Jason Chapin was first elected to the New Castle Town Board in 1999, and served from 2000 to 2003. Eight years later, the Chappaqua resident has decided to pick up where he left off and run for a seat once again. He will be replacing current board member Michael Wolfensohn on the Democratic ballot, who dropped from the party in June.
Chapin recently sat down with The Daily Chappaqua to discuss his candidacy.
Why did you decide to run?
I decided to run because Ive always been involved in the town and I enjoy serving my community and wanted to get back on the Town Board and pick up where I left off.
What, in your opinion, is the number one issue facing Chappaqua?
Well, there are really five issues. I think a lot of it boils down to making sure that people know whats going on, if they have input and they can share their ideas and we can work together on solving some of the problems and facing some of the challenges.
The issues that I think people are interested in are taxes. Theyd like to see more communication and theyd like to see more collaboration between the Town Board and school boards, since theyre facing similar issues with taxes. And, also, growing the business commercial base here in town. And I think Chappaqua Crossing, sewers, theres a lot of stuff people are interested in.
What are the ways you would try and resolve some of those issues?
With sewers, Im in support of the petition thats already been submitted with our hot spots. The areas that are a part of the watershed and that would be covered by funds from DEP. So, the petition covers Yeshiva, Random Farms, Riverwoods and Chappaqua Crossing, and it looks like theyre getting more interest from the county. I think theres a good possibility that will go forward. Once thats done, then we can look at some of the other areas where it would be great to have sewers. But we wont have that big pot of money available and the costs would be booned by the merchants and the residents. But we want to look at that and see what we can do.
What are some of your goals to be completed during your Town Board term, if you were elected?
Obviously when youre on the Town Board, you need to know what the residents want the Town Board to do, and then you have to find a way to do as much of that as possible. But, the five things I mentioned, Ill work hard on them and work on all the other issues that come before the board.
Why do you believe you make a good candidate for Town Board?
Ive demonstrated that Im committed to my town and I have served on the housing advisory committee; served on the Town Board; Ive been a baseball, basketball and soccer coach; and Ive been involved in New Castle Cares since 2000. What I love about New Castle Cares is its our towns broadest coalition. It involves the school board, the town board, recreation and parks, police and also the library and other groups. So its a great for us to look at some of the issues and things we can do to help kids and families. But its also where I got to know a lot of the people on the school board and PTA, and if Im elected, I hope to work with them and tackle some of these issues with them.
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