Vote Fred Balzac for town council

Posted byFred BalzacPosted inUncategorized

The following letter was published online at the Lake Placid News website on November 2, 2023 and be found there at https://www.lakeplacidnews.com/opinion/letters/2023/11/02/vote-fred-balzac-for-town-council/:

To the editor:

A couple months ago, I was on an organizing call about local short-term rental regulation. At the end of the call, a man who I had never met before asked me, “Is Fred Balzac involved with this group?”

He told me that Fred would be a great person to have on our side, and that Fred’s efforts helped save the Jay Covered Bridge.

It dawned on me that Fred’s local activism has impacted many over the years.

In the time I’ve known Fred, I’ve seen him take public, principled stands on issues others deemed too controversial.

Fred was not afraid to publicly speak out against the opening of the first crisis pregnancy center in the Adirondack Park, an issue that has become even more important since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Fred consistently pushed for more transparency in the Village of Saranac Lake. In my view, his efforts paid significant dividends. Two of the three candidates elected in 2022 made government transparency a major policy plank, and several changes have been made that make the Saranac Lake village government more transparent and accessible.

Fred has been a consistent champion for housing rights and affordable housing. Importantly, he has made sure to advocate on behalf of tenants, a group that is often under-represented in discussions and on task forces related to affordable housing.

The North Country faces many challenges: climate change, a lack of affordable housing, a local economy too dependent on tourism and events. I applaud the efforts the North Elba Town Council has made in addressing these issues, but there is still much work to be done.

At all levels of government, we need leaders who will fight for what they believe in, even when it’s hard or not politically advantageous.

I’m confident that as a town council member, Fred will continue to work hard for the people of North Elba, and provide much-needed representation for Saranac Lake village residents in North Elba.

I encourage you to vote for him on Nov. 7.

David Lynch

Saranac Lake

Published by Fred Balzac

I have extensive experience as a writer, editor, and community/nonprofit organizer as well as a community volunteer. As a medical writer-editor, I worked closely with some of the country's top neurologists on a redefinition of TIA (transient ischemic attack) published in articles in the New England Journal of Medicine and the journal Neurology that's been adopted in clinical trials and practice guidelines. As a community organizer residing in the Adirondacks, I led the effort to protect the stunningly beautiful Jay (NY) rapids and swimming hole and preserve the historic Jay Covered Bridge—a grassroots group effort that resulted in a million-dollar Federal, state, and county plan to renovate the covered bridge and enhance the recreational river-corridor area on either side of it. My writing and community service work has won or shared awards in journalism (e.g., Best Arts Coverage in NYS, Circulation Division 2, from the NY Press Association), essay writing (the statewide "Critical Choices" competition commemorating New York's Bicentennial, with a piece advocating for voting rights for the homeless), playwriting (ADK Center for Writing/North Country Public Radio One-Act Play competition), and the Community Action Award from the Adirondack Council. I am currently a candidate for Supervisor of the Town of North Elba, running on the Green Party line.

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