Section: Croton-on-Hudson Op-Ed
December 18, 2007
Time to Fix a Balkanized Westchester County
With an area of 450.5 square miles, Westchester follows a governmental plan adopted 219 years ago. Today it boasts 17 towns (down from an original 20) containing six cities, 23 incorporated villages and some 93 unincorporated hamlets, such as Scarborough or Chappaqua. Complicating the picture, Mount Kisco, Scarsdale and Harrison are both towns and villages.
In addition to county and town levies, residents of cities and villages pay taxes to a third level of local government. In some communities like Croton, sewer taxes have been added to the mix, Disguised as “rents,” these enable local administrations to tout this fast shuffle as a reduction in taxes.
Each unit in the bewildering array of towns, cities and villages also has its own zoning ordinances, planning boards and zoning boards of appeal. These have created a veritable crazy quilt of contradictory legislation. Differences in interpretation vary so widely, the community of choice can have a significant impact on any business contemplating a move to Westchester.
Continue reading "Time to Fix a Balkanized Westchester County."
Tools: 
Print
| 
Comments (6)
June 29, 2007
Stupid Questions Invite Frivolous or Foolish Answers
“Politics is a game best played by professionals with knowledge, experience and a resolute desire to win. When played by well-intentioned amateurs, it becomes a sucker’s game in which everybody loses.” If this isn’t an old political axiom, then Crotonblog has just coined one.
We at Crotonblog have come down hard on trustee Tom Brennan and the Schmidt administration for the awkward, badly designed magenta-colored community center questionnaire circulated last year. To add insult to injury, their subsequent and continuing failure to interpret and promulgate whatever findings that could be extracted from the inept questionnaire is unforgivable.
Now it is the Democrats’ turn to submit to the harsh light of inquiry and to feel the lash of our criticism. On Monday, June 25th, Crotonblog published a story about—and linked to—a survey being circulated by Croton Democrats, justified as intended to elicit information about residents’ “needs and desires with regard to Croton’s future.” It did nothing of the kind.
Continue reading "Stupid Questions Invite Frivolous or Foolish Answers."
Tools: Print
| Comments (0)
February 22, 2006
What's the Matter with Croton?
Why do Croton politicians always want to spend the people’s money on consultants when plain old common sense is all that’s needed? Never mind what’s the matter with Kansas
Spending $10,000 for a consultant to advise this village on “ways to enhance the shopping experience” (see: “New Businesses Sought in Croton”) in Croton smacks more of Madison Avenue or Hollywood Boulevard than Grand Street. It’s not only empty campaign rhetoric, but wasteful of our tax dollars to boot. “Boutique” shops are surely not the answer. We’ve had little boutique shops up the wazoo—and they’ve all been unsuccessful. One doesn’t need a Ph.D. in market geography to understand the problem. It’s right there for all to see.
Continue reading "What's the Matter with Croton?."
Tools: Print
| Comments (4)