Meet the Mayor To Be
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If all goes as expected, Dr. Miriam Levitt Flisser, a 35-year resident of Scarsdale, will soon be the new Mayor of the Village. She has been selected as the Citizens Non-Partisan Party’s nominee and is running unopposed for the post.
We spoke with Dr. Flisser this week from her home off Popham Road, which Dr. Flisser told us is just 120 seconds by car from Village Hall – without speeding! Flisser is completing two terms as a Scarsdale Village Trustee and is a committed volunteer as well as a practicing physician.
She first visited Scarsdale many years ago when a medical school classmate who was raised here invited her to meet her family. Later, as a junior physician, she worked with several other doctors who encouraged her to move to Scarsdale due to the wonderful reputation of the schools. These doctors shared similar values with the Flissers, who raised three children here while Dr. Flisser’s husband taught in the Scarsdale schools. Her husband continues to teach in Scarsdale today, which keeps her up to date on parents’ concerns and school issues, though her own children have long since graduated.
When asked whether it would be difficult to juggle her professional responsibilities with the job of Mayor Flisser replied, “difficult yes, impossible, no.” She now has a private pediatric practice and also serves as the Medical Director for the Bronxville School District. In the past, she managed these jobs as well as volunteer positions at Lawrence Hospital where she served as the Chief of Pediatrics, President of the Medical Staff and as a member of the Board of Governors. Though these were time-consuming responsibilities, she was able to manage and feels that she knows how to approach the new time challenges she will face as Mayor.
As Village Trustee, Flisser served as the liaison to several Village Boards and is proud of the accomplishments of these Boards during her tenure. She shared several examples of progress that was made during the past few years and feels that her strength lies in facilitating change and improvement.
Flisser served as liaison to the Advisory Council on People with Disabilities and the group had been struggling to design a system to notify first responders of the presence of the disabled in Village homes. This would allow firefighters and police to be aware that people with special needs were present when an emergency occurred. Flisser reports that the system is now in place and people can register on the Village website.
In addition, she also served as liaison to the Advisory Council on Parks and Recreation and during this time they moved many administrative functions to the village website. Residents can now sign up and pay for recreation programs online. Flisser noticed that the parks were not being given the attention they warranted and focused the committee on inspecting Village parks and doing an inventory of repairs and updates that were needed. Due to this process some changes were made and a long-term plan for the parks is on the horizon. During this time, programming at the Weinberg Nature Center was improved and a system to send out attractive program notifications via email was put into place.
As the liaison to the Advisory Council on Technology, Flisser encouraged the staff to updated and improve the Village website. Interactive new features on Scarsdale.com now allow residents to buy parking permits and even pay their taxes online. A village-wide emergency notification system was also put in place and residents now can opt in to receive phone calls and emails. If you would like to sign up to receive notifications click here . All of these changes were made efficiently and without great expense.
During the past four years Flisser contends that she has helped Scarsdale residents to get things done – teaching them how to approach problems and change their situation with the village to make improvements. In the next two years she plans to continue to represent the citizens of Scarsdale and is eager to hear your concerns. She encourages residents to attend Village Board meetings, participate on Boards and Councils and express their views.
She also wants to encourage everyone to vote for the Trustees and Mayor on March 15th. By voting, Scarsdale residents can express their support for the non-partisan system and give their leaders the mandate to govern. The Scarsdale Village election for Mayor and Trustees will be held on March 15, 2011 at Scarsdale Village Hall from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and noon to 9 p.m.
Village Trustees Agree to Model Code Provisions for Affordable Housing in Scarsdale
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Scarsdale moved one step closer to compliance with the Westchester Housing Settlement that requires Westchester to construct 750 units of affordable housing in 31 eligible communities by 2016. Though the federal monitor, James Johnson has still not approved Westchester County’s plan in its entirety, Johnson has approved a model-zoning ordinance for local municipalities to incorporate into their code in order to encourage new fair and affordable housing.
At a meeting of the Trustees Law and Land Use Committee on February 22 trustees reviewed provisions of the code and heard recommendations from Village staff on which portions of the code to adopt for Scarsdale.
Village staff had reviewed the code and advised the trustees on which portions to they considered appropriate for Scarsdale. The model ordinance provisions can be viewed here and below are the elements that the committee agreed to adopt:
The definition of Affordable Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Unit is as follows:
An AFFH unit for sale is deemed to be affordable if the cost of a unit including common charges, principal, interest, taxes and insurance does not exceed 33% of 80% of the area median income (AMI) for Westchester. Currently the AMI for Westchester is $103,000, so 80% would be $82,400.
The annual cost of an affordable rental unit including rent and utilities should not exceed 30% of 60% of AMI for Westchester.
For developments of 10 or more units, 10% need to be affordable units.
Though the model code also called for an affordable unit in developments of 5-9 units the staff did not recommend that Scarsdale include this provision. However, after considerable discussion, and a suggestion by Stacey Brodsky, the Board opted to adopt this provision for commercial areas of town where multi-family housing will be permitted.
In regard to the provision outlining incentives to create affordable housing, the staff recommended the Village retain a consultant, at an estimated cost of under $10,000 to determine appropriate incentives.
The maximum rent and sales price for an affordable unit shall be established in accordance with HUD guidelines for Westchester.
Units shall remain affordable for 50 years.
The exterior appearance of multifamily units shall be indistinguishable from the other units in the development but interiors can be reduced in quality. For single family units, the staff recommended that Scarsdale code stipulate that the appearance of the exteriors of the homes be “indistinguishable to the great extent possible.”
As for AFFH unit sizes, the trustees agreed to adopt the provisions on “Minimum Floor Area” in the model code as well as occupancy standards that outline maximum occupancy of units to prevent overcrowding.
The resale amount of an affordable unit shall not exceed an amount affordable to a household at 80% of AMI. For rental units, if the renters’ income grows to exceed 60% of AMI the tenant can finish out their lease term and either rent another unit or be granted a one year renewal but shall not be eligible for another renewal beyond the expiration of the lease.
The municipality or a non-profit agency will be responsible for monitoring the units
Applicants for development shall be entitled to have a pre-application meeting to review the development application and plan.
Now that trustees have agreed to the language, the Village staff will draft the proposed local law and put it before the Planning Board for consideration. If the model code is adopted, Scarsdale will be one of the first communities in Westchester to take this step.
A Match.com Scam and a Nasty Parking Incident: Greenburgh and Scarsdale Police Report
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Car Wash? You risk more than getting stuck in traffic when shopping on Central Avenue. On Sunday February 13, Alexa Guarino of Pleasantville parked her BMW in the lot at the Christmas Tree Shop at 393 North Central Avenue. An aggravated woman approached her and claimed that Guarino had taken her parking spot. Guarino ignored her and watched from the store as the woman drove away in a black Honda Accord. When Guarino returned to her car, she noticed that a similar BMW was parked next to her and it was covered with Tide detergent. A witness who had been in the lot at the same time saw the angry woman return to the lot and pour the detergent on the car. The owner of the sudsy BMW was contacted and said she would take it to get washed. Though police have the license plate number of the suspect she had an unlisted phone number and they were unable to reach her.
Burglary at the Scarsdale Golf Club: In the early morning hours of February 7, someone entered a rear door of the Scarsdale Golf Club and stole two television sets, each valued at $250. The crime was captured on videotape and reported to police by Bruce Gilmore who works as the Maintenance Manager at the club.
Drunk Driver: At 2 am on February 10, Daniel Appelman, age 29 of Garth Road Scarsdale was stopped by police on Central Avenue and found to be inebriated with a BAC level of .23%. He was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and speeding.
Fight! At 1:20 am on February 11, a group of young adults got into a fight in a parking lot at 1075 South Central Avenue. Katianne Bellantoni age 19 of Tuckahoe was speaking to her ex-boyfriend Robert Dante Cacace age 20 of Yonkers when a car with three other young adults drove up. According to Bellantoni, Melissa Murphy, age 21 of Grand Boulevard, Scarsdale yelled at Bellantoni, punched her in the right eye and pulled her hair until the others broke up the fight. Though she does not wish to press charges for assault, Bellantoni wanted police to document the incident.
Smokin': Police arrested James Frank, age 53 of Hartsdale for smoking a joint in the parking lot of Fieldstone Drive on Saturday morning 2/12. He was taken to headquarters and released on $50 bail pending a court date.
Inside Job: John Lyons of New Rochelle came to police on 2/12 to report that items were stolen from his car when it was parked at 2 Fountain Lane in Scarsdale on Superbowl Sunday, 2/6. He was attending a party at the apartment of his ex-girlfriend, and he suspects that during the game, his ex stole items that belonged to his new girlfriend from the car.
Gas Leak: On Monday afternoon 2/7, due to a gas leak on Scarsdale Farms Road the fire department needed to get into several houses to check for the source of the leak. No one was home at 19 Scarsdale Farms Road, and the fire department entered through the garage to inspect. No leak was found.
From the Scarsdale Police:
Scammed: A 26-year-old Scarsdale resident was the victim of a scam when he met a Delaware woman on Match.com. The young man became acquainted with a woman over the internet and traveled to Delaware to meet his match. However, she had misrepresented herself and was actually 45 years old and had shown pictures of someone else on her profile. She followed him north to Greenburgh where he paid her expenses and she started harassing him on his cell phone, at work and via the mail.
He contacted the Scarsdale police because the woman and a friend of hers were repeatedly making bogus phone calls to his office claiming to be from the N.Y. Supreme Court and the State of New York District Court. In addition the schemers sent the young man a Fedex package at his home. Inside the package was a letter from “Scarsdale Justice Court” requesting a payment of $1,000 for a civil judgment. On February 7, in response to the complaint from the Scarsdale man, the Scarsdale police contacted the woman and advised her to cease all phone call or contact with the young man.
Robbed: Greenacres residents were robbed sometime between 9 am and 2:50 pm on February 8th. Suspects forced open a porch door of the Brewster Road home and stole jewelry valued at $15,000 plus all of the family’s passports and a social security card. Police are investigating those who had recent access to the house.
Vandalized: Two cars parked in the lot at the Scarsdale Alternative School were vandalized on the night of February 7th. The front passenger window of a 2010 Infiniti was shattered and a play station game, valued at $200 was stolen from the car. In addition, the passenger side door window of a 2007 Honda was broken and a Toshiba laptop and a tote bag were stolen.
Money Trouble: A 79 year-old Aspen Road woman reported that someone had stolen one of her personal checks, filled it out for $7,000 and attempted to cash it. Chase Bank called her on 2/1/11 to verify the transaction but when the Scarsdale woman said she did not issue the check, they denied the transaction. She came to headquarters to make the report on February 7th.
Violeta Lopez of Peekskill, NY came to police headquarters on the afternoon of 2/11 claiming that someone had withdrawn $600 from her Chase Bank account without her permission. In order for Chase to review the video of transactions, Lopez needed to file a police report and have it sent to Chase for processing.
Lost: Richard Schechner of Montgomery Road Scarsdale reported that his license plate and bracket were taken from his car when it was parked on Depot place on the night of February 7th.
Found: Mr. Lavi of Kingston Road found a purple bag in front of his house on February 8 and contacted the police. The bag contained schoolwork, a zip drive and business cards. Police were able to track down the owner of the bag in Armonk who explained that the bag had been stolen from her car on February 7 when it was parked in White Plains. She came to Scarsdale police headquarters to claim on the night of 2/8.
Frances Tussing of Cohawney Road found a wallet in the backseat of a cab on East Parkway on February 7th. She turned the wallet over to police who contacted the owner, a White Plains woman.
Accidents: Richard Otake of Garth Road could not decide whether to go right or left at the intersection of Fenimore Road and the Bronx River Parkway, and as a result, he hit the median and struck a stop sign on February 11.
Joann Roche of Hartsdale was walking on Depot Place with a shopping cart on Friday afternoon 2/11, when a car turned and hit her cart and caused her to fall. She complained of pain in her right leg and was taken to White Plains hospital.
Daniel Centonze of Garth Road had a collision with a garbage truck around noon on Friday 2/11. Centonze was attempting to pass the truck on Wilmot Road, when the driver of the garbage truck opened the door and Centonze’s side mirror hit the door.
Two cars collided at the intersection of Brewster Road and Fenimore Road at 4 pm on 2/9. A car of teens was travelling north on Brewster ran into a car at the intersection of Fenimore. No one was seriously injured and Police contacted the parents of the teens to pick them up.
A 17 year-old girl from Black Walnut Road slipped on ice on East Parkway on Wednesday 2/9 and was hit by a passing truck. The girl stepped off the curb and waved for the truck to pass her, but as he passed, she fell and the rear wheel of the truck hit her foot. She was taken to White Plains hospital by SVAC.
A man driving a moped at 6:45 pm on Monday 2/7 was hit by a 2010 Lexus driven by a Ferncliff Road woman. The man was thrown from the bike and complained of pain in his right arm and shoulder but refused medial assistance. The accident occurred at the intersection of Boulevard and Nelson Roads.
Gun: On February 13, the son of a Wakefield Road man who recently passed away turned in his father’s revolver for safekeeping until he could have it licensed.
Coyote Watch: a coyote was reported walking north on Brite Avenue at 10:51 am on 2/9.
Village Election to be held Tuesday March 15
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The Scarsdale Village election for Mayor and Trustees will be held on March 15, 2011 at Scarsdale Village Hall from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and noon to 9 p.m. The Citizen’s Non-Partisan Party slate includes Miriam Flisser for Mayor and Stacey Brodsky, Robert Harrison and Robert Steves for Village Trustee.
If you are not a registered voter but want to vote in the Village Election on Tuesday, March 15, 2011, the last day to register with the Westchester County Board of Elections is Friday, March 4th. You can pick up a mail-in registration form at Village Hall, or go directly to the Westchester County Board of Election, 25 Quarropas Street, White Plains.
In order to register to vote, you must:
- Be a U.S. Citizen
- Be 18 years of age by the date of the election in which you want to vote
- Live at your present address at least 30 days before an election
- Not be in jail or on parole for a felony conviction
- Not claim the right to vote elsewhere.
For registered voters who will be out of Westchester County on Village Election Day, an absentee ballot can be obtained by filling out an application form at Village Hall or by requesting one by phone or mail. March 8th is the last day for the Village Clerk to receive an application for an absentee ballot which is to be mailed to a qualified voter; however, applications made in person can be accepted until Monday, March 14, 2011.
All Election Districts will be voting at the Scarsdale Village Hall. For more information, call the Village Clerk’s office at 722-1175.
Is Scarsdale's Non-Partisan System Partisan?
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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The announcement of the surprising slate of candidates from the Citizens Nominating Committee last week brought back the uneasy feelings I had when I served on the CNC several years ago.
As I had just completed five years of service on the School Board Nominating Committee and as Vice-Chair, I was well versed in the rules of Scarsdale’s non-partisan system. I understood that the role of the nominator was to seek out candidates who:
- Have demonstrated an ability to work effectively in groups
- Are critical thinkers and problem solvers – akin to the kind of students Scarsdale seeks to educate today
- Have no prescribed agenda and were not seeking the position to move forward or halt a specific project or plan
- Are open-minded and would use their best judgment to do what’s best for Scarsdale
In addition, during the vetting process, the committee was to consider only input that could be attributed to a named source; i.e. committee members could not make comments on a candidate based on hearsay.
Accustomed to the civil and fair-minded proceedings of the SBNC, I was taken aback by my experience on the Citizens Nominating Committee where conversations were rife with rancor and innuendo. Though some of the nominators were new to Village government, there seemed to be a core of longtime cronies who had served on the committee many times or who had taken public positions on issues before the Village government. Included on the committee were former mayors, wives of former mayors and former trustees. Unlike the SBNC, the meetings were not run by elected nominators, but instead chaired by the leadership of the TVCC (now renamed as the Scarsdale Forum) which itself takes positions on issues before the Village Government. I was even more disturbed when I learned that if the CNC could not find enough candidates from each area to run for the nominating committee, the Procedure Committee simply named someone for the seat.
During some of the sessions there were heated arguments; however it was not clear to the “outsiders” like me what was at stake. It was only later that I pieced together the behind the scenes agenda and realized that many in the room had come with the purpose of nominating candidates who would serve their own goals.
As I have now spent the last two years observing Village politics while reporting for Scarsdale10583, I have become familiar with the key players in town. So when I learned whom the committee had selected for Village Mayor and Trustees, I took a look at who was serving on the nominating committee this year and was struck by the list :
Among the nominators were:
- A husband and wife
- A former TVCC President who previously chaired the committee
- Several people who have formed a coalition to vociferously lobby for a neighborhood cause
- The wife of a current trustee
- A former trustee
- Several chairs of TVCC committees who have taken strong positions on village issues
Given the alliances and histories of the members, how could they objectively consider candidates’ fitness for the position of Trustee or Mayor? They are entrenched in Village politics, have longstanding relationships with one another and clear conflicts of interest. Though I am certain that many of the nominators have the right goals the roster includes too many with complex pasts and scores to settle.
In contrast, the School Board Nominating Committee (SBNC) attracts many parents with children in the school and often brings newcomers into the process. It is rare that people choose to serve more than one term. Since the leadership of the SBNC for the following year is taken from the group of representatives who have completed their three-year terms, those who have been elected by Scarsdale residents moderate the meetings.
On the other hand, the CNC is managed by the leadership of the Scarsdale Forum, which has been outspoken in their positions on issues that affect Scarsdale such as village-wide tax revaluation, compensation for teachers, and development. In my view, there is an inherent conflict in a partisan group managing an ostensibly “non-partisan” committee.
According to several reliable sources the process was further compromised this year when a large number of absentee ballots were delivered in a single bag to those counting the votes. In addition, a new rule allowed nominators to make private phone calls to candidates where they asked for their views in off the record conversations. As all CNC deliberations are confidential, the lack of transparency makes it even more difficult to address issues with the nominating process.
What can be done?
Here are a few suggestions for changes that can be made to the Non-Partisan Resolution :
- Limit service to one three year term, with no “repeat” performances
- Bar former mayors, trustees and their husbands and wives from serving
- Bar more than one member of a household from serving at the same time
- Have the proceedings managed by elected nominators who complete their terms and are selected by the group to lead for the following year
- Prohibit the Procedure Committee from selecting applicants to fill vacant seats
By restoring the integrity of the process, Village government will attract a wider cross-section of talented and committed citizens and ensure balanced leadership. When the non-partisan system is taken hostage by partisan leadership it is no longer an effective system and cries out for reform.
