Cheers to Highlands Mayor Carolyn Broullon for not only believing the people have the right to know, and the right to decide but also for providing them with lots of opportunities to learn so they can vote with knowledge. Cheers
More than a hundred residents turned out at Henry Hudson to hear the Army Corps of Engineers’ latest report on how they plan to stop flooding in a borough that has grown up with it through centuries. Cheers
The mayor had asked them to come back one more time, inasmuch as they haven’t been here with their plans in years. And she remembered that she and the rest of council promised way back then it would be up to the people to decide whether they want to completely change the look and feel of their hometown in the name of winning the battle over flooding. She’s the only member of that council still in office, but she is keeping the promise of all of them. Cheers
The experts were honest in their responses to the people’s questions last week, showing plans on the screen and answering every question they could. They admitted when they did not know things, like what would the wall do to taxes or insurance, or if property owners don’t like what happens to their own particular property. Cheers
But they were thorough in showing the flood wall, where it goes, properties it impacts, what it looks like. And all their plans are on the borough website so be sure to check them out. There are a couple more council meetings still on tap before borough council decides the precise wording for the question on the ballot in November. Check out the entire plan on the website and be sure to vote in November. Cheers
In addition to all the benefits of this public hearing last week, was the extra unexpected bonus .
That is now so many more people know the frustration of the few who regularly attend board of education meetings at Henry Hudson. The acoustics are terrible in the gym and the school board doesn’t appear to give a hoot about whether the people who attend meetings can hear every word.
Regular attendees have been complaining for months they can’t hear board members make reports or answer questions; it’s only recently they have added a couple of microphones to make it a little easier, certainly very little help for anyone with impaired hearing ability.
At the Army Corps hearing there was a lot of moving things around and jiggling mics before the engineers got the system up to at least a decent level of hearing.
Even then, however, check out the recording of the meeting; it isn’t that great either, what with background noise and distance from microphones.
There is a major fault to complain about shared with the governing body and the board of education, however.
That is, whether in the multi million dollar borough hall or at a meeting as important as a town wide flood wall, or a school that is one of the highest points of land in the town and where more money is spent than in the rest of the borough itself, no meetings are virtual.
So if folks can’t make it to a meeting, they simply are out of luck if they want to have their say, want to ask questions or want to express opinions. And that’s no way to run an expensive school system or a borough.
It’s a shame the borough spent millions of dollars on a building that can hold fewer people at a meeting than live on a single block in town. Virtual meetings would solve that problem inexpensively. But absent that easy fix, it would seem to make more sense to use that other building on the highway that can accommodate a crowd….the Elementary School. Or rent the vacant school at Our Lady of Perpetual Help which has had well over a hundred present at their events, and where the acoustics even let you hear what’s going on.
Both are at least within an easier walking distance for the vast majority of residents than Henry Hudson.
