What are incoming council members’ priorities for State College Borough? Here’s what they said
With the election of four “new” members to the State College Borough Council, the seven-member council is sure to take on a different feel in January.
What are their priorities? How will they tackle pressing issues such as affordable housing? And what do they want the greater community to know about their vision for the future? The Centre Daily Times posed three of the same question to the four newly elected four-year term council members, who ran unopposed, and all but one responded.
We’ll get to their responses shortly. But, first, here’s an overview of those four newly elected officials:
Matt Herndon: He moved to the borough in 2018 and became a member of the State College Transportation Committee. He’s a member of Central PA United, a progressive group whose three backed council candidates in 2021 all won. And he works at Voltus, a provider of renewable energy generation services.
Kevin Kassab: He worked for the borough for more than 30 years before retiring, most recently serving as the borough’s director of community engagement. He acted as the borough’s designated liaison to the LGBTQ+ community and helped State College earn four straight perfect “100” scores on an index that measures LGBTQ+ inclusivity on municipal policies.
Evan Myers: He served two terms as a council member from 2014 to 2021, and could not run in 2021 due to a home-rule charter that prevents members for serving more than two terms consecutively. He has lived in the area for more than 50 years, served as borough council president and has long been involved in the community. He’s a senior vice president at AccuWeather.
Josh Portney: He served on the borough’s planning commission since 2021 and was the borough’s representative to the Centre Regional Planning Commission. He worked on several Democratic political campaigns in the region, and he graduated from Penn State in fall 2022 with bachelor’s degrees in political science and broadcast journalism.
Nalini Krishnankutty, who currently serves on council, was also elected to retain her seat and serve a two-year term. (She was appointed as a council member in June 2022 after Richard Biever vacated his seat due to a family move to Kansas. And, because Biever left so quickly, the home-rule charter stipulated an appointee could not serve out a near-full term without an election. She ran unopposed Tuesday.)
Centre Daily Times: There are a lot of competing views about what the borough should look like in the future with respect to walkability, high-rises, parking, businesses, etc. What’s your ideal vision for State College?
Herndon: My ideal vision for State College is one where people can get around safely, whether it’s by foot, by bike or by car. A place where kids riding their bikes to school are protected by more than just paint on the road. Where retirees can walk through a crosswalk without fear of being hit by a car and where public transit is frequent, reliable and easy to understand.
I dream of a State College where the people who work here can actually find homes to live in at prices they can afford. Where the dilapidated, low-density student housing right next to campus is rebuilt into energy-efficient housing that has enough beds to stop our precious farms and wildlands from being bulldozed for distant developments that add to our traffic, but not to our tax base. I envision more homes for families near our parks and schools filling our playgrounds with happy children, and allowing parents and grandparents to affordably live near their descendants.
I want a State College where people can get out of bed and walk a block to get coffee or grab a bite to eat. Where the businesses that provide such services aren’t forced to pay for huge oceans of parking that make it tough for small businesses to survive. I dream of State College being literally the best town in America. A place that’s sustainable, affordable, bikeable, walkable and inclusive. I hope we can all work together to make that dream come true.
Myers: State College is a community of neighborhoods. It is also the vibrant center of the entire Centre Region. Those two realities may seem to exist at cross purposes, but for the continued strength of the community, they need to exist together. State College is a vastly different place now than it was when I arrived to attend Penn State more than 50 years ago. We are a much bigger place; I do not lament the change, just recognize the reality.
There are many things we can do to improve life in our community. Our town should be more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly. We can do this by improving connections between neighborhoods, apartment complexes, downtown, shopping areas and campus.
Parking is a mess, and we need a comprehensive approach to where people park downtown to make it easier to get to our businesses and restaurants while allowing people to find parking quickly; we could use wayfinding signs to point out where open spaces exist. Involving CATA would be helpful; they could run a series of small hop-on, hop-off buses downtown to keep traffic at a minimum. There is a problem of the scale of buildings downtown, and it’s not just size; sidewalks are dangerously narrow for pedestrians. Businesses struggle with the high price of rent. We can create inclusionary business space for local people, just as we do for housing. Many issues need to be addressed, but that can be done with a comprehensive plan for our community.
Portney: State College is such a wonderful and unique place that is home to so many people: lifelong residents and students, families and young professionals, and more. With every passing year, the question of how to adapt State College to facilitate our growth becomes increasingly more important. We must approach every issue we face with creativity to preserve the historic roots of our town.
On walkability and bikeability, the reality is we have much more to do. We need a comprehensive analysis of where the issues lie in pedestrian and bike infrastructure, from the campus to the neighborhoods. In response, we need to retrofit sidewalks to be wider, slow car traffic to improve safety, enhance intersections and, yes, even consider protected bike lanes and pedestrian malls. None of this takes away from the heart of our town — it enhances it. The spirit of State College rests in the community, and these infrastructure improvements will allow us to get back to spending time together outside gathering downtown, walking through the streets and biking on safe trails.
Another aspect of my ideal vision for State College involves a truly vibrant and diverse business community, where we encourage small businesses to grow and develop here, adding to the fabric of our town. New businesses bring new people and move State College forward. The charm of State College is the mix of a rich history and an ever-changing future, and my goal as council member is to approach every issue with those two interests in mind.
CDT: Affordable housing is one topic that each of you touched on in your respective platforms, and it’s something that’s been an ongoing issue in the borough. What’s one specific idea you have to help combat the problem of affordability?
Herndon: One specific idea I have to make housing more affordable is to stop requiring so much land just to build a home. Our current zoning requires at least 10,000 square feet of land to build a home in most of the borough, even though most homes have a footprint of just 1,000 to 2,000 square feet. We have precious few buildable lots left in the borough, and they often sell for over $200,000. There’s no way to build an affordable house if the land alone costs that much. Allowing two-unit duplexes on 2,500 square feet divides this eight ways, to just $25,000 per home. That’s affordable.
I’m not suggesting forcing anyone to have a tiny yard, but it should be an option for those who want to. We must also be careful to handle the stormwater runoff and other externalities such homes could create, but that is not an impossible task. What is impossible is providing affordable housing with zoning laws that arbitrarily limit the amount of housing we can build.
State College is a desirable area that thousands of people commute to daily; we create those commutes by not allowing more homes to be built. We also raise our own property taxes, because our main costs come per mile of road. The fewer homes we allow per mile, the higher taxes must be. Limiting housing hurts both those who live here and those who would love to. It needs to change.
Myers: Buying a home or renting an apartment in State College is tough these days. The issue of enough affordable housing is not just a national issue, it is a local issue. A unified approach is needed to help solve this crisis — if we are to keep our neighborhoods strong and our community vibrant. The focus of this one specific idea of a unified approach is to address the different components of the problem. For neighborhoods it’s strengthening programs such as the First-Time Home Buyer Program “that offers mortgage and closing cost assistance to both low/moderate and middle-income households to purchase a home” and The State College Community Land Trust that “helps first-time homebuyers purchase homes that are in established neighborhoods near work, schools, entertainment and transit.” Allowing for the building of appropriate smaller units that fit into the character of neighborhoods is another way to increase home ownership and support neighborhood living.
A more creative approach to affordable apartment space is also a must. As a Penn State student, I lived a certain lifestyle; as I moved on to a professional career and family life, I lived a different lifestyle. Creating rental spaces for all lifestyles is a must. For apartments dwellers we can expand the inclusionary and affordable space incentives we currently have and not just student affordable space, which is needed — but also places for folks working, whether singles, couples or families and do it close to where they work or go to school.
Portney: State College’s affordable housing problem affects every single one of us, so we all need to work together to support solutions. For professionals hoping to work downtown, finding a place to live that fits their needs and is affordable is difficult. For students already struggling to pay tuition, finding a spot within budget and within a reasonable distance of campus is a challenge. For first-time homebuyers looking to move into the borough to be close to the great schools and the amazing community amenities, securing a home is tough.
We have programs in place that address some of these issues, but we need to continue and do more. We need to maximize our housing potential with our current stock. We need to work with property management companies and realtors to aggregate and publish rental prices and house listings to make it easier for people wanting to live here to find good homes. We need to increase funding for the State College Community Land Trust to identify even more houses and properties to repurpose for first-time homebuyers and low-income renters. We should identify areas for development that would have a low impact on the neighborhoods. We can do this by having dialogue with developers and landowners. Finally, the housing crisis affects our tax burden. Long-term residents and retirees struggling with the property tax increases can have confidence that new housing opportunities will move more people into the borough, and that can lower taxes as the pool widens.
CDT: As you know, there are a lot of issues competing for attention in the borough. Besides the ones we’ve already discussed, what’s one other issue you feel strongly about — and what change would you most like to see?
Herndon: Finally, I’d like to discuss climate change. We all breathed the smoke of the Canadian wildfires this summer. We all felt the 80-degree days this October. We might wish that this wasn’t happening, but it absolutely is. Things simply will not stay the way they have been; our emissions have seen to that. But that doesn’t mean that we’re powerless. Big changes need to be made at the state, federal and international levels, but there’s a whole lot to do at the local level too.
Transportation and housing are two of the biggest sources of emissions, and both are largely controlled locally. We can massively reduce our emissions from these causes by allowing denser housing and making sustainable transportation safer and easier. This won’t only cut emissions though. Denser housing provides a greater tax base, while non-car transportation infrastructure costs fewer tax dollars in the long run. Every car trip we replace with walking or biking also improves our health and lowers traffic for those who are still driving.
I know some residents are wary of change, but it is coming. This planet will be a very different place in 50 to 100 years. We can help contribute to its downfall, while also charging ourselves ever-increasing taxes, or we can help reduce the worst impacts of climate change while saving ourselves money and making our town a nicer, healthier place to live. Let’s make State College the best town in America, one that is prepared for the coming environmental changes.
Myers: More input by residents of State College is vital, and as a government we need to promote ways to get people involved. This issue has been in the news recently with the eminent domain controversy concerning the building The Brewery is located in. This is not a new issue and there are currently many ways for residents to be involved, from the ABC Boards to hearings on topics such as zoning and ordinances council considers. But we have to do better. We could hold council meetings or at least hearings in neighborhoods, when appropriate, and reach out to more residents and groups for input.
More dialogue with Penn State is a must; they don’t just exist across College and Park avenues. The institution has a profound impact on State College and its students, faculty and workers are our community members.
Participation is the lifeblood of democracy. Without the involvement and input of as many as possible, we are not able to fully represent all those in the community. One way to help foster this is to constantly work to make all who live here feel welcome and encouraged to raise their voices. That starts by treating all members of the community with equity and respect. To encourage diversity and inclusiveness, to protect minority and marginalized communities’ rights, to protect workers’ rights, and engage students. On my previous time on council, I worked to make that happen and pledge to continue that work in this new term.
Portney: I have read and heard about the days when State College’s town and gown divide wasn’t so palpable. Not too long ago, there were dozens of events that united the campus and the community, whether it be charity events with clubs and neighborhood associations, or potluck dinners around the student houses, or community service outings involving students and long-term residents. Let’s get back to that time.
Let’s work with the Student Affairs department at Penn State and the Office of Community Engagement to encourage student organizations to meet, get to know and build relationships with some of the neighborhood associations and the community leaders. Let’s involve the downtown business community with the various academic departments so students can find jobs and employers can have new talent pools. Let’s host more events downtown so long-term residents can talk and break bread with students and campus leaders.
One of the unfortunate consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic was that many of us retreated to our own avenues and social interaction was slowed. Let’s bring back togetherness and a richer feeling of community back to State College.
