To The Editor: 

This week, I watched a Facebook feed about local business on the Croton Community Page, and was thrilled to realize that I was watching the possibilities of democracy in action. (On Facebook, which might be a bit ironic.) People were discussing concerns about the difficulty of sustaining businesses in Croton, and were also offering forward-looking ideas, many of them creative and wonderful and exciting. Other community Facebook conversations have addressed many local issues, and it is wonderful to see the exchange of ideas that would not otherwise happen.

Part of what drew me to Croton 16 years ago was its progressive, highly creative community. That spirit manifests in all places, including Facebook. That spirit also led me to run for local governmental office, so it is so exciting to see great ideas from people who live here, and now be part of a Village Board that can help “incubate” those ideas and facilitate the high creative Croton approach to what we would like for our Village.

For example, the Village recently was approached by a small group of residents who put together a well researched, well planned idea for a pop-up Farmer’s Market at Vassallo Park, which will also include local art and music talent. We were thrilled to support this venture. We would welcome the opportunity to work with individual projects, but perhaps more importantly, at some time in the near future we will be looking for a group of knowledgeable and interested residents to form a group to look at this issue together.

Democracy in action also takes another form this week, as we have been given the opportunity to respond to a New York State Department of Public Service (DPS) initiative investigating the response of utilities, including Con Edison, in the last storm. The state is looking for information such as how you were affected by the outages, whether you received accurate and timely information from the utility, and your overall impressions about Con Ed’s response.

Comments can be submitted by telephone or email. The number for the 24-hour, toll-free Opinion Line is 1-800-335-2120. Emails should be sent to Kathleen H. Burgess at secretary@dps.ny.gov. Emails should reference “Matter 18-00618” and/or the “March 2018 Winter Storms Investigation.”

Issues like bringing in new businesses that can be sustained is not something a town board can do on its own. Our Village is a pretty amazing place. Government acting together with residents and business owners will make our beloved little spot even better.

Sincerely,

Amy Attias