The campaigning is heating up in this small community. I live in the Town of Highlands but cannot vote for mayor of the village of Highland Falls; nevertheless, the winner of that race does have impact on me. Furthermore, since we have had the same fool in office for quite a number of years, I am pleased to see that someone other than a felon is running against the current mayor (yes, I believe the only person to run against this guy is a fellow with some criminal background).
So, the background. Highland Falls has had the same mayor for a long time. Long enough, in fact, for him to have a personalized license plate. The hubris of that alone makes my hair stand up on end. But, to the point.... this mayor is mean. He has been known to give the finger to those who cross his path -- literally. He is also a bully. While I am not naive and realize that small towns have carried on in this manner for a long time, I do not like the flavor of the community under his mayorship.
Understand, there has been talk for many years of joining the small Hamlet of Fort Montgomery and the Village of Highland Falls. As a resident of Fort Montgomery, I can vote for the Town Supervisor, but I cannot vote for the Mayor of the village. If the two communities were to officially join (a fiscally wise move), it would be nice for us to join with equal standing. As it is now, I do not have public water or sewer. I do not have a sidewalk. I do not have mail delivery. I do not have gas lines. Joining the two communities means that I have to accept the added tax burden of caring for infrastructure that I cannot claim benefit from. It's an issue. Someone who was forward thinking might address that point. The current mayor has not. Instead, he has taken what is available to the village and basically told the town to go scratch.
Example: West Point was to return lands to the town for development. In some manner of high jinx, the mayor was able to strong arm the dealings so the land was granted to the Village, not the town. That meant, though it's moot now, that if the property were developed, the tax dollars would go to the Village, not the town. The mayor has also been weird about providing water to the town. He wants to charge more for town residents who live on the water line. Still, they'd be paying to get the water AND for the added stress on the water treatment plant.
In comes an opponent. This guy is a very active member of the community and has a DJ business that had been used for 4th of July festivities until this past year. When the 4th of July Committee (headed by the Mayor) opted to use another DJ, the shit hit the fan and the line in the sand was drawn. So, here's what is ahead. Said DJ, another townie who has some shady behavior that has even the locals wondering if the devil you know is the devil you stick with, has thrown his hat into the ring and is running for Mayor. If he loses, he can expect the Mayor's office to come down hard on him in one way or another. He'll have difficulty getting building permits or be written up for some minor legal infraction (like having too many friends visiting and parking on the street, for example).
So, the nastiness moves forward. And, since the decisions of the 4th of july committee seem to have set this in motion, let the fireworks begin.
No comments:
Post a Comment