Sometimes when I have appointments down on the Main Line, I go back via Radnor Street Road to check on the Wayne Natatorium sign. The reason I do that is I actually do not trust Radnor Township to maintain it even though it’s a state historical marker. And I am the reason it’s there.
But as I was going through today, I noticed that the parking lot that is at the corner of Willow Avenue and Radnor Street Road for Cowan Field was magically FedEx parking.
Funny thing about that lot is it supposed to be permit parking only or if you’re using the park. I can tell you that there was no one in the park when I drove by.
So is FedEx renting parking spaces from Radnor Township? I didn’t see anything like hang tags that would make one think there’s a parking permit involved.
I did have a giggle over this because when I had come through Wayne earlier, I noticed the stealth parking enforcement fairies’ van roaming around so they could hand out tickets. I guess they don’t go all the way over into Little Chicago?
Of course, I also noticed there were plenty of cars parked around Little Chicago in places that aren’t actually legal.
But hey, that’s Radnor Township at its best: inconsistent.
Isn’t this part of Jack Larkin’s ward? He’s still the Ward 1 Commissioner, right?
Anyway, I hope these FedEx trucks have legal permits because otherwise it’s pretty crappy to get chased around by the parking enforcement fairies and there’s a double standard right?
Heavy handed leverage. That’s what a retired real estate lawyer said.
And Radnor Township is trying to wield the ultimate thug tool against with Wayne Presbyterian Church, eminent domain. And given this is for the Wayne Business District, this in my humble opinion, this makes it eminent domain for private gain. That’s bollocks.
Can we talk about how combative and rude Commissioner Jack Larkin is? I guess his life experience over the past couple of years has not taught him to be kind or humble. He should discover both qualities, after all pride goeth before a fall, Commissioner Jack Larkin. Try being pleasant and not a bully.
If Radnor Township was acting in good faith, they would not have enacted an eminent domain ordinance, and it is pretty much that god damn simple. And they are doing this against a church.
I have not had such distrust of Radnor Township since Dave Bashore was the manager and that is saying something. Radnor needs to clean house again from commissioners to manager. There are few things that upset me more than eminent domain. I know the realities of it. First hand. We saw it in Ardmore. We saw it Coatesville. We saw it in Long Branch, NJ. We saw it in New London, CT. Just ask the Institute for Justice.
You know what is worse then eminent domain for private gain? Eminent domain for public purpose that really has private gain driving it. And THAT is what Radnor is attempting which is why I categorize as really being about private gain. And in Radnor’s meeting last week, the Wayne Business Association said they support the actions of Radnor Township.
I can tell you as long as an eminent domain ordinance lurks against a church in Wayne, no one I know will be going to Wayne to even buy a cup of coffee.
A relatively newer resident spoke up, after hearing this. Not sure why he was at the meeting, but hooray for common sense:
And then there was Commissioner Jack Larkin’s grandfather I guess it is. Even HE said eminent domain was wrong. So Larkin listens to no one except himself on this it seems, so will grandpa’s thoughts matter?
This is another bad plan from Radnor Township. They seem to be making these bad plans more and more consistently.
Radnor residents and supporters of Wayne Presbyterian Church and haters of eminent domain? The clock is ticking. get those card and letters and emails and calls going and attend the meetings. This is wrong, and what is not wrong after all these decades is the church wanting to see more revenue.
And oh by the way? This meeting also had some updates about the Willows? Radnor Township should take the neighbors’ noise concerns seriously and so should the caterer in residence. I don’t think much of them anyway. I won tickets to a pop up dinner with them once, and they never honored it. I won it during COVID, end of 2019, early 2020 and it ultimately got postponed and then they essentially ghosted me. Actually I think the Willows is a hopeless mess and that is a subject for another day and it is so sad. And what about the cottage? No one ever wants to talk about that debacle and waste of a one time restoration.
Back to Radnor Township being a municipal bully. Here is the SAVVY or it all plus an article from Main Line Times. Read both and remember: eminent domain is a thug tactic, not a form of negotiation. No more Wayne for me until this is settled. Eminent domain has no gain.
Radnor Township has taken the first step toward seizing by eminent domain the parking area it leases from Wayne Presbyterian Church (WPC), a sizable section of the large Station Ave. municipal lot.
Radnor Commissioners voted 4 to 1 at their Oct. 14 meeting to move forward with an ordinance (below) that would authorize the township to file a “declaration of taking” in the Delco Court of Common Pleas in November.
Way back in August, 2023 I posted about an interesting legal case popping in Chester County involving a Radnor Commissioner named Jack Larkin who is a lawyer.
Someone asked me today whatever happened with that case? Honestly, I have no clue, I forgot about it, so I searched the dockets. There seem to be two cases on the dockets. One under Judge Deb Ryan and one under Judge Nicole Forzato:
So there above are the docket notes on the case(s), since it appears to be two separate things with two different judges?
Now interestingly enough when I first wrote about this I did not know what school was involved. It’s Liberty University in Virginia. When the original Title IX case was active it was big news on AP and in higher ed and in Virginia. It never really made the news here. I found that curious because it’s a Main Line lawyer who is a politician (Commissioner) in Radnor Township. Usually that is big news around here, right? But nope, oddly silent.
Also interesting? Radnor Township still hasn’t updated his bio to reflect where he actually works these days….and he switched jobs almost two years ago, so why rush?
Anyway, I only know the cases appear alive. His lawyers seem to be listed on the dockets. It’s seemingly a non-story here, but when the original Title IX popped it made news elsewhere. Below are the links to those articles.
