Shelter Island Reporter column: Codger has hope

Two weeks ago, nursing distemper from the national election, Codger ran into Gordon Gooding for the first time since he won the empty seat on the Town Board.

They had barely exchanged pleasantries before Gooding said something like, “I’ve been thinking, does a town have the responsibility of ensuring that all its residents have potable water?”

Codger felt better immediately. He began to imagine that Gooding, as the long-awaited swing vote, would at least symbolically represent the hope for progress, locally and nationally.

Wait a minute, Codger. This is a little grand. Good old Gordon Gooding, the compromiser, Mr. Common Ground? And the water question is not exactly original. It’s not even the first time Codger heard it. It’s a cool political pick-up line because it really means: Just what is government for?

Actually, thought Codger, it’s a pretty good question. It’s so basic that more people should be asking it along with: What are the responsibilities of the people who run government, who beg for their jobs, spend money advertising for them, and then expect to get paid? The winners will invariably tell us they feel a civic duty to us and are sacrificing their time and money in our interests.

Thanks anyway, says Codger; just do something. Turn on the water.

Before running into Gooding, Codger barely dared to hope that this new term might not be the disaster so many people were predicting. This past year, the Town Board managed to do very little after it couldn’t sort through eleven candidates to fill its fifth seat.

That would have at least provided the possibility of some decision-making, right or wrong.

The Board’s disappointing performance was, of course, overshadowed by national politics, which was alarming. Lee Zeldin to protect the earth? This malfeasance is expected to continue into this challenging new year. Codger expects more asylum seekers from mainland America to Shelter Island than fled here during COVID.

Gordon Gooding is no antidote to a criminal President, but politics starts locally, and the question Gooding posed is a good starter. What could be more important than water? Air?

Gooding has made much of his campaign strategy, which was focused on meeting with small groups, most notably over breakfast at The Islander. He told Codger, in their recent brief chat, that his primary aim was to listen, to find out what people really cared about.

Codger left Town Hall buoyed. One major problem, he has come to believe, is that most people talk (or text) too much, that dialogue, debate, and discussions are so prized as entertainment and competition that there is little air left for finding out what other people are thinking and feeling.

What’s called listening is not so much about gathering such information as collecting cues to facilitate what you are going to say next. It’s about weaving through the chatter.

If Gooding was truly listening at his breakfast rallies, he will be a splendid addition to a Board that needs a sense of purposeful direction, especially in a difficult new year.

And probably a short one for this Board. Gooding was elected only for one year, filling the term of Amber Brach-Williams, who gave up her seat for the chance to narrowly defeat Gooding for supervisor. That was two years ago. Brach-Williams’ term will also be over next November.

Especially if they plan to run again, this could be an intense year, with pressure to prove themselves. Much of Brach-Williams’s career has been as a deputy to Supervisors Gary Gerth and Gerry Siller. She has boasted something to the effect that if thrown to the wolves she will end up leading the pack.

This could finally be her chance to howl. Through most of 2024 she has been hampered by a four-member Board that had difficulty coming to decisions. With Meg Larsen as her ally and Gooding’s successful running mates from the insurgent Democrat A Better Shelter Island for All party, stalemate votes of 2-2 were common.

Gooding comes to the Town Board after many years as chairman of the Community Preservation Fund Advisory board in which he was the guiding force in the acquisition of 63 acres for public use.

Beyond untangling legal and financial thickets, the CPF overcame a long-established mindset that the Island would be spoiled by giving everyday people more access to its land.

Codger hopes that Gooding, officially re-united with  Albert Dickson and Benjamin Dyett, will bring his interest in compromise and common ground to help create a working relationship with Brach-Williams and Larsen.

Unafraid of optimism, Codger expects that will not only set a new standard for the Island, it could be a model for the country. Keep listening hard, says Codger, but don’t wait too long to turn on the water.