Letter to the editor: Why are government officials communicating via a PAC ad?

I write with respect to the advertisement published on page 5 in the Nov. 3 Sewickley Herald entitled “Leet First Responders Concern For Hilltop High School Access.”

My foremost concern is that government officials (police chief, fire chief, EMS coordinator) are communicating about this issue via an advertisement paid for by a political action committee.

The authors of this statement state that they were “surprised that the QVSD never asked for input on the location or design …” It seems that the authors should provide their expert testimony at the Zoning Commission, or be asked by the Zoning Commission for input, rather than publish an opinion piece in the Sewickley Herald that is funded by a political action committee.

In addition, I would dispute several facts in the advertisement. First, as a resident who lives on the upper side of Camp Meeting Road, I find that the road is cleared and salted by Allegheny County efficiently and regularly, and not “spotty at best” as asserted in the advertisement.

Second, the road is not closed “many times per year.” There has been paving on the road recently, but I have very very rarely been blocked completely from getting up the hill in 16 years of living here.

Third, we need not choose a school location based on the legitimate fear of a school shooting. The authors assert that a closure could be disastrous if “something like this were to happen here.”

However, school shootings in cities such as Uvalde, Texas, were not prevented by police even when they were present on-site. The authors could instead support reasonable gun safety laws.

Finally, the QVSD has stated that they are not opposed to an additional emergency access road. However, they assert that the initial zoning decision was not the proper mechanism to plan for this need.

Daniel Weiner

Leet