Dems Call Yorktown GOP Business Revitalization Plan ‘Empty Rhetoric’
Yorktown Democratic Town Board members Susan Siegel and Vishnu Patel weren’t impressed with the business revitalization plan unveiled by the Yorktown Republican slate last week.
Standing in front of the long empty former Food Emporium building in the Yorktown Green shopping center, Supervisor Michael Grace and his GOP running mates, Councilman Tom Diana and board hopeful Ed Lachterman, and Town Clerk candidate Mary Capoccia, announced initiatives to streamline approvals, attract and retain business investment and make leases in the town more affordable.
“Our plan is to move Yorktown forward and tell people how you can, not why you can’t,” said Grace, who is running for a third term. “We have to compete with other communities. We have to look at ways to create other tax revenue. We are committed to try to find ways to reinvigorate the Town of Yorktown.”
Part of the so-called “new pro-business majority” plan is to relocate the town’s highway garage and get the garage’s current property on Front Street back on the tax rolls. They are also calling on the state to reestablish an IDA (Industrial Development Agency) in Yorktown and allow businesses to participate in the 485-b business investment tax credit program.
“We need to work with Senator (Terrence) Murphy to reestablish our IDA to continue to be able to promote economic and recreational opportunities within the town,” Lachterman said. “By providing aggressive incentives like ending the sales tax on commercial leases, we can fill the empty storefronts that remain in town.”
Siegel, a former supervisor who is running for a full four-year term on the board, said the 485-b program was an existing state program that any business could avail themselves. She also said Yorktown didn’t need an IDA since Westchester County already has one.
“Look behind the smoke and mirrors and there’s no substance to the Republican revitalization plan,” Siegel remarked. “Just like there’s no substance to their campaign slogan ‘Move Yorktown Forward.’ The revitalization plan is one more example of deceiving Yorktown voters.”
Patel, who is looking to unseat Grace in the November 3 election and opposes Grace’s plan for a new highway garage, contended the supervisor has done little to revitalize Yorktown during his four years in office.
“Show us the numbers. He claims that he’s brought $300 million in development to Yorktown. Where is it?” Patel said. “Since Grace took office, he has done nothing new. Words. Not deeds. How can we believe him when he tells us what he will do for us in the future when he lies about what he’s done in the past.”
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
