Section: Croton-on-Hudson What's Up Doc?
December 19, 2007
Croton Fails to Enforce Its Own Code
Wintry weather reveals yet another consequence of Croton’s business recession. In Harmon, one of three village “gateway districts,” the hazards posed to pedestrians by unshoveled sidewalks serve as an additional blight to the sorry conditions already pictured in Crotonblog’s “Album of Shame.”
Moreover, because the sidewalks in front of several vacant commercial properties were not cleared of snow and ice (see following pictures taken on December 19, 2007), pedestrians are forced to risk walking in streets busy with automobile traffic or navigate the slippery and treacherous sidewalks.
South Riverside Avenue
South Riverside Avenue
Croton Point Avenue
But according to village’s own code, the requirements are clear:
§ 197-15. Snow and ice on sidewalks. A. Every owner or occupant of any house or other building, every owner, occupant or person entitled to the possession of any vacant lot and every person having the charge of any church or other public building in this Village shall, during the winter season and during the time the snow shall continue on the ground, keep the sidewalks in front of such house, building or lot free from ice and snow. B. Every person neglecting, failing or refusing to comply with this section shall pay a penalty as provided in § 1-1 2 of Chapter 1, General Provisions, for each day of such neglect, failure or refusal, and every person who shall refuse or neglect to clean said walk, after receiving six hours’ notice in writing from a police officer, the Village Code Enforcement Officer, the Director of Public Works, the Village Manager, or their designees, of said Village to do so, shall pay, in addition, the cost of cleaning said walk by the Village, the cost thereof, after being duly audited, to be added to said penalty per day and recovered and collected at the same time and manner as said penalty is collected. [Amended 5-7-1990 by L.L. No. 2-1990; 2-15-2000 by L.L. No. 1-2000]
So, for the safety of pedestrians, with dangerous snow and ice accumulations on these sidewalks and a law on the books, Crotonblog is compelled to ask Mayor Dr. Gregory Schmidt what is being done about enforcing the code? Whose responsibility is it to see that these dangerous sidewalks are cleared? It’s only another example of sloppy management. Once again Crotonblog is compelled to ask, “What’s up, Doc?”
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November 8, 2007
'I Didn't Know What Time It Was...'
That was the title of a great Rogers and Hart classic, but hey, Mr. Mayor, Doctor, whatever! Have you been so busy trying to pollute Croton’s water with additives you forgot to turn back the Village’s clocks when we changed back to Eastern Standard Time? You always insist “the buck stops here.”
Well, despite all the money spent on the village’s high-tech super-precise weather station, you carelessly neglected to set the system’s clocks back at 2 a.m. last Sunday. And they are still showing the wrong time at this writing. See for yourself if you don’t believe us. Congratulations on another example of your due diligence.
No big deal, you say? Weather experts will tell you it’s a very big deal. Failure to set the timing mechanism back one hour means that all the weather statistics for Croton collected this past week are wrong. And that means weather statistics for the month of November will be wrong. Every temperature reading is wrong. High temperatures were recorded as having occurred an hour later. Low temperatures, too. Precipitation figures and every other measurement are wrong. In the words of George W. Bush, “You’re doing a great job, Schmidtty!”
Are you going to be this careless in injecting additives into Croton’s water, as you seem hell bent on doing? Frankly, we’re extremely worried about the low level of supervision in this village. It seems to be going to hell in a hand basket.
Crotonblog is forced to ask once again: “What’s up, Doc? Who’s minding the store?”
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May 19, 2007
Croton Violates it Own Litter Laws at Commuter Lot
In a telephone interview with Journal News reporter Caren Halbfinger for a story titled “Commuters confronted over fliers protesting parking rates at Croton station,” that was published on April 6, 2007, Croton village manager Rick Herbek said, “…We don’t allow any type of documents to be left in the windshields of cars because it all ends up on the ground and then we have to send a crew to clean it up. It’s clearly a violation of the village litter law…It’s littering the parking lot.”
Yet, on Thursday, May 17, 2007, village employees placed payment reminder flyers on the windshields of every car in the parking lot which had a monthly pass.
The flyer said:
Reminder
This quarter’s monthly permits expire at the end of this month, May 2007. Please send in renewal payments now to avoid a lapse. There is only a one day grace period. Enforcement will start ticketing on the second day of the new quarter starting June 2007.
Thank you.
Croton Daily Parking
914-271-6800
NEW PERMIT RATES AS OF JUNE 1st 2007:
Residents $150.00 quarterly
Non-residents $265.00 quarterly
Preferred $150.00 monthly or $450.00 quarterly
Yet again, Crotonblog is compelled to ask Mayor Dr. Gregory Schmidt, “What’s up Doc?” Why was it that when two lot customers recently placed flyers on cars to notify fellow parkers of your impending rate increase, they faced arrest after a heated confrontation with Mr. Herbek? Shouldn’t the village’s policies and be procedures be reflective of its own laws?
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March 4, 2007
Meet the Gang that Can't Do Anything Right
How to lose an election.
1. Put signs on lawns directing people to a website, www.progressforcroton.com, that doesn't exist.
2. Create a new www.crotongop.com website that includes a heisted reproduction of the village's $20,000 logo, thus implying official sanction.
3. Neglect to correct a misspelled word.
4. Do not deliver on your promise telling residents to "Check back soon for news and updates..."
Egregious mishandling of a simple process like creating a website is unforgivable. So, Crotonblog is again compelled to ask Mayor Dr. Gregory Schmidt, "What's up, Doc?" Is your administration trying to commit political suicide by displaying such ineptitude?
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February 19, 2007
The Gang That Couldn't Spell Straight
Mayor Dr. Gregory Schmidt: What’s going on in the Republican party? Are things getting out of control?
Acting on the prodding of Crotonblog, Croton Republicans have propped up the corpse of their website, applied some make-up and tried to infuse it with life, sort of.
Click to enlarge screenshot image in a new window.
First, as the predominant color, they appropriated the color blue. But this is the Democrat’s color—New York is a “blue state”—remember?
Next, they revealed themselves as “the gang that couldn’t spell straight.” It is a measure of the Republicans’ sincerity that they misspelled the word “sincerely” on their website.
Moreover, having lost the Republican line on the ballot, they coined a new slogan as a cover-up: “Vote village before party on March 20th.” The truth is it will be impossible to vote Republican on March 20th. To reinforce the impression that the new party somehow has achieved official blessing of the village, the new website has illegally appropriated Croton’s official logo for political purposes, giving the impression that the website and the candidates have official endorsement of some kind. They don’t, so remove the logo.
The entire effort smacks of desperation. What would you call it, Mr. Mayor? And it all happened on your watch. So, Crotonblog is compelled to ask once again, “What’s up, Doc?”
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February 17, 2007
Is the Party Over?
Eh, Mayor Dr. Gregory Schmidt… We hear around town that the Croton Republicans are in deep doo doo. As titular head of the local party, you should know of the unhappy questions that are being floated around town;
If voters wanted to find out the Croton Republican Party platform’s stand on crucial local issues, where could they go? You can’t be reached anywhere online.
You managed to file for the Alliance Party line. Where did that come from? You used to file on the Open Governement line. What happened?
Your crowd was so busy pointing fingers and making negative attacks about the Democrats that they neglected to post public notice about their upcoming caucus, thus eliminating the traditional Republican line from the ballot.
And to top it off, rumor has it that the Croton Republican Committee is broke.
The term GOP used to stand for “Grand Old Party.” In Croton today, it’s not so grand, not much of a party—just old. Once again Crotonblog is compelled to ask Mayor Dr. Gregory Schmidt, “What’s Up, Doc?”
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January 16, 2007
No Longer Mum, Croton Official Addresses Water Bill Scam
Instead of apologizing to village residents for the unethical behavior in sending phony water bills to 34 residents “to get their attention,” the Village Treasurer papered over the unfortunate incident with an attempt to justify it at the Village Board meeting on Tuesday evening, January 16, 2007. Reading from a prepared statement, Mr. Abraham Zambrano tried to show how effective the scam had been in causing residents to respond and sign up for water meter installation. He finally reached his monotoned crescendo with a rhetorical question that asked, “Could the village have handled these 34 cases differently?” And, acting as his own interrogator, he promptly answered by saying, “Absolutely.”
That’s it. Left unsaid was any information about what steps had been taken to prevent an unseemly incident like this from ever happening again. Did Village Manager Rick Herbek, who sat glumly throughout the reading of the statement, reprimand Mr. Zambrano for his unprofessional action—or was he a party to the whole sorry affair? Crotonblog is again compelled to address this question to Mayor Dr. Gregory Schmidt: “What’s up, Doc? Do you call this performance an acceptable apology to the residents who were victimized and upset by the scam?”
Download this video clip of “No Longer Mum, Croton Official Addresses Water Bill Scam” to your video iPod (how to guide).
See also:
- “Village of Croton-on-Hudson Officials Mum on Fake Water Bill Scam”
- “What Were Croton Officials Thinking When They Faked Residents’ Water Bills?”
- “Are Croton’s Officials for Real—Or Do They Just Play at Being Officials on TV?”
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January 4, 2007
Village of Croton-on-Hudson Officials Mum on Fake Water Bill Scam
Crotonblog has posted two pieces on the fake water bill story that originally appeared in The Journal News called "What Were Croton Officials Thinking When They Faked Residents' Water Bills?" and "Are Croton's Officials for Real—Or Do They Just Play at Being Officials on TV?." On Tuesday evening, January 2nd, the Mayor and trustees marched into the Board meeting with a quite obvious understanding and agreement not to mention the matter of the fake water bills. Whether this was because of Village Manager Richard Herbek's absence, attributed to illness, we'll never know. Nevertheless, this curious affair will not go away. On Thursday, January 4th, The Gazette published a letter from two victims of the Village's scam. A day ealier The Journal News had published a shortened, edited version of this same letter:
To the editor,Phony water bills; this was not creative, but vindictive. I am ashamed to think our Village of Croton could stoop so low to do something this underhanded, sneaky and obnoxious, not to say illegal. How can our village think it is O.K. to send $1M water bills to anyone this time of year? What a scam.
The letter sent by Mr. Abraham Zambrano did not make any action mandatory. It said, “We would like to extend to you, at no charge, the opportunity to have a remote reader installed." Nowhere in the letter does it say you have to! This is the holidays, when people are thinking of shopping, spending time with friends and family, not about water meters.
I have lived in Croton all of my life and have never been witness to behavior such as this from village officials to our community. Mr, Zambrano intentionally falsified a village document, and this is a violation of the law. Mr. Zambrano's smug remarks on Channel 12 News, saying if people don't pay their bills, we will just add it to their taxes; I am sure there is something illegal in that statement. What about the folks who pay the bill? Are they going to get their funds returned? Somehow I think it will be when the village gets around to it.
Living in the Harmon area, our friends and neighbors have suffered for many, many years from constant water main breaks, icy and muddy streets because of this; dirty water, yellow clothes, and bad tasting water, which resulted in the need to buy bottled water. Needless to say the village took their time about remedying the cause saying "they were working on the problem." If the village was so fired up about installing new meters it should have been done in conjunction with this project. I add, that the meter I had, was only 6 or 7 years old. I have never had an estimated bill, and always sent the card with the meter reading. So again Mr. Zambrano does not know what he is talking about.
Of note, Croton made national television with this stunt. What a shame; the village suffered such embarrassment. Our politicians and village officials need to take a look at what is really important in this village; they talk about communication, but to me it is all one-sided. The politicians and village officials first! Seems to me they forgot who pays their salaries.
— Caryl and Michael DePalma
It is apparent that there is more to this affair than the Village has been willing to reveal. Residents of Croton-on-Hudson deserve to know exactly what happened and what steps are being taken to prevent it from happening again. In the absence of any discussion at Tuesday night’s meeting, once again Crotonblog is compelled to ask Mayor Dr. Gregory Schmidt, “What’s Up, Doc?”
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December 22, 2006
Are Croton's Officials for Real—Or Do They Just Play at Being Officials on TV?
Years ago a major accident occurred on the Union Pacific Railroad a hundred miles from Omaha. Two trains, one eastbound and the other westbound, collided head-on, causing many deaths and injuries. At the inquest that followed, the not-very-bright towerman responsible for switching trains to their proper tracks, took the stand.
“Please tell the court what you observed on that fateful day,” the district attorney asked. “I saw the westbound City of San Francisco streamliner barreling down Track 2 at about 65 miles and hour.”
“And please tell the court what else you saw.” The towerman replied, “I saw the all-Pullman Overland Limited heading eastbound on the same track at about the same speed.”
“And what did you think about that?”
“What did I think? I thought it was a helluva way to run a railroad.”
Croton-on-Hudson also has some not-very-bright towermen. Recently 34 residents of the village were sent phony water bills—all in the randomly chosen astronomical amount of $1,096.45. Their purpose, conceived by non-elected, non-resident officials of the village, was, in their own words, to “get taxpayers’ attention.” In order to create the offending water bills, the figure of $1,096.45 was arbitrarily selected by Abe Zambrano, Village Treasurer, with the blessing of Richard Herbek, Village Manager. Presumably, too, a fictitious amount of water usage also had to be calculated to justify the fictitious dollar amount.
Crotonblog thinks that this shabby, heavy-handed action is a helluva way to run a village or to treat residents. The village created spurious billings for the sole purpose of coercing residents in whose homes the village had not installed electronically-read meters to make arrangements for such installation. The village’s elaborate scam—and there is no better word to describe it—resulted in rapid response from about half the number of residents who were concerned, upset and angry. They had every right to be unhappy.
But before the officials involved throw their shoulders or spines out of joint patting themselves on the back and require the Mayor’s chiropractic ministrations, Crotonblog would like to point out that mailing inflated invoices demanding payment for undelivered goods or services is a fraudulent act. False billing is a clear violation of law and is adamantly prosecuted, most notably in the health care industry. If the village’s computerized billing system can be so wittingly manipulated by officials, what protection does the village have against felonious acts?
Politicians are fond of making campaign promises to run government “like a business.” But any business that did what Croton officials did would quickly find itself enmeshed in the toils of the law. What the village did resembles nothing more than a mindlessly malicious Halloween prank belatedly played by village officials on residents. The technique has all the subtlety of a whoopee cushion or an exploding cigar. In keeping with the tone set by this low-class performance, perhaps we can open Village Board meetings with a round of fart jokes. Surely the village had not exhausted conventional avenues of communication before embarking on this elaborate swindle. How about the old-fashioned method of ringing a bell or knocking on a door?
We’ll skip the mention of the mental anguish or fright that intentional false billing could cause in elderly, infirm or ill residents. The village can collectively breathe a sigh of relief and count itself lucky if no recipient of one of these phony inflated water bills brings an action against the village for its callous, intemperate act. To underscore that Crotonblog is not alone in being concerned about this unhappy incident, the story has already been picked up by major newspapers and news services (see: Google News), making Croton the laughing-stock of the entire country.
Crotonblog has to wonder whether this official scam was put before the Mayor, the Village Board of Trustees or the Village Attorney before being carried out. The inherent deceit underpinning this sorry affair is bad enough, but the unseemly public chortling and exultation at the effect their scam had on unsuspecting residents was inexcusable. We repeat: This is a helluva way to run a village. Perhaps the proper coin of the realm with which to pay counterfeit water bills would be counterfeit money.
What is unintentionally humorous about the whole affair is that in the past the village has frequently overbilled water users erroneously for incorrectly calculated water usage. Now that the village has given its blessing to the creation of intentionally fictitious water bills for punitive purposes, residents cannot be blamed for wondering whether future village-generated bills are authentic or only another example of creative municipal accounting—mere figments of Abe Zambrano’s imagination.
Under the circumstances, Crotonblog is again compelled to ask Mayor Doctor Gregory Schmidt, “What’s Up, Doc? Who’s minding the store?” Your attention to this municipal embarrassment that took place on your watch would be appreciated at the next Board meeting.
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December 21, 2006
Croton Community Center Survey Yields Meager Response
At Monday night’s Village Board meeting, December 18, 2006, Trustee Thomas Brennan reported “we got over 500 responses on the community survey,” and “from what I understand that’s a pretty good response, so we need to get together and decide how we are going to ah, get all that information all together and hopefully in early winter we’ll get back to you on ah, what those results were.”
First, some background: On November 5, 2006, Crotonblog expressed doubt about the recently mailed survey, which was highly touted by Mayor Dr. Gregory Schmidt, in a news analysis titled “A Pie-in-the-Sky Prospectus for a Glitzy Croton Community Center.” We pointed out that Croton’s population was estimated at 7,862 in 2004, the latest year for which an estimate was available. The 3,000 names on the Village’s mailing list to whom the survey was sent comprised taxpayers and owners of businesses, some of whom did not live in Croton. This meant that while about 3,000 questionnaires were mailed—a number constituting some 38 percent of Croton’s total estimated population—the remaining 62 percent of Croton’s population (excluding infants) may or may not have seen the questionnaire, yet they would be prospective users of a community center.
According to survey industry experts, the response rate for warranty cards on consumer products is about 50%. The number of survey returns Mr. Brennan is reporting—about 500—which he claims is “a pretty good response,” is anything but a good response. It is, in fact, abysmal, representing a meager 16.7 percent of the number of surveys mailed. Statistically speaking, the responses received actually represent only 6.4% of Croton’s population.
Crotonblog is compelled to ask the mayor, “What’s Up Doc? Is the village going to spend millions of dollars on a community center based on such a shallow survey?” Crotonblog earnestly hopes not.
Video clip:
Download this video clip of “Croton Community Center Survey Yields Meager Response” to your video iPod (how to guide).
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October 6, 2006
Mayor Schmidt Don't Get No Respect
Mayor Dr. Gregory Schmidt opened the citizen participation portion of the October 3, 2006, village board meeting with an odd request: namely, that citizens adhere to the 5-minute rule. The 5-minute rule was put in place by former Mayor Robert Elliott in 2004 over Republicans’ protests so as to better manage the time allotted to citizens wishing to address the board.
Well, well.
This was the first time that Dr. Mayor Gregory Schmidt had ever invoked this “dusty old rule” during his tenure as Croton’s Republican mayor.
Enter the enforcer? Not so fast.
Who was the first citizen asked for compliance? None other than the well-known outspoken village scold, Maria Cudequest.
Download this video clip of Maria Cudequest to your video iPod (how to guide).
But as the man in charge who surprised everyone by suddenly reviving the old rule, never once during the meeting did he enforce it as a succession of his most loyal supporters ignored his request and blathered on and on. Starting with Maria Cudequest’s “buggy” tirade and ending with Joann Minett’s histrionic meltdown, they both flagrantly ignored their dear mayor. Ms. Cudequest went on for more 10 minutes with her standard take-no-prisoners presentation while Ms. Minett gestured and thrashed about in a redundant tirade that went on for 8 minutes—all without so much as a peep from the obviously cowed mayor.
Download this video clip of Joann Minett to your video iPod (how to guide).
At the outset, Mayor Dr. Gregory Schmidt appeared to be finally exercising control over his most loyal and overly vocal constituents. But, alas, he quickly folded and showed himself to be nothing but a paper tiger. No surprise there, folks. Therefore, Crotonblog is again compelled to ask the mayor, “What’s up, Doc?”
See also: Transcript of Joann Minett during her appearance at the village board meeting of October 3, 2006.
Continue reading "Mayor Schmidt Don't Get No Respect."
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July 25, 2006
The Case of the Missing Contract, or Where Are Philo Vance, Sam Spade or Miss Marple When You Need Them?
As magically as a resolution to authorize a new retainer agreement with former village attorney Marianne Stecich appeared on the board meeting agenda on Friday, July 21, 2006—it just as magically and mysteriously disappeared from the agenda without being read aloud to residents at the meeting by Village Manager Herbek on Monday evening, July 24, 2006.
Was this disappearance sleight of hand? An optical illusion worthy of Lance Burton or David Copperfield in Las Vegas? How come the resolution vanished? If it not magic, then what caused it to vanish so suddenly and mysteriously?
Was the resolution simply a formalized way for the village to pay Ms. Stecich for services rendered in connection with the recent brief she submitted to State Supreme Court Judge Francis Nicholai—after her official departure?
Why would Mayor Dr. Gregory Schmidt propose such a resolution on the very same night that new village attorney James Staudt was introduced and appeared on the dais for the first time (see: “Croton Board Selects New Attorney to Replace Marianne Stecich”)?
Why does Croton need another special counsel for matters related to 1A Croton Point Avenue when special counsel Michael Gerrard shares that responsibility with the village attorney?
And finally, why does Mayor Dr. Gregory Schmidt think it in the best interests of the village to spend $225.00 per hour for an attorney who opted not to renew her contract with the village and resigned (see: “Croton Village Attorney Marianne Stecich Makes it Official and Resigns as Counsel”)?
We know that it’s considered bad form to ask a magician to reveal how a feat of magic was performed. Nevertheless, Crotonblog is again compelled to ask the mayor, “What’s up, Doc?”
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