March 9, 2006 Issue                                               

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Can Chestnut Hillers return to courtesy and mutual respect?
by PAT STOKES

The Frigate Book Store, seen here in 1970 on Highland Avenue between Germantown and Ardleigh, is a sign of a more civil time in Chestnut Hill, according to “On the Avenue” columnist, Pat Stokes.

The winds of March do not make the heart a dancer , at least not usually, contrary to the lyrics of a very old oldie. They do manage to keep some people off the Avenue, even me. Neverthless, I was out there long enough in the past few days to observe some this-a and that-a.

For me, one of the most welcome, lovely surprises right now is the smooth, white, walkable, new sidewalk wrapping around Roller’s ExpressO, corner of Gravers and Germantown. Whew! No more inching along, avoiding the bumps and the cracks. Somebody cared here. Must be Paul and Becky Roller, both so attuned to community issues and needs. Thank you, Rollers! There’s another place, corner of Chestnut Hill Avenue and Seminole, around the former Mort Jenks property, where the present owners have taken up the old uneven flagstones and replaced them with a beautiful walk. Again, thank you, good neighbors.

Turning back to the top of the hill, walking east on Highland from Germantown Avenue toward the Hirschorn Company, we find another kind of surprise.The small building that housed Cardonick Chiropractic, and before that Basics Lingerie Shop and before that the Frigate Book Shop, is GONE, and the parking lot around its footprint is CLOSED for four months while a new building for retail and residential use will be constructed

What a blow for the shops that depend on that lot; Victor’s, Zipf’s, Pipe Rack, Quelque Chose, Delphine Gallery, Happy Butterfly and Bird in Hand. For consigners bringing things into Bird in Hand, it’s no picnic to park in the lot behind Caruso’s across the street, then , arms loaded with boxes, fight the non-stop traffic to get back to the other side. This brings up a subject dear to my heart: a CROSSWALK mid-block. Are you listening sir, you who are in charge of traffic and transportation?

And while we’re on the subject, there’s that other corner where crossing lines are needed, Evergreen and the Avenue., Chestnut Hill’s worst corner, traffic-wise, methinks. An On Avenue column of three years ago was devoted entirely to an analysis of the problems there plus a few suggestions. Nothing has changed. Not complaining ; just trying to be a squeaky wheel.

Returning to the subject of tearing down stuff: In an article in the New York Times Magazine this past Sunday, writer Micheal Sokolove bemoans the constant demolition he observes in his own neighborhood, where many a modest but attractive and once -loved home is bulldozed to rubble to make way for a McMansion, “the residential equivalent of the Hummer.” Here on the Hill we all currently connect the D word with the Commerce Bank fiasco.Let’s hope we don’t wake up some morning and see yet another rubble-strewn lot who knows where.

William Safire, in his Times column “On Language,” discusses the currently popular phrase “It is what it is,” which seems to be an expression of resignation or acceptance of the unacceptable, maybe in the face of impossible odds.One hears it more and more frequently now, referring to current administration failures, the scary world scene and unfortunately, also here on the Hill, to the ongoing goofy group-against-group war that seems never to be resolved. Those of us who ask for a return to courtesy, clarity and respect are regarded as Pollyannas. I hope it all turns out well, and that we don’t find ourselves having to be content with “It is what it is” forever.

See you on the Avenue.