Your Letters: In Support of Dan Hochvert for Mayor and Understanding the Financing of Capital Projects

To the Editor: I wanted to take a moment to talk about why I am proud to be volunteering in support of the Scarsdale Citizens' Non-Partisan Party slate. In particular, I would like to share some of my personal experiences with Dan Hochvert, candidate for Village Mayor.

In 2015, our family had just bought our house. The kids were not in school yet, so I didn't have much of a network of local friends. I received an invitation from a neighbor to attend a Scarsdale Forum event, and there I was introduced to Dan Hochvert. I did not know at the time that Dan was a former two-term Trustee, Chair of the Planning Board, and Chair of the Forum's Education Committee.

All I knew was that Dan was friendly, knowledgeable, and welcoming. Alongside other topics, I mentioned to him that I was curious about whether there was an old water well on my property. Dan, (a former engineer by profession which I also did not know at the time) offered to follow up with some helpful information.

That week I heard from Dan. Was there a time he could drop off some materials? Well, sure come by on Saturday. Dan showed up with a copy of the Scarsdale Comprehensive Plan, a booklet of historic homes, and an original sewer and waterline map from 1905. Dan helped me find my property on the map, explained the legends, and offered to let me temporarily keep the map on one condition: that I would show it to other people so that the history of Scarsdale would be more widely shared and appreciated. I held up my end of the bargain and returned the map to Dan perhaps a little later than he might have preferred. It really was a marvel and I loved having it.

A few months later I had started reading about trees in Scarsdale, how they are classified and protected, and I wondered about the history on the issue. By that time I knew that Dan had just finished his term as Chair of the Planning Board, so I asked if he would mind coming by for a coffee to discuss the "tree issue." Dan arrived at the scheduled time with a thick binder in his hands. It was the Village Code. His personal copy that he printed to make sure his notes and tabs were easily accessible for any work necessary for his duties on the Planning Board. Dan sat with my husband and me for about 45 minutes perusing the three main sections of code having to do with trees, providing a bit of history on how the code was revised over time, and what his thoughts were about how it might someday be improved.

I think it is important that people know these stories so that they understand not only how deeply knowledgeable Dan is about the Village, but also how generous Dan is with his time - and not just to old friends, but to a "nobody" like me who had just moved to town. I want Dan to know, I will never forget his kindness and hospitality making my family and I feel welcome and supported as new residents here in town, and how appreciative I am of his encouragement of my own involvement and volunteerism in the Village.

I support the Scarsdale Citizens' Non-Partisan slate because it is the only party to endorse candidates based on their character, experience, and temperament. I think the national political landscape has shown us that experience and temperament matter. I support a party that nominates people - not politics.

Not only did Dan earn the support of the CNC, but he earned my vote too. Thank you, Dan, for volunteering to serve!

ML Perlman
Carstensen Road

Dear Editor,

The candidates of the Voters Choice Party seem to have a poor understanding of financing of capital projects verses annual maintenance. While our roads may not be in great shape (but they are improving), road maintenance needs to paid out of the current budget. If we bonded it, I am sure the repaired roads would in horrible condition when the bond is finally paid off. Roads don't seem to last more than 5-10 years from what I see. Bonds also are expensive to issue and are not efficient for short term maintenance heavy infrastructure called roads. We are better served paying annually for roads, which in the long term would be cheaper than going to Wall St to finance. Bonds make sense for infrastructure that has a lifetime longer than the bond. Examples would be bridges or buildings that future residents (who will be paying for the bonds) will be using when they move into town. We should not make future residents pay for what we use today.

This basic misunderstanding of public funding should give everyone serious pause and is another reason to support the candidates of the Scarsdale Citizens' Non-Partisan Party, who actually showed up at Village budget meetings to understand the hard choices the Mayor and Trustees need to make every year.

Talk is cheap, and uninformed talk is dangerous. Vote for the Scarsdale Citizens' Non-Partisan Party candidates March 21 at the library.

Bruce Wells
40 Chase Road