Greenacres Neighborhood Association Relays Concerns about Hurricane Sandy to the BOT

Here is a letter from the Greenacres Neighborhood Association that was sent to the Village Board of Trustees and will be mailed to Greenacres residents. The letter was sent to Scarsdale10583 by Greenacres Neighborhood Association President Kathy Steves who invites you to email her with your concerns at steves10583@gmail.com.

On November 12, 2012, the Board met with Trustees Jon Mark and Bob Steves in order to better understand the current state of the Village and to express the concerns of residents over issues related to storm Sandy. One of the main issues raised was the status of the Village’s disaster preparedness plan, both prior to and after the storm. Mr. Mark indicated the Mayor and Trustees were just starting to review the details of actions by Village staff and vendors who supported backup systems, and nothing definitive could be reported at this time. In addition:

• Responsiveness from Con Ed and its deployment of crews to restore power was deemed extremely deficient.

• Communications between the Village and residents was also acknowledged by the Trustees to be below reasonable expectations.

• Robo calls from the Mayor were helpful, but a bit late in the process.

• Though not formally organized by the Village, Halloween is a major community event and the Village should have communicated some policy about trick or treating prior to and during the crisis since public safety was an issue.

Mr. Mark added some additional items that will now move off the back burner for more immediate consideration:

• Liberalizing and amending the Village code governing the installation of home generators.

• An assessment of town trees in the Village’s right of way that could once again cause damage to utility lines, and an examination of the code governing removal of trees on private property that could potentially harm neighbors as well as impact utility lines during another storm.

• Concern for the elderly or disabled during such a crisis was also expressed, and a plan to better identify those who may need extra assistance will be developed.

There will be additional public forums for residents to express their concerns, according to Trustees Mark and Steves. Our collective goal is to avoid, as much as possible, a repeat of the events that occurred before, during and after the storm. Based on the meeting we had with the Trustees, we feel that elected and appointed Village staff share our concerns and will develop and orchestrate an action plan designed to better anticipate and address the issues that occurred over the past several weeks. We will ask Village staff to share their action plan with the Association once it is formulated.

We encourage those who have not signed up for the Village’s Emergency Notification system to do so through the Village’s website, www.scarsdale.com . You can enter home phone numbers and additional numbers, such as your cell number, work number, or email address to ensure that there are multiple ways that you can be notified. During Sandy and her aftermath, many residents lacked home phone service from Verizon and Cablevision, but might have been reached with status updates via cell phone or email.

The Greenacres Association encourages residents to contact either Kathy Steves at 472-0611 (steves10583@gmail.com) or Barry Meiselman at 723-5807 (barwest2@aol.com) to express your thoughts and to contribute to this ongoing dialogue.