September 21, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Signs cause a stir
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI

Bowman Properties said its controversial signs represent “a repositioning of our Chestnut Hill real estate portfolio to reflect the leadership and support of the community’s various organizations.”

According to the red and white signs posted on the vacant Chestnut Hill properties owned by Bowman Properties Ltd., the community could soon see check cashing businesses and dollar stores on the affluent, cobble-stoned avenues of Chestnut Hill.

The signs, which read “Available: Discount Retail, Dollar Store/Electronics, Convenience Financial, Check Cashing,” were posted Saturday morning in an apparent attempt to overshadow the Chestnut Hill District’s public arts project, AbZOOlutely Chestnut Hill, which kicked off on Saturday with the unveiling of 48 colorfully decorated animals along Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike.

The signs, though not entirely diverting attention from the day’s events, did cause some stir among Hillers, while the event’s coordinators were aloof to them.

“I was too busy with the weekend’s festivities to pay attention,” said Bob Previdi, director of the Chestnut Hill Business Association. “And now I’m completely focused on making the next weekend’s a success, too.”

John Levitties, the Business Improvement District board chair, echoed Previdi. “Honestly, I don’t really have any comment on them; I think they speak for themselves,” he said, adding he was pleased to see they did not disrupt Saturday’s festivities.

Neither Previdi nor Levitties speculated as to the reasoning for the signs, but it is no secret to most in Chestnut Hill that Richard Snowden, the owner of Bowman Properties, has long been in conflict with the Chestnut Hill Community Association and the Chestnut Hill District.

At the business association’s annual meeting in April, it was announced that a property owner along the avenue had not paid the BID’s 2005 assessment fees. A member of the BID confirmed Monday that Bowman Properties never paid its 2005 fees, and has not yet paid 2006 fee. The rumored amount is $18,000, but was not able to be confirmed by press time.

But at the BID’s inception in 2004, Snowden was a board member and Bowman Properties paid all the fees that year. Levitties said, to the best of his knowledge, Snowden resigned from the BID board in its first year.

The most visible form of contention between Bowman Properties and the community organizations are the company’s vacant properties, which include the former Under the Blue Moon Restaurant on the corner of Germantown and Abington avenues, which has been boarded up since Bowman Properties purchased it in 1997.

It has been said that Snowden justifies the vacancies by saying he does not want just any business coming into Chestnut Hill, citing how a check cashing business, dollar store or another discount-type store would not fit into Chestnut Hill’s specialty retail. The signs, whether meant to be taken facetiously or literally, claim an apparent change in the company’s approach.

The Bowman Partnership, which includes Snowden, choose not to answer questions regarding the signs, but released this statement to the Local which explains the signs, “While it is not the practice of the Bowman Partnership to comment publicly on business matters, the current marketing effort reflects a repositioning of our Chestnut Hill real estate portfolio to reflect the leadership and support of the community’s various organizations.”

Snowden has avoided talking directly to the Local for years, the result of coverage on him and his business dating back to 2001 that he claims was inaccurate and deceptively sought.

In 2001, current editor and then reporter Pete Mazzaccaro wrote a three-part series on Snowden, focusing on his business practices that even then left many of his properties along the avenue vacant. After the articles were released, Snowden demanded an apology on the front page, which never happened.

In 2004, an apology was composed by Snowden’s lawyer, written in the editorial first person plural (we), which he asked be printed on the front page. The apology, besides mentioning the 2001 articles, referred to a story printed in January 2004 by former staff writer Mike Mishak, which revealed that some of Bowman’s properties were being placed on the Sheriff’s List (though they were later removed).

He said the story’s impression that the company was bankrupt was “false and misleading” and the Local had not contacted him for the story. He also thought the story’s printing was “in poor taste,” since it ran a few days after the founder of Bowman Properties, his grandmother, had passed away.

He repeated the request for an apology in a letter dated August 2005, insisting that the Local owed him, his family and Bowman employees an apology on the front page, which would “make clear that the paper used deceptive tactics in order to obtain its 2001 interview with me.”

The signs will remain posted for the time being, and appear to be legal, according to the Germantown Avenue restrictions, which allow signs to exceed the size restrictions if it is a temporary real estate sign, said Levitties.

It is unknown, as well, who took a marker and wrote Snowden’s name on each of the signs, but Levitties said he did not recall seeing the names, which are written scratchily, early Saturday morning as he prepared for the AbZOOlutely kick off, but added that he wasn’t really paying attention.

Contact staff writer Kristin Pazulski at 215-248-8819 or Kristin@chestnuthilllocal.com.