REVISED comments - House 84/85 boundary
Please note: this is a corrected version of comments I submitted earlier today, which misstated how the proposed House district boundary differed from the current one. However, my primary objection to dividing Lewisburg Borough from its neighboring municipalities--which are part of a single community--is unchanged by this revision. I am writing in my capacity as the Lewisburg Borough Council President and Ward III Council representative. The proposed House redistricting map carves out our neighboring Union County municipalities, East Buffalo Township and Union Township, attaching them to the new 85th district to the south, which encompasses most of Snyder County, while the rest of Union County moves to the 84th district. It also divides the Bucknell University campus, which stretches between Lewisburg Borough and East Buffalo Township, into two house districts. It draws a line through the Lewisburg Area School District, the Buffalo Valley Recreation Authority service area, and the Buffalo Valley Regional Police Department and William Cameron Engine Company coverage areas. It severs the Borough from the community of which it is an integral part, and creates additional barriers to local regionalization efforts that are critical to the prosperity of our town. The Borough is part of a single community with its neighboring townships. I echo Lewisburg Borough Council member Michael Derman's comment (submitted separately) that, "As a borough council member, I see such a scheme as weakening our communities' ability to apply for and receive grants, approach elected representatives cooperatively about issues of common interest, and therefore see to our regional improvement. The proposed district divides our region and broader community." I join in the East Buffalo Township Supervisors' objection to the boundaries the proposed map has drawn (submitted separately by Jim Knight, East Buffalo Township Supervisor). I ask you to reconsider this boundary division and keep Lewisburg Borough with the rest of its community in Union County.