worked hard and they have done this on their own. They drive all their own social media. They have wonderful people who work for them I and all of their other happy customers celebrate their success. Their success means our gardens look better and better every year.
However, their success means people want to make a buck off of it, doesn’t it?
Enter my favorite fauxblicist and some shall we say rather pushy or interesting unsolicited now not so private messages to the BloomBox guys:
Good lord. Does this woman not understand not being freaking rapid fire pushy? Yes fauxblicist, no thank you after trying to ignore the ping ping ping of unsolicited messages is a no means no situation is it not? Or does she think that is a maybe?
Welp….it’s a no. I spoke with them.
You see they don’t need her mailing list.
They don’t need whoever she thinks are her followers.
They do their own work. And trust me when I tell you, they work hard.
Social media also isn’t something a small business needs to necessarily hire someone for. A lot of this can be done by yourself for your business or for yourself personally with just a little effort. And that doesn’t mean buying followers. It means connecting with your audience. It means posting about your business. It starts with baby steps.
And if your business needs more, then you hire a real professional, which in my humble opinion which I am allowed to have it isn’t someone who only shares on their own channels.
I would also like everyone to look at the timestamp. It’s really not polite to message strangers later in an evening is it, or do people simply not have boundaries anymore as far as social norms? Just like it’s rude to message too late (especially someone you don’t know), it’s also equally rude to message them so early isn’t it?
And all of this goes into the context of if she wanted a shot at their business and this is what she’s doing? Would you also message someone early in the morning as they’re getting ready to launch a soft opening of multiple pop-up locations over a couple of different states?
A more prudent person might’ve sent an initial message to say hi but then you let it sit and maybe follow up with another brief message a few days later, right? Kind of the wrong situation to lack impulse control wouldn’t you say?
But then again this is the woman who even made a write up and Bitchy Waiter once upon a time:
And then there was the time when she went a little Rambo on a restaurant:
And another restaurant:
And then, of course she does this Easter bunny thing with this creepy costume. And she’s a made herself a public figure so I can have an opinion about the creepy, flat faced rabbit outfit. And no she’s not a furry, just seasonally a bunny. But then she post this recently about that jam:
Yeah….ummm… if somebody’s possibly bringing you somewhere to possibly be around their small children to entertain, they want to know you’re OK, right?
And when we’re talking about the email, I never signed up for her emails and I’ve been trying for I don’t know how many years to not get her emails yet there she is along with the other junk mail that covers nice topics like erectile dysfunction etc.
She’s a peach. A frenetic one….and that is being kind.
A reminder of some of the political boot lickers when it comes to data centers.
A reminder that while Senator Katie Muth shows up every time East Whiteland residents need her, Rep. Kristine Howard tells people she will show up if she can squeeze it into her busy schedule doing nothing for constituents and nothing to upset her handlers.
State Representative Lisa Borowski has knee pads with the guvvie’s face on it.
State Representative Chris Pielli is only ever about himself and let his constituents down, abandoning them as a West Goshen Stupidvisor over pipelines and Rep. Paul Friel? He’s hustling his pussy angle it seems.
It was a packed house at Penn State in Great Valley. Quite literally standing room only and hundreds of residents turn out to tell the East Whiteland Planning Commission they didn’t want this data center.
It was a crazy contentious meeting and in the last 20 minutes one member of the planning commission learn not to mess with State Senator Katie Muth when she was defending her constituents.
One of my favorite speakers was the line man. He was freaking awesome.
And so was Ginny Kerslake and so were so many people.
Be proud East Whiteland residents and keep up the good work. Next stop supervisors.
And I know that the developer said at the meeting that he was doing this for the benefit of residents or something like that I’m paraphrasing. I don’t recall any residents requesting a data center so we’ll leave it at that.
Politics is often very interesting. And I’m not talking about what political persuasion someone is, but literally the political history of an area.
So like a year ago, we were all herded with the news that David Berman was the new CEO of Chester County. If anyone recalls my comments at the time, it was most simply put “why does Chester County need a CEO?”
So now I have another question based on curiosity research about a man I didn’t know anything much about. And the newspaper archives? They tele fascinating tale. This guy is literally a political survivor and has had quite a long career in the political spectrum starting in Chester County. In the late 90s, and according to an article on June 13, 1997 as the start date, he was the head of the Chester County Democrats for a while.
Yeah, for real. Why did nobody talk about this when he came to Chester County?
According to an archive article found that was written by Nancy Petersen for The Philadelphia Inquirer Chester County Neighbors Section when they had their wonderful Chester County Bureau on June 13, 1997 Byerman was elected head of the Chester County Democrats, defeating at that time a woman named Barbara Cooper. He was apparently elected to complete an unexpired term of someone named Shawn March. March was described at the time then as a single dad who had a new business who realized he didn’t have the proper amount of time to devote to being leader of the Chester County Democrats.
I will further note that the Inquirer article refers to the woman he defeated by the diminutive of “Bunny.” Yes, that of course means each major political party in Chester county has had a Bunny at one point in time. Bunny Cooper for the Democrats and former Sheriff Bunny Welsh for the Republicans. That has nothing to do with this, it’s just a Segway and the way my mind works about things. I just find interesting/amusing about politics in this county.
Anyway, given the historic shift in democratic politics for Chester County between the time Byerman was here last and recent past, why wouldn’t they say he was once ahead of the Democratic Party for Chester County? I mean when he left Democrats had little toehold basically, and when he came back, they’re running county row, right?
Here are the screenshots of said press release in case it disappears off the county website like any information pertaining to him did yesterday:
I’m sorry I have a weird mind maybe but I don’t understand why they didn’t disclose to the public what he did in Chester County in the 1990s? Isn’t it important and isn’t it perhaps politically germane?
And yesterday they couldn’t get his information off the government website fast enough. One person I know remarked well you know this is interesting because you know how slow government works and they had him off the website lickety split, so what really happened?
Screenshot
And oh by the way, thank goodness for Internet archives because here’s his old bio page thing from the Chester County website:
So seriously, what happened? Speculation is running rampant across the county and neither the county, nor Mr. Byerman, would really comment to the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday- I think the phrase they used in the paper was that Mr. Byerman didn’t return a phone call for comment or something like that?
Now what I said specifically, when he was first appointed is as follows (and I am quoting myself as of April, 2025):
So this David Byerman is the Chief Executive Officer of Chester County. Honestly, I’m still waiting for the explanation as to why a county government needs a CEO? I think it’s kind of silly and wasteful. There I said it out loud and NOW in addition to this they want to hire a CXO somebody told me that and I said what the F is a CXO so they sent me to Byerman‘s LinkedIn page. It’s a Chief Experience Officer. I mean talk about WTF. I have to ask is that an updated job title for Julie McCoy the Cruise Director from the love boat? is Disney opening a theme park in Chester County?
Doesn’t Chester County already have someone that does marketing and tourism etc.?
I have to be honest I think we need more money to go into certain services not fluff positions.
~ April 25, 2025
So I’m still waiting. And how did he come to be chosen by Chester County? and again if he was head of the Chester County Democrats, why didn’t they say so when he was hired? Sorry not sorry I’m just a little bit stuck on that because among other things it would’ve shown people a year ago that he had some experience here and he didn’t just merely live here for a while and go to grad school at Penn, right? Or, would that have raised other questions?
this is where I wish the Daily Local’s Michael Rellehan was still alive. He was obviously covering Chester County back then and he might’ve had answers to some of these questions, right?
And speaking of our local paper, there is no mention of this momentous thing that happened yesterday in our county as of yet. I imagine it’s probably because of the county is probably trying to figure out how they’re going to talk about this? And in my humble opinion, it’s always easier to stonewall the local paper versus a regional paper.
The last county centric article actually appeared yesterday morning:
Well, considering the date on this article was like 7 AM March 2 meaning yesterday, indeed Chester County is in a state of transition, yes?
So does that mean Chester county employees are going to get cost of living increases? Does that mean we will see money again for things like open space because have you heard it mentioned this year yet? Does this mean that voter services is going to get a new department head and Karen Barsoum will go back from once she came?
I will also point out an editorial that Byerman wrote for the Daily Local in August 2025:
Taxpayers deserve a government that minimizes costs and maximizes efficiency. The surest way to achieve that is through strong, capable leadership. This week, as we welcome our new Chief Experience Officer (CXO), Megan Moser, Chester County has a fully staffed executive leadership team ready to deliver results.
Some have questioned whether adding a second deputy is necessary. In truth, Chester County is a $730 million organization with 2,600 employees. For an operation of this size, a CEO and two deputies is not a luxury, it is a responsible structure that ensures the job gets done.
When I was hired as a result of the county administrator recruitment last year, my application was for the same job title held by my predecessor. At the commissioners’ direction, my title was modernized upon my hire to chief executive officer, and the former deputy administrator title became chief operating officer….The title “CEO” may sound corporate, but in a government context I believe it simply means accountability. In business, CEOs maximize profits. In government, our “profits” are measured in impact: better services, more effective operations, and stronger communities. If we define success by the outcomes we deliver for residents, the analogy fits.
As CEO, I will lead with discipline, integrity, and a steadfast commitment to responsible stewardship of public funds. We all know that Chester County faces real challenges, fiscal and otherwise. Meeting them will require professionalism, expertise, and the ability to work across political lines. Whether we lean conservative, liberal, or somewhere in between, we should agree on this: a well-run county government, led by skilled professionals, benefits everyone. As a nonpartisan CEO, I will work every day to realize this vision.
Found on Newspapers.com
It’s a pretty big editorial, but those are the things that stuck out to me. And yes, those are screenshots from a Nevada paper when he headed back there for work after being the leader of the Chester County Democrats. but I think context is important here, because I didn’t know he was ahead of the Chester County Democrats until I decided to look in newspaper archives to see if he was mentioned anywhere in the 1990s. and that was solely out of my own curiosity because it had said when he came back here that he and his wife had lived here in the 90s, but what did he do besides go to grad school? And that’s when I discovered what he had done… and more. He had also worked for a nonprofit. It looks like. Something called the Greater Philadelphia Clean Cities Program.
Found on Newspapers.com
Then I found some things he must’ve done while he was doing the whole Chester County Democrats thing :
Found on Newspapers.com
The Lancaster New Era doesn’t really exist today. It was one of two papers that merged to become the current paper out of Lancaster, PA. This paper operated in Lancaster, PA between 1923 and 2009.
Anyway, that article is about a Republican becoming a Democrat to challenge now retired Congressman Joe Pitts who was extremely popular and a Congressman between 1997 and 2017. When he retired, he was succeeded by Lloyd Smuckler who is sort of Trumpy.
Anyway, I just found that an interesting footnote in Byerman’s career and what once was part of Chester County politics. That congressional seat got redistricted. It was once known as the 16th I believe and it covered part of Chester County and now it’s the 11th and it has nothing to do with Chester County but back then it did. The other reason I found that interesting is another mention of someone who was a Republican, who didn’t necessarily want to become a Democrat, but did for political expediency if that makes any sense? That Robert Yorczyk, who is described as owning a printing business in Exton PA had been an unsuccessful Republican congressional candidate back when GOP was boss in the county, yes? Robert Yorczyk served as a member of the Downingtown Area School Board for 14 years until 2017 according to The Daily Local. He also served on the Uwchlan Planning Commission between 1993 and 2003, and around 2011 ran for Supervisor in Uwchlan. It appears that he was a Republican school board member, I don’t know that he was elected supervisor or not. These days he has Chester county in his rearview mirror and is enjoying. I hope a happy retirement in Georgia. Honestly, he seemed quite interesting so maybe he would have made a really interesting congressman back then?
Sorry, didn’t mean to go on the giant segue and down a rabbit hole. It’s just political history is very interesting and it forms a community at large.
So I guess my whole point is Mr. Byerman was part of that political history why wasn’t it brought up when he came back to Chester County?
After being ahead of the Democrats for Chester county, Byerman seems to have been in Nevada again for a bunch of years, which is apparently his home state. Then he seemed to pop up in Kentucky for a bunch of years. His tenure with his work in Kentucky ended when whatever contract he had wasn’t renewed.
Found on Newspapers.com
Then there was really nothing for a couple of years and then he popped up here in Chester County?
And now I mean, I think people naturally want to know why he and the county parted ways after a relatively brief tenure and kind of removed his whole presence from the county website save for some press releases so fast?
Will we ever know ? Will he ever give that interview? it’s all very curious. But then again a lot of things in Chester county these days are curious like why is Karen Barsoum still employed as the head of voter services? And who will be replacing the county solicitor everyone has heard is leaving? And I don’t recall the county saying why she was leaving do you?
Anyway, it’s a right regular Nancy Drew mystery once again, isn’t it?
That moment when you see a friend post something totally scary.
This is a big warning to everybody who drives a car please look before you go through a green yes green light! at about 2:00 today I watched a very large heavy recycling/trash truck fly through a red light doing about 45 MPH at the intersection of Valley Hill Road and 401 the truck was heading towards RT 202 I was on Valley hill heading towards Bodine road a very small car in front of me was making a rt on a green light and it had not just changed it had been green as I was heading towards the light the car was inches from getting T boned and rear ended this person I hope knows how lucky they were, I my self slammed on my brakes sent all my groceries flying all over the back seat of my truck. For me I was also lucky 2 seconds sooner it could have been me. This light has a warning light telling drivers that the light is red way before they get to the light, there is absolutely no excuse to blow a red light there and at a fast speed in such a large truck. Please tell your kids to always look both ways before going through a green light never never trust another driver will be stopping. Now to try and get my heart rate back to normal. Be safe !!
This company sucks. Even with new owners they suck.
They fly in and out of my street and some weeks I wonder if they are going to end up in our front yards if not worse. I don’t use them. We use Opdenaker and they are terrific and not sloppy dangerous crazy.
My friend went and literally knocked on doors to get security camera footage and she got video. I will share it.
She said to me:
I have a video but it does not look as fast as he was going and you can’t see it was a red light. In the video it took me 6 seconds to cross because I totally stopped and looked at the light to make sure I was not going through a red light. Then I crossed super careful but I was rt behind the car that almost was hit.
She continued:
I am the white truck.
At the point the video catches him he was slamming on his brakes.
Also when I got home I found our recycling can emptied and a bunch of recycling all over the road and also our neighbors recycling the same like 7-9 pieces of trash.
I wonder if it was the same truck.
Well probably at least the same company because that is their usual M.O.
I told my friend to also call the PA State Police because 401 and Valley Hill where this happened is Charlestown Township and well they don’t have local police, they have Staties.
