Wow. The Democratic tsunami and voter demand for change of last November roll on, reaching all the way into local villages in the Lower Hudson Valley. Yesterday’s election for mayors, village board trustees and, in some places, village justices, certainly was not the same-old, same-old.

In Croton-on-Hudson, Democrats swept back into power by a thin margin on a theme of economic redevelopment. In unofficial results, Democratic challenger Leo Wiegman beat by 20 votes current Mayor Greg Schmidt, who was seeking a third term. Wiegman’s running mates, Demetra Restuccia and Ian Murtaugh, narrowly beat  Republican incumbents Trustees Thomas Brennan and Susan Konig for seats on the village board.

For the first time in 22 years, Sleepy Hollow Democrats gained complete control of village government, as current Trustee Kenneth Wray, a Democrat, beat Republican candidate Alan Singer for the mayor’s post. Likewise, for trustees, political newcomers Evelyn Stupel, Bruce Campbell and Barbara Carr swept the election, defeating Republican Trustee Maria Rose DeMilia, and candidates Robert Higle and Bruce Lozito.

In Port Chester’s mayoral race, Democratic incumbent Dennis Pilla held on to the top post, beating Republican challenger Bill Villanova.

Of course, not all was lost for Republicans; likable Republican newcomer Brian C. Smith, for example, beat Democratic appointee Terence J. Masterson by 37 votes for a one-year unexpired term on Irvington’s village board dominated by Democrats — until now.

In the “change’’ category,  Pleasantville Trustee Peter Scherer, on the Village Party line, defeated by 200 votes two-term Mayor Bernard Gordon, backed by the New Pleasantville Party.

In Putnam’s Cold Spring, 16-year incumbent Mayor Anthony Phillips was defeated by challenger Seth Gallagher, a sitting trustee. Another incumbent, Trustee Edward Mancari, also lost his bid for re-election. Bruce Campbell, who had previously served two terms as village trustee and currently sits on the Haldane school board, and newcomer John Ralph Falloon, a firefighter with deep roots in the village, will become new trustees. Phillips and Mancari ran together on the Action Party; the other candidates ran separately on their own independent lines.

These were all fascinating races, among those you can still get a glimpse into by going to LoHud.com/editorialspotlight and clicking “On Demand’’ under the screen and selecting videos of recent interviews with the candidates by the Editorial Board. You also can learn more about the candidates — and their promises — at www.LoHud.com/villageelex09.

The natives — er, voters — clearly were restless this village election season. And numbers aren’t all in yet, but voter turnout does seem to have been higher than in many previous years. You have to wonder what this portends for school trustee elections May 19 — and those local school district budgets that taxpayers so very much love.

New York state has released its annual report detailing which schools in the tri-county region need to make improvements based on standardized test results. The results, which are reviewed with a mix of dread and hope by parents and community members, can cause elation when schools aren’t named “in need of improvement” or angst when a community school is found deficient.

Residents have plenty to say about the report, the schools, standardized testing and what they think should be done to help the students. Read reporter Dwight Worley’s story here and then tell us what you think. Here are some comments from readers so far:

The standards set for these schools are a little difficult to obtain because many children don’t speak English or come from families that do not speak English. Failing is not the fault of the school, nor the families nor their children. Failing is the fault of enforcing unobtainable standards for certain school districts. This is the fault of those who determined these standards. At any rate, I can’t say that I recognize our kids to be any more intelligent or equipped to being productive citizens. I think they are way more equipped to take tests.

This is just another reason why East Ramapo cannot in good conscience, close a school and raise the teacher student ratio! The problem is the good conscience part of the equation. Our board of education is run by people who do not have even one student in the public schools. All but two members of our BOE do not have our students’ best interests as their first interests.

Did these schools raise the scores of white kids? It doesn’t say. … If we are all equal, why do some continue to point out the differences? My son, too, is a special-needs child. Who will give him that ‘extra’ when he graduates? Maybe we should teach our children something important—how to develop coping mechanisms. And stop having our schools parent our children.

If you are wondering what happened to AIG-buster Eliot Spitzer after his Client-9 problem, check out his column in the online magazine Slate today. The former governor says that the hoopla over the $165 million in bonuses to the very folks that brought down our economy is little more than a distraction. What we should really be concerned about, he says, is how the bailout money given to AIG has been paid out to cover the bets, or, ahem, Credit Default Swaps, of our biggest banks—Goldman Sachs, Band of America, JPMorgan Chase, etc. The same group that has already gotten gazillions in TARP money, are now getting taxpayer money via AIG to protect them against the incredible risks they took.

“But wait a moment, aren’t we in the midst of reopening contracts all over the place to share the burden of this crisis? From raising taxes—income taxes to sales taxes—to properly reopening labor contracts, we are all being asked to pitch in and carry our share of the burden. Workers around the country are being asked to take pay cuts and accept shorter work weeks so that colleagues won’t be laid off. Why can’t Wall Street royalty shoulder some of the burden? Why did Goldman have to get back 100 cents on the dollar?” Spitzer writes. 

It’s refreshing to read Spitzer, his indignation flows right off the page.

It may be the day after St. Patrick’s Day but it is the day for village elections.

Need some guidance before you head to the polls today? Check out our Editorial Board’s endorsements in contested mayoral and village trustee elections in Rockland, Putnam and Westchester counties at LoHud.com/villageleections09. (Some voters also will elect village justices at this time.)

Want to hear straight from the horses’ mouths? Westchester, Rockland and Putnam voters can tune into this month’s Editorial Board interviews with the candidates; go to  www.LoHud.com/editorialspotlight, click “On Demand” and select the video from the menu.

All races can have write-in challengers. Yet there are no formal contested campaigns for such posts in Rockland this year in Chestnut Ridge, Kaser, New Square, Grand View, Hillburn, South Nyack and Upper Nyack. The villages of Wesley Hills and New Hempstead, which hold spring elections, have no village board seats up this year. The following Rockland villages hold November elections: Haverstraw, Nyack, Piermont, Sloatsburg, Spring Valley, Suffern and West Haverstraw.
Neither are there contested races in the Westchester villages of Briarcliff Manor, Bronxville, Elmsford, Hastings-on-Hudson, Larchmont, Pelham, Pelham Manor, Rye Brook, Scarsdale, Tarrytown and Tuckahoe. The following villages in Westchester County hold November elections: Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Mamaroneck, Mount Kisco and Ossining.
Of Putnam’s three villages, Brewster holds elections in November; races in Nelsonville that are before village voters tomorrow are uncontested.
Some Westchester village elections — for example, Elmsford, Irvington, Pelham and Sleepy Hollow — are run by the county Board of Elections; otherwise the villages themselves run them. For more information, contact your village clerk. Hours for the vote generally are 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Vote! It’s your right, and responsibility.

Following on the heels of the $187 million school bond defeat, residents are now setting their sights, and vitriol, on the proposed 2009-2010 school budget that was proposed by Superintendent Margaret Keller-Cogan this week. The budget includes a 2.6 percent increase, but apparently some residents think even that is too much. They are also taking issue with an $880,000 proposition for Smartboards for first-grade classes and some new buses.

On the other end, residents are urging fellow taxpayers to give the budget a chance. They are encouraging people to attend budget hearings and talk to board members if they are concerned about the spending to make cuts that won’t affect the instruction.

Read the latest update and then tell us what you think about the proposed budget:

Everything should be on the table. … No new bonds, use what we have! Additionally, I don’t believe creating a “savings account ” for future repairs is a wise thing to do. … Address the needs of the district. … Prepare a maintenance schedule for roofs and use that money and this time actually do the repairs. I do believe we can work together and attempt to keep our programs in tact for our children however the pain must be shared! We are already hurting, it’s time others shared our pain!

Here we go again! Taxes going up. … All I want, like 4,000 other taxpayers who voted, is for our taxes to stop going up.

Yes, here we go again! … It is a proposed budget, a starting point for the board to work with. Stop the bashing before you even know what the final numbers are going to be. … Why don’t you attend the meetings and hear what goes on in the many workshops? Why don’t you call your board members and give some constructive input on what you would like to see?

As we all wade through this recession, I keep wondering if some of the more creative solutions will stick beyond the economic downturn, like the rise in barter, the movement to grow our own food for more than just health, but for economic reasons, and even the trend to eat more dinners at home. All have some real positives, the first for community building, the last two just for health alone. And then there’s this report in USAToday: Hagglers gain the upper hand in a downbeat economy.

Yup, beyond the yard sale, or the car dealership. In the electronics store, in the department store, people in the article say, you can make a deal. Is that good? Well, maybe. This gives the whole “never pay retail” slogan a very different flavor.

What do you think? Is this a “good” outgrowth of the downturn? What other changes have you seen that can be attributed to the recession? Are these changes good or bad, permanent or temporary? And, here’s a biggie: What changes would you like to see take root in the economic mulch? Me, I’d like to see a more sane standard of living become the norm shifts: Smaller houses (the space you need, not the space you want), fewer cars, fewer electronics. That would automatically lead to less energy use, without even a direct effort. Your turn.

What an appropriate Friday the 13th poll: Siena Research Institute (part of Siena College) asked New Yorkers about the financial crisis, how it’s impacting them, and what they believe the future will bring. (You can download the press release on the survey here, just look under “CURRENTRelease.”) Or get the PDF here:

siena

It’s downright dire. The survey showed 53 percent blieve that either they or another member of their household could lose their job, and 58 percent do not think they will be able to maintain their current lifestyle. (Wonder what the other 42 percent do for a living…) Suburbanites (that’s us, folks) matched that concern, while more New York City dwellers expressed concern about maintaining their current lifestyle.

The survey was conducted March 2-8, and Siena performed a similar survey last fall. In a surprise to no one, the spring results show growing worry about the economic crisis. Like this: 91 percent of survey respondents responded “likely” when asked to rate this statement: “Unemployment will reach near record levels.”

So, what do you think? Are New Yorkers a pessimistic bunch? Or is reality sinking in?

This is a very quick hit because the Editorial Board, in something like five minutes, has a LIVE meeting with representatives of Northern Metropolitan Hospital Association, whose members are up in arms about Gov. David Paterson’s budget cuts. You can watch the 1130 a.m. session by going to Editorial Spotlight. But if you missed it, be sure to read staff writer Leah Rae’s Page 1 article this morning about speech on the Internet — specifically the sometimes off-color, racist, sexist and otherwise objectionable posts to Facebook and online forums such at those hosted by LoHud.com. Her article, “Oblivious to consequences,” gets at some of the psychology behind the posters’ unfiltered expression. It’s much food for thought. The editors — from the news and the Opinion page staff — spent a good bit of time discussing it tomorrow. It definitely is a topic for a future Editorial Spotlight. OK, off to that other meeting . . .

Now the federal stimulus package is adding a little fizz (or less tax) to your sugary soda, according to Gov. David Paterson. The governor, along with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith  announced that, thanks to federal stimulus funds, the proposed “nuisance taxes” on soda, music downloads and even store coupons will be dropped. See an early news report here. They made their announcement late this morning about the taxes, tucked into Paterson’s mid-December budget proposal and designed to raise about $1 billion to help close the state’s looming deficit.

And, what should pop into my emailbox shortly thereafter? A press release from two of our local Assembly members, (Ellen Jaffee and Ken Zebrowski, both Democrats who represent areas of Rockland County.

They hail the decision that would have “over-burdened New York’s working families in a worsening economy.”

No big surprise that these tax proposals would be gone at the first opportunity. They were wildly unpopular. As Zebrowski said:

“We cannot nickel-and-dime our way out of this deficit on the backs of middle-class New Yorkers.”

Clarkstown school district voters will head to the polls today to decide the fate of a $187M school bond for badly needed facilities upgrades, among other work. Even given the recession, the bond has garnered many supporters who say the schools’ infrastructure is crumbling (an assertion that high school students reinforced when they staged a walk-out last year over the conditions).

Opponents counter that the bond is full of unnecessary items, that district officials shouldn’t have let the conditions get to this point, and that the economy is just too bad right now to be considering such a large bond.

Here are a few comments from voters:

Wrong time! Wrong bond! Vote No! Force the board to rethink this bloated bond and protect taxpayers in a recession.

Wrong time is correct, this should have been done 15 years ago. However the work needs to be done, and I will be voting “Yes”! Now is the time, not 10 more years down the road. Vote “Yes” for your neighborhood; “Yes” to our children; “Yes” to our future! Please support the bond.

First time ever that I am voting “No” on a Clarkstown budget in 14 years. A sad day indeed. Who paid for the voting sticker reminders that were on the young kids in town yesterday? I know of three more people who have lost their high-paying jobs in the past two weeks.

While North High School was falling apart what were we spending money on? New sports fields, a swimming pool and a planetarium. What ridiculous mismanagement. I will vote “No” on this bond until they pare it down to what is needed at North and nothing else. I have a child that will go to North and the school is an embarrassment.