Sometimes when I have appointments down on the Main Line, I go back via Radnor Street Road to check on the Wayne Natatorium sign. The reason I do that is I actually do not trust Radnor Township to maintain it even though it’s a state historical marker. And I am the reason it’s there.
But as I was going through today, I noticed that the parking lot that is at the corner of Willow Avenue and Radnor Street Road for Cowan Field was magically FedEx parking.
Funny thing about that lot is it supposed to be permit parking only or if you’re using the park. I can tell you that there was no one in the park when I drove by.
So is FedEx renting parking spaces from Radnor Township? I didn’t see anything like hang tags that would make one think there’s a parking permit involved.
I did have a giggle over this because when I had come through Wayne earlier, I noticed the stealth parking enforcement fairies’ van roaming around so they could hand out tickets. I guess they don’t go all the way over into Little Chicago?
Of course, I also noticed there were plenty of cars parked around Little Chicago in places that aren’t actually legal.
But hey, that’s Radnor Township at its best: inconsistent.
Isn’t this part of Jack Larkin’s ward? He’s still the Ward 1 Commissioner, right?
Anyway, I hope these FedEx trucks have legal permits because otherwise it’s pretty crappy to get chased around by the parking enforcement fairies and there’s a double standard right?
So Savvy Main Line blew the lid off of Radnor Township School District and the book banning of it all. The complainant ONCE AGAIN was the SAME guy who tried before, only this time, Radnor’s current unimpressive Superintendent of Schools Ken Batchelor who has obviously forgotten all about the diverse communities he once served, and STILL serves, seems to be capitulating to this dude’s whims?
My opinion on Batchelor is overwhelmingly he needs to go.
What is this man who oops started this again really afraid of? Did Superintendent Ken Batchelor misplace his balls somewhere? Yes, I just did say this because libraries? Libraries are supposed to be a peaceful place. A refuge. A haven. A safe place. I was and still am a bookworm. I loved libraries as kid. It was a place to escape, to visit foreign lands, learn something new, develop your own intellectual curiosity.
A library (again) is supposed to be a safe space.
This same man who has been wreaking havoc in Radnor probably embarrasses his kids, but are they allowed to have their own opinions? So he can keep his own kids out of the library and away from certain books and I have to wonder if he knows what his own kids get up to on the internet, social media, at the mall, etc.? Probably not.
I think this Radnor secret committee is also BS. I hope more and more people jump on this and give the Radnor librarians and librarian everywhere facing these issues back their libraries. And if these committee members are so proud of what they have done, why don’t they stand up in public?
And for every book that is banned, people need to open little free libraries of banned books everywhere.
If you don’t want your kids to read something, that is your personal choice as a parent, except if you think your kids will just not check something out that you said no to like a simple book, were you ever a kid? For me it was Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret, yet I think some of those novels like Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Tom Jones or Valley of the Dolls were a lot more racy.
To follow is the excellent Savvy reporting and Radnor School District won’t allow embedding of their videos so follow this link for the March 11, 2025 Policy Committee Meeting. I also dug up some old articles from when this guy started the witch hunts and book banning circus before.
Here’s hoping Radnor finds a new superintendent along with reversing this book ban. Parents need to parent in their own homes, not an entire school district. Would that this man who is at it again be so passionate about drugs, alcohol, and bullying. And well this angry dad could put his kids in Catholic school or a Christian school. But no, he wants Radnor taxpayers to pay for his phobias. Radnor taxpayers is that ok with you? It would not be ok with me.
Choice. Look it up, Mr. Phobic. Here’s hoping you allow your kids to have choices.
To say I am outraged is an understatement. We’re talking about books that no matter what you think about them aren’t being taught as part of curriculum, they are merely on shelves in a library. People can read them…or not.
Or they were.
So Radnor Township School District I have to ask are you going to brand your students who are different? are they going to be forced to wear special patches on their clothing? Does this remind you of 1930s Germany before World War II? It should this is how it starts.
Oh, and people are going to say I’m being overly dramatic. I am not. I am however, appalled.
It’s hard enough being a teenager without the extra pressure that parents who are uncomfortable with their own identity and sexuality foisted upon other people’s children. at the end of the day that is what this is about. This is about a minority of adult being uncomfortable.
Of course we could ask why are they so uncomfortable but they would be too uncomfortable, providing an honest answer, wouldn’t they?
I’m shocked that this has occurred.
I’m sad that this has occurred.
I’m appalled that this has occurred.
I’m sitting here remembering my high school days when I knew there were people who were struggling with just a simple fact of were they gay or straight. And what I remember from those days is for the most part other kids were accepting in a lot of cases. It was the adults who were not accepting. A lot of the kids who were uncomfortable with anyone else different from them I remember back then often had totally screwed up parents.
Now, as soon as this news broke, I went to some Radnor people I still know and asked them did they know this was happening? And I’m speaking about people with kids in the school district. They are shocked and outraged and flabbergasted, and before this hit the news, apparently all this past weekend there were all these little meetings with school board members scurrying and doing what can be described as damage control. (Note to school board: damage control is undoing this.)
In a district that doesn’t like to talk about issues like any drug/alcohol issues or bullying issues which are perennial everywhere, but they want to ban books.
They don’t want to talk about kids falling behind or talk about the ones who might not be safe at home, but they want to ban books.
This country has a sad flirtation with book banning beginning in 1637 in Quincy, Massachusetts. Censorship remained sporadic well into the late 19th century. Then as the 20th century dawned, book banning went whole hog in this country depending on where you were.
Statistically speaking, 3/4 of the books subject to book banning today are for children, preteens, and teens. But is it the kids who are upset or even reading the books? Seems to me it’s the parents with identity issues of their own they don’t want to deal with?
Because of things like the 1st amendment, the 14th amendment, and the 4th amendment we should have freedom to read in this country. But we don’t because you have these people whipped in a frenzy, vis-à-vis fake news on social media who have warped perspectives on obscenity and morals. Mind you some of the people who all of a sudden are book banners and born again Puritans and super faux Christians were not so innocent way back when and oh the irony, right? I mean, you haven’t lived until you’ve come face-to-face with a hypocritical, former dirty girl masquerading as super mom. Yes, oh the irony.
Radnor School District needs to be taken to court like yesterday over this. Parents need to take the gloves off and stand up and fight for the basic rights which are supposed to be exist in the public school system.
This is pure unmitigated bullshit.
Tell Radnor’s School Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Batchelor to rescind the madness:
Radnor parents, residents, and concerned citizens should be storming the proverbial Bastille over this. Protests, letters, packing meetings, speaking to media.
People if you’re not going to do it for your own children do it so future generations don’t have to feel like they are living in a prison when they are in school.
👉🏻If I lived in Radnor Township, I would put all of these books in every Little Free Library that sits on someone’s lawn anywhere. I would create Little Free Libraries just for these books.👈🏻
If parents don’t want their children to read certain books, that is up to them within their own household. They should not be able to decide for the rest of the population. And besides, especially when it comes to teenagers, do these parents remember being a teenager? For example when my mother said when I was in 7th grade that I couldn’t read Judy Blume books . So what did I do? I either bought copies and squirreled them away in the house in various hiding spots, or I borrowed them from friends. I read the books, and I lived and wasn’t scarred for life.
The point of education is not to stymie growth. The point of education is to teach and for kids to learn. What is the lesson being taught by Radnor Township School District? Quite frankly it is too ugly to contemplate.
Radnor’s School Board needs to find where they left their balls.
Screen shot from the Radnor Design Review Board Meeting February 12, 2025
There is that phrase something along the lines of it’s better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission. That seems to be the case with the Agnes Irwin School in Radnor Township perhaps? So how do you do lighting without a plan given to the township in which you sit? Would regular folk get away with this? Am I missing rarified air somewhere?
It’s a funny thing with that school. They occasionally seem to have this perennial misplaced sense of entitlement. And every time you hear news of them it’s because they are mentioned in someone’s obituary, or for some shenanigans having to do with grand plans. I will get to the grand plans of the past that didn’t go so well in a bit. But first this new or current kerfuffle over their lighting.
I am not minimizing what neighbors of Agnes Irwin are obviously experiencing given the Radnor Design Review meeting I saw. (Here is the link to the entire meeting.)
I was gob smacked. It was about lighting. As in Fred and Ginger can tap dance inside neighbors’ houses given the brightness of the lights. As in blackout curtains don’t help. As in how do migrating birds not get confused bright. As in the school is lucky there have not been car accidents in neighborhoods they abut or along S. Ithan Ave bright. Sorry not sorry, that is some kind of bull twaddle going on don’t you think? Why is this ok? Because they are a Main Line private school? Heck I went to one and that dog don’t hunt.
Excerpt from the Radnor Design Review Board Meeting 2/12/25
According to Ray Matus, former Radnor police officer who is their Director of Safety and Security it was for security measures. Ok but Mr. Matus? You worked at Radnor Township for years, and your dad and uncles did too, right? I get it that you were law enforcement (highway patrol, remember him directing traffic during Villanova stuff), but still, wouldn’t you think you might have to talk to someone other than your former police chief about putting up lighting even for safety?
But you know what? In my opinion the SCHOOL and their capital projects people and facilities or property manager types should definitely know better, and where were they at this meeting? Did they think their security guy as a former Radnor Township employee would just smooth it over? If so, then I am surprised Irwins didn’t have their Dean of Students Grades 5 and 6 Middle School Teacher lady there because isn’t her hubby in fact Radnor’s Township Manager? (Just saying?)
So Irwins has a pretty big footprint over there in Rosemont/Bryn Mawr but I am guessing they are a bit hemmed in? I mean they own that Almondbury House, at 672 Conestoga Rd, Villanova, built in 1911 by Horace Trumbauer. That is a fabulous house, they acquired it in 2015. It’s historic, don’t know what the plans for it are or what it is being used for, offices etc would be my guess. That property is about 6 acres I think, maybe 5. That might be what they refer to as “the annex” here and there?
They also own a house on this flag lot kind of driveway off of Conestoga. That was the house that they asked about in the meeting where they asked Mr. Matus where he lived. I am actually very familiar with the house, I was in it in high school. The family that sold the house had a daughter my year at dare I say it….Shipley. Agnes Irwin bought it from the family. They have owned the house for years at this point. That is very common with private schools and colleges to buy houses adjacent to campuses for staff or heads of school etc. to live in. That property adds a little over an acre to Irwins’ footprint. It’s a sweet house. I always liked it. It was up next to a tennis court in the back if I recall correctly.
The lights are daylight but it’s midnight bright right now according to neighbors at that meeting. I believe the neighbors and more than one spoke. Also important to note, since only one was alluded to by Irwins at meeting. The neighbors over there, aren’t happy and a lot of others have not been happy in the past. Just ask the folks who live on S. Ithan Avenue. Sometimes in the past, I have gone past the school and houses that are neighbors have orange cone things by their driveways. As a matter of fact I am incredulous that Irwins got so much on street parking on S. Ithan because it makes the road feel quite narrow.
Back to the lights. Just yesterday a friend of mine actually commented to me in a phone conversation how bright and glaring the lights of the school are at night when driving on S. Ithan. So I can well imagine what the people on Browning Lane, etc see. My friend who doesn’t live in Radnor, just on the Main Line, referred to the lights as glare bombs.
Lighting is a real issue and it is also an art form when it comes to doing it properly. That means you aren’t just plunking them up. There is a thought process and a plan, right? So why didn’t Irwins consult the neighbors before they did anything? Wouldn’t that have been the nice neighborly thing to do? I went to Shipley which has done tons of building over the years, and as critical as I can be even of my alma mater, I can’t recall their lighting being offensive (and I have criticized an expansion plan or two.) . I also remember them submitting lighting plans along with other plans to Lower Merion Township, so I don’t understand why Irwins didn’t until this meeting? Or did Irwins assume Radnor relationships would just make it all like magic? I guess they missed the memo where being a good neighbor makes magic?
Now let’s dish lighting and Radnor Township. Remember the issues surrounding Villanova University? I seem to recall that neighbors were very up in arms and that RADNOR TOWNSHIP hired a lighting expert to review and do light and sound measurements? Where was that? Aldwyn Lane and elsewhere around, right? I remember this issue coming up more than once with their expansions. And Villanova as a result has lights that are not bright white glare bombs. They just like lots of crosses, right? Here I looked up some old articles concerning Villanova and lighting, most without pay walls:
Agnes Irwin seems to constantly lead with a bit of an elitist attitude in my humble opinion. The fact that this ended up in a Radnor meeting says to me that perhaps neighbors either weren’t being heard or the school didn’t care about what they were hearing from their neighbors? And does that even compute with what the school claims as their values? I think that is truly sad.
Where does being respectful of your neighbors fall in core values?
The neighbors need to start taking MORE photos. Of lights, traffic, the whole enchilada. Radnor Township needs to step up and get an independent lighting expert etc in this just like they did with Villanova. They can’t ignore residents with real property value worries and environmental and just every day living concerns over a private school. They didn’t ignore it with lighting issues with Villanova and it’s the same damn area. They need a proper lighting plan at Agnes Irwin. They need LOWER lights as in height, as well as different kinds of lights shielded properly (not bright glare bomb white how about a more yellow cast) that lights an area safely without making 3 AM seem like high NOON. What are those magic words? Lumens and foot candles? Again, proper downlighting? Not loving hands at home light shields perhaps? (Duh.)
How many lights do they need on things like the tennis courts which are surrounded by giant fences and are locked up tighter than Fort Knox. (It’s funny, when I was growing up ) remember the school letting some of the courts get used by folks in the area.)
Other suggestions? Proper fencing along perimeters and evergreen screening. Evergreen screening helps with light pollution. Light pollution is real and Agnes Irwin and Radnor Township can’t ignore it. For God’s sake, I bet science teachers there must talk about migrating birds and nature at some point, right? I remember it in elementary school/lower school years myself. Anyway umm hello, what does light pollution do to migrating birds?
No one objects to good security, it benefits a school campus and the surrounding area. But what is done shouldn’t ever be at the expense of neighbors.
Agnes Irwin needs to stop the BS. Especially since also at that meeting there was some mention of a potential turf field in their future? Haven’t they learned from turf fields yet? And this one to be would be where? There is a big grassy field near Browning Lane I think? Doesn’t that run to a creek and is it even big/wide/long enough? I am asking the question because I don’t know, I just have a memory of that field, and others over there from high school. And turf fields all require constant monetization to have any semblance of economic feasibility in addition to all the environmental issues, correct? They are super expensive, right? I also remember seeing a new thing on turf fields where they showed an old turf field graveyard. That stuff is not found in nature and does not break down. Besides, how many turf fields do we need in any area?
And there has been a LOT of negative press in the past over Irwins and fields/turf fields. As a matter of fact, some one I know owns the property on Sugartown Road in Easttown they once wanted to get part of for fields. And then there was the whole giant thing about them leasing Radnor Township owned fields in some park.
Agnes Irwin needs a refresher course in being community minded and a good neighbor. There is something to be said for good community relations. Enough with the misplaced sense of entitlement of it all. And yes I can have these opinions. And anyone who knows me will know my not liking issues with lights, turf fields, etc with regard to academic institutions is nothing new. And academic institutions with neighbor relations issues is also a particular pet peeve.
And a not so subtle love tap to the invisible interim commissioner in Ward 4 in Radnor. So Jim Reilley if you wanted to be a commissioner, dude then be one. It means being present in your ward. You are freaking INVISIBLE . For residents he is supposed to serve he has a page on Radnor’s exceptionally clunky website. I will also note he lives literally in that affected neighborhood. (So unless he exists under a rock he can’t deny this issue exists.)
Here is refreshing all of your memories on Agnes Irwin and their other community kerfuffles past:
North Wayne Avenue at the Wayne Train Station. A GIANT stuck looks like an 18 wheeler at dinner time. Nice. Can the driver not read? Does he or she not know the height of what they are driving?
Talk about duh.
Who is paying for what? It’s ridiculous and maybe if Commissioner Moira my brother is an actor Mulroney and perpetually cranky and pale Commissioner Jack Larkin can stop hollering at Jake Abel long enough they can look into this? (Yeah commissioners your off camera and on camera antics are noted by quite a few so you can’t blame me can you?)
Also about The Willows. Is it really financially stable? IMHO, I don’t think so. And what exactly does Will Nord do to earn his salary which at the recent Radnor meeting is supposedly $91K+? He’s a pleasant fellow, but still? And they want to hire an events manager? Why doesn’t the caterer have an onsite events manager? And about that caterer? Peachtree? Are they REALLY the best that the Willows can do? Meh. A few years ago I won pop up dinner tickets with them I think somewhere in Radnor, Pomme maybe? Yeah well, still waiting for them to honor that from 2020 and we will leave it at that. I don’t need a free meal, but I did win it in a contest. So now if they offered it? Yeah no thanks, and that made me decide they are a nope on the caterer scale of life.
And what about the remaining asbestos? That remediation is specific and expensive, correct?
The woman discussing the finances was arch and rather defensive so that means kids, that it’s all really not so hot is it?
And the neighbors sound issues are very real and if Radnor and the Willows Park Preserve think the neighbors are going to go away they will not. Look at the issues in the past until it was worked out at Appleford in Lower Merion. Will Nord thinks everyone is having pink fluffy clouds Kumbaya conversations? The Inveraray neighbors are pissed. I wouldn’t mess with that HOA, would you?
And if Peachtree is selling a house party vibe, they are not correctly marketing the property and Peachtree has full exclusive control as a caterer, so sorry not sorry they do indeed have responsibility towards dealing with any issue, including noise, don’t you think? Are they spread too thin with locations at the Willows, Pomme, Portico at Awbry, and Parque at ridley Creek State Park and again I ask if they are making the dough ray me as an exclusive caterer at FOUR venues why can’t THEY pay for the events planner needed? Usually an events planner is hired by the site if there is NO as in ZERO exclusive caterer.
I think the Willows Park Preserve is a hot mess and sinking further. And yeah, asbestos remediation? Check back through paperwork Radnor Township and I think you will find it is definitely not al complete. And what about the cottage? All of the money wasted on that and NO ONE EVER TALKS ABOUT IT AND WHY?
And let’s talk some more how you wanted to use eminent domain against a church?
Damn Radnor Township, you can’t get out of your own way.
Wake up Radnor residents! Monday, October 28 it’s more tricks than treats on the schedule for the commissioners’ meeting at 6:30 PM. These commissioners with ONE exception do not know their arses from a hole in the wall. The one exception is Commissioner Jake Abel who had the courage of his convictions to say NO to eminent domain as Radnor Township’s arsehole purported “negotiation” tactic….with a church.
That “negotiation” tactic is eminent domain against Wayne Presbyterian Church because they had the temerity to want more money after faithfully renting their land to Radnor since circa 1954. That means they went decades without really wanting much more, correct ? I mean that’s really nice isn’t it?
But noooo, Radnor Commissioners, seemingly led on an eminent domain field trip by cranky unpleasant to the plurality commissioner with an odd looking pallor, Jack Larkin, who seems to have morphed into a cold unfeeling jerk who seems to wish to punish the world and why is that? Is his life outside of being a commissioner a little messy? And why does his bio at Radnor still say how many years later he is still at a certain law firm yet LinkedIn and elsewhere indicates somewhere else? Does he not want people to know about working for thatbillboard company?
Oh and Radnor and commissioners? I am entitled to my opinions.
I think potentially Radnor hasn’t been so sleazy since the days of Bashore, and I am not even sure most of these commissioners actually know what happened then because most of them seem to know so little about Radnor’s political and other history as in the past 30 – 40 years since that matters justasmuch as the historical origins of the township.
The board sat there at the last meeting and were kind of horrible to a church and their members. They all tried to say eminent domain is a “negotiation” tactic. It is not. It’s a greedy, nasty, bullsheit bully tactic. And the Wayne Business Association is supporting stealing from a church? If this happens you betcha a lot of people will boycott Wayne.
Radnor, I know first hand what eminent domain for private gain does to a community. I was part of a group that fought it until we won in Ardmore PA with the help of the Institute for Justice in Washington, DC. And this might be something that you try to couch as eminent domain for public purpose, but since you’re doing it really for the Wayne Business Association businesses, isn’t it really eminent domain for private gain? My opinion is it is. And actually, it doesn’t really matter what it is categorized as, it’s still wrong. That is the beginning and end of it.
And Wayne Presbyterian Church? The lawyer who you really want for this is Philip Rosenzweig. Phil is the one who as a newly elected commissioner wrote the resolution in Lower Merion to end eminent domain in Ardmore.
And Radnor residents, that’s the other thing that we at the Save Ardmore Coalition did because of the threat of eminent domain: we replaced half of the board of commissioners in one election cycle because of it.
Radnor residents you have the power you don’t use enough, and I suggest you get busy and replace some of these toadstools at your earliest opportunity. You deserve better commissioners and a better manager. Who would think after years like 2010, Radnor Township would find itself in odd situations again?
Oh and for those who live near the center of Wayne do you know to add insult to injury regarding the upcoming development involving that AT&T lot is also on the agenda? I mean, imagine the parking you might have available in Radnor in Wayne if this site was not going development? (Just sayin’)
Heavy handed leverage. That’s what a retired real estate lawyer said.
And Radnor Township is trying to wield the ultimate thug tool against with Wayne Presbyterian Church, eminent domain. And given this is for the Wayne Business District, this in my humble opinion, this makes it eminent domain for private gain. That’s bollocks.
Can we talk about how combative and rude Commissioner Jack Larkin is? I guess his life experience over the past couple of years has not taught him to be kind or humble. He should discover both qualities, after all pride goeth before a fall, Commissioner Jack Larkin. Try being pleasant and not a bully.
If Radnor Township was acting in good faith, they would not have enacted an eminent domain ordinance, and it is pretty much that god damn simple. And they are doing this against a church.
I have not had such distrust of Radnor Township since Dave Bashore was the manager and that is saying something. Radnor needs to clean house again from commissioners to manager. There are few things that upset me more than eminent domain. I know the realities of it. First hand. We saw it in Ardmore. We saw it Coatesville. We saw it in Long Branch, NJ. We saw it in New London, CT. Just ask the Institute for Justice.
You know what is worse then eminent domain for private gain? Eminent domain for public purpose that really has private gain driving it. And THAT is what Radnor is attempting which is why I categorize as really being about private gain. And in Radnor’s meeting last week, the Wayne Business Association said they support the actions of Radnor Township.
I can tell you as long as an eminent domain ordinance lurks against a church in Wayne, no one I know will be going to Wayne to even buy a cup of coffee.
A relatively newer resident spoke up, after hearing this. Not sure why he was at the meeting, but hooray for common sense:
And then there was Commissioner Jack Larkin’s grandfather I guess it is. Even HE said eminent domain was wrong. So Larkin listens to no one except himself on this it seems, so will grandpa’s thoughts matter?
This is another bad plan from Radnor Township. They seem to be making these bad plans more and more consistently.
Radnor residents and supporters of Wayne Presbyterian Church and haters of eminent domain? The clock is ticking. get those card and letters and emails and calls going and attend the meetings. This is wrong, and what is not wrong after all these decades is the church wanting to see more revenue.
And oh by the way? This meeting also had some updates about the Willows? Radnor Township should take the neighbors’ noise concerns seriously and so should the caterer in residence. I don’t think much of them anyway. I won tickets to a pop up dinner with them once, and they never honored it. I won it during COVID, end of 2019, early 2020 and it ultimately got postponed and then they essentially ghosted me. Actually I think the Willows is a hopeless mess and that is a subject for another day and it is so sad. And what about the cottage? No one ever wants to talk about that debacle and waste of a one time restoration.
Back to Radnor Township being a municipal bully. Here is the SAVVY or it all plus an article from Main Line Times. Read both and remember: eminent domain is a thug tactic, not a form of negotiation. No more Wayne for me until this is settled. Eminent domain has no gain.
Radnor Township has taken the first step toward seizing by eminent domain the parking area it leases from Wayne Presbyterian Church (WPC), a sizable section of the large Station Ave. municipal lot.
Radnor Commissioners voted 4 to 1 at their Oct. 14 meeting to move forward with an ordinance (below) that would authorize the township to file a “declaration of taking” in the Delco Court of Common Pleas in November.
It’s back to school with off campus student party houses…still Villanova for the most part and still in Mount Pleasant in Tredyffrin and surrounding area. Tredyffrin, Radnor, and Upper Merion all involved last night….
The scanners tell snippets of the tale and last night and again it was Tredyffrin PD, Upper Merion PD, and Radnor PD.
Upper Gulph Road, Old Eagle School Road, near Woodland School, West Valley Road, Mount Pleasant, Upper Gulph and Arden Roads and tell me again are these new dorm locations or just Villanova University off campus student animal house rentals?
So will these municipalities pretend that there is no problem, especially Tredyffrin?
Only time will tell.
Residents are fed up already and it is not even Labor Day.
It’s always the same old story. People understand that college kids want to have fun, except the college kids that rent these off-campus student rentals, seem to have a distinct lack of respect for the surrounding area. And it’s kind of sad because it would take so little effort for them to get along with their neighbors and just be a temporary part of the community that gets along with their neighbors, instead of causing problems. And Villanova needs to be more on top of this as well.
However, it’s not just the kids and the school which need to be held accountable. You must include the rental slumlords, who own and are renting these houses who also need to be held accountable by these municipalities. I am always amazed how all these houses pass rental inspections aren’t you?
All threats on this topic are reported to police and Villanova’s own security department.Just like last year.
It’s Delco Day. I will start with Wayne which is in Radnor Township which is in Delaware County….
Now look, I don’t live on the Main Line anymore, so there’s a lot that goes by that I miss. But when you see a letter like this posted on social media on a Monday morning, you have to ask: what did she do?
All of her social media, except for Pinterest is down. Her website is up, but business says closed on Google.
Is she OK or did she post political things she shouldn’t have? I just have never quite seen anything like this, so I’m asking again what did she do? Drama in Wayne that doesn’t have to do with Radnor Township.
Next up Prospect Park also in Delaware County….guess there is something in the water in Delco and I really wish people would not stress themselves out in this heat…this is all I have got….other than just stop. Please.
That screenshot was sent to me by a friend of mine with a barf emoji. I think a barf emoji was being kind.
And I’m laughing because they listed as Church Road but it’s not actually Church Road. It’s Church Street because it’s a loop around back around off of Highland Avenue in Wayne/Radnor Township. Near Odorisio Park.
So the irony here is this is $1 million skinny box that is around the corner from the affordable housing on Highland Avenue known as Highland Homes. The house looks like a box I would get 6 foot garden stakes in. 
Of course, when I was researching Highland Homes, I came up with an article from 2001. And why that interested me was the mention of a company called Pennrose Partners which over the last couple of weeks I think it was was told no by West Chester Borough Council on the Church Street lot in West Chester :
So I went digging and I found an old listing for a lot for sale on Church Street in Radnor Township. And I’m thinking this is the same land and the same location only they say Church Road because Church Road is a lot nicer than Church Street in the category of snob appeal because oh my gosh, they can’t market it as being $1 million plus property around the corner from affordable housing can they?
Here are screenshots real estate listings from Church Road in Radnor Township and a video, so you can see it’s not even the same neighborhood:
How ugly is this million dollar design blight on Radnor Township? It is definitely Church Street not Church Road. My guess it’s a Main Line version of like calling a town a Main Line town when it’s not, or calling a house in Downingtown Chester Springs. Marketing with a side of egg on Realtor face, right?
I just can’t with this listing. I mean I knew listings were crazy in Radnor Township when I found these:
Willow Avenue was the street below Poplar Ave on the other side of the Gulph Creek from North Aberdeen where Radnor Township barely blinked when they tore down the Jonathan Lengel house recently. And speaking of Lengel, read this about the family from the 1958 Radnor Historical Society Bulletin:
Now I’m off on a tangent a little bit, but I will circle back to the ugly house on Church Street shortly. But again here is the post I wrote recently about the Jonathan Lengel house:
So people not familiar with Radnor Township wouldn’t know that Willow Avenue is not a fancy street. It’s a nice street but it started out as a place for the working man to buy a twin home after they filled in what was the Wayne Natatorium pool in the early 20th century. I go by the corner of the street on Radnor Street Road once in a while coming back from Penn Medicine in Radnor to make sure that the historical marker I got for them is still standing. And yes, I worked to get that marker approved and erected.
I don’t trust the Radnor Township of today. They value nothing. And they certainly don’t value design standards in new construction if they’re approving Lego houses to go with Lego institutional feeling apartments, townhouses, and condos with all the personality and charm of a prison meets a mental ward.
And the fact that the weenie little former meteorologist, John Bolaris, who’s like the walking talking Philadelphia joke for decades is the realtor on this is icing on the cake.
Here is the recent write up of him from Philadelphia Magazine:
This is a town where local TV news personalities are very much Philly celebrities. John Bolaris was the talk of the town in the ’90s, when he was meteorologist for Channel 10. He became a regular fixture of gossip-column fodder. And he seemed to lead a charmed life — that is, until winter 2001. That’s when Bolaris blew his biggest forecast — or perhaps I should call it a fearcast. He predicted a “Storm of the Century” that amounted to less than an inch of snow. Folks laughed Bolaris out of town. He went to work in New York.
Bolaris turned up here again in 2009, this time at Fox 29. But things didn’t go so well. And Fox 29 soon parted ways with him. There was also the time when Bolaris claimed that $43,000 in charges on his American Express card were the result of two Latvian models drugging him. Oh, and there was that stun-gun attack in the Hamptons. I could go on!
Yeah there I left you a excerpt. You can click on it and read the rest of the article. The thing I remember most about this guy, other than how incredibly short he is is when we were all much younger and out on the town in the Main Line we would see him out. Of course we also used to see NBC10 Steve Levy and his zip up cowboy booties. And Sir Charles as in Barkley. Charles Barkley incidentally was always very nice. Bolaris and Levy? LOL 😂
But I digress.
This is pretty much hands-down, the ugliest new construction house I’ve seen in quite a while. And how does it fit into its surroundings and why do they say it’s on Church Road when it’s on Church Street which is off of Highland Avenue ? (Weird listing HERE.) this ugly house would look great next to those butt ugly townhouse things that the Ship Road couplet was built for in West Whiteland.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got other than the Philadelphia Business Journal is listing a property that was once part of Ardrossan is for sale and the property the Ardrossan farmer rents is apparently also for sale.
