Lastar Gorton wants Beacon to stop caving to developers

Lastar Gorton, Beacon’s new Ward 1 city council rep, is tired of watching families be forced out of the city because their paychecks can’t cover the rent or a mortgage down payment.

Lastar grew up in Beacon, and she has watched waves of lifelong Beaconites leave as the cost of housing rises, while developers have erected dozens of mostly luxury condo buildings. That includes her uncle, who was forced to leave his longtime apartment and move away from Beacon after his wife passed, despite expressing interest in buying the building he lived in. His offer, which would have easily bought the place just a few years ago, was slightly under the highest bid.

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In this interview, she makes the case that Beacon hasn’t done enough to resist real estate market forces that have already forced many longtime community members to move to Poughkeepsie, Newburgh and other nearby cities and towns. And she outlines what she believes it will take to create a wave of truly affordable construction in Beacon — as opposed to the “below market rate” units that are sometimes passed off as affordable.