I have worked closely with Ariana Basco for the last few years. We co-chaired the SUNY Environmental Task Force, a campus/community group that does environmental education and advances measures designed to achieve ecological sustainability. Ariana is now running for the New Paltz Village Board and I offer her my strongest endorsement. She is exactly the kind of person that we need to navigate the challenges that we’ll face in the village in the coming years.
Ariana’s greatest asset is that she is a bridge builder who is able to work well with everyone. She has a gift for bringing people together to find practical solutions that are agreeable to all. She has experience working with diverse segments of our community, from her service on the Police Commission to working with the SUNY administration and students. In every context she is able to foster cooperation and to find common ground. This is precisely what we need on the Village Board today.
The last several years have been characterized by infighting between the village, the town, the college and within the Village Board itself. We have many difficult issues before us, from consolidation to the noise ordinance to development and planning issues. Ariana Basco will act as a voice of reason and the positive, calming presence that will be needed to achieve agreement among groups that have already staked out firm positions on these issues. While fighting to advance specific interests is to be expected in politics and while we should not begrudge those who have chosen to run for office on the basis of their own particular cause, we also need people on the board who can mediate between those voices. Ariana is just such a person.
In addition to possessing the qualities that will enable the board to effectively address contentious issues, Ariana Basco has a platform that everyone can support.
She is committed to strengthening the downtown business district, to sound environmental policies, and to building the local economy and tax base by fostering tighter business-to-business and consumer-to-business ties, all areas in which she has experience given the positions she has held to date.
Ariana Basco is someone who will advance the values that we all share to devise policies that will unite and strengthen our community. I hope you will join me in voting for her on May 3.
Brian Obach
New Paltz
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