The-Leader_2009-03-26

              Mayor (vote Tor one) ^
William Glacken* 2,757
Andrew Hardwick*/ 3,085
Trustee (vote for two)
Renaire Frierson* 2,582
Robert T. Kennedy^ 2,823
Don Miller* 2,604
Carmen Pineyro^ 2,850
Dewey Smalls 495
Justice (vote for one)
V. Roy Cacciatore* 2,649
Stephen Drummond*^ 2,968
/*^
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1 tvt.**' •"
FREEPORT'S CURRENT MAYOR and trustees gather at Thursday's special meeting to tally
the vote. From left are Village Attorney Harrison Edwards, Trustee William White, Deputy
JVIayor Renaire Frierson, Mayor William Glacken, Trustees Don Miller and Jorge Martinez. ^
Hardwick has historic win
by Laura Schofer
Challenger Andrew Hardwick defeated incumbent Mayor William Glacken in last Wednesday's (March 18) village election. Mayor-elect Hardwick is the first African-American to be elected to the office of mayor since the village's incorporation in 1892.
"I want to thank everyone who came out in support of us," said the recorded message on Mayor-elect Hardwick's cell­phone. "We feel very er.couraged by the vote of confidence and are truly grateful for your support."
In addition to Mayor-elect Hardwick,
the village will have two new trustees, Robert Kennedy and Carmen Pineyro, who defeated Deputy Mayor Renaire
Frierson and Trustee Don Miller and
^> ,-^^contender George Dewey Smalls. \^^ji^ Stephen Drummond was elected village
"^justice, defeating Judge V. Roy
f^ Cacciatore.
r; Mayor-elect Hardwick ran an ambi-
/, ^{ tious campaign promising positive
^'^ ^ change to Freeport. His team called
* J' "Change Freeport," although not official-
4y Democratic, brought to the forefront
x^ ^many of the same ideas President Obama
spoke about in his campaign last
November, including a more "open door
policy with the mayor's office," said his
"^^JJ
campaign literature as well as a compre­hensive plan with residents, community leaders, school districts and law enforce­ment to address problems facing the vil­lage from economic hard times to infra­structure and revitalization. Mayor-elect Hardwick also promised in his literature to establish a hotline to his office so that residents may directly have access to address quality of life issues.
Mayor William Glacken, who was elected Mayor of Freeport in 1997, served the Village of Freeport for 12 years.
During his tenure Mayor Glacken over-
saw many changes in
Freeport, including the building of a new
power plant, upgrad­ing the streets in south
Freeport, renovating the Nautical Mile as well as an ongoing streetscape program in the central busi- _ ness district. Mayor Glacken had planned, if re-elected, to revitalize the North Main Street corridor in Freeport. But critics pointed to taxes and bur­geoning
salaries of village employees, lack of transparency in government, the cost of bonding capital improvement projects, and addressing crime as reasons for change in Freeport.
Incoming trustees Robert Kennedy and Carmen Pineyro have also pledged to tackle escalating taxes and "manage the village in a more transparent way," said trustee-elect Kennedy in a previous inter­view with The Leader. Ms. Pineyro told The Leader previous­ly that as trustee she will address more quality of life issues and insure the com­munity is safe.
Incoming
Judge Stephen
Drummond wants to address problems at Freeport High School and teach students "how to stay out of trouble," he told residents at the February 26 debate hosted by the Northwest Civic Association.
Mayor-elect Andrew Hardwick
"I will serve with honor and integrity. I'm simply running to serve you; this is my home," said Mr. Drummond.
Mayor Glacken and the Board of Trustees read the tally Thursday evening, March 19, at Village Hall. There was a stillness in the room as they quietly went over the results. Mayor Glacken read the total which was reviewed and given to the village clerk. The meeting adjourned at 7:44 p.m. The Mayor, trustees and Justice Cacciatore quickly left the room, leaving a reporter from The Leader and Newsday as the only other people in the room.
"We were of course disappointed, but plan to continue to advocate for the bene­fit of the Village of Freeport in the future," said Mayor Glacken. "There are
projects and plans for the village that are not yet finished." Mayor Glacken said his office would provide an orderly transition
from one administration to the other. Mayor-elect Hardwick told The
Leader, "We got the message out to the
people. Freeport is now awake. We know we have difficulties ahead of us but one thing I realize is that Freeport misses Freeport. It has not been clean or safe [in Freeport] and now we finally realized that we need to treat her like the proud and beautiful lady she should be. We will love and honor her." -Jim Gelding contributed to this story
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Freeport's
new marina
pages
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Residents: Drop ttie Roci(!
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Freeport trustees liave CDBG liearing
page 19
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Baldwin
Library Day
page 12