08/21/2026
Hey, y’all—your friendly local SR Dem who runs this page here. 👋 Fair warning: this is a longer post, but it comes from the heart- and I hope you’ll stay with me.
I want to begin with a reminder that no group of people is a monolith. I try to represent the Slippery Rock Democrats collectively on this page, but I also sometimes write through a personal lens. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I strive to run this page with positivity, honesty, and integrity.
We hope this page provides a landing place for local events, camaraderie, important issues, and opportunities to get involved. We are focused on local candidates, local concerns, and, most importantly- building community.
A wise and deeply connected local woman once shared a story with me about a former council member. He believed that while national politics matter, we are all Slippery Rockians, and we need to remain focused on that shared community. That story has always resonated with me.
As a longtime Slippery Rock resident, I could not agree more.
National politics matter, and national policies inevitably affect people here. But regardless of our political differences, we are Slippery Rockians. We owe it to one another, and to those who come after us, to work together and leave Slippery Rock better than we found it.
What borough leadership does affects the entire Slippery Rock community. Not living within the borough or paying borough taxes does not mean someone has no stake in what happens here. We shop in the borough, eat at its restaurants, attend its events, use its roads and public spaces, support its businesses, study and work here, and contribute to the strength of Slippery Rock in countless ways.
Slippery Rock Borough encompasses only 1.6 square miles and has approximately 3,500 residents. Slippery Rock Township has just over 8,000 residents, while the broader 16057 ZIP-code area has approximately 15,700. More than 12,000 people in the greater Slippery Rock area live outside the borough’s tiny boundary.
Our community includes SRU students, their families and professors; longtime residents and recent transplants; people who live inside the borough and those who live beyond it; people who are passing through and people who will stay forever. We all matter.
The Slippery Rock Democrats applaud the four borough council members who voted to reject the proposed 287(g) agreement: Council President John Hicks, Jeff Campbell, Alexandra Franco-Tuten, and Paul Leuken.
At Tuesday’s meeting, council allowed everyone who wished to speak three minutes to do so. Speakers ranged from 13 years old to-
well, I’m not sure who was the oldest. 😅 We heard from students, professors, business owners, longtime residents, and members of the surrounding community.
Council members listened patiently and explained that they had spoken with community members and conducted their own research. We appreciate their willingness to provide the time and space for people on all sides to be heard.
I remain hopeful that we can leave Slippery Rock better than we found it- but doing that will take all of us.
Maybe that means occasionally setting aside our national political differences. Maybe it means volunteering, supporting local businesses, promoting our town’s many wonderful offerings, or simply listening to one another with compassion and respect.
What will not move us forward is divisiveness.
Leaders calling entire groups of people names or insisting that their voices do not matter because they live outside the borough, do not pay borough taxes, or do not work within its 1.6-square-mile boundary is not the way forward. It is not professional, it is not the behavior we should model for the young people who are always watching us, and it does not help create the welcoming community we claim to want.
This is a town where parents entrust us with the most precious people in their lives. Our words and actions tell those students, and their families, whether they truly belong here.
My dad once told me that it takes all kinds of people doing all kinds of work to make the world turn. A janitor performs a vital role, just as a teacher does in the classroom. Communities work the same way. We all have something to contribute. We all give, and we all receive.
Let’s choose to recognize one another’s humanity. Let’s choose honesty, compassion, accountability, and kindness. Let’s work together to build the community we want, deserve, and need.
Slippery Rock does not belong to one elected official, one council, one political party, or only the people living within 1.6 square miles.
Slippery Rock is not “my town” or “your town,” It is OUR town and we ALL belong. 💜
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Photo: Canadian2006 via Wikimedia Commons
