Is less partisanship, more bipartisanship the answer?
Many voters think so. And in Glens Falls, N.Y, it has worked.
Even as the nation is fiercely divided along party and ideological lines, the idyllic city maintains the good-natured charm that proves it’s still Hometown, USA, more than half a century after receiving the honor from Look Magazine.
For the past four years, a bipartisan group of city leaders has worked together to keep up the momentum on the city’s renewal, fueled by a $10-million state Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant.
The grant was overseen in large part by the late EDC President Ed Bartholomew, a former Republican mayor of the city, who worked hand in hand with the current mayor, Democrat Mayor Dan Hall, and Republican Councilwoman-at-Large Jane Reid.
Dan Hall and Jane Reid were elected to their positions on a “unity ticket” in which candidates from different parties joined forces and resources to run for office together.
When the ticket won election in 2017, Mayor Hall told a local newspaper the group had a single goal: “Just keep things moving in the right direction.”
“I think we’ve got a real good team,” he told The Post-Star.
Among the many achievements of the bipartisan group are sustainability initiatives, allocation of DRI funds, revitalization of several downtown businesses, infrastructure upgrades, and acquisition of green space.
“We all have different strengths, and because of that, we’ve complemented each other and been able to move the city forward,” Jane Reid said.
Both Mayor Hall and Councilwoman-At-Large Reid have recently announced they will not run for re-election.
