The
town of Chili has almost classically developed a “negative capability.” The
town’s politics are to a large extent defined by something that’s not there, a
plan that didn’t happen. The non-entity is the Chili Thruway exit, which, had
it become a reality, would have brought heavy traffic onto Route 259 in the
southern part of the town.
The idea of building the exit goes
back decades. But more recently, says Chili-based County Legislator Tracy
Logel, the catalyst was the Genesee Country Museum in Mumford, south of the
Thruway. The museum, she says, wanted an easier way for visitors to get there.
She also figures the exit would have benefited communities like Mumford and
Geneseo more than Chili.
The exit was put on permanent hold a
while back, after public opposition mounted and an official study pulled the
rug out from under various proponents. But the town is still divided along the
fault lines the controversy opened up. In political terms, the controversy is
still haunting Chili Supervisor Steve Hendershott. He supported the exit to
boost economic development within the town. Chili Democratic Party activist Jason
Elliotto was one of his opponents then. Today Elliotto’s seeking the supervisor
post for himself.
Elliotto’s got the Democratic Party
nomination sewn up, but he recently lost a highly publicized court battle over
his claim to run for the Independence Party line. (The matter was complicated
by charges of conflicts of interest concerning Independence Party chair Don
Porto and Hendershott, who both are fans of wind-energy development.)
But Elliotto may not be running
against Hendershott. It will all depend on the outcome of two party primaries:
• George J. Bartnett, a semi-retired
businessman, is running against Hendershott for the Conservative Party line.
• Tracy Logel is battling
Hendershott for the Republican Party line.
Hendershott is the party’s
designated candidate in both contests. But primaries have been known to produce
upsets.
Hendershott
didn’t return
our calls for comment. But his opponents in the primary aren’t shy about
addressing the issues and expressing their hopes.
According to Logel, open government,
or rather Hendershott’s aversion to it, is the key issue. “He claims he’s for
[it], but he’s not,” she says. “He’s prevented the taxpayers from having access
to their government.”
How so? Logel cites a procedural
detail: Hendershott, she says, changed the town board’s regular meeting time
from 7 to 6 p.m. (Most other town government meetings still begin at 7 p.m. or
later, according to the town’s official calendars.) This shift, says Logel,
makes it difficult for many working people to get to these important meetings
on time, or at all. And those who would like to speak at the meeting, she says,
must get there by 5:45 p.m. — another disincentive. She adds that Hendershott
once rescheduled a board meeting for 6:30 a.m.; the early hour, she says,
prompted people to protest by showing up in pajamas and housecoats.
Other issues? Logel raises concerns
about planning and development.
“We have a master plan, but there
seem to be so many deviations,” she says. Under Hendershott, she says, “Chili
looks like it’s becoming a developer’s paradise — and a citizen’s jail.” (On
that last point: Logel says current town rules keep people from riding
motorcycles on the their own acreage, and she’s impatient, too, with certain
restrictions on lawn signs.) “We have to stop and smell the flowers,” Logel
says. “I don’t want another Ridge Road [here]. With planning and proper
development, we could develop a proper, I don’t want to say, ambience.” She says Chili has to deal
with its lack of a town center, as well — an issue made more challenging by
the fact that Chili is divided into several school districts.
Some people recall that Logel
supported the Thruway exit, however, and that the exit could have brought
inappropriate development to town. But Logel doesn’t remember it that way. “I
supported a study,” she says
emphatically. Moreover, she says, the study eventually bore out what the
opposition and she herself believed: that the exit wasn’t necessary.
Logel defends the deliberative
process, even though it took some time to reach a conclusion about the exit.
“Studies do work,” she says.
George
Bartnett is
concerned that his own party doesn’t work, at least not in the way it
approaches town politics.
Bartnett filed for a primary to pull
the Conservative Party endorsement away from designated Conservative
standard-bearer Hendershott. He doesn’t think too highly of Hendershott — but
he seems almost more upset with Tom Cook, the Monroe County Conservative Party
leader. Cook, says Bartnett, “handpicked the Conservative candidates without
input from Conservatives in the town of Chili… The first, most important thing
for Conservatives is home rule. Cook took that away from us.” Bartnett adds the
selection process was changed on Hendershott’s watch. (Cook didn’t return a
call for comment.)
Nor is Bartnett too happy with
Chili’s economic state under Hendershott. The supervisor, he says, is taking
credit for bringing in new businesses like Northern Soy. (The soy foods company
recently moved there from a city location). “He fails to mention the 10 to 15
companies that have left Chili,” says Bartnett, adding his impression that many
new businesses there “are pizza parlors.”
Does Bartnett have any other reasons
for running? “Honesty, integrity, and openness,” he says. “This administration
has a special dictionary. When you look up open,
it says ‘secret.'”
Primary
facts
Primary
elections will be held for several elected offices in Monroe County on September
9. To vote in a town primary, you must be a registered member of the political
party holding the election and a town resident. Polling hours will be noon to 9
p.m. Information: Monroe County Board of Elections, 428-4550 (TDD: 428-2390).
This article appears in Sep 3-9, 2003.
