By Jennifer L. Warren
BEACON – Lastar Gorton vividly and fondly recalls a time when her beloved Beacon community was one of life’s prized treasures, ensuring safety, providing priceless bonding venues, while creating a true sense of belonging, purpose…joy.
“Neighbors looked out for and truly knew each other; people had a sense of togetherness and really wanted to build up others and things happening in their community,” reflected Gorton. “There was a shared direction.”
Gorton, born and raised in Beacon, while residing in the City she continues to possess a deep belief in for all 42 years of her life, is determined to help return-recreate some of that sadly disintegrating, communal magic. The mother of two, who started to witness that evaporating community allure she thrived upon as a child and young adult, while raising her sons, intends to use her new role as a catalyst for that direly needed change. Now three months into her tenure as a City Councilperson, a role she embarked upon pursuing when she witnessed her Tompkins Terrace District experiencing violence, an assortment of teenager and other unaddressed issues, Gorton carries a platform prioritizing: affordable housing, a fully functional recreation center and an unwavering focus on unifying, uplifting events for everyone.
“People need to have the security of affordable housing in order to feel a part of, connected to their community,” said Gorton. However, if those things are lacking, you can’t hold the events which in turn help build up the community; it’s a rotating cycle, and each piece is connected to another.”
Those integral components forming a thriving community revolve around-start with what lies at the center: affordable housing. That “missing link” is everything to Gorton who becomes visibly animated and passionate when the topic surfaces.
“The overdevelopment in Beacon needs to stop; half the buildings here remain empty that are being developed, and there is no longer a community,” affirmed Gorton. “What is being built needs to be truly affordable and not below the market rate which is 30 percent of someone’s income, something not happening here; the language needs to change.” Reflecting upon the increasing, unwarranted encroachment, she added, “If you are not looking to help move Beacon forward and be a part of the community, you need to go.”
Gorton, seeking to assist the many Beaconites who want to remain in the place they call home-many for multiple decades- who helped provide the fortitude of hard work, sweat and tears of the City’s foundation, is hopeful the new and exciting, Move in New York Program can be a piece of that puzzle’s solution. The September 2025 initiative, aimed at assisting first time home buyers with low-moderate incomes, while producing more affordable, faster and factory-built “CrossMod” 1500square feet residences, has already experienced success in a few parts of the state.
“I’m really looking to have this Program come to Beacon; as someone born and raised here, I should be able to afford a home here, but I just can’t,” emphasized Gorton. “I want the affordable housing to not just apply to buyers here in Beacon but renters as well; a person should not have to worry about whether he or she can afford a place to live.”
Rather, what Gorton does want people focusing upon is being able to salvage some time each day to enjoy life, slow down if simply for a few moments to savor the gifts of community. One of the organizers of Beacon’s Juneteenth Annual Riverfront Festival, she has witnessed first-hand the potency of bringing people together. It was a large, motivating force behind her co-founding a non-profit: Growing and Empowering Myself and My Sisters with long-time friend, LaShawn Martinez. From hygiene tips, to college tours, to dating do’s and don’ts, to “all aspects of life,” the Program, offered to girls in grades 6-12, is one close to Gorton’s heart, intertwined with her vision of community.
“LaShawn and I saw a real need for an organization like this,” reflected Gorton. “While chatting on a hike, we realized there is nothing for kids to do like there was in Beacon when we were growing up, so we wanted to bring that back.”
Gorton further aspires to ignite another defining missing link to Beacon’s past: a fully functional recreation center. She envisions a community hub of sorts, open to seniors for social interaction and shared interests in the morning while delivering integral after school activities to youth in the afternoon.
“Not every kid is into sports,” pointed out Gorton. “Those who aren’t need to have a place to go to do activities with others.”
Those vital formed connections come full circle, returning back to Gorton’s interwoven triad model: affordable housing leads to community, which results in shared, meaningful events. One can’t exist without the other, a dynamic Gorton is intent upon changing in the City she dearly loves.
“It’s the people here who are Beacon’s biggest strength, and there are plenty who still believe in community and want to see it thrive and build it up, not just take something from it,” stressed Gorton. “Those are the ones- many of them- who laid down the foundation here, but it’s a conundrum because so many of those people have to constantly work just to get by today and afford housing, so it becomes really hard to truly enjoy and be a part of that community.”
