In the ten days since four developers presented their proposals to redevelop the Mosteller parking garage site at the corner of Walnut and Chestnut Streets, several kilowatts of energy has ben expended sending emails throughout our community with descriptions and appraisals of the proposals. In an effort to bring everyone up to speed, WCJIM presents pictures of each proposal plus basic details about their contents.
Zukin Realty Inc. proposes to combine the Mosteller garage lot with the Rite Aid lot (which the Zukins own) to construct a 12-story, 123-foot tall building that will include 800 parking spaces, a 100-room name-brand hotel, 101 condominium units, an organic foods grocery store, a new home for Spence's Restaurant on its second floor, and a main entrance on Gay Street through the current Spence's Restaurant (whose facade will be preserved).   Left: Looking towards the northwest corner of Walnut and Gay Streets where the Rite Aid drug store is presently located. The Spence's Restaurant facade is located to the far left.
RedGo Development proposes to use the Mosteller garage lot plus the YMCA lot across Chestnut Street to construct a 90-foot, 6-story building containing luxury condominiums on the Mosteller site and a new 625-space parking garage on the current YMCA site, possibly connected by a bridge over Chestnut Street. Both buildings appear to have commercial space on the first floor, although the RedGo presentation was vague on that issue. Left: Looking west along Chestnut Street. The parking garage on the right would be located on the current site of the YMCA.
Astra Development Group LLC proposes to use only the Mosteller garage lot for a 107-foot, nine-story building with a 96-room name-brand hotel on three levels, 522 parking spaces on seven levels (including two below ground), plus commercial space on the ground floor, a convention center on the second and an out-door pool for hotel patrons above the parking floors.   Left: Looking south across Chestnut Street. The top three floors would house the hotel while the "floors" below that disguise the parking garage.
Teres Holdings LLC & Robert Hoes Associates offered two variations on their proposal which uses only the Mosteller garage lot for a 70-foot, 7-story building with a hotel lobby, restaurant and commercial space on the first floor; meeting rooms on the second; a 110-room non-name-brand (i.e. independent) hotel on the top five floors, and 630 parking spaces on nine levels (two below ground) at the western end of the lot. The second variant reduces the space needed for parking by employing a "robotic" system instead of ramps to move cars within the garage. That would enable the garage to be lower (only five stories above ground) and create room for 24 condominiums plus retail space along Chestnut Street. If the garage remains at seven stories above ground (plus two below), then there would be room for 50 condominiums. Left: Looking south from N. Walnut Street. The top drawing shows the first version with a parking ramp entrance from N. Walnut Street. The bottom drawing shows the "robotic" garage with an entrance on Prescott Alley (not visible in this view) and an alley between the hotel and garage for vehicle unloading.

Borough Parking Director Xavius daSilva-Thompson has announced the inauguration of a new web page containing detailed information about West Chester's parking facilities, staff and regulations. Although two of the thirteen sections are still unfinished, it includes the answer to just about every question you ever had about parking except for "Where can I find a space?" and it provides some good advice on how to answer that one as well. Among the features of the new web site are: downloadable forms to request various types of parking permits a complete list of parking garages and lots, plus their fees a list of violations and how much they will cost you if you get caught information about Borough Council's Parking Committee meetings (whose agenda appear regularly on this site -- see "Committee Agendas" on WCJIM's Local Government Page. contact information for Borough parking officials		Many neighborhoods in the southern half of town require Residential Parking permits
One of the new features is a "Petition For Residential Permit Parking" and an explanation of the process by which neighbors can ask to limit street parking in their area. The program is designed to enable long-term residents -- especially the elderly -- to find parking near their houses in neighborhoods where rental conversions have increased the number of cars. The web site includes the guidelines established by Council last September which require more than half of the residents of a block to request permit parking plus evidence (collected by the Parking Office) that at least 70% of spaces on the street are occupied on average.
There is also a page called "Employment Opportunities" that provides, among other things, the starting salary for a "Parking Enforcement Officer." It's $11.86 per hour plus benefits and calls for forty hours per week. WCJIM observes that while this is well above the minimum wage, it works out to an annual gross pay of less than $24,000 per year for a job that requires people to be on their feet all day in any kind of weather. After factoring in the kind of people hassles that such a job creates on a regular basis, we should all feel thankful that the Borough has been able to find good people to do the job. [Disclaimer: Although WCJIM is better known for getting around town on foot and bicycle, he has a car and has received four parking tickets over the year. In each case, he was in the wrong.]		The spaces along Church Street between Gay and Market are almost always full
Two sections of the web site are still incomplete. One is called "Parking IDKT" and WCJIM has no idea what that stands for. The other is "Parking FAQ" -- "Frequently Asked Questions," and since that is still "under construction," WCJIM would like to offer his suggestion for useful questions: When is parking free in the garages? Will my car get towed if I get a ticket? If so, then how do I get it back? What should I do if someone parks in my private (i.e. off- street) parking space without permission? Why can't people with out-of-state parking plates get a residential parking permit? Does the Borough make money by writing parking tickets? and the most-asked question in the Borough of West Chester . . . Where can I find a parking space?

This fall, students in one of WCJIM's West Chester University history classes will conduct a major study of the Borough during the Depression. Their starting point will be a new web-based resource, the Polk's Directory of West Chester, which contains the names of more than 2,700 heads of families who lived or worked in the Borough in 1932. R. L. Polk & Company published directories for towns all over America and researchers often use them for local history. They resemble telephone books without the telephone numbers, and contain an alphabetized list of residents plus advertisements and other miscellaneous information about the communities they cover. West Chester's first directory was published in 1857 and its second was published in 1879. Beginning in the 1880s, a West Chester directory appeared roughly every other year until the middle of World War II. After that, a few more directories were published, but by then telephones had become widespread and people relied on annual telephone books. The Chester County Historical Society has collection of directories that is nearly complete from 1857 to 1942. The enable researchers to follow people as they married, changed jobs and moved within West Chester. The earliest directories give only the name, address and occupation of the head of family, but in later years, they include the name of a spouse, a single woman's status if widowed, whether a person rented or owned their housing, and the number of family members. The 1932 directory contains everything except the number of family members. This summer, WCJIM took nearly two weeks to photocopy, scan, proofread and adapt the 1932 directory for the Web. His work has been posted on the West Chester University course website for use by his students, genealogical researchers and anyone with an interest in West Chester history. The Web version includes the names of everyone who lived (and some who worked) in West Chester, plus a separate business directory that lists Borough businesses in about three hundred categories. It also includes a listing of government officials and basic information about population, climate, municipal debt and other indicators of community health. According to the introduction, "The directory reflects the achievements and ambitions of the community, depicting in truthful terms what it has to offer as a place of residence, as a business location, as an industrial site and as an educational center." The 1932 Directory lists many businesses that failed to survive the epression, but it also shows that Yearsley's hardware store, Webb Jewelers, and Schramm Inc. were all at their current addresses. It also lists people like Nathan Shur, a shoe repairman who lived at 506 S. Franklin Street, and Edgar F. Paxson, a salesman who rented an apartment near the Sharpless Separator Works (which went bankrupt the following year). One can even determine that Mifflin Rigg, the builder of Riggtown, was dead but his widow Mary and a daughter named Nora still lived in the family home at 247 W. Barnard Street (at the corner with S. Matlack Street). Members of the class will attempt to answer two questions: how did residents of West Chester cope with the Depression, and were their experiences similar to those of people living elsewhere in the United States? To answer the first question, they will meet with West Chester residents and look through old newspapers, deeds and wills. They will use books and web-based resources to answer the second question.		Title page from the 1932 directory. Mifflin Rigg (left) and part of his family * Riehl Harry auto mech T Edgar Walter r RD 2 * Rigdon Lester C (Elsie E) slsmn h36 W Gay * Rigg Chas P (Anna W) paperhngr 124 W Market h126 do * Rigg Helen M tchr r126 W Market * Rigg Mary E (wid Mifflin) r247 W Barnard * Rigg Nora B slsmn C Earl Buckwalter r247 W Barnard * Rigg Wm H paperhngr r126 W Market * Riggins Casper S (Bertha N) floor layer h108 W Gay * Riley Agnes florist The Lorgus Co Inc r222 E Gay * Riley Amy r119 W Market A sample of the data from the 1932 Directory
One goal of the course will be to preserve the memories of some of the Borough's oldest residents and to make their research available to the general public. Consequently, each student will be expected to contribute data and produce a report for posting on the Riggtown History Homepage, a web site that presents the results of six earlier offerings of this course. Negotiations are underway for a program at the Hickman Home to allow students to hear residents talk about their experiences during the Depression. Then, in early December, each student will present his or her findings in a public lecture (date and location to be announced). [If you'd like to hear the student lectures, send an email to WCJIM.]

When people learn about this web site for the first time, the most common response is a question, "Is it a blog?" I usually answer "not exactly" since, instead of my opinions, most of what I put on this site is intended to be factual. I'm post-modern enough to know that the choice of "facts" is not always factual, but I'd prefer to leave that discussion for another time. Today I want to comment on the weather. Today is day four of a record-breaking heat wave that, along with the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, has dominated news programs all week. Every newspaper has offered tips on "how to beat the heat," every TV news show reports the number of heat-related deaths, and we've probably heard all we will ever want to hear from TV weather reporters standing in front of fountains with children splashing in the background.
When it gets this hot, it makes me think about some of the places that I've traveled in my life, and wonder how the people who live there are coping. The hottest night I ever spent was at a campground in northern Louisanna where, after a night spent carousing at the local Walmart and Pizza Hut (the only entertainment in the county), my spouse and I retired to our tent. It should have been a clue that on a clear night in August, no one else was tent camping in this park. As we laid there in the still air, the sweat ran continuously off of our bodies until well after midnight when we finally managed to get to sleep. Outside, battalions of bugs threw themselves against the mosquito netting, excited no doubt by the scent of humans who had feasted on pizza only a few hours earlier. It was, to be blunt, a miserable night.
The hottest temperature I ever measured personally was 121 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) in Niger, a country in the middle of the Sahara Desert. That was at about 11AM, so it must have gotten hotter than that, but no one wanted to check. At 121 degrees, metal becomes too hot to touch with bare skin, so all we could do was crouch in the shade under our vehicle and wait for it to begin to cool down in the late afternoon. An odd side effect was that each day's heating and cooling cycle (plus some rough roads) loosened up the nuts and bolts that held our vehicle together. Before we could get into motion, we had to go over the entire vehicle and tighten everything. Even so, we still lost a fuel tank one night, and had to arrange a tow to get to the next town. On a different trip I went to Mali, which is located a bit farther west in the Sahara Desert. There I was fortunate enough to stay in a house built out of cinder blocks with a metal roof. In heat like ours, however, that kind of construction does nothing to keep the heat out and the walls actually store up the heat. At 1AM, I could still feel the heat radiating three inches away from the inside of the exterior wall. Needless to say, sleep was difficult, even with a ceiling fan spinning overhead. These experiences make me wonder how American soldiers and their allies are making out in places like Iraq. TV news reports convey a sense of the danger that they face, but don't give much of a feel for what goes on in between the dangerous parts. An acquaintance of mine who has already served two tours in Iraq reported that a lot of his unit's down time was spent trying to rig up power for air conditioners. In between, they looked for water in which to swim (non-existant), take a bath (infrequent) or soak their clothes (most common) so that when the water evaporated, they felt cooler. During the middle of the day, they tried to stay in the shade and move as little as possible. Since Israel invaded Lebanon, we have received little news about the other end of the conflict -- the Israeli attack on Gaza in response to the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier. On one of the first days of that assault, Israeli forces destroyed Gaza City's power plant, leaving roughly one million people in a crowded city without air conditioning, fans or refrigerators. I wonder how they are making out. Closer to home, I live on a major artery and see emergency vehicles pass almost every day. Firefighters, in particular, have to wear protective gear that is heavy and which traps their own body heat. Then they have to climb ladders, carry heavy tools and head into places that are on fire. As I reach the age when I know that some things are better left to people more physically fit than I, all I can say is "thank-you" and make sure that I send donations to our local fire companies. Writing this has not made me feel any cooler and I doubt that reading it has done you any good either. But it does provide some perspective on the heat and how it makes us feel. As our parents and other annoying people liked to tell us, "it could be a lot worse."		East Market St. is nearly empty at noon on Wednesday   Imagine wearing this to a fire during a heat wave!

For the past three years, Jim Jones (a.k.a. WCJIM) has hosted public affairs radio programs about events here in West Chester. Since last fall, he's become a regular at WCUR (91.7 FM), the West Chester University Radio station. During the summer, he takes a break, but starting in about three weeks on August 29, "Talk About West Chester" returns to the Borough on Tuesday mornings from 8- 10:00am. The show is a light-hearted mix of local news and interviews with a mixture of movers-and-shakers and unusual characters. Last year's guests included Borough Council presidents Bill Scott and Paul Fitzpatrick; leaders of the effort to "Save the Y" (YMCA); the chair of the Regional Planning Commission; the directors of the West Chester Senior Center, Business Improvement District and Chester County Historical Society; world traveller and local businessman Chris Curtin; and a special show featuring popular African music. Occasionally "Talk About West Chester" addresses global topics thanks to the contributions of WCJIM's colleagues at West Chester University. Professor of Middle Eastern Studies Lawrence Davidson is a regular guest and he also interviewed Dr. Nakhostin "Niki" Javidani, a naturalized American citizen born in Iran, and Dr. Bill Lalicker, an expert on cross-cultural communication. On occasion, he has been able to convince student leaders, including the new president of the Student Government Association, to get up early enough to appear live on the show. This fall's lineup already includes a local psychiatrist who is going to respond to the charge that "the world's gone crazy"; then Borough's new trash and recycling coordinator, several political observers; and Borough Council president Fitzpatrick. A number of other guests have tentatively accepted invitations and the show promises to offer a unique way to find out what is going on in the Borough. Borough Council President Paul Fitzpatrick (right) "talks about West Chester" with West Goshen Planning Commission chair Jim O'Brien

Jim Jones warms up in the studio   Info tech specialist Seamus Cummins explains how computers are changing education Tune in to "Talk About West Chester" with Jim Jones every Tuesday morning from 8-10:00am on WCUR 91.7 fm

Normally, the Hickman Home is a quiet place. A retirement home run by the Society of Friends, it offers a tranquil setting for elderly people who wish to live in the Borough. But yesterday, more than sixty people filled the meeting room to hear candidates for Congress and State Legislature explain their views. Three candidates showed up -- Lois Herr for Congress and Barbara McIlvaine Smith and Shannon Royer for State Rep -- and three more sent their surrogates, so the crowd was not disappointed.		The candidates and surrogates. From left to right: Pitts' rep, Herr, Royer, Smith, Weldon's rep, Sestak's rep
The format was a bit complicated, but it made sure that every candidate got equal time and it kept bickering to a minimum. After each of the Congressional candidates got to explain his or her main issues, they took questions from the audience. Then the candidates for the State Legislature explained their issues and took questions from the crowd. Finally, the audience got to ask questions of all of the candidates. Joe Pitts (Republican for Congress, 16th District) did not attend, so his spokesman explained his positions on immigration, energy, social security and drug prescriptions. His statement was remarkable for the number of time he described an issue as "difficult, complex" and for the way that he attributed Pitts' positions to "the House" (i.e. the House favors such-and-such). He also used the word demagogue twice to describe people who warn that the Social Security system might run out of money, and proclaimed "the president's drug prescription plan" a success because 80% of participants say they like it. [WCJIM wonders how many people have chosen not to participate and what they think about it?]
Lois Herr (Democrat for Congress, 16th District), told the audience that she became involved in politics two years ago following a long and successful career in telecommunications, early retirement to a farm, teaching at a university, and authoring a book on the experience of women in the corporate world. She described herself as "not a professional politician" and said that she was running to "change Washington." Her main issues were ending government deficits, ending "intolerance and indifference" that lets people ignore what is happening to each other, and beginning to repair the damage from the Iraq War by ending "the occupation" [by coalition forces].		Lois Herr speaks to the crowd at the Hickman Home
Neither of the candidates for Congress from the 7th District attended, so their surrogates spoke instead. [NOTE: The 7th District includes West & East Goshen. The Borough of West Chester is in the 16th District.] The spokesperson for Joe Sestak (Democratic) explained that his candidate was born in Delaware County, made his career in the US Navy, became a three-star admiral and held several important national security positions, and retired last January. Sestak is running because he believes that the current administration has made our country less secure, and that "investing in people" is part of the solution. Sestak plans to focus on national security, education, and health care. He supports universal health care coverage (but not a single-payer system) and the beginning of troop withdrawal from Iraq in less than a year. Curt Weldon's (Republican) representative explained why she is working for the incumbent -- he helped her with complicated paperwork. [WCJIM: She did not mention that she has also been a Republican party activist since the late 1970s.] She gave few other details, but said that Weldon supports Medicare Part D (the prescription drug program), used to be a teacher and a fireman, and, as someone with diabetes, supports efforts to find a cure for that disease. At this point, the audience got to ask questions. As often occurs, the questioners managed to include political statements and multiple questions in their "question," so here is strongly- edited version of the candidates' responses. Pitts wants to do better to prepare for disasters like Hurricane Katrina by allocating "the money in a less political way." Herr is prepared to buck the system in Washington because 1) she hopes that other reformers will win his year, 2) her career at AT&T began at a time when women executives all had to buck an existing system in order to advance, and 3) as someone who has already retired, she does not need to worry about how her votes will affect her ability to get reelected. Regarding stem cell research, all four candidates offered their positions. Sestak "supports" all forms of stem cell research, Weldon is "in favor," Herr "firmly supports," and Pitts is "strongly, strongly against" embryonic stem cell research but "supports" the research using adult stem cells. By this time, forty-five minutes had elapsed and the candidates for the State Legislature finally got to speak. It was clear that they've both had practice because, when Smith was chosen to go first, she deferred to Royer since "I went first at the Goshen Fair last week." Royer (Republican for PA Assembly, 156th District, which includes West Chester) described his twenty years in the community, two terms on Borough Council and interest in parks and police, service on the board of the West Chester Area Senior Center, "involvement" with other community organizations, and his employment as a "staffer for the House of Representatives" which means he "knows how things work." He said he is running to preserve open space, promote "Growing Greener," reduce traffic congestion, improve health care and promote property tax reform. He claimed expertise in the last area because he worked as a "special assistant on a special session of property tax reform last year" but gave no specifics. Smith (Democrat for PA Assembly, 156th District) briefly described the results of her previous campaign against the incumbent (Elinor Z. Taylor) in 2004 and said she is "running again because Harrisburg is going in the wrong direction." Her main goal is to obtain "the greatest good for the greatest number of people" and she said that while she agrees with the reforms listed by her opponent, she is particularly interested in promoting better, more accessible health care and a cleaner environment. She described her experience as a partner in a water treatment business with her husband since 1978, teaching environmental education for the Brandywine Valley Association, her term on Borough Council during which she was a leader in revising the trash policy to promote recycling, and her family's interest in the region, which covers several generations. Questions for Smith and Royer started at this point. As before, they were convoluted and often included political speeches of their own, so this article will only describe the candidates' responses. Royer described himself as "pro-life" but supportive of Pennsylvania's current abortion law because it was settled by the courts in 1989 and he does not want to make this an issue in Harrisburg. He also supports funding for family planning, but prefers to leave decisions about "abstinence-only education" to local school boards. Smith called herself a "pro- choice Democrat" and said she supports funding for family planning and "sex education" in schools. In response to a question about the propriety of West Goshen Township Supervisor Ed Meakim sending out a letter to voters endorsing Royer, the candidate responded that it was customary and added "You're sitting next to Mayor [Dick] Yoder. He's endorsed me and you'll see plenty more literature with his endorsement." He concluded that since it was paid for by his campaign committee, it was legal. In response to next question, Royer said that he supports "pluriponic, pluripotent stem cell research" but that human embryo stem cell research is illegal under Pennsylvania's current abortion law. Smith said that she supports embryonic stem cell research, and then addressed the previous question by pointing out that West Goshen's Supervisor Meakim is a Republican [like Mayor Yoder] and that even though they worked well together on the Regional Council of Governments, she doubted that his party gave him any choice about whom to endorse. At this point, the last stage in the program began with questions addressed to all of the candidates. The first one concerned the pay raise approved by the State Legislature on July 7, 2005. Royer said that he opposed it and volunteered that he did not work for House Speaker John Perzel (a leader of the pay raise effort) at the time, but was employed by the Republican Party. He said that his vote against a pay raise for Borough officials during his second term on Council was proof that he could oppose his own party on fiscal matters. [WCJIM notes two discrepancies. Regarding Royer's employment by Perzel, according to an aticle by Benjamin Lowe of the Philadelphia Inquirer on January 5, 2006 (six months after the pay raise), the executive director of the Chester County Republican Party ientified Royer as "a staffer for House Speaker John M. Perzel." Regarding the Borough pay raise, Royer told the audience that a Republican mayor proposed the pay increase and then claimed "I voted against it and six voted for it." According to the meeting minutes, five voted for it (four Democrats and one Republican), while two Republicans did not.]
Smith answered the question by pointing out she did not benefit personally from the Borough pay raise, since it took effect in January of this year after she had left Council. She also pointed out that the raise was from $2000 to $4000 per year, doubling what had been a stipend of about five dollars per day. She then told a story about a Republican judge of elections who told a disabled voter not to vote for Smith in 2004 because "she raised taxes 12%." She explained that after September 11, 2001, the stock market declined dramatically, leaving the Borough in a huge financial hole because it depended on stock income thanks to an arrangement created by a Council that included Royer. It was a tough decision, but the only solution was to raise taxes, and it showed she was prepared to deal with tough choices.		Part of the audience at the Hickman Home
The next question posed to each candidate asked about their principles regarding foreign policy, but WCJIM had to leave before he heard the answers. Instead, he offers his impressions of the candidates. Take it for what it is worth. [DISCLAIMER: After years as an independent, WCJIM is now a Democratic committee person. He has never met Pitts or Sestak, but he has spoken with both Herr and Weldon. He is very familiar with the work of both Royer and Smith when they were on Borough Council, and he and Smith were both directors of a neighborhood association for one year in 2000.] Pitts, Weldon & Sestak: Since we heard from their representatives instead of the candidates themselves, it is tough to form a meaningful impression, but here goes. Pitts' representative provided no surprises -- his candidate supports the current administration without reservation, and anyone who opposes that is a "demagogue" or worse. Weldon's representative seemed poorly prepared, so we did not learn much about her candidate. Sestak's representative was enthusiastic and his message emphasized "security" in all of its forms. Herr: She looks like someone who has struggled and survived in the corporate world, so she probably has what it takes to succeed in the political world. She also owes nothing to either of the national parties, so if she is elected, she will be in a good position to work for change. Smith and Royer: Having watched both of these people for years (Royer since 1997 and Smith since 1999), I feel like I know them. Royer has become very adept at public speaking and at staying on message -- everything that he said has already appeared in either his campaign literature or in letters to the editor written by his supporters. It was also interesting to note what he did not talk about -- any of his other activities on Borough Council including attempts to eliminate building height limits and rental inspections, and his apparent lack of work experience outside of the Republican Party. Smith has also improved as a public speaker, but appeared less concerned about delivering a "message" than in holding a conversation with the audience. Her response to the charge that "she raised taxes" drew the loudest applause of the day, and she provided specific details about her experience in both the public and the private sector. Like Royer, she left out some things, such as why she briefly "dropped out" of politics in late 2005, or why she changed her mind to run again this year. WCJIM predicts that the race for State Legislature in the 156th District will be a thriller this year. Royer told the audience that "you'll see plenty more literature" -- an allusion to the funding advantage that Republicans are accustomed to in these races -- but Smith's well-reasoned responses to accusations from her opponents, coupled with her experience as a candidate for the position, will even things up.