Introducing Jeremy Gans, Candidate for Village Trustee

Resident, attorney, coach and member of the Zoning Board of Appeals Jeremy Gans has been selected by the SCNP to run for Scarsdale Village Trustee. The election will be held on Tuesday March 15 from 6 am to 9 pm at Scarsdale Public Library.

Here is what he shared:

Tell us about yourself – where did you grow up and go to school? We see you were a college athlete what sport did you play and how has that experience shaped who you are today?

I grew up in Rockville, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when I was five, and that’s been something I’ve lived with every minute of every day since then. I was extremely athletic as a child and, at that time in the early 1980s, most doctors didn’t really know how to handle a Type 1 diabetic who wanted to be a competitive athlete. As I entered high school, I set a goal for myself to play college tennis at a Division 1 school. I trained hard and my parents and I found the right doctor who knew how to treat diabetics who were competitive athletes. Achieving my goal, and playing for four years at Cornell was incredible. Playing a sport in college taught me the importance of time management. I had obligations as a student and an athlete and I had to make sure that I fulfilled both roles.

After college, I went to George Washington University Law School, where I received my JD.

Why did you initially choose to move to Scarsdale?

When we decided to move out of the city, we were looking to find a place with great schools and a strong sense of community. We looked in a lot of areas in Westchester County, but Lisa and I both felt strongly that Scarsdale would be a great place to raise a family.

What do you do professionally and how can your professional skills complement your service on the board?

When I moved to New York after law school, I practiced corporate law for seven years. That experience taught me how to identify issues and develop creative solutions to both existing problems and advise clients on how to avoid complications in the future. For the past decade, I’ve been with JDJ Capital Partners, a small investment firm. My responsibilities now extend far beyond providing legal advice. We make investment decisions based on our long-term view and try not to be swayed by daily swings in prices or other short-term moves. But we are disciplined about revisiting our initial decisions and adjusting our positions when the fundamentals have changed.

I think these skills will help me as Trustee. Many of the decisions that the Board makes are for the long-term benefit of the Village. The Board must pay attention to present operations and short-term economic issues, of course, but a large part of the Board’s role is to make decisions that benefit our residents for years.

What was one of your earliest volunteer activities in Scarsdale?

Like many people, my first experience volunteering in Scarsdale came through youth sports. I volunteered to coach little league and rec basketball when my oldest son was in kindergarten. Over the years, my volunteer roles have expanded beyond sports. I’m a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Scarsdale High School PTA Scholarship Fund and I was a member of the Executive Committee of the Scarsdale Forum (I took a leave of absence from that position as soon as I was nominated to run for Trustee).

We see you have served on the Zoning Board of Appeals since 2017. Tell us about some of the more challenging applications you have reviewed and also discuss any issues that you believe might require changes to the Village Code.

The most challenging applications are the ones when neighbors speak in opposition to an applicant’s proposal. When we are asked to consider a variance request, we are required by state law to weigh the benefit to the applicant against the health, safety, and welfare of the community at large. It’s vital to approach these applications with an open mind and that the Zoning Board listens to the applicant and concerned neighbors before voting. I have found that an open-minded approach has resulted in my vote being swayed by comments made by an applicant in some instances, or by comments from the public in other cases.

I think the Village must continue to balance the right of owners to develop their property with the desire of the community at large to prevent drastic changes to their neighborhood. It is worth examining the Code to see if there are any areas that need to be tightened in that regard. I also think that hiring a Code Enforcement Officer is a good step to making sure that developers and property owners are not violating Village Code when doing work on their land.

Board service is not always easy. Why are you willing to step up?

We have a great professional staff at Village Hall. Beyond that, though, Scarsdale’s operations are largely overseen by volunteers. Trustees, school board members, and the people who make up our boards, councils and committees are all volunteers. It is vital that people who care about Scarsdale and are informed on the issues step up to serve our community. I encourage anyone who cares deeply about the future of our Village to volunteer in an area of interest.

I had been asked to run for Trustee a few times in the past. I felt like this year was the right time to step up. I said yes this year because I believe that I am now able to devote the necessary time and energy to the job.

Looking forward, what do you think will be the main issues you address during your term?

The renovation of the Scarsdale Pool Complex will definitely be one of the main issues to address during my term. We are very early in the process, having received the Village consultant’s Existing Conditions Report in late February. The next steps will be broad public engagement, where we will learn what residents want the pool complex to be in the future.

Another big issue is bringing more life to the Village center. I would love to see the Village become more pedestrian and bike friendly, with a vibrant mix of shops and restaurants. Of course, we have to make sure that we have sufficient parking for shoppers and commuters on Metro North.

Given the Village’s aging infrastructure, rising expenses and the tax cap, what do you foresee for Scarsdale’s future?

I think that we all must decide what kind of future we want for Scarsdale. Our infrastructure is aging. Are we okay with a continuation of a patch and pray system for repairs, where we make short-term fixes and hope nothing catastrophic happens? Or are we willing to invest to improve our infrastructure for the long term? Doing the latter will cost more in the short term, but may lead to a greater benefit to Scarsdale in the long term.

Remember to vote at the Scarsdale Library on Olmsted Road on Tuesday March 15, 2022 from 6 am to 9 pm.

(Photo Credit: Mark Jessamy)