The next item was a brief discussion of student enrollment that show relative stability over the past five years and more stability projected for the next four years. Although these figures show a small amount of growth, Mixner explained that in terms of an increase in graduate students rather than undergraduate students who place more of a demand on local services).

YEAR	Fall enrollment		YEAR	Projected fall enrollment
2002	12,584		2007	12,914
2003	12,697		2008	13,108
2004	12,823		2009	13,323
2005	12,990		2010	13,530
2006	12,882

1. Renovation of 25 University Avenue (the former Swope Hall Music Building): Following the completion of the new Performing Arts Center in 2006 (on S. High Street just south of the Bull Center), the former home of the School of Music at 25 University Avenue was emptied out. This year, it will be renovated to house various student service offices (Registrar, Bursar, etc.) on the ground floor and classrooms on the top floor. The building will also receive the first geothermal temperature control system on WCU's North Campus (a geothermal system has operated on South Campus for three years).

2. Construction of a parking garage at W. Nields & New Street: The University officials provided little detail on this project, which has drawn the opposition of a group who have adopted the name "West Chester Residents for Responsible Planning." The University hopes to start construction in spring 2008, but officials admitted that discussions are still underway and nothing has been finalized yet.

The advantage of a geothermal system is that a pump requires less energy to operated than a heating element or a compressor (used in air conditioning). Its limitations include the high cost of the initial installation and the limit to the amount that it can heat or cool a building. As a result, a geothermal building still needs a separate heating and cooling system, but they can be much smaller than those in a building without a geothermal system.

5. Construction of the Student Recreation Center: This project was mentioned in the University's fall 2000 Comprehensive Campus Facilities Plan and is scheduled to begin in spring 2008. Although the design is not yet finalized, it is expected to produce a 71,000 square-foot building located on the parking lot east of the Lawrence Center Dining Hall and the site of the vehicle maintenance building. The building will accommodate a variety of recreational uses and is intended to provide an on-campus focus for student social life.

6. Renovation of the E. O. Bull Center: Once student service offices have moved to 25 University Avenue, renovation of the Bull Center on the southeast corner of High & Rosedale will begin, probably in 2009. It will permit all of the performing and visual arts departments to take up residence on East Campus.

7. Construction of an Undergraduate Business Center: After the Bull Center is renovated, the University wants to construct a new Undergraduate Business Center beginning in 2011. It will be located on East Campus at the High Street side of the Bull Center parking lot, north of the Matlack Street parking garage, and facing the new Performing Arts Center in such a way as to create a courtyard.

8. Two other long-term projects are to make upgrades to the landscaping of North Campus and to extend the geothermal system proposed for 25 University Avenue to other buildings on North Campus.

After the presentations ended, the University's officials asked for questions from the audience. The first concerned the price tag, which Przywara estimated at $353 million -- $310 million for the residence halls, $12 million for the renovation of 25 University Ave., $13 million for the renovation of the E. O. Bull Center, $16 million for the Recreation Center and $2 million to move the vehicle maintenance facilities. Only one person asked about the New Street parking garage and Mixner deflected the question by saying that conversations with neighbors and the Borough are still underway so the design details have not yet been determined. Another person from West Goshen raised a series of questions about the geothermal system which showed her concern that it would affect the local groundwater supply. WCU's Giardina said that a similar system has operated without any problems on South Campus for the past three years, while Richard Hill, a plumbing contractor who also serves as the borough's plumbing inspector, added some details about the permitting process and the quality of the work that he inspected on University Hall. Even though the University hopes to eventually convert all of its buildings to the geothermal system, Giardina said that the coal-fired steam plant is likely to remain in service for at least another 12-15 years.

One woman asked why it was necessary to demolish any of the residence halls after "only thirty years." Przywara explained that many universities face the same situation -- residence halls built in the 1960s with shared group bathrooms and rooms lining long corridors do not meet the expectations of 21st century students for privacy, air conditioning and enough electrical outlets to plug in computers and other appliances. More critically, they do not meet the expectations of parents, who have a lot of influence in the decision to attend a university. Giardina added that the 1960s-era residence halls were constructed in a way that limits the ability to change their configuration, and recent renovations revealed structural problems that make renovation uneconomical. The University's conclusion is that replacement makes more sense, plus it provides the opportunity to align the new residence halls to reduce their impact on the surrounding neighborhoods (by placing main entrances towards the middle of campus, for example). Giardina was quick to point out, however, that the University is dedicated to preserving its historic buildings such as Ruby Jones, Recitation, and the Old Library.

Other questions concerned the effect of building demolition on air quality (hand demolition instead of explosives will keep the dust down), plans for the former "Rat" property at the corner of High & Linden Streets (none until the current commercial leases run out in about eight years); ideas on how to reduce congestion at the intersection of High Street and Rosedale Avenue (a stumper, since three entities -- the Borough, West Goshen and the State -- all have to agree); the appearance of the buildings (there will be no large "boxes" and several measures will help the new construction to blend in with the look of the rest of town); and ways to improve the interaction of pedestrians and vehicles at the crosswalk in front of Sykes Student Union.

Przywara and Giardina also mentioned several other initiatives that the University is taking to reduce traffic congestion on "move-in day" at the beginning of the fall semester. To minimize the impact of construction, they will require contractors to bus their employees to the work site so that they will not try to park in adjacent neighborhoods. To reduce the number of trucks that unload near each work site, contractors will receive deliveries off-site and only bring in building materials as they are needed.

Finally, Mixner brought the meeting to a close at 8:15pm by asking if the audience found it beneficial and if the University should hold similar meetings in the future. Only about three or four people answered out loud, but all said yes and one woman thanked the University for building the Sharpless Street Parking Garage, which she said reduced illegal parking in her neighborhood. Afterward, about a half dozen people remained behind to chat with the University representatives.

July 24 Update: WCJIM skipped the University's presentation and arrived during the question-and-answer period to find 34 people in attendance from the Borough, West Goshen and East Bradford including one of his former students, the author of West Chester Unplugged, several familiar faces from Town Gown meetings, and opponents of the proposed parking garage. The questioning was a bit more aggressive than at the first meeting, and a few people seemed more interested in telling stories than in asking questions, but several neighbors offered valid suggestions concerning building placement and design. The meeting broke up about 8:30pm.

NOTE: Read about about WCU construction projects completed in 2005 and 2006.

The older site is called WestChesterMenu.com and bills itself as "The Ultimate Restaurant Guide for West Chester, PA." A year ago, it was a start-up that presented menus from local restaurants sorted by meal category; i.e. breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, etc. Since then, poprietor Chris Dima has added dozens of new menus and descriptions, and organized them by meal and type of cuisine.

The new site is called WC Dish and it is just as organized and professional looking, but instead of information generated by the restaurants, "Dish" offers what it calls "Foodie News and Restaurant Reviews for West Chester PA" generated by its writers and readers. Much of it is delivered with a measure of wit -- the tone is "hip twenty-something" -- in articles with titles like "Breakfast Dating 101," "When Girl Meets Beer" and "Blogroll."

The site's up-to-dateness is about the same as WC Menu -- it still lists Sabor al Tropical, Atlanta Bread Company and Murray's, but notes that the Cream and Sugar Cafe is gone. For people headed out to eat, it's most useful feature is its "Review" page which offers readers a change to express their own opinions. The results include rankings on a scale from one to five (Spence Cafe earned the highest so far, 4.67) and reviews which range from useful to literary. One fairly pithy example described a place whose name appears frequently in local news accounts: "The setting was beautiful. The apps were great but the dinners were a little pricey for the amt/quality. Dessert and drinks was very disappointing."

WC Dish's "About Us" page identifies nine self-described "foodies" who provide the writing, photography, web programming and marketing for the site. Other clues suggest that the ringleader is Mary Bigham, a "27-year-old professional" whose "menu collection rivals her cd collection" and who writes a regular column called "The Daily Dish." It is not clear whether they are making any money out of it, but it does offer some fun reading, especially if you already know some of the personalities associated with West Chester's restaurants.

Given the diversity of West Chester's restaurant scene, it's not surprising that it has spawned secondary enterprises -- after all, someone has to supply black outfits for all of those servers. What is surprising is the quality of these two sites and the extent to which they make making the restaurant scene more accessible. They certainly offer plenty of material for anyone who wants to plan a restaurant outing, or just likes to daydream about food.

Right: Architect's rendering of newest proposal for the former Yearsley property (with Coyote Crossing in the lower right-hand corner)

The McCools' lawyer, Mary Ann Rossi, called four witnesses: preservation historian Aimee Lala who testified that the buildings no longer contribute to the historic district because their appearance has been altered; developer Chris McCool who testified that his group was unable to find a use for the buildings in their current state; planning consultant David Babbitt who described his calculation that the proposed project would generate nearly a half million dollars in borough, county and school district tax revenues; and architect Bruce Weinsteiger who explained the newest design and how it would enhance the look of the historic district.

The 2000 Comprehensive Plan divided the Borough into nine zones and listed goals for each one to be accomplished, if possible, during the succeeding decade. The goals for the Town Center District were:

1. Development issues related to the following properties: Spaz Beverage parking lot, Benson building, Borough Lot 8, Agway, rail station, Goodwill Fire, bank parking lots, new County court buildings, Rowan parking lot, IGA parking lot.
2. Appearance and streetscape issues involve: litter, signage, design criteria; historic structures maintenance and code enforcement; benches, landscaping, public spaces.
3. Improve historic facades; coordinate with courthouse building and renovation.
4. Traffic and speeding are a concern.
5. Loading zones, double parking along Gay Street.
6. Parking management: validated parking; incentives for lots and meters versus ticket costs; allow 15 minute free garage parking; cooperative use of private parking; too expensive for non-profit agency populations.
7. Parking allowance on both sides of High Street should be evaluated.
8. Create a pedestrian zone downtown.
9. Focus on and plan for business attraction, retention and management.
10. Provide one-stop shopping with a diversity of shops; desire for additional services downtown; decrease the high turnover of downtown businesses; provide stores to meet the needs of the elderly; first floor retail should be required; retail on the ground floor of the county building; provide a kiosk to guide shoppers.
11. A grocery store, theatre, department store, services, more restaurants, and a medical clinic are needed.
12. Store hours of operation should be coordinated.

[Source: Comprehensive Plan for the Borough of West Chester (November 28, 2000), Section One, IV., 7-a.]

All of this provided plenty of fodder for critics of the proposal. Lala probably fared the worst, since her testimony omitted historical details which members of the audience hastened to provide for the record. McCool's testimony went, for the most part unchallenged, since it concerned private negotiations between developers and potential clients, although one local businessman demanded to know if McCool would rent him a part of the building for a woodshop. [WCJIM: The offer did not appear to be serious, since signs announcing the building's availability have been on display along Market Street for most of the last year.] Babbitt presented a financial analysis based on assumptions about the cost of Borough services, the income of potential clients, and the chance that they will have school-age children, combined with data about the building's dimensions and local tax rates. Like predictions about the outcome of war or whether a bridge can handle a given load, financial analysis is a complex process that yields inexact results.

Fortunately, audience members did not attempt to peck away at the details, since that could have lasted hours. Instead, Bill McLaughlin of HARB said that the numbers were an attempt to pressure Council into ignoring the historic preservation arguments, while the McCools' lawyer Rossi responded that the Borough Code requires such an economic impact study. [WCJIM: Rossi was correct and McLaughlin was probably correct too. Borough Code 112-100 requires an "impact assessment report" and states what it should include, including "an identification of the demographic characteristics" and "an identification of the economic and fiscal characteristics related to the proposed project." The choice of assumptions can make the resulting numbers higher or lower, and it is safe to assume that higher figures are more persuasive than lower (or negative) figures.]

Weinsteiger's testimony also generated some challenges. One concerned his recommendation to tear down the building, since when he listed his qualifications, he claimed that he had designed projects that reused a school building in Parkesburg, a slaughterhouse in Coatesville and a lodge in Reading. That led to a series of questions about the cost of rebuilding floors and interior walls, none of which produced very precise answers. It also led to questions about the cost of retaining the facades of Nos. 104 and 118-120, which everyone in the room more or less admitted were historic, but once again, there were no precise numbers.

Ultimately, the experts presented the building as out-of- date, in poor condition, unmarketable in its current state, and uneconomical to update to a state at which it could be marketed. Their critics portrayed the expert testimony as biased in favor of developers who want to tear down a historic building because they can make more money with new construction, and whose plan would undermine efforts to preserve the historic look of West Chester.

Jane Dorchester, an architectural historian and former member of the HARB, attempted to clarify the building's historic qualities. She quoted from a National Park Service bulletin which defines something as "contributing" if it "adds to the historic association, historical architectural quality, or to the archaeological values for which a property is significant because it independently meets the National Register criteria, or it was present during the period of significance, relates to the documented significance of the district, and possesses the historical integrity or is capable of yielding important information about the period." After ruling out several parts of the definition (George Washington is not known to have slept in the Yearsley's building, for instance), Dorchester said that the critical question is whether or not the building has retained its "historical integrity." Citing another Park Service bulletin, she said that a building has historical integrity if it retains the identity which made it significant to the historic district in the first place." She concluded that, in her opinion, the Yearsley property had maintained its integrity because it was still recognizable as historic commercial buildings.

The applicants have coined a name for the property at 104 E. Market Street, just west of the former Yearsley's hardware store. They are now calling it the "State Farm Building" after a business that operated on the first floor of that building until it was sold.

John Lister was the architect for the first version of this project when it was presented to Borough Council in July 2006. Last Wednesday, Bruce Weinsteiger of Architectural Concepts was the architect. What happened to Lister, and why?

Weinsteiger testified that the building would offer 72 parking spaces in the basement (accessible from Cedar Alley for residents) and 80 spaces on the second floor (accessible from Market Street for retail and residents). That's a total of 152, yet the poster displayed that same evening in the window of the Yeasley building promised "A Total of 160 or More Parking Spaces."

That took place at 10:24pm, after just under four hours. As the McCools and many of the spectators filed out, ten people remained to watch Council address the second item on the agenda - - the final vote to reduce the Borough's optional height limits from 180 and 90 feet to 75 feet, plus an additional option to build up to 90 feet if a building includes at least one-fourth residential or hotel use. [WCJIM: The rationale for that excpetion is that residential and hotel uses create parking demands in the evening, while commerical and office uses create it in the day, so a building that combines both types of uses can succeed with less parking.] Since the proposed change has been discussed at great length over more than a year, and the only reason it didn't pass last month was the ommission of a letter from the County planning Commision, there was no discussion. Insyead, Council members spent a moment reviewing the County's letter, then voted unanimously to adopt the ordinance changing the height limit. And with that, the meting adjourned at 10:40pm, to the relief of everybody who was still there.

The National League of Cities and Municipalities (NLCM) is trying to do something about it with the help of local organizations. The NLCM's members include lots of people who want to make urban communities work, including several Borough officials who are active at the state level. As part of a special effort to address "problems of racism, prejudice and discrimination," a number of borough organizations, churches and community groups will take part during the week of September 23-26 in the NLCM's Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities.

Seedfolks is ...

The YWCA (123 N. Church St.) and the West Chester Friends Meeting will host events coordinated by other agencies, and a large number of other groups have offered support. One of them is Borough Council, which adopted a resolution supporting the "Inclusive Communities" partnership in June 2007, adding West Chester to a list of 178 other communities in the US.

If a grassroots approach to solving social problems seems like a longshot, it looks like neither national nor state government can do it on their own. Solutions must originate within local communities, but of course, none of this will work unless members of the community join in. So if you recognize the threat that the fragmentation of civil society presents to all of us, plan to attend one of these events, and if you're feeling extra daring, invite a neighbor to join you.

1. Get up early: This is the simplest technique -- shift your activities to the coolest part of the day. Then during the hottest part of the day, take a siesta like people in other hot places do.

2. Cool your house with night air: As long as you're getting up early, open all the windows and use window fans to pull as much cool night air into the house as possible. Then, before the outside temperature gets too high, close your windows (starting on the sunny side of the house) to trap cool air inside.

3. Cool your house with basement air: The coolest part of your house is your basement, so unless you can spend your hot days down there, use your basement air to cool your first floor. Do this by placing a window fan blowing out of an upstairs window, opening a window in your basement, and then closing all of the other windows in your house. This will set up air motion from your basement up to the top of your house, bringing cool air up to where you can use it. NOTE: On extremely hot days, you might want to place the exhaust fan in the room where you are, and close off other rooms and the upstairs. The top floor of your house will get hot as blazes, but the room where you are will stay cooler.

4. Cool off with evaporation: Sports teams use evaporating mist to keep their players cool along the sidelines, but you don't have to go that far. Just take a shower and then stand in front of a fan. As the moving air evaporates the water from your body, you'll cool down quickly. WCJIN learned this trick as a way to cool his drinking water in the desert -- by soaking the outside of a cloth-covered canteen, the water inside was cooled as the water outside evaporated.

5. Beef up your body's cooling system: When the air temperature gets near 100 degrees, your body, which operates at 98.6 degrees can no longer cool itself simply by shedding head through your skin. But with a face cloth soaked in cold water or a bag containing ice, you can cool down your blood by placing it across the back of your neck. Then your circulatory system will cool you down by pumping chilled blood to the rest of your body.

6. Use someone else's air conditioning: Some places like shopping malls and libraries run their air- conditioning during a heat wave, so if you can't bear the heat at home, head for one of them.

7. Modify your house: This won't do you any good right now, but the next time you think about remodeling or landscaping, take heat-beating into consideration. Generally, anything that prevents sunlight from falling directly on the walls of your house is useful. The French built double-walled buildings in their Sahara Desert colonies (two thick walls with two feet of air space in between them) and added roofs that extended far past the outside of the walls in order to shade them. In our area during the age before air conditioning, folks installed awnings to shade windows. Trees also provide shade when located close enough to a house, and vegetation of any sort is preferable to pavement (which reflects heat upwards towards a house).

Naturally, a dip in the ocean or the local swimming pool helps because water conducts heat away from your body much better than air can. Finally, alcoholic beverages, no matter how cold, make things worse because your body generates heat when it metabolizes the alcohol. The best beverage for cooling the human body is water, even if it is at air temperature, because it will force you to perspire. When perspiration evaporates, you cool off.

The weather report for today (Thursday, August 9) is better - -a high temperature of only 91 degrees -- and the long-range report calls for temperatures in the upper 80s and descreased humidity. That's going to feel good after what we've just gone through, bu it's no promise that the heat won't back. If it does, then try some of these heat-beating techniques.