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| F.R.O.Gs get preferred treatment while Turtles go belly up. |
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Lowering of Broomall Lake Causing Stress for Media's Wildlife
The recent pressure by Media Borough Council and the Friends of the Glen Providence to have the DEP lower Broomall Lake is beginning to take a toll on the wildlife that relies on this refuge. Here's a picture submitted by a reader showing one of potentially many victims who are being evicted from a century old lake.
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Tedman. You open this post by asserting that the lowering of the lake is a direct result of Council and the FROGs requesting that it be done. This hasn't been reported anywhere prior to now. Can you provide more detail? That would be the true heart of the story. Otherwise, it just sounds like you are taking the opportunity to campaign and take pot shots at those two groups.
ReplyDeleteBecause when the DEP representatives were on site at Broomall's Lake, their representative stated they had no choice in the action due to 'repeated contact from some Media Borough residents'. Call the DEP office and ask them. Repeated contact says to me it was the same people over and over. If you've spent any time over at Broomall's Lake lately (taking your kids to the pool) you will see constant presence of FROG sentries stopping any individual who is treating, cleaning, or making parking improvements to the 4th street side of the club. The state of the above wildlife says it all - those repeated requests came from individuals who value .64 acres of dead trees over living breathing animals in an ecosystem. And to the 'turtle expert' who posted this was a 'land turtle', I admit I am not as well versed in species but I also admit I have seen these turtles spending a significant amount of time swimming - as my kids and I have had many a blissful afternoon watching them swim and feeding them scraps. Tedman's posts may lack some specific sources of his detail, but hey protecting the source is a journalist's prerogative and a constitutional right.
DeleteYou are correct. It is the journalist's prerogative to protect the source, but the information you provided lends credence to the story. That is all I was looking for. Nothing wrong with wanting the whole story before formulating an opinion.
DeleteAhhh, so people were calling the DEP! I couldn't image ANYONE from the FROGS doing that. What a bunch of liars who are in cahoots with the local govt.
DeleteHow do you suppose that turtle got flipped over!?
ReplyDeleteWhy did the turtle cross the road?
ReplyDeleteTo lay eggs
DeleteHas Media Borough Council ever worked harder to put a local business (BLCC) out of business.
ReplyDeleteBLCC has been part of Media for well over 100 years and Council has been against them for a long time.
Trying to rezone the property to de value it, now trying to kill a historic lake and the wildlife in and around the lake.
Media took what was once an earthen dam and built walls of stone and concrete put in a spillway and then paved the top of the dam for 3rd st. How can Media say they do not own what they built.
Media if you do not own the dam take your roadway off of private property and get rid of the walls you built. Stop playing politics and self dealing with other peoples property.
That's ridiculous, anon 12:41. The borough was willing to do everything for the club--not only to relieve them of the multimillion-dollar liability that is their broken-down dam and toxic wastepit of what used to be a lake, but even to build them a new one with all the trimmings without a penny or any responsibility for the project at all on the club's part.
DeleteThe lake has absolutely nothing to do with the "business" that the club is in--providing pool and tennis courts for the benefit of the members in an attractive setting. In fact, that dam and lake threaten to run the club broke if they don't start cooperating, and at this point it is a stink-pit and 'the elephant at the pool' for club members. The lake isn't going back up; it's time for the club to start doing some waterside planting and stop crying (and looking and smelling) foul.
That property is somehow ridiculously zoned R-2 while for its entire history it has been open space--the only area in the borough that's so wrongly classified. Rezoning it appropriately would only help to preserve it as a swim club, though its value could possibly be less for the handful of equity members who would stand to profit from its development--the same ones who want to keep their lake and dam at the expense of the rest of us.
I'm guessing that at this point the borough would be glad to demolish the roadway and walls and return the property to its rightful owners in its original state. PennDOT will pay, DEP will be happy and the lawsuits will end. Best suggestion I've ever heard about the whole matter.
I agree if Media Boro can play games and essentially legislate BLCC out of business or make it so hard for BLCC to conduct business that it fails who is to say what business Boro Council goes after next.
DeleteSpoken like an arrogant politician who knows better than the community. I was looking to have my wedding reception at this club, but with the lake looking as it does, no way. I'd say the club is losing business. SO GLAD, i don't live in Media.
DeleteAnonymous 1:38 p.m. you don't consider BLCC's clubhouse part of BLCC's "business"? They just lost my deposit for a private party due to the lowered condition of the lake.
DeleteWho wants to celebrate anything next to a puddle of sludge.
I hope they can take some type of legal action against the Borough Officials who are depriving them of income.
If the club is losing any business, it's their own fault. They've dragged out that dam lawsuit for years and years, got almost everything they could have possibly wanted, then went back for more. The DEP has been after them for years to keep the lake lowered, and yes, residents have complained. But it was the Stipulation getting thrown out that caused the DEP to finally step in and take control, and it will be the club's continued litigious BS that leaves no alternative other than the State's coming in and breaching the dam. Maybe after that's settled we can move forward on a bridge or something positive for that area.
DeleteYou can still have your reception at the club, anon 10:45. When you go to book, just be sure to get it in writing that they will do some lakeside planting. If they wanted to, the Broomall's Lake's bare banks and muddy shoreline could grow a nice cover of aquatic grasses and sedges in just a few weeks. That would reestablish the ecosystem so that it wouldn't smell down there, and would provide new habitat for the wildlife too...everybody wins!
DeleteAnonymous 11:28 get your facts straight. Media Borough sued Broomall's. Media Borough is the party that "continued litigious BS" as you put it.
DeleteFrank Daly said it best when he was the solicitor to Media Borough during Joan Hagan's Presidency......."If we (Media borough) accept these funds to fix the Third St. Dam we (Media Borough) are putting to rest the ownership issue. By accepting these funds we are also accepting ownership of the Third St. Dam"
Look it up in the meeting minutes. Media own the Dam and the roadway. Media council has kept this in court for over 16 years.
Actually, the turtle in the photo is not a water turtle, but a land turtle... (I know my turtles...)
ReplyDeleteOh, so it's a tortoise?
DeleteOh, Gawwwd....next we're going to have a photo of a candidate for borough council wearing tortoise-shell glasses, complete with the expose' of the underlying scandal of the lowering of Broomall's lake as an opportunistic left-wing plot of the Nimby fake green coalition applying political pressure for their own conflicted self-interest at he expense of the oldest members of the town.....
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_eared_slider
DeleteIts semi-aquatic.
But I'm the wabbit...
ReplyDeleteNot a put shot per, but definitely need to do a better job explaining of this is to provide any political traction.
ReplyDeleteYou can find this and other stories in the Fiction section of the library.
ReplyDeleteAll of the anti-dam and anti bromall's lake responses above are coming from crazy people like Paul Indorf. In fact, it probably is Paul Indorf responding above. This guy got himself arrested after a council meeting. Here is the article:
ReplyDeletehttp://media.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/media-resident-charged-following-altercation-after-3r354e5e52a8
He is the mouth piece of the FROGs spreading their propaganda. Unfortunately in this society those that scream the loudest normally get their way. Or they get elected to office and do favors for their friends (sound familiar Kent). I am just curious if Kent Davidson and Paul Indorf do happy hour together....thats a sight, him and all the other Frogs drinking beer and croaking away. I just hope he gets the stench of the lowered lake at his house. Be hard to smell because he stinks already!
@ anon 3:38 PM
DeleteHow do we know that you're not Paul trying to make an argument vs. yourself while staying anonymous?
A few points:
- we've been through the importance of the dam / bridge / lake / BLCC / FROGs several times over in the ballot box. We'll see what shakes out in November when we've got a chance to vote again.
Also, there are a few hundred survey respondents who are of like mind with Mr. Indorf on the dam issue. I think it would be a fair bet to assume some of the folks playing verbal ping pong would represent a wider group than the few people you reference by name
This has nothing to do with zoning turtles or water level.Nimbys wanting to stop traffic going down their street plain and simple.I do not care about who what or where I am tired of wasting fuel adding carbon to the environment..two lanes are what held this project up..plain and simple..
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:45 this has to be one of the best posts ever.
ReplyDeleteAgree!
DeleteIf Kent Davidson were a super hero he would be NIMBY Man with the super FROG like strengths. He was sent here to save the Parks Edge Lane and 3rd Street Residents (those on the media side of Third Steet to Orange Street)from 2 lane vehicular traffic threatening their NIMBY universe.
ReplyDeleteHow do you know that all the residents of 3rd Street (all the way to Orange) don't want the bridge open both ways? You, or those like you, have been lumping the entire west end of town together with the Frogs for nearly two
Deleteyears now, and you have no facts to back it up. What you bring to the discussion is no more than name calling. You should formulating a well thought out argument. That is how you influence your opinion, not with name calling.
The problem, anon 9:07, is that there really is no sensible argument for replacing this dam, which is what "the swim club" (for lack or a better term) wants.
ReplyDeleteEver since the Stipulation was adopted, the club's only position on working out the details was that "there is an agreement in place", a not-so veiled threat that if they didn't get whatever they wanted they would go back to court, even though the Order called for negotiation of the details between the parties. Sure enough, they went back to court; the judge encouraged them to come to an agreement, they refused, and the judge threw out the stipulation.
Now they're faced with no agreement, a losing argument, and a half-filled lake with a November Deadline from the DEP, 'or else'. The club's answer: appeal in a higher court some more, cry foul, name-call and blame their problem on borough council and a group of positively-minded citizens who are actually working on some real solutions. Oh, and cut off the three feet of their property that allows parking on Fourth Street too...that'll get 'em!
It's no wonder this thing has dragged on for 20-some years....
There is a sensible argument for replacing the dam. Replacing the dam creates the cheapest alternative to opening 3rd street to traffic. Where else in the state of Pennsyvania can you find a road that was discontinued due to maintenance issues? No where, only in the town of Media PA. This road, that just happens to run over the dam, is a vital link to Media from Upper Providence. This road would be used by busses for transporting school children. This road would be used by EMT, Police, Fire, etc for safety. The majority of business owners have asked for it to be opened. The swim club, yes they have rights as well, wants it open.
DeleteThe only people who do not want it open are the ones that don't want the traffic. What other sensible explanation is there? Don't blame it on the environment and saving trees, that is BS. The bridge does not threaten the park or the existance of the park. The homes on parks edge lane did more damage than this dam/road repair would. Be it a dam or a bridge I dont care, just fix it.
What if State Street had a Dam under it and it needed repaired? Would you abandon State Street? No, you would fix it. Then why not fix this road/dam.
What's next, Springton Lake? Doesn't Rt 252 go over a high hazard dam? Why aren't the FROGS in an uproar over that lake, which was man-made? Because they don't live next to it like they do to BLCC.
DeleteIf the Broomall's lake wasn't privately owned, these FROGS would be hanging all over each other trying to save the ecosystem and the DAM! These people are a disgrace to this community.
The least expensive way to replace the road would be to install a culvert into the dam. That economically converts what's now the dam into an earthen bridge, and solves the problem of the high-hazard sludge pit. A new dam would cost far more than a culvert--the only reason for a new dam is to keep the lake. And what would we be damming, a marsh? Or is 'the club' going to keep on suing til they get 'the lake' dredged? And what after that? This needs to be settled 'once and for all'. Put in a culvert and build the dam road.
DeleteIt's time to put a culvert in that dam and use it as a bridge again. This whole thing has gone on too long. If the swim club wanted to save their lake, they've had every opportunity to do so.
DeleteAnon 1:17 and 1:50 are absolutely correct in my opinion about the FROGS. They claim to be stewards of the park but live in houses turn the place into their own back yard. They also claim to be good neighbors but thought it would be a good idea to put up a gate if the road moves forward.
ReplyDeleteI have heard some BS in my life but nothing compares to this group of phonies.
Anon 1:17 - Pennsyvania DEP has determined Broomall's Dam, not Springton Lake, to be a serious concern. A road/brige which was not replaced was the Indian Lane bridge in Middletown. Area taxpayers have not been informed about cost of bridge, but building another high hazard dam under a roadway to save money seems absurd. Just saying .....
ReplyDeleteSprington Lake is a reservoir--a good reason to have a dam! And, it's publicly owned and well-maintained, not tied up in a three-way 'hot potatoe' ownership dispute. Broomall's dam is now useless, in disrepair, hazardous and abandoned by its owners. That kind of dam gets torn down; that can't come as much or a surprise.
DeleteYou say potatoe, I say poetato...
DeleteSo, I'm supposed to get married at Broomalls Lake in a few months....is it going to look completely horrible?! I live in NJ about an hour away
ReplyDeleteIt won't look horrible if they get busy planting the muddy banks, anon 3:56. They've known for years that the lake was supposed to be lowered, but they just won't get real....
Delete