DON'T LET THEM DESTROY CROTON ... SAY "NO" to PUGH'S and SIMON'S DYSTOPIA ... SEND A MESSAGE THROUGH YOUR VOTES... SAY IT LOUD AND CLEAR... THIS MUST STOP NOW!
The urgent reason for this Update is that there was a very serious incident that came to light recently, captured on a video of the "Shaping Tomorrow: Housing Trends" Presentation at the Special 10/7/24 Croton Board of Trustees Meeting showing outrageous and unacceptable behavior on the part of Mayor Pugh and Deputy Mayor Simon of which everyone in this Village should be aware. The actual video is attached here, as is an article giving important background and other relevant information that certainly will not be disclosed by this Administration. In fact, just after the unacceptable encounter occurred, our Village Officials started gaslighting, trying to rewrite the entire incident in an attempt to make residents believe that what they just saw and heard did not happen!
It had become apparent throughout the several years the Solar Project matter was going on that the non-transparent, deceptive, untrustworthy manner in which the Pugh Administration had been revealed to be operating with conflicts of interests and ethical issues, and arrogance, disdain, contempt and disrespect toward residents, was not in the best interests of our Village, its resources, our residents, and their properties.
But Mayor Brian Pugh and Trustee Simon have now crossed a very important line relating to our Constitutional rights!! It is one that relates to suppression of our rights of free expression, and doing so in a threatening manner, which demands that we all pay close attention because it is not acceptable to allow this to go on, particularly with several large projects pending that could affect many residents and could change the way we experience life here going forward for years to come!
This "SAY 'No' to SOLAR ON SLOPES" Petition had started out focusing on getting a loud and clear message through to our Village Officials and those running the Hudson National Golf Club that installation of a Solar Farm that required clearing 600 trees on 7 acres of forested land on very steep protected slopes violated multiple laws, regulations and our Comprehensive Plan. It would have been a physical, fire and safety danger to neighboring residents, a visual blight on the views from the Hudson River, and should have been rejected outright, and needed to be stopped! But in addition to that, throughout the 2+ years that fight was going on, we discovered that there was much of great concern going on in the Pugh Village Administration that was uncovered in well-documented evidence in the process!
The great news is that we succeeded in stopping that ill-conceived HNGC Solar Farm Project thanks to the efforts of a number of persistent residents and the strong support of the signers of this Petition who helped in getting the message through to tone deaf Village Officials who not only were not inclined to listen or care, but who were had been actively pushing that project through for approval! We will be providing an admittedly overdue Update on that to you in upcoming days. Unfortunately, the veil of nontransparency still existed on all that transpired with this Administration at that time. And while a step was taken, doors were specifically left open by them relating to solar farms which, in light of this current overdevelopment activity, behooves everyone to remain vigilant on that front!
But first, we need to focus on the fact that this Administration is trying to push much through in our Village of great concern to all with little transparency, while curtailing Constitutional rights of residents, and Croton residents need to be aware.
What Were Mayor Pugh and Deputy Mayor Len Simon Thinking ?!
Given that Croton has essentially been a one-party Village for quite some time, there has been an increasing level of brazen arrogance on the part of Mayor Pugh and his Administration. This seemed to be because without any checks and balances, there appeared to be no fear on their part that there would be any repercussions for their actions or for their agendas carried out in a manner that wasn't in the best interests of the Village and its residents!
Bullies, Thugs, Free Speech Censorship and Suppression Have No Place in Village Hall
The attached Editorial Letter describes the whole incident and the aggressively threatening verbal and physical behavior of Mayor Pugh and Deputy Mayor Len Simon in bullying and intimidating a particular Croton resident ("Mr. R") who has been vocal in our Village. They attempted to grab his microphone, eject him from the meeting, censor and suppress his First Amendment freedom to comment and ask a question of guest speaker Adam Bosch in order to obtain information about a large building project that many believe does not benefit Croton or its residents. (the attached Editorial Letter also addresses a number of other critical related issues.)
Editorial Letter: The Video That Woke Up the Village of Croton by Domna Candido
That behavior on the part of Mayor Pugh and Trustee Simon was not only outrageous, possibly criminal, violative of First Amendment rights and likely actionable, but is also disturbing as to how far this kind of behavior has now evolved. It seems as if we have crossed a line, and we need to course correct before it becomes a line of no return. One where our Village Officials feel comfortable verbally accosting and physically threatening and intimidating our residents. Comfortable denying them their freedom of speech. Comfortable trying to rip microphones out of their hands. Comfortable then immediately lying to those others residents who just witnessed that atrocious behavior, announcing that the agenda of the meeting needs to change, i.e., the live Q&A must now be cancelled, outright lying and falsely implying it was due to Mr. R's behavior! With residents now so accustomed to hearing such double talk, lies, and gaslighting from our officials that there was no real uprising when those lies were told.
Croton Needs a Course Correction From the "1984" Orwellian Dystopia the Pugh Administration Is Creating
This whole dystopian scene was not too far a stretch from Orwell’s book “1984.” In fact, after you watch the video, it won’t be too much of a stretch to imagine Mayor Pugh’s face on that large Telescreen in the photo above surrounded by reminders of the many other very concerning issues and failures of his Administration. Those who would like to convince themselves that we should now just shrug this bad, aggressive behavior against constituents off should ask themselves, where would this type of behavior be OK? At your jobs? In our schools? If not, then why here?
[Attached is the Official Live Stream Video from the Village of Croton website. The relevant part starts at 1:12:40 where the Speaker, Adam Bosch, finishes his presentation, invites residents to ask questions, then calls on Mr. R. At first a mic was not provided to him and it’s hard to hear, so please be patient through that part because Trustee Murtaugh will hand Mr. R the mic shortly. Also, after the gaslighting part where they break for 10 minutes, it will be informative if you forward the video to 1:29 where you will notice that Adam Bosch had no problem answering more of Mr. R’s questions which he thought were very good questions, despite the fact the Brian Pugh and Len Simon seemed NOT to want Mr. R to speak or interact with Adam Bosch.
Then at 1:52 notice that Mayor Pugh indicates his view that it isn't a real priority for him to ensure that the affordable building projects he gets Croton involved in give Croton residents some priority to actually obtain housing units, even though he is aware there are many Croton residents in need of such affordable housing (he would be just as happy letting non-Croton people get those units with Croton residents needing to leave Croton and find other places to live!), and he said the Board does not really need residents to agree with how the Board handles new programs such as the aggressive building of large affordable housing projects this Administration is planning in our little Village.
According to a very smug Mayor Pugh, the Board of Trustees does not need approval of residents and can just go ahead and do whatever they want. And then, he glibly makes a comment that if residents don’t like it they can just make their decision secretly at the ballot box! That is very rich coming from a Mayor who knows that no one outside of his Party has been on the ballot for a long time. In fact, a Petition was recently rejected by the Board for two candidates who are now needing to participate in this election as Write-Ins instead. But Parties aside, the point here is the level of unabashed arrogance from Mayor Pugh and Trustee Simon and their loud, clear and defiant message that they can do whatever they want to do… unchecked. (the attached Editorial Letter contains a more extensive discussion on these issues).
That message has also been coming across from certain members of this Administration instigating division among our residents by encouraging name calling, using words, such as "racist," "classist," and "nimby" to describe residents who don’t agree with particular projects for valid reasons, and the use of "dogwhistle"… and this Administation seems fine with these being used even by certain members of the Board (also addressed in attached Editorial Letter)
Also notice how much Len Simon’s behavior has changed over these last few years. Before he was Deputy Mayor, he would play the role of Pugh’s Sidekick being the dutiful gaslighter, rephrasing whatever just had gone down in a somewhat obsequious manner for the residents’ “benefit” so that they would “understand” what the Administration would want the takeaway to be regardless of what had exactly taken place. As of late, after becoming Deputy Mayor, he has become much more aggressive, like the argument he got into with residents at the Telecomm Law Amendments Public Meeting, and his proactive role as the apparent "enforcer – in – chief" at the 10/7 BoT Meeting, whispering to Brian Pugh to instigate that he start all that crazy exchange accosting Mr. R, stepping in and shutting down the Q&A, stepping in to shut down at the end, but he also seems to get contentious with the audiences when forcing a break and telling them to now write questions on cards, with obnoxiously repeating his “I’m speaking, I’m speaking” mantra over their voices. But as one of our elected officials, it appears that it is Mr. Simon who should be doing a lot more listening!
It has appeared that we’ve been going down this wrong path for far too long … and it must stop! We are at the point where this grab for power is too strong and abusive. While advocating for other politicians and their favorite programs seems apparent, any genuine concern for their constituents, i.e. Croton Residents, appears to be nonexistent. Pugh's Administration is focusing on allowing Cell Towers in R40 and R60 Residential Districts as set forth in the new proposed Telecommunications Amendments with many anticipated detrimental effects on residents in those areas. Then there is this Administration's rush to push through unbridled urbanization and overdevelopment with little benefit to Croton and its residents in the myriad of new Affordable Housing projects with mandated lotteries and no residential priority. These projects under these programs do not benefit Croton seniors, returning college students or Croton employees who need this ahousing and who may not be able to stay here if they can’t find an affordable unit to live in. But our Village politicians do not seem to care at all about that or the very long list of additonal problems and burdens these new projects will impose on our community which will now have to bear higher taxes and other costs as a result.
We seem to have a Mayor who has made his priority doing double duty as Chief of Staff for State Senator Pete Harckham, and as Our Mayor, focuses his energy on aggressively pushing through programs and projects for Sen. Harckham and Gov. Hochul, such as these housing projects that are not in the best interests of Croton and its residents.
And our Mayor, with the full support of his Deputy Mayor Len Simon, has the audacity and so little transparency to use double speak when presenting his marketing relating to his proposed new housing projects to his Croton constituents! He identifies the actual problem, then poses a solution that doesn’t even solve the problem (i.e., these Projects under Gov. Hochul's Programs) ...then falsely tells us that this solution does solve our housing problems...and if we call him on that, we get more gaslighting with condescension and a whole lot of attitude, about how, according to his value system, the detrimental outcome or virtually non-existent benefit to Croton residents (i.e., that only ONE Croton Resident and ONE Croton Employee obtained a unit in the last project, the rest going to non-residents!), is totally acceptable in his mind, as long as it still benefits some non-residents needing housing somewhere... on Croton's expense! Well, Mr. Mayor and Trustee Len Simon, that’s not OK!! (See 1:52 of attached Video to hear our Mayor describe exactly that!... much of this is addressed in more detail in attached Editorial Letter.)
In addition to all of the other burdens on our small Village as a result of the proposed overdevelopment with all of these ill-conceived housing projects, it will not be surprising that the Pugh Administration will likely start bringing up the need for additional energy resources to support the increase in population ... and to turn to more ill-conceived solar farm projects as their "solution." As signers of this Petition, we know that, unlike other municipalities, this Administration was quick to throw its support behind inappropriate parcels in residential districts and currently does not have the necessary protective legislation in place to prevent that. Vigilance at this point is extremely necessary!!
In the Past, This Administration's Gaslighting Was a Lot More Subtle. It's Concerning We're Now Hearing Lies Told Right To Our Faces, Arrogantly Expecting Complete Compliance!
With the election coming up, a loud and clear message needs to be sent that Croton Residents will not tolerate this! We chose to live in our small Village in which we have a voice and free speech… not a dystopian autocracy. Whether through our vote in the upcoming election and/or in letters and messages to this Administration:
We need to stand in our power, refuse to believe the constant gaslighting ... and say that we will not be bullied by our officials to believe that 2 + 2= 5!
The lesson we get from Orwell in "1984" is:
Freedom is the freedom to say 2 + 2= 4 loudly and clearly … especially if, like Mr. R, we are within the guidelines, and our 5 minutes are not UP!
Please:
- SHARE THIS UPDATE
- SHARE THE ARTICLE & VIDEO - THINGS WILL ONLY CHANGE IF YOU, YOUR FRIENDS & FAMILY KNOW ALL THE FACTS
- SPREAD THE WORD THAT HAVING OFFICIALS WHO WORK AGAINST OUR BEST INTERESTS and ABUSE OUR RIGHTS ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE!!
- KEEP THIS IN MIND WHEN VOTING...
They tried to prevent other candidates on the ballot ... but we do have two WRITE-IN OPTIONS!!!
DON'T LET THEM DESTROY CROTON!
Thank you!
The Above Photo by Unknown Author as adapted with add’l text and color is licensed under CC BY-SA