Our Troubled Commissioners
We don’t ever need to get to the question of whether our current Commissioners are good or bad people. Let us assume for now that they are all good people. But based on their votes and based on the results, we know this: They are really bad at their job.
Overdevelopment
They are knocking down single family houses and building rows of townhouses.
Worsened Traffic
The commissioners ignore the pleas of the residents. They promise over and over to do a traffic study.
Increasing Taxes
There is no answer and no plan from the commissioners.
Our local government is failing their mission at the most basic level.
Are things better here than there were 10 years ago? Is there more open space? Are taxes lower? Is traffic better or worse? Is it more affordable to live here? Do you feel more included or more helpless in decision-making here?
In your name, a few years ago the Springfield commissioners wrote a law restricting the speech of police officers. I never thought I would live in a township that was sued for civil rights violations. Yet, the federal court and the appeals court smacked them down pretty good, calling out their “egregious” violations of the First Amendment. This was not a close case. Still, as recently as the August 2025 meeting two of the Commissioners were saying that this law was “a good idea.” It was not. It never was. The First Amendment does not apply only when you agree with the opinions expressed. This folly cost the taxpayers upward of $340,000. Probably more.
Taxes are rapidly increasing. No answer, no plan from the Commissioners.
Our local government is failing their mission at the most basic level.
Are things better here than there were 10 years ago? Is there more open space? Are taxes lower? Is traffic better or worse? Is it more affordable to live here? Do you feel more included or more helpless in decision-making here?
In your name, a few years ago the Springfield commissioners wrote a law restricting the speech of police officers. I never thought I would live in a township that was sued for civil rights violations. Yet, the federal court and the appeals court smacked them down pretty good, calling out their “egregious” violations of the First Amendment. This was not a close case. Still, as recently as the August 2025 meeting two of the Commissioners were saying that this law was “a good idea.” It was not. It never was. The First Amendment does not apply only when you agree with the opinions expressed. This folly cost the taxpayers upward of $340,000. Probably more.
Taxes are rapidly increasing. No answer, no plan from the Commissioners.
Over-development is rampant within our already fully built-out township.
As the strain on infrastructure and services worsens, our taxes will continue to rise. They are knocking down single family houses and building rows of townhouses. There is a strong push to knock things down here and greatly increase the density because it is more profitable for the developers that the board works with.
WE CAN FIX THIS. Cutting off overdevelopment and enforcing the zoning that is already in place, and not rewriting it to allow more intensive development is the first, best thing we can do to keep taxes low.
In short, the Board of Commissioners refusal to say no to developers means that they are saying yes to increasing your taxes.
Issue after issue, it seems that our commissioners understand their role to be the protection of developers rather than of the community at large.
WE CAN FIX THIS. We need to tell developers that they can work for us or with us, but that we aren’t going to work for them any more.
Over-development is rampant within our already fully built-out township.
As the strain on infrastructure and services worsens, our taxes will continue to rise. They are knocking down single family houses and building rows of townhouses. There is a strong push to knock things down here and greatly increase the density because it is more profitable for the developers that the board works with.
WE CAN FIX THIS. Cutting off overdevelopment and enforcing the zoning that is already in place, and not rewriting it to allow more intensive development is the first, best thing we can do to keep taxes low.
In short, the Board of Commissioners refusal to say no to developers means that they are saying yes to increasing your taxes.
Issue after issue, it seems that our commissioners understand their role to be the protection of developers rather than of the community at large.
WE CAN FIX THIS. We need to tell developers that they can work for us or with us, but that we aren’t going to work for them any more.
Traffic has worsened dramatically.
The commissioners ignore the pleas of the residents. They promise over and over to do a traffic study. They shuffle you out of the meeting and they stop returning your calls. Traffic is not a problem for them. They have not done anything to fix it. They talk in circles and then pass the buck.
WE CAN FIX THIS. We need to go back to the drawing board on Bethlehem Pike. We need to make Paper Mill Road better. We need to make sure that Cheltenham Road does not get worse. We need to actually do something to calm traffic and slow things down on cut-through streets.
A brittleness has infected the Board of Commissioners. It values only consensus to the plans they’ve already cooked up behind closed doors. A lot of townships operate like this. But they don’t have to.
WE CAN FIX THIS. We need a culture change. We need Commissioners who don’t interrupt residents when they come to talk. Commissioners who don’t shut them up or shout them down. We need Commissioners who listen, not who treat residents rudely when they show up to a meeting. In the ten years that I have been really following things in our township, the Board has never been this bad at what they do. They hate to hear any criticism, they only want praise. This inability to accept contrary opinions leads to bad decision-making. It is a system of GroupThink and hive mind.
Traffic has worsened dramatically.
The commissioners ignore the pleas of the residents. They promise over and over to do a traffic study. They shuffle you out of the meeting and they stop returning your calls. Traffic is not a problem for them. They have not done anything to fix it. They talk in circles and then pass the buck.
WE CAN FIX THIS. We need to go back to the drawing board on Bethlehem Pike. We need to make Paper Mill Road better. We need to make sure that Cheltenham Road does not get worse. We need to actually do something to calm traffic and slow things down on cut-through streets.
A brittleness has infected the Board of Commissioners. It values only consensus to the plans they’ve already cooked up behind closed doors. A lot of townships operate like this. But they don’t have to.
WE CAN FIX THIS. We need a culture change. We need Commissioners who don’t interrupt residents when they come to talk. Commissioners who don’t shut them up or shout them down. We need Commissioners who listen, not who treat residents rudely when they show up to a meeting. In the ten years that I have been really following things in our township, the Board has never been this bad at what they do. They hate to hear any criticism, they only want praise. This inability to accept contrary opinions leads to bad decision-making. It is a system of GroupThink and hive mind.
Under this system, there is zero accountability.
This is a closed system designed to perpetuate itself. They say they have a Candidate Recruitment Committee. But the truth is, it’s a candidate selection committee. It is a broken system that they need to fix. (And I have begged them to do that.) But Democrats here, as is true for many places, are addicted to telling you who you have to vote for. This is why it doesn’t really matter what they promise or what they fail to deliver.
I’m so frustrated that the only elections the Democratic Party seems interested in rigging are the primaries.
BUT WE CAN FIX THIS. We need to imagine a system where there are competitive primaries and competitive general elections. You need to insist on it. We will have to ignore the bellyaching from a tiny handful of people who insist on picking your commissioner for you. Let’s give democracy a chance.
WE CAN FIX THIS. We need to represent everyone on local issues, as we fight to change the current system of complacency. We need a new coalition of commissioners: one that isn’t performative, one that isn’t a rubber stamp, and one that listens and fulfills the vision of the residents of this community.