The Most Important Vote since the Bond Referendum is Tues Feb 27 (but you probably didn’t know)

An important notice for Irvington Village registered voters:

You may not know that THIS TUESDAY NIGHT (Feb 27, 7:30pm) is the most important vote since the Bond Referendum.

For the first time since 2005, we actually have a contested race for Village Trustee on the Democratic Party side. (And since Democratic voters outnumber others in Irvington, many would say winning the Democratic nomination is a pretty close to winning the general in November, although anything is possible.) The Trustees are our town council, the body that votes for village budgets, taxes, and plans, such as what comes after the Bond proposal’s defeat. We get to choose from three candidates for two slots. One incumbent and two challengers are running. (I have more information on the choices below.)

I urge you to come vote if you are a registered Democratic voter who lives in Irvington Village (FYI this excludes East Irvington).

Note the ‘Taxpayers for Irvington’s Future’ (TIF) citizen’s group that I have helped organize is non-partisan. This coming week‘s vote only applies for Democratic registered voters. Those residents who are independents or registered Republicans will also have plenty to do in future months. I will try to keep you posted

Here is why Feb 27th is the real vote: This is the part that almost no one understands.

— In Irvington the Democratic party holds such a majority that whoever is on the November ballot on the D-party line will almost always win. We will not have a June 25 primary vote for trustee because no one wants to divert resources or attention from the Bowman-Latimer primary battle for our federal Congressional seat. For that reason, the 3 candidates have signed a pledge that whichever two win this Convention vote Tuesday (basically a caucus) will get the two slots, and the runner-up will drop out. Thus whoever turns out supporters Tuesday night will become our new Irvington Village Trustees officially in November.

So logistically, how do you participate?

The Irvington Democratic Convention will take place Tuesday, February 27th at 7:30 p.m. at Main Street School (doors open at 7 p.m.). This is an in-person ballot only. Paper ballots will be handed out; on arriving, each attendee is verified against the registered voter rolls. You just come, and bring eligible friends. This is a turnout event.

How do you decide who to support? Here are some resources.

1. Lisa Genn and I compiled candidate information to review in this Google folder. It has statements from all three candidates. It also has an audio recording of the two-hour debate that the Irvington Democratic Committee (IDC) organized (of our 3000+ village Democratic voters only about 150 were able to attend). There also is a copy of the local newspaper story on the race.
2. All three candidates are good people that TIF would gladly work with, and we thank them for offering to serve the community. There are some subtle differences though in my personal observation.

• The incumbent Larry Ogrodnek voted as a Trustee for the Bond Referendum, which was rejected by an 84% majority. He now says he understands citizens want a lot more transparency and participation in the future. Fairly or not, some voters have elevated concerns about why Larry did not raise more questions or resistance to any items on the town departments’ massive Christmas Tree wishlist of projects costing millions of dollars and a massive tax increase when first proposed, and why he still defends the process as one where “public participation” was sought by the Trustees (see his letter this weekend in the information folder). Even during the IDC debate, Larry said he has trouble conceiving of situations where he would take a stand against a proposal that others on the Trustees supported, because of the collegial approach he takes. That said, TIF would happily work with Larry if he is re-elected. Larry supported DEI initiatives such as the Juneteenth celebration and has voted in favor of forming a new citizen-driven Facilities Committee in Irvington (something TIF advocated for), and supports an official Streamlining task force (another area where TIF has advocated) to address the cumbersome maze to get a building permit in Irvington. For those following the policy debate on the state of our Irvington Woods and the scientific report that taxpayers will stand to save large flood control capital expenses if we implement Deer Management in our ailing forest, Larry has unfortunately not yet committed to supporting the low-cost proposal.

1. A challenger candidate, Kent Kleinman, is well known to TIF members. Kent was one of the first TIF volunteers, and helped organize the Dutcher Street band of activists who tirelessly handed out fliers, texted neighbors, attended meetings, and posted placards to oppose the $32 million bond project. Kent is an assistant school principal and used to getting things done with a variety of stakeholders. Kent has been the most outspoken that we need to get back to revitalizing Irvington, supporting our small businesses (shops and restaurants and more), attracting more of them to improve our quality of life, and rallying around the widely-supported 2018 Comprehensive Plan. He has been the most vocal about finding better ways than the smoke-filled rooms or “insider baseball” style for how many things get decided in our village. That also applies, in Kent’s stance, to addressing the widespread frustration of Irvington citizens at how it takes months and multiple different planning, zoning, and ARB meetings and confusing interactions with our building department to get even the simplest home improvement approved and finalized.
2. Another challenger candidate, Josie Bloom, has given years of volunteer service on town volunteer boards, including work on the Green Policy Task Force. She supports the Woods Committee recent proposal for addressing the poor state of our Irvington forests due to invasive species and the need for deer management. (She is right in backing the scientists who have done an extensive report on our forest health.) Josie also bravely joined the Irvington Police Reform task force which did good work after the George Floyd protests, and joined the town’s DEI committee including advancing the Juneteenth celebration and others. Josie teaches social work and understands the importance of our village doing more to address the affordable housing shortage for working families and early-career professionals such as teachers, nurses, artists, and others, while keeping the historic character of our village. Josie is passionate and extremely well spoken on her aspirations for Irvington as a parent and as a professional who chose to raise a family in Irvington and make this village a long-term home.

Those are some of the distinctions to consider, but everyone needs to make their own choices. Most importantly, show up and make your voice heard. It’s possible a hundred or so people who know about this and show up will make the choice of our next trustees, leaving a rubber stamp of pre-selected nominees for the thousands who vote in November…

In other words, if you want to have a say, you have to vote this week.

Since time is short, I ask everyone to please share a link to this post with their friends they texted about the Bond.

Logistical note: If you need childcare at the convention, please sign up using this form. You do not have to sign up in advance, but it would make planning easier if you already know you’ll need help.

Part of the reason that more people are not aware of this Convention, through no fault of anyone, is that the IDC email list includes only a tiny fraction of local Democratic voters, because you have to know to email the IDC to be added to the list. Go ahead and do that now to be notified about Democratic party meetings and debates in the future, if that’s of interest. You just have to write IDC chair Chris DeNicola at irvingtondemocrats@gmail.com to be added to the email list.

See you Tuesday, and please spread the word.

Results from the Bond Vote last November.