52°
POUND RIDGE, N.Y. Originally from Oswego N.Y., Ali Boak has lived in Pound Ridge for the past five years. Shes made a quick impression. With no opposition, Boak, a Democrat, will be elected to a seat on the town board after Tuesdays elections.
Boak attended SUNY Albany and graduated magna cum laude with a dual major in English and science. She obtained a Master of Public Health degree from Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health.
Boak, who is married to her husband Allan Weinstein, an investment banker, and has four girls ages 17, 14, 9 and 5 also spent two years in the Peace Corps and is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship.
She started an international nonprofit organization called International Organization for Adolescence (IOSA). The groups mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable youth around the world. She is currently the chairperson of the board and supervisor to the groups executive director.
I work part time through the organization on the issue the human trafficking, she said. Ive also worked with Police Chief [David] Ryan and cofounded the Westchester County Anti-Trafficking Task Force and serve as an advisor.
Boak is also a founding member of the Pound Ridge Partnership, which got its start last year. The groups mission is to bring together residents, business owners, landlords and community leaders to support and enhance the Pound Ridge business district.
The Pound Ridge Pride Day in June was our first event, she said. And we just had the Harvest Fest in October.
She has also served on the Bedford Central School Districts budget advisory committee and was chair of the subcommittee on school budget comparisons.
I was also a member Pound Ridge ad hoc committee for sensible air space, she said. The airports were changing routes and Pound Ridge was getting a lot of low flying planes. We were trying to change that.
The seat on the town board will be Boaks first elected position. Even though she is running unopposed, shes been out campaigning to let her constituents know what her platform is. It has five priorities:
1 Fix the problems in Scotts Corners, which includes sewage and water issues, along with the degradation of barriers and lamppost in the business district
2- Improve cell phone coverage throughout the town to secure the safety and wellbeing of the residents.
3 - Secure the towns financial future by keeping taxes low and protecting property values.
4 - Protect the drinking water and deal with issues regarding well contamination. The plan involves mapping out where wells and sewage leach fields are and then tapping into alternative technologies to position the business district so, when laws change, it will be ready to upgrade.
5 - Promoting open and transparent government
A lot of people complain they dont know whats going and theres a lot more that could be done to make the government more accessible, Boak said. We need to get people involved. They dont interact [with the government] until they go to build a family room or swimming pool. We could increase our communication with the residents by recording our meetings and putting them up on the website.
Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Pound Ridge and receive free news updates.
