Opinion: Can Chestnut Hill
depend on the City?

by Lloyd P. Wells and Ellen V.P. WelLS

The editorial, "Changes in the Wind," published in the November 6, '03 issue of the Local, is importantly significant, not only to Chestnut Hill, but to the City of Philadelphia in its entirety. Our confidence in a positive future for Chestnut Hill is fundamentally challenged. Accordingly, my wife and I wish to retract the pledges we've made pending the decision currently under consideration by the Community Association's Bylaws Committee and ultimately by its Community Council (CHCA Board).

I've never, and the same is true of my wife, withdrawn a pledge but, in these circumstances, it would be madness to throw good money after bad. The subject editorial is, in our opinions, a harbinger of what is about to occur.

Paraphrasing in part, my response to the solicitation made:

The bylaws committee is, in effect, the terminal bud of Chestnut Hill's civic experiment dating back to 1948.  Its revival is vitally important to Chestnut Hill’s future. The principal question that has never been resolved is, “What is the Chestnut Hill Community Association?”

Is it only a small local mendicant charity supporting worthy community programs or, on the other hand, is the Chestnut Hill Community Association a proclamation of joint responsibility by free sovereign people in the form of a governmental experiment in direct democracy, operating under law and sharing responsibility for Chestnut Hill’s current and future quality of life, supportive of but not dependent on, Philadelphia’s City Council (or any other private or governmental agencies)?

If the latter role is adopted, then the most important change to the bylaws would be to revise the "bylaw language" from the existing corporate vocabulary to governmental vocabulary (See: "Recreating Democracy - Breathing New Life Into American Communities" (available from the Chestnut Hill Historical Society or the Chestnut Hill Library), pages 48-50, "Democratic or Corporate Bylaws?"), i.e., the currently used word “BOARD” would become “COMMUNITY COUNCIL;” the word “PRESIDENT” would become “COMMUNITY MAYOR;” “BOARD MEMBERS” would become “COMMUNITY COUNCILORS;” etc.

The civic association that existed in Chestnut Hill prior to my time, described by Dr. David Contosta in his book, Suburb In The City – Chestnut Hill 1850 - 1990 (pages 163-167), found, in its day, that the community could not rely on Philadelphia City Council's policy to maintain and improve the quality of life in local Chestnut Hill. In my day, unaware of the earlier Chestnut Hill Community Improvement Association, we rediscovered the same reality for ourselves and responded by building the existing civic structure.

I cannot believe that Chestnut Hill's ongoing leadership thinks that the “one suit fits all” policy necessarily developed by City Council is, or can be, constructive to the very different qualities of living in the many diverse communities throughout the City. I can believe  — in fact I’ve known Chestnut Hillers, who, interested in advancing their influence in City Hall, have attempted to subordinate the community’s best interests to their objectives  — and other local leaders, unwilling to personally undertake the responsibilities requisite to maintain and improve the community, yet are willing to accept office in the CHCA, CHBA, CHHS, CHF (Chestnut Hill Community Fund), CHPF, Local Advisory Committee and the many other interlocking committees.

Working at the national level, I’m learning every day that this same political dichotomy which has confronted Chestnut Hill since at least 1950 exists and has existed at most every governmental level throughout the Country since the Constitutions ratification in 1789. If any need validation of this observation they are referred to Alexis de Tocqueville’s warning described in the article, “Consent of the Governed” available on the Web at: www.oriononline.org/pages/om/03-6om/Kaplan.html.

Lloyd Wells was the chief architect of the Chestnut Hill Community Association as it is structured today. As a Chestnut Hill merchant in the 1950s, he established the Chestnut Hill Parking Foundation and was instrumental in the founding of the Chestnut Hill  Development  Group (now known as  the Chestnut Hill Business Association). Ellen Wells was the editor of the ‘Local’ from 1960 until 1972. The couple relocated to Maine in the 1970s. Ed.