Yorktown and Cortlandt region

The Editorial Board will host two Editorial Spotlight interviews this week:

• Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic Inc. officials will discuss the impact of U.S. House-backed funding cuts to the organization at 1 p.m. Wednesday. Participants include Reina Schiffrin, president/CEO; Lisa Winjum, director, Public Affairs and Advocacy; and Jessica Baily, communications manager.

• Candidates for Port Chester mayor will join us at 1 p.m. Thursday. Democrat Dennis Pilla, the incumbent, faces Republican Bart Didden, who was elected last year to the village board.

To watch, go to lohud.com/editorialspotlight; submit a question by engaging the “CoverItLive” blogging device.

Here’s a glance at opinion content published in The Journal News on Saturday, Feb. 26, Sunday, Feb. 27 and today, Monday, Feb. 28:

Saturday, Feb. 26
Republicans and the budgets: Commentary
Joni Balter, a columnist for The Seattle Times, assesses the political landscape after a week in which Congressional Republicans took aim at social programs and Gov. Scott Walker, Republican of Wisconsin, battled with public-employee unions over benefits and collective bargaining.

Melbourne farmhouse: Commentary
Alan Strauber, a Yorktown Heights resident who is president and chairman of the Calvert Vaux Preservation Alliance, argues in favor of the preservation of the Melbourne farmhouse, am 1812 structure the Yorktown Central School District owns and intends to demolish.

Tilcon quarry: Commentary
John F. Meehan, a Suffern village trustee, comments on the town of Ramapo’s plans to sell the former Tilcon quarry property to a developer who has proposed constructing 440 housing units on 65 acres.

Sunday, Feb. 27
Wisconsin: Editorial
We comment on the situation in the Badger State, where public-employee unions and Scott Walker, the Republican governor, are engaged in conversation that begs questions of national importance: What role should public-employee unions play in the future of our states? Should public employees contribute to their benefits? Do we value collective bargaining? We write:

… New Yorkers have their own troubles, including a $10 billion budget deficit, and their own set of hard choices, including proposed multi-billion cuts to schools and health care, and negotiations with organized labor aimed at saving billions of dollars or, in the alternative, laying off thousands of workers. New York also wrestles with a marquee policy decision — whether to cap annual property tax increases at 2 percent — that is likely to have repercussions in the classroom and local governments long after the Wisconsin mess has been concluded.


But we are transfixed nonetheless.


Wisconsin has touched off an important nationwide discussion about public-employee salaries and benefits. In a far more limited way, it also has prompted fresh discussion about the shrinking middle-class and their future, against the backdrop of recession, scant growth in real wages and growing income inequality.


Regrettably, the drama has not shed one bit of light on a more important discussion about employment, one started by President Obama in his State of the Union address a month ago. He talked about preparing American workers for the jobs of tomorrow — by investing in education, infrastructure and energy independence. …

(more…)

New York doesn’t permit same-sex marriages, but it does recognize the unions of gay couples married elsewhere. A New York appeals court ruled Thursday that the survivor of a same-sex couple married in Canada can inherit as a spouse, in a decision gay-rights group called the first appellate decision of its kind in New York. Do you think that gay marriage should be legal in New York? Share your view in our poll:

The city of Peekskill recently released a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) in response to an audit conducted by the New York State Comptroller’s Office that found fault with the Peekskill Business Improvement District (BID).

State officials claimed the BID does not properly safeguard cash, has no written agreement with the city, receives inadequate oversight and has no procedures for administering grants. The findings included BID Director Edward Burke approving 12 payments to himself and family members totaling $1,758 and having a contract to provide his own private business’ services to the BID. A state grant also went to a business owned by BID Chairman Joe Lippolis. Neither of the men were named in the audit but the state Comptroller’s Office did confirm the findings referred to them.

The audit, released in December, covered BID operations from January 1, 2008 to March 10, 2010.

City Manager Rick Finn said Monday he is finalizing the CAP that should be sent to the state Comptroller’s Office by March 8. The CAP responds to eight recommendations made by the state and contains entering into a written agreement with the BID that will include services to be performed by BID and services that the city will provide. The written agreement will also include policies and procedures for submitting grant applications and recordkeeping activities.

Finn said the written agreement between the BID and the city should be completed and approved by both entities by June 30.

The CAP report can be found here on the city of Peekskill’s website.

Meanwhile, the BID is currently holding elections for four board member seats, including one tenant representative and three property owner reps. Election winners will be announced at 6 p.m. tomorrow at the Field Library’s DeBart Center.

Read more about the BID on lohud.com and The Journal News later this week.

If you missed it, check out today’s story on Ford Piano owner, John Ford’s live music venture in Peekskill.

F-Sharp on South Division Street is expected to open late summer/early fall. The 4,000-square-foot facility, next door to the Treat Station, has a capacity of 275 people and will include a performing stage that will fit an 18-piece orchestra, a bar and restaurant.

Ford, a pianist, said he plans to bring in a variety of acts from reggae to rock to classical. The venue, he said, will compliment the Paramount Center for the Arts and other nearby restaurants that offer live music on weekends. He also expects to run a nonprofit offering Peekskill students free music lessons and instruments.

Check out the story here.

Photo of John Ford standing inside F-Sharp that is now under construction. (TJN/R.Flores)

The following was submitted by former supervisor and Yorktown Democratic Committee Chairman Don Peters.

Lately it seems that all Yorktown politicians and hopeful candidates are hitching on to the mantra of “we’re open for business, we’re open for business.” This flies in the face of what the town’s actions have been for at least three decades, as witnessed by failed attempts of commercial developers to advance their opportunities for success in our community.

A case in point is the Jefferson Valley Mall, which before my administration as supervisor attempted to expand its space to remain competitive with expanding malls to its east and west. You all would know about the failure of that prospect and the unfortunate situation in which the mall now finds itself with low occupancy rates.

There is a long litany of other commercial development opportunities that passed up Yorktown for greener pastures at Cortlandt Town Center when our former supervisors, committees and boards actually seemed proud of their record in thwarting what they called “attempts to have toutes 202 and 6 look like Central Avenue in lower Westchester.”

Now our homeowners are paying the price in their tax bill for our leaders not allowing our commercial corridors to be commercial!

It might seem promising that every prospective candidate running for office this year is claiming entitlement to business development, including the current supervisor and the president of the Yorktown Chamber of Commerce, and that’s all well and good. But where are their strategies to accomplish that?

Let me be the first to put some muscle behind not only welcoming business to Yorktown, but aggressively seeking it out. It is a plan that I had begun to develop in my term as Supervisor, and I would like to continue its implementation because I think it is our only way to restore Yorktown as a viable contender for new business.

I would propose a Yorktown Economic Development Committee or BID (Business Improvement District) that would be considered and appointed by the board. It would be composed of community leaders embracing all disciplines involved with commercial development to be culled from local business persons, marketing practitioners, commercial real estate brokers, community planners, environmentalists and lawyers.

It would be the mission of the committee to go out and solicit new business, rather than waiting for it to come to the town. We would match regional and national retailers, foodservice chains and other multi-unit entities, as well as individual entrepreneurial endeavors with available vacant space and new construction. Further it would be the committee’s charge to help those businesses already here to thrive and prosper by creating such initiatives as “Shop Yorktown.”

The Economic Development Committee would report to the board and serve as liaison between those elected officials and the board of the Yorktown Chamber of Commerce. The chairman of the committee would be its spokesperson and seek grants to help underwrite its activities and initiatives.

Why shouldn’t the town be extending its hand now to the JV Mall and other troubled businesses within our borders? It’s because we really haven’t had a dedicated person or entity to facilitate it. Better late than never I say, but we must act now and act decisively.

I welcome our residents, business people and taxpayers to come forward to suggest other ideas to support this proposal outline.

If you are interested in working on an ad hoc committee to get this basic concept going, please email me at sportsbarn1@aol.com. I would welcome talking with you and inviting you to an exploratory meeting for developing a concrete plan.

Don Peters

File photo: The Journal News

Where did all this snow come from? Students and their families can get answers to that question, make rainbows and create small tornados together at Family Science Day at Putnam/Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) in Yorktown, on Saturday, March 5, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Rachel Wade, CEE staff member, shows how 3-D glasses turn light into rainbows.

The day of hands-on science exploration, which includes a presentation by local meteorologist Jim Witt about storm formation, forecasting and storm warnings, will allow students to explore the phenomena of recent snow falls, discover how they were created and learn how animals can act as meteorologists.

They can also become aware of positive actions citizens can to take to mitigate climate-change effects, examine solar energy with local efficiency expert Jerry Robock, take a class on honeybee keeping and hear all about things that can fall from the sky – including fish!

In the hands-on exhibit room, participants can create sand and waterscapes to see how erosion works, experience a shower-size humidity booth and manipulate a SMARTBoard to locate tornados in every county in the state.

Naturalist Mary Catherine Graziano puts finishing touches on a display in the hands-on Monster Storms exhibit opening March 1 at P/NW BOCES.

In addition to activities on Family Science Day, students from participating schools will visit the science demonstrations and exhibits between March 1 and 11.

Sponsored by P/NW BOCES Center for Environmental Education, Family Science Day is geared toward students in grades three through eight and their families. Admission is $4 for an adult and $3 for a child. Reservations are not necessary. For more information, call Iris at 248-2339; for recorded directions, call 245-2700, ext. 575; for weather-related information that day, call 248-2335.

Yorktown Police Officer and Yorktown Historical Society member Michael Kahn shares this letter he received recently regarding his efforts to see a monument erected to the 1781 Battle of Pines Bridge.

Pines Bridge Monument Committee

Yorktown Historical Society

PO Box 355

Yorktown Heights, NY 10598

I want to take this opportunity to commend you for your efforts to commemorate the Battle of Pines Bridge with a monument. There were several military actions that occurred in and around Yorktown Heights in 1781 and the Battle of Pines Bridge on May 14, 1781 was the most important one.

In that battle, a party of Loyalists struck Colonel Christopher Greene’s camp while another struck Lieutenant Jeremiah Greenman’s position. They dragged Colonel Greene from his quarters in a large bedroom in the Davenport house and slashed him, Major Ebenezer Flagg, and several soldiers with the sword. Major Flagg had been shot in the head reaching for his pistols at the foot of the bed and was later slashed in the back of the neck as he was thought to be still asleep. Colonel Greene’s “right arm was almost cut off in two places, the left in one, a severe cut on the left shoulder, a sword thrust through the abdomen, a bayonet in the right side, and another through the abdomen, several sword cuts on the head and many in different parts of the body.” Lieutenant Greenman was taken prisoner along with the guards.

General Washington concluded his report to Congress on May 17, 1781 by saying: “The loss of these two officers [Greene and Flagg] is to be regretted, especially the former [Colonel Greene] who has, upon several occasions, distinguished himself.” The Rhode Island Regiment lost 44 killed, wounded and missing in this engagement.

As a member of the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment and editor of The Brigade Dispatch: The Journal of the Brigade of the American Revolution, I wholeheartedly support your efforts to preserve and commemorate the history of your town. Many Revolutionary War and Civil War battle sites are succumbing to commercial interests. If we, as a country, forget our roots, we risk losing our identity as a nation.

Please find enclosed a contribution to the Pines Bridge Monument project.

Norman Desmarais

2nd Rhode Island Regiment of the Continental Line

The Justin Veatch Fund, a non-profit corporation formed in Yorktown following the death of Justin Veatch at age 17 in 2008, has named Kenneth Viret as the newest member of its board of directors. Veatch was a gifted singer, songwriter and musician. The Fund awards annual scholarships to high school graduates planning study in the fields of music and creates programs to support young, emerging artists.

Viret comes to the fund with a broad background in corporate finance at several major corporations including Cenveo Inc., an international manufacturer of commercial printing and related products, where he served as chief financial officer. “I am honored to join The Justin Veatch Fund”, said Viret. “I am excited to play an active role in raising financial support, so that The Fund can provide an increasing number of college bound artists with opportunities for growth, so we can all benefit from their future contributions to society.” Viret is married with three children and resides in Yorktown. Other directors of The Fund who are not Veatch family members are Gary Cusano and Julie Duquet of Yorktown, Thom Ianniccari of Mahopac and Patty Mandel of Hopewell Junction.

“Ken will bridge a gap in our organization,” said Jeffrey Veatch, president of The Fund. “He has the ability to lead us in areas where we have been weakest like business strategies, corporate fundraising and underwriting,” said Veatch.

The Fund will be making its third annual scholarship awards at Yorktown High School in June. In addition to co-sponsoring the popular First Friday’s Café monthly open mic nights with The Yorktown Teen Center, The Fund will be staging its second annual two day summer music workshop on July 14th and 15th at the Bedford Road School in Pleasantville. A parallel message of The Fund is to inspire teens to avoid the perils of substance abuse as evidenced in its newly approved slogan: “Fostering self-expression and positive life choices – empowering young minds through music.”

Tax deductible contributions to The Justin Veatch Fund can be made by visiting the donation page at its website www.thejustinveatchfund.org or by sending checks to The Justin Veatch Fund, PO Box 1323, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598.

Photo courtesty The Justin Veatch Fund

CORTLANDT —The town administration is seeking applicants to fill a new volunteer position, that of a “Hudson River steward.” The person would confer with town advisory boards, give educational lessons, provide advice, promote water-related activities and meet with other environmental groups. The volunteer is required to be a town resident, and the focus of the position would be local. The deadline for applications is March 14, and interested persons can send their resumes to the Office of the Supervisor, Linda Puglisi, Town Hall, 1 Heady St., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., 10567. The job criteria is listed on the town’s website.