Leslie Richards Tapped for DVRPC Post

The Whitemarsh resident brings 17 years of planning experience to the board of our regional planning body.

Last month, Leslie Richards was a Whitemarsh Township Supervisor. After winning election last November, she became a Montgomery County Commissioner on January 3. By the end of the month, she'll be shaping transportation policy in nine counties and two states. Richards, who has been a planning consultant for 17 years, was selected by her fellow commissioners on Thursday to be Montgomery County's representative on the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), which plans, directs and allocates funds for transportation projects that serve more than 5.6 million people across the greater Philadelphia area. She will join representatives from 17 other state, county, and municipal bodies as voting members of the DVRPC board. Board …

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All That & Ardmore

CNN Money: Ardmore Among Top Places to Live in Nation

Ardmore ranked 45th of CNN Money's 100 "Best Small Towns."

On the heels of being designated an official “classic town,” CNN Money, an online amalgam of CNN, Fortune Magazine and Money Magazine, has ranked Ardmore the 45th best small town place to live in America. “One of Philadelphia’s Main Line suburbs, Ardmore is just a few minutes from the city by rail; many residents work there,” the article reads. “Many colleges, including Villanova University and Bryn Mawr College, are located nearby, giving residents easy access to still more cultural events. “And there’s a growing arts scene right in town, not to mention an historic downtown and lots of shopping. A new park recently opened for residents.” That would be Linwood Park, we’re assuming, opened less than two years ago at Linwood and Athens …

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All That & Ardmore

Now a 'Classic Town,' Ardmore Shares a Few Secrets to Success

Ardmore was honored Wednesday by a regional commission for an old-time cohesion and a modern day moxie.

  On Wednesday, The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission held its second annual Classic Town and Trolley Tour, and kicked off the day in Ardmore. The DVRPC acts as the official planning and review agency for the nine-county metropolitan Philadelphia area. The Classic Towns program originated in 2004 with the commission's "Strategies for Older Suburbs Initiative," and both programs were built on the idea of supporting and stimulating some of the area's better planned suburban enclaves. Since then, the DVRPC has profiled 21 towns, including nearby Ambler, Phoenixville, Media, and the latest to be marked for the designation, Lansdale and Kennett Square. For this year's tour, a group of local community and government leaders met with …

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If Walls Could Talk

Suburban Square: A Constant For Many Decades, Responding to Fashion and Food Trends

"If Walls Could Talk" takes a look at a longtime consistent shopping hot spot, one that has been changing the way Main Liners spend their cash for over 80 years.

It has been there since before the Great Depression, through World War II, the consumer and baby booms of the '50s and '60s, the rapid expansion of the suburbs, and the various national economic recessions that have come and gone through all of it. Suburban Square has always been the "it" place to shop. But in 1927, residents of Ardmore were up in arms when the shopping center was being developed. An increase in traffic was a major concern, which is maybe not a big surprise today, when citizens get cranky about a lack of parking spots when dropping by the Ardmore Farmer's Market to pick up a last minute dinner. The popularity of this favorite shopping Mecca might be nationally overshadowed by the nearby King of Prussia Mall, but locals …

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All That & Ardmore

Ardmore Will Host Local Business Owners as Regional ‘Classic Town’

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission is starting its second annual trolley tour of thriving small downtowns in Ardmore, and will tour the Frank Lloyd Wright home currently for sale.

In just its second annual “Classic Towns Trolley Tour,” scheduled for Wednesday, July 27, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission has chosen to spotlight Ardmore, starting the day with a breakfast hosted by the Ardmore Initiative. About three dozen local business owners and representatives from other DVRPC-designated “Classic Towns” throughout the region will also tour Ardmore’s downtown business district, and visit the Frank Lloyd Wright “Suntop” homes on Summit Road. One of the homes, built in 1939 with the ambition of being a cornerstone for a new type of community planning, is currently for sale, as first reported by Patch last month. The group will be able to take a walk-through. The DVRPC, which works within a nine-county …

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