It’s Your Party And You Would Cry Too If It Happened To You. Don’t Let It Happen!

Do you think you own your house? Better think again.

You almost lost it in this year’s New York State budget. You see, the state budget process is a very tricky – as in devious – tool. Unscrupulous politics have learned how to use it to enact legislation without even enacting it.

It’s an easy way to introduce controversial policies without the tediousness of actually having to vote on a specific law. Of course, those same conniving officials will quickly say, “Well, the budget IS voted on,” but that’s not the same thing as voting for a bill that only addresses the matter they’re trying to slip through via the budget process.

And about that process. You already know it only takes three people to craft the budget. It’s not an open forum. It’s a behind-closed-doors smoke-filled-meeting sort of thing. Just because we’ve changed governors doesn’t really change the process. Indeed, given the personalities involved, some say the change has only made things worse.

So, what happened this year?

Apparently, someone in Albany (or was it New York City? It’s so hard to tell the difference nowadays) decided local zoning laws didn’t matter anymore. They wanted to invoke a new state mandate that would allow (require?) every parcel of land to have two dwelling units.

Think about that for a moment.

You spend your whole life dreaming the American Dream.

You know: Husband, wife, two-and-a-half kids, white-picket fence, friendly neighbors, good schools, nice church… that sort of thing (or however you happen to imagine your American Dream).

You work hard to afford to make that dream a reality. The foundation of that dream is your home, (we used to think of our home as our castle), and the community within which it resides.

You buy into this community, this neighborhood, knowing things are set fairly in stone. You can (and do) look up what is and is not allowed to be done to the properties in your neighborhood. For some, this is the homeowners’ association rules. For most, however, this is represented by the local zoning laws.

The local zoning laws are the barrier between the comfortable reliability of our American Dream and the haphazard mumbo-jumbo of the residential equivalent of modern art – everything is everywhere just because someone thinks it’s a good idea.

Well, if that someone is you, then that’s OK.

But if that someone is an art critic who forces your museum to sell off its classic art collection “because it no longer fits the theme,” then chances are you’d be quite upset.

We came this close in this year’s New York State budget to having Albany (New York City?) be that art critic.

And nobody likes a critic.

This may sound like some highfalutin theory, but it’s played out every day in our towns, villages, counties, and school districts. Each of these local municipalities suffer from the ravages of state mandates.

Worse, many of these mandates are unfunded. That means you get to pay for some New York City politicians “good gesture.” Nice country, America.

There’s long been a means to fight this, at least in spirit. Local municipalities can pass home rule resolutions in defiance of State (and sometimes even county) mandates. These resolutions generally say the local municipality will not enforce the State rules (for very legitimate reasons including the lack of funding to maintain and enforcement staff).

Aye, there’s the rub. Many local elected officials ride into their office understanding the problems with unfunded mandates and the sanctity of home or local rule. Once in office, however, they learn the State has effectively tied their hands. The minute they try something brave, the State withholds funds in other areas unrelated to the particular mandate.

In the criminal justice world, we would call this “extortion.” Vladimir Putin uses tanks. Albany and New York City use money.

What can you do about this?

Your instinct might answer “not much.” After all, how many times have we heard we cannot fight city hall?

Oddly, though, there are brave souls who are doing something about this, if even in the form of baby steps.

Across the Greater Western New York Region, we’ve seen examples of towns, villages, school districts and counties take on the behemoth of the New York City-Albany axis. Several years ago, a group of citizens from Orleans and Niagara Counties fought the State’s renewable energy eminent domain power grab. Even our own Rush got involved.

More recently, all the superintendents of school districts centered in Livingston County (led by Livonia Central Schools) signed a letter directing the Livingston County Board of Supervisors to tell Albany each school district should manage its own heath policies.

There are plenty of other examples too, in other counties and towns. In many of these examples, there have been victories, or at least no pecuniary repercussions.

What can you do about this?

First, you need to accept the fact that, but for the grace of a few brave local elected officals, you’re only a stroke of an Albany pen from losing your American Dream. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican or Democrat, or if you’re conservative or liberal, your freedom is but a hair’s breadth away from being lost.

Don’t lose it. Don’t let it happen to you.

Get involved. Get involved now.

Those interested in learning more should attend the March 9^th Greater Western New York Town Hall Meeting. It’s virtual, so you don’t have to worry about traveling in the weather. It’s at 7:30pm so you don’t have to worry about missing work to attend. It’s free so you don’t have to worry about another hit to your wallet.

Are you ready to do something?

Go to https://greaterwesternnewyork.org/ or go to the form below to register for the event.