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Oneaurora.org Press Release on dissolution petition drive
Sample Petition and Instructions
First, let me say that I think the Adam Zyglis cartoon I’ve posted above from the August 20th Buffalo News editorial page is a little harsh if applied to East Aurora. But it is well to remember that it does reflect the views of many in western New York, and certainly some in East Aurora. The lead editorial in the Sunday, August 22nd News is a more balanced discussion of the current state of “dissolution politics”. That editorial recognizes the fierce loyalty to local village governments by many, (including the lopsided referendum in Williamsville) while deploring the bloated number of politicians and governing bodies in a shrinking regional population.
My own efforts to promote a referendum on Village government dissolution in East Aurora are stagnant, but not dead. I announced a petition drive in the spring, hoping that a few village residents would take up the cause if someone jump started the process. That didn’t happen. In spite of several village residents with leadership backgrounds (including former trustees) calling and offering support, nobody stepped forward to “take the heat”. And I agree with some of my critics that it is not my place as a town and not a village resident to walk the streets asking for dissolution petition signatures.
The work I did in the spring promoting a referendum confirmed several opinions I already had, and I learned something. I remain convinced that many East Aurora residents want more consolidation of local government functions, whether through dissolution of one government body or merging and consolidation of services. Many good people have conflicting views on how this could best be accomplished.
What I learned is that those who want to keep a separate Village government tend to believe that much MUCH more passionately than the significant number who might prefer a single local government. And that’s a fact which should give people like me pause. I remain convinced that a single consolidated local government could do a fine job of providing all needed services to all residents of the Town, including those in the traditional village. I remain convinced that a consolidated local government could do that more efficiently and cost effectively than the present dual layer of government with the more than occasionally “bickering boards”.
But if many village residents passionately want a separate Village government, they certainly have a right to it as long as they’re willing and eager to pay for it. In fact, I’m wavering with my own opinion on Village dissolution. In any consolidated local government it would make sense to maintain certain planning and zoning boards that might be separate for the village, and perhaps certain employees to provide services unique to the village. So why not keep a formal Village Board and Mayor to oversee all of that?
But what I will continue to advocate is consolidation of expensive services used by all East Aurora residents. I see no rational reason that the expensive police department which serves us all should not be a Town department. And except perhaps for a few specialized services, I can’t believe that the Town Highway department and the village public works departments wouldn’t be more efficient if merged.
In my own business I maintain a restaurant at one end of my resort property and a horse farm at the other end. It would be insanity to maintain complete tool rooms and maintenance departments and staff at both ends of my operation, even though the restaurant end is like “my village” and the farm end is like “my town”. I maintain a basic year round staff covering both, and add help as needed that can be shifted from one end of the business to the other as needed. If I were put in charge of maintenace for the Town and the Village of East Aurora with a blank slate, I can’t imagine implementing two completely separate maintenance organizations.
So as the busy summer of 2010 winds down, expect to hear more from me now and then on consolidating town and Village services. Expect me to be respectful of those who passionately want their village to continue with a separate board and Mayor. But if Village residents want to step forward to push this process along or to promote a referendum, I would like to help.
Tom Kranz
Sign a Petition!
Thank you for visiting oneaurora.org. Browse this loosely organized website to get a feel for the four year history of our effort to promote consolidation of East Aurora village and town governments. But most important, I hope you’ll make arrangements to sign a petition requesting a referendum on dissolution and creating one government for all of us in the community of East Aurora.
1) Email to this address to offer your signature; someone will get back to you and arrange to meet you.
2) Or phone Tom at 652-9495; we’ll arrange to meet you with a petition.
3) If you’re willing to help get signatures on petitions, email or phone and we’ll get blank petitions back to you right away – this doesn’t have to be a big time commitment – if you can get even a few friends or family to sign, it will be a great help. Every signature counts!
4) You’re also welcome to stop and say “hello” to Tom Kranz any morning between 9 and 10AM while he’s having breakfast and reading the paper at Tim Horton’s. He’ll have a petition with him. He’s the white haired guy with a beard.
The Petition Drive is Under Way – Help Spread the Word: 4-5-10
Many thanks to those of you who have already called or emailed and made arrangements to sign the petitions or help us get signatures. It is a good start. But it is a process that will take some months, not just a few weeks. I hope you contact us and ask to have a petition emailed to you. Keep it with you. You never know when you’ll run into someone willing to sign.
Three Down! 3-26-10
Yes, three signatures down and 447 to go. “There – that should rattle those guys trying to preserve the status quo!”, he says with a good natured chuckle. Actually I am sure we’ve got more than three signatures on our petitions, since there are about fifty petition pages circulating out there with some of our volunteers. But I personally had my first three sign this morning, and symbolically we did the signing right on Main Street in front of the library on a cold but bright spring day. I was encouraged that just in the few minutes I stood there waiting to meet the folks who wanted to sign, I struck up a conversation with an intelligent woman who recognized me and is very much on the fence. She said she just needs more information on exactly how the process will work; how many tax districts; how will they be organized? This is why I’m encouraged about the dissolution and consolidation process. There are a lot of people who will vote “yes” when some of the questions surrounding the process are turned into answers.
Thank You Friends of Downsizing and Village Dissolution! 3-25-10
There’s been a great response to the article in today’s News (March 25th) about our Dissolution petition campaign. Thanks to all of you who stopped by to say “Hello” at breakfast, or called or emailed me this morning! We are off to a great start.
What can YOU do?
1) Just calling or writing with moral support is greatly appreciated!
2) Sign the petition. Call me at 652-9495 or leave a message, or email and I or one of our Petition Coordinators will make arrangements to come to you or meet to let you sign.
3) Volunteer to help circulate petitions. You don’t have to wear out your shoes walking the streets! Even if you can just get your family and a few friends to sign, every signature is very important.
4) Money? Help with circulating petitions is what we need most, but if you can afford to make a contribution to the advertising expenses, I’d be grateful. Next weeks large ad will be costly, but I think it is a good investment to let folks know that we mean business.
I’ll try to make regular posts to the www.oneaurora.org website as our campaign moves forward. My press release announcing this petition drive is posted there now (below).
Thanks again,
Tom Kranz
Press Release on Village Dissolution Petition
March 16, 2010 marked a very significant Village of East Aurora election. The result is noteworthy, but by no means the last word!
Those of us who believe in consolidation of local governments in East Aurora support dissolution of the Village as one part of that process. We were rooting for Clark Crook. A victory would have been nice. And some of my friends were discouraged that Mr. Kasprzak won the race for Mayor.
Not me! I look at the “glass as half full”. All of the current Village Board members and all but one of the new candidates for Village Trustee joined Mr. Kasprzak campaigning vigorously for the status quo and for retaining a separate village government. Only Clark Crook and David Foley campaigned in favor of Village dissolution and one common East Aurora government.
In spite of that campaigning, so heavily weighted in favor of the status quo, very nearly half of the voters on March 16th chose Clark Crook, and it is fair to assume that they favored Village dissolution, one of his signature issues. Mr. Kasprzak won by just 46 votes out of some 1300 cast. If the same people vote and just 25 people change their minds, a referendum on Village dissolution will pass!
And I expect there will be such a referendum, and mighty soon, at that! I have been in touch with the New York Attorney General’s office for months and I already had petitions for dissolution printed some weeks ago. I did nothing with the petitions before now out of respect for Clark Crook’s mayoral campaign. It was not my place to interfere with the way he chose to run his campaign. Thanks to Clark for working so hard to educate East Aurora on the benefits of one East Aurora government. It was a great, great “first round” in a fight worth fighting.
Round Two:
Now for round two. I am this week announcing my support for a petition drive requesting a referendum on Village dissolution. The petitions are printed and in my hand. I ask anyone, especially village residents, to step up and help circulate the petitions. Get in touch with me if you’re willing to sign. My phone number is 716-652-9495 and it is listed. Or stop by and talk with me during my daily newspaper reading session at Tim Horton’s every morning between 9 and 10. (I’m the white haired guy with the grey fleece jacket!) I pledge to do all I can to bring this question to a direct vote at referendum.
How About Further Consolidation of Services?
Absolutely, our community should move forward with discussions on further consolidation of Village – Town services. Village Trustee’s, the Mayor elect, and Town Board members should all pay heed to the recent election results. Yes, there are true believers who want a forever unchanged quaint and separate Village of East Aurora. But fully half the electorate (ok, nearly half!) has signaled that they are ready for change, downsizing, and consolidation.
The current Village Trustee’s are not stupid, most of them. Many have made gracious statements on the close election. Many are already working to move forward on worthy issues like a common facility, consolidating Public Works and Town Highway depts., joint board meetings, a common “front office”, and more. There are good people on the Village Board who know that efficient and more consolidated local government makes sense. They can read the recent election results as well as I.
The Town Board has been “out of the line of fire” during the recent contentious election campaign. It would be tempting for Town Board members to keep their heads low while this emotional issue is fought out at the Village level. But that would not be responsible. One very significant reason Clark Crook lost his reelection bid was fear of change and the unknown. There has been no clear explanation of how the Town would continue to provide services that are unique to the village, if the village were to dissolve.
I call for each Town Board member to do two things.
1) State publicly that you know you’re elected to represent everyone in the Town of Aurora, regardless of whether they live in or outside the traditional village boundary. Obviously this is true, but village voters would like to hear it more often.
2) As a Town Board member, are you open to changes in the format of Town Government, some of which could make Town Government look a little more like Village Government? I know that Sue Friess is interested. Anyone else? I call for a working group to get out in front with this. It’s not good enough to wait and see if the Village passes dissolution at a referendum. Such a referendum is much, much more likely to succeed if village residents can see their Town Board actively considering changes and policies that would streamline the process of folding needed Village services into the Town government.
Beyond standing up at a Town Board meeting during public comment time, I don’t know of any way that voters can directly influence their Town Board to take an action like studying changes to make consolidation go smoothly. There are only a few specific ways local voters can use the petition process. Consolidation and dissolution petitions are one. Downsizing the Town Board from five to three members is another permissible use of petition and referendum at the Town Level.
I, for one, do not favor a three person Town Board. But I may very well circulate petitions for downsizing the Town Board to three if the present Board does not show actions that are open and welcoming to absorbing a dissolved Village in a way that will be reassuring and comfortable to nervous village voters.
Many in the village who will be signing dissolution petitions may wish to sign at the same time a petition for downsizing the Town Board. Such petitions need never be used if the Town Board moves forward and meets the Village Board to consider the best way to accomplish further consolidation of services, or a complete annexation of services, depending on the outcome of Village dissolution campaigns. Either way, our community has work to do.
- Tom Kranz
Oneaurora.org Election Comments – March 15, 2010
Dear Friends of “Oneaurora.org”,
Tomorrow is election day in the Village of East Aurora, and it is likely to be very close. GET OUT AND VOTE!
The Good Guy: Clark Crook for Mayor – a businessman and a supporter of merging Village and Town government services
Another Good Guy: David Foley for Trustee – Mr. Foley is reported to be “undecided” about Village dissolution, but he has stated a preference for fewer elected officials representing Village and town residents – that makes him the first choice in the race for one of three open Trustee seats.
ALL other candidates for Mayor or Trustee appear to be in favor of the status quo and in favor of continuing to have separate Village and Town governments with the current number of elected officials, all the costs for those officials, and all the bickering that seems to come with the present system.
= = =
The mailing list for my oneaurora.org newsletter is split between supporters of my favorite cause (shrinking and consolidating local government) on one hand, and Village and Town elected officials on the other hand. Elected officials with a vested interest in the status quo and keeping their jobs. This message won’t change the mind of any likely reader.
But I do hope to encourage my friends who favor shrinking and consolidating local government to be sure to vote tomorrow, Tuesday, March 16th from noon to 9 PM at Village Hall.
You CAN BET that those on the other side will vote! Politics in the Village is a very personal thing. A relatively small group of personal friends can be enough to get someone elected as a Village Trustee. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. Most likely to take part in Village elections are voters who know one of the candidates personally.
Based on that personal nature of Village politics, with six candidates running who favor the status quo and only two who are open to exploring the options for smaller and more efficient local government, it would not be surprising to see Crook and Foley lose by three to one margins. Any showing better than that might be called a moral victory.
So VOTE tomorrow, and drag along a friend or two. I’d love to be pleasantly surprised Tuesday night, not by a “moral victory”, but by an out right victory for common sense and smaller, more efficient Village – Town government.
Best wishes,
Tom Kranz
www.oneaurora.org
December 14th Update:
Libby Weberg’s Thoughts
I have posted the presentation Libby Weberg gave at the Village Hall on December 7th, 2009 at this link. She gives an articulate argument in favor of keeping a separate Village government, rather than dissolving the Village and creating one local Town government to serve both Town and Village. I disagree with some of her arguments and with her conclusion, and I will be posting a rebuttal soon. But Libby is a thoughtful and hard working person who I respect. I am pleased to include her unedited thoughts on this website as part of the ongoing debate on local government consolidation.
Don’t Forget “Open Space”
News organizations have accurately reported that a huge majority of those attending last week’s Village Board meeting opposed Mayor Crook’s plan to dissolve the Village government. So is the plan DOA? Not by a long shot! Does “Open Space Initiative” ring a bell? Just over a year ago I attended a Town Board public hearing on the Open Space initiative. Just like the meeting on Village dissolution a week ago, the opinions expressed by those at the Open Space meeting were completely one sided. By a margin of 20 to 2, speakers were in favor of the Open Space plan. But we all know what happened when the plan went to voter referendum. East Aurora voters rejected the Open Space plan by a two to one margin. Silent majorities have historically been a very healthy and prolific species in East Aurora!
December 7th Update:
An “Alice in Wonderland” Evening at Village Hall
The above was going to be my casually clever title for a short report on Mayor Clark Crook’s presentation tonight on dissolving the village and folding all local government into one East Aurora government. I had planned to write a quick report as soon as I got home.
But my mind wanders more each year, and I got sidetracked refreshing my memories of “Alice’s Adventures Underground”, and “Through the Looking Glass”. There turn out to be more than a few parallels between my evening in Village Hall and the Lewis Carroll books. More on that later.
The point I will make tonight is that it’s really hard sometimes to discern reality. Mayor Crook gave a heart felt presentation tonight on the reasons why he thinks dissolving the Village government and folding it’s functions into one unified Town government would give us a more efficient and streamlined way to live in our community. Then he asked for comments from the audience and the Village Board. He was hammered! All but one person who commented from the floor was against the Mayor’s plan. And 5 ½ of the 6 Village Board members were opposed. If you fell down a rabbit hole into Village Hall tonight, you’d swear that no more than perhaps 1 or 2 percent of our local citizens are in favor of consolidating or merging the Village and Town governments.
Yet when I talk to people in the community about consolidation – and I have been, frequently, for more than three years – a very large majority favor having only one merged local government. What gives? Where is the reality? Do I have such a limited and weird group of acquaintances that nearly every single one of them is out of step with sentiment on this issue in East Aurora? Or do nearly all the Village Board members and the regulars who attend Village Hall sessions have some kind of tunnel vision of their own? Both can’t be true. (Or can they?) There is indeed some kind of “Through the Looking Glass” distortion at play here.
I mean no offense to any of the speakers at tonight’s meeting, but as I left, I had just heard enough people talk about the danger of losing the essence of “our quaint, historic Village of East Aurora” to make me gag. I walked down the stairs from the Village Hall after the meeting, opened the door, and stepped out onto our lovely new Main Street. As if to add a resounding exclamation point to those “quaint village” sentiments, Mother Nature had painted a real Courrier and Ives winter wonderland picture while we’d all been upstairs at the meeting. Two inches of fresh powder and those perfect, big snowflakes falling gently on a still night.
This was one version of reality that is unarguable; we live in a wonderful, beautiful community. Determining another reality – does the community of East Aurora as a whole reject Mayor Clark Crook’s vision by a 20 to 1 margin like the people in Village Hall tonight – that’s something we’re likely to find out during the coming three or four months. As I sat at the presentation tonight and listened to speaker after speaker trash the Mayor’s plan, it all seemed very real. It didn’t feel like I was at a Mad Tea Party down a rabbit hole. But as I walked out, I turned to someone who just ran a campaign for elective office in East Aurora. I asked, “Is this what people really think?” The candidate told me that when they walked the village from door to door during the recent campaign, consolidating local government came up almost every conversation. And almost everyone was in favor of combining the Village and Town governments into one. Which is the reality and which is the “Through the Looking Glass” distortion? We will see.
December 6th Update:
oneaurora.org December 6 Posting:
Here's a thought on filling the current vacancy on the Town Board. It's probably too late, since the decision is being made by Town Board members this weekend and Monday night. But it would be a fine gesture of good will from the Town Board to Village residents to seek out a present Village Board member willing to resign their village board position and accept the appointment to the Town Board.
I believe that a proposition to dissolve the Village really will come to a vote in 2010. That vote will be close. Many will vote against dissolution of the village because of the history of conflict and bickering between the two boards. There are many in the village who simply don't trust the existing Town Board to represent their interests.
Those of us who live in the Town outside the village are going to have to bend over backwards to show good will if the dissolution proposition is going to carry. I have encouraged a policy of good will for all the time I've been active in the local government consolidation movement. For the present Town Board to seek out and appoint a currently serving Village Board member to the existing Town Board vacancy would be a huge good will move.
Think about it, Town Board members. It is NOT TOO LATE to make this move!
Sincerely,
Tom Kranz
December 4th, 2009:
Mayor Clark Crook has made the following announcement:
“Friends,
I will be presenting options for creating one, new consolidated East Aurora government Monday, December 7th, at 7pm. The community will indeed have many questions regarding the benefits of one government and my hope is that as leaders in the community, having all of the information would help the greater community understand and decipher between benefits, risks and fears.
I have posted FAQ’s on my website at www.clarkcrook.com and will be updating as more questions are raised.
Best,
Clark”
Mayor Crook’s presentation will be at the regular village work session at Village Hall.
Oneaurora.org LIVES! A Note from Tom Kranz:
If you scroll down this page, you will note that I have been a supporter of local government consolidation for several years. You will also note that I update this site only occasionally. It’s been easy to get discouraged about this topic over the years. So much so that in the summer of 2009 I let this website expire.
But I am reviving the www.oneaurora.org website at this time. The next three months are going to be exciting times for those of us interested in East Aurora government and politics. Depending on the outcome of Clark Crook’s campaign for reelection as Mayor and his concurrent effort to dissolve Village government through referendum, we could see an historic change here in East Aurora. In my opinion, a great change for the better.
I will be promoting this website during the coming months as a place for discussion on the merits of a Village dissolution referendum. I will also write about and solicit comments from others on what a new single East Aurora government should look like.
There will be vigorous debate in the community on this issue over the coming months. I am glad to offer reasonable people on both sides space on this page. Let the debate begin.
- Tom
January 7, 2009:
To all East Aurora Town Board and Village Board members.
I was at the combined work session meeting tonight during the discussion about moving on to the next step with the grant for studying a joint facility. It was a good meeting and I want to commend all who took part.
I got involved with local consolidation issues almost two years ago because I was so disappointed with some of the bickering between Village and Town governing bodies. I attended tonight’s meeting with some trepidation after reading news reports of further squabbling over the time and date for this meeting.
But what I saw tonight gave me new hope for sensible and reasoned cooperation between the Village and the Town boards. There was laughter and good will in the room. There seemed to be a spirit of accommodation. Information was exchanged and learning took place.
So long as we have two governing bodies in East Aurora, I have always been in favor of regular joint meetings. Tonight was an example of the good that can come from such a meeting when men and women of good will sit down together, listen to one another, and talk to one another with respect. I am proud of those of you who took part in tonight’s meeting.
Tom Kranz
Oneaurora.org
1529 Mill
East Aurora, NY 14052
716-652-9495
December 15, 2008:
Dear Council People,
I was at the public hearing tonight on the referendum for reducing the size of the Village Board. I’d like to leave you with just one more thought.
One of the interesting things about democracy is watching and listening to see who speaks up in public before elections, at public hearings, in letters to the editor, or (heaven forbid!) on talk radio. What you hear from voters publicly is not necessarily what the "silent majority" really thinks.
The public hearing I most recently attended before the one tonight was the hearing on whether to submit the Open Space initiative to referendum. Some of you were there. 95% of the speakers favored the Open Space initiative. I felt very lonely opposing that initiative. But when it was put before the public, the voters spoke by a two to one margin against the initiative as presently offered.
I hope that you all on the Village Board will consider that as you decide whether to let the voters have their say on the board downsizing issue. The overwhelming weight of comments at tonight’s public hearing does not necessarily represent the majority opinion in the village.
I urge you to let this matter go before the public in a referendum. Then we will know.
Sincerely,
Tom Kranz
May 12, 2008:
The Lundine Report
As most of you certainly know, the Lundine Report has generated much discussion and numerous Buffalo News editorials and news articles relating to local government consolidation. For your convenience I have collected some of these news stories all in one place at this link:
www.oneaurora.org/oneaurora508.htm
Some Follow-up to the Recent Village Elections:
Since the East Aurora Advertiser published my comments on Clark Crook's election, several of you took the time to write to me or speak with me personally. Thanks especially to Clark Crook, Dwight Krieger, and Libby Weberg for their comments. I would love to hear from or meet with more of you, to get your feedback on my favorite topic (consolidation).
I was very pleased to hear from Dwight Krieger that the tone of communication between the Village and Town has been much more cordial since the March election. "Night and Day difference", were his words if I remember correctly. That is certainly to the good. Dwight tells me that useful progress has been made in scheduling Town and Village board meetings that don't conflict.
When I asked if there is any current discussion on further consolidation of Town and Village departments such as the Public Works - Highway departments, he told me not at this time. Dwight said that there were informal discussions about sharing special use machinery and vehicles between the Village and Town to avoid costly duplication. That's a good start. But I would like to push for discussion of real consolidation of additional Town and Village departments. I hope you will give me your thoughts on this.
Who Wants to Run on a "Consolidation Platform"?
With the publicity from the publication of the Lundine Report on consolidation issues in New York State, the time is right to press forward with consideration of Village and Town consolidation in East Aurora. So far, the issue has come up in both Town and Village board elections, but candidates have chosen to dance around the edges of the topic. Everyone has played the careful politician approach and tried to run for office without offending either side.
Having it "both ways" may be a tried and true approach in politics, but we're not really going to know how the majority of people in East Aurora feel about consolidating local government until someone runs for office with a clear campaign pledge to work for such consolidation. Because I favor such consolidation, I choose to interpret the recent Village election results as being supportive of both Town - Village cooperation AND of eventual consolidation. But it can equally be argued that there was little direct talk of consolidation in the recent campaigns.
I want to find a candidate for East Aurora Village Board who will run in March, 2009 on a campaign pledge of working to immediately consolidate additional Village and Town departments, and to "work towards complete consolidation of Village and Town government in East Aurora by the year 2015". Why 2015? Well, that would be six years from next year's village elections. I figure just off the top of my head that five years is just a bit too tight a schedule to get the job done, and ten years is way, way too long. And 2015 is a nice round number.
If we have one candidate running for Village Board next year on that very clear platform, we'll in essence have a non binding local referendum on the issue. That will provide all of us in the community with a very useful picture of the way Village voters feel. If that candidate is soundly defeated, we'll know the time for East Aurora consolidation has not yet come. If they win the most votes of all candidates, we'll have a very good idea that the opposite is true.
Summer is my busy time of year, so I won't be doing too much work on this project until fall. But I will go to work in September on this issue. I want to hear from anyone willing to run for office on this platform. I will support an incumbent or a challenger who chooses to be such a candidate. I will offer editorial support and money. And I won't be alone.
- Tom Kranz
March 26, 2008:
Congratulations to Clark Crook &
A Memo to Village and Town Councilmen
Dave Dipietro is a friend of mine and I think he's done a lot for our community. But I am not surprised that he was defeated by Mr. Crook in last week's mayoral election.
Clark Crook ran on the right message at the right time. When he announced his candidacy, one of his first pledges was to improve communication and cooperation with the Town Board. Clark's convincing win in the election should send a message that the voters in East Aurora are tired of conflicts between the Village and Town.
In recent months, I have been discouraged about the likelihood of seeing an improved working relationship between the village and town. As many of you know, I have quietly worked over the past eight months to keep this issue alive. I've talked to folks at breakfast, gone to a few meetings, and spent a little money advertising the "www.oneaurora.org" website. Ninety-five percent of the people I talk with say they "want to avert their eyes" when the Town and Village bicker in public. "It's like watching a train wreck" is a typical comment. That's how I feel.
In everything that I've said or written, I have tried to be positive and not to blame anyone in particular for the problems between the Village and town, though there is blame enough to go around. It's rare to find someone who doesn't want better Village - Town cooperation and who isn't interested in more government consolidation.
But in spite of the widespread sympathetic comments, few have been willing to go public or take an active roll in urging the Town and Village to work together better, to merge more departments, or to begin planning for the eventual full consolidation of the two governments. Why? Most have good friends on one or the other board, or on both. It's tough to make public statements critical of town and village official's poor cooperation when we have good friends on those boards. I feel that way myself. And with few speaking out in agreement with my efforts, I have been discouraged.
New Hope
So in recent months (as you can see on my website) I haven't had much to say. But the March Village election has given me new hope. The big win by Clark Crook over a well financed incumbent is a mandate for Clark's stated desire to have better relations between the village and town. Combine that with the fact that the single biggest vote earner in the election was Allan Kasprzak, a newcomer challenger to the incumbents, and you have a clear mandate for change in the way the Village works with the Town. I am encouraged. I will continue to be a supporter of anyone who wants better Village - Town cooperation and of anyone who wants to discuss merging our local government functions.
Anyone Want to Help?
I happen to live outside the Village on Mill Road. I feel like a member of the "Community of East Aurora", rather than a Town or Village resident. But a Town resident I am, and I would love to find someone who lives in the Village to take over this website and be more active in this promising effort than I have time for. If such a person appears, they'll have any help I can give.
What Next?
I would love to see some real evidence of improved Village - Town cooperation in the coming weeks to take advantage of the momentum from the recent Village election. The voters made a pretty clear statement. I hope that both the Village and Town will take initiative to work together.
1) How about some real discussion of merging the Public Works departments of the Village and Town? Forget who's "turf" is at risk. There's a lot of money spent in these departments and that means there should be meaningful savings that could be achieved.
2) The most divisive topic in recent months has been the Town's unilateral and behind the scenes work to buy the South Side building as a Town Hall. Since that effort is, I believe, being delayed by a court challenge, wouldn't this be a good time for the Town Board to reach out to Mayor Elect Crook? Form a committee to seek a widespread community consensus on both the short term plans for moving the Town Hall and the long term possibility that the Town and Village could still come to agreement on a future joint facility? Clark Crook suggested this kind of cooperation during his campaign. The Town can certainly continue their efforts, but also recognize that there is still a possibility for a future joint facility on Main Street or elsewhere.
I believe the voters in East Aurora made a clear statement last week. They are tired of poor Village - Town cooperation. I believe that members of the Village Board - OR the Town Board - who fail to work together well will being doing so at their peril in future elections. That is good.
- Thomas Kranz
Mill Road
652-9495
Dec. 10th
Kevin Gaughan's tour of Villages and Towns in favor of smaller government came to the East Aurora Village Hall tonight. There was a good turnout and in a brief question and answer session there were comments pro and con. But by and large, East Aurora's reception to Mr. Gaughan's message was positive. I was especially heartened by the fact that Mayor David DiPietro and several councilmen mentioned that they have had talks about further downsizing the council already and that they would continue to consider this and other ideas for lowering the size and cost of government. (I think I am fairly paraphrasing what was said - I'm sure I'll hear about it if I am not!)
I met Kevin Gaughan for the first time tonight, and I was struck by how soft spoken and self deprecating he is as a speaker. Especially considering that he has been promoting controversial ideas for a number of years. I urge anyone interested in down sizing local government to try to attend one of his presentations. Kevin plans to appear before the Town Board sometime in January or February.
Check Kevin Gaughan's speaking schedule and his information on the number of western New York elected government officials here: www.TheCost.org
Do you think the time has come to merge East Aurora Town and Village Governments? Good things have already been done, such as the combined building department. We can do more.
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Welcome! I am a long time resident of East Aurora who believes that the time has come to merge our Town and Village governments and have one unified East Aurora administration. Once upon a time in my youth and in the time of my father and grandfather, and great grandfather who all lived in East Aurora, there were good reasons for separate Village and Town governments. There were quite distinct life style differences and needs between people who lived in the village and those, like me, who lived out in the town. That's no longer true. We are one community. Any special needs of different sections of East Aurora can be met by using special tax districts, etc. There is no longer a good reason to have two government administrations, especially if they are constantly feuding as they have been in recent years - many years, in fact! Do You Agree? If you agree with the general principle of unifying our East Aurora government completely and soon, please email me to get your name on a contact list. And check back at this website often. Who is Tom Kranz and What Does he Want out of this? I want nothing from this but to get discussion going on this unification process. I have no interest in running for any local office. And I do not want to be the leader of this movement - only perhaps the starter of the movement. I am willing to spend some money to advance this issue. I hope some of you who agree will contribute time and money to make this happen. I believe that this should be the most important issue in the Town elections coming in November, and should also be a central issue in the next village elections. I will do what I can to make that happen. What Next? I have set up this website as a start. I will be placing numerous small ads in the local papers over the coming weeks and talking and corresponding with those of you who show an interest.
If I find that no one else is interested in the issue or that the majority disagree with me, I'll drop it. I can live with the status quo if I have to. But I am embarrassed by all the publicity East Aurora is getting over the bickering between the Village and Town in the past year, and I sense that many agree with me. I think the time may be ripe to make major changes in our local government. Lastly, let me make it clear that I have absolutely no personal problem with anyone presently in Town or Village government. I think our current elected leaders are some of the best we've had in years. I contributed to both of Terry Yarnall's election efforts and think he does a fine job. David DiPietro is a personal friend and I have contributed to his campaigns. I like all the councilmen that I have met. During all the news over the Police Contract negotiations, I knew that Terry meant well in trying to get the best deal for those of us who he represents. And I understood David's obligations to represent his own constituency in the Village. But all the back and forth bickering was wasteful and divisive. And in today's paper (July 17), there is a story about a brand new potentially divisive issue, with a proposal to revive a separate Village Court. NOT the right direction to go, in my opinion.
I will be ramping up this effort slowly. Summer is my busy season, and I have a trip to take in early September. I will be spreading the word and collecting contacts during July and August. Hopefully by September others will agree to contribute and we will place full page ads in the local papers and make a serious political effort to push this agenda forward. If you agree, please EMAIL me. I will put your email address on a contact list and keep you informed of progress or a lack of progress.
Thank you for your time and interest. - Thomas Kranz (camplongacres@yahoo.com) 1529 Mill Road East Aurora, NY 14052 (716-652-9495) |
December 6th: Kevin Gaughan to Visit EA: I hope that visitors to and sympathizers with this website will turn out at the Village Hall on December 10th at 6:30 PM to support Kevin Gaughan's "Smaller Government Tour". Thanks to Tom Hagner for passing on the information about this event. I've been traveling most of the fall, as you can see from my infrequent updates to this website. I'll be in town for the next few months, so I hope to be more active. I may even cough up some more of my own money to advertise a little. If any of you folks out there want to kick in, we can perhaps get more people talking about merging and down sizing our local government. Some Good Things Happening: Merging local government services and hopefully merging Town and Village governments is something that many people support. It's just an issue that not so many people are willing to speak up about. If you have a friend who is a councilman, the mayor, or who works for local government, you have to worry that you're going to offend a friend or neighbor if you speak out publicly on this issue. I'd like to think that there's a "silent majority" out there in East Aurora that's just waiting for enough other people to speak up before they express their opinions publicly. But people are beginning to talk about the issues. It took just a few of us at the candidate's night in October (read below) to put in enough questions about combining Town and Village government to make the issue a central part of the evening's discussion. My wife and I attended a fund raising party for Mayor David DiPietro tonight. David is a friend of ours, and even though he doesn't necessarily agree with our goals for local government, we think he's a good man for the Mayor's job and is very approachable. What was interesting and promising is that my favorite topic came up several times as I socialized with people at David's event. I met people there who agree that we need to merge Town and Village government. More and more residents of the village who are friends and supporters of the mayor and of village councilmen are beginning to come out and express support for consolidation. That's a very promising development. Now if more than a handful would be willing to speak out publicly, we would move in the right direction a lot faster. But there is some movement, and it makes me hopeful for the future! - Tom
October 17th: Oh Boy, I go away for three week's vacation and I miss all the fun! Because not so many people take time to call me or write in with their thoughts on this website and the consolidation issue, I was beginning to think it might be a long time before the issue gets much public debate. But when I got home from vacation last week, there was the Advertiser with a front page story about a combined Town - Village meeting that apparently included good, civil communication. Hurray! Talking is a good place to start. And just this evening I attended the Candidate's Forum put on by the League of Women Voters at the Senior Citizen's Center. Yes, I contributed a few written questions about local government consolidation, and the moderator used them. Some of the candidates skirted around the issue or tried to straddle it, but two met it square on, to their great credit. Dwight Krieger spoke respectfully of the fact that the Village board holds the cards on any decision to consolidate, but at the outset of his comments, he stated his belief (which I hope to be true) that it is "inevitable" that our Town and Village governments will consolidate. I commend Dwight for the clarity of his comments and his willingness to talk about a touchy subject. The star of the night, though, was Jeff Harris. Jeff spoke passionately and at length about his fond hope that consolidation will be achieved while he is in office. Jeff said, as he has before, that if the Town and Village consolidate while he is in office, he would be willing to resign his seat on the Town Board and have the seat filled by someone on the outgoing Village Board as a gesture of good will and community spirit. Whether or not Jeff's offer to resign in such a situation is legally viable, his offer is an example of the kind of outside the box thinking and unselfish community spirit that will be required to achieve Town -Village consolidation in the foreseeable future. I applaud Jeff, and will be voting for him next month.
I am sorry I missed the joint Town - Village meeting two weeks ago. Apparently there are a couple of Village Councilmen beginning to talk about and be receptive to at least exploring the options for consolidation. That's very hopeful news. More hopeful are a few rumors going around that a couple of other groups of people who live in the Village are organizing petition drives in favor of consolidation. But I do not have direct information, so we'll have to wait for some hard news to report anything further on that front. All in all, it's been a good couple of weeks for supporters of local government services consolidation in East Aurora. - Tom
September 17th: Want to join me in paying for some larger ads? I've spent several hundred dollars of my own money so far on this website and on small ads in the local papers. I don't mind spending more to keep this topic on the public radar screen this fall, but I'd like to have some of you folks join me and share the cost. If any readers are willing to make a contribution to the cost of some larger ads in the local papers in the coming weeks, phone me or email me. The response to this website and when I talk to people around East Aurora has been positive. I've heard from many who agree that we should be working towards combining and merging government in our community. I've heard from only a few who want to keep a separate town and village government indefinitely. People are on our side. But people are not too excited about stirring up too much controversy too soon. Any hope I had that a few small ads would create an irresistable ground swell of public pressure to merge the town and village governments was unrealistic. This is going to be a long slow process. Success will come only with patience and constant small pressure. But some good things are happening, and there is reason for cautious optimism. The ill advised proposal to create a new village court seems to have been soundly rejected by the public. Some of the reaction to that in letters to the local papers has shown interest in further combining local government services. The few of us who have communicated through this website are not alone in our beliefs! Contact me if you are willing to share the cost of a larger ad in the Advertiser in the coming weeks. And keep checking back here or write something which I can post. I don't have the time or energy to make this a full time crusade, but I will quietly keep at this. Thank you. August 23, 2007 It's been several weeks since I've updated this page, not because I'm any less interested in promoting the idea of merging Town and Village government in East Aurora, but because I've been busy with summer activities. And so have many of you. Summer is not a good time for political activity, but the Labor Day weekend is upon us and thoughts will soon be turning to politics on all levels. I'm placing another round of small ads next week, and I invite my neighbors in East Aurora to join me in sponsoring bigger ads when September comes. There was another editorial column on the front of the second section of the Buffalo News today advocating reducing the number of local politicians in western New York. There is a ground swell of support for combining and streamlining local government services. I hope you feel the same way. Contact me and help spread the word. July 26, 2007 This website has been online for about a week, and our first newspaper advertising comes out today. We'll soon have a better idea whether or not this issue means anything to the average citizen in East Aurora. As luck would have it, there is an article in today's Buffalo News about a study coming out soon in Orchard Park about the benefits of combining their Town and Village governments. It appears to be controversial there, as I expect it to be here in East Aurora! Check back here in a day or two and I'll let you know whether there has been any significant response to our small preliminary advertising campaign. Also, I plan to post one possible plan for merging Village and Town government that would recognize the history and tradition of the separate Village government while doing away with the duplication of administration. There are a dozen ways this could be done, of course. I'll post one suggestion just because anyone who throws fuel on this fire ought to be willing to suggest a specific plan. You'll get mine soon. July 21 I will soon begin publishing some of the comments you send me, pro and con. If you email me at this website, I will assume you don't mind your comments being published unless you specifically ask that they be kept private. I will not be reprinting personal attacks on anyone or unnecessarily abrasive arguments. In fact, I think the biggest obstacle we face in streamlining East Aurora government is the very natural human tendency to become defensive and to perceive insult and personal criticism when none is intended. Already, phrases including "abolish" and "disband" are what first come out of many people's mouths when the topic of combining and merging our local governments come up. It may well be necessary to do some of that. But I prefer to use words like combine and merge, recognizing that a successful streamlining of local government will keep most of the present Town and Village jobs and merge them under one administration.
July 20th: I had a very supportive phone call from a current councilman, so "official" response is running 50 -50 in the early returns. But I'm much more interested in the opinions of the average citizen voter in East Aurora. Our small ads in the local papers will begin to come out next week and the week after and will run all summer. We'll be looking for people besides me to help spread to word. July 18 As a courtesy, I've notified some of the present Town and Village officials before the advertising for this effort hits the newspapers. Not surprisingly, one of the first messages I got in return was less than enthusiastic. But it was factual and constructive. I hope at the very least, this effort produces worthwhile discussion of the full range of options available for better cooperation between the Town and Village of East Aurora. I hope to soon have a "Blog" here where some online discussion can take place. Check back soon. - Tom |