Phoenixville -- deprived again

ARRRRGGGGHHHH!
No, this is not write like a silly editor day. But with Barack Obama scheduled to appear at the Paoli and Downingtown train stations today, I expect the Editor of The Phoenix will write something like this:

Are you frustrated that Phoenixville is having another brush with presidential politics that is ending up with, again, a candidate ALMOST coming to Phoenixville.

Okay, it was great that Barack Obama will appear today at the Paoli and Downingtown train stations.

But he should have come here! What stopped him?

A TRAIN STATION, or, rather, reportedly, the lack of one.

Local gossip Dementia Blabberer said that she heard from the cousin of a great-aunt of a daughter-in-law of a friend of an Obama campaign worker that Obama was originally scheduled to ride the Schuylkill Valley Metro to Phoenixville, but changed plans when the campaign discovered that it didn't exist.

No, I'm not saying that we should build a multi-million dollar rail line just for an occasional campaign stop by a political candidate, but it is certainly as good an economic justification as anything else that's been put forward.

Lack of train service in Phoenixville can be an extreme inconvenience.

Phoenixville can use some good publicity and it's sad that yet another chance for a quick headline in the dying local paper is gone, perhaps forever.

But the train problem is more enduring and has broader implications than the occasional loss of bright opportunities like these.

Without a train line, it’s impossible to measure just how many people live on the right side of the tracks. But it’s known that some people do, because they tell us so.

That means lost status and self-esteem, sometimes not just for a day, but permanently.

I don't know whether Phoenixville should establish a Transportation Authority to handle the problem, or just set up a Transportation Department along with other borough offices. I’ve heard arguments on both sides.

But SOMEBODY needs to start building a train station downtown, or close to it, and soon. For special events at the high school or Reeves Park, organizers could set up a shuttle service using tumbrels, which is way easier to do from one central location like a train station.

'nuf said.