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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 24 July 2025

Created: 24 July 2025

Last Updated: 24 July 2025

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Robert and Eleanor NovemberHitchcock Church reports that former Scarsdale resident and Scarsdale Bowl winner Robert November passed away at age 89 on July 23, 2025 while on a trip abroad. Robert was preceded in death by his wife, Eleanor in 2019. Together they were the recipients of the Scarsdale Bowl in in 2001.

November was a dedicated community volunteer who served on the Scarsdale School Board for six years, the final year, 1990-91 as Board President. He was a trustee of the Scarsdale Library, and was the President of the Friends of Scarsdale Parks. He was chair of the Advisory Council on Environmental Conservation and served on the Greenacres Association.

Robert and Eleanor were longtime residents of Walworth Avenue in Greenacres where they were well known for their annual Kentucky Derby Party, where guests donned festive hats and drank mint juleps.

Here are remarks about the Novembers from the 2001 Scarsdale Bowl Dinner at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains on April 26, 2001.

Looking for a Westchester home in 1971, Eleanor and Robert November sought a community with good schools, where people work together on solving problems, and where they would feel comfortable as a mixed faith couple. Scarsdale provided such a milieu.

For three decades, the Novembers have been unstinting in their commitment to serving the people and organizations of the community they live in.

Robert November has provided distinguished, service in his leadership and supporting roles. His 1990-91 presidency and previous five years on the Board of Education is a good example. The Scarsdale Inquirer said, "In his six years on the Board,...he has made a name for himself as a cool hand under fire and a business- savvy manager who knows how to run a meeting...But it is in this official's simple love for the job, and his unusual ability to lead by listening, that we feel the November legacy will most aptly reside."

Robert recalls with satisfaction the hiring of Richard Hibschman, a worthy successor to superintendent Thomas Sobol; tackling facilities problems, such as resolving the windows replacement issue; establishing mechanisms to involve the community at every stage of decision-making during the 1990's on major capital improvements and later voter-approved bond issues.

Now on the Library Board of Trustees, Robert's professional knowledge of publishing and automated information services, his business management skills, his ability to put issues into context, and his humor have contributed to the board's operations. He recently served as treasurer, and formerly president, of the Friends of the Scarsdale Parks and belongs to the TVCC. Beyond the community, he is treasurer and board member of the Deer Hill Conference Center used by many Westchester religious and school groups.

As chairman of the then United Way of Scarsdale, Robert was instrumental in hiring Executive Director Florence David whose effective work has been vital to the agency's success. As chair of the Advisory Council on Environmental Conservation, he was helpful in obtaining feedback and understanding from gardeners, facilitating enactment of the Leaf Blower ordinance. During his tenure the council surveyed all of Scarsdale street trees and recommended a conservation and maintenance plan.

Robert has been member of the Advisory Committee on Downtown Development, director of the Scarsdale Adult School, and past /current director of the Greenacres Association, for which he headed and coached some of the baseball and soccer programs, and treasurer of the Greenacres PTA.

Robert and Eleanor are committed to promoting understanding and respect of different faiths in the community. An example, one of many, has been the occasional interpretive model Jewish seders conducted by Rabbi Richard Jacobs of Westchester Reform Temple (to which Robert belongs) at Hitchcock Presbyterian Church (Eleanor's church) with the cooperation of Rev. Donald Steele.

Professionally, Robert spent 25 years at the New York Times, as vice president/group director for News and Information Services. Later he was an information services executive with American Bond Buyer, McGraw-Hill's F.W. Dodge Division and Burrelle's Information Services. Long involved with development of online information services and electronic publishing, he was chairman of the Information Industry Association, that field's national trade organization.

Born in Brooklyn, he grew up in Great Neck, Long Island and received a B.A. from Harvard College. Currently, he is a master's degree candidate in urban education at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 15 July 2025

Created: 15 July 2025

Last Updated: 16 July 2025

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Kally Lyons, a 2010 graduate of Scarsdale High School, married Matt Safko on June 19, 2025, in New York City.

The couple met at an engagement party in 2021 for one of Kally’s friends from Scarsdale (Rachel Fix ‘10) and one of Matt’s friends from the University of Maryland. A particularly insistent guest was convinced that Kally and Matt would make a great match. After some playful pressure, Matt asked for Kally’s number, and the rest is history.

Kally and Matt bonded over their shared love of family, both of their mothers are one of nine siblings, and their instant connection with Matt’s beloved cockapoo, Chase. Before long, the three were inseparable, and it felt only natural to make their family official by tying the knot.

Kally is the daughter of Kevin and Anne Ughetta Lyons of Scarsdale. Matt is the son of Ron Safko and Rita Duffell of New York City.

The couple exchanged vows in an intimate ceremony at Palma Restaurant in the West Village on June 19th and celebrated their marriage with a larger gathering of family and friends at the Altman Building on Saturday night.

Matt graduated from Xavier High School in 2009 and the University of Maryland in 2013. He is currently a Senior Director at TransPerfect. Kally graduated from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2014 and works in Marketing at GumGum.

The couple resides in Peter Cooper Village with their dog, Chase.

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Written by: Diane Greenwald

Published: 30 June 2025

Created: 30 June 2025

Last Updated: 30 June 2025

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(The following was submitted by Diane Greenwald)

I followed the heated debate in town and on social media about Scarsdale’s plan to increase/improve public safety surveillance and technology by contracting with an outside company, Flock. I respect debate, but it got out of hand, rapidly escalating dialogue to accusation.

Scarsdale has always invested in our departments based on requests and guidance from our expert professionals. This time appeared no different. The surveillance services and the vendor Flock were proposed by our police chief, discussed in workshop, vetted by counsel, and approved by our Village Board of Trustees, 6 -1.

The plan was contingent on the village receiving government funding, and it was the looming grant application deadline that fast-tracked the decision process. We have just learned that the grant was not approved (something the mayor noted would be worth waiting on.) The contract with Flock will not go forward at this time. While the immediate controversy is over, I think there is some community-wide reflection needed.

I applaud those in town who get involved and express their views about potential government overreach and fears of misuse of data. Just as this project between village public safety and Flock was under way, so too grew the federal government’s enhanced/unlawful ICE tactics, targeting migrants, profiling minorities, and violating civil liberties. It’s happening fast and it’s scary. It seems most of our village leadership misread the community’s increasing fear of surveillance (not all.) I can understand why. Cameras are already everywhere, often installed through outside companies on our houses (um, where is that data?) Cell phone and other local data collection methods means there is little real privacy. And then, many surrounding communities already have the requested technology in use. Yes, our crime rate is low in Scarsdale (hooray!) but apparently, we have vulnerabilities which the police chief seeks to address, without advertising them.

But the village did not long ignore community concerns. They quickly provided information in responsive memos, letters, FAQs, and statements. Skeptical at first, I found the materials reassuring and I appreciated that our trustees respect and trust the police recommendations. They demonstrated that they value strong safeguards on our data usage; focus on crime reductions and prevention; and that the police remain committed to quality community policing. Decision-makers showed that they were thinking carefully about balancing public safety and civil liberties. I am hopeful this will continue as the next public safety investments are determined. For their quick pivot and hard work, I offer thanks.

However, a group seemed unwilling to trust or even acknowledge good faith efforts and seemed to empower each other to say anything, unleashing unfounded assumptions, insults, insinuations, and attacks on our volunteer leaders and professional staff. Some comments lacked the very integrity they claimed was missing in our trustees. Not only is this ugly, it's a bad strategy. Given the increasingly violent national political landscape, the tactics employed by those most ardently against this plan were raising enough fear of their escalation to make others in the community embrace increased security measures.

Reduce the Rhetoric
There was no reason to jump to the worst conclusions. And even less reason to express inflammatory rhetoric in social media echo chambers, where fewer and fewer in town feel safe to comment. No one was personally wronged or harmed by differences of opinion. While in hindsight this process should have placed the community policy standards and buy-in before ratifying a contract, it is not a wholesale indictment on the project, the village system, or on our trustees’ integrity, as some too readily suggest. Let’s remember:

● Our police are excellent. I have never experienced our local police department to be anything but professional, proportional, and responsive.
● Our mayor and trustees trying to save taxpayers’ money is not a bad motive. We applaud trying to find funds to reduce our high taxes.
● There is no reason to doubt our village’s commitment to a robust public budget process, which is intensive, deliberate, and responsive.
● The suggestion that “a lack of transparency” about this public safety issue indicates a pattern is incendiary, an accusation without evidence. This process may have been unusual, but it appears well-intentioned. And some discretion is important for public safety measures.
● There are no sinister or nefarious actors here. Accusations of corruption and imagined kickbacks had and have absolutely no evidence. These slurs are slanderous, and such careless comments can seriously impact leaders’ reputations and safety.
● Calls to ‘out’ the village to the national press and ‘sue’ the village for I don’t even know what have completely lost perspective – and the narrative. Why would one bring bad press on or sue oneself?
● And I have heard another leap, suggesting that this imperfect process is a full indictment of the non-partisan system. Huh? What agenda is that?

Scarsdale System
The dynamic non-partisan system nominates community volunteers with service mindsets to run for office and does not prohibit any other eligible resident from running. The non-partisan system consists of an elected nominating body of 30 residents serving 3-year terms who evaluate candidates and deliberate with confidentiality and dignity, but not sinister secrecy. All elections are a leap of faith: this process has offered us balanced results and less costly elections. It has served Scarsdale well for over 100 years and is the envy of every other small municipality. (Please run for SBNC and CNC from your neighborhood!)

A few years back, a few residents tried to start an “opposition party” focused on ending the non-partisan system and I never could understand the long term plan in this. It had no other real platform, no published process for nominating their candidates, and no competition, other than those loosely aligned to the non-partisan system. A few members ran for office in the lawful election system – and lost. Unsurprisingly, that party was unsustainable.

The actual alternative to the non-partisan system is to do what most other towns do, hold elections between the Republican and Democratic parties. I am deeply engaged in partisan politics, but I hope we do not do this. It would bring in state and national agendas, a lot more spending on campaigns, increase party machines, and fill the boards with politicians, not volunteers, not fiduciary stewards of excellence. There is no evidence that a two party system in our town would increase quality volunteerism, attract more candidates, enhance transparency, or engage voters more than what is currently happening.

Moving Forward
Our trustees are our neighbors and friends who live here and volunteer their time and energy, mostly without fanfare or even with much community interest. They do not get every decision perfectly right every time, but they show up, gather input and facts, and do the work. So even when we disagree, they deserve to be treated respectfully, not targeted, doxxed, shunned, or maligned. The name-calling and insinuations about incompetence and malfeasance are lazy and wrong.

At the end of each long day filled with more and more bad news about our flailing democracy, I never forget that Scarsdale is still a wonderful place to live, run by dedicated professionals and volunteers. Scarsdale residents should and often do get involved, making improvements and voicing concerns, all with perspective. I am grateful for our peace, safety, and the kindness of our community, which can be nothing short of spectacular. When we debate, let it be with reason, compromise, and grace, rather than follow the trends of a hateful and cynical nation.

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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 26 June 2025

Created: 26 June 2025

Last Updated: 26 June 2025

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After an active campaign for the Democratic nomination for a seat on the Westschester County Board of Legislators, Scarsdale’s Tim Foley conceded the election to Jenn Puja of White Plains.

The Democratic Primary was held on Tuesday June 24, 2025. Since the only contest on the ballot in Scarsdale was Foley vs. Puja it proved difficult to draw enough locals in Scarsdale to support Foley who is well known here. Puja currently serves as a Councilwoman on the White Plains Common Council.

As of Thursday June 26, the tally on the Westchester County Board of Elections website shows 40% of the vote for Foley vs. 60% for Puja. He had 1,602 votes to her 2,458. There were only a total of 4,102 votes. Apparently Puja is well known in White Plains and their population outnumbers Scarsdale.

In an email to thank his supporters, Foley said the following:

Dear friends—
To help me prepare for tonight, my daughter Eleanor passed on the advice that her P.E. Teacher had given to her 4th grade class: “Win with grace; lose with grace.”

I want you to know I took that advice when I called Councilwoman Jenn Puja tonight and congratulated her on becoming the Democratic nominee for County Legislator District 5.

Throughout this campaign, I have been in awe of so many of you who showed up to support me. You gave money, you gave time, this week you gave literal sweat, you pushed yourself out of your comfort zone, you believed in me enough to ask your friends and neighbors to believe in me too. Sincerely, thank you. I owe you more than I can ever repay.

We are dealing with the chaos, the corruption, and the cruelty of the Trump Administration every day, and we need to find our own way to push back however we can. Our reclaiming of our American Dreams can take many forms and there are many tactics to employ, and we need ALL of them right now.

But one of them is to work together to win the County Elections this November. From County Executive Ken Jenkins, to Tom Roach for County Clerk, to our judicial nominees, to Jenn Puja for County Legislator, we need to work together to elect good, strong, competent Democratic leadership up and down the ballot.

We can and should send a clear message that even though national Democrats may seem adrift, and so much of institutional Washington seems to have gone crazy, when it comes to Westchester, we take care of business electorally, and then we deliver accountable, responsible government our residents can believe in.

With gratitude,
Tim Foley