Rivals square off for Shandaken board

Bernstein

Vincent Bernstein

Vincent Bernstein has been on the town council for the past four years. He was born and raised in Shandaken and served in the Marine Corps for four years, following two years at Paul Smith’s College. Bernstein said his 25 years as a state conservation officer “gave me the ability to realize that there are two sides to every story — sometimes three sides — and I learned to see where the different sides are coming from.”

Since 2000, he and his wife, Susan, have run her parents’ former business, Simpler Times Cabins on Route 28. Three years after retiring from his position with the state, he became embroiled in the Phoenicia sewer issue, taking a stand against the deal offered by New York City. As a result of his involvement, he decided to run for town council. “It’s been eye-opening,” he said. “I’ve met a whole array of people, and I’ve seen people’s outook and concerns. I’m a proponent of term limits. I’d like to serve two terms, if I’m lucky enough to be elected, and then give it up.”

One of his campaign promises was to make government open and transparent, and he carried through by holding monthly information sessions at local firehouses. He said he missed only one town council meeting in four years, when he was told upon arrival at the town hall that his wife had been taken to the hospital.

He feels the most important issue for the town is “the size of government and how money is spent. One of the problems I see is that every time a budget is made out, each department asks for more money. I’m a proponent of zero budget increases. I’m a fiscal conservative — we all pay enough taxes.”

Bernstein said he has never been opposed to installing a sewer in Phoenicia, but he feels New York City should own and operate the sewer system as it does in Pine Hill. “New York City is getting the most benefit, not having to put in a $2 billion filtration plant. They shouldn’t be strapping the hamlet with the bill for sewage treatment.”

Regarding the proposed Belleayre resort, he commented, “Four years ago, the resort played a big role, but now it’s downplayed. As a conservative, I feel that property rights are one of my values, that people who own property should be allowed to do what they want with it. My personal view is that the woods, fields, and streams should stay the way they are. I’m not in favor of the resort, but if it’s done in accordance with state parameters, if it does go in, I hope it will be regulated to the point where it won’t be detrimental to the town. We have a tourist-based economy. People come here to breathe the air, hike the woods, fish the creeks. Anything that impacts that would be negative.”

He favors working with the DEP and DEC to keep flooding at a minimum by digging out the creeks, as well as “keeping a fire under the state DOT on fixing culverts and bridges.”++