(Click Question to See Answer)
Q: What is the Community Bill of Rights?
Q: What’s the status of West Chester’s Community Bill of Rights?
Q: Why is the West Chester Community Bill of Rights about the environment?
Q: Why do we need this here, in West Chester?
Q: The ballot language makes this initiative seem radical. Is it?
Q: Can we nullify corporate rights?
Q: Shouldn’t we pursue change at the state level instead of amending our Home Rule Charter?
Q: Aren’t state regulatory agencies the proper venue for protecting the local environment?
Q: Why do we have to reclaim rights that we inherently already have?
Q: Will a Community Bill of Rights expose us to legal costs?
Q: What should citizens do to get public officials to support our Community Bill of Rights?
Q: How are we really going to change the system?
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Q: What is the Community Bill of Rights?
A: It is a proposed amendment to West Chester’s Home Rule Charter that reclaims our right to protect our environmental health. It recognizes our right to clean air, clean water, and a sustainable energy future.
A: Home Rule is the right to local self-government – including citizen powers to protect our own health, safety, and welfare. It means we do not have to follow the standard state model for municipal government. West Chester’s Home Rule Charter was passed by a vote of the citizens 22 years ago, in a municipal election just like this year’s.
Q: What’s the status of West Chester’s Community Bill of Rights?
A: We circulated a petition for this environmental Community Bill of Rights, receiving nearly 500 signatures from registered Borough voters. As a result, the initiative will be on the ballot on November 3 for a “yes” or “no” vote. If passed, the amendment becomes part of West Chester’s Home Rule Charter, with no approvals or further action needed by Borough government.
Q: Why is the West Chester Community Bill of Rights about the environment?
A: The environmental threats we face are significant: air pollution from excessive burning of fossil fuels; the endangerment of drinking water from chemicals in the soil. Environmental issues already impact our community. They affect our families and the future of our children and grandchildren. Yet, control of the law by special interests has made it very difficult to move toward a cleaner future. When the Bill of Rights passes, we can create better environmental policies for our community via democratic decision-making. This is democracy in action!
“Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is, first and foremost, up to us. The issue is one which dramatically affects us, for it has to do with the ultimate meaning of our earthly sojourn … Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social conditioning … I appeal to everyone throughout the world not to forget this dignity which is ours. No one has the right to take it from us.” – Pope Francis
Q: Why do we need this here, in West Chester?
A: The communities of West Goshen, Westtown and Downingtown aleady experience the strong-arm tactics of gas companies wanting to put natural gas infrastructure (large pipelines, compressor stations) in their communities. In Westtown and Downingtown, Sunoco is delivering easement agreements to residents with no advance discussion or notification, claiming to be a “public utility” with the right to take property by eminent domain. We need to be proactive.
In addition, no community is immune from environmental harms that impact our health. Decisions made everywhere to pollute the environment impact everyone in West Chester. Decisions made locally also affect us, as in the case of the 30-acre Wyeth (now Pfizer) property. The National Foam property is also currently for sale.
Q: Will passing this Bill of Rights prevent me and my neighbors from hooking up to natural gas lines in the Borough?
A: The Charter amendment is intended to move us toward new and clean fuel sources as quickly as possible, but it is not intended to prevent residents from using natural gas or electricity in their homes. As the Charter amendment states, our intent when it comes to energy is to prevent expansion of fossil fuel and other nonsustainable energy production and delivery infrastructure – in the form of large delivery pipelines like the Mariner East, compressor stations, and other significant infrastructure – in the Borough. This ongoing expansion is not sustainable for our environment or our children.
It is also intended to empower us to protect our rights to clean water and clean air.
You can read the complete Charter amendment, as well as our companion list of clarifying definitions here: www.westchestercommunityrightsalliance.org.
Q: The ballot language makes this initiative seem radical. Is it?
A: Absolutely not. The ballot language (below) represents the viewpoint of the County solicitor and the Board of Elections. It is their job to issue interpretations based on the current system of law. This system is heavily weighted in favor of corporate rights. It is our job to assert our constitutional rights as citizens, restore a fair balance of power, and create a livable future for our children and grandchildren.
Our society has not always respected citizens’ inherent rights, such as the right of African Americans to live free of discrimination and the right of women to vote. Asserting rights through citizen action is a core tenet of a healthy democracy. It is what makes our country stronger.
By voting “Yes,” you exercise your constitutional rights. We ask you to vote your values.
Here is the ballot language as written by the County solicitor and Board of Elections:
“Shall the West Chester Borough Home Rule Charter be amended to add a Section 904, titled “Community Bill of Rights,” which seeks to enumerate certain rights to pure water, clean air, a sustainable energy future, and the right to self-government and to enforce these rights by superseding State and Federal laws, nullifying rights of corporations, and restricting the use of the courts and Pennsylvania’s legislature to review and overturn this amendment?”
“YES or NO”
We have provided a more detailed response to the County solicitor and Board of Elections ballot language on our website. Please check out our Voters’ Guide to the Community Bill of Rights Ballot Initiative.
Q: Can we nullify corporate rights?
The proposed amendment does NOT nullify corporate rights. It clearly states that corporations do not possess rights or privileges that would allow them to violate the rights of the people in conflict with the Charter. This distinction is extremely important: Under the proposed charter amendment, corporations will retain their existing business protections in the Borough unless they violate the rights of those living in the community. This is legally justified, and just common sense. No community should be subject to harmful corporate activities. No corporation can have authority to claim rights or privileges allowing them to violate the rights of those living in a community.
Q: What’s to prevent others from using this Bill of Rights to push non-environmental issues, like concealed carry of guns, for example?
A: This Community Bill of Rights specifically protects our rights to clean air, clean water, and a sustainable energy future. If someone wants to amend our Home Rule Charter in other ways, they will need to follow the same process we have followed; that is, create their own amendment to the Home Rule Charter and get hundreds of voter signatures to get their amendment placed on a ballot for the voters to decide.
Q: Shouldn’t we pursue change at the state level instead of amending our Home Rule Charter?
A: That would be ideal, but it’s not possible right now. While government is supposed to be ‘by and for the people,’ residents don’t have the same access to power at the state level that corporate and industry lobbyists do. On many issues, the state has instituted policies that communities were not consulted on, and which powerful special interests influenced or directly wrote.
When state policies place our communities in harm’s way, we have no choice but to act locally and assert our rights to protect ourselves and our families. Who is more qualified to make decisions about issues that will directly affect our quality of life where we live than We the People of West Chester?
Also, municipalities have no representation as such in the state legislature. This is because the voting districts are designed by political parties and do not allow voters to elect representatives with a direct responsibility to protect the interests of municipal communities.
Q: Aren’t state regulatory agencies the proper venue for protecting the local environment?
A: Unfortunately, regulations set the legal level of harm; they do not stop the harm. Permits issued by state agencies are licenses to do harm in accordance with the law, and they protect permit holders from liability to the community. The regulations legalizing the harms are too often proposed and written into bills by agents of the industries.
While people in these agencies may be working hard to protect the environment, it is unrealistic to hope that we can use the current regulatory scheme of law to truly protect our environmental rights and interests. This system needs reform.
The Community Bill of Rights is a strong step in the right direction. We, not the corporate interests lobbying the legislature, must be the governing power in our communities.
“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.”
– Thomas Paine
Q: Why do we have to reclaim rights that we inherently already have?
A: The U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions guarantee that government exists for the people’s common benefit, protection, and security – not for the advantage of any individual or interest. Yet, since these constitutional rights were codified, three separate legal doctrines have been created to limit our right to self-govern:
- Corporate rights as “people” (e.g., Citizens United);
- Pre-emption of local law by state and federal law; and
- State control over municipal lawmaking.
Further, corporate lobbyists manipulate the rulemaking/legislative process, leaving citizens virtually powerless to stop actions that can cause us harm. Regulatory and zoning schemes assure corporate access and pre-empt the rights of citizens to build environmentally healthy communities.
We deserve to live unharmed by the actions of special interests, and Americans are realizing that citizen action is key to protecting our communities. The proposed West Chester Community Bill of Rights is one of nearly 200 similar Bills of Rights voted in by citizens across the nation.
Q: Will a Community Bill of Rights expose us to legal costs?
Any time we oppose a controlling special interest, there is a risk of lawsuits. However, we have the full support of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (www.celdf.org) to provide no-cost legal services if we should need them.
Consider the case of Grant Township, Pennsylvania. This township banned injection wells and was sued by PGE, which claimed 13 counts asserting its “right” to inject toxic waste into a community that doesn’t want it. The case is a bit complex, but the PA Department of Environmental Protection has since acknowledged the township’s community rights and revoked PGE’s permit pending the outcome of this case. The community has thus prevented injection wells for more than a year so far. Despite the fact that there have been more than 100 filings to date, Grant Township has paid out less than $1,000 in costs, thanks to the support of CELDF.
If a lawsuit ultimately loses in court, there could be damages assessed against the municipality. However, it will be up to the community to decide how far it wants to pursue legal action.
West Chester Borough is constantly engaged in legal issues and lawsuits about land developments, landlord/community conflicts, and other topics. In recent years, the Borough has spent anywhere from $70,000 to $125,000+ annually on legal fees.
Q: What should citizens do to get public officials to support our Community Bill of Rights?
A: We need to inform them that the cost of not supporting the amendment is higher than the cost of supporting it. We need to show them that residents of the community are willing to stand behind our elected officials in support of West Chester. We need to remind local officials they have an obligation to protect our health, safety, and welfare.
Q: How do we answer lawyers and critics who say Community Bills of Rights that govern corporate behavior “go too far”?
A: This question deserves a thoughtful response, so this is kind of long. Please bear with us!
As mentioned earlier, lawyers may be likely to interpret this Community Bill of Rights through their professionally trained lens – which is through the current system of law. We are clear about our intent to fix what is wrong with this system by ensuring that the people’s rights to clean air, clean water and a sustainable energy future are recognized and that we have the power to act upon them.
In a democratic republic, it must be possible for the people to change law, especially unjust law. Under our current system, our communities are in a position not unlike that of the suffragettes and abolitionists BEFORE they reclaimed their basic rights to freedom and to vote, because our community decision-making process is controlled by laws written or largely influenced by corporations.
Consider this Daily Local News quote from Westtown Township Supervisor Michael Di Domenico, commenting on the fact that Sunoco is barreling through his township with its Mariner East pipeline plans and delivering easement agreements to residents with no advance discussions or even notifications:
“As a township, we basically have little or no jurisdiction in interfering with anything about this, but we are all residents of our township and what affects numbers of people affects us all.”
The Community Bill of Rights aims to fix this. We aim to overcome state laws that make it hard for people to assert their rights and easy for corporations to violate them. We do not aim to overtake corporate rights that make sense; we value our jobs and our livelihoods. We simply aim to protect ourselves against environmental harms that are, frankly, totally unnecessary in a great society.
We are looking for you to elevate your rights and help us work toward a livable vision for West Chester’s future in the face of significant environmental challenges.
Q: Will limiting corporations’ ability to dodge the costs of environmental damage hurt small business owners?
A: No. Our small business owners are conscientious members of the community. Protecting our community’s environment protects our small businesses by ensuring that they have a viable, healthy, and desirable place to operate their businesses.
It’s the impersonal outside interests that threaten the environment of our whole area. With adoption of our Community Bill of Rights, business owners large and small keep their legal protections under the state corporate codes and their individual charters.
Q: How are we really going to change the system?
A: We understand that one amendment to our Home Rule Charter isn’t going to change the world. However, through this process alone, we are helping each other see that the dominant system does not allow us to exercise our most basic constitutional rights to a healthy environment and that we must do something about it.
As more communities get on board, our voice grows. West Chester is a leader and belongs with the 100 other communities in Pennsylvania alone that have already adopted Community Bills of Rights.
Q: So what is our “community”? How will we know that it’s really the majority that wants to advance an issue under this amendment?
A: The same public processes we currently use to make decisions will remain in effect. The Community Bill of Rights does not change how the Borough currently acts or solicits public input.
The community will decide via democratic majority decision-making whether and how to move forward with sustainable energy policies. Just as 1 or 2 people can’t pass a charter amendment, neither can 1 or 2 people make decisions about the environmental future of the Borough.
This document is an empowerment tool because it expresses our values as a community, and it will keep us committed to them.
West Chester Community Rights Alliance 