MARK FRANZOSO'S 2ND REPONSE TO RICHARD MASUR'S 2ND GAZETTE LETTER

As many of you are aware, in two recent letters to the Gazette resident Richard Masur made certain statements about Mark Franzoso, the settlement of a legal claim he made with the village regarding a broken sewer pipe and Mr. Franzoso’s support for Croton United.

Below is Mr. Franzoso’s response to Masur’s second letter, which appears in today’s Gazette.

You can read Mr. Franzoso’s response to the first letter here: http://everythingcroton.blogspot.com/2016/04/mark-franzoso-responds-to-personal.html 

Dear Editor,

I read in disbelief Mr. Masur's most recent letter to the editor and all of his outrageous assertions. He chose to use my name for political purposes and then pens yet another letter to reinforce his political leanings despite his denial that the use of my name was neither personal nor political. It most certainly was! He could have simply identified me as “prominent businessman,” “taxpayer” or simply “a fellow resident” regarding the legitimate settlement agreed to between me and the Village. He did not have to use my name or include my political support—which I point out, again, was public knowledge. There was nothing to disclose by the Mayor and Village Board in taking this action, absolutely nothing.

As I pointed out in my previous letter, if Mr. Masur was on the right side of this issue, he would have supported me as a taxpayer because every taxpayer deserves to be treated fairly. He chose instead to use my name and a decision by the Village Board strictly for political purposes.

If Mr. Masur insists on using these pages to criticize the actions of the current administration with which he disagrees, then I will be left with no other option but to remind voters and taxpayers of why they voted out the previous administration of cronies that he keeps trying to defend. The previous Mayor and Village Board squandered hundreds of thousands of dollars and wasted an exorbitant amount of time on unnecessary or self-serving projects.Well, the voters of Croton were and are smarter than that.

We see right through you, Mr. Masur, and that's something that lacked in the previous administration—transparency. A nominal amount of money was tendered by the current Village Board and supported by the Village Manager to pay a long overdue and legitimate claim by a taxpayer. The previous administration had agreed to resolve the matter, but wrongfully delayed a decision until unrealistic deadlines imposed by the insurance company were exceeded.

While reading Mr. Masur's previous letter, I recognized right away his true motivation and saw right through his accusations. I knew the intelligent readers of The Gazette would as well. I didn't get to where I am in my life by rolling over. I intend to defend my name and reputation every time some one like Mr. Masur uses it for wrongful political purposes and I intend to use all avenues of satisfaction if I am wronged.

Stop the early campaigning, stop the barrage of letters and stop supporting three people who failed to represent the best interests of the taxpayers, Mr. Masur. You and those you supported lost the election. Get over it and let's give the new administration some leeway to restore confidence in local government without nitpicking at every decision they make.

Mark Franzoso