South Side Business Owner Joins Race for Bethlehem City Council

Blogger's Note: Usually, when a candidate runs for office, he sends me an announcement. I feel I owe it to whoever is running to publish it. i also owe it to you to keep you up to date on the myriad of local offices at play. Yesterday, Matt McKernan made his announcement in a personal email to me, betraying a self-deprecating sense of humor that all too often is missing from local pols. I liked Matt's personal note much more than some announcement drown up by a campaign consultant with yet another 5-point plan.

Dear Bernie,

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Matthew McKernan and I am running for Bethlehem City Council. While I am in no means a lifelong resident of Bethlehem, I do love this city and both my family and my business have dedicated ourselves to make Bethlehem our home, forever. Our family has been part of the Bethlehem community for the past 15 years, in both physical location, and in spirit. I currently live at 1969 Easton Avenue, right up the street from Liberty High school (I am sorry you don't trust their graduates, but my son Max will most likely attend Bechi after he finishes at St. Anne's. Yes, I read your blog...).

My wife is currently a teacher at Liberty High School (my apologies again...) and I am a business owner, with my business, Mosaic, located on the South Side, in the Flat Iron building, where I have had the opportunity to struggle and succeed for the last eight years. (notice I capitalized South Side and the Flat Iron building for no reason but for the love of the city and it's diverse and talented community. Yes, it's that important that it deserves to be capitalized).

At the moment, I have not formally announced my intention to run for council, but I have filled out the necessary paperwork, engaged my network and have started collecting signatures to be on the ballot. I plan to make an announcement in the next week.

With that said, I would love the opportunity to meet with you and discuss your vision for the future of Bethlehem, and the Lehigh Valley. Would you allow me to meet you for lunch or dinner (on me of course)?

Just to give you a little background about myself before you respond, please review my LinkedIn profile, as well as the website of my business.

Matt McKernan LinkedIn
http://www.mosaicwebsite.com/

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,
Matt