NEW HOPE: Local inkeeper fills Hirschfield vacancy

By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
   NEW HOPE — Richard Hirschfield has tendered his resignation to the Borough Council, and local innkeeper Carl Glassman has been chosen to replace him.
   Mr. Glassman will serve the remainder of Mr. Hirschfield’s term, which expires Jan. 2, 2012. Mr. Glassman, a Democrat, also filed to run for a full term on the council in the Bucks County primary on May 17.
   Mr. Hirschfield is moving with his wife, Ruth, in June to Illinois.
   He served on the council for almost a dozen years. He was elected in 1999, took his first oath of office in January 2000 and served eight years as the council’s president, 2000 to 2007.
   A lot has changed since he first took his seat at the council table. In 2000, the borough was involved in “multiple lawsuits and police grievances,” Mr. Hirschfield recalled.
   He said, “The police contract had expired. Finances were a mess. To balance the books almost all of the $700,000 savings account was being spent. Hardly a week went by without some article in the papers about New Hope’s problems. There was no police chief and borough management was weak.”
   When a new reporter showed up to cover local government a few short years later, the same question was routinely posed by various people: “Aren’t you sorry you missed all the arguments?” Apparently there had been major blowouts at public meetings, but by that time the meetings had become more civil.
   Under Mr. Hirschfield’s tenure as council president, a number of changes occurred.
   He said, “We settled with the ex chief and hired an excellent new one. We recruited a borough manager, who, in my opinion, is one of the best so the borough is now well-managed top to bottom. We have had labor peace.”
   Physical improvements occurred as well. Union Square was built to replace the Union Camp “eyesore,” Mr. Hirschfield said. The town built a “backdoor road” into the borough. Public water also was brought to the borough. Pocket parks were built at Ferry, Randolph and Stockton streets.
   Also, the council passed groundbreaking civil rights protection for its residents with a new anti-discrimination ordinance in 2002 outlawing discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. It made headlines across the country.
   Just last fall, the town completed a long project, the renovation of a former Roman Catholic church into a new, larger borough hall and quarters for the town’s Police Department.
   And what every taxpayer loves to hear: “We are financially sound and have not had an increase in the general fund tax rate,” Mr. Hirschfield said.
   His replacement, Mr. Glassman, along with his wife, Nadine “Dinie” Glassman, is owner/innkeeper of the 1870 Wedgwood Collection of Historic Inns, on West Bridge Street. They have run the business since April 1982. The couple has one daughter, Jessica, who attends New Hope-Solebury High School.
   ”We have strong ties to New Hope and have been involved residents throughout the past 30 years, from the original New Hope Visitors Council, now known as the New Hope Chamber of Commerce, to the Parent-Teacher Forum in the public school system,” Mr. Glassman said.
   Mrs. Glassman is a founding volunteer for H.E.L.P., an interfaith volunteer organization. Mr. Glassman has served as an alternate and also a full member of the borough’s Zoning Hearing Board.
   ”Serving as a councilman is a natural progression of my commitment to serving the residents and small business owners of New Hope,” Mr. Glassman said.