Chemung County Issues -- The Environment

 Chemung County government does a lot that affects the environment. 

Sewer, storm water runoff, solid waste, parks, agriculture, all affect and are affected by the environment. And when there is a problem in any one of these areas, it affects all of us. Environmental impacts are rarely localized. They affect all residents and all life within our county and beyond. 

We need clean air and clean water. We only have one Earth and must take care of it. 

I look at it the way a homeowner looks at their house. You must maintain the house, otherwise it will collapse. You can't let your roof rot and your cellar leak. You want to do take care of it properly so you don't leave the problem for the next person.

The Earth is our home. We want to take care of it for the next generation.

This is a simplified position on a very complex issue, and I invite you to contact me to raise your own concerns about the environment in Chemung County.

My email is edwardbondny@gmail.com.

Pick up the nail

This time, it was a staple.

When I'm walking down a road and I spot a nail or a screw or a sharp piece of metal, I always pick it up.

I didn't put it there. It's not my nail. I have no responsibility for it. 

But I do know the consequences of ignoring it. Eventually, it will drive its way into a tire and cause a problem for someone else.

It took me a long time to realize that doing nothing, failing to act, actually causes harm in the world. That realization has changed my approach to things.

It's why I chose a line used by Teddy Roosevelt as my motto: "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

Brennan resigns as chair of the Health and Human Services Committee

 

At last night's Standing Committee meeting of the Chemung County Legislature, the resignation of Joe Brennan as chair of the Health and Human Services Committee was accepted. 

Brennan gave no explanation for this move, except to say that he felt it was time for someone else to do the job after 7 1/2 years and that Scott Drake was willing to take over the role.

Brennan had used this position as committee chair and as a member of the legislature to attack his own Health Department at the height of the COVID / Delta variant outbreak last year. As I wrote in my letter to the editor in the Star-Gazette last fall:

County legislator Joe Brennan has proposed a resolution to block the Chemung County Health Department from offering incentives for the COVID-19 vaccine. It would also forbid the county from partnering with anyone who would offer a giveaway as an incentive to getting the vaccine. 

After being tabled in the September meeting, this resolution is expected to go to a vote at the next full meeting of the legislature. 

If successful, this would essentially be a vote of no-confidence for the Chemung County Health Department and an endorsement of the anti-vaccination propaganda Brennan has been promoting for months. The legislature would be knee-capping the efforts of its own health department to reach and educate the public.  

This comes in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 4.6 million people in the world, 662,000 people in the United States, and 54,000 in New York state. This includes dozens of our fellow residents of Chemung County. 

Throughout this crisis, the county health department has been working tirelessly to save our lives. They have conducted thousands of case investigations, tested thousands of residents, and administered thousands of vaccines.

The legislature should be thanking the health department, not hampering them.  

Before voting, the county legislators should be responsible enough to seek out the input of local experts. They can find experts in immunology, biology and science at local medical groups, regional universities and even at their own County Health Department or the Chemung County Board of Health. Or how about just asking their personal physician, someone they trust, what they think? Or perhaps it would be useful for the health department to explain its COVID response in a public forum?

To vote on this resolution without seeking expert input would be a disservice to the residents of Chemung County.

I encourage every resident of Chemung County, especially those with medical and scientific training, to contact your Chemung County legislator and let them know what you think. The full legislature meets at 7 p.m. on Oct. 12 at the John H. Hazlett Building on Lake Street in Elmira. Our lives are at stake.

Ed Bond

Horseheads NY

Fortunately, when Brennan had tried to make this proposal to the full legislature, his motion failed to get a second, so it died on the spot. To have the chair of the Health and Human Services Committee so publicly against the health department was an outrageous situation that has hopefully been resolved with his resignation. 

Now we just need to remove him from the legislature entirely. You can do that by voting for me in November. 

Donate and volunteer:

www.edbond.com/elected/

 

Chemung County Issue -- Term Limits

 I used to be against term limits because I didn't see the point. "We already have term limits," I used to say as a young man. "It's called voting."

But my opinion on this has turned around. 

The system we have tends to favor incumbents, and sure, I can see the advantage to keeping someone in office if they are doing a good job. Just let them keep doing the job. But there is a cost for political entrenchment.

If the same person holds the same elected office for years, it means no one else is going to think running for office is possible. Why bother if X candidate always runs and always wins? 

That creates a disconnect. The average resident doesn't think about engaging with how the government works because someone else is always handling it. 

But term limits mean that eventually any resident could think to themselves, "Oh that seat is going to open next year. Who could step up? How about ... me?"

It means that more people could give serious though about whether they could do the job. They would find out more about how the government works and what is and is not possible. 

And that means that government is no longer some distant, mysterious thing, but something more accessible and understandable. 

Term limits also create a diversity of ideas on the legislature. We could be represented by a fluctuating group of people from all walks of life, any professional background or any kind of business. As that mix of representation changes over the years, it brings new ideas and perspectives to the job at hand. 

And that would be a healthy thing for democracy.

Chemung County Issues -- The Economy

 My approach has been to listen first, talk later. 

My door-to-door visits in this campaign have been about introducing myself to the voter and then asking what county issues they care about.

Many times, the voter has not really followed local issues. And I get it. It's hard for residents to stay on top of county issues because we really don't have the robust local news media that we used to. County government comes down to providing the services we all need with the resources we have available, as efficiently as possible. 

Roads, bridges, sewer, airport, sheriff, jail, health department, nursing facility, these are some of the issues that county legislators must grapple with. For a more complete list, go to the Chemung County government website. 

Many times, the voter wants to talk about the hot-button issues that county government has nothing to do with, such as abortion or gun control. I can talk about those things, but those are not part of the job of the county legislator.  

Over the next few months, I will be posting my thoughts on a variety of issues on this blog. So please check back in with me now and then. 

    THE ECONOMY

I'm an entrepreneur (laser-cutting and board games) and so I know about all the hoops you have to jump through to start a business. But for entrepreneurs, all the strife is worth it because we are driven to pursue our dreams.  This energy is a natural resource that Chemung County should be harnessing to reboot the economy. 

Rather than bending over backwards to bring in employers from out of the area, we should be invested in helping the residents of Chemung County who already love this area to pursue their dreams of building a business here. 

If we are to make a deal to bring a major employer into the county, that deal should include funding for entrepreneurial training for those employees who may get laid off when that company leaves. Actually, I would encourage anyone who gets loses a job to get into an entrepreneurial training program. You may not end up starting your own business, but by the end of the program you will better understand why a business succeeds or fails and when you do get another job, you will see the big picture much more clearly. The county can do a lot more to help entrepreneurs, and we are missing out on an opportunity to draw resources and energy to the county. 

Also, we need to end the animosity between Elmira and the rest of the county. Elmira is struggling, but it is also the heart of this county. If Elmira succeeds, the county succeeds. Creating jobs in Elmira will result in homebuyers in Horseheads, Big Flats and elsewhere in the county. Jobs in Elmira generates more customers for other local businesses.  

We also need to take a hard look back at the pandemic. COVID was a real and dangerous threat to all of us. We needed to take it seriously. But what more could we have done to help the small businesses struggling to get through it? There were some amazing examples of generosity and cooperation, such as small businesses getting to create pop-up stores inside larger businesses. Could we have done more?  What are the lessons we need to learn to be ready for the next crisis? 

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