VICTORY IN ARDMORE! NO EMINENT DOMAIN FOR PRIVATE GAIN!
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March 22nd will always be know henceforth as "VA" Day for Victory in Ardmore. Folks, tonight downtown historic main street Ardmore was given a new beginning. Tonight, Ardmore was given a path to the future without eminent domain for private gain. Tonight, The Lower Merion Township passed the resolution we have been talking about with a vote that was (finally!) unanimous for all intents and purposes- Commissioner Gould was absent this evening and Commissioners Manko and Comisky abstained rather than vote no. As Phil Rosenzweig commented, tonight Ardmore begins a “new journey”. A journey devoid of eminent domain for private gain. He also quoted retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and her dissenting opinion on the now infamous Kelo decision. THAT, was poetic justice. One interesting note was the commissioner who voted to close the door on eminent domain for private gain as a vote on principle, not pressure. This commissioner also commented on “strong arm tactics”. SAC Note: if you are referring to some of us, or all of us, we would do it again in a heartbeat. We’re not being mean, it is just the way it is: sometimes you just have to take a stand for what you believe in. We believe in our merchants and our town. And we believe eminent domain is just wrong...dare we quote one of our member’s favorite sayings? Aw shucks, sure: eminent domain is class warfare and economic segregation, and that is not what America is all about. Now the real work begins. But Ardmore is up to it. SAC is up to it. And we are grateful that the five new commissioners are working to keep their campaign promises. Wouldn’t it be lovely if all politicians in this country followed suit? Oh, and by the way, the MUST ordinance didn’t pass tonight. Apparently, there were mistakes in the language picked up by the Montgomery County Planning Commission, so it has to be readvertised. MUST will come up for a vote again late April (April 26th we believe). Now we know that definitely ticks off the MUST cheerleaders, but that is a story for another day. And quite frankly, we won something huge tonight, and THAT is the focus. Folks out there fighting eminent domain, we ain’t going anywhere. There are state and federal laws to be passed, so stay tuned. We will leave you with these fine words: PROGRESS, YES! EMINENT DOMAIN, NO! SAVE ARDMORE COALITION, GO, GO, GO! |
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What a splendid demonstration of participative democracy! Although no longer an Ardmore resident, I am proud to have been a part of this citizen action. I agree, let the hard CREATIVE work begin! Let's hope that a sound design, with business/citizen approval, can attract funding as easily as the pig-in-a-poke approach did.
Jordan Schell-Lambert