Sign up for aPete Healey, Village Board candidate, 2009
The New Paltz Green Party is currently in the process of interviewing candidates for local elections. We will be posting the completed candidate questionnaires on this site as we receive them from candidates.
Here are Pete Healey's responses to our Candidate's Questionnaire. Pete is running for Village Board as an incumbent.
Pete Healey
Village Trustee
phealey3@hvc.rr.com
845-399-3288
PO Box 1114
New Paltz, NY 12561
I don't have a campaign slogan, and I don't have any staff.
I'm a handyman who sometimes works for himself and sometimes works for St. John Bosco, an agency that operates three group homes for troubled youth in this area.
I ran for Ulster County Legislator in 1997 as a Green, with the Democrat and Independence endorsement, and again in 2001 for the same office with the same endorsements.
I am a co-founder of the New Paltz Green Party, which was organized in 1995 with my then-wife. I left the party in mid-2001 in a dispute over the direction and leadership of the party.
I worked on the Green/Innovation Party campaign in 2003 which succeeded in electing a mayor and two trustees here in the village. I always thought of this campaign as a broad left effort rather than as a "Green Party" campaign because there were independents like me and Democrats like Michael Zierler, just to name two of the most prominent "non-Greens", involved in the campaign.
I was elected to the village board last year in a special election for a one-year term, and it appears that there will be no competition for me this year for a four year term on the board. I have no formal current resume and I hope the info. above will suffice.
I'm running for a full term on the village board to further the unification process for the town and village governments. It seems to me that the opportunity for the "left" and the "Greens" in this process is the possibility of enacting changes in the election system here. I will propose a mixed proportional electoral system for a combined New Paltz government that will contain elements of the old at-large winner-take-all system and a multi-party proportional style system. For example, we might have one council person elected from each of the old village and town-outside-village constituencies(they are roughly equal in population) and five more who win seats if their party gets 20% of the total vote cast. For each 20% of the vote a party receives one of their candidates wins a seat. In this way, New Paltz wouldn't be a one-party system any longer. Currently, there are 14 elected officials in the town and village governments, and only one of them isn't a registered Democrat. But the Democrats only receive about 60-65% of the vote in any election. That's why I'm running. I want to make New Paltz a model of democratic action again, providing a good example for other communities to follow.
I don't have any particular conflicts of which I'm aware. I don't need anything much in the way of resources or campaign contributions because of the non-competitive nature of this election> I spent about $600-700 last year and won't spend nearly that much this time around. I didn't solicit any contributions last year and will do the same this year.
I have been organizing the Proportional Representation Party off and on for a couple of years now and that is the party name I'm running on. I have no expectations that any other party will contact me about an endorsement, and have not yet been contacted.
Much of my campaign will be directed at continuing the work I've taken on as a village board member. I intend to develop site-specific timetables for the local bus system, and for the Link bus that travels to and from Poughkeepsie, and bring them to the larger apartment complexes that are on or are close to the routes travelled by these buses. I may update my flyer from last year to give people a better idea of my interests in serving on the board, and I'll deliver these door to door.
I talk to Green Party people all the time informally. I like to think I have a pretty good understanding of your party's priorities and ideas. I am in general agreement with the party's Ten Key Values, and any differences probably amount to quibbles, or just differences in strategy and emphasis.
On Ecological Responsibility, I have worked on initiating a local bus system in New Paltz with an eye to allowing people to stay out of their private automobiles and will continue that effort with a full term on the board.
Nonviolence- There was a broad but disorganized discussion about this issue in the community back in January because of a public event I organized that involved throwing shoes at a cardboard cutout of the President. There is much to talk about there, because I'm not a pacifist and don't believe that Nonviolence is an absolute but is a relative term.
Grassroots Democracy- Sometimes I quibble about the word "Grassroots" because I don't think there's a good definition of it, and I'm not a "Grassroots" kind of guy. But my efforts toward bringing a multi-party proportional style government to New Paltz it seems to me fall into this general category quite well.
Social and Economic Justice- At the village level, these issues aren't always at the forefront of our work. But at the moment there is one issue on which I'm going to be publicly in opposition to the mayor. He is demanding that blue collar and clerical workers in the village give back contractual raises in pay, accept reductions in work weeks, accept possible layoffs, and contribute toward their health insurance benefits which have been provided free until now. It's my contention that the mayor has disdain for blue collar people and shows only deference toward white collar workers, and I'm opposed both to his efforts at wringing concessions from these workers and the attitude that I believe lies behind it.
Thanks for the questionnaire. It helped me to sharpen some of my ideas about the issues in this village and gave me a chance to explain myself in a way that isn't usually open to me.
What is your position on Town and Village Unification?
I have led the current effort toward unification, and the main reason I'm running for reelection is to follow the process we've begun to a conclusion.
If elected, would you work to stop the common practice of municipal vehicle idling?
I don't like wasted fuel any more than anyone else and I'll speak to the DPW employees about not idling their vehicles and other conservation practices.
Are you in favor of the Ban Pesticides in Ulster County initiative?
Banning the use of pesticides in Ulster County is fine as far as it goes, and I support those efforts.
Are you in favor of granting a PUD to the Crossroads project on Paradies Lane?
No, I'm in favor of SUNY moving some of its 'commuter classes' there as the beginning of an office park complex. Moving some of its classes that are specifically directed at area residents would relieve traffic congestion downtown and relieve some of the students of having to fight their way through town and struggle to find parking on or near campus.
Are you in favor of a moratorium on building and subdividing until new zoning ordinances are passed following our soon to be up-dated Comprehensive Master Plan?
I've been hearing from those who say that one word will help us and that word is “moratorium”, but I'm not convinced. I think if there is one word that will help us it is “unification” and I believe unification will happen before a moratorium.
Will you support a wetlands law?
Was the wetlands law that was proposed about three years ago aimed at preventing Victorian Square from being approved, and are we still trying to prevent it from being built long after it has been approved?
Will you support and encourage the work of Town and Village clubs and boards?
Members of Village and Town boards don't need my support or encouragement to continue their work. I won't stand in their way if that's what you mean.
What steps will you take to improve current tenant/landlord relationships as well as the current housing situation in general?
I will 'bash' SUNY with all my might and find a way to reach the state assemblyman from this area with the message that his support for their continued expansion is having a mostly negative impact on the surrounding community. I don't support SUNY's efforts to build about 1,000 new housing units south of campus because it won't reduce the overcrowding in the village, it will just encourage SUNY in its unrestained growth. Landlord interests need to be put on notice that continued growth of rentals, particularly student rentals, is going to require greater and greater regulation and restrictions.
What will you do to ameliorate current traffic problems?
I was among those who advocated for a local bus system, and I continue to work to improve the inadequate route and scheduling of the bus system that is now operating. I have stated above how I think New Paltz can reduce the traffic that enters the downtown, by moving some of SUNY to the property beyond the Thruway.
Could you describe your fiscal philosophy?
I want to tax the well-to-do and provide for the poor.
What will you do to improve the relationships between SUNY and municipal governments?
I want to combine the two municipal governments to improve our power relationship and then 'bash' SUNY until they take us seriously and come to the table prepared to accept that there are local limits on their growth. In that way I think the relationship will improve.
What concrete steps do you plan to take to increase transparency in your office and make it easier for the public to participate in the governing process?
It is my intention to combine the two municipal governments and to create a single combined government that is elected by a proportional method that will break the back of the two party system here. Actually, all we have left is a one-party sytem, so I intend to break its domination of local politics and redistribute political power proportionally.
Will you appoint members of the Planning Board who have a track record of ecologically minded policy making and environmentalism in general?
So you have someone in mind? I do want to have a discussion about what “environmentalism” means to some of us because I think differences have developed and we need some common understanding of the term before we can move forward.
Will you promise to do whatever you can, making code changes if necessary, and by directing the village employees and consultants, to facilitate access to data and the gathering of data on environmental impacts of developments in the village/town of New Paltz and to ensure the transmission of that information to the Environmental Conservation Commission/Environmental Conservation Board?
I don't understand the question. Isn't a process in place already that ensures this kind of thing now? Are there particular problems with the process that need work?