Watching television on the warm spring evening last June when Barack Obama became the Democratic nominee for president, I realized that there was only one place to be at that uniquely American moment. And it wasn’t the living room of my Buffalo home.

I hopped in my car, crossed Main Street that for too long has divided our city, and drove to the east side. In the quiet darkness, I sat for a few moments in Jessie Clipper Park, a small parcel at Michigan and William streets that honors all African-American military members, and bears the name of the first black man to perish in World War I.

From there I walked to the former Ticor Title Building in downtown Buffalo, where, in February 1861, Abraham Lincoln attended services at the then Unitarian Church just weeks before becoming president.

Then I drove over to the Michigan Street Baptist Church, a stop along history’s most daring expression of human freedom, the underground railroad, and where on several occasions Frederick Douglass spoke. It’s said that of all the abolitionist groups in 19th century America, the Michigan Street Baptist Church congregation was among the most organized and committed.

Next I visited the east side gate to Forest Lawn Cemetery, where Mary Talbert is buried. Founder of the Niagara Movement, predecessor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Talbert began organized civil rights efforts in America. She was a fierce advocate for impoverished African-Americans, and successfully demanded that Buffalo’s 1901 Pan American Exhibition include an exhibit on black culture.

Finally, I ended up at the Mandela Market at the corner of Jefferson and Ferry, where brightly colored posters of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King greet shoppers. As the proprietor and I marveled at Obama’s achievement, a mother and her young son came in to pick up a few items. I asked the woman if she’d heard that Obama had become the nominee.

Without missing a beat, she turned to her son, braced him with both her arms, and exclaimed, “You see, I told you that you can grow up to be president of the United States.” Then she hugged the boy close, and beamed.

The year 2008 was a prelude to change, around the world, across our country, and here in Western New York. In sight now are a new focus on international friendships, new standards for national behavior, and new approaches to local governance.

This afternoon, as Barack Obama breathes new life into our nation – and somewhere, Lincoln smiles, King prays, Douglass exalts, and Talbert sheds tears of joy – let us vow to renew ourselves, and help our community find its place in the better America we are about to become.

Amherst and Cheektowaga are Erie County’s only towns with seven- member boards. I first proposed that they reduce in a visit to Cheektowaga, last December, and Amherst, last January, during my tour of our 45 municipalities. Since then, I’ve kept pushing.

Reducing our two largest towns from 7 to 5-member boards will set the stage for us to petition smaller towns to reduce from 5 to 3-member boards. As well, it will strengthen my proposal now before the Erie County Legislature to decrease from 15 to 9.

As we advance our cause, we never lose sight of the harsh realities that render these reforms necessary. Erie County’s 439 elected officials is more than 10 times the number of politicians than any like-sized area in America. And the cost of sustaining them, $32 million per year, thwarts any effort to turn our economy around. By having all 45 municipalities eliminate 2 positions, we can begin to create the prosperous, sustainable community that every Western New Yorker deserves.

This evening, the Cheektowaga town board votes on taking the first step toward adopting my plan. Hope to see you there.

To the heroic residents of West Seneca who struggled mightily to have their say, every Western New Yorker is grateful for your barrier-breaking efforts.  I’m privileged to work with you.  And I commit all my energy and spirit to seeing a downsizing proposition on the ballot next March.

To all other Western New Yorkers, wondering when we’ll bring our petition effort to your town or village, as the old Sam and Dave song says, “Hold on, we’re coming.”

But to politicians who think they can forever defend the status quo, I give them no quarter, and offer them no hope.  Since 1990, seven economic resurgences have swept our nation, creating wealth in every American corner except ours.  Old areas renewed.  Cold regions prospered.  But Western New York languished.  And the reason is the millstone of local government that smothers investment and crushes growth.

As America now plunges into recession, and New York State melts down, the obligation to save our community binds us.  Together, we shall meet it.  As for me, I can tell you that I’m just warming to the task.

Restoring citizens’ right to decide their destiny, it turns out, is a long road.   This week, we learned that much of it is unpaved.  But the horizon is in sight.  And it beckons.

It’s astonishing that the West Seneca town board has gone to such lengths to thwart the public will; and insulting that they’ve used taxpayer funds to pay for their efforts.  When a downsizing vote is finally taken, residents may view their delay and deny tactics, add them to our shrinking economy and growing tax rates, and vote for change.

From the inception of this effort – my government study; visits to our 25 towns, 16 villages, and 3 cities; proposal that they each eliminate 2 offices; and uncovering of a law that lets citizens decide – my goal has been to create a system that’s less costly, more effective, and more fair.  My study revealed that local government burdens rather than boosts our community.  It spends too much to pay 439 politicians, which leaves too little to serve the people.

Western New Yorkers deserve better.

Our principle of citizens’ right to petition has prevailed so far in two courts.  Tomorrow, if the appeals court cites politicians’ hyper-technical objections to halt us, the fault and responsibility will be mine alone.

But our setback will be temporary.  Everything that politicians do to silence citizens only serves to strengthen our cause.  And when we finally restore people’s right to decide – and I promise that we shall in every town and village – that triumph will be shared by thousands of West Seneca and Western New York citizens who believe in our community, and possess the courage to change it.

But last night in West Seneca, sitting under a canopy of brilliant Western New York stars, I realized that something special had happened.  In finally scheduling a downsizing referendum, the town board had, unwittingly and against its will, affirmed the American experiment.  (here are The Buffalo News, WGRZ News, and WIVB accounts)

Facing public resolve, eloquently expressed in petition signatures, the public servants fought.  And fought.  But the people would not relent.  And finally, last night, six months after I first broached the idea of change with them; three months after their first of several votes denying the people’s rights; two months after the petition was submitted; one month after they hired lawyers; three weeks after the court ruled that people’s will outweighs politicians’ desires; and three days after a higher court warned them, the West Seneca town board looked inward and saw the outward arc of democracy, ever bending toward the people.  And they gave back what the people had, in truth, never lost, but merely misplaced: their rights.

My role in this story was small.  I just took a couple of law books, rubbed them together and lit a small spark.  That spark ran like a current through the hundreds of West Seneca residents who carried the petition, and then onto the thousands of citizens who signed it.  And as a result of their mighty efforts, beginning in West Seneca and carrying onto every town and village in Erie County, people, not politicians, will decide the size and shape of their government.

Ours is a great community.  Which should and can be even greater.  Toward that end, we turn our energy and spirit now to the task of informing citizens of the benefits of reducing government in this age of smaller population, decreased capital, and dashed dreams.  Only by reforming our system can we begin to re-imagine ourselves in new dreams, and then see them come true for all Western New Yorkers.

In the coming weeks, I hope you’ll stand with us in West Seneca.  And help us pass the first of many tests to come.

For a guy who’s spent his public life advancing collaboration, it was maddening to be dragged into a legal battle by politicians desperate to do anything to deny people the right to decide.  But by challenging our petitions, elected officials proved that they’ll waste even more taxpayer dollars in an attempt to stop citizens from saving taxpayer dollars.

Holy Chautauqua, pols love to fight.  Town against town, village against town, city against county.  And now they’re proving that – as the national economy falls on top of our collapsed local economy, as we pay the 4th highest property taxes in the nation, and last month joined America’s Top Ten list of fastest dying communities – politicians will even fight citizens.

For too many years, we’ve all known that local government is overgrown, overwrought, and overpriced.  By discovering a little-known law that lets citizens petition government to change, I found a way in which we can finally break through their barricades.

As for their latest legal salvo, I’m confident that the court will affirm the people’s power of petition, and the people’s right to decide.  We’re all tired of the bickering and pettiness that’s held us back.  And yet we all believe that there is one thing worth fighting for: our future.  And at stake is nothing less.

We will not be discouraged, disheartened, or dismissed.  And we shall prevail. Like the students in Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables,” we believe that something better lies beyond the barricades.  And we know that every trick politicians try, and every stunt they pull, only strengthens our cause.

Martin Luther King once said that “change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability.  Someone has to push.”  I promise to devote all of my energy and spirit to push until we have a downsizing referendum in each town and village, and every Western New Yorker has the chance to decide.

Two nights before, as I spoke in Marilla, I could see magnificent horses through the windows of their town hall. In Clarence, I could see majestic houses. And the posh digs in which Clarence town officials conduct the public’s business is quite something. If our most affluent town cannot summon the courage to change, I challenged the board, then how can we ask struggling municipalities to do so.

Town board members Joe Weiss and Pat Casilio led the debate, taking opposing sides. Joe saw merit in my proposal that every locality eliminate two elected positions, but Pat felt that other government levels should reform first.

As they exchanged views in front of a considerable number of residents, you could sense that everyone present understood the need for change. The only question is which town or village will be the next to join our cause.

It would be fitting, proper, and inspiring leadership if Clarence sets an example.

And last night, seeing Marilla shine on a bright summer evening, I thought of both my parents, and all those who love our region and want to make it better.

Before speaking with the town board, I visited the Marilla Historical Society’s museum, with its 19th century farming tools, and then walked town hall’s tranquil grounds. From the town gazebo that overlooks Marilla’s gently rolling hills, I could see horses grazing on farmland.

Supervisor George Getz, his council members and I had a lively 90-minute discussion about downsizing. At first, they cited the problems of other government levels beyond our control. But once we exhausted that topic, and focused on changing that which we can, they offered measured responses to my proposal. Fred Specht aggressively challenged my research, and then gracefully allowed that change should be considered.

Driving by Marilla United Methodist Church after our meeting, I noticed that their congregation sign read, “Bloom Where You Are Planted.” It made me think of Theodore Roosevelt’s favorite motto, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

With this government reform effort, I hope that I’m doing just that.

I remember going to Brighton Library in Tonawanda when I was little. My mom, little sister, and I walked to the library at least once a week, and we had so much fun picking out books and movies to borrow. That was the best thing about the library; we could take out however many books and movies we wanted, then return them later for free. Sometimes we would travel a few blocks north and visit Greenhaven Library. As I grew older, the library became a quiet (and air conditioned!) place in walking distance to read, study, research and write. Now, kids do not have that convenience. Brighton Library (which was situated right next door to my high school), Greenhaven Library and many other libraries around Western New York closed down because there was not enough money to fund them anymore. Knowing that kids do not have the same resources I did makes me upset. Kevin’s presentation really spoke to me that way: why are we spending so much money for public officials when the money could be spent elsewhere?

(Here’s a brief clip of Kevin describing our community’s poor economy.)

 
Last year, I participated in my school’s exchange program with a Spanish high school. The kids from Spain came here first, and they had a great time. Even so, at the end of their two-week stay here, they all said that they were happy to be going home. On the other hand, when the kids from Tonawanda were preparing to come home from Spain, everyone was saying how they wanted to stay much longer and did not want to go back to Tonawanda. These two different responses reveal how some kids my age who live in Western New York feel about the area.

Adding to that, recently, I was talking to some of my friends who are going to college next year. The advice they all unanimously gave me was to not apply to any schools in Western New York and to go as far away as possible. These kids have decided they won’t be coming back to Western New York.

During Kevin’s presentation, I thought about all of this. I learned that the Town of Tonawanda led the way in downsizing from seven to five officials. However, probably the best moment of Kevin’s presentation was when Kevin acknowledged the town’s accomplishment in downsizing, then asked the board to downsize from five members to three. While the board members seemed to be paying close attention to what Kevin was saying, I’m not sure they liked that idea too much. I definitely appreciated the suggestion, though. Kevin’s boldness was inspiring to me. Because of this, Kevin’s presentation brought to my mind a famous quote from Winston Churchill: “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

Here’s a brief clip of Kevin’s talk in the Village of Alden.

In different ways, each stop revealed the progress we’ve made in enlightening citizens about the need for change, and the challenge that remains in getting politicians to enact it.

Kevin arrived at Holland Town Hall Wednesday (as usual, a bit late and full of energy), and bumped right into Town Supervisor Mike Kaperczak. A genial man, Kaperczak carried a sheaf of papers which he described as “preparation material” for Kevin’s talk. It was a brochure entitled, “Dealing with Difficult People.” We all laughed, until Kevin realized that the supervisor had scheduled his presentation a half hour before the start of the board’s meeting, thereby insuring that no town resident would hear it. It’s a little depressing that this late in our tour, politicians still cook up ways to limit Kevin’s message.

In the Village of Alden on Thursday, a nice crowd of citizens turned out. Kevin asked one my colleagues, Dan Lesniewski, to deliver a portion of the presentation. Dan was excellent. Then after Kevin completed his talk, a vibrant discussion took place on whether Alden Village was better or worse off since a 1996 referendum to merge with the town was defeated.

For me – without even having to review our research on our declining population and prosperity – that question was answered in seeing Alden’s condition as we drove though it on our way to the meeting.

But as residents listened in disbelief, one village trustee insisted that Alden was doing fine. It made me wonder how much more economic decline we must experience before our public servants agree to change.

Here’s a brief clip of an Alden Trustee responding to Kevin, followed by a clip of Dan Lesniewski giving a portion of the presentation.