For me, Fred Balzac, leadership is about getting out front—ahead of the pack and ahead of the curve. As a candidate for North Elba town supervisor in 2019, I called for a moratorium on the approval of new short-term rentals. A couple of years later, the North Elba town board and Village of Lake Placid board of trustees instituted just such a moratorium.
In that same 2019 race but also as a 2020 candidate for trustee in the Village of Saranac Lake (VSL), I advocated for diversifying our local economy, warning of an overreliance on tourism. Sure enough, within a couple of months of entering the trustee race, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, bringing a total halt to tourism. At a VSL board of trustee meeting circa 2022, my call for diversifying the local economy was even echoed by no less a figure than Jim McKenna, CEO of the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST).
While I do not claim to be able to predict the future, I do have an explanation for being right in these two instances. It has to do with paying attention to what’s going on in our communities, reading widely, and thinking critically. That’s largely what leadership is all about.
Now I am bringing such thinking, skills, and experience to the current race to fill two councilperson seats on the North Elba town board whose terms are up on Election Day, November 7, 2023. On May 24th, I accepted the nomination at the North Elba Democratic Caucus, along with incumbent Emily Kilburn Politi for the other seat and incumbent Derek Doty for supervisor. While Doty is running unopposed, Emily and I face two Republican opponents—Richard (“Dick”) Cummings, also an incumbent, and Edward (“Andy”) Borden III.
I view the potential for the race to be highly compelling for voters in North Elba, which encompasses the hamlet of Ray Brook, about one-third of the Village of Saranac Lake, and all of the Village of Lake Placid—as well as a hotly contested one. The defining issue, as I see it, is whether North Elba has a town board that prioritizes the needs of year-round residents or continues to serve the demands of “special” interests before anyone else—with implications for such critical, but often rarely discussed, issues as quality of life, achieving a sustainable environment as well as local economy in the face of climate change, smart growth vs. overdevelopment, and whether the town should consider to rely on large sporting events such as Iron Man and the FISU World University Games or diversify our local economy to anticipate such previously unforeseen phenomena as global pandemics and the receding winter climate.
I am running on issues—especially those not typically discussed or dealt with at our town board meetings. My number-one priority if elected will be to serve the needs and interests of year-round residents first and foremost and property owners who are seasonal residents next. As an outsider who is not part of the North Elba establishment, I am not associated with, nor have anything to gain from, such powerful interests as ROOST, the big hotels in Lake Placid, certain real estate interests, or the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA,). My only boss will be the People of North Elba.
Standing Up for People
I’ve been standing up to special interests and governmental authorities since moving to the Adirondack North Country in 1992-93, when my wife and I established the first bed & breakfast home in the Hamlet of Jay. Upon learning of the New York State and Essex County governments’ plan to construct a massive, new concrete-and-steel bridge over the famed Jay swimming hole, rapids and part of the upstream scenic-recreational river corridor, we helped organize a grassroots citizens advocacy group opposing the new-bridge plan—Bridge and Beyond—and I led the effort to find an alternative that would solve the area’s transportation needs while preserving the then-rapidly deteriorating, historic Jay Covered Bridge (JCB) (preservation of which was not included in the new-bridge plan) and protect the scenically stunning Jay rapids, swimming hole and upstream river corridor.
As a result of what would become a 15-year struggle—which included taking on what was arguably Jay’s most important and influential special interest, Ward Lumber, with strong enough ties to the state and county Republican Party, included the region’s then-powerful State Senator, Ron Stafford, to have a covered-bridge-as-sole-crossing renovation plan supported by the new-bridge opponents scuttled and the JCB removed as a crossing—my cohorts and I persevered to achieve a compromise, million-dollar Federal, state and county plan to build the new bridge downstream of the JCB; restore and renovate the JCB as a pedestrian and bicycle crossing; and enhance the recreational area adjacent to the covered bridge, representing a win-win for the sustainable-environment advocates such as Bridge and Beyond, Ward Lumber and, most importantly, the residents of Jay and neighboring communities.
Since my wife and I purchased our current home in 2018 on the North Elba side of the Village of Saranac Lake and moved there from Jay to live full-time, on literally the last block in North Elba/Essex County (I can see Franklin County from my house…because it’s literally across the street—a line I’ve used way too much in public!), I’ve continued standing up for—and, in some cases, helping organize—regular people against special interests, including:
● Concerned Citizens to Protect Lake Placid (CCPLP), including members of the Balsams of Lake Placid Homeowners Association, whose neighborhood was threatened by the proposed placement of a 36,000-gallon propane storage tank and transfer facility on a lot adjacent to the Balsams and the United Hebrew Community of Lake Placid Cemetery. In 2019 I participated in CCPLP meetings, volunteered my communications skills, and attended and spoke out at meetings of the Joint Review Board. The threat went away when a resident of the Balsams was able to purchase the lot that a local oil company had targeted for its planned storage tank.
● Residents of Duprey Street in the Village of Saranac Lake (VSL) who were alarmed by a plan by then-Village Mayor Clyde Rabideau, a contractor, to tear down three separate dwellings (resulting in the eviction of any people living in them) on a tiny corner lot and building a large multi-residential structure. The residents feared the structure would alter the single-family residential character of the neighborhood and become just the latest of several short-term rental (STR) dwellings that Rabideau had sold or still owned in the neighborhood. Although the project was eventually approved by the VSL Development Board (which I find troubling in part because its members at the time had been appointed by Mayor Rabideau, along with the four village trustees), the opposition to it did, in my view, result in the Development Board requiring modifications in the size and scope of the project—representing a partial victory for the neighbors’ efforts.
I also helped organize Duprey Street residents who lived near a second Rabideau construction site whose neighbors were concerned would also be converted into an STR. I lent my research, communications and public-interest skills to their effort; accompanied one female property owner to the village police station where she filed a complaint against Rabideau for verbally assaulting her; and accompanied several neighbors to a meeting with the village Development Code administrator and code enforcement officer, protesting what the residents viewed as preferential treatment by these two officials (who, after all, worked under Rabideau as mayor) in allowing Rabideau to violate building and code regulations.
● Residents for a Sustainable Community (RSC) in Lake Placid, a group of mostly year-round residents, shopkeepers, and other business owners who banded together to advocate for strict regulation of the hundreds of STRs in Placid, which were degrading the quality of life and altering the residential character of an already intensely tourist-focused community. The work of the RSC contributed to hundreds of community members turning out for public hearings on STRs and helped push the Town of North Elba and Village of Lake Placid governments to finally adopt fairly stringent regulations—after about a decade of doing nothing to prevent the issue from festering.
● Neighbors for Good Government (NfGG) – Tri-Lakes, which I co-founded with several other Saranac Lake residents, alarmed by a couple of incidents in which then-Mayor Rabideau verbally assaulted women—including with the use of foul, misogynistic language—who lived or owned property next-door to lots he and one of his construction companies were building on. The group regularly attended and spoke out at VSL board meetings, began to document instances of the mayor abusing his office to benefit himself and his companies financially, and posted a petition at Change.org calling for the village trustees to initiate an investigation into the mayor’s behavior and practices.
In 2022, NfGG co-sponsored, with High Peaks Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)—another area public-interest organization of which I am a proud member—a highly regarded forum with the three new candidates for village mayor. In April of that year, Rabideau left office under a cloud and politically he’s hardly been heard from politically since.
Experienced, Educated and Brimming with Bold New Ideas and Well-defined Goals & Positions
With more than 40 years of work experience in medical communications, journalism, community organizing, grant writing, marketing and promotions, and the nonprofit sector, I believe I have the requisite skills and background to be a good and useful servant of the People. And with 30 years of community service/volunteering, activism/advocacy and involvement in local government and politics here in the Adirondack North Country, I am confident I have the vision to help reform the town government and move North Elba and its people forward to a new era of environmental sustainability, economic justice and stability, and an improved residential quality of life.
As a strong believer in, and advocate of, the value of higher education, I earned a B.A. in English from Columbia College, the main undergraduate liberal arts division of Columbia University, and—returning to school more than 30 years later—a Multimedia Journalism Certificate from SUNY Plattsburgh, where I continue to take classes in such disciplines as political science and film studies on a part-time basis.
My goals and positions on the issues include:
● Honest, open and transparent local government, serving the interests of working people, families with school-age children, seniors, renters, property owners, the economically disadvantaged, small business owners and permanent residents—not the special interests, which I define as “any entities that seek consideration from government that’s NOT in the public interest.”
● Ensuring that ALL residents of North Elba are fairly and effectively represented—regardless of whether they live in Saranac Lake, Ray Brook or Lake Placid
● Working to enhance our current housing stock, protect the rights of tenants while being fair to landlords, and ensure more and better affordable housing—e.g., by requiring developers of high-end housing to set aside a large percentage of units for moderate-to-low-income housing and by preventing corporations from buying up available homes, apartment buildings and commercial structures that can be converted to housing
● Pushing for ecologically sustainable development and SMART growth—bearing in mind always the potentially catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis on our community and the Adirondacks as a whole
● Going green: working toward more renewable energy, preservation of open space, and local food production in both the public and private sectors in North Elba
● Emphasizing education: connecting local government with area schools to expand educational opportunities for all, including adults
● Maximizing and optimizing municipal services while keeping Town of North Elba taxes down as much as possible
● Rethinking local tourism efforts while diversifying our local economy so that North Elba ceases being as dependent on tourists as it currently is. Early in 2020, as a candidate for village trustee in Saranac Lake, I called for rethinking tourism and diversifying our local economy and, a couple of months later, the COVID-19 pandemic hit—and we all know what impact that had, bringing tourism to a complete halt.
One way to do so, for example, is by boosting government support of the arts and other cultural aspects of life in the Adirondack North Country; I remain a strong supporter of arts and culture as economic drivers. Another way is to expand the availability of locally grown or raised food and do everything we can to support our local small farmers.
● Support for a moratorium and/or hard cap on any additional STRs established by corporate entities or other absentee owners, while supporting the right of current homeowners to rent out a room or another dwelling on the property on a short-term basis as long as they live there full-time and comply with local STR, building-code and zoning regulations.
Despite such specific goals and well-defined positions, I realize that I don’t have anywhere near all of the answers to the problems and challenges facing North Elba. As a strong believer in true democracy, where the People know best what’s in their own self-interest and exercise their rights and power over the elites, I, if elected, aim to give voice to the people whose needs are often not prioritized, and at times not even represented, at town board meetings.
As someone who considers himself as much an independent, small-‘d’ democrat as a registered, big-‘D’ Democrat—if not more so—I hope to spend much of my time, if elected to town council, learning the concerns of our year-round residents and small-business owners. I encourage anyone who lives, works, and/or votes in North Elba, as well as neighboring communities, which are often impacted by what goes on in Lake Placid and elsewhere in our tow, to share their concerns by contacting me at FredforNorthElba@gmail.com and/or via my cell, 518-588-7275, as well as to return to this website, YourStruggleIsOurFight.com.
Your Struggle Is OUR Fight 