Here’s an Op Ed I wrote a few years ago. I played a small role in helping a regionwide political/ballot effort to help preserve some open space in our town in Southern Saratoga County, N.Y. It was a satisfying example of a truly grassroots effort … and I learned a lot.
Albany Times-Union, July 7, 2017:
“All politics is local.”
When former House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill uttered this phrase decades ago, he probably didn’t realize the lifeline he was throwing to those caught up in the miasma of 21st-century national politics. Like many others, I am dispirited by a Washington seemingly hell bent on stripping away any program that helps people, including health insurance, scientific progress and social issues.
The eight months since election of our new president have been turbulent times for people like me whose belief in government is partially based on a quote from a Massachusetts politician who rose to the presidency in the early 1960s: “In times of domestic crisis, men of goodwill and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics.”
Whether you agree with his politics, John F. Kennedy had a knack for describing a vision where we could see beyond our own wants and needs to help others.
Fortunately, after the November election I found an outlet to use O’Neill’s approach here in my southern Saratoga County town of Clifton Park. The experience involved a narrow December Shenendehowa Board of Education vote to sell our town’s last significant forested tract of land to a commercial developer. The move came despite a months-long opposing effort that included a 1,000-signature citizen petition and eloquent arguments aimed at convincing the school board to retain the 34-acre parcel of land for eventual creation of a large park. Clifton Park and surrounding communities, opponents to the school board vote argued, were becoming too clogged with traffic and overwhelmed by commercial development.
From the beginning, a 21-year-old community group called Friends of Clifton Park Open Space led opposition to the school board vote before it happened, and afterward as residents felt their voice was ignored. By mid-December, an eclectic group of residents — including a veteran school board member who voted against the sale, regional and local officials, and citizens throughout the school district — joined with the open space group to fight the decision.
They had a difficult goal: mount a true grass-roots campaign to overturn the school board vote. This is something rarely done in local politics. The group needed 5,000 signatures to force a referendum on the school board vote. Then the real work of attaining a successful overturn vote would start.
That’s where I got involved. Fueled by feelings of disgust and powerlessness over a federal administration careening from crisis to crisis, my wife and I decided to do something locally.
We (well, mostly my wife) helped gather some of the necessary signatures to force the referendum. I worked a little behind the scenes to help a well-organized steering committee develop and implement strategy to force the petition and generate awareness. I was impressed by the intelligence and passion of those involved. I wish politicians inside the D.C. Beltway could have seen this group in action.
Through harsh winter weather, this group and dozens of volunteers pounded the pavement to collect over 7,100 signatures — about 2,000 more than needed. After the school board and administration certified that the signature threshold was met, an April 4 referendum was set.
The same open space group and steering committee then put together a network of volunteers and a mixture of communications vehicles to drum up the vote. They faced a well-financed opposition that barraged residents with robo-calls, advertisements, statements from business organizations and signage. Fighting this opposition was a daunting task.
The result was stunning. While only about 2,500 residents normally vote on the annual Shenendehowa school budget, more than 7,600 voters cast ballots on the land-sale question — overturning the school board’s vote by a more than 2-1 margin.
This was a classic example of democracy in action. A group of citizens organized to accomplish a stretch goal, and they did it with a combination of sheer will and elbow grease. It was a satisfying conclusion. And for me, it served notice that people like myself and others could help get something done at the local level. We chose not to sit back and accept a political decision that we disagreed with.
There’s still some work to be done in Clifton Park and the school district. The fate of the land is in the hands of a group composed of Clifton Park and Shen officials. Recently, the school board proposed a formal price for the town to acquire the land. I hope the property eventually does become a park like Saratoga Spring’s Congress Park, or Town of Colonie’s The Crossings.
At the very least, though, I no longer feel as powerless as I felt in December. I tip my hat to Tip O’Neill for his inspiring words.
Mark Marchand is an adjunct professor in the Journalism Department at the University at Albany, and a retired senior manager in corporate communications at Verizon.
Here’s a link to the original article on the Times-Union website.