Brockport volunteer group drawn into political fray

Brockport volunteer group drawn into political fray

Members of Brockport's Walk! Bike! Brockport! Action Group came out in full force to the June 19 village board meeting. "I want to know why this group has been dragged through the coals. I wonder why we bother doing community service," member Ray Duncan said. "The group is definitely not a special interest group, nor do we spend village money prolifigately. I have heard that our group is an octopus with tentacles that are taking over the government and that just isn't true."

Duncan and several other members of the group took to the podium and decried recent political ads and letters to the editor painted the group in a bad light. "Our goals are to promote walking and biking in the village," Duncan said. "We are not a special interest group, we are non political and not-for-profit. We have been thanked and commended in the past by this mayor (Mort Wexler) but now we are being condemned for things we didn't do - we didn't build the visitor center - that is not linked to Walk! Bike!"

Trustee Carrie Maziarz defended the group saying they are sanctioned by the village. "These community members contribute time, energy and money to the village. They have worked hard to beautify the village," she said. "It's a very emotional time to sit here and see a group get punched in the face. We do not do this to any other group in the community."

In other matters the board:

•Heard from Police Chief Dan Varrenti that his officers were involved in a high speed chase that began when two burglars from Parma were caught in the act and who led police from Parma on a chase that ended in Brockport.

•Heard from Fire Chief Laurence Vaughan that the department has responded to 381 fire and 793 EMS calls year-to-date. "We are averaging 6.9 calls a day," he said.

•Fire and police officials were commended for their quick response time to a fire that occurred on May 16. Five people were trapped in a house fire on High Street. The house was so heavily damaged that Vaughan said it was impossible to determine if the smoke detectors alerted occupants to the blaze. Police officers responded within one minute of receiving the call and helped occupants off the roof.

•Heard that the five fire districts voted on and approved consolidation of the departments into one unit. The change will occur on September 24.

•Approved sponsorship requests for the Western Monroe Historical Society in the amount of $300 and the Merchants Association Sidewalk Sale and Street Faire request in the amount of $500. Trustee Maria Castaneda voted against both sponsorship requests saying the village cannot afford to keep doing "business as usual." "We just don't have the money to keep giving a little here and a little there," she said. "We need to be careful - I have nothing against the Merchants or the Historical Society but I don't believe we need to keep spending money that we don't have."

Maziarz said the board needs to look at continuing to build public and private partnerships.