Officials Urge Con Edison to Provide Relief to Rate Payers
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Governor Kathy Hochul, Public Service Commissioner Rory M. Christian and State Senators Andrea Stewart Cousins and Shelley Mayer all sounded the alarm about steep increases in energy bills that resulted in utility bills that were 58% higher for Westchester customers than the previous month.
In a letter to Con Edison sent on February 11, 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul said, "The extreme utility bill increases we are seeing across the state come at a time when New Yorkers are already struggling financially following the COVID-19 pandemic," Governor Hochul said. "Even though the spike we are seeing in electricity, natural gas and fuel prices were predicted and are due to severe winter weather, I am calling on Con Ed to review their billing practices because we must take unified action to provide relief for New Yorkers, especially our most vulnerable residents."
Rory M. Christian, who is the Chair and CEO of the Public Service Commission also wrote to Con Edison. He urged the utility to change their billing practices. He said, “Total bills for full-service mass-market customers billed at the end of January were 49 and 58 percent higher for New York and Westchester customers, respectively, from their previous bill for the typical energy usage. Department Staff estimates that approximately 70 percent of the increase in supply rates between December and January was attributable to Con Edison’s forecasting hedge values being underestimated.”
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and State Senator Shelley B. Mayer, who will be Scarsdale’s State Senator following re-districting, sent a joint letter to Consolidated Edison and the Public Service Commission demanding that recent rate increases be suspended and other measures be taken to mitigate the impact of the dramatic jump seen in Con Edison ratepayers’ bills.
“We have grave concerns about the financial shock these high costs will have for our constituents and others across New York State,” said the Senators in their letter. “The rise in charges will result in serious challenges for many New Yorkers, particularly those already struggling to make ends meet.”
Recent spikes in energy prices coinciding with a planned rate increase approved by the Public Service Commission have resulted in some ratepayers’ bills more than doubling between December 2021 and January 2022. Both Senators had opposed the planned rate increase.
In the letter, which is attached to this press release, the Senators said the “situation is unacceptable” and called on the Public Service Commission and Con Edison to take immediate action to provide relief to ratepayers.
“Both the Public Service Commission and Con Edison have a responsibility to ratepayers, and such dramatic and unexpected cost increases demand action on your part in order to fulfill that responsibility.”
What recourse do consumers have if they feel that they are being unfairly treated by the utility who has a monopoly here in Westchester? One reader recommended that users email the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and ask them to investigate on Con Edison. Visit their website here -https://ferc.gov/ and email them at [email protected].
New District Maps: Paulin Picks Up Edgemont, Stewart-Cousins Loses Scarsdale and Westchester Divided into Four Congressional Districts
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After months of discussion and debate, New York State’s state legislature maps for the Assembly and Senate have been approved along with the new congressional districts. They are expected to be signed into law by Governor Hochul.
Under the new maps, Scarsdale residents will continue to be represented by State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, who is herself a Scarsdale resident. She will add Edgemont to her district. However, in the NYS Senate, Scarsdale will now be in Shelley Mayer’s district, rather than in the district of Democratic Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins, who is a familiar face around town.
Commenting on the new maps, Paulin said, "I’m thrilled that the proposed new map for my Assembly district now includes Edgemont! It’s a great fit for Edgemont to be in a district with Scarsdale as they share many community organizations and institutions – such as Scarsdale Edgemont Family Services, boy and girl scout troops, and news services. I’m looking forward to representing the best interests of Edgemont and will continue to represent and advocate for Scarsdale and the other communities in my district. I’m hopeful that after the bills for the new district maps are approved in the Legislature (the Legislature’s vote is on Thursday, February 3) Governor Hochul will sign them into law!
In the proposed Senate district, Scarsdale will now be represented by Senator Shelley Mayer while Edgemont will continue to be represented by Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins. I highly respect and have great relationships with both of these Senators. Even though Edgemont will be getting a new Assemblymember and Scarsdale will be getting a new Senator, from having worked with both of them over the years I’m confident that we’ll continue to be a successful legislative team for the Scarsdale and Edgemont communities."
In the new congressional maps, Westchester County has been divided into four districts, with the shore towns of Rye and Mamaroneck joining a district that contains Nassau and portions of Suffolk County, formerly represented by Thomas Suozzi who is running for Governor. Scarsdale will remain in the district that is now represented by Jamaal Bowman, but the district lines have been changed so that he loses some portion of the Bronx, but extends further north to Putnam and Carmel.
Jamaal Bowman's district will extend from the Bronx to Carmel
Mondaire Jones, who formerly represented communities as far east as Port Chester and Rye will lose sections of Westchester and pick up more of Sullivan County. He will also pic up Edgemont which was formerly represented by Bowman.
Why is Westchester being divided into a jigsaw puzzle? Census data necessitated that New York State must lose one seat in Congress. At the same, Democrats, who now control a 2/3 majority in each house of the NYS Legislature, have the ability to unilaterally approve the new districts for New York State.
According to experts, due to their current supermajorities, Democrats are using the tactics that both parties have utilized in the past when they have had full control of redistricting in other states. Notably, this was done by the Republican Party in several states in 2012, including in New York State when the Republicans redrew the NYS Senate lines heavily in their favor. As a result, the Democrats have undone the heavy-handed Republican gerrymandering in the NYS Senate from 2012, and have redrawn the Congressional lines to favor more Democratic leaning districts. Democrats are hopeful that these new Congressional maps will allow them to pick up three additional seats in Congress for New York State.
However, the League of Voters of Scarsdale concurred with the LWVNYS who said,
“New Yorkers have been completely shut out from the redistricting process. Instead of ensuring that the public has a say in what their future districts will look like, the Legislature has instead disrespected the process put in place by voters in 2014 by planning to steamroll redistricting legislation through the Assembly and Senate. New Yorkers deserve a transparent and fair redistricting process, and it is shameful that the Legislature has denied them this. The League of Women Voters of NYS believes that voters should choose their representatives, not that representatives should choose their voters. Partisan gerrymandering is banned under the state constitutional amendment passed in 2014, yet the maps released on the 31st and the 1st reflect a Legislature that appears to care more about favoring partisan interests than it does for fair maps.”
See the new maps below:
Pound Ridge, Bedford and North Salem will be in Sean Maloney's district with Duchess and Orange counties.
The shoreline communities of Rye, Mamaroneck and Pelham will now join a LI district formerly represensted by Thomas Suozzi.
Mondaire Jones has traded portions of Westchester for Sullivan County.
SHS Drama Club’s Student Directed Plays on Stage and Streaming This Weekend
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The Scarsdale High School Drama Club comes together once again for their yearly student-directed plays, putting together two one-act plays. One is a comedy called “Crazytown,” about a ridiculous town showcasing their craziness through their evening newscast. The other play is a drama called “4 AM” which shares the various experiences of being awake at 4 am (Rated PG-13).
Shows are in person in the SHS auditorium on Friday night January 21 at 7:30 pm and Saturday January 22 at 7:30 pm or can be viewed online. Purchase your tickets here. The maximum number of attendees per show is 120, so buy your ticket early!
Janmariz Deguia, the student who directed Crazytown said, “Crazytown has been a wonderful experience. It’s funny going from being on stage to the other side of it all. Luckily, directing did not feel new; it just felt great. It combined my passion for leadership like student government and my immense love for theatre into one amazing position. I hold more titles such as
“founder and director of Project Calendula”--a mental health awareness initiative--but it’s a little different. Directing is less about managing work, supervising events, and dealing with paperwork. To me, it’s about putting a vision of art onto stage by giving suggestions. By guiding people to connect with each other and the audience the best. Directing is not super direct all of the time! It’s loose and it’s fun and at the end of the day, it's art. For this show, it was also about helping people gain stage confidence. There’s nothing like seeing my actors grow; I’m just so proud.”
“I'm beyond grateful for everyone's hard work despite it being many people's first time acting; their flexibility and perseverance through Covid related changes and their support were incredible. I’ve had a difficult time these past couple of months, and I could not have done this without the support from SHSDC. Ms. Malecki and Dr. Graybill specifically have been huge helps and amazing motivators. This show would be nothing without my assistant director, Maud, and our amazing crew. Everyone from stage crew to production to costumes deserves a big thanks!”
Photos by Joe DiMartino
Letter to the Editor: Reduce the Number of Half Days on the School Calendar
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I urge the school to reconsider the number of half days in elementary school in the proposed schedule, as it places a meaningful burden on parents, is a hindrance to children’s learning, and is excessive compared to other districts. In some cases, the number of half days results in Scarsdale having fewer instructional hours than peer elementary schools. Throughout a kids Scarsdale elementary education, a graduating Scarsdale 5th grader will have had a month (24 days) less of instructional hours than Rye or Chappaqua.
Based on the proposed schedule, students in Kindergarten through 2nd Grade have thirteen early dismissal days planned. These half days place an undue burden on working parents and raise issues of equity, as irregular school schedules often require parents to have a nanny to pick the kids up early or a working parent to take time off.
In addition, excessive half days for young children aren’t good for their education. Kids five to seven years old thrive on consistency for learning and mental stability. A Scarsdale teacher recently told me that weeks with half days are the hardest because the kids are thrown off their schedule. Kids also can’t get any learning in on a half day- imagine getting twenty three five year olds to take off their jackets, put their backpacks away and get seated only to ask them to do all that again three hours later!
We have heard that this is the best that we can do within the requirements, but that does not appear to be the case. Our district is a significant outlier compared to our peers. I have reviewed the publicly available school calendars of six other highly regarded neighboring public schools. Scarsdale has significantly more half days, sometimes as many as five times more frequently than other schools. I could only find one other schools that came close: Larchmont with ten. In looking at other schools, most of our peers take two days off for conferences yet we have three instructional days spread out of six work days. I have found only two peers that have the last week of school off as half days.
Many of our peers do not have half days during the last week of school. There are other ways to utilize this time and one is to move it to Winter Break. December is a very hard time to have school. Kids can't enjoy outdoor recess or lunch. The windows of the classrooms are open and kids are freezing while learning. In contrast, June typically has record low COVID case volume and weather conducive outdoor activities. If limiting the spread of COVID is a concern, I suggest that we maximize the amount of school that we have in June and minimize school in the winter months.
With this in mind, I'd like to make the following recommendations for the 22-23 calendar,
(1) Condense the number of half days into a smaller number of full days off to better support working parents and kids
(2) Move the June half days to Winter break to reduce teachers and students risk of COVID spread and infection
(3) Reconsider if we want to lag other schools in instructional hours
Dianna Cohen-Irom
How Can We Prevent the Next Flood in Scarsdale?
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Oxford and Greendale Roads After Tropical Storm IdaWhat can be done to prevent another catastrophic flood like the one experienced after Tropical Storm Ida on September 1, 2022? That was the subject of an extensive report presented by Jeff Coleman, the Scarsdale Superintendent of Public Works, to Village Trustees at a work session on January 11, 2022.
The storm dropped over eight inches of rain on Scarsdale during a 24 hour period. As a point of reference, FEMA defines a 100-year storm as one that drops nine inches of rain in 24 hours, so Ida was just shy of that magnitude.
The report documents the rainfall, the Village’s response, damage to Village infrastructure, necessary repairs and even highlights proposed changes to the Village code regarding stormwater runoff, flooding and land use that could impact flooding in the future.
In addition to the damage to Village owned facilities such as the Crossway Firehouse, the Central Garage and the Facilities Maintenance building, many areas of the Village flooded as storm drains were overwhelmed, watercourses spilled over and sanitary sewers backed up. Culverts were damaged, clogged storm drains could not handle the inundation and in some places sinkholes developed.
Even the seven acre retention pond at George Field park filled and inundated Oxford Road, creating a temporary lake in Greenacres.
The report outlines all the areas where flooding occurred and documents significant repairs, some of which have already been completed.
One of the most visible signs of the storm’s aftermath was massive piles of debris lining the streets of Scarsdale. The Village sent out crews to haul away the wet refuse at no additional expense to homeowners. A report from the Village shows that in September, the DPW disposed of 1,088,96 tons of solid waste, as compared to 646 tons in August.
A culvert on Olmsted Road
In terms of next steps, the report recommends that the Village continue to inspect, clean and repair the storm drain system. In addition, they suggest that the Village revisit a list of proposed larger infrastructure projects outlined by engineering firm Dvirka and Bartilucci in 2009. Some of these projects have been completed, some are underway and others have proven to be “infeasible or not cost effective.” DPW recommends a $27,810 study from STV Incorporated to “identify and advance the next series of improvements and form the basis for future grant applications.”
Also in the report is a memo from Village Engineer David Goessel outlining changes to the Village Code on stormwater runoff, flooding and land use disturbance.
The memo recommends the following:
-Encouraging compliance with FEMA’s Community Rating System for floodplain practices
-Regulating inflow into the sewers from sewer laterals, illicit connections and unlawful discharges
-More restrictive code to regulating grade changes and retaining walls for new construction projects that adversely affect neighbors and impact tree roots and topography.
-Amending Village code to redefine impervious and pervious surfaces to align with the NYSDEC Stormwater Design Manual.
