To the Editor:

As I read through the long and rambling editorial in the recent Enterprise about affordable housing in Guilderland [“Affordable housing must be part of Guilderland’s future for the good of all,” April 6, 2023], I was struck by the comment that the Town Board should instruct the committee tasked with updating the town’s comprehensive plan on how it should deal with the issue of affordable housing.

Now let’s be clear. Affordable housing is a critical issue in Guilderland, as it is in communities — urban, suburban, and rural — all across the country. Aging populations and the need for service-sector workers to work with them create a housing need that is largely unmet. Demographic diversity is a significant component in making communities thrive. These are not difficult components to grasp.

However, the notion that the citizen committee appointed to update Guilderland’s comprehensive plan needs to be directed by the town board goes directly against what a community-driven update is all about. What this editorial comment suggests is that the people selected by the town board to accomplish this critical task cannot be trusted to get from Point A to Point B without direction from politicians.

This is the kind of nanny-state thinking that has sent government in this country into the sorry state that now exists on multiple levels. The town board appointed these individuals out of a large pool of applicants because it believed that they were the ones best suited to the task. Stay out of their way now, politicians, and let the people have a crack at this. Chances are they’ll do just fine when it comes to a matter like affordable housing.

Donald Csaposs

Voorheesville

Editor’s note: Donald Casposs is employed as a grant writer for the town of Guilderland.