Left of the Hudson: Legislator's free-tuition program for vets wouldn't make living in Rockland more affordable

Monday, April 6, 2009

Legislator's free-tuition program for vets wouldn't make living in Rockland more affordable

Beware of County Legislators making proposals for the sole purpose of scoring cheap political points. The legislation Frank Sparaco is proposing would have a negligible effect on the quality of life in Rockland, since vets only make up a very small percentage of our young-adult population.

Federal veterans' tuition assistance gets a boost come Aug. 1, but a local elected official hopes a smaller gesture will keep Rockland veterans at home.

County Legislator Frank Sparaco, R-Valley Cottage, wants to explore the possibility of free tuition for veterans who have served during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who opt to attend Rockland Community College.
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He hopes the gesture will send a message to veterans that they are wanted here and will encourage some to become volunteer firefighters and ambulance corps members.

"I find that the people in my generation, or even younger people, are incapable of living in Rockland County and are moving out in droves," Sparaco said. "(The free tuition) might be an incentive to return to Rockland, to stay in Rockland, to grow roots in Rockland."

Sounds great? I don't think so.

If Legislator Sparaco wants to keep young people in Rockland County, why doesn't he work on lowering county taxes and providing more affordable housing, so all young people can stay here.

While I support our veterans, I seriously doubt covering tuition for vets at RCC is going to make a big dent in the quality of life for the great majority of Rockland County residents; it's just "feel good" legislating and political posturing.

If Sparaco really wants to support the troops, how about putting them in front of the line for low-income housing or provide them tax rebates for all upper education and vocational training for the great variety of programs in the area

From my perspective, Sparaco is painting the rest of the County Legislature into a corner: "Support the Troops, or else." Let's call it what it is: a dirty trick by Sparaco to try to out the Democrats in the Legislature as being "anti-troops." I hope others in the County Legislature are brave enough to point this out and propose more effective and meaningful legislation to keep young people in the area during lean times and shore up our tax base going forward.

9 Comments:

jepwhaler said...: leg Sparaco has tried to make Rockland more affordable to everyone by voting against the 10% tax hike in the 08 budget and proposing millions in cuts this idea may be a drop in the bucket but at least its a step in the right direction with our growing population of seniors we must start some initiatives to keep young folks here and if we had to start paying firemen we would collapse so i give him credit for trying who better deserving than Vets; April 7, 2009 1:51 PM
pompom said...: I remember a few months ago you writing about how great Freshman Legislator Sparaco was for having the guts to vote against the budget and how yu wished he had help and now you say hes painting the rest of the Legs into a corner I dont see how? they can vote against it You say we should shore up the tax base we cant do that by chasing young families out of rockland with high taxes If we dont have to raise taxes to implement this I think its a OK idea better than most coming from that group; April 7, 2009 2:00 PM
joobuzi said...: leg Sparaco is a very dangerous man hes a young successful guy with high aspirations He is the republican partys choice for future higher office If anyone watches his voting record they will know hes also very conservative way to right for my taste but the problem is I know Dems in his dist that vote for him just because he always has a smile on his face and is nice to everyone In the last 6 months hes been on the front page of the paper 3 times and on news 12 twice he seems to accomplish this without even tryin he plays the part of a novist but in fact he beat out a 40 yr incumbent in a primary and a 16 yr councilwoman in primaries and general election with no endorsement or union support He is no friend to us and should be watched closely; April 7, 2009 6:00 PM
Omnipotent Oom said...: Pompom: You must have me mistaken with someone else. This is the first time that Sparaco's name has even been mentioned in this blog.; April 8, 2009 11:08 AM
pompom said...: He was on this blog here is the link it was a couple of months ago http://www.lefthudson.com/2008/12/fresh-rockland-county-legislators-want.html; April 8, 2009 6:35 PM
Omnipotent Oom said...: I stand corrected, pompom. My memory has failed me, as I had thought the Republican legislator in that previous blog entry was Ed Day.

And yes, I will give politicians, Republicans and Democrats credit where credit is due. And in regards to looking into the County Budget, rather than shuttling it through, Sparaco does deserve credit.

However, this is an entirely different matter. This proposal cannot possibly be effective as it addresses just a very small minority of people who will benefit from it. Overall, it is not much more than a memorializing resolution.

If you want to take care of young families and make it more affordable for them to stay in Rockland County, you've got to address all families and not just those of veterans.

How many veterans will benefit from free tuition at RCC? I think it is very few. Many veterans already have junior college under their belt or have the vocational training they require for their chosen careers. And of those that don't, RCC only presents one small option for adult education. So we're talking about a real, real small group here.

And assuming that these veterans will automatically become volunteer firefighters or ambulance corps members is making very broad general assumptions about their lifestyles.

Yes, veterans deserve our support and so do the volunteers that protect us, but what effect do you really think such a resolution will have? It won't have any, it is purely created to smoke out some legislators as being non-patriotic if they vote against such a measure. And it looks real good on a political resume for Sparaco.

Real change comes in broad strokes and if the goal is to keep young adults in Rockland County, somebody has to come up with a much better idea than this one.; April 9, 2009 10:11 AM
Anonymous said...: How about just giving all vets living in Rockland County $10,000 a year to stay here. This should pay about half of their cost of rent and make it affordable to live in any town. It would also support all the troops and not just the ones going to college. This way, we can even attract even more vets and we may even get thousands of them to live here. This way we can have all the firefighters we need.; April 10, 2009 3:28 PM
RanD said...: $10,000 a year? why not $20,000. Let's make it impossible for veterans not to live here. Housing values will go up and housing development will restart. Just imagine all the townhouses we can build in Ramapo to house the vets.

I'm only hoping you were being as sarcastic as I am.; April 10, 2009 4:25 PM
andrea said...: I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Alena

http://grantsforeducation.info; February 10, 2010 3:56 AM

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Monday, April 6, 2009

Legislator's free-tuition program for vets wouldn't make living in Rockland more affordable

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