Trustees Review Proposal to Require Licensing for Tree Contractors
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A few weekends ago I took a walk around the neighborhood and saw a mountain of shrubs, trees, leaves and roots piled along the street. The greenery had been chopped up, roots and all, and were amassed in a huge heap. Basically, all the greenery in the front yard had been removed to make way for new plantings.
In the pile I saw some large tree trunks but I had no idea if the work had been done legally and if the residents had a permit. Not wanting to police my neighbors I moved on.
Though current law allows the removal of two trees per year, a permit is needed. Often those without permission take trees down after hours or on weekends to avoid scrutiny. So the question is, how can the Village enforce these laws and bar the removal of trees without a permit?
One proposal was vetted at a work session of the Village Board on June 17, 2025.
Trustees discussed adding a licensing requirement for companies that perform tree cutting, pruning and removal in Scarsdale. The intent of the law is to be sure that licensed contractors familiarize themselves with Scarsdale’s tree laws and will make them accountable for violating the laws. Those who do will have their licenses suspended or revoked.
If police see work in progress they can stop any work being done if the contractor cannot display a decal to show that they are licensed.
The new ordinance could limit work hours to 8 am to 6 pm on weekdays and 10 am to 5 pm on weekends. After discussion, the Board proposed barring any tree work on weekends because it is difficult to enforce the law and it would prevent noise.
The proposed law suggests a fine of $750 -$2,000 for a first conviction and $1,000 - $5,000 for a subsequent conviction. The Attorney also suggested that the tree license of a violator could be suspended or revoked. See the proposed code here:
During the discussion Trustee Goldschmidt asked, “What are we trying to solve? I am all for making sure bad actors don’t take down trees. But I don’t want to make life difficult for someone who wants to prune a tree. Why should the resident have to go to a licensed tree vendor? I think we should narrow the proposed law.”
Deputy Mayor Gruenberg asked Superintendent Coleman, “Can your department give the police a list of people with open tree permits each Friday – so that the police know who has a permit to do work?”
Coleman said, “Even if they have a permit it’s hard to know how many trees they took down legally or illegally.”
Joan Weissman of 3 Kingston Road said, “This is a great step in the right direction however without enforcement it will not be effective. The licensing is good – but there should be enforcement.”
Michelle Sterling of 6 Brayton Road said, “I appreciate the proposal and I am in favor of it.
Keep the registration fee low so we can get people to register. It is duplicative of what they have to file with the county. I would like to keep the tree definition to what we have now. Stick with the definition of a tree that is widely used. I am in favor of stiff penalties. They should pay a fine. I like the idea to give the police a list of people who have tree permits, weekly.”
She suggested, “Why don’t we have no tree removals on the weekends? People don’t want to hear tree removals on the weekends.”
Madelaine Eppenstein of18 Autenreith said, “I think it is unreasonable to expect landscapers and arborists to understand the code. I don’t expect people with chain saws to have read the code. I don’t think the workers will understand the code. There is already a penalty for the homeowner for a permit violation.”
Marian Greene of 43 Butler Road said, “Do people need permits to prune trees?”
Susan Douglass said, “I think no weekend work is a great idea.”
Susan Levine of Ardmore Road agreed, saying “It’s a good idea because police don’t come out on the weekend. Give us peace on the weekends.”
At the conclusion of the discussion the Village Attorney said he would draft some clarifications regarding tree pruning and enforcement procedures. He said, “I think there is consensus to move forward.”
Comments: Village Board Violated the Spirit, if not the Letter of the Open Meetings Law
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Here are comments from Josh Frankel from the June 10, 2025 meeting of the Scarsdale Village Board
Good evening. Josh Frankel, Black Birch Lane.
I’d like to begin by thanking the Village Manager for correcting my misunderstanding regarding obtaining unanimous consent for the Flock mass surveillance resolution at the April 8 meeting. I appreciate her clarification, and I believe it's important to acknowledge that publicly.
It’s fascinating that for all the purported transparency, the Board got overwhelmingly negative feedback only tonight, after Joanne Wallenstein made the community aware of what transpired on April 8. Tonight’s meeting should have taken place in March.
A few issues I have raised remain unaddressed and I can only make negative inferences from the Board’s unresponsiveness. So, in ascending order of importance:
First, on April 22 I raised the concern, via an article in The Guardian, of widespread abuses of a similar technology right here in Westchester County. On May 22, the Mayor wrote to me: “Regarding the Guardian article, I had said we would investigate, and we did. It appears the article was inaccurate, at least as it pertains to Westchester County.” I have repeatedly asked for specifics about the alleged “inaccuracies” and have heard nothing. I remain in touch with the Guardian reporter, who has assured me multiple times that there was no pushback on her piece. I’d note 404Media recently wrote about ICE using Flock’s data.
Second, a boilerplate document was circulated among community leaders in mid-March seeking their signatures in support of the Village’s acquisition of this technology. It remains unclear, at least for now, how much earlier this initiative was in the hopper. Why was no effort ever made to engage with the community?
Finally, the vague and opaque framing of the April 8 Work Session clearly violated the spirit, if not the letter, of the Open Meetings Law, which leads to the single most important issue: The rushed introduction of the Flock resolution and subsequent vote on April 8 remain extremely troubling. The Open Meetings Law requires that documents scheduled for discussion, very much including resolutions, be made available to the public at least 24 hours before the meeting “to the extent practicable.” So, again, what, specifically, made it impracticable to provide the requisite notice? Why was this matter not held over until the April 22nd meeting, when the public would have had time to review and respond? What could not have waited another two weeks? This matter is, or was, deserving of a full and thorough public airing and, instead, got none.
From this initiative’s unknown beginnings, to the failure to solicit any public input whatsoever, to the woefully inadequate framing of the April 8 Work Session, to the urgent need to vote on the resolution that same night, to the refusal to answer very straightforward questions, this process has been a shameful masterclass in opacity and poor governance and an indelible stain on this Board’s legacy.
This is not about being anti-technology. It's about respecting process, respecting the public, and remembering that a healthy democracy doesn’t run on shortcuts or, for that matter, ignoring constituents.
I continue to look forward to clear, concise, non-evasive answers to my questions.
Thank you.
Famed Physicist Richard Garwin Passes Away at 97 in Scarsdale
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Perhaps Scarsdale’s most renown resident passed away quietly at his home at Christie Place on May 13, 2025. Richard Garwin, who worked on the first atomic bomb and created the breakthrough mechanism for the more powerful hydrogen bomb -- along with many more pioneering discoveries, died at the age of 97. He was a Scarsdale resident for 64 years and raised three children here. He and his wife Lois lived in Greenacres on Ridgecrest East until 2010 when they moved to the apartments on Christie Place. While living in Scarsdale Lois worked as a substitute teacher in the Scarsdale elementary schools and volunteered for the Alzheimer's Association in White Plains. She passed away in 2018 and he is survived by three children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
To get some idea of the breadth of his accomplishments, here are remarks made by Scarsdale Mayor Jon Mark on December 13, 2016 when Garwin was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama:
“On November 22, 2016, President Barack Obama presented Dr. Richard Garwin with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Dr. Garwin is a long-time resident of the Village. In making that award, the President noted that Dr. Garwin is a polymath physicist who earned a Ph.D. under Enrico Fermi at age 21 and subsequently made pioneering contributions to U.S. defense and intelligence technologies, low-temperature and nuclear physics, detection of gravitational radiation, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computer systems, laser printing, and nuclear arms control and nonproliferation. He directed Applied Research at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center and taught at the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Harvard University. The author of 500 technical papers and a winner of the National Medal of Science, Dr. Garwin holds 47 U.S. patents, and has advised numerous administrations. So, Dr. Garwin we congratulate you on this high honor in recognition of your accomplishments and contributions.”
This week, the New York Times published an article about Garwin’s personal crusade to undo the damage of the bomb that was dropped at Hiroshima, killing at least 70,000 people. The article says, “… what drove him, what made him eager to advise presidents, was not his gift for coming up with marvels of discovery and innovation but, courtesy of Fermi, a personal crusade to save the world from his own creation.” Read more here.
In Scarsdale Garwin was a member of the Scarsdale Forum and there are several articles about his participation in Forum events on Scarsdale10583. Following a storm in 2010 that flooded the Village and left 80% of Scarsdale residents without electric power for many days, Garwin spoke with Jonathan Lewis at the Forum’s Sunday Speaker Series on “Dealing with Local Disasters: What Can Nuclear and Pandemic Disaster Planning Teach Us?”
Former President of the Forum and Village Trustee Jonathan Lewis said this about Garwin: “Dr. Richard Garwin was an extraordinary patriot, who served his country quietly, behind the scenes, making the nation safer during the most challenging years of the Cold War and beyond. His sense of duty was an example to us all. He advised Presidents, and as a Scarsdale resident he devoted time to helping us as a community think more deeply about safety issues. I had the privilege of speaking with him at Scarsdale Forum presentation on public safety. In our preparation for the meeting I was impressed with his commitment to doing the best possible job to help his community understand the issues. A great public servant.”
In 2015, Garwin appeared at the Forum again when they showed a documentary about his life.
Garwin’s participation in the life of the Village of Scarsdale went beyond science. In fact, in February 2016 when the Village Board of Trustees was considering enacting the Homestead Option, which would have changed the tax treatment of the Christie Place condominiums, Garwin wrote a letter to object and it was also posted on Scarsdale10583.
Here is what he said at the time:
I am Richard Garwin, living with my wife Lois Garwin at 1 Christie Place, Unit 402W since September 2010—5 years ago. We had lived for 55 years in a house at 16 Ridgecrest East which we sold in order to buy our condominium apartment at Christie Place. Our ages: 87 and 88. Our three children attended and graduated from the Scarsdale schools.
For Scarsdale to adopt Homestead would be a misuse of the law, the stated purpose of which is to "prevent any large shift to the residential class of properties" as a result of revaluation. Homestead would apply only to the 42 residential units on Christie Place and not to the cooperative apartments in Scarsdale that are of comparable size and market price. Contrary to the implication that the traditional valuation of residential condominium units is "special interest legislation" for Christie Place, it was the only valuation approach possible under NYS law. Although the NYS legislature passed Homestead legislation in 1981, Scarsdale could consider it only after the revaluation of 2014, when the Village Board unanimously rejected the Homestead option.
The Christie Place development is an award-winning public-private partnership which made possible the 42 residential suites that can be sold only for occupancy by a resident over 55, two restaurants and three commercial units, plus off-street parking for the residents, the short-term municipal garage on Christie Place, and underground commuter parking, for which the Condominium provided the mortgage—all on 1.73 acres of land. The Village controls, manages, and profits from 310 of the 370 parking spaces; on weekends and holidays the 234 underground commuter parking spaces are available to all for free.
According to the Village Assessor at the Joint Board meeting of 02/01/2016, the 42 condos are valued for tax purposes in 2016 at $31 million, and under Homestead they would be valued at a market sales price of $59 million, so that the tax bill would just about double if Homestead were adopted. As a matter of fact, without Homestead, my own tax bill doubled last year as a result of the 2014 revaluation and would apparently double again if Homestead is adopted.
The Town of Greenburgh will consider adopting Homestead as it completes its revaluation, but Greenburgh has 5,000 residential condominium units in contrast to the 42 in Scarsdale, If Scarsdale adopts Homestead it risks turning Christie Place from a triumph of public-private partnership into a travesty.
It was not in the distant past that the Village leadership saw the Christie Place development as a good package deal, including the traditional approach to real estate tax on the 42 residential condominium units. Less than two years ago, the Village Board confirmed that judgment. I ask it to do so again.
Architectural Historian Recommends Preservation of Colonial Revival Home
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Sometimes a house does not need to be large or grand to save it from demolition. Homes that meet the criteria for preservation under Scarsdale’s Historic Preservation Code do not have to be manses or stately Tudors. They can be modest but still qualify for preservation.
One such home in question is a modest Colonial Revival built in the 1930’s in the Heathcote Crest area of Scarsdale at the corner of Graham and Lawrence Roads. Though you might not notice it when you drive by, an analysis of the home and it’s provenance reveals that it exemplifies a broad pattern of Scarsdale history, was designed by a known architect and possesses “high artistic value.”
After an application was filed by Westchester Modular Homes LLC to demolish the home – and presumably replace it with a modular home -- the Scarsdale Committee for Historic Preservation asked Architectural Historian Andrew Dolkart for his assessment.
In an opinion filed this month, Dolkart did some research and concluded that a permit to demolish the home should be denied.
Why?
Dolkart found that the house was designed by architect L.S. Beardsley and built in 1930 by the Westchester County Small Estate Corporation in a new development called Heathcote Crest. Dolkart says, “The Heathcote Crest development was part of the significant movement that changed the character of Scarsdale from a rural area into one of the prime suburbs of New York City,” and says, “this transformation of Scarsdale is, indeed, the most significant issue in the broad pattern of Scarsdale’s history.”
The house was a part of “a new movement in residential building called the “small estates” idea. The objective was to build houses in the best neighborhoods where real estate values would be maintained; to design building, “regardless of price,” that would have “beauty, individuality and utility,” and that “every material from cellar to roof, inside and out, must be a product of known excellence.”
About the design of the home, Dolkart notes it is a “Colonial Revival,” with irregular shingles designed to look as if they have been handcut. He notes that the rear of the house is “marked by a double gable in the manner of several seventeenth-century New England houses, such as the Whipple House in Ipswich, Mass.”
As the house has undergone only minor changes he believes it could be easily repaired.
Dolkart concludes that the home meets two and possible three criteria for preservation:
-It represents a broad pattern of Village history.
-It was designed by a talented and innovative architect
-It is a distinctive example of a small-scale Colonial Revival design that has high artistic value.
He therefore recommends that the Committee for Historic Preservation deny the application to demolish 53 Graham Road, saying “The neighborhood would be seriously compromised if it were lost."
See his opinion and photos here:
The application to demolish the home was adjourned from the May 2025 meeting but is on the agenda for consideration at the June 17 meeting of the Committee for Historic Preservation at 7 pm at Scarsdale Village Hall.
Unexpected Guests Storm LWVS Annual Luncheon
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Anne Lyons, Heedan Chung and Diksha MudbharyIn a sign of the times, the annual League of Women Voters luncheon at Scarsdale Golf Club on Friday May 9 was like none in its long history in Scarsdale.
It started out with a drenching rainstorm that sent guests running to the club doors. Once we dried off inside, we found a roomful of notable Scarsdalians including past League Presidents, State Senator Shelly Mayer, Scarsdale Mayor Arest, Deputy Mayor, Gruenberg, Library Director Beth Bermel, School Board President Suzie Hahn and Board Members Amber Yusuf and Leah Dembitzer, along with the Board of the League.
The selection of the guest speaker was timely – as newly elected Congressman George Latimer was invited to address the room on what’s going on in Washington.
However his pressing schedule required the event to be accelerated. With little time for lunch and pleasantries, League President Heedan Chung introduced 2nd Vice President Diksha Mudbhary to interview Latimer.
Latimer first invited guests to take copies of the Washington Post and Politico that were placed at the tables, saying unbiased coverage of events in Washington was limited.
He gave his perspective on his first few months in Congress, explaining that he was a “blue collar kid,” whose father was a maintenance man at Beachpoint Club in Mamaroneck and mother worked in a factory. He went to school in Mt. Vernon. He said his background makes him feel “pretty small when he is standing on the floor of the House of Representatives or gazing at the dome of the Capitol Building lit up at night.”
Mudbhary interviews Latimer
At the age of 71, he is a member of the minority party and knows that he will not serve long enough to head a committee. But he is trying to use his years of experience in local and county government to figure out how to get something done. He noted his frustration, saying on Friday, the only piece of legislation that came to a vote in the House was to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
He said, “The majority of both houses has decided not to hold the president accountable.” If we had the majority we would be having public hearings and asking pointed questions when the president is capturing and deporting people without due process. But the majority does not choose to do this – instead they criticize Biden.”
But he said, “The minority is taking every one of these decisions to court. There is a constitutional crisis in the making as there are no means to enforce court actions. Unless the majority goes to the President and tells him to follow the court, there is no enforcement.”
What to do? “We have to go to the court of public opinion and rally support.”
Then the unexpected happened.
Latimer was in the midst of answering a question about tariffs when loud shouts were heard from the back of the room. Without warning, a crowd of angry protesters stormed into the main dining room, yelling and holding signs. They were trailed by two officers from the Greenburgh Police Department who stood by but did not stop the intruders. It was shocking and frightening as well.
Protesters stormed the room.They chanted, “Why didn’t you come to the Bronx today?” Their banners read “Climate Defiance,” and it wasn’t immediately clear why they had chosen to trail Latimer.
Latimer attempted to speak over the din to explain that he is often in the Bronx and that he championed of environmental issues, including the electrification of the Westchester Bee Line bus fleet and implementation of the food scrap recycling to Westchester County. But little could be heard over the cacophony.
When they were finally escorted out, he said, “Here’s what we face as Democrats. We have the far right and the far left.”
State Senator Shelley Mayer spoke in support of the Congressman saying, “I am so proud of the way George handles these things.” Referring to his primary run against Jamaal Bowman she said, “He won fair and square. He represents the Bronx and has a fantastic presence there. He is a professional who is dedicated to serving us.”
Questioned about the lack of action to block Trump’s agenda in Congress, Latimer said, “There are some good members who are not voting their conscience. We have to convince people in the middle that we have programs to solve problems and articulate an environmental, health and education policy.”
He urged the audience to convince their friends and relatives to support the Democratic Party. He also asked for support for Ken Jenkins who is running for County Executive this year. He said, “it matters that he wins.”
Diksha Mudbhary and Leah Dembitzer
Though the event was cut short by time constraints, Latimer’s responses and the protesters unexpected visit provided a window into the unique times in which we live and the pressure from both the left and the right to forge consensus.
Commenting after the meeting, Mayor Arest said, “Congressman Latimer has long been a dedicated friend and advocate for our village—first as County Executive and now as our representative in Washington. He’s one of the most visible and engaged leaders in his district, consistently showing up, listening to all of his constituents, and responding with care and action. We also deeply appreciate his thorough updates on developments in Washington that impact New York’s 16th Congressional District—they help keep our community informed, prepared, and connected to the broader decisions shaping our future.”
The League of Women Voters of Scarsdale (LWVS) is a volunteer nonpartisan political organization which promotes political responsibility through informed and active participation of citizens in government. The League is nonpartisan in that it does not support or oppose any candidate for public office; it is political in that it takes positions on selected governmental issues after serious member study and consensus.
The recording of the event is available on the League’s YouTube channel here.
Learn more about the LWVS here.
