{"id":2983,"date":"2010-10-15T06:22:55","date_gmt":"2010-10-15T10:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=2983"},"modified":"2010-10-18T11:27:18","modified_gmt":"2010-10-18T15:27:18","slug":"yes-some-adirondack-park-agency-commissioners-should-be-elected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2010\/10\/15\/yes-some-adirondack-park-agency-commissioners-should-be-elected\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, some Adirondack Park Agency commissioners should be elected"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot of fur has been flying lately between local government leaders and top brass at the Adirondack Park Agency.<\/p>\n

The Local Government Review Board — a state-funded entity — released a full-throated attack on the APA last month, describing the regulatory agency as “under the influence and in need of detoxification.”<\/p>\n

Chairman Curt Stiles fired back, describing the Review Board as deceptive and questioning its legitimacy as a voice for local government.<\/p>\n

Hidden behind all this sound and fury are some very good ideas for reforming the APA and making it an even more ambitious and idealistic experiment in Park management.<\/p>\n

A growing number of politicians — including Democrats — are calling for at least some of the Agency’s in-Park commissioners to be chosen directly by locals.<\/p>\n

It’s a great idea.\u00a0 But the people doing the choosing shouldn’t be local government leaders.<\/p>\n

Frankly, towns and counties have made some dubious choices in picking representatives to sit on the Local Government Review Board.<\/p>\n

Two of the group’s members — John Maye and Howard Aubin from Clinton County– have leveled accusations against state officials and environmentalists that are both incendiary and factually untenable<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So untenable, in fact, that Review Board executive director Fred Monroe distanced himself from the charges.<\/p>\n

A far better way to choose in-Park commissioners would be to hold direct, Park-wide elections, allowing Adirondackers to cast their own ballots and make their own picks.<\/p>\n

Imagine for a moment the kind of democratic debate that would ensue. Locals would have a chance to discuss openly their concerns, their desires, and their ambitions for the Agency.<\/p>\n

Supporters of strict environmental protection inside the blue line would be forced to find electable candidates, who can engage communities directly, reaching out and making their arguments.<\/p>\n

They would have the chance to do some educating, but they might learn a few things themselves about local attitudes toward conservation and the outdoors.<\/p>\n

Opponents of the APA’s broad mission, meanwhile, would be forced to go beyond ad hominem attacks and zingers.<\/p>\n

They would have to articulate their own vision for how the Park’s open space should (or should not) be protected.<\/p>\n

And I’m guessing they might find some surprises when they begin to take a real measure of the support for the APA that has grown in the Park, especially among more recent immigrants to the Adirondacks.<\/p>\n

We should start this experiment in direct democracy with a small step.<\/p>\n

The next Governor should work with the legislature to allow two of the five in-Park seats to be filled through direct election.\u00a0 All persons living in towns wholly or partially inside the blue line should be allowed to vote.<\/p>\n

Would such a campaign be fiery at times?\u00a0 Sure, absolutely.\u00a0 That’s how democracy works.<\/p>\n

But the Adirondacks is already one of the most visionary and ambitious models for open space management in the world.<\/p>\n

Currently, Park rules allow locals to share in many of the decisions that are made about their communities and the landscapes that surround them.<\/p>\n

That responsibility has brought about a profound evolution in the way many locals think about the environment, the economy, and their lives.<\/p>\n

By expanding the rights of Park residents even further, we would also expand and deepen the experiment that is underway in the Adirondacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lot of fur has been flying lately between local government leaders and top brass […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[22,20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2983"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2983\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}