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YOUR TAX DOLLARS

So let me get this straight. The current town board, which is supposed to be watching our tax dollars, has spent over $8000 so far this year for an attorney to help the new members of the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) become functional and has now decided to spend an additional $18 an hour to have a secretary perform the same function at ZBA meetings that the previous ZBA did at no cost to the town. 

DONATIONS

Please, if you can, help me help our community.  Send any political contributions to: 
Voters for Howard Harris
PO Box 31
Bearsville NY 12409

As usual I will be at Catskill Mountain Pizza  Tuesday at about 5:30 and don’t forget to visit 

LOST FUNDING ?

Governor Cuomo has established a 100 million dollar, yes that is correct 100 MILLION DOLLARS, in competitive grants as part of the Cleaner, Greener Communities Program. Have the officials of this town done anything to get any of the grant money, and if so why wasn't the public, us, made aware of this. What happened to keeping the public informed?   

MY ACCEPTANCE SPEECH - REPUBLICAN PARTY NONIMATION

For those of you who don’t know me I have been in Woodstock for over 20 years and on the Zoning Board of Appeals for 15 years, the last 8 as chairman. We were a team of volunteers dedicated to protecting the town and its property values. Not being your typical candidate I am not going to stand up here and tell you what I think you want to hear. What I am going to do is stand up here and listen to what you have to say. You are the town; you are the community which I hope to serve. 

Thanks again for your support

HELP ME,HELP YOU

In your opinion, what should be done to make Woodstock a better place in which to live and work? 

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For Me, For You

WOODSTOCK WATER TREATMENT PLANT - REED BED

I received the following email this week.   

“Mike Kutcher (father of Gary Kutcher, currently running for the town board), and Mary Burke wrote a grant application to the NYS DEC for a reed bed, 15 years ago.  Mike had read about reed beds and how they worked, and he had gone down to Highland to observe the “working reed bed” at an apple orchard down there.  That orchard used it to absorb the residues from their cider-making process.  I believe there was a vineyard in that area that also incorporated a reed bed to absorb the residues from their wine making operation.  Mike and Mary actually drove to the DEC headquarters in Tarrytown and hand-delivered that grant request and were “assured” that it was complete and stood a good chance of receiving some grant money.  A short time later the Town was advised that the proposal had not gotten any money that year, but that it would be “kept on file for the following year’s grants fund requests”.  Why that wasn’t pursued by the Town Board that following year, or any other year until recently, is the question.   Mike Kutcher did all the preliminary research and then he got Mary Burke involved in helping him with writing the grant proposal.” 

How many Town Board administrations have there been since then? How many members of the current Town Board were a part of those administrations?  At least two, Wilber and McKenna we need a change; let us finally “GET IT DONE”. Vote For Me, For You.

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GET IT DONE - WOODSTOCK, NY

There is an expression that if you are going “to talk the talk, walk the walk”.  For the past three years I have been writing to the Woodstock Times about the various ills suffered by Woodstock and its residents for one reason or another.  Even though I spent 15 years as a volunteer, both as a member and Chairman of the Woodstock Zoning Board of Appeals, I feel there is still more for me to accomplish. Therefore, I am running for councilman on the Town Board.  There are too many projects which have yet to be started, issues which have been placed on the back burner and projects which have not been completed that with the right people in place, can be accomplished.

I was once told that “Woodstock is overrun with intelligence but not run with intelligence”. Success comes to those individuals who seek the assistance of others because they realize that they are not always right, and they do not have all the answers.  Fortunately, Woodstock has many "successful" people who are willing to work together; we should utilize their skills and knowledge.

AGENDA

An updated Comprehensive Plan, based upon a Town wide survey, would present a more accurate picture of what should be done to ascertain what Woodstock should look like and its needs.

BUDGET:  In the forefront is the financial state of this town and its citizens.  People on fixed incomes should not be forced to move out of town because they can’t afford to live here, nor should they have to sacrifice many of the daily necessities to survive.  Expenses (such as pensions, health care, salaries, deferred maintenance, town hall debt) are projected to rise faster than revenue received from sales taxes, mortgage taxes, fees and other similar sources which may require paying higher property taxes. This is why we should use Woodstock’s tax dollars wisely, not frivolously.   The budget should be scrutinized to keep it below the 2% target. Smoke and mirror tactics or the "Peter to pay Paul" tactic only puts off the inevitable; one day you will have to pay the piper.  Find grant writers. This has been talked about for years. There are thousands of dollars available to subsidize many of the needs of Woodstock. I have a commitment to eliminate wasteful and unnecessary spending and seek cost efficiencies, regardless how small, in order to maintain a level tax base. Each department would be responsible to examine and make recommendations to make this commitment a reality. To this end I will urge the Town Board to consider using zero based budgeting where department budgets are not just based on last year's numbers.  Again I promise that there will be no frivolous or unnecessary spending or “padding” of the budget.  

ECONOMY: Sons and daughters are leaving this town because of a lack of job opportunities, and seniors and those on pensions are struggling. The Hamlet and Neighborhood Commercial Districts as well as Home Occupations have to be looked at as potential places to create additional jobs.  This would require participation of both the public and the business communities and it should balance the needs of both groups while maintaining the integrity of Woodstock.  My thought is to increase the allowed uses (Special Use Permit* would be required) in the Hamlet and Neighborhood Commercial Districts and of Home Occupations all of which would provide additional employment opportunities.  I will use my experience and the knowledge I gained as chairperson of the Zoning Board of Appeals to work with the Building Department, The Planning Board and The Zoning Board to institute the new policies which allow for the additional sources of employment that would increase Woodstock’s tax base. 

Special use permit* It allows for community input and specifically relates to issues such as lighting , parking traffic, etc. and is used to protect neighboring properties.

CELL SERVICE: Cell service throughout the entire town is more than a convenience, or a means to conduct business, it is a life line in times of emergencies. One of my priorities is the pursuit of accomplishing this goal.

ZONING LAWS: Uphold them, fairly and equally, or change them, but do not violate them.  Having been on the Zoning Board of Appeals for 15 years, I feel I have a good grasp of the effect the zoning law has on the entire town.  The law is in place to protect both our property values and our quality of life.  It may not be your neighborhood that is affected today, but perhaps tomorrow it will be.  Look around the town.  The way things are going, one day you may look out your window and see a factory, an apartment building, a funeral home, or a hotel staring back at you.  As I did as a member of the ZBA, I will continue to make sure that all our neighborhoods are protected from unwarranted and disrupting changes.

Here too I will use my experience and knowledge to work with the Building Department, The Planning Board and The Zoning Board to institute the new policies which would allow applicants to get through the process in a timely manner and yet avoid lawsuits.

ENVIRONMENT: Fulfill the 2007 carbon neutral initiative resolution and the go green tenor of the town. Install the reed beds at the Waste Water treatment plant, buy that hybrid vehicle, which I believe was budgeted for in 2008, to be used by town personnel to use for all off-site meetings, replace equipment, when needed, with equipment that is energy efficient; use alternatives to petroleum based lubricants for maintenance of vehicles. Years ago the town did energy audits of its buildings I think the end result was changing the thermostats. How about a cost analysis to ascertain the cost effectiveness of greening (such as insulation of the attic and wall spaces; hot water “blankets”; storm doors; on demand hot water units, etc.) versus the reduction in costs of heating both the buildings and water.

Going green will be difficult though, but not impossible, since it would involve real change on the local government level. One idea is going for carbon neutral or even carbon negative*. Becoming carbon neutral can be done through incentives or through mandates. Incentives would be like waiving all building/review fees for new construction that is carbon neutral, getting rid of zoning restrictions of alternative energy systems (i.e., Woodstock has height restrictions that essentially prohibit wind turbines) and giving some sort of density bonuses for alternate energy/carbon neutral development. On the mandate side, the Town could adopt a green building code specifying that construction over a certain threshold require energy alternatives/green building techniques, etc.

Carbon negative* relates to the construction of buildings that produce more power than they use.

WHO AM I?

For those of you who do not know me, I was a Detective in the New York City Police Department.  I spent my 20 years in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.

It was during the time of the Civil Rights movement.  It was a time when you were called to a dispute between a black person, and a white person. More often than not, when you had settled the dispute, you heard one of two statements: “you sided with him because you are both white” or “you sided with him because he is black”.  Never changing until, one day, I was called to a dispute between a West Indian (black) man and a black man from Georgia, and when I pointed out to the West Indian that he was in the wrong. He said, “The only reason you took his side is because you are both Americans”.  It was an interesting time and an enlightening time.

It was the 60’s a time of turmoil, of protests and riots.  It was a time for understanding and patience.

It was a time of Peace, Love, and Music.  It was the time of “Woodstock". It was a time that, more often than not, I would have liked to have been on the other side of the police barrier.  

And I survived it all.

Upon retiring from the NYPD I partnered with a former co-worker and purchased a small business.  My responsibilities included running the day to day operation of the business, interacting with the public, as well as overseeing the company’s financial transactions.  After a few years we sold the business. 

About a year later I was approach by an acquaintance who was involved in a credit card industry start-up company to join his organization.   My acceptance of an executive position in the company turned out to be an experience that taught me many valuable lessons in both finance and process.

One summer in the mid 80’s my son and I were westbound on Route 28, heading out to Margaretville looking to purchase property, when we saw the Woodstock traffic sign. Turning right on to Route 375, encountering the old Woodstock Playhouse, I was extremely taken, not only by the sight of it but also by the ambiance of the town itself.  I never made it to Margaretville.

In 1995 my life took another turn.  My neighbor, a widow, had been issued an order to remedy because she had rented out a large garage to two artists who did metal sculpturing.  Joan Schwartzberg convinced me that I had the ability to represent my neighbor before the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA).  After spending hours learning the relevant sections of the Zoning Law, I presented the case to the ZBA.  Although the board did not find in my favor, the chairperson asked me to apply for one of the vacancies on the board, which I did, and was accepted.  For 15 years, as both the Chairman and as a member of the board, one of the first things I would do, either at the site visit or before the hearing, was to encourage the applicant to relax, explaining to them that the ZBA was there for them, affording them possible relief, as appropriate, from the zoning law. More often than not, if granting the variance request would not have a negative impact, I would vote for it being granted.  I saw my role on the board as helping make reasonable sense of the zoning law and its application.

So now, here I am again, taking another turn, hoping to become a councilman on the Woodstock Town Board.