Thanks for parade support

The Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce wants to thank the residents of West Chester, the First Responders (especially Police Chief Bohn, Sheriff Welsh and Fire Chief McDonald) and the West Chester Borough Council (especially Borough Council President Diane LeBold and Borough Manager Mike Perrone) for their support of the 38th Annual QVC West Chester Christmas Parade. If it weren’t for their support this nationally recognized event would not be possible.

As the Board of Directors and the staff of the Chamber went about our responsibilities the night of the parade we heard the gratitude and excitement of bringing what is widely regarded as a truly amazing Christmas Parade to West Chester.

The parade has indeed grown over the years and with this growth comes the ability to shine a bright light on our beautiful county seat, the Borough of West Chester and the town we call home. We are proud of the countless residents and visitors that come out to West Chester to see this parade. We are proud when we hear from businesses and restaurants that are booked up months in advance and we are most proud when we worked with West Chester University to do an economic impact study that showed that the QVC West Chester Christmas Parade created over $500,000 of true economic impact.

The growth of this parade means we need to continue to work closely with the first responders to make sure we are safe and are able to enjoy this parade without incident. It also means we are able to showcase West Chester to a regional audience though the broadcasting of the parade on 6abc on Saturday, December 23rd and a national audience on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on QVC.

Finally, we would like to thank the sponsors and volunteers of the QVC West Chester Christmas Parade who give of their time, passion and resources to create this magical event. We would also like to thank Under the Sun Productions and specifically Todd Marcocci and Amy Walp who freely donate their time and creativity to this event.

We are already working on the 39th Annual Parade and we look forward to ensuring this parade presents West Chester to the region and is an event of which we can continue to be proud. Mark Yoder President & CEO, Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce

Reply to Costello staff

Somehow Rep. Costello and his staffers just cannot seem to understand their jobs.

It’s pretty simple: Listen to your constituents and act on their concerns.

Rep. Costello represents a massively gerrymandered district that nevertheless voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Yet Rep. Costello votes with President Trump 93 percent of the time. Rep. Costello’s staff says he’s listening and offers as support that he has held 11 town halls. I’m only aware of one in-person town hall and that one was tightly restricted to a couple hundred cherrypicked attendees. The representative’s meager online and telephone town halls are typically announced an hour or two in advance.

Rep. Costello appears to be terrified of appearing in public. He refused to appear at a constituent-organized town hall in Phoenixville, calling it a “death trap.” I watched him furtively exit the West Chester Christmas parade early due to fears about the crowd ahead.

Mr. Walters and Ms. Schothurst, whom we the taxpayers pay $95,000 and $123,000 respectively, complain bitterly about peaceful, highly engaged constituents who work tirelessly to help Rep. Costello understand his constituents’ views. These people, they say, are interfering with their ability to do their jobs. Folks, listening to, engaging with and acting on the concerns of people like this is your job. The fact that you aren’t doing it is the reason for the contentious political atmosphere about which you complain.

This is not rocket science. Instead of hiding from your engaged constituents, locking them out of your office and writing paranoid op-eds, invite voters in. Encourage and celebrate their involvement.

Really listen to what they are saying. And then most important, represent their interests in Washington. If you don’t, you’ll be looking for a job next November. Stan Herrin West Chester