Soooo we recently learned about certain formerly ranking Great Valley Democrats (one who was actually the former vice chair of the Chesco Dems) were running around having hissy fits about East Whiteland Township residents circulating a petition with signatures to get a ballot question on the ballot.
The question was (and I am paraphrasing) was along the lines of should East Whiteland Township add two more supervisors? Under the Second Class Township code you can increase representation.
Sadly, this hissy fit included basically bullying a female resident who’s also a small business owner, and how is that behavior ok?)
So these men, Bill Holmes and Jerry Pyne, went to where residents were gathering signatures to object. They acted like it was a threat to democracy instead of what it really was, which is democracy in action.
Super sad and misogynistic behavior is so Welcome to Stepford isn’t it?
Anyway, it makes you wonder what the motivation is doesn’t it? I think a lot of it has to do with control. I don’t think it’s as much of fear that a Republican may get back on the board, as a fear of losing control.
Are we all just puppets on this bus of these political toadstools?
I was thinking about it and lo and behold it made me wonder even more when an email reached me from 2023. An email no one was looking for, it showed up in a bulk right to know request response.
Note the highlighted area at the bottom:
This email is a chat discussing the EW and WW data center with backup generation for the data center. I do not want the part to be labeled as against business!
So yeah, who is the author of this email? Wouldn’t that be one Jerry Pyne?
Oh Jerry, it’s not too hard to figure out when this email was written. It was around the time that residents wanted West Whiteland to say no to a hydrogen hub to go with the developers desire for a data center, wasn’t it? (West Whiteland did say no, remember?)
I mean it’s so funny. This email chain started like literally I guess a couple days after that big Inquirer article came out?
Precious.
Let’s review what I have been told by those who were doing RTK requests then:
This was a January 2023 email from Jerry Pyne, an East Whiteland Democratic Committee Person, and at that time, Vice Chair of the county Democrats was included in the response to a RTK request (on an unrelated issue) to the Township. The email comes on the heels of a Philadelphia Inquirer article about Charlie Lyddane’s ongoing attempts to build a hyper scale data center in East Whiteland and his attempt to change zoning in West Whiteland for data centers and power plants.
Jerry Pyne forwarded to Democrat County commissioners Marian and Josh and Township supervisor Scott Lambert (using his township email address ) an email discussion between fellow EW Democrat committee people who were discussing their concerns for impacts to the environment, quality of life and place, energy resources, etc.
But Jerry Pyne’s concern was different: “I do not want the part[y] to be labelled as anti business!” That was his concern. Not the impact this development would have on the community and the environment.
I have heard that the recent Great Valley Democrat meeting held at the East Whiteland Township Building did have some chatter about data centers. But they haven’t taken a position. And they also haven’t taken a position at this point on the desire for East Whiteland residents to get a ballot question out there on the ballot for the fall about increasing the size of the East Whiteland Township Supetvisors’ board.
I have a suggestion for the Great Valley Democrats. My suggestion is simple. They need to distance from these people publicly. They should not even have the optics out there that they might be supporting these efforts on bothering residents about having their opinions on data centers and whether it should be three or five supervisors. And the key words is they need to take a public position. No hiding, no why can’t we all get along. They need to tell people they don’t support misogynistic bullying behavior that is in my opinion anti-democracy.
And oh hell, yes I can have that opinion. And it makes you wonder who Jerry was talking to about what before he decided to contact everybody back then?
So yes, data centers in our communities are uncovering all sorts of interesting issues.
It’s uncovering how nasty these political types are getting if there’s any threat to their power structure or what they think is best at the expense of all the other residents.
Chester County, it is time for a change in both political parties. These political parties need to shut their mouths and need to sit down and listen to what is bothering the plurality.
I’m sure this issue will continue to unfold. But I thought for now this email was simply too precious not to share. Time for Jerry Pyne and Bill Holmes and others to retire.
And darling Jerry and Bill? Remember my opinions are bought to you courtesy of the First Amendment. And other political types out there? Don’t let these issues be your Waterloo. The times they are a changing IMHO.
These issues facing our communities involve everyone. Stop playing party politics (poorly).
Let’s be clear: Business Wire a Berkshire Hathaway company is a press release mill isn’t it? They publish what clients send them don’t they?
So this one sounds like developer fairy tales and new math, eh?
So who is actually going to be Plymouth Township saying NO to a Big Fat Data Center? Not the township, not the residents or the Colonial School District School District right? It’s the developer who will be “hurt” isn’t it? Isn’t this just more bullying like this township pointed out in their presser a week ago?
The press release is issued by a company name very familiar to those in Ardmore from when they were the publicist for a while for Lower Merion Township during eminent domain for private gain, and can we also say we have an Irish lass in particular who is working it once again for her favorite Irish developer?
You know people like this are always getting the band back together aren’t they every time? If it’s not condos, it’s recovery centers and if it’s not any of the above its data centers? Aren’t these people in fact like a well oiled but tired machine?
Are communities in Montgomery County (Pennsylvania) going to let them hit oil this time? I don’t think so do you? Haven’t all of these developers to an extent underestimated the human tsunami against this issue of data centers?
Also very amused to read in this release language that is literally regurgitated from when everybody was furiously sending press releases out about pipelines, correct?
I mean, let’s get real when they did the pipelines out here did most of the jobs go to local people?
Wouldn’t that be a no?
Aren’t local communities still wondering when there’s going to be an effective evacuation plan for pipelines and what is the plan for data centers?
What gives any of these people the right to say they can take all our water and use all our energy and drive people crazy quite literally with the humming of it all?
What gives any of these people the right to say hey no problem we’ll just add more pollution, you’ll never notice a thing?
Data Centers are just the new condo complex and apartment building and warehouse aren’t they?
They can take their fakakta “data analysis” and do what with it?
Isn’t it true that some people are saying that this press release today makes that developer sound a little desperate?
PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As Plymouth Township’s zoning board is set to rule on the future of the former Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill at 900 Conshohocken Road, an independent economic and fiscal impact analysis puts a hard number on what is at stake. The study, prepared by 4ward Planning Inc. for 900 Conshohocken Road LLC, finds that converting the vacant 1.95 million-square-foot dormant mill site into a data center would generate $424 million in new tax revenue over 20 years, with the majority flowing directly into Colonial School District classrooms. Blocking the project keeps that revenue at zero…..
…..The study’s own methodology notes the project would add no residential development and no new students, meaning the district receives the full revenue increase without a corresponding rise in service costs.
…….That is not a hypothetical outcome. Elsewhere, in Richland Parish, Louisiana, Meta’s $27 billion Hyperion data center campus generated enough new tax revenue that the local school board paid every vested teacher a $50,935 bonus in June 2026, up from $10,200 the year before, along with a $17,472 bonus for support staff, up from $3,323. In Loudoun County, Virginia, data center tax revenue has allowed the Board of Supervisors to cut the residential property tax rate for 10 consecutive years running, while the county nets an estimated $26 in tax revenue for every $1 spent on services those facilities require.
…….Discovery Data Centers (DDC) acquires and zones land, develops and builds buildings for hyperscale Data Center development and delivers it end-to-end. The leadership team brings 48 years of execution experience redeveloping brownfield sites across biotechnology, food distribution, tier-one operating centers, and Data Centers. Discovery Data Centers “Recycles” existing brown-field sites and buildings, expediting zoning and time to market.
Along the Mississippi Delta in the northeast corner of Louisiana, Meta is building one of the largest artificial intelligence data centers in the world….Behind the scenes, an extraordinary amount of secrecy was necessary to pull it off. Energy company executives, Louisiana’s governor, state and local officials and representatives of Meta worked on the deal over nine months before it was made public….To avoid roadblocks, Meta and state officials worked in secrecy….To keep the project out of the public eye, Meta and Entergy used nondisclosure agreements with state and local officials. Even some officials who helped pass legislation to support the project didn’t know its details.
Next are some articles about Loudon County Virginia. (Now remember East Whiteland Supervisors said they had met or spoken with Loudon County officials so were they told about all the money that they would make? Did they get chapter and verse on how they’re supposed to do their confidentiality agreements or whatever?)
To quote an iconic Dire Straits song:
Now look at them yo-yos, that’s the way you do it You play the guitar on the MTV That ain’t workin’, that’s the way you do it Money for nothin’ and your chicks for free
Now that ain’t workin’, that’s the way you do it Lemme tell ya, them guys ain’t dumb Maybe get a blister on your little finger Maybe get a blister on your thumb
And before we get to those links, a friendly reminder that my opinions and questions are bought to me by the First Amendment.
Villa Grove Colorado is on fire. It’s a little unincorporated town in Colorado and they’re already suffering a severe drought and water shortage and there’s not enough water to put the fire out and literally the whole town is on fire. This includes peoples homes a few small businesses in the town and this amazing pottery business that was a big tourist attraction.
Apparently there were helicopters being flown in from Colorado Springs that I guess they’re like those special ones equipped for fires, but the town is up in flames.
So this is a place experiencing extreme drought and water shortages. It’s on fire and the residents of this community and neighboring communities are also fighting data center issues in Colorado.
For me it really hits home that this is a place that doesn’t have water to spare, yet government wants to look the other way and allow data centers in the vicinity which suck water and energy.
Also, why am I posting this because I have friends that live there. This is personal.
State Representative Paul Friel has a rather thin skin and doesn’t like being challenged does he? Apparently there was a dust up with a constituent at his town hall in a music hall and bar in Spring City called The Gem Music Hall.
Anyway, one constituent became frustrated and I guess interrupted him. This man is frustrated about hide and seek over data centers with his state representative which is completely understandable because if you live in East Whiteland Township, the residents in State Representative Kristine Howard’s district grow increasingly frustrated because she is literally invisible on everything, including data centers. People feel Kristine Howard is just in it for her lovely state benefits and pension plans, salary, and perks and you have to wonder is State Representative Paul Friel like that too? I ask because don’t know a thing about the guy other than observations that he is egotistical, thin-skinned, obnoxious towards constituents who don’t agree with him, and plays dodge ball over data centers while talking out of both sides of his mouth.
Oh yes State Representative Paul Friel I can have these opinions on your lackluster performance combined with a love of photo ops to publicly post. You are seemingly quite a doofus of a politician these days.
So back to last night….today a man name Chuck posted a note to his fellow residents in a data center group for losing his cool.
I’m anti Meta but made a page so I could apologize to the people in the crowd at the Paul Friel Monologue over at the Gem in Spring City who were patiently waiting. I definitely interrupted the Monologue and the event in general. To the people in the crowd, except the dude upstairs leaning over the glass wall yelling decorum louder than I was speaking, I truly am sorry.
If you know me you know that’s not my style. I like to come prepared, say my peace in a calm cool and collected matter, and then be silent in the background. I’ve done that at every BOS meeting. Tonight, my frustration boiled over. I got legal opinions on the ordinance and brought those to that BOS meeting. I asked questions and provided objective empirical evidence like effectively all of us, yet was painted as bringing a pitchfork. In my opinion Paul Friel quite frankly slandered/defamed every resident of EVT in his capacity as an elected official.
Context: 25 minutes into his monologue, and after Paul telling a woman in the front she can wait to ask her question (at the advertised Q&A), Paul went on a shpiel about how we cares about Main Street, not Wall Street, and about agriculture. How our farmers face uncertain pressure. I wonder how the data center would mitigate the pressure for the adjacent farm? I wonder how the few small businesses on Main Street in Spring City would do?
He then segued into saying how much small things matter in quality of life, and I’m assuming without seeing the irony, goes “so did anyone hear we’re getting a data center”?
I shouted out yea I forgot my pitchfork, that he had an ego, and how gathering legal opinions (from an environmental scholar at Francis King Carey School of Law and Fair Shake) is me bringing a pitchfork. Again, as I asked there, was he there for us or were we there for him? Who is he to say when we can or can’t ask questions at what he advertised as an open forum Q&A?
Paul Friel is at best tone deaf, at worst in the pocket of corporate America, and at most accurate easily intimidated and likely entirely out of his depth. A walking, talking, thin skin sack of ego.
So context on the “pitchfork” comment. That originated in a condescending manner from State Rep. Paul Friel’s lips:
So yes… residents of East Vincent and other areas this elected officials serve are mere peasants under the tread of his shoes? Nice.
So here was his response:
Mr. Baker congratulations on yes yelling out and interrupting the district updates, then running out after I said everyone has an opportunity to ask questions and that I would stay and answer each and everyone of them which I did. When other people in the audience, which you obviously did not respect, asked you for decorum you choose to yell and literally run out. The agenda and time of the meeting was published and printed out as you entered- there was clearly an update section on local, legislative and community issues followed by Q&A which was the majority of the meeting.
Your misrepresentation of my positions is both disingenuous and blatantly false. Your narrative is also disingenuous I respect the people who gave their time to be there tonight even though you chose not to, the only person who acted more important than everyone else was you sir.
As to facts:
My moratorium bill is the only bill to be voted on in both chambers. It provides a path for a one year pause on data center development. My votes on every bill run is to limit or control data center development- 8 bills passed the house – zero in the senate. I cosponsored and voted to repeal and eliminate tax breaks for data centers- there is literally no bill limiting data centers that I did not vote for.
Then this got more interesting and allow me to share an array of screenshots:
Paul Friel is up for re-election this November. Will he ride the Shapiro data center wave? Time will tell. I think he could sadly get re-elected because I think people won’t want the woman on the other side for posing for photos with the likes of Wella Balsam man.
Her name is Samantha Horosky and she is a kindergarten teacher at Owen J. Roberts. How she does as a candidate depends upon her spine. She has an interesting background and people like her. And people from both sides of the aisle don’t like Paul Friel and feel let down by yet another institutional Democrat.
And that is something that the Chester County Democrats don’t seem to get: they didn’t come to current power by being institutional political hacks. They actually came to power thanks to the hard work of individuals like Samuel Stretton, Esq. But do they remember any of their own history of the not so recent past? Nope.
Meanwhile, the Chester County Republicans also have a learning curve they need to pay attention to. They need to field more normal candidates and to stop embracing people like the Wella Balsam guy and types like duplicitous State Senator Tracy Pennycuick who wants to be grandma with the cookies…but what cookies is she selling? The data center kind?
The sad thing is the skunks in Pennsylvania politics live on in both sides of the aisle in Harrisburg. There are few saints, many sinners. Sinners like Paul Friel.
Cheer up Paul, you can always have photo ops with State Representative Danielle Friel Otten. She’s a nice enough woman who has become a giant disappointment. She came to Harrisburg as a pipeline activist. I personally defended her through a couple of her re-election bids because of her now past life as a pipeline activist, but won’t be able to do that again because quite simply put, Danielle needs to be judged by the company she keeps (do-nothing and mute State Representative Kristine Howard) and the Shapiro Kool-Aid she has drunk.
Paul would you like me to lend you my pitchfork? I do use it in my garden so you would have to give it back.
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.
Plymouth Township just said NO to the data centers?
Why?
Simple there is NO permitted use under the Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of PA for data centers. It’s NOT a warehouse. Ginny Kerslake has been saying this forever and places like East Whiteland keep telling her she is wrong, right?
Further and somewhat related apparently developer is trying to get these places classified as warehouse locations even though it’s energy and isn’t that nuts sounding?
Last question for people is do we think developers are going through approval processes for data centers in order to flip the properties? Didn’t that come up at recent Upper Merion Planning Commission meeting?
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.
According to media reports, over 1600 workers are on strike against PECO. Also according to these same reports, this is the first time in the company’s 145 year old history.
This is NOT an anti-union post. Quite the contrary. These are the men and women who actually keep our power on and help us when storms cause crisis in our communities. The fat corporate cats who charge us out the ying yang, even profiting from data centers at our expense, are at fault. As a matter of fact a comment from one of my readers gave me pause:
PECO’s CEO makes millions. Record profits….and peanuts to those who actually do the work?
We are in the middle of a record breaking heatwave and these workers had no other option except strike. The recent rate increase has nothing to do with workers, just corporate America.
We the consumers are caught in this mess because of a greedy corporate entity and their executives. The fault lies with the executive suite.
The workers only want the basics and also don’t want jobs outsourced that are customer service related, and I am all for that. I am so tired of calling a US company and getting scripted offshore call centers or AI bots.
I am a fan of the linemen and folks that keep the power on. That started back in the 90s- specifically the summer of 1999 when we had a horribly long stretch of weather. I was living in my single girl home. We kept having brown outs and outages.
We also had a problem with a pole that serviced a lot of our neighborhoods. It had “legs” underground that kept burning. You could literally see scorched earth and feel the heat.
PECO corporate wouldn’t listen. We had so many outages that the site workers and linemen looked after us, one even gave us a really powerful flashlight. Eventually it took our state senator’s office to help us, and they helped us in part because of the workers who gave us information we needed to get the right repairs.
Then there was the ice storm of 2014. We were what? Ten days without power in a particularly icy cold February. We cheered when the linemen came.
Last night’s storm was swift and dangerous. We have a pole near us that services multiple municipalities. Every time there is a bad storm we are out. Last night was a more lengthy than average outage. I think that is because of the strike.
So PECO? I am sure your executives love their cushy packages and benefits. But for what we pay as consumers I would like to know that your workers are getting their fair share. That’s all. Other than you need update the problem poles that really have not been fixed AND your outage map is still not working. And Aspludth still sucks.
And for those of you who don’t share my opinion on this, please note purported violence against strikers is terrible. There is enough violence in this world.
Resident photo, East Whiteland Data Center Site NOT TRESPASSING!
The Sword of Damocles. I think that’s a good and applicable metaphor for those of us in any community throughout Pennsylvania dealing with the issue of data centers. We live in a state of eventual peril, and our elected officials don’t really seem to get it and or really care. Or if they care at all, do they care enough?
East Whiteland in particular I’m beginning to find especially frustrating. With everything it’s no we couldn’t possibly, it’s never maybe we can investigate that as a solution.
Every time you turn around yet another community is being faced with a potential data center, or inadequate bad pablum smeared data center ordinance language developed by people who are really in it to get data centers in communities. And yes, I can have that opinion because it’s the truth in my opinion.
The developers are your typical developers and this could be a warehouse or an apartment building or condominium complex or bad stick frame townhouse development. They don’t really care, they’re just in it to make money. and like typical developers they will build their build and move on to the next community whose lives they are going to impact negatively.
There seems to be a couple of court cases pending, so there’s no actual data center building going on at the moment in East Whiteland, but it never should’ve gotten this far. This township had the ability when this first started to say no, but they lost their balls along the way.
This started in 2018. I know because I was following it and so was Ginny Kerslake. It was around the same time that the developer tried unsuccessfully to get a hydrogen hub in West Whiteland next to where he wanted the data center in East Whiteland.
When I asked about this then and asked them if they had ever heard of Loudon County Virginia or how bad this could be the response was along the lines of (and I’m paraphrasing), “It couldn’t be that bad.”
I warned officials in this township then that a human tsunami would arrive when they least expected it about this data center. And the human tsunami is here and the residents are not backing down, which is something this township is not used to because there isn’t a lot of staying power on certain issues. But with this the issue of data centers, residents are united.
And it’s not just the residents of East Whiteland. It’s the surrounding communities who would be affected by this data center or who are going to be affected by another data center. This issue is non-partisan. People just don’t want them, and if you study the fine print in our electric bills, we’re already paying for data centers. We’re paying for what we didn’t ask to have dumped on us. That’s just classic isn’t it?
Resident photo no trespassing involved
A truthfully, we shouldn’t have to have it. There’s an opportunity right now in Harrisburg thanks to State Senator Katie Muth to pass a bill that would allow for a moratorium on data centers. It wouldn’t be forever, but it would give people breathing room, but of course the lobbyists and the politicians, who have swallowed the Emperor’s new clothes as being spun by Governor Josh Shapiro, just don’t get it, and their ignorance (or deliberate obdurance) could cost us our communities, our health, our environment, our home values, and more.
State Senator Katie Muth is the only elected official who seems to give a damn most days.
Who is going to take care of us when our wells run dry? Who is going to take care of us when we don’t have enough energy for our use because it’s being hogged by a data center? Who is going to keep us from literally losing our minds from the noise of a data center which will also affect our children, our pets, our wildlife?
Resident photo no trespassing involved
I’m tired of being Sister Mary Sunshine on this issue. It’s wrong and when did our government become people who didn’t protect the people who elected them in the first place? Do any of them have courage? That remains to be seen.
Now there’s this narrative being spun in East Whiteland that Foote Mineral really isn’t a super fund/EPA site any longer. Don’t know what they’re smoking, but it really must be good, huh?
Yes. It. Is.
That Foote Mineral site is a bad site and this is a greed driven bad plan. Data centers are not good for any community. And yes I can have that opinion.
And a brief segue to Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and Salem Township. Does anyone really believe that the data center land owners give a crap about the cats living on one particular parcel I mean, where are they going with them? Are they just making them disappear? Doesn’t the potential for animal cruelty matter either?
My greatest fear with these data centers is the reality that our local governments and our state government is creating a Logan‘s Run scenario for the future. And that’s not as crazy as it sounds if you look at what’s happening with the negative effects of data centers in other states already.
I remember the first time I saw Saint Peter’s Village as I guess a teenager. My father wanted to see it, so one day we went. I thought I had stepped into a magical place. It has felt like that every time I have been there since. It is in Warwick Township and has a cool history.
is a preserved 19th-century industrial company town located in a narrow gorge along French Creek. A company town. Much like the Village of Gladwyne, hence the reference. In the 1840s, iron ore was discovered there.
Cradled in the hills surrounding French Creek State Park was a run-down, sad-looking town called St. Peter’s Village. It’s cheerless, empty shops and crumbling walks hid this little Victorian hamlet’s history and charm.Originally founded and built as a ‘company town’ by Davis Knauer to house and provide services to workers of his Black Granite Quarry at French Creek, this picturesque Victorian community began to take shape in 1880.
For many decades families flocked to the village to ‘jump’ the rocks and picnic by the stream.
Winter sleigh rides and festivals were a constant as was, in later years, the sound of old Aunt Lena playing the saw. The village’s fascinating history and the memories of thousands who visited could not preserve it from the descent that followed the closing of the quarry and the subsequent selling of the village by the Knavery family in the late 1970’s.
For over 20 years this charming Victorian town sat neglected with its magnificent Inn deteriorating into a shabby shadow of its former grandeur. But all that has now changed.
Tom Drauschak of Earth Companies, the builder of the nearby Stone Wall Golf Course, and his partner, Vince Piazza, the father of future baseball Hall of Famer Mike Piazza, purchased the Inn as well as several other buildings in the village two years ago and already life has come back to the town. Paver sidewalks were installed, the quarry had what can only be called a ‘face-lift’ and working with the Chester County Historical Society, existing structures have been restored to their 1880s Victorian charm and are now occupied. The historic Inn at St. Peters Village (http://theinnatsaintpetersvillage.com/), which first opened in 1881, has been radiantly restored…The best part, however, are the careful measures that are being taken to maintain the historical integrity of St. Peters. Mr. Drauschak is working with the historical society to ensure that the new construction will be representative of the architecture of the era, thereby making this lovely neighborhood fit seamlessly into the charming village and its setting. Home site reservations at pre-construction pricing are now being accepted. So, what happened to St. Peter’s Village? It’s Renewed, Revitalized and Open for Business!
Wellllllll….I had not really paid attention to the whole thing that this little village always had overlords err owners and then the news broke:
St. Peter’s Village, a 19th-century industrial town along French Creek in northern Chester County that’s protected under the National Register of Historic Places, is being put up for auction by its owners.
The sale includes the Inn at St. Peter’s Village and accompanying restaurant, 121 residential and 13 commercial properties and subterranean mineral rights to the land, according to Philly-based Traiman Auction Company. The village will be sold Sept. 30 at the Desmond Hotel in Malvern.
June 29 is ironically the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul.
AUCTION???? yeah this gets an oh fuuuuuuuuck for sure. The auction house has tried to be coy about ownership but Philadelphia Business Journal burst that cherry:
An entire 83-acre village in Chester County with a hotel, shops and over 100 developable home sites is being put up for auction by Piazza Management Co.
The historic St. Peter’s Village will be auctioned off Sept. 30 with no reserve price at the Desmond Hotel Malvern. At that time, the village will be sold to the highest bidder, no matter the price, and with no set starting bid.
~By Ryan Mulligan – Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal
Philadelphia Business Journal also pointed out that this is the SAME Piazza tearing up Ardmore in Lower Merion Township for a mixed use development that will supersize and citify.
Radnor Property Group is set to begin construction on a mixed-use development in Ardmore that will add hundreds of apartments to an area drawing attention from multifamily developers looking to build near transit hubs.
The $187 million, 270-unit development at 100 W. Lancaster Ave. is planned to have about 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 480 garage parking spaces, including 108 for public use by retail customers. The project is named The Piazza at Ardmore after property owners Daniel Piazza and his family.
Radnor Property Group CEO David Yeager said he and Daniel Piazza view the project as an opportunity to “create a gateway” into downtown Ardmore.
Those are my photos from when I was in Ardmore recently and I was horrified. Another fun fact? Former East Whiteland Supervisor Rich Orlow works for Piazza, who also has a seemingly stalled project in East Whiteland – a car dealership.
Engineer’s plans, plot plans, and other property details will be available at the property.
Description
Owner has directed an Absolute Auction for their portion of its property located in historic St Peters Village, Warwick Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Step into a one-of-a-kind opportunity in the heart of St. Peter’s Village, a nationally recognized historic destination in Chester County, Pennsylvania. This mixed-use development invites major builders, venture capitalists, and historic preservationists. Located in a growth corridor, this intriguing property sells at absolute auction to the highest bidder. The offering includes 121 Home Sites, consisting of 33 single-family homes, 33 twins, 34 town homes, and 21 expansive 2-acre home sites; also a wastewater treatment plant that services the existing structures, which must be improved by the buyer to accommodate the full build out. Thirteen historic and commercial village buildings—totaling approximately 43,500+/- square feet—create exceptional potential for retail, hospitality, or adaptive reuse. The property also conveys valuable subterranean mineral rights, including documented iron ore deposits, adding a rare investment dimension.
Also includes liquor license, utility systems, personal property, and goodwill
It’s all being sold “as is, where is”.
Now someone has to ask the question is Saint Peter’s Village being auctioned off to pay for Ardmore?
Well?
Last year part of the road was closed by PennDOT, does that have anything to do with this? After all it is no great secret in Chester County that PennDOT road closures can help kill businesses, right?
The small sewage treatment plant nestled into the hill behind St. Peter’s Inn discharges directly into French Creek, an “exceptional value stream” that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is charged with protecting.
The sewage treatment plant has had serious problems over the years with aging pipes that allowed stormwater to infiltrate. Every time it rained, the plant would not be able to handle the flow, and thousands of gallons of raw sewage were discharged into French Creek.
Anyway….GLADWYNE PEOPLE like the good for nothing civic association and Lower Merion Township sit up and pay attention as this could be the fate someday of Gladwyne Village. You have a new owner turning it back into a company/mill kind of town. Don’t say it couldn’t happen in 19035, it certainly damn well could.
I am sure I am not the only one extremely worried about Saint Peter’s Village which to be honest has started to look a little run down in the past couple of years. If residents and preservationists don’t get busy and pay attention who knows what could happen here and it might be on the National Register of Historic Places but how many times have things on that register been demolished for “progress”?
No rest for the historic preservation weary, I’m afraid. Only potential profits for developers, right?
