This morning so far, one utterly unsolicited email to Tredyffrin Township saying the Vice Chair etc owe ME an apology for violating my First Amendment Rights. I have permission to share. And NO I have not solicited such an email but I appreciate it for the kindness…and truth. They do also owe an apology on their behavior last night in general and not just to me. And someone should tell that local guy it was very little man of him to bring his dog and pony show as far as personal animus towards me and another resident to the meeting. For a guy worried about what is appropriate and fair, that was anything but.
Also this is not the first time a Tredyffrin supervisor or supervisors have pulled shenanigans similar to this. And last time it was a now former Republican supervisor. This wasn’t towards me but it was towards another blogger who was also a resident.
This event last evening was the public hearing over Mount Pleasant.
Of course after the meeting the Vice Chair Sharon Humble took to Facebook to continue her Joan of Arc of Tredyffrin against the evil blogger routine. She seems a little obsessed doesn’t she? I mean is this really the best use of her time? Do her residents actually wish she was as attentive to other things as she is to trash talking me? Oh and she is a fluffy cloud loving Tredyffrin Democrat no less? I mean I could just tell her to shut up or remove her, but her keyboard warrior mode is well interesting isn’t it?
What happened was last night the Vice Chair of Tredyffrin Township Sharon Humble throws this blog, me, and RESIDENTS under the bus about Mount Pleasant problems with student rentals and IMHO Supervisor Carlotta Johnston Pugh tagged along. Careful Sharon Humble you are a politician (as is Carlotta Johnston Pugh) and if you were so caring or however you have phrased it these issues would not have to be addressed again now. And are you also saying that 6ABC lied? Or NBC10? Or the Philadelphia Inquirer? Or Main Line Media News years ago?
This has been going on for YEARS. You see I remember how people had to fight to get the initial student housing ordinance. And IMHO why it happened it all was residents from more affluent neighborhoods showed up because back then some had these houses pop up next door to them all of a sudden and why? Because at that point back in the day Tredyffrin knew there were issues, but had never dealt with them, correct?
NO ONE has ever said ALL off campus students are bad EVER. But we have said that you Tredyffrin pretty much sucks on this issue (and others) and why? Because they have allowed the issues haven’t you?
In my opinion, this township hides behind the word grandfathered as in student houses are grandfathered in the area known as Mount Pleasant. So this area also has the largest concentration of student rentals I think in that entire township unless I’m mistaken? This has literally been going on for decades, and even when they got the first student housing ordinance you still have these houses where they go way over the occupancy limit for example. I’m sure a lot of of that has to do with the amount of rent being charged for students to rent the houses. And while no one has ever said, all student housing rentals are bad in this area, there is a total disregard for the people who have lived there in some cases, their entire lives. Like you can’t help but wonder if there had been more basic enforcement actions when neighbors have called over the years. Would they even be looking at this today? And the history of this particular area is very important and more of it seems to disappear day by day because they’re also the issues of predatory development where houses are being bought and land cleared and big expensive jammed in new construction etc. going in.
So there you have it. If I am told I can share the email, I will. And again, it was not solicited in any way. Thank you all for your kind words on this issue.
I rode in my friend Barry’s flag balloon on 9/11 in 2012 over Chester County.
Twenty- five years. Let that sink in for a moment. Twenty-five years and a not so long from now, the first plane was hitting the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.
Where were you? I was pulling in to my office garage at 2 Tower Bridge in Conshohocken, PA. I heard the news come across the car radio. I sat there in silence with tears running down my face saying to myself (out loud, actually) “They came back.”
I know I’ve told this story since 9/11 but I really did come out of the World Trade Center shopping concourse above the garage when they blew up the garage in February 1993.
It’s 8:45 AM and 8:46 AM the moment of silence at the World Trade Center Memorial in NYC begins.
25 years ago today, everything changed. 2983 people lost their lives.
On February 23, 1993 there was the first attack on the World Trade Center. The attack is one that people don’t talk about.
The years move away from the dates, but we never forget. They are literally dates which live in our minds in infamy. To paraphrase FDR, who was in his time, referring to Pearl Harbor.
One of the photos in this post opens with is one I took one summer and it is the controversial 9/11 Memorial in New Jersey. Known as the “teardrop memorial”, it is located in Bayonne. I think it has a kind of strength and beauty to it.
In 2006 I wrote a piece for the local paper:
Sept. 11, 2006, is the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and United Airlines Flight 93’s crash in the field in Shanksville, Somerset County. This date has special significance to every American, and intense personal significance to far too many individuals who lost friends and loved ones.
But September 11, wasn’t the first time terrorists visited the World Trade Center. In truth, Feb. 26, 1993. was the date of the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. I worked in New York at that time at an office located downtown in the financial district.
On that day, I had accompanied an office friend to the World Trade Center to grab an early lunch and to check out some stores in the shopping concourse. We were back outside the Trade Center buildings, getting ready to cross the street, when suddenly the ground shook and moved. I remember that we were looking directly across the street at Century 21, a department store in Lower Manhattan. Then something happened that rarely happens in New York: Everything went eerily still and quiet. We looked up at what we first thought were snowflakes beginning to float and fall from the sky. After all, it was February. Then car alarms began to go off one by one like the cacophony of many distorted bells. The snowflakes, we soon discovered, were in reality ashes.
People began yelling and screaming. It became very confusing and chaotic all at once, like someone flipped a switch to “on.” At first, we both felt rooted to the sidewalk, unable to move. I remember feeling a sense of panic at the unknown. We had absolutely no idea what had happened, and hurried back to our office. Reaching it, we were greeted by worried coworkers who told us that someone had set off a bomb underground in the World Trade Center garage.
I will never forget the crazy kaleidoscope of images, throughout that afternoon, of all the people who were related to or knew people in my office who sought refuge in our office after walking down the innumerable flights of steps in the dark to exit the World Trade Center Towers. They arrived with soot all over their faces, hands and clothes. They all wore zombie looks of shock, disbelief and panic.
Of course, the oddest thing about the first terrorist attack on New York City is that I don’t remember much lasting fuss about it. I do remember that President Bill Clinton was newly sworn into office, but I don’t remember him coming to visit New York after the attack. Everything was back to normal in Lower Manhattan in about a month, maybe two. After a while, unless you had worked in New York, or lived in New York, you simply forgot about this “incident.”
So, on the morning of 9/11, as I pulled into my office building’s garage and listened to the breaking news on the radio announcing that a plane had struck the World Trade Center, tears began to run down my face unbidden. I knew in my heart of hearts what happened. I said to myself, “Oh no. They came back.”
I remember picking up my cell phone to call my father, whom I knew to be, at that time, on an Amtrak train bound for New York City. I remember him telling me it was fine and he’d be fine. I wanted him to get off in New Jersey and take a train back to Philadelphia. But the train was already pretty much past all the stations and getting ready to go into the tunnel to New York. That very thought terrified me. To this day, I still do not understand why Amtrak did not stop those last trains from going into New York City as the news of the World Trade Center attacks first broke.
I next remember getting in the elevator and getting off on my office floor to find people clustered around television sets and radios. And the news kept getting worse: first one plane, then a second, then a third, and then a fourth.
The images and news just didn’t stop. Camera cuts from lower Manhattan to Washington to Somerset County. They are images that have to be ingrained in everyone’s mind forever like indelible ink.
It took a couple of days for my father and brother-in-law (who had already been in New York on business) to get out of the city, but eventually they got home safely with many stories to tell of what New York was like in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. A lot of people weren’t so lucky. They never saw their loved ones again after that fateful morning. Many people in the Philadelphia and greater Main Line area lost friends, coworkers and loved ones.
On September 11, I knew people who were lost, but fortunately I didn’t lose any loved ones. I remember for a brief time it seemed we were all a little nicer to each other, and politicians actually seemed to come together as one and grieve as a nation grieved.
But here we are five short years later. I have only seen the site one time where the World Trade Center once stood proudly. That was about a year after the attacks. I remember a distinct pit in my stomach and looked away from the car window. This past June I was in Washington, and had the same intense, awful feeling in my stomach as we drove on the highway past the Pentagon.
Life must go on and time can’t stand still, but all in all I can’t help but wonder: What have we learned since about our country and about ourselves? Five years after 9/11 what have we learned and what have we forgotten? What do we need to remember?
So back to the morning of 9/11 when the first plane hit. I realized then my now late father was on a freaking train to New York City. I pulled out my cell phone, which looked like a weird small brick from Nokia I believe.
I called him. Miraculously he answered. I asked him where he was, and he said Metro Park I said good is it stopped at Metro Park? He said yes why and I said a plane just went in to the World Trade Center. I think it’s a terrorist attack get off and take a train back before you can’t get out of Manhattan.
I will never forget what he said, and it was that the Amtrak conductor assured all of the passengers there was nothing to worry about, and he was just going to continue into New York City.
We didn’t actually talk to him again for a couple of days because you couldn’t get phone calls in or out of New York right after 9/11 for a good couple of days.
I remembered this particular part of 9/11 over the summer when I was at my nephew’s wedding in the Hamptons. It was there I literally saw a guest I hadn’t seen since my late brother-in-law’s funeral many years ago. It was a friend and someone my late brother-in-law used to work with whose family literally lent my late brother-in-law and late father an apartment for a few days because they couldn’t get off the island of Manhattan after 9/11.
People kind of forget that part of the chaos post-terrorist attack. The being cut off from people we knew in all sorts of places, who had ties to places like NYC or Washington, DC.
Other things I remember? Having a couple of childhood friends who were siblings show up on missing and possibly dead lists. One worked for Marsh & McMcLennan and the other for the Port Authority of NY and NJ. One sibling in particular was on that list for days after 9/11. Turns out one or both were out of town.
But I will never forget that feeling of combing through those lists looking to see whom we knew was on those lists. On one list were two guys that went to college with me. One I knew peripherally the other not at all, but I knew who he was. Both were close friends of another friend of mine’s husband.
I remember having a conversation with someone after 9/11 who had a job in the Pentagon. They were the opposite side from where the plane hit.
So many people had stories. I also remember speaking with someone well after 9/11 who if I remember correctly was from like Michigan or something and they knew people who physically went to NYC after 9/11 because they were trying to find family members that worked in the financial district and in the World Trade Center buildings.
A related aside is many years ago before 1993 or 9/11, I had a couple of interviews with brokerage firms or financial places in the World Trade Center buildings. I remember I did not like going up in those elevators. And I also remember there were like big escalators in that building as well. People thought it was such a cachet to work in those buildings and I remember thinking back then they’re just too tall, even in a city of skyscrapers.
I think a lot of us also knew first responders who were from other areas who went to New York City to help. I also know a couple of people whose family members were first responders in the New York Metropolitan area.
In that vein over the years, you’ve had the people who claimed they went to New York to help after 9/11. But didn’t. You even had a guy who said he was assigned from NYPD down to the financial district after 9/11 to help look for people or whatever they were all doing, but really wasn’t he was in the Bronx or something. You also have the tall tales with the current president when it comes to 9/11.
I really despise the people who fake things about being part of efforts post 9/11. I don’t understand people that need to build their own images on a national tragedy.
Someone I know who was the first responder said today that the best way to honor people on 9/11 is to be the people we all were 9/12.
I saw this drone show thing from New York and it’s very moving. I’m sharing a snippet from the ABC affiliate up there:
As a country from the most local things to national, we are a cesspool of messiness. People wanna tell you what it’s like to be a patriot or an American. They don’t have the first clue. We have become an international embarrassment, not strength. And because of the current administration, we are once again I believe wide open to incidents like what happened 9/11 25 years ago.
We have a president who wants to tell tall tales about 9/11 and even issue AI generated ridiculousness to make himself look like a hero on whatever his truth social account is.
We have a president with an administration which kowtows to him when they know they shouldn’t. I can’t decide if it’s because they are actually afraid of him or they can’t admit they made a mistake in getting behind him. of course the other point to ponder is some of them simply put are just stupid especially the women I have never seen so many ridiculous women in positions of power. It’s embarrassing to be a woman and look at them. Bad plastic surgery and Botox-laden twits. And the men? Half of them who are in positions where they have anything to do with the military have no military background. They’re just there because they’ll do what what’s his name wants.
We are an international joke. We are also because of the actions of this administration creates increasingly vulnerable situations. Spoiled boys shouldn’t be playing war.
And I keep waiting for elected officials to find their spines to stand up to this stuff and write the ship that is capsized that is our country and democracy. And all they do is talk.
The 25th anniversary of 9/11 falls on the 250th anniversary of this country.
Liberty weeps and so do I.
Remember, 9/11 accurately.
Remember those who lost their lives. Remember the first responders and others from all over not just New York City, who are still alive and struggling with health issues and what not because of what they were exposed to on that fateful day and the days thereafter. Honor all those people and this event by getting your asses to the polls on election day.
It’s time to right the ship of democracy.
To be an American is who we are. We come from all walks of life. We come from all races, creeds, colors, nationalities. We are a nation, literally born of immigrants, and it’s time to start treating those people with respect which means getting rid of the frozen feds.
Be a real patriot, not one that just expects a check from a crazy old man who seems to think that’s what it takes to get people to vote. we all know the phrase. The check is in the mail and if you think he’s gonna pay you anything I can sell you a bridge in Brooklyn.
Well, that’s my rant for the 25th anniversary. As Americans, we have an obligation to be better than what we currently are allowing in this country.
Fellow residents are getting outreach from outraged types past and present over us having the nerve to want additional representation in local government. This tells all of us that we are on the right track.
People this is our right. It’s not political. It’s decidedly non-partisan and it’s about representation.
It is literally our right as residents in a second class township in Pennsylvania to wish to go up to five supervisors from three. Our mechanism for doing this is to get something on the ballot, a referendum. It costs us nothing and it doesn’t increase our taxes, but it does increase our representation and perhaps gives us balance which I think is lacking in a lot of local governments no matter how good the representation is.
People who think it’s a bad idea are people who have something to lose. They’re being narcissistic and selfish, it’s personal to them. We might not ever know why it is personal and frankly, I don’t care.
Keep up the good work. Regardless of political affiliation, we are stronger together than apart. And that residents is what people are really scared of who don’t want two more seats on the East Whiteland Board of Supervisors.
One more day for signatures.
Well allow me to expand upon that with real world experience. Back in the day when I was part of Save Ardmore Coalition and we were fighting eminent domain for private gain in Ardmore, we experienced every dirty trick possible.
We will start with I had a price put on my head by a then publicist doing contract work for Lower Merion Township. You see, we as a group of local community activists were at first fighting an issue that wasn’t sexy enough for media coverage. So we had to get creative. We joined what was anew thing called Twitter (now X.) We also joined a new thing, kind of a grandmother of regional blogging called PhillyFuture.org
PhillyFuture.org was a community blog and aggregator launched in the early 2000s (founded by a wonderful human named Karl Martino) that served as a central hub for the Philadelphia political and local blogosphere. It was early days when I and a couple of friends discovered it. It was the most marvelous thing. We learned about things going on all over the region. Even Natural Lands had a blog on this blog.
PhillyFuture gave us a voice. It was the beginning of blogging. We didn’t have publicists or anything like that. It was just us. So we had to get creative. While we were on this platform fighting for Ardmore’s historic business district, Lower Merion Township which still wanted eminent domain for private gain in Ardmore did not like it. The small group of malcontents or whatever it was they called us was starting to get traction. The township at some point for a while hired an outside publicist for in my opinion damage control of a very unpopular and bad plan. Said publicist put a price on the head to know the identity of the Save Ardmore Coalition blogger. At that point there were a few of us, but I always believed they were after me.
What we went through was the stuff Netflix and Prime series are made for. We were literally targeted as residents for wanting to stop eminent domain. Small businesses were targeted in a most petty manner as well. Back then one of the businesses threatened with eminent domain for private gain was HuNan Restaurant. That was actually WHY I got involved. The family that owned HuNan were dear to me. So when they said no to eminent domain, all of a sudden township folks who always ate lunch at Hunan because it was literally next door to the township building stopped eating lunch there.
Why is this pertinent today? Because everything old is new again and politicians always regurgitate the same old stuff. See this text message screenshot I was sent last night:
Former Supervisor and Chair/Co-Chair of Great Valley Dems has a nasty streak doesn’t he?
Meet Bill Holmes and his charming text message. For the last 10 years or so he and the Great Valley Democrats have eaten lunch together at Dixie Picnic. So he sends this text – to a woman named Tracey who has been a devoted Democrat and supported him as a supervisor AND when he was head of Great Valley Democrats. And she is an owner of Dixie Picnic.
Today none of them showed up. So they all followed daddy to where? Wegmans or Wendy’s?
I first met Tracey not that long after we moved here. I can tell you that she feels such a sense of betrayal by these people. Like literally she’s one of the most devoted Democrats, and always has been. I think she may have even had some sort of gathering for Bill Holmes in the past? I’m a little fuzzy on that detail because that was around the time we were just coming into East Whiteland or before.
But do we see the irony here that she actually lived up to her Democrat and personal values by wanting to put a petition out for people who were interested in enlarging the Board of Supervisors by two that is allowed under the 2nd Class Township code? So she exercised her right as an American and as a resident of this municipality East Whiteland Township and now this guy wants to punish her as a small business owner and a resident? Talk about acting like petty bitch, right?
Also there were signing events for this ballot petition initiative to add two more supervisors and guess what has been reported? Bill Holmes showing up with some unidentified man and one guy named Jerry Pyne whom I believe was the vice chair of the county Democrats and is now on the following committees: Property Committee, Collaborative Planning Committee (WTF is that? The give out gold star stickers committee?), and System Administration Committee? LOL LOL LOL how many committees do they need?
Ok so the fact they showed up is not the problem. The problem was they reportedly showed up with signs to essentially harass other residents into not signing the petition? They literally had “Do Not Sign” signs. Below is a photo taken of him and his cohorts being gently spoken to by the lovely woman who organized the petition. She was a lot nicer than I would have been. Sadly no sign was being held up in that moment.
This was at a petition signing event. Bill Holmes far left in mad for plaid shirt.
This further cements, why change must happen.
If you don’t regularly go to Dixie Picnic in Lincoln Court shopping center I am urging everyone to go and support Tracey because of what is being done to her which is petty, chauvinistic, and misogynistic.
And so we are all clear on who Bill is he is somebody who is a politician. He still plays politics. He’s the past chair of the East Whiteland supervisors as well as a supervisor and he was the past chair or cochair of whatever the Great Valley/East Whiteland Democrats. A man who wants to hurt someone with a small business who’s also a great human is just a tool. Oh and didn’t he come to power thanks to Michele Vaughn? makes you re-think her on county row, doesn’t it?
Here is Dixie Picnic’s website: https://www.dixiepicnic.com/ They are an amazing scratch kitchen and home of the UPcake and nice positive things. You can order through GrubHub and I think Instacart and you can place orders on their website for pick up and they do catering and their hours are your basic lunch hours. This is a restaurant which is also an amazing little community hub.
Now I fully expect the Great Valley Democrats powers that be and think they are still powerful will have a hissy fit over my posting this but they should KNOW that a MAN saying something like this to a woman who owns a small business, lives in East Whiteland, and is a supportive member of their political party is literally indefensible. Is this the only female Democrat he’s had issues with as a perennial politician now without an office?
And so we are clear on how I feel about this bullshit aspect to local politics, allow me to share more of my personal experiences with Great Valley Democrats.
When this all happened to me, I was still a Republican. In 2016 when a certain someone became the presidential nominee, I left the party because as a woman it had already kicked me and my rights as a woman to the curb I felt. I tried on the whole being a democrat but between Chester County Dems and Great Valley Dems it was so institutional, bad corporate and often soulless and that’s being polite. So again, once more I am an Independent.
It doesn’t matter in the big picture but I thought it is good for people to know. Just like it is good for people to know Bill Holmes also ran unsuccessfully for state rep once upon a time. Oh and he only beat his 2013 challenger when he was supervisor by 10 votes. In 2007 he only beat Rich Orlow by 7 votes. Rich Orlow eventually became a Republican supervisor in East Whiteland and then was defeated by Scott Lambert. Then in the true nature of flip floppy politics, Rich Orlow became a Democrat to finish out Bill Holmes term when he stepped down, didn’t he?
Below are some articles about East Whiteland politics and one about East Whiteland population growth. And old blog posts.
Politics is a dirty business and it’s time for people like Bill Holmes to retire and just sit down to begin with. If someone is doing something they believe in personally, don’t you encourage them especially if it is something positive?
These tired ass folks like Bill Holmes think better representation for a community that has grown exponentially is a threat to Democracy and they don’t actually get that it is literally Democracy in action. Behavior like he exhibited is thug politics and it’s time for him to stop.
Also please visit Dixie Picnic. You will be glad you did.
I completely expect I will be targeted with unpleasantness for this post. After all I have never been “on board with Bill” and I have been targeted by unpleasantness before because I believe in growing three person boards to five and I think the data center is a bad plan. Some of those folks should be glad I don’t share their emails calling me what was it? A back stabber? And why? Because I think the three person board in East Whiteland should be five person and I think the East Whiteland data center plan is a bad plan.
East Whiteland your political slip is showing in the most unattractive way possible. Put that in your proverbial pipe and smoke it.
People, if they don’t want this then get out and vote for it in November if t makes the ballot this time. If not, we will do it again.
#ShopLocal and #LoveWhatIsLocal and #ShopSmall and remember that community transcends politics in the end. Always.
Packed house in Westtown Township and I hear many are calling out Supervisor Tom Foster and it’s not Ollie Ollie Oxenfreed.
Oh and breaking news they fired the entire historic commission on bullsheit trumped up charges.
Jodi Nawrocki ran for office trying to convince people she loved historic preservation, and what’s her first big act as a supervisor and the baby chair of the supervisors who doesn’t know how to run a meeting? To axe a volunteer commission. I guess she still believes in the tooth fairy if she expects to believe that this has nothing to do with the Darlington Inn or politics. she is just one of three disgraces, but she’s the only Democrat on the board and she might as well just be Tom Foster’s Sarah Palin.
Oh and former non-profit name- dropping- former -stupidvisor Carol DeWolf? I love love love the ego in you that you can’t bother to introduce yourself to the audience. You’re not the queen freaking mother, but you are still obnoxious, and now that you’re just regular old Carol from Westrown I think you can just stand at the podium like a normal person.
There is no point in being subtle here. This is a complete shit show and a travesty. This is obviously political and if you’re on a board in Westtown, you should just resign now before they fire all of the rest of you.
And that manager, she needs to go to. She also doesn’t know what in the Sam hell she’s doing.
What a freaking joke. Except it isn’t is it? This is actually really bad for residents and I’m allowed to have that opinion too.
So how can they get rid of that entire board of stupidvisors and the manager? and in the meantime, I hope everyone on that historic commission knows that they are entitled to a televised hearing and bring lawyers.
Sign of the times taken by someone NOT trespassing.Not my photo, saw it on social media. Corporate welfare bought to you by Governor Josh Shapiro. Residents are always optional in his equations.
East Whiteland Township, Chester County is just a place where most honestly feel government pays lip service for every shitty thing that happens. Well not everyone. Some just ignore us altogether like State Representative Kristine Howard. She literally does nothing and says nothing. Never shows up for anything in her district. But she is BFFs now with neighboring State Representative Danielle Friel Otten whom people elected as a pipeline activist and that didn’t last long as she just wanted to sit at the popular kids table in Harrisburg and is a sell out.
Governor Josh Shapiro is everywhere as he is up for re-election. But he is busy having his literal neighbors dislike him and handing out corporate welfare as that sign in East Whiteland indicates. Yes I can have that opinion while I say I told you so. Shapiro has always been exactly who he is.
If anyone had been paying attention except for some of us, they would have seen it back when he was former Congressman Joe Hoeffel’s Chief of Staff (1999-2003). We certainly saw it when we were starting to fight eminent domain for private gain in Ardmore, PA. It was literally his job to help and/or at least listen to Hoeffel’s constituents. He didn’t and I can distinctly remember him avoiding residents in Ardmore at a town hall meeting in early eminent domain days. The meeting was at a senior center in Ardmore.
Now we don’t really have a viable choice on the other side of the aisle, just Marge Simpson, err Stacy Garrity. That woman was pro-data center until a lightbulb went off and she thought she could maybe get two extra votes and she flip flopped to being sort of against them.
There is one person whom we know cares 100%: State Senator Katie Muth. She is a fierce mama bear for all of us. She cares. She shows up.
I guess I just don’t understand how anyone thinks this data center or any data centers are OK. I also don’t understand one of the East Whiteland Supervisors after finding this video:
Now he is only one of three supervisors. But like with many other municipalities, you have at least one who thinks data centers are wonderful and the hypocrite tree hugger in that video from NBC 10 above that’s on YouTube is the one in East Whiteland. According to this media report and subsequent research, he apparently works for Morris Arboretum owned by the University of Pennsylvania so does that mean Morris Arboretum and Penn are pro data centers?
But the rest of the East Whiteland board? It’s like they are doing fear based governance. They are so afraid of what might happen to them that they’re not thinking about what will happen to the all of us and aren’t I allowed to have that opinion? Shouldn’t the courage of your convictions mean something when you’re an elected official? I mean, if you can’t stand up for the people who elected you why are you in office? What are you getting out of it?
Today, as I was standing outside in my garden, looking into my woods, I was pondering all of this. I will share my thoughts next in a little video, and then I will share some video snippets from the most recent East Whiteland meeting and some other stuff.
I’m sad. I am sad that we don’t matter. I’m sad that our local environment doesn’t matter. And I am fearful we will run out of water and not be able to afford our power. No one has been able to allay these fears and I don’t think they really can and I’m allowed to have that opinion too.
I love a good phone solicitation don’t you? No, not really, right. Yes, I get it and neither do I, was just being sarcastic.
I received one yesterday. Another fake roofing inspection one. Ever since some in the area had hail, they have been relentless. Door to door people but mostly phone solicitors.
It’s always Philadelphia roofing something or other or Pennsylvania roofing something or other. And when you pretend to be hard of hearing and ask them to repeat the company name, it’s another company name (that doesn’t exist and none of them exist.)
This turdsticker yesterday started again with the tired old “we are doing work for your neighbors.”
Yeah umm no you are not anymore than the summer seasonal driveway sealing gypsies.
Well this one told me to shut up as in shut up stupid woman I’m speaking.
Yeah that didn’t work so well and this time I called back. Told them off and told them that I was recording the call.
Don’t fall for this BS and I know some people do. Legitimate businesses don’t operate this way, pure and simple.
Today the East Whiteland Data Center had its court debut. This case:
I am about to share exclusive court recollections by an East Whiteland resident who sent me a report:
June 4, 2026 – Hearing to request court to stay any work on site of foote mineral/data center
Mr Schneider began by reading a prepared brief and going through 18 exhibits. Judge early on asked him if he had any witnesses or any case law to support his brief. Andy said no because the language of the law speaks for itself. Judge admonished him for that and said there should be case law to support his position. Then proceeded to let him read his testimony and go through the 18 exhibits as he went. Andy’s arguments were consistent with things he had presented at township meeting on data center. Argued that two entrances meant one entrance right across from Malvern Hunt would have to be built first and would be used by machinery to move earth and cause dirt to be blown around into Malvern Hunt. Andy quoted EPA website to claim that site is not finally remediated. Judge asked if he had witness from EPA and other exhibits along the way. Andy also mentioned that the plan that was approved expired 90 days after it was approved and court should find subsequent actions invalid because plan was already expired.
Mr Colagreco started by asking the hearing to be dismissed and the judge denied his request. Mr Colagreco then stated that he had submitted a brief to the court so he wasn’t going to read the brief and the judge said that the court had already read both briefs prior to the hearing. Mr Colagreco then argued that for the first time in history there is no case law to support a section of code that was in dispute and tried to cast doubt on Andy’s reading of the code. Mr Colagreco also mentioned that there was no harm in allowing them to proceed with moving dirt because Mr Schneider had not presented any evidence to this effect and had not presented any evidence at all other than his legal brief. Also said that the time for Mr Schneider to appeal was within 30 days of the 2024 approval and that he can’t appeal any longer because he missed that window. Mr Colagreco also said they are under a 2 year deadline and that time is ticking and that any effort to delay via multiple lawsuits from Mr Schneider could harm them because it could cause them to miss this deadline if they aren’t allowed to start work. Judge asked Mr Colagreco if they had started any work on the site since 2024 and Mr Colagreco admitted they had not so Judge observed they could have been working all that time if it was important to them.
Judge then heard the township lawyer who is paid by supervisors Directors and Officers insurance it appears. That lawyer, I don’t remember his name, said that he agreed with everything Mr Colagreco said on behalf of Sentinel. Didn’t say much other than that.
Judge allowed Mr Schnieder rebuttal and Mr Schneider said that events in March 2026 created need to appeal and that no criteria existed in 2024 to appeal because the events in March 2026 created the need to appeal. At the end of this, judge offered Mr Schneider the opportunity to submit his exhibits into evidence. After some back and forth, Mr Schneider did accept the Judge’s offer and submitted his 18 exhibits into evidence.
Judge then closed the hearing.
– Recollection of East Whiteland resident Tim Caban during the hearing.
No, those two captioned screenshots above are two other court cases. They are pending. I don’t know in what order they will be heard or what will happen.
No decision was made today. I found that interesting. I’m taking that as a positive.
Someone else is an observer of this mess for lack of a better description said to me today (and I quote):
You get to the hearing stage, arguing for a dismissal is almost a waste of time…The guts of the argument is whether or not townships can make it up as they go along, and effectively rewrite the statute through bad process.. which is a denial of due process to the community.
I found that interesting to ponder.
Tonight is the environmental advisory council meeting a.k.a. EAC. Ironically on their agenda this evening is Foote Mineral. And of course, this is also the site for the data center. I’m going to share a document I was sent today relative to that and interesting.
It ain’t over and Captain Green Fig must be twitching, no? It makes you wonder if his snazzy New York developer investor will stick around long-term doesn’t it?
This is the Foote Mineral thing I mentioned. I will also note that this person who wrote this and sent a message. I’m about to share is an environmental lawyer. Next is the message and following that his attachment and that is the end for today for me on my reporting of this ongoing issue.
Message:
John’s message
I have attached the Comments I plan to file before COB on Friday June 5, 2026 with US EPA Region 3 in Philadelphia. If upon your review you agree with the content of the Comments, and you would like to join in the Comments, please let me know by email, stratred14@gmail.com. Send me your name, street address and township. I will add you to the list of Commenters. I will send an updated list of Commenters to the EPA, as needed, over the next two weeks.
For those of you who do not know me, I am simply a concerned citizen, like you. I am not being paid by any entity for this work, nor am I a member of any group that has formed in opposition to this or any other data center project. My career has been in environmental law, so I am familiar with the Superfund process, and redevelopment of brownfields. Hence the arcane nature of my comments.
This. Finally. People all over now understand what the residents of Mt. Pleasant have been dealing with for YEARS.
Anyway, my cup runneth over in gratitude for Philadelphia regional media digging in to what has been going on for far too long in this historic old neighborhood in Tredyffrin. It is gratifying to know that they care about people in the region enough to hang out and talk with these people for a while because basically no one else has.
Perhaps somewhere up above Miss Mazie Hall and her pal Margaret Collins are smiling? I mean developers could tear down Mazie’s house, but neither predatory developers nor animal house college students have a right to destroy this neighborhood. It isthat simple.
So Tredyffrin Township, it’s time to get off your collective asses and stop ignoring this neighborhood because everyone knows if this was an expensive McMansion district you’d be hopping to PDQ. Yes I am in fact saying that if this wasn’t a historically black neighborhood, this problem would have been dealt with years ago. And by the way, the McMansionette dwellers in the new big huge town houses are not happy with this issue either.
And Villanova University, walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk.
So if you were part of Greek life in college, and I was, you know that pledge classes of fraternities have certain rituals they are responsible for completing. And that is not necessarily one and the same, but can be part of things that people would categorize as hazing…. especially if the task at hand is not completed.
According to Bill Rettew of the Daily Local, fraternity members are stealing bricks out of the historic sidewalks of West Chester University. This is based upon an interview with local residents:
Why are the historic bricks from the borough’s brick sidewalks disappearing?
Are they wearing out and not being replaced, stolen to replace those bad bricks by neighbors, or according to one neighbor, part of a long-time West Chester University fraternity hazing ritual, or is something else happening?
Sean Barry lives in the Southeast region of the borough where most of the students who rent live, and the fraternity houses are located. His bricks mysteriously started disappearing from his sidewalk.
He returned from his honeymoon to learn from the borough that he was responsible to repair and replace the bricks or face a fine…..The damage was widespread and the sidewalk bricks or pavers are no longer made. Barry sought an estimate and was told by a professional contractor that the bill would come to between $10,000 and $13,000 to repair his sidewalk. A simple Google search shows that several contractors will repair or replace brick or paver sidewalks for thousands of dollars.
Barry spent 11 hours repairing the sidewalk himself, with the aid of a friend. The thefts continue and bricks are currently missing from Barry’s sidewalk.
Barry witnessed a young male removing a brick from his sidewalk. He confronted him and asked the youth why he was removing the brick and was told that he was a member of a West Chester University fraternity and it was part of the pledging process and he had to collect a number of sidewalk bricks to fulfill a “quota.” The alleged student would not give his name or the name of a fraternity to Barry….Elizabeth Nebel lives on South Walnut Street. She sees some neighbors paving the bricks over with concrete and wonders if it is because of the thefts, and if consequently, West Chester will lose some of its charm.
Barry agrees.
“The bricks are a big part of the town,” he said. “It’s part of the charm.
“But brick by brick we’re losing what makes West Chester special.”
Barry said that he’s happy to live in the Southeast.
“We know it’s a select few and most are good neighbors,” he said. “I’m good to have students as neighbors, but the density comes with unique challenges.”
Now, when I read through the article, I noticed that West Chester University was kind of playing Pontius Pilate. Look that’s somewhat typical for schools with a big off-campus population. They say they can’t be responsible for their kids, yet they are, aren’t they?
And the fraternities’ national organizations are also responsible for their charges. It doesn’t take much to look up the fraternities currently active at West Chester, and not even includes ones that aren’t officially recognized. Sometimes fraternities are also suspended, I don’t know if they list them on West Chester‘s website or not. West Chester also maintains documentation of recent or relatively recent issues within their Greek community so to speak as far as hazing and what not. I also found this report- https://cm.maxient.com/chtr.php?WestChesterUniv
So these bricks levitating from sidewalks around the Borough of West Chester near the fraternities isn’t like typical hazing per se, but I am sure it is part of some initiation process. Now it’s relatively harmless if you take it at its face, except it’s destroying historic sidewalks.
As a historic town, West Chester will have lots of visitors, undoubtedly during America’s 250 celebration this summer. If you were “Greek” in college, please look at the attached list of organizations pertaining to Greek life with chapters on this college campus please contact your national organization an please ask them to ask the students to just knock it off and return what they’ve taken.
All of these organizations have service projects that they generally do, and a lot of times they do it right in their local communities where their chapters are located. It would be really nice to return the bricks.
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.
