I posted the following on Facebook on January 3, 2021: So here we are driving home and I say to my wife, "Phoenixville, Gap, Morgantown, Honey Brook, Kennett Square, Downingtown, West Chester, Guthriesville, Unionville...you name it. All of them bursting at the seams with cultural and commercial growth. Why not Coatesville?"
Coatesville that sets right in the center of the 14th most affluent County in the United States and most affluent in Chester County. Coatesville under whose Zip Code Pennsylvania's richest resident resides. Coatesville, the County's only city.
Everywhere there's growth, prosperity, and happiness except in Coatesville. Why? Of all these places I mentioned above, Coatesville has the prettiest location in a valley between two hills and the Brandywine cuts right through the middle of the City. Aesthetically what more could you ask for?
That Coatesville has not prospered in the middle of the most affluent county in Pennsylvania defies imagination. Coatesville's stagnation goes beyond inept City government, nickel and dime corruption, a bad school district, or racism.
The most important point I was making on January 3rd is this: Coatesville's stagnation goes beyond inept City government, nickel and dime corruption, a bad school district, or racism.
Today, January 26th, Maria and I were driving around Downingtown and Exton. We were amazed at the development. The apartments at Main Street in Exton are both beautiful and practical being located right in the center of literally everything you might want. You wouldn't need a car to live out your days in Exton. For exercise, the Chester Valley Trail begins there. Grocery stores abound. Mainline Health (Paoli Hospital) is located in the Exton Mall.
So, why is Coatesville...Coatesville? If it is not inept City government, nickel and dime corruption, a bad school district, or racism then why?
I always thought that it may have been caused by the delay in the construction of the Exton Bypass that diverted commerce and people to West Chester rather than the western half of the County. Once constructed, the Exton Bypass spurred development all around Coatesville's surrounding townships but not in the City itself. Why?
First, we need leaders and not the leaders whose horizons only are as far as the end of their blocks. Perhaps, when the City Council eliminated the Mayor position, it weakened the role leadership played in the City's government by doing away with leaders who had personality and vision. It also weakened it at the County and State levels by not having anybody to be its spokesperson and advocate.
Second, nothing will change in Coatesville until the leadership fashions a plan that encourages the people who live in Coatesville how to behave civilly. A person who is civil is courteous and polite. Nothing in Coatesville will change as long as City Council believes everything is just fine. As for them, as my wife said, everything might be "just fine". This implies simply that City Council may not know any better.
Nothing in Coatesville will change as long as law enforcement condones discourteous and impolite behavior much of which is law-breaking behavior. I am a strong advocate for quality of life policing and Broken Windows Theory.
Incivility can self-segregate a community. I think that might be what has happened to Coatesville over the years in relation to the rest of the County. You can be a snob as they are in Kennett Square. You can be aloof as they are in West Chester. You can be cliquish as they are in Downingtown. But in none of those places will you find pervasive and endemic incivility. Perhaps it is an incivility wrought from the iron and steel of the mill and a once glorious past of broad shoulders, barrel chests, and vein-popping forearms. Sorry pal, that image is as old fashioned as a good cream soda.
Many institutions have tried to shake their association with the Coatesville brand; a brand forged by peculiar constructs and Coatesville-centric worldview. Coatesville Hospital became Brandywine Hospital. Recently, Coatesville Savings Bank has become Prosper Bank. The only institution that hasn't changed its name is the school district. It is a school district that has more students attending Charter, Parochial, and private schools than attending its Public Schools. And why is that?
The Coatesville brand is not marketable because incivility in the 21st century is not in style. In spite of what you watch on the news, progress is still made by cooperation and teamwork not by louts and bullies.
When I played sports in high school we always took an attitude with us when we were visiting another team's town. We were rude, loud, profane, and threatening. We thought it was cool. We thought we were bad. Others perceived us in this way, "Well, what do you expect? That's Coatesville." That perception is hard to shake but it's possible.
It's not cool anymore to be left behind and Coatesville needs to evolve. No matter how much revitalization money comes into Coatesville, unless our attitudes change as a community, we will stay that scab at the end of the Appalachians, by-passed, left behind.
"It's not our job to tell people how to act," say the police. Yes it is. Most laws exist to prescribe behaviors.
I am a lifelong resident: I was born in the Coatesville Hospital on Strode Avenue and lived at Walnut and Pennsylvania Avenues until I was six. I moved a mile outside of town from 1960 until 1991. I moved back in 1991. Even I, after all these years as a resident and local, can't have a drink at the Midway or Malibu. That's sad. If I can't go there, how do we expect Dr. Les Whiteman to come to Coatesville to shop or dine?
As long as I can't go into the Malibu on 1st Avenue without a Black escort for fear of getting my head stoved in, Coatesville will never catch up to the rest of the county. As long as my wife and I sit in Willy's Restaurant and never get served because of our race, Coatesville will never catch up with the rest of the county. As long as I fear getting harassed by teenagers at Turkey Hill, Coatesville will never catch up with the rest of the county.
What do we tell newcomers? Everything will be fine for you as long as you stay in your car or as long as you don't have school-aged children?
As I've said, "Coatesville's stagnation goes beyond inept City government, nickel and dime corruption, a bad school district, or racism." It goes to the heart of what makes us Coatesville; it goes to the heart of what we need to unmake.
First, I urge the City to begin efforts to restore the mayor position.
Second, I propose a Civility Campaign initiated and promoted by City Council. It can start by meeting and talking with the residents about how to be more neighborly. That would be a start.
The next step would be to talk with residents about how to be more welcoming to strangers who might come into Coatesville and spend money. Then add a beautification and pride component having residents pledge not to litter and to clean up after their dogs
