Good morning. Here’s a look at today’s opinion content:
• In our editorial, we comment on the hopeful signs that have started to appear in the region’s housing market. First-quarter home sales in Westchester were up 77 percent, 41 percent in Putnam and 11 percent in Rockland. This may be because of the federal homebuyer’s tax credit, but as Cathey O’Donnell and Diana Costello report today, 18 percent of all first-quarter sales in Westchester were of homes priced at $1 million or more. We write:
So if it isn’t tax incentives driving the improved sales numbers, just maybe there is something to this talk of a real estate rebound. Maybe sellers are being more realistic about prices. Maybe buyers are tired of playing scared. Maybe the market is getting past the distortions caused by the run-up on prices that came before the real estate bubble finally burst. Or maybe we just don’t know — yet.
• John Klosowski and Tom Palmer, co-chairmen of the Board of Fire Comissioners, Brewster-Southeast Joint Fire District, wrote a Community View today on the proposed fire station on Mill Road. Voters are taking to the polls tonight to decide whether to borrow as much as $3.25 million to build the station.
• Matt Davies comments on the state budget in today’s cartoon, titled “Expect Delays.”
