Boat Club Troubles Spur Rally, Write-In Candidate for Ossining Town Supervisor

The padlocks on the Ossining Boat and Canoe Club have stirred some last minute pre-election heat for Ossining Town Supervisor Susanne Donnelly.

Running unopposed for another term, there’s talk as of Friday of a write-in campaign from Ossining's Don DeBar.

DeBar writes on his blog “debar4ossining.blogspot.com” of his motivation:

Since Supervisor Donnelly was running unopposed, since I have run these kinds of campaigns before, and since friends and supporters of the boat club knew I wanted to help them save it, it made sense that people would ask me to try to do this.

But there is a lot more to running a town than simply saving the boat club. Once elected, that's easy - I'll simply call off the dogs, remind the village building inspector that he has no authority over a town-owned building serving a municipal purpose, sit down with the boat club and work out the safety issues calmly and rationally, and then get to the business of properly formalizing their occupancy of the building, long-term.

He adds that he wouldn’t be a one-issue candidate. His other plans if he secures the spot would be five-tier:

1. “No further empire building. We do not need another Police/Court building that we will build and then sell a couple of years later for less than half the price."

2. “No more attempts to build an Imperial Supervisor's office.” He wants positions to remain elected and to foster a collaborative working environment.

3. “No further loss of valuable municipal assets to private interests. No more boat club scenarios. That looting of the public's valuable spaces will end immediately."

4. Honoring a “comprehensive plan” considering the interests of a collective Town as a whole, not “three competing districts.”

5. Lastly, he writes, "there will be underpinning every action and decision the understanding that real estate taxes are strangling homeowners and tenants, and this cannot be permitted to continue."

You can read more about DeBar's candidacy here.

Meanwhile, after the building department and electrical expert ruled the Boat Club building unfit for occupation due to 22 code violations – mostly electrical in nature – members have staged several protest rallies.

On Saturday they had a press conference and announcement on the waterfront.

Meaddows Ryan, OBCC Trustee announced at the time, “We are taking two opportunities in the next 72 hours to show our strength and commitment regarding not only the current and/or future status of OBCC, but the rights of the public in the decision making process for waterfront development generally.”

Despite Monday’s brisk temperatures, they plan to rally again at noon on the waterfront in front of the club near the Ossining Train Station.