West Chester Weekly News Roundup

With so much going on around town. Catch up on what you may have missed.  

It’s Friday March 22, welcome to your first week of Spriiiiiing. Just when we thought we got through flu-season, mumps diagnosed at WCU. Plus, West Chester moves closer to a second hotel, the borough plans for a big beautification project – and where to get free cheesesteak breakfast sandwiches (yum). Let’s get started.

“WCU takes the health of its community seriously.”

-The official position of West Chester University.

Mumps. A case of mumps was identified at West Chester University this week. The student,  who lives off-campus, reportedly picked up the disease after visiting Temple. He or she has been directed not to attend classes and to remain isolated from other students. The student’s roommates have been contacted and advised to receive the MMR booster.

Symptoms usually appear 12 to 25 days after exposure to an infected person. Anyone experiencing symptoms should contact WCU Student Health Services at 610-436-2509 or your doctor.

Where are you staying? Borough council voted 5-1 to move forward with a plan to add a second hotel to downtown West Chester. The hotel, a project of the Zukin Realty group, would be located at the corner of Gay and Walnut at the site of the former Rite Aid building. As it stands today, the 90 foot structure will have 110-rooms and potentially host a Big Fish Restaurant Group restaurant. The hotel will be run by the Onix Group who promised to “capture the essence of the local area and the culture of the area.”

West Chester bought a gum removal machine. Ok, technically, it’s still in a trial period, but if all goes well West Chester sidewalks could soon (and permanently) be free of gum. The machine works by using steam to loosen the residue than sucks what remains inside. The device costs $3657 to purchase but it is a very economical $58 to try.

Wow, you look nice today. A gum removal device is just the start, the Mayor, elected officials, borough admin, public works and the the police department are also planning a downtown cleanup scheduled to take place on April 27. The cleanup timed to coincide with the conclusion of the AQUA’s water main replacement project on Gay Street, will include such activities as picking up trash, cleaning the sidewalk, and general beautification. Interested in helping out? Fill out this form. All registered participants will receive a t-shirt, lunch and a sense of community pride.  

Your Uber is waiting. Late night pickups have changed and to accommodate that West Chester Borough Council has voted to designate four rideshare pick-up locations downtown. During the hours of 10 pm and 3 am parking spots in the designated areas will be reserved for rideshare vehicles including Uber and Lyft. The designated areas will help facilitate easy pick ups and help clear the street of double parking. The spots are proposed on the 100 block of N. Walnut, the 100 block of N. Church, E. Market Street and N. Darlington Avenue. An app will be available to direct riders to the appropriate location to meet their driver.  

More changes coming to the parking code. Outside leaving leaving late-night spots for Uber, there are other parking amendments in the works including a cracking down on oversized vehicles parking in the borough and the addition of more permitted parking areas. Up first, South Matlack Street.  

Closures. Starting today, Gay Street will be closed between High Street and Church from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday through April – per the Police Department. (I thought it already was closed). Also closed West Miner Street. I’m guessing this is part of PECO’s gas project but the Borough removed the notification from the Alert Center so I can’t be sure. If anyone knows for sure let me know and I can update. Otherwise just know someone’s probably updating something and the road is closed (at least it was Wednesday night).

$13K. The amount Rustin students raised for cancer charity Bringing Hope Home through their Spike the Rock volleyball tournament. That’s almost $9500 more than they raised last year. In their words, “We annihilated it this year!”

In other news of kids annihilating it, Henderson’s unified Bocce team left for the state championships in Hershey this week after only their first season. Impressive and informative. Who even knew there was a high school bocce tournament? Knock it out of the circle, guys!

The ranking we didn’t make. Every week there seems to be a new ranking out and we make it on a lot of lists and usually for good reasons but, I have to say I was surprised to see we didn’t make this one: Best Suburbs for Millennials in the Greater Philadelphia-Region. Chester County had eight locations on the list including Exton at number six, but no West Chester. Maybe we took a hit for affordability but I thought for sure we would have made that one.

Restaurant news roundup: Taco Mar is coming back, to Gay Street, March 29. After closing their doors on December 21 in search of a new location, the popular local taco place is ready to reopen. (And running a promotion in conjunction with West Chester Views if you’re interested in potentially winning some free food).

Roots Cafe is on a CBD oil kick. First with honey, then with a tasting menu, then potentially with permanent menu items and now with a breakfast cheesesteak sandwich. I should mention these breakfast sandwiches are only available on National Cheesesteak Day (Sunday March 24) and they are FREE to the first 50 customers. (Oh, the benefits of making it to the end of the Roundup…)

Hold the straw, please, or rather they’ll hold it for you. La Baguette Magique is doing away with plastic straws, unless you ask. The French bakery announced another important change this week. They are looking to make crepe day a weekly fixture but which will be the lucky day? Right now they are leaning towards Sunday. Yum.  

“The guy is very luck he isn’t toast!!!!”

-Thrifty Vintage Instagram after learning someone tried retrieve their ID from a grate downtown.  

The warnings. Watch your speed and your turn signal and for heaven’s sake, stop when that school bus arm comes out. According to a recent report, Philadelphia has some of the most aggressive drivers in America and local communities are stepping up enforcement. Now, while the Borough is not listed as participating, police in many of the surrounding areas are. So, drive on your best behavior.

Last Saturday several residents and businesses in the first block of N. Church Street lost power after someone dropped their ID down the grate. Then tried to retrieve it knocking the grate into the transformer.   

The freakin’ weekend. What are you up to this weekend? I am solo-parenting so take that and add in questionable weather and I’ll probably keep it low-key. Although, we do have tickets for this on Sunday. (Got to keep them classy.)

Also, Habitat for Humanity is holding its Build a House Build a Dream Contest at Church Farm School on Saturday. Kind of like a science fair for budding architects, it was open to 5th graders across the Delaware Valley. I bet there are some pretty cool ideas over there. And West Chester University is hosting its 29th annual Jazz Festival. Events through this evening are free. Saturday there’s a high school Jazz Ensemble showcase featuring 14 programs from the region – tickets required. And lest you forgot, Sunday were all stopping by Roots Cafe for those cheesesteak breakfast sandwiches.

That’s it!

I hope you had a great week and if anyone knows what’s going in either next to Teca or in the space formerly known as Landmark, share, please. Plus, here’s last week’s Roundup and some additional weekend reading. Next week, I am hoping to learn more about this Buy Nothing West Chester group. I’ll keep you posted. Finally, take a minute to follow so I can stop posting on social. Thank you.