Redesign

Federal and state environmental agencies have ordered a housing developer to change part of the main road in a Valley Township area where about 100 families live. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Resources have told Kenneth C. Hellings, president of KCH Developers Inc. of Exton, that he must redesign a 500-foot stretch of Pine Valley Drive where it connects townhouses and single homes in Country Club Valley. That portion of the road also serves as a 17-foot dam over a tributary to Rock Run stream.

The people who presided over our dirt naps used to be called undertakers. They then metamorphosed into morticians before finally becoming funeral directors. Auto mechanics are now technicians, and store clerks are called associates. Army manuals refer to retreat as retrograde motion. Prisons have become correctional institutions. Suffice it to say that Americans love euphemisms, and just about every group has some. Certainly, the auto industry has its share. Have you noticed, for example, that cars don't have bumpers anymore?

The Willistown Planning Commission has asked the developer of the Willistown Woods II townhouse complex on Street Road south of West Chester Pike to redesign its internal road system. At a meeting Wednesday night, commission members said that the relocation of several buildings in the 204-unit development and the addition of roads would make it easier for drivers of tractor-trailers and fire trucks to maneuver. Stuart Lundy, an attorney for developer Edward Weingartner, said that the redesign would not be a problem, but that it would take time.

The Lower Merion school board has hired an architect to redesign Merion School, renovated for open classrooms in 1970, as a more traditional school. The board hired Dagit-Saylor Architects of Philadelphia on Monday night to conduct a study of the school on Bowman Avenue. The construction of walls and sound barriers will be considered. The firm also will examine how to improve heating and ventilation in the building. The study is expected to cost up to $10,000. "We have been moving away from the open-school concept in the last five to six years," said Merion principal Marvin Gold.

Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square is nearing the end of a $12 million redesign of the Main Conservatory's eastern wing, long considered the "crown jewel" of the Philadelphia region's most popular public garden. This being Longwood, a former du Pont estate with deep pockets, the yearlong construction project includes many marvels - a new main entrance to the East Conservatory, a record-busting green wall, a dramatic terraced slope, and an attractive, open venue for outdoor performances, special events, and educational programs.

Your two-page layout (July 2) gives the reader a good insight into Independence Mall redesign. However, I have questions: As a taxpayer, I am wondering why we are spending so much on a new Visitors Center when we have a perfectly adequate one between Chestnut and Walnut streets on 3rd. What will happen to this facility? As a tour guide for several years, I have asked visitors about this project. Most say the mall, as it now stands, is fine. Adding a Constitution Center does not seem to appeal one way or another.

When the developers of theCharlestowne subdivision in Towamencin Township visit municipal hall, they have learned to go weighted down with armloads of maps and plans in anticipation of the protracted discussions with township officials. Representatives of the James Lewis Group were pleasantly shocked Wednesday, when the supervisors quickly indicated that they would give preliminary plan approval to the last section of the development that requires approval at their next meeting.

Montgomery Township Supervisors Monday night turned down the county planning board's request to have a developer redesign a 386-unit complex a year after the township Planning Commission had approved it. Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Richard H. Gebelein said the county board was "a day late and $100,000 short" in its request, referring to the estimated cost of redesign. Township Planning Commission members approved the proposal in June 1988 after determining that it met the requirements of the township's "clustering" ordinance.

After 80 years of silently gazing from the U.S. penny, Abraham Lincoln is in for a surprise: He may get a face lift. For the first time in decades, Congress is on the verge of approving a redesign for America's most popular coins - not just Mr. Lincoln's copper penny but also the nickel, the dime, the quarter and the half-dollar. "We're the only Western country in the world that hasn't changed its coins in recent years," said Diane Wolf, commissioner of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.

The National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday that the most widely used type of lap-shoulder belt in American cars should be redesigned to eliminate excessive slack that can cause injuries or deaths in accidents. Citing its study of 167 auto crashes involving 341 people between 1984 and 1986, the NTSB said too many motorists mistakenly assumed that they could leave some slack in their lap-shoulder belts because the belts would tighten in an accident. In fact, the most common seat belt used by domestic automakers does not tighten upon impact, but simply locks in place.

Philadelphia unveiled its newly redesigned Sister Cities Park yesterday on Logan Square at 18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, just across from the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. Though the ribbon cutting to the 1.3-acre, $4.9 million park took place Thursday, the grand opening is Saturday. The park is part of a $20.9 million makeover of public spaces on the Parkway, coinciding with the opening of much-anticipated Barnes Foundation. The park, once mostly grass and trees with a few stone monuments, now offers a children's garden, stream and boat pond, a Milk & Honey Cafe, and a satellite office of the Independence Visitor Center.

For most of its life, the Hyundai Accent was about as exciting as a loaf of week-old Wonder. Its appearance, like its performance, was a root cause of narcolepsy. Many people found that when they drove an Accent, they didn't need a tse-tse fly bite to contract sleeping sickness. That all changed with a vengeance when Hyundai redesigned its subcompact sedan and hatchback for 2012. The new Accent places the accent on style and driving fun - and, comma, in the process, earns a stellar EPA highway mileage rating of 40. The top-of-the-line SE five-door hatchback that I tested proved a comely car inside and out. The exterior sculpting was fresh and pleasing, and the interior design was quite handsome and looked more upmarket than the car's $15,795 base price would suggest.

WASHINGTON - President Dwight D. Eisenhower's family wants a memorial in the nation's capital redesigned, saying the current plans overemphasize his humble Kansas roots and neglect his accomplishments in World War II and the White House. Architect Frank Gehry has proposed a memorial park framed by large metal tapestries with images of Eisenhower's boyhood home in Abilene, Kan. In the park, a statue of "Ike" as a boy would seem to marvel at what would become of his life, leading the Allied forces and becoming president.

Former New York Times art director Louis Silverstein, 92, who helped modernize the Times and was credited with influencing newspaper design nationwide, has died. Mr. Silverstein's daughter, Anne Silverstein, told the Times that her father died Thursday of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Brooklyn. Mr. Silverstein was charged with transforming the so-called Gray Lady into a more visually appealing newspaper that could attract readers in the age of television. Former Times managing editor Arthur Gelb said Mr. Silverstein responded with a vision for opening up the newspaper's design.

The people who presided over our dirt naps used to be called undertakers. They then metamorphosed into morticians before finally becoming funeral directors. Auto mechanics are now technicians, and store clerks are called associates. Army manuals refer to retreat as retrograde motion. Prisons have become correctional institutions. Suffice it to say that Americans love euphemisms, and just about every group has some. Certainly, the auto industry has its share. Have you noticed, for example, that cars don't have bumpers anymore?

TO PARAPHRASE myriad deejays, the hits just keep on coming. We're not talking about yet another playing of "Stairway to Heaven," or even "Seasons in the Sun," however annoying you might find that prospect. For people who work for newspapers, the last 15 years or so have been an unrelieved and seemingly unending chain of disasters. I just finished a column for a North Dakota paper about the sudden early retirement of the editor of the Bismarck Tribune, who cited unrelenting personal attacks from bloggers and Internet commenters as his reason.

WHO'S the aesthetically-challenged, supermarket-tabloid-loving, community-weekly-giveaway fan who engineered the redesign of the Daily News ? The new typefaces are boring, and there's so much empty white space at the top of each page I think I'm looking at an X-ray of Sarah Palin's head. Don't further penalize the loyal readers and subscribers who've kept the Daily News' paper edition afloat with their hard-earned cash for the failure of prior and current ownership to monetize the digital content of Philly.com by persisting with these cheap cosmetic changes to the print edition or, for that matter, continuing to cut the quantity and quality of your journalism.

Durango Crew RWD Crewlux: Redesigned for 2011, this three-row SUV is surprisingly easy to maneuver. Price: $43,525 as tested. (Base price: $33,195) Marketer's pitch: The Ultimate Utility. Sort of a UUV, I guess. Conventional wisdom: Dodge is back from the brink with a cool new lineup. Again. Reality: Not bad. Perhaps the penultimate. Odd nomenclature: Dodge is no longer satisfied with boring old model designators like LX or EX or EXL. Now buyers can choose the "Crew," which is a click above the "Heat" and two clicks above the "Express.

SAN FRANCISCO - Intel Corp. said Wednesday it had redesigned the electronic switches on its chips so that computers could keep getting cheaper and more powerful. The switches, known as transistors, have typically been flat. By adding a third dimension - "fins" that jut up from the base - Intel said it would be able to make the transistors and chips smaller. The concept is similar to how skyscrapers address the need for more office space when land is scarce. The Santa Clara, Calif., company said the new structure would let chips run on less power.

A first glance doesn't do it. Nor does a second. The house that comes into view off a narrow street in Chestnut Hill requires at least several glances - and some orientation. Its contours seem straightforward enough, but there's a surprise around every bend, both indoors and out. "Sunrise," the 1964 residence designed by architect William Washburn as a simple, symmetrical house with mansard roof, was transformed three years ago to include an additional bedroom, an enlarged master suite and family room, and a third-floor studio - an expansion of 2,000 square feet.