Josh Durso

Some stories are bigger than the headline. Rochester Regional Health’s decision to pursue the closure of delivery and birthing services at Newark-Wayne Community Hospital is one of them. The announcement sparked immediate concern throughout Wayne County, prompted calls from elected officials for state intervention, and left many residents wondering what comes next.

There’s a dangerous misconception growing in a lot of small communities right now that local government exists to personally walk every resident through every complicated issue facing their town, village, or county. It doesn’t. Government has an obligation to operate transparently, follow the law, hold meetings publicly, publish agendas, release documents, and stand for election regularly. But there’s another side to civic life that people increasingly want to ignore.

Before I go any further, I have to start here: Seneca Falls, the town I grew up in, has a lot going for it. There are a lot of good people. People doing real, important work. Trying to move things forward. Trying to do right by the community and the people who call it home. There have been significant wins, too. Like those downtown over the last few years. But that doesn’t mean the town is working for its residents.