Letters
Effort appreciated
On behalf of the entire Chestnut Hill Academy family, I want to thank all of the members of our Chestnut Hill Community Association, the various committees and the board for the time and effort they put forth on behalf of both the school and Chestnut Hill. CHA has a long history of collaboration with the community, including working with the CHYSA and sharing field space, having community members support our drama productions, making our track available for exercise, hosting the UCPA games, and even having served as a polling place in recent years. We wish to offer a special thank you to CHCA president Maxine Dornemann and Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller for their leadership and direct involvement to help important community institutions like Chestnut Hill Academy thrive.
CHA has been thriving, helped in many ways by this collaboration with the community. In the fall of 2003, Chestnut Hill Academy’s board of trustees unanimously approved an exciting strategic and campus master plan for the school. The strategic plan outlines our direction to be the premier school for boys and young men in the Philadelphia area as well as a national voice in best practices for boys’ education. We have been making steady progress on these goals for the past three years, and our work will be greatly enhanced by the proposed new commons dining facility, a new athletic complex, and a new science and technology center.
In developing our master plan, we have maintained frequent communications with our near neighbors to keep them informed as well as to include their feedback on the specific direction of our plans. As our master planning work progressed, we also worked closely with the Chestnut Hill Community Association, its various committees, and Councilwoman Miller as we sought the necessary approvals from local and city agencies. Now that we have been approved “in concept” at all levels, we are excited to move forward on the specific designs, that we will continue to share with all those we have engaged thus far.
As a longtime member of the community, both as a resident and professional, it is especially rewarding to be part of a comprehensive, thoughtful and inclusive process. It is equally satisfying to see that our neighborhood leadership recognizes the importance of supporting positive change and improvement! We thank all who have worked hard on behalf of this shared vision of an even better experience for the boys of Chestnut Hill Academy.
Francis P. Steel Jr.
Headmaster, Chestnut Hill Academy
Thanks for support
On behalf of our members and board of directors, the Chestnut Hill Senior Center extends thanks to the CHCA board for approving funds as requested for fiscal years 2005/06.
Since its creation over 25 years ago, the center has been responsible for many educational, cultural and recreational opportunities for senior citizens. Over the past 20 months we have expanded the variety and number of those opportunities, as well as those served by our programs. At the same time, our membership has increased its service to the community at large: knitting preemie caps and blankets for neo-natal units at two area hospitals, sewing mealtime “aprons” for seniors in nursing care, creating Valentine treats for Meals-on-Wheels clients, as well as making donations of nonperishable food items and school supplies to families in need.
I believe that the Community Association recognizes how vital a role is played by the Chestnut Hill Senior Center, and is therefore generous in its support. All of us here very much appreciate that continuing financial assistance.
Again, our most sincere thanks.
Mary McNeill Zell
Executive Director, Chestnut Hill Senior Center
Women unite
I am a Republican Woman and I am thrilled with the prospect that Caroline Reeves might well be the first woman elected district judge in Springfield Township. Caroline is a breath of fresh air, with an abundance of enthusiasm, integrity and great ideas.
As the only attorney running for judge this year and as chair of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's Attorney Disciplinary Board Hearing Committee, her experience is exceptional. Her commitment to children — as a former PTA president, and as a mediator and counselor for victims and parties in criminal matters involving young people — will serve her as an effective advocate for Springfield's youth.
This is a wonderful opportunity for the women of Springfield Township to work together to get Caroline Reeves elected as district judge.
Libba Affel
Springfield Twp.
Batter up
The Rotary Club of Chestnut Hill would like to thank those residents from Chestnut Hill, Mt. Airy, Wyndmoor and other surrounding communities who attended out seventh annual pancake breakfast on Saturday, April 23, and made it such a success! We had our best year ever for this event, which raises funds for our international project — the St. John Bosco Orphanage for Boys in Guyana. It’s wonderful that so many in the community now turn out year after year in support of this fundraiser.
Special thanks to John Anderson and his staff at Solaris Grille for hosting and preparing all the food. We are continually impressed with how civic-minded Solaris is and the staff’s enthusiasm and support of what Rotary does for the community.
Rebecca Anwar and E. Ann Wilcox
Co-chairs, pancake breakfast
Change for the worse
I have been a denizen of Chestnut Hill for about 40 years. During these four decades, I have seen much change in the Hill, particularly in the business area on both the upper and lower sections of the Hill. While I have no desire to engage in a nostalgic idealization of the past, the business area of the bygone era had its primary function to serve the needs of the community on both sides, east and west, of Germantown Avenue. This was indeed reflected in both the variety of the businesses and the quality of the goods and services. There was even an ambulance station in the lower section, as well as a butcher famous for the freshness and quality of its meats. The business of these days reflected the Gemeinschaft that Chestnut Hill was then.
Today, we live in a different world. The now-called “business” district of Chestnut Hill, upper and lower, has been transformed by both real estate interests — some monopolizing the store market — and merchants into a Tourist Grand Bazaar. Serving the needs of the community has taken a back seat to the New Hope-ization or Manayunk-ization of the Hill. This change is reflected in the type of business currently present in the Hill, the type of business absent in the Hill, and the number of vacant stores — some of which have been vacant for a very long time. It is also reflected in an increasing expropriation of sidewalk space for the display of merchandise. This has sometimes made walking my dog a rather unpleasant experience. Some merchants have actually stared at me when my dog approaches their merchandise that is displayed on the sidewalk (and is reducing the walking path by as much as half). Some merchants, if not most, would rather have more dog-less tourists, and fewer local residents walking around with dogs.
As a resident of Chestnut Hill, I do not patronize some of the business in the Hill because they either do not sell those things that I need, or sell things that I am not in the habit of buying. And there are other stores that I patronize only occasionally when the need arrives. In fact I would be perplexed by the nature of some of the merchandise being current offered for sale in some stores in the Hill, if I was unaware of the fact that the Gemeinshaft of yesterday’s Hill has been destroyed by the arrival, sometime ago, of Gesellschaft, and its adjunct, but most appalling, commodification of life, almost in toto. With the exception of the summer concerts at Pastorius Park, most of the so-called community gatherings are actually an excuse for, or another exercise in, commercial activity. Even the Chestnut Hill Local, the means of communication and information between the previous community members, has become, in my view, the mouthpiece of the business association.
I know you cannot go back. But I am also old and wise enough to know that first, the path we have been journeying through for some time now is a rather dystopic one, and second, I think we are now unable to change directions.
Welcome to the New Hopes and the Manayunks. We are open everyday and on Sundays too. Please do not bring your dog.
The Hill that I knew is no more!
Diamantino P. Machado
Chestnut Hill
Not appropriate
The front of the Market Square Post Office on Crittenden Street seems to be permanently decorated with yellow caution tape. This is not appropriate in a community that prides itself on its visual appeal, and it detracts from the desirability of this part of Chestnut Hill as a place where people like me have professional offices.
Anne C. Highland, Ph.D.
Chestnut Hill |
