A LETTER TO THE EDITOR FROM BRIAN COOK---VILLAGE GROWTH, LOT A DEVELOPMENT, MR. PUGH, VOICE OF CROTON & MUCH MORE

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To the Editor,

The on-going conversation involving the proposed growth model for our quaint village of Croton-on-Hudson is reaching a purported summit, but a much larger mountain is lurking at the top. The growth in our village is bound to occur but the real issue at stake is how and who is responsible for managing this mountainous task. To anyone paying attention to the facts and series of events surrounding the current proposals set forth by the current Mayor, Brian Pugh, and Board of Trustees, it should be clear that their plan is at a minimum poorly thought out and ultimately is not about benefiting the community and providing opportunity for homeowners, but advancing their careers at our village’s expense.

For those who are supportive of the development, it’s not that your concerns are without merit. Housing costs and availability are an issue for everyone, everywhere. But if this matter, as currently proposed, is handled incorrectly it will be to everyone’s detriment. The fact is our small Village, not CITY, nor the surrounding area has the infrastructure to support this proposed growth. Think about the roads you drive on, most notably 9A, at peak hours and the time it takes you to get to your destination at those times. For myself, when contemplating a trip during peak rush hour traffic I already assume double travel time for just the strip of road between our village and the Taconic Highway. Now add just 100 additional cars for the Lot A development, most likely a minimum car growth projection, during that time. These additional cars will impact emergency response times, increase traffic on commuting times and further increase the wear and tear on our already poorly maintained roadways. I use this example of taxation to our current infrastructure as merely a representative example that everyone can relate to. But similar impacts can be projected to the school system, public facilities and resources.

The current administration in our village uses the struggling lower and middle class homeowner element as emotional fodder to prey on the well-intentioned heartstrings of the town’s overworked sympathetic base to proceed with their ambitious agenda. They rely on the fact that people will see buzzword headlines like “affordable housing” and “tax incentives for new homeowners” which sounds great in theory but does not reflect the full scale of the project or the impact on our small community. This allows them to take brash actions which include knowingly lying to the public about their intentions and the impacts of their policies on our village. Throughout this process they have selectively picked their experts, fact sets, data points, inputs utilized in models and results to present a good enough result to proceed with their agenda. They do this for two reasons: 1) They have run unopposed for years without repercussion and 2) because they have no respect for the villagers of the town, those who did and did not vote for them. This is often shown by Mayor Pugh’s tone to his constituents and the procedural actions taken during the village meetings. 

Some of the more recent examples of this apathy towards the villagers has been shown by the recent actions taken by the Board of Trustees. For those not paying attention, the board has recently approved an updated policy impacting the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), which grants taxpayers access to governmental materials upon request. They have made themselves, the Board of Trustees, the determining body as to what information will be released. Additionally, throughout the development proposal process the board members and advocates have said that one of the benefits with the additional units to the village will be tax revenue which will be collected from the housing units. Meanwhile, they have just proposed a new tax abatement policy for the purchasers of new construction units into the village law. 

It’s time to show the board that we as the people of this village are not willing to be treated this way. This can be accomplished by showing them that their reign of unopposed abuse of our trust and support for their political career advancement stops now. This can only be accomplished by paying attention to our local politics and writing in the Voice of Croton Village Trustees: Gary Eisinger and Nigel Ravelo. Even though the Mayor and the board have seemingly put a pause to some of the future proposed developments, it is clear by their actions and statements that these pauses are temporary in nature and will go on full steam if they happen to win this election season.

Sincerely and respectfully,

Brian Cook