To the Editor:

Eugene Napierski’s recent letter to the editor of The Altamont Enterprise [“Insiders should not use democratic system to reward friends] was unfair to Mickey Cleary.

Mickey and Paul are competing for the Albany County Legislative seat for the 32nd District — the District includes McKownville and some nearby areas.

I have worked with both Mickey Cleary and Paul Miller.

Mickey has been more closely identified with the Town of Guilderland Democratic Party.

Paul has been more closely identified with the Albany County Democratic Party.

There is a rivalry between these two branches of the Democratic Party.

Mickey and Paul are and have been deeply involved in local politics for many years.

The County Democrats — where Paul has been more closely connected — has controlled Albany County for decades. It has not been of much help in getting the improvements needed in McKownville.

In the past 20 years, the county has helped the 32nd District in getting a new sidewalk along Fuller Road (I think mostly to get road work done for SUNY Polytechnic Institute) and another sidewalk along Schoolhouse Road and another sidewalk along a portion of Russell Road.

County government is mostly concerned with county welfare, Medicaid, the sheriff's department and the jail, county roads (Fuller, Schoolhouse, and a portion of Russell) and numerous other services. These are important services that I would certainly fight to continue and enhance.

Paul has been active in many of these areas, as the letter from Carol Waterman clearly and accurately indicates [“Our county has been healthier thanks to Paul Miller”].

The town Democrats, on the other hand, have helped the 32nd District and McKownville to get improvements it has sought for many, many years — like sidewalks along Western Avenue, a new storm sewer system, a park near Stuyvesant Plaza, multiple bus patron shelters, multiple pedestrian crossing lights, a new traffic light at Brookwood for the McKownville firehouse and pedestrian crossings at that intersection, snowplowing for the Western Avenue and Fuller Road sidewalks, a new sidewalk along a portion of the west side of Elmwood — and many more resident-requested improvements.

Mickey has been deeply involved in town government and has served on various town boards — the Guilderland Planning Board currently.

Recently Paul worked hard to oppose the rezoning of Sandidge that permitted the construction of the 200-plus apartments, which are now in process. Meetings.

The town of Guilderland also worked very hard in opposing the rezoning of Sandidge. Town Supervisor Peter Barber filed objections with the city on its rezoning of Sandidge and presented legal arguments on why the city should not approve the rezoning of Sandidge.

I wish to correct the impression of Napierski’s letter that somehow Mickey is connected to “Democratic politics” while Paul is not connected to politics at all. That is just not true.

The two primary candidates are each connected to the Democratic party, but different branches — one branch has been of great help to McKownville and the other branch has been of much less help to McKownville.

Don Reeb

Guilderland

Editor’s note: Don Reeb stresses that, although he is a longtime past president of the McKownville Improvement Association, he is speaking for himself in this letter with no connection to the association.