Candidate Profile: Laurie Abbate Ryan For Cortlandt Supervisor

CORTLANDT, NY — After three decades, the town of Cortlandt is looking to elect a new town supervisor.

Linda Puglisi is not running for re-election in 2021, and two people are seeking the opportunity to replace her.

They are Laurie Abbate Ryan, running on Republican and Cortlandt United lines, and Richard H. Becker, who will appear on the Democratic and Working Families lines on the ballot.

Ryan, 58, is a newly retired high school mathematics department chairwoman and teacher, after 36 years. She served for 12 years on the Hendrick Hudson Board of Education.

She is married to Richard Ryan, who is a third-generation Cortlandt resident. They've lived in the town since 1999 and raised three children.

Ryan had a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Pace University, a master's degree in education and mathematics from Manhattanville College and school district leader from College of New Rochelle.

Campaign website

ryanforcortlandtsupervisor.com

Here are the answers to a series of questions as submitted by Laurie Abbate Ryan. They were lightly edited for style and clarity — not content.

Why are you seeking elective office?

Quite frankly, I have been very busy with my own family. I live in a lovely section of Cortlandt Manor, and I have been satisfied with our soon-to-be-retired Supervisor. I share her love of our veterans and seniors and appreciate the acquisition of open space.

However, for years, I kept noticing the same things that led me to my decision to put my money where my mouth is and became a candidate.

These are some of the issues:

1. There are no police. We have two police officers who are expected to cover all of Cortlandt barring Buchanan and Croton with no midnight shift. Response time is long, crime is rising and we simply need a greater police presence. They truly do their best but the are is just too big.
2. Every time I drive along Albany Post Road through Crugers, Montrose and Buchanan, I just keep asking myself why has this corridor not improved? This area could be so very charming and at the same time, very prosperous. I have ideas and want to help bring this section to reach its full potential.
3. We are growing unkept. I just see so much unnecessary overgrowth on wires and exits into our Town are not taken care of nor are they inviting.
4. Road conditions. My road has been paved time and time again just to be dug up the week later for yet another pipe, and this has happened to too many roads.
5. Power outages. I honestly do not know what can be done but we have to do something.
6. Dealings with the Town. We had to have something done on our property and it was kind of a nightmare and took way too long. As I spoke with my friends and neighbors, they said the same thing.

Knowing I was going to retire from a 36-year career of teaching, I did a bit more researching, I asked a few more questions, I got in my car and drove to places in Cortlandt I have never been and felt compelled to get involved and do something for the good of my Town which means for the good of all of our families.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Many will say the single most pressing issue facing our Town is the closing of Indian Point. To me, it was the most pressing issue for the last 3 years when we first learned of its closing.

Unfortunately, at this point in time, there is really nothing that can be done about it. We cannot bring it back. Our state, county and local officials did not fight for it except for Rob Astorino. We lost out. We lost jobs, we lost clean energy, we lost all the great benefits Entergy provided to our community. The Hendrick Hudson School district is losing a yearly-decreasing $24 million PILOT and Buchanan taxpayers have already been hit hard.

The Town lost a great partner. The Town has lost $800,000 and was able to absorb that amount. As Supervisor and going forward, we now need to plan. We need to seriously address the dangers associated with the decommissioning of the plant and plan for the future of this land.

So to answer the question, I believe the single most pressing issue is keeping Cortlandt safe: physically, fiscally and environmentally.

I intend to keep Cortlandt physically safe by increasing our police presence, working with state and county officials to have a safe house for immediate occupancy for domestic abuse victims, installing streetlights, sidewalks and speed bumps where appropriate, create a road management plan and a tree trimming management plan, create a registry for disabled residents for contact and possible evacuation during emergencies, address rising homeless situation, opt out of NYS Marijuana Law.

I intend to keep Cortland fiscally safe and healthy by conducting a forensic audit, target wasteful spending, maintaining a 2 percent cap, balancing the budget, increase grant writing, implement policies and enforce Town Code to create revenue, increase our tax base by seeking out innovative developers and expediting In Rem properties to get them back on the tax role.

I intend to keep Cortlandt environmentally safe by continuing the planning for the decommissioning of Indian Point, maintaining proper air/water/soil testing especially at the Ash Pit and the Indian Point properties, review town owned properties regarding condition/safety/toxicity, relocate Town yard in Verplanck and clean up that property, maintain our infrastructure, and research and install sustainable energy where appropriate.

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

There are many differences between me and my opponent. I will address a few.

The major difference between me and my opponent is that I will be a full-time supervisor and he will not. He will be hiring an assistant at taxpayer expense.

I believe in increasing our Cortlandt police presence and my opponent has not, for years, until I started to campaign and called for this. The board just recently met with the Westchester County Police to talk about bringing on one more officer. That was because of me.

Currently, Cortlandt has exceeded its supply of affordable housing. I am not in favor of increasing this supply and my opponent will demand any new developer/development include affordable housing. While honorable in thought, let us not deny the facts and statistics of what can happen when towns increase affordable housing. I instead will concentrate on making life more affordable for our current residents to remain our residents.

While I will fully research the appropriateness of alternative energy, let's face the fact that, unfortunately, all energy sources cause some destruction to our world.

My opponent did nothing to fight for Indian Point but rather looked forward to its closing. That means we lost 2000 megawatts of power with zero emissions and replaced it with natural gas that spews greenhouse gases. My opponent has been in favor of all alternative energy. He supported the windmill blade factory proposed for Verplanck that residents successfully fought against. He was also open to a battery storage facility. He has supported community solar farms to the point that a moratorium, ironically proposed by him, had to be put in place to stop it. Solar panels and windmills are not green and seem to defeat the purpose. When acres of forests are destroyed to install solar panels, that defeats the purpose of going green. In addition, solar panels are not recyclable and lest we forget how they are made and transported. Besides being dangerous to our wildlife and ruining our landscapes, windmill blades can not be recycled and are buried in landfills. They do not decompose — ever. Having said all of that, I am in favor of solar panels on commercial buildings and solar infrastructure over parking lots like at the train stations. Yes, we do our part, but we must use common sense, too.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

The current Board has failed our community by not meeting and acting upon critical issues such as:

Allowing Indian Point to close without a fight. Broke environmental law because a review was required before, not after the plant closed. There should have been an Environmental Impact Review.

Not addressing the dam at Wallace Pond. Years ago, somehow, this dam ended up in the hands of home owners who now have an albatross around their necks. The Town has not acted on this. Instead of fixing the dam now, it will cost millions when it gives out not to mention the environmental damage and the flooding of Rte 9.

They have failed our community by decisions that have been made including:

Disbanded our Cortlandt Police Department and have not increased the police presence in over a decade even though crime is on the rise
Approving an unbalanced budget with yearly deficits
Approving unacceptable raises especially in a COVID year
Wasteful spending on our Charles Cook Pool with very little oversight
Not opening Board meetings to the public
Not creating a smoother process for residents to get anything done regarding permits
Not maintaining a proper road management plan
Not maintaining a tree trimming plan
Questionable ownership of certain properties

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

I truly believe all of our local officials did what they thought best during 2020. This was a new virus and no one was an expert. They followed what the guidelines were. However, I would have opened Town Hall much sooner, including the Court. I included this in my first introduction Letter to the Editor. The Town Hall was closed yet received outrageous raises. I would never have allowed that to happen. Our court remained closed, meaning did nothing, for over a year but the justice was still paid. Our neighboring Towns held Court remotely and virtually. I would have opened Town Hall sooner and brought everyone back to work.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

As detailed above, my job is to keep Cortland safe and healthy physically, fiscally and environmentally. I would invite you to peruse the ABOUT ME tab on my website ryanforcortlandtsupervisor.com and the ISSUES tab on our team website cortlandtunited.com.

Other issues that define my platform include:

Keep Cortlandt Beautiful by, for example, reviewing staffing to make sure we have enough people at the Town, forming community groups to plan for their specific village/hamlet, clean up and get rid of junk, enforce code regarding property maintenance, creating a trimming plan, signage, HPD, riverfront clean up, community gardens

Keep Cortlandt Happy, Healthy and Proud by, for example, opt out of NYS Marijuana Laws, create programs and housing for OUR OWN residents suffering from substance abuse/addictions, community gardens, neighborhood playgrounds, utilize Chanel 35 more with student interns, install sports fields, convert rink at Youth center to ice rink and install a cover the rink at the Youth Center and turn into ice rink, address growing homeless situation, maintaining Town assets such as the Charles Cook Pool and its leaking problem and Town vehicles.

Make Cortlandt Prosperous by, for example, conducting a forensic audit, forming community teams to plan for their section of Cortlandt, building our tax base by smart and innovative development for the Albany Post Road corridor, rental registration and inspection, enforcing Town code, study out-sourcing vs in-house service costs, expediting In Rem properties

Make Town Hall People Friendlier. As I walk around, one of the biggest complaints residents have are their encounters with the Town, whether just walking in for a question, waiting for promised documents, getting approvals without it taking months and costing a fortune or unfortunately being sometimes met with unfriendly and uncooperative people at the Town. I intend to streamline town processes to make life smoother for residents, possibly hire a resident consultant to help folks when they come into Town Hall, set timelines for planning board and zoning board to make decisions and for residents to obtain information, limit some regulations and have a JUST ASK button on the Town website.

Make Cortlandt Vibrant. I would love to see Cortlandt become a destination area that folks really talk about - it's beauty, its hiking trails, its charm, its restaurants, its waterfront, its people. We have wonderful community events so let's come together for more: picnics, Battle of the Villages, Town Spirit weeks because Spirit is not just for kids!, Trips, increased engagement with our vets, seniors and first responders, holiday celebrations,

Maintain our Town assets by creating a vehicle management plan, re-do/relocate our Verplanck Town yard so the trucks are on pavement and covered, and listen to the experts who are already in place at the Town.

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

Quite honestly, being a mom has best prepared me for any job, and all moms know this. We make our homes run safely and smoothly. We schedule and plan, meet needs, re-adjust, control finances and budgets, nurture and discipline. We negotiate, stop fights, complete tasks, get the job done and look for no glory.

As the Mathematics Department Chair I have been responsible for curriculum development; evaluation; maintaining budgets; staying up-to-date with state mandates in education; fostering relationships with community, parents and colleges; goal setting, and providing opportunities for professional and academic growth for teachers. I am a member of the Curriculum Council, District Strategic Planning Committee, Leadership Team, Union Negotiating Team, and the Emergency Management Team. I have created numerous state plans including Safety Plans, and Building and Facility Improvements. I was also the Senior Class Coordinator which involves an immense amount of organization, communication and planning skills.

I just finished my 12-year tenure as a Vice President and trustee on the Hendrick Hudson Board of Education. During my time, I am proud to be part of teams that successfully negotiated numerous bargaining agreements, passed 12 budgets, and passed 5 bonds. I initiated the implementation of summer school programs and redesigned board/staff/community communications. I’ve held positions on several committees including Finance, Policy, Facilities, Safety, Curriculum and Strategic Planning. At the end of my tenure I was working with the Board and Superintendent regarding strategies regarding the closing of Indian Point and partnering with Holtec. I was also very involved in the controversial Princeton Plan discussion which is the dismantling of our current elementary school model. I believe the Board of Education did not listen to the people of the school district. Communication is key and we did not communicate appropriately with all residents. I will not let this happen as supervisor.

Both roles have provided me years of experience in leadership, management and patience.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

"Be someone's sunshine and not their storm." And that is the way I will conduct myself and require all town employees to conduct themselves when helping our residents.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I want you to know that I am a good and fair and honest and compassionate person. I have the utmost respect for seniors, veterans and law enforcement. And just because we have different views politically, we should all just want the best for our Town.

I want you to know about my job as a teacher. I have devoted my life to helping children become the very best that they can be regardless of any circumstance. I have been by their sides in great times and horrible times. I have helped them get into college (even in retirement I am writing letters of recommendation for college acceptance), secure jobs and even entrance into the Naval Academy. I have been their voice when they have been afraid, I have encouraged them to take steps they would never have taken. I have taught them what it means to have school spirit. I have given hours upon hours of my time helping them with homework, studying for tests, talking things out, buying them lunch (and dinner), organizing activities and attending their activities. I have gone to their weddings, their reunions and sadly, their funerals. I have dinner with kids I taught years ago and make sure to keep in touch with hundreds of them. I have them to my house for senior year parties. I have never lowered standards academic or behavioral. I am always consistent with my expectations so they are never surprised by anything I do. They know I treat them like I treat my own children and that means with discipline, too. They know they can count on me to be truthful with them and to always be there because they know "You've Got a Friend In Me". They have dedicated yearbooks to me and I have been voted their favorite teacher 30 out of 32 times. They purchased a full-page ad in the yearbook for my retirement year and let me know I am like their mom. They have touched my heart and will remain a huge part of my life forever and I make sure they know it.

I and my family have been fairly private people so for me to put myself out there, in the public eye, knock on strange doors and introduce myself means I think this step is hugely important.

Editor's note: The candidate's responses have been lightly edited for style and clarity.