There comes to hand Georgianna
Grant’s vituperative letter in the November 29 issue of The Gazette. In this defamatory missive, she refers to “a small
fearful group of Harmon naysayers and prophets of doom” and characterizes their
Article 78 action as an “expensive trumped-up lawsuit against legitimate rezoning”
and as an “arrogant and presumptive insult to the rest of us.” Any so-called
“insult” to Croton’s citizens was committed by the Planning and Village Boards.
Mrs. Grant goes on to counsel the
Village Board to “countersue the plaintiffs both collectively and individually
and hold them responsible for obstruction of the duly authorized zoning
change.”
Mrs. Grant was a longtime trustee and voted
for passage of the ridiculous Gateway Law, which contains the patently
impractical FAR (Floor Area Ratio) chosen by Mrs. Gallelli and blessed by the
Planning Board. It literally brought new development in Croton to a standstill
in the eight years since its passage.
One reason Mrs. Grant and others are anxious
to silence opponents is that a principal provision of the Harmon mixed-use
proposal is a face-saving correction of the embarrassingly gross FAR error.
The numbers of the group are not
small but legion. Mrs. Grant is proof incarnate that no one succeeds in making fools
of themselves quite like public officials
who prodigiously alter the facts and then go on to dishonor themselves by
dispensing bad counsel.
It so happens that an Article 78
action is the only remedy prescribed by New York State law for citizens aware
that proper procedures have not been followed in the passage of legislation. It
also so happens that the group Mrs. Grant so maliciously defames has thus far prevailed
in their prosecution of the Article 78 action.
What appalls in such stuff is not
only that her facts are wrong but that her advice is stupid. Mrs. Grant foolishly
counsels the Village to violate the civil rights of members of the opposition
group by means of punitive countersuits. The Constitution’s protections of
freedom of expression are beyond dispute so universal as to shield members of
the opposition group from special scrutiny and sanction.
In today’s highly litigious atmosphere, one
hesitates to imagine the result if lawmakers were allowed to countersue with
impunity those citizens who bring charges of misfeasance to the attention of
the courts.
If Mrs. Grant is serious in her concern over
the undisclosed cost of defending improperly drawn legislation, her advice
should be for the Village to ensure that what passes for planning in Croton is
properly drawn up as prescribed by law. The Village should also eliminate the
wasteful spending on consultants hired so frequently at the drop of the
proverbial hat. The $100,000 paid for the totally useless joke of a station garage
feasibility study is a glaring case in point.
