Just about everyone who has anything to do with West Chester's revival was present at the Chester County Historical Society last evening for the presentation of the National Historic Trust's "Distinctive Destination Award." Malcolm Johnstone, director of the Business Improvement District, served as the master of ceremonies while the audience heard remarks from assorted dignitaries and watched Adrian Scott Fine, director of the Northeast Field Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, present the award to Mayor Dick Yoder.

Iron Hill Brewery catered the event, which drew nearly a dozen current and past members of Borough Council, members of the BID, HARB, Zoning Hearing Board, Planning Commission and other municipal boards, and downtown business owners who have contributed to the town's revitalization -- about a hundred people in all. Political candidates were there as well -- Barbara McIlvaine Smith, Jim O'Brien and Shannon Royer, all of whom are competing for the 156th PA legislative seat currently held by Elinor Z. Taylor, and Carol Aichele, who is running for the 19th PA senatorial seat vacated by the death of Robert Thompson. Andrew Dinniman, her opponent, sent regrets that he had to miss the event in order to teach a class at West Chester University.

The crowd also enjoyed a slide presentation of images of West Chester taken by professional photographer Rick Davis, whose work also appears on the National Historic Trust web site. Davis was present when Johnstone announced that in the not-to- distant future, the BID will publish a book of walking tours in downtown West Chester, illustrated with Davis' photos.

A. Roy Smith, who submitted the original application for National Historic Trust recognition, spoke briefly and noted that this was the fourth major award given to the Borough of West Chester in the past three years. Other awards include a good government award from Preservation Pennsylvania, a second award from that group for the reconstruction of the public library, and an award from the International Parking Institute for the design of the Bicentennial Parking Garage on S. High Street. In addition, as many in the crowd testified, whenever they meet with officials from other towns, they all hear the same thing: "You're from West Chester? Your town is doing it right!"

There are no elections for Borough government this year -- we did all of that last year with campaigns for mayor, four council positions, several school board members and one district justice. In 2007, there will be campaigns for the other three council positions and more school board members, but this year most of the action features state positions. The only truly local campaigns are for Democratic and Republican party committee positions, but the odds that two or more people will fight for one of those is about nil. The West Chester Democrats have candidates for all sixteen positions -- two per voting precinct - - and the Republicans at last count had candidates for all but two. That represents something of a turnaround since for many years, Republicans filled all of their committee positions while Democrats struggled to find people who wanted to serve. With the remarkable surge in Democratic registrations in the Borough these past few years, coupled with a wave of activism incited largely by events at the national level, it's a surprise to no one that the Democrats and Republicans have reversed positions.

The most interesting campaign will fill the state senate seat vacated by the unexpected death of Senator Robert Thompson. The 19th Senate District includes West Chester Borough, a collection of municipalities in the north-central and eastern part of Chester County, and even two municipalities just across the line in Montgomery County. Thompson served for ten years in the senate and ran unopposed in 2004, in large part because he did a good job of representing his district without regard to partisan politics. Under state law, the two parties select candidates to fill the unexpired portion of his term and the voters make their decision in a special election held at the same time as the May 16 primary election.

The Democrats have nominated Andrew Dinniman, who has served as a Chester County Commissioner for the past fourteen years. His Republican opponent is Carol Aichele, who recently completed her second year as County Commissioner. In what appears to be another reversal of party roles, Dinniman was the unanimous choice of the Democratic committee while Aichele received support from less than two thirds of the Republican committee. That stands in sharp contrast to February 2003 when she was their unanimous choice to run for County Commissioner.

Dinniman and Aichele face off for the PA Senate

The other campaign that has inspired party activists is the one to replace Elinor Z. Taylor in the 156th PA Legislative District, which includes West Chester, West Goshen, East Goshen and the southern half of East Bradford. Democrats offered a unanimous endorsement to Barbara NcIlvaine Smith, the former West Chester Borough Council member who came close to defeating Taylor in 2004. Republicans faced a tougher choice, thanks to divisions between Taylor's long-time supporters and challengers who have suggested for years that she should retire. The resulting vote gave the endorsement to Shannon Royer, an aide to PA Republican House speaker John Perzel, but former West Chester Regional Planning Commission chair Jim O'Brien also collected some votes. Republicans will get to pick between O'Brien and Royer on May 16.

In a previous article, WCJIM reported on the first of two sessions held at Borough Hall last Saturday (April 1) to gather input from Borough officials and the public about the operation of the Planning Zoning Business & Industrial Development (PZBID) committee of Borough Council. The second session provided ordinary citizens (plus a few people with ulterior motives) to tell the assembled crowd whatever they wanted. Since that crowd included elected officials, Borough department heads, members of various boards and commissions, representatives of the downtown business community, leaders of neighborhood groups and assorted real estate developers, it was an audience whose attention meant something. Many of the speakers did their best to take advantage of it.

Karen Slossburg of the Southwest Association of Neighbors (SWAN) asked for efforts to control traffic, Dick Shea of Price Street asked how the public would learn about the results of these workshops and Arlene Rengert of W. Virginia Avenue spoke in favor of street trees and called for a separate committee on Environmental Protection because those issues are currently handled by a committee which most people think handles only Parks and Recreation. Then Mary Jane Rogan of S. Brandywine St. spoke in support of recycling and shade trees, and offered her opinion that students who live in the community are not all bad. Carolyn Comitta reinforced that last point by thanking Sarah James and Bill Christman, both WCU students, for volunteering to take the minutes of the Workshops.

Next John Turgeon of the Shade Tree Commission informed the attendees that his group meets at Borough Hall on the second Monday of each month. He called for an environmental strategic plan for the Borough plus a resolution like that supported by the US Council of Mayors in support of the Kyoto protocols on the environment. Tom Comitta suggested that he put his ideas in writing and submit them to PZBID. The next speaker, Diane Herrin of the Friends of Marshall Square Park, called for initiatives to reduce the use of fossil fuels in the Borough in order to reduce emissions and conserve oil, said that the 180-foot building height limit is too high, and asked Borough Council to take steps to retain needed social services in the building that the YMCA has proposed to vacate.

Mark Cassel of the Transportation Management Association of Chester County (which operates the SCCOOT bus) wanted to see efforts to promote alternatives to automobiles including the provision of basic services within the Borough so that people can walk to them. Victoria Dow, director of the West Chester Public Library, mentioned the growth of nearby townships and how it affects traffic in the Borough. She asked PZBID to take into account developments outside the Borough when making its decisions. Sharpless Works resident Jim Beckerich called on Council to support the homeless shelter at Safe Harbor more fully and to reconsider the proposal to prevent traffic from entering the town center on Friday nights. Commercial property owner Charles Levine suggested that Council look for places to designate bicycle routes with the idea that they will provide anchors for the neighboring municipalities to attach bicycle routes of their own.

Cassandra Jones of the East End Neighborhood Association expressed concern about the loss of affordable housing and environmental issues which are especially acute in her neighborhood due to the proliferation of commercial uses like a junk yard and rodent infestations. She was followed by developer Stan Zukin, who called for the development of high-rise "green" buildings in the town center and cited the need to pull all of these ideas together. Then former Council president Bill Scott cited the 2000 Comprehensive Plan which called for greater intermunicipal cooperation, and pointed out that the Greater West Chester urban center includes portions of West Goshen Township out to the bypass.

Zoning Hearing Board member Dawn L'heureux mentioned a successful municipal composting operation in Wisconsin and recommended that the Borough consider a similar program. Sarah James of WCU asked if Council could encourage more late-night activities for people under the age of 21, since the local coffee shops all close around 10pm and the only alternative is the West Chester Dinner on Route 3 east of town, which stays open all night. An unidentified woman asked for the restoration of train service and then finally, Jane Dorchester, formerly of the HARB, noted that the 2000 Comprehensive Plan called for the creation of a Borough-wide preservation plan -- i.e. a comprehensive plan for historic preservation in the Borough.

At this point, Tom Comitta informed the group that there were 51 suggestions on the list. In order to prioritize them, he asked the members of the audience to raise their hands for the ones that they thought should be a high priority for the PZBID committee. The top ten were:

PZBID PRIORITIES Create an overall plan for development and redevelopment Complete the sidewalk inventory plan Cooperate more with West Goshen and other townships Restore train service Environmental issues (trees, composting, rodents, etc.) Create a plan for "sustainable transportation" Affordable housing Provide more activities for people under 21 Advocate for "green" architecture Link development, redevelopment and park planning/funding

WCJIM concludes with a couple of observations. The list of priorities is a useful starting point for PZBID's deliberations this year, and the Borough will certainly refer to it again when the 2010 Comprehensive Planning process (mandated by state law) gets underway. Some of them -- like restoring train service and cooperating with other municipalities -- may be beyond the legal ability of PZBID to enact. In other words, state law or outside economic forces may prevent these from coming about. Despite that, the list serves as a useful guide to the direction that Borough government may take in the next few years.

Finally, the most common sub-theme of the entire day was "height" -- the height of buildings in the town center, but also in the commercial and industrial districts on the east side of town. Several participants openly called for a relaxation of all limits on building heights, an even larger number called for further restrictions, and an equal number made more nuanced calls for balance between development, historic preservation, traffic, and preserving the Borough's infrastructure. It seems clear that PZBID will have its hands full trying to please everyone in the coming year.

Last night (Tuesday, April 11), the Public Safety Committee meeting of Borough Council erupted into a free-for-all as members of the landlord association sparred with residents and Committee chair Steve Bond (Rep, Ward 2). The issue was the Fair Rental Ordinance which failed to pass last November when a 4-3 vote sent it back to committee for further discussion. At the time Bond voted in favor of further discussion, but now seems ready to move it forward again. In the interim, four new people have joined Borough Council -- two of whom serve on the Public Safety Committee -- so the discussion revisited a lot of territory familiar to regular attendees of Council meetings.

Some background: The ordinance has two main features. It establishes a point system by which to rate properties in terms of codes compliance, police calls, fire hazards and so on. The ordinance also provides for the registration of tenants names as a means to enforce ordinances against overcrowding. In addition, the ordinance provides for "due process" -- a legal way for property owners to challenge enforcement of the ordinance.

The discussion opened with comments by the three committee members followed by comments from the audience. First, Carolyn Comitta (Dem, Ward 5) described the issues behind the ordinance as "complex" and added that she felt the ordinance is misnamed -- it should be called the "Nuisance Property Ordinance" instead of the Fair Rental Ordinance. She listed the number of people she has spoken with including officials from both West Chester and State College (whose ordinance provided a model for this one), members of "the landlord group" and former and current Council members. She thought that the ordinance might be better split into two ordinances, one dealing with tenant registration and one that assigns points to properties for violations, and concluded by calling for a public meeting that includes "all of the stakeholders" to discuss the ordinance.

Holly Brown (Dem, Ward 1) expressed a preference for the two-ordinance approach, as well as support for the registration of tenants and for a meeting involving all of the stakeholders. At this point, she is neither for or against the ordinance.

Steve Bond said that this meeting was the culmination of a one-and-a-half year process, said there is a need to enforce ordinances that prohibit overcrowding and asked his fellow Council members "to trust those who went before you" [by recommending approval of this ordinance]. He noted that 64% of the Borough's housing is rental and that does not bode well for our community. He listed problems that included noise, vandalism, poor property maintenance and other common violation, as well as "firebombings and murders." He said his goal is "to develop a more responsible rental industry as it relates to the community" and argued that the point system creates accountability while the tenant registration will aid the police in the enforcement of ordinances. He concluded with "I am not going to be intimidated by lawsuits," a reference to a letter delivered to Council last November by West Chester Apartment Housing Association president Grant Nelson.

After Bond's remarks, members of the audience spoke including WCAHA president Grant Nelson and two other landlords, the presidents of the East End Neighborhood Association and Historic South Walnut Neighborhood Association, several other residents and other members of Council (all seven attended). The landlords made comments in favor of more study, accusations that homeowners are the real source of problems, and complaints that Borough officials, especially the police department, are not doing their job properly. (For a counter example, see A Seriously Dysfunctional Rental Property.) Neighbors presented concerns about personal safety, property values, the treatment of first-time renters (i.e. university students) and out-of-town landlords who don't respond to requests for action when their tenants cause problems. Several members of the audience interrupted other speakers on two occasions, leading one person to call for respect and civility. After nearly 90 minutes of discussion, Bond moved to recommend approval of the ordinance to the full Borough Council, but the motion was defeated 1-2. Instead, the Committee agreed to hold a special meeting on Tuesday, May 2 at 6:30pm to allow all of the stakeholders to participate in a discussion of the ordinance.

Landlord association president Grant Nelson listens to comments from Borough residents

Side comments: Because the meeting ran nearly an hour beyond its allotted time, several people arrived who had no direct interest in the ordinance. During private conversations, several asked why the landlords in attendance, who described themselves as responsible property owners who cause no problems, aren't joining with the Borough to "gang up" on property owners who do cause problems. Several people also wondered why the mayor missed a meeting that was important enough to attract all seven council members, the chief of police and the codes enforcement officer.