Tag Archives: politicians

this is chester county?

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Ahh development. This is Greystone in West Goshen. One word: HIDEOUS.

Living cheek to jowl. No real gardens. No individuality.

This was once a glorious estate. Of course, while it was a glorious estate in recent memory, there was a failed eminent domain attempt. So then after a few years the owners sold to developers. Was one action a direct result of a prior action? We’ll probably never know.

the serious acreage of greystone in west chester bites the dust as development begins….

One of the things I love about this development is if you look at the last little bit at the edge of the road it looks like bad military base housing.

It is just too much development. It stresses the infrastructure in West Goshen.

Of course, in West Goshen there is a lot we will never know because everything is a state secret isn’t it? And there is still the questions about the recently deceased West Goshen employee by suicide, but has anyone else notice how no one is talking about that or what the cause was?

Sorry about that little segue, but it was kind of necessary wasn’t it?

OK back to bad development. Another amusement yesterday occurred as I was being horrified by the side of it is the giant Catalyst billboard on Lancaster Avenue in East Whiteland. It shows a giant photograph of lavender or maybe a salvia. Which is perfect for all of these people in these hideous developments, who can’t plant a flower pot full of flowers in their Welcome to Stepford plastic development. All they have to do now is gaze upon the giant electronic TV along Lancaster Avenue.

And this is what we’re becoming: just one bad development after the other. And if it’s not bad residential development now, we have to fear mega warehouses.

So class, where are the origins of these development woes and ills? The very greatly outdated Municipalities Planning Code. I mean it hasn’t been comprehensively updated since 1969, so don’t rush Harrisburg.

If you really want another shock, drive Ship Road in West Whiteland from King Road through to Lancaster Avenue. Try not to run off the road when you see the land laid bare and stripped for apartments and townhouses and other bullshit before you hit the corner.

This is Chester County. Is this what we really want?

I’m going to show you some photos next. They will remind you of all the ugly apartments being built here in Chester County, including next to Will and Bill‘s along 202, or dwarfing the Berwyn Tavern on Lancaster Avenue, or along 29 in East Whiteland. These photos were taken as a passenger driving along 95 towards the Betsy Ross Bridge. Essentially, it’s all the same ugly crap everywhere you go. Cheap to build, charge a fortune. Municipalities and residents left holding the bag.

We need to collectively as a county full of people demand better from our elected officials. And every state election, we need to make overdevelopment everywhere an issue, and we need to demand, not ask, but demand state reps and state senators remember for whom they actually are supposed to work for. And it’s not the largest donor or unions or construction lobbyists, it’s all of us.

Politicians should no longer be allowed to say how they love our area and it’s so beautiful. Or say look at all of the open space because all of the open space is disappearing. The ratio of what we’re saving as open space and farmland compared to development is a very unequal balance.

Pick a municipality. No one is immune from this.

Yes, I hate all of this development. Yes I say it out loud, and for those who think I hate all development, that’s actually not true, but we don’t see any thoughtful development anymore.

People wherever they live, need to take a stand. We need to stop the madness.

oh my gosh “professor” you’ve been found out!!

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There is this guy running for school board in the Downingtown Area School District. A nouveau politician who scrubbed all old social media and now he has a page where he’s like a drag version of Michelle Obama except more like her evil twin who is a member of Klanned Karenhood, right?

Well the professor from Gilligan’s Island has more credibility and now others are realizing it because why? Oh yes when politicians try to use local issues for political personal gain, well….people notice….and they don’t like it…..shocker, right?

People in DASD if you vote for him, you deserve what you get. That is all.

Politics is like spy vs. spy and the guy who always wants to tell you he’s by far the smartest guy in the room, generally speaking is not. And that’s something where he’ll say I am going low but last time I checked he wasn’t an air traffic controller.

Happy Sunday.

what would george elliot have thought?

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Quotes. People love putting quotes out there on social media. But part of the context of quotes is not the quote borrower, but the quote originator. Like George Elliot. But I am getting ahead of myself. First we need to consider the borrower of a George Elliot quote, a politician running for DASD school board named Professor Christopher Bressi formerly known as Christopher Bre on Facebook.

Dear Professor Politician changed his profile before running for DASD school board. As in his old profile was made to poof disappear.

He talks about censorship, yet he censors comments he doesn’t like and yet he’s a politician running for public office? Quite amusing, yes?

Above is something the learned professor candidate posted yesterday. Ironic statements are highlighted. Why? Again….because before he launched his public page he deleted his old profile so that none of his old comments could come back to haunt him. So yeah funny ironic that he talks about hiding and trust, etc?

In this post are some screenshots his old profile, Christopher Bre. See how he talks about censoring in the one, which is also ironic given that he picks and chooses the comments he allows to post on his public politician page, right? And why is it politicians think that they can censor and ban although case law now dictates otherwise? Have they met Montgomery County’s Joe Gale?

Gosh and check out above for that old post, a classic, right? And again, what could be said about nouveau politicians who delete their old profile immediately prior to launching a campaign for school board? Below screenshot on the left was taken prior to him deleting his old profile. The one on the right is from today. His comment is gone because he deleted his old profile and made an entirely new one before he launched.

Now my personal favorite about this political candidate for Downingtown’s school board isn’t just new profiles and censorship. It’s who he quotes at the top of his “group” which to me is an amusing conversation in and of itself.

George Elliot was prolific writer of the Victorian era. Only George was not a George, that is to say he was a she. Mary Ann Evans. George Elliot was her pen name or pseudonym. She was a writer and poet. Creator of 7 famous novels : Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, Romola, Felix Holt, The Radical, Middlemarch ,and Daniel Deronda. A lot of these books have been movies or PBS series.

She was born on the estate where her father worked as a miller. She was born Mary Ann Evans but wrote as George Elliot? Was that merely because in Victorian times it was unseemly for a woman to be a writer?

Before she became a writer, amusingly Evans/Elliot was the editor of what was then a radical left wing periodical called the Westminster Review, which existed to promote political and social reform. She was born the same year as Queen Victoria, so this was definitely not the era of women of independent thought.

Now here’s why I find it interesting other than this school board candidate is quoting a Victorian author who was a woman but masqueraded under a male pseudonym. Evans/Elliot also did not adhere to the rules of the day with acceptable relationships.

Evans/Elliot actually created scandal in the accepted mores of society. Her first relationship was with a guy who contributed to that Westminster Journal named George Lewes. Mr. Lewes was in an open marriage with a woman named Agnes Jervis. It was Victorian England so open marriages? Most definitely NOT a thing. Lewes was not divorced and could not get a divorce because although he and wifey on paper hadn’t lived together for years, he condoned her adultery after a sense because he allowed all of her illegitimate children to have his name and have their birth certificates all have his name, not the actual baby daddy’s name.

Following? Ok so messy non-divorce means that Evans/Elliot lived in sin with Lewes until he died.

Evans/Elliot was a fascinating writer. She called out anti-semitism before it was talked about for example. That was evident in her novel Daniel Deronda. But she was a writer who hid her true self from the public at large because society would not have approved or accepted her truth, would they?

So is this why this political candidate for school board seemingly hides who he is? Perhaps he is not even what his Stepford Wives for Totalitarianism fan base thinks he is?

Color me amused that this guy quotes George Elliot. Because if you follow the pretzel logic of these people, one would expect that her books would be on a banned list and her lifestyle and life would not fit their narrative.

Truthfully I am not sure George Elliot books are in public school libraries any longer. By the time I hit high school she was mostly taught in private schools, and if George Elliot were alive today you would probably find her writing about topics that are part of why banned book lists are popular with certain segments of society, right? So yup, a politician pandering to extremist groups who represent some of the worst theories of bigotry and hatred is quoting George Elliot, a dead Victorian author who was a woman named Mary Ann Evans who lived a lifestyle they would not approve of along with her belief system and writing subject matter.

Food for thought. Food for thought.

more historic properties that aren’t so historically cared for in west whiteland? take a peek at 105 s. whitford road, for example.

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105 S. Whitford this morning June 17, 2022

Driving by you wouldn’t know that this place in photo above on South Whitford Road actually had a historic house back there. All you would see were really, really high weeds. And this photo doesn’t even do how high the weeds are in places justice.

The address is 105 S. Whitford Rd.

Here is a 2019 Internet photo:

Apparently this house is something that the historic commission of West Whiteland Township is aware of. It appears to be on their inventory. Interestingly enough the supervisor who is the liaison to the historic commission is none other than Saint Theresa Hogan Santalucia. So is she aware of the condition of this property?

Apparently it changed hands recently or within the past few months?

It’s like the grass hasn’t been cut and I’m not exaggerating, it hasn’t been cut since who knows when if at all this year. So if this is a historic house, what is going on? I mean there’s already some wicked demolition by neglect going on at the Joseph Price House, on the same stretch of road, right?

So another question would be West Whiteland has a codes department right? I don’t know the Director of Codes (Codes Barbie) who is also the Fire Marshall but I always see her on the West Whiteland zoom meetings with lots of make up and flipping her hair …. so is she aware of this? What’s her name? I have to ask in her dual role why she does she look at or inspect these properties? Or does she? Or is she just a selective stones buster? I mean you would think that properties like this or the Joseph Price House would be an issue given shall we say certain conditions? So does demolition by neglect count for anything according to these people?

I mean we’ve got Bossette Tweed posting her merit certificates publicly on social media but ummm what else???

Wouldn’t you say that the way certain properties are treated with historic value qualify as a “difficult situation” in West Whiteland Township? Again, this address in on the West Whiteland historic resources map?

And then there are the two business entities I found on the deed file:

And then you go to the property records:

And then you pull the things uploaded as deeds:

11897078Download
11897079Download

So obviously someone owns the property actively, so what is happening there? It’s 9 acres give or take, right? Will house be preserved? Will a business go there? Will it be subject to development? I ask about development because of an old listing for the property from a couple of years ago. Showing screen shots below this, and another embedded document.

105-S-Whitford-Rd_1.28.21Download

So what’s the plan? Demolition by neglect until someone submits a plan? I was told the house had tenants until not THAT long ago?

What started me being curious? A note and photos I received. I already have inserted a couple of the photos, but here’s part of the note from one of my readers:

What is West Whiteland now doing with historical properties? The house at 105 S. Whitford road was just recently sold. It’s been months the grass is very high. This house was not too long ago inhabited. It is now owned by 105 Whitford Rd llc. If you Google can’t really find much. The only mention of it was when the daycare was being built and if there was any impact….It’s a historic house and WW recognizes it as that….They sold it and it hasn’t been taken care of since January…the grass looks like it would be way above my knees, maybe close to my waist in spots!!

~ West Whiteland resident who drives by location often

So I realized I literally drive past there at least once a week en route to PT. I can tell you it’s overgrown enough that I forgot there was a house there. Personally I keep noticing trash along the curb of what may or may not be part of the property. There was also a car repair place at the corner with a sale sign.

In any event, West Whiteland is NOT the only township that turns a blind eye to neglected properties and/or empty or seemingly empty but falling apart historic properties. It just is always a puzzle when these townships act like they can’t SEE some of these properties.

West Whiteland is a mess, and it will be for a while given what they have been through. But people hired by the last manager maybe should be trying a little harder now? And politicians who love to talk about how they love the historic properties in their township who can’t seemingly see things like this? Or when they are pointed out, “didn’t know”? I mean COME ON, you are an elected official in this township and you live there!

This parcel is seemingly the old tenant farm for “Oaklands”. It is referenced in the Revised History of West Whiteland I found uploaded on the West Whiteland Township website that I downloaded to read.

Revised-History-of-West-Whiteland-TownshipDownload

If you live in West Whiteland, please get familiar with your history. It’s not all commercial and a sea of new apartment and townhouse developments. And this post is most definitely NOT a criticism of the West Whiteland Historic Commission because they do a very good job. Their supervisor liaison, not so much a good job doer, and this post is also an additional criticism of her. In my humble opinion, she one of the wonkiest local politicians out here and an embarrassment to her township as well as Chester County Democrats. Why doesn’t she just resign already?

This post is also quite simply a “what is going on here and what will happen to the property and structures on it and why?” That is very important. I am a realist, and not all historic properties can be saved. But when you see demolition by neglect that has been ongoing (Joseph Price house corner of S. Whitford and Clover Mill Road) and newly emerging issues with 105 S. Whitford Rd and identified as the tenant farm to Oaklands, there should be a community conversation sometimes, shouldn’t there be?

Well who knows, but this is what intrigued me today in the ever evolving As The West Whiteland Turns.

Have a great Father’s Day Weekend everyone!

105 S. Whitford circa 2019.

perspective: it takes too long for dangerous bridges to be fixed

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A friend of mine took this photo today Pennswood Rd Bridge, Bryn Mawr, PA

This is not a post about Chester County it’s about orphaned and other bridges in need of repair in our area, state, country.

Pennswood Rd Bridge 2007

The bridge in the photo opening this post and throughout this post is the orphaned railroad bridge on Pennswood Road in Bryn Mawr, PA. It’s in Lower Merion Township. This bridge has been falling apart for decades quite honestly. I started photographing it in 2007.

Pennswood Rd Bridge. 2007.

It takes far too long for unsafe and run down bridges to be repaired in this country. I photographed the deterioration of this Pennswood Road bridge between 2007 and 2012. I think I had some other photos once upon a time but I can’t find them.

Pennswood Rd Bridge 2012

This bridge had holes that you could see through to the railroad tracks and rattled like all get out. Underneath this bridge runs Amtrak and SEPTA trains. The bridge is on the orphaned list like many others that were built by railroads and then orphaned – original railroad companies go out of business successor railroads disavow responsibility. I don’t quite understand how it all works but that seems to be how it works.

Pennswood Road Bridge at some point between 2007-2012

What happens is the federal government will pay for most of this repair, the state will pay for some of the repair, and the final bit will be the responsibility of the local municipality. In this case, Lower Merion Township. After the bridge is rebuilt it becomes the responsibility of the municipality.

Pennswood Bridge 2012

I have to give credit here to the local commissioner in Lower Merion (Scott Zelov) who has been at this since he became a commissioner in 2006. It’s absolutely ridiculous that it took so long to get to this point. And the bridge was failing long before he took office. It’s been failing since I was in high school.

This is a definite problem across the country. I have seen programs on news shows that run nationally like network news on orphaned and dangerous bridges. In 2019 Pennsylvania was still on the short list of states with the worst bridges. Our state was number 2 in the country according to the CBS news affiliate in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Post Gazette also covers the topic.

Courtesy of This Is Lower Merion.

In 2013, Penn Live published an article about bad PA bridges. In 2017 the York Daily Record said PA was number 3 in the country for bad bridges. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote about the topic in 2018 and many other times. (Click here for some sort of state database.)

Anyway glad this Lower Merion Township bridge is finally getting replaced. I just wish it didn’t have to take so long. Do you have a failing and/or orphaned bridge where you live? What’s being done (if anything)?

Here are two articles about the Pennswood Road Bridge:

Main Line Media News: Bryn Mawr bridge on Pennswood Road to be replaced
Richard Ilgenfritz rilgenfritz@21st-centurymedia.com @rpilgenfritz on Twitter Dec 13, 2019

Main Line Media News: Work could begin later this year on last orphaned bridge in Lower Merion
By Richard Ilgenfritz rilgenfritz@21st-centurymedia.com @rpilgenfritz on Twitter May 23, 2018 Comments

Pennswood Road Bridge 2012.