Richard Edwards’ recent letter to The Photo News “Bureaucracy or Incompetence” points out the Village of Monroe’s lack of action with a much-needed pond cleanup for which they received $565K in grant money. As a 27-year resident of the town of Monroe, parent of two Monroe-Woodbury graduates, and one of the founders of the Monroe Downtown Revitalization Committee, I have witnessed firsthand the steady decline of the village of Monroe. Our committee was formed in 2019 with the intent to work hand-in-hand with our elected officials to apply for grants and beautify the downtown. The 13-person committee met with three architectural firms that specialized in downtown revitalization, as well as with the grant writing firm that is on retainer with both the town and village. We made many suggestions to the village mayor and his board, attended meetings regularly, held a forum with the Chamber of Commerce and Lions Club, and offered concrete ways that we could attract more business and revitalize the downtown business district.
However, in 2020, we had to temporarily put our plans on hold due to the COVID pandemic — so we instead conceptualized and helped organize downtown dining on Lake Street. To say it was a success is to put it mildly. It gave the restaurants the boost they needed to stay in business and gave residents the opportunity to safely socialize and enjoy dining al fresco. Rather than appreciate the efforts of our committee, we were told our services were no longer required, and that the Village would be running downtown dining going forward. We were pushed out of all meetings with the architects and told that the Village would not apply for the $10 million New York Downtown Revitalization Initiative, because “we probably wouldn’t get it anyway” according to Mayor Neil Dwyer — even though Millennium Strategies, a grant writing firm hired by the town of Monroe, felt that we had a very good chance to win this grant. Mayor Dwyer went so far as to make a motion to get rid of Millennium at a village board meeting but capitulated when other board members reminded him that the grant monies received already exceeded the retainer amount.
Our committee persevered, holding several raffles and events, and sponsored window painting in the downtown on several occasions, over the inexplicable objections of the village board. However, without the support of elected officials, there is little to no opportunity for an all-volunteer committee to make any real, lasting and impactful improvements. Among our ideas were to clean up the alleyways, create a more pedestrian-friendly downtown area, purchase new awnings and signage for the businesses, replace the dirt path to the gazebo, provide trash receptacles and signage to attract walkers along the Heritage Trail, bring in art and cultural events, provide bicycle rentals and make the waterfall more of a focal point, among other suggestions.
In January of 2022, the village of Monroe was awarded a state grant of $100K to make improvements to the downtown. Part of the requirement for the grant was that they were to work with local residents — which they emphatically did not — to come up with ideas of how to utilize the funds. This is just another example of the village mayor playing games with state funding. Meanwhile, apparently the Village has started an advertising campaign “Venture Out Monroe,” which seems to be a smoke-and-mirrors attempt to make it seem like there are some big changes coming. All we have seen for the past five years is more of the same — summer concerts, a small farmers market and the Cheese Festival — which, while fun to attend, do absolutely nothing to attract businesses or create any lasting, aesthetic, meaningful changes to revitalize our downtown. So in answer to Richard Edwards’ “Incompetence or Bureaucracy” letter, I would say both — and will add partisan foul play to that list.
Cristina Kiesel, Chairperson
Monroe Downtown Revitalization Committee
Monroe