by Nary
 
The leadership of Woodstock’s RTC has successfully reinvented itself. Gone is the puffed up, chin out attitude that effectively saw Joe Breen drawn and quartered. Gone is their pal-ship with the CPS crowd along with whispered encouragement to recalcitrant Steve Rosendahl.

The RTC gave no public statement last summer regarding the referendum to unseat the BoE. Instead, they chose to sit tight, wait it out. Failing the results they were looking for, a new RTC platform soon emerged containing words like “environment,” “communication” and “Preservation.”  A kinder, gentler RTC is what we see now. Indeed, the new RTC is as sweet as a little lamb.
 
A few months back, ace Villager reporter Matt Sanderson wrote a charming piece that featured arduous work being done by one stalwart leader of the RTC. According to the article, the good lady is probably still out traipsing the wilds of Woodstock in her hip boots and waders with notepad in hand while she catalogues miles of historic stonewall. Thank goodness we’ve got such a prominent member of the RTC and PZC doing the hard work of preserving Woodstock. Keep mindful that this is the very same woman who was the strongest advocate for the complete removal of any and all stone walls (plus forest and wetland) that threatened to impede an Academy player’s ability to score a touchdown in a hoped-for, state-of-the-art Football Stadium. Does the RTC really think they are pulling the wool over our eyes?
 
Presently, a key administrator at the Woodstock Academy is “concerned,” about the good Preservation of the Woodstock Common. Parked cars are causing erosion! says the Official. Apparently, the Academy wants to “Preserve” this ancient common land that has progressed since its use in the 17th century of common grazing land to that of parkland then parking lot. Presently, it’s a sewer overflow basin. Naturally, the large Academy planned development now in suspension for over a year due to environmental risks is NOT a polite topic of conversation for it causes no one any concern. No worries either about the good Preservation of the Common. The Historic District Commission’s SWAT Team was dispatched immediately to quell the anxiety. They will begin by cataloguing all the plantings on the Common.
 
Sound familiar?
 
Cataloguing something has nothing whatsoever to do with good, effective preservation. It is simply cataloguing. Good preservation with a little prather than a big P begins with public education of what’s available and what’s suitable for Woodstock. It then goes to discussion, deliberation and action followed by adoption and legislation.
 
As long as the RTC keeps us thinking they are on it – that they are doing the job because they care – the longer we’ll have a town with a tacit policy of “No Zoning is Allowed Here.”
 
So, when you see the sheep gamboling on the Common in their sweatshirts emblazoned with a Big Letter P .  Know that that the only preservation they really care about is the Preservation of Their Own Interests.