By the Hyde Park Republican's party endorsement of a loser for supervisor, they most certainly guaranteed a Democratic victory in November's election. They also guaranteed a setback to economic development in Hyde Park.

This site has published numerous blogs concerning reservations about Aileen Rohr as the next supervisor, which is justified in light of the special interest groups she has represented and the letters of opinion she has made public through various periodicals such as the Poughkeepsie Journal which are available on this website in various blogs.

With her new administration about to take the helm this upcoming January, there is reason for concern.

It is rumored that Pompey and not Aileen will be running the show. There are several points that need to be addressed concerning the Delafield administration:

1. For six years the Delafield administration told business that wanted to come to Hyde Park "Go away. We don't want you". This is a prime reason as to why Hyde Park has an anemic commercial tax component.
 
2. Delafield was "committee happy". He preferred to govern by the consensus of the committees that he appointed. At the end of the day, nothing was accomplished for six years.
 
 3. Delafield was "in the pocket" of Scenic Hudson, the Winnakee Land Trust and the National Park Service. All of which are anti-development of anything. 
 
 4. Delafield was obsessed about zoning issues. He had a fixation of hiring town attorneys who specialized in land use rather than municipal law. They were not familiar with the intricacies of municipal law. This led to a myriad of problems, particularly concerning the town's finances. Joann Lown, the  former bookkeeper, exemplified what could and did happen when nobody was monitoring her activities concerning the town's finances. The new town attorney is a land use attorney. 
 
The attorney that Aileen Rohr, or rather Pompey  Delafield choose to represent the town specializes in land use or zoning, very much like the attorney that was retained during the Delafield adminstration, George Rodenhausen. Property owners can kiss their rights goodbye and Hyde Parkers should plan on NOT seeing any development for the next two years. The new Hess station on Route 9 will be the last you'll see of a new building, so cherish the sight as you drive by.

Rumor has it that the administation plans on hiring back Joanne Lown, since she's so "tight" with Pompey and he defended her "amazing" accounting skills on many occassions, which are on record in town board meeting minutes. Yes, this is the same woman that happened to be responsible for the financial disaster concerning the town's finances that are the subject of two seperate audits for the years 2006 & 2009.  The last audit that was performed which was recently completed two weeks ago, began in January. The audit was so complex that a  CPA that specialized in forensic accounting was called in as a consultant due to the numerous mistakes Joanne Lown made. Perhaps a protest NOT to hire her back would be better suited at town board meetings. Jim, would you care to be the organizer of these protests? Perhaps a little community service would do you good. It would be like the probation that you never received 30 years ago when you stole more than $18,000.

So, when you happen to  see Jean and Yancy McArthur with their sidekick Joe Kakish at Coppola's or if you're brave enough to open the door (and not afraid of the wrath of Chairwoman Jean) to McArthur's Liquors or Pay-less Oil, you can thank them for the next two years of utter doo-doo.