Tag Archives: lower merion township

hey starbucks and kimco you called the police on girl scouts? SHAME ON YOU!

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Video came from dad and Philadelphia Magazine posted it. Dad got video from LMPD apparently.

Just when I thought Lower Merion couldn’t get any more ridiculous…well it IS a full moon…but I digress…. Anyway, a Kimco Realty babe at Suburban Square (using that term very loosely) called the police on GIRL SCOUTS SELLING GIRL SCOUT COOKIES IN A LITTLE RED WAGON in Suburban Square ! Picture of a red wagon below for illustration.

Yes, this really happened. So imagine my horror when I saw this in Philadelphia Magazine and a big HT and thank you to Victor Fiorello for covering this :

NEWS

Suburban Square Calls Cops on Girl Scouts Selling Cookies

Only on the Main Line does a dad request police body-cam footage from a Girl Scout cookie incident.

by VICTOR FIORILLO· 2/27/2024, 12:16 p.m.

Suburban Square Calls Cops on Girl Scout Cookie Sales

It’s that time of year: Girl Scout cookie season! ….Most of these Girl Scout cookie sales you see go off without a hitch. But that wasn’t the case on a winter Wednesday earlier this month at Suburban Square. That’s the very Main Line-y shopping center in Ardmore.

Ardmore resident Eric Lowry showed up outside the Starbucks at Suburban Square with his 13-year-old daughter…Between his two daughters, Lowry has been helping sell Girl Scout cookies for close to 10 years. And he says he’d never been told that the girls couldn’t sell wherever they chose to. They’d even sold at Suburban Square in the past.

But on this particular day, an executive with the Suburban Square management group, Kimco Realty, approached Lowry and his daughter and asked them to move. “They said we had to stop selling cookies because we were standing on private property,” Lowry tells me, insisting that the specific spot they were on was not private property, but public. “They threatened to call the police as some kind of intimidation tactic.” Lowry flat-out refused to move and dutifully documented the encounter on his cell-phone camera.

At some point thereafter, the Suburban Square executive relocated to a different part of Suburban Square. There, she spoke with officers from the Lower Merion police department who had arrived on the scene. As seen on police body-cam footage that Lowry later obtained and published on YouTube (yes, this guy actually jumped through the required hoops to obtain body-cam footage from the cops), the Suburban Square executive explained her dilemma to police.

Part of that dilemma, it becomes apparent, is that Lowry’s Girl Scout cookie setup was outside of Starbucks. And Starbucks is a Suburban Square tenant that sells cookies, so the Girl Scout cookies were presumably creating a business conflict. She said that Starbucks was “freaking out.” (A manager at that Starbucks told me they have no comment on the matter.)

And Starbucks is TOTALLY part of this and they don’t want to comment? The big enormous coffee company couldn’t handle little GIRL SCOUTS pulling a little red wagon? They viewed them as competition we guess? Yo David and Goliath, Starbucks? Remember how that sitch turned out? I will be honest, I do not buy anything from Starbucks and have not for years. Their coffee always tastes burnt and they are overpriced on everything.

So Starbucks is no stranger to controversy from coast to coast, and aren’t saying anything according to Philadelphia Magazine. If I still lived in Lower Merion, truthfully I would put THAT Starbucks and Suburban Square on my skip it list. (They get all touchy when you say “boycott” so I would merely spend my money elsewhere as a personal choice.)

Part of the problem I have with this after watching that video that Philadelphia Magazine got from the dad (body cam footage I guess which is technically public information if you want to pay for it, which is what the dad did), is the whole misconception by Kimco’s doofy chick on camera talking about the sidewalks as if it was their private street? Really? I thought St. James place in Ardmore has been a public street in Lower Merion Township since the 1930s? And sidewalks are not public any longer? And Coulter Avenue is a public street too, right? Does Kimco own the Lower Merion roads/ streets now? Very confusing and am I suffering from bobble head disease? I sure hope not.

Of course what really piqued my interest here, is I actually know who the dad is. I knew Eric Lowry peripherally from when I was active in Ardmore and lived in Lower Merion Township. He’s a very nice man with a nice family. Active in the community. Helpful. And he is a very peaceful person, so Ms. Kimco 2024 must have been something special for him to go buy body cam footage etc. (Lower Merion charges for the privilege and it’s more than the cost of a couple of boxes of Girl Scout Cookies.) Also if Ms. Kimco 2024 was recorded by him during their interaction, there is no expectation of privacy in a public space and that took place on a public sidewalk. I guess she gets that now?

Of course also as per Philadelphia Magazine, now Kimco seems to have issued a cover their ass statement. They will give them a booth but they have to fill out a form? Does everyone do this with Girl Scouts? I simply don’t know but honestly? Those people were hostile towards kids selling cookies? The hell with them. I feel utterly disgusted by this example of stupid human tricks.

Please note, I do not have a problem with Lower Merion Police Department here. I feel for the officers that had to deal with the Kimco people. Lower Merion Police Department did not cause this, Ms. Kimco Realty 2024 and apparently Starbucks did. And as for Kimco, their statement to Philadelphia Magazine IMHO is not an apology, and there should be one. That entire Girl Scout Troop in my humble opinion deserves an apology spa day in Suburban Square with lunch on Kimco as far as I am concerned. And Kimco can certainly afford it.

This just blows my mind completely. It’s mean. Again, no tables or booths, they were pulling a little red wagon. It doesn’t get cuter than that.

Support your local Girl Scouts and help these kids meet their cookie goals. And support your local coffee shop and let chain Starbucks sit. And maybe trade in Suburban Square for Main Street Ardmore which is always more user friendly.

Again, please support Girl Scouts selling Girl Scout Cookies. It’s as American as Apple Pie. Calling the police on little girls selling Girl Scout cookies is NOT.

And I will tell you that if you don’t wish to bring Girl Scout cookies into your own house because you don’t eat them or whatever you can buy them as a donation and the Girl Scout troops will give them to people who need a little extra treat in the community.

This opinion is brought to you by the First Amendment.

Thanks for stopping by.

gosh, someone must have their knickers in a twist?

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Harriton House July 2021, my photo

The other day I wrote a post about Harriton House in Bryn Mawr, PA and the executive disaster, err director and essentially was the Harriton Association board awake and breathing?  I wrote my post because I was appalled by the rando reenactors, not necessarily museum professionals (the two are hardly mutually exclusive, are they?) playing dress up and house a few days ago, and well were all over the antique furnishings that umm used to have ribbons down the middle and/or little signs on them that said things like “DO NOT SIT.”

when a historic site has a federal designation and a designation as a historic house museum, it deserves respect and reverence, not dress up games.

I have been around and volunteering at Harriton House most of my life. From the time I was 12. I choose not to go back now except a drive up once in a blue moon because I believe current leadership of the board needs to retire and because I am of the opinion that the current executive director is wrong for this site. I am according to the United States Constitution of which Harriton’s most famous inhabitant Charles Thomson was intimately acquainted with, well within my rights to criticize.

I love the place, and it’s headed down a slippery slope. I think they need changes to survive and that includes a different executive director and a change in board leadership and probably some of the board as well. Many of the original board members I once knew or were familiar with are gone, some deceased. And that is a shame because THOSE were the people who helped make Harriton what it eventually became.

I received one comment from a regular reader about how they were confused by my post because I am generally speaking a huge advocate of historic preservation. To them I explained as I have to the rest of my readers, I get getting creative, but you have to be SMART about it. Reenactors lounging on the furniture isn’t smart. YES have reenactors in the house acting a part, or even giving tours but stay off the furniture. Do living history demonstrations in the education center. That is WHY there is one! And I was around when the money was raised to rejoin the parcels that were all oddly carved out of the Harriton property. I was among those who helped clear out the old stables building that became the education center. It had been inhabited by a very elderly lady who was a hoarder.

Then I received this other comment. From a woman in Troy, New York. Which was rather odd, so did someone send her? Here is what she said:

Here is what she said verbatim:

Museum professionals create education program collections that contain reproductions or common historical objects that are intended for hands on use in education programs. This is different than formally accessioned artifacts used for exhibition and research. The ED of Harrington House is a respected Museum professional. Laypeople like this blogger have not been trained in Museum practices and professional standards. Hands on programs like this one consistently are among the most popular types of Museum programs. This is well documented in numerous museum industry marketing studies. The blogger seems to have some kind of grudge going on

I replied to her:

Dear Starlyn,

I realize that you feel that I would have no concept of good practices. But not only do you not know who I might know nationally and internationally, you also do not know that I am actually fairly bright. And I researched this.

Also Van Cortlandt House Museum interestingly enough has had ZERO activity on their socials since October and their website is no longer up. (Reference https://www.norwoodnews.org/representation-equity-at-van-cortlandt-house-museum/ )

To have a grudge, I would have to know her, and she is not someone I choose to know. But I am very familiar with this property and have been since I was 12 years old.

Other things that have gone on here are people who are regular people like myself just being able to handle historical maps and documents without proper gloves on. That’s a fact not fiction.

Hands-on living history programs are fabulous. But that doesn’t include random reenactors lounging on antiques that in some cases could not be replaced, and they certainly can’t afford to repair them.

Common historical objects are fine to show demonstrations with. That is WHY Harriton House has an education center.

Now fly away back to whomever sent you. I mean you work in Troy, New York as a Director of Corporate, Government, and Foundation Relations for a small college, correct? And resigned your job at Hart Cluett Museum after a rather short duration?

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Hart-Cluett-Museum-leader-resigns-from-Troy-17205374.php

I find it kind of odd that this would be a historic site you would follow.

So yes, I looked her up. She works for Russell Sage College in upstate New York. As in Troy as in not particularly close to this area. She is the Director of Corporate, Government, and Foundation Relations. She was formerly with someplace called the Hart Cluett Museum for a kind of short amount of time. Needless to say I never heard of it because I am not familiar with Troy, New York. I also found this article:

Times Union: Hart Cluett Museum leader resigns from Troy cultural institution
By Kenneth C. Crowe II
Updated May 30, 2022 2:36 p.m.

TROY — The Hart Cluett Museum is looking for a new executive director after Starlyn D’Angelo resigned after leading the cultural institutional for 14 months, the museum board announced.

It’s the second time in two years that the museum has had to search for an executive director.

“We thank Star for stepping in during a difficult time for the museum during the pandemic, and for her many contributions leading the museum through reopening to the public,” Mark Shipley, president of the museum’s board of directors, said in a statement.

D’Angelo said she decided to leave the museum after her expectations for the executive director’s job and those of the board did not match. The position is considered to be a high-stress role with the executive director taking on the responsibilities for day-to-day management and fundraising to keep money flowing into the museum coffers. D’Angelo described the workload as untenable in the way the position is structured.

“This is an old story in the nonprofit world. I don’t believe nonprofits as a whole get a lot of support,” D’Angelo said Saturday….The Hart Cluett Museum received a boost when some of HBO’s “The Gilded Age” was filmed here. Troy served as the stand-in for late 19th century New York City where the series is set. The museum provided information and guidance to production designers who were seeking locations in Troy. The series returns to Troy in August to film for a second season.

It is indeed so difficult for smaller non-profits to survive. Especially after COVID. That is totally true. Just look at Van Cortlandt House where Harriton’s current Executive Director came from. It appears to have very limited hours now and they no longer have even a website. I checked today. They also have not done anything on their social media accounts since October, 2023.  That’s sad. This place has been under the stewardship of The National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York through a license agreement with the City of New York since like 1896 or 1897. But the Colonial Dames are devoted to their sites, so hopefully this is just a setback?

Anyway, back to Harriton House. I won’t apologize for being curious and FYI the The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America takes care of some amazing historic properties, including in our region. They are caretakers of Stenton in Philadelphia which is truly magnificent. Stenton is truly worth visiting if you never have. As Stenton’s website will tell you, “Stenton is one of the earliest, best-preserved, and most authentic historic houses in Philadelphia.”

Here:

Stenton is one of the earliest, best-preserved, and most authentic historic houses in Philadelphia. Completed in 1730 as a country-seat, plantation house for James Logan – Secretary to William Penn; merchant, politician, justice, scientist, and scholar – Stenton was home to six generations of the Logan family, as well as a diverse community of servants and enslaved Africans, including Dinah, who lived and labored at Stenton for over 50 years. Furnished with 18th- and 19th-century Logan family objects, and remaining in little-altered condition, a visit to Stenton offers an unparalleled experience of early Pennsylvania.

The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have worked to “preserve and maintain Stenton as an historic object lesson” since 1899. Today, Stenton administers the award winning History Hunters Youth Reporter Program, which serves over 3,500 underserved Philadelphia schoolchildren each year. Additionally, Stenton’s Colonial Revival Garden was the founding site for the Garden Club of America in 1913, and the site was honored as the winner of the Garden Club of America’s Founders Fund Award in June, 2015.  Through tours, educational programs and special events, Stenton continues to transport visitors to the 18th Century.

~ Stenton website.

Stenton has a rather famous landscape. It was as stated above, the founding site for the Garden Club of America in 1913. I am a gardener and garden lover so that is particularly cool for me. Stenton, like Harriton House was once a plantation. Stenton had like 300 acres or better originally. It was lesser acreage than Harriton which originally was something crazy close to 700 acres when William Penn bequeathed the estate to Rowland Ellis in the 1680’s. That is of course when it was called Bryn Mawr (“High Hill” in Welsh.) Then, Ellis sold the property in the early 18th century to Richard Harrison. Upon the transfer of the property and the land under new stewardship, it became Harriton. Just THINK about how far the land for the original land spread and how far into areas we know today, probably not all what we know today as Bryn Mawr either, maybe?

Harriton today, as in the property, is 13 acres according to Lower Merion Township. I think it is actually a little larger. The Harriton Association is responsible for caring for the house and I believe owns the tenant properties BUT Lower Merion Township owns the historic house and Harriton’s parkland.

I was around and volunteering as the old Harriton Association and mainly the former executive director, Bruce Cooper Gill, raised money and worked tirelessly to assemble the Harriton property we know today because although Lower Merion owned the historic house and park, it was the Bruce Cooper Gill and the then Harriton Association who acquired the three now tenant properties which was crucially important because it preserved Harriton and kept developers OUT. And even back a bunch of years THAT was a concern. (One would have thought they would have fêted Bruce properly before they shoved him out the door, right?)

So yeah, I was around for all of those properties being acquired, cleaned up, and so on and so forth. I even donated an old blanket chest that may have been in the 2007 acquisition at one time. Have no clue what happened to it, probably it was later sold at a fair because it has a tenant now.

I love Harriton. I don’t love what is happening and it is my right to say so. I think two years is long enough to see that the current executive director is not the right person although she has the educational background. Running a site like Harriton is more than doing historical costumes and reenactor dress up. The place used to be open with an executive director on site pretty much all of the time (the animals were under his care as well as the site.) Now it seems open Wednesday through Saturday and how many days is this woman actually there physically? The reviews on their Facebook page only have two recent reviews one in 2023 from LMTV which is Lower Merion’s TV station and they probably filmed there and the one in 2024 is a spammer advertising Bitcoin that I just reported as spam.

Obviously I hit a nerve somewhere given the uppity comment of Ms. I-Know-Better-Than-You-Ordinary-Person from Troy, New York. Good. Maybe it wakes some people up. Harriton House is quite literally a national treasure. Educational programs based on history are a great idea. So are historical reenactors…but USE THE EDUCATION CENTER for things, not the antiques in the house. For F’s sake that is WHY the education center was conceived of in the first place.

Harriton needs help. The obviously need money, and they need better direction. I will not say sorry that I think they need a different head of the board of the Harriton Association as well as a better executive director for this site. Harriton has looked sad the last few times I have done a drive by. It’s like even the garden clubs are gone. Lower Merion Township needs to wake up.

Thanks for stopping by on a snowy day.

Harriton House circa 2005 from Montgomery County’s property records listing.

crazy reigns supreme: what is in lower merion’s water this week?

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I really can’t even with this bullshit. And it is bullshit and it’s a hate crime… and once again, it’s happening in Lower Merion Township.

This hit social media today and late last night and somebody has been going around sticking stickers on stuff in grocery stores, and then this case the person who posted this photo who also did alert the store, and I thinkq the police said it was the Narberth ACME in Narberth, PA. Of course, this is the same vicinity where that female doctor set that grandmother’s porch on fire.

I don’t know how this is a township where all you see are #HateHasNOHome signs , yet you see this as well.

I’m going to allow the words of a resident to speak for themselves, because I think they are quite profound and on point:

It’s unpopular to say what you think or have an opinion. It will always make you unpopular with someone… and while I am sickened by the slaughter of Palestinian children. I think we are beyond an eye for an eye and I long for another solution or response to Hamas’ unthinkable attacks.

I am equally appalled by the antisemetism and blatant hatred shown for Jews and Israelis and the obvious ignorance of so many protestors. This example here is in our neighborhood. This is our grocery store. If you see someone acting out like this please call them out. They need an education — and some humanity. There is no place for this in our community. We can’t tolerate it.

This ugly ugly war in the Middle East has so much hate going around communities in our area and across the country that it just gives you pause. The holidays are upon us, and that would be Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, or whatever you celebrate, and however you celebrate.

I would say, why can’t we all get along but I know we all can’t get along. I haven’t seen this hatred displayed in Chester County yet. Maybe it’s because we are more of a melting pot out here, I don’t know. All I know is I’m glad that where I live this isn’t happening yet, but I am ashamed of where I used to call home has these incidents.

Please stop madness like this. And if you know anything about this, please call the police.

Hate begets more hate. Break the cycle.

how are donations being used at harriton house…. really?

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Harriton House was a slice of heaven for me for me and many people for more than 40 years. I started to visit Harriton when I was 12. I am now 59.

Harriton became a historic destination of some note all because of the former Executive Director Bruce Cooper Gill. He gave them what? 45 years of his life? Did they ever even honor him appropriately for essentially making Harriton amazing and into Harriton? He gave them decades of his life and HE is the reason people discovered this place. And with him, you knew how every penny was spent, didn’t you? And when you made a donation large or small, he took the time to personally say thank you, didn’t he?

What Harriton House USED to look like before the
historically accurate fence disappeared.

That lack of style in ED transition appalled many people, didn’t it? (“ED” not for erectile dysfunction but rather Executive Director.) They wondered then what the board of the Harriton Association and the successor ED was thinking? Especially the President of the Board? So what are they thinking now? I mean you have to wonder about things given how it just doesn’t look so hot over there, so many trees were removed etc, right? It looks sloppy over there. Kind of like a sock that really needs darning, right?

Below enjoy photos of how wonderful the flowers once looked at Harriton and there were once community gardens too. So much has changed, hopefully these photos remind people of what could be again with different leadership.

So many questions now exist about Harriton House and the Harriton Association don’t they? Four employees if you count the lawn tractor guy who lives in one of rental structures, right? Remember when they were going to have a new website in 2023? It’s August, 2023…don’t rush…

I can’t see the differences in The Harriton Association’s filings because the latest IRS Form 990 that is available online is from 2020 for calendar year 2019. (See CAUSEIQ.com, GuideStar, ProPublica, etc.) So I have to wonder where their finances are today? Donations up or down? Are the events making enough money under new ED? Who paid for the “field trip” today?

How is taking all employees on a field trip actual “continuing education”? In my opinion, the answer is it is not. Welsh settlers, Quakers, and Pennsylvania Germans are rather different. So while it is a nice sentiment it feels like Harriton is not really “open” as it should be.

The Goschenhoppen Folk Festival is amazing. No one needs an excuse to check it out. But why can’t a small non-profit encourage their employees to go on their own time?

(I do feel however, that the Goschenhoppen Historians Christmas Market is even BETTER. definitely check THAT out!)

The events under new ED have been a snooze fest and I truly hope they improve because Harriton was always such a gem. So maybe lack of activity at the old farmstead is why the field trip for grown ups?

Maybe Lower Merion Commissioner Scott Zelov can wax poetic about things at Harriton? Isn’t he the commissioner who attends their board meetings? Speaking of board meetings, what about board minutes, where are theirs kept publicly? They are a non-profit organization so who has them? Have they changed their bylaws over the past couple of years? Are things being run properly in as far as a non-profit goes? Is there proper financial oversight and accountability? Is there oversight in general?

Maybe my concerns in the end will amount to nothing, I surely hope so. But I remain steadfast in my opinion that the Harriton Association needs some shaking up on the board including a new president of the board, and that this current ED is simply not the right fit. Being a historical reenactor does not make them a good ED does it? More to running a historic site than playing dress up around the region right?

Thank goodness my rights which were assisted in happening once upon a time by Harriton’s Charles Thomson allow me to express my opinions.

Thanks for stopping by.

end of an era in ardmore

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Thursday marked an end of an era officially when the Hunan name came off of the facade at 47 East Lancaster Ave. in Ardmore, PA.

At some point after Covid, one of my favorite places in the whole world, Hunan restaurant in Ardmore, closed their doors .

I had been going here since I was 11 or 12 and like everyone else I think the pandemic has just worn them out. It is no fun being a restaurant. First you couldn’t be open. Then you could only be takeout. Then you could re-open but a lot of places found their employees scattered.

The family that owned this restaurant (the Foos) are family friends to me and we had so many celebrations there, My sister and I used to have birthday parties there upstairs when we were younger, and so on. And for many years up until A couple of years before they closed, many of my birthdays were still at Hunan.

I was gladly part of the Save Ardmore Coalition when Ardmore was threatened by eminent domain for private gain, and it was specifically because of Hunan and the Foos I got involved in the first place. I still have a very distinct memory of the Friday evening. I went into Hunan for dinner, and Betty came up to our table and said with tears in her eyes “They want to take our building.” Betty then asked me to get involved with a new group that was forming, and I said yes.

I can tell you that living in Chester County sadly made this restaurant just far enough away for weekly visits, and Ardmore has the worst parking ever thanks to Lower Merion Township.

This family however prevailed through everything. And for 50 years they served us their food, some of the best food imaginable. I used to love when Chris their son and chef would let us order things he was trying out off the menu. This is a place where every time you went in the door it was one of the nicest vibes possible. Everyone was welcomed whether it was the first time or the 500th time they had been in.

From the time I was a kid, there was nothing more fun than introducing new people to Hunan restaurant in Ardmore.

Also, once upon a time, Betty taught cooking classes. My mother and I took one. It was awesome.

Dumplings. The dumplings here, whether they be regular, special like curry or something else were legendary and no one will ever beat Hunan in the dumpling department. And the sweet and sour soup was the best there is. And then all the other things like the dishes with duck, or dishes made with little tiny, fresh sardines, or really spicy, minced pork with peppers that were hot enough to make the roof of your mouth come off.

And something else you always had to have were the Chinese vegetables. It was what was seasonal at the time, and always delicious. In the vegetable department, the spicy string beans, and the hot and sweet cabbage, which was essentially pickled, were amazing.

I remember when we were in the restaurant on my birthday in 2014 when the actress Kate Flannery stopped by. She had worked in Hunan as a waitress when I was in high school or somewhere around that time.

Every time you went into Hunan, no matter where you had been, it was like coming home. And we were treated like family.

There are so many memories for me, associated with Hunan from all different stages of my life. And that is the way it was in this restaurant for so many.

The Foo family also survived a fire after surviving Lower Merion Township’s failed attempt at eminent domain for private gain.

If I back up to the days of eminent domain in Ardmore for a moment, we had most of our meetings on the second floor of Hunan. And Betty and E Ni always fed us. We even introduced Congressman James Sensenbrenner to Hunan once upon a time.

When we were fighting eminent domain for private game against Lower Merion Township, then US Congressman for the sixth district, Jim Gerlach, bought Congressman James Sensenbrenner to town.
Getting national attention on our
“local issue” that is still a national
problem really helped.

After eminent domain, and after the fire, Hunan rebuilt. An architect who was part of Save Ardmore Coalition helped them create an updated look. The updated Hunan was gorgeous and the walls for the most part we’re lined with Dr. Foo’s artwork.

It was July 2010 when they re-opened. And it was packed and beautiful. I still have photos so here I’ll share some:

So the sign coming off the building this is so much the end of an era. And it’s not just for those of us who loved this restaurant, it’s an end of an era in Ardmore as well because this was a business that stuck with this town through thick and thin, quite literally.

I know businesses can’t stay in a place forever. And I actually accept that, but this was a place that was just so special. So thank you to the Foo family for the memories and for feeding us for decades I hope whoever goes in here does well now that the building is sold.

Hunan was one of those places that even if you didn’t live in the area anymore, whenever you were in town, you would come back and go there. I secretly wish that they would create a cookbook. It wouldn’t be the same as eating there, but it would be something so worth having in a cookbook library in your home.

Thanks for stopping by.

jeepers creepers, merion cricket club…really?????

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Seriously? Did you think I was going to leave this alone?

Hat tip to Victor Fiorello of Philadelphia Magazine!

Philadelphia Magazine: Main Line Woman Says She Was Sexually Harassed at Merion Cricket Club

She claims a manager told her “it isn’t harassment if he likes you.”

by VICTOR FIORILLO· 

Well gosh! I haven’t been so tickled since that blue blood and not so blue blood cat fight in the ballroom at the Christmas Ball years ago! (Yes, that did happen.)

There is nothing more ick as a woman than a touchy feely male co-worker. Even worse if said male is in a supervisory situation.

How many of you ladies out there have experienced the touchy feelies of it all in the work place? I did years ago. (It was circa late 1980’s as in when Working Girl with Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith came out.) Fortunately it was a “please do not do that again” and it never happened again in my personal experience. Way before Y2K in the financial services industry. It was a regular occurrence in that industry back then in my opinion. I remember one place where a friend worked that female employees (no matter if they were professional or support staff) were told on the down low to stay out of the copy room if a certain handsy male employee was present.

What I observed over the years was problem men really weren’t dealt with. The women learned to support each other. At least in my former industry…..If you complained it was no bueno and we will leave it at that. Definitely a perverse form of don’t ask/don’t tell.

It is REALLY hard for a woman to come forward in ANY industry and accuse a co-worker of sexual harassment. Soo…to hear this…good for this woman. Because NO woman is going to come forward and file a Federal Lawsuit if there is nothing to this. That is my opinion, of course, but litigation is expensive. And she is willing to put it on the line.

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission describes sexual harassment as:

It is unlawful to harass a person (an applicant or employee) because of that person’s sex. Harassment can include “sexual harassment” or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.

Harassment does not have to be of a sexual nature, however, and can include offensive remarks about a person’s sex. For example, it is illegal to harass a woman by making offensive comments about women in general.

Both victim and the harasser can be either a woman or a man, and the victim and harasser can be the same sex.

Although the law doesn’t prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted).The harasser can be the victim’s supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer.

Seems pretty straight forward, doesn’t it? But if he LIKES you it isn’t HARASSMENT, right?

Good lord.

Here is the filing:

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Did a little social media noodling. Merion Cricket is not so good at scrubbing their social media. Hard to say if guy accused still is employed by Merion Cricket, but still floored, yes floored that this is well THIS. And THERE. One would hope that an esteemed club like Merion Cricket at least used to be would have properly TRAINED employees so that they KNEW what sexual harassment was? I wonder if anyone has asked what the reporting procedure is? And if reported who OFF of staff is told or knows?

Sexual harassment is a brutal thing for any woman to take to court and she runs the risk of being re-victimized. That being said whomever Maura Owens is, she is BRAVE. I hope if there are other victims, even from within the ranks of membership, come forward. Sadly, they will go all Main Line here, probably.

Main Line #MeToo Drama here we come. Merion Cricket will you have clean hands at the end of the day here? Time will tell.

historic kerfuffle house in bryn mawr

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Gosh Harriton House a place I have loved since I was 12, but now like many other beloved historic sites can you say it’s in decline and getting more run down as time goes on?

I was introduced to Harriton as a child by a neighbor who volunteered there and also knew the original executive director who made Harriton what she was, and sadly the flavor has changed, and at the helm now is a woman who seems to need multiple assistants and I am not quite sure why? And then there is the social media from today…

Madame Kerfuffle seems to have made quite the faux pas today, yes?

It started innocently enough with one of the normally silly posts now posted on their Facebook page. I say silly because well, they are. I was vastly amused by the history camp posts this week because it made me ponder how child labor laws came to be- all you saw were the kids of Main Liners doing chores and I hope the new executive director remembered to get signed releases for the purpose of posting photos of other people’s children publicly as marketing? They are kids not marketing material after all, right? (Example immediately below ⬇️)

Publicly posted photo. Faces of children covered as a courtesy.

But then I saw their patriotic post for July 4th with a historical faux pas that makes you wonder about holy proof reading Batman!

And then the comment which will help you figure out the kerfuffle of historic proportions even worse that that time in recent history when someone decided to bake bread in Harriton’s historic kitchen, right?

Well oopsies and ouchies, eh? Gosh. Now of course like magic this post was corrected and undoubtedly eventually disappear and was also corrected ….except well Facebook allows you to view revisions.

Harriton Historic House and Park has lots of “human error”….like MYSTERIOUSLY blocking me from Harriton House’s Instagram in spite of MANY, MANY years of volunteering, donations, and donations in kind. Is that “human error” too? To block me who never leaves a comment on Instagram although I do find posts where a goat is baby talking on a historic house page somewhat ludicrous?

Harriton House turned 300 in 2004. I got them on the Today Show. The board never said thank you. But some took credit for it.

They also never did answer my question posted on a removed post of theirs about how many trees were taken down in the past year, and if Lower Merion Township was in approval and did the tree people carry whatever license Lower Merion Township asks for I think? Also because the property is historic did the nouveau executive director actually get HARB permission to take down old fences and erect the new ones which have that penitentiary feel to them?

There’s so much going on at Harriton that people have so many questions about. And I know people that just won’t go back anymore because every time they do now they think the property looks sad and I thought that last year when I went back after an oncology appointment at Penn Medicine in Radnor. Harriton was a happy place to me for decades, and I decided to go visit while I was more or less in the area. When I went back, it just looked sad with lots of weeds, doesn’t look like the garden clubs are really there anymore, and the original white fence that stood in front of Harriton was gone. It was a time of year where there should’ve been people there even if just families with kids or somebody walking a dog because it was summer and it was empty.

And July 4th. The house was always open July 4 for tours. No more. Given what Harriton’s most famous occupant was part of, sure seems odd, right? I can’t believe it was 2021 that I wrote a July 4th post, seems like a lifetime ago.

4th of july 2021

So much about Harriton seems like a lifetime ago. Like the gardens. There were two garden clubs which used to do various beds and the sunken garden, which I actually was the first person to create a garden in. Last year the sunken garden was new weed city. Someone who was over there recently and had not been in forever messaged me to ask where the garden clubs were and I asked why and he said “weeds all over.”

Sunken garden some point
between 2019 and 2021

I will go back to the recent history of when someone thought they could bake bread at an annual meeting was it? And it was a disaster ? When we cooked in the kitchen in the late 70s, we didn’t create any issues or set anything on fire, and that’s important at a historic site, right?

A Taste of History hadn’t even been in the Harriton kitchen yet when we had
been in the late 1970s.

Harriton was a really special place. It could be again. But it needs a board makeover and executive director makeover. I actually found what looks like a copy of the last executive director requirements? New girl is not so new any longer so can she hack it?

You will have to click on each screenshot to read:

So it makes you wonder if Lower Merion Township is actually paying attention? After all they do own the historic house and land, correct? They have a commissioner on the board and commissioners were there in June for some sort of commissioner gathering, correct ? What did they see or is it they choose to ignore? You have to wonder because you don’t want Harriton to end up looking as sad as Ashbridge House in the park in Rosemont which kind of just looks like it’s rotting. Also, it’s interesting to note that even if you have a guide star membership you don’t see IRS form 990s past 2019 so why is that? I mean, maybe that’s just a clerical error on the part of these websites that monitor form 990s but still.

Anyway. It’s been a ramble, hasn’t it? I’m sure the heat and hate mail now will come rolling in because oh my God, I expressed an opinion. No one said you had to read it…

murder in ardmore

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I woke up this morning to the news that somebody was stabbed to death within the shadow of the Lower Merion Township Building and Police Department early Saturday morning after some sort of bar fight on Cricket Avenue.

Philadelphia Inquirer: A man was killed in a Main Line stabbing authorities are calling a homicide

by Diane Mastrull
Published Jun 10, 2023

It’s also pretty close to a cute little street where friends live and have for decades. Fox29 News remarked that there are lots of shops and apartments, but also right there are plenty of single family homes.


Bar fight leads to fatal stabbing of 31-year-old man in Montgomery County, officials say

By FOX 29 Staff and Cheyenne Corin

LOWER MERION TWP., Pa. – A deadly stabbing outside a Lower Merion bar has stunned the quiet town on the Main Line. Police say they do know who they are looking for.

Officers responded to the intersection of Cricket Avenue and Cricket Terrace in Lower Merion to find a 31-year-old man suffering from stab wounds around 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

The victim, identified as Michael Thomas Sides, was pronounced shortly after at a local hospital….The owner of Jack McShea’s told FOX 29 Sides was one of his employees. He was too upset to go on camera, but says Sides was like family and a beautiful person who worked there for years.

I was amused by someone interviewed by Fox29 who proclaimed it was the Main Line and these things don’t happen there. I am paraphrasing, but that’s the gist of it.

Murder happens everywhere, and it happens in Ardmore although not often thank goodness . In 2021 there was the botched ghost gun murder. 2002 was a horrible murder suicide, in Ardmore. In 2019 the man who murdered a woman in her Ardmore apartment was sentenced. Again it doesn’t happen a great deal, but murder does happen in the magic kingdom of Lower Merion.

The murder happened where there are so many windows of so many apartments in that hideous apartment building that used to be a parking lot that backed up to what used to be the movie theater. It looks like it started in that John Henry’s Pub that used to be Annie’s years ago? My educated guess there comes from the fact that FOX 29 featured that bar it in a shot of their news report.

My sources around town were told that it must have started as a beef over at that bar and perhaps whomever did it went looking for the murder victim where he worked and then they met up at that intersection, is this true? Someone else said, both the victim and the alleged perpetrator live in Ardmore? (And so LMPD doesn’t get their parties in a bunch, I don’t have any inside information, but one thing about downtown Ardmore is it is a community and people talk, and people are talking about this.)

The psychology of committing a murder is something that you can’t help but just wonder about. And why do I say that? Simple. We all get mad at people, but what is it that causes someone to take another person’s life? What disconnect is in their brain? I certainly don’t know Michael Thomas Sides, but he had friends and one presumes relatives and was 31 years old. He had a lot of life left to live.

I’ve been looking at the media reports on this and the media reports state the police know whom they are looking for so why don’t they name a suspect or show video footage because there have to be security cameras around there one would think?

And what caused the altercation in the first place? I mean bar fights and beefs start over all sorts of stuff, right? Dumb things like a barstool, or owing somebody money, or a perceived slight when someone else is wasted or hitting on someone’s girl, right? So what was it?

My age must be showing but it used to be when there was a bar fight in Ardmore, it wasn’t settled with weapons. You might see some barstools fly around. You would hear glass get broken. You might even see somebody get punched or tossed out of a bar by a bouncer, but not hear they were murdered later.

But this whole thing being reported of a beef in a bar and then these guys meet up on the street later sounds like somebody was looking for somebody else begs the question of was this premeditated?

And I guess the police can say that there’s no potential threat to the public, but how do you know these days? If the police are implying they know who it is, then why aren’t they releasing more information?

Anyway I hope this is resolved soon. Ardmore will always be a special place to me. Prayers to the families of those involved because their lives are all changed forever now.

Police investigating stabbing death in Ardmore

don’t be a revisionist history practitioner in bryn mawr…

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Beechwood House, Bryn Mawr, PA.

PREFACE….

This is not a dig at Shipley. It’s a simple desire for part of the history to be told more honestly than it is being told.

There were loads of media articles back then about this topic, and they ALL told this story: the school under the direction of former headmaster wanted to tear down Beechwood. Alumni and neighbors (who were also alumni and parents of alumni and students) wanted to save Beechwood. All of these people (myself included) were made to feel like PARIAHS as a result for a good part of this and weren’t made to feel too terribly comfortable AFTER like me who had a reunion not too long after completion.

It was very hard to take a stand back then over this. So hard. But this was the pivotal event that made me personally realize standing up in your community and for community and for things like historic preservation are important.

Acceptance is important as well. This was not a pretty time, but the events happened, and they mattered. And in the end it was positive. So truly positive.

The Shipley I have seen under the current headmaster is honestly magical. It is so good it even brought me back to campus. I believe in and support my alma mater.

I wrote this post to correct the record. After all, history is important. This is not burning down the proverbial house.

Now for the post:

In 2020, I wrote a post about Beechwood House in Bryn Mawr, PA. It is a completely restored adaptive reuse. This architectural gem is located on Shipley’s lower school campus. And I was a member of the group led by Heather Hillman which saved it. You see, the former headmaster literally wanted to pave paradise and put up a parking lot…a pool…etc.

what’s your preservation inspiration?

Our teachers at Shipley taught us not all of our history is convenient, that it’s the reality of what happened. They were also the ones that helped me write better and frame my arguments. My journalist mentors alway have said to write what I know. And I do know this I was there. It was a slog of a battle to save a beautiful home fallen on less than glorious times which had been designed by Addison Hutton. Yes, the same architect who designed Loch Aerie. But Beechwood was my first Addison Hutton love.

In between 10th and 11th grade I had a summer job on the Lower School campus of Shipley. I worked for the day camp there. When the little monsters, err darlings, were having naps I would explore non-renovated Beechwood which was part of the space used. It was fascinating to me back then because it had been almost crudely adapted to classroom space but you could see the bones of the original house when you did things like peeked in closets and behind shelves. It was the ultimate if these walls could talk.

We all have that one building or place that makes us look at the world differently. That one inspiration that makes us realize we can’t just sit idly by as our history disappears building by building, acre by acre.

For me, it was Beechwood House in Bryn Mawr. This was my first foray into community activism when I heard in the late 1990s that Shipley wanted to tear her down. It was because of this house that I spoke in front of people at a township meeting for the very first time all those years ago. Seriously, I had never even been to a meeting at my township building or spoken in front of everyone in a crowded room. But this place mattered to me and I joined Friends to Save Beechwood in their early days.

They wanted to tear Beechwood House down. It spread like wildfire back then. It was instantly polarizing in the community at large. Alumni of Shipley were in an uproar as well. This required professional mediation. Eventually Shipley said they would keep Beechwood if money was raised to save it by a certain deadline in 2001. To this day, I still think the school thought it would never happen. But it did.

Heather Hillman was the main driving force along with Jean Wolf (Wolf Historic Preservation) a preservationist who has done amazing things. (The saving of Beechwood was kind of a big to do at the time. There were many articles about it in multiple publications.)

As mentioned, I had never gone to a township meeting or spoken out in public. It got easier with time, but at first I was terrified. And in awe of these fierce women who did literally so much with a smile on their face and I don’t recall them raising their voices. I raised my voice, I was somewhat appalled by my alma mater when this started, and even when it was over – kind of like when they basked in the glory of the end result which was a successful restoration and adaptive reuse of a building we had to fight them to save because they didn’t think it was worth saving. (You can also read about Beechwood here.)

In 2006 when we had our 25th class reunion, we were able to get Beechwood House for our reunion. A lot of my classmates had contributed to the fundraising and along with me were listed up on the brass plaque inside the building. The headmaster at the time was making the reunion party rounds and was talking about the restoration of Beechwood with my class. He got heckled by one of my classmates because he didn’t mention me but mentioned almost everyone else on the Friends to Save Beechwood committee. But it was sadly a penultimate example of we might not as well have been there.

But we were, and saving that structure still brings me joy every time we go by. Shipley has the glory of a beautiful and useful structure. And loving Beechwood introduced me to Addison Hutton. But while Shipley does have the glory of the structure being saved and we raised all the money for it at the time, they need to be accurate in the retelling of the story. Not revisionist history. How we got there is important. So Shipley’s historians need a wee bit of grace here I think.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, we are taught by our teachers that not all history is convenient, and history can be uncomfortable. If you went to Shipley or live around it, the school thing with Beechwood is a little uncomfortable for some people. But sadly that is exactly why it should be discussed more honestly. Talking about it helps and it’s the right thing to do.

In 2021 when my class had their 40th reunion it was life in COVID. So our reunion was canceled. We had an online zoom reunion which was actually pretty fun and there were also online events offered for alumni who were interested. One was a history of Shipley. The lecture was given by the alumnus who re-wrote the history of Shipley, originally written by another alumnus and teacher of ours. I actually have both books.

Anyway, when the part of the school’s history reached the saving of Beechwood House, there was some coloring outside of the lines. At that time I politely asked for the historical record to be corrected to reflect what actually happened. Well when I attended some of the Shipley reunion activities last weekend I attended an in person lecture of the history of Shipley given by this same alumnus who was also I think having her 50th reunion. Once again, she colored outside the lines with the lecture. This time she actually credited the former headmaster who wanted to tear down Beechwood with saving her. Sorry it was a bridge too far for me, so here I am again. He did a lot of positive things for the school, but saving Beechwood wasn’t one of them. We saved it for him, for Shipley, and for Shipley’s history…and that’s an important distinction.

Yeah, ok, maybe I shouldn’t have, but when she asked if there were questions or comments at the end I raised my hand and politely reminded her that in 2021 I had asked her to amend the historical record as she recounts it on Beechwood House. She really didn’t like that and she said it was correct in the book. Well actually I beg to differ it is not completely correct in her book. It’s kind of fluffed over in my humble opinion. Technically, she included most facts, but she kind of glossed over the issue. I don’t think it should be glossed over, it should be discussed honestly. Don’t be a revisionist history practitioner.

In addition, to say that the lower campus project was “complicated“ by neighbors’ opposition is a little snotty to those neighbors, some of whom were either alumni or parents of alumni and students. You can’t blame neighbors for not wanting institutional, commercial, or residential infill development to drown their neighborhood and dwarf it out of human scale. And I have to be honest, since I still lived on the Main Line at this time, and not too far from Shipley, I can tell you the expansion conversations were always contentious. A lot of the meetings were ugly. And not just concerning Beechwood. At times, I barely recognized my alma mater during those years. It was hard, and if you were an alumnus it left you torn. It left me torn.

Beechwood House taught me about getting involved in your community. It reminded me of what some Shipley teachers had taught me long before about the importance of fighting for what you believe in and taking a stand.

Not every academic institution has 100% bright moments, and as much as I love Shipley, I have not always liked Shipley. And when they wanted to tear down Beechwood I definitely didn’t like Shipley very much. But part of our education there was teaching us right from wrong, and what is right is to set the record straight here and be honest. It does not hurt the school to admit that originally they were not correct and this was a place worth saving. But they also have to admit they didn’t actually do the saving, a small group of determined alumni and neighbors with a fearless leader did.

When I have tried to explain this before, even people at Shipley haven’t really understood. Some because they weren’t here then, and others because it makes them uncomfortable. Like the author of the updated Shipley history, for example. I know part of it is that she doesn’t care for me as a person and I’m fine with that, but I think the other part of it is she’s not comfortable with the whole truth of what happened. And while I get that, it’s not the worst thing in the world and it doesn’t tarnish the reputation of the school, it is merely one story of the thousands of stories dating back to 1894. It’s all part of the motto we learn as soon as we enter the school: Courage for the Deed; Grace for the Doing. (Fortiter in Re; Leniter in Modo)

Beechwood House also shows you what is possible with historic preservation. It’s a shame but if there hadn’t been such a swirl of BS around Oakwell in Villanova, maybe Oakwell and her property could have become a preserved gem. But sadly we’re talking about Lower Merion School District, and they will never have an iota of what makes Shipley so special. Oakwell will not have the preservation happy ending because not only doesn’t Lower Merion School District NOT give a damn about preservation, but people interested in preserving Oakwell couldn’t ever really become a cohesive unit of a unified vision. And well the guy who set Oakwell all into motion originally ? Well never mind about him.

Learn from the Beechwood Houses and the Oakwells of this area.

Thanks for stopping by.

lower merion township is kind of like an ongoing dumpster fire isn’t it?

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See 1:09:27 time mark in meeting for when the discussion of the police disciplinary action starts.

Back in January I wrote about a disturbing incident involving the treatment of a black woman which occurred in Bala Cynwyd in the WaWa parking lot which was videoed and witnessed with horror by onlookers.

where are we as women and human beings supposed to go with this, lower merion?

This was widely covered in the media, as well it should have been. So here we are in March. Now they are talking punishment for the police officer. Lower Merion’s website allows you to download their meetings. So I downloaded March 8th, 2023 Lower Merion Meeting and watched it. At the 1:09:27 mark starts the police discussion. That is at the top of this post for all of you. I am going to jump into some of the commentary.

Lower Merion Police Superintendent Mike McGrath who has been under fire with his own force (vote of no confidence in 2022) , suggested an EIGHT HOUR SUSPENSION. Yes EIGHT as in 8. That was so shocking. What a slap in the face for anyone not a white face in Lower Merion and concerning for anyone in my humble opinion, women especially, travelling through Lower Merion in their cars. That woman was also a victim no matter what else happened. What happened to de-escalation tactics?

So then the public weighted in, demanding change. Interesting to listen to was former Commissioner Brian Gordon who is a very kind, fair, and thoughtful human being. He spoke about things proposed in 2015 that never really happened. Among other things. Some commissioner unfamiliar to me named McComb was actually kind of rude to him.

The other commissioner comment that smacked of hail fellow well met and worse, was Scott Zelov. He has been on that board a long time , maybe too long at this point, sadly. Prior to the board of commissioners he ran unsuccessfully for Lower Merion Township School Board at least once. His comments make one believe 100% in term limits. And he should be ashamed of himself. He thought an 8 hour suspension was jolly good. And talked about the charges against this woman. Does what they did justify the things they charged her with or does what they charged her with justify what they did?

I watched that video taken while that woman was being put through it by Lower Merion cops. It was terrifying. The woman was terrified.

I am not being a drama queen writing that this made me want to scream in outrage, cry, and be terrified. What is going on with Lower Merion Police Department?

I never talked about Lower Merion and their police really before this. I have law enforcement in my family so I am extraordinarily aware of how difficult a career path it is and I have respect for the badge. But what happens when you feel that some of those who wear the badge don’t have respect for you and others? Do your feelings matter, no matter who you are? Also note from jump I am not saying police shouldn’t do their jobs. But was this thing that happened really good policing and good police?

Regardless of what that woman may or may not have done – which didn’t seem to show up on the video, did she deserve to be treated the way she was? Listen to the meeting. Think on it. I do not think the racial and civic divide in Lower Merion can get much worse, and I too remember the issues of the past that residents commenting referred to.

Lower Merion is indeed a dumpster fire right now. They need a new police committee, and they need to look at the Township Manager Ernie McNeely. There seems to be a lot of chaos since he came to town, which is astounding because he was supposed to the best thing since sliced bread, right? As for Superintendent Mike McGrath, I think for his own sake he should retire. I mean does he really have control over his department or respect from his force?

LM Cop Suspended 80 Hours For Tasing Incident

This is horrifying and sad all at the same time. And while they throw the book at the black woman who was dragged around and tased, where is the balance on the inappropriate actions of the police officer and the officers who didn’t step in and pull him off of that woman?

Lower Merion Commissioners, you need to represent all segments of the population equally and you know you aren’t. You need to do the best by all residents not just your popular kids.

The longer this issue goes on, the sadder and worse it gets. Did I mention dumpster fire?

I can’t say anymore. What more is there to say?

Also see:

https://www.pahouse.com/InTheNews/NewsRelease/?id=127245

https://www.phillyvoice.com/lower-merion-police-taser-black-woman-wawa-parking-lot-investigation/

Lower Merion police release body camera video after officer uses Taser during traffic stop
Lower Merion residents call for independent investigation after police use Taser during traffic stop

https://www.inquirer.com/news/lower-merion-police-tased-driver-body-camer-footage-20230118.html

https://www.inquirer.com/news/lower-merion-police-taser-black-woman-traffic-stop-20230111.html

https://www.phillymag.com/news/2023/01/10/lower-merion-cops-tase-black-woman-wawa/

Residents calling for change after police use Taser on woman in Lower Merion
Lower Merion FOP: Supt. McGrath has “destroyed the integrity and reputation of the Lower Merion Police Department”