In a somber Zoom meeting of the Thomaston Board of Trustees on Feb 24th, the Tower Ford building was finally Landmarked. This was the culmination of almost two years of secretive dealings by the owner and Mayor Weinberg followed by an intense battle forged by the community.

Along the way, it revealed how fragile our local government is; how it relies on the integrity of just five people; and how easily the process can be corrupted to the detriment of our town. 

Outgoing Trustee Pang once said, “this Village is only as strong as its residents’ involvement.” We’ve been too wrapped up in our own lives, leaving the job of ‘governing’ to a group of people unchecked by community oversight. Getting to this realization has taken an unnecessary lawsuit costing tens of thousands of dollars collected from incensed Thomaston residents. 

For those who want to understand the history and evidence behind the lawsuit can educate themselves at savegreatneck.org/the-lawsuit. 

Despite overwhelming objection from his Thomaston constituency, Mayor Weinberg refused to resign, or at least recuse himself from the matter. One of his own Trustees submitted a sworn statement confirming that the board had been misled when they passed a development law for the benefit of one builder.  

Getting the landmarking status for the Tower Ford building is a great victory for Thomaston. But we should not be taking a victory lap yet. It’s vitally important that we learn from this ordeal by ensuring our local government is accurately representing the will and benefits of the community. This can only be done by voting on to the board people we can trust. We have that opportunity now because two of the five Board of Trustees seats are opening up. Let’s elect members to the board that will be honest to the people of Thomaston.  Aaron Halpern and Jay Chagrin would be outstanding Trustees, starting with the fact that they are unconnected to this mayor. They were instrumental in the fight for Tower Ford on the streets and in the courts. They would sit at the Village Board table to provide sorely needed oversight.   

This is going to be a heavily contested election. With Trustees Pang and Sharkey leaving, the mayor is busy campaigning for his candidates. We must show up for this election in numbers so great that it becomes a referendum on the existing leadership. 

Thomaston’s Mayor and his team have lost the trust of their constituents.  This past year has created a great deal of anguish for so many. Unless we take action, we’ll be in for more of the same. The only sensible path forward is to improve the oversight and transparency of our local government. We need all of you to come out to vote for Aaron Halpern and Jay Chagrin. 

Aaron and Jay all the way! 

David Pinsley

Thomaston