Village Spending Freeze: End to Innovation?

It's a common pattern that is sad to watch: great strides toward more sustainable and environmentally-friendly practices are made during economic boom times, only to be all-but-undone when municipalities start cutting their budgets and freezing spending. Is that the fate for New Paltz Village?

Like every level of government, the Village of New Paltz is struggling with the realities of the current economy. Terry Dungan initiated a controversial spending freeze last month, and there can be no doubt that the fiscal crisis is at the root over bickering about the solar panels on Village Hall. It's funny how government officials act, isn't it? During boom times they spend like nobody ever loses money and during a crisis they think that no spending is okay ever. The rest of us have to budget for good times and bad, but governments somehow are allowed to act surprised no matter what happens.

So for the Village, this surprise manifests in ways like spending freezes and fights with the Town to get more money. Since we apparently never think of saving money when the economy is good, can we think about how to use innovation to save a little money in the long term now that times are tough? Many environmentally sound practices, like the 2005 solar panel installation, cost a bit of cash up front but provide environmental and economic benefits down the line - they save us money in the long run. Does it make sense to spend money during a freeze to save money later? Probably - I for one have no faith that our elected officials will plan for a rainy day during the next boom time, so why not now when we're thinking about how difficult things are?

I was looking at various ways that roads can create energy, and honestly I think forward-thinking isn't nearly enough to finance a solar road network or anything close to it. However, the idea of speed bumps that power street lights is actually pretty cool - they're almost certainly cheaper than a road, we use or could use speed bumps in various locations, and I'm guessing that there's a grant out there somewhere that could help us finance these things.

The question is, can our mayor and our town supervisor play nice with each other for awhile and look into some serious changes, or would they prefer to continue defending their fiefdoms and use that as an excuse for not doing something exceptional with their jobs?

Bus Loop Launches!

Amid much fanfare, the New Paltz Bus Loop took its maiden ride yesterday. There was so much interest in this long-anticipated project that they had to use two buses to bring all the interested people around the route. This bus is intended to reduce traffic congestion in New Paltz by giving people an alternative to taking the car, so having it launch on a bitingly cold day was better timing than planning alone could have arranged.

The bus, I'm told, will cost seventy-five cents a ride, although some people will get to ride for free - I believe those associated with SUNY, whose students were fairly hard at making it a reality. I'm also advised that this online bus schedule isn't the correct one; the exact schedule was distributed at the press conference yesterday and will presumably be made widely available.

Bus Schedule not Forward Thinking
I'm a bit surprised that considerable effort was put into printing up schedules and route maps for distribution without making online access a priority. Isn't the cost of putting it online significantly less? Wouldn't it have made sense to announce, "We have a small number of schedules available for distribution to those who don't have access to computers, but the best information is and always will be online" to continue with New Paltz' forward-thinking philosophy? I haven't seen one of the printed schedules yet - do I need to ask if it was printed on 100% post-consumer paper with soy-based ink, something that both SUNY and our local governments should be doing whenever they print anything?

Building a Better Bus
Schedules aside, I don't know if this bus is going to achieve the success that's hoped for. Frankly, I think it costs too much. If the goal is to get people that already own cars to leave them at home, then it has to be a competitive option. If gas were still at four dollars a gallon and I'm getting forty miles to the gallon, then I'm getting ten dollars to the mile. I don't know how long the route is, but let's use a very high estimate of five miles. That would mean the bus is charging me 37.5 cents a mile, almost four times what I'm paying now. Granted, someone using a longer-term perspective would factor in the savings in automobile maintenance, but that person is also paying half the price for gas as I estimated, so I think that's a wash. While I think this bus will be a welcome relief for pedestrians, I don't think it's going to create any new non-drivers.

So what can we do? Well, if this bus ran on biodiesel I think it would address that concern, and more! It could pick up oil from local grease traps, reducing the strain on our sewer system, and the price for a ticket could be reduced to a very attractive rate - perhaps a nickel would be sufficient. Additionally, the wonderful publicity of such a loop bus might very well rival that which was received by the gay marriages (and would likely be less controversial, to boot). If there's money to put towards creating this bus route, I'm sure that some can be found to make a bus that has a chance of achieving the stated goal.

The bus was a great idea. Let's try to green it up a bit and it will be a fantastic idea.

Village Crosswalks Continue to be Dangerous

Does anyone else remember when we had signs in the middle of our village crosswalks reminding drivers that they have an obligation to yield to pedestrians? It's a frustrating issue that has gotten only marginal newspaper coverage. The signs were put out by the DPW and brought in at night by the police. Apparently they didn't want the job anymore, so it stopped happening.

I was a member of the Bicycle-Pedestrian Committee for its first year, and Alan Stout is being kind when he implies that they've only been trying to get those signs back since the summer. It's been high on their agenda since day one, and it boggles my mind that they have been thwarted for so long.

So here are the reasons I have been told about why we don't have signs to keep our citizens and shoppers safe as they cross various parts of Main Street:

• They must be brought in at night and the police doesn't have the manpower.
• Even though volunteers have been approached
• Even though the DOT will permit them to be out all night
• The DOT has to give permission before we can put them back
• The village board claims they sent in the request, but sitting around and waiting strains credibility when people have phones in their offices . . . how about calling to see if you can walk this one through?
  
• A town in Texas was found liable when a drunk driver hit a boulder that was in the middle of the road
• I don't want to embarrass the elected official who made the comparison between a plastic sign and a boulder in writing, but it's tempting
• They make it too difficult to turn for trucks
• They're plastic signs, remember?
• They cost too much to replace
• The cost about three hundred bucks apiece. How much are you willing to spend so senior citizens can feel safe crossing from Starbucks to P&G's?
• The village Department of Public Works is concerned about their plows
• Don't put them out in the snow.

If you're an elected official in the Town or Village, please remember that the police and DPW are your employees. If it is good for our community, go ahead and tell them to do it.

We really have too many fiefdoms represented to make this idea happen. Unification, anyone?

Main Course Mayhem on Millrock Road

Butch Dener isn't very happy with the Village Planning Board.

He's angry that Bruce and Vicki Kazan have had "stumbling blocks" placed in front of their project on the corner of Millrock and Main. In part I agree with his letter (which I won't bother linking to, due to Ulster Publishing's mysterious policy of taking stories down from the website after a period of time, a policy that bespeaks a lack of understanding of the internet . . . but, I digress), but not entirely. Let's look at some facts:

• The Kazans had their project approved some time ago, and it's just about complete. Butch could have written his letter of praise regardless of the most recent PB meeting.
• Bruce came back because he's looking to get a special use permit - essentially, change the agreement he made with the Village - to allow a tenant that will be selling artisinal breads.
• Residents of Millrock Road, long opposed to this building, believe that a business that falls into the "grocery" definition of the code would increase the shortcut traffic along Henry W. Dubois and down Millrock.

Like Butch, I love the design of the building and applaud the Kazans' interest in keeping business local. I also happen to love the kind of bread that this potential new business wants to sell and will probably frequent it as often as my wallet and waistline allow, as I stated for the record.

I also happen to agree with Butch that the meetings are a bit . . . inconsistent. He makes particular reference to my fellow member Marion Dubois and her interest in the project:

"She (and the chairman) allows the residents to address her during the meetings, which is against all known policies and procedures. That alone is a conflict. But she, herself, lives on that street! Another conflict. No wonder she listens to these folks, she is their neighbor and friend."

Comment from the public
Now let's talk about this back-and-forth at meetings. I've had that type of dialog at Town Board meetings when I have submitted public comment, so it's not exactly unprecedented, whether or not it's good practice. I would prefer to have a formal public comment period at Planning Board meetings, because it would give community members an opportunity to weigh in on matters that are not set for a public hearing, but when I have suggested that all I get are blank stares. I've had to call people on my own time to ask them their opinions on various matters in the past, just because I really want to know what New Paltz is thinking.

A public comment period would not only allow community members to share their views at each and every meeting, it would allow the Chairman to refuse comment during the remainder of the meeting without being perceived as unfair or arbitrary. Ray Curran tries very hard to balance community input with running an orderly meeting, but I don't know if it's possible without using all the tools available to him.


Traffic
Butch also remarks, " Do these Millrock Road geniuses really think that cars will turn down their street from Henry W. DuBois Drive to get to Bruce's business? Gimme a break. No! They won't."

Butch, I don't know which New Paltz you're living in, but my New Paltz includes a Main Street that is all but undriveable for many hours each day. As I stated at the meeting, I have avoided Main Street for years by using Henry Dubois, and most other residents do as well. The traffic and land use study, best-known for recommending a one-way Main Street, pointed out what we are all doing this. Take North Putt Corners to Henry Dubois, and make whatever turn will bring you closest to your Main Street destination.

The neighborhood is concerned that there will be additional traffic, putting their eighteen children at risk. Honestly I'm not sure if they're right, but Bruce's figures, pulled from a standard (but generic) traffic study manual, simply don't address how much of that traffic will be taking that shortcut.

I wish there was a middle ground between Bruce's figures and hiring a traffic consultant. I'm hoping that consultant doesn't have to do much work to tell us what we need to know, because if it costs too much it may mean we lose a tasty tenant for this location. But I can't make a decision that doesn't weigh all the factors.

Increased development in the village core is preferred to paving over more former farms and untouched natural areas. This building is already approved and nothing that we do is going to change that, no matter how badly Marion Dubois and the other residents of Millrock Road may want that. Barring any really scary information about traffic, I'm going to support the special use permit - as long as it won't open the door to a QuickieMart-type place, which I think would be a very bad idea.

If Bruce is on the agenda for December 16, I hope many people come to the meeting. I'd like to see a show of support for a good project like this.