The Village of Mineola is at a crossroads. With the proliferation of enormous apartment buildings being built, our suburban quality of life is being threatened.
It’s no secret that we pay among the highest property taxes in the nation. For the high taxes that we pay, we expect good schools, a high level of government services such as our roads being plowed when it snows, and we expect that our neighborhoods will retain their suburban character. That is why so many of us have chosen to live in this village.However, with each new apartment building, our village seems less like the suburbs we chose to live in and more like an unrecognizably crowded city. This begs the question—what exactly have we gotten for the real estate developers coming in to build these apartment complexes in our village? Our taxes certainly haven’t gotten down as a result nor have our services improved.
The current board of trustees is content to approve all of these projects without any foresight into what these buildings are going to do to the future of our village. It’s unfortunate that these buildings are now part of the character of Mineola.
I urge my fellow residents to support John Colbert for village trustee. Mr. Colbert brings a different voice and perspective to the village board and will scrutinize every new project that comes before the board with the future of our village in mind. Mr. Colbert will look out for the interests of the residents who want to live in a suburban community. Since we pay to live in a village on Long Island, we deserve Mineola to look like one.
The current board has let us down. I hope you will join me in voting for John Colbert next month.
—Susan Abitz
