Mayoral Candidates Forum - October 9, 2025
Welcome to the candidate forum for Croton On Hudson Village mayor hosted by the League of Women Voters of Northwest Westchester. I'm Teri Lukin, co president of the Northwest Westchester League. Since 1920, the League of Women Voters has been a nonpartisan grassroots organization working to protect and expand voting rights and ensure everyone is represented in our democracy. The league does not support or oppose candidates or political parties. Membership is open to everyone 16 years of age or older. In tonight's forum, you will have the opportunity to listen to the candidate's views on significant issues in the community so that you can make an informed decision at the upcoming election on November 4. Early voting is October 25 through November 2 at 25 locations in Westchester County, including right here in the municipal building. And you can find out all the other ones and the hours on the board of elections website. Before we begin, I welcome candidates this evening, Gary Eisinger and Brian Pugh. I also welcome the audience and thank the Croton community for their active participation in our democracy. We received 130 questions. Our questions committee worked hard, grouped them thematically, and bring trying to bring your concerns and your questions to the forum. Needless to say, we're not gonna ask a 130 questions. Nobody brought their pajamas. Our moderator for this evening is Sheila Bernstein from Armonk. Our timekeeper is Gary or Greg. And we thank the village and Bryan Healy for Village Manager for giving us this room and this wonderful setup, and for Deborah Lopano being our videographer. The forum is being livestreamed and will be recorded for rebroadcasting on The League's YouTube channel, so I will take a moment to review our recording policy. Only the videographer authorized by the league may record the forum.
Candidates or attendees may not record the proceedings. Use of the recording requires advance approval of the League of Women Voters. Only licensed media, including TV, radio, and newspapers, are entitled by FCC regulations to air portions of the recording. Anyone else who broadcasts or streams it must do so its entirety. I now turn the candidate forum over to our moderator, Sheila Bernstein. Thank you.
Thank you, Teri. This is the league's favorite kind of forum and favorite kind of election, I should say, a contested one. Thank you to the candidates for use the microphone? Yes. Can you hear me better now? Okay. Thank you to the candidates. Thank you to the candidates for participating in our democratic system of elections and for stepping up to serve the local community, their low your local community. It's my pleasure to moderate this candidate forum. As Teri said, my name is Sheila Bernstein, and I'm a member of the board of the League of Women Voters of Newcastle, and I live in Armonk. I am not in your district. Welcome to all in our audience whether here or participating virtually. There are two candidates running for mayor of Croton On Hudson for a two year term, Gary Eisinger and Brian Pugh. The candidates have agreed to the format and ground rules as well as the league recording policy. They've also agreed and prefer to use first names during this forum. Each candidate will have two minutes for an opening statement. The candidates drew lots before the forum to determine the order of opening statements, and the closing statements will be given in reverse of the opening. The questions will continue on a rotating order. Questions were submitted online by community members and then combined when appropriate and edited by a committee of Northwest Westchester League members. The candidates have not seen the questions before the forum, and the audience will not be able to ask questions during the forum. Each candidate has a up to one point five minutes to answer each questions, which we will ask after the opening statements. And each candidate has two rebuttals to use during the question and answer portion. A maximum of thirty seconds is allowed for each response. If a candidate wants to have a rebuttal, they will raise their hand to indicate. And then each candidate has two minutes for a closing statement, and they will be give it will be given in reverse of the opening statements.
I'm gonna go over a very few of the ground rules. Throughout the forum, comments of a personal or abusive nature will not be permitted. The moderator will will rule this out of order. Civility is the order of the day. Please save your applause for the end of the forum. Actually, no applause or comments from the audience during the forum, please. For one thing, it wastes time. The timekeeper, who's Daria Greg you wanna stand? Yep. There she is. Will indicate when thirty seconds is remaining and, again, will show the stop sign when the time is up. Candidates may finish their sentence but otherwise may not go beyond the stop sign. Candidates may refer to notes during opening and closing statements only. Throughout the forum oh, okay. Now let's begin with the opening statements. Good luck to both candidates. We drew pieces of paper beforehand, and Gary is gonna open first. Gary.
Thank you, League of Women Voters, miss Burnson, Teri, and the great village of Croton On Hudson for hosting us here tonight. Earthquakes start with little tremors. As the pressure builds, we get small headlines here and there, murmurs. Did you feel that the other day? I think it was an earthquake. Not to worry, though. They're small, and they do happen occasionally. But what is happening here is a budget crisis revealing itself in slow methodical steps. In all the hassle laws designed to offset the explosion in costs, the mayor knows is on the horizon. Money grab laws, the new tree law, nuisance laws, retaining wall laws, vacant storefront laws, rental registration laws, and even, dare I say, banner laws. There are still many residents I meet with no idea of the scope of our future tax liabilities as we catapult toward a dramatic population increase with no holistic plan in place to address the cumulative impact on school taxes, transportation, water, sewer, parking, public safety, after school programming, recreation, and sports capacity. There is no consensus, independent, or transparent measure of whether or how the village can handle or afford such impacts. Yet, this mayor has eagerly signed onto a 10 increase in housing units through 2030. Conflict of interest. Who does this mayor represent when a 2019 survey that he commissioned was unequivocal that 68% of residents were against additional housing in the Municipal Place Gateway, while less than 20% were in favor? The mayor's decision to put off revising our comprehensive plan for six years was made without community input, not a surprise, like Sunset Park, like Gottwold Circle, like ADUs in Harmon. Let's move village elections back to March when village issues will be decided away from the vitriol that has swallowed our whole national debate and vote as neighbors for what is best for this village. And, yes, we are within our tax cap, but the tectonic pressure is building beneath us.
Thank you. Good evening. I would like to first thank the League of Women Voters for organizing tonight's forum and to thank Gary for standing up and running and giving the voters a choice. I really appreciate this opportunity to have a discussion about the future of our village. Part of what makes our village so special is our tradition of progress. I benefited from the improvements made by previous leaders, and my mission as mayor has been to give back by continuing that tradition. Doing this work holds deep meaning for me because Croton On Hudson is the only home that I have ever known. Growing up, we moved around a lot, but we always stayed in our village. That was important to our family, and it has become important to me. Croton On Hudson is where my great grandfather's veteran veterans banner flies. It's where my grandmother is buried, and it's where I wanna raise my family. That's why I've devoted so many years of my life to making our village a place we can all be proud of. Working with the board of trustees, we have delivered material results for our residents. We have reduced our village's outstanding debt by $9,000,000. We have invested in infrastructure from the Elliot Way Boardwalk to Croton Point Avenue to Gottwald Circle, and we stayed under the property tax cap every year I've been on the board. As mayor, I am proud to be helping to write a new chapter in our history of progress. There is still so much work to be done. My focus remains here on Croton, building on our record of results. I humbly ask you for your vote to continue moving our community forward. Thank you. Okay.
I'm gonna start with the first question with Gary. If elected, what is your number one priority for the village? You have one and a half minutes. And as I always say when I moderate, you don't need to fill all of your time. So if Mhmm. An answer is a short answer, that's okay too.
Well, first thing is I wanna ban cell phones at board of trustee meetings. And further, I really think we need to move the election, back to March. I think that, when village issues will be decided away from national politics and voters everywhere can really focus on the issues that matter most to our village. I think moving it to, election day in November was a big mistake for local politics, and it it creates a forum where, our all our local issues get, mashed up with the, national issues and prevents the residents from really focusing on day to day runnings of the village. Thank you.
Ryan? Thank you. My number one priority as mayor is affordability. I wanna make sure that this community remains an economically diverse place like the Croton that I grew up want grew grew up in. For the village government, that really begins with trying to stay under the tax cap as most people may be aware. The tax cap is 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. The theory being that, you know, hopefully incomes rise or at least keep pace and the community can remain affordable. We have a record of doing that and the strategy for continuing that record moving forward is continuing our record of sharing services with other communities where appropriate, pursuing the grants aggressively, and broadening our tax base. I will also note that with regards to the question of moving March election moving village elections back to March, I'm puzzled that a mayoral candidate would make that their number one priority as any citizen can do that via referendum, via petition as I helped to do back in 2011, a referendum that was overwhelmingly supported by the voters of this village. Thank you.
Question number two, and we're gonna begin with Brian again. Okay. A theme of the current election is related to incorporating and developing village policies that meet the needs and desires of village residents. How do you plan to inform and solicit input from all village residents to guide your decisions about the future of our village?
That's a great question, and I it's one that needs a lot of thought, and I don't think we have all the answers tonight. We live in an increasingly fractured media landscape. As the moderator and I were just discussing before this forum, a lot of local media outlets such as The Examiner have gone out of business. Others like The Journal News have rapidly and significantly pared back the depth of their coverage, which is truly unfortunate. In that gap, we have to step in to make sure our residents are informed. I know that there's a lot of discussions about transparency. I think that can be distinguished from the question of communications. We are transparent. We do follow the freedom of information law, but we definitely need to improve our communications in this new period. We are on on track to hire a communications consultant and look take a rigorous look at how we're reaching out to our residents, and I look forward to making progress in that area.
Thank you. Gary? Could you repeat the question, please? Of course. I can always repeat a question. The theme of the current election is related to incorporating and developing village policies that meet the needs and desires of village residents. How do you plan to inform and solicit input from all village residents to guide your decisions about the future of our village?
Well, Voice of Croton from its start has, really, had a main theme, main focus on listening to residents. A feeling was in the village that, the board of trustees and the mayor wasn't listening to a large swath of the population of the village. So, the main way I think we'd like to do it is with our committees. Our committees right now are very one-sided. There's not a divergent viewpoints on the committees, and I think that's one of the biggest weaknesses right now in the village. By ensuring that, all of our, committees are representative of our community at large, I think we'll have a much better way of hearing those viewpoints that currently have really been silenced. Thank you.
The next question, I'm beginning again with Gary. 1% growth per year for the village in terms of affordable housing and market rate has been already achieved. What is your vision for continued growth in the village?
Well, I think first and foremost is we focus on our comprehensive plan. So the comprehensive plan specifies eighty twenty developments. I really like that, we continue to focus on that as we, develop properties. I also think that, you know, five stories is too much for this village. In recent years, we started to see some big boxes, big shoe boxes coming up around the village and more to come. I'd really like to see more of a village landscape as we develop properties with a focus on eighty twenty development and keeping the the look and feel of the village and also planning holistically so that, you know, the 1% I find to be a little arbitrary and doesn't necessarily work for every village and it may or may not work for us. But unless we really look holistically at what that 1% will mean five, ten, fifteen years down the road with continuing growth, you know, we won't make good decisions.
Thank you. Brian? Would you mind repeating the question? 1% growth per year for the village in terms of affordable housing and market rate housing has been already has has already been achieved. What is your vision for continued growth in the village?
Alright. So just a quick clarification. The question says that 1% growth has already been achieved. And while there may be one or two years where that has been the case, what we are targeting is an average of 1% over a ten year period going from 2020 to 2030. And that certainly has not been achieved. In terms of planning for our future growth, I agree, might be the only time you hear it folks, but I agree with Gary. I think that we should follow our comprehensive plan, our plan from 2017 or rather its update, you know, the need to diversify our housing stock and we're doing that. I believe in a balanced approach to housing that includes market rate and affordable, that includes condos and rentals, and that is our overall approach. And last but not least, this is very important, would say careful review under guidance from outside independent experts. We almost always bring in a consultant on a large development. That is paid for by the applicant, not by the taxpayer, and they help us do in-depth modeling in terms of traffic, in terms of school district impacts, and we take that work very seriously. And we have a great planning board to support what the village is doing on this front.
Thank you. The next question, we're gonna begin with you again. Aside from new housing, what is your plan for growing the village's tax base to ensure continuation of services without significantly raising property taxes?
Well, that's a great question as well. This was partially, I think, addressed in the Harmon rezoning update from a few years ago where mixed use was identified as a key path to expanding our commercial tax base as well. To be clear, mixed use is a situation with typically commercial on the bottom, residential on the top, the theory being that that gives the property owner more diversified source of income. And we're seeing a decent amount of that coming online on South Riverside. You can see that next to Samurai. That's going to be mixed use. We also have that on the other side of the street or at least plans for that from the current owners of Save More. And I think that's a major way of growing our tax base. And, know, I think that our residential growth is also not unrelated to supporting our commercial tax base. We hear from our businesses all the time. We need more foot traffic and putting residences in close proximity to our commercial districts is a great way of supporting our local businesses.
Thank you. Gary? Yeah. Just repeat the question again, please. Aside from new housing, what is your plan for growing the village's tax base to ensure continuation of services without significantly raising property taxes?
Well, also, I agree with mayor on this that mixed use properties is the most important way that we can develop our businesses in town. You know, I'm a little puzzled because we had tremendous opportunities with Maple Commons and with the development of Lot A to put mixed use in. It was a part of the RFPs. It was a part of many of the other alternative proposals that weren't selected. Yet in both these large projects, we we chose not to go with those mixed use properties. So, you know, going forward, I absolutely support mixed use. I think it's a wonderful way to develop a piece of property to make it useful to both the people that live there and the rest of the community.
Thank you. You've answered okay. The next question. You answered this question already. Right? Yes. Yes. Okay. The next question. It's me. We're gonna begin with you. Yes. What is your position on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives and on maintaining and funding the village's current current IDEA advisory committee?
Well, I'm fine with maintaining and funding the IDEA advisory committee, but I really feel as with many other committees in the village that they're not opened up to the wide divergent viewpoints in the village. Village. So as is, I don't think it's appropriate, but, bringing in, divergent viewpoints so that the IDA committee can actually be, diverse itself is a rather important, goal of mine. So my position on DEI is I think it's very important to provide access to people that haven't been given access. So I am pro affordable housing, for example, contrary to popular belief and some of the messaging that's gone out. But I believe in the 8020 mix, I think that's best for the village and eighty twenty being 80% free market, 20% affordable.
That is also a great question. And would you mind? It's so good, in fact. I'd like to hear it again. What
and on maintaining and funding the village's currently IDEA advisory committee. I think it's very important, especially now that we continue to support the idea committee and its work in making this a inclusive and welcoming village. I'm very proud of the reorganization and reenergizing of that committee by some very committed community volunteers. They've organized our pride flag raising, our Hispanic heritage festival or celebration rather, which is happening this weekend, and I definitely support, you know, budget and fiscal resources allowing, you know, support continuing their funding. I think it's also important that diversity and inclusion go beyond just the cultural sphere. I don't consider that mere symbolism, that's very important. Representation matters. As they say, if you can't see it, you can't be it. But I also believe that it we have to have substantive policy, and part of that includes the diversification of our village police force with the addition of bilingual officers. When I first was elected mayor, believe it or not thank you.
Okay. Thank you. By the way, you are permitted to finish your sentence in the future. Okay.
May I finish it now? Yeah. When I took It's not a parable It will be it will be short, I promise. So when I first took office as mayor, our patrol arm of our police force was all white and all male, and I'm very proud that we have reversed that. Okay. Thank you.
Question number six, we're gonna start with Brian. The adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, IHRA, definition of antisemitism has become a divisive issue in the village. Would you be willing to work with the community to come up with an alternative definition, one on which both sides can agree?
Yeah. I will say that I am very sorry that the adoption of the IRA definition has become such a source of contention. I was very moved by the letter from our faith leaders that was an interfaith message to our village board, but I don't, at this time, see value in revisiting that matter. I think what's most important is that we have substantive programming to address radicalization, to address extremism, to address intolerance, and to create a more welcoming community. I'm also very optimistic or hopeful at least that the recently announced peace deal will help bring calm to both The Middle East and to some of the contention that we've had in this country, which in other places has actually spilled that into violence. Fortunately, we have been able to resolve our differences amicably in our village.
So Voice of Croton has been hyperly focused hyperly hyper locally focused on our village, And one of our most important goals is to foster divergent voices so they are recognized and heard. You know, freedom of speech is integral to our democracy. You know, there there are very, strong baked in, voices on both sides, and, you know, I myself have very strong feelings. But, putting my feelings aside, I think, is important and I thought the mayor missed an opportunity where he could have first of all, the whole the whole meeting was bizarre because it was a very short notice. It was put on the consent agenda, and it was then taken off the consent agenda so people were allowed to at least speak upon it. And it was pretty passionate on both sides. A lot of anger. And, you know, the interfaith letter did specify that they would revisit, meet with both sides and try to work out, something that was both sides were comfortable with. And I thought that was an opportunity that was missed to bring the community together a little bit and at least try. I don't know if it could have been done. It would be quite the miracle to have happened, but I think it was an important, just a statement to say, I'm gonna look at both sides and let them both work with the clergy to get something they can both live with. Thank you. Thank you.
Gonna begin with you again, Gary. Question seven. Do you believe that the code violation related to freedom of speech was handled well. How might you have handled it differently?
Well, I don't wanna define our opponents as out of touch, but they have put our village in a terrible light. You know, I don't understand why they insisted on enforcing a commercial code against the 77 year old disabled disabled veteran exercising his right to free speech. You know, it just created legal obstacles down the road. You know, we've created a huge liability for the village, potentially from the code enforcement officer who was the whistleblower in this matter, the the person who was denied his rights, first amendment right of free speech. And then you have 16 other people who were issued summons. Now, you know, I can't, this is just opinion, but it feels like it was just a ruse. I don't really understand the other 16 people. We've asked, who they were and what the signs were. The only thing we know is Robin's Pharmacy had a vitamin sign that was, cited, along with the 15 others and with mister Amicola. So, yeah, I'm very troubled that this is what our village has done and put us in a very bad light.
Thank you. Brian, please. Thank you. No applause. I we said that at the beginning. Please save save it. Sorry. Brian? Would you mind repeating the question? Do you feel that the code violation related to freedom of speech was handled well? How might you have handled it differently?
I really regret what happened with that particular case of code enforcement, you know, it relates to a section of the vote code that has been on the books for twenty years so the I guess with the benefit of hindsight, the correct correct decision would be to update that section of the code, but it is what was on the books and our village staff interpreted and attempted to enforce it in a fair and consistent manner under the guidance of our village attorney. Again, we can have a debate about the merits and value and all that of that that instant, but it also was never made it to court and the focus of our board is on moving forward and updating the code.
Thank you. We could begin with you again, Brian. Question eight, where do you see opportunities for greater municipal efficiency and savings?
I think that one possible opportunity for savings, and I don't know if this is the greatest, but in terms of monetary value, but I think it does have a lot of value for the village, would be a partnership, hopefully, with the town of Cortlandt, possibly with another municipality for a curbside food scrap recycling program. To do that, currently, we have a drop off system for composting and there's a lot of value to commercial composting. You can you don't have a compost heap next to your house, you don't have to manage that and you can also compost a lot of items that are not compostable at home. But at the moment, participation is modest and would be much stronger if there was curbside in the same way that we do with recycling or regular sanitation. And you need a dedicated truck because ultimately the point of this compost is to turn into fertilizer, which is to raise crops, so can't allow for any contamination. So I think the objective there would be through an inter municipal agreement to share a vehicle with another municipality and begin offering the services service to residents, and hopefully, it would catch on.
Thank you. Gary? Yeah. Just repeat the full question, please. Where do you see opportunities for greater municipal efficiency and savings?
Well, the first place I look is Govea Park. For the last, you know, ten years, it's been, a bit of a money pit. Some call it a boondoggle, and it appears that it's going to continue that into the, foreseeable future. You know, when it was originally, proposed, it was estimated that the parking lot would cost $12,000. When it was completed, the parking lot, it was $225,000, something like an 1800% increase over what was estimated. There was a whole table on how much income it was going to generate. $86,500 predicted for year three. It's now year 10 and we've generated nothing. We've nearly depleted the, $1,000,000 trust fund or endowment that miss Ghevea left along with the property, and we've earned zero money. So the 86,500 that was predicted never came. Brian was on the was a trustee at the time that it came and at time these numbers are generated and he called them, at the time, appropriately conservative. So, I think moving in a different direction with Ghevea Park would be a first step in saving us a lot of money.
Did you answer that question? I did. You did. Okay. So we're gonna start with you again. Considering the anticipated growth in Croton, what would your vision be for a community center within the village that would be accessible to serve the needs of various groups?
Oh, sorry. You answered that question last. Right? Yes. So you started Ken. It it did seem like you were indicating. Sorry. Sorry. My apologies. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. This is your turn.
So just repeat the question. Considering the anticipated growth in Croton, what would your vision be for a community center within the village that would be accessible?
It's good he stayed. Is he an AV guy? Oh, he is? My son is too.
Who does he play with?
I'd love to hear them sometime. Good for him.
Teri, what if, I mean, what if this doesn't get resolved? Will we just we can just continue
Okay. I think you can start again. It's okay. I think we were at the next question. Yep. Okay. We're back. And we were we were starting with Brian. Yep. Would you mind reading it again? That's funny. Would you make any changes to the current auxiliary apartment law? And if so, what changes?
So as I was saying, the current accessory dwelling unit law has a cap on the total number of units that can be built. So at a certain point, I think a revaluation will be So far, it's been a very positive experiment. You know, I know I'm surprised that the number of people that I know locally, we call them kids, guess young adults now. Now, I mean, anyway, who've been able to come home because of accessory dwelling units. And, you know, I was really amazed by the creativity some of our residents have shown. This weekend, a father was showing me an ADU that he was building for his daughter and their fiance. Even as someone that helped to write the law, I'd never thought you could build a unit this way. But they had, and it was truly impressive. So I think we're getting some very results. In terms of additional data for making a decision on future changes, I think we need to wait to the conclusion of the plus one ADU program sponsored by Habitat. Habitat is running that in a number of communities across Westchester County and we'll be coming back with recommendations for best practices when it is concluded.
So yes, I would like to make changes to this law. One in particular when it was proposed that the planning board recommended that the smaller properties in Harmon, RA5s and RA8s not be included. But the board overran that suggestion, didn't listen to their planning board as can often be the case. And I think they've really hurt many homeowners in that area where the average height the ADUs are small. They're 400 to 800 square feet. And the average roof height is 15 feet which means the peak of the roof can be upwards of 20 feet or so. So if you have a small lot and you have your little backyard as your little slice of paradise along with the three or four backyards that you're contiguous with. To have this 15 to 20 foot edifice 10 feet away. So normal setbacks are 20 feet. The setbacks in ADUs are 10 feet. So it's 10 feet away. It's 20 plus feet high and it's looming over your privacy, your little space where that brought you to Croton, a little spot of greenery that's yours that you can make into a special garden, a special place, and you lose that with this law being applied to the smaller lots in Harmon. Thank you.
So the next question, we're gonna begin with you. If elected mayor, what do you propose to solve the parking issues of the village and the upper village in particular?
Well, I mean the first step I think is before you build anything, we have to go over with a fine tooth comb to make sure that parking is accounted for. So for example, Lot A, the planning board again had recommended less residents because they didn't feel that the location could support the parking and that overflow parking was then going to impact people on Benedict, Young, Hastings, which are already feeling the heat from overflow from the train station with a lot of people that are evading the cost of parking for the day and they park up there. And they keep getting pushed back because we have changed some of the regulations and added parking permits. But they just park a little further away, get on their scooter and drive to the train station. So in terms of solving it, we had an option to not make it worse. So I think that's the first step. Let's not make it worse. And as we approve new developments, let's make sure that parking is a very big part of it. There are some other options I've heard and I would definitely look into exploring them behind Holy Name of Mary, possibly putting in a lot. We'd have to see what the community thinks about that before we even begin to move forward. Also apps on our phones to create parking spaces is another option.
Thank you. To those at home, we are aware that the audio is problematic and our wonderful village manager is coming from home, hopefully to the rescue. Thank you for your patience. So are we taking another pause or just rolling forward?
We're going forward. Okay. And is the audio the audio is off at this point? The audio is muffled. Muffled. The YouTube is what's gonna be on We
If elected mayor I guess I'm live here in this room. If elected mayor, what do you propose to solve the parking issues of the village and the upper village in particular?
Sure. So Gary mentioned the issue of parking as it relates to new developments. That's always raised as an issue, but I'll emphasize that we do have parking minimums in our code, and that is part of the review process. And there were some parking estimates for Maple Commons and so far there is certainly not a shortage, would say an abundance of parking at that property. And as it relates to the Upper Village in particular, I would say that those parking requirements are honestly part of the reason why there hasn't been a lot of new construction in the Upper Village, because there's not the space to add new structures with additional parking. How you feel about that, reasonable minds can disagree, but that's the reality. I think that to keep supporting our local businesses in the Upper Village, and we have to look alternative means of transportation such as our e bike share program as well as our local shuttle. We've used that to support major events like Oktoberfest as well as our summer concert series and funding permitting would absolutely like to explore taking that further.
Okay. Next question. We begin with with you, please. If elected, will you vote for large monopole cell towers in R 40 and or r 60 zones?
So our leaders of our uniformed services, EMS, fire, and police have all identified lack of cell phone coverage as a safety issue, and I tend to agree with that analysis. Cell phones are the principal way that we communicate these days. Many people don't have a phone home phone even if you do. It's typically now, fortunately in my opinion, voice over IP and not the good old copper wire that stayed up even when the power was out. So cell phones are an essential lifeline for our community, and improving cell phone coverage is a priority for me. Additional towers in residential areas would to
Verizon for one, and I have a lot more service that. Now. But so I'm cautiously optimistic that that will improve our coverage. And we'll also look at kind of a mesh network of smaller repeaters. We'll see if there are any developers willing to entertain that concept for our village. But I don't think that we can rule out additional towers if that's what it takes to make our community safe. And, you know, I believe in walking the walk and talking the talk. I live very close to this building. I see this tower every day, and, you know, it's a necessary trade off for safety. Thank you.
Think the best solution for village residents should not just be revenue driven. I know a tower has been favored by this administration because it does generate revenue. That's important. But there are other options in small cells that would spread the cost across the village. They tend not to be borne by the carriers as a monopole would be. So they are more expensive to the village, which is a concern. But putting a monopole in somebody's backyard and it always is going to wind up in somebody's backyard and more than one person is really robbing somebody's quiet enjoyment of their property and spreading that across the whole village as opposed to going with the investment in small cell which is much more difficult. As the mayor talked about the repeaters, So safety is the number one thing. But you know, I'm very concerned about putting up a large tower in this village. I don't think it fits and I really hope we don't need to go that route because there are other alternatives.
Thank you. This is the last question of the evening, and we're gonna begin with you, Gary. How are you financing your campaign?
Well, we're a grassroots campaign and we're basically getting small donations, twenty, fifty, 100 mostly from residents in the village. That's how we're doing it. We're running pretty tight. You haven't gotten a lot of mailers from us. I wish we could do seven or eight, but we've got a second one coming out and a few other things. But yes, we have a rather tight budget compared to the other side.
We are financing our campaign both through local fundraisers as well as reaching out to family and friends. That's the way most people running for office do it, and that's the way that we are doing it.
Okay. Thank you both. So now we are we've come to the closing statements, and each candidate has two minutes for their closing statement. And we're gonna do it in reverse of the opening. So Brian is gonna give his closing statement first.
You may begin. Very good. Well, thank you all again for tonight's great conversation. I think it's important to end this evening on a positive note. Our village's strength is its record of progress. The Democratic majority on the village board has delivered real results, and our Croton's progress is being recognized across the state. New York Conference of Mayors recently gave us a commendation for our Carport Solar Array. Perhaps of greater interest to residents is that the Carport Solar Array is generating approximately $470,000 a year in revenue for the village, and a big part of the reason why there was not a tax rate increase in this year's budget. We've also received achievement and commendation awards from the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation for our accessory dwelling unit law, as well as the new homes at Maple Commons. And perhaps and most notably, we're the number one clean energy community in New York State, and that's not just about getting a blue ribbon. That's given us tangible benefits, almost $1,000,000 in state grants, and that funding is being recycled into new sustainability initiatives here in our village. Beyond that, I'd like to think that the best is yet to come. Our focus remains firmly on the work ahead, and our fact based path forward is clear. We're going to work on mitigating the tax burden through smart growth, such as the successful rezoning at Long Curtin Point Avenue, Municipal Place, and Riverside Avenue that has expanded our tax base. A broader tax base spreads the tax loviade across more properties and reduces the impact on current property owners. We're also pursuing a balanced approach on housing, market rate, and affordable, and we'll be working on improving public safety by fully implementing our police reform plan. I helped lead this village to the chaos of the first Trump administration,
and today, we face a new era of uncertainty from tariffs to government shutdowns. We need proven leadership, and I am the candidate with the record and the platform to keep us moving forward. Thank you.
Thank you to the residents of Croton On Hudson for making this such a great place for Charice and I to raise our family, and thank you Charice for supporting me in this rather unanticipated journey. We have a budget crisis revealing itself in slow methodical steps, and the build or die mentality of our mayor does not benefit seniors, young families, and those saving for retirement. Little by little, in almost every trustee meeting the past five years, we've seen a new bureaucratic proposal introduced, discussed, brought to public hearing, and then, regardless of public comment, voted into law five to zero. These hassle laws are designed to offset the explosion in costs the mayor knows are on the horizon. Often referred to as money grab laws, they hit homeowners, landlords, business owners, and they don't work because they frustrate residents and are then passed down to renters and consumers. We have no holistic plan in place to cumulatively address a 10% to 15% increase in population. No plan to understand the cumulative impact on school taxes, transportation, water, sewer, parking, public safety, after school programming, recreation and sports capacity. So again, who does this mayor represent when he disregards public comment, disregards the results of surveys he commissioned, and disregards the voices on his own planning board and ad hoc committees? Is this the agenda you want to support on November 4? The mayor's decision to put off revising our comprehensive plan for at least six years was made without any community input. Our mayor is not collaborative, does not listen to the broad majority of residents in the village, and has grown arrogant in his four terms of unopposed rule. Meanwhile, the tectonic pressure builds beneath us. So let's bring change to this board that has ignored us for too long. A vote for voice of Croton is a vote for civility a vote for civility,
common sense, and community driven leadership. As your mayor, I vow to listen with empathy, act with fairness, and build a village where every voice matters. Thank you. You
the forum for the evening. Thank you to all the candidates, to the audience, to the League of Women Voters of Northwest Westchester for organizing this eve evening's candidate forum. Remember, vote. Democracy is not a spectator sport. We're gonna have a short break and start again.