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.
The fantastical green serpentine stone of the Darlington Inn
You know it started out like your basic hotter than hell day in Chester County yesterday. Then it got really hot in a particular township. Westtown Township to be precise.
It started when I was sent this message:
This is the current historic commission:
Now I have to be honest, Westtown Township has an enviable historic commission. They really work their tails off and I know they’ve been desperately trying to save the Darlington Inn.
Let’s chat Darlington for a moment. In 1843, David Taylor, who was a sculptor by hobby and a strong Whig supporter, carved Henry Clay’s face into the stone at Darlington. Henry Clay was the Whig presidential candidate in 1844.
So Taylor bought the house in 1843; he carved the face in 1844. In 1860 he also carved a likeness of his black dog, named “Lincoln” after the 16th president, who was then a presidential candidate. Now this is only part of the fascinating history.
Back to our present in Chester County. As we know, in late April and early May, there was like a big meeting and they put the zoning change for the Darlington Inn on hold.
And before we get to that, there’s the endless curiosity I have with odd politics. So that new supervisor, Jodi whatever her name is? She’s been a supervisor for like six seconds and now she’s the chair? I watched her the other night. She can barely do a meeting. She needed a lot of handholding. Daddy instructs her constantly. Did she even finish that “supervisor school” new elected officials take?
However Jodi Nawrocki (I finally looked up her last name because I figured I really can’t refer to her as supervisor -Jodi -what’s -her -name) sure seems to have loved the Darlington Inn and the serpentine stone when she was running for office, didn’t she? so one would think she would be appreciative of a historic commission that was advocating for its survival and what not? But I do think that’s worth mentioning. So maybe it’s pertinent?
So how did she become instant chair of the supervisors in Westtown after just being elected? Was it like a cup of soup salt barf ramen noodles just add hot water?
Oh wait I forgot to mention something else. It seems like Westtown Township and Tredyffrin share the same solicitor? I find that very interesting if it’s true. I always find that crossover interesting don’t some of you?
Anywhooo….it seems at some point in June a Supervisor named Ed Yost resigned. He was moving out of Westtown so he literally had to. And when I was checking out this most recent meeting there seem to be a lot of contretemps about how a new supervisor was appointed. Someone named Frederick Manger. I also think he came from the historic commission and as the Saturday Night Live Church Lady would famously say “isn’t that special?” Also I have to ask the question is he a buddy of that one supervisor who’s like the cheese stands alone and is in control? So was this all by design even him going on the historic commission in the first place? And the supervisor who never seems to be able to leave Westtown might not like my questions, but there is nothing illegal about them
It is time for an intermission after a fashion before I circle back to what Westtown is actually trying to do to their current historic commission. Kindly allow me to give you a few snippets of the recent July meeting. I found them illuminating, fascinating, and like watching a municipal train wreck. I guarantee watching their meetings will create municipal gaper delay.
I hope you enjoyed the intermission or interlude, now it is time to go back to the whole historical commission thing. I posted the little screen message I got and I started getting other private messages from township cheerleader types:
Then an article came out yesterday afternoon in the Inquirer. A giant a-ha moment. Truly.
According to the article, the message I was sent seems kind of true, doesn’t it? And someone else after I posted the message essentially told me that this was about the Darlington Inn. That’s what the article says too, doesn’t it?
According to the article, there’s also an email that went out to this volunteer board, saying basically the supervisors were going to vote on their removal forthwith and they were being told as a courtesy. Apparently this was all stated in some email shared with the paper that was from the township manager Liudmila (Mila) Carter (the one on the meeting recording who sounds like Yvonne from the Bullwinkle cartoon.) It seems as if there will be a publiclynching at the next supervisors’ meeting, and that some upcoming historic commission meeting has also been canceled by the Westtown Township.
Oh, but if they really wanted to keep their volunteer positions, they could reapply for it. Needless to say no one in Westtown was available for comment to a regional newspaper. It seems when the article was being written again to quote the Church Lady “isn’t that special?”
And of course, none of this was supposed to get out in the public purview, but it has. Because when things are rotten enough, they can’t be hidden any longer, can they?
Now let’s go to the July meeting that I have the snippets posted up above. I don’t have the whole meeting up, but also with that meeting or maybe it was another one (I’m not really sure) the township solicitor suggested easements to help protect the Darlington Inn. Jodi with an “i” didn’t think that was a great idea. (This is all in the Inquirer article too by the way I’m not making this up.)
Isn’t it kind of fun that Jodi with an “i” had the Darlington in her campaign when she was running for supervisor but now that she is supervisor I guess she doesn’t think it has the same amount of luster because she didn’t want to add what the solicitor suggested?
Here is the entire July meeting- what the heck I will post it and hopefully it doesn’t disappear:
Here are their June meeting recordings:
So now I’ve set the stage right? There’s trouble in paradise in Westtown. In my opinion, it’s a very interesting political scenario over there. You have one supervisor with lots of experience like Wiley Coyote and two novices? (Yes, I can have that opinion. I figure I’ll get that out-of-the-way since I heard that Westtown supervisors can still be rather petty.)
Anyway, it makes you wonder about who really is the puppeteer here and why they really want to get rid of the historic commission? And I have to ask does someone in particular want the Darlington Inn gone in Westtown Township?
I can also tell you how some of the made up stuff that’s floating around and is not true.
My sources tell me that the purported sunshine violations are bunk. Apparently it’s stems from historic commission members who want to go to some historic preservation network dinner? They are being told going to a historic preservation event is a violation of the sunshine laws?
Are. They. Freaking. Kidding. Me?
A social gathering is not violating the sunshine law. Talk about desperados grasping at straws.
Here- think I am making this up? I have emails and this is what you need to see (below in light and dark because I don’t know which is easiest for people to see.)
And it’s something that can be obtained on a right to know it’s not anything privileged. These are emails from the township manager, who apparently is also the head of building and planning and zoning and how can she effectively be a manager of a large enough township and do that as well?
I mean, call me crazy but I have gone to those Westtown Day things at historic Oakbourne and the historic commission people are all always there talking about the history of that township. I mean it was because of them and talking to them about the wonderful history of Oakbourne Mansion that we chose to get married there. So is THAT a violation of sunshine law too?
In my humble opinion the answer to that is no. This isn’t a violation of sunshine laws at all. It’s just bull twaddle.
And appointing a new supervisor in private and having to correct it is kind of wild, right?
This is the kind of crazy town bullshit that causes things to go south in a township. Who will be the fall guy or gal when that happens? You would’ve thought that elected officials in this municipality would have learned when they had to be talked into saving Crebilly in the first place, right?
I hate to say it, but if you live in Westtown or you care about the Darlington Inn, it’s time to start storming the Bastille over there because there’s something really wrong happening. These yahoos don’t have actual cause to divest themselves of their historic commission. It would just be more convenient for them to load up a board full of people they can control, wouldn’t it?
So are people, residents, taxpayers going to allow this to happen or are they going to call bullshit on these supervisors? Maybe the supervisors are the ones who should all be replaced?
I mean it’s getting to the point people that you have to wonder what municipality has not lost its damn mind in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
A recap before I leave you, followed by a delightful array of screenshots.
Westtown Township residents need to get busy. As was the case with Crebilly, in my opinion, rather troubling times once again. Meet your supervisors who wish to cancel your entire historic commission over trumped up BS.
First you have the new gal who ran on putting residents first along with the sentimentality of the history including the Darlington Inn. She is being led around like a puppy in a leash training class by the old timer who is literally on and off of the board and can’t stay away, can he? And then there is number 3. Buds with the old timer, correct? Once on the historic commission (isn’t that special and how’d he come to get there?) they tried to slide him in behind closed doors June-ish, correct? Kind of stealth and why didn’t the solicitor stop it and correct it then? I mean a solicitor should know, right??? So then number 3 was adjusted in during the July 6 meeting, correct? That’s neat shoehorning CYA if politicians can get it, right? Well his bio was up and then it was down right? Caught an important snippet still showing on a Google search that disappears when you click on it.
So now these people wish to magically erase the ENTIRE historic commission on made-up stuff? Hmmmm there’s something rotten in Denmark err Westtown and it seems obvious right? Like it’s 0”politically motivated retaliation or retribution? And what is the township manager actually doing about it? Shouldn’t she and the solicitor stop hiding about this?
Enjoy the screenshots snippets which in my opinion are so illuminating:
A good residents’ to do list should include start filing right to know requests in Westtown again ASAP.
Start with ALL communications between the supervisors (including the one who recently departed), the township manager, and the historic commission.
Ask for everything under the sun surrounding the Darlington Inn.
Talk to those who fought to save Crebilly to see what they might have vis-à-vis information that could be helpful.
Start looking into ways that the State Attorney General’s office could look into this board of supervisors.
Start checking out who would be good to replace all of these people who are currently supervisors with. How are their ethics going with the current supervisors? Are they violating oaths of office?
Stand up and stand withthe current Westtown Historic Commission, they deserve your support. Westtown residents you have to stand up and make some noise, and you should want to. This is pure, unmitigated bullsheit.
You know it’s getting to the point again where people are contacting me with so little regard to the fact that I might actually have a life off of this blog and off of my blog’s Facebook page, that I might stop accepting all commenting and messaging altogether.
We all have things going on in our lives. I have a life that is not at the beck and call of people who like to contact me to tell me what I should be doing or what I should be saying or what I shouldn’t be saying or doing.
My phone even on Sunday mornings starts before 9 AM which is why I have put quiet times on my phone so I don’t see things right away. I have time to breathe.
I should be clear: it’s not my friends who do this. It’s complete strangers.
And then there are the people that are all hurt or annoyed when I tell them I can’t help them with something. I’m a blogger, not a reporter. If I can contact reporters, so can all of you.
There are people that will contact me that tell me they have a hot story for me and I will get lots of coverage out of it or exposure. I don’t write so I get exposure. I don’t write so I become an influencer. I write because something matters to me or interests me.
I also can’t cover everything and have zero desire to do so. Sometimes a lot of you need to learn how to stand up and be heard in your own community. A lot of you also do not seem to understand that there are things I just can’t cover because it’s not my experience.
Sometimes a lot of you just need to say thank you to me once in a while when I do help you. I don’t expect a public display of affection, just a message saying thanks would be great.
Right now, I’m taking some me time. Which means I might do things like binge watch the entire series one of the brand new Little House On The Prairie. Or binge watch The Five Star Weekend.
Sometimes I even just want to be in my garden gardening and harvesting my potatoes or taking pictures of my flowers and birds.
I’m also processing some stuff that I am not quite ready to write about it’s just percolating. For example and quite recently, somebody who was in my life for the better part of two decades died. And then I have a friend from high school who almost had cardiac issues take them out.
I also live in a township that seems to have forgotten. It’s balls at the boundaries and isn’t listening to people about how they feel about a data center on a super fun site. That’s not actually completely cleaned up.
Also, recently there was a big family wedding, and my godchild got married.
And all of these things are part of my life off of my blog off of social media.
I don’t share all of that with everyone because frankly, it’s no one‘s business but mine.
But sometimes people have a distinct lack of respect for me. They don’t know boundaries anymore.
Or they want to tell me how I should be writing about something even if that’s not how I feel about a subject. Sometimes they just like to be offensive because that’s the only thing they know how to do and they were raised by wolves, apparently.
I’ve said it before that the thing about social media is it brings so many of us together. I’ve also said before that one of the problems with social media is it brings so many of us together and so many of those people don’t have boundaries.
So when I get all of these people contacting me with a complete and obvious disregard for the fact that I have a life just like they do I don’t even answer them half of the time. Because I don’t have to. And that’s not being rude. That’s just the way it is.
It’s like the people that get annoyed because they say I’m anonymous because they don’t know who I am. I’m not anonymous. I just choose not to know everyone.
Am I a voice in the community? I suppose but I’m not the only voice. Do not tempt me be sarcastic and say I’m not your mommy, you need to do something yourself.
Oh yes, this has been a ramble and I’m sure somebody will whine about it or have something obnoxious to say. I can’t control any of you. But I don’t have to listen.
Now, please, enjoy the rest of your weekend and let me enjoy mine.
I was in the Hamptons for a few days. The Hamptons is actually a place I do go to every now and again.
(Yes, I’m now waiting for the people to start with the elite comments and whatever and yawn. Disney cruises aren’t my jam.)
But it gave me a little time to reflect.
One of the things is say what you want about the Hamptons in New York, but they care about historic preservation. They care about the way their communities look. I like that. But I think one of my favorite things that they do, which is great because the traffic is insane, is they actually enforce their pedestrian crosswalks.
But honestly, one of the things I truly liked the best is I didn’t see any political signs anywhere. As a matter of fact at a historic structure, that is now an adaptive reuse that I believe was in Bridgehampton, I saw a sign that said “no political signs allowed.”
Also important to note is the shopping areas along their main drags and even off of the beaten path are in size and scale with the rest of their communities out there. And I didn’t see giant gargantuan big box apartment buildings everywhere which was quite delightful. Architecture, even very modern design had thought and human scale and process and actual design.
It was of course absolutely fabulous people watching.
The food was pretty much wonderful everywhere we went, but I have to say the highlight was the most perfect lobster roll from a place called Shippies in Southampton. It was nice to get away from the over abundance of chain steakhouses, the mediocre, and pub food.
This is an area that has a lot of farming around it, so everything is very much farm to table, which makes a difference. And the produce stands! Amazing. Not a single fauxmer to be found anywhere, and the prices I saw on produce was actually a little better than in this area
And it’s a very long ride back-and-forth, and for people who know my eternal curiosity of things I also like watching what’s on the side of the road. It’s a great way to see where bad infill development has totally made a mess out of places from Long Island through the NYC boroughs. We should have learned from these mistakes already.
It’s also a place where you see somebody with a little tiny house on the side of the highway who is still growing a garden.
And again, as I mentioned, it’s the place of absolutely insane traffic and bad accidents.
I must mention again I adored a few days where I didn’t hear one person anywhere even discussing politics. I did however see a disgusting lit billboard on the highway leaving the Hamptons. This one seemed to be on Shinnecock Nation Land on the highway.
I was also around so many gorgeous gardens filled with hydrangeas and imaginative plantings.
I garden so that is something that I always love to see. This was the place where I truly fell in love with hydrangeas.
However, I also saw the effects of climate change and disease on what once was a stretch of road en route to Montauk that was filled with different kinds of pine and other things that just look completely dead.
It is somewhat of an out of body experience being in a place that caters so specifically to the super rich. And I’m not saying that for any other reason other than it’s true. Maybe that’s why things just get taken care of. I don’t know.
But I will admit I loved coming home to Chester County.
It’s nice to visit other places, but home is where your heart is and my heart is very much in Chester County.
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?
It’s hard NOT to think about data centers. We are living this nightmare, just like pipelines. It is a very crazy thing to realize not enough people in positions of power give a shit about residents in the equation of data centers.
In East Whiteland they never, ever should have said “yes”. The could have IMHO said freaking NO.
In East Whiteland if the supervisors would only find where exactly they left their collective balls, they could still say “no”. But will they? So far it’s the residents are wrong and Papa Government is right.
I am not buying it. It’s like living in a parallel universe, but then again this is the township who few years ago also thought pipelines were nothing to bother about. Of course it doesn’t matter apparently that their residents are still in blast zones.
But the other thing is this: the zoning officer guy for the township (not the zoning hearing board lawyer) was disappeared…in MAY. And WHY? Did he retire? Was he ill? We would have heard right? So what actually happened? And OMG they did NOT like being asked why he was gone and why the current assistant manager was chosen? She was the former manager of East Vincent when the zoning change went through for PENNHURST, correct? What are some of the concerns with how the East Whiteland data center came about? The ZONING. Sorry not sorry. This is how conspiracy theories start and have some actual justification don’t they?
This is exhausting. How do our elected officials except for people like State Senator Katie Muth NOT get data centers? They are getting it in Luzerne County. Look what they just did:
There is no law on the books that precludes the East Whiteland from saying no to this or anything else but it just has to be legal, right? The supervisors need to believe what they are doing is right and tell the solicitor and staff to find a way but they don’t, do they? Why don’t they argue the supremacy clause to the US Constitution, for example? They are the government and protecting the residents is the right side of this issue, right? Hows about procedural due process right?
Now Judge Verwey bounced an East Whiteland residents’ case yesterday (just one of them) but that is not bad I think because is it quite possibly not merely a procedural bounce but what lawyers will call a complex jurisdictional? Will this not result in a de novo hearing in Commonwealth Court? De novo means a fresh look, doesn’t it? So this was a move on a chess board, not the end of the story. (Maybe just my opinion, but I am allowed it.)
The entry way for Commonwealth Court is Common Pleas Court, correct?
If this was a bad case it would have gotten bounced at preliminary objections. A hearing was had, briefed, argued, yes?
Based on this, this is not a case you consider on the outset, you do it based upon the hearing, correct? Off it goes to be heard elsewhere.
This is why I think this has legs. Maybe just my opinion, but those are some thoughts. This was a case of first impression yes? And it wasn’t immediately bounced in the hearing was it? Verwey chewed on it, and then decided.
The government is an adverse party to the citizenry because they should have looked after the residents, right?
It makes me sad. I was thinking about all of this the other day. I actually drove out to the developments the other day to sit on their road and look across Swedesford at the location for the data center. How can they not see this is most simply put a bad plan? Here are some photos. A few were taken by the neighbor of the permits.
If you would like to donate to the legal fund for the data center group, no donation is too small. Here is a link: https://venmo.com/u/communityfriends
Stay cool, it’s hot outside and try to conserve water as we are in a drought warning. Last thought? How would we survive serious drought warnings with data center around here? In my humble opinion, we wouldn’t.
From a RTK request results Ginny Kerslake received
Put that in your proverbial pipe and smoke it. The devil is in the details East Whiteland residents (and neighbors.) Keep fighting.
It just doesn’t seem possible. And I shed quite a few tears over this news when I wasn’t on the phone with Sherry Tillman.
Once upon a time and 50 years ago, a young artist named Sherry Tillman had an idea. That idea came to be Past*Present*Future.
It started as a one of a kind cool place for special handmade toys and creations and it became the business we have loved for so long.
Sherry is retiring and the business will be closing, so stay tuned for special opportunities to come in for one last visit and shop and reminisce.
Sherry has been such a part of all of our communities (and lives) and she will continue to be in Ardmore, it’s just for the first time in her life, I think she might actually relax for a little bit!
Sherry has been a big part of my life personally for so many years and I love her so very much and I wish her the best and I hope all of you go in and shop when she starts her sale and if you have any questions, just hit her up.
Special sales in advance of a well-deserved retirement start June 8th at 11 AM!
This. Finally. People all over now understand what the residents of Mt. Pleasant have been dealing with for YEARS.
Anyway, my cup runneth over in gratitude for Philadelphia regional media digging in to what has been going on for far too long in this historic old neighborhood in Tredyffrin. It is gratifying to know that they care about people in the region enough to hang out and talk with these people for a while because basically no one else has.
Perhaps somewhere up above Miss Mazie Hall and her pal Margaret Collins are smiling? I mean developers could tear down Mazie’s house, but neither predatory developers nor animal house college students have a right to destroy this neighborhood. It isthat simple.
So Tredyffrin Township, it’s time to get off your collective asses and stop ignoring this neighborhood because everyone knows if this was an expensive McMansion district you’d be hopping to PDQ. Yes I am in fact saying that if this wasn’t a historically black neighborhood, this problem would have been dealt with years ago. And by the way, the McMansionette dwellers in the new big huge town houses are not happy with this issue either.
And Villanova University, walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk.
Back to Villa Blue Tarp in Mt. Pleasant (Tredyffrin.)
When is enough enough out of off campus student party houses?
I have been keeping tabs on Villanova off campus student housing for probably 20 years or better in Mount Pleasant. I discovered the issues years ago completely by accident when I was in Mount Pleasant photographing the history of the place because it is a very historic black area in Chester County. It was the home of Miss Mazie Hall, for example. (As a related aside, I watch them tear down her house for predatory development years ago.)
This area for those not from Chester County or familiar with the history is in what is known as the “panhandle of Tredyffrin.” In recent years, it has been truly plagued by off-campus student rentals and wanton development from both the Upper Merion side of this area and the Tredyffrin side. It’s just far enough away from campus and the Tredyffrin township building etc. that they think no one ever pays attention, so if they have not been paying attention, maybe they all should be?
Not all off-campus student rentals are bad. And that can be said of any student rental in any location, but you never hear about the nice kids, it’s these others who stand out.
When I lived in Lower Merion Township for a bunch of years I lived next to one of these animal houses until it burnt to the ground two days before Thanksgiving one year. That was the early 2000s. November 22, 2000 to be precise, and the fire was covered in The Philadelphia Inquirer and Main Line Life (now Main Line Media News) at the time.
This house on Booth Lane was gorgeous at one time. I was in it when friends of mine and I snuck into a party when it was the rugby house around 1981. I actually didn’t stay very long because it literally was like animal house inside (I was like 16 or 17 and had never quite ever at that point seen a party like that so it was more than a little intimidating), but I will never forget what the inside of that house looked like even with a bunch of college students destroying it more and more every day.
10:04 PM 4/12/26
At that point, it was still a single-family home. It had this magnificent staircase with a carved dark wood newel post. the fireplaces were still intact although I think long since boarded up, but the surrounds were this amazing tile and there were stained glass windows and pocket doors. There were also a couple of really old chandeliers and lights that survived in the ceilings somehow and sconces on the walls.
This house had been the home of a banker or financier type of person named Henry B. Reinhart until he died in 1948. He had a son who died in World War II, who was remembered in local papers as being one of the victims of World War II, who died with the fifth army in Italy on Anzio Beach. When it went up for sale in 1954 you could have bought it for $19,500. And eventually it became this off-campus party house.
I knew from a very elderly neighbor when I first moved to the neighborhood that at one point in time, it had wonderful gardens, a beautiful lawn, which was planted with crocuses that still came up every spring, even when I was there. At one point in time, there was actually a small orchard behind it. The crocuses in the lawn, actually survived the fire and when it became an empty lot, we used to dig some of them up for our own gardens.
After that fire it was an empty lot for gosh, easily almost 15 years after that fire. I always wondered if they built on the old foundation because the foundation wasn’t dug up when they demolished the house after the fire it was just covered over. We didn’t mind it as an empty lot. It gave us some open space for a while.
The house made quite an impression because it had been a party house since I had been of high school age. It had been this huge yellow Victorian and up until the time of the fire had these great stained glass windows still intact in parts of the house, and this amazing wraparound porch.
This house, which was once located at 20 Booth Lane in Lower Merion, was just one of the wonderful houses that used to exist in a row from Old Lancaster Road to Lancaster Avenue.
At that time of the fire (November 22, 2000 and reported in The Philadelphia Inquirer as being started by a roofer’s torch doing repairs), the house had been split into two duplexes (previously, I believe it had served I think as the rugby house when I was of high school and college age and was not split in to more than one unit until 1985.)
Until the fire which made us all fear for our own roof lines because it was a windy day as the firefighters were trying to fight the fire in a small neighborhood, we had been held hostage by this house.
It didn’t matter how many times we called the police or the township, or Villanova. No one was interested atall in the plight of the neighbors trying to coexist with off campus students who were horrible. And for years, the neighbors did try to ask the students who were renting to just please keep it to a dull roar but no, every weekend it was party central complete with more cars than you want to know parked on their lawn and some of ours sometimes, kids vomiting in the street, peeing on neighbors properties, and so on. I remember at the time neighbors who complained about the house woke up one morning to find their cars keyed. I remember they were just a young married couple or maybe they weren’t even married yet but we’re saving for their wedding and the car repairs were expensive to fix the paint.
At that time, I believed the university official we were dealing with was a Father John Stack. As a matter of fact, it was his office we phoned as the fire was happening then so the university could find these kids places to live, etc. These off campus students (girls at this point) never did the right thing by any of us but we knew they were losing all of their college memories and school work, and also practically speaking needed a safe place to land after a day like that fire created. We also knew how scary that fire was for us watching it and those students were living it watching everything they owned from college burn.
Because of this experience in my past, I completely understand how the residents of Mount Pleasant in Tredyffrin feel today and have felt for years as my (then) neighborhood lived it until the house burned to the ground . As a blogger, I have written about this topic over the years in Mount Pleasant because it is thatbad. This is why Villanova had so many people from this area of Tredyffrin Township and even folks from bordering Radnor Township show up at their community meeting after they acquired Cabrini. These people fear that it will only get worse.
For some reason this year, the students seem more aggressive than before, which I didn’t think was possible. They think they are invincible and untouchable, and the lack of consistent attention to this on the part of Tredyffrin and Villanova University officials does make you wonder if this is the case, doesn’t it? I mean, if even the rental housing inspector/zoning officer did her job half of the time in that township would there be so many people all of the time in that house or other student rentals back there? I remember it came up not that long ago that another student rental has occurred and by Tredyffrin’s student rental housing ordinance should that even be allowed?
And I have to ask in the video I’m sharing from this weekend, are they referring to me because I’ve written about this problem house before or are they referring to a supervisor of Tredyffrin Township whose first name is Carlotta?
That’s not the name of any resident in Mount Pleasant that I know of, but I think you will agree that constitutes harassment of the neighbors and others and is that the message that Villanova University wants to send to the public at large out here?
Why should any full time resident be subjected to this behavior constantly in Mount Pleasant? Why does Villanova and Tredyffrin turn a blind eye?
This is wrong, and they all know it’s wrong. And again, I don’t live in that area, but if that’s my name in their mouth because I write occasionally on this topic, that is also harassing me personally. I will note I have been harassed before. A couple of years ago give or take, I was able to track messages back to I believe a computer at Bartley Hall.
These kids are young and dumb, but life is not without consequences, and they just need to behave better. Their behavior is something I doubt would be allowed at home in their parents’ houses and where they grew up and where they live when they’re not at school, correct?
Again, students living off campus in other areas don’t all act this way. But I don’t know what it is about this house year in and year out that it attracts the sametype of off campus student. And in my mind, they are not representative of the university community as an entirety.
This problem is not unique to this university. As we’ve heard the spring, there are also problems currently in West Chester Borough with students there.
These people who are full-time residents of this neighborhood, deserve respect, and a good night’s sleep once in a while. They accept that kids are going to be kids, but do they have to be so awful and does this have to be the continuing pattern of behavior?
Properties with same P.O. Box and business entities:
Photo courtesy of Honey Brook Township Supervisor Valerie Shultz
May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, The rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
May God be with you and bless you; May you see your children’s children. May you be poor in misfortune, Rich in blessings, May you know nothing but happiness From this day forward.
May the road rise to meet you May the wind be always at your back May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home And may the hand of a friend always be near.
May green be the grass you walk on, May blue be the skies above you, May pure be the joys that surround you, May true be the hearts that love you.
