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Health & Fitness

Yorktown's "Gang of 3" to Yorktown Business: Get Lost

Compliments are due Yorktown Chamber of Commerce Chair Aaron Bock and President Joe Visconti for the strong rebuke they publicly issued, in a published "Open Letter," against three members of the Yorktown Town Board who voted to deny a business so much (or so little) as a non-binding hearing involving permit applications.

 

Since the Chamber of Commerce letter did not identify who voted to deny a fair and open hearing to a local business owner, the headline above the Open Letter left the erroneous impression that Supervisor Michael Grace was among that majority of three out of five board members who blocked the hearing. He of course was not.

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In fact, Supervisor Grace and Deputy Supervisor Terrence Murphy were the only board members to vote in favor of a hearing for The Winery at St. George on Route 6 in Shrub Oak, as they would have voted in support of any legitimate business owner to get a fair hearing.

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That's because they -- and apparently they alone on the five-person town board -- understand that the vitality and government support of local commerce has a direct effect on the quality of life in any town. Treating a business owner as the enemy is a recipe for economic disaster, especially at a time Main Street America is struggling to emerge from a very deep and long recession.  

 

It doesn't require great insight to appreciate that the three votes cast against a Winery public hearing were based not on principle but on the pure self-interests of election year and party politics. Their votes, in other words, had nothing to do with any concern for Yorktown taxpayers. It had to do with concern for their own political futures.

 

Who are these Anti-Business candidates, all who are looking for you to vote for them this year? Since you know who did vote in favor of a hearing, it’s easy to know who voted No.  Here's a handy tip sheet:

 

Anti-Business Councilman #1 -- Fiercely opposed to The Winery and most business development, a lifelong Conservative who, after 16 years on the town board, magically has been reborn as a Democrat to run for Supervisor. Consistent with his absence of ideology and loyalty, he abruptly has done a 180 politically as a matter of opportunism. In all the time he’s served the citizens of Yorktown, what has he done to move this town forward? What creative solutions has he proposed? If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly yet expecting better results, what has Yorktown to gain from elevating this career double-talker to even higher office than the one he has served by opposing progress of any kind? If you wonder why there’s no destination restaurant at Jefferson Valley Mall, you have him to thank.

 

Anti-Business Councilman #2 – A solid citizen and very nice guy, but how is he helping our town? He routinely votes the party line down the line, no questions asked. It's hard to tell half the time if he truly knows what he's voting about because his comments too often have little connection to the topic under discussion.

 

Anti-Business Councilman #3 – Another solid citizen, waging a primary to replace the Republican nominee for Highway Superintendent, who ran for town board as a pro-business candidate, but now seems to be voting whichever way will help him get the Conservative line, with help from his Conservative-in-Name-Only friend who’s defected to the Democrats (See #1 above). This “me first” political game of Quid Pro Quo vs. “citizens first” Right to Due Process is the wrong direction for Yorktown and its citizens. 

 

It's this cynical brand of Politics As Usual that turns people off to politics... as usual.

 

A Concerned Yorktown Citizen,

Ed Lachterman

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