Neighborhoods
must have the legal power to shape their own future.
Communities struggle against power plants, waste
transfer stations, and development out of scale with
the neighborhood. Much of our time is spent fighting
City Hall or its agencies with little success.
Although the power to determine the outcome should
rest with the public, we are left to plead with
elected officials who either can’t or won’t work for
our interests.
Well-intentioned elected officials are rendered
ineffective by their party leaders who are
influenced by local developers. As a Green Party
candidate, I believe control rests with the
community, not party leaders nor unaccountable
agencies.
The Community Board, our most accessible level of
government, is a body appointed by elected officials
with no real power. We need to move towards a local
grassroots democracy with real powers.
As your City Councilperson, I’d support a publicly
elected Community Board that has control over local
land use. That Board would have the legal authority
to stop the onslaught of power plants and waste
transfer stations devastating our neighborhoods. It
could develop its own waterfront plan, focusing on
parks and green space by limiting unwanted
commercial and industrial development. It would have
the legal power to alter the scale of commercial
development, supporting “mom and pop” businesses
over malls and bikeways and public transportation
over traffic snarls. Finally, it would be allocated
a budget to implement a community development plan
with popular support from the community.
Although candidates for public office all claim to
advocate for the community. Only when the community
has the power to say no to unwanted development and
is given its own resources to control its own
destiny, will we begin to see long-term solutions to
neighborhood and city problems.
(Statement reprinted as supplied by the candidate.)
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