Chamber of Commerce Debates Village Events
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The September meeting of the Scarsdale Chamber of Commerce became contentious on Tuesday evening September 21, as members gathered for a meeting at Rothmans on Boniface Circle.
Under the leadership of Lewis Arlt at Houlihan Lawrence the membership has grown to 85 members and now includes traditional retailers as well as banks and service providers. Members snacked on delicious refreshments provided by Lange’s and the new Good Life Gourmet and had the chance to get reacquainted with members of the Scarsdale business community.
Village Planner Liz Marrinan was invited to update the group on the Comprehensive Village Plan as well as a proposal to change the parking requirements for restaurants to make it feasible to bring more eateries into the village. Surveys done for the Comprehensive Plan revealed that residents would like a livelier downtown with more restaurants and cultural events. As a consequence, the Planning Board is studying the parking requirements, which now dictate that restaurants pay a steep fee to the village to finance the required number of parking spots, which are double the number for restaurants than they are for retail stores. Marrinan’s initial work shows that Scarsdale’s parking requirements for restaurants are far more restrictive than neighboring towns such as Bronxville, Rye and Larchmont. Relaxed requirements would allow the village to convert retail locations like the former Waterworks space into restaurants and apparently the village has already received many inquiries from restaurateurs who wish to open in the Village.
She said that the Planning Board will soon hold public hearings on the issue and invited the membership to attend.
She also provided an update on the Popham Road Bridge, currently under construction. Three lanes should remain open during all phases of the project and ultimately there will be ten-foot sidewalks on either side of a five-lane bridge. The entire bridge is scheduled for completion by November 2011 and the total cost is of the work is estimated to be $17.2 million.
Mayor Carolyn Stevens was also on hand and concurred with Marrinan that changing the parking requirements could lead to a livelier downtown. She asked the retailers to consider remaining open at night to bring shoppers and diners to the Village in the evening.
The conversation grew heated when Arlt brought up the summer Sidewalk Sale. Though it had been a successful sale, several retailers were angry that vendors who did not own stores were permitted to set up tables directly in front of retail stores and sell competitive merchandise. Since the Village has several jewelry stores, they felt that it was not right to have outsiders selling jewelry on the sidewalk and asked that this policy be reconsidered. A sub-committee was formed to edit the Chamber by-laws to avoid a similar situation in the future while still inviting businesses and organizations without a location in the Village to participate.
Similarly, the Fine Arts Festival, which was held on Father’s Day weekend, was also the subject of debate. Many of the artists had set up booths directly in front of store windows, preventing customers from accessing Village stores on this popular shopping weekend. The streets of the Village were closed to accommodate the artists and with little parking available, residents stayed away from downtown and did not make Father’s Day gift purchases. A local art dealer felt that the quality of the art was poor and that the festival had little benefit to Scarsdale.
As it was successful for the show producer and did bring foot traffic to the Village, the Chamber has been considering repeating it next year. But the retailers contended that the Festival producers gain was their loss. Retailers were adamant that they did not want to host another festival in the Village and asked that it be set up at Village Hall. Arlt promised to consider the memberships’ concerns and to formulate a new plan for the festival.
Watch for upcoming events sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, including the Scarsdale Concours on October 17, Halloween Window Painting on October 24 and tree lighting on December 3.
New Voting Machines
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The New York State primary election was held on Tuesday September 14 and the new voting machines were as big a part of the story as the candidates. Attendance was light at our local poll where there were far more people working the election than voting. We went down to check out the new machines and did find the system to be easy to understand, as there were only two races on the ballot. In November, when there will be more contests and many more voters, the new system will be put to the test.
Below are comments on the new scanners from our political columnist David Singer:
I just returned from voting in the primary election -- for the first time using the new, federally mandated, three-step paper ballot optical scanner vote counting device. And I'm not sure how well this will work in the long run. I went to my polling location and signed into the voter registry like I've always done. Then, one of the election clerks peeled off a ballot from a stack of ballots -- and handed it to me and directed me to a free-standing three sided table to fill out my ballot. There I found something akin to a Sharpie indelible marker (the smudge hasn't come off my hand yet). Completing the ballot is easy if you've ever filled out an absentee ballot or taken a standardized test. But then -- and here's where the multitudinous breakdowns will occur -- I had to slip the completed ballot into some absurd, cumbersome, oversized file folder. I then handed the file folder to another election clerk (privacy issues, anyone?) who made sure to have the correct end of my ballot stick out of the absurd, cumbersome, oversized file folder. Then the clerk (not me) shoved the end of the ballot (and not the absurd, cumbersome, oversized file folder) into the optical scanner. This act of insertion was quite similar to how you stick a dollar bill into a vending machine (which inevitably, 3 out of 4 times, spits your dollar back out at you, especially if you're really thirsty) -- and voila! My vote was cast -- or so it seems.
While I found the process relatively easy, any process that contains multiple steps is quite likely to break down somewhere along the line. But the most concerning aspect of my voting experience today was that it was relatively easy for the assisting election clerk to see who I voted for -- since he/she is integral to the process of getting the ballot scanned in. That will need to be fixed. Stay tuned for the inevitable deluge of problems and complaints.
Citizens Nominating Committee Seeks Candidates
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The Procedure Committee invites eligible Scarsdale residents to run for election on November 9th to the Citizen’s Nominating Committee (CNC), the non-partisan group that chooses candidates for major Village offices. This is one of two venues for citizens to participate in the electoral process in Scarsdale (the other being the School Board Nominating Committee Election). Once elected, the 10 new members of the CNC will join 20 sitting CNC members in 4 or 5 meetings to propose and choose individuals to run in the Village election next March for three Trustee positions and Mayor. These candidates run under the banner of the Scarsdale Non-Partisan Party, and since they usually run unopposed, by choosing them the CNC effectively chooses the Village government.
CNC members are expected to attend all meetings, to serve for 3 years (10 of the 30 members retire and are replaced each year), and to serve on the Procedure Committee for one year after their retirement from the CNC. CNC meeting dates for 2010-2011 will be Dec 5, Jan 9, Jan 23, Jan 26 and if necessary Jan 30. Note with the exception of Jan 23 (Wed), all meeting dates are on Sundays and scheduled to minimally interfere with holiday and other commitments.
Eligible CNC candidates have to be registered voters and to have lived in Scarsdale for at least two years. In addition, CNC candidates cannot be currently on the School Board Nominating or Administrative Committees, the Board of Education, the Board of Trustees or the Procedure Committee.
Candidates run for one of two CNC positions in their elementary school district. A minimum of 2 candidates are needed per position, 4 candidates per school district and a minimum total of 20 candidates to run for 10 CNC positions this year.
To run, candidates must file a nominating petition with 10 signatures of registered voters from their elementary school district, as well as a short biographical sketch. Forms for both are available as downloads from the Procedure committee website http://scarsdaleprocedurecommittee.org/forms.htm. They may also be obtained at the Scarsdale Library, Village Hall, from the Chair of the Procedure Committee (Jim Pullman, jpullman@verizon.net, 472-6395) or the Vice Chair (Michelle Lichtenberg, michelle.lichtenberg@gmail.com, 725-6545).
The deadline for filing both forms is Sept 30; after this date, candidates for any school district will only be accepted if there are fewer than two candidates for that district. The nominating petitions must be filed as hardcopy with original signatures, while the biographical sketches must be filed as MS Word or text files, preferably as email attachments.
Burglaries, Disputes and a Suicide Averted
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From the Scarsdale Police: Burglaries and Thefts: Chateaux Circle residents were robbed while they slept during the night of September 5th. Burglars entered the apartment through an open window and stole a Dell computer, money, a wallet and ids. An iPhone and a remote control, which had been placed on the night table next to the resident’s bed, were both found on the floor, though they did not hear any suspicious noises.
An orthodontist’s office in Scarsdale Village was robbed when the staff left the office for a lunch break on September 3 between 1:10 and 2 PM. When the staff returned at 2 pm they found that a laptop computer and a digital camera were missing. Police contacted the building superintendant who checked the building’s surveillance video and observed a black male wearing a long sleeved shirt leaving the building in a hurry. It appeared that he was carrying a laptop computer under his right arm.
A Harvest Road man reported a broken lock on his first floor window and suspects that someone tried to break-in to the house. He is uncertain of when this occurred.
A gray Trek bicycle, locked to a bike rack on Depot Place was stolen on August 31st. The owner of the bike is a New Rochelle resident who commutes to and from New York to work from the Scarsdale Train Station.
Accident: Cyclist Richard Hyatt of White Plains was hit by a Ryder truck driven by a Connecticut man at 5:45 am on September 1. Both the truck and the bicycle were traveling south on the Post Road and the driver said he did not see the cyclist until he hit him, striking the back wheel of the bike. The cyclist’s left leg was injured, his nose was bleeding, he was confused and he complained of chest pain. The rear tire of the bike was detached from the frame. Hyatt was taken to the hospital.
Disputes: A Kingston Road man called police on August 31 to intervene in a dispute with a workman named Ramone Maya who did some work at the Kingston Road home. Maya did not want to complete the job but came by to collect $100 that was owed to him. The homeowner refused to pay up until the job was complete.
A Horseguard Lane man called police on the morning of September 5th, to complain that his neighbor was driving by his house and videotaping his children at play in the driveway. Police went to the neighbors home who explained that she had videotaped the tree limbs that the man had cut down. The trees are on the border of their properties and they have an ongoing disagreement about them.
Police were called to the parking lot of the Scarsdale Pool on Labor Day when a seven year-old child put his hands around the necks of two younger children, ages four and six. The father of the younger children asked the woman who was with the aggressor to stop the boy, but she did nothing. The father stepped in and put his arms around the 7 year-old to stop him. The older child’s guardian explained that the boy is autistic and wanted to play with the younger children.
Jersey City Police asked the Scarsdale Police for assistance on September 3 in the transfer of an 8 year-old child. The mother of the child had a court order granting her custody. The father’s child, a Gilmore Court man, had threatened to unlawfully remove the child to Gambia. Police stood by while the child was transferred to the mother.
Harassed: A Brite Avenue woman claimed that a neighbor harassed her around 11 pm on 9/3. The complainant was outside walking her dog when she passed a husband and wife walking their dog. The wife said, “I should loose the dog because it only attacks females.” The complainant thought the comment was directed at her. Police did try to talk to both parties but neither wanted to discuss the matter.
A Ridgecrest West man reported that he received harassing phone calls in the middle of the night from a former client who was attempting to extort money from the Scarsdale resident’s law firm.
Arrests: Hector Garcia of White Plains was stopped on Walworth Avenue on the afternoon of August 31 when he went through a stop sign. Though he had a valid NYS driver’s license, he was driving an unregistered Dodge pickup with license plates that belonged on another car. The car was towed and impounded and the police took the license plates. Garcia received citations for driving an unregistered vehicle, operating an insured car with improper plates and failing to stop at a stop sign.
Mamaroneck police arrested Joseph Melagrano of Mamaroneck at 9:30 on 8/31 and turned him over to Scarsdale police where there was an active bench warrant. He was arraigned before Judge Arlene Katz at 10:40 pm, released on $250 bail and given an appearance ticket for September 1.
New Rochelle Police arrested David Delva of Pembroke Pines, Florida at 1 am on 9/3 and turned him over to Scarsdale police where he was wanted for a bench warrant. He was placed in the holding cell, arraigned before Judge Arlene Katz and released with an appearance ticket for September 8th.
Lost Teen: A concerned White Plains mother called Scarsdale Police to help her locate her daughter at 1:30 am on September 4th. She thought the girl might be with a Scarsdale girl who lives on the Post Road. Police went to the Post Road home to investigate but found the house dark and got no answer when they rang the bell.
Mischief: On the afternoon of September 4, police received a report that kids were on the roof of the Edgewood School. However, when police arrived, the kids had left the area.
Damage: A tree branch fell on a gray Audi parked in the driveway of a Secor Road home on September 4, causing the rear window of the car to break. The owner of the car thought the branch came from a village-owned tree however police were not sure if the tree was on village or private property.
A front window of a Carman Road home was broken overnight on September 4. No one attempted to enter the house.
Abandoned Cat: A Heathcote Road woman called police on 9/2 to say that she found an abandoned cat on her doorstep. Police transported cat to the New Rochelle Humane Society.
From the Greenburgh Police: 
Suicide Averted: At 11 PM on 9/3 police were called to West Hartsdale Avenue on the report of a missing man, who was depressed and believed to be suicidal. The missing man is a NYPD Sergeant who is currently suspended from his job. His girlfriend has a restraining order against him. His sister had last seen him that afternoon, however that night he texted and phoned her, telling his sister to say goodbye to his daughter for him and to open a package had had left for her. When she opened the envelope she found a suicide note, personal asset instructions, and letters and a CD for his daughter.
The sister called her brother’s cell phone but he provided conflicting reports of his whereabouts and was incoherent. Suspecting he was in Carmel, the Greenburgh Police contacted the Putnam Police and asked them to search for the man. Early in the morning of 9/4 he was found, semi-conscious on his boat. He was taken to the hospital for evaluation.
Harassed: A Hartsdale woman had a scare on the afternoon of August 30th when she was walking her dog in the woods behind her home on Grayrock Road. She came upon a homeless man who was verbally abusive and screamed obscenities at her. She exited the woods and called the police who were unable to locate the man.
Around midnight on 9/2 two people were doing their laundry in the basement of an apartment building on Rockledge Road in Hartsdale when a neighbor who was holding a pipe threatened them. He yelled at them, told them they were inconsiderate and would not accept an apology.
Thefts: The Manager of the A&P market on Knollwood Road reports that his store is currently the target of thieves who steal beer from the premises while they are open for business. On the afternoon of 08/23/2010 an arrest was made for a theft of beer, and on August 30th, a thin, light-skinned black woman in her early 20`s loaded a shopping cart full of eight Heineken twelve packs, proceeded to park the shopping cart near the door and continued browsing. When she noticed she was being watched, she left the store quickly without the beer.
A black and yellow Honda motorcycle was stolen from the Best Buy parking lot on the afternoon of September 3rd. The bike is valued at $7,000.00.
Disputes: The owner of the Central Animal Hospital on Ardsley Road reported that they received several letters accusing them of unsafe and unfair practices and of providing unnecessary services to pet owners. Though the letters were not threatening she wanted to report them.
Residents on Elizabeth Street in Scarsdale continue to spar over property lines on September 1st. One resident, Audrey Pierot called a paving company to give her a quote on paving her driveway, but as the workman was leaving, her neighbor Michael Marom told the man he could not pave the driveway because it belonged to him.
When Can We Start Watering Again
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If your lawn is turning brown, you are probably wondering how long the watering restrictions will be in force, and if the restrictions have been effective in reducing usage. In order to learn more, Scarsdale10583 posed some questions to Deputy Village Manager Steve Pappalardo, and here is what we found out:
Have the watering restrictions been effective in reducing usage?
The water restrictions have been effective to the extent that they have helped the Village to re-establish adequate water pressure in the water distribution system.
How much has usage declined?
The Village does not have the exact daily usage numbers handy but we can report that the peak period summer water usage, defined as the time between 3:00 AM-8:30 AM, has declined since the imposition of the water restrictions which was the goal. Again, we were able to better to maintain water pressure in the system during this peak period.
We noticed that summons have been served to those who violate the restrictions. How much is the penalty?
A summons issued to any individual violating the mandatory water restrictions results in a court appearance. The penalty for violating the restrictions per Village Code is $250.00 per day, however the Judge has the authority to reduce the fine at his/her discretion.
How are we doing on construction of our pumping station?
Current construction at the Ardsley Road Pumping Station is scheduled to be complete by the end of this calendar year and tested and fully operational by spring/summer 2011.
Will the Village be able to lift the watering restrictions soon?
Annual water usage has historically dropped off significantly by the end of September so if this holds true again this year, we hope to lift the mandatory restrictions by October 1, 2010. We would likely continue with the voluntary restrictions at that point.
