A Message to Student Voters

A Message to our Student Voters

Welcome to the wild world of local politics. It has been my privilege to be your teacher and your partner. I would like to ask for your vote.

In so many ways you are fully engaged members of our community. You risk your lives to volunteer in the Fire Department. You make our cash registers ring. You bring life to our streets. You baby sit our kids. Many of you decide to stay here in Geneseo to raise your kids. I am one of those students.

I did my Geneseo degree back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I was one of those students who had to work a job twenty hours a week to pay my bills. There is a myth out there that all Geneseo students are rich. The reality is not the myth. Paying for college is getting tougher every day. You need all the help you can get.

Many students have to pay a summer lease, but can’t stay in Geneseo because they can’t find a summer job.

During my eight years as Town Supervisor, we have worked together to expand employment opportunities for students. We have added jobs in all sectors of the market. We have more work to do. We are winning the fight.

We have also provided outstanding opportunities for internships. We don’t believe in internships that specialize in stuffing envelopes and making copies. Our student interns take a lead role in researching policy initiatives in the legislative process. We give resume lines that glow in the dark.

As chairperson of the Conesus Lake Watershed Council, I am deeply gratified for the ground-breaking work that our faculty and students have done in ecological research and open space preservation.

A student Democrat questioned me on my decision to accept the Conservative Party endorsement. There are twice as many Republicans in Geneseo as Democrats. I won twice as a Democrat because I can reach out to more conservative and moderate voters. You can’t get elected as a Democrat in Geneseo unless you can appeal to a broad spectrum. When the Democrats lurch too far to the left in Geneseo, they get tossed out of office because they lose the middle. I call it the Leiberman effect. Whether you like Senator Leiberman’s position on the war or not, he knew better than his party where his constituents were.

Did you know that fiscal conservatives don’t like the neo-cons? Fiscal conservatives don’t like profligate spending, invasion of privacy or foreign intervention that leads to nation building. In politics, there are always opportunities to build coalitions.

Unfortunately, our local Democratic leadership has lurched so far to the left that they have left the majority of Geneseo citizens out in the cold. Whether one likes the Lowes proposal or not, it is favored by a large majority of Geneseo citizens. The Democratic ticket is out of touch on this issue.

The Democratic ticket has also favored moving the Town Offices back to Main Street. The citizens of Geneseo approved the move to our current location by margin of 10 to 1. Why the Democratic ticket wants to swim against the tide of a 10 to 1 vote is something I do not understand.

For over a decade, I have worked to build the Democratic Party in Geneseo. But you will recall from Humanities I that Dante has a place in Hell for those who mistake the good of their political party for the good of their community. I make no such mistake.

I ask you to forget the party line and join us in pulling this community together. We need to hear all the voices, not just the loud voices. Look for Wes Kennison, David Dwyer and Hop Manapol on the ballot next Tuesday.

Conesus Lake Association Questions

Town of Geneseo
Supervisor Candidates

Wes Kennison
1) At the local level, we have many initiatives going. We have experienced some success. We have a long, long way to go to achieve a healthy lake. Since the big fixes will require big bucks, we need to redouble our efforts in Washington D.C. and Albany to bring forward the necessary resources. We have worked hard to build relationships in the Legislature, the Governor’s Office, and the Congress. Changing local leadership would mean starting from scratch in those areas. We need to keep the team in the field.

2) The Solarbee project required courage. We have demonstrated a willingness to take risks, commit resources and make a difference. There is no magic bullet. Success can only be achieved by fighting the battle on many fronts at the same time. The Conesus Lake Watershed Management Plan contains the list of things that need to get done. We have accomplished many objectives of the plan. We need to finish the implementation of the plan.

3) We have made sure that the lake residents are represented on the Zoning Board of Appeals. As chair of the Conesus Lake Watershed Council, I have been proud to promote sensible uniformity of policy throughout the watershed. The success we had in writing and implementing the Erosion Control Law, is a model for harmonizing lake regulations among the townships. We can now take advantage of research done by the Genesee Regional Planning Council on the subject of lakefront zoning to guide us. Let’s get it done. I have also appointed Greg Foust to our Comprehensive Plan Committee to be sure that we have a strong voice for lake issues in the crafting of that plan.

4) We have been working with the offices of Senators Schumer and Clinton to move the Finger Lakes Recovery Act along. This bill is slated to provide $50,000,000 for the Finger Lakes. We have positioned ourselves well to to take advantage of those funds. At the right time we will be seeking your help to write letters in support. Given the tremendous success of the USDA study of best management practices in agriculture we are proving that these methods keep fertilizers in the fields where they belong and out of the lake.

5) We are very proud of the improvements we have made to Long Point Park. The renovation of the pavilion, the boathouse, and the pending creation of a Long Point Park Museum. The big project before us (funding already approved) is the construction of a twelve-month bathroom facility and a dock upgrade to make it easily accessible from the water. But it all takes money. We have a great record grantwriting for the lake. We will continue that success into the future. But a key issue in funding must be addressed here. Lake residents pay a big chunk of property taxes to the Town, County and School District. We need to bring more economic development to the town outside village to grow the tax base, raise revenues and hold the line on rising costs. The Lowes debate obscures the fact that this administration is adding small businesses to Geneseo at a rate of more than one per month. That is a miracle in rural New York. We are keeping sales tax dollars home and easing the burden on property tax. The development issues impact the lake directly because every initiative costs money. Those who would chase businesses away harm our future ability to fund lake projects.

6) We work hard to bring folks into compliance. Those who insist on violating the law should receive the consequences.

7) We have a great start with our Erosion Control Law and our Watershed Inspection Program. The law gives us some teeth in controlling erosion from construction sites. We need to go further to address other erosion sources through stream bank remediation, especially given changing weather patterns that have brought violent rains to us.

8) We need to allow for commercial development in the Volunteer Road area to ease the property tax burden on the lake residents and farmers.

9) Consistency is the coin of the realm. The towns must be passionate in seeking the best methods available to control development in the Watershed. We need to expand municipal water and sewer, and relieve the pressure on aging septic systems. If all municipalities seek state of the art strategies together, then harmonizing those strategies should be no big deal.

10) The fullest extent of the law.

11) Over the past eight years, I have never been shy about advocating for Conesus Lake throughout the town, county, state and nation. The lake is a vital resource for tourism, drinking water and quality of life. The rising status of the Watershed Council as a forum for lake issues has provided a focal point for public communication. Some candidates in this race think that the Lowes Project is the only issue that matters. I disagree. I will not let anyone forget the lake.

12) I have been a tireless advocate for the lake for eight years. I have built relationships with the CLA, and our friends in Albany and Washington that cannot be replicated by any of my opponents. I am honored to be on the team with David Dwyer and Hop Manapol who have been there every day to support the lake. Let’s keep a winning team in tnhe field.

A Common Sense Vision for Geneseo's Economic Future

A Common Sense Vision for

Geneseo’s Economic Future

Upstate New York is hurting. There is no secret about that. Geneseo is bucking the trend and it’s not by accident. In all the passionate debate about the Lowes Project, a fundamental truth is lost. We are privileged to be having this debate at all. There are other communities who would give their eye teeth to have the opportunities that we have. Let’s be sure that we take those opportunities seriously.

While all attention is focused on the Lowes, we have been adding small businesses in Geneseo and a furious pace. The empty former WalMart has been redeveloped. The defunct car dealership at the bottom of Court Street has been transformed.

Success has come to us because there has been wise, meticulous planning, and great teamwork in executing the plan. That planning and teamwork goes back many years to long before I became the supervisor. The smart growth principle to locate economic development in a central area at Volunteer Road with adequate water and sewer infrastructure was crucial to pointing us in the right direction. Four years ago, the Town Board denied a rezoning proposal to build a car dealership at Exit 8 off Route 390. It was not smart growth. We said no.

When I ran for supervisor in 1999, I said that Geneseo should have a foreign policy. I listen to the media reporting our loss of jobs through outsourcing to foreign countries. I am not a whiner by nature. I said at the time that we needed to be bold and reach our into the international business world and invite them to come here.

I was proud to be a member of the team that brought Barilla Pasta to Livingston County. Fifty seven agencies worked seamlessly together to make that happen. My many years of experience living and working in Italy were valuable in helping the team know how to respond to the cultural values of a company like Barilla.

But Barilla is just the beginning. Once you land the largest pasta making company in Italy then the sky is the limit. In the Finger Lakes Region, we have wine. Now we have pasta. What about the cheese, the prosciuto, the biscotti. Let’s go get the rest of the meal and celebrate the great benefits that Italian Americans have planted here in our valley. We should be the central distribution point of a cuisine and lifestyle that is more popular every day throughout the world.

Why not partner with the college to expand our cultural and educational ties with Italy, opening up opportunities to enrich us on every level. Why not build upon the great work started by the Chamber of Commerce in the promotion of tourism to make Geneseo a port of call for foreign tourists? Our trial programs have been very successful. The team in the field is winning. Let’s keep our team in the field.

A Record of Achievement

Because we listened to you,

We held the line on town taxes and we grew the tax base.

We achieved the highest possible bond rating for Livingston County and helped to bring the Barilla Pasta factory to our valley.

We will soon see a kidney dialysis unit in Geneseo.

We brought fourteen new, small businesses to our community in 2007.

Because we listened to you,

We broke a ten-year deadlock and renovated our beautiful, new municipal office space. The renovations, from bricks and mortar to picture frames, cost only $160,000. Half of that money came from interest earned on our building fund.

We negotiated to bring cable and internet to 200 homes on our rural roads.

Because we listened to you,

We will make sure that all voices are heard in the review of the Lowes proposal, not just the loud voices.

We have followed principles of smart growth to control sprawl, turning down a zoning change that sought to bring a car dealership to Exit 8 on 390, while encouraging the location of new commercial development on Volunteer Road and the bottom of Court Street.

Because we listened to you,

We have committed substantial resources to the fight for a healthier Conesus Lake.

We have made major improvements to the Long Point Park pavilion. We will construct a new bathroom facility before next summer.

We have added new water and sewer lines and continue the hard work of expanding the system for those in dire need.

Re-Elect Common Sense

Wes Kennison for Supervisor

David Dwyer

and Hop Manapol

for Town Council