GAZETTE LETTER, MARK FRANZOSO, 8/8/19

A letter from The Gazette and Mark Franzoso...

To the editor:

I strongly disagree with Andy Simmons’ letter to the editor this past week. I also wonder why this new board member was chosen to deliver the message: “Welcome to Croton! Here’s our truck washing station, gas station, piles of dirt and debris.” How can the board of trustees be happy with this? Relocating the DPW garage out of town was a blunder in itself, but it has now grown to become a taxpayer catastrophe.

The importance of beautifying our gateways have been the subject of many meetings over the years with Ann Galelli as the head of the planning board. Now we are told one of these entrances will be a second DPW yard. That's outrageous and unacceptable! 

 In a democracy (a system of government in which citizens vote directly in or elect representatives to form a governing body), the quality, competence and integrity of the individuals who serve the public determine the quality of life. In Croton, you would think the servant with the most power would be the Village Manager, unfortunately, it’s not. I sounded the alarm more than two years ago when the village wanted to buy a building and adjacent land in the Town of Cortland in order to relocate the DPW garage, which is a tad less than 4 miles away from our biggest asset, the parking lot. For such a large taxpayer expense, there should have been a consultant hired to assess the DPW's needs, and to see if the new location would be viable. Instead, the village board decided to rely on the recommendation of the DPW head, Frank Babli, who doesn't live in our village and had just been recently hired! Maybe you can hide bad decisions in a city the size of Yonkers, but not here in Croton. I urge everyone to read the weekly agenda’s. This fiasco all in, looks like a 7 million burden, with another 5 million on the way to renovate the municipal building. 

Richard Oliver’s letter to the editor from May 30 is out of touch. If you would like more, younger adults between the ages of 24 and 44 to move to our village, then support smart sense spending and find a way to make Croton affordable. This town cannot survive if the folks elected continue to spend money foolishly. 

 As Richard Masur asked twice in letters to the editor recently (in support of the current administration), ‘why the arrogance?’ Well Richard I’ll be happy to answer with one word - INCOMPETENCE. A very nice try at a sell job to the taxpayers, but in truth this administration can’t be blamed, they are just making a bad situation worse and there’s no coming back!

Mark Franzoso