McLaughlin: ‘Village Board needs Charlie Lesser'

To the editor: The identity of a hometown is often tied to its Main Street. It’s the first thing I learned when spending nearly 25 years as a professional in downtown revitalization here in New York. I was happy to see in the latest issue of The Photo News that all the candidates for village board offices agree to a close relationship with Monroe’s Merchant Association. Lake Street is our downtown. From the time I was a kid, saying you were from Monroe put a picture of Lake Street and the Mill Pond in mind’s view. It’s so important that we keep Lake Street a vibrant commercial retail center, to keep our identity. In the past few years alone we’ve lost the family-owned Monroe Theater, the family-owned Smith & Strebel Hardware, and the family-owned Jules Menswear. This type of attrition to the big boxes out in the middle of what was once open fields does our identity no good. A person who understands this better than I is Charlie Lesser, who is running for a seat on the Village Board of Trustees. His parents owned Monroe Jewelers on Lake Street when I was a kid growing up here 60 years ago. Charlie and his son own Monroe Jewelers today. And they’re still on Lake Street. While lip service can easily be paid to working with our local merchants to keep Lake Street vibrant, Charlie Lesser will make sure that happens. I’ve known him and his family all my life and I don’t know of anyone more committed and honest than Charlie Lesser. The Village Board needs a local merchant whose roots grow deep into this community. The Village Board needs a person dedicated to preservation of our historic business district, the heart of our identity. The Village Board needs Charlie Lesser. Spencer McLaughlin Monroe