Greenburgh passes resolution asking Albany to dilute Edgemont’s voting rights
Dear Edgemont Residents:
Last week, the Greenburgh Town Board passed a home rule resolution requesting that the New York State Legislature change a longstanding aspect of the Village Law. Similar to past efforts, the Town wants any referendum on Edgemont’s preferred form of self-governance to reside in the hands of the entire population of unincorporated Greenburgh (~45,000), rather than in the hands of Edgemont residents themselves.
The proposed law would apply to the Town of Greenburgh and not the State’s other 900+ towns. In other words, only in Greenburgh would areas that wish to incorporate have to seek permission from those who live outside of their proposed village.
The resolution was passed at the behest of approximately ten petitioners who promoted the view that incorporation is about elitism, racism, and unfairness. These offensive accusations–lobbed at thousands of Edgemont residents who have signed incorporation petitions since 2016–were met by dead silence from our five Town Board members.
Why would the Town tacitly support such an ugly narrative about its constituents? Because questioning the motives of those who support an incorporation vote offers a distraction from the Town’s own shortcomings, including its failure to undertake any analysis on the effects of an actual incorporation. (And, it’s generally just easier to call people names.)
The Town’s antagonistic behavior and lack of professionalism is precisely why so many residents desire a vote on incorporation in the first place.
We want to reassure Edgemont residents that your rights have not been changed. The resolution is just a request for the state legislature to pass a special law that would only apply to Greenburgh. The Town’s vote-dilution effort is both legally flawed and grossly unfair, and we do not expect it to gain any traction in Albany.
As the Scarsdale Inquirer observed (click here), the resolution seems to have been mainly a “symbolic” statement by the Town Board–but one that fully demonstrates their lack of respect for Edgemont residents. The Inquirer added an illuminating editorial calling the resolution “a bad idea because it goes completely against the purpose of incorporation, which is self-determination,” and stating:
“Allowing voters in both the town’s incorporated villages and unincorporated sections to decide Edgemont’s proposed incorporation would be equivalent to having allowed all members of the European Union to vote on Brexit in 2016. The state legislature must reject Greenburgh’s proposal and preserve the rights of Edgemonters to self-determination.” (Click here for the link.)
We thank those who have contacted our state legislators in opposition to the home rule request.
If you have not yet signed the third petition (which means a new signature in the past few months), please respond to this email, and we’ll send a volunteer to collect it. Please forward this notice to those you know who may also be interested.
– The EIC
