Dear Neighbors:

As the most local level of government, the Village government should be taking the lead on community development.  Yet when it comes to substantive steps to stimulate investment in our Village the current administration’s record leaves much to be desired.

In 2015, the Croton United Party platform stated, “We will revive the Business Development Committee…and task it with doing just that – developing new relationships and nurturing the existing ones.”

This Committee was never reconvened and despite CU’s candidates repeatedly calling for capitalizing on the influx of visitors to our Village for events like the Blaze, there have been no concrete actions by the Village to do so.

The Village should take the lead in coordinating between our business community and the myriad of state, federal and county government agencies to make sure that Croton businesses can take advantage of opportunities like Small Business Administration loans, training grants and other incentives.

Finally, we should continue to monitor the progress of Harmon Rezoning, which allowed for mixed-use development on a section of South Riverside Avenue, and apply the lessons learned to other commercial districts.

Brian Pugh