At a time in our country when people are expressing concern about transparency, representation, and the tone of our national political discourse, it is more important than ever that local governments model the democratic values of openness, respect, and accountability. Local leadership should reflect the very best of civic engagement — working with residents, not around them, to build solutions that strengthen trust and community. I attended the village hall meeting last week and was disappointed how many trustees were seen texting, working on the computers and actually rolling their eyes as many of our village members came up to speak about issues that they so obviously care deeply about. Mayor Hsu admitted during her campaign that she “does not like to wait and she likes to get things done” but at what expense? Are you going to be ripping down the walls of our village hall before getting approval of our village to do so? Are you going to push through parking without consensus from your constituents?
I hope the Village will move forward in a way that reflects values that work with ALL the community, rather than through top-down decision-making.
I am writing to voice my displeasure with the Village of Sleepy Hollow Board of Trustees’ failure to implement a truly democratic process in addressing the issue of parking in Philipse Manor.
The Mayor and Board of Trustees must consider implementing a common sense ordinance that does not permit nonresident parking for the better part of weekdays and all day on weekends, as well as remove Philipse Manor streets from the home rule legislation since home rule is not demonstrably necessary for Philipse Manor.
The Mayor’s choice to now strictly enforce the total parking ban in Philipse Manor against its own residents – on the false premise that residents have failed to meet a non-transparent, rushed, internal timeline that was set by the Mayor, but never properly communicated with, nor properly explained to, residents – is also neither proper nor democratic governance.
Sincerely,
Laura Richardson
Sleepy Hollow, NY
