SCARSDALE_NEWS_Front_pages_2013_files/SI 022213 1

The Scarsdale Inquirer
Founded in 1901
VOLUME 91, NUMBER 8
Editor’s
Notebook
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013
ONE DOLLAR
More outcry over proposed geese control
By ILENE NECHAMKIN
Animal activists — who do not live in
the village — urged the Scarsdale Board
of Trustees last Wednesday to spare the
Canada geese at the
library pond and to
employ humane alternatives on the birds,
which have no natural
predators.
In January, the
board authorized an agreement with the
United States Department of Agriculture
for an “integrated wildlife management
program.” For $5,054, the federal agency would round up and euthanize adult
geese at a poultry processing plant and
Village
Board
Summary
Budget talks
Mayor Miriam Flisser invites the
public to ongoing village budget discussions. The next meeting of the Scarsdale
Village Board will be Monday, March
11, at 6:30 p.m. at village hall. Special
public briefing sessions on preliminary
operating and capital budgets will be
held at 7 p.m. on two Wednesdays, Feb.
27 and March 6, at village hall.
At last Wednesday’s village board
meeting, Flisser said the village’s
sanitary sewer infrastructure, which
dates from the 1920s, requires extensive repairs and upgrades to protect the
stormwater system. The village board
has considered imposing a fee for sewer
usage, based on water consumption, to
help fund repairs.
The mayor said that balancing the
budget might require reducing programs, consolidating services and
layoffs. The board is considering reductions in trash pickups, and removing the
police officer at the Garth and Popham
roads intersection, she said.
An online petition has attracted signatures with names from
France, Belgium, the UK, Russian Federation, Czech Republic, Italy,
Poland, Sweden and Serbia and Montenegro at the top of the list.
treat their nests and eggs with corn oil to
prevent hatching.
Village manager Alfred Gatta reported
that the USDA has not yet been paid, and
the village is, in fact, considering other
methods. The January announcement
sparked a news flurry, with coverage
in Newsday, The Journal News, Associated Press, and Fox, CBS, NBC and
Westchester TV.
An online petition opposed to the
birds’ extermination has attracted, as
of Tuesday, 405 signatures, with names
from France, Belgium, the UK, Russian
Federation, Czech Republic, Italy, Poland, Sweden and Serbia and Montenegro at the top of the list.
On Wednesday, Wayne Johnson of
Steves promises
to manage change
Mayoral candidate wants
community conversation
By ILENE NECHAMKIN
Judicial nominees
The Judicial Qualifications Advisory Committee is seeking individuals
interested in serving as Scarsdale’s
acting village justice. The acting village
justice serves in the absence or incapacity of the village justice. He or she is
appointed by the mayor for a one-year
term expiring in April. Scarsdale’s nonpartisan system provides for screening
of candidates for this position by the
committee, which then makes recommendations to the mayor.
The committee welcomes all qualified applicants who live in the village
and are members in good standing of
the New York State Bar with courtroom
experience. Applications are available
at scarsdaleprocedurecommittee.org
and may be emailed with associated
documents to Nathan Barotz, committee
chairman at nbarotz@barotzlaw.com
or sent by regular mail to 272 Madison Road, Scarsdale. The deadline for
receipt of materials is Feb. 27 at 5 p.m.
GEOFF BROWNE PHOTO
In search of
Daughter plans road trip
to bring mom ‘back’ home
By LINDA LEAVITT
Inside
From PTA pres
to Teacher of the Year..........8
Opinions/Letters ............. 6-7
Edgemont-Hartsdale............. 8
Lifestyles......................... 1 5
Obituary .........................1 5
Arts & Entertainment .... 11-14
Betty-Ann Jordan
and filmmakers
Geoff Browne
and Rachel
Kondo. Top, with
daughter Betsy
Broyd at the
Kensington.
etty-Ann Jordan’s descent into the land of forgetting was gradual. She’d misplace her sunglasses,
then her keys, then her purse. She couldn’t remember how to pay her bills online. Passwords eluded
her. She had trouble pumping gas and complained that “they
changed the pumps.” They changed the money too. In stores,
she would open her wallet and tell the clerk to
remove what she owed because she could no
longer tell the denominations apart.
Her daughter, Betsy Broyd, of Scarsdale,
was worried. Betty-Ann lived in Tampa, Fla.,
and had always prided herself on her independence. When Betty-Ann’s symptoms first appeared, her husband Bob had taken her to be
evaluated, but since Alzheimer’s disease can
only be diagnosed with an autopsy, the tests
were inconclusive. Betty-Ann passed some
portions of the test — she knew the date, her
name, her birthday — but she couldn’t position hands on the face of a clock. It was clear
that she had dementia and agnosia, an inability to attach a name to an object. “She sees
an object on the table but doesn’t know it’s
a glass of iced tea,” explained Broyd. Trying
to be diplomatic, Broyd told Betty-Ann she had “short-term
memory issues.” Her mother got angry. “Everybody’s trying
to make me demented!” she cried.
And Bob Jordan, knowing how upset his wife got when confronted with evidence of her disability, forbade anyone to talk
about it.
To the extent that Betty-Ann was aware of her problem she
Continued on page 9
Real Estate ................. 24-28
Although Trustee Bob Steves, the
Citizens Party candidate for mayor, is
an eloquent and confident speaker with
a quick but gentle sense of humor, he’d
rather listen. He served six years on the
Scarsdale Board of Education, one as
president, and tried to say as little as possible. Steves introduced citizen forums
and study groups to gauge public sentiment about the budget.
“One thing my school board experience has given me,” he told the Inquirer,
“was an understanding of the community and the need to interface with the
community.”
Yes, the village’s agenda and programs are different; the best preparation
to be mayor is serving as a trustee, he
said: “But the goal is the same, maintaining the quality of services the taxpayer
has learned to enjoy and wants, and to
deliver it cost-effectively.”
Many school programs have visible,
vocal constituencies — music, art or athletics — “but it’s often not clear to the
board exactly where people are on [village] services.”
Steves believes the public takes “certain basic services for granted, like sewers, stormwater management, roads, police and the fire department. Our police
department is good, and well staffed,
and there’s the assumption that that’s the
level of protection citizens want.” The
sewer pipes, he said, “are just like the
roads, but you can’t see the potholes, and
it’s important that the system be maintained.” He said it’s clear that “forestalling capital improvements will increase
the cost” and “pushing it onto future
generations” is unacceptable.
Steves listened very carefully during
the recent debate over easing the restrictions for standby generators, teasing out
the public’s various concerns and needs.
When the proposed amendment, after
months of inquiry by the Scarsdale Planning Board, further study by the trustees’
Law Committee and public comments
before both boards came to a vote, he
explained that his support was based on
a widespread acceptance of generator
noise. Similarly, he explained that last
Tuesday’s 2 percent tax cap override did
not signify the board’s intention to adopt
a budget that would surpass the state
mandate, but was rather a safety net.
Asked what was his greatest surprise
during the past four years, he said, “I
like to think I understand what’s going
on and I wasn’t surprised.” But he was
taken aback by the “depth of animosity”
that surfaced among a group of outspoken commuters when the village stepped
up enforcement of the prohibition of
back-in parking at Freightway Garage.
“You should be careful about taking anything for granted. It was a good lesson,”
he said.
Steves said the trustees always try
to make the best decision, sometimes
“based on how deeply you research the
issue. And sometimes you make a mistake and you have to go back.”
The controversy, which resulted in the
village rescinding enforcement, begged
the question, “At what level do you second guess the village staff and impose a
greater rigor?” on the decision-making
process. The staff, he said, had cited
safety issues and the design and age of
the garage as reasons for cracking down
on back-in parking.
But the broader question, Steves said,
was understanding the differences between the role of trustee and role of the
staff, “which you learn, which I learned,
over time.”
Continued on page 4
SCARSDALE INQUIRER/JIM MACLEAN
Mayoral candidate Bob Steves
Sports ........................ 16-22
Classifieds.......................2 3
New York City told the trustees that he
watched a roundup of Canada geese,
“saw the panic in their eyes and heard
their squeals.”
“I want to see the Canada geese in
Scarsdale stay here,” he said. “If they
must leave, there is an answer and the
answer should not be death.” He said that
the carbon-based gas used by the USDA
is similar to Zyklon B, the cyanide-based
pesticide used in Nazi concentration
camps during the Second World War.
Johnson said that Geesebusters (a fake
eagle) scares the geese away permanently, and offered to contribute to its purchase. “Pooping should not be a capital
crime,” he said.
Mayor Miriam Flisser remarked,
“There’s been more response to this
[geese euthanization] than the initial use
of Zyklon B.”
Two girls from the Student Animal Defense League called the agreement with
the USDA “unacceptable and inappropriate. It’s a common practice, but that
does not make it right.” They said that
Continued on page 3
Learning from experience, village prepares for the next big storm
By ILENE NECHAMKIN
The village anticipates an 87.5 percent reimbursement from FEMA, the
acronym by which the Federal Emergency Management Agency is known,
for expenses after Hurricane Sandy.
Reporting to the Scarsdale Board of
Trustees sitting as a committee of the
whole last Wednesday evening, deputy
village manager Steve Pappalardo said
he expected FEMA to reimburse the
village a total of $935,000 of its $1.1
million claim.
Pappalardo said after a kick-off meeting Dec. 19, three different FEMA project specialists have been assigned to
work with the village. Reimbursement
requests must be submitted to FEMA
for review by March 1, he said, and the
agency will deduct any insurance reim-
bursements from the total award, which
is expected this December.
[According to The New York Times,
FEMA has $7.5 billion to spend this fiscal year, with an additional $5 billion
available without spending cuts. States
along the East Coast that were the hardest hit by the storm are expected to
request billions of dollars. New York
State officials have already requested
100 percent reimbursement for major
infrastructure projects; the much-discussed seawall in New York City has a
price tag of $10 billion — or more.]
Although the Scarsdale Planning
Board had presciently started a review
of the village’s standby generator law
before the storm, the prolonged villagewide power failure called for
amendments liberalizing its restrictions
on decibel maximums and side yard
installations. Pappalardo reported that
since the trustees adopted a new law on
Jan. 22, 25 generator building permits
have been issued.
Village hall had no power after the
storm so the village is trying to relocate a 450-kilowatt generator from
the Reeves Newsome pumping station
there, he said. The generator is too
large, he said, but an expert has been
hired to see if it can be retrofitted.
Pappalardo said the trustees also
asked the Conservation Advisory
Council to review the village’s current
tree law apropos of “location of trees
to power lines, tree height and species”
to minimize future problems. He said
the council will present amendments to
the law promoting increased plantings,
maintenance and enforcement, although
the village will be unable to finance or
manage the program.
The village is also trying to upgrade
its emergency information forms to
identify homes with special needs residents. He has already coordinated with
the county registry and met with the
Advisory Council on People with Disabilities. The idea is to modify the form
to indicate the disabilities any emergency responders might encounter on
a call.
Pappalardo said that fewer than 10 liability claims against the village have
been filed, and those for village trees
damaging private property. All claims
except one were denied as acts of God,
the legal term for natural disasters for
which no one is responsible. The one allowed claim was for a tree that was “on
the existing village list for removal.”
The village reviewed its response to
the storm agency by agency and department by department. Among other
changes, Pappalardo said the fire department will use volunteer companies
as scribes to jot down information on
incoming calls during future emergencies. He said the firefighters will also
join the police department for welfare
checks on residents, conduct door-todoor generator checks and issue a press
release on safety tips.
The police department will upgrade
the emergency operation command
center with backup lines.
The police patrol supervisor has already been issued a smart phone so
that he can send email updates to the
dispatch desk in the future, he said.
And new signal controllers have been
installed along Popham Road that will
accept light tower generators.
PAGE 2/THE SCARSDALE INQUIRER/FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013
Calendar
Second Nuclear Age
SAS writing courses
The Yale Westchester Alumni Association is sponsoring a discussion with Paul
Bracken on the dangers of nuclear proliferation Thursday, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m. in
the Scarsdale Library’s Scott Room.
Bracken, a professor at Yale School of
Management, is the author of “The Second Nuclear Age: Strategy, Danger and
the New Power Politics.” In the book,
Bracken draws on his experience as an
analyst of cold war nuclear strategy at
the Hudson Institute, introducing new
strategies that might reduce the risk of
nuclear conflict in such areas of current
geopolitical concern as Iran, Korea and
South Asia.
Recently named one of the top 100
professors in America by the Princeton
Review, Bracken has consistently been
rated as one of the top executive education teachers in the world.
For mo information go to www.
yalewestchester.org or call Rich Fabbro
at 391-3707.
Scarsdale Adult School is offering several courses for aspiring writers. “Poetry
Workshop: Reading and Writing” will
take place six Mondays starting March 4,
7 to 8:30 p.m. at Scarsdale High School,
taught by Gillian Lynn Katz.
“Basic Grammar for Writing” will
meet five Tuesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m.,
starting March 5 at SHS, taught by
Pei-Ling Lue, and Maureen Mancini
Amaturo will teach “Creative Writing:
Fundamentals for Every Genre,” six
Wednesdays beginning March 6, 10 a.m.
to noon at Westchester Reform Temple.
“Writing Your Life: Capturing Your
Own Stories” will meet on six Thursdays, starting March 7, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
at SHS with Andrea Atkins. To register,
visit www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org.
Technology at SAS
Computer courses for beginners and
advanced technology users are beginning the first week of March at the
Scarsdale Adult School. “The Google
Suite — Wow!,” a three-part course,
starts Monday, March 4, from 4 to 5:30
p.m., with Cory Merchant. In this series
on the Google suite of applications, students will be taught how to use Google
Drive (formerly Google Docs), Calendar, Maps, Picasa and Gmail, which are
all free applications. Tuition is $105.
“Workplace Computer Skills” will
take place on eight Mondays from 7 to
9 p.m. for those seeking knowledge of
Microsoft Office software. Paul Spindel
will focus on Word, Excel, PowerPoint
and Outlook. Tuition is $275.
“Basic PowerPoint II” will be held on
two Tuesday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m.
starting March 5, with Susan Kim. Tuition is $70 for each of these classes.
“An Introduction to Microsoft Access,” a five-session class led by Barbara
Toledo, will meet Thursday evenings
starting March 7, from 7 to 9 p.m. at
Scarsdale High School. Toledo is the database manager for the Scarsdale School
District. Tuition is $175.
A class on Evernote is being offered in
two sessions starting Tuesday, March 5,
or as a single session on Friday, March
8, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Lilli Weisz,
a productivity consultant, will be teaching the course at Westchester Reform
Temple.
To register, visit www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org.
INTRODUCING THE BRISTAL
Hudson desalination
A discussion on whether desalination
is the right choice for the Hudson River
will take place Monday, Feb. 25, 7:30
p.m. at the Greenburgh Nature Center.
Refreshments will be served by the Sierra Club at 7 p.m.
An energy-intensive desalination plant
has been proposed by United Water/Suez
for irreplaceable habitat on the Hudson
River in Rockland County. With development pressures and increasingly erratic weather, is desalination the way of the
future, or the wrong direction, locking us
in to unsustainable water policy?
Speaker Margie Turrin is a science
educator for Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and has worked on the Hudson
River in science research and science education programs for the last 15 years.
Speaker Laurie Seeman is founder of
the Sparkill Creek Watershed Alliance
and an outdoor educator and artist.
Einstein brunch/lecture
The National Women’s Division
Westchester/Fairfield Chapter Albert
Einstein College of Medicine is presenting a brunch and medical lecture for
new members called “It’s All About the
Kids!” Tuesday, March 12, from 10 a.m.
to noon at a home in Scarsdale. Michelle
Dunn, Ph.D. will present a talk titled
“Social Skills in our Schools — S.O.S.”
To respond, call (718) 430-2818 or
hannah.sterngast@einstein.yu.edu.
There is no admission fee but a donation of $25 is suggested. The series
chairmen are Michelle Brettschneider,
Alyson Lane and Denise Rothberg.
Helen Bell Kravit is the Westchester/
Fairfield president and Kathy Weinberg
is the national president.
MIKE DARDANO PHOTO
Gratitude
To show their appreciation for the Scarsdale Library employees’ support for the Scarsdale community during the post-Hurricane Sandy
power outages, the library board treated them to lunch Jan. 14. In
back are Aisha Bell, Deanna Schwam, Roberta Stein-Ham, Joan Bowen (library trustee), Terri Simon (library trustee), Stacey Brodsky
(village trustee), Lori Gagliano, Barbara Josselsohn (library board
president) and Suzi Cassone. Seated: Ann-Marie Cutul, Sandy
Selinka, Liliane Sherman.
What’s Ahead
FRIDAY, FEB. 22
Mother Goose for prewalkers, library,
9:30 a.m.
Nature Club, Weinberg Nature Center,
10:30 a.m.-2 p.m.
Scarsdale Seniors yoga, Girl Scout House,
12:30 p.m.
MONDAY, FEB. 25
Nature Tots, Weinberg Nature Center, 1011 a.m.
BAR meeting, village hall, 7:30 p.m.
SNAP meeting, village hall, 8 p.m.
TUESDAY, FEB. 26
Scarsdale Seniors yoga, Girl Scout House,
9 a.m. followed by Brain V, 10:15
Kiddie Kabaret, library, 10:30 a.m.
Rotary Club, Moscato’s, noon
Drop-in storytime for ages 3 ½ to 5, library, 4 p.m.
Scarsdale Chamber of Commerce meeting, Webster Bank, 6:15 p.m.
Committee on Historic Preservation, village hall, 8 p.m.
Junior League meeting, Wayside Cottage,
8 p.m.
Village board meeting, village hall, 8 p.m.
dale Woman’s Club, 2 p.m.
Law and Land Use committees of village
board, meeting on historic preservation, village hall, 6 p.m.
Planning board, village hall, 8 p.m.
THURSDAY, FEB. 28
Mother Goose for walkers, library, 9:30
and 10:30 a.m.
Scarsdale Seniors tai chi, Girl Scout
House, 10:15 a.m., followed by exercise,
11:45 a.m.; Brain III, 1 p.m. and canasta,
2 p.m.
Paul Bracken on nuclear proliferation, library, 7:30 p.m.
Lecture on oratorio “Elijah,” Westchester
Reform Temple, 7:30 p.m.
Scarsdale Democratic Town Club meeting, village hall, 8 pm.
Scarsdale Teen Center adult board meeting, 8 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 27
Preschool drop-off, Weinberg Nature
Center, 12:30-2 p.m.
Dr. Meredith Behr on Costa Rica, Scars-
Recyclables
will be
picked
up next
Wednesday
in MondayThursday
collection
areas.
C
Monday - Thursday
T H E B E S T O F A S S I S T E D L I V I N G N OW C O M E S TO W H I T E P L A I N S
V
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013/THE SCARSDALE INQUIRER/PAGE 3
Forum: Limit building inspector’s discretion
By ILENE NECHAMKIN
A Scarsdale Forum report, based on
interviews and discussions with village
trustees, staff, volunteers, developers
and land use professionals, recommends
clarifying the village code to reduce “discretionary interpretations” of the law.
The 13-page report by the club’s Municipal Services Committee reviews the
village’s engineering and building departments’ operations, and in particular
its oversight of property development. It
was approved at the club’s general membership meeting at the public library last
Thursday.
The report also recommends a consultant’s study of the application and
approval process, increased investment
in information technology, and specific
ways to improve operations in the engineering and building departments.
Concerns that the process for approval is too complex and prolonged led to
the committee report, which also found
that “in certain cases, reasons for the approved development are not fully transparent, especially when accompanied by
discretionary interpretations rendered
by the engineering and building departments on aspects not explicitly covered
by the village code.”
The 12-person committee co-chaired
by Linda Blair and Allan Shapiro specifically recommends retaining a consultant to evaluate the requirements for
applications, permits and certificates,
and simplify the forms to “facilitat[e]
expeditious processing and disposition
of applications.”
Also recommended was a comparison of the salaries of employees in both
departments “to attract the most highly
qualified staff.”
The report goes on to suggest upgrading the departments’ information technologies and developing a website “that
is more informative, interactive, transparent and user friendly.” Other suggestions include eliminating paper and
developing an “internal management
dashboard” to display the status of an
application and a time frame for inspections and the issuance of a certificate of
occupancy.
Operations could be improved, the
report suggests, by separating the engineering and building departments, each
with its own head. Currently, one man
heads both departments and 50 percent
of his costs are allotted to each department. The committee calls for staff as-
sessment, both size and salaries, developing a procedure “to better manage
current and projected peak application
and inspection workloads,” possible outsourcing of certifications and simplified
applications.
The committee also recommends a review of the village code “with the objective of reducing the level of discretion,
clearly defining additional areas within
the code to provide additional specificity
to support decisions rendered by staff,
and provide more quantifiable metrics to
measure compliance of applications.”
The report recommends developing
and enforcing time frames for all applications that do not begin within a set
time and establishing “a framework of
objectives that help to define neighborhood and community values for incorporating into the review and processing
of applications.” Homeowners have frequently voiced the need to better balance
the property and development rights of
an individual property owner and a community desire to preserve neighborhood
character — and the size and scale of the
houses within a neighborhood, the report
later notes.
The public should be better informed
about proposed development and sunset
provisions and enforcement of existing
ordinances should also be “reinforced,”
the report says, citing the new tree ordinance and the need for developers of
major projects to provide replacement
trees or to fund a tree program on public
property.
Finally, the committee recommends
tightening the process of estimating the
value of all improvements, which might
“increase the level of fees charged for
the various applications and enhance
revenue opportunities for the village.”
Education Committee report
Also approved at last week’s meeting
was a 14-page report by the club’s Education Committee on upcoming teacher
contract negotiations.
Chaired by Mary Beth Evans and Carol Stix, the committee recommends the
following:
Maintain the district’s excellence but
reduce the disparity in teachers’ salaries
between Scarsdale and other high-performing districts and moderate overall
growth.
Control the impact of rising health
care costs.
Consider shorter contracts to maintain
flexibility.
Village is determined to hold Con Ed’s feet to the fire
By ILENE NECHAMKIN
Following an amicable meeting with
Con Edison representatives Jan. 23,
the Scarsdale Village Board of Trustees demonstrated its intent to hold the
utility company’s feet to the fire with a
four-page letter summarizing the post
mortem.
The trustees were critical of Con Ed’s
preparedness for, response to and restoration effort after Hurricane Sandy. An
earlier letter, which provided the impetus for the meeting, described Con Edison’s post-storm operations as “fraught
with frustration, confusion and anger on
the part of both village residents and village staff.”
The letter reminds Con Ed of its prom-
ise to provide the village a grid map that
diagrams the feeder lines as well as a
status report on ways to increase the
pool of workers trained to de-energize
and cut lines.
The letter also memorialized in writing the utility’s statement that it will
provide the village with an individual
with command authority to direct and
manage crews. “Con Ed liaisons will
have control of cut and clear crews and
work with village crews to open closed
roadways,” the letter notes; the liaisons
will have enhanced training and visit
Scarsdale on “blue sky” days.
The trustees, village staff and residents were all critical of the utility’s
communication channels, which many
found either nonexistent or erroneous.
The letter said that the company is updating its website and “understands that
it must talk to customers directly and is
working to do so for future events.”
The trustees acknowledged that Con
Ed said that there is no way to prevent
a tree from taking down a wire or pole.
Possible remedies are relocating power
lines underground or limiting the heights
of trees to below the wires.
But the letter reminded the company
that it will work with village staff to
identify specific areas where there are recurring power outages to see if the lines
can be improved or storm-hardened.
As for burying the wires, Con Ed
estimated the cost at $7 to $9 million
per mile; the frequently quoted $1
million per mile estimate is applicable
to sandy areas.
Con Ed is studying the feasibility of
burying the lines with the goal of presenting the study to the state Public Service Commission.
While the letter was softer in tone
than the initial correspondence, the
trustees made their expectations clear.
“While the meeting we had was productive, it will only have been worthwhile
if there is conscientious follow-up and
execution by Con Ed of the matters we
discussed,” the trustees wrote.
A copy of the letter was sent to the
president of Con Ed, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the PSC chairman, state department
of consumer services, and all of the village’s elected officials in Washington
and Albany.
Trustees hear more outcry over proposed geese control
Continued from page 1
euthanization would be “economically
inefficient because geese are migratory,”
and that the pond-raised birds would be
“unsuitable for human consumption.”
Joan Kaiser of Yonkers said the geese
brought “to our civilization a sense of real
civility and beauty. To kill this doesn’t
say much of the human species.”
A Tuckahoe woman said the roundup
of the geese [scheduled for the spring,
the birds’ molting season when they cannot fly] should be televised. She said
she’d seen children hold a rally to save
the geese on TV. “I ask you to not break
their hearts.”
And a New Rochelle woman said
that she “likes geese more than cats and
dogs. It is very inhumane to kill animals.
They’re innocent and can’t protect themselves.”
Earlier that evening, at a meeting of
the board as a committee of the whole,
a group of students from the Scarsdale
High School Help Animals Club, led by
French teacher Laura Bell, presented a
petition opposing the geese’s euthanization.
They said that USDA program was ineffective and it could take five to 10 years
to permanently eliminate the geese. The
students also offered hands-on help with
who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in the conference room.”
LIKA LEVI PHOTO
Geese graze in peace at Scarsdale High School during vacation week.
more humane methods of geese control.
Public comments
Scarsdale Public Library director
Beth Bermel reported on the library’s
role in the aftermath of Hurricane
Sandy, which opened its doors as an
impromptu warming station, charging
station and community center during
the prolonged blackout.
She said the library remained open until 9 p.m. and was “packed” with families, who stayed for hours, left for meals
and returned. The library sponsored
films and other family activities, she
said. Since the hurricane, the library has
“received several letters of thanks,” Bermel said, “including one from a couple
Override
The trustees adopted a new local law
authorizing a tax cap override following
a public hearing that drew no speakers.
Trustee Bob Steves, who is now the
Citizens Party candidate for mayor, explained that the law, which allows the
board to pass a budget that exceeds the
2 percent tax cap imposed by Albany, is
intended “as a safeguard, not a preliminary step to enact a larger budget.”
Steves said that the regulations calculating the budget increases relative to the
tax cap “are so technical that even small
changes could cause us to be fined by the
state.”
Other business
The trustees approved an amendment
to the village code updating the official
zoning map.
The board authorized increases in rec
fees, including increases for tennis and
private swimming lessons and day and
nature center camp.
Kamal Mehta of Rochambeau Road
was appointed to the Advisory Council
on Technology for a term ending April
7, 2014.
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PAGE 4/THE SCARSDALE INQUIRER/FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013
Bob Steves
Concordia breakfast series
Concordia College’s Spring Business
Breakfast Series will open with Judge
Colleen McMahon discussing “The
Role of the Federal Courts in the Quest
for Justice” on Tuesday, Feb. 26, in the
Donald A. Krenz Academic Center.
Appointed in 1998 by then-President
Clinton to the United States District
Court for the Southern District of New
York, the judge presides over a broad
spectrum of criminal and civil cases.
The program begins at 7 a.m. with a
light breakfast, followed by the presentation at 7:30. Reservations are strongly suggested for this free program. For
more information, contact Ellen de
Saint Phalle, director of community relations, at 337-9300 Ext. 2159 or ellen.
desaintphalle@concordia-ny.edu.
The judge’s visit to Concordia coincides with the OSilas Gallery’s Journey
of Justice art exhibition.
Budgeting seminar for women
“Getting Started! Budgeting Basics for Every Woman” will take
place Wednesday, Feb. 27, 6-8 p.m.
at the YMCA White Plains and Central Westchester, 515 North St., White
Plains.
Registration, information and networking begin at 6 p.m. The presentation and Q&A will take place from 6:30
to 7:45 p.m., and wrap-up and further
networking from 7:45 to 8 p.m.
Presenting are Donna Ruzzi and Linda McQuilkin-Jackson of Citibank.
This workshop focuses on basic mon-
ey management skills, setting goals,
developing a spending plan, reducing
expenses and debt. Real examples aim
to engage and empower women to manage household resources and achieve financial goals.
“Y Success” is made possible through
funding from event sponsors Citibank,
Con Edison, Sheila Carnicelli and
Westchester Community Foundation.
Workshops and parking are free. Light
dinner and beverage will be provided.
Space is limited. RSVP to events@ywcawpcw.org or at 949-6227 Ext. 147.
Valentine beauty
At a “Be Beautiful Naturally” Valentine’s party at the Salon in Eastchester Feb. 12 were Michele Feinstein of Scarsdale, Courtney
Bauke, Jamie Abruzzo and Dr. William Greenberg, medical director of Skin Thera P on Popham Road.
3 boards to meet next week
The Scarsdale Board of Architectural Review will meet Monday, Feb. 25,
at 7:30 p.m., in village hall to discuss
the following: preliminary applications for new houses at 23 Vanderbilt
Road and 9 Seneca Road, additions at
149 Clarence Road and 354 Mamaroneck Road, an amended window
application for 16 Highland Way, an
enclosed porch at 140 Fox Meadow
Road, a fence at 80 Huntington Ave.,
solar panels at 83 Garden Road and a
shed awning for the flower shop at 7
Harwood Court.
Feeding the hungry
Jacob Stein of Scarsdale works with Feeding Our Neighbors, an interfaith initiative to feed the hungry. More than 70 Jewish and Catholic teens packed 140 cartons of nonperishable food for the food pantry run by the Bronx Jewish Community Council a UJA-Federation
beneficiary agency. BJCC’s food pantry, which operates on a walk-in
basis and serves anyone in need, is the third largest in the borough
and the only one open five days per week. Also helping were Katie
Schnitzer, Marlee Baumberg and Sam Goldstein.
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The Committee for Historic Preservation will meet Tuesday, Feb. 26, at 8
p.m. in the third floor conference room
at Scarsdale Village Hall to consider
demolition applications for the following properties: 4 Windmill Circle
(built 1925), 55 Greendale Road (built
1926), 235 Rock Creek Lane (built
1951), 119 Cushman Road (built
1946), 1 Woodland Road (built 1946)
and 15 Herkimer Road (built 1938).
Planning board
The Scarsdale Planning Board will
meet in Rutherford Hall in Scarsdale
Village Hall, Wednesday, Feb. 27, at
8 p.m., to consider the application of
KOS Building Group LLC, 80 Garden Road LLC, Woodland II Associates LLC and Cushman Road LLC for
a six-lot subdivision and associated
wetlands permits of property at 119
Cushman Road, 80 Garden Road and
0 and 1 Woodland Road.
The board will also consider an
amendment to the site plan approval
for a swimming pool and associated
improvements, including a pool house,
at 10A Heathcote Road and the application of St. Pius X Church to renew
a special use permit for the French
American School and an amendment
to the site plan to maintain a modular
classroom at 85 Palmer Ave.
Also on Feb. 27, Scarsdale Center
LLC is seeking an amendment to its
special use permit for the medical center at 259 Heathcote Road and owners
of 354 Mamaroneck Road are appealing the village engineer’s decision regarding a second curb cut for a circular driveway.
Copies of the above applications are
on file in the building department and
may be viewed during usual business
hours. Meeting agendas, results and
minutes may be viewed on the village’s website, www.scarsdale.com.
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Continued from page 1
Steves wishes the public would speak
up more often — he’d also like to see
a greater voter turnout during village
elections — to impart “a better sense”
of its opinions. And he’d like the opportunity “to explain what the village
does, and how, and why, and what are
its constraints … to understand why we
can’t do something they want, to get an
informed ‘no.’”
For Steves, who is director of treasury operations at Fordham University,
the state of the economy is the village’s
greatest challenge. “The economy defines our resources and the elasticity of
our resources,” he said. The increasing
payments for items not tied to growth,
like the pension or blacktop, trigger
a “mismatch between resources and
needs.”
Meanwhile, the village is undergoing
change as demographics shift. “It’s not
what it was when it was founded, it’s
not what it was 50 years ago, and it’s not
what it’s going to be 50 years from today,” Steves said. Change, and resistance
to it, occurs frequently, whenever there’s
a conversation about development or the
size of houses, which reflect a changing
lifestyle.
“We have to manage change in a way
that retains the essence of the village
while recognizing the rights of property owners, and lifestyle changes, while
preserving the nature of the village, our
core values,” he said. The board recently
costed out summer concerts in Chase
Park, “a large measure of what the village is about.” Its decision to fund them
“sends a message about Scarsdale and
tradition,” he said.
Managing change also informs the
board’s approach to historical preservation, he said, again “balancing the rights
of home ownership and the traditions of
the village, and doing so without making preservation a surrogate for development constraints.”
“As trustees, we have to be in tune
with the needs of the youth in the village, and the seniors, and everybody in
between,” he said. Whatever friction
arises is similar to intergenerational conflict within a family.
Looking back, Steves said that feedback on the villagewide reval is “generally positive,” and he is glad to be on the
board that approved the house-to-house
initiative, eliminating the inequities of
individual court challenges. “We will
all manage,” he said. The village makes
reference to clichés like “one-third of assessments will go up, one-third go down,
one remain unchanged,” but he doesn’t
believe a particular group will be disproportionately affected.
Televised meetings of the village
board mostly show the trustees reading
resolutions aloud. That might change, he
said, to show the community “more of a
sense of the thought process. We’ll talk
about general policy to get the community comfortable with and confident of
their government.”
“This is a small town,” he said, “so it
shouldn’t be too hard for us to understand
what the people want and for them to understand what the government’s about
… We’re looking out for their interests.
We all pay taxes, too.” Ideally, he said,
more people will become involved on
the myriad boards, councils and groups.
Steves welcomes debate. Opponents
of the proposed geese culling were respectful and offered alternatives at recent board meetings, he said, and the
high school students in Help Animals
Club who spoke at an open committee
meeting learned how to express their
concerns to elected officials, all positive outcomes. Of the geographically
diverse objections and an online petition
with signatures from, for instance, Belgium and the Czech Republic, he said
that while “no one in Schenectady cares
about our taxes, animal issues transcend
borders in their universality.”
The board can be frustrated, though, by
repetitive speakers, who sometimes seem
to feel that if they say the same thing often enough in different voices, the board
members will change their minds. Often,
Steves said, “We’re listening to you, we
just don’t agree with you.”
As trustee, Steves served on the Parks
and Recreation, Finance and Land Use
committee. A native of Schenectady, and
the eldest of 11 children, he was educated
at LeMoyne College and SUNY Albany.
His parents, he said, encouraged public
service, and his 93-year-old father is the
most eager for his election.
He served on the boards of Scarsdale
§ Edgemont Family Counseling Service,
Scarsdale Student Transfer Plan and the
Immaculate Heart of Mary School of Religion; chaired the Scarsdale Bowl Committee; was president of the Greenacres
Neighborhood Association, a rec coach
and Cub Scout leader. He has lived in
Greenacres with his wife Kathy, also an
avid volunteer, for over 25 years. The
couple has three adult children, all graduates of Scarsdale High School.
Village elections will be held Tuesday,
March 19, from 6 to 9 a.m. and noon and
9 p.m., in the lobby of village hall.
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013/THE SCARSDALE INQUIRER/PAGE 5
Fraudulent charges to locals total $6,500
On Feb. 13, a School Lane couple
reported three unauthorized withdrawals from their Chase Bank account. The
first withdrawal, of $400, occurred at
one of the East Parkway branches Jan.
25. A withdrawal of $160 was made at a
Hartsdale branch Feb. 2. The third withdrawal, also of $160, was made at an
East Parkway branch. The withdrawals
were made using different debit card numbers
belonging to the husband and the wife.
On Feb. 13, a Chateaux Circle woman
reported that someone
used her personal information to open
two credit cards Jan. 24. The woman
was away on business at the time. One
card — from Toys R Us — was used to
charge $175 worth of merchandise and to
order a pediatric thermometer, shipped to
the woman’s house while she was away.
A Walmart card was also shipped to the
woman’s house, but was not used. Two
other fraudulent credit card applications
were denied. Patrol advised the woman
to inform the three credit reporting agencies.
A Fox Meadow Road man reported
that someone used his personal information to apply for fraudulent credit cards
Feb. 15. He received the three fraudulent credit cards by mail. The cards were
opened Jan. 18 and 19 at a shopping
mall in New Jersey. The victim called
each creditor to cancel the cards. Around
$4,800 in fraudulent transactions was
charged.
On Feb. 17, a Post Road man reported
fraudulent activity on his Chase and Discover credit cards. Chase Bank informed
the man that his Chase card had been reported as stolen, and a new card had been
requested by a person with a Minnesota
address. The email address on his Chase
account had also been changed. Approximately $800 in fraudulent transactions
had been charged to the new card.
Police
Report
Stolen license plate
On Feb. 14, a River Road woman
reported that the front license plate of
her 2006 Volkswagen was stolen while
the car was parked on a street in Jacksonville, Fla., Feb. 9. The woman filed
a report with Jacksonville police, but
she needed to file a local report for the
New York State Department of Motor
Vehicles.
Lost and found
A Hutchinson Avenue woman reported
that her $10,000 white gold engagement
ring and a pair of $2,000 yellow gold
earrings went missing from her house
overnight Feb. 14. Later, she informed
police that the jewelry had been found.
Harassment
On Feb. 11, a Windsor Lane woman
reported receiving at least 40 unwanted
phone calls since November 2012. She
said the caller tells her she has won a
prize and needs to send a sum of money
to claim it. During the first week of February, the woman asked the man to stop
calling and threatened to call police if he
did not. Since that warning, he has called
at least five more times.
Patrol called the callback number left
by the caller. A man answered the phone
and immediately hung up when the police officer identified himself. A few
minutes later, the man called the woman
and spoke in a distorted voice. Police
were standing by. The caller hung up and
Be
informed.
Woman struck by own car
A car was rearended on Strathmore Road and the Bronx River
Parkway Feb. 12. The driver whose
car was struck got out of her car
without putting it into park. Her
car rolled forward and ran over
her.
When firefighters arrived, the
driver was lying on the ground
talking to Westchester County police. Firefighters called Yonkers
police and Scarsdale Volunteer
Ambulance Corps. SVAC took the
woman to Lawrence Hospital.
called back a second time, using a clear
voice. Patrol answered the phone, and
using an obscenity, the man denied he
was the one harassing the woman. Patrol
advised the man that he was free to respond to police headquarters if there was
a misunderstanding that he would like to
clarify or if someone was impersonating
him. The man hung up. The woman requested ride-bys of her house.
the dog inside.
A coyote was seen near the middle
school track Feb. 15.
A caller reported that a dog was chasing people on Herkimer Road Feb. 15.
A neighbor reported a Sylvan Lane
man walking his dog without a leash
Feb. 16. Police spoke to the dog owner
and advised him that his dog must always be on leash while out for a walk.
Public urination
Civil matter
A woman reported that a man in his
mid-20s with wavy hair and long sideburns might be attempting to break into
her car, parked at the Scarsdale Community Baptist Church at 1:45 p.m., Feb. 16.
Upon further investigation, police determined there was no attempted car breakin. Instead, the suspect was urinating by
the rear driver’s side tire. He told police
he had just received a blood transfusion
and was unable to hold his urine.
A Quaker Ridge man told police that
he thought his wife removed items from
their safe deposit box Feb. 16. The man
did not have the key, so he could not
verify his suspicion. Patrol contacted his
wife who provided the key. Patrol told
the man that since both the husband’s
and wife’s names were on the safe deposit box account, all items in the box
are considered marital property, and the
dispute must be handled civilly.
Help
Fire
An adult protective services agent requested assistance in interviewing a Fox
Meadow resident Feb. 13.
A bike was chained to a street sign on
Ferncliff Road Feb. 14. Patrol figured out
that the bike belonged to an employee of
Edgewood School.
Patrol called a taxi for an intoxicated
White Plains man who was walking
home on Post Road Feb. 16.
Firefighters checked a Hillview Drive
house after the homeowners thought
they smelled gas Feb. 11. Firefighters
did not detect any gas with their meters.
They notified Con Edison about the homeowners’ concerns.
Firefighters helped a motorist change
a flat tire on Mamaroneck Road Feb. 11.
Firefighters informed Con Edison
about an outdoor gas odor on Wheelock
Road Feb. 12.
Firefighters and Con Edison employees checked at least 11 houses on Edgewood and Post roads after natural gas
was discovered in sewers on Edgewood
Road Feb. 12.
Elevated carbon monoxide readings in
a Dunham Road house were caused by
an updraft from the boiler room Feb. 13.
Firefighters notified Con Edison about
an outdoor gas odor on Brite Avenue,
and they helped Con Edison employees
check houses on Brown Road after natural gas was detected in nearby sewers
Feb. 13.
A quilt that was placed on the top shelf
of a Fox Meadow Road closet scorched
because it got too close to a light bulb
Feb. 13. Firefighters removed it from
the closet and ventilated the house. They
advised the homeowner to replace the
fixture.
Firefighters checked a Bradley Road
house for a possible gas leak Feb. 14.
They shut off a malfunctioning forcedair heating unit in a Black Birch Lane
house Feb. 15.
Police closed Gatehouse Road while
firefighters and Con Edison cut power to
an arcing electrical line that had caused
a gas pipe to leak in an excavation hole
Feb. 15. Water in the excavation hole
started to boil, and passers-by mistook
the steam for smoke. Firefighters confirmed there was not an underground
fire. They checked Gatehouse Road
houses for possible gas infiltration and
confirmed the safety of those houses.
This week, firefighters assisted at
four car accidents. They responded to
nine false carbon monoxide alarms and
Cars and roadways
A village employee reported that the
rim of his tire and his car’s alignment
were damaged when his car slid off the
roadway and hit snow-covered curbing
on Murray Hill Road Feb. 11.
Patrol stood by while a driver changed
a flat tire on Mamaroneck Road Feb. 11.
A caller reported a large pothole on
Post Road Feb. 11. The pothole caused
flat tires on three cars. One car’s tire was
changed on scene, and the car was driven
home. Two cars, with two flat tires each,
needed to be towed. The highway department was called to fill the pothole.
A taxi parked on Harcourt Road was
blocking a resident’s driveway Feb. 12.
Patrol instructed the driver to move his
car.
Storm drain housing was dislodged on
Chase Road Feb. 16. Patrol put caution
tape around it and notified the department of public works.
Patrol pushed a road divider back into
place on East Parkway and Crane Road
Feb. 16.
One car was repossessed in the village
this week.
Animals
A Park Road dog got loose because
its electric fence failed due to snow Feb.
11. A crossing guard at Fox Meadow
School saw the dog and notified patrol.
Dispatch called the owner, who retrieved
her dog.
A neighbor complained of a barking dog on Birchall Drive Feb. 14.
The owner apologized and brought
17 false alarms caused by device malfunction, paint fumes, cooking smoke,
smoke from a toaster oven, construction
dust and changing batteries.
Village Justice Court
On Wednesday, Feb. 13, the court
calendar consisted of 22 defendants facing criminal and/or vehicle and traffic
charges and seven defendants charged
with village code violations.
Vicenzo Campoli pleaded guilty to
the reduced charge of driving without a
license and was fined $180.
N.R. Deleon-Lopez pleaded guilty to
driving while intoxicated (first offense).
The case was adjourned for a presentencing information report.
Margarita Kocovic pleaded guilty to
the reduced charges of driving without a
license and disobeying a traffic control
device. She was fined $380.
Joseph Schepisi pleaded guilty to
DWI with a blood alcohol level of at
least .08 of 1 percent. His license was
revoked, and he was ordered to install
an ignition interlock device on his car.
He was fined $900 and sentenced to
one year of jail, consecutive with three
years’ probation. This sentence is to be
served consecutively with a sentence
out of Mount Pleasant Court.
The court adjourned the case of Margot Schwartz, pending an action in contemplation of dismissal. A temporary order of protection, against Schwartz, was
issued. Schwartz was originally charged
with petit larceny on Dec. 5, in connection with a framed newspaper print of
George Washington missing from the
home of her friend. On Feb. 13, police
verified that the print had been returned
to the friend, a Mamaroneck Road man.
Marsid Sela was arraigned on charges of DWI (first offense), DWI with a
blood alcohol level of at least .08 of 1
percent and speeding (76/55). These
charges were the result of Sela’s arrest
by Westchester County police on Feb.
1. The court ordered an evaluation by
Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities and adjourned the case.
Kenneth Cooper, charged with a village code violation regarding a pet, was
granted a conditional discharge.
Village code violation charges, regarding visual obstruction, were withdrawn in the case of one defendant,
upon proof of compliance.
Miguel Baez pleaded guilty to soliciting without a license and was granted a
conditional discharge.
Robert Blackwell pleaded guilty to
soliciting without a license and was
granted a conditional discharge.
One case was sealed.
The court issued two warrant letters to
defendants who did not appear in court
as directed.
The court adjourned cases with the
following charges: possession of a
forged device, second-degree possession of a forged instrument, possession
of ID data, DWI (first offense), aggravated DWI, DWI with a blood alcohol
level of at least .08 of 1 percent, DWI
with a previous conviction, third-degree
criminal possession of a controlled
substance with an intent to sell, thirddegree criminal possession of narcotics,
second-degree use of drug paraphernalia, second-degree criminal contempt,
violation of conditional discharge, various vehicle and traffic violations and
village code violations.
This report, covering police and fire
department activity from Feb. 11-17 and
the court calendar from Feb. 13, has
been compiled from official records.
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PAGE 6/THE SCARSDALE INQUIRER/FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013
Points of View
Blueprint
‘Bee’ proceeds will
fund business center
The Scarsdale Building Department and its companion Engineering Department have been probed, examined, criticized, reviewed
and poked at, by the village board, staff and residents. Many residents
have been disturbed by the rate and extent of development in town,
especially on Weaver Street, a cluster of semi-detached homes along
Weaver Street approved about 20 years ago and only now being built,
and a proposed small apartment building at Heathcote Five Corners.
Several residential subdivisions have drawn particular ire — and accusations.
The departments are variously accused of lax enforcement, incompetence, nitpicking, favoritism and having a pro-development preference.
(More ratables, the reasoning goes, fewer budgetary constraints.) Last
year, the village board and trustees’ Municipal Services Committee
began a lengthy review, in response to a harshly worded petition circulated by a Heathcote woman who was incensed about the construction
of a new house on a flag lot adjacent to her home.
The petition accused the building of lax enforcement and demanded
significant changes in its management. Chief among the petition’s
complaints: the building department’s failure to “represent the best
interests of established residents.”
There’s the rub, of course. A property owner’s rights aren’t connected to the length of his residency, but safeguarded if not vouchsafed
by law. And everything related to property rights — subdivisions,
variances, site approvals and so forth — is
based on striking a balance, weighing the
We agree,
rights of the property owner against the
detriments to or collective preferences of
wholeheartedly, the community. We get it.
Even so, we often wondered whether the
with a push to
effect of a particular development — three
houses instead of one, a house significantly
upgrade the
larger than the neighborhood characteristic — on its neighbors is ever sufficiently
building
addressed. We’d also heard our share of
Kafkaesque stories about the building dedepartment’s
partment, and the long forced march from
information
day 1 to approval to completion.
A recently approved report by the
technology
Municipal Services Committee of the
Scarsdale Forum thoroughly vetted the two
departments by interviewing employees
and attending meetings and hearings, but, more importantly, widening
its scope in accordance with the practices of neighboring communities.
The committee also interviewed architects, builders and developers
with experience in the village about the efficiency of the department,
the length of time it takes to get approval, and the friendliness of the
employees. And it addressed many of our questions.
The committee found, for example, that an application in White
Plains is processed within two weeks after filing. Zoning is reviewed
at the front desk and the application is assigned to an engineer. In New
Rochelle, permits are usually issued within five days; applications
are filed electronically. And building operations in Greenwich are a
“dream,” an appendix to the report says.
The committee’s research might bear helpful fruit. It discovered that
Mount Pleasant and North Castle outsource supervision “when departments are overloaded and complex.”
Given the widespread dissatisfaction with the building department
(everything from the “attitude” at the front office to the building
inspector’s interpretation of the law) we agree that the village should
enlist a consultant to suggest improvements from the ground up. And
we agree, wholeheartedly, with a push to upgrade the department’s
information technology, to enhance processing, notification, status
reporting and document control. Clarifying the village code to reduce
the number of discretion calls seems a given.
We must commend the committee for the report, which is meticulously detailed, well researched and thorough — and certainly a template for further study. We can only be optimistic at this point. Improving the building department will be difficult, particularly in the current
economic climate and requisite penny pinching. But with residents,
elected officials and village staff all willing to put shoulder to wheel,
we have no doubt that progress is at hand.
This report is an excellent example of the valuable contribution the
Scarsdale Forum makes to the governance of our community.
The Scarsdale Inquirer
Founded in 1901
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Named best weekly newspaper in New York State in the New York Press
Association’s Better Newspaper Contest, 1993
The official newspaper of the Town and Village of Scarsdale, the Scarsdale Union
Free District, the Edgemont School District and the Town of Greenburgh.
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The Scarsdale Inquirer (USPS 483060) is published on Fridays for $39 per year
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To the Editor:
On behalf of the Friends of the Scarsdale Library, we would like to express
our gratitude to so many in the community for making our third adult and
teen spelling bee a tremendous success.
The funds raised will be used for a new
business center at the library providing
a range of office equipment (such as a
banner maker, cutting-edge copier, laminating machine and photo printer) that
will serve the needs of many constituencies, including home-office professionals, small-business owners, members of
volunteer organizations, senior citizens
and students.
Congratulations to all team members
and particularly to our winning team, the
Library Trust-Bees (Warren Breakstone,
Barbara Josselsohn and Seth Ross)!
Please thank and support our generous
sponsors: Platinum: Thomson Reuters;
Diamond: Houlihan Lawrence and Sara
and Rick Werder; Gold: Country Bank,
Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty, Margaret and Larry Smith, Mercedes-Benz of White Plains, Paul Hastings LLP, and Renu and Anil Lalwani;
and Silver: Buzz Potential, Christine and
John Bensche, Coldwell Banker, Elizabeth and Ken Whitney, Frank’s Home
Improvements, Joan and Howard Rothman, Prudential Centennial Realty and
Vintology. Numerous friends also made
donations to help us achieve our goal.
Our heartfelt appreciation to TestTakers for donating an SAT study course;
our other raffle donors (Le Creuset,
LIFE, Lulu Cake Boutique, Scarsdale Skin Care, SoulCycle and Tracey
Novick/Ah!Dorned); our team prize donors (BlueQ.com, Chat, Eastchester Fish
Gourmet, Moscato, Patisserie Salzburg,
and Standing Room Only); and our refreshment donors (Shop Rite and California Pizza Kitchen).
We would also like to thank our fantastic emcee Ed Coleman; our judges
Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, Mayor
Miriam Levitt-Flisser and Library Teen
Advisory Board co-chairman Rachel
Josselsohn; our photographers Larry
Smith and Mike Dardano; our tech crew
including Steve Bogardus, Dave Berry,
and Sivan and Rohan Mehta; and our
many worker bees who helped out during the evening.
And we are BEEdazzled by our incredible committee: Christine Bensche, Liz
Blagg, Ellen Brodsky, Mona Longman,
Carolyn Mehta, and Margaret Smith.
RENU LALWANI
SARA WERDER
Spelling Bee Co-Chairmen
School staff needs
sharper pencils
To the Editor:
Who’s kidding who? The Feb. 15th
issue of this paper’s lead headline read
“School tax levy increase drops to 4.8
percent.”
As reported, school superintendent
Michael McGill found ways to cut $2.6
million from the 2013-2014 school budget in just two days. Can you imagine
that! A budget of $148,201,813 that was
prepared over, God only knows, how
many, many weeks of hard work with a
“sharpened” pencil, can be cut by $2.6
million in just two days. One can only
imagine how many more superfluous
dollars can be cut from the school budget if McGill and his staff spent four, six
or more days with a sharpened pencil for
each of them.
Dr. McGill, some of us were born at
night, just not last night!
KATHLEEN PIAGGESI
Fairview Road
SCARSDALE INQUIRER/JIM MACLEAN
Next!
Realities of childhood sexual abuse
By GERALDINE GREENE, LCSW
and Dr. DONNA SILBERT
As the media continues to explode
with reports of child sexual abuse, some
spanning decades, it is easy for parents
to feel anxious and helpless. While we
used to think of childhood as a time of
innocence, it seems like now we think of
it as a time of preparedness. Our times
are complex and even perilous, but we
believe that parents can be informed to
help their children by exploring some
of the myths and realities surrounding
childhood sexual abuse.
Every parent wants to raise children
who are capable and confident and who
view the world with wonder rather than
mistrust. But today’s reality demands
that we rethink some of our admonitions
to children.
When we were growing up we were
told, “Don’t talk to strangers.” But children often can’t identify exactly who is
a “stranger.” Recent segments on television portrayed children very quickly succumbing to an invitation for ice cream,
some even boarding the truck to the
shock and horror of their parents. In a
1993 Oprah special, kids were taped following a stranger out of the playground
with the promise of seeing a puppy.
Many children think a “stranger” is
someone who doesn’t look like their parents. Instead of teaching kids that strangers are dangerous, we propose teaching them that it is often OK to talk to a
stranger. Take a situation where a child
becomes separated from a parent. Children can be taught to look for a woman
to ask for help, preferably one with a
child. Although there are instances of female perpetrators, 98 percent are male.
It is also possible to teach children to
be observant, trust their own instincts
and to “size up” an adult. Ask them
about people they do not know who may
approach them. Do they feel comfortable or uncomfortable? Ask them “why”
but know that they will not always be
able to articulate the reasons. Children
need to be taught that their own sense
of comfort and safety must come before
being polite or helpful. They don’t have
to know why they are uncomfortable;
they just have to be able to recognize
the uncomfortable feeling.
Recently, I was in a store with my
8-year-old grandson when a shopper
tried to engage him in a conversation
about where he flew his airplane. Joshua
looked at me, held onto my hand more
tightly and replied, “I don’t know their
names.” When I praised him for not giving personal information to a stranger, he
said, “I didn’t know him.” Think about
teaching children to talk with a stranger
with confidence and strength. If children
can order their food at a restaurant or
take the change from a store clerk, they
can learn to be assertive and appear selfassured. Predators often look for the vulnerable child.
Sometimes it is OK to disobey an adult
who is in charge. Telling children to always listen to a grown-up has its perils.
Children are most often abused by people whom they know, or adults who are
in charge such as a relative or a babysitter, or even a coach or religious leader.
Children can be taught to follow their
instincts and never agree to anything
that makes them feel uncomfortable. It
is better for a child to appear challenging
and err on the side of disrespect than be
lulled into false complacency because an
adult is in charge. If your child does not
say hello to someone you know, see if he
can tell you why. When an adult asks a
child for help, such as directions, every
child should know that they have permission to “be rude” and keep walking.
Another myth to be dispelled is the
idea that telling a child not to “wander
off” in a crowded store is adequate. Tell
your child to stay with you but also tell
your child what to do if she accidentally
becomes separated or lost. Instruct your
child about a meeting place or to look for
that woman with a child. If children are
old enough, they should know your cell
phone number.
Any of our children can face a challenging situation. The simple directives
parents give to children can be a safety
net. Use everyday life and day-to-day opportunities that naturally occur as teachable moments in an on-going dialogue
rather than having that one big talk.
A sad reality is that there probably will
never be a world where childhood sexual
abuse ceases to exist, despite reports of
declining rates in the United States. For
adult survivors, society’s attachment to
myths rather than realities can fuel continuing pain.
Perhaps most devastating of all is the
belief that as an adult one can simply get
over or bury what occurred and move on.
In reality, the effects of childhood sexual
abuse are long lasting and devastating.
Most sex offenders are people that children know, love and trust. Childhood
sexual abuse rarely happens as a single
incident. As the Penn State story unfolded, it was revealed that most victimization spanned many years and victims
were carefully set up by their predator.
The overwhelming majority of children
are truthful in reporting their abuse, but
many adult survivors keep their secret in
shame and isolation well into adulthood.
It is not uncommon in our mental health
practice to encounter survivors who continue to blame themselves for not being
able to stop the abuse, forgetting they
were children when these acts occurred.
Often in these situations, we suggest to
adult survivors that they bring in a picture of themselves as a child to see how
young and vulnerable they were.
Earlier we referred to the decline in
the rates of childhood sexual abuse being reported. Some of the decline, according to Dr. David Finklehor, director
of the Crimes Against Children Research
Center in New Hampshire, may be due
to greater awareness, training and education. If there is good news, it is that victims are more willing to come forward
and society is more apt to believe them.
Even if the overall rate has decreased,
one in four girls and one in six boys is
still simply unacceptable.
This second article continues to convey the message that victims of childhood sexual abuse can become heroes
and heroines of their own life. A third
and final article, “Stranger danger and
other myths” will provide education
about signs and symptoms of abuse as
well as resources for survivors.
Geraldine Greene, LCSW is the executive director of Scarsdale § Edgemont
Family Counseling Service. Donna Silbert, Ph.D., is a psychologist in private
practice in New York City.
DEAR POPHAM ROAD BRIDGE:
Happy you’re back, but what took you so long?
By RON BINDAY
So what shall we call it? The bridge to
forever? The bridge that time forgot?
How about the bridge whose troubled,
behind schedule, way-over-budget reconstruction all of Scarsdale would like
to forget?
It, of course, is the Popham Road
Bridge, right in the middle of the village, over the train tracks, and central to
the daily lives of so many local people.
We often hear about how our infrastructure in the United States is crumbling and needs to be rehabilitated.
You’ll get no argument about that from
most area residents, who don’t want
their cars damaged by a faulty roadway
or to walk across an unsafe structure on
their way to Metro-North. We’ve been
on many of New York’s highways and
byways and seen the sad shape that
they’re in.
And certainly none of us want a local
Mianus — the Greenwich I-95 bridge
disaster coming up on its 30th anniversary this June.
But does it have to be so hard to re-
build a little bridge in a quiet village?
Stories of this project’s travails have
been nonstop since early 2010 when the
work began, and was supposed to be finished less than two years later at a cost
of about $16 million.
We lived through weekend road closures, daily noise and dirt. Merchants
found their stores in the village making
less money, while drivers spent more on
gas to take longer routes around the construction.
Right in front of our Advocate Brokerage offices, we watched stalled, bumperto-bumper traffic stretch from the village
along Scarsdale Avenue as far as the eye
could see every time they closed lanes
for bridge work.
OK, you have to break some eggs to
make an omelet, but you do it carefully
and thoughtfully to keep shards of shell
out of the process. In the case of the Popham Road Bridge, we found that a lot
of the cooks were making mistakes, not
talking to the other cooks, and taking
far too long to deliver the finished plate.
Let’s hope that nothing on it comes back
to bite us.
It has been a long haul. How uncomforting was it to hear in the autumn of
2011, as the bridge construction was
originally supposed to be wrapping up,
that it would take at least another year,
and go at least 10 percent over budget?
“Delays are due to certain unknown
field conditions resulting in additional
work and general coordination issues
between all of the agencies involved in
the project,” we read in a Scarsdale Village Report at that time.
Let’s face it. “Unknown field conditions” means that somebody hadn’t done
their homework; “general coordination
issues” means that people weren’t playing nice together.
There should have been a responsible
adult in the room, but I guess there really wasn’t.
So the lanes are finally open, the roadblocks and detours gone, and with little
fanfare the new Popham Road Bridge
is in business. That there was no great
ribbon-cutting, no cake shaped like the
bridge, probably makes sense, because
there’s little to celebrate about the way
this job was handled.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy the
bridge is fully functional again, and I’m
sure that most of Scarsdale and Edgemont share the feeling.
But guess what: The county is rebuilding yet another bridge that is crumbling
— the Bronx River Parkway northbound
Crane Road exit ramp, and we’ve been
told it will result in the exit being closed
in both directions.
What does this mean? Southbound
drivers heading for the Village of Scarsdale will have to bypass Crane Road
as well as the next exit, Ardsley Road,
which is a no left turn, so no access
into town. From the Harney Road exit,
all traffic will once again be forced to
loop around on Scarsdale Avenue, going
2 miles or so out of its way, and essentially cutting off village business district
from shoppers who wish to visit.
We hope that before the next phase
of the Crane Road Bridge project begins there will be a lot of tough questions asked, and satisfactory answers
required, lest another civic “improvement” becomes the bridge that destroyed
Scarsdale.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013/THE SCARSDALE INQUIRER/PAGE 7
Perspectives on Technology
Focal Points
Peter Spitz
Sandy: The long and the short of global warming
The disastrous flooding that caused
over $50 billion of damage to the East
Coast gave us a taste of the dangers
lurking ahead as the world continues
to emit huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Before Sandy,
we had already seen ocean water levels rise by inches at several coastlines
and were very much aware of melting
glaciers and dramatic climate changes.
With Sandy, we saw what the world may
be up against if and when sea levels rise
very substantially, as some scientists
have predicted. This has, of course, also
caused President Obama to address the
issue of climate change in his inaugural
address.
Is warming really the result of massive
amounts of carbon-trapping solar heat
and warming the planet? An interesting
article in the October 2011 issue of National Geographic magazine reported on
research carried out by Carnegie Institute and University of Michigan scientists in Montana’s Bighorn Basin (also
discussed in National Science Foundation publications). Analysis of rock formations led these scientists to gain information about an event at the end of
the Paleocene period when over several
hundred thousand years an extremely
large amount of carbon was thrown up
into the atmosphere. This occurrence
eventually warmed the earth by an estimated 9 to 16 degrees Fahrenheit, melting all of the polar ice and causing the
oceans to rise by many feet. The source
of the carbon was unclear, but was most
likely attributed to methane hydrates of
the type found today under the Arctic
and the seafloor. Volcano eruptions and/
or a shift in the earth’s orbit (closer to the
sun) may have facilitated the melting of
these hydrates, with release of methane
that turned into carbon dioxide. (The scientists did not speculate whether, in the
case of a shift in the orbit, the warming
was due to that rather than the carbon
dioxide.) The carbon in the atmosphere
was reabsorbed over thousands of years,
coming down to low levels, before it recently started to rise again.
In 2008, mean carbon dioxide in our
atmosphere was at 380 parts per million
(ppm) and it is now at 395 ppm. The
researchers estimated that the earlier
rises in carbon dioxide levels.
Over the next 50 to 100 years, storms
such as Hurricane Sandy should eventually cause all countries to take dramatic
steps to limit carbon emissions and
perhaps even to absorb carbon already
in the atmosphere (such technology is
available). This could also involve development of more efficient and less
expensive forms of “green” energy. But
what do we do in the meantime as more
Sandys occur?
As far as U.S. carbon emissions are
concerned, there are good reasons why
we should take steps to reduce carbon
burning even if that does not have a
large global impact. Firstly, we should
strive to reduce fossil fuel use. The new
automobile MPG goals are an important
step in this direction. Secondly, while
reducing our coal burning power plant
emissions will do little to keep global
carbon levels from rising, reduction of
pollution, often containing toxic gases,
has major local quality-of-living benefits.
But we will experience more and
more flooding for the rest of the century.
Sandy has shown us how vulnerable we
are and all the discussions and potential
actions about greenhouse gas emissions
will not help a lot. Therefore, serious
steps should be taken to protect key
parts of the coastline from devastating
flooding. The Netherlands, Singapore
and other parts of the world long threatened by flooding have already addressed
this problem and we can learn from their
experience. New York’s subway system
and the low lying areas near Battery
Park need to be protected and power
lines made less vulnerable. It would also
make sense for new housing construction to take place on higher ground —
just the opposite of what has been happening in New York City.
Let’s see whether Congress and the
states will start to take some steps to
deal with both the short- and long-term
problem.
massive carbon release raised levels to
around 1500 ppm(!). Fossil fuel burning has thrown up more than 300 billion tons of carbon since the start of the
industrial revolution. The researchers
have estimated that the Paleocene event
released about 10 times as much carbon,
equivalent to burning as carbon dioxide
all of the currently estimated remaining
global coal, oil and gas reserves.
Will the U.S. and the rest of the world
take actions to slow the release of carbon? Most people agree that this will be
difficult to achieve politically. The U.S.
is currently responsible for about 20
Over the next 50 to
100 years, storms such
as Hurricane Sandy
should eventually cause
all countries to take
dramatic steps to limit
carbon emissions and
perhaps even to absorb
carbon already in the
atmosphere.
percent of total releases, about the same
amount as China, though we are slowing
our release, as power plants have shifted to burn more natural gas and as the
most highly polluting plants are being
shut down. Europe is actually releasing
more than before (in spite of the Kyoto
Protocol), as some nuclear plants have
been shut and as coal and lignite have
become much cheaper than natural gas
or oil. China and India are building more
and more coal-burning plants. So, even
if Congress passes legislation covering a
cap-and-trade or carbon tax bill (highly
unlikely), global greenhouse gas emissions will, no doubt, continue for many
years to come, with consequent steady
Peter Spitz of Fox Meadow has spent
most of his career in the chemical and
energy industries. He publishes a blog
(chemengineeringposts.com) that covers
chemical and energy-related subjects.
Todd Sliss
Should women be permitted to serve in combat positions for the United States armed forces?
Sandy Bernabei: Yes, because if we
want equity, we need to give equitably. We should serve in every capacity and every opportunity according to
our ability. If a woman is not able to
be in combat, there are many ways to
serve. If she is able and wants to, she
should be allowed it. If we want equity
we really have to demonstrate what that
looks like. We can’t pick and choose.
Tamara Krivo: Yes, why not? We have
equal rights in this country, so if they
want to they should be able to. Women
are striving to be independent and this
would be part of that in this country.
There are a lot of pros and cons and
people cannot get together to reach
the same answers, so it takes so long.
That’s the problem. It’s politics. Whenever politics are involved, everybody is
going to have an opinion.
Tim Palmieri: No. Unfortunately I’m
a traditionalist and I just don’t believe
they should be on the front line. I believe women should have equality in
the business world and at home, but
this would be a little too extreme, in
my opinion. I’m sure they could handle
the situation, but I’m more traditional.
In that environment and under those
circumstances I’d rather see men out
there. On the homefront women can do
just as much.
Julie Bordwin: Of course. There’s no
reason not to. They’re equally capable.
I don’t understand why they wouldn’t
be. I think it would actually help with
the sexual harassment issue. If men are
serving with them they’ll have to behave as equals with them so therefore
they won’t look at them as sexual objects. It takes so long for things like this
to happen because we’re like dinosaurs
and people are very prejudiced.
Jonathan Estabrooks: Absolutely. I
don’t think there really should be a differentiation. I think if at the end of the
day people are willing to serve the country and do it honorably and go through
the process of training like everybody
else, I don’t see why they shouldn’t
be allowed to do so. Maybe we’ve finally reached a point where leadership
is coming around to realize the importance of equality on all fronts.
Christine Malkames: I think if they really desire, yes, but personally I would
say no, which I know is a weird thing
to say. I know I’m not being politically
correct, but I think it makes us more
vulnerable. Wars shouldn’t even exist
anymore, but because of the cultures
we clash with and fight with we have
them. [Our enemies] would think they
could attack easier with women in the
front. These people have no regard for
human life anyway.
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PAGE 8/THE SCARSDALE INQUIRER/FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013
Edgemont/Hartsdale
g
Briefs
Senior living law stirs concern over future litigation
BY DEBBIE ANDERS
School board candidates
The Edgemont School Board
Nominating Committee has accepted
letters of recommendation for four
Edgemont residents to fill three
upcoming vacancies on the school
board: David Chao, David Stern,
Judy Seiff and Michael Bianchi.
Both Chao and Stern were recommended for second terms on the
board; Seiff of Fort Hill Road and
Bianchi of Sherwood Place were
recommended for first terms.
The SBNC is looking for comments from Edgemont residents
about the candidates. All comments
must be attributable and will be
kept confidential within the SBNC.
Anonymous submissions will not be
accepted.
Comments should be submitted
by March 1 in writing to Monica
Sganga, SBNC Chairman, 350 Evandale Road, Scarsdale, NY 10583 or
monica.at.ecc@gmail.com.
‘The Secret Garden’
The Edgemont Teachers Association will provide complimentary
tickets to Edgemont senior citizens
for the opening night performance
of “The Secret Garden” at Edgemont
High School, Thursday, March 14, at
7 p.m. Transportation is available.
“The Secret Garden” will run
Thursday through Saturday, March
14-16 in the Edgemont High School
auditorium. Reserved seats cost $20
and can be purchased at the door or
in advance by sending a check payable to Edgemont Student Activity
Fund. Ticket forms are available in
the high school front office. Proceeds
from the opening night performance
will benefit the Edgemont Scholarship Council.
For complimentary senior citizen
tickets contact Ellen Greenstein at
472-2037; for all other information
contact Rick Cantatore at 472-7760
Ext. 2240.
School calendar update
Due to school closures caused by
Hurricane Sandy, Edgemont schools
will have makeup days on Mondays,
March 25 and April 1. Both dates
were originally scheduled as part of
the spring recess.
PHOTO BY STAN RUBIN
GNC exhibit
The Greenburgh Nature Center
presents “Painting With a Camera
by Stan Rubin” Saturday, March
2 through Sunday, April 28 at the
GNC.
Using stained glass, antique glass
filters, montage and multiple exposure techniques, and both film and
digital processes, Stan Rubin’s goal
in his photography is “to make people see nature and other parts of life
in a different way.” He has exhibited
at the GNC and also in Jerusalem.
A reception will be held Saturday,
April 6, from 2-4 p.m. For more
information go to www.greenburghnaturecenter.org or call 723-3470.
Book club
The Greenburgh Public Library’s
Convivial Book Club will discuss
“Love in the Time of Cholera,” by
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Wednesday,
March 13, at 7 p.m. in the Greenburgh Public Library, 300 Tarrytown
Road, Elmsford. The club is free and
open to all adults. For more information, call 721-8225.
Edgemont attorney Bob Bernstein
pleaded with the Greenburgh Town
Board to rescind a building permit
amendment they passed, saying the
amendment would set the stage for future lawsuits against the town. “Take it
off the agenda, think it through again,
and be sure of what you’re doing,” Bernstein said.
In response to allegations that it discriminated against low-income Medicaid
recipients in criteria imposed on Brightview Senior Living, the board reversed
its previous position and said it would
allow permits for facilities that accept
Medicaid.
But the town’s recent legislation added
an escape clause that says the board “has
the right to deny permits to facilities if
they have an adverse impact upon the
town.” At the Feb. 13 meeting, Bernstein
said the amendment is still designed to
exclude tax-exempt Medicaid facilities,
was a dangerous pretext and would get
the town into trouble in the same way that
the Fortress Bible lawsuit had. “You’ve
created legislation that is a mechanism
for a lawsuit,” Bernstein told the board.
“Every town that gets into trouble says
MONDAY, FEB. 25
Edgemont Association meeting, high
school faculty lounge, 8 p.m.
TUESDAY, FEB. 26
BOE meeting, high school LGI, 8:15 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 27
Greenburgh Town Board meeting, town
hall auditorium, 7:30 p.m.
Edgemont rec meeting, Greenville faculty room, 8 p.m.
MONDAY, MARCH 4
Edgemont Community Council, high
school faculty lounge, 8 p.m.
Affordable housing bid
On behalf of the Edgemont Community Council, president Geoff Loftus called
on the town board to accept a bid from
a senior-residence builder, Community
Housing Innovations Inc., to develop
affordable housing at the abandoned
WestHELP shelter in Valhalla. While the
town has already accepted a bid from
Ferncliff Manor — a residential and educational facility for handicapped children that would provide the town with
$500,000 a year — CHI would fulfill
the town’s lease requirements for affordable housing, provide $3 million worth
of renovations and $350,000 annually to
the town. The Ferncliff and CHI proposals were among six received by the town
in December and the two that would pay
the town the most money.
Although Loftus did not bring up the
Valhalla School District, which had opposed WestHELP from the start, Town
Supervisor Paul Feiner said Valhalla’s
opposition to WestHELP was no different from Edgemont’s opposition to the
proposed Dromore Road development.
“What’s the difference between what
Edgemont wants — which is no apartments — and Valhalla? Shouldn’t we be
treating all the communities the same?”
Feiner said he was concerned about any
school district being overburdened.
Loftus shot back that Edgemont Community Council did not reject multifamily housing in a multifamily zone, but
disputes a multifamily complex in a
single-family residential zone. “You’re
just flat incorrect,” he said. “We have
900 apartments in Edgemont. It creates
economic diversity and we like it. What
we want you to do is enforce your own
laws.” Loftus pointed out an overriding
issue with WestHELP is that the town
forfeited $1 million
in annual
income from the county for the Wes-
tHELP property, which has been vacant
and deteriorating for almost 18 months.
The need for affordable housing in
Greenburgh hit home for some when
Barry Himmelstein, a 77-year-old homeless man, died in his van at the Midway Shopping Center in Edgemont on
Jan. 22. In an opinion published in the
Inquirer Feb. 8, Bernstein questioned
whether affordable housing might have
offered Himmelstein an alternative to the
circumstances under which he died.
Library
The town amended the 2013 budget
to include an increase in the Greenburgh
Public Library’s operating budget, using
the library’s fund balance to extend the
library’s hours of operation.
Town attorney Tim Lewis said issues
with the library’s climate control were
being addressed and that the contractors “are going to do whatever it takes
to correct the problems in heating and
cooling.”
Town withdraws lease
After months of controversy, lawsuits
and speculation over ground contamination, Greenburgh officially withdrew its
proposed 15-year lease of the abandoned
Frank’s Nursery property on Dobbs
Ferry Road to Game On 365. A county
law stipulates that land acquired by the
town in a foreclosure, as is the case
with Frank’s, must be sold, not leased.
The town plans to sell the 7-acre parcel. Game On offered last month to buy
the property outright for $1.65 million,
while House of Sports, which operates
an indoor sports facility in Ardsley, offered the town $3.5 million.
Townwide revaluation
Town assessor Edye McCarthy will
seek bids from companies to conduct
a townwide revaluation. She will meet
with officials to discuss a joint revaluation effort with other municipalities and
will make a presentation to the League of
Women Voters of Westchester about the
project Wednesday, March 20, at 7 p.m.
in the New Rochelle City Hall Council
Chamber, 515 North Ave.
Memorial
A moment of silence was held in
memory of Joseph Kelley, an Edgemont
resident and an 18-year veteran of the
Hartsdale Fire District who had been
deputy fire chief. Kelley died of alcohol
poisoning on Jan. 30. He was 48.
FROM GRADE MOM TO TEACHER TO
Edgemont’s Teacher of the Year
By DEBBIE ANDERS
For Pat D’Agostino, receiving Edgemont’s 2013 Teacher of the Year
award is a joyous reminder of how
right it can be to follow one’s true
calling.
Beaming with pride, she is grateful
because the award comes from educators whom she has admired and respected during her 19-year career, and
from those who have known her years
before she even became a teacher.
D’Agostino, who is almost 65, attended high school in Virginia before
enrolling at Baldwin Wallace College Conservatory of Music outside
of Cleveland, majoring in opera. Her
career as a singer looked promising
as she qualified in several rounds of
regional vocal contests sponsored by
the New York Metropolitan Opera
and was invited to perform and study
in Europe. “My dream was to sing at
La Scala,” she said.
But opera, surprisingly, can be a
very solitary profession, she said,
because vocalists must avoid talking
to preserve their voices. D’Agostino
said this was hard because “I love to
talk.” She decided she was not cut out
for the life of an opera singer, with its
demanding schedules and travel itineraries.
After college, she taught middle
school music in Ohio and then moved
with her first husband to White Plains,
where he went to work for the district attorney’s office while the couple
started a family. They divorced and
D’Agostino moved to Edgemont with
her two young boys. “Even then I had
heard of the excellence of the schools,
and we moved so that Chris, the eldest, could begin kindergarten in Edgemont.”
D’Agostino had started modeling
and acting in high school but hadn’t
pursued it as an adult. She worked as a
commercial print model in New York
City, gracing a box of Raisin Bran cereal and the Sta-Puff fabric softener
bottle, “much to my father’s pride —
he walked around with the label in his
pocket for a while,” she said — and
did some local and national commercials as well. “I found it lucrative, but
unfulfilling, and I missed working
with kids.”
In the 1980’s D’Agostino met and
married her husband, Nick, a restaurateur who had run Chase Landing,
“I was fascinated
by shared inquiry,
the idea that you’re
not really teaching,
you’re learning
along with them.”
— Pat D’Agostino
SCARSDALE INQUIRER/JIM MACLEAN
Teacher of the Year, Pat D’Agostino
in what is now the Julia B. Fee-Sotheby’s International Realty office in
Scarsdale, and subsequently Heathcote Tavern on Weaver Street. He is
now a freelance photographer.
While her eldest son, Chris, attended
elementary school, she, like so many
other parents, was active in Edgemont
schools, becoming a grade parent and
the president of the PTA; she had also
volunteered in literacy programs in
White Plains and was a trained facilitator for the Junior League of Central
Westchester. “Looking back, I see that
I was already headed toward teaching
as an avocation, if not as a vocation
yet,” she said.
It was her enthusiasm about working with young readers as a parent
leader of the Great Books reading program, a beloved staple in the district
for decades, that inspired D’Agostino.
“I was fascinated by shared inquiry,
the idea that you’re not really teaching, you’re learning along with them.
It opens up a whole range of discus-
sion. When we were learning together, they’re not even aware that they’re
with adults in the room, and they kind
of surge forward.”
The D’Agostinos had a second son
and a third, who had exhibited signs
of learning delays that would require
early intervention. She worked with
her son, educating herself as she consulted with teachers about research
and methods to teach language development and alternative ways children
can learn.
Around the same time, Seely
Place principal Ed Kennedy made
D’Agostino an offer. “He said ‘you
would make a great teacher.’ I said,
‘Really, Ed? Would you hire me if I
became a teacher?’ and he said, ‘Absolutely, Pat.’”
That sealed the deal. D’Agostino
attended Manhattanville College’s
immersion program, taking 25-30
credits a semester, attending school at
night, and earning a master’s degree
in professional studies in regular edu-
cation and a degree in K-12 special
education. It took her two and a half
years. She student taught in Edgemont and Rye, where the family later
moved and, inspired by her youngest
son, became experienced in resource
room and special education instruction. When she completed her degree,
Kennedy made good on his promise.
D’Agostino has taught fifth-grade
social studies since 2000 (her grade
is co-taught with Timothy Beale and
Sandra Capuano, who teach units in
science and math) and clearly enjoys
children this age. She showed the Inquirer paper bag journals with handles that students crafted and wrote
in about the adventures of Lewis and
Clark.
She is happy teaching in one of the
largest classrooms in the addition at
Seely Place. Her heartfelt enthusiasm
for the profession is contagious. “It’s
all about communication, and about
getting kids to be able to teach the
material themselves.” She said educa-
tion is a challenge every day. “It never
goes exactly as planned. You don’t
want to get too married to the curriculum. Some days you have to go with
the flow.” When that happens, another
challenge is fitting in all of the needs
of the curriculum.
D’Agostino described what helps
children grow. “It’s all about risk,”
she said, “making them feel safe, especially in a competitive district like
Edgemont. You’ve got to celebrate effort and create an environment where
they are comfortable.” During a superintendent’s conference, an expert
from Math In Focus told D’Agostino,
“Never tell them what the right answer is,” she said, adding, “It’s totally
about the process.” She often asks her
class to see how many ways they can
come up with to study.
When asked about recent cutbacks in co-instruction in Edgemont,
D’Agostino said many issues factor
into the success of co-taught classes
and much depends on the personalities, circumstances and learning dynamics of the students in the group.
D’Agostino is ebullient, effervescent and looks a good 10 years
younger than her age. “I used to get
carded in my 30s,” she said. Her sons
are now 38, 35 and 26 and she has two
young granddaughters.
She loves the precision and the
multipart harmonies of Bach and believes that the repetition and cadence
of music can also help students learn,
citing an instance when her students
performed better while listening to
Mozart.
D’Agostino told the Inquirer that although she studied opera, “my mother
always said I should be a teacher.”
Mother was right.
Door-to-door solicitors worry residents in Greenville area
By DEBBIE ANDERS
Datebook
‘we didn’t intend to do anything pretextual,’ but the guy whose application is
denied sees it otherwise. You’re making
a terrible mistake.”
In addition to amending the permit
agreement, Greenburgh modified the
residential zoning designation of the
4.9-acre property on Tarrytown Road to
accommodate Brightview. The action allows the company to proceed with its application to build a three-level, 100-bedroom senior citizen housing complex.
All members of the town council, except for Diana Juettner, voted in favor of
the zoning and permit amendments.
A man described as looking “homeless” was seen pushing a baby carriage
near Longview and Glendale roads in
Edgemont Monday, Feb.
18 around 12:30 p.m.
and placing small bags
of Ghirardelli chocolates
and coupons on the front
doors of homes throughout the area.
Police interviewed the 65-year-old
Brooklyn man who said he works for a
company called DCD in Brooklyn. Police told him that he needed a permit to
solicit door to door and asked him to
leave. The woman who picked him up
told police that she also worked for the
same company and had dropped off sev-
Police
Blotter
eral solicitors throughout the area. Police
repeated the town’s soliciting policy to
the woman. She said she would pick up
the other solicitors in the area.
Dental dispute
Staff workers at an Edgemont dentist’s office told police on Tuesday,
Feb. 12 around 4 p.m. that a patient, a
78-year-old Yonkers woman, refused to
pay for her dental work because she said
the office advertised free consultations.
The dentist applied cement to her dental
bridge for $200 and took X-rays, but the
patient said she never agreed to a specific cost for the work.
The dentist took her cell phone until
she paid him and told police that the visit
went beyond a consultation because of
the services he provided. He said the pa-
tient “could take him to civil court” for
her cell phone. Police told the dentist he
should bill the woman for the disputed
charge and return the cell phone, which
he did. The woman paid the dentist $50
cash and would be billed for the remaining portion of the charge.
at 80 miles per hour after nearly sideswiping a police patrol car. Police officers followed the speeder for a tenth of
a mile before they stopped him near the
entrance ramp on Jackson Avenue. They
issued the driver four traffic tickets and
instructed him to return to town court.
Reckless driver
Criminal mischief
Police pulled over a 22-year-old
Bronx man on Jackson Avenue near the
Edgemont entrance to the Sprain Brook
Parkway for multiple traffic violations,
Wednesday, Feb. 13, at around 2:30
p.m.
The man was seen driving a 1998
BMW south on the Sprain Brook Parkway over the speed limit while changing
lanes, cutting off other drivers without
signaling, and continuing to drive south
A 17-year-old Edgemont boy called
police to report that someone had
scratched the front and rear doors and a
side rear window of his 2007 Honda Friday, Feb. 15, at around 10 p.m. while it
was parked outside of his friend’s house
on Old Lane.
He believes that another 17-year-old
Edgemont boy did the damage to his
car because he had several confrontations with him in the past and because
the suspect was told he was not wanted
at the boy’s house. The owner of the car
noticed the damage immediately after
the confrontation. There were no witnesses and police were unable to contact
the suspect.
Suspicious man
A 27-year-old man who works at the
Shell Station on Central Avenue in Edgemont reported a suspicious person on
the premises Wednesday, Feb. 13 around
3:30 p.m. The man came into the store
and asked the worker how to get to
Scarsdale. The same man came into the
station the day before at the same time
and asked the same question. The man
then walked through the store, looked
around and left. Police investigated the
area.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013/THE SCARSDALE INQUIRER/PAGE 9
Daughter enlists filmmakers to chronicle mom’s trip ‘back’ home
Continued from page 1
was determined to “buck it,” Broyd said.
After all, she had been president of the
Junior League and president of the Tampa Arts Council. She was capable, socially active and interested in the world
around her. She had spent part of her
childhood in Brazil and traveled all over
the world. She was adored by her family and had a wide circle of friends. The
suggestion that she was losing it at age
78 was not acceptable. “She thought by
calling on the bonds of trust and love it
would conquer everything,” said Broyd.
Betty-Ann’s husband died by her side
in 2010 after several months of hospice
care for congestive heart failure. BettyAnn was confused but never lost her
Southern manners. “Her social side was
more intact than any other side of her,”
said Broyd. “She greeted everyone with
a smile and thanked them for coming
but she kept saying, ‘Why didn’t anyone tell me Bobby was dead?’”
After her father’s death it was clear to
Broyd that she had to move her mother
up North: “She couldn’t stay there in a
five-bedroom house with four caregivers — the logistics and cost were unbelievable.” But Betty-Ann was already
anxious — sometimes she didn’t realize
she was home and demanded to be taken there. But whatever else she didn’t
know, she was positive she didn’t want
to be “put in a home.”
So Broyd devised a clever way to
get her mother to move: a road trip that
would meander through many places
in the South that had special meaning
for Betty-Ann — where she and Bobby
had courted, where they spent family
vacations, where they visited relatives.
Broyd hoped seeing these places would
trigger buried memories and reconnect
her mother with her past.
“I talked it up — going on a trip was
resonant with her. She loved trips more
than anything else — she and my father
lived for vacations,” said Broyd. She
timed the conclusion of the trip to coincide with the opening of the Kensington, a new assisted living facility next to
White Plains Hospital.
Then Broyd had another brainstorm
— why not film the journey?
Through Hitchcock Presbyterian
Church where she sings in the choir and
is executive director of the New Choral Society, Broyd got in touch with
Rachel Kondo in Los Angeles, wife of
Hitchcock member Justin Marks, who
she’d heard was interested in making
documentaries. They rounded up a crew
but at the last minute the filmmaker
canceled. Geoff Browne of Boundless
Light Productions stepped up to the
plate. It seemed “not quite as intense” as
the assignments he was used to in places
like Nepal and Nigeria, but Browne was
intrigued by the idea of “going down
memory lane with a lady who has almost no memory anymore.”
On the road
And so they departed Tampa on May
28, 2011 — Broyd, her mother, filmmakers Browne and Kondo, and BettyAnn’s dog Echo. They hoped to get to
White Plains in time for the grand opening of the Kensington, in White Plains
July 13, which was to be Betty-Ann’s
new home.
“I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” said Broyd. “I had not spent
24/7 time with my mother helping her
do everything, taking over for all the
helpers she had at home, plus having
a camera in my face when I was sobbing.” But “Geoff and Rachel were the
two most perfect people for the job.”
Though they met each other only 24
hours before the start of the road trip,
they worked well together and were
invaluable help in moving Betty-Ann
smoothly from one place to another.
Browne and Kondo patiently explained what was going on to BettyAnn as many times as necessary. “Rachel and Geoff learned early on when
to chime in so I didn’t have to answer
for the 15th time,” Broyd said. “They
kissed her and hugged her — she
beamed when they were around. She’d
say, ‘What’s this all about?’ I’d say ‘It’s
for the movie, Mom — we’re going to
Hollywood again.’”
“I loved taking part and helping,
though it’s a tricky thing,” said Browne.
“A good documentarian has to pull back
[from the action]. Sometimes I’d have
to stand back and watch them struggle.
Betty-Ann was very frail.”
Kondo had no previous experience
making a documentary film. “BettyAnn was always kind,” she said, “then
all of a sudden she would forget where
we were. She’d get confused, it ignited
the fear mechanism and spiraled into
a crying fit. It was so hard to watch. I
haven’t spent that much time around
elderly people, let alone someone who
was sick, so I had to stifle my own fears
while trying to figure out what I was
supposed to be doing. I wanted to comfort Betty-Ann, hold her hand, embrace
her. Geoff had to swat me away — I was
supposed to let things take their course
as if I wasn’t there.”
In the short piece he is editing, Browne
said, he and Kondo are not characters.
This posed some challenges in addition
to the emotional scenes, because BettyAnn would frequently “break the fourth
wall” and ask Browne and Kondo how
they were, or if they had had lunch yet.
“It was that Southern hospitality. But it
jumps out too much. Our feeling was
that we should not put ourselves into
it,” Browne said.
Most people with impaired memory
can remember things from long ago, so
Broyd and her mother and the film crew
drove to Atlanta, where the Jordans lived
after they were married in 1955. They
stopped to see an old family friend and
eat chili dogs and fried pies at Varsity
Drive, “the largest drive-in in America.”
The nervous manager called the police
to try and stop them from filming but
backed off when Browne explained that
it was not a commercial project.
Waking one morning in Bristol,
Tenn., Browne wanted to get some footage of Betty-Ann opening the curtains
and looking out the window. He kept
asking her to open the curtains and look
out one more time. “This is the silliest
thing I’ve ever done!” Betty-Ann told
her daughter. “Are you sure he knows
what he’s doing?”
The trip was interesting to the filmmakers, not only because of the personalities and relationship of Broyd and
her mother, but also because neither
Browne nor Kondo had ever been in the
American South. Kondo, who grew up
in Hawaii, was charmed by the “deeply
rooted traditions” of the South.
Browne said, “Everyone was so nice.
I got to see these authentic Southern
homes, eat pulled pork and beans, grits
with gravy and sausage. We’d have
gimlets every night. Now I drink them
in honor of Betsy and Betty-Ann.”
“It was one of my favorite shoots,
such a blast,” he continued. “Betsy is
such a great, fun-spirited person and
the journey was so inspiring, that she’d
take this challenge on.”
The foursome drove to Wildcat Cliffs
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“She’s a
very proper
person.
A couple of
times she
cried and
said she
wanted to go
home. It tore
my heart
out.”
— Betsy Broyd
Betty-Ann on her trans-country drive.
Country Club in Highlands, N.C.,
where Betty-Ann’s parents had summered for about 20 years and stopped
in Virginia to see cousins and old family
friends. They checked in to the Greenbriar in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.,
where the Jordans used to play golf every year.
Betty-Ann remembered the places
and people, but not always for long. At
one cousin’s house she became so anxious they had to leave early, Broyd said.
“It was hard because her cousin was
excited to see her and they wanted us
to stay.” In larger groups, Broyd had to
“constantly orchestrate for Mom” and
stay attuned to her mother’s emotional
state.
“The presence of the filmmakers kept
me honest,” she said. “I had a reason to
be strong and confident — plus I needed their help!”
Broyd had to cut up her mother’s food
and put it on a fork for her, which was
embarrassing to Betty-Ann. “She’s a
very proper person,” her daughter said.
”A couple of times she cried and said
she wanted to go home. It tore my heart
out.”
A new home
Broyd grew more uneasy as they got
closer to New York. When they arrived
at her home in Scarsdale she found out
that the Kensington was not going to
open on schedule. By the second week it
became evident that it was not just a few
days’ delay. “I was emotionally drained
and second guessing every decision,”
said Broyd. She consulted Kathie Nitz,
a caregiver coach who “coached me
out of the fear that I’d screwed up and
helped me with my feelings of guilt and
overwhelming responsibility. I learned
that I was doing the right thing for the
right reasons. But I’m a reluctant caregiver — I’d rather just be my mother’s
daughter.”
Browne was so devoted to the story
that he cut short a family vacation in the
south of France when Kondo contacted
him to say that Betty-Ann was ready to
move into the Kensington. He hopped
on a plane, but when he got to New
York, found out the facility would not
open for another two weeks. When the
move finally took place, he and Kondo
were on hand to film it.
Broyd said moving day, Sept. 2 was
“the hardest day of my life. My mother
said, ‘I think I know what you’re doing.
Please don’t do this to me. This is one of
those bad places.’ My mother grew up
with the rhetoric ‘Don’t ever put your
mother in a home.’” Betty-Ann felt betrayed.
“Staff and I decided there should be
someone with her during all waking
hours,” Broyd said. “I said, ‘Let’s give
it a try,’ and eventually the complaints
tapered off.” By October, Betty-Ann
had adjusted, and stopped panicking
when having to return to the Kensington after an outing. She enjoys happy
hour at the bar every evening, though
she is aware that all the other residents
are older than she is, and most use walkers to get around. Broyd is happy with
the care her mother is receiving: “It’s
the crème de la crème of places — they
adopt care to your needs.”
With patience, love and help from
others, Broyd too learned to adapt to
her mother’s condition. “Betsy was determined to give this gift to her mother,”
Kondo said, referring to the trip down
memory lane. “But she had to rewrite
her expectations a bit — to almost say
goodbye and meet her mother where
she is now. It makes me think about my
own mother and her aging process.”
Browne hopes the film will have the
same effect on others, noting that a
friend who saw it was moved to take her
elderly mother on a trip to Ireland. He
thinks the story of Betty-Ann and her
daughter could “inspire people to live in
the present” as Betty-Ann does, albeit
not by choice.
“Betsy learned so much on the trip
about being able to let go and enjoy the
moment,” Browne said, “rather than
keep on trying to ignite the sparks of
pleasure from the past.”
PAGE 10/THE SCARSDALE INQUIRER/FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013