Your Letters: Fishing, DeCicco's and a Lane Closure on Post Road
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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A crumbling retaining wall has closed a lane of the Post Road since March, 2024.We received several notes in the past few weeks about issues around town.
First a reader asked why a lane on the Post Road has been closed for so long, and when it will re-open. It turns out that a retaining wall adjacent to the south lane of the Post Road between the Police station and the library has deteriorated. Due to falling rocks and debris, the NYS Department of Transportation closed one lane on March 28, 2024.
Now it’s November and the lane is still closed.
We reached out to Jeff Coleman who heads up the Department of Public Works. He advised that the road is the responsibility of New York State, not the Village. He told us to contact them, and we called several times, but did not receive a response.
Coleman now says the following, “The NYSDOT has notified the Village that design of the new wall is underway and that it will be reconstructed in 2026.”
Really?
Fishing
Fishing will now be permitted at Library Pond.
We also received emails about fishing in Library Pond. Brian Culang and his son were fishing at the library this summer and were stopped by police who said it was not allowed, due to Village code. Culang noted that there was a “no fishing” sign posted, but after a search, he determined that there was no provision in Village Code that barred this activity.
On October 17 he emailed us again to say that the Village Manager confirmed that the “No Fishing” sign at Library Pond will be removed as soon as the current restoration work wraps up.
DeCicco’s
Last, we received this email about De Cicco’s in Scarsdale Village. It was sent to the store, with a copy to Scarsdale10583.
"We've lived in Scarsdale for more than 40 years; and we've been loyal, regular customers. You owe it to us and all the others here to tell us what's going on. The number of empty shelves has increased unabated during the past 6 months. If you're trying to go out of business, you're going to be successful. Customer and employee loyalty don't last forever. We're all entitled to know what you intend to do. Fix the problem soon, or shut the doors for good; but please stop pretending that you're trying to fix things. Wasting our time trying to find and buy staples or other everyday items no longer works."
Readers asks for an answer from DeCicco's.
Annual Fire Prevention Fair – Saturday at Station 3!
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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The Scarsdale Fire Department is teaming up with the National Fire Protection Association, the official sponsor of Fire Prevention Week for more than 100 years, to host its annual Fire Prevention Fair. The event will be held at Fire Station 3, 56 Crossway, on Saturday, October 19, from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, rain or shine!
Live fire demonstrations will illustrate the dangers of unattended cooking and improper fire extinguishment. There will be antique and modern fire apparatus on display, interactive lessons from the fire safety trailer, refreshments, and a firefighter read-aloud to guarantee fun for the whole family.
The American Red Cross will be in attendance for those who wish to learn about free smoke alarm installations, emergency preparedness, and hands-only CPR. Guests are also encouraged to bring their own fire extinguishers from home for a complimentary inspection and
hands-on training!
The Fire Prevention Fair is a great opportunity to meet our career and volunteer firefighters, who are eager to share key messages from this year’s campaign, Smoke alarms: Make them work for you!
• Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each separate sleeping area (like a hallway),
and on each level (including the basement) of the home.
• Make sure smoke alarms meet the needs of all family members, including those with sensory
or physical disabilities.
• Test smoke alarms at least once a month by pushing the test button.
• Replace all smoke alarms when they are 10 years old or stop responding when tested.
For more information, please contact the Scarsdale Fire Department at (914) 722-1215.
Getting to Know You: One Cup of Coffee at a Time
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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Just in time for the holidays, Westchester Reform Temple has a new Assistant Rabbi who also has a degree in Jazz Vocal Performance.
Rabbi Alissa Platcow was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, where she was a Tisch Fellow. During her rabbinic studies, Rabbi Platcow was a Marshall T. Meyer Rabbinic Fellow at B'nai Jeshurun in Manhattan. She is a founder of the Reform Community Chevra Kaddisha of NYC, serving progressive and unaffiliated Jews throughout all five boroughs of New York City in some of their most vulnerable and profound moments. In 2024, Rabbi Platcow was named one of NY Jewish Week's 36 to Watch in recognition of her compelling and innovative leadership, including the founding of the Chevra Kaddisha. She has led services all over the world — from Poland to Vancouver, Belarus to California, New Jersey to Prague and all throughout New York and Israel.
Originally from Brookline, MA, Rabbi Platcow earned bachelor's degrees in Judaic Studies and Jazz Vocal Performance from University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She holds a Certificate in Experiential Education from The Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies where she immersed herself in the study of our tradition’s texts and then made them accessible for children, teens and young adults, as well as a Certificate of Clinical Pastoral Education from North Shore University Hospital where she provided compassionate and loving pastoral care to patients, families and staff.
In order to get to know her, we asked her a few questions and here is what we learned:
What led you to become a rabbi?
When I was six years old, I wrote a book. In the back of the book it read, "About the Author: Alissa is six years old. When she grows up, she wants to be a rabbi. Her favorite color is purple." The only thing that has changed is that I am no longer six years old. But, to be honest, I don't remember writing that or even wanting to be a rabbi. What I do remember is that when I walked into my synagogue growing up, I knew it was my home. I remember the beauty of the music, the striving for moral courage in leadership, the sense of deep spirituality.
I ended up going to college for Jazz Vocal Performance and I pursued that in New York City for a while, playing gigs throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. I loved it, but after a couple years, I knew that something was missing. It was time to renew the childhood dream, so I woke up one day, googled synagogues in New York City, cold-called and emailed about 40 rabbis and educators, and within a month, I was working at three synagogues.
Any mentors you credit with guiding you?
Rabbis Roly Matalon and Felicia Sol who mentored me and supervised me at B'nai Jeshurun on the Upper West Side provided me with support throughout my learning and taught me what it means to work in community at all times. Rabbi Melissa Buyer-Witman of Temple Israel of the City of New York was the rabbi who nurtured my curiosity in the rabbinate while I worked at the synagogue's religious school. She spent hours answering my questions about pastoral care and guiding me on my journey toward rabbinical school. Finally, Eugenia Edwards, the Director of Development at Temple Israel was my supervisor as the Development Associate at Temple Israel. She not only is the embodiment of kindness, but she taught me the back of house of a synagogue, and how to deeply understand the desires of synagogue members and bring them into reality.
How do you balance tradition and modernity?
I empower contemporary Jews and Jews who live in a modern world to have ownership over the 3000 years of tradition that rightfully belongs to them and from a place of knowledge help them to adapt it to their lives today.
How will you get to know the congregation?
I've started by going to as many WRT events as possible and having 100 cups of coffee in my first 100 days. So far, I have met and learned the stories and challenges of many wonderful members, and I'm quite caffeinated.
Are you contemplating teaching any classes or special sessions on any aspect of Judaism?
I am hoping to learn the interests of the congregation over the course of the next months and deepen their understanding of those pieces of Jewish life. I would also love to teach a class on reclaiming rituals. This would be an opportunity to dive into some of the rituals that are not as practiced or familiar in progressive Jewish spaces. With this kind of education, our members and those who support them would be able to own these pieces of our tradition which have the potential to add more meaning to their everyday lives and lifecycle moments.
How does today’s climate influence the way you will teach children about antisemitism?
In our polarized country and world, the first step is to gain a real education of the trials that we and others have faced. It is no secret that the Jewish people are a resilient people who care for one another -- and the other. We must foster both the resilience and pride, and the loving kindness for others that are so inherent in our faith. It is only then that we will be able to bring ourselves and our kids to show up for each other and to have meaningful conversations with those with whom we disagree.
Forum Committee Study Determines Freightway Garage is Underutilized
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The Avalon in HarrisonIn an effort to get the ball rolling on the redevelopment of the Freightway site, the Scarsdale Forum’s Downtown Revitalization and Municipal Service Committee conducted an ambitious study over the last six months. Their goal was to determine the usage of the aging Freightway parking structure. The committee first requested the data from the Village of Scarsdale but were told “that due to a corrupted file, no data was available,” so they took the task upon themselves.
How to find out how many people were actually using the garage? Volunteers from the committee took turns doing a physical parking count beginning March 28, 2024 and extending through September 27, 2024. According to their report, “The counts occurred mostly Monday through Friday but were not conducted every day. …The counts occurred generally at the same time each day, approximately 11:00 AM.”
Now they have the data to begin their research and planning on what comes next.
Here is what they learned as written in a letter to Mayor Justin Arest:
"In total, parking usage for the six-month period was roughly and consistently approximately 50-60% of the 688 “official” spaces. This included a generally consistent 92-95 cars per day on the 83-space open lot, dropping to 72 cars in August. This exceeded the striped spaces but with valet parking was easily accommodated. It also included typically 250 cars per day in the garage (55-59% of capacity), almost entirely located on floors 1-3. Again, August was the slowest month with only 230 cars. The Beatty lot was consistently under-utilized with typically three cars out of 49 spaces. In terms of days of the week, numbers typically peaked on Wednesdays, flanked by Tuesdays and Thursdays, and trailing on Mondays and Fridays. Weekends were substantially less.”
“The garage generally maintained a fairly consistent 50-60% usage, though significantly dropping off on the weekends. During the week, typically floors 1-3 of the garage were filled, with the third floor essentially serving as “overflow.” The fourth floor appears to be primarily “storage” cars, with typically 20-30 cars parked daily even on Saturdays and Sundays when the lower floors had many open spaces. The fifth floor typically has 3-5 cars.”
As discussed in an article on Scarsdale10583 on September 10, 2024 the committee is calling for a reopening of the discussion about the crumbling garage and the site.
As background, the Village of Scarsdale engaged in an intensive three-year process to develop the site from 2017-2020, holding workshops, forums, surveys, walking tours and conducting research. Ultimately they solicited RFP’s from developers to build parking, multi-unit housing, retail space and other community assets on the site. But after considerable dissent broke out in the community the discussion was tabled in January 2020.
However, now the committee members believe it’s time to re-open the process, do more research, hold community meetings and begin planning for what could be a five to ten year project.
Why do they think that this might fly now despite the failure earlier on?
First, the garage is beyond its useful life and the Village has budgeted between $550,000 and $916,000 to shore it up over the next five years. Since the garage will continue to deteriorate, some believe this is throwing good money after bad.
Another new factor is the decrease in demand for the parking spots since the COVID epidemic changed commuting patterns. Many more people are working remotely or doing only part-time work in the city. Though the parking spots were previously coveted, now demand has fallen off. If a garage is to be re-built, how big should it be?
The original proposal failed partially due to fear about traffic and overcrowding of the Scarsdale Schools from multi-unit housing. However, the committee believes these fears were exagerrated and that there would be only a marginal impact to school enrollment from the addition of one and two bedroom units. They would like to see these numbers re-examined along with a study of how development in other towns along the Metro North corridor affected school enrollment.
Therefore the committee’s August report called for the trustees to re-examine the project, consider multi-unit housing and modify zoning as needed. The recommend that the Village “reassess the impact of multi-unit housing on the School District and propose limits on unit sizes and occupancy to avoid negatively impacting the schools.”
Whether or not the trustees will seek to revisit this controversial proposal is yet to be seen.
Read the full report here:
Boykin Named President of NYS Association of Counties
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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The New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) has announced the Honorable Benjamin Boykin II as its new President. This appointment recognizes Boykin’s extensive experience and dedicated service in local government and finance. To commemorate this major accomplishment, Westchester County has released a video of Boykin discussing his vision and goals as the new President of NYSAC.
Boykin, a member of the Westchester County Board of Legislators, was re-elected in November 2023 to his sixth term representing District 5, which includes most of White Plains, all of Scarsdale and West Harrison. Boykin was elected Chairman of the Board of Legislators in January 2018 and January 2020. Under his leadership, the Board became the most diverse in Westchester County history, with an increased number of people of color and a female majority for the first time. His chairmanship was noted for the passage of groundbreaking legislation and the successful navigation of the County through the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most severe health crises in over a century. During this time, the Board also celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Boykin is a Phi Beta Kappa accounting graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his MBA with honors from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University. With over 50 years of experience as a financial executive and 50 years as a CPA, Boykin’s professional background has significantly influenced his approach to governance and fiscal responsibility. As a 34-year resident of White Plains, his commitment to his community is both personal and professional.
