[NEWS UPDATE 10:54 pm, 12/12/2012: Final vote to Dissolve the local district was 1682 yes, 4597 no. Local residents crushed the out-of-town political nonsese by almost 3:1! Congratulations to Baldwin, Baldwin Harbor, South Hempstead, and Roosevelt!!!]
I was raised for the first 24 years of my life in Baldwin Harbor, on Long Island’s south shore. Born into – and living among – other blue-collar, working class families, I was a Republican for most of my life.
I was raised for the first 24 years of my life in Baldwin Harbor, on Long Island’s south shore. Born into – and living among – other blue-collar, working class families, I was a Republican for most of my life.
But, as happens to many of us, time and
experience change us, and I have since become an advocate for largely liberal
and progressive causes. As I eye
eventually returning to Long Island in my retirement, I have looked at the
political party structure in New York, and found myself drawn to the Working
Families Party, a recent addition to the NY electoral scene with stridently
liberal views. Sustainable development,
energy sanity, environmental stewardship, and election reform all make more
sense to me than ever before.
How disheartening, then, to discover that, like the major
parties who use the money and muscle of Super PACS to do their dirty work, the Working Families Party is no different. Operating under the parallel name of the “Long Island
Progressive Coalition,” and, most recently, by the fly-by-night invented group, “RESD” (Residents
for Efficient Special Districts), these so-called progressives are anything but
progressive, good-government advocates; rather, they have become as nasty, dishonest, and destructive
as the Republican and Democratic
SuperPACS.
The current battle – to be settled at the polls in a few
days (December 12), is an effort to dismantle a special sanitary district – “Sani
2” – serving 55,000 people in the communities of Baldwin, South Hempstead, and Roosevelt on
Long Island. The stated purpose for
the drive to dismantle the district is ‘cost savings,’ though no credible
figures have been supplied yet.
Let's cut to the chase: the entire circus is an invention of a failed
candidate for Sanitation Commissioner who, in a fit of super sour grapes, has
decided that if she can’t rule the district, she will ruin it.
In 2005, Laura Mallay ran for election as a Commissioner
against incumbent Gerard Brown. Apparently, at the time, she felt the special
district was important enough to ask voters to give her some responsibility in
managing it.
But Mallay didn’t quite understand that Long Island voters
do not simply ‘award’ politicians with an office simply because that politician
wakes up one day with a brilliant idea and expects applause.
Mallay was trounced in the election, losing by a margin of more than 20
points.
So, rather than consider why voters rejected her, she invented
a group, “RESD,” annointed herself as its Executive Director, and began a
campaign to force a vote to dissolve Sanitary District 2, and to have 55,000
residents' garbage, recycling, and hazardous materials handled by some other
as-of-yet unspecified entity.
"The District," claims Mallay, “is not economically
sustainable.”
This, of course, flies in the face of the reality of the
District’s existence for some 85 years, and the fact that the District’s annual
budget increases for the last five years have been less than the annual rate of
inflation...meaning that the District actually continues to more with less, and becomes more efficient each year.
Mallay has compared Sani 2's costs with other districts, and found them to be higher. But Mallay’s calculations conveniently neglect to mention that Sanitary District 2 engages in
additional, non-mandated activities that improve life for its residents, increase environmental
quality and awareness, and which are not carried out by other ‘cheaper’ services.
Sanitary District 2 purchases bulk oil contracts for other
area services, saving the local fire departments, school districts, and, therefore,
taxpayers - thousands of dollars annually. Unlike other sanitation departments, they
sponsor community cleanups, waterways cleanups (the picture above is from the recent Milburn Creek cleanup), graffiti removal efforts, and
greening/planting projects. The value added to the community by this community-run
district is enormous.
But that means nothing to Mallay, RESD, and the LI
Progressive Coalition. Rule or Ruin is the battle cry.
Flyers promoting district dissolution fail to reference any credible sources for their secret financial information. As an Economist, I see this as a highly troubling - and disingenuous - aspect of their campaign.
Letters delivered door-to-door this weekend failed to even
contain a single signature assigning responsibility for their tirades. And in
fact, almost 100% of the effort to destroy the district is coming not from
within the district, but from paid campaign operatives who live nowhere near
Baldwin or Roosevelt.
Meanwhile, the workers at Sani2, while understandably concerned
about being tossed to the curb themselves if the vote to dismantle the district
passes…have become heroes to those who know them best.
One month ago, Hurricane Sandy slammed Baldwin Harbor with
unprecedented fury. Neighborhoods that never saw water found themselves under
several feet. Rugs, furniture, soaked sheetrock, and personal belongings of every
kind were heaped in traumatized residents front yards. When destruction like
this takes place in an area several square miles large, how do you even begin
to deal with the clean-up?
The employees of Sani2 – all of whom are working-class, home-town
local community members – worked round the clock for weeks to help homeowners sort
through the wreckage of this storm.
While Mallay was safely ensconced in her dry home and political
headquarters elsewhere in the state, the working men of Sani2 whose jobs are on the line performed
Herculean tasks to clean up their community and share the heartbreak and burden
with their own neighbors.
If sanity prevails, the voters of Baldwin, Roosevelt, and
South Hempstead will see this charade for what it is, and soundly defeat the
effort to dismantle an 85-year old community institution.
And if the Working Families Party has any sense, they will
distance themselves from the loose cannons that have taken control of their
Long Island apparatus.
.
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