Westchester Affordability & Economic Development Task Force Inaugural Meeting on June 25, 2026
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Westchester Affordability & Economic Development Task Force Inaugural Meeting on June 25, 2026
The Westchester County Board of Legislators' Affordability and Economic Development Task Force held its first meeting on June 25, 2026, at 1:00 PM in the Committee Room of the Michaelian Office Building, White Plains, NY. Chair Colin Smith (District 1) convened the meeting to outline the task force's scope, priorities, and next steps. No formal votes were taken; the meeting focused on introductions, framing the work, and gathering initial input from invited stakeholders.
Discussion Items
- Chair's Opening Remarks: Chair Smith explained the task force's two-track approach: (1) a public-facing listening process across Westchester's diverse communities, and (2) a background data inventory to ground recommendations in fact. He identified ten major areas for examination: economic and labor conditions, small business and economic development, tourism, housing, transportation, workforce affordability, child care, education and workforce training, sustainability/energy/utilities, and county action/advocacy. He emphasized that the task force does not begin with answers but is framing the right questions.
- Stakeholder Introductions: Participants introduced themselves and their organizations, highlighting key perspectives:
- Viola Soufaj (Westchester County Association): Noted alignment with the task force's goals.
- Michael Ramita (Westchester County Association): Raised concern that the mission may have expanded significantly since initial discussions; Chair Smith clarified that goals are aspirational and the process is organic.
- Jen Naylor (Westchester Community College): Highlighted the college's annual tuition of $5,500 and that 35–40% of students receive Pell or other aid.
- Kathleen Irving (NY Apartment Association): Represented rent-stabilized housing owners; advocated for balanced housing policy.
- Tim Foley (Building and Realty Institute): Noted that housing costs are driven by rising fuel, insurance, electrical bills, and building supplies (exacerbated by tariffs).
- Janet Berlung Fry (Westchester Women's Agenda): Cited housing, child care, food insecurity, and health care as key issues for women and families.
- Laura Newman (Child Care Council of Westchester): Stressed that child care is an economic development and workforce issue; Westchester has the largest number of child care programs in the state outside NYC and 850 child care programs, many home-based, facing insurance and cost challenges.
- Laura Sady (Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors): Emphasized the need for attainable housing (for those earning too much for subsidies but too little to afford market-rate).
- Natasha Caputo (Westchester County Tourism and Film): Reported tourism is a $2.4 billion industry supporting over 22,000 jobs; film industry has nearly $1 billion in economic impact.
- John Rabbit (Business Council of Westchester): Called for focusing on the affordability of doing business, including regulations and mandates.
- Bridget Gibbons (Director of Economic Development): Noted that Westchester's population grew by 6,000 between 2024-2025, the highest of any NY county, and that there are 35,000 businesses; affordability is a constraint on continued growth.
- Jan Fisher (Nonprofit Westchester, remote): Stated that nonprofits employ 18% of the county's workforce, yet 22% of that workforce lives at federal poverty level.
- Pedro (on behalf of Westchester Partners construction): Highlighted rising material costs, price volatility, and challenges for legitimate contractors; union members are leaving the county due to cost of living.
- Legislator Anat Nambiar (District 7): Stressed the importance of balancing aspirational goals with measurable starting points; affordability is a problem of success due to proximity to NYC and Stamford.
- Scope and Method Discussion: The group debated how to conduct community outreach. Ideas included in-person listening tours, virtual meetings, and a countywide survey to reach a broad audience. Laura Sady and others advocated for an anonymous survey to avoid skewed input from only the most vocal residents. Janet Berlung Fry emphasized the value of storytelling for less tech-savvy and immigrant communities. Chair Smith noted that if the task force waits too long, it may conflict with the county budget calendar. John Rabbit suggested reviewing county regulations and mandates as part of the work.
- Gaps Identified: Participants noted missing perspectives from utilities/energy (clean energy providers), healthcare, insurance, and direct immigrant community representatives. Chair Smith confirmed outreach is ongoing.
Key Outcomes
- The task force was formally launched with an initial set of members representing business, housing, child care, tourism, economic development, nonprofit, labor, and education sectors.
- No formal decisions or votes were taken; the meeting was foundational and exploratory.
- Chair Smith committed to distribute a recap and proposed schedule within the next few days, and to solicit further recommendations for participants and methods.
- Next steps include organizing listening sessions in different regions of the county (e.g., northern tier, river towns, sound shore, Yonkers) and leveraging existing partner meetings for input.
- Staff will begin compiling existing data, reports, and programs as part of the background inventory.
Meeting Transcript
Okay. This meeting is being recorded and summarized. So much for so much for England being good afternoon, everyone. Welcome. Thank you for uh joining us today on what is our first meeting of the uh Westchester County Board of Legislators, Affordability and Economic Development Task Force. My name is Colin Smith. I am uh county legislator for District One, which includes the city of Peakskill as well as portions of the town of Portland and the town of Yorktown. And uh I guess uh we we don't have to we don't have to take a uh attendance because it's not a committee meeting, it's a it's a task force meeting. But uh, do we have a do we have a signage sheet? We have a sign in sheet. That's what I mean. Like a couple of assignments. Okay, great. So if we could get that going around, as long as your name is on there, hopefully by the end of the uh the meeting, it'll all be good. Um that way we can keep track of who's here. So uh I'm just gonna I'm just gonna open up. I I uh prepared a statement so that I didn't forget most of what I want to say because that's typically what happens when I get up in front of people. Um I took a communications course when I was my first year at Westchester Community College, and I was the teacher told us that the biggest uh the biggest fear, one of the biggest fears people have is speaking public speaking in front of their peers. You know, I suppose I I I consider you all my my peers, and uh and this is public speaking, so here goes nothing. So again, good afternoon. I want to begin by thanking each of you for being here for the uh inaugural meeting of the affordable affordability and economic development task force. I'm grateful that you made the time to participate, and I want to thank uh Chairman Vadak Gashi for creating this task force and for asking me to be the chair of it. I also want to recognize my my team who have done tremendous work uh to get us here to this point today. Uh Jennifer Rosato, who's my legislative aide, Ethan Samuels, who is our uh committee coordinator, um, James Silverberg, uh, who's our legislative director, Dylan Tragney is the board's chief of staff, uh Adrian and Adrian Sanders Kay, who is our communications director, and my uh summer intern, Maria Chinchilla, who uh joins us uh today. She's interning with uh my office this summer. Um and she wants to be an attorney and in business, and she's an author. Okay, so um anyway, today would not be possible without uh their preparation, coordination, outreach, communications work, and attention to detail. Um, and since this is our first formal meeting, uh part of what we are doing here today is foundational. Uh so uh when I'm finished with my remarks, I'm going to introduce I want to ask everyone to introduce themselves, um, then we'll talk through the purpose of the task force, um, identify who is here at the table, and then discuss who still needs to be brought into the conversation, and then begin setting the direction for the work ahead. I'm pleased that uh as we are beginning, uh we we had when we when we did a uh our kickoff um press conference about was it maybe two months ago now. I think it was back in April, right? Um, we had some inaugural members who were who were there with us, uh, and then that includes uh people who are here here today, members of the uh business council of Westchester, uh nonprofit Westchester, Westchester County Association, um, and the New York Apartment Association, as well as other key partners. Uh that mix uh matters because affordability and economic development cannot be understood from only one angle. Uh this is not only a government issue, it is not only a business issue, it is not only a housing workforce, a nonprofit or a transportation issue. It is all of those things interacting at once. So the basic premise of this task force is that affordability in Westchester is a multi-layered challenge. It affects whether residents can remain here, can build stable lives here, whether businesses uh can attract and retain employees, and whether nonprofits can meet community needs, and whether our communities can continue to grow in a sustainable and economically healthy way. Westchester is a county of many distinct communities. As I look around the table, I see people from all parts of our uh wonderful county. We have more than 40 municipalities, each with its own local identity, assets, pressures, and challenges. But those communities are also deeply connected geographically as well as economically. People may live in one community and work in another, receive services in another, commute through several others, and then interact with the county economy in ways that do not fit neatly within municipal borders. That is part of why this work needs to be regional, sector-based, and practical. Our job is not to come in with all the answers already written. In fact, I want to be very clear about this at the outset. We are not beginning this task force with answers already in hand. We are beginning to try, we're beginning by trying to frame the right questions. If we frame the questions well, if we listen carefully, we gather the right data, identify the real barriers, and understand both the strengths and pressures across the county, then the recommendations at the end of this first phase will be stronger, more practical, and hopefully useful. So the work ahead as I see it has two main tracks. Our first track is public facing.
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