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when is it enough in tredyffrin?

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Back to Villa Blue Tarp in Mt. Pleasant (Tredyffrin.)

When is enough enough out of off campus student party houses?

I have been keeping tabs on Villanova off campus student housing for probably 20 years or better in Mount Pleasant. I discovered the issues years ago completely by accident when I was in Mount Pleasant photographing the history of the place because it is a very historic black area in Chester County. It was the home of Miss Mazie Hall, for example. (As a related aside, I watch them tear down her house for predatory development years ago.)

You can read about Miss Hall here:

Civil-rights activist and educator Mazie Hall dies at 103

This area for those not from Chester County or familiar with the history is in what is known as the “panhandle of Tredyffrin.” In recent years, it has been truly plagued by off-campus student rentals and wanton development from both the Upper Merion side of this area and the Tredyffrin side. It’s just far enough away from campus and the Tredyffrin township building etc. that they think no one ever pays attention, so if they have not been paying attention, maybe they all should be?

Not all off-campus student rentals are bad. And that can be said of any student rental in any location, but you never hear about the nice kids, it’s these others who stand out.

When I lived in Lower Merion Township for a bunch of years I lived next to one of these animal houses until it burnt to the ground two days before Thanksgiving one year. That was the early 2000s. November 22, 2000 to be precise, and the fire was covered in The Philadelphia Inquirer and Main Line Life (now Main Line Media News) at the time.

This house on Booth Lane was gorgeous at one time. I was in it when friends of mine and I snuck into a party when it was the rugby house around 1981. I actually didn’t stay very long because it literally was like animal house inside (I was like 16 or 17 and had never quite ever at that point seen a party like that so it was more than a little intimidating), but I will never forget what the inside of that house looked like even with a bunch of college students destroying it more and more every day.

10:04 PM 4/12/26

At that point, it was still a single-family home. It had this magnificent staircase with a carved dark wood newel post. the fireplaces were still intact although I think long since boarded up, but the surrounds were this amazing tile and there were stained glass windows and pocket doors. There were also a couple of really old chandeliers and lights that survived in the ceilings somehow and sconces on the walls.

This house had been the home of a banker or financier type of person named Henry B. Reinhart until he died in 1948. He had a son who died in World War II, who was remembered in local papers as being one of the victims of World War II, who died with the fifth army in Italy on Anzio Beach. When it went up for sale in 1954 you could have bought it for $19,500. And eventually it became this off-campus party house.

I knew from a very elderly neighbor when I first moved to the neighborhood that at one point in time, it had wonderful gardens, a beautiful lawn, which was planted with crocuses that still came up every spring, even when I was there. At one point in time, there was actually a small orchard behind it. The crocuses in the lawn, actually survived the fire and when it became an empty lot, we used to dig some of them up for our own gardens.

After that fire it was an empty lot for gosh, easily almost 15 years after that fire. I always wondered if they built on the old foundation because the foundation wasn’t dug up when they demolished the house after the fire it was just covered over. We didn’t mind it as an empty lot. It gave us some open space for a while.

The house made quite an impression because it had been a party house since I had been of high school age. It had been this huge yellow Victorian and up until the time of the fire had these great stained glass windows still intact in parts of the house, and this amazing wraparound porch.

This house, which was once located at 20 Booth Lane in Lower Merion, was just one of the wonderful houses that used to exist in a row from Old Lancaster Road to Lancaster Avenue.

At that time of the fire (November 22, 2000 and reported in The Philadelphia Inquirer as being started by a roofer’s torch doing repairs), the house had been split into two duplexes (previously, I believe it had served I think as the rugby house when I was of high school and college age and was not split in to more than one unit until 1985.)

Until the fire which made us all fear for our own roof lines because it was a windy day as the firefighters were trying to fight the fire in a small neighborhood, we had been held hostage by this house.

It didn’t matter how many times we called the police or the township, or Villanova. No one was interested at all in the plight of the neighbors trying to coexist with off campus students who were horrible. And for years, the neighbors did try to ask the students who were renting to just please keep it to a dull roar but no, every weekend it was party central complete with more cars than you want to know parked on their lawn and some of ours sometimes, kids vomiting in the street, peeing on neighbors properties, and so on. I remember at the time neighbors who complained about the house woke up one morning to find their cars keyed. I remember they were just a young married couple or maybe they weren’t even married yet but we’re saving for their wedding and the car repairs were expensive to fix the paint.

At that time, I believed the university official we were dealing with was a Father John Stack. As a matter of fact, it was his office we phoned as the fire was happening then so the university could find these kids places to live, etc. These off campus students (girls at this point) never did the right thing by any of us but we knew they were losing all of their college memories and school work, and also practically speaking needed a safe place to land after a day like that fire created. We also knew how scary that fire was for us watching it and those students were living it watching everything they owned from college burn.

Because of this experience in my past, I completely understand how the residents of Mount Pleasant in Tredyffrin feel today and have felt for years as my (then) neighborhood lived it until the house burned to the ground . As a blogger, I have written about this topic over the years in Mount Pleasant because it is that bad. This is why Villanova had so many people from this area of Tredyffrin Township and even folks from bordering Radnor Township show up at their community meeting after they acquired Cabrini. These people fear that it will only get worse.

For some reason this year, the students seem more aggressive than before, which I didn’t think was possible. They think they are invincible and untouchable, and the lack of consistent attention to this on the part of Tredyffrin and Villanova University officials does make you wonder if this is the case, doesn’t it? I mean, if even the rental housing inspector/zoning officer did her job half of the time in that township would there be so many people all of the time in that house or other student rentals back there? I remember it came up not that long ago that another student rental has occurred and by Tredyffrin’s student rental housing ordinance should that even be allowed?

Click to access decision-2025-15-brown-927-mt-pleasant-ave.pdf

(And don’t even get me started on how long it took residence of that township to get such an ordinance.)

https://ttdems.com/historic-mt-pleasant-neighborhood-faces-development-pressure/

Tredyffrin board hears college-housing concerns
Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood. . . How Can We Help?

https://pattyebenson.org/2010/03/25/need-for-college-student-rental-ordinance-not-just-a-mt-pleasant-issue-this-is-a-township-issue/

Housing issue resolved in Tredyffrin
(only the issues have never been resolved in Mount Pleasant)
Tredyffrin planners against subdivision

And I have to ask in the video I’m sharing from this weekend, are they referring to me because I’ve written about this problem house before or are they referring to a supervisor of Tredyffrin Township whose first name is Carlotta?

That’s not the name of any resident in Mount Pleasant that I know of, but I think you will agree that constitutes harassment of the neighbors and others and is that the message that Villanova University wants to send to the public at large out here?

Why should any full time resident be subjected to this behavior constantly in Mount Pleasant? Why does Villanova and Tredyffrin turn a blind eye?

This is wrong, and they all know it’s wrong. And again, I don’t live in that area, but if that’s my name in their mouth because I write occasionally on this topic, that is also harassing me personally.  I will note I have been harassed before. A couple of years ago give or take, I was able to track messages back to I believe a computer at Bartley Hall.

These kids are young and dumb, but life is not without consequences, and they just need to behave better. Their behavior is something I doubt would be allowed at home in their parents’ houses and where they grew up and where they live when they’re not at school, correct?

Again, students living off campus in other areas don’t all act this way. But I don’t know what it is about this house year in and year out that it attracts the same type of off campus student. And in my mind, they are not representative of the university community as an entirety. 

This problem is not unique to this university. As we’ve heard the spring, there are also problems currently in West Chester Borough with students there.

West Chester Borough grapples with WCU student partying

These people who are full-time residents of this neighborhood, deserve respect, and a good night’s sleep once in a while. They accept that kids are going to be kids, but do they have to be so awful and does this have to be the continuing pattern of behavior?

Properties with same P.O. Box and business entities:

wcu frat rats: give the bricks back

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Screenshots from Daily Local

So if you were part of Greek life in college, and I was, you know that pledge classes of fraternities have certain rituals they are responsible for completing. And that is not necessarily one and the same, but can be part of things that people would categorize as hazing…. especially if the task at hand is not completed.

According to Bill Rettew of the Daily Local, fraternity members are stealing bricks out of the historic sidewalks of West Chester University. This is based upon an interview with local residents:

Bricks mysteriously missing from West Chester’s sidewalks

Here is an excerpt:

Why are the historic bricks from the borough’s brick sidewalks disappearing?

Are they wearing out and not being replaced, stolen to replace those bad bricks by neighbors, or according to one neighbor, part of a long-time West Chester University fraternity hazing ritual, or is something else happening?

Sean Barry lives in the Southeast region of the borough where most of the students who rent live, and the fraternity houses are located. His bricks mysteriously started disappearing from his sidewalk.

He returned from his honeymoon to learn from the borough that he was responsible to repair and replace the bricks or face a fine…..The damage was widespread and the sidewalk bricks or pavers are no longer made. Barry sought an estimate and was told by a professional contractor that the bill would come to between $10,000 and $13,000 to repair his sidewalk. A simple Google search shows that several contractors will repair or replace brick or paver sidewalks for thousands of dollars.

Barry spent 11 hours repairing the sidewalk himself, with the aid of a friend. The thefts continue and bricks are currently missing from Barry’s sidewalk.

Barry witnessed a young male removing a brick from his sidewalk. He confronted him and asked the youth why he was removing the brick and was told that he was a member of a West Chester University fraternity and it was part of the pledging process and he had to collect a number of sidewalk bricks to fulfill a “quota.” The alleged student would not give his name or the name of a fraternity to Barry….Elizabeth Nebel lives on South Walnut Street. She sees some neighbors paving the bricks over with concrete and wonders if it is because of the thefts, and if consequently, West Chester will lose some of its charm.

Barry agrees.

“The bricks are a big part of the town,” he said. “It’s part of the charm.

“But brick by brick we’re losing what makes West Chester special.”

Barry said that he’s happy to live in the Southeast.

“We know it’s a select few and most are good neighbors,” he said. “I’m good to have students as neighbors, but the density comes with unique challenges.”

Now, when I read through the article, I noticed that West Chester University was kind of playing Pontius Pilate. Look that’s somewhat typical for schools with a big off-campus population. They say they can’t be responsible for their kids, yet they are, aren’t they?

And the fraternities’ national organizations are also responsible for their charges. It doesn’t take much to look up the fraternities currently active at West Chester, and not even includes ones that aren’t officially recognized. Sometimes fraternities are also suspended, I don’t know if they list them on West Chester‘s website or not. West Chester also maintains documentation of recent or relatively recent issues within their Greek community so to speak as far as hazing and what not. I also found this report- https://cm.maxient.com/chtr.php?WestChesterUniv

So these bricks levitating from sidewalks around the Borough of West Chester near the fraternities isn’t like typical hazing per se, but I am sure it is part of some initiation process. Now it’s relatively harmless if you take it at its face, except it’s destroying historic sidewalks.

As a historic town, West Chester will have lots of visitors, undoubtedly during America’s 250 celebration this summer. If you were “Greek” in college, please look at the attached list of organizations pertaining to Greek life with chapters on this college campus please contact your national organization an please ask them to ask the students to just knock it off and return what they’ve taken.

All of these organizations have service projects that they generally do, and a lot of times they do it right in their local communities where their chapters are located. It would be really nice to return the bricks.

according to federal court dockets, no kings guy kevin krebs to take a plea next week?

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West Chester PD Mugshot of Kevin Krebs from this past summer.

On the Federal Court Docket, the charges read: 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d), (f) and § 5871 unlawful making and possessing of unregistered destructive devices

I have been keeping an eye out since we learned the federal authorities took custody of No Kings

We last heard about Krebs in October when Deanna Durante from NBC10 broke the news that Kevin Krebs was no longer the guest of Chester County, but was becoming a guest of the Feds.

I wrote a post about it at the time:

kevin krebs now guest of the feds…..

Well guess what? He is pleading guilty as per the court dockets I just peeked at:

So that’s all I’ve got. He’s pleading guilty, do not know the particulars. Here is all the docket stuff:

krebs court and plea 12.18.25Download
Speedy Trial Continuance 112025Download
Case 225cr00506MKC Document 11 Filed 12.01.25 USA v KrebsDownload
United States District Court Eastern District of Pennsylvania US vs Krebs docket_RedactedDownload

kevin krebs now guest of the feds…..

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West Chester PD mug shot

The case of Kevin Krebs continues to evolve. As of a couple of days ago he is now in Federal custody. Deanna Durante from NBC10 broke the story initially, or at least that’s where I heard it first.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/18/us/no-kings-protester-kevin-krebs

Here is the original “No Kings” video that circulate this summer:

Of course this all makes you wonder about timing given the Daily Local article that preceded the feds taking over:

Gunman held for trial in Chester County rally incident

WEST CHESTER — Kevin Krebs, the Chester County man who carried a loaded firearm to a “No Kings” protest last spring and whose home was later found with explosive devices and other dangerous material, made a brief court appearance here Tuesday, four months after his case made national headlines…..Krebs, 31, of East Whiteland, was dressed in a blue hooded sweatshirt and cargo pants. Flanked by defense attorneys Christian Hoey of Tredyffrin and Thomas Bellwoar of West Chester, Krebs did not say anything to the court during the 10-minute-long proceeding….Although Hoey told Vito that he was uncertain where the case would ultimately wind up — “Who knows where we are going next,” the veteran defense attorney told her after the hearing concluded — he indicated that at least the gun case would be kept at the Common Pleas trial level.

“We are going to aggressively address his defense in state court,” Hoey told the sole reporter attending the hearing in Vito’s court at the Chester County Historic Courthouse. “State court is where this case will be prosecuted, and we intend to defend him vigorously.”

Then the news the other day…. and now Kevin Krebs is in federal custody.

https://patch.com/pennsylvania/westchester/new-charges-filed-against-chester-co-no-kings-protester-who-had-pipe-bombs

Media reports indicate what most of wondered all along, and that was he someone who had challenges and perhaps dealt with mental illness or was on the spectrum of a couple of things and so on? Lots of people, myself included wondered that given how he was on the no kings social media video and the way his expression was in the West Chester PD mugshot. A TV reporter who had been in court relays that he had been adopted from another country, and was on the spectrum. The Inquirer reporters (Vinny Vella and Robert Moran) wrote about that in their article which you can Google and find.

Apparently his dad and brother were in court with him as well? I have to ask, now that his challenges have been confirmed, now what? Is he receiving mental health help while incarcerated?

My other questions are if he does have issues, serious issues, how did his parents ever let him start owning firearms? And no this is not an anti-right to bear arms conversation, it’s a legitimate question. It also once again points out the validity of mental health evaluations and awareness when it comes to owning firearms. Krebs is 31 years old. So did his parents have any freaking idea of all he owned? And what of his brother? Did he know living under the same roof? I mean how could they not know? Will they have some sort of culpability here?

https://www.pennlive.com/crime/2025/10/man-arrested-for-bringing-weapons-to-june-no-kings-protest-now-in-federal-custody.html

https://www.buildzoom.com/contractor/kevin-krebs-electrical-llc

So what happens now? A deal or a trial? Time will tell. To follow please find some stuff found relating to Federal case. This guy needs serious help, but will he ever be safe to live outside of a structured safely behind walls existence of some sort? You really have to wonder about that, and if I’m honest and being selfish, I hope he doesn’t come back to this area. I have to wonder if the feds took this over because he’s going to be institutionalized somewhere for the rest of or majority of his days?

People also want to label him as a political terrorist, and I have never thought that to be the case. Do I think perhaps that was an impetus for his actions in as far as a reaction to the political climate in this country? Yes, but to label a man with obviously this many mental issues per media reports now as a political terrorist I feel is inaccurate and unfair. And I’m not saying that as some sort of bleeding heart, I am saying it because I believe it to be true, and Democrats around here need to remember this guy was one of them at that point as far as political registration, and what nobody seems to be talking about is this once again points to the glaring holes in our healthcare and mental healthcare systems in this country.

This is scary and sad all at the same time. We owe all of the law enforcement agencies from West Chester PD to East Whiteland PD to all of the other federal, county, and other folks in law enforcement a debt of gratitude. I am thankful how on top of this they were. They did their jobs so impressively from No Kings to his bomb and weapon filled house in East Whiteland; they kept us all safe. This could have been a disaster.

krebs fedDownload
44208e75-59cc-424a-a502-2ce500b9d94fDownload
bailDownload

can we talk about puppies being sold illegally on the streets of west chester borough?

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These photos were like yesterday or last night in front of Jaco Taco and Juice Bar in West Chester Borough. 8 West Gay Street, right ? So does this business have a security cameras? If so, they need to turn the footage over to police.

At first given all the online chatter people were rather frustrated with West Chester Borough Police.

Whoever this person is needs to have his ass thrown in jail for putting puppies in a cage in freaking August and trying to sell them on the streets of West Chester Borough.

This is horrible, it is actually illegal, and it’s animal cruelty. I’m going show you all the screenshots I have collected and a little video. if you see this person selling dogs on the street do not approach. Just call the police and record them. Clear photos would be helpful here.

I will note, based upon what I have seen online, it seems like West Chester Borough was a little slow to act here.

Police need to catch this guy because otherwise we all know what will probably happen, right? Dead puppies somewhere right?

Whoever this is, they’re just as bad as a puppy mill, and who knows maybe they’re from a puppy mill?

And just out of curiosity when this fighting was going on in the middle of the street, where were West Chester Police?

This is ridiculous that this is even happening.

File under law and disorder and illegal puppy sales in West Chester Borough.

what didn’t happen should be celebrated by west chester…and beyond.

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Screenshot

We have seen this scene of the opening screenshot so many times now. It’s captured in time. It’s a tragedy that didn’t happen, but could have.

The law enforcement, a lot of whom were local, did an amazing job. There are people who went to the protest who have sort of fluffed this off as not being a big deal, and they need to get their head out of their asses because it could’ve been a very big deal. It could have been horrible beyond imagination here in our corner of the world.

And while I have seen article after article and TV story after TV story, talking about the perpetrator and what he was carrying, and then last evening they conducted a search of his house and found more things, but I haven’t had to read about, and I think there should be some public officials standing up and really praising those who keep us safe in our communities.

Law enforcement was simply amazing here. It might be their jobs, but they are heroes.

So you have from the date of the protest which was Saturday, June 14th, West Chester Borough Police Department, Chester County Sheriffs office, FBI. Then yesterday add East Whiteland Police Department, the county and a bomb squad, which would be the one from Montgomery County that Chester County has access to – they serve Montgomery , Chester and I think Bucks Counties. I think they are then part of a larger task force, so after things were discovered where the man originally arrested from Saturday lives, who knows who all else was there, which had to include ATF at this point and Chester County Detectives and more.

My point is all of this law enforcement did this smoothly and by the book, avoided serious catastrophe, death, injuries, mass panic and where please are the elected officials? One would have thought a presser would have at least occurred by yesterday given maybe by Mayor Lillian DeBaptiste of West Chester Borough and perhaps the Chester County Commissioners, since this happened literally in the county seat with say a backdrop of the Old County Courthouse or in front of the Chester County Justice Center thanking these brave law enforcement folks for living their training so excellently, right? But where is it?

Where is the Governor of Pennsylvania or State Senators and State Representatives serving the area, including East Whiteland where the defendant lives praising law enforcement for doing something so amazing and preventing catastrophe that you quite frankly don’t see enough do you?

Law enforcement on any level doesn’t do their job for glory, it’s what they are trained to do. But people need to say thank you, and what their actions has averted and by “people”, I mean elected officials. On the TV interviews every day residents and people are all saying thank you, but where are those folks elected to public office and I do not mean local supervisors and borough officials because they do say thank you. I mean the state, county, and higher.

I am saying thank you but I am just a blogger. So time to step it up officials, as our men and women in our corner of the world have done something amazing.

Now onto other things. The accused as far as I can tell is still out on bail and one of the TV reports said his whereabouts are unknown, which after all that has happened is not comforting. I was told he made bail because bond was posted. It was high bail ($250,000), it was made. We don’t have to be comfortable with this, but that is the system, and maybe for certain kinds of arrests, the system needs to change? I don’t have those answers.

Then people are talking about why his house wasn’t searched completely after Saturday? Again, from what we can tell from media reports, law enforcement at first only had a warrant to search his personal space with the home, his bedroom I guess? It is not solely his home, and public records show the home is owned by family member, probably parents? And from the 6ABC report Leland Pinder did last evening where the accused’s brother was interviewed, it is in fact a family home so they would have had to have obtained a second warrant to search the whole house as far as my research would indicate.

Then as to the gotcha armchair warriors on social media talking about the accused’s 2nd Amendment rights, the answer is pretty clear: no concealed carry permit. Take a gun safety glass, it’s one of the things people are taught. This will undoubtedly raise a back and forth on guns in this area again, but the thing is this: there needs to be better mental health requirements surrounding gun ownership. And for things like this when people are out on bail, would it be the worst thing to have the people accused of things like this to be on ankle monitors?

For sure, this sequence of events has indeed shaken Chester County and various municipalities up. But let’s take a moment to THANK law enforcement for what they have done with no loss of life, etc. It’s remarkable in today’s world.

Thanks for stopping by.

can someone explain what happened in west chester yesterday?

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Allow me to preface what I am about to show you with this was a public post. It was sent to me then I found it and all little 🌎 globe meaning all public. I’m not infringing upon anyone’s copyright and you can see who posted it. I do not know if the same person who posted it was the same person who took the video.

Now I can answer that question above for this woman whom I don’t know about no media reports yet, and I will say based upon what she posts, her political views in the majority are completely different from mine. And that’s fine, to each their own, but she’s not wrong in questioning was this guy planning.

Now back to her asking why no media picked it up so far. That’s a simple answer because there are two reporters for the Daily Local. One does courts and crime, and the other does more generalized stories and has occasional overlap with the aforementioned crime reporter. But people, as far as a local paper, that’s it for the entire county. The paper is owned by a hedge fund that owns a mash up of a bunch of other local papers, and they miss a lot. Simply put, all of what is left of these local papers are lacking feet on the street and it’s not the editors’ fault there are NOT ENOUGH feet on the street. It’s because they’re owned by a hedge fund. A hedge fund in my opinion is not in it for the news, they’re in it because these are like distressed assets or something, aren’t they?

As for regional and television media, I think they were more interested in major metropolitan cities/areas because that’s where they expected a problem which is common sense in a way. Honestly, I don’t think they expected anything like this to turn up in West Chester. However, I’m jaded and I expect things like this to turn up anywhere.

I was not at the protest yesterday. And I had a feeling about all of these protests and figured this was simply not my scene. Maybe I just watch too many Nordic noir and ITV/BBC crime dramas. I actually asked a friend in her upper years to stay home. I know that probably annoyed her on some level, but she is treasured by me so I told her how I felt.

Anyway we don’t know why this happened or who this male person was. None of us are medical health professionals, so we can’t opine on that, and you hear about that in the video I’m about to share. I will say, however, in defense of whomever that was speaking in the background, that political extremists on either side are gaslighting things on message boards and social media in my opinion. It is also my opinion they are artificially inflating at times what is happening politically in this country, and honestly, the truth is bad enough.

We don’t know what political persuasion this person who was arrested was, or what they were doing there. But is this a first time people have exhibited extreme and potentially dangerous behavior like this? No, it is simply that social media didn’t exist in those times.

We don’t know what they were carrying other than what you could hear the police discussing on the video. And what you could see them removing from his person.

Either way that’s kind of something that really gives you pause doesn’t it if we can’t even have our inalienable right to a peaceful assembly, what are we coming to in this country?

And do I believe that this was a person on the same side as the people peacefully exercising their right to protest yesterday in West Chester? Honestly, no. I think it falls into the same category of the people who turned up at the protest in Philadelphia and then trashed the city. Individuals and seperate groups like this are more opportunistic or separatist. Perhaps I’m not explaining that eloquently enough, but that’s my gut check on it. This was ONE person yesterday as far as anyone knows.

All I do know is this puts regular people and law enforcement at risk.

Above all else it makes me sad to think that occurred in West Chester.

A little shout out to West Chester‘s public information officer. He deserves much credit for not ignoring this and addressing it. So many public information officers in municipalities everywhere today like to pretend things like this don’t happen. They only want to share the happy fluffy things and we definitely don’t live in a happy fluffy world.

Please be safe out there. Once again as Americans we are relearning the lesson that liberty and freedom aren’t necessarily free.

UPDATE ⬇️

is the borough of west chester asleep?

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Yeah that photo….but wait there are more….West Chester Borough…newer apartment building with “amenities.” I have to ask if trash is counted as an amenity?

Pretty damn gross.

So what would you do?

I would call the Borough of West Chester and Chester County Health Department, if the latter is not too busy screwing over church soup kitchens, right?

Tenants deserve protection and again, pretty gross, right?

Tell me again the fairy tale of how fabulous all these hulking box after box apartments are good for communities, ok?

Sign me thinking this is truly barftastic .

it’s not “nimby” to be sick of all of the development in chester county

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Today I had posted something from another blog (Cara at Hello West Chester) about development in West Chester Borough .

4 New Developments Set to Hit West Chester

The comment I am about to share has sent my teeth on edge and if you don’t want to listen to my rant, get off of this post now:

Chester County Ramblings my current neighborhood is not a dense borough, is not walkable, and has no restaurants/shops/galleries/etc. Regardless, I’m fine with development and don’t object to new neighbors. Not everyone is a NIMBY.

I don’t agree with everything you post but you are definitely “in the know” and I appreciate the updates.

As soon as my kids finish HS, I’ll be moving to a new place and WC Borough is on the list. I hope it has more apartments, nice buildings, restaurants, etc. by that time. It keeps getting better as it gets redeveloped. Maybe it will even have restored train service in a few years but I’m not holding my breath.

I’m curious as to why you choose to live in the suburbs of a major city when you frequently lament growth, development, and change? Wouldn’t some place like Forest County be a better fit? Or do you simply want access to the amenities this region offers by virtue of having the density and wealth of being near a city but not the development and congestion that come along with that? You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.

Also this comment:

Y’all hate when someone builds something on an empty lot 😂

And this one:

That was a historic parking lot though! George Washington parked there!

And this one:

Chester County Ramblings I own a home in the borough, drive or walk past these sites multiple times a week, doesn’t bother me one bit. I lived in Chestnut Square when it was first built and it was awesome, brought a lot of young people into the town, everyone was proud to live there and the property was always well taken care of. It brings more people to our local businesses and restaurants, more money into the borough. The only people I see complaining are the ones too high and mighty to live near “renters”. No one will convince me that replacing an empty concrete lot or an abandoned Burger King with a brand new, nice, apartment building is a bad thing.

And this:

All the NIMBY’s know is unhappiness about any sort of growth and change. They are perfectly content with this region stagnating and declining while the rest of the world flourishes and advances. I can see being against a 5-floor apartment complex on a farm in West Nantmeal Township, but on an empty parking lot in a walkable town with amenities?

I’m really tired of having the same conversation over and over and over again.

While some are reveling in their ignorance of what they think are funny comments, they are missing the point and the point is there are too many apartments.

NONE of these developments are even attractive at this point . The development can be along I 95 in Philadelphia or in Chester County and it all looks the same. Cheap looking Lego boxes.

Too many apartments are creating a transient aspect to society out here. It causes issues with other types of real estate. It encourages predatory real estate investors, etc.

It’s just whatever the developer can suck out of the plot of land. If these folks all want to be part of the conversation, they’re welcome to be part of the conversation but if they’re just here to be ignorant, they can F off.

I’m just tired of it. We can’t have intelligent conversations about anything.

People can either constructive and polite even if you are on the other side of the issue, but they are not . Does anyone think these apartments are doing anything in the long run? They aren’t. They cause more kids to be in already bursting at the seams schools and they cause other stresses on infrastructure which is human and otherwise so it’s services like utilities, and then it’s emergency services like fire and police, etc and roads.

So if anyone out there would like dense buildings next to you, give the developers your address I’m sure they can oblige.

We can’t handle everything that’s being built literally. And our municipalities can not afford it. They get the short term high of ratables, but then we’re all on the hook.

There is no pace. There’s no real design. There’s a lack of human scale in most of these developments and issues with setbacks as well. Find open space? Not if they can help it. You know how you get open space in any of these new developments? If they can’t build on all of the land correct?

And then there are the developers that shove these plans down the throats of people in various municipalities and then they just let everything sit there and rot Today we have seen in Berwyn what happens with that. See my post on Berwyn Square.

what’s up with roof collapsing at “berwyn square”?

Yes, communities have to grow and evolve to survive. But the growth shouldn’t always hurt so much and how about plans that are less dense and not so many rentals? That would probably be welcome just like anything other than a cram plan of apartments or townhouses.

What about affordable housing? I mean, basic average houses that people can downsize to who are getting older but raised their families and possibly even grew up themselves in a particular community or area. I’m also talking about what used to be called “starter houses” for people who grew up somewhere and came back to raise their own families and start their adult lives in a particular community. And by affordable housing, I’m also referring to low income housing. The state of the current supply of low income housing in Chester County is deplorable.

These developers aren’t building for a sense of community. They’re building for a sense of their own bank accounts. This is why you saw two municipalities this past election put an open space referendum on the ballot – East Whiteland and Uwchlan. Both referendums passed.

We don’t live in Chester county because it’s just some random suburb, we live here because we love the history of our county and we don’t want to become what Montgomery County and Delaware County have become and we’re pretty much there. It’s becoming too much development, overcrowded schools and an urban feel which is not what most of us signed up for. Bucks County too. Basically pick a county.

The Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is something I have written about so many times before I’ve lost count. This is the state level zoning bible, the guides all municipal zoning throughout the state. This weighty tome came into being when the definition of suburb and exurb was very different than today. this thing has not been comprehensively updated since around 1969. We’re at 2024. That’s 55 years.

Supposedly there was a big update in 2022, but I don’t remember anyone in Harrisburg enacting an act of the state constitution to do it?

What changed in 2022? Things most people didn’t even realize happened:

Act 41 of 2022

Amended Title 53 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes to establish the Municipal Boundary Change Act. This act also defined changes to real property that don’t require the assessment office to adjust an assessment

Act 97 of 2021

Amended Section 509 of the MPC to clarify the amount of financial security that municipalities should retain to cover the cost of remaining improvements on a subdivision or land development. This amendment took effect in February 2022

What we’re looking for in our communities among other things is more open space preservation, historic preservation that actually has teeth, and meaning, means to slow down the pace of development and have better control in our communities over the types of development we’re seeing. we want to be able to say we need to pause dense development and we want tools that our municipalities can legally have to help us preserve the feeling of where we call home.

It feels like every square inch of where we live is getting developed doesn’t it and as soon as you say, I really wish there wasn’t so much development you’re called NIMBY.

That’s bullshit. And the reality is the pace of development currently is not sustainable long-term and the stuff being built it doesn’t have staying power. The finishes and building style is just put it up as fast as you can. It doesn’t last. What is being built is not inexpensive and it looks cheap.

Parcels of land are built out to every inch possible. If any thing is retained as “open space” half of the time it’s not billable so you think a developers being magnanimous, but they really aren’t.

And then with all this development, especially in places like West Chester Borough you have people that’ll say “but we need workability and then maybe we’ll get the train back .”

Do you have two dollars? I can give you a piece of my bridge. I don’t really own a bridge. It’s a turn of phrase. All I’m saying is people are so gullible that they want to believe just about anything, but it doesn’t mean anything is based in reality.

And people always want to just say I’m NIMBY and I hate all development. There have been developments in the past I’ve actually liked. but those plans are few and far between or in some cases never actually happened because they were too good to be true.

Plans for development need to fit the communities in which they are going to be located. which of course is why I am worried about what is planned for the Weston tract in West Whiteland of W. King Rd. It’s why I am also concerned about whatever warehouses are being planned for the corner of Phoenixville Pike and W. King Rd. in West Whiteland.

Another thing I’m concerned about is whatever will happen with that random 15 acres that are partially in East Goshen and West Whiteland that were part of Schiffer Farm that the West Chester University Foundation is selling to a developer which backs up to a sweet older neighborhood on Old Phoenixville Pike.

And things like Lionville Station Farm are still in play aren’t they? And what is it about Downingtown Area School District that you don’t really know what’s going on with what the latest buyer is actually going to do?

And then you go past what used to be Happy Days Farm. The scale and just size of those warehouses is insane and no more farm.

If you want to see what negative impacts are occurring with all of this development try to drive through Ardmore or Wayne. Look at all the apartments in Tredyffrin, including along 202.

All of the development is overly dense and it’s about maximizing developer profit. It has nothing to do with community. It has nothing to do with any of us who were here first.

Again, all of this development is not sustainable. All of the rentals don’t foster a sense of community but they do create a more transient society. But go ahead, call me NIMBY if it makes you feel better. It’s not the truth.

affordable on whose terms?

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Soooo….remember recently when a developer named Pennrose came a calling to West Chester Borough about being given the Church Street Parking Lot for their housing development and the heck with the West Chester Growers Market? And how they had been to West Goshen like a day or so before? Now doesn’t West Chester Borough share the same solicitor with West Goshen Township? Not saying anything wrong with that, just can be cozy can’t it?

Now I wrote about this before the meeting but never followed up since local media did some pieces on the public outrage at doing this.

will chester county residents rise up to save the west chester growers market?
Bill Rettew The Daily Local Photo– Ryan Bailey of Pennrose at Podium

Residents Gather in Force to Oppose Housing Development at West Chester Growers Market Lot

By Leah Mikulich

Published: 5:30 am EDT April 19, 2024Updated: 8:12 am EDT April 19, 2024

Residents gathered in force at the West Chester Borough Council meeting to oppose the development of affordable housing on the West Chester Growers Market lot, writes Bill Rettew for The Daily Local News. 

Over 120 citizens filled the meeting room at borough hall, with over two dozen standing in the hallway outside while builder Pennrose Properties presented its plans to build over 100 affordable housing units on a 28,500-square-foot lot with 56 parking spaces at Church and Chestnut streets. 

The developer specializes in building and managing affordable housing. It had pushed for the borough to decide if it would green-light the sale of the lot by the end of May, to ensure the deadline is met for applying for grant funding from Chester County. The majority of the people present at the session were against moving the successful and decades-old Grower’s Market from the site. 

Councilman Bernie Flynn was among those who opposed the plans. 

“The thought of building more housing on that lot does not sit well with me,” said Flynn. “Once the borough sells Lot 10 — it’s irreplaceable.” 

Read more about residents opposing affordable housing development at the West Chester Growers Market in The Daily Local News. 

Residents raise concerns at West Chester meeting regarding Grower’s Market lot conversion to housing

Opposition raised over possibility of affordable housing units on Lot 10

By BILL RETTEW | wrettew@dailylocal.com | Daily Local News

PUBLISHED: April 17, 2024 at 2:51 p.m. | UPDATED: April 17, 2024 at 4:42 p.m.

WEST CHESTER — Democracy prevailed and residents were heard, at Tuesday’s borough council work session.

More than 120 citizens packed the meeting room at borough hall. It was standing room only as every seat was filled and more than two dozen residents stood in the hallway outside the room to hear a builder’s plans to create affordable housing.

Builder Pennrose Properties had proposed building more than 100 affordable housing units on Lot 10, at Church and Chestnut streets, on a 28,500-square-foot lot with 56 parking spaces. Pennrose specializes in building and managing affordable housing and early on into the process had proposed that the borough give the lot to the for-profit builder at no cost.

Most of the very vocal audience was opposed to moving the wildly successful and decades-old Grower’s Market from the lot.

About half a dozen times the audience angrily yelped “No, No, No!,” when disagreeing with a speaker and more than ten times the crowd applauded statements that most in attendance agreed with.

Pennrose had pushed for the borough to make a decision by the end of May to meet a deadline to apply for grant funding from Chester County.

Guess what? It wasn’t West Goshen or West Chester last night, it was Narberth Borough and it was the Pennrose Dog and Pony Show starring the ever charming Ryan Bailey who probably did the he went to Henderson schtick at West Chester Borough, because last night in Narberth, he was all about he lived in Ardmore. Except he’s from the north side isn’t he and not many average Narbs can identify with those grand houses, eh?

pennrose1Download

Now I am sure the presentations don’t vary so much from town to town and the irony with Narberth is their Borough Manager a few managers ago is the current West Chester Borough Manager. Of course West Chester Borough’s old manager is riding the gravy train in Lower Merion Township, but I digress. It’s just a segue to municipal trivia. Kind of like who is the solicitor where, right? Politics is fascinating…

So the Narberth presentation I would guess is similar to all the others. We are doing this to help you little municipalities. Give us land and it’s all good, but is it? Is it really? Now it’s oh this is so good and you really don’t need as much parking as a regular development and we line the buildings with unicorns farting rainbows, yes?

And it’s always a hard push to do this right now, right this instant, peril otherwise and that phrase we all haste about money left on the table, right?

What was it in West Chester Borough? Something like they had to decide in 5 days? You don’t even meet advertising requirements in that time frame do you? In Narberth also decide speedy von quick, right? So what Narberth land is being contemplated? I can’t quite decide from the video but if I had to hazard a guess I would say Sabine Park? The park given and deeded like a century ago that Narberth wants to develop, right?

narberth borough wants to develop sabine park? 🛑 stop the presses and stop narberth borough

The funny thing about affordable housing is I don’t object to it. But I object to municipalities trying to give away parks and parking lots that actually belong to the communities. I also object to developers gitting to get and I am entitled to said opinion. I kind of feel the traveling dog and pony show is shady, and I am also allowed THAT opinion. Real affordable housing requires grace and planning not shove it through before anyone notices. These developers seem to have a municipal road show, don’t they?

Oh and at the Narberth meeting the developer’s man indicated they were still negotiating out here in Chester County? With whom precisely? West Chester Borough? West Goshen Township? Some other Mae West welcome suckers? And some of the units they described on the Narberth video seems like well, a closet that you are supposed top live in literally like a sardine or lemming? Nice. And people get to pay for that privilege? It’s like tenements are being reborn isn’t it?

Anyway, I found articles today from the Hamptons in New York. About a rather interesting affordable housing project in East Hampton. It involved lots of planning. The Green at Gardiner’s Point and it is not unattractive either.

Applications are Being Accepted for Three Mile Harbor Apartments

The East Hampton Star: Applications Open for Affordable Apartments on Three Mile Harbor Road

By Christopher Gangemi May 23, 2024

The Green at Gardiner’s Point, the name given to 50 rental apartments at 286 and 290 Three Mile Harbor Road, jointly developed by Georgica Green Ventures and the East Hampton Housing Authority, has begun accepting applications for residency. Tenants will be selected in August. Katy Casey, the executive director of the housing authority, told the East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday that she hopes households are moved in by the beginning of the school year.

“I’m happy to announce that as of today, the applications are available,” she said at a town board meeting on Tuesday. A drawing will be held to determine the order in which the applicants will be considered for tenancy. “It’s often referred to as a ‘lottery,’ but I don’t love the word, because it seems people have won something. It’s really just to order the applications and to ensure fairness.”

Thirty of the units in the complex are two-bedroom apartments, while 10 have one bedroom and 10 have three. Two income levels will be represented within the complex, with 41 apartments for people earning up to 60 percent of the area median income and eight reserved for Section 8 subsidies. Another apartment is for the resident manager.

Ms. Casey gave examples of eligible income levels. A single person earning less than $65,640, a two-person household earning less than $75,000, or a three-person household earning less than $84,360 would all be eligible. A full eligibility chart is available on the East Hampton Housing Authority website.

A one-bedroom apartment at Gardiner’s Point will rent for $1,500, a two-bedroom for $1,784, and a three-bedroom for $2,045. Market-rate rents for apartments of the same general size in East Hampton have been assessed as $2,690, $3,150, and $4,080.

The Town of East Hampton pitched in $25,000 of seed money to get the project started and Suffolk County and New York State contributed about $1.7 million each. 

Imagine the possibilities if affordable housing were done right? Attainable housing seems to be the new correct speak term being used. People are afraid of the term affordable and all of the pejorative terms come flying out. Affordable housing is not merely affordable as in Section 8, it means real people can afford to stay in communities, seniors don’t have to leave if they can’t manage their homes, and young people out of college starting their lives can afford to return to where they were raised.

As it stands now, developers are pricing us out of our communities. It’s not just inflation. It’s developers driving up housing costs, land costs, and the endless of the Emperor’s New Clothes wherever you live. They sell municipalities on the salivating glory of cram plan apartments and whatever crappy townhouses etc that create a transient community of rentals. Prices go up, developers do the money in the stripper’s costume on the pole known as ratables and a lot of the time they just move onto the next development opportunity, leaving municipalities left holding the bag of infrastructure costs and issues and more.

I am somewhat astounded that the municipalities have not caught onto these games. Pennrose is in my humble opinion sort of a combination of slick and sloppy. I am entitled to this opinion as I watch these various meetings unfold like a strange game of chess.

Our communities deserve better. We deserve actual affordable housing, we also deserve the right to say no to any form of predatory development, and yes the First Amendment in all it’s glory allows this opinion as well.

BUT.

Yes there is always a BUT.

The BUT here are lazy AF state representatives and state senators who know goddamn well the Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania needs an overhaul. I mean don’t rush it’s only been since 1969 and gosh some might break a nail or muss their hair having to enact an act of the state constitution to do it. Even Governor Josh Shapiro knows this needs to happen given his various positions along the way to becoming governor.

This needs to be an election issue in 2024. I do not care what political persuasion state candidates are. They need to get on board with this or step aside.

Ok rant over. I so dislike bad plans and duplicity.

Wake up, people.

Thanks for stopping by.