Daily Local Dan

In Coatesville, it's not a budget

2009-12-14T13:18:00.000-08:00

Tonight, Coatesville City Council will:

"Receive and consider for Adoption an Ordinance appropriating specific sums estimated to be required for the specific propose of the City Government for the year 2010."

Other municipalities just pass a budget.

(The text quoted above comes directly from council's Dec. 14, 2009 meeting agenda.)

Bold statement of this week

2009-12-11T11:23:00.000-08:00

I'm sporadically trying to keep up with the bold statement awards.

This week, the winner is Tim Regan, the developer who wants to tear down and build anew the College Arms student housing facility at High and Rosedale, in West Chester Borough.

When Borough Council gave Regan approval to rebuild College Arms, it required that Regan's new building be LEED certified. Getting LEED certification isn't easy, I've been told. Anyway, Regan, who appears to be thinking hard about what he can do to make sure he actually does obtain LEED certification, approached borough council's PZBID Committee this week to ask for permission to put awnings on the new College Arms.

Awnings, Regan said, will block out some sunlight, thereby cutting down on the use of air conditioning. This, he said, will help him get LEED certification. (He is required to ask for permission to install awnings because the College Arms building design that borough council approved last year did not show awnings.)

The PZBID Committee, as is to be expected, had sundry questions about the awnings. (PZBID stands for Planning, Zoning and Industrial Development. Councilpersons Jim Jones, Carolyn Comitta, and Scott Smith serve on it.)

Councilman Jim Jones worried (perhaps correctly) that students would climb out their windows and attempt to hang off the awnings.

Councilwoman Carolyn Comitta (the mayor-elect) worried that the students would be deprived of natural light, and would, in order to study during the day, be forced to turn on lamps.

Council President Sue Bayne (who does not serve on PZBID but was at the meeting anyway) suggested that Regan put awnings on the West Chester Commons, another student housing facility his company owns. (Regan dodged this suggestion. Awnings, it appears, are more expensive than you would think.)

Anyway, Regan eventually informed council, regarding awnings:

"This feature's been around for thousands of years."

And that's why he wins the bold statement of the week award.

Bold statement of last week

2009-12-10T12:07:00.000-08:00

The award goes to Gordon Woodrow, a lifelong WCB resident who opposes Stan Zukin's plan to build a 126-room hotel at North Walnut and East Gay streets.

Woodrow, who obtained party status to the Zukin Hotel Conditional Use Hearing (this means he can call witnesses and can enter exhibits into the record), delivered a speech during last week's 7.5 hour round of the hearing. (Read about night one of the hearing here, and about night two here.)

Woodrow wins the Bold Statement award for boldness and for eloquence. Rarely at a zoning hearing does someone deliver a speech you actually want to listen to.

Here are some excerpts from Woodrow's speech:

* * *

I think it fitting to remind you at this time of year of the Frank Capra film “It’s A Wonderful Life.” West Chester is Bedford Falls, and George Bailly’s nightmare of Pottersville is what we are becoming. I have seen this wonderful family town become an every-weekend Mardi Gras destination for countless numbers of avid partiers, even once personally coming close to having to defend myself against several drunken, testosterone-fueled boy/men because our host failed to park fast enough for their convenience. AND IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME.

* * *

I assure you that a hotel built on top of a pharmacy may be a business model that works for an investor, but it is not one that predicts a first-class hospitality center for West Chester . . . What you will have is a huge, challenged building, with no scale in relation to the street, that includes clip-on ornamentation more fitting for Disneyworld. Simply put: an affront to the rich history of West Chester and not inspiring to other investors wanting something more in line with a small, vibrant, architecturally-interesting venue.

* * *

We have also been told this evening that the devil is in the details. I see many devils. Ladies and gentlemen, there are more audible calls in this deal than on any given NFL Sunday. Mr. Zukin knows how to call them, and our defense is good intentions? I submit to you now is the time to force the issue. Once you grant conditional use as requested, you will be setting precedent for the Mosteller block and for every other development plan that comes before you.

* * *

You can read Woodrow's entire speech here.

New Coke!

2009-12-09T10:35:00.000-08:00

Today, the Democratic National Committee has issued a response to my Dec. 8 article on my Dec. 7 interview with Toomey.

I'll quote only the headline and the first two paragraphs:

Pat Toomey's Moderate Makeover: Worst Rebranding Since 'New Coke'

DNC Regional Press Secretary Michael Czin issued the following statement in response to Representative Toomey labeling himself a "moderate" and "center-right republican" in today’s West Chester Daily Local News :

“Pat Toomey’s recent makeover is the worst rebranding effort since “new Coke.” After shilling for Wall Street and the Bush Administration as a member of Congress, Pat Toomey is now desperate to hide from his record and rebrand himself as a moderate. Simply saying you’re moderate doesn’t make it so.

The Pennsylvania Democratic Party also put together a response (a lengthy one) to my article.

In praise of ubidubium

2009-12-08T11:17:00.000-08:00

ubidubium wrote on Dec 8, 2009 9:26 AM:

"No one records deeds like Costello.

No one."

(This comment appeared under my article on Chester County Recorder of Deeds Ryan Costello's announcement that he would drop out of the 6th District congressional race.)

This should, without a doubt, be Costello's campaign slogan, should he run for Recorder of Deeds again in 2011.

Costello out of 6th District GOP Nomination contest

2009-12-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

Just several minutes ago, Ryan Costello, our Recorder of Deeds, announced that he will withdraw from the crowded 6th District Republican Primary.

I have to interview Pat Toomey in five minutes. After I'm done, Imma call Costello and ask why. (By the way, I beat Dan Hirschhorn on this scoop. Take that, Dan.)

Here's Costello's statement:

Today, I am withdrawing my candidacy for Congress.

I want to thank the committee people and donors who have supported my candidacy over the past several months. I intend on remaining active in Republican politics and public service.

While I believe I would have made a strong and respectable showing during the endorsement process, and would have been able to present myself as a strong standard-bearer for the Republican Party in the general election, at this point I have determined that it is not in the cards for me for the 2010 election cycle.

It is crucial to our State and Country that the 6^th Congressional District remains in the Republican column, and I will enthusiastically support the Republican candidate who wins the 2010 primary. Thank you.

Famous Chester County people on cable TV

2009-12-05T07:18:00.000-08:00

I'm putting together a collection of appearances that our local notables have made on famous cable television programs. If you know of any, please leave me said info as a comment under this post.

Here are two that immediately come to mind.

Former Chester County Commissioner Colin Hanna on the Daily Show:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Language Burier

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

And Congressman Joe Sestak, D-7th of Edgmont, on the Colbert Report's ongoing Better Know a District segment:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cBetter Know a District - Pennsylvania's 7th - Joe Sestak www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

U.S. Speedskating

A self-centered post

2009-12-04T20:37:00.001-08:00

Whoooooooh! End of a long week. It's 11:37 p.m. on Friday night. Between Monday and now, I filed 6,626 words . Much of it hackwork. Well, nothing can be done. I like to imagine, sometimes, that people are interested in looking at documents like this one. It contains all of the stories I filed this week, as submitted to the copy desk. I've decided to start doing weekly word counts. Why? Who knows. Some old hacks pride themselves in how many stories they can crank out in a short period of time. They say things like:

"I wrote five stories on a manual typwriter while drunk, waiting in the ER, with seven nails through my left hand. I was on deadline. Took me seven minutes. Top that!"

Also, I finally located a hilarious picture of me that was taken on Halloween.

I'm John Wilkes Booth. The guy next to me is "Gaybraham Lincoln." No idea what his real name is. I ran into him at Tattooed Mom's, a bar in Philly. And, as you can see, I assassinated him. By the way, my facial hair is real.

I'm going home.

After the night meeting . . .

2009-12-03T18:41:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year, when looking through The Daily Local News Stylebook, a dusty, tan binder that somehow landed on my desk, I discovered an interesting document. It was written by Jim Callahan, our former assistant city editor. I believe it dates to the late 1990s. The document tells new reporters how to file a "live" story on a night meeting. (Filing a "live" story on a night meeting involves sitting through the meeting, speeding, at its close, back to the newsroom, and composing a story on said meeting.)

Here's the text of this document. (I've retained the grammar and style errors that appeared in the original.) If you want to read the original, you can download it here.

night meetings - Because of deadline concerns, we currently are not filing many night meetings "live." If not being filed live, the reporter should do his or her best to make the story seem like a feature on the issue being reported, and not merely a recitation of agenda items.

If you are "live," the following are suggestions to help you file quickly, accurately and to the point. Note that these tips are NOT taught in journalism school and define the difference between practical newspapering and a bunch of eggheads who don't know the working end of a pencil.

CALLAHAN'S DOWN-AND-DIRTY NIGHT MEETING STORY

An editor once told me "I can train a seal to cover a night meeting."

You can start barking now.

- Decide the ONE item you are interested in. Research it.

- The lede should describe the action or inaction of the meeting. Nothing more. The SUBJECT is the acting body, the PREDICATE is the activity, the OBJECT is the ONE item, and the modifier at the end describes the ONE item.

Under no circumstances should the lede be more than 30 words, 20 words is better.

e.g. WEST CHESTER - Borough Council Wednesday night rejected a proposal to ban student housing.

- In your second graph announce the vote and what it means.

e.g. The 5 to 4 vote means West Chester University will withdraw its threat to move to West Goshen.

or

The 5 to 4 vote means West Chester University students can continue to get bombed in bars and throw up in gutters up and down South Walnut Street.

- The third graph should have a quote from the winning side.

e.g. "All right, everybody party like it's 1999," said Councilwoman Mary D. Zimmerman.

- The fourth graph should have a quote from the losing side.

e.g. "I am ashamed of council tonight. West Chester's long nightmare with those hooligans posing as students will only continue," said Councilman Shannon Royer.

SPECIAL NOTE: Even if the vote is 150 to 1 ALWAYS get the one. It is the reporter's obligation to get the dissenting side. It should be high up.

- Throw in a couple graphs of either quotes or paraphrases on the action. If people were yelling and screaming or cheering you might want to throw that in paragraph five.

e.g. A group of 15 fraternity brothers sitting quietly in the back row erupted in cheers and clapping when the vote was announced.

"Way to go council! Hey, Mary, wanna go dancing," yelled Nick Blade, 21, a senior in the Barpha Scarpha Blotto Fraternity.

- Get yourself another six or seven graphs on something to do with the issue. Paraphrase stuff, ladle in the history of the issue (should be back-taked).

- Shut up and file. Should be done in 20 to 30 minutes. TOPS. No excuses.

-Leave office. Quickly. You have received a tip that you must check out immediately: Someone has informed you the draft beer at the Square Bar is very cold.

McIlvaine Smith: candor and laurels

2009-11-25T16:08:00.000-08:00

It's rare that a news article about a politician attracts nothing but positive reader commentary. But my story on State Rep. Barbara McIlvaine Smith's decision not to seek reelection did.

Well, until a commentator named "ThinkItOver" had to ruin things by making everyone aware of this streak of positivity.

No sooner did ThinkItOver write: "A rare moment when comments agree . . ." (Nov. 24, 2009, 8:40 p.m.) than someone who goes by the handle "cynical" had to chime in with: "That was a touching story--sob. It was actually a bad case of sour grapes . . ." (Nov. 24, 2009, 9:39 p.m.).

Before that, all 16 comments were positive. After that, well, things turned partisan and bitter. As usual.

What were the first 16 commentators so pleased with?

They praised McIlvaine Smith, D-165th of West Chester, for saying unequivocally, and in a non-partisan way, that Harrisburg is a ridiculous place where it's nearly impossible to pass meaningful legislation or change the status-quo.

Here's an excerpt from my article on her departure:

" 'The system is such that it's not set up to accomplish anything or to resolve issues,' McIlvaine Smith said. 'The way it's set up, the leadership in all four caucuses has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.'

"The Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, she said, continually stand in the way of meaningful reform.

" 'When I was elected, I got to Harrisburg with 50 reformers,' she said. 'But the leaders pulled them in.'

"By means of a combination of nice dinners and special treatment, the leaders convinced the freshman legislators to give up on the ideal of reform, McIlvaine Smith said.

" 'I can't tell you how many times I heard, 'We don't want to hear any more about reform; we're done with reform,' ' she said.

"The problem, she emphasized, is with both political parties. She said that they refuse to work together and to accept change."

McIlvaine Smith told me that, after this year's blown deadline budget negotiations, she knew she had to get out of the capitol. She concluded that the legislature can only be fixed from the outside. If you join it, you either assimilate yourself into the system or you remain on the sidelines. She called for a constitutional convention.

When I was writing the story, I imagined readers criticizing McIlvaine Smith for being a quitter. I imagined them telling her to get back in there and, you know, "be the change you wish to see" or whatever.

Instead, they praised her candor and agreed with her opinions on our state legislature. (The Republicans, of course, might just been using the praise to mask their happiness at seeing a successful, reelectable Democrat go.)

The commentators saw a certain heroism in leaving something you believe is irreparably corrupt. If we remain part of an irreparibly corrupt system, the joy we feel when we get out of bed, I suppose, becomes something dark and stained with motor oil.

Aah, and for the first sixteen comments, we were all reflecting, across ideological lines, on this basic truth. Then, after "cynical" came along, we ended up with:

long-gone wrote on Nov 25, 2009 at 6:20 PM: " Let's see, democrat quitting, yes Virginia there is a Santa, I know you Democrats love to blame Bush for all our problems, but the Bushmonster has been gone for a year now and the new guy has put us all further in the hole and all the little dems down the foodchain cheer. hope they all quit!!!! "

It's Free Thought Society Season!

2009-11-17T18:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's right. The Free Thought Society of Greater Philadelphia is at it again.

This year, the Free Thought Society has asked West Chester Borough Council for permission to hang above borough streets a banner that reads:

"Happy Holidays from the Free Thought Society of Greater Philadelphia. Please visit our virtual Tree of Knowledge at http://www.fsgp.org/tree-of-knowledge."

If you are not aware, the Free Thought Society is the group of evangelical atheists who are responsible for the controversial Tree of Knowledge displays that for the past two holiday seasons have sat next to the Creche and the Menorah on the Historic Chester County Courthouse lawn.

The point of the tree, I'm told, is to make it known that people who don't believe in the God of Abraham still enjoy celebrating the holidays. The other point of the tree is to get you to read more Richard Dawkins - the tree is decorated with the covers of books that, according to Free Thought Society members, are "classics in the atheist tradition." Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are, unsurprisingly, top contributors to this particular atheist canon.

Anyway, borough council appears unlikely to grant the Free Thought Society permission to hang the banner. At its work session tonight, borough council members voted unanimously to deny permission. They will, however, discuss the FTS request again at their Wednesday, Nov. 18 regular meeting.

So, if you're concerned about the banner, that's the time to speak up. The meeting starts at 7 p.m.

Borough council members gave the following reason for denying the Free Thought Society permission to hang the banner:

In West Chester, non-profits, church groups, educational organizations, fraternal organizations, and civic associations may hang banners that advertise community events. Borough council members reasoned that the banner's main purpose is to advertise the Free Thought Society's website. The website, council members argued, is not a community event.

Council members said that, if the sign read: "Happy Holidays from the Free Thought Society of Greater Philadelphia," all would be well. The "Holidays" are, after all, a (very loosely defined) community event.

Borough manager Ernie McNeely suggested that, if the sign read: "Happy Holidays from the Free Thought Society of Greater Philadelphia. Check out our Tree of Knowledge display on the courthouse lawn," it would probably be acceptable. The physical Tree of Knowledge display, McNeely said, is a community event of sorts. Or it is, at least, physically in the community.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out. I expect that the Free Thought Society may object to borough council's decision. The county's good Christians and Jews are likely to support the decision.

As far as I can tell, though, borough council's decision is based on a legal technicality rather than on an ideological conviction. At least half of the borough council members said that they are not opposed to the Free Thought Society.

Every holiday season, I celebrate the fact that I work in a town that regularly serves as a battlefield for our country's silly "culture war." I'm waiting for a brave Muslim to ask for permission to put a "Holiday Crescent Display" on the courthouse lawn. However, it appears that the county commissioners are trying to restrict the number and size of the holiday displays. Might there not be room for anyone but the aetheists, Christians, Jews and businessmen?

West Goshen residents will demand library funding

2009-11-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

A group of West Goshen residents will go to the Wednesday, Nov. 18 Board of Supervisors meeting to ask the township to start making annual contributions to the West Chester Public Library.

I'm not sure how much luck they will have. Last month, Supervisor Robert White said that West Goshen would rather support "active recreation." And, he made no promises to a resident who asked that the township reconsider its position.

Here is a link to a library funding petition that, I'm told, is currently circulating in West Goshen.

Bold statement of the week

2009-11-12T10:14:00.000-08:00

This week's award goes to Laura Hunter, a West Goshen resident who lives within earshot of the Major Louis H. Close Pistol Range.

In my Nov. 11 article on the unknown vandals who bulldozed much of the range, I quoted Hunter as saying:

"It's not uncommon for neighbors to hear things and not report them."

Hunter continued (I cut this part of the quote from the final version of my article):

"We live in the armpit of the nation. We pay the same taxes as everyone else in West Goshen, but you would not want to live here."

Hunter was explaining that although she and other neighbors heard noises on the night the pistol range was bulldozed, they did not report these noises to police. She told me that, in her neighborhood, it's not unusual to hear odd noises.

This is because several days a week, local police fire guns at the pistol range. And the sewer plant next to the range generates additional racket. (It was at the sewer plant that the unknown vandals found the bulldozer.)

Anyway, after I talked on the phone to Hunter and several of her neighbors, I drove out to their neighborhood. I was expecting to find the "armpit of the nation." Instead, I found cul-de-sacs lined with relatively large homes. "Aah," I though. "Irresponsible real estate developers are to blame."

That's the same conclusion reached by some of the readers who left comments under my article. Other commentors blamed the residents for not properly researching the neighborhood in which they were about to buy houses. Still others, noting that the range is used solely to train police officers, blamed the neighbors for complaining at all. Their arguement was as follows: The West Goshen police keep you safe. If you lived in Philadelphia, you would be less safe, and you would hear more gunshots.

Observe:

SAM wrote on Nov 12, 2009, at 9:18 AM: " . . . Perhaps these neighbors close to the gun range should move to Philly... Oooo wait, they may complain about the gun noise there also. :-)"

berry8353 wrote on Nov 12, 2009, at 10:01 AM: "Its not a war zone, its a shooting range. It very well could save my life someday. If you want to live in a war zone go to the city. Thats a real war zone. I guess you can say I'm fortunate enough to have a well staffed police department. Thank god . . . "

I have a big problem with comments such as these. I lived in Philadelphia for five years and never heard a gunshot. The one time I had to call the police (my bike got stolen), an officer was at my door in three minutes.

I lived in Philadelphia's Fairmount neighborhood, one of the many safe neighborhoods in the city. My point is this: suburbanites often congratulate themselves for not living in Philadelphia, as if the whole place were a hellhole from which they'd heroically escaped. Due perhaps to the Philly press's habit of sensationalizing gun violence and the prejudice of the white middle class against rowhomes, many lifelong suburbanites consider Philly real estate off-limits. They never discover the advantages of urban living (there are dozens - a topic for another post). Instead, these suburbanites engage in a generations-long search for houses that have fresh coats of vinyl siding. This search has recently led them to the injudiciously placed subdivisions that are destroying Chester County's landscape. The result: Philadelphia, which has many nice, already-built houses, suffers a lack of upper-income residents. And Chester County suffers a glut of tasteless subdivisions (with the attendant traffic clogs and local tax increases).

Many Philadelphia residents have it far better than the unfortunate residents of the homes that surround the Louis H. Close Pistol Range. Pistol reports, endured day after day, creep into the subconscious and begin to fry the mind. If you are subjected constantly to this traumatic noise, it's easy to believe you live in the armpit of the nation.

Dr. White was right

2009-11-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

It's true. West Chester Borough spends more on its library than on its roads.

At least, in 2010 it might.

Robert White, a dentist, West Goshen Supervisor, and frequent utterer of controversial statements, told me last month that his township has no intention of giving an annual contribution to the West Chester Public Library. Then, he delivered this zinger:

"West Goshen decided to spend its money on active recreation and fixing roads. The borough must just spend its money on the library, because its roads are atrocious."

Afterwards, he said something like, "And you can quote me on that."

Well, Dr. White was right about the borough's spending priorities. In its 2010 proposed budget, the borough has set aside $105,000 for the library. However, citing Great Recession-related financial difficulties, borough officials tentatively canceled $99,000 worth of road milling and resurfacing projects. This brings the total money the borough will spend on milling and resurfacing to $0.

I'm not saying the borough is wrong to support the library or to cancel the road repairs. West Chester's roads don't bother me. And, if I had to enumerate the things that give my life meaning, books would make my list. Smooth roads wouldn't. (Rough roads might ... but I'm not sure I can succinctly explain why.)

The borough's 2010 budget contains $156,000 to purchase two dump trucks. These will be used to replace the worn out ones that now collect garbage, plow roads, and, if I'm not mistaken, spread road salt. So it's not as if the borough is spending nothing to make its roads easier to drive on. And if Borough Council President Sue Bayne gets her way, the borough might forgo purchase of one of the trucks and use the money to instead complete a few paving projects.

Re: the library funding, Dr. White said that West Goshen provides to the greater West Chester Area ample parkland and $300,000 a year worth of recreation programs. And, he said, residents already pay to support the county library system. Therefore, he said, no contribution to the West Chester Library is necessary.

The West Chester Public Library asks the municipalities in its service area to contribute a dollar annually for each of their residents. West Chester Borough, which has 18,000 permanent residents, contributes more than $100,000. West Goshen Township, which has 20,000 permanent residents, contributes nothing. The county also assesses a library tax, but revenues from this tax go primarily to the big library in Exton, not to the smaller libraries throughout the county.

Bold Statement of the Week

2009-11-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

This week's award goes to Walter Hipple, who sits on West Chester's Planning Commission and Historical Architectural Review Board.

Hipple has been very critical of the West Chester urban forester's recommendation that Tony Stancato line his development at Gay and Everhart streets with Japanese Lilacs. Hipple said he would prefer Zelcovas. At a borough council committee meeting on Nov. 2, he said:

"[Japanese Lilacs] are a spindley, and in my judgement, a contemptable tree. Lots of trees are superior to Japanese Lilacs."

He continued:

"I don't even approve much of their blossoms. Those who like them would say they are creamy. I would say they are dingy."

I applaud Hipple for taking such a strong and uncompromising position on aesthetics. We live in an age of ugly buildings, of computer generated public parks. People seem to care more about functionality than aesthetics. The few people who genuinely care about aesthetics (whether or not their tastes coincide with Hipples) need to speak up. The two most oppressive things in the physical world are strip mines and charmless streets.

Voters of a certain age

2009-11-05T09:46:00.000-08:00

In the West Chester region on Tuesday, old people voted, and young people didn't. Republicans voted, and Democrats didn't. Observe:

Hershey's Mill is a large, age-restricted community in East Goshen Township. Residents of this community vote at two precincts, East Goshen Five and East Goshen Eight.

On Tuesday, turnout at these two precincts was 49 percent. Of the 2,346 registered voters, 1288 came to the polls. Republicans outperformed Democrats in both precincts by about 2.5 to 1.

West Chester Borough is loaded with college students and young professionals and has a strong Democratic majority. Average turnout across the borough was less than 20 percent. Here's a breakdown:

WC's young voters: In the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth precincts, where many students and young professionals live, turnout was 12 percent. Of the 6865 registered voters in these precincts, 828 came to the polls. Democrats outperformed Republicans here by about 2 to 1.

WC's minority and low-income voters: In the Second Precinct, where many of the minority and low-income voters live, turnout was 10 percent. Of the 1,549 registered voters, 150 came to the polls. Democrats outperformed Republicans here by about 3.5 to 1.

WC's older, more affluent voters: The borough's First and Seventh precincts contain the bigger houses, where many settled, financially well-off adults and senior citizens live. Voter turnout was 22 percent. Of the 3,323 registered voters, 729 came to the polls. Democrats outperformed Republicans here by about 2 to 1.

To put a finer point on it, Hershey's Mill has 2645 registered voters, 1288 of whom came to the polls. West Chester Borough has 11,737 registered voters, 1,707 of whom came to the polls.

If the Democratic West Chester Area School Board candidates performed worse than expected, young West Chester Borough voters are to blame.

Perhaps the borough's Democrats are too new to this whole voting thing. Perhaps they are too young. Perhaps they exhibit the existential ADD brought on by too much exposure to Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging, Blackberries, iPhones and Google News. Perhaps they'll only come to the polls if an exciting presidential candidate uses this ADD-inducing media to disseminate to them vaguely optimistic catchphrases.

My concern here - my motive for writing this post - is not partisan. I am really, really angry that people my age don't vote. I want healthcare reform, and I don't care whether it comes through a government-run program or through more effective competition in the private marketplace. I want a decent, affordable policy I can take with me from job to job - I believe that, like auto insurance, health insurance should be mandatory and should not be an employee benefit. Many people my age feel this way. Yet we don't vote. The legislators, therefore, don't care how we feel. They care how the Hershey's Mill voters feel. The Hershey's Mill voters vote in every election, and the Hershey's Mill voters, most of whom already have "socialized medicine" (it's called Medicare), will use whatever twisted logic they can to keep their Medicare intact. Basically, they don't want socialized medicine for young people. And the Democratic majority in Washington doesn't want to try increasing competition in the private healthcare marketplace. Legislators, lacking enough support among the electorate (read: seniors) for Medicare-for-all-ages, and lacking enough support among their own ranks for a private healthcare solution, will come up with some muddled thing or another that does nothing for people my age.

I feel like I'm yelling at a pickett fence. I do not want to hear anyone with Medicare complain about "socialized medicine." Unless, of course, they give up their medicare and join me on the private healthcare market.

Notorious?

2009-11-04T11:37:00.000-08:00

From an e-mail that conservative blogger Bob Guzzardi, of Ardmore, sent out today:

Well run campaign by highly qualified and committed candidates – special thanks to the skilled Marian McGrath and the Gwenne Alexander for their guidance in West Chester School Board race. Good candidates, good ideas, good communication, good campaign. Even Dan Kristie noticed the mindless mantra that Democrats used to demonize common sense candidates. Even the less than sympathetic Dan Kristie reported: “ Democratic voters, as they left their polling places, reported that the school board race was heavy on their minds. They said, as if they
were repeating a set of talking points, that they feared the Republican candidates would bring "extremist views" to the school board.” ( emphasis added).

The results are in

2009-11-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

A quick recap of the West Chester Area's big races:

The four Republicans won the school board race.

Tom Paxson, the endorsed Democrat, won West Chester's Fifth Ward Borough Council race. Write-in candidate David LaLeike, and Independent who claimed to have spent no money but his own on his race, did get a respectable number of votes, but he couldn't beat Paxson.

Steve Soles, the Republican candidate for the West Whiteland Board of Supervisors, beat Democrat Joe Denham.

Republican Carol DeWolf, the chairwoman of the Westtown Board of Supervisors, kept her seat.

And that's it. The rest of the races were uncontested.

These results were way too predictable.

Four Days Till Elections!

2009-10-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

In the last week, the West Chester Area School Board race, already contentious, has heated up. The rest of the races in my beat (West Chester and environs) are quiet. There are, however, murmurs in the borough's fifth ward. Independent Dave LaLeike is running a vigorous write-in campaign for borough council against endorsed Democrat Tom Paxson. And in Westtown, political unknown John Haws, a Democrat, is trying to unseat Republican Board of Supervisors Chair Carol DeWolf.

All week, my inbox filled with political e-mails. Most were from WCASD Democrats. A whole bunch included a link to a YouTube video that features Republican Candidate Sean Carpenter participating in Chester County Victory Movement rallies. Some included links to this column and this column, by Henry Briggs, a former Malvern Borough Council President and Republican Committeeman. The Democrats are also making a huge deal out of the fact that the Dem WCASD candidates brought ad time on cable television.

The Republicans have been really quiet. Few e-mails. No recent rumors of attack ads. No time on second-tier cable TV stations. This is about the only stir they've caused.

Back to the YouTube video. First, it's cheezy. Second, Democrats (and a few Republicans) asked me, "Isn't it shocking? Aren't you shocked by it?"

No, I'm not. I've covered plenty of Victory Movement rallies. The video appears to have been compiled from footage taken by Chester County Peace Movement regular John Beitzel. It is intended to place Carpenter among the more raucous Victory Movement demonstrators. All it does, however, is weave together images of Carpenter participating in Victory Movement rallies and images of other VM demonstrators yelling, screaming, and holding questionable signs. (OK - Carpenter is holding questionable signs too.)

The video tries to make it seem like Carpenter was demonstrating with the Victory Movement on the day when something like 200 motorcyclists came one of its rallies. I covered the rally, and though I looked for Carpenter, I didn't see him. (He rides a motorcycle with A Hero's Welcome and Warrior's Watch.)

(I regret now that my coverage of motorcycle day was so tame. I didn't mention the guy with the jacket that read "Sons of the Confederacy, Mechanized Cavalry Division." Nor did I mention the Confederate flags, perhaps because I found them so disgusting. One biker tried to fight me. I would've lost.)

Anyway, I hear that school district residents are at this moment being bombarded with campaign mailers. Some of them, apparently, feature quotations from my articles. Please, scan and send me whatever nonsense you get in the mail. You can reach me at dailylocaldan@gmail.com. I'll put them on the blog.

(BTW - The most ridiculous Chester County attack ad I've seen so far is this one. It goes after Democratic Tredyffrin Supervisors Candidate Eamon Brazunas for having been married less than two years. He's in his mid-20s.)

Sigh. It's 12:22 a.m. on Saturday morning. I'm still at work. I've filed 2,734 words today. I should be out at Halloween parties.

For your entertainment, here's my 2007 Halloween costume. Only the tattoo is fake.

Here's what I normally look like (late at night on a cell phone camera):

Going home!

Jim Smith's response to our headline

2009-10-26T11:57:00.000-07:00

West Chester Area School Board President Jim Smith took issue with the headline attached to my Oct. 23 article on the school district's potential 2009-2010 Act 1 exemptions.

The headline:

"WCASD'S TAX HIKE MAY EXCEED STATE CAP

"Millage increase could be as high as 5.24, officials say."

Here is a link to the letter in which Smith lays out his objections to the headline. He also outlines the school district's financial situation and refutes some of the claims the Republican school board candidates are making. (Note: In the scanned PDF of Smith's letter, the underline at the beginning of the fourth paragraph is mine, not Smith's.)

At the Daily Local, copy editors write headlines. Reporters do not. This is because copy editors, when putting articles onto pages, can see exactly how much space is available for a headline. And it's their job, not ours, to make the paper look exciting.

Amateur Hour at the Spellman

2009-10-21T14:56:00.000-07:00

Imagine you're sitting in the Spellman Administration Building, watching a West Chester Area School Board Property and Finance Committee meeting. You're listening to District Finance Director Suzanne Moore give a detailed explanation of how the administration arrived at its enrollment projections for the 2011-2012 to 2014-2015 school years. At the end of her explanation, a skinny guy in a baseball cap gets up and, in a tone of forced outrage - a tone that wouldn't seem out of place at an amateur-level theater improv class - demands of the finance committee an answer to this question:

"Is it true that there aren't enough textbooks for the students in the school district?"

"What? Where did that come from?" you wonder. "That has nothing to do with the topic at hand, and it's not even the time for public comment."

A helpful local reporter turns to you and explains: "The Republican candidates for school board sent out a mailer in which they claimed that there are textbook shortages in the school district. The administration has already said publicly that there are not. The guy asking the question is a Democratic committeeman, and he hopes to get the administrators to say again that the Republicans candidates are making false claims. This is somehow supposed to help the Democrats win the school board election."

"Oh," you say. "Why would the Republicans claim there were textbook shortages?"

"Well, the Republican candidates think that, by portraying the current, majority-Republican school board as the party responsible for an imaginary textbook shortage, they can beat the Democrats. For an analysis of why, read the Daily Local Dan blog sometime next week."

Yes, the Oct. 19 property and finance committee meeting (which you, of course, are too interesting to attend) was packed with political operatives. One row - the row I'm interested in - was filled with Democratic committeepeople who were doing a pretty amateurish job of trying to get the administrators to publicly debunk the claims the Republican candidates made in their mailer.

Every once in a while, one of them would interrupt the meeting and ask a question like, "Is it true that the district is in a financial crisis?"

The meeting took on the tone of a late-night infomercial. It was embarrassing.

The Democrats' shoddy acting does not excuse the Republicans for resorting to scare tactics. Their campaign mailer made the following claims:

- The recent school tax increase, combined with the economic downturn, has forced parents to take their kids out of private school and send them to public school. (Enrollment rose by about 200 more students than administrators had expected. District officials have speculated that this is because some parents can no longer afford private school.)

- The enrollment spike has led to overcrowding in classrooms and buses. (The district says this is not true.)

- The resultant overcrowding has led to textbook shortages. (The district says this is not true)

- The teachers salary hike has prevented the district from being able to afford to hire new teachers to relieve the overcrowding. (The district says this is not true, and points to the fact that it has hired more teachers to handle the unexpected influx of students.)

I believe the district. Here's why:

If there were textbook shortages, classroom overcrowding, or bus overcrowding, the Daily Local would have gotten at least a few calls and emails from outraged parents. And we would have gotten these calls in September. Yet, we've heard nothing. Until, that is, we got a look at the Republican mailer.

I shared this argument with Republican school board candiate Sean Carpenter.

"Maybe you aren't talking to the same people we're talking to," he said.

"It's possible, but we're a local paper," I said. "We don't usually have to wait to hear about things like this. People call us all the time about problems at schools, and so far, we've heard nothing."

"Maybe people are afraid to call the paper because they believe they won't be treated fairly," Carpenter said.

I told Carpenter that, based on past experience, I know that not much will stop an angry parent from calling us.

School Board News!

2009-10-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the controversial mailer sent out by the Republican West Chester Area School Board candidates. It has created a stir at the school board's last two committee meetings.

SchoolBoardNews.PDF

In case you don't want to download it, here are the two paragraphs that got School Board President Jim Smith riled up.

"You are probably painfully aware of the 5.9% property tax increase that the current school board voted upon [sic] in May. Combined with last year's increase, the taxpayers have had to absorb almost 13% in tax increases over the last two years. Delaware County residents were hit even harder, with a 9.4% tax increase this year and a 9.0% tax increase last year, a whopping total of over 18% in two years.

"Adding insult to injury, the current board also voted to raise teachers' salaries almost 9% over the next two years. That just didn't make sense in these perilous economic times, with unemployment rising, employees being laid off, and businesses downsizing or closing. It also proved to be extremely short sited [sic]: May parents can no longer afford the tuition for private/parochial school and have enrolled their children in our public schools, resulting in overcrowded classes and buses, with shortages of textbooks. Because of the teachers' salary hike, there is now no money to hire more teachers to relieve the overcrowding in the classroom."

Selene Raynor's death

2009-10-19T12:30:00.001-07:00

The two articles I wrote on the murder of West Chester University student Selene Raynor (Oct. 16, Oct. 17) attracted a variety of reader comments. Some were sympathetic, some were misinformed, and some were alarmingly ugly. We've done our best to delete the ugly ones, and I won't dwell on them.

What I'm interested in is this: When, on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 10 p.m., I filed the first of the two stories on Raynor's death, neither the police nor the university had released her address. We would later find out that she lived in Philadelphia, on North 28th Street, a few blocks from where she was shot. My first story lacked this information. This led a few commentators to either question or try to find some justification for Raynor's presence in Philly. Judging from their comments, it was inconceivable to them that a West Chester University student might actually live in Philadelphia.

Observe:

SQUABBIT wrote: "The article doesn't say why she was in the Strawberry Mansion section of the city, NOT one of the better sections of Philly to be sure!"

my 2 cents wrote: "What a beautiful young lady. I am so sick to death of what I think is racism. If she were white, this would be NATIONAL news. I never even heard this WCU student was missing! A West Chester student KILLED, this is terrible. Also, who cares where she found. Philadelphia is one big college campus, she could have been meeting one of her friends at one of the colleges there. I am glad Daily Local reported the story and showed her picture. My thoughts and prayers go to her family. I'll tell you, It seems like a lot of bad things happen to kids that go to West Chester U. That college has bad luck or something."

There are plenty of West Chester students who come from Philadelphia's poorer neighborhoods. But suburbanites tend towards provincialism: they think of Philadelphia as a foreign land, dangerous and incomprehensible. This provincialism, of course, is caused by economic segregation. The paths of people from affluent suburbs and people from Philadelphia's poorer neighborhoods rarely cross. When an event like Raynor's murder occurs, some suburbanites, who instinctively want to sympathize, must first try to make Raynor more familiar: she must be one of us. She must live in a nice suburban neighborhood. She can't be from a poor neighborhood in Philadelphia, because... then we couldn't sympathize as much?

my 2 cents is correct: the murder of Annie Le will get far more national coverage than the murder of Selene Raynor. This is deeply unjust. The national media is protecting it's predominantly white audience from having to admit the humanity of people who live in poor urban neighborhoods. If you can label a neighborhood "the ghetto," you can ignore it.

The normal-shaped pyramid

2009-10-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

Newspaper journalists write (or claim to write) their articles in a format called the "inverted pyramid."

I once told a Jung scholar this. He got excited. He thought the inverted pyramid was some sort of mystical concept.

He was disappointed when I told him that, when you write in the inverted pyramid, you simply put what you believe to be the most pertinent facts first, and then work your way down in order of decreasing importance and/or urgency.

I and a few of my colleagues were in a Friday mood today. We wondered what would happen if we composed an article in the inverted pyramid format and then rearranged it so that the last paragraph would come first, the second to last paragraph would come second, and so on. I tried the experiment with my recent article on the Exton Barnes and Noble Glenn Beck book signing. Here, for your weekend reading enjoyment, is the result: an article in the "normal shaped pyramid" format. It's kind of funny, and surprisingly readable.

“This was a once in a lifetime chance to meet Glenn Beck,” Goodman said. “I don’t watch his show all the time, but I’m a fan. He puts politics in a way that I can understand, and then I can agree with him. Or I can disagree with him.”

The line went fast, he said.

After getting his book signed, Ben Goodman, a Sophomore Pastoral Ministries major at Valley Forge Christian College, sat at a table on the second floor, telling his friend about the experience.

The book store had a holiday feel, as if it were Christmas Eve and the fans were excited, last-minute shoppers. But among them were customers who, either unaware of or unconcerned with Beck, shopped as if it were any other day.

At 7:30 p.m., hundreds of fans lined the perimeter of the Barnes and Noble while Beck stood at a table, greeting them and signing their books.

“I feel his fans are ill-informed, or uninformed, about what Glenn Beck is really advocating,” Kivlin said. “He is using the media to advance his own career through divisive political tactics such as hate speech. And that’s what sells.”

Mary Kivlin, of West Whiteland, said she believes Beck is willfully misleading his fans in order to advance his own career.

“I’m here because I want Beck and others to know that his message of misinformation and hatred is not acceptable and is un-American,” said Fran Pierce, of West Pikeland.

Fifteen minutes before the signing was to start, only 8 protesters were present.

The signing attracted a small group of liberal protestors. They stood on a small concrete island at the exit to Main Street and held signs that read “Glenn Beck has no respect,” “Hate Speech is bad news,” and “Hatred is anti-American.”

Beck was promoting his book “Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government.” The book, which is illustrated and printed on colored paper, is intended to provide readers with arguments they can use to counter supporters of liberal policies.

She said she has been following on the radio and on television for two years. She came to see him, she said, because he is “quite a patriot.”

“I’ve never done anything like this in my life,” Weber said. “I’ve never seen a politician. I’ve never waited to see anyone.”

Helen Weber, of East Goshen, stood near the front of the line. She had been at the store since 2 p.m., though the signing wasn’t to start until 7 p.m. Near her was a folded up lawn chair.

Many of the Beck fans said they are concerned about the way their opponents have labeled them. A few even mockingly referred to themselves as “the angry mob.”

“I challenge you to find one person in this line who is ignorant and uneducated,” Reber said. “Glenn Beck speaks for us. We’re not mad boobs. We know what we’re talking about, and we care.”

Reber said he believes Beck offers intelligent and devastating criticism of liberals and the Obama Administration. He added that he takes issue with critics who try to brand Beck fans as irresponsible and sub-par thinkers.

“I’m tired of big government, high taxes, politicians stabbing me in the back, a media that lies, Nancy Pelosi calling us maniacs; I’m tired of being told evolution is the only way to think, because there are other ways; I’m tired of government-run education, of homeschoolers being mocked,” said Jonathan C. Reber, Sr., of East Lampeter Township, Lancaster County. “You want me to keep going?”

As they waited, they praised Beck, echoed his criticisms of liberals and President Obama, and added some of their own.

An hour before the signing started, nearly 500 stood in a line that wrapped around the book store and continued all the way down one of the blocks of Main Street at Exton.

The book signing that conservative television and radio host Glenn Beck held at the Barnes and Noble on Wednesday evening attracted throngs of outspoken fans.

The Crown Victoria Police Interceptor is not an undercover vehicle

2009-10-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

This month, West Chester Borough Council is reviewing departmental budget requests. Todd Schaeffer, the guy who manages the borough's "fleet" of vehicles, told borough council on Monday that the police department wants money to buy a few new undercover vehicles.

Schaeffer said the detectives told him that the unmarked Crown Victoria is not really the ideal car for undercover work.

Schaeffer was referring to the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, a car that Ford only sells to police departments and cab companies. While you or I could buy one used, it would be fairly difficult to get a new one.

That's why, if I saw a black Police Interceptor parked across the street from my house, I'd do a quick examination of my conscience.

Perhaps police should use rental cars for undercover work. The VW Bug, the Toyota Matrix, the Dodge Stratus, the occasional Jeep. They should get creative. I wouldn't be worried at all if I saw a Minicooper parked out front.

The state police might also want to consider getting creative with their unmarked highway patrol vehicles. Imagine getting pulled over by a supercharged 1996 Dodge Caravan.