So here we are. It's Wednesday March 5, 2008. We have a meeting tonight. Will it be top down when deciding who the next best developer will be, or will we have a truly citizen inclusive process? Will we rush as a community or explore our options? In the end, again, will it matter at all what citizens say?

So while you are pondering those points, check out the article from Tony Wood in The Philadelphia Inquirer. And we thank Mr. Wood most sincerely for covering this.

Lipkin withdraws as downtown Ardmore developer
By Anthony R. Wood
Inquirer Staff Writer

Less than two months after the Lower Merion Township commissioners selected him to revive Ardmore's downtown, developer Edward Lipkin has abruptly pulled out of the $300 million project.
"We feel terrible about it," Lipkin, president of Philadelphia-based EBL&S Development, said yesterday.

Citing tightening credit markets, he said he feared delays in securing financing, prompting him to make the decision on Friday. He was "very suspect" of any oral commitments, Lipkin said, including those he had received from two major backers, whom he declined to identify.

"The project is too significant to put off," he said.

EBL&S also has suspended work on "pre-development" projects of similar scale in New Haven, Conn., and Orlando, according to Lipkin. The decision will not affect the company's 50 other projects nationwide.

His proposal for Ardmore featured a six-story office tower and boutique hotel straddling the Main Line train tracks, which divide the Lancaster Avenue business district from the more prosperous Suburban Square shopping area. The entire project, including the controversial Transit Center, was expected to add about $7.5 million to Lower Merion's property-tax base.

......"I think everyone is disappointed," said Commissioner Elizabeth Rogan, chairwoman of the township's Economic Revitalization Committee. "But it's not going to stop. We're going to go forward."

She said that the three other development firms that had submitted proposals - BET Investments Inc., Strategic Realty and Dranoff Properties - were still interested.....Some who had expressed reservations about the scope of the proposal welcomed a chance to reexamine the redevelopment plans.

"We envision Ardmore improved, but not changed drastically," said Sherry Tillman, owner of Past *Present * Future, a craft shop on Lancaster Avenue.

.....Redevelopment in Ardmore has a volatile history. Three years ago, a township plan - including the potential demolition of properties through eminent domain - drew such heat that the commissioners who had backed it were voted out of office.

....Carla Zambelli, vice president of the Save Ardmore Coalition, an activist group that had fought the original township plan, called Lipkin's withdrawal "totally unexpected."

Nonetheless, Save Ardmore members said, it might provide an opportunity for the township to reassess the project and consider proceeding on a piecemeal basis.

"Instead of a huge revitalization," said Zambelli, "from my personal perspective, taking it in steps is just common sense."

"Everybody wants it to happen," said Tillman of Past*Present*Future, "and everybody wants to get it right."