Reflections on Scarsdale from Trustee Stacey Brodsky

Stacey Brodsky just completed four years of service as a member of the Scarsdale Board of Trustees and has also moved to Manhattan with her husband David, another active member of the community. In her professional life, Brodsky worked as a lawyer at the U.S. Attorney's office and in private practice and was praised by her colleagues on the Board of Trustees for her intelligence, creative problem-solving, sound logic and ability to articulate her thought processes and get to the heart of complex issues. She also served as the Board liaison the Scarsdale Library and was instrumental in their planning for a major renovation to the library. We asked her a few questions about her service on the board and her thoughts on Scarsdale and here is what she shared:

What did you enjoy about serving on the Board?

One of the things I most enjoyed about serving as a trustee was getting deeply involved in the myriad aspects of what it takes to run a municipality, whether it is infrastructure construction and maintenance such as storm water projects or quality of life issues such as supporting services to seniors to ensure that all generations of Scarsdalians thrive in our village, The other most personally satisfying aspect of board service was the opportunity to work with and really get to know other board and professional staff members who are wonderful and talented people with extraordinary passion for keeping Scarsdale special.

What were some of the issues/resolutions that you worked on?

In many ways the most controversial issues were the most interesting because there are many points of view to consider and to weigh. Trying to address neighborhood concerns about a project like 2-4 Weaver Street or the anxiety that the long delayed reval triggered for many residents in the context of long term village needs can be a very delicate business. And year after year the budget process is a challenge. Residents feel the pressure of real estate taxes but value and do not want to lose the services that they have become accustomed to in Scarsdale, all of which must be paid for.

What are your thoughts on historic preservation and regulating the size or bulk of homes built in Scarsdale?

The conversation about historic preservation has been very blurred over the time I have been a trustee and the board has been working hard to clarify what historic preservation is and is not. In my mind, it is not an anti development tool, nor an anti homeowner tool. Rather, historic preservation is a way of preserving those unique structures that are an integral part of the cultural or aesthetic history of the village. To the extent that, in the past, the historic preservation law in Scarsdale has been invoked as a means of trying to prevent a new house from being constructed out of fear that the new construction will be too large or will somehow change the neighborhood, it is the wrong tool. That is why the board passed an amendment tightening the standards for historic preservation so that it is focused on the criteria for what makes a structure truly historic. At the same time that the board engaged in the revision and tightening of the historic preservation law, the board told the community that it would re-examine the existing zoning and building laws to identify which ones could be strengthened to address concerns about new house construction in terms of size and relationship to the neighborhood. And the board has started this important process by engaging in analyses of whether it should revise laws concerning gravel driveways and floor area ratio as ways of improving the regulation of new construction and additions to existing homes. Those are the tools that I believe are critical to Scarsdale's future and together with historic preservation can protect the aesthetics of the village going forward.

What were some of the toughest or most challenging situations you confronted as Village Trustee?

One of the most challenging situations during my term was Super Storm Sandy. The enormous amount of tree damage and the widespread power outage was exacerbated by the fact that the village's communication systems were knocked out and Con Edison's response was grossly inadequate. Residents were trapped in their homes or on their streets because of fallen trees and our road crews could not clear the trees until Con Ed crews disabled the fallen electrical wires. The first crews showed up five days after the storm. The sheer scope of the storm, which ravaged an enormous geographic area, contributed to the delay in restoration of power in the village, which in some areas meant that people had no electricity or heat for 12 or more days. No one can prevent another storm of that magnitude but we learned many lessons from Sandy and instituted a number of changes to ensure that the village is better equipped for the next natural disaster that may hit.

What did you like best about living here – what will you miss?

My husband David's and my decision to downsize and move to Manhattan is exciting in part because we are certain that we won't have to worry about missing the most wonderful facet of life in Scarsdale -- our Scarsdale friends --because they are simply too important to us and we will stay closely connected with them. We will very much miss the beauty of the community and the wonderful services we have enjoyed. If the spring ever arrives, I'm going to sorely miss having coffee on the back deck in the morning and the daily joy of living in a village in a park.