I’ve been keeping up with the continuing threads here regarding the BOE elections and felt it was time to at least share my views/feelings on many of the topics. For full transparency, I live along the waterfront, and have been here about two years. I consider myself a proud resident of West New York. Moving here, I knew that the quality of the schools was poor – this is not a reflection of my fellow residents of WNY, but rather of the absolutely corrupt government that is wasting our tax dollars to further its political interests rather than those of the kids. Knowing this fact, I have never expected to stay in WNY forever – having to at some point to move to a town with better schools for my son. My situation is very common for new residents who move to WNY. What’s the result? A huge community of transient residents, mostly renters, who have no reason to care about the town they live in, as it’s simply a stop along the way in their lives. And this is at the core of my frustration reading so many posts here. The divide between citizens who live “up the hill” vs. those who live “down on the waterfront” is most apparent here on these forums – the sad part is that almost everyone here wants the same thing, and yet every discussion turns into a pissing contest over who is the most sincere in their desire to be ‘doing it for West New York’ vs. for themselves or for their interests. Most of these candidates (and I think we know the ones who are corrupt) are willing to devote tons of their personal time to make this place better – they all just see different routes to getting there. Speaking for myself, I am not a millionaire banker from Wall Street. I cannot afford a full time nanny to watch my kid, I don’t drive a luxury car and I work hard to pay my mortgage. Stereotyping me into a group that is not reflective of most of the waterfront is as egregious as folks “from the waterfront” stereotyping folks “on the hill”. I’ve voted in elections, and visit and use all parts of the town. We’re an amazingly diverse community on all sides of River Road, and we should embrace this. I’ve never been an activist or very involved in my local politics. It’s not always easy to get immersed in them, or to feel you have a voice. People tend to live in their own hyperlocal communities, and only step out when there’s a reason to – this isn’t a malicious thing, it’s just natural. So in this case, many residents of the waterfront, including myself have an issue that is highly tangible and there’s a path to resolving it. I think it’s far better to have community members finding a topic to rally behind rather than remain ambivalent to local politics. It’s the perfect opportunity to ride this wave and teach these residents about local politics and to get their voices heard – perhaps even in a mayoral election in the future. There’s no reason this can’t be the issue that gets the waterfront involved in local politics, nor does it preclude them from having the right to an equal voice. The topic of putting a school down by the water has been discussed for a bit, and having participated in some of these discussions, I can definitely say that it’s always been about improving school conditions for everyone. I agree with Henry that there are a large number of completely ignored children who could benefit from this school. The thing is, it doesn’t preclude any other child from attending as well. Wanting a school nearby doesn’t make me racist, elitist, greedy, or anything beyond a caring parent. I’m not going to pretend I have all the facts – that’s why I love this page – I’ve learned a lot about taxes, abatements, local politics, and so on. But that doesn’t mean that I have to earn my right to participate in local politics or to fight for what I believe. I support the MATH team NOT because Tom or Henry live on the waterfront like I do. I support the Ana, Monica, Henry, and Tom because they represent the best of ALL of WNY. They don’t see the waterfront as undeserving of a voice and they also don’t see the rest of WNY as just an afterthought. I’m not writing this to convince anyone to change their minds – I know we’ve all made our choices already. I’m writing with the hopes that we stop the name-calling, stereotyping, and presumptive attacks. I’m pretty sure that if any of these non-roquette candidates win, we have a shot at improving education for all our kids. I’d love to hear more from the candidates about tangible ways they’d make the town better and would love to see us all continue to share ideas on how we can get rid of the old guard and bring in a new era here in WNY! I thank you all for keeping up the spirited debate and look forward to learning more about this great town here....
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 02:44:41 +0000
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