Southeast

DePaola runs for Council

Joe DePaola, a candidate for Southeast Councilman, says he remembers the days, just 15 years ago, when his parents would drop him off to meet his friends at the Cameo movie theatre in the Village of Brewster. "I don't think, assuming the Cameo was even open today, many parents would feel comfortable doing that with their children today." The problem he says is a "we can't" attitude, where the Town Board blames the Village, the Village blames the Town and everyone blames the Federal government.

Since those days at the Cameo, De- Paola graduated from North Salem High School, George Washington University, and St. John's Law School. After some time working at a larger law firm, doing insurance litigation, DePaola opened his own offices and moved back to the town in which he grew up in. He insists the campaign for a Council seat doesn't reflect "a move to the full time political life." He says he was inspired by a Board meeting he attended late last year. "At that point it was pretty contentious. I just felt the town was crying out for a little bit of leadership and dedication."

DePaola soon found himself with the Save Our Southeast campaign. "Through a friend I met Matt [Neuringer] and we were on the same page on a lot of things. Matt's a younger energetic guy like me, and I thought we were a good match to run together." Neuringer and DePaola have been knocking on doors since February. "That's my favorite part. We don't propose to have all the answers to all questions that will ever face Southeast. We have so many intelligent people in our town. So being in touch with them increases our knowledge base exponentially," DePaola said.

There are two issues that motivate him, fiscal discipline and cleaning up the Village. He advocates a forensic audit to get control of the Town's finances, and wants to make sure that all the professional services the town requires are bought at market value, "Town residents should get value for their dollar." He says he fears the disaster that could happen if town codes aren't enforced and that the Village once again needs to be a safe place. "I'm not willing to sit back and say, 'Well that's a village issue, and I'm a town board member. That's the attitude that got us into the situation we are in right now", he says.

- Michael Brendan Dougherty