You're welcome, Lower Merion Township!

[giza]

From CNN:



What's even cooler is that the trolley in that pic isn't run by SEPTA nor the local government, but instead it is part of First Friday Main Line, a once/month event put on in Ardmore (and surrounding towns) by local businesses.

What's unfortunate, however, is that a substantial portion of downtown Ardmore is still legally listed as "blighted". A reminder of our crazy local government's attempted eminent domain takeover from a few years ago.

And what's strange... is where they got this "15 minutes to Philadelphia" idea. Did they even drive on the Surekill Distressway? :-)

Comments

[searedice.livejournal.com]

Heh... never saw it called the "Surekill Distressway" before, but that's definitely not a bad nickname. hahaha

[simbab.livejournal.com]

I don't see how gentrification is something to be proud of. It's been happening in Columbus for the last 10-15 years and it definitely has it's downsides for the rest of us. And I like this (http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/) blog just because it's weird to see the parallels in New York City of all places.

It's nice that they've cleaned the place up, but at the same time there are a lot of folks who think that the kind of people that a median income of $100,000 attracts aren't exactly free of disadvantages either.

[giza.livejournal.com]

"gentrification" implies that Ardmore is/was run down. That is not the case.

In fact, it is one of the things that the Save Ardmore Coalition has fought against. The attempted abuse of eminent domain was to tear down existing businesses and replace them with 8-story "luxury condos". Later, we and some other residents helped stop some jerk developer who wanted to build $320,000 houses in the middle of town (http://www.saveardmorecoalition.org/node/1830).

What I am happy about is that the First Friday folks have managed to make the town even better, and apparently worthy of being mentioned on CNN.

[neillparatzo.livejournal.com]

Gentrification and urban renewal are two different things...

[jouva.livejournal.com]

Eh most of the trip would be along 30 anyway, and the part along 76 is just 2 miles worth. I mean sure it's not 15 minutes during rush hour ;) But yeah to get to a decent part of the city when you're not commuting for work, 15 minutes sounds right.

[talon2303.livejournal.com]

Ahh, the Surekill. Memories. Then nightmares. Then therapy.
Ahh, memories.