Tuckahoe Village Departments

TUCKAHOE TALK
With Mayor John Fitzpatrick

THREE ENVELOPES

March 10, 2011

There is an old political joke that states when entering elected office, there will be three envelopes on your desk to assist your transition. After the first year, if the public starts getting cantankerous, you open the first envelope which states, "Blame everything on your predecessor". This is meant to calm the masses and move you into the second year of office. If the pitch forks and torches are again handed out and the public is once more beating at the door, you are to open the second envelope which states, "Blame your staff". So you reorganize, fire a bunch of people and hopefully yet again the masses are quelled. If the public subsequently gathers once more, you open the third envelope which states, "Prepare three envelopes".

When a new mayor arrives, it is certainly with some personal anticipation and anxiety. In the joke at least an incoming official is left with something. The reality is no secrets are imparted as you take over and there are no envelopes on the desk to pull out at pivotal moments. We have all read stories of newly elected officials arriving to find every filing cabinet empty. In a village, such as ours, the filing cabinets are never empty and the former mayors haven't moved on to a ranch in Texas. They still live right in the community they helped shape, but that doesn't mean a new mayor would seek their counsel.

All who served the Village of Tuckahoe did so during their own distinct time, each with successes and failures. Some mayors were certainly the architects of these successes or failures; while others were simply swept along in national tides or even global implications. Each undoubtedly had some story that could prove useful to a new mayor. Which just about brings me to my point - there should be a journal of some kind passed along to mayors.

In a film entitled "National Treasure - Book of Secrets", there is just such a fictional journal passed from president to president. It's filled with confidential information that they have rationalized only they could handle. While Tuckahoe doesn't have any "Area 51", at least not that I discovered, this may seem unnecessary. On that subject though, I am pretty sure Marbledale Road's past has a few nasty secrets that someone has taken to the grave. Nevertheless, secrets are extraneous to the reasoning for such a book to be passed from mayor to mayor.

A few pages from the vantage point of his or her particular mayoral term may prove to be a valuable resource to future mayors. With that in mind, I have purchased a black leather journal, stamped upon it the village seal and placed it in the mayor's desk. A journal of this sort would prove unbearably boring if it were simply a daily accounting of a term in office. My hope instead is that all mayors will write something reflective of themselves, their constituents and their time.

During my latest term I spent a few spare hours perusing the meeting minutes from the depression years attempting to glean some useful tidbit from Mayor Crouch and his board, which served during that time. Discovering the village budget in 1935 was $270,000 might lead one to believe there wasn't much insight available, however, several of the Mayor's words seem timeless. For that reason I have decided to place his words spoken upon taking office on the first page. "We realize it is impossible to serve all the people at all times. If you have complaints to make, we hope you make them to us; if you have words of commendation we appreciate them just as much as we would your criticism. We urge every citizen to cooperate with us in order that we may bring a better condition to the entire village."

Whether implied or overt, each mayor must deal with criticism and realistically there may be no advice to be given or received that can help. It comes with the job. And certainly words in a journal won't prepare a mayor for criticism. If decisive, as the job calls for, someone will always disagree. I would suggest avoiding media coverage regarding one's leadership because there really is no value. Inevitably the press will get a quote wrong or worse, decide to interpret intentions. This has probably been the case for over a hundred years since Tuckahoe's first Mayor H.D. Lent took office. And, the avoiding the media suggestion goes double for "blogs".

For better or worse, advancements in technology have also delivered us this modern media version of the bathroom wall - complete with the anonymous bomb thrower. Future mayors will hopefully find the word "blog" as alien as would the Mayor Lent. Realistically, the future probably holds even crazier technological advancements to critique our elected leaders in real time.

Although my close friends and family know I avoid media distractions, inevitably someone asks me how I'm reacting to some blogger nonsense attack. Take Fitz's Folly; which I have been informed is apparently what a blogger has dubbed the latest three proposed buildings in the long term plan to a thriving Main Street. I must confess I have embraced this notion quite happily. Personally, I have found the term ultimately connotes success and have to give that particular blogger kudos for highlighting the analogous nature of the situation. My predecessors, Mr. Fulton and Mr. Seward are perfect parallels for the present. The few delusional individuals that believed Mr. Fulton's steamship would blow up and kill everyone on board, were of course wrong and NY had instead a long lasting and financially successful steamboat business. The political opponents of Mr. Seward (in his case Republicans) who scoffed at the purchase of Alaska from the Russians for 2 cents an acre; probably never ‘fessed up that strategically taking Russia off our continent and providing unimaginable natural resources to our country was a good thing either.

Tuckahoe's newest Mayor Steve Ecklond won't be left three envelopes, but "The Book" will be in the desk. My contribution to "The Book" will not be advice, at least not in the conventional form. Instead, I will probably relay a story; perhaps like the one just referenced, that future mayors can interpret or misinterpret as they wish or see fit.