To the editor:

I urge my neighbors to join me in voting for Chance Mullen for mayor, and Ariel Spira-Cohen, Mike Carpenter and Lisa Hill-Ries for Pelham Board of Trustees on March 19. I am proud to support the work Chance and Ariel have done in their time on the board. From modernizing how the village provides services to residents and opening up pathways for better communication with MyVOP, to the Solarize Pelham campaign (which resulted in 42 new solar-generating homes), our village is better for their service, and I look forward to the new ideas they will bring in the coming term. I also appreciate Mike’s four years of service on our Planning Board (where I started) and Lisa’s service on the Sustainability Advisory Board (a new board championed by Trustee Spira-Cohen). These boards do much of the advance work so that when a project reaches the Board of Trustees, it has been carefully tailored to address community needs.

During my eight years on the board, I’ve had the opportunity to work with three different mayors, and for the last two years, I’ve served as deputy mayor while current Mayor Mike Volpe helped steer the village in the right direction. Being mayor is a challenging job, and I’ll be voting for Chance because I know he’s ready to lead that work on day one.

Chance is well-versed on the issues and passionate about doing what’s best for Pelham. I share Chance’s view that if we don’t address some of our critical structural needs now, we will have fewer options and pay much more for them down the road. As a trustee, I’ve known Chance to be deeply invested in the smart development of our downtown, including the first proposal for age-restricted housing in recent memory, which is something our seniors have needed for many years. It is exactly these kinds of in-fill developments that were identified in our 2007 comprehensive plan as a critical enhancement to our tax base, sending more residents into our local businesses and allowing new residents to try Pelham and existing residents to stay if they no longer want a house. The village board works with developers to minimize school-aged children by, among other things, keeping the units small, the number of bedrooms low and the parking limited to one space per unit. It is important to note there are already less-expensive apartments and houses, with more bedrooms and parking available.

As a mayor, I know Chance is ready to carry on the work of carefully and collaboratively moving our community forward, while respectfully addressing the needs of our residents. For all new mayors and trustees, the learning curve is very steep—I’ve seen it firsthand during my time on the board. Chance, Ariel, Mike and Lisa have a significant advantage through their deep understanding of current conditions and their prior service on our boards.

Please join me in thanking Mike Volpe for his many years of service to our community and please mark your calendars to vote for Chance, Ariel, Mike and Lisa March 19.

Adam Kagan

522 Third Avenue