Well, Montgomery County is certainly unpredictable these days. Way back when as we were fighting eminent domain for private gain, we really didn’t think much of Montgomery County, because they approved the infamous redevelopment plan and allowed our key block of Ardmore and some of the surrounding area declared blighted. Yep, they said yes to eminent domain and bogus blight for all intents and purposes.

So, let us momentarily discuss that issue of blight. We all know by now that Ardmore is NOT a viable definition of blight. So since we aren’t blighted, why have our repeated requests to repeal the blight definition fallen on deaf ears? At our community forum on historic preservation and development, State Representative Daylin Leach basically inferred that those who declared the blight can repeal the blight designation. So how about Lower Merion and Montgomery County? It appears they are having a change of heart in other areas and are backing the effort to keep the Barnes Museum and art collection out of the corrupt paws of Philadelphia, as well as backing the effort to preserve a healthy chunk of the late “Fitz” Eugene Dixon’s Erdenheim Farm as a “pastoral jewel”, so why not remove Ardmore’s bogus blight designation? It certainly would be less expensive then their other current undertakings.....

Enjoy today’s articles and ask yourselves the following: Is Montgomery County finally waking up to the fact that there are certain things they need to pay more attention to? Does Montgomery County finally see the wisdom in more active preservation? The times, are they truly a changin’ or is this just politically convenient now?

Major move by Montco to preserve Erdenheim
By Diane Mastrull
Inquirer Staff Writer

Hoping to excite the sort of fund-raising frenzy that kept Thomas Eakins' masterpiece The Gross Clinic in Philadelphia, Montgomery County yesterday pledged $4 million toward preserving part of Erdenheim Farm, philanthropist F. Eugene "Fitz" Dixon's pastoral jewel in Whitemarsh Township.

The county commissioners challenged other potential donors to pony up the remaining $10 million needed to buy the 98-acre Angus Tract - the only portion of the 450-acre farm currently for sale.

The nonprofit Whitemarsh Foundation, created five years ago to protect the $70 million Erdenheim Farm from development, has an option to purchase the land. But it expires on Aug. 2, the first anniversary of Dixon's death. If preservation forces cannot find money to acquire the tract, trustees for the Dixon estate could decide to give that opportunity to builders.

.....With its rolling hills and grazing sheep, cattle and horses, "it's really reminiscent of a simpler time in our lives," he said. "It's really quite unusual, quite unique, quite spectacular - and we want to see that it stays that way."

County officials said they hope yesterday's pledge will help persuade the estate's trustees to extend the deadline on the purchase option for the Angus Tract, where Dixon bred prize Black Angus cattle.

"As long as we are making progress, I believe that the trustees for the estate will continue to work with us," said Thomas J. Ellis, chairman of the county commissioners.

....Mark S. DePillis, Dixon's attorney and executor of his estate along with Dixon's wife, Edith, and daughter Ellin Dixon Miller, could not be reached for comment.

County leaders to explore legal options to block Barnes' move
By:CHERYL ALLISON

It took creative thinking to keep The Gross Clinic in Philadelphia.
Now that's what Montgomery County leaders are looking for in the case of another art treasure tagged for a move from its longtime home: the Barnes Foundation.

At a meeting March 1, the county's three commissioners voted unanimously to adopt a resolution inviting law firms to explore legal options to block the art collection's removal from Merion to Center City.

They hope to get that advice for free.

....At the meeting, Chairman Thomas J. Ellis said there were several factors to the decision for the county to get involved in the Barnes debate now, more than four years after the financially-struggling institution went to court, seeking permission to alter its founder's will and move the art, and more than a year after a judge granted that permission.

Those factors included the fairly recent discovery that $100 million had been set aside in a state capital budget even before the Barnes went to court, and the Philadelphia art community's response to the potential sale and removal of Thomas Eakins' master painting, Ellis said.

In an interview, he added that it is not too late to intervene.