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Independent Town Council challenger says promoting recreational business will keep young people in Massena

Posted 11/3/18

North Country This Week MASSENA -- Town Council candidate Carl Zender, who is running as an independent, says he would focus on bringing recreational businesses to town as a means of solving problems …

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Independent Town Council challenger says promoting recreational business will keep young people in Massena

Posted

North Country This Week

MASSENA -- Town Council candidate Carl Zender, who is running as an independent, says he would focus on bringing recreational businesses to town as a means of solving problems that he attributes to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and people leaving town after high school.

The 69-year-old is a former president of the Head Start program at the now-closed Twin Rivers Elementary School and is a U.S. Navy veteran. He also has experience volunteering with the Board of Elections on Election Day.

Many may recognize him as an animated Salvation Army volunteer at Christmastime.

“Where I go, everybody knows me as the dancing, singing bell ringer for the Salvation Army. I did for it nine-and-a-half years,” he said.

Recreational Solutions

Zender believes Massena’s economic woes are largely fueled by the 9/11 attacks and the way to solve that is through sparking the local recreational industry. He says would bring people to town to spend money, in turn stimulating the local economy.

“The Seaway, they’ve cut that down a lot … There’s not as much tourism like there used to be before 9/11,” Zender said in a phone interview. “9/11 is responsible for a lot of things.

“That and people moving out of this town and kids getting out of high school they’re moving out of this town because there isn’t a lot do there.”

He hopes, if elected, to focus specifically on bringing a second bowling alley to town as a means of solving some of those problems.

“I’m hoping we can get a new bowling alley here where people and their families can enjoy get-togethers,” Zender said. “I’m hoping we can get something like that in here,” which he said could also include a go-kart track, “so people can come up here and have a family-oriented community like it used to be.”

He believes people need to “get away from their computers get away from their TVs and enjoy being a family again like they used to be.”

He said he agrees with the town’s current economic development strategy of incentivizing and subsidizing outdoor activities, and marketing the town as a fishing destination.

“I think it’s a great idea. There’s a lot of rivers up in this area, a lot of good fishing. The Bass Elite group has been here two or three times in the last few years.”

‘I Don’t Really Have Any Qualifications’

When asked what separates him from his opponent, Democratic incumbent Melanie Cunningham, Zender said he was unaware he had competition for the seat.

“I’ve heard she was going out because she had so much going on with the hospitals and stuff,” he said.

Cunningham, a former Massena Memorial Hospital Board of Managers trustee, left that board to take her current seat as an appointed member of the Town Council. She replaced Steve O’Shaughnessy, who at the time was a councilor and is now supervisor, after he unseated former Supervisor Joe Gray in November 2017.

Zender said he doesn’t have any qualifications for the town councilor position. He said he sees Massena as in decline and wants to stand up and try to turn things around.

“I don’t really have any qualifications. I’ve been in the community for over 40-some years. I’ve seen when it was at the peak of populating and success. As I lived here longer and longer I looked I’ve seen things are just going empty because there’s nothing here for them,” he said. “Take the St. Lawrence Centre mall. I remember that was pretty popular back in the early seasons when it opened up and they had the carousel there … All these stores that used to be in downtown Massena, they’re gone.”

“You look at the houses … unbelievable how many houses are empty … there’s no jobs, no businesses and nothing for the kids to do anymore … I decided somebody needs to do something and you can’t get anyone else in this town to do anything so I figured I’d step up to the plate.

“I see kids wandering the streets, drugs and alcohol and gangs stuff like that, wannabes, there’s nothing for them to do. There’s no recreational things to do.”

When asked if he believes Massena has a gang problem, he said he was referring to past criminal cases where law enforcement officials said there were gang ties. In December 2015, authorities dubbed a drug investigation connected to Massena as “Operation Believe it or Not.” Village police officials at the time said the case was gang related. It resulted in seven North Country arrests and 25 in New York City.

“They have had people, gangs, that come up here once in a while. Thanks to the police department they’ve done an excellent job getting then out of there. The biggest problem is drugs are all over the country. Kids don’t want to do anything, go outside anymore,” Zender said.

Doesn’t Want Party Label

Zender said he intentionally eschewed party affiliation, rather than seek support of one of the two major parties.

“I didn’t try to go Democratic or Republican. I thought the best way to go was independent and deal with the real people and not these bureaucrats, as you want to call them,” the candidate said.

“I’ve been trying to talk with the government, Gov. (Andrew) Cuomo and some of the other politicians, and I’ve talked to several politicians that are running for office this year, like (county legislature 15th District candidate) Rita Curran and (North Country congressional candidate) Tedra Cobb and (county legislature 15th District candidate Shawna) Cecot. I’ve talked to them people when we had the Labor Day parade and I ran into them.

“They understand and they see the same thing I do that the town needs to get something going here and do something or … it’s going to be a ghost town.”