The following responses were submitted to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and Lake Placid News on October 20, 2023. The edited versions were published in the Enterprise and News in the October 26th and 27th editions, respectively (please see links further below).
Name: Fred Balzac
Age: 64
Occupation: Arts-grant coordinator
Position sought: One of 2 North Elba town-councilperson seats up on Nov. 7, 2023
Q: Why are you running for this position?
A: To represent and give voice to year-round homeowners & tenants in our town. Rather than cater to the demands of special interests (which I define as any entities that seek consideration from government that’s NOT in the public interest), my Number-1 goal if elected is to prioritize the needs of ALL our neighbors — putting people before profits.
Q: What are your qualifications?
A: My Number-1 qualification is that I have a proven record of fighting FOR people against the special interests.
As a full-time resident of Jay (1993-2018), I led a successful 15-year struggle to preserve the historic Jay Covered Bridge and protect the Jay rapids, swimming hole & upstream scenic-recreational river corridor from the proposed construction of a concrete-and-steel bridge. This victory required standing up to such special interests as the NYS Dept. of Transportation and Essex County Board of Supervisors — and to win it, my neighbors & I never backed down.
Since my wife & I purchased our home on the N. Elba side of Saranac Lake in 2018, I’ve continued standing up for — and, in some cases, helping organize — ordinary people against special interests, including: • Concerned Citizens to Protect Lake Placid, who fought the proposed placement of a 36,000-gallon propane storage tank on a lot adjacent to the Balsams neighborhood and the United Hebrew Community of LP Cemetery; • residents of Duprey St. in SL, whose neighborhood’s single-family-home residential character was threatened by townhouse/short-term rental construction projects being built by then-Village Mayor Clyde Rabideau; and • Residents for a Sustainable Community in LP, who banded together to advocate for strict regulation of hundreds of STRs. For additional qualifications, I urge North Elba voters to visit my website YourStruggleIsOurFight.com.
Q: What are your main goals?
A: (1) Putting the needs of year-round residents — working people, families with school-age children, seniors, renters, property owners, the economically disadvantaged & small-business owners — FIRST; (2) Ensuring honest, open & transparent local government; (3) Maximizing municipal services while keeping taxes down and ensuring fair & equitable assessments; (4) Pushing for ecologically sustaining development and getting N. Elba to “Go Green”; (5) Working to see that more & better affordable housing is built for middle-&-low-income residents; (6) Treating ALL residents of N. Elba fairly regardless of whether they live in Lake Placid, Ray Brook or Saranac Lake; and (7) Diversifying our local economy away from an overreliance on tourism and ill-advised, oversized events (e.g., the World University Games) toward such things as Green jobs, local food production & the arts as sustainable economic drivers.
Q: What do you think are the three biggest problems in the town, and how do you propose solving them?
A: Problems: (1) A declining quality of life due to the prioritization of demands of special interests (e.g., those pushing for STRs, big sporting events, $29 million for the APA’s proposed move to SL) over the needs of year-round residents; (2) Inability by local government to deal with the effects of climate change & the coming climate catastrophe; and (3) Tendency by local government to focus solely on nuts-and-bolts while losing sight of the BIG picture — e.g., what is the point of having all these big tourist events when we don’t have enough workers for them or affordable housing for the workers to live in?
Solutions: (1) Actively “lobby” year-round residents to attend & speak out at our town board meetings, expand the scope of committees comprised only of town-board members to include residents, implement standing citizen advisory boards like we have in the Village of Saranac Lake, require the town board to vote on “year-round-resident-quality-of-life impact-statement determinations” on every significant proposal that comes before the board… and diversify our local economy (see #7 above);
(2) Solar panels/renewable energy for town hall & all other town facilities; require solar/renewable energy for all new commercial & high-end home construction; local adoption of the Green New Deal; actively lobby state & federal government to help N. Elba residents/businesses go Green and create Green jobs; preserve/expand open space; support local farmers; and require the town board to make environmental impact-statement determinations before every significant vote it takes;
(3) Diversify our local economy, including a buy-local campaign & community development fund in which residents can invest in N. Elba and obtain microloans for residential/commercial projects; on housing, do a comprehensive town-wide inventory, ensure current codes are strictly enforced, protect the rights of tenants while being fair to landlords, raise the percentage of units developers must set aside for affordable housing from 10% while lowering the affordability formula to benefit middle-&-low-income residents and lobby state & federal government to fund public housing like they have in Europe, where people of all income levels live together.
Q: Other comments to voters?
Given the Great Recession of 2008, election of would-be dictator Donald Trump, rise of authoritarianism worldwide and threats to American democracy at home, COVID-19 pandemic, current price of food & gas and coming climate catastrophe, the life we live today likely won’t resemble the one our children & their peers will live in the future. We must think globally and act locally — especially in local government. Having a Community Development Director and creating a new Economic Development Director position are good first steps, but they are not solutions. They are like having a plan to make a plan. We need action; new, big-picture ideas; and creative, outside-the-box thinking. I believe I can bring all that if elected to the town board this year.
As someone who has been actively monitoring & involved in local government since moving to Essex County full-time 30 years ago, I am a truly independent Democrat and a small-“d,” democracy-loving one. Because I have no ties to such powerful entities as ROOST or ORDA, no longer work in tourism, nor benefit from area real-estate sales, I will have one boss if elected: The People of North Elba. I’ll have your back and hope you’ll have mine. Thank you!
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North Elba town-council candidate questionnaire responses, Oct. 26-27, 2023:
https://www.lakeplacidnews.com/news/local-news/2023/10/26/north-elba-candidate-fred-balzac/
Your Struggle Is OUR Fight 