Monday, July 8, 2013

The Latest on Proposed Wawa Site for Media, Pa

Proposed Wawa for Media, Pa

Tomorrow evening an important Planning commission meeting will take place that may decide the fate of the proposed Wawa at the location of Baltimore Avenue and Providence Road.  You may remember the custom designed concept Wawa presented back in May that was truly unique for this company.  People were so interested in it, the story went viral for a local town.

During the last 18 months I've heard nothing from either Mayor Bob McMahon or Media Borough council regarding a formal position or an alternative proposal for this site - the gateway to Media.  All they are able to give are nebulous theories on why it may not be desirable; supported by actions of dismissal towards recommendations favoring this development by both the Planning commission and the MBA. Council likes to claim they go by the process, only until the process counters their personal agendas.  Then they diminish it as only advisory (i.e. Planning Commission). Look how they handled the 3rd Street Bridge compared to this project.  I've also heard this council refused to even grant Wawa a meeting.   If true, that's not only an embarrassment to this town, but a total lack of appreciation towards one of the most admired and well liked companies in the region.  

Whether it's too many gas pumps, traffic or what borough council perceives as un-welcomed competition; the Media community, businesses and Wawa deserve a straight answer from Media Borough Council regarding their intentions and reasons for, or against this project.  Media Borough Council may not care for this company, but here's a great article that shows many people do.






26 comments:

  1. i cant decide if the local government doesnt care or if they are just so incompetent that it has the same result

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  2. Has any application formally come before Borough Council? If so, their vote speaks for itself. If not, then it would be improper for any of them to take a position.

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  3. Has council consulted with the local terrorists-OOPS-FROGS over what position to take?

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    1. What about the terrorist from Starbucks? They are a left leaning corporation?

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  4. I'd love to see the Wawa constructed if it is able to be properly fit into that location. The nonsense from Starbucks traffic is already considerable, so Wawa needs to be very specific about traffic flow if they expect approval for a store in that location.

    Also, Wawa isn't running a perfect scorecard in the greater Philadelphia area for store approvals. Edgemont and Conshohocken both recently declined to allow Wawa to build stores in their towns.

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    1. Commence the smear tactics, would you like to critique their 87-grade of gasoline as well?

      Maybe if they sell vastly overpriced fair-trade products they'll suffice the left wingnuts of this town.

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    2. @ anon 4:06

      What on earth does a traffic question have to do with smear tactics?

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    3. Anon 4:06 maybe if you stopped drinking the kool aid and sniffed some Wawa 87 octane you would come to your senses.

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    4. Anon 4:06, great jump in logic there. I guess you'd like to see Wawa come in and do whatever they want, without regard to traffic. Then you can get your 87 octane. "They'll suffice the left wingnuts of this town." Huh? You're kind of all over the place there. MediaMike raised a legitimate concern about traffic, said nothing negative about Wawa, and you jump in about smear tactics.

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    5. He mentioned Edgemont and Conshy - sounds like proper smearing to me.

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    6. Oh he mentioned facts? Yes, big time smear job. Please...

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    7. Definite smear - some borough simetons can't see beyond what they choose to see, common trait. Why else hs McMahon lasted so long while sleeping at meetings?

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    8. Hold on a second there, the Mayor seems to be awake enough to have a FB page.

      Media Mayor McMahon

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    9. From Merriam-Webster: Smear - "a usually unsubstantiated charge or accusation against a person or organization". Both Edgemont and Conshy stories were well published. Too many people here so quick to drop to the level of irrational, incorrect arguments and name-calling. People can't have a logical and civil discussion on facts without someone trying to shout them down? A big part of why nothing gets done in this town, in this state, in this country.

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  5. Most of them don't have a lick of business experience, so what did you expect? What did Wawa expect?

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  6. Why would the Mayor take a position? Although he acts like he has some authority, it is my understanding he can only vote to break a tie. Am I missing something, Tedman.

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    1. What you might be missing is the fact that this blog's author will take every opportunity to criticize the mayor, who he will be facing in the upcoming election.

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    2. Since when did Media ever have a Mayor?

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  7. Well, I don't particularly care for the Mayor either, but it would be improper fir the Mayor to take a position on this or any other Land Development application.

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  8. Hey... The reality is, if wawa submitted a plan that met all of media's ordinance requirements and other pertinent regulations, Borough Council would be violating their constitutional rights by denying it. I don't know if that's the case here (probably not), but wawa is certainly jumping through hoops. Clearly something doesn't meet standards, otherwise they'd be ramming this through. Still, Borough Council and the Planning Commission would be well advised not to mess around too much with something they appear to know little about.

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  9. Was anybody in attendance at the July 9 Planning Commission meeting who could provide an update?

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  10. The Planning Commission voted in favor (4 to 1) of the preliminary plans for the Wawa.

    http://media.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/wawa-gets-preliminary-plan-approval-from-planning-commission

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    1. Good to see. The traffic consideration seems to have been addressed. As long as they keep their promises on keeping the existing locations open (Balt Pike / Monroe and 252/Kirk) I'm happy to have them in town.

      A major thank you to the governmental powers that be in this town for a proper and thorough vetting of this project before it was allowed to move forward.

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    2. The process is far from over (truthfully, the PC is only an advisory body). I fully expect Borough Council to break wawa's stones all the way through. You call it vetting, I call it wasting taxpayer dollars. And, the very real possibility remains that this doesn't happen. If the elected leaders wanted a "gateway", they should have lived up to their ideology by issuing debt when interest rates made money virtually free, so they could acquire the property and restore some green space to this impervious borough.

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  11. Face facts Wawa is a corporation like all others. The bottom line is all that matters. They are not doing Media any favors. Other towns have seen through their BS but there are some who post here that want to suck up to Wawa's PR. They offer minimum wage jobs to people from out of town.

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  12. They still have constitutional rights. Due process. It's a process and I'm worried that our leaders may step out of line and cost us a boatload in legal fees, despite what happened in Edgmont or Conshy.

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