Audio By Carbonatix
A plucky group of summer camp kids, their counselors, and homeowners have rallied against a warehouse development in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, by Margolis Enterprises, a developer based in Boca Raton. The Burlington County Times reports that our locals are getting a lesson in child activism:
“My daughter told me I should come over and sign the petition, and
before doing that I thought I should educate myself a little bit. And
in reading it, I can see basically that it would kill the whole scenery
and the background,” said Anselmo Rivera of Hainesport, whose two
children, 11 and 8, have attended the camp for three years.
Opponents to the project have launched their own website, where Margolis is cast as a greedy, politician-greasing corporate monster:
It has patiently owned the adjacent properties for many
years, waiting for the winds of change to come. It has taken an
economic recession to cause a “perfect storm” of local politicians and
state regulators being willing to work with them, quickly cutting
through (Department of Environmental Protection) red tape, and
consulting with the newly formed Governor’s Office of Economic Growth.
Outrageous!
That doesn’t sound like the behavior befitting Boca Raton business
owners’ sterling reputation around the globe. What’s more, the
organizer of that website told the paper that Margolis is trying to
build despite six of seven DEP permits that are for residential
development — not commercial development that goes with warehouses.
Well, duh! Why pay off the politicians if you’ve already got the proper permits!
And so what if the project calls for 40-foot warehouses on the three
sides of the camp? When it comes to telling ghost stories around a
campfire, warehouses make a much spookier backdrop than the woods, as
any kid from Detroit will tell you.
