Waste not, Want not!!!!

The Editorial in today's paper encouraging consolidation of the villages and town is great.   But

why does the powers that be need $50,000. to study this?   Aren't we paying them already to 

do their jobs?   How dare they request this money. 

Here is a suggestion,  since Whitestown and Whitesboro are open to the idea of consolidation 

why not starting with just these two and see how it goes.   While they're at it,  why not consider

looking into consolidating other departments.  Or better yet why not consolidate Whitestown and Whitesboro.  It makes sense. 

The Taxman Cometh!

The Town of Whitestown announced that they are applying for a grant to hire a full time 

police officer.   The grant,  if fully funded, would amount to $116,000.  This would fund the pay and benefits for a officer for two years.  After the two years are up,  we, the taxpayers of Whitestown would have to pay the officer's salary.   

We are a small rural town  of around  20,000 people We already have seven full time and 5 part time officers.  Whitestown also has a sheriff department and state police available.

. At a time when we are looking to consolidate with the other villages, such as Yorkville, and New York  Mills, do we really want to add to our compliment of police?   If we consolidate,   one would hope, we  would  eliminate some jobs to save  tax money.  

A grant is not manna from heaven, it is tax money just from another direction.   Any way you

look at it, it eventually comes out of our pockets. This town can find more ways to spend money and  not reduce our taxes.  

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Just the facts, Ma'am!

The Town of Whitestown says " Our hands are tied since the records are sealed"  when asked regarding the rehire of  the retired  police chief of NewYork Mills.   The Police Commission  states that " are we on solid ground here?  Was it a coincidence he retired?  I'll never know the answer to that."

Read this  passage  below  from the  Oct 2008  story from the OD below regarding DA McNamara conclusion to what he thought.   Sounds like he thought Franklin  was guilty  and that's why the Police Chief retired, because those were the conditions of this  investigation not going foward. 

"Details of the complaint and the subsequent investigation by Amric Associates still have not been made public by the village nor the District Attorney’s Office, and calls to Frankland Tuesday and Wednesday were not returned.

McNamara still is waiting for a formal letter regarding Frankland’s intent to retire, but said formal charges are not likely under these circumstances.

“Balancing everything, on one end you have a gentleman who has spent 27 years protecting the community,” McNamara said. “For 27 years, he’s got up every morning, put a gun on and put his life on the line for his community. You have to balance it with he did a foolish act that should have never been done that has resulted in him losing his position.”

The Whitestown Board  is again putting us at risk for a lawsuit.  They say their hands are tied but  why not just ask Franklin to sign a release for the results of the investigation. I think this is the least he could do, to set everyone's mind at rest.  Employers

ask for drug and alcohol testing, background checks,  etc. , this is the least that should be done for  all of our safety.   

Observer Dispatch Editorial

If you read today's editorial in the OD, they don't think too much of Whitestown's new law  either.  It just so happens, that Mr. Rizzo the reason this law is being changed wants his residency in Old Forge for a reason. The property taxes in Old Forge are considerably less,  if the property is used as a main residence.  So, are going to all this trouble just to save him some  money.   

The meeting for the vote is on Wednesday, April 1 at the Community Center on Westmoreland Rd. Whitestown  at 7 pm.

Why, oh why...

would you make a new law to allow anyone who didn't live in your town or village to sit on your decision making boards?

The Whitestown Town Board wants you to believe that they are making this law so that a current Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA) member who has moved to Old Forge can still remain on the board. Why? They herald the fact that he has sat on this board for over twenty (20) years and they couldn't find anyone with that experience. Well, if he wants to move, Town Supervisor Gibbs and friends, maybe its time you did find someone else. Why would someone even want to stay on a board and have to travel over 50 miles? What's in it for him? How often is the weather going to be too bad for him to show up? And do you think they're not going to pay him mileage? And this is the least of it.

The Town Attorney states that we didn't even have to make it a prerequisite to at least own land in our town...aren't we glad he's on our side.

If that is all there is to this, why make a new law, why not just make an exception for this one person. In the future, any number of people (developers, etc.) could be elected to the town board, hand-pick their own people to sit on these boards and manipulate the boards and the development in our town.

We need to stand up to the Town Board and Town Attorney Schmitt..tell them NO!!!

Public Hearing Scheduled for March 18th...

When a town such as Whitestown has a select group of people running it and won't let anyone else in, things tend to get done that favors "the group" and it tends to breed corruption.

Point in question, Tuesday March 10, 2009, Utica Observer Dispatch Legal Ads. The Town Board is holding a public hearing to change the law that requires members of the Planning Board and the ZBA to be landowning residents of the Town of Whitestown.

The new law will read in part:

"Members of the Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Board for the Town Whitestown need not be a resident nor an elector of the Town of Whitestown, provided however, that such person shall reside in the county in which such Town is located (Oneida County) or an adjoining county within the State of New York, and owns property located within the Town Whitestown."

The way we see this, the town board could approve developers to serve on these boards who live far away and merely own land in this town. Look at the map and note the distance between Oneida County and the far end of other counties that adjoin Oneida County. If this law is passed by the Town Board on March 18th, the Planning and/or Zoning Board members could be persuaded to approve projects brought before them by these developers without much fuss; leaving town residents "out in the cold" dealing with the consequences of any poor judgement calls by these boards. Not a good thing...but more and more that seems to be the way things are done in Whitestown.

Click on map for larger view.

The Public Hearing is on Wednesday, March 18, at 7:15 p.m. at the Whitestown Community Center, 1 Championship Way, Whitesboro, N.Y.! We urge all Whitestown residents to attend this meeting and voice your opinion.

We hope that thru this blog, we can point out some of the things that are happening in our town that most people are not aware of. We hope you will add us to your Favorites and visit often.

The Concerned Citizens of Whitestown