THE 139TH DISTRICT: WHAT A YEAR (2022)

Greetings Widener University and allies; what a midterm year we had! A journey of highs, lows disappointments, and victories, And for you college students; ALL THAT PLUS MIDTERMS! But yes, all that is behind us now .. Still, there is one question looming peculiarly in the air …. what’s next for our community? If it’s up to State Rep. (D) Carol Kazeem who serves the great county of Delaware, I suspect we have beautiful things in store.  
How many college students do you know have to work; pretty sure a lot right? When we think about the number of employees we have overall in the county, that number grows exponentially. This brings to mind how so many of us depend on this work just to meet the most basic of our necessities. Carol Kazeem is fighting to raise the minimum wage to $15 a hour. This would provide tremendous relief not only to college students, but to many other workers who suffer from abysmal pay. I mean, who wouldn’t want our community to make a descent wage?  
Certainly there are some things we all can agree on, like community services. The campus, neighborhoods, areas nearby, we all utilize these vital services. But do you remember the saying, “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone”? Sadly, with our current political climate that could be the case. Carol says, “I will introduce a bill that stops the sale of critical community services from being sold to for profit companies”. With our heavy reliance on these critical services, this is something we all can agree on.  
I’m also pretty sure we all use utilities, right? Can you even image life without utilities! But, what is we could not afford them? Carol says, out utilities must serve us and not profits. She is also fighting to restrict Covanta's incinerator from polluting Chester and surrounding communities. It’s hard for me to think about college students breathing polluted air, after having to pay all that money for school. In the words of Carol Kazeem, we deserve to breathe free in the 139th.  
What a year, what a year, what a year! These months were filled with more ups and downs than the stock market. Perhaps what is next is the bears go to sleep, while we bulls range and roam free. A $15 minimum wage, not for profit community services, utilities serving the people, and more! I want to leave Widener, Delaware County, and allies with one of my favorite quotes, that just happens to be from Carol Kazeem; “No more excuses over justice”.