The Ithaca Journal printed a piece "T-burg, Ulysses continue water fight" Saturday morning. It's a disappointing piece of journalism. The headline makes it sound as if the village is fighting the town, which is not the case. The conflict is between those that want to rush ahead with ill conceived plans, and those who resist.
Then there is this,
"Carstensen said he's not in favor or strongly opposed to water district five, and said he thinks it's a decision to be made by the planing board and the zoning board."
They got this totally wrong. I am strongly opposed to water district five - as presently described (25 miles of pipe and 10 - 15 million dollars) I did not say that it is a decision for the planning and zoning boards. The author is confusing what I said about the Byrne Dairy project (where I can see both sides) with what I said about wd5.
The author also failed to mention a critical piece of information, which I feel voters need, in-order to make their decision. Back to Democracy, a local group of grassroots volunteers, held a candidate forum last Saturday. Debbie Nottke refused to attend, saying that BTD was a "political advocacy group". BTD advocates for participatory democracy, with the aims of peace, social justice, sustainability, and liberation from corporate control. They do not advocate for one political party over another. I asked for their endorsement, and they refused, in-order to maintain this neutral status. This is the third candidate forum that BTD has hosted between candidates for Trumansburg and Ulysses offices. This is a valuable service to the community, and I hope that all candidates will participate in the future.
