The discussion is on once again in the Town of Bethlehem over exactly what form of government will best serve residents. You can read all about thoughts on a ward system on the front page.
While it’s fine and good leaders are trying to make Bethlehem government the best it can be, we’d suggest a new Town Board structure isn’t needed to give redress to the concerns of outlying parts of the town. There is already a way, what’s needed is the will.
First of all, we were shocked to hear several board members with many years of service say these concerns come as a surprise. From the recollection of Spotlight staff, underrepresentation of certain outlying parts of town is a none-too-recent topic of discussion. We speak with Bethlehem residents who feel they have no voice in government quite often, and they sometimes show up to Town Board meetings and put those complaints to the board as a whole or otherwise place them in public. Former supervisor Sam Messina struck up a series of “around town” meetings during his administration citing this specific matter.
So, this is an issue, make no mistake about it, and it is being aired in public. But whether it can be solved by Supervisor John Clarkson’s ward system is quite another thing.
As Councilman Jeffrey Kuhn points out in Marcy Velte’s story, only a few New York towns employ a ward system. That’s with good reason.
Wards work a lot better in big cities, where the population has many diverse needs. In these cases, a ward system (when correctly and judiciously used) ensures the specific issues of one or more groups are not overlooked in what is usually a big, complicated system. The City of Albany, for example, has 15 wards sending a representative to the Common Council, and the New York City Council has 51 members. In Bethlehem, we’re talking about four or six wards, for a board of five or seven.
Though it is a large and diverse town, Bethlehem really isn’t big enough to warrant this treatment. In this case, what’s in place should work and if it isn’t, those in power aren’t doing their jobs.
There are some who make it to nearly every Town Board meeting and who speak up quickly about the issues concerning them and their neighbors. We salute them. And we’d suggest our leaders look to engaged citizens like them instead of tinkering at Town Hall.
Bethlehem does not need a radical reworking of its government to give all people a part in it. It just needs leaders who will listen.
And we’d point out that’s happening in a lot of cases. The town is looking into open space issues, development of the Route 9W corridor and emergency services structure. Of course, looking at a problem and solving it are two different things.
The blame does not lay entirely with our representatives, though. While there are members of the public who speak out regularly, we’d warrant many of those who are quick to complain about being underrepresented have never tried to do anything about it. At the aforementioned around town meetings, we can attest town staff outnumbered members of the public in attendance in at least some cases.
Just like going to the voting booth, if you don’t speak up you don’t have much reason to complain.
So rather than remaking the wheel, we’d urge our leaders to improve it. Make a concerted effort to include everyone in town business and pay thoughts more than lip service. And residents, hold your elected leaders to their promises that they’ll listen to you.
