To the Editor:

I want to thank Adam Greenberg and Dan Leinung for the many hours they’ve put in to update the Town of New Scotland’s Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code for what’s to be a new hamlet district with mixed use and open space.

Adam Greenberg, as a town board member, and Dan Leinung, as a planning board member, know the issues in the town backwards and forwards. They know that problems are not solved overnight; that taxpayers’ money must be spent judiciously; and that the nitty-gritty of town governance requires attention to detail, sensitivity to residents, and time to study, reflect, and act.

Their opponent in the current race, Craig Shufelt, on the other hand, has no public office experience. He admits that he is not familiar with a basic budgetary restriction, the 2-percent tax cap, which was enacted by the State Legislature in 2011. (See Altamont Enterprise, Oct. 5.)

He doesn’t attend town board and planning board meetings (attending just one doesn’t count, in my book; I attend almost all). He doesn’t even know that our boards must work independently of each other, just like other branches of government. (The town board enacts the laws; the planning board administers the laws; and, the zoning board of appeals decides when a law can be varied according to a particular instance.)

While there are opportunities to work together, these boards are supposed to be independent and are not supposed to pre-determine outcomes that come before them. Is he suggesting that, as a town board member, he would pressure boards to vote a certain way?

Shufelt thinks a Stuyvesant Plaza/Town of Colonie development is suitable/sustainable/desirable for our rural town. (See Altamont Enterprise, Oct. 5.) He appeals to nativist instincts by saying, “You have people, who didn’t grow up here, moving in and they are changing the town, whether we want them to or not.” (Altamont Enterprise, Oct. 5)

We’re at a crucial moment; decisions we make now will guide New Scotland’s development for decades. We need town board members who have proven they can and will do the work, who understand the issues, and who are responsive to their neighbors, old and new.

I urge you to vote for Adam Greenberg and Dan Leinung for New Scotland Town Council.

Edie Abrams

New Scotland

Editor’s note: Edie Abrams is a member of the New Scotland Zoning Board of Appeals.