Hello everyone. Below is a summary transcript of my interview with a very good friend of mine, Carol Spawn Desmond.

Introduction:

Hello Dukascopy community! My name is Anna Timone and this is my Task 10.

Please allow me to introduce you to a very dear friend of mine, Ms. Carol Spawn Desmond. Carol is also an attorney and she works for Satterlee Stephens Burke and Burke law firm in New York City . I was honored to meet Carol at one of the New York State Bar Association meetings several years ago and we became very good friends.

Carol, thank you very much for your time and participating in this task.

The topic or theme for our interview is “All Politics is Local.” We will explore what representative elected government and citizenship or residency means. The reason we picked this topic, because it raises the same issues, challenges and concerns on the international, national and local levels. In other words, “All Politics is Local”.

Right now, we are standing in the Town of Pelham . It’s the oldest town in Westchester County , in the State of New York . It’s located only about 20 minutes from New York City . Pelham is where Carol lives.

Q: Carol, could you please tell us more about the Town of Pelham and why we are here today?

A: The Town is in Westchester County , NY —residents here live are able to enjoy a small “bedroom” community, very close to NYC. The Town enjoys its own school district and our residents elect members of the Board of Education. Our residents fund the district: their taxes pay for the schools.

The Board of Ed acts as the “board of directors” of the school system: they oversee the administrators who conduct the day-to-day affairs of the district.

Although our Board of Ed members must be resident in the Town in order to be elected, they sometimes forget that they very much should take the Town into account when making decisions and when allowing the administration to make decisions. Because Town residents’ taxes pay for the school, to ignore residents’ interests is generally viewed as a slap in the face.

We’re here discussing what can happen when this happens: in this case, black-topping a hot, dry parking lot, rather than taking that same parking lot and making sure to add trees and beautification efforts. As everyone knows, trees provide shade coverage, which keeps temperatures down; they also help add to esthetics.

Q: What are some of the issues, challenges and concerns this town faces?

A: Pelham is a small community (only about 12,000 residents), which strives to maintain a small-town feel, but is bordered by NYC to the south and more urbanized communities also to the south and to the north. Also, the Town is in Westchester County , NY —the County has the highest median taxes in the US , although not the highest income. Our school taxes are laughably high: the average per student cost per year is roughly $13,000. School taxes comprise the overwhelming percentage of residents’ yearly tax bill.

The Town is filled with urban professionals who work in NYC and have high expectations, so they demand a lot of the schools and the Town—and can pay for that. Alternatively, not everyone in Town is a professional and would like to take advantage of benefits offered by a small town that can readily access NYC.

It’s unquestionably a Town with a lot of competing forces—and these local forces immediately impact how residents address state and national issues. Hence, all politics being local.

Q: How do residents in a local village take action to change the negligence and arrogance of elected officials?

A: Luckily, this is not just a democracy, it’s also representative government in a small town. Many democracies don’t necessarily have true representative governments; here, school board members are nonpartisan and don’t have to be “presented” by a party.

Also, community members can constantly monitor what goes on: the board holds monthly meetings and state laws require that school budgets and meeting notices get published. Items for discussion must be put on the agenda—either through officially petitioning or through knowing school board members who will put items on the agenda—so that people know what’s being discussed.

This is true, too, of the Town and the Villages that comprise the Town. State and local laws govern all public access to that citizens get budgets, get meeting notices and can appear and speak.

If that doesn’t work, our laws also permit cases to be brought in court—in some instances.

Sadly, despite these rights being accorded citizens, officials often forget to whom they’re answerable. And citizens forget they should keep elected officials in line.

Q: Besides the formal actions, are there informal actions that residents can take?

A: Generally, it is through informal actions that formal decision-making is accomplished because government is pushed and pressured to respond—or because it creates the legal condition for voters themselves to act.

Residents can openly talk together, can put advertisements in the paper or make phone calls or web postings complaining and objecting to what government is proposing to do—or what it does—to keep up the groundswell of opposition. If enough people complain and get upset publicly, that can result in governments deciding to change their minds—although an “official” and authorized action by the government will result. If it doesn’t that is open to litigation.

One really obvious example is the “referendum” process in some places: enough people get angry and annoyed, so they start an informal petition. That petition gets bigger and becomes a “formal” process to create a “ballot initiative,” something people can vote on—even to overturn a law.

Q: Are there limits to informal actions?

A: Yes. Civil disobedience that becomes criminal is generally not condoned.

Q: Are there rules to follow to make a formal complaint?

A: Yes: there are rules to appear at meetings and submit complaints. Often, officials will use measures to counteract these or diminish their impact: denying speaking time, giving short notice, etc., although laws are created to limit such abuses. There are also rules to bring litigation to stop government actions.

Q: Who has standing or legal interest in bringing the case in course?

A. It depends on the particular matter at hand. In general, anyone who is directly affected by a government decision can bring an action.

Q: If reason and negotiations fail, is going to court possible?

A: Sometimes, the laws expressly make litigation not an option. That’s because the legislature is deemed to be representing the will of the people—so if it has acted, the “people” have effectively spoken. That’s unfortunate, but understandable because otherwise, matters might be constantly under litigation.

In other instances, however, the laws establish direct appeal of government actions to different courts and require different levels of review. The levels can be through administrative hearings and then by judicial review.

Second, litigation can be used to delay or as a nuisance, even if the right to litigate isn’t there.

Q: Is money needed?

A: Sadly, yes: even for “getting the word out” informally. Nowadays, because of fractured citizenry—people going to work each day, people having to attend to the many and varied stresses of life—committed individuals need assistance. Sure, we see how twitter feeds and social media postings go viral: realistically, for a local matter about planting trees in a parking lot, you need people with time and effort to mount the campaign. Certainly for any litigation, money is required.

Conclusion:

Finally, how are people in other towns, states or even countries can relate to this situation? And why is it relevant for us to talk about today? Or why should we care?

In conclusion, for the democracy to work on any level citizens themselves have to enforce their rights and make sure their interests are represented in the system. That that’s why All Politics is Local.

Carol, thank you very much for your time and for telling us about the Town of Pelham . I hope you enjoyed our story and thank you for joining us.