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Warwick: Be Selective But Not Exclusive
On March 8th, the Warwick School District and Library Board are putting another yes-no, up-down, vote before Warwickians
to choose whether or not to build a new library. Unfortunately, this referendum reflects the lack of choice offered
Warwickians not only at the ballot, as we have no Spring Village elections to accompany this ill conceived referendum, but
too-little public participation in the planning process of this and everything else, given our public amenities. In fact, despite
the new FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) email request law, I could not even have three email request for information
answered in the most cost effective, efficient and most commonly used manner of communication. The Library does not
comply. I had to pay $23.75 for xerox copies of records of information that one would assume would be stored electronically,
and therefore should be available via email. I would have had better luck calling Macy's to find out where and what I spent
money on, have answered in a couple of minutes, than at the Library where I had to pay and wait over ten days to have
available. Paying the Public Library for information... That's only part of what's wrong with this picture. Read on.
They want a new $8.3M building, twenty times the size of my house and they want it at the entrance of big developer, Lou
Marquet's newest elite community. They want to take it off Main Street, put it off into the woods and according to information
I made FOIL requests of, no other options have been looked into or considered. The Bradner Building next door to them is
for rent, another beautiful building on Main St. is for sale for $2M, but they were not considered. The referendum includes
the cost to build sidewalks connecting Memorial Park to the new Library and out onto Forester Ave. I too, would like to see
our taxes used for village sidewalks as our forefathers made such an excellent go of, a hundred years ago. But I would
rather like to see, at least for student's safety sake, sidewalks connect the Middle and High Schools complex to the Village
of Warwick, before we pay to pave the woods at the entrance of a new exclusive development.
Like Donald Trump, Marquet and our Board of Trustees are very good at asking other people to risk their money and give it
to them. Previously, Mr. Marquet was the School District's "Space Needs Committee" Chair who designed their last $43M
District Building referendum. Just afterwards, the voter turned down the District's request for a new Library which was
termed at the time, a $5.6M Taj Mahal. Marquette too, was the engine in the drive behind that referendum. Recently, your
readers have been informed that our newly renovated High School has available space for the hundreds of Greenwood
Lake students that had been rented out to Tuxedo until now. District student population projection estimates had been high
balled. So with May's School Budget Vote the decision will be put to the voters whether or not to educate the GWL high
school students here or in Tuxedo, most likely with a "sunset clause" leaving it open to change in five years. Just in case
we don't have room and/or don't need the money at that time, GWL kids may get bounced back. Given that planning acumen
and moral fortitude of the WVCSD's BOE, I have to ask: if the High School is now too big, and from what I know, that is where
the expansive renovations were most needed, what does that say about the elementary school which they had said in a
Board of Education meeting at the time, they "didn't need"? Will Park Ave. Elementary School, across the street from
Warwick Grove, be put on the block next, once a new Library is built? I hope that we are not paying musical buildings for the
sake of having a new centerpiece for the $200M plus community. I hope that we are not shifting the center of gravity of Main
Street along with the voting base, from the old to the new, for little more than political pay back.
I for one, will miss the Library where it is and regret that the Library Board has not had any flexibility for where and what it
intends to do. Though I received nothing in response to my FOIL request for documentation pertaining to the monies gifted
for the purpose of new Library Building, the generous, but anonymous Library donors, I would not be surprised to learn that
one will grab up this Main Street beauty once it is placed for sale in this buyer's market.
It was beyond reason when then Village Board of Trustee's and Main Street merchants, fought the Grand Union's proposal
for to relocate from it's central location to the edge of the village, in order to expand and compete in the marketplace. The
plan offered was to include a GU grocery store, a movie theater, one store, an indoor recreation facility and shuttle
transport to the Welling property that the Supreme Court determined was necessary for the commercial development
required to sustain our village (the fight cost of 100K taxpayers dollars.) The public was misled by special interest
propaganda and Warwick lost the best chance it'll ever have for a developer to pay for the building of what was to be called
"The Village Green." Now a chi-chi- hotel is going into what could have been some sustainable commercial development for
village residents. A new hotel may be good for the tourists, but what about the people that live here who want a walking
village with groceries, a movie theater and an indoor ice skating rink or somewhere for people to go other than the few
stores we have? We don't need a library Mr. Mayor, we need a grocery store that you promised to find a replacement for.
It was without adequate planning that our Mayor put a $5M eminent domain referendum to the voter several years ago
which would have acquired the former Grand Union property for the commercial purpose of a grocery store. Though even
then all the players were pushing a new Library, no initiative was taken to buy or lease the Grand Union, the Post Office, the
Bradner Building or any other property for a Library because there was already a handshake deal between Mayor Newhard,
Supervisor Sweeton, the landowner, the developer and the library to put it where they want it. At that time, no sooner did I
called the Library Director to confirm the rumors on the street, then the photo of both Newhard and Sweeton appeared on
the front page of the next week's local press, shovels in hand, breaking ground. They may have rushed out an
announcement, but I've always thought they should've asked the voter before making any handshake deals. And though a
sign has been up for years on the property that reads: This is the future home of the Albert Wisner Public Library, I've always
thought this was an arrogant forgone conclusion.
Mayor Newhard has announced his support for the Library Referendum both on cablevised programming and in the
newspaper. His wife is a new employee. A former Marquet supporter and Board of Education Trustee is as well. Warwick is
such a bed nepotism. Conflict of Interest laws mean little here.
Unlike our Mayor, the taxpayer does not have the luxury of raising his own salary nor the power to lengthen his term of his
job (with the approval of the Board of Trustees and voter for the later), while at the same time, decreasing his work hours
and the amount of public input at meetings so as to decrease even his time spent there. Unlike our Mayor, the taxpayer
does not have the luxury of not worrying about the lifetime family health benefits and pensions. Increasingly, such benefits
are being tossed by the wayside as corporations downsize, outsource the American Dream and toss benefits and pensions
to the wayside. Not too long ago, Mayor Newhard was quoted in the THR as having referred to such benefits as necessary
"perks" required to attract qualified candidates for public service jobs. Such "perks" are what most people work twenty or
thirty years for and then they have to pay "in." Unlike the Mayor, who as a proponent for the Library referendum, writing in
his weekly column, likened a "yes" vote to buying the next generation a new pair of shoes, Warwickians may have to
commute long hours to a job to afford to buy those new shoes. They may not have inherited the family home and businesses
and instead may have mortgages to pay. Unlike the Mayor, who appeared on cable (where our public access programming
used to be), touting what he espoused the Transfer Tax to be: "a insurance policy for Warwick", I feel that the taxpayer has
already been paying an insurance policy - lifetime health benefits for the Mayor his family and other elected officials. The
Mayor, who never met a tax he didn't like and support, has a very cushy lifestyle compared to many. But I would remind him
that the public would like the Healthcare that he and other elected officials enjoy. Would that he and they give some thought
to that concern, in the same manner he entertains thoughts and the support of taxes such as PDR, Transfer Tax and building
referendums.
Maybe Warwick's elected officials should have thought about the $9M in PDR funds they gave it to the few wealthy families
before putting yet another Library referendum on the ballot for a similar amount. Maybe they should think of a better way to
"preserve Warwick" before they ask the taxpayer to buy the whole town and country. Orange County residents are already
paying the 21st highest taxes in the country.
There will always be those that want more than they can afford and want other people to pay for it. The Greed-disease has
got the better of them. Not the least of these are our tax-happy Warwick elected officials. One minute they're on TV telling
you, "we need property tax relief." In the next breath, they're there bragging about bringing Warwick the Transfer Tax.
The School District, Library and Village Boards should work together on a better plan. I feel that the Library belongs at the
Education complex of the Middle and High School, though the District has two of it's three new libraries there. I have always
felt that the new wing built to house the administration and voting place, would be an ideal learning center to compliment
but not replace the Public Library. On land we own, in a building that's paid for, with parking and lights, insured and
underutilized, especially in late afternoon and evening hours where students could come and go after school, sports,
college classes etc..., it would be better to allow the public to use it. The administration could you know, scale
down/downsize it's opulent office space.
I want the public to know that in response to my FOIL request, there was no record given of projected expenses for this
new library. The Board spent thousands traveling to Chicago and upstate NY to learn about building a new library, but I think
they should have stayed home and visited Thrall Public Library in Middletown, an excellent example of what a Library should
be.
The final irony to all this is that according to FOIL requests I filed pertaining to requests/applications to use the Library by
individuals, groups or organizations, I was given the response, "there were none." I believe this is because of the Library's
policy of requiring a $1M certificate of insurance and subsequent Library Board review to approve such requests, keep
civic and community groups from even asking to use the library. I've spoken to one man who said he uses another group's
insurance policy to hold "Village College" classes there and said he used another's policy. Library use should not depend
on "who you know." The Library also requires a signature and phone number on it's email form which they have just put on
their website. I had filed my own, but had to re-file them, as a nuisance. I called the Office of the Committee On Open
Government to inquire whether their form was valid. The person said, "they can't do that." They advise that "information
available for one should be available for all."
To all of Warwick's 56 or so elected officials, who may have built your claim to fame on Warwick, do something good for
Warwick in return. There's plenty that can be done without raising taxes. Please open up "the club" to the public. Don't
expect people to pay $500.00 for an insurance certificate to use a public building or park. It is beyond absurd. And please
don't paint the "No" voter as anti-Library, anti-tax, or anti-anything. We just want to live well as we can and hope that others
may also. There's a lot of good stuff here. Recycle please and make the most of what we have for everybody
