Leo Wiegman acceptance remarks from 2011 Nominating Caucus

By Leo A. W. Wiegman

Wiegman's remarks at the Nominating Caucus of Croton Democrats for candidates for Mayor and two Trustees.

Thank you, Ann and Holly, for such kind words. I hope to be able to live up to them.

I am honored and humbled to stand before you this evening at this nominating caucus. I love being Mayor of our beautiful, active, and engaged village.

Together we know a lot more, than when we "go it alone." The biggest change between the Mayor before me and my administration+our administration+is that we replaced 4 years of "go-it-alone" with 2 years of "let's-work-together-now."

Another big change has been restoring consensus, civility, and listening to the village meetings. Our deliberations in the past 2 years have been calmer and much more productive than in the prior 4 years. Why?

Because we have toned down our rhetoric from our side of the microphone and we have said over and over again, we are going to use facts to make decisions.

We may disagree about how to change a law or even whether to do so. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.

This consensus building approach enabled us to make the hard decisions that reduced your village tax bill just 8 weeks after I was sworn in as Mayor.

This same approach enabled us to reduce your village tax bill for the second straight year in 2010. When was the last time a local government lowered taxes two year in a row?

A very important part of local governance is listening to neighbors and local businesses about the proposals before us. Citizens can bring a great deal of wisdom and insight to the decision-making process. That is why we re-activated a number of key citizen committees that had been put out of business by my predecessor. Over 30 more local community members are now active with new or re-activated village volunteer committees today than two years ago.

• We expanded the Economic Development Committee to examine what can be done to further strengthen our business districts.

• We appointed a new Comprehensive Plan Committee to finish the important recommendations for our village's master plan.

• We adopted the Bicycle-Pedestrian Committee's Master Plan that had languished on a shelf, making these traffic safety, access, and `safe passage' concepts part of how we'll examine site plans going forward.

• We were also listening carefully when we decided to cancel the bow-hunting proposal after a great deal of input from the community.

There is an old canoeing adage that I have always found to be true: "If you are traveling at the same speed as the water around, you can not steer your canoe." I take a very different approach from my immediate predecessor. I like to steer the canoe that I am in, building on the momentum from each stroke taken.

I believe we should control our destiny. I believe we can choose a destination and start paddling to set ourselves in motion. There are many things we should be doing to get ready for the end of the recession. And many of these activities will actually put us in better fiscal shape as we do them.

Just for the record, I want to share with you some of the projects underway, or about to get underway, in Croton. Some you may know about, some may be news, but all will be subject to lots of input along the way:

1. Train station parking lot traffic flow improvements; alleviate some of the traffic tangle in front of the station during peak periods.

2. Croton Pt Ave/Rt 9 interchange: Installing new traffic lights and safety features will lower congestion and improve commuter experience.

3. Zoning options for business districts such as Harmon and other districts: Consider the uniqueness of each district to remove barriers to investment and enhancement.

4. Energize Croton/Northern Westchester: A home retrofit options for homeowners (we landed a $3 million set of grants to do this in 14 northern Westchester municipalities).

5. Rezoning Croton Pt Park from residential to parks-recreation: another recommendation from our Comprehensive Plan Committee.

6. Brown water remediation: We are committed to continuing to work on eliminating brown water that some streets experience.

7. Take advantage of local existing events for local businesses: Continue to build bridges with the organizers of the February's EagleFest, June's Clearwater, September's Toughman Half-Triathlon, and October's Pumpkin Blaze.

8. Duck Pond Gorge study & improvement plan: We are working with neighbors and an ecologist on how to bring more ducks and cleaner water back to Duck Pond.

And last, but not least:

9. Taxes: I am determined for a third year in a row that we attempt zero tax increases for Village property owners.

Our mid-year budget review, something we started last year, shows that this year's expenses and revenues are on track. But the real challenge will be achieving cost-containments equal to the increases from unfunded mandates. I don't know if we can avoid a tax increase. But, with your help, we are certainly going to try.

You can see we, collectively as a village, have a wealth of ideas. And we have a wealth of resources beyond dollars and cents. We have natural resources. We have transportation resources. We have recreation resources. We have highly skilled information and communication resources. We have intellectual resources. We have artistic resources. We have legal resources. We have diversity as a resource. And most of all, my friends, we have our own imaginations as our most valuable resource.

For all these reasons, Croton is the place where I want to live. And, because we have only just begun this journey into the new economy, I would love the chance to serve as your Mayor for another term. Thank you.

Leo Wiegman, 18 January 2011

Biography

Leo A. W. Wiegman is founder of E to the fourth Strategic Communications, a firm dedicated to helping environmental organizations get their story out to the public. The firm works in many media from books to digital content. Leo is Editor of State and Local Energy Report, a national magazine focused on energy policy for states and communities. Leo is co-author with David Blockstein of The Climate Solutions Consensus (Island Press, 2010), and writer/editor of Heirlooms to live in (Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers, 2010), a book on residential architecture. Leo is a contributor to the Solutions Journal, and the Encyclopedia of Earth. Leo holds elected office as Mayor of the Village of Croton-on-Hudson, New York, and serves as Vice Chair of the Northern Westchester Energy Action Consortium, comprising 14 municipalities with 230,000 residents. Prior to launching E to the Fourth, Leo was a book publisher and editor for almost 3 decades, and holds a BA from Tufts University.