Category Archives: home front

meanwhile in easttown, demolition by neglect at 32 waterloo avenue?

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First I will start with somewhere under ALL of this mess is supposedly a house built in 1890. It was bastardized in the 1960s. I wonder what it originally looked like? Someone had said it was possibly a stable or livery originally, so an adaptive reuse would be normal for modern living but LOOK at what neighbors have to literally look at today?

I went looking in ChesCo Views to see who owned the property and obviously it’s an investor or investment group. There are a few properties involved.

Here’s what I found in public records:

Dilapidated property

I don’t have all the details but I asked around and apparently 32 Waterloo was part of an original plan for an office building?

I found these old articles:

Supervisors delay decision regarding parking issues at Waterloo Complex
Proposed Berwyn residential, office complex faces hurdles
Plans approved by Easttown planners after lively exchange
Waterloo Complex applicant is all out of patience

Local scuttlebutt has it that they weren’t actually able to do what they originally wanted to do. So houses that they owned were rehabbed and rented out I have been told.

So here’s an excerpt from a 2008 article in Main Line Media News (you know back when our local news was actually reported by our local papers and not disemboweled by hedge funds):

Anger was the word of the evening – or at least the most memorable word – at Tuesday night’s Easttown Planning Commission meeting when Michael McNulty, who is applying for land-development and conditional-use permits for the proposed Waterloo Complex on his property in Berwyn, became upset with the commissioners and stormed out of the room.

Because only two members of the Planning Commission attended Tuesday’s meeting, there was no quorum, and it was unclear why the absent members did not show.

However, chairman Mitch Shiles and commissioner Joe Tamney stayed to hear requests and presentations from community members.

McNulty’s lawyer, Joe Ryan of Ryan, Emory and Ryan, LLP, reported to the commissioners that they had spoken to township engineer Surrender Kohli and landscape architect Lisa Thomas as was requested by the Easttown Board of Supervisors at their most recent meeting. Ryan said that Kohli and Thomas both sent letters approving some changes that were made to the plans for the complex and adding some comments on additional things that they would like to see amended.

Ryan told the commissioners that Kohli wants a note added to the plan stating that no signs will ever be placed on the property, but McNulty spoke up and said that while he isn’t currently applying for a sign, he was not going to promise to never have one because he might want to rent space out to someone who needs a sign for a business.

“We’re not going to agree to a note,” Ryan said. He added that they would comply with anything required by township zoning laws and sign ordinances but that a note agreeing to never place a sign on the property would not fall within the scope of those laws.

McNulty then began to express his anger over having to go back and forth between the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors without getting a final verdict on the request for the permits, especially because his paid legal representatives must come out to each meeting.

“I’m paying these guys hundreds of dollars to be here… yeah, shake your head,” he said angrily to one of the commissioners.

He asked the commissioners to let him know before the meetings if there would again be no decision made.

“Let me know so we don’t do this dog-and-pony show, so we don’t get kicked back again,” he said.

McNulty said that he was “venting,” but Shiles said that he limits the amount of venting allowed in Planning Commission meetings.

“I’m just trying to invest in this township. You guys can’t see the forest for the trees,” he added.

“We’re out of this; forget it,” he muttered as he and Ryan and the others involved with the complex proposal walked out of the room.

“I think the township is being hurt by the arrogance and incompetence of the Planning Commission,” McNulty added in a phone interview on Wednesday. “Every time we go back it’s something new, something new. Last night was the coup de grace – no apology for wasting everybody’s time. That’s why Berwyn looks like it looks.

“I think I’m the only guy in that room who ever read the Comprehensive Plan,” he added. “We haven’t asked for a variance, we haven’t said, ‘Hey, we’ll do this if you do this,’ we’ve done nothing but try to ferret out of them what they want.”

McNulty said that at last count he has spent $130,000 in attorney and legal fees, and “we are no closer.”

“The level of frustration felt by my client and his partners became very evident last night at the meeting. It is unfortunate that it has come to that, but he has been mistreated by the Planning Commission, and last night was the last straw. They didn’t get a quorum and apparently no one notified the participants… there was no apology from the commission,” Ryan said the following day.

“My client is dealing with time requirements set by township ordinance and state law. The Planning Commission seemed to infer that because my client was unwilling to extend his time limits that we were somehow inconveniencing the township. So we intend to move forward to the Board of Supervisors for their action on the project.”

But if the supervisors don’t approve the plan at their meeting on Monday, April 8, McNulty said that he’s “going to give up the dream I’ve been chasing to have an office building in Berwyn. I didn’t think it would be that hard to make happen when I’ve been overinvesting… I’m investing in this. I’m not a developer who’s going to sell the building and move on.”

But, he added, if the plan doesn’t get approved, McNulty said that he will sell the land and move on.

OK so apparently this guy McNulty’s entity still owns these properties correct? I just pulled the records today off of ChesCo views, right? So it kind of makes me laugh because it’s almost like when people threaten to leave a Facebook page or a Facebook group, but they never do?

I remembered when all of this was happening at the time I just never knew what happened to it as an issue until someone posted a picture of 32 Waterloo Ave. over the weekend.

Back to local scuttlebutt. Somewhere along the line, thank heavens, plans for an office building in the middle of Berwyn‘s historic village fell apart. Now, if I recall correctly, when this first started, some of the people in Berwyn came to us at the then Save Ardmore Coalition (now defunct) to ask us how we organized. I also seem to remember now that I’ve started digging back into this that this was covered at the time on the Save Ardmore Coalition blog because we did cover other areas. And at that point the site had multiple bloggers.

So I found all the articles that exist on coverage of this issue of these properties being consolidated for an office building in Berwyn’s historic village. What I was told by locals is that at some point after all of this, the man that owned the properties fixed up all the others and rented them out.

However this one property at 32 Waterloo Avenue has something wrong. I don’t know what the deal is but sitting like this you know something happened right?

So Easttown what is the deal? Intentional blight? Demolition by neglect? It’s also concerning because this is an area of Berwyn that has a lot of investment properties. And if one gets to slide by on subpar standards of property upkeep, the others might follow? Or one would think a real estate holding company like Eadah, that takes reasonably decent care of their properties and has property in that neighborhood might also be bothered by this ?

I honestly don’t know what’s going on, but I will close with a little montage of Google Earth photos of this property at different times over the years.

You be the judge.

lampshades

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Lampshades. Yes, lampshades. A very important detail in my opinion, just like choosing the right lamp.

Above is one of my favorite lamps. My husband can actually take it or leave it but I love it. I actually bought it for $30 without the shade, but newly rewired at the very first clover market ever a bunch of years ago and it was rewired.

This lamp is actually from 1935 and you can find an example of it online in the West Virginia Museum of American Glass:

Idealite, Inc., electric lamp base. Clear. Blown pattern incorporates stars, swags and tassels. Embossed under the base: “PAT. NO. 95524.” Possibly made by L. E. Smith Glass Company.

No, I don’t think my lamp is particularly valuable, I just like it and I think it’s cool that I was able to rewire it because I think it’s better looking than a lot of lamps I see today. Like many other details in a home, sometimes a rewired and modernized lamp is awesome.

I have actually used three or four different shades on this one lamp. I had not been thrilled with the one I had on the lamp most recently . It was almost right but not quite. Maybe it’s a woman thing and it’s kind of like not exactly having the right pair of shoes to go with an outfit or purse. It just has to be right.

So I was looking at a Facebook memory of a lampshade with pine cones and chickadees I bought from a woman in Maine who makes the most wonderful lampshades. Her name is Barbara Gail Lewis. Her business is found on Etsy and is called Barbara Gail’s Lamps.

Barbara is really an artist. And this lamp shade is so fun. I hunted for years a few years ago to find someone that made these pierced and cut and hand colored shades. I think it’s a real art form, and there used to be this lovely lady up in Adamstown, PA at Black Angus Antiques back in the day who made them, but I think she’s long since retired and the last time I went up there no one did lampshades like this.

To an extent, these handcrafted shades are an anachronism to modern designers. And they’re not in general “fashion” for home design and that’s fine. I don’t need to be trendy I just know what I like. And I have liked these lampshades since I was a kid because my mother has some, some of my friends’ mothers had them and grandparents had them. It’s kind of like a handmade patchwork quilt and to me it gives a sense of home.

So when I first bought the shade with the pine cones and the chickadees, I bought the wrong size. Because if you don’t learn how to measure properly for a lampshade, you’re screwed. From another business I buy lampshades from, Lamps Plus, here is a little video explaining how to measure for a new lampshade:

Anyway, I bought this lampshade originally for an old stoneware jug my mother had made into a lamp years ago. But the first lampshade I bought I didn’t measure correctly, and I needed a slightly larger one. So I hung onto the smaller shade and I’m glad I did because all of a sudden today I realized it would be perfect on this clear glass lamp.

I love these pierced and hand cut lamp shades. Sometimes they are just cut and other times they are multi dimensional and also hand colored like the ones that I have that are the chickadees and the pinecones. During the day when your lamp is off, it just looks like a pierced and cut lampshade. Here is another one I have for a converted oil lamp, another favorite lamp style of mine:

So I really do like converted oil lamps lamps. But I only convert lamps that have cracked collars or can’t be used as an oil lamp. I remember when Martha Stewart had converting oil lamps on her early TV series and in her magazine . Literally season 2 of the original series in 1995. It made finding antique oil lamps a very expensive proposition when they had been very reasonable in price. And then everywhere you turned, you had people turning usable oil lamps into electric lamps badly.

It was one of the Martha crazes back then I didn’t really like. As a matter of fact, it made me dislike her series and magazine, because half of the things I liked, she liked as well, and then she made a cost prohibitive for the rest of us. Yes, I know it’s the whole literal theory of supply and demand. Martha Stewart has always been good at supply and demand, and actually a lot of what many of us find sentimental.

So for years, I couldn’t either find oil lamps I wanted to use with liquid paraffin in them, or that were slightly damaged to convert to a regular lamp. You see I don’t believe in converting the ones that work in their original capacity to electricity. But everything is cyclical even in home decor, and now you can find some really great lamps and still get the shades made.

The lamp above is a great example. Over 12 years I found that brass lamp at the East Goshen Yard Sale when you used to go to peoples driveways and not to the township building or the park. It was from a farm on Hershey’s Mill Road set up off the road where I think it’s slated for some kind of residential development at this point, sadly. Or it was presented as such a couple of years ago. I wrote about the house:

nasty subdivision potential in east goshen? file under another chesco farm about to bite the dust?

Now I paid $12 for the lamp. The brass was In wonderful condition but it was unusable as an oil lamp due to a crack in the collar and a little one at the bottom. So it would make a perfect table lamp. I took it to Home Lighting of Frazer. They did a great job wiring the lamp, but they were super slow and really expensive. Because I spent so much on the wiring I had to hunt to find a reasonably priced vintage shade because I didn’t think a new shade would work for this lamp. I found one on eBay and it was hard sided and it’s historical buildings I believe of Williamsburg, Virginia.

Vintage lampshades can be the bomb. Usually they are, like lots of things, better made. I find them all over locally. Dishfunctional, Surrey Consignment Shop, St. David’s Fair, Frazer Antiques, Clover Market, estate sales and even Goodwill. Also eBay and Etsy. And sometimes even the Smithfield Barn.

For handmade shades there is also the Lampshade Lady on Etsy and LJs Florals and Shades.

There are other lampshade creators I occasionally see at craft shows, but none that I can find regularly. One was Shady Lady Lampshades.

Anyway enough waxing poetic on lampshades. But the right one can really change the look of a room and a lamp.

historic destruction, not demolition by neglect

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For the first time my blog’s header photo is from another
photographer other than myself.
Thank you
Henry Alonzo Longabaugh

I want you to see how bad it has gotten at Lloyd Farm in Caln Township.

A new photographer friend, Henry Alonzo Longabaugh, sent in photos.

This is again, land that was part of an original Penn land grant. This farm existed before the USA was a country.

As residents of Chester County, Pennsylvania, we really need to start standing up for these properties and open space better. We are falling down on the job, quite literally.

This is yet another reason why I am saying that for election 2024, we need to make development, over development, lack of historic preservation, not enough open, space, preservation, and not enough agricultural conservation in Pennsylvania counties known for farming election issues.

Enjoy and learn from the photos.

And because of a greedy developer, and that is an opinion that we are allowed to have under the U.S. Constitution, this is not only demolition by neglect, but quite frankly historic destruction. And Caln Township is allowing it.

penndot needs to revisit the ship road couplet in west whiteland.

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Resident submitted photo

I don’t even know where to start with this Ship Road Couplet, other than so far all it’s doing is giving residents heart attacks because of all the people going the wrong way.

I am generally not a giant proponent of things designed by PennDOT, because so often it doesn’t necessarily fit the area they plunk stuff into.

In my opinion, right or wrong, the Ship Road Couplet is why the people who live near Route 352 and West King Rd. didn’t want PennDot to have their way with a traffic circle there a few years ago.

I have been on it once and I didn’t like it. And the reason I didn’t like it is because of people going the wrong way on it and that’s scary. So honestly, I have avoided it ever since.

As is the case with many things PennDot, they engineer things and that’s that. However, I do know that West Whiteland has additional signage and maybe some lights or something arriving soon but it’s just problematic. I know the supervisors there aren’t going to like my opinion on this, but it’s my opinion.

I think this whole couplet was designed solely to facilitate a developer and a development that residents in West Whiteland and elsewhere didn’t want there. It’s a crappy looking development and it’s all about adding more density to an area, bursting at the seams, and then a developer pockets the money and moves along to the next project. Of course, in this case, one of the projects is the land he bought at King Rd and Phoenixville Pike and possibly behind the homes on Old Phoenixville Pike, right?

I also have to ask did the developer kick in any money towards this intersection improvement? I remember when Conshohocken was being redeveloped, developers had to help facilitate road improvements and that included signals, road improvements and a new bridge at one point.

So to me, this was a traffic solution especially designed for a developer and development, but did it really need to be that? It’s kind of like zoning overlays that are designed for developers. I think those are a bad idea too, but you that’s another topic for another day.

Residents have pointed out flaws in the design, even on Route 30. On Route 30 it’s with the turning going straight, etc. and there’s this weird dip or maybe a pocket in the road. So wait until it gets icy if somebody’s going too fast right?

Below for illustrative purposes, are 4 photos that are on Google. Top left is what it looked like before the couplet went in. Top right is a review of the Wawa that’s really a review of the couplet. Lower left taken three weeks ago shows you how freaking unattractive the whole thing is from an aesthetic opinion along with how lame directional curb cuts are. Bottom right is just how big the Wawa is, basically.

Now I have looked at this Wawa, and they have sort of angled curb cuts, but quite frankly, not angled enough to keep people from going the wrong way. I think they need to be angled better, and I think there needs to be one of those little concrete bollard things to prohibit people from turning the wrong way. This is not the first Wawa that has had to revisit curb cuts. I seem to remember a Main Line one having to do it at one time and I think it was the one on Bryn Mawr Avenue and Haverford Road.

All people do is go to the wrong way on this. And I think part of it is all the map programs haven’t caught up with this road “improvement.” and I went on Google just today to see if they finally would have pictures of what the couplet looks like on Google and they do not. PennDOT did a typical pat themselves on the back but not much else.

So PennDOT? Tag you’re it. And I hope you like the photo a nice business was kind enough to share with me today. I think it sums the situation up perfectly: Happy New Year To All Except The Ship Road Engineer.

is it too soon to tell eli kahn to buzz off with warehouses on phoenixville pike in west whiteland?

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So we all know that this land has been for sale on the edge of East Whiteland, but in West Whiteland. It is one of two parcels you can see on W. King Rd. This particular parcel is part of Johnson Matthey, or it was until today apparently. Eli Kahn, has purchased the land according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Some of us were talking about this parcel earlier today, because a friend of mine, saw a bobcat in the overgrown, weedy plot of land, clearing it, or doing something like clearing it.

I actually said to someone I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. I said maybe they’re finally just cleaning it up because it’s been for sale for so long. Well I should’ve known better, it’s been sold.

Developer buys 16 acres in Chester County, plans warehouse project

Paul Schwedelson

By Paul Schwedelson – Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal

Jan 29, 2024

E. Kahn Development has purchased 15.7 acres of vacant land in Chester County with plans to build around 150,000 square feet of industrial space.

The Malvern-based developer paid $3.1 million for the site at 1401 Phoenixville Pike in West Whiteland Township. The seller was Johnson Matthey, a specialty chemicals and sustainable technologies company that owns the adjacent parcel with an industrial building on it.

Though E. Kahn Development hasn’t chosen a design of the industrial building or buildings, President Eli Kahn estimates the development of the cost of the project to between $25 million and $30 million.

Kahn said he was attracted to the property’s location off Route 202 and near Route 30.

“There’s just not a lot of industrial land left,” Kahn said. “Just laws of supply and demand for me, really. There remains to be good industrial activity, especially tenants in the 10,000- to 50,000-square-foot range.”

Kahn said he’d likely target tenants seeking that amount of space, though he’d welcome a larger tenant as well. He said the project could accommodate a 10,000-square-foot tenant or a 100,000-square-foot tenant. Either way, he plans to incorporate flexibility. Kahn has yet to decide whether the project will be one or two buildings.

The property is zoned for industrial use. Kahn plans to have a design to present to West Whiteland Township by the middle of the year to receive necessary approvals.

“Our history is invest in approvals and renderings and plans and not necessarily go and build it speculatively,” Kahn said.

I will admit, as soon as I saw this article what I said out loud sitting here reading it was motherf—-er. Yes I said that. Loudly. I mean Christ almighty HOW MUCH MORE DEVELOPMENT? HOW MUCH MORE?

Because this is already the rumored developer sniffing around on that 15 acres behind old Phoenixville Pike across W. King Rd., isn’t it?

what is happening over around old phoenixville pike in west whiteland, really?

And let us not forget that the Weston tract is in play for fairly dense residential development still, even if West Whiteland said no to the last round of developer ideas. And Weston is for sure getting developed as something. And gosh a few pipelines run around there too, don’t they?

they said “no” in west whiteland!

And let us not forget the hot mess up at Ship Road and Lancaster Avenue in West Whiteland. And the Ship Road Couplet.

The above photos are from September, 2023.

HOW MUCH DEVELOPMENT CAN WE SWALLOW?

Oh the Philadelphia Business Journal referred to Johnson Matthey as:

“Johnson Matthey, a specialty chemicals and sustainable technologies company that owns the adjacent parcel with an industrial building on it.”

Well that made me giggle. Johnson Matthey is like a born again virgin I suppose? Are we all supposed to forget they were among the successor companies to Bishop Tube that still toxic paradise on S. Malin Road in East Whiteland? Is it just coloring outside the lines to mention the little fact of life called a local area evacuation in 2011 because of a hydrogen trailer explosion at Johnson Matthey?

Homes evacuated near West Whiteland explosion site

The Johnson Matthey plant and nearby homes in West Whiteland, Chester County, have been evacuated after a hydrogen trailer exploded this morning.

Action News reports one injured person was taken to Crozer Chester Medical Center in an unknown condition and King Road is shut down between Ravine and Phoenixville Pike.

The Red Cross is already on the scene and will be at the East Whiteland Fire Department to assist with a reception center.

Here is the official announcement from PEMA:

“An immediate evacuation is issued for West Whiteland Township in Chester County due to fire at Johnson Matthey Company. Residents in the area are to evacuate to East Whiteland Fire Company, 170 Planebrook Road, off Rt. 30 Frazer – evacuated roads include King Road, Ravine Road, Glen Loch Way and Lewis Lane. Residents needing assistance should call 610-344-5005. Motorists and pedestrians should avoid unnecessary travel within the perimeter of the area. Stay tuned to your local televison and radio network for updated information.”

~ WHYY August 3, 2011

So Johnson Matthey is still a site to watch so we assume Mr. Developer Man will have this just purchased the land at Phoenixville Pike and West King Road tested for toxic chemicals? Because there is that worry somewhat, right? Even if that goes industrial there?

So we really do need to think about this here. Traffic is already hard. There is RESIDENTIAL up and down King Road on BOTH sides of Phoenixville/Old Phoenixville Pikes.

There is residential already suffering on Ship Road.

And warehouses? Now they want to Amazon us over here? So other types of commercial real estate (offices)! aren’t moving so they are trying everywhere to dump it or convert it to residential and in Tredyffrin, to a school, but is residential really, really moving that fast? And then what’s left? Why warehouses and hydrogen hubs and data farms/data centers, right?

And where does that leave us suckers I mean residents? Those of us who lived here before developers, saw something juicy up the road or two roads over or three roads over or another township over?

What are our rights as residents of Chester County and these various municipalities? it’s like we have no rights and I don’t know about you, but I’m goddamn tired of it. We work hard to have our homes and to raise our families in a specific area and one by one every area is getting targeted by developers and none of these developers, or anything, other than predatory in my humble opinion, and I can have that humble opinion.

This is why, yet again, the Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of freaking Pennsylvania needs to be updated COMPREHENSIVELY. I mean come on you. Lovely politicians in Harrisburg. You haven’t done a comprehensive update since 1969 and I know you’re saying why rush but your constituents are saying it’s time.

God damnit it’s every day some other developer or some other plan. It’s exhausting and depressing. So I wonder, did this particular developer run out of places to build in West Chester Borough so he’s coming over to this part of the county?

These developers don’t care about any of the communities they come into. They just care about their profit margins. Where we live are just lines on a balance sheet.

So I’m sure I don’t have to remind this developer that my opinions are courtesy of my First Amendment Rights and residents do have some rights all around this proposed location?

Chester County is dying people. Dying.

Overdevelopment of any kind in this county needs to be an election issue for 2024. On every level of elected office from Harrisburg, PA to Washington DC.

It . Needs. To. Stop.

for christmas can pennsylvania please address “suicide bridge” aka the trestle bridge in downingtown, pa?

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I have written about this bridge before over the past few years. At the bottom of the post are the three posts I have written.

We all talk about this bridge, it’s incredibly historic and incredibly dangerous. See this video that is about a year old I just found:

I just can’t even with this. And I will tell you why. I know if people are set on ending their lives, they will find a way. But it seems to me there should be some way to secure this a little better?

I also found a video of kids climbing it:

Here’s a drone video:

There are actually a lot of videos about this bridge. It has undisputable history, and it is also a jumper location. Not being crass, but there is good reason why it is called suicide bridge.

I was told a couple of days ago that there have been TWO suicides, as in two new suicides here in the past couple of weeks or so. Please NOTE these aren’t all teenagers. That is incredibly sad.

This backs up what I was told in part:

Someone I was speaking with the other day said there have been at least 10 suicides in the last 7 years. I do know that only 2, yes 2 have been reported. No one wants to talk about suicide or mental health resources being in short supply, but how many suicides off of just this bridge alone before we have this conversation. I understand that Senator Carolyn Commita is rumored to be meeting with people about this from somewhere local supposedly this week, but is this something she will stick her neck out for?

And Governor Josh Shapiro seems to like grabbing headlines, so Governor Shapiro, how about grabbing a headline for good? After all I have also been told this abandoned/orphaned bridge is no longer under the not so watchful eyes of Norfolk Southern, but instead PennDOT so that brings responsibility all IN state, so hey how about it Governor Shapiro? Because I know how SLOW PennDOT is on orphaned bridges because I used to write about one that it took PennDOT over a decade to take care of. That is the Pennswood Bridge in Bryn Mawr. And this Trestle Bridge would be an actual emergency situation so if Governor Shapiro can waive a magic wand for I-95 bridges, why not here as a mitzvah for the holidays?

Below along with links of former posts on this bridge are screenshots I have taken of videos of this bridge. This bridge is dangerously decrepit up top, and it really doesn’t seem like there is anything much preventing people from getting up there.

Surely something can be done to remove the horrible reputation of this historic bridge?

What can YOU do? Contact politicians, Chester County officials, random PennDOT people and sign the petition isn’t a bad idea is it? Note that there are all sorts of PennDOT bridge etc. projects in the area and they all have project managers. Throw enough spaghetti against a wall and things stick right? We can hope it is the same with PennDOT… all we can do is try….public officials won’t care unless we show them WE care.

https://www.change.org/p/do-something-about-downingtown-s-trestle-bridge

Contact Governor Josh Shapiro https://www.governor.pa.gov/contact/

PennDOT Chester County Maintenance is right in Coatesville: Phone: 484-340-3200

PennDOT Engineering District 6 is in King of Prussia Phone: 610-205-6700

PennDOT Municipal Services Supervisor: Louis Calvanese, louicalvan@pa.gov, 610-205-6541

PennDOT Press Release Person/Media: Robyn Briggs, robbriggs@pa.gov (Her husband is State Rep Tim Briggs FWIW)

PennDOT Boot Rd Bridge Project Manager, Justin Gattorno Phone: 610-205-6693Email: jgattorno@pa.gov

PennDOT Doe Run Bridge Project Manager, Nathan Parris Email: c-nparrish@pa.gov

PennDOT Ship Road over Valley Creek Bridge Project Manager, Nicholas Macelko Email: nimacelko@pa.go Phone: 610-205-6529

​U.S. 322 (West Chester Bypass) Ida Slope Restoration Project Manager, Kalpesh Parikh Email: c-kparikh@pa.gov Phone: 610-205-6621

Call PA Senator Carolyn Comitta’s District Office 610692211                                  https://www.facebook.com/SenatorComitta  https://www.instagram.com/senatorcomitta/  https://twitter.com/SenatorComitta            
   Email her Chief of Staff Michael Hartman  michael.hartman@pasenate.com                                                              

Call Chester County Planning Commission 6103446285                   https://www.instagram.com/chescoplanning/?hl=en                    https://www.facebook.com/ccplanning/                                   

Email: ccplanning@chesco.org                                 

PennDOT (NEW owners of bridge) https://customercare.penndot.gov/eCCC/eCCC.nsf/m_Start.xsp

here we are again, what can we do?
norfolk southern needs to realize there are things we can change to make things better. (petition link attached)
norfolk southern please do something

well that was fun! wish we could do it again tomorrow!

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So my Christmas present to one of my really close friends from forever and a day was to gift her a golden ticket for the Surrey Services Holiday Tour & Shops. Not since we were in high school has there been a great Main Line -centric Christmas house tour essentially. One such tour used to be done by Agnes Irwin, and it was called Christmas in the Country. And then, of course, there were the tours of the Fairmount Park houses and you went around in one of those fun trolleys to each house.

Surrey Services should take a bow. The house tour and shops were an amazing experience. Of course I could kick myself, because I meant to bid on a couple of the trees in the enchanted forest before I was leaving, and I completely forgot. But that’s probably my subconscious telling me I have enough new Christmas stuff for this year!

We started out our day in Bryn Mawr and from there we moved to Villanova. We sadly we didn’t get into that Villanova house because the road was quite narrow and the property next-door to the house we were visiting was in some form of construction mayhem, and there were contractor trucks and landscaper trucks all over a very narrow road so there was no place to move to park and we gave up. that is some thing that was beyond that poor homeowners control and certainly beyond Surrey Services control. It’s one of my favorite roads, but truthfully, I had forgotten how narrow it was in spots.

I don’t know what it is about landscaper trucks on the Main Line, but none of them seem to be able to park. And I’m sorry not sorry that I find that incredibly irksome that the homeowner has a perfectly good driveway and you can see that there’s a house tour going on across the road and they can’t pull their truck in the driveway!

The next two houses were in Berwyn, and they were spectacular! We ended our day with another Radnor Township property, which was my favorite house and not just because it was my friend’s home.

All of these homeowners knocked themselves out for all of us on the tour, and the tour sold out quickly. All of the houses were festive and different. One of the things I liked best about each and every house was the fact that I was in homes that aren’t afraid of art and color. I am not a person who lives in a beige, beige world, so I appreciated the vibrancy in these homes. All of these homes had amazing kitchens, incidentally. And I cook so to see these kitchens was just so much fun for me.

My friend, who was on the tour had the most old-school traditional, beautiful and imaginative Christmas ornaments. He is definitely a kindred spirit as to types of ornaments that I personally love.

From all of the houses, I gathered little ideas to tuck away. I have a very small and simple house by comparison, but all of these houses, even if they were bigger than mine had warmth.

As part of the ticket price, we got a wonderful box lunch from Classic Diner. My friend and I had a turkey BLT. There was no room inside Eisenhower Hall at Valley Forge Military to eat when we got there, but it was such a nice day that we literally sat outside on the edge of the bleachers and had a little picnic. And I thought that was fun.

Parking was a bit of an issue at Valley Forge Military . This is the inaugural year for this event and I think they will figure it out but I think the people that were the ticket holders for the whole day should have had primary access to Eisenhower Hall, and when we couldn’t get into the lot, the police officer directing traffic who told us we couldn’t go into the lot was kind of not so nice and all we did was ask was where should we go to park because we didn’t know.

I completely understand how frustrated the officer must have been personally because it was a lot of cars in that area, but I think next year they should have somebody working the gate that only lets people with passes for the full day or whom require handicap access into that lot right there and people that are just shopping at the shops park at the other lot, which I think was across Radnor Street Road.

We ended up parking in a little lot we accessed from further down Eagle Road and the employees from the school couldn’t have been nicer. I will also note that parking would have been easier as well if some people hadn’t literally taken two spaces for one car —-that’s just bad manners.

Now, although I bitched about this a little right here in this post, I also know that because it was a crush it means this event was a huge success! Surrey has created something fantastic!

The enchanted forest, which I had previewed yesterday was amazing. There is literally nothing better to me than being in a great big room, full of fabulous Christmas trees fully decorated! And in the center of the room was a wonderful table, set for a Christmas feast. And the little bar at the end of the room, where the trees were, was serving, mocktails for people to try.

When you went up the steps to the second floor of Eisenhower Hall, you found yourself in a giant room full of fabulously curated vendors. I was thrilled to see some of my friends and their small businesses there, along with getting an opportunity to see and meet other vendors and local small businesses like Main Point Books.

It was just such a wonderful day. As I’m sitting here writing this, I still feel the happy vibe from the day. And that’s how you know you had a really good day.

This event proves to me that the best kinds of events during the holiday season or ones that give you something pretty and do something good. Surrey Services is a favorite in my family. They do such good work and important work. And they have the nicest volunteers and paid staff that you will meet pretty much anywhere. And if you are still looking for Christmas fun, I would suggest their consignment shop in Berwyn. Last time I was in which was a couple of weeks ago the place totally blew my mind because it was so full of so much awesomeness for Christmas and the holidays.

Hey Surrey, sign me up for the 2024 holiday tour !

clover market holiday market going on now at the westtown school!!!

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Clover 🍀 Market is open for their extra special totally fabulous holiday market this weekend December 2 & 3 from 10 AM – 4 PM on the campus of The Westtown School. They have the entire athletic center. There are over 100 curated vendors. It’s so much fun!

It’s free entrance and free parking and the setting is just spectacular if you have never been to the Westtown School!

We went to the preview this morning, and the place was filling up as we were leaving. And it was totally worth it going to the preview and we will totally do that again!

I hope you go and find yourself something spectacular to give us a gift for Christmas or a little something for yourself!

I will note that I did not get anything for writing this post. I am an avid Clover Market fan and was an early Clover Market supporter.

pay attention to west whiteland because the weston property is being discussed at planning december 5, 2023.

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Well Weston is back. It will be discussed Tuesday, December 5th at 7PM:

PC-Packet-20231205Download

Look, we all got together last time and did a great thing and the supervisors said no to re-zoning. We need to make sure as residents of East Whiteland and West Whiteland we are protected here. And that means SHOWING UP FOR EVERY MEETING ABOUT WESTON! No excuses. Don’t just leave it for other people. You can attend in person or on Zoom.

We do NOT want high density housing here. No apartments, townhouses, carriage homes, clustered density.

We do NOT want a hydrogen hub or data center here.

A school moving in might work. Or residential zoning BUT ideally 1 acre lots. They sell. Less houses = less burden on all of us, infrastructure, schools.

Whatever happens, the Weston property has one way in and out. We need a traffic signal. That should be non-negotiable.

Developers CAN think outside of the box, but mostly they don’t want to put the effort into plans that actually fit in a community. And anything that happens at Weston affects residents in TWO municipalities IMMEDIATELY.

Be a part of an actual solution. Be a part of this meeting. I have very mixed feelings about this planning commission as currently comprised in West Whiteland. I also am uneasy with John Weller who is the West Whiteland Director of Planning and Zoning Officer. He is quite competent, BUT he is too pro-development and not necessarily residents first. He won’t like my opinion, and I am sorry, but I look at what has been approved in West Whiteland over the past few years, and I have to ask, am I wrong?

Also to be considered with regard to this plan? The Ship Road couplet and development disaster area. The other side of Ship Road leading back to West Goshen and all of their development that affects traffic over here and at the Ship Road and West King Road intersection – Greystone for one.

And also something no one is talking about. What? Don’t know but there seems to be a development plan or concept brewing behind the neighborhood on Old Phoenixville Pike. I have been told neighbors have been getting letters? That the developer is the guy who started the nightmare now building way too fast on Ship Road? I hear they have been doing something back there already? Perc testing maybe? The red circle on screenshot below shows you where. This would be on the border of East Goshen, so how many East Goshen residents would be affected as well? Old Phoenixville Pike leads to West King Road.

Development doesn’t exist in a vacuum. This all affects where we call home. And lest you all forget that Johnson Matthey has a chunk of their land across West King Road for sale. So when I say residents have to pay attention, it’s the truth. And another thing we can’t forget? It has been a year plus of residents around the dangerous intersection of Ship Road and West King Road asking for simple stop sign improvements. It’s December 1st and they are still waiting. Between PennDOT and West Whiteland you would think they could follow up? Get it done? Not yet. And it is a simple ask.

The New York Times had an article recently that basically underscores how important public participation is. You should be able to click below and read without a paywall.

CLICK AND READ.

Residents participating where they live matters. And often very important things get shoved through during slow times like the dead of summer, or the holidays/end of the year.

Look we can’t sleep here. If lawmakers won’t update the Municipalities Planning Code, then we have to go to meetings and make ourselves known and how we feel. We live here. We matter.

Thanks for stopping by.

hey east whiteland residents are you aware the weston development on w. king road in west whiteland is marching forward?
oh no…. in west whiteland along w. king road
they said “no” in west whiteland!

holiday open house at loch aerie!

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Open house at Loch Aerie on Sunday 10, 2023 1 PM to 4 PM – please bring a non-perishable food item for Chester County Food Bank or a new unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots. Loch Aerie is a very special house and this is so awesome they are doing this! If you haven’t seen her since she was completely head to toe restore, come celebrate the holidays and give back.