Tag Archives: news

a word from your friendly neighborhood blogger

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Apparently, my latest post on the issues in the West Chester School District with the swimming coach from  Bayard Rustin named Kenneth Fuller has hit even more of a nerve than any of the nonsense I have reported in West Vincent, including the attempted eminent domain for private gain at Ludwig’s Corner. Even my sniptastic comments about Phoenixville have not elicted such a response.

That being said, I thought it might be *prudent* to let new followers and commenters know that as the blog admin I can see the I.P. address you are commenting from as well as your e-mail address.  Generally speaking, I keep that to myself UNLESS there are comments which are very extreme, and/or threatening.

Please feel free to comment and I am glad you are reading this blog, but please be responsible with your comments.   As blog admin, I also reserve the right to not publish a comment.

It also seems that this latest West Chester School District issue, other issues may come to light and in general emotions are running high. *If* you have a major problem with this school district, please go to the proper authorities.  It is far more effective than writing a comment on any blog or newspaper site.

I think that this school district seems to have issues and the current events of the past couple of days are bringing it all to a head.  I know of what I speak since I moved from the evil spying laptop issue laden Lower Merion School District. This is an issue and a story that will go viral.  Other blogs and more media outlets and papers are also starting to comment.

Thank you from your friendly neighborhood blogger.

Have a great night!

judgement day in west vincent

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Hmmmm.  Seems like someone had better sell more  cheese?  So yes, it’s Judgement Day in West Vincent and it seems that some certain supervisor might want to consider the whole “judge not lest ye be judged” thing of it all?

What is behind Curtain Number One?  Curtain Number Two?  Curtain Number Three?

The irony of the photo I found and (it links back to Philly Homegrown) is it shows Sue Miller.  Hmmm, wonder what they did to get this super posed shot?  I don’t recall any of them being this pleasant the whole time they have been at Bryn Mawr Farmers Market.  I swear this woman in the photo was the one who was kind of rude to me the one time I tried to buy a little something from them.

You see, when the Millers come to market in Bryn Mawr they price for what they think Main Line prices should be.  Truthfully, their prices are worse than what I see in farm markets in the Hamptons.  Birchrun Hills Farm is incredibly over-priced in Bryn Mawr.  (The irony is that if you go to some other Farm to City Markets some vendors price differently from market to market and of course that is incredibly dumb because a lot of us patronize more than one market in season.)

The other thing about Birchrun Hills Farm is they make such a big deal out of their blue cheese.  Personally, I think it has the consistency of rubber and about as much flavor.  If you really want to taste excellent local cheeses try Shellbark Hollow or especially Yellow Springs (Yellow Springs really is front and center in goat cheese in my opinion.)

So, I wonder, since Mr. Miller purportedly partially farms on township i.e. taxpayer farm land does he offer residents a cheese discount ever?

Phoenixville Says NO To Billboards

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Well, what do you know?

Both Phoenixville AND Haverford Township said “no” to BIG BAD Billboards this week.

Good.

Both these cases will go to an appeals process.  This guy wants his billboards everywhere.  He feels it is his Constitutional right.  Never mind the rights of affected residents.    Who knew Constitutional rights were so subjective, right?

A commenter on the Phoenixville Patch referred to Article 1 Section 27 of the Pennsylvania State Constitutions  which states:

 “The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”

Residents in all counties being affected by these billboard challenges should deluge their state elected officials on this topic.  Since the whole shebangy started in Haverford Township a couple of years ago over billboards state level elected representatives have been making appropriate noises regarding protecting communities, only nothing ever seems to go past those supportive murmurs. (Not that I am surprised, politicians are well..politicians.)  But this is an election year, so the people could make this count if they make enough of a stink.

Kudos to Phoenixville.  And ya know, it is a Classic Town, so people really should enter the DVRPC photo contest…..   http://contest.classictowns.org/

But I digress.  Back to billboards and here is the latest in the media, and look lively in East Pikeland, the billboard king has apparently filed there too.  The Inquirer says that will be heard in East Pikeland on February 29.

Phoenixville says no to billboard baron

February 16, 2012|By Anthony Campisi, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

An application for a substantive validity challenge by billboard company Chester County Outdoor was denied Wednesday evening.

ByLynn Jusinski   Email the author   February 16, 2012

Haverford Patch: Zoning Board Votes No On Billboards

BIG plans to appeal the ruling.  By Anthony Leone  Email the author

During its Thursday night meeting, the Haverford Township Zoning Hearing Board voted 5-0 against the billboard proposal.

a SWAT team in willistown this week?

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It’s been a busy week so I am playing news catch up.  I am floored to hear there was some kook with a gun (not a skeet shooter, or someone at a gun club range, but a kook on a porch) who caused not only an elementary school to be locked down in Willistown, but also caused a SWAT team to descend upon a residential neighborhood?

Wow.  And the only place I have seen it reported is Malvern Patch. Kinda surprised by that.

Update: Lockdown Lifted at Gen. Wayne Elementary

An alleged shooter has been taken into custody and the school’s lockdown is lifted.

ByPete Kennedy Email the author  February 6, 2012

General Wayne Elementary School was placed on lockdown Monday afternoon after police reported gunshots on a nearby street. There are no reports that any students or staff members have been injured or are in immediate danger.

S.W.A.T. Team Apprehended Sycamore Circle Shooter

The Regional Emergency Response Team took into custody the man who allegedly fired a gun Monday afternoon, sending a nearby elementary school into a state of lockdown.

ByPete Kennedy  Email the author  February 7, 2012

Police have not released the name of a Willistown man who allegedly fired a gun on Sycamore Circle, causing nearby General Wayne Elementary School to lock down just before dismissal time, around 3:30 p.m., Monday afternoon.

According to a press release from the Willistown Police Department, officers responded to a report of a subject firing a gun from his rear porch, which they found to be enclosed. When attempts at phone contact were unsuccessful, the Regional Emergency Response Team—a S.W.A.T. team comprised of police officers from multiple municipalities—moved in.

it’s a billboard thing.

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Billlboards are just ugly and I find the digital ones very distracting and constantly question if they are actually safe.

I was a passenger in a car on 202 on Saturday and was astounded by the new billboards being erected in or around Westtown on 202. GIANT billboards that were like GIANT flat screen televisions.  I could not believe any municipality would think they were safe on an accident prone road like Route 202.

The photos were taken with my camera phone so they are fuzzy, but I think you get the picture, literally.  This was how bright they were during daylight hours.

Seriously, I can’t understand how any municipality in Chester County thinks these are a positive addition to any community, can you?

Here is the article from the billboard hearing wrap-up in Haverford Township. If you are in Phoenixville of any other community facing the prospects of billboards in your community, I suggest you read the article and check these billboards out live on Route 202.

Haverford zoning board hears final billboard arguments By LOIS PUGLIONESI Times Correspondent

Published: Monday, February 06, 2012

…..The proposed locations for the five, double-faced, 672-square-foot signs are 2040, 1330 and 1157 West Chester Pike, and 600 and 648 Lancaster Ave.
A decision will be issued Feb. 16, Chairman Robert Kane said, with a written opinion to follow.
Testimony spanned two years and nine months in 26 hearings
BIG attorney Marc Kaplin repeated his argument that Haverford’s sign ordinances improperly exclude billboards, a legitimate use. The township has the right to regulate but not prohibit these signs, Kaplin said. ….Township attorney Jim Byrne maintained that BIG’s validity challenge concerned the township’s alleged prohibition on outdoor advertising, with billboards comprising one form. Haverford allows alternate outdoor advertising forms, such as ads on bus shelter, shopping cart, and stadiums, Byrne said.
He averred that Haverford’s billboard exclusion is justified based on public health, safety and welfare concerns.
He noted to a recent calamity in which a seven-story billboard collapsed onto the Brooklyn Queens Expressway in New York.
And these gigantic signs are inherently intended to create driver distraction, Byrne said, undesirable in busy, congested areas witnesses have identified as already taxing for motorists.
Byrne cited the Pennsylvania Constitution, affording everyone the right to “clean air, pure water, preservation of natural, scenic, historic and aesthetic values of the environment.”  (READ MORE HERE)

Also, a  cross-post from the Save Ardmore blog:

Hmmm.  Whaddya know?  The court says the Five Points Billboard in Bryn Mawr is not allowed?  Sticking out tongue

This news comes from Lower Merion Commissioner this afternoon.  To billboard activists I am sure this is both poignant and welcome news on the night of the last scheduled billboard hearing in Haverford Township. (as per WG Hills Mom it is at 7 pm today 2/2/2012 at Haverford Twp Bldg, 2325 Darby Rd, Havertown.)

Anyway, not to keep you in suspense, but here is (verbatim) the update on the Bryn Mawr Five Points Billboard as per Comissioner  Scott Zelov:

Dear Bryn Mawr Neighbors,

The Court has just today confirmed that the existing billboard in Bryn Mawr at the 5 points intersection is not allowed!   It’s been awhile since the Township issued a zoning violation against the billboard attached to a wall above that intersection.  After the notice was issued, the Township learned that the billboard company is the same company with whom Haverford Township and Lower Merion Township are at odds over billboards proposed for Lancaster Avenue in Bryn Mawr—and for which the closing arguments are tonight in Haverford Township!  Over a year ago the Lower Merion Zoning Board found that the existing billboard had to be removed.  The decision was appealed, and this morning the Common Pleas Court denied the appeal and upheld the decision of the Lower Merion Zoning Board.  The decision can be further appealed to the Commonwealth Court; however, thus far the Township has achieved another big victory and excellent result against a billboard that doesn’t belong in our community. 

Thanks, Scott Zelov

Here’s a walk down memory lane on this particular billboard:

Main Line Times > News Billboard debate shifts to Five Points Published: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 By Cheryl Allison

in the news in chester county

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Last night at dinner time came the gruesome and sad news of an apparent suicide by car burning in Chester County (specifically Charlestown Township/Malvern):

NBC10: Body Found Inside Burned Out Car: Emergency crews responding to a car fire report in Chester County discovered a body inside the burned out vehicle.

I find that horribly sad and tragic.  It happened at Haverford College in 2009 – not a student, but someone who came in from the outside and ended their life in a remote parking lot.

There are so many people who are so deeply troubled.

In other news, let’s talk radioactive trash:

Radioactive material came from West Chester trash

Published: Thursday, February 02, 2012

NORRISTOWN — The Department of Environmental Protection is asking anyone who knows the history of an antique medical kit found in a West Chester trash bin to contact the agency’s Bureau of Radiation Protection…..The material was found Jan. 19, when a load of construction debris set off radiation alarms at Waste Management Inc.’s Norristown transfer station. The company deployed a health physicist to recover the radioactive material, identified as approximately one curie of radium-226. Exposure to one curie of radium-226 is equivalent to having more than 100 CT scans at once, and it has the potential to create skin burns within a few hours of contact.
DEP health physicists worked with Waste Management to properly evaluate and store the radium, and traced its source to a roll-off container that had come from the Hershey’s Mill retirement community in West Chester. 

Nice.  A retirement community.

Punxscutawney Phil, meanwhile, is predicting six more weeks of winter.

Now, previously, I had posted about  local food banks, and in today’s Malvern Patch there is a story about the People’s Pantry, formerly known as the Deacon’s Pantry in Frazer.  They are raising funds for a new building and have been approved as a 501(c)(3), making deductions tax-deductible.  They serve close to 2500 people- at least 500 households.  They have a website. In other food bank news, West Chester Patch announced that Chester County Food Bank has been named 2012 Business of the Year by the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce.  Read about it here.

We live in horrible economic times at present, and many are struggling.  If you can contribute to a local food bank, that is to paraphrase Martha Stewart, a good thing.

West Chester Patch has announced lane closures (for a change, right?) on Route 202:

Nighttime  lane closures are scheduled on northbound and southbound Route 202  between the Westtown Road and Route 100 interchanges in West Goshen  Township, Chester County on Monday through Friday (Feb. 6-10) from 8  p.m. to 5 a.m. …PennDOT reminds motorists they can log on to 511pa.com

The condition of 202 and how long this has taken is a personal pet peeve of mine.  That road is dangerous and deplorable. And the projects are like bad Brooklyn Bridge jokes. Construction never stops, never really completes, and work doesn’t seem to last very long.  They also do a crappy job of clearing debris from accidents, etc. from the roadway.

My last thing for this particular post is an outbreak of Whooping Cough in West Chester:

Whooping Cough Outbreak Declared for West Chester School

NBC10: Cases of pertussis at a West Chester school have officials shutting off classes to those who have not been vaccinated against the disease

By  Teresa Masterson
|  Thursday, Feb 2, 2012  |  Updated 8:32 AM EST

There is an outbreak of Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, at the Hillsdale Elementary School in West Chester, officials say.

Only days after a case of whooping cough was confirmed at another Chester County school– Great Valley High School – the superintendent of West Chester Area School District announced Tuesday that its elementary school has an “outbreak” of the highly contagious disease….

Scanlon said that any student or employee who does not have all of the necessary vaccines will not be allowed into school.

According to the Chester County Health Department, pertussis is spread through the air when an infected person sneezes or coughs. It begins with cold symptoms and a cough that becomes much worse over one to two weeks.

Symptoms usually include a long series of coughs (coughing fits) followed by a whooping noise.  However, older children, adults and very young infants may not develop the whoop.  There is generally no fever, officials say.

People with pertussis may have a series of coughs followed by vomiting, turning blue, or difficulty catching their breath….The disease can be very severe…For any parent who wants to have a child vaccinated, the Chester County Health Department offers free vaccinations for children under the age of 18 on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The vaccine is also available free of charge for adults