Hammond incumbents against home rule

Hammond incumbents against home rule
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011
I have been observing the election process here in Hammond for the past several months and was somewhat surprised when Councilmen James Pitcher and James Langtry garnered as many votes in the Republican primary as they did.

Both Councilmen Pitcher and Langtry have been on the Hammond town board for decades and are running once again to the tune of experience. How so?

After all of these years, taxes have increased under their watch and the town has deteriorated. What has been their plan for community development? To either sign a secret wind lease with their property or to keep quiet about a relative who has. This does not seem to me to be keeping the welfare of the entire community in the forefront.

The last straw occurred at the town board meeting on Oct. 10, when Supervisor Ronald Bertram proposed that the board send a resolution to Albany lawmakers, protesting the passage of Article X last August, which proposes to strip away local home rule for the siting of industrial power facilities, be they solar, wind, nuclear, hydropower or whatever. Mr. Pitcher and Mr. Langtry both voted no to the town board issuing

This begs the question, why would they, as Republicans, even hesitate to voice any opposition to a piece of state legislation pushed through by a Democratic governor who wants to erode the right of our town to make its own decisions regarding land use?

The answer seems obvious. The town of Hammond enacted a wind law that provides for safe setbacks and noise controls. However, this local law might limit Mr. Pitcher’s ability to erect industrial wind turbines on his leased land, costing him income.

Instead, these two councilmen would prefer Albany to make the decisions for the people of Hammond. They would prefer Albany site power facilities where Albany wants them in order to use north country resources to generate electricity that will be shipped south.

Voters, please, it’s time to wake up. We need new people on the Town Council who have a far-reaching vision of what can be possible to revitalize the entire town of Hammond.

Good Government candidates Merritt Young and Howard Demick have shown that they have vision, that they are engaged in discussion about alternatives to bringing prosperity to the town and that they are clearly the best choice for the town board.

Valerie Johnson

Chippewa Bay