To The Editor:
Unfortunately, misinformation has been circulating via flyers and advertisements paid for by a contributor to the Falcoff Campaign, which is not only false but purposely misleading. In order to set the record straight, The Land Conservancy for Southern Chester County wants you to know the TRUTH:
*The Land Trust is alive and well and located in Kennett Square, Pa.
*We legally changed our name to The Land Conservancy for Southern Chester County (TLC) in 2010 to finally create a firewall to protect us from the ongoing politics in Kennett Township and to increase our geographic scope to ensure our financial sustainability.
*We have NEVER been a Municipal Land Trust. In 1995 The Land Trust was formed by a group of Township residents as a NON-PROFIT, tax -exempt organization recognized by the IRS. The goal was mutual cooperation and conservation efforts in Kennett and the surrounding area. It was specifically created as a public charity to allow the Land Trust to work with individual landowners in a private forum.
*Since July of 2008, TLC has not received one penny of Township Taxpayer dollars, in fact we raise all of our funds from, memberships, foundation, state and county grants and individual donors.
*Any funds ever received by The Land Trust since 1995 from Kennett Township have all been invested in land conservation efforts. Since 2006 we have tried unsuccessfully to get a complete and accurate accounting of township money spent on open space. Instead, we have received only conflicting and incomplete reports from the Township. In turn, their claim of 10 million dollars of funds spent on open space is almost double what it should be according to our records. We would like to see the documents that support their 10 million dollar claim. Their numbers simply do not compute.
*In 2007 because we confronted the supervisors on this lack of transparency and what we perceived as unethical behavior, they evicted us out of the Township Building, illegally froze our bank accounts for two weeks, denied us access to our computer and hard files. Consequently, we were forced to hire an attorney to defend our rights.
*All of the land that we have ever preserved has been accomplished through a team effort: Land Trust, Township, State, County and Private Donations.
*TLC’s four nature preserves, one of which they are calling a “private enclave for Board Members” are ALL open to the PUBLIC. In fact the trails at Stateline Woods Preserve are mowed weekly by our Board Chair and maintained by dedicated volunteers in our community. All of the preserves are used for a variety of educational programs and events open to the public.
*The Land Trust endeavored to preserve the Stateline Woods Preserve beginning in 2004 (3 years before our current Board Chair joined as a member) ALL other Board Members with surrounding properties joined the Board or moved to the area AFTER the land had been preserved and had NO influence in decision making.
*While the paid advertisement wants you to believe we are trying to benefit private individuals our primary objective is to preserve land by linking parcels to create conservation corridors for public use. In FACT, in order to secure state and county grant funding one of the criteria is proximity to already conserved lands. For access and location to public preserves, see our website www.tlcforscc.org
*In FACT, Supervisors, both past and present are either adjacent to or surrounded by conserved lands in Kennett Township. In FACT, the first conservation easement in Kennett Township surrounded a then current Supervisor’s house!
*For the record, we strive to have Board Members who have conserved their own lands, live in proximity to our preserves, and live in surrounding areas where open space is threatened.
* In 2009 despite repeated rejections and onerous preservation criteria by the Kennett Township Supervisors, TLC stopped submitting land conservation projects in Kennett Twp. and since has successfully partnered with other township open space groups, conservation organizations, governmental entities, and private individuals and foundations to conserve land, create trail linkages, and offer exceptional environmental programming.
*TLC would like nothing better than to have a working relationship with the Township’s Land Advisory Council to fulfill its mission using taxpayer open space funds by working with land owners, land trusts, and historic commissions to preserve more land and resources in Kennett Township.
*TLC is a Nationally Accredited Organization (only 138 out of 1,700 Land Trusts have been accredited to date). TLC underwent a rigorous two-year process scrutinizing our policies and procedures in order to achieve this National seal of approval
*There are many more false accusations we could address but our time is better spent actually making a positive difference in our community.
*We have an “Open Door Policy,” if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to stop by our offices located at 102 East Street Road Kennett Square, Pa. 19348 or call 610-347-0347 or visit our website www.tlcforscc.org
Kate duPont
Board Chair
Gwen Lacy
Executive Director
The Land Conservancy for Southern Chester County
The accusations by Brian Gore (Our town Manager/Treasurers boy friend) are laughable and show the desperation of the Falcoff campaign. So funny how Falcoff can try to use the accomplishments of the DuPont Company to give him credibility but in the same breath try to say the family eases land for self-serving purposes. It is common knowledge that the Dupont family is one of the most generous families in the area. Giving millions to area schools, YMCA’s and almost every cause in the area…..how self serving!! Kate duPont is following in the families tradition of philanthropy by giving 100′s of hours of her time and 1000′s of dollars so that EVERYONE can have the opportunity to enjoy open space.
Have any of you been on eased land on Mike Elling’s, Allan Falcoff’s or Tom Nales property? All three current supervisors received over $100,000.00 in compensation for the eased land in their back yards which is used ONLY by them…..The two preserves near our home are used by hundreds every week and are maintained by volunteers including Kate and I. We have no regrets supporting the Land Conservancy and will continue to donate our money and time no matter who is supervisor in Kennett…..because it is the right thing to do for Kennett community. We have received $0 in compensation.
I find it very interesting that 2 out of 3 local newspapers REFUSED to run Brian Gores and Allan Facoffs latest add. When asked why they refused to run the add they said ” It was obvious the statements were false and with absolutely no merit” When Randy Lieberman owner of the Chester County Press was asked why he ran an obvious false advertisement he response was ” THIS IS HOW WE MAKE OUR MONEY” enough said….The paper is usually very unbiased so the fact that he took the advertisement just for the money was very surprising.
Helping to preserve land for EVERYONE and very proud of it !!
Alfred duPont
Ask Elling and his pals how the land Kennett Township permitted for a spray irrigation field turned into a housing developement. Then there was the Elling Kennett Township push for the high density village developement at Hillendale and Rosedale roads. The meeting at Greenwood Elementary school for Township residents was a joke. After the Ellington lead Supervisors had made their case for an enormous new high density village in Kennett Township a retired DuPont engineer stood up and stated his proficiency in math. He then stated he had run/checked all the numbers the Elling lead supervisors had given the township residents in support of the development. He went on to eloquently refute every number the Kenneth Township supervisors had given us the trusting residents. The Supervisors could not even respond. Again a joke. The Kennett Township supervisors exemplify everything that is wrong with Pennsylvania’s Township zoning laws.
Brian Gore…Lisa Moore’s live in boyfriend. I can draw you a map ha ha. The township has been playing him like a guitar for years…….
Brian Gore is also the largest contributor to the “friends of 3 not 5” an organization trying to keep the current disfuntional supervisors in office. He must feel like such a FOOL after finding out the truth. Maybe now he will learn to question everything that comes out of the supervisors mouth instead of blindly following orders. I am so embarrassed for him.
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
The ad should have a “Paid for by” notice, typically at the bottom of the ad. I would check the ad and look for that information — if, for some unlikely reason it’s not there — I know we’d never run a campaign ad without a paid for notice — I would contact the Press and ask — if it’s not there, it was more than likely an oversight, not an intentional move to hide anything.
The law is very clear on that matter: all political signs, campaign literature and advertising must be labelled with “paid for” information.
The ad posted in the Chester County Press is so erroneous as to be laughable. The land adjoining Kate duPont’s property was in fact purchased, eased and sold prior to Mrs. duPont joining the board. The inaccuracies that run throughout the advertisement are equally deceptive. Let’s face it, until Elling and his lackeys are put to pasture, this sort of crap will continue.
Does anyone know who paid for and published the ad? That might be a really interesting tidbit. Was it one of the current supervisors?