On the ground

This week, the Sidney and Masonville Town Democratic Committees had our monthly joint meeting at the Civic Center here in Sidney. Turnout was a bit thin but we were joined by Scott Trees, Democratic candidate for the NY Assembly, 127th District.

In addition to regular business, we spent quite a bit of time discussing economic development and Town Chair Dawn Rivers Baker (that’s me) presented the talk on economic development that was so well-received at the Kirsten Gillibrand fundraiser in Stamford earlier this year. Members of the Committee were somewhat startled at the statistics given in the talk and, in particular, the rather grim portrait they create of the state of the young people of Sidney.

One of the most interesting facets of talking about economic development here is how, in discussing it, the conversation almost always turns to energy — fuel costs, energy independence, alternative energy. Clearly there is an important intersection of ideas between developing the local economies from the raw materials here in Delaware County and becoming as energy self-sufficient as we would be economically self-sufficient.

Here in Sidney, we’ll begin to make plans to push for implementation of a microbusiness development and support initiative, with emphasis on helping our kids create opportunities for themselves here. Scott’s contributions to the conversation were thoughtful and helpful; I, for one, left the meeting feeling very happy about his decision to run for the 127th District seat.

Next month, we’ll turn our attention to energy issues with a presentation from Masonville Town Chair Ruth Van Putten. No doubt we’ll end up talking about economic development, too.