Meet the Candidate: Erin Meagher

Erin Meagher believes the Village of Brewster is at a crossroads, and she wants to be on the Board of Trustees to make sure it’s headed in the right direction.

Meagher is a familiar face around the village. She’s served as chairwoman of the Brewster Founders Day celebration and she’s worked on Main Street managing the Brewster Shipping Center since 2009. In that time, she’s seen some changes, but not enough.

A Registered Republican who recently moved to the Village, her name will appear on the Conservative line.

“We really need to think of how we can bring a large anchor, build up the core downtown and then outward,” Meagher said when asked about her vision for Brewster. That anchor could be anything from a big restaurant to a pharmacy or bank, or whatever becomes of Garden Street.

One of her main goals if elected is to make the village more “business-friendly.” One way she would do that is by revisiting the sign law, which she considers restrictive and burdensome.

She would make it a priority to look at the village’s recreational opportunities, as two of the parks owned by the Town of Southeast—including the spray park at Wells—sit in the Village.

“The Village needs to have some sort of meaningful inter-municipal agreement with the Town of Southeast on how we get the parks to work for the village,” she said.

When it comes to revitalization and urban renewal efforts, and updating the comprehensive plan, Meagher wants to keep in mind that the village is diverse and certain parts require different thinking—there’s a Main street business corridor, a light industrial section on North Main street and so on, she said.

“I do believe we have a lot of historic buildings; some of them need some real improvements, but I do not think we should bulldoze the entire village,” she told Patch. “We need to take into consideration our historic assets, water capacity, sewer capacity and fire-protection capacity when we go through urban renewal zone.” 

Meagher said she would not be a consistent “yes” vote on the board, and pointed to the building moratorium as something she would have been against because it was “premature.” Other issues on her list of things to address include parking on Main Street and traffic safety. She pointed to an accident involving the mayor and said some drivers travel too fast on Oak Street. 

“I plan on being a fresh face on the board,” she said. “…Brewster was always the hub of Harlem Valley. Let’s make sure we keep it that way, let’s be the epicenter of Putnam.” 

When Meagher is not working or planning for Founders Day, she’s enjoying Main Street, the Walter Brewster House and the events at the Studio Around the Corner.  

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Village of Brewster Board of Trustees incumbents Christine Piccini and Teresa Stockburger are running for reelection this year. Richard Allen is challenging Mayor Jim Schoenig.