Final Reapportionment Maps Available

Dormont and Brookline

Chelsa Wagner (D-Brookline) was sworn-in as Allegheny County Controller Jan. 2, but she won't be paid for it. At least not yet.

Instead, Wagner will remain on the state government's payroll and forgo her county salary in an effort to serve her constituents as a state House representative for Pennsylvania's 22nd Legislative District.

Wagner's district—which includes Baldwin Township, Castle Shannon Borough, parts of Whitehall Borough and parts of the City of Pittsburgh (including Brookline and Beechview) is moving to the Allentown area—approximately 300 miles east, according to the state's final reapportionment plan.

"If I resign (as a state representative) before the reapportionment is finalized," Wagner said, "the residents of Brookline, Beechview, Mount Washington, Castle Shannon, Whitehall and other communities will lose a resource to which all Pennsylvanians are entitled. For this to happen before I am fully assured that they will be accommodated is untenable to me."

The state Supreme Court will consider any challenges to the new reapportionment map before it finally takes effect. District reapportionment occurs once every 10 years.

As the new map details, residents in Wagner's 22nd House District would be split up. Much of Brookline would be moved into Rep. Harry A. Readshaw's 36th District.

Four other House representatives in Allegheny County would pick up the pieces left behind by the 22nd District's move to Allentown: Daniel Deasy, Jake Wheatley, Matthew H. Smith and William C. Kortz II.

Wagner will monitor state House affairs remotely while fulfilling her duties as Allegheny County's newest controller. However, the law allows for officials serving concurrently in two offices to collect only one public salary.

"Taking over as County Controller is a huge undertaking, and I am absolutely dedicated to fulfilling those duties for the taxpayers of Allegheny County," Wagner said. "However, my state House constituents also elected me, and I don't take my responsibility to them lightly. I'm going to make sure they're taken care of.

"The only way to describe the hand dealt to my constituents by the Legislative Reapportionment Commission is a raw deal. We have single neighborhoods split into three legislative districts, which is causing great concern and confusion.

"When citizens don't know where to turn to access their public officials, that's disenfranchisement. I won't walk away from them until they've been prepared for these changes."

Wagner's offices at Whitehall's Caste Village Commons and will remain open with regular hours.

"I would never claim that serving in two offices at once is an ideal situation," Wagner said, "but neither is a constituent seeking help with an unemployment claim or heating assistance arriving to a locked door and a closed sign with no notification of where else to turn."

The old and new district boundaries are available through the House Legislative Interactive District Map on the Pennsylvania Redistricting website.

State Senate

Senatorial districts are also being reapportioned, but Dormont and Brookline residents should have no confusion as to whom their state Senate representative is—both communities would remain entirely in Wayne Fontana's Senate District 42.