Tag Archives: East Whiteland

door knocking and candidate frequent flyer miles

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Door knocking season is upon us. This evening did not bring a candidate, but a volunteer on behalf of a candidate . The candidate is Bill Holmes, running for East Whiteland Supervisor. Apparently he is an incumbent of sorts.

His volunteer credited him with Uptown Worthington and Wegman’s. Would love to get Brian O’Neill’s opinion on this wouldn’t you? Mr. O’Neill likes to have top billing, generally speaking doesn’t he? But anything is possible since his honorary campaign chair is East Whiteland Supervisor Virginia McMichael (D).

Now Virginia McMichael seems interesting and is obviously really bright. Malvern Patch on Nov. 4, 2011 reported that McMichael was a former Rendell Common Pleas judge nominee that got “stalled” in the PA State Senate, and that her hubby Larry McMichael is one of developer O’Neill’s lawyers? Holy recusal city Batman, right?

But back to Bill Holmes who is employed in IT or something at Vanguard. So wow….what happens if Vanguard ends up coming to East Whiteland like his campaign website infers ? (His website states “Vanguard expansion forthcoming” ) You have him having to recuse (and he should be already if it comes up for discussion, right?) on Vanguard and McMichael on O’Neill issues so that leaves what? Only one supervisor free of conflicts or appearance of conflicts over major issues having to do with big companies? (Do I have that right? And if I have this wrong, please correct me.)

Anyway….Let us start with his literature “Come Fly With Bill”. Oh sorry, that is not quite right, it is actually worse: “Get On Board With Bill”. (Can’t you just hear the train whistle?) Am I to infer there is something wrong with me if I am not immediately on board with someone who means absolutely nothing to me in the first place?

Also according to the Chester County Democrat Committee he is some sort of endorsed Democrat candidate (they use the phrase “supported candidates”) so why is it on his door knocking palm cards it does not give party affiliation anywhere? Is he ashamed to be a Democrat? Why can’t I seem to locate his party affiliation on his candidate website ? Is it there and I simply don’t see it?

Another thing I noticed on his accomplishments section of his website and campaign literature it is as if he personally takes credit for Moody’s rating East Whiteland aa2?

Let us not forget that Moody’s Investor Services operates under an issuer paid model. One could say that you get what you pay for as an issuer of debt, yes? East Whiteland issues debt, yes? And given the role Moody’s and S&P seemed to have in market/economy meltdowns circa 2008, well……sigh, maybe not something so much to brag about?

Look, I am sure he must be an affable fellow even if he doesn’t seem to be able to go door knocking on his own, but unfortunately for him there is a better candidate running for supervisor in East Whiteland. Her name is Maureen Martinez. She seems to manage door knocking personally and she works, has kids, is on the planning commission, has time for non-profit work and so on.

Maureen Martinez is not afraid to tell you she is an endorsed Republican candidate, and you can see her affiliation on her literature.

I am not endorsing her, but I am telling you she is far more appealing than the candidate who can’t do his own door knocking, can’t disclose party affiliation on literature he has other people tote around, brags about a business expansion that would mean he would have a potential conflict gives me pause, and how is that wrong ?

I am new to Chester County politics but have long been a student of politics. I go with my instincts. And my instincts say candidates who appear to brag and who can’t come around and hand out their own literature are not my cup of tea. They might be affable, they might be lots of things, just not necessarily the right person right now. They may have indeed provided years of service but sometimes change is good, right?

What moves me is not party affiliation either. I am and always have been a ticket splitter. What moves me are candidates who take the time to try to talk to all residents. And face it, East Whiteland has more non-voting business residents than actual voting and living in the township residents. So if I were running even as an incumbent I would get my feet on the street personally.

I mean Mr. Holmes no disrespect but you only get one chance as a political candidate to make a good impression and the one who had done that is Maureen Martinez. And frankly sometimes it just takes a good woman to get the job done.

Sources for this post include:

http://www.MM4EW.com

http://www.BillHolmesforEW.org

http://www.chescodems.org

Malvern Patch November 4, 2011 “East Whiteland Supervisor Race: McMichael and Matty” by Pete Kennedy

East Whiteland Republican Committee Facebook page

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if septa is considering cutting service past paoli, why does malvern need T.O.D.?

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malvern train stationI remember years ago as a college student without access to a car when I wanted to go visit friends at West Chester University, if I couldn’t get a ride I had to take a train to Paoli and then get one of those scuzzy cabs to West Chester. And Paoli train station on the side going towards Malvern felt just as creepy and isolated then as it does today.

I was happy when Malvern and beyond opened again on Septa.  And people ride the train.  When I was transitioning out to Chester County for a while I took the train out from the Main Line.  I was going through radiation treatment for breast cancer and a lot of the time towards the end of my treatment I was too tired to drive. This was when Malvern train station was under construction.  It was then I realized there was no handicap access at either Paoli or Malvern – quite frankly during that time I would have welcomed a ramp versus steep stairs – I was just that tired. At Malvern during the heat of that summer I was going through radiation was when you not only had to climb  steep stairs, the train station also had no place for you to sit to wait to be picked up and a car couldn’t get near enough to pick you up.  Instead you had to wind your way through a construction site and around through to the other side via the roads on a sidewalk that was not the best.

So now there is the tunnel and the station is rehabbed (but still isn’t truly handicap accessible) and during the summer Malvern Borough officials were putting on charettes or whatever for T.O.D.  Transit Oriented Development, otherwise known as borough officials see dollar signs and have no brain cells. I wrote about T.O.D. before.

I said then I used to say that TOD stood for Total Of Dumbasses. It is like Groundhog Day for me because I lived through a lot of these Emperor’s New Clothes scenarios when I lived on the Main Line.  It tore apart Lower Merion Township where I used to live and to this day divisiveness truly still exists. And Transit Oriented Development is still a myth of more fiction than fact.

To say that people in suburbs and exurbs and quasi rural areas will give up driving is just ludicrous.  These municipalities and developers should just be honest: they don’t have the ability to put sufficient parking in all this new age urban-like development.  They don’t care so much about the environment and being green, in my humble opinion it is all about the green they can bank in profits. And who suffers? People already living around these infill development targeted sites.

Malvern’s charm is in it’s history and size, much like the village portion of Berwyn and similarly scaled small towns and villages.  I could see making Malvern say sprucing up a little bit more like Narberth which has undeniable charm and popularity, but Narberth does things based on sound planning and well Malvern Borough seems to chase dollars like a hooker looking for money on top of the dresser.

TOD stands to add hundreds of living units. Hundreds as in someone told me in excess of 600.  Malvern is no way capable of handling that many additional living units and cars and people.  That has a trickle down effect to the schools too. And we aren’t talking real estate taxes, we’re talking overcrowding.

TOD in Malvern will also adversely affect their neighbors in East Whiteland.  Much the way Tredyffrin affected Radnor residents downstream along the Gulph Creek when they allowed Church of the Savior and some other things to super-size.  East Whiteland should stay on top of this from a municipal perspective.  No one needs trickle down issues.

So why am I writing this? Because of something that appeared in Malvern Patch that was copied from Plan Philly.

The long and short of it there is a very real chance SEPTA will cut stops off the R5 Paoli/Thorndale Line.  As in NO MORE train service. Stopping at Paoli again.

(See  septa-s-complete-service-realignment-plan-and-letter-to-state-secretary-of-transportation-barry-schoch.original )

eli kahn

So I have to wonder if Septa will even do the makeover planned for Paoli train station?  And if the service is truncated and stops at Paoli, how will Paoli even if their grand plans make it to completion handle the influx?

I put forward that Malvern Borough Council and Borough staff /administration need to be watched.  They want to shove, shove, shove through new development yet they have no substantive planning that I can see. I know what they see- they see ratables.  What is happening (for example) with the Gables Greenhouse property on Warren and Second Ave?  There were a couple of things in Malvern Patch which seem to have disappeared?  The comments indicate on the remaining article that like five houses are being considered for that property?

Malvern Borough has lost it’s way.  They don’t seem to listen to their residents.  They also can’t seem to get much money in the end for development projects.  Remember when people checked out what they were getting in ratables for East King Street/Eastside Flats? See:

During a discussion of the police services and budgeting at the  of Malvern Borough Council, resident Joan Yeager asked a related question:

“Once the King Street project is completed, how much additional money is going to come into the borough? In taxes and all,” she said.

“Something in the neighborhood of $60,000 a year,” council president Woody Van Sciver said, citing a financial feasibility study done before the project was approved.

And oh yeah what exactly in the realm of new businesses is Eli Kahn actually bringing to Malvern? Besides Kimberton Whole Foods?

I feel I must say again that in addition to better planning by municipalities and boroughs throughout Pennsylvania, there also need to be updates made to the Municipalities Planning Code.  After all Zoning blames Planning and Supervisors/Commissioners.  Supervisors/Commissioners blame flaws in Municipalities Planning Code.

Want to see bad planning?  Look no further than Lower Merion Township and take Ardmore as an example.  There is a short film surfacing about development there and the fact that when it occurs a lot of businesses and residents will have ZERO parking for two years and reduced parking after that. Why?  Because Lower Merion is essentially giving away land to a developer. I think you can view the documentary short by following this link: https://vimeo.com/72950877

Getting off the soapbox now.  Just been chewing on this a few days.

adaptive reuse?

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Will the big red barn on the corner of Planebrook and Swedesford in East Whiteland rise again?  In February I was wondering the fate of this really big, red barn, and look at what I snapped yesterday:

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So nice to see since an apparent adaptive reuse in progress, especially East Whiteland seems to have preservation issues (as in actually seeing that things are preserved).

Things I do not like in East Whiteland right now include the closing of the movie theater in Frazer for a used car or car dealership, the replacement adult whatever toy store next to the King Street Grill, the closing of Newbury Gifts  in May and the Wedding Touch closing on April 27th.

The commercial district of East Whiteland along Lancaster Avenue is a hodge podge, and if they cared, it could at least look better.  If all these “high end” stores are either in the Vahalla know as Uptown Worthington (whose advertising on their website is well worth mocking it is so absurd) or coming to Uptown Worthington, hello, has anyone looked at Route 30 as it runs through East Whiteland?  What is decent is drowned out by seriously ugly so why not improve it?  Why not attempt to attract other than car dealerships, mobile home parks, self storage and adult novelty stores? And yes I know those aren’t the ONLY things along Route 30 in East Whiteland, but that is what the public perception is.

Soon Uptown Worthington will be as crowded as Mall World in Exton so why not start thinking about giving people attractive shopping alternatives and fix it up on Route 30? To me it just seems to be common sense to draw on the popularity of Uptown Worthington and Mall World in Exton and to make the in-between look better and have stores people would like to patronize, preferably independent retailers and not more big box stores. I am not saying some new urbanist fairy tale of a walkable business district (it would never happen safely here), but a more cohesive and better looking few miles.

Also on my wish list for East Whiteland? I would love to see Linden Hall and Loch Aerie preserved too.

I would also really appreciate  it if Whitelands Chiropractic on the corner of Church and Lancaster in Frazer would trim the complete bent elbow of hedges so drivers could see better from both roads.

Business districts are important.  Uniformity and neatness and design of business districts are equally important.

 

 

lush life

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DSC_0001Lush life, indeed. More predictable and plentiful than spring daffodils, the Pinnacle Vodka bottles are back.  They are tossed on several lawns again on Route 352 between Paoli Pike and the intersection of King Road.

DSC_0004Too many bottles of the same thing being tossed to be coincidence.  Today they showed variety and an empty bottle of equally rot gut Smirnoff was tossed along with the two empty Pinnacle Vodka bottles.

Eventually whomever is doing this will get caught.  Apparently they want to pickle their liver(s), which is their business.  Just wish they would stop littering and drinking and driving (which one can assume they are doing).

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bruno’s pizza signs: visual spam

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Don’t know where Bruno’s is, but would never go find out after all this visual spam that makes them look super desperate to say the least.

Their signs are EVERYWHERE and  East Whiteland should consider limiting the amount of signs of this kind that can go out like this.

Signs like this cheapen an  area.  Just my opinion of course, but some municipalities do build rules for signs like this into local sign ordinances.

Anyway these signs for Bruno’s are EVERYWHERE – this was just a small snippet of one location (which had many, many more signs).  Whoever these people are could have bought an ad in the local paper or on Malvern Patch for the money they spent on these UGLY signs.

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it’s palm sunday, so why not post about an abandoned church?

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DSC_0049So yesterday, I went out and photographed an abandoned church that had historical importance to the area: Ebenezer AME Church.  I had taken a couple of photos a while back and then Pete Kennedy from Malvern Patch told me what I was looking at so I wrote the post ebenezer ame church – bacton hill road.

DSC_0042Ironically and as life might have it, as I was out yesterday taking photos, someone from the East Whiteland Historical Society popped by to leave a comment on my post.  His name is Peter H. Spengeman and this is what he had to say:

As a member of the East Whiteland Township Historical Commission, I appreciate the writer’s interest and concern about the considerable historical resources in the Township , and the ongoing need for protection of structures such as the Ebenezer AME Church, a recent focus of beginning conservation planning.   All of us shudder when we pass a formerly stately structure crying for help.   To mount preservation efforts , it does require committment, time and often public advocacy and substantive funds to ensure that bricks and mortar are added to create stability of these structures as well as interest in publicizing our rich history.  We are pleased that the Supervisors of the Township have supported the Historical Commission over the years, as well as past and recent efforts by the County of Chester and private societies to catalog all resources and provide new and excellent research into the Paoli Battlefield  and Battle of the Clouds.  The Township Historical Commission now has openings, and those in the community who feel strongly about historical preservation are welcome to come to a meeting, held the second Tuesday of each month, and see if they would be interested in contributing.  Thank you,

Peter H. Spengeman, Member, EWTHC

I am going to not try to sound harsh, but what is it they do besides bemoan the fact that a heck of a lot of history in East Whiteland is rotting?  Loch Aerie, Linden House, and more?  For example (I do not know all the municipal boundaries so feel free to correct me) but isn’t part of Duffy’s Cut that Amtrak won’t allow any more archeological digs on in East Whiteland?  Is the mass grave important enough that maybe another marker closer to the actual site is in order?

DSC_0037Or Linden Hall or Lock Aerie?  Have they sought commercial conservation minded buyers or donations from the developers getting rich off of East Whiteland?

I get that part of the problem is East Whiteland has probably more commercial zones than residential so why not get smart with zoning and planning?  Is it possible to write into ordinances and make conditions of approval that not only include  these developers to improve the roads and infrastructure, but to kick in towards the preservation?  I mean seriously they have developers with huge, deep pockets like Brian O’Neill and Eli Kahn, right?

Both developers and their partners have made noises out here and elsewhere about how their developments add to the character of an area, so why not have them put their money where there mouths are on historic sites?  I would even say welcome them making corporate offices out of a historic structure in a commercial zone – we all know it is not going to go back to residential so why not encourage a developer to preserve the facade and do an adaptive reuse of the interior?

Paoli Battlefield and Battle of the Clouds are important, but why is it I see neighboring municipalities succeeding with preservation efforts? Historic Sugartown, Historic Goshenville, and even though sometimes I think they need to do more, Historic Yellow Springs?

DSC_0023I note that East Whiteland’s Historic Commission has openings, but I am a writer, not a board person.  I have little patience for boards where not much has changed in decades and trust me, they would not like my impatience.  I am doing them a favor by raising awareness, what I do not get is how they seem unable to think outside the box here.  Why not go to their supervisors and ask for more public and private partnerships?  After all, Chester County has great wealth in it, and it is win-win for those who have those beautiful estates and properties to have what lies around them look nice too.  Preservation and adaptive reuse can do that.

Also to be commented upon is that I sent out my initial post to historical groups who keep records of the black soldiers who served in the Civil War and others interested in local history and preservation and not one acknowledged receipt of the e-mail or commented on the post.  I also sent to media outlets and did not hear anything.  But that part doesn’t surprise me because history, crumbling history, and historic preservation aren’t sexy to the masses that feed off local and regional media.  I will remind the print and t.v. media that you used to cover stuff like this.

DSC_0027So on Palm Sunday I offer you photos of Ebeneezer AME, or should I say her ruins in Frazer.  This church meant a lot to a lot of people for a lot of years, right?  Is this how we honor her dead buried in her church yard, or what was her church yard?  I wondered as I took my photos yesterday if descendants of the dead buried there even know they have people in this old abandoned churchyard?

DSC_0078I have no idea who owns this, maybe the state, but I know from paying attention to other cases involving abandoned churches and grave yards, local municipalities like East Whiteland can take them over.  And seriously what would it cost to put a little fence and marker up and to cut the weeds?  You could probably interest more boy scout troops  and archeological types to help right the graves.  All it would take would be a little effort on the part of say, East Whiteland Historical Society.

EWTHC I have started something here for you, am happy to share my photos.  Am happy to volunteer in as much as trying to raise awareness and take photos of preservation efforts should they actually occur.    But you have to actually want to care about this stuff and again, not trying to be mean, it is a little hard to decide what it is you care about – on East Whiteland’s website there are no current agendas or meeting minutes since 2009.

ebenezer ame church – bacton hill road

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Ebenezer AME Church on Bacton Hill Road in Frazer, PAThanks to Pete Kennedy of Malvern Patch I know the identity of a ruin I like to photograph from the road on Bacton Hill Road in Frazer.

So sad.

It is an abandoned church that had historical importance to the area: Ebenezer AME Church.  I hate when this happens, and it makes me think of a whole slew of at risk churches.

Historical Photo Location Revealed: Ebenezer AME Church

The church, now crumbling, is on Bacton Hill Road.

By Pete Kennedy Email the author September 27, 2012

Last week’s historical photo challenge didn’t offer much in the way of contextual clue, but one reader got it right.

JoAnn Richardson hit the nail on the head with this comment:

This is Ebenezer AME Church on Bacton Hill Road in Frazer, PA. There is a cemetary on the property as well.

That’s correct. The church was built circa 1835 and is still barely standing today.

Apparently the oldest grave stones in the cemetery date back to the 1830s.  An Eagle Scout named Matthew Nehring had been working on uncovering the gravestones. (Have no idea if his project is finished.) According to the photos it appears some of the dead buried here are soldiers and veterans. One gravestone is for a Joshua Johnson  (Pvt., Co. K, 45th Reg., United States Colored Troops (USCT) (Civil War). I find this to be incredibly historically significant as the army began to organize African Americans into regimental units known as the United States Colored Troops (USCT) in 1863.

According to the East Whiteland Historical Society (which I am not sure what they do because all I see are historic structures rotting in East Whiteland) this church used to serve as a “hub” of African American society in Frazer.  So why isn’t any of it being protected?

The church was used through into the 20th century as per Patch and the information from East Whiteland, and now it is abandoned.  So who owns the graveyard and the church?  In Radnor, the Radnor Historical Society has been caring for the historically important and abandoned First Baptist Cemetery off Conestoga Road.  They have gotten volunteers to help keep weeds in check and right upended grave stones.  So why is it that East Whiteland always seems to be Johnny on the Spot for historical data yet all this stuff just rots?

I understand completely that you can’t save every old house or church, but wow, people including soldiers who fought and served are buried here.  Show them some respect. Shame on East Whiteland for not trying to find avenues of preservation for this and other sites.

I think I am going to go back out there and photograph graves when the weather improves and the ground isn’t so soft from rain. But who owns the land? Is it truly abandoned?

police department hopscotch in malvern….again

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malvernPardon my questions, but I haven’t lived out here long enough to learn how it all rolls.  Today I would like to know if Malvern Borough seems to get its police chiefs from East Whiteland, then why isn’t there  just a combined force serving the Borough of Malvern and East Whiteland?  Don’t eliminate jobs, just put both departments together under one chief?

Anyway, it just seems odd.  I remember not so long ago they were talking about eliminating Malvern’s police department, weren’t they? But if the Borough can’t seem to keep a Chief of Police what the heck goes on in the Borough?  Hopscotch?

New Police Chief Named in Malvern Borough

Louis Marcelli, a sergeant with the East Whiteland Police, has replaced Mark Ercole as the head of the borough’s police department.

By Pete Kennedy Email the author March 11, 2013

The Malvern Police Department has a new leader.

Louis Marcelli, a sergeant in the East Whiteland Police Department, has assumed the role of acting police chief.

Marcelli took command March 6, according to Malvern Mayor Jerry McGlone. The previous chief, Mark Ercole, has returned to East Whiteland…….Ercole had been brought in to replace Chief Michael McMahon, whose termination followed a tumultuous period during which borough officials were considering disbanding the department. Ultimately, borough council opted instead for a change of leadership….East Whiteland Township is also providing police chief services to the Westtown-East Goshen Regional Police Department through June.

about 60 pipe bombs? in public storage in malvern?

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Last night a headline broke on Malvern Patch:

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Actual photo taken inside Public Storage in Malvern months ago

That really freaked me out because until a couple of months ago, I was a customer of that Public Storage – I had needed some extra storage when I first relocated permanently to Chester County.  It was clean and easy to get to and not creepy feeling the way a lot of those self storage places are.   The few months I was there we rarely saw other people, and given all the shows on television and cable about storage units (Storage Wars) and auctioning off abandoned storage units, you can’t help but wonder what people store there.

While a customer there I saw mostly people who were storing clothes and books and stuff like me and once in a while people who were antiques and collectibles dealers who didn’t have store fronts, and did shows.  Occasionally you would see an orphaned piece of  furniture or a lamp no one wanted left inside the front doors by the elevators, but that was it.

So I was floored when I saw Malvern Patch’s headline last night about the sleepy yet clean Public Storage and I am equally shocked this morning that yes, the bomb squad borrowed from Montgomery County (apparently Chester County doesn’t have one?) detonated BOMBS last night!  Sweet Jesus!  How long were they in the storage facility?  The risk to the public with this if not for law enforcement could have been crazy.

This also makes you think about all the other self storage facilities around here on and off that Route 30 corridor, doesn’t it? Remember that developer of Malvern (who isn’t getting the Whip Tavern is also bringing more self storage to Malvern called “Cube Smart”.)

So how do these self storage companies really know what is being stored?

Mr. Bomb Storage in the news broken by Malvern Patch (EXCELLENT job by the way in getting that out there) ends up is a Ponzi schemer named  “Istvan Merchanthaler, a 42-year-old man facing federal charges related to a $2 million Ponzi scheme.”

And Patch reports that there was a lot of law enforcement there last night.  Given what it was about, I have no doubt in my mind ATF was there too.

I hope they throw another book at this freak Istvan Merchanthaler for those explosive devices.

Here is the updated story from Patch (Malvern Patch really does do local news well as opposed to a lot of other Patch sites), and from Michael Price at The Daily Local:

Bombs Detonated in Park After Storage-Unit Seizure

A series of explosions shook houses Thursday night as authorities destroyed pipe bombs in East Whiteland’s Valley Creek Park.

By Pete Kennedy and Eric Campbell  Email the authors  March 7, 2013

malvern patchTwo bomb-disposal units were among the multiple emergency response teams working at the Public Storage facility in Frazer Thursday evening after a large amount of explosives was found inside a storage locker.

FBI agents and bomb technicians worked in and around the building, located on the unit block of Lancaster Avenue, as local police and fire departments controlled traffic, maintained a perimeter and kept ready to respond to any incidents.

Around 8:30 p.m., bomb squads from Montgomery County and Philadelphia began hauling the explosives from the storage facility to nearby Valley Creek Park. The explosives were transported inside large metal containers on trailers, and each trip involved a convoy of fire engines, ambulances and police vehicles…..

Shortly after 11:15 p.m., as a light snow fell, the first in a series of explosions shook houses and woke sleeping residents miles away. At least five explosions occurred before they stopped around 1:15 a.m. Friday.

There were also reports of an explosion earlier in the day, around 7 p.m., but employees at businesses near Public Storage said they did not hear anything at that time.

The FBI had notified East Whiteland Police that they planned to execute a warrant within the township, but the circumstances that led the agency to Malvern are unclear. The Daily Local News reports that the storage locker was registered to Istvan Merchanthaler, a 42-year-old man facing federal charges related to a $2 million Ponzi scheme. Harman said agents told him a Maryland resident had been arrested in connection with the bombs.

Federal agents remove explosives from Malvern storage locker

 By MICHAEL N. PRICE mprice@dailylocal.com

Posted: Thursday, 03/07/13 10:35 pm Updated: Thursday, 03/07/13 10:43 pm

EAST WHITELAND — Federal agents and bomb squad units removed a high amount of explosives from a storage locker Thursday night in the unit block of Lancaster Avenue in Malvern.

According to a high ranking official close to the investigation, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and members of the Montgomery County and Philadelphia bomb squads removed about 60 pipe bombs from a storage locker at Malvern Public Storage and transported them to a nearby park, where they were to be detonated.

The source, who asked to remain anonymous due to the ongoing and sensitive nature of the investigation, said that the storage locker was registered to 42-year-old Istvan Merchanthaler, a Chester County man facing federal charges in connection to a Ponzi scheme that officials say defrauded investors of about $2 million over the past seven years.  Officials close to Merchanthaler’s case said the suspect was connected to similar explosive investigations in other states, and added that he is facing charges in multiple jurisdictions throughout the east coast….The United States Attorney’s Office announced additional fraud charges against Merchanthaler Thursday

Ponzi schemes are bad enough without adding BOMBS to the mix. So what was the goal here? Defraud some people and blow some others up? Wow. Nice guy this  Istvan Merchanthaler, right?

clean up on swedesford?

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So does this mean this is being gutted and rebuilt, or is this just a prelude to a demolition?

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