Dear Mayor Sack and City Council members,
As I watched the City Council meeting tonight a very good feeling came over me on a number of different levels. My thoughts were confirmed after speaking to a number of residents following the meeting.
First, I realized that this Council has undertaken a tremendous number of issues in a relatively short time that have been plaguing Rye and the creditability of the City government for years.
The Council’s ability to address and settle the PBA contract, Rye Golf Club’s reformation and oversight, Scott Pickup’s dismissal, Playland, Central Ave. Park and the Police uniform bidding aftermath speaks volumes in the way residents view our city government today. I am sure I don’t have to tell you how it was viewed during the past two administrations.
My second observation was the way in which the City Council, especially councilwoman Brett questioned the engineer on the county affordable housing rezoning. The questions and actions were similar to the position recently taken on the Playland project. The message I received was that we are only approving this if it is right on a number of levels and the residents of Rye are our first concern. All I can say is Bravo, good for you, it’s about time.
And after watching how this Council did their homework tonight, after hearing John Shoemaker speak at the last City Council meeting, I believe they have observed the past mistakes of previous administrations. Mistakes where residents concerns were ignored and attempts made to sweep legitimate issues under the rug. Issues such as Schubert’s Pond, Jim Amico’s stop sign, the Dapolite affair and Hen Island just to name a few. I would like to believe that this council has come to realize that issued ignored take on a life of their own while costing taxpayer’s vast amounts of money and official’s loss of creditability and respect.
I am sure that it is no surprise to anyone that the County’s actions on a number of these issues have been less that straight forward. How could the County believe that there would be no environmental impacts from a project the size of SPI’s? How could the County Health Department expect us to believe that it is OK for our senior citizens to live on a site that has been toxic for years? Or how can they expect us to believe there are no health and safety issues on Hen Island. And why did the past two administrations just accept these statements without any proof?
I know that some of these issues have not been concluded as of yet and positions can always change but this councils actions would leave many to believe that things are finally being handled appropriately in Rye.
I for one would like to thank you Mayor Sack and the Rye City Council for many of your recent actions.
