Dear
Friends,
Good morning. Last week was full of
wonder and sadness. It began with a trip to the Franklin Institute to see the
“Body Worlds” exhibit. It’s fascinating…don’t miss it. My friend, Dennis Wint,
is the President of FI and predicts that nearly one million will visit “Body
Worlds” by April 23, the closing day.
“Visitors to “Body Worlds”
experience the power and vulnerability of the wondrous human body,” the
brochure says. “Most striking are the exhibition’s whole body palatinates…many
displayed in dynamic poses. The wide range of specimens shows how the body
works when it is healthy and how it breaks down when it is not.” Be sure to
visit the Franklin Institute soon.
The week ended with a salute to Fred
Bieler, an Upper Perkiomen legend, who’s funeral we attended on Friday. Fred
was one of nine children and spent his 77 years being a friend to everyone. His
youngest brother, Charles, had it exactly right when he told the congregation,
“Lord, you’re getting a good man.”
Betsy and I got to know Fred and his
wife, Doris, through the AAA organization. Seven years ago, we put the AAA
Lehigh Valley and AAA East Penn clubs together in a remarkable partnership of
equals.
Fred spent his life in East
Greenville running an insurance agency. He was a veteran of World War II and
the Korean War. Fred served for more than 30 years on the East Greenville
Borough Council as a member and treasurer. Hundreds of friends and colleagues
paid their respects to Fred’s family.
As Betsy and I drove home from his
service, we passed the golf course on Route 663 just east of Pennsburg. There
must be close to 200 acres of beautiful rolling landscape, which will become
the location for hundreds of houses. Unfortunately, the municipalities in Upper
Perk and the school district didn’t see the value of keeping the land in open
space. They had the chance to buy it and didn’t.
To the surprise of no one, the golf course was sold
to developers.
That golf course doesn’t require building streets
and sidewalks, water and sewer lines, and more schools. But that will soon
change. Other than the developers, who won here? The people of Upper Hanover
Township, and the boroughs of East Greenville, Pennsburg, and Red Hill? Hardly.
Municipalities don’t always get
things right. And because so many of them resemble fiefdoms, it’s easy for
developers to march in and drastically alter the face of the land. Most
municipal elected officials jealously guard their power and are reluctant to
cooperate with their municipal neighbors.
I thought of Dr. Robert Leight who
served as President of the Quakertown area school board many years ago. Bob
occasionally writes op-ed columns for the Free Press. In the Jan. 26 issue, he
traced the history of how six separate municipal school boards became one.
“It took 20 years from 1946 to 1966
to build the spirit of cooperation and collegiality to create a functioning
school community,” Bob wrote. “If it happens to the municipal governments in our
area, it will be because the foundation was laid in the schools.”
I don’t believe that the loss of the
open space in Upper Hanover Township would have happened if the four
municipalities of Upper Perk had been merged into one. And I doubt that the
Upper Bucks YMCA would be experiencing such trouble if the boroughs of
Quakertown, Richlandtown, and Trumbauersville, plus the townships of Haycock,
Milford and Richland were one.
At the moment, Quakertown is
shooting itself in the foot. Instead of welcoming the Y into the borough on
what used to be the Krupp foundry, Quakertown Council is throwing up
roadblocks. What is at issue is a “pound of flesh.” Quakertown paid hundreds of
thousands to acquire the eyesore and clean up the industrial waste. The council
wants a pay back and expects the Y to be the payer.
Two months ago, Father Fred Riegler,
the pastor of St. Isidore’s sent an email to me. “We do need a new Y,” he
wrote. “The issue was where?” And then he hit the nail right on the head.
“Solution,” Father Fred asked? “Why
not offer the 15 acres (not the 10 but the remaining 15 acres) to the Y for the
same terms that Richland Township was offering for the Station Road property?
[Free] No one is going to use the Krupp property anyway. The senior apartments
or the condo project is dead because of Richland [which refused to grant a
zoning change].
“Why not bite the bullet, be
gracious about it, and look upon the offer of the land as a capital
improvement? The new pool and the new library have enhanced the borough and the
surrounding townships immensely. We all benefit. The property values of the
borough have jumped. Would not the addition of the Y do the same?”
Bravo Father Fred!
But no…instead, the council has
decided to hold a public meeting on Feb. 27 to get input about what to do with
the land. What the public should do is tell the councilmen that it may be time
to find new councilmen.
I was appalled to learn that only
one of Quakertown’s council belongs to the Y…according to Councilman Don
Rosenberger who has a membership. I wonder how many of the other five municipal
elected officials belong to the Y?
Quakertown council is being short
sighted. Alas, there’s no way to duplicate what the Quakertown schools did 50
years ago. There won’t be a merger of the six municipalities in my lifetime…and
that’s a crying shame.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith
PS.
You can get “Body Worlds” info by calling toll free 877-801-BODY or on the
Internet www.bodyworlds.com