One of the most frequent questions that I receive about being mayor is “what does a Mayor do?”
Usually, I outline a few of my day to day tasks and explain the relationship between the mayor, council, borough staff and the police department. However, it is worth acknowledging that it is one of the most important questions any elected official can receive from a resident. It gives us a chance to discuss what elected officials do and how we are helping—hopefully—to make their lives a little better.
With this in mind, I thought it might be best to outline some of what my office has accomplished and worked on over the last year.
Parking Ticket Pay Period:
When I took office one of the very first concerns I worked on was the time range that residents had to pay parking tickets.
It came to my attention that residents had only three days to pay parking tickets with the clock starting from the moment they are issued. If the ticket was not paid within that time a punitive fee was issued. The reality is that if something is sent through the mail, like most tickets are, three days opens the chance of someone paying AND also incurring a fee. After a resident reached out to discuss this issue with me, I worked with the police chief and council to change our ordinance to allow for a longer pay period.
This change encourages a more positive interaction with the borough and allows us to only issue punitive fees to people who have truly ignored their ticket.
Human Relations Commission:
Over the course of the year I participated in several conversations about race relations and racism in order to better understand how this challenge impacts our community. As I dove deeper into the issue, I realized that several other communities in the area had organized Human Relations Commissions in order to help resolve local issues related to race relations and extend protections to LGBTQ members of their community.
After several conversations with Councilman Leon Angelichio, we decided to work together and pursue the creation of Lansdale’s own Human Relations Commission. I am proud that this ordinance passed council unanimously in August. In the creation of this ordinance Lansdale is declaring that it is a community that is dedicated to, and values, its diversity and that we will continue to march toward a better tomorrow for all the residents of our borough.
For more on this ordinance, please see my blog.
Defeating HB 2564:
Over the course of the fall it became apparent that Harrisburg was looking to pass legislation that would adversely affect Lansdale, and several other local municipalities, regarding our ability to self-determine what telecom devices we would allow on our municipally owned telephone poles. This would have dramatically cut our ability to monetize our own infrastructure while decreasing costs for telecoms. To say this was a gross over-step by Harrisburg would be an understatement.
In response, I organized ten local mayors representing over 70,000 residents asking them to re-consider the proposed legislation. Thankfully, Harrisburg listened to our request and tabled the measure. Should this measure come forward again without significant adjustments I am prepared to stand opposed to it again.
Ongoing Work:
Some issues take longer than others to resolve and as we head into 2019 there are a few key issues that will help Lansdale dramatically over the course of the year.
First, mail delivery in the borough. Congressmen Brian Fitzpatrick and I discussed the challenges of mail delivery in the borough and he is actively engaging in the issue. As this issue is resolved we will keep residents up to date.
Second, I have been engaging in on-going conversations with borough staff about moving toward a more self-sufficient and green community. This is a part of a larger conversation about energy generation in the borough.
Third, as outlined in several other articles, Lansdale must consider how we will find new ways, instead of increasing taxes, to generate revenue. It is my hope that we will find several solutions over the next year and the borough will be in a stronger financial situation because of it.
Finally, I am working with the police department and borough staff to resolve issues relating to pedestrian crossing at Main St. and Green St. This intersection is challenging due to the volume of residents crossing the street to get to the train. We are engaging SEPTA and PENNDOT on the issue.
Some final quick statistics from 2018:
As you can see, 2018 has been very busy and I am extremely proud of the work council, staff, and I were able to accomplish. This is, of course, just a sample of successful actions taken by the borough. Many other successes were made by borough staff throughout the year and they are absolutely integral to our communities’ success. I look forward to 2019 and I know we will continue to make Lansdale a great place to live, work, and play.
See also:
Mayoral Musings: Cutting the Cord…and Connecting Our Own
Mayoral Musings: This Is Not Who We Should Be
Mayoral Musings: Giving Thanks to Lansdale
Mayoral Musings: New ‘Waze’ to Improve Lansdale
Mayoral Musings: 'Go Vote! No excuses. Just Vote!'
