Vote Yes on November 4

On November 4, a ballot question will appear in Sharon offering the voters the opportunity to amend the Charter.  I urge you to vote "YES" on this ballot question.

The question reads:

Shall the Sharon City Charter be amended by repealing Section 914, "Tax Limitations" and replace it with the following provisions of a new Section 914?

Section 914 Tax Limitations
Effective January 1, 2015, Council may increase the rate of the City earned income tax from time to time if, and only if, Council shall in the same year reduce the real property tax millage by a rate estimated to off-set the increased revenue generated by the earned income tax.

YES
NO


Proposed Plain English Statement: a Yes vote amends the Charter by removing caps on tax rates such as are applicable to Third Class Cities other than as stated for Earned Income Tax rates.  A No vote means no change in the charter.
 

The purpose of this Charter amendment is to allow Sharon to increase its real estate transfer tax to a rate that is more in line with the home rule communities around us.  Currently, the charter restricts any taxes to those in the third class city code for non-home rule communities, with the exception of the income tax.  By raising the real estate transfer tax to the level of that tax in Hermitage or Farrell, Sharon could gain the equivalent of as much as a mill of real estate taxes each year. 

Currently, when homes in Sharon are sold, the real estate transfer tax is 2%.  Of that 2%, 1% goes to the state, 0.5% goes to the school, and 0.5% goes to the city.

In Hermitage the transfer tax rate  is 2.5%, with 1% going to the city.
In Farrell, the transfer tax rate is 3%, with 1.5% going to the city.


By amending the City Charter through this ballot question, the voters will allow City Council to adopt a higher real estate transfer tax in the future.  Since surrounding communities already have higher transfer tax rates, Sharon should be able to raise transfer tax rates to an equal level without harming local homes sales.  Given the time and financing of transfer taxes, this revenue stream has a smaller impact on decisions to buy a home in Sharon than an equivalent increase in property taxes.

Please vote "YES" on this ballot question.  If you have additional questions, please leave them in the comment section below and I will address them.

Experience and Community Involvement

Work Experience

St. John's Church, Sharon, PA. Rector, 2009-present.

Trinity Memorial Church, Warren, PA. Rector, 2004-2009.

• Oversaw updating of over $200,000 in previously deferred building maintenance.
• Purchased five adjacent storefronts that were either empty or non-compliant with building codes. After discerning needs of parish and community, sold storefronts to a developer committed to the block’s historic character and community growth.

Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Erie, PA. Associate Director of Development, 1998-2001.

• Coordinated and implemented fundraising programs raising up to $1 million annually for a religious community and its ministries.

Homeowner Options for Massachusetts Elders. Boston, MA. Associate Director, 1996-1998.

• Assisted with all aspects of administering a direct service agency, including budgeting, strategic planning, and program development.
• Worked with over sixty lenders and a network of lawyers, paralegals, realtors and other volunteers.
• Facilitated over $1 million in hand-crafted loans for needy elders.
• Designed a series of elder economic literacy materials
• Counseled elder homeowners on financial and other issues.

Leningrad Documentary Film Studio, St. Petersburg, Russia. Translator and Narrator, 1992-1993.

• Translated, edited text and narrated English-language versions of Russian films and advertisements, including The Grand Duchess Elizabeth.

Current Community Involvement

• Sharon Community and Economic Development Commission, member.
• Sharon Streets Authority, Secretary-Treasurer.
• Community Food Warehouse of Mercer County, board member.
• Sharon High School Academic Boosters, President
• Sharon-Hermitage Clergy Association, President
• Ballet Theatre Shenango Valley/Walnut Lodge, student and participant in productions.
• Shenango Valley Chess Club, member.

Education

• Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, VA, M.Div. with honors, 2004.
• Harvard College, Cambridge, MA, A.B. magna cum laude, Social Studies, 1994.

Past Community Involvement

• Diocesan Strategic Planning Process. Facilitator, 2011.
• Dance and Theater. Participated in local productions of The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Petrushka, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Alice in Wonderland.
• Ministry Coach. Certified by Coachnet International Ministries, 2009. Coached clergy and lay leaders. Trained as a Natural Church Development coach, 2005.
• Deputy to Episcopal Church General Convention, 2006 and 2009. Legislative committees: Stewardship and Development (2006); Dispatch of Business (2009).
• Diocesan Health Team. Chair, 2008-present. Work with clergy and lay leaders to identify areas to improve our diocesan life, and with them developed, implemented and evaluated plans to make positive changes.
• Shenango Valley for Christ. Helped organize a year-long ecumenical prayer initiative that involved prayer-walking and praying at government, educational, commercial, media and religious centers in nine regional municipalities, 2010.
• Chess.  Coordinated a chess club for middle school students at St. Joseph School, Warren, PA, 2006.
• Foodbanking. Volunteered at the Second Harvest Foodbank of Northwestern Pennsylvania, the St. Petersburg Foodbank in Russia, and the Greater Boston Foodbank. Named Greater Boston Foodbank Volunteer of the Month, April 1998.
• Freelance Writing. Articles on spirituality, philanthropy, religion, public policy, Russian life and other topics have appeared in local and national publications.
• Composing. Composed liturgical music, including Creation, a 4-part choral arrangement of Genesis 1.

Academic Presentations

• Why It Matters “That Your Sons Will Marry You”: Isaiah 62:5 as Good News for Post-Exilic Jerusalem and the Shenango Valley. Presented at New Creation: An Interdisciplinary Theology Conference of Northeastern Seminary and the Canadian Evangelical Theology Association, 2013.
• Interpreting Matthew Through Chrysostom: An Example of a History of Effects Approach. Presented to the Mid-Atlantic Society for Biblical Literature, 2004.
• Genesis 3 in Dialogue with Calvin, Tillich, and Alcoholics Anonymous. Presented to the Mid-Atlantic Society for Biblical Literature, 2003.

Preparing for Santa (and Jesus) in Sharon, PA

Santa Descends at Sharon's Night of Lights

This post is from a "From the Pulpit" column that appeared in the Sharon Herald on Friday, December 14.

A few weeks ago, Santa came to downtown Sharon.  People lined the streets.  They celebrated with Christmas carols and dancing, with hot cocoa and kettle corn, and with the lighting of the Christmas tree.  Parents and grandparents were sharing their children’s wonder while reconnecting with friends and neighbors. Local businesses and community groups offered what they could to make the evening special.  Everyone knew where to wait for Santa – they read it in the Herald.  The right preparations were made, the crowd was gathered and, as he descended from rooftop to State Street, Santa was smiling.   

December is a time when we await someone bringing greater gifts than Santa Claus.  Jesus is coming.  While we celebrate Jesus’s first coming as a baby in Bethlehem, we also wait for Jesus to come again.  Our challenge is to figure out how to wait well.  Twiddling our thumbs and hoping he shows up during a commercial is probably not the best approach.

Scripture says to prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight.  These instructions are not easy, even if we have a bulldozer at our disposal.  Two questions immediately come to mind.  Where do we make these straight paths, and how do we do it.

The easy answer to where the Lord is coming is in our hearts, and we need to prepare them.  But that is not the only answer.  We should also wrestle with the question of where we could expect Jesus to be coming if we read his Facebook post that said, “On my way to see my peeps in Sharon, PA.”  Would our first impulse to run to church and get all the lights on?  Do we honestly think that would be Jesus first stop, especially if it wasn’t 10:00am on Sunday morning? (And which church would he go to, anyway?)  Jesus certainly came and spoke in the synagogues of his day, but he also spent much of his time outside of them.  

Judging by the folks he liked to visit, we might expect to see him any number of places.  Maybe at a school Christmas concert (where we know Jesus would be smiling).  Maybe at Joshua’s Haven, or West Hill Ministries, or Community Counseling Center, or a local food pantry.  I wouldn’t be shocked to see him at Artie Gras or Bike Night at the Lube.  Jesus seemed to go where people were – even to places that religious folk tended to avoid.  He was called a drunkard and a glutton, after all.

To make a straight path for Jesus, we start where we think he might be coming.  We spend time on the same roads we expect him to travel.  In those places, we prepare the way of the Lord.

Isaiah talks about filling in every valley and making every hill low, yet I don’t think our primary task is to take all the dirt from the East and West Hills and fill in downtown Sharon.  Our real work of preparing the way is to do what Jesus did when he was with people.  We talk to people.  We listen to their stories.  We pray for them and do what we can to meet their needs.  We love them and live alongside of them until we see each other as part of one extended family.  These steps help us bring good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, release the captives, give sight to the blind, let the lame run, and renew ruined cities (see Isaiah 61:1-4).  

When the way is prepared, we can expect Jesus to show up.  When he comes, people will be ready to celebrate his coming. No one will think he is a stranger or someone who doesn’t belong.  They won’t avoid him.  Where he goes, excited people will celebrate his coming just like little children waiting for Santa.  They will have experienced the beginnings of his love in the love we have shown, and they will be ready to have Jesus love them more completely than they have ever been loved before.

Jesus is on the move.  Determine where he might show up and prepare his way! 

The Servants in Sharon, PA

The follow is a blog post I wrote last September after a great event in downtown Sharon.  Not only was the day itself great, but the city was recently able to obtain an additional DCED grant for almost $300,000.  The original is on my blog, the Black Giraffe.

So often, Jesus more difficult statements are relegated to the category of "good idea for the pious, but not very relevant in the real world."  As I prepared to preach Sunday's gospel, however, I was struck by how much one of Jesus statements was embodied in the real world earlier in the week.

After the disciples are arguing about who is the greatest, Jesus says: "Whoever wants to be first must be the last of all and servant of all" (Mark 9:35).  What Jesus told his followers two thousand years ago still makes good advice for leaders today.

Last week, a number of officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development came to Sharon and other Northwestern Pennsylvania towns to see what was going on in our corner of the commonwealth.  Over three days, numerous business, community, municipal and civic leaders gave of their time and energy to share the progress Sharon and the Shenango Valley are making.  The highlight, however, was the public event on Tuesday afternoon when the Deputy Secretary Champ Holman made a stop during his whistle tour of the area.

Now I don't think anyone would take offense if I noted that fewer people are probably interested in coming out on a rainy afternoon to see a state government official speak than to see a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  No one probably would have faulted the city for rounding up a few interested parties to hear about potential changes in DCED funding priorities, share some area pitchbooks and have lunch at Quaker Steak and Lube.  But Sharon didn't.  Instead, many of our true public servants (from a wide variety of sectors) came together for one of the best civic events I have had the honor to attend.

Starting with an ad hoc planning committee that gave their time to plan an event that would both showcase the community and be a worthwhile celebration for everyone who attended, numerous people offered their gifts.  Sharon's band played outside the James E. Winner, Jr. Arts and Cultural Center, while the Tiger Kittens and Men of Note opened with the National Anthem.  Daffins provided tiger paw chocolates, the Lube provided twizzlers and the city provided bottles of water.  The Dempseytown Ramblers played some bluegrass as people gathered and after the event, and Rosewood Vintage Guitars helped with sound.  People came from the Sharon School District (including a number of students who were a great help), Sharon Regional, PennState Shenango, numerous local businesses and manufacturers, elected officials and municipal representatives, Visit Mercer PA, non-profit and religious leaders, and a few regular people who would claim nothing more than to be good citizens.  The energy was electric, largely because we could all look around the room and see people from different walks of life for the good of the larger community.

In addition, however, a number of other projects were mentioned that day that could only happen because many of the people in the room had already come together to serve our community with their time, their skills and their wallets.  A number of manufacturers are expanding in the area, including Sharon Fence which just broke ground on a new Dock Street site.  The creation of these new jobs in the community is a result of community efforts to make this area a great place to live and work.  Making our workforce even more attractive to new businesses would be the establishment of a Manchester Bidwell site in Sharon.  Begun in Pittsburgh, Manchester Bidwell provides high quality arts instruction to youth while offering job training focused on the jobs available in local communities.  Manchester Bidwell has someone preparing an expansion proposal for Sharon.  We also heard about Waterfire Sharon, an exciting initiative to create a artistic and cultural celebration along the Shenango River offering significant opportunities to our downtown economy.  These and other positive local developments were highlighted during inspiring remarks that Karen Winner Sed directed to our high school students.

Sharon and the Shenango Valley, like many communities in this part of the country, face significant challenges.  In too many places, people are fighting to be the biggest fish in a shrinking pond.  As we come together from all facets of the community as servants of each other, not only do we find that we increase, we find that our entire region grows as well.  Whether everyone is aware of it or not, this sense of serving is alive and well in Sharon, PA today.  People are striving to be first the way Jesus' says to be first, and those people are benefiting us all.