PEACE & PROTEST
FIGHT FOR RACIAL JUSTICE LEAVES MARK ON DELCO
In a year dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, a second major story unfolded in the county and across the nation: The renewed struggle for racial equality.
The death in May of George Perry Floyd Jr. was the spark that led to widespread civil unrest. The African-American man was killed during an arrest in Minneapolis. Derek Chauvin, one of four police officers who arrived on the scene, knelt on Floyd’s neck for a period initially reported to be 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
Floyd’s murder was followed by massive demonstrations across the country — most peaceful but some violent. Both Black Lives Matter and Antifa took to the streets, and days of rioting left burned-out buildings and shuttered businesses in Philadelphia. The unrest spilled over the county line as looters hit stores along 69th Street in Upper Darby. Initial rumors of vandalism springing up the evening of May 31 were soon determined to be unfounded. The county avoided any other large-scale destruction.
Activists and supporters organized demonstrations and marches over the course of the summer on the police reform topic, largely focused in the eastern and central sections of the county. Among the largest was a protest organized by 16-year old Penn Wood High student Tori Monroe in mid-June, bringing more than 1,000 people to walk through Lansdowne and Yeadon. Marchers included Yeadon Police Chief Anthony “Chachi” Paparo, who knelt on both knees at the event’s conclusion. “We came together in these trying and challenging times to show that we are strong,” Monroe said through a bullhorn to the masses gathered at Kerr Field. “We will fight injustice together as one. You’ll see when people who are in power believe that all people are equal and operate with integrity, change is possible.”
One BLM demonstration in Ridley Township turned ugly with counter-demonstrators taunting and roughing up the protesters. But the protesters returned several weeks later in a calmer, more well-managed march for justice.
Panedemic’s shadow
The largest pandemic in a century would extend its influence into various longstanding political and business situations across Delaware County.
The county found ways around pandemic restrictions to honor its veterans in November. Eugene Vickers, a Navy signal officer in World War II, marked his 105th birthday Nov. 11 with a drive-by parade. The Pacific Theater veteran sat in a Willys Jeep in front of his house in Newtown Square as a parade of family and friends, fellow veterans, Wounded Warriors, and dozens of police, fire, and EMS units from throughout the county saluted him.
Delaware County went the virtual route for its 61st Annual Veterans Day observance. Those who helped carry on the tradition through the unusual circumstances was 97-year-old World War II veteran Roland Scarini, who played “God Bless America” on his harmonica. Scarini was slated to be grand marshal for 2020 parade, which organizers hope he will return to perform in 2021.
Turmoil in Chester
The coronavirus quickly found a way to put a new wrinkle into a 25-year-old matter. The economic fallout it caused Chester city government furlough 31 percent of its workforce. While the action shored up the city budget in the near term, the economic downturn finally tipped the hand of the state for Chester’s financially distressed status under Act 47. The city’s 25 years of peaks and valleys in a recovery journey without direct state oversight began to end April 13. Gov. Tom Wolf issued a declaration of fiscal emergency for the city, requiring an emergency action plan be developed. The order left the door open to appoint a receiver, which came to fruition on June 22 when the Commonwealth Court approved appointment of Michael T. Doweary. The former business administrator for the city of York and Direcotor of Administration for Captial Region Water in Harrisburg focused on the two crises at the heart of the city’s “deep, intertwined and complicated” financial problems in an 84-page Aug. 20 report and recovery plan: the city’s general fund, and its “dangerously close to insolvency” police pension fund. Doweary’s report also dipped into hot button issues before the county court, advocating for the sale of Chester Water Authority and completing the 2019 relaunch of metered parking in certain sections.
The August report was followed with a “Receiver’s Assessment of City of Chester’s Financial and Operational Condition” filed with Commonwealth Court” on Nov. 3. The updates highlighted down gaming revenue – responsible for about a quarter of the annual budget – along with $400,000 in unemployment payments to furloughed employees for second quarter 2020, down earned-income taxes due to pandemic lockdowns, litigation costs and about $500,000 a month to the police pension and retiree health care costs.
The recovery plan advises eligibility audits for all employees and retirees receiving health care benefits and pensions, consolidation of councilmembers’ department head roles into one Chief Operating Officer, and reinvestment in city services
The city’s receivership was yet another chapter in the three-year saga of a proposed Chester Water Authority sale. The story took a long road of twists and turns this year with no clear destination in sight. Touched off in May 2017 by Aqua America’s unsolicited $320 million off to buy CWA, the controversy grew to include at least 16 lawsuits, three websites aiming to sway public opinion, and mountains of documents gained by CWA through right-toknow requests on the state’s role in starting the ball rolling.
Developments for year three opened with city council authorizing request for proposals for a sale of CWA assets in February.
A year of negotiations in 2018 between CWA and city government that seemingly bore no fruit came back into the limelight at
the close of November. An analysis conducted at that time by Corvias, the firm in a public-private partnership with the Chester Stormwater Authority, found a $6.5 million bottom line for the authority’s. CWA Solicitor Francis J. Catania countered that the Corvias left out large portions of operating expenses, including water production, treatment and transportation, fire protection and various others. The 2018 settlement – approved by the CWA board but not city council – involved a onetime payment to the city by CWA and placement of CWA assets into a 40-year trust to prevent a sale. A variation of the settlement in which the city service region would be spun off into a new operating entity and purchase CWA water remains up in the air.
September brought the retirement of Police Commissioner Otis Blair after three years as the city’s top cop. Close to 28 of Blair’s 30 years in law enforcement were spent with Chester. He started as a patrolman in July 1993, serving in numerous capacities including the narcotics division, as a sergeant, captain and eventually deputy commissioner. The city saw a drastic reduction in overall crime during Blair’s tenure, including a 38 percent drop in homicides between 2017 and 2018, the lowest number since 2009. City council marked his retirement with a key to the city presentation and a replica department badge plaque. The following month Deputy Commissioner Steven Gretsky was sworn in to fill Blair’s shoes. The 18-year veteran of the force entered the command staff as major in January 2016 before coming deputy commission in January 2020.
The Chester Upland School District also saw some movement at the top, both to personnel and policy, this year. Interim Receiver and former CUSD Superintendent Gregory Thornton exited the position in May. County Judge Barry Dozor appointed outgoing Superintendent Juan Baughn to assume the receiver spot starting May 25. Carol D. Birks arrived as new district superintendent in June.
The year opened as a series of hearings were held in Common Pleas Court on the state of the district’s recovery plan under Act 141 and on a petition from the Chester Community Charter School to direct the school district and Pennsylvania Department of Education to issue requests for proposals for charters to educate the remaining elementary school students in the district. Opponents of the proposal argued financial devastation could befall the district as it already sends a vast majority of state funding to charters – about 75 percent of per-pupil funds and more for special education students.
Birks entered the district in the midst of the policy shift. “I believe that parents should have the right to choose between attending traditional public school – and it’s interesting how people always talk about charters as if they’re not public schools, but they are – they should have the right to choose between public schools and charter schools,” said Birks. “But I have no preference. I think parents should have the opportunity to choose what is the best learning experience for their children.”
Outsourcing got underway in September when the district let a contract to the Chester County Intermediate Unit to staff certain administration positions, including business operations, special education and human resources. Good news for the district’s top line came in October when eCollect Plus, a tax auditing and collection firm for Pennsylvania municipalities and school districts, announced it netted almost $4.5 in back real estate taxes for CUSD over the last year. The figure stood $1.7 million more than what the district projected in delinquent taxes for the year.
Fires burn
Clusters of fires, both geographically and chronologically, sprung up in the first half of the year around the county, with the most profile striking the city in the spring. The county’s latest addition to the National Historic Register burned to its stone frame on May 28. After a 2:30 a.m. call for a smoke investigation at Chester’s Third Presbyterian Church on East Ninth Street, first arriving units found heavy fire in the rear of the main building. At least 125 firefighters from nearly 20 departments fought through the night to gain control of the blaze that spread throughout the main building and its annexes. Crews were still hitting hot spots at midday. The fire destroyed 124 years of history and brought current owner the Chester Historical Preservation Committee’s plans for a performing arts center to a standstill.
No f ur ther details have emerged on potential foul play, as the church did not have electrical or natural gas connections and had been cleared of debris during the committee’s restoration efforts. Suspicions were heightened when the parsonage of Range Memorial COGIC – which occupies the 1894-built First Baptist Church building – was firebombed two weeks later. Range Memorial congregants joined together to clean up the after Sunday services that weekend, aided by volunteers from MVP Recovery.
Development spurs controversies
Land development again on the agenda list for municipal governments throughout the year. December saw the Marple Township Commissioners shoot own the preliminary Village at Sproul Road plan for the former Don Guanella site as the years-long debate continued over its development. The plan, first presented to the township planning commission in March, was the latest from Carlino Commercial Development, operating as Sproul Road Developers. It and would have featured 141 single and twin homes on 89.2 acres of the 213-acre tract. March also saw the Marple Newtown School Board authorize architectural firm Bonnett Associations to compose preliminary sketches for a relocated Paxon Hollow Middle School on the site.
The Aston Township Board of Commissioners faced pushback at the start of the year over a new development along the AstonUpper Chichester border. A conditional-use application submitted by Springbrooke Industrial LLC for the proposed Springbrooke Trade Center at Pennell Road and Springbrooke Boulevard – the site of the former Mercury Gun Club – raised traffic and environmental concerns from residents from both townships. The proposal included constructing two large warehouses on the 36.5-acre parcel off Pennell Road behind Woodbrook Way. One warehouse would measure 273,600 square feet and the other 210,400 square feet. A 430car parking lot, 96 trailer spaces, and loading bays were also proposed. After about a dozen residents spoke against it at the commissioners meeting the following week, the board gave the conditional use request the go-ahead by a 5-1-1 vote. Commissioners President Jim Stigale told residents the commissioners did their due diligence and set standards that the developers must meet, noting it was not open space but privately owned land.
Across the county in Haverford, the battle from a decade prior over billboards along Lancaster Avenue was renewed. In 2012, the zoning hearing board rejected large billboards proposed by Bartkowski Investment Group after 27 hearings. Residents from Haverford, Lower Merion and Radnor townships turned out about 200 in number for a presentation from township Solicitor James Byrne on the status of the legal
battle over the rejection, which had bounced between county and Commonwealth courts. During public comment, Kathy Case of the Haverford Historical Commission noted the Lancaster Avenue billboards would be placed on the last remaining section of the original Bryn Mawr business district from the early 1920s. The Brynford Civic Association then spearheaded an effort to collect 4,000 signatures in opposition ahead of a Jan. 21 county court hearing on the matter. No resolution for the matter has come since the case was continued to late February.
The Middletown Free Library kicked off a $1 million campaign in February to raise funds its new location planned for the Roosevelt Community Center, formerly the Roosevelt School, and to cover three years of annual private operating support. Haverford Township Commissioners decided in September to forego year-long plans to build a new library at the former Brookline School and its $29 million price tag and move ahead with a $12 million renovation to its current building.
Newtown Square Fire Co. moved into a new station in March. The move to the new location on Charles Ellis Drive in the Ellis Preserve took shape over five years as firefighters looked to replace the aging station at Route 252 and West Chester Pike, built in 1962. Across the county, Aston Township Commissioners and Fire Department broke ground on a new firehouse on July 16. The new building will stand on same property as the former Green Ridge firehouse, which became home to the new Aston Township Fire Department after the Jan. 1, 2015 merger of the former Green Ridge and Aston Beechwood companies.
In August, the Pennsylvania State Police announced they were preparing to move into the new 18,000 square-foot facility next door to their 37-year-old barracks along Baltimore Pike. Construction began in January after designs were laid out in 2018 and 2019. Crews were able to overcome construction delays that began once the pandemic hit in March.
Stakeholders unveiled the results of the Chester Waterfront Master Plan in mid-September. The culmination of a year-anda-half of discussion, contract letting and planning, Boston-based architectural firm NBBJ crafted the plan through the COVID-19 lockdowns after gathering input from residents, businesses and civic leaders through late 2019.
The first major change along the waterfront, though, came in the East End during late October as Kimberly Clark began demolition of its multistory coal-fired steam plant. The work comes as part of a $150 million investment in the site that has transformed the 1.8 million-square-foot facility from using coal to natural gas.
Efforts were underway across the county to preserve historic sites during the year. The Brandywine Conservancy, a program of Brandwine Conservancy & Museum of Art, announced plans in July to add Birmingham Hill Preserve, 113 of preserved open space across the Chester County line, to the Brandywine Battlefield National Historical Landmark. The move came one year after the group launched a master plan to protect, conserve and enhance the land home to Cemetery Field and hiking trails. On the other end of Baltimore Pike, the “Friends of 1000 Main” organized to save the 168-year home at 1000 Main St. in Darby Borough. “This home, which has been here for 170 years, reminds us of who we are and where we came from,” said John Haigis, former chair of the Darby Borough Historical Commission. The group would like to use the long unoccupied house as the linchpin of a historic district to include Darby Library and the Darby Friends Meeting house.
The Springfield School District announced in November that its long-awaited new high school will be ready to open Jan. 4. The new building on the existing high campus represents the completion of Phase 1 for the three-phase Master Plan. Bids for Phase 2 and Phase 3 have been awarded. They will see the demolition of the existing high school, further work on athletic fields and construction of a district maintenance building. Still remaining are concerns of cost and lack of space for population growth that surrounded the project since its June 2015 approval. The township also saw a fight over two “nuisance” motels in the 600 block of Baltimore Pike over the spring and summer. The owners of the two businesses were given a temporary and conditional reprieve by Common Pleas Judge in late August. Dozor entered an order temporarily restraining the township from pulling the trigger on a license revocation or denial, but said the owners must strictly adhere to a stipulated agreement reached with the township in June to reduce police calls – which number about 630 since 2017 – to the two properties.
Upper Providence Township Council approved the conditional use application for Clark’s Manor, a group home for adults with various forms of mental illness, in September. The 3-2 vote came after ongoing public debate since February on the matter. Applicant Charles Widger purchased house at 2978 N. Providence Road to create a group home modeled after Wild Acre, a program run in the Boston suburbs where his son, Clark, has resided for several years. Widger said during testimony that bringing his son back near the family touched off the project. Hearings focused on traffic and road conditions as the opposition cited numerous accidents in the vicinity over the course of several years.
County businesses worked their way the myriad regulations put in place by Harrisburg over the pandemic during the year. New additions to the food service landscape that sprung up this year could not offset the bleak outlook in the restaurant industry stemming from COVID-19 lockdowns. John Longstreet, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania & Lodging Association, said in September that out of restaurants temporarily closed, 60 percent are not reopening. Pennsylvania has seen the second-most restrictive guidelines in the country, according to Longstreet, impacting a 580,000-employee industry.
Various facets of the retail sectors joined the restaurant industry in feeling the brunt of coronavirus impacts. Bernadette Dougherty closed the doors of Edgemont Flower Shop in Upper Providence for the last time on Aug. 31, wrapping up nearly 49 years of business in the floral world. Citing the changing floral landscape of online and supermarket purchases, the down special event business of 2020 was the final factor in not renewing in lease in August.
Before the arrival of the coronavirus, the Riddle Hospital Thrift Shop ended its 50-year run on Jan. 31. The Baltimore Pike staple and its home base hospital annex found themselves on the chopping block as part of Main Line Health System’s $327 million campus modernization project to add additional parking and a new patient pavilion. Shop volunteers and hospital officials evaluated about 30 locations to house the shop. No decision was reported throughout the year.
Ahead of the 2020 season that saw the Philadelphia Union claim its first MLS Supporters Shield for attaining the best regular season record, the club and Subaru of America announced the former PPL Park and Talen Energy Stadium would be known as Subaru Park. The new name came with a suite of upgrades, including a state-of-the-art, high-dynamic range video board measuring 109 by 32 feet, nearly three times larger than the old one.
The growth of medical marijuana in the state and federal legalization of CBD products – both booming industries during COVID lockdowns – was not lost on the county. Along the Chester County border in Thornbury, Cheney University officials announced in March that a partnership with West Chester-based Advanced Alchemy Labs to bring a 10-acre hemp farm to the campus and paid internship opportunities to students. In addition, 10,000 square feet of the school’s Jones Hilton maintenance building would be used for processing.
Over in the Thornton section of the township, business was good for Matt Pruette, who got into the hemp game for CBD extraction after its 2018 legalization. After 35 years in the lawnmower repair business, owning and operating Benson Outdoor Power Equipment in Chester, Pruette began Microgrowth Farm from his Thornton residence. Following a successful direct-to-consumer launch online, he entered local retail with a full line of products at Brookhaven’s Rebel Indian Smoke Shop.
Changing laws on controlled substances brought something new to Swarthmore Borough this summer as the wine bar and restaurant Village Vine opened its doors. It took business partners Lori Knauer and borough Councilwoman Jill Gaieski about three years to bring the project to fruition.