Bruce Apar’s Blog

There’s a lot of talk around Yorktown about what senior citizens want in the way of a new gathering place. The more outspoken among them hanker for a brand spanking new setting altogether, away from the calcified environs of the Yorktown Community & Cultural Center(YCCC), which happens to lie at the historical heart of the burgh. And who would blame them? If somebody offered to either renovate your current home or build a spiffy new one, which would you choose — especially if you weren’t paying for either choice.

YCCC itself epitomizes (or, considering its age and state, entombs) the town’s history. It was the town’s second school building (the first was situated up the road some on Hanover Street, in the general footprint where the original St. Patrick’s stone church now stands). It also happens to house what passes for the current so-called seniors center. It is, without doubt, a makeshift solution. But what is the plausible alternative right now? I sure don’t know. Does anybody?

The word plausible is fraught with all kinds of interpretations. At bottom, the most practical definition, or synonym, is “affordable.” Who among us would happily volunteer to pay our share for a senior center costing a cool several million bucks, which is the estimated sum bandied about.

On the other hand, how many hands would go up among Yorktown families if the question asked instead were who among us would happily volunteer to pay our share for a multipurpose, year-round sports & recreation center costing a cool several million bucks?

TO BE CONTINUED …