88th House Legislative District
925 Shetter Ln Camp Hill, PA 17011 nagyjoshua@gmail.com Legislative Reapportionment Commission c/o Legislative Data Processing Center Senate Box 64, Main Capitol Building Harrisburg, PA 17120 Dear Commission Members: Thank you for taking comments on the redistricting of PA State House Legislative District 88, Cumberland County. Currently this district has a combination of our township, Lower Allen, as well as Upper Allen and Mechanicsburg. This current district keeps municipalities of similar interests and needs grouped together for accurate representation. Unfortunately, the removal of Upper Allen to add Hampden Township destroys this community grouping without any clear benefits for the constituents of the 88th or 87th. The 88th already was a well-designed district, meeting the guidelines for the geographic compactness by being a logical grouping of municipalities in the southeast corner of the Cumberland County. Now it stretches from the southern border of the county to the far northern edge of the county line. It also now violates Article II, Section 16 of the Pennsylvania Constitution for redistricting; splitting a municipality. The new 88th divides Mechanicsburg Borough down the middle into two different legislative districts. Geographic grouping also ties directly into the next guideline; the communities that live there. Geography effects community interests and community integrity. Upper Allen and Lower Allen share more than just a similar name; they share a similar culture, population, and needs. The current 88th has shared interests of its citizens as Upper and Lower Allen flow seamlessly into one another with citizens living, working, commuting, and using resources of both on a regular basis. Having a state representative that can speak for this bloc of citizens allows them to have better representation and strength. Also of shared interest in this geography is school district. The current district almost fully encompasses two school districts for which these communities and the elected leaders have established strong connections. The preliminary map now adds a 3rd school district from Hampden. This new school district is one of the largest populations in the state. It is hard to imagine that the elected representative would be able to give an appropriate and equal amount of time to the 3 school districts. It is also does not make sense for the current school districts to lose their community representation. Using the guidelines for redistricting, the 88th was already appropriate for population equality. The unfortunate decision to change prison inmate population adversely affects the townships they reside within. Changing the inmates’ district to their previous home location ignores the resources and time that the state prisons use of our communities and local state officials. The current population of SCI Camp Hill is over 2000 individuals. State officials also still work on behalf of these inmates with prison issues, family members, etc. Removing their population from the calculation means we will have a large population that requires representation and resources but does not logically count them as part of our district. We hope that you strongly consider maintaining the 88th district as-is by keeping Lower Allen and Upper Allen together as well as maintaining school district boundaries for the benefit of the residents who reside here. Sincerely, Joshua and Amber Nagy