LETTERS FROM THE ISLAND: Community keeps its Fab Five

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Letters from the Island with Doug and Polly Smith

September 25, 2010

By Doug and Polly Smith Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Sat Sep 25, 2010, 12:42 AM EDT

GRAND ISLAND — Dear Mainland Interventionists: Usually it takes a chowder sale to draw this many folks to our Fire Hall. Islanders were waiting at the doors at daybreak Thursday and filed in at a steady stream. Between the time we entered and left, 17 more had signed in.

They were drawn bythe bubbling aroma of change, a vote on whether to reduce the size of Grand Island Town Council from five to three (that’s including the supervisor). We counted posters en route to the poll; if signs could vote, downsizing (“Vote ‘Yes’ ”) was in, leading 20 to 3, similar to the ratio by which Carl Paladino routed Rick Lazio (1,800 to 119) 12 days earlier.

This suggested a mood of throw-the-bums-out, but over here, governance is pretty peaceful. In 44 years, we can’t remember a really negative campaign. When candidates beat each other up, they generally they stick to the issues. That’s why it was a surprise when Mainlander Kevin Gaughan and his posse rounded up about 1,000 signatures for a downsizing referendum (nobody ever came to our house), and even more so when the “shrinks” stomped “status quo” in the billboard war.

While the issue hadn’t really surfaced yet, apathy marched in the Fourth of July parade. The board shuffled by in near silence, no cheers, no boos, just a few friendly waves. (Several Mainland office-holders got critical earfuls.) Almost every board member seems to know almost every citizen here on this side of the moat.

And that’s not necessarily helpful to incumbents. Vote on enough issues and you’re virtually certain to “cross” everybody at least once. We’ve been there, done that. “I’m going to vote ‘yes’ just to show ’em how mad I am,” one voter said.

But another cautioned, “Downsizing doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to get three who are any better.”

When the polls closed, the tabulations showed a close but decisive victory for the Fab Five, a ratio of about 7-6. There were a lot more cheers at Town Hall than there’d been at the Town Parade. Gaughan, here most of the day, took it with reasonable grace. What is his motivation? (Even if he had wanted to leave, he likely couldn’t have navigated the Staley roadblock; referendum that and he wins a landslide.)

Gaughan & Gang had estimated savings of $75,000, but our plethora of math majors crunched that down to about $3.75 per Islander. The electorate, for what it’s worth, deemed that a reasonably outlay for a couple of extra baby sitters, but by a margin close enough to keep them from raiding the refrigerator. Come visit, just not on Canadian Thanksgiving.

Polly & Doug

E-mail pollyndoug@hotmail.com

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LETTERS FROM THE ISLAND: Community keeps its Fab Five
Dear Mainland Interventionists: Usually it takes a chowder sale to draw this many folks to our Fire Hall. Islanders were waiting at the doors at daybreak Thursday and filed in at a steady stream. Between the time we entered and left, 17 more had signed in.

September 25, 2010 1 Photo
LETTERS FROM THE ISLAND: Clearing a path through the junk
Dear Joe: Thanks for coming last weekend to help us clean the room Dad calls his “office.” (Sanford & Son called their place an office, too.) It used to look as if a hurricane had just passed. Now it looks like a mere high-end tropical storm.

September 10, 2010 1 Photo
GRAND ISLAND: Get ready for a bit of bridge work
State transportation officials said Tuesday they’ll do all they can to keep traffic flowing along the I-190 as crews work in the months ahead to replace the deck on the northbound south Grand Island Bridge.

March 30, 2010 1 Photo
SMITH: Letters from the Island arrives Greetings from The Island. Wish you were here. Some nit-pickers say we don’t even qualify as an “island,” since we’re connected by bridge to a Mainland we can see from every shore, but some days we’re so “Island-y” that we oughta wear grass skirts. (Well, maybe not ’til it warms up.)
April 6, 2009 1 Photo
GRAND ISLAND: Sparks judgment by year’s end Was the search warrant good?

That’s the question Grand Island Town Justice Mark Frentzel will answer before the end of the year regarding the Peter Sparks animal cruelty case on Grand Island.
December 10, 2008
GRAND ISLAND: School officials investigating weekend party About 40 GI seniors caught at party where alcohol was being served
October 3, 2007
ISLAND FUND RAISER: Volunteers still sought for June 8 Relay for Life
February 11, 2007
TUESDAY: Multi-car wreck halts southbound traffic off island (10:11 a.m.)
February 6, 2007
GRAND ISLAND: Christmann named superintendent Robert W. Christmann has been selected as the new superintendent of schools for the Grand Island School District.
December 7, 2006
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Grand Island tops Ken East The Grand Island Vikings wasted no time getting on the board Saturday afternoon. Only two plays into the game, tailback Matt McKenna took a handoff on a counter and scampered 65 yards to give GI an early lead — one which it would never relinquish. The Vikings ran for four scores in total during a 27-14 Class A North win over Kenmore East at Parker Field.
September 16, 2006
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