By: Glen van Lier
To the editor:
"You can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time" I hope and I pray that those who have been fooled will soon see the reality which is becoming more clear.
Last year, Mayor Joe Tricarico and company appointed political party bosses, contributors and campaign workers to numerous high visibility positions. They went way over the line by giving paying jobs to a former party chairman and to Mayor Joe Tricarico’s former campaign manager. This year the pattern of purely political partisanship continues, to the detriment of our community.
Peg Van Patton and Paul Drake were removed from the Hillsborough Planning Board this year by Mayor Tricarico. Ms. Van Patton is known not just around town, but across the entire state as a passionate advocate for the environment. She has contributed much more than the average Planning Board member to just about every meeting, every application, and most importantly she did more work than most of her fellow members. Peg was replaced by a person who has done nothing more than work hard for the Democratic Party. In fact, Peg’s replacement was adamantly against the Route 206 By-Pass and strenuously argued for a Main Street design that would bring all traffic through the center of town on an eight-lane roadway she said would be just like Jericho Turnpike on Long Island. That is most certainly not what our residents clearly told us they want for our town.
Is this a good and reasonable replacement for the town’s most important board?
It doesn’t end there. Mayor Tricarico and the Democrats also replaced Paul Drake with a political worker. Paul Drake worked for the state’s Department of Environmental Protection before being promoted to assist the state’s Office of State Planning in developing tougher better planning guidelines and regulations. Paul has a master’s degree in planning and holds a state license as a planner. Who better to help steer the township to an improved Master Plan?
Instead, Paul was moved to the much lower impact Board of Adjustment to make way for someone with no planning knowledge or expertise, no visible record of any positive contribution to the town aside from actively campaigning for the Hillsborough Democrats.
Sure he fought against Greenbriar, but so did Peg Van Patton and look where she wound up.
Mayor Tricarico and his political allies got into office without making any positive contribution to Hillsborough. Can you recall any? Nope didn’t think so.
Instead they made many promises which got people to decide to switch parties. That’s what politicians do. Unfortunately for Hillsborough, Mayor Tricarico and the Democrats have broken every significant promise. Those who were fooled by the many promises are slowly waking up.
Hillsborough