Editorials & Features
In-depth reporting that goes beyond a single meeting. These stories combine transcript analysis,
public records, and independent research to provide context on the issues shaping Croton-on-Hudson.
Features are published occasionally rather than on a schedule; day-to-day meeting coverage lives on
the front page.
Investigation
Seven plate readers, bought with a $30,000 village bond plus $9,716 in Rekor license fees, feed a Westchester County database that a class action asks a judge to shut down. The county counts village-bought cameras among its 536. No village voted on where the pictures go — and the county has to answer by August 31.
Investigation
A plate reader checks the commuter lot against permit records holding residents' names, addresses and license plates. That file is held by an outside company under a two-page contract with no data provisions, the portal's only privacy policy is an unlinked paragraph that calls Croton a Town, and state law sets a floor for how long the records are kept but no ceiling.
Editorial · Analysis
In January, Croton's Police Advisory Committee was assured plate data is not available to ICE without a judicial warrant. In June, a class-action lawsuit alleged the county database holding Croton's scans is shared with 50+ outside agencies — including ICE. And the company whose software reads the plates is warning investors about its own survival.
Editorial · Analysis
Croton is set to prohibit pigeons village-wide, with no grandfathering. The record shows one known pigeon keeper — told yes by village staff — and a ban whose most persistent advocate disclosed that the pigeons were coming to his own street.
🃏 The Parody Department
In May, the Chronicle put its number of corrections at “about a dozen.” But then someone instigated a maneuver in favor of nine, sources say. Satire, with 40 footnotes.
🏛️ Board Of Trustees
A change-of-use application to convert the Dairy Mart at 370 South Riverside Avenue into a cannabis dispensary has divided residents, raising questions about a children's daycare operating across the street and why the village never opted out of retail cannabis sales.
⚖️ Zoning Board of Appeals
A Dobbs Ferry developer with a pattern of controversial subdivisions faces unified neighborhood opposition over a Mount Airy Road project that has already cost dozens of mature trees.
⚖️ Zoning Board of Appeals
A subdivision at 52 Mount Airy Road has united a hillside neighborhood against a developer, producing the most contentious public hearings Croton's ZBA has seen in years.
Board of Trustees Work Session
When the Board of Trustees weighed a $36,500 study on dissolving the village court, two cautionary tales from neighboring communities shaped the outcome.