To the Editor:
Opposition is healthy. It forces our elected officials to evaluate their performance and ask themselves whether they have truly represented that community’s interest during their time in office. And it invites voters to make the same judgments and express their conclusion on Election Day.

But opposition that rests on misinformation has no business in our local elections. And comparing a one-party board to a private monopoly disregards the community’s voice in the electoral process.   

That is what concerns me about Republican Chair Deane Fish’s letter to The Altamont Enterprise  [“Americans distrust monopolies, bad in business and worse in government,” Letter to the Editor, The Altamont Enterprise, Oct. 15, 2021].

What he refers to as a “dilapidated barn” has become the centerpiece for a town vision, to create a new park with walking trails connecting to the New Scotland hamlet area and as a gathering space for our community. It was funded not by increasing our taxes but by New York State grant money, developer park funds, and private donations.

As to growth, Mr. Fish misrepresents that too. The town of New Scotland has seen more growth in the last decade than any other community in Albany County.

In just the last four years, the town has seen small-business commercial development expand along Route 85/85A. The small businesses that Mr. Fish points to as having been lost recently are village businesses, not town businesses; they are subject to village of Voorheesville’s (and not the town of New Scotland’s) planning and zoning.

Does the leader of the party not know the difference between the village government and the town government or is he trying to mislead voters? Neither option is good.

Crystal Peck

Chairperson

Town of New Scotland

Democratic Committee