Politics & Government

HPED's $90,000-Economic Proposal Met With Disagreement By Commissioners

The proposal would help business districts in each ward.

During Monday night’s commissioners’ work session, the president of the Haverford Partnership for Economic Development (HPED) presented an economic proposal that was not warmly welcomed by the board of commissioners.

Brendan St. Leger Goggin, president of the Haverford Partnership for Economic Development, gave a presentation of a $90,000-economic proposal to help revitalize the various business districts of Haverford Township.

He requested funding from the 2012 budget to get $90,000, which would be evenly split into $10,000 for each of the nine wards within Haverford Township, so each commissioner would use the $10,000 for the business district in his ward.

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The proposal also calls for a local steering committee for each ward made up of a commissioner, a HPED representative and local business and other community leaders, where they would discuss what projects within a business district would receive the money and matching funds.

“As I said, we want to ensure a balanced approach for each business district and have come up with a plan to do that using the township’s already defined wards.  We think this is the most fair and equitable way to work,” he said.

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The HPED, according to Goggin’s PowerPoint presentation, which a copy was given to the Haverford-Havertown Patch and was made into a PDF so readers can view it, would take on the “responsibility for raising half of the funds needed for each district's project to be then matched dollar-for-dollar by the township up to $10,000.”

Some of the ways that the funds maybe match would be in the form of projects, such as flower boxes, benches and pedestrian lighting, Goggin said.

However Goggin added that if a steering committee cannot raise $10,000, then the money would not be requested. 

But most of the commissioners disagreed with the proposal, with 6th Ward Commissioner Larry Holmes saying that the HPED should focus on putting the money to “significant projects” for the wards that need it the most and not all of the wards.

The president of the board of commissioners and 9th Ward Commissioner William Wechsler also stated that one of his “pet peeves” is that Haverford Township does not have something that identifies it.

“We need an identity,” he said.

Goggin said that when considering the proposal, he wanted to give all of the business districts a “fair shake.”

Commissioners Steve DEmilio and Robert Trumbull did not attend the work session.


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