Welcome to the land of malcontents and trolls… A.K.A. Facebook. As I turn 60, I marvel at these people.
This post captured in a screenshot appeared most recently on a public page that pretends to be local but is run literally by people from other parts of the country who have never lived here. It’s mostly a sounding board for people who hate pretty much everything that’s not them or the cult of Donnie.
So do they think that I am going to pull the covers over my head and cry? Have they met me ? Oh wait, they wouldn’t have because I don’t know people like this.
I figure he likes posting my picture, so perhaps I should post his? After all, it’s public on his Facebook page with a weird mouth inserted, probably to make him harder to identify? I figured that’s a valid question to ask given the posts that I have seen that he puts up that are well, somewhat offensive.
So that screenshot that opens this post is from this guy. The other day, he posted it in multiple places. Odd and obsessive about me yet I never knew he existed until the other day.
His behavior is not normal, it’s harassing. He is supposedly upset because I had written about the plight of the neighbors adjacent to the Brickette Lounge in West Chester. then he took issue with the fact that I was posting about the door-to-door salesman from Eco Shield Pest Solutions .
Eco Shield has aggressive sales people. When they were in my neighborhood I had to point out to them that I had posted no soliciting. Tall guy in the photo waived some permit thing he was wearing. I told him that didn’t matter that if I had posted no soliciting, and if he proceeded onto our property, it was legally trespassing. And then I asked him who he was working for. Three times I asked him what company he was working for, and he refused to answer.
So as he was wandering more around my neighborhood, I took his photo and the little guy he was with and I sent it to my township and what came back was the following from our local police department:
The group EcoShield does not have permits and were turned down for improper credentials.
Then the police actually cited sales people going door-to-door from this company the following day I think it was and one person they stopped was using credentials for another municipality a fair distance away. Also important to note that these guys are not local. All of these discoveries were made by a local police department, yet the troll blamed me.
Oh and the troll didn’t like what I said about the Brickette parking situation. Their patrons were parking so horribly (and dangerously) that West Whiteland had to put up a slew of “No Parking” signs for Kirkland and start ticketing. West Whiteland also went to PA for state “No Parking” signs for Route 100.
Route 100 or Old Pottstown Pike or whatever you want to call it shouldn’t need state signs for no parking, it should be common sense. But it wasn’t.
It was not me that caused West Whiteland to do the “No Parking” signs jam, neighbors went to meetings and stood up and spoke to the township officials and asked for help. They all said they didn’t mind the idea of the Brickette , because they had all been living with it even under prior ownership. But they pointed out that under prior ownership, they didn’t park up the neighborhood streets and leave trash, etc.
But this troll blamed me. And when I asked him why he was posting my face like wanted posters on social media, that it was harassment he said I was stalking him. And harassing him—yes pretzel logic: asking why he was in fact harassing me I was harassing him and stalking him because I asked on the page where I first became aware of his behavior who he was and where he came from because I didn’t know until that point he existed that I was stalking him.
Yes for real. I kept the screenshots. And his buddy another Trumpian misanthrope has to mention my “crazy Karen eyes” and that if I am blocking them he will ban me from a group that I left…and blocked them.
Oh and then the guy who claims that I am the bad bunny announces how he has been looking into me although he admits that I am not a public figure.
Yep pretty creepy. But I am the bad bunny, apparently. And who knew? I’m also a Karen. I had no idea the tribe that gives Karens shelter wanted me to count among them?
Anyway I am making this public because I reject this harassment of me for no reason other than a troll doesn’t like my opinions. I mean gosh if we went through what he posts everywhere I am sure our eyes would cross right?
I’m so tired of these people. It’s like no other opinions can exist other than what they are comfortable with. He also mentioned that I should help people, because according to him I need to and don’t. (Also good to know.)
In case you are wondering why we need to live more in a world that is balanced and not full of hate and creepiness, this is a good reason. I don’t know about you but the idea of living in a world where January 6th becomes like a twisted Groundhog Day is rather unappealing. And Facebook still does nothing much about these people, yet they have AI that will remove posts for words they find suspicious in benign posts.
So someone stole the Lorax that had been painted for a night in Burke Park in Malvern Borough. I think that’s a really shitty thing to do to a community event. And as someone who has spent years off and on working on community events, it really hits home.
Malvern Police has hunted down camera footage and posted it. To me this person looks young. If this is your kid or you know who’s kid this is, please call Malvern Police at. 610-647-0261 or e-mail police@malvern.org
If this is your kid, or you know who this is, you have a moral obligation to do something.
Whomever this is needs to learn, you can’t steal things from people or from your community.
If this is a person in crisis, who needed this Lorax for something or to make them happy maybe the community tries to help this person.
That moment when you post something that is a sad truism today (screenshot to follow this paragraph) and you get a comment that makes you laugh out loud (bottom of post screenshot.)
So it is “rich” that this guy thinks being an asshat with his comment makes him think that he appears smart.
He don’t even know what he’s talking about.
This mansplaining man child is actually BLAMING people who stand up to development or complain about development for housing prices. He actually thinks smaller lot development + lots more infill development = affordable housing. Actually all THAT is = to is a developer’s wet wanky dream because to them it = more development. They don’t care about affordability, only the money that they can make off of a development before they move onto the next community crushing development.
I guess that’s what is called pretzel logic economics.
I mean I guess it would be convenient and totally trendy beige man to blame the evil blogher for real estate prices but it’s just not realistic, is it? I mean gosh that would make me the oracle and wow I almost spit out my coffee when I read the comment.
Communities would welcome houses that were actually affordable, and we’re not even talking Section 8 subsidized housing, we’re talking about starter homes for young couples that moved back to an area where they were raised, or change of life housing for those who are older, who want to stay in the communities where they raised their families but wish to downsize.
But all we get in our communities is the BS the developers want shoved down our throats. Apartment buildings, condos, townhouses what I have called cram plans for over 20 years.
I actually had a realtor say in response to that guy’s comment that new construction is not the answer, that they are not sure what the answer is at this point.
Then you had the realtor who was taking an online marketing course recently probably because he had to say prices only go up in areas that are desirable. Has he looked at real estate everywhere? It doesn’t matter where it’s located. The prices are utterly ridiculous.
If you want to know partially why this is happening, check out this video before Mr. Mansplain’s screenshot:
I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I don’t pretend to necessarily have any of the answers except in Pennsylvania. I will honestly say, if state legislators got off their asses and updated the Municipalities Planning Code it would probably help.
Our communities are under siege. It’s either development or speculative and predatory real estate investors and it’s driving the people that used to make up the place we call home further and further out of the area. And this is happening everywhere. It’s even happening on the Main Line.
One of the things I first noticed when I moved to Chester County was a lot of the people I knew growing up on the Main Line, who I thought were super nice were living out here. They had moved to escape the infill development on the Main Line and what it brought with it.
But this march, this assault on our communities, no matter where we live, is not abating. It’s also not sustainable, so then what?
But please don’t present me with pretzel logic economics while I’m drinking my coffee. It’s really not fair and it ruins a perfectly good espresso.
Ciao for now. I hope you have enjoyed this episode of pretzel logic economics meets mansplaning Friday. 
Soooo the most recent West Vincent Township Supervisors’ meeting was a study in old school West Vincent crazy.
You can pretty much always count on West Vincent Township to bring the absolute freaking #crazy.
A resident at end of meeting was making public comment, NOT making a threat. See 2:01:30 of recording below (unless of course it magically disappears) – the West Vincent solicitor accuses a resident of making THREATS. That’s crazy. He was expressing his opinion that perhaps made someone UNCOMFORTABLE but it was not a threat and yeah Colonel Sanders the Solicitor WAS out of order IMHO.
And Colonel Sanders the Solicitor might not like my opinion either but perhaps he needs to freshen up his knowledge of the United States Constitution, in particular the First Amendment.
Now maybe the resident could have chosen words differently but to me what he was saying is as he listens to the petty back and forth in West Vincent Township, that there are bigger problems in the world and people are dying overseas. To be honest, that has little to do with what is happening in West Vincent Township, but that was his public comment. It wasn’t a threat, it was a bit of a word salad, but it was opinion. And that gentleman lived that overseas in the Middle East and is owed an apology by the township.
You can’t just threaten residents. You can steer them to stay on track for what is going on in the municipality, but you don’t threaten them and then say he was threatening the township. He wasn’t.
Once again it’s obvious that West Vincent needs another solicitor, isn’t it?
Then there is the whole thing about stormwater management. So what’s the deal with 1352 Shady Lane and pardon the pun there is something shady going on there? And their neighbors are their stormwater management plan?
And then the plastics bans and paper vs. plastic and the harvesting of tuna which was off topic to an extent, yet that was also not a threat….it was opinion. And then the guy who brought Richard Nixon to the meeting.
Oy just oy. What’s next tractor tipping in a certain field? Oh wait….never mind that already happened didn’t it?
Sign this post everything old is suddenly very new again in West Vincent. Or the more things change the more things stay the same.
It’s an 18th century farmhouse. There is at least one barn to go with it, but in order to see the barns, you have to be on the property, and that would be trespassing.
This farmhouse is on the Clews & Strawbridge/Clews Boats property. Here is the current property ownership information on the three parcels that comprise this property:
So this property came up as a topic of conversation locally within the past couple of years because the developer wanted to put a giant apartment building right there. The developer at that time said they would restore the farmhouse, and even back then I questioned it because it was like the building envelope was compromised or pierced.
In the end East Whiteland said no they didn’t want apartments right there, so there was no zoning change and it’s still the boat dealership. I looked on Google and the boat place has rather mixed reviews, so I don’t really have a feel for the business there.
Truthfully, I don’t care about the business there, but I really wish they cared about the farmhouse on their property. It’s a historic asset.
It’s total demolition by neglect and it’s horrible. And it’s NOT East Whiteland Township’s fault. They can’t control this. But they could check on the house to make sure it’s secure, given all of the broken windowpanes, etc.
So there’s this developer who presented the same plan about developing affordable (“attainable”) housing to West Goshen like the day before they made a pitch to West Chester Borough.
And again in West Chester Borough, it’s a developer drooling after that Church Street lot where the West Chester Growers Market is. One of the longest standing and truly wonderful farmers markets in our region, and they’re threatening it again. What is it about the church street lot that makes every developer have to have it ?
Also interesting about this other than the fact that the in my opinion back door presentation was done the day before West Chester Borough in West Goshen. Very interesting that both municipalities share the same solicitor, right? That’s kind of a coincidence that really isn’t, isn’t it?
So yeah, this developer is shopping. This idea all over the place correct? Give them the land they’ll build you supposed affordable housing. I have a bridge I can sell you.
And I know the solicitor isn’t going to like my opinion because they haven’t liked my opinion for years, have they? But the one thing they can’t remove are our constitutional rights to have an opinion and ask questions, correct?
And they said West Chester Borough has to make a decision in four days? Four days for a life, altering decision for residents, and one of the oldest farmers markets in the area? Most reasonably intelligent elected officials would walk away from such a proposition, but who knows what will happen with the Borough of West Chester, because that place is perennially slightly shady about stuff, right?
This is not about truly building affordable housing. This is just another way for developers to get projects built.
Look no local government should be assisting a developer with financing, correct? In the end is this all just to support the developers and those developers support?
And regarding the numbers of “needed” units, no one has asked them to produce the data that lead them to that number, have they?
If West Chester Borough or West Goshen really needs/wants “accessible housing” then apply for the state funding to do it . Or get a 3rd party 501c3, like SELF Inc. purchase an appropriate spot and create housing – same BS is happening in Montgomery County and Bucks too.
Supposedly, there are West Chester Borough Council meetings this week. Their website isn’t very good but I know this will be discussed, and people are entitled to public comment. People should check the agendas carefully because this is also something that would have had to have been properly advertised ahead of time, and have you seen it properly advertised anywhere? 
I will close this post with another snippet from the West Chester meeting this week. Listen and decide for yourselves. If I lived in West Chester Borough, I would get all my friends and neighbors at every public meeting this week to protest this. if I was running the West Chester Growers Market, I would be consulting with attorneys to make sure rights were protected, can’t you agree?
I used to love Wayne and North Wayne in particular. North Wayne had all these crazy cool houses from little workingman’s twins on Willow Avenue to the big Victorians on the surrounding streets.
But bit by bit and peace by piece it’s all disappearing. It’s like the Radnor Historical Society might as well not even exist any longer.
I happen to be on N. Aberdeen Ave. today because I got turned around. Not because any roads were close I just hadn’t been back there in forever. So when I was coming around N. Aberdeen I realized something was missing: Jonathan Lengel’s house built in 1888. He was a builder in Wayne when Wayne was becoming what we know her for today, or knew her for it because the houses keep getting torn down. He was the architect on the Wayne Hotel as a matter of fact and there is a suite named for him.
So Jonathan Lengel built himself a house at 236 N. Aberdeen Avenue in Wayne in 1888 or thereabouts.
In 2008 that house was threatened by predatory development:
Radnor planners will consider Lengel house demolition
The Radnor Township Planning Commission Monday will hear a proposal to tear down the home of Jonathan D. Lengel, a builder who constructed a number of significant houses in Wayne around the turn of the 20th century.
The owners of 236 N. Aberdeen Ave. in the “Little Chicago” section of North Wayne are proposing to tear down the single-family house, reportedly built in 1888 by Lengel for his family, and build two twin houses.
The property is in a dense community that suffers stormwater issues from Gulph Creek, which runs through it.
But in real life, it’s a subject of inch-high anecdotes and soggy stories of the worst kind of neighborly offense: problems that flow from multiple sources.
In the North Wayne neighborhood long nicknamed Little Chicago, where a number of people are second-generation residents, a proposed two-lot subdivision is causing concern over density, neighborhood fabric and of course stormwater.
The property in question is on the 200 block of North Aberdeen Avenue, a partially one-way street, where half of the homes (most with front porches and no driveways) have properties that slope down to Gulph Creek.
Across the creek are the back yards of homes on Willow Avenue.
There, a little more than a century ago, was the Wayne Natatorium, a fresh-water pool created there by damming the creek. Today, that history is still evident in soggy yards, flooding basements and an eroding streambank.
The proposed subdivision would cause the teardown of the 1888 home of Jonathan D. Lengel, a builder who constructed many homes and well-known buildings in Wayne during its first naissance.
What the would-be developers want to replace it with are two twin homes, both with two-car garages, which would double the impervious area on the property. To those on Willow, this brings fear of increased flooding. To some on North Aberdeen, it means a large structure with no architectural similarity to the majority of the neighborhood homes and the loss of at least three needed parking spaces.
The twins are reportedly modeled after those in a Chester County development.
What makes doubling the impervious coverage possible in this dense, waterlogged area is the adjustment of floodplain lines originally established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
In this case, the proposed change to the line moves it about 40 feet towards the creek bed, nearly in the creek bed….The commissioners were presented with the proposals, and its opponents, Monday at the caucus section of their meeting, where no votes are taken.
As for the design of the proposed twins, longtime North Aberdeen resident Rose Hyatt told the Planning Commission earlier this month, “To build these homes in our neighborhood, it looks like a joke. This isn’t a neighborhood for big houses and garages like this.”
On paper, stormwater is all about calculations. But in real life, it’s a subject of inch-high anecdotes and soggy stories of the worst kind of neighborly offense: problems that flow from multiple sources.In the North Wayne neighborhood long nicknamed Little Chicago, where a number of people are second-generation residents, a proposed two-lot subdivision is causing concern over density, neighborhood fabric and of course stormwater.
The property in question is on the 200 block of North Aberdeen Avenue, a partially one-way street, where half of the homes (most with front porches and no driveways) have properties that slope down to Gulph Creek.
Across the creek are the back yards of homes on Willow Avenue.
There, a little more than a century ago, was the Wayne Natatorium, a fresh-water pool created there by damming the creek. Today, that history is still evident in soggy yards, flooding basements and an eroding streambank.
The proposed subdivision would cause the tear-down of the 1888 home of Jonathan D. Lengel, a builder who constructed many homes and well-known buildings in Wayne during its first naissance.
What the would-be developers want to replace it with are two twin homes, both with two-car garages, which would double the impervious area on the property. To those on Willow, this brings fear of increased flooding. To some on North Aberdeen, it means a large structure with no architectural similarity to the majority of the neighborhood homes and the loss of at least three needed parking spaces.
The twins are reportedly modeled after those in a Chester County development.
When it comes to development I guess everything old is new again because 236 N. Aberdeen Ave., which was a historic house no longer exists. I have to ask what does the Radnor Historical Society do these days? I also have to ask what changed with stormwater management back there in Little Chicago because it hasn’t gotten better. It’s only gotten worse.
Here are some screenshots pertaining to 236 N. Aberdeen:
I really didn’t think it was possible that what was denied circa 2008/2009 would come back in 2024 and succeed. I mean common sense would dictate that the street hasn’t gotten any wider. The storm water hasn’t gotten any easier and yet here we are another historic house, gone out of Radnor Township, and some big behemoths will take its place which will have greater impact because of impervious surface coverage, parking, etc.
Someone told me when this house came up in meetings, they kept saying how horrible the house was etc. etc. It wasn’t horrible and it meant something and had context in the area where it was.
But then again, look at what happened to the Wayne Bed and Breakfast Inn? I drove past there today and it was horrible. Lots of big, expensive new construction going up with all the character of a Lego set.
And then there are the McMansions going up tremendously fast on Radnor Street Road. Naked acres. North Wayne used to be known for trees on Radnor Street Road and it’s like they just stripped the street and properties of trees and now you have McMansions growing there with lovely and more historic homes with trees and gardens across the street.
It’s really totally depressing going through the Main Line these days. Lower Merion and Radnor continue to lose their allure. Yes, it’s a very expensive suburb and as my one grandmother always said, money doesn’t know who owns it. But it’s so damn disappointing that people get together in the communities to save their communities and then they’re safe for a while and then a few years past and basically the same development plans come back or other development plans show up and it doesn’t matter.
If you want another plug from me for why the state representatives and the state senators in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania need to enact an act of the state constitution and update the Municipalities Planning Code, here you go.
I will leave you with an editorial that I wrote for Main Line Media News May 6, 2008. I think it still resonates. 
Ahhh Spring! The landscape is lush with greenness and the air heavy with the scents of lilac and old fashioned viburnum. But what else does spring bring us as citizens up and down the Main Line? A full course of new and disturbing smaller development plans to peruse.By the time this column hits the ink of a newspaper, two new and bothersome plans will have made their debut in front of two separate townships: the proposed destruction of 236 N. Aberdeen Ave in North Wayne, and the super sizing of footprint of 106 Cricket Avenue in Ardmore.
The plans for 106 Cricket are being brought to the residents of Ardmore by the fine folks who brought them the plans for 130 Cricket. Suffice it to say, when the township agreed with the residents that 130 Cricket Avenue was a plan that left a lot to be desired, it went to court on appeal.
With regard to 106 Cricket, I will admit I am at a loss: what does a developer or property owner do with a site that contains a mortuary or funeral home when that use is to cease? Personally, I would find it creepy to live atop a former death depot, but it isn’t up to me to judge. I will say that once again, as was the case of 130 Cricket, this plan is just too much plan for my comfort level. What happened to the thought of new development complimenting the surrounding area? Why is it most plans today simply overwhelm an area? No wait, don’t answer that. Profit margins.
In North Wayne, residents recently defeated the proposed inclusion of a public storage facility in their extended neighborhood (or at least for the time being). Now they have received news that a house of serious local historic value faces demolition so someone can build new homes on the site of 236 N. Aberdeen Ave. New development on one of the most congested streets in North Wayne? And what of that little thing called impervious surface coverage and stormwater management?
Why on earth in an utterly flood prone area would anyone with a brain wish to double impervious surface coverage on a fairly steep sloped lot that leads to the Gulph Creek? A plan that could have an immediate and negative effect on residents on the low side of the creek? No wait, don’t answer that. Profit margins.
Who cares about another small neighborhood, anyway? Who cares about the home that builder Joseph Lengel built for his own family in 1888 in North Wayne? Who cares that Joseph Lengel was one of the builders who executed the dreams of the famous architects who brought the fabulous structures to Wayne we all “ohh” and “ahh” over?
And while we are discussing plans, let’s revisit a few gems we have all read about or born witness to: Rugby Road in Bryn Mawr, Allaire on North Buck Lane in Haverford and the Exxon Station in Ardmore on Wood-side and Montgomery. What is occurring with these plans? Are these plans moving forward?
Rugby Road is apparently still alive, and as for Allaire? Who knows. Perhaps people don’t really don’t wish to pay big bucks to overlook an auto body establishment and live across Lancaster Avenue from a mattress store?
Finally, the plan to add a car wash and a mini mart convenience store to the Ardmore Exxon station? Seriously, what is wrong with these people? It’s not only a mostly residential area, but there is a Wawa right behind them, and a car wash already on Lancaster Avenue in Ardmore. Is it our fault that peddling gas isn’t as profitable as it used to be? Well, cry me a river, but I am not all that sympathetic considering what we are paying for gasoline these days.
What happens to small neighborhoods when these plans stall, end up in court, or get approved and simply don’t move forward as planned? Go visit some of these neighborhoods and judge for yourselves. It adds an air of sadness mingled with frustration. In a couple of cases, can it also be said it adds a whisper of true blight?
It is inconceivable that these odd small plans are still moving forward considering the current state of the economy, the real estate market, and the mortgage crisis, but they are. As affected residents, at times it feels like you have barely gotten through one issue, and yet another one arises. Maybe, just maybe, people had best take a look at proposed legislation in Pennsylvania (if it is still alive) that would allow local governments to exercise temporary development moratorias as needed: PA House Bill 904.
House Bill 904 is common sense, bi-partisan proposed legislation you have probably never heard of. Critics will argue that this raises property rights issues, but to them I ask the following questions: What isn’t a property rights issue in Pennsylvania? Don’t residents in an area potentially to be affected by development still have private property rights as well?
Well, enough out of me. I am going for a walk. I want to take every opportunity to enjoy nature before it’s all overdeveloped.
A postscript is a comment left on this very post:
Gosh, I hit a nerve. So is he related to the developer? Someone having something to do with Radnor Township? And why should I get over it because he’s uncomfortable because I’m talking about it? Why is it “best gone”? I’m not alleging anything. The deed is done. The house is gone and I’m expressing my opinion on this and other ugly development and unless they are going to repeal the First Amendment , he can actually just bugger off.
HT to West Goshen Sunshine for alerting all of us to this latest episode of stupidity by West Chester Borough.
Once again West Chester Borough is trying to develop the parking lot at Church and Chestnut for a fake “attainable” housing development and destroy the West Chester Growers Market? And I can tell you that I believe development there wouldn’t either be “attainable“ or affordable. In my humble opinion, it would just be another hot mess for this over developed town.
Presentation and discussion at 1:03. Assholes. And yes I just said that. Out loud.
Go to 1:03
It’s like literally every few years they have to have some latest greatest stupid development plan to destroy one of the regions most established and well respected farmers markets, and the neighborhood where it’s held.
The Borough of West Chester doesn’t need more development they can’t handle what they already have.
While the market may not bring huge revenue, tall buildings or more parking spaces to the Borough of West Chester, they do bring something of great importance:
COMMUNITY.
Please if you live in the borough, contact your borough representative and ask them to consider these factors as they make their decision:
This market hosts 2000+ people every Summer Saturday
They provide a sense of community, where neighbors talk to neighbors
Their market acts as a drawing card to downtown businesses. Customers frequently shop there after leaving the market.
If the lot is developed, there is a chance that the Growers Market will no longer be able to serve the community.
So please, if you value the sense of community and supporting the local farm fresh foods that our market has brought to West Chester, contact your borough representative and tell them what the market means to you.
The Borough Manager’s phone number is: 610-344-3346. His name is Sean Metrick. He came from the Borough of Narberth, and he should know better.
Even if you don’t live in the Borough, but if you patronize the West Chester Growers Market or work in the borough or have friends in the borough I urge you to contact West Chester ASAP.
Tell them the numbers of “needed” units is wrong, ask them to produce the data that lead them to that number. They have to prove that this isn’t just to support developers etc.
Somewhere along the line we have to start saying no, and meaning it for development that is removing things that are integral to our communities.
I don’t know why West Chester Borough seems to think this is a good idea every few years but it’s time for people to stand up now and stop this before it goes further.
This is not about affordable housing. This is about some developer getting a project and making money. This is about coin. Nothing more, nothing less and I can have that opinion.
So the other night was a meeting of the West Whiteland historic commission. (Zoom link HERE.)
On the April 8th, 2024 agenda is this planned development that will literally destroy a small neighborhood on Old Phoenixville Pike . It is the plan for the 20 Schiffer Farm acres that are 15 in West Whiteland and 5 in East Goshen. It’s on their agenda because there’s a historic asset being discussed.
Discussing the historic asset is in the purview of the West Whiteland historic commission. The chair opining obnoxiously about the neighbors is definitely not.
At around the 32:00 minute meeting mark, this man calls concerned neighbors “whiners” and denigrates and mocks them. At around 38:20 minute mark again mocking residents about not having them pick a street name. Boaty McBoat face? I have to ask is that code for he’s an asshat ?
I don’t know this guy. But if that’s the attitude he takes about the residents and he’s in a volunteer appointed position serving a municipality, perhaps he should step down, because if this isn’t a clear-cut example of conduct unbecoming in an elected or appointed official, and he’s an appointed official I don’t know what is, do you?
Audio segment showing jerky boy behavior beginning at 3:04 or so…just press play.
Of course, this meeting was very interesting to me because other things fell into place. I noticed on the corner of the plans being shown to the township, the name of the engineering firm.
And I wonder, is it just coincidence that this is the same engineering firm where I had to block someone on LinkedIn for comments on my timeline since I started talking about development here and off West King Road? It was kind of obnoxious comments and mansplaining that I had chosen to ignore on things I had posted or shared until today when I decided I didn’t invite this man, so I blocked him.
As an amusing also maybe related fact, I’ve had at least three other people from Howell Engineering studying me. LinkedIn tells you who has been playing peek a boo. I just never knew this was in the job category of engineers? I wonder if they are the ones that showed up at my friend’s back deck incorrectly surveying his property as part of Schiffer farm a couple months ago maybe?
So it’s painfully obvious that this whole situation concerning those poor beleaguered residents and their lovely neighborhood on Old Phoenixville Pike is just going to be ugly until it’s settled.
But the guy from the historic commission, and it sounds like the guy who basically started the meeting who research indicates is the chair, was out of line. His job is history. His job is not opining on what kind of a development this is and how it will affect or not affect the neighbors and it begs the question is this guy a realtor? If so, when he’s sitting on the historic commission in West Whiteland, he needs to take his realtor had off and leave only his history hat on. And if he can’t be polite and professional, when referring to residents in the township he is supposed to be serving then he needs to sit down, shut up, and get off any commissions in West Whiteland, doesn’t he?
I personally find this recording of this meeting beyond disappointing. And the reason I say that is, this is a historic commission that until this point, I actually held in high regard. They seemed much more proactive than a lot of other historic commissions, and they’ve done some really good work. BUT for all the good work they do, any member being obnoxious about the residents they are supposed to be serving to the best of their volunteer ability takes it all away.
This guy needs to apologize to those neighbors. He’s not in their shoes, he has no idea how they feel and if he can only mock fellow residents then he should step down from the historic commission.
As a matter of fact, officials at West Whiteland Township need to look into that. This is not acceptable behavior. He can say it’s a joke, but this is where these people live. Essentially, if this development gets built, it will destroy this entire neighborhood. People will potentially lose equity in their homes when a development comes rolling through their teeny weenie, narrow street.
The residents in this neighborhood on Old Phoenixville Pike, and the neighboring streets love where they live. They are fighting for their survival and rights much like other small neighborhoods all over.
This whole thing is very uncomfortable, especially for the people who will be most directly impacted. And it’s really disheartening when as residents they are just starting to go to meetings in some cases for the first time ever since they moved into the township to learn about what their rights are, and what this plan will do and how they will be impacted, and then they’re basically put down by this guy on the historic commission.
And what made it even worse is there’s a supervisor who is the liaison to the historic commission. This supervisor should have politely corrected him about not mocking residents who are also HER constituents. I did not hear her say anything in defense of those poor residents.
The strange tale of development behind Old Phoenixville Pike continues.
Last night there was a meeting of the West Whiteland Planning Commission. It was the first go round for the proposed development plan.
First of all who would’ve thought that the West Chester University Foundation would be practicing to be a bad neighbor, now that they have been given the Schiffer Farm? It’s very disappointing. Truthfully, also a little surprised the Schiffer family didn’t put more conservation restrictions on the gift. I mean, I get that probably the foundation doesn’t want to be responsible for this entire property, but this one section is so constricted by where it is and problematic before you think about adding houses to it that I just don’t get it.
Before I get to sharing some things, I think people will find interesting or helpful, I’m going to share a video from this afternoon showing rising storm water on Old Phoenixville Pike. Next is a photo with a ruler sticking out of it, indicating 8 inches of flood water on this narrow street this afternoon.
This plan has two parcels in two municipalities. 15 of the acres of this potential development are in West Whiteland. 5 acres are in East Goshen and East Goshen heard the plan recently.
I found it most interesting that the Chester County Planning Commission isn’t in love with this plan. and why I find that interesting is they are so pro development, so that speaks volumes about this plan already.
So here are some of their concerns:
Notes from County Planning Commission:
In #1 “enhancements in affordability” . It doesn’t sound like this development will do that.
In #2 highest priority, land-use objectives listed for this watershed.
In #3 pipeline concerns during construction listed
In #4 access concerns, because only one way in and out
In #7 limit tree removal from woodlands
In #8 stricter DEP or municipal limitations on wastewater and stormwater discharge because protected watershed
So last evening, the neighbors were tremendous. They spoke so well, and from the heart and intelligent questions, and stated their case. One of the things that kept questioning is this easement where developer wants to build, and it shows up on the West Whiteland as naturally constrained land, The thing about that is, it’s not supposed to be developed. And it floods back there as you can see, so imagine, increasing impervious surface coverage, taking away trees, etc? Do we really think some stormwater management plan that are developer floats in front of the municipality is going to take care of all of it? I don’t think so and maybe that’s just my opinion, but I’m entitled to it.
When is the last time FEMA updated maps around there? Or the vicinity?
I am just here expressing support for these neighbors in West Whiteland on Old Phoenixville Pike and elsewhere around this proposed plan being carved out of now old Schiffer farm land.
This is not a needed plan, it’s just a plan for a developer to make a buck and move on, isn’t it?
Small neighborhoods should not be taken for granted anywhere, ever. These neighbors have been taken for granted already by what has happened so far.
Look at the geology of the area with the schist and karst of it all in our area – affects pipelines, wells, water lines so what will happen with what they want to do if they get this development approved?
Stormwater is already an issue here. Neighbors were saying at the meeting how water also pours off of Route 202. How will filling up 20 acres with McMansions improve that?
Economically viable uses might be the law BUT it doesn’t mean development here will actually be viable. Why do residents in a small, lovely, established neighborhood have to suffer like this? Are they not valuable and in a lot of cases very long term residents?
West Whiteland can be proactive here and could have a sign up for directly affected residents to be notified of every little thing happening because it happened where I came from which is Lower Merion Township.
And because this plan is in two municipalities residents need to watch everything going on in BOTH West Whiteland and East Goshen.
This is not a good plan and the developer also has warehouses planned for the Johnson Matthey parcel that he purchased at West King Road and Phoenixville Pike. And the Weston Property on West King Road may be quiet right now but it is only a question of when the next bad development plan for that property pops up, right?
West Whiteland and her residents and residents in neighboring municipalities of East Whiteland, East Goshen, and West Goshen need to remain vigilant and on alert.
Last night no plan was approved in West Whiteland and nothing has been approved in East Goshen. This is but the beginning, and people need to stay on top of it.
