Rebellion in Swarthmore
By Bob Small
Upon arriving at the Dec. 8 Swarthmore Borough Council Meeting, the public was greeted with a notice from Bellwoar Kelly, LLP: West Chester Criminal Law & Personal entitled “Opposition Proposed Rezoning of Cunningham Field Property”.
Note: Though this was given out at the meeting, it is not on their blog.
Briefly, this eight page legal document listed the opposition of neighbors living on College Avenue, and adjacent, to the expansion of Cunningham Field and the rezoning required.
Traditionally, there’s been an “understood” quid pro quo between the Borough and the College. The Borough needs money and the College plucks money from their “magic money tree”. The College needs rezoning and it just naturally seems to happen.
Rarely has there been an instance where a neighborhood could afford the high-powered legal representation to oppose something.
This is that we have here.
Among the many sections of this six page document is the stipulation that “The Application should be withdrawn and a new application submitted that addresses the use of the fields from June through August”. The college is also requested to list days and times the fields will be used.
This is a far cry from the old “trust us, we’re your friends”.
Perhaps the example of Clothier Field, where the adjacent neighbors have heard and seen the ongoing activities for a while enters into this.
For a comparison of the original plan to the “updated plan”, see Proposed Changes to Cunningham Fields – Mem including “Additionally, we propose to eliminate the current condition of visiting buses queuing along College Ave. by using the South Cunningham Lot as the main entry point for the new park.”
It wouldn’t be uncharitable to read this as “you caught us, so we’ll change.”
Uncharitable but probably correct.
The Philadelphia Inquirer devoted a (printed) six page article Swarthmore College hopes to redevelop Cunningham … to the controversy but could only find room for one paragraph about the residents reaction!
It does list many of the changes.
Susan Cunningham was involved with Swarthmore’s founding in 1864, at a time when women were not welcomed in many colleges and universities Princeton didn’t become co-ed until 1969, after all.
She became Mathematics Chair and both a building and a field bear her name.
To follow the ongoing controversy, read The Swarthmorean which covers this controversy regularly.
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