worth noting: trying to find traffic solutions in bryn mawr and haverford in haverford township.

Before I moved to Chester County many years ago now, I lived in Lower Merion Township. I was in the Haverford neighborhood sandwiched between Montgomery and Lancaster Avenues near the Haverford School, which was across Lancaster Avenue as a matter of fact, it had a nickname called “the island.”

This wasn’t the north side (as in other side of Montgomery Avenue or the Merion Cricket Club side) of Haverford neighborhood I grew up in that had then, and still has today insanely soaring real estate prices. This was just a pretty transitional neighborhood close to the Haverford train station, where you could easily walk to both Ardmore and Bryn Mawr.

The neighborhoods across Lancaster Ave from me were actually in Haverford Township. That used to confuse people to think Haverford Township came to there, but it did and it still does. It’s a county and municipal line, and five points in Bryn Mawr is also two counties, but three municipalities.

One of the best things about my then neighborhood was you could walk a relatively short distance to get access to the Haverford Nature Trail. It was awesome. I used to walk myself and my dogs over there once, if not twice a day. When I first moved into the neighborhood, you had to move quickly but you could safely cross Lancaster Avenue via North Buck Lane (Lower Merion) on my side and Buck Lane (Haverford) on the other side. By 2007, it really wasn’t safe to do that. Traffic was bad but unwanted development was starting to march through, which would ultimately increase traffic in my opinion.

In 2007, we watched as lovely houses were torn down for McMansion-ish dwellings on Rugby Road in the Haverford Township side of Bryn Mawr. It was when many of us started talking about the need for the Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of PA (MPC) to be comprehensively overhauled to help protect suburbs and exurbs.

The day after Christmas in 2008, or Boxing Day, my neighborhood watched as a developer tore down houses, including one of which was technically historical. It was initially for a condo building. Eventually it became “carriage homes” / townhouses. I will note that even today, the structures don’t truly fit into the neighborhood and in my opinion still complement nothing much. Oh, and they still overlook Classic Auto Body. I still can’t imagine paying Main Line prices to overlook a couple of body shops as there is still one I think across Lancaster Avenue from Classic Auto Body.

In 2007, the then editor of Main Line Media News who before his death was editor of The Daily Local penned an editorial that still resonates today about development:

Neighbors of these developments came together, organized, and attended so many meetings during the early to mid 2000s. In some ways it helped, but in other ways it was soul crushing to see development that had little to do with the area itself taking over and not necessarily being harmonious with the neighborhood invaded. In late 2007, I wrote an editorial for Main Line Media News celebrating these neighbors groups:

In case you missed it, this is why I get upset about a lot of the truly wanton development in Chester County. I lived it, in part, before. This is in part why I know in my heart Malvern Borough has made a mistake with that absurdly named Duffryn Mawr across King from the Flying Pig.

But I digress.

Why am I revisiting this? Because in my opinion, traffic issues we saw before the development projects I have mentioned in Bryn Mawr and Haverford even happened, have now morphed into a need for Haverford Township to rethink the configuration of what will always be small streets to protect the community and pedestrians.

I don’t pay close attention to Main Line and just off of the Main Line stuff like I used to, but this newsletter from 5th Ward Commissioner of Haverford Township Laura Cavendish:

https://mailchi.mp/havtwp/july122025?e=f434c78b67

Allow me to share the excerpt that caught my eye:

July 13, 2025

Dear Neighbors,

The Board of Commissioners will hold its monthly public meeting on Monday, July 14. In the meantime, I wanted to share a few updates and reminders from around the Township.

Safe Streets Demonstration Project on Buck Lane

Within the next few weeks, Haverford Township will begin a Traffic Safety Demonstration Project on the 800 block of Buck Lane (between Railroad Avenue and Panmure Road), as part of the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program. 

Key features include:

  • Converting Buck Lane to one-way northbound travel (Railroad to Panmure) to reduce southbound cut-through traffic and improve pedestrian and bike safety.
  • Reconfiguring the roadway for one lane of traffic, a buffer, and a protected multi-use path for pedestrians and cyclists.
  • Temporarily eliminating on-street parking on the block during the project.

During peak times, 65–75 vehicles per hour will be rerouted, but traffic studies suggest minimal impact on surrounding roads. The Township is coordinating with local schools to adjust transportation routes.

A community feedback survey will be shared about three months after the project begins. You can find the Brynford Safe Streets Study here. For questions about this demonstration project, contact Jaime Jilozian at jjilozian@havtwp.org or 610-446-1000.

Here is the link to what she referred to on Haverford Township’s website:

It’s so weird to think that part of Buck Lane will be one way, but I applaud Haverford Township for seeking solutions. When we tried to get traffic calming in our Lower Merion neighborhood back in the late 90s to early 2000s before the development projects I have discussed here were begun, we only got so far and we got a municipal smack back.

The impetus was a hit and run of a neighborhood dog back then, and subsequent realization of how many little kids we had as well as pedestrians. We pushed for a traffic study and I believe that my then small street had a crazy number of something like over 1200 vehicle trips per day clocked.

Our neighborhood back then was a big cut through between Lancaster and Montgomery Avenues, and probably still is. We had neighborhood meetings called parlor meetings with township officials including the police in our living rooms. I remember this well, because I hosted the first meeting at that time in my own living room.

We looked at surrounding areas, and were particularly interested in something Radnor Township was doing back then: speed humps. As opposed to speed bumps. This was before 2006, but I don’t remember the exact date. It was before the current 10th Ward Lower Merion Commissioner in Lower Merion was elected. (He’s still there)

I remember speaking with traffic safety folks in Radnor to get speed hump information. They even gave me PennDOT information at that time.

But Lower Merion was having none of it. It got to the point where the Lower Merion Commissioners then introduced an ordinance to prohibit speed humps. They seemingly erased all evidence of this today because more recently they have selectively introduced speed humps in the township since that time. But I personally know that this happened as during the course of this all those years ago, I received a letter in the mail basically warning me off from asking for speed humps in my then neighborhood.

So because of all of this, I am glad Haverford Township is trying new traffic calming measures. But, this remains a cautionary tale in my opinion, of what happens when too much development comes to an area over time.

Take a look at what Haverford Township is trying to do here and I welcome comments from neighbors in the area if they read this post to learn their thoughts.

more doing the open space thing in east whiteland?

Soooo….last year I had posted about this odd triangle parcel off Old Swedesford/Swedesford Road in East Whiteland. It looks like it was sold at some point in 2024 and I got a note today from someone that says:

Keeping you updated. Looks the property sold in October. We just noticed some people out there holding what looks like site plans. We really hope they aren’t planning on putting some commercial property in there in such a small residential community.

Coincidentally, it seemed to have shown up on an East Whiteland agenda for this week. Last evening‘s meeting as a matter of fact. 3a.

If anyone has any answers as to what is happening with this property, people are all ears. What seems to be happening on the video snippet that I am about to share, is a potential acquisition by East Whiteland Township to keep it as open space, which would be great because there are residential neighborhoods back there. So I don’t know if that would mean passive open space leaving it wooded or creating a more park like setting in part of it maybe throwing in a small playground? If what said on the video is true I would say that some township residents over there have possibly dodged a bullet, right?

Before properties were sold last October is above – and note technically there are two parcels. I only had the bigger parcel information from before it was sold in 2024.

Below are both parcels, large and small. I have also included a little screenshot of the bare bones schematic of ChescoPin, so people can visualize the area better.

Where the new property owners potentially selling to East Whiteland have correspondence sent is 120 Pennsylvania Ave Malvern PA 19355. Now that address is in the Borough of Malvern that’s tucked out of the way. But it’s whose address that is that I found potentially interesting and will anyone else?

That area is back on the other side of the train tracks from what you know is King Street or the main drag of Malvern Borough. It’s back off Bridge Street and that Old Lancaster Road area. Of course that address comes up on Malvern Borough’s website.

Life is so interestingly connected, isn’t it?

Anyway, good on East Whiteland if they’re stopping development there by a land purchase. If this is what has happened this of course means the open space referendum is working some more, doesn’t it? I guess now the East Whiteland Open Space Committee or someone review things?

MORE apartments for malvern borough?

Malvern Borough King St – other side from Flying Pig – a lot has been empty for a few years, and now construction fencing is up and it looks like foundation digging?

It used to be before it was an empty lot, a row of buildings. The buildings at the time were historic to the borough, but they were in such bad shape. They had to come down. I do know that much because I remember when they were torn down, but then at one point pre-COVID it was a giant apartment tower thing proposed and then that idea went nowhere, but did it really?

So someone tells me that there’s another kind of apartment thing in the works. Shops below and like 30 apartments above, so it’s another one of these fairytales of live work play because you know you can afford to work minimum wage in the shop below and rent the overpriced department above, right?

I’m sorry did I sound sarcastic? I meant to sound sarcastic. If it was maybe small like a dozen units and stores I would say OK that will be at least in keeping with probably human scale in the Borough of Malvern.

Here’s hoping Malvern can get it together enough to stay on top of this. They have yet another new manager who came in at the end of 2024 and I hope she realizes Chester County is a different beast from Delaware County. She is a commissioner in Upper Chichester and used to be Manager in Darby Township.

Malvern Borough is one of those places where they try to keep things on the down low, nothing to see here. I am a particular fan at the moment of the Mayor of Malvern Borough who liked a post the other day that was literally bashing me on Facebook. That’s so very professional for a man I’ve never met. And the amusing thing is the post was just because, literally…a woman I had never even ever interacted with.

Yeah Mr. Mayor, I see you. Maybe it’s time to just retire completely?

30 apartments is going to be fairly tall. And Malvern Borough seems to forget the last time they got something they didn’t like called Eastside flats which really aren’t wearing very well are they?

Apparently the development has a lot of variances needed so right now they’re just digging a hole in the ground, which of course is very attractive with the bright orange construction fencing, which really isn’t too hard for kids to get into. I might add.

Oh, and the 30 apartments? 31 bedroom units and if you’ve seen most of the one bedroom apartments being built today, they are very urban style. In other words there’s not too terribly much room for you to even change your mind. Nothing is affordable because God forbid you have affordable units as an affordable housing. It helps create and keep a more transient society, which isn’t good for overall areas because people don’t know the history they don’t care about the history they come and they go depending on the rent increases. Ask people in the Summerhill development in West Whiteland for example, ok?

Of course this evening is the public hearing in East Whiteland that you can zoom or attend in person about the repurposed office building over on Swedesford. It is another live work, play fairytale and it’s 220 units.

You know it would be really nice if these municipalities especially when they are in the same school district would actually work together better on how many development units were coming. Between the municipalities and a couple of school districts you have to wonder when Great Valley School District in particular is going to end up like West Chester Area School District , or Downingtown…or huge. And in the case of Great Valley, it’s kind of like Tredyffrin. Where are they going to put more schools? Oh wait in Tredyffrin they repurposed one of these godforsaken obsolete office parks into plans for a school!

So all the people without reading comprehension are going to just say once again I am anti-development across the board. And that’s not it. I am anti-bad planning and I am anti-ugly developer profit driven cram plans.

Communities need to allow for some development to keep moving forward. The problem in Pennsylvania is it’s too much development because the municipalities planning code hasn’t been updated since 1969.

Rant over.

what’s with the handicap spots outside malvern borough?

See that photo? This is today as in just a little while ago in Malvern Borough. In their parking lot.

This white Tesla is not showing a handicap tag or a handicap placard, but they just took two handicap parking spaces so they could run into the building and then come out. The parking lot isn’t jammed. Far from it.

Two days ago it was a blue Tesla. Again Malvern Borough, two spots. Two handicapped spots. The person who sent me the photo at the time told me they sat there and watched literally as two people got out of the Tesla, and “jogged” into the building. No handicap tag, paper temporary tag, or handicap hanging placard.

So is this another Tesla ignorance thing? I say a Tesla ignorance thing, because personally near where I live, I have seen a particular white Tesla run the light at a VERY problematic four way intersection instead of coming to a stop when the light is turning. so is this behavioral characteristics of people who buy the car or just plain old, ordinary ignorance?

And then you just have to wonder about Malvern Borough. Do they have security cameras that watch the parking lot? I do know for a fact that the person who took the photos has turned them over to the police department there. So my suggestion to Malvern would be if they don’t have a security camera that is trained on handicap spots, they might want to add one. That way those not entitled to handicap parking can pay for their privilege and misplaced sense of entitlement.

Obviously, something needs to be done if you’re seeing this in the same parking lot within two days of each other. Maybe once you could say it was a mistake, but with the second one in the same week, it’s like it’s a pattern isn’t it?

It’s not necessarily particularly easy to get a handicap hanging placard, or a handicap plate. I remember years ago when I lived on the Main Line I had a neighbor next-door, who literally kept his mother’s handicap placard for years after she was dead. He had no handicap, but he kept it so he could get parking spaces where he wanted. It was appalling.

Eventually, my neighbor from years ago got caught because there was one time when he parked somewhere and I forget what he was driving at the time (he used to like fancier cars), and anyway wherever he was he had not only parked in a handicap spot, but he wasn’t particularly neat about his parking, so he was partially in another spot, and his plates got run along with the handicap hangtag in his rearview mirror. Let’s just say it was like the PennDOT version of the cuffs don’t match the collar.

I also remember when someone I once knew became more ill with cancer, and they had to go through the hoops to get a handicap hanging placard because it made it easier for the person and person driving them getting in and out of a car and into places after a while. I also remember how offensive it was when they would be going to park somewhere and getting ready to pull into a handicap spot with the handicap tag in full display and somebody without any handicap tags would just steal the spot.

Another place where I see people doing this all the time is in the center of Wayne on N. Wayne Ave. Some of the rather entitled, nouveau Main Liners think that the handicap spots are for their convenience…along with taking multiple spots at a time.

Anyway, don’t be jerks out there. Please leave the handicap spots for the people who actually need them. And if you’re familiar with Malvern Borough you know that because the library is in the same place with the township building, etc. that there are a lot of senior citizens, who go there to use the library who are entitled to those spots.

Thanks for stopping by.

By the way, so I don’t get comments about this, as this occurred in a public parking lot and as such there is no reasonable expectation to privacy in a public space so this photo
is very much allowed.

this view never gets old

malvern borough seems to be a hotbed of what exactly?

I stumbled upon this. From what I can tell Malvern Borough released information on employees, former employees, police or someone Malvern Borough was using did?

The Borough Council meetings don’t seem to have comprehensive recordings so I can’t view them for myself. But apparently they have been a free for all full of explosive behavior and George Carlin’s 7 dirty curse words.

I spoke to Bill Rettew. He doesn’t actually decide what stories run. His editor does. And The Daily Local is an eviscerated newspaper owned by a hedge fund which doesn’t really give a crap about any of the papers they own. So whomever CMR Concerned Malvern Residents are, maybe try NOT acting like a bunch of loons. There is other media in the area other than the Daily Local. Go to investigative reporters at 3/6/10/29 but be advised even if reporters talk to you, their is zero guarantee that their producers or station manager will let them run with the story. Same with The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Magazine as far as the editors go and what the writers can do.

And whatever this is, actually it does seem ugly and although I am being pretty fair with this post, I will undoubtedly get hate messages and comments. To which I say STFU y’all wanted this out there didn’t you?

The sad thing is these people raising the alarm on this are NOT wrong. They aren’t. These leaks can be as bad as hackers stealing data. If this truly happened, no matter how brief the exposure was, these people should be offered year of Experian or LifeLock monitoring.

Do I believe anyone’s lives are at risk? Honestly no, but if some of those people are law enforcement I am also not qualified to comment either way.

If this incident really happened, Malvern Borough should own it. They should publicly state what happened, what they did, and what any consequences might be or should be. Maybe it was no harm, no foul in the end. But there should be public answers to this, I do agree with that 100%.

But CNR Concerned Malvern Residents need to know how to behave. They are lucky they haven’t been ejected from meetings, or maybe they have. Who knows. But what they are trying to say is getting lost in bad behavior. In the end if they don’t hone their message all people will remember is they screamed at public meetings.

Maybe it is also time for Malvern Borough to be more sunshine friendly and record their meetings and load them on YouTube. Any 5th grader can show them how.

I can’t comment on whether or not the Malvern Borough Manager should be removed and any of the Borough Council or the Mayor. Again, given the lack of transparency as far as zero found meeting recordings and other things makes it hard to decide in an educated and informed matter.

And whomever it was on Borough Council who basically said they had never heard of the F.O.P. or whatever, I only have this to say: COME ON MAN. SO DUMB.

Have a good evening.

return the lorax to malvern…please.

So someone stole the Lorax that had been painted for a night in Burke Park in Malvern Borough. I think that’s a really shitty thing to do to a community event. And as someone who has spent years off and on working on community events, it really hits home.

Malvern Police has hunted down camera footage and posted it. To me this person looks young. If this is your kid or you know who’s kid this is, please call Malvern Police at. 610-647-0261 or e-mail police@malvern.org

If this is your kid, or you know who this is, you have a moral obligation to do something.

Whomever this is needs to learn, you can’t steal things from people or from your community.

If this is a person in crisis, who needed this Lorax for something or to make them happy maybe the community tries to help this person.

But stealing? Just wrong.

Return the Lorax.

give it up gail and is a local bank getting political?

She’s baaaaacccccckkk! Gail Newman international woman of idiocy and failed politician is back. She’s hosting political meet-ups now. And apparently she’s doing it at local businesses too? She would be as welcome as ants at a picnic one would think, right?

On the face of it, it’s actually hysterical because although she doesn’t know how to win, she is past master of annoy thy neighbors and intrusive behavior isn’t she? She was such a bad candidate she made Kristine Howard look good and now Kristine thinks she should be a judge but that’s another conversation for another day. Oh and Gail still has her state rep page up, so obviously she may try again?

Part of what bothers me with this is did the National Bank of Malvern approve this being posted at their bank? Will they allow other political persuasions to post things now or is this just Gail doing whatever? However, if the bank is getting selectively political, that is kind of problematic isn’t it? I mean they say they are not for sale but define for sale?

The other part of what bothers me is Gail Newman is attempting taking over the tranquility and friendliness of Julie Anne’s Place in Malvern Borough. My guess there is she did NOT ask permission or pay for space because well, girlfriend wants a meet up on March 1st and the favorite breakfast and lunch spot for so many is on vacation until March 3rd, so what’s up? Are they going to meet on the sidewalk March 1st? I mean, why couldn’t Gail just meet on the sidewalk in front of the Wawa like the teenagers and Malvern Borough?

Maybe Gail Newman is just being kind of exclusionary ? Maybe everyone should start going to her gatherings and takeover her meetings? Or be sure to pack Julie Anne’s on days she says her group is going to be there? After all at the end of the day, it is not OK to co-opt someone’s small business like that is it? And a lot of small businesses don’t want groups like this which have an edge for one political side or the other taking over their small floor space because that’s a turn off to other customers, isn’t it?

Gail, have the meetings AT YOUR HOUSE! Show more respect for local businesses.

Have a great day all.

what has happened to thiers in malvern?

Since they opened (or since I became aware of them which was pre-COVID, maybe 2018) I have been trying to go in and see what local Chester County business Thiers Custom Framing and Fine Art Gallery located next to where Sheffields is all about. Their address is 223 E. King Street in Malvern Borough.

I love galleries and I have friends who are framers, but I also just love to look at art and I love to look at frames because it always gives you an idea of how to reframe something or perhaps an inspiration. And I also like to support small businesses. So although I would probably never use this business for framing, I would have been totally interested in seeing what art they had. Art is a wonderful addition to any community, and for example I love Gallery 222 also in Malvern Borough. Gallery 222 is fabulous as a matter of fact.

Anyway back to Thiers. I can’t tell you how many times since I became aware of them that I have tried to stop by and go into this gallery/framer. They never ever seem to be open! I understood not being open during COVID, but other than that I’ve never understood it because I know it is not an inexpensive proposition to have a retail store front.

I actually used to think it was just me hitting Thiers at off times. I was just never around when they were open during Malvern Business Association activities like the Malvern Stroll, etc. and when they were open for one Malvern Christmas I was aware of, I just forgot because the street was so busy with all these other things going on that I just never got there. I figured I’d have another opportunity. Well I never did.

So I saw with interest a post that appeared on a local page today (and it was the second one posted – the other post was in June ) :

I subsequently went and looked on the Thiers business page on Facebook. This is all I found:

This business hasn’t posted anything since April. Now that in and of itself is not necessarily unusual because a lot of businesses are not up on social media. And I can certainly sympathize with a small business having family emergencies. However that seems to be the only thing since April, so I have to ask is it still a viable business? Are they still open? Does their landlord or the Malvern Business Association have any input for people? Who is their landlord, because I am told they don’t own their bricks.

I did go to the person who posted and they were kind enough to message me and let me know that they have been emailing and calling for months. So what they would like to know is if there are any other people out there waiting to get what they purchased or pick up items they left for framing?

No one, myself included, wants to do a local small business dirty. But there comes a point in time where you have to communicate with people. People understand life presents challenges, I think we can all agree that since COVID entered our world, we have all experienced challenges.

But it is time for this business in Malvern Borough to do the right thing. They should give this person back their family artwork because that has special sentimental value. They should also connect with anyone else they have anything outstanding with.

Since I first started digging around to see if I could find anything posted whatsoever about this business and what is going on (this morning), something interesting happened. What is that you ask? I was blocked by this business on Facebook. This afternoon. Why on earth would a business with nothing weird going on do that? And is it possible they may have also blocked actual customers trying to connect with them on Facebook and in other ways? I asked a person I know from out of state if they could pull up Thiers and they did:

Thiers needs to understand that NO ONE means them any ill will, people just want to know what happened to them. And customers waiting on framing, want their property back if the business is unable to complete what they had contracted with customers to do. I am not getting into the who is owed money of it all, that is not an appropriate conversation for me to have and above my pay grade.

Now why did I take an interest in this? Well first of all I took an interest because it was a place I always wanted to visit and they’ve never been open every time I have gone by since 2018 (I think that is when I first noticed them) and I’m in that area a lot. Secondly I took an interest because once upon a time, long before I lived out here I took my grandmother’s little writing desk to a furniture maker/repair person whom my parents always had used. Sadly that little desk had been left in pieces when this particular furniture maker and crafts person who had a warehouse in Ardmore died (2006 I think.) Now at that time I was lucky I got my piece back because my mother had several antiques that just flat out disappeared and essentially were presumed stolen. We never knew or found out who took the pieces. It totally bummed me out because these were things my parents bought when they were married, and my father had died in 2005, the year before the furnituremaker died. So this was truly upsetting to my mother back then, and was like another loss.

But I never actually saw my little desk that was my grandmother’s completely put back together. I took it then to yet another furniture maker/repair person after the prior one had passed away. This person subsequently moved a couple of times within the area and I just never heard from them again. So I don’t know what ever happened to the desk or if it was ever repaired. And I remember how that made me feel, which was a little sad.

So that is why I am putting this out there in the hopes that this business in Malvern gets in touch with their customers. Life happens, and if they communicate, it makes life easier on them and customers, right? I am also putting this out there in the event that there are other people waiting to hear from Thiers in Malvern.

Thanks for stopping by.

local businesses in malvern need the help of the community

Photos and italicized text are from a Malvern business owner. I feel very badly for them.

📌Ok Malvern we need help with the kids! The kids sit out front of the butcher shop, which we don’t mind. What I do mind is they constantly leave tons of trash on the bench, the ground and the window sills, dump their drinks on the ground and smash up food that I go out and pick up. It’s not a good image when customers are coming into the store or walking the shopping center. I have reminded the kids multiple times to pick up their trash before they leave. I even went out one day and screamed across the parking lot for them to come back and clean up after seeing the huge mess they left out there. Now yesterday I went and bought a trash can and sat it right next to the bench so it’s convenient for them. Tonight we go to leave to find more trash (we already picked some up before I took a picture) and they punched in the lid of the can and kicked the can in. I am at my wits end and need suggestions?? What else can we do? I don’t want to be a meanie, but I also refuse to let these kids continue trashing the shopping center and me having to clean up after them every day, multiple times a day! HELP!!! I’m waving the I surrender flag 🏳📌

Ok I don’t get these kids and also do not understand why Malvern Borough hasn’t done anything or the Malvern Business Association? I am sharing this out there so hopefully people can help these small businesses out.