I recently shared a post on Facebook highlighting some of the cost-saving and sustainability projects in neighboring municipalities. Croton is pulling in roughly $500,000 a year with solar canopies over the MTA parking lot, and Philipstown wiped out electric bills on three municipal buildings with panels on the highway garage roof. 

The Supervisor commented on the post that the Board sent “it” (a study on solarizing our municipal buildings) to the town’s Climate Smart Community task force and Sustainable Westchester, and that the experts came back saying it wasn’t worth the money. 

He also told me I needed to pay attention. 

I do pay attention. And here’s what I see.

Town board meetings begin slowly with reviews of community events and multiple proclamations, then, more often than not, quickly devolve into barbed back-and-forth between board members. When a resident uses their three minutes at Public Comment to raise something the Supervisor doesn’t want to hear, the response is often condescension rather than an answer. 

Week after week, month after month, a Councilmember asks about the status of a municipal project, and the Supervisor chastises them for not paying attention, or other Board members mock them. 

There is one moment in particular that stays with me. A Girl Scout troop came to a Board meeting to talk about a community project they wanted to do for Yorktown. The students sat in the audience and watched while the conversation at the dais broke down into a 20-minute shouting match. I also sat in the audience, embarrassed by the behavior of those meant to be setting the example for these young women.

There was no call to order. There was no call for decorum. The Supervisor had the gavel, but never used it.

Meetings that run this way don’t just waste an evening. They’re why residents stop showing up, why projects sit for months without answers, and why a development wins approval on the strength of a commitment nobody tracks.

I do pay attention. And what I see is a Town Board that could serve Yorktown far better than it currently does, and residents who are paying the price.

The measure of leadership

A successful leader is able to identify a problem and bring appropriate solutions to bear. One without the other is insufficient.

When I chaired a Task Force for a Board on which I served, we were facing a significant budget shortfall. Two board members had polar opposite views on how to solve it. I made sure they were both on the committee. We worked through options together and found a combination of solutions that closed the shortfall without pricing families out of the programs. We spent the next few months meeting with members to communicate the upcoming changes and how the decision was made. We met face-to-face with those affected by our policy.

Strong leaders invite diverse perspectives, then do the work to turn them into a real answer. They communicate openly and freely; they don’t shy away from difficult conversations. Yorktown’s Town Board could use that same approach.

Successful leaders run effective meetings that include status reports, with timelines and action items. Department heads should give monthly, rotating updates, so every project gets a real answer on a real schedule, and residents don’t wait months to find out what happened to a promise made at a podium. Board members should bring back recommendations from the Advisory Boards they liaise with. The Board should hold respectful, thoughtful discussions of the issues before it. The Supervisor should be able to refocus the discussion when a meeting breaks down. And when a development is approved, the Supervisor should follow up to make sure the promises attached to it are kept. 

Indeed, I do pay attention, and I know Yorktown residents are paying attention as well.

Antisemitic vandalism has no place. Anywhere. It’s not just property damage; it’s an attempt to make our Jewish neighbors feel unsafe in their own home. I won’t treat it as anything less.

But hate doesn’t get the last word. Yorktown is bigger than this. A few things we can all do to make the world better, safer, and kinder:

• Speak up even in small moments — silence reads as neutral.
• Report incidents so patterns don’t go unseen.
• Talk to young people about what these symbols mean.
• Support local civic groups and get involved in organizations that build community ties that hate can’t easily break.

The truest answer to hate is a community that keeps building — openly, and together.

Local executive offices matter. They shape our communities, determine how our tax dollars are
spent, and oversee the services our families rely on every day.

I’m proud to earn the endorsement of Matt Castelli’s New Democrats of New York as they
continue to support Democrats running for local office who are prepared to deliver common-
sense solutions and effective leadership in local government.

Together, we’re going to keep working to deliver real results for Yorktown
and build a local government that works for everyone.

The most basic responsibility of town government is to keep our roads, parks, and intersections safe for the people who live here. Instead of just posing for press opportunities and catering to developers, walking through Yorktown with an eye for what could go wrong would be a better use of their time- a park without a safe water source, a road too narrow for emergency vehicles to pass, an intersection a firetruck can’t turn through. Being proactive and fixing potential dangers before someone gets hurt should be the focus- not continually running for office.

Granite Knolls: left without the basics

Granite Knolls is one of the most heavily-used parks in Yorktown. It is 15 acres of ball fields, pickleball courts, an inclusive playground, and a walking path. What you won’t find, however, is a single water fountain anywhere on the property. 

During increasingly frequent heat waves with temperatures regularly reaching triple digits for prolonged periods, residents lack easy access to water and return to unshaded cars. According to the National Weather Service, a car’s interior surfaces, dashboards, seats, and steering wheels can reach 180 degrees or more on a hot day, and interior air temperatures can climb well past 140 degrees within an hour. 

There was an effort at one point to add a solar canopy over the parking lot, which would have provided both shade and power. When the project ran into a contractor issue, the Supervisor was asked whether it would move forward with another vendor. His response was that the board was left with a bad taste in their mouths and had no interest in continuing. He went on to adopt the position of a former supervisor, saying he didn’t like the way it looked Given that most of the board has already been vocal in its opposition to ground-mounted solar, this did not come as a surprise. That’s not leadership. That’s letting personal gripes supersede their duty to the town.

A lack of either a drinking fountain or refill station at an outdoor sports complex, with an unshaded and soon-to-be blacktopped parking lot, is a significant hazard. 

We are investing money into a new sand volleyball court, which will be a wonderful addition to the facilities. Responsible risk management should dictate that we also invest in water stations and solar canopies or trees to reduce the risk of heat sickness to patrons.

Underhill Farms: developers first, residents second

The intersection at Underhill Ave. and Rt. 118 has its own problems. The lanes are too narrow for firetrucks, buses, and commercial delivery trucks to make a right-hand turn onto Underhill Ave from Rt 118, and vehicles waiting there have nowhere to go to give oversized vehicles the room they need. For emergency vehicles, every minute lost is a minute that matters.

The building height at Underhill Farms raises its own concern. Beyond the challenge of safely evacuating any building during a fire, the town doesn’t have a bucket truck that can reach the top floors. If there’s ever a fire or emergency on the top floor, residents may have to evacuate down a ladder raised to roughly 40 feet.

The developer got the overlay zoning they needed to build at a higher density, and part of the justification for that change was improved walkability for the surrounding neighborhood. Crosswalks at the intersection were included in the approved plan for exactly that reason. The project is now built and occupied, but two of those crosswalks have left out of the “improved” intersection.

Par 3: an entrance that doesn’t work

The Par 3 golf course opened to much fanfare, and it shows: drive by most evenings and you’ll find a full parking lot with cars spilling onto the narrow service road, leaving inadequate access for emergency vehicles. It’s great to have such a popular destination in town, but popularity without planning has a cost. When you focus on economic development without proactively upgrading infrastructure, you leave residents in a dangerous spot.

The pattern here starts at the top

Taken together, these oversights point to something bigger: a lack of leadership willing to make protecting residents the standard, not an afterthought. Missing crosswalks at Underhill Farms that were part of the approved plan. A scrapped canopy at Granite Knolls. An intersection that can’t handle emergency vehicles and buses. These aren’t accidents. They’re what happens when the person in charge won’t make accountability and infrastructure the baseline for every decision, and everyone below follows suit.

Yorktown residents deserve a town government that treats roads, water, and emergency access as the baseline, not an afterthought. That starts with a Supervisor who puts community first.
Developers have gotten too easy a ride in Yorktown at the cost of resident safety and quality of
life.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 6, 2026
Contact: Tess McRae| tess@theparksidegroup.com

Yorktown Supervisor Candidate Jann Mirchandani Qualifies for Independent Party Line and Earns High Profile Endorsements 

The Democratic Candidate is also Running on the “Community First” Independent Line Despite Attempts by her Opponents to Silence the Voices of Independent Voters

YORKTOWN – Today, Jann Mirchandani is announcing that she has received the required number of signatures to appear on the independent “Community First” party line, in addition to the Democratic Party line, in the race for Yorktown Supervisor. 

Her focus on being an independent voice dedicated to prioritizing fiscal responsibility, common sense housing development, and good governance is resonating with voters and community groups in Yorktown. 

Jann’s opponents attempted to silence the voices of Yorktown’s independent voters by challenging her petitions and attempting to kick her off the ballot. Their challenges were dismissed by the Westchester BOE. 

Additionally, Jann is announcing several endorsements for her campaign, including the Westchester Putnam Central Labor Body, an affiliate of AFL-CIO, as well as Eleanor’s Legacy, and Patriot PAC. 

Jann, the founder of Westchester Marketing Cafe, has over a decade of experience in the financial industry, where she previously worked with international asset management companies. She also has 35 years of experience serving on nonprofit boards, helping organizations dedicated to youth leadership, education and business development. Currently, she is the Vice Board Chair of Operations of the Greater Hudson Valley Council for Boy Scouts of America, where she made history as the first female Council Commissioner, and is a member of the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce and the Business Council of Westchester.

Jann has lived in Yorktown for twenty years with her husband Rajesh. They have two adult children who both graduated from Yorktown High School.

Jann Mirchandani, Candidate for Yorktown Supervisor, said: “I am proud to announce that, thanks to our dedicated volunteers, I will be running on both the Democratic party line and the Community First party line, this November. This news, as well as the endorsements that we are rolling out today, demonstrate what we are feeling here on the ground; that people are ready for new, independent leadership that will focus on good governance and always put the people of Yorktown first.  I am grateful to those who have already come out in support of our campaign, including Eleanor’s Legacy, the Patriot PAC, and the Westchester Putnam Central Labor Body. I look forward to meeting with and earning the support of, more Yorktown residents over the next few months.”

250 Years In: Still a Work in Progress

I remember when this country turned a spry 200. I was young enough that my mother had to explain what “bicentennial” meant. I marched in the parade in the Martha Washington costume she had sewn. Yes, that is me with my brothers and sister as we prepare to decamp, as they say.

The country was celebrating with the kind of communal joy that feels almost quaint now, with school pageants, town parades, and neighborhood events. 

Now, as our Nation approaches its 250th birthday, I’ve been thinking about what this anniversary means to me personally. My roots in this country go back to the Revolutionary War. My grandmother was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The DAR, as it’s known, is a lineage society: to be eligible, you have to prove direct descent from an ancestor who served the patriot cause during the Revolution.

And yet my children are first-generation Americans. Children of an immigrant. They are, in a very literal sense, the embodiment of what it means to be American. They carry both deep roots and new ones. The oldest ambitions of this country and the ongoing hope that we can be better.

This nation was built on conflict and compromise. Dreamed into being by men who wrote beautifully about liberty while enslaving other human beings. It was forged through a revolution fought on ideals that took generations — and counting — to extend to everyone. The aspiration was real. So was the failure to fully live up to it.

Being an American means enjoying the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution. Being a patriot means doing the hard work of civic engagement.

Rights without responsibility are just privilege. The freedoms we inherit — of speech, of assembly, of participation in our own governance — carry with them an obligation to use them. To vote. To show up at a town hall. To know your neighbors and your neighborhood. That is what separates a citizen from a bystander. 

So yes, celebrate. The birthday is real and worth marking.

But real patriotism is more than carrying the flag. It means carrying the torch. The most American thing you can do right now is stay engaged and doing the work of making this a more perfect union — not because it’s perfect, but because it can be more so. That is the American experiment. It always has been. 

Happy 250th, America. 

The Town Board has finally assembled a committee to review Yorktown’s commercial development tax exemption. The law exempts the increased value of commercial property from taxation, starting at 50% and declining over 10 years. Residents have been asking for this review for years, wanting to know whether the exemption is a tax giveaway or a genuine driver of economic growth.

At the June 2 Town Board meeting, members discussed what criteria the review should include. The conversation got heated fast. Accusations of “preconceived notions” flew across the dais, and the preconceived notions themselves were on full display, on both sides.

Councilman Esposito opened by saying he wants “subjective measures” included in the review, citing “excitement in town” as an example. When pressed, he pointed to revenue, traffic drawn into town, and business generated with other establishments. Councilman Gilbert was right to push back: none of those measures is actually subjective. They may be difficult to quantify, especially before-and-after comparisons, but they are measurable.

Here’s one simple approach: station volunteers in front of stores that received the exemption, like those at Yorktown Green, and ask shoppers whether they visited any other businesses during the same trip. Not scientific, but enough to generate meaningful anecdotal evidence about whether these stores drive foot traffic and boost the broader local economy. As a bonus, it might also point us toward strategies for strengthening local business overall.

Supervisor Lachterman suggested tracking infrastructure improvements paid for by these businesses, calling the total “a lot.” That remains to be seen.

The core question is straightforward: Does the tax exemption generate more revenue than it costs? To answer it honestly, we need the data outlined above. But the most important question may be harder to answer: Would these businesses have come to Yorktown without the exemption?

To get at that, we should look at comparable communities, with and without the exemption, and examine how commercial development compared. Not a perfect methodology, but actionable enough to inform a real decision about whether this policy benefits Yorktown’s bottom line, or whether it’s simply a giveaway.

We all have preconceived notions. The question is whether we’re willing to challenge them.

One of my favorite expressions is “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” It gets right to the heart of the idea of having only one solution despite a diversity of problems.

“Development” is one such hammer. It is an overly broad term because not all development is the same.

Development Needs Input from Everyone

I’ve been talking to Yorktown residents about the growth we’re seeing. What worries them is whether our town is growing for them or past them. Right now, it feels like the latter.

I’ve also been speaking with developers and commercial real estate professionals. Their concerns are mainly about being able to rely on the consistent application of rules and regulations. Labor leaders are concerned about fair pay and safe working conditions for workers. Business owners want to see foot traffic coming through their doors.

These concerns are often at odds. A real comprehensive plan brings them together instead of treating development decisions as one-off transactions.

The Cost of “Yes to Everything”

Our current supervisor has treated development like a supply-side problem. Say yes to enough projects, the thinking goes, and tax revenue will follow. But the math hasn’t worked out for residents.

Yorktown residents faced a 7.4% tax increase in 2025. Last year, the supervisor announced a zero-increase budget (in an election year, conveniently). The estimate for the next budget? Over 6%.

Since 2016, tax breaks, disguised as incentives, handed out under the Town’s commercial tax exemption program have cost Yorktown residents nearly $1.7 million in lost revenue. That’s an exemption given regardless of the type of development. And homeowners are making up the difference, paying more so developers can pay less.

This type of budgeting yo-yo with tax giveaways is not conducive to consistent maintenance and investment in our infrastructure. 

What Smart Development Actually Looks Like

I want developers to succeed. What I don’t want is for them to succeed at the expense of residents. That’s not pro-development. That’s pro-developer. Those aren’t the same thing.

I am pro-smart-development. That means saying yes to projects that work for the community and the developer. It means prioritizing the adaptive reuse of existing buildings over sprawl. That’s where our incentives belong. Without focusing these incentives, residents are simply subsidizing developers.

Getting Back to Comprehensive Planning

A recent article in 914Inc, Westchester County’s business magazine, focused on mixed-use development and the importance of intentional planning. Michael Ramito, CEO of the Westchester County Association, made a crucial point: “A [comprehensive] plan means that new developments aren’t considered on a case-by-case basis, but instead evaluated based on how they fit within that community’s cohesive long-term goals.”

Yorktown hasn’t updated its comprehensive plan in years. I’ve been calling for an update for a long time, and we’re finally seeing some movement. What matters now is making sure all stakeholders are heard in that process. Not just developers. Not just the town board. Residents. Labor. Business owners. Everyone who has a stake in what Yorktown becomes.

The Real Question

Real leadership means setting a vision for where Yorktown should be in five or ten years, then making the decisions, including the hard ones, to get there. It means asking whether a variance serves the community or just the developer’s bottom line. 

Yorktown is my home. I raised my kids here. I see both the challenges and the opportunities. I also see that we’re capable of doing this better, of growing in a way that strengthens us rather than strains us.

That’s the choice in front of us.

One of the privileges of this campaign has been the conversations it’s opened. Not just with Yorktown residents, but with business leaders, restaurateurs, developers, and community stakeholders across Westchester County. What I’ve heard has validated my conviction that Yorktown has a genuinely exciting future, if we’re willing to pursue it with intention.

I am glad the Board has recently established a committee to reevaluate the Comprehensive Plan. This is something I have been calling on them to do for years. But updating a plan without a clear vision and the tools to enforce it is just paperwork that risks being merely performative. 

Yorktown’s Unique Position, and the Risk of Getting It Wrong

Yorktown sits at a distinctive geographic crossroads. The Taconic Parkway runs north-south through our community; Routes 202 and 6 run east-west. That positioning makes us attractive to big-box retailers, fast-food chains, and other high-volume commercial developments. And that’s precisely the problem.

If we don’t plan deliberately, we risk becoming exactly that: a corridor of high-volume retail that bears all the burdens of traffic, noise, and air pollution while losing the green spaces and residential character that make Yorktown worth living in. Commercial development that overwhelms our residential nature doesn’t enhance our quality of life. It diminishes it. And once that character is gone, it doesn’t come back.

Our geographic assets, our parks, our hiking and biking paths, the North County Trailway, our history and hamlet identities are not obstacles to economic development. They are our contribution to the regional economy. The question is whether we’re strategic enough to leverage them.

What I’ve Learned from Westchester’s Business Community

In conversations with a successful restaurateur who knows our community well, a few things became clear.

First, blighted and vacant buildings are a drag on our economy that we have the power to address. Right now, tax write-offs can make it financially comfortable for a property owner to leave a building empty. Other communities have eliminated those write-offs, turning a passive incentive to do nothing into an active incentive to invest. We should explore doing the same. A vacant storefront isn’t just an eyesore; it’s a missed opportunity for economic activity, tax revenue, and community vitality.

Second, we also have tools we’re not using as effectively as we could. The 485-b commercial real estate tax exemption was designed by the state to encourage investment during urban renewal. Our local version of that law currently casts too wide a net, rewarding development broadly rather than targeting the redevelopment we actually need. We should tighten it to direct those tax benefits toward owners who improve or repurpose existing buildings rather than those clearing green space for new construction. And since municipalities can leverage the state law directly, the committee currently reviewing our local law should also ask a more fundamental question: do we need our own law at all, or does the state framework already give us the tools to do this right?

Third, and most importantly, Yorktown doesn’t need to go it alone. Working with neighboring communities to support a regional economy that builds on what makes each town unique is smarter than competing with them. 

Cortlandt has been investing in its “MOD”, its Medically Oriented District, for years already. Peekskill has been leveraging millions of dollars from state and federal sources as part of its downtown revitalization efforts for over a decade. 

Yorktown boasts an extensive trail system, including FDR Park, Downing Park, Sylvan Glen, Granite Knolls, and others. We have the North County Trailway drawing cyclists, runners, and walkers from across the region. We have our Shrub Oak hamlet and the Yorktown Grange with historic character. What we lack is a coordinated effort to market these assets, connect them to each other, and make Yorktown a place visitors seek out and linger in, spending time and money in local businesses along the way.

And our natural assets extend beyond our trails. Mohegan Lake and Osceola Lake offer something genuinely rare: accessible, scenic waterfronts in an inland community. State and federal grant programs have historically focused waterfront revitalization on river towns, but that’s changing, and our state representatives have been working to extend those opportunities to communities like ours. Reinventing our lakefronts as recreational destinations could draw visitors directly to the businesses and restaurants already lining those corridors.

Our contribution to that regional economy is clear: we are a residential community with extraordinary natural assets. We should be positioning ourselves as a destination, not a throughway.

My Vision: Building on What Makes Yorktown Unique

The thread running through all of these conversations is the same: Yorktown’s greatest assets are the ones we already have. Our trails and parks draw visitors from across the region. Our hamlets have genuine character worth preserving and building on. Our geographic position, managed thoughtfully, can work for us rather than against us. And our relationships with neighboring communities, once cultivated, can open doors to funding and partnerships that no single town can access on its own.

None of this requires reinventing Yorktown. It requires seeing clearly what we already are, and making deliberate choices that build on it. A streetscape improvement here. A blighted building transformed there. A forum that brings the right people to the table. Each step is modest on its own. Together, they add up to a community with a coherent identity and a plan to strengthen it.

Those conversations I mentioned at the outset, with restaurateurs, with regional business leaders, with residents who love this town, have only deepened my belief that Yorktown’s best chapter hasn’t been written yet. But it requires leadership that understands where we’re going before we start driving.