Merchantville was 98% White in 1980, 96% White in 1990, 84% White in 2000, and now 71% White in 2010. Would you expect a continued double digit decrease for 2020? Do you foresee Merchantville and other communities for that matter having no majority racial group by 2030?
While there is a certain racial and economic connotation with a Crown Fried Chicken, we are probably not far from a Mexican grocery store advertising in the window on the prepaid calling cards with a 1.9 cent rate to Honduras. A lot of people in town have dreams of filling those vacant store fronts with brew pubs and fine shops that you would find in Haddonfield, Lambertville, or other "Classic Towns"; but based on the recent demographics, is Merchantville better suited in attracting businesses that cater to our increasingly diverse community?
70 comments:
Wow. Guess what? We don't all shop at little bodegas for prepaid calling cards. Many of us shop at McFarlan's, eat at the Blue Monkey, and worship at St. Pete's. When we call my wife's family in Venezuala we use Skype.
What's the big deal if some people look different from you??
There is no difference, we all put our pants on the same way some people are just more shallow minded than others, our diversity is what this country is all about.
Wow. I don't know who the blogmeister is but he/she appears to have suddenly adopted what appears to be a racist agenda. Accusations of racism are too easily thrown these days and I am reluctant to do same. But statements like “we are probably not far from a Mexican grocery store advertising in the window on the prepaid calling cards with a 1.9 cent rate to Honduras” appear to me to indicate an obvious bias that I hadn't seen before from our noble moderator. Even the subject moniker “Mercantevilla” seems grossly biased to me.
Before the train gets any farther from the station, let me be crystal clear there is no agenda. I hope that this is a forum that anyone can talk about race without being called racist. Your entitled to interpret all statements made; however, I am baffled that my description of a typical bodega that I drive by everyday and a translation of "merchant" and the world "villa" meaning small town constitutes a racial bias, but I will reiterate there's no racial intent.
@ Mville Citizen - I have followed this blog for longer than I care to admit. I recognize that you try to start meaningful discussions by presenting controversial topics. That has been a wonderful addition to the valid disagreements in the community. I read this particular topic as a race baiting attempt to get the audience fired up. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I have my opinion and hopefully it is wrong. Either way, I thank you for giving us all an opportunity to freely express our opinions.
I felt like I needed a shower after reading this. You should be ashamed of yourself to write something so racist. I am white and would never assume all the things you did about Latinos or any other non white race. You need to travel a little, see how big this world is, get your head out of merchantville's... There's all kinds of people in this world and being white doesn't make you better. And please for all the people who think merchantville is a mini moorestown, it's not. We live blocks from Camden, the most expensive house is 300k tops. Stop acting like your fancy, you never were.
Thanks, Drew. I re-read the post and still do not see race baiting, but perhaps, I failed to take into consideration that some people view any issue with race with a heightened sensitivity, and maybe we are a little too quick to assume the worst in others.
If you read the comments whenever Merchantville is mentioned in local newspapers, there are always references that Merchantville is this homogenous community and its desire to merge or change school district is underlying racism. I believe that charge was even made by Trenton when the school board attempted to change the send and receive relationship.
The recent Census info should be welcomed as objective data to put an end to such nonsense. It confirms what I hope most of us already know today - Merchantville, like many other South Jersey communities is a diverse place, and will only become more diverse.
I felt like I needed a shower after reading this. You should be ashamed of yourself to write something so racist.
It's about time you took a shower. You might try some brainwashing, too, and eye drops to see the world better.
In case you didn't notice, the real world talks about ethnic groups and their differences (and similarities). For the past 35 years the social studies programs in our schools have had a sociopolitical base that replaced the geographical-historical base.
Today my Hispanic renters have a shower and I provide free cable TV so they can watch all the Latino shows. In return, they are good neighbors who help dig cars out of the snow (bragging of course about not having that problem in Puerto Rico where they hope to retire someday).
Their is nothing wrong with this Inquirer article, but the tone of your commentary is very "there goes the neighborhood". Why does an increase in the Latino population negate the dream of "fine shops"?? There are some Latino restaraunts in Collingswood that are more upscale than anything in Merchantville. Have you ever seen the prices at a Brazilian steak house? I don't think that you were race baiting. You can't see your own bias. You probably come from the old Merchantville which was 98% white and that's okay. I prefer a good mix.
Can't we give Citizen a pass on this one? It's much easier to have this kind of discussion face to face rather than posted where assumptions can be made.
K.t.b.f.w., what are you trying to say exactly. It's not a very clear post. This blog was not talking about differences or similarities. So what is your point? Try to speak intelligently this time.
I give Citizen a pass. He/she has never shown any racial bias and I'm sure a few poorly selected words were not meant to race bait or send a negative message about Merchantville attitudes towards Hispanics or any other minority. I recognize that the Citizen re-read the post and didn't see my point. No big deal. We know that Citizen's intentions were noble.
Of course the blogger gets a pass. Ignorant statements are rarely meant to be hurtfull. Maybe next time they'll realize that not everyone in the audience is white.
[Ignorant statements are rarely meant to be hurtfull. Maybe next time they'll realize that not everyone in the audience is white.]
Citizen is not ignorant. And speaking of "ignorance", I don't know how Anon could miss Citizen's point that "not everyone in the audience [read "Merchantville"] is white".
And also to Citizen's rhetorical questions about the ethnic differences we might expect coming into our town.
Being older than most other blog commenters, I see those changes as already here ... Italian restaurant, tattoo salon, karate training. I remember the day when we asked, What's a pizza?, and my immigrant mother-in-law lied to everyone up to the day she applied for social security that she had been born in Pennsylvania.
It is all about "differences", folks. And if Citizen should suggest that we are different from Haddonfield, that's okay with me. I attended Haddonfield High School before you were born but never understood their perceptions.
Is that clear enough, Anon?
KTB also can't see his own bias. Clueless...
Those most blind to their own racial prejudices are those who cry "racism" the loudest when someone else makes honest observations about differences between groups of people.
Like the people who accused the Republicans of racism because they opposed opening a highway from crime-infested Camden into Merchantville.
Ktbfw, again organize your thoughts and try to write it down in a way that it makes sense. Re-read it, check and see if it's clear. Maybe you are suffering dementia?
Maybe you are suffering dementia?
There's no doubt about that. And with my prostate now buried, I spend much of my waking hours trying to concentrate on keeping my sphincter closed. But suspected frailties are all the more reason why readers should interpret comments carefully with eyes focused on seeing positive, humanistic thinking first.
Perhaps the young know-it-alls could tell why particular contributors spend their time looking for the negative, for the angle, for opportunity to pounce on their web neighbors. Do they know that gerontologists say that the behaviors of old people are mostly accentuations of their behavior when young?
You aren't that old guy...
I don't think anyone is objecting to the discussion of differences, it's more the assumption that minorities are less likely to attract fine shops. Maybe you could have safely assumed that when I was young many years ago, but not today. On my block the two highest income households are minorities and relative newcomers. Many of the other families live paycheck to paycheck and have lived here for decades. You tell me which households are most likely to attract your so called fine shops...
I think the real concern in all of this is the economic diversity of the community. I don't think anyone will disagree that communities which are overwhelmingly poor are not good places to live. For whatever reasons poor communities have higher crime rates, lower quality education and overall just a lower quality of life. People who are in poor communities want to get out, however they can.
I have always viewed Merchantville as an economicaly diverse community and this is a good thing. Among the difficulties it faces in continuing to be economically diverse is that it has extensive old structures which need high amounts of maintenance (money or sweat). If the structures do not get this maintenance they eventually evolve into lower value structures, whether you measure value as market value or rent. These structures become appealing to cash strapped poor people. If this situation is not carefully watched, economic diversity is lost and the community is overrun by poor people. The affluent can much more easily move somewhere else but not the poor. If the affluent do not see quality of life in the community, they will depart or not come in the first place. Merchantville's principal problem is not the influx of poor people, who are more highly represented in the minorities and ethnic groups which are the subject of this article. They will no doubt come if nothing is done. The significant Merchantville problem is maintaining the level of affluent people, whatever their race, so that the economic mix is maintained.
Merchantville does this by efforts such as Wellwood Manor and hopefully by merging with Cherry Hill so that the high school problem is solved. Affluent persons will be much more likely to take on the challenge of an old house if the effect that a good school district has on housing values is part of the overall appeal of a community.
* * * * *
I thought the blogmasters lead in to this blog was a bit offensive and evidenced a lack of knowledge of the community. For example I and my family have long been involved with efforts to improve the downtown businesses. The planning for these efforts has always included the hope that ethnic shops could be attracted. I for one would love to see a Mexican restaurant of the quality of Belle Vita or the Blue Monkey. Business in town already have strong ethnic identities and ownership; some are owned by immigrants. When I was on the school board an elected African-American was also on the board. If you want to know why the Democrats won so big in the last election, be sure to gauge the effects of the minorities. Republicans should be careful to consider how their sales pitch had an effect among the minorities.
Why not do a thread on the 2010 report card for schools. Let's take a look at what cherry hill would gain by taking merchantville students. What is the cost of bringing a merchantville non proficient student to proficiency?
It takes 5+ years for a child in another district to raise to the level of a cherry hill student. So let's do the math and see what merchantville needs to kick in to even consider this venture.
Last poster is not proficient in the understanding of testing.
Good comment, Cruiser. It brought to mind past incentives of a few municipalities for upkeep --giving tax breaks to those who improve their properties.
Merchantville's is similar but less effective -- allowing up to five years for a tax increse to kick in. It must be applied for separately from the building permit. Otherwise, the increase kicks in the day the permit is approved.
I'm still trying to figure out why so many people are so upset about a Crown Fried Chicken coming to town... on one hand everyone complains about the lack of businesses in town, but lawdy lawdy we can't abide by one of dem ghetto chicken places, can we?
(Spoken *very* much in sarcasm BTW, for those too dense to get it.)
To me I find the general reaction to the CFC to be far more racially motivated than what was posted here... although to be fair, the choice of words and/or implied tone could've been better.
I don't eat birds of any sort, but I'll be first in line for a gyro when/if CFC opens.
still trying to figure out why so many people are so upset about a Crown Fried Chicken
I'm not a fast-foods patron in recent years but let me take a shot at reasons why some might not want Crown Fried Chicken -- which I had never heard of before last week.
First is the neighborhood smell emanating from fast-food rooftop vents. It's fatty and smokey.
Secondly, all the wrappers, cups and plastic spoons that accumulate in streets, lawns, fences. Not only is it an eyesore, municipalities are left with the task of regular clean up.
Thirdly, is the continuous in-and-out traffic day and night especially involving a young, noisy population. Merchantville rolls up its sidewalks not long after dark. A fast food outlet extends that to eleven or later.
Does anyone remember the robbery/murder at the Burlington City Burger King decades ago? Well, afterward the store locked its doors at nine pm but still today keeps its drive thru open 'till eleven or twelve.
Fourthly, is the marginal nature of the enterprise. On Rte. 130 I would say the franchise would have a good shot at success but in quiet downtown Merchantville, it is a high risk venture ... that is, if C.F.C. doesn't change quiet downtown Merchantville.
How about a Harley Davidson shop? Does anyone remember when H-D decided to abandon its "family" image and go for the "Easy Rider" movie types because that was where the sales and money seemed to lie? Heading out of the Burlington City Harley-D. shop on any beautiful weekend from the 1970s on were troupes of 20 to 50 bikes roaring down the roads in all directions. They turned Harley Davidson around financially.
The visual of this map of our three local counties really struck home with me. Look at all the tiny towns- so much redundancy. So many police chiefs, superintendants, town clerks and extra municipal government jobs. So much duplication and government. This would never happen in business. I am a lifelong Republican and I was against consolidation initially, but with taxes what they are- maybe we should try to get this study.
Alex: So many police chiefs, superintendents, town clerks and extra municipal government jobs. So much duplication and government.
Alex's comment reminds me of a radio debate in NYC decades ago in which an advocate argued for population control (and birth control) because the world was getting so overpopulated that societies were becoming oppressive and citizens verging on anti-humanistic behavior.
Her opponent flatly disputed the claim of overpopulation. He said, there's plenty of space in South Dakota. There was radio silent for a few moments. He continued, "Oh, you don't want to move to the Dakotas because there are no people there. The world is not overpopulated. You have an 'ideal' population in mind that you are trying to preserve here in New York. You're here and happy. You just don't want more people coming in."
Alexander has a similar problem. He sees too many governments causing his taxes to climb. However, I would suggest that it in not the duplicity of governments that creates high taxes but rather today's compulsion for ever expanding government services. Alex might consider resettling in South Dakota, a state-controlled state but I suspect he is happy here.
Let me quote our N.J. State Dept of Agriculture for it ideas on local governments, taxes and expanded services.
February 1891. ROADS The building and maintenance of public roads has been one of the most prominent subjects before the farmers during the past year, and the methods recommended are almost as numerous as speakers thereon. From this it is evident that it is impossible to enact a general law that will suit all localities. The most wealthy and densely-populated counties favor a system of macadamized roads, while in strictly rural districts the expense of such roads, on a large scale, would be an impassable barrier.
[President] THE ROAD QUESTION. "In some States the Governors have recommended State roads through the populated sections, to be supplemented by county roads, leaving the cross-country roads to the care of the townships. ...Another is a somewhat similar proposition, to have the work done in fifths, one-fifth by the State, two-fifths by the county, one-fifth by the township and one-fifth by the property-owners benefited along the improved portion of the road."
[Mr. Conrow] ...I think that the property-owners should pay part of the expense, to save us from wild schemes whereby public roads would be improved which would not be of any benefit to anybody. If they are not willing to pay five per cent for the road, the road should not be made. It is a safety-valve.
Alexander, I will petition for our local government to allow individuals to opt out of receiving municipal services if you would support the proposal.
In the minutes of today's meeting of the West End Revitalization Task Force:
Rich DePetro, the contract purchaser of 606 West Maple Ave, provided an overview of his past projects and described what he would like to achieve at Wellwood Manor. He believes it is in good condition structurally, but the heating and water systems need work. He is troubled by the existing living conditions. He would like to restore it to its
original English Tudor style. He needs a parking area to bring in a more balanced mix of tenants. One possibility is for municipality to acquire property for parking and he could lease parking spaces from the municipality, rather than spending a large capital outlay in acquiring additional properties for parking.
My assumption is that the sale of Wellwood Manor will pay off our Borough liens on the property for maintenance violations and the temporary relocation of the residents to a motel a few years ago during a heat failure. Maybe we could pave and light the alley with the reimbursement.
Get ready for a law suit over the sale of 606 W. Maple...
Opt out of Services.....that was the dumbest statement ever. That is not even a remotely close analogy.
No one is saying that we don't want municipal services, we just don't think towns like Hi-Nella need to have their own police force. If you are seriously suggesting that we don't have a lot of overlapping fluff in the County, you need to open your eyes.
Now that "Mergermania" is drawing to a close, I'm starting to think that I was on the wrong side all along. The petitioners struck me as an uppity bunch of yupees, so I opposed them as a reflex, but maybe they were on to something. Most NJ government employees work for municipalities. If we want lower cost of government and lower taxes, we need to consolidate and streamline-- just like they would do in business. Look at the map of Camden County. Why not merge Brooklawn, Mount Ephraim and Bellmawr? How about Haddon Heights, Runnemede, Barrington and Magnolia? And Sommerdale, Hi-Nella, Stratford and Laurel Springs? What about Merchantville and Pennsauken???
Cherry Hill has been pushed away, maybe it's time to ask the other gal to the dance. Maybe that's what our elected officials wanted all along. We already share a high school and other services.
Alex: Look at the map of Camden County. Why not merge Brooklawn, Mount Ephraim and Bellmawr?
You reveal the problem nicely, Alexander. The need for mankind to mess with someone else whom they have no business messing with.
Remember how Merchantville commenters complained about the Cherry Hill commenter suggesting Merchantville was better suited for Pennsauken?
Let me make an observation. Looking at the map, your consolidation philosophy matches that of the woman running Courage To Connect NJ. Hers and yours should be paired ... to save housing expenses and such. So we insist on it. And since N.J. has no civil union statute for three people together, we will as Sen. Beach to change the legislation.
Opt out hasn't read my entire post. I AM suggesting that we study a merge with Pennsauken. Her last paragraph makes no sense what-so-ever. She is living in denial, just like the protesters in France when faced with the prospect of a 40 hour week. There is simply no way to continue administering so many tiny towns. It's too expensive- take a look at your property taxes!
Maybe we do have business trying to fix with this. It is our money as NJ taxpayers to keep towns like Hi-Nella and Woodlyn on life support. Maybe a population under 15,000 is too small to support a municipal structure and services. It's time that we look at merging with Pennsauken. How do I get in touch with the petition group?
I agree with Alexander. If it's too late to combine with Cherry Hill let's merge with Pennsauken. It's only a matter of time anyway.
alexander, i had your back earlier, but come on now. stop it with pennsauken. are you the same dude who pretends to live in cherry hill and complain about not being able to bring our low level merchantville students to proficient levels?
we have a nice oppurtunity to merge with cherry hill, why wouldn't you try your hardest to make that work. and furthermore, the fact that you were against the merger when we were in talks with cherry hill, but now for merging with pennsauken is suspect.
Anon 2:10- You're right, Cherry Hill might be better for education and property values, but that is not everything and that might not even be an option anymore. Cherry Hill has walked away from the table and is no longer interested, because of resistance from our Mayor. Perhaps our elected officials know best and are attempting to shepperd us into Pennsauken.
Cherry Hill is the golden opportunity if Merchantville is to merge with someone. A lousy deal with Cherry Hill is far better than any deal with Pennsauken. While there are financial advantages to any merger, the best financial advantages are a deal with Cherry Hill plus, on top of the better financial advantages, there is the far better high school deal.
Alexander, explain it to me slowly because maybe I am dense: why would anyone in Merchantville want to merge with Pennsauken if they could merge with Cherry Hill?
It kind of makes sense to merge with pennsauken. Many services are already shared. Water Commish, Ambulance, Schools etc etc. The fire departments on most occasions back up pennsauken on calls, their police back up our police on calls and how often do you see their public works driving through town to get to another section of Pennsauken. They surround us on virtually every side of town, except the little areas where cherry hill just touches and camden just touches. That makes the most sense. I know some of you folk arent stoked about the school situation but I think pennsauken just makes more sense....just sayin.
I know my spelling and punctiation is off so dont criticize it..ITS A BLOG NOT AN ENGLISH TEST...AND IM TIRED.
Property taxes will be far lower with Pennsauken than with C.H. especially after assessments drift lower to match Penn's.
You might be surprised to learn that Cherry Hill has the lowest taxes in the county. It's too bad that horse has left the barn. I guess Pennsauken it is.
Great job dealing with Cherry Hill! I knew that you guys would follow through on your promises. This is over!!!!!!
So seriously though Pennsauken is where Merchantville should go to. If your about consolidation and saving money and all that other nonsense then this is the most logical solution. The kids arent gonna need a good education anyway with this economy crashin the way it is. We're all gonna be unemployed.
Anon 8:51 is indeed tired and off his meds for a number of days.
[Cherry Hill has the lowest taxes in the county]
Wrong. The lowest tax rate, maybe, but the assessments make for higher taxes.
Everyone I know that lives in Cherry Hill pays less in taxes even though their houses are worth more. You are wrong...
Mville citizen
In your last paragraph you distinguish "brewpubs and fine shops" from shops that attract an ethnically diverse crowd.
Please re-read that and consider rewriting it.
You appear to be saying (1) brew pubs and fine shops don't attract a diverse group of people and (2) shops that appeal to diverse groups are not "fine" (in the sense of "upscale" not in the sense of "all right".)
Before writing about race or ethnicity you have to take a hard look at the assumptions underlying whatever you write. The lack of intent to be racist is not enough--recognizing racial stereotypes is important too.
The lack of intent to be racist is not enough--recognizing racial stereotypes is important too.
Above is the politically correct, the super-sensitive extraction of every drop of diversity from mankind.
What has been the result of this cleansing? Disney's great film, "Song of the South", that portrayed all of its black characters as smart, sensitive and humanistic is banned from American viewers. If you want a copy, you must buy it in Japan. Sidney Poitier, great actor who never had an acting lesson, is shunned as an "uncle tom" in all his award-winning films, including "A Guest Who Came To Dinner" and "In The Heat of The Night".
Will there be no end to this cleansing until all peoples speak and think middle-class American? Pull Malcolm X off your library shelf and re-read him. Differences are okay ... and black can be beautiful just as you see it. Ask the red head with her black husband I saw at Target today.
What is the matter with you people? You have killed all the wild animals. You have poisoned half the birds. There are only a handful of grasses you will allow to grow in your lawns. Must you obliterate every difference in mankind too?
It's high time the Alices of the world learned tolerance for difference.
I am truly confised on what is meant here by racial stereotpyes and political correctness.
Is it all right to say that brewpubs and fine shops will not be attracted if not enough money gets spent in them, that you can not have brewpubs and fine shops in poor communities.
Or, expressed in the opposite way, a community with a significant mix of affluent people is a more likely place to have successful brewpubs and fine shops. The less than affluent can modestly enjoy the brewpubs and fine shops but at a level which would not, on their own, support the brewpubs and fine shops.
In a less thinly veiled observation, is it all right to express a sincere opinion about a factual, harmful-to-society behavior of a racial group, for example the rate of single parent households in poor African-American communities?
Is a person who says or implies the above things racist?
It only makes sense to merge with pennsauken. The cherry hill school board will most likely close our school immediately. Pennsauken will keep it open. Let's merge with them on our own terms. What are we waiting for ?
Anonymous 2/13 1:34 PM really does not know what he/she is talking about. In these deals (Cherry Hill or Pennsauken) there really is not much Merchantville can do "on our own terms" other that elect members to the school board of the merged community who would be partial to issues which some Merchantville residents would consider important. Conceivably all nine school board members could come from what is now Merchantville.
The school board of the merged communities would be tasked with the quality education of all children in the commuinity.
Mville citizen provides no data on economics, yet makes assumptions about the income level of the people she is writing about.
To do so is to engage in stereotyping.
ktbfw may want to dismiss my remarks as "political correctness." He is wrong. It is not a lack of tolerance for difference of opinion which I have written, but a lack of tolerance for making conclusions without data. I call it a desire to adhere to actual data.
Why does citizen assume that brewpubs would not appeal to minorities? or that "fine" stores would not appeal? or that the minority population moving to Merchantville is less wealthy than the white population?
The data presented was about race and ethnicity not economics. Any other assumptions have been brought in without data.
I suggest she re-write the paragraph without the assumption about what would appeal to minorities or else provide the data to support the distinctions made in the last paragraph.
Alice- KTB will accuse you of being "politically correct" because everybody knows that his assumptions are correct. No need for data when you go with your gut and bias. Can't argue with people that believe their own bull sh**.
I agree that the original post did read a bit racist to me. HOWEVER one of the reasons I am moving to Merchantville is because it is ethnically and economically diverse. I would LOVE to see a little market downtown that sold homemade sofrito and plantains. I would LOVE to hear people speaking Spanish as they walked downtown. Just as I would LOVE an wonderful pierogi place or Japanese restaurant or even some yummy West Indian food. Immigrant or 1st generation does not have to mean poor. It also is not restricted to a certain aesthetic.
BTW, if someone opens up a place with some yummy oxtail, rice & peas, and cabbage, my husband will be a VERY loyal customer!
Can all the merger talk just stop? Merchantville has existed this long without merging, why is it so necessary now? Do you really want to put an end to Merchantville to MAYBE save SOME money on your taxes?
Maybe there is just a smarter way of doing things?
It sounds like a majority of people don't like that Merchantville uses Pennsauken High so why would merging with Pennsauken make things better?
Also, this blog should hold informal monthly meetings. I'd love to see everyone get together and actually talk about all of this. It would be wildly entertaining!
kswann, the "smarter way of doing things" you seek is for the Merchantville area, as good as it is, to become even better by merging with Cherry Hill and thereby, among other things, improving the high school experience of its children.
Merging with Cherry Hill is a golden opportunity.
Cruiser:
This "golden opportunity" will soon be history. Cherry Hill has been pushed away by the bias and appointments of our mayor.
Your right Cruiser it will be a golden opportunity but not for the Merchantville “Area” that you now refer to. In the end it will have nothing to do with what is best for
the Borough of Merchantville. It will all be about what Heroes Senator James Beach, Mayor Bernie Platt and his sidekick will be. Locally they will point out over and over again to the people what a great tax saving move this was to take over Merchantville and how they hold the concerns of the voter in the highest regard. Even better, state wide they will be the toast of the town. The first Municipalities in this state to merge in how long? Why do think Mayor Platt held out to appoint his commission for so long? Do you really think it is because of a couple of town folk Mayor North has on his commission? You have got to be kidding! Merchantville is nothing but an annoying little gnat flitting by him with a dollar sigh tattooed on its wing. By the way the gnat got the tattoo in the Merchantville Area right after he filled his belly from the Crown Fried Chicken trashcan. Platt and his buddies are looking at the really big picture and I don’t blame them. What a feather in their hat to champion not only the first merger in many decades but one started by a citizens group! In the political world that gets ya Rock Star status! Neighboring states will be rushing the stage just to get a glimpse of these giants!
Will we keep our School, Community Center, Athletic fields, Parades and all the other things that maintain our sense of community and history? Well, we will have to fight that battle when the last limo rolls out and the news media is no longer park out side the
Merchantville Area diner. Hey, Maybe one of us will win a seat on the Cherry Hill School Board.
One can only dream…
when you go with your gut and bias.
There's a thing called experience. Often data and "politically correct" are attempts to erase that.
Several years ago an American woman was touring India with her husband. They were walking down a crowded street in Calcutta when she called out to her husband behind her, "Stop pushing me!" The pushing continued again and again, prompting her to turn around. The large head of a white cow pulled back suddenly and then passed her by.
That is an experience. One can tally numbers about poverty and strange traditions, speaking "correctly" about it all of course, but it was the experience that outweighed all of that.
The reason the words matter more than the intent in this case is this:
We could spend all our time trying to figure out what mville citizen meant and what is in citizen's heart, and where would it get us? It wouldn't change anything.
What matters is what citizen wrote because that's what has impact.
It's a simple rewrite. Instead of assuming the alternative to "fine shops" is a "Mexican grocery", try this or that somehow these things are mutually exclusive try this:
Does our downtown reflect the racial and ethnic make up of our community? of the surrounding community?
What could or should our government do to change our downtown?
kswann--
have you found a house? I think you have only a few weeks left on your deadline.
Did you look at 121 Westminster?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc
This is a good video, and I highly recommend it to you and especially to ktbfw. It's titled "How to Tell Someone They Sound Racist".
Thanks for the video. I am not re-writing it because the socioeconomic assumptions that you have made in regards to race has nothing to do with the comment. E-mail me if there is more that you need to get off your chest on this.
Alice - I have already made an offer on a house. Hoping it works out. Thanks.
It's titled "How to Tell Someone They Sound Racist".
You don't get the point, Alice. Or two points.
The racial composition of Merchantville should have nothing to do with Mexican vs. "fine". For example, I do both although I am neither.
Secondly, I don't care to tell anyone they sound racist. It's not my business. It shouldn't be yours. And I would suggest, academically speaking, that racism is a part of the diversity of mankind. People should be proud of being different and if complaining about others helps them to honor themselves --all of which is probably nonfactural-- so what? It's part of being different ... as the tiger is different from the lion, and proud of it.
Your "politically correct" friends do not make the world better. They make it homogenous.
This has nothing to do with what DCA was looking for. Mayor Platt and his “group” has been purposely stalling with “lame” excuses since November. See the letter from
Mayor North written on Feb. 8th 2011 posted on Merchantvillenj.gov website. Platt was waiting to see if this would go through to make sure our elected officials and the people would not have a say. Does anyone know who the citizen’s
group wants to appoint on their commission? Wake up people we are about to be taken on a ride that “we” also the citizens of Merchantville will not have a say in.
P.S. Lavardera is not my elected official.
I do need him making decisions for me.
why is this "nothing to do with DCA" post on three different threads? Calm down.
I only see the DCA comment posted twice.
Maybe you should calm down then you will be better able to count to 2.
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