What is your opinion of the draft Comprehensive Plan, in light of recent concerns/criticisms coming from Scenic Hudson and others?
I haven’t read through the Comprehensive Plan yet, but I intend to, so that I’m caught up to speed if I’m elected and can make informed decisions.
How do you believe Highland can best harness ecotourism with the half-million visitors coming to the Walkway Over the Hudson each year, as well as the extensions to your rail trail and the soon-to-be-opened Highland Landing Park along the Hudson River to bring business/dollars into town?
We need to upgrade our village. We need to bring business back to the village. If elected, I will work very hard on writing and getting the grants we need to fix our sidewalks. There are people falling and getting hurt. We need those sidewalks upgraded for our residents, for our tourists and to help encourage people to come and walk around our beautiful hamlet after they’ve gone on the Walkway or the rail trail. We also need to encourage business on Route 299 and Route 9W. A few years back we had a proposal for a racetrack on North Road. These guys were like the Billionaires’ Club. They wanted to put $40 to $50 million into building a racetrack here, which would have greatly increased our tax base, would have brought more tourists in, people with money, but that administration chased them away! They would have created jobs and wanted to build some new soccer fields. I never want to see that happen again. They went on and built their track in Monticello. It’s beautiful! Business there is booming. We need to be more business-friendly!
What do you see as the top three greatest challenges facing the Town of Lloyd right now?
Like I said, we need to upgrade our village, work on bringing more businesses into the hamlet, on Route 299 and Route 9W, so that we can keep our taxes down and create jobs for residents and young people. We have an elderly community here that are on a fixed income. They can’t take any more tax increases. They’ll lose their homes. As a member of the Town Board, I know we can work together to make sure that we keep taxes down and bring in more businesses.
If elected, what would your top two priorities be?
When I was highway superintendent, I was able to get $1.5 million worth of grants to help improve our roads, our bridges, our curb cuts. If I’m elected, I will bring that grantwriting experience and try to get any and every grant out there back to this community. We need to fix the sidewalks; we need work on a lot of roads; we need to extend our water and sewer to Marlboro — but we need to do this without taxpayers’ dollars. If elected, I will do everything I can to help improve the quality of life for our residents, bring money in, listen to everyone and do the best job I can. I always have and I always will.
Joseph Indelicato
Joseph Indelicato was endorsed by the Democratic Party to run for a seat on the Lloyd Town Board.
Why did you decide to run for town councilman?
I ran two years ago and got close to 900 votes, so when people asked me to run again, I thought I had some strong community support and said, “Sure.” I think there are many people in the town that want a fresh perspective, a new voice on the Town Board that will listen to all of their concerns and needs.
What positions/experiences/skills do you believe will make you a competent councilman?
I have over 20 years of management experience in both the food industry as well as retail. I also ran my own catering business when we lived in California. These have all given me sound financial planning and management tools. I have the tools to know where to spend money, where not to spend money; and working in these industries also gave me the skills to be a problem-solver.
What is your opinion of the draft Comprehensive Plan in light of recent concerns/criticisms coming from Scenic Hudson and others?
I think that a lot of people volunteered their time and put in an enormous effort on this draft Comprehensive Plan. I applaud them for that. I think we have to concentrate on revitalizing our downtown, first and foremost. I think we need to listen to what the community is saying so that we make decisions, now and in the future, that are right for Highland and right for our citizens.
How do you believe Highland can best harness ecotourism with the half-million visitors coming to the Walkway Over the Hudson each year, as well as the extensions to your rail trail and the soon-to-be-opened Highland Landing Park along the Hudson River to bring business/dollars into town?
Marketing is a big tool. We have to market Highland to the groups that are coming to the Walkway Over the Hudson, to our rail trail and soon to the Highland Landing Park. We need a shuttle system that brings them from the Walkway or the river into our hamlet. At the same time, we need to grow our hamlet so that we have more to offer our visitors.
What do you see as the top three greatest challenges facing the Town of Lloyd right now?
The three biggest challenges facing our town are emergency planning, transparency in government and the need to revitalize our hamlet and our town.
If elected, what would be your top two priorities?
I would work to create more open and transparent town government: one where every citizen feels that they are heard. I also want to work on promoting smart development to help our town as well as our citizens.
