As we enter 2019, there are many local challenges ahead of us.
While we have a tendency to think globally and nationally, we must remember that acting locally can be the start of something big.
Looking at this week's feature story regarding the Green Lane – Goshenhoppen Turnpike, you can see how a determined group of local residents became fed-up with the way the upper end of Montgomery County was treated from the lower end when it came to roads.
One hundred years ago, the Green Lane Goshenhoppen Turnpike was the last toll-road in Montgomery County. The Commonwealth was offering matching funds to Montgomery to free the roads and make improvements.
Imagine paying up to five tolls to travel eight miles on a muddy road from Green Lane to Chapel on what we now call Route 29.
While all the other toll-roads in Montgomery Country were freed, the tollhouses remained on the local strip with no plans for county officials to do anything about it.
Protests were filed, in the form of petitions that were presented to officials in Norristown, in front of a packed meeting.
The upper end was heard and the last of Montgomery County's toll roads became open access.
Municipal officials can search for ways they can join forces to improve the quality of life for their residents, enhance services provided, and save taxpayers a few bucks along the way.
It was done before and it can work again. It just takes an honest, sincere effort by those who search for those opportunities and the willingness to compromise for the good of all residents.
The tax-base in many of our local communities cannot sustain the rising costs of everything from insurance to services.
The time has long passed for officials to plan the future of their municipality beyond next year's budget.
The only border wall that exists between local municipalities is the mindset of elected officials who won't take the time to seek out ways to cooperate with each other and do a better job for the people.
Elected officials have a responsibility to seek counsel and advice from all the people of their municipality, not just those in your social circle. They need to refrain from reacting to one negative post on social media.
If you have thin skin, you won't be able to do a good job in your elected position. Stay strong and look beyond haters and into the eyes of your constituents. Shake a hand instead of tapping a keyboard. Listen to those you represent and openly share what you're thinking.
So, let's work with our elected local officials, and with each other, to make our communities a better place to live.
In our four-county-corner of the Commonwealth, where Berks, Bucks, Lehigh, and Montgomery Counties meet, we are 10 – 40 miles from our respective County seats and none of us has the population muscle to compete with the more populated sections of our counties.
We may have municipal boundaries, but we can all be a part of a community.