• Government approving a problematic or even a bad plan over a principle that is not necessarily applicable is not good government is it?
• Developing to say a community has completed recent development is not necessarily good government is it?
• Approving development plans without clear community consensus as a result of an inclusive and open planning and visioning process is not good government, is it?
• We should welcome developers who encorage and believe in a true public process, and discourage cookie cutter one-size-fit-all development, shouldn't we?
• It's o.k. to say what you DON'T want in your community, but non-productive if you don't tell people what you do want in your community and WHY.

Yesterday I went to the Wynnewood Civic Association's Annual Meeting and Roundtable. I was impressed. It is a very well run, active civic association that isn't afraid to tackle the uncomfortable topics we face as residents head on. From our schools and the redistricting and rebuilding to development, this is a civic which is not only active, but sends it's members to Lower Merion Township public meetings. And their members are active out of a sense of community pride and purpose and because they believe in the community in which we live. And they believe in tackling issues outside their immediate neighborhood because they realize all individual communities are part of a larger pie, and what happens in one community has the potential to directly or indirectly affect another.

Not all civics do that, or do that enough. Some civics are not what I would call present, some are insular unto themselves alone. I don't think as residents we can afford the aforementioned luxuries any longer. Our communities are at a crossroads, and each and every one of us from the largest McMansion to the humblest of twin homes and apartments need to get involved.

Last evening, we hear the panelists Jason Duckworth, Sarah Peck, and The Honorable Marvin Reed, former Mayor of Princeton.

Jason Duckworth of Arcadia Land Management,Sarah Peck of Progressive Housing Ventures, and Marvin Reed, former Mayor of Princton, NJ all gave presentations based upon their experience, and from it I got a common theme:

1. There is a better way to develop our communities, and I think we're on the right path with only Mr. Dranoff and the Ardmore Redevelopment Plan, and with the approved and yet to be built Dreycott Lane project of Arcadia.



2. We need zoning that best captures what we as residents wish to see. Bryn Mawr's rezoning attempted it, but in the end, has not had enough emphasis on community preservation. Is a controlled public process a public process?



3. If things like institutional uses like hospitals are out-growing their footprints in a town, perhaps they do have to move, and as was the case in Princeton, it wasn't the end of the world. And in Princeton they chose community preservation and neighborhood preservation, and the hospital was relocated close by and it's old buildings are being repurposed. Why couldn't we have had that in Bryn Mawr? For example, I have always wondered why Villanova Law School didn't simply purchase American College then fighting to shoehorn in the new school and upset the neighbors. Well someone said to me yesterday that it was no secret American College wanted to divest itaelf of that Bryn Mawr Avenue property for a few years, why didn't the hospital acquire that land instead of all the affordable income neighborhoods of Central Ave, Pennsylvania Ave, Old Lancaster Rd, and Summit Grove Ave? Why not indeed?



4. Government needs to listen to all of the plurality and stakeholders in communities. And not just listen, but act appropriately, because after hearing Marvin Reed and how Princeton got it's groove back, I realized that if we had had such a visioning process from jump in Ardmore, as well as really incorporating the ideas of the public not only would we probably not have MUST the most dysfunctional overlay know to man, we also might have escaped eminent domain discussion and fear. Think of all the time and money that has been wasted in Ardmore. It made me think of Suburban Square and the pickle we are all in as residents to fight rezoning of the Ruby's Lot. That is a crucial meeting on Wednesday, and while I expect there will be a support of Kimco drawn along party lines,m the thing I arrived at last evening is that those in support of Kimco's rezoning might not actually be in support of the project, but the principal involved and does that make sense?



5. Government needs to tell developers what they want in the communities, and the message they impart needs to reflect the public will, not merely a sense of personal ideals.



6. We can do infill development that will work.



7. If municipalities make their decisions purely upon political party ideals and do not work together and listen to the plurality, projects will not work. Really? So we're not all wet as residents, eh?



8. The Municipal Planning Code of PA talks about Comprehensive Plan updates every decade. I learned that fun fact when I asked the panelists what they thought of communities that had not completed a comprehensive plan since 1979. I was of course referring to Lower Merion. Now after the meeting concluded some helpful folks reminded me we were working on it. I guess we are, even if they haven't talked about it really in a year. But that was not the point: my point was not "talking" about or "working on" a new comprehensive plan, but completing one. Therein lies the difference, eh? (And thanks to the Garrett Hill Coalition for pointing out the thing about comprehensive plan updates being every decade.)

So,in conclusion this was a terrific meeting and a conversation worth having. However, we need to do more as a community then have conversations. And government needs to do more then just listen - they need to act upon what residents desire, or at least meet them half way. Development shouldn't shape our communities, our communities should shape development.

And most of all? People need to attend public meetings. It's all well and good to go to civic association roundtables, but that also needs to translate into public meeting attendance. We're all busy, and it's only our futures...right?

Start this Wednesday, November 19th. It's a big meeting, and has crucially important agenda items. And finally? Next year, half of the Lower Merion Board of Commissioners will be up for re-election. So if you do not like what you see by that time, change the face of who governs you.

Parting shot? Traffic issues exist. What is the federal program about transportation enhancements about? We can't ignore traffic and cars because we want transit oriented development because if we don't deal with the cars and traffic transit oriented development will ultimately fail, right?