Just checking in...

Hi all.  Not much going on really, not a whole heck of a lot to report on, but I wanted to just write something for the sake of writing something.  The new gig keeps me pretty stressed out and working long days, so my life in town has me retreating beneath the covers of my bed almost as soon as I walk in the door. There's a great deal of shame in that as I find excuses not to go to the gym, but there you have it.  I know people say that working out relieves stress, but what if you're too stressed to go?  Anybody got any tips in tricking the mind into getting back at it?

Anyway I digress, there's not much going on at Borough hall either actually, the town's short about a million and a half bucks as you may have heard, so there goes my free parking on weekends at my own apartment. (Actually, we'll see, maybe somebody forgot to carry over a decimal or something.)

Joe, Lana, and Yours Truly

The only things of any interest, and probably only to me, was the stopping by of my brother a couple of weeks ago on his 2 week leave from his year long deployment to Afghanistan.  This was followed up yesterday by the visit of his Canadian girlfriend on a 5 hour layover in PHL.  *Note, yes he actually has a Canadian girlfriend, not the kind that we nerds would make up to tell our friends, but an actual French and English speaking Canadian.  How aboot that, eh?

Yours Truly, Lana, and Sheyla

One of the things they now have in common, (ok, now one MORE thing they have in common) is that they've both visited West Chester.  They both rave about the place by the way, they are so impressed with our nature, our winding roads, our babbling brooks, our historic architecture, and great restaurants.

You know I think living here one might lose sight of how darn nice it is here, and it's something worth preserving as well as promoting.  Now one might think the two ideas can't coincide, but let's face it, if we're ever going to get out of our million dollar hole, it is by preserving what we have, and promoting what we have to others.  Which as you are probably getting it by now, involves preserving what we have as something worth promoting!

(In other words, can we not tear down everything in town willy nilly especially if we're not going to improve upon it?)

That's why I participate on a Historical Preservation Task Force, trying to figure out what kind of things should our town hang on to, and how do we get more people informed and involved?  Should the borough be in the business of helping homeowners renovate the historically approved way appropriate for the property they own?  What does that look like, is it "hand them a pamphlet about how to do it, wish them good luck and that's the end of it?" or  "a financial/tax rebate kind of thing" if they use historically correct materials in any renovations?

Speaking of tax things, I sure hate the idea of being taxed or having to pay for services I currently don't pay for now. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not sure there are too many people out there who do like to pay for stuff they're not paying for now, but if not that, then it's going to have to be cuts in the services I currently get, and you just know that translates into a poorer (pun both intended and not) quality of life for those of us who live here UNLESS, we can shift the burden onto some other magical entity that would pay for it.

Let's see now, I grew up in Florida, hmmm, I remember not paying state income tax, hmmm, what was it that kept me from paying more in services from the community?  Hmmmm, yes, labor costs were not as much down there that's true, but there was something else, what was it, oh I remember, TOURISTS!  If we can figure out a way, to attract people from other parts of the world to come here, to enjoy what we enjoy, and get them to leave a few coins in our coffers, (while somehow minimizing their impact and demand for services) then we may be on the right track!

Would we as a community, live with our roads packed with 1000's instead of the currently 100's of bikers (the spandex kind) pedaling along the sides of our roads?  Could we tolerate 1000's of bikers (the leather kind) roaring up and down our roads?  Could we tolerate 1000's of ponytailed college girls with shinguards and sticks with nets at the end of them running up and down our fields?  How about Revolutionary War Re-enactors, Civil War Re-enactors, hell, WWII re-enactors having encampments in our parks?  1000's of cross stitchers? 1000's of Roller Derby enthusiasts?  How about minor league baseball fans? I know, I know, we're trying to make money, not lose it here, but hey, has anybody really done the numbers?

I'm sure out there there are people with great ideas, we just have to move them off of the comments section of the Daily Local News and into a forum where they actually get heard by those that can make them come to fruition.

I can tell you what, just like I've learned (or re-learned, pretty recently, I might add) in life, the accepting the status quo is not an option.

So, who's with me, who's got ideas to make this a better place to live? (that don't cost so dang much!)

Well, THAT was interesting!

I've actually had a busy week, when I'm not in over my head at my new job, (well, not in over my head, but the analogy of having the similar feeling to that of a gentleman who is a below the knee amputee at a contest where kicking the posteriors of others comes to mind) I've gone to a Planning Commission Work Session, a community meeting of the Historical Preservation Task Force, (thanks for coming out to THAT West Chester...said sarcastically) and finally tonight the Turk's Head Stadium Alliance presentation at the Charles A Melton Arts and Education Center.

Now I'm sure like you, although the idea of a Baseball Stadium in West Chester has been buzzing around the borough for about 5 years, it seems like only recently has there been a burst of activity in the last couple of weeks, when there was an impromptu, and perhaps ill advised press conference about how the Philadelphia Phillies, a local athletic club of some renown I'm led to believe, is ready to commit to coming to West Chester with one of their Minor League organizations.  This led many to immediately man the redoubts and take position, because one had the feeling that one might get run over by this steam roller express and not have a say in it before thousands of people come traipsing through our sleepy, innocent little burg.

Well, as it turns out, we are nowhere near that happening anytime soon, if my year or so on Borough planning commission has taught me anything.  If the Borough is going to get involved in purchasing land from the current owner, and then leasing out to a tenant, in this case the ball club, a LOT has to happen first.

As for tonight's meeting, I'm not sure I saw it coming, but I suppose it could have been predicted.  You had sitting at a table, in 3 chairs facing a group of about 30 people, 3 very nice looking, elderly, white AND white haired gentlemen. One, was the owner of a local sporting goods establishment, the other, a man who has when they say, "Baseball is my life", really made it his life, being a player in High School, College, and the Pros, as well as in executive positions with many teams and as a consultant in bringing Minor Leagues to towns across the USA.  Now normally the race of these I'm sure fine and upstanding men wouldn't even be used as an adjective under normal circumstances, but sitting across from them were the actual residents of the community in which this stadium might be built, right smack in the middle of a historically African American Community.

This Dr. Killenger (not LBJ BTW)

From the moment it began, these men spoke in what I'm positive was a heartfelt place, about a passion for the sport, and a passion for the town.  They dropped names of teams played for, coaches they worked for (You played for Doc Killinger? Really? The black garbed, "villain consultant" with the Henry Kissenger-esq accent from the Venture Brothers? Oh, not him, some other guy, oh never mind then, that's just me watching way to much Adult Swim.)

Not This Dr. Killenger

The problem was as I saw it, was that these gentlemen, all in their 70's in age, were not connecting to this audience.  As the murmurs grew while they spoke of alleged benefits to the community most effected, you could tell the speakers weren't picking up on it.  That's why they seemed so unprepared to deal with unleashed fury of a community that felt neglected.

In the words of some people, "our kids have nothing to do" "somebody came and broke all the side view mirrors on our cars parked on the street last night" and "we didn't even get the snow shoveled out during the last storm", true, non-sequitor statements given the agenda of the meeting but none the less, it felt like, and I say this as an observer, so who knows if I got it right, but that "maybe this project was just another thing that old white guys are trying to dump in our laps"

So, we all know what NIMBY is right?  Not In My Back Yard?  Well, there are a lot of people who would love to have this in their back yard.  I know for a personal fact that the residents near 1060 West Addison Avenue in Chicago around Wrigley Field don't seem to mind much at all, in fact they love it.

So why the hostility tonight?

The truth is I think a lot of the initial frustration with this project, despite what some might say about how it seemed to be gathering steam in the shadows, despite what some might say about where the money is going to come from, is that people are projecting the current problems of the borough on to project thinking that somehow the project will magnify these issues a hundred fold.  Now of course who knows, maybe it will destroy property values, tax rates will skyrocket, and quality of life will diminish, EVEN MORE for a certain sector of the community who've historically had it rough all along. (You think all those chemical companies and trucking companies are there for no particular reason?)

What made it worse I have to say, was how these gentlemen, goodnatured all I'm sure, were just unprepared for it.  Unprepared in that they had no numbers on taxes, traffic flows, foot traffic, revenues, policing needs, light pollution, noise pollution, on and on and on.  Furthermore they seemed to want to push away from that subject, as if they only were the group brining an idea and matching it with the decision makers in the community, and weren't otherwise responsible for working out the details.  While that maybe true, one might want to do a little advertising first, solicit ideas, have some numbers for people to mull over, before presenting something that looks like it might break ground next spring.  That is in fact what's so troubling, it's no where near ready to go, but they were very clumsy in trying to get that fact across.

They did talk about 125 jobs, they did talk about a all year long, 100 seat indoor auditorium for lectures and college classes, they did talk about giving the kids something to do via free tickets from local churches, they talked about Halloween parades at the park and New Years Eve celebrations with fireworks, they did talk about how it might seriously help get the SEPTA R3 West Chester line back to the borough, they even talked about how the Chester County Pops Orchestra needed a place to call home, but they just didn't have much else.

Add the age gap, the race gap, and the income gap between the audience and the presenters, and it just made for a cringe inducing evening that I hope won't be ever be repeated.

I tell you what though, if you want to see fireworks, go the next Borough Council meeting when this is on the agenda!  I think I'll pass, and let Anne Pickering of the Daily Local News tell me all about it!