Now last evening's Board of Commissioners' meeting (July 2, 2008) should be viewed ASAP even if the sound is horrible on it (it is - the meetings have had extremely uneven sound quality of late - it's like you are watching a Radnor meeting). Last evening's meeting wasn't a meeting was it? Could it have been a brawl? A cat fight at times? Open party warfare between Democrats and Republicans?

Well....yes to all of the above.

I am sure people will have a lot to say about this meeting for a long time, and it was as if there was no one in the audience - just the commissioners. But then again, who in their right mind would want to interrup partisan fest? The Democrats and Republicans were having sooo much fun with the Lower Merion stage version of "Fight Club".

The thing about it is, last evening's meeting started out like a love fest...and love fest without proper credit - for example when they were speaking about the anti-graffiti ordinance, did any of those yahoos up there give credit to neighborhood groups like Ardmore Clean Up Group or SAC for their attention to this issue? Noooooo. Did they talk about Daly leaving the LMPD? Well, at least they are talking about graffiti now. Hopefully, they will do more than talk about it.
And let's get down to the talking about it BS.

People will undoubtedly be hyper-critical of what one Commissioner had to say. But you know what? You know she is speaking from her heart after careful thought. She has the balls to state what is on her mind even if it's not politically correct (political correctness is underrated anyway). Even if you don't agree with her that Suburban Sqaure and Kimco should sprawl all over the Ruby's lot ASAP, let's look at other things including the fact she was in essence the ONLY commissioner to worry about the effect of construction from redevelopment and other projects on existing Ardmore neighborhoods...of course it was too bad she didn't stop to consider the potential effect of Suburban Square construction, eh?

But then it got interesting when it came to talking about the redevelopment plan and the Memorandum of Understanding: she referred to it as a "pig in a poke". Of course other commissioners, especially from the other side of the aisle were apoplectic.

Another commissioner waxed poetic about the process. How public and open it was....Weeeellllll, has everything about Ardmore been public and open? At all times? Or other issues for that matter? Interesting. And just to be fair, did all the people of Ardmore accept the plan, or did the merely become resigned to it? And wasn't it nice to hear this commissioner say he valued the public? Because after all, sometimes people just wonder if government values us at all, since sometimes it appears they don't listen, or they tell us they are listening but they know best.

Well if last evening was an example of they know best, we all should just govern ourselves. There were a couple of recusals. One recusal disappeared like they should, and the other one stuck around and even commented at one point during the part where the public thought they were recused and wasn't that confusing?

And then there was the reference to the Public Safety building. So, is it the intent of this township to move the public safety building or police station? And what then? Where will they move it? Where can they afford to move it to that taxpayers won't freak out? If they move it does it mean police cars will no longer be parking in public metered spaces in Ardmore? That is irritating, isn't it? You come to shop somewhere along Lancaster Avenue, or to dine and you try to park anywhere near the township building and guess what? Don't you find police cars at meters? Why don't they have their own places to park? They should...so does this all mean that this is WHY we can't have a municipal garage on the Bernicker lot? Is that the ideal spot for a new public safety building?

No matter what happens with Ardmore redevelopment, sooner or later someone has to definitively answer WHERE ALL the CARS will go! As in where people will park during and after construction? It won't just take care of itself, and is that the point? To drive everyone from residents to businesses to shoppers out of Ardmore?

Last night went on and on...it was World War III.

So commissioners in Lower Merion, y'all don't have to love each other, but you have to govern together. We now know how bad it is. And here's a non partisan message to the majority: you guys need to knock it off too. The majority needs to lead by example of good behavior if you want the minority to behave. However, you all need to remember that this is LOCAL politics and most of us out here don't judge you by your party. We judge you by what you are doing. And right now a lot of you seem concentrated on personal agendas...snap out of it...you are all embrarassing yourselves...