Siegel’s Respect for Law, Best Interest of Town Served Yorktown Well

Listening to residents doesn’t always mean Town Board members have to vote the way residents want. In fact, that’s often not the case with the current Yorktown Town Board led by Mr. Lachterman!

Mr. Lachterman certainly didn’t listen to residents when he voted to include the Soundview property in the Yorktown Heights Overlay District. (Look what we have today.) Nor did Mr. Lachterman listen when residents pointed out that Competitive Carting was not qualified to collect our trash. Will he “listen” to residents who oppose the 254-unit Navajo Fields plan?

It seems more likely that Mr. Lachterman will continue to listen to the lawyer of both of those applicants, who was Mr. Lachterman’s attorney in a personal injury lawsuit. (Did someone say ethics?)

As for Susan Siegel’s position change in 2015 regarding the sober house, what Supervisor Lachterman conveniently failed to say was that after all of Mrs. Siegel’s many efforts to find legal grounds to reject the application, she reluctantly voted in favor of the permit in order to avoid what would have been a costly taxpayer-funded lawsuit that the town would mostly likely have lost. The law was clear. Town officials are supposed to uphold the law, whether or not they like or agree with the law.

Mr. Lachterman, who was not on the board at the time, also failed to credit Mrs. Siegel for her involvement in drawing up a list of conditions that the sober house operator would have to abide by. Had the town lost in court, the judge could have thrown out those conditions.

In the end, Mrs. Siegel voted for what she believed was in the town’s best interest. She had the courage to change her position based on the facts, and follow the law. She did her job as a responsible member of the Town Board.

Robert Kearney
Yorktown

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