For more than 100 years, the Town of Rhinebeck was a Republican enclave, with the GOP holding the supervisor’s position in an uninterrupted reign for 101 years. But in 2005, a Democrat not only took over Rhinebeck’s top office, but Democrats captured three other seats on the five-member town board. And faster than you can say reversal of political fortunes, the GOP bastion became a Democratic town. “When I won, it surprised the hell out of both sides, I think,” said incumbent Rhinebeck Town Supervisor Steve Block.
But Election Day 2007 is almost here and the question is, whom will voters select to lead the once-tranquil town into a turbulent future? For although some may look back to a time when only residents and tourists paid attention the scenic town along the Hudson River, the same increasingly complex issues buffeting the rest of the Hudson Valley are forcing themselves onto the scene in Rhinebeck, especially development pressures threatening to transform a bucolic landscape into a exurban enclave.
While there is a sight plurality of registered Democrats over registered Republicans in the town, the 2005 election was decided by less than 100 votes, and so voter turnout could be the crucial determinant in who runs Rhinebeck going forward.
The two-year post comes with a salary of $24,000.
One good term …?
Block, 65, is a part-time professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey who says he his working more than full-time hours as town supervisor, which he calls a necessary change from “the laissez-faire attitude toward the town government” that used to be embraced by former Republican administrations.
Block and the two Democratic town board candidates, Monique Segarra and Lance Ringel, say their party’s record of accomplishment in office has earned Block and compaany another two years of governing. “One good term deserves another,” is the Democratic campaign slogan. The slogan actually refers specifically to Block, who is the only incumbent on the entire town board slate for both parties. The incumbents for the two council seats, Democrat Linda Souers and Republican Paul Niedercorn, are not running; Segarra and Ringel are vying with a pair of GOP contenders for the two open seats. The other pair of seats on the board are held by Democrats Ellen O‘Brien-Silverstein and Dod Crane, who don’t have to defend them until 2009.
Block said that he has modernized Rhinebeck town government in ways that were long overdue. “We need a serious professional approach to managing town government. It is essential, especially today when development pressures are coming up the Hudson River,” said Block. Until he took over as supervisor, he said, town government was so backward it did not even prepare and distribute agendas for town board meetings. By contrast he said, citizens today can sign up for an e-mail list that sends information about town matters directly to their in-box, and can also keep abreast of town government matters on an updated town Web site.
Block notes that he has improved intergovernmental cooperation between the town, the village and the school district, improved the town recreational committee — which was formed 18 years ago but never had any members appointed — and taken on the tough issues of affordable housing and open space by appointing a single committee to address them both.
Hometown boy seeks to guide committees
Tom Traudt, a detective with the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Department who grew up in Rhinebeck and is a Marist College graduate, is the Republican nominee in the party’s attempt to recapture the office of supervisor. His only other political experience, he said, was as a part-time staff member for former six-term Congresswoman Sue Kelly, who lost her more recent bid for re-election in 2006. Town board candidates Dan Staley and Bruce Washburn are his running mates seeking town board seats.
“I’m running because I was born and raised in Rhinebeck and enjoyed the quality of life of life there and want my family to enjoy the same quality of life,” said Traudt. “I think I have a better understanding of what my community wants.”
Traudt promises a more laid-back government, utilizing what he describes as “a horizontal style of decision making.” He said he would appoint committees and then take their recommendations, instead of injecting his own views into the matter, which he called “micromanaging. I think I want to loosen the grip on them and let them make the decisions.”
Some agreement
Block and Traudt agree on the issues that are facing the town, primarily on the need to handle development pressure and to ensure the town has, or creates, a stock of affordable housing.
Block noted that he has overseen a comprehensive plan process that he inherited from the previous Republican town government, and said that the committee recommendations, proposed by Republican chairwoman Sally Mazzarella, proposed zoning restrictions that at public meetings some perceived as overly restrictive. He said that while awaiting an updated proposal, he has appointed a joint committee to examine prospects for affordable housing and protecting open space in the town.
Traudt says that while he agrees with those initiatives, he thinks the comprehensive planning process should be more open.
Also on Tuesday, Nov. 6, Rhinebeck Town Highway Superintendent Kathy Kinsella, a Democrat, is being challenged by Republican Thomas Mannix. Republican Town Justice William Sanchez is running unopposed.
In the Dutchess County Legislature’s 11th District, the iconoclastic Democratic incumbent Joel Tyner is facing a battle with the equally iconoclastic Republican supervisor of the Town of Clinton, Raymon Oberly.