Letters to the editor for the week of Feb. 23, 2012

Trustees defend charges of racism in Blasdell

Editor, The Sun

As residents of the Village of Blasdell, as well as village trustees, we are writing to clear the air on what occurred at our last Village meeting, Wednesday, Feb. 15.

During the public comment section of the meeting, two members of the Village Department of Public Works addressed the board. If you were at the meeting, you know what took place, and we would both like to offer our sincere apologies for what transpired.

While having an open forum to speak is certainly the bedrock of what makes a democratic government work, the fact that two Village of Blasdell employees would use that privilege to attack the board of trustees is disgraceful. The DPW Crew Chief Adam Zwack spoke first and was leveling an attack for what he deemed to be an offensive email that Trustee Chandler sent to the board and the village administrator regarding the Silver Street playgrounds.

In addition to conducting himself in a manner that was both unprofessional and frankly, embarrassing for the rest of the village, Zwack failed to even bring forth the email that he read and was so offended about. Furthermore, the email was a correspondence sent only to the board and village administrator and was inappropriately leaked to the DPW.

His utter lack of respect in addressing the village board was appalling. His discussing an email that was not addressed to him, in a public session, without even producing the document in question, was laughable.

His tirade was followed by another DPW employee, Ron Seifert, who accused the board of being racist for cutting down the hoops, claiming that our discussion regarding adding street hockey to that space in place of basketball was racially motivated. Nothing could be further from the truth.

While we could overlook the unprofessional conduct of the DPW chief, to be accused of being racist is something we cannot allow to go unanswered.

Here is a brief timeline/explanation of the board’s decision to remove the basketball hoops from the Silver Street playground.

• The issue was raised in the spring by Trustee Chandler, citing the issues with drug paraphernalia, broken beer bottles and the like that have been found at the court. The park is primarily used by younger children and the court was seen as a deterrent to families coming to the park, especially in the evening due to the issues with older youth using the courts and causing problems. The board unanimously voted 5-0 to cut down the hoops. Talk of possible street hockey or other mixed uses was brought up.

• Despite the board decision, the DPW failed to remove the hoops. After months passed, Trustee Chandler brought it before the board for another vote and again, it was passed and the village administrator was told to instruct the DPW to remove the hoops.

• The hoops were never cut down. On at least three occasions, the village administrator and/or the DPW chief gave a time when they would be removed, and they never were.

• Finally, Trustee Chandler sent out an email this month to the board and Mayor Petrie outlining this timeline and questioning why the hoops had not yet been removed, despite two votes of the board to do so. This is the email that was leaked to the DPW and led to the heated exchange at the meeting.

• The day the email was received, Mayor Petrie ordered the DPW to cut down the hoops, which they did, using a tractor and tearing up the playground in the process.

Regardless of how much the DPW tries to spin this issue, the bottom line is this: The board issued a directive by a unanimous vote and for whatever reason, the DPW could not execute a simple task. Then, when they did, they destroyed the turf on the playground, and have decided to attack the board and level charges of racism.

Every board member will tell you that at no time did race ever come up in a discussion of why we were removing the hoops. If Mr. Seifert had attended any of those public meetings, or read The Sun, he would know that. Instead, he chose to show up at a single meeting and take ignorant, uniformed cheap shots at the board.

As a board of trustees we are committed to improving the quality of life for families in Blasdell through various beautification projects, street improvements and other projects, such as the decision to remove the Silver Street basketball courts.

We stand by our vote and while it is deeply troubling to see what two employees of the Village chose to do at the public meeting, Blasdell is a village full of hard-working, good people and the actions of these two men certainly do not represent the attitudes of our residents. It is a shame that these two individuals tried to take away from all of the positive things going on in our Village with their baseless, self-serving, attacks.

Trustee Matt Chandler
Trustee Rob Hefner
Blasdell



Frontier School Board made the wrong choice

Editor, The Sun

According to the Frontier Central School District’s web page, “the primary function of the (School) Board is to provide students with a quality educational program consistent with New York State’s educational standards.” While the volunteer members of the Board are tasked with many responsibilities, their decisions most directly affect the over 5,000 students enrolled in the district. Those decisions have never been more important than in recent times as school districts across New York State, including Frontier, are facing the unenviable prospect of cutting programs, services, and staff to keep their annual budgets within the newly enacted NYS tax cap limitations.

While the nine members of the School Board continue to perform their due diligence in representing the taxpayers of Hamburg, they recently had an opportunity to follow in the progressive footsteps of many other local school boards and give a greater voice to the thousands of students that they also represent. Unfortunately, at the Jan. 24, 2012 meeting, the board voted down a proposal that would have potentially allowed a student from within the district to serve as a non-voting member on the Frontier Central School Board.

Not only does this decision send a clear message to the students that their voice does not carry enough weight to be taken seriously, but by not allowing the proposal go to a district wide vote, the board sidestepped the democratic process and provided a glaring example of what has turned off residents to local government. The lack of transparency and accountability that permeates all levels of government should not be the lasting impression that the Frontier School Board leaves its residents, especially the future leaders of our community.

While Hamburg, Eden, and other local districts have found success in allowing a student representative to their boards, the Frontier School Board’s rigid decision offers a portrait of a body resigned to maintaining a status quo philosophy with an unwillingness to adapt to an ever changing educational climate. Although it may require continued persistence from students, parents, and residents, the Frontier Board of Education will hopefully heed the examples set by more forward thinking districts and rethink their decision. If the board would like us to believe that their primary purpose is to serve our students, then this is their only acceptable recourse.

Bryan Wittmeyer
Hamburg