David Mancuso, Community Contributor

David moved to Reading two years ago in search of a little patch of land to plant some vegetables and some running room for his two Portuguese Water Dogs, Hashbrown and Maggie Mae.  

Since moving, David has learned that Reading was built on a swamp and is not ideally suited to vegetable gardening. Consequently, David has turned his interests to shade-loving plants which are more suited to his neighborhood.  The dogs, however, have maintained their interest in running, barking and eating David's plants while they are still young and tender.  

David's background in journalism and communications make him ideally suited to contribute an opinion column to Patch, but more important, he simply has a lot of opinions. David thinks the open, respectful sharing of differing points of view is the key to a healthy democracy and a thriving community and he thanks Patch for the chance to share his thoughts with his neighbors.

When David is not writing for Patch, he works as an advocate in the technology industry (please do not tell his mother, she thinks he&#39;s a philanthropist), proudly volunteers his time for the community action group <i>Making Reading Better</i>, and spends most of his spare moments tending to his dogs, his garden and his wife Brenda, who has the patience of a saint.

David  would love to hear your reaction to his opinion!