This is the story of an attempt to smear a candidate running for political office. Or, it’s the story of an attempt to alert voters that a candidate is violating the laws of his own community, possibly reflecting badly on his character. Or it’s some of both.
On Wednesday evening, October 15, the Chronicle was contacted by an individual claiming to live in Croton who called herself Delia Whitly-Smad. This is what she wrote:
To the Editor:
One of the Voice of Croton trustee candidates, Nigel Ravelo, has been renting out an unlicensed basement apartment at his home on North Riverside for years. This is an illegal use under Village Code.
Mr. Ravelo is running on a platform of housing reform and accountability. Residents should be aware that the same laws he invokes have not been followed in his own home.
I realize this blog often defends “free speech” until the facts cut too close to its favored candidates. This one is simple. The record speaks for itself.
Delia W Smad
Croton-on-Hudson
The writer offered some documentation to support her claims, in the form of voter registration records for Ravelo and his alleged tenant, both registered at the same North Riverside Avenue address. We were able to determine that the named tenant is a resident of Croton. The writer later provided a more complete version of her supposed name, which we referred to above.
We have not, so far, been able to establish that the name the writer gave herself is that of a real person in Croton (we still have hopes of being enlightened on that question.) Nevertheless, we responded that the Chronicle, an online newspaper and not a “blog,” does not have favored candidates, although our attempts to provide fair and balanced coverage of the election campaign may make some partisans think that.
However, we also told the writer that we would not publish her letter—as she continued to insist that we do in subsequent email messages—until we had a chance to further investigate the allegations. We explained that ethical journalism prohibited us from publishing serious accusations of this kind without an attempt at confirmation.
The accusation is potentially serious, however, because Croton’s village code makes it illegal to rent a basement apartment, or any other kind of Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU), without a permit from the Engineering Department and approval from the Planning Board.
We asked Ravelo to comment on the allegations and he responded as follows:
“I am aware of the accusations put forth by the anonymous concerned citizen after the administration sent one of their code enforcers to my house.
My home is a single family home with a finished legal basement, which the previous owners had submitted permits for over a decade ago. Prior to me purchasing this property a few years ago, I went to the engineers office to ensure the existing finished basement was legal and sure enough it was. Once the enforcer came to me with the situation I went back to the engineers office to cross check if the finished basement is legal and the office confirmed again that it is.
This situation is a desperate attempt to discredit me during the campaign with little over two weeks left to the elections. Nothing but dirty tactics by people that don’t want change in the current administration.
I am continuing to work with the appropriate village offices to resolve this matter and everything will be finalized after the election when I’m no longer campaigning and time is back on my side.”
It is clear from Ravelo’s response that he believes the allegations are related to the campaign and that they are a form of retaliation for running for office against the Croton Democrats. Unfortunately, Ravelo did not answer some key questions we have put to him, including how long he had been renting the basement apartment, and, if issues concerning the legality of this apartment are still not resolved, why he had not taken advantage of an amnesty offered by the village in early 2024 to property owners who wanted to regularize the status of their ADUs.
The Chronicle has written previously about attempts to smear Voice of Croton’s candidates, and we do think that this context should be kept in mind in evaluating the allegations and Ravelo’s response to them. We know from talking to individuals involved in the Croton Democrats campaign that there is a growing sense of unease and nervousness that Voice of Croton could end up electing one or more candidates to the Board of Trustees, including concern that a significant number of Democrats might “defect” and support Voice of Croton.
Thus it might not be entirely coincidental that the email from Delia Whitly-Smad arrived the evening of the day that the Chronicle published a Guest Editorial by two such Democrats.
However, Ravelo’s response does not resolve the question of whether his basement apartment is currently legally rented according to presently existing village code. He refers to finalizing its status after the election, which suggests that it might not be; and that the basic allegations might be correct at least in part, no matter what their motivation. More than one thing can be true at the same time, and that might be the case here.
The bottom line is that all such allegations need to be taken seriously and that voters have the right to know whether they are true or not. What the voters do with that information is then, of course, their own choice.
Should there be more to report on this situation, we will do so promptly.
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I can see that this is going to be a controversial story, and also that opinions on it are likely to depend a lot on whom one is supporting in the village elections. So let me make some general comments here. From a journalistic point of view, it was an obvious story to do. Some folks allied with the Croton Dems are trying to get Nigel in trouble with code enforcement, and also trying to get the allegations spread around the village as much as possible. Whether the allegations are true or not, that campaign is a story. And so we published it.
great, disciplined reporting once again--thank you, Chronicle!