Dear Neighbors:

Last Tuesday, leaders of Bedford 2020, a grassroots community organization dedicated to reducing their town’s greenhouse emissions 20% by 2020, shared their experience with Village of Croton residents at a Green Living event organized by our Village’s Conservation Advisory Council, chaired by Janet Monahan.

I had the honor of discussing the progress Croton-on-Hudson has made promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy. In just the last two years, the Village has:

1. Secured electricity from 100% renewable for residents through Sustainable Westchester’s Westchester Power Community Choice Aggregation program.

2. Stimulated the installation of dozens of new residential solar power arrays by Village homeowners through another round of the Solarize program.

3. Added the first electric vehicle to the Village fleet, soon to be joined by a hybrid police car to be paid for by a State and Municipal Facilities Program (SAM) grant  secured by Senator Harkham.

4. Installed EV charging stations, open to the public, at the Municipal Building and at the parking lot for the Croton-Harmon Train Station.

These achievements and many more have been spearheaded by our Village’s Sustainability Committee, chaired by Lindsay Audin.

I appreciated the opportunity offered by the Conservation Advisory Council and Bedford 2020 to join with residents in thinking about what other successful initiatives we can import from other communities. Working collaboratively with residents, the Conservation Advisory Council, the Sustainability Committee and neighboring communities we can continue to build on these foundations to improve our community.

Sincerely,

Brian Pugh