Monday, October 3, 2011

Lee Jamison for Stuyvesant Town Supervisor


Lee Jamison
I moved to Columbia County 30 years ago to escape the suburban sprawl, poor planning and environmental degradation that was encroaching on the family dairy farm where I grew up. I bought an old house to fix up on Riverview Street in Stuyvesant for a $30,000 mortgage, now I'm told I have a million dollar view!

You bet I appreciate the property tax pinch!

We can only solve the property tax problem by smart economic stimulus and by active grantsmanship, attracting other dollars to the support local infrastructure burden. Sadly our Town Board let $250,000 of GE settlement money for Waterfront development slip through it's fingers this year. Thirty years have passed and Stuyvesant has no Waterfront Access Plan. For 10 years, $95,000 DOT grant dollars for Depot Restoration has yet to go out to bid. No stimulus funds were requested for anything, yet CSX snatched up $300,000 each for four grade crossings. That same $1.2 million might have repaired the Schoolhouse Rd Bridge.

I hold a Masters of Social Work from Adelphi University. As Director of Day Services at COARC for 12 years, I managed budgets of over $1million and a large staff. Currently, I am providing critically needed outpatient psychiatric services for people with Developmental Disabilities in Columbia County through Dennis Marcus MD and Asoc. This was an initiative started 11 years ago in response to local need and has succeeded due not only to lots of work and energy but also team building with other like-minded advocates. It has enhanced the quality of life for all of us . To this end, I continue to serve on the Columbia County Community Services Board Subcommittee for Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. This committee is responsible for developing the yearly MR Services Plan for the County.

I raised two children as a single working mom. One daughter is now a PhD candidate at UVM in Burlington and my son, recently a journalist at the Hudson Register Star, is a Master's student at NYU. Both were proud Ichabod Crane grads!
I am an effective advocate for what I believe in! I have expertise at both the Town and County level. I have testified at various public hearings for DEC to hold LaFarge Cement accountable for its effects on the air, soil and water in Stuyvesant. I have been an advocate for the Ken Hummel Memorial Park; personally working as a volunteer building trails and organizing birding, hiking and snowshoeing events at the park.

I have extensive experience on countywide community boards such as having served as the President of the Board of the Philmont Hearth, 4-H Advisory Committee, Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Kinderhook Memorial Library, Stuyvesant Falls Hydro and the Stuyvesant Recreation Committee. I have worked on a number of local political campaigns as well as two successful Library 414 Budget resolutions. I have also been involved in organizing and working for local fundraisers for the Library, the Recreation Committee, the Stuyvesant Depot Restoration and the Columbia County Historical Society. I am a founding member, volunteer, organizer and vendor for the fifth year of the Stuyvesant Farmer's Market. The Farmer's Market has been one of the few economic initiative in our community in the past years.

I can prioritize, recruit talent, team build, initiate and follow through!

I believe these are all vital qualities for an effective Town Supervisor in Stuyvesant and for an advocate on the Columbia Board of Supervisors!

I appreciate your support.