Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 151, No. 10
60 Cents
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
INSIDE ‘This will be the economic Kennett Square
engine for southern Chester County’
Officials are optimistic that the proposed parking garage and transportation center will be a catalyst for future economic development opportunities in Oxford. The borough is closing in on securing sufficient funding to move forward with the project Education and Summer Camp Guide
By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
Can Oxford Borough afford to move forward with a plan to construct a parking garage near its business district? Can it afford not to? These weighty questions will be on the minds of Oxford’s elected officials and leaders until a decision is made, one way or another, on whether the borough will move forward with the project. The decision will come in the not-too-distant future, The beauty of the land- and it’s one that could scape at Bookplace...1B impact the borough and its 5,000 residents for years to come. Decades ago, Oxford was the economic hub of southern Chester County. Longtime residents can still remember a time when the town’s business district was bustling with activity, its streets alive with pedestrians on their way to dinner or the movies, and its stores filled with shoppers. Borough manager Brian Hoover believes that the parking garage can be a catalyst for Paying tribute to future economic developMcCartney’s music...1B ment opportunities that will once again make Oxford a hub of business activity.
INDEX
Police Blotter...............4A Opinion........................7A Calendar of Events.....2B Obituaries....................3B
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Council unanimously approves an ordinance that prohibits discrimination and establishes a Human Relations Commission to address concerns and mediate complaints By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
Photo by Steven Hoffman
Oxford Borough officials are considering constructing a parking garage and transportation center in the business district to address the long-term parking needs of the borough.
“It’s obvious that we need that facility,” Hoover said in an interview last week. “All the parking studies point to the fact that if you want anything to occur, you need to address the parking issue in the downtown. We have an opportunity to drive activity in the downtown district. That brings jobs to town. This will be the economic engine for southern Chester County.” Elected officials are well aware that the borough
already has a high millage rate, and from the very beginning, this project depended on the borough’s ability to obtain funding through public and private sources. Hoover emphasized that they understand that the borough’s residents shouldn’t shoulder the burden of paying for the costs of constructing and maintaining the parking garage. Oxford enlisted Steve Krug of Krug Architects Continued on Page 2A
Kennett Square prides itself on its diversity and celebrates its culture of inclusion and equality. On Monday night, Kennett Square Borough Council put its commitment to diversity and fairness in writing. An enthusiastic, standingroom-only crowd turned out for the meeting as borough council considered the adoption of an ordinance that prohibits discrimination. The ordinance that was under consideration also establishes the creation of a Human Relations Commission that provides people who live and work in the borough with a local resource to address discrimination complaints. Council members introduced the ordinance for discussion two months ago after being prompted by some community activists who raised concerns about all people being treated fairly in the borough. The ordinance under con-
sideration states that, “It is necessary that appropriate legislation be enacted to ensure that all individuals, regardless of actual or perceived race, color, sex, religion, ancestry, natural origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, familial status, marital status, age, mental or physical disability, use of guide or support animals and/or mechanical aids, are afforded equal opportunities for employment, housing, ownership or lease of commercial property, and the use of public accommodations.” In short, the ordinance aims to provide protection from discrimination to all people who live or work in the borough. The ordinance declares that it is the borough’s public policy to safeguard all individuals’ access to all public accommodations, and that discrimination in housing, employment, or public accommodations is strictly prohibited. While federal and state Continued on Page 6A
Indivisible KSQ: ‘Our diversity is our strength’ Overflow crowd shares ideas, action plans at grassroots group’s meeting By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Classifieds..................6B
© 2007 The Chester County Press
Borough takes a stand against discrimination
On the morning of Saturday, Feb. 18, about 40 community members gathered in a lower level meeting room at the Kennett Library to hear the objectives of Indivisible KSQ, a newly-formed collective of concerned citizens who want to open more doors and help more people. On the morning of March 4, the lower level meeting room at the library again served as the site of group’s meeting.
Yet, in a space that comfortably holds no more than 25, an audience of more than 100 attended, filling every available seat, packing every narrow aisle, and arching their heads four-deep at the door at the front of the room, in order to see and hear what was happening inside. Over the course of the 90-minute meeting, the group communicated ideas and put plans to action, with specific emphasis on strengthening communication between the Hispanic and non-Hispanic
communities, throwing their support to the Hispanic population in the face of kicked-up immigration and customs enforcement measures, and addressing the issue of gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. “Our goal is to revitalize American democracy, empower progressive leaders, and elevate the political consciousness of our community,” said moderator and KSQ Invisible member Laura Florence. “We are working together to model the values
of inclusion, respect and fairness, and we realize that we are all connected, and that our diversity is our strength.” “We are here as an action and a resource and a networking group, whatever we decide to do, it’s with that intention.” The first topic of discussion helped determine ways that the group can provide solutions for -- and integrate with -- the local Hispanic community, where a wave of fear has set in as a result of aggressive efforts by Immigrations
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to canvas the Hispanic neighborhoods throughout the Kennett Square area. Paola Rosas, a board member with La Communidad Hispana, said that “the fear in this is real.” At one point in the meeting, Rosas served as an English interpreter for an Hispanic mother of four who received a visit from ICE representatives the day before. She said that the authorities briefly detained her husband, and took her Continued on Page 5A
Half Moon Restaurant & Saloon to close March 11
Saying ‘Goodbye’ to an iconic landmark
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Ever since they first hung the well-known sign that announced the arrival of a new eatery on State Street in Kennett Square in 1997, Half Moon Restaurant & Saloon owner Scott Hammond and his partner Kristin Hess, who have offered a diverse menu that includes elk and bison, have always managed to run their popular restaurant against the grain. Now, after 20 years, they will be selling to it. Hammond and Hess recently announced that they are retiring, and that they have sold the Kennett Square institution to managing partners Lee Mikles and Jim O’Donoghue, who have owned Grain Craft Bar+Kitchen in Newark since July 2015, as well as the former Aqua Sol in Bear, which they recently
purchased. The Half Moon will close after business on March 11 and will reopen in a few weeks under a new name: Grain KSQ. “Twenty years in the restaurant business is like 25 years in any other business,” Hammond said, moments before the restaurant opened on March 3. “It doesn’t stop. You’re here on Christmas Eve. You’re here on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. You’re always here, and we have to staff it every day from eight in the morning to two in the morning the next day. That’s a lot to have to worry about, and it just doesn’t stop.” When Hess announced that she was stepping away from the day-to-day operation of the eatery three years ago, she said that Hammond was reluctant to leave the Half Moon at the time, but she persisted. “It was seven days a week,
Massey and Donze deserve support By Uncle Irvin
When the original plans were conceived for the Half Moon when Hammond and Hess purchased it in September of 1996, the concept was to create a one-of-kind restaurant that would make a mark in the local foodie scene, one that would take customers on an imaginary trip to turn-of-the-century Boston,
Among the important local offices that will be filled in the 2017 municipal election is that of District Judge. The Oxford area district has been presided over by Scott Massey for the last six years. Massey, a former police officer, has done a very good job in his first term. Massey is not an attorney, and under state law had to attend District Judge school and pass a rigorous test in order to qualify. Massey has company in Chester County, where a number of non-lawyers sit
Continued on Page 5A
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Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Half Moon Restaurant & Saloon owner Scott Hammond and his partner, Kristin Hess, at their popular Kennett Square eatery, which will close on March 11.
every day, for 20 years, and Scott and I figured that we wanted to go out while were still going strong,” Hess said. “At first we put caps on it. We said to each other, ‘Hey, how about another five years? How about another year?’ I kept telling Scott that it was time,” she said. “It was about two years ago when I finally got Scott to say that it was time.”