Time to break from the status quo
State College is growing, but in a good direction?
Let me state that all people who volunteer to serve in government deserve medals. While our elected officials have done well, we need to break from the status quo.
We are blessed with a wonderful staff and borough manager.
For many years, candidates for council and committees have been handpicked by a very tight-knit group of insiders. This small group has recruited, nominated and elected their own slate of candidates year after year; their political control has effectively ignored many other residents of the borough. This control has not reached the level of an NYC Tammany Hall, but the effects are evident. Most constituents are left out of the decision-making process inside the borough hall.
Roll forward to 2017. The selection methods of the past will not get us to the future, times are changing. During the past 15 years, 14 major businesses have left town and new companies are not rising up to fill the gap to provide jobs and pay taxes
It’s time to vote for newer younger individuals who will represent all constituents living in the borough, not just a select few, and who will guide us to the future. We must elect people with new vision who understand innovation and who will cultivate the newer cultures you find in places such as Austin, Seattle, Brooklyn and Pittsburgh. We need to be that place where millennial and new-age business want to locate and grow. A place where they can afford to stay.
Join me in supporting Michael Black, Evan Myers and Dan Murphy on Nov 7. Thank you.
Pat Vernon, Lemont
This story was originally published November 1, 2017 at 11:01 PM with the headline "Time to break from the status quo."