Proposed PA House Districts 194 and 200
I do not feel that the Chestnut Hill and Mt Airy sections of House District 200 should be annexed to the 194th District primarily because these communities do not currently, and logically will not share social, governmental and political concerns. As evidenced by the Philadelphia Planning Commission 2035 blueprint, Upper Northwest Philadelphia (200th District) and Lower Northwest Philadelphia (194th District) are autonomous areas with divergent political cultures and governmental needs. Specifically, they have separate public transit routes, and the revision of the Wissahickon Transfer Station is a current multi-year infrastructure project underway in the 194th. These two Districts are dramatically separated geologically by the Wissahickon Creek and Gorge, and there are only two ways across the Wissahickon Creek that connect the 2 Districts: Bells Mill Road, and the Walnut Lane Bridge, causing the majority of residents to concentrate their daily activities on one side of the Creek or the other. On the other hand, most locals think of Chestnut Hill and Mt Airy as one contiguous community.