Remembering 9-11 and More from the Scarsdale Village Board

The Scarsdale Village Board met on the night of September 11 and Mayor Flisser opened the meeting by reading a poem from U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins --- shown below. They then went on to review resolutions – some to accept funds and some to authorize spending. Here is a brief summary of the proceedings:

On the plus side:
The Village received $253,936 in funds from FEMA to reimburse Scarsdale for costs associated with the recovery following Hurricane Irene on August 26, 2011. In order to secure the funds, the Village worked with FEMA and N.Y. State to do analysis and itemize costs associated with the clean-up.

In addition, the Village will receive $121,500 from developers who will subdivide property at 15 Gatehouse Road to build three houses on the site of the former Marx Estate. In order to develop the two additional lots, the Village is requiring the applicants to pay a subdivision recreation fee of $60,750 for each of the two lots, in lieu of a contribution of land for park, playground or other recreational purposes.

And for expenditures:
NextG Networks has petitioned the Village to amend the Wireless Law to permit the installation of (DAS) Distributed Antenna Systems in residential neighborhoods. In order to evaluate the application, the Planning Board requested that the Village authorize $15,000 for engineering assistance for a technical review, an inventory and capacity analysis of the Village’s existing sites to determine the degree to which these sites could accommodate additional carriers. The Village will retain Columbia Telecommunications Corp. to carry out the work.

The Village will provide $87,500 in funding for the Scarsdale Teen Center – in addition to $65,000 funded by the Scarsdale Board of Education.

Petrillo Contracting of Mt. Vernon was awarded a contract to resurface approximately 1.2 miles of roadways in Scarsdale. After the resolution was approved, Trustee Bob Harrison called for the Village to take advantage of favorable interest rates and issue bonds to raise additional funds to repair more of the Village roadways this year.

The Village authorized an amendment to their contract with engineers Dvirka and Bartilucci for work on the South Fox Meadow Stormwater Improvement Project for engineering expenses for Segment 7, the Harcourt Woods portion of the project.

The Village authorized $150,250 in funds to renovate the playground at Davis Park in Edgewood.

Last, Dan Hochvert of 62 Woods Lane applied for a tax grievance before the Scarsdale Board of Assessment Review in June. However, five member of the committee recused themselves because of a conflict of interest or to avoid an appearance of impropriety and therefore no decision was made on his grievance. To allow him to receive a fair hearing, the Village has entered into a Intermunicipal Agreement with the City of Rye to review his complaint.

There were no comments from the public.

Here is a copy of the poem read by the Mayor in honor of September 11th:

"The Names"
By Billy Collins - Poet Laureate, United States of America

Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night.

A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze,

And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows,

I started with A, with Alderman, as it happened,

Then Baxter and Calabro,

Davis and Eberling, names falling into place

As droplets fell through the dark.

Names printed on the ceiling of the night.

Names slipping around a watery bend.

Twenty-six willows on the banks of a stream.

In the morning, I walked out barefoot

Among thousands of flowers

Heavy with dew like the eyes of tears,

And each had a name --

Fiori inscribed on a yellow petal

Then Gonzalez and Han, Ishikawa and Jenkins.

Names written in the air

And stitched into the cloth of the day.

A name under a photograph taped to a mailbox.

Monogram on a torn shirt,

I see you spelled out on storefront windows

And on the bright unfurled awnings of this city.

I say the syllables as I turn a corner --

Kelly and Lee,

Medina, Nardella, and O'Connor.

When I peer into the woods,

I see a thick tangle where letters are hidden

As in a puzzle concocted for children.

Parker and Quigley in the twigs of an ash,

Rizzo, Schubert, Torres, and Upton,

Secrets in the boughs of an ancient maple.

Names written in the pale sky.

Names rising in the updraft amid buildings.

Names silent in stone

Or cried out behind a door.

Names blown over the earth and out to sea.

In the evening -- weakening light, the last swallows.

A boy on a lake lifts his oars.

A woman by a window puts a match to a candle,

And the names are outlined on the rose clouds --

Vanacore and Wallace,

(let X stand, if it can, for the ones unfound)

Then Young and Ziminsky, the final jolt of Z.

Names etched on the head of a pin.

One name spanning a bridge, another undergoing a tunnel.

A blue name needled into the skin.

Names of citizens, workers, mothers and fathers,

The bright-eyed daughter, the quick son.

Alphabet of names in a green field.

Names in the small tracks of birds.

Names lifted from a hat

Or balanced on the tip of the tongue.

Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory.

So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.