Natalie and Ivan Winegar, Newtown

Will provide an update on the latest First Suburbs meeting that was held on July 16th in Lancaster, PA, which included "very impressive speakers" who talked about issues and problems in towns around Lancaster and out west -- the same problems that affect Bucks County towns.  Stay tuned for their update.  

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The meeting of First Suburbs Project in Bucks on May 26 successfully rallied support from 70 people to continue an ongoing regional series of meetings.  The non-profit organization of municipal, faith and community leaders from the older, developed suburbs of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties.  We are planning to attend the next meeting in Lancaster and we hope more from Bucks will come as well.  

This project is devoted to galvanizing people across municipal boundaries to form partnerships and influence policies re the challenges of higher taxes, crumbling infrastructure, declining schools, changing demographics and aging housing stocks of the inner (older) suburbs.  People spoke up from Montgomery to Bucks County about infrastructures that are in need of repair. This is a problem which gets worse every day and must be reversed through concerted community action.

Correcting the problem requires petitioning legislators to listen to the concerns of the tax paying citizens.  To find out more, contact Angela.firstsuburbs.org or dial 267-977-9654.  Many who attended the meeting in Bucks County have agreed to attend the Lancaster meeting and would like more community members to join them.

 

 

New Supermarket for Richboro?

Developers from the Dreher Group had conducted a own survey of citizens through the mail, asking whether people wanted another supermarket and gas station, but the companies never presented the results at the March 13th citizens meeting. 

Instead, lawyers for Richboro residents got up and handed in over 6,000 petitions to the Township supervisors that are against development of 3 acres in the center of town.  Ahold Corporation, a Netherlands based company,  wants a gas station, another supermarket and a facade of apartment buildings much like what was built in Newtown. 

Murray Battleman, owner of Shop N Bag told officials that each store including Tanners on average would suffer a 20 percent loss in profit and that they wouldn't be able to survive.

Ahold Corporation included in its specs a plan for speed bumps and parallel parking on Second Street Pike to alleviate traffic, residents say this plan is inadequate and won't alleviate burgeoning traffic.

Next Meeting - April 13, 7:00 At Richboro Middle School, 98 Upper Holland Road, Richboro 18954 215-944-2500

 

Downtown Richboro or just another Strip Mall?
By Mary Ann Gould
 
Just like the the changes in Newtown, I cannot see any positives for Richboro as more shopping malls take hold….Quite the opposite.  I believe another mall will undermine our property values a s we get engulfed by strips.
 
Part of the land is not  zoned yet for commercial enterprise.  There was a major hearing at the township building on February 2nd and so many people showed up they planned for another meeting on Tuesday, March 9th at 7PM at the Richboro Middle School opposite from Northhampton Library.  A concern is that once approved, the plans can be changed based strictly on the judgment of developers.
 
Although township officials must hear citizens' concerns they must limit decisions to expert opinions.  I ask instead that citizens be recognized in actual decision-making as experts of what they want in their community and have more rights than a business wanting to come in.  It's time for the voice of the citizens to be heard and heeded and Richboro enriched by actual community participation in decisions which directly impact us as well as our properties and quality of the area..  Except the exercise of people getting up and speaking is often meaningless because of the law behind "Corporate Personhood" where "expert opinions" trump all citizen input.

 
The new development is coming in on the bend where Second Street Pike goes to right near Bustleton Pike …a very tight fit. The corner is seriously congested already and many accidents occur there.  
 
We already have two large supermarkets and really don't need another especially with the trend toward local goods and services rather than Giant box stores. They are fronting the area with some apartments and stores, but they've only given two drawings and some generalizations.   They used Newtown as the model for this design, claiming that it will be a village, but it is a facade to front the real goal -- the unneeded
Goliath.
 
The real issue is what does Richboro want to be?  Do we want to enhance the unique little downtown area into a real small town ambiance with specialty stores and options for cultural activities? 
 
I grew up in Churchville and nothing existed then but a small farmers market and a tiny grocery hardware store. Then the Richboro Shopping Center went in down the road.  The people said nothing  because some stores were need.  In Southampton and Feasterville shopping centers continued now they have one strip after another.
 
In Doylestown people walk the streets.  There are street fairs that draw community participation and create a pleasant feeling in comparison to those strip mall towns.
 
Downtown Richboro is old and underutilized. There is great potential to create something special. We don't need another big chain supermarket. Further, It likely could drive out one of those presently existing. Empty stores might be rented to lower quality establishments,negatively impacting other smaller stores in the respective centers.That's how slides begin and values decline.

Mary Ann is a founder the Coalition For Voting Integrity, Co-host of Voice of the Voters Radio and Internet and also an acknowledged expert in quality, improvement and planning.  She has also served as advisor to Philadelphia City Council and Advisor to the Mayor's office and City Council for Economic Development.