Residents Have Had Enough Already!

Time to just rant and rave. We have tried being nice, we have tried cooperating, so right now we are a sleep deprived cranky neighborhood and we’ve HAD ENOUGH. Residents are people too and we’re getting it from ALL sides....we’re casualties of construction!

Let’s go project by project shall we?

Haverford Sqaure This is the only project that seems to stick to normal hours, and while dirty and noisy, doesn’t seem to bother anyone.

Haverford School Building a brighter tomorrow for their students, but....Where to start? Construction workers – although a few dozen neighbors at quite a series of meetings heard them say we wouldn’t be affected by their construction----this has been the summer to test our patience. Construction workers are parking in our neighborhood taking up our parking. Some spots are legal, some spots are in violation of posted parking time zones. BUT, it shouldn’t matter – Haverford School has a LARGE campus with lots of parking lots – their construction should be contained on their property, shouldn’t it? Wasn’t that what was supposed to happen? And the construction workers are NOISY. 5:45 and 6:00 a.m. NOISY. It’s bad enough they are omnipresent, why do people have to hear them too? Another problem? Construction crews have repeatedly staged obscenely large construction equipment on Booth Lane. Booth Lane is not part of the campus now is it? And by obscenely large we’re talking dumpsters that are like 10 feet tall and on wheels. SO big, you could live in one. School starts next week and we are all braced for and expecting the worst. Look out Penn Street and Barrett Avenue and Old Lancaster Road!

Wendy’s So, what does 8:15 p.m. mean to Wendy’s on a Friday night? Continuing construction, of course. Doesn’t matter that we thought they were supposed to stop at 6 p.m. And they have an interesting interpretation of when construction starts (hint: it’s not supposed to be at 6 a.m.). And then there is Wendy’s urine stinking porta potty thoughtfully placed up against a Barrett Avenue resident’s rear fence line. It makes for delightful aromas as you try to sit in your own back yard.

TD Bank North Their renovation slipped below neighbor radar. Their construction site seems neat, but again, it would be nice if they started NOT so early and ended NOT so late!

Allaire Neighbors in the 500 block of Old Lancaster Road keep calling the township due to interesting interpretations of, once again, when construction work that goes bang, bang, bang is supposed to begin. (hint: not before 7 a.m.) Neighbors are also stressed by the way the construction vehicles park and where. And this is all occurring before anyone even knows when the houses will come down. We are assuming once a little $1.5 million dollar per unit for some units starts rolling in on pre-sells? We keep seeing the ads in the paper and here is their website: www.allairehaverford.com - life without compromise is the motto, but isn’t a serious compromise to spend over a million dollars to live next to an autobody shop? Gosh, the plants to hide the autobody shop was a nice idea, but ummm.....they are DYING! And the fence? Couldn’t afford a coat of paint? And notice on the picturesque renderings the little knee wall with the antique wrought iron fence? The wall had to be rebuilt by the looks of it because at the salvage sale the sale vultures apparently sold the antique fence and some fence thugs destroyed the wall...and at 16 North Buck Lane there is a HOLE in the roof! A hole...there used to be a satellite dish mounted....now there is a hole...and the construction team that will be used is out of Lancaster, PA called Caldwell, Heckles and Egan, Inc. (www.cheinc.com ) – they are the construction company that are also working on the new addition to Proclamation Presbyterian Church in Bryn Mawr – you know that strange HUGE faux church on Bryn Mawr Avenue that made headlines when all the trees –oops – got cut down a few years back in Radnor Township? When this project goes 100% live, neighbors will be watching.

Our quality of life should not be impacted by projects benefiting others. We aren’t partners in any of these neighborhood area projects. We are merely casualties of construction. Are any of the rest of you casualties of construction? Share your stories. Something that needs to desperately be addressed is how much of Lower Merion Township is torn up now, and how much will be torn up shortly. Why isn’t there a better plan? Oh, riiiggghhht....we forgot…that would fall under a comprehensive plan, wouldn’t it? That thing we don’t have?

We will also note that it must REALLY suck to live near Baldwin and Bryn Mawr Hospital right now.....