A Lake Placid attorney is challenging the long-term incumbent in the North Elba town supervisor’s race this fall.
The current supervisor of the town of North Elba is Roby Politi. He has served five two-year terms and previously served as Lake Placid mayor. He is a realtor by trade. The Republican and Independent has a Democratic challenger this fall: Lake Placid attorney Brian Barrett.
Barrett says his campaign is about giving voters a choice. “They’ve had the same board on for five years now. The town still faces the same problems that they’ve faced for the last hundred years. And I just want to see if I can give it a shot and do a better job. Ultimately I would like to push for a consolidation of the village and the town. But right now I don’t think the village is ready to let that happen. So I think we just need to work a lot closer with them because essentially the town and the village are one entity.”
Barrett offers an innovative idea for the village of Lake Placid as it works to build a parking garage. “I think that in conjunction with building a parking garage we need to do a geothermal project where we can produce energy both for the parking garage and to heat the sidewalks around Mirror Lake and Mirror Lake Drive and Main Street. And also I think heated sidewalks would certainly draw more business out in the winter on Main Street in Lake Placid. So I think that would help increase the village’s revenues.”
Politi says having a challenger doesn’t bother him. “I’ve never worried about campaigning. You know I do my job. My only interest in being involved in politics is basically to look out for and to work in the best interest of the Lake Placid community. And that’s always been the case.”
Politi says the town is facing the same issues as many other municipalities but also needs to enhance the Olympic venues. “Our facilities have gotten to a point that they’ve become outdated. We need to maintain our presence from a nationwide standpoint in terms of our ability to host large winter and summer events you know to keep up with our competitors. You know from a local standpoint we have issues like every other community. You know we have housing issues, trying to keep local people in the community. You know those type of things.”
The town of North Elba includes the villages of Lake Placid and Saranac Lake.
