Peters Considers Moving Out of 37th State Senate District
Peters Township officials flirted with the idea of moving out of newly elected state Sen. Matt Smith’s district and into state Sen. Tim Solobay’s area.
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Peters Township officials flirted with the idea of moving out of newly elected state Sen. Matt Smith’s district and into state Sen. Tim Solobay’s area.
Councilman David Ball proposed the idea Monday night through a resolution that would’ve asked the state to move the township from the 37th state Senatorial District that snakes across the South Hills of Pittsburgh and into Solobay’s 46th Senate district.
Ball pointed to the fact that Peters Township is the only community in Washington and Greene counties that is attached to the South Hills district in the 2012 redistricting plan. He suggested the community would have a “significant voice” with state and county agencies if they were included in Solobay’s district instead.
“This, over the years, has presented some problems,” Ball said. “We have a very hard time getting attention from Washington and Greene counties, especially from organizations such as PennDOT and the DEP. It would make a lot more sense to be in the district continuous to us.”
The resolution ultimately failed 2-to-5, with only Ball and Councilwoman Monica Merrel voting for it. Even if it had passed, the state would have made the final decision about any redistricting changes.
Still, the discussion raised issues about whether people in Peters Township feel more connected to Washington County or the South Hills.
“I’m ambiguous on this,” Councilman James Berquist said. “I can see the advantages and disadvantages. But I can see how we have a lot more in common with the 37th district (in Allegheny County) than the bottom of Greene County (in the 46th district).”
Councilman Robert Atkison said he preferred to stay with an “unknown” senator in Smith than the “known” commodity of Solobay. Both are Democrats. Smith won election to the seat last fall after former state Sen. John Pippy resigned from the seat.
“The known is not my favorite direction to go, if you know what I’m saying,” Atkison said. “I don’t feel like we’re being shortchanged. We’re part of the Allegheny County (state House district) with John Maher.”
The newly drawn state House and Senate district are awaiting final approval from the state before being implemented.
Would you rather be represented by Sen. Smith or Sen. Solobay? Do you feel more connected with the South Hills or Washington County? Tell us in the comments below.
In This article
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Peters Township Municipal Building
610 E McMurray Rd, McMurray, PA -
State Sen. Matt Smith
319 Castle Shannon Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA -
State Senator Tim Solobay
68 E Pike St, Canonsburg, PA -
Witny
7:23 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Whatever Ad you have let be on top of the news article is really not safe..... I also can't find the x to skip it or stop the Ad from opening! I won't subscribe anymore if I have to worry about Ads blocking the articles. It takes me to another site and I still can't read your article when I come back to peters patch. It is still on top of the words
Bernard Bender
8:08 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Witny, just email Mike personally, you don't have to put him on blast. He's doing a good job.
Gary Rosensteel
8:49 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Interesting discussion. The McMurray Rotary has a similar situation in that our international organization is divided into Districts, and we are an outlier in our District, since the dividing line is the line between Allegheny and Washington counties. We feel we have more in common, and certainly have more association with, the Rotary clubs in Upper St. Clair, Bethel Park and Bridgeville, than we do with Clubs in far-flung counties like Somerset and Cambria, but that's the way it is.
It used to be that Peters was tightly 'aligned' with Allegheny County as a suburb of Pittsburgh, but with all the development of the last few years (Meadows Casino, new retail complexes, Marcellus Shale explosive growth) it does seem that there is starting to be, at least, some coalesence around the northern Washington County communities of Peter, Cecil, Canonsburg, North Strabane and South Strabane as an entity of sorts.
To the point of this article, though, I believe we are much better served staying in our current Senatorial District, as it's make up is more representative of what Peters is as a community.
Bernard Bender
3:13 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Peters is the Heart and soul of Washington County. I challenge anyone to find any other State Senate District where the heart and soul doesn't belong to it's own County seat. Peter's belongs with the other 95 percent of municipalities in Washington County in Senate District 46. Peters Township has an affinity for Washington County, not Allegheny. With the development of more areas in Washington County in the last 10 year, Peters Township no longer goes north for it's shopping. There has been a clear divergence between Upper St. Clair and Peters Township and the rest of what is considered "South Hills." Both Senate Districts are Democrat so what's the difference politically?
John McChesney
8:28 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
I think our council should leave it up to the people of this township. Let us vote on it.
Bernard Bender
10:31 am on Friday, January 11, 2013
I think we should call and email our councilman and tell them how we feel, and encourage others to do the same http://www.peterstownship.com/index.asp?Type=B_DIR&SEC=%7BBC99A76D-3578-4A46-AE77-8FBA69C0F145%7D . We have more in common with Canonsburg and Southpointe than we do Mt. Lebanon.