To the Editor:
At the time I wrote my letter addressing the lies contained in last week’s letter to the editor, I had not had an opportunity to read the letter and was unaware of the author, although I knew it was a long-time town employee [“Pastore and Beedle have a clear sense of dedication to their community,” June 10, 2021].

We now know the letter was authored by prolific letter writer and attack dog Don Csaposs. Don Csaposs creatively describes himself as an objective outsider who has disagreed with the town and the Guilderland Democratic Committee in the past. He has made this claim before in other attack letters he has written. 

Don Csaposs is leaving out important facts about his past that need to be exposed. He is not an impartial observer as he claims. He is an “insider” employed by the town of Guilderland as a grant writer and also head of the Guilderland Industrial Development Agency.  

The readers of The Altamont Enterprise should know that 20 years ago, Don Csaposs was one of the principal organizers of Friends Organized to Resist Crossgates Expansion also known as FORCE. Don Csaposs used to be a vocal critic of Crossgates and Pyramid Corporation.

He once said in an article published in a newsletter by Save the Pine Bush in 1999, that Pyramid already controlled the town of Guilderland. Since that article appeared, Don Csaposs has abandoned his principles and beliefs, switched his political affiliation from Republican to Democrat, and become employed by the town of Guilderland.

Instead of fighting Crossgates, he now endorses candidates that support Pyramid’s expansion. He often writes letters attacking the character of people who have opposing views.

The hatchet man Don Csaposs says he is confused by my last name and does not know what to call me. Is he just out of touch with women or desperate to find something to criticize? Does the name I use matter to anyone but Don Csaposs?

When a person marries another person, their name is their personal choice. When I married my husband, Tony Siracusa, four years ago, I had been practicing law for 25 years using my birth name, Christine Napierski. I started my own law firm Napierski, VanDenburgh, Napierski and O’Connor, LLP.  I have a son whose last name is Napierski.

When I married my husband, I decided to continue to use my birth name, which is my choice. I also use the name Christine Napierski Siracusa in private life. Sorry, not sorry, that Don Csaposs finds it confusing. Don Csaposs is so desperate to find something to criticize and smear that he has to insult my name.

The hatchet man for the machine also says that Kevin McDonald and I are not the ones to bring change and that change is not needed. He urges the voters to stay with the status quo.

He says the town’s planning has been satisfactory despite the many documented instances of the town’s failure to follow the comprehensive plan and the zoning code. Did he miss the 77-page decision by Judge [Peter] Lynch criticizing the town’s failure to follow the State Environmental Quality Review Act?

Did he forget about the spot zoning (zoning that is changed to suit the applicant) that resulted in a super-size car wash with the light show every night on Route 20, which does not fit into the character of the community? Or the zoning board’s recent decision to grant an unnecessary variance allowing an applicant to increase the  height of an office building to five stories on Route 20, where there are no other five-story buildings?

Let me be clear, planning is where change is needed the most. We need town board members that will appoint people to the planning board and zoning board who will enforce the zoning code and the comprehensive plan and who will stand up for the residents.

Unlike my opponent Amanda Beedle who, while on the planning board, approved the spot zoning for the car wash and voted to approve the Rapp Road/Costco project that was in violation of the State Environmental Quality Review law, and my other opponent, 16-year incumbent Paul Pastore, who voted to appeal Judge Lynch’s decision declaring null and void the planning board’s decision approving Pyramid’s massive project that does not belong in a Transit Oriented District or comply with the comprehensive plan.

And regarding the two-acre parcel that my sister would like to subdivide, it will have no negative impact on the street, the town, or the environment. Donnie lied when he said I would profit from this property. That is the worst he could make up about me.

He knows that the addition of a single-family home in a residential neighborhood does not compare to the numerous development projects approved by the town over the last several years but he wrote it anyway. He is hoping that no one will call him out on his lies.

The attack dog for the machine should spend less time writing attack letters and more time doing his job, which is to incentivize small business to come to Guilderland and repurpose the many neglected and dilapidated properties on Route 20, or find grants to install sidewalks, bike lanes and shoulders on some of our dangerous town roads.

Stop wasting time attacking and insulting people that do not agree with you and do your job for the town.

Because of his propensity to launch dishonest character attacks, he should not be working for the town of Guilderland in my opinion. He is another example of why we need change. The residents of our Town deserve better.

If we want change from the negative politics and unfair personal attacks, we have to vote for change in the upcoming primary on June 22, 2021, before it is too late.  

Christine Napierski

Democratic candidate

for Guilderland Town Board

Editor’s note: Jacob Crawford, who chairs the Guilderland Democratic Committee, notes that Donald Csaposs is not a member of the committee. Crawford further states the committee’s policy is not to launch personal attacks and that Csaposs did not write last week’s letter at the behest of the committee.