(Published in the News Review, (2009-02-05)

Mr. Bill London from the Riverhead BID Management Association should be commended for his dedication and his time. How frustrating it must be for him that every business person in Riverhead understands what it will take to revitalize the downtown, yet the Town Board doesn’t. All the Town Board ever does is talk, crippled by a fear of acting. Because when they do act, the world witnesses colossal comedic failures never before seen in the history of local government.

That is why the most terrifying words in Riverhead are, “I’m from the town board and I’m here to help.”

This New Year brought yet another redevelopment idea from the town board. With a supervisor race approaching and the downtown sinking into a permanent abyss, we all kind of saw this one coming. But after all this time, who can listen to yet another idea? How many more ideas, master plans, moratoriums, and town departments will it take before the final nail is driven into Riverhead’s coffin?

No taxpayer could have said it better then downtown businessmen Hal Goodale; who recently stated, “As a taxpayer I’m skeptical because it doesn’t seem that anything the town gets involved with ends up materializing.” Mr. Goodale sir, you’re dead on.

How could the taxpayers not be skeptical? Through the years Supervisors and Town Board members have come and gone; just like all their ideas and plans. In Riverhead, it’s town government that is the problem.

Why is town government the problem? Why are they so ineffective at seeing anything to fruition? Probably because when they eventually do decide on something it falls victim to a highly politicized development process influenced by NIMBYism, over zealous eco-warriors, and their own excessive government planning and stupidity. Their lack of basic economic fundamentals and any adequate business experience adds to their embarrassing failure rate. Nothing will ever materialize until this supervisor and town board gets out of its own way.

If Riverhead is truly serious about revitalizing the downtown, then it needs strong leadership from people with successful business credentials. Until the revitalization is treated as a business, and not some utopian tax payer funded fantasy, there will never be any success. No revitalization will ever occur.

What the town board should be doing is increasing zoning density and building height requirements for the downtown. Make it profitable to develop. The increased density will naturally increase the desperately needed foot traffic, create affordable housing, and help reduce sprawl. The market will then determine the planning all on its own. This wouldn’t cost the taxpayers one penny on appraisals and exhaustive studies. What the town board should be planning are road, sidewalk, and sewer improvements to accommodate these future infrastructure needs. Without this, no revitalization will ever occur.

As far as the town acquiring property through negotiations or eminent domain condemnation; please. They were GIVEN EPCAL ten years ago and just ask the spotted owls how that project is going. How could the taxpayers not be skeptical, if not down right outraged? The town board would also best serve the taxpayers if they restrained from interfering with land use and preserved individual property rights. Free the market from the town board and free Riverhead.

After all, has any economic improvement ever materialized? Has town government ever solved problems, or have they just created more?

We are staring at what could be a long deep painful recession. The odds of the downtown being dead for another ten years are very real. The consequences of continuing to allow the town to make poor business decisions will eventually lead us to doom. If we continue clinging to the past and fear that any form of modernizing is bad, we will never be reborn. Finally, drawing inspiration from the past is important, but we desperately must start living for the future.

As Bill London noted, how could we keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results? What have we got to lose with a business based approach? It won’t cost a penny. And may we find new business people to lead the way. They might actually make us a few pennies.