If you have enjoyed the results of the expansion work done on US 202 from March 2001 to October 2003, then you're going to love what's coming next -- the upgrade of "Section 300" between the Exton Bypass and North Valley Road near Paoli (located between the PA29 and PA252 exits).

The earlier project, which was designed to make some sense out of the US202/Schuylkill Expressway/PA Turnpike junction in King of Prussia, widened US202 from four to six lanes, eliminated some dangerous lane changing and made at least some of the ramps in that extremely congested area more intuitive; i.e. if you are headed north and you want to go east, you can do that from the easternmost lane(s) on US202. But the project also sparked protests from neighbors about noise and the location of ramps, and it slowed traffic to a crawl for several years while funnelling additional traffic onto nearby back roads. The final product, which cost $290 million, simply shifted the traffic jams closer to West Chester.

Environmental engineer Scott Smith was appointed to the vacant Ward 7 Borough Council position by unanimous vote at a special session on Thursday night, January 26. The vote followed extensive questioning by the members of council who interviewed both Smith and Planning Commission member Joe Zaber. Following Council's vote, Mayor Dick Yoder administered the oath of office while Smith's spouse held the Bible.

The vacancy was created when Maria Chesterton was forced to resign her position after taking a job in Harrisburg with the Pennsylvania Department of Health. One of the requirements of her job was that she hold no municipal office.

Smith has lived in the Borough since 1998 and purchased his home on North New Street in 1999. He and his wife were married in the gazebo at Everhart Park, and are members of the Friends of Veterans Memorial Park and the Northwest Neighborhood Association.

Smith's appointment is valid until May 16 at which time voters in Ward 7 will vote in a special election for someone to fill the remainder of Chesterton's term until December 2009. Smith has pledged to introduce himself to his new constituents by going door to door and intends to run in the May election.

On Wednesday February 1, a standing-room only crowd heard Dr. James C. Trotman of West Chester University, WPVI Channel 6 news anchor Tamala Edwards and other dignitaries explain the significance of Frederick Douglass, the Maryland slave who taught himself to read, escaped and became one of the foremost abolitionist speakers of the nineteenth century. The occasion was the dedication of a state historical marker to honor Douglass' last public appearance on February 1, 1895 in West Chester.

According to letters discovered in 1992, George M. Philips, the president of the West Chester State Normal School (predecessor to the West Chester University), invited Douglass to speak on campus in October 1894. Douglass accepted but added "I begin to feel the weight of age. I am glad to know that a few of my Abolition friends in West Chester are still living -- and it will give me joy to be there." Douglass came to campus on February 1, 1895, and his appearance was a success, but it turned out to be his last because he died suddenly only nineteen days later.

On a day when the University did not hold classes, the unveiling of the historical marker attracted community members, faculty, administrators and what was most impressive, a large number of students. Following greetings from communications studies professor Timothy Brown and University president Madeleine Adler, Dr. Trotman introduced several current and former Frederick Douglass scholars and described the phenomenal growth of the Frederick Douglass Institute, which now has chapters on all fourteen state system campuses. Then Ms. Edwards, a Stanford University graduate and former writer for Time Magazine who was an embedded reporter during the Iraq War, gave the keynote speech, followed by the unveiling of the marker. Afterwards, Dr. Robert Hanna offered a few words on behalf of the West Chester Human Relations Council and WCU Provost Linda Lamwers provided closing remarks.

The marker, which is made of cast aluminum, lists some of Douglass' many accomplishments, notes that his last public presentation took place in West Chester, and mentions the work of the Frederick Douglass Institute. Although no announcement was made, several participants said that they expect the marker will will be placed in front of Philips Memorial Hall later this spring.

Over the past several weeks, both WCJIM and local newspapers have all commented on current and proposed building projects in downtown West Chester. This article contains information on a few topics that are interesting, but do not merit a complete article themselves. 1. How cool are those "kangaroo cranes" at the Justice Center construction site on Market Street? The answer depends on your personal tastes, but for anyone whose idea of a good time includes playing in sandboxes and building tree forts, the two cranes belonging to Falcon Steel offer a major attraction. Surprisingly, the 150-foot cranes are not the tallest things to ever stand in downtown West Chester -- the mobile crane used to assemble the parking garage across the street was in the same league, while the smokestack at West Chester University is 200 feet high. Reports vary, but the twin smokestacks at the PECO steam plant that once stood on the site of the YMCA were at least 200 feet in height.

2. When will SEPTA buses start using the new transit center? At the moment, SEPTA buses use a number of temporary stops located all over town, since construction on the 200-block of W. Market Street closed the old stop. The new structure is ready to go and all that's required is for SEPTA to print and distribute new schedules. That will be complete within the next three weeks, so the transit center will be in use by the end of February. 3. Why are people picketing the construction site at the corner of Darlington & Gay Streets? The short answer is that the job's general contractor is using non-union carpenters, but it is all part of a larger pattern. West Chester has never been particularly friendly to organized labor. Most recently, it took County workers more than two years to organize under the Pennsylvania Social Services Union, although they recently ratified their second contract and appear to be here to stay. Professors at WCU (then West Chester State College) got nowhere until things became so bad that the school was censored by the AAUP and a president was fired in the early 1970s. When workers at the Nachmann spring factory tried to unionize in the late 1950s, management was eventually forced to pay the largest fine ever levied (up to that time) under the National Labor Relations Act in 1963. 4. How much does it cost to make a new building look old? WCJIM doesn't have a real answer to that question, but here's an example of how modern methods cut costs. Instead of carving and installing cornices by hand, the cornices on the new building at High and Chestnut Streets were constructed off-site and installed using a mobile lift. Even so, there is still plenty of finish work needed to fill in crevices and make the new cornices waterproof, windproof and "varmint-proof."

At last night's Public Safety Committee meeting (February 8, 2006), West Chester Fire Chief Mark McCarthy and Assistant Chief Bill Ronayne presented a request to purchase a new fire truck in 2007. The truck will replace the First West Chester Fire Company's pumper 51-1, which was purchased in 1987. A fire truck's normal lifespan is twenty years because afterwards, costs for maintenance and repairs tend to rise quickly.

As they made their presentation, it became clear that puchasing a fire truck is much different than purchasing a car for your family. Each truck is custom-built, so a committee of firemen began last year by creating a list of specifications that includes water capacity, pump flow rate, braking distance, maximum slope handling ability and more -- 89 pages in all. Such detail is warranted because the truck is expected to cost more than a half million dollars. The last time Borough bought similar trucks was in 1999 when the cost per unit was about $450,000.