Westchester County Volunteer Firemen Association Convention Parade on Saturday

Parade Date: 
Saturday, September 15, 2018 - 3:00pm

Dobbs Ferry FD and Ardsley FD will be co-hosting the 112th annual Westchester County Volunteer Fireman's Association Convention. 

The dress parade for the event will take place on Saturday, September 15th beginning at 3:00 p.m. at Ashford Avenue at Price Street.  The Parade will proceed down Ashford Avenue, to Cedar Street, to Main Street and conclude at Waterfront Park.

Please note the following street closures during the time of the parade:
The Gateway will be shut down for probably 1.5 hours to allow all of the apparatus/trucks/etc to go by. This is at Broadway/Ashford/Cedar, causing very little to no traffic to get through from Hastings to Irvington

Ashford will be closed from Broadway to Price Street most of the afternoon, so people coming off the Saw Mill will all need to reroute through side streets or turn around

Parking along Main and Cedar will be restricted from noon-6pm (possibly earlier if the parade finishes earlier)

Parking along Livingstone will be restricted as well (for residents, who the WCVFA apparently is notifying ahead of time)

September 11th - In Memorium

8:46 a.m. and 9:02 a.m. 
Time the burning towers stood: 56 minutes and 102 minutes. 
Time they took to fall: 12 seconds. 
Total number killed in attacks: 2,819
Number of firefighters and paramedics killed: 343
Number of NYPD officers: 23
Number of Port Authority police officers: 37
Number of employees who died in Tower One: 1,402
Number of employees who died in Tower Two: 614
Number of nations whose citizens were killed in attacks: 115
Age of the greatest number who died: between 35 and 39
Bodies found "intact": 289
Body parts found: 19,858
Number of families who got no remains: 1,717
Number of people who lost a spouse or partner in the attacks: 1,609
Estimated number of children who lost a parent: 3,051
Percentage of Americans who knew someone hurt or killed in the attacks: 20
Number of funerals attended by Rudy Giuliani in 2001: 200
Number of FDNY vehicles destroyed: 98
Tons of debris removed from site: 1,506,124
Days fires continued to burn after the attack: 99

Elmsford's September 11th Remembrance

Happy Rosh Hashana

Each year, 163 days after Passover, the Jewish community celebrates Rosh Hashanah, which marks the beginning of the High Holy Days leading up to Yom Kippur.

The two-day celebration began this year at sundown on Sunday, and will continue through Tuesday night.

The phrase means “head of the year." But the holiday actually takes place in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar although the months don't exactly line up to a traditional Gregorian calendar, but the seventh month usually takes place in September and October.

Elmwood Country Club - Ridgewood Development

I find it necessary to respond to “Hartsdale Resident’s” August 30, 2018 comments in response to my Letter to The Editor of August 25, 2018.

The first comment regarding the reservation of parkland or payment of fees in lieu thereof is premature. Such discussion properly takes place during the final stage of approval of subdivision and/or site applications regarding residential developments.

And, according to both NYS enabling legislation and the Greenburgh Code, it is the Town’s decision, not the developer’s, whether parkland should be reserved or recreation escrow fees paid. In the Ridgewood case, no subdivision or site plan application has been submitted.

Hartsdale Resident accuses the Town Board of “holding the developer  hostage,” requiring the developers “to submit plans for something  they have zero intention of doing,” and delaying projects  “for months if not years before referring projects to the planning board.”

Hartsdale Resident is misinformed. This application does not require  Planning Board input at this time. The only application Ridgewood  has submitted is for rezoning property and amendments to the official  Zoning Map. Zoning changes are discretionary actions that properly  belong before the Town Board. If it so chooses, the Town Board can decide not to entertain the application.

Hartsdale Resident is agreeing with me when he/she states that "the exploration of alternative uses for the site and their impacts  should be done during the SEQR review.”

If the Town Board chooses to consider this application, the following  steps, previously used when considering other large projects  (The Jefferson, Regeneron, Avalon, Stop & Shop, GameOn)  should be employed:

• Issue an Request for Qualifications (RFQ) or Request for Proposal (RFP) for an outside independent consultant Interview replying consultants

• Declare Town Board intent to be Lead Agency under State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) and identify the action as a Type I

• Choose the consultant

• Affirm Lead Agency status, issue a Positive Declaration, order that a DEIS be prepared and direct the consultant to prepare a draft “scope”

• Hold public scoping session(s)

• Refer the Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) when prepared to the Planning Board and other involved agencies for review and recommendations

• Hold public hearing(s) on the DEIS

• Prepare an Final Environmental Impact Study (FEIS)

• Prepare Findings

Dorrine Livson

President

Worthington Woodlands Civic Association

Happy Labor Day

Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers, and Labor Day 2018 occurs on Monday, September 3 (it’s traditionally observed on the first Monday in September). It was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894. Nowadays, Labor Day more symbolizes the semi-official end of summer for many Americans, and is celebrated with parties, parades and athletic events, as well as getting ready for students going back to school.

Letter To The Editor

To A Better Greenburgh,

A Scarsdale Inquirer article of 8/10/18, concerning the proposed development of the former Elmwood Country Club by the New Jersey based company, Ridgewood Realty, contained mis-information and omissions.

The “pre-submission conference” with the Planning Board that was requested by Ridgewood should NOT have been granted because there is no provision in NYS Town law enabling legislation or the Code of the Town of Greenburgh that allows an applicant seeking a map change and proposed rezoning to bypass the normal procedure of first going to the Town Board. According to the Code of the Town of Greenburgh, this type of meeting is allowed for site plan or sub-division approval only. It is not allowed for projects that require changes of zoning. All zoning changes must be approved by the Town Board.

In a July 3rd letter to the Planning Board, Ridgewood blames the Town Board for delaying action on their application. The problem of the delay is not the fault of the Town Board. At a Town Board Work Session, a request was made to Ridgewood to submit their plans (site plans, landscaping, water course, steep slopes, utilities, roads, etc.) for the as-of-right 119 Single Family Homes development. To date, they have only submitted an engineer's rendering of the Single Family Homes. Ridgewood is the problem for the delay, not the Town Board.

In the article, Ridgewood claims that the Town House Condo proposal, an Adult 55+ Community, will generate $350,000 more tax revenue (Town, School, Fire District, etc.) than the Single Family Homes proposal. That statement is incorrect because of the fact that Town House Condo units are assessed at between 50-60% of their value as compared to 100% assessment of Single Family Homes. At comparable selling prices, the 119 Single Family Homes will generate more tax revenue than the 175 Town Houses.

Ridgewood also states that their traffic engineer says that “the traffic generated from the 175 unit development proved to be less than the traffic generated from the as-of-right 119 unit single family home plan”. At our Civic Association meeting, the Ridgewood CEO, made the statement that people over 55 do not go to work. That claim was strongly disputed by the association members. If that assumption is being used as a criteria for the traffic study, there is a major problem.

Our community strongly believes that a full comprehensive SEQRA review of the project should be conducted by an outside, independent consulting firm to study all the issues concerning this development: financial, density, environmental, traffic, alternative development options, etc., as has been done previously by the Town for major projects such as The Jefferson (JPI) and Regeneron.

Dorrine Livson
President
Worthington-Woodlands Civic Assoc.

Shots Fired In Area

This story has been updated

Westchester County police, state police and Mount Pleasant police have responded to a shooting on the fourth floor of the Westchester County Medical Center. Apparently, a man in his 70's killed his wife, a patient at the hospital also in her seventies, before taking his own life. No information is being shared about the two deceased. The hospital regularly holds active shooter training for its staff.

The hospital complex at 100 Woods Road, is one of the region's several Level 1 Trauma Centers serving Westchester County. WCMC also maintains the only burn unit between New York City and Canada, after the burn center in Albany was closed.

Several nights ago, shots were also reportedly fired in the Payne Street and Winthrop Avenue area of the north Elmsford unincorporated section of Greenburgh. This is not the first incident there. The area also is very close to the Mazzaro Park recreational facility and a small convenience store.

It is unknown if anyone was struck by bullets during the shootings at the Mazzaro Park incident. We will report more as we learn more.

Community & Friends Day in North Elmsford

You, your family and friends are invited to the North Elmsford Civic Association  Inc. 2nd Annual Community & Friends Day. This event will be held on Saturday August 05, 2017 from 12:00 pm til 7:30 pm at Massaro Park on Payne street. Live Entertainment will be provided by, Jazz sounds by Kenny Lee and the All stars, The Renaissance Youth musical group, and African Drummers.  The Association has also planned a full day of fun and activities including; Basketball Tournament, Bouncing Castle, Face Painting, Free swimming, and Sprinkler, Tennis, and Free Zumba. Other events also include Vendors/Foods, arts & crafts, clothes/accessories, and more.

Music In The Park