To the Editor of the Times Chronicle: I hereby CHALLENGE Ward 1 Commissioner Steven Kline to a SERIES of public DEBATES regarding

his having led the support for the rezoning of the Baederwood Shopping Center to allow construction of hundreds of mid-rise apartments. I will EXPOSE how profoundly and consistently he has FAILED to represent the best interests of his constituents, even has he has prompted his fellow-commissioners to enact an ordinance arbitrarily and unreasonably. My opposition to this urbanization extravaganza has matured during the summer months. The focus has predictably shifted from the substantive and procedural components of the validity appealdue to the legal maneuvers of Brandolinis attorneyto an effort to undermine my standing. I have confronted elitist leaders who KNOWINGLY violated facts in both the Old York Road Corridor Improvement Study and the Abington Comprehensive Plan, both financed and adopted by the Abington Board of Commissioners in 2007; these facts were uncontradicted, uncontested and irrefutable. They would enhance congestion at the T-Intersection located at the Rydal RR-Station, despite the fact that PennDOT has already determinedrepeatedlythat this is an over-capacity choke-point. Thus, the key-concern is whether an individual citizen can advocate for the health and safety of everyone else in the community (and himself) when a development project will enhance traffic congestion and thereby impede the movement of emergency vehicles. Brandolini argues my property is too far away (a mile); I argue that my property includes my health and safety and, thus, the nexus of my claim is inextricably linked to its justification. One session of the Abington Township Zoning Hearing Board was held and, currently, this standing controversy is before both two judges within the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas and the Commonwealth Court. Brandolinis attorney had to invoke this nuclear option to preclude my holding a second session, after having failed (twice) to have emergently quashed multiple subpoenas. And Brandolinis attorney is attempting to force me to post a multi-million dollar bond, as if having already been forced to spend thousands of dollars (and untold hours) hasnt sufficed. Surprisingly, the new leadership of the Rydal-Meadowbrook Civic Association has yet to invite me to explain (to its Board of Governors) what has happened; during a brief conversation with its President, a series of misconceptions was corrected. I told her that awaiting the resolution of legal maneuvers constitutes an unprecedented, thinly-veiled COP-OUT. Indeed, there is apparently a desire to AVOID adopting a position on what arguably would be the ONE project that will have the GREATEST impact on this neighborhood (and others in Abington and in the suburbs) during the modern history of that august organization, of which Im a lifetime-memberwhich Steven Kline has apparently neutered. All key-documents have been uploaded on the Internet [search in scribd]; the most recent set of filings (as of 9/6/2011) is at http://www.scribd.com/doc/64072277/MontCo-Filing-9-6-11. It fleshes-out the issue of standingciting treatises, statutes and case-law. Kline claims that, although I filed many documents, no substantive invalid or procedure anomalies were alleged in any of those documents. The applicant simply did not like the ordinance and failed to recognize the circumstances surrounding the passage of the FTD ordinance. This is patently untrue for, despite a spate of objections during the first session, a number of concerns regarding this Fairway Transit District (raised by the Montgomery County Planning Commission and presented to the Abington Township Planning Commission) survived Brandolinis strenuous legal objections, and I did not yet complete the presentation of the database. Ward 1 and Ward 7 voters should remember that Brandolini plans to plant ~300 apartments along the Fairway, invariably yielding an enhancement of back-ups along Susquehanna Road; they may wish to inquire of the four commissioner-candidates whether they support or condemn this massive unprecedented, precedent-setting project. I might add that the Township has inexplicably decided not to upload the video of the two summertime zoning hearings; it seems its leadership needs to be reminded that Sunshine is the best Disinfectant (SCOTUS Justice Louis B. Brandeis). Robert B. Sklaroff, M.D. Rydal [Published on 9/8/2011]