What We Want To Accomplish

What We Want to Accomplish – Our Platform

Background – Town History

Clifton Park is the youngest town in Saratoga County and, yet today, the most populous. The Town of Clifton Park was created in 1828. However, today's modern Clifton Park began to take shape in the early 1960s as a result of a rapid increase in population and developments when the new state highway I-87 (The Northway) provided exit access to our Town. Until then, the area was largely farm land accessed by the historic state highway Route 9. From the early 1960's to the turn of the 21st century, Clifton Park's story is one of ad hoc development, beginning with a layer of residential developments followed by successive layers of small amenity businesses.

The traditional small government political model touted by town Republicans and entrepreneurs facilitated this unbridled transformation of farming community and rural land into suburban sprawl. For decades Republican government leaderships largely facilitated any and all development and then belatedly tried to cope with the problems created by unplanned development and the diverse needs of a growing bedroom community.

Democratic Achievements vs. Republican Carelessness

For only a few years in our history has the Democratic Party been represented in the leadership of Clifton Park government, leading our Town into its next chapter of evolution. The Democratic Party was the first to recognize that Clifton Park had actually become a Town when in the early 1990’s, Democratic town leadership created The Common and the associated sports fields and complex and also built the Senior Center, Public Safety Building and started the Clifton Park Water Authority.

As Clifton Park moved into the 21st century, the ongoing pattern of restrictive public policy became more and more brittle. For many years, Republican town leadership represented mostly the interest of developers with an occasional nod to the interests of the entire town or to preserving open space during an election season. In fact, throughout the 1990’s and until the beginning of the 21st century, Town leadership rejected all open space ideas proposed by Democrats as unconstitutional or damaging to the tax base since they claimed it would limit tax revenues from the potential developments. Finally, after extensive damage to our Town’s rural character, Republican town government decided to adopt the Open Space preservation claim without following the actual real principles. By 2008, cracks in Republican governance became more publicly visible as groups of residents flocked to ad hoc town meetings to stop the razing of a beautiful small wooded area on the second highest point in Clifton Park to build sports fields in an area unsuitable for theses types of activities.

Now more than ever before, transformational leadership – that truly reflects the interest and values of ALL Town residents – is needed in the Town of Clifton Park. Somewhere at the turn of the century, Clifton Park went through a tipping point. It went from a bedroom community near a Northway Exit with minimal needs being met by simplistic pro-development small government to a complex community – a Town that needs to successfully engage its population and face the challenges of the 21st century in order for all its residents to thrive. Under our Democratic leadership we will develop solutions that reflect Clifton Park traditions and its spirit of community involvement, while holding close to its values.

What Needs To Be Done Today

Segmented privately owned water and sewer facilities now require a public water and sewer system that is professionally managed. Randomly placed park districts now need to be integrated into a park system that meets the diverse active and passive recreational needs of all Town residents. Development must be planned around the needs for open space, the preservation of property values, traffic patterns and the environment. The failed model of tiny and disjointed strip malls now must give way to serious urban planning that considers the impact of a hub industry and the community’s need for business opportunities, medical facilities, entertainment and professional services. However, these can and should be accomplished with an eye on open space preservation, limiting sprawl and requirement of architectural standards in key areas of the Town that can make us a community and not just an Exit off the Northway.

We need to seek and promote affordable housing for seniors as well as young adults who would like to live in Town near parents, family, friends and place of work. We can make this happen by following a vision of creating a real town center that allows seniors and young adults to live above or near shops and restaurants. This will create a real and dynamic town center. We do not see the current random development in the various parts of Town as final. We can plan for the next phase of the Town as existing businesses move out and new ones come in. That would be the opportunity to implement our vision of a real town and community center.

The Clifton Park Democratic Committee recognizes the need for a new way of governing and seeks to provide the needed leadership at this time in our Town’s development.

The 8 Pillars of the CPDC Platform:

Long range urban planning – A pattern of contracting for ad hoc consulting services at great taxpayer expense to address problems as they arise must be replaced with long range plans for town infrastructure needs, park development, recreation and business development. These plans must be professionally developed with full public input.
Balanced development – Clifton Park’s history of imbalanced, sporadic growth and sprawl must be replaced with a public policy that balances the long term needs and development of a community population that no longer necessarily leaves the town to look for essential services and recreation. The Town is currently saturated with unused office space with additional new developments anticipated but no sound plan for how to serve the people that already live in the community and hold onto our vanishing farm land.
A key focus of the Democratic Party is to bring to the center of Clifton Park the same type of rejuvenation it brought with the creation of The Common in the early 1990’s. A town government with Democratic leadership will pursue the creation of a real town and community center as an enclosed market pavilion in the center of the commercial district to provide the cultural and commercial and business activities that are the found in traditional New England as well as New York traditional towns. This project will bring the cultural, farm and small business needs of Clifton Park in balance with the investment in new office buildings.
Meeting the green energy challenge – The major problems facing the United States must be faced at the local level too. As our nation seeks energy independence and a new economy based on Green technology, so too must our Town aggressively pursue plans for upgrading town buildings to utilize the most cost effective energy systems and soliciting business growth in new technology industries, including solar power and wind power. Conversion to new sources of energy will not happen overnight and we must implement policies that assure that all residents of our Town can meet their basic needs with minimal travel within Clifton Park and without needlessly incurring the expense of high gas prices. We must address where businesses and services locate and provide local transportation routes and services which move our residents without traffic congestion delay and added cost. Also, new developments in Town must be encouraged to adopt environmentally responsible practices and Green energy standards.
Regional perspective – As our Town evolves into a community that seeks to meet its needs locally, the need to assume a regional perspective is mandatory. We need to develop strategic development plans not only for our Town, but also for initiatives within our region. It is critically important to communicate strongly with neighboring communities for the provision of hospital services, employment, centralized schools, sharing of infrastructure and utilities, and providing markets for our local and regional farmers and small businesses. Above all, Town initiatives must seek to be in harmony with our regional environment. Our Town cannot pretend to be separated from its region environmentally or economically. Town Government at all levels must be proactively aware of its regional environment. This is greatly visible in the Route 9 corridor where Clifton Park intertwine with Halfmoon and strong constructive relationship between the two towns is a must.
Open, accountable government – Because of a narrow focus on developing original farm lands and wood lands into mostly residential and small office developments, we appear to be excluding the talents and skills of community leaders in our broader population. As a result, our Town government currently relies heavily on expensive consultants to develop public policy that should be developed by the community itself. This is costly to tax payers, wasteful and inefficient, and has to change. It must be replaced by expanded and inclusive public town meetings, open policy making meetings and accountability. The Town must stop the expensive and wasteful practice of outsourcing of the decision making process and start relying on qualified professionals hired to work in Town Hall.
Diversity in Government – Government must be a true representative of ALL the people. Clifton Park is made up of people with diverse political, ethnic, religious, social, and racial backgrounds. This diversity must be tapped to enrich and enhance the political as well as the cultural life of our Town. Appointment to town agencies and boards, paid and unpaid, at all levels must ensure that people of various political backgrounds (i.e., Republican, Democrat, Independent and others) as well as gender are represented in active roles. Town government must actively seek and encourage diversity in meaningful and productive ways.
Ethics – Town government must follow high ethical standards at all levels and in all endeavors. Clifton Park Town government must create an environment where Town officials, employees and agencies work together in good faith, with honesty and integrity to serve ALL the residents of the Town. Ethics rules must apply equally to elected and appointed officials of the Town in all agencies. The practice of accepting campaign donations from developers must disqualify the elected Town official from voting on issues related to those donors. Town officials must adopt a sun-shine rule by posting on the official Town website the names of people they meet and the matters they discuss. Elected Town officials must file financial disclosure forms yearly with the Town. The Town Ethics Board must review the annual financial disclosure forms by members of Town government to ensure honesty and integrity.
Realistic taxation caps – Clifton Park derives most of its revenue from a split of sales tax collected at the county level and distributed according to a formula. The County distribution is supplemented by real estate taxes and town taxes billed to residents as lighting district taxes, library taxes, sewer taxes, water rates, park district taxes, special use taxes (e.g., Transfer Station, Dog Park). All of these taxes are conveniently referred to as Fees and not as what they actually are - Taxes. Because of the fractured nature of tax assessments, the actual costs of Town government are hidden. As long as the myth of “there is no town tax” is allowed to be perpetuated, government accountability is lost. With the ever rising tax burden on our residents by local property and school taxes, there needs to be a new aggressive analysis of where tax money is actually spent and where it can be saved. The Democratic Party seeks to stop the “No-Town-Tax” myth and to decrease the tax burden on residents to the lowest possible level by creating efficiencies, and by removing duplications and redundancies in services where possible.

What We Want to Accomplish – Our Initiatives

The Clifton Park Democratic Committee believes the following initiatives are essential elements of a Town leadership approach that is focused on creating and managing workable development policies for Clifton Park, and being more responsible stewards of our natural resources – including land, water and air – to provide for a healthy and sustainable community and to protect our quality of life:

Practice true open government with full transparency. All meetings with special interests or developers will be published. Public participation will be encouraged in real and meaningful ways. Public participation will not be limited. We will make special dispensation for early public privilege prior to Town Board meetings.
Promote teamwork among the Town departments and agencies so that there is a coordinated approach to addressing issues that face the Town.
Participation from other town officials such as the School Superintendent and other independent Boards will be encouraged and given priority.
Implement an efficient system to provide greater communications within Town Hall to give residents greater access to a knowledgeable person to respond to emergency issues in a timely manner.
Be available to our citizens in various venues, not only in formal settings, but also through meetings of community organizations. We will promote meetings to be held at times convenient for working people in different neighborhoods across the town.
Create easy access for all residents to contact officials on all boards and commissions so that they can be responsive to issues raised by residents. Agendas of all up-coming meetings will be published well ahead of the meetings; the schedules of Town Board members will be available to residents.
Promote the close monitoring of new and expanded property development to ensure that neighborhood continuity and streetscapes are maintained for the future.
Ensure that development does not encroach on the continuous Open Space Green corridor across the town.
Expand community notification requirements for any proposed development.
Scrutinize property development to prevent overdevelopment on inappropriate sites such as those with excessive slope or high population density.
Be proactive in preserving the Town’s historic and cultural heritage (e.g., historic homes).
Preserve mature trees and encourage the planting of native trees and plants. Through progressive policy, encourage developers to replace felled trees elsewhere in our Town.
Reduce energy use and costs in Town through Green energy initiatives and purchasing because the cost of energy is rapidly increasing.
Introduce regulations to mandate that all Town capital projects require an alternative energy assessment, including economic projections.
Aggressively pursue efforts to acquire additional open space across the Town. Update the Open Space Preservation Plan to include sensitive areas everywhere in Town and not just the Western part of Town.
Promote expansion of opportunities for tax incentives for private developers to install environmentally responsible measures in new construction. This can be done by adopting and encouraging NYSERDA standards as well as LEED and USGB standards.
Update the Town-wide Master Plan for flood and drainage control. Directly tackle flooding and drainage problems by mandating the consideration of a development’s impact on the watershed as a factor on approval.
Expand recycling efforts to reduce waste-disposal expenses.
Promote responsible usage of natural resources to reduce water waste and minimize or eliminate the use of chemicals on town lawns and fields to set an environmentally responsible example.
Promote hybrid, bio-diesel, natural gas and electric vehicles in the Town fleet when appropriate and cost-effective.
Reevaluate Social Services programs under Town government and assess programs that have been out-sourced to other organizations to ensure that effective services are provided to seniors and all residents.

Working Together on Our Challenges

We ask that you join us in supporting these initiatives in order to meet the challenges facing the Town of Clifton Park to benefit all our residents.

We hope that you are among those committed citizens making a difference locally, statewide and nationally. If you aren’t, then we hope you’ll consider taking your political beliefs one step further by taking action. Your involvement can be limited to spreading the Democratic message to your family, friends and neighbors. Or, you can volunteer to work on a campaign or run for office yourself. The form of activism you take on is less important than your actual involvement in the political process.

Why?

Because politics matters – it impacts your life every single day. It also determines whether our town, our state and our nation continue to move forward.

We hope that you will choose to help us keep the Town of Clifton Park moving forward. Together, we can make a positive difference.