And Now, About The Future Of A Town We Love . . .

I’ve lived in the same section of the same town for more than 40 years and I’m happy to see Cherry Hill evolving and growing.

I don't want to see it stand still.

But some people in town are upset because decrepit old (and often abandoned) buildings are being torn down and new retailers and other attractions are moving in.

But we're a big, 32-square-mile township just a stone's throw from Philadelphia. We're certainly no cozy little hamlet and never will be.

What’s happening is simply what the market will bear. 

We have renters AND condos here, Aldi AND Wegmans or Whole Foods, PDQ AND Capital Grille, Apartments AND Luxe townhomes, discount retailers AND Nordstrom, Chevy AND Mercedes Benz or Tesla, Dunkin AND Starbucks. Plus, we've got one of the largest and best public libraries in the state. But, if you want to buy a book, we've also got Barnes & Noble.

And, yeah — we’ve got WaWa, too and that’s damned convenient. 

We are South Jersey’s retail, dining and entertainment center. So, I don’t know what the hell these people are complaining about.

If you don't like it, you have choices.

Want an old fashioned Main Street and small town Americana? Move to Haddonfield or Moorestown or Collingswood or any one of a number of other nearby places. There are alternatives.

I came here with my young family decades ago for the convenience and the schools AND the openness and welcoming feeling of the town -- a place that pretty much welcomes everyone, then and now. 

This town is not suffocating. It's not claustrophobic. It's the lest incestuous place in South Jersey. 

You can live in a reasonable market-rate apartment here or in a multi-million dollar home with plenty of ground. You can find a very affordable single family home or a completely decked-out mansion. You can even find homes designed by world-renowned architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright or Louis Kahn. 

And we're always reinventing ourselves. 

In this latest round of transformations, what, exactly, have we lost? A creepy old bowling alley, abandoned warehouses, vacant buildings on Haddonfield Road, a seedy motel, an eyesore corner saloon. 

I mean, c'mon! What do these people want? 

You want bucolic? Move to Iowa!