Guest Editorial: Campaign statement from Board of Trustees candidate Len Simon.
Guest Editorial: Campaign statement from Board of Trustees candidate Len Simon.
"I hope, through hard work, practical proposals and accessibility to one and all, I’ve earned your trust, respect and support for another term on the Board of Trustees."
by Len Simon
Editor’s Note: Last week we invited all four candidates for the two open Board of Trustees seats—Len Simon and Maria Slippen for the Croton Democrats, and Gary Eisinger and Nigel Ravelo for Voice of Croton—to provide final campaign statements to the Chronicle. We published a statement by Eisinger and Ravelo yesterday, and we are happy to publish this statement by Croton’s deputy mayor today.
I’d like to thank everyone in Croton for their kindness, good thoughts and helpful suggestions as I’ve asked for your support for a new term on Croton’s Board of Trustees.
As I’ve often said, serving Croton has been a great honor and is the most meaningful work I’ve ever done. So, I’m grateful to all of Croton for the opportunity to be one of your Board members for the last four years
I learned a great deal working for other local governments across the country for decades. There are many mentors and role models I look to when trying to solve a problem, or pursue an opportunity. They taught me there is no greater satisfaction than working to improve the place you call home.
This past Sunday night my wife Linda and I took our little five-year-old granddaughter to her very first Blaze. Seeing that magic through her eyes helped to remind me what a special place Croton is and how fortunate we all are to live here. Its natural beauty, the river and its surroundings, our cultural amenities, our great schools, our faith institutions, and of course, our friends and neighbors combine to make Croton a unique community. It’s a privilege to try to build on that base so that the Croton of tomorrow continues as a successful and desirable place to live.
A mayor I worked for would regularly ask: “How do you make a great community”? His answer always was: “You do it one day at time”. There are so many days in Croton when it feels like we are doing exactly that. In just the last two weeks we’ve had the Harry Chapin Memorial Run Agaimst Hunger, our Halloween Parades (including one for dogs), a celebration of the Lions Club’s 85th Anniversary, an American Legion gathering to honor Korean and Vietnam Veterans receiving a special NY State award, the Rotary Club Drug Take Back Day, and many other events that perfectly illustrate the creativity and the giving spirit that is our hallmark here in Croton. We’ve tried to embody that in our work as your local government.
Our Train Station Solar Project is a good example of that approach. It shows that when our citizen committees, our government and the private sector collaborate, big things can happen here. When city, town and village officials from all across the region came to look at our soon-to-be-completed project last month, I felt a special pride for Croton – we’d come together for a very worthwhile endeavor.
Train Station Solar is a vivid example of how we can all work jointly for Croton’s benefit, but it’s not the only one. In my time on the Board three examples stand out: (1) we’ve made sure that our first responders – Police, Fire and EMS, have the resources, facilities and equipment they need to continue their superb efforts; (2) we’ve worked to improve our road, water and sewer infrastructure; and (3) we’ve collaborated with our local businesses as never before to ensure they they have the support they need to succeed, including the recent hiring of a Business and Community Liaison for the first time.
Those are just a few examples of the Village government working with our community to move Croton forward - and we certainly can’t stop now. I’ve been pleased to be deeply involved in two new initiatives that hold great promise for Croton.
NY Forward is a state grant program Croton has applied for and which only those municipalities that have been designated as Pro Housing Communities can seek. If we are selected , it would mean $4.5 million for projects including infrastructure improvements, arts and cultural amenities and assistance to our local businesses. Our application, submitted earlier this month, was first rate and we have high hopes for NY Forward. We are grateful for your good ideas at our NY Forward Town Hall in September and for the many excellent suggestions submitted online.
Project MOVER means e-bike share for Croton is coming! Ossining has been granted $7.0 million from NY State to establish an e-bike share program within its own community and create satellite versions for nearby neighbors like Croton. We’re working with their project managers now to select where the bikes would be located and how the program would work in Croton. I’ve been very gratified by the positive reaction to the idea of e-bike share in our community. I’m also grateful that our own Pedego electric bike store will be involved in the program as well.
Croton needs more multifamily housing of all kinds – market rate, condos and affordable, and we are making progress in that area too. Maple Commons is fully occupied with its residents now becoming part of the Croton community. The building at 25 South Riverside is under construction but won’t be occupied until 2026. The projects at 1380 Albany Post Road and 352 South Riverside have been approved but have not yet sought building permits. Lot A, across from the train station, has a considerable way to go before it can be approved. The 1 Half Moon Bay proposal we received over the summer has been withdrawn based on the Village objecting to its size and its pursuit of transit oriented development zoning. If it comes back in a different form in the future, we will consider whether it has been improved and to what extent.
At our work session on October 9th, the Board determined that our housing growth – excluding single family homes and Accessory Dwelling Units – should not exceed 1% per year. I like that limit as a way to ensure that our Village infrastructure and schools can sustain future residential growth. We’ll continue to ensure that we approach any new housing with deliberation, step-by-step analysis, public involvement, and the best planning and engineering assistance we can obtain.
Whether it is housing or any other issues, I welcome those who have expressed concerns about any Village projects to roll up their sleeves and work with us to ensure that all of our projects are the best they can be and contribute to that great community we all desire.
A few days before I showed my granddaughter her first Blaze, I also played bocce at our Village courts that I worked to establish at Black Rock Park. And then, in that same week, I gave a tour of our Municipal Building to an eager and interested group of Girl Scouts who then quickly formed their own Board of Trustees, occupying the dais in our meeting room, and discussing ideas on how to improve Croton. So, whether it’s bocce, the Blaze, or Scouts, we want a Croton for tomorrow that is welcoming, successful and has a special place for everyone. And we want your ideas on how best to do so.
My time as a Board member has been the greatest experience of my life. I’ve tried to do my part to create the best Croton possible. I hope, through hard work, practical proposals and accessibility to one and all, I’ve earned your trust, respect and support for another term on the Board of Trustees.
Thanks so much – I look forward to seeing you soon.
Len Simon
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I appreciate Len sharing his thoughts here and thank him, but how was it the village gave residents such a hard time over the golf course wanting solar panels and wanting to cut down 600 or more trees? It was such a fight between residents and the village when it shouldn’t have been. It was irresponsible for the environment and would have caused major mudslides.
Secondly, I am glad Len enjoyed the Blaze with his granddaughter. We have gone every year for the past 20 years and last Friday going to the Blaze, we sat in 30 minutes of traffic just trying to move past Shop Rite alone. It was the worst traffic we had going there. Commuters, Blaze attendees and shoppers were all in the same place and traffic was completely jam packed. How is flooding the area with dense apartments near the train station going to help this? I don’t understand why our traffic, parking and accessibility is not a major concern for Len and the other trustees. 30 minutes of traffic is ridiculous. Traffic was backed up in the same lanes leaving the Shop Rite area too. I don’t see adding large apartments buildings with very limited parking spaces helping the traffic situation.
And thank goodness the Westchester County Planning Board said no to the 1 Half Moon Bay project. It was too far from the train (to be considered commuter friendly) and way too big at 6 stories. I don’t think living directly up against Amtrak tracks and diesel trains is healthy for anyone.
The project can still return in a different plan so residents need to pay attention closely to this too.
I was very upset when Len came to the senior club meeting and told us the massive housing projects being built will make it possible for our children to stay in Croton and for us to downsize. When one woman called him on that saying that the residents of Croton get very few or none of these apartments he told us the trustees are going to make it so that Croton residents do get the apartments, which is simply not true. We wondered if this campaign false promise would have been made to a club of younger people. Was Len thinking we were too old to know stuff like the fact that these state wide and national lotteries for spots in these new Croton housing projects can’t be earmarked for Croton and we have just given up two village forests so that our community can be overcrowded with more Len backed housing projects to come? I’m voting for Gary and Nigel to save our village from Len.