Folks, you’ve been so patient waiting for us to get to you, and here we are! Tired, battle weary, satisfied and hopeful. Congratulations to all of the candidates – they put their hearts and souls into their campaigns, and that makes them ALL winners in SAC’s book!
Yesterday was almost surreal at times in the ground zero wards of 4 and 8. It was so heated there, that often it was personally disappointing to many of us. In wards 4 and 8, the ground zero wards of Ardmore, it was the frontline; those were the trenches.
We met a lot of very cool people, but must admit that the incumbent’s campaign staff in ward 8 crossed the line far too often in a course of the day and were in general some of the nastiest most hostile people of election day. That is something the Judge of Elections should’ve paid closer attention to, but we understand they were busy. However, in ward 8 we heard the incumbent say REPEATEDLY that she was against eminent domain. If that is the TRUTH, then she shall be held to it. She said it publicly.
In ward 4 we connected with some amazing people we had never met before in some cases. In ward 4, it did get a little heated during the early morning, but then it seemed to settle down to a steady stream of concerned voters. By the end of the day, even opposing sides had a sense of camaraderie because everyone realized that no matter who won, they played a part in a history making election.
The Save Ardmore Coalition is very hopeful today. We feel that unequivocally that Ardmore was a winner yesterday. How can we say that? Simple: THE ELECTORATE HEARD US AND LET THEIR VOICES BE HEARD IN TURN! No matter what happened, today we know a message was sent. And our issue, eminent domain, was pretty much THE issue yesterday at the polls. It will continue to be THE issue until it is gone. Stay tuned for some interesting national media coverage, for example.
Now we’ll tell you the results by ward –
Ward 4- Incumbent Maryam Phillips elected to a second term. This incumbent candidate got a tough challenge at the polls, as she only beat challenger Cary McClain by about 80 votes (give or take a couple votes, we’ll need the final count from the papers) – a very slim margin. We are now calling on Maryam to now bridge the gap in Ardmore. Eminent domain has visited her ward’s residential neighborhoods in the past, and there is no good reason why there should be complacency ANYWHERE in Ardmore. No one should experience eminent domain. Period. And we hope that Ms. Phillips will take a look at some recent articles outlining the detrimental affect eminent domain has on affordable housing.
Ward 8- Incumbent Jane Dellheim prevails also by a squeaker. Her challenger, Joshua Quinter is an up and comer, and no one has heard the last from him. Ms. Dellheim has to have heard the message her ward sent her. Vote by vote, she was told no more politics as usual. She claimed to be anti eminent domain at the polls yesterday (something we really hadn’t heard until the waning hours of the election), so we intend to hold her to that. We also look forward to continuing to work with Josh in the community at large.
Ward 6- Phillip Rosenweig . Mr. Rosenweig really didn’t have a challenger, but he is a winner in our books because he signed the pledge against eminent domain. We look forward to working with him!
Ward 2- Jenny Brown. Ms. Brown also didn’t have a challenger, and although she DIDN’T sign our pledge, we hope she will continue a dialogue with us and say no to eminent domain for private gain.
Ward 10- Scott Zelov. Mr. Zelov won over Leigh Anne Smith, and we offer congratulations. He signed our pledge against eminent domain, and we will be watching. We look forward to working with him, but hope Ms. Smith will remain active in the community, as hers is an important voice as well.
Ward 12- Brian Gordon. Here was the one landslide race of this election. Mr. Gordon prevailed over challenger Jim Stevenson and we look forward to keeping him amused and working with him! We hope that as in Ward 10, that this isn’t the last we heard from Jim Stevenson. We hope we will continue to hear input from Mr. Stevenson on issues.
Now…saving the best for last: the one for the history books. In Ward 14, Independent Lance Rogers won over challenger Andrew Tanzer. It was the slimmest margin in a really tough race (approximately 47 votes). But we know Mr. Rogers is the guy to bring Penn Wynne together, and there is no doubt he will work to end eminent domain. Both sides in Ward 14 HAVE to agree that this was a race for the books.
Ok that’s it from us. We’re tired. But for those of us who asked us what we were going to do today, the answer is simple- (1) count our victories- FOUR out of the SIX candidates who signed our anti eminent domain pledge have been elected. That means SAC and Ardmore won something indeed, yesterday. (2) Continue our fight against eminent domain, bogus blight, and bad planning. We need to have eminent domain removed from everyone’s everyday vernacular by eliminating it, and we will work to see that a contentious ordinance like MUST doesn’t further threaten our town centers and small neighborhoods.
The Save Ardmore Coalition ain’t going anywhere fast, people. Ardmore still needs us and there is work to be done. So let us all get past this election, bridge the gaps and move forward towards a future that is brighter for all of us….and we still want a future that includes our targeted businesses right where they are!
For more coverage read The Inquirer, who announced SAC and the citizens of Lower Merion the true winners. Read the Jeff Price article titled “L. Merion favors Ardmore-plan foes”
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/local/13118781.htm
Our local papers aren’t out yet, but do not forget to check out www.mainlinelife.com and www.mainlinetimes.com . Our journalists and editors worked really hard yesterday to give the election excellent coverage!
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