Councilman Ernie's NEW Feedback Blog

I will be introducing some subjects on this blog that I invite viewers to comment on. There is nothing "official" about this Blog. It reflects my own views and may also reflect the views of those who add comments which are very welcomed.It has been set up to give me some feedback on Town Topics and to provide an easy way for friends and constituents to let me know what's on their minds. Ernie Odierna, Councilman, Town of Mamaroneck

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Mamaroneck Town Survey...Now What?

Now that we have the results of our Town Survey and have them posted on the Town Website, http://townofmamaroneck.org how do we make the best use of this information? We got in a little over 1,000 responses, about 5% of The Town population over 18 years of age, which is considered good enough to give us a 99% confidence level in our results. If everyone said "Do This" or "Don't Do That," things would be easy. Folks from different parts of The Town and people that have lived here for different lengths of time have differing views on what we should be doing as do people of differing ages.

For a Local Government, like The Town of Mamaroneck, it's always a balance between "Costs" and "Services." Most everyone wants The Town to work more efficiently and co-operate more with The Villages. That's like saying we love "Motherhood, Clean Air and Pure Water." Who is going to disagree? The devil, as a former Village Mayor was fond of saying, is in the details. Without an "in-depth" knowledge of potential savings and the possible negative impact on services, it's hard to make good decisions. That's what we, as The Town Council, need to do. Armed as we now are with our Survey Results plus over 1,700 individual comments, we need to distill this information the best we can and move forward.

I have long held the belief that Our Town is chock full of really smart and concerned citizens. I would urge them to thoughtfully look over the charts and results contained in The Survey and attempt to share with The Town Board their own suggestions and recommendations. We will, over the next 2 months, be conducting Budget Hearings for our 2013 Budget. The Survey Results of course also look toward the future and attempt to help us plan "long range" for where we should be and how to get there.

There are other important things going on in The Town that residents will be hearing more about in the coming months. We will be considering some Zoning Changes that would allow and encourage Residential Housing in our Business and Service-Business Districts. This is being done so that we might attract more Fair and Affordable Housing to The Un-Incorporated part of The Town of Mamaroneck.

I would urge our citizens to come to our Town Board Meetings (generally the first and third Wednesdays of the month) and let us hear their views. Now you are welcome to speak at the start of the meeting rather than have to wait till the end.

Thanks to Polly, from The Loop, who, at The October fest in Larchmont, encouraged me to continue with this Blog. It does require a certain amount of thought and effort but it's good for me and hopefully worthwhile to those that read it.

Town Councilman, Ernie Odierna

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