Greenacres Residents Get Answers At Town Hall Meeting

Residents got an in-depth overview of the priorities of Scarsdale’s leaders at the Greenacres Town Hall meeting on May 5th. The panel included everyone who runs the town including the Mayor, Village Manager, Schools Superintendent, School Board President, Chief of Police, Fire Captain, SVAC representative and Recreation Department Superintendent as well as representatives from the Scarsdale Board of Trustees and County Legislator, Bill Ryan. With this group assembled, just about any question concerning a local issue could be addressed.

The meeting opened with an official thank you to outgoing Mayor Carolyn Stevens who was made an honorary resident of Greenacres by Deborah Pekarek, President of the Greenacres Association.

The floor was turned over to the visitors, who each provided a two minute update:

Greenacres Principal Jerry Young explained the ongoing safety concern at the Greenacres School where school personnel are needed to supervise students as they cross the street from the school to the playground on the opposite side of Huntington Avenue. To address this concern the school is considering two options: one to close the portion of Huntington Avenue in front of the school from 10 am-2 pm each day, and the other, to move the crossing guard now stationed at the intersection of Huntington Avenue and Sage Terrace. The crossing guard could be placed at the crosswalk between the school and playground to assist with crossing.

Anticipating questions about flooding that continues to plague Greenacres residents who live near George Field, Mayor Miriam Flisser arrived with her answers about the stormwater management project. She reported that the Village has a grant from Westchester County to fund 50% of the $2.9 million project and that the Village has already approved the issuance of a bond to fund the balance of the work. Engineers are seeking to design a system to collect water on the east side of Post Road and the project may require the Village to purchase private land. The current schedule calls for construction to start at the end of 2011 and proceed for 18 months. She assured the homeowners that the Village was moving as quickly as possible to get the necessary approvals to begin the project.

Several homeowners who live in the affected area questioned the Mayor and expressed their frustration with the Village’s lack of progress in addressing the flooding. Warren Breakstone noted that it has already taken seven years to find a solution and that the timeline provided by the Mayor goes out another 2 ½ years before the flooding is alleviated. He said she was the fourth Mayor to deal with the issue and called for an interim plan to mitigate the overflow. In the last few years he said new homes at Windmill Acres had been constructed further exacerbating the flooding. He questioned why the Village was not using equipment to dredge the stream and clear the storm drains.

Julie Hatterer of Cambridge Road called for more transparency and suggested we use the project grant money sooner than later. Both Gatta and Flisser responded that they needed approvals from a wide range of authorities including the EPA, Federal Government, and the Army Corps of Engineers and that the project was on track.

Police Chief Brogan gave a recap of incidents that have occurred in Greenacres in the past year.

• There were 35 car accidents –none on the streets surrounding the school, despite parents ongoing concerns
• 56 incidents
• 8 grand and petit larcenies
• 7 identity thefts

He cautioned the elderly to be especially wary about identity theft, which is a growing problem.

Recreation Department Superintendent Suzanne Busby reported that sign-up for all recreation activities is now online and encouraged residents to go to the Village website to open an account. In addition, everyone needs to go to Village Hall to get a new I.D. this year.

Village Manager Al Gatta gave an update on where the Village stands with the upcoming tax revaluation. He reported that the Village has experienced a 300% increase in tax grievances and the volume of appeals is very difficult for the Village staff to handle. The Village has put out an RFP to companies who can conduct the revaluation and expects to have selected a vendor by September, 2011.

School Board President Jill Spieler noted the plumbing problems at Greenacres and told the group that school budget reserve funds would be used to make the repairs. She told the group that the facilities maintenance budget for the schools has been severely cut, making it difficult to make necessary updates or fund new projects. She encouraged everyone to vote for the $138.4 mm school budget on Tuesday May 17th.

Superintendent Michael McGill told the group that the district is now involved in an international assessment project to compare Scarsdale student’s performance with those in high-performing schools around the world. The program will allow our teachers to network with successful teachers everywhere to identify what leads to student success. He also bemoaned the possibility of a 2% tax cap and said it would pose “significant challenges” to the district and force Scarsdale to make major program cuts.

Fire Captain Daniel Purcell urged everyone to check the batteries on their smoke and CO2 detectors and warned against ignoring the beep when the batteries die. Steve Rambone spoke for SVAC and called for more volunteers to join the service that answers three calls a day on average.

In the question and answer period, Stu Weinberg of Montrose Road said that our “streets are an embarrassment” and said that Scarsdale looks like tobacco road. Gatta reported that the Village spent $3 million on road repairs in the past year and that lack of curbing and drainage were responsible for the road conditions. Scarsdale repaves 1-2 miles per year, and now has $14 million in work that needs to be done, but is without the funds to do it.

Kathy Steves of Fairview Road asked about the requirement to have a Certificate of Occupancy on a house before a sale and was told that “yes”, all homes are now required to have a C of O. In order to obtain it, if plans for a home are not on file at Village Hall, residents will need to hire an architect to draft plans of the existing house in order to obtain the C of O.

It was an enlightening session that covered a plethora of issues on the minds of Greenacres residents. Thanks to everyone for participating and to Deb Pekarek and the Greenacres Association for arranging this annual event.