CHP Meeting Agenda for January 16th Meeting

This is the way, we "preserve" in Scarsdale. Schedule a meeting of the Committee for Historic Preservation and vote to have houses almost 100 years old demolished...

If a Committee deems its course ridiculous, since they could not preserve any houses and resigns, the Village Board appoints a more congenial board just as soon... New agents of destruction appear diligently performing their "civic" duty.

Even if the Committee deems a house historic, the VB often overturns their decision... In the meanwhile the perplexed and uninitiated think Scarsdale is protected with a "Committee for Historic Preservation"..

Committee for Historic Hypocrisy...

N.B. I support a demolition when and if, the land the house was on is returned back to nature, increasing wildlife habitat and green space. But no one, that I know of in my 26 years here, has done that yet..

This meeting is missing on the official Scarsdale.com site as of this writing. Wonder why ?...

It is not on the agenda... Still on December 31st at 10:42 a.m. EST.


Last revised 10:43 a.m. EST,  December 31, 2017.

CHP Decisions for December 26th, 2017 Meeting

The new CHP, the same old destruction :

Meetings weeks of January 1 and January 8, 2018

Meetings week of January 1, 2018:

None.

Meetings week of January 8th, 2018:

Last revision Friday December 29th, 2017, 7:44 EST

Guess who is on the NY DEC Holiday card this year:

None other than my Rufous, but I call him/her Poutsy...

A very short to do list for the VB for 2018

1. Make sure our character homes are preserved. Double standards are not allowed: One meeting declare it old, the other approve its demolition.. What is going on ?...

Order studies that you will honor. Tax payer money goes into studies. The study identifies the house, 12 Dolma as one that should be preserved, the BOT votes to raze it. Where is justice, where is consistency, where is fairness ?

12 Dolma, 53 Old Orchard as well as 7 Hamilton Road or smaller houses should be preserved. A house need not be huge or in the " Mansion" areas to be preserved.

2. Make sure big houses are not built on small lots. A lot that is a third of an acre or less, cannot support a house 7,500 or 9,500 square feet however you calculate it. Corner lots are especially vulnerable. Close the loop holes allowing for dormers to become living spaces.

3. All our roads need to be resurfaced. A home-owner paying $ 30,000 a year in taxes or more deserves to navigate on decent roads.

4. Re-upholster the chairs in the third floor meeting room. With a budget in the $ 50 Mil. range, I do not know why this is neglected.

Scarsdale Neighborhood Association Map

Scarsdale is divided into neighborhoods through which resident citizens can engage in civic matters.

Here is a map which you should have received in your mail along with the monthly calendar and activities for the year. Scroll right and left to see it all.

We receive this in August every year.

Scarsdale, the Beautiful: Iconic Homes

    I have been taking pictures of Scarsdale houses for such a long time, I had not realized it had been almost ten years since I took these pictures. I do not know if these houses are still standing, or the address of most of these, since no geo-tracking was possible on cameras at the time.

If you can identify these houses, your help will be acknowledged and appreciated.

If you want to submit your " Iconic Home", please feel free to do so as well.

All pictures, subject to this author's discretion will be published here, with the winning three identified. The winners will also be invited to tea at a mutually convenient day and time.

If you would like to submit your iconic house picture, please send me your picture at : Lika@Save-Scarsdale.org. Your picture will be posted along with name.

Here are some pictures  I took in 2008:

Brewster Road

ZBA Agenda for January 10, 2018

Here you are, this months' agenda of the slaughterhouse: Kill, murder, plunder in plain sight or site...

Watch for my application to build a replica of the Eiffel Tower in my backyard soon...

I bet that would get approved as well. As long as tax revenue increases... Who cares if Scarsdale is going to the dogs...

Best wishes for the Holiday Season and 2018

A backyard in Scarsdale, December 2017:

New England Cottontail rabbit

Our dear bunny in danger of loosing its home, thanks to the new monster invasive species of Homo Sapiens that has recently descended in Scarsdale and that is overtaking it.

All in the name of volunteer civic duty.

Go figure !


This from the NY DEC today:

DEC Continues Surveys for the New England Cottontail This winter, DEC staff  in the Capital Region (Region 4) will be surveying sites potentially used by the New England cottontail, which are listed as "special concern" in New York. They are also the only native cottontail in the state. Since New England cottontail do not hibernate, winter is a perfect time to collect pellet samples, which are then sent for DNA analysis. The pellets are easier to see on the snow, and the colder temperatures preserve DNA. New England cottontail prefer dense, shrubby areas within forested habitats, which are scarce in New York due to development that destroys or fragments their habitat. While crawling through thick, often thorny brush isn't glamorous work, the monitoring efforts contribute valuable information about cottontail distribution. Results from last year's surveys identified New England cottontail at two sites, including a new site close to the newly acquired Doodletown Wildlife Management Area (WMA). NYS DEC’s Young Forest Initiative is helping to create much needed young forest thickets on WMAs for New England cottontail and a variety of other species. Photo by Kat Lauer – Wildlife Technician 1, DEC Region 4

CHP December 26th Meeting Agenda

      Here we are the new agents of destruction while they call themselves members of the Committee for Historic Preservation. Beware of the one who calls himself or herself an "Angel"...

Planning Board Decisions for December 13th Meeting

Meetings weeks of December 18th and December 25th

Meetings week of December 18th:

None.

First revised 2:40 a.m. EST, Monday December 18th 2017.

17 and 19 Tisdale Road Scarsdale

The sorry state of Scarsdale in two houses side by side as they stood this afternoon:

Curtesy of the Board of Trustees and the CNC !

When are you going to govern this town and stop abuse by the people of the people ?

No, they do not stop it, they do not step down nor do they plan any preemptive action. 

Until maybe it is too late. Until it is all, all too terrible. No soil, no empty space.

We are certainly getting there at lightning speed.

Planning Board Agenda for December 13, 2017 Meeting

Cut and divide Scarsdale...

BAR Decisions for the Monday December 11, 2017 Meeting

ZBA Decisions for December 6th, 2017 Meeting

Freightway Steering Committee Work Session Tuesday December 5th, 2017

Here is the Committee listening to Frank Fish of BFJ Consultants:

Even Doug Brout developer of Christie Place and One Palmer sitting next to me, was visibly restless and bored at times. Still he waited till the end to leave.

Our Mayor also in attendance made the invaluable observation and only comment of the evening, that one of the attached pages attached to the " Redevelopment Principles for Freightway Site " handed out was a violation order that did not belong there. He suggested we tear out that page.

I do to know what the meeting achieved: The Consultants asked the Committee to approve the findings of the November 13 Public Workshop by Friday of this week, December 8th 2017 almost a month later. Maybe that says it all...

Once again we heard about the MTA and the Tappan Zee Bridge..

Heard the same thing over and over again. Just to say there were so many meetings of the Steering Committee. Maybe all was said and done in the first fifteen minutes I was not there.

I spoke with our Planner Liz about the Survey missing from the website. She said she will inquire and put it up on the website soon.

I congratulated Barbara Jaffe in attendance for her resignation from the CHP. Meeting adjourned at about 8:00 p.m.

The major issue of ingress, egress and regress to the site was not mentioned. 

Maybe they are planning a helicopter pad on top of the Garage.

This is the 2.38 acre site. There are two streets that open to it on the West: Freightway to the North and a little alley to its South, that does not even exist on maps. I could not find its name.

 Two people cannot walk side by side on this little alley. How is all this going to connect to the rest of the Village ?... Maybe we should talk about this at the next meeting.

Last revised 1:30 p.m. EST Wednesday December 6th, 2017.

BAR Agenda for Monday December 11, 2017

Who needs more new houses totally out of proportion ?

Remember the BAR mission statement:

You tell me if the latest new houses I have been posting on this site are in harmony with the neighboring community... How about totally jarring ?...

The BAR members need to wake up from their slumber and resign until proper preservation and conservation is instituted. Shuffling papers is not what we need.

Our trustees have been trusted to govern this town, but one decision one day, another the other day ( 12 Dolma), hiring consultants and ordering studies they will not honor is waste of resident dollars to beef up their resume. They were after all a "Scarsdale Trustee" or a "Mayor of Scarsdale"....

Use and abuse in the name of civic duty, only in Scarsdale. 

Very Scaresdale...

First revised 10:46 EST Wednesday, December 6 2017.

Meetings for week of December 11, 2017

8 Stonehouse Road

A little hard to read or grasp for that matter:

6,800 square feet on .300 acres.

23 Innes Road

This is the ad in the Inquirer for the new 23 Innes Road:

Go figure: 9,582 square feet on .5 of an acre...

Our water with Giardia and Cryptosporidium

This is from the notice we received once again with our water bill:

From above:

The December 17, 2016 cryptosporidium result was 0.02 cysts/liter and not zero !

The January 24, February 14, March 7 and May 4, 2017 results indicate presence of giardia less than 0.06 cysts/liter. Again not zero.

The trouble with these  parasitic organisms is that they exist in the body until they multiply and reach untenable levels and cause disease. Any amount is undesirable since in the human body which acts as a favorable host, they will multiply.

Click here, for information from the CDC:

The County failed in keeping up their cleanliness protocol, instead we get to pay higher water rates and risk getting sick. I for one switched to bottled water. Thank you Scarsdale.

The County should reimburse each household: 5,000 of us in Scarsdale for our water expense at $ 100 a month for the last three years or so instead of giving us free rain barrels... Sorry Astorino!

That is : 5,000 x 100 x12 x3=  $ 18 Million.

End of the Non-Partisan system in Scarsdale

The latest fiasco in the 12 Dolma situation showcased all the shortcomings of the Non-Partisan system:

1. Volunteers serving on the BOT reversed themselves. What once they deemed historical, they decided was not so, due to hardship. By extension this now means any other property owner can claim same, thus preserving nothing. This is clearly wrong.

2. Resident volunteers working part-time are no longer qualified or able to handle all the tasks of the BOT. Just look at their agenda, or watch the televised sessions. One gets exhausted just watching them ! How can they make sound decisions ?... One cant't run around with a 200 pound gorilla on his or her back. Their task is just as daunting.

3. The system ceased working about twenty years ago. Till then, the tasks were manageable. But now, the world is moving at Twitter pace, Scarsdale cannot be on a horse-buggy.


I propose the following:

1. First stop the carnage. Institute an immediate moratorium. Clean up house, revise code.

2. The current BOT, if they choose to do so should elect and appoint a new interim Board to oversee this over-haul from a resident volunteer non-partisan system to a professional board. Like in every other town in the States. I do not know of any other town that runs on this resident volunteer, non-professional system. Do you ?

3. The quicker the change, the better. Time we realized this system is broke.
Instead of serving us this is hurting us !



Last revised 1:33 p.m. Wednesday December 6th, 2017.

All CHP Members have now resigned ! REJOICE ! REJOICE !!!!

This from the lovely Scarsdale10583.com site published November 27th, 2017:

Joanne you are wonderful too !

Finally ! Congratulations to all of you members of the CHP ! You are my stars !!!

Shall we see this town finally preserved ? Do I hear a certain real estate developer starting to pack ?... And  others joining him ?

Beautiful Scarsdale !

It is a wonderful world, all the more wonderful today !!!

Meetings for week of December 4th, 2017