My September 30, 2010 "Voters Thanked" Letter to the Editor

Additional commentary by Timothy Horrigan; September 30, 2010

Here is a letter I wrote to my local paper the Dover (NH) Foster's Daily Democrat on September 16, 2010, as soon as I knew my vote totals from the September 14 primary. The main purpose was to let people know I was in fact running. The paper, for no immediately apparent reason, held on to the letter for a long time and ran it two weeks after the fact on September 30. One of the two side issues I address in the letter was resolved by then: the Town Council passed a (probably unconstitutional) "disorderly house" ordinance aimed at students who rent houses in residential neighborhoods. The streetlight continues to be out. The Town Manager says that the electric utility Public Service of New Hampshire is the party who is failing to fix it.

My next door neighbor Todd Campbell's September 16th commentary has already vanished from Fosters.com. (Actually I have a hunch that it is still there on the server but it isn't being indexed properly.) I will see if he will let me run a copy on this web site.



Original URL (subject to link rot over time):

Voters thanked



To the editor: I would like to make it clear that I am in fact running for re-election to the New Hampshire State House of Representatives. Some 544 of my neighbors showed their faith in me by voting for me on Sept. 14, and I hope to serve them again during the next legislative session, alongside the rest of the Strafford County District 7 delegation. The local Democratic Party has a great lineup this fall: veteran legislators Naida Kaen, Judith Spang and Janet Wall are joined by two talented rookies, Phil Ginsburg and Jenna Roberts.



My family and I have been through some scary and humiliating experiences, so there is personal pride involved. Even more importantly, I will be a stronger— and more independent— public servant after the lessons I have learned in the past few weeks. If I lose on Nov. 2, so be it; but I owe it to myself, my family, and my community to run. If I am elected, there will be a lot of work for me to do in Concord, and I look forward to doing it.



I did indeed state last month that I was discontinuing my campaign. The news stories to that effect published between Aug. 12 and 25 in this paper and elsewhere were not inaccurate. There have, however, been more recent stories in this paper which were based on outdated information. I was available for comment, I attended at least two public events which Foster's covered, and I even left messages for a reporter and for the managing editor explicitly stating that there were new developments. I never heard back.



On a related note, I agree 100% with my next door neighbor Todd Campbell's Sept. 16 op-ed. The Durham Town Council is learning two lessons which I learned early and often during my service at the State House. Firstly, the people take their constitutional freedoms very seriously; and secondly, not every problem has a legislative solution. It is always worthwhile to have a dialogue when there is a problem, but quite often the best action to take after the dialogue is to do nothing.



Actually, the council is also learning a third lesson, which is that government needs to concentrate on its core functions, efficiently and transparently. Durham has a great municipal government, but sometimes its priorities are skewed. For example, the same town government which is able to compile a photo-dossier of the cars parked in my neighborhood (the "Faculty Development") has been unable to fix the streetlight in front of my house and the Campbells' house. They seem to have a hard time even determining which streetlight is out. The first question we are asked when we complain, after we have already given them the exact street address, is always "what's the pole number?" (There are some numerals on the pole, but it is unclear to a layperson which numerals, if any, constitute the pole number.) As the days get shorter, sooner or later a public works employee will drive down Faculty Road after sunset and observe in passing that the light is in fact out; but even then, if it is too dark, the worker will be unable to read the pole number.



Timothy Horrigan

Durham

Ironically, on September 27th I sent a revised— and much shorter— letter to the newspaper. I had conclued that they had decided not to run it because of the stuff about the streetlight, so I took it out. I also took out the stuff about the "disorderly house" controversy because I thought it would be a nonissue once the vote was taken. I am not sure if it is a nonissue, but it has nothing much to do with the 2010 general election, and my voters are deeply divided on this issue anyway.

To the Editor:


I would like to make it clear that I am in fact running for re-election to the New Hampshire State House of Representatives. 544 of my neighbors showed their faith in me by voting for me on September 14th, and I hope to serve them again during the next legislative session, alongside the rest of the Strafford County District 7 delegation. The local Democratic Party has a great lineup this fall: veteran legislators Naida Kaen, Judith Spang and Janet Wall are joined by two talented newcomers, Phil Ginsburg and Jenna Roberts.


My family and I have been through some scary and humiliating experiences, so there is personal pride involved. Even more importantly, I will be a stronger— and more independent— public servant after the lessons I have learned in the past few weeks. If I lose on November 2nd, so be it; but I owe it to myself, my family, and my community to run. If I am elected, there will be a lot of work for me to do in Concord, and I look forward to doing it.


I did indeed state last summer that I was discontinuing my campaign. The news stories to that effect published between August 12th and August 25th in this paper and elsewhere were not inaccurate. There have however been more recent stories in this paper which were based on outdated information. I was available for comment, I attended at least two public events which Foster's covered, and I even left messages for a reporter and for the managing editor explicitly stating that there were new developments. I never heard back. Had I been contacted, I would have said what I just said now: I am running for re-election.


Sincerely, Timothy Horrigan, Durham





 Durham Town Manager Todd Selig and UNH President Mark Huddleston are two of the most outstanding public officials I have ever worked with. Even though it is of course a self-serving official statement, their September 21, 2010 joint communique presents a very fair summary of the "disorderly house" controversy:

Original URL (subject to link rot over time):

UNH, Durham address student unruliness


The University of New Hampshire and the town of Durham have been working together for many years to assure that we remain good neighbors. We share many goals, but two are especially important.

First, we want Durham to remain a place that welcomes UNH students.

Second, we want to ensure that UNH students treat Durham as their home and act with civility and respect toward all residents. These goals have been harder to achieve in recent years as increasing numbers of college students have moved into Durham's traditional residential neighborhoods, bringing with them various quality of life issues (noise, trash, parking, etc.). Nonetheless, UNH and the town remain committed to working on these challenges as partners.

Durham's Rental Housing Commission, a group consisting of landlords, UNH staff, town officials, UNH students and residents in the affected neighborhoods, has been meeting regularly for more than a year. Its members, with input from many additional residents, have been working to develop new strategies to address student rental housing. In fact, it is this town/gown group that initiated the Disorderly House Ordinance the Town Council is currently deliberating.

That's not all that's been happening, however. For the past two years UNH officials have personally visited any house identified by town officials or the Rental Housing Commission as a "problem house." Those visits include a frank discussion about the university's expectations for good behavior in the Durham community and a review of relevant laws and ordinances. If the student disruption continues, the university partners with the Durham Police Department for a meeting with the students, their parents and the landlord. Once again, expectations are made clear. If the behavior persists, there are no more discussions. Instead, students are taken through the university's conduct system on the appropriate charges.

We know that residents are still frustrated. And we're actively working to develop new strategies. The town of Durham has significantly stepped up enforcement of existing zoning regulations in regards to issues of over occupancy, parking, noise and trash, and is working to build positive partnerships with local landlords through the Rental Housing Commission. Another example is a new system the university is implementing that will require students who consistently disregard the rights of the town's residents to meet one-on-one with President Huddleston. This will raise the ante on a system that has been in place for more than eight years whereby students who have been arrested off campus are required to meet with the associate dean of their college; parents are notified; university scholarships are reduced; campus jobs are in jeopardy.

This is a very complex issue, one that will require a full box of tools to address. Rest assured that university and town officials are at the table for this vital discussion together. We will remain at the table together, as good neighbors must.



Todd Selig
Durham Town Administrator



Mark W. Huddleston
President, University of New Hampshire




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