A Train Comes to Morrisville?

From the BCCT.

Train stop part of study
A SEPTA official says there are no immediate plans to put a train station in the borough.
By DANNY ADLER

Brian Miller, who provided a Renaissance Plan to Penndel and sketches of “the new Croydon” to Bristol Township officials, wants to do a similar study for Morrisville.

Miller, of the Miller Design Group in Newtown Township, and the borough’s economic development corporation want to study the possibility of a new transit-oriented Morrisville, a town that has for years yearned for a revitalized downtown.

A “transit revitalization investment district,” or TRID, aims to generate redevelopment and construction projects in an area anchored by mass transit and walk-ability, Miller said. The district would encompass a half-mile boundary in what Miller called the central section of the borough.

Of course, the borough would need a train station along SEPTA’s R7 rail line to make it work, but SEPTA has no immediate plans to restore service to Morrisville, according to company spokesman Felipe Suarez. SEPTA discontinued its Morrisville station in the 1960s.

“This program is really about transit,” Miller said. “Transit has to be the centerpiece.”

The borough could receive up to $75,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development for the project’s planning process if the state approves the grant money, with a maximum $25,000 local match.

The borough council didn’t take any action after a presentation at its October meeting.

Council President Nancy Sherlock said officials need to find out more about the plan. She said the council owes it to its constituents and to the economic development corporation, whose members are appointed by the council, “to hear it out.”

Officials are trying to schedule a meeting with the borough council, the economic development corporation, the DCED and possibly SEPTA.

“The economic development corporation is always looking for ways to improve the economic vitality of the town,” said Steve Amend, the corporation chairman. He said Morrisville needs a “workable plan,” and believes developers would show interest in the borough with a TRID plan.

Penndel’s Renaissance Plan includes a hotel, supermarket, drugstore, office space, amphitheater, art studios, apartments and acres of open space.

The new Croydon plan includes office parks, outdoor theaters, a 17-acre environmental center and a multi-story transit center, eight marinas, a skatepark and hundreds of acres of existing homes cleared for open space.

The Morning After

Here's links to the vote totals from Bucks County and Morrisville specifically.

The ambulance company tax increase was approved by a 2:1 margin.

Obama Biden

Congratulations to President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden.

We remember the racial ugliness of the 60s and the civil rights marches and last night's election completes a mighty circle. It is a major step ahead toward the color-blindness that a modern society needs to function in an equitable manner.

We were lucky this time around. Each side had their doubts about the candidate from the other party. The truth is that John McCain would have been an equally able occupant of the Oval Office. If only all of our electoral contests were choices between two able persons. How many times have we chosen the lesser of two evils only to find that we chose evil anyway?

The times, they are a'changing.