Tag Archives: radnor township

it’s just ugly in north wayne.

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I used to love Wayne and North Wayne in particular. North Wayne had all these crazy cool houses from little workingman’s twins on Willow Avenue to the big Victorians on the surrounding streets.

But bit by bit and peace by piece it’s all disappearing. It’s like the Radnor Historical Society might as well not even exist any longer.

I happen to be on N. Aberdeen Ave. today because I got turned around. Not because any roads were close I just hadn’t been back there in forever. So when I was coming around N. Aberdeen I realized something was missing: Jonathan Lengel’s house built in 1888. He was a builder in Wayne when Wayne was becoming what we know her for today, or knew her for it because the houses keep getting torn down. He was the architect on the Wayne Hotel as a matter of fact and there is a suite named for him.

So Jonathan Lengel built himself a house at 236 N. Aberdeen Avenue in Wayne in 1888 or thereabouts.

In 2008 that house was threatened by predatory development:

News Around Town

PUBLISHED: April 30, 2008 at 10:00 p.m.

Radnor planners will consider Lengel house demolition

The Radnor Township Planning Commission Monday will hear a proposal to tear down the home of Jonathan D. Lengel, a builder who constructed a number of significant houses in Wayne around the turn of the 20th century.

The owners of 236 N. Aberdeen Ave. in the “Little Chicago” section of North Wayne are proposing to tear down the single-family house, reportedly built in 1888 by Lengel for his family, and build two twin houses.

The property is in a dense community that suffers stormwater issues from Gulph Creek, which runs through it.

Suburban and Wayne Times

Development comes to ‘Little Chicago,’ where change is seldom

By SAM STRIKE

PUBLISHED: May 14, 2008

On paper, stormwater is all about calculations.

But in real life, it’s a subject of inch-high anecdotes and soggy stories of the worst kind of neighborly offense: problems that flow from multiple sources.

In the North Wayne neighborhood long nicknamed Little Chicago, where a number of people are second-generation residents, a proposed two-lot subdivision is causing concern over density, neighborhood fabric and of course stormwater.

The property in question is on the 200 block of North Aberdeen Avenue, a partially one-way street, where half of the homes (most with front porches and no driveways) have properties that slope down to Gulph Creek.

Across the creek are the back yards of homes on Willow Avenue.

There, a little more than a century ago, was the Wayne Natatorium, a fresh-water pool created there by damming the creek. Today, that history is still evident in soggy yards, flooding basements and an eroding streambank.

The proposed subdivision would cause the teardown of the 1888 home of Jonathan D. Lengel, a builder who constructed many homes and well-known buildings in Wayne during its first naissance.

What the would-be developers want to replace it with are two twin homes, both with two-car garages, which would double the impervious area on the property. To those on Willow, this brings fear of increased flooding. To some on North Aberdeen, it means a large structure with no architectural similarity to the majority of the neighborhood homes and the loss of at least three needed parking spaces.

The twins are reportedly modeled after those in a Chester County development.

What makes doubling the impervious coverage possible in this dense, waterlogged area is the adjustment of floodplain lines originally established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In this case, the proposed change to the line moves it about 40 feet towards the creek bed, nearly in the creek bed….The commissioners were presented with the proposals, and its opponents, Monday at the caucus section of their meeting, where no votes are taken.

As for the design of the proposed twins, longtime North Aberdeen resident Rose Hyatt told the Planning Commission earlier this month, “To build these homes in our neighborhood, it looks like a joke. This isn’t a neighborhood for big houses and garages like this.”

Suburban & Wayne Times

‘This isn’t a neighborhood for big houses’

By SAM STRIKE
PUBLISHED: May 20, 2008

On paper, stormwater is all about calculations. But in real life, it’s a subject of inch-high anecdotes and soggy stories of the worst kind of neighborly offense: problems that flow from multiple sources.In the North Wayne neighborhood long nicknamed Little Chicago, where a number of people are second-generation residents, a proposed two-lot subdivision is causing concern over density, neighborhood fabric and of course stormwater.

The property in question is on the 200 block of North Aberdeen Avenue, a partially one-way street, where half of the homes (most with front porches and no driveways) have properties that slope down to Gulph Creek.

Across the creek are the back yards of homes on Willow Avenue.

There, a little more than a century ago, was the Wayne Natatorium, a fresh-water pool created there by damming the creek. Today, that history is still evident in soggy yards, flooding basements and an eroding streambank.

The proposed subdivision would cause the tear-down of the 1888 home of Jonathan D. Lengel, a builder who constructed many homes and well-known buildings in Wayne during its first naissance.

What the would-be developers want to replace it with are two twin homes, both with two-car garages, which would double the impervious area on the property. To those on Willow, this brings fear of increased flooding. To some on North Aberdeen, it means a large structure with no architectural similarity to the majority of the neighborhood homes and the loss of at least three needed parking spaces.

The twins are reportedly modeled after those in a Chester County development.

When it comes to development I guess everything old is new again because 236 N. Aberdeen Ave., which was a historic house no longer exists. I have to ask what does the Radnor Historical Society do these days? I also have to ask what changed with stormwater management back there in Little Chicago because it hasn’t gotten better. It’s only gotten worse.

Here are some screenshots pertaining to 236 N. Aberdeen:

I really didn’t think it was possible that what was denied circa 2008/2009 would come back in 2024 and succeed. I mean common sense would dictate that the street hasn’t gotten any wider. The storm water hasn’t gotten any easier and yet here we are another historic house, gone out of Radnor Township, and some big behemoths will take its place which will have greater impact because of impervious surface coverage, parking, etc.

Someone told me when this house came up in meetings, they kept saying how horrible the house was etc. etc. It wasn’t horrible and it meant something and had context in the area where it was.

But then again, look at what happened to the Wayne Bed and Breakfast Inn? I drove past there today and it was horrible. Lots of big, expensive new construction going up with all the character of a Lego set.

And then there are the McMansions going up tremendously fast on Radnor Street Road. Naked acres. North Wayne used to be known for trees on Radnor Street Road and it’s like they just stripped the street and properties of trees and now you have McMansions growing there with lovely and more historic homes with trees and gardens across the street.

It’s really totally depressing going through the Main Line these days. Lower Merion and Radnor continue to lose their allure. Yes, it’s a very expensive suburb and as my one grandmother always said, money doesn’t know who owns it. But it’s so damn disappointing that people get together in the communities to save their communities and then they’re safe for a while and then a few years past and basically the same development plans come back or other development plans show up and it doesn’t matter.

If you want another plug from me for why the state representatives and the state senators in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania need to enact an act of the state constitution and update the Municipalities Planning Code, here you go.

I will leave you with an editorial that I wrote for Main Line Media News May 6, 2008. I think it still resonates. 

Time for sweet scent of lilacs and new development plans

Ahhh Spring! The landscape is lush with greenness and the air heavy with the scents of lilac and old fashioned viburnum. But what else does spring bring us as citizens up and down the Main Line? A full course of new and disturbing smaller development plans to peruse.By the time this column hits the ink of a newspaper, two new and bothersome plans will have made their debut in front of two separate townships: the proposed destruction of 236 N. Aberdeen Ave in North Wayne, and the super sizing of footprint of 106 Cricket Avenue in Ardmore.

The plans for 106 Cricket are being brought to the residents of Ardmore by the fine folks who brought them the plans for 130 Cricket. Suffice it to say, when the township agreed with the residents that 130 Cricket Avenue was a plan that left a lot to be desired, it went to court on appeal.

With regard to 106 Cricket, I will admit I am at a loss: what does a developer or property owner do with a site that contains a mortuary or funeral home when that use is to cease? Personally, I would find it creepy to live atop a former death depot, but it isn’t up to me to judge. I will say that once again, as was the case of 130 Cricket, this plan is just too much plan for my comfort level. What happened to the thought of new development complimenting the surrounding area? Why is it most plans today simply overwhelm an area? No wait, don’t answer that. Profit margins.

In North Wayne, residents recently defeated the proposed inclusion of a public storage facility in their extended neighborhood (or at least for the time being). Now they have received news that a house of serious local historic value faces demolition so someone can build new homes on the site of 236 N. Aberdeen Ave. New development on one of the most congested streets in North Wayne? And what of that little thing called impervious surface coverage and stormwater management?

Why on earth in an utterly flood prone area would anyone with a brain wish to double impervious surface coverage on a fairly steep sloped lot that leads to the Gulph Creek? A plan that could have an immediate and negative effect on residents on the low side of the creek? No wait, don’t answer that. Profit margins.

Who cares about another small neighborhood, anyway? Who cares about the home that builder Joseph Lengel built for his own family in 1888 in North Wayne? Who cares that Joseph Lengel was one of the builders who executed the dreams of the famous architects who brought the fabulous structures to Wayne we all “ohh” and “ahh” over?

And while we are discussing plans, let’s revisit a few gems we have all read about or born witness to: Rugby Road in Bryn Mawr, Allaire on North Buck Lane in Haverford and the Exxon Station in Ardmore on Wood-side and Montgomery. What is occurring with these plans? Are these plans moving forward?

Rugby Road is apparently still alive, and as for Allaire? Who knows. Perhaps people don’t really don’t wish to pay big bucks to overlook an auto body establishment and live across Lancaster Avenue from a mattress store?

Finally, the plan to add a car wash and a mini mart convenience store to the Ardmore Exxon station? Seriously, what is wrong with these people? It’s not only a mostly residential area, but there is a Wawa right behind them, and a car wash already on Lancaster Avenue in Ardmore. Is it our fault that peddling gas isn’t as profitable as it used to be? Well, cry me a river, but I am not all that sympathetic considering what we are paying for gasoline these days.

What happens to small neighborhoods when these plans stall, end up in court, or get approved and simply don’t move forward as planned? Go visit some of these neighborhoods and judge for yourselves. It adds an air of sadness mingled with frustration. In a couple of cases, can it also be said it adds a whisper of true blight?

It is inconceivable that these odd small plans are still moving forward considering the current state of the economy, the real estate market, and the mortgage crisis, but they are. As affected residents, at times it feels like you have barely gotten through one issue, and yet another one arises. Maybe, just maybe, people had best take a look at proposed legislation in Pennsylvania (if it is still alive) that would allow local governments to exercise temporary development moratorias as needed: PA House Bill 904.

House Bill 904 is common sense, bi-partisan proposed legislation you have probably never heard of. Critics will argue that this raises property rights issues, but to them I ask the following questions: What isn’t a property rights issue in Pennsylvania? Don’t residents in an area potentially to be affected by development still have private property rights as well?

Well, enough out of me. I am going for a walk. I want to take every opportunity to enjoy nature before it’s all overdeveloped.

A postscript is a comment left on this very post:

Gosh, I hit a nerve. So is he related to the developer? Someone having something to do with Radnor Township? And why should I get over it because he’s uncomfortable because I’m talking about it? Why is it “best gone”? I’m not alleging anything. The deed is done. The house is gone and I’m expressing my opinion on this and other ugly development and unless they are going to repeal the First Amendment , he can actually just bugger off.

nope, it’s not ok

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Last night I published a post about essentially being harassed by someone from a Villanova University IP address leaving comments on this website. This was after I had written about what is going on in Mount Pleasant again in Tredyffrin’s panhandle.

Overnight I received yet another comment which, once again has an IP address the tracks to Villanova University.

Of course, I am always surprised that it seems like the Tredyffrin Manager Bill Martin does not deal with these off campus party houses because he previously also worked in Radnor Township, so he is aware that the problems are real, and not just made up.

I will also note that there are plenty of off-campus student rentals where the students get along very well with their neighbors. But there are still houses that are the exception to that rule. One of those houses is 985 Mount Pleasant Ave. in the Tredyffrin side of Wayne.

This property is now in an LLC but it still looks like it’s the same owner. I think probably this house goes from word of mouth to word of mouth from school year to school year. it probably originally started as somebody getting a house off campus for their kid while they were in school, which is common practice around the country. But then sometimes people sell these properties when the kids are out of school. Other property owners often decide to keep these properties as investments.

So I’m getting these messages. The first message came with a real email address with the first comment. Next with the second comment it was a fake email but related IP address, now there is this comment with a fake e-mail address but another related IP address.

This all went to Villanova, and the Dean of Students along with what was sent yesterday. And again this is over an off campus animal house party house that I wrote about over the weekend is located in Tredyffrin. Again, the comments are coming as per the IP searches from Radnor Township, so that’s presumably main campus. If the comments persist, I can go to Radnor Police Department and file a report. They are aware of this. BUT…

Yes there is a but. And it is in my decision making process.

Villanova is a rather expensive school these days, and this person sending the comments has been sent to this very expensive school by two hard-working parents. If I file a formal police report, this is something that could follow this commenter around as he is graduating and looking for a job. It’s all fun and games to be an internet gangsta, but the reality is something not grasped about behavior like this.

This commenter is close to if not 21 already. But over 18. They don’t have very much life experience so they don’t realize that this is not his parents’ glory days of college. No one wants a kid that parents are spending hard earned money on to not be able to develop to their full potential after graduation, right? But this behavior needs to stop. And even Villanova knows that.

So I am giving Villanova University the opportunity to deal with this. In turn for the time being it gives this internet punk a gift he may not deserve, but perhaps his parents do.

However, it is time for Tredyffrin Township to deal proactively with the problems of these off-campus student houses. The neighbors do actually have rights even if Tredyffrin seeming likes to pretend Mount Pleasant doesn’t exist.

I see you residents of Mount Pleasant. You all are dealing with so much including with the really horrible development that keeps happening. This is an area that deserves respect and their history as well.

As for the rest of it? Gosh here’s hoping that some day kids living in off campus housing and their friends coming over to party realize that it takes so little to be a decent neighbor while they are living in these neighborhoods.

Villanova did reach out to me today and promised they are looking into this. So I will see what happens. I am not trying to be unfair. But these kids have to behave better off campus while they are guests in our communities and leaving comments like this wherever is simply unacceptable behavior.

Thanks for stopping by.

well hello tredyffrin- that’s some college kegger in mount pleasant…

nothing like a couple of obnoxious notes from a nice catholic on st. patrick’s day

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So yesterday I wrote once again about the animal house- like- party house located at 985 Mount Pleasant Ave, Wayne PA. It is located in Tredyffrin Township in what they call the “panhandle” of Tredyffrin.

Mt. Pleasant is actually a historic area and it was an early black settlement in Chester County and the Main Line. Every year for years there have quite the collection of students wreaking havoc there off campus most weekends. The residents refer to one house at 985 Mount Pleasant Avenue as the blue tarp house because the students hang blue contactor tarps to shield their keggers from view.

These kids off campus in this neighborhood are horrible from year to year. Everyone expects college kids to be college kids, right? So why is it from year to year the off campus students can’t have fun without trashing this neighborhood?

This weekend’s parties resulted in a lot of neighbor chatter. Kids vomiting in the street, urinating in public (including girls), trash, open containers, driving like crazy, etc.

Again, if they wanted to be good neighbors and have fun, they could. But they don’t. They are terrible. So I wrote about it yesterday.

well hello tredyffrin- that’s some college kegger in mount pleasant…

Here are screenshots from the actual neighbor chat regarding these parties this weekend:

Well one college student didn’t like my commenting/writing about this:

“get a life fat granny ur kids don’t love you”

ian.p.keeley@gmail.com

IP 153.104.35.63

And dude wasn’t hard to find. He used his real e-mail address and his IP address gave a nice Villanova University location. In Radnor Township no less.

Oh yeah, the IP address of it all:

I will admit that I shot back a snotful reply and called him a twat waffle. I suggested not so bright to use his real email etc. Then I blocked that email address and IP.

Welp, the indignant Villanova student had to leave another comment:

u want my phone number too? social secuirty? ur so cool you can track my IP the FBI should recruit you. Maybe it would give you something better to do than stalk college children during a holiday you predatory creep

blah.blah@gmail.com

IP 153.104.34.226

And again…the IP address told the Villanova story again:

So I told him I was going to go to Villanova directly. He was harassing me and for what? Because I said college kids going to parties at 985 Mount Pleasant shouldn’t be drunken jerks? Shouldn’t piss in/on the street? Shouldn’t vomit in the street? Shouldn’t leave trash everywhere? Shouldn’t drive recklessly in a neighborhood where there are little kids with their buddies hanging out of the trunks of cars? I told him also he was not quite a child, although definitely acting like one. Then I blocked that IP and fake e-mail.

And I did go to Villanova with the comments and IP addresses etc. Not that anything will probably happen. They still can’t control the off campus student population. I have never thought they tried particularly hard. They do have this nifty off campus booklet now:

STD2631819_VUGoodNeigh_BRH_v2Download

These are the two of my favorite pages:

Sadly, I do not know where they found the students in the brochure because they obviously don’t hang out at Villa Blue Tarp.

So I hope that college jackass likes his five minutes of fame. I sent it to the Dean of Students at Villanova. I told him what I had written about previously. Maybe it will make an impression and give the residents of Mount Pleasant and other off campus student housing plagued neighborhoods some peace. We were all that age once. Away from home, testing limits and boundaries. But oddly I do not recall trashing people’s neighborhoods and being miserable drunken neighbors.

College students can have fun without acting like every weekend is a reincarnation of animal house. These students don’t get that the neighbors wouldn’t care if they weren’t so damn loud, drunk, and obnoxious. But real people live around these off campus student houses.

I lived next door to one once upon a time, until a slum lord’s cheap roofer decided to do roof repairs on a windy enough day that the roof caught on fire and the house burned to the ground. And you know who contacted Villanova to make sure that the school found them places to stay and contacted parents etc? Oh that would have been me. And that house was horrible with the parties and super rude inhabitants. We would wake up and there would be like 20 cars on their lawn, and then cars on our lawn, neighbors’ lawns etc. But still when those kids needed help, the 24/7/365 neighbors were there. That is what is being part of a community is about. Hopefully they get that some day.

So yes, Happy Saint Patrick’s Day and yo Erin Go Bratty.

Love, Fat Granny. kiss kiss.

maybe radnor should spin another fairy tale about how wonderful all of the development gobbling up wayne is?

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I liked it better with the old growth garden plants and trees and the beautiful Wayne Bed & Breakfast. Now it will soon be a naked acres homogenous row of McMansions. Location is Strafford Ave. and Eagle Road.

Radnor Township should wake up, but they won’t. None of these municipalities wake up until it’s too late. It’s the same situation on Radnor Street Road where the land is stripped bare for another homogenous row of McMansions. Every time I drive by I am astounded at the rape of the land. Beautiful and old trees just bulldozed away.

Add to this the planned development of downtown Wayne. Between what is being proposed for Lancaster Avenue and then the AT&T lot, every bit of what makes Wayne special is getting developed away.

It’s so very sad.

skullduggery afoot in garrett hill (again)

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I think I need to open this post with a good AC/DC song. Because maybe it’s the one that applies here? There is a lot of chatter in Radnor Township and Garrett Hill about folks who have lived in rental units on Conestoga Road across from Rosemont Beverage and being told that leases are not going to be renewed?

So the property / properties changed hands it looks like in March 2023.

A post appeared on Nextdoor and now there’s chatter on Facebook.

I would think it was just idle social media chatter except I’ve heard about it in the real world too and I don’t even live in Radnor Township. Anyway, is it true these people are losing their leases, and the leases won’t be renewed and supposedly it’s going to go to student housing? and then people are also talking about notices being banged on doors of rental properties on Rockingham as well within the past few weeks?

Do you all believe in coincidence?

Is there a connection to the Conestoga Road properties and the Rockingham Road properties that people are talking about?

Are there other properties that seem to be ejecting tenants in Garrett Hill?

And what about the big huge rumor not about Garrett Hill but about Radnor Township in general concerning the use of Cabrini campus and property once Villanova takes it over 100%? People keep saying that they think Villanova is going to put a new stadium complex on Cabrini’s campus? I mean, if that actually happened what would happen to the magnificent old buildings of historic import on that campus as well as all of the trees?

I will note I am not asking about anything that people aren’t already talking about and you are allowed to ask questions about rumors. When it comes to Garrett Hill what is the 7th Ward Commissioner saying and does he care?

Is Garrett Hill slowly being made to disappear?

Is Radnor Township supposed to be the Catholic Happy Valley? If so, does that mean that the nonprofit university is going to pay any more taxes?

So these properties on Garrett Hill appear to have been bought by an LLC?

If you backtrack the address and suite for the limited liability corporation on Google it goes to a viable website doesn’t it?

I feel really badly for the people in Garrett Hill because it’s like they have to keep their eyes open every single second. Looking all around every five minutes. It’s like you can’t relax where you live because you don’t know what’s going to happen next.

I always have a soft spot for what I like to call front porch neighborhoods. And Garrett Hill used to be that and a lot of it still is. I have written about Garrett Hill before.

Garrett Hill deserves to be what the residents want it to be and it always seems like somebody’s trying to change it doesn’t it? Also, if it is one of the few areas in Radnor Township that has anything resembling affordable housing these days, what does that say about a township that’s not taking care of all residents equally?

I also thought there was a student housing ordinance? Is it followed?

I have nothing but questions on this, so hopefully somebody will be able to provide answers.

How many times is Garrett Hill going to have to be saved before people leave it alone?

the rape of north wayne

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North Wayne in Radnor Township. Used to be one of my favorite places. Leafy trees, amazing old houses. Now infill development is getting it. First up today are the million dollar townhouses on N. Aberdeen Ave. where it used to be the I guess pool supply office. I think it was called American Pool Service or something. Well now it’s million dollar plus townhouses.

The townhouses have a pretentious, almost absurd for location name—- Rockwell on Aberdeen. I hate to break it to them. It will always be N. Aberdeen Avenue in North Wayne and some might say Little Chicago adjacent if not Little Chicago.

I had gone down to Penn Medicine in Radnor. I always cut over North Wayne to Saint Davids to Radnor. Every time I go down, I see something different. First, it was the ridiculously huge townhouses on the corner of Plant Avenue and Willow Avenue. So those have been up a few years now. And it was where the scary house was quite literally it looked like it was falling apart and even when it wasn’t Halloween, it looked like it was Halloween. Of course, the thing with those places are is the additional parking on plant Avenue and I don’t really know how to park. Next are photos from when they were being built.

And of course getting through North Wayne today was an obstacle course starting at 1 Pennsylvania Avenue where John’s Village Market is. From what I have gathered noodling around on social media the building was sold, and John’s is still open.

Today I thought they were closed for good, and you could barely get by on the street. There were so many trucks. If I could have safely taken a photo to show people exactly how many trucks were there your mind would’ve been blown. The only thing I’ve been able to find is a photo posted about what John’s market looks like I think this July, but there were no trucks in front and literally where that is is this sharp triangular corner and there were just trucks everywhere.

I do not know how Radnor Township can allow this to go on every day except it’s Radnor Township and they don’t give a crap anymore. This is an area where you have people walking to the train station as well as kids walking into Wayne, getting on a school bus, etc. maybe this new landlord has a lot of work to do on the building, and I don’t want to judge as far as that goes, but there’s a safety component that’s clearly being ignored here, and that is inexcusable.

So after seeing the ridiculously over, priced townhouses on Aberdeen, and going to Penn Medicine, I wound my way home, again going through North Wayne. What I saw along Radnor Street Road almost made me drive off the road. I’m guessing this is old Valley Forge Military Academy land that was sold to a developer. Fox Lane Homes “North Wayne” priced around $2.7 million. Never heard of this developer, but that doesn’t mean anything one way or the other. There are so many developers these days.

And again with the naked acres.

Main Line McMansions don’t need trees. It doesn’t matter that North Wayne had as one of its most beautiful points besides the Victorian and early 20th century architecture … the trees…..glorious trees and tree canopies.

And then, across the street from this development on land that I guess was also maybe possibly from Valley Forge Military Academy but I don’t know, was another house. Not a bad looking house truthfully, but no trees. Don’t people want trees or plants or gardens anymore?

And again, it’s North Wayne so North Wayne without trees is pretty weird. And it changes the whole ecosystem.

That’s why I call this post the rape of North Wayne. Infill development is bad enough when there is so much volume, but where a lot of these places are being developed had places with established gardens, mature trees. Like where the Wayne Bed & Breakfast Inn was torn down for the next CasVille. I didn’t have the opportunity to take photos of that today, too much traffic, which is just as well because it’s utterly depressing to drive by.

Now I am sure that these McMonsterosities will sell…the townhouses of pretentiousness on Aberdeen seems like the sold for over a million each?

But what is Radnor Township thinking? It used to be they gave a crap, but now? What are they thinking? How many will this add to an already bursting school district? How will this affect infrastructure including first responders pushing their limits now?

Come on now, you know what I am going to say: yet MORE examples of WHY the Municipalities Planning Code needs to be comprehensively updated. What makes where we live and even places we just drive through special are disappearing one bulldozer at a time.

But on a bright note to end on, I also visited the Wayne Natatorium historical marker. I did that. It was dedicated 13 years ago this month on October 17, 2010.

I had help from some amazing friends, two of whom are no longer with us, but this was my baby and it is a state, not municipal marker.

Why do I point this out? Mostly because it’s super cool history and I am proud of this as an accomplishment, but also because my critics love to say I never do anything.

Radnor Township Parks and Recreation Department could take the time to trim the tree in front of the sign, however. Except knowing Radnor Township they will just ignore the tree until one day they will probably just hack it down.

Have a great evening. Thanks for stopping by.

Expolore PA History: The Wayne Natatorium

radnor township commissioner named in litigation filed in chester county

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THAT is quite the headline that appeared in the Legal Intelligencer this morning.

Gawthrop Greenwood Hit With Suit Alleging Lawyer Botched Plaintiffs’ Sexual Harassment Claims

“Threatening other plaintiffs that they would be lawyer-less if they did not settle,” the complaint said, “Larkin doggedly pressured plaintiffs to settle their claims, despite their express desire not to.”

August 14, 2023 at 06:00 AM

Aleeza Furman More from This Author
Litigation Reporter

DoeV.LarkinComplaint-1Download

(Complaint was posted by LegalIntellegencer.com )

I am kind of gobsmacked here. What University I wonder? He left a really good firm for a billboard company?

Here is Larkin’s LinkedIn:

Here is Larkin’s bio on Radnor Township’s website and if he has been with Catalyst as in yes that Catalyst the billboard company for over a year, why isn’t his Radnor Township politician/commissioner bio updated? He was formerly president of Radnor Commissioners, yes?

This is all very curious and very sad if true. This will be a get out the popcorn situation. And I have to tell you I was honestly surprised that Larkin left Gawthorp Greenwood for the billboard baron. Oh and you can look up the case in Chester County, but as of this afternoon sloppy prothonotary work meant a name misspelling.

Also again curious as to which University and are they local? OK People, I have absolutely nothing left to add except The School for Scandal is in Session in Radnor Township yet again…..

long ago and far away: the willows

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Many many years ago in another lifetime, family members of those who once called the Willows home in Radnor sent me photos. As well as photos that were lent by The Radnor Historical Society back then. For an article I wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer August 1, 2012 for their now defunct Neighbors section.

The photos showed up in photo memories today so I am sharing them. It was a marvelous estate and house once upon a time. A country house to be sure, but still never a “mansion” per se.

Enjoy a float back to the past. Here’s hoping she continues to survive.

Please visit the Willows website if this place interests you: https://willowsparkpreserve.org/

dodgy fashionista? say it isn’t so! quelle horreur!

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Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ! Gotta love Savvy and the perfect, yes perfect turn of phrase!!! But remember, she lives her life accordingly, right? We’re still trying to figure out according to what, however….

Remember the splashy Wayne boutique owner, Hillary White Jean, whose dodgy business dealings we revealed in our last issue? Well, her legal woes are mounting.

For starters, her latest bankruptcy filing – her 8th filing in 12 years – was a bust. U.S. Bankruptcy Court dismissed her claim on March 23 after she failed to file the required documentation and skipped out on the Zoom call with the bankruptcy judge and creditors.

Also, shortly after our story ran, Jean’s current Wayne landlord filed charges against her for $3,000 in unpaid rent. By law, that case had to be put on hold while her bankruptcy claim was pending, but with the bankruptcy dismissed, it can now go forward if her landlord so chooses.

And Jean has a few new court dates. The Commonwealth filed a criminal complaint against her on March 13 for her behavior in Delaware County District Court in February, officially charging her with harassment, disorderly conduct and unlawful use of a recording device (per her arrest by Newtown Township Police). A preliminary hearing on those charges is set for April 20.

On Monday of this week, she was due back in criminal court for a pretrial conference in one of the bad checks/theft by possession cases.

~ Savvy Main Line 4/18/23

I think she’s due in court this week in general isn’t she? What a lot of people have noticed after she vented her spleen, and tried to Doxx people and was generally obnoxious and implied that she got caught by the law because it was a racist thing, and that is still one of the craziest things we’ve ever heard, right? And then she was kind of playing peek-a-boo on social media wasn’t she?

And where’s the
“exclusive showroom” anyway?

Hillary White Jean or Hillary White Joseph or Jean White Hillary or whatever she is calling herself has created her life, including what is happening at present. Who knows what the future holds, but she is the captain of her own ship isn’t she? This has nothing to do with race or class bias or whatever the excuse du jour is does it? It’s a simple case of right and wrong.

File under GIRL BYE?

Make sure you check out the entire new edition of Savvy Main Line. There’s all sorts of great stuff in it!

Spring beginnings! Blue Elephant Wayne, Amada Radnor, Exit 13 Gastrobar, Berwyn Farmer’s Market, Coulter Place Ardmore, HOTWORX, Discseel, Le Mignon & more

a giant waste in radnor township.

Posted on by
Today, March 32, 2023

I can’t tell you how many people told me I didn’t know what I was talking about when I wrote the post recently about the old Wayne Bed and Breakfast Inn.

March 10, 2023

Well, one of my readers contacted me this afternoon and told me that she was being destroyed beginning today. A little while ago I was sent a picture which is the first one on this post.

Demolition has begun. Truly a goddamn waste.

This beauty is going with barely a whimper from Radnor Township. A property of historic import, which also had been lovingly and meticulously restored. In the place of this great house will be some soulless McMansions, probably front and loaded to boot.

Also, now gone are so many of trees, and the beautiful gardens. And those gardens had some very old plantings. I think it was an ash tree that was very very old on this property and they didn’t even take cuttings from it. It survived when many of its species did not. Radnor Township pays lip service to being good environmental stewards and tree tenders too, in my humble opinion.

This is a waste. It is purely a waste. And I hope the ghosts of that bed-and-breakfast haunt that new development and future residents. This place could have had an adaptive reuse that could have been worked into this brand new development.

This is why I urged Radnor Township residents to start going back to meetings. And something you should start with sooner rather than later is Fenimore Woods. If you think Fenimore Woods should be left as woods, you know the way it was originally intended, don’t depend on an old politician to be your sole voice who has been commissioner so many times throughout the years that he can’t not act like a commissioner even when he’s not in office.

Get involved in your township before it’s too late. And get yourselves a new manager too. Maybe it’s time for all of you to start adding up all the crazy stuff that has happened under his watch. Are you really better off with him? Or don’t you deserve better? And yes, you can question who governs you and you should. You also deserve a manager who is accessible to residents and you don’t have that.

If any of you take photos of the demolition in process, or have old photos of this place, feel free to send them I will post them.

RIP Wayne Bed and Breakfast Inn at 211 Strafford Avenue in Wayne, PA.