Thanks to everyone for their kind words and well-wishes.
But I'd be remiss not to mention that even though Joe & I sort of became the public face of this effort, another GCA-er, John Burnes put in just a Herculean effort behind the scenes with City Officials, Benefactors, and Community Groups to get this to the finish line.
A few years ago over the holidays we had lunch with John at our favorite Mexican Restaurant in Conshohocken and asked for his advice on how best to proceed given that we hadn't had much traction since June of 2013, and were clearly frustrated without someone who could help us manage the levers of power from the inside. John jumped into the fray with both feet.
John, who was described to me yesterday by someone who witnessed his passionate lobbying as "A Force of Nature", indeed made getting this accomplished his own personal mission, and we would have never gotten this far without his heart, courage, and conviction.