Yesterday, we said the more things changed, the more things stayed the same. Can it be considered that despite the sophistication and money, that the towns of the Main Line are just like any other small town?

There is a book by Mary McGarry Morris called Songs in Ordinary Time. Like Grace Metalious’ Peyton Place, the theme is small towns in New England and the lives of the residents, but they could be small towns anywhere because every town, even the largest city is a small town at heart. And small towns are not all as they seem on the surface, because for each small town there is an underbelly. The underbelly is like looking inside the mechanics of a wind up clock: every little piece is connected to the other and all these pieces make the clock run. So yes, despite sophistication, old money, new money, some money, no money and unending caché, the Main Line is still a small town. A series of interconnected small towns, actually. Interconnected small towns with local governments which can’t see the forest for the trees and see this abundance of new and planned development as the panacea to all woes. The short sightedness today will only create tomorrow’s issues, and that is an opinion to which we are entitled.

Ardmore, a town close to our hearts up here is one of the best examples of a small town. Also, as well as unfortunately, it is subject to all those things people often don’t like about small towns: rumors and politics... and with the politics, tradeoffs. Eminent domain for private gain as an idea was one of the by blows of this vicious cycle. If we, the citizens, hadn’t said enough, eminent domain would have been applied, no doubt about it.

Around the same time eminent domain was raising its ugly head and we were electing new commissioners who wanted to earn back the trust of the plurality came an ordinance which was the result of perceived trends relating to Transit Oriented Development: MUST, an ordinance already amended , although not one project has even broken ground to test it’s strengths and weaknesses. MUST, in case you haven’t been paying attention all this time is Mixed Use Special Transit, or More Unfair Special Treatment (depending on your persepctive).

When SAC members traveled to Washington DC with the Institute for Justice this past summer, they learned from the Mayor of Anaheim, CA, The Honorable Curt Pringle how mixed use and transit oriented development could work. Through his eyes, our members who attended this weekend conference on eminent domain, understood how this type of development worked, but nowhere did they hear that the ordinances applied to make this work in California were changed and amended out the ying yang before anything was ever built.

So, back to small towns. In the true spirit of whisper down the lane, we have to wonder: is MUST being reopened again? Is this truth or fiction? Sure seems like an inevitability, and if so, how many times will MUST be adjusted before anything is built, or has broken ground? How many more concessions “MUST” be granted before the developer decides to build on Schauffele Plaza, if he builds at all ? How much more time of commissioners past, present, and future will be wasted along with taxpayer dollars before everyone says enough is enough? How much longer before someone says no and starts asking the tough questions? Will the media pony up and ask the tough questions? Will citizens? Or will the unfortunate minority of commissioners who aren’t so pro-development ask the questions and can they achieve balance in a local government which is still too pro development ?

If it is the citizens and ordinary people from the small neighborhoods and small businesses in Ardmore who will suffer from the potential of what only can be described as developmental favoritism, can we wonder if for the two steps forward we have taken in Ardmore, we have taken another two steps back?

And in all seriousness, does anyone besides us give a crap about the small neighborhood that will be dwarfed by MUST’s shadow on Schauffele Plaza? That neighborhood, surrounding neighborhoods, and preexisting small businesses have rights, and they deserve more than lip service from some, and snide remarks from others. There is no point in planting new trees if they will only destroy the heritage plantings, right?

One development project is not the tipping point for Ardmore any more than eminent domain would have been when we talk of ultimate town survival. And why is it for Schauffele Plaza, that every time we turn around there is another story being added or considered for this project? Mixed use is going on in Wayne on a per project basis instead of a one sized fits all overlay, and up there the stuff is quite tall enough. Why would anyone think Ardmore needs a Sears Tower of it’s very own? Where is moderation and common sense? Common sense says the one plus this project has is a talented architectural firm. Surely, they can build something more in keeping with the surrounding environs?

Again, we wonder who will rise up and ask for answers to the hard questions that no one asks in public, yet everyone thinks behind closed doors and discusses in every day conversation? Or will it, once again, be the typical case with typical small towns, and will we see something hurried through, swept swiftly out of the spotlight, and then will it be back to business as usual?

A little over a year ago, five new commissioners were candidates asking us to place their trust in them. After two seasoned commissioners decided they weren’t hip to the party after the newbies were in place, two more new commissioners followed. New faces, fresh perspectives. Collective sighs of relief were heard from neighborhood to neighborhood, town to town. But just a year into this feeling of giddiness, has reality brought us down to earth wondering if we exhaled too soon? Will the mistakes of the recent past continue to cloud our future? And who is to blame for politics as usual? Is it all of us because it can be considered that complacency breeds carelessness?

We don’t have the answer to every question, but once again, if you don’t like something speak up. Neighborhood after neighborhood around here seems under siege. It’s like running around trying to keep the holes in the dam plugged - every time you repair one hole, another one crops up.

We hope all of this ends up being much ado about nothing. Realistically, it probably isn’t. Here’s what real people are saying:

“Why is it always the more modest neighborhoods that get this kind of treatment. (Rhetorical question.) Remember when Summit Grove Avenue had houses on it and people actually lived in them?”

AND

“The more modest neighborhoods do always get hit and the town centers which are revitalizing on their own will suffer because the development is not appropriate for the community. The problem is that this Township is pro-development, development at any cost is somehow better than what we have. Opponents of the proposals can then always be painted as "opposed to progress" when in fact they are supporters of thoughtful, planned out "progress" and simply opposed to "progress" that ruins a neighborhood only to make certain parties a tidy profit.”

AND

“ Is the Township is enabling the developer's "needs" to control the project without even considering the needs of the community - the residents who live behind the Plaza, the traffic impact, the lack of human scale?”

AND

“we need to protect our local residential districts with better design and development control, and it looks like we need to go back to questioning MUST and getting our commissioners involved where they count. The concept of anything higher than 5 stories in that spot in Ardmore makes me cringe....Where is the Township Master Plan?”

AND

OK, so you think that you can beat city hall? Maybe, but it will take 2 election cycles in Lower Merion. Only seven of the fourteen get the boot in a single cycle and that means that SAC has got to get itself up for another fight.

If Lower Merion and Ardmore are going to be "Saved" it is going to take another 2 years of work to get rid of the other commissioners who are pro development."

AND

"Eight floors is absolutely ridiculous ! This is going to look hideous, I feel sorry for the folks that live back there. Why does the twsp and Ardmore Initiative feel that this project is so important ? Quite frankly, Ardmore has been doing quite fine lately , I see no need for this behemoth project on Schauffele Plaza.
It's a shame that the township seems so willing to work with the Bala Cynwyd Neighborhood club in the adoption of the MUST overlay as it relates to Bala, but no mention of getting together with neighborhood associations in Ardmore"

AND finally, not MUST specific, but worth mentioning for the sentiment

...What else do I remember? I remember when people seemed to value the older and historic homes along the Main Line. I remember when it wasn't all about McMansions and condos. I remember when it was cool to live in an old house and cut your own lawn and tend your own garden, and when living on the north side of Haverford and Bryn Mawr, as well as Gladwyne wasn't a competition - it was merely where you lived.

Those days are gone.

Today's Main Line is like living amidst a constant competition. The objective today seems totally different. What many refer to as gracious living just seems too frantic to me.

....Day by day, a little more of the past of what made the Main Line great disappears. Whether it is another historic home coming down under the cruel blows of the wrecking ball, a small business closing its doors, someone telling you that your little neighborhood isn't as important as they are, or feeling your vote doesn't count if you don't write a huge contribution check, our past is disappearing.

We need to slow it all down a bit before we totally lose what made this place special and unique in the first place. We have to start to see the Emperor's New Clothes for what they are: an illusion. And soon, if we are not careful, the reasons why people move here will be forgotten as we morph into homogeneous neighborhoods that you can find anywhere in the country, with no history and no individuality.

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