Patch Candidate Profiles: Gwynn Schroeder For Southold Town Council

Southold residents will be heading to the polls soon to elect local representatives.

The race is on leading up to Election Day, which, this year, falls on Tuesday, November 7.
Patch asked those running for office to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles in the days leading up to the election.

Gwynn Schroeder, on the Democratic ticket, is running for one of two open seats on the Southold Town Council. Also running is Democratic candidate Anne H. Smith, as well as Republican candidate and incumbent Jill Doherty, and Republican candidate Stephen Kiely.

Here is Patch's candidate profile of Gwynn Schroeder:

Name

Gwynn D. Schroeder

How old will you be as of Election Day?

63

Does your campaign have a website?

https://southoldforward.com

What city or town do you live in?

Cutchogue, NY

What office are you seeking?

Southold Town Board

Party affiliation

Democratic

Education

A.S.S. in Nursing - Suffolk County Community College

What is your occupation?

Legislative aide, Suffolk County Legislature

Do you have a family? If so, please tell us about them.

Spouse George, mother of four sons and and grandmother of four.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No, just me.

Have you ever held a public office, whether appointive or elective?

No.

Now we'd like to ask a few questions about your reasons for running and your general views on politics and government. First, why are you seeking this office?

I love the North Fork, and have spent most of my life here. My children are fifth generation Mattituck-Cutchogue High School graduates. Southold faces serious challenges, for example, lack of housing for working people, the consequences of climate change environmental degradation and threats to our quality of life to name a few. I believe I have the life experience and the skills to address these issues proactively.

Please complete this statement: The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is ___, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The most pressing issue for everyone is climate change. We live in a coastal community. We are experiencing loss of beach and increased temperatures of our surface waters, which in part led to the lobster stock depletion in the Long Island Sound, and the loss of eel grass and the plummeting scallop stock in the Peconic Bay. We will experience more frequent droughts and more intense storms. House insurance is becoming increasingly expensive.

We can't change the world, but we can do many things locally. New York State, through the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, has set aggressive goals for decreasing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions for our state. Southold can avail itself to the programs and the grants offered by through NYS Climate Smart Communities, which helps municipalities decrease their GHG emissions. Southold is registered as a Climate Smart Community, but we haven't done the work to achieve the goals of the program. Additionally, we can work to reduce food waste, a significant contributor to climate change, by turning it into a resource: compost. I compost at home, but have also participated in a pilot program in Southold to compost food waste on farms. As an aide to Legislator Al Krupski, I have worked on this issue professionally. We can advance such initiatives like Community Solar — some homeowners can't accommodate solar on their homes for a variety of issues. Community Solar allows these homeowners to buy in to a solar project and reap the benefits. I would advocate for the town hiring a natural resource professional and creating a sustainability committee with an energy component.

What needs to be done to address water quality issues on LI?

Everything would put down our drains, flush down our toilets or put on our lawns goes into our sole-source aquifer. I worked for North Fork Environmental Council for almost a decade, and we spend much of our time educating the community about the dangers of household and landscape chemicals and the impacts on our aquifer. We now have emerging forever chemicals, like PFOAs. Suffolk County offers water testing for a reasonable price, and everyone who has a well should have their water tested regularly. But the bottom line is we have to stop polluting our waters. It is difficult to regulate, but not impossible. At some point, the manufacturers of these chemicals should be held accountable. According to Suffolk County Water Authority, we have a quantity problem as well. Some dispute this, so we should invest in water study. SCWA is planning on spending $40 million on a new pipeline to bring water to the North Fork from the Pine Barrens, and this is being done before Southold has done any proactive conservation programs. Unlimited water may spur on overdevelopment, which would just exacerbate water quality/quantity issues.

What do you think can be done to help improve our infrastructure, highways, etc.?

I think Southold does a decent job, but our roads were not designed for the traffic we are experiencing. I think we need to do more to make biking safer. Widen roads is not the answer; it will just bring more traffic and more speeding. We (East End officials and citizens) need to continue to lobby the MTA for better service on the North Fork.

How would you plan to help local business owners, who are struggling because of high rents, inflation and labor shortages?

How is a local business defined? We need community housing. We need to effectively regulate short-term rentals. We need impact fees for property owners who use the property for the sole use of generating income, because they are decimating the housing stock.

What is your stance on the current migrant situation affecting New York? And migrants were to be directed to shelters on Long Island, how would you prepare/plan for that?

I think we can absorb some immigrants into our community, but we need to make sure they have safe housing. We need immigrants, but we have to invest nationally in doing so better job of integrating them into the community. Churches and government can help. This is a huge problem that will not be easily solved on the local level.

What are the major differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

If elected, this will be my only job. It is considered a part-time job, but it will be full-time for me. A good part the of the job is being well-informed, reading, seeing what works elsewhere on many issues. We as a town have not invested adequately in staff to address the issues I have mentioned. Additionally, we need to invest in code enforcement staff and housing department staff. These things are prime concerns of residents, and the town needs to offer a decent wage to attract good candidates. I have the life experience, the skills, and I believe the foresight and temperament, to proactively address the challenges we face before they become unmanageable. It is great to have a AAA bond rating, but at what cost if things that diminish our quality of life are neglected. It should not be the only benchmark for an effective town board.

If you are challenging an incumbent, in what way has the current officeholder failed the community?

Waiting too long to address significant challenges — housing, climate change, zoning conflicts, water quality.

What other issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

Environmental issues including climate change, energy, housing and making Southold Town government more responsive and accessible.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I have worked as an environmental advocate, both as a professional and as a volunteer, and monitored local government and had a good outside perspective of how the town functions. Most recently, I served as the vice president of North Fork Audubon Society, and served on the Preserve Plum Island Coalition steering committee, working with very experienced people who were well versed in dealing with state and federal government entities. In my current role as a legislative aide, I have experienced how government functions from the inside. I served as an advisor to Legislator Krupski, helped craft legislation, represented him on numerous committees, including the Suffolk County Tick Advisory Committee, the Long Island Coalition of Aquifer Protection, the Suffolk County Youth Advisory Committee, the Peconic Estuary Partnership and a number committees related to energy. I know politics is the 'art of the possible', not the perfect, so I am willing to work with colleagues to achieve the best outcome for Southold Town.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

Listen to others, try to understand their perspective.

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

If elected, I will do my best to serve the people of Southold.