I have spent a year and a half on the Port Chester BOT and find Dan to be a bright and articulate man who has the best interest of Port Chester. I have also worked with David Gelfarb, he as Town Councilman and me as the Town Accountant. What Mr. Gelfarb has accomplished along with Superivisor Carvin in the last four years is unmatched anywhere in municipal goverment. The record is clear the Town's taxes have been reduced by over 50%, expenditures have been reduced by a million dollars annually, all this while increasing the Town's Fund balance.
When it was time for Mr. Brakewood to step up to the plate in the past Village budget Dan choose to vote for higher taxes. In a line by line vote Dan deferred to his fellow Democrats and voted against expenditure reductions which would have cost the taxpayers hundred's of thousands of additional tax dollars.
The County Board needs leaders and not followers, Rob Astorino needs David Gelfarb to break the super majority that Dan Brakewood's good friend and Democratic leader Ken Jenkins has used to block tax saving legislation. The Westchester County taxpayers need David Gelfarb to protect their tax dollars. Keep Dan Brakewood a Village Trustee and vote for David Gelfarb on either the Republican,Conservative or Independence lines on November 8th. Let Gelfarb take care of Jenkins and I will keep Brakewood in check on the Village Board.
Sam Terenzi, Town of Rye & Ex. Director Westchester Co.
Conservative Party

I am voting for Mr. Brakewood. Hate to lose him on the PC BOT even though Mr. Terenzi keeps him in check.

Clearly Dan Brakewood would fit right in with the County Legislations Liberal majority. That's not a good thing. We need fiscal conservatives right now.

Mr. Terenzi, Please do some self reflection here. You are correct to point out that as I do, you find "Dan to be a bright and articulate man who has the best interest of Port Chester." However, with all do respect, you are purposely misleading readers when when you say "Dan Brakewood's good friend and Democratic leader Ken Jenkins has used to block tax saving legislation." I know Dan, and Dan is his own man, he is no "good friend" of Ken Jenkins. How dare you criticize the Dems, like Brakewood, when YOU cant even walk-the- fiscal talk? You voted to "blow" $200K of our tax money chasing windmills challenging the DOJ decision. I am sorry folks- conservatives like Terenzi and Gelfarb talk- but can't walk fiscal restraint. Gelfarb does not have a plan, except to take orders from the Windmill fighters like Terenzi and Astorino; these conservatives love to wield an axe without a brain or plan. Brakewood is smarter and will manage our money effectively. He will slay the dragon and cut useless wasteful money. He will walk the talk. Leave the windmills to Conservative "fighters" like Gelfarb, Astorino and Terenzi.

Ms. Lemire,

I too recognize the abilities of Mr. Brakewood as well as Mr. Gelfarb that Mr. Terenzi has pointed out. For me as a registered voter of the Conservative Party, I will be looking to which gentleman will be the most conservative on the issues that have meaning to me.

However, your letter speaks to how Dan Brakewood, "For example, he pushed for the elimination of the Village’s costly corporation counsel position, saving taxpayers money without sacrificing results."

This statement was true back in 2006 and as recently as 2010, but now in June 2011 you are 100% wrong because Dan Brakewood flipped and I believe it was for the quid pro quo of politics. Dan Brakewood and Mayor Pilla are both in the same camp, then and now and where the hypocrisy comes in is that they both insist they don't play politics on the issues.

I invite you to use the link below to the Village video archives, select the Board of Trustees meeting of June 20th, 2011 and play the last selection of the tape "Public and Board Comments".

http://www.portchesterny.com/Pages/PortChesterNY_Webdocs/videoarchive

You will hear, starting with Dan Brakewood, every member of the Board including the Mayor put forward their opinions about the position, the proposed next corporation council (supported by Brakewood, Branca & Pilla) that is opposed by Terenzi, Didden, Marino & Kenner!

I wish both candidates well and call on all the voters of the District to come out on election day.

I am thoroughly tired of the words "fiscal conservatism." It is used by the party of "no" so often to make the public think they are working to do what is best for the people. They are mainly interested in power and will do whatever and say whatever to gain it. The past few years have shown what the Pilla administration has done to get Port Chester on the right track. The party of "no" has put us in a worse economic condition by the wasting of hundreds of thousands on the DOJ case and the unwise DOJ appeal. Their way of being fiscally responsible is to slash the budgets of our police, fire department, etc. Pilla's adminmistration helped us by getting rid of corruption that has been going on for decades. I hear many praises for Dan Brakewood and his performance on the board. I have never heard any praises for the two who have commented here. I wonder why. People are a lot smarter than the fiscally conservatists think. Vote for Brakewood. He's his own man and is not owned by any party.

Bea,
We slashed over two million from this year's budget. Not one person was fired, all we ask is that the departments to more with less. Taxpayer's property values have gone through the floor and the majority of the BOT felt it was time that the taxpayers not take it on the chin. It's a shame Dan Brakewood opted to vote against these reductions. If he is lucky enough to win he will fit in perfect with the super majority lead by Yonkers resident Ken Jenkins.
It's nothing personal, I find Dan to be a smart and engaging guy. We have a difference on how government should operate, he believes in tax and spend and i believe that we can do more with less. I guess the voters will have there opportunity to choose, time will tell.

Mr. Dan Brakewood has accepted the endorsement of the Working Families Party. This is the same organization that uses Acorn as one of their politicial activism arms. One of the main tenants of the Working Families Party is "A progressive tax system based on the ability to pay". That's all you have to know about Mr. Brakewood, when in doubt tax and spend.

@ Bea- "The Party of No" should have been there when the Village's Boards approved MILLIONS of dollars in excess spending on the building housing the Senior Center. This project was a mess and it would never have occurred if a real "Fiscal Conservative" was in place. Compare the DOJ case spending to the MILLIONS in unauthorized spending on the building project. Neither should have occurred, but, what's done is done. It's easy to be an arm chair quarter back. How about talking to us about what can be done now. I appreciate Mr. Brakewood as much as anyone, but his spending leans to far left for most.

Does it really matter to Mr. Terenzi, who I am? I am John Q. Public tired of the politics of bitterness and the "smoke and mirror" magic act that Mr. Terenzi and his colleagues on the right perform everyday, with every utterance. The right-wing "slash and burn" "party of no" wants you to believe the myth that they are "fiscal conservatives" and that liberals "tax and spend." Currently, here is their plea, "We saved the taxpayers money blah, blah, blah.." I must remind you, gentle reader, that it was Terenzi's party who raised our village taxes to double digits year after year- pre Pilla/Brakewood. Now here they are bragging new about tax savings; but what real spending has Ternezi's "party of no" cut? Not much. But who really knows? Behind closed doors; decisions were made. Well go ahead and ask just how much of those "tax" cuts were the result "village" fund balance depletion? Sam will say that he took money out of the village fund balance because its the taxpayers' money and the village should use it for services now... Meantime, Sam praises Gelfarb for increasing it the Rye Town Fund Balance. LOL & OMG. I AM sorry- raising revenue by increasing park fees for seniors is transferring the burden from property owners to folks who can least afford it. (Another MO for the "party of no." Let the poor pay, or let them choose to stay off the beach.) Also Gelfarb may be great at deciding when to cut the grass, but what is his platform? More smoke and mirrors?

Dear Dare to Teach (I won't sign my name, because I know the facts and don't want to embarass myself),
All "decisions" were done at a public hearing in a line by line vote. There would have been more cuts if it wasn't for Working Families candidate Brakewood's delaying tactics. Any Fund Balance allocations were done in a prudent manner, the fund balance is well over $5,000,000. A comfortable balance is somewhere around $3,000,000, that's taxpayers money that can be better spent by the needy homeowners.
"Raising revenue by increasing park fees for seniors". I think you may be referring to the Rye Town Park commission which Mr. gelfarb has nothing to do with.
Dear John Q. Public, get your facts straight. If I were you I would not sign my real name because you will be the poster boy of an saying. "It's better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you're an idiot, rather than open it and end all doubt". i have know problem discussing finances of bith the Town or the Village, let's just make accurate statements.
Next time you hang out with Pilla & Brakewood have them give you a quick course on municipal finance, then you might not be scared to sign your name.

I'm afraid that "Interested Reader" doesn't know the history of the Horton School debacle. First of all, the "party of no" is the Republican party. It was they who made another bad judgement by purshasing the Horton school which has cost us at least $2 million and we still haven't reached the end of our paying. We have a gigantic room which is as large as the dining area of the senior center that is gutted, and we don't have the funds to finish it. The Democratic party had beautiful plans drawn up to build on Leicester street, but the "party of no" (Republicans) voted that out as soon as one of their own came into power. It was the fiscal conservatives (your party) who spent millions on a bad project. Brush up on your history of Port Chester before you make statements that are incorrect or call me anytime you want some info about our village. I'll be happy to help you. I am not a armchair quarterback, and I can tell you what can be done. Keep the Dems in power, because they are the ones who are fiscally responsible. Dan Brakewood will be just as responsible when he is voted in as County Legislator. We will miss him in Port Chester, but he will make us proud as legislator.

No Bea, I think you missed the point, I don't care what your political affiliation is, I will take anyone who says "no" to the failed projects "No" to the politically motivated hiring. "No" to the politically steered contracts, the failed planning firms, the blind eye to corruption and the like. Just say "no" to it all and provide the basics. Maintain the infrastructure, pave the roads and provide public safety. Your assumption's as to my political views is as misinformed as your posted comments. Since you seem to be a proud Democrat Party affiliate and won't even mention the failed G&S project. Try not assuming everyone who disagrees with is an affiliate of your sworn enemies party, it's not becoming.

Oh, Bea, who was on the Board of Trustees when they voted for the Millions in extras for the Horton School that turned out to be just cost over runs. Read the audit.

Dan Brakewood is the only candidate I've seen yet who has suggested shrinking the size of the Westchester County Government. He wants to reduce the size of the legislature and ELIMINATE the County Executive. David Gelfarb does not agree. So much for being a fiscal conservative. Watch the Lohud interviews and learn. As for the Sam Terenzi and Bart Didden (aka "Intererested Reader") conversations above, let's see where the Port Chester Village Budget actually ends up at the end of the year. I bet they'll be taking MILLIONS out of the fund balance to make up for their reckless budget cuts. Mr. Terenzi and Mr. Didden: how is that fire department overtime line looking lately???

@Al D'- If you read my earlier posts around budget time I disagreed with Public Safety cuts and I was rather neutral on the DOJ appeal money. I would have preferred the money spent on basic public services. Here's the thing, I don't blindly follow party politics like some, actually most in this thread. To me that's where we run into most of our problems. To me this election is not about Dan Brakewood, who I like, but about moving towards eliminating one party or the other having unchecked power. I'm hoping the regular old taxpayer, like me, will agree. (Now apologize to Didden and Terenzi! LOL)

Dan Brakewood has filled the Trustee role as ably as any person can. Profligate spending and blatant local machine politics are absent. He has earned the opportunity to bring that to the county level.

Dear Mr. I-know-everything-about-municipal-finance-and-no-one-else-could-possibly-be-smarter-than-me Terenzi,
With all due respect, your analysis of PC Village Budget fund balance depletion from $5 million to $3 million on a $35 million dollar budget is flawed. This is exactly the "smoke and mirror" problem with your party and its previous "tax and more tax" history. Run the fund balance down for political reasons- so it looks like your saving tax payer money. Then after it runs down, hit the property owners with double digit tax increases for several years in a row (A FACT YOU CAN'T REFUTE) and blame it on the other party. So now we have a smaller fund balance, but the same old politics from the Conservative-Republican Party. What happens next year? You've essentially done nothing to increase the efficiency of government except pay lip service and spend money chasing DOJ windmills. You pay off the taxpayers, but you don't tell them the future impact. In the meantime, you praise Gelfarb and friends for increasing the Town fund balance to $1 million on a $3.5 million dollar budget. Why not deplete that to $300,000? That should cover the cost of a few lawn movers (and maybe even help reduce park fees for visitors). Why did the Rye Town park Commission need to raise its fees? Was it because the Rye Town Board was so generous in its budgeting for park maintenance? Again smoke and mirror politics does not obscure the hypocrisy of your arguments.

Dear Dare to Teach, (scared to stand up and be heard),
As long as you keep putting out the wrong information I will be refuting your inaccurate statements. The BOT did not run down the fund balance by $2,000,000 in the last budget go around. We did allocate $850,000 from the fund balance which would be applied against the tax increase. The majority of the board felt it was taxpayers money and in these times they deserved a break. That was only a minor move in order to bring the tax rate % increase down from 14% to 3.5% . That $850,000 was no larger than what Working Families Party candidate Brakewood has done in the past.
I can show you a year where Working Families Party candidate authorized to borrow money to balance the budget one year. It was the year of the Brody lawsuit, instead of looking to reduce expenditures that year to cover the lawsuit he allowed the Village to borrow over a $1,000,000.
As for Rye Town Park, that park is run by a Comission of which your idol Dennis Pilla sits and there was a decision to grandfather all seniors that had existing lifetime passes and start charging new seniors $20.00 per year for the cost of the permits.
You have no clue about the finances of Port Chester or the Town of Rye. You only know what Working Families Party boy Brakewood tells you to write on this blog. If Dan wins he will fit in perfectly with Chairman Jenkins, they will continue to overide Astorino's tax saving vetos.

As you know, Mr. Terenzi is paid by Mr. Gelfarb's campaign for the Conservative Party. I hope, dear reader, you also note of what Mr. Terenzi doesn't refute. He doesn't deny that his party ran up the tax rate (50%) PRE-Brakewood/Pilla. Instead he generates more smoke: "I can show you a year where Working Families Party candidate authorized to borrow money to balance the budget one year." So? Municipals Governments borrow money. OMG? The difference; Brakewood wouldn't politize a loan as a tax break. Also Terenzi doesn't mention that Brakewood is running on the Democratic line, (Is it because village Democrats were once controlled by the Conservatives? IDK.) The fund balance depletion $2mil figure I mentioned came from a previous Terenzi post where he said "....the fund balance is well over $5,000,000. A comfortable balance is somewhere around $3,000,000, that's taxpayers money..."
He clarifies by admitting that in this year's budget "We did allocate $850,000 from the fund balance which would be applied against the tax increase." My point still stands, using the fund balance while touting tax reduction is pure political obscurification. Terenzi says, "As for Rye Town Park, that park is run by a Comission (sic) of which your idol Dennis Pilla sits..." Doesn't Conservative-Republican Rye Town Supervisor Joe Carvin sit on that very same commission? (BTW, my only Idol is the truth.) Then he says, "You only know what Working Families Party boy Brakewood tells you." Funny, but no.

In response to Terenzi's: "We slashed over two million from this year's budget. Not one person was fired, all we ask is that the departments to more with less." Here's what your random and impulsive budget cuts have yielded -- we now have a fire department is trying its best to operate with an extremely reduced crew and, more times than you might think, only one fire rig! Go ahead, keep patting yourself on the back for having slashed all of our public safety services. The fire department situation is a disaster waiting to happen -- next time there are two fires at the same time, one may not get the response it should. It's so great of you to play around with people's lives as if they were toys. My take leadership by the Terenzi/Didden Duo is that people are finally seeing what they've elected. They've elected a couple of guys who a lot of time blogging on the computer instead of making sound, responsible decisions that will improve our quality of life. I find it refreshing that Mr. Brakewood never blogs on here, presumably because he's busy making a living (some people actually have to do this), serving on the Board of Trustees in an intelligent, thoughtful way and improving our village.

Dare to Teach, (gutless wonder who's afraid to sign his name),
I am a self-employed CPA on Westchester Ave. for close to thirty years. The only people who pay me are my clients. If I don't perform a service I don't get paid. i know that's o novel concept to you Working Families Party people.
I am the Chairman of the Rye Town Conservative party, that's my party. The individuals who raised taxes by more than 50% are no longer associated with the party, that's no coincindence. Brakewood is running on the Democratic line that's true, that's the same line who endorsed a Conservative for Supervisor because they had no one to run and Gene Branca twisted Gary Stracuzzi's arm to place Rico on the ticket. Are the Town Democrats being controlled by the Conservative party now??
The best thing Dare to Teach can do for Dave Gelfarb & Joe Carvin is keep having this back and forth. It will expose the fact that there is no Democratic party in Rye Town and the people who speak for the party haven't been to one Rye Town meeting before they announced for office or even after they were nominated (they had no one else to run).
Hey gutless wonder, keep them coming.

Al Dente, (another gutless wonder),
The Working Families Party candidate Dan Brakewood doesn't have to blog, he has his kool-aid drinkers doing all the blogging. I know Dan's above all of this type of back and forth. I don't agree with everything Didden does but I back him 100% when it comes to his ability to make fiscal decisions based on his many years as a successful businessman. Let me go back to work, I have to make a living also.
Oh, by the way while I'm trying to make a living I have a 3:00-5:00 with the adminstation and G & S about their ongoing issues. Then I have a 6:00 BOT meeting that once Pilla & Brakewood stop talking will probably go until midnight. That's 8 hours of meetings to start my week off, that's 8 hours I could have spent working at my own business. My choice and I enjoy every bit of the time I spend trying to help the Village.

Mr. Terenzi, in your 'what I do every day' summary, don't forget to include the 8-10 hours per day you spend blogging about how the rest of the world is incompetent and politically-twisted.

As for the various candidates challenging the Rye Town incumbents - good for them for offering voters a leadership CHOICE. Isn't that what elections are all about?