Section: The Election Battleground

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When "Randy" Randall Swan Assaulted a Minor

February 7, 2010

To the editor:

Since “Randy” Randall Swan was nominated by the Croton GOP to run with Dr. Gregory Schmidt for trustee in the upcoming village election on Tuesday, March 16, 2010, residents should know about the time when Mr. Swan assaulted a minor.

In fact, six years ago, Mr. Swan was handcuffed, and taken into Croton police custody after assaulting one of three 8th grade boys, each a village resident, who he found on his rental property without his permission, located at 1 Crest Street (map location), in the Harmon section of the Village of Croton-on-Hudson.

— Anonymous

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In Response to the Ever Demeaning Susan Konig

February 5, 2010

To the editor:

The Public Forum held last Wednesday at the Harmon Firehouse regarding the feasibility of building a structure at the parking lot was attended by over 60 people reflecting the diverse make-up of the Village and commuters. Ideas and opinions were exchanged in a respectful manner and in some cases consensus was achieved among participants. This was just the beginning of a process helping Croton to determine the possibility of maximizing the income from its second largest revenue source, the train station parking lot. The goal is to alleviate the tax burden on the primary source of revenue - you, the homeowner.

We insisted on a study of the feasibility of a parking structure in return for our support for the recent repaving because we believe that just maintaining the lot was not good enough. We need to find out if our parking lot can be optimized to provide more revenue in the future to help relieve the burden of sky-high property taxes on our residents. Although the $3 million project to raise and repave the flood-prone areas of the lot is complete now, and hopefully will last for at least 15 years, this investment was totally at the taxpayers’ expense and does not add more spaces or more revenue to our coffers. It was a maintenance project.

We believe as Trustees it is our duty to explore every possible option to help the Village either generate income or offset expenditures, without impacting the quality of life for our families. This can only be done by taking an in depth look at how the Village generates income.

By instituting the first-ever mid-year budget progress report we can track spending and income to date in this fiscal year; the first step to responsible fiscal management. Having reduced your Village taxes by nearly 2% for 2009-2010, this report will be key in achieving our goal to cut taxes again this year. Reducing expenses in the Villages takes a great deal of study, homework and budget “know-how” but we are determined to reach our goal.

We successfully requested and have received $750,000 from the Federal Government with help from Congressman John Hall, which reduced the overall parking lot expenses as well as $1.2 Million grant for improvements on Croton Point Avenue.

Approximately 7 weeks ago, the current board approved rezoning to provide potential for increased revenues and have begun the process of marketing these improvements to potential businesses.

Unfortunately, last week we read in this section of the Gazette some incredible accusations regarding the feasibility study but reality paints a far different picture.

On a unanimous vote by former Mayor Gregory Schmidt, former Trustees Sue Konig & Tom Brennan as well as current Trustees Ann Gallelli & Rick Olver the Village Board approved plans to mitigate flooding in the train station parking lot as well as begin a study on the feasibility of a parking structure. Now that we have entered the political season, a former Trustee has either forgotten her vote on the subject or, at the very least, the specifics of the motion on which she voted to approve.

The approval was to study a parking structure, not to build housing at the parking lot. Any attempts to tie the current parking structure feasibility study to an old Transit Oriented District (TOD) report are made up. The consultants will examine demand for more parking, the ability of the ground to support such a structure and costs of building it, improvements to the lot as a whole and possible ways of financing a structure without requiring a contribution from Village taxpayers. Any comments to the contrary are simply not true.

Please don’t take our word for it. Go the link provided and see for what the Trustees unanimously voted on February 2, 2009: http://www.crotononhudson-ny.gov/PublicDocuments/CrotonHudsonNYTrustMin/2009/02-02-09.pdf

We believe it’s demeaning to the Village and its residents to denigrate those who participated in the dialogue last Wednesday; particularly without offering any alternative plans to address the tax burden on the homeowner. What the Village needs are more residents who are willing to participate and for leadership to bring creative ideas to solve the real problems we face here so that we can enjoy the beauty and small-town charm that Croton has to offer today and for years to come.

Ann Gallelli, Trustee
Rick Olver, Trustee

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Susan Konig on Croton's 'Dreamers and Schemers'

February 1, 2010

To the editor:

For years, whenever the tide rose, our train station parking lot would flood. For years, nothing was done to fix this. When taxpayers with destroyed cars complained, their concerns were dismissed by the old gang at the municipal building with a shrug.

During the two years I served as Village trustee with Mayor Greg Schmidt, we went to work to fix this problem. We hired engineers to develop a 30-year fix, put out bids for contractors, scheduled the construction, secured the funds to raise and repave the lot, and got the job done. No more flooding.

Now Ann Gallelli and the current Village Board want to build on that success - literally. They want to build housing and shopping on the parking lot. The dreamers and schemers who can’t stand to see our little Village remain little are thinking BIG. Twenty million dollars big. They want to spend $20 million to turn the train station parking lot into a mini-city.

And you think it’s tough getting in and out of that lot during rush hour now?

Who will pay for this latest over-development scheme? How would a mini-city on our train station parking lot affect our property values? Why is the current board so driven to transform our little village in-between two rivers into a not-so-shiny city on a hill?

This board treats the taxpayers’ money as a no-limit credit card. In the last issue of the Gazette, Ms. Gallelli demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of our village’s finances. In reference to the drastic reductions in the Village’s tax rate increases achieved by the Schmidt administration, she wrote: “reserves…were used as ‘false’ income and reported to you as ‘a low tax increase.’” Her assertions that our village surplus was “raided” and that our decision to return some of the taxpayers own money to the taxpayers (a novel concept in our village!) rather than hoarding it in government coffers was somehow “false income” are unfounded and defamatory against former officials and the current staff of the village.

If Ms. Gallelli and the current board are really interested in saving the taxpayers of this Village money, how about cutting the $3600 a year the Village pays Ms. Gallelli to write the Village newsletter. This nicely doubles her annual trustee income.

It’s only $3600. But a $3600 newsletter here, a $20 million dollar parking lot mini-city development there…it starts to add up.

— Susan Konig, Croton-on-Hudson

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LoHud Picks Bad-Boy Schmidt for Mayor!

March 10, 2009

…We do, however, regret the Republican ticket’s implied “Croton: love-it-or-leave-it” [video] stance, which could have the effect of stifling discussion. To wit, Schmidt said of his opponents, “They’ve contributed by telling people what a horrible village we have.” Come now, there is such a thing as constructive criticism. Wiegman served the village well as a trustee from 2001 to 2007. His contributions to the fight against the waste industry often seem unfairly undervalued by his opponents, who try to paint him as a friend to the waste industry, which he is not. At this juncture, though, Wiegman can’t match his opponent’s broad experience in running village hall…

MORE

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Richard Pellicci, Emotionally Aggravated—Again

June 21, 2008

June 16, 2008 [Excerpts from transcript]

Richard Pellicci: “Richard Pellicci, 65 Radnor Avenue. Um, just an observation concerning the DEC presentation. I find it very funny Trustee Gallelli that you’re now concerned with truck traffic on 129. It didn’t seem to bother you when we were fighting Metro Enviro for 10 years trying to get rid of it out of the village.

I really wasn’t going to to come here tonight because I just get too, ah, emotionally aggravated.

Um, let’s see. I’ve now lived in this village for fifteen years and I’m sorry to say, Trustee Gallelli, you are truly the most divisive individual on the board. As your past and present actions prove time and time again. Trustee Olver, as I said face-to-face to you at the Democratic committee’s dog and pony show on Saturday as it spilled out into the parking lot, you sir are my biggest disappointment. With your credentials and promises of working together with the entire board, you turned out to be just another follower of Trustee Gallelli’s deeply-rooted agenda for Croton. You amateur planners, including former-trustee Wiegman who so inarticulately read down a list of ten reality checks revitalizing Harmon and South Riverside Avenue. But admitted that the village does not own any of these properties. So, you should have saved your wish lists and opinions for next Christmas because maybe Santa Claus can drop off some new businesses here in Croton on Christmas Eve.

And once and for all Trustee Gallelli, why don’t you just be honest and admit that this charade of yours, your attempt of a shadow government, is all about bringing in low-income, affordable housing into the Harmon section. Start working together as a complete board or resign your position on the board, as you have done previously. I can keep you busy weeding plots around the village. It is actually very fulfilling to accomplish something in this village.

In closing, I noticed that someone was photographing the attendees at the forum. If this is anyone having to do with the blog, you should be aware of the following: Many residents including many business owners have expressed concern about being featured on this site. I just happen to have run into two of them today. Two business owners today that told me the same thing. To the Democrats on the board, your continued involvement with the blog is helping it tear a community apart. That’s not my opinion, its the opinion of two of its former founders. Thank you.”

Trustee Thomas Brennan: “Thank you Rich.”

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Crotonblog's Picks in the Coming Election

March 15, 2008

At about this point near the end of every political campaign, it is customary for newspapers to endorse candidates for election on the basis of their qualifications. We’ll now try our hand at this, making endorsements of candidates for Trustee.

Candidate Joe Streany makes his argument that his 38 years as a volunteer firefighter makes him eminently qualified to serve in the Village Board of Trustees. If that reasoning were valid, the Village Board of Trustees would be entirely composed of a majority of veteran firefighters year in and year out.

A major problem posed by Mr. Streany’s candidacy is that he comes before the public with a load of unsavory baggage trailing behind him. In his employment as an executive of the Metro North Commuter Railroad, he was not above putting the arm on contractors whose contracts with the railroad he supervised. He claims that the money squeezed from them went to a nonprofit organization he had formed, the high school booster club, but that organization was not recognized as a nonprofit organization by the I.R.S. until long after he had squeezed graft from the contractors (See: “Will the Real Joe Streany Please Stand Up?”).

Moreover, in discussions about the settlement he made with New York State’s Ethics Commission, he insisted that he was forbidden to discuss the case. The settlement agreement he signed with the Commission to avoid prosecution told quite a different story. Mr. Streany isn’t even a good liar (See: “Joe Streany, P.O.P.* A True Story”).

Given the opportunity to look out for the Village’s environmental interests in a dispute with the railroad over chemically treated railroad ties dumped by the railroad in the Croton Marsh, Mr. Streany defended the railroad’s refusal to remove them (See: “Joe Streany, Environmentalist?”).

Instead of allowing four young women to join a program designed to integrate young people into a raining program for firefighters, in contravention of New York State’s civil rights law Mr. Streany as First Assistant Fire Chief engaged in outright sexism and expelled them from the program because they were women. Only a determined campaign waged by the young women and their mothers forced Mr. Streany to obey the law and allow them to join the program (See: “Joe Streany, Sexist Opponent of Women’s Rights”).

Mr. Streany has shown himself to be a veritable bull in a china shop in other situations.

In 2000, when a bond providing much-need expansion of facilities in the school system was put before taxpayers for a vote, it passed but by a narrow margin. A small group of citizens, unhappy with the vote, called attention to a letter improperly written on school letterhead by the schools’ Athletic Director, William Thom, and mailed to voters urging them to vote in favor of the improvements. Unfortunately, Mr. Streany had added his flourishing signature to the Thom letter endorsing its forbidden sentiments.

Citing the Thom-Streany letter, opponents of the bond were then able to use the judicial system to delay the improvements for years. By the time construction was ready to begin more than three years later, increased labor and materials costs forced the school system to scale back its plans. Thanks in part to Mr. Streany’s ill-advised efforts, Croton’s school system paid out more money and got less than it had wanted in the way of improvements. Unlike King Midas for whom everything he touched turned to gold, everything Mr. Streany touches turns to you-know-what. Given Mr. Streany’s litany of sins, we feel that electing him to the responsible position of Trustee would be a gamble no one in Croton should be willing to make. Croton simply cannot afford Mr. Streany’s elastic moral code.

Now we come to Joann Minett. She has little knowledge of Croton’s geography (she thinks 1A Croton Point Avenue is directly on the Hudson River), municipal affairs or Village infrastructure—you name it, she knows little or nothing about it, but is always quite willing to expound on it. Her campaign is based solely on her ten years of contrariness and ill-informed opposition to whatever the Village Board is considering doing. In the words of Groucho Marx, “whatever it is, I’m against it!”

A vote for Joann Minett would consign the Village to two years of totally misinformed opinion, wildly expressed at Board meetings and accompanied by arm-waving theatrics. Admittedly, it would increase the audience for Board meetings in the same way that the crowds attending the funeral of Harry Cohn, much-despised President of Columbia Pictures, caused Red Skelton to observe, “As Harry used to say, ‘Give the public a good show, They’ll turn out for it!’” Mirroring the nation’s economic problems, Croton’s troubles are growing too big and too fast for us to afford a two-year period of comic relief.

There are two seats open on the Village Board. Deliberations about Croton’s future need the presence of a “loyal opposition” to offset the Republican majority, which is going to do what it wants anyway. The remaining choices, Ann Gallelli, up for reelection after several terms, and first-timer Richard Olver, whose life experience and practical, no-nonsense outlook hold much promise for Croton, are both eminently qualified for the Trustee openings. In nautical terms, the best course now is “steady as she goes,” and we endorse the candidacies of Gallelli and Olver, and urge their seating as Trustees. Dyed-in-the-wool Republican readers who can’t bring themselves to vote the Democratic line can always pull the levers for the Croton Taxpayers Party.

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Joe Streany, Sexist Opponent of Women's Rights

March 13, 2008

In his election campaign Joe Streany makes much of his 38-year service as a volunteer firefighter and his stint as a Fire Chief. What voters may not know—or remember—is that when Joe Streany had the chance to uphold the civil rights of women, he failed miserably. It was a performance that raises serious questions about his qualifications to serve as Trustee.

The story is buried in yellowed old newspaper clippings and microfilm. To research the incident we must travel back in time to August of 1981. An attempt by the all-volunteer Croton Fire Department to overcome its daytime shortages of manpower by using members of an Explorer Scout Post to create a junior fire brigade exploded into a veritable firestorm. Joe Streany, First Assistant Chief of the Croton Fire Department, disregarding the state’s equal rights law, arbitrarily decided to deny four young women the right to participate in the program.

Sexism Rears Its Ugly Head
The four 15-year-old young women, who said they wanted to join the department as firefighters when they were older, then charged the Croton Volunteer Fire Department with “sexism” for unceremoniously ejecting them from a youth fire-training program without cause.

Their protest gained support from the American Civil Liberties Union and caused a stir in Croton. Joe Streany expressed concern that the department’s fund-raising efforts would be hampered as a result. He seemed not to have anticipated the uproar his action would create or even that he had broken the law.

The training program was offered to young men and women by an Explorer Scout Post and was backed by a committee headed by Joe Streany. Apparently, his backing only extended to young men. He claimed some of the committee members had exceeded their authority and had gone too far by admitting the young women. This was a peculiar remark, especially coming from someone who is the father of three daughters.

An Eyebrow-Raising Admission
“If I take these four young girls, I’d probably lose 10 firemen. Our men are pretty much male chauvinists,” said First Assistant Chief Joe Streany in an eyebrow-raising admission hardly complimentary of his men. “For the old-timers, the Fire Department is their hobby and their pastime as well as their civic duty. They don’t want kids hanging around the firehouse.

“It took us two years to persuade them even to have boys. This isn’t a youth group,” he added. “We’re trying to train firefighters for the future. It’s inevitable that we’ll have girls in the program someday, but we wanted to get this thing off the ground first, just with boys, and see how it works out.”

The program was one of several in Westchester that volunteer fire companies embraced in an effort to relieve daytime shortages and to prepare potential volunteers for fire service. It is not uncommon in some parts of the county for a community to have shortages of volunteers on weekdays because of the number of firefighters who are employed elsewhere.

The young women, all daughters of local firemen, joined the post in June of 1981, answering an announcement that “youths” between 14 and 18 would be trained in firefighting theory, equipment operation, first aid, traffic control and fire prevention. At their third meeting on July 16, 1981, they were emphatically informed by a delegate from the Fire Department that it didn’t want women, and they were asked to leave.

Leave Quickly and Don’t Make a Fuss
The expulsion was conducted in heavy-handed fashion. “They told us to leave [the firehouse] quietly and not make a fuss, and they gave us back our five dollars,” said Kelly Flood. “The meeting began at 7:30, and they kicked us out at 8:15. We were upset, and we just walked around town trying to calm down.”

The four young women went to see Susan Shepler, one of ten female dispatchers already in the Croton Fire Department, whose membership then was exclusively male. An angry Susan Shepler contacted the American Civil Liberties Union. One of the ACLU Westchester attorneys, Natalie Hertz, wrote to the Village Attorney, reminding him that state law prohibited fire departments from discriminating against any member on the basis of sex.

Chief Streany claimed that John LaFata, head of the Westchester-Putnam Explorer Scouts program, had told the Croton Fire Department committee it could avoid having young women as members by using the absence of a female adviser as the basis for the exclusion. Mr. LaFata denied making any such statement.

Making the Female Dispatchers Angry
The young women said that after they suggested that perhaps one of the female dispatchers could be their adviser, they were told by a member of the Fire Department committee that “the dispatchers are not part of the department—they are their own little thing.” This unfeeling remark upset and infuriated the female dispatchers. Rose Wojnar, a dispatcher whose daughter, Diane, was one of the four young women, exploded, “I thought all along that I was a member of the department. We’re covered by Croton Fire Department insurance. We do a service, and it means they don’t have to take the firemen off the trucks to do the dispatching.”

Kelly, Diane and the other two young women, Laurie Fath and Kristin Lockwood, wrote a letter of protest to two local newspapers, the Croton-Cortlandt News and the Ossining Citizen Register. Their mothers took matters into their own hands and had a flier printed that they distributed at the Croton Fire Department’s major fund-raising event, its annual bazaar. The flier told attendees bluntly, “Your attendance here is contributing to the support of an organization that discriminates against children because of their sex.”

Peace at Last
The widely publicized charges of “sexism” and the furor that ensued caused the Croton Fire Department to backpedal quickly and to relent. A year later, after completing the required course of training, the same four young women who had fought their exclusion so determinedly were admitted to the Croton Fire Department as junior members. At a ceremony held at Croton’s Grand Street Firehouse on July 27, 1982, Joe Streany, who had been elected chief of the department in April, presented them with official Fire Department badges. He had enjoyed a meteoric rise from rookie to chief in the short space of twelve years.

After the ceremony, Chief Streany was forced to eat crow. Making a calculated effort to save face, he said of the new firefighters, “They are a part of the family now. We couldn’t have had any better cooperation or response from both the department and the Explorers.” Then he added, as if his opposition to the young women’s participation had never been displayed, “The program has already shown itself to be an asset to the community, as it was intended.”

See also:

• “Joe Streany, P.O.P.* A True Story,” March 10, 2008
• “Joe Streany, Environmentalist?,” March 6, 2008
• “Will the Real Joe Streany Please Stand Up?,” February 29, 2008

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Joe Streany, P.O.P.* A True Story

March 10, 2008

*Painfully Obvious Prevaricator

Every year just before local elections, the Editorial Board of The Journal News holds a roundtable with candidates from each community to discuss their understanding of local issues and to learn their approaches to solutions. Three of the four Croton Trustee candidates in Croton journeyed to White Plains recently. Not attending was Joann Minett, whose absence went unexplained in the recent Journal News report on the candidates’ views. Attendance can be crucial, since a candidate’s performance under questioning may be a major factor in determining whether the newspaper will endorse that candidate.

Apparently unaware that it is never wise to lie to journalists who have access to sources and can retaliate, Joe Streany told a couple of whopping big lies.

THE FIRST LIE: When asked about the agreement with the Ethics Commission in which he admitted that he solicited payments totaling $16,850.00 to his booster club from six contractors to Metro-North Railroad whose contracts he supervised, Joe Streany smiled apologetically and told The Journal News Editorial Board, “I signed an agreement not to discuss that publicly.”

THE TRUTH: The Ethics Commission extracted no pledge of confidentiality from Joe Streany. In fact, the agreement he signed with the Ethics Commission admitting his guilt specifically stated, “It is understood and agreed that this Agreement is not confidential, and that the Commission reserves the right to make public the agreement and its terms.”

THE SECOND LIE: Referring to the Ethics Commission evidence that he pressured six contractors to make contributions totaling $16,850.00 to his favorite charity—the high school booster club of which he was co-president—Joe Streany looked directly at the members of the Journal News Editorial Board and said, “There never were any charges filed.”

THE TRUTH: This bald-faced lie gives the impression that no incriminating evidence was found against him. The Ethics Commission’s “Statement of Reasonable Cause” builds an airtight case against Joe Streany. So airtight, in fact, he admitted his guilt and agreed to pay a fine of $2,250.00 to the Ethics Commission as a consideration for which the Commission agreed in return not to proceed further with legal action. For his part, Streany also agreed not to make any public statement denying the facts of the case against him or giving the impression that the Commission’s case against him was without a basis in fact.

STATE OF NEW YORK ETHICS COMMISSION IN THE MATTER OF JOSEPH P. STREANY, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF SAFETY, METRO NORTH RAILROAD: DISPOSITION AGREEMENT, NOVEMBER 8, 2004 (PAGE 4). View the entire decision here: NYS Ethics Commission In The Matter of Joseph Streany.

There you have it. Joe Streany, no impractical idealist like Don Quixote bent on righting wrongs and jousting with windmills, but an ambitious political novice who looks directly at people who know the true facts and flatly lies through his teeth to them. Crotonblog now offers a deal to Joe Streany: If he will stop telling such whopping big lies about himself, we will stop telling the truth about him.

But our story doesn’t end here. According to The North County News, in a laughable attempt to paper over the admission of ethical lapses by Joe Streany, a Republican candidate for Trustee, and to lessen the severity of the offenses, Mayor Greg Schmidt claimed “ethics laws have grown more stringent over the past five to ten years.” Nice try to save Joe Streany’s reputation, Mr. Mayor, but it won’t work. You ought to bone up on facts before shooting off your mouth.

Mayor Gregory Schmidt (left) and Joseph Streany (right)

One would think that someone in public office like Gregory Schmidt would have a better grasp of ethics laws since they also apply to him. Crotonblog has news for the Mayor: New York State passed the public officers laws that Joe Streany violated not in the last ten years, but almost a century ago—in 1909, to be exact.

Mayor Schmidt has frequently announced that he does not read Crotonblog. Our hope is that one of his minions will have the audacity to bring our last item to the Mayor’s attention. Otherwise the Mayor may find himself in the same ethical mess in which his pet candidate now finds himself.

See also:

• “Joe Streany, Environmentalist?,” March 6, 2008
• “Will the Real Joe Streany Please Stand Up?,” February 29, 2008

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Joe Streany, Environmentalist?

March 6, 2008

Joe Streany, Environmentalist? We think not. Joe Streany, an employee of the Metro-North Commuter Railroad, is running in the upcoming election for the post of Trustee of the Village of Croton-on-Hudson. He is basing his campaign on no other qualification than his record of self-promoting volunteerism, as if that dubious criterion entitled him to take an active role in the governance of the village. Voters have a right to know the real Joe Streany.

Crotonblog has already shown Joe Streany to be ethically challenged and willing to violate the State Ethics Law governing the actions of public officers. He has admitted to seeking to enrich an organization officered by him—namely, his local sports booster club—by making illegal demands on contractors to the railroad for graft under the guise of being “contributions.” This official blackmail went on for five long years. The whole sordid story of the Joe Streany who does not obey the law can be read in a recent post titled, “Will the Real Joe Streany Please Stand Up?”

The Metro-North Commuter Railroad could hardly be called a paragon of environmental virtue or a good neighbor to this village. It pollutes Croton’s atmosphere by allowing its large diesel locomotives to run endlessly to keep them warm in cold weather. It pollutes the shores and river waters of the village of Croton by dumping carcinogenic materials. And it has polluted its own rail yards so thoroughly as to create a hazardous waste site right under the windows of Half Moon Bay.

Almost twenty years ago, in April of 1989, the railroad was cited by the DEC for pumping pollutants into the Croton Marsh, a tidal arm of the Hudson and Croton Rivers.

Joe Streany, in his capacity as deputy director of safety, can hardly claim ignorance of the Croton Marsh violation. The polluting stream of foul liquid issued from a pipe installed by the railroad, and was plainly visible to everyone from employees and commuters to shore walkers—but not to Croton’s Joe Streany.

The railroad’s deliberate defiance is reminiscent of the days when “robber baron” Cornelius Vanderbilt and his New York Central rode roughshod over competitors and government. His son, William H. Vanderbilt, president of the railroad, is famous for having uttered the phrase “The public be damned” to a reporter.

Crotonblog has uncovered incontrovertible evidence that Joe Streany has little regard for Croton or the health of its citizens. When the chips were down in August of that same year, Mr. Streany revealed his true colors and showed himself to have little desire to protect Croton. The occasion was the New York Department of Environmental Conservation’s reversal of its decision to remove railroad ties that had been dumped in the waters of Croton Marsh.

Seen from above on Earthlink, the marsh at low tide looks like some giant had spilled a box of huge toothpicks into this once-pristine haunt of wildlife. The toxic oily sheen on the marsh discourages wildlife and surely killed any unfortunate creatures that made their home there.

Expressing relief at the DEC’s decision, an obviously relieved Joe Streany told a New York Times reporter, “removal of the ties would cost millions and pose a tremendous economic problem for the railroad.” His position, of course, totally overlooks the environmental cost to the village of Croton-on-Hudson of the failure to remove the ties, which are impregnated with creosote made from coal tar.

Pooh-poohing the dangers of creosote, Mr. Streany added that the railroad’s own analysis of the effects of creosote showed that the preservative is not a hazard in the environment. He claimed, with his own peculiar brand of logic, “the ties are old and therefore they have absorbed the creosote.” This completely ignores the fact that in the creosoting process, the ties are forced to absorb the creosote under pressure. Contrary to Mr. Streany’s ridiculous claim, over time the abandoned ties literally release the absorbed water-soluble toxic components and allow them to leach into the surrounding river waters.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the International Agency for Research on Cancer both consider creosote to be a carcinogen. In 2003, the European Union restricted creosote only to professional use, noting that the risk of skin cancer had probably been underestimated previously.

“A witch’s brew of toxic chemicals.” That’s how an angry John Cronin, then the riverkeeper for the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association, described creosote. He told a New York Times reporter that his organization was considering legal action against Metro-North to force it to remove the ties and that the association planned to file notice of its intent this week.

“The state will not, it cannot, stand up to the railroad,” Mr. Cronin said. He added, “the quasi-governmental transportation industry is the most powerful in the state.” Despite what he described as “the railroad’s poor environmental record,” he noted in the same New York Times story dating from August 13, 1989, that the state has taken little action.

Fortunately, wiser heads prevailed, and a plan for removal of the ties is now in place. Croton owes no debt of gratitude for this change to turncoat Joe Streany, who unrelentingly fought tie removal tooth and nail all the way. We all know now where his allegiance lies. Even so-called “dumb animals” have the basic good sense not to foul their own nests. But not Croton’s Joe Streany.

Joe Streany, environmentalist? We think not.

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Will the Real Joe Streany Please Stand Up?

February 29, 2008

One of the consequences—and costs of doing business with the Metro-North Railroad until not very long ago—was being hit up by Joe Streany for a sizable contribution to his favorite charitable institution, the Croton-Harmon High School Booster Club. Contractors doing business with Metro-North who thought the railroad was free of graft found this out to their sorrow.

Having the squeeze put on you for his Booster Club by Croton resident Streany would be understandable if your business were Deprez Wines & Spirits or one of the Capriccio Pizzerias here in Croton—but Joe Streany’s victims were companies scattered in various parts of the U.S. and that had nothing to do with Croton-on-Hudson. They just happened to be unlucky enough to have been awarded a contract with the Metro-North Railroad. Even so, they were in no position to say no or even to hesitate to whip out a checkbook. As Deputy Director of Safety for Metro-North, it was Joe Streany who managed their contracts with the railroad.

We leave to your imagination what power that gave him over them. We don’t picture that his approach was as blatant as one of Humphrey Bogart’s early movies in which he approaches a saloon owner with one hand in his pocket and asks, “Who you getting your beer from?” Whatever Joe Streany’s approach was, it was persuasive enough to convince five different contractors to part with coin of the realm over a period of five years. No doubt it would have continued to this day if some whistleblower had not revealed Joe Streany’s illegal scam. An investigation into the affair began when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s inspector general got the anonymous tip suspected to have come from the co-worker who had warned him about the illegality of what he was doing. This tip was passed on to the state Ethics Commission.

Ethics is defined as the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession. Graft is defined as unscrupulous use of one’s position to derive profit or advantage. It is unethical behavior. Joe Streany is now a Republican candidate for Trustee. He and the Republicans are asking the citizens of Croton-on-Hudson to vote him into an office of public trust requiring the utmost in ethical behavior.

The word “booster” has two definitions. One is someone who vigorously supports a cause. The second definition, in criminal slang, is someone who engages in unlawful activity, such as shoplifting or picking pockets. The five contractors for Metro-North Railroad surely must have felt that their pockets were being picked repeatedly for five years by booster Joe Streany, who apparently has his own peculiar definition of ethics more suited to Boss Tweed and the old Tammany Hall than suburban Westchester. He also had no objection to being entertained with expensive steakhouse lunches.

We can imagine the word getting around among contractors along these lines: “If you are bidding on a Metro-North contract that might come under Joe Streany’s jurisdiction, be sure to add some vigorish to cover the regular payments he will ask you to make to his favorite charity.” Lest we be accused of leveling charges without providing details in full about this sordid affair, here they are. Read them and weep for the good name of your fair village, Croton-on-Hudson.

Croton’s Joe Streany solicited money from Leadcare, Inc., an environment testing facility in Long Island City, N.Y. They made five payments totaling $5,380.00.

Croton’s Joe Streany solicited money from Waste Technology Services, Inc., of Lewiston, N.Y., specialists in waste management and recycling. They made four payments totaling $4,790.00.

Croton’s Joe Streany solicited money from Safeway Environmental Services, a waste management consulting and disposal company in Glencoe, Alabama. They made six payment totaling $2,640.00.

Croton’s Joe Streany solicited money from Day Engineering, P.C., of Rochester, N.Y., environmental engineering consultants. They made four payments totaling $2,050.00.

Croton’s Joe Streany solicited money from York Analytical Laboratories, of Stratford, Connecticut, which provides analyses to establish conformity with environmental legislation. They made five payments totaling $1,990.00.

According to the state’s Ethics Commission, such solicitations are illegal. A co-worker had warned Streany that he was violating the ethics law. Nevertheless, in each of five years, Streany solicited and received donations to the club from the five contractors he dealt with as a railroad employee. In addition to these donations, one of the contractors treated him to a $105.50 lunch at The Palm, a Third Avenue steakhouse in New York City noted for its giant steaks, surly waiters and expensive tabs.

Brought up on charges by the Ethics Commission, Streany admitted to violating the state ethics law by soliciting a total of $16,850 between 1998 and 2002 from five companies with Metro-North contracts. According to a settlement agreement reached in Albany on Nov. 10, 2004, he agreed to pay $2,250 to settle the charges, a mere slap on the wrist, according to The New York Post.

“RAIL BIG’S BAD BOO$T,” Nov 10, 2004 (Click image to enlarge.)

Persons who violate the Public Officers Law can be fined, suspended or removed from employment. Walter Ayres, a state Ethics Commission spokesman, said Streany could have been slapped with fines totaling a quarter of a million dollars, since he could have been fined $10,000 for each of his 25 violations.

Streany earned $107,000 a year, or $2,057.69 a week, making his fine the equivalent of little more than a week’s salary. Dan Brucker, Metro-North spokesman, said no other action would be taken against Streany, who had worked for the railroad more than 30 years.

Readers may remember a famous contest in which the first prize was a one-week stay in the exciting city of Philadelphia with all expenses paid. The second prize in the contest was two weeks in Philadelphia. Crotonblog can imagine a similar contest among contractors. First prize: A contract with Metro-North Railroad. Second prize: A contract with Metro-North Railroad managed by Joe Streany.

As we noted, Joe Streany is now a Republican candidate for Trustee. He is asking the citizens of Croton-on-Hudson to vote him into an office of public trust requiring the utmost in ethical behavior. Do the voters want to elect a person who has violated the law and has shown repeated inability to recognize the difference between right and wrong? We hope not.

Editor’s Note: For readers who want all the gory details, we include the findings of the New York State Ethics Commission dated November 4, 2004 below. To view a full-size version of this document, please follow this link: NYS Ethics Commission In The Matter of Joseph Streany.

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