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The following letter appeared in the 6/26/14 edition of THE GAZETTE and is re-printed here with permission.
To the editor:
The June 5-11 issue of the Gazette announced
the candidacy of Trustee Ann Gallelli in such glowing front page terms that I couldn’t
help but wonder who wrote the article. The
article extols Ms. Gallelli’s accomplishments but fails to enumerate them
despite her lengthy service. As a long
time Croton resident, I’m more familiar with her prior costly debacles and
disagree with the Gazette’s assessment.
In my opinion, Trustee Gallelli’s stewardship has cost
Croton taxpayers in excess of $1,000,000.
This amount is based primarily on 1) legal expenses related to her
opposition to a canopy meant to shelter Exxon customers from the weather ($50,000
in legal fees), 2) the settlement of the
Katz lawsuit ($900,000 + legal fees) resulting from prejudicial language she
approved in the Village Comprehensive Plan which Mr. Katz and other residents
considered detrimental to his business, and 3) a lengthy court battle requiring
parts of the Harmon Rezoning Plan to be rewritten (Final legal costs unknown).
Taxpayers should note that due to the Katz settlement,
Croton was forced to buy a useless piece of useless steep slope property across
from the Post Office for which there are still no future plans as to how to use
this land.
In addition, readers should know that Croton is currently considered
to be 1 of 6 Westchester municipalities in violation of a HUD vs. Westchester
County agreement resulting from some of the “exclusionary” verbiage that
Trustee Gallelli approved for the Harmon Rezoning legislation despite the
advice of other lawyers and residents.
HUD considers this wordage unfair to low income families. This debate can only result in more legal
fees for both the county and Croton taxpayers until resolved.
Also, despite the misleading claims of Trustee Gallelli and
her cohorts that there were property owners ready to build 2-3 story mixed use
structures in Harmon, not a builder has come forward to implement the Harmon
Rezoning recommendations. Once again, taxpayer money went down the
drain.
Now we’re faced with higher taxes due to the Gallelli
supported Gouveia property acquisition, the disputed multi-million dollar Croton
Point Avenue “bike & pedestrian path”, and more needless expensive studies.
I have other concerns about Trustee Gallelli’s tenure such
as her support for retaining of a Croton waste transfer station in exchange for
a $500,000 payoff to the village and her opposition to the use of Zinc-Orthophosphate
in our drinking water to minimize the ingestion of lead and copper by residents.
These are not the actions of a prudent Trustee touting her
“accomplishments”. Because of a series
of her poor decisions, lack of common sense and failure to heed the advice of
the public, we got nothing but higher taxes.
Croton can ill afford to be dominated by Trustees like Ann
Gallelli. Length of service should not
be a criteria for elected office. We
have far too many politicians who have been in office too long. Tangible results are what count. It is my sincere hope that Croton residents
will join forces to form a set of bipartisan candidates to oppose future
Village domination by current incumbents like her.
Marie Yurchuk
YOU MAY ALSO HAVE AN INTEREST IN
1) A 6/26 LETTER FROM JOEL GINGOLD http://everythingcroton.blogspot.com/2014/06/62614-letter-joel-gingold-why-i-support.html
2) AND BY SPECIAL REQUEST IN MAY http://everythingcroton.blogspot.com/2014/05/special-request-examiner-news-2011.html
