The League of Women Voters (LWV) Abington-Cheltenham-Jenkintown Area invited candidates to participate in Vote411.org, their online election guide. I thank them for their efforts to produce this valuable tool for voters along with their other initiatives. Unfortunately, candidate responses to each question were limited to 500 characters. Below are the LWV questions along with my full answers:
1) What are your top three priorities for your municipality, and how would you address and pay for them?
Support for local businesses and responsible, appropriately sized development – To accomplish this, I would encourage Township staff to continue to streamline the processes required to open businesses within the Township. I would also encourage Township staff to work with the recently revitalized Cheltenham Community Development (CCD) organization to coordinate with them on grant applications and other initiatives designed to encourage reinvestment in existing businesses and the recruitment of new community-oriented businesses. To encourage development that reflects the size and character of the surrounding structures, I would look to make sure that existing zoning and land development codes are followed with limited deviation and explore areas of our code that may need to be rewritten for clarity. These actions involve the focus of existing staff, coordination with the volunteers of the CCD, and a commitment from me to enforce codes during the land development process. I do not believe that this would require significant additional expenditures by the Township.
Properly maintained parks and facilities – To accomplish this, I would work to implement the facilities vision that was adopted by the current Board of Commissioners in spring 2024 (see the facilities page at www.cheltenhamtownship.com for details) and ask that the Township establish a standing resident committee on facilities. The purpose of the new resident committee would be to visit all Township facilities on a regular basis, discuss on-going maintenance initiatives, and serve as a way to prevent our new facilities from ever getting into the state of disrepair that we see now with our existing facilities. I should be clear that I do not think current Township staff is responsible for our current situation. The state of our current facilities is the result of decades of failure by previous staff and Boards of Commissioners to plan for the predictable needs of older structures. We need to plan now to prevent this from happening again. Funding to implement the facilities vision adopted in spring 2024 will, out of necessity, need to come from grant funding. I know that the current Board of Commissioners and Township staff are already working on securing grants, and have secured multiple already. I hope to join them in this effort.
Pedestrian and cyclist safety – Residents of Cheltenham should be able to walk and cycle safely to our parks and open spaces, public schools, business districts, and regional rail stations. Sadly, we are often not able to do this because of holes in our network of sidewalks and trails. I support Commissioner Chirico’s initiative to establish a resident committee focused on sidewalks and trails and will have this as a priority of mine as well. We need this committee to work on establishing a clear plan for where we need additional pedestrian and cyclist measures. Having this plan will allow Township staff to submit competitive grant applications and will help the Township to establish the cost of installing these measures so that developers asking for waivers in the land development process can be asked to contribute an appropriate amount in lieu of building a sidewalk on their property (if, and only if, the Board of Commissioners determine that a sidewalk on their own property is inappropriate and would be better situated elsewhere). This ‘payment in lieu of’ process is used for shade tree replanting in the land development process and should be carried over to sidewalks as well.
2) Please share your skills and experience relevant to budget decision making
In my professional life, I am part-owner and Operations Manager of a small local business. On a daily basis, my job involves figuring out how to provide the best possible service for our clients with the limited resources of our small business. Often, we need to determine what we have on hand that can get us to our desired goal because buying new solutions or hiring new staff is not always feasible. In business, not delivering for the client is the last resort since clients are how you survive. Instead, creativity and resourcefulness is required. I see the Township’s current budget deficit in much the same way. It is not a time to simply cut spending to meet a bottom line. It is a time to reprioritize our available resources so that they are all directed toward the same goal – providing our residents the best possible services. The new Board of Commissioners should continue the work of the current board to establish what is essential and examine if every initiative is working in concert.
3) If you had a magic wand and there were no obstacles in your way, what is the one thing that you would change right now to better your community?
I would repurchase the Township sewer system from Aqua and complete all required repairs. This would return the asset to the control of the residents and ensure that we are not paying a for-profit company for this essential public service.
4) What could you do in your elected role to promote civic discourse and combat misinformation in our community?
For the past sixteen years, I have worked in my role as a Board Member of the Cheltenham Chamber of Citizens (CCC) to educate residents on current Township issues and events and encourage civic participation. If elected, I would resign my role on the CCC Board, but would continue these efforts in my new position. I plan to establish a variety of communication methods with constituents including: social media, email, in-person meetings, and frequent attendance at public Township events. We can only have productive dialog between residents and between the Township and residents if we are all well-informed.