reliving evil spying laptops in lower merion school district.

Posted on April 9, 2025 by carla

Wow. I think I will have to actually watch this twice to catch it all but I just finished Spy High. It’s well worth watching and it’s not just because although I had no kids in Lower Merion School district when this occurred, I was still living there. Some of my friends were right in the middle of this and I knew people who had kids in the high schools then.

This was in general a crazy time then. Friends of mine in Ardmore were also fighting redistricting. And the redistricting was insane. Literally they were spreading out minority students. And then of course there was this whole walk zone thing that affected the kids who walked from different places in Ardmore to Lower Merion High School. I swear some of the streets on the “no no” list were literally added because some residents didn’t want kids walking around their neighborhood….even going to school.

Click to access lowermerionbrief.pdf

So yeah, I wrote about evil spying laptops when it was happening and after the fact. It was one of the creepier things that Lower Merion School District has ever done, and well it’s a long list for creepy things that the school district has done over time. What price first class, right?

evil spying laptops: when something a community lived through becomes a docuseries

So where to begin ? This one random day a man contacts me about the laptop scandal in Lower Merion. He was working on a documentary series about this.

Initially, he kind of wanted to talk to me and maybe did I want to be interviewed since I had blogged about it a lot ? I said thank you for asking, but I didn’t think it would be appropriate because I didn’t have kids in the school district back then I just had friends involved in the issue. And I also no longer lived in Lower Merion. So I offered to connect him to my friends.

So guess what? That was Jody McVeigh-Schultz… the director of “Spy High.” Life is just very random sometimes.

I realize that a lot of people don’t like bloggers and they don’t like me as a blogger in particular, so that was a definite factor as well in me saying no I shouldn’t be interviewed. And it’s not my story personally to be part of and it’s not just the story of Blake Robbins, who was one of the named defendants in one of the lawsuits and a part of this series.

There were a lot of victims in this and I’m glad this series is out now and I hope it’s so many people watch it because Lower Merion School District kind of made this go away in my opinion. The phrase swept this under the rug comes to mind….

There’s one person in particular whom I am glad finally got to tell his story. And he’s the young man whom my friend Lynn (who is also in the series) is very fond of and really good friends with his mother, June. His name is Keron Williams. And also another young man named Jalil Hasan. They both shine through in this series with quiet grace and dignity.

You see, the story always had the Robbins family kind of at the center of it and it’s not just about them. I don’t know them, and after watching this entire series, I am reminded once again at the inequity within this issue even within the financial settlements. How is it that the white student got so much more money than the black students? Especially when you think about the fact that at one of the black students had the same lawyer as the white student?

I have to be honest that the series made me sad as good as it was because you see how kids lost part of their childhood with this. And how this affected their families and community as well.

One thing I was really pleased to see in the series is in my opinion how visually uncomfortable the lawyer for Lower Merion School District was while being interviewed. And of course, Lower Merion School District wanted no parts of being interviewed for this.

I’m not a fan of Lower Merion School District. I have not been for a very long time. There was what I experienced my brief time there at Welsh Valley before going to Shipley, and then there’s just all the crap that they have pulled and tried to pull over the years.

Welsh Valley was really an eye-opening experience as to the mentality of the school district and a lot of the kids. I might be almost 61, but I can still see in my mind‘s eye the penultimate mean girls strolling down the halls in their crotch-splitting tight jeans and Candies flipping their crimped hair. I also will say I don’t think their middle-aged selves are particularly different from their young teen selves at that point. But they were the first ones that taught me that I really was strong and during those years, I did make some wonderful friends I have to this day.

I never understood in the first place why the Lower Merion School District thought it was OK to turn on the cameras. I mean if other Apple products like your phone can be located via a find my phone app, why couldn’t something like that have been used as extra security? Why the cameras? How would turning on a camera tell them where a lost laptop actually was? Did they think it was going to give a screenshot of a street name?

And what happened to all the thousands of images that existed but disappeared? It is still seriously like they were stalking their own student body? Kids who never did anything wrong were deeply affected, and on certain levels permanently affected by this.

Other things I find astounding are the people still employed by Lower Merion School District who were part of this scandal and debacle who continued with employment by the district after this, some of whom are still employed today by the district? After this went down and the settlements were paid out these people should’ve no longer been working for the school district, yet there they are.

I will admit I was not only sad at the end of this, but I had many mixed emotions watching the entire four parts of the documentary series. Public schools are supposed to look out for the greater good of the students, but are they really doing that any longer, or is it just one big exercise in cover their ass which is kind of what I think happened here in the end.

If you get Amazon Prime I hope you take the time to stream Spy High. And to Lower Merion School District I simply ask what’s it like having the cameras turned on you?

OK, I am going to give you links to some of the past articles on this as well as the current coverage.

Thanks for stopping by.

https://time.com/7275031/spy-high-true-story-prime-video/#

https://deadline.com/2025/01/spy-high-docuseries-blake-robbins-lawsuit-ordered-prime-video-mark-wahlberg-1236265186/

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/spy-high-tv-review-2025

Director Jody McVeigh-Schultz investigates school espionage for Spy High

https://www.technadu.com/spy-high-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-explosive-docuseries-based-on-a-real-life-surveillance-scandal/583835/

https://people.com/spy-high-docuseries-inside-teen-webcam-surveillance-case-11701579

Parents file civil-rights suit vs. Lower Merion School District

Four-part series on Lower Merion spycam case to premiere next month

Privacy issue goes public as vice principal, student speak

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/610k-settlement-in-school-webcam-spy-case/

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/education/20100504_Web_cam_report_blasts_Lower_Merion_school_district.html

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/year-in-review/20101012_Lower_Merion_district_s_laptop_saga_ends_with__610_000_settlement.html

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news20100416_1_000s_of_Web_cam_images__suit_says.html

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/breaking/20100419_Lower_Merion_details_Web_cam_scope.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/20/us-school-accused-laptops-spying

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/19/laptop.suit/index.html

More details emerge in Lower Merion School District webcam case

https://www.cato.org/blog/how-broadly-did-school-laptops-spy

https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/USA/2010/0219/Teen-says-school-spied-on-him-at-home-via-school-issued-laptop

School district admits to taking 56,000 laptop photos

https://www.pennlive.com/midstate/2010/04/philadelphia-area_school_distr_1.html

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/nation_world/20100225_Laptop_family_is_no_stranger_to_legal_disputes.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8523807.stm

https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/filing_school_district_spied_on_1000s_of_students_at_home_via_laptop_webcam

https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/s/kILo80KUhg

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/02/school_laptop_spying_case_prob.html

Lower Merion School District Sued For Spying On Students Via Webcams In School-Issued Laptops

this sign is needed in all parks

Posted on March 3, 2025 by carla

A friend of mine posted that. I don’t know where that sign is located, but I think they should be in all parks, especially dog parks.

I’ve had dogs attacked while being on lead on a public sidewalk. I had a dog attacked on lead on the Haverford Nature Trail years ago.

I’ve had friends whose dogs have been attacked while on lead on sidewalks, in dog friendly parks, and in dog parks.

People seem to think that their dogs should be introduced everyone else’s dog. Not everybody wants to meet your dog and not everybody’s dog wants to meet your dog. Or dogs.

In both cases when my dogs were attacked, it required veterinary care. One time a dog got its throat bit open. That was the Haverford Nature Trail when my dog then was attacked by labrador retrievers off lead.

The second case was when my dog was attacked by an aggressive OFF lead golden retriever – yes aggressive – who was off lead while my dogs were on lead on a public sidewalk. In that case, my dog was attacked so hard that discs in his back were injured. I didn’t think he would walk again, and in order to walk again he required a lifetime of treatment.

At that time I had to push Lower Merion Township to actually fine the dog owner whose dog injured my dog. The man paid a meager $50 fine and then you saw him out with his dog again off lead less than a week later. At one point, I actually saw him on my road and I went outside and I literally screamed at the man because he never said he was sorry he never offered to pay a vet bill and he knew exactly whose dog he injured. I did not care that I screamed at this man. He was a jerk.

This week I noticed again yet someone else posting from Lower Merion Township about off lead dogs… and the lovely man who gave the same woman the finger as I’m sure she was completely terrified and upset about her dog being attacked. I hope her dog is OK. But I know how expensive those vet bills are personally.

I hope by now that someone has identified this man and that woman and that dog to the police and this woman whose dog was hurt. And that dog park is exactly where several people I have known over the years have had their animals attacked. One time it was a former neighbor whose dog had its entire stomach ripped open from underneath.

This is why I actually don’t go to dog parks. I really don’t also support dog parks because every time I’ve been near one all I saw were people who don’t pay attention to their animals and just let their animals do whatever, kind of like their children on the playground. No boundaries, no control.

But this one dog park at Mill Creek and the other at Rolling Hill needs to have somebody there from Lower Merion Township regularly to make sure those dogs stay in control. And for basics like to make sure the poop actually makes it to the trash cans, and to see that said trashcans get emptied. There are also complaints of people getting their cars broken into even if nothing is visible.

Like a lot of municipalities, Lower Merion is great at giving people parks, they just don’t necessarily maintain them well. And I think that goes for Radnor and Tredyffrin as well. But Lower Merion definitely takes the cake for park visitors with a misplaced sense of entitlement.

Here allow me to share some comments that are reviews for these two awfully dog parks in particular in Lower Merion, including the one where the woman’s dog was attacked a few days ago:

I don’t pretend to have the answers here. But I do think Lower Merion Township needs to deal with the problems in their dog friendly parks because they’ve been going on for years. And I hope that poor woman’s dog gets its vet bills paid, and that the poor dog isn’t permanently scarred emotionally as an animal for life, and the same for the dogs’s owner.

And as for the guy proudly displaying his middle finger? Karma will always come back for people like that. That’s just a classless jackass in his natural habitat.

A final note for people out there who like to take their animals to these parks or who just like to walk their animals around in general and don’t think twice about going up to a stray dog: ask before you approach. Don’t assume it’s ok. I have a friend who has a dog that is reactive to other dogs when on lead, and people do this all of the time when she’s walking her dog. She asks them to not approach her and this one dog with their dogs, and they just ignore her. It’s the same with people who don’t instruct their children to ask before they approach a strange animal. These people need to just stop.

OK, that’s all I have to say about stupid human tricks today. Thanks for stopping by.

chester county planning commission is there something you want to tell residents?

Posted on September 11, 2024 by carla

https://icma.org/job-posts/143284

Executive Director of Planning

County of Chester, PA

Chester County and its 550,000 residents enjoy a high quality of life with outstanding employment and educational opportunities, coupled with an array of performing arts and cultural venues, museums, historical sites, world-renowned gardens, recreational offerings, and an eclectic mixture of dining, microbreweries, and wine tasting options. Referred to locally as “Chesco,” the County includes the City of Coatesville, 15 Boroughs, 57 Townships, and numerous other communities within its 762 square miles and is part of Philadelphia’s 6.2 million metropolitan area population. Chester County is the fastest-growing county in southeastern Pennsylvania, with 100,000 projected new residents by 2050.

The Executive Director of Planning is responsible for leading, implementing and managing all programs, staff, and budgets for the County Planning Commission, Environmental and Energy Advisory Board, and Agricultural Development Council. The position is also responsible for providing the highest technical level of assistance to County Commissioners.

Chester County seeks a visionary and creative Executive Director of Planning who is passionate about progressive planning principles and has the keen ability to develop long-range plans and future projects with area planning and transportation partners. The successful candidate will have a functional understanding in a variety of practices including long-range planning, balancing growth with preservation, open space acquisition and management, affordable housing, sustainability programs, multimodal transportation, and Transit Oriented Development.

A master’s degree from an accredited college or university in planning, geography, political science, economics, landscape architecture, or other related field is required, coupled with ten (10) or more years of applied experience in planning fields (i.e., community, environmental, plan review, transportation, etc.) is required. Candidates with an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience will also be considered. Membership in the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) strongly preferred. The final selected candidate must also possess or be able to obtain a valid driver’s license. Residency is not required for the position; however, it is desired that the Executive Director of Planning live within a reasonable commuting distance to the County offices in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Chester County offers a competitive salary based upon qualifications and experience with a desired starting salary range of $120,186 – $150,234.

Please apply online at: https://www.governmentresource.com/recruitment-employers/open-recruitme…
For more information on the position, contact:
Doug Thomas, Executive Vice President of Recruitment & Leadership Development
Strategic Government Resources
DouglasThomas@governmentresource.com
863-860-9314

Soooo isn’t that special as well? Welcome back Church Lady:

So Brian O’Leary is the current Executive Director of Chester County Planning Commission so is he retiring?

O’Leary was appointed in Chester County in 2015. I was never a fan. I remember him from the Planning Commission in Lower Merion Township and Montgomery County.

ChesCo Commissioners name Brian O’Leary as Planning Commission Executive Director

Ok I found it, he’s retiring:

He’s retiring just after the November election as per his LinkedIn:

Good morning friends and colleagues,

On November 8, I’ll be retiring after many great years at the Chester County and Montgomery County planning commissions. It has been interesting, fun, and, hopefully, impactful work that has been much more fulfilling because of my interactions with all of you.

Chester County is now looking for a new executive director of planning, and you can find more about the position here:

https://lnkd.in/e6kfy38W

If you know of someone who would be a good fit for the position, please share the link with them. Chester County is an excellent place to work as a planner. Both the county government and the general community are very supportive of planning; Landscapes3, the county’s comprehensive plan, is well respected by our partners; and the county directly implements smart growth and preservation through its open space, community revitalization, and planning grant programs.

When I retire, I’ll be doing the usual retiree activities of more travelling, more learning, more creative hobbies, more time outdoors, and more time with family.

Sincerely,

Brian

One pension or two? He was at Montgomery County for like 28 years, and Chester County for 9.

My largest problem other than I remember how pro-development I felt he was from my time living in Lower Merion Township, was that he did NOT live in Chester County. Sorry not sorry but to understand Chester County best for a crucial job like this, it should be a resident if possible.

So anyway, arrivederci O’Leary. I hope your successor actually lives in Chester County.

File again under news I found that I wasn’t looking for.

19035 is madoff-lite buzzing again…and adding 08008 to the mix?

Posted on September 11, 2024 by carla

I just can’t with the Madoff-Lite of it all. The Philadelphia Business Journal popped out a new story on new drama regarding Scott Mason of Gladwyne, PA:

Philadelphia Business Journal: Wealth manager faces new allegations of theft from partners in Jersey Shore mini golf course

By Jeff Blumenthal – Senior Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal Sep 10, 2024

Sooo….the beach house is listed:

https://beachhouserealtylbi.com/properties/47-harbor-ln-long-beach-township-nj-us-08008-njoc2028358

Now that LBI place is listed are there odds on when the 19035 AKA Gladwyne house gets listed?

And in Montgomery County PA, more people have filed:

So the mini golf thing. Sad because it was saved when former owner died so developers didn’t get it. It was in a local paper to LBI area:

SandPaper:Jen’s Links Remains as New Owners Take Over Barnegat Light Miniature Golf Course

May 10, 2023 By David Biggy

Now for the filings in NJ – interesting to PA because in the exhibits you can see where they added filings of PA people as exhibits….and Joseph DiStefano’s Inquirer article too.

Here are the NJ cases:

CivilCaseJacket NJ 1 Download

CivilCaseJacket NJ 2 Download

This is just kind of nuts. And how many victims will there be of this in the end including family?

Sign me things are sadly rotten in the 19035. You have to wonder what the neighbors think…in Gladwyne and on LBI.

Shaking my head at the greed of it all, aren’t you?

mind blown: lower merion is new grifter capital of the main line?

seeking rubicon

ohhh it’s main line newsworthy, stop the presses!

Posted on August 2, 2024 by carla

It’s getting hard to keep the Lower Merion Main Line grifters separate in people’s heads – I mean there is Josh Verne formerly of Gladwyne and Joseph LaForte late of Haverford, right? And there they were both were living in the Magic Kingdom of Lower Merion Township for a while, yes?

Anyway, it seems to be UPS. He did it again for Josh Verne. And on the new Nouveau Main Line, maybe they’re finally learning the lesson. If some of these people seem too good to be true, generally speaking, they might be?

Here’s the press release that was forwarded to me today:

Former Gladwyne Entrepreneur Charged with Bilking Investors Out of Millions of Dollars, Forging Documents, and Obstructing Justice

Friday, August 2, 2024

For Immediate Release

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that an indictment was unsealed against Josh S. Verne, 47, formerly of Gladwyne, PA, now a resident of Fort Lauderdale, FL, charging him with 28 separate federal crimes, including securities fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, witness retaliation, and witness intimidation.

According to the indictment, Verne carried out a series of schemes from at least in or about 2017 to 2020, through which he defrauded dozens of investors, prospective investors, employees, and business partners out of millions of dollars, forged documents, and obstructed justice by threatening, intimidating, and retaliating against others in connection with the federal criminal investigation.

The indictment alleges that Verne held himself out as a wealthy and successful businessman, entrepreneur, and investor, and that he carried out his fraudulent activities through a series of limited liability companies, of which he was the chief executive and over which he maintained control. It is alleged that, among other things, Verne falsely represented his prior business successes, falsely represented his personal net worth, falsely represented his own investments, and falsely represented the financial health of his companies and investments, in order to induce others to invest in or provide loans to him or his companies. For instance, according to the indictment, Verne provided an investor with a forged Goldman Sachs statement that showed family investment holdings for Verne of more than $50 million, when, in fact, Verne did not have an investment account at Goldman Sachs in his own name or in his family’s names, much less an account with a market value of more than $50 million.

It is further alleged that Verne misused business and investor funds to repay prior debts and to finance an affluent lifestyle he could not afford, such as personal expenses related to renovations to his showcase vacation property on the Jersey shore, travel on private jets, contributions to political candidates, personal charitable contributions, and country club payments. According to the indictment, in order to delay and prevent discovery by law enforcement of his own misconduct, Verne later sent bank and FedEx confirmations purporting to confirm delivery of funds to investors to whom he had promised repayment; the bank and FedEx confirmations were false and fraudulent.

The indictment further alleges that Verne stole the identity of a former employee from his company, forging the employee’s signature on a sales agreement to disguise an unauthorized sale of the employee’s shares of stock. According to the indictment, Verne obtained $150,000 from the unauthorized sale and used those funds to make payments to himself and to a prior investor.

Finally, the indictment alleges that, after Verne met with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and learned details about the investigation, Verne obstructed justice by contacting the former employee and threatening to divulge false, embarrassing information about him because the employee provided information to law enforcement.

Verne was arrested today in Fort Lauderdale. He is expected to appear in federal court in Philadelphia next week for an arraignment.

If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 532 years in prison (including a mandatory minimum of two years in prison to run consecutively to any other term of imprisonment), three years of supervised release, a $21,250,000 fine, and a $2,800 special assessment.

If you, your family member, or anyone that you know believes they may have been a victim of these crimes and would like to report the information, please contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation at 215-418-4000 and reference “Josh S. Verne.”

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Paul G. Shapiro and Jerome M. Maiatico. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Philadelphia Regional Office investigated civil securities fraud charges against Verne, which are pending.

An indictment, information, or criminal complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Contact

USAPAE.PressBox@usdoj.gov
215-861-8300

And then there is Joseph La Forte.

La Forte has been in the papers so often I lost track but here’s a few things:

https://www.phillymag.com/news/2024/02/24/par-funding-financial-scandal

Wife of Par Funding founder pleads guilty to hiding millions in tax fraud case

https://www.inquirer.com/crime/par-funding-joseph-laforte-racketeering-indictment-trial-20240227.html

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/par-funding-principals-charged-rico-indictment-addition-pending-charges-securities

https://www.inquirer.com/news/lisa-mcelhone-guilty-par-funding-joseph-laforte-trial-rodney-ermel-ken-bacon-20240322.html

Then of course there is the whole billboard drama of it all…

https://www.inquirer.com/business/thaddeus-bartkowski-catalyst-auction-billboards-20240628.html

https://www.inquirer.com/business/billboard-catalyst-thaddeus-bartkowski-main-line-convention-center-east-whiteland-concord-tredyffrin-20240710.html

https://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Superior/out/J-A28037-22m%20-%20105560895226829459.pdf?cb=1

https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/9404425/wolfington-p-v-bartkowski-t

https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/superior-court/2021/2913-eda-2019.html

Just goes to show you kids it’s not always golden in the Magic Kingdom…. Say that might make a good billboard, right? Too soon?

TTFN!

who is watching the store at waverly heights?

Posted on July 9, 2024 by carla

This is every family’s nightmare. You entrust the care of a loved one to a retirement community/facility. And tragedy strikes.

This started YESTERDAY. And in this heat, whether or not she was an independent living the media reports and the police reports both infer cognitive issues. She was seen leaving, didn’t they think to keep tabs on a brand new person unfamiliar with the area IN THIS HEAT?

Main Line Media News and others reported that she had been seen by someone’s housekeeper yesterday and declined help on Morris? Imagine if someone had just called the police? The nouveau Main Line is full of busy bodies and no one noticed her???

Lower Merion police report missing 84-year-old woman found deceased

She was found on Garden Lane in Bryn Mawr. That is quite the walk from Waverly Heights. Waverly Road across big roads like Conshohocken State Road, up to Morris, down Morris, crossing over other streets like Old Gulph Road, to I guess Carisbrooke Road to Garden Lane. That is about 3 miles, maybe slightly less. But this isn’t a straight shot. These are roads that are windy, often busy, and hilly in places.

Are we also wound up in our lives that no one else saw an elderly woman during brutally hot weather? How long was she gone before Waverly Heights called the police? This comment below (next) from Lower Merion Police Department’s Facebook page indicates she had just been moved from Colorado.

Apparently she has family in Chester County. I am so terribly sorry for them and sad. I have known many who have lived at Waverly Heights quite happily and this chain of events shocks me as much as everything else. For what this place costs, you would never expect this.

She was so new, not driving that anyone has mentioned, and it was brutally hot. If she wasn’t happy being there as well as so new to area and again so hot, they should have kept more of an eye on her or assigned her a walking buddy or something don’t you think?

Rest in peace poor lady.

suntop repairs in ardmore?

Posted on May 27, 2024 by carla

A friend of mine sent me a photo they took quite recently of SunTop in Ardmore. It looks like it’s under construction again? Correcting past mistakes? Or maintenance?

SunTop places have had fires over the years, but I have not heard of any for years have you? It’s very weird the way Frank Lloyd Wright houses all over the country have had fires over the years. And this location is no exception. The first one at SunTop was 1941.

I’ve checked with someone I know in the area and they thought there was no fire of a recent vintage, but these houses have required repairs etc. especially since some of the restoration might not have been historically accurate or in some cases, interior rooms were rearranged like I read in an old article.

So it looks like restoration is what is happening with this house and then I found similar on Google of all places with a note to respect someone’s property.

SunTop is a Frank Lloyd Wright creation that has had a complicated history at best with Lower Merion Township.

It as called “the Ardmore experiment” was built in 1939 as a potential solution for multi family housing. One of the units had a fire in 1941, but wartime shortages during World War II meant repairs didn’t happen.

https://www.oldhouseonline.com/house-tours/restoring-frank-lloyd-wright-suntop/

Of course, Lower Merion being Lower Merion rewrote their codes, and SunTop suddenly became non conforming as a use in a single family zone in 1951. Ironic considering all the multi family cram plans they approve in the present, right? Sorry had to say that as it has given me a chuckle looking at this.

An owner in the 1950s of SunTop was denied a zoning variance in 1957 to restore the fire damaged property. Finally in 1965 a zoning was amended or something so restoration could occur. It seems like in 1989 another renovation occurred to correct mistakes from the 1960s. In 2003 there was another renovation judged from media reports.

https://patch.com/pennsylvania/radnor/ardmores-frank-lloyd-wright-house-is-for-sale-2

Look Up! Wright was years ahead in ‘Ardmore Experiment’

They are actually super cool houses and were ahead of their time. They just don’t seem particularly durable. The only Frank Lloyd Wright house in Malibu, CA burned down in 2018 wildfires.

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/frank-lloyd-wright-malibu-oboler-house-2344241

And then there was one hotel Wright built in Tokyo. It survived an earthquake, fire, and tsunami in the 1920s but was torn down in the 1960s.

https://www.dwell.com/article/frank-lloyd-wright-imperial-hotel-martin-house-thought-built-exhibit-mayan-revival-3148cae8

Now my friend who did the SunTop drive by recently, loves the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. He has tried to see as many of Wright’s structures as possible over time. SunTop appears in a catalog he has devoted to the homes.

So I was never a huge Frank Lloyd Wright aficionado but I have always been intrigued by what he had the foresight to see in Ardmore, PA. Their design works for multi family housing. Imagine if something like this could ever be designed instead of the awful rape of the land we see now.

The thing about Wright’s designs is much like Wharton Esherick, his designs involved and seemingly enveloped nature. Both Esherick and Wright also have things in common with George Nakashima and his legacy – furniture and buildings on his property. I think Nakashima’s furniture is beautiful and I have always wished I would find an Esherick print at a garage sale.

billboard issue not dead in bryn mawr

Posted on April 25, 2024 by carla

Billboards are not dead in Bryn Mawr. This affects Lower Merion and Haverford Townships.

This has been going on since 2009.

15 damn years.

I doubt very much the Billboard Baron would want billboards on the lawn of his Gladwyne McMansion, but maybe that’s the place where they ought to go, huh?

Man behind controversy defends the legality of billboards

From 2009

https://casetext.com/case/adsmart-outdoor-adver-inc-v-adsmart-outdoor-adver-inc

So I received an email from the current 5th ward commissioner in Haverford Township Laura Cavendish. Her predecessors, the late Andy Lewis and Jeff Heilmann also both fought billboards alongside their residents and constituents.

From Commissioner Laura Cavendish we have sadly learned that the billboard issue is active again, and it has never actually died as an issue in Haverford and Lower Merion Townships . I’m really glad that she sent the update, because her Lower Merion counterpart has been seemingly silent on the issue, hasn’t he? But hey if there are babies to be kissed or photo ops cutting ribbons to be had, he’s your guy.

Here is what the email I received said:

April 24, 2024

Dear Ward 5 Residents,

It was great to see so many of you at the polls yesterday. I shared with some of you a letter which I am now sharing here.

I wanted to provide an update on the Township’s active litigation against four proposed billboards in Haverford, two of which would be located on Lancaster Avenue in Ward 5. For about 20 years, Haverford and Lower Merion have been fighting Catalyst, a company which has proposed four large billboards in Haverford Township. Two of these sites are located on Lancaster Avenue in Bryn Mawr, across from the Acme and near Our Mother of Good Counsel church in Haverford Township; two others are located on West Chester Pike.

In 2020, the Court of Common Pleas directed the two townships and Catalyst to come to a settlement. Since that time, Haverford has been working with Catalyst to identify a settlement that would reduce the number of billboard sites proposed by Catalyst and prevent future billboards anywhere in the Township.

As background, the township is legally required to zone an area that permits a billboard. A settlement would mean creating zoning for one, smaller digital billboard, most likely located near the entrance to I-476 on West Chester Pike. Additionally, Lower Merion would likely place a billboard along I-76 as part of the settlement, expressly for the purpose of taking the Lancaster Avenue sites off the table. If no settlement is reached, and the case goes back before the Court of Common Pleas, the judge would likely allow billboards on all four (or more) sites in Haverford, including the two sites on Lancaster.

Large billboards along Lancaster in Bryn Mawr would be viewed by drivers, pedestrians, shoppers, church goers, and so many others in our community. The right settlement would permanently prevent future billboards in the Township, rather than leaving the decision to a judge. Declining to settle would require spending more taxpayer dollars to appeal this case and the township would likely lose. The outcome could be multiple billboards throughout Haverford Township.

While I am strongly opposed to billboards in Haverford Township, given the history of this case and the potential for reducing damaging billboard blight, I will support the right settlement with Catalyst. I believe a settlement will protect Lancaster Avenue and Haverford Township permanently, as well as prevent billboards along our narrow residential thoroughfare in the heart of Bryn Mawr.

Please reach out if you would like to talk or learn more about this important issue.

Laura Cavender, 5th Ward Commissioner
lcavender@havtwp.org
202-415-9881

This billboard company dude is the same one who has been littering our Chester County communities with these billboards as well.

It really is a crappy thing that our communities get saddled with these signs so he can make a profit. Because that’s all that this is about is money and when you meet people like this or you run into people like this, you have to ask once in a while when is there enough money? When do you perhaps need to think about what the right thing to do is?

It’s time for the Billboard Baron to leave Bryn Mawr and all of these other communities alone. I hope these communities, and there respective municipalities still have some fight left in them. After all, there are a lot of us, myself included, who first stood up in 2009 when this all started. A lot of us have given up years to fight these blights on our communities.

#NoBillboardsInTheBurbs

#NoBillboards

#BillboardsSuck

when the side show is more interesting than the circus…

Posted on April 20, 2024 by carla

So the other day I posted about Oakwell :

oakwell is safe-ish?

I opened with that snippet from the Lower Merion School District meeting.

Why?

Because it has sent off a tsunami of social media speculation. I can’t resist and I have to memorialize some of it. It’s fascinating.

When I started seeing things appear on social media yesterday, I actually reached out to Natural Lands. They told me what was appearing on Facebook wasn’t true. I have no reason to doubt them. Because if Lower Merion School District is in the middle of a delicate transaction, no one might know anything yet.

They actually responded on social media:

I’m going with nothing to see here with Oakwell until there is actually something to see. Large real estate transactions, especially when you’re talking about hopefully a preservationist can be quite delicate, so in my opinion it’s time to put the egos aside and sit on the gotcha moments for now.

Like I said, sometimes the side show is more interesting than the circus. What is gained out of this game of gotcha?

That’s all.

oakwell is safe-ish?

Posted on April 18, 2024 by carla

So… I have written about Oakwell before, including this post which included history that I dug up:

what about oakwell? once part of stoneleigh, now set to be demolished by greedy lower merion school district?

Apparently Lower Merion School District has had a change of heart? I will believe it when the deal is inked but I am cautiously optimistic.

Truthfully, I had stopped following much of what was going on at Oakwell, because some of the volunteers involved with the Save Oakwell I found to be so distracting as individuals, that it made it hard to follow the actual issue. That being said I would occasionally get my updates from other friends I have that have been involved with this since the beginning.

Oakwell is next door to Stoneleigh. Originally was part of Stoneleigh land before we all came along. I remember going to some nonprofit thing there years ago I think with my mother, it was a garden thing. It’s been too many years to remember what.

I wonder what the prior owner thinks? I wonder because he is the one who set this all in motion in the first place isn’t he?

And then you have to wonder who is the new potential owner? When this all first started, Villanova University was buying it. Then came the whole thing with Lower Merion School District.