THE FOLLOWING LETTER APPEARS IN THIS WEEK'S GAZETTE,
EDITOR'S NOTE: THE BIAGGI SIGN REFERENCED IN THE LETTER BELOW HAS BEEN TAKEN DOWN.
To the editor:
On two occasions within the past few years, Croton has passed laws to restrict political speech. In both cases, the purpose was to prevent display of signs supporting the minority political viewpoint.
The first law is facially neutral, barring signage in village rights-of-way and village property. The second law is unconstitutional and restricts signage on particular property. The first law was passed in significant part to prevent the political sign displays that sprung up along Benedict in the area between Riverside and the traffic circle. The second law was passed to target a specific political sign (MAGA) on display on a privately-owned piece of land in the Upper Village.
The history of the law targeting the sign in the Upper Village is well-known. Relevant here is that Croton did not even make a pretense of enforcing the law until it was publicly pointed out (including by me in the pages of this newspaper) that such blatant selective enforcement could subject Croton taxpayers to significant legal liability.
The law regarding signage on village land and rights-of-way is constitutional provided it is enforced without regard to viewpoint. That has not been the case in Croton. When Dr. Becker was running to replace Ms. Puglisi, the entire center median of Benedict was lined with signs for the Becker slate in the days leading up to the election. On the other hand, one resident supporting a Republican candidate posted a video online showing the lawn signs she put up in front of her house being thrown onto her doorstep; the security camera showed the car driving away had a village logo on it. This year, we have the Biaggi campaign sign at Benedict and Riverside.
I believe in robust political speech, and don’t think either of the recent laws should have been enacted. Nor do I think that the signs made a difference: Trump was never going to win in NY, Becker was never going to lose, and as for Biaggi—let’s give her credit for giving voters an alternative and leave it at that.
In a place with a lopsided electorate, political signs are a quaint reminder that we used to have contested elections. They are harmless and not worth the effort of passing restrictive laws (let alone unconstitutional laws). But if the Croton Board of Trustees are determined to use the power of the Code Enforcement Officer and Village Justice to squelch political speech, then the Board should apply the law equally regardless of the political viewpoint being expressed.
--Paul Steinberg, Croton-on-Hudson
