What Is a Democrat, Village of Bronxville? (And Why?)

BRONXVILLE, NY — 15 January 2019

"You actually have misquoted me. I believe there are many potential Democratic candidates for Village trustee who can win an election and deserve to contribute to our village government.... I personally have a great deal of respect for the work that is done for the Village by [Mayor Marvin] and the [all-G.O.P.] trustees as I believe public service should be respected and encouraged, particularly as in our Village where all are volunteering their time. At the same time, I think different perspectives and a full complement of political ideas are important in a democracy, large or small. Those are my actual thoughts on the upcoming election." —Jennifer Colao, Chairwoman, Bronxville Democratic Committee, in a 15 January email to Brer Abbott, who responds:

Hi Jennifer,

Last night you could have said to me, instead of what you did say, that there are "many potential Democratic candidates for Village trustee who can win an election." But you did not. You told me quite the opposite, in fact.

So I must return to last night's original question: Why are Bronxville Dems planning on not running any candidate against 7-term incumbent Mayor Mary Marvin? If there are, as you now say, "many potential Democratic candidates"? (What changed in 24 hours?)

I will be happy to interview you again, to give you the opportunity to expand on what you told me prior. What you have written to me above does not help Bronxville voters understand why they need Democrats at all. Or even elections.

What are the issues, for example? Let's start there.

• Would a Democratic administration make wiser and safer decisions about water, soil, and air contamination in Bronxville? (Alas, it is not only, or even principally, CIPP that risks the health of Bronxville generations yet unborn.)
• What about the size and cost of our constabulary? (Police Chief Chris Satriale's overtime budget was a smoldering ruin by summertime 2018, requiring an emergency bailout — a unanimous bailout, as it happened; softball queries only by the all-GOP, and therefore somehow automatically "fiscally conservative," Trustees.)
• What's up with the constant failure of things recently "fixed" by all-too-familiar contractors? (The dais wall of the TRUSTEES ROOM, freshly painted only last summer, is disintegrating.)
• Or how about the capacity of Bronxville citizens to decide for themselves if they will take advantage — or not — of a potentially reversible (with penalties) tax scheme? (Scarsdale left it up to their residents' own consciences. "We're all adults here," Village Manager Stephen M. Pappalardo told me last June.)
• Would Democrats encourage, as Republicans do, the astonishing and constant flow of vehicular traffic into Bronxville Village? (The nascent "Comprehensive Plan" — has any Bronxville Dem seen it? — is a fusty relic of 20th–century thinking about cars and pedestrians and public spaces.)
• Would a Democratic administration follow the rules of Freedom of Information Law, and not brazenly flout them? Would Dems vanish, typically without explaining why, into executive session at every single "public" meeting of the Bronxville Board of Trustees?

These are just a few of the topics that come immediately to the mind of a reporter (there are many more) who has attended every work/regular session of the Village of Bronxville Board of Trustees, but one, for the past 15 months.

Where were the Democrats those nights? How familiar are the Dems, actually, with anything that's going on at Village Hall? What claim can Democrats possibly make on Trustee seats when Dems are present in chamber on the second Monday of the month so rarely, so never, that it's any good reporter's lede: "A Democrat was actually here tonight!"

I did not mistake your words, Jennifer, nor their meaning. If you believe you misrepresented yourself, I am readily available to help you or any politician set their own record straight. So that we may focus fully on policy and governance, in the best interest of a public whose own political engagement is non-optional.

This ought be our only consideration, as Republicans or Democrats or Fourth Estate: What are the facts — not the bog standard blandishments & cant — that will measurably improve life in Bronxville while helping all of us do a better job of securing our village's future? Being honest is the only way to (quoting you) "respect and encourage" public service.

You spoke to me honestly last night, and I appreciate it. Let's talk more, please.

I will also of course be delighted to speak with any Democrat who seeks Trustee Randolph Mayer's or Deputy Mayor Robert S. Underhill's chair. But the prize of all prizes is Who will run for mayor? So that Mary Marvin may say, legitimately, she won the March 19 election. But this well oughtn't be the presumption going in, if you are a Democrat: that an 8-term Republican mayoralty is a VOB fait accompli. Is that accurate?

I look forward to attending the Democratic Caucus next Thursday evening (24 January) in Bronxville Public Library's Community Room. And getting the word out. Fingers crossed, it'll be SRO. Because Bronxville is not, by mere examination of its largely missing voting record, a democracy. And who's to blame? Not the Republicans. They run for public office. And win it. And then they keep on running it — often into the ground.

So to the first question: What is a Democrat, Village of Bronxville? We will never know the "Why?" till a Bronxville Democrat runs for office with gusto & brio — and wins the thing.

With no dog in this fight but The Facts,

Sincerely,

Brer Abbott