Bethlehem United candidates are kicking off the local election season by holding a series of community meetings around town.
The first meeting was held on the night of Thursday, Sept. 19, at Selkirk Firehouse No. 2 in Glenmont, and was hosted by Albany County Legislator Rich Mendick. Supervisor candidate Fred DiMaggio, who is also the former chairman of the Bethlehem Republican Committee, spoke with residents and took questions from the audience, as did Town Board candidates Linda Jasinski, a conservative, and Dan Cunningham, a member of the Independence Party.
All three candidates are endorsed by the town’s Republican and Independence parties, as well as the Albany County Conservative Party, and are referring to themselves as Bethlehem United because of the mixed political makeup of the ticket. The group came together this spring to work against a referendum to abolish the elected position of highway superintendent and place those responsibilities under the commissioner of public works. The referendum failed 3,086 to 1,969.
“I don’t like the way the town is being run,” said DiMaggio about his decision to run for office. “I think there has been a lack of vision and direction on the part of this administration, particularly with Supervisor (John) Clarkson, and I think this assembled team of a non-partisan coalition is a far better approach to government, instead of the one-party partisanship we’ve seen in Town Hall.”
Jasinski and Cunningham echoed those sentiments, with the former stressing how she is more concerned with how the government is run and not the politics behind it. Jasinski also said her goal is to seek equal representation for the “outlying areas of town.”
“Right now, the Town Board is very Delmar-centric,” Jasinski said. “Everybody is from that area and they don’t even realize that down in South Bethlehem people live a little differently.”
Councilwoman Joann Dawson is a resident of Glenmont.
Cunningham said his efforts are focused on maintaining the services that make up the character of the town, while keeping taxes at a livable level for residents.
“If my taxes go up 15 percent last year, that means my kids are going without something,” Cunningham said. “And ultimately if they keep going in this direction, my kids won’t be living here.”
About 40 people attended the meeting. Questions ranged from how the candidates would promote economic development in the town, to preserving open space for agriculture, to open-door policies for constituents.
“We need to work with developers and let them know this isn’t a hostile environment for business,” DiMaggio said.
Cunningham said Bethlehem should be going after “low-hanging fruit” and promote the waterfront and rail yard instead of seeking technology tenants because of the competition involved.
“We have assets here we should be focused on developing,” he said.
One woman asked how the public could work to get rid of the town’s Comprehensive Plan, arguing it does very little for parts of the town other than Delmar and is not working to stop overdevelopment.
Jasinski, who was an advisory member on two Comprehensive Plan committees, said she doesn’t think the plan needs to be thrown out, but rather tweaked to take into account the needs of all residents.
The meeting was attended by former Democratic Supervisor Jack Cunningham, who is Dan Cunningham’s brother. Also in support of the Bethlehem United group are two Bethlehem Democratic Committee members, Stephen Vazci and Leo Dorsey, from the town’s 28th district. Both spoke at the meeting, and were critical of other parties for not working harder to get out the vote and obtain absentee ballots in the recent Primary Election.
“I’m probably going to make some enemies here tonight, but I don’t care,” said Dorsey. “The Republican, Independence and Conservative parties failed in the primary because they didn’t get off their lazy butts. I’m a Democrat and I got 145 absentee ballots for these candidates.”
Vazci said he’s supporting the Bethlehem United candidates in part because he represents the people of Selkirk, and those residents rarely see the Town Board members in their area of town.
“I think you know what the people want and you’ll do a good job,” Vazci said to the candidates.
At the end of the meeting, those in attendance were encouraged to speak with the candidates one-on-one. They were also asked to take lawn signs.
The next two Bethlehem United public meetings will be held on Thursday, Sept. 26 at Selkirk Firehouse No. 3 in Selkirk and Tuesday, Oct. 15 at the Bethlehem Public Library. Both meetings begin at 7 p.m.