In The Center Ring
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Many Westchester County residents work in New York City. We get our news from the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times. As a result we're often more aware of the political situation in Washington than here in Westchester where we live. That's understandable but with Westchester now ranked as the highest taxed county in the nation it would benefit us all to start paying attention.
The 2009 county executive election was an indication that some of us, at least, are doing so as 12-year incumbent Andy Spano was voted out of office in favor of Rob Astorino, who ran on a platform of overhauling Westchester's bloated and inefficient system of government.
However only 22% of voters in Westchester bothered to come to the polls. This fall the entire county legislature – 17 men and women – is up for re-election.
If you care about your rising county taxes this is an election you might want to start following and here is why.
Last year, County Executive Rob Astorino canceled the county's contract with the state to administer the Section 8 housing program. Eligible citizens still receive section 8 – the county just does not run the program anymore as it cost us more money than we were reimbursed by the state - over a million a year more. That makes sense, right?
Well, not to the legislators who represent you in White Plains. They voted to restore the program without the contract. That's right. There is no more contract – therefore no reimbursement – but the board restored the program anyway. Astorino vetoed the line naturally, and they then overrode his veto.
This is what they are spending their time and your money doing. Reinstating a program that no longer exists to protect the jobs of 38 CSEA members.
Can you figure out why? Who do you think will get the CSEA checks next election?
Anyway, Astorino then laid off the employees, as is his right, so the CSEA did what unions do and they sued to get the jobs restored - to a program that no longer exists.
If you're still with me - here is where this circus crosses the line to absurdity.
Although the CSEA is suing the County they are really suing you and me, the taxpayers, since we pay for all lawsuits - legitimate or not. So the CSEA is suing us - but your county legislature joined the suit - on the side of the CSEA ! That's right, against us, the tax payers. We are being sued and our county legislature is backing the union that is suing us. Or another way to look at it is - our legislators are suing the taxpayers.
It gets worse, or better , depending on how much humor you find in these things. The board then sued to prevent Rob Astorino from using the county attorney, whom he appointed, to represent us, and again for whom we pay taxes. No, said our board, the county attorney must represent "the County"- which they define as the board of legislators -and join with them and the CSEA in suing us. Astorino,to defend us, must hire his own counsel.
I wish I were oversimplifying this but I'm not. Yes we need to do all we can to retain jobs in Westchester, but not paid for with taxes when they're no longer necessary.
This is what your county legislators are engaged in right now. Theater of the absurd every other Monday in White Plains. And they're getting away with it because we have too much going on in our lives to monitor something as ridiculous as this. Besides we elect our representatives to do that for us and trust that they will do the right thing. But sadly, they don't.
Remember taxes aren't high so poor children get a hot breakfast – taxes are high because the people we elect to represent us are engaged with straight faces in this kind of garbage. All the corruption could stop tomorrow and we'd still be in the hole because they waste our money every day this way.
William Ryan represents Scarsdale and Mary Jane Shimsky represents Greenburgh in the County Legislature. You should ask your legislator why currying favor with the public employee union is a priority over representing you.
The Chairman of the Board of Legislators is a man named Ken Jenkins, known to most of us more as a talking head on News 12 giving us his spin on the political scene. There is talk that he's after Astorino's job but I'm sure that has nothing to do with this effort to obstruct government and stymie fiscal reform.
I'm sure it's because he and his colleagues are convinced things are fine just the way they are now and that we the taxpayers agree.
I've got two words for Mr. Jenkins. Andy Spano.
Charmian Neary is a bored housewife and former political operative from Rye New York who is much better at politics than homemaking.
Jewelry Found at the Golden Horseshoe
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Fabiana DesRosiers has reported that she found a piece of jewelry on Saturday March 12th in the Golden Horseshoe Shopping Center in Scarsdale. If you lost a piece and want to inquire, call Fabiana at 646-228-3520 or email her at: fabianadesro@optonline.net
Class Size Matters
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Here is a note from Edgewood Parent Neil Pierson regarding the March 7th Board of Education meeting where class size caps were discussed: At the Monday night meeting there was some concern by some Board members that there was confusion about the Board proposal as it related to class size at the elementary school level. This is not the case; we understand that relaxing the class size caps currently in place is one option available to the Board in response to late enrollments. No one on the Board should be confused about the priorities of the Scarsdale residents in attendance: 22 students in K-3rd grade and 24 for 4th/5th grade is already too large.
What concerns many people and especially me about the budget is that what has been de facto policy for many years is now considered discretionary. More than this, we as taxpayers are being asked to vote on a budget that does not set out what steps will be taken, and in what order, to ameliorate large classes due to late summer additions to the student body. We are being asked to leave this to the discretion of the board, after the vote has been taken.
It would be in all taxpayers best interests to have these steps codified and unambiguous before a vote is taken on a budget, or be part of the budget proposal that is submitted.
The hard work by the Board to find ways to reduce expenses while minimizing their effect on the district was clearly evident in the budget that was proposed. As difficult as times are, and in support of people who don't want to be taxed out of town, I would urge the Board to consider every possible avenue of reasonable cost savings without impacting the ability of the educators to accomplish their primary objective. Despite budget concerns, I believe that keeping the current class size caps is of primary importance and should not be compromised.
Regards,
Neil Pierson
Bradley Road
Edgemont School Board Nominating Committee Selects Curtis and Nanavaty
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The Edgemont School Board Nominating Committee has recommended Michaeline Curtis and Anish Nanavaty to fill the two impending vacancies on the Edgemont Board of Education. The Committee is fortunate to have had three very strong nominees, and although the Committee did not recommend Wasim Salimi for a second term, the Committee is extremely thankful for his devoted service and positive contributions to the Edgemont school district and community.
The Committee will host its annual Candidates' Forum on April 13, 2011, at 8pm in the Greenville school cafeteria, where all candidates seeking election to the Board will be invited to answer questions from the Edgemont community. Anyone interested in submitting a question to the candidates at the Forum should submit the question(s) to me as Chair of the SBNC.
I would also like to acknowledge the twenty-one members of the School Board Nominating Committee -- representing seven civic associations, the Edgemont Community Council and the Edgemont student body -- for their hard work, thoughtfulness and dedication throughout the nomination and recommendation process.
Thank you.Marc Ackerman
SBNC Chair
101 Moorland Drive
mackerman@omm.com
Leave Elementary Class Sizes Alone
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To the Editor: Like a lot of people, my family and I moved to Scarsdale, not because it has good schools, but because it has GREAT schools. Just as important, it has lots of other families that value the schools the same way. It has a creative School Board that has focused on working with students to foster critical thinking and problem-solving instead of rote learning, as evidenced in the Singapore Math program and Capstone projects for 5th graders. And Scarsdale residents have passed the school budget with over 70% voting "yes" in the last two budget votes. This is not just an indication of how much we value the schools, but also an endorsement of all the work done by the Board of Education and Superintendent McGill.
While many school districts are facing difficult times, and the Board needs to weigh the needs of the Elementary schools in relation to the needs of the entire district, the current proposal being considered by the Board to raise class sizes at the elementary school level seems too drastic a measure. Larger classes for children in their formative years could have long-term implications for them as students and increased costs to the district. I would argue that the class sizes are in fact already too large, and Superintendent McGill would agree with me. He stated, back when the current class sizes were being proposed, that students in smaller classes are active learners, view themselves, their peers and their teacher more positively, and problems can be identified more quickly.
Even temporarily raising the class size limit is unacceptable. Today's "temporary" becomes tomorrow's "standard" on which more increases would be based. The Board needs to come to a consensus on creative solutions to budget problems without compromising on the values we hold as residents of Scarsdale. Leave elementary school class sizes alone. To learn more about the effort to maintain classes sizes, click here.
Regards,
Neil Pierson
Bradley Road
Scarsdale
