A Contentious Evening in New Lebanon
by Thaddeus Flint
It was a tough crowd at last Tuesday’s New Lebanon Town Board meeting, with residents and Board members taking issue with all sorts of topics. From climate change to the roads–and even at this reporter—there were lots of conflicting opinions on pretty much everything at the March 12 meeting that dragged on for close to three hours.
Things got started with a presentation on Carbon Fee and Dividend (CF&D) by Bruce Shenker, New Lebanon’s representative to the Columbia County Environmental Management Council. The basic idea is that humanity’s adverse carbon impact on the environment—much of which comes from the use of fossil fuels—is not just going to happen, it’s already happening. Something needs to be done – soon – to mitigate the situation or our grandkids and their kids, and anyone else still alive after them, are going to hate us.
One idea is to place a steadily rising fee on fossil fuels to make them less attractive, and then hand that money back to the people (except the very rich people, who wouldn’t probably care because it would be missing a bunch of zeros) who could then use it to offset all the price increases on things that had in the meantime become more expensive. Citizens who found ways to use less carbon would have extra money, which they would then spend in the community all whilst carbon use worldwide started to decline. That’s the theory, anyway, and some people who know about such things think it might just work. Shenker pointed out that a bill (HR 763) currently on the table in the U.S. House, has bipartisan support. “It’s not just a lefty thing,” he said, adding that he would be happy to provide sources for all the claims in his presentation saying that climate change is for real.
Not everyone was sold on the idea. “This is alarmism,” was the opinion of resident Tony Murad, adding that “ninety percent of scientists don’t believe this is an issue.”
“Wait, what?” somebody said. A UN figure provided by Shenker had just shown the opposite.
Murad said the UN is biased when it comes to climate change. Apparently, UN recognized climate scientists are allowed to say anything they want in their reports, as long as it’s what the UN wants. “It irks me,” added Murad, who didn’t state where his data proving otherwise was coming from. This plan, he said, wasn’t needed because none of the “alarmist” predictions had yet come true. Certainly recent weather events—Nebraska was starting to go underwater that very night–and even past ones—NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio was about to announce he needed a $10 billion seawall so another $65 billion Hurricane Sandy wouldn’t happen all over again, but Murad apparently doesn’t believe they are caused by humans. The whole thing would be just another “huge government boondoggle,” he said, that would cost those in the US that can least afford it the most.
Another resident, who didn’t disagree that climate change was real, sourced a Nobel Laureate—the economist William Nordhaus—in his argument that the plan would probably add 10% “to everything,” also stating that China and India would never take part. It is true that Nordhaus does believe that climate change is real, he just thinks the economic cost to people today will be higher than the benefit of protecting people in the future, so why bother? So far, nobody from the future has come forward to prove otherwise. That’s how come he has a Nobel Prize.
Closer to home, who’s to blame for the state of the roads around here? Is it Mother Nature, or us humans? Or is it the garbage trucks? Stonehouse Road resident Donald Durant wasn’t at the meeting to blame anyone. His road is a muddy mess of ruts, which it usually is each Spring, but this Spring it’s worse. Durant, who said he “pays a ton of taxes,” just wants a permanent solution to his seasonal problem.
“Welcome to a country road in the great Northeast,” was the Highway Superintendent’s reply. “That’s what happens,” said Jeff Winestock, when a road that was made for horse and buggies is driven on by heavy vehicles the original road builders never would have imagined. Winestock added that increased reliance on roadside garbage service by residents living on roads that can’t support heavy trucks come mud season was one of the worst culprits in destroying them.
What’s not supposed to happen, as has happened to Route 22 between New Lebanon and Canaan, is to let a State highway crumble to the point where even the Town Supervisor says “somebody is going to die” on it. The Highway Superintendent has been saying that for years and yet nobody from NYSDOT has done anything. Now that Colleen Teal is saying it, nothing will still probably be done. But New Lebanon is putting it on record that they see that stretch of road (which hasn’t been paved in 25 years) as a menace to life and car. The Board passed a resolution, with all in favor, calling on NYSDOT to fix the road, due to various logical reasons, including: “the conditions for a serious or fatal accident currently exist.”
A second resolution, this one calling on NYSDOT to reduce the speed limit on that stretch from 55 MPH to 35 MPH while the State continues to do nothing, however, had some questioning the wisdom of the action. Winestock was of the opinion that it wasn’t going to do anything other than antagonize NYSDOT (who’s feelings were already irked by a campaign of lawn signs that give out NYSDOT Region 8 Acting Regional Director Lance MacMillan’s phone number, and telling people to give Lance a call if their car falls apart), and if the State did act on it, the likely outcome would be to also destroy the back roads, as drivers shifted their routes to avoid driving the speed they really should be driving if they wanted to stay alive. Councilman Jesse Newton was of a similar opinion. Nonetheless, the rest of the Board threw caution to wind and voted 4 to 1 to demand a speed reduction that pretty much nobody expects will ever happen.
It also seemed that many people don’t actually expect that Carbon Fee and Dividend will ever see that light of day. But when it came up for the Board to decide if they should adopt a resolution giving their opinion on it, this started a whole new argument, on of all things, the Corkscrew Rail Trail (CRTA). Councilman Norman Rasmussen told Shenker he should hold a petition drive instead. “This Board has disqualified itself from speaking for the Town on matters of opinion,” said Rasmussen, citing a Public Hearing on whether New Lebanon should support the Corkscrew Rail Trail Association getting a piece of property in Town from Columbia County without it having to go to auction. Rasmussen said the hearing showed “overwhelming” support for the trail, but the Board still voted it down. As such, “we don’t represent the will of the Town,” said the Councilman.
The use of the word “overwhelming” seemed to irk Councilman Mark Baumli when it comes to the rail trail. He said he keeps hearing that word, but when the number of signatures from a petition asking the County to sell the property in a fair manner are added, “overwhelming” isn’t really the correct word at all. Baumli then brought up a recent article in the Eastwick Press on the rail trail by this reporter, which he said he “wasn’t overly impressed with.” While the story was on the CRTA’s recent winning bid on the property, Baumli feels that he and the other Board members who voted against supporting the direct sale to the CRTA should have been contacted for their input as well since their previous actions were noted in the story. Also, the Councilman stated that Shenker’s vision is “too rosy” and he “tends to throw things out there that benefit him and him only.” However, now that the deal is done, Baumli says he is happy to support the trail, although he doesn’t believe it will ever connect to anything. “Not in my lifetime, anyway,” said the Councilman. Both he and Councilman Kevin Smith have now offered their help to the CRTA for the cleanup of the Lovers Lane property this Spring.
In less contentious news, the Town will be going forward to make all two-year elected official’s terms 4-year terms. With the entire Board in agreement, Supervisor Teal will start working with the Town’s attorney to get the Town Supervisor, Tax Collector, Highway Superintendent and Town Clerk positions added to the November ballot as a referendums. If the referendums pass, all but the Supervisor would immediately start serving four year terms. The Supervisor term would go to a four-year term starting in 2022.
Announcements
Resident Johanna Johnson-Smith would appreciate anyone who found, or somehow came into possession of, American flags displayed throughout the town in commemoration of local Veterans, to please return them as soon as possible. Memorial Day is fast approaching and about half are currently missing.
Apparently somebody has been going around New Lebanon handing out papers saying there is a problem with the water. Why this is being done is unknown; perhaps they are irked. “There is no problem with our water,” assured Supervisor Teal.