Musings: It was a year

Posted by Rich Schwartzman on December 31, 2023

It’s been a year. But they all are. And like every year, there’s been good, bad, and the unknown. Also like every year, there's been changes.

One major change is the new ownership of Chadds Ford Live. As most readers know by now, our founding owner and publisher, Emily Myers, moved to Colorado earlier this year so she and her husband could be near their son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. And while she still cares deeply for Chadds Ford and its people, it was time for her to settle down and become a full-time grandmom. Good for her.

As timing would have it, enter Chris Kenney, the owner of Delaware Live LLC, who said he saw Chadds Ford Live as a natural fit for his other news properties. The negotiations began in October and the sale became final on Dec. 8. The sale was official late that afternoon, but something just as significant — maybe even more so — happened earlier that morning.

Anyone in the vicinity of Route 1 and Creek Road shortly after morning rush hour saw, or maybe heard the shovels crunching through and ripping out the walls of Hank’s Place. The demolition came more than two years after Hurricane Ida flooded out the restaurant and left it unusable.

That was just one of the storms owners Anthony and Katie Young had to go through. They had already weathered the COVID lockdown, then came the flood. After that came the bureaucratic quickstep which, ironically, can be a slow dance. It took time and more than a little money to get all the permits needed to rebuild, but they did get them.

Then there was another delay because a condition of the rebuild was to get a formalized shared parking agreement with two other restaurants in the area. While there had been an informal agreement, the township wanted it formalized, in writing, and made mandatory for any future owner of each of the three restaurant properties. But the agreement was finally signed, and Hank’s Place is being rebuilt and could be open by the end of 2024 barring any other setbacks.

That’s definitely something to look forward to this coming year. Is there anything else to look forward to? Sure, especially for those who like theater of the absurd in politics. Donald Trump is again seeking the Republican Party’s nomination to run for president, and the Democrats might, also again, nominate Joe Biden for a second term. The United States was never a utopia, but the elephants and donkeys that have been playing power games during the last 164 years are continuing the national decline into a dystopian future.

The U.S., the country that was once the freest in the world dropped to number 23 in 2022, according to Cato Institute’s Human Freedom Index for that year. We’ll have to wait until the 2023 report is released to see where we came out this year, but can we overtake or even just come up a little to meet other countries such as Estonia (ranked number 3), or Latvia (7), or the Czech Republic (18)?

Closer to home, how will Timotha Trigg do as a supervisor in Chadds Ford? She takes over from Noelle Barbone who decided not to run for another term. Trigg is a former school board member and school board president and is a current member of the township Planning Commission. She’ll be sworn in during the state-mandated reorganization meeting on Jan. 2. How she will perform as a supervisor remains to be seen, as does everything else in 2024.

Happy New Year to all. Let’s make it a good one.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.