Croton-on-Hudson: Crotonblog publishes local news about activities, arts, politics, Croton-Harmon schools and sports for the Village of Croton, New York 10520.
Recent musings from Bruce Apar’s forum on proposed zoning changes for the Harmon section of Croton:
Croton23: “The best part is…If we do start with this project, we will look more like Ossining or Peekskill- Is that what we are reaching for?”
karenmc55: “A Croton for Croton with no shame or guilt.”
Croton12: “Let’s face it. With a radical leftist single party Village Board, much like the government in Washington, the dreams of making Croton into another Yonkers, Ossining or Peekskill will come true. Greedy property owners see the gold mine in ‘affordable housing’ and staunch activists see an increased power base. Unless there is a successful legal challenge to the ruination of the Village before the majority on the board can be changed, its just time to move.”
jennifer: “The crime was more insidious. It started out as minor annoying quality of life issues: a domestic dispute here, too many bored adolescent boys hanging out there, noise and broken beer bottles. Then it escalated into burglaries and shoplifting. The small—by city standards—grammar school required a major expansion. A towering hulk of a concrete monstrosity to accommodate a surge in students became necessary.”
sensible1: “The residents, taxpayers and people with kids in the Croton schools are mad as hell and are not going to sit idle on this one either!”
wileyp86: “I want to thank you all so much for the very good info being provided. We are new in town, arrived not in time to be able to vote, but had we known this was going on, we might have thought twice. We are nons, came here for the schools, and are appalled that this is being considered here. We came here because it is a village not for the crowds, and for the schools. We are very disappointed and annoyed and you will be hearing from us if this is done.”
commonsense: With more students, and housing, comes the need for more of everything, more teachers, more room, more desks, books, labs, fields, more police, more garbage trucks, more more more more. Why on earth would we encourage that with a zoning change?
Paula Pradines: “Crotonites need to be critical thinkers and not emotional sponges when it comes to affordable housing. We all moved here to live our American Dream. This dream for many has already ended as more and more Croton seniors and lower and middle income families are taxed out of their homes. You know why your neighbors have left. Just ask the hundreds of thousands of Long Islanders who leave each year because their charming villages and lovely vistas were replaced with a kind of extended Brooklyn and Queens full of dense housing and unsustainable school and property taxes.”
Here’s a chance to celebrate Independence Day at historic Van Cortlandt Manor and Sunnyside…
Participating in old-fashioned ice-cream making, listening to a spirited reading of the Declaration of Independence, marching in a grand parade, and drilling and mustering with military re-enactors are some of the activities visitors can take part in at Washington Irving’s Sunnyside in Tarrytown and Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson on Independence Day, Saturday, July 4, from 10-6 p.m.
A grand parade is part of the festivities at Van Cortlandt Manor’s Independence Day celebrations. Tom O’Connell photo.
Both sites, living history museums that are part of the Historic Hudson Valley network, will be dressed up in their finest patriotic regalia to celebrate the nation’s founding. Visitors can journey back to 1809 at Van Cortlandt Manor and to 1859 at Sunnyside. Tickets are available online at www.hudsonvalley.org.
Dramatic readings of the Declaration of Independence are a feature at both sites.
Sunnyside will feature a reading of an 1859 speech by Irving contemporary George William Curtis on abolition, who spoke “attended by a bodyguard with a great mob outside ready for violence, held in check by a large body of police. A few paving stones and a bottle of vitriol were thrown through the windows, but no serious injury was inflicted. This was one of the last instances in which an attempt was made to suppress free speech in the free states in the interest of slavery.” Curtis was also a close colleague of George P. Putnam, Irving’s longtime publisher.
Comic vignettes featuring toasts to the Republic and spirited debates about the pros and cons of temperance and women’s suffrage will also take place. On the issue of whether women should be granted the right to vote, two sisters will duke it out in a lively fashion.
Visitors can also participate in country dancing with caller Eric Hollman, join in rousing renditions of patriotic songs, witness the feats of comedic juggler Will Shaw, and play “town ball,” an early version of baseball that uses a big at and small ball. The home of Washington Irving will be open for tours throughout the day.
At Van Cortlandt Manor, the day’s centerpiece is a vast parade starting at 2 p.m. in front of the manor house. The parade will traverse the entire site and end with a special ceremony, singing, dancing, and games. Children can carry banners and all are invited to march.
From 10-2:30, a military re-enactment group will set up camp and invite one and all to drill and muster. Visitors can help with camp activities such as fire starting with flint and steel. Storytelling and 18th-century fiddle music round out the day.
While either event could be a perfect preamble to a picnic elsewhere, classic Fourth of July food from Geordanes Market in Irvington will be available, giving visitors an easy option for lunch. Of course, picnickers are welcome to bring their own treats.
Admission to either site is $12 for adults; $10 for seniors; $6 for children 5-17; and free for children under age 5 and HHV members. Tours of the sites’ houses are included in the price of admission. Washington Irving’s Sunnyside is at 89 West Sunnyside Lane in Tarrytown, one mile south of the Tappan Zee Bridge, off Route 9. Van Cortlandt Manor is at 525 South Riverside Avenue in Croton-on-Hudson, just off Route 9A. For information: 914-631-8200 or www.hudsonvalley.org.
“Hopeful, these forums are provided to all communities via the graciousness of the North County News.
You are once again asked to stay on the topic of this forum which is the agenda for the work session on Monday and which is still not online.
As to the rest of your comments, in this country, last time I checked, it is the right of every citizen to engage in discussion on issues that may affect their community. If you cannot see that Mr. Murray’s remarks are and were inappropriate, especially since I have no idea what he is talking about, then there is little more I can say to you.
I suggest you save your energy for the upcoming meetings on this issue. Given the backlash I am seeing against this DENSITY housing proposal, you will need it.
As for me, I am off to photograph more of the village’s wonderful HOUSES for an upcoming slideshow.”
— maria (Maria Cudequest, search) Sat Jun 20, 2009 8:19 am NCN
In fact, Croton’s most notorious and ugliest mud-slingers have made it their home-away-from-home.
To illustrate, here’s a sample exchange between convicted vandal maria and citizen-volunteer Kieran Murray (KM) from June 18:
KM:
Maria:
I am getting really sick and tired hearing about you shooting your mouth off about me at Gabe’s. My kids friends parents hear your nonsense and I am really getting tired of it. SHUT YOUR MOUTH ABOUT ME!
maria:
Kieran:
First, I have no idea what you are talking about. My focus has been, if you have not gathered by now, promoting our village, churches, artistic and business community. It occupies a great deal of my time, joyfully. I have not attended any of the Harmon meetings although, as is my right to do so, I have certainly contributed to the many conversations about the housing project that have occurred—especially since the Gazette’s coverage of the 6/11 meeting. My commentary has been measured, deliberate, and fact-based.
The rules of this board are clear. As you have just violated them by threatening me in a public forum, I will bring them to the attention of the moderator on Monday.
In the meantime, the topic of this forum is the work session on Monday and whether or not anyone knows the agenda since it was not online. Please at least follow that one.
Thank you.
KM:
Tell the moderator all you want, just don’t talk bad about me in public where my kids friends parents can hear.
The North County News needs to be careful not to continue to expose itself to possible litigation. In my opinion, it is knowingly letting personal attacks, slander, lies, rumor and innuendo stand as fact. By knowingly providing a platform for damaging character assasinations to continue, it is acting no differently than Got Dirt, MySpace, Craigslist and any other site responsible for providing adequate monitoring and ignoring its responsibility.
Make sure you tell the moderator that as well!
One more from June 19 between one “commonsense” and Kieran Murray:
commonsense:
Kieran,
PLEASE stop with the children, already.
As to whether you would want to help or not, that is absolutely up to you. But you should be looking at it more as helping your village, not just any of us.
KM:
So you think it is OK that my children are being affected? Is that what you are saying?
You know you said I know who you are a while back, I think it is time to meet face to face. I’ve had enough of you knowing who I am and me not knowing the face behind the attacks.
Put up or shut up Commonsense.
commonsense:
Attacks?
Oh, I see an attack, alright, and it ain’t coming from me.
Your statements on your positions are posted exactly as you made them. They are self-explanatory, but if you don’t agree, then perhaps you can explain why you feel they’re not contradictory.
And there’s no need for you to act like a bully.
And if you’re out there, Mr. Apar… They’re talking about you.
Oh, and by the way, since you have done such a good job at tarnishing your paper’s brand by letting Croton’s-worst dominate your message board, there’s an active boycott of buying the North County News on Croton newsstands.
Croton resident Geoff Haynes has just published a superb short slideshow of photos and music from the June 7, 2009 River Day. He has plenty of photos of the fleet comprising the Halve Maen, Clearwater, Mystic Whaler, Onrust and other boats as it sailed up the Hudson.
As Geoff says: “Take a look, when you have a moment, at the audio slideshow I created (below) of the River Day festivities last Sunday. So, turn on your speakers, and go full-screen on the slideshow, for the full effect!”
Throughout our communities, the owners of local Chrysler and GM dealerships are being forced to close their doors due to Chrysler and General Motors Corporations restructuring. While the automaker companies are going bankrupt, the local dealers that sell the cars are turning profits and continue to contribute to the companies’ bottom line. These dealerships received letters from GM and Chrysler telling them they would be closed but have yet to hear any justification or rationale for why they are on the closed list.
G.M. and Chrysler make money (when they do) on new cars and on the financing of loans. Dealers, by contrast, make most of their money on servicing old cars and selling used ones. So dealers can thrive even when the automaker languishes. This week, an expert on the White House’s task force on the auto industry said that shutting down dealerships would save Chrysler and GM “practically nothing.”
Is that what these local dealerships are worth? Not in my opinion. The dealers I spoke to employ 30 to 40 people. Each auto dealership is a vital member of our community here in the Hudson Valley. Shutting them down will create a detrimental ripple effect throughout our local economy. The cutting of these dealerships and the job losses that would be caused are counterproductive to the economic growth and development that the Hudson Valley and America needs.
Watch a video that tells the story of our fight to save a local dealership in South Salem - the oldest Dodge dealership in the world.
That is why I have written to both President Obama and the head of the President’s task force on the auto industry asking them to force GM and Chrysler to reconsider their planned dealership closures. I’ve also signed on to legislation that would require GM and Chrysler to keep the commitments they made to dealerships prior to declaring bankruptcy and allow these local dealerships to either survive or die by the market.
For more information about the effort to save Tator Dodge and other GM and Chrysler dealerships, click here to read today’s article in the Journal News.
What do you think?
Chrysler and GM should be able to close profitable auto dealerships as part of their restructuring.
The market should decide which dealerships stay open or shut down.
*By answering this survey, you are subscribing to my newsletter.
The usual suspects opposed to progress in Harmon squandered what may have been their last chance to meaningfully challenge the rationale for the Harmon Zoning Change Recommendations.
Rather than challenging facts, figures and calculations presented in significant detail in the Harmon Committee Report, they chose to forgo asking meaningful questions in favor of lengthy diatribes claiming yet again that lifelong residents are way smarter than the rest of us “Newbies”, and that if you didn’t inherit your house from your “grandpapy” or are not making hundreds of thousands of dollars, you must be a Section 8 immigrant criminal who will pack 15 family members in a 1 bedroom apartment and have babies like rabbits causing the schools to bust at the seams.
Of course, the opportunity was not lost to publicly slenderize Democratic elected officials past and present for partnering up with the Mafia to run Metro Enviro and line their pockets at the expense of our children’s health, or to spend ten minutes bashing one of our most beloved and successful businesses for having the audacity to receive deliveries.
Hey Minett, did you not see the shopping center at your rear property line when you bought your house?
The usual suspects obviously rounded up anybody breathing that would buy into their warped interpretation of the Harmon recommendation and carefully coordinated their alleged “overwhelming opposition”. Even with the numbers clearly in their favor (I would say 80% in attendance were the opposition), they still couldn’t even manage to do better than a neutral article in the Journal News. Congratulations!
Last night made me lose all hope of a meaningful compromise. It’s all or nothing with the NCN malcontents.
Kudos to our Mayor for extending the olive branch in the face of a continued barrage of character assassinations and personal attacks against him. The NCNers have no votes and no power so the only conclusion I can draw from their theatrics last night is that they don’t want a seat at the table to help shape Croton’s future, they are just in it for the bitching and moaning.
Buying locally produced food directly from farmers and bakers is about to get a whole lot more convenient this summer. Community Markets is opening a midweek farmers market in Croton that runs into the evening. Designed for commuters and those shoppers who are too busy to visit the neighboring weekend markets, the Croton Market will be held a short distance from the Croton Metro-North train station in the former skateboard park on Municipal Place and Riverside Avenue every Wednesday from 2-7 p.m. starting on June 10th.
“We want to encourage people to shop more often at farmers markets,” says Miriam Haas, director of Community Markets. “Because it is so close to the train station, the market will be very convenient for commuters on their way home from work,” she says.
The eclectic array of local foods that will be available include: a wide variety of organic vegetables and herbs from Little Seed Gardens, a certified organic grower from Chatam, NY; annual and perennial plants, fruits and vegetables from Hodgson’s Farm, Walden, NY; pasture raised beef and kielbasa from Kiernan Farm, Gardiner, NY; decadent desserts from Dutch Desserts, Kinderhook, NY; breads and baked goods from Meredith’s Bread, Kingston, NY; Savory pastries from Pika’s Quiche, Big Indian, NY; organic, locally roasted nuts and nut butters from Tierra Farms, Valatie, NY; old fashioned barrel pickles from Doc Pickle, Wayne, NJ; Beltane Farm from Connecticut will be selling fresh goat milk cheese with organic herbs and goats milk yogurt; there will be fresh berries, produce, horseradish and homemade quince jellies from Athanas Farm, Hyde Park, NY; and locally made wines from Millbrook Vineyard and Winery, Millbrook, NY.
While there is clearly a delicious mix of products lined up for Croton this summer, Haas expects the market will serve the community in other ways as well, “I hope the market will be able to provide even more than local food,” she says. “I would like it to be a place where people can relax and slow down and catch up with neighbors, maybe on the way back from picking up a friend or family member at the train station.”
“I’m thrilled that the Village has been successful in establishing a Farmer’s Market”, added Village Trustee Ann Gallelli. “After years of discussion, this is finally going to happen and Community Markets have the experience to make this a successful venture.”
On June 3rd at the Harmon Firehouse, there will be a presentation about plans to change the zoning to accommodate a mixed use housing proposal for the Harmon area. No matter what you are told that night, these are only some of the facts you need to know beforehand.
1) That the “Harmon Plan” is not just about a “few apartments” nor is it only about developing Harmon for this density housing. In a conversation on a site for municipal officials, the topic of which was redevelopment of this area, Trustee Gallelli wrote the following:
“What we want now is for the Village to take the lead on marketing our plans and to get the larger public to buy into it. Basically it is about a three block stretch of commercial first floor with two floors of mixed use (probably mostly residential above), with buildings built close to the street with pedestrian friendly frontage and parking to the rear. We want to get the public to buy into this for support of the zoning changes. We also are prepared to move towards doing the same kind of analysis for a second commercial Gateway where the Village actually owns a number of the parcels. We want to encourage the public to be a big part of this process so as to avoid opposition down the road.”
2) That current mayor Wiegman responded to Ms. Gallelli:
“By definition, a household earning 80% of an area’s median income is considered “low income”….”(County Planning Dept). Therefore some housing development funds are available to create housing that will target folks who earn 80% of the AMI.” For reasons that are unclear, he also added the following:
“Total number rental units in Croton: 674 (compared with 3,900 in neighboring Ossining).”
The so-called Harmon housing plan will no doubt change the character of our Village in a negative way. No matter what they tell you now, the “real deal” has already been laid out by the team of Wiegman and Gallelli. It is right there in black and white. You can read more at http://nycom.collectivex.com/discussion/topic/show/51472
