Our Issues

A Financially Healthy City

I will work to keep our city budget under control and ensure the stability of our tax base and our tax rates while maintaining the high quality of services that the citizens of White Plains deserve and expect. I understand that our tax dollars are precious. When there are decisions to make—and of course there will be some difficult decisions—I will always ask this question: “What would be best for the welfare of the citizens of White Plains?” I will also urge our city departments to apply for more grants from governmental and not-for-profit sources and intend to actively assist in that process.

The role of the White Plains city government is to provide services to its citizens and to ensure that White Plains is a clean, safe and enjoyable place to live. I will work to achieve these goals and at the same time I will examine every line-item in the budget so that the people of White Plains can have the confidence that their taxes are being used efficiently.

Smart Planning

White Plains has recently undergone a period of unprecedented growth and development. Even more recently we have experienced a lull in construction following the 2008 crisis in the real estate market. Now we have an opportunity to evaluate what we have accomplished, and plan for the future. I believe that we need to take advantage of this moment to map out a strategy for the future so that we can be proactive in shaping our city rather than reactive to development proposals.

My aim is to make White Plains as attractive as possible to its residents and visitors while maintaining its unique combination of being both a suburban community and having shopping and entertainment destinations that allow residents to meet their needs without leaving White Plains. This approach maximizes the success of local businesses and improves our tax base.

My priorities include:

• Affordable Housing – fighting for the ability of all people to live in our great city
• Improved Parking – looking for opportunities to increase the capacity to serve our stores, apartments and transit hubs
• Pedestrian Safety and Accessibility – assuring that pedestrians and the disabled have easy and safe access to our stores and public spaces

In short, let’s use our time and resources wisely. I believe that we can come together as a community to create a collective vision for our city. Together, we can build a better future.

Our Environment

The earth is our legacy. It is what we will leave for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In that spirit, I think White Plains should:

• Conduct an energy audit of city properties to learn not only how we can improve our environment but also save money – and then take concrete action based on the audit’s recommendations
• Encourage green building practices to reduce energy costs and improve the air and water around us
• Add bike racks to more locations in our city to reduce traffic, encourage healthy activity and support our local businesses
• Install recycling receptacles next to public garbage cans (as we already do in some of our parks)

Good Government

The government of White Plains always should recognize that its #1 resource is its citizens. Accordingly, I stand for:

• Encouraging openness and transparency in city affairs by placing more city meetings on television so that voters can learn about their city government throughout the year
• Promoting volunteerism by coordinating activities to improve our community resources like cleaning up parks, identifying unsafe intersections, and organizing a community service bulletin
• Improving the city website and email systems to increase the flow of information between the city and its residents, thereby allowing city administrators to learn about both problems and creative solutions from people who care about their community

I hope you will join our campaign and help build a better future for White Plains. To get involved, volunteer for Friends of David Buchwald. You also can send me a message and let me know your opinion on the issues. I look forward to seeing you on the campaign trail!