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Health & Fitness

Long Beach West and Leadership

Former mayor claims current mayor not providing leadership on the issue of preserving and protecting Long Beach West.

Anybody that paid a minimal amount of attention to the goings on in Stratford from 2005-09 knows of my passion for preserving and protecting Long Beach West.

In fact, when I ran for mayor in 2005 I campaigned on protecting Long Beach West and opening access up to all the people. After I was elected I backed that promise up by providing the leadership to move in that direction. In doing so I used the resources already available that were provided by the hard work of the Waterfront Harbor Management Commission, the Planning Commission, Town Planner, the Town’s Master Plan as well as the input of past commissions, boards and, of course, the public.

My point in expressing opinions on  is that Mayor Harkins was silent as to Long Beach West when he ran for mayor in 2005 and he has yet to provide real leadership on the issue. Here we are 18 months into Mayor Harkins’s four-year term and he appoints a "Blue Ribbon Commission" to study the issue?

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How about using the existing Commissions empowered by state law and town charter, such as the Waterfront Harbor Management Commission and the Planning Commission, and taking a look at the Town’s Master Plan?

No offense to Mr. Gribbon and his “Blue Ribbon Commission,” but the reality is they lack any authority on the subject matter of Long Beach West. The real authority over LBW is vested in the Waterfront Harbor Management Commission, the Planning Commission, Town Council and State DEP.

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In the end, the Blue Ribbon Commission will make recommendations that in all reality will look a lot like those made over and over again by countless volunteer commission and board members and we will be told that now the recommendations have to be reviewed by Waterfront Harbor Management Commission, the Planning Commission, Town Council and State DEP anyway. In other words, more feet dragging and delay.

Mayor Harkins could save everybody a lot of time and provide some real leadership on Long Beach West by merely dusting off the volumes of studies and reports already prepared by thousands of hours of meetings and volunteer commission and board members over the last 40 years and taking a stand.

It would be nice to hear what the leader of our town feels about important subjects like Long Beach West’s future rather than passing every single decision off to committees.

Even more refreshing would be to hear it from his mouth rather than his Chief of Staff or spokesperson.

But maybe I am alone in wanting to know where our mayor stands on important subjects.

To read more from Jim check out: www.JimMironBlog.com 

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