A group of Upper Pottsgrove Township residents has organized a grassroots effort just days before the November 4th election against Township commissioner candidates Elwood Taylor and Albert Leach. The group has been, and still is, outraged at then Commissioner Taylor’s vote approving a development—along with then past Commissioners Martin Schreiber and France Krazalkovich—that opened the door for the building of 400 houses in the Townships. The issue is currently with the courts.
This overdevelopment issue, as well as Taylor and Leach’s politically motivated lawsuit that would cost the Township $5,000,000 to $9,500,000, spurred the group to action. Now this group, made up of both Democrats and Republicans, is organizing to defeat these candidates. With this group, party labels are taking a back seat to something bigger — protecting homes, preserving our neighborhoods, and remembering who stood with the residents and who didn’t.
Residents in Summer Grove Lane, Chestnut Grove Road, and Kummerer Road area remember the chaos of 2019, when Taylor pushed forward the 400-home housing project. He ignored the pleas of residents, brushed off warnings from Township staff, and pushed ahead despite two commissioners (Renee Spaide and Trace Slinkerd) voting against the plan. As a result of their vote to move ahead with the developer’s plan, all three, Taylor, Scheiber, and Krazalkovich, lost in the next two election cycles.
Now, Taylor is back, once again asking for voters’ trust, and this time with Al Leach at his side. But this resident group is uniting to stop them. Yard signs are popping up across the neighborhood with one clear message: Democrats & Republicans Against Taylor and Leach.
The signs read, “No on Overdevelopment, No on Debt (reference to Taylor over $8,000,000 debt while in office), No on Lawsuits (Taylor has sued the Township twice now including the recent municipal building suit with Leach), No on Life-Long politicians (Taylor has been in and out of the commissioner office since 1997 only leaving when beat in elections; Leach was on the Pottsgrove School Board as well as ran for state representative and lost last year)” and “No on Opportunistic Party Flipping.” Both Taylor and Leach flip parties, then they run for their next office.
One member, speaking for the group, said, “Our homes and neighborhoods are our biggest investments. When Taylor was in charge, he didn’t care about us — he just wanted more taxable properties, no matter the traffic or noise. This time, we’re not staying quiet.”
She went on to thank the majority of the Board “for standing up and stopping the overdevelopment that would destroy our community.” Other group members, several of whom have been attending Board meetings, are baffled by Commissioner Cathy Paretti’s statement that the new Board will drop all lawsuits. “Does this mean that she can dictate to whomever comes into office what their positions on these legal matters will be?”
And with the election clock ticking, it’s clear: the past isn’t forgotten — and this group is ready to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.