Dutchess County Deserves Good Governance

For too long Dutchess County government has been run as a private club, where unilateral decisions are made on where and how our tax dollars should be spent. There has been little transparency—and less collaboration—and as a result, too many bad decisions. Decisions that affect us all.

At a time when the people of Dutchess County cannot find reasonably priced housing and may have to wait an hour for an ambulance, the Legislature surreptitiously approved a $25 Million give-away to build new locker rooms for a minor league baseball team. The Legislature has also squandered almost $5 Million giving away Camp Noteeming, the Boy Scout Camp in Pleasant Valley, to private operators and more than $4 Million to start and then abandon the Youth Opportunity Union in Poughkeepsie.

It’s Time for Better Representation: Every Problem Does Not Have to Become a Crisis

Housing costs, EMS, public transportation are all in a state of crisis today because they have not been addressed proactively and effectively. Now, we seem to mostly put band aids...very expensive band aids...on problems that need comprehensive, long-term solutions.

Good governance—listening to the community, working together, and collaborating in the open—is the ideal way to identify practicable solutions and put them to work efficiently.

We can't allow more projects to be kicked around and then down the road because our Legislature cannot build consensus to act on difficult decisions and implement acceptable solutions. We can't afford to spend $25 million on locker rooms and only $2 million to put a band aid on the EMS crisis.