A RECENT LETTER FROM DAVID BOGDAN IN SUPPORT OF VOICE OF CROTON AND SO MUCH MORE--WHILE THE NEW EVERYTHING CROTON BLOG IS DOWN, WE'LL GO "OLD SCHOOL"

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A RECENT LETTER FROM DAVID BOGDAN IN SUPPORT OF VOICE OF CROTON AND SO MUCH MORE

To the Editor: 

We live in a small town, here in Croton, and it's not hard to read the mood of residents. Take a walk through the village, and on just about every block you'll see a sign on someone's lawn (not on the easement, God forbid) for write-in Village Trustee candidates Gary Eisinger and Nigel Ravelo. On many blocks, you'll see two or three. If you were visiting from out of town, you might wonder who these people are, and why, if lawn signs are any indication, they are so popular. If you do live here, you already know: Gary Eisinger and Nigel Ravelo are the two Village Trustee candidates who think a high-rise district in Croton, like the one Croton Democrats have planned for us, might not be such a hot idea. 

Croton Democrats recently changed the village's long-standing maximum building height from three stories to five stories if the structure is deemed to fall in the general vicinity of the train station (and let's remember that most of the village does), though Mayor Pugh has also given developers the nod for at least a six story building, just not quite yet. In his words, such a structure would be "premature" at this time, likely in reference to an election period that's generated so many lawn signs in opposition to his party.

But other than this sort of "we'll need a minute here before we can break the new zoning law for you" caveat to developers, there's been little acknowledgement from Croton Democrats of the public mood that for the rest of us stands out as plainly as the dummy light. Expression of that mood goes well beyond lawn signs. Over 1,400 residents so far have signed a petition calling on village government to halt large-scale development projects. For some context on that number, a total of 614 people voted ("yes" and "no" combined) on the $58 million 2024-2025 Croton-Harmon school budget. 

When a new high-rise is on the agenda of a Board of Trustees meeting, the line for comment often goes all the way through the Georgianna Grant Meeting Room and out into the hall by the back stairs. Then, at five minutes apiece, Crotonite after Crotonite gets up and delivers his or her particular rationale for why this or that 100+ unit behemoth is a bad idea for Croton. Now, to be fair, not every single speaker at these meetings is against large-scale development; however, careful observers will have noticed that those who do speak in favor of the projects have an unusual propensity toward membership in a village government committee or employment with an outside pro-development advocacy group. 

It's not so much that Mayor Pugh and the Croton Democrats don't hear this vocal majority, it's that they don't listen – or rather that they hear it and wish they didn't have to hear it. Croton Democrats, perhaps taking a cue from our vitriolic national politics, have frequently demonized these wrong-opinioned residents with ad hominem attacks on the order of racism, backward-ism, NIMBY-ism, and the most dreaded of all: MAGA-ism. This tactic, as grade-school as it is, is not without effect. There are people in town who are indeed afraid to sign the petition mentioned above or go to a BOT meeting out of fear of being name-called. 

For those not sufficiently cowed by slander, Croton Democrats have begun field-testing a new strategy. At the October 7th Housing Information Session, Mayor Pugh tried to wrest the microphone from a respectful but dissenting commenter by means we might describe as less than force but greater than intimidation. Not without significance in the incident was the location of Village Trustee candidate Len Simon: he was positioned squarely at the back of Mayor Pugh, where any good beta bully would be. 

In the movies, at least, there seems to be two types of outlaws. There are those who, when the jig is up and their hideout is surrounded by the sheriff and his posse, lay down their arms and walk peacefully out the front door. And then there are those who punch out the windows and start shooting through the glass. To their credit, Croton Democrats don't give up on an issue easily. But this is not the sort of tenacity we want in Croton government. 

As I see it, Gary Eisinger and Nigel Ravelo are running a Hail Mary write-in campaign not because they have grand political aspirations, or even because they hope to throw a wrench in the works of 1 Van Wyck Street. Instead, they are the ones who read the mood of the village and answered our call. Now, to get inside the safe house, to stop the madness, Gary Eisinger and Nigel Ravelo need our votes...and our best penmanship. 

Sincerely, David Bogdan