For Immediate Release 

Contacts: Sandy Fox  412-770-5602 sm2fox@yahoo.com 
                Cathy Bordner  573-690-1919 cathy.bordner@gmail.com

Amazon Warehouse Proposal Spawns Local Election Challenges 

Churchill, PA, October 22, 2021 -- Residents of this small Pittsburgh borough have grown so disgusted with Borough Council members for their failure to respond to public outrage at a proposed Amazon mega-warehouse that three residents are mounting write-in candidacies against incumbents in the November 2 election. Despite 13 public hearings from July until now, with public comments overwhelmingly negative on multiple grounds, Churchill residents cannot get answers from the seven-member Borough Council on where any of them stand on the project.  The Borough Solicitor, Gavin Robb, has advised Council members to refrain from expressing any opinions about the Proposal before their vote, calling the Hearing a "quasi-judicial process."  Only one resident has spoken in favor of the proposal and he lives furthest from the site.  The Council has 45 days from the end of the public hearing to vote on a conditional use permit for a 2.9 million square foot warehouse across the street from two schools and within 1,000 feet of 450 homes.  Concerns regarding the health, safety, and welfare of residents and students are paramount, given the expected pollution, storm water flooding,  destruction of green space and 1400 mature trees, and the anticipated 800 or more diesel tractor trailer truck trips in and out of the site daily, idling and clogging local roads and I-376,  24/7, 365 days/year.  

"We are taken aback that scientists and engineers among the Council's own constituents have panned the applicant's impact studies AND the Borough's Engineering Review. Worse, a thousand  eighteen wheelers will roam our neighborhoods waiting for permission to enter with absolute immunity except a No Trucks Allowed sign at the end of the street?" said Diana Yankes, one of three write-in candidates. "No thanks."

"These are perhaps the most perilous days in our borough's 87 year history," said Steve Frank, another write-in candidate. "My goal is to ensure that Churchill retains all of its essential qualities as a clean, safe, peaceful and healthy place to live and raise our families, all the while looking to move forward in ways not detrimental to any resident." 

"Churchill is so much more than just a freeway on-ramp," asserted William Saunders, the third write-in candidate. "I support sustainable, safe and healthy development that will benefit the residents of Churchill and not just outside corporate interests."

Churchill residents' next protest against the Proposal is on Monday, October 25th from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm in front of the Borough building. The write-in candidates will be there. The 14th day of the public hearing will start at 6pm, once again on Zoom, and can be viewed by the public and the media from a link at http://www.churchillborough.com/