The Longer This Yorktown Town Board’s in Office, the More Residents Pay

I bought a blue t-shirt from a local department store about 20 years ago. I’ve washed it and worn it frequently since, and it’s still more or less in fine shape.

I bought another more recently, and within a year or two, the stitching is torn and the shirt is coming apart. Like so much else, everything these days seems to cost more and do less.

Our Town Board came into office promising to keep taxes low and improve services. They said they’d keep our parks in good shape and bring new businesses and development to Yorktown.

Then they signed a contract with Competitive Carting that gave this company a 40 percent increase as compared to their predecessor. Of course, it seems like 40 percent of our trash isn’t getting picked up now.

They passed a budget that needs to hike town taxes by a whopping 9 percent in the coming year to make ends meet. Meanwhile, residents have to pool their own money to get even basic repairs done to our tennis courts.

And new housing is being proposed in Yorktown. Some of that housing promised a new senior center, and dozens of units priced at a level that would let seniors remain in our community. Well, that senior center is nowhere to be seen in those plans, and the number of “real” senior units in the development keeps shrinking and shrinking – especially in the high-profile Underhill Farms development.

Yorktown was slipping underwater before the recent flooding. The board wants to approve projects that overdevelop at the expense of our environment while allowing multimillion-dollar condos to be built for the benefit of their friends, forgetting about the people who already live here.

Yorktown residents will pay more, and this board will do less and less and less to support them.

Election Day is Nov. 7.

Steve Goodstein
Yorktown

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