Non-Residents Hogging Scarsdale Tennis Courts
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Tennis players who use the Brite Avenue tennis courts were surprised to find that the Village was enforcing the rules last weekend. The courts are usually jammed from eight am to noon on Saturday and Sunday mornings -– and players often tie up the courts on the previous Thursday morning when they can call the attendant to reserve weekend courts. Some of the groups would reserve the same court for consecutive hours, claiming a court for two hours during peak times.
However, this past weekend the courts were strangely empty. One group was playing on Court 1 and noticed that others were being turned away. Why?
It turns out that many of the players who had previously occupied the courts were not Scarsdale residents. They were on the courts as non-resident guests or without a permit altogether.
In response to complaints from Scarsdale taxpayers the Recreation Department asked the attendant to enforce the rules which bar non-residents from playing on the courts before noon on weekends
As a result, at 10 am on Saturday, three of the four courts were empty – signaling to some that the courts at Brite Avenue were primarily used by those who don’t live in town.
Pro-Palestinian Billboard Posted at Scarsdale Train Station
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Commuters at the Scarsdale Metro North train station were shocked to find an anti-Israel billboard along the train tracks today. The billboard features several panels, each documenting a change in the Israel-Palestine borders over time, and says “4.7 Palestinians are classified by the U.N. as refugees.” The four maps show “Palestinian Loss of Land 1946-2010,” and depict the status of the land of Palestine in 1946; the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan; the State of Israel before the 1967 Six Days War; and the State of Israel in 2010, including Palestinian territories “occupied” by Israel.
Similar billboards have been posted at a total of ten Metro North stations.
The billboards were paid for by Henry Clifford, an 83-year-old anti-Israel activist based in Essex, Connecticut. Clifford is the head of a small anti-Israel group named the Committee for Peace in Israel and Palestine (also referred to as COPIP). COPIP is a member of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, which is a bigger anti-Israel coalition operating out of Washington, D.C. Clifford has also expressed his pro-Palestine beliefs in “letters to the editor” to several newspapers and news websites. COPIP also backed a divestment campaign targeting TIAA-CREF for investing in companies that allegedly help Israel maintain the occupation.
Fox News turned up at the Scarsdale station on Thursday morning, and here is a clip of their report :
Community members were quick to react to the placement of the billboards in their midst.
Rabbi Jonathan E. Blake, Senior Rabbi at Westchester Reform Temple said, “The images in these ads grossly distort the facts and utterly disregard the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They are apt only to inflame passions and exacerbate tensions rather than work toward a just and mutually negotiated two-state solution. What we need now is less one-sided rhetoric and more real dialogue about the hard compromises and powerful opportunities that could bring peaceful coexistence to Israelis and Palestinians.”
Rabbi Shira Milgrom of Congregation Kol Ami added, "The central issue is not whether we are pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli. Hopefully, we are both. Seeking a just and peaceful solution to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East means being both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine, in other words, pro-peace. Pro-Peace means that each people has rights to sovereignty and self-determination. One-sided, misleading and distorted propaganda does not serve the interests of peace."
John Harris, a Scarsdale resident and Chair of the N.Y. Chapter of the AntiDefamation League, called the billboards, “misleading and biased, falsely suggesting that Israel has pursued a campaign to deprive Palestinians of their land and to make them refugees. These ads ignore the reality that the Palestinians did not own the land prior to Israel’s creation in 1948, that Israel has repeatedly tried to exchange land for peace only to be rebuffed by Palestinian leaders, and that a succession of Israeli governments has been committed to achieving a two-state solution with the Palestinians. This campaign is only the latest attempt by the proponents of these ads to delegitimize Israel.”
Rhonda, the commuter who alerted Scarsdale10583 to the new campaign said, “This is a scary, manipulative smear campaign against Israel and a very inaccurate portrayal of Israel. It accuses Israel of taking land from the Palestinians in a series of 4 generic, incorrect maps. This is sponsored by a "Committee for Peace"? There is absolutely nothing peaceful about this billboard. These billboards are in targeted Metro-North stations and are meant to incite and anger. Who is paying for and allowing these billboards? Why is this message on a CBS billboard? This is totally unacceptable.”
In a position paper from the AntiDefamation League, they point out that the situation is complex and cannot be summarized on the maps. According to the ADL, the maps fail to reflect several key facts:
Prior to 1948, much of the land was owned by non-Palestinian absentee landlords who lived in Beirut, Damascus, Cairo and Baghdad.
Israel has made repeated efforts to exchange land for peace, such as the 1979 peace agreement with Egypt, which led Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula; the full disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005, which gave control of the territory to the Palestinian leadership, and other Israeli pull-backs from the West Bank that granted administrative control of a number of cities to the Palestinian Authority.
The commitment of successive Israeli governments to achieving a two-state solution with the Palestinians, and an expressed desire to engage in land swaps of major settlement blocs in the West Bank as part of a final status agreement. This commitment by Israel has been met by repeated failures on the part of the Palestinian leadership to seriously engage with Israel in peace talks.
Israel maintains that since the Palestinian refugees are the result of a war forced upon Israel by invading Arab armies, it is not responsible for the current plight of the refugees. However, Israel has stated that, on humanitarian grounds, it would participate in an international effort to resolve the situation, including helping refugees settle in an established state of Palestine, contributing to an international refugee compensation fund and considering individual cases of family reunification for refugees with Israeli relatives.
The placement of the billboards is very timely as on Monday July 9, 2012, a commission of jurists appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel's presence in the West Bank was not occupation under international conventions and recommended state approval of some of the unauthorized Jewish settlement outposts. The commission's report added new fuel to the ongoing major controversy that has been going on for decades about the legality of Jewish settlements and complicated the already faltering efforts to forge an overall Israeli-Palestinian agreement.
Development of Frank's Nursery Site Is Fraught With Problems
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This letter was submitted by Greenburgh resident Simon Cohen regarding property on Dobbs Ferry Road: I’d like to make you aware of a development project in the Town of Greenburgh near my home that is not only fraught with issues, but also has me wondering what is really going on. Supervisor Feiner and the Greenburgh Town Board have decided to lease Town-owned land located at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road (the former Frank’s Nursery) to a start-up company, Game On 365, to build a sports bubble facility (161,500 sq. ft and 8 stories high) in a residential zoned area.
The proposed lease is terrible for Town residents and the Town will lose money on this lease. Here are some of the major issues:
NO TAXES TO BE PAID BY TENANT: The Town has decided to personally pay any and all taxes owed by private business Game On (Lease p.2). After the $6.9M facility is assessed, the Town will pay taxes of around $250K or more. The Town will collect $260K in rent from Game On. The amount the Town will pay in taxes each year will almost equal what is collected in rent. This doesn’t even include the likely increase to the Town in community services from such a huge facility. The Town will NOT MAKE ANY MONEY OFF THIS 7 ACRE PROPERTY FOR 15 YEARS. Game On, however, boasts that they will have a gross income of $2.4M in year 1 and $5.1M in year 6.
GAME ON TO COLLECT MORE SUBLEASING 7,500 SQ. FT. TO RETAIL TENANTS THAN THEY WILL PAY THE TOWN IN RENT FOR THE ENTIRE FACILITY (161,500 SQ. FT. ON 7 ACRES): Game On has projected to earn $300-330K in annual rental income from 5 subtenants who will be using approximately 7,500 sq. ft. (less than 5% of their entire square footage) of their Clubhouse building. Game On will be paying the Town $260-335K in annual rent for the entire facility. When the economics of a deal don’t make sense, it is a clear indicator of something else going on behind the scenes.
TAXPAYERS TO PAY FOR UNKNOWN ENVIRONMENTAL CLEAN-UP: The Town will use taxpayer money to pay for an environmental clean-up (Lease p.14) on this site that is known to be contaminated and they have been keeping this fact (that taxpayers will pay for it) from residents.
NO RENT PAYMENT DURING DEVELOPMENT OF UP TO 3 YEARS: Game On won’t pay a dime until after Town approvals, which could take up to 3 years, and they can walk away at any time (Lease p.16-17).
NO FINANCES REQUIRED FOR LEASE FROM START-UP COMPANY: The lease doesn’t contain any standard provisions for finances, guaranty or security. This is because Game On plans to raise the $7.5M for the facility construction and operation AFTER they sign the 15-year lease with the Town. The Town bears ALL the financial risks.
NO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STUDIES HAVE BEEN DONE: The Town has illegally decided not do any traffic, parking, noise, EMF, aesthetic or community services studies (SEQR) PRIOR to entering the lease (which is considered to be an action under SEQR). With the Fortress Bible Church and School is built just 2,500 ft. east on the same road, environmental impacts need a hard look. Residents will not be protected from potential harms without these studies being done prior to the lease, as the law states they must.
TOWN REJECTS MUCH BETTER OFFER: The Town has an offer of $1.5M to buy the property “as is” and the adjacent property (2 acres smaller) is on the market for $3.5M. If sold, the Town can immediately add this property to the tax roll for hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, which is hundreds of thousands more each year than they will receive with the current lease.
Does this all sound crazy to you?
What’s even more insane is that the whole RFP (Request for Proposals) process (issuance and developer selection) was tainted and predetermined. The RFP was designed around Game On and Game On tailored their proposal to fit things that others had no knowledge of. BEFORE issuing an RFP on the property, the Town spent NINE MONTHS negotiating with Game On. This included several presentations before the Town Board and countless meetings, emails and phone calls.
For example, the Town put forward a resolution solely to change the zoning of the property for an “indoor sports complex” use months before the RFP was even issued, Feiner admitted speaking to “tons” of people about the Game On proposal prior to the RFP being issued, and the other proposals received were never even looked at by the Town Board (this is all on video). This sham RFP process was detrimental to other interested parties and contrary to public interest in getting the best deal for the property.
The Town will also receive a lower than market rent payment. The Town never assessed the property to learn fair market value. The tainted RFP process led to only 3 proposals on a rare 7-acre site in southern Westchester off major highways. And just hours after having “opened” the proposals, the Town immediately agreed to the rent that Game On suggested in their proposal without negotiating. The residents of Greenburgh have been shortchanged on a bad deal for a below market rent.
The Town officials have done whatever they can to hide things from the public and mislead residents.
What is really going on here?
The lease is available on the Town of Greenburgh’s website. There will be an informal meeting on July 18th at 7pm at Frank’s Nursery and then the Town Board will vote on July 25th at 7:30pm at Town Hall.
I hope that local residents will attend both meetings to learn what has been going on and will contact Supervisor Feiner ([email protected], 914-438-1343 - cell, 914-993-1540 - office).
Thank you for your time.
Simon
[email protected]
www.HelpBurstTheBubble.com
Lightning Strikes on Stratton Road
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The weather was tempertuous on Friday. The day began with sunny skies and temperatures that soared into the 90's. But by lunchtime, thunderstorms moved in. A lightning bolt from the quickly moving storm struck a primary electrical line which snapped and burst into flames at about 1:35 pm. The picture of the line in flames was taken in front of 9 Stratton Road. The Scarsdale Fire Department and Police Departments stood by until Con Edison arrived.
Text by Drew Hahn/Photo by David Lawless
Emily Hirsch Turns 95
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Our beloved “Sweet Lady,” officially turned 95 years young on Friday, June 15th, and I was there to share in the celebration. And, oh boy, what a celebration. Friends, family, residents, and fellow local proprietors came out in full force to show their love, respect and admiration for one of our town’s treasures. There really is no one like her.
Emily’s son, Jeff Brown, a retired attorney, says, “She’s just a terrific person, who has always been there guiding me throughout my life.”
Jill Lefkowitz, one of Emily’s granddaughters, added, “She’s also a great role model with a pretty remarkable work ethic.” That’s for sure!
After chitchatting with Emily’s family for a bit, I had one burning question that I needed answered. So, I turned to Emily’s son Jeff, and asked, with resolute determination, “I see your Mom driving, almost every morning, a pretty old Mercedes, and I’m dying to know…what year is it? And, how does she see over the steering-wheel?”
Jeff smiled and gave a little laugh, as he answered, “It’s an ’84 Mercedes and she adds two cushions to the driver’s seat for some added height.”
Hmmm. The mystery has been solved.
The nicest thing about Emily’s birthday bash was the community outpouring of love and affection that went into it. La Renaissance made a beautiful cake, Starbucks donated the coffee, Scarsdale Art and Frame provided a gorgeously framed birthday card and Chamber of Commerce commendation, and Lange’s supplied the outdoor venue and food.
Bonnie Ernst, a friend from Scarsdale Child’s Play for 31 years, was there to enjoy the festivities. She informed me that Emily recently signed a two-year lease to remain in her current space. Yay.
The party also drew Dr. Rosen from Scarsdale Eye Gallery, Michelle from La Dentelliere, and a group from Accent
Tony from “Lange’s” and Emily’s good friend, Ann Jackler, a local psychotherapist in town, joined forces to throw
I asked one of Emily’s granddaughters, Jill, “Have you been surprised at how beloved your Grandmother is?”
Her answer, quite simply, “Not really.”
Happy Birthday, Emily!
Photos courtesy of Karen Baranick and Sharon Lippmann
Contributor Sharon Lippmann, writes about her "so called suburban life" as a proud resident of Scarsdale, NY. She is a writer, blogger, mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend and one sassy chick. She loves exploring the interesting, strange, perplexing, vexing, ridiculous and funny that life offers up frequently. Enjoying more of what she has to say about nothing, and, well, everything at mydailypill.com .
