110 Park Approved In Swarthmore

A few stories to catch up on. This week Swarthmore Borough Council approved building the massive new luxury condo project in its downtown.

Cumby and his son Bill III are among the partners developing the 30-unit 110 Park complex across from the borough hall and library. The project requires demolishing two vintage residential and commercial structures, as well as the back portion of another.

Some locals had argued that the five-story complex, which includes a parking garage, will cause traffic and pedestrian safety problems. They said its size and scale would damage the small-town ambience of Swarthmore, a community of 6,500….

If construction begins next fall as expected, 110 Park — where prices will range from $600,000 to more than $1 million — should open in the spring of 2025, said Cumby.

So much for affordable housing.

update – the DelCo Times later ran a story with more information.

Trouble For Crozer

Also in local news, Crozer is shedding jobs,

About 4 percent of Crozer Health’s workforce, or 215 employees, will have their positions eliminated in the health system, as the organization goes through another restructuring…

The system closed Springfield Hospital early last year and suspended services at Delaware County Memorial Hospital in the fall. It also includes the Crozer Brinton Lake, Crozer Health at Broomall and the Media Medical Plaza outpatient centers, as well as the surgery centers at Haverford and at Brinton Lake.

From the Inquirer,

The services to be closed within 60 days are the sleep center at Taylor Hospital, cardiac rehabilitation and wound care in Springfield, and outpatient drug and alcohol treatment at Crozer-Chester Medical Center…

Crozer’s financial woes stem in part from the sale of its real estate for $420 million when it was under the control of Leonard Green & Partners as part of a $1.55 billion deal in which Prospect hospitals in three states lease back their buildings from a real estate investment trust. That sale effectively loaded the hospitals with debt.

The looting of our health networks continues to have broad-ranging effects on medical services for our community.

Paramedic Services Under Threat

This story highlights further challenges coming,

Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital has sent notice to the fire departments of Clifton Heights, Folcroft and Lansdowne that absent a contract modification, EMS services will discontinue by the end of summer.

Discussions between Mercy Management of Southern Pennsylvania, representing Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, is expected to go forward as officials from these municipalities expressed their opinions on the matter.

Nether Providence and Media have received similar letters demanding payments for paramedic services (though I don’t think the hospitals are threatening to pull paramedics yet). My favorite quote though was from long-time DelCo Republican machine politician Tom Micozzie, now Clifton Heights Borough Manager,

“That is not a professional way of dealing with the situation,” he said of receiving a notification by mail. “It’s certainly not part of Mercy Fitzgerald’s old mission. Any time you privatize health care, you end up with these kinds of situations.”

People always hate on socialism until they need it, I guess, eh?