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July 2023 Newsletter |
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Dear Friends,
Caucuses are finishing up. Each town had (or will shortly have) a Democratic and Republican Caucus. At the caucus, candidates are selected for each office. It is planned by active registered Democrats in your town who give public notice and invite all local Democrats to attend and participate..
In all the towns that have already had a caucus, candidates have been selected who are going to run November 7th on the Democratic line. Cobleskill has a full slate of democratic candidates!
You help candidates by sharing social media posts, putting up yard signs, knocking on doors and making phone calls. They will also need money.
I'm not going to sugarcoat it. Democrats in Schoharie County are outnumbered. In order for us to become a substantial presence, it is going to take many years of work. That said, every time you meet a new Dem, engage a new voter, attend a town caucus or participate in any way, we are widening the circle and moving towards a healthier democracy. Come meet some like-minded folks at our next social gathering at the Mill Pond Inn in Jefferson, on July 26 at 5:30.
In Solidarity,
Theresa Heary SCDC Chair |
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DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES FOR FALL 2023!! DEMOCRATS ARE HOLDING LOCAL CAUCUSES IN TOWNS AND VILLAGES ACROSS THE COUNTY AND WILL FIELD CANDIDATES IN THE NOVEMBER 7th ELECTIONS. The list of filed candidates will be in the August Newsletter! Consider pitching in on their campaigning and efforts to get the word out that there may be choices to make in YOUR town government!
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POSITIONS AVAILABLE: SEEKING 2 Alternate Members of Schoharie County Planning Commission
The Schoharie County Planning Commission (CPC) will have two vacant alternate member positions starting July 1, 2023. The CPC meets the first Monday of the month to review referred local actions for inter-municipal and countywide impacts. Town and village planning boards, as well as zoning boards of appeals and joint planning boards refer applications to the commission. Types of applications are site plan reviews, special use permits, lot subdivisions and, use and area variances. If interested, contact your town board to see if your town is represented on the commission. Some towns have more than one member already serving. If your town does not have representation, there may be an opportunity to serve as an alternate. Any person interested in serving on the CPC shall submit a brief description of qualifications to the legislative board of the town in which they reside. The town board will vote on whether or not to recommend this person to the County Planning Commission. For any person that the town board supports appointing to the CPC, the town board submits a copy of the description of qualifications that had been provided to them along with a letter or resolution of support to the Planning Department. The description of qualifications and letter or resolution of support from the town board comprises an application. The Board of County Supervisors appoints all eleven members of the commission to three year terms.
For more information about the CPC, visit the website, https://www4.schohariecounty-ny.gov/departments/comdev/zoning/commission/. |
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DO DEMOCRATS GET IT? Yes, and get it done! Since we in Schoharie County are not currently represented by Democrats in the state government nor in the U.S. House of Representatives, it may be hard to see how Democrats in public office can have an impact on our rural county, or even our part of the state. Here are a few examples to let you know that DEMS GET IT - AND GET IT DONE.
Governor Hochul Announces $500 Million Investment to Bolster New York’s Child Care Workforce: Governor Kathy Hochul announced a $500 million investment in the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget to bolster New York’s child care workforce through the Workforce Retention Grant Program. Funding from the program will support 150,000 child care workers and can be used to provide bonus payments ranging from $2,300 to $3,000 to staff in caregiving roles, as well as to recruit new staff, offer sign-on and referral bonuses, and more.
Gillibrand Announces Over $21 Million For Head Start Projects In New York State: U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced $21,783,200 in federal funding for Head Start programs in New York State. The funding was allocated through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and will be used to support child care and support services for families.
Rural electric cooperatives, utilities, and other energy providers will soon be able to apply for nearly $11 billion in grants and loans for clean energy projects, funded by the $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act
NYS Clean Slate legislation provides for automatic sealing of certain convictions after a certain amount of time has passed from either the imposition of sentence or the release from parole or probation, as long as the defendant does not have a current charge pending.Certain types of offenses are excluded. This will potentially help more than 2.3 million New Yorkers get jobs and even housing. Misdemeanors, after three years, and most felony charges, after eight years, are to be sealed if a person does not commit another offense. It excludes “class A” felonies, like murder, and certain sex crimes or domestic violence offenses.
ILLEGAL GUN RECLAMATION: New York's Field Division of the ATF has been coordinating efforts among 13 states to reduce criminal activity and has increased seizure of illegal guns in New York by 53% since 2018.
REINTRODUCTION OF REBUILD RURAL AMERICA ACT by Senator Gillibrand and Rep. Budzinski to bring $50 billion in financial and human resources as well as ease of access to these resources to rural areas like Schoharie County. This announcement was made in Hamilton, NY, with impacts intended throughout our Congressional District 21. This bill was co-sponsored by Gillibrand originally in 2021 with Rep. Antonio Delgado.
Many of our communities are seeing real-time improvements with funds recently allocated from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) passed into law by DEMOCRATS during COVID's worst days. According to the Times Journal of May 25, 2023, the total was $6,221,192 over two years. Decisions were made by the Board of Supervisors. These funds are being used in Schoharie County by Greater Mohawk Land Bank ($195,000), Destination Marketing ($85,000), Stone Fort ($5,000), IDA Route 7 Shovel Ready Project ($1 million), Tri-County Landfill Leachate ($199,412.85), Cobleskill Reservoir work ($800,000), Transfer Station ($367,998.85), Enterprise Resource Planning ($1.3 million), GIS Enhancement ($1.3million), County Clerk Land Records Management ($2,750), County IT Virtual Desktop Infrastructure ($55,000), County Ambulance Service ($520,335.30), Senior Management Compensation Analysis ($9,500), Sheriff's Office Civil Software ($63,320), Fairgrounds sewer extension ($150,000), SEEC for broadband study ($100,000), Town of Schoharie Business Park sewer/water/road ($550,000), Old jail study ($6,000), SCCASA for INSPIRE grant match ($75,000), Animal Shelter ($45,000), Old Stone Fort windows ($20,000), Office for Emergency Services flood evacuation signs and maps ($50,0000), Town of Richmondville sewer District 1 ($300,000). |
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Calling all Democrats on the November 7 ballot! Come to the Sunshine Fair in Cobleskill and hang out at the Schoharie County Democratic Committee booth for a while. Plans are being made for informational handouts for each town with Democrats running for town/village government jobs. Volunteers will be signing up to interact with the public, help register voters, clarify democratic priorities and help promote candidates! The Sunshine Fair is scheduled for August 8-13. Consider volunteering at the booth, and definitely come to meet potential voters if you are running for office this fall. info@schohariedemocrats.org |
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SUMMER FUN!! KEEP YOUR EYE OUT FOR AN EMAIL AND FACEBOOK POSTS ABOUT OUR UPCOMING AUGUST BBQ! COME MEET SPECIAL GUEST(S), AND FOLK RUNNING IN LOCAL ELECTIONS. START ORGANIZING FOR FALL CANVASSING, PLAN GET OUT THE VOTE AND VOTER EDUCATION, AND EAT!! DRINK!! AND HAVE FUN!! |
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HELP GET SCHOHARIE COUNTY COVERED
Take a few minutes to take the NY Broadband survey from the NYS ConnectAll office. With the Biden administration’s once in a lifetime investment in broadband infrastructure on the way, it’s important to know what and where the needs are.
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KNOW THE FACTS: TAKE ACTION, EV CHARGING STATIONS S. Meredith, SCDC Gilboa rep In a recent letter from Courtney Lindwall, on behalf of the National Resources Defense Council, the point was made that Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act could make a huge difference in creating equity in electric vehicle charging for underserved populations — and that includes rural areas like ours. We, in Schoharie County, live in a vehicle-centric way, finding it nearly impossible to live, work and play without our cars or trucks. Whether we can join the rest of the world in reducing our reliance on gas and use electric vehicles will depend upon the availability of electric charging stations. From Courtney’s letter: “Once a rare sighting, public chargers for electric vehicles (EV) are now steadily multiplying. But if half of new U.S. car sales are going to be electric by 2030 — a goal of the Biden administration — one estimate suggests we’ll need closer to 1.2 million public chargers to meet rising demand. Where these are installed, the cost of using them, and which drivers stand to benefit are all key to just how successful the EV revolution will be. … The good news is that an influx of federal money is on the way to help equitably deploy EV charging infrastructure and prioritize under-served communities:
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) also extends tax credits that subsidize the cost of charger installation for both households and businesses.” (Boldface has been added here for emphasis.) ASK YOUR TOWN SUPERVISORS, STATE SENATOR OBERACKER, AND ASSEMBLY REPRESENTATIVE TAGUE IF THEY PLAN TO PLUG YOUR COMMUNITY IN TO ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING CAPACITY OR LEAVE YOU RELIANT ON FOSSIL FUELS IN THE YEARS TO COME. Board of Supervisors: https://www4.schohariecounty-ny.gov/departments/supervisors/ State Senator Oberacker: https://www.nysenate.gov/senators/peter-oberacker/contact State Assembly Member Tague: https://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/Chris-Tague/contact/ And for good measure, let Congressperson Stefanik know your thoughts: |
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GATHERING IN CONESVILLE
Our social gathering in June fell on a gray cool day, but turned into a garden party in the Weiss Ferments Biergarten on June 16. At least a dozen folks from Conesville, Gilboa, Schoharie and Cobleskill turned up between 5-7pm. The cool weather made the tasty vegetarian samosas and Korean beef sandwiches taste that much better, with fresh beer, mixed drinks and delicious non-alcohol based beverages. Some of us just ate spicy nuts and olives and chatted with stories of recent caucuses and admired the beautiful countryside around the Biergarten. In upcoming months we’ll gather in Jefferson, Fulton and beyond! |
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UPCOMING TOWN HAPPENINGS:
CHECK THIS LINK TO THE CALENDAR FOR YOUR TOWN & VILLAGE BOARD AND COUNCIL MEETINGS EVERY MONTH
JULY 12, 6PM TOWN OF CONESVILLE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS In Conesville, at Weiss Ferments, 240 Bohlen Road, Conesville.
JULY 20, 6:30 PM SCDC Bi-monthly Meeting In Conesville, Town Hall, 1306 State Rte. 990V, Gilboa, 12076
July 26, 5:30 PM DEMS SOCIAL GATHERING (PIZZA NIGHT!) In Jefferson, Mill Pond Inn, 10860 County Rd. 18, South Kortright, no RSVP necessary but appreciated: socialcommittee.scdc@gmail.com |
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CONNECT & FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA SCDC Website - to get involved, with links to all our social media Schoharie County Democratic Committee on FB - for issues, events, inspiration @SchoharieDems on Twitter for breaking news and commentary schohariecountydems on Instagram Your likes and comments are inspiring! |
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Chairwoman: Theresa Heary- info@schohariedemocrats.org SCDC Committees: |