The following letter was published in this week’s issue of the Gazette.
To the Editor:
The most cynical thing ever said by a politician was Rahm Emanuel’s “never let a crisis go to waste.” Variants of that have percolated thru the national Democratic Party in the last few days, most offensive of which was House Majority Whip Clyburn calling this virus pandemic a “tremendous opportunity.”
Here in Croton, our local politicians agree. Where a normal human reaction is to grieve the loss of life, the Board of Trustees and Village Manager see a tremendous opportunity. For a six-hour period on Monday, one person was dying from coronavirus every 2.9 minutes in New York City. On Monday afternoon as refrigerated trailers arrived in New York to hold dead bodies, here in Croton our Village Manager Janine King announced that the Croton Point Avenue (CPA) project would start the following morning, despite the order from Governor Cuomo last Friday that “non-essential construction is going to stop.”
This morning, I drove past the construction site. At the corner of CPA and Riverside, they had set out traffic cones. A white pickup was parked there, with 2 men in the front seat looking over a document. Forget about social distance: they were speaking less than 12 inches apart with no mask or any protective equipment. And those appeared to be the supervisors!
This morning, we awoke to photos of forklifts hoisting coffins into those refrigerated trucks. People are dying by the hundreds, and Croton refuses to delay construction of a bicycle lane and stoplight. In fact some people have expressed the view that this is a great time to do the construction since there is virtually no traffic and everyone is staying home.
“This morning, we awoke to photos of forklifts hoisting coffins into … refrigerated trucks. People are dying by the hundreds, and Croton refuses to delay construction of a bicycle lane and stoplight. In fact some people have expressed the view that this is a great time to do the construction since there is virtually no traffic and everyone is staying home.”
There is a reason why there is little traffic: we have a worldwide pandemic killing millions of people. To save lives, the Governor has ordered people to stay home unless necessary. Some people must be out in public and many of them must interact in close proximity with strangers. The cashiers at the gas station, the stock clerks at ShopRite, and the pharmacists filling our prescriptions are vital. Laborers constructing a bike lane and putting blacktop over perfectly fine concrete are endangering their lives for no reason.
Croton’s police and sanitation crews are out working, at risk to themselves and their loved ones. That is admirable and heroic: without them our society would risk collapse. Delaying the CPA project for a month is not going to risk social collapse.
As always in uber-woke progressive Croton, there is a class element which we don’t want to discuss. Those ShopRite clerks and DPW crews have to work for a living. Unlike our village trustees, they don’t have the luxury of sitting home in a gated community or spending their time on their private tennis court at home. Unlike our Village Manager whose salary alone places her in the top 4 percent of income earners in the United States, the people who are out there on the front lines don’t have the kind of money to sit safely at home.
I recently passed by a Croton DPW crew working. I spotted a senior DPW management employee right out there with his crew. Village Manager King and the Board of Trustees might learn from that example. If they are going to make laborers go out at the height of a viral pandemic rather than delay a bike lane for a month or two, then at least they should be out there and expose themselves to the same risk. Put down that tennis racket, come out of your gated community, and lead by example.
After waiting a decade, the CPA project could have waited a few more weeks. The argument that this is a tremendous opportunity since there is no traffic is not only offensive, it is another example of the classist elitism that is the hallmark of the Croton Board of Trustees. It is true that starting construction now is more convenient for the residents who commute to their Manhattan skyscrapers. And it is equally true that in our supposedly progressive community, we don’t much care for those without money or clout: we don’t want them in our parks, but we have no problem sending them out to risk their lives so our train station commute is not disrupted.
History has taught me not to expect much humanity or empathy from our Board of Trustees. But I am truly disappointed in Ms. Horowitz. Not only has she shown some sparks of compassion for the average person in Croton, she has also devoted her professional life to caring for children. When she first ran for office, even people who voted against her told me that she was a nice person. How does she not stand up and tell her colleagues to not endanger lives merely for the sake of the convenience of train station commuters?
Mr. Pugh is cynical and opportunistic as always. As the attorney for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) he talks a good game about the working man. And SEIU has posted information about coronavirus, including demands that municipal employers “minimize the risk of infection for [union] members” as well as “adopt and provide copies of emergency response protocols and plans” and provide personal protection equipment (PPE) to workers.
Why won’t Mayor Brian Pugh walk the walk that SEIU attorney Brian Pugh would talk? Why do we have village laborers sitting a few inches apart in pickup trucks spewing microscopic drops of spittle? I understand that Mr. Pugh is way too important to put his own family at risk, but can’t he at least see to it that the CPA workers have a goddamn face mask?
In time, this too shall pass. We will aid our sick families, mourn those who we have lost, and we will move forward. But as we zip down Croton Point Avenue on our way to those fancy Manhattan skyscrapers, let us not forget that we placed our own convenience above the lives of those who built that fancy bike lane.
Paul Steinberg