1) Goin’ Green… Green Energy Fair – February 25
Green’s the word, the way, the future.  And right here in your neighborhood, you can visit the people and businesses that can tell you how you can be easier on the environment.

Who: Hosted by Rep. Paul Drucker and PBPA
What: Green Energy Fair
When: Thursday, February 25, 2010 – 3:00pm to 7:00pm
Where: Delaware Valley Friends School Gymnasium
19 E. Central Ave., Paoli, PA 19301

2) Tweets 2…Tweets, Links, Facebook and Spaces
Social Media 2 – Boot Camp
Who: Paige Miller, Multiplanet Marketing
When: Tuesday, March 16 – noon
Where: Paoli Design Center
1616 E. Lancaster Avenue, Paoli, PA
Lunch Cost: $10 PBPA members, $15 non-members
RSVP – Attendance

3) Paoli Rail Yard Update…
Who: Rep. Paul Drucker and Peter Monaghan, Strategic Realty – developer selected for the Paoli Rail Yard
When: Wednesday, April 7 at 6:00pm
Where: Delaware Valley Friends School Auditorium
19 E. Central Ave., Paoli, PA 19301

4) State of the County…
Who: Commissioner Carol Aichele
When: Thursday, May 13 – 7:30am to 9:00am
Where: The Paoli Design Center
1616 E. Lancaster Avenue, Paoli, PA
Breakfast Cost: $10 PBPA members, $15 non-members
RSVP – Attendance

5) State of the Townships…
Who: Mimi Gleason, Tredyffrin Township Manager
Hugh Murray, Willistown Township Manager
When: Wednesday, June 15 – noon
Where: The Paoli Design Center
1616 E. Lancaster Avenue, Paoli, PA
Lunch Cost: $10 PBPA members, $15 non-members
RSVP – Attendance

6) Ads-R-U…
Anyone interested in discounted ad space in the Main Line Suburban Life newspaper – here is your opportunity to have a B&W ad 3.8″w x 5″h for $150.  Ads can be reserved for any or all months, excluding September.  This offer will only be available if 11 months are bought and payment is committed.  If all space is not sold by March 31 the offer will be withdrawn.  Contact Marie Thibault for details at marie@partnersadv.com  Regular price per ad is $250 to $325.

Contact Us
Paoli Business & Professional Association
phone: 610-296-7443
Who: Rep. Paul Drucker and Peter Monaghan, Strategic Realty – developer selected for the Paoli Rail Yard
When: Wednesday, April 7 at 6:00pm
Where: Delaware Valley Friends School Auditorium
19 E. Central Ave., Paoli, PA 19301

4) State of the County…
Who: Commissioner Carol Aichele
When: Thursday, May 13 – 7:30am to 9:00am
Where: The Paoli Design Center
1616 E. Lancaster Avenue, Paoli, PA
Breakfast Cost: $10 PBPA members, $15 non-members
RSVP – Attendance

5) State of the Townships…
Who: Mimi Gleason, Tredyffrin Township Manager
Hugh Murray, Willistown Township Manager
When: Wednesday, June 15 – noon
Where: The Paoli Design Center
1616 E. Lancaster Avenue, Paoli, PA
Lunch Cost: $10 PBPA members, $15 non-members
RSVP – Attendance

6) Ads-R-U…
Anyone interested in discounted ad space in the Main Line Suburban Life newspaper – here is your opportunity to have a B&W ad 3.8″w x 5″h for $150.  Ads can be reserved for any or all months, excluding September.  This offer will only be available if 11 months are bought and payment is committed.  If all space is not sold by March 31 the offer will be withdrawn.  Contact Marie Thibault for details at marie@partnersadv.com  Regular price per ad is $250 to $325.

Contact Us
Paoli Business & Professional Association
phone: 610-296-7443

As members of the PBPA Board – while this email was sent to many of the businesses already, please forward to any of your business friends or associates that you personally know to insure that this spreads outward to the Paoli Businesses that may not realize their obligation.

Thanks so much for your assistance regarding this matter, Marie Thibault

Click to download (PDF).

We believe that Paoli is the greatest place to live, work and play. Nothing “new” about that. But our goals for Paoli are. We want to make Paoli even better, more community centered, more walkable, more beautiful, more pedestrian friendly, more reasons to linger and enjoy.   We need you to believe and help. Join us now – because the “power of businesses” working together will make it happen.

January 13, 2010 – Luncheon Meeting at  Paoli Design Center
Speaker:  Rick Simmons of Dinkum Interactive will discuss Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

February 25, 2010 from 3:00 – 8:00pm  – Green Energy Fair
Sponsor:  Paul Drucker of Delware Valley Friends Gym

March (date TBA), Luncheon Meeting – Tweets, Links, Facebook & Spaces – Social Media 2
Speaker:  Paige Miller of  Multiplanet Marketing

April  (date TBA), Update on the Rail Yard Development
Speaker:  Paul Drucker and Peter Monaghan

May  (date TBA), State of the County
Speaker:  TBA

June  (date TBA), State of The Townships – Tredyffrin and Willistown
Speaker:  TBA

• Monday, January 4, 2010  (at Paoli Design Center, 1604 East Lancaster Avenue,  Paoli, PA 19301)
• Monday, February 1, 2010  (at Paoli Design Center, 1604 East Lancaster Avenue,  Paoli, PA 19301)
• Monday, March 1, 2010  (location TBA)
• Monday, April 5, 2010  (location TBA)
• Monday, May 3, 2010  (location TBA)
• Monday, June 7, 2010  (location TBA)



Street Fair, food, dancing, kids stuff and lots of music. Paoli will be hummin’, singin’ and swaying to the Blues. More details to come so check back often!

Click image for printable PDF Bluesfest poster.

Check out all the music locations > Click here for a map of Blues Venues, parking and shuttle info.

Blues Fest planning dates are: May 18, June 10, June 22, July 28, Aug. 11, Sept. 9, 16, 21, and 30. All meetings start at 5:30pm at the United Methodist Church of Paoli, the corner of Devon and South Valley Roads.
Please let me know if you’ll be attending and feel free to call me with any questions – 610-296-7443.

- Marie Thibault, President, Paoli Business & Professional Assoc.
MORE TO COME ABOUT THE BLUES FEST…

Please Note: The July Blues Fest planning meeting has been changed to Wed. July 28.

Conestoga High School:

• Caitlin Donahue
• Shriya Patel
• Emily Sosangelis

Great Valley High School:

• Kyle Blackwell
• Alec J. Koffer
• Jacob H. Koffer
• William Nelson Zandi

Thank you to all the students that submitted essays as well as Conestoga and Great Valley School for their participation and inspiration!

Thank you to our Speaker, Sponsors & Hosts!

• Judy Difilippo, Speaker; Tredyffrin Township Supervisor and Chair of Chester County Planning Commission
• Penn Liberty Bank
• Paoli Hospital
• Upper Main Line YMCA
• Paoli Village Shoppes
• Toscani & Lindros, LLP
• Preston & Shea, LLP
• McQuiston Insurance

The Breakfast for Champions is an event held to recognize and present scholarships to high school seniors who are making a difference in their community through volunteer efforts and/or school and civic involvement. Scholarships are provided from the Front Porch Trust which was created in 2005 by the Paoli 250 Anniversary Committee and the Paoli Business & Professional Association.

• Where: Upper Main Line YMCA Carriage House
• Cost: $10 Breakfast
• RSVP: Either via evite or call Betty Colmery at 610-647-2828
  Bring a friend!

January 26, 2009 – Blues Fest Planning Reminder…
Planning meeting for the Paoli Blues Fest is Monday, January 26; 5:30pm at the United Methodist Church of Paoli, the corner of Devon and South Valley Roads.

February 10, 2009 – Member’s Luncheon Meeting – Noon
PBPA is proposing a Business Improvement District for the Town Center of Paoli. Come and hear the details that property owners are being presented and what it means to our Paoli businesses, residents and vitality of our village! $10

February 11, 2009 – Blues Fest Planning Reminder…
Planning meeting for the Paoli Blues Fest is Wednesday, February 11; 5:30pm at the United Methodist Church of Paoli, the corner of Devon and South Valley Roads.

February 23, 2009 – Blues Fest Planning Reminder…
Planning meeting for the Paoli Blues Fest is Monday, February 23; 5:30pm at the United Methodist Church of Paoli, the corner of Devon and South Valley Roads.

Continue article online at Main Line Today…

• 2009 Business of the Year: Paoli Village Shoppes
• 2009 Citizen of the Year: Rep. Carole Rubley
• Summit Award for Outstanding Community Service: Andy Wilson

Held November 20, 2008 at the People’s Light & Theater Company Farm House. Click  to view photos from the event.

TREDYFFRIN — Community leaders are working on a proposal to help sell the Paoli Transit Center project to neighbors who may be wary of it. The plan is to make the current Paoli Train Station, which will be demolished after the transit center is built, into a “village green.”

“Downtown Paoli has almost zero green space,” said Ed Auble, a Paoli Business Association member who helped craft the proposal. “If there were a village green, and it were well done, it would be something we could all point to as a Paoli landmark.”

Such a landmark would help the town, known mainly for its train station, develop a new identity, Auble added.

“We’ve even been toying with the idea of having an annual blues fest at the village green,” Auble said.

He acknowledged he may be getting ahead of himself — the village green proposal is in early stages, and it’s not on any official plans for the Paoli Transit Center.

For now, official plans call for the existing train station to be demolished and an intermodal transit center to be built 800 feet to its west. This transit center would include a parking garage and stops for local buses and Amtrak and SEPTA trains.

Amtrak and SEPTA are working with several municipal entities on the new transit center, which will be built on the Amtrak-owned Paoli Rail Yard, a vacant, 26-acre industrial site.

To help fund the transit center, Amtrak would allow a private developer to build a dense, mixed residential and commercial development on the rest of the rail yard.

Many Paoli residents are unhappy with this proposal. They believe the new real estate development and transit center will draw more traffic to the town’s frequently clogged roads.

But there is evidence the “village green” proposal has convinced some residents that they could see benefits from the transit center development.

“Any plan that includes green space would be fantastic,” said Betsy Allinson, a Paoli resident who has served as spokeswoman for her community at many transit center planning meetings.

But, Allinson added, “Our main concern will still be whether Paoli’s roads can handle the traffic generated by new developments.”

The village green proposal, which Auble crafted in conjunction with Paoli Business Association member Dave Roland and former Tredyffrin Supervisor Paul Drucker, calls for a government entity to purchase the old train station property from Amtrak once the new transit center is built. Public, and possibly private, funds would be used to make the purchase and turn the property into a park.

The earliest that ground could break on the new transit center is the beginning of the next decade, according to officials involved in the transit center project.

Drucker, who is running for the state House’s 157th District, said a village green would benefit Amtrak by driving up property values in the new transit center development.

“The economic advantage to Amtrak can’t even be debated,” Drucker said.

County Commissioner Carol Aichele said the county might consider putting open-space funds toward the village green project.

“It certainly falls within municipal grants portion of the open-space program,” Aichele said. “The county regularly considers providing funds for parks, and we’ll certainly consider this one.”

An Amtrak representative did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
©The Phoenix 2008

TREDYFFRIN — The Paoli train station project received a $500,000 bipartisan boost from Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach and Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak. The pair jointly announced the federal earmark for Amtrak to build a new transit center at the Paoli Rail Yard.

The congressmen said the new transit center will have implications beyond regional transit.

“We recognize, Joe Sestak and I, that this is such an important project for the continued redevelopment of this area,” said Gerlach, R-6th, of West Pikeland. “It will improve the quality of life and the quality of transit here.”

Sestak, D-7th, of Edgmont, has opposed the change in FAA flight patterns that would take many of the Philadelphia International Airport’s flights over residential areas in his district. He said a better Paoli Transit Center could help decrease reliance on air travel.

“Many of the flights leaving from the airport are flying to destinations less than 200 miles away,” Sestak said. “Those people should be using this train station.”

The $500,000 earmark will go toward construction of a “multi-modal” transit center that will serve Amtrak and SEPTA trains, as well as local buses. According to plans, it will be built 800 feet west of the current Paoli Train Station, a local landmark many people in this Main Line town scorn and call “decrepit.”

The question is, when will the new transit center be built?

Amtrak, which owns the station as well as the adjacent Paoli Rail Yard, plans to fund the new transit center by allowing a private developer to build a dense, mixed residential and commercial development on the rail yard site.

But because of a recent zoning dispute, that developer might not be able to build densely enough to make the project profitable. The Paoli Rail Yard was contaminated with PCBs, and although it is for the most part cleaned up, developing the site will still be expensive.

Zoning and cost concerns caused the developer, as of yet unnamed, to consider pulling out of the project late last year, according to officials familiar with the project.

But these officials said recent negotiations have put the project back on track.

John DiBuonaventuro, a Tredyffrin supervisor involved in the negotiations, acknowledged this at Saturday’s check presentation.

“The project has done a 180,” he said.

Earlier this year, negotiations were stalled because Tredyffrin and Willistown townships, the two municipalities that exercise zoning control over the rail yard, had different visions for the parcel’s development, according to officials.

DiBuonaventuro and Willistown Supervisor Norm MacQueen said those differences have been ironed out.

The $500,000 from the federal government will be put into use as soon as negotiations between the developer, the transit agencies and the municipalities involved in the transit center project are complete, according to Rich Burnfield, SEPTA’s chief financial officer.

“But it’s always good to have the money in place so that when the agreement is in place we don’t have to then get the money,” Burnfield said.

According to estimates officials involved in the project have given over the past months, the transit center project could get under way early next decade.

©Daily Local News 2008

Click here for the signup details and form (PDF).

Anyone interested in donating goods to send to Iraq or has a soldier there and would like some packages be mailed to him/her, please contact Marie Thibault at marietbo@aol.com or Angie Schnetzka at angie.sch@paolipres.org.

Thanks to all!

Please click here for more information and photos of the Worthington project..

The Paoli 250 Committee, in conjunction with the PBPA, created the Front Porch Trust Scholarship Fund in 2005 to recognize and reward students who are making a difference in our community through volunteer efforts, and/or school and civic involvement. Six scholarships are awarded to deserving seniors at Great Valley and Conestoga High Schools. Selection of winners is based on their school and community work, as well as a written essay related to the Margaret Mead quote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

On May 2nd, all participating students and their parents are invited to attend the Breakfast For Champions at Paoli Hospital, our host for breakfast. Penn Liberty Bank is again graciously willing to be the lead event sponsor. We are appealing to local businesses and individuals to support the Front Porch Trust Scholarship Fund, with a tax deductible donation of any amount. All donors will be listed in the breakfast program. Anyone contributing $250 or more will also be offered a business display table at the breakfast.

Please send a check by April 20 to:

Front Porch Trust
P O Box 550
Paoli, PA 19301

For more information contact:
Andy Wilson (610) 647-5600

So far, it’s been a waiting game for the business community in Paoli. The promised Paoli Transportation Center was drafted a dozen years ago, and planned for several years before that.

“And we’re waiting, we’re waiting 15 years,” said David Rowland, a representative from the Paoli Business & Professional Association who attends discussions for the transportation center.

Click here to read the full article (PDF).

Please click for more information about this event (PDF)

EAST WHITELAND, March 26, 2008 – Carol Aichele wants a Paoli Transportation Center up and running before she dies, and she wants a slip ramp from the Pennyslvania Turnpike to Great Valley completed by then, too.

The Chester County Commisioners’ chairwoman, in a presentation to members of the Transportation Management Assocation of Chester County, was clear: “We need to address these concerns. We can’t be put off again.”

Click here for full story (PDF).

Rena Coyle drives to the Paoli train station several times a week from her home in Newtown, Delaware County, to take the Amtrak to New York City. She works near Penn Station in the Big Apple. Timewise, taking the train is about the same as driving, but dollarwise, it is
half as expensive, she said.

“I love it,” Coyle said of the train. “I was a die-hard driver. Now the whole family has hung up their keys. I’m a convert.”

Click here to read the full article (PDF).

Address Number Display: Also, required by the Tredyffrin Township Code is the display of address numbers on each business that can be read easily during daylight hours and made of reflective material for visibility in evening hours. Full details are included in this PDF file.