Maybe you think spending ad money to blind motorists from this insanely bright sign is the way to get new customers but you are selling cars so why aren’t you more concerned with driver safety?
I mean, do you think this sign is safe do you think this sign is not way too bright for its location? Do you think it’s nice to contribute to making the community in which you have a business as gaudy as Times Square?
I guess what I would just be thinking about if I was this car dealership is the fact that people already take issue with them because of the way, they essentially park cars right on the edge of Route 30 a lot of the time in East Whiteland.
But maybe you should put some money towards upkeep on those old structures on the property in East Whiteland and not billboard ads? These poor old and historic structures sure are getting run down looking or is that by design? Those are your rental properties correct?
And I don’t care what anyone thinks if I am singling out businesses that are contributing to the billboard blight on Route 30 by buying advertising. It is my right to comment, and I also think that if these are people and businesses doing business locally within a community that they should care about how the community looks, shouldn’t they? And is a giant billboard making Lancaster Avenue, AKA Route 30 in Frazer look like Times Square on a Thursday morning caring about the community?
Billboard Ad Blight award du jour goes to this car dealership. Shame on Jeff D’Ambrosio.
Too much? I don’t think so. How many of these GIANT ELECTRONIC OUTDOOR TV’s are supposed to light up our nights? We aren’t I-95. But now Outfront Advertising wants us to think so.
Yes, that is right, ANOTHER billboard application has been filed in East Whiteland Township. Another kill the trees for the Route 202 billboard. The application says 103 Feet East of Mill Lane.
To be clear, because I may not be being clear, this M-700 Application by Outfront Advertising AKA BILLBOARD COMPANY is to REMOVE and potentially unnaturally trim 150 year old sycamore trees not a brand new billboard per se. It FEELS like a new billboard because they are the successor owners to Catalyst. Catalyst had previously filed an M-700 with PennDOT after killing a slew of trees and then there was serious community uproar, and then before a decision was ultimately made if I recall correctly, the application was withdrawn and then the site flipped from Catalyst to Outfront.
This is next to a PARK and residents, as in real affected people. Like last time, it would be a heinous act with environmental, highway, and residential impacts. We are an area that floods now and badly with every heavy storm. Tree removal = more erosion and other impacts with stormwater impact. Overall environmentally this is bad and these are OUR heritage trees. Why do we have to lose more heritage trees in our communities for billboards? Scenic highways, would that be so bad? Less distractions, being more environmentally friendly?
East Whiteland Township is OPPOSED to this new application.
But East Whiteland needs your help, especially but not limited to residents. If you travel this stretch of Route 202 regularly, PLEASE take the time to contact PennDOT and CC: Scott Lambert, Chair of the East Whiteland Township Supervisors. I will provide some lovely email address I have looked up in a moment, but you can also report your concern via their Customer Care Center: https://customercare.penndot.gov/eCCC/eCCC.nsf
YOU MUST BE POLITE AND PROFESSIONAL, NO PROFANITY PLEASE.
At the end I will embed the actual documents I received on a Right to Know. But now a word about billboards as an issue. EVERY SINGLE TIME the issue comes up, the knee jerk response is “get rid of all of the elected officials.”
It’s not that simple, people, and neither should any of you be when it comes to this.
And you know, as well as I do that things with development are not always so simplistic because of the municipalities planning code. Billboards also come in to play with that, because if Pennsylvania had a more strict or defined policy about billboards as a state, it would have a trickle down effect to local zoning, and Pennsylvania kind of looks the other way which is why I am FOR different State Representative representation here for example. State Representative Kristine Howard does not do much of anything and does not have a voice for her constituents. We now have Katie Muth as our State Senator and I don’t know enough about her to have an informed opinion. At this point other than from what I have seen, she does stand up for her constituency, depending upon the issue. Maybe she will show an interest in helping save communities against billboards, or one can only hope.
You all know how I feel about billboards. I’ve never made a secret of it and I’ve been parts of groups fighting billboards since billboards were first proposed around 2010 in Bryn Mawr on Lancaster Avenue.
When billboards first became an issue in East Whiteland, some of the community were all gung ho, and formed a no billboards group. But those people soon fizzled out and didn’t go to meetings they weren’t speaking up and it was just left to a few people. People are not consistent with participating where they live. And everybody has a different reason, but the thing is people have to pay attention to the meetings and the schedules and what’s being submitted and it’s all there as public information. With regard to township meetings you can also attend them on zoom from the comfort of your home. You don’t have to be in person anymore and if you can’t attend them on zoom, you can watch them after on YouTube but people have to participate. Consistently.
Part of the problem is that more residents need to get involved where they live — as in East Whiteland and elsewhere. We can’t blame government for our lack of participation where we live.
When these billboards first came up the threat of the expense of prolonged litigation was real (look at Haverford Township and Lower Merion for real world examples.) This was like the one billboard that the billboard guy really wanted, but he had proposed three, so it was either they were going to accept this one billboard and the other billboards would go away or there would’ve been three like this within a mile and a half to 2 miles. People will have to go back and look at the original submissions. (http://www.eastwhiteland.org/418/E-Whiteland-Outdoor-LLC-Off-Premises-Sig )
Now I will admit that I think they could have said no, but the township felt compromise was in everyone’s best interest. Of course we now know how obnoxious that sign is, so perhaps that sign can be revisited by PennDOT and East Whiteland?
Once again, I ask people to start bombarding state elected officials, including the freaking governor to update the Municipalities Planning Code to protect where we live. It requires them to enact an act of the state constitution to do this, and they’re all too damn lazy to do it and this has to be done in Harrisburg. We need a top down STATE law solution to SAVING our communities from billboard blight.
I just don’t want people throwing the baby out with the bathwater because not all elected officials are bad. And we need to come together on this issue for real. Again.
Here are the documents I have to share below. I am also sharing something from Scenic America. I don’t pretend to have the answers but please contact PennDOT. Time is of the essence. If you have media contacts, please impress upon them to cover this.
Saying NO to billboards IS possible. It doesn’t happen often enough, but it does happen. Phoenixville did it in 2012, remember? And a Chester County Judge upheld that decision in 2014. And special counsel to Phoenixville then is now a judge…Anthony Verwey. And Tredyffrin won their case this year saying NO to a billboard on Lancaster Avenue in Paoli.
Stronger together, people. Fighting billboards is not the purview of any political party. This is a non-partisan we live here but the billboard companies don’t live here kind of an issue. This is purely a We The People thing. Please stand up and be heard.
Together we can save 150 year old trees. Hopefully we can someday save our communities completely from billboard blight. But we can only do that as unified communities across Pennsylvania.
Well it’s a good thing they can’t take away my choice for political party in Chester County, I suppose. Because I am of a mind to “tease out” some more…..it’s generally speaking not helpful for a woman to be a tease, but when it comes to politics, perhaps there are exceptions?
Let’s start with by laws. Local chapters of political parties are supposed to post them. The current Chester County Democratic Committee Secretary is Alex Teplyakov, right? This is the officer responsible for producing the by laws, correct? The NEW CCDC website does NOT post them, as a matter of fact the new website is so dumbed down third graders might take offense, but hey maybe that is me just taking issue with assuming the Democrats at large in Chester County are sheeple and will all do as their told. (Didn’t work so well for the Chester County Republicans when they were leading the county, did it?)
Anyway, anyway, there is the OLD website buried within the new website. I find that both sloppy and a goldmine. Let’s begin with the last publicly published by laws I can find from I guess 2019?
So has young Alex Teplyakov ever actually published the current by laws? Are there current by laws? I mean what are the current by laws? I hear that is a burning question often asked all over Chester County by Democrats in various areas? Is it is a state secret? Are the by laws in witness protection?
So since the by laws are not posted any longer on the sparkly new dumbed down website is this a consciousness of guilt to REMOVE the by laws if they were already and previously posted? I am telling you this is indeed a Nancy Drew Mystery –The Mystery of The Disappearing By Laws
So was no longer having by laws on the new website voted on? Or were new by laws never actually voted on or approved? I got my paws on proposed 2023 by laws, but what did the state actually say and is the Chester County Democratic Committee actually adhering to what the state committee actually dictates? I mean isn’t this a case of what the state says goes? I ask because I do not know, hence the questions. So what did the state Dems actually say??
Here is this draft by laws thing from at some point this year I guess it was?
Can we talk a smidge about these new proposed 2023 by laws that no one is quite sure are approved?
SECTION 3. General Disqualification. No person shall be eligible to hold any CCDC position who:
….b) has entered into an agreement with an opponent or opponent(s) of the Democratic Party to support such opponents;
….“ The County Chair and County Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer need not be members of the County committee at the time of their election”
SECTION 3. County Chair. …… shall see that all orders, resolutions and the Bylaws are carried into effect and performed in a lawful manner…
….SECTION 6. Conflicts with Endorsed Candidate. Where an elected or appointed Zone Leader or Assistant Zone Leader believes that they cannot support a duly endorsed Democratic candidate for personal or professional reasons, that Zone Leader or Assistant Zone Leader shall resign their leadership position upon submitting a letter of resignation to the County Chair within ten (10) days after the Nomination Endorsement Convention where the candidate was endorsed. The Zone shall elect replacements of Zone Leader or Assistant Zone Leader in accordance with Article XI, Section 2.
~2023 draft CCDC By LAWS
Truck to drive through these, anyone? Go through entire document. One thing that is astounding is NO definition of “opponent”. Opponent could be the garbage collector. Ambiguities in this construed against the drafter, right? Could we not hypothesize then that some of the emails that have leaked out penned by Grandma Charlotte violates things and makes HER an “opponent” of the CCDC who needs replacing? (Hey kids, have at it, right?) So to my mind that charming excerpt in Section 6 basically means if you don’t endorse or campaign for who we want you to endorse you’re a goner? How is that legit, legal, ok with state Democrats?
Soooo…for the proposed by laws whom is the author? Is it the current CCDC Solicitor Elizabeth Swain?
I am of course wondering as are many how Ms. Swain can be the solicitor of the Chester County Democrats AND a committee chair? Shouldn’t it be she is either ONE or the OTHER but NOT BOTH? I am not a lawyer, and I don’t play one on the Internet BUT one I know said a lawyer can’t represent the client and also be a potential witness and what do people who know election law think or whom are lawyers? I mean isn’t that just kinda sorta an untenable conflict that doesn’t work?
One of the things bugging me is although the CCDC proclaimed THIS below on their old website, which kind of flies in the face of Grandma Charlotte’s new world order doesn’t it?
Chesco Dems are always looking for passionate, committed people to seek public positions. We recruit and train the highest caliber candidates and provide logistic support to their campaigns. As a Democrat, have you ever considered running for office? Or do you have a Democratic friend, family member, or neighbor who you think would be GREAT for one of the positions on this year’s ballot? We look forward to hearing from you.
Or at the municipal level, contact your local zone. Remember that municipal and school board positions often open up due to resignations, and then the seats are filled by appointment and/or at the next election, so it is good to be prepared.
I mean they SAY they want people to run, but if you aren’t decreed okay by the controlling cabal then where are you? Example number one is a woman who SHOULD be on November’s ballot, Magisterial District Justice Paige Simmons. Ginny Kerslake also comes to mind, who is an amazing woman. She literally has everything they say they want, only she terrifies them essentially for having a brain and a spine and isn’t afraid to show it. Danielle Friel Otten also comes to mind, which is why they are perennially passive aggressive with her and always trying to primary her with temporarily bright shiny objects…err candidates. Or another recent example would be when Libby Madarasz was going to primary Theresa Hogan Santalucia in West Whiteland. No one else had stepped up, and it was enough to make Saint Theresa of West Whiteland come up with “health reasons” to not run again didn’t it? She would not have survived being primaried by ANYONE including Jo Ann Kelton who MAGICALLY popped up seeming like minutes after Libby Madarasz was going to run and said SHE was going to run for Supervisor in West Whiteland? Are we all that naiive that Ms. Kelton popping up was just a coincidence? I think not. I think that was contrived and I am allowed to have that OPINION, yes? Mrs. Madarasz yielded gracefully to Ms. Kelton who does have experience as a current Zoning Hearing Board, a former Planning Commission member, and a long-time committee person for the West Whiteland Democrats. But Ms. Kelton is in her 70s so will she have the stamina for being a Supervisor? Not my township, and hopefully she will be better that Saint Theresa, right?
Other things I am curious about are the values documents on old website, but not new. Is the committee in it’s current executive iteration actually living their espoused values?
And why is there a new treasurer? I thought Ms. Baxter was doing such a wonderful job?
Look at this point, people could sit with a magnifying glass to Sherlock Holmes the Chester County Democratic Committee. It seems fraught with issues, doesn’t it? Kind of sad since they worked so hard to attain their majority?
Final thoughts? People are correct that politics did not cause Danelo Cavalcante to escape from prison. However, there are indeed potential political consequences.
I am but one woman, one voice. The Chester County Democratic Committe and their they can do no wrong cheerleaders have fingernails all poised to claw at me at every turn and why is it so bad to ask questions?
People, I do not pretend to know everything, but I am perennially curious about the inner machinations of politics. That is as American as Apple Pie. That’s how this country was founded.
I am who I am. So now the Chester County Democrats perceive me as public enemy number one for being essentially an inconvenient Democrat. Like I said before it takes me back to 2013 when it was declared I was a tea partier.
Yesterday I offered public comment at the beginning of the Prison Board Meeting in West Chester:
Well then when the rest of public comment rolled around up popped two ride or die Democrats who not only seemingly leave no room for independent thought as well as no room for anyone to challenge the machine, which was rather ironic considering who one of the speakers was and how she was treated in the past by this very county party and I supported her. That is kind of sad, right? I think so.
Now while I respect these women for speaking on what they believe to be true even if people disagree, I don’t respect misquoting me from the same meeting barely an hour before if that. And the passive aggressive “teased out” of it all made me laugh out loud and if I open my mouth for public comment anything, I do my homework ahead of time.
So I offered rebuttal. I do not like being misquoted or a victim of a sniper attack from other Democrats because they think people owe abject loyalty to political parties at all times no matter what even if that kind of makes something more of a cult instead of a functioning political party:
So I have been thinking about this. What does it mean to be a Democrat in Chester County if they attack you for being independent minded? Doesn’t that make them everything they said they wouldn’t be when they took majority in Chester County?
I point you back to JudgeGate from the spring 2023 primaries.
And speaking of JudgeGate will we have StateRepGate again next primary season? Seems like Grandma Charlotte erstwhile head of the Chester County Democrats is at it again? Just visit this website to see. Now this is a person who ran unsuccessfully for Downingtown Borough Council in 2015. She’s part of Mid Chesco Dems, AKA where some of Grandma Charlotte’s filing five came from when they did Paige Simmons dirty in May. (Which was withdrawn in June.)
So unlike others, I pay attention to whom decides to follow me on socials, especially if they are very chirpy. All of a sudden this new Chesco Dem was following. So I kept an eye peeled. And she is running for State Rep. She is a Democrat. She has headshots out there and then there is her Twitter handle and her friends announcing on message boards that she is running for State Rep. That would put her in Legislative District 155, or Danielle Friel Otten’s district.
It doesn’t take new math to figure out this chick has her eyeballs focused on Danielle’s seat, does it? It also doesn’t take much of a reach to figure Grandma Charlotte Valyo of the Chesco Dems must have her paws in this somewhere, does it? So they are gearing up for more Dirty Dems Primary Tricks Done Dirt Cheap, eh? And it’s not like they haven’t done this before, right? I will say sorry if I am wrong, but past being prologue and all say I am right, doesn’t it? We have recent shenanigans and then the others they have primaried against Danielle Otten like Rose Hogan Danese.
Oh and I mentioned JudgeGate in the spring primary, but there was another JudgeGate this summer wasn’t there? Something about just endorsing current sitting GOP judges? Kind of funny after they went after a fellow Democrat who is a Magisterial District Justice who was looking to run for Common Pleas in the spring?
And now this other thing related to that – a rumor of planning to do the sample ballot to the entire county on behalf of CCDC leaving judicial retention question blank? Supposedly local areas/zones are losing their minds because they want to vote NO on the Republican and Indie candidates there, because well Democrats are supposed to elect Democrats, and Republicans wouldn’t support a Democrat, etc? But Grandma Charlotte supposedly thinks this might still achieve retaining the Republican judges? Now to be honest, I have Republican judges I will vote for, but I don’t run the party and that is my personal choice as an inveterate ticket splitter, so Grandma Charlotte are you all there? Je ne comprends pas.
All this strife and controversy from within the Chester County Democrats since Grandma Charlotte Valyo took the wheel, isn’t there? Does she think it’s Phoenixville Country Club or something? She and her hubs were on the board during that whole space oddity of the bailout of that club once upon a time, right? I mean for what the bailout was, isn’t it still surprising that is not a public course since government monies from Schuylkill Township bailed them out? We the people and all that jazz?
The Chester County Democrats always SAY they are different from the GOP but when they do the same stupid tricks now that they are in power are they actually different? Inquiring minds want to know. Want to know what I think?
I think power always corrupts and political power is no different. I think with every leadership change with the Chester County Democrats there is not enough cleaning house of deadwood and the past people who made local paper headlines are still too involved in the running of the party and I am allowed that opinion. I think independent thinking is discouraged and everyone is supposed to walk lock step with whatever leadership is word salading that day, week, hour.
So am I surprised that the claws came out at me at the meeting yesterday? Nope. The Chester County Democratic Committee is like Project Runway: one day you are in, the next day you are out.
Obviously I am out. I was ok to Democrats as an inconvenient Republican, but I am not ok as an inconvenient Democrat. Thanks kids, duly noted, and perhaps Independent is in my future except then I lose right to primary voting.
But their nasty Project Runway behavior seems to be constant and can it be said only pet committee people and zone folks aren’t harangued? I point you to the pet squad of Mid Chester County Dems in particular. Freedom, fairness, opportunity is somewhat subjective with Grandma Charlotte, yes?
I am beginning to feel like the Chester County Democratic Committee want us to be like 1950s housewives: obedient and silent. Sorry doesn’t work for me. And aeresol hairspray isn’t environmentally friendly and went out with Barbara Hafer circa late 1980s- 1990s.
I have a theory. I think there needs to be new leadership with Chesco Dems and a housecleaning of old leadership hanging about. They have become so much like what they criticized and replaced that if that doesn’t happen, mediocrity will reign supreme. Without change there will not be growth. And Chester County Democrats need to grow away from all the current petty bullshit. And there is too much petty bullshit which comes from the top as acceptable behavior. They will have kittens over my opinions on this and I will get nasty comments, but so what? I became a Democrat because I thought they would actually live their mission and they are not. It’s that simple.
All Democrats are not welcomed equally is the clear message. Individuality is not welcome. And they tell their committee people whom they want endorsed. There really is no natural selection, it is pre-ordained.
And I am not letting the Republicans of Chester County off of the hook, either. Most of what CCDC is playing at is out of the age old playbook of the RCCC. It’s all stupid, kind of like their QAnon Princess West Goshen Republican Committeeperson Ada Nestor and her latest obsession: saying Chester County is a Sanctuary County. And also saying that Chester County Prison doesn’t work with ICE. The prison follows the law, they work with federal officials…they have to. And then there is the latest fakakta lawsuit. And the fact that they try to hide it, but still very much cater to extremism groups including those poorly disguised as suburban moms like it is totally normal for a soccer mom to show up at school board meetings in a gas mask, right?
I guess I am waiting for Chester County Democratic Committee and the Republican Committee of Chester County to stop acting like teenage mutant ninja turtles with vertigo and blindfolds. Both parties need work. But the Chester County Democratic Committee should be ashamed of themselves for becoming exactly what they said they wouldn’t when they attained their historic majority. Here’s an idea Chesco Dems: ditch current leadership and their gross and continual stupidity and try to keep your majority because after all, elections are also like Project Runway: one day you’re in, the next day you’re out.
Those who want to tell me how wrong I am? Save your breath. You will need it when I can say told you so, and that day is coming if you don’t get it together.
It’s an epidemic. This is being proposed on a historic site in Montgomery County in Limerick and there’s a meeting tomorrow and I guess they broadcast live on Facebook as well.
Just a crazy idea, but perhaps people should tune in to this meeting, because apparently a lot of us across Southeastern PA have a similar issue, and the more people who object to these warehouses the better off, we will all be.
Location: Possum Hollow Road Review Phase: Preliminary Plan
CB Limerick LLC proposes to subdivide the 117.9 Acre tract fronting W. Lightcap Road into five lots and construct four storage facilities totaling 1 Mil SF and one 30,000 SF and one retail space with associated loading, parking and stormwater facilities. The project also proposes to construct private road connecting W. Lightcap Road (at the light at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets) to Sanatoga Road. Project will be serviced by public water and sewer.
This is being proposed by I think some people from New York. A subsidiary of the Iconic Group (whomever they are.) I will note as a related aside to Chester County residents that apparently the old Saint Gabriel’s Hall is something Audubon has their paws in.
And Limerick isn’t that far from the Chester County border and there is a lot of development being planned there. It’s pretty frightening but it’s also Montgomery County, which is where the head of Chester County Planning Commission hails from – and you know I think Brian O’Leary is a carpet bagger and too pro development.
So back to Limerick. What is so atrocious is once again a historic property is at risk because of a mega warehouse plan.
Hood Mansion located in Limerick, PA was built in 1834 by John M. Hood, an Irish immigrant. He built it as a summer home for his wife and his thirteen children.
The Hood’s son, Washington, was the 500th graduate of West Point in 1827. He then went on to become Captain of the Corps of Topographical Engineers in the US Army and mapped out most of the Oregon Territory and Northwest. After he died at the age of 32 of Yellow Fever, his father erected a monument in his honor. The monument is still located on the estate, as well as the original family crypt.
The Hood Mansion would be demolished. It would be replaced with mega warehouses. So this beautiful historic structure with ties to national, local, and cultural significance with a retaining pond would be lost forever along with more open space. Please note the Hood family also advocated and helped enslaved persons reach freedom during the Underground Railroad. So there is that too.
This is not a structure to just be bulldozed and forgotten…. this is just as horrible and egregious as what’s being proposed for Lionville Station Farm and Happy Days Farm in Chester County.
All of these pieces of land have historic import. And while we can’t save every old house, there are some we should just save. And the way Hood is being left at present to rot is just as bad as Lloyd Farm in Caln. Why can’t we ever have adaptive reuse in part with any of these proposals? It’s just demolish and build and it’s like mega warehouses have become the new apartment building plans. They’re all bad. They all suck. They’re not anything to do with our communities or the people that live there let alone our history.
In Southeastern, Pennsylvania is seems any open space with serious history that isn’t being turned into ugly ass apartment buildings and townhouse developments is being proposed for mega warehouses now.
I swear I used to think it was just Chester county where we had to band together. I think we have to band together in multiple counties.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS PUBLIC MEETING 19 SEPTEMBER 2023, 7:00 P.M. – LIMERICK TOWNSHIP MUNICIPAL BUILDING
646 West Ridge Pike, Limerick, PA 19468
I don’t usually curse in my posts but this is bullsh🤬t. Just like Lionville Station Farm and Happy Days Farm.
Development in West Whiteland – Route 30 to Ship Road and down both sides of Ship Road. Bad, dense, not even particularly affordable- just another bunch of Tyvec wrapped cram plans.
The development from various predatory developers in this area heads east until it practically hits East Whiteland. Then you proceed to Easttown and Tredyffrin all the way down to Radnor Township.
Too much, too dense, cheap, fast build and rather pricey. Nothing affordable. This is stressing our infrastructure including the human variety, and squeezing our school districts to a breaking point.
Wherever you live get active in your community. Make elections have a focus on all this overdevelopment from local to state to federal elections. Start talking about the Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It hasn’t been updated comprehensively since 1969…and one of the things that first got built THEN was Chesterbrook.
I put together a small reel. Pictures speak louder than words. Be horrified because progress shouldn’t hurt our communities and that’s what is happening.
Danelo Cavalcante is now in custody. 14 days later. Finally. Thankfully. I have included this morning’s press conference. The AP has a great video, with other footage before the presser.
I will start with Governor Josh Shapiro. It was right for him to be here for this. But he mentioned in his remarks Chairwoman of the Chester County Commissioners Marian Moscowitz. But where has Marian been during all of this? We didn’t hear from her. We didn’t even hear from Congresswoman Chrissie Houlahan on this situation until yesterday because of this. State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens however is kind of a cool dude I think. Talk about consistent grace under pressure and unwavering faith. I would totally like to shake his hand. And I say that as someone who was critical because this was insane.
The press conference begins at the 14 minutes and 8 seconds mark there abouts. Earlier AP footage here also interesting.
Sorry not sorry, it still bothers me whom we didn’t see and didn’t really hear from. Disappoints me. Makes me question things. Someone said to me today that they were not sure how well the Governor thought of county leadership after this. Interesting perspective, no?
And when we are talking law enforcement, Chester County Sheriff Fredda Maddox who is also on the board of the Chester County Prison was noticeably absent. We saw sheriff candidate in the presser line up today. Not impressed by him. Fired from DA’s office, he sues Deb Ryan and DA’s office, and goes across the hall or whatever in like a couple of weeks to the Sheriff’s office and now he wants to be Sheriff?
It’s one of those pretzel logic things with Chester County Democrats and Grandma Charlotte’s merry band of whatevers: they endorse District Attorney Deb Ryan for Judge, she becomes a candidate after the primary, yet the guy who sued her and her office is the candidate for Sheriff? Like I said: Pretzel Logic. Which of course is another reason why it’s time for Grandma Charlotte to retire. The CCDC has become kind of what they replaced, which is well, ironic.
As far as “county row” and who is on the prison board we heard from Josh Maxwell and Deb Ryan. And frankly I think the Chesco Democrats kind of left Deb Ryan twisting in the wind during this and I think that was wrong.
I took MAJOR crap from some connected depending upon how the wind blows Democrats. I mention the wind because that is kind of how I see the Chester County Democrats leadership these days. It’s like they lick their fingers and hold them up to see which direction the wind is blowing. I got this whole lecture about how the sheriff serves on the prison board and the county runs the prison and the chief deputy sheriff does neither.
Why my goodness Watson, I never knew. (Yes heavy sarcasm.)
BUT the prison board has a lot to answer for here. People on the prison board are up for re-election, and new elected positions. It would have been *HELPFUL* if we had seen the literal whites of their eyes for REASSURANCE while this was going on. That’s not to say I want someone like Republican Candidate Dave Sommers as a Chester County Commissioner. I do not. He is not qualified and is a guy who likes to run for things and right or wrong gives off Eau de Smarmy. He is kind of like the “Professor” running for DASD school board who called me a racist for mocking him as a person also of Italian heritage. Ick factor runs high. Sorry not sorry. For digressing. Not for my opinion.
Then I was told as a currently registered Democrat I essentially shouldn’t question leadership etc etc. EVER. That I shouldn’t point fingers in a “heightened political atmosphere.” I mean REALLY? Escaped murderers are inconvenient for Chester County politics much? The only people you ever saw occasionally making comments during the past 14 days were indeed IMHO kind of being left to hang out and blow around. I don’t think that is right. Suffice it to say, politically this is interesting because it could actually cost Chester County Democrats their leadership. I think that is why we had governor sightings.
I am entitled to this opinion. Tough noogies. And I am not alone.
And win or lose in any situation, there is a thing calledaccountability. Something quite a few Chester County politicians from both parties and CCDC party leadership in particular need to embrace. A friend said along those lines, a chair of any organization has to lead by example. It isn’t about purity, it’s about walking the walk, not just talking the talk. It can’t always be oops we did it again, right? And win or lose in situations like this or elections, be accountable. You have all these county row folks and more in he middle of this prison mess. And a lot were invisible to the residents of Chester County while this was going on. And how about those who have received the CCDC nod, AKA endorsements? Why don’t endorsements require the quid pro quo of serving at least a full term before seeking the next office?
Now there are LOTS of questions now about Chester County Prison. And the problems here obviously didn’t just begin, so then is it fair to say, there is plenty of political blame to go around? So Republicans past and present, you are not off of the hook, either, are you? Does Chester County need to talk about the LAST two wardens? And how will they conduct a search for the next warden? Or will it be the interim guy? Here is the last prison Board Meeting August 30, 2023…you know the day BEFORE Cavalcante escaped:
The NEXT Prison Board Meeting is coming up. Wednesday, September 20, 2:30 PM. Location is given as the prison. I would *HOPE* this would be a zoom available meeting but I don’t know.
With regard to the prison, escape should be topic #1, right? And will we get answers to May escape as well? Because let us not forget, the May escapee, escaped another time in 2019, right?
Of course in Brazil, Danelo Cavalcante is apparently a folk hero to some who don’t like Americans. (Read this article.) That irritates me as much as the ridiculous immigration political wars on social media the past 14 days. Not to be a bitch (but I will be), Cavalcante entered the US in 2018 under the watch of Donald Trump the great border bore.
Yoda is awesome! Unknown source for photo.
And the people who have taken issue with the law enforcement posing for a photo when Cavalcante was captured. Get over yourselves.
They worked their asses off. They kept us safe. Those guys from Texas were the bomb and the others from all other areas of state, local, and Federal law enforcement. You think this was terrible to take a damn photo of something they will remember for years to come? Personally what I think is unforgivable is you all can’t sit down and say THANK YOU.
Video courtesy of Deanna Durante
I will not lie, I lost faith in this process many times while it was occurring. It took a long time. In every area he was sighted, I have friends. I have family in law enforcement and friends. None that were on this detail, but undoubtedly they knew folks who were. This was like every FBI series or SWAT series we have ever watched on TV ….. only it was in our back yards. I found myself frustrated a lot because every damn night we went to sleep hoping tonight was the night, and we woke up and nope he was still on the run.
My husband was one of the ones who helped me see it differently. He said to me day 1 that Danelo Cavalcante was like a feral animal. Not trained in anything other than survival. He rested mostly during the day, and moved around at night. The heat made thermal imaging stuff difficult. Thunderstorms made it difficult for helicopters and planes.
Another issue is we were starved for information. We were not getting a lot at times from the normal channels. The notification systems were spotty until the call and text today that said he was apprehended. Then we had almost oversaturation when we had the convict chasers, who are like storm chasers. Then we had people glued to their You Tube broadcasts, who would simultaneously chide me for sharing and then tell me every bad thing they could dig up on these guys. It was kind of exhausting.
We will all sleep well tonight. Say thank you to those men and women who patrolled and searched and hunted for 14 days. Yoda the dog deserves a big old steak. As a matter of fact, the reward money? Can it go towards the K-9s who were on the job these past two weeks? And speaking of K-9s, one of the things I liked about Governor Shapiro’s remarks were his comments about the value of K-9 units.
I will note the person who sent me the link was rather passive aggressive in their chiding that I did not share the GoFundMe immediately. I did not wish to do it while they were hunting Cavalcante. I wanted to wait until he was back inside. But you know with some people I am just supposed to do what they want when they want or whatever like I am their damn employee.
The one sad thing is this manhunt and situation brought out is the missing common sense in people and those who need to be in the spotlight for stupidity. People joy riding around all of the police check points. One of the best things was watching people decide to just do what they wanted at police check points and road blocks and the police stopping them….all while the You Tube guys were recording. You know them, the ones who think “road closed” is for other people. This time they got their asses turned around and/or slowed down for their misplaced sense of entitlement.
I get it, nerves are still frayed after this. But seriously people, now that it is over can we concentrate what needs fixing politically and in that prison so this never happens again? More people could have died, and didn’t and we should be grateful. And I say that as someone who was over this by like day 3.
Last words? Cavalcante is now PA Inmate QP8931. Here’s hoping his public defender sits the freak down and doesn’t appeal what is not appealable. The Office of the PA Attorney General will investigate and prosecute the escape as per a press release. Can we HOPE he will BE IN JAIL IN A STATE PRISON when they do the whole escape charge preliminary hearing? Can we hope the investigation into the prison will not be a fluffy thing but a real hard look into what goes on there and what has gone on in the past and answers as to WHY the prior warden was put on administrative leave in the first place and more? That is what is important people, not being a bunch of little bitches about a law enforcement photo this morning.
And Yoda the dog? You rock can I buy you a nice steak or bully bone?
Good night folks.
Another wonderful photo, origin unknown but thank you for taking it.
If you are a Chester County resident, you are undoubtedly weary of the man hunt for Danelo Cavalcante.
Now it’s kind of like not when they catch the little bastard, it’s IF. Most people now are flying by on social media saying they hope he resists and that he’s put down.
This afternoon they were around Wetherhill Estates or something and there is a shelter in place.
The one sad thing this manhunt is bringing out is the missing common sense in people and those who need to be in the spotlight for stupidity. People joy riding around all of the police check points. My favorite today was watching people decide to just do what they wanted at police check points and road blocks and the police stopping them….all while the You Tube guys were recording.
My other favorite thing since this started are Democrats chiding me for questioning leadership in Chester County who have been rather well SILENT. And some are on the PRISON board. One accused me of being “fed” information and amusingly told me of a certain person running for office who was supposedly putting in all these hours that is Caspar the friendly ghost in fact.
I love being told I shouldn’t point fingers in a “heightened political atmosphere” I mean REALLY? Escaped murderer is inconvenient for Chester County politics much? The only people you ever see occasionally making comments are kind of being left to hang out and blow around. I don’t think that is right. Suffice it to say, politically this is interesting because it could actually cost Chester County Democrats their leadership. I think that is why we had a governor sighting today if I am being honest.
The days go by and it’s Where’s Waldo with a feral murderer who never should have escaped from prison in the first place. The Pennsylvania State Police are still in charge, so at least these past two weeks they have an excuse for not following up on wherever Anna Maciejewska is right?
God we all WISH he would be caught. We know the area is tough. We appreciate all law enforcement has been doing. But we’re all tired. Frustrated. Anxious. This is what a reader sent me – a video of their new never going to be normal:
This is a horrible way to live right now. If you see this guy CALL 911. You shouldn’t have to be motivated by a reward. This guy has a gun. He is doing everything just to not go back to jail.
Ok well tomorrow is day 14. Please stay safe people. This is no joke. This is not a dress rehearsal for life. This is a scary, exhausting, frustrating reality. It’s like you can’t even feel safe outside in your own garden. Wondering if we need Texas Rangers in PA?
Try to sleep East Nantmeal and the surrounding area.
Please use this day to remember all of those Americans who died on 9/11. Multiple races, ethnicities, walks of life, and more. Remember all of those people who died on this day to help protect our freedoms.
Honor America by actually remembering who we are, not what some try to dictate whom they say we should be.
On September 11, 2020 it was the 19th unbelievable anniversary of 9/11. One of the things that 9/11 taught us, as journalist Harry Smith on NBC’s Today Show had pointed out then on the morning news is in this great country if we look, there is more that unites us versus divides us, and we learned that from 9/11. He also remarked that it’s hard for us to see it now and it is. We are a country divided.
We can’t remain a country divided, and this somber anniversary is the best example why.
Yet we are a country still divided, even more divided I feel. Full of zealots wound up in their own hatred determined to pummel us with what they feel are their superior views. I was reminded of that this weekend when a woman I wrote about decided to get quite literally in my face so I knew who she was or saw her.
We were at a ceremony marking the history of a cemetery and a church ruin. Was that her appropriate moment? No of course not, but what she didn’t get is that I already saw her before seeing her inches from my face and it cemented my sense of what she did being wrong all over again. I told her that I don’t speak to people like her and walked away.
But these people like this woman? They don’t understand that they get their very rights to try to remove the rights of others in this country because of our forefathers, and again because of the people who lose their lives for being Americans. Like 9/11.
On 9/11 Americans were targeted for violence and death for being American. And any other person who was from any other part of the world who died that day in NYC, Washington DC, or Shanksville, PA died for being in the US then for whatever reason.
Yes, there is always more that unites us versus divides us, and we learned that from 9/11 and that is often nearly impossible for us to see in today’s world . We are still a country divided. We can’t remain a country divided and the anniversary of 9/11 is the best example why.
Today also marks day 12 that an escaped murderer is on the loose in Chester County County. Here’s hoping Danelo Cavalcante is apprehended today. Here’s a video from a guy from this morning about this:
I think they totally don’t know where this guy is at this point and that bothers me because today is 9/11 and there are ceremonies everywhere even in Chester County.
Back to 9/11.
The news is once again full of stories of families who lost people on 9/11. Children who grew up without parents because they died on 9/11. This is unimaginable loss, and all of these people have gone forward with their lives which has to be so hard at some moments. Graduations, weddings, first days of school, first steps of children and grandchildren and more.
Again on 9/11, I am also going to pause and remember two men I went to college with. I’m not going to be some kind of weird death hypocrite and say I really knew them or they were my close personal friends because they weren’t. They were both people I met a couple of times, but people I never really knew who were close to people important to me to this very day. They lost their lives on 9/11.
9/11 Memorial in New Jersey – my photo.
Doug Cherry worked for AON. I remember when I found out that he had died in the trade center because I worked for then Wachovia Securities, and AON had a large office literally across the hall. Someone I knew from that office had oddly remembered I went to Ohio Weslyan. So they told me when they learned the names of those who had died in their company. But that wasn’t on 9/11 that was in the days that followed. I remember afterwards the days that followed when you started to see the roll call of names of people lost.
I remember when I heard about Doug I kind of felt old and felt my own mortality for the first time. He was my class, and although he wasn’t a close friend or somebody I even really knew back then, we went to a small school, so you remembered the faces even if you didn’t remember the people.
That was the case with Ted Luckett. He was the class ahead, and again somebody I didn’t know but remembered. But I remembered back then is he liked to sail — there were a lot of guys who went to Ohio Weslyan who were amazing sailors. Even on America’s Cup crews.
I remember when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. It was at this moment I was pulling into my garage back then where I worked for then Wachovia Securities in Conshohocken. I was listening to the radio. I remember the tears just starting to roll down my face because I knew, I knew they (terrorists) came back because I had walked out of the World Trade Center shopping concourse in 1993 when they blew up the garage.
And when I say I remember exactly when it was as the bomb detonated in that garage in 1993. I was standing on the sidewalk outside looking at Century 21. If life has been different I might still have been working in New York City on September 11, 2001.
I also remember as I walked into my office that fateful day in 2001, and all the brokers were riveted to television screens in their offices and their computers, at that point in time most people didn’t believe those were terrorist attacks. They just thought like a small plane had gone into the trade center. It was a crazy surreal morning as the news started to unfold. It’s crazy how clearly I can still remember it. I think this is like it was for our parents the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated. You remember where you were and what you were doing.
I also remember calling my late father, who was on his cell phone on an Amtrak train to New York for some kind of an appointment, and when he answered the phone I remember saying “Where are you? Where are you?” And he told me they had just stopped at Metro Park, New Jersey, and I told him get off the train. Take another train back. And he told me oh no the AMTRAK conductors said it’s fine, it’s nothing and he would be back that evening. With the aftermath of 9/11 in NYC, he couldn’t get out of that city for days.
So it’s been 22 years, what have we learned? I ask that ever year.
Another of the other things I remember on this day now twenty years ago, two sisters I grew up with who were close childhood family friends and still are. One, at the time, worked for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The other I think worked for Marsh and McLennan at the time (can’t remember for sure), but she did work somewhere in the World Trade Center. I remember being in a panic for days until I found out they were OK. One or both were out of state visiting their parents. And one sister had actually just left her job to go back to school or she definitely would have been there.
One of the sisters, if not both, were posted on missing persons lists that kept coming out back then at a rapid-fire pace. You have no idea how surreal it was to see familiar names on these lists. Especially because at this point the missing persons lists were also presumed dead lists.
On the 22nd anniversary of 9/11, I am also going to once again pause for a moment to remember the OTHER terrorist attempt on the World Trade Center. February 26, 1993.
In 1993, I worked in New York at that time at an office located downtown in the financial district. 44 Wall Street. Gabriele, Hueglin & Cashman.
On that day, I had accompanied my office friend Deirdre to the World Trade Center to grab an early lunch and to check out some stores in the shopping concourse above the garage. We were back outside of the World Trade Center buildings, getting ready to cross the street, when suddenly the ground shook and moved. I remember that we were looking directly across the street at Century 21, a department store in Lower Manhattan.
Then something happened that rarely happens in New York: Everything went eerily still and quiet. We looked up at what we first thought were snowflakes beginning to float and fall from the sky. After all, it was February.
Then car alarms began to go off one by one like the cacophony of many distorted bells. The snowflakes, we soon discovered, were in reality ashes.
People began yelling and screaming. It became very confusing and chaotic all at once, like someone flipped a switch to “on.” At first, we both felt rooted to the sidewalk, unable to move. I remember feeling a sense of panic at the unknown.
We had absolutely no idea what had happened, and hurried back to our office. Reaching it, we were greeted by worried coworkers who told us that someone had set off a bomb underground in the World Trade Center garage. That much had come over the Bloomberg machine.
I will never forget the crazy kaleidoscope of images, throughout that afternoon, of all the people who were related to or knew people in my office who sought refuge in our office after walking down the innumerable flights of steps in the dark to exit the World Trade Center Towers. They arrived with soot all over their faces, hands and clothes. They all wore zombie looks of shock, disbelief and panic.
Of course, the oddest thing about the first terrorist attack on New York City is that I don’t remember much lasting fuss about it. I do remember that President Bill Clinton was newly sworn into office, but I don’t remember him coming to visit New York after the attack. (I found out later he did not visit New York after this attack.)
Everything was back to normal in Lower Manhattan in about a month, maybe two. After a while, unless you had worked in New York, or lived in New York, you simply forgot about this 1993 “incident.”
Except if you were there, like I was, you always remember that day as well. And I am sure I am not the only one who was in New York City downtown in February 1993 who felt as I did on September 11, 2001: that immediate “they came back” feeling.
Within the past few years I found my work friend Deirdre again, and we are reconnected. She still in the New York metropolitan area and has a beautiful family.
Life must go on and time can’t stand still, but all in all I can’t help but wonder: What have we learned since about our country and about ourselves? TWENTY TWO years after 9/11 what have we learned and what have we forgotten? What do we need to remember?
We never forget this day and never should. But what have we learned? I think we need to pay it forward as a country in memory of all of those first responders and others who lost their lives. We need to be better versions of ourselves. We need to come together as a country.
We need peace, and less racial divide and polarizing, divisive politics. Is that possible? I don’t know. But we can try.
I don’t really have that much else to say about 9/11 today, other than this isn’t Taylor Swift’s 22.
I will close with it is so almost inconceivable to me that 22 years have gone by in a blink since 9/11 happened. Here’s wishing for a better world… and remembering those who lost their lives and gave their lives on this day as well as those who were in our lives then, but are not now.
Danelo Cavalcante has been on the loose for NINE days. Nine. It’s kind of inconceivable that this is going on but it’s the real world so it happens. I still don’t understand how it happened from the perspective of it took that prison an hour to figure out he was gone? As of 5:30 PM , the AP is reporting the guard who was supposed to be watching was fired. Is this person the only head to roll here? What about whoever was on duty in May when the other guy escaped or in 2019 when the other guy escaped the first time?
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — A prison tower guard has been fired after letting a murderer slip away on his watch in a brazen daytime escape, officials said Friday, as the nine-day-old search pressed on amid southeastern Philadelphia suburbs, farmland and a vast botanical garden.
News of the firing came as the searchers’ ranks grew overnight, focusing on the area around Longwood Gardens, where the fugitive inmate has been spotted before.
Danelo Souza Cavalcante, 34, escaped while awaiting transfer to state prison on Aug. 31 after being sentenced to life in prison for fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend in 2021. Prosecutors say he wanted to stop her from telling police that he’s wanted over a killing in his home country of Brazil.
But there are other people that we haven’t heard from in this. We haven’t heard from board members of that prison who are elected officials in Chester County, seeking reelection and higher office. I’m speaking specifically about Chair of the Chester County Commissioners Marian Moscowitz and Sheriff Fredda Maddox, now judicial candidate.
I am asking this as a registered Democrat no less. It’s nothing personal but I think we haven’t heard from them and I know for one I would feel more comfortable if I heard anything coming out of their mouths on this issue and temporary new normal and all I hear are other people. It’s like they are leaving District Attorney Deb Ryan on her own, and I just don’t think that’s right.
The law-enforcement presence amped up further today, and these people are to be applauded even if they haven’t found Cavalcante yet. They are working their asses off. Which is more than you can say for the people at Chester County prison who let this happen in the first place.
I am sharing an excerpt from today’s Inquirer article and I will point out that the byline holder with Vinny Vella named Jesse Bunch is Inquirer legacy. I don’t know either of his parents, but I read and have read their articles and columns for years (his mom is retired from the paper.) This is a total non-related aside, but I think it’s pretty cool.
by Vinny Vella and Jesse Bunch Published Sep. 8, 2023, 4:45 p.m. ET
Nerves are frayed all over Chester County. You don’t have to be immediately in the vicinity with all the police activity to be concerned. This is our new normal right now but it’s anything but normal.
I hear the Mushroom Festival in Kennett Square is going on as planned this weekend, I almost think that’s kind of crazy at this point I wish they could postpone it until next weekend but I hope they have a good time.
