Tag Archives: daily local

who is going to east goshen’s community day on saturday june 23rd?

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All my friends know that I love community day events, church fairs, First Friday events (especially First Friday Main Line!), and so on.

Community events are what brings people in this busy world together for simple fun and just the joy of getting together.  As I photograph a lot of these types of events, I always meet fun people.

So East Goshen has East Goshen Township Community Day this Saturday, June 23rd starting at 5 p.m. and the rain date is June 24th. (and the photos I have up are from other events I have covered, not theirs as I have never been!)

As a new Chester County and East Goshen resident I am really looking forward to checking this out!

East Goshen says that although their park is dog friendly, this event is NOT a dog friendly event, so leave your pooches at home.   There are fireworks and will be a lot of people, so it is also kinder – that is a lot of stimulation on a day that will undoubtedly be warm.

 

So I am told that the activities will include:

 

 

 

 

  • Fireworks at dusk (yay!)
  • Former US Army Golden Knights Parachutist will land on park fields
  • Two live bands: Cool Confusion and Blue Sky Band
  • Giant moon bounce, slide,obstacle course, trackless train,carnival games
  • Laser tag
  • Stubby the helicopter from the American Helicopter Museum
  • Free golf swing evaluations from a pro at Tee it Up Golf
  • Antique fire truck
  • Face Painting by Center on Central
  • Information tables with various folks from Paoli Hospital
  • Monster basketball
  • FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

…and more!

I am a giant kid at heart when it comes to these events, so I can’t wait!  Come out and hang with your friends and neighbors and enjoy a fun, old-fashioned, summer evening in the park.

And oh yes, I just called East Goshen to confirm this is a FREE event.  I am sure the food and carnival games might have a nominal fee, but there is no entrance fee.

See you in the park!

just wondering….about malvern

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As I read yet more and more about Malvern’s great super-sizing plans courtesy of developer Eli Kahn, I can’t help but wonder if in the end, residents will be satisfied with the Emperor’s New Clothes of it all.

Malvern as long as I can remember has had an unfortunate identity crisis – mostly stemming from local officials as opposed to residents.  The borough of Malvern has a charm that doesn’t need super-sizing with giant Tyvec wrapped buildings that will end up looking like a New Urbanism Disneyland.

But hey, I can’t see it from my window.

So to answer the question of a guy blogging on Malvern Patch who writes about the East King Development , as far as at what cost this development?  Well I think you will sacrifice the charm of the area you call home and the traffic will be a nightmare. I think parts of Malvern may end up looking as unattractive as parts of Eagle, another tiny community developers had a “vision” for.

Of course as I read about in the Daily Local about a missing developmentally challenged boy from up King Road, I also wondered how what currently exists up and down King, whether it would be road or street will co-exist with GRAND PLANS? (you have to use all caps because these developer plans are always GRAND.)

I think super-sizing Malvern is a mistake, but hey that is just my opinion.    Part of the reason I wanted to be in Chester County is it isn’t the Main Line, which in many parts has just been ruined  by development.  But now that I am here, I am learning that dumb development plans exist all over.

Which of course is why they need to update the Municipalities Planning Code of PA.

And while we are on the topic of building/development, can anyone tell me what is going on at the former site of Maddie’s on Route 30 in Frazer?  There is some construction going on and yesterday there were also a slew of union picketers going on. Yet ironically enough, the orginal Maddie’s sign remains – my hypothesis there is if they demolish the sign they might have to go through zoning or whatever to get approval.

 

 

supporting free speech and true good government is not “nonsense”

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First of all, when I write an editorial, I sign my name to it.  And that includes in Journal Register publications of which The Daily Local is part of.

I am wondering today about  whomever wrote the editorial on West Vincent Township.  They did not sign their name so Santa Claus with a bad hangover could have scribbled it. And while entitled to their opinion as I am mine, I think they are being misguided and are also perhaps being misled.

The long and short of it is, one would *think* that a newspaper would be supportive of initiatives that preserved freedom of speech and good government, yes?  Well I am thinking this writer today prefers Pravda.  It is tempting to ask them why it is they always seem to go on the offensive with the people in West Vincent who seem to want to get better government and better government best practices in place.

For them to sort of kind of imply that West Vincent’s attempt to not regulate, but in fact, limit the public voice is perhaps not so bad is worrisome indeed.  Because that is what David Brown and the Supervisors of West Vincent want to do.  David Brown in his own words during his campaign said that he wanted more participation, that more people should come to meetings and in essence speak up.  Well they are starting to attend meetings and they are starting to comment, only West Vincent doesn’t like it because it runs contra to the township party line.  The people of West Vincent are trying to take back where they live and have a say in things.

I think a lot of people were happy to go along just to get along until West Vincent attempted eminent domain for private gain on Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show around Christmas.  That woke people up to their government.  Something like eminent domain generally does.

I find it incredulous that The Daily Local would put forth an opinion that the people of West Vincent are in essence wrong for wanting a say in where they live.  And they are criticizing some of the people who have in fact bought stories to them that sell their papers.  And how dumb are they that they can’t see what David Brown refers to as “outshouters” are in fact not.  Why is it o.k. for a female supervisor to be heard cussing at a public meeting and calling a resident a foul name, yet when the public is frustrated by the very government process that is wrong?

The Daily Local in their royal we should be looking at what is upsetting people, not supporting efforts to render them mute or close to it at public meetings.

Just my opinion as an outsider looking in, but I feel *very* strongly about public process, open government, good government and public participation.  The government in West Vincent doesn’t seem like they can follow their rules and structure that they have now, they can’t even manage to not “lose” meeting tapes according to residents can they?   So now they want to give the rules rules so everyone can follow them?  Am I following that correctly?  And *none* of this has anything to do with a small town government that is somewhat out of its depth in a modern world and really just at the end of the day might not want to work so hard?  Lordy if that is what some officials believe, step down, it seems there are more than enough people interested in rolling up their sleeves and doing a good job for the home team, right?

And if I can sign my name to what I write for newspapers, and so can some of the editors I have written under, I think so can the editorial staff of The Daily Local.

Here is the editorial:

We are going to assume that Tom Helwig, a resident of West Vincent and a representative of that township’s Republican Party, was speaking hyperbolically recently when he compared the township’s board of supervisors’ attempt to reasonably regulate the manner in which the public is given the opportunity to speak to the remnants of the failed communist system in Russia.

Helwig accused the supervisors of attempting to hinder the comments of those with opposing viewpoints….“Our purpose is to create a structure within which all West Vincent residents can speak freely at public meetings, rather than to continue permitting a few individuals to outtalk and outshout everyone else,” said newly elected Supervisor David Brown. “Those outshouters complain that our intent is to limit public participation. Nonsense.”

Supporting free speech and true good government is not nonsense.   Making light  of people concerned with true good government in my opinion is also not right.  Enough said, except this is my opinion and I am entitled to it.

too much sunshine in west vincent for vampires?

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I am on pins and needles waiting for the update of last evening’s Board of Supervisors Meeting in West Vincent where they were discussing controlling the public voice as far as public participation. Or was he there and just really, really tiny wearing his Super Politician Cloak of Invisibility?

What I heard thus far is King of all Goats Supervisor Ken Miller was a no-show?  Now some of my farmer friends are starting to see their mama goats drop new kids on the block, so was he playing midwife?  Or merely playing possum?

And was the Township Manager James Wendelgass really out sick?  Does he need chicken soup from Chickenman? I seem to recall reading/hearing about absences like this when eminent domain was heating up to try to be the Christmas gift that keeps on giving?  So is this a small government tactic to make sure there are no quorums, etc when decisions have to be made?

My largest amusement factor of meeting tidbits thus far is Supervisor David Brown having an apparent case of selective male Alzheimer’s and having zero recall on how meetings, etc go in Lower Merion Township? Where he spent many years, as in decades before becoming a reinvented country gent? REALLY?

Ok so if he can’t remember, wow, if I were him I would worry about being effective as a West Vincent Supervisor.  Here are some choice activities from his own political resume posted on his own website (one will asume the website will stay up of course?) He posted this info, to show you the good people of West Vincent his qualifications.  So pardon me if I do not believe he doesn’t know anything about “how Lower Merion does things, and that’s where I’m from”.   See (partial posting):

CIVIC

  • Gladwyne Fire Company Director 1982 – 2005 Member Executive Committee 1990 – 2005 Solicitor 1980 – present
  • Gladwyne Civic Association Former Director

POLITICAL ACTIVITY

  • Republican Committee of Lower Merion & Narberth Committeeman 1976 – 1990
  • Counsel to Committee 1990 – 2004
  • Member Executive Committee 1990 – 2004
  • Former Solicitor to Montgomery County Controller

Mr. Brown, with all due respect to your many years of service in Lower Merion, but in my humble opinion, you know exactly how things are done now and were done then in Lower Merion.

As an outsider looking in, I do not get any of this.  Why so many issues that skirt transparency and sunshine let alone public participation in the government residents are paying for?  They want public participation, but only if they control it? Welcome to Pravda or what? How is West Vincent supposed to know and listen to its citizens if it muzzles them?

Is it true when it got around to this public participation on the agenda that Supervisor Brown said there was nothing to the issue other than to tell people that it was “still being worked on”?  Magna Carta anyone?

Maybe as a helpful outsider I can remind Mr. Brown of his own words from when he was a candidate?

Thus far West Vincent has left me alone.  I do feel, however, that they need to be reminded of freedom of speech and opinion….and that political satire is as old as dirt.

meanwhile back at ludwig’s corner….

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Well apparently the accusers of Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show Grounds have names.  They mean nothing to me, of course, but they confuse me.  The horse show grounds have existed for decades, correct?  So people who move in would know there is skeet shooting, right?  So if you didn’t want to hear guns why move to a fairly rural area where you know there is skeet shooting?

I wrote about this before , and someone pointed out to me that clay pigeons shouldn’t be an issue, but if the lead shot wasn’t cleaned up, that would be a legitimate gripe.  But you aren’t hearing about the lead shot, you are hearing about clay pigeons.

Ludwig’s seeks better relationship with its neighbors

Published: Tuesday, February 07, 2012

By SARA MOSQUEDA-FERNANDEZ smfernandez@dailylocal.com

WEST VINCENT — The Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show Association is checking ways to improve its status among its neighbors by responding to their concerns.
….Linda Rava, a 15-year neighbor of the grounds, said that although she didn’t support the township supervisors’ use of eminent domain, she also doesn’t support the “belligerent” and “aggressive” behavior of the members of the skeet shooting club. Rava says that they now shoot over neighbors’ property on Sundays and holidays, including Christmas, New Years, Easter, and Mother’s Day.
“The last couple of years they have not been good neighbors,” said Rava. “I hope that the Horse Show does the right thing and takes care of their property.”
Judy Holmes, another neighbor of the grounds, is another voice against the booming practices of the shooting club.
“(They) disrupt our quiet,” said Holmes. “The Ludwigs Corner Horse Show could care less about us neighbors and being inconvenienced by this.”

And what up with the noise brew ha ha ha?  I get these people don’t like noise, but if that is the case what is with these Whinersons?  Why did they move next door to a place that is known for many things including skeet shooting?  They disrupt their quiet?  Look, I like quiet, but if I made a conscious decision to move next door to a shooting range, gun club, or a property where skeet shooting occurred, wouldn’t I have to expect a little bit of noise once in a while? Do they believe in deer birth control versus culling the herd, too?

Who are these Linda Rava and Judy Holmes women?  The horse show people in my humble opinion are neither aggressive or belligerent.  They are just doing their thing on the land owned by the horse show association or whatever.  They aren’t doing anything different from what they have done for decades, so why is suddenly not o.k.?

Personally I would rather have the horse show grounds as a neighbor with occasional skeet shooting versus a strip mall with fast food places and when I opened my windows I would hear “do you want fries with that?” ….and smell the smell of ancient grease.

Wow.  Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show can’t get a break. I mean if I was a conspiracy theorist….wow the possibilities…..lordy one would think these people would also be concerned about West Vincent Supervisor Miller and his goat poo too, huh?

will it be classy with a “k”?

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I am reading with some amusement the article about the guy who lives in Unionville  with the construction company near West Chester who thinks civil rights are being violated because Concord Township (in Delaware County) is saying no thanks right now to his idea of a teen mecca.  The last one was Pulsations in Glen Mills wasn’t it? So…. you can’t blame people for not wanting to repeat that or having reservations, can you?

I always giggle as soon as someone says about what they will be proposing that it will be “classy”.  It makes you wonder if they would know from classy if it bit them in the ass. But I suppose “classy” is in the eye of the beholder?

Check out this reference to “klass” in urban dictionary:

Klass
Another spelling of the word class. Indicating an attempt to show class that is instead received by others as tacky.
“He took his prom date to the Olive Garden?  That’s klassy.  With a ‘K’!”

I have to ask is this what people want around there near Routes 1 and 322?  Now this guy then says he has 8 kids with nothing to do on the weekends?  Ok, so do they move around in a pack and say they’re “bored” all weekend?

This guy is trying to do this under the auspices of a 501c7 non-profit – which is a private club status.  Makes you wonder how much this would cost hard working parents per kid in this economy too, doesn’t it?

I  found the article amusing on many levels including this guy just seems floored that someone said “no” to him – and it comes through so strongly in the article.

And truthfully, did this township say “no” as in final “no”, or did they say take it to zoning? I read it as they said get a zoning variance if you want it so bad.  But this guy has his skirts in a bunch and instead of going to zoning is going to sue this township?   Does he sue everyone who says “no” to him?  Is it cheaper to sue this township versus going to zoning?

Is this what people want?  Do people in Chester County and elsewhere want their kids driving all over hill and dale to go to a place like this?  I am not a teen, I don’t have a teen, so I don’t know what teenagers do today.

I do know that when I was a teen, something like this would have held little interest for me, and I also would be willing to bet if I had and something like this had existed, my parents would have said “no”.   Is this like Gymboree of Chuck E. Cheese for teenagers, I wonder?

Is this something kids in the area want? I think the place sounds way too cavernous in size, and I have to ask, what is “classy” about arcade games?   Is there an example of one of these any place else around? What’s next? A BYOB hookah bar with after hours hours?  There is one of those in Bryn Mawr.  Nothing classy about that.  This seems to be cut from the same thought cloth.

To me this has less to do about kids at the end of the day, but  a way for a guy to make a buck because the industry he is part of is so tumultuous due to the economy.

Township blocks out social club

Published: Sunday, January 15, 2012

By FRAN MAYE fmaye@journalregister.com

A Unionville man is threatening to sue Concord Township for discrimination in federal court if the township doesn’t allow him to start up a social club for the 21-and-under set near routes 1 and 322.
Tom Pancoast, who owns a construction company in the West Chester area, wants to invest millions into a long-vacant furniture store — Ethan Allen — and turn it into a social club for minors featuring dancing, live music, billiards, indoor volleyball, basketball, scores of arcade machines and much more. There will even be a restaurant inside….Pancoast has received state approval for forming a 501c7 nonprofit organization that will be members only. Pancoast claims he has a “use by right” because he is forming a social club under rules set forth by the township ordinance, but township officials say an under-21 club does not fit the definition of a social club….The facility would generate a huge windfall for Concord Township through its amusement tax. Pancoast said he can’t understand why the township would reject his plan and turn away the revenue that will be generated.
“We’re going to employ 50 people,” he said. “We’re going to be hiring local veterans for security. I’m going to invest a couple of million dollars in construction and Concord Township will make money with us being here. If they fight us, they will waste taxpayer money.”……he feels township officials may have a misconception that the social club will be another Pulsations, which debuted in Glen Mills in 1983, but closed in 1994 after experiencing financial troubles with the new owners introducing exotic female dancers

Pancoast is hoping to attract thousands of teenagers drawing them in from Oxford, Chi-Chester, Downingtown, Springfield and Media. “I have eight kids and they have nothing to do on the weekend,” Pancoast said. “This will be a classy place — someplace kids can go without hanging out at the malls or crowding in cars and driving around. It’ll keep them out of trouble. This is going to be great. You would think with the way the economy is today, the township would be a little more job friendly.”

This guy who wants his teen club was last in the Daily Local ironically exactly a year ago on January 15, 2011 when he talked about his new solar panel business:

With the launch of Simply Solar, Tom and Susan Pancoast have joined the growing number of solar panel installers in Pennsylvania.
Motivated by federal and state renewable energy incentives, homeowners and businesses alike are looking to the sun to generate power and reduce electric bills. As a result, the creation of new green companies and new green jobs is booming in Pennsylvania…..For Tom Pancoast, the owner of Pancoast Construction, the time was right for several reasons to shift the construction business to solar panel installation.
“The building business is not all that good right now,” said Pancoast, who invested time and money to attend classes to get certified.

Again, in my humble opinion, this is the story of a guy trying to adapt in a tough economy, which I can’t blame him for.  But you have to wonder if last year was solar panels and this year is a teen club, what will January 15 2013 bring?

However, the most important thing is how residents, kids, and parents feel about this.  So this should be an interesting story to follow.