And in this corner…
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- April
- 16
I attend most of the County Legislature’s meetings, held the first and third Tuesday’s each month. They are interesting for the most part, but can get a little dry.
Well last night was anything but. A simple public hearing and subsequent vote on a law to mandate recycling programs for plastic bags turned into an all out snit-fest.
It all started when Legislator Gerold Bierker, C-Bardonia, called for motion to table the resolution until it could be heard by the Solid Waste Management Authority. (Keep in mind that the SWMA doesn’t recycle plastic bags.)
The only votes of encouragement he got were from the five members of minority parties (the sixth—Legislator Doug Jobson, R-Stony Point—was absent.) So Bierker’s motion got shot down by Dem power.
But the motion then causes Legislator Ilan Schoenberger to remark that no member of the minority parties had brought up the SWMA issue previously and that it was a display of party-line voting. He also noted that if a minority member had sponsored the law along with him and 
Legislator Connie Coker, D- South Nyack, it would have passed smoothly.
Which then led Bierker to comment “that when the lower tier votes, it’s a called a party line vote. But when the Democrats vote I presume it’s called democracy in action.”
Ding! Round Two.
So then Legislator VJ Pradhan chimes in that members of the minority 
parties who brought up the SWMA issue during the regular meeting instead of the committee discussions may have done so to score some extra camera time (the meetings are broadcast on Channel 78.)
Next up? 
Legislator John Murphy, R-Orangeburg, who said he was extremely offended by Pradhan’s comments.
“I don’t like anybody to suggest I vote for that camera,” he said.
Schoenberger then apologizes to Murphy only.
Ding! Round Three!
At this point the argument descended into whether or not Coker and Schoenberger’s original law (finally! we get back to the law!) was strong enough or whether the Legislature should wait and vote on something that would go farther to rid the county of all plastic bags.
This whole thing lasted for about an hour and half. Most everyone spoke—some people multiple times.
End result? A unanimous vote on the law to mandate a recycling program for plastic shopping bags.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 3:48 pm by Sarah Netter. 
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