Thursday, January 13, 2011

shut 'em down

At the town meeting tonight Martin Roby asked about what appeared to be a double standard in the enforcement of easements. When councilman Ron Knott found a case where a citizen was not following his easement a few years ago, driving a motorbike around near Ron's house, the town took action based on Mr. Knott's complaint. When the town itself is not taking any action to protect their own easement, letting people drive snowmobiles in a town park, the board was reluctant to take any action against itself to put up some signs or something to show that snowmobiles are not allowed in the park.

A valid point. Worth noting at least. Different properties, different standards. Some people hear noise from a motor bike and the issue is addressed. Some people wonder about noise in a park and their issue is not addressed.

But then Tom Shanahan, head of the Republican Party in the town of Stuyvesant and member of the Planning Board and owner of a lobbying firm in Albany, interrupted Martin and wouldn't let him finish his point. Instead of stepping in to enforce the town rules allowing anyone to speak without interruption, board members told Martin to be quiet and shut down the meeting.

Here is the audio of the end of the meeting and parlay afterwards.

On a similar note, at my meeting with supervisor Valerie Bertram on Tuesday, Mr. Bertram said that I might not be allowed to speak or ask questions at meeting, that if she didn't like my questions she would shut the meeting down.

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