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Note: Richard Tjoa of Suffern won The Rockland Express “Unofficial Mayor” contest this month. He joins us as a guest blogger. Here’s his latest post.
Hello, my fellow Rocklanders.
Unlike my unofficial peers across the river, here in Rockland I’m less of an Unofficial Mayor and more of an Unofficial County Executive.
Which got me thinking: How do you view local government? What kinds of roles do you see village, town, and county government playing in your community? Do you feel there’s too much overlap, or
do you think that each level has a vital role that can’t be entrusted to a greater entity?
My take on government is that each “larger entity” can enlist economies of scale (buying power), perhaps perform tasks that would “only come occasionally” to the smaller entities (increasing resource
utilization), or can eliminate a boundary that doesn’t make any sense. For example, policing.
From experience, I believe an area like law enforcement could definitely take place on a “larger scale,” with fewer individual departments. Last year, I wanted to tell the police about a bad driver on the Thruway. After being transferred from 44-Control (the county’s 911 center) to the State Police, I told them that the bad driver took exit 14 for route 59 in Nanuet, and at that point, they wanted to refer me to another agency.
But, which one? Town of Clarkstown? Maybe Ramapo? Perhaps the Village of Spring Valley? It all depended on which way they went. Alas, I was driving onward to Suffern and didn’t know. Why should ordinary citizens be the one to figure out which law enforcement agency is the right one? I could
only hope that driver didn’t get into any trouble.
On the other hand, zoning is something that towns and villages care a lot about; the state, less so. The officials in charge should have an intimate understanding of what kind of growth their community wants and can sustain. Still, one would hope that villages would be “good neighbors” to neighboring areas and wouldn’t, say, put their waste transfer station “right on the border.”
Anyway, I was hoping to hear some of your thoughts on the role of local governments, places where we could consolidate, and others where we shouldn’t.
Regards,
-Richard
2 Comments
When I lived in Valley Cottage I could not tell you what services the village provide me vs what Clarkstown did.
When I lived in unincorporated Ramapo, the garbage was picked up… the sewers worked…. so that was a good thing.
When I lived in Pomona, it was essentially the same – the taxes were really, really, really cheap for the village. The village did a good job keeping the zoning consistent with residents desires – but that seems to be coming to an end now.
Now that I’m in Sloatsburg, the village taxes are 10x what they were in Pomona but we seem to get more services – although I’m not sure why Town of Ramapo doesn’t provide them, they did in the other 2 places, so it seems i’m paying double?
I’m all for consolidation as long as the area is properly represented, my garbage picked up, the sewers functional, etc.
I’m definitely all for the consolidation of the Suffern and Spring Valley Police into Ramapo! Why all the different forces/chiefs/admins etc ….
To Richard Tjoa,
I taught at an engineering school 19 years and then started my own company in Elmsford. The EE majors usually outperformed the chemistry majors in the chemistry courses. I have hired a few EE’s and they did well. Would you be interested in working for my company?