Brooke Shields Visits Chat
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Cameras, wires and a film crew spilled out to the sidewalk in front of Chat American Grill on Christie Place on Friday, June 2nd. Residents attempted to peer beyond the potted palms on the patio to find out what was in the works…. was it a movie or an episode of a TV series? It was neither according to Chat’s Mario Fava and Police Officer Boggi who were on the scene managing the curious onlookers.
Turns out the crews were filming a new commercial for La-Z-Boy furniture starring spokeswoman Brooke Shields. In the latest spot she was filmed extolling the benefits of La-Z-Boy seating while sitting on the patio at Chat. Due to legal restrictions we were not permitted to shoot Brooke Shields as she was shot by the cameras, but she emerged from her black SUV looking cheerful and svelte – and could have been mistaken for many of the
You can view an earlier La-Z-Boy spot starring Brooke here :
A Memorable Memorial Day Parade
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All segments of the community turned out to participate in the Memorial Day Parade in Scarsdale on Monday May 30th. Among the participants were the Police, firefighters, Legion of Honor, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the Mayor, Trustees and even the Marines! Scarsdale sophomore Lindsay LeBoyer sent it these beautiful photos to commemorate the day:
Scarsdale Village Hosts Two Art Shows in One Weekend
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Among the artists on display were Peter Diaferia who often paints local scenes, Ed Shiffer of Lee Road an architect and 47-year resident of Scarsdale and Barbara Fix, a self-taught painter who enjoys color, motion and movement and participated in the Learning to Look program in the Scarsdale schools.
Proctor reported that they had a fairly good turnout of viewers and buyers on Saturday but cancelled the show on Sunday due to the rain.
At the merchants lot on East Parkway the Westchester Festival of the Arts brought back the show for a second year in Scarsdale. Artists were housed in tents so they were prepared for Sunday’s deluge and managed to stay open despite the inclement weather. The artists we spoke to were pleased with the traffic and reported that people were buying. In fact we came back for a second look at a still life that we originally saw on Saturday and when we returned on Sunday we found that the painting was sold.
Here are photos of some of the work we admired at the shows.
Pictured at top: Work by Scarsdale's Ed Shiffer
What's This?
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Local residents were surprised to see a huge new communications tower looming over the new police headquarters under construction at the corner of Fenimore and Post Roads.
If the new Safety Headquarters wasn’t imposing enough, the addition of a four to five story tower, capped with an American flag makes the new construction seem even more massive. The new building is taller than the former headquarters and extends closer to both Fenimore and Post Roads, giving an impression of increased bulk.
Members of the Greenacres Association were given a chance to review the building plans a few years back, but no one in the group remembers a communications tower in the renderings. From what we could learn, the tower was originally supposed to be on Fenimore Road rather than Post Road but may have been moved to improve the signal for radio transmission for both the police and fire 
departments.
So now Greenacres homeowners have two towers in their midst – the blue light from the Ritz Carlton in White Plains and the communications tower at Safety Headquarters. An inquiry to Village Hall about the tower received no response.
Update: June 1:
Paul Zaicek, Director of Captial Projects for the Village of Scarsdale sent in the following response:
"The new Public Safety Building radio tower replaces the old tower that was removed at the beginning of the project to make room for the expansion of the south side of the building. The old radio tower was 100 ft tall and the new tower is 110 ft. tall. The new tower is taller because the site drops approximately 10 ft. from the old location to the new location therefore to maintain the same top of tower elevation the new tower had to be 10 ft. taller. The elevation that the new radio antennas are to be mounted gives the Village Fire and Police radio systems the best coverage and are at the same elevation they were mounted previously."
"The new radio tower was always part of the project and was included in all the renderings. At the beginning of the planning phase the plans and renderings showed the new tower along the west side of the site (same side the old tower was located). The Village received feedback from residents at multiple municipal meetings that the proposed tower location was too obtrusive to the adjacent neighborhood and needed to be moved. After hearing the residents comments the Village and Village Architect took another look at it and decided to move the tower to the east side of the site so it would have less of a visual impact to the adjacent neighborhood. The renderings were modified to show the new tower location prior to receiving authorization from the Village Board of Trustees to advertise for the receipt of construction bids. The tower is a permanent structure."
Another notable sight: A spray painted sign that reads “New Beginnings 2011” was found leaning on a tree in front of the house at the Duck Pond. The home is soon to be demolished to make way for a new house on the property. The meaning of the sign is unknown. Is New Beginnings the name of the construction company that will handle the job or is this simply a philosophical statement of what’s to come at 1 Duck Pond Road?
Greenacres Residents Get Answers At Town Hall Meeting
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Residents got an in-depth overview of the priorities of Scarsdale’s leaders at the Greenacres Town Hall meeting on May 5th. The panel included everyone who runs the town including the Mayor, Village Manager, Schools Superintendent, School Board President, Chief of Police, Fire Captain, SVAC representative and Recreation Department Superintendent as well as representatives from the Scarsdale Board of Trustees and County Legislator, Bill Ryan. With this group assembled, just about any question concerning a local issue could be addressed.
The meeting opened with an official thank you to outgoing Mayor Carolyn Stevens who was made an honorary resident of Greenacres by Deborah Pekarek, President of the Greenacres Association.
The floor was turned over to the visitors, who each provided a two minute update:
Greenacres Principal Jerry Young explained the ongoing safety concern at the Greenacres School where school personnel are needed to 
supervise students as they cross the street from the school to the playground on the opposite side of Huntington Avenue. To address this concern the school is considering two options: one to close the portion of Huntington Avenue in front of the school from 10 am-2 pm each day, and the other, to move the crossing guard now stationed at the intersection of Huntington Avenue and Sage Terrace. The crossing guard could be placed at the crosswalk between the school and playground to assist with crossing.
Anticipating questions about flooding that continues to plague Greenacres residents who live near George Field, Mayor Miriam Flisser arrived with her answers about the stormwater management project. She reported that the Village has a grant from Westchester County to fund 50% of the $2.9 million project and that the Village has already approved the issuance of a bond to fund the balance of the work. Engineers are seeking to design a system to collect water on the east side of Post Road and the project may require the Village to purchase private land. The current schedule calls for construction to start at the end of 2011 and proceed for 18 months. She assured the homeowners that the Village was moving as quickly as possible to get the necessary approvals to begin the project.
Several homeowners who live in the affected area questioned the Mayor and expressed their frustration with the Village’s lack of progress in addressing the flooding. Warren Breakstone noted that it has already taken seven years to find a solution and that the timeline provided by the Mayor goes out another 2 ½ years before the flooding is alleviated. He said she was the fourth Mayor to deal with the issue and called for an interim plan to mitigate the overflow. In the last few years he said new homes at Windmill Acres had been constructed further exacerbating the flooding. He questioned why the Village was not using equipment to dredge the stream and clear the storm drains.
Julie Hatterer of Cambridge Road called for more transparency and suggested we use the project grant money sooner than later. Both Gatta and Flisser responded that they needed approvals from a wide range of authorities including the EPA, Federal Government, and the Army Corps of Engineers and that the project was on track.
Police Chief Brogan gave a recap of incidents that have occurred in Greenacres in the past year.
- There were 35 car accidents –none on the streets surrounding the school, despite parents ongoing concerns
- 56 incidents
- 8 grand and petit larcenies
- 7 identity thefts
He cautioned the elderly to be especially wary about identity theft, which is a growing problem.
Recreation Department Superintendent Suzanne Busby reported that sign-up for all recreation activities is now online and encouraged residents to go to the Village website to open an account. In addition, everyone needs to go to Village Hall to get a new I.D. this year.
Village Manager Al Gatta gave an update on where the Village stands with the upcoming tax revaluation. He reported that the Village has experienced a 300% increase in tax grievances and the volume of appeals is very difficult for the Village staff to handle. The Village has put out an RFP to companies who can conduct the revaluation and expects to have selected a vendor by September, 2011.
School Board President Jill Spieler noted the plumbing problems at Greenacres and told the group that school budget reserve funds would be used to make the repairs. She told the group that the facilities maintenance budget for the schools has been severely cut, making it difficult to make necessary updates or fund new projects. She encouraged everyone to vote for the $138.4 mm school budget on Tuesday May 17th.
Superintendent Michael McGill told the group that the district is now involved in an international assessment project to compare Scarsdale student’s performance with those in high-performing schools around the world. The program will allow our teachers to network with successful teachers everywhere to identify what leads to student success. He also bemoaned the possibility of a 2% tax cap and said it would pose “significant challenges” to the district and force Scarsdale to make major program cuts.
Fire Captain Daniel Purcell urged everyone to check the batteries on their smoke and CO2 detectors and warned against ignoring the beep when the batteries die. Steve Rambone spoke for SVAC and called for more volunteers to join the service that answers three calls a day on average.
In the question and answer period, Stu Weinberg of Montrose Road said that our “streets are an embarrassment” and said that Scarsdale looks like tobacco road. Gatta reported that the Village spent $3 million on road repairs in the past year and that lack of curbing and drainage were responsible for the road conditions. Scarsdale repaves 1-2 miles per year, and now has $14 million in work that needs to be done, but is without the funds to do it.
Kathy Steves of Fairview Road asked about the requirement to have a Certificate of Occupancy on a house before a sale and was told that “yes”, all homes are now required to have a C of O. In order to obtain it, if plans for a home are not on file at Village Hall, residents will need to hire an architect to draft plans of the existing house in order to obtain the C of O.
It was an enlightening session that covered a plethora of issues on the minds of Greenacres residents. Thanks to everyone for participating and to Deb Pekarek and the Greenacres Association for arranging this annual event.
