city review-new rochelle 6-19-2015

THE NewRochelleCityREVIEWJune 19 & 26, 2015 | Vol. 3, Number 13 | www.cityreviewnr.com

Moody’s Investors Services has confirmed the existing rat-ing of Aa3 to the City of New Rochelle’s upcoming bond re-financing and has assigned a positive outlook to the city’s general obligation debt. The positive outlook designation enhances the credit worthiness of the city’s debt and means that the city will enjoy lower interest costs on general obliga-tion bonds that may be issued in the future.

Mayor Noam Bramson said, “This is good news for the tax-payers of New Rochelle and evidence of the city’s sound financial management. We will continue working to strength-en our local economy and tax

base, even as we seek efficien-cy in local government.”

In confirming the Aa3 rat-ing, Moody’s noted the city’s sizable tax base, above aver-age wealth indices, low debt burden and adequate reserve position. The positive outlook recognizes the city’s “recent transition from deficits to sur-pluses and the expectation that this trend will continue.”

Moody’s assigned an Aa3 rating to New Rochelle’s $5 million Public Improvement Refunding (Serial) Bonds, Se-ries 2015, and that money will be used to refund the city’s Series 2005B and 2007 GO bonds. The city expects the refunding to result in net pres-

ent value savings of $206,697, or almost 4.5 percent of re-funded principal. Concurrently, Moody’s has affirmed the Aa3 rating on the city’s outstanding long-term parity debt. After the June 17 sale date, the city will have $69.1 million in rated Gen-eral Obligation limited tax debt.

Moody’s concluded that the city’s financial position should continue to improve in the me-dium term, given three straight years of surpluses and contin-ued conservative budgeting practices that has resulted in an increase in available operating fund balances from $2.1 mil-lion in 2011 to almost $8.5 mil-lion at the end of 2014.

“The designation of positive

outlook is a major accomplish-ment and represents the highest rating achieved by the city in at least the past 80 years,” Fi-nance Commissioner Howard Rattner said. “Continuation of our present budgetary practices will insure the future financial stability of the city.”

Moody’s Investors Services is one of the world’s leading providers of independent credit ratings, research, risk analy-sis and financial information to the investment community. Together with the Aaa group, bonds rated as Aa comprise what is commonly known as high grade bonds with mini-mal long term risk concerns. (Submitted)

Oh deerWith a deer hunting program in the works for areas of southern Westchester, animal rights activists have put elected officials on notice. For story, see page 11. File photo

addressed them right away,” Just-Michael said. “These are policy issues, and you have to stay ahead of the curve…And I think New Rochelle can set an example for the county in a lot of ways.”

Marcotte, 50, who won the county seat in 2010 and served as the chairwoman of the Board of Legislators’ Bud-get and Appropriations Com-mittee this past year, said she isn’t daunted by the decided voter disadvantage she is fac-ing in New Rochelle, hav-ing beaten those odds before. Marcotte said she will do what she’s always done; rely on her record of keeping the tax levy increase flat.

“I’m aware I’m the under-dog,” Marcotte said. “All I can do is campaign on my record, as I have in the past, and let the residents decide in No-vember.”

Just-Michael, who owns her own public relations firm, said she attended a couple of Westchester County Board of Legislators meetings and can “already see gaps.”

“Things that you might think have already been taken care of, haven’t been,” said Just-Michael, specifically mentioning the need for in-creased aid to social services, taking legislative measures against bullying on college campuses and focusing more on environmental sustainabil-ity—such as a countywide plastic bag ban and more bike lanes and bike racks.

“I think social services, an-ti-bullying and environmental issues are big deals and that can trickle down from the county,” she said. “I feel like I’ve done a lot for the commu-nity here as a volunteer, and I felt like it’s time to take it to the next level.”

Moody’s confirms city’s Aa3 rating

Marcotte continued on page 8

Marcotte preps for another fightBy cHrIS eBerHart

Staff Writer

The race for the county’s District 10 legislative seat between Westchester County Legislator Sheila Marcotte, an Eastchester Republican, and Democratic challenger Haina Just-Michael, of New Ro-chelle, is expected to be one of the closest legislator races this election season.

In Marcotte’s previous county legislator race in 2013 against a New Rochelle Democrat, Mary Jo Jacobs, Marcotte claimed landslide victories in her hometown of Tuckahoe and Eastchester but struggled in the New Rochelle portion of the district, which holds a near 3 to 1 Democratic registration advantage and has been the home of this year’s opponent for the past 23 years.

Just-Michael’s roots run deep in New Rochelle having been involved in a handful of city volunteer positions on the board of Holocaust and Hu-man Rights Education Center, the Interreligious Council of New Rochelle and, most nota-bly, for the last seven years as a trustee for the New Rochelle Library Board, including what is about to be her second year as the president, among other positions.

Last year under Just-Mi-chael’s leadership, the New Rochelle Public Library in-stituted an e-cigarette ban in the library, which Westches-ter implemented this month for county work places. And in April of this year, Just-Mi-chael, 56, played a major role in the repeal of the MTA pay-roll tax for New York public li-braries, a tax which went into effect in 2009. Just-Michael’s efforts are expected to save the New Rochelle Public Library approximately $10,000 a year.

“Questions came up, and we

2 • the city review • June 19 & 26, 2015

June 19 & 26, 2015 • tHe cIty revIew • 3

County finalizes Playland dealBy cHrIS eBerHart

Staff Writer

Finally, Playland has a new operator. That is for now, at least.

A private-public partnership with Standard Amusements to run the county-owned amuse-ment park was approved by the Westchester County Board of Legislators in a somewhat sur-prising vote on June 15.

As part of the approved 15-year Playland management agreement between the county and Standard Amusements, Standard will invest $25 mil-lion—$2.25 million in upfront costs to the county and invest $22.75 million directly into the 87-year-old amusement park—and pay annual rising payments to the county start-ing at $300,000. The county will receive 7.5 percent of the profits once Standard recoups its initial investment.

“With this vote, we have saved Playland and given re-birth to Playland for the next 87 years,” Board of Legislators Chairman Mike Kaplowitz, a Yorktown Democrat, said.

But there is a provision in the management agreement that includes an opt-out clause for Standard that allows the group to walk away before Nov. 1, 2015. But by doing so, it would leave its initial payments of $500,000 on the table.

Kaplowitz compared the agreement to a marriage and said, “The wedding is on Nov. 1 and hopefully the groom shows up.”

If the wedding is on Nov. 1, the engagement period is the time between now and the end of October, during which Standard and the county will enter into a co-management period, where the county will remain the sole decision maker but Standard will study Playland’s operations.

Ned McCormack, spokes-person for Republican Coun-ty Executive Rob Astorino, told the Review he’s confident Standard Amusements will still be around come Nov. 1.

“We wouldn’t have got-ten to this stage if it wasn’t a good deal, and I don’t think

they would’ve come this far to back out,” McCormack said.

Just hours before the final, full legislative board vote on June 15, legislators were working with the executive branch and county attorneys to finalize language in three memorandums of under-standing that were attached to the Playland management agreement and essentially memorialize the legislative review over the past two months.

The promise of no inclusion of fields into the plan by Nick Singer, who heads Standard Amusements, was included in one memorandum, and the county’s promise to retain all 29 of Playland’s full-time workers as county employees to preserve their state pensions was included in the second one. The third memorandum was a list of capital projects for Playland that the county must pay for, which includes the colonnades, fixing the lights on Playland Parkway and the Playland pathway, among other projects.

County Legislator Catherine Parker, a Rye Democrat, pushed the county executive’s office to specifically include which proj-ects the county would be re-sponsible for financing.

“Until the specific capital improvements were memori-alized in writing, I could not have supported this proposal,” Parker said. “But I was satis-fied with the MOU, and my colleagues were satisfied. And it’s a great position that the county is putting some skin in the game like Standard is.”

Just to get to this point was five years in the making with more twists and turns than Playland’s iconic Dragon Coaster.

Before Astorino was elect-ed county executive, he blazed the 2009 campaign trail with promises of revitalizing a Playland that had become stale and dated. Soon after tak-ing office in 2010, he sent out a request for proposals to po-

tential bidders and received 12 responses by March 2011 with varying versions of how to reinvent the park for the 21st century.

Standard Amusements sub-mitted its proposal but ended up runner up to Astorino’s preferred choice, a Rye-based non-profit startup called Sus-tainable Playland, Inc., but the SPI vision quickly came under fire after it was realized that the biggest component of the plan was to construct a 95,000-square-foot field house in Playland’s main parking lot shrinking the size of the amusement park.

The result was an attack from all sides.

Rye residents of the Ryan Park neighborhood abutting Playland spent nearly a year contesting SPI’s proposal. County legislators asked questions during the legisla-tive review process that SPI couldn’t answer. And the City

of Rye was preparing for a legal battle with Astorino’s administration over land use jurisdiction.

The non-profit ultimately decided to pull its proposal in June 2014, which opened the door for the county to recon-sider Standard Amusements. But not before Astorino hired Dan Biederman, a renowned developer who is best known for redeveloping Bryant Park in New York City, for $100,000 to serve as a consultant on Play-land. The report was originally scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014 but wasn’t re-leased until April 2015.

In the meantime, as the Review reported in February 2015, the Astorino adminis-tration had begun negotiating with Standard Amusements behind closed doors, as was the recommendation in the withheld Biederman’s report.

coNtact: [email protected]


What’s going on...New Rochelle Public Library will return your call within two business days.

You can ask your question online by emailing [email protected]

For a listing of all 10 SBIC centers, please visit westchesterlibraries.org/senior-benefits-in-formation-centers, which includes information for clients in Spanish.

New Rochelle Recreation DepartmentCanteen

Designed for those 16 years old and older on Friday nights emphasizing socialization with a dual emphasis on independence and cooperation through involvement in the com-munity. The program includes special events, games, life skill development with participant input encouraging the direction of the program. Door-to-door transportation is available. Pro-gram meets at the Hugh A. Doyle Senior Cen-ter. For more information, contact Nina Shawn Gainor at 654-2116.

Full-day summer campThis is a full-day camp program featur-

ing sessions in arts and crafts, group games, sports instruction, music, performing arts and character building. Campwide special events and themed days are scheduled throughout the season. Lunch and snacks will be pro-vided through the Youth Nutrition Program. Early drop-off for a limited number of camp-ers is available on a first-come, first-served basis for an additional cost of $165. Camp runs Monday, July 6 through Friday, Aug. 14 from 9:30 a.m. through 3:30 p.m. at two locations: William B. Ward Elementary School and Jefferson Elementary School. Different options are available at each camp. For more information, contact Nina Shawn Gainor at 654-2116.

Youth swimming classesThis program is an excellent introduction to

swimming. It is designed to be intense and im-prove swimming skills fast and effectively over two-day sessions. Children ages 6 through 12 are welcome. The student to instructor ratio is 1:5 for beginners or 1:7 for higher levels. These classes are 45 minutes long and designed to al-low children to progress at their own rate. Pro-gram is open to New Rochelle residents only for a fee of $100 per person per session. For more

information, visit newrochelleny.com. Date: Saturdays and Sundays, July 12 through Aug. 3Session I: 10 a.m to 10:45 a.m. Session II: 11 a.m to 11:45 a.m. Location: Lincoln Pool

The New Rochelle BID Farmers Market

The New Rochelle Downtown BID Farm-ers Market runs every Saturday through Oct. 31 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., rain or shine on the Library Green.

Located next to the New Rochelle Public Li-brary on Huguenot Street between Memorial Highway and Lawton Street, the market features more than 25 weekly and guest vendors.

Downtown’s market is unique, conceived as both a weekly farmers market as well as a com-munity celebration for the entire family. It hosts a large variety of locally grown and harvested food products—from fish freshly caught that morning to produce still warm from the fields, as well as artisanal products such freshly baked desserts to micro brewed beers. The market’s popular Ready Set Sharp will return to keep a sharp edge on all our knives as will the New Ro-chelle Artisans and live cooking demonstrations by Cookin’ with Sonia.

Buy a brick to help Pet Rescue

A walkway of personalized, engraved red bricks will soon lead to the front door of Pet Rescue’s new home in Harrison. Purchase a brick and add the inscription of your choice to honor, remember or celebrate a special pet or person or to express support for Pet Res-cue. Your words will create a lasting memorial that will greet visitors to Pet Rescue for years to come.

This path will be an enduring reminder of the generosity and love our friends have for our rescues and will fund upcoming renova-tions to our home and further our mission to save helpless animals and find them safe, lov-ing homes.

4”x8” brick can be inscribed with up to 3 lines/18 characters per line at $150.

8”x8” brick can be inscribed with up to 6 lines/18 characters per line at $300.

Array of four 8”x8” bricks can be inscribed with up to 12 lines/36 characters per line

at $1,000.Payment can be by PayPal, or you can mail

a check to Pet Rescue, P.O. Box 393, Larch-mont, NY 10538.

Pet Rescue is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit orga-nization. Your donation is tax deductible as al-lowed by law. Proceeds will go to Pet Rescue’s Building Fund.

For more information on how to place an order, send an email to [email protected] or visit ny-petrescue.org.

Kensico Dam PlazaCelebrate African-American heritage

Experience the richness of African-Ameri-can culture at the 31st annual African-American Heritage Festival on Sunday, June 28 from noon to 7 p.m. at Kensico Dam Plaza in Valhalla.

This year’s theme is “Celebrating Black Men Making a Positive Impact.”

The day’s events include entertainment by musical groups and dancers, along with drama and poetry readings, health and educational ex-hibits and activities for children. Visitors will also be able to browse the many wares of ven-dors who will be on hand selling traditional arts and crafts and countless types of ethnic foods. Interested vendors for this event should call 378-3283 and leave a message.

Bring a folding chair or blanket and enjoy the June weather. Admission and parking are free. Kensico Dam Plaza is located at the north end of the Bronx River Parkway in Valhalla. Please be advised that the Bronx River Parkway will be closed for Bicycle Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. between Scarsdale Road in Yonkers and the Westchester County Center in White Plains. The park can be accessed via Route 22, from the north or south.

The event is sponsored by Westchester County Parks, Friends of Westchester County Parks, Inc. and the Coalition of African-American Organiza-tions. For more information, visit westchestergov.com/parks or call 864-PARK (7275).

Homework helpHomework help is available at the library for

elementary and middle school students. Chil-dren in grades kindergarten through grade 5 can drop-in to the Children’s Room on the first floor and students in grades 6 through 8 can visit the Young Adult area on the second floor for help on the following days:

Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays: 3 p.m. and 7:40 p.m.

Wednesdays: 3 p.m. and 5:40 p.m.This is a collaboration among the New Ro-

chelle Public Library, New Rochelle Youth Bu-reau and Monroe College.

Free Medicare counseling

Whether you’re about to enroll in Medicare or are a current Medicare recipient, you can get help with your benefits and coverage questions at the Senior Benefits Information Center at The New Rochelle Public Library, Fridays at 10 a.m., except holidays. No appointment necessary.

Meet with trained counselors to get more in-formation about:

• Medicare Part A (in-patient) and Part B (out-patient) coverage

• Part D prescription drug coverage• Medicare Advantage plans, with or without

drug coverage• Medicare Savings plans, extra help and

EPIC for seniors with more limited incomes. Some assistance is also available for those

who are looking for other financial benefit pro-grams, such as HEAP, Home Energy Assistance Program, and food stamps. If you can’t visit the library in person, you can leave a message on the SBIC helpline at 231-3260 with your name, number, and whether your interest is in Medi-care services or other benefits, and a counselor

Deadline for our What’s Going On section is every Wednesday at noon. Though space is not guaranteed, we will do our best to accommodate your listing. Please send

all items to [email protected].


CNR to offer Early Education programBeginning this summer,

the College of New Rochelle, CNR, will offer a master’s de-gree program in Early Child-hood Education with a concen-tration in Montessori educa-tion. Offered in collaboration with the Center for Montes-sori Education|NY, this is the only dual program of its kind in the New York metro area, and one of a few in the coun-try that offers a combined mas-ter’s degree in Early Childhood Education with an American Montessori Society, AMS, cre-dential and New York state cer-tification.

Montessori education is unique because it uses per-sonalized learning programs focused on a child’s develop-ment. Children choose their work from a carefully prepared classroom environment that challenges them to explore, identify and solve problems, and to develop trust in their own abilities.

The Montessori approach encourages students to engage in learning through the use of

self-correcting materials rath-er than direct instruction, and through the development of a strong community of learners and teachers who support and celebrate differences. Devel-oped by Italian physician and educator Dr. Maria Montes-sori, it emphasizes indepen-dence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natu-ral psychological, physical, and social development.

“This dual program will be a resource for developing teach-ers to fill an upcoming short-age of certified early childhood teachers in light of the mandate for universal Pre-K in New York City. The combined train-ing makes teachers more effec-tive in both Montessori and tra-ditional settings, even if they are not using Montessori learn-ing materials,” said Dr. Kristin Berman, associate professor of Education at CNR, who helped develop the program.

The college’s Master of Science in Early Childhood Education (from birth through second grade), leading to New

York state certification and an American Montessori Society credential in Early Childhood Montessori Education, requires 30 credits of coursework. In ac-cordance with the New York Teacher Education Standards, the program provides substan-tive coursework, supervised field experiences and in-depth reflective seminars.

Designed to be completed in one calendar year, it will consist of a cohort of adult students working as a group throughout the coursework. Upon completion and certifica-tion, candidates will be quali-fied to work in independent or public Montessori schools, or other early childhood settings.

“We are excited to collabo-rate with the College of New Rochelle to offer the only dual program in the area that will enable us to train more certi-fied teachers who can bring this effective methodology into both independent and public schools. As of now, a Mon-tessori education is primarily available through independent

schools and preschools. This dual certification will enable more public schools to incor-porate Montessori for early childhood,” said K. T. Korn-gold, CEO of the Center for Montessori Education|NY in White Plains.

An increased demand for early childhood teachers, due to the new universal Pre-K mandate in New York City, is only one factor that makes this dual Montessori Early Child-hood master’s degree program even more relevant. Berman added, “In the current educa-tional climate of rote skills and high stakes testing, the Mon-tessori method has attracted renewed interest because of its emphasis on conceptual learn-ing, self regulation, and execu-tive functioning, which also align with key components of the Common Core Standards.”

The Center for Montessori Education|NY has been hold-ing classes for Montessori teacher education on the Col-lege of New Rochelle campus for over 20 years. “We share with CNR a commitment and dedication to our adult learners as individuals,” added Korn-gold. “We are thrilled to have

been approved by New York state for this new partnership, to help further our cohorts professionally, and to work together to support our adult learners as they achieve a high level of academic advancement and excellence in their Mon-tessori and academic training.” For more program informa-tion, please contact Michael Petri in Admissions at [email protected] or 654-5256.

Founded in 1969, the Col-lege of New Rochelle Gradu-ate School has helped over 10,000 men and women im-prove their professional skills, make career changes, and re-enter the work force. Master’s degrees are available in more than 25 areas including: Art Therapy/Counseling, Career Development, Communica-tions, Educational Leadership, Gerontology, Mental Health Counseling, and School Psy-chology. The Graduate School offers courses during the eve-nings and weekends, which give students the option of part- or full-time study. The school’s professors are known for working one-on-one with students to ensure they get the help they need to succeed after

they graduate.The College of New Ro-

chelle is recognized as a “Col-lege of Distinction” and is ranked among Washington Monthly’s top 75 master’s uni-versities in the nation. It has been named for five consecu-tive years to the President’s Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal rec-ognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learn-ing, and civic engagement.

The first Catholic college for women in New York state, the College of New Rochelle was founded in 1904 by the Ursuline Order. Today, it com-prises the all-women School of Arts & Sciences, and three schools which admit women and men: the School of New Resources (for adult learn-ers), the School of Nursing, and the Graduate School. The main campus of the college is located 16 miles north of New York City. The college main-tains five other campus loca-tions in New York City for the School of New Resources in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan. For more informa-tion, visit cnr.edu. (Submitted)


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THE

NewRochelleCityREVIEW

Mamaroneck oddity listed to historic registry

By JaMeS PeroStaff Writer

For awhile it appeared as if the skinny house—a slender Mamaroneck home on Grant Street which stands just 10 feet wide—had a fat chance of sur-vival. Now, however, after its recent registration as a national and state historic site, it could finally get the support it needs.

The three-story house, which was built in 1932 by Nathan Seely, an African-American carpenter, is threat-ened by an extensive termite infestation that was discovered two years ago during renova-tions to the house’s kitchen.

Funding to restore the house and quell the growing termite problem, which would’ve fall-en squarely on the shoulders of current owners, Ida San-tangelo, 94, and her daughter Nancy Picarello, was just too

expensive—potentially total-ing upwards of $100,000.

But now, with the house’s May 18 listing onto the na-tional and state register of historic places, the chances that the skinny house may re-ceive federal and state grant funding, and consequently the much needed renovations to ensure the historic structure’s survival, have increased.

“Now that it’s listed with the historical [registry] it will be much easier to get grants,” Village of Mamaroneck May-or Norman Rosenblum, a Re-publican, said. “It’s not guar-anteed, but it will be much easier.”

But according to The State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, “properties owned by munici-palities and not for profit orga-nizations are eligible to apply for state historic preservation

grants.” This means that if the house isn’t turned over to the village it may never see any federal or state money.

And the moment, the own-ers seem reluctant to do so.

Carol Akin, a trustee with the Mamaroneck Historical Society, warns that if the house isn’t turned over soon, the situ-ation may only continue to deteriorate. “If [the owners] would relinquish ownership, all of the funds to fix the skin-ny house are ready to go,”Akin said. “That’s the issue, [the owners] decided not to, and to raise the money themselves. It’s an impossible task.”

The difficulty in trying to raise funds for the historic structure may best be exempli-fied by Mamaroneck Histori-cal Society President Donald March’s struggles.

“I tried to raise money,” he said, “and I could only raise $381,” an amount which he calls “a pittance” in regard to the potential cost of the renovations.

For more than 80 years the skinny house has served as both a local and some-times even international treasure, attracting visitors from around the world.

Gloria Pitts, Mama-roneck’s village histo-rian, remembers just

how impressive the house was when she last visited.

“When I went into the house—this was about 10 years ago—the house, at that point, was about 70 [years old],” she said. “It was so strong.”

And its strength, just like its width, is shocking, especially considering how the house was made—or more specifi-cally, what it was made with.

Seely, very much affected by the Great Depression, had

little money to buy building supplies at the time of the house’s construction.

So, in 1932, after he pur-chased the property for $1 from Ida Santangelo’s father, Seely, an expert builder, de-cided to repurpose many of the materials used to make up the house’s foundation, utilizing everything from old railroad ties to a chicken coop.

Its gabled roofs and ma-roon wooden siding only add to the skinny house’s allure.

The house, nestled approxi-mately 55 feet from the road, much further than any other house on the block, makes it—in addition to its size or lack there-of—easy to miss. But, right now, local Mamaroneck residents are worried about the house going missing all together.

“There’s nothing we can do if the owners don’t want to turn over ownership, so that’s the stalemate, we’re very frustrated,” Akin said. “Someone who has persuasive ability, I wish, would come in and convince them to save this wonderful special house.” Picarello could not be reached for comment as of press time.


After 80 years, Mamaroneck’s skinny house—though threatened by a termite infestation—still stands tall. Its recent designation as a national historical site may help secure money to solve its bug problem. File photos

The skinny house, tucked away on Grand Street in Mamaroneck, may be easy to miss at first pass, but another look reveals one of the village’s most prized oddities.

The house is constructed of many makeshift materials including an old chicken coop and repurposed railroad ties.


Seven New Rochelle resi-dents were recognized for ex-traordinary work for the benefit of their community at the an-nual luncheon of the New Ro-chelle Council of Community Services held on Thursday, June 4, at Beckwith Pointe.

At the event attended by 100 guests, two $1,000 scholarships were also awarded to outstand-ing New Rochelle High School juniors.

The 2015 honorees, repre-senting a number of diverse or-

ganizations, are as follows: • Joanne Bartoli, a member

of the Garden Club who is re-sponsible for the profusion of daffodils seen around the city each spring, a past president of the New Rochelle Humane So-ciety and an active member of St. John’s Episcopal Church.

• The Brown Bag Lunch Pro-gram of Trinity-St. Paul’s Epis-copal Church, a volunteer op-eration that began in 1996 and now serves lunch to people in need each weekday. Last year

the group provided more than 40,000 sandwiches, as well as health screening and a welcom-ing setting.

• Adam Raymonda and Wen-dy O’Sullivan volunteered their time and talent to support the New Rochelle YMCA during its recent pool emergency. The two created videos that were instru-mental in garnering support and much-needed funds to fix the pool and keep the YMCA open.

• Vivian Spady is a year-round volunteer who is also responsible for brightening the holidays for hundreds of chil-dren in New Rochelle’s Mu-nicipal Housing apartments and beyond. Now in its fifth year, “Big Viv’s Toy Drive” involves volunteers who donate gifts and time collecting gifts for children who might not otherwise expe-rience holiday cheer.

The NRCCS awarded schol-arships to help two students, Mariella Perez and Rodolfo Gil, who have exemplified the mission by selflessly dedicat-ing their time and talents to help others. The scholarships are in-

NRCCS recognizes honorees

tended to provide funds needed to prepare for and complete col-lege applications.

Perez has volunteered at the Hugh Doyle Senior Center for five years and also volunteered in multiple locations for chil-dren with disabilities. She is also a participant in the Center for College & Careers, a pro-gram of The Guidance Cen-ter of Westchester. Perez told the selection committee that she sees the scholarship as “a chance to shine a light on the path to my future.”

Gil became an active mem-ber of the New Rochelle High School community within the first year of his arrival in the United States from Spain. This past academic year he balanced school and a part-time job while learning English, participating in the United Culture Club, and serving as captain of the New Rochelle High School Varsity Soccer team, which took sec-ond place in the A League Soc-cer Conference 2. He aspires to study mechanical engineering in college.

The New Rochelle Coun-cil of Community Services, es-tablished in 1936, is a 501(c)3 non-profit umbrella organiza-tion for the health and human service agencies, religious insti-tutions and educational facilities of New Rochelle. This includes entities situated outside New Rochelle that also serve the city. NRCCS provides an important opportunity for service-provid-ers and community administra-tors to make vital connections and address community needs. (Submitted)

Scholarship winners Rodolfo Gil and Mariela Perez stand with New Rochelle Council of Community Services member Betty Grad-Gross. Contributed photos

From left to right, Robert Puleo, Vivian Evens and Hyacinth Lee from Trinity-St. Paul’s Brown Bag Lunch Program, Vivian Spady, Joanne Bartoli, Adam Raymonda and Wendy O’Sullivan were all honored for their work on behalf of the community by the New Rochelle Council of Community Services.


Schools could face 0 percent tax capBy cHrIS eBerHart

Staff Writer

Based on economic trends as of June, school districts in New York state would need a supermajority of the public vote next year to add even one penny to their existing budgets.

A recent report by the New York State Educational Con-ference Board, which is a co-alition of seven leading state-wide education organizations representing parents, teach-ers, administrators, and school boards, said, based on the first four months of the consumer price index and projections by the state Division of Bud-get, the state-mandated tax cap levy increase would be zero for the 2016-2017 school year, meaning budgets would have to remain flat.

The consumer price index is an index of the variation in prices paid by typical consum-ers for retail goods, services and other items such as trans-portation, food, medical and car. As per current state law, any school budget that seeks an override of the state-man-dated tax levy cap requires a 60 percent vote of the public,

at a glaNce ✔Based on the first four months of economic trends, school districts throughout New York could be faced with a 0 percent tax levy cap.

✔Current tax levy cap is either 2 percent or the rate or inflation, which typically lowers cap to under 2 percent

as opposed to the typical 50 percent plus one vote during school budget votes in May.

As the tax cap law now stands, the cap on the tax levy, which is the amount of mon-ey collected through property taxes, is either 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. In most cases, the cap is lower than 2 percent.

And for the 2016-2017 school budget, districts will be facing even greater con-straints.

“Over and over again, vot-ers are told that New York state has a 2 percent tax cap. We do not,” said John Yagiels-ki, chairman of the Education-al Conference Board. “And it now seems likely the property tax cap will tax another bite out of New York’s already fis-cally struggling schools. The difference between zero and 2 percent is more than $400 mil-lion [statewide] in local fund-ing that won’t be available to public education.”

Tuckahoe Board of Educa-tion President Julio Urbina said it’s “unlikely” that costs to the school district would be held at zero growth, which could mean a reduction in

staffing and programs.“Anticipated increases in

healthcare and pension costs, along with unanticipated tax certs, means that the resources to pay for these increases will need to come from our pro-grams rather than being cov-ered by any tax levy increase,” Urbina said. “Our district does a great job in controlling those costs we can control, but our hands are tied on those we have no control over.”

State Sen. George Latimer, a Rye Democrat, could not be reached for comment, as of press time.


But Marcotte said of all the issues, taxes are the No. 1 concern for voters, followed by economic development, improving infrastructure and protecting local zoning in the county’s fight against the U.S. Department of Hous-ing and Urban Development over affordable housing.

“When I go door to door asking voters to rehire me, I ask people what is most important to them, and across the board they say ‘taxes,’” Marcotte said. “‘What have you done for my taxes recently?’ And I can say I’ve kept the tax levy flat for the past five years.”

Marcotte, who spent time on the Tuckahoe Board of Trustees and Eastchester Town Council before be-coming a county legislator, said she’s particularly proud of being part of the biparti-san coalition on the Board of Legislators, which includes seven Republicans and two Democrats Mike Kaplow-itz, of Yorktown, and Vir-ginia Perez, of Yonkers, that formed at the end of 2013 to help pass the 2014 coun-ty budget and most recently the 2015 county budget, which is the fifth consecutive year the county tax level has remained flat.

But the zero percent tax levy increase in the 2015 county budget that Marcotte touted included borrowing to cover $15 million in pension costs and $5 million in tax certioraris that Just-Michael criticized, as did many Dem-ocrats on the county board during the budget vote. Just-Michael said she’s confident she can use her experience serving on the library’s bud-

get committee to find areas where the county can save.

“I don’t understand how you can claim there are no tax raises but leave the burden to local municipalities,” Just-Michael said. “I think we’re borrowing our future…We would never keep our lights on at home by putting it on a credit card, yet that’s exactly what’s being done. That re-ally disturbs me.”

Marcotte took over the District 10 seat in 2010 af-ter defeating Greg Varian, a New Rochelle Democrat, in a special election to replace Republican Vito Pinto, who was tabbed by Republican

County Executive Rob As-torino to head the county’s Veterans Service Agency. Marcotte followed that up with a 2011 win over for-mer Tuckahoe Mayor John Fitzpatrick, a Democrat.

Just-Michael worked against Marcotte on both Var-ian’s and Jacobs’ campaigns as well as New Rochelle Demo-cratic Mayor Noam Bramson’s unsuccessful campaign for county executive against As-torino in 2013.

Legislators are elected to serve two-year terms. Election Day is Nov. 3.


SHEILA MARCoTTE

✔Tuckahoe resident for 17 years

✔Spent last five years as a county legislator after serving on the Tuckahoe Planning Board, Tuckahoe Board of Trustees and Eastchester Town Board

✔Plans to keep county taxes and spending to a minimum and address the county’s aging infrastructure and flooding concerns

HAINA JuST-MICHAEL

✔New Rochelle resident for 23 years

✔Entering her eighth year on the New Rochelle Library Board and second as the president

✔Runs her own public relations firm

✔Her platform will focus on the use of borrowing in the county budget, social services, anti-bullying on college campuses and environmental sustainability

at a glaNceMarcotte from page 1

Schedules on the Bee-Line Route 75, 13 and 91 will change for seasonal service to Playland starting on Tuesday, June 23. The changes are ef-fective on days that Playland is open. The service provides access to the park for many visitors and employees.

On the Route 75, service will connect with Metro-North trains arriving and departing the Rye station on the New Haven Line. The first bus will depart the Rye station at 9:30 a.m. on weekdays and at 10:30 a.m. on Saturdays and Sun-days. The last evening bus will depart Playland at 10:45 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, with a late night trip at 12:45 a.m. on Fridays and Satur- days only.

The Route 91 will pro-vide service from Yonkers to Playland with stops in Mount Vernon, Pelham and New Ro-chelle. The service operates Tuesday through Sunday. The first bus to Playland departs

Bee-line summer service to Playland

Yonkers at 8:50 a.m., Tuesday through Friday, and 9:50 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The last evening bus will de-part Playland at 10:45 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and 12:45 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

On weekdays and week-ends, select trips on the Route 13 will be extended to serve Playland and the Rye station.

Playland is open through Sept. 7, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through

Thursday, from noon to 12 a.m. Friday and Saturday and from noon to 10 p.m. on Sun-day. The park is closed on Mondays, except for Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7. Sched-ule is subject to change.

For new bus schedules, visit westchestergov.com/bee-linebus or call the Bee-Line hotline at 813-7777, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Automated information is available 24 hours a day. (Submitted)


By cHrIS eBerHartStaff Writer

Two months after a high-profile case in which the Eastchester Police Depart-ment received a hoax call from a man in a Joyce Road home claiming to have killed his girlfriend and tied up her family in what turned out to be a “swatting” incident, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat, proposed a bill that would establish harsher pen-alties for those convicted of such crimes.

“Swatting” is an incident in which a fake phone call is made in an effort to have police SWAT teams respond to an unsuspecting resident’s home and has been on the rise in Westchester County and the Lower Hudson Valley area, Schumer said.

“These dangerous actions are not ‘pranks’ at all—these ‘swatting’ attacks are serious incidents in which our emer-gency responders use up their time, energy, and resources

Schumer looks to crackdown on swatting

responding to false threats,” Schumer said. “What the per-petrators of these calls see as a practical joke is actually a terrifying experience for in-nocent bystanders, a business-detractor for local commerce, and a costly crime that forces our local emergency respond-ers to use up thousands of tax-payer dollars on fake alerts.”

Schumer’s bill would in-crease the maximum prison sentence of those convicted of swatting from five years to eight years, force convicted offenders to pay restitution to police and make it illegal for perpetrators to evade police by disguising caller ID over Skype or internet calls. Cur-rently, it is illegal for people to

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer proposed a bill that would create harsher penalties for those convicted of swatting attacks, like this April incident in Eastchester, pictured, when a man called the Eastchester Police Department claiming to have stabbed his girlfriend and was holding her family hostage in a Joyce Road home. File Photos

In Eastchester, traffic on the busy Mill Road going towards the town’s business district was tied up for an extended period of time as police, SWAT teams and hostage negotiators from Eastchester and surrounding areas responded to the Joyce Road swatting incident.

disguise their voices on calls placed via traditional phone lines, but there is no such prohibition on calls placed via internet phone services, so Schumer said he’s look-ing to close the loophole with his bill.

“We need to stop this dis-turbing trend before it is too late, and someone gets seri-ously hurt,” Schumer said regarding the emergence of swatting cases.

The incident in Eastchester was just one of four swatting incidents seen over the last few years, including a May

incident in Garrison, N.J., that forced the Garrison Union Free School District and near-by Haldane schools in Cold Spring, N.Y., to order pre-cautionary lock-downs while police and SWAT teams re-sponded to a scene where the caller claimed that a woman and her son were being held hostage at gunpoint.

In a July 2014 incident in Rye, police and SWAT teams were dispatched from Rye, Harrison and Westchester County when a report of an armed man invading a nearby suburban home was called in

through Skype. Responders found no one home.

And in March 2011, fake 911 calls were made to the Rockland County Sheriff’s office claiming a shooting at Mercy College was be-ing planned. Police reported that they believed the caller was using a voice-alteration device in order to make this false report.

Eastchester Police Chief Timothy Bonci could not be reached for comment, as of press time.



The next Business Briefs section will run in July. Please send any submission for

our July edition to [email protected], with “Business” in the subject line of your email. Each submission may include one picture. If you have any questions, email

us at [email protected].

NYMC Phelps Family Medicine Residency receives Gold Aster award

The NYMC Phelps Family Medicine Resi-dency Program at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center has been awarded a 2015 Gold Aster Award for excellence in healthcare advertising and marketing for the calendar year of 2014.

Specifically, the award was given for three videos showing how the program incorporates behavioral medicine, community outreach, and dynamic training that is focused on filling the growing need for providers and leaders in pri-mary care.

The videos were created by John Heaney, producer, director and founder of Media Stream, Inc., with the assistance of Kimberly Andron, LCSW-R, director of Behavioral Med-icine, and Christina Micela, media and market-ing associate.

“The creativity of this year’s participating healthcare marketing professionals exceeded our expectations. The 2015 Aster Awards pro-gram contained some of the best and most cre-ative advertising in the world,” said Melinda Lucas, the Aster Awards program coordinator.

The Aster Awards, one of the largest national competitions of its kind, is hosted by Marketing Healthcare Today magazine and Creative Imag-es, Inc. In 2015, the Aster Awards received near-ly 3,000 entries from across the United States as well as several foreign countries. All entries are judged by industry experts with entries compet-ing against similar-sized organizations in their specific groups and categories.

To view the award-winning videos and to learn more about the residency program, go to nymcphelpsresidency.org, and on Facebook by visiting facebook.com/nymcphelpsresidency.

Six businesses inducted into Westchester Business Hall of Fame

14th year, has inducted more than 70 Westches-ter businesses.

New to the Business Hall of Fame this year was the addition of the Chairman’s Recognition Award, as well as announcing the winner of the Ron Volper Family Scholarship Fund for Busi-ness Excellence, which was given to Brian Pat-rick Fontana who is pursuing an MBA at Pace University.

“These winners represent all that is great in Westchester’s business community, its economy and its future,” said Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of the Business Council of Westches-ter. “We have it all here: large corporations, family-owned businesses, and leading technol-ogy companies. We are pleased to induct these companies into the 2015 Business Hall of Fame, and we’re so happy to help our future business leaders gain the tools they’ll need to succeed.”

County Executive Rob Astorino congratu-lated the winners for joining an exceptional roster of inductees and for their great achieve-ments. He also thanked them for their con-tributions to Westchester’s economy and its communities.

The master of ceremonies was News12 an-chor Scott McGee. The event co-chairs were Elizabeth Bracken-Thompson of Thompson and Bender and Thomas Lalla of Pernod Ricard.

The winners in their respective categories are:• Corporate Citizenship: New York Medi-

cal College in Valhalla. Dr. Robert Amler, vice president for government affairs and professor of public health, accepted the award.

• Entrepreneurial Success: Mindspark in Yon-kers. Erik Esterlis, co-president, accepted the award. Small Business Success: York International Agen-cy, LLC, in Harrison. Robert Kestenbaum, CEO, accepted the award.

• Women In Business Success: Rella Fogli-ano, president of MacQuesten Development in Pelham. Fogliano accepted the award.

• Family Owned Business: American Christ-mas in Mount Vernon. Fred Schwam, CEO, ac-cepted the award.

• Chairman’s Recognition Award: Beecher Flooks Funeral Home in Pleasantville. William Flooks, Jr., funeral director, accepted the award.

About the Business Council Of Westchester:The county’s largest and most influential

business membership organization, the Busi-ness Council of Westchester is committed to helping businesses market, learn, advocate, and grow. In addition, it is actively involved in re-viewing federal, state and county legislation and regulations in order to assess the potential impact on the business community, and to influ-ence the outcomes through advocacy when the business community’s interests may be affect-ed. It also acts as an information resource for the business community and government lead-ers at all levels.

Third generation joins New Crystal Restoration team

New Crystal Restoration is proud to an-nounce and welcome Austin Cordasco Walsh as the company’s newest project manager. Walsh will be responsible for managing insurance property damage claims, customer relations

and support, as well as developing new business among millennials.

“We are so excited that Austin Walsh has joined the team,” said Lisa A. Cordasco, New Crystal Restoration’s president. “Our Westches-ter County family business was founded in 1960 and has provided 24/7 emergency fire and water damage restoration services for 55 years. Add-ing Walsh to our staff means that we are three generations strong.”

Walsh is a Westchester County resident. He graduated from the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, Brookville, N.Y., in 2013. Walsh’s work experience includes working as an agent for New York Life, and as an account executive with DAC Group.

Growing up in a restoration family, Walsh worked as a cleaning technician during school breaks and summer vacations. He recently com-pleted his IICRC training as a water loss special-ist and is becoming proficient in the Xactimate software program used by insurance adjusters.

“Family businesses and their leadership are the ultimate entrepreneurs. They must contin-ually innovate to grow and pass on a thriving business from one generation to the next,” said Carrie Hall, EY’s Family Business leader of the Americas. “The importance of family business-es to the global economy is undeniable. They account for more than two-thirds of all the com-panies around the world and 50 to 80 percent of employment in most countries.”

BCW honors 2015 Green Business Winners

Suburban Carting Company, Briarcliff Manor • Energy: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown • Waste Management and Green Products: Allied Converters, Inc., New Rochelle • Transportation: Diamond Properties, LLC, Mt. Kisco• Land Use and Water: Purchase College, State University of New York

“The Westchester business community has never been greener, thanks to the Westchester Green Business Challenge and its partners,” Astorino said. “Each year more business lead-ers are catching on that, with the help of this program, they can make choices that are smart for the environment and for their bottom line. Congratulations to the diverse group of busi-nesses recognized today for leading the way within their industries and demonstrating that Westchester is the place to run a successful sus-tainable company.”

First launched in 2009, this public-private partnership between Westchester County and the Business Council of Westchester helps Westchester-based organizations become envi-ronmentally sustainable while simultaneously improving operational performance and saving money. To date, more than 300 local businesses have joined Westchester Green Business-Certi-fied, which expanded in 2014 to include a new pathway for participants to achieve certifica-tion. In addition to the awards, 14 organizations that have achieved certification were recognized at the ceremony.

“It has been enormously satisfying to see this program expand in Westchester County and be-come a regional, statewide and even national model for others to follow,” BCW President and CEO Marsha Gordon said. “Employers from all industries are realizing that sustainability is an es-sential ingredient to their long-term success and ability to retain the most talented workforce.”

The highly prestigious Charles W. Brown Jr. Sustainability Award was presented this year to Arc Westchester, the largest agency in the coun-ty serving children, teens and adults with intel-lectual and developmental disabilities. Head-quartered in Hawthorne, N.Y., Arc Westchester has more than 800 employees throughout the county and more than 53,000 square feet of of-fice space. They embody the spirit of the award by incorporating sustainability into all aspects of their business and demonstrating visionary leadership. The award was established three years ago in memory of the founder and owner of C.W. Brown, the Armonk-based firm that be-came the first existing facility in Westchester to receive LEED Platinum Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

For more information about the WGBC, visit westchestergreenbusinesschallenge.org.

More than 600 people turned out to Glen Is-land Harbour Club in New Rochelle on Tuesday, April 21, for the Westchester Business Coun-cil’s Business Hall of Fame Awards. The event included a Broadway-themed celebration com-plete with a Playbill-styled red carpet, a Liza Minelli look-a-like, and performances by sing-ers from the Westchester Broadway Theatre — all overlooking the scenic Long Island Sound.

As part of the main act, the Business Coun-cil inducted a world-renowned technology de-veloper, a leading holiday decorator, one of the nation’s oldest medical colleges, an affordable housing developer, a full-service insurance company, and a family-owned funeral home that has operated for three generations.

The Business Hall of Fame, which is in its

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and Dr. Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of the Business Council of Westchester, hosted the Westchester Green Business Challenge’s fifth annual Recognition Event and Awards Ceremo-ny at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains on Thursday, June 4.

Joined by Westchester Green Business Chal-lenge, WGBC, program directors Dani Glaser and Scott Fernqvist, organizers recognized a prestigious group of Westchester organiza-tions that have demonstrated a commitment to environmental sustainability and outstanding achievements.

This year’s winners in their respective cat-egories include:• Outreach and Organizational Commitment:

Business Briefs


Jay Estate property on Boston Post Road.

During the summit, John Baker, director of the county Conservation, Parks and Rec-reation Department and head of the county’s deer manage-ment program, said the coun-ty will likely launch a deer hunting program in the Rye Marshlands, which is owned by the county, during the next hunting season, which runs from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31.

Kiley Blackman, founder of the Animal Defenders of Westchester, called Westches-ter County’s plan to hunt deer in the Rye Marshlands “a reckless course of action.”

“The appropriate concern has been raised about public safety, to the close proxim-ity of homes and generally crowded areas, but was quick-ly and arrogantly dismissed by the Westchester bow hunt-ers,” Blackman said, “despite the fact that bow hunting is notoriously inaccurate.”

Some of the inaccuracies of the bow and arrow, Blackman said, can lead wounded deer leaving blood trails through-out the neighborhood or dying on residents’ lawns.

Sack said he was never served with anything. He said he respects the opinions of the animal rights activists, but “people come first.”

“For those of us who actu-ally live in Rye and the Sound Shore area, deer overpopula-tion is a real and serious is-sue,” Sack said. “Our ecosys-tems are being eaten down to the nub, and that’s bad for all other animal species. We’ve got herds of deer squeezed into postage stamp-sized plots, which wasn’t the case just a few years ago.”

Sack said if you add that to

the threat to human life with the spread of Lyme disease and deer leaping in front of cars, then there’s a real public health situation.

Rosenblum said the notice serves as “an attempt to in-timidate.”

“Under no circumstanc-es will we be intimidated,” Rosenblum said. “We’ve re-ceived just as many concerns from people who are asking us to do something about the overpopulation. We’re not try-ing to kill Bambi; we are try-ing to deal with encroaching wildlife.”

But Simon backed Black-man’s claims of the ineffec-

tiveness of hunting because of the deer’s ability to adapt. Si-mon said, killing them “is an exercise in futility.”

“Their numbers will keep bouncing back up,” Simon said. “They’re amazingly adap-tive. They’ll produce more fawns and breed at an earlier age after their numbers are re-duced. So the cull is continu-ally repeated at much expense and to no avail.”

Simon said she sees the same pattern in many commu-nities: deer are killed each year, their numbers bounce back and the complaints continue. “It’s a vicious cycle,” she added.

On the other hand, non-lethal methods, such as fertil-ity control options like surgi-cal sterilization or immuno-contraception, prevent deer from having fawns to cut the bounce-back numbers, accord-ing to Simon.

“It’s true that fertility con-trol options are more expen-sive, yet the pay-off is a popu-lation that slowly declines,” she said.


By cHrIS eBerHartStaff Writer

A local animal defense group is looking to protect deer from hunters by threaten-ing to take legal action against Rye, Mamaroneck, Westches-ter County and the state if they move ahead with a bow hunt-ing or firearm hunting pro-gram in an effort to curtail the local deer population.

Last month, Delice Selig-man, attorney of the Kingston-based law firm Seligman and Seligman, who is represent-ing the Animal Defenders of Westchester, filed a “notice of dangerous condition” against Mamaroneck and Rye mayors Norman Rosenblum and Joe Sack, both Republicans, along with state and county officials. Seligman said they’ll seek a restraining order if the hunt-ing plan continues.

According to the notice, hunting in Mamaroneck or Rye “may cause serious in-juries to the general public as a result of impaling, gor-ing, shooting or death, along with emotional and psycho-logical distress to the public and other risks including the possibility of increased deer/car collisions resulting from frightened deer running into the road way.”

Laura Simon, a wildlife ecologist for the Urban Wild-life Program, said bow and ar-row isn’t a quick-kill method, therefore there’s a high crip-pling rate, and when people see an arrow-struck deer in their yard, that can be trau-matic for children.

The notice comes four months after Rye hosted a February deer summit in Rye City Hall that included Sack, Rosenblum, the State Depart-ment of Environmental Con-servation and the Westchester County Conservation, Parks and Recreation Department, which conducted a prelimi-nary count of the area and said there were 74 deer in a quarter of a square mile in the Green-haven section of Rye and the

Animal rights group fights deer hunting

A local animal defense group filed a notice of dangerous condition against the Village of Mamaroneck and the City of Rye in an effort to protect against the hunting of deer in the municipalities’ efforts to control that population. File Photo

“We’re not trying to kill Bambi; we are trying to deal with encroaching wildlife.”

– vIllage of MaMaroNeck Mayor NorMaN roSeNBluM, on the deer population in the Sound Shore area


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Editor’s note: Tonia Tagliaferro is an

award-winning fashion styl-ist whose Mamaroneck-based company, The Art of Dress-ing, is dedicated to empower-ing women to become savvy and sophisticated about what to wear to fit their body style, weight and lifestyle. Among other things, she provides such signature services as wardrobe consultation and evaluation, corporate speaking, closet au-diting and organization, and assisted personal shopping. Be-ginning this week, we are proud to launch her new weekly col-umn, “Tonia Says,” in which she will respond to a sampling of the many questions she will receive from readers with straightforward answers and advice on body image, dressing do’s and don’ts and the things people really struggle with in-side. She’s funny, self-aware and more open than you’d ever expect.

Those questions not printed will be answered by her at your email address, so be sure to include it. Only your initials and the town in which you live will appear in the newspapers and no one, except Tonia, will see your url. Please email your question(s) directly to her at [email protected].

Dear Tonia:

As I grow older, I’m be-coming more and more uncer-tain about how to dress. This may be a common problem, but I haven’t encountered it before, at least to this degree.

Can you help me?

M.B., Larchmont

Dear M.B.:Nothing makes you look

Stay in style as you agemore out of style than outfits that are too “matchy-matchy.” Unlike what you learned a long time ago, follow these simple new rules to update your look effortlessly:

Don’t match your shoes and handbag; try using nude shoes; wearing black in the summer is okay; mixing two different patterns looks fresh; black and navy work well together, brown and black look great; Metallic is not just for evening; and cos-tume jewelry is in so mix your bracelets and necklaces.

Dear Tonia:After attending several fu-

nerals in the past few months and seeing everything from suits to blue jeans to “sexy” club wear, I was appalled and felt compelled to write. Please tell your readers what is ap-propriate.

C.L., Eastchester

Dear C.L.:Funerals are respectful oc-

casions and part of being re-spectful is dressing appropri-ately for the service. It is also important because it shows re-spect for the deceased and for the other loved ones attending the service. Age and position in the family should dictate a higher degree of dress.

Wearing strictly black no longer applies unless you are a family member. Traditional colors like navy, purple, gray and earth tones work well.

Although a person’s death should be grieved, it is appro-priate to celebrate the person’s life with a subdued color. It is nice, too, to wear what the per-son who passed would have liked to see us in.

Denim and athletic wear may be appropriate or com-fortable for casual activities but should never be worn to a wake or a funeral. Shorts or sandals are never acceptable. Wear what is tasteful and con-

servative.A sexy dress, even in black,

is not appropriate. The most im-portant thing women should re-member is not to wear anything too tight or low cut. Not only is it disrespectful, but it would also make you look trashy. You want to be remembered as be-ing supportive of the family, not for what you wore.

The rule for skirts and dress-es is knee length or longer. Think basic, simple pencil skirt, trouser or a suit you might wear to a job interview. It is accept-able to wear dress pants with a nice top, although wearing a jacket will pull the outfit to-gether. Your shoulders should be covered for some churches.

Keep your jewelry and ac-cessories simple and to a mini-mum. Your shoes should be in a subdued, dark color and not show your toes. Keep makeup understated.

Dear Tonia:Any thoughts on tweezing

one’s brows for the perfect shape?

P.K., Rye

Dear P.K.:You bet! A few tips for

sculpting and tweezing. While your eyebrows are the frame of your face, it’s important to create the shape that works best for you. There are basi-cally three shapes that most brows fall into: a full arch, subtler arc or a straighter brow. Many brow artists will try to create an arch when you don’t naturally have one. Work with what you have and get the best shape that works for you. If you are not sure what your shape is because you have plucked and tweezed them so much, look at a picture of yourself from when you were young so you can remember your natural shape.


tonIa saYsTonia Tagliaferro

every surface and furnishing must be appropriately cleaned.

2. Create a cleaning plan for your tasks: select your clean-ing tools and solutions with serious consideration.

3. Move forward knowing that the initial detail clean-ing of room(s) or items re-quires an investment of time. There are no shortcuts; only improved cleaning techniques will lead to efficient acts for eliminating dirt.

My basic point is, when you’re involved with clean-ing restoration (after things no longer look nice), the ini-tial clean can be intensive. At this point, your cleaning tasks requires labor, time, effective tools and insightful how-to’s. While the surface spray and wipe approach will show some improvement, the unsanitary layers beneath the surface will begin to bleed through, very shortly. Over the years,

Based on many years of being involved with residen-tial and commercial cleaning, it never ceases to amaze me when a customer is surprised when I explain the require-ments of an initial cleanup. Af-ter all, clean is clean and there are very specific requirements for getting there too.

The mindset of spray and wipe, when connecting with cleaning tasks will not achieve that out of the box result that you are hoping for. Surface cleaning allows one to get an immediate burst of apprecia-tion, but only when they first see it. A reality check eventu-ally takes place once items in a space are rearranged or surfac-es are inspected in a detailed way. The unsightly discoveries are unacceptable, now what. Quality vs. quantity: the new possibility, for cleaning tasks. Can we talk, because Ask Cin-dy can exert proprietary ex-pertise for recapturing a clean space, appliance and so forth. I always walk with three dictat-ing principles:

1. Knowledge: investigate cleaning how-to’s, because

Ask Cindy’s cleaning principles

Ask Cindy, Inc House Cleaning Services

P.O. Box 475 Scarsdale, New York 10583

(914) 513-3283 [email protected]

http://www.askcindyhow.com

people have shared that they were prepared to have certain items replaced. Ask Cindy’s housecleaning principles have renewed many spaces, rooms and appliances. Clean is clean.

There is no way around these three stated principles, especially during the ini-tial cleaning. After the initial cleanup, maintenance does not require the same level of in-tensity. This is especially true if maintenance commences right away. Expressions like, unbelievable and wow, can be yours. Clean is always a vivid presentation. Let’s face it, you get out what you put in—and this is all stated without judg-ment. If you need me, call me. Thanks for reading.

Mykonos is an adorable almost nine-month-old kitty. He loves to cuddle and play hide and seek with his feline buddy, Tahiti. This handsome grey/white kitten is looking for a home of his own where he can watch birds from his window and enjoy a happy life. In return, Mykonos will bring you smiles and unconditional love every day. Mykonos is neutered, in excellent health and up to date with all vaccinations. The adoption donation for Mykonos is $80. To meet this charmer, please contact Larchmont Pet Rescue at 740-4072 or visit ny-petrescue.org(Submitted)

City of New Rochelle’s

Official Newspaper

asK cIndY HoW

Cindy Inman

14 • the city review • June 19 & 26, 2015 SPORTS

softball team finally brought home a section title, are the ones I will remember for quite some time.

So the school year might be over, our seniors might be moving on, and I will be left

with a lot of space to fill in the papers until August. Heck, football camps have already started and I know I’ll be making the rounds to see just how everyone is looking for next season.

The fall season can’t start soon enough. But for now, I just want to take some time to let this past year sink in.

Follow Mike on Twitter @LiveMike_Sports

Unlike most high school students—and nearly every teacher I know—the end of the school year isn’t a time of celebration for me. While I certainly love the summer months—the freedom, the weather—the passing of each school year is bittersweet for me, as I look back and begin to process some of the great moments of the year.

Of course, 2015 ended with a bang, as the Mamaroneck baseball team captured yet an-other state title with two wins last Saturday. But as much as I’ve enjoyed this run, filled with great pitching performances, high-anxiety games, and Andy Gross’ walk-up music that’s been stuck in my brain for just about a month, a look back at the year proves that Mama-roneck’s accomplishments we-ren’t the only high points of the school year.

Heck, it wasn’t even Mama-

Waiting till Augustroneck’s only state crown—thanks to senior wrestler Yous-sif Hemida and the play of the Tigers’ field hockey team that, at one point in October, had outscored its Section I oppo-nents 97-0.

There were a ton of tremen-dous performances this year, both individual and collec-tive to which my job as sports editor at the Review gave me a front row seat.

For the first time in my ten-ure here, I didn’t get to follow a football team up to Syracuse, N.Y., but that doesn’t mean there was a shortage of fire-works on the gridiron. I got the chance to watch Rye’s An-drew Livingston shatter Sec-tion I’s passing records, team-ing up with his favorite target, Tim DeGraw, to lead the Gar-nets to a Class A crown. I saw Mamaroneck’s football squad put forth a monumental ef-fort, cobbling together the pro-gram’s best season in recent memory behind the play of standouts like Andrew Som-mer and Marquez Jackson-Allen.

I saw Tuckahoe’s football players shake off preseason distractions to defeat Hal-dane for a Class D crown, and Bronxville’s girls soccer team defy the odds to win a state ti-tle and remind people why the Broncos have been one of the best programs around in recent years.

The winter season saw even more remarkable runs, including Rye Town/Harri-son’s march to the Section 1 hockey finals against Pelham, and the Huskies’ basketball team hosting Tappan Zee in the quarterfinals, in front of a home crowd that was just as loud as any basketball crowd I’ve seen.

Overtime games, like Ma-maroneck’s Class A lacrosse title win against John Jay, or the wild extra inning games Mamaroneck had against both New Rochelle and Arlington during the baseball season, seemed to be the norm, rather than the exception. And the celebrations, like the one I saw at North Rockland High School when the Rye Neck

Youssif Hemida’s run to the state title was one of Sports Editor Mike Smith’s fondest memories of the 2014-2015 school year. Photo/Bobby Begun

Caitlyn Fryer scored one goal for Bronxville in the Broncos’ 3-0 win over Port Jefferson in the state championship game last fall.

Kumar Nambiar celebrates after guiding his team to the state semifinals on June 6. One week later, Nambiar and the Tigers took home a state title on June 13. Photos/Mike Smith

June 19 & 26, 2015 • tHe cIty revIew • 15SPORTS

By MIke SMItHSports Editor

It won’t be easy for the Har-rison-based Total KAOS soft-ball team to improve upon last season’s fifth place showing at nationals, but if their perfor-mance in the first tournament of 2015 is any indication, big things are in store for the elite travel squad.

On June 13, the Total KAOS 18u team won a one-day tour-nament in Riverhead on Long Island to kick off its summer season, knocking off Long Is-land Nitro 5-4 in an extra-inning championship round game. The Harrison-based squad—which features players from all over Westchester—played five games on the day, avenging a first round loss to Nitro to take top honors.

“Five games in one day, that’s brutal,” KAOS coach Dean Ma-rino said. “But our girls were re-lentless, we played great in the field, had some timely hits and I couldn’t be more proud.”

Pelham standout Jordan

KAOS wins opening tourneyAmorelli won tournament MVP honors, but Total KAOS was buoyed by a couple of newcom-ers to the program, as New Ro-chelle hurler Kristi Lise nailed down the clincher and a fellow Huguenot, shortstop Stephanie Ryder, also contributed a six RBI, two home run performance on the day.

“Stephanie was flawless at short,” Marino said, “and Kris-ti, who I’ve never coached be-fore, is such a competitor on the mound. She’s not afraid of any-thing out there.”

Valhalla native Sydni Holtz also threw a complete game gem in the semifinals to push KAOS to the finals with a 2-1 win. To-tal KAOS may have been with-out the services of Taylor Day—who pitches for Marino at Har-rison High School—but Marino said the team was in good hands despite her absence.

“Kristi and Sydni both pitched so well,” he said. “And all of these kids realize that it’s about the team, so it was defi-nitely a pleasure to watch.”

The opening weekend win marked a huge departure from last season, which saw the KAOS team struggle as it waited for Day and Christina DeCarlo, two top pitchers, to return from injury.

“Last year, we had to wait for some players to get healthy, but we wound up winning the last two tournaments and placing fifth at nationals,” Marino said. “This year, I think we have a better offensive team, the girls are a year older and we picked up some strong offensive players [like Ryder].”

With four more tournaments on the schedule, and a berth at this year’s national tournament already locked up, Marino is hoping that last weekend’s win can spur the team on to greater heights this year.

“The girls just have to real-ize that we may have some bad days, too,” he said. “We’re go-ing to have some times when we struggle, but that’s just part of the learning process.”

coNtact: [email protected] Harrison-based Total KAOS softball team celebrates after winning a tournament in Long Island on June 13. KAOS finished in fifth place at nationals last summer. Contributed photo

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