Anna Thomas Poised to Upset Joe Emrick in Pa 137, Take Aim at Warehouse Proliferation

Pa. House District 137 includes Bethlehem Township, Hanover, Lower Nazareth, Upper Nazareth, Nazareth, and Tatamy. Republican Joe Emrick currently represents the district, and has done so for the past 14 years. But if the mailbox and internet ads mean anything, it's quite clear that incredible resources are being poured into the race to ensure that Democrat Anna Thomas pulls off an upset I live in this district and can tell you her mail pieces are flooding my inbox. Her ads are all over YouTube. She's even opened a campaign office at 35 Belvidere Street in Nazareth. On Friday, she met Governor Josh Shapiro there. On Saturday morning, a small army of canvassers met with her before going out to canvass the district. 

This is Anna's second campaign for Emrick's seat. In 2022, she came within 750 votes of unseating him, with virtually no money and no support. That's because Emrick is particularly unlikable. His far-right agenda is one thing, but it's his personality that irks most people. He refuses to return calls, respond to emails and has been entirely closed off unless you're a fellow Republican. He can even get prickly with them. 

In contrast, Thomas makes clear on her campaign webpage that who you are matters more than your party. "Good ideas come from both Republicans and Democrats, and Anna will serve the people of Pennsylvania, not the agenda of any political party or special interest group."

Thomas is a graduate of Freedom High School and Wellesley College, where she majored in chemistry. She also has a Master's in Public Administration from the University of Pa. More importantly, she has ideas. 

Today, I'd like to share her plan to stop warehouse proliferation. 

She notes that there are actually two kinds of warehouses, agricultural and e-commerce (often called "fulfillment centers"). 

She notes that agricultural warehouses are permitted by right on all farmland in Pennsylvania. "This makes sense because farmers need to be able to have places to put their crops and equipment," she observes. But e-commerce warehouses are different. They bring thousands of truck traffic trips a day, ruin local roads as well as what is left of the natural beauty of the Lehigh Valley. But as Thomas notes, they often get de facto approval because our zoning laws fail to distinguish between the two different kinds of warehouses.

What would she do? She'd work to update a zoning code first written in 1965 to distinguish agricultural from other warehouses. She'd also allow municipalities in a radius around a warehouse to be able to benefit from impact fees for road damages and other costs. As an example, she cites the warehouses built by Chrin in Palmer Tp near a Route 33 interchange. Those "fulfillment centers" primarily impact Tatamy, who has experienced a major surge in truck traffic and road damage. But that borough gets no impact fee money. 

What about Emrick? In February, he introduced legislation to give local voters the final say in whether a warehouse is approved. But that bill has only eight sponsors and is dying a slow death in some committee. And that's probably what he wants because he's been a warehouse supporter for years. 

In 2007, Emrick voted to change Upper Nazareth zoning to allow massive warehouse development. After that, he took in $19,300 from warehouse developer Charles Chrin between 2010 and 2017. Basically, he's been a warehouse enabler.