Responses to League of Women Voters of Bucks County

I received a Voter Guide Questionnaire from the League of Women Voters of Bucks County a few days ago, and I spent time completing this last night. The most difficult part of completing this form was limiting my complete response to 125 words or less! If the residents of Middletown Township chose to elect me to represent their interests, they most certainly need to know more than 125 words about me, my education, background, qualifications, and views about our Township. Included below is a slightly longer version of the answers I submitted to the League of Women Voters today:

1. Education:
Graduate of Neshaminy High School (1992) and High Point University (1996) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish and a Bachelor of Science degree Computer Information Systems.

2. Occupation:
President of marketing services firm in Langhorne.

3. Qualifications for Office:
Lifelong resident of Middletown Township, homeowner, and president of a Langhorne company. Running a small business has provided me with extensive experience in planning, budgeting, managing people, and solving complex problems. On a daily basis, I interface with a wide variety of audiences, including clients, vendors, board members, employees, volunteers, local officials, and partners, and am very adept and adjusting to the different needs and styles of all of these groups to work effectively with them and accomplish goals.

I have also applied many of these same skills to an industry association, where I have been an active board member for five years and was named “Planner of the Year” in 2006.

4. Most Important Issues Facing Community and How I Would Address Them:
Middletown Township is a great community and I believe the most important issues are “quality of life” issues:

a. Solving traffic issues through responsible land development and re-engineering of difficult traffic patterns.
b. Responsibly protecting our environment, primarily by protecting our limited remaining open space.
c. Attracting new businesses to fill empty buildings with incentives appropriate for our community.
d. Ensuring adequate park and recreation facilities for families, children, and young adults through effective dialog with residents and careful planning with all appropriate members of the community and our local government.

Most importantly, we must accomplish all Township goals, manage all Township activities, and develop our Township within the current financial means of our residents.

If these are the same issues that are important to you and your family, and you have ideas to solve them, I'd love to hear from you!