Editor's note:
This submission appeared in the Advertiser this week and is reprinted here.
The author is Chair of the NG Democrats Club, the rival faction to Jeff Spain and his GOP cross endorsing group of so called Democrats which include Town Clerk Connolly, Receiver of Taxes Devery, and 6 other members of the town Democratic Committee.
The group is likely to be challenged for their Democratic Patty Committee seats by Democrats who support Democrats in the coming party reorganization this September. Unlike many States which allow open primaries which allow Republicans to vote for Democratic candidates for president, our rules will not allow the Republicans to vote for Spain and his committee candidates in this falls contest. Only Democrats will be allowed to vote for these seats from which the next party chairman will be selected.
Board Rejects Passage of Comprehensive Plan
Robert Price of the North Greenbush Democrats Club criticized the new 4 man majority of the North Greenbush Town Board for rejecting passage of the recently completed Comprehensive Plan to guide development. At the March 13th Board meeting, an effort by Councilman Michaels to approve the plan fell to a 4-1 defeat by the Evers led majority of Spain, Kern and Desso.
Despite the announcement of the awarding of a $36,000 State grant to begin the process of cleaning up Main Avenue pollution sites which could lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds to benefit our town and in particular Wynantskill, the new blank check development majority refused to adopt the plan and is risking the entire State grant in so doing. The grant was awarded largely because of its application and commitment to passage of the plan once completed and the plan’s commitment to revitalizing the Main Avenue business corridor. This can only begin if a cleanup of polluted sites is completed which includes the old cleaner building on Main Avenue.
For the past two years, volunteer town residents representing all 8 election districts helped create the plan with a $52,000 grant from Rensselaer County. The Supervisor and Councilman Kern BOTH pledged support for this project as a condition of Democratic Party support for their candidacies in 2005 and BOTH have reneged on that commitment. They have now joined GOP factions and one Democrat, Al Spain, who campaigned with the GOP endorsed town board candidates and with the blessing of the new Democratic Chairman, Jeff Spain..
The new majority also reconstituted the Comprehensive Plan Committee with political allies and relatives, removing all but two members of the prior committee. The delay in adopting the plan may also diminish our chances of obtaining funding for the proposed I- 90 connector which is endorsed by the plan as a means of fulfilling the objectives in RPI Tech Park’s master plan and that of HVCC. The connector would move development to the areas which surround it rather than promote high density retail on RT 4 such as occurred on Wolf Road in Colonie.
The funding for the connector must be obtained from the federal and state governments. With the pending retirement of Congressman McNulty and the loss of his 20 years of seniority, our chances of obtaining funding will be greatly diminished by the action of this town board. Without the plan adopted, developers hold the keys to our future and residential input for our future as defined in the plan is cast aside.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert Price
NG Dem. Club
1 comment:
Interesting to know.
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