Letter to the Editor: CHP Actions Should Be More Transparent
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This letter was written by Bobby Ben Simon, President of the KOSL Building Group:
To the Editor, As a long-time resident and active developer for many years, I must say the recent discussions amongst the BOT are unbelievable! Both the BOT and CHP appear to be at the cusp of ambiguously imposing harmful regulations that would be detrimental to property rights like never before. Posing as if they own every property in the Village, further emboldened by their voluntary board position, the most recent attempt to deteriorate due process and municipal accountability is shameful to say the least. The unfortunate incident that occurred that created this discussion should have isolated repercussions, strictly limited to that property, and segmented from residual residents within the Village! Five Thousand Six Hundred Sixty Two Scarsdale household will live to regret the consequences of the ridiculous statements insinuated to be enacted if they don’t stand up and reject it. It is well known that 95% of demolition applications are initiated by private homeowners, not developers. The poor actions of one property should not impact the rest of the public and further hinder our individual property rights.
The July 12, 2012, VILLAGE OF SCARSDALE, NEW YORK, RECONNAISSANCE LEVEL, CULTURAL RESOURCE SURVEY REPORT, must be published and inserted into the BAR guidelines for consideration of over 50% alterations. Every historic home that is documented within public Village records should be flagged and noted on its property card for equitable transparency. As consistently demonstrated over the years, the CHP’s lack of interest in advocating for a transparent and fair process is overpowered by their personal biases, regardless of their credentials and public facts. I am not alone when I firmly state that the CHP’s general disdain for property rights compounded with their unchecked accountability is fostering constant frustration and animosity amongst the public. If this board continues to neglect the implementation of fair and clear protocols without internal ramifications for failing to do so, the Village should recognize their obsolete presence and dissolve the board entirely.
Disturbingly, some of the BOT members recently made astonishing dictatorial statements;
Karen Brew said, “For those who demolish without permission, can we implement a process where 2 or 3 strikes and you’re out for multiple abuses? You lose the right to work in our Village?”
Jonathan Lewis said, “Let’s move forward with this stop gap measure while we look into larger solutions. Might we consider a moratorium until we can change this law to deter people from acting rashly if they think the law will be changed?”
It is the municipality’s obligation to hold members of power in check. Such unilateral positions that impact fundamental rights of thousands of innocent residents should be taken seriously. Members of any board that attempt to impose such drastic measures across the public should be removed from their seat without recourse.
Bobby Ben-Simon
Seneca Road
KOSL BUILDING GROUP LLC.
875 Mamaroneck Ave., Suite 400
Mamaroneck, NY 10543
Attention Attorneys!
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The Village of Scarsdale is seeking an Acting Village Justice. In January 2022 Village Justice Joaquin (Jack) Alemany announced his retirement. In the interim, the current Acting Village Justice, Cynthia Dunne, will serve as Village Justice.
This leaves a vacancy for the position of Acting Village Justice to back her up. If you’re interested, here is how to apply:
According to a notice from Scarsdale Village, the Judicial Qualifications Advisory Committee is seeking individuals interested in serving as Scarsdale’s Acting Village Justice.
The Committee welcomes all qualified applicants who live in the Village of Scarsdale and are members in good standing of the New York State Bar with courtroom experience.
Interested persons should send a letter of interest and resume to Janet Gorman by email to personnel@scarsdale.com or by United States Postal Mail to 1001 Post Road, Scarsdale, New York 10583. The deadline for receipt of materials is February 18, 2022 by 12:00 pm. If the Committee wishes to interview a candidate, they will contact the candidate directly after the deadline for submissions has passed.
The Acting Village Justice serves in the absence or incapacity of the Village Justice. The Committee screens candidates for this position and reports their assessment of the candidate qualifications to the Mayor. The Mayor then makes the appointment with confirmation by the Village Board of Trustees. Due to a vacancy as a result of a promotion, the Acting Village Justice will serve the remainder of a one-year term, expiring April 4, 2022, at which point the Acting Justice may be reappointed for additional one-year periods, each commencing on the first Monday in April of the year in question.
CNC Nominates Whitestone, Mazer and Gans for Village Trustee
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On Thursday January 20, 2022, the Citizens Nominating Committee (CNC) announced the candidates it selected for the Scarsdale Citizens’ Non-Partisan Party slate for the following Village offices:
-Randy Whitestone of 94 Sprague Road, a Village Resident for 26 years, Trustee
-Ken Mazer of 47 Church Lane, a Village Resident for 25 years, Trustee
Randy Whitestone has been nominated for a second term as Village Trustee.
-Jeremy Gans of 45 Harvest Drive, a Village Resident for 14 years, Trustee
Whitestone is currently a Village Trustee serving his first term and has been renominated for a second term while Mazer and Gans will be new to the Village Board if elected. Village Trustees Justin Arest and Lena Crandall will both complete two terms as Village Trustee in April.
Commenting on his renomination, Whitestone said, "Amid the challenges of the past two years, we’ve made significant strides in aligning the strategic direction of Scarsdale Village government to the needs of our residents. We have more to do to complete important budgeting, quality of life, and infrastructure initiatives, and I look forward to seeing them through."
Gans introduced himself saying, "I have lived in Scarsdale since 2006 and have served in a number of volunteer roles in the Village. I joined the Zoning Board of Appeals in 2016, and have served on that board for nearly 5 years. I also serve on the Executive Committee of the Scarsdale Forum and I am a member of the Scarsdale High School PTA Scholarship Fund Committee. From 2016-2019, I was President of Scarsdale Youth Soccer Club. Professionally, I worked as a corporate lawyer for seven years and currently serve as President of JDJ Capital Management Company."
"I am honored that the CNC has nominated me to serve as Trustee and I thank them for their service. If elected, I look forward to collaborating with the Board and Village staff so that I can continue serving my community. I expect that we will work together to find the most effective ways to improve our village and maintain the level of excellence residents expect."
The General Village Election will take place Tuesday, March 15, 2022. The Election will be held at the Scarsdale Public Library, 54 Olmsted Road in the Scott Room. Voting hours will be from 6:00 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Jill Spielberg served as Chair and Jon Krisbergh served as Vice Chair of the CNC. In addition to the candidates for Village office, the CNC selected Omer Wiczyk as Chair and Janet Han-Youm as Vice Chair for next year’s CNC. The CNC also elected Michelle Sterling to serve as Chair and Peri Zelig to serve as Vice Chair of the Procedure Committee.
Jeremy Gans“Starting in late November 2021, the CNC searched for potential candidates and then conducted extensive diligence. While deliberations and reference conversations are not shared publicly, the CNC considered and carefully researched the background, experience, and qualifications of each trustee candidate and engaged in significant deliberation,” stated Jill Spielberg, Chair of the CNC. “We thank the CNC Members for their hard work and diligence in selecting this strong slate of candidates,” she continued.
Ken Mazer
Congressman Bowman Tours Scarsdale's Food Scrap Recycling Program
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Last week Congressman Jamaal Bowman joined Scarsdale Food Scrap Recycling Program residents and co-founders Michelle Sterling and Ron Schulhof, along with Scarsdale DPW Superintendent Jeff Coleman, Scarsdale DPW Assistant Superintendent Tyler Seifert, Scarsdale Mayor Jane Veron, Deputy Mayor Justin Arrest, Trustee Jonathan Lewis, Village Manager Rob Cole and Assistant Village Manager Alex Marshall to give the Congressman a tour of the program, celebrate its success and discuss how to bring the program to more communities in our region.
Sign up for Food Scrap Recycling. Please email composting@scarsdale.com to start. It’s an easy and great way to help our environment!
Update from Mayor Jane Veron
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Here are remarks delivered by Scarsdale Mayor Jane Veron at the Village Board meeting on Tuesday January 11, 2022:
Happy New Year, Scarsdale! I hope the holidays offered you time to enjoy family and friends and to take a well-earned break from some of life’s daily demands. I know the recent COVID surge has added further stress, and I wish a speedy recovery to so many of our residents and employees and their extended families who are fighting the virus. The good news is that this strain is not as virulent as others, and I remain optimistic that we will get through this challenge and see normalcy soon return.
I want to give a special shout out to the Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps who has rallied to provide vaccinations, boosters, tests, and masks to the community. Please remember, they are volunteers, supported by your philanthropy, and motivated by a fierce allegiance to public health and safety. They have been working nonstop, and we are enormously grateful and lucky to have this resource in our backyard.
Now let’s look ahead. As we embark on 2022, I want to reiterate the Board’s commitment to evolving Village government into a model for the 21st century, adopting best practices, embracing innovation, and preparing soundly for the future.
Over these past several months, we’ve experienced a transformation at Village Hall that is unlike any we’ve seen in the recent past. With a new strategic and financial planning framework, a new Village Manager, our extraordinary tenured staff who have been joined by several new professionals, Scarsdale government is poised to lead us forward.
You’ve heard us describe the push to digitize, and you will experience the beginning of this evolution in our re-engineered budget process. We invite you to our budget kick off next Tuesday, January 18, at 6 pm. This newly conceived meeting will offer insight into debt policy, give updates from the water rate study and then set the stage for the budget discussion with goals, objectives, and KPIs as well as fee schedule proposals. This budget cycle, we will bridge past practices with new approaches. The goal is to offer more time to deliberate with public involvement and greater ease and accessibility. Our Village Manager will detail the schedule in his remarks.
You’ve heard us speak about our desire to invest in the future. With the Pool Complex Study and the Complete Streets, Village Center Mobility and Placemaking study, we’re doing just that. Both projects are in the works, and we will provide updates along the way. Be on the lookout for opportunities for public engagement. They’ll be coming in Q1.
You’ve heard us dig into the long standing infrastructure and quality of life needs, and our work session this evening exemplified our focus on making necessary improvements. For those not in attendance, Planning and DPW staff reviewed tangible next steps on Scarsdale’s Hazard Mitigation Plan and Tropical Depression Ida’s After Action Report. It was an incredibly thorough and informative discussion and I encourage you to watch the video.
And finally, you’ve heard us describe our wish to work in tandem with the schools on multiple overlapping issues. Tonight is a perfect example of progress in the Village School partnership. On our agenda is a resolution that ensures smooth linkage in public safety matters.
Change takes time, and we won’t get everything perfectly right at the first go. But please know our intentions are pure, the commitment is there, and I am so excited to see what the future holds.
