White Plains CitizeNetReporter - <i>Classic Benerofe</i>: Common Council for the “Common” Good

Sunday City in Review, Filed by James C. Benerofe, 3/1/02, 10:00 AM EST: One of our colleagues on White Plains Week, Jim Benerofe, editor of SuburbanStreet.com, and “Dean of White Plains Journalism” was going through his old Suburban Street archives this week and found this timely editorial. This “classic Benerofe” is reprinted with permission.

The Council has the responsibility of serving the entire community. Their purpose is not to cater to the interests of particular groups or associations. The council must strike a balance between public and private interest.

A more complex community thant it was ten or fifteen years ago, White Plains is a city whose concerns reflect the interests of many people including its citizens, tourists, consumers, retailers, businesses and developers.

Recent decisions confronting council members have become entangled in confusion as well as confrontation between community and neighborhood interests. Whether it is a question of changing a zone, removing a road barrier, or providing more and adequate parking, these interests do not only concern a neighborhood but an entire city. The council cannot get bogged down on petty issues involving power struggles with community groups.

Neighborhood groups and associations are a necessary barometer of public opinion. Their ideas must be listened to and carefully considered, but it must be remembered that their interests are limited, and rightly so, to their members. A council that limits itself only to the interests of neighborhoods will fail from a lack of independence. By James C. Benerofe

Editor's Note: This Editorial originally appeared in the monthly, Suburban Street on April 12, 1978.


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