Pattye Benson

Community Matters

Mt. Pleasant Supporters From Outside Tredyffrin!

We understand that student housing problems and landlord issues are not limited to the borders of Tredyffrin Township. Locally we know that Radnor, Lower Merion and Haverford townships have all had their share of ongoing issues with designing ordinances that help residents and then the enforcement issues that go along with these ordinances.

Carla from Save Ardmore Coalition who understands the associated problems of student rentals and the specific problems that the rentals have caused in Mt. Pleasant has weighed in on our Monday supervisors meeting. It’s good to know that Mt. Pleasant has advocates outside the township who will be watching (and reporting) the progress of these ordinance changes to the community.

Tredyffrin Stops Recording Public Meeting at 11:20 P.M., Passes Student Housing Ordinance – Mt. Pleasant Still Kind of Screwed

So as we learned courtesy of John Haines, Tredyffrin magically stopped recording their meeting at 11:20 p.m. Now the student housing stuff passed – not on camera- and thanks to Pattye Benson our intrepid Tredyffrin blogging pal, we have an update (including the fact that Tredyffrin had no air conditioning on in their building!)- bear in mind that in the panhandle, where Mt. Pleasant is that over the past five years, the total number of student rentals has risen from 0 to 22 – in a small area that is significant, and as I have seen it myself, I hope Tredyffrin Township doesn’t continue to show a blind eye.

One thing in about what you are to read that annoys me is Tredyffrin pulling the classic Lower Merion “we can’t do anything, it’s PA law”.

I for one am tired of that. Sometimes local governments CAN’T do anything more, sometimes they CAN get creative and find a legal loophole. And all these municipalities are capable of going to Harrisburg when it’s something they want, and they never want to do anything if it’s something they don’t give a crap about.

In my humble opinion, Tredyffrin did not like getting their hand forced by residents over student housing and truthfully don’t give a crap. Maybe Pattye and some of the others will say I am being too harsh, but it is what I believe. Tredyffrin had better do better now that they passed the student housing items – many are watching now. And any of you out there, if Tredyffrin doesn’t do as they say, feel free to join the conversation up here and tell us – Tredyffrin residents, you are your own best advocates, and while some of us can recount an issue as told to us, it’s your community and you can say it best.

Maybe now Tredyffrin will start to show the historic community of Mt. Pleasant some respect in other ways too? Or will they just let speculative development plow under history? What happened last night is a beginning, but it can’t and shouldn’t be the only action on the part of Tredyffrin.

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  1. John Peterson makes excellent points. And Pattye LOL, I think you meant Lower Merion in the body of your post, not Upper Merion.

    John Haines was good enough to post most of your meetings on youtube:

    http://www.saveardmorecoalition.org/node/4879/08-16-10-tredyffrin-township-bos-part-1-3

    http://www.saveardmorecoalition.org/node/4878/08-16-10-tredyffrin-township-bos-part-2-3

    http://www.saveardmorecoalition.org/node/4877/08-16-10-tredyffrin-township-bos-part-3-3

  2. John, your third from last paragraph was well thought out and makes sense, Your second from last paragraph makes you look bad and your last paragraph makes sense. You ask for proof when folks criticize you, so where is your factual proof that the tthresome doesn’t care about Mt Pleasant>? It is interesting that you can come up with good economic analyses then blow it on your political claptrap which is just tiring.

    1. Luke? are you referring to me? That rich white Republican mantra just might be the ticket this fall. The inmates running the asylum has gone on long enough.

      Time to get back on the road.. the American way… no more egalitarianism, no more destruction of American industry and farming, no more Anti Americanism coming from the top on down. It is not a sin to be rich, white and Republican. Where the hypocrisy lies is that there are probably more rich white Democrats. George Soros for one. Getting old, my friend. I hope you like Sharia law. Playing at a community near you…

    2. Pattye, so rich republicans, white too, are on topic? Are there any rich white Democrats at St Davids? Maybe that is where I should have left it? It is interesting to see at which points you intervene. I felt it was necessary to rebuke Johns prejudicial and inflammatory comments by taking the discussion where I did.

      Frustrating.

    3. John, Luke here,
      I really don’t know how much time they spent on Mt Pleasant. Do you? Just the facts please. I mean, you made the statement, so back it up. isn’t that the standard you want all of us to uphold?

    4. My willful ignorance implores me to understand your “observations”, really “perceptions” may be willfully shortsighted and maybe tinged with prejudice. Unfortunately, your reputation preceeds you and any “opinion” is tainted. it is your willful ignorance of this that has cooked your own goose when others try to interpret what you say as anything else but “tinged”

      What is Luke about?

    5. I am thinking about this, and it seems the all Republican BOS has responded to this Democratic enclave. i am sure not in time, not in a good enough way, and maybe spurred on by the community at large, but they are getting a lot of attention. Who knows, maybe Mt Pleasant will be a Republlican stronghold soon?

      Something worked here. maybe Pattye helped too. She may be one Democrat, or Independant that I would vote for, maybe…..

  3. Well, Pattye, there is always a crank in the mix. Someone who is over the edge about any changes to the status quo. Who wasn’t troubled by the lies and ineptitude under Bush if it benefitted him personally. FF is that man on this blog.

    Criticizing JP for “political claptrap” not backed up by facts FF is willing to accept?

    A clear case of the pot calling the kettle…….

    FF, you suggest “the inmates running the asylum has gone on long enough”. I agree. Republicans have held the White House for 20 of the last 30 years. They are responsible for the 2008 financial meltdown, two wars on borrowed money, deregulation and lax regulation, and a redistribution of this country’s wealth like nothing ever seen – since the Gilded Age that preceded the Depression.

    Democrats are un-American? You’re a fool.. What you mean is that you don’t agree with Democrats, so (fed liberally by the likes of Limbaugh and Beck)? you pronounce them un-American. That’s such a cheap and easy shot. School yard stuff.

    “It’s not a sin to be rich”. No, it isn’t, but when you’ve achieved that status by lobbying for unfair tax policy that taxes earned income at much higher levels than unearned income, when you’ve been responsible for shipping jobs overseas, off-shoring income to avoid paying taxes, and eliminatig all forms of worker security to plump up your company’s bottom line, you’ve crossed some ethical lines.

    Don’t cry out for a return to egalitarianism, FF.That vanished under Ronald Reagan. And the average American family has suffered for it since.

    “There are probably more rich, white Democrats”…Are you kidding? That was just a joke, right? – even coming from a humorless crank.

    It’s clear some people have already made up their minds about the November election. But many of them are basing their outrage on lies and distortions – propaganda masquerading as news.

    You would seem to fall in that category, FF. You’ve fallen for all of it. I’d like to think you are in the distinct minority.

    The rest of us need to wade through the media hype and deliberate distortions and get to the facts. There are powerful forces working to get voters to fear change and vote against their own self-interest . But well-informed voters cannot be fooled.

  4. Pattye says, “I have asked that comments please remain on topic, and on local community.”

    Does this also apply to Kate or does she get a dispensation due to her perfect recitation of the DNC talking points?

  5. Mike
    WHile I certainly don’t like the tract that FF took, I think that JP calling him Luke — whatever that was meant to communicate — was the start. He and TR seemed to have some similar outing going on recently. It’s all too personal and I’m done posting here. Kate and John aren’t anonymous — nor original thinkers from what I read here. If you have enough money to give away, you can believe whatever you want….and if you don’t have enough money to live on, you need the government to take care of you.
    Pattye — the world is just too angry. You cannot win by policing or ignoring….keep up the good work. When this blog works, it works very well. Best of luck!

  6. I received no dispensation, Mike. And my response to FF was hardly a recitation of talking points – though a few of them were xworked in… My guess is that you likewise would have come to the defense of your party had comments as inflammatory as FF’s been left hanging out there. Would you deny that national politics is driving almost everything else these days- right down the the federal stimulus funds used to build Tredyffrin’s sidewalks, the disagreement over how to cut $250 million from our state budget
    now that federal aid to the states came up short of what was expected, and how everythihg affects how we will vote in the upcoming election?

    Admit it, Mike. You just have no interest in reading what I have to say.

    It might be nice to limit comments to a polite, collegial conversation on Community Matters. But that wouldn’t reflect a large segment of the community.

    Opinions count. Facts matter.

  7. My recent posts — the elevated crosswalk, Genuardi’s closing, Rt. 29 slip ramp, West Nile virus all go by with little notice. But sadly, the partisan comments continue on old posts. Is Sarah right, the ‘world is just too angry’? Does anger evoke change . . . I don’t know.

    Maybe there’s something wrong with me that I continue to look for what’s right with the world. Getting involved and helping our own community is what I prefer to do.

  8. kate, typical of misunderstanding that runs rampant with your posts. First, I am surprised you were not chastised for running past the local issues.

    I did not say Democrats were un American. Your interpretation. No surprise. I think our President, as others do, is way out of the mainstream of American thought. I am not going to recite fact after fact. I’m to busy to edify you. Just look at what Congress has done the last 3+ years. I can say Bush made mistakes, but I am enlightened, you are a party hack who will never crtiticise your donkey party.

    I am with Mike. kate, I hope you get your government bailout.

    Crazy

    1. Of course you’re “with Mike.”, Chet. And he’s stuck with you.

      I find the atmosphere on this blog to be very unwelcoming to those who support Democratic policies and candidates – even though Tredyffrin is now composed of almost 40% Democratic Party registration (vs. 45% Republicans.)

      Where are you, good Democrats?

      Though I hardly qualify as a “party hack”, I am deeply committed to my party’s values and to countering the lies and misinformation that low-information voters are basing their decisions on when they go to the polls. In this election year, ignorance is not bliss. It is a vote against your own self-interest and well-being.

      But discouraged by many of the comments on this blog, I will take my thoughts somewhere else. from now on.

      1. “Admit it, Mike. You just have no interest in reading what I have to say”

        Au contraire, Kate. While we often disagree, your comments often offer a valuable perspective here. You see problems, and their solutions, differently than many here and we can learn from each other. Your “progress” might be my wasted tax dollars.

        You are deeply committed to your party’s values – while I am equally committed to Republican values (freedom, personal responsibility, limited government, fiscal restraint), it sometimes seem like my party’s policies and way of governing are inconsistent with its values. That’s why I admit when my party’s wrong – or the Ds get it right.

        BTW, it’s okay to vote against your own self-interest, if it’s for the greater good;).

        1. Mike, I appreciate your comments and your common sense – but I don’t think that “freedom” and “personal responsibility” are only Republican values.

          As a Democrat, I may disagree with Republicans on the scope & role of the federal government and its fiscal policies – but how does that translate into me opposing freedom??? How does being a Democrat equate to lacking personal responsibility?

          Can’t anyone comment on their own political beliefs without trashing an opponent – whether it be directly or indirectly?

      2. John, I appreciate the thoughtful and apparently calm tone to your comments. Just as one can’t lump all Democrats as irresponsible or unpatriotic or whatever, it also shouldn’t be done with Republicans. I am concerned that you have bought into the media rhetoric about Tea “baggers”. Do you realize that this is a groundswell movement supported by Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike? It is an outgrowth of the frustrations of the last 2+ years of the dimunition of the American spirit on the national level.

        I am concerned about regime change in local government. But at the end of the day, votes and voters count. Regime change on the national level, dramatic as it was has created a turmoil nationally that will probably be rebuked in November, and in 2012 as well.

        Locally, there have been missteps, for sure. It is not a perfect system, governed by imperfect people. I find it interesting that locally or nationally especially, it is Democratic leadership that has strongly tried to micromanage our lives, with fees, taxes, regulation, (everyone has a lawyer)all the while with some leaders evading those very same fees, etc that they dump on us. Yes, we are all trying to raise families, get kids through school, keep some of our money understanding that taxes are important for the public good.

        The devil is in the details.

        So we can talk about diversity, religion, political ideology, et. al. I think diversity has been dangerous to an extent because it has diluted the constancy that has been America. Diversity is best left to the home, church and even the neighborhood.

        There is, or used to be a common thread that ran through the hearts and minds of all Americans and legal immigrants. Opportunity, freedom, e pluribus unum. It has worked. No need to change that.

        Thanks for listening.

        back to work

      3. John I am reading your responses to others and I just do not understand you. You don’t want others to “pop off”, really a bullying verbage, when you are self entitled to “pop off”. How can one have an intelligent conversation like gentleman/ladies when you constantly streetfight? Republicans are not the party of 1, but of individual freedom and opportunity. We don’t want to live in the nanny state and don’t want too big a government. The bigger the government, the less the person matters.

        We all recognize some regulation is necessary. It can be argued that if landlords and student tenants acted responsibily there would be no reason for all this “regulation”. But unfortunately there are always bad guys, and we need laws to get ethics in for those who break them. So there… a Republican who didn’t say abolish all government. You though, can stick to your party line. I really do get it! Abstract enough???

      4. It is written in stone. whatever that means.

        Would welcome more of you into that club.

        Lying and cheating… well of course.. How about all across government…. do i have to recite democrats? Sure it doesn’t make it right. Do you feel the same about lying and cheating if democrats do it? I would love to hear this…

      5. the word imperfect was my word. No one puts words in my mouth. Not you, not Lamina. You though are a good foil.

  9. Pattye, I will stay on topic. But MY original response was to John who may just be a self loating rich white guy. i am sure he is not Republican, and he may say he is not rich. Which would just be the point. It is all subjective, all tiring and time to move on.

    Enjoy the give and take, sometimes more than others.

  10. “I find it humorous how your rhetoric is stated so matter of fact.”

    The perfect synopsis of virtually everything you’ve ever posted here, John!

    1. Hey John I bet melman will be received better than pro life Casey was at the convention. Your comment was ridiculous. That is Demcrat strategy.

      1. John, you misread what I wrote, maybe it was confusing,, Democratic strategy is ridiculous about Melman in the first place, if it is as you stated it. I did not mean this was a conspiracy. Never mentioned the word, but maybe got my syntax screwed up

    2. Mehlman is very clear on where he stood in 2004….and I believe his coming out reflects exactly how diverse the Republican party is….

      From the Atlantic article / interview: “Privately, in off-the-record conversations with this reporter over the years, Mehlman voiced support for civil unions and told of how, in private discussions with senior Republican officials, he beat back efforts to attack same-sex marriage. He insisted, too, that President Bush “was no homophobe.” He often wondered why gay voters never formed common cause with Republican opponents of Islamic jihad, which he called “the greatest anti-gay force in the world right now.”

      Mehlman’s leadership positions in the GOP came at a time when the party was stepping up its anti-gay activities — such as the distribution in West Virginia in 2006 of literature linking homosexuality to atheism, or the less-than-subtle, coded language in the party’s platform (“Attempts to redefine marriage in a single state or city could have serious consequences throughout the country…”). Mehlman said at the time that he could not, as an individual Republican, go against the party consensus. He was aware that Karl Rove, President Bush’s chief strategic adviser, had been working with Republicans to make sure that anti-gay initiatives and referenda would appear on November ballots in 2004 and 2006 to help Republicans.

      Mehlman acknowledges that if he had publicly declared his sexuality sooner, he might have played a role in keeping the party from pushing an anti-gay agenda.

      “It’s a legitimate question and one I understand,” Mehlman said. “I can’t change the fact that I wasn’t in this place personally when I was in politics, and I genuinely regret that. It was very hard, personally.” He asks of those who doubt his sincerity: “If they can’t offer support, at least offer understanding.”

      “What I do regret, and think a lot about, is that one of the things I talked a lot about in politics was how I tried to expand the party into neighborhoods where the message wasn’t always heard. I didn’t do this in the gay community at all.”

      He said that he “really wished” he had come to terms with his sexual orientation earlier, “so I could have worked against [the Federal Marriage Amendment]” and “reached out to the gay community in the way I reached out to African Americans.”

      John — a friend recently shared this perspective with me regarding this blog generally, and your comments specifically: (he’s a lawyer – which I am not — so I assume this is “general knowledge” in legalspeak)

      It is a very basic rhetorical technique, not very clever and therefore easily learned, to try to win an argument by framing it in a way that admits only one conclusion.

  11. From the Daily Local:

    Voters must end partisan politics

    Why is anyone a Democrat or Republican these days?

    Between the partisan atmosphere and seemingly nothing getting done these days in the world of politics, why does anyone consider themselves Democrats or Republicans? Honestly, most of the country agrees that neither party is helping anyone but themselves. Both parties are just as responsible for the economic mess we are in. Neither party is proposing good ways of getting out of it either, so if both parties are causing the trouble and can’t fix it, then why do we keep giving them power?

    As an Independent with no party affiliation, I see bad in both parties and hardly any good. I want this country to start moving in a positive direction just like everyone else and I see these two parties as the obstacle in the way of moving us in that path. All they do is bicker at one another, call each other names, and run hate-filled campaigns against each other. Neither party truly listens to the people they represent and simply vote by party lines. With all the anger at the way politics is right now, why don’t we aim it at both parties simultaneously?

    All I hear is the left bashing the right, then the right bashing the left. The way politics is in Washington, Harrisburg, and everywhere else in this country is just horrific. Nobody can get anything accomplished unless they add a few million dollars for their private helicopters, planes, and money for researching the mating of pigs. Apparently, nothing gets done without these money-wasting pet projects that all of them do.

    So, what can we do with all of the anger we have with the state of politics? We have to actually stop complaining and do something about it. We have to form groups in our communities, then reach out to other communities. We need to all work together, regardless of political views, religious views, race, ethnicity, or anything else.

    If the people actually become informed, group together, and then go out and vote, I guarantee that things will start to change. The political elites and the people in power want us to remain fragmented so they stay in power, but if we unite and put aside all of our differences, then we can start to change the entire structure of power in this country.

    Scott Good

    West Chester University student

    1. LOVE the clip from Family Guy – it’s funny and, unfortunately, an accurate reflection of many in the political arena.

  12. Republicans- want to create wealth
    Democrats want to create equality… redistribution.

    Maybe creating wealth for as many people as possible would be a good idea.. with opportunities.. not handouts?

    Leadership not in sync with rank and file… HOW TRUE!

    1. John, I am sorry but I have to continue….
      You make it seem as though it is a crime to advance one’s personal wealth. This goes to the heart of what I was saying originally. Individual wealth is a good thing. It is used to buy goods and services, employ people, invest in the stock market and businesses, and of course… pay taxes. There seems to be an attack on private sector wealth accumulation.
      Even the President has said he wants to spread the wealth, but by redistributing what is in the pool, not increasing the pool. Sure, there are unscrupulous wealth creators, and there are unscrupulous redistributors. As has been the history of our country, ultimately the people will decide which way they want to go. I am not a proponent of letting our elders eat dog food, and surprisingly maybe, to you, I do believe in a social safety net. But at the same time I believe in encouragement for our people to go out and make it on their own, unencumbered by the shackles that are now on our economy. Sort of like the carter malaise. I am not bitter or jealous of the rich. I have been trying to learn from them, those of high ethical standing, how to be rich myself. Financially that is. Thanks for listening.

  13. Student Rental on Quigley Avenue
    From the Police Briefs

    “Underage drinking
    Police responded to a report of a loud party at a residence on the 400 block of Quigley Avenue in Wayne Aug. 21 at 12:44 p.m. Citations for underage drinking were filed for Caitlin Pugh, 20, of Wayne, Molli Zielinski, 21, of Wayne and Megan Creed, 20, of Wayne.”

    Great, now I’ll have unrealistic expectations when it comes to the parties on Mt. Pleasant Avenue…

  14. Christine — not sure I understand your comment. Are you disappointed that the police responded? Are you disappointed that citations were how they responded? No one living in this community is unfamiliar with loud parties — obviously student housing is more vulnerable to repeat issues. But what are your “unrealistic expectations” — and what makes them unrealistic? Trying to understand so we can help you through this (and hopefully past it!)

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