Full-time Yates taxpayer urges voters to elect new candidates to board

Editor:

Most men and women who run for office are ordinary people with good intentions. Somehow when they become an official, they transfer to a politician who forgets what their purpose was.

They get away with this behavior because the average citizen does not pay attention or worse does not care. To get attention from most citizens requires a politician to stick a finger in the citizen’s eye.

New York State has done this with the wind turbine projects across the state. The Orleans County and the Town of Yates officials are totally frozen in place, which is cowardly.

The State has extremely high taxes which funnels down to the counties and the townships. The County of Orleans and the Town of Yates elected officials are chasing after the few dollars that will come from this terrible project.

These elected officials are willing to give up home rule to an unelected board that pays no tax to the county or the town and most likely would need to get a map to find the Town of Yates.

The local officials state they are being neutral until they get all the facts. The fact that Apex has been involved setting the table for this project for almost two years should have opened their eyes. Niagara County and the Town of Somerset figured it out and sent notice to Albany they do not want this project.

Some local residents claim that outsiders are trying to stop this project. The only outsiders are Apex who will be gone quickly if this project moves forward, and the unelected board in Albany that pay no taxes in Yates but will decide if this project goes forward.

I am not a full-time Yates resident but I am a property owner and I have paid full-time taxes in Yates for over 30 years. The Town of Yates is a wonderful place to live and I believe that this project will destroy the town for at least 40 years.

I would urge that all registered voters go to the polls and change the Town Board. Casting a write-in vote for Jim Simon, and voting for John Riggi and Glenn Maid are clear choices to improve the Town of Yates. There is a big need for men with a vision of the future and this will be a great start.

Ray Watt
Yates