Town of Wawayanda Democratic Committee - WayDems.org

 Erika Myers 

For Town of Wawayanda Councilwoman

Education: 

Bachelor of Arts, Experimental Psychology/Sociology, SUNY Oswego

Community Involvement:

Have attended every Town Board, Planning Board and Master Plan Committee meeting  for the past 6 years.

Recent Chairperson, (15 Months) FIRST Town of Wawayanda Master Plan Committee –

Helped bring about the first town-wide survey.

Helped bring about the recent year long Residential Only Building Moratorium.

Amassed almost 100 hours of in-service training re: Land Use Management, Water Resources, Green Buildings, DEC Mandates, Open Space, Economic Development, etc.

Current member Towns of Wawayanda and Minisink Museum Boards.

Current President of the Middletown Historical Club.

Former member Cortland City School Board.

Former President Cortland County School Boards Association.

2 year member Cortland Arts Council Decentralization Panel.

7 year member Virgil Youth Commission, wrote grants for 5 years, brought many thousands of dollars of cultural events to the Virgil School and community. Managed the Skiing, Swimming and Bowling programs for 4 years.

Virgil PTO Secretary and President 7 years. Managed four annual fundraisers, netting 5,000 annually.

7 year member Virgil Historical Society, Secretary and Trustee.

Political Statement:

Having grown up in this community, and more recently having attended all the town meetings for the past six years since we have moved back to the family farm, I see the increasing need for sustainable development to preserve what quality of life we have left in this town.

It is imperative that we promote smart growth, not urban sprawl, and certainly not the type of development that has been to date largely related to personal, vested, financial interests, both on the part of developers looking to come in to our town, and also developers, realtors and construction related members of our current Town Board.

We must look to attract new, hi tech jobs, not settle for the lowest common denominator of what is brought in for Commercial projects. The Town should be striving for highest possible use of what is left of our land before we reach that unbelievable state of “build-out.” We should be looking to bring in clean ratables that pay a decent wage, enabling our residents to pay their taxes. We would do much better with a Business Park than with more huge warehouses, bringing yet more tractor trailers to our already over-run roads, and paying less to its workers than many higher use ratables would.

We must protect our wetlands, streams and aquifers from the interference of those with monied personal interests in turning that critical land into yet more pavement. We are all in this together, and with the continued filling in, re-alignment, diversion and building upon our wetlands, the aquifers will not be able to re-charge themselves. Our water goes somewhere off-site, gone for us. We need better protection of our wetlands than the DEC is currently able to manage. They aren’t making any more wetlands or streams, and it behooves us to keep them clean, keep them on site and keep them protected.

We need better enforcement of existing laws in this town. Everyone has a horror story to tell that personally affects them. Right now, an individual must sign his name if he registers a valid complaint against something they see that is not being enforced. The system must be changed to protect the person making the complaint. Many people are afraid to sign their names for fear of reprisals. The lack of enforcement continues…….

The town wide survey that our FIRST Master Plan Committee sent out to all town residents came back with an overwhelming 24% response rate. Our residents’ top two concerns are water/lack thereof, and enforcement/lack thereof. We must work to address those concerns! The current administration does not acknowledge these top priorities, and needless to say, pushes them aside if they get in the way of more of the questionable development that they tout.  I urge you to read the results of the town wide survey on this website! It represents an amazing snapshot of Our Town and what Our Residents are looking for.

We must form a bipartisan Ethics Committee immediately. The conflicts of interest exhibited on a regular basis at the Town Board level are astounding. There are many good people on both sides of the political fence, yet the current administration has filled all positions on every board with only like-minded (to them) individuals. This limits our town in a thousand different ways and prevents us from moving forward with things such as an Environmental Review Committee like the one that the Town of Wallkill has, or an Architectural Review Committee to help Our Town bring in projects that fit in with the look and the history of Our Town. Since our country was founded, the best system for government has been one of checks and balances. We do not have that system in place in Our Town now.

We must keep up our town infrastructure on regular basis. Not keeping current will saddle us with exorbitant future costs that we may not be able to meet. Pinching pennies on every level in order to have it appear that the taxes are being kept down, is penny wise and pound foolish.

It is vitally important to me to listen to your ideas and views concerning Our Town. I will be accessible and responsive to your concerns and look forward to meeting many of you personally as I get out to introduce myself to those of you I have not yet met.  Thank you for your support!