Please do NOT dissolve the 82nd district
Hello PA Redistricting Committee, I am writing to you to express my sincere concern and strenuous objection to the proposed dissolution of the 82nd district. This would be very detrimental to our small but important community. First, it would push our represenation further away from our local community, making it difficult for the local citizenry. This would deny easy access to state representation to many people in our community, especially the many elderly, Amish, and low income people of our area. Representative Hershey ensures that members of our community can obtain in-person access to state representation through his satellite offices. Second, the Fannett-Metal School District that serves the Fannett and Metal Townships is intragal to the success of this area. As a parent of a child that attends this school, and as an educator, I am very concerned that distant state representation, particularly from a more urbanized area, would deprive this unique school district the attention and support it needs. I have been very impressed with the talent and efforts of the educators and staff of this school district. Even though they are barely getting by with limited funding, they work hard to provide quality education to children who would otherwise be forced to travel tremendous distances to get to another school. Without true local representation, I am concerned this small school district will be easily overlooked and forgotten about at the state level. This would be demoralizing to district staff which, in turn, would create devastating consequences for our entire community. Third, the communities of the 82nd district are composed of the agricultural based rural communities that are vital to the continued independence of our state. If we do not protect these communities and allow urbanization to expand, unchecked, we will lose the farm land necessary to keep our food sources local. Farms and rural lands of this area are already disappearing. I believe that the dissolution of the 82nd district would accelerate the urbanization of our beautiful area because there wouldn't be a local representative protecting the legacy of this area. Given the current trend of the country, I fervently believe that Pennsylvania should be doing as much as possible to move toward being a self-reliant state. I am pleading with you to reconsider this action and to seek to protect small communities such as those of the 82nd district. As a concerned citizen and member of this community, I would be happy to provide further testimony and evidence to support the ongoing need for the 82nd district, should it be needed. Please feel free to contact me to discuss this matter. Thank you for your time and consideration of my testimony. Sincerely, Dr. Marybeth Zepka of Amberson