The state environmental bond act can get NY $4.2 billion
The late Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, the former president of Notre Dame University, once called voting “a civic sacrament,” one of many well-known testimonials to the essential role it plays in a democracy.
Newsday’s editorial board has always treated voting with the same reverence, especially as Election Day approaches. The current one arrives Tuesday, though early voting has been underway for nearly a week now in New York. And there has been much money spent, signs posted, ink spilled, airtime booked, and analysis offered of the candidates running for office.
But there is another part of elections – true of this one and of many in the past – that might lack the white-hot intensity of candidate battles but is just as important: the various propositions on the ballot.
One hugely important one in New York this year is an environmental bond act that would borrow $4.2 billion for a host of essential projects to improve drinking water, safeguard coastlines, and preserve natural spaces, among other things. The board is an enthusiastic supporter.
For context, one can look way back to a statewide proposition on the 1941 ballot to divert $60 million (the equivalent of $1.2 billion today) from a fund to eliminate grade crossings and spend it instead on highways and parkways. Despite Newsday’s strong opposition, the proposal passed easily. And for the past 81 years, Long Islanders have been cursing the hundreds of Long Island Rail Road grade crossings that make life more miserable than it needs to be.
There are many reasons to vote this year, many candidates from which to choose, and many motivations among voters. The mood of the electorate is foul and dyspeptic, as columnist Lane Filler noted this week. “Something is badly wrong in the United States,” Filler wrote. “The harebrained and uninspiring behavior of both parties is more symptom than cause.”
The point is not that we should drop out and not partake in this civic sacrament, but that we should have our say and try to bring about the change we seek. And that includes looking all the way down the ballot, and sometimes to the back side (if you live in Suffolk County), to find the proposition that promises to at least make our lives a whole lot greener.
The consequences of failing to do so evoke memories of another eloquent election observer, Abraham Lincoln, who is reported to have said, “Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”
- Michael Dobie
