Newsday Columnist Slams Anti-Housing Candidates

"In Smithtown, Suffolk County Legis. Rob Trotta is challenging Supervisor Ed Wehrheim, with Kings Park as the key battleground. In Huntington, it's town Councilwoman Brooke Lupinacci against Supervisor Ed Smyth, and Melville is the combat zone," wrote Randi Marshall. 

"The lines are clearly drawn. Lupinacci and Trotta claim to be champions of preservation and open space, painting a dark picture of what new housing could bring and arguing that the incumbent favors overdevelopment. Smyth and Wehrheim, meanwhile, have bucked traditional Republican nay-saying with innovative efforts to redevelop tired downtowns and rusty office parks with needed residential, retail, and office space that suits those specific locales."

"The reality is that neither battlefield is paradise. In Melville, it's acres upon acres of mostly vacant office buildings and parking lots. In Kings Park, it's dilapidated buildings, vacant retail, old downtowns and, similarly, parking lots."

LIBOR strongly supported both the Melville and Kings Park redevelopments because they are responsible, locally planned responses to our housing crisis that improve blighted areas with new economic opportunities.