Meet Lower Macungie Commissioner Candidate: Ron Beitler

Lower Macungie Commissioner’s Race

Candidate: Ron Beitler 

Age: 34

Family: Single. Grew up in LMT. Family still lives here.  

Political party affiliation: Republican 

Tell us about your educational background: I graduated from Emmaus High School in 1998 and Slippery Rock University in 2005 with a B.A. Political Science

Tell us about your professional/business background:

Co-Owner of a local small business. Bar None Weddings. We provide wedding and event Films, Photography & Entertainment. 

Why are you running for Lower Macungie Commissioner?

This is my hometown. I grew up here and I’m staying here for the long run. Fighting to preserve our community character is important to me. I do not want to see us turned into what so many people moved here to get away from. We need to put residents first, before special interests or out of town developers. 

What qualifies you to serve on the township board?

As a lifelong resident, I’ve seen first hand how we’ve grown 40% in two decades. I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly. I'm the only candidate who has lived here throughout a decade of hyper growth. Coming up on a second period of intense growth pressure I think this gives me a unique perspective. 

What do you see as the board's primary role and responsibilities?

The most important responsibility in our unique situation is addressing quality of life concerns and ensuring we're setting ourselves up for success. Outside interests should not determine the kind of community we are to become. How the board deals with continued growth pressure is critical in the coming decades. Lower Macungie must stop kicking the can down the road. Projections show pressure for 10,000 new residents on the horizon. We must stop granting sweetheart zoning deals, regulatory flexibility and waivers to developers. We must stop now re-evaluate the status quo and manage growth better.

Tell us about three major challenges facing Lower Macungie and how you would address them. (Please be as specific as possible):

Dealing with growth concerns - Two primary mechanisms I would like to see us adopt are outlined on my website.  

1. We need a transferable development rights program that uses the free market to preserve open space and guide growth to locations where taxpayers aren't on the hook for legacy costs of infrastructure.

2. Lifecycle cost benefit analysis of development decisions to prove that zoning changes benefit the community in terms of future liabilities.  

2. Police Protection -We should not cross this bridge until we statistically need to. That bridge being data that supports changing the status quo. Right now statistically Lower Macungie is a very safe community. I believe this is largely because of the great service we get from the Pennsylvania State Police. I will not move the township towards any unnecessary tax increase. If mishandled the police issue could represent the largest tax increase in township history. We must proceed with utmost caution.  

How much are you spending to run? How is your campaign being funded?

I'm running this campaign for under 2000 dollars. I suspect I will spend much less then my opponents. The incumbents have had expensive "fake newsletter" mailers and robo-calls distributed by special interest groups. I have focused on a grassroots issues oriented effort including social media, door knocking and phone calls. I believe this is how a local campaign should be run.