Neighborhood Associations Meet to Review Village Business

The Scarsdale Neighborhood Association Presidents (SNAP) met on the evening of December 7th at Village Hall and covered lots of ground.  The first order of business was a report from Lynne Clark on housing seniors in Scarsdale. A group called “Aging at Home in Scarsdale” has been formed and is sponsored by the Scarsdale and Edgemont Family Counseling Service and the Scarsdale Citizens for Senior Housing.  With start-up expenses funded by a grant from a generous local family, the group sent out a survey to households with seniors age 60 and over.  Responses were received from 30% of the recipients, or 576 households.  

Their responses indicated that many of the residents want to remain in their home, but require services to make this feasible.  Help is needed with household repairs; snow shoveling, vetted repair providers, transportation and social services.

Committees are being formed and volunteers are needed to help make this possible. Among the committees in the works are “Helping Hands” to create a list of vetted service providers: “Club 60” to organize cultural events, social activities and transportation if needed, “Marketing” to publicize the service and “Volunteers” to help with home repairs, driving, and to man phone calls.

Mayor Carolyn Stevens then gave a report on the Village budget and other Village business.  In an update on the budget, she relayed that revenues from several sources are lower than expected; including interest income and mortgage taxes. However revenues from sales tax, parking permits and building department fees are up.  

Construction on the Popham Road Bridge is due to begin in February and there will be a community-wide meeting in January to discuss how the project will be staged and to review related road closings.  The foundation is in on the new Public Safety Building though the project is slightly behind schedule and the Farmer’s Market has moved inside to Christie Place and is doing well.

A discussion ensued on developments and traffic on Weaver Street.  Janet Bell commented that the concrete wall bordering the new Heathcote Manner project has been built very close to the edge of the road and may cause hazardous driving.  The placement of the wall has eliminated any room for a sidewalk. Melanie Spivack noted that Con Edison is now doing work on Weaver Street between Haverford and Stratton, causing the closure of one of the lanes during peak traffic times.  The opening of the new Homes on Hillandale in addition to the construction of Heathcote Manner is already snarling traffic on Weaver Street.  A new traffic study is being done to examine traffic from Quaker Ridge Road to the Heathcote Bypass and the Traffic Committee is exploring many creative solutions to improve the flow of traffic on Weaver Street.

In other business, SNAP President Linda Lieberman investigated the SNAP resolution to determine whether there was a rule to prevent Neighborhood Associations from endorsing selected candidates for the Citizen’s Nominating Committee, and found that the resolution did not preclude this.  However she encouraged the group to take steps to get out the vote and increase participation rather than lobby for preferred candidates.

Diane Hirschberg reported that a group has been formed to make recommendations to improve the parking options at Scarsdale High School where there is apparently a shortage of about 100 spots.  Under consideration are two-hour parking signs on Sherbrooke Road, parking at the Korean church, and an extension of the gravel parking lot along Brewster Road.

In a discussion of the affordable housing settlement and a revaluation of properties in Scarsdale, Mayor Stevens reported that she had recently attended a meeting of Westchester Municipal Officers.  At that meeting, in discussing the settlement, newly elected County Executive RobAstorino stated that “he would not force anyone to build anything” and that as yet, no implementation plan has been presented. In addition, she learned that property tax revaluations have been done in Pelham, the City of Rye and Bronxville and Mamaroneck is looking into doing one. The County Board of Legislators favors it but it is an expensive undertaking.