Question the Candidates: II Anne McAndrews

What public service have you performed in the past year to help improve the Village?

I ran for mayor. Obviously, I'm not the mayor, so I must have lost the race. But that's not the point --- in Larchmont Village candidates campaign very hard. Issues are defined and debated. Without opposing candidates, there is no debate. (Did you know that in Scarsdale, uncontested elections are the rule? They have a club, sort of a local government selection committee, decide who will run, usually unopposed.)

Although now in the campaign, when exhausted, running unopposed has its attractions. But I like Larchmont's system better. It's democracy at its messiest best. But, must we have this exercise in democracy every year? Last Spring, the League of Women Voters decided to study whether a longer trustee term length would imrove the workings of the Mamaroneck village board. I urged them to include Larchmont and became actively involved. If trustees' terms were lengthened from two to four years, the immediate effect is elections are held every other year, rather than annually, giving trustees more time and focus to do the job they are elected to.

Finally, I became involved in reviving the Flint Park Neighborhood Association. Much work remains to be done and I will continue my efforts after March 18, come what may.